Cuttlefish and Smoked Salmon Spicy Chowder

I know, it has been AGES since I have written a post. All with having a baby and all, I haven't really had the time to write. I have actually made some delish dishes a few times, but never got to blogging about it. This post is an afterthought (which is why these pictures show the pot minus the two bowls of soup we ate for lunch!). I made a very yummy meal today, while trying to clean out the fridge and get rid of stuff, because we are off to NYC for a month in just 2 days! I apologize in advance for the vagueness of this post, but I will say that many amazing plates come out of just throwing a bunch of good ingredients together! As I always say, it's all about having fun and experimenting in the kitchen. So here goes my first post this year...

So here is what you need:

-2 pieces of cuttlefish

-3 slices of smoked salmon

-2 fish heads or th

-2 onionse skeleton of a fish for the broth

-2 carrots

-1 big tomato

-6 potatoes

-1 small green pepper

-6 pieces of garlic

-a handful of fresh basil

-2 fresh jalapenos (you can substitute for any spicy pepper)

-1/2 stick of butter

-1 pint of heavy cream

-salt and pepper

For Rue:

-1/2 stick of butter

-3-4 tablespoons of flour

-1/4 cup of white wine

-1 cup of milk

First finely cut up the onions, garlic, pepper, tomato and peeled carrots. Next, peel the potato and cut it up in uniformed medium squares. Cut up the 2 cuttlefish in small squares. At the same time, put the fish heads/scales in a pot and boil in about 1 1/2 liter of water for 20 minutes on medium high. Make sure to scoop out any white foam that develops on the top, which leaves you with a nice clean broth. Saute the onions, carrots, garlic and peppers in a large pot with 1/2 stick of butter- which will be the pot that the cho

wder is made in. I used a nice big caste iron one that I LOVE (from IKEA). After about 5 minutes, add the tomatoes and continue sauteing for another 5-10 minutes. Add the potatoes and cuttlefish and pour the broth directly through a fine strainer into the pot with the vegetables. Cut up the spicy peppers in big pieces, throwing away the top slice, as the seeds are the spiciest part of the pepper. You can put the whole pepper in the soup if you like your food very spicy! Add about a tablespoon of salt and some pepper. Turn your pot down to a medium heat and cover halfway (I slant the top so that it's balanced on top but doesn't fully cover the pot) and cook, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime you're going to make a rue. Melt 1/2 stick of butter on low heat in a small pan, add the 3-4 spoons of flour and whisk until it thickens, add the milk in little by little, stopping once in a while to whisk the mixture and allow to thicken. Once the milk is mixed in, add in the wine and continue to whisk. Once the rue is nice and thick and smooth, remove it from the heat and set it to the side for when you need to incorporate it into the soup. You'll know that your soup is nearly done, when you take out a potato and try it and it's nice and soft- but not falling apart (you don't want mushy soup!). When the soup is at this point, stir in the pint of heavy c

ream and rue. Cook for another 5-8 minutes, then try and add salt and pepper to taste. Lastly, dice up the salmon and chop up the basil and throw it in the soup and cover the soup and let it sit for 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Hopefully it won't take me as long as it took me to write this post to return with another great recipe!

Tofu Veggie Burgers

So I had a pack of tofu in the fridge which was about to expire, and I though, what to do? Hmm...tofu burgers! I grabbed some ingredients, threw them together in my wonderful food proccessor. Added eggs. Made the burgers, let them cool in the fridge, fried them and voila, DELICIOUS and healthy burgers!
Ingredients:

-a packet of tofu
-3 pieces of garlic
-1/2 onion
-1/2 green pepper
-2 carrots
-2 zucchini
-2 eggs
-hot paprika
-salt
-fresh parsley
-oil for frying.


If you have a food processor, then this is super easy. If you don't you will have to cut/grate where I used one. Throw the tofu, onion, garlic, pepper and parsley in the food processor and chop up ingredients. Remove the knife attachment and add the grating attachment. Grate the carrots and zucchini. Pour everything in a bowl and add the salt and paprika. Mix in 2 eggs. Form hamburgers and put them on an oiled tray and allow to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Put 1/4 inch of oil (I used olive but you can use vegetable or sunflower) in a pan and heat up. Fry the burgers on medium/low heat until brown on each side. Make sure to not fry the burgers too high or they will cook on the outside, and be raw in the middle.







Enjoy on a hamburger bun or your favourite toasted bread with lettuce, tomato, avocado, etc. and your favourite sauce like ketchup, spicy mustard and mayonnaise!

