Zucchine Bread Takes Over the Freezer

It's that time of the year. The invasion of the giant zucchini. They seem to be very good at hiding when they are little. Turn your back on one for a day, and it has reached giganitc proportions. Eat them before they eat you!

What's a great way to do that? Why, zucchini bread of course.

I use a recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking. No egg, no dairy. Instead of egg, you whip flax seed and water. It really does end up with an eggy consistency. The recipe calls for a lot of oil. But also says you can substitute applesauce for half the oil. I do that, actually using more than half applesauce.

This bread contains many of good things: home grown zucchini, organic flour and sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, organic raising, flaxseed, and organic applesauce.  I have been doubling the recipe to make four loaves at a time.

It will make a nice reminder of summer when winter gets here.

Black and White Cookies

This is not the first time I have made these, it is not even the best job I have done making them, but I made a batch today and managed to remember to take a picture.

The recipe comes from Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Great little cookbook.

The cookies are lemony and good just as they are. But then they are iced with a white glaze, slightly flavored of almonds and a chocolate icing on top of that. Yum.

Who says Pizza isn't Healthy?

I have been wanting a spinach pizza for a while. I decided that since fresh organic spinach was a bit hard to come by right now, that I would try using frozen spinach. It worked great. So here is my recipe for a spinach pie, more of a guide than a recipe as I did not precisely measure anything once the dough was made, but it was the best pizza I have made in a long time.

The idea here is a layered  pizza. Make each layer taste good and the whole thing will be great! One layer consists of spinach sauteed with onion and nutmeg. One layer is seasoned mushrooms and onion, Then there is a bit of cheese and some additional toppings.

I began by making my favorite pizza dough.

Usually I form the pizza crust on a paddle and slide it into the oven so it is in direct contact with the heated pizza stone. But this is a pan pizza, so I formed the dough to fill a sheet pan.

I made this pie to suit two different tastes, one side is vegetarian and one is not. The non-vegetarian side has tomato sauce Turkey Bacon and black olives. The veg side goes heavy on the spinach does not have any tomato sauce and instead of Bacon, it has smoky tempeh. So really, suit yourself with the toppings. If you eat ham or bacon, they could be used instead of the tempeh or turkey bacon. If you hate olives, leave them off. If you love garlic, saute it with the spinach or 'shrooms.

The other ingredients are at the ready:

tomato sauce (optional)
one or two 10 oz packages of frozen spinach, thawed or partially thawed

8 oz of  fresh mushrooms, sliced

One onion finely chopped
1/2 onion thinly sliced
3 slices of Smoky Tempeh fried until slightly crisp and chopped

3 slices of Turkey Bacon, fried and chopped
organic cheddar cheese

black olives 
salt & pepper
nutmeg
Italian seasoning
Olive oil

First I prepared the tempeh by frying it up in some olive oil and then chopping it after it came from the pan.
Next I sauteed the sliced mushrooms with half of the chopped onions, adding a little black pepper to them. Reserve the cooked mushrooms.

Half of the pizza gets tomato sauce. I used some organic tomato sauce that happened to be open in the fridge. The other half of the pie can be lightly brushed with olive oil, or not. Sprinkle the entire pie with Italian Seasoning. 
Saute the sliced onion in a little olive oil. When it is done, distribute the onion slices over the entire crust.
Next, saute the thawed spinach in a bit more olive oil along with the rest of the chopped onion. The goal here is to evaporate most of the moisture left in the spinach while cooking it lightly. Add salt and a light sprinkle of fresh nutmeg. When the spinach no longer seems wet or juicy distribute it over the pie. I went heavier on the spinach on the veg side, lighter on the tomato side.

Add grated cheese lightly over the whole pie. Use your favorite flavorful cheese. I used organic cheddar. Distribute the reserved mushrooms over the spinach. Distribute the other toppings over the pie as you like. I put organic turkey bacon and black olives on the tomato side, and organic smoked tempeh on the spinach only side.

Pop the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes, slice and enjoy!

