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Stir-Fried Fennel, Pink Grapefruit and Orange with Salmon, plus Serendipitous DC

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DC is an interesting place to drive. There is a weird combination here of people who learned to drive in the north and people who learned to drive in the south, plus a confusing street naming system that requires you to know where you are in relation to the Capitol building and a wealth of tourists. The combination is really not great.

I myself have a pretty good sense of direction, and I found this city easy to learn. That said, I prefer to not deal with virtually nonexistent parking and dodging legions of confused out-of-towners. And then there’s the worst part of driving in DC: getting lost when you know exactly where you are.

This morning I was trying to get to 20th and Constitution NW for DC Yoga Week’s Yoga on the Mall event. I had, against my better judgement, chosen to drive so that I could leave my mat in the car and go for a run afterwards. In the course of looking for parking, I found myself forced from a regular street directly onto a highway on two separate occasions. Two. Roads just turned into highways and there was no way to get off of them until the next “exit.” The second time, I was forced over a bridge with no warning and I was suddenly in Virginia.

In frustration, I turned off and pulled into the parking lot for Theodore Roosevelt Island, which sits in the middle of the Potomac River on the Virginia side. By this time I didn’t want to return to parking hell. So I got out of the car and decided to go for my run on the island instead.

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It turned out serendipitous. I’d never visited the island before, but it turns out it’s a gorgeous trail oasis. The air feels clean and it’s small enough to not worry about getting lost. There were some hikers out for morning walks, but it was a welcome respite from crowded runs in downtown DC.

pathway-roosevelt-island-dc

georgetown-view-roosevelt-island-dc

After I’d calmed down a bit, I got a text from a friend at the yoga session saying they were just getting started. So I gave parking one more try and got there for the last hour of the event.

yoga-on-the-mall-dc

Such a lovely day called for something crisp and refreshing to eat, and Camilla had chosen a perfect recipe for this week’s Food Matters Project: Stir-Fried Fennel and Pink Grapefruit with Shrimp. I was in more of salmon mood, so I swung through the fish market to pick some up. I got a salmon steak instead of fillet because I love how smooth and buttery they are when broiled or seared, although some people don’t like having to pick around the skin and bones.

I’d never tried fennel before, and I asked the man at the booth I bought it from at Eastern Market what it tasted like. He found it hard to describe, and now that I’ve tried it I know what he means. The original recipe called for just the bulbs, but I used the whole plant and really enjoyed the flavor. A bit like licorice, but lighter. It worked especially well with the crisp citrus fruit.

Check out the rest of the Project members’ takes on this one here. I’m sure there will be some creative ones this week!

salmon-fennel-orange-grapefruit-stir-fry

Stir-Fried Fennel, Pink Grapefruit and Orange with Salmon

2 tablespoons + 1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 fennel bulb, stalks and leaves, sliced thinly and chopped
1 grapefruit, peeled and chopped
1 orange, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Thai chili paste
1 lb salmon steaks

Preheat the broiler. Brush the salmon steak with one tablespoon of oil on each side, then sprinkle salt and pepper over each side. Put the salmon on crinkled foil under the broiler. The amount of time it takes to cook will vary according to its thickness and proximity to the broiler, but when the top is brown flip it over and cook the other side. When both sides are brown, cut into it to see if it’s cooked through.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onion, ginger, and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add the fennel and cook for another few minutes. Stir in the grapefruit, orange, soy sauce and chili paste and simmer until the fennel is cooked through. Serve alongside the salmon steaks once they’re done.

The Food Matters Project: Dal with Lots of Vegetables

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The past couple of weeks have been quite hectic around here, to say the least. I traveled to Austin earlier this month for work and got to eat some pretty amazing food in the meantime. (Read: guacamole at breakfast, lunch and dinner.) Austin is a cool place, and I can’t wait to go back sometime when I’ll get to spend more time exploring the city. My coworker and I did take a break from the craziness to run in beautiful Zilker Park and dip our feet in the water.

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When I got back, I had about a week to play catchup at work before my best friend came to visit. We did all my favorite DC activities, including shuffleboard and oversized jenga at H St. Country Club, crabcake, crawfish and softshell crab at the Maine Avenue Fish Market, veggie shopping at Eastern Market, and grabbing growlers at Chocolate City Beer. (Did you notice most of those things involved food and/or drink?)

