It's two for the price of one night. Both involve ground meat, and I've made both twice and they are quite yummy. The second iteration of the Spicy Beef patties was served differently as I didn't get any couscous when I was at the store (and forgot to put it on the list, so...) I think I liked it better as a burger than as a "steak" type food. So.
The Pacific Rim Pork is being put up because a friend loves the movie Pacific Rim, and said his son will be VERY EXCITED to get to make something to eat that purportedly comes from the place the movie is set in.
So on to the recipes!
Pacific Rim Pork, which was originally in "The New Family Cookbook for People with Diabetes" and was published in the Washington Post, with lots of tweaks by yours truly. Because I never met a recipe yet that I couldn't tweak to make it easier/less complicated...
3 (hahaha, make it six or seven and you might be approaching the amount I used) garlic, chopped
1 pound ground pork (I want to try this with ground turkey sometime, or a mix of pork and turkey)
1 tsp crushed red pepper (I admit that I cut back on this, but I keep my crushed red in the fridge, where it doesn't go flat--keep the paprika and chili powder in there too. Stays good way longer that way.)
one smallish bag of spinach--the current trend of steamer bags in the veggie aisle is handy, one of those, roughly two to three cups if you squish it down.
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon (or more) brown sugar
Mix the cornstarch, water, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Heat a largish frying pan on high heat and if you are using ground turkey add a teaspoon of oil. The pork provides plenty of grease all by itself. Put the meat in and break it up some, then add the red pepper flakes and garlic. Fry until the pork is nicely browned. If there is a lot of grease, drain some of it out. Add the spinach and once it isn't overflowing the frying pan add the cornstarch mixture and stir. It will congeal quickly into a goo (and have you ever noticed just how much shrinkage you get with cooked versus raw spinach? I mean, you start with a huge bowl full and end up with a couple tablespoons). I served it over rice. You can also add bok choy or snow peas to the pork as it is cooking, I think I will try that next time.
Recipe the second:
Spicy Beef Patties
1 carrot, grated
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons hot paprika (or 1 1/2 teaspoons regular paprika mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 pound ground beef
i bunch scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Mix yogurt, cilantro, 1 teaspoon of the paprika and a little salt together, set aside. This is sauce for the burgers.
Mix everything else together in a largish bowl with 3/4 teaspoon salt. Form it into patties and fry until done. I served them on hamburger buns with dollops of the sauce. I ended up with five bun size patties from this.
The Magpie
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Creamed salmon on toast
On my eternal quest to like salmon (I don't dislike it in particular, I just got scarred by a dish my mom made called Salmonloaf. Like meatloaf, if meatloaf was as dry as the desert and almost as tasty.
Confession time here. I like creamed chipped beef on toast. My dad was in the airforce, and he always called it s**t on a shingle...but there you are. I like it. Apparently he did too, because he's the one that made it. All of which I state to explain why I would be open to creamed meat on toast.
Anyway, this was really good. It is an adaptation of a recipe I found in a magazine a couple decades back.
Ingredients
1 pound salmon fillet
black pepper
2 cups frozen corn (or canned, or shuck, cook, and cut the cobs if you want--it's probably better that way, but I'm a big fan of do it the easy way)
2 cups whole milk, (1 1/2 cups for the base, 1/2 cup to mix with flour to get the creamy part of this happening)
1 onion, sliced, and halve the slices
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper (as you wish)
1 teaspoon dried dill (the green stuff, not the seeds)
toasted bread (I used a French/Italian loaf, not the long skinny baguette, the fatter loaf that is really good to use for Texas or French toast)
Salt and pepper the salmon fillet, and grill until it flakes easily. It will cook a little more in the sauce stuff.
Put 1 1/2 cups milk and sliced onion into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for about five minutes. Remove the onion slices, and add the corn to the flavored milk, bring to a boil. Mix the flour with the remaining half cup of milk, and add the salt and pepper to it. Pour the mixture into the corn and milk and stir until it is fairly thick, no more than five to ten minutes. Add the flaked salmon and the dill to the pan, stir to incorporate. Serve on toasted bread. I served this with steamed green peas. I think that string beans would also be good with it.