Happy Huffle-muffin Day!

Today is international Huffle-Muffin Day. Although Hufflepuffs are known for their love of muffins, today we have staged a mass bake-in. Members of the House of Hufflepuff bake muffins, then, before they are all gone, take and post a few pictures of their muffins.

 

I adapted a recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking to make Banana Nut Muffins. The recipe is actually for Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I like chocolate chips as much as the next guy, but I don't think they have a place in breakfast foods. So I left them out. I replaced some of the oil with applesauce and flax oil, and replaced the water with soy milk. I also added about a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon, because I like cinnamon.

I have discovered that some process photos are required, so here goes:
Prepping the muffin tins:

I like to use paper liners in my tins (because my dishwasher gets grumpy when I don't) but when making banana muffins, the muffin will stick to a paper liner. The solution is to either use foil muffin liners, with paper removed, or to try to oil the paper. My first attempt at oiling the paper with a spray like PAM failed, because the spray came out gloppy and ended up as pools of oil. This may be beacuase the product was old. I don't use it very much.
This time I greased the papers with some margarine. Results are OK.

Getting ingredients together:

 Bananas. Sugar in a  large bowl. Applesauce, flax seed oil and sunflower oil in a measuring cup. Dry ingredients in the yellow bowl. Below, some walnuts ready to be chopped.

I roughly chopped the bananas, too. Then I added them to the sugar, oil/applesauce mixture, mashing them up with the whisk as I added them. This incomplete mashing lets me keep some banana chunk in the muffins, but still lets the mashed portions work as an egg replacer.

The dough gets mixed:

 And placed into the muffin cups:

Resulting in yummy muffins. And as we all know, yumminess is why Hufflepuffs like Muffins.

My Adapted Recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin pans. Foil pan liners work if you remove the paper. Paper liners will stick unless you spay with oil or PAM

Mix together:
2 c unbleached flour
1-1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t. salt

In a measuring cup place

1/4 c. applesauce
and 1 T flax oil
add enough vegetable oil to make 1/3 cup

In a large bowl whisk together:
The measuring cup ingredients of oil and applesauce
1 cup sugar (raw organic)

4 chopped, then lightly mashed bananas
1/4-1/3 cup soy milk
1-1/2 t vanilla
1 cup of chopped walnuts

Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix everything together.
Divide the batter into muffin cups and cook for 20-25 minutes for small muffins or 25-30 minutes for large ones.

And just because I need one, here is a process collage:

Faux Pho-- A Vegan Noodle Soup

Faced with a bag full of strange greens, including Tatsoi, from the CSA this week I went online and found this recipe for a Faux Pho. I choose this recipe because it was vegan and because I thought I might successfully substitute the Tatsoi for Bok Choy. Oi!

We liked this light and flavorful soup alot and will definitely try it again.

As is often the case, I did not have the exact ingredients on hand to make the dish, so I made a few changes. Here is my slightly tweaked version of a very nice recipe.

Faux Pho

Ingredients

• 6 oz. Soba noodles
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil (mild flavored, such as peanut, vegetable, soy, or canola)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon crushed or ground szechuan peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• +-1/4 cup cooking oil (mild flavored, such as peanut, vegetable, soy, or canola)
• 2 baby bok choy, sliced----I used a head of Tatsoi
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced lengthwise
• 1 T sesame oil, divided
• 8 oz button mushrooms
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 1 tsp vegetable bouillon
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or tamari for gluten free)
• 1 handful fresh basil, shredded or sliced
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook the noodles according to package directions, then immediately drain, and rinse in cold water. Toss with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil to keep from sticking.
2. Add the ginger, szechuan peppercorns, crushed red pepper, and 2-3T of cooking oil to a small stock pot.  Mix together, then increase the heat to medium.  Allow the ingredients to sweat for 10 - 15 minutes.  They should become fragrant, but do not let them burn.
3. Add the carrots, onions, mushrooms and red bell pepper.  Saute for about 5 minutes, just long enough for the vegetables to begin to soften. Add minced garlic. Saute for about 2 minutes. 
4. Add the broth and bouillon and greens.
5. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then quickly reduce to a simmer. 
6. Add the soy sauce and the noodles.
7. Taste, then add salt and pepper as needed.  You may also want to add a little crushed red pepper or siracha sauce to add a little heat. 
8. Divide the soup, noodles, and vegetables into bowls, then garnish with the fresh basil.

