Simple Foods II and Glass Cleaning

Another episode to show you that everyday food can look and taste wonderful; doesn't take a lot of time, and doesn't need a bunch of fancy ingredients.  Gourmet dishes are great.  But face it -- if we ate gourmet every day, we'd all be as round as we are tall!

Teriyaki Chicken Breast

The 'hard' part about this dinner is getting the chicken thawed and marinated at least 30 minutes, and preferably an hour, before you're ready to cook. Get the chicken out of the freezer and into the fridge before you head to work.  When you get home, place the package in cold water in the sink (it has been proven that cold water thaws things much faster than warm or hot water) for 15 minutes or so, while you prep the other components, to get rid of any lingering chill.

Put the chicken breasts in a zip top bag.  Add a 1/4 cup or so of bottled teriyaki sauce, and a splash of liquid smoke and toasted sesame oil if you have them.  Throw in some minced ginger and onion for added flavor.  Seal the bag to remove as much air as you can, and lay on a plate to marinate for at least half an hour before sauteing.   Brush with the marinade during cooking.  

The squash was simply cooked in a covered pot, in a couple tablespoons of water, and dusted with Emeril's Original Essence(tm) blend. The potatoes were quartered, rinsed, dusted with spice, placed in a bowl and nuked (covered) for about 6 minutes until fork tender. Total cooking time about 20 minutes.

Spaghetti Squash Two Ways

Paul Newman. Enjoyed him as an actor; applauded his investment decision with his daughter to create Newman's Own brand of foods, with the profits going to charity. 

 I really like the tangy Newman's Own(tm) Sausage and Peppers red pasta sauce combined with the Garlic Alfredo sauce to make a 'pink' sauce that's not so acidic. Combine the sauces in a skillet or pot and heat through to marry the flavors.  Doctor the sauce with added garlic, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes,  etc. if you choose.  I added about 3/4 lb of ground sirloin.

Nuke the halved and gutted squash 9-12 minutes depending on size. 

Total cooking time under 20 minutes.  Serve with crusty garlic bread if you like.

I like mine as a Spaghetti Squash Boat.  Rake the squash flesh into the sauce as you eat.

Sally likes her spaghetti squash presented as conventional pasta topped with sauce.

Tuna Melt Sandwich Dinner

Tuna salad, cheese, bread and butter. Pretty simple.

 I make my tuna salad with a can of tuna (one standard can makes two sandwiches), a stick of celery minced, and a couple tablespoons of both mayo and mustard. Sometimes I make it 'fancy' with a sprinkling of a curry powder or another spice blend.  Sometimes I add minced radish for a bit of tang.  Be creative.

Personally I prefer to buy Solid canned tuna, not Chunk;  in water not oil.  You get less Chunk meat for the same weight of can as Solid. The stuff is already expensive enough without paying for the water.

The hard part about making a grilled cheese or tuna melt sandwich is buttering both sides of the bread before you assemble things, then getting it off the work surface and into the pan.  A layer of cling film on the work surface does wonders for cleanup.  

Put the tuna salad on the bread, then add the sliced cheese (we like sharp white English cheddar), then the top bread. Transfer to the pan using your flipper. 

Cook a couple minutes until brown not black, Flip fast to avoid losing any filling. Cook the second side. Eat while still hot.  Serve with a simple salad if you need more nourishment.

Cleaning Decanters and other narrow-necked glass vessels

Sally inherited a bunch of old glass decanters from her Dad, and they were shipped here from Spain awhile back in a less than pristine condition (but nothing was broken!). 

Getting glass of any age clean inside is a special problem when you have narrow-necked decanters like the one shown. Sally learned this technique from a Spanish friend of her father's. A squirt of liquid soap, some warm water and up to a cup of uncooked rice (get the cheap stuff -- using jasmine or basmati would be a waste). Shake and swirl vigorously to remove yucky stuff from places where a brush can't go.

Weekly Groceries

Here's a few grocery things I try to keep on hand.

1 Lemon

Mushrooms

1 large Onion

1 Bell Pepper

1 thumb of fresh Ginger - break off only what you need, don't buy the whole hand

Fresh green veg - broccoli, green beans, snap peas, etc. 

Baby Carrots - I get 4 'lunch pack' bags for about $1.29

Celery

1 head of Garlic

Tuna -- I buy the 4-pack.  When I'm down to 1 can, I buy again.

