September » 2010 » An Hour In the Kitchen

Guacamole

The secret is to let the onions marinate in the lime juice. Don’t tell anyone!

Ingredients:

3 perfectly ripe avocados
Small onion, chopped
1 to 2 limes
1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped (remove the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper

Method:

Place chopped onions and jalapenos in bowl and cover with the juice of one lime.
Let sit for 15 minutes or more.
Cut avocados in half, scoop out and place in a bowl and mash with a fork.
Add cilantro.
Add salt and pepper.
Taste and add more lime juice if desired.

I’ve been told if you keep a pit in the guac, it will stay fresh longer.

Serves four.

Almond Date Balls and “I Will Not Diet”

My friend Molly McCaffrey writes a blog called “I Will Not Diet. No, it isn’t a gluttonous free-for-all. She focuses on healthy eating and exercise as a lifestyle, without falling prey to yo-yo fad diets. She also explores our culture’s attitude toward curvy women. It is insightful, informative and often humorous — a good read for sure.

She teaches English and creative writing at Western Kentucky University and September means back to school. For Molly, school means long hours and stressful days — a bad combination when you are trying to eat healthy. She is able to ward off the potential quick fix of a fast-food burger, by following a simple motto — be prepared.

Knowing that her weeknights will be hectic, Molly and her husband do their cooking on the weekend. They each make a big meal and parse it out for the week. They cook once, but make enough to have four healthy ready-made meals during the week. No need to order out for pizza.

She is also prepared when it comes to snacks. Molly finds that if she has a healthy snack every couple of hours, she can avoid junk food during the day, and when she gets home in the evening, she isn’t famished, so she eats a more sensible dinner.

Molly brings small snacks to work. Her snacks range from a piece of cheese and an apple or container of yogurt to a fancy cottage cheese dip with raw vegetables like red peppers, cucumbers and carrots. She makes the cheese dip often. It’s a Moosewood Cookbook recipe and is made by blending cottage cheese, feta, dill and green onions. Sounds like something good to have on hand. When you have easy access to healthy food, you are less likely to be tempted by the processed junk from the vending machine.

I am a big snacker myself, so I decided to experiment with various nut and granola bars. I wanted something easy to eat on the go and a bar fit that bill. The nut bar recipe I made was delicious, but was certainly not a bar. The crumbly mixture was excellent as a yogurt topping, but wasn’t the portable snack I wanted.

The granola bars were just OK, nothing too special, but they were portable. I’ll need to work on both of those recipes a bit more before they will be ready for prime time. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I switched my attention to other healthy homemade snacks.

Date balls were easy and delicious. I don’t know why I’m just discovering them now. You do need a food processor, but no oven is required. They have about 60 calories each. The good thing is those calories are comprised of all nutrient-dense ingredients. Plus it only takes one or two to satisfy my sweet tooth. Candy bars usually check in at about 250 calories, with rarely anything of nutritional value (dark chocolate, containing antioxidants, is the exception).

I made the date balls with almonds. Experiment with other nuts. Next time I plan to try pistachios.

Molly has it right. Instead of not allowing yourself to snack between meals, be prepared with healthy snacks and keep your change out of those vending machines!

Almond Date Balls

Ingredients:
2 cups California dates, pitted
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)
1/4 cup shredded dried unsweetened coconut (look for organic coconut with “coconut” as the only ingredient)

Method:

Pulse dates, almonds, almond extract and maple syrup in a food processor until the mixture forms a ball and easily sticks together.
Roll into balls and then roll in dried coconut to coat.

That’s it. Pretty darn easy!

Makes 25 small balls. Store in the fridge.

Tacos de Pescado

I wouldn’t call my mother an adventurous eater. While she will try new things, with the exception of sushi and oysters, two things she has no interest in ever trying, she usually doesn’t stray too far from what she knows. When she does find something new that she really likes, she will go out of her way to get it.

Case in point, my mother has thrown caution to the wind when seeking out a good fish taco. This obsession took us to some of the rougher neighborhoods in San Diego. I won’t say that we did this on purpose, but once when visiting my brother in San Diego, she and I went on a search for authentic fish tacos. We got lost. Very lost.

