Moqueca, Cashew "Sour Cream", Avocado Potato Salad, and more

Moqueca
That's pronounced moe-keck-a, in Portuguese,  NOT mo-kwee-saa!!!  

It's been quite awhile since I made, and posted, this wonderful Brazilian 'fish stew' recipe; and since I made it for a friend's birthday luncheon over Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd share it with all of you.  I make this with cod, but any firm white fish will do -- grouper, wolf fish, catfish, tilapia even.  The recipe serves at least 8, with rice or quinoa as a side to sop up the gravy.

2 lbs Cod filets
1 lb Shrimp, deveined and peeled
1-2 Red Bell Peppers, sliced into strips
1-2 Yellow Bell Peppers, sliced into strips
2-3 Beefsteak Tomatoes, chopped
2-3 sticks Celery, chopped small
1 large White Onion, sliced into strips
1 Bunch Green Onions, chopped, including all the greens
1/4 cup Lime or Lemon Juice (fresh is always best
3-4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 can Coconut Milk (15-16oz)
1/2 cup chopped Cilantro (more if you like it, but you absolutely need at least this much)
1 Tbsp Sweet or Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste

Marinate the fish filets and shrimp in the lime or lemon juice and garlic while you prep the veggies and start cooking them. 

In a large skillet saute the vegetables (not the cilantro) in a splash of EVOO until they are just coming tender.   Remove about half the veg and spread the remainder around the bottom of the pan.  Lay the fish and shrimp (and citrus juice) on this vegetable base and cover them with the removed vegetables.   

Pour the coconut milk over the top of everything, plus about half a can of water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, add the spices and green onions, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the seafood is cooked through.    Toss in the cilantro and adjust the spices as needed.  Break the fish filets into bite size pieces before serving with (traditionally) rice on the side. 

Hint:  You can also make this dish with boneless chicken breasts or thighs.  

Cashew Sour Cream
The perfect substitute for dairy-based sour cream and the like.  We like it with lemon added to make it a "sour" cream, but it's great even without the citrus 'bite'. 

1 cup raw Cashews
1/2 cup water
Juice of a Lemon

Boil up a kettle of water and pour it over the cashews.  Let them soak and soften for about an hour.  

Reserve a 1/2 cup of the soaking water and pour off the rest.  Put the cashews in your food processor and start spinning them.  When they've gotten pretty fine, add the reserved water and lemon juice and keep spinning until you get a thick creamy rather than grainy texture.  

Perfect as a topping for vegetables, tacos, soup garnish, schmearing on toast,  or anything else you can imagine.  As Emeril used to say "You can put that on a bumper and it would taste good!"

Purple Potato & Cauliflower Roast
Our Co-op box last week featured some really tasty purple potatoes, and a head of cauliflower.  So I dis-assembled most of the cauliflower and quartered some of the potatoes,  tossed them with EVOO and some Cavender'stm Spice.  Onto the roasting tray and into a 400F oven for 30 minutes. 

The potatoes got nice crispy skins and creamy insides, the cauliflower got a little brown on the edges.  

Easy, simple and oh so tasty!

Memorable Avocado Potato Salad 

This recipe comes from Forks Over Knives; one of their better efforts.  Naturally I've tweaked the recipe -- spice quantities mostly -- so you could actually taste the mustard and dill.  You could tart this recipe up with other things like dill pickle bits, but as written it's just about perfect.

1-1/2 lbs small Potatoes (I used a 22oz bag of mixed colors)

1-2 soft ripe Avocados (I used 1, plus a half that was leftover from the previous day)

juice of a Lemon 

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

¼ tsp smoked Paprika

1/8 tsp Salt

1/2 cup packed and chopped fresh Dill

4-6 Green Onions, chopped

2-3 stalks Celery, chopped

Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes until just fork tender (boil, steam or microwave the way I did). Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Refrigerate cooked potatoes for about an hour to ensure they don’t fall apart when slicing.

Quarter the potatoes and peel if you want.  We like the skins. Place potatoes in a large bowl.

Peel, pit, and mash (with a fork) the avocado into a small bowl. Add lemon juice, mustard, paprika, and salt, and stir into the avocado to create a dressing. Season with pepper to taste.

Add the dill, green onion, celery, onion, and avocado dressing to the potatoes. Toss gently until everything is coated. Taste test and adjust seasonings if desired.

