Month: May 2019

Salam, Hello! We just landed our flying afghan after seeing “Aladdin” at the movie theater. We disneybounded as Aladdin and Jasmine for a trip to the farmer’s market in Saratoga. 

We tasted the fruits of the people’s labor, a chocolatier with different bars full of nuts and salty caramel, 3 cheese makers with delicious combinations and rinds, a lady with protein-packed oatmeal, a mutton loving butcher and his wife who brought their haul in their own freezer and a Hispanic trio of women with an acre’s worth of fresh vegetables and gold-colored potatoes.

I see my little Asian monkey has stolen a small round of sheep cheese from our haul. I’ve told him many times the cost of stealing is greater than that of the trinket, but he refuses to listen!

How many animals other than a cow can you imagine giving milk that could be made into cheese? We have a Facebook post on our page where you can give your responses. We’ve already gotten 3 from our top followers. Besides cows, you can make cheese from the milk of sheep, goat and buffalo, but I’d wager there are more. 

We also had a chat with the fish monger next to the guitarist who had pieces of shark, john dory (No, not the blue tang Dory, we mean the gold St.Pierre fish with the thumbprint mark.) It sounded tasty, but for $2 less we bought something novel, blowfish tails! The monger cleaned them out and advised us to cook them like shrimp. 

We got some Middle Eastern seasoning from the first vendor on the block, Saratoga Spicery:  she called it Za’atarr. It smelled like being smack in the middle of Cairo. White sesame seeds, marjoram, coriander, sumac, thyme and oregano with a pinch of sea salt. The Mrs was sweet and let us sample her dips with pretzel sticks.

This is what they look like after a dose of olive oil in the pan and a minute on each side with some baby garlic and chives. The monger may have called them the chicken NUGGETS of the sea, but with the bone in and a tail on the end, we had to eat them with our hands and pick around. We’re going with the trends and calling them the chicken WINGS of the sea. I tried mine with some BBQ sauce and found myself at the sports bar in 1 bite. These would be so hipster for a superbowl party. 

To make this into a complete dinner we oven-roasted some potatoes and carrots, 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven with a heavy sprinkle of dill. Using olive oil added a little flavor as opposed to boring unappealing vegetable oil, or corn oil.

I guess we used a bit too much oil on the vegetables because they came out REALLY slippery. Good thing we tossed a salad on the side. That way we could use the excess oil as dressing with the Peter Rabbit secret ingredient, a cap-full of lemon juice. Ranch and thousand island dressing can have 58-73 calories per tablespoon. Do you really want that much to go to a topping alone? I didn’t think so.

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As the night concludes, let’s raise a glass of strawberry kiwi infused water to another Arabian night of exploring new cheeses, innovating fishy ideas, and Disney-clad fun!

SALAM!

Hi Everyone! Jeremy speaking. (I’m wearing a smaller shirt these days. Like it?) Memorial day is a time for remembrance, honor and outdoor cooking. With that storm we had on Friday night, we had no chance to fire up the grill. We decided to go with shrimp – always a good option, one of Lauren’s favorites. According to health line, they are very nutritious – containing various minerals not normally found in most diets, like iodine. They are also low calorie, contain no carbohydrates, and high in HDL cholesterol, (that’s the good ones)

Jeremy took the lead this time with our mise-en-place. He has a keen eye for knife-cuts. We decided to wrap these up, so we needed red bell pepper, avocado and little cherry tomatoes.

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I took on the polenta. It’s basically a porridge from northern-central Italy like where my family originated. In Roman times, polenta was made from a variety of grains, since corn had not been introduced yet to European culture. We added a little dab of butter and a few grates of Parmesan cheese to our water and cornmeal for that nice bonus layer of elegant taste and comfort. I stirred until it was a thick but smooth consistency. This served as a nice counter-balance to the spiciness of the shrimp. I don’t know about you, but my mouth can only take a medium heat spice-level.

We got this recipe from Jo Cooks. “Blackened” refers to a style of Cajun cooking. All it takes is a mixture of spices: cumin, paprika, chili powder, oregano, and brown sugar with some lime squeezed on top. The brown sugar is key here – it serves as a counter-balance to the intense spice of the cumin and chili powder, but when it is put on the heat, it forms a nice caramelized crust. Best of all, as exotic as it looks, it’s super simple to make. We let, per the recipe, the shrimp marinate in this warm spice mixture for a little bit so it could all soak in.