My husband had some of the leftovers for lunch today and says it is very good warmed over.
Confession time here. I like creamed chipped beef on toast. My dad was in the airforce, and he always called it s**t on a shingle...but there you are. I like it. Apparently he did too, because he's the one that made it. All of which I state to explain why I would be open to creamed meat on toast.
Anyway, this was really good. It is an adaptation of a recipe I found in a magazine a couple decades back.
Ingredients
1 pound salmon fillet
black pepper
2 cups frozen corn (or canned, or shuck, cook, and cut the cobs if you want--it's probably better that way, but I'm a big fan of do it the easy way)
2 cups whole milk, (1 1/2 cups for the base, 1/2 cup to mix with flour to get the creamy part of this happening)
1 onion, sliced, and halve the slices
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper (as you wish)
1 teaspoon dried dill (the green stuff, not the seeds)
toasted bread (I used a French/Italian loaf, not the long skinny baguette, the fatter loaf that is really good to use for Texas or French toast)
Salt and pepper the salmon fillet, and grill until it flakes easily. It will cook a little more in the sauce stuff.
Put 1 1/2 cups milk and sliced onion into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for about five minutes. Remove the onion slices, and add the corn to the flavored milk, bring to a boil. Mix the flour with the remaining half cup of milk, and add the salt and pepper to it. Pour the mixture into the corn and milk and stir until it is fairly thick, no more than five to ten minutes. Add the flaked salmon and the dill to the pan, stir to incorporate. Serve on toasted bread. I served this with steamed green peas. I think that string beans would also be good with it.
My husband had some of the leftovers for lunch today and says it is very good warmed over.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Pork Chops with Plum Sauce
Pork Chops with Plum Sauce, with Buttered Egg Noodles and Steamed Green Beans
Original recipe was from the Washington Post. Adaptations by me.
Ingredients
Vegetable oil
4 pork chops
2 shallots, chopped fine
2 black plums, pitted and cubed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 package egg noodles
1/4 cup butter
fresh or frozen green beans
Preheat oven to 375. Put a pot of water on to heat for making the egg noodles, this will take around fifteen minutes or so to heat the water and about 5 to 7 minutes to cook the noodles. Heat oil in large frying pan over high heat. Salt and pepper the pork chops and brown in frying pan, takes roughly 4 minutes per side. When both sides are browned, place in a baking pan and finish cooking them in the oven, probably another fifteen minutes or so. Without wiping out the frying pan, add the shallots and cook until they are translucent. Add the plums, cook until they are mushy. Add the vinegar, sugar, and thyme, cook a minute or two longer, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Melt butter in the microwave. When the noodles are cooked, drain the noodles. Place in bowl and pour butter on top. Mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste.
I usually do steaming in the microwave as it takes less than five minutes (four minutes generally, in a recent--as in, model made within the last five years) and all you need is a glass bowl and a teensy bit of water. Place beans in bowl, sprinkle a teaspoon or so of water over, put a paper plate over the bowl to keep the steam in, and cook on high for four minutes.
I had about half the sauce left over so I have it in the freezer. I'm going to see how it tastes with chicken.
THE Magpie
Original recipe was from the Washington Post. Adaptations by me.
Ingredients
Vegetable oil
4 pork chops
2 shallots, chopped fine
2 black plums, pitted and cubed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 package egg noodles
1/4 cup butter
fresh or frozen green beans
Preheat oven to 375. Put a pot of water on to heat for making the egg noodles, this will take around fifteen minutes or so to heat the water and about 5 to 7 minutes to cook the noodles. Heat oil in large frying pan over high heat. Salt and pepper the pork chops and brown in frying pan, takes roughly 4 minutes per side. When both sides are browned, place in a baking pan and finish cooking them in the oven, probably another fifteen minutes or so. Without wiping out the frying pan, add the shallots and cook until they are translucent. Add the plums, cook until they are mushy. Add the vinegar, sugar, and thyme, cook a minute or two longer, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Melt butter in the microwave. When the noodles are cooked, drain the noodles. Place in bowl and pour butter on top. Mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste.
