Tag Archives: food

My Top Ten Indispensable New Recipes in 2013

30 Dec

These are the sleepers, the overlooked, the undervalued. They are, like so many of us, the ones who work hard and are most productive, yet don’t get the recognition they deserve.

The following recipes may not have made the Top Five Most Visited Hot, Cheap & Easy Recipes 2013 List, but these are the new recipes that changed MY life in 2013, the recipes I worked on and modified and perfected and which are now an integral part of my family’s menu. They are all fairly easy and all good enough for everyday or to serve to guests. I post them here because I love and appreciate them and I want to give everyone a second chance to notice them and perhaps give them a try in 2014!

1. Slow Cooker Chipotle-Lime Jerk Chicken

Holy Mother of Pearl. All thanks to Vinny and Carolyn Macchirole for turning me on to this one over the summer. Vinny and I made some modifications to a different recipe whose origins are hazy and I have made it a number of times since. A spicy, complex crowd-pleaser that is so easy (and feeds a crowd and freezes well)…as Carolyn says of the slow cooker, “Set it and forget it.”

Set it and forget it!

Set it and forget it!

2. Vegetable Tian: incredible late summer dish inspired by none other than Martha Stewart and also by beautiful and bountiful vegetables from Restoration Farm and our own tomatoes! Slice them, stack them and pop them in the oven.

Assembly is easy on this vegetable tian

Assembly is easy on this vegetable tian

3. Italian Wedding Soup

This was one of the revelations of Marianne and my Sunday cooking sessions. The stock is everything, so please make an effort to make stock every time you roast a bird or beef with bones…

Madonna, this is good soup!

Madonna, this is good soup!

4. Fish Tacos and Tostadas

Inspired by a dinner out during our yearly camping trip to Montauk Point, these days I often do the fish without the tacos. It’s that tasty and fun!

Tacos, tostadas...it's all good

Tacos, tostadas…it’s all good

5. Zucchini Corn Fritters

I am highlighting the zucchini corn fritters here, but it is really fritters in general that have transformed my life this year. I really like taking leftovers, making a light batter and frying them up for dinner. A recent foray into cod fritters reminded me to try a bit of baking powder more often. Expect to see more of these in 2014!

Light and luscious, the abundant corn kernels make this fun to eat

Light and luscious, the abundant corn kernels make this fun to eat

6. Berry Crisp

Light and beautiful, if you have a good berry source, this is what to do with your abundance.

Summer fruit reminds me of piles of precious gems!

Summer fruit reminds me of piles of precious gems!

7. Zippy Passionfruit Chipotle Grilled Shrimp (can be made in a stovetop grillpan)

Chipotle in Adobo was definitely one of my go-to condiments in 2013 and that is set to continue in 2014. Smoky, deep and spicy, you can add a little or a lot and jazz up your life.

Delicious with avocado

Delicious with avocado

8. Crispy Beer Battered Oysters

Half the excitement of this one is that my dad and I taught ourselves how to shuck oysters (without proper oyster shucking knives which we have since acquired). So we would have been happy regardless of the recipe outcome, but this batter was easy, light and perfect and the whole family knocked them back with gusto.

Fantastically crisp beer battered oysters

Fantastically crisp beer battered oysters

9. White Rice

White rice is a staple of the Caribbean kitchen. My rice was always perfectly cooked, but my dad’s is beyond perfect. You can eat it on its own right out of the pot. So I loomed behind him until I got it.

Light and fluffy white rice

Light and fluffy white rice

10. Sweet and Savory Churrasco (Grilled Skirt Steak)

Admittedly, I had this recipe before, but again, my dad’s recipe is just so good that I had to pester and hound him until I got it. And those of you who have tried it can attest that it is out of this world. Truly.

Churrasco or skirt steak is my favorite cut of all

Churrasco or skirt steak is my favorite cut of all

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Important Update: Walnut Cup Extra Filling Makes Great Crescent Rolls!