Coming Soon! Vegetarian Burgers with potato and sweet potato fries!

Just as soon as I can get this recipe out it'll be up. For now, you can look at the pic and drool! This is delish!!!!

VEGETARIAN BURGERS WITH DUAL COLORED FRIES

Lately I just haven't been a fan of fish, and some of you may not know, but I don't eat any other kind of meat. I was really craving a good ole American meal, so I decided that I needed to make vegetarian burgers. I've never made these before. So I researched online, seeing what different ingredients are used to make vegetarian burgers, and according to what I saw and what I had in my fridge, I came up with this delicious recipe! I can hardly wait to make these Veggie Burgers again!

Ingredients for Vegetarian Burgers:

-1 large can of white beans
-125g of mushrooms (a small package)
-1 red onion
-2 spring onions
-1/2 red pepper
-2 pieces of garlic
-1 whole grated carrot
-3 handfuls of fresh parsley
-bread crumbs
-1 egg
-2 tsp. paprika
-1 tsp. hot paprika
-1 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. oregano
-a sprinkle of sesame seeds
-a pinch of ground ginger
-a pinch of cayenne
-a pinch of black pepper
-salt to taste
-olive oil


Ingredients for Fries:

-3 red potatoes
-1 large sweet potato
-vegetable oil (for frying)

First, wash all of the vegetables. Dice up the red onion and mushrooms and stick them in a pan with 2-3 tbsp. of olive oil,. Sprinkle with salt and saute on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Next, dice the red pepper and add and continue to saute the vegetables. Then slice up the spring onion and garlic. When the mushrooms, red onion and red pepper have reduced add the spring onion and garlic, sprinkle more salt and stir. When the juices in the vegetables have evaporated quite a bit in about 10 minutes, turn off and set to the side.

In a big bowl, mash up the rinsed white beans with a fork or potato masher. Add all of the spices. Rinse and dice up the fresh parsley and add to the beans. Peel the carrot, grate it and add that and the sauteed vegetables to the bean mixture. Break an egg into the beans and mix, sprinkle the seasame seeds in. Add three handfuls of bread crumbs, or the amount necessary to make the mixture stick together easily.

On a plate, drizzle some olive oil and rub around with a paper towel. This will prevent the veggie burgers from sticking. Next, scoop up a hand of the mixture and form into a burger. Place on the plate and repeat until all of the mixture is used. Put in the fridge and allow to chill for about an hour.

In the meantime, peel the potatoes, slice them into little sticks and set them aside in a bowl with water so that they won't turn brown and stay crisp. A little before the hour has passed, drain the potatoes well and begin frying the potatoes in abundant vegetable oil on medium heat. The sweet potato fries cook faster, so be careful to keep an eye on them. When the fries are light brown, place them on kitchen towel to soak up some of the oil when done, and cover to keep them warm. Don't worry if they get cold, you can stick them in the microwave for a few seconds to heat them up when it's time to eat. And don't forget to sprinkle them with some salt!

After chilled, remove the burgers from the fridge. Pour 3 tbsp. of olive oil into a pan and cook the burgers on medium heat, browning them well on each side.

Serve American style, on a toasted bun with ketchup and/or mayonnaise and a slice of spinach (or lettuce), tomato and red onion.

Even if you are a big meat eater, I encourage you to try out this recipe. It's guaranteed to please your palate!

Eat up! And keep on creating wonderful new inventions in the kitchen!

Atun Encebollado----------Tuna with Onions

This is a super easy typical Spanish recipe!

What you need:

-2 thick slices of raw red tuna steak
-2 medium sized onions
-2 laurel leaves
-20 black pepper corn seeds
-1/2 cup of white/rose wine
-salt
-3 tbsp. olive oil

Pour olive oil into saucer and allow to heat on low. Add the sliced onions and sautee for 5 minutes. Then add the 20 peppercorn seeds, 2 laurel leaves and sprinkle salt on top the onions. Cut the tuna up into cubes and place them in the pan, covering the tuna with the sauteed onions. Add the 1/2 cup of wine and cover and cook on low for 15-20 minutes.

Eat as is, or serve over rice or accompanied by a nice bread.

Keep on cooking!

Sweet Potato Pie

With Thanksgiving having just passed, and the Holidays right around the corner, I thought I'd blog my sweet potato pie recipe. The origin of this recipe is my mom. What's great about cooking is that you can take someone's recipe, tweak it and make it your own! But this is definitely my mother's Sweet Potato Pie recipe!

