Saying Cilantro

I was going to give you a different recipe originally, but then I looked and I had already shared it – last year! So in an effort to not repeat myself just yet, Joe and I experimented a little and came up with something quite tasty. And in honor of some family members who will be spending time in Alaska salmon fishing – this is for you. But I think the recipe would be just as good with chicken or pork too, so don’t feel locked in to the salmon idea.

The main star of this show is cilantro, but the whole combination is really spectacular. The only downside would be for people who do not like cilantro, but then you have your own genetic mutations don’t you. For the rest of us with whatever gene makes us love cilantro – this recipe is the bee’s knees.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t be so cruel to people who dislike cilantro. It’s just that at a restaurant once in Long Beach, Joe and I were enjoying a little happy hour on the beach, when a woman near us started complaining about cilantro. And it was not just ordinary complaining – oh no. She felt the need to over enunciate the (perhaps) proper way to say it, with a roll of her r and everything. Seeeee-Laaahn-Trrrroh. And an accurate pronunciation is fine when you do that to everything, but imagine normal cadence, normal pronunciation peppered with Seee-Laaahn-Trrrroh every 4th or 5th word. I’ll demonstrate.

“Oh does this dish have Seeeee-Laaaaahn-Trrrrroh? Because I can’t have Seeee-Laaaahn-Trrrroh. I’m allergic to Seeee-Laaaahn-Trrroh.” The server replies that there is none. “Oh good, so I’ll have the ____ as long as there’s no Seeee-Laaaahn-Trrrroh.”

When the food arrives she looks at her plate “Excuse me, but I believe there is Seeeee-Laaaahn-Trrrrroh in this, and I can’t eat Seeee-Laaaahn-Trrrrroh.” The server removes the plate and walks past me as I am wide-eyed staring at this woman who continues to her dining-mates; “I thought there was no Seeeee-Lahhhn-Trrrroh. Because I just can’t have Seeee-Laaaahn-Trrrroh, I’m allergic to Seeee-Laaaaahn-Trrrroh.” This went on a few more times, because the server returned with the plate and assured her what she saw was parsley, but since parsley is not nearly as excruciating to say as cilantro, she did not believe him and ordered something else instead.

To this day Joe and I will always toss in one Seeee-Laaahn-Trrroh for good measure while shuddering at the memory of that dinner. Well, that and we sat near a divorcing couple where the man was very intoxicated and possibly on other drugs (he told us about the coke) who kept trying to include us in their fights. The whole evening was capped off by that same man getting injured on his bicycle after he left the restaurant and the server appearing on the restaurant’s deck with binoculars so we could watch the whole thing. Ahh yes, California, how we miss your kind of crazy.

Well, so back to the recipe. This is good. Make it.

Roasted Salmon with Cilantro Sauce
I used some Sockeye Salmon for this but I think pork chops or tenderloin or even chicken would be great, but you may have to adjust the cooking time.

For the sauce
1 bunch cilantro, including stems, washed
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 lime
Olive oil

For the Salmon
3 bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 Tb olive oil
¼ tsp. ground cumin
1 firm ripe tomato
1 8oz. piece of salmon
Salt and Pepper

To prepare the sauce, put garlic, cilantro and lime juice into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Pulse a few times to chop everything up. Then with the motor running, stream in the olive oil until well combined and creamy looking. Season with salt if needed.

Preheat oven to 400°. Toss together the peppers, onion, garlic olive oil and cumin and place in a large baking sheet. Place the piece of salmon on top and sprinkle everything with a little salt and pepper. Next, spoon some of the cilantro sauce over the salmon, coating it evenly, and spoon some onto the surrounding pepper mixture. Slice the tomato and lay the pieces on top of the salmon, sprinkle tomato with a bit of salt and pepper. Bake uncovered until salmon is cooked and the peppers and onions are softened about 20 minutes.

Serve with some of the reserved cilantro sauce.


P.S. I just got a new camera, and I am showing off the new pictures - notice how they aren't washed out with flash!

Romesco! That's fun to say!

Finally, the weather has turned slightly warm. After 2 (yes two) snowstorms in April, we have finally been cut a break here in Maine. As soon as the temperature reached about 40 people were out in shorts and t-shirts. I wasn’t that brave, but I have put away my socks and shoes and will heretofore be only wearing sandals or sockless flats.

Don’t get me wrong, as of this morning our backyard was still half covered under snow. So it’s not that warm, but when you’ve had winter for over 5 months, you take what you can get. In fact, we (more like I) were so eager for spring that we started garden box #1 this weekend. It may be a bit early, but I couldn’t hold out any longer. Since I only used half of my seeds from last year, we are planting a lot of the same things; radishes, beets, and lettuce in this box. As an added bonus I had about 6 tiny little leek plants survive the winter, despite my best efforts, so those too have been transplanted into the garden box. But the really exciting news this year is that we have planted fava beans! (I will spare you the weird Hannibal Lector slurping noise – oops, you probably heard it in your head anyways) So hopefully, if the seed packet is accurate, in 50-85 days I will have a fava bean story to tell you.

