Sushi Bowl

This is a tasty, healthy, and very easy to put together lunch. You can buy pickled mackerel from Tokyo Fish, if you live in the East Bay, or any market that sells Japanese or sushi products. This is a great way to use leftover rice but it's great with fresh rice too.

You'll need (serves 1):

2/3c cooked brown rice

1/2 avocado

1/2 filet pickled mackerel

wakame seaweed (soaked in boiling water to reconstitute)

nori seaweed, cut into strips

small piece of ginger, minced

1T soy sauce

1t rice vinegar

1t mirin (sweet cooking wine)

1T Sriracha

1T hoisin sauce

Combine ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar and mirin in a medium bowl. Add rice and stir to coat. Chop wakame seaweed and toss with rice. Top rice with sliced avocado (salted and peppered), sliced mackerel, nori sheets, and a squirt of Sriracha and hoisin.

Katie's Back! Feast

Katie, my partner in complicated cooking crime (see our past feasts: sushi, offal, around-the-world, & summer), is visiting from Scotland, where she's been living for the past year and a half. We designed a meal that highlighted seasonal ingredients, since she's been missing California produce. Unfortunately we were a bit too ambitious; we prepared 8 courses but our guests could only stomach 6. Nixed courses were a salad with arugula, heirloom tomato, avocado, and black radish, and a cheese course pairing Iberico with Bosc & Comice pear and Fuyu persimmon. We did manage to eat the following:

Spanish White Gazpacho with Grapes

Seared Duck Liver with Fig and Rosemary

Bay Scallop Ceviche with Avocado and Smoked Turkish Pepper

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Crispy Calamari, Baby Artichokes, Eggplant

Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Puff Pastry

Skirt Steak with Spicy Roasted Pepper Sauce and Savory Chimmichuri

Shrimp Ceviche with Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

This is a great meal to make when it's too hot to cook. The shared ingredients in the ceviche and soup bring them together nicely. If you don't want to use the stove at all, you can make the toasts in a toaster, but they're better fried in olive oil. The combination of ceviche, soup, and toasts is surprisingly substantial.

You'll need (serves 2):

for the gazpacho:

2lbs heirloom tomatoes

1 cucumber

2 cloves garlic

1 jalapeno pepper

small handful cilantro

1t worcesterchire sauce

1t red wine vinegar

a few dashes hot sauce

1 lime

for the ceviche:

1/2lb shrimp, preferably fresh

1 avocado

a dozen or so cherry tomatoes

1 jalapeno

small handful cilantro

2 limes

toasts:

a loaf of bread (we used Rosemary Pugliese)

2 cloves garlic

1/4 olive oil

In a food processor or blender, combine all gazpacho ingredients and blend until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

Clean shrimp and chop roughly. Place in a small dish and cover with lime juice, salt, pepper and chopped jalapeno. Stir and let sit until shrimp turns opaque. Add tomatoes, avocado and chopped cilantro. Cover and refrigerate.

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Crush garlic and saute in oil until fragrant. Remove cloves when brown. Fry bread until golden on each side.

Serve gazpacho with a dollop of ceviche in center and toasts (and extra ceviche!) on the side.

Tuna Tartare Salad

This salad turns a delicate tuna tartare into a full meal. It's really, really good.

You'll need (serves 2 hungry people):

tartare:

1lb sushi-grade tuna

1 inch piece of ginger

1/2 bunch cilantro

1 avocado

3T roasted sesame seeds

1/4 red onion

1 lemon cucumber

salad base:

1 large peach (mango would be fine here too if peaches aren't in season)

3 radishes

2 large handfuls arugula

dressing:

rice wine vinegar

mirin cooking wine

soy sauce

sriracha

chopped thai chile, optional

Mix dressing ingredients, adjusting quantities to taste.

Cut peach into small cubes and slice radish. Toss with arugula and set aside.

Slice the tuna into very small cubes, removing any white connective tissue as you go. Peel, de-seed, and chop cucumber into cubes of similar size. Peel and mince ginger. Mince red onion. Chop cilantro. Combine all in a bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Pour 2/3 of dressing on tartare and mix to coat. Toss the arugula salad with remaining dressing. Serve tartare in a scoop on top of arugula salad, garnished with more sesame seeds.