The cute shops and inviting cafés were replaced by auto repair shops and semi-abandoned strip malls. Luckily, the place was rife with food offerings, without a chain restaurant in site. Blindly picking a spot, we pulled into a parking lot of a restaurant. It was a nondescript white building. There were only a handful of people there, all of whom made note of our entrance.

The menu was not in English, but we were able to figure out that “tacos de pescado” meant fish tacos. We ordered them and were happily served perfectly prepared fish tacos. Mission accomplished, only we then had to find our way home, which, without a GSP system, was no small feat.

My mother has often complained that a good San Diego style fish taco is hard to find. She is very particular about what makes a proper one. They must use a light white fish, be lightly battered and fried, topped with shredded cabbage and a white sauce. She is a purist and doesn’t like guacamole or anything else messing up her taco. I, on the other hand, adore guac and whole-heartily add it to any taco I get my hands on.

She was delighted to find out that my husband makes fish tacos just the way she likes them. When we visit, they have worked out a deal. He will make fish tacos for her if she makes her delicious chicken-fried steak for him. Both think that they are getting the better end of that deal. I, for a change, get to sit just back and eat!

Tacos de Pescado

Ingredients:
1 pound of fresh fish fillets, firm white fish like tilapia or catfish
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, divided
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup cooking oil (I use olive oil)
6 soft corn tortillas (2 tortillas per person)

Cabbage Slaw (recipe below)

Method:

Rinse fish fillets in cold water. Pat dry with a paper towel.
Add olive oil to a large skillet. Heat to medium-high heat, staying below the oil’s smoking point.
Sprinkle the lime juice over the fish.
Mix half of the salt, pepper and chili powder together and sprinkle the mixture on the fish.
Mix cornmeal with the remaining spices.
Dredge the fish in the cornmeal mixture.
Place fish in skillet. Cook for a couple of minutes, then flip. Cook until golden brown and fish is cooked through (cooking time depends on the thickness of the fillets). Drain on a paper towel lined plate.
Warm the tortillas either in a skillet on the stove or in an oven.
Place fish in the center of the tortilla. Top with cabbage slaw and guacamole. Fold tortilla in half and enjoy!

Serves four.

Cabbage Slaw
Ingredients:

2 cups cabbage, chopped or shredded
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Salt and pepper

Method:

In a medium-size bowl, mix lime juice, yogurt, mayonnaise and chili powder.
Add cabbage and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste.

Fall Farmers Markets

I started to write this article this past spring. I glanced at the calendar and noticed that it is September. Is anyone else wondering where the summer went? I certainly am.

As excited as I am every May for the return of farmers markets, it’s really the late summer and early fall that is my favorite time to go to them. The tomatoes and peaches are still around while all of the fall crops are starting to elbow their way in. The tables are crowded. It’s truly a cornucopia of fresh food.

When I go to the grocery store, I have a list. I go with purpose, want to get what is on my list and get out. That is the opposite of how I shop at farmers markets.

For the farmers market, I like to go without an agenda. I may hope that the plums are still there, or that the winter squash has started to come in, but I never go with a list. I like to be inspired by what looks particularly good that day.

I like to wander around the market and linger about before I buy anything. I want to see all of my options before then I start to formulate meal ideas. Dinner plans revolve around what I pick up at the market.

This past weekend, I went to the Catskill Farmers’ Market. This year it was moved from the Catskill Point to smack in the middle of Main Street. I like the change. I’ve always thought that downtown Catskill looks like a movie set. The white tents and live music add a festive feel to the cute town.

If you have a freezer or know your way around a pressure cooker, stock up. I’m always happy to grab locally grown produce out of my freezer in February.

Go out this weekend to your farmers market or local farm stand and soak it in. I’m guessing this fall will pass by with the same speed that summer did, so no lollygagging!

Cantaloupe and Sopressata Salad

This is my all-time favorite cantaloupe salad recipe. I’m happy that in September, there are still plenty of cantaloupes at the farmers market.