Dried Beans

Dried Lentils

Rice

Whole Potatoes - 3 lb bag of white or red

Bread and/or bagels

Hummus

Greek Yogurt

International Delights

Running a bit late today, but Sally and I just got back from a three-day getaway to Orlando.  We found some great cut-rate Disney tickets specifically for Florida locals; and stayed with her friend Melinda who visited us over the MLK holiday weekend.  

I'm happy to say I'm no longer a Disney Virgin. We spent Saturday at Animal Kingdom and Sunday at Magic Kingdom.  I was more than impressed with environmental engineering that WED Enterprises has put into Animal Kingdom in particular.

I know the Middle East isn't a popular subject these days, but at least some of the foods from that part of the world are always worth considering... and consuming.

The Imam Fainted

First off, this week, I made a dish called The Imam Fainted With Delight When First He Tasted Of This. I learned the dish ages ago from science fiction authors Poul and Karen Anderson. Karen edited a cookbook in the dim ages of the past called Cooking Out Of This World, with recipes from a lot of science fiction writers that a knew. If you can find a copy, it's priceless.

If you love eggplant, onion and tomato, you're gonna love this.

1 large Eggplant cut into 1" cubes (leave the skin on)

1 large White Onion, chopped (I prefer sweet white onion like Vidalia, Maui or Walla Walla)

4-6 Roma Tomatoes, chopped

2-3 tsp each, ground Cinnamon, Allspice and Cloves

Yes that much of those spices. Trust me. Put the eggplant in a pot on Med-High, with a couple good glugs of EVOO, and saute. Add the onion and the tomato. Then add the spices. Add maybe a cup of water. Cover, reduce the heat a bit, and simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally to meld all the flavors together. Serve over jasmine rice, or with crusty garlic bread, or both.  Can also be a side dish to chicken or fish

Cashew Chicken Masala

That's 'masala', not 'marsala', and not 'chicken tikka masala'. This is my own invention. Garam Masala is a classic Indian spice blend found on every megamart spice shelf as well as much less expensive in your local Indian specialty market.

2 Whole Chicken Breasts (or 4 bone-in, skin-on thighs)

1/2 cup Cashews

1 cup Green Beans, trimmed and chopped

1-2 Roma Tomatoes

1/2 cup Baby Carrots

1 Tbsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce (for a bit of heat)

Dust the chicken with cumin and cook until nearly done. If using breasts, cut into bite sized pieces. If using thighs, remove the skin and cut the meat from the bones. While you're prepping the cooked meat, start cooking the other ingredients and spices, with a cup or so of water, then add the meat back into the mix. Simmer until the vegetables are done. Serve with rice and or your favorite sort of spiced dal (lentils). I like Masoor Dal, the orange split lentils, spiced with an Indian lentil spice blend from my local Indian shop.

Mutabal Shwandar

This is an interestingly different cracker/chip/veggie dip from Lebanon and Syria. It's simple and easy and colorful -- everything you want for a potluck take-along -- with pita chips, lavash crackers or something similar to dip.

1/2 Beets, canned (unless you want to spend a LOT of time roasting beets)

2 cups Greek Yogurt

1/8 cup julienned fresh Mint for garnish

Drain the beets well and pat dry. Place in a blender/food processor with the yogurt (don't use any of the liquid that comes to the surface). Take things for a spin until you get a beautiful pink beldn without lumps. Place in a bowl and garnish with the mint. Serve with cut vegetables, crackers, chips, etc.

Photo from: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-creamy-beet-and-tahini-dip-recipes-from-the-kitchn-188995

Ahi Tuna Steaks

Sally got a really good deal on a half pound slab of fresh Ahi tuna the other day at Costco of all places.

This is how I decided to serve it. A way I learned a few years back when I spent two years on Kwajalein Atoll in the far Pacific.  Sally doesn't like barely seared tuna, so I broiled it 3 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other, leaving the center barely pink.

But before that, I divided the 1" steak in two, and marinated it in a mixture of low-sodium soy sauce, juice of a lemon, toasted sesame oil and minced fresh ginger. I used a zip top bag as the marinade vessel -- put the meat in the bag, add the marinade and squeeze as much air out as you can before sealing tightly. Never marinate a fish like this for more than 15 minutes; otherwise you'll be half way to ceviche. I served this with Aroz Amarillo and fresh broccoli.

