I have made this curry a few times. Here are two different methods, both easy. The quickest method is to simmer together for 10 minutes the coconut milk, brown sugar, curry paste and soy sauce in a saucepan. You may want to add more of these seasonings to taste. Another option is to simmer and reduce the sauce to half. Definitely use light coconut milk for this version. After simmering, in both of these methods, stir in the lime juice, mint and basil and let stand over the heat several minutes.
Swai is a light mild fish that is very inexpensive. We prefer it to tilapia. Halibut is expensive in the Midwest. Another option is to serve this with chicken. Broiled organic chicken thighs are great, or chicken breasts if you prefer! The Swai cooks quickly over medium high heat in a lightly oiled non-stick sauté pan. Season before sautéing.
You can serve this with brown rice, but for a lower carb choice, try my Cauliflower Mash. Mound the cauliflower in the middle of the plate. Place the fish or chicken on top and pour the curry over all. Serve with steamed broccolini or red peppers.
Coconut Curry Chicken Over Cauliflower Mash with Steamed Broccolini
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk or light coconut milk
1 1/2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
2-5 tablespoons curry paste (depending on the degree of heat you like)
1-2 tablespoons lower sodium soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 mint sprigs, optional
3 basil sprigs
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
4 (6-ounce) swai, halibut, tilapia, or cod fillets
Although I love the intricacies of an elaborate recipe and in depth cooking techniques, I ADOREEASY when the taste is outstanding! Such is the case here today. Roasted red peppers found in jars on the shelves of our grocery stores are one of the best bargains and most time consuming ingredient you can find. You often will get three whole red bell peppers in one jar! The peppers can be kept whole or cut into various size pieces. Here we will chop them to a chunky consistency to make Gazpacho.
Gazpacho is a traditional Spanish style soup that is served cold. The soups are chopped or pureed mixtures which are red or white in color. The red gazpachos are made primarily of tomatoes with broth and other vegetables. The white gazpachos are made of bread, almonds, cucumbers,broth and olive oil. I have eaten them pureed silky smooth and chopped to a super chunky hearty style. I find the stick blenders are another easier device to use than the food processor. They are much less expensive, easier to clean and provide closer eye contact with the food you are chopping.
So, combine the following ingredients in your food processor or a large bowl to blend up with your stick blender:
1 12-oz jar roasted red sweet peppers, drained (you may choose to add all or some of this liquid to your soup. I added half)
All the ingredients you need to make pesto! Take a stem of leaves in one hand and wipe the leaves with the other using a damp paper towel Add to the food processor the basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt and olive oil Pureed ingredients before adding the cheese. You can freeze the sauce at this point and add the cheeses at a later date when you are ready to serve the Pesto. Pour the pureed mixture into a mixing bowl Add the Parmesan and Romano cheeses Pesto ready for freezing in the ice cube trays and mini muffin tins. When frozen, pop them out and store in Ziploc freezer bags or cartons in the freezer
Pesto ready for the frig!Dave’s basil was bountiful this year. He filled two large garden pots with 4 plants each. The leaves were not huge and since the plant was beginning to flower, I cut it all down and made five batches of pesto today. That’s about 20 cups of fresh basil leaves!
I have two other Pesto recipes posted on my blog. Today’s recipe is closest to the traditional Genoese Basil Sauce. Genoa is the city where Pesto originates. Christopher Columbus was Genovese and he carried pesto on his ships to the New World, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. I wonder why I remember all this?
This recipe is to be made in a standard size food processor. It is an adaption of Marcella Hazan’s from her cookbook, The Classical Italian Cookbook. A well-rounded pesto is never made with all Parmesan or all Romano. Marcella and I use 4 parts Parmesan to 1 part Romano in this recipe.
Ingredients
4 cups fresh basil leaves, lightly wipe the leaves with a damp paper towel to clean. Basil does not like to be wet and will brown quickly. I grab a stalk with one hand and then with a damp paper towel wipe the leaves. Then gently tear leaves into two or more small pieces. Be careful not to crush the basil. The purpose is to make fairly even sized pieces for uniform measuring. I prefer the traditional green leaf basil. It makes a nice bright green pesto. The purple basil produces a darker brown-green pesto.
1 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife and peeled (don’t over do the garlic; a very large clove counts as 2 cloves)
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/4 cup pine nuts, (about 1-1.5 ounces)
1/4 cup freshly grated Locatelli brand Romano cheese (other brands are fine, but this is my favorite)
1 cup (about 1/4 pound) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Instructions
1. In a food processor place the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic cloves and salt. Process with the knife blade until pureed. Do not overprocess or allow the basil to heat up. Scrape the sides of the bowl during processing.
2. Pour the sauce into a medium size bowl and stir in the cheeses.
3. Freeze pesto in ice cube trays or tiny muffin tins and when frozen, place the cubes in a freezer carton or bag for storage in the freezer. You can also store the pesto in a jar in the refrigerator by keeping a layer of olive oil on the surface and covering with a lid. Presto!
4. Serve with pasta as the original recipe. Use as a spread on tomatoes and fresh mozzarella or sandwiches and bruschetta. Add as a flavoring to soups, sauces and stews. Use as a marinade for chicken.
OPTIONAL: Instead of freezing with the cheese, omit the cheese and add it instead after thawing the cubes. This will give a fresher flavor, but is another step in your preparations.
Dave and I were in San Diego at Torrey Pines this past July where he was speaking at a conference called Scientific Updates. I was lucky to get the chance to go to such a beautiful place! I love exploring. Twice, dining out in La Jolla, Dave ordered versions of this rich broth and seafood. The flavors were amazing. Cioppino originates in San Francisco. The Mediterranean countries all have their versions.