Yeah, I accidentally grabbed the COOKED shrimp instead of the raw, so we couldn’t achieve that nice crust on the little buggers. Sorry, Darling. Normally blackened shrimp are supposed to have a nice crust to them. These ended up having too much of a gritty texture on them as a result. Either we didn’t have enough shrimp or the recipe called for too many spices. It’s okay, Darling. Since they were pre-cooked, I was able to try one with the spice combo on it before it hit the pan. Mom’s Kitchen Rule #3: Those who help get to snitch!

Like I said, we wrapped it up at the table. There are 3 ways we know to do a wrap: Tortilla, Rice Paper and Lettuce leaf.

First one up is the Flour Tortilla: A Mexican flat-bread. Ours is of the flour variety. This is your most BREAD-LIKE option. Some people like corn ones better.

Pros: It’s easily kept together, easy to find at the grocery store and holds the most stuff inside. 

Cons: Ours were flour, so we could fold them up unlike those corn ones. This one doesn’t have the best flavor profile. It’s just about the same as having a shrimp sandwich with a bowl of porridge. We have the polenta for the “Shrimp and Grits” aspect, so it seems redundant to have 2 breads in the same meal.

Our Second Candidate is Rice Paper: We found out about this from when we did those summer rolls. It’s super pliable, but very easy to rip coming out of the pie tin.

Pros: Nothing falls out of here. It has a great capacity. Not much flavor to mess around with your inside combination

 Cons: Rice paper rips like crazy. You have to prep these before you try and use them.

This new-comer at the end is what’s called a lettuce wrap: This is a trendy way to cut the calories and add a little roughage to your diet.

Pros: This is easy to grab at the grocery store or the farmers’ market. Nothing is going to alter any flavors because it’s mostly water. Most important of all, it’s the only one with a chance of crunch to it.

Cons: Where do I begin? Everything kept falling out during the rolling. It couldn’t stay inside when I picked it up either. There was no “Wrap” to this or nutritional value outside of “It’s just water inside”.

The winner for us is……the Tortilla!! YAY!

But as you can see, we have enough here for every combination possible. We didn’t slice up the lime and cilantro for aesthetics. Excuse us while we dig in with our photographer, once he puts down the camera and grabs a plate. (and I do my signature sneak-hug from behind)

 

 

Easter was 2 weeks ago, which means Lent is over! YAY!! Being Catholic, that means Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and ALL FRIDAYS in Lent are considered fasting days- the rule is no warmblooded meat like beef, pork, chicken, or duck, but coldblooded fish, turtle, frog, snake and shellfish are acceptable. We’ve got the full story here. It’s no problem if you’re a 24-7 pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan like Mayim Bialik, Adam Cumming, Paul McCartney, the couple from “Boho Beautiful”, Ellen DeGenerous or Liam Hemsworth. (Thor’s brother doesn’t eat meat? SHOCKING!) We’re not, but we want to be super considerate to all of our friends and fans out there who aren’t so fond of Texas cow and Buffalo chicken wings.

In the words of Frank Gorshin, “Riddle me this”: What do you do as a pescatarian when you want a burger? Switch the beef for a fillet of salmon. It’s LOADED with Omega-3 fatty acid, which is AMAZING for heart and brain health. We want to stay sharp and stick around for a long time and hope you do too. My favorite sashimi is salmon. (that’s the word for sushi that only has rice and some fish on top, not wrapped in nori) We buy salmon pretty cheap in the packaged refrigerated fish section. NOT FROZEN! That freezer taste is super hard to eliminate. It’s possible, but not pleasing to the well-seasoned mouth. Besides, these have a nice deep color if they’ve been on a healthy krill and shrimp diet. Some farms use coloring in their fish’s food, FYI, but it’s the color that tells us if it’s wild caught $$$ or farm-raised and given slump for supper. Since 2003, they have to say it on the package if any added coloring was involved.

We love having salmon for breakfast. It’s very wholesome and savory. I like it broiled with a slice of lemon on top, a few shakes of garlic, capers, white pepper and shallots. I feel so fancy imagining I’m eating it in a fancy restaurant with a string of pearls around my neck discussing fine culture with the other high-society folks. 