For now though, we are left with co-op and grocery store produce. Which is by no means bad, and since the weather is so pleasant, we have taken our cooking outdoors. From the numerous posts last year about food prepared on the grill, it’s safe to assume that I was excited to fire it up again this year. After a first round of burgers, we decided to try something different. So we scoured the grilling cookbooks in my collection and landed on romesco sauce.

Romesco is a Spanish sauce that is usually served with grilled fish, meats or even pasta. It’s made mostly from red peppers and almonds which makes for a nice texture and flavor. We grilled all of the vegetables for this sauce, and then blended it in the food processor. The sauce by itself is actually vegan, so if you want to spoon it onto grilled portabellas or tofu – go for it.

Grilled Romesco Sauce
As adapted from 30 Minute Vegetarian Grilling
This recipe makes a lot, so freeze leftovers or serve it later in the week over pasta.

3 red peppers, whole
3 medium vine ripe tomatoes, whole
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 medium yellow onion, halved and skin removed
1 small red chili pepper (such as fresno)
½ c raw almonds
½ c dry bread crumbs (more if necessary)
Olive oil for thinning
Salt and pepper to taste


Toast almonds in a 350° oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and very fragrant, set aside.

Skewer the peeled onion halves, garlic cloves and chili pepper. Place skewer as well as the peppers and tomatoes on the grill and cook until vegetables are tender. The pepper skins should be blackened and the tomato skins should be peeling off.

Remove skins from peppers and tomatoes, and place into a food processor. Chop root off of the onion and add with the garlic and cooled almonds to the food processor. Pulse to combine, while drizzling in olive oil. If sauce is too watery, pulse in bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve over grilled seafood or other vegetables.

I Am Not An Italian Nona

I don’t know if you knew that about me, but I’m not. In fact my WASP-y heritage prohibits me from becoming one, even though this is my lifelong dream. Basically, this means that I want to be really good at cooking Italian food. I’m not bad at it, but it does not come to me with ease or grace.

While in college some of my closest friends came from Italian backgrounds, and I was able to learn some basic principles from them through their family recipes. But as you can imagine, it is hard to cook gigantic dinners in college apartment s and dorms. Not impossible, but hard.

My group of friends and I would try to have “Family Dinner” on Sundays or at least once a week. This would be at various people’s apartments and usually consisted of giant quantities of food (we are talking college aged men here - they eat a lot). My sophomore year college dorm room had a tiny kitchenette that consisted of a sink, a small stove and oven and a refrigerator. There was approximately 2 square feet of counter space, which lead to creative storage and dish drying spaces. When I moved in, my mom unloaded all of her old pots, pans and utensils on me –most of which I actually still have.

In particular she gave me a gigantic stock pot. When I first got it, I said “Mom, I am never going to use this thing – it’s HUGE!” And she replied with a “Well, just keep it, you never know.” And once again the wisdom of mother panned out. I managed to cook up to 3 pounds of pasta at one time in it, which was just about how much was needed for a group of 6-8 college students.

I learned how to make marinara sauce, meatballs, eggplant parmesan and other dishes though the tutelage of college friends. And now, with Joe’s family, I have been able to learn even more about the art of Italian-American cooking. But the very intense crazy 'grandma-only' dishes have yet to be conquered by me.

For example, I tried to make Joe a 'welcome home' dinner this past Sunday of braciole. For those of you who don’t know what braciole is, it is magical. I had a bit of it from a friend’s grandmother once, and I would have had some from Joe’s Nana, except that he ate all of it before I could get my fork in there. Braciole is a piece of meat, either veal or beef, pounded thin and then wrapped around breadcrumbs, seasoning and hardboiled egg. It’s then braised and served with a tomato sauce and pasta. Like I said, magical. So I found a recipe online, and thought I could spend all day Sunday making it.

To make a long story a bit shorter, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. Joe mentioned that he was glad he was not around to witness the debacle. There was profanity and the throwing of things. Wrapping meat around a filling successfully is my kryptonite in the kitchen. The braciole didn’t look good, but it tasted fine, and the sauce that went with it was great. So that is what I would like to share with you here today. If you know how to make braciole, or if you keep a small Italian grandmother hidden away for such occasions, please feel free to add it to the recipe.


Meat Braised Marinara Sauce As adapted from Tyler Florence’s “Ultimate Braciole”
I typically find Tyler Florence’s recipes good if not a little too involved. But this one looked promising. If you care to find his recipe for braciole, go ahead and give it a shot, but I am just going to share the sauce portion, which is still very good over pasta.

