This is so easy and so delicious… completely refreshing.
2 cups fresh (must be fresh) cubed pineapple
2 cups chunked peeled English cucumbers (no seeds)
1 cup pineapple juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 sprigs fresh mint, torn
1 finely chopped jalapeno
3 tablespoons finely chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Place all in a blender and pulse till well blended but still a little chunky
Serve with additional nuts on top or a sprig of mint.
This will keep up to a week in the refrigerator.
Big Daddy makes a few cooking attempts to ease my busy schedule. Last night he hit a homerun. Pho (pronounced FA), the simple (yet complex) Vietnamese Street food charmed him when we lived in Hawaii. He is not one for exotic flavors, so this surprised me a bit. Since then we have been to several restaurants here in Charleston that serve Pho. He decided to make it and it was an astounding winner. We paired it with a Belgian Ale and that was a fantastic match too. We had some leftover rare beef (tri-tip) so he froze it and sliced it thinly. I usually ask for my meat on the side when ordering Pho in restaurants, I don’t like it over cooked. We have enough broth for at least two more meals.
Pho
INGREDIENTS:
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Soup
4 quarts beef stock (homemade is best)
1 large onion, sliced into rings
6 slices fresh ginger root or galangal if you can get it
2 small stalks of fresh lemon grass tied in a knot
1 teaspoon whole black smoked peppercorns
1 pound sirloin tip, cut into thin slices
1 (8 ounce) packages dried rice noodles
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Garnishes and Sauces
1/2 pound bean sprouts
1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
3 fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced into thin rings
2 limes, cut into wedges
Hoisin sauce Sriracha (Rooster) sauce
Fish sauce
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| 1. | In a large soup pot, combine broth, onion, ginger, lemon grass, star anise, cinnamon, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer for 1 hour. |
| 2. | Arrange bean sprouts, mint, basil, and cilantro on a platter with chilies and lime. |
| 3. | Soak the noodles in hot water to cover for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain. Place equal portions of noodles into large soup bowls, and place raw beef on top. Ladle hot broth over noodles and top with beef. Pass garnishes and sauces. |
Really good cherries are hard to beat for flavor and beauty. This application is something that goes well with duck, pork or chicken as a side dish, but also is good as a dessert over ice cream. It is super simple. You just have to find some really super cherries! I got mine from Whole Foods just as the cherry season was beginning. I used bing cherries but any large firm variety would work for this.
Start with firm ripe cherries
1 lb of cherries,(don’t pit or remove stems)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
Whole nutmeg, grated
Fleur de Sel salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Rinse the cherries with cold water and pad them dry gently with a kitchen towel.
3. Place cherries in a bowl and toss them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and season generously with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer cherries to a non-reactive baking dish (glass or porcelain are ideal) with the stem standing up. Preferably, the cherries will fit really close to one another. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
5. Roast the cherries in the oven for 20 minutes or until they start to release their juices. Remove the foil, and place the baking dish back in the oven for another 5 minutes to allow the juices caramelize a bit.
6. Remove from the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes. Serve cherries as desired spooning some of the juices over the cherries.
This recipe is so good that I revisit it every few months. It makes a great centerpiece for a dinner party and the leftovers are better than the first night’s meal. The noodles are difficult to find, but I get them on Amazon.com, buying 6 bags at a time.
Greek Lasagna Pastitsio
When teaching others to make this dish, I have often joked that the word pastitsio (pa-STEE-tsee-oh) translates to “messy kitchen” in Greek. I was only kidding, but there is a hint of truth to that statement. The Greek word pastitsio derives from the Italian pasticcio, which loosely translates to a mess or a hodgepodge.
Three essential components make up this dish – pasta, meat filling, and a creamy bechamel sauce which are layered in a pan and baked to a golden brown. Each stage will require dirtying some pots and pans, but I think you will agree that the end result is well worth the clean up!
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 90 minutes
Ingredients:
For the bechamel sauce:
Preparation:
This recipe will yield about 12 servings depending upon the size of your pieces. I use a lasagna pan that is 9 x 13 x 3 inches deep.
