Salad àla Paz
September 29, 2005 | Filed Under Salad | Leave a Comment
Sometime ago, Tattum blogged about what she had for lunch. I’m going to copy her and do the same. There is a salad that I put together for lunch, with no particular recipe in mind. The ingredients are what I had in my fridge that day  romain lettuce, carrots, red onions, red cabbage, and tomatoes. For the dressing, I used Red Wine Vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste.
Paz
Salmon Baked in Foil
September 26, 2005 | Filed Under Salmon, Seafood | Leave a Comment
Salmon about to be baked in foil
Here’s a quick and easy salmon recipe by Giada DeLaurentiis. I love salmon and even before I took up the interest in cooking, preparing salmon featured in my very limited cooking repertoire. I had the simplest method – rub salt, pepper, and olive oil on the fish before putting it in the oven.
Well, this Salmon Baked in Foil recipe is not hard to prepare and adds extra ingredients (tomatoes, shallots, lemon juice, dried oregano and thyme) to the fish, which gives it an extra special taste and something more special to look at in its presentation.
Paz
Note:
* Instead of salmon, you can also use Halibut, Swordfish or Red Snapper fillets.
* When you use the fresh tomatoes, you don’t need to seed it.
* Use dry herbs for this recipe because the flavors are more intense than the fresh herbs.
Baked salmon straight from the oven
Salmon Baked in Foil
4 (5 ounces each) salmon fillets 2 teaspoons olive oil plus 2 tablespoons Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, drained 2 chopped shallots 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Sprinkle salmon with 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir the tomatoes, shallots, 2 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.
Place a salmon fillet, oiled side down, atop a sheet of foil. Wrap the ends of the foil to form a spiral shape. Spoon the tomato mixture over the salmon. Fold the sides of the foil over the fish and tomato mixture, covering completely; seal the packets closed. Place the foil packet on a heavy large baking sheet. Repeat until all of the salmon have been individually wrapped in foil and placed on the baking sheet. Bake until the salmon is just cooked through, about 25 minutes. Using a large metal spatula, transfer the foil packets to plates and serve.
The 23/5 meme
September 25, 2005 | Filed Under Memes | Leave a Comment
Sweetnicks has tagged me for an interesting new meme going around called 23/5.
Basically, the tagged blogger has to go to his or her 23rd post (or closest to), find the 5th sentence (or closest to), and then write something interesting about it on his or her blog.
Here are the Official Rules:
- Delve into your blog archive.
- Find you 23rd post (or closest to).
- Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
- Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas…
- Tag five people to do the same
I don’t have 23 posts yet. Instead, I have a 21st post on Eggplant relish.
Here is the 5th sentence from that post:
“That’s funny; they didn’t look like eggplants to me.â€Â
Hmmm… Now, let’s see: What can I write that’s interesting from this sentence? I don’t think there’s a meaning, hidden text or agenda in my fifth sentence. Okay. So, this is what I can come up with:
Funny: Me cooking. 
Interesting & Fun: I’m constantly learning something new about food and cooking – I really didn’t know that there were different-looking types of eggplants.
I have two new vocabulary words – aubergine and courgette….
I now pass the meme to:
Angelika at The flying Apple
Michele at Oswego Tea
Melissa at The Traveler’s Lunchbox
Mrs. D at Belly-timber
Tattum at Tattum’s Kitchen
I hope you’re able to participate. I’m sure that you will come up with something better with your 5th sentence from your 23rd post than I did. Have fun! Thanks, Sweetnicks!
Paz
Eggplant Relish
September 24, 2005 | Filed Under Eggplant, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Vegetables | Leave a Comment
Three eggplants and a yellow squash
The other day, my mother brought home two huge bags of fruit that she bought at the Farmer’s Market. There were a few vegetables, which I wasn’t familiar with and she wasn’t around for me to ask what they were.
I enlisted the help of Melissa, who took a look at the photos that I’d e-mailed her and immediately replied, “They all look like eggplant to me — different (heirloom) varieties.”
Eggplants? That’s funny; they didn’t look like the eggplant with which I was familiar — dark, purple, almost black in color — the kind that I’d see in the vegetable section of the grocery store or supermarket. Until then, I’d never seen white, green, or light purple eggplants. Interesting.
Now, how would I prepare my eggplants? I’d never done that before. I didn’t want them to just look pretty sitting in the fridge and then eventually spoil. What to do? What to do?