Ingredients

3-4 lbs cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch chunks (see note)
1/2 cup sopressata salami, diced
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Method

Combine cantaloupe chunks, sopressata and basil in a large salad bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Pour dressing over cantaloupe, toss to coat, and serve.

Serves six.

Note: Cantaloupe 101- After washing the melon, slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. Slice into wedges then carefully cut the orange flesh away from the rind.

Cantaloupe Bread

My mom’s friend Sandy and her husband have a farm stand in Virginia. He does the farming; she runs the stand. My husband and I visited it this summer. They had a couple of large bins filled with cantaloupe. I asked Sandy to help me pick out a good, sweet one.

She started picking up the melons and sniffing them. She handed me one and said that it seemed like a good one but she wasn’t sure. She picked up another and gave it to us in case the first one wasn’t sweet. We picked out beautiful tomatoes, green beans and blue potatoes. We must have gotten the friend discount because she only requested a 10 spot.

On the way out, she ran to our car with yet another cantaloupe. “Just in case,” she said. With that, it became our favorite farm stand.

Smelling a cantaloupe is the best way to tell if it is ripe. It should have a pleasantly sweet aroma. If it has too strong of a fragrance, the melon most likely will be overripe.

Also look at the color underneath the netting on the skin. A ripe melon will be creamy white or yellow. Green indicates that the melon isn’t completely ripe. An unripe cantaloupe will ripen on your kitchen counter, but it doesn’t get sweeter. My understanding that for the sweetest melons, it is best to pick ones that have ripened in the field.

You’ll also want a melon that feels heavy for its size, is firm and doesn’t have any soft spots. Soft spots are a sign that it is overripe or has been bruised.

When preparing cantaloupe, it’s important to wash the outside before cutting. Whatever is on the outside can be transferred to the melon’s flesh when it’s cut. Wash the melon under running water and use a vegetable brush to gently scrub it.

Cantaloupes sport a bit of health prowess. One of my favorite sites for nutrition information is the World’s Healthiest Foods. It is well-sourced and gives nutritional profiles on everything from soy sauce to lima beans. It also makes me want to eat whatever it is I’m researching.

For example, the site gushes about the health properties of cantaloupe. Cantaloupe is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, a very good source of potassium and a good source of vitamin B6, dietary fiber, folate, and niacin (vitamin B3). According to the site, eating cantaloupe promotes lung health, protects your vision and reduces risk of death from heart disease, stroke and cancer. Wow, it’s a veritable wonder drug! Give me some!

As I was looking for recipes, I started wondering why you rarely see any recipes for cooked cantaloupe. I’m guessing it’s because cooked cantaloupe doesn’t sound appealing. I imagined that it would tastes a bit like overly ripe cantaloupe, which, in my opinion, can be summed up in one word: yuck.

Actually, cooked cantaloupe tastes a bit like cooked pumpkin. That’s no wonder since they are close cousins both haling from the Cucurbitaceae family. This explains why cantaloupe worked great in a sweet quick bread but my cantaloupe cobbler experiment didn’t go so well. My husband said that he liked it but I wonder if that is just something a sweet husband tells his wife to keep on her good side.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup coconut oil or melted unsalted butter
1 egg
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cup cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and chopped (see note)

Method

Heat oven to 350º F.
Greased and flour an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together coconut oil, egg, honey, milk and vanilla and add to flour mixture.
Place cantaloupe in a food processor and pulse a few times, until finely chopped. You may also either finely chop the cantaloupe or mash it with a potato masher.
Add cantaloupe and nuts to mixture and mix until combined.
Turn mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes.
Cool and serve.

Note: Cantaloupe 101- After washing the melon, slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. Slice into wedges then carefully cut the orange flesh away from the rind.

I’m sharing this recipe on:
The Nourishing Gourmet

Watermelon Kebabs

These are refreshing and delicious. The heat brings out the sweetness of the melon.

You’ll need four to six skewers. If you are using wooden ones, be sure to soak them in water for a couple of hours.

