Category Archives: Food

Mother’s Day

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by in Food, Personal, Randomness, Self-publishing

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Mother’s Day is hard when you’ve lost your mom and your sole chick is the entire distance of the country away. I should have bought myself flowers. But I made a lovely dinner. This steelhead trout is the first recipe I think I have ever invented completely from scratch and it was just as good the second time as it was the first. Food that comes with a “you thought this up” badge makes me happy. And I ate strawberries that were delicious, so yay!

I spent this morning cleaning out my RSS feed. Obviously, I did this because I have about 20 more useful things to do, including fold the laundry, call the insurance agent, clean out the paper files, organize some tax paperwork, start writing my next book, and so on… but I was glad I did it when I was done. My RSS reader had gotten so full of sites that I’d stopped reading most of it. The slimmed-down version is going to be a lot more usable.

But it made me think about blogging and how it’s changed. So many sites are dead now. And so many sites have turned into simple announcement pages. People who used to tell stories about their lives in their blogs now just announce their books or post book covers. I suppose I understand it, but I still feel like my blog is more of a scrapbook for me–a very long-running easy-to-use journal, maybe. It might be an unprofessional decision, but I suspect I’ll keep posting my random thoughts here. Maybe I’ll make the link in the books link to the business site instead, and that can be the place that I post non-conversational announcements and such. Maybe.

Ran my first paid ad over the weekend. Thirty dollars and… well, I may or may not earn it back. It definitely didn’t cause any great swing in sales. I’m running another–the big one, Bookbub–next Monday. It cost $130, so it’ll be interesting to see if that one’s worth it. Thirty dollars requires some thought, but break into the hundreds and I spend endless mental hours debating.

Hmm, I feel like I’m rambling. I think I’ll go eat some lunch and then get some exercise. Maybe it’ll motivate me to start writing this afternoon. Or at least call the insurance company!

Steelhead trout with sriracha, lime & soy sauce glaze

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Seafood, Spicy

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Costco had very nice-looking steelhead trout filets the other day, so while I stood in the aisle next to the fish, I pulled out my smart phone and pulled up the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s watch list. It said that farmed steelhead trout were a Best Choice (or whatever their highest rating is), so I went ahead and brought some home. I’d never cooked steelhead trout before, but hey, fish is fish, right?

But as I browsed the internet looking for recipes, I felt increasingly dissatisfied. I didn’t want to go the rosemary & lemon route and I wasn’t going to challenge my grill skills with fish filets. I can grill steaks, hamburgers, and chicken just fine but I don’t have a fish grate (or whatever those things are called), and my success (lack of) with fish has not made me eager to keep trying. But I didn’t want any of the recipes I found.

So I made my own.

I made a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce, sriracha, and the zest and juice from a whole lime. Measurements were entirely arbitrary except for the lime: I did the lime first, added enough soy sauce to cover the zest, added a couple of swirls of sriracha and then enough olive oil to bind them all together when mixed. I marinated the fish in it using a plastic bag, so I could easily rotate and make sure it was thoroughly covered, for about an hour, maybe a little longer, turning it a couple of times.

I pre-heated a pan on medium high (7 on my stove). I let it pre-heat for several minutes because I wanted the pan hot enough that the marinade would cook instantly and become a barbecue-ish glaze. On a lower heat or a cooler pan, it might have flowed off the fish. I put a little bit of olive oil in the pan, just enough to make a nice shimmering surface. I put the filets in, skin side up first. I flipped them after a couple of minutes but they were nice fat filets so I had to flip them again before they were through. I’d say they were in the pan maybe six or seven minutes total.

Along with the trout, we had salad of organic mixed greens, red onion diced fine, chopped sugar-snap peas, cherry tomatoes and feta.

C took a picture, so I’ll post it later if it turned out. But it was incredibly good, definitely worth repeating, and extremely creatively satisfying!

Pan-seared tilapia with strawberry salsa

17 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in Seafood

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Make salsa by finely dicing strawberries, cherry tomatoes, red onion,cilantro and mix together. Amounts depend on how many servings you’re trying to make and your personal taste, but I went for equal proportions of everything, which was maybe a little heavy on the cilantro. Squeeze some lime over the top and add a shake or two of Marie Sharp’s grapefruit habanero sauce. Let sit. More time is better, because the flavors will mix in better, but it’s good right away, too.

This salsa combo–sweet, tomato, kick, cilantro, lime juice, hot sauce–is a basic outline for salsa. You could substitute mango or peach or raspberries for the strawberries or any type or peppers, shallots or even green onions for the red onion. As long as you’ve got tomatoes, cilantro, lime, and a hot sauce that doesn’t have a smoky or barbecue flavor, it ought to be good. That said, Marie Sharp’s grapefruit habanero sauce is perfect for salsa. Also perfect for many, many other purposes, but awesome in salsa.

Pre-heat frying pan on medium-high (7 on my electric stove). Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom in a thin layer. Salt and pepper both sides of a tilapia filet. When the oil shimmers, put the fish in the pan. Flip when the edges start to turn deeper white, about two minutes, although the length of time depends on the thickness of the filet. Another two minutes, then remove fish from pan. Both sides should be nicely browned.

