REMCooks

Szechuan Chile-Sesame Seasoned Salmon on a bed of Spring Greens with Thai Vinaigrette

richardmcgary — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:49:40 +0000

This is another delightful salad for the beautiful weather we’ve been having. Quick and easy – a perfect weeknight meal.

Like everybody else, not all of our meals are pies de resistance. There are times when life is busy and we don’t feel like cooking something elaborate. Perhaps we ate too much the night before (this happens more than we will tell ) and we need something light. Periodically, we actually attempt to regulate our diet. Then there are days where something cool and refreshing fits the mood and/or weather. Perhaps it is a combination of some or all of the foregoing. It’s on days like these that we do an entree salad. We like entree salads. In fact, I think we have 10 on the blog already. They are quick and don’t take a whole lot of work. We especially like them if we can include some of our garden produce in them. This salad came about because we both had been busy and the weather had been stellar. Neither one of us felt like cooking and I had recently purchased some beautiful spring greens mix. Baby Lady also seen a Szechuan chile-sesame seasoning blend at the market that she wanted to try. We also had some of the Thai dipping sauce remaining from the Grilled Halibut atop Asian Style Homegrown Swiss Chard with Pickled Red Peppers Finished with Blood Orange Olive Oil. All of the sudden the light bulb went on and things very quickly came together for a wonderful entree salad. This is what we did. We hope you like it.

Ingredients

2 salmon filets, roughly 6 – 7 oz each, skinned
Szechwan chile sesame seasoning
3 cups spring greens mix or lettuce/greens of your choosing, spit evenly among the dinner plates
red onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings
5 red grape tomatoes, halved
5 yellow cherub tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp pine nuts
2 Tbsp Thai dipping sauce (recipe found here)
4 Tbsp lemon infused olive oil (you can make your own or buy it here)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instruction

First, make the Thai vinaigrette. Add 2 Tbsp of Thai dipping sauce to a small bowl or a small blender.

Add the lemon infused olive oil

Blend to incorporate and set aside until ready to serve.

Next, season the salmon filets

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat and place the filets in the skillet.

Depending upon how well done you like your salmon, cook the salmon anywhere from 2 minute to 4 minutes then turn.

Baby Lady and I like our salmon in salads like this cooked to a medium. So we cook the filets roughly 2 minutes per side. If you like yours cooked to well done then 3 – 4 minutes per side is what you are looking for. To test the doneness of the salmon, once you turn it and cook it for 2 minutes, using your finger gently press done on the fish. If the fish yields easily and starts to flake, the fish is done. Once done, remove from the pan so it stops cooking. Always remember that, even though you removed the salmon from the pan and heat, the salmon will still cook a little from the residual heat in the salmon itself.

Now build the bed for the salad by placing the greens, tomatoes and onions on the dinner plate.

Add a filet to each plate

Sprinkle with pine nuts.

Dress with the Thai dressing. Serve & enjoy!

Filed under: Food, Salads, Seafood Tagged: Salads, Salmon, weeknight meal

Potato Salad with Spring Vegetables and Mustard Dressing

richardmcgary — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:23:07 +0000

Given it’s Spring, it’s salad and grilling time. I’ve been wanting to make this salad for a while and it finally came time to make it. You have the cool, soft, yet firm, small potatoes coupled with the crisp freshness of the spring vegetables, the sweet tanginess of the pickled onions and the creamy sharpness of the mustard dressing. This potato salad really does have it all. So, next time you’re in the mood for potato salad, take a break from your old favorite standby and give this a try. We think you will be pleased that you did.

