(Elise’s) Dad’s Fish Stew Recipe
March 31, 2008 | Filed Under Soup/Chowder/Gumbo, Seafood | 7 Comments
I found this super easy and delicious fish stew recipe on Simply Recipes. A recipe by Elise’s dad, called out to me, "Make me! Make me!" And make it, I did.
Elise suggests different types of fish to use like halibut, cod, sole, red snapper, sea bass, and white fish like cod, tilapia or sole. However, I had a craving for salmon, so that’s what I used instead. I loved my fish stew. As Elise points out, the clam juice is the key ingredient that makes the dish extra tasty. For those allergic to shellfish, Elise suggests using white wine, fish stock or water instead of the clam juice.
I’m going to make this fish stew AGAIN and next time, I think I’ll use red snapper. I’m craving red snapper, now. ;-) Elise’s thanks for sharing your dad’s recipe and please thank him for me.
Paz
(Elise’s) Dad’s Fish Stew Recipe
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Serves 4
- 6 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup of chopped onions
- 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 cup of fresh chopped tomato (about 1 medium sized tomato)
- 2 tsp of tomato paste.
- 8 oz of clam juice (or shellfish stock)
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 1 1/2 lb fish fillets (use halibut, cod, sole, red snapper, sea bass), cut into 2-inch pieces
- Touch of dry oregano, Tabasco, thyme, pepper
- Salt
1 Heat olive oil in heavy large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and garlic and sauté 4 minutes. Add parsley and stir 2 minutes. Add tomato, tomato paste and cook 2 minutes longer.
2 Add clam juice, dry white wine, and fish and simmer until fish is cooked through, less than 10 minutes. Add seasoning. Salt to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve.
New York Monday #116: Sun, sun, sun…
March 30, 2008 | Filed Under New York Monday | 8 Comments
… Here it comes
(Here Comes the Sun lyrics – The Beatles)
In the early morning, when the sun rises, its rays hit the building windows, turning them into gold. Happy Monday, all! Have a good one.
Paz
New York Monday #115: Colorful Fire Escapes
March 23, 2008 | Filed Under New York Monday | 11 Comments
Have a great week, all!
Paz
Novel Food #3: Leftovers with Dendi Oil (Palm Oil)
March 23, 2008 | Filed Under Novel Food, Food Blogging Events | 10 Comments
Miranda withdrew from the fridge clutching a small bowl of day-old rice, a grilled chicken breast, half a Vidalia onion, a green net bag holding a few grape tomatoes and a tiny tin of sliced black olives. She set the items on the counterop next to the stove. "I could order in Chinese. There’s a place near here that stays open until three on the weekends, or I could throw something together. I think."
"Bernard said you didn’t cook," Lucas smiled.
"Chopping and re-heating is not cooking."
"What can I do to help?"
[…] He leaned in close to her to scrape his garlic into a skillet where Miranda had started the rice dancing in hot vegetable oil with a dash of dendi, the bright orange oil extracted from the African palm of northern Brazil.
"My Avó Marie Estrella used dendi the way Italian cooks use olive oil, " Miranda told Lucas, who had begun slicing the chicken breast into strips. "She was a very good cook. That gene bypassed me and went to my sister, Calista. I got my other grandmother’s cooking ability. Grandma Ilene’s food was just awful. She thought she was the best cook in the world, though."
[…] Lucas ate heartily. This was truly the best meal he’d ever had, and it was only leftovers.
This entry is for the literary/culinary blogging event, Novel Food, which is hosted by Simona of Briciole and Lisa of Champaign Taste. Participants are asked to post their literary-inspired culinary creations.
The above excerpt comes from one of my favorite stories, CRUSH by Crystal Hubbard. It’s about a rock star, Lucas, who rescues a girl, Miranda, from being crushed when she attends his concert. Since the book is a romance, you can imagine what happens afterwards — they fall in love, of course. ;-)
Miranda is half Brazilian and in the book, she mentions her Brazilian grandmother’s cooking skills and she attempts to cook Brazilian cuisine. A familiar ingredient she uses is palm oil, a vegetable cooking oil used in Brazil and many other tropical countries. High in beta-carotene, it gives off a reddish color. It is very tasty and can be used as a preservative. However it is high in cholesterol, so it’s a good idea to use it sparingly.
The heroine’s use of palm oil reminded me of when I grew up in Africa as a young girl. We had different trees in the back yard, mango trees, guava trees and a great big, tall palm tree. I remember palm oil being used a lot in the kitchen.
Like Miranda, I also had leftovers in my fridge — rice, eggs instead of chicken, mixed vegetables, tomato paste instead of fresh tomatoes and Spanish olives instead of black olives. I also had onions and garlic. And what do you know, I had palm oil, too. So, I decided to make my own leftovers concoction with the special ingredient — palm oil — to tie it all together. I heated everything together in a skillet, added salt and pepper and served immediately. Mmmm… Not bad at all. Now I’m going look for a hungry, hot, fine-looking rock star to feed. Let’s see, who can I find? 
Oh, and Happy Easter!
Paz
Ed Note: Interested rock stars may apply here.
Oven-roasted Carrots
March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Carrots, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, Vegetables | 19 Comments
Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once recently made an enticing dish of roasted multi-colored carrots — purple, red, orange, whiteand yellow. When I go to the grocery store, all I ever see are orange carrots. I never knew they came in other colors other than orange. See what I learn from my fellow food bloggers? <very big grin> Well, I didn’t have the other colors but I did have a whole bunch of orange carrots in my fridge. So, I pulled them out to make my own oven roasted carrots. Guess what? I liked it! I really liked it! If I ever find the other colored carrots (maybe at a farmer’s market), I’ll buy them. Thanks, Haalo, for the recipe!
