I have all sorts of exciting explanations that I cooked up (ba-dum bum!) for today's recipes -- Tortilla Soup in honor of Cinco de Mayo, a double-recipe post to make up for having been absent for a month, that sort of thing. Really and truly, though, I've been sitting on these two soup recipes for weeks and weeks, and I'm just now getting around to posting them. Because I am a slacker. Hopefully these will prove to be worth their wait (I am on FIRE!) in deliciousness. Also because I'm a slacker, this is yet another post without any pictures to entice you. Sorry.
Tortilla Soup
This recipe was actually a conversion of one that I found on the Food Network site. You will not BELIEVE how many chicken tortilla soup recipes are out there, and practically no non-chicken ones. It's obnoxious, really.
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chipotle powder
2 tsp salt
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup frozen corn
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 c fresh cilantro
1/4 c fresh lime juice
a handful of tortilla strips
Heat oil in a medium cooking pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, chipotle powder, and salt, and cook until onion is translucent. Add broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add corn, and give it another 5 minutes or so (just until heated through). Remove from heat, and add the tomato, cilantro, and lime. Add a small pile of tortilla strips to the bottom of each bowl and ladle the soup over it. This ended up serving about 3. I actually did an experiment and made flour tortilla strips -- I don't recommend it. They get soggy and squishy. Corn tortilla strips will stay more crisp in the soup.
Creamy-Dilly Fish Chowda
I made this recipe up all by myself. I was inspired by a pot of fish chowder at the grocery store (in the hot food bar) that smelled so fantastic, I decided I needed to make some of my own...because I am morally opposed to buying that sort of thing pre-made. It's super-easy, but you have to pronounce it "Chowda!" If I catch anyone saying "chowder" I will take their soup away from them. It is that simple.
1/2 stick butter
3 tbsp flour
1 small onion, chopped
1 c frozen corn, thawed
1 large, or 2 medium, whitefish fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
note: I used cod, but I think something a little more flavorful, like flounder, might be good next time. Any ole whitefish will do, though. Be a cheapskate! It's just soup!
1 c heavy cream
2 c milk
2 tbsp dried dill
salt and pepper, to taste
Melt your butter in your soup pot over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until consistent, then whisk more slowly, but constantly, until the mixture stops forming bubbles. At this point, immediately add your onion, corn, and fish. Trade your whisk out for a rubber spatula and continue to stir constantly for a minute or two (just long enough to get your roux heated back up). Add the heavy cream, and stir until consistent. Add the milk gradually, continuing to stir until smooth (not the whole thing, obviously, but you want the cream-base-part to be consistent). Add the dill, salt and pepper, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until your fish is cooked through and the flavors are distributed. I recommend serving this with toast for dipping, or just throwing some croutons on top if you've got them. This is exceedingly simple and SO GOOD. But then, everything with heavy cream in it is going to be delicious.
Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sushi for dummies
Counterintuitive maybe, impossible no. Making sushi is not as hard as you think, or at least not as hard as I thought before I tried. I'm trying not to jump into advertisey, "persuasive-essay" crap like telling you about how great it is for bonding with your "special someone," but seriously it is. My fiancee and I have made sushi together several times, and it's always an adventure. Usually one of us picks out fillings while the other is in charge of construction, and then we trade. We make a little bit of a mess, but we celebrate our labors with a delicious snack so it all works out in the end.
Here's what you need to get started:
nori for wrapping
sushi rice
bamboo sushi mat
plastic wrap
Items 2 and 4 should be at every grocery store, but if you have trouble finding the mat and/or nori, an international grocer should have them. Here in St Louis, I go to Jay's. Your bag of sushi rice should have instructions for preparation -- just follow those. I know, I know, I'm a lazy cook who just follows the instructions on the bag, but I can't memorize everything.
The real kicker, for me, is that I'm not confident/knowledgeable enough to make sushi with raw fish, so I have to find alternatives (of which there are many). I've made many a delicious sushi roll at home, and not one has used raw fish.
