Checking out the Fish blog

March 5-7 2013 Pacific Grenadier Caught by Captain Le with Parsely Spaghetti | SLO Fresh Catch

Our fresh catch for tonight will be Pacific Grenadier. I just checked out their blog for slofreshcatch.com for the first time and its great. Local fisherman sharing what they are bringing in. I also get Tognazzini's newsletter and. Know they have a wonderful fish market and restaurant in Morro Bay. The thing is I never know what to buy, so by having it come to me as sort of a surprise, I have to do some quick research and just go with it for a menu plan. Tonight we will try poaching the fish and serve it with spaghetti squash. I will let you know how it turns out.

Lee cooks!

It's almost like ordering out...I came home to dinner, hot and ready to eat. No, we didn't order pizza or pick up Chinese on the way home...Lee cooked!
He beat me home today, in fact by a few hours, so I sent him some menu suggestions and he took it from here. He baked some cod that I had defrosting in the frig and he coated it with olive oil, coarse sea salt and the gremolata that I had prepared yesterday. The concoction of lemon zest, parsley and garlic was made for fish dishes! We still had enough tartar sauce left over from our last fish night to get us through this meal, so good deal! All I had to do was pour a little goblet of Pilot Grigio and I was set.
I have to say the store-bought cod is nowhere close to as good as the fresh caught fish we have been getting with our SLO Veg box, but maybe we are just becoming snobs. I smelled that fishy smell usually associated with cooking fish as soon as I walked in the front door tonight, while the fresh-caught stuff really doesn't smell fishy at all.
Some of the SLO Veg broccoli and store-bought baby carrots went into the microwave steamer basket along with some slice shallots, and he found the stash of quinoa in my pantry which he cooked on the stovetop. He even seasoned it with dried herbs: basil, oregano and parsley. Not bad for a now spoiled former single dad who claims he has forgotten how to cook.
So this week we have eaten broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, strawberries, kiwi, oranges, shallots, tangelos, radishes, celery, garbanzo sprouts and romaine lettuce. The only thing we have left are the grapefruits....I kind of forgot about them. I guess I should do something with them tomorrow, because by tomorrow night we will have a new box of produce to play with. Oh happy day!

Little Orange Squash Risotto, Braised Kale and Oven-fried Chicken

We got some cute little orange squashes in the tote this week. They are about the same size as an orange, too. I don't know what they are called (Rachel?), but we only got a couple of them, so I figured they should be added to something, rather than served as a dish by themselves. I googled risotto recipes and came up with this one (below).

I also made some oven fried chicken and braised kale, using the same recipe I had outlined in an earlier blog, "Bond girls, braised kale and chicken". Its simply some minced garlic softened in a bit of olive oil in a large saute pan, then you add about a half cup of chicken broth and toss in the trimmed kale. Put the lid on it and let it steamed for at least 10 minutes, then add a couple of dashes of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and You Got Kale!

I cooked a picnic pack of chicken, which had 6 thighs and 6 drumsticks. I made a quick batter using an egg and about a half cup of milk. Then I mixed together a cup each of cornmeal and almond flour with onion and garlic powders, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper and rolled each piece of chicken in it. The chicken went onto an oiled baking sheet and baked in a 375 degree oven for an hour. 

It was a good thing I started early, because the risotto a lot longer than the recipesaid. I suppose it is because I used the wild rice blend instead of the traditional Arborio rice. 

Squash Risotto

• 2 cups squash
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 C onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (e.g. Chardonnay)
• 1 cup wild rice blend
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• fresh ground salt and pepper, to taste

Peel and cube butternut squash.  Place in a large basking dish coasted with oil.  Roast in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, turning the squash with a spatula halfway through.
When removing from oven, add squash to large pot, covering in the chicken broth.  Let simmer on low, leaving squash cubed.
Meanwhile, sautee minced onion and garlic in butter until onions are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add rice and stir until rice is coated in butter.
Add sage and white wine.  Let simmer until wine is mostly absorbed, about 3 minutes.
Slowly add in chicken broth, one ladle at a time.  Let rice absorb and then add another ladleful until most of the broth is absorbed and the rice becomes creamy. Stir slowly and constantly. Process will take about 20 minutes.
Once all liquid is absorbed into rice, remove from heat.  Mash the butternut squash with a masher or fork.  Add to rice and stir well.  Add parmesan, salt and pepper.

About thes

Gremolata - its Parsley, Lemon and Garlic!

I still have a bunch of parsley to use up, and we are getting more in this week's box, so I'd better get cracking! I had Lee pick some of the last remaining lemons off our scraggly tree out back, so now its time to make Gremolata and use it on something like fish or chicken or pasta. I searched out a few recipe links that sounded good. Lee is trying to avoid wheat right now, so I might make a brown rice pasta version of the pasta and mushroom gremolata dish. It will be light and refreshing!

Here are a couple of links to check out:

http://cookingfortwo.about.com/od/ingredients/r/gremolata.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/health/nutrition/pasta-with-mushrooms-and-gremolata-recipes-for-health.html?_r=0

I got out my tools: my mini chopper, a zester, my big knife, a bowl, spatula, salt and pepper, lemons, garlic and the parsley.