Begin with the Meat Filling:
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. Add ground lamb and cook over medium-high heat until pink color disappears, about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until they are translucent, about 5 minutes more.
Add wine, tomato sauce, parsley, allspice, cinnamon, salt, and pepper and allow sauce to simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. While sauce is simmering put water on to boil for pasta.
Cook pasta noodles according to package directions and drain well. Rinse noodles in colander under cold water to cool them slightly.
Stir in 3 tbsp. breadcrumbs to meat sauce to absorb excess liquid and remove from heat.
Melt 1/2 cup butter in pasta pot and return cooked noodles to the pot. Stir in beaten egg whites and 1 cup of grated cheese and toss lightly, being careful not to break the noodles.
Brush the bottom and sides of the lasagna pan with olive oil. Layer the bottom with half the pasta noodles and press down so that they are somewhat flat.
Add the meat filling in an even layer to the pasta. Top with remaining pasta noodles and flatten top layer as best you can.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees while you prepare the bechamel sauce.
Bechamel Sauce:
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Using a whisk, add flour to melted butter whisking continuously to make a smooth paste or roux. Allow the flour/butter mixture to cook for a minute but do not allow it to brown.
Add warmed milk to mixture in a steady stream, whisking continuously. Simmer over low heat until it thickens but does not boil.
Remove from heat and stir in beaten egg yolks. Add pinch of nutmeg. If sauce still needs to thicken, return to heat and cook over very low heat while continuing to stir.
Bechamel is thicker than gravy but not quite as thick as pudding. It should be somewhere in between. One way to tell if it is thick enough is to dip your wooden spoon in the sauce and draw your finger across the back of the spoon. If the sauce holds a visible line then it is thick enough.
Pour the bechamel over the pasta noodles making sure to pour sauce down in to the corners as well. I even pull back th sides of the pasta to let some go down the sides. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs if desired. Bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes or until the top is a nice golden color.
This fabulous recipe was inspired by the book The Latin Road Home by Jose Garces. The book explores the cuisines of Ecuador, Spain, Cuba and Mexico. This is one of the best cookbooks I have picked up in a while. In this recipe, I used fresh corn, but good frozen corn would work too. I also added some seasonings and chiles to the recipe. I make my own achiote paste, but you can buy it in Hispanic or Asian markets. Quinoa is an amazing chenopod, full of protein and fiber.
Crema de Quinoa de Zuleta; Quinoa Chowder with Sweet Corn
Ingredients:
2 cups Canola Oil for frying
2 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut into match sticks or cut on a spiral cutter
Kosher Salt
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil.
½ Spanish onion, finely chopped or TSTE dehydrated shallots reconstituted
6 cloves minced garlic or 2 Tablespoons TSTE Vik’s Garlic Fix
1 Tbs achiote paste (click here for my recipe)
1 ½ cups quinoa (any color)
Kernels cut from 3 ears of corn or 1 cup of thawed and drained frozen white sweet corn
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbs minced fresh parsley
1 Tbs Aji Amarillo Chile Powder
4 roasted poblano chiles, seeds and membranes removed, then diced
2 Tbs minced fresh chives (or leave in 1 “ strips)
Sliced Avocado for serving (optional)
Method:
Add the cream and stock and bring to a light boil. Lower the heat to a light simmer, uncovered till the quinoa is tender and the liquid has reduced by about one quarter, about 45 minutes.
To serve, fold in the parsley, and top with fried potatoes and chives. Garnish with avocado. This also goes perfectly with the Yuca Cheese Bread and Guava Chile Butter I posted last week.
This gluten free recipe is an inspiration by Jose Garces from his fantastic book, The Latin Road Home. He is an Ecuadorian who was raised in Chicago. The book covers foods from Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Spain & Cuba. This bread is made all over South America, but the recipe varies greatly from country to country.
The Yuca flour is easy to find in most Hispanic Markets, it is often called Casava Flour or Tapioca. The brand I got was Brazilian and reading the label was a challenge. I do read Spanish, but Portuguese, not so much. The ratio of flour to cheese sounds kind of crazy, but it works. Serve the bread hot from the oven for a spongy texture or warm (for a denser interior with the dough settling more and forming air pockets).