So as you can probably imagine, I was in the mood for something quick and easy for a Monday night meal. Dal is one of my standby easy meals from the Food Matters Cookbook on a busy weeknight, so I was glad to see Anita chose Dal with Lots of Vegetables for this week’s Food Matters Project recipe. I had never made the full recipe with browning the vegetables and using the full variety of spices, usually opting to just throw everything in the pot together with some curry powder. But this version was still pretty quick.

I love that this, like many recipes in this cookbook, is easily variable for whatever you have in the fridge. I used cauliflower, carrots, and onions, plus threw in some slices of cabbage at the last minute and let it just start to soften without losing its crunchy texture. I served it over a buttery baked potato.

You can find the original recipe, posted along with other delicious Indian recipes, at Anita’s blog, and read the other project members’ takes on it here.

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The Food Matters Project: Pared-Down Paella with Peas, Clams, and Chorizo

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I lived for four months in Seville, Spain during college and my best discovery overseas – well, in addition to learning a lot about myself and all that good stuff – was paella. I ate it least once a week, sometimes more. The nightlife in Seville is decidedly more late-night than anything here in the States, so we’d come home around 5:30 a.m., have breakfast, then go to bed, and when we woke up at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon there would be an enormous pan of paella waiting for us in the kitchen. (Let me tell you, it’s still the best hangover cure I’ve ever found.) It was my go-to order when taking visitors out for dinner.

paella marisco seville sevilla spain

(No, this was not what mine looked like. My mother must have been ahead of her time when she grabbed this shot in early 2007, well before the era of smartphones where we all Instagrammed endless photos of our food.)

There were a lot of things that I brought home with me after my trip – self-esteem, spontaneity, new friends, an appreciation for wine, a love for dining outdoors – but I couldn’t bring home my favorite Spanish foods, including paella. And it’s stayed with me all these years. I’ve tried a few decent paellas at restaurants here, but they never seem to measure up to a steaming pan brought to a candlelit outdoor table at 10 p.m. in the winding streets of old Sevilla.

Ever since, I’ve been on a quest to replicate a great paella at home. I’ve had my eye on Mark Bittman’s version in The Food Matters Cookbook for a long time now, and I knew when it was my turn to host I had to take on the beast. And I have to say, I was impressed. This recipe is something I could practice and build on. Someday, I may be able to make a paella like a Spanish mama. Maybe.

A few notes if you’re thinking of trying this: the chorizo definitely lends a key flavor. Veg-heads, Bittman recommends using a bit of Spanish pimenton (smoked paprika) or saffron if you want to skip it. The red peppers added a lot too, in my opinion. I also highly recommend using shellfish if you eat it. It creates a delicious broth for the rice to continue to cook in.

paella with clams

I bought monstrous Virginia clams at the Maine Avenue Fish Market, so could only fit four on top of the dish and had to steam the rest in a separate pot. The flavor infusion was worth it, though. Get something local – I would have gotten mussels if I was in New England. Next time, I’d like to add squid.

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I’ve posted the recipe below, but you can see what the other project members made here. If you haven’t joined the project yet, you can just start cooking along and post your blog link in the comments or a photo on the Facebook page here.

paella peas clams chorizo Pared-Down Paella with Peas, Clams, and Chorizo from The Food Matters Cookbook

1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz Spanish chorizo or other smoked sausage, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup long-grain brown rice
salt and black pepper
1 ripe tomato, chopped
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
2 pounds hard-shell clams, well scrubbed, those with broken shells discarded
1/2 cup fresh parsley, for garnish
lemon wedges

1. Put the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. (I used a cast iron.) When it’s hot, add the chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion turns translucent, 3-5 minutes more.

2. Stir in the rice, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until the rice is glossy and coated with oil, just a minute or two. Add the tomato and 2 cups water. Stir, adjust the heat so the liquid boils steadily but not violently, and cover.

3. Cook for 30 minutes before checking for doneness; add a little water if the rice is dry but not yet tender. Cover and cook until the rice is just done and the liquid is absorbed, another 5-10 minutes. Stir in the peas and lay the clams on top, replace the lid, and continue cooking until the clams are open, 3-5 minutes. If any don’t, you can open them with a butter knife. For the crunchy crust of rice at the bottom of the pan (soccarat), uncover the pan and turn the heat up so the rice sizzles. Cook, without stirring, until you can smell the rice toasting (not burning), then turn off the heat. Remove the clams from the shells and return them to the pot. Taste and adjust the seasoning and toss. Serve, garnished with parsley and lemon wedges.

