Mango Salad, Fish Sauce on Spaghetti Squash, Greens

• Recipes discussed:
• Mango / Papaya Salad
• Gefilte Fish Sauce on Spaghetti Squash
• Greens and Red Chard
  

Mango / Papaya Salad

This is a version of a variety of Southeast Asian salads made with green or unripened fruit. The tartness of the fruit contrasts with a slightly sweet dressing. Alternatives are offered to make either a vegetarian version or a smoked fish version. Recently I had some field cress which I chopped and added to the salad. It fit right in.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 unripe mangos or 1 2 lb papaya or 2 med. carrots (in a pinch)
1/2 lb smoked fish, if using. Smoked bluefish, trout, salmon will all work.
1 minced shallot / diced small sweet onion

Dressing:
2 tb. lime juice
1 tb. fish sauce or, for vegetarian version, soy sauce (light preferred)
1-2 tb. palm sugar or brown sugar
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes or more or hot sauce, e.g., Tabasco
1 tsp. grated galangale or ginger

1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded cilantro

Directions:
Peel and coarsely grate the mango. They should be green enough that they are firm and not juicy. One mango will make enough salad for four.

Mince the shallot or dice the onion. Onion could alternatively be cut in half and sliced thinly.

Shred the smoked fish, if using. Discard any skin. Two dinner forks are good tools for shredding fish.
Mix shallot / onion and shredded fish with mango.

Now make the dressing.

Mix the lime juice and fish sauce in a glass bowl. If the fish sauce and or lime juice are cold, you may want to soften the sugar for 10-20 sec. in a microwave. Dissolve the palm sugar in the lime juice. Add the red pepper flakes or hot sauce and the grated galangale or ginger.

Serving:
Just before serving toss the salad and the dressing with the shredded cilantro. Serve as a side salad or, on individual salad plates. Can be nicely served atop lettuce leaves.

From several sources.

Gefilte Fish Sauce on Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:
1 2-3 lb. spaghetti squash
2-3 tb. olive oil
1 lg onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, chopped coarsley
1 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3-6 mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1/2 28 oz. can marinara sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes, crushed
1/2 tsp
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or to taste
fresh ground black pepper
1/4 c. dry red wine
1-2 tb olive oil, optional
2-3 tb sweet butter, optional

2 (or more) leftover shad gefilte fish, cut up into 3/4 in. cubes, along with any sauce left over

Directions:

If cooking in a regular oven, place spaghetti squash in oven on foil or an oven roasting pan to catch any drippage. Probably cook for 30-40 min. at 350. OR, using a convection / microwave oven, I set it up as "Ultima" cooking for 3 pieces baked sweet potato. This took aboue 25 min. but the squash was just right. When it is done, it will hold its heat, so until ready to use it, just leave it in the convection oven or take it out of the oven and rest on counter.

Put the olive oil into a large skillet or deeper frying pan over medium high heat. Add red pepper flakes, ____, and garlic. Stir briefly until aroma of garlic is smelled - this should be only a few seconds, depending on the heat of the oil. Then immediately add the diced onion and stir occasionally until translucent and beginning to color. Add the green pepper and saute for 2 minutes. Add along with the green peppers the mushrooms, if using. Now add crushed stewed tomatoes and marinara sauce and the red wine.

Let simmer for 15-25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. A few minutes before serving, cut the squash down its length into two oval halves. Remove the seeds with two dinner forks, then remove and shred the flesh into spaghetti like strands. Do this to both halves, begin sure to remove all skin flakes. For added richness you may pour some fresh extra virgin olive oil over the strands or several tablespoons of butter. Put as much of spaghetti squash as you think you'll need into a large, warmed bowl.

Add the sauce to the spaghetti squash. Toss and correct seasoing, if needed, with salt and pepper. Serve.

Greens and Red Chard

I used the leaves from a small batch of red chard along with a nice bag of fresh, young spinach for greens for our Seder dinner. I still had the stems, freshened in a glass of water. Then I found another batch of red chard as well as some other greens - mustard, probably, and something else. I decided I use all of these up and dress them with a vinaigrette.

Ingredients:
1 batch red chard stems
1 batch red chard + some other greens
(1 carrot, peeled and sliced in thin rounds.)

Vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, salt, olive oil

Directions:
Bring a soup pot half full of water to the boil. Add 1 tsp. of kosher salt.

Strip the chard leaves from the stems. Do the same with any other greens that have firm stems. Now chop the stems in two or three pieces. Put the stems in the boiling water until they are cooked to the point of only a little crunch. Remove the stems and place in cold water. When chilled, remove from cold water and drain.

If using the carrots, a nice touch, boil them also until tender and then chill. Remove to drain.

Put the leaves into the boiling water. Just cook until wilted, then remove and chill in the cold water bath. Remove and wring out as much water as possible. Then chop somewhat coarsely. You should have about 1 cup of chopped greens. Combine these in the serving bowl with the stems and carrot slices, if using. Toss with the vinaigrette. Serve.

Passover Dinner 2005

• Recipes to be discussed:
• Chesapeake Bay Shad Gefilte Fish - Joan Nathan
  
• Southwestern Sauce for Shad Gefilte Fish
• Matzohball Soup - A near disaster
• Fresh horseradish: white and red
• Pistacchio Macaroons with Strawberries and Whipped Cream
• Kosher wines:
• Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Cab. Sauvignon
• Alsace Cramant
• Chardonnay

Wonderful fish pasta ...

• Recipes discussed:
• Three Fish Marinara Sauce on Pasta
  

A few nights ago I made a dinner of leftovers. We had had a pasta sauce last week that I had made by combining a couple of soup remnants with some sauteed onions and garlic and a bit of red wine, then throroughly blending it until a smooth puree. To this puree I added a can of tuna in olive oil, with the olive oil. We had used about half of this on some pasta last week, so about two cups remained. This latter I heated slowly, with a bit more red wine - probably a cabernet.

Meanwhile, we had leftovers of three different fish we had eaten over the last week. A piece of catfish with a blackened ground mixed nut crust, some salmon with a mustard crust, and a couple of pieces of bluefish marinated in the Portuguese manner (see Davidson) and then floured with some spices Emiril and sauteed in olive oil. These three fish I cut into bite sized pieces and, as the penne paste were cooking, added to the sauce and covered, allowing all to come to a nice warm, but not bubbling, temperature. When the pasta was done, I added the pasta to the sauce and tossed some minced herbs over all with salt and pepper. At the table, tossed and served, this, with a simple salad and vinaigrette and a bottle of red wine, was exquisite.

Note this was a sauce using four different fish, all "oily": tuna, bluefish, salmon, catfish. And they were cooked or canned in olive oil. Nevertheless, the tomatoes and wine in the sauce seemed to set the fat to nought - just a rich and deeply tasty symphony of mysterious tastes.

Greek Easter Preparations, practice

• Recipes discussed:
• Avgolemono (Greek egg and lemon soup)
• Sauteed portabellos over tossed salad w. vinaigrette
  

For practice, I made a pot of avgolemono for dinner last night. I reviewed 25-30 recipes online and then developed the recipe shown. It should scale up easily. I only made enough for Nancy and me with a cup left over.

In addition, I sauteed a couple of large portabello mushroom on the griddle, in butter and olive oil, with salt and pepper. Then I made a salad with juilienne of 1/2 sweet red pepper, 3-4 tb. julienne of daikon, a few small spinach leaves, washed, some red leaf lettuce, salt and pepper scattered over, all tossed together with a vinaigrette of lemon juice and fruity olive oil. I also sliced up and cut in half the slices of 1/2 a sweet onion, then sliced the sauteed mushrooms on one side of a plate with the salad, then tossed over all the onion crescents and then a bit more vinaigrette over all. A nice taste treat after the delicious and rich soup. We had a bottle of nice chardonnay along with all and enjoyed the beautiful evening on our deck by candellight.

Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)

What I actually did. I've been asked to provide this soup for a Greek Easter feast on 1 May, 2005, which is the date this year.

Serves 2–3

* 3 cups Vegetarian Stock (see below) - I started with two quarts of water, resulting in 6 cups of stock after removing and squeezing vegetables. As I was only making soup for two, I only used 3 cups and reserved the rest. Can be doubled or more for larger group.

Vegetarian Stock
* 2 onion, peeled and chopped plus greens, if any
* 2 small carrots, scrubbed and chopped
* 2 small white potatoes, peeled and chopped
* 1/2 lb chopped white mushrooms
* 1/2 tsp celery seed
* 1 bay leaf
* 4 green cardamom pods, crushed
* chopped stems from 12 parsley or cilantro
* 1-2 tbsp minced rosemary, other herbs - thyme, e.g.
* 2 whole cloves
* 2-inch stick cinnamon
* pinch of cayenne
* 4 medium allspice pods
* 6-8 black peppercorns, mildly crushed in mortar along with allspice
* Zest from 1 1/2 medium lemons - reserve 1 tbsp for later
* pinch saffron, if available
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Rice or Orzo
* 1/2 cup long grain rice basmati; could use 1/2 - 1 c. orzo

Lemon & Eggs
* 2 large eggs at room temperature
* 1/2 of 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

* 1/2 stick butter
* Nutmeg -- ground - a pinch to add at the end.

Garnish
* 2 TB finely chopped parsley
* 1 large scallion, sliced thin, and 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
* salt and pepper to taste
* thin slices lemon for garnish as needed for each serving

Instructions:

1. Make stock and heat to boiling.
- Melt butter in heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat, then add olive oil. Saute spices in butter and olive oil: cardamom, allspice, cloves, peppercorns lightly crushed in mortar, one 2-inch stick cinnamon. Then sweat add onions, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and herbs - rosemary, thyme, stems of coriander and/or parsley - for 10-15 min.
- Pour in two quarts hot water. Add bay leaf and salt. Bring to a simmer. Add lemon zest, and a pinch of cayenne and a hint (about 1/8 teaspoon) saffron threads, crushed between fingertips, to stock. Gently simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Set aside. Strain stock and return to boil.

2. Cook rice or orzo
- Add rice and gently simmer for 20 minutes, until soft but not falling apart.

3. Remove from heat and set aside.
- This is an essential step, as the stock must be off the boil before coming with egg-lemon broth to prevent curdling eggs.

4. Prepare egg - lemon
- In a bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; add yolks and beat well.
- in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together until a little frothy.
- Combine yolk-lemon mixture with egg whites.

5. Combine stock and egg-lemon mix.
- Add about 1/2 of the warm, not hot, broth with the egg-lemon mix, beating continuously. Then add another cup of the stock, very slowly, whisking while you pour it in.
- Pour this mixture back into the pot of stock and rice. Whisk until nicely combined. It should look like the stock has become cloudy, with a nice skim of thin froth.
- Heat lightly until some steam appear, four or five minutes, but do not simmer or boil.
- Add 2 tbsp butter now and let it melt, if using.

6. Keep warm over heat. To avoid curdling, do not allow soup to come to a boil.


7. SERVE
- Season with salt and peppe to taste. Sprinkle with sliced scallions, minced parsley and mint. Dish up among serving bowls, adding a thin slice of lemon to each serving. Serve with warm bread on side. Goes well with chardonnay or sauvignon blanc - think Sancerre.