GFGF: The Middle East

For April the Good Friends Good Food chose to cook dishes from the Middle East. The Middle east consists of Egypt, Israel, Sudan, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Kuwait, etc. It is difficult to separate one country’s cuisine from another as they are all so similar.

Zucchini with Tomatoes

This is a very simple dish. Slice and saute garlic and coriander in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, peeled and chopped, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Simple. I have made zucchini and tomatoes many times but never with coriander. Completely different flavor. And I would have added more coriander.

Fish in Hot Sauce

Fish and other seafood are quite popular in the countries along the Arabian Gulf as well as the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the Sea of Galilee.

Serves 4:
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoonsground coriander
4 thick fillets whitefish , about 3/4 lb each (I used catfish)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and white pepper
lemon slices , to garnish
Sauce
1/2 stick butter
1/2 small sweet red pepper, diced
4 medium tomatoes , skinned and chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2teaspoorigroundginger
a pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste mixed with a little water

Pound the garlic and coriander together in a pestle and mortar. Rub this into the fish fillets and chill in a covered bowl for 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 375°F. Remove the fish from the bowl and rub with a mixture of the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Lay the fillets in a flat, oiled baking dish, cover tightly with foil and bake for about 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.

Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the pepper, tomato and onion until soft. Add the seasonings and the tomato paste and mix well. Simmer for 10-15 minutes on a low heat.
Serve the fish in the baking dish, garnished with the hot sauce and lemon slices.

This was delicious. Definitely a keeper. BTW both of thse are KETO friendly.

As it turns out I am the only one who did the Middle Eastern recipes this month. I still have one or two I want to try: Prawns in Tomato Sauce (cinnamon). And Maamoul which is a stuffed pastry. I have the mold I just haven’t made the pastry…YET!!

Both of these recipes came from Cooking the Middle Eastern Way by Christine Osborne

Next month…?

Advertisement

 

EWE: Fish

I love making Ellie’s recipes. they are healthy and infinitely adaptable. this recipe called for Sea Bass but I didnt have any. Couldn’t find any. But I did have some Trout. So I made Trout with Tomato, Olives, and Capers. And enjoyed it immensely.

It was a little sweet and a little salty. I still have some tomatoes from the garden. No kalamata olives, however, so sliced black olives were subbed. Definitely a keeper and a repeat. Definitely KETO friendly. Maybe with catfish from our pond?

The recipe is from Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave. (pg 228) You can also find the recipe here.

Kayte and Gaye are also cooking with Ellie.

If you want to cook along with us just let one of us know. We’d love to have you join us.

 

{EwE} One Fish, Two Fish…

Red Fish

Blue Fish

This week’s EwE theme was FISH!  But I guess you had figured that out already!

For some reason I had Dr. Seuss in my head the week I was supposed to come up with a theme and this one just popped into my head.  Could have been worse, I could have been thinking of Green Eggs and Ham or The Lorax or The Cat in the Hat.  I don’t think any of them would have made a good meal.  But fish – that’s a different story.

What about  broiled spicy salmon on a pita bread with spicy onions and sliced cukes? Yes?

Good answer!

open-face mediterranean salmon sandwiches

The whole dish contains tumeric, coriander, cumin, and cayenne. which are mixed with EVOO then spread over the fish before it is broiled.  The rest is heated in a sauce pan to cook the onions and garlic.  So.  Much.  Flavor!

Long slices of cucumber on a Pita bread {I used a whole grain one.} topped with sauteed onions topped with the salmon.

There is also a sauce made with plain yogurt, scallions, and lemon.  It was supposed to be OVER the fish but I really didn’t like it after it was made so I just put a little container of it one the side for the pictures.

I thought it might be dry with the sauce but the salmon wasn’t overcooked and the cucumbers added just enough moisture.  This was REALLY good!  Definitely a repeat.

The recipe is from Ellie’s Weeknight Wonders page 81 so it took less than 30 minutes to put together.

Want more fish dishes – Check out Eating with Ellie this week.  You’ll be glad you did.

And if you want to join us the themes are posted  Just cook, blog, and leave a comment on the theme page.  Love to have you.

 

{CKBKCountdown3} Blackened Catfish

Blackened Catfish is NOT what you call catfish you burned while cooking it. It is all about the spices, browning it well, and NOT using any breading – flour or cornmeal. And it is so easy….

