Short menu. 8/12/18

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Beebamom

This is a short menu this week because on Thursday I am out of here and will not be cooking until September! Luckily, though, I will still be eating and if I have time and the wifi gods are smiling I will post some of the things I have eaten. I have been very strict with my healthy diet lately (except for the fried scallops) and I am looking forward to some culinary indulgences.

In the meantime I still have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to cook through.  Monday is an adaptation of a recipe I saw on line, Tuesday is the lazy person’s dinner, and Wednesday is a fine vegetarian/vegan pasta dish. I am not going to Italy so I need to get some pasta in before we leave.

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Guilty pleasure. 8/11/18

Posted on August 12, 2018 by Beebamom

I guess most peoples’ guilty pleasures involve some sort of fabulous dessert or sky high nachos. My guilty pleasure is fried scallops. But Marymom, you say, why fry scallops when they are so delicious just seared in a pan. To that I say, have you ever tried them breaded and fried? They come out so succulently juicy and crispy at the same time. With a little tartar sauce they are sublime.

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Our outdoor set up for frying

We use our electric wok outside to fry the scallops. Frying is way too messy to do in the house.

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John laying the scallops into the hot oil so they do not splash

Along with the scallops we have tartar sauce and chard sautéed with corn and garnished with toasted garlic slivers and pecans.

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Beautiful golden brown scallops with a side of sautéed chard and corn

This is about the only fried thing I ever eat. It is totally worth it!

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NEW! Mujaddara with spiced yogurt. 8/10/18

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Beebamom

I am always on the lookout for a new vegetarian recipe. Interestingly almost all of my vegetarian repertoire is ethnically inspired. I guess it is not surprising that in the U.S. with vast amounts of grazing land for cattle and sheep plus lots of chickens and pigs, meat is almost exclusively on the menu.

Mujaddara is a Middle Eastern dish. It is reputed to be the pottage that Esau used to buy Jacob’s birthright in the Bible. (Wikipedia) It seems a humble dish. Our mujaddara is a combination of plain brown lentils and brown rice with caramelized onions and a topping of spiced yogurt and crispy onions. As you can see my crispy onions are a little too crispy but since the spiced yogurt is full of “warm” spices, I like the accidental burnt flavor.

Along with the mujaddara I make a cucumber, poblano chile, tomatoes, green onion, and feta salad. KITCHEN TIP: We are having cucumbers a lot this summer. I find it best to take out the seeds, chop them up, and salt the cucumber pieces for a half and hour before making the salad.80995018-99D3-4A87-B486-5A9154311BC8

Mujaddara with spiced yogurt and cucumber and tomato salad

The recipe I used as the basis for my dish is https://food52.com/recipes/8565-mujaddara-with-spiced-yogurt

 

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Shrimp tacos with spicy black beans. 8/9/18

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Beebamom

Tasty shrimp tacos are on the menu tonight. The grocery store is lacking our regular salsa so we try a new brand which is too spicy and too thick for our liking. I put a bunch of it in our black beans and bought a mango to put in the rest of it. Mangoes go really well with shrimp tacos. We also have some cabbage and crema to top the tacos.

Shrimp tacos with a side of spicy black beans

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Mediterranean vegan/vegetarian dinner. 8/8/18

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Beebamom

Today John is at the office working so dinner is in my hands. No surprise that it is meatless!  Dinner tonight consists of Lebanese tabbouleh and chickpeas with olive oil and cracked juniper berries on mixed greens plus a tomato and cucumber salad. I added some feta to my  salad but if you omit the feta, the dinner is totally vegan. This is a no-cook dinner perfect for a hot (and smoky) summer night.

Chickpeas in olive oil with cracker juniper berries, Lebanese tabbouleh, and tomato and cucumber salad with feta

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NEW! Vietnamese flank steak with cucumber salad and rice 8/7/18

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Beebamom

I saw this recipe on NYTimes Cooking and thought I would give it a try or, rather, I thought I would encourage John to give it a try.

Vietnamese flank steak with cucumber salad and rice

Luckily John does not need a lot of encouragement to try something new to grill so he whips up the sauce which serves as a marinade for the meat, a dressing for the cucumbers, and a dipping sauce.

