Best Dressed Salad

If my Salad was going to an Oscar Party (or any other red-carpet event), this is what she would wear.   Slimming, sophisticated, beautiful lines, not-too-much-cleavage, subtle yet elegant.

Right by my house is an organic produce stand called Jessica’s Organic Farm.  They are only open Fridays and Saturdays, but they grow and sell some of the freshest organic produce I have ever tasted.  Last week, I came home with a head of lettuce 12″ wide, sweet & silky mangos, zucchini , sugar snap peas and bright red cherry tomatoes.  I cut the zucchini into spaghetti-like strands…isn’t it beautiful?

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Roasted Baby Eggplant with Caponata Sauce

Look what I found at the market yesterday! These were so darn cute, about 4 inches in length – I just had to take some of these bright, shiny baby aubergines home with me. Eggplant season generally starts in June, but one of the perks of living in Florida is that we get produce a little earlier in season due to the warmer weather.

The babies were practically begging to be roasted as an appetizer. I just so happened to have a jar of Sicilian Caponata, which is a relish of chopped eggplant, tomatoes, capers and olives, all magically blended into a sauce perfect for pastas, quick bruschetta, or even eating straight out of the jar (me, guilty).

I simply sliced the baby eggplants in half lengthwise, put them on a roasting pan, drizzled olive oil and in the oven at 375 degrees. 10 minutes later, I checked on them. Perfect timing! I then brushed a little more olive oil on top and set the broiler on high for 2 minutes to get a little more carmelization on the top. Serve a quick sprinkling of sea salt, a spoonful of Caponata, chopped parsley and freshly grated Pecorino Romano.

The eggplant is dreamy, delicate and sweet. One bite and the velvety flesh just melts into your mouth. Since they haven’t matured, they do not have any of the bitterness that the adult variety contains. No need to salt to extract the bitter compounds.

These babies were just the perfect size for a finger food. Their indigo skins looked so perfect on a white platter! Can you imagine serving these cute things wearing the perfect hostess apron?! (HUSBAND click on this link)

You don’t have Caponata? Try these toppings:

-Pesto sauce with chopped parsley, roasted pinenuts and shaved parmesan

-Chunky marinara sauce with chopped basil

-Slices of roasted bell peppers and good olives

-Diced tomatoes with a garlicy Tzaziki sauce. Top with chopped, fresh dill

-Crispy fried basil leaves (deep fry the leaves)

-Whipped mashed potato mixed with curry powder

Do you have any other topping suggestions?

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Make Homemade Stock in Half the Time

Save time by making your own stocks using a pressure cooker. See my recipes and writeup at Well Fed Network.

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Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) with Oyster Sauce

I’ve moved!!! Come see the recipe over at my new website, www.steamykitchen.com.

Thank you!

xoxo, Jaden

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Pecan Crusted Tilapia with Honey Glaze

I spent 6 years of my childhood living in North Platte, Nebraska during the 70’s when the local census guy officially determined there were 4 Asians living in the town – me, my brother, mom and dad. Really. Like tax dollars could have been spent on something more useful, like building a cultural center to attract more than just red necks to the town. So, what did the 4 Asian people in the town do for fun? Going cow tipping just seemed so useless to us, plus my parents didn’t let me drink beer until I was 8. (that was a joke, Ma)

We went fishing almost every weekend in the summertime. We caught Yellow Perch, Crawfish, Striped Bass, Walleye, Bluegill, and Northern Pike (my parents have a dead, stuffed 5 ft Northern Pike hanging above their 60″ flatscreen TV to remind us of our humble days in the Midwest)

We ate fish stew, steamed fish, baked fish, fish curry, fish balls, fried fish, fish lollipop on a chopstick…anything you could imagine. Despite eating all my Mom’s variations of fish dishes, I still love fish. My two toddlers love fish. My husband….not so much. So it was a challenge to come up with a non-fishy fish dish

non-fishy fish dish
non-fishy fish dish
non-fishy fish dish
non-fishy fish dish

hee hee!

that my husband would like. I’m also cooking for a family who doesn’t eat fish. Their Mom just asked if I could make a non-fishy fish dish for her 3 girls to try. So I needed something mild, and to totally disguise the fish so that it looked like chicken. But just because my husband can be easily tricked, the 3 girls wouldn’t be. I needed something sweet to coat the fish too. The result was scrumptious. My husband actually liked it! I’ll let you know next week if the 3 girls like it too. (for the family, I’ll be substituting Blue Agave for the honey since they are on a no-sugar diet)

Pecan Crusted Tilapia with Honey Glaze

You can serve the Tilapia over pasta (see photo above), Basmati rice or Couscous. *Note – for Gluten free, serve over gluten free pasta.

4 whole Tilapia fillets, cut in half lengthwise – you should have 8 pieces about 6″ x 2.5″ each

3 T organic honey

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs (or Gluten free breadcrumbs)

1/2 cup crushed pecans (I used a mini food processor)

salt & pepper

3 eggs, beaten in bowl

Honey Glaze: 3 T organic honey mixed with 2 T hot water

3 T olive oil, for frying

1) Wash Tilapia and pat dry. Using a brush, brush both sides of the fillet with honey. Generously salt & pepper both sides of the fillet.

2) Combine the Panko and crushed Pecans. Lay out your ingredients in this order:

Tilapia – Egg mixture – Panko/Pecan

Dip the fish in the egg, coat with panko/pecan on both sides, set aside. Repeat with all fillets.