When you think of summer, you think of beautiful weather, barbecue, grilling, picnics and potato salad. Have you ever noticed that regardless of whether you’re a great cook, good cook or not so good cook, everyone has a potato salad they make. Now, what’s so special about potato salad that everybody has a recipe? Everybody likes potato salad of one kind or another. Some people, like me, love all sorts of different kinds of potato salads. I don’t think I have ever met someone who didn’t like some form of potato salad. Potato salad simply takes on flavors from across the world’s culinary cuisines. There is warm German Potato salad that is vinaigrette based with onions and bacon. You have Spanish potato salads (where it originated) that are cooked and dressed with wine or vinegar. The French started concocting mayonnaise based potato salads well before they were ever introduced into the US. Then, there is your trusty standard US cold potato salad. Of course, none of these potato salads are standard. Some people bake their potatoes; whereas, others boil them. Some people like their potatoes soft and use russets, others like them firmer and use yukon gold, still others mash their potatoes. Then, you have a myriad of different ingredients and dressings which become too voluminous to discuss.

This is a wonderful mustard based potato salad that would be a wonderful addition to any outdoor cookout, barbecue, picnic or family gathering. We love it and hope you give it a try.

Ingredients

For the Salad

1.5 lb small new potatoes
1 lb asparagus, cut on an angle
2 cups sugar snap peas, sliced on an angle
4 large radishes, sliced
1 bunch red spring onions, bulbs sliced into 1/8 – 1/4 inch rounds and greens sliced on an angle (You can substitute white if you want or it it’s all you can find but I like the color and flavor of the red better)
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp honey

For the Mustard Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp coarse, stone ground mustard
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp white Balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instruction

For the Mustard Dressing

First, make the mustard dressing. Add olive oil to a small bowl.

Add the stone ground mustard

Vinegar

then the dijon mustard

Add salt

and pepper

Whisk together to incorporate to a creamy mixture, cover and set aside until ready to dress the salad.

For the Salad

First, cook the potatoes in highly salted water. You know they are done when a toothpick goes through the potato without resistance.

When done, drain potatoes, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking, place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

While the potatoes are cooking, make the pickled onions. First, add honey to a medium size mixing bowl

water

white wine vinegar

and salt

Whisk until salt is dissolved and everything is incorporated. Now, add the onions.

Weight down the onions with a plate to keep them submerged in the pickling solution

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours until ready to serve. When ready to serve, par blanche the asparagus by pouring the asparagus into salted, boiling water with 1/2 tsp baking soda to preserve the color of the asparagus.

Cook for 1 minute, then remove from the boiling water and shock by placing in ice cold water.

Add the potatoes to a large serving bowl.

Now, drain the pickled onions and add them to the potatoes

Add the sliced sugar snap peas

the sliced green tops from the onions

add the sliced radishes

Add asparagus

Now, add the dressing

Gently fold to incorporate all of the ingredients and coat with the dressing.

Finish with boiled eggs

serve

and enjoy! We certainly did.

Filed under: Food, Salads, Vegetarian, Veggies

Tabbouleh

richardmcgary — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:57:36 +0000

This is the other side we served with Moroccan Style Grilled Halibut with Grilled Veggies. It was the perfect compliment and is amazingly easy to fix.

As Baby Lady & I were preparing the Moroccan Style Grilled Halibut we were contemplating what to use as the final side. We needed some type of starch that would compliment the meal. As we were discussing it, I went out to the garden to harvest some parsley for use with the charmoula. While outside I stopped to admire the garden. The moderate climate we have experienced this Spring has done wonders for the plants. Here is my beautiful mint.

It was then I realized tabbouleh would be the perfect accompaniment for the Moroccan Style Grilled Fish and I could use my lovely fresh mint. Indeed, some people consider tabbouleh to be the ideal food of the Mediterranean diet. Although it originated in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria, it spread in favor throughout the Middle east and Mediterranean region. In fact, tabbouleh is widely popular in Middle Eastern cuisines and is a primary ingredient in kibbeh and tabbouleh. It is also used with falafels, among other dishes. In Turkey you will find a red tabbouleh (Kısır) made with tomato paste or sauce. Not surprisingly, it became immensely popular in the US, as well. Of course, once introduced to the US, it gets “americanized.” Nowadays you see tabbouleh used in a variety of settings from a simple salad, to a side dish like we did here, to a main entree with chicken, fish or other heartier ingredients. It really is pretty versatile and every kitchen should have at least one tabbouleh recipe. This is our basic recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup bulgur
2 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup mint, chopped
1 cup red tomato, small dice
1 cup yellow tomato, small dice
1 English cucumber, seeded and diced, small dice
1 cup spring onion (both white and green), small dice
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instruction

Add 1 cup bulgur to a vessel (I use a large measuring cup). Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and our over the bulgur. Cover and let it sit for 1 hour. Notice that this yields roughly 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 cups of cooked bulgur.

