Roasted Salmon

It's Cinco de Mayo which means I am blogging about....salmon? Well, yes. Yes I am.

Monday I made roasted salmon with dill yogurt sauce which is one of our favorite spring/summer meals. In fact, I'm surprised I haven't blogged about it before. It is one of those great recipes that is easy enough for a weeknight by polished enough for entertaining. Pair it with roasted fresh (and local!) asparagus, and it is a great way to start (or finish) the week....happy (almost) Friday!

 
Roasted Salmon with Dill Yogurt Sauce
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
2 6-ounce fillets of salmon
1 cup of plain yogurt
3 TBL chopped fresh dill 
1 1/2 TBL chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Salt and Pepper

1. In a small bowl combine yogurt, dill, chives, and lemon zest. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place salmon fillets (skin side down) on top of it.
3. Generously top with yogurt sauce and bake for 15 minutes or until salmon is cooked through.Serve.

Salmon with Sauteed Spinach

Of all the meals I made last week, Wednesday's salmon with brown sugar and mustard glaze was my favorite. The recipe, from this month's Everyday Food, was beyond easy-- broiled salmon that is brushed with a simple glaze of shallots, whole grain mustard, red wine vinegar, and brown sugar. Originally I was going to serve this with a spinach salad but I realized when I got home from work on Wednesday that I was missing a key ingredient. So instead I decided to saute the spinach with garlic and a little olive oil instead. Yum. A healthy and delicious meal any day of the week.

Salmon with Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze
Adapted slightly from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
2 (6 oz) fillets of salmon
1 TBL olive oil
2 TBL finely minced shallot
2 TBL red wine vinegar
2 TBL whole grain mustard
2 TBL packed brown sugar
Sauteed spinach, optional (see recipe below)

1. Heat broiler. In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until slightly softened, about 2-3 minutes. Add vinegar and cook until slightly evaporated. Add mustard and brown sugar; stir until sugar dissolved and glaze is warm. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Place salmon fillets on foil-lined baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Broil for about 6 minutes or until opaque throughout. As soon as the salmon comes out, brush with as much glaze as you'd like. Serve on top of sauteed spinach if using.

Sauteed Spinach with Garlic

Ingredients:
2 TBL olive oil
3 cups baby spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add spinach and stir often. Just as the spinach starts to wilt, add minced garlic and toss. Continue to stir until spinach is wilted. Serve.

A Taste of Spring

Monday night we celebrated the end of February and the coming of Spring (hey, it's only 3 weeks away!) with a yummy salad from this month's Everyday Food. It was a winner-- light yet filling, easy, and encompassing a variety of flavors (salty, sweet, and spicy). We will definitely be making this one again soon.

Chicken Salad with Pineapple-Lime Dressing
Adapted slightly from Everyday Food

Ingredients: 
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 TBL lime juice (from 1 lime)
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons minced shallot
1/2 jalapeno, minced
6 TBL olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped pineapple
3 cups baby spinach
1/3 cup toasted cashews (I used a lightly salted variety)
3/4- 1 cup cubed or shredded chicken (I bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store which made it nice and easy)

1. In a small bowl whisk together lime zest, lime juice, honey, shallot and jalapeno. Add oil and whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in pineapple.
2. In a large bowl, add spinach, cashews, and chicken. Pour dressing over top and gently toss. Serve with your favorite bread.

Menu Monday

My fingers are crossed that this week will actually allow me to spend some quality time in the kitchen. Assuming all goes as planned, here's what's on tap:

Monday: Chicken Salad with Pineapple Lime Dressing (new recipe from this month's Everyday Food)
Tuesday: Leftover Vegetarian Bean Chili (which I made for dinner last night)
Wednesday: Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil (new recipe from SmittenKitchen)
Thursday: Baked Sweet Potatoes and Salad

Check back later this week!

A Change of Pace

After a weekend full of what I like to call "holiday fare" (rich, often carb-heavy meals capped off by cakes, pies and cookies), I was craving something different. So I decided to try out a recipe that caught my eye back in the late summer/early fall-- seared beef and noodle soup from the Everyday Food TV show. It is sort of poor man's pho (or what I imagine pho would be like given that I have never actually had it before). Martha's version was indeed easy-- seared meat sitting a top a bed of rice noodles covered in a mushroom broth and garnished with carrots, scallions and bean sprouts. It looked awesome and tasted....just ok. I really wanted to love this dish. It looked cool and it was a cinch to make, but it lacked the flavor I was hoping for. I was underwhelmed. I think I'll try it again but I'd recommend adding some ginger, some sirracha, and maybe even some fish sauce to try and liven things up. Ooo, maybe even some cilantro and/or basil at the end!If nothing else, it definitely inspired me to try real pho the next time we decide to eat Vietnamese!

