Chicken Bread? Salad Rolls?

One of Sally's great pleasures is mentoring student pharmacists as they go about a series of "rotations" in the various aspects of the professional pharmacy career. Sally's specialty is Clinical Pharmacy, consulting with clients on the the drugs they take and the possible interactions between them.

Spring Rolls -- Salad Rolls

This term Sally's student is a young lady name Thuy, who was born in Vietnam and came to America with her parents as a child. The other day Thuy made classic Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Peanut sauce. Unbeknownst to her, this is one of my favorite dishes from that cuisine, and the taste of her rolls brought back some of the few pleasant memories I have of my time in that country.

Fiddley to make, but not difficult, the 'magic ingredient' of these rolls is being able to find the round rice paper sheets which become the wrappers. A well stocked generic Asian market will have them, and Vietnamese and Thai markets surely will. These are not egg rolls. They aren't cooked, although some of the filling is. These are a 'salad' rolls, served as an appetizer or salad equivalent, at a Vietnamese feast. I served them as part of an Asian inspired meal that included a vegetable teriyaki stir fry and my butternut squash/apple/onion soup with my own version of 5-spice flavoring.

The crispy rounds are softened by soaking in hot water for a few seconds - not too few and not too many. The softened wrapper is then filled with rice noodles, shrimp, lettuce, etc and rolled up 'burrito style'. Traditionally they are served with a slightly sweet hoisin/peanut sauce or a spicy-salty nuoc mam/chili sauce.   Thanks Thuy!!!

Chicken Bread

Take a loaf of frozen dough and fill it full of goodies. Mine didn't turn out as pretty as it should have. But hey! Lessons learned. It tasted good and ultimately that's what matters.

1 lb loaf frozen bread dough, thawed and risen acording to package directions

2 cups cooked chopped Chicken

1 cup chopped Mushrooms

1/2 Sweet White Onion, diced

1 stick celery, diced

1/2 red Bell Pepper, julienned

Saute the filling veggies to remove a lot of liquid, then combine with the chicken. Roll the bread out to about 11" x 17", place the filling down the center, and slice strips as you see in the photo. Then overlap the strips in a herigbone pattern, folding the end bit up last. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes.

  

Seafood Pie

Shepherd's Pie has lamb in it. Cottage Pie has beef. The French-Canadians do a Pork Pie called Tourtière. Guess what Seafood Pie has in it!  Cod, halibut, catfish, tilapia, haddock, smoked (or plain) salmon, grouper, snapper and mahi-mahi are all good candidates. I love smoked salmon in mine, but Sally and her Mum think it's too strong of a taste. I also add shrimp, sometimes bay scallops, or once in a great while crab.

1-1/2 lbs mixed Seafood

8 oz Mixed Vegetables -- chop your own or use a bag of frozen

1 stick Celery

1/2 red Bell Pepper

1 bunch Green Onions

8 oz shredded Cheese blend

1 frozen deep dish Pie Shell

Spice blend to taste (1 tsp to 1 Tbsp) - Old Bay or Everglades are great, but you can go Cajun/Creole, Greek or whatever else piques your taste buds.

Combine everything except the pie shell in a large bowl and let frozen things come to room temp. Pat away excess moisture, if any. Pack filling into pie shell and top with extra cheese if desired. Bake at 375F for 45-60 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

Starry, Starry Fruit...

Well, it's been a busy weekend and I have to admit I didn't do much cooking. Sally had a house guest from Orlando (Hi Mel!) for the three-day weekend, and we did a lot of outdoor adventure sightseeing at Corkscrew Swamp, and kayaking with manatees at Manatee Park here in Fort Myers.

 I did make a giant Eggplant Parmesan the other day, but I explained how I make that back in the December 8th post. The thing I did differently this time (other use than a much larger pan and six eggplant) was to make the sauce from one jar of Red pasta sauce and one jar of White pasta sauce (Bertolli or Paul Newman brand by preference). The resulting Pink sauce was not as acidic as a conventional Red sauce, but equally tasty.

Starfruit Jam

The one new thing I did this week was to make Starfruit Jam. Local Starfruit or Carambola trees have had a bumper crop this year. Here's a picture of the tree down from Lady Sally's house.

Carambola (Spanish) or Starfruit (English)  is native to southeast Asia and India, and is popular throughout the region. It is also grown around the Caribbean, Latin America, and southern Florida. The 2" to 6" fruit are usually a five-pointed (sometimes 6-point) star in cross-section.   Here in Florida they are ripe from roughly November to March.

Light green and not at all sweet when unripe, they change to yellow and dark yellow- brown as they ripen and sweeten. Best to eat after all traces of green are gone, and the ridges become dark brown and the waxy skin hasn't developed dark splotches.  Very juicy when ripe (as in eat it over the kitchen sink). Not cloyingly sweet, they have a pleasing, slightly sour edge to the taste. The taste has been compared to a mixture of apple, pear, grape, and citrus.   Not a super food, they are still loaded with antioxidants, potassium, and vitamin C.  Low in sugar they also have anti-microbial properties.

