Fishy Business 2: Salmon and Rice Burritos

Fish tacos. 

... don't sound very good.  But everyone says they are.  Something to try?  I think so!  Cept we had leftover rice from last night's Thai Chili Glazed Salmon and Spanish Rice Pilaf, so we changed it up a bit and made burritos instead. And served em up street food style in our little blue baskets!

Also, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to make this a somewhat more useful blog, by trying to post more recipes and less "Hey look at pictures of the awesome food we make and be jealous" sort of posts... So if you have any requests for recipes or suggestions for how to improve the blog or recipes, let me know!

Salmon and Rice Burritos

 

1 Salmon fillet

2 oz (1/4 cup) Lime Juice

6 oz (3/4 cup) Water

Cilantro (to taste)

1 t Kosher Salt

Grapeseed Oil

Salt and Pepper

Leftover Spanish Rice Pilaf

Fresh pico de gallo (recipe below)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (we used reduced fat)

Hot sauce (optional)

 

Cut salmon fillet into two pieces.  Combine lime juice, water, cilantro, and 1 teaspoon salt.  Pour over raw fish and put in refrigerator to marinate for about half an hour. (The fish will start to whiten on the outside, but shouldn't "cook" completely with the acid.)

 

Just before you pull the fish out of the marinade is a good time to steam tortillas if you're going to do that. (We did, and trust me, it's easy and AWESOME.) To do this, dampen (don't soak!) a clean tea towel.  Stack tortillas in the center of the towel and roll up GENTLY.  Put the towel bundle into the basket of a standard vegetable steamer and set to steam for 10 minutes.

 

After half an hour, remove fish from marinade, blot off excess marinade with clean paper towel, coat lightly with grapeseed oil, rub on salt and pepper to taste (I used a "medium" amount of each), and sear 30 seconds on each side.  Transfer to a 400 degree oven for 5-6 minutes until done. Remove from heat.

 

Remove tortillas from the steamer and unroll (if you're prepping one at a time, take out one tortilla and gently roll the others back up in the towel to keep them warm).  To each tortilla, add rice, fish, pico, cheddar, and hot sauce. To roll up burrito style (not like in the picture...), fold in the two "short" ends first, then fold the two long sides over the filling and close.

 

 

 

 

Fresh Pico de Gallo

 

3 roma tomatoes

1/2 red pepper

1 small shallot

2 green onions

2-3 cloves garlic

Cilantro, Salt, and Pepper to taste

1 jalapeno (optional)

 

Dice/Mince all ingredients and combine.  Let sit in refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.

 

Enjoy!

 

Happy Cooking!

 

 







Fishy Business 1: Thai Glazed Salmon

Yeah... original title, huh?  oh well.  It made me smile.

So this weekend's ingredient of choice was Salmon fillet. Dante has been wanting to try making a Thai Chili Glazed Salmon like the one he gets at Harvey's, so we picked up a couple fillets Friday (after waiting in line FOR-E-VER.  Stupid Labor day lines...)

Friday's dinner was Dante's Thai Chili Glazed Salmon.  Which he says tastes a lot like Harvey's, so... WIN!

 

Dante's Thai Glazed Salmon

 

Salmon Fillet

Thai Chili Glaze (we used Thai Kitchen brand)

Sea Salt

Pepper

Grapeseed Oil

Jalapenos and Green onions for garnish

 



Coat the salmon lightly with grapeseed oil (or other high smoke point oil).  Rub on salt and pepper to taste, then drop into preheated cast iron pan (on high heat).  Sear without moving for 30 seconds on each side, then move to a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and turn the oven up to broil.  Brush on Thai chili glaze and put pan under the broiler for approximately two minutes.  Remove from heat, top with jalapenos and green onions, and serve with Spanish Rice Pilaf.

