Grilled Shrimp Satay with Peaches

A few weeks ago, when the farmers were selling the last peaches of the year, I decided to take advantage of the waning summer heat and took to the grill to make dinner. These recipes are quick, but they are certainly delicious and perfect for summer's last hurrah.

Grilled Shrimp Satay with Peaches
Makes 4 servings. Recipe from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients
6 tbsp smooth, natural peanut butter
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp chili paste (or to taste)
9 tbsp peach nectar, divided
3 peaches, pitted and wedged
16 shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 bok choy, halved lengthwise

Directions
Prepare grill over medium-high heat. Wisk together peanut butter, dark brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, chili paste, and 5 tbsp nectar until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange peaches, shrimp and bok choy on the grill. Brush with 4 tbsp nectar, then brush with 1/4 cup of the sauce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until peaches lightly charred, shrimp are opaque and bok choy are tender.


Mound shrimp, bok choy and peaches on a platter. Drizzle with some sauce and serve with remaining sauce on the side.

I paired this main course with an equally peanut-buttery pasta accompaniment. Too much peanut butter? No such thing!
Nutty Noodles
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 pound rice pasta, uncooked
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 scallion, sliced
1/2 cup peanuts, unsalted, chopped

Directions


Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan stir together peanut butter and water. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth. Stir in soy sauce, tahini, red pepper, ginger, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.


Drain pasta well, then add to the sauce. Toss pasta in the sauce until it is well coated. Plate pasta and sprinkle with scallions and peanuts.


What a nutty feast indeed! I will admit that after a while, all of that peanut butter does get to you...after a while. The side of noodles were good and had a different taste from the shrimp. Definitely very nutty with some other minor flavors from the soy and garlic. But the star of this meal was the satay. Adding in the peach flavors to the peanut butter was a great idea and it made the dish taste more complete and interesting. If you can still find some peaches in your area before the winter flavors take over in full, fire up the grill and give this recipe a shot.

Tilapia with Zucchini Pappardelle

It's definitely squash season. Know how I can tell? My biweekly community supported agriculture deliveries are overrun with zucchini of various shapes and sizes as well as those crooked-necked summer squash. Last year, I had so much zucchini that at one point I had to make a triple recipe of zucchini bread just to make a dent. I'm definitely handling the squash load better this year, thanks in no small part to new and innovative ways to use these veggies. The latest creation is based on a Gourmet Magazine recipe that uses zucchini in place of pasta.

Tilapia with Zucchini Pappardelle
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1 pound zucchini, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tilapia fillets (or 2 halved fillets)
1 tbsp dried basil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp water
1 cup basil, torn
4 lemon wedges, for garnish

Directions
Using a mandolin, thinly slice zucchini lengthwise to about 1/8" thickness. Slice these ribbons in half lengthwise to form long "noodles." Set aside.

Pat fish dry, then season with salt, pepper and dried basil. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Saute tilapia until browned and just cooked through, about 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets. Remove tilapia from pan and set aside, loosely covering with foil to keep warm.

Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until pale brown, about 1 minute. Add water and scrape up any brown bits left on the pan. Add zucchini to the pan and cook briefly, just until crisp-tender. Be sure to keep tossing the zucchini while it's in the pan, kind of like in stir-fry, so it does not overcook. Divide zucchini among four plates in little mounds. Season the zucchini with a little salt. Place one fillet over each mound of "pasta," then scatter the torn basil on top.


I'm always a skeptic when someone wants to get rid of my pasta. Whether they are trying to get me to eat my vegetables or are even just using whole wheat pasta, I'm usually not as satisfied with the dish. But this twist on zucchini is surprisingly satiating. It still had some crunch to it (dare I say al dente?) and it tasted fresh and light. The fish did very nicely with the dried basil on it and the addition of fresh basil all around the plate helped bring out the lighter side. I like to combine both dried and fresh herbs in some dishes since dried herbs can withstand some heat while fresh herbs are more fussy and best without a lot of manipulation. Not only was this meal low-carb (but who's counting?) and gluten-free, it was highly satisfying and fast.