Add bulgur to a large bowl

Now add the cucumber

the onion

the yellow tomato

and the red tomato

the parsley

and mint

the black pepper

salt

and lemon juice

Mix together.

Finish with olive oil

Serve & enjoy.

NOTES: Depending upon your application you may want to vary the quantities. For instance, as a salad, you may want more mint and parsley with less bulgur. As a main course salad with meat, you may want to add a little minced garlic. It is very versatile and healthy, to boot.

Filed under: Food, Salads, Side Dish, Vegetarian, Veggies

Moroccan Style Grilled Halibut with Grilled Veggies

richardmcgary — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:53:16 +0000

It’s been a while since we prepared a Moroccan dish. We really shouldn’t wait so long because this dish is really off the charts good.

Well, it appears the fickle weather is beginning to settle down and things are returning back to normal. We finally hit 90 F for the first time on Monday. The weather has been beautiful. Temperatures are running in the mid-to-high 80s with the lows at night and in the morning in the 70s. The sky has been blue, blue, blue. It’s picture perfect weather. It’s also grilling time. So, primed with the urge to grill it was off to the market in search of a grillable piece of fish. I also was in search of some Scottish smoked salmon to do a salmon, crispy potato (think tater chip crispy), sour cream and cucumber napoleon appetizer I wanted to make. Tuesdays, however, are not a particularly good fish day at the market. Hence, the selection was limited and the smoked salmon left a lot to be desired. Oh well, no appetizer and Baby Lady was looking so forward to it, too. Nevertheless, they had just received a shipment that morning of some very fresh, wild halibut. Baby Lady would be pleased.

Now that I found the fish the next question would become what to do with it. I could marinate it. I could make a dill citrus rub for it. I could do a simple lemon cream sauce. Oh, the possibilities were endless. Then I got to seriously contemplating the issue. It was a that time I became inspired. I realized I hadn’t done anything Moroccan in quite some time. While most people relate Moroccan food with tagines (Moroccan stews), there is so much more to Moroccan food than tagines (which are quite good). In fact, I had preserved some lemons a while back and a charmoula with preserved lemons would be a perfect foil for the grilled halibut. Now, charmoula is a marinade or a sauce with a combination of flavors, i.e. saffron, chile, paprika, ginger, bay leaves, parsley, cilantro, onion, cumin and olive oil. It’s found in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Like harissa and ras el hanout, charmoula recipes are as varied and numerous as the stars in the sky. Well, maybe not that many but you get my point. Every household has their own family recipe for charmoula. Nevertheless, almost all versions of charmoula have certain common elements, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, chopped onions and a wide assortment of spices. Like any sauce or marinade, however, charmoula is used to enhance the natural flavor of the food, not to mask it. It is widely used for grilling meats and fish in Moroccan cuisine. Some people even use it with roasted veggies. So, I knew it would work perfectly with the grilled halibut even though halibut is not a Mediterranean fish. This was a really wonderful, simple meal and this is what we did.

Ingredients

3 halibut steaks, roughly 7 oz. each

For the Veggies

1 eggplant peeled and sliced crosswise
1-2 yellow squash, sliced lengthwise
3 spring onions, whole
olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

For the Charmoula

1 preserved lemon, rind only, diced (you can find these at specialty shops but they are much better if you make your own. Given it’s lemon season, better get cracking)
1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp hot sauce (recipe found here) – substitute 1 to 1-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 large pinch saffron
1 Tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Instruction

For the Charmoula

Add the garlic to your food processor

Next, add the diced preserved lemon rind

the cilantro

the parsley

black pepper

now the saffron

the salt

cumin

paprika

hot sauce (or cayenne pepper)

lemon juice

and olive oil

Process the ingredients to a paste.