28 Dec

Many of you have undertaken one of my favorite cookie recipes ever: Walnut Cups (delicious walnut toffee inside a cream cheese crust)! And found, as we did this year — and so did my friend and colleague, Cara — that you had leftover filling that you didn’t know what to do with. Do NOT overfill your walnut cups to use it up.

Going into the oven

Going into the oven…this is the right height for filling. Any more and they will bubble over.

Here is the solution:

Marianne happened to have crescent roll dough in, the Pillsbury kind in the tube. so we put about a teaspoon of leftover filling at the wide end of each dough triangle, rolled them up and baked according to package directions.

just a little...

just a little…

Off. The. Hook.

Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea…these were as good as those Cinnabon ones that smell so intoxicating and irresistible in an airport….

YUM!!!

YUM!!!

So, problem solved and here is a link to the original recipe for holiday Walnut Cups (with cream cheese crust..Lord have mercy!)

Delicious Walnut Cups

Delicious Walnut Cups

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Bacalaitos: Light and Luscious Puerto Rican Cod Fritters

27 Dec

One of the pleasures of visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico is heading straight from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport to a beach area about five minutes to the east. Piñones, a long stretch of relatively undeveloped coastline is where beach shacks under the shade of coconut palms serve up ice cold beer, whiskey con coco, and all manner of snacks or frituras, flour or banana dough shaped in seagrape leaves and dropped into hot fat in blackened cauldrons over coal fires by ladies in hair rollers. Oh my God, I am so glad to be back, you say, toes in the crystal water and tearing into a delicious and greasy and tropical hunk of something.

Break up the de-salted cod as much as you can

Break up the de-salted cod as much as you can

One of the iconic frituras is bacalaitos: fried cod fritters. Salt cod is well-known to Atlantic coastal areas and the Caribbean…the New England cod fisheries have for centuries supplied coastal people with an abundance of this oily fish that preserves really well (if you are interested in the history of cod, you must read Mark Kurlansky’s Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World).

Sawtooth coriander or recao or culantro adds authentic flavor to this dish, but cilantro is a worthy substitute

Sawtooth coriander or recao or culantro adds authentic flavor to this dish, but cilantro is a worthy substitute

Its popularity has led to overstressed fisheries. While they are being managed, they are not recovering well or quickly enough for me to have them as anything but an occasional treat.

skewered fritters draining, even as the next batch goes in!

skewered fritters draining, even as the next batch goes in!

In Puerto Rico we use salt cod in rice dishes, vinaigrette-style with local tubers, with tomatoes like the Basque people…in any number of ways. Bacalaitos are a good entry-level bacalao dish if you are afraid salt cod is too fishy for your family’s taste. Here it is not overwhelming, but more of a condiment and I daresay that salt cod lends umami (that fifth sensation of rich meaty mouth-feel) to what would be just a fish fritter…like many salted fish it is high in glutamates.

Letting the batter rest gives time for the baking powder to activate. that will give you nice airiness in the fritters.

Letting the batter rest gives time for the baking powder to activate. that will give you nice airiness in the fritters.

Most of the credit for this recipe is shared between Carmen Aboy Valldejuli’s classic recipe in Cocina Criolla* and my dad’s adaptations and execution. It makes a perfect light dinner or appetizer…I like it with cold, dry sparkling wine, but of course a cold beer (on the lighter side) is a classic match-up. Kids and adults alike love them; we’ll be doing them up for our New Year’s guests when they arrive. Read on for recipe! Continue reading →

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Quick and Easy Sweet-Tart Apple Sauce (Why Buy?)

26 Dec

We made latkes for Christmas Eve. I know, these grated potato fritters are more connected with Judaism and Hannukah than Christianity, but they made perfect sense with our global tapas menu, plus my son is a very Old Testament kind of kid who is adamant that we need to have a menorah next year and who bought himself dreidels with his leftover money from the school holiday shopping fair.