I usually do steaming in the microwave as it takes less than five minutes (four minutes generally, in a recent--as in, model made within the last five years) and all you need is a glass bowl and a teensy bit of water. Place beans in bowl, sprinkle a teaspoon or so of water over, put a paper plate over the bowl to keep the steam in, and cook on high for four minutes.
I had about half the sauce left over so I have it in the freezer. I'm going to see how it tastes with chicken.
THE Magpie
Monday, September 4, 2017
Curried noodles with veggies, tastes just like
Mei Fun. Which I love. This just has veggies, no eggs or meat although I may try doing the triple meat version we get from the local takeaway because YUM!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (which I don't have any of, so I substitute sherry because--well, because I always do although the senior taste tester looked it up and that is listed as the substitute, if you add some sugar to it)
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar (which is why I just used plain sherry this time)
1 tablespoon water
vermicelli size rice noodles
fresh ginger, peeled and chopped fine
1/4 head of green cabbage sliced very thin
1/2 of a red bell pepper, also sliced very thin
1/2 of a red onion, guess what? Yup, also sliced very thin
1/4 pound of snow peas, trimmed and cut in half on the diagonal
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt
2 teaspoons chile garlic paste (I didn't have any chile garlic paste but I did have Koon Chun Chili sauce and added a teaspoon of garlic powder to it
2 teaspoons curry powder (I used McCormick basic curry powder because I have it. I think when I make this again I'm going to try adding three teaspoons of curry powder)
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the rice noodles, remove from heat and let sit for three minutes. Then drain.
Stir together soy sauce, mirin (or sherry), sugar, and water, set aside.
Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok on high heat until very hot. Add cabbage, onion, pepper, and snow peas to the oil, sprinkle some salt on it and stir fry until`the cabbage and snow peas are bright green. Add ginger, chili paste (and garlic if using) and curry powder, stir around until all the veggies are coated with the spices. Reduce heat to low, add rice noodles and stir until coated with spices. Add the soy sauce mixture and stir until everything is coated. Serve.
THE Magpie
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (which I don't have any of, so I substitute sherry because--well, because I always do although the senior taste tester looked it up and that is listed as the substitute, if you add some sugar to it)
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar (which is why I just used plain sherry this time)
1 tablespoon water
vermicelli size rice noodles
fresh ginger, peeled and chopped fine
1/4 head of green cabbage sliced very thin
1/2 of a red bell pepper, also sliced very thin
1/2 of a red onion, guess what? Yup, also sliced very thin
1/4 pound of snow peas, trimmed and cut in half on the diagonal
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt
2 teaspoons chile garlic paste (I didn't have any chile garlic paste but I did have Koon Chun Chili sauce and added a teaspoon of garlic powder to it
2 teaspoons curry powder (I used McCormick basic curry powder because I have it. I think when I make this again I'm going to try adding three teaspoons of curry powder)
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the rice noodles, remove from heat and let sit for three minutes. Then drain.
Stir together soy sauce, mirin (or sherry), sugar, and water, set aside.
Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok on high heat until very hot. Add cabbage, onion, pepper, and snow peas to the oil, sprinkle some salt on it and stir fry until`the cabbage and snow peas are bright green. Add ginger, chili paste (and garlic if using) and curry powder, stir around until all the veggies are coated with the spices. Reduce heat to low, add rice noodles and stir until coated with spices. Add the soy sauce mixture and stir until everything is coated. Serve.
