Pad Thai

Over the last few years, I've noticed a pattern in my cooking. In January and February, I crave Thai-inspired cuisine. I don't consider myself a huge Thai-food fan. I wouldn't say I know a whole lot about it, but for some reason I always have the craving to experiment with this type of food post-Christmas winter months. I always use shrimp. Perhaps it's a warm dish with a fresh twist that reminds me of the ocean and takes me there in the months that are so long for me.

In the past, I've made Thai inspired soups, like this one. But, this year, I was craving Pad Thai and it was a hit with everyone! (Yeah!) So I'm keeping this for the record...hoping to make it again soon!

If you want to try it out too, you will need:

• 8 ounces Thai Kitchen rice noodles
• 1 bottle, Annie Chun's Pad Thai sauce
• 2 (12 oz) bags of extra large or jumbo sized shrimp
• Vegetable oil (for sautéing)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 cups fresh bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup matchstick carrots or fine carrot shavings (use potato peeler)
• 3-4 eggs (beaten)

For garnish:

• 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves 
• 1/3 cup chopped peanuts 
• sliced lime wedges (1-2 limes)

You will also need a willing daughter to beat the eggs. ;) I love when my girls offer to help in the kitchen. And they love being helpful. 

Begin by preparing all of the fresh ingredients (chop onions, mince garlic, slice green onions, carrots, cilantro, peanuts, limes, wash bean sprouts) Set aside.

Bring a pot to boil and follow package instruction for rice noodles. This will involve boiling water and then removing the water and placing the noodles in to soak for a short time and then rinsing them as soon as they are done so that they don't get soggy. 

Clean and detail shrimp. Heat oil in frying pan and being sautéing onions until almost clear. Add shrimp and garlic and saute until shrimp is pink. (This goes quickly. Do not over cook as shrimp will lose tenderness the longer they are cooked.) Set shrimp aside in a dish and fry egg. Remove egg. when noodles are ready, place in frying pan, add egg and shrimp back in. Add pad thai sauce and red pepper flakes and heat through. 

Serve noodles with shrimp and eggs on a large plate. Garnish with plenty of bean sprouts, carrot shavings, cilantro leaves, chopped peanuts, and lime wedges. 

Grilled Salmon with Guacamole

Before grilling season is over and everyone is making soups to stay warm, I thought I'd keep my promise to my dear friend, Lisa, and post this recipe that my family and I loved. It was the perfect summer evening meal and was super quick to throw together.

Ingredients for Salmon Spice Rub:
2 lbs salmon, pre-portioned or cut into 4 pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper

Ingredients for Guacamole:
2 avocados, mashed
1/2 small red onion, diced fine
2 limes, juiced
1/2 bunch finely chopped cilantro
salt, cumin, and pepper to taste (I usually add much more salt than cumin, and less pepper than cumin)

Mix the ingredients for the rub and rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and the seasoning mix.
Let the salmon rest for 30 minutes and take in the flavors from the rub.
In the meantime, combine the guacamole ingredients and mix well.
Heat the grill (I like to use my George Foreman for convenience and speed). Grill salmon to desired doneness (4-5 minutes).

Top with guacamole and serve with grilled corn and watermelon.

Honduran-Style Stewed Tilapia - Tilapia Guisada Estilo Hondureño

When I have time to cook and bake and I'm doing it for pleasure, I usually like to cook alone. However, when I'm cooking for my family's survival (aka: dinnertime), I love to have someone to chat with. This usually means propping the iPad up and skyping or facetiming with my sister, Lilly, or my friend, Lisa, who are usually in the kitchen too. We chop and chat and it makes dinnertime preparation much less painful. I keep telling them that as soon as we can share our dinners via skype, the world will be perfect!  A couple of days ago, I was making this go-to dinner while Lisa was making her famous banana cheesecake. Lisa and I are best friends and taught together and shared leftover lunches together quite often, so she was surprised when I told her about this go-to Tilapia recipe I'd been hiding and promised her I'd post some instructions for her. 

It's hard to believe I've never posted a recipe for this simple, delicious and healthy dish. I can remember ten years ago, standing in the tiny kitchen in our first apartment as Armando showed me this family favorite of his and I took down copious notes in my trusty cookbook. I swear the only reason we were both able to fit in that tiny kitchen was because we were newly weds. It was so narrow that the opposite-facing refrigerator and oven doors couldn't be open at the same time. 

So enough with the reminiscing, here are your ingredients:

3 roma tomatoes

1 small onion

1/2-1 green pepper 

2-3 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp butter

6 Tilapia Filets

water

salt

pepper

cumin

soy sauce

lime

Line a large pan with **aluminum foil (enough to be able to fold and over the dish while cooking). Heat butter in the pan and saute onion and green pepper until translucent. (**In all of the ten years of making this dish, don't ask me why you have to wrap it all in foil. Just trust me that I've tried it without and it's so much better when you use the foil. My theory is that the foil helps keep the moisture in and the juices in this dish are key.

 Add garlic and saute for one minute. Then add tomatoes and saute until they are softened. I like to salt and pepper my sauteed ingredients as I go as well.

 When finished sauteing, keep the heat up and add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan- we're not making soup - we just want there to be enough juice/sauce to cook the fish and have a little juice to poor over each serving. Place thawed tilapia filets on top of sauteed ingredients.

 Salt and pepper them again and sprinkle with cumin powder. Douse each filet with a little soy sauce. As you can see, I haven't perfected my one-handed photography focusing skills. ;) Oh well, you get the idea.

 Squeeze a little lemon juice on each filet as well.

 Bring the liquid to a simmer.

 Now fold the foil over the dish:

Cover your pan with a lid.

 Turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 15 minutes. Sometimes I like to turn the fish over before I cover it with foil - but this can be a tricky process if you're pan is full cause fish breaks easily). If not, you can turn your fish over with all of the veggies coming out on top as you serve it.

My favorite thing to serve with this is brown rice and black beans. I throw the beans in the crock pot in the morning (or over night) and when I get home from work, they're just right. I also leave the rice in the rice cooker and set it to cook so that it's finishing up just as I get home and am making dinner. This meal is the perfect weeknight meal because it cooks so quickly and is simple to put together. And if you're looking for more great recipes, remember my friend, Lisa, that I mentioned earlier in this post? . . . Well she's started her own little blog and is sharing some of her most delicious recipes. I'm sure that banana cheesecake I mentioned will be shared there one day along with many of her amazing dishes, so check out what she has and tell her hello!

Thai Shrimp Soup

For some reason, in the month of February every year, I have this yearning for fresh Thai inspired food. It started last year when I joined Bountiful Baskets food Co-op and they had a Thai-inspired basket. I looked for all kinds of recipes I could use to make Thai-inspired food and I came up with a basil-lemongrass ice cream, a delicious stir-fry and the perfect soup (something like pictured above). I photographed all of the recipes with the intention of writing out what I had done with the help of the pictures and blogging it . . . and then my card crashed and I wasn't able to recover any of those photos. I also lost the pictures from a wedding we went to, my daughters fourth birthday party, and most of the photos from