Serves four.

The Food Matters Project: Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables

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It’s Martin Luther King Day, and Inauguration Day here in Washington, DC. I first moved to DC a couple of months after the last inauguration, so this was my first as a resident. I have to say, the energy in this town was electrifying this weekend. I went for a run yesterday on the Mall and it was packed with tourists and locals soaking in the sights with big smiles.

I had been planning on walking over to check out the festivities today since I live on Capitol Hill, but I scored a last-minute ticket to the up-close area for the ceremony. And I lucked out with timing: twenty-five minutes after leaving my house, I was standing on the lawn outside the Capitol watching the invocation.

Inauguration 2013

The ceremony was beautiful; the musical performances gave me chills. It was amazing to see the crowds waving American flags behind us on the Mall. I was there by myself, but it felt like the complete opposite.

It felt so nice to know while I was out soaking up the atmosphere that dinner was already at home, cooking away. This week’s Food Matters Project recipe was Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables, and it’s a great one for the slow cooker. I just made some quick baked egg rolls to go alongside them and dinner was done.

One note: I put the cabbage in with all the vegetables in the beginning, and by the time the dish was done they had basically disintegrated, and the soup was thicker like a porridge. I prefer cabbage in soup a bit crunchy, so I would put it in at the end next time. However, D isn’t a huge fan of the crunchiness to begin with, so he was happy to have them melted in a bit.

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Chicken Jook with Lots of Vegetables

1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 bone-in chicken breast
2 cups cabbage, sliced thin
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup broccoli florets
1/2 white onion, minced
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 hot pepper, minced
2 tbsp ginger, minced
1 cup long-grain brown rice
6.5 cups water
2 tbsp soy sauce
sriracha, to taste (optional)
chopped cilantro leaves

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Pat the chicken breast dry and add it to the pan with the hot oil. Cook for about 5-10 minutes on each side, or until it’s golden brown.

Add the vegetables to the slow cooker first, then the garlic, hot pepper, and ginger, then add the rice. Pour the water over the whole mixture, then lay the browned chicken breast on top. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remember, don’t lift the lid until the very end, or you could add more cooking time!

When most of the water has been absorbed by the rice, open the slow cooker and take out the chicken. Cut into it to make sure it’s cooked through (mine fell apart right away) and remove the bones. Shred the meat into chunks, then put the chicken back in the slow cooker. Stir in the soy sauce and sriracha, if you’re using it. Pass the cilantro at the table.

Baked Shrimp and Vegetable Egg Rolls

1 tbsp sesame oil
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
10 cooked shrimp, chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
egg roll wrappers
olive oil, for brushing the egg rolls

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Heat the oil in a skillet. When it’s hot, add the cabbage, carrot, shrimp, soy sauce and ginger. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, then turn off heat and let cool a bit. Meanwhile, spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Lay the egg roll wrapper out in a diamond shape and scoop some filling in a line horizontally between two corners. Roll up the bottom away from you first, then tuck the two side corners in. Brush a bit of water on the top corner to make it stick then roll the wrapper up all the way. Lay the egg roll with the edge down on the tray, then repeat until you run out of filling.

Brush each egg roll with a bit of olive oil, then bake them for about 10 minutes.

Check out the original recipe on Erin’s blog.

Recipe: Carrot, cauliflower and chickpea soup

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Earlier this week I told you about my enormous cauliflower, and it was inevitable that some of it would end up becoming soup. I’m averaging about one big batch of soup each week now that soup weather is here.

carrot-cauliflower-chickpea-soup

This week’s soup was a bright orange color with the addition of carrots, and chickpeas made it creamy and filling. Oven roasted chickpeas were a crispy replacement for croutons, along with a sprinkle of parmesan.

Carrot, Cauliflower and Chickpea Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
3 cups cauliflower florets
2 cups cooked chickpeas (if canned, drain and rinse them first; if homemade, you can use their liquid in place of the broth if you like)
2-3 cups vegetable broth or water, plus more as needed to cover all the vegetables
1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, or a mixture of both, plus more for topping (optional)
salt and pepper
cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
roasted chickpeas, for topping

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the onions get translucent and the carrots begin to soften. Stir occasionally. While they cook, this is a great time to start the roasted chickpeas, if you haven’t made them yet.