Top with salsa and serve.

I made this for lunch. Half an hour after I started, I’d eaten, washed all the dishes and headed back to work. Super-fast, super-easy, super-healthy and seriously delicious.

 

New Year’s appetizers

05 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in Appetizers

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I didn’t keep track of any of my measurements on New Year’s Eve, just put quantities together that looked right. But here’s what I made:

1) Spicy crab tarts. I mixed crab meat, light mayo, parmesan cheese, siracha and some worcestershire sauce, and put it in phyllo cups, baked it in a 425 oven for about ten minutes. Sprinkled it with some green onion, finely chopped, and some red paprika. (I think it wasn’t really paprika, maybe chili powder of some kind? But some form of red pepper.)

2) Bacon & cheese. Cooked four slices of bacon, chopped it up fairly finely, mixed it with  light mayo, shredded sheep’s milk cheese (petit basque), and a tablespoon or so of Cento diced hot cherry peppers. Spread it on thin slices of baguette, baked at 425 oven for 8 minutes or so.

3) Cranberry & brie. Baked puff pastry cups per the directions on the box, then filled them with a bit of brie, a little green onion, and a dab of cranberry sauce and baked them for another five minutes or so, long enough for the cheese to melt. Best hot.4) Artichoke tarts. Mixed softened cream cheese with chopped up marinated artichokes, some parmesan cheese, some red hot peppers, and honestly, I don’t know what else. I was very much in the cooking zone where I didn’t read recipes or measure ingredients, just assumed that all good things taste good together. Maybe there was some mayo in there, if the spread seemed a little thick. And maybe not. I might have added some salt and pepper, possibly some green onion. Anyway, I tried the artichoke spread in all my breadish options: in phyllo cups, in puff pastry, and on baguette. I think it was best on baguette–toasted cheese spreads are always good on bread–but it was always tasty.

Appetizers

02 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Food

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I’m working on this short story right now (Akira & Zane, honeymooning in Belize, not going so well) and for some reason, it made me want to write this blog post instead. I think it’s because of a line I wrote a while back about what Akira would remember from her wedding–sometimes the details we will remember are more obvious than others.

So New Year’s Eve was a rough day for me. Long story and I’ll skip most of the boring details, but the two most important were that it was R’s 18th b-day, and he, of course, was far, far away, and that the toilet started leaking copious quantities of water. On top of an already tough week, not a good combo. So I called a friend and he came over, and I started cooking.

First up was spicy crab tarts. I mixed crab meat, light mayo, parmesan cheese, siracha and some worcestershire sauce, and put it in phyllo cups, baked it in a 425 oven for about ten minutes. Sprinkled it with some green onion, finely chopped, and some red paprika. (I think it wasn’t really paprika, maybe chili powder of some kind? But some form of red pepper.) Delicious.

When the tarts were gone, I spread cream cheese thinly on crackers and topped them with slices of smoked salmon and slivers of lemon.

I think the bacon and cheese came next. I mixed up chopped bacon (already cooked), light mayo, shredded sheep’s milk cheese (petit basque), and a tablespoon or so of Cento diced hot cherry peppers, and spread it on thin slices of baguette and baked it in my 425 oven for 8 minutes or so. I’m pretty sure that was the clear winner of the evening. It was spicy and creamy and salty and… really, all things good. I could have eaten it all night long.

Once it was gone, I made… oh, I think the cranberry came next. So I took puff pastry cups and baked them per the directions on the box, then filled them with a bit of brie, a little green onion, and a dab of the homemade cranberry sauce leftover from Christmas dinner, and baked them for another five minutes or so, long enough for the cheese to melt. Yum. Best hot, though. When they’d cooled off, they were still good, but nothing remarkable.

Finally, I did some artichoke tarts. I mixed softened cream cheese with chopped up marinated artichokes, some parmesan cheese, some red hot peppers, and honestly, I don’t know what else. I was very much in the cooking zone where I didn’t read recipes or measure ingredients, just assumed that all good things taste good together. Maybe there was some mayo in there, if the spread seemed a little thick. And maybe not. I might have added some salt and pepper, possibly some green onion. Anyway, I tried the artichoke spread in all my breadish options: in phyllo cups, in puff pastry, and on baguette. I think it was best on baguette–toasted cheese spreads are always good on bread–but it was always tasty.

Then another friend arrived, so I made some more of everything.

It wound up being an okay day. I still missed R. I still felt nostalgic about so many New Year’s eve’s past that seemed far more hopeful. I still felt sad. But I also felt creative and competent and like life was probably not all that bad after all. And that’s what I want to remember. Twenty years from now, when I think about R’s 18th birthday, I don’t want to remember only, “Oh, I was so sad.” I want to remember bacon & cheese & pepper appetizers, and sitting around my kitchen table talking about Harry Potter and towns in Ohio.

Also, the bacon & cheese–sooo good. Seriously. Good bacon plus good cheese plus good bread plus mayo to bind it all together and red peppers to give it a little kick… yum, yum, yum.

