Cioppino

I spent my formative years growing up in a suburb north of San Francisco. It was a wonderful place to grow up. There was sunshine (when the fog didn't come in), there were liberals abound, and there was lots of good food.

The fresh seafood, of course, was abundant. I remember one time, I was probably 9 years old, my family and some friends, went to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. It was a famous seafood restaurant (and the name of it escapes me) whose specialty was Cioppino. I had never heard of Cioppino before and was actually alarmed by the sight of so much seafood in a soup. Now, almost 25 years later, I am posting my own recipe for this wonderful fish stew.

Cioppino is essentially a tomato based fish stew. It can be made with all sorts of seafood - fish, clams, mussels, crab scallops and squid. The recipe that I post here is an easy, but tasty, version of Cioppino. I hope you enjoy it!

Cioppino
Serves 4

1 fennel bulb, stalks discarded and bulb cut lengthwise into six wedges
1 medium onion, quartered
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup red wine
8 oz. clam juice
1 pound skinless white fish fillet (I used tilapia) cut into 2-inch chunks
1 pound cultivated mussels or 1/2 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

Pulse fennel, onion, and garlic in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then stir in chopped vegetables, bay leaves, thyme, red-pepper flakes, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, covered, over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften, about 4 minutes.

Add crushed tomatoes, water, wine, and clam juice and boil, covered, 20 minutes. Stir in seafood and cook, uncovered, until fish is just cooked through and if using mussels, they must open wide. Discard bay leaves.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.

Mama G's Chicken Dore

Mama G's Chicken Dore
Serves 4

2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
4 chicken breasts, beaten thinly with a mallet

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the eggs and the parmesan and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the the flour with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Dredge each chicken breast first in flour, then in egg mixture, and add to the heated oil. Fry chicken about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove chicken breast to paper towel in order to drain excess oil.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Cheesy Risotto

*Not the prettiest picture, but really very good!

Cheesy Risotto
Serves 4

2 T Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup arboria rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
3-4 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 T chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup tiny frozen peas
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and garlic and onion and saute, stirring constantly, 2-3 minutes. Add rice and season with salt and pepper. Cook another minute or so, then add wine and let it completely absorb, about 30 seconds. Add about 1 cup chicken stock and stir. Reduce heat a bit to medium. Stir often and continue adding a half cup of liquid each time liquid becomes completely absorbed. Cook 22 minutes, using as much stock as is necessary to result in creamy-consistency rice.

When rice is cooked to desired consistency, remove from heat and stir in cheese, parsley and peas, and stir to combine and heat peas.

Enjoy!

Hearts of Palm Salad

The first time that I tried hearts of palm was in my third year of law school. I was working for a solo-practitioner at the time. At lunch time every day, she would gather me and her daughter, who was the receptionist, and we would sit in the conference room and have our lunches. We would chat about all sorts of things during this hour – family, cases, and law school. But mostly we talked about food. She adored raw tomatoes, would eat them like they were fruit. I was skeptical of this practice of eating whole tomatoes like they were apples, but I enjoyed watching her indulge in something she truly loved. One day, she brought in a can of hearts of palm, put them in a bowl with some ripe tomatoes, and added a little salad dressing. She asked me to try – she said that I would love it. And I did. The texture of the hearts of palm was so different than anything I had really eaten before. A little crunchy, a little soft, a little artichoke-ish. But overall, just good.

Hearts of Palm Salad
Serves 2-3

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp. dried basil
2 T white wine vinegar
1 1b. plum tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 14 oz. can Hearts of Palm, drained, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk oil, basil, and vinegar in a bowl to blend. Add the other ingredients and toss to blend. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.

Believe it or not, I do have other passions besides cooking and food. One of those passions is reading. I am a self-declared bibliophile. I love books. All sorts of books – (except maybe Self-Help books, whatever those are). My favorite book of all time is not a cookbook. In fact, it is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It’s a book about the trials and tribulations of a group of residents in India. And it’s beautifully written. (If you care, my second favorite is Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Just in case you care)

Anyways, I obviously love perusing through cook books, as well. But what’s more fun than reading a cook book is actually buying a book about food or an author’s specific experience with food. I don’t just mean Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential – that is, of course, an excellent book, but there other less noticeable, or hyped-up, authors out there who write amazing stories of their experiences with food. Recently, I read Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. It’s about a woman’s quest to make every recipe in Julia Child’s Joy of Cooking. It’s a fun read. I also love Michael Ruhlman and his books about the eccentricities and genius of professional chefs. But recently I read a book that doesn’t have anything to do with actual cooking. It has to do with food – real food. Simple food. Local food. It’s called Plenty One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally. It’s written by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon, who also happen to be life partners. You might have heard of this book in relation to what is now known as the 100-Mile Diet. The 100-Mile Diet requires people to eat only foods that have been grown within a hundred mile radius of where they live. They have to do it for one year. Yes – ONE YEAR. That would be 365 days of eating LOCALLY. While the benefits of doing this are obvious, the downside…it is frickin’ hard!!! I mean, can you imagine having to find wheat within 100 miles of where you live so that you can simply bake some bread? Or locally grown coffee…hmmm…no thanks. I suppose people who live in more rural parts of the country can do this, but I don’t know anywhere within 100 miles of D.C. where I could get some quality coffee beans, except for Starbucks.

In any event, reading about the authors’ challenges with the 100-Mile diet is really fascinating. It makes you feel like you just want to start plowing the earth and eating what you grow. Unfortunately, for us city dwellers, the plowing can only mean planting some herbs in your garden box or buying locally grown organic foods from Whole Foods. But guess what…even Whole Foods doesn’t have locally grown coffee beans. Which basically means that I’m going to have to skip this diet.

In Seattle...

for a few days visiting the parents. I'll be sure to take some great pictures of all the home-cooked food I'll be eating.

Orzo Keema

I’m a big fan of orzo. For those people who don’t know what orzo is, it is a beautiful rice-shaped pasta that is often times used as a substitute for rice. I have included some of my favorite orzo recipes on this site before – like this one for saffron orzo and this one for a summertime orzo with veggies.

I would have to say that the orzo recipe I made a few nights ago really was one of the best I've ad, and it can be a complete meal rather than a simple side dish. It incorporates many wonderful Indian spices and you can use ground beef, ground lamb, or ground turkey.

For some reason though, I can never take a good photograph of an orzo dish. It’s like my camera wigs out on me when it sees orzo on the plate. So just remember that this is much tastier than it looks in this photograph.

Orzo Keema
Serves 4

2 T vegetable oil
1 lb. lean ground beef, ground lamb, or ground turkey
2 T minced garlic
2 T minced peeled fresh ginger
1 jalapeno with seeds, chopped
4 or 5 whole cardamom
1 ½ tsp. curry powder
8 oz. orzo pasta
2 cups beef broth
1 cup chopped tomato
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meat and sauté until cooked through. Using slotted spoon, transfer meat to a bowl.

Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic, ginger, and chili to same skillet and sauté 2 minutes. Add cardamom, curry powder and orzo and stir for a minute or so. Add broth and bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until orzo is tender and most of broth is absorbed, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking on bottom of skillet, about 15 minutes. Return meat to skillet, add tomatoes and cilantro, and mix in. Remove cardamom before serving. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.