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.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
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
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Chicken with potatoes and asparagus
My BFF wanted a recipe with chicken that didn't end up with the chicken all dried out. So. Here is one of the family's favorites.
Bonus, it is gluten free, and so is she. :)
Ingredients
four or five potatoes, sliced into quarter inch slices
butter. 3 tablespoons. Or four. Or however much you want to add. It's butter. Everything tastes better with butter.
salt and pepper to taste
two or three chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 bunch of asparagus. (or two...asparagus is amazingly yummy with butter...) cut in 2 inch pieces.
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Preheat oven to 475 F. Spray a pan with Pam or smear with some oil on the bottom so the potatoes don't stick to the pan--and they do like to glue themselves permanently to pans--layer sliced potatoes in a pan, cut the butter into chunks and put half of it on the potatoes, season with the salt and pepper. Put pan in preheated oven, cook about 20 minutes. The potatoes should start getting lightly browned. Stir them around about halfway through this step.
Remove pan from oven. Layer the chicken on top of the potatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put back into the oven and roast another twenty minutes.
Remove pan from oven again, add asparagus and sprinkle thyme and drizzle lemon juice over everything, put the rest of the cup up butter on top. Put back in the oven and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.
The original recipe was from Martha Stewart. I did a few tweaks to make the prep easier.
THE Magpie
PS, if you parboil green beans, you can use them instead of asparagus. In case anyone doesn't like asparagus. I know you're out there...
PPS, this is for three or four people. I figure 2/3 of the current chicken breast size per person, and around 1 to 1 1/2 potatoes. So if you need more servings, there's a baseline to start from.
Bonus, it is gluten free, and so is she. :)
Ingredients
four or five potatoes, sliced into quarter inch slices
butter. 3 tablespoons. Or four. Or however much you want to add. It's butter. Everything tastes better with butter.
salt and pepper to taste
two or three chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 bunch of asparagus. (or two...asparagus is amazingly yummy with butter...) cut in 2 inch pieces.
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Preheat oven to 475 F. Spray a pan with Pam or smear with some oil on the bottom so the potatoes don't stick to the pan--and they do like to glue themselves permanently to pans--layer sliced potatoes in a pan, cut the butter into chunks and put half of it on the potatoes, season with the salt and pepper. Put pan in preheated oven, cook about 20 minutes. The potatoes should start getting lightly browned. Stir them around about halfway through this step.
Remove pan from oven. Layer the chicken on top of the potatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put back into the oven and roast another twenty minutes.
Remove pan from oven again, add asparagus and sprinkle thyme and drizzle lemon juice over everything, put the rest of the cup up butter on top. Put back in the oven and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.
The original recipe was from Martha Stewart. I did a few tweaks to make the prep easier.
THE Magpie
PS, if you parboil green beans, you can use them instead of asparagus. In case anyone doesn't like asparagus. I know you're out there...
PPS, this is for three or four people. I figure 2/3 of the current chicken breast size per person, and around 1 to 1 1/2 potatoes. So if you need more servings, there's a baseline to start from.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Greek burgers with Feta Aioli
These are really good. I usually make them with ground beef, but that is because ground lamb has to be specially ground. I think they would be really good that way, and taste basically like a gyro. With the beef they taste like a gyro, so...
Aioli
2 oz feta cheese (make sure it is smushed into really fine bits
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons plain fat free yogurt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, chopped fine (or two. Or three...y'all should know this drill by now...)
Pattys
1 pound ground meat (beef or lamb)
2/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup roasted red peppers from a jar, chopped fine
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons dried
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
10 ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 egg
2 (hahahaha) garlic cloves, chopped into tiny pieces
hamburger buns--you want the more dense type, as these tend to be very juicy burgers and soak through regular hamburger buns. Although I've also used pita bread which worked pretty well.
1 red onion, sliced
Either process aioli ingredients in a blender or food processor or just mix by hand. Either way works. Make it a well before you actually eat because the flavors need several hours to blend. The day before works quite well.
If grilling, start the grill heating/light the charcoal. Once the grill is hot, grill the onion slices (or not, either way they are very good). Combine everything else except the buns and mix until everything is completely incorporated.
