Spanish Rice

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This rice has been a favorite in our house for a couple of years now. I got it from my good friend Stephanie, who is a California native, and a wonderful cook. It comes together in under a half an hour, allowing you that time to make whatever main dish you may be making. It goes with anything Mexican of course, but we’ve also had it as a side with grilled chicken. Absolutely love it inside a burrito.

I struggled with rice on the stove top for quite some time when I started cooking. It was always mushy, and clumpy. I hate to admit it here – but, for years my preferred method of rice cookery was the microwave. Finally I picked up the tip to sauté the rice in a bit of butter or oil before adding the water. After that, morale improved considerably. I haven’t tried it with brown rice yet, so if you do…please let me know. I’d like to start incorporating more of it into our diet, and I think it would be a relatively easy swap out. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does. It’s a great side dish to have in your recipe box!

Spanish Rice

1 cup white rice
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup salsa
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup black olives, roughly chopped
1 tsp chicken or vegetable bullion (powder, cube, or base)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp butter

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers to the pan, and sauté until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add rice to the pan, and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.

Add cumin, black pepper, olives, salsa, chicken bullion, and water. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes. Remove cover and fluff with fork before serving.

Source: Mrs. Stephanie Burke

Rustic Roasted Tomato Salsa

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Isn’t it amazing that salsa is the #1 condiment in the United States? We love salsa in our house. Whether it’s a chunky pico de gallo, or a smoky salsa verde – we have yet to meet one we diddn’t like. This recipe is no exception. When I came across it on my friend Josie’s site, I knew it was going to be a winner. First of all, it’s Rick Bayless. The man moved to Mexico for 6 years to better learn the cuisine. He knows his salsa, folks.

I also loved the addition of fire-roasted tomatoes as the base. I like using good quality canned tomatoes for the restaurant style salsas that I’ve made in the past, so I knew the flavor could only be amplified by using the fire-roasted variety. The store only had fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic on shopping day, so I adjusted my recipe by reducing the amount of fresh garlic in the recipe by a couple of cloves. My changes are reflected below. The tomatoes lended a smokey sweetness, and the cilantro and lime juice just made it so bright and fresh. Made a nice sized batch that stored in the refrigerator wonderfully for a few days!

Rustic Roasted Tomato Salsa

2 fresh jalapeno peppers
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1 15-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic, in juice
1/2 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro
1 lime, juiced
Salt and Pepper

Heat a small skillet over medium heat, and dry roast the peppers and garlic, until soft and blotchy in spots.  The peppers will take about 10 minutes, and the garlic will take about fifteen.

Meanwhile, rinse the onion in a fine-mesh strainer under cold water.  Shake to dry, and set aside.

Stem and peel the jalapenos, and scrape out the seeds and membranes (or leave them if you want the salsa extra spicy)!  Peel the garlic, and transfer it to a food processor, along with the jalapenos.  Pulse until they are finely chopped, then add the tomatoes (with their juice), and pulse a few more times to make the salsa as smooth or as coarse as you want.  Pour the mixture into a medium bowl, and add the onion, cilantro, and lime juice.  Stir to combine, and add salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and refrigerate, or serve immediately.

Source: adapted from Pink Parsley, originally from Mexican Everyday

Beer Battered Fish Tacos

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I consider today to be the last day of summer. Here in Maryland, there is already a crispness in the air in the mornings. School buses are on the move, and dare I say it, but I’ve already seen a few leaves changing color. It’s been a wonderful summer for me and my family. We’ve got a new baby on the way (due on Christmas Eve!), had an abundance of fresh seafood, many glorious days at the beach, and plenty of good food on the table. Even though I have not been regular with my blogging, rest assured I still have been putting out “good eats” on the regular. This, my friends, was one of our favorite dishes this summer. Beef tacos and chicken tacos are wonderful, but a good fish taco is on another plane of existence!

Now, of course you could grill or pan sear your fish for a healthier option. But, I gotta give two-thumbs up for the beer batter. I used my husbands home brewed 60 Minute IPA, and the beer flavor really shined through. The fish also stayed crispy long after frying. We were nibbling on fish nuggets long after dinner was over! I like to employ a double-shell technique for these. I had some wonderful blue corn taco shells that I got while in the “big city” a month or so ago. But, they are very fragile. My solution was to wrap a flour tortilla around the corn, and it really does give it a little something extra as far as the texture is concerned. We topped ours with a spicy chipotle ailoi, pico de gallo, and of course the traditional thinly sliced cabbage.