Spanish Rice Pilaf

(Modification of Alton Brown's Rice Pilaf)

1 T Olive or Grapeseed Oil
1/2 Red Onion, diced
3 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Red Pepper, diced
2 cups Long Grain White Rice
2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 t Cilantro (or to taste)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Roma tomato, diced
2 Green Onions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350.  Put oil in bottom of large pot/saucier (use an oven safe pot/pan with a lid).  Add onions and start to sautee.  When onions begin to soften, add garlic and red pepper.  Continue to sautee another 2-3 minutes.  Add the (dry) rice and stir, cooking for 3-5 minutes (it should just start to smell "nutty", per Alton).  Add chicken broth and seasoning and stir.  Do NOT add tomatoes or green onion.  Completely moisten a clean tea towel and drape over the top of the pot.  Put the lid on over the towel and wrap the corners of the towel up over the lid.  (The towel helps reduce condensation on the lid of the pan and moistening it first helps prevent it- the towel- from burning!)  Bake 15 minutes at 350.  Remove from oven and let sit WITHOUT REMOVING LID for an additional 15 minutes.  Uncover and gently stir in tomatoes and onions.

 Well, hopefully that all makes sense, feel free to comment or email me with any questions!  I definitely recommend you try both of these recipes!

Happy Cooking!

BBQ Bean Quesaritos

Yup.  BBQ Bean Quesaritos.  Nifty, huh?

Basically, I was hungry when I got back from a walk, watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network, thought the BBQ Chicken Quesadillas looked good, one thing led to another, and ... well... these happened.  But apparently they were a hit, cuz I gave Dante a bite of mine and he immediately asked "Can you make me one!?"  So, score one for improvising!  Pics will have to come later, since I wasn't sure how mine would turn out and I forgot to snap a shot when I made Dante's.

Beans:
1 can Great Northern Beans WITH liquid
~2 Tbsp Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
~1/2 tsp Weber Kick'n Chicken Seasoning
~1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
~1/2 tsp Onion Powder
Dash Kosher Salt

Quesaritos:
1 Med. Flour Tortilla
1/2 cup beans (above)
~1/2 cup spinach
~1 oz Fontina Cheese, shredded

Directions:
1. Fold tortilla in half.
2. Sprinkle one side with the Fontina cheese.
3. Place open tortilla into a hot pan (sprayed with nonstick spray).
4. Spoon beans on top of cheese.
5. Add spinach on top of beans.
6. Fold tortilla over on top of filling.
7. Cook until lightly browned/crispy on one side.
8. Flip and cook until lightly browned and crispy on second side.
9. Transfer to plate and top with extra juice from beans.

Happy cooking!

The best chowder ever... and a darn good grilled cheese!

So, still behind.  Always behind.  le sigh.  BUT... Catching up!

A while back, despite the beautiful weather, a creamy chicken soup sounded good.  And if I remember correctly, the weather actually cooperated and cooled down a bit the day we made it.  Thanks, Mother Nature! (This was at the end of May, not terribly recently.)

A lot of this was "What do we have in the kitchen that would be good in this soup?"  But I was really REALLY happy with how it turned out.  It was DELICIOUS.  But it took us a while to figure out what to call it, so we're settling on "Earthy Chicken Chowder" for now.  If you make it and come up with something better, comment and let us know! (Also, not the best picture, but believe me, it tastes better than it looks.)

Earthy Chicken Chowder

3 Chicken Breasts

8-10 c. Water

4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

2 Potatoes, Cubed

2 Carrots, Chopped

3 Stalks Celery, Chopped

3-4 Cloves Crushed Garlic

1/3 c. Green Onions, chopped

1-2 T. Olive Oil

1/2 c. Fresh Parsley, Chopped

1 large sprig Rosemary

1 pkg Dried Wild Mushroom Mix

1 T. Black Truffle Pieces in Oil

2 c. Fat Free Half and Half

1/4 c. Rosemary Asiago, shredded

4 T. Butter

1/4 c. Flour

1/2 c. Fat Free Half and Half (Yes, it's here twice on purpose!)