Amazing Sandwich

I don't normally post quick things I throw together for lunch like sandwiches and salads (with a few exceptions), but this sandwich was so amazing I had to tell someone about it (this blog started because I think my friends got sick of my thrice-daily reports on what I was eating). 

I used leftover chicken, sharp cheddar cheese, a few confit'd tomatoes, and a ton of avocado because I love avocado. I put all but the avocado between 2 slices of Ezekiel bread (Trader Joe's) and "grilled" it in my cast iron skillet, weighed down with another skillet and my fist, then flipped it so the cheese got all melty, the chicken and tomatoes heated up, and the bread was flat and toasty. Then I opened it, stuck in the avocado with some salt and pepper, and voila! Of course, like any good grilled cheese, I cut it in half on the diagonal.

Fig and Tomato Summer Salad

sweet figs and sweet tomatoes!

also avocado, cucumber, basil, feta

balsamic vinaigrette

Breakfast Panzanella

I'm finally back from my travels (which were, for the most part, delicious) and back to the kitchen. Yesterday I bought such beautiful tomatoes that I just couldn't wait til tonight to cook them (and last night I went to Frugal Foodies), so I decided to make panzanella for breakfast this morning. Panzanella is basically a bread and tomato salad. The key is grilling your bread-- don't just toast it or you'll miss out on the smokey flavor that contrasts perfectly with the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes. If you want to make this more of a brunch dish, use two eggs per person.

You'll need (serves one):

1 egg
1t vinegar for poaching (I use rice wine vinegar)

one thick slice of day-old (or older) bread (I used walnut bread. Yum!)
a handful of cherry tomatoes
1/2 avocado
a small handful of basil leaves

olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Heat water with vinegar for poaching.

Heat a griddle pan. Brush the bread with olive oil. Grill until just golden.

In the meantime, halve the cherry tomatoes. Cube the avocado. Chiffonade the basil leaves. Toss it all together with salt and pepper.

When bread is just golden, cut into large cubes and return to griddle, adding more olive oil if necessary. When bread is done, toss with tomato mixture.

Poach egg. Place egg on top of panzanella. Drizzle salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Sushi!

Katie and I made way too much sushi. Stay tuned for some leftovers posts.
Learn from our "mistake": if you want to make sushi,
invite some friends.

pickled mackerel nigiri
with avocado & tobiko
&
hamachi nigiri

closeup of the mackerel-- this was a delicious combo.
the avocado tempered the vinegary fish
and the tobiko added a nice crunch.

salmon nigiri with avocado on shiso leaves

shiso leaves have a strong woodsy citrus flavor
that kind of overwhelmed the delicate salmon

tuna & hamachi sashimi with a dollop of tobiko

salmon, scallop, and octopus sashimi

the octopus was cooked and sliced thin

scallop sashimi is my new favorite!

more pickled mackerel, with avocado,
tobiko, and daikon radish sprouts

tuna with avocado & tobiko,
garnished with daikon radish sprouts

sake, of course

Taco Redux: Leftovers, Two Ways

I have a lot of chicken and tortillas left over from tacos the other night. I've been eating them all week, so I thought I'd post some variations.

1. Breakfast: Mushroom Quesadilla

Slice 1/2 onion and some shittake mushrooms; saute in olive oil.

Melt two kinds of cheese (I used pepperjack & cheddar) on two corn tortillas; you can do this quickly in the broiler or microwave.

2. Lunch: Cheesy Chicken Tacos with Chunky Guacamole

Slice chicken thinly and spread on tortilla. Top with jalapeño slices and bits of cheese. Melt in the broiler or microwave. In the meantime, mix avocado, lime, radish slices, quartered cherry tomatoes, and whole cilantro leaves for a chunky veggie sauce. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce or salsa to taste. Top chicken tortillas with guac and fold to eat.

Spicy Chicken Soft Tacos

I've been away from blogging and from home for the past week, sampling the surprisingly tasty food Boston has to offer. Two particularly notable dinners were at O Ya and Oleana-- definitely try these places next time you're in Boston (though O Ya is pretty damn expensive. Kind of a "try it once" place. Oleana was fantastic and will definitely inspire some posts in the near future).