Seared Beef and Noodle Soup
Adapted slightly from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
2 sirloin steaks about 1 inch thick
2 TBL olive oil
1 package of rice noodles
10 ounces of mushrooms, sliced (I used a combination of white mushrooms and portabello)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 cups of low-sodium beef broth
2 cups of water
2 TBL soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
4 scallions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced thinly
1 cup bean sprouts

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 TBL olive oil. Pat sirloin dry and season each side with salt and pepper. Sear 3 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside (tent with foil to keep warm).
2. Add remaining olive oil to pan. Add mushrooms and garlic. Saute until tender. Add beef broth, water, soy sauce, and vinegar. Let come to a boil (this is also when I'd add the freshly ground ginger, sirracha, and/or fish sauce next time around).
3. Meanwhile, place rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes until soft. Drain and set aside.
4. Slice meat on the diagonal. To serve, place some of the noodles in a bowl. Top with broth mixture and several slices of beef (don't worry if you don't like your meet medium-rare-- the hot broth will cook it a little more). Serve with chopsticks and a spoon!

Mmmmmm Macaroni!

I love me some macaroni and cheese. It really is the best comfort food there is, in my opinion anyway. But it’s not something I make very often. And that is because I’ve never found a recipe that I’ve liked as well as my grandmother’s (which, because it doesn’t have a recipe, is impossible to replicate).

But that excuse wasn’t cutting it for Jason any longer-- a month or so ago he started hinting that he’d really like macaroni and cheese for dinner sometime soon.  Then came October’s Everyday Food with its Three-Cheese and Bacon Macaroni cover recipe and the hinting became pleading.  How could I say no?

Thank goodness I gave in, because this recipe (from Emeril Lagasse’s monthly Everyday Food column) may rival my grandmother’s in terms of delciousness. It was SO good. And pretty easy too. Unlike other recipes I’ve tried in the past, this one does not require making a roux (flour+ butter) and adding milk that cooks until it thickens before melting in the cheese. Instead, this called for mixing evaporated milk, eggs, and three kinds of cheese adding in the cooked macaroni and bacon (BACON!) and letting it thicken in the oven.  But what I think I liked most was the addition of the garlic—it really added a depth of flavor that was absolutely yummy.

I highly recommend this dish for all the macaroni lovers out there!

Three-Cheese and Bacon Macaroni
Adapted, just barely, from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
½ pound elbow macaroni
3 slices of bacon, cut crosswise into ½ inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 large eggs
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
Two dashes of nutmeg
6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

1.Preheat oven to 475. In a large pot of boiling water, cook macaroni for 6 minutes (it will be undercooked).
2.Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat and add bacon. Cook until crisp, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon and garlic (while leaving the rendered fat) and place in medium-bowl.
3.When macaroni is ready, drain and add to the bacon. Toss to combine.
4.In a large bowl, mix together milk and eggs. Add nutmeg and cheeses. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in macaroni and bacon mixture.  Coat a 8- or 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray and spoon macaroni mixture into dish. Bake until sauce is bubbling around the edges. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Waiting for the Weekend

Is it Friday yet?

No?

Darn.

How about now?

(Sigh)…..Ok.

While we wait for the weekend together, here’s a recipe I tried out a couple of weeks ago for Soy-glazed Salmon with Watercress Salad from the most recent issue of Everyday Food. Very tasty. Very pretty (would be nice for entertaining). And the hardest part—learning how to supreme an orange. By the end I was getting pretty good. As with all things, practice makes perfect.

Soy-Glazed Salmon with Watercress Salad
From Everyday Food

Ingredients:
2 TBL soy sauce
4 teaspoons honey
2 oranges, peeled, flesh cut into segments and juice squeezed from them
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 TBL vegetable oil
2 salmon fillets
1 bunch watercress, thick ends trimmed
½ small red onion, thinly sliced

1.In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, honey, and orange juice to make the glaze. Season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 TBL glaze, 1 teaspoon honey, vinegar, and oil. Set aside.
2.Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Season salmon with salt and pepper and broil for 5 minutes. Brush with glaze and then broil until opaque throughout, about 3 more minutes. Brush with glaze once more.
3.Add orange segments, watercress, and onion to the dressing and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Divide salad among plates and top with salmon. Serve.