Ingredients:
Method:
Preheat oven to 375
Serve warm. To re-heat place in a 200 degree oven for 6-8 minutes, loosely covered with foil
Guava Chile Butter
Ingredients:
Method:
I served this with green chile and chicken posole. It would go great with soup, stews, chili or as an appetizer course. I will be sharing the Posole recipe next.
This is one of the best dishes I have made or tasted in a long time! I have been curious about this dish for a while. When I managed The Spice and Tea Exchange I had a lot of requests for a seasoning blend for making New Orleans BBQ Shrimp. I did some research, found some recipes (which varied greatly), asked some friends who had lived there and came up with this recipe. I have to say, it is one of the best things I have ever made! It takes a LOT of butter (one recipe called for TWO pounds of butter) and in fact I ended up using half butter, half Olive Oil, but you can save the sauce and use it a few more times as it is really only a poaching liquid, you don’t eat much of it, just the bit in the bowl that you dunk your bread into. It just gets better and better. I have butter poached lobster before and this recipe is a spicier form of that. This recipe can be tweaked to meet your more or less spicy palate, but it is meant to be spicy in a Cajun kind of way, full flavored. I also used wonderful Low Country Shrimp which have excellent texture and a sweet flavor. Not everyone has access to these, so of course, find the best quality shrimp you can find.
New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp
Ingredients:
Method:
Serve with crusty French Bread and a salad.
Reserve any leftover cooking liquid and you can re-use it again.
Here in the low country, Blue Crabs abound. But what do you do with all of that crab meat? It is sweet stuff, but not served on the half shell like Dungeness or King Crab. You have to meticulously pick the crab from her tiny shells. So this will be the first in a series of crab adventures. Things you can do with this lovely little Low Country crustacean.
Day 1:
Make the sauce (below) this can be made up to a week in advance
Make basic filling using 1 pound of crab meat. Here is a primer on how to cook and pick the crabs. You can of course always go to your fish monger and get a pound of crab meat. It is available pasturized in cans. If you buy this, ask for lump meat.
Whip 2 large packages of cream cheese. Add them to the crab and thoroughly blend. Remove 1/3 of this mixture for crab rangoon, tomorrow’s treat.
Ingredients for Relleno Base:
3 ears of grilled Corn on the Cob, cut from the cob
1 cup of grated sharp cheddar, 1 cup of grated jack cheese
1/2 cup of fresh cojita cheese crumbles
2 red onions medium chop, sauteed and caramelized
Add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic into the onions for the last 4 minutes of cooking.
3 green onions finely chopped
1/2 cup slow roasted grape tomatoes cut in quarters
Stir all of this together
Poblano Peppers (you can also use the smaller, thinner Anaheim Chile), slit clean and roasted then peel. This part can be tricky. I have learned that if you remove the seeds and membranes before putting them on the grill, they come out easier and there is less ripping of the pepper. Do this by making a T shaped cut, horizontally across the top and then one vertical slit from top to bottom. This picture is of Anaheim chiles on the grill. 
Whenever I grill peppers, I always retain few, usually ones that have torn to be used in sauces and fillings, or ropas. Once you roast your peppers on the grill or the open flame of your stove, place them in a plastic bag to steam. The skin will come off much easier then.
Allow the peppers to cool and then stuff with the filling. Bring the opening as close together as you can. Since there are only two of us and these are big peppers, I only made two. But you can certainly make at least 6 with this amount of filling. I am going to be making some other dishes with the filling.
Relleno coating:
(for two large peppers, double it for 4)
4 eggs, separated
3 Tablespoons cream
salt
flour for dredging
about 1 inch of oil in a large frying pan
roll the peppers through the flour till coated
While the oil is heating, whip the egg whites & salt till they have stiff peaks. Whisk the yolks with the cream. Fold into the whites carefully.
When the oil is about 250 degrees, take a large spoon and put enough of the egg mixture into the oil to make a bed for the pepper. It will spread slightly. lay the pepper down, then cover with more egg mixture. After about 2 minutes carefully turn the pepper and cook on the other side till golden brown. Place on a drip pan and put in a warm oven while you continue the process.
