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Fishstik Tacos

This recipe is from my good, snarky and sassy friend Jennifer. I first heard about the recipe over Bloody Mary's with Jen after our Sunday morning run. I've been itching to make them ever since.  I thought they sounded so cute and fun. I changed a few things to her original recipe mainly out of laziness, forgetfulness and basic unpreparedness. But I still thought they turned out great.  Her recipe called for rice and tomatoes in the tacos and for some reason this didn't sound good to me but I'll put those additions in at the end of the recipe. I made the coleslaw a little different because when I went to Kowalski's I swore up and down that I had a brand new bottle of apple cider vinegar at home and didn't need to buy any. But sure as sugar, when I got home it was mysteriously absent. Damn apple cider vinegar thieves.

Truth be told, they weren’t a huge hit in my house but I blame the immature palette of my toddler and the general disdain of fish tacos, of my husband. Hmmmmf what do they know anyway?

FishStik Tacos

Ingredients: 3 cups cabbage/slaw, 8 corn or flour tortillas, ½ cup mayo, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 teaspoons sugar, Chihuahua cheese or Monterrey Jack, 8-10 fish sticks. 1 avocado, 1 lime, Pico de Gallo.

Directions: Make coleslaw by blending cabbage with mayo, vinegar and sugar. Preheat oven to package directions on the fish stick box and cook. Once the fish sticks are done, cut up and squeeze lime juice on top and mix. Cut up avocado. Warm tortillas in oven or microwave. Make fish stick taco by putting coleslaw down first, then fish sticks, put avocado, cheese and pico de gallo on top.

Optional: Prepare Mexican rice, add 16 oz can of stewed tomatoes.

 
 

Lily eating spaghetti after refusing fish tacos.

My refrigerator

Whoever invented the side x side refrigerator should be forced to spend his/her eternity trying to rearrange the interior contents in an efficient manner. They’ll never be able to do it because it’s impossible. I’m not talking about the modern, armoire style refrigerators that play Puccini when you open them. I’m talking about the mid-nineties, white, side x side suburban kind. Or more specifically - my refrigerator.

 

(That large taped-on padded looking thing on the lower left corner was added 2 years ago when Lily fell and scraped her cheek on the corner of the refrigerator. She's never fallen since. We should probably take that down).

I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out how best to fit all the leftover dishes that I store in Pyrex containers plus the endless supply of liquids - half drank juice boxes, sippy cups, sport’s drinks, beer bottles, pop, various milks – whole milk (for Lily), skim milk (for self). Not to mention the cheese – sliced cheese for Lily’s lunches, shredded cheese (I sprinkle parmesan on almost everything), fancy cheese (brie, goat, gruyere). Then there’s the miscellaneous items like: heavy whipping cream, yogurt (Stoneyfield in a large container and the squeezable tubes), cottage cheese, sour cream and cream cheese. I try and store all the above mentioned items on the shelves and leave the two big drawers for fruits, vegetables, meat, hot dogs etc.

Salad takes up most of the space in the vegetable drawer because I buy that large container of organic spinach or salad greens at Costco for $4. I try and sneak spinach anywhere I can – soups, pasta, sandwiches. Still, food inevitably goes bad, mainly because I can’t find it. In order to put anything in, you have to take everything out. It’s a constant logistics operation of trying to strategically place “high-use” items in the front and “low-use” items in the back. When Lily asks for one of the “low-use” items, which will require a reorg – I try and distract her with easily-accessed cabinet items like fruits snacks or fish crackers.

 Someday we hope to gut remodel the entire kitchen. But until then – I’ll be in my own Sisyphus hell of taking everything out and putting everything back in – over and over again.

 Tonight: Fishstik Taco's. Recipe courtesy of my friend Jennier. Details tomorrow.

Friday Night - Girl's Night

I had some lovely ladies over Friday night for a fun evening of eating, drinking and shopping. Things started around 6:00 but didn't wind up until after midnight and 7 bottles of wine. I guess you can say we had a good time.

Here are some photos and recipes from the evening.

Getting everything ready

    

Cold Sesame Noodle Salad

     

Ingredients: 2 large cloves garlic, 1 tbl grated fresh ginger, 2 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/4 cup soy cause, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, 1 tbl Asian chili paste, 2 scallions, 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 box linguine noodles.

Direction: Combine garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, chili paste, scallions, cilantro and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk until combined. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add noodles and cook until al dente. Drain in colander and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Transfer noodles to a serving bowl and pour dressing over. Toss to coat. Top with cilantro for garnish. Serve room temperature. *Noodles will get sticky if they sit too long. If this happens, just add a little extra soy sauce before serving. Inspired by Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2003.

Ginger Chicken Wings

 
Ingredients: 30-40 chicken wings and drummies, 2 cups soy sauce. 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 cup oil, grated ginger (the more the better). Marinate for 2-3 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes. *I used a rimmed baking sheet to cook these on which works great. These are always a winner.

