Soy Ginger Salmon

Mmmmmmmm, soy ginger salmon. I wish the salmon didn't break apart like in the picture. It could have looked so much prettier. Oh well ~ So I have grown a great appreciation for ginger since this dish. A little really goes a long way...and on this dish you really don't see much on the salmon, but oh you can taste it. ;) So I got this recipe from epicurious.com - it's a pretty good website for recipes and there's even an iphone app for it.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pepper
1 tbsp lemon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 inch ginger minced
1/3 cup orange juice
4 salmon fillets

Instructions:

1. Rub salmon with 1 tbsp brown sugar and lightly sprinkle the lemon and garlic powder.
2. In a saucepan, pour soy sauce, olive oil, gigner, remaining brown sugar, and pepper. Bring to a simmer until sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove from heat, then add the orange juice.
4. Place the fish in the marinade and refrigerate overnight.
5. Preheat broiler and place fish in a baking pan.
6. Broil fish for about 6-8 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.

Gosh I have completely blanked on what I served this with now...anyway, my next dish is more of a side dish. It's chickpeas in this spice blend...with ginger. ;) Wait for it.

Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini Fritters!!! So, my health kick is gone, if you can't tell. Man, and those chicken recipes failed me...I had high hopes, but they are not worthy for this blog. ;) Anyway, this zucchini fritter recipe makes about 10 fritters ~ let me correct, 10 DELICIOUS fritters. I think they would go really well with a squeeze of lemon too...I dipped them in hot sauce. haha ~ well, enjoy!!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium zucchini
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1/3 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in skillet, add zucchini and garlic until zucchini is brown.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir flour, baking powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.
3. Add milk and whisk until smooth.
4. Stir in zucchini mixture.
5. Heat rest of olive oil, drop 1 tbsp at a time until golden brown (4 minutes per side).
6. Serve!

So the next dish is salmon. Basically it is salmon cooked in sugar...I've started this unhealthy kick now, so you'll enjoy the next recipes coming.

Mac and Cheese

Photo is courtesy if Jason Joseph. I'm having a really hard time getting my pictures to show light in them, but Jason gave me a tip to point the camera upward? ;) Anywayyy, MAC AND CHEESE! Yummm, so we had kind of a potluck type dinner; Jason, Faye, Jake and I worked on the mac and cheese. Nate graciously grated all the cheese. Faye and Jason worked on the appetizer, then Megan and Jake made the delicious dessert. However, this post is just for the mac and cheese. I got the recipe from Josh because last time he made it, it was divineee. =) BUT, I made a crucial mistake...I forgot to add the parmesan cheese!! Well, it was still good; we live and we learn. I'll post the CORRECT recipe though.

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon Salt
16-ounce package macaronia
1/4 pound bacon (about 3 large slices)
1 medium onion diced
6 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf (we didn't use this)
1 1/2 cups grated fontina
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
3/4 cup grated gruyere
3/4 cup grated white cheddar (australian)
3/4 cup grated parmesan
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup break crumbs

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Butter the 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish
3. Cook macaroni in a large pot.
4. In another pot, saute diced bacon until crisp.
5. Remove bacon, leave the bacon drippings.
6. Saute onion in drippings until soft.
7. Add the 5 tablespoons of butter until it melts.
8. While mixing, add the flour until well mixed, making a roux.
9. Mix in the mustard.
10. Gradually add the milk and cream while mixing constantly.
11. Add thyme, bay leaf, and salt.
12. Let come to a simmer and stir frequently for about 15 minutes.
13. Strain the hot milk mixture and discard solids (or use them in a different dish as Jason will be doing).
14. Working quickly, mix in 1 cup fontina cheese, blue cheese, 1/2 cup gruyere, 1/2 cup white cheddar, 1/2 cup parmesan, the reserved bacon, and parsley.
15. Stir until all cheese is melted.
16. Add cooked noodles to the cheese mixture to coat.
17. Add the noodle mixture to baking dish.
18. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumps together and sprinkle on top of the noodles.
19. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden brown.
20. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
21. Serve!