For the Veggies

Before grilling the halibut, lightly oil the veggies and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place on a preheated grill on medium heat.

Let them develop some good grill marks and turn. Try to get some cross hatch marks.

When the eggplant and squash are done, remove from the grill and cover with foil. They will remain hot while you grill the halibut. Keep the spring onions on the grill because they take more time.

For the Halibut

Liberally coat both sides of the halibut with the charmoula paste.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Remove from fridge, place in grilling basket and place on grill.

Cook 3 – 4 minutes per side until the interior is opaque and the fish just begins to flake. Do NOT overcook the fish.

To Plate

Place a bed of grilled veggies on the plate.

Place halibut on top of grilled veggies

Add whatever accompaniments you choose

Place a grilled spring onion on the plate. Serve & enjoy

Filed under: Entrees, Food, Seafood, Seasonings & Spice Mixes Tagged: Halibut, Moroccan Food

Steamed Mussels in Red Thai Coconut Curry

richardmcgary — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:29:42 +0000

Here’s another mussel recipe. I think this makes 5 different mussel recipes on the blog now. We just can’t help it. We like mussels a lot and this spicy Thai inspired dish truly fits the bill for a quick and simple, wonderful, evening meal. Don’t just take our word for it give it a try.

OK, in prior posts I explained how Baby Lady loves her mussels. It may well be her very favorite food. We’ve also discussed how mussels are farmed, that they provide great health benefits and have a wide variety and range of habitat. So, there really isn’t much for me to say, other than read the prior posts on mussels if you didn’t know any of this. What I can tell you is that because Baby Lady loves mussels, we eat them fairly regularly. As such, we are always trying new ways of preparing them. Baby Lady loves coconut and I love Thai food, in general, and especially red Thai curry paste. There is something about that coconutty, spicy, earthy yet tangy Red Thai curry that just makes my hear sing. Inasmuch as Baby Lady was hankerin’ for some mussels, I decided to try a Thai twist on them and I’m sure glad I did. This mussel dish is fabulous. If you like red Thai curries, you will love these mussels. This is what we did.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups chopped onion
2 Tbsp finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced (small dice)
2 Tbsp red curry paste (preferably homemade – recipe here)
2 cup coconut milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 lb mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1-1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped and divided
3 limes, zested and juiced
lime wedges, for garnish on the side

Instruction

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add oil.

Now, add the onions

the ginger

garlic

and now the jalapeño.

Sweat the onions for 3 – 4 minutes until the onions begin to just soften.

Now add the curry paste (I ran out of homemade so I had to use store bought. The flavors would have been much brighter and more pungent with homemade red thai curry paste.)

Cook another minute, stirring so as to avoid it scorching, and add the lime zest

coconut milk

white wine

honey and salt

Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 2 – 3 minutes.

Now add the mussels.

Cover and cook 5 minutes or until mussels open. Remove from liquid discarding any unopened shells.

Add 1 cup chopped basil

and the lime juice. Bring back to a boil and remove from the heat.

Pour the coconut red thai curry sauce over the mussels.

Sprinkle the remaining basil over the top.

Serve with lime wedges and enjoy.

NOTES: Everyone has their own spicy heat tolerance. If your red thai curry has a considerable kick, use less jalapeño. If it has less kick, add more. If you can’t take the heat, omit the jalapeño or substitute small diced bell pepper. It’s up to you. I seed the jalapeños but leave in as much ribbing as possible. It’s the ribbing (not the seeds) that has the greatest amount of capsicum that provides the heat. If you seed the jalapeños and remove the ribbing, the jalapeños will have very little heat, if any. The amount of jalapeño used in this dish looks like a lot and it provided quite a kick but I used 2 very large jalapeños which, when diced, yielded probably 1/3 cup. Most people would use half the jalapeño in the photo but, hey, some like it hot.

Filed under: Food, Seafood Tagged: Coconut, Mussels, weeknight meal

Roasted Chicken Panini with Jalapeños en Escabeche

richardmcgary — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:01:32 +0000

Sometimes a sandwich is what you need and what it’s all about. This is a killer sandwich, full of all sorts of goodness.