The Jason Seal of Approval

Last week was very meat heavy what with the southwestern brisket (which we ate several times given the large quantity it made) and our first foray into Korean BBQ Saturday night with our friends Matt and Stephanie. Given that, we decided that we needed to balance things out with more veggie-focused meals this week.

Last night we did just that, enjoying my first attempt at making a summer (and vegetarian) favorite—Gazpacho.  This could not be a better (or easier) meal—chop up some veggies, throw them in the blender, add seasonings to taste, and chill in the fridge for a few hours until ready to eat. It’s even better when you have farm fresh produce to put into it (like the tomatoes we bought during Saturday’s trip to the farmers market). Serve with some toasted, garlicky bread and you’ve got yourself a real crowd pleaser.

My aforementioned friend Stephanie recommended Everyday Food’s recipe so I used that as a base although I made some significant changes to the amounts (given the recipe was part of its “Cooking for One” column) as well as added a few ingredients to make it more our speed.  I think it turned out pretty well. I wasn’t sure how Jason would like it (he had never had gazpacho before) but the first words out of his mouth upon tasting were “I really like it. You’ll have to make this again.” Consider this recipe to be Jason-approved!

Gazpacho with Toasted Garlicky Bread
Adapted generously from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
½ large red pepper, diced
½ medium red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 TBL olive oil, plus more for serving
2 generous shots of hot sauce
Salt and pepper
French baguette, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced in half

1.Place 2-3 TBL each of the cucumber, red pepper, and red onion in a container and set aside for serving.
2.Place tomatoes into a blender or food processor and puree until almost smooth. Add remaining cucumber, red pepper, red onion, garlic, vinegar, 1 TBL olive oil, hot sauce, and generous amounts of salt and pepper. Puree until you reach the desired consistency.
3.Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (I left ours in for about 3 hours).
4.Right before serving, drizzle olive oil on each side of the sliced bread. Toast under the broiler until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes per side. Rub each side of toasted bread with garlic clove.
5.Check gazpacho for seasonings. Divide into two bowls. Top with reserved diced vegetables and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with garlicky bread.

Third Time's a Charm

Last weekend I happened to catch the TV show version of one of my favorite food magazines—Everyday Food.  (It comes on PBS in case you are interested). One of the recipes featured was Thai Beef with Red Chiles and Basil over Coconut Rice. I was intrigued enough to look the recipe up online and print it out right then and there, adding it to the list of this week’s meals.

What I didn’t know at the time, however, was that it would take not one, not two, but THREE trips to various grocery stores in our area to find one of the key ingredients—fish sauce.  Fish sauce is a staple in a lot of Asian cuisine (especially Thai and Vietnamese from what I can tell). It’s basically fermented fish (anchovies I think), sugar, and water. I was really surprised that they did not have it at my usual grocery store on Monday when I did this week’s shopping, especially considering they have a pretty large selection of international ingredients and Asian condiments in particular. So I sent Jason by the Whole Food yesterday on his way to get his hair cut after work to see if perhaps they might have it in stock---they did not. So I set out to yet another grocery store after work today to try and hunt down this illusive ingredient. Fortunately the third time proved to be the charm as good ol’ Giant had not one, not two, but THREE brands of fish sauce to choose from.

(I was pretty happy about that because I am fairly certain that I broke my toe earlier today when I stubbed it on the leg of the coffee table by mistake. And hobbling through the parking lot of one grocery store was about all I had in me...)

Overall I would say this dish was a success, although I am not going to lie—the fish sauce did smell a little funky. Jason asked me to put it on the “make again” list (this list, by the way, only exists in his head).  I thought it was good too but may up the chile and basil quotient next time around for a little more zing. But overall I'd say it's pretty darn yummy.