Gosh, mac and cheese not from the box is a lot of work! But WELL worth it. Now, I have four recipes lined up to make this week! We'll see how many I actually do. But there's rosemary chicken, peanut chicken, soy ginger salmon, and hot wings! Wait for it. ;)

Cod over sauteed Cabbage and rice

My last post on cod and I made it a good one! I don't know what's going on with this camera..If I use flash, it's wayyy too bright and if I don't use flash, it's too dark. Hmmmm, anyway, I think this dish is making it's way to the top of my list. It's so simple, but has a lot of flavor. It's basically white rice, some sauteed cabbage with this soy sauce mixture, and pan-fried cod! The cod was super easy. I just sprinkled it with salt and pepper, then put it on the pan with some oil for 3 minutes per side.

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced cabbage

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

2 cloves of garlic

cooked cod

cooked rice

Instructions:

1. Put cut up garlic in a pan with some oil.
2. Add cabbage, let saute.
3. In a separate little bowl, put soy sauce and sugar together. If sugar does not dissolve, you may need to heat it up a little bit.
4. Add half of the soy sauce mixture into the cabbage.
5. After cabbage is cooked, put on top of rice.
6. Add fish, then add the rest of the sauce.
7. Serve!

What's next?!?

Jalapeno Cilantro Sauce on Chicken and Tofu

I apologize for the pictures. It really does look more appetizing in person. OOh well, so, I first became in love with this sauce from El Pollo Loco; I know, weird. And when Kristin sent me the recipe, I knew I HAD to make it. She got the recipe from the LAtimes and I changed it up a little bit. The original recipe called for half a jalapeno without the seeds, and I put a full jalapeno with the seeds. The recipe also called for 4 cups of cream and I used 2 and a half cups of cream (because that's all I had!) plus, there was more concentrated flavor. AND, the recipe called for mahi mahi, but I didn't have any so I used chicken. And Val and Jeremy were coming over so I bought some tofu too (Val is a vegetarian) to see if that worked well with the sauce. Over dinner, we discussed how the sauce would probably go well on salads, seafood, and pasta! Anyway, I'll stop rambling and here it is.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups packed cilantro
1/2 cup diced onions
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil on a saucepan.
   
2. Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno until brown.


3. Stir in white wine.
   
4. Let the wine reduce in half.


5. Stir in heavy cream.


6. Let reduce in half.


7. Blend!


8. Serve!
   

Even with the full jalapeno, it really isn't that spicy. In fact, you could add tobasco to spice it up a bit. Anyway, I started my health kick yesterday so you will probably be seeing a lot healthier recipes from here on out. I've already made some more quinoa, mexican inspired...but it's not that interesting so I probably won't blog about it. I want to try something with cabbage. I used to cook with it so much when I was a poor college student, and haven't since. Soo, wait for it! ;)

GREEEEEEN PIZZA

So I got this recipe from delish.com and am a HUGE fan! I was a little skeptical at first because it was wheat dough, spinach, broccoli, and low-fat mozzarella cheese, but it really isn't as bad as it sounds. The wheat dough actually tastes pretty good and you don't even notice the lowfat cheese. However, I think the star of this dish is the pesto. The recipe called for store-bought pesto, but I made it myself! Warning, making your own pesto can be quite pricey. Basil: $2.99; Parmesan cheese: $5.49; Garlic: $0.50; Pine nuts: $3.99. But this one is excellent, so if you have some of the ingredients already, it might be worth it. So, the ingredients for the pizza is pretty simple; buy store bought wheat dough, roll it out with some flour, then put pesto, mozzarella cheese, cooked spinach, and cooked broccoli, then put it in the oven for the time it says on the package of the dough.

Here is the recipe for the pesto though:

Ingredients:
2 cups packed basil
1/3 cup pine nuts
6 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions:

1. BLEND!

Pretty difficult eh? This serving was enough to cover the pizza AND to make a bunch of pesto pasta the next day. Now, beware, if you taste the pesto right after you blend it, it's probably going to taste pretty spicy because of the garlic. But once you heat it up and cook it, it tastes much better because the garlic cooks a little bit. Next? cilantro jalapeno sauce for either chicken or fish, I haven't decided. yumm!!