Easy because it is just a matter of dredging the catfish fillets in a spicy mix.  The recipe calls for 8 6-oz fillets.  I had 4 8-oz.

Spice Mix:

1 Tbl sweet paprika
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme

Melt 2 sticks butter. Set aside while you mix the spices. In a large skillet heat the melted butter over medium-high heat.
Place the fish in the pan and cook 2 – 3 minutes (I did mine 4 minutes) on both sides until cooked through.

I served mine with stewed okra and tomatoes (Very Louisiana) and baked sweet potatoes (also Very Louisiana).

I would recommend making twice as much of the spice mix to get a good coating on the fish. And don’t let the butter ‘boil’ and bubble or you won’t be able to see how the fish is cooking.

THIS is not an every day meal since you use a full cup of butter, but it is good!!

The recipe is on page 44 of the Nov/Dec 2014 issue of Louisiana cookin’

I’m linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily’s Cooking (Makan2) Foray“.

 

{IHCC} Potluck with Donna Hay

These potluck weeks seem to roll around so quickly each month.  Fortunately I don’t have any trouble finding a recipe, just deciding which one to use.  This month I chose one from Donna Hay.

Donna’s coconut and salmon laksa soup.  I had just come from the store with some very nice Atlantic Salmon and knew that is what I wanted to use this month for the potluck.  And I am so glad I did.  It was just the right meal for a just cool afternoon.  The spiciness of the laksa with the sweetness of the coconut milk.  YUM!

• 5 oz dry rice vermicelli
• 4 Tbl laksa paste
• 1 Tbl shredded ginger
• 1 kaffir lime leaf (optional)
• 3 1/2 cups veggie stock
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 8 oz fresh salmon, chopped
• 4 baby bok choy leaves, separated {I only had regular so used one leaf}
• chopped cilantro and red chilies for garnish

Cook the rice noodles as directed.

Place the laksa, ginger and lime leaf in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it is fragrant.

Add the veggie stock and coconut milk and lower the temperature to low.  When all is hot add in the bok choy and salmon.  Cook for another 2 minutes or so.

Place the drained noodles in a bowl and add the broth with salmon and bok choy.

Garnish with the chilies and cilantro if desired.

I made 1/2 of the recipe and it was plenty for two meals.  I left off the chilies but added just a little extra laksa for the heat.

Darn good stuff!!

The recipe is on page 58 of Donna’s new food fast.  For more potluck this month visit IHCC.  Pretty sure there will be some more deliciousness there.

 

 

{WWDH} Red Curry of Swordfish

Fish is one of my favorite foods to cook. Any kind of fish. Salmon, Snapper, Bass, Trout, Catfish. We love it all. One type of fish I have never cooked, and only eaten once about 40 years ago, is Swordfish. It is an oily fish and the meat is usually sold as large steaks. The meat is pretty firm, and can be cooked in ways more fragile types of fish cannot. I wish I could have found some for this Donna Hay dish but it was not to be (remember I live in Podunk) so I ended up using some nice Catfish Fillets. Catfish is also a little oily, is quite firm and very mild so it was a good sub for the swordfish since it also tends to take on the flavors of whatever it is seasoned with.

Cooked in a skillet with coconut milk, red curry paste, and lemon grass, it is quite flavorful. The basil and lime juice added to the sauce provided another layer of flavor. I served it with a little Basmati rice and lots of sauce {I always make more than called for.} I quite liked this and am glad I have leftovers. I just wish I could have scored some swordfish. THAT would have been wonderful!!

Check on our Website – Wednesdays with Donna Hay – and see who managed to find some swordfish and who subbed something else.

And if you would like to join us we would love to have you. The recipes, through November, are listed on the right. Just cook, blog, share. And if you want to join the line up we would be glad to provide a time slot for you.

 

{WWDH} White Fish with Pine Nut Brown Butter

When it comes to favorite foods I would have to list seafood and fish on the top rung. Shrimp. Crab. Oysters. Fish. If we out that is what I usually order. Shrimp Poboy at the Magnolia Grill in Natchez. Oyster Poboy at the Magnolia Restaurant in St. Francisville. But if you can find good recipes for seafood at home I am all over it. Like this fish recipe from Donna Hay.

Thanks to Kayte I have another fish recipe to add to my list. Its a quick – less than 15 minutes – and nutty with the browned butter and pine nuts. In fact, that’s all the ingredients – fish, butter, and pine nuts and just a little lemon juice. If you can make a nice brown butter – and it took me ages to learn how – you can make this dish.