Shrimp & Pork Fried Rice

At Chinese restaurants, I have a love-hate relationship with fried rice. It is usually very tasty, but you can feel the fat from it moving from your mouth to your stomach, where it turns into extra adipose tissue and a sense of guilt. But when you make fried rice at home, you can control what goes into it, bending it to your will and your waistline. All stir-fries are a very quick process, so I could not take pictures of every step, but here are a good number of snaps to help you make your own delicious fried rice.


The key to a lot of cooking is preparation. But mise en place is essential in stir-fry and fried rice. You are cooking over high heat so everything has to keep moving very quickly. You can't be caught cutting your meat while your garlic is burning. There is a little bit of leeway, so you don't need to work like a machine, but efficiency is a must.

Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
3 tbsp canola oil, divided
12 oz shrimp, shelled, deveined
3 eggs, beaten with salt and pepper
2 tsp ginger, minced
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 lb pork, cubed
3 cup rice, cooked, cooled
3 scallions, trimmed, cut into 1" pieces
Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 pinch black pepper


1. Heat a large pan over high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil and heat until a whisp of smoke appears. Add shrimp and cook until just done, about 2 minutes. Be sure to keep everything moving when it is in the pan. You don't want to brown the ingredients, you just want to cook them very quickly. When cooked, remove shrimp from pan and wipe it out with a paper towel.


2. Heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan over high heat until a whisp of smoke appears. Add the egg mixture and scramble, stirring constantly, until it is just set. Remove eggs from pan and chop into small pieces. Wipe out pan.


Heat the last tablespoon of oil in the pan over high heat until a whisp of smoke appears. Add the ginger and garlic to the pan and cook until the garlic is light brown. Add the pork to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the pork is cooked through.


Add the cooked rice to the pan with the pork. Mix the rice thoroughly, being sure to break up any clumps. There's nothing more annoying than a ball of white rice amid your fried rice.


Return the shrimp to the pan and mix everything very well.


Turn heat down to medium-low. Add the sauce and scallions to the pan and mix everything thoroughly. Be sure the sauce is evenly distributed over all the rice. At this point, you can serve the rice, but I like to let it sit in the pan for a few minutes at a time, stirring occasionally, until some of the rice gets a little crispy. When done, place into a bowl and serve.


It took me about twice as long to type this post than it did to make the fried rice. It is amazing how quickly stir-fry makes a good meal. The fried rice was delicious and it had a clean taste to it compared to restaurant varieties. I felt good after eating it. Most of the ingredients are pretty straightforward, but it is the complexity of the sauce ingredients that control the end result. It could easily be tweaked with other Asian staples (mirin, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sesame seeds, citrus juice, hoisin, etc.) to yield an endless variety of fried rice dishes that can be made by this same process. You may not want to eat the fried rice at your local Chinese restaurant again.

Sesame-Citrus Sea Bass

In my last post, I wrote about a surprising sesame dessert. Now sesame seeds went savory to help me make a quick, flavorful dinner of sesame-citrus sea bass.


Sea bass fillets are first immersed into a mixture of egg whites, cornstarch, white vinegar, and salt. After allowing to sit, the fish is coated in a mixture of white and black sesame seeds and pan fried in hot oil until the outside turns golden brown. The fish is served atop mixed greens with a dipping sauce made from lime juice, honey and thyme. The tender fish is made even better with the crisp crust of sesame seeds. The sweet and citrusy sauce makes for a good, if sweet, dressing for the fish and salad. This could easily be a healthy lunch to take to work that makes everyone jealous.

Cape Cod

Some of the members of my lab and I had a conference in Cape Cod to attend last week. Here are some of the food highlights of the trip.


We attempted to fly into Providence, RI, but Philadelphia was backed up from some rain, meaning we had to kill about 5 hours in the airport. What better to do than to get a Philly Cheesesteak? These sandwiches were actually pretty good as far as airport food goes. Juicy beef mixed with some soft onions and peppers, all swimming in melted Cheese-Wiz. Don't get disgusted by the flagrant use of sprayable cheese. It's part of the cheesesteak's charm. You can also get provolone if you're not up to the neon orange stuff.