Edible Inevitable Tour, Lace Potatoes, Meatballs and Pork Chops Dijonnaise

Edible Inevitable Tour

Sally and I had a fabulous time last Thursday evening at the BB Mann Performing Arts Hall, watching my single most favorite culinary hero, Alton Brown, in his Edible Inevitable tour. If he visits anywhere near you -- GO! You'll hate yourself if you don't.  Sally had never seem Alton, but has heard me talk about him often.  I've been following him for years on Food Network.   Tickets to his show were Sally's Christmas present to me.

So much fun!! Belching and farting yeast puppets are the pre-show entertainment! Then AB comes on and opens the show with a Food Rap! Who knew he was also an accomplished guitarist, singer/songwriter -- rap, CW and folk-ballad?

There there was his rant about Things I'm (pretty) Sure I'm Sure About Food. I still can't decide whether my favorite bit was Trout Don't Belong In Ice Cream, where he relates Iron Chef Sakai's making of that substance and his having to taste the same, on camera. Or the Chicken Don't Have Fingers bit where he talked about making real chicken fingers (ie. deep fried chicken feet) for his then 5th grade daughter's sleep-over friends.

Two amazing, giganto food demonstrations. First, the Jet Cream Machine in which he and an audience participant made a gallon of carbonated chocolate ice cream in 10 seconds (plus a few minutes of audience participation) with plastic water cooler bottles, a CO2 fire extinguisher, a water fire extinguisher and a lot of plumbing.

Then came the Mega Bake, AB's 21st century descendant of the single bulb Easy Bake Oven. The Mega Bake made pizza in 4 minutes flat, with over a million lumens of former theatrical stage lights and lots of ABs signature showmanship with another audience volunteer.

If you look reeeeeaaallllyyy close in this photo by AB's crew, Sally and I are in the first balcony, third row back from the edge, center:

Here's a really good review of the show:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/rhode-island/article/BWW-Reviews-Alton-Brown-Cooks-Up-Entertaining-EDIBLE-INEVITABLE-TOUR-20140222

11:Eleven Cafe

One of the best bites, Alton says on the tour so far, was an Avocado Grilled Cheese from the 11:Eleven Cafe near here. We'd never heard of the place although it's only fifteen minutes from Sally's house. So we went for Saturday dinner.

This is my kinda place. A chef doing what s/he loves to do, and making you love it. No pretentions, no hype -- just a more than a dozen great comfort food flavor combinations presented as a Grilled Cheese sandwich, an open-faced Nan Flatbread, a Stuffed Baked Potato or a topped Savory Waffle.

Sally had the Mushroom and Garlic combination on a monsterous baked potato with a tasty side salad topped with the house Honey Lime dressing.  I had Alton's choice, the Avocado & Four Cheese base as a grilled cheese with a side of Krista's signature Sauced & Tossed Apples.

I know Krista had been swamped for lunch. Then we showed up for an early dinner. They were running low or out of a couple of ingredients. But that's a GOOD thing; trust me.  Especially when you can still make customers happy. Sally though her meal could have had more mushrooms and more garlic. I thought my sandwich could have used a bit more avocado. But the flavors were spot on and delicious. If you're in the area be sure to visit 11:Eleven Cafe!

Read more about Chef Krista Leigh, her food philosophy, and the 11:Eleven Cafe at http://www.11elevencafe.com

Bennett's Fresh Roast

The other place AB visited and enjoyed while visiting Fort Myers was Bennett's Fresh Roast, IMHO the best coffee and hand cut fresh every day doughnut shop in the state. The Maple Bacon doughnut is a manly-manly treat!!

Lace Potatoes

I'm a big fan of the science fiction and fantasy written by L.E. Modesitt, of Cedar City, UT. In a great many of his novels, characters are found eating "lace potatoes". For years  I thought it was a literary invention -- not a regular Earth potato, but an alien planet "potato equivilent".   But...  I just finished another of his many novels the other day, and sure enough there was this character having lace potatoes. But this novel was set on Earth.  Then I got to thinking (always dangerous).... So I looked it up on the Internet (which we all trust implicitely, of course) and sure enough there were several recipes for Lace(d) Potatoes.

Laced in this case means "shredded". Now, where I grew up, Hash Browns were cubed potatoes cooked together with peppers, ham, onions and other goodies. But here in the South, Hash Browns are made with shredded (laced) potatoes. Laced or shredded, give Lace Potatoes a try! Here's my recipe for baked not pan fried Laced Potatoes:

1 large White or Gold Potato per person

Black Pepper to taste

Rosemary, to taste

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan (cylinder Parm is OK but real shredded is best)

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Shred the potatoes on the large opening of your box grater (or #2 slaw cone on a SaladMastertm). Toss to combine with pepper and rosemary.

