Recipe of the Week

Halibut Vegetable Chowder

I made this the week before Erica came to visit - and had totally forgot about it until I was looking through some of my foodie pictures :) It comes from a recipe book I got on the coast called "Seafood Twice a Week." It's a great resource for making quick and delicious seafood, and comes with pages and pages of how to prepare and cook all kinds of seafood properly. It also has great sections on the benefits of eating seafood twice a week because of the omega 3's & fatty acids, heart healthy protein, low sodium, minerals & vitamins, etc. I sometimes shy away from cooking with my friends from down under because you always hear in the news of people getting sick from shellfish and undercooked seafood. However, in this book they list a lot of facts to refute those common misconceptions.

In a study conducted by the FDA findings showed:

*One illness per 1,000,000 servings of cooked seafood
*One illness per 250,000 servings of shellfish, including raw shellfish
*One illness per every 25,000 servings of chicken

Eating cooked seafood is 40 times safer than eating chicken!

Well okay, my excuse is dried up and on its way out, so I am ready to experiment with an array of costal goodies!

This halibut chowder was a great way to cook halibut for the first time. I prepare a lot of salmon dishes and sometimes tuna, but this was my first white fish I had cooked by myself.

Halibut Vegetable Chowder:

1.5 pounds halibut
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 medium sweet or yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
3 red-skinned potatoes, diced
1 cup water (or 1 cup chicken broth or 1 cup white wine for more flavor)
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced, or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced, or 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Cut fish into 1-inch boneless cubes
2. Saute' carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in oil for 5 minutes
3. Add tomatoes, potatoes, water, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, and all other seasonings. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add halibut and simmer 5-10 minutes or until halibut flakes with a fork. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Per serving: 203 calories, 6 gm fat, 375 mg sodium,

Sauvie Island Spaghetti

I know, I'm on a roll and it's just going to keep coming! I've got a lot of good recipes to share from the past few weeks.

Dan's mother was in town this past week and we had a great time exploring the city together. It was a challenging week, as Clover had an ear infection and was feeling down and out. Kathy helped me get Clover back on track, though, and we still had a great time for the week she was here. She helped me bathe Clover, get her ears cleaned every day, manage her medications, take her outside... I truly couldn't have done it without her. Clover cried out as Kathy left to get on the MAX to go back home to New York, she truly misses her and all the love and attention she got all week long.

We went to Mt. St. Helens over the weekend (awesome!), had wine tastings at several wineries on a rainy Sunday afternoon, went to the lavender festival, had dinner while watching the sun set in Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, shopping, lunching and ice cream all over the city during the days with Clover, and finally my favorite - a day at Sauvie Island picking berries and exploring farms of the northwest. Kathy and I both love Portland, so it was great to enjoy the city together all week long and learn more about each other. This was my fourth visit with Kathy and it always seems like I learn so much just by spending time with her - about any kind of current events, wine, cooking, herbs, flowers, or just life in general. We have a lot of interests in common. Looking forward to spending more time with the Griswold/Kitners in less than a month for my second Canada trip!

As for the recipes, Kathy called this "Sauvie Island Spaghetti" because we either picked the veggies ourselves or got them at the markets right on the island. For me this was the best day I've spend in Portland. After seeing the film "Food Inc." I've gotten really interested in knowing more about how our food reaches us and the things that happen to that food on its journey to our plates and stomachs. Buying and cooking local, organic food has become my new hobby up here in Portland, and even though it will be harder to do this back in Arizona, I am looking forward to entering that community.

This was the first completely homemade sauce I've ever made. I decided to go vegetarian because we made a beef-taco soup earlier in the week. I got to use my new food processor to prepare the sauce which was AMAZING. All the hours of chopping I used to spend are now being spent on perfecting flavor and experimenting with herbs. So as I can remember, this is how it went...

Sauvie Island Spaghetti:

2 medium walla walla sweet onions
4 cloves elephant garlic
1 of each - red, green, and yellow bell pepper
2 carrots, grated

Pulse several times in food processor. I left a few bigger chunks, but pulsed the onions a little more. It was so cool grating the carrots in the food processor! Next, sauté all in a large pan with several tablespoons of olive oil.

In the meantime, I processed the gigantic tomatoes we got. I should have taken a picture because they were crazy looking, massive on-the-vine tomatoes. I was going to blanche the tomatoes and remove the skins, but I like keeping the skins on all my veggies. So I just pureed the tomatoes, 2 gigantic and 3 smaller tomatoes and added them to the mix. I also added a tablespoon or so of crushed red pepper flakes.

