Jamaican Jerk Sauce

Menu: Barbadian Chicken with Jamaican Jerk Sauce; Moroccan Toasted Couscous with Fruit; Seared Zucchini

Lessons learned:

1. My kids won't even try plums or apricots.  That totally bummed me out.
2. I think I just need to admit that I'm not a couscous person.  That should be fine, since it's not a whole grain anyway.
3. This chicken would be much better unbreaded and grilled.  The sauce is great.

It often happens that I end up making multiple recipes for the first time on the same night.  I guess I'm just taking advantage of the fact that I have time to do that these days, because very soon that will not be true.  So tonight I tried two, or two-and-a-half, recipes from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook, which I recently borrowed from a friend (thanks, Heather!).

I was really excited to try this Barbadian Chicken and accompanying Jerk Sauce (I'm choosing to refrain from any bad "jerk" humor; you're welcome).  Once again, as soon as the kids found out we were having chicken, that's all they could talk about.  I spent most of my cooking time deflecting urgent pleas for "some sicken."  Here's how it turned out:

To be honest, I was kind of disappointed because I don't cook meat very often, and this was just so-so.  I mean, it was... fine.  But there are so many things I could have done with this that would have turned out much better; at least I think so.  I guess if you really love breading on chicken, this was a healthy way to get it.  But these chicken tenders would have been much tastier just pan-fried, grilled, or even broiled, because the jerk sauce marinade was quite good and worked very well as a dipping sauce, too.  The breading was just unnecessary.

The couscous was one of those recipes that sounds really good to me, but the flavors somehow just don't combine into something I'm excited about eating.  The basic idea was to toast some Israeli couscous in the oven, then cook it with boiling water and turmeric (that's what gives it that golden color).  Toss in some apricots and plums (the original recipe called for dried fruit, but it's summertime!) and chopped pistachios, then dress it with a really fun-sounding citrus dressing made with delicious flavors like cardamom, cinnamon, and honey.  What can I say?  It just didn't work for me (or anyone else here).  But it looks kind of pretty:

I'm really interested in doing more with yogurt.  I thought it combined really well with the jerk sauce.  A few weeks ago, I tried making some fried green tomatoes and decided they needed a dip, so I combined some peach yogurt and Worcestershire sauce.  It doesn't sound good, but it was!  I need to keep some plain yogurt around and do more experiments like that.  For now, here's the recipe for the sauce.

Jamaican Jerk Sauce, adapted from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook

1 jalapeno pepper, halved and seeded

4 scallions, or a handful of chives

3 garlic cloves, peeled

A 2" piece of fresh peeled ginger

About 4 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 teaspoons dried allspice

Juice from 2 limes

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup pineapple juice

Put everything in the food processor and press go.

This makes about 2 cups; combine it with plain yogurt to make it a dip.

Avocado-Tomatillo Salsa

I have to admit that in the last year or so, I've become enamored of chunky guacamole.  But before that, when I bought avocados I almost always made them into this smooth salsa that I found on the Williams-Sonoma website several years ago.  It works as a dip, but also as a spread.  I made it for a Mexican buffet on Friday night... as good as ever!

Avocado-Tomatillo Salsa

1 Serrano chile, seeded
1 large garlic clove
2 large tomatillos, husks removed, skins washed, quartered
1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
2 tablespoons lime juice
Big pinch of cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Makes about 2 cups.

Corn Fritters

Menu: Thai-Style Corn Fritters; Hash Browns; Asparagus with Mustard Dressing

Lessons learned:

1. Unless I want to eat the entire bushel of asparagus myself, I shouldn't bother buying it.
2. Hash browns may not be the most sophisticated thing to do with potatoes, but when Sophie will actually eat some of them, not much else matters to me.

This post is a couple of days late because yesterday I got hit with a 24-hour bug (yes, sick AGAIN) and felt nauseous even thinking about food.  John made his specialty again, and by that time I was feeling well enough to have some.  Fantastic.