This was what we had for dinner last night and it definitely hit the spot! Baby Lady & I hardly ever eat sandwiches. It’s not that we don’t like them but this aging thing that’s happening makes us a little more cognizant of our weight; ergo, more cognizant of what we eat. There simply aint no such thing as a delicious low carb, low calorie sandwich. It has to have real bread with real gluten flour. It has to have some fat (cheese is always good). While it doesn’t have to have protein, i.e. avocado sandwiches, it has to have some type of dressing, i.e. an aioli (mayonnaise, at least), vinaigrette, mustard, or the like. Even if you try to keep it low cal by going with an all vegetable sandwich, once you finish dressing the sandwich you would be surprised by how many calories you have just consumed. Then you have the carb load of the wonderful bread. While tasty, I gain weight just looking at sandwiches. Nevertheless, every now and then, we just have to have a sandwich. It’s one of those guilty little pleasures.

Baby Lady had a rough day at work dealing with difficult people. Then, as she’s on her way home, she stopped by Walgreens to pick up her prescriptions. Some pedestrian got offended as to the manner in which Baby Lady turned on a green light, walked all the way around store to the drive through and proceeded rudely to complain at her. As I was on the phone with her when it happened I was rather surprised and taken aback by what occurred. Needless to say, when she arrived home Baby Lady was miserable and didn’t have much of an appetite. It was just one of those days you should have stayed in bed. Sadly, as with everyone else, we owe, we owe so it’s off to work we go.

Thankfully, the last several days I had been cooking up a storm. I had roasted 2 chickens inasmuch as Quickstep had come over for dinner and I needed to feed him and also make chicken stock.

I fed Quickstep, deboned the chickens and had made 6-1/2 qts chicken stock. This left us with roughly 3 lb. of ready to use roasted chicken meat in the fridge. I also made a batch of Pickled Chipotle Chiles and a batch of Jalapeños en Escabeche that are simply out of this world good. We also had been to the market recently and purchased their incredibly delicious jalapeño, cheese bagels and we brought back couple wheels of asadero cheese from Licon Dairy when we visited El Paso a few weeks ago. So, as I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner given Baby Lady’s then current disposition and appetite, I knew it was a sandwich night. That would definitely cheer her up. She loves these jalapeños en escabeche. There are slightly sweet, salty, tangy with just a touch of heat. She loves the Licon asadero cheese. She absolutely loves the jalapeño, cheese bagels from the Central Market. So I knew she would really enjoy this sandwich. She did and it helped soothe over a very bad day. So, if you’re in the mood for a nice sandwich, you should definitely give this a try. Of course, you must have the jalapeños en escabeche. They really are what takes this sandwich to the next level. It’s why I make at least 2 batches a year.

Ingredients

2 jalapeño, cheese bagels, halved
8 oz. roasted chicken meat
1 Tbsp mojo de ajo aioli (recipe found here)
asadero cheese
jalapeños en escabeche
spinach
1 Tbsp butter

Instruction

Spread the mojo de ajo aioli on the bagels.

Add the spinach

Pile 4 oz. of the roasted chicken on each bagel.

Now add the jalapeños en escabeche.

Top with cheese

Put the top on the bagel and add a pat of butter to the top.

Butter the panini grill and put the bagels on the grill.

Close the top.

Grill for roughly 4 minutes until the bread is nicely toasted and the sandwich is heated through.

Remove from grill, slice in half

Serve & enjoy!

Filed under: Food, Poultry, Sandwiches Tagged: Chicken

Prosciutto Wrapped, Berbere Seasoned, Roasted Pork Loin with Root Vegetables

richardmcgary — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:46:34 +0000

What a wonderfully enticing meal? Don’t you agree?