While on the Cape, we did a mild bit of traveling and eating around the various towns. At the Lobster Claw in Orleans, MA, we had a decent lunch. We started with some steamed clams, all of which had that weird foot sticking out. Some were a little sandy, but most were good, especially when dipped in the drawn butter or the clam broth. For lunch, some of us tried the quintessential lobster roll. Unlike what I had envisioned, the lobster roll comes in a hot dog bun that looks like it's a cousin of Wonderbread. It is, however, stuffed with large pieces of lobster in a light mayonnaise dressing. The point is to give the lobster the body of a salad without losing that wonderful sweet brininess. Some of the lobster rolls didn't have a ton of lobster flavor, but others were fine. Be prepared to pay a pretty penny for these pretty petit portions.


In our hotel in Hyannis was the Hearth n' Kettle. With no means of transportation at our disposal, we made the best of one of our evenings off and dined at this restaurant. To be honest, the food was pretty decent considering it was a hotel eatery. The lobster bisque was good but not overbearingly heavy. The fish was a fine choice too, but the dish that garnered the most attention at our table was the Fisherman's Sampler, seen above. Consisting of fried haddock, scallops, shrimp, clams, onion rings, and French fries, this beast of a plate was only tamed by the joint efforts of four grown men. This had to be the best deal for the money on the entire Cape. Just the sheer poundage on the plate and the poundage gained from eating this monster are worth the money.

Cape Cod was a lot of fun. Small fishing areas mixed in with yuppie high-class lifestyles makes for an interesting touring destination. I did not get a chance to see any Kennedy's, but I did get to eat some delicious seafood.

Sea Scallops with Cherry Tomatoes

Tomato season was in full swing when I made this recipe. From my CSA, I was receiving two pints of red and yellow cherry tomatoes on a weekly basis. Tomatoes have many, many uses in cooking. Ask any chef who regularly cooks Italian or French food. One of my favorite ways to use cherry tomatoes is to simply saute them, which is what I did here in this dish with sea scallops.

After dredging the scallops in cornstarch, I cooked them in a saucepan until they were browned on both sides and just cooked through. I then put some minced garlic and 1 pint of cherry tomatoes in the hot pan. With some moderate stirring, over time the tomatoes brown on the outside while simultaneously deflating, releasing their juices into the pan. This savory tomato juice is the base of the sauce, to which I added some chicken broth, basil, salt, and pepper. I didn't overdo the spices in this because I wanted the dish to really focus on the tomatoes and one of their quintessential pairings, basil. Using some cornstarch dissolved in cold water, I thickened the sauce a bit, then added the scallops back in until they were heated through. I plated the saute with some couscous on the side. One problem that I often find with cherry tomatoes is that, when raw, they can gush their sour guts in your mouth as you eat them, which is not that appetizing. But allowing them to caramelize and reduce down in the pan, their flavor became more condensed and less bitter. The scallops, while good, played second fiddle to the tomatoes in this dish, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thai Pesto Shrimp & Nutty Noodles

When you collect recipes like I do (over 1000 so far plus those that are in my ~30 cookbooks), you end up with some odds and ends. These are the recipes for something that is on that borderline of being a meal or a just a side dish. I've seen these recipes and been tempted to make them, but they just feel incomplete. I managed to combine two disparate pieces into a wonderful whole.


First off, one of my recipes called for rice pasta. From my experiences with gluten-free foods, alternative pastas can leave something to be desired. Notta Pasta, though, does a decent job with their rice pasta, which comes in a few different types. It is worth noting that these noodles take longer to cook than the 3 minutes indicated on the packaging, but they still come out tender and lighter than normal pasta. Plus, I feel that rice pasta absorbs flavors better than normal pastas. To me it seems to be more of a blank slate, ready to take on whatever you're throwing at it.


To give you the big idea for the meal, I had the separate recipes for nutty noodles and Thai pesto shrimp. For the noodles, I combined peanut butter, crumbled tofu, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar in a saucepan and heated it until the sauce was as smooth as possible. Some of the tofu did not "dissolve," but the sauce was still consistent in texture and flavor. Then I tossed in the cooked rice noodles. Simple and easy, but peanut butter is never lacking in flavor.

Briefly, for the Thai pesto shrimp, I placed cilantro, lime juice, peanuts, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, and honey in a food processor, then streamed in the olive oil. The great thing about a pesto is that you need only three base ingredients: nut, greens (herb or lettuce) and olive oil. This means you can have an endless supply of different pestos that can pander to whatever flavor palette you want. The cilantro and peanuts in this pesto definitely give the dish the southeast Asian feel, and the other ingredients really help it to shine. Toss in some cooked shrimp and you're set. To put these two pieces together, I simply plated the pasta and topped it with the shrimp. Not only did each of the two portions of this meal have good flavor, but they combined incredibly well. Peanuts were the main linker, but the other flavors followed suit to make an incredibly satisfying whole.

