A brief review of food magazines and salmon in chermoula and Israeli cous cous

A brief review of food magazines and salmon in chermoula and Israeli cous cous

18 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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I subscribe to a number of food-related magazines: Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens, Cooks Illustrated and Food & Wine.

I think, this year, I’m going to trade Real Simple for Rachael Ray’s magazine. I’ve been thoroughly unimpressed with the general lack of flavor in Real Simple’s food section, even though I really like the concept of a magazine dedicated to organization.

Anyway, if I had to personify these magazines — personifying inanimate objects is, after all, one of my favorite pastimes — Better Homes and Gardens would be the hippy, organic-only, down-to-earth friend that is best sought out for hiking or an outdoor arts fest. Real Simple is the Type A, completely put together friend who gives the best logic-filled advice. Cooks Illustrated is the super intellectual, museum-g0ing, lover of science. And Food & Wine is the snobby, rich, designer-clothes-wearing friend who throws the best parties and is most fun after a few glasses of wine.

Food & Wine likes to put fancy names on their recipes and use the most expensive, hard-to-find ingredients out there. They also like to use the most involved cooking methods out there.

I rarely make a recipe of theirs, because 1) I probably haven’t even heard of half the ingredients listed so there’s no clues as to how the dish will taste, and 2) I don’t have the time to search through 16 specialty grocery stores, located miles from each other, for freaking wheat berries or whatever .

But occasionally, I realize that a recipe isn’t as scary as it sounds, and I might know where to find all the ingredients, and then I’ll go ahead and try it.

Such as the case with this salmon (original F&W recipe here). Basically you marinate this salmon in chermoula, which is, specifically an Algerian seafood marinade, and then you grill it, and serve it atop this fancy cous cous.

I daresay this is the best salmon I’ve ever cooked. Perhaps it’s because I forgot it was in the fridge, and let it sit in the marinade for over a week. Perhaps it’s because it was grilled to perfection. I don’t know. Whatever it was, I’m going to do it exactly the same the next time I make it.

The recipe includes a sauce composed mostly of ground up cooked mushrooms, tahini (which is a paste made from sesame seeds) and dill. I made up my own sauce, after I didn’t love the F&W version. I found theirs too bitter. Mine is still full of mushrooms, tahini and a bit of dill, but I tried to soften the flavors a bit, so it didn’t over power the salmon infused with the delicate herbal marinade.

So I started by putting my fish fillets into a baggie with the chermoula  — made with fresh cilantro, oil (I used sunflower, but you could use canola or vegetable),  freshly minced garlic, freshly minced ginger, salt, paprika, turmeric and cumin.

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Filed Under: Fish, Gluten-free, Sauces & Dips
Slow cooker ranch pork chops

Slow cooker ranch pork chops

13 May, 2013 by · 1 Comment

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Let me share something that really bothers me. Like, really bothers me. I really hate it when people use “like” to mock people’s speech. On Facebook the other day, I saw a guy make fun of a young couple in a drugstore, who were, in reality, probably really obnoxious. But he was making fun of what they were saying and inserted “like” as every other word. I really doubt they were using it that often.

Coming from California, the state which I believe has ownership of “like” as our colloquialism, I was offended! I don’t know if I say, “like” a lot, but I certainly write it a lot. In chats, in emails and certainly on this blog.

Why does “wicked” (a la Boston) and “ya’ll” (a la the South) and “eh” (a la Canada) and “n’at” (a la Pittsburgh) get a free pass, but suddenly I use “like,” and I’m likened to a 15-year-old girl? Not fair.

Clearly there are more important things of which to chose to be offended, and clearly there are bigger problems in the world. But can we please just get over speech stereotypes, in general. And while we’re changing the world for the better, let’s all make this super easy, super painless, super delicious dish of ranch potatoes and pork chops.

I seriously threw this together in, like, 10 minutes before I left for work. And came home, steamed some broccoli and served dinner. Easy peasy, guys!

I got this recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff.

I started by spray my slow cooker insert with cooking spray, which isn’t something I normally do, but the recipe recommended it. Then I cubed some potatoes into bite-sized cubes and threw them in there.