This is a recipe he found online at Epicurious. He made one recipe last weekend and we both ate it 4 days in a row. There were a good 9 servings here! Low in fat, calories and carbs and full of flavor, protein,vitamins and minerals! I added cooked short grain Arborio rice to mine. Dave is avoiding the carbs 😦 I prefer the rice to the original crusty French style bread.
Living in the Midwest we’ve experimented with various forms of shellfish. We prefer the frozen clams and mussels in the shells to the fresh. Can you believe they sell fresh mussels in Michigan? The frozen were meatier than the fresh. Calamari or squid are available cleaned and frozen. No more squid ink to deal with! None of the fish became tough with cooking and reheating.
Dave followed this recipe below with these additions:
Add 1 pound frozen clams in their shells
He used cod instead of halibut, which is not easy to find in Midland
Add a 2nd bottle of clam juice instead of the 8 oz water
Use a fennel bulb the size of a large fist
Add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
Serve with cooked rice (I prefer the short grained Arborio rice) and/or crusty French or crusty sourdough bread
At the local farmers market in Midland Michigan last weekend, I came across beautiful Michigan strawberries from Hart. I thought I lost my chance to make strawberry jam this year when the 4th of July came and went in a flurry. I found this recipe online. It’s a new style of jam recipe for me. I have always used the Sure-Jell pectin recipe included in their box. This new recipe uses more strawberries, less sugar and no pectin! Lemon juice and lemon rind are the extra sources of pectin. Strawberries contain pectin, but not enough to firm up the jam unless you reduce it to a pulp.
When I made this lemony strawberry jam this weekend, it made 4 8-ounce jars. The Pioneer Woman said her recipe made 6 jars. I am including pics from my cooking experience with this recipe. Also, the link to the recipe is below:
This past week my friend Michelle Toro Seyfarth, made a Cuban dinner for a large group of friends at Birch Lake. It was delicious! Her parents came in from Florida that day to help with the final preparations. It was fabulous! I tried to duplicate this amazing Thanksgiving-like dinner, but I need some practice and fine tuning before publishing those recipes.
I did publish the Guacamole! *
The star of the Cuban dinner was the Lechon. A fresh pork leg that is injected with Goya Mojo Crillo Marinade and roasted. Since Birch Lake is in the middle of pork country, I thought this would be a good place to try this. Next time I will remember: Perfect the gravy, slice the meat very thin and layer some pan drippings over the sliced meat over night 🙂 Also do not add too much oregano. I used a very authentic Mexican dried oregano from the Hispanic store. Wow!
Nina and a 19 Pound Fresh Pork Leg, Ready To Be Injected with Marinade
Another wonderful discovery through the process were the Hispanic grocery stores in Elkhart and South Bend, Indiana. I purchased the frozen Goya Baked Ripe (whole, sweet) Plantains. Definitely will be serving those again! Just heat them in the microwave and presto! Delicioso!
Also the Taqueria attached to the grocery store in Elkhart was fantastic! Taqueria is a taco/burrito restaurant. Here is my $5 lunch which also included a cold glass of Horchata, a Hispanic rice milk drink.
Chorizo Tacos
Michelle’s Cuban Dinner Menu:
Guacamole*
Lechon (fresh pork marinated in Goya Mojo Crillo Marinade and baked)
The pine nuts and unpeeled garlic are toasted in a 10-inch skillet. The toasted garlic had less of a bite and strong flavor as the fresh garlic does.
Boiled Potatoes are added
Potatoes are cooked in a large quantity of water. This water is then used to cook the pasta
A large quantity of pasta water is added back to the pasta, pesto and potatoes (over 1 cup)
The pasta and all it’s ingredients are beaten together as the final step. I have seen this kind of beating of the Risotto ala Milanese by our friends the Nebuloni’s in Milan.
I made this without the green beans and I used mini penne instead of the gemelli.
It tasted heavenly. The double batch I made was sent home as leftovers. Pasta with Pesto is a family favorite, so it was natural to make enough of this new version for leftovers.
A summer time BBQ enjoyed over the 4th, even though the Cooking Light original July 2013 recipe is broiled 🙂 Very easy with little prep time.
In a small bowl combine:
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Spread the mixture over 12 boneless skinless chicken thighs BBQ over hot coals with the lid on. Turn after 10 minutes and BBQ another 5 minutes. Check for doneness.
This recipe is well liked among my Birch Lake friends. They always request that Michelle make it for her Cuban dinners. I attempted her Cuban dinner, but I need more practice before publishing those recipes. 🙂
Place the following in a large bowl or a mortar:
1 jalapeño, halved and seeds removed, finely chopped
1/3 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
Combine in another bowl and mash with the potato masher or mash with the pestle in the mortar:
2 large avocados
Add mashed avocado to chopped vegetables
2 plum or Roma tomatoes which have been cut lengthwise and squeezed to remove juice and seeds. Dice and add to the guacamole. Mix all together with a spoon.
Sprinkle with fresh squeezed lime juice to help prevent from turning brown. Mix in. Also place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the guacamole till ready to serve.
Another 4th of July favorite from Cooking Light July 2013. Very simple and appreciated by all! I used a spring mix of lettuce for my family and made it again tonight for Dave and I with the “live” bibb lettuce.
We tend to put together our lettuce salads on individual serving plates, which I prefer to bowls. Depending on the size of salad you like, layer the following:
Spring Mix Lettuce
Sliced Blanched Almonds
Blue Cheese (the quality makes all the difference. I used Kings Choice brand, purchased at Meijers. I find you need to use less of the more intense high quality cheese for the best flavor)
In a small bowl whisk together the marinade and then drizzle over about 4 salads:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon FRESH lemon juice or high quality white wine vinegar (I prefer the fresh lemon juice)
nina in the kitchen 