Easy Tomatoe Sherry Sauce with Mahi Mahi

This was a quick way to prepare Mahi Mahi that was a very good price at the market today. I wasn't sure I liked the flavor of this fish too much but the fillets looked good and it was under $7 per pound so I created a strong sauce for it. Turns out the fish was great and the sauce a very good complement.

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic (I used fresh garden garlic from a friend. Probably better to use 4 cloves if not so fresh.)
3 T olive oil
1/2 t dry basil

3 olive oil
1/2 L onion, chopped
4 cl. garlic (regular)
1/2 each of dry basil, oregano, thyme
15 oz. canned diced tomatoes
1/4 c. dry sherry
(1 t sugar)
s and p

2.0 lb. Mahi Mahi fillets
1/4 c. safflower oil

Directions

1. Finely mince 3 cl. garlic and add to 3 T olive oil in small bowl. Add 1/2 t. dried basil. Set aside. (Good to do this ahead 20 min. to let oil steep more.)
2. Put 3T olive oil in med. skillet on high heat. Add chopped onions and saute for a few minutes until beginning to brown. Turn heat to low. Add 4 cl. garlic and heat through for a minute. Add diced tomatoes. Heat through. Add sherry. Stir. (If you can cook it on low, adding liquid if needed, skip the sugar. If you're in a rush as I was, add it. You should still simmer sauce for at least 10 min. while you prep and cook the fish.)
3. Preheat oven to Broil.
4. Salt and pepper fish. Heat safflower to almost smoking hot in large skillet. Add fish and sear on one side. Turn and turn down the heat. (Good to use two spatulas for this.)
5. Spoon the garlic oil over the top. Place pan in broiled for two minutes. (I'm not sure how much difference this really made. You can probably skip it.)
6. Pour all tomato sauce over fish. Place pan in oven and turn heat to 350. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove and serve over pasta.

I served this over angel hair pasta and it went very well. Just spread the pasta thinly across part of the plate, cut a rectangle of sauce covered fish, place it in in the center of the pasta, and spoon some of the sauce from the pan over the pasta.

NOCCA Red Beans and Rice!

This is the red beans and rice recipe I developed for our yearly fund-raising party to benefit the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. It's produced more than $5,000 of funding so far! Those are some great beans.
(Where-to-get directions are for Center City Philadelphia.)

Ingredients:

red beans (kidney beans)
dry: 1 lb.; canned: 6 cups drained beans.(Liquid in canned beans varies. For the ones I used (organic 25 oz. cans from Fresh Fields) it was 100 oz. beans—4 cans.)
onion, 1 large, chopped
green bell pepper, 1 medium, chopped
celery, 4 stalks, chopped
garlic, 5 cloves, minced
ham hock, 1 (This is important. You can get it from most butchers.)
olive oil, 3 Tbsp.
andoullie sausage, ¾ lb., cut into small slices(It’s about three large links. You can get it at Reading Terminal or Fresh Fields (Whole Foods).)
dried thyme, 1 tsp.
bay leaf, 2
Tobasco, 1 tsp.
Worcestershire Sauce, 1 Tbsp.
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, 1 tsp. (I’ll give you this. It really is used in New Orleans. It’s not hard to find, thought. I get it at the Spice Corner in Reading Terminal.

Pot suggestions: Use a Dutch oven or other thick metal pot that distributes heat well. (I love my 14” diameter All-Clad for this.) This is especially important because you have to cook it for 2 hrs. or more, and you don’t want it to have to keep stirring to keep it from burning on the bottom or getting sticky.

Directions

1. Prepare the beans. For canned, drain, rinse, and measure. For dried, soak over night; boil, then simmer for 40 min. or until very tender.


2. In your large pot, add the oil, then the sausage over medium or high heat. Brown the sausage. Pour off excess fat if there is any.


3. Add the vegetables except the garlic. Sauté until onions are translucent and very soft. Add garlic and sauté another minute or two.


4. Add beans, heat through, then add the ham hock, and seasonings.


5. Add water to cover (about 5 or 6 cups), bring to a boil and then simmer.


6. Cook for at least two hours. This time is THE critical ingredient. Stir occasionally. Beans should be starting to fall apart or split.


7. Adjust salt to taste.

You can store the beans in the fridge for easily up to four days. They also freeze well. Serve over white rice.

Basil & Lime Grilled Summer Salmon

This is a great way to prepare salmon in hot weather when basil is in season.

Serves 3

Ingredients:
3 salmon steaks, about an inch thick

2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
1 T lime juice
1 T olive oil
1/4 - 1/2/ t red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare hot charcoal grill. Low flames or just after flames.

Finely chop basil and set aside. Combine lime juice, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, s & p. Let stand for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly oil and salt and pepper steaks. Place on grill for 4 minutes each side. Cover grill for second side. While second side is cooking, combine chopped basil with vinaigrette. Remove steaks, plate, and top with basil-lime sauce.