Form into 5 patties about a half inch thick. Grill until the burgers are well done (Usually takes about 15 minutes for us). Spread aioli on buns, put patties on top of it, add an onion slice and the top of the bun. This is really good with a nice green salad.
Aioli
2 oz feta cheese (make sure it is smushed into really fine bits
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons plain fat free yogurt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, chopped fine (or two. Or three...y'all should know this drill by now...)
Pattys
1 pound ground meat (beef or lamb)
2/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup roasted red peppers from a jar, chopped fine
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons dried
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
10 ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 egg
2 (hahahaha) garlic cloves, chopped into tiny pieces
hamburger buns--you want the more dense type, as these tend to be very juicy burgers and soak through regular hamburger buns. Although I've also used pita bread which worked pretty well.
1 red onion, sliced
Either process aioli ingredients in a blender or food processor or just mix by hand. Either way works. Make it a well before you actually eat because the flavors need several hours to blend. The day before works quite well.
If grilling, start the grill heating/light the charcoal. Once the grill is hot, grill the onion slices (or not, either way they are very good). Combine everything else except the buns and mix until everything is completely incorporated.
Form into 5 patties about a half inch thick. Grill until the burgers are well done (Usually takes about 15 minutes for us). Spread aioli on buns, put patties on top of it, add an onion slice and the top of the bun. This is really good with a nice green salad.
Meal planning and Vegetable stir fry
Wow. This is the third recipe within a week. I am definitely feeling much better.
I was sick for a longish time. I was already starting to be bad off when I first started this blog, and things got really bad for a while. I'm getting better now, and I can see the difference. Mentally, I am much more there than I was even two years ago. I'm solving puzzles again, I'm stitching again (I have a stitch blog too, which hasn't been updated in ages) and I'm once again planning meals a month at a time. Yeah, you heard that right. 31 days, to be precise, although it sometimes takes a little longer than that to go through all of them, because of holidays (eating out), too many leftovers (eating in), and sometimes I am tired and don't feel like cooking (frozen pizza, heat and eat, what I like to call French casual (fruits and crudites, cheese, good loaf of bread), or, yeah, leftovers). But on the whole, I like doing this because it takes the whole "WHAT AM I GONNA MAKE FOR DINNER, OMG IT'S 4PM AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO MAKE!" out of my life. Also, it makes grocery shopping way easier because you just get what you need for the next few meals (and breakfast and lunch and snacks, but...)
So, first, I set up a numerical list. Fish went on four times, beef five, pork and vegetarian/vegan six times each, poultry nine times and lamb once.
Then I went and listed everything so that I didn't make, say, chicken three nights in a row.
This is my lineup.
1 Pork
2 Beef
3 Poultry
4 Fish
5 Pork
6 Beef
7 Poultry
8 Vegetable
9 Fish
10 Poultry
11 Vegetable
12 Pork
13 Poultry
14 Vegetable
15 Beef
16 Poultry
17 Pork
18 Fish
19 Poultry
20 Pork
21 Beef
22 Poultry
23 Vegetable
24 Pork
25 Beef
26 Poultry
27 Vegetable
28 Fish
29 Poultry
30 Vegetable
31 Lamb
This is just a starting point and my personal random assortment. If you decide to do something like this, make your own designations of how many, what, and when.
So, then I went through the thousands (I collected them for years) of recipes I had accumulated, having cut them out of magazines and newspapers. I love to cook. I like good food. I am smart, and am both easily entertained and easily bored. Repetitious tasks are boring. Cooking dinner every evening is about as repetitious as it gets. So. Trying new recipes makes cooking every night way less boring and kind of exciting. Like, yeah, most of the ingredients in this meal are things I like, but some of them are cooked in a way I am unfamiliar with. Or, I like this food cooked this way, but it is really good for you and I want to cook it in healthier ways than the one I like it in. Which brings us to today's recipe. See, I love candied sweet potatoes. At Thanksgiving, the mashed are nice, but the candied are like dessert for a meal. What's not to love about that?
And here is the recipe, so you'll know what I'm talking about.
Candied Sweet Potatoes a la THE Magpie
1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (about half inch cubes)
1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 to 1/2 cup butter
pinch of salt
Put potatoes in a pot and boil for about ten minutes or until just tender.