They’ve definitely become a favorite in our household, even with our 2 year old Drew. He couldn’t get enough of the fish, as well as the Spanish rice I served it with (which, I will have to blog on it’s own in another post…it’s insanely good as well!). I see us having this dish in the cold winter months as well for sure!

Beer Battered Fish Tacos

1 firm white fish filet (cod, haddock, catfish, flounder)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup beer (whatever you’ve got laying around)

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp kosher salt

6 hard corn taco shells (blue is nice, but yellow is fine too!)

6 small “fajita-sized” flour tortillas

finely shredded cabbage

pico de gallo or chopped tomato

vegetable oil for frying

For the chipotle aioli :

1/2 cup good mayonnaise

3 tbsp chopped chipotle in adobo sauce

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp hot sauce

juice from 1/2 a lime

Combine 1 cup flour, paprika, chili powder, cumin, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the beer to the flour mixture and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to let the yeasts in the beer develop. Meanwhile prepare the fish by patting the filet dry with paper towels, then cutting into 1×1 inch chunks. Place the remainder 1/2 cup of flour into a small bowl, and toss the fish chunks in the flour to coat.

For the aioli, combine the mayonaise, chipotle pepper, cilantro, hot sauce and lime juice. Add salt to taste. Place in serving dish and set aside to let flavors mingle.

Heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat to 375 degrees.  Remove fish from the flour bowl, and place about half of the chunks into the beer batter. Once coated in the batter well, place in hot oil, being careful not to overcrowd. Fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove to paper towel lined plate to drain. Repeat with remaining chunks of fish.

Heat corn tortillas in a 350 degree oven to crisp, and warm the flour tortillas on a plate covered with plastic wrap in the microwave for about 45 seconds until pliable. Place the corn tortilla inside the flour tortilla. Place fried fish inside the shells (I had to cut some of the chunks in half as they were large), and top with shredded cabbage, chipotle aioli, and pico de gallo. A squirt of fresh lime juice is nice as well. Enjoy with a nice cold beer!

Source: Inspired by a dish at Gordon Biersch

Spicy Turkey Panini

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turkeypanini

I came across these panini sandwiches while I was expecting our son Andrew. It was an instant hit with both myself, and the husband. I couldn’t believe how flavorful this sandwich was, or how easy it was to throw together. In fact, in the last week before Andrew was born, Jon took over all cooking duties for me. It might sound simple enough, but it’s actually quite a feat for him.

He cooked the usual things that men (well, most of them!) are capable of cooking…spaghetti, hot dogs, tacos. In other words, processed/ground meat central. But, he also decided to go out on a limb for himself and made these paninis. I did assist him a little in the chopping of the jalapenos. I would have been waiting all night for him to chop up 2 of them – bless his heart. My point is they are wonderfully easy. Takes 20 minutes to throw together…tops!

Spicy Southwest Turkey Paninis

1 sourdough boule or loaf, sliced in pieces 1/2″ thick

3/4 lb oven roasted deli turkey, sliced thin

2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into 1/4″ thick slices

1/2 lb Pepper Jack cheese, sliced (sandwich size is ideal)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp hot sauce

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

kosher salt and ground black pepper

Whisk mayonnaise, hot sauce, jalapeno, and cilantro in a small bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, toss red peppers with the olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.  Heat large non-stick grill pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange peppers in a single layer in the pan, place a square of aluminum foil on top (that way you don’t kave to wash the pan you weigh down with!), then place a dutch oven, or any other heavy bottomed pan on top of the peppers to weigh them down. Cook, stirring peppers occasionally, until peppers are browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and wipe out pan.

To assemble the paninis, spread mayonnaise mixture evenly on each slice of bread. Lay 2 slices of cheese onto one side of the bread. Top with turkey, red peppers, and remaining cheese. Arrange remaining bread, mayonnaise-side down, over cheese.

Heat grill pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Place 2 sandwiches in pan and weight down with Dutch oven (you can use the aluminum foil trick here as well). Cook sandwiches until golden brown and cheese is melted, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to wire rack and repeat with remaining sandwiches.

Source: Cook’s Country