An Unexpected Dinner (or What to do with Green Beans and Shitake)

I have no idea what to call this, but it sure was good.

As so many dinners do, this one began with triage, a look in the fridge to see what needed to be used most urgently.
What I found:

• green beans
• shitake mushrooms  
• turkey bacon* (or smoked tempeh)
• green onions

These were the necessities. The ingredients suggested a stir fry, as often happens when trying to connect a bunch of disparate ingredients.

Other players, things that happened to be on hand, included:

• carrots
• vegetable broth 
• carrots 
• onion
• garlic
• ginger
• an endless supply of peppers and jalapanos

Add some pantry items:

• spaghetti noodles
• safflower oil
• Sherry
• Vegetarian "oyster" sauce
• sesame oil

... and what did I get?

 I pre-cooked the end of season green beans. They were of mixed sizes. So the fat ones were snapped into smaller sizes and thrown in first to cook longer. Depending on the beans you may cook them for just 3 minutes or they may need more time (6-8minutes). Test them until they are the way you like them.

Slice the carrots into narrow sticks and throw them in with the beans to cook for about a minute. Scoop all the beans and carrots out of their pot and set them aside.
Using the same large pot of  water, cook the noodles until al dente.

Finely chop the turkey bacon and saute in some safflower oil until it no longer looks raw. Add the sliced shitake mushrooms to the same pan and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add the sliced white or yellow onions and one chopped jalapeno continue cooking over medium heat. Add the chopped ginger and the minced garlic. As everything starts to stick to the pan, add a bit of vegetable broth and about a tablespoon of sherry to deglaze the pan.

Check your noodles. When they are cooked, drain them, throw them back into the pan in which they were cooked and drizzle them with a tablespoon (more or less) of Sesame oil. Toss the noodles around to coat them with oil. This adds delicious flavor and keeps them from getting stuck together. 

Time to finish the dish. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of oyster sauce. If the dish seems to need more liquid, add another dash of veg broth. Add the cooked beans and carrots and the sliced green onions and toss everything around to heat up and get coated with sauce.

Serve over the noodles.

Notes: * Turkey bacon is more like ham or Canadian Bacon than like regular pork bacon. So if you need a substitute, use ham, not actual bacon. For vegetarians and vegans, try using smoked tempeh and taste for salt, you may need to add a bit.
Because of the turkey bacon and oyster sauce, this is a slightly salty dish, much more so than my usual cooking, but I actually liked it quite a bit.
For those of you who may be wondering, yes, there is a Hobbit reference in the title

Lemony Asian Tempeh

DH: Hey! What's for dinner?
ME: Don't know. We need to use some peppers, how about a sweet and sour?
DH: We have mushrooms, too. Why don't we use some of those?
ME: Don't usually put mushrooms in Sweet and Sour.
DH: What about that dish with the oranges?
ME: Uh, maybe.
DH (waxing nostalgic): Remember that great Chicken Bird's Nest we used to get with the lemon and mushrooms? Can you do something like that?
ME: Sure. Just so you know it won't have either chicken or a bird's nest

So you see why my husband wanted to call this post "Chicken Bird's Nest without the Chicken....or the bird's nest".

I based this dish on another favorite, an orange-y General Tang style tempeh dish.