Drain. Put the potatoes in a baking dish and dump all the rest of the stuff over it (1 potato, smaller amounts etc...) and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 F. That's pretty much it.
The Washington Post rand a recipe for a vegetable stir fry that used sweet potatoes. So I tried it. It is very good. It almost smells like perfume, and tastes like I always thought perfume should taste...
Hot and Sticky Vegetable Stir Fry
Sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine (Hah, if you've been reading this blog, you KNOW what to do--add at least two more cloves)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped fine
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce (I just use two teaspoons hot sauce and two teaspoons brown sugar for these)
3 tablespoons lime juice
Vegetables
2 carrots
1 sweet potato
1 cup oyster mushrooms (I usually can't get these, so I use either Shiitake or Cremini here)
6 asparagus spears (get the bunch, save six out for this, and steam the rest, let cool, and drizzle with oil and vinegar, sprinkle with salt, and eat with grilled steak and some good bread)
handful of snow peas
1/2 pound shrimp, optional (I usually leave this out as I am going for vegetarian at the least--there is honey, so not vegan)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
Vegetable oil
Combine sauce ingredients.
Cut carrots and sweet potato into quarter inch strips about the length of the snow peas. Slice the mushrooms about the same size, cut the asparagus into pieces the length of the snow peas.
In a largish pan or a wok, heat the oil until it is almost smoking. Toss in the carrots and sweet potatoes, stir until coated and lightly browned (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the asparagus and mushrooms and stir. Add the snow peas and the sauce mix. Cook until the sauce starts to boil and thicken. If you want to add shrimp, add the shrimp here, cook until they are done, about 4 to 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parsley or cilantro, and serve. I usually make rice to serve with this, although I think it would also go well with noodles.
And yes. I found a way I like sweet potatoes that isn't exactly candied. :) I have another one that uses less sugar than this one. It'll be coming up in the future.
THE Magpie
I was sick for a longish time. I was already starting to be bad off when I first started this blog, and things got really bad for a while. I'm getting better now, and I can see the difference. Mentally, I am much more there than I was even two years ago. I'm solving puzzles again, I'm stitching again (I have a stitch blog too, which hasn't been updated in ages) and I'm once again planning meals a month at a time. Yeah, you heard that right. 31 days, to be precise, although it sometimes takes a little longer than that to go through all of them, because of holidays (eating out), too many leftovers (eating in), and sometimes I am tired and don't feel like cooking (frozen pizza, heat and eat, what I like to call French casual (fruits and crudites, cheese, good loaf of bread), or, yeah, leftovers). But on the whole, I like doing this because it takes the whole "WHAT AM I GONNA MAKE FOR DINNER, OMG IT'S 4PM AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO MAKE!" out of my life. Also, it makes grocery shopping way easier because you just get what you need for the next few meals (and breakfast and lunch and snacks, but...)
So, first, I set up a numerical list. Fish went on four times, beef five, pork and vegetarian/vegan six times each, poultry nine times and lamb once.
Then I went and listed everything so that I didn't make, say, chicken three nights in a row.
This is my lineup.
1 Pork
2 Beef
3 Poultry
4 Fish
5 Pork
6 Beef
7 Poultry
8 Vegetable
9 Fish
10 Poultry
11 Vegetable
12 Pork
13 Poultry
14 Vegetable
15 Beef
16 Poultry
17 Pork
18 Fish
19 Poultry
20 Pork
21 Beef
22 Poultry
23 Vegetable
24 Pork
25 Beef
26 Poultry
27 Vegetable
28 Fish
29 Poultry
30 Vegetable
31 Lamb
This is just a starting point and my personal random assortment. If you decide to do something like this, make your own designations of how many, what, and when.
So, then I went through the thousands (I collected them for years) of recipes I had accumulated, having cut them out of magazines and newspapers. I love to cook. I like good food. I am smart, and am both easily entertained and easily bored. Repetitious tasks are boring. Cooking dinner every evening is about as repetitious as it gets. So. Trying new recipes makes cooking every night way less boring and kind of exciting. Like, yeah, most of the ingredients in this meal are things I like, but some of them are cooked in a way I am unfamiliar with. Or, I like this food cooked this way, but it is really good for you and I want to cook it in healthier ways than the one I like it in. Which brings us to today's recipe. See, I love candied sweet potatoes. At Thanksgiving, the mashed are nice, but the candied are like dessert for a meal. What's not to love about that?