This is a really tasty alternative to using mayonnaise in potato salad dressing!  Serve the same day, or refrigerate and serve the next day. Avocado darkens and breaks down quickly, so the dish won't keep long.  The photo above was taken 'second day' and you can see it's not as 'pretty' as it could be.  Tastes the same, though.

Lettuce Soup, Scottish Farl, Leftover Pasty Pasta Alfredo, Blue Corn Bread

Lettuce Soup
We've been getting a lot of  lettuce of various types in our weekly SWFL produce boxes.  To avoid any of it going to waste, I found a lettuce soup recipe, naturally!

1 cup mixture of diced Onion, Scallions, Shallots
1 large clove Garlic
8 cups (3/4 lb) chopped Lettuce - any kind, everything except the root end
3/4 cup peeled, diced Potato (any kind)
1/4 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Coriander
pinch of Salt
3 cups Water

Saute the onion mixture and garlic until softened.  Add the spices.  Add the potato, lettuce and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until the potato is soft.

Puree the soup, return it to the pot, and simmer to thicken a bit.  Add a splash of cornstarch slurry if needed.  Serve with crusty bread like the Scottish Farl below.


Scottish Farl 
Fardel  (pronounced without much d) in the Scots tongue means "a fourth".  And that's the way you slice this loaf before cooking -- almost into fourths.  A Farl can be any quickbread round like a bannock or oatcakes. 

This Farl is similar to Irish Soda Bread, except here you use  unbleached or white flour rather than whole wheat.   Or think of it as a giant buttermilk biscuit!  You can cheat slightly and use Self Rising Flour as I did, too.  This recipe comes together quick and easy.

3-1/2 cups Self Rising Flour (or AP flour with 3 tsp Baking Soda added)
1 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp soft Butter
1 Tbsp Caraway seed (optional)
1 cup Buttermilk, or whole milk with juice of half a lemon added
Oatmeal (uncooked) for rolling (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.   Flour a pie pan to bake the bread in.

Cut the butter and flour together by stirring with a fork.  Add the buttermilk and stir to combine, adding a bit more milk or flour as needed.  Knead the dough in the bowl -- just to bring it together into a unified whole.  Make into a ball, then roll the ball in some uncooked oatmeal and place it in the pie pan.  Slice deep (almost all the way through) in a cross.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or more until the loaf is GB&D and  spread wide open like a flower. 

WOW!  This is great craic as the Scots would say!!  The basic taste and texture is that of a buttermilk biscuit, with the caraway seed as a refreshing taste kick that really sets this bread apart.  I'll be making this a lot more, you bet!

Tear and Share, or Be Nice and Slice -- your choice!  Don't forget more butter...


Leftover Pasty-Filling Alfredo
Shout out to my Louisiana WFC competitor Chef friend Susanne Duplantis, author of  the popular  Make Over My Leftover blog and frequent TV chef in her home state.

Here's what I did with the leftover filling from my Mother's Day Dinner Pasties -- salmon, shrimp, potato, rutabaga and peas.    I added some chopped mushrooms too.

Cook up some pasta.  While that's getting underway, make a white roux and thin it out with half & half or whole milk.   Add the leftover filling, and simmer until it thickens.  Pour over the cooked, drained pasta, toss and serve.

Blue Corn Bread
Some time ago I scored a small bag of Masa Harina Azul -- that's blue corn masa flour if you don't speak Spanish much.  All the flavor or yellow masa harina -- that "corn tortilla flavor" but made from blue corn.  I made blue corn tortillas from the flour, and baked blue corn tortilla chips too.  This time I decided to try a blue cornbread.

1 cup Masa Harina Azul or regular masa if you can't find the blue
1 cup AP or Cake Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
pinch of Salt
1/4 cup Honey (I'm still using up that mega jar of Manuka Honey) 
1 + cup Whole Milk or Half & Half

Preheat the oven to 425F.  Line the bottom of a 9" cake pan with parchment paper and grease the insides.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add the wet ingredients and stir to make a batter.     Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-45 minutes to an internal temperature of 190-200F.  

The first time I made this, I cooked it only to time, and the result was rubbery and not cooked through.  I'm convinced baking needs to be done to a temperature, not a time!

Cool the round in the pan for a few minutes, then plate and slice.

This cornbread doesn't rise very much because of the high corn flour content, but the result is really tasty.   