This is one of the meals we fixed when Quickstep came over for dinner. When there is only Baby Lady and me, we don’t fix large meals. We wind up with too much food, too many leftovers and too much waste. It’s one of the reasons we cook fish and chicken thighs. You have smaller portions that are perfect for one or two. The problem is that every now and then I want to roast something. Quickstep, however, comes over once a week. When he comes over it allows me to fix things like roasted pork loin, eggplant parmesan, etc. Not only does he help us eat the dinner but we send him home with leftovers. Being the typical bachelor, he doesn’t want to waste his time cooking so he doesn’t. Instead, he comes over to the folks, eats and goes home with lunch for 3 days. Not a bad gig if you can get it, eh?

Anyway, Quickstep was coming over for dinner and we had a 2.5 lb. pork loin begging to be cooked. I had recently found the Ethiopian spice blend, berbere, which goes beautifully with pork. I also had some nice prosciutto that we needed to use. So, I figured a beautiful berbere spiced pork loin wrapped in prosciutto would be a wonderful meal for the family. This worked out fabulously. You get the wonderful flavor from the berbere seasoning and the salty, crispiness from the prosciutto on top. The roasted vegetables round it all out. Tasty, tasty, tasty. Not only was it wonderfully flavorful with a beautiful presentation but it was remarkably easy. Prep, put it in the oven, forget about it for a while, remove, serve and enjoy. You really can’t get much simpler than this. I love it when meals come together like this. So, for those of you interested, this is what we did.

Ingredients

1 pork loin, roughly 2.5 lb.
1/4 cup berbere seasoning (found here)
1.5 lb. small potatoes
0.5 lb carrots, peeled and cut, large cut
1 white onion (large), sliced in 1/2 inch thick slices (roughly 4 slices)
1 – 2 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste
parsley, for garnish

Instruction

Pat dry the pork loin and generously season with the berbere seasoning.

Slice the onion into 1/2 inch slices and lay in a line on the bottom of the roasting pan.

Wrap the pork loin in prosciutto and place upon the onion slices.

The onions in this dish serve a two-fold purpose. First, it keep the pork loin off the roasting pan so it doesn’t stick or burn to the bottom of the pan. Second, as the pork loin cooks and the juices drain down, the onions develop a wonderful flavor. If you don’t like onions, you can simply put the pork loin on top of the carrots and potatoes.

Now, add the potatoes to the pan around the pork loin.

Next, add the carrots.

It was at this point I realized the error of my ways. Obviously, the intelligent thing to do was to put the carrots and potatoes in a large bowl. Add 1 – 2 Tbsp oil and season with salt & pepper to taste. Toss and pour into the roasting pan. Somehow, during this process I turned off my brain. It happens periodically. Now, where was I? Oh, yah. So, now I had to oil the carrots and potatoes using an olive oil misting spray.

Then, season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Place in a preheated 350 F oven and roast 20 minutes per pound or until an instant read thermometer registers 133 F. Remove from oven and allow to rest 5 – 10 minutes.

The net result will provide you a perfectly medium cooked pork loin. If you like your pork cooked a little more, cook it until the instant read thermometer reads 138 F. If you cook it any longer the pork loin will become very dry given it is a very lean piece of pork.

Place the pork loin on a serving platter. Ring it with the roasted vegetables and onions. Garnish with parsley on the ends and bring to the table.

Serve & enjoy

Filed under: Entrees, Food, Pork

Knothead’s Birthday Spice Crusted Rack of Lamb

richardmcgary — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:30:22 +0000

Knothead came home for his 22nd birthday and asked for rack of lamb. Doesn’t this look tasty??? It was.

Previously, I posted about how much I like lamb. I don’t fix it a lot because Baby Lady isn’t overly fond of it and doesn’t eat red meat. Knothead, on the other hand, loves lamb and wanted rack of lamb for his birthday dinner. As a loving parent, how could I refuse? My personal preference for lamb had nothing to do with it I assure you.

Normally, when I fix lamb I fix loin chops because I actually like them the best. Daniel typically prefers the leg of lamb but he didn’t want a lot of leftover lamb for the duration of his trip. So, he asked for rack of lamb. We discussed doing a roast saddle of lamb but he wanted the rack. He also wanted Pommes Anna but instead of using yukon gold potatoes he wanted yukon gold and sweet potatoes. Then he wanted Garlic Broccolini. Because it was his birthday, that’s what we did and this is how we did it.