THE Magpie
Fish Stew
Brazilian style fish stew, to be precise. I thought it was quite delish, although my two taste testers weren't quite as enthralled with it. It is supposed to be served with rice to soak in the broth which I didn't have, so I used bread. It is also quite good the next day as leftovers. I was a bit nervous about this one, because it is quite different from anything else I've made--although I have a Thai recipe book that I hope to crack open and then coconut milk will be taking a starring role in my kitchen.
Anyway, it's been a long few weeks. I had way too many dud recipes, and then a migraine that lasted a week an a half. But I'm back cooking, and I now have two awesome recipes that I'll be putting up.
And on to the stew!
1 lb white fish fillets cut into bite size pieces The recipe called for cod, but our local grocery generally has flounder (frozen, eugh!) tilapia, and catfish. So I went with tilapia as being inoffensive and mild.
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (and if you get the bigger ones, cut into bite size pieces--I usually get whichever size is on sale, this time it was the ginormous shrimp)
lime juice
minced garlic (it called for 1 tablespoon...ha. hahaha...as if I would stint on garlic--there are two pounds of fish in this thing. One tablespoon of garlic for each pound of fish seems quite reasonable...)
2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced thin
1 can of diced tomatoes (or three fresh tomatoes, chopped)
cilantro leaves, whole (optional for those who don't like it, add parsley or spinach instead)
olive oil
one onion, diced
1/2 cube chicken bouillon and 1/2 cup water
1 can coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
Put fish, shrimp, 1/4 cup lime juice and half the garlic into a bowl, stir with a little salt and pepper. Set aside where the cats can't get at it.
Heat a couple tablespoons oil in a large pan. Saute the onion until transparent. Add peppers and remaining garlic, cook until the peppers are softened. And tomatoes, cilantro, and chicken bouillon cube with water, stir and bring to a boil. If using fresh tomatoes, cook for about five minutes. Add the coconut milk, stir around and bring back to a boil. Once it is boiling, gently place the fish and shrimp into the mixture and stir a little. Put a lid on the pan and cook until fish and shrimp are opaque/cooked through. Serve with rice. I think that Brazilian style black beans would also go well with this.
THE Magpie
Anyway, it's been a long few weeks. I had way too many dud recipes, and then a migraine that lasted a week an a half. But I'm back cooking, and I now have two awesome recipes that I'll be putting up.
And on to the stew!
1 lb white fish fillets cut into bite size pieces The recipe called for cod, but our local grocery generally has flounder (frozen, eugh!) tilapia, and catfish. So I went with tilapia as being inoffensive and mild.
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (and if you get the bigger ones, cut into bite size pieces--I usually get whichever size is on sale, this time it was the ginormous shrimp)
lime juice
minced garlic (it called for 1 tablespoon...ha. hahaha...as if I would stint on garlic--there are two pounds of fish in this thing. One tablespoon of garlic for each pound of fish seems quite reasonable...)
2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced thin
1 can of diced tomatoes (or three fresh tomatoes, chopped)
cilantro leaves, whole (optional for those who don't like it, add parsley or spinach instead)
olive oil
one onion, diced
1/2 cube chicken bouillon and 1/2 cup water
1 can coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
Put fish, shrimp, 1/4 cup lime juice and half the garlic into a bowl, stir with a little salt and pepper. Set aside where the cats can't get at it.
Heat a couple tablespoons oil in a large pan. Saute the onion until transparent. Add peppers and remaining garlic, cook until the peppers are softened. And tomatoes, cilantro, and chicken bouillon cube with water, stir and bring to a boil. If using fresh tomatoes, cook for about five minutes. Add the coconut milk, stir around and bring back to a boil. Once it is boiling, gently place the fish and shrimp into the mixture and stir a little. Put a lid on the pan and cook until fish and shrimp are opaque/cooked through. Serve with rice. I think that Brazilian style black beans would also go well with this.
THE Magpie
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Chicken with Indian Spiced Sauce
I love "foreign" food. Even if I didn't grow up eating it, I'm game to try it. With a few exceptions. Like, I won't even try calamari. I did try littleneck clams, steamed and dunked in garlic butter. Once. The texture was...well...a nope for me. I mean, there was butter and garlic involved, so the flavor was fine.