Lemony Asian Tempeh

4 oz of tempeh, sliced
6 hot dried red peppers

the zest from 1 lemon- I used a microplane for a finely grated zest
2 cloves of minced garlic
About 3/4-1 cup of roughly chopped onion
one red pepper and one green pepper chopped in large bite sized pieces
2-3 carrots sliced
Optional, but good, broccoli florets
One large jalapeno, finely chopped
Mushrooms, sliced. I used three very large ones which yielded at least a cup sliced
Juice of one (juicy) lemon
2-4 T Chopped cilantro


For the sauce, mix together:
1/3 cup vegetable stock
1 T sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
1 T dry sherry
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
4 T sugar

Set aside 1 T cornstarch mixed with  2 T water

This will be served over rice, so start your rice.  Parboil and drain the broccoli if using. It should be al dente.

Saute the tempeh in a very large pan or wok until nicely browned. Remove from heat. In the hot oil, cook the dried hot peppers until they look black, but do not burn them. Reduce the heat if they seem to be burning.

Throw the onions and mushrooms into the hot pan and cook them until the onions start to go translucent. Toss in the jalapenos and the carrots, cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the garlic, and finally the peppers.  Keep stir frying until the veg is nearly tender.

Give the sauce ingredients (from veg stock through sugar) a stir, and throw in the pan. Bring it to a bubble.  Add the lemon juice.

Stir in the cornstarch mixture and let the sauce thicken a little, throw in the broccoli to heat it up. Before serving, stir in the lemon zest and top with cilantro. Serve over rice.

Notes: Do use a washed organic lemon when you are making your lemon zest.
Also use organic cornstarch in order to avoid GMO corn products.
I try to use organic everything because I don't like eating pesticides and frankenfoods.

Chili!

Chili has been one of my favorite things since I was a kid. My husband does not usually share my enthusiasm. But sometimes the time is right for chili. Like when you have lots of lovely cilantro, pepper and cherry tomatoes growing on the porch, a bit of leftover tomato paste in the fridge, but very little energy and are feeling like a little comfort food.

Cilantro, basil, red pepper, celery, orange peppers, sage, rosemary,
parsley and thyme, off camera, there are some jalapenos

 This is a vegetarian chili, made with finely chopped tempeh to stand in for the meat. The "fixin's" or condiments add freshness and texture. Sour cream and cheese are good toppings too, if you eat dairy. Sometimes I do go for a bit of vegan sour cream.

Chopped cilantro, onions, black olives and cherry tomatoes

Vegan Chili

About 6 oz of tempeh, chopped into a 1/4" dice
one large chopped onion
one chopped bell pepper, any color
2-3 finely chopped jalapenos
2-3 large cloves of garlic, finely minced
3-4 T olive oil
1 T. cumin
1 T. chili powder, I used a combination of ancho and chipotle
1 t. smoked paprika, because I like it
1/2 t. turmeric, because it's good for you
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
a dash of liquid smoke
6 oz of tomato paste
1-1-1/2 cups of water (or veg broth or beer)
Salt to taste, I stared with about 1/2 t.
Juice of one lime
If you want it hotter, add some pepper flakes or hot sauce

This is easy, peasy. Start with about 2 T of olive oil in a medium hot pan. Cook the tempeh. It will probably break up a bit more. This is good. When the tempeh is nicely golden brown, add the onions and saute. As you are cooking the tempeh and the veg, add more olive oil and adjust the heat to keep things from burning. A little golden brown is OK, dark brown or black, not so good.

Add the jalapenos, bell pepper and last of all the garlic. Keep an eye on the garlic so it doesn't burn. Add the spices and all seasonings, then the tomato paste and water. Simmer until everything is well blended. Serve over organic Blue Corn Chips with condiments everyone can add at will.

This is usually when I work on the condiments. all are optional, use what you like and add your own:

• Finely chopped onion
• Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• sliced black olives
• chopped cilantro
• Vegan sour cream, (regular)
• grated cheese, vegan or regular
• salsa

Clam Chowder

There are lots of different kinds of Clam Chowder. New England Clam Chowder is cream based and very thick. Some of it is so thick you could stand a spoon up in it. Sort of seems like a heart attack in a bowl. Then there is Manhattan Style Clam Chowder, which is a lighter tomato based soup.
Then there is the Hatteras Style. Hatteras Clam Chowder is all about the clam broth and seasonings.