2. Add the cauliflower florets and stir everything to coat them. Then add the chickpeas and the broth or water, just enough to cover the vegetables and chickpeas. (Fledgling tip: If you’re using canned chickpeas, don’t include their liquid, but if you made them from scratch their cooking liquid is mild enough that it works as a great broth here. See below for another alternative if you don’t have a cooked batch of chickpeas on hand.)

3. Turn the heat up to high and bring the soup to a boil, then turn it back down to medium low. Cook everything until the vegetables are very soft and the liquid has cooked down so the vegetables are starting to show at the top.

4. Add the cheese and stir to incorporate. Turn off the heat and let it cool down for a few minutes.

5. Carefully puree the soup use an immersion blender or in a food processor in batches. Work slowly so it doesn’t spatter on you!

6. Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne (if you’re using it) and taste as you go until you hit the right flavor. I like it spicy, so I added quite a bit of cayenne and also used it on my roasted chickpeas.

7. Serve in bowls, topped with roasted chickpeas and a pinch of grated cheese.

Serves 3-4

Fledgling tip: If you don’t already have a batch of homemade cooked chickpeas on hand, you can cook them right in the soup pot, although it’ll take longer to cook. If you can plan ahead a bit and soak them, that will help them cook a bit faster. Say you’re going to make it when you get home from work: rinse and pick over the dried chickpeas in the morning and put them in a pot covered by a few inches with cold water. Cover tightly and just leave it like that while you are at work, and when you get home they will have grown significantly in size. Rinse them off and add them to the soup when you add the broth, and cook until they’re very soft when you taste one. Continue with the recipe at step 3. Just remember when you make beans from scratch they get much larger when they cook, so 2 cups dried will make a lot more than 2 cups cooked. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do with the leftovers, from hummus to falafel to just roasting them and eating them as a snack!

Related posts:

Butternut squash soup
Bloody mary soup with shrimp, spinach and chickpeas
Market Finds: Gigantic Cauliflower

Homemade salsa

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I love a good pico de gallo, and I’m often tempted to buy them in the store. But delicious homemade salsa is so easy to make fresh!

salsa

As the last of the summer tomatoes appeared at the farmer’s market, I chopped those up for salsas, but cherry and grape tomatoes also work really well here. You can vary the ingredients as you please, but possibilities are green and red peppers, red or white onion, fresh corn kernels (I usually sauté them a bit), hot pepper, garlic, avocado and cilantro. You could also add in some seasonal fruits if available; pineapple, mango and peaches all work well.

Chop everything up into small pieces (or pulse in a food processor) and stir to combine, then just add olive oil and lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar, plus fresh ground black pepper and plenty of salt. The best part is taste testing and adjusting everything as needed.

What’s your favorite salsa ingredient?

The Food Matters Project: Whole Cauliflower with Sausage

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Let me start by saying that this fall I have been suffering from some pretty bad allergies. And by suffering, I mean suffering: when I made this dish, I hadn’t tasted food well in days. For those of you who haven’t experienced this type of punishment before, flavor perception is affected by both taste and smell, so my stuffy nose eventually caused me to lose the flavor in my meals. You can make me cough all day, you can give me sinus headaches, but you cannot take away my delicious food! This meant war on my allergies.

I got the best line of attack I could think of — hot Italian sausage from Eastern Market. Then I added in a hot pepper. As it cooked, I started to get a hint of the spicy smell if I leaned way over the pan. I was very pleased.

At this point, D walked in from work and immediately began coughing and sneezing. He called the spicy air “vindictive” at one point as his eyes watered. It seemed like from his reaction I needed to tone down the spiciness. We both love a good spicy meal, but I didn’t want it to cross the line into painful.

Hence how I ended up making Bittman’s modification on the second page of the recipe that included tomatoes. I also threw in a red bell pepper to help offset. And the bread crumbs certainly helped mitigate the burn.

As it turned out, we both found it the perfect level of spiciness. D loved the dish, and though I had worried that he wouldn’t like the cauliflower, we both agreed it was a perfect base to offset the bright flavors of the sausage “sauce.” He made an apt comparison to mashed potatoes. Lo and behold, it was the first thing I’d truly tasted all day.

