Falafel

I remembered the pack of falafel I had in my pantry, on my way back from the outlet mall. I mention the outlet mall so that you know I'd been shopping all day. Which is why I was kinda tired. Which is why I misread the simple directions on the back of the box. Which is why my falafel ball mix looked more like soup.

I misread the directions and added 1 1/3 cup of water instead of 1/3 cup. I realized this 15 mins later, as it wasn't anywhere near the consistency it was supposed to be. In my attempt to fix it, I strained it through a sieve. That didn't quite work. I let the strained liquid settle so I could pour off the excess water. That didn't work either. My last resort was to add a binder. I added spoonfuls of chickpea flower to my slurry. This worked. The texture was a bit smoother than it should be for falafel. But atleast it was the same material - Chickpeas. The batter was still pretty thin, but it worked. I spooned dollops of it on to my pan. They looked more like silver dollars than then did falafel balls. Tasty, nonetheless.

For my impromptu tzatziki - I turned regular yogurt into "greek" yogurt by lining a sieve with 2 layers of paper towel and spooning in plain yogurt. Let the moisture drain and soak up into the towels for about 15-20 mins. Carefully lift and ring out. Don't let the towel rip and squirt (that didn't happen to me at all!) I didn't have any cucumbers on hand for my tzatziki, so I just added some chopped cilantro and a dash of s&p.


Beet salad. I've made a few variations of this before, with goat cheese or feta. This time, no cheese. I added green and red peppers, red onions, cilantro, lime juice and s&p. I can't believe I used to hate beets as a child. They're so delicious. And good for you - high in vitamin B and iron. So eat your beets!

The meal finally came together with some toasted whole wheat pitas, my "silver dollar" falafel patties, black olives, beet salad and tzatziki. Bon Appetite!

Potato Crusted Catfish w/ Lime & Cilantro Oil

I've been home all day watching day time television. What sucks more that day time television? Day time food network programming. Why? Giada De Laurentiis, that's why. She always on! She annoys me. Its the way she can be speaking normally, but the minute she hits an Italian word, she sounds like she just got of the boat. Gelato! Mozzarella! Risotto! This is exactly what Brain Regan was talking about...

Anyway, Giada was making Purple potato crusted Tilapia, which did look pretty tasty. My refrigerator had neither Tilapia or purple potatoes. However, I had catfish and regular potatoes. So I improvised!

Potato Crusted Catfish w/ Lime & Cilantro Oil

1 med. potato, thinly sliced (mandolin works best, it makes even slices)
Catfish fillets
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime juice
EVOO
Salt/pepper

Pat dry your fillets and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Arrange potato slices evenly on the fillets, overlapping slightly


Carefully transfer to a non-stick pan on low heat - potato side down.
Let this cook slowly, adding evoo as necessary. Be careful - it splatters!


Once potatoes are browned, flip the fish very carefully.
Brown the fish side.
To make the lime oil - whisk together the cilantro, lime and evoo with a dash of salt.
Drizzle over the fish and serve.

I paired the fish with steamed broccoli and wild rice (It takes a long time to cook wild rice! I gave up and ended up eating it al dente - not a good idea). I think the fish stands alone pretty well. Maybe a green salad would be a better side for it. Next time.

Ratatouille

I came across a ratatouille recipe by Mark Bittman in the book I'm currently reading (Food Matters). It intrigued me to look into what a ratatouille consists of. According to wikipedia - its mainly tomatoes, onions, eggplant and zucchini. Bittman added cauliflower and chickpeas instead of the zucchini. I searched online for different recipes - all different. Some slow cooked, some roasted, some spent hours laboring over peeling the tomatoes.


I decided to come up with my own version. Seemed like the recipe is pretty much up for individual interpretation. I didn't want mine turned into a soupy, over-cooked mush. I wanted to be able to taste each vegetable individually. So I lightly roasted big chunks of different vegetables.


I also decided to indulge myself with a glass of wine. A glass of Syrah from the Francis Coppola wineries. 'Cause The Godfather series just wasn't enough for him. Good wine though!

Ratatouille

Eggplant
Tomato
Carrot
Zucchini
Cauliflower
Garlic
Red pepper
Green pepper
Onion (I happened to have a Cipollini, which tastes great roasted, but any kind should do)
Salt
Thyme
Rosemary
EVOO

Cut everything up in big chunks.
Add salt, thyme, rosemary and olive oil and toss.
Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet (or 2)


Roast veggies for about 40mins - you want them just browned not mushy. Toss once half way through.
Broil for the last 2 mins. Keep an eye on this!!
Toss in some finely chopped cilantro once its out of the oven.
Serve with a nice crusty baguette.