I happened to check out Simply Recipes, and by coincidence there was a recipe for Eggplant Relish, staring at me from my computer screen. Now, I knew what I’d make with the eggplants.
This recipe is another winner. It’s simple and tasty. I decided to serve on top of toasted French baguette slices. Next time, I’ll try bread sticks. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can also serve%2
Chicken Peanut Curry
September 22, 2005 | Filed Under African Recipes, Peanut Curry Sauce, Poultry, Vinaigrettes/Salsas/Sauces | Leave a Comment
Checking out the Simply Recipes blog for the first time the other day, I came across a recipe called Chicken Peanut Curry based on a West African meal. The recipe brought back another childhood food memory, which I didn’t mention in my meme.
I found it interesting because although I’d never cooked the food before, I did remember that the ingredients listed in the Chicken Peanut Curry recipe were totally different than the one used in the dish I ate as a child in Africa.
Not only were the ingredients different, the name, Chicken Peanut Curry, was also different from the one used in Africa. Here are the differences:
Current recipe:
Name: Chicken Peanut Curry
Ingredients: Curry powder, scallions, Serrano chili peppers, coriander seeds, mint and cilantro
Childhood recipe:
Name: Groundnut soup (but in the U.S. we call it Peanut Butter Soup because we use peanut butter)
Ingredients: Peanuts – roasted and finely ground, fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, shrimp powder, goat meat, fresh fish, smoked fish, or chicken
We hadn’t had this dish in a very long time – a couple of years, in fact. So, I decided to surprise my mother with the meal and see her reaction.
With the exception of one of the main ingredients – green onions – I found everything easily at the supermarket. I saw Spanish onions, red onions, white onions, yellow onions but no “green onions.” Nope, I couldn’t find them.
I returned home from grocery shopping and mentioned my dilemma to my sister who said she thought that green onions were scallions, but wasn’t sure. So, I looked it up on the Internet. She was right.
I couldn’t find “green onions.” You know why? Because there are no green-looking onions, that’s why! Silly me! Green onions are also known as SCALLIONS! Why don’t people just say scallions? At least, I know what those are. And why does it have two names? I know: Just to confuse me, that’s why. I made a second trip back to the grocery store to pick up my scallions/green onions.
After obtaining all the ingredients, the rest of the cooking process was uneventful. I prepared the meal according to the instructions. Even as I stirred in the peanut butter into the pot, I didn’t think it would taste like the groundnut soup of my childhood days. Finally trying the Chicken Peanut Curry, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted like the soup I remembered.
When my mother first tasted the food, she exclaimed in surprise, “This tastes like Peanut Butter Soup!” She went on to finish her meal. I didn’t have to ask her how it tasted because when she finished, she decreed the meal as, “Very good.” I think I pleasantly surprised her.
I told her the ingredients I used and she confirmed that she normally wouldn’t prepare the Groundnut Soup that way, but we agreed that the end results were the same – the Chicken Peanut Curry tasted similar and good. That’s what counts.
Paz
Chicken Peanut Curry
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces, cut into 1 1/2 inch wide chunks or strips 1/2 cup flour 4 Tbsp curry powder 2 teaspoons Kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground peppercorns 1/2 cup olive oil 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 2 Tbsp garlic, minced 2 serrano chili peppers, seeded, de-veined, minced 4 cups chicken broth 1/2 cup peanut butter (if using freshly ground peanuts, add 2 teaspoons of sugar) 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds 8 green onions, chopped, greens included 1/3 cup each finely chopped mint and cilantro 2 limes cut into wedges
1 – Rinse chicken and pat dry. In a small sturdy paper bag, combine the flour, curry powder, salt and pepper. Shake well. Add the chicken pieces and shake to coat well.
2 – Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Cook 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) tossing occasionally to cook chicken evenly. Add the ginger, garlic, chili pepper and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the saucepan. Cook for 3 minutes, scraping the pan with a spatula and stirring to combine everything well.
3 – Add the peanut butter, stirring quickly to incorporate it with the chicken. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of broth slowly, stirring continuously to maintain an even texture. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Right before serving, add the coriander and green onions. Salt to taste.
4 – Serve with rice. Top each serving with fresh cilantro and mint. Squeeze a little lime juice over it as well.
Serves 6-8.