The night before was my last planned dinner before my next shopping trip, and those can always be a little dicey since I may not have always saved everything I needed for it.  In this case I had a different problem: there were some potatoes on the verge in my refrigerator.  A few days before I had thrown them in there hoping to keep them going for a few more days, but I figured I'd probably reached the limit and it was now or never.  So although I think these corn fritters would have been matched better by a cool tropical rice salad, my kids got to eat some plain ol' hash browns (and ketchup of course) for once.

By the way, I pretty much only buy Yukon Gold potatoes.  They have a built-in buttery taste and what I consider to be a very satisfying texture.  I may buy red potatoes if I'm doing a cold salad, just to change it up.  But when I say "potatoes," I'm only talking about one kind.

I discovered these corn fritters in HTCEV when I decided I wasn't cooking with meat anymore and kind of panicking because of how few vegetarian dishes I knew and liked (let alone how few my family would like) at that point.  Can I just say again how thankful I am for this cookbook?  I think I paid $25 for it.  It was too little.

Basically, you bind corn together with egg and flour and fry it up.  The best thing about these is how creative you can get with them, though.  His version is "thai-style" because it has some hot chiles, soy sauce, and is fried in peanut oil, and I used that combination plus some cilantro.  But when the tomatoes and peppers come out in my garden, I like to throw those in, too, and you can leave out the soy sauce, draw from more traditionally Mexican flavors -- maybe even throw in some black beans! and some cheddar! -- and serve them with sour cream.  These are some versatile little doodads, is what I'm saying, especially with a dipping sauce.

A dipping sauce is another thing I was missing this time.  Sigh.  I still am not good with the dipping sauces.  I've got to get on that!

Here is the asparagus that no one but me ate.  John said he had "some."  I think he ate one stalk.  I broiled them in the oven for about 8 minutes, mixed up a champagne citrus vinaigrette I had with some mustard, and drizzled that over the stalks when they came out.  What a waste!

Fortunately, I had my Corona to take my mind off of that.

Corn Fritters, Thai-Style (adapted from Mark Bittman's HTCEV)

 

2 eggs

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped scallion (I grabbed about 1/4 cup chives from my garden)

1 teaspoon minced fresh chile, or hot red pepper flakes to taste

2 cups corn (soon I hope to be able to get the corn right from the cobs)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3-4 tablespoons peanut oil

Separate the 2 eggs, letting the whites fall into a small mixing bowl and putting the yolks into a larger bowl.  Add all the remaining ingredients except the oil to the yolks and mix well.  Start heating the oil in a skillet over medium heat -- you don't want the outsides to cook too fast.

Beat the egg whites until they're stiff.  Gently fold them into the corn mixture, just until they are mixed in evenly.  Spoon dollops into the heated pan in the size you prefer and cook until nicely browned on one side, 3-5 minutes, then brown the other side.  These taste best hot, so serve them right away.

This recipe is supposed to contain 4 servings, but that seems awfully stingy.  For four adults, I'd increase by 50%, especially if this is intended to be more than just a side.  However, I think they could make good appetizers, too.

Surf 'n Turf

I've been trying to cut back on the amount of red meat we eat. Except for the occasional steak to grill we haven't really noticed. But there are days when my PMS is calling for some extra protein and iron in the form of red meat. Plus Grant really appreciates it when I make a bunch of his favorite dishes that also includes something for him to grill.

Lessons learned:

- Even if it's a really good cut of delicious grass-fed beef, rubbed down with yummy spices and grilled well, my girls still won't eat it.

- Panko really does make the best breading for fried seafood.

- I don't need anything to dip into the mango sauce. I could eat it on a spoon.

The official menu: Grilled strip steak, beer-battered fried shrimp (regular and coconut) with mango sipping sauce, grilled peppers and onions, tri-color cous cous, boiled corn on the cob, twice-baked potato (the last bit of our Omaha Steaks Christmas present from my grandparents- we are mourning the emptiness of our freezer.)
I obviously do not have mad food picture taking skills. Those white things that look like eggs are actually grilled onions. This is a picture of Grant's plate- he doesn't really like corn on the cob... The cous cous was mixed in with the veggies and the little mound on the other side of the steak is half of the last Omaha Steaks twice-baked potato.

I will say this was the best batch of fried shrimp I have ever made. It was perfectly golden and lightly breaded and Grant and I devoured a 1/2 pound of jumbo shrimp. And since our closest grocery only sells beer in 6-packs or larger I have several Heineken's left in the fridge to enjoy.