Suggestions for delicious (and low-budget) fillings:
cream cheese
mayo
goat cheese (don't knock it till you try it)
lemon/lime juice
cucumber
carrot
avocado
bell pepper
crab meat (or k-rab, if you're broke like me)
smoked salmon
salad shrimp
unagi (or eel, for the less sushiphilic -- you can often find it precooked in eel sauce, which is what I go for)
The rule here, really, is that if you like something, try it. As far as preparation goes, practice is the most important thing. I recommend wrapping your bamboo mat in plastic wrap before you start, to keep it clean.
Put the nori down shiny-side down so the fillings go on the rough side. Spread the rice over all but a small strip of the nori at one end, and spread it THINLY. The mistake we made with our first bunch of rolls is to think that you have to have a completely opaque layer of rice across the nori. It's ok if you can see through the layer of rice a bit, and little empty patches are not the end of the world. Too much rice creates a gigantic, rather bland roll. Also, the rice spreads easiest with your fingers, rather than a wooden spoon. Keep your fingers damp but not wet, so the rice doesn't stick to you too much.
Spread your toppings in a line on the end of the nori OPPOSITE the empty strip. These you can be generous with, since that's where the flavor comes from. Roll starting from the toppings end -- I've tried both toward me and away from me, and haven't noticed much of a difference as far as one being easier than the other. Move to a cutting board, and cut with a VERY sharp damp knife. If the knife is too dry or too dull, you'll make a giant mess. Repeat and eat!
Here are some rolls I have made, including one or two I made up:
philly roll, aka JB (or Japanese Bagel) roll -- a classic!
~smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado
vegetable roll, or salad roll
~cucumber, carrot, avocado, mayo, lemon juice
eel and cucumber roll
~exactly what it sounds like
kitty roll
~k-rab, cream cheese, red bell pepper
tiny roll -- so called because we ran out of rice, but wanted to make one more roll. This has a thin layer of goat cheese instead of rice, and it's super delicious.
~chevre with honey, smoked salmon, avocado
tea sandwich roll
cucumber, cream cheese, dill
Now go! Adventure! And share it with someone! This is not a project to be undertaken alone -- I mean really, where's the fun in that?
Here's what you need to get started:
nori for wrapping
sushi rice
bamboo sushi mat
plastic wrap
Items 2 and 4 should be at every grocery store, but if you have trouble finding the mat and/or nori, an international grocer should have them. Here in St Louis, I go to Jay's. Your bag of sushi rice should have instructions for preparation -- just follow those. I know, I know, I'm a lazy cook who just follows the instructions on the bag, but I can't memorize everything.
The real kicker, for me, is that I'm not confident/knowledgeable enough to make sushi with raw fish, so I have to find alternatives (of which there are many). I've made many a delicious sushi roll at home, and not one has used raw fish.
Suggestions for delicious (and low-budget) fillings:
cream cheese
mayo
goat cheese (don't knock it till you try it)
lemon/lime juice
cucumber
carrot
avocado
bell pepper
crab meat (or k-rab, if you're broke like me)
smoked salmon
salad shrimp
unagi (or eel, for the less sushiphilic -- you can often find it precooked in eel sauce, which is what I go for)
The rule here, really, is that if you like something, try it. As far as preparation goes, practice is the most important thing. I recommend wrapping your bamboo mat in plastic wrap before you start, to keep it clean.
Put the nori down shiny-side down so the fillings go on the rough side. Spread the rice over all but a small strip of the nori at one end, and spread it THINLY. The mistake we made with our first bunch of rolls is to think that you have to have a completely opaque layer of rice across the nori. It's ok if you can see through the layer of rice a bit, and little empty patches are not the end of the world. Too much rice creates a gigantic, rather bland roll. Also, the rice spreads easiest with your fingers, rather than a wooden spoon. Keep your fingers damp but not wet, so the rice doesn't stick to you too much.