3) Heat a large fry pan over medium heat. Add olive oil. When the oil is hot, turn the heat down to low. Add the fillets to the pan, make sure the fillets don’t touch each other. You may have to do this in separate batches. Fry on low for 2 minutes until the underside is golden brown. Turn. Fry another 2 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Pour the honey glaze over the fish.

Note: if you don’t fry on low heat, the panko/pecan coating will burn before the fish is cooked through.

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Saffron Rice

Here’s another great rice recipe when plain basmati rice just won’t do. The saffon adds such a lovely, bright golden color to the rice, in contrast with the crimson saffron threads dispersed throughout. Saffron rice has a delicate, floral aroma that you can’t duplicate with any other spice.

There are 3 secrets making this rice.

Secret #1: Use good quality saffron. Don’t buy the cheap stuff. Everyone says that saffron is the world’s most expensive spice – true if you are counting ounce per ounce. But you use so little of it each time. Here’s the key to buying saffron. The threads should be almost all bright red. If you see yellow, that means when the threads were harvested, they picked the flower portion that was STIGMA (a.k.a. expensive good stuff) and STIGMA (bad, tasteless shit).

I purchase my saffron from www.saffron.com. For $40, I get the absolute best quality stuff and it will last me many, many scrumptious dishes. Another note on using saffron – you should soak the threads in a little bit of hot water to really open up the spice and release its flavor. Use the threads+soaking water in your dish.

Secret #2: Fry onions before steaming the rice. It gives rice an earthy, caramelized onion flavor. You can substitute minced shallots for the onions.

Secret #3: Salt. Everything tastes better with salt. This rice comes alive when you add something salty to it. In this recipe, I used broth instead of water to steam the rice. Use fresh, canned or concentrated broth base.

Now its time to be creative. Use secrets #2 and #3 and make your own rice recipe with your favorite spices. Here are some of my favorite combinations.

– Cumin + a couple tablespoonfuls of tomato paste for Mexican rice
– Dried oregano + basil (basically any dried leafy herb mixture)
– Curry powder + raisins
– A few dashes of soy sauce + sesame oil + minced green onions after the rice is done steaming
– Garlic powder + stir in chopped fresh parsley after rice is done steaming
– Any of the above + stir in thawed frozen peas after rice is done steaming

Saffron Basmati Rice
2 cups Basmati Rice
3 ½ cups Broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 pinch Saffron threads soaked in 2T hot water for 10 minutes
1 tsp Salt
2 T olive oil
½ cup diced onions

1. Wash and drain the rice. In 4-qt pot, heat with olive oil over medium heat. When oil is shimmering, add onions and fry for 3 minutes, until softened and light brown. Stir in rice, broth, saffron + soaking water and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once it starts boiling, immediately cover and turn to low heat.

3. Let the rice cook on low heat, undisturbed (no peeking!) for 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Let sit for another 5 minutes covered to finish steaming. Use a fork to fluff up the rice.

Need a main dish to go with that fabulous rice?

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Secrets to Cooking the Best Chinese Fried Rice

I’ve just moved!

Please see the rest of this post

at my new home (www.steamykitchen.com).

Thank you!
Jaden

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Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower was always one of those vegetables that I really didn’t care for – kinda boring to eat just steamed – unless I slathered it in a blanket of butter. But not anymore! <sound off heavenly horns> Roast those little nuggets and top them with a snowy sprinkling of grated parmesan. Roasting makes them so sweet and tender.

Roasted Cauliflower

(serves 4 as side dish)

1 head of organic cauliflower

2 T olive oil

grated parmesan

salt

Preheat oven 375.

1. Cut cauliflower into little evenly-sized florets. Place on baking sheet and toss with olive oil. Roast for 15-20 minutes until tops are a little golden brown and florets are soft. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt & grated parmesan.

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Grilled Salmon with Rice

Sometimes I just want something so simple for dinner (or I’m just too lazy to cook). This is a healthy dish that only takes a few minutes of real cooking time. No fancy sauce, no fancy prep work. But it is so so so so good, especially when the salmon is fresh at the market. If you don’t want to make rice, you could use boxed instant couscous, which is even easier and faster to cook than rice.

Grilled Salmon with Rice

(serves 4)

(4) wild Salmon fillets

4 cups cooked organic Jasmine rice

salt, pepper

4 T soy sauce (or teriyaki sauce) – use Organic Tamari for gluten free

strips of nori (seaweed) – optional. You could also top with sesame seeds or sliced almonds

1. Season each salmon fillet with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat large fry pan on medium-high heat. Add canola oil. When hot, carefully place salmon in pan. Fry 2 minutes. Turn fillet. Turn heat to low. Fry 3 minutes until done. This should give you a medium cooked salmon. If you like medium rare or well done, adjust cooking time.

2. Serve on top of rice. Top with nori and a little soy sauce.

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Tropical Rice

Tropical Rice makes you feel like you’re on vacation…coconut, pineapples, macadamia nuts.  When I want to serve something a little fancier than just plain rice, but don’t to dirty my wok to make fried rice, this is what I make.

Tropical Rice

2 cups jasmine rice

2-3/4 cup chicken broth

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup crushed pineapples

2 T soy sauce (or Tamari on a gluten-free diet)

1 T sesame oil

1/4 cup chopped green onion

Optional toppings:  macadamia nuts, almonds, coconut flakes

1. Rinse the rice several times until the water runs clear.  In a medium pot, add the chicken broth and coconut milk and heat until almost boiling.  Add the rice and cover.  Reduce heat to low and simmer rice for 18-20 minutes, until rice is tender.

2.  With a fork, fluff up the rice as you add crushed pineapples, soy sauce and sesame oil.  Top with chopped green onion and any of the delightful toppings.

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