I really missed cooking while I was gone, so expect some new recipes in the next few weeks (until my next trip!). I just got back this morning, and wanted to make Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce, but that will have to wait: it's 80 degrees out and the avocados were $1.25/lb. So here's an easy, quick summer recipe.


You'll need:

spice mix--
3T cornstarch
2-3T each: chili powder, cumin
1T each: paprika, coriander
1t each: garlic powder, salt, cayenne pepper

boneless skinless chicken breasts, cleaned and cut against the grain (the short way) into strips
1 onion, sliced

avocado
lime
salt
salsa
hot sauce (I like Chalupa)

jalapeño peppers, sliced
tomatoes, chopped
radishes, chopped
cilantro

corn tortillas

I know this seems like a long list of ingredients, but it's probably stuff you have on hand, and if you don't, you can improvise.


Combine spice mix ingredients and toss with chicken to coat. The cornstarch will absorb any moisture and help the spices adhere to the chicken.


Heat some oil in a cast iron skillet and saute onion over medium heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Move onion to the side and saute chicken in batches, about 2 minutes/side, until brown. Remove browned chicken to make room to cook more; remove onions, too, as they start to char.

Mash avocado with lime, salt, salsa, and hot sauce.

Sierra Nevada's Fresh Hop Ale
(Good, but not much better than their regular brew)

Heat tortillas in a foil packet in the oven (or microwave them, wrapped in a damp paper towel). Serve piled with chicken, guacomole, peppers, tomatoes, radishes, and cilantro. Drink beer...

...and watch the sunset.

Chicken & Veal Burgers

This was a surprisingly delicious combination of meat-- lean ground chicken breast and tasty ground veal. Jesse smothered his (above) in bacon & cheese, and stuffed the sandwich with avocado and hot sauce. I made mine (below) like last month's stuffed turkey burgers, but stuffed them with cheese (firecracker cheddar) and jalapeno slices, which I also put on top.


Into the 1/2lb chicken & 1/2lb veal went minced shallots, jalapeno, and garlic.


We ate these with simple baked sweet potato fries:


and a seriously good version of a basic cabbage salad. The secret ingredient...

kumquats!

Winter Salad with Spiced Turbot and Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

This is insanely good. Don't take my word for it-- make it yourself. It's satisfying, tasty, and light. Because you can't eat short ribs every night.

You'll need (serves 2):

mixed greens-- we used baby spinach and arugula
4 small sweet potatoes (use the orange-fleshed kind; I like Garnet), peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and sliced into 1/4"-thick half-moons
toasted sliced almonds (any toasted nut would be good)
1 avocado, cubed
fresh thyme
good olive oil
2 filets of Turbot, or any white-fleshed fish
whatever spices you want to put on the fish

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potato slices with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Roast until caramelized, about 20 minutes. The smaller your slices are, the faster they'll cook (duh).

Preheat broiler. Coat fish in spices (cayenne pepper, cumin, etc). Rub with olive oil. Place under broiler for 5 minutes per side, until just opaque. Do not overcook!

Toss greens with vinaigrette of your choice (preferably balsamic-Dijon), salt, and pepper. Add cooked potatoes with the oil and thyme left on the baking sheet. Add almonds.

Serve, topped with avocado and fish filet.

New Years Day Feast

Nori-wrapped salmon, avocado,
and arugula rolls served with
seaweed salad and pickled ginger

Every New Years Day, my family has a feast. It wasn't always this elaborate. When I was younger, I'd come home in the morning and find my parents drinking champagne and eating caviar in the living room (well, it was late morning). I didn't like caviar, but I liked champagne, so I'd join them. Over the years, as I learned to like caviar, they were forced to add other things to combat my more inclusive appetite. Soon we were eating smoked scallops and creme fraiche; after a few years, we added smoked fish, and after taking a sushi class with my mom, raw fish. There was, of course, cheese as well. Last year I tricked my parents (not really, but they still think I did) into both buying cheese, so we had an endless cheese course (an additional meal of its own). Needless to say, as we added more elaborate foodstuffs, the feast was pushed to later in the day, and became an early dinner.

Tuna Poke with Sesame Seeds


Salmon Rolls on Fennel Salad

Tea Smoked Scallops with
creme fraiche and caviar

Smoked Salmon

Four kinds of Caviar

BBQed Unagi

Smoked Trout with
Egg and Potato Salad