Ingredients:

-Pre-made or homemade pie dough
-Dried beans or chick peas
-4-5 eggs
-2 sweet potatoes
-molasses
-1/2 tbsp. ginger powder
-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
-1 tbsp. cinnamon
-1 tbsp. vanilla
-1 1/2 cans of evaporate milk or heavy cream

Stick the sweet potatoes in the microwave until done, you can test this by sticking a fork into the potato. If it goes in easily, it's done. If you haven't got a microwave, peel and boil the sweet potatoes until done. In a blender or food processor mix the eggs, add the evaporated milk/heavy cream, peeled sweet potatoes, 3-4 spoons of sugar which is optional depending on how sweet you want it and 4-6 tbsps. of molasses depending on how sweet you want it, you can try the batter and adjust accordingly (side note* my brother and I used to love the sweet potato pie mixture so much that we'd joke about just drinking it and sometimes my mother had to separate us from the batter to have the pie actually make it to the oven). While mixing these ingredients, you should put the bean filled pie crust in the pre-heated oven at 175 C/345 F for 10 minutes. Remove the beans when done and save them, they are still perfectly fine for later use! When the pie mixture is fully blended and tastes good, pour it into the pie crust and stick it in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick in it and it comes out clean. Allow the pie to cool before putting it in the fridge. Cool it in the fridge for several hours before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It's delicious and nutritious and a family fav!

Enjoy and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Coming Soon...

SWEET POTATO PIE!!!!!!





I hope that your preparations for Thanksgiving are going well. I wish you safe travels and regardless of if you are with people or not, a day of reflection on the greatness in your lives and this is what you should indeed be thankful for. I am thankful for your following!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Smoked Salmon Surprise Pockets

What do you do when you have some empanada dough leftover and you just don't know what to do with it? Make a Surprise Pocket! Okay, I'll admit it, I had no idea what I was going to do with the leftover dough I had in the fridge, but what is cooking, but experimenting in the kitchen? Sometimes you end up with a great invention like these, Smoked Salmon Surprise Pockets!

Ingredients:

-100g Smoked Salmon (OR sliced sandwich ham/turkey)
-4 tbsp. fine cheese for pasta
-1/2 stick butter
-3/4 cup of milk
-3-4 onions
-1 egg
-3-4 spoons of brown sugar
-1/4 cup of vinegar
-olive oil
-pre-made dough
-pinch of all spice
-salt

This is such an easy recipe! The hardest part is caramelizing the onions. To caramelize the onions, cut an onion julienne. Pour abundant olive oil in a pan, add the onions and saute on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the juice in the onions evaporate. Add 3-4 spoons of sugar and stir. Continue sauteing on low until the sugar caramelizes. Add 1/4 cup of vinegar and continue sauteing and stirring until the vinegar evaporates. Once the onions are greatly reduced and take on a brown colour, refer to the picture if you aren't sure how they should look, they are done.

Next, prepare the bechamel sauce. First melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and saute for a few minutes to cook the flour. Add the milk little by little whisking. You don't want to add it all at once because you want to get the right consistency. So add a little milk, whisk and if it's too thick, add more milk. Continue whisking and adding milk until you get the thickness that you want. Then add a pint of salt and all spice, mix it in and set the bechamel to the side to cool a bit.

Preheat the oven on high. Now you are ready to set up the Surprise Pockets. Place the dough on a plate, add a spoon of cooled bechamel to the center of the dough, spread out leaving some room around the edges so it's easy to fold the pockets later. Next, add some previously cut up smoked salmon (or sandwich meat. I actually ran out of smoked salmon so made the last 3 with slice ham and my husband couldn't decide which he preferred!), and then top with some caramelized onions. There are various ways that you can fold the dough to make the pockets. Brush egg around the outside and either fold all the sides into the center,trying to overlap the ends so that they seal. You can also bring two ends together and then the fold last end to the center to make a triangular pocket. Experiment. It doesn't really matter how you fold these because it'll taste the same!

Place the finished pockets on a tray that is lined with parchment paper. Brush the pockets with egg yolk so that they shine when done and place the tray in the pre-heated oven, turning the temperature down to around 180C/350F. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the pockets look brown. Midway through the baking process you can open up the oven and brush one more layer of egg yolk for extra shine!
When done place on a pretty plate and serve! You can eat these on their own or with a side salad or vegetable.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen. It's the biggest party place in my house!

Cous Cous Salad

Cous Cous is semolina (wheat), although different grains can be used to produce it depending on the region. It is a very quick and easy to prepare and versatile. I used to experiment eating it with curry dishes, but then one day I tried my friend Andi's amazing cous cous salad and HAD to get her recipe! She said easy, replace water with orange juice and/or stock. It makes such a difference in the flavor! Try it!
