Today's mise en place--red chiles, garlic (from one enormous elephant garlic clove), basil

Thai Beef with Red Chiles and Basil over Coconut Rice
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups jasmine rice
1 can (13.5 ounces) coconut milk (I used light coconut milk in order to make it a little more healthy)
Salt
2 TBL plus 1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 TBL plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 TBL vegetable oil
3 normal sized garlic cloves or ½ one elephant garlic clove, chopped
2-3 long hot peppers or red jalapeno chiles, seeded and sliced into matchsticks
1 ¼ pounds ground beef sirloin
1 cup fresh basil coarsely chopped

1.In a medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, ¾ cup of water and ½ teaspoon coarse salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and cook (covered) until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, about 20-25 minutes.
2.Meanwhile combine fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl—set aside. When the rice is almost done, heat cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add oil. Then add garlic and half the chiles, stirring constantly for 15-30 seconds until fragrant. Add beef and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden or silicon spoon/spatula, until meat is completely browned (about 4-5 minutes). Note: I found there to be a significant amount of fat in the bottom of the pan which I drained off at this point although the original recipe did not say anything about this—you can drain or not drain as you would like.
3.Add soy mixture and cook for 30 seconds or so. Add basil and remaining chiles and stir to combine. Serve beef over coconut rice.

Making Use of a Mise en Place

That’s right I’m getting all fancy on you and breaking out French cooking terms! Cause that’s what Tuesdays are for (apparently).  “Mise en place” basically means “everything in its place” and refers to having all of the ingredients you need on hand, ready to go when it comes time to make a dish. It’s how professional kitchens operate---because if you had to wait for all your ingredients to get prepped it would take a lot longer for your meal to be made and served (which means the restaurant would not make as much money). Using a mise en place is good for the home cook as well—with all the prep work out of the way, you can pay more attention to cooking things appropriately and efficiently instead of getting distracted by those herbs you still need to chop.

Since I work at home and don’t have much of a commute, I am “home from work” a lot earlier than Jason.  Lately I’ve been doing all my prep work (building my mise en place if you will) as soon as work ends and then when Jason calls me and lets me know he’s on his way home, I can start the actual cooking. And still have dinner on the table when Jason walks in the door!

The use of a mise en place is particularly critical when making things like Pad Thai. Tonight was my first attempt at the dish and I would say it was mostly successful. But the cooking process is really all of three minutes so you have to have everything chopped and ready to go ahead of time. I decided to dip my toes into these untested Pad Thai waters with a scaled-down version that comes from this month’s issue of Everyday Food (where else!).  Jason liked the dish but as someone who has eaten Pad Thai a hundred times at various restaurants, I found the flavor to be somewhat lacking. However it was easy and good for a weeknight. And it’s inspired me to looking into more authentic Pad Thai recipes—so stay tuned!

My mise en place--peanuts, soy sauce mixture, scallion whites and garlic, cilantro and scallion greens

 

 

 

Vegetable Pad Thai
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
6 ounces dried, wide and flat rice noodles
1 TBL brown sugar
2 TBL fresh lime juice
3 TBL soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
¼ cup chopped peanuts

1.Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Turn off heat and add rice noodles and soak for 4 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water and set aside.
2.Once you have your mise en place ready to go, heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds. Add eggs and cook, scraping with a rubber spatula until eggs are cooked, about 30 seconds. Remove egg mixture and set aside.
3.Add noodles and soy sauce mixture to skillet. Toss constantly until noodles are soft and coated with sauce—about 1 minute. Add egg mixture and toss, gently breaking up eggs and letting it all mix together.
4.Top noodles with cilantro, scallion greens, and peanuts and serve.

A Kitchen Clambake (minus the clams)

By now y’all know me well enough to know just how much I love Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa).  I love her. I love her recipes. I love her house. And I secretly wish I could quit my day job (which I do actually enjoy) and become a self-taught cook/entrepreneur/store owner just like her.  While this is an unlikely scenario, I can learn to entertain like her. If you are familiar with her show, she almost always cooks some elegant yet homey meal for friends or her husband, Jeffrey. (Side note: there is something about Jeffrey that reminds me of Jason…maybe it’s because he is always so happy to eat Ina’s food and he always acts like whatever she makes on that particular day is THE BEST THING HE’S EVER EATEN and Jason does that with pretty much everything I make too.) On one particular show, she made a Kitchen Clambake where she filled a huge stockpot full of all kinds of seafood (mussels, shrimp, lobster, etc.), corn on the cob, potatoes and steamed it in white wine and stock. And she served it with crusty bread (to sop up the sauce) on a long table covered in newspaper. It looked awesome.  I’ve been waiting since the day I first saw that episode (probably several years ago now) to make that meal and serve it a large group of close friends.