42nd Street Oyster Bar - 7/30/2009

One of the first restaurants I tried when I visited the Triangle area over a year ago was the 42nd Street Oyster Bar on Jones Street in Raleigh. My mom heard about it somewhere and I've since grown to adore this restaurant. Before we even get to the food, let me describe the restaurant itself. There are three seating options: 1) a normal table, 2) a table at the full bar, or 3) at the oyster bar. If you want freshly steamed oysters, shrimp or mussels, you have to sit at the bar. Normally this would mean parties greater than 3 have some trouble talking since they're sitting linearly, but 42nd Street has a solution: booths that butt up to the bar. There's live music at night Thursday through Saturday. The restaurant can get a little full, but it's definitely worth it.


The first item you receive, often before you place your drink order, are these delectable hush puppies. The puppies come piping hot and have a slightly oniony taste to them. The sauce on the side is actually just straight-up butter, but the extra addition of fat is the perfect complement to the fluffy/crunchy puppies. They key is not filling up on the endless baskets of these fried treats.


As expected of an oyster house, the main attraction are the oysters. You can get them raw or, as above, steamed to varying degrees of doneness (Dad liked his medium-rare to make them slightly more solid). The oyster quality does not seem to change during non-r-containing months and none of the oysters leave you feeling cheated because they are too small. Most normal people will probably like the half-peck size, which is about 15 or so oysters. I was not familiar with the peck increment of measure, so I thought I would offer what advice I could. They also have fully steamed oysters with various toppings (including Rockefeller) and freshly prepared oyster stew. At the oyster bar, you can watch the stew prepared by a chef who cares for his creations as if they were newborn children.


My favorite dish to get is the seared ahi tuna special. The tuna is seared perfectly (mostly cold and ruby red on the inside while just barely warm on the outside) with sesame seeds and two sauces, one ginger- and the other wasabi-based. The sauces pack some great flavor but do not overwhelm tasting the delicate tuna. On the side, I picked rice, cooked with clam juice, and the cole slaw. I must mention that this slaw is the one that awakened my taste buds to eating slaw again. It is a perfect balance of creamy, sweet, vinegary, and crunchy. Another side I've had are the mashed potatoes which are some of the creamiest I've ever tasted (undoubtedly because they use cream and butter).

For those who prefer their seafood fully cooked, they have many other options including fried (with some very good calamari) and steamed. One special that I want to try next time I go is the cioppino, seafood cooked in a tomato sauce. 42nd Street clearly draws a good crowd, but I'm amazed at how few people know about it in my area of Durham, so take the trip to the capital for a great seafood experience.

One Fish, Two Fish, White Fish, Pink Fish - 7/28/2009

Something was very fishy last week. Turns out it was my kitchen.


A stop to Whole Foods found me staking out the seafood display. Whenever I'm in front of these types of cases, I get the urge to choose one of the foods without any real plan for what I'm going to do. This time it was a nice piece of cod. After some searching, I decided to use this recipe from Bon Appetit (December 2008). It's pretty much cod covered in a mushroom topping flavored with white wine, lemon zest and Parmesan. I subbed out the chanterelles (since they are so hard to find) with a combination of baby bellas and sliced button mushrooms. I don't often consider mushrooms with fish. In fact, I usually picture mushrooms on steaks and burgers. But this mushroom "ragout" added some earthiness to this surf dish, but was brightened by the touches of lemon and white wine. And leftovers made for good lunches all week long.


As a side, I had some eggplant from my CSA last week, so I made a very easy dish: roasted eggplant slices. You slice up your eggplant crosswise, then toss it in oil, salt, pepper, and whatever spices you want to use (I chose thyme). Then spread it out on a greased baking sheet and bake it at 450 degrees for about a half hour until it is tender but not starting to brown or crisp up. The great part about this dish is you don't have to worry about salting the eggplant and letting it sit for a while to remove the bitterness. The roasting does all that for you by caramelizing some of the sugars in this purple veggie. This method also works great with cauliflower. Just be warned: you will need a lot of vegetables for this for two reasons. First, they cook down in size greatly. Second, they go extremely fast, even with those who do not care for vegetables. So give it a shot with your fussy eaters of any age.