Starfruit are great by themselves(see kitchen sink, above), but also make wonderful relishes, preserves, pies, etc. In Asia they are often stewed with cloves and a bit of sugar. I've combined them with Mango in a pie. Frozen cut stars make a great, and tasty garnish for a bowl of ice cream.  Often served with fish, they can also be juiced and turned in refreshing coolers. Not enough pectin to make marmalade, they are stewed down with sugar to become an almost honey-like jam with or without the addition of pectin.

3 lbs Starfruit, chopped fine, with juice

3 cups Splendatm or Sugar

1 lemon, minced, with juice

3 cups Water

Optional -

1/2 tsp Cardamon seed

6 whole Cloves

Pectin

Combine everything in a large pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer (and simmer, and simmer, and simmer... until the jam turns golden brown and thickens.  Store in clean screw-top containers and store in the fridge.  The recipe above made a quart and a cup of jam, with pectin.  Had I kept simmering, without pectin, I might have gotten half a pint of love.

Tacos de Pescado y más

Fish tacos, fried tomatoes (not the green ones), Spanish rice, black-eyed peas to start the new year right, and "not quite chili". That should keep you all -- or y'all in proper Southern parlance -- trying new and tasty goodies for the week.

Tacos de Pescado

This became one of Sally's favorite ways to eat fish, once I introduced her to the concept - Fish Tacos with panko breaded fish, avocado slices, diced onion and tomato, fresh lettuce from our container garden if it's available, and other toppings of choice.

Panko Breaded Fish

You can use any fish, of course, but a firm white fish rather than something like salmon, is preferred. We like grouper, cod, tilapia or catfish, in that order. If I could get monkfish at a decent price, that would be exceptionally good. Mostly we get tilapia because down here in Florida cod is expensive, but I can get locally farm-raised tilapia for a good price. Later this year I'm going bowfishing for wild tilapia that "infest" all sorts of shallow ponds around here.

Tacos, in Mexico, are a snack, an appetizer. North of the border, tacos are a meal in and of themselves.

1 Tilapia filet per person, cut into quarters

1 cup more or less Panko bread crumbs for dredging

1 cup more or less wheat or corn flour for dredging

1-2 Eggs, beaten, for dredging

2 Tbsp seasoning for the panko - Old Baytm, Emeril's Essencetm, Evergladestm, etc

2-3 tortillas (wheat flour or corn or both) per person

1 Roma tomato, diced

1/2 Onion diced

1 Avocado, sliced

Cheese if you please

Shredded Lettuce if you like (not that iceberg junk)

Pico de Gallo or Salsa

Chop and prep the toppings first, and chill them while you cook the fish.

You'll want three large, shallow bowls or deep plates to hold the dredge ingredients. Add a tbsp or 2 of water to the eggs as you beat them. Add the seasoning to the panko, or even to the flour. Get your griddle or skillet not quite smoking hot. If you drop a crumb of panko onto the skillet, it should immediately start to dance and fry. You'll want to cover the bottom of the pan with oil, but not by much. We're skillet frying, not deep frying after all. I use olive oil mostly, although have been known to use canola oil for this kind of frying.

Dredge the fish pieces first in the flour to blot up the natural moisture and make the egg stick. Then dredge them in egg. Lastly press them into panko all the way around, and lay the pieces into the hot oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes on the first side, or until they've browned nicely. Then flip and repeat. Remove each piece as it finishes to a paper towel-topped plate, before serving.

"Spanish" Rice

That's Spanish in quotes because yellow rice is not exclusively Spanish by any stretch of the imagination. In Spanish it's called Aroz Amarillo -- Yellow Rice.  The yellow color comes from one of two spices -- saffron or turmeric. Saffron is the most expensive spice on the planet. Luckily a teenie tiny pinch goes a loooong way. Turmeric is a LOT cheaper and just as tasty IMHO.

My version of Spanish Rice is made using a seasoning packet from the Badia spice company. Their Sazon Tropicaltm has not just turmeric, but other spices that give your rice a wonderful but not overpowering flavor. I use one packet of spice for up to two cups of uncooked rice.

Make your rice the usual way -- 1 cup of dry rice to two cups of water. Or the equivilent in a rice cooker (my favorite method). I prefer Jasmine rice for it's great aroma and taste. Basmati is my second choice. Add the spice packet to the water and stir vigorously to dissolve the powder.

Goes great with Tacos de Pescado or any Latin dish.

Beef 'n' Beans -- not really chili

I belong to the "chili does not contain beans" school; Sally belongs to the "yes beans" heretic school! So, last week, when she said she wanted chili, I knew it had to contain those round things.