While this was bubbling I chopped 2 smaller zucchinis in the processor, and added this along with chopped mushrooms to the sauce. I let it continue to simmer for about 20 minutes while I prepared dessert. Right before serving I added the freshly picked basil and oregano.

We served the sauce over cooked spaghetti noodles, with real Italian bread Kathy showed me how to pick out - alongside a great dipping oil, and of course our freshly picked raspberries in chilled white wine. It was a feast for kings! Definitely worth a day of picking in the humid Portland sun. Dan said it was the best sauce he's ever eaten, and like I always say... "the best dinner is the one you make yourself."

As for dessert, I made a recipe we got at the lavender festival - Blueberry Lavender Sweet Cake. I picked up several bags of cooking lavender at the festival along with some recipes to try out. I even got some for Erica so she can taste the goodness herself, I'm sure Cayson will appreciate the goodies.

This recipe is very easy to make, it's simple, just sweet enough, and makes a great light snack or even breakfast treat. For the lavender sugar, you just process 1 tablespoon cooking lavender with 1 cup of organic granulated sugar in the food processor. You can make several cups at a time and store in an airtight container.

1 stick sweet cream butter
1 cup lavender sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup fresh blueberries (or peaches or any soft fruit, or combination)
Fresh English lavender flowers for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour one spring form or flat-bottom cake dish or pie plate. Whip lavender sugar (reserve 2 tablespoons for top), with the butter in a mixer for 2 minutes. Add eggs, flour, and baking powder and whip for 2 minutes. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth the batter and lay the blueberries evenly on top. Sprinkle the reserved 2 tablespoons of lavender sugar over the cake. Bake about 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into wedges when cool. The blueberries sink right into the cake. Serve alone or with fresh whipped cream.

It was a very eventful week... delicious food, laughter, beautiful sights and lots of adventure. I've definitely enjoyed my Portland life. With only 3 weeks left, I'm trying to figure out how I will be able to say goodbye to the best chapter of my life yet.

My New Best Friend

It is now officially time to rock out in the kitchen!!!

Recipe of the Month!

Well I have been distracted as of late with a little ankle biter running around, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking or doing anything cool or fun! I have been wanting to post a lot of new recipes I have been trying out, but by the end of the day I am too tired to get on the computer. Here is a meal I made last week that was outstanding! I have to make it again. It was so simply delicious and incredibly easy to make, two pluses in my book.

As for the first recipe... Dan and I were eating at Laughing Planet Cafe, our favorite portland restaurant. It's closeby, sustainable and local produce, and inexpensive as well. There is a great patio too so we enjoy taking clover and hanging out at dinner time. They had a cilantro pesto on a burrito I ordered and WOW is all I can say. I went home thinking I needed to figure out how to make something like that. So I searched on the food network and it came up with this recipe.

Pan-Seared Chicken with Cilantro Pesto

• 2 tablespoons garlic-flavored or regular olive oil, divided
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (well just however many people you have eating)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, minced
  
• 1/4 cup lowfat sour cream
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the hot pan and cook until golden brown and just cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, place the pine nuts in a small dry skillet and set over medium heat. Toast the nuts until golden brown, about 3 minutes, shaking the pan frequently to prevent burning.

Transfer the pine nuts to a blender or food processor and add cilantro, sour cream, the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process until smooth, adding water, as necessary, to create a thick paste. Serve the chicken with the pesto spooned over the top.

So at this point I didn't have a food processor so I just mixed all the ingredients with a potato masher to kind of break up the pine nuts. I liked it being chunky, but I will try the recipe again with my new food processor! I got a great deal on one at Macy's yesterday and I'm grinning big time, so excited to try out some great recipes!

Okay, now for the second recipe. Dan's brother Rich, being the nice gent he is, sent us a wonderful christmas present last year - a subscription to Bon Apetit! I got our latest issue last week and a delicious looking salad was inside, I just had to make it.

Orecchiette with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes and Garlic Chives:

10 oz. orecchiette (little ear shaped pasta; about 3 cups uncooked)

1 pound pea-size mozzarella or fresh mozzarella diced (can be found at Trader Joe’s)

1 pound grape tomatoes or pear tomatoes in assorted colors, halved

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (I used more)

3 tablespoons minced fresh garlic chives or regular chives (I used regular and then minced several cloves of garlic)

2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain and put in large bowl, add mozzarella and stir until cheese starts to become soft. Add tomatoes and all remaining ingredients; toss to blend evenly. Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.

And to top the meal off, serve with fresh cherries!!! I love summertime berries :)