Grilled Fish Slidders with Fennel Slaw

This season my mother purchased a share at Massaro Farm, a new local CSA farm that providess more than 100 families with weekly supplies of organic produce and donates thousands of pounds of food to people who needed it. My mother's weekly share includes a huge amount of greens, onions, herbs and loads of other delicious produce. There is more than enough for her and my stepfather, so she has been bringing me heads of cabbage, lettuce, onions, fennel and other yummy things (the benefit of living next door). I was planning a special dinner for my mother in-law (who was visiting from Brooklyn, and the cabbage and fennel inspired thoughts of a fresh vinegar dressed coleslaw, and proved to be a great inspiration for delicious grilled fish sandwiches for dinner.

We stoked up the grill, marinated some tilapia and wild salmon in a marinade of garlic, cilantro, vinegar, salt and oil. For simplicity sake the same marinade went on a large bowl of sliced peppers, onions, mushrooms and zucchini, which then got skewered and readied for grilling. The slaw was a combination of finely sliced white cabbage, fennel bulb and "leaves", basil, cilantro, tiny red onions, scallion, vinegar, honey and salt. The whole lot got tossed together to pickle a bit before the meal was served. A mock tartar sauce made of mayo doctored with a little vinegar, salt and honey added just the right embellishment to the fish, and tiny grilled brioche rolls from Judie's made the meal decadent. We topped off the dinner with some homemade pineapple mint sorbet; essentially a delicious smoothie poured into an ice cream maker to freeze while dinner was cooking. 

It was a great summer meal, one I'm sure will be repeated again before fall hits.

 Above: fennel slaw, Below: grilled vegetable kebabs, toasted mini brioche buns, mussels with garlic and tarragon (an extra treat), and marinated grilled tilapia.

 Pineapple mint sorbet:

Have you had any great grilled meals this summer? Please share!

Garlic Lime Skewers and Shrimp Tacos

Recently, any food on a skewer seems to be quite appealing. Summer is taking root: carnivals are popping up on the weekends and the smell of (other people's) backyard BBQs are wafting down the street, flavoring my imagination with ideas of flavorful kebabs. Inspired, more than one dinner this week featured deliciously marinated food pierced by a very pointy stick and seared in my cast iron skillet until it was well charred and the garlicy aromas made my mouth water. This is an easy and quick recipe, aside from the few minutes it takes to skewer the food. The first night I used this marinade on thinly sliced chicken, skewered and  served with rice and vegetables, but it got devoured before any photos could be snapped. You can make this dish with any assortment of vegetables or meat you like, and, if you are lucky enough to have a grill, this would be even tastier cooked with the flame and smoke of an open fire!

On the second night of skewering, the same marinade of garlic, lime, cilantro, marjoram, thyme, oil, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of agave made the perfect base for very flavorful shrimp tacos. I also skewered and marinated some tofu for the vegetarians. Corn Tortillas were heated on the open flame of the gas stove, fresh lettuce was picked from the garden, and a yogurt and cilantro cream with a handful of fresh corn kernels made a delicious dressing. Very simple, very quick and incredibly satisfying!

 Cilantro Yogurt Cream

 Shrimp taco with a little extra fresh corn

Garlic Lime Marinade
for shrimp, chicken, tofu or beef

One pound of small shrimp or other meat:

4 Cloves garlic, peeled finely chopped
1 Lime, zested and juiced
3 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped (about 1/4 of a bunch)
6 Sprigs combined of other herbs you have or like (I used marjoram and thyme. Basil, oregano, taragon, sage, or others would also taste good.)
1/4 Cup oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of honey, agave or a pinch of sugar
you can add dried or fresh hot pepper to this if you like

1. Finely chop the garlic, salt, and herbs together or grind with a mortar and pestle or in a blender. Add oil, lime juice and zest, sweetener and pepper. 
2. Clean and cut your meat or vegetables. For shrimp or fish: rinse in cold water, add a pinch of salt and the juice of half a lime; let sit for 10 minutes, drain, marinate and skewer. Chicken or beef: cut meat in very thin strips, marinate, and thread the skewer back and forth through the meat for easy quick cooking. For tofu: use extra firm, and cut into thick slices to withstand skewering. I marinated my shrimp and chicken for only 20 minutes, but you can marinate them for much longer, even over night if you have the time. 
3. To cook: In a very hot heavy frying pan, drizzle a small amount of oil, and place enough skewers to fit with room around them. Do not crowd them or they will steam and not sear. Cook on high heat until one side is browned, flip over and cook for a minute or so on the other side until cooked through. Repeat until all the skewers are cooked.

To Make Shrimp Tacos:

Shrimp Skewers (above)

Corn tortillas - warmed (over an open flame if possible)

Cilantro Cream (below)

Lettuce - whole leaves or finely sliced

Fresh corn kernels - cut for 2 ears of corn (you can use frozen if needed)

Cilantro Cream

1/2 cup yogurt

handful of cilantro, finely chopped

pinch salt

pinch pepper

1/2 garlic clove minced (optional)

1/2 cup Fresh corn kernels (optional)

1. Stir all the ingredients together. Serve or refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Serve all the taco fixings in bowls on the table, and add any others that you are inspired to include: hot peppers, peaches, cucumbers or anything else that sounds good to you. Let everyone dig in and make their own tacos, it is a fun and delicious meal.