Spicy Green Beans

 
Ingredients: 2 tbl soy sauce, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tsp garlic chili sauce, 1 tsp honey, 2 tsp oil. Large bag of french green beans.

Directions: Steam green beans first. Set aside. Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce. Heat 1 tbl oil in a frying pan or wok. Add green beans and pour sauce over the green beans. Stir fry until hot and serve. *If you like it spicy just add more of the garlic chili paste.

Thanks Kim for the lovely cake from Buttercream

 

   

Here's the recipe for the trifle that Andrea made. Delicious!

Lemon Blueberry Trifle

1 frozen prepared pound cake (16 ounces)
2 lemons
1 1/2 cups milk
1 container (8 ounces) sour cream
1 container (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
2 packages (3.4 ounces each) lemon instant pudding and pie filling
1 pint fresh blueberries (about 2 cups)
1 square (1 ounce) white chocolate for baking

1. Cut pound cake into 1-inch cubes; place in large colander bowl. Using a lemon Zester, make several lengthwise scores in one lemon, top to bottom; slice into 6 slices. Cut each slice in half and set aside for garnish. Zest remaining lemon using short strokes; set aside. Juice lemon. Sprinkle lemon juice over pound cake; toss .

2. In a bowl, combine milk, sour cream, half of the whipped topping and reserved lemon zest; whisk until smooth. Add pudding mix; whisk until mixture begins to thicken.

3. Set aside 12 blueberries for garnish. To assemble trifle, place 1/3 of the cake cubes into bottom of chilled bowl. Top with 1/3 of the blueberries. Grate 1/4 of the chocolate over blueberries. Top with of the pudding mixture, pressing lightly. Repeat layers 2 more times, reserving the remaining grated chocolate for garnish. Spread remaining pudding over entire top of trifle, creating a smooth surface.

4. Attach open star tip to a decorator; fill with remaining whipped topping. Decorate by piping 12 rosettes around edge of bowl. Place one lemon slice between rosettes and one reserved blueberry on each rosette. Grate remaining chocolate in center.

Yield: 10 servings or 20 sample servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 410, Total Fat 18 g, Saturated Fat 12 g, Cholesterol 85 mg, Carbohydrate 56 g, Protein 5 g, Sodium 460 mg, Fiber 1 g

Source: Pampered Chef

 

 

Suvo Meso - Smoked Pork Loin

Nobody can smoke meat quite like the Serbs. We bought this smoked pork loin via a covert operation in Indiana that I can't even tell you about or I'd have to kill you. If you are ever a guest in a Serbian household you will be greeted by a tray of suvo meso, cheese and a shot of šljivovica (Plum Brandy). Even at 8:00 am.

Suvo Meso has the perfect balance of salt. smoke and chewiness. It's good all by itself or cut up and thrown in with scrambled eggs.

There's nothing better to eat on a Saturday afternoon with some cheese and bread. And wine of course. It's noon right?

 

To join or not to join

I've spent the better part of this week researching, emailing and calling different farms to find a CSA program that will work for us this summer. While I love the idea of it, I'm a little really intimidated by the thought of a large box of unfamiliar vegetables being delivered to my house every week. Frankly, I'm afraid of certain vegetables. Plus, I hate the idea of not using everything before it spoils and having to throw it in the garbage.  And to be honest, I get lazy in the summer and there are a lot of days I don't feel like cooking.  On those days you can usually find me on my deck with a glass of sauvignon blanc hollering at Branko in the kitchen "hey, let's get take-out, it's too hot to cook". But if I had a fridge chock-full of farm fresh vegetables, I'd feel obligated to cook. Guilty if I didnt.

The idea of joining a CSA started to feel like a really bad idea. Like giving up wine for lent or buying a hermit crab.  All that folate just sitting in my fridge waiting for me to cook something amazing would make me nervous. The guilt of throwing fresh food away that some farmer grew just for us would be overwhelming. I've got enough guilt in my life, after all I'm a Catholic.  I've got mom guilt to deal with, I don't need to add farm guilt to the list. So much pressure to not let good food go bad. So much pressure to make healthy food with vegetables that I'm not familiar with. I don't even know what celeriac is. Pressure to cook. Pressure to make Lily eat her vegetables. I could hear the pleading cries of my daughter "please don't make me eat THAT momma, puhleeeze".

And then I thought, maybe this is an excellent idea!

The more I read, the more I felt comfortable with the idea and I thought how great it will be for Lily to be able to get excited about local food.  So we're in. We chose this wonderful farm called Treasured Haven Farm. There are so many wonderful, family farms to choose from but we chose this one for the following reasons:

1. They have a bi-weekly program. It relieved a little pressure for me. Plus, they let you swap weeks so if we're out of town we can just switch weeks. Brilliant.