A lot of Clam Chowder, whether Manhattan, New England or Hatteras Style contains bacon.  Mine doesn't. Bacon is totally unnecessary and tends to dominate.

I don't actually live near the sea, so I make this with bottled clam broth, and canned clams. This makes it an easy pantry dish even in the heart of winter when  we're snowed in and can't get out to the store.

So here is my take on Clam Chowder. It is made with lots of fresh herbs.

Almost Hatteras Style Clam Chowder

3-4 cans of chopped clams
24 oz of clam broth
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1-1/2 cups diced potato

3/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced carrot (more if you love carrots)
3/4 cup chopped celery
2-3 teaspoons dried Italian Seasoning
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 t dried
one sprig of fresh rosemary (if you don't have it fresh, it is OK to leave it out)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
olive oil
                                                                                    salt and pepper to taste


Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, throw in the potatoes and begin to brown them a little. Cook the potatoes for about 5 minutes. Add the onions, cook them for another 4-5 minutes, add the carrots and celery, dried herbs, fresh thyme and rosemary. Keep cooking. Don't worry about a little light brown crust stuck to the pan, but be careful not to burn anything.  When it looks like everything is starting to seriously stick to the pan, deglaze with about 1/4-1/2 cup vegetable broth and scape up the brown bits.

Add the clam broth and heat to a simmer. Open the canned clams and drain the broth into the soup. Test a potato and the carrots to see if they are nearly tender if yes, then proceed. If not, then let them cook a few minutes more. Add salt and pepper as desired. I use about 1/4-1/2 t. each. When all the broth gets hot and the vegetables are cooked enough for your taste, add the clams.

When the soup returns to a simmer, throw in half the parsley and give it a stir. Use the rest to garnish the individual servings.

This was an excellent dinner served with fresh baked bread and a salad.

Why Gnomes Cook

I cook at home nearly every night. It isnot always interesting food or photo-worthy, but it is usually tasty and mostly healthy. I don't necessarily cook because I love coooking, but I do like to eat and I like to know what I'm eating. This is what real food looks like:

I don't eat fast food. Fast food is terrible for you. And once you realize what's in it, it's pretty gross, kids.

Here are some recent reasons revelations about what is being feed to humans by the corporations these days:

What's in your burger? It's not meat.

How about the chicken McNuggets? What the hell is that stuff, anyway?
Another link to photos of what is hiding in McNuggets.

To be fair, it is probably all Chicken Nuggets made from conventionally grown chickens. Chickens and livestock are fed GMO corn and various additives. Chickens are fed ARSENIC and other chemicals to make them grow and to color the meat to make it look good. Do you find arsenic to be appetizing? I don't.

USDA standards do not allow arsenic in organic-chicken feed. So buying organic offers some protection.

How about some yummy GMO's? Eat them at your peril.
GMO Links to tumors , the toxic things GMO do to your innards

So I cook at home using organic ingredients. Restaurants and packaged foods you buy at the grocery store are full of bad chemicals and GMOs.

The mainstream news doesn't usually report on how toxic the food is. In fact they are into refuting the benefits of organic foods. But if you want to know more, do some of your own searches on the internet. Here are some older articles I have collected about what you are really eating.

It Came from the Freezer

We have lovely fresh green beans from the garden and needed something to go with. So Veggie Burger it is. These home made burgers are good and freeze well.

I found this recipe on the Food Network. To be frank, I don't like Guy Fieri. I find his shows unwatchable and most of his food is unappealing, but this is a good recipe, perhaps because it originated with his vegetarian sister. I have made a few changes in the recipe. I use kidney bean instead of chickpeas, and leave out the artichoke hearts. Sometimes I leave out the egg and use a substitute.

I made some fresh buns and with a side of organic fries, it is filling and even somewhat healthy.

Making Bread

I make all of our bread. Why? Because that way I know exactly what's in it. I only use organic flour. My bread doesn't contain any hidden dairy or animal products or unpronounceable chemicals. One of the most revolting ingredients in commercially made bread is L-cysteine, which according to this article is sourced from human hair. 