We used Roma for sweet, Granny Smith for tart, and Honeycrisp because they are delicious.

We used Roma for sweet, Granny Smith for tart, and Honeycrisp because they are delicious.

Welcome to New York, where as the comedian Jackie Mason used to say, everyone is at least half-Jewish.

Anyhoo, we are still working out  our latke recipe, but in the meantime, they tasted very nice with the traditional accompaniments of sour cream and this apple sauce. Apple sauce is very easy to make and allows you to choose how sweet or tart and how sooth or chunky you want it. We have a fun apple peeler and corer, so the little guy can get involved too!

Continue reading →

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Passionfruit Chipotle Shrimp: quickie dinner with style and flair

15 Dec

My friend, Ashley was visiting and I had promised dinner, but I hadn’t really planned. Towards the end of a busy semester, I find myself playing it by ear a lot; I just don’t have the wherewithal to do something that requires a lot of prep or advanced thought. I deal with things as they come up, and look forward to the upcoming break when I won’t feel so much like I am flying by the seat of my pants (what an odd idiom that is)!

I love the color of this...it almost looks like a curry...which makes me want to experiment with coconut and curry flavors...

I love the color of this…it almost looks like a curry…which makes me want to experiment with coconut and curry flavors…

I knew I had a bag of shrimp in the freezer that had been waiting for me to come up with something and then I remembered a quickie solution I quite like: tangy, smoky shrimp with finger-licking good sauce that soaks nicely into rice, but can also be eaten on its own if you are looking to reduce carbohydrate intake.

This was done in under ten minutes and made us very happy. One thing I like about this light treatment of shrimp is that you can eat a lot of it without the uncomfortably full feeling you can get from pork or beef). For a grilled version, click here.

very, very yummy!

very, very yummy!

Passionfruit Chipotle Shrimp (serves four)

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, minced (about a half cup)

2 tsp minced garlic

3 Tbs passionfruit pulp or juice

1-2 Tbs chipotle in adobo, chopped (remove seeds for less heat, but this amount is not super-spicy)

Juice of one orange or Clementine

Sprinkling of Adobo powder

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined (tail-on is okay)

1/4 Cup cilantro, chopped

In a skillet, heat olive oil until fragrant then add onions, stir to coat and lower heat to medium. Saute for five minutes or until onions are quite soft. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add passionfruit, chipotle and juice and stir to combine. While it cooks for a minute or two, sprinkle shrimp with Adobo (go easy if you don’t like much salt). Raise heat to high, add shrimp and cilantro to skillet, stir to coat and cook for 3-4 minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp, until they lose their translucency and begin to curl.

Serve over rice. Good cold too!

You may also like:

Zippy Grilled Passionfruit and Chipotle Shrimp

Delicious with avocado

Delicious with avocado

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Beautiful fresh salad

Beautiful fresh salad

 

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Easy Black Bean, Corn and Scallion Fritters

12 Dec

Here was a nifty little trick to use up some bits and bobs…black beans from a batch I had soaked, some frozen corn, a couple of leftover scallions. I went light on the seasonings, but you can certainly go more heavy.

This is an example of a denser fritter! More water will make the batter lighter

This is an example of a denser fritter! More water will make the batter lighter

These were a big success at my house on a night that everyone just wanted something casual that you could grab with a napkin and keep going. You’ll have to play around with the consistency…add more water if you want a lighter fritter, less if you want it dense (which will need more cooking time in order to cook that flour).

I didn't think Leandro woud like them, but he loved them and ate loads!

I didn’t think Leandro woud like them, but he loved them and ate loads!

Black Bean and Corn Fritters With Scallions

1 tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp salt

5 black pepper corns

1 Cup black beans (either from a can or soaked)

1 Cup corn kernels

Half an onion, minced (at least ½ Cup)

½  Cup scallions, sliced, green and white parts

2 eggs

2 Tbs cilantro

¾ Cup flour

Water

2 Tbs vegetable oil (or more) for frying

Grind coriander, salt and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle until pulverized.