Anyway, I discovered Indian cuisine when I was in Great Britain (also where I discovered that fish tastes totally different if it was caught in the same week that it was cooked and eaten. And that if freezing is involved, it changes the flavor of the fish to something I don't like. This is a whole other issue to the salmon thing.
So. I tried Indian cuisine. And I found that the hotter, not the better, although I apparently can tolerate some pretty hot stuff, I also like flavor to be involved. And it is hard to taste anything when your mouth feels like it's on fire. And while restaurants are fun occasionally, I prefer eating at home, and I live in an area that has not got a lot of different cultural food styles anyway (Chinese, Italian, TexMex, and there is a Japanese Steakhouse and YAY, an Indian restaurant again--run by the son of the guy who had the restaurant when we moved here.) So, I got a recipe book and spice collection so I could learn to cook Indian style food. It's not hard, but you do need a plan to assemble everything. This is one of the easier dishes I've made. It has definitely got some Western influences--I mean, there are potatoes and tomato sauce in it, both things that would have not entered the cuisine until after people brought the plants back from the Americas. Here is a link to some fun facts about tomatoes. :)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/tomato-history-and-lore
This dish called for one hot pepper. I used a habanero, but I think it must have been a pretty pathetic pepper as this came out fairly mild. But taste wise, it was over the top. I made it last night and I'm going to have it as leftovers tonight. And probably tomorrow night as well. Also, I'm going to save any sauce left over and use it on chick peas or something. Because, yes, it is THAT GOOD.
Ingredients
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
5 white potatoes, cut in bite size chunks, parboil for about 10 minutes
1 chili pepper, halved, and chopped (I used a habanero, but it is optional. If you don't like the heat, leave it out. The dish will still be quite tasty)
some cilantro, chopped if you are using fresh, I use the already chopped stuff in a tube
6 to 8 chicken thighs cut into smaller pieces (1 1/2 to 2 pounds of chicken. Son asked me to use some breast meat next time as he really doesn't like the dark meat, so I'm going to try that)
1 tablespoon garam masala*
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter cut into chunks
15 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup cream
Naan Bread for eating.
Grease a roasting pan. Add parboiled potatoes, onions, chili pepper, and some of the cilantro. Stir. Put the chicken on top of the potato mixture, sprinkle with garam masala, salt, and pepper. Put the butter chunks on top of this, and then dump the tomato sauce over everything so all the chicken is coated with the sauce. Bake at 350 F for about an hour and a half, I put the pan in a cold oven because I forgot to preheat it, and everything came out fine. If you want the bread heated, put it in about fifteen minutes before the chicken is done. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the rest of the cilantro and the cream. Stir to make a creamy sauce.
THE Magpie
*Indian spice blend, you can buy it at the supermarket or blend your own. Here is a recipe I found just now.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/142967/easy-garam-masala/
PS, I'm trying the linking thing for the first time. If it doesn't do the click on it thing, if you cut and paste the addresses are correct.
Anyway, I discovered Indian cuisine when I was in Great Britain (also where I discovered that fish tastes totally different if it was caught in the same week that it was cooked and eaten. And that if freezing is involved, it changes the flavor of the fish to something I don't like. This is a whole other issue to the salmon thing.