The girls ate cous cous and some veggies and I gave them some yogurt. Grant wants them to like meat but I say it just means more for us!

Beer-Battered Fried Shrimp - Regular and Coconut
Set out four bowls for dredging the shrimp.

Bowl #1:
enough flour to coat all of your shrimp

Bowl #2:
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup beer
1 1/2 baking powder (I forgot I had recently run out of this and so I couldn't add it and I didn't notice a difference)

Bowl #3:
Panko

Bowl #4:
Shredded sweetened coconut

Roll each shrimp in the flour, then the liquid mix, then either Panko or coconut.

Place on a baking sheet covered in wax paper.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large pot- deep enough to cover one layer of shrimp. Heat it on medium or less. If the oil is too hot it will burn the shrimp and possibly pop and splatter drops of hot oil that may or may not hit the other hot burners on the stove where you are cooking and catch a kitchen towel on fire. It is quite possible I know this from experience.

Fry the shrimp for about 2 minutes, flip and fry 2 more minutes. Drain on a paper towel.

Serve with this amazing sauce:
Mango Dipping Sauce (I've also done this with orange marmalade with equally pleasing results)
Just mix these things according to your taste:

Mango Preserves
Brown, Dijon and/or Yellow Mustard
Horseradish or Vinegar

I've made all sorts of combinations using these ingredients and it is impossible to make it taste bad. I also use this as a marinade for fish.

Shula's 347 Grill

Tonight I had a much anticipated and needed date night with my husband!  We went to Shula's 347 Grill, the steakhouse on the first floor of the Hotel Duval.  It was a very nice time!  I normally don't care about little touches and formalities, but I actually enjoyed having the door being opened for me.  It sounds so silly, and I hate to think of myself as "that kind of person."  And I wouldn't have noticed opening the door for myself.  But what can I say?  I appreciated that someone was there to open it for me.

First things first: we ordered our wine.  They had a decent selection, with many pinot noirs and cabernets.  I had a wonderful Malbec, and John ordered the only Tuscan red on the menu.  Mine was better!

John didn't eat lunch, so for once I wasn't the only one interested in the appetizers.  We had bacon-wrapped jumbo shrimp with barbecue sauce, and also a Caesar salad.  The shrimp were fantastic!  Very plump and flavorful.  I'm not usually a fan of barbecue, but this sauce was excellent.  The Caesar was fine.  Nothing wrong with it, but nothing special.

Our steaks arrived right after we were done with the shrimp and salad.  I had a filet mignon, and John had a bone-in ribeye.  As soon as they put each plate on the table, they asked us to cut through the center of each steak to check that it was done appropriately.  They even had little flashlights for the inspection.  To be honest, I didn't really care for that part.  I'd rather just assume it's cooked well, unless it's obviously not.  And I don't think the test really did what it was supposed to do, because although I initially thought my steak was cooked fine, as I started eating it I realized it was closer to medium than medium-rare.  It was still very good, though.  I actually got to taste a little of John's, and it was even better.  Maybe I just like the ribeye cut better than a filet and never realized it.

The sides were good as well.  We both got smashed potatoes, which were delicious.  I had asparagus and John had green beans.  The asparagus stalks were nice and crunchy, just how I like them.

We had a wonderful time, and after dinner we went up to the 8th floor bar, which has a nice balcony atmosphere overlooking the city.

However, I have to subtract points for price.  The food was good, but a little more expensive than it deserved to be, in my opinion.  It's ok... we were celebrating!

Score: 8/10

Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce

Menu: Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce; Lemon Bulgur Pilaf with Almonds; Caesar Salad

Lessons learned:

1. Read new recipes through at least once before starting to cook.
2. While I cannot even remotely do falafel in balls, falafel patties work really well!  But next time I'll make them smaller.

Looking back through the blog after advertising it among my friends, I realized that my last several dinners have been Asian meals with seafood.  Oops.  Fortunately I changed it up tonight.  In my efforts to overcome my aversion to all beans other than the jelly variety, I tried to make falafel a month or so ago.  The filling was mouth-watering, but when I tried to deep fry the balls like I've had in restaurants, they completely fell apart.  So this time I took a chance by trying again with my in-laws, pan-frying them in hamburger shapes. And, yum!