What do you like to skewer? (And I am intending this question to mean food!)

I Love My Rice Cooker - yellow rice, green olives, red beans, trout, and spinach

I really do love my rice cooker. I got it at a yard sale in a student's apartment in Cambridge, MA on my lunch break from the kitchen more than 12 years ago, and it is still going strong! I rarely cook rice in a pan or pot anymore, since the rice cooker does it so much better! I figure if most of the Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese people I know use then, then it must be the best way to cook rice, and for more than a decade that has proved right.

I rarely do anything more than cook plain rice in it though. Brown, white, long grain, short grain, sweet, basmati, etc. But on occasion I decide to use it more like a crock pot and throw in a bunch of spices, some beans, onion or other seasonings, and cook a whole meal in it.

Tonight's meal:
Yellow Rice with Green Olives, Red Beans
and Broiled Trout with Fresh Herbs and Spinach

This is one of those "a little bit of this, a little bit of that" recipes. Nothing is really set, use what you have and make it your own. For this version I sauteed some onion in  a pan (you could try doing this in the bottom of your cooker too) added some turmeric, paprika, salt, pepper, and half a jar of tomato sauce (that was about to spoil in the fridge), then the water for the rice. (see the note about rice/water proportions below). I poured this over the 2 cups of rice in the cooker added some green olives, a can of drained and rinsed red kidney beans, shut the top and clicked "cook". when it was done about 20 minutes later it clicked itself to "keep warm" and I let it steam for 5 minutes before serving.

While it was cooking I thawed some frozen trout in warm water. rinsed it well, sprinkled with salt and pepper, a little olive oil and put it on a cookie sheet under the broiler when the rice was done cooking. I had to prop it up close to the flame to get it to brown a touch but not over cook, but it worked.

I served it up with some spinach (which could have been added to the cooker too), but I opted for fresh, and we had a great simple dinner on the front steps. My son declared it one of the best dinners ever, which made me smile, but I knew it was just because he was really really hungry, and everything tastes great when you are hungry!

Note: for white rice in a rice cooker I use 1cup rice to 1cup water, for brown rice I use 1cup rice to 11/2 cups water. When you add cooked beans to a recipe you usually need to add a little more water (not more than a few tablespoons). If you are cooking rice in a pan, try sauteing the rice with the onion until it becomes opaque, then add your spices and liquid. Cover and cook without removing the cover until the water is absorbed about 20 minutes, (add 20 minutes to the cooking time for brown rice) In a frying pan bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce heat to low, simmer covered until water is totally absorbed and rice is tender, turn heat off and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Fennel Pollen & Passover

A few months ago my husband and I had a rare moment to go into NYC by ourselves, sans kids. My mother-in-law gave us tickets to see Fela, a fabulous Broadway show about Fela Kuti, one of our favorite musicians from Nigeria, and choreographed by Bill T. Jones who I also love! (Very worth the trip, check it out!) After the show we got together with one of our oldest friends Mel and her boyfriend Caesar, both of whom are acupuncturists and great NYC foodies. We ended up in the east village at The Red Head, a farmers' market driven southern cooking restaurant with some New Orleans influence. It was very good, and better than you'd imagine even the best southern influenced cooking could be, and I don't say things like that lightly. We got to talking about foods we love, only to learn that Caesar had been carrying his own salt around with him lately, to sprinkle on all kinds of things! After dinner we treked over to Porchetta, a small pork restaurant in alphabet city, where Caesar quickly purchased a little tin, and handed it to me as a gift. A fabulous gift! It was a great night, and did a lot to quench my thirst for NYC food and friends.

Since returning home, I have been sprinkling tiny bits of this fragrant fennel pollen laced salt on just about everything, fish, bagels, tofu, carrots, you name it. I love Fennel, and the deep but fresh aroma of the fennel pollen, mixed with sage and rosemary in this salt is just wonderful. We have fondly come to call it "Pig Salt", due to the pig on the tin (not very kosher, I know). If you want to experiment with fennel pollen, there are lots of resources online for it and you can shop around, but here is one site where you can purchase some.

For our passover seder last night hosted by my mother, I was given the task of making 2 cakes, the matzo balls and the fish. A recipe ripped from the NY Times was left on my counter a few days ago and then yesterday a large bag of Haddock she'd purchased. Check out the original recipe which included thinly sliced roasted lemons and olives, both of which I love. I hadn't really looked at the recipe much until I was ready to cook it, and hadn't noticed that it had fresh rosemary as well. Since my garden is still thawing, I didn't have any on hand, I thought my fennel pollen salt with rosemary would make a great substitution for the fresh rosemary and also the chili powder in the recipe.

I followed the recipe and started by roasting the fish with the lemons at 450, and then broiling them for  a minute to brown them, but they didn't really brown much. I would start by broiling them first, and then set the oven to 450 to finish them if needed. We served this up with roasted asparagus and green beans, as well as smashed fingerling potatoes with leeks. 

We had a very nice seder, which this year included the reading of the names of many of our family members who died during the Holocaust in Europe. We had old friends and new ones, family members ranging in age from 1-87, and of course, tons of great food. Below clockwise from the left: matzo ball soup, my mom's roasted chicken staying warm, a fabulous almond cardamom and lemon cake (no dairy, no gluten), and miriam's delicious salad with pea shoots, candied nuts, and some roasted beets my mom added on.

What did you cook or eat this week? 

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