(Oh, right, and you should visit Goodreads and enter my book giveaway. The print edition of A Gift of Time is beautiful!)

Almond tilapia

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Seafood

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No pictures, unfortunately, and this meal wasn’t shared. But I bought tilapia at CostCo a while back and for dinner on Tuesday, I took one of the fillets dredged it in almond flour with some lemon-herb Old Bay seasoning, and sauteed it in olive oil. Three minutes or so per side, on medium-high heat, then let it sit for a minute longer off the heat to finish cooking. Squeezed half a lime over it. Delicious! Definitely worth making again.

Pretend Olive Garden steak and gorgonzola linguine

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Beef

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2013-10-29 19.25.57
Oh, this recipe… I almost want to go eat leftovers right now.

So, I felt like being ambitious and I decided to make a low(er) calorie version of Olive Garden‘s steak and gorgonzola linguine alfredo. For me, it was fairly complicated–multiple pots cooking at once kind of thing. So:

1: Cook the linguine. (I started the water as the first step then moved on to all the other pots, adding the pasta to the water as soon as it boiled. The pasta still finished last.)

Pot 2: Create a balsamic reduction. I followed an online recipe that said 1/2 cup of balsamic, 1/2 cup of water, 2 tbsps of brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a good while until reduced to at least half. Next time, I’ll use pure balsamic, no sugar, or possibly half balsamic, half wine, no sugar, because it didn’t need the sweetening.

Pan 3: Sear strips of beef. I cut some tenderloin fairly thick and cooked it on high, in a preheated pan, for 2 minutes per side. Perfect!

Pan 4: The fake alfredo sauce. Saute a minced clove of garlic in a sliver of butter — a tsp at most, over medium heat. Add a cup of broth (I used beef, but chicken would be fine.) Add 2 tbsps of low-fat cream cheese and about the same amount, maybe a little more, of a good blue cheese. Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, and lower the heat any time the sauce starts to move past a strong simmer. Scrape in a little lemon zest. I didn’t measure it, but less than a teaspoon, I would guess. Cook until the cheese dissolves, plus whatever time is necessary to finish off the other elements of the meal. If it gets too thick, add some low-fat milk or even a little pasta water.

When the pasta is done, dump the water (possibly reserving a cup or so, if you think you might need to thin your sauce.) Add several handfuls of spinach–at least four, more is better–to the pasta. Toss. Add the fake alfredo to the pasta. Toss some more.

Add some crumbled blue cheese, probably another two tablespoons worth. Place on plates, and add a couple of slices of steak to the top of the pasta on each plate. Drizzle the balsamic reduction over the steak.

If I was doing it again, I’d marinate the steak for a while, add more spinach and make the changes to the balsamic reduction as described above. Apart from that — well, this is my favorite Olive Garden meal and I’m never going to eat it there again, because my sauce was so very yum, yum, yum. Lighter, definitely, and yet just as tangy and delicious. I’m so looking forward to my breakfast leftovers!

Thai steak salad

23 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Beef, Salad

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http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Thai-steak-salad-340644

C did the hard part: chopping all the veggies, mixing the sauce, putting it all together. All I did was grill the steak.

So:

Salt and pepper a flank steak and let sit for twenty minutes or so. Grill, three minutes per side on a preheated grill. Slice thinly.

Mix 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic and 1 teaspoon Sriracha.

Combine thinly sliced red cabbage, bean sprouts, julienne cut carrots, mint leaves, basil, cilantro, cucumber (and whatever else might taste good that you happen to have handy.  Add 6 tablespoons juice mixture to cabbage mixture; toss well.

Toss steak in remaining 2 tablespoons juice mixture. Add steak to salad.

If we did it again, I think I’d marinate the steak at least for a little while in a soy sauce based marinade to give it a little extra flavor. Also, I think the salad ingredients could easily be mixed up a bit, but the mint and the sprouts were crucial.

Delicious!

Beef & spinach stir fry

05 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by in Beef

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No picture but that’s okay because it’s not really the prettiest meal.

Chop up some steak and marinate it in olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar (more or less equal amounts of each, I don’t bother to measure) and a squeeze of sriracha. Marinate for at least four hours, longer is better.

Saute chopped onion (and yesterday some sliced mushrooms) in olive oil until nicely carmelized. With heat on high, add steak. Cook for 2 minutes, add spinach, cover pan, cook for 1 minute more until spinach is soft, but still bright green.

Serve over rice.

Yesterday’s steak was tough. Over-cooked, I think, because I got distracted by my rice not being finished while it was still on the heat. Alas. The flavor was still nice, though.

Roasted brussels sprouts and prosciutto bites

28 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in Appetizers

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Roasted brussel sprouts and proscuitto

B came over to dinner last night and C decided we should have an appetizer. B is mostly paleo, although willing to be flexible, so we googled paleo appetizers and found this one: roasted brussels sprouts with prosciutto bites.

C made them so I can’t say if she tweaked the recipe at all, but yum, yum, yum, yum. Would eat again. Would eat often. And the dogs were pretty excited about the little bits of leftover prosciutto!