The other fish I saw at Whole Foods was this salmon crusted with nuts. I had some feta and cherry tomatoes from my CSA, so I made a side Greek salad (pitted kalamata olives, sliced seedless cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion, and feta) with a buttermilk-scallion-cilantro dressing. This was a quick-fix dinner because I just baked the salmon until it was just cooked through and served it with the salad. The great thing about pre-treated fish is that all you have to do is cook it. It is cheating, to a degree, but everyone needs to cut some corners every once in a while. Plus, by cooking at home I'm still saving the time and calories of going out to a restaurant. So why not eat simply when you just don't have the time to crust or marinate your meat yourself before cooking it.

Cake Decorating Win - 6/22/2009

Good news! I'm not totally inept at making cakes!


After last week's cake-wreck, I was glad to find out that I have some skills with the baked goods after all. They key is not taking shortcuts with the cake or frosting. The cake itself is vanilla-cherry with some cherries mixed in. The frosting is dark chocolate with almond extract. In between the layers, in addition to buttercream, is crumbled coconut macaroons. To top it off, I sprinkled on some toasted coconut. This cake was for the birthday of someone in my lab who likes coconut, and it was a big hit. My next goal is to make cakes with more intricate and involved decorations now that I have a handle on the more understated techniques.


I did do a good deal of cooking this week myself, but I will not claim these delightful hors d'oeuvrs as my own. These are the wonderful creation of my new beau. From what he told me, they are eggplant slices wrapped around tomato paste and fresh basil, then breaded and baked. Quite wonderful.


The main course to follow the above eggplant rolls was this baked salmon. It was seasoned with dried tea leaves (sadly I cannot remember which type of tea) and seafood seasoning. It was grilled in the foil packet that you can see above. It came out very moist and well flavored. Who would have thought tea could be so versatile?

I will mention some of the other food I made this week, even if I ate it so fast I forgot to take pictures: fresh local berries with balsamic syrup, roasted green beans with cashews, cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto, garlic bread, and grilled corn with orange-hoisin butter. I also got a start on this week's cake, but I won't ruin the surprise.

This Week in Cooking - 5/9/2009

Last post of the night, and it's a long one. Last weekend, I went temporarily insane and thought I would need all of this food to get me through the week. So I made this all in the course of 9 hours split over two days.


I brought back soup for lunch this week with mulligatawny, a spiced Indian soup. It is made with many different spices (garam masala, cumin, tumeric, etc.), chicken broth, lentils, chicken, celery, carrot, and cilantro. While I'm sure Indian people may make this dish much better, my version came out decently enough for satisfying lunches all week long.


I've wanted to shove a can of beer up a chicken's patoot for quite a while. Supposedly, using a can of beer inside of a whole chicken as it cooks helps to preserve moisture and tenderness in the meat. I was going to fire up the grill for the first time this year to make this, but it was raining, so I settled for the oven. After marinating the chicken in garlic, herbs and olive oil, I propped the chicken atop the beer can, then put it in the oven. Towards the end of the cooking, I glazed the chicken with apple jelly mixed with lemon juice. The chicken did come out pretty well, though it does look like it has a tan line problem...


As a side dish for the chicken, I made these pan-fried smashed potatoes. After boiling the potatoes until almost tender, you mash them partway, then pan-fry them in oil with salt and pepper. After cooking through, you top with shredded parmesan cheese. The great part about this side is that you get to have a boiled potato with a crispy shell and nice, salty cheese on top.


I haven't had fish in a while, so I made this dish. I marinated some mahi-mahi fillets in a combination of white wine, olive oil, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and thyme for about an hour. Then I simply sauteed the fish in the marinade until it was done (flaked with a fork). The meaty mahi held up well to the cooking, and the marinade had a nice combination of flavors.


Looking for a pasta dish with a sauce that's not tomato-, pesto- or cheese-based? Then try almonds. The sauce for this pasta is made by processing blanched almonds with some garlic and salt, then cooking it until it thickened in a pan. Peas and toasted almonds round out the flavors of this very innovative pasta dish.