So. I tried Indian cuisine. And I found that the hotter, not the better, although I apparently can tolerate some pretty hot stuff, I also like flavor to be involved. And it is hard to taste anything when your mouth feels like it's on fire. And while restaurants are fun occasionally, I prefer eating at home, and I live in an area that has not got a lot of different cultural food styles anyway (Chinese, Italian, TexMex, and there is a Japanese Steakhouse and YAY, an Indian restaurant again--run by the son of the guy who had the restaurant when we moved here.) So, I got a recipe book and spice collection so I could learn to cook Indian style food. It's not hard, but you do need a plan to assemble everything. This is one of the easier dishes I've made. It has definitely got some Western influences--I mean, there are potatoes and tomato sauce in it, both things that would have not entered the cuisine until after people brought the plants back from the Americas. Here is a link to some fun facts about tomatoes. :)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/tomato-history-and-lore
This dish called for one hot pepper. I used a habanero, but I think it must have been a pretty pathetic pepper as this came out fairly mild. But taste wise, it was over the top. I made it last night and I'm going to have it as leftovers tonight. And probably tomorrow night as well. Also, I'm going to save any sauce left over and use it on chick peas or something. Because, yes, it is THAT GOOD.
Ingredients
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
5 white potatoes, cut in bite size chunks, parboil for about 10 minutes
1 chili pepper, halved, and chopped (I used a habanero, but it is optional. If you don't like the heat, leave it out. The dish will still be quite tasty)
some cilantro, chopped if you are using fresh, I use the already chopped stuff in a tube
6 to 8 chicken thighs cut into smaller pieces (1 1/2 to 2 pounds of chicken. Son asked me to use some breast meat next time as he really doesn't like the dark meat, so I'm going to try that)
1 tablespoon garam masala*
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter cut into chunks
15 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup cream
Naan Bread for eating.
Grease a roasting pan. Add parboiled potatoes, onions, chili pepper, and some of the cilantro. Stir. Put the chicken on top of the potato mixture, sprinkle with garam masala, salt, and pepper. Put the butter chunks on top of this, and then dump the tomato sauce over everything so all the chicken is coated with the sauce. Bake at 350 F for about an hour and a half, I put the pan in a cold oven because I forgot to preheat it, and everything came out fine. If you want the bread heated, put it in about fifteen minutes before the chicken is done. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the rest of the cilantro and the cream. Stir to make a creamy sauce.
THE Magpie
*Indian spice blend, you can buy it at the supermarket or blend your own. Here is a recipe I found just now.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/142967/easy-garam-masala/
PS, I'm trying the linking thing for the first time. If it doesn't do the click on it thing, if you cut and paste the addresses are correct.
Monday, July 17, 2017
I like Salmon. Who knew?
There is a story here. Because I love Sardines on crackers, and I love tuna salad sandwiches, and Tuna Noodle Casserole. What I don't love is this thing my mom used to make, Salmonloaf. Now, this should have been a good thing. The ingredients, as I remember them, are pretty innocuous. Canned salmon, crushed crackers, egg, salt and pepper, I'm sure there were other things. But somehow this stuff came out of the oven and was so dry that it sucked the moisture from your mouth leaving it hard to swallow. And it tasted funny. Not funny haha, funny "I'm not eating that". I remember we used to douse it with ketchup in an attempt to make it liquid enough to swallow.
So. I'm pretty sure that my salmon dislike is more psychosomatic (side note here, in case you are wondering, the definition of psychosomatic is:
than actual, because when I analyzed it, tuna and sardines both taste very like salmon. So...a quest was born. There was no reason for me to dislike salmon, and it is full of good stuff your body needs, therefore...
Have I mentioned that I am a teensy bit stubborn?
This is the recipe I made last night. I have had salmon I liked before, but this one, the salsa just does something to the flavor that is magical.
Charcoal grilled salmon with salsa
2 jalapeño chilis, halved and seeded
1 red onion, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 lime (or some lime juice, about three tablespoons)
enough salmon fillets for everyone to get some
cedar planks, enough to fit all the salmon, soaked for at least 30 minutes
Load grill with charcoal, enough to cover the bottom of the grill, light it up. Once the coals are ready, using a grill pan cook the onion and jalapeños until softened. Remove from grill and bring inside to be chopped up. Chop the onion and peppers into pieces and stir together with the tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and put the plank on the cooking grate. Sprinkle the salmon fillet(s) with salt and pepper. Once the bottom side of the plank is hot, turn it over and put the fillet on the plank. Close the grill hood and wait about 8 minutes. Cut into one of the fillets to see if it is cooked through--the fish should look opaque and with a matte surface. I served this with the thick french bread from Safeway and the salsa was divine. The salmon also tasted good on its own. There may be salsa left over if you only use one fillet. I got some tortilla chips at the grocery today...
