Selective Palate

With this snowy chilly weather this week it had me craving for something warm and comforting. I also wanted to do something meatless; meatless Tuesday anyone? With all that in mind I decided to go a little south of the border and stuff some poblano peppers with a yummy mix of brown rice, black beans and cheese! Then I baked them up until everything was all bubbly and served it with a side of avocado salad to cool everything down. It was very good, M didn’t even speak between seconds (or thirds!).

Recipe:

1 onion chopped
1 red bell  pepper chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
9 poblanos, 1 chopped, 8 cut the tops off and clean out the insides leaving the bodies intact
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 or 2 chipolte peppers in adobo, chopped
1 T. cumin
1 packet of Goya Sazon (any flavor will work, I used culantro y achiote)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
hand full cilantro
1 lime zested
2 T. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Begin by cooking the rice per directions. Usually I make long grain brown rice with 1 cup rice to 2 1/4 cups stock or water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and cover for 40- 45 minutes. While you have that cooking prep your veggies all about the same size chop. Pre-heat your oven to 425 and place your poblanos in a baking dish coating them with about 1 T. of the olive oil and a spinkle of salt and pepper. When the oven is ready place peppers in oven to start the cooking. Now heat a large skillet on med high heat when ready with the veggies add the remaining olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Add onions and peppers and saute for about 8-10 minutes. When soft add the garlic. Reduce heat and add the spices and beans, stir to combine. When the rice is ready fluff with fork and add directly to the bean mixture. Take off heat and remove the peppers from the oven (they should have been in for about 15- 20 minutes total), they should be soft and fragrant, set aside for the time being. Now add 1 cup of the cheese to the rice and bean mixture along with the chopped chiplotes, lime zest and chopped cilantro. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, stuff them with the mixture and place back in the baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake for another 15- 20 minutes.

And that is it.  I served these with a nice avocado and cucumber salad using the juice of the zested limes and some garlic. For M I heated up some corn, because he just LOVES corn! Altogether it was a great vegetarian dinner, perfect for Meatless Monday or Tuesday!

So in the spirit of being healthy I have been trying very hard to eat small meals every 2-3 hours. I have also cut out wheat and a lot of other things so my options are limited to what I can have for lunch. I want to make sure I get my greens and my protein in but salad and a can of tuna (no matter how good it is!) is really getting old. So today when lunch rolled around I found myself staring blankly in the fridge. When that was extremely unhelpful I went to good old internet. What I found was an idea! Japanese cucumber salad with a kick of spice and protein!

Salad:

1 cucumber seeds scooped out and cut in halfmoons, I buy unwaxed organic when ever I can because I love the skin, but you can use whatever you have
1/2 cup steamed and shelled edamame
1/4 cup sliced green onion

Dressing:

3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp agave (or honey or sugar)
1 tsp. black sesame seeds (or more)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. chili flakes

Directions:

For the dressing whisk everything together and place in the microwave for 30 seconds to dissolve the salt and sugar if using. Pour dressing over cucumbers and edamame and refidgerate till chilled. i placed it in the freezer to hurry it up and it was done in a couple of minutes. When cooled add the green onions and mix everything together.

A little sweet, a little salty, a little spicy, but all together yummy!

I am a little late on this post. I promised my good friend Kathy along with my father this recipe weeks ago! But to be honest as much as I love to share my recipes I kind of like keeping this 1 to myself. It”s like my secret weapon; if I give it away they will have no reason to invite me over anymore. I kid, sorta.

All three of us love Pâté, M not so much; I get his portion! But its pretty expensive. In fact when you realize what is in it and how easy it is to make it really grates my cheese. I have dreams of making this in big batches and selling it to make my millions, or at least a couple hundred bucks!

So without further ado here is the recipe for 1 of the best creamy pâté ever and the best part is it costs pennies! OK, Kathy you better still invite me over, I do  come with wine!

They wouldn’t wait for me to get my camera! It really is that good.

Recipe: Makes two 1 cup Ramekins.

Pâté:

8 oz chicken or other poultry livers, dark spots removed
1 stick butter
1/2 cup shallots
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 T. cognac ( or other tasty spirit)
1 t. fresh herb minced such as parsley or tarragon or none.
salt and pepper to taste

Aspic:

1/4 cup stock (any good quality will work, I like to make mine with  a veal demi-glace for richness)
1 t. cognac or more to taste (see above)
1 t. sherry or other quality vinegar
1/2 t. gelatin
salt and pepper to taste – sometimes I use rough cracked pepper for texture and taste

Method – Pâté:

Melt 1/2 the  butter over medium heat until just melted, add shallots. Reduce heat and cook until translucent. Add garlic and saute a little longer till fragrant, make sure not brown! Now carefully add the cognac and cook down a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the cream. Simmer for a couple more minutes then add the remaining butter stirring to melt. Take off heat and set aside to cool.

Using your blender puree the raw livers until smooth. Add the shallots and cream mixture and puree on high until everything is completely smooth and pale in color.

Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer pushing the mixture through with the back of a spoon.

Fill 2 ramekins with the mixture leaving about 1/4 inch room at the top for the aspic.

