Orange Roughy, Coconut Rice, Eggplant, Hot Pepper Sauce, Fresh Basil

I haven't cooked that much recently but I think with the spring coming I am going to do a lot more dishes focusing on food I get from the farmers markets around the NY area.  This Asian inspired dish was an amazing late night dinner experience.  This dish takes 45 minutes, costs about $25 and feeds 2.

Orange Roughy
12 oz of fresh Orange Roughy, trimed to 4 3oz pieces
4 scallions, rough chop
4 large batons of ginger
handful fresh basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season with salt and white pepper and saute in olive oil on medium heat until golden on each side. Remove from heat and place the remaining items into the pan and place the fish on top of the bed of arromatics. Place the whole pan in the oven for 10 minutes.

Coconut Rice
1 Can organic coconut milk
2 cups water
12 oz white jasmin rice
2 scallions, fine chopped
4 large ginger batons
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Combine coconut milk, water and rice into a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Once it boils add the remaining ingredients and cover.  Turn heat to low and let cook 15 minutes.  Remove from heat leaving covered and open when ready to serve.  Remove ginger pieces before serving.

Hot Pepper Sauce
1 thai finger hot pepper, thin sliced
1 red serrano pepper, thin sliced
1 green serano pepper, thin sliced
2 yellow mini sweet peppers, thin sliced
4 scallions, thin sliced
1 piece ginger, thin sliced batons
1 shallot, thin sliced
2 teaspoons ponzu sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/8 cup vegeatble stock
salt and cayenne pepper

Saute all vegetables in vegetable oil on medium high heat. Once cooked through add remaining ingredients and let cook 5 minutes.

Roasted Japanese Eggplant 
Slice eggplant into 1 inch rounds.  Saute in olive oil on medium heat until golden on each side.  Salt and place in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes

I blanched some fresh basil for 5 seconds and added it after plating the dish to bring in a crisp and fresh flavor.  Good food with great company, the perfect start to long night. Buon apetito!

Braised Turkey Thigh, Forbidden Rice, White Eggplant, Apple Gravy

I am constantly looking for new ways to add something different to the blog.  I try not using a specific vegetable or protein twice in the same way, and have been pretty successful so far.  But as we get past the 130 recipe mark the challenge increases.  Here are some turnkey thighs that my friend gave to me so that I could compose something new.  This recipe takes an hour, costs about $10 and feeds two.

Braised Turkey Thighs
2 large turkey thighs, skin on
1/2 onion, diced,
1 small tomato, diced
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 cup apple cider

Start a large sautee pan over medium heat.  Once hot add season chicken thighs skin down and let cook about ten minutes or until very golden brown.  Turn thighs and add onions, tomato and garlic to the pan and let cook about five minutes. Add stock and cider and let cook five more minutes. Remove from the stove top and place in a 350 degree oven for twenty minutes. Remove thighs and then strain remaining sauce sauce.

Forbidden Rice
This is a special black rice from Indonesian that has a nutty flavor.  It takes about 35 minutes to cook and is delicious.

White Eggplant
This albino looking cousin to the standard eggplant has a slightly less bitter taste and a beautiful appearance   I sliced the eggplant and roasted it in the oven for about 25 minutes while the turkey thighs were braising. The white eggplant is a nice contrast to the black rice.

Buon Appetito!!

Black Cod, Chinese Eggplant, Shitake, Soy Basil Sauce

The earthy flavors of Chinese vegetables go great with the meaty textured Cod. Quality fish is the key making this dish a success. The feeds two, costs $20 and takes about 1 hour.

Soy Basil Sauce
2 cup Kitchen Basics vegetable stock
2 tablespoons organic soy sauce
2 tablespoons ponzu
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 tablespoons chopped ginger
1/4 piece fresh lemongrass
1 handful fresh basil

Start all ingredients except basil in a small sauce pan and let reduce over medium low heat until about 1/4 cup remains. Strain and reserve 1/8 cup for glazing veggies and meat.  Reduce remaining 1/8 cup to a few tablespoons and then add basil for a finishing sauce.

Roasted Chinese Eggplant and Shitake Mushrooms
Preheat the oven to 375. Slice medium eggplant in half.  Brush with marinade and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes.  After the eggplant has been in for 20 minutes, brush the mushrooms with the marinade and place in the oven for the remaining 25 minutes.

Black Cod
Start a large sautee pan on medium high with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Once very hot, add the two Cod filets slowly and let cook for about 4-5 minutes or until golden.  Flip fish and let cook 3 minutes.  Pour remaining marinade in to the pan,with some fresh lemongrass and then place the whole pan in the oven.  Let cook for 7 minutes and remove. Serve over eggplant and mushrooms, top with the finishing sauce.

Buon Apetito!

Seafood Thai Green Curry

Thai green curry is a flavor packed meal, thats becuase there are so many ingredients to work with. For beginners, I recommend buying the green curry paste and then graduating to making that paste when you have the other parts of the dish down.

Green Curry Paste
1/2 cup basil (thai if you can find it)
1/2 cup cilantro
6 green chilis (thai if you find)
1 tablespoon ground ginger (galingol)
1 tablespoon ground garlic
1 shallot or 1/4 red onion
3 green onions chopped
1 piece of lemon grass
juice from 1/2 a lime
1 bay leaf
cumin, coriander, salt and pepper

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. I used finger hot, Anaheim, habanero and jalapeño chillies because they didn't have Thai chilis.