Mix this bread up about once a week and have fresh rolls or loaves every day!
This is my everyday recipe, adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. The book contains lots of information about bread making and many recipes.
Equipment that can be helpful includes:

A very large bowl to mix, rise and store dough. I use a 5 quart stainless steel bowl.
A Pizza or baking stone. You can bake directly on the stone, no pans to clean.
A pizza peel. This item is optional, but I use it as a surface on which the dough can rise before baking and way to transfer the bread from the oven to the cooling rack.
A pastry scraper, to move the dough or baked rolls, substitute a metal spatula until you become a dedicated breadmaker.

In a large bowl mix together the following ingredients in the order they are listed.

• 3 cups warm water
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons yeast
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt
• 1/3 cup oat bran*
• 2-2/3 cup whole wheat flour*
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups bread flour or all purpose flour*

Place water in a very large bowl. Stir in yeast and salt. Stir until the yeast begins to dissolve. Add the bran and whole wheat flour. Mix well. Use a whisk for as long as it works. You may need to switch to a spatula when the dough gets thick. Finally add the last 2-1/2 to 3 cups of bread flour. Stop adding flour when the dough is till sticky and wet. DO NOT Knead. Just mix everything together.

The goal is a rather loose, moist well-mixed dough. You do not want to add so much flour that the dough is dry or stiff. 


Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a pot lid. Allow the dough to rise for two hours. After the dough has risen, place the bowl in the refrigerator for one hour or more. Although you can begin making bread immediately after the dough has risen, refrigerating the dough will make it much easier to handle. 

When you are ready to make bread, remove the dough from the fridge and tear off a piece of dough. Form the dough into a round loaf or into large rolls. I make rolls and use about 1/3 cup or a nice handful for each roll. Make as much bread as you need and put the rest back in the fridge, covered. I usually cover with a piece of plastic wrap and a large pot lid. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the loaf or rolls onto a generously floured pizza/bread peel or cutting board. Let the dough rest while the oven comes up to temp, 20-40 minutes, less time for rolls, more for a loaf. 


Bake the bread on a pizza or baking stone for best results. Alternatively, the bread can be placed on a cookie sheet to rest/rise and then slide the cookie sheet into the oven when ready.
Bake rolls for 12-15 minutes and a loaf for about 30-40 minutes. 

Loaves can also be made in a bread pan. This amount of dough will make make two loaves. If making loaves, let the dough rise again for at least an hour, or up to two hours if the dough comes from the fridge. 


Notes: ***The dry ingredients (bran, WW flour and bread flour) in this recipe equal ~5-1/2-6 cups total. You can vary the ingredients somewhat as long as you keep the wet to dry ratios the same. For example, use more whole wheat flour and less bread flour, add 3 T flax seed in place of the same amount of flour, use up to one cup of oatmeal instead of flour or eliminate the bran and use an equal amount of flour instead. Just strive for about 5-1/2 total cups of any variety of flour/bran/flax/oatmeal.

I think this is the easiest bread in the world because I always have dough on hand and can form and bake rolls in about 1/2 hour. I make the dough about once a week and like the book says it takes only a few minutes a day to make fresh crusty bread. The book will provide a whole lot of fine points about equipment, mixing, and forming the loaves along with many recipes.

Singapore Sling

You were expecting maybe a drink with an umbrella in it?

No, this is just my take on Singapore Noodles.
We had a really delicious version of this dish at Cafe Asia in Roanoke, VA recently. So I am going to start working on making it at home. I found a recipe in World Vegan Feasts that gives me a place to start.

The ingredients included some julienned vegetables, some tempeh, rice vermicelli, curry powder and turmeric.

Since I stayed pretty close to the published recipe, I will not repeat it here. Once all the vegetables are prepped, the cooking doesn't take long, but the prep took me a very long time. It was good, but not yet great. Needs tweaking.