Dig in!

15 min Chicken Burgers

This was a quickie dinner. I came home from a long day of work+class. I had no idea what I was going to make when I got home, but I had some ground chicken on hand. Burgers was the first thing to pop in my head.
Here's a list of things that went into the ground chicken:

Indian Chicken Masala
cumin powder
coriander powder
red chili powder
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
fresh chopped cilantro

Mix all the spices into the meat and form patties.
Grill and serve with a toasted bun, and tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Catfish Cakes

So here is the catfish I had mentioned earlier. I managed to get 4 equally sized thick square pieces out. I saved these for next week. Its the uneven pieces that I used to make catfish cakes. Fish catcakes? Cat fishcakes? Hmm...

My idea for the fish cake marinade was "chimichurri goes to Asia". Chimichurri is an Argentinian meat marinade made with chilies, garlic, parsley, lime and many other things. I swapped out the parsley with cilantro and added some ginger to it.


I need to get a blender. A real blender. A personal smoothie maker is NOT a blender. Although it does come in handy in pinch. It took a while, but it did blend my ginger, garlic, onions and jalapenos into a nice "smoothie". I kept it pretty thick, added very little oil, but lots of lime. It looked more like my coconut chutney than a chimichurri.



I paired the fish cakes with sauteed red chard. I figured we didn't need any carbs. No quiero ningun carbs esta noche. (Did I mention I'm learning Spanish?)



Catfish Cakes

Marinade
Blend the following:
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Cilantro
Jalapeno
Salt, Pepper
few drops of EVOO
Lime juice (Use the lime juice to turn it into a smooth paste, don't add water)

Fish Cakes

Catfish, cut into small pieces
Marinade (recipe above)
Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs, regular is fine too)



Marinate minced fish with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
Mix in a handful of panko and form into round cakes.
Pan fry in a bit of oil.

NOTE: You can reserve some of the marinade, mix it in with some plain yogurt and serve it as a sauce for the cakes)

Red Chard

Wash Chard thoroughly, chop.
Saute garlic in a pan, till golden brown.
Add chard, add a splash of chicken stock, salt. Allow chard to wilt.
Do not over cook.

Serve with the fish cakes

Bon Appetit!

Clam Sauce

Neither of us are big fans of pasta, so I don't make it that often. But I was in the mood for a clam sauce, and pasta is a must for that. My clam sauce was purely improvised, I threw in things and hoped it would come out ok. It did. Here's how it goes:


Clam Sauce

1 can clams in clam juice, drained, but reserve the juice
Garlic, chopped
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small tomato, diced
EV olive oil
Italian spice blend (or just basil and oregano)
Salt & pepper

Sautè garlic in a generous amount of evoo.
Add in the onions, and saute till translucent. Do not brown.
Add the tomatoes and the drained clams.
Warm the clams through and add half of the reserved juice.
Simmer while the sauce thickens slightly.
Add the spices.
Add the rest of the juice and a splash of evoo. If necessary a bit of pasta water can help thin the sauce.
Mix in your pasta of choice.

Bon Appetito!

Mussels in Coconut Chipotle Curry

I had mussels when we were in Paris a couple of years ago. Moules a la Mariniere - a giant bowl full of mussels in white wine, with a side of french fries. I approached the pile picking at the shells with my fork and the fries with my fingers - trying hard to not look like a fool in Paris. Then I noticed how the Parisians were eating - they picked up a shell with their fingers and used an empty shell like "chopsticks" to pick out the meat. Then they used the fork for their fries! Ooh la la! I was way off!

I came across these mussels last night at Metcalfs. This was the first time I'd been there, and I'll be going back! Beautiful produce and fresh meats. I wanted everything. I settled for the mussels and fish (stay tuned for some catfish up here soon enough). I figured I could make a coconut based curry for the mussels. I looked up a recipe on my Epi app (cool app by Epicurious) and gathered up the rest of the ingredients.


Cooking mussels is quite simple, it barely takes 5-6 mins for them to open once you get the liquids to a boil. I served it with a crusty ciabatta to soak up the curry. Next time I might stick to regular coconut milk instead of the lite version the recipe calls for. I would have liked the curry to be a bit thicker and creamier.

Before...
...After.
Bon Appetit!