Once you have the green curry paste you can begin making the rest of the dish. The curry paste will last about a week in the fridge if you want to make extra to save.

Seafood Vegetable Thai Green Curry

1 pound peeled deveined shrimp (u24 is a good size)
1/2 pound bay scallops
8oz jumbo lump crab meat (any crab meat will suffice)

1 thai eggplant, chopped large
1 cup broccoli and cauliflower mix
1/2 cup carrots, julienned
1 green bell pepper, julienned
1 can of bamboo shoots, julienned

1 cup of Thai green curry paste
2 cans lite coconut milk

1 handful of unsalted cashews (I had salted so I rinsed them in cold water)
1/2 cup of basil
1/2 cup cilantro

Garnish
Sliced Avocado
Green onions
Cilantro
Basil
Lime wedges

Start a large cooking vessel or wok on medium high heat. Add vegetable oil to coat the bottom and add you vegetables, cover. After 5 minutes remove the veggies and add your seafood. Stir to cook evenly, after 5 minutes remove and set aside, they will cook through in the curry. Add green curry paste to the pot and let it cook for 1 minute, do worry they will bring out all of the flavor. Add the coconut milk and mix it through, let it cook for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and add the veggies and the seafood. Let cook for twenty minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cashews, cilantro and basil.



I also boiled up some nice jasmine rice and added a little coconut oil and salt. The lump crab meat made the dish so rich and coated all of the other items in the mix. We had our friends Sean & Dana over for dinner. They both know their Thai food well and we all cleaned our plates so I was happy with my first try at Thai Curry from scratch.

Potato and Eggplant Curry with Basmati Rice, Spouts Salad and Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

Wow, where to start. I have been trying to make my own curries (dry and wet, green and red) recently and after a lot of research I have made some progress. Since it is Saturday, I was able to go to the weekly organic farmers market in Coconut Grove and pick up some key ingredients.

After the market, Nicole and I went to our friends Josue and Laura's house to try to make some serious vegetable curry. We chose eggplants, white sweet potato, baby sweet potato, vidallia onion and purple potato for the vegetables. I chopped all of the potatoes uniformly about a 1/2 inch square. I also chopped the eggplant and onion uniformly at 3/4 inch square. I laid the veggies out on a sheet tray and baked them for 25 minutes at 315 or until cooked but still firm.

In the meantime I went about making the curry. For the wet green curry I mixed chopped garlic, ginger, Serrano chillies, jalapeño peppers, habanero peppers, coconut water, fenugreek, coriander, salt and black pepper together with a mortar and pestal. For the dry curry I mixed powdered coriander, cumin, cayenne, red chili, mustard seed, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, star anise, nutmeg, bay leaf, thyme and turmeric in a dry sauté pan. I turned the pan on low and waited until the spices became fragrant. I then added the seasoning mix to the wet curry and belended it all together.

We chose to go classic and use basmati rice. Rinse the rice twice in cold water. Then add new water and bring the rice to a boil. Let the rice cook on medium heat until the rice has risen to the water level. Cover the pot using a piece of aluminum foil first the put on the pot lid , this will create a very tight seal. Turn it to low and let it cook another 7 to 9 minutes, set a side and let it rest for at least 5 minutes before fluffing.

I also made a cucumber yogurt condiment which consisted of: sliced cucumber, yogurt, olive oil, curry seasoning, salt and black pepper.

To finish the curry we started a large pot on medium heat. We added the curry and stirred it until fragrant. We then added a can of coconut milk and some coconut water. We let this cook for 10 minutes and then added all of the vegetables. We let that cook for another 10 minutes to get heated through and to allow the flavors to meld.

I served this with a sprouts salad that was a mix of organic sunflower, broccoli and buckwheat sprouts with a sprouted bean mix of 6 different beans. I tossed that with an herb-lime vinaigrette and some vidallia onions.

It turned out pretty good and I enjoyed it as well. I think this curry road is going to be a long a interesting flavor adventure. One I willingly will travel.

Karin's Birthday Dinner

My mother in law wanted Italian food for her birthday. I decided to make chicken parm, eggplant parm, tomatos caprese with some heirloom tomatoes and fresh tomato sauce.

I breaded and fried the chicken breats, put a thin layer of sauce in a baking pan, put a bit more sauce on the chicken and topped with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

For the eggplant I went a little healthier. I sliced the eggplant in 3/4 inch rounds and placed in a single layer on a baking sheet. I baked them at 275 for 15 minutes to dry them out. I then flourered, eggwashed and breaded them. I put them back on the baking sheet and baked them at 350 for about 25 minutes or until crispy. I topped them with some tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese and put them back in the oven until the cheese was melted.

For the tomato sauce I peeled and seeded roma tomatos. I roughly chopped garlic and put it in a small pan with olive oil. I put the garlic on low and let roast for 20 minutes. in a large sauce pot on medium heat I added the tomatoes and garlic with oil. I cooked and smahed the sauce until the tomaoes cooked though and started to boil. Turn the heat to medium low and add fresh torn basil. Smash or blend sauce, add salt and pepper to taste.

Tomato Caprese is pretty standard alternating slices of beefsteak toamto and fresh mozzarella. I added chopped basil. On one side I used white balsmaic vinegar and on the other side I used traditional red balsamic vinegar. EV olive oil and salt & pepper finished the dish.

I hope she enjoyed.

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