salad

Sweet + Spicy = YUM!

February 22, 2010 by Regina 3 Comments

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!

Not Your Mom’s Tuna Salad

February 15, 2010 by Regina 4 Comments

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.

Tonno Insalata

October 26, 2009 by Regina 1 Comment

So I am not a huge fan of tuna from a can in fact I can remember a time when I refused to eat it or even be in the same room with it when it was being consumed because “The smell makes me sick”. Yes, you can say it, I was a snob about it, often referring to it as cat food. But today things are a bit different. I gave it a try (imagine that) and found that it is not so bad. Well the stuff in oil not so hot, but the albacore or chunch light in water not bad and the Italian stuff packed in pretty cans with quality olive oil well that stuff is just pretty darn good! I know I was as amazed as anyone that I would ever say that; but there you have I like tuna from a can!

Anyway that brings me to this great salad I made a few weeks back for M. I even enjoyed a little for myself. I didn’t want to fix the same old tuna fish salad with mayo , something healthier and dare I say it fresh? I had some of that good Italian tuna hanging around so I decided to create an Italian insprired tuna salad. It was one of those lets see what we have on hand kinda deals so I had to rummage through the fridge and pantry. I settled on white beans, olives, red onion, tomatoes, cucumber and fresh basils and oregano from the garden. If I had had capers on hand I would have thrown them in but I was out. Over all a very good salad. Good for you, different, and frankly plain old tasty!

Recipe:

1 can Tonno (tuna) in quality olive oil, flaked, oil reserved
1/2 can cannellini beans (white beans) drained and rinsed
6 chopped olives, such as Kalamata, Niciose, or Cerignolas ( I used all and mixed them together)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 small tomato seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
Fresh basil and oragano to taste
Dressing:
1 small clove garlic minced to a paste ( you should have about 1/2 teas. of garlic paste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon and the zest
The reserved olive oil from the tuna

Mix all the veggies and herbs together. In a separate bowl whisk the garlic paste, salt, pepper, lemon juice and zest with the olive oil. Dress the salad with as much dressing as you like.

I like this by itself or atop fresh greens. It makes a great lunch or even a nice light supper served with a bowl of soup, like maybe minestrone!

China Pattern

September 21, 2009 by Regina 3 Comments

Last Friday was M and I’s 7th anniversary. We have a tradition that dates back to our first anniversary of a feast of chinese take-out. Back then we had just moved into our very first apartment and we had next to nothing plus new nothing of the area. To celebrate we made a picnic on the floor (no furniture either!) and ate chinese take out. I think back then it cost a total of $18 and for us that was about as far as our new budget could stretch. Ever since it has been the tradition to do that every year. This year for some reason was special to me. 7 years is a long time, at least for me and the whole 7 year itch people always talk about. So I decided at trying my hand at making a Chinese feast myself.

I made our appetizers just like we would order, pan-fried dumplings or pot-stickers, scallion pancakes, and a napa and cilantro salad we had tried at A Single Pebble and loved.

I have made dumplings before but M really likes gyozas and I had gyoza wrappers on hand. So I made a traditional pork dumpling mixture and filled the wrappers. I had never folded in this style before so I You Tubed a video on the technique of folding gyozas. Very helpful! Over all for my first try I think I did well. M even jumped in and folded a couple. He was actually better right of the gate then I was. I jump right in and pick it up as I go and am speedy, M on the other hand studies it then meticulously proceeds; its the perfectionist in him!

Here is the quick recipe of the filling:

1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup scallions
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice wine

Mix everything well and refridgerate for 30 minutes. Then fill dumplings. You don’t have to do anything special, you can pleat them if you like or make little beggers purses, or even just a good seal will work fine. I followed this video for a tutorial and It was very good. I made a simple dressing out of Chinese balck vinegar and soy sauce with a tad of minced ginger. It was nice combination. To cook I fried them in very little oil then added a spoonful of water to the very hot pan and quickly covered. You can do that or steam entirely, deep fry or even boil.

For the pancakes I had never made them before at all and I took a little help for a fellow blogger. What is weird is that I had planned this out, googled and ended up on a site I have been to many times. Then later while surfing Tastespotting this exact post from Appetite for China was featured, how serendipitous! I took her exact recipe but I tried to short cut the pancakes by using a method I had read on a Ming Tsai recipe. Next time I will follow her instructions exactly! They came out good but in trying to make it easier I ended up making it harder I think.