Spread your toppings in a line on the end of the nori OPPOSITE the empty strip. These you can be generous with, since that's where the flavor comes from. Roll starting from the toppings end -- I've tried both toward me and away from me, and haven't noticed much of a difference as far as one being easier than the other. Move to a cutting board, and cut with a VERY sharp damp knife. If the knife is too dry or too dull, you'll make a giant mess. Repeat and eat!
Here are some rolls I have made, including one or two I made up:
philly roll, aka JB (or Japanese Bagel) roll -- a classic!
~smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado
vegetable roll, or salad roll
~cucumber, carrot, avocado, mayo, lemon juice
eel and cucumber roll
~exactly what it sounds like
kitty roll
~k-rab, cream cheese, red bell pepper
tiny roll -- so called because we ran out of rice, but wanted to make one more roll. This has a thin layer of goat cheese instead of rice, and it's super delicious.
~chevre with honey, smoked salmon, avocado
tea sandwich roll
cucumber, cream cheese, dill
Now go! Adventure! And share it with someone! This is not a project to be undertaken alone -- I mean really, where's the fun in that?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Steak Dinner, hold the steak
For this meal what I really wanted was something to reflect the classic steak dinner, meat-and-potatoes-type of thing, but (obviously) without the steak part. This is extremely simple, and the BEST part of it (I think) is that I've finally perfected southern-style green beans without bacon or salt pork.
Steak Salmon Dinner
2 1/4 lb salmon fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp steak seasoning
2 potatoes*
2 tbsp low-fat sour cream or cream cheese
1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
fresh green beans (2 servings' worth -- can't really measure these by cups, they're too big. I'd say I used about 1/2 lb and had lots of leftover)
1 tbsp butter
1 shallot
1/3 c vegetable broth
generous sprinkling of bacon salt
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
Start with the potatoes, 'cause they take a LONG time. Preheat the oven to 425, and toss the potatoes in it. Bake 40-60 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
When your 'tatoes have about 30 minutes left, start the beans. Dice the shallot. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat, then add shallot, heating until it begins to become translucent. Add green beans, seasoning with bacon salt and tossing to coat. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring regularly. Add vegetable broth and reduce heat to low; cover.
When the potatoes have maybe 5 minutes left, prepare the salmon. This one's tough, so pay attention! Take a baking pan. Put the salmon in it. Coat them with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with steak seasoning. When you take the potatoes out of the oven, put the salmon in for 20 minutes. See? Really friggin difficult.
Turn off the green beans about 5 minutes before the salmon comes out. Split the baked potatoes and dress with cream cheese/sour cream and chives. Garnish the green beans with the parm. Then you eat it! :)
*potato note: When I made these I used red potatoes, but if you like baking potatoes or yukon golds or whatever, use what you like. It's just a baked potato.
2 1/4 lb salmon fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp steak seasoning
2 potatoes*
2 tbsp low-fat sour cream or cream cheese
1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
fresh green beans (2 servings' worth -- can't really measure these by cups, they're too big. I'd say I used about 1/2 lb and had lots of leftover)
1 tbsp butter
1 shallot
1/3 c vegetable broth
generous sprinkling of bacon salt
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
Start with the potatoes, 'cause they take a LONG time. Preheat the oven to 425, and toss the potatoes in it. Bake 40-60 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
When your 'tatoes have about 30 minutes left, start the beans. Dice the shallot. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat, then add shallot, heating until it begins to become translucent. Add green beans, seasoning with bacon salt and tossing to coat. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring regularly. Add vegetable broth and reduce heat to low; cover.
When the potatoes have maybe 5 minutes left, prepare the salmon. This one's tough, so pay attention! Take a baking pan. Put the salmon in it. Coat them with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with steak seasoning. When you take the potatoes out of the oven, put the salmon in for 20 minutes. See? Really friggin difficult.
Turn off the green beans about 5 minutes before the salmon comes out. Split the baked potatoes and dress with cream cheese/sour cream and chives. Garnish the green beans with the parm. Then you eat it! :)
*potato note: When I made these I used red potatoes, but if you like baking potatoes or yukon golds or whatever, use what you like. It's just a baked potato.
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