Salt and Pepper to Taste 

(1 T. Onion Powder)

1. Boil chicken in large pot.  Remove from water and dice. 
2. Put dried mushrooms and 1 cup of the water the chicken was cooked in into a bowl to soak.
3. Boil remaining broth to reduce to 4-6 cups.
4. Add bouillon and potatoes.
5. In skillet, sautee carrots, celery, onions, and garlic in olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter with salt.
6. Chop soaked mushrooms and add to soup.
7. Add sauteed vegetables, rosemary, parsley, truffles, and any other seasonings you desire (we added onion powder) and simmer until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
8. Add half and half and asiago.
9. In a small pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter.  When melted, add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes.  Add 1/2 c. Half and Half while stirring.
10. Add roux (flour mixture) to the large pot and stir in. 
11. Add chicken meat.
12. Remove rosemary stem (needles will have cooked off into the soup).
13. Warm through and serve.
 

SOOOoooooo worth making.  Really.  Would I lead you astray?

We had ours, as you might have noticed from the images above, with grilled cheese.  Cept our grilled cheese had a roquefort parsley butter (to be explained in a later post by Dante), Swiss cheese, and Morel and Leek Jack cheese.  It was a little rich, but very good.  Especially dipped in the soup.

So... there's an actual recipe for you to make up for not posting for so long!

Happy Cooking!

Pizza for bruch! (And Bento #7)

Breakfast of champions, right?  Yeah, had BBQ Chicken Pizza for brunch today.  it was tasty!


Anyway, got a bit behind on the blog posts at the end of this week, so time to catch up!

Thursday:

Dante's Bento:  Ritz, "Savory Rice Thins", Tofuna (More on this below!), Rice, Garbanzo Beans, Dante's Homemade Enchilada Sauce.

Mine: Same thing!

Overall, not the most colorful bentos, and I didn't finish mine, but they were (mostly) pretty tasty! Gotta say, I am NOT a fan of the rice crackers.  They have a really funky lingering aftertaste.  And I used too much enchilada sauce on my beans and rice, so that was a bit spicy for me, but very good, especially with some mozzarella cheese I happened to have in the fridge at work.

Now on to the star of these bentos, TOFUNA!!  Yes, sounds weird, yes, sort of a cult classic around here (ie- has a few very devoted fans and everyone else goes 'ewww!' without trying it), but delicious nonetheless.  Tofuna is a modification of a recipe Mom found in a cookbook.  I don't know what book or what the actual recipe was called, but I don't really follow it anyway.  My general recipe is something along the lines of:

• 2 cans chunk light tuna in water 
• 1/2 pack lite tofu cut into small pieces
• Splash lemon juice (a Tablespoon or two- this is a "to taste" recipe!)
• Couple tablespoons Miracle Whip Lite
• Diced red/orange peppers
• Sliced green onion (Make sure to wash all produce!!)
• Garlic Salt (Or salt and garlic powder)
• Italian Seasoning
• Mozzarella cheese

Basically just whatever you've got around that looks good!  Mix it all up and serve on crackers or cut a pepper (red, orange, etc) in half, scoop out the seeds, fill with tofuna, top with a sprinkle of cheese, and pop in the oven for a few minutes.  Delicious.  And to all of you who go "Ewww, Tofu!!", you can't even taste it.  It just tastes like tuna.  :-p  So there.

Friday was the first day since I got my bentos that I haven't packed one for lunch!  It was kinda weird.  But I had Subway leftovers to use up.  So, had half a Turkey sub on Honey Oat.  Mmmmmm.  And some Red Vines, which are great in a gross waxy sort of way.  You know you know what I mean...

Otherwise, not much to report on the food front.  Cookies and pizza for dinner last night after going to the store to get fish and asparagus to cook up with my leftover rice.  Oops.  lol.  BUT.... Check out this handsome fella I came across while sampling the children's pond for larval mosquitoes with one of my coworkers!

 

 Isn't he adorable?!?  I love his curly little tail feathers!  He was super brave.  We were standing at the edges of the little pond in our Children's Garden, checking for baby mosquitoes, and he just swam right over to see what we were doing.  Then climbed out and started walking over!  He was literally two feet or less away.  It was awesome.  

Anywho... I think that's about it.  Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode...

-Rowan