Ingredients

2 rack of lamb, frenched (approximately 4.5 lb.)
2 Tbsp black peppercorns
2 Tbsp coriander seed
2 Tbsp cumin seed
2 Tbsp sea salt
1 tsp brown mustard seed
2 tsp yellow mustard seed
1-1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup red wine sauce (recipe found here)

Instruction

Toast the cumin seeds, peppercorns and coriander seeds in a skillet over medium heat until they are fragrant.

Remove from fire, allow to cool, place in a spice mill and mill to a coarse consistency.

Mill red and yellow mustard seeds to a fine consistency.

Combine spices and set aside.

Trim and french the racks. Take the trimmings, place in a roasting pan and render.

Sear the racks one at a time, roughly 4 minutes each

Remove after searing and season with spice blend.

Take racks and interlace rib bones.

Place in a preheated 350 F oven for 15 minutes per pound or until an instant read thermometer registers 127 F.

Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. This should net you a final serving temperature between 132 – 135 F, perfect medium rare. Slice the rack two ribs per slice.

Arrange on a plate

Add the accompaniments.

Spoon some of the red wine sauce over the top.

Serve & enjoy. The Birthday Boy definitely enjoyed his meal.

Filed under: Food, Lamb/Game, Seasonings & Spice Mixes

Crawfish Étouffée

richardmcgary — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:28:09 +0000

My favorite crawfish dish. In fact, it may be one of my all time favorite dishes. Looks good, too!

Mudbugs, crawdads, crayfish…whatever you want to call them. I sure love crawfish. They are one of my favorite foods. If you have never seen a live crawfish, this is what they look like

Somewhat lobster like, somewhat shrimp like, somewhat prawn like, crawfish are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They are mostly found in brooks and streams where there is fresh water running, and which have shelter against predators. They are called Mud Bugs because they live in mud, tunnel in mud and create mounds to their nests in mud. They are considered bugs because they are bottom feeders feeding upon living and dead animals and plants. Because of their living environment, if you ever buy fresh, live crawfish make sure you purge the crawfish to remove any mud or grass that collects in them.

Right now, it’s the height of crawfish season. Crawfish season runs from mid-February through June. Crawfish season changes from year to year, and is dependent primarily on water levels in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River Basin where 90 to 95 % of the annual U.S. crawfish production comes from. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, rice fields and crawfish farms typically operate as one. Regardless, if you love crawfish then this is the season where your living the good life. Crawfish boils are happening and good times are being had at crawfish festivals. Crawfish are such a wonderful, delicate dish despite their somewhat demonic appearance. The only problem I have with crawfish is it takes a lot of them to make a meal. I love them in a crawfish boil and don’t mind peeling and eating them but for dishes such as crawfish étouffée, I generally buy prepackaged, cleaned and frozen crawfish tail meat. You’re obviously losing some flavor but I simply cannot sit down and peel crawfish without eating them, a lot of them. It never fails that I don’t have enough crawfish leftover to make étouffée. They really are one of my great weaknesses. So, in celebration of crawfish season, we made this dish and it’s wonderful. We hope you give it a try.

Ingredients

1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped red bell peppers
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup flour
3 cups shrimp stock (if you have fresh crawfish, make crawfish stock)
1/2 lb unsalted butter
2 lb whole, cooked, and cleaned crawfish
1 cup green onions, minced
white rice, for serving

Instruction

Always, first thing first, make a brown roux by combining the flour and the oil in a small saucepan.

Place in a 450 F oven and ignore for 1 hour.

Now, you could painstakingly stand over the stove and relentlessly whisk the roux while cooking over low heat so as to brown and not burn the flour. But why would you when you get these results using the oven with little to no risk burning the flour. Look how beautifully brown this roux got.

While the roux is cooking, mix the spices in a small bowl and set aside until needed.