2. They offered a peak season fruit share. We'll get 5 boxes of organic fruit, every other week starting at the end of June thru August. I can smell the colorado peaches already.

3. Convenient location - pick ups available near our house. That's my kind of local.

4. We can go to the farm to pick our own fruits and vegetables. It will be so much fun to go to the farm with Lily and let her pick her own food. Photo opp.

5. The veggie share + the fruit share = $492 for the season. Very affordable.

We're really excited to try it. Hopefully, it will result in us trying new things, eating more fresh, local produce and feeling more connected to our food. Things don't usually turn out quite as I envision but we'll see how it goes.

To read more about CSA programs in Minnesota visit the 2011 CSA Farm Directory.

Roasted Chicken Salad

When life gives you a chicken. Make chicken salad!

Directions:

Start with last night's chicken carcass and pick through every little chicken bit you can find. The greater you dig. The greater your reward. Add one of the carrots from the roasted chicken recipe. Add half an onion, rib of celery. A little dill, salt, pepper and mayo to taste. Mix all together and you will have the best chicken salad you've ever had. Really you can add anything you want to it. Walnuts, grapes whatever you like. But I think the reason it tastes so good is because it's leftover whole roasted chicken vs. canned chicken or supermarket rotisserie chicken. Plus, the carrots and the herbs from the chicken give it this amazing flavor.

last night's chicken carcass is today's chicken salad.

 
 

Sunday Dinner - Herb Roasted Chicken

One of my favorite things to make for dinner is a roasted chicken. It's easy to make and much tastier to eat compared to the supermarket rotisserie chickens, which by the time you get home are cold and dry. I think this dish is the first thing that I ever made that I actually liked and made me feel as if I cook. Mainly because I didn't over cook it. Up until then, chicken was one of those mystery meats to me that you had to cook and cook and cook.  I could never tell when it was done so I just kept cooking it. I thought chicken was suppose to be dry and chewy. But then I made this chicken and it tasted like chicken is suppose to taste. I make this when I'm short on time but still want to make something good. It's perfect for a Sunday dinner. I like the way it makes the house smell like a home when it's cooking in the oven. Plus, there are always leftovers for the next day.

*This is not the most flattering picture of the chicken and I feel bad for her about that. I took it after we started carving into her and thought "hey, why don't I write-up this chicken recipe".  I would have made her more camera-ready but this isn't a stunt chicken. It is what it is over here.

 

Ingredients:

3-4 lb whole chicken

1 tsp each of basil, thyme, salt & sage

2 tablespoons butter

3 carrots sliced length wise

Directions: Wash chicken and pat dry. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter over medium heat and add in the herbs. Rub chicken all over with the herbs and butter. Place uncooked carrots underneath the chicken Roast chicken uncovered for 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hour. Every 15-30 minutes or so, baste the chicken with the pan juices.

Regardless of the time listed you really have to know thine oven. When I was in our last house this chicken took 1 hour 20 minutes. In my new house it takes 1 hour 40 minutes. Also, it depends on how big your bird is. The chicken is done when it's a nice brown color and looks done. The legs move loosely in their sockets and the juices run clear. Once it's done, take it out and let rest for 10 minutes covered. Serve with the carrots and mashed potatoes. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it always delivers and never disappoints. It turns our perfect every single time. You just gotta love that kind of dependability.

Some people use the chicken carcass to make chicken stock. I can't do this. For some reason it totally grosses me out. I make chicken salad instead. Too tired to write the recipe tonight. I'll post tomorrow.

Check out the finalists

Food52 has narrowed the quiche and tart field down to two. Unfortunately, my Parsnip + Kale Quiche is not one of them. Boo. Thank you to my Facebook friends (all 16 of you) who gave me a "like". I like you too.

The two finalists are:  Madeira Tart & Tangerine and Almond Shortbread Tart.

The Madeira Tart looks the most interesting. Particularly, the fact that only 8 ingredients are used and one of them are duck eggs.  Any ideas out there where I can find duck eggs?

I have come up with my own favorites from the contest that I'm excited to try: Blood Orange & Maple Custard Tart, Lemon Saffron Tart on Almond Crust and Meyer Lemon Rosemary Tart.

On a personal note, I'm still in Nebraska. I haven't eaten any memorable meals  worth posting about yet but tonight everything may change. I'm headed to a steakhouse called The Drover , home of the original Omaha whiskey steak. You can't be in this town for too long before a meat craving starts to overwhelm you. So, tonight I'll dine at the Drover and have a whiskey steak, and maybe some whiskey too. But before I go, I'm going to check out the famed Nebraska Furniture Mart for a little shopping. Apparently, there's a lot more there to see than furniture. There's even an Apple Store in the middle of it and I need a new ipod so my trip does have purpose. 