Another good option to change up the routine is to use edamame, evidenced by these next two dishes. You can often find edamame in the frozen food section of the grocery store. After blanching the frozen soybeans, stir-fry them with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, jalapeno, and pepper. This creates a delightful and flavorful side dish that will complement many different types of food. Think of them as lima beans except better.


Lastly in this montage of culinary wonder is this dish: grilled chicken with edamame skordalia. I'm not entirely sure as to what a skordalia actually is, but in this case, you process edamame with some water, salt, pepper, and parmesan. It is almost like mashed potatoes except more flavorful and better for you. Pairing it with this grilled chicken created a very satisfying dinner dish. And that's all the food I thought I would eat in a week. The only way I could possibly eat all of this would be if I was training to be a sumo wrestler.

Greekfest - 5/8/2009

I had a strong desire for some Greek flavors last week, so here's what I managed to come up with:


I have to admit that I made this dish twice. The first time, I made it and set it out to cool before putting it in the fridge. Then I left town for a day and a half. When I came home, I was not willing to chance a week of intestinal problems just to eat some seafood, so I threw out the first version and remade it later in the week. This may appear to be a normal dish combining shrimp, tomato and feta, but it is not. You saute some garlic and onion, then add cinnamon and allspice. Cook the tomatoes in this mixture, add the shrimp, bake it all in a casserole dish with some feta on top, and serve sprinkled with dill. This combination probably would be pretty decent normally, but the cinnamon and allspice really make the flavors pop. The tang of the feta seems to go through phases of accord and combat with the spices on your tongue, but it's all in the realm of good flavors.


One of my favorite Greek dishes is the gyro, but who has the time to process lamb and other meats with spices, form it into a cylindrical mold and slowly roast it on a spit? It's probably better that I have a day job, otherwise I might give that a try. For those of us who don't have that kind of time all the time, nature has given unto us the rotisserie chicken. Shredded chicken meat is not only healthy, but an easy addition to this meal. The base of the gyro, instead of a pita, is naan, the classic Indian flatbread. It is brushed with olive oil and garlic, then broiled just a bit. The tzatziki sauce is made with Greek yogurt (my favorite brand is pictured above), with some shredded Kirby cucumbers, salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and lemon juice. On top of this is the chicken, a mixture of grape tomatoes, sliced red onion and lemon juice, then some shredded iceberg lettuce. While this may all prove to be quite a mouthful, it packs a huge flavor punch. If you want a good Greek fix without having to venture to a local pseudo-Greek eatery (where you may expect disappointment unless you live near a Greek mecca), give this recipe a try.

From Hungary to Japan and Back to Germany - 4.13.09

Last week my cooking had a decidedly international flair. Let's start on our whirlwind tour:


First stop is Hungary for some goulash. There's nothing like slow-cooking some beef to make it nicely tender and full of flavor. Some of you may be familiar with a recipe involving some macaroni and ground beef, but this is a decidedly more sophisticated version. First you brown about a pound and a half of cubed beef in a pan, then remove it from the pan. Cook 3 chopped onions and 1 green bell pepper until they are softened, stirring in some garlic afterwards, followed by 2T tomato paste and 2T flour, cooking for another minute. Return the beef to the pot and add 1c beef stock, 1 bay leaf, 3T parsley, 1T paprika, 1t salt, and 1/4t pepper. Let the mixture cook on low heat for 2.5 hours. Remove the lid and simmer for another 15 minutes to thicken the sauce. Serve on top of egg noodles with a dollop of sour cream. The veggies and paprkia give this dish a slightly sweet nature to pair with the tomato-based sauce that makes the beef delicious. The sour cream serves to add some tang and a little richness to the sauce.


Next, a quick and easy seafood dish with some Asian flavors. First you dry and season some large sea scallops, then sear them in a hot pan. After they are seared, remove them from the pan and brush with some hoisin. Wipe out the skillet and add a full bag of baby spinach, 3 sliced scallions and 1c chopped cilantro, cooking until wilted. After removing from the pan, drizzle some sesame oil on top of the greens. Serve the scallops on top of the greens and enjoy. The flavors of this dish are simple, bold and enjoyable. The hoisin, which by itself can be overwhelmingly sweet, makes a nice glaze for the scallops. And if you are iron deficient, an entire bag of spinach cooked down to 4 servings will do the trick.