Next time I'll make it with Self-Rising flour to see if that makes a difference in the rise of the loaf.

Goat Cheese Cake, Salmon & Shrimp Pasties, Apple-Potato Soup, Mushroom Ragoût

Goat Cheese Cake
Here's another punctuation conundrum for you.  Is it Goat...Cheesecake?  Or  Goat-Cheese...Cake?  This one is rich and decadent, and when topped with a Mango-Berry mixture was dessert for Mother's Day dinner.

Crust:
8 oz finely ground Gingersnap Cookies
1/4 cup melted Butter
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Filling:
1/4 cup Sugar
8 oz  Creamy (soft) Goat Cheese at room temp
1-1/2 cup Icelandic Yogurt
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp AP Flour (or non-gluten flour)

Topping:
1-1/2 cup Mango pieces & juice
1 cup fresh Blackberries

Grind the gingersnaps into powder, then stir in the brown sugar and melted butter.  Cut a disk of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of an 8" springform pan.  Press the gingersnap mixture into the bottom of the pan, evenly.  Chill. while making the filling.

In bowl beat together the sugar, goat cheese, yogurt and flavors.  Lastly, blend in the flour.
Spread mixture evenly on the crust and place in fridge for 6-8 hours.

Combine the fruits and reserve.

Before unmolding, run a thin knife around the edge of the crust, then loosen the side of the springform and remove it. 

Top with  fruit mixture... take photos... slice & serve.

Salmon & Shrimp Pasties
The Cornish Pasty is the ancestor of a whole range of "pocket pies" -- meat and veg baked in a folded-over crust.   For Mother's Day this year I made these Salmon & Shrimp Pasties based the on the dough recipe from a Great British Bakeoff challenge.

Dough:
16 oz AP Flour
4 oz Shortening (Criscotm... lard
1 oz Butter
6 oz cold Water
1 Egg, beaten for brushing completed pasties

In a bowl pinch the fat and flour together with your fingers, to make the 'coarse meal' of a biscuit dough.  Knead firmly until dough is smooth and glossy, not grainy.  Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Filling:
1/2 lb Salmon, skinned and chopped
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled
1 Swede (rutabaga) diced
1/2 Onion, diced
1 Potato, diced
3/4 cup frozen Peas

Par-cook the components slightly before mixing together in a large bowl.

Assembly:
Divide chilled dough into 4 equal pieces.  Roll into balls.  Roll out each pastry, one by one,  into 9"-10" circle.

Spoon the filling mixture one half of the pastry circle.  Egg wash the edge of half the circle to make a good seal.  Roll and crimp the edge to seal the edge.  With a knife cut two slits in the top of each half moon. 

Bake for 45 minutes until GB&D.

Apple Potato Soup
See, I bought this giant jar of applesauce to make last week's Apple Bread... What do you do with mass-quantities of leftover applesauce when you don't normally have any, let alone use it for anything???  This:

2  cups Old Fashioned Applesauce
2 cups shredded Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 cup shredded White Onion
2 sticks Celery, diced fine
2 Tbsp gluten-free Vegetable Base
3 cups Water
Herbs and Spices to taste:  garlic, fresh ginger, thyme, cumin, sweet or hot paprika, salt, pepper

To finish: 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Cook the ingredients for 20-30 minutes, to break everything down and meld the flavors.  Puree the result, in batches.  Return to the soup pot, add the herbs and spices and simmer another 20-30 minutes.  Add the vinegar, stir and serve with crusty bread.

Mushroom Ragoût
A ragoût is a kind of stew -- usually  cut into smaller pieces than  the average stew, and usually French recipes -- hence the circumflex on the û.  Mushroom ragoût  is a classic French recipe with a million variations.  This is mine.  Serves two or more plated over Russet potato 'planks'  with a green veg on the side.

12 oz. Mushrooms, chopped but not diced -- any combination of kinds
1/3-1/2 cup Sweet Onion, shredded and drained
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 cup White Wine
3/4 cup Porcini Broth (3 grams porcini powder in 3/4 cup water)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh Thyme
1 Tbsp ground Sage
1/2 tsp Truffle Salt

Saute the onion and mushrooms in a knob of butter, about 10 minutes, and add the garlic at the end.  Add the wine, broth, herbs and spices and simmer to reduce the liquid by roughly half. 