Tonight… was not that night. (Sorry, if I got your hopes up there for a second.)

Instead I made a scaled down version of the kitchen clambake courtesy of Everyday Food. In this version, you make individual foil packets and fill them with fish, shrimp, sliced new potatoes, and corn on the cob, and cook it on the grill (or in our case in the oven) with a composite butter of dill and garlic. It wasn’t the showstopper of my dreams, but served with some lemon and dill asparagus, it was a nice weeknight meal for two. And as predicted, Jason thought it was one of the best meals I’ve ever made. Who needs more than that?!

New England Seafood Bake
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
2 TBL butter, room temperature
2 TBL finely chopped fresh dill, plus more for the asparagus if you decide to make that as a side
1 small garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper
2-3 red new potatoes (depending on size), scrubbed and thinly sliced
1 tilapia fillet, cut into two equal pieces
¼ lb of frozen uncooked shrimp, thawed
1 ear of corn, cut in half
½ lemon, thinly sliced (reserve the other half for the asparagus if you are making)
White wine (optional)

1.Preheat oven to 425. In a small bowl, combine butter, dill and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
2.Tear off two large pieces of aluminum foil. Divide ingredients evenly between the two pieces of foil and assemble packets. Start by arranging potatoes in a single layer on one-half of the foil. Top with tilapia, then shrimp. Place ½ corn on one side. Season with salt and pepper. Add a dollop or two of the butter and top with two lemon slices. Splash the top with a tablespoon or so of white wine if using. Fold foil over ingredients and crimp edges tightly to seal. Place on baking pan.
3.Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or so until potatoes are tender (note: I found the potatoes to still be a little al dente for my taste—next time I might consider par-boiling the potatoes or even sticking the slices in the microwave to give them a heads start on the rest of the ingredients which don’t require as much time to cook through).  Remove from oven, slit packets open and serve. If desired, serve was roasted asparagus with lemon and dill (see below).

To make asparagus—trim woody ends of asparagus. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet. Cook at 425 alongside the seafood packets. Squeeze half a lemon, top with reserved dill and serve.

I would be remiss if I discussed the joys of cooking with seafood and did not say something about the oil spill along the Gulf Coast that is threatening our nation’s food supply as well as the livelihood of American fisherman for years (and maybe even decades) to come (not to mention the environmental ramifications). The New York Times had a sobering article about the impact this will have not only on those living and working on the Gulf Coast but for those of us who enjoy the fruits of their labor on a regular basis.  Definitely worth a look if you have a free minute.

Adventures in Meal Planning

One of the things I like so much about reading other people’s blogs is having the ability to get a glimpse into how other people do things and what their life is like. It’s that opportunity to be a fly on the wall and to potentially learn from other people’s experiences (and in some cases, mistakes) that can be so entertaining and rewarding.  So in that spirit, I thought I would share a little bit of how we go about our weekly meal planning in the event that it might be useful to those of you out there.

Generally speaking, we make one trip to the grocery store per week, most often on Sunday morning. I know there are people out there who shop every few days to ensure they have fresh ingredients and/or to allow themselves more spontaneity in deciding what to eat on any given day. That doesn’t really work for us given our busy schedules, my dislike for grocery shopping in general, and my plan-ahead nature. So once a week works best for us.

Breakfast and lunch are super easy to plan for since Jason and I are both creatures of habit. We both eat cereal for breakfast 5 days a week; Jason will eat a banana and usually has some OJ in addition (I hate bananas and try not to drink sugar-y juices very often).  Jason usually brings his lunch to work and it almost always consists of a sandwich (turkey or ham with swiss or cheddar, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and mustard on a kaiser roll), an apple, and either a granola bar or pretzels.  I usually eat yogurt and crackers or fruit. So those things are always on the menu/grocery list.

Not surprisingly, dinner takes the most time to plan out.  Depending on our schedule (which can vary as a result of things like book club, working late, dinner out with friends, etc.), I usually plan on making dinner Sunday-Thursday.  (Fridays and Saturdays we usually eat out.)  Since January, I have tried to adhere to a few rules when planning out the week’s menu—at least one new recipe (to justify my many cookbooks, food blogs, and magazine subscriptions), one vegetarian recipe, and one light recipe per week.  Some weeks are easier than others to plan—sometimes Jason will have specific requests, sometimes I have a recipe that I have seen recently that I really want to try out, etc. Other weeks I have no idea what I want to make and then I turn to my cookbooks, recipe binder, and bookmarked blog recipes for inspiration. I also subscribe to two food magazines which help fuel our weekly menus as well—Everyday Food (which I’ve said before is a great source for simple, weeknight meals) and (more recently) Cook’s Illustrated.