Because of the small amount of oil in the roux, it’s very thick. In fact, it’s too thick to sauté the vegetables. If you want to sauté the vegetables in the roux, then use equal parts flour and oil. Because we did not sauté the vegetables in the roux, we added the roux to the shrimp stock and created the base sauce for the étouffée. So, measure out 3 cups of stock and pour into a sauce pot.

Now, to tighten a sauce, one of the ingredients must be hot and the other must be warm. If both are hot, the sauce will lump. Because the roux was still very hot, we used warm shrimp stock. Add the hot roux to the stock in small quantities whisking constantly.

Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly so as not to scorch the flour, for 2 – 3 minutes or until the flour taste is gone. When finished you will get a base sauce like this. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

Now, let’s sauté the veggies. Melt butter in a chef’s pan over low heat.

Add all the veggies but the green onions.

Saute and toss.

Once the onions have become translucent, add the crawfish tails.

Add the green onions

Cook over medium/medium-high heat for 3 minutes to heat the tails through. Now add the base sauce.

and the seasonings.

Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes to heat through and enable the flavors to develop.

To serve Place a mound of rice in the middle of a bowl.

Ladle étouffée around the rice.

For pretties, sprinkle cayenne pepper and crushed, dried parsley around the lip of the bowl.

Serve & enjoy!

NOTES: If you want a little brightness you can add some freshly squeezed lemon either at the time of service or with the base sauce. Also, if you want some more heat add an extra tsp of cayenne pepper. Lastly, some cajuns just can’t live without their hot sauce so make sure you have some Tobasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce on hand.

Filed under: Food, Seafood Tagged: Cajun, crawfish

Fun and tasty breakfast – Baked Egg in an Avocado Cup

richardmcgary — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:18:08 +0000

If you don’t like avocados, stop reading now! If you do, this is a wonderfully simple, tasty and easy meal. It was a great start to our day.

Avocado fun facts – Did you know that while avocados are cultivated in tropical and Mediterranean climates throughout the world, the avocado is native to Central Mexico? The major commercial producers of avocados include the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Colombia. Did you know that the avocado is also known as the Alligator Pear? Did you know that 95% of ALL the avocados grown in California trace back to a single tree – the Hass Avocado tree? Sadly, nobody knows what variety of seed produced the original Hass Mother Tree which lived for 76 years. How about this – Did you know that the avocado is a climacteric fruit, meaning it matures on the tree, but ripens off the tree? When mature, the avocado is rock hard. It’s harvested in this fashion and shipped all over the world. A green, firm, unripened avocado typically takes four to five days to ripen at room temperature.

Needless to say, avocados are an interesting fruit. Not only are they interesting in their history and background but they are interesting from a culinary perspective as well. For instance, when you mention the word avocado the thing that pops in most people’s mind is guacamole. While guacamole is a wonderfully tasty and easy to make dish, an avocado has so many more uses than guacamole. You can use them in salads. In Crab and Shrimp Stuffed Avocado with Tomato Ceviche Sauce, we showed you that avocados make beautiful edible salad cups stuffed with crab and shrimp. In Grilled Avocado Stuffed with Red Chile Braised Pork, we also showed you that avocados can be grilled and stuffed with wonderful meats for a main course dish. Because of it’s high concentration of fat, avocados can be used as a fat substitute for baking. You can make ice cream with avocado. I even have a recipe for an avocado pie (perfect for summer) that I have been wanting to make. Today, however, is a breakfast dish. This is what we did.

Ingredients

1 avocado, halved but unpeeled and pitted
2 eggs
pinch salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper
pinch ancho chile rub (found here)
pinch cilantro
sliced chives for garnish
toast or corn tortillas

Instruction

Remove enough avocado flesh to hold a large egg.

Place on a foil bed to keep the avocado from rolling. Crack an egg and fill the hollow of the avocado with the egg.

Season with salt. pepper, ancho chile rub and cilantro.

Place in a 450 F preheated oven for 12 minutes or until done.

Remove from oven, serve with corn tortillas or toast and enjoy! We most certainly did.

NOTES: You can season this anyway you want. This post is really more about technique. So make it anyway you like.

Filed under: Breakfast, Food Tagged: avocado, Eggs