This meal did trip me up a few times.  First of all, I needed dry chickpeas and the store where I happened to do my shopping for this weekend didn't have them.  I'm so very disappointed in you, Fresh Market.  Or I would be if not for your perfect croissants.  Of which I bought eight.  So, you are excused.  (Why did I go to Fresh Market?  Because I was taking Ben to a birthday party right next door on Saturday morning and it was, for once, the most convenient place to go.)

Then I almost forgot to start soaking the chickpeas yesterday.  As will probably become clear as this blog progresses, I don't do well with advance prep, but I'd like to get better.  Anyway, I used a recipe from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) for the tzatziki, and she recommended starting the sauce 6-8 hours before serving.  Um, no.  In my world, that just doesn't happen for a condiment.  I did make it during the kids' naptime and decided that would be good enough.

Finally, when I started making the pilaf I had in my mind that it was a quick recipe that would somehow cook brown rice in about 20 minutes.  I just wasn't thinking.  I didn't noticed that the recipe called for brown rice that was already cooked until I got to the part where I needed it!  BUT I thought fast and subbed in bulgur, which cooks very quickly.  And it turned out fabulous.  But I'd like to play around with it a little more, so I won't post the recipe quite yet.

Not really a meal that goes over well with the kids, but I feel like they aren't giving it a chance.  I'm going to keep making it.

Falafel Patties (from HTCEV by Mark Bittman)

1 3/4 cups dry chickpeas
2 cloves of garlic (actually I used four!)
1 small onion, quartered
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 scant teaspoon cayenne
1 cup chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Neutral oil for frying (I used safflower)

In the afternoon of the day before you plan to cook falafel, put the beans in a large bowl or pot, cover them with water by 3-4 inches, and let them soak until you start cooking the next night's dinner.

Drain the beans and put them in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients, except the oil.  Let the machine run until the mixture is smooth.

Heat a generous amount of oil in a pan over medium/medium-high heat -- definitely more than enough to just cover the bottom of the pan.  When the oil is hot, put tablespoon-sized patties in the pan and fry each side until nicely browned -- it won't take long.  (In the picture above, you see I made hamburger-sized patties.  But the browned part is the best part, of course, so making smaller patties maximizes that.  It also might make the entree seem more appetizer-like, though, so I suppose that's something to consider.)

You can probably get about 40 small patties, and they're filling.  A serving would be about 5-6.  This is vegan, until you add the sauce below.  If you want to stay vegan, I'm sure there is an alternative to yogurt sauce that would work well.

Tzatziki Sauce (adapted from Ina Garten on Food Network)

1 pound plain yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded if necessary (unpeeled in the original recipe)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic (I increased this from the original recipe)
1 1/2 teaspoons dill
Ground black pepper to taste

OK, Ina says to drain the yogurt and cucumber, separately, for several hours.  That wasn't happening, so I drained the yogurt briefly in a mesh strainer, just to get some of the liquid out.  I poured that yogurt into my serving bowl, then grated the cucumber into the strainer and squeezed the liquid out through the strainer using paper towels.  I added the drier cucumber to the yogurt, then mixed in everything else and let the sauce sit in the fridge for three or four hours, where the flavors blended and the texture thickened nicely.  It was the perfect amount for the falafel.  But Ben enjoyed it on its own.

Potstickers with Shrimp and Scallops

Menu: Potstickers with Shrimp and Scallops; White Rice; Broccoli; Mango; Strawberries

Lessons learned:

1. This is one of the few recipes for which it's not worth it to buy the big sea scallops.
2. Don't just make rice; make rice salad!

My parents and I lived in China when I was a toddler, and my mom cooked many Chinese dishes on a regular basis when I was growing up.  She would make potstickers from almost-scratch, buying the wrappers from an Asian market and making her own filling, usually with pork.  She taught me how to fold them her way and pan-fry them, and I've made them ever since.  I LOVE potstickers.  I can't control myself around that fried dough.