Here is what we’ve got planned for this week:
Sunday: Salmon with Pinot Noir Mustard Sauce (new recipe)
Monday: Spring Vegetable Risotto (vegetarian recipe)
Tuesday: Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa and Corn (light recipe)
Wednesday: On our own (I am having dinner with a friend so Jason will likely eat leftover or something of his own making
Thursday: On our own


And that is meal planning in a nutshell. Do you plan your meals out ahead of time? Or are you more spontaneous in deciding what to eat for dinner each week?

Best Thursday Ever!

That is what Jason said when I told him this morning that we were having fish tacos for dinner. You know that game where people ask you if you were stuck on a desert island and you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? For Jason, I am pretty sure the answer would be fish tacos. Last year he went to San Diego for about 48 hours for a work trip and had fish tacos for dinner both nights. Fried, grilled, blackened…it doesn’t matter. If they are on the menu, he’s ordering them.

So I was not surprised when he came in from work last week with the latest edition of Everyday Food in his hand (90% of the time he gets the mail on his way in), pointed to the cover photo of…wait for it….fish tacos, and asked (very nicely) if I could please make those for dinner SOON.

How could I say no?

While I don’t know how authentic these fish tacos are (not being the connoisseur that he is), they were pretty easy to make. The ingredients are simple--broiled tilapia, red cabbage, chopped onion, and cilantro in a corn tortilla topped with a sauce made from sour cream, lime, and hot sauce (and I threw in a little cilantro—it just seemed like the right thing to do).  The verdict? According to Jason they were “excellent." He particularly enjoyed the sour cream sauce (as did I...the added cilantro was a good call). The only mistake-- not making much of a side dish to with it. I forgot that at restaurants we usually eat a basket of chips and salsa in addition to the tacos. Good thing we have some Ben and Jerry's Jamaican Me Crazy sorbet in the freezer!

Why do they call it red cabbage when it's really purple?

 

Fish Tacos with Cabbage and Lime
Adapted (a smidge) from Everyday Food
Ingredients:
2 fillets of boneless, skinless tilapia fillets, cut into thin strips
1 TBL olive oil
Salt and pepper
¼ cup sour cream (I used the light variety)
1 lime, one half finely zested and juiced with the other half cut into wedges
Hot sauce
6 corn tortillas
½ small head red cabbage, thinly sliced
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
½ small white onion, finely chopped

1.Heat broiler with rack in highest position. Pat fish dry and place on rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil until fish is brown on top and cooked through (about 5 minutes or less if you have really thin fillets like I did)
2.Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine sour cream, lime zest and juice (from half of the lime), about half of the chopped cilantro, and a few dashes of hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
3.Warm corn tortillas over gas burner (if you have it) or heat in the oven for 5 minutes until pliable.
4.Build your tacos—add fish and top with cabbage, cilantro, onion, and sour cream sauce. Serve with lime wedges.

Back to Reality

Tuesday’s relaxing return to life-as-I-know-it was short-lived. By yesterday, things had returned to their normal levels of activity. After a long day of out-of-the-office meetings, I came home and wanted nothing more than to relax. So I was understandably a bit annoyed with myself for having planned to try out a new recipe for dinner.

Lucky for me, the recipe ended up being ridiculously easy to make (I had to have subconsciously planned it that way, right?!). I decided to give Emeril’s Chicken -Patty Pockets (say that five times fast) from last month’s Everyday Food a whirl.  The Emeril I am referring to is, of course, famous New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse. (Do you think there are many other people out there named Emeril? Just curious.) A year or so ago he established a partnership with Martha Stewart’s empire and now has a monthly feature in Everyday Food. This was my first time trying out any of his recipes—Everyday Food or otherwise—and it turned out pretty well.

Basically you make mini-chicken burgers (which are seasoned with onion, parsley, garlic, and a variety of spices) and stuff them in pita along with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a Minted Yogurt Sauce. Everything was super easy to make and pretty good too. I was honestly surprised by how much I liked the chicken burger/patty/things.  I don’t know if it was the ground chicken (which I don’t think I’ve ever had before) or the combination of spices but it was surprisingly flavorful.  I might experiment with ground chicken again.