The napa salad was an after thought but a good one. We have had this a few times out and I thought with all the heavy food a nice light salad would be a good idea. It is simply sliced napa cabbage and torn cilantro in a dressing consisting of 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar, 1 T. sugar, 1 T. light oil (I used coconut), a pinch of salt and about 5 drops of sesame oil. I nuke it for 30 seconds to dissolve the sugar/salt and when cool and ready to eat I dress the salad. Its that easy and very tasty; I can eats bowls of this stuff!

We took a brief intermission from eating to clean up, relax and prepare for the next course, Chinese Red Cooked Beef (Chinese Braised Beef) with noodles. Basically its Chinese pot roast. It takes all day to braise and makes the house smell wonderful! It’s a perfect fall dish.

Recipe:

1 1/2 lbs chuck roast or any cheap cut of meat, cut in to bite size chunks
1 cup sliced shitake mushrooms – I used a combination of dried and fresh, the dried I soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and squeezed out the excess water (save the liquid!)
2 carrots sliced on the diagonal
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1 inch (or so) nob of fresh ginger, minced
1 onion chopped
2-3 cups stock, I used a cup of the mushroom water and 1 1/2 cups of beef stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine or dry sherry if you can’t find rice wine
2 T. brown sugar
2-4 red chilies
2-3 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks broken in 1/2
1 T. 5 spice
salt and pepper (minimal)
oil for browning, I used coconut

Start out by prepping all your vege and set aside. Now prep your meat by cutting into chunks and seasoning with salt, pepper, and 5 spice. Set aside. In a large dutch oven heat the oil and stir fry the garlic and ginger for a few seconds until you can smell it. In batches add your meat. You want the meat evenally on 1 layer without crowding the pan. This should take about 2- 3 batches once done remove all meat. In the same pan add more oil if needed, but you shouldn’t, you should have more than enough fat from the beef. To the pan add your onions and mushrooms and saute until you see some color, about a minute or 2. Now add the beef and the remaining ingredients. Make sure the liquid just covers everything. Turn the heat to medium low and bring to a boil then turn the heat all the way low and cook uncovered for about 3 hours or until the liquid has almost completely reduced and the meat is tender. When almost done, about 30 minutes out, add your carrots. What I did here was since I knew I was going to serve it later, when it was done I turned off the heat and added the carrots gave it a good stir then covered until ready to serve. This cooked the carrots just perfectly.

You can serve this over steamed rice but really it is a noodle type of meal. Traditionally you would serve it with thick wonton noodles which are chinese egg noodles. Living in the mountains of Vermont I could not find them so I used fresh parpadelle which worked perfect! I also served this with seared bok choy seasoned with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce and to top everything off a seasonal hard cider that is produced for fall and had a hint of cinnamon in it; it was Woodchuck Draft Fall Cider. It was a perfect pairing.

It was a very nice dinner and definitely a step up from take out, though I did kind of miss it in a nostalgic kind of way.

Spring Greens

April 8, 2009 by Regina 1 Comment

So spring keep popping in and out around here. One day its beautiful, sunny, and warm the next we have snow. The joys of living in Vermont! So through all this I read through all my other food bloggy buddies and they are seeing spring time favorites in the grocery store or better their gardens and farmers markets while am stuck here still living on gourds! So the other evening I was walking around our local co-op and spotted some fresh green beans. Of course I plopped them in my cart without a second glance. When I arrived home and unpacked I took one look at the green beans and decided I wanted a spring time salad. What better way to get the essence of spring than in a fresh salad!

So I began rummaging around my fridge to see what goodies I had to make this. First thing I spotted was leftover buttermilk I needed to use up and a bunch of fresh herbs that were not gonna last much longer. And that is when I decided on a nice herb ranch dressing to top a fresh salad of green beans, romaine, red onion and tomato!

Recipe:

1/4 cup sour cream (I used lite)
1 Tbsp. mayo (cannot bring myself to use low fat on this!)
A heft handful of whatever fresh herbs, you have on hand, chopped fine. I used dill, sage, thyme, and tarragon.
Salt & Pepper to taste
Squeeze lemon juice
1/2 cup or so of buttermilk (I used low fat)

Chop the herbs nice and fine you don’t want anything too big to over power the taste and they should be uniform in size. You can use some dried herbs here but use 2/3s less than you would fresh, and don’t use all dried herbs. Now whisk together the herbs, sour cream, mayo, lemon juice and slat and pepper. Once combined drizzled in the buttermilk as you would olive oil until you have the desired consistency. I used approximately 1/2 cup. I was looking for something a little thinner to drizzle over my greens but not over whelm them.

To make the salad I chopped everything in nice bite size pieces and for the green beans I blanched them in boiling water for about 2 minutes and dropping in an ice bath. They turned this beautiful bright green while still remaining really crisp. Everything that spring veggies should be!

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