At American restaurants, potstickers are an appetizer and you usually get between 4 and 8.  My parents say that when they would eat big dinners with Chinese hosts, potstickers would come after the meal.  Bowls and bowls of them.  That's more my style; splitting 4 delicious fried dumplings with someone else just seems crazy to me.  And it's nice to know exactly what's in the filling when you make them yourself.  I've made mine with chicken and mango, pork and pumpkin, and this seafood filling.  Completely vegetarian ones are on my list next.

This is my second time making seafood potstickers, and they turned out very well!  My in-laws, who got in this morning, said they were delicious.  However, I served them with pretty uninteresting sides, and the rice seemed kind of redundant.  Next time, I'll do a rice salad with more complex flavors.

Since my in-laws were here to help with distracting the kids and dinner prep, we all got to sit down together (at the BIG table!).  My father-in-law opened a nice Chianti, which I will drink with pretty much anything.  My kids spent most of their time asking for more mango (Ben: "o pees? kay") and strawberries, but Ben did eat some of his potsticker and rice, and Sophie ate her broccoli.  I feel like she's barely eating anything these days, but I guess if she eats broccoli I should just calm down.

You can totally make your own potstickers, too!  Get the square Na Soya wonton wrappers from most any grocery store around here, or the circles from an Asian market.  And you can fill them with anything you want.  Just make sure you have an ingredient to bind the filling together, such as an egg.  I got tonight's recipe from The Potsticker Chronicles by Stuart Chang Berman (a book with mostly non-potsticker recipes), and adapted it as you see it below.

Potstickers with Shrimp and Scallops

1 package of 40-50 potsticker wrappers
3/4 pound small or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 pound scallops (I shelled out for sea scallops tonight, but I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have)
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon Hennessy
2-3 tablespoons of chives, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 egg white (optional)
1-2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup oil, plus more as needed
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar

If you forgot to take your potsticker wrappers out of the freezer in time for them to thaw completely, take them out of the plastic and stick them in the microwave for 30 seconds.  They'll be fine.  :)

Next, start making the filling in one of two ways.  First, you can mince all your seafood by hand, in which case you will need the egg white.  Or you can do what I did, which is to put all my seafood in the small bowl of my food processor and pulse it until there weren't any huge pieces left.  Since food processors chop things unevenly, this meant that some of the seafood had basically turned to paste (very appetizing, I know).  I figured that meant I didn't need to bother with the egg, and I was right.  But the filling probably would have turned out more delicate if I had minced by hand and made it bind with egg.  Too late now, and they were delicious anyway!

At any rate, once your seafood is no longer in big pieces, put it in a mixing bowl and stir in the other ingredients.  Take the mixture, a small spoon, your wrappers, and a little bowl of water to a work station, along with a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and dusted lightly with flour.

Now you can start filling!  No matter what wrapper you're using, you want just a scant tablespoon of filling in each one.  Overfilling makes folding much more difficult than it needs to be.  If you use Na Soya wrappers, there are instructions on the package for making a wonton shape, which is fine.  Here is what I do with the round ones:

Like my mom says, it really doesn't matter, especially if you're not Chinese.  But I do what she does, which is to fold the wrapper in half around the filling, and then make 4-5 small folds in the side facing me, keeping my fingers wet the whole time so the dough stays together once you've folded it.

You can make these ahead of time, too, but I never end up doing it.  When you're ready to cook them, put some oil in a pan -- enough to cover the bottom -- over medium-high heat.  Arrange the potstickers in the pan comfortably; you may need to do two or even three batches, depending on the size of your pan.  When the bottoms of the potstickers are brown, dump in about 1/4 cup of water and quickly cover the pan.  This step is what cooks the filling.  Give it about 5 minutes, then uncover the pan and check one of the potstickers to make sure it's done.  If the outside looks good to you, take the potstickers out; if the water and steam have made the skins too soggy, let them fry a little longer after the water has boiled off.

Serve the potstickers with dipping sauce made of 1 part soy sauce to 1 part rice vinegar.

Of course, you can definitely boil the dumplings, too -- it's more authentic, and also healthier.  But for me, that's what makes the difference between being worth the time... and not.

This amount was plenty for four adults and two kids.