What you'll need:
-a box of cous cous
-equal parts orange juice as cous cous
-a red pepper
-mint or spearmint
-a bag of mixed greens
-6 sun dried tomatoes
-a handful of pistachios
-a half an apple
-a lemon
-a spoon of curry powder
-olive oil
-salt
















First, cut up the peppers, apple and sun dried tomatoes and put in a bowl. Squeeze a lemon and add the juice to the bowl and mix. Let sit.

In the meantime, mash the pistachios in a mortar and press. Wash two handfuls of mint/spearmint and dice up finely.

In a pan bring the OJ* (orange juice) with a spoon full of curry powder and salt to a boil. Shut off the heat and pour in equal parts cous cous and cover for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, open the lid and break up the cous cous with a fork, pouring some olive oil or butter on top. Allow to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, put your mixed greens in a bowl, add the apples, sun dried tomatoes and red pepper mixture. When the cous cous is cooled, add it to the greens and add the pistachios and mint/spearmint and mix. Dress with olive oil and if need be vinegar for added flavor.

*Note, you can use lemonade, vegetable/meat/fish stock, or even water to make cous cous. Just remember, whatever you use, is how the cous cous will taste. Also, don't forget to use the same amount of cous cous as liquid. So if you are making 2 cups of cous cous, you need to bring 2 cups of liquid to a boil.




Serve and enjoy!

Coconut Curry Chicken with Chinese Noodles

Curry powder is a great spice (actually it's a mix of many spices) to use in countless ways in cooking. You can put it in the flour that you fry your chicken, fish, or vegetables in. You can add a spoon of it to mayonnaise to give your sandwich a nice kick, or to your olive oil for your salad. And of course, you can add it to your sauteed vegetables to have along or add with whichever fish or meat you use to make a yummy curry dish. This recipe is for a light curry. It isn't too strong because some Spaniards don't like their food too spicy. But, my guests seemed to really enjoy it so here it is.

Ingredients:

-1 pound of boneless chicken breast
-1-2 onions
-2-3 green peppers
-5 mushrooms
-4-6 pieces of garlic
-1 1/2 cans of coconut milk
-1/2 tbsp. turmeric
-1 tsp. of coriander
-1/4 tbsp. of smoky Turkish pepper
-1 tbsp. curry powder
-1 tbsp. HOT Indian Curry Powder (add more if you like it spicier!)
-1 tsp. of Garam Masala
-1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
-1 tsp. of salt

First wash the chicken breast under cold water with vinegar and salt. Then, cut it up in cubes, discarding the fatty pieces. Place the chicken in a bowl and add the the powdered spices, salt and minced garlic and let it sit in the fridge for several hours. Saute the sliced onions, mushrooms and peppers sprinkled in salt on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the chicken and saute for 5 more minutes. Then add the coconut milk and cover on low heat for another 5 minutes. Uncover, and stir. Continue cooking uncovered on low until the chicken is white through and through.

Serve over Chinese rice noodles, being careful to not use too many noodles or your food will have no flavor.

This is a VERY easy recipe that you can vary depending on what you have in the fridge. You can omit the chicken if you are vegetarian and use more mushrooms. If you are a meat eater use beef or pork, and if you prefer fish use a light fish like hake (Merluza). You can use more curry powder if you like it spicier, and delete the coconut milk and just use stock or water instead if you aren't a fan of creamy dishes. You can also use cream or yogurt instead if you don't like coconut.

Remember that the sky is the limit and keep cooking! Enjoy!

THE QUICHE

Here's some pics of the quiche when it was about to be eaten at my friend Joy's birthday party!

Broccoli Leek and Four Cheese Quiche

First of all, let me just apologize for being totally disconnected from A Dish a Week blog for quite some time. You see, I just got married on August 14th and had a lot of preparation before the big day, then the honeymoon and finally returning to work and normal life. Married life is wonderful! And to honor that, I have for you today a version of my grandma's quiche.

When my grandmother taught me how to make quiche, she explained to me that it's such a simple plate to make and is guaranteed to impress guest. They'd never guess how simple it is to throw this recipe together!