Or, if you want more 'gravy', simmer of a couple minutes to marry the flavors and then add a bit of flour or cornstarch-water as a thickener.  

Spanish Veggies, Italian Potato & Onion Pizza, German Baked Potato Pancakes

Spanish Country Veg
Internationally famous Spanish chef José Ramón Andrés (check him out on Wikipedia) created this dish, which he calls Garlicky Potatoes, Green Beans, and Cauliflower;  as a simple "one pot" meal reminiscent of the simple 'country' dishes of Spain rather than the fancy cuisine of the cities.  Serves 4-6 as a side, 3 as a main course.

1 lb fingerling Potatoes
1 lb Green Beans
3 cups small Cauliflower florets
Salt & Pepper to taste

Dressing
1/3 cup EVOO
2 Tbsp minced Garlic
1/2 tsp Hot Paprika or 1/4 tsp each Hot and Smoked paprika
1 Tbsp Sherry Vinegar

Highly recommend adding dollops of Romesco sauce to individual servings.In a large pot, cover the potatoes by a couple inches with water.  Bring to a boil then reduce het and cook for 8-10 minutes.  Add the cauliflower and beans, and simmer another 5-10 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, over low heat, saute the garlic in the EVOO until browned.  Add the paprika, a pinch of salt and stir.  Remove from the heat and reserve.

Drain the veg mixture and transfer to a serving bowl.  Dress with the garlic-pepper oil and vinegar.  Toss to coat.  Serve with Romesco sauce on the side.

Italian Potato & Onion Pizza
In Italy, of course, this would be made on a conventional dough crust.  I made mine on my own riced-cauliflower crust with Romesco sauce rather than the usual pizza sauce.  Either way, this is a surprisingly tasty combination.

Pizza Crust -- homemade is always best, or you can buy pre-made dough at most megamarts
2-3 Red or Yukon Gold Potatoes, sliced "wafer" thin
1/2 Sweet Onion, sliced wafer thin
Romesco sauce or pizza sauce
Optional - sliced Mushrooms

Pre-bake your crust so it won't get soggy.  Pre cook the potato slices on a baking sheet or in the microwave, until just tender. 

Layer on your sauce and then toppings in any order you choose.   Bake at 500F or more until the cheese is melted and starting to brown, and the potatoes are curling a bit. 

Baked Potato Pancakes
FYI, that's Baked... Potato Pancakes; not Baked Potato...Pancakes!  Potato pancakes were invented in Eastern Europe (Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia) as filling but inexpensive peasant food.  This recipe lightens things up by adding zucchini and baking the cakes rather than frying them.

2  large Red Potatoes
1 large Zucchini
1/2 large Sweet Onion
1/2 cup Flour (your choice of kind)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Black or White Pepper
Salt to taste
1 Egg, beaten

Grate/shred the potatoes, zucchini and onion fine.  Spread on paper towels and press away as much liquid as you can.

Toss the shredded veg together in a bowl with the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.  Take a 1/4 cup of the mixture and squeeze it into a ball, then flatten into a "pancake".  If it sticks, that's great!  Otherwise add the egg to the mixture to bind things together better.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Parchment cover a baking sheet of two, and make 1/4 cup pancakes there, pressing them flat with a spatula.   Bake 12-15 minutes per side, carefully flipping the cakes until you get the level of crispy you want.   Plate and serve with your favorite savory or sweet topping(s).  We liked ours with Lizano and Romesco (but not both on the same cake!). 

Apple Sweet Bread

Great entry in the Dessert or Breakfast Bread category!  Like all FoK recipes it needed tweaks to come out "right", which I've included below.

1-1/2 cup regular Applesauce, not unsweetened
1/2 cup Brown Sugar-- does anyone ever measure 'unpacked' brown sugar?
1/3 cup Almond Milk or Creamer
2 cup Self Rising Flour -- or AP Flour plus baking soda and powder

1 tsp Salt, sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 cup chopped Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Stir to combine the applesauce and non-dairy liquid, in a largish bowl.  In a smaller bowl combine the dry ingredients.  Add the dry to the wet and mix into a batter.

Pour into a 9x5 loaf pan and bake 30-40 minutes until the traditional toothpick comes out appropriately clean.  Cool in the pan 20 minutes, then remove loaf from the pan to cool further on a rack.

Makes a nice dense, moist loaf that will have your apple lovers begging for seconds.