I like my salmon sauteed or smoked so you get that unique fish-taste and the fire-roasted flavor. Like I say, anything cooked over a morning campfire is good eating. It’s not as good as bagels and lox, but I won’t EVER say “no” to toasted onion bagels with that special cream cheese mixed with fresh salmon to get my morning going on a full stomach. It’s a ton of carbs, but it’s worth it. 

Enough with the facts and on to the fish. We’re boring the poor people. We took this recipe from Tasty. It’s actually quite simple, you don’t even need to buy ground fish. You just need a functioning food processor, a fresh fish fillet, and some spices. First, you dice the fish into 1/2 inch cubes and throw them into the food processor with your spices and a diced red onion; pulse a few times until everything is well combined and form the mush into patties. We used dill, garlic powder, and some chives- so the fish would be the star of the dish.

We broke out the griddle (Yes, they trusted me with it!) and cooked them just a few minutes on each side until they have a nice color on them. Since we made these for breakfast, we topped ours with a fried egg. They were absolutely amazing! I thought they could use a little white pepper- but otherwise they were delicious. The runny yolk from the fried egg added a nice flavor boost.

What do you think? Is fish a breakfast food? A lunch and dinner food? Anytime you want food? Tell us in the comments section.

P.S. Do you think your salmon burger is better? Talk the talk and we’ll try it out. We love hearing from our subscribers. See you next week!

There are so many different kinds of bread, there’s even a bread-only cookbook. We were looking through Bread, the breads of the world and how to bake them at home by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter the other day and saw some similarities in the varieties. A bunch of them weren’t the puffy loaves of warm soft bread that we know, but rather flat, yet not quite crackers either. Bread often stems from its culture’s origins.

Israel is famous for their cracker-like Matzo bread dating back to the Jews escape from Egyptian slavery. They packed up and left so quickly before the pharaoh could catch them, there was no time for any yeast to rise. At Passover Jewish families host a seder, where the youngest at the table asks The 4 Questions called “Ma Nishtana”, and the oldest at the table reads the aloud the tale of their ancestors’ liberation. It’s a very meaningful holiday that I have yet to see in person.

Apache tribes have a fry-bread that can be cooked in a frying pan because they could only take with them what they can carry on their back. There’s an authentic recipe HERE for your own Navajo tacos, or a sweet dessert. Skye’s grandfather Shidaleh, from “The Puzzle Place” made a batch in this episode. HIT IT, Weebus!

Naan and paratha are found in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. They’re very soft and round. perfect for eating plain, or alongside curry and chutney. 

Italians didn’t have much money in some regions, so most food was cooked with only a few ingredients. This flat bread called piadine, is only made with flour, water and olive oil. We picked this bread because it’s super easy to make and we had all of the ingredients in the pantry. All you do is mix the oil, salt and four. Slowly mix in a cup at a time of cold water and knead your dough for a few minutes. Let the dough rest, cut out small snowballs of dough, (That’s what the scrapper is for in the cutting drawer. IT looks like a scroll unraveling) roll them flat and finally pan-fry them like pancakes until you have crispy brown piadine.

We took it one step further and after some heat, we broke out the veggies and made flat-bread pizza! Make a funny face, self-portrait, picture of animals or places, or whatever abstract thing you can imagine. The yogurt can get a bit heavy if you don’t spread a thin enough layer. Don’t forget to cut your pieces of fruit and veg small so it can all fit and doesn’t give you uneven bites.

 

Clara made a face on hers with an orange mouth, carrot hair, avocado eyes and a tomato nose! Isn’t it cute, Lauren?

Hey, wouldn’t this be perfect for an arts party? Everyone can make their own edible palette. If you use the piadine as the canvass instead, everyone can eat their pictures! Isn’t that fun?Everyone can vote on their favorite face, who made the funniest face at a “Hunchback of Notre Dame” themed party, or Scariest monster for Monster/Zombie parties, maybe who designed the best makeover face for future beauticians or make a big mosaic out of them. Like Pappy Drewitt use to say on “Pappyland”: “There’s no limitation to your imagination!” Have fun!!