Leftovers

Broiled Salmon with Sesame Noodles and Organic Kale

Asian Salmon Cake Sandwiches with a Fresh Garden Salad,
French Fries and a little Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo

chopped tomatoes, I use cherry tomatoes

finely minced onion

finely minced jalapeno pepper 

lime juice

cilantro

I always make it fresh and only enough for one meal. The proportions are not critical, but approximately 2 parts tomato to 1 part each of onion and jalapeno, the juice of a lime and as much cilantro as you like. 

Pico goes with fish, on chili, or any kind of Mexican food like tostadas, burritos or quesadillas. Or just eat it as a salad.

Asian Salmon Cakes

Asian Salmon Cakes are a dish I like to make when we have cilantro growing.
I usually serve them with Sesame-Peanut Noodles.
This dish began after we ate some tuna burgers at the Roanoke Food Co-op. They were pretty tasty, so I tried to replicate them at home. I decided to substitute salmon for the tuna as a healthier option. As time went by, I tweaked them to my taste and here is the result.

The noodle dish contains a lot of things I like mixed together very roughly based on some sesame noodles I ate once at Whole Foods.

I have added some substitutions (in parentheses) for anyone with peanut allergies, although if you are completely allergic to nuts, these are not good dishes for you.

Asian Salmon Cakes

2 cans (or packets) of salmon, or leftover salmon, flaked, about 6-8 oz.
1/3 cup mayonaise
1/4 cup roughly chopped peanuts (cashews)
5 chopped scallions or 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon Thai seasoning
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup Panko, plus additional panko to coat the cakes
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix all ingredients together, including 1/2 cup of the panko. Form into 6 patties. Heat oil over medium heat. Put some panko onto a plate. Dip each patty into panko to coat before placing it in the pan to cook. Cook on each side until golden brown. Serve with a slice of lime.

Sesame-Peanut Noodles

1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts (cashews)
1/4 cup finely minced onion or green onion
1 grated carrot
2 T. finely minced green or red pepper
1 finely minced jalapeno (optional)
1/8-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Chopped cilantro to garnish

Place all of these ingredients in a large bowl and mix them together.

Cook 6-8 oz of spaghetti noodles in boiling water until al dente.

While the noodles are cooking, make the sauce, by mixing together:

3 T. soy sauce
1-1/2 T rice vinegar
1 T smooth peanut butter (tahini)
1-1/2 t sugar
3 T sesame oil
1 t. Thai seasoning

I use a whisk to mix these ingredients together. Otherwise it is hard to mix in the peanut butter (or tahini).
Have the sauce ready when the noodles come off the heat. When the noodles are cooked, drain them and dump them into the large bowl with the chopped ingredients. Pour the sauce over while the noodles are still hot and toss everything together. Add cilantro if you like.

Crab Rolls!

It's leftover night. We had snow crab legs a night or two ago. When there is leftover crab, I like to make crab rolls. They remind me of lobster rolls on the Maine coast. Pick the crab out of the shells and mix with a little mayo. We also had some potato salad leftover, so it made a perfect summertime treat.

Guest Chef: Chicken Marsala

 

Served with a Fresh Garden Salad and Potato Cakes

Chicken Marsala is a relatively simple dish to make. Not a lot of ingredients required and no complicated cooking techniques involved.

Chicken Marsala
serves 2

1 boneless chicken breast, sliced thinly
olive oil
8 oz white mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced thinly lengthwise
1/2 t. dried thyme (or more)
2 cups of sweet Marsala
salt and pepper to taste
fresh chopped parsley

Saute the sliced chicken in olive oil over medium heat until just about done.  Remove from pan and reserve. Saute the onions and mushrooms in the same pan with a little more olive oil. Add the thyme and some pepper. When everything starts to brown, add the Marsala. Turn up the heat to high and let the Marsala reduce by at least half. Add the chicken back into the pan and heat through. Season to taste and top with parsley.

This is one of my favorite chicken dishes. Now the guest chef makes it more often than I do.