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[Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget-friendly, Pork, Slow cooker
Overstuffed chicken and broccoli stromboli, or something

Overstuffed chicken and broccoli stromboli, or something

11 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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There are a lot of names for the variety of Italian things that are like different ways to combine pizza dough and toppings. Calzones. Strombolis. Pepperoni rolls. P’zones. (Is that a real thing or just a like fast-food, pizza chain thing? I don’t even know. It doesn’t sound real.)

My confusion of these terms led to the visual downfall of this meal. It still tasted delicious, but appearance-wise it was a hot mess.

If I had properly understood that a calzone is essentially a pizza folded over on itself like an omelette and a stromboli is a stuffed sandwich, I think things would have worked out a lot better.

Whatever, we still ate this for lunches for several days, because it tasted fine.

I started with a rectangle of pizza dough. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breads, Poultry
Edamame and black bean summer salad

Edamame and black bean summer salad

9 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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Perhaps you’ve seen snippets of this summer salad lurking in the corner of more than one picture for more than one meal, because I’ve made it more than once. Because I’m obsessed with it. It’s hearty and healthy and fun and colorful and delicious and different. It would be perfect for a barbecue or, you know, all day every day.

Also, although there’s some initial chopping, this dish is fast and easy to make! It uses already-shelled edamame (found in the market’s frozen section) and canned black beans.

This recipe was adapted from Let’s Dish Recipes.

I started by sauteing some chopped red onion and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of melted butter. I added that mixture to a bowl with shelled, raw edamame, drained and rinsed black beans and chopped red pepper. (You could also totally roast the red pepper in the oven first, and I think that would be delicious!) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget-friendly, Gluten-free, Sides, Soups & Salads, Vegetarian
Jerk chicken casserole

Jerk chicken casserole

8 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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Do you want to know what I love about Jamaican jerk seasoning and Jamaican dishes, in general? There’s a solid appreciation for sweet and savory and spicy. It’s not all cayenne and it’s not all garlic, there is definitely a really great balance that appeals to all your taste buds.

Even in this casserole the other ingredients sans rub balance. There’s sweet, sweet potato, hearty black beans and savory chicken. It’s really kind of awesome.

When anything is called “jerk,” in the traditional and culinary sense, of course, it’s referring specifically to a spice rub, originating in Africa, that’s administered to pork, beef, chicken, fish, tofu or, um, even goat, according to Wikipedia.

This recipe is adapted from Betty Crocker.

I started by rubbing some chicken thighs with a mixture of salt, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, thyme and cayenne red pepper on both sides. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget-friendly, Poultry
Chicken casserole

Chicken casserole

6 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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I really like making this recipe at the beginning of the week because it’s perfect to take as leftovers in lunches or to have a square of as a snack.

It’s loaded with veggies and I feel like the leftovers always taste better than the just-out-of-the-oven version because the flavors have time to marry (or as my family says, fester!)

It’s pretty quick to make, although there is some chopping and stove top cooking involved.

This recipe comes from a Penseys spices catalog.

I started by sauteing some diced celery, diced onion, diced yellow and orange bell pepper, sliced mushroom and some chopped frozen broccoli in melted butter for about 10 minutes, until everything had softened. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget-friendly, Poultry, Weekday quickies
Slow cooker: French chicken

Slow cooker: French chicken

6 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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One of my favorite things in the kitchen is when there’s a bunch of ingredients that you don’t think will go together at all, and then you put them together and realize it’s an incredibly tasty combination. It’s like a little surprise. This past week that combination was: canned cranberries and French dressing. I don’t even really like those two things by themselves, but when they festered in the slow cooker for several hours, the combination was really incredible.

I made this meal in advance, adding the chicken, dressing and cranberries to a large baggie on Sunday night and then refrigerating it until I was ready to dump it into the slow cooker on Friday, which worked out really great. Unfortunately, I, somehow, forgot to take pictures during any of the stages other than the delicious, finished stage. (I think when I was putting the ingredients into the bag, I thought that I would just take pictures when I added it to the slow cooker and when I was adding it to the slower cooker, I thought I would just use the pictures I took of putting the ingredients into the bag.)

Anyway it was pretty easy, so I’m not sure step-by-step pictures are entirely necessary anyway.

I started by adding one can of whole-berry canned cranberry sauce, one cup of French dressing and three chicken breasts into a gallon-sized plastic bag. (If you can skip this step, if you’re not making this in advance.)