Ingredients needed:

-5 eggs
-a leek
-a bunch of broccoli
-a can of evaporated milk
-250 grams of grated 4 cheese
-1 pack of pre-made dough
-1 tomato
-pepper and salt to taste

If your dough was in the freezer, make sure to leave it in the fridge overnight to thaw. Then remove it from the fridge and allow it to get to room temperature. When ready, lay the dough out, sprinkle some flour on it and the rolling pin and roll it out. This is my preference, because I really don't care for thick crust. If you like your crust thicker, then skip this step. Place the dough in the pie tin and roll up the excess sides and then pinch it going all the way around. This is just to make the quiche look pretty! Set to this aside and begin making the filling.
Beat 5 eggs in a mixing bowl. Add the evaporated milk and mix some more. Clean the leek well, as there is a lot of dirt hidden in the top layers. Cut both ends of the leek and slice nearly to the end where the roots were. Run the leek under water until all the dirt has come out. Then slice it up and add it to the mixing bowl. Open the pack of cheese and throw that in too. Wash the broccoli and cut the floral part off, breaking it into small pieces with your fingers and add. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir all of these ingredients together and then pour them into the pie tin.
Slice up a tomato and decorate the top of the quiche with it. Sprinkle some salt on the tomatoes and stick the quiche in the preheated oven.
Bake at 180 C (355 F) for 30 minutes. Make sure to dip a toothpick in after the 30 minutes are up. If it comes out clear it's done. If it doesn't, bake it for a little more. Allow to sit before serving. Eat hot or at room temperature.

I hope that you enjoyed this long awaited recipe. It's super easy! You can make a quiche out of anything you want. The basic ingredients are eggs and evaporated milk. From there you can experiment with different kinds of cheese, sliced meat, vegetables, smoked fish, you name it!

Enjoy and keep having fun in the kitchen!

Plantain Patties

People tend to think that making a wholesome vegetarian meal is harder than it really is. This idea came to be because my brother found green plantains on sale 10 for $1 and bought 10. There were 6 left in my father's fridge and I thought...what can I do with these...? I know, I'll make plantain patties! This was a complete invention, but I was very happy the result, and not one patty was left out of the 12-14 that were made, which is always a good sign!

Ingredients for Plantain Patties:

-6 peeled and mashed semi-green plantains
-2 eggs
-5 diced scallions
-1/2 yellow onion
-a whole head of garlic
-fresh parsley
-fresh cilantro
-1/2 cup of white flour
-a spoon of salt
-pepper
-a spoon of paprika
-vegetable oil for frying

Ingredients for Sauteed Mushrooms:

-a package of whole mushrooms
-1/2 yellow onion
-5 pieces of garlic
-salt and pepper to taste
-olive oil for cooking


How to make Plantain Patties:

Take the semi-green plantains and make a slice on the side and pop the plantain out of it's peel. If the peel doesn't come off then use a knife to slice it off. Dice the plantains up and place them in a bowl. Then use your hands to mash them up. Cut the ends off of the scallions and remove the outer layer and rinse. Dice the scallions and 1/2 onion up and add them to the plantain mixture. Crush the head of garlic using a garlic press into the bowl. Break two eggs into the mixture along with some salt, pepper and two hands of chopped parsley and cilantro. Mix the ingredients and then put the bowl in the fridge for a little while to allow the mixture to marinate.

In the meantime you can prep the mushrooms. First cut the ends off of the whole mushrooms, fill a big bowl with water and place the mushrooms in the water and push them down and allow them to rise to the surface a few times. Then pour out the water and repeat 2-3 times until clean. Try to shake the excess water off of the mushrooms. Next, cut them in quarters and put them in an oiled preheated pan. Add the 1/2 diced onion to the pan and the sliced garlic and saute on low. If you've got some white wine add 1/4 cup and allow to evaporate. Sprinkle with salt and continue sauteing until done. If the ingredients get too dry, add some water and continue sauteing until the mushrooms are done.

To finish making the Plantain Patties, remove the mixture from the fridge, pour 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a pan and put on medium heat. A trick to see if the oil is hot is to throw a piece of garlic into the oil and if it starts to fry then you know it's ready, if it doesn't then heat the oil until the garlic starts to cook. I tried to premake the patties, but the mixture was too wet and sticky, so it's best to make them and drop them into the hot oil as you go. To do this, take a handful of the plantain mixture and form a patty shape, sprinkle some flour on each side while in your hand and drop the patty into the pan. It may seem too liquidy, but believe me, the patty will harden and stick together when fried. Allow to cook until brown and then flip. Make sure that each side is nice and brown to ensure that the patties are completely done.


As the patties are done, place them on a plate with paper towel to soak up some of the excess oil on the patty. Serve the patties with the side of sauteed mushrooms and a little salad. Feel free to eat the patty with your favorite sauce. My father ate them with hot sauce.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe and keep on keeping on in the kitchen!