Savory Stuffed Shad

Shad's not in season now, but I cam across this recipe from a while back. It includes strong flavors in the sauce as well as the stuffing, but the robust flavor of shad stands up well with them.

serves 2

Ingredients:
2 shad fillets
2 small portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 scallions, cut into strips lengthwise
sauce:
2 T olive oil
1 T banana chutney
1/4 t curry powder
1 t rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450.

Combine the sauce ingredients. Lightly oil a baking pan and lay out the fillets. For each fillet: open the cavity and brush generously with sauce, line with mushrooms and top with scallion strips. Close fish and brush outside lightly with sauce.

Bake in oven for 5 min., then move to broiler for 3 minutes or just browned.

Best Chocolate Souffle So Far . . .

I have made about 5 chocolate souffles in the past two months, changing the recipe each time. This was was by far the best--great combination of rise, intense center, and balance of chocolate. It was made during Passover so has an accommodation for what would be flour, but it turned out so well, I'd do it again this way. It's a significant adaptation of a recipe from Reluctant Gourmet web site.

Serves 6 or more

Ingredients:

3 T salted butter
3 T matzo meal
2 3.5 oz. dark chocolate bars, 70% cocoa
1 3.5 oz. milk chocolate bar
about 1 1/4 c. whole milk (I used raw.)
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 + c. sugar
5 egg yolks
7 egg whites

Preheat oven to 375

Butter and sugar a 2 quart souffle dish. Refrigerate.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add matzo meal and toast over low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1 c milk, a little at a time. When heated through, turn off heat. Add crumbled chocolate and stir in to let it melt in the pan. Add 1/4 c. sugar and combine. Add more milk--about 1/4 c. to thin. Add vanilla and combine. Add egg yolks a bit at a time and stir constantly to combine well.

In a med. bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Add 1/4 c. sugar and continue beating to stiff peaks.

Transfer chocolate mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add beaten whites and fold in quickly. Quickly transfer into prepared souffle dish and put in oven. Cook for 35 min. or until well risen--1.5-2 in. above top of dish. It was almost blackened on top when I took it out, but that was perfect. Remove and serve immediately.

Creamy Heavenly Haddock

This recipe was inspired by one of the most beautiful pieces of fish I have ever cooked. It was a fillet of Alaskan Haddock, about 2.5 lb. and at least an inch and a half thick. It was a buttery, flaky texture--the very best of firm-fleshed white fish--sweet, tender, and delicious. All of perishable ingredients except the fish were local. Here's how it went:

Sauce
2T salted butter

2T white flour

1+ c soured heavy cream (I had this on hand from cream that was in the fridge too long. You could also use prepared sour cream and heavy cream, about half and half.)

white pepper, salt, and black pepper

2c packed (about) baby spinach

1T capers

Melt butter. Make a light roux with the flour, adding a little at a time, stirring constantly for about five minutes or more on low heat. Add the soured cream a little at a time to make a smooth sauce. Add dash of white pepper to taste. Add a little salt and black pepper. Add spinach a handful at a time, stirring in. Let simmer on low heat until spinach is all wilted. Add capers and mix in. Adjust seasoning.

Fish

2.5 lb. Haddock fillet

olive oil

2T salted butter

salt and black pepper

Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning, or another spicy seasoned salt--cayenne and salt essential.

4-5 scallions, 2 whole and 2 sliced into 1/4 in. rounds.

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly oil a baking dish. Put fillet in dish, skin side down. Lightly salt and black pepper. Lightly season with Tony Chachere's. Cut butter into 10 pieces and scatter on surface of fillet and in dish. Scatter sliced scallions across top and lay whole scallions along sides of pan.

Bake at 350 for 8 min. Turn heat to broil. Put fish in broiler for 5-6 minutes, until starts to brown on top. Finish in oven for 6 min. or until just cooked through. (Remember the fillet was very thick.)

Assembly

3 corn tortillas, toasted on a burner

1 scallion, finely sliced

Toast tortillas and place on serving platter, slightly overlapping. (This seemed a little "out there," but the flavors of the rich sauce, fish and tortillas go well together, and the presentation is very good.)

Place finished fillet on top of tortillas. Top with the sauce down the center of the fillet. (You won't use all of it.) Garnish with scallions and scatter around plate. Put the two very roasted on whole scallions on the platter as well. Serve the extra sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Awesome Lamb Stew

This lamb stew was from all local ingredients. What really makes it is the unbelievably flavorful lamb of Jamison's. I got this at the Fair Foods stand at Reading Terminal. As far as I know, that's the only place they're sold. The key here is braising the meat for a long time first. It's a tender cut, so this is not for tenderizing, but it gets the maximum flavor out of it.

Serves 10. Prep and cook time: 3 1/2 hrs. (mostly simmering time)

Ingredients:
3-4 T olive oil
3.5 - 4 lb. deboned lamb shoulder, cubed (Cost more for deboned, but worth it because it's a cut to manage.)