And here is the recipe, so you'll know what I'm talking about.
Candied Sweet Potatoes a la THE Magpie
1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (about half inch cubes)
1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 to 1/2 cup butter
pinch of salt
Put potatoes in a pot and boil for about ten minutes or until just tender.
Drain. Put the potatoes in a baking dish and dump all the rest of the stuff over it (1 potato, smaller amounts etc...) and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 F. That's pretty much it.
The Washington Post rand a recipe for a vegetable stir fry that used sweet potatoes. So I tried it. It is very good. It almost smells like perfume, and tastes like I always thought perfume should taste...
Hot and Sticky Vegetable Stir Fry
Sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine (Hah, if you've been reading this blog, you KNOW what to do--add at least two more cloves)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped fine
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce (I just use two teaspoons hot sauce and two teaspoons brown sugar for these)
3 tablespoons lime juice
Vegetables
2 carrots
1 sweet potato
1 cup oyster mushrooms (I usually can't get these, so I use either Shiitake or Cremini here)
6 asparagus spears (get the bunch, save six out for this, and steam the rest, let cool, and drizzle with oil and vinegar, sprinkle with salt, and eat with grilled steak and some good bread)
handful of snow peas
1/2 pound shrimp, optional (I usually leave this out as I am going for vegetarian at the least--there is honey, so not vegan)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
Vegetable oil
Combine sauce ingredients.
Cut carrots and sweet potato into quarter inch strips about the length of the snow peas. Slice the mushrooms about the same size, cut the asparagus into pieces the length of the snow peas.
In a largish pan or a wok, heat the oil until it is almost smoking. Toss in the carrots and sweet potatoes, stir until coated and lightly browned (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the asparagus and mushrooms and stir. Add the snow peas and the sauce mix. Cook until the sauce starts to boil and thicken. If you want to add shrimp, add the shrimp here, cook until they are done, about 4 to 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parsley or cilantro, and serve. I usually make rice to serve with this, although I think it would also go well with noodles.
And yes. I found a way I like sweet potatoes that isn't exactly candied. :) I have another one that uses less sugar than this one. It'll be coming up in the future.
THE Magpie
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Chimichurri Meatball Sandwich
These...I totally did not expect these to be as good as they are. And OMG are they good. You can cook the meatballs in a slowcooker or on the rangetop.
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh cilantro (or one of those handy dandy little tubes of already chopped stuff, soooo easy!)
1 cup fresh parsley chopped (they sell this in those tubes around here too)
6 (hahaha as if, try 8-10) cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 shallot, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Hoagie/submarine/long sandwich rolls, split and toasted
10 ounce package of finely shredded cabbage (or you can do this at home, it isn't hard to do. Time consuming though, and this is about a fourth of a normal size cabbage)
1 cup Cotija or Parmesan cheese, shaved
lime wedges (optional)
Add 1/3 of the cilantro and parsley to a bowl with 2-3 cloves of garlic. Add beef, bread crumbs, crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and beaten egg. Mix well and form into balls. Heat some oil and brown the meatballs. You can then transfer them to a slow cooker if using or to a plate until you finish browning all of them.
Using a blender or food processor, blend remaining cilantro, parsley, garlic, salt, oil, and vinegar together until finely chopped. Take 1/2 cup of this (save the rest, you will be using it), mix with 1/4 cup water. Pour over meatballs in slow cooker, if using and cook for two hours on low, or pour over meatballs in frying pan and cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat, until cooked through.
Remove meatballs from cooking liquid and toss with about 1/4 cup reserved herb mixture. Toss cabbage with the rest of the herb mixture. Brush the cut sides of the rolls with oil and grill or broil.
Layer cabbage onto rolls, add meatballs and cheese. Squeeze lime juice over sandwiches, serve.