3Tb Olive oil
2 cloves
6 sprigs of thyme (washed but not chopped)
1 small (1-2 pounds) beef roast, or flank steak
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 ½ c beef broth
2 bay leaves
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes (with no additional seasonings)
4 whole vine ripened tomatoes
½ pint grape tomatoes, whole
Salt and pepper
2 Tb balsamic vinegar
3 Tb parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350°, and season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven and add the garlic cloves and thyme. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the meat and brown on all sides. If the thyme and garlic start to brown too much, remove them from them from the oil, and set aside. Once the meat is browned, remove it to a platter and set aside.

Next add the onions and sauté until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Then add in beef broth and bay leaves, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Once the beef broth is boiling, add in the can of tomatoes, the reserved garlic and thyme and stir to combine. Once the mixture is fully combined, add back in the meat.

Nestle in the whole tomatoes around the meat, and toss in the grape tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the entire mixture to a simmer, then cover and place in the oven. Cook for about 2 hours, or until the meat is form tender (it will shrink in size a bit). Then remove the pot from the oven, and set the meat on a platter, and shred with a fork. Remove the whole tomatoes from the sauce, as well as the bay leaves and thyme springs. Blend the remaining mixture in a blender or with an immersion blender until combined. Then place the pot over medium heat.

Peel off the skin from the large whole tomatoes, and crush, then return them to the pot. Also, add back in the shredded meat and any juices that may have accumulated. Bring the pot to a simmer. Add in the balsamic vinegar and parsley and simmer for about 5 minutes. Check for seasonings, and serve over cooked pasta.

In Honor of June Cleaver

My house growing up was full of people and activity, that is, if we were home. Both my parents worked, multiple jobs and they usually took us with them if we weren’t in school. Some of my favorite memories are of having chicken broth out of a vending machine at the YMCA or eating Apple Jacks in the back of my Dad’s Dodge Colt while he delivered newspapers early one morning.

That is not to say that we did not have family dinners. We just had ours a little differently. At a fairly young age, my mom had my sisters and I cooking at least once a week. This included planning the menu, adding it to the grocery list and then preparing and serving it. My go-to meal was frozen raviolis (it still is, I usually have a bag for when I just cannot cook anything that requires thinking). I do remember gathering around a table for meals and trying to get my sister to laugh so hard she shot milk out of her nose. I was on a role for a while until my mom threatened us with some unnamed horrible punishment if Jen’s milk went anywhere but down her throat.

Or a few years later setting the table complete with glasses of milk (I had given up trying to neti-pot my sister with milk by this time) then coming back to find our little dog standing on the table lapping the milk out of everyone’s glasses. We had and still have a lot of good times around the dinner table. And I understand how hard it must have been to ensure we always had some time set aside for family dinners.

Today, I am blessed with a job that lets me get out of work fairly early by normal standards. And when Joe is in season, I have even more time to get dinner on the table. I’m no June Cleaver (my apron has a swear word on it heehee) but I like to have dinner ready for when Joe comes home. Not every day, and I have previously mentioned how after a bad day I may in fact be on the couch in the dark 2 martinis in by the time Joe comes home (hence the frozen raviolis).

Not everyone has this much time to cook dinner, and I always like to look for recipes that can be done quickly and taste good. While visiting my ex-college roommate and her husband this past weekend, I got to thinking about how difficult it can be to prepare something healthy and varying week to week. So Neerali, this one is for you.

Pork Agrodolce
As adapted from Gourmet April 2008 and Cooking Light
This is a quick and dirty way to make agrodocle –but I really like it. Be warned however, it is very strong on the vinegar flavor, so if you don’t like that, this recipe is not for you. I typically make this sauce for pan seared salmon, but the store was completely out of wild salmon. If you want to use salmon follow the * for directions below. This pork version takes a little longer but the hands-on time is about the same.

For the Pork
1 pork tenderloin
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Fresh (or dried sage) optional
Dried mustard (or fresh) optional

Agrodolce
1 large red onion, cut into 8 wedges (if it is a gigantic onion cut it into 16 wedges)
2 Tb. Olive oil
2/3 c. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 Tb butter

Preheat the oven to 400°. Rub the pork with olive oil and spices. Place pork on a foiled baking sheet or roasting pan and cook for about 20-30 minutes, until cooked all the way through. (if you have a meat thermometer, the pork should register about 140° or longer if you want it less pink)

Once the pork has finished cooking, turn off the oven and let it rest. While the pork is resting, cook the agrodolce. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan, and add red onion, some of your wedges will fall apart, but don’t worry. Cook onion for about 6-8 minutes until their color has lessened and they start to get a little brown. Then add sugar, salt and vinegar. Cook for another 5-7 minutes until the vinegar is thick and syrupy. Add the butter to the sauce and stir until it is blended into the sauce. Spoon agrodolce onto plate and serve with sliced pork over top. This can be served with your favorite vegetable (roast broccoli) and potatoes or egg noodles (I have a weakness for egg noodles).

*For Salmon, take wild salmon and slice filets into single serve portions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a pan, and cook salmon skin side UP for 8-12 minutes, until a nice golden crust forms on the salmon. Flip and cook for another few minutes. This version is much more quick then the pork, but both are fairly easy.