So first I washed and spun out the parsley in the salad spinner, then I plucked off the leaves, discarding the stems into our compost pot. I took three big cloves of garlic and smashed them with the flat of the knife, then minced them up coarsely. I stuffed the parsley leaves into the chopper and added the minced garlic, then grated some fresh lemon peel on top. I added the juice of a half lemon and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then blended the ingredients with the chopper. After it was all diced up into small pieces, I added some salt and pepper and Voila! We have Gremolata!

Roasted Beets...the only way to go!

My Dad always had this great garden every summer, and he would go out there after work and water it, and bring his fresh bounty in to our table. One of his favorite vegetables was beets. Now , I never liked them as a kid, no matter how they tried to feed them to me: boiled, pickled or whatever. But I just don't recall ever having a roasted beet. So now, being the adventurous foodie that I am becoming, I gave beets another try...roasted! What a difference an hour in a moderate oven can make! 

It's super simple. Just scrub the beets and then trim off the tops and ends. Place in the middle of a square of aluminum foil and drizzle with oil. I usually use olive oil, but have also used avocado oil, and I think I may try it with coconut oil. After about an hour, take them out and let them cool for a few minutes, then open he foil packet and remove the skin. It should peel right off. I can slice them up for a salad, or marinate them in a vinaigrete, or just eat them with a little salt.  

Weekly delivery - Manna from Heaven!

My husband and son and I are enjoying this service from SLO Veg so much that we have become weekly customers! This way we won't miss out on any of the fantastic produce that they deliver to our doorstep. We had started out with a bi-weekly delivery to see how far the food went, but I felt we were missing out when our off week had something in the box that I really liked.
This week we are getting cauliflower. That is like the Paleo eater's holy grail, or at least like manna from heaven! It has become one of the most versatile of vegetables, because you treat it like a potato, mashing it up and serving it with sauce, or adding cheese, roasting it or making it into patties. I even saw a recipe for Buffalo cauliflower! We also get snap peas this week, one of my favorite veges to eat raw!
The menu suggestions for this has me intrigued as well. Grapefruit cake? Mac and smoked Gouda with cauliflower? I'm thinking "Yum!" I've got to make some baked apples for dessert, too!
Another cool thing that is happening is that people I have been telling about this service have been signing up for veggie totes in their areas. Some are in North County, so they have to use a different company, but they love the concept. I have a friend in Ohio that just signed up with a co-op and a niece in Arizona who is doing it also. At least 5 people at my work are going to try it, as well!
"Fruit, Vegetable, Herb, and Juice List for 03/04/2013 - 03/08/2013
THIS WEEK'S TOTE INCLUDES: Ruby Red Grapefruit,Tangelos,Vine Ripened Strawberries,"Organic" Sweet Fuji Apples,Sugar Snap Peas (first harvest),Rainbow Chard,Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Yukon Potatoes,Citron Lemon,Red Leaf Lettuce,Leeks,and Cauliflower (first harvest)
THIS WEEK'S RECIPES (http://www.sloveg.com/recipes.cfm): Grapefruit Cake with Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting; Citrus Muffins; Strawberry Orange Muffins; Baked Apples Stuffed with Honey,Almonds and Ginger; Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame; Sugar Snap Peas and Spinach with Ginger; Seared Steak with Chard Salad; Sauteed Swiss Chard with Onions; Grilled Yukon Potatoes with Rosemary-Lemon Vinaigrette; Yukon Gold & Sweet Potato Home Fries; Grilled Leeks with Herb Vinaigrette; Spaghettini with Gorgonzola,Leeks,and Shallots,Mac and Smoked Gouda with Cauliflower; Fettucini with Walnuts and Parsley; Parsley Vinaigrette"

Buffalo chicken tenders with vegie sticks

"Awesome dinner!" That came from Taylor and his friend Dante. I guess they liked it...they cleaned their plates. I asked how they liked the brussels sprouts? "I devoured those first", T said.

Wow! We are really making some strides in this family. I knew the buffalo chicken tenders would be a hit. I have been craving buffalo chicken for a couple of weeks now. They were strips of chicken breast rolled in seasoned flour, dipped in an egg-milk batter and rolled in cornmeal, then fried in a shallow pan with olive oil. The fried chicken was then put into a baking dish and slathered with a prepared bottle of buffalo sauce and baked in a 400 degree oven for 10 more minutes. Lee picked up some Bleu cheese dressing on the way home so we could dip the chicken and veges in it.

I cut some of the fresh Romaine lettuce from the SLO VEG box and rinsed it in the salad spinner. That provided a base for a salad topped with some sliced radishes and red onion. The chicken tenders topped the salad. I think next time I will cut the chicken into more bite-sized chunks instead of strips. Sticks of red bell pepper, zucchini and some farm fresh celery added another option for dipping into the Bleu cheese dressing.

The meal was completed with roasted brussels sprouts and a cream of celery-mushroom soup. I used a recipe for the brussels sprouts from the SLO VEG website, incorporating some of those shallots from the tote. Shallots are new for me, and I like them!  I also used the Creamy Chinese Celery Soup recipe which incorporated more of the shallots and my last russet potato, except after pureeing it, I tossed in some sauteed mushrooms  for more of a cream of mushroom soup. I forgot about adding wine, too, but we didn't miss it. We just had a small cup with our bountiful dinner, so we will have leftover soup for tomorrow.