The only thing I didn’t quite get was the presentation. Let’s face it, the sausage mixture isn’t exactly pretty, for all its delicious flavor. I think next time, I’ll just serve the sausage out of the pan next to the cauliflower and call it a day. We dug into it as soon as it was on the table and almost polished off the whole thing. I think it was a keeper.

cauliflower sausage

See the original recipe on Gracie’s blog here, and see all the other FMP members’ takes on it here.

Whole Cauliflower with Spicy Sausage (adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook)

1 whole cauliflower
2/3 pound hot sausage
1 hot pepper
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
2 cups whole canned tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 cup homemade bread crumbs made from stale bread (don’t worry, they’re easy!)

1. Cut off the stem and leaves of the cauliflower and wash it thoroughly. Set it in a steamer basket inside a large pot that has an inch or two of water in the bottom — make sure the water doesn’t come high enough to submerge parts of the cauliflower. Put it on the stove over high heat, let the water come to a boil, and steam it for 12-25 minutes. The time it takes will depend on its size, so check on it regularly and pull it out when it’s just barely tender enough for a thin knife to stick all the way through to the heart of it. Drain it in a strainer while you finish off the rest of the dish.

Fledgling tip: Set a timer to remind yourself, because you’ll be busy and it’s easy to lose track of time. If you overcook it, run it under cold water in a strainer to help stop it from cooking, because it’s so big that it will retain a lot of that heat and continue to cook otherwise.

2. Meanwhile, heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan (cast iron if you have it). Remove the sausage from the casing unless you have bulk sausage, in which case you’re good to go.

Fledgling tip: If you don’t work with sausage often, we’re talking about the thin skin that keeps the sausage in link form, and it’s easiest to cut a shallow line with a very sharp knife along the side of the casing and then just peel it off the sausage. This way, it will be able to crumble when it’s in the pan.

3. Add the sausage to the pan in chunks and start stirring it. Break up the sausage as much as you can as it cooks.

Fledgling tip: I find it helps to squash it with the back of a wooden spoon, then chop it with the edge. This might take a little muscle!

4. Deseed and chop up the hot pepper and onion, pausing occasionally to keep stirring the sausage. Once it’s no longer pink, pour out any excess oil that may have cooked off it, leaving a tablespoon or so (I didn’t have any excess). Add the onion and hot pepper to the pan along with a pressed or minced garlic clove. Stir and cook until the onion is translucent.

5. Meanwhile, chop up the red pepper and tomatoes. Stir them into the pan once the onions are translucent.

Fledgling tip: You don’t need the liquid from the tomatoes for this recipe, although I like to reserve it to cook beans and other things in later.

6. For the bread crumbs, take stale leftover bread (I save mine in the fridge just for this purpose) and put it in a food processor in chunks. Process until they form a fine crumb. Voila: homemade bread crumbs! I told you it was easy.

7. Add the bread crumbs to the pan and stir well to combine everything.

8. Serve the cauliflower head whole at the table and top with the sausage mixture.

Serves 2-3.

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Apricot Polenta Cake
The Food Matters Project: Quinoa Tabbouleh
The Food Matters Project: Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken
The Food Matters Project: Mixed Grill with Chimichurri

The Food Matters Project: Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken

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This week’s Food Matters Project host is Small Kitchen College, who chose Crisp Rice Cakes with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Chicken. I had short-grain brown rice pre-cooked in the freezer so I planned on using that up. Unfortunately, it did not work as planned at all — the defrosted rice didn’t stick together anymore. Back to the drawing board! I made the rice again from scratch, which only takes 45 minutes or so.

But the extra effort was certainly worth it! These crispy rice cakes make a yummy base for stir-fry and add more interest than plain brown rice. I stirred a handful of fresh chopped cilantro into the rice when it finished cooking, so mine became cilantro rice cakes.

cilantro rice cakes with stir fry

Cilantro rice cakes, adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook

1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cups water
salt
1/2 cup cilantro, washed and chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Bring the water to a boil, then add the rice, lower the heat and cover. Cook them until the grains get very soft and burst, adding water as needed. At the end of their cooking time, stir in the chopped cilantro. Give the rice a vigorous stir and you’ll start to tell when it’s all sticking together that it’s ready to be shaped into cakes.

Fledgling tip: Shape the rice cakes easily by pressing the cilantro rice into a quarter cup measure and tapping the bottom of it so they fall out in the right shape. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat and cook them in batches. Fry them for just a few minutes on each side, until golden brown.