There are as many recipes for chili as there are chili cooks. Here's what I used this time:

1-1/2 lbs ground beef 90/10 not the fatty stuff.

1 cup dried black beans, pre-cooked with thyme and cumin for seasoning

4 Roma Tomatoes, chopped

2 Cubano Peppers, chopped

1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped

6-8 red/yellow mini-Bell Peppers, chopped

6 cloves Garlic, chopped

2 stalks Celery, chopped

1 large Sweet Onion, diced

1 tsp Tony Cachere'stm Creole spice blend

1 Tbsp Evergladestm seasoning

1 Tbsp Cumin Powder

2 oz. Dark Chocolate

1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray'stm Chipotle BBQ sauce.

Brown the beef with the Everglades seasoning. Add the onion and celery and continue cooking until they are soft. Add the cooked beans, garlic and peppers, a cup or two of water, and the spices. Simmer for at least an hour to marry the flavors and break down the ingredients. Adjust the flavor with your choice of spices and sauces until it's just right. Getting the consistency right is the hard part of making chili. You don't want a totally homogeneous glop. But you don't want big chunks of distinctive ingredients, either. You don't want it soupy thin, but neither do you want it stiff and dry.

Serve with or without rice, garlic bread, a pone of cornbread on the side. But please, don't serve it over spaghetti, Cincinnati style. That's just wrong in so many ways!

English Fried Tomatoes

Definately not the same as the Southern Fried Green Tomatoes (which are breaded the same way as Panko Fish). The Brit variety is much simpler.

1 firm ripe Tomato for 2 people as a side dish, Romas are OK but larger varieties are better

3-4 slices American Bacon (called streaky bacon in the UK)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut out the stems, then slice the tomatoes on the equator. On the cut sides, dig out those yellow-green 'eyes'. Dust the cut sides with salt & pepper. Sometimes I'll use Old Bay

or Everglades seasoning instead of plain S&P.

Fry up the bacon in a skillet. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. In that yummy bacon grease, place the tomato halves face down and fry for 5-6 minutes until they start to soften. Turn over and cook on the rounded sides for anothe couple minutes. Plate and serve plain or with a strip of bacon.

Black Eyed Peas

A ceremonial New Years Day dish supposed to bring the diner money (I'm still waiting.......)

1 cup Dry Black-eyed Peas (really a bean)

1 Tbsp dry Thyme

1 Tbsp 24/7 or other "all day" spice blend

6 cups water

It's a great urban myth that dried peas/beans need to be soaked overnight. It has been proven time and again that extended soaking does nothing to improve the flavor, speed the cooking process, or reduce the amount of gas production. So why bother!

Put the water in a pot. Add the black eyed peas and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer 30-45 minutes until they are fork tender but not mushy.  

Happy Eating Everyone!

Start the Year -- and the Day -- off right!

Breakfast -- the most important meal of the day

I know, I know... People have been telling you that for years. Because it's true, dang it! The sad thing is that more people today are recognizing the fact, but eating less and less healthy breakfasts. According to a megamart manager friend, who reads the industry publications, the fastest growing segment of the grocery industry is breakfast bars. Why? Because they are fast, and you can eat and text and drive all at the same time!

That's really sad. Those commercial bars are loaded with such crap it's unbelievable - corn syrup, malto-junktose and a lot of things you can't pronounce, not to mention salt and sugar. You can make your own, healthier, breakfast bars -- my culinary hero Alton Brown dedicated an entire episode of Good Eats to the subject.

Or you can opt for some of the following ideas, several of which can be made-ahead and then grab-and-go.

New Years Brunch

A fancy brunch to start the New Year with Sally's Mum. There's a great restaurant chain out of Atlanta called The Flying Biscuit. Twenty odd stores around Atlanta, plus one in Gainsville, FL. We've eaten at the Gainsville store, and loved these two recipes.

Famous Flying Biscuits with Canadian Bacon

3 cups all purpose flour (a soft winter wheat flour, like White Lily, is best) sifted

1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoon sugar

6 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup half and half for brushing on top of biscuits

1 tablespoon sugar for sprinkling on top of biscuits

1 package Canadian Bacon

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Cut butter into ½ tablespoon-sized-bits and add to the flour. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in all the heavy cream and the half and half.

Stir the dry ingredients into the cream and mix with a wooden spoon until dough just begins to come together into a ball. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times to form a cohesive mass. Do not overwork the dough.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to a 1-inch thickness. The correct thickness is the key to obtaining a stately biscuit.

Dip a 2-1/2 inch biscuit cutter (I used a larg-ish water glass) in flour, then cut the dough. Repeat until all the dough has been cut. Scraps can be gathered together and re-rolled one more time.