In a large skillet, heat  oil at medium-high. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix beans, corn, onion, scallions, eggs, cilantro and flour until blended. Add water to create a more liquidy batter that drips thickly off a spoon.

Drop large tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and smooth out a bit into fritters. Don’t crowd them and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on thickness, adjusting temperature as needed. Place cooked fritters on paper towels to cool while you start the next batch and continue until done. Makes about a dozen fritters.

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Best Ever Italian Wedding Soup

10 Dec

You don’t need a wedding invitation to tuck into this soup, quite possibly the best Marianne and I have ever made on our Sunday night cooking projects. And that’s saying something, as we have made some kicking soups (escarole and lentil in particular). Regular readers know that my friend Marianne and I like to cook big on Sundays, not to eat at the moment, but to pack up for weekday work lunches. We couldn’t agree on what to make — she wanted white chili and I wanted minestrone — but the fact that I had a bunch of chopped meat and both I and her husband, Ted, had rich turkey stock from our respective Thanksgiving roasts decided it for us.

Tiny little meatballs packed with cheesy-herby flavor....

Tiny little meatballs packed with cheesy-herby flavor….

The stock is everything in a good soup, which is why I try to always have some homemade stuff on hand. Please, please, please…next time you roast a bird (or get a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket), simmer those bones with some onion, garlic (unpeeled), herbs, maybe a carrot or a stalk of celery, and a few peppercorns for a couple of hours and strain yourself some stock (freezes well). The commercial stuff is too salty and just can’t hold a candle to the real thing.

Italian wedding soup , as far as I can determine, is an Italian-American favorite, based perhaps on a minestra maritata that dates back to Spanish-controlled parts of Italy (Lazio and Campania) and Toledo. The maritata part refers to how well the flavors marry together, not how the soup will fortify newlyweds for the tasks at hand.

Simmering away merrily on a Sunday night

Simmering away merrily on a Sunday night

Continue reading →

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Rich, Hearty and Creamy Turkey and Mushroom Soup (dairy-free leftover solution!)

3 Dec

A 13-lb turkey is really too much for four people, but that’s what we got from the farm and of course we are going to use and enjoy every last bit! Over the weekend I posted on how to make delicious stock from the carcass of your roast. Now, here’s how to incorporate that stock with the leftover meat and loads of mushrooms to make a creamy soup that you won’t believe has no cream or butter!

The moms pronounced this turkey and mushroom soup "heavenly:

The moms pronounced this turkey and mushroom soup “heavenly:

The instructions are kind of longer than my usual, as normally for soup I would just sauté the basic veggies a bit, bung the rest in and leave it to simmer away. But the added steps of sauteing the vegetables separately and then making a roux (a cooked up paste of fat and flour) adds a creamy silkiness that makes this a bit more special. Don’t be afraid to try it…I have separated everything into easy steps that I believe will be easy to follow!

I found some of my inspiration from Kalyn’s Kitchen Turkey Mushroom and Wild Rice recipe, so thanks Kalyn for the idea of a roux.

Luscious and velvety leftover turkey soup

Luscious and velvety leftover turkey soup

Dairy-free Creamy Turkey and Mushroom Soup

2 Cups leftover roast turkey meat

1 quart turkey stock (or whatever you have on hand), plus more water to cover

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or one teaspoon dry (not powdered)

Handful garlic scapes or two cloves chopped garlic

1 Tbs olive oil

½ Cup chopped carrot

½ Cup chopped onion

½ Cup chopped celery

½ Tbs olive oil

20 oz chopped fresh mushrooms (white button, baby bella – no dried)

1.5 Tbs olive oil

3 Tbs flour

Salt and pepper

Step One: Place turkey, stock, thyme and garlic scapes in a big pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer.