Spray baking sheets with non-stick, or use non-stick foil. Make mounds of the potatoes about 4" in diameter, patted down to 1/4" thick. Dust with Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes.

The above steps can be done early, and the baked rounds can be refrigerated up to eight hours. Then fire up the broiler and continue.

Change oven to Broil. While it heats, gently flip the cakes, dust again with parmesan, and broil 3 minutes (more or less) until brown and crispy. Watch closely or they're char around the edges, like mine did! 

A little carbon in your diet is a good thing!   This is where real shredded Parm melts better than that powdered stuff and would have helped prevent the burnt bits.

Be creative! There are tons of spices that would go great here -- smoked paprika, Emeril's BAM blends, Sazon Complete or other Latin blends, Italian blend, Cavender's, Everglades, Old Bay.

Breaded Meatballs

These are a great potluck/party offering. The original recipe I found on the Internet calls for 6 cups of Bisquick tm and two pounds of cheese. If you can incorporate more than 4 cups of flour and 12 ounces of cheese, you're a miracle worker!!

Preheat the oven to 300F

4 cups Bisquicktm

12 ounces of shredded sharp cheddar

1 lb Ground Pork (or spicy bulk pork sausage if you don't want to mess with the following spices

1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika

1 Tbsp Evergladestm seasoning

1 Tbsp White Pepper

Sounds like a lot of spice, I know.  But they will be diluted by all that flour.  My first batch, with just a teaspoon of each spice, was too bland by far.  Mix the spices into the meat first. Then add the Bisquick and cheese and mix well. Really well. Roll between your palms into golf ball sized pieces. Bake on non-stick pans for 30 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Skewer with toothpicks, and serve. Makes about two dozen meatballs.

For the Dipping Sauce

3 medium Starfruit, chopped

1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce

Sugar to taste

Puree, chill, and serve.

Pork Chops Dijonnaise

Another simple meal created on the fly. You can make this sort of thing too.  Much better than those frozen dinner things!

1 Pork Chop per person, thick cut, bone-in for flavor.

Freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste

Wide Egg Noodles

Frozen Peas

1-2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 Tbsp Corn Starch and water slurry for thickener

Start the water for the pasta. Dust the chops with pepper and start frying them in a splash of EVOO. While that's going on measure out the peas into a small pot with a bit of Di-hydrogen Monoxide* and turn the fire under the pot to low.

When the pasta water boils add the egg noodles and cook to package directions. Turn the chops when they need it. When the chops are done, remove them from the skillet. Deglaze the skillet with a 1/2 cup of water and scrape up all that great flavored fond (the brown bits stuck to the pan). Add the dijon mustard and stir to combine. When it starts to boil, add the corn starch slurry and stir again. Cook until the gravy thickens. Drain the pasta and plate everything. Top with the Dijonnaise sauce and serve.

* Di-hydrogen Monoxide is water -- H2 O.

Green Papaya Slaw, Shrimp & Grits, Kaiserscharrn

After I wrote about her Spring Rolls last week, Sally's student Thuy sent me her recipe for the wonderful traditional Peanut Sauce she makes to accompany them.

Vietnamese Peanut Sauce

1 cup Hoisin Sauce (less expensive from an Asian Market than a megamart)

1/2 to 3/4 cup peanut butter 

up to 1/4 cup water

Sriracha or Garlic Red Chili Paste for a kick, to taste

In a small pot, on very low heat, begin to melt the peanut butter. Whisking as you go, add the hoisin sauce a bit at a time to dilute the lump of peanut butter. Keep whisking and dilute with the water to the consistency you want. Finally, add the spice paste, to taste. Some like it hot, some like it not.

Often the sauce is presented with a sprinkling of peanuts on top.  You could make the sauce using chunky peanut butter, if you like.

Green Papaya Salad/Slaw

Here's another Southeast Asian recipe.  This one will be hard for my northern readers to make. But if you live anywhere near where papayas grow, you owe it to yourself to make this.  It's a "slaw" because the main ingredient - papaya - is shredded, not just cut or ripped leaves.

This is one of those dishes I've heard about for years, but for some reason never made. I was out looking at one of Sally's papaya trees (planted from seed a couple years ago) the other day, and I saw several nice sized fruit were forming, but still green.   That got me thinking about this recipe.   So I lopped off a nice sized green papaya - about a pound and a half, 8 inches long and 2"+ in diameter. You don't want a papaya that has the slightest bit of yellow or red.