The sauce consists of a 1/2 cup of fish sauce plus some lime juice and zest, garlic, brown sugar, and jalapeño. For my taste it is fine although a little salty for the meat but way too fishy for the cucumber and radish salad that I make. I just do not expect to have the pungent aroma of fermented fish hit me as I am taking a forkful of cucumbers.

Next time we will make the sauce/marinade with less fish sauce and more lime juice and brown sugar. It should be perfect then.

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Grilled chicken and Texas caviar. 8/6/18

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Beebamom

I have not made Texas caviar for a while. It always feels a little bit daunting when I imagine all the chopping that must be done. I do love chopping up vegetables but I do not like chopping up tomatoes with their unbelievably tough skin.  I have made Texas caviar with canned tomatoes but it is not nearly as good. Kitchen tip – a ceramic knife does a great job cutting up tomatoes. Be careful, though, ceramic knives are really, really sharp.

SORT OF A RECIPE FOR TEXAS CAVIAR: It is basically two cans of beans rinsed and drained (I use black beans and black eyed peas), diced tomatoes, celery, carrots, spicy chile (I used a spicy poblano), onion, and green onion. I also add chopped up cilantro and some frozen corn kernels. Season it with salt, pepper, cumin, and chipotle chile powder for a smoky back note. Add olive oil and vinegar or use some Italian dressing and add extra vinegar and lime juice.) I wish I could tell you exact amounts. Start out with about equal amounts of the vegetables, add about 1/4 cup of the dressing plus 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar and the juice of a lime. Keep tasting it. It will probably need a little more salt and cumin than you think.

Texas caviar

Along with the Texas caviar our dinner consists of  some skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs that John grills. They come out juicy and charred.  Unexpectedly he also makes some chicharrones out of some extra chicken skin. So delicious!! We serve the thighs with some extra BBQ sauce.

Grilled chicken thighs, a little chicken skin chicharrones, and Texas caviar

This is definitely a dinner that tastes like the best of summer.

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Menu for Aug 6-12, 2018

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Beebamom

Menu for Aug 6-12, 2018

Two new dishes for this week, Vietnamese flank steak and mujaddara. The mujaddara got pushed from last week because of a change in plans so I am looking forward to trying it this week. The Vietnamese flank steak is a recipe I saw in NYT Cooking. With lots of sweet, spicy, sour, umami flavors it should be fun for John to cook. I believe my task will be the pickled cucumber salad

Otherwise it is a week of favorites with John’s yummy grilled chicken starting out the week, shrimp tacos in the middle, and my favorite favorite, fried scallops finishing off the week. Oh, and I am promoting my lunchtime smashed chickpeas with juniper berries to dinner status on Wednesday!

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Shrimp with creamy mustard scampi sauce. 8/5/18

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Beebamom

Does it sound like my shrimp sauce is conflicted?  That is because the last two times we had shrimp I froze the small amounts of sauce I had left over. Tonight they make a combo comeback as creamy mustard scampi sauce.

Shrimp with creamy mustard scampi sauce and rice and power greens

We are big on keeping bits and pieces of previous dishes in our freezer. Sometimes we even use them. Instead of having to create a sauce tonight we have one ready to go. John cooks the shrimp and I make some rice in the Instant Pot.

My recipe for white rice – 1 cup rinsed white rice, 1 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, oil or butter to coat the bottom of the Pot. (The water clinging to the rice from the rinsing is part of the liquid for cooking.) Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook for 4 minutes. After a 10 minute cool down release the rest of the pressure. Done.

The greens are from a salad package called Power Greens. I just dump the whole package in a pan with a little butter and some frozen corn and salt. In five minutes they are cooked.

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Easy vegan lunch. 8/4/18

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Beebamom

Here is an easy vegan lunch that everyone can enjoy. All you need is a can of chickpeas, some olive oil, and seasonings. After washing off my chickpeas I roughly mash them adding some olive oil to make it hold together loosely. Along with salt and pepper I add  juniper berries that I smash up in a mortar and pestle until they are chunky smaller pieces. One time in Italy we had a delicious side dish of white beans and juniper berries and they add a surprising flavor to beans. Their fragrance is reminiscent of a gin and tonic!

Stuff this all in a toasted whole wheat pita with lettuce and tomato and you have a delicious vegan lunch that even meat eaters will enjoy. John is always trying to a pinch a bit of my chickpea mixture!

Whole wheat pita pocket stuffed with mashed chickpeas flavored with juniper berries

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