Two other random things to mention: Lady Gaga is in town tonight and it's St. Patrick's Day. I guess there are a lot of Irish people in Omaha - who knew? There are 5 bars around me with names like: the Dubliner, The Clover Leaf and Barry's Irish Pub. Between the Lady Gaga concert and the Omaha Irish, I think this town is about to get crazy.

Off I go.

Des Moines. Omaha. You're jealous.

I'm still muddling through my cooking weekend plans from two weekends ago. I should go back and rename that post, "my cooking month" since I've been sidetracked with work, sickness and a general feeling of malaise. I wanted to get started on these since I'll be out of the kitchen and out on the road all week for work. I'll be visiting the exciting cities of Des Moines and Omaha. Can I get a "woot, woot"?

Food becomes the highlight of my day whilst away from home. I begin each morning thinking about coffee and room service (oatmeal or cereal hmmm). I try to eat light in the morning so I don't blow my per diem wad all on one meal, which is easy to do since it's only $40. I usually give myself a little raise, and dip into my personal funds in order to eat (and drink) dinner at a good restaurant to ease my boredom and loneliness. Sniff. Sniff.  By late morning, I'm thinking about lunch (sandwich or salad hmmm). Where can I get more coffee? Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

While driving around a new city, I try and scope out hot spots and look for restaurants that seem "single person friendly". During meetings, I interrupt my sales pitch to ask questions about good places to eat and local fare. By dinner time I'm eating alone and either fumbling around with my blackberry or reading the USA Today left under my hotel room door. I try not to talk on the phone but I've done it. I read the wine list for a really long time.

I'm going to try and write a few restaurant thoughts/opinions while I'm in the hotel at night to keep myself and my three (yo Patty) readers entertained.

But back to this weekend. I finally tried Lentil and Sausage Soup for a Cold Winter's Night, and it was definitely worthy of the "Editor's Pick" that it got over on Food52.com.

The only thoughts I had were: Possibly kale instead of spinach (I have this kale obsession right now, I'm almost over it but not quite). I put parmesan cheese on top, just a sprinkle and I loved this soup even more if that's possible. I cut the sausage up really small. Mainly for Lily to be able to nosh on it easily. It goes great with a nice, cold german beer. It's really worth trying. I'm glad I made it yesterday because I think it's probably the last cold winter's night I'll be seeing around here for awhile.Whew..I made it just in time.

 
 

 

 

 

Parsnip + Kale Quiche avec Bacon

 

 

The parsnip doesn't get a lot of love. It's always compared to its more popular cousin, the carrot. But the parsnip, although not as pretty, is much sweeter than the carrot and adds a nice complexity to this quiche. The parsnip with the kale and bacon make a really interesting combination of flavors. I entered this recipe in Food52.com's "Late Winter Tart (Sweet or Savory) contest.

I was inspired by Julia Child's Quiche Lorraine in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and added parsnips, kale and cheddar cheese to the basic recipe. Also, I used whole milk instead of heavy cream and omitted the salt and nutmeg and added pepper instead. I used 8 oz of bacon instead of the recommended 3-4 oz (because how could too much bacon ever be a bad thing).

For the Pate Brisee I used James Peterson's from the book "Baking". But any tart shell recipe will work just fine.

It is an absolutely delicious dish. Try it!

Serves 6

Pate Brisee:

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cups cold butter
• 8 teaspoons heavy cream

 
 
 
Filling :

• 8 oz Bacon
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 large kale leaves
• 2 small parsnips
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 oz cheddar cheese

1. For the Pate Brisee. Combine everything in a stand mixer and gradually add teaspoons of heavy cream one at a time. Mix for about 2-4 minutes until it holds together
2. Flatten the dough into a disk. Flour a clean work surface and roll the dough out with a rolling pin. Makes enough for a 11 inch pie or tart pan.
3. Place in preheated 400 degree over. Place pie weights or beans wrapped in parchment paper in the bottom of the pie shell to prevent it from rising. Bake for 15 minutes then remove pie weights or beans and bake another 15 minutes. If edges are starting to brown, place foil to prevent over browning. Remove and let cool.
4. For the filling: Peel parsnips and place along with the kale in a pot of water to boil. Add salt and 1 of the tablespoons of butter.
5. Fry bacon until crispy. Let cool briefly and chop or crumble into tiny pieces.
6. Mix eggs and milk and pepper in a bowl.
7. When parsnips and kale are done. Kale will be wilted and parsnips will be soft. About 20 minutes. Chop the kale and parsnips into small pieces
8. Place crumbled bacon into pie shell. Add parsnips and kale. Pour egg/milk mixture on top. Sprinkle cheddar cheese and dollop butter all over pie surface with remaining tablespoon of butter. Place in preheated 375 degree over for 30 minutes