By itself green papaya has little taste, so it could make a great palette for a variety flavors. The traditional dressing is really fabulous though. Try it first before you go experimenting. This is not hot and spicy, not tart or bitter; just very refreshing.

For the Salad

2 cups Papaya, peeled and shredded (the one I picked yielded about 4 cups)

12-16 Cherry Tomatoes, halved

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, julienned

1/4 cup peanuts, roasted

optional -- julienne slices of hot chili peppers, to taste

SaladMastertm Slicer with shredded green papaya

For the Dressing 

3 Limes, juiced

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce (low sodium preferred)

1 Tbsp Asian Fish Sauce (Really! Trust me. But if you chicken out use another Tbsp of Soy)

1 tsp Sriracha Sauce, or more, to taste

2 cloves Garlic, minced

Toss the salad ingredients to combine. In a small container stir together the dressing ingredients. Pout about half the dressing over the slaw and toss to combine.

A double or triple batch of the dressing would make a great base for an Asian-inspired ceviche!

A thinned out Peanut Sauce would make a great dressing here too!

Asian Dinner -- Vietnamese Spring Roll, Thai Green Papaya Salad, Cumin Rice

Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiser what? Schmarrn what?  Well, schmarrn translates as "scrambled pancake". What? 

Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria was apparently really nutso for this  scrambled pancake with fruit .  It was the assassination of his nephew, the Arch Duke Ferdinand, which precipitated WWI, but that's not a culinary story.

Kaiserschmarrn is a favorite meal or dessert in Austria, southern Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and northern Croatia.

Make a batch of pancake batter. I used a buttermilk packet mix and added water. Don't make a thin crepe batter, though. 

You'll also need some fruit.  I used blackberries, but raspberries or strawberries would also be good.  The original 19th century recipe called for rum-soaked raisins to be added to the batter before pouring.  If only I hadn't drunk all the rum....

Heat your griddle to medium-high, add butter or oil and ladle out a giant sized pancake worth of batter. Let it cook for a few seconds to a minute. Then use your turner to scrape and turn the batter over, and over again after a minute or so. Repeat. Make sure to scrape up the bits that stick to the griddle. 

Continue until the batter cooks into pieces that are browned on the outside and cooked done in the middle. Scoop this onto a plate and spoon some fruit over.  Honey is good too. 

Jumbo Shrimp & Grits

We have a new business at the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin, where I live, called the Downtown Crab Boat.  It's a top-notch seafood market. Fresh from the Gulf seasonal goodies. It really is a refurbished crab boat, with large chillers and an ice machine on deck rather than commercial fishing gear. The owner does his own crabbing (with another boat), and buys his fresh seafood from the fish docks at Fort Myers Beach and Pine Island. When I stopped by the other day he had among other things red and yellowtail snapper, mullet, clams, tilapia, blue crab, a huge side of mahi-mahi, and some of the best looking head-on jumbo shrimp I've seen in a very long time. Time for Shrimp & Grits!

There are a million recipes for shrimp & grits.  This is mine; loosely based on a Creole version, it features a Trinity, tasso and andouille 'gravy'.  

For the Grits

My regular Creamy Dreamy Grits recipe from the January 5th post.

For the Shrimp

"Some" shrimp. Depends on size and your craving for crustaceans. Head-on or at least shell-on give better flavor, but peeled are more convenient.

1/2 Tbsp Spice Blend

Oil

Heat the griddle medium. Splash on some EVOO. Dust the oil with the spice blend. Add the shrimp.  Cook only until the shrimp start to change color on one side. Flip and repeat. Don't overcook or you end up with shrimp flavored rubber.   Remove from heat and reserve. Use the hot griddle or skillet to make the "gravy".

For the Gravy

6" Sausage, spicy and smoked, diced small. Andouille if you can find it. NOT Italian!

1/4 cup diced Tasso, if you can find it.  Otherwise use ordinary Country Ham

1/4 White Onion, diced

1/3 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 stick Celery, diced

1 Chicken Bouillon cube

Cajun seasoning to taste

3/4 cup water

1 tsp Corn Starch

Add everything except the water to the hot griddle and cook until the veg is softened. Add the water and bouillon cube and cook a few minutes longer. Mix the cornstarch with another splash of tap water and stir to dissolve. Add to the griddle and stir as things begin to thicken up.

Plate it Up

Lay down a bed of grits. Ladle some of the gravy into the center, and surround with shrimp.