Although for many of us a grilled cheese sandwich started in childhood, advanced to a quick snack in our teens, and was abandoned by a more sophisticated palate in our 20’s, grilled cheese can be a very personal, and satisfying meal. My favorite involves the sweet mustard that pearl onions come in –unfortunately, it is sometimes hard to get.
2 slices good whole wheat bread
2 slices dry Gouda cheese or Manchego cheese
2 teaspoons sweet mustard (honey mustard is a good option)
2 tablespoons butter
Spread the mustard on one side of both slices of bread. Place the cheese between the mustard covered slices of bread. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small, non-stick frying pan at medium heat.
Add the sandwich to the melted butter and grill until golden brown. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, turn the sandwich over and grill the other side.
Cup on the diagonal and serve with a cup of tomato soup. Hmmm. There are some things we’re never too old for!
Serves 1
Note: This recipe is a companion piece to a short story, A Cheese Sandwich. If you enjoy food writing check it out.cheese sandwich
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These are two of my favorite, throw-together-quick summer salads. Always good friend and family fall-backs and gets me out of the kitchen when it just too darn hot!
White Bean and Tuna Salad
2 cans best quality tuna in oil, drained
2 14 ounce cans of petite white beans
2 plumb tomatoes, diced
½ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Let sit for 20 minutes before serving.
Makes approximately 4 cups.
Corn and Tomato Salad
3 cups corn (frozen or fresh from the cob)
3 tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup mayonaise
Coarse salt and lots of fresh ground pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Makes approximately 4 cups.
Salmon Steaks on a Bed of Fennel-Cabbage
This has the look of “something special” but is quick and easy to make. Pair with a buttery white wine such as Chardonnay to create a celebratory feel!
2 salmon steaks
1 tablespoon olive oil (for brushing salmon)
½ mild, sweet onion (Walla Walla, Vidalia, etc.), chopped
½ fennel bulb, sliced very thin, a few fronds reserved for garnish
1 tablespoon oil
4 cups cabbage, finely shredded
½ teaspoon coarse salt
¼ teaspoon coarse pepper to taste
Adjust the oven rack to 4 inches from the broiler’s heat source and preheat the broiler for 15 minutes. Brush the salmon on both sides with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.
While the broiler is pre-heating, in a medium pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion and fennel until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the cabbage, salt and pepper. Cook cabbage until limp and tender, about 6 more minutes (it’s okay if it browns a little).
Broil the salmon until the fish offers no resistance when pierced with a sharp, thin knife, about 6-8 minutes.
To serve divide the cabbage mixture in half and make a bed on two plates. Put a salmon steak on top of each bed and garnish with fennel fronds.
Serves 2
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Spicy Corn Chowder
This chowder is a contribution to A Taste of Yellow in support of LIVESTRONG Day*. It goes well with hot buttered corn tortillas and a simple green salad.
1 tablespoon butter
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno (to taste-more for spicy), minced
3 cups corn, off the cobb or frozen
3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup half and half
½ yellow bell pepper, chopped
½ tomato, chopped
Salt and fresh ground, coarse pepper to taste
Using a 3 quart pot, sauté the onion, garlic and jalapeno in butter over medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the corn, chicken broth and tomato paste. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
Puree ½ of the corn mixture in a food processor or blender. Return the blended mixture to the pot, add the half and half and salt and pepper. Reheat without boiling.
Preheat 4 bowls by rinsing in hot water. Ladle the chowder into each bowl. Garnish with tomato and yellow pepper.
Serves 4
*Note: LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivorship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.
Fish Tacos
These tacos are so lively with flavor they’ll make you think there’s a mariachi band playing in your mouth!
Slaw
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon heavy cream
2 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper to taste
2 ½ cups packaged cole slaw mix
4 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (or to taste)
1/3 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
Fish
1 pound tilapia fillets
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
Hot sauce (optional)
Preheat a broiler to high (or a grill pan or grill to medium high).