Ingredients:
4 cups of watermelon cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch cubes (about half of a sugar-baby watermelon)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Prepare grill for high heat.
In a large bowl, toss watermelon cubes with all ingredients.
Skewer the watermelon cubes.
Oil cooking grate, using tongs and a wad of oiled paper towels. Set kebabs on grate and grill covered. Cook for four to five minutes, turning once.

Serves four to six.

Easy Peasy and Absolutely Delish Salmon Kebabs

Fish is one of those things that we hear we should add to our diets. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, fish is an excellent source of heart-protecting omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and selenium, is high in protein and low in saturated fat. They recommend eating one to two three-ounce servings of fish a week. Fatty fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies or sardines are particularly beneficial.

Unfortunately, we also hear that some types of fish are full of mercury or PCBs and other seafood is endangered of being over fished.

It’s hard to keep track of all of it. To help sort it out, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a Super Green list of seafood that is both healthy for you and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. To make the list, fish must have low levels of contaminants, a minimum of 250 milligrams omega-3 fatty acids and be well-managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.

Sadly, there aren’t a lot of choices on this list. According to the guide, as of May 2010, the Best of the Best is Albacore Tuna (troll- or pole-caught, from the U.S. or British Columbia), Freshwater Coho Salmon (farmed in tank systems, from the U.S.), Mussels (farmed), Oysters (farmed), Pacific Sardines (wild-caught), Rainbow Trout (farmed), Salmon (wild-caught, from Alaska).

They also include a list of second best choices. These fish contain less omega-3 fatty acids than their top picks. This list includes Arctic Char (farmed), Bay Scallops (farmed), Crayfish (farmed, from the U.S.), Dungeness Crab (wild-caught, from California, Oregon or Washington), Longfin Squid (wild-caught, from the U.S. Atlantic), Pacific Cod (longline-caught, from Alaska)

Local Ocean, in Hudson, NY, has come up with an innovative solution to both over-fishing and environmental contamination. It uses a closed salt-water system and raises fish that are both sustainable and pollutant free. I like that. They currently sell to restaurants, but I’m told they will open a retail outlet this fall. I’ll be waiting by the door.

Until they open, I will be consulting my guide and buying fish on the Super Green List. When buying fish, if you don’t see the origin listed, ask. You don’t want to end up with farm raised Atlantic salmon when you are looking for wild caught Alaskan salmon, now do you?

Salmon is a nice firm fish and excellent for kebabs. Kebabs are one of my favorite ways to cook food on the grill. Just about anything you can skewer, you can grill. Some things, like garlic, are tricky. You have to pick large cloves so they don’t split open when you stab them. With softer items, like tomatoes, be sure to cut big pieces. Cherry tomatoes work great on kebabs. My new favorite thing to kebab is fruit.

Pancetta Salmon Kebabs on Arugula

My sister-in-law Tori calls these “Easy Peasy and Absolutely Delish Kebabs.” I have to agree. She modified the recipe from Sunset Magazine. I tweaked it a bit more.

You’ll need eight skewers (two per serving). If you are using wooden ones, be sure to soak them in water for a couple of hours to prevent the whole thing from catching on fire!

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper, divided
1 1/2 pounds skinned salmon filet (wild caught, Alaskan preferred)
4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta
3 teaspoons chopped parsley
4 cups arugula, washed and dried

Method:

Combine 1/4 cup oil, vinegar, garlic and salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Set dressing aside.
Cut salmon into one-inch chunks.
Prepare grill for high heat (450° to 550F°).
In a large bowl, combine remaining tablespoon of oil with remaining 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Add salmon to bowl and gently mix to thoroughly coat.
Wrap each salmon cube with pancetta, then skewer each wrapped chunk.
Oil cooking grate, using tongs and a wad of oiled paper towels. Set kebabs on grate and grill covered, turning once, until salmon is barely cooked through, about four minutes total.
Toss arugula in dressing and divide onto four plates.
Set two kebabs on the arugula bed and serve.