For the stir fry, I used carrots, red and green peppers, hot peppers, onion and broccoli. I cooked them in vegetable oil and garlic until they were cooked down slightly but still crispy, then added some leftover cooked chicken. For the sauce, I used a teaspoon of hoisin and a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, plus a bit of water. It just needed a minute or two of stirring after the sauce was added to coat everything evenly — the whole thing was done in about 10 minutes since I had pre-chopped the vegetables.

See the rest of the bloggers’ takes on this recipe here, and find the original recipe on Small Kitchen College here.

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Mixed Grill with Chimichurri
The Food Matters Project: Roast potatoes and chicken with romesco
The Food Matters Project: Raspberry Cabernet Sorbet

The Food Matters Project: Mixed Grill with Chimichurri

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This week’s Food Matters Project is a wild card — we got to pick whatever we had missed in the past 6 months! I knew immediately what I wanted to do. Ever since I started this project, I keep hearing the other bloggers talk about the fantastic chimichurri sauce I missed the week before my first post. I’ve been dying to try it, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

chimichurri

The original recipe is Mixed Grill with Chimichurri, but I had to sauté since I don’t have a grill. I made it with green peppers, a baby eggplant, hot banana peppers, onion, and pan cooked white fish. Everyone was right — this was a fantastic recipe! And as a bonus, I finally found out the name for the amazing green sauce that comes with takeout from the El Salvadoran place on 14th St. The hardest part was washing and pulling the leaves off the cilantro, which I opted for over parsley. Here’s how I did the chimichurri sauce.

Chimichurri sauce, from The Food Matters Cookbook

2 cups cilantro leaves (some small stems are okay)
1/2 cup oil
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
red pepper flakes

Put the cilantro, 1/4 cup of the oil and salt and pepper in a food processor and blend. Scrape down the sides of the container and add the rest of the oil, then the vinegar and red pepper flakes, while it runs. Blend a few more seconds until it’s all combined and the cilantro is blended up nicely.

Check out all the other bloggers’ takes on the chimichurri recipe and see what everyone else picked for this week’s wild card here!

The Food Matters Project: Corn-Avocado Salad (with a Little Something Seared on Top)

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Corn-avocado salad with whitefish

This week’s Food Matters Project pick came from Jenn of the beautiful Vanilla Lemon. She chose Corn-Avocado Salad (with a Little Something Seared on Top), another perfect hot-weather choice, and very flexible! I topped mine with seared white fish and cooked up some chicken breast marinated in salsa for D. He doesn’t like seafood, which I try not to hold against him. Both of us loved it.

Corn, onions and peppers

Corn-Avocado Salad with Seared Whitefish, adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook’s Corn-Avocado Salad (with a Little Something Seared on Top)

2 ears of corn
1/2 white onion
1 hot pepper
1 filet white fish (I used swai, but you could use tilapia or other white fish)
1/2 green pepper
1 ripe tomato
1 avocado
1 tsp orange juice
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
sprinkle of chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the kernels off the ears of corn and chop the onion. Deseed the hot pepper and chop that up, too.* When the oil is hot, add the corn, hot pepper and onions and brown them a bit, about 5-10 minutes.

2. While the corn, onion and pepper cook, chop the green pepper, tomato and avocado. Wash and chop the cilantro, too, then put them in a serving bowl.

3. Once the vegetables in the pan are done, add to the bowl with the green pepper, tomato and avocado, wipe out the pan and add another tablespoon of oil. Once it’s hot, put in the fish. Cook about 5 minutes or until browned on the bottom, then flip it over. Cook on that side until browned on the other side and white all the way through when you flake it with a fork.

4. While the fish cooks, add the orange and lemon juices, chili powder, and some salt and pepper to the bowl with the vegetables. Stir them all together well, taste and adjust the spices as needed.

5. Once the fish is done, serve it over the salsa, with some extra cilantro leaves for garnish.

Salad portions serve 1-2. Make more of the fish or a protein of your choice if serving 2.

*Fledgling tip about the hot pepper: use a small knife to remove the seeds and pith rather than your fingers. Either that or wear gloves. Trust me… I learned that one the hard way. It’s especially painful when you get the oils under your fingernails!

Related posts:

The Food Matters Project: Tomatoes with walnut pâté and beet chips
The Food Matters Project: Updated Tea Sandwiches