Chicken Cacciatore

So, I've always heard of Chicken Cacciatore, but never really knew what it was. I also didn't realize that it was actually a healthy dish. There's so much you could do with this dish; you could make it super spicy, you could add curry powder to make it earthy, you could add some white wine to make it lighter. But, I just stuck with the normal chicken cacciatore with a tad bit of cayenne to give it a little kick.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken breasts
3 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic
8 ounces mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted tomatoes)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/8 cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1. Cut chicken into pieces and coat in flour


2. Add to a hot pan with oil. Cook chicken until golden brown.


3. Transfer to a bowl.


4. Use the same pan and add onion and garlic.


5. Saute until tender, then add mushrooms until tender.


6. Add tomatoes, salt, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Stir.


7. Add chicken and let cook on the pan until chicken is cooked all the way through.


8. Serve!

For some reason, I have a feeling that real chicken cacciatore requires more steps and more ingredients, but I feel like this is perfectly satisfactory. I served this with leftover quinoa and some corn. OMG, fresh corn is so much better than canned corn. I know that sounds obvious, but I think I just always thought they were pretty similar. I WAS WRONG. I don't know if I could ever go back to canned corn again. God, I sound like I've never had fresh corn before, but I think I'm just starting to appreciate good food more. Actually, now that I am thinking about this, I want to get corn from the farmer's market and see if there's a difference. I also need to get brusselsprouts from the farmer's market, because I think it will make a big difference (mostly because the restaurant I went to in SF had THE BEST brusselsprouts and they just tasted so fresh, well minus the bacon). Anyway, that's it for me tonight. I have more coming though! I made a GREEEEN pizza. You'll see. ;) Wait for it.

Baked Cod with tomatoes and beans

Gosh, what a horrible title I've given this. Totally doesn't do the dish justice, but I didn't know what else to call it. Anyway, I really liked this dish, mostly because it's super healthy for you, but still has a ton of flavor. I served it with quinoa, which I have recently discovered. Quinoa is amazing! It has tons of fiber and really absorbs any flavor you put with it. I just mixed up quinoa with a bunch of vegetables and a little bit of balsamic vinegar.

Back to the star of the dish, you could probably make this dish with any other light flaky fish, but I particularly like cod so I used cod. Here are the instructions.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
3/4 can of Northern beans
2 fillets of cod
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


2. Put some oil in the pan.


3. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and put them in the saucepan with oil.


4. Add a little water (about a tablespoon.


5. Let tomatoes break down.


6. Add beans and stir until beans are hot.


7. Prepare fish with salt and pepper.


8. Put in casserole dish with tomato mixture on top.


9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish is cooked through.


10. Serve!

And that's it! Easy Peasy.

Creme Brulee

Mann, I have so many updates I need to post, but I've been lagging because I GOT A NEW CAMERA! I have a bunch of pictures, but have yet to put it on my computer. But don't worry, I will get them on their tonight! In the meantime, I will have to tell you about the creme brulee Faye made for all of us. I was lucky enough to get the recipe from her and I would like to note that I want a torch!! ;)

Now, I am totally not exaggerating when I say that this creme brulee was better than the creme brulee that I had at this fancy restaurant in San Francisco (pictures of this will be coming as well). I just remember the sugar on the creme brulee being too thick at the restaurant. Anyway, here it is:

Ingredients:
4 cups heavy cream
10 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tablespooon brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Cook 2 cups of heavy cream on medium heat.


2. Let sit covered for 15 minutes.


3. Stir in the other 2 cups of heavy cream.


4. Whip it together with the egg yolks.


5. Add vanilla.


6. Strain.


7. Put in ramekins.


8. Bake in a water bath at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. (water should fill up to the 2/3 mark of the ramekins)


9. Chill for a few hours.


10. Add a little brown sugar, then torch!


11. Serve.