Make sure you use thin slices of the white fish. I used cod and the pieces were a little thick. I think we would really like it with some small catfish fillets.

Instead of the steamed greens that Donna suggested we had ours with some pasta I mixed with the buttery sauce. O, goodness, it was tasty.

The recipe is on page 30 of Donna’s New Food Fast and if you would like to see what the others did with the recipe you can visit all of us at Wednesdays with Donna Hay where we all leave our links for each dish.

The schedule of dishes is also there if you want to follow along, cook, and blog with us. We’d love to have you.

 

{IHCC} Ladle it up with Quick Fish Chowder

The days are cooling down now here in the Deep South and while it’s not quite as cool as I would like it to be it is cool enough to start adding soups and stews to the weekly menus. How fortunate that this week I Heart Cooking Clubs is doing Nigel’s Soups and Stews.

400 grams potatoes, peeled halved or quartered.
1 onion
500 mls (2 cups) water
500 mls (2 cups) milk
400 gms mixed fresh fish, chopped into large cubes
2 Bay leaves
1 cup corn kernels
2 green onions
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and roughly chop an onion into a large deep pan.
Add the water, milk, pepper, salt, and bay leaves and bring to the boil.
Lower the heat so the liquid simmers and, when the potatoes are soft, add the fish.
Continue to cook on a low heat for 10 minutes.
Add the corn.
Roughly chop two green onions and a small bunch of parsley, and stir them into the soup carefully, without breaking up the fish, then serve as soon as the corn is tender.

This is basically Nigel’s recipe but I did make some changes. I added about 1 Tbl of salt which he did not have in the recipe. I also thickened the soup with some corn starch. The soup was very thin for the ingredients so the thickening made it quite filling. {The next time I would smash some of the potatoes in the soup before adding the other ingredients.}Nigel suggests haddock, salmon, and cod. I used catfish (I DO live in the south!) and cod. I think salmon would have been excellent in the soup – if I had only had some.

And some crusty bread would have been good, too.

Nigel’s original recipe is HERE.

And for the rest of the visit IHCC Ladle It Up!

 

{IHCC} Potluck with wild rice and salmon

Last week I was in one of our local bookstores. They were having a BOGO $1 on the bargain books. Including a whole slew of cook books. I had promised myself I wasn’t going to buy Any.More.Cookbooks. I don’t need them. I have more than recipes I will ever use, which I know is NOT the reason we buy cookbooks, but I really DON’T need any more. REALLY! But this sale was just TOO good. So, since I have no self control…

Bittman for $4.00. I could NOT pass that up. Or Krieger. Or Hay. So I buckled under and bought the books. Lucky for me POTLUCK this week so I am using at least one of my unnecessary purchases. Bittman for Potluck!

Wild Rice with Celery and Steamed Salmon

I have to admit I have NEVER cooked Wild Rice before. Eaten yes, cooked, no! I was a little leary. But while it took FOREVER {58 minutes} it was delicious. The celery, garlic, onions, bay leaf added so much flavor. And so much better than white rice. I loved the idea that the salmon was steamed on top of the rice before the rice was completely finished. It did make it a one pot meal. I think I would like to add some color to this one – red or orange bell peppers would be nice.

The recipe is HERE! It is delicious. Low cal. Dellicous. Healthy food. And, as Bittman would say – Food Matters!

Check out the other Potluck dishes at I heart Cooking Club.

 

{WWDH} Fish with Lemons

Donna’s recipe is really paper-bag snapper with preserved lemons. I had the will to make this but not all the ingredients. I looked for snapper, but it was not to be found. And I live in a state with tons of seafood. So I settled for catfish.

But Red Snapper would have been SOOOO good.

The fish is cooked in parchment with Basil, Preserved Lemons, Garlic, White wine, and Olive oil for about 30 minutes. The fish is flavorful, flaky, and definitely repeatable. No clean-up. Perfect!!

This was Gaye’s pick this week and the recope is from Donna’s book, Seasons. (page 40) So check on Gaye’s fish and then go over and visit with

Chaya
Kayte
and Sarah.

We are a small group cooking from two of Donna Hays books and her recipes on line. Occasionally we branch out into other of her books. If you would like to join us just leave one of us a comment.