I will be making this again soonish. And my tastebuds are totally saying "NOT SOON ENOUGH!)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh cilantro (or one of those handy dandy little tubes of already chopped stuff, soooo easy!)
1 cup fresh parsley chopped (they sell this in those tubes around here too)
6 (hahaha as if, try 8-10) cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 shallot, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Hoagie/submarine/long sandwich rolls, split and toasted
10 ounce package of finely shredded cabbage (or you can do this at home, it isn't hard to do. Time consuming though, and this is about a fourth of a normal size cabbage)
1 cup Cotija or Parmesan cheese, shaved
lime wedges (optional)
Add 1/3 of the cilantro and parsley to a bowl with 2-3 cloves of garlic. Add beef, bread crumbs, crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and beaten egg. Mix well and form into balls. Heat some oil and brown the meatballs. You can then transfer them to a slow cooker if using or to a plate until you finish browning all of them.
Using a blender or food processor, blend remaining cilantro, parsley, garlic, salt, oil, and vinegar together until finely chopped. Take 1/2 cup of this (save the rest, you will be using it), mix with 1/4 cup water. Pour over meatballs in slow cooker, if using and cook for two hours on low, or pour over meatballs in frying pan and cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat, until cooked through.
Remove meatballs from cooking liquid and toss with about 1/4 cup reserved herb mixture. Toss cabbage with the rest of the herb mixture. Brush the cut sides of the rolls with oil and grill or broil.
Layer cabbage onto rolls, add meatballs and cheese. Squeeze lime juice over sandwiches, serve.
I will be making this again soonish. And my tastebuds are totally saying "NOT SOON ENOUGH!)
Moroccan Burger Salad
This is a very easy summer meal. The only thing that is cooked is the hamburger and you can either form it into pattys and grill it, or cook it like taco meat, OR make meatballs. I've tried the first two, and I think the next time I make it I will try the meatball option. The flavor is very good. The dressing tastes to me like the classic orange colored French dressing for salads, but with a chili hot kick to it.
On to the recipe.
1 or two pita rounds, cut into wedges and toasted
1 pound ground beef
1 red onion, half sliced, half chopped fine
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons harissa or sriracha
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
tomatoes wedged and halve the wedges
sliced cucumber
chopped fresh cilantro
romaine lettuce cut into bite size pieces
2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese
Toast the pita bread in the oven, or the toaster if it fits.
Combine beef, finely chopped onion, 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and sriracha, and salt and pepper to taste. Knead and either form into patties or meatballs, or just dump the entire bowl into a preheated frying pan. If you do patties, you can grill them, also meatballs if you have a pan they won't fall through, otherwise, cook the meatballs in a frying pan on the stove.
While the meat is cooking chop and slice the rest of the veggies and whisk together 1 tablespoon sriracha, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the lemon juice.
The original recipe had you mix the dressing with the vegetables ahead of time, but everyone I cook for has a different preference vis a vis which veggies they will eat, so I put out bowls of everything. Add whichever veggies you want to your bowl, add dressing, meat, cilantro, and feta (again, all is optional) toss gently, and eat. Have a second serving if you want.
On to the recipe.
1 or two pita rounds, cut into wedges and toasted
1 pound ground beef
1 red onion, half sliced, half chopped fine
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons harissa or sriracha
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
tomatoes wedged and halve the wedges
sliced cucumber
chopped fresh cilantro
romaine lettuce cut into bite size pieces
2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese
Toast the pita bread in the oven, or the toaster if it fits.
Combine beef, finely chopped onion, 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and sriracha, and salt and pepper to taste. Knead and either form into patties or meatballs, or just dump the entire bowl into a preheated frying pan. If you do patties, you can grill them, also meatballs if you have a pan they won't fall through, otherwise, cook the meatballs in a frying pan on the stove.
While the meat is cooking chop and slice the rest of the veggies and whisk together 1 tablespoon sriracha, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the lemon juice.
The original recipe had you mix the dressing with the vegetables ahead of time, but everyone I cook for has a different preference vis a vis which veggies they will eat, so I put out bowls of everything. Add whichever veggies you want to your bowl, add dressing, meat, cilantro, and feta (again, all is optional) toss gently, and eat. Have a second serving if you want.
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