To Make Slaw
Combine the sour cream, heavy cream and lime juice in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add the cole slaw, jalapeno pepper, and green onion to the bowl and toss. Set aside.
To Make Fish
Lightly brush the fish with olive oil. Mix the cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne in a small bowl. Rub both sides of the fish with the spice mix and grill (or broil 4-inches from heat source) for about 3-4 minutes a side, until cooked through. When the fish is cool enough to handle break it into bite-sized chunks (2-inch).
To Make Tacos
Warm the tortillas according to package instructions.
To assemble the tacos, fill each tortilla with an equal amount of slaw and fish. Serve with your favorite hot sauce if you like.
Serves 4 (2 tacos per serving)
Manhattan Chowder – In a New York Minute
Rich with tomato taste and light to the palate this quickly made chowder is a welcome change from its heavier dairy-based cousins. It’s heaven with a simple Caesar salad and lots of gutsy bread to absorb the broth.
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
14.5 ounce can stewed Italian tomatoes
5.5 ounces spicy tomato juice
1 cup prepared clam juice or fish broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon basil
2 red potatoes, unpeeled and chopped
6 ounce can clams
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Using a 3 quart pot, sauté the onion and celery in the olive oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent about 5 minutes. Add the stewed tomatoes, tomato juice, clam juice (or broth), bay leaf, thyme, oregano and basil. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the clams and heat through 1 minute. Ladle the chowder into warm bowls and sprinkle 1/2-tablespoon parsley over each bowl. Set the table with a checked tablecloth, pour a robust red wine and put Sinatra (or something from that era) on your sound system. Yep, heaven.
Serves 4
I'm writing a short story that needs to include a recipe for fortune cookies. Usually I link to my own recipes but alas! I don't know how to make fortune cookies. Anyone out there have a recipe for fortune cookies?
Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year!
Wok-Smoked Trout with Apple Slaw
This recipe is based on a technique described in A New Way to Cook, by Sally Schneider. It involves curing as well as smoking but it is well worth the effort. I strongly recommend Sally Schneider's book – it can really open up some culinary horizons and may even change the way you cook!
Curing Mixture (recipe follows)
Apple Slaw (recipe follows)
2 whole trout, cleaned
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1 1 ¼ inch piece of apple wood
Curing Mixture
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all curing ingredients in a bowl. Rub the mixture into the cavity of the fish and lightly, on the skin. Set aside for an hour. Meanwhile, make the slaw and set up the smoker.
Slaw
1 cup diced apples
¼ cup red onion
¼ cup flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
¼ teasppoon Kosher salt
Combine all slaw ingredients in a bowl. Cover and let stand while preparing the rest of the dish.
Set up Wok Smoker
Line a 14 inch wok and it’s lid with aluminum foil. Tear a 1 ½ inch whole in the center of the foil in the wok. Heat on high for 3 minutes. Place the apple wood piece in the exposed center. Place an 11 inch round wire cake rack in the wok.
Pat the trout dry with paper towels removing half of the curing mixture. Heat the apple wood chip on high for five minutes. When the apple wood begins to smoke, place the trout on the wire rack and put in the wok. Cover the wok and weight the lid with a brick or another heavy object to seal it. Reduce the heat to medium to medium high – so there is almost no smoke escaping but you can smell the smoke. Smoke for about 15 to 20 minutes, until a sharp, thin knife slides easily into the fish.
To serve put each trout on a plate beside a large scoop of apple slaw. This also pairs well with buttered rice and flat leaf parsley.
Serves 2.
Special Equipment: You will need a wok with a lid, a round wire cake rack (you can use any size wok and wire cake rack as long as the cake rack stands at least 2-3 inches higher that the apple wood piece when it is placed in the wok) and a brick or other heavy object to weight the lid.
Note: This recipe is connected with a short story, Road Trip.
oops! There is a correction to Salmon on a Cedar Plank. It should have read 1 tablespoon mashed garlic (which it now does). My apologies to anyone who tried it and got too much garlic.