Paz
Oven-roasted Carrots
Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Garlic cloves
Orange-infused olive oil, optional
Drizzle them in a little olive oil, then grind over with salt and pepper - toss them well and then lay them out on a lined tray. Stud unpeeled garlic cloves amongst the carrots - these will caramelise in their skins as the carrots cook.
Bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F until slightly softened - turn them after 20 minutes to make sure they cook evenly. I like to keep a bit of a bite to the carrots but you if you like them softer, just cook them for longer.
You can serve them straight from the oven but I like to add an extra touch - a light drizzle of orange-infused Olive oil just lifts the flavour and adds an appealing citrus note.
New York Monday #114: Light Over Stairwell
March 16, 2008 | Filed Under New York Monday | 5 Comments
I like the architecure and details of the Neue Museum. I especially love the skylight ceiling that allows natural light into the building. Have a great week, all!
Paz
(Christine’s) Sunday Night Whole Roasted Chicken
March 10, 2008 | Filed Under Christine Cooks, Poultry | 17 Comments
I swear! There was a succulent chicken (a cornish hen) with deliciously cooked onions and portabella mushrooms swimming in the seasoned roasted chicken juices in the pan above. Really. Oh, my goodness! It was too delicious for words.
Christine of Christine Cooks made roasted chicken and one look at her chicken had my mouth watering. I finally had a chance to make it. So, where is the chicken in the photo, you ask? Well, after preparing this easy roasted chicken dish, we were starved. I didn’t have time to pick up the camera — I didn’t want to pick up the camera. "Food first, photograph later," my stomach commanded. When I finally did get the camera, there was nothing to photograph.
Oh, and Christine, my dogs have asked me to relay their thanks. You suggested frying the gibblets and feeding it to the kitties. Since I have dogs instead of cats, I fed it to my dogs. Oh, they were so happy.
Perhaps next time I’ll be able to take a photo of my roasted chicken. In the meantime, look here to see what Christine’s tasty roasted chicken looked like. Mmm Mmm good!
Paz
Sunday Night Whole Roasted Chicken
Christine’s original recipe
Ingredients:
1 whole fryer chicken, 3-4 pounds
1 large Meyer lemon
1 heaping tablespoon Italian herb seasoning
1 tablespoon smoked paprika, I used sweet but if you like it spicy, go for it
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled and left whole
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Olive oil
Preparation:
Remove the giblets from the cavity of the chicken. (Reserve the giblets for another use or cook them with the chicken. Or fry ‘em up, chop ‘em and give ‘em to your kitties.)
Wash the chicken thoroughly with cold water then pat dry both inside and out.
Rub olive oil over the entire chicken then rub the Italian herbs and the paprika all over the outside.
Slice the lemon in half and squeeze over the chicken. Put the lemons halves inside the cavity.
Sprinkle the chicken body with kosher salt and black pepper.
Truss the chicken by cutting a slit in each side of the vent, then bring a leg across and push the end through the opposite slit. Repeat with the other leg.
Scatter the garlic cloves and the mushrooms around the chicken. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the vegetables, cover with a tight fitting lid and place in a 375-degree oven for 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
To serve, slice the chicken and place on warmed plates. Be generous with the garlic and onions, as well as the delicious pan juices. A medley of roasted winter vegetables makes a well rounded meal.
Christine’s Notes:
No potatoes, polenta or pasta accompanied our meal but if I were to serve this to company, oven roasted potatoes, creamy polenta or pappardelle pasta would be a nice touch.
New York Monday #113: Naked Tree
March 9, 2008 | Filed Under New York Monday | 5 Comments
Have a great week!
Paz
Yellow Cupcakes: International Women’s Day
March 8, 2008 | Filed Under Movies, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, Kochtopf, Fiordisale, Cha no ma-ri, Yellow Foods, Cupcakes, Food Blogging Events, International Women's Day, Baking | 16 Comments
Cupcakes/Fairy Cakes - Nigella Bites
"If you train a man, you train an indiviual but if you train a woman, you train a whole nation."
Kwegha Aggrey, African educator
March 8 is International Women’s Day. It is an event, which recognizes the achievements of women worldwide. You can read more about it here and here
Earlier this year, Mari attended the Sundance Film Festival when "Half Life", a movie her cinematographer husband filmed, premiered there. During that time, she had a chance to see other films, which she shared with her readers. The story of one documentary, "Puujee", stayed with me for quiet some time. Japanese photographer Yoshiharu Sekino followed and filmed the lives of a nomadic Mongolian family. There are three inspiring women in this documentary: Puujee, as Mari describes, a "fiesty and independent-spirited" 7-year old, her "amazing" mother and "sweet" grandmother. All were accomplished women in their own way despite surviving a series of tradegies. International Women’s Day reminds me of them.
Zorra (Kochtopf) and Fiordisale put together an event, where food bloggers were asked to cook/bake something yellow for International Women’s day. I decided to make these simple cupcakes, which I found on Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once. The recipe comes from Nigella Bites.
Please excuse me while I go eat another cupcake.
Later!
Paz
Announcement: International Women’s Day
March 4, 2008 | Filed Under International Women's Day, Announcements | Leave a Comment
Here’s an invitation from Zorra to participate in the Yellow Food for International Women’s Day event. I hope you can join in on the fun.
Paz
* * * * *
p.s. Men are more than welcome to participate, too!
* * * * *