A couple of things to note if you decide to give this recipe a try—the original recipe called for ground dark-meat chicken. My grocery store only had one variety of packaged ground chicken and it did not specify if it was white, dark, or some combination (and to be honest, I didn’t really spend much time investigating). Whatever I had it worked just fine. My guess is that if you bought all white meat, it might be a little drier (because there is very little fat in white meat) which means you might need to tone down the breadcrumbs or add an additional egg to moisten it up. Also, the recipe said to make 8 patties from the meat…I ended up with 10 and they were still pretty big to stick in a pita pocket (I cut them in half in order to squeeze one whole chicken patty in each pita half). Next time I will look for some larger pitas or perhaps try flatbread instead as our poor pockets were bursting at the seams.

Emeril’s Chicken-Patty Pockets
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
1 pound ground chicken
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup dried breadcrumbs
¼ cup finely chopped onion
4 TBL of dried parsley or ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (I did not have fresh parsley so I went with dried)
1 TBL of minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cooking spray
Pita pockets or flatbread
Lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and cucumbers for serving
1 cup plain yogurt
2 TBL chopped mint
1 lime, juiced

1.Heat broiler, with rack in highest position. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.
2.In a large bowl combine chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, garlic salt, and spices and mix until well blended (I find the hands work best for mixing this type of thing). Shape chicken mixture into 8-10 patties and place onto sheet pan.
3.Make Minted Yogurt Sauce. In a small bowl, stir together yogurt, chopped mint, juice from 1 lime, salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
4.Broil until browned, about 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes more.
5.Cut a pita round in half. In each half place lettuce, 1-2 tomato slices, 1-2 cucumber slices and 1 chicken patty cut in half. Top with Minted Yogurt Sauce and serve.

Saturday (!) Night Dinner: Gnocchi Edition

As I mentioned yesterday, I am leaving today for the final trip of the work travel madness that began back in March (I am hopefully winging my way to the Midwest even as we speak). Since I was only going to be having half a weekend at home (on the heels of being gone the previous work week), Jason and I instituted a “no outside plans” policy yesterday so that we could spend some quality time with each other. Of course, life being life, we were inundated with social invitations from various friends and family members. But we stuck to our guns and had a pretty relaxing day just the two of us (with a few work obligations thrown in for good measure).

Sunday travel = no Sunday dinner, so I decided to make it Saturday Night Dinner. It was a good idea in theory but, for some reason, I had a really hard time coming up with anything I wanted to make.  I think all the travel and eating out has thrown me off my game. Usually I enjoy meal planning but it felt like such a chore yesterday trying to come up with something that I wanted to cook and that would provide some leftovers for Jason to eat tonight or tomorrow while I am gone. I ended up handing the recipe binder over to Jason and letting him decide. His pick? Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables from one of last year’s Everyday Food issues. I had not made this before but had saved it thinking it might make a quick and healthy meal sometime in the future. I am not sure what about it caught Jason’s eye but we decided to give it a shot.

It was definitely easy---sautéed squash, zucchini, and grape tomatoes combined with basil, parmesan cheese, and some lemon juice serve as a light sauce for frozen gnocchi.  While it didn’t blow me away, I’d probably make it again. Next time I’d add some red pepper flake to give it a little kick as it seemed to need a little something something—a comment complaint I've had with many of Everyday Food’s recipes (sorry Martha!). I might also try to find fresh gnocchi next time—the consistency of the frozen variety left a little something to be desired. Despite these small flaws, I’d say this dish is definitely a contender for a future weeknight meal and worth a try if you want something quick and easy.

Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
1 package frozen gnocchi (mine was 16 ounces)
1 TBL olive oil
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 yellow squash, quartered and sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
2 TBL grated parmesan cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1.Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt. Cook gnocchi according to package instructions.
2.Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add squash, zucchini, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to get tender (about 4-5 minutes).
3.Add tomatoes and cook until juices are released, about 3-4 minutes.
4.Reserve ½ cup of cooking liquid and drain gnocchi. Add gnocchi to the skillet and add enough of the cooking liquid to create a sauce (I added almost all of the ½ cup). Toss and let cook for about 30 seconds.
5.Remove from heat and stir in basic, cheese and lemon juice. Check for seasoning.