Transfer (carefully) the ramekins to a deep sided baking dish placed in a preheated 300 degree oven. Cover ramekins tightly with aluminum foil and fill baking dish with boiling water 1/2 way up the side of ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes until pâté is set (like a cheesecake).

Cool to room temperature and transfer to the refrigerator. Once chilled make the aspic.

Method – Aspic:

Combine everything except the gelatin in a saucepan (or microwave) until simmering stir in the gelatin to dissolve. Cool. Once cooled pour on top of the chilled pâté and return to the fridge until the aspic sets up; a couple hours.

Before serving bring to room temperature. Serve with good french bread and wine.

I know it sounds like a lot of work but really you spend more time waiting for everything to cool down than anything else. Plus each ramekin of pâté costs about $1; yup ONE DOLLAR! Compare that to $50/lb in gourmet stores, doesn’t seem like too much work now does it! Also, you get to be creative. Once you have the method down you can switch up the flavors or add textures if you prefer.

By the way I should mention I got inspiration for this recipe from the very lovely Steamy Kitchen; Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

ENJOY!

It doesn’t happen very often but M and I went grocery shopping a few weeks back. Now I am talking about real grocery shopping not picking up a couple things for dinner. While in the produce department we discovered something I had only heard rumors about. “Could it be?” I said. M asked if it was rotten? I turned to him and said I prefer the term “fermented”. So with that I threw 2 heads of Black Garlic in the cart. I could not wait to get home and open up my treasure.

Then the realization came to me that I have no idea what to do with this! So the package sat there for several days while I researched. I wanted to really highlight this strange new ingredient not just throw it in any old dish. I found 2 recipes off the Black Garlic website that really sounded yummy.

First up was Scallops with Black Garlic and Chorizo. I followed the recipe exactly and it was a perfect appetizer. I might have a drizzled a little olive oil on  top to finish it up but other than that no tweaking. This recipe is so versitile. I could switch out any number of ingredients and come up with a great starter. The Black Garlic shined beautifully. It had such a sweet, mellow taste that complimented the scallops. I could taste garlic but with none of the bite.

Next up was the Mushroom and Black Garlic Risotto. Again I followed this recipe fairly closely; why fix something that is not broken. I did not have vegetable stock on hand, I used chicken stock instead, so it was not vegetarian but neither am I! Again the earthiness of both the mushrooms and Black Garlic worked extremely well together.  Also, I have never added marcarpone cheese to any risotto but HO BOY I highly recomend it! In fact I had never used marscarpone for anything savory but I have seen the light; this stuff is so good! You could put it on a shoe and it would make it taste creamy and decadent.

So the verdict; I really enjoyed it. It was a nice change from your traditional garlic. It was sweet, savory, creamy (yes creamy), earthy and just plain nice. M on the other hand had no reaction. He said it’s fine nothing special. He leans toward the bitter, he loves it when I burn the garlic and black garlic has long lost any bitterness its fresh cooked (burned) counter part has.

So if you happen upon it at your local grocery store I highly recommend trying it if for no other reason than to say you have. If you are really interested I believe the Black Garlic website actually sells it.

Though we haven’t gotten any of the snow the rest of the country has gotten we are still in the dregs of winter. About this time of year is when you start yearning for the warm beaches of the Caribbean. It was with that in mind that I made myself a lunch of fresh Ahi Tuna salad.

Though I live in a small town in northern Vermont I am very lucky that we have a good fish monger who gets their catch early every morning direct from the docks in Portland and Boston. I know how cool is that! On any day (except Monday they are closed) I can get fresh seafood that was swimming less than 24 hours ago! Plus, they are right across the street! I know you are all jealous now, unless  you actually live in 1 of the great port cities then well I am jealous because your catch is most likely cheaper and fresher than mine.

Anyway to get on with the recipe. When I walked into the store I hadn’t yet decided what I wanted for lunch but as soon as I saw that big slab of Ahi Tuna laying in the case I knew that was going to part of my lunch. They also sell fresh japanese seaweed salad so I grabbed a caintainer and to round it off a handful of recently cooked fresh shrimp. When I got home I laid out my finds and then began to rummage around in the fridge and cupboards. And this is what I came up with!

Recipe (for 1 good portion or 2 small):

4 oz sashimi grade tuna, diced
2 -3 oz fresh cooked shrimp, diced
1/2 avocado, diced
1 green onion, sliced
1 tbsp red onion small dice
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. mayonnaise (or less, just use as much as need to hold everything together)
1-2 tsp. black sesame seeds
squirt of sirrachi (to taste)
a good pinch of course sea salt (or kosher)
a dash of togorashi (Japanese pepper, if you have it no biggie to leave it out)
1/4 cup seaweed salad

Ok this is too easy; after you get through prepping everything and believe me that is what takes all the time here, you mix everything except the seaweed salad together. Don’t over stir just gentaly fold everything together until incorporated. Place most of the seaweed salad on a plate and top with tuna salad. Garnish with the remainder of the seaweed and sesame seeds. 

You will think you are at a fancy beach resort. Just poor yourself some sparking mineral water or better yet some sparkling wine and you can now pretend your are on Life Styles of the Rich and Famous.   Ok well you don’t have to go that far but you will definitely forget about winter for at least the duration of  lunch.