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.