Once everything was in the bag, I sort of smashed it up to mix it and crush the cranberries, and then I chilled it until the day I used it in the slow cooker.

At that point, I just dumped everything in there, covered it and turned the slow cooker on. It’s really important this recipe cooks on low for no more than  6 hours. The sauce will thicken and burn if it’s on high, and the chicken can dry out if it cooks for much longer than six hours.

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SLOW COOKER FRENCH CHICKEN:

3 chicken breasts
16 ounces whole-berry canned cranberries
1 cup French dressing

Combine ingredients. If making it in advance, combine in a gallon-sized zipper bag and chill until use, up to one week. Otherwise, dump into slow cooker and cook, covered, on low for no more than six hours.

Printable recipe here.

Filed Under: Poultry, Slow cooker, Weekday quickies
Latkes

Latkes

5 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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When I was in college, my friends and I would gather at each other’s apartments for family dinners. I consider these semi-weekly events integral to my college experience. I’ve said this a thousand times, but making food for someone else, is giving part of yourself to them. Whether you use a family recipe that’s been handed down for five generations or something you found on the Internet, it’s time and love and work that you spent and gave and did to meet one of the most basic needs of another human.

My friends Lindsay and Anna lived together for a time, and one night one or both of them hosted latke night. Latkes are potato pancakes traditionally served during Hanukkah. The oil that the pancake fries in represents the tiny bit of oil that miraculously burned for eight days and eight nights. I bet I used more oil in making these than the oil that burned at the Second Temple of Ancient Israel. Lindsay describes it as an “ungodly amount of oil,” which is funny, given the circumstances.

I found the night Lindsay stood in the kitchen making latkes for us especially special, because latkes, like regular flour-filled pancakes, have to be made a couple at a time. She was feeding, like, 25 people and essentially had to stand over the stove all night flipping latkes and bringing them out for us to swarm.

I’ve been trying to master this recipe for a year now. Lindsay sent me the recipe when she read latkes as one of my goals from 2012. The secret really truly is squeezing as much water as physically possible from the shredded potatoes. It took me half a dozen separate attempts before I finally made a batch where I squeezed enough water out. (If there’s too much water, the pancakes fall apart and you get a big pile of hashbrowns, which are also delicious but not pancakes.)

I started my chopping one whole onion in my food process and dumping that into my mixing bowl. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Appetizers, Budget-friendly, Gluten-free, Sides, Vegetarian, Weekday quickies
Quinoa-crusted Dijon chicken

Quinoa-crusted Dijon chicken

1 May, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

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There are lots of ways people try to replicate fried chicken in healthier, oil-free ways. Whether it’s coating a chicken breast in crushed up cornflakes or panko breadcrumbs, none of them ever actually turn out tasting like fried chicken. This quinoa-coated chicken is no different. It doesn’t taste anything like fried chicken, but it’s delicious in its own right.

The cooked quinoa toasts up in the oven and emphasized its nuttiness, and it really complements the spicy Dijon mustard-coating of the chicken.

I adapted this recipe from Rachael Ray.

To start, I spread out some cooked quinoa on a baking sheet lined with a silpat pad. You can line yours with parchment paper or foil coated in cooking spray. I threw that in the oven. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Poultry
Slowcooker pepper-corn soup

Slowcooker pepper-corn soup

29 April, 2013 by · 1 Comment

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I hate corn on the cob. I know this is not OK. I know corn on the cob reminds people of summer and barbeques and lovely things. I’m sorry. I just hate it. It’s messy and the little strings from the husk get caught in my teeth and I always feel like I have butter and salt all over my face.

As a child, I made my parents shear off the kernels of corn from the cob, so I could eat my corn with a spoon.

But corn is one of the flavors of summers, so I have to find other ways to incorporate it into our meals and this pepper-corn soup is a really, really delicious way to do that.

I adapted this recipe from the April 2007 edition of Bon Appetit.

What I really like about it is that the red peppers are sauteed in a skillet with butter and that really brings out the flavor in them and it permeates through the whole soup. Also, there’s a potato thrown in there and I think that makes this soup filling and satisfying despite the absence of meat.

I started by processing some corn kernels with some chicken broth. The recipe called for a blender. Whatevs. Also, to make this completely vegetarian, feel free to use vegetable broth of water. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gluten-free, Slow cooker, Soups & Salads, Vegetarian, Weekday quickies
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