The other recipe I tried since the last entry to this blog was meh. It was very similar to the Chicken with potatoes and asparagus, but had an additional couple of ingredients. And I thought the potato and asparagus portion of the recipe would make a very good side dish--asparagus and parmesan cheese together are wonderful.
So. Garlic potatoes with asparagus and parmesan cheese.
4 or 5 potatoes, cut into bite size cubes
about a pound of asparagus, cut into short lengths
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
5 garlic cloves, chopped
olive oil
Preheat oven to 425 F. Put the cubed potato and garlic into a large ziplock bag, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a half teaspoon of salt. Dump into a large baking pan and put into the oven for about twenty minutes. Remove pan from oven and spread the asparagus over the potatoes. Bake another 15 minutes, remove from the oven. Stir the parmesan and parsley together, sprinkle over the top of the potatoes and asparagus. Bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until the cheese gets melted. I expect this would be good with pretty much any meat. And I want to try it with cauliflower instead of potatoes.
THE Magpie
So. I'm pretty sure that my salmon dislike is more psychosomatic (side note here, in case you are wondering, the definition of psychosomatic is:
- adj. Of or relating to a disorder having physical symptoms but originating from mental or emotional causes.
- adj. Relating to or concerned with the influence of the mind on the body, and the body on the mind, especially with respect to disease: psychosomatic medicine
than actual, because when I analyzed it, tuna and sardines both taste very like salmon. So...a quest was born. There was no reason for me to dislike salmon, and it is full of good stuff your body needs, therefore...
Have I mentioned that I am a teensy bit stubborn?
This is the recipe I made last night. I have had salmon I liked before, but this one, the salsa just does something to the flavor that is magical.
Charcoal grilled salmon with salsa
2 jalapeño chilis, halved and seeded
1 red onion, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 lime (or some lime juice, about three tablespoons)
enough salmon fillets for everyone to get some
cedar planks, enough to fit all the salmon, soaked for at least 30 minutes
Load grill with charcoal, enough to cover the bottom of the grill, light it up. Once the coals are ready, using a grill pan cook the onion and jalapeños until softened. Remove from grill and bring inside to be chopped up. Chop the onion and peppers into pieces and stir together with the tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and put the plank on the cooking grate. Sprinkle the salmon fillet(s) with salt and pepper. Once the bottom side of the plank is hot, turn it over and put the fillet on the plank. Close the grill hood and wait about 8 minutes. Cut into one of the fillets to see if it is cooked through--the fish should look opaque and with a matte surface. I served this with the thick french bread from Safeway and the salsa was divine. The salmon also tasted good on its own. There may be salsa left over if you only use one fillet. I got some tortilla chips at the grocery today...
The other recipe I tried since the last entry to this blog was meh. It was very similar to the Chicken with potatoes and asparagus, but had an additional couple of ingredients. And I thought the potato and asparagus portion of the recipe would make a very good side dish--asparagus and parmesan cheese together are wonderful.
So. Garlic potatoes with asparagus and parmesan cheese.
4 or 5 potatoes, cut into bite size cubes
about a pound of asparagus, cut into short lengths
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
5 garlic cloves, chopped
olive oil
Preheat oven to 425 F. Put the cubed potato and garlic into a large ziplock bag, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a half teaspoon of salt. Dump into a large baking pan and put into the oven for about twenty minutes. Remove pan from oven and spread the asparagus over the potatoes. Bake another 15 minutes, remove from the oven. Stir the parmesan and parsley together, sprinkle over the top of the potatoes and asparagus. Bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until the cheese gets melted. I expect this would be good with pretty much any meat. And I want to try it with cauliflower instead of potatoes.
THE Magpie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)