2T flour

2T Worcestershire Sauce

2 T butter

1 XL leek, chopped (4-6 cups chopped)
16 cl. garlic, chopped
1 med. onion, chopped
1 med. apple, chopped
1 turnip, small cubed
10-15 med. potatoes, peeled, chunked (rough cut pieces)

Braising Lamb
In a heavy pot or sauce pan, Saute garlic in oil. Add lamb and seer. Add 2-3 cups water. Braise/simmer for an hour. Add 1t salt. Add 2T flour sifted in a little at a time. Simmer more (10 min?) to thicken. Add 2 T Worcestershire.

Vegetables
In a large heavy pot, saute leeks, onion, and apple in 2T butter. 10 min. low. after onions translucent.

Combine
Add lamb mixture to onions, etc. Add potatoes and turnip. Add about 4 c. water. Simmer uncovered for 2 hours or so. Add s & p to taste.

Great Leftovers Vegetable Soup

This started as a way to use up mostly local vegetables from the fridge but turned out to be a great winter vegetable soup--very hearty and good layers of flavor.

Ingredients:

1/2 + c. olive oil

1/3 c. white flour

4 small onions, chopped

5 stalks celery, chopped

the following cubed:

1 XL! rutabaga

3 parsnips

1 XL carrot

1 M turnip

14 oz. crushed tomato (canned)

about 6 c water

1T powdered garlic

2T dried basil

2T dried oregano

1T dried thyme

1T salt

1/4-1/2t red pepper flakes (more for kick)

1/2t ground black pepper

Start by heating the oil and make a roux with the flour (med hot oil, add flour in bits and stir constantly, scraping bottom) to a light brown nutty scent. This is what gives the soup its body.

Add the onions and celery. Cook to soft. Lower heat and add garlic.

Add carrots, parsnips, turnip, rutabaga--one at a time, heating through.

Add crushed tomato and heat through. Add spices and mix in.

Add water and bring to a full boil. Let simmer for 1-2 hours.

Adjust seasoning.

I the soup is a little spicy and goes well with a dollop of yogurt.

I served it with cous-cous, but I wasn't crazy about the texture. Israeli cous-cous would be better--or rice.

Great soup, though, and worth repeating.

Local Winter Stir Fry Rice

This was a great improvised dish from local winter vegetables (just cabbage right now).
I had about 2 cups (raw) of cooked brown rice made ahead and in the fridge. (Better than "fresh" rice because it's drier.)

Ingredients:
canola oil
1/2 small head red cabbage, sliced (about 3-4 cups)
1/2 small haed green cabbage, sliced (same or a little more)
2T grated ginger [not local] (grated fine to a mush)
powdered garlic, powdered onion, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper
1 1/2 T rice vinegar
1/2 T teriyaki sauce
3 cups cooked rice

I put 3-4 T oil in my 14" pan and heated it hot. Added about 1/4 t red pepper flakes, 3/4 t powdered garlic, 1/2 t powdered onion. Some salt. Heat for 30 sec. Add ginger paste. Heat 30 sec. Add cabbage. Stir fry until cabbage becomes soft but not entirely wilted--around 2-3 minutes. (Heat is on full high all this time.) After cabbage is cooked, add rice vinegar, stir in, teriyaki suce, stir in.

Push cabbage out to side of pan in a ring to creat a "well." Add more oil--about 2 T. Let heat to hot. Add rice 1 cup cooked rice. Let heat in the center, then stir through. Repeat the process without adding more oil (unless it seems dry) for the next 2 cups of rice. Add salt and black pepper to taste and serve.

Best Mushroom Soup Ever

This past week I made the best mushroom soup I ever tasted from a home kitchen!
Here's how:
-Prepped 1 1/2 lb. local organic white button mushrooms along with 3 med. Portobella's (sp?) also local. Rough cut.
-Prepped 2 small (2.5 in. diam.) yellow onions, local.
-Prepped (peeled and chopped) 4 stalks celery.
-Melted 4-5 T butter in large pot. Added 2-3 T white flour a little at a time, and stirring to make a roux. Cooked to med. brown and nutty smell.
-Added onions and celery. Gets dry. Low head saute for maybe 10 min. until onions are about translucent.
-Added all mushrooms and cooked a few minutes until starting to loose a little moisture. Add about 1/4 c. dry sherry and degl. Add 1 c. water
-Keep cooking on low/med. and adding liquid as needed, about another cup and a half.
-Add salt to taste, about 1 T green pepper crushed with pestle, and about 1/4 to 1/2 t white pepper.
-Cover and cook about ten minutes.
-Blend in batches.
-Add about 2 c. local organic heavy cream.
-Heat to hot, not boiling.
-Adjust seasoning.

The texture and flavor intensity was wonderful. I will definitely make this one again.