Place the biscuits on the prepared sheet pan, leaving about ¼ inch between them. Brush the tops of the biscuits with 1 tablespoon of half and half and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes. Biscuits will be lightly browned on top and flaky in the center when done.

Makes 8 to 12 biscuits, depending on the size of the cutter. Make a batch and store them in the fridge in a zip-top bag.

Fry the bacon in a drop or two of EVOO until it just starts to brown around the edges. Slice a biscuit and make a better breakfast biscuit than you can buy!

Creamy Dreamy Grits

You really want to notice that "serves 12" when you go to make this recipe. That's enough grits to feed the Confederate Army! It took me a long time to learn to like grits. Never cared for Cream of Wheat when we were growing up; we were oatmeal folks. Then I discovered Shrimp and Grits, and the universe changed! Even without shrimp these grits are fabulous.

Serves: 12

6 cups water
2 cups half-and-half
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 cups quick grits
1 cup grated white cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed 

In a saucepan, combine water, half-and-half, salt and white pepper and bring to a boil. Slowly pour grits into boiling water while whisking the entire time. (Watch out for splattering; mixture is very hot.) Reduce to low heat and continue to whisk often, until thick and completely smooth, about 10 minutes. 

Add cheese and stir gently until cheese melts. Whisk again to combine. Turn heat off and allow grits to rest 5 minutes. Add butter and stir until completely smooth, silky and shiny.  Can be served hot, of course, or cooled and cut into portions for re-heating (or even eating cold).

Creamy Dreamy Grits garnished with slices of white cheddar

Steel Cut Oatmeal

As long as we're talking breakfast, this is our favorite way to have oatmeal. The larger particles of the steel cut process gives this 'gluten free' breakfast a completely different (and we think better) texture than those rolled flakes. 

 It takes 20-30 minutes to cook steel-cut oats rather tha five minutes, but they can cook while you stir them, sip a cuppa and crank the ole eyelids open! When I was a kid my Mom thought I was nuts to put homemade grape jelly in my oatmeal when everyone else put milk and sugar and butter. Hah! Our favorite toppings are my ten-minute marmalades (see the very first post of this blog), and local sea-grape honey or a blended honey made by our friend Patrick Hosey.

Sally takes oatmeal to work for breakfast. I can make a batch of steel cut oatmeal on Sunday night, and she takes a 'slice' to work every day.  Thirty seconds in the microwave, and yuuummm!

English Pancakes

Not sweet like their American Cousins (not quite a reference to Abe Lincoln), Sally made these from the leftover Yorkshire Pudding batter (see last week's blog post), with an added egg, flour and milk. Traditionally served with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Make ahead, dress, and roll three or four up as a fast nibble breakfast. Sometimes these are made with a bit of diced green onion added, for a more savory take on breakfast.  This week I have a treat for you.  Sally showing off her "chef flip" (that I've never been able to do), filmed by daughter Holly:

And here's what those pancakes look like ready to eat:

Eggy Bagels

This is pretty much our standard weekend brekkie fare. Eggs, bagels and cheese of your choice. Simple, tasty and gives you energy for weekend adventures! A single egg takes only as long to make as a bagel takes to toast. Add a slice of cheese for a complete breakfast. Five minutes from cracking the egg to eating!

Slo-Cook French Toast Casserole

This was perfect as our Christmas Day Brunch. We rose late, then Sally's Mum came over about 10AM for present opening.

1 loaf day-old challah bread

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

8 large eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 vanilla bean, beans only

5 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch kosher salt

Lightly coat the inside of the slow-cooker insert with cooking spray. Slice the challah into ½-inch slices and arrange them, overlapping, in the slow-cooker.

In a large bowl whisk together the rest of the ingredients until very well blended, then pour over the challah in the slow cooker. Push the bread down so that it is completely submerged and soaks up the goodness. It will spring up, but that's ok.

Place the cover on the slow-cooker and set the heat to low and cook for 8 hours. (I turned it on at 11pm so it was ready at a good time the next morning).

In the morning allow the French toast to cool slightly, then cut and serve with honey or maple syrup. The leftovers were great even two days later. A wedge of the bread and a drizzle of honey. Oh my!

All My On Invention

Years ago when I worked as the Science Writer at the Univ. of Utah Computer Center, I would get up in the morning, take my shower, then drive to the office, put on a pot of coffee, and have a couple handfuls of this while reading my morning emails before other folks came to work. The early bird gets the trail mix! Buy from a store that sells bulk goods, and mix together equal amounts by weight of:

Blueberry Granola

Diced Papaya

Unsalted Peanuts

Generic M&Ms tm

I still make this when we travel, as an 'emergency' snack. It's got fast sugars, caffein (in the chocolate), slow sugars (dried fruit), carbs, and protein. Not to mention reat taste! What more could you ask?