Step Two: In a separate skillet, heat the olive oil until loose and fragrant, then sauté carrot, onion and celery at medium low until translucent and browning. Add vegetables to stock mixture and return the skillet to the heat, adding additional ½ Tbs olive oil.

Step Three: Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté until they begin to soften, brown and release their juices. Add the mushrooms to the soup pot along with an additional two cups of water and return the skillet to the heat source, raising heat to medium high.

Step Four: Add the remaining oil to the skillet and add the 3 Tbs of flour, whisking to combine. Lower heat to medium and cook the roux a bit until relatively smooth and colored (you want to cook the floury taste out of it). Then add two cups of the turkey soup liquid to the skillet and whisk briskly until smooth and beginning to thicken.  Pour the thickening liquid back into the pot of soup and stir well.

Salt and pepper to taste and serve over rice or barley (you can throw cooked rice or barley directly into the soup and heat through, if desired) or on its own. Makes about 1.5 quarts.

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Cranberry Sauce…Finally!

1 Dec

I have never posted a cranberry sauce recipe before because frankly every time I tried I ended up with a lip-puckering nasty gloopy mess and we’ve just used lingonberry jam from IKEA instead.

A happy surprise for the table

A happy surprise for the table

So this year, I did not even tell my family I’d bought cranberries! I told no one that I was going to attempt it again. I just put it together surreptitiously on the day, figuring that if I failed yet again, no one would be the wiser. And wouldn’t you know, it came out deliciously — just the right tartness and sweetness, beautiful color and rich texture. It was great on the turkey and the ham, and even on bread! I have visions of using it on duck or venison one day…(Mad Dog? Are you there?)

I used a recipe from Simply Recipes (one of my go-to spots for solid fundamentals clearly presented) and then played with proportions and seasonings. And it’s a good thing I went for it. Unbeknownst to me, there was no lingonberry jam in the house, so we would have had to do without. Some things are just meant to be, and this was one of those things!

I will absolutely do this again next year for Thanksgiving, and will very likely not wait that long to try it again.

The blueberries were left over from the summer. Had them in my freezer: serendipity!!!

The blueberries were left over from the summer. Had them in my freezer: serendipity!!!

Cranberry Sauce

¾  Cup sugar

¾ Cup water

7 oz package fresh cranberries

1 Cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Orange/Clementine zest (barely 1/4 tsp)

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Bring sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. In the meantime, wash and pick over cranberries. Add cranberries, bring to a boil again and then lower heat and simmer until the cranberries are mostly popped (about 10 minutes).

Stir in blueberries, spices and just a tiny bit of zest (use only the colored part of the peel. The pith –white part – will make things bitter). Cook for a bare minute, then remove from heat and cool enough to pour into your serving container. Then cool to room temperature and refrigerate. The sauce will set as it cools.

 

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2014 Thanksgiving Easy Recipe Round-Up

19 Nov

I will probably post a few more Thanksgiving recipes in the next few days, but here is a start – some of our time-honored favorites that are not hard to do, but really celebrate the season. If you want to keep it simple and bountiful, take a look at these suggestions as you make your shopping list and measure how much time and energy you will really have to devote to pyrotechnics.

We are all about being thankful this year, since we’ve beat back cancer and are making it through the economic slowdown and all…so quietly and leisurely is how we are taking it!

Butternut Squash Bisque and bonus pumpkin seed pepitas

Butternut Squash Bisque

Butternut Squash Bisque

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

Green Beans– bring the sweetness to the fore

Brine that Bird! (especially if you are getting a farm-fresh, free-range turkey)

bathed in the glow of a Home Depot bucket

bathed in the glow of a Home Depot bucket

Puerto Rican-Style Roast Turkey (pavochón)

And...a beautiful pavochón!

And…a beautiful pavochón!

Turkey Gravy (and a story of salvation)

GRAVY TRAIN

GRAVY TRAIN

Leftovers — Festive Turkey Salad with Cranberries and Walnuts

Bright and fun and full of textures

Bright and fun and full of textures

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