Sauce and plate: You can choose any kind of sauce for this, but this is the one I made ahead of time. The base is something I use for enchiladas and other meals. I added cream and sherry to lighten this one up because the peppers and crab are so delicate.
New Mexico Rojo
1 cup New Mexico Red Chiles
2 tablespoons masa (finely ground)
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups chicken stock
Melt the butter in a saucepan, slowly stir in the masa, till a roux is formed. Whisk in the chicken broth and simmer. Allow to simmer for a while adding more stock as it thickens.
For the relleno sauce I then added 1 cup of cream and stirred for a while, letting it reduce a bit, then about 1/4 of Spanish sherry. Stir again and then turn off the heat.
Plating:
Use a small plate with a good upturn to hold the sauce. Puddle the sauce on the plate, then add the relleno. Squiggle crema on top. Serve with a simple salad of radishes, pea shoots, pepitas and cojita.
I adore Indian food. The spices, bright colors and flavors could sustain me and bring joy to my palate for eternity. I never tire of the deep rich combining of so many ingredients to make one dish. Carrot pickles are one of those complexly layered side dishes that not only delight visually, but also in flavor. There are lots of ingredients, but once you have them all measured out, it only takes a few minutes to make these and they keep for at least two months in the fridge if you don’t share them. The problem I have is when people tastes them, they just want more and more and soon they are gone.
My friend and writing mentor Monica Bhide shared my recipe for Carrot Pickle in the Washington Post a few years ago. Not much has changed in my recipe. It is a classic that everybody raves about.
Carrot Pickle
Ingredients:
8 carrots, peeled and cut into julienne
¾ cup canola oil
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and rough chopped
4-6 small red chiles (depending on how hot you like it)
6-8 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons mustard seeds (I use brown, but black is fine too)
1 tablespoon methi (fenugreek) seeds
1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
A hand full of curry leaves
2 tablespoons urad dal
1 teaspoon chili powder (hot)
1 tablespoon turmeric
A pinch of hing
4 tablespoons grated jaggery (or Thai palm sugar)
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons vinegar (apple cider or white vinegar)
Method:
Lay carrots on a thick towel and roll and squeeze to remove all the water.
Puree the onion, ginger, chiles and garlic together in a food processor or mortar and reserve.
In a wok, heat the oil.. Add mustard seeds, methi seeds, urad dal, cumin and fennel seeds.
When they sputter, add 1 large onion, a chunk of ginger, and 4-5 garlic cloves that have been pureed together.
Throw in the curry leaves and fry the mixture until light golden brown. Lower the heat and add chilli powder, turmeric, cumin powder and a pinch of hing.
Add jaggery and salt.
Turn off the heat and add vinegar. Taste and adjust the spices – you want it to be hot chilli wise, but slightly sweet and sour from the sugar and vinegar. Mix in the carrots, place into a clean glass jar and store in the fridge. This will keep for several weeks. The recipe can be doubled so you can share some!
I have been making granola forever, it was probably one of the first foods I made in my adult life as a cook. When I was in cooking school in Cuernavaca, Mexico we had some with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and since then this has been my favorite recipe. My favorite way to eat granola is on top of fresh Greek style yogurt with some fresh berries or fruit. This is very easy to make and far better than most store bought versions. I do not add dried fruit to the granola until serving as it tends to soften the granola, but this goes nicely with dried fruits as well as fresh. You can also store granola in the freezer to prevent softening.
This recipe was adapted from Calle Ocho in New York City.
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
6 Cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups hemp seeds (available at health food stores)
2 Cups unsweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup vegetable oil (you can use pumpkin seed oil if you have it)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 cups green hulled pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
3/4 cup local honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup maple sugar
sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon
pinch of salt
Mix all in a very large bowl. Bake on baking sheets lined with parchment or silpat for 15minutes, remove from oven and stir well, then bake for another 10 minutes. If the granola is browned, remove from the oven. If it is not browned, stir and put in for another 5 minutes. When golden brown cool, then place in airtight containers.
The Sassy Spoon: Fun Food! 