A graduate student in my lab had her final defense a couple weeks ago. She's a big fan of coconut, so I made these delightful confections: German sweet chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes are very light, helped out by a dose of sour cream in the batter. After baking, the cupcakes are split and the butter-sugar-pecan-coconut filling is put in the middle and on top. I thought these tasted pretty good, and most everyone else who had one agreed. My lab is going to love me for using them as an excuse to bring in goodies (for Easter I brought in Cadbury cream eggs and jelly beans, mostly so I could eat just one).

Calamari, Sausages & Tacos - 3/28/2009

One of my old roommates used to make tomato sauce and then freeze it for later use. I decided to give this a try to see how my own tomato sauce would come out.


These are San Marzano tomatoes. They are recommended by many different chefs and websites as some of the best canned tomatoes available. I found this recipe to use from the internet.

It involves using an entire head of garlic for what turns out to be about 3 cups of tomato sauce. It sounds like a lot (and it is), but the sauce turns out nicely balanced with garlicky tomato-ness. It is very easy to add whatever spices you want to it to alter this sauce to your own needs, which is exactly what I ended up doing a week later.


At the Cary Asian market, you can find all sorts of rare and wonderful ingredients. I found these frozen squid tubes and bought them immediately. These tubes are only available on occasion from normal grocery stores, so it would be great if I could find them at the Asian store year round.


I simply cut the tubes into medium-sized rings, cooked them slightly in some olive oil, lemon juice and thyme, then mixed them into the sauce and some cooked linguine. It has been quite some time since I last had pasta, and I forgot how filling it can be. This dish came out great. It's been a long time since my mom and I used to get calamari marinara from a restaurant called Angelo's around New Port Richey. The only thing missing is to find some tentacle pieces to go in there too.

I needed a new idea for my lunches this past week. Men's Health gave me a starting idea, but it took me some more thought and random inspiration to be able to bring it together.


Men's Health this past month gave a homemade alternative to potato chips: root vegetable chips. You simply take any root vegetable, slice it thinly, toss it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake it at 400 degrees until they are crispy. I used beet, sweet potato, daikon, parsnip, and carrots. Admittedly, I should have baked everything separately as the smaller chips got over-done and the bigger chips got under-done, but the baking process eliminated many of the bitter flavors in the chips and gave them a slightly sweet flavor.


My step-mom makes sausage and peppers in a large pot of tomato broth and serves them with hoagie buns. I thought, what better accompaniment to chips than some sausage and peppers. Harris Teeter last week had store-made sweet Italian chicken sausage, perfect because it is healthier and not spicy. I braised the sausages by cooking them in a pot until they were browned, then added some chicken stock and tomato paste to allow them to finish cooking. Meanwhile, I started cooking three sliced onions and three sliced bell peppers (one orange, one red and one green) in a large saucepan over medium heat. My goal was not to brown them, but to caramelize them all together. Once they had started cooking down, I added some salt, pepper, garlic, and tomato paste. Slowly, the onions and peppers cooked down to an aromatic mixture, at which point I figured they were done. I half-sliced a French roll (softer than an Italian one, apparently), added a sausage to it and topped it with all of the onions and peppers. I'm not normally a bell pepper person. I've been trying to get used to their flavor for a while, but this dish is nearly devoid of their overt flavors. The onions and peppers meld in flavor that is enhanced by the garlic to form a warm oniony sweetness that lifts up the flavors of the chicken sausage. This all heated up very nicely for lunch all this week.


Last and certainly not least are these atypical tacos. The recipe for these tacos came from Bon Appetit magazine. They are easy to make, relatively quick and vegetarian. I am by no means vegetarian (see previous posts for evidence), but every once in a while, it's nice to break out of the mold. After allowing a flour tortilla (the recipe calls for corn but I prefer flour) to brown slightly in olive oil, you add a black bean-cumin mash. Then you fold the taco in half. With some coaxing it will stay closed of its own accord. Then brown each side in the saucepan. Once it is cooked, remove it from the skillet, then sprinkle in some feta cheese and a slaw made from cabbage, cilantro, green onion, lime juice, and olive oil. The flavors of this taco explode with tanginess, sharp saltiness and warmth(ness). Who knows, maybe you could use these to spice up your next taco night.