HALIBUT VERACRUZ

Red Snapper Veracruz is the signature dish of the major port city Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.

Veracruz is known for it's abundance of seafood and a rich culinary history which was heavily influenced by the Spanish. The tomatoes, garlic, and onions (and sometimes jalapeno) marry Mexico with the olives, olive oil, and capers of Spain.  And I must say, this is a marriage made in heaven.

It's very low fat, healthy, and a dish that comes together in about 30 minutes. You can use a variety of fish in this recipe. I'm not a fan of Red Snapper which is the more traditional fish used in Mexico, so I use Halibut, Swordfish and Chilean Sea Bass (although the Chilean Sea Bass is now on the avoid list of the Sea Food Watch Guide). My favorite is Alaskan Halibut and that is what I used this time. I didn't use any jalapenos in my sauce because I wanted to taste the halibut in it's pure, delicate state.

This is a perfect dish to make in the summertime when tomatoes are at their peak.

HALIBUT VERACRUZ

3 TBSP. Olive oil

1 medium brown onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

5 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped

10 Spanish style green olives, pitted and chopped (stuffed with pimiento are fine)

2 TBSP. capers

3 Bay leaves

A couple of grinds of pepper

Salt to taste

2 pounds Halibut or other white fish

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic. Cook until tender but not browned. Add tomatoes,  olives, capers, bay leaves, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer gently uncovered for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle fish with salt and place in skillet with sauce. Cover fish with the sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover skillet. Simmer for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Serves 6

BRIE QUESADILLA WITH GRAPE SALSA

It was May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. I had the party planned. Mariachi music, Margaritas, and Mexican food. It was also week 14 of the Food Matters Project.

This week Alissa chose Five Quick Salsas for Chips, Dips, and Other Stuff. Perfect! I decided to make quesadillas for appetizers. Queso Fresco and Pico de Gallo. Then I heard some clanking in the liquor cabinet. I already had the margarita fixins out....so????? "Mint juleps" he said. What??? "It's Derby Day and we always have Mint Juleps".

So....it became Bourbon and Brie and a little fancy grape and mint salsa on top.

Just as much fun.


BRIE QUESADILLA WITH GRAPE SALSA

1 cup red or green grapes

1 TBSP. coarsely chopped red onion

1/2 jalapeno

1 TBSP. fresh mint

1 TBSP. fresh cilantro

Juice of one lime

Flour tortillas

Brie cheese ( chilled in freezer for 1/2 hour to make it really easy to slice)

Vegetable oil

Coarsely chop the grapes, red onion, jalapeno, mint, and cilantro. Combine in a small bowl and add the lime juice. Mix well.

Remove brie from freezer and slice (removing rind).

 In a large saute pan, heat enough oil to just cover the bottom of pan. Add tortilla and place cheese over it. A 6" tortilla will use about six 1/2" slices. Cover cheese with another tortilla. When tortilla is golden brown on bottom, flip over and cook until golden on the other side.

Remove from pan and let sit for a few minutes before slicing. Cut into wedges and serve with the grape salsa on top.

For all the other takes on Mark Bittman's recipe please visit here.

CRISP KOREAN BEEF SALAD

This just might be my favorite. salad. ever.

It has a secret ingredient in it.

Well, maybe not so secret anymore.

Citron Tea.

 Citron is a fragrant citrus, with a thick white rind and a dry pulp with hardly any juice.  It is mainly used for its outer peel. In Korea the peel, pith, and pulp is thinly sliced and soaked or cooked in honey or sugar to create a chunky syrup. It is similar to marmalade. In Korea it is used as a home remedy for a cold or flu. They drink it as a tea, 1/2 cup of hot water and 1 TBSP. citron tea.

Here in the U.S. it is mostly used in the baking industry, where its peel is often candied for cakes, puddings and sweet rolls.

I used it to make an amazing dressing. This salad is full of healthy vegetables and the thinly sliced beef is coated in corn starch and quickly fried for a delicious, crisp crunch in the salad. Everything with the exception of the beef can be made ahead of time so you can toss this together in no time.

Crisp Korean Beef Salad

makes 2 servings

1/2 lb beef rib eye, very thinly sliced and cut into bite size pieces

Salt and pepper to season

1/2 cup cornstarch

3-4 Tbsp grape seed oil

1/4 lb  thin asparagus

1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced diagonally

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

1 red chili sliced, optional

arugula (one handful)

1/2 lb any lettuce of your choice

Korean citron dressing :

2 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp bottled Korean citron tea

3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

4 Tbsp grape seed oil

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

a few dashes of freshly cracked black pepper

Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add salt and asparagus, blanch for 20 seconds. Remove from pot and put into a bowl of ice water. Drain. Set aside in the fridge.

 

Keep all the salad greens and lettuce in the fridge to chill as well.

Make dressing by mixing all the ingredients. Whisk well and keep in the fridge.

Season beef slices with salt and pepper. Coat each slices with flour or corn starch.

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the beef slices and fry until the edges gets crisp and brown, about 1-2 minutes. Flip to the other side and continue to fry. Transfer beef slices onto a plate lined with a paper towel.

Assemble your salad on a plate and place crisp beef slices on top. Drizzle the citron dressing, toss and enjoy.

Recipe slightly adapted from Beyond Kimchee.

DELTA ASPARAGUS

Delta asparagus...maybe the best asparagus in the world. Yes, the world. As I was planning my asparagus dish for week thirteen in The Food Matters Project I received this invitation.

Come for a Delta Asparagus Tasting

California Delta Asparagus Tasting Slow Food Santa Barbara & Market Forays WHEN: Sunday April 29, 2012 TIME: 3 to 5 pm LOCATION: 814 San Roque Road, Santa Barbara WHAT: An afternoon tasting of the best asparagus in the country, served with suitable accoutrements from prosciutto to Hollandaise, in the enjoyable company of fun-loving folks.  There will be wine and beer - I will serve Sauvignon Blanc and wheat beer, feel free to bring whatever label you think will go best. WHY: Because asparagus from the California Delta is the very best and sweetest. (Honestly, it puts our local SB asparagus to shame.) Also, because Delta asparagus is under severe pressure from cheaper imports, and I feel that it deserves to be better known. DETAILS: Asparagus is a perennial plant. In spring, the mother plant sends up shoots, the asparagus spears. Depending on the strength of the plant, the spears are either thick or thin. The thickest spears, "jumbo", are the juiciest, sweetest, and most highly prized. A few weeks ago I had my first taste of this spring delicacy, and resolved to share it with my friends at the first opportunity. I have been in Northern California at the orchard this past week, and made contact with Roscoe Zuckerman, Stockton asparagus farmer. I will be picking up jumbo asparagus from Roscoe's farm on my way back to Santa Barbara, and look forward to sharing it with you on Sunday. I thought I would use this event as inspiration for my FMP dish.  Little did I know what I was in for.  Laurence, the leader of our local Slow Food Santa Barbara chapter planned this event. What is Slow Food? Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is part of a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members in over 150 countries, which links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment. I did some research on Roscoe Zuckerman and found this. Please read it, it is amazing. Delta asparagus is known all over the world as the best asparagus you can find. Chefs clamor for this asparagus grown in rich peat soil near Stockton, Ca.  Think thick! They produce jumbo spears, full of sweetness and flavor. We stared out with a box of fresh spears (she brought 90 pounds with her) and then we peeled them. We had two varieties, the green and the purple.  The purple are called Viola and they have an even sweeter flavor than the green, reminiscent of snap peas. By far our favorite.    With Delta asparagus the entire spear is tender. You just give them a quick peel and then slice about 1/4 inch off the end. We tied them in bundles and stood them up in a pot of boiling water. Covered with a towel and cooked for about 5-7 minutes. Served with hollandaise, butter, olive oil, and prosciutto.  There were some well known chefs at the event who were just as exited as we were to celebrate Delta Asparagus. One chef I talked to has cooked all over the world and not only did he say this is the best asparagus in the world, but that he buys it fresh at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and has actually watched it grow an inch or two after he purchases it. I read about it and during daylight hours in the Delta it can grow as fast as one inch an hour! Delta asparagus is really threatened. The asparagus harvested in Mexico and Peru is a huge challenge. The workers are paid less than 10.00 a day and they produce a product that doesn't even come close to the flavor of Delta asparagus. The local farmers will go away if we don't support them.  I brought home a couple of pounds of it. I intended to make soup but I can't do anything to this luscious gift from nature. It needs to be pure and almost raw. It's that good. It was a fabulous afternoon with a group of chefs, restaurant owners, and  some fun foodies celebrating something that just might be the best in the world. You can find this asparagus at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and at the San Francisco Farmer's Market. It will only be there for two more weeks. Smaller stores in the Stockton area carry it as well. The soup recipe (that I had planned on making) from Mark Bittman's cookbook is here on Adrienne's blog and go check out what the other Food Matters Project members made this week.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BEEF COMES FROM?

Does your beef come packaged looking like a birthday gift? 

It will if you buy it from Rancho San Julian. Humanely raised, no antibiotics or hormones, and 100% grass fed.

Check it out.

The best ground beef I have ever had.

You can read all about them here.

TUSCAN STYLE PORK TENDERLOIN IN A WHOLE WHEAT BAGUETTE

It's FOOD MATTERS PROJECT Monday! Week twelve of cooking from Mark Bittman's Cookbook. This week Melissa from The Faux Martha chose our recipes, Mostly Whole Wheat Baguettes or Real Whole Wheat Bread. I decided on making baguettes. This was a first for me and not only was it easy but tasty as well. When the baguette was finished I let it cool and then stuffed it with fresh herbs, mustard, and a pork tenderloin. Another 25 minutes in the oven and dinner was ready to go.

 I started by following Mark Bittman's recipe for mostly whole wheat baguettes. I like the addition of some all-purpose flour to the whole wheat flour, it makes the bread more flavorful and less dense. The dough takes a couple of minutes to make and then you let it rise until it doubles in size. It took about 1 1/2 hours.

When the dough has doubled in size you roll them out and shape them into baguettes. They need another rest to double in size again.

I sprinkled the top with fennel seeds and put them in the oven to cook.

After the baguettes had cooled I cut them in half, hollowed them out and put my tenderloin inside. The meat was browned first and then spread with a mustard-herb mixture.

Tied it together (I tried to tie it the way a butcher would but gave up) and back in the oven to finish cooking the tenderloin.

 

Our meat is more on the rare side which is how we like it but all you need to do is brown it a little longer and cook it in the oven a little longer if you like it medium.

There were so many yummy flavors going on in every bite. Sage, rosemary, fennel, garlic, and the delicious homemade baguette.

These made great sandwiches the next day, we sliced them and had them cold but heated would be even better.

For Mark Bittman's original whole wheat baguette recipe go to  Melissa's blog

and for all the other creative takes on his recipe check out The Food Matters Project

TUSCAN PORK IN A BAGUETTE

2 tsp. fresh chopped sage

2 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp fennel pollen or ground fennel seed

1 TBSP. Dijon mustard

4 TBSP. extra virgin olive oil

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of any fat

1 loaf crusty baguette

In a small bowl combine the minced sage, rosemary, pepper, garlic, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, fennel, and Dijon mustard.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add 1 TBSP. of the oil. Cook the pork, turning occasionally, until golden on all sides, 8-10 minutes. Spread the herb mixture all over the pork and set aside.

Cut the baguette in half the long way and scoop out the soft insides. Brush the inside of the baguette with the remaining 3 TBSP. olive oil. Place the pork on the inside of the baguette so that the pork in completely enclosed. Trim off the excess ends on the bread. Tie at 1-2 inch intervals, with kitchen string.

Preheat an oven to 375~. Place the pork on a baking sheet and roast until done, 155 to 160~ when an instant read thermometer is inserted into the thickest part, 25 to 35 minutes.

Remove from oven, and let rest 10 minutes. Remove strings and cut into slices. Serve.

Serves 4

Recipe adapted from Joanne Weir 

Next week is Roasted Asparagus and White Bean Soup with Parmesan

Check out this invite!

Come for a Delta Asparagus Tasting

California Delta Asparagus Tasting Slow Food Santa Barbara & Market Forays WHEN: Sunday April 29, 2012 TIME: 3 to 5 pm LOCATION: 814 San Roque Road, Santa Barbara WHAT: An afternoon tasting of the best asparagus in the country, served with suitable accoutrements from prosciutto to Hollandaise, in the enjoyable company of fun-loving folks.  There will be wine and beer - I will serve Sauvignon Blanc and wheat beer, feel free to bring whatever label you think will go best. WHY: Because asparagus from the California Delta is the very best and sweetest. (Honestly, it puts our local SB asparagus to shame.) Also, because Delta asparagus is under severe pressure from cheaper imports, and I feel that it deserves to be better known. DETAILS: Asparagus is a perennial plant. In spring, the mother plant sends up shoots, the asparagus spears. Depending on the strength of the plant, the spears are either thick or thin. The thickest spears, "jumbo", are the juiciest, sweetest, and most highly prized. A few weeks ago I had my first taste of this spring delicacy, and resolved to share it with my friends at the first opportunity. I have been in Northern California at the orchard this past week, and made contact with Roscoe Zuckerman, Stockton asparagus farmer. I will be picking up jumbo asparagus from Roscoe's farm on my way back to Santa Barbara, and look forward to sharing it with you on Sunday. Event Cost: $25 per person. Reserve Now If you can't join us Sunday but would like to order asparagus, please e-mail me. $10 a share.

CAULIFLOWER SOUP

Rich, creamy, comfort food at its best. 

You've gotta love the Pioneer Woman! She's funny, energetic, and great at marketing herself, however I rarely make her recipes. They usually have too much cream or butter or sugar for me. They always sound delicious but I prefer a healthier diet. When Ree posted this on her blog I saved it. I tried not to make this soup...1 stick of butter, 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup 1/2 and  1/2,  oh so sinful, but after an afternoon BBQ at one of our favorite wineries I thought a small bowl of soup would be perfect. My will power had been weakened. This soup fit the bill, and even though it's not low calorie, it is delicious and rich, and a small bowl was plenty.

CAULIFLOWER SOUP

• 1 stick Butter, Divided
• ½ whole Onion, Finely Diced
• 1 whole Carrot Finely Diced
• 1 stalk Celery, Finely Diced
• 1 whole (to 2 Whole) Cauliflower Heads (roughly Chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Or Dried Parsley (chopped)
• 2 quarts Low-sodium Chicken Broth Or Stock
• 6 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1 cup Half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons To 4 Teaspoons Salt, To Taste
• 1 cup (heaping) Sour Cream, Room Temperature

Preparation Instructions

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to turn brown.

Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine.

Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup half-and-half. Add mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add two to three ladles of hot soup into the tureen and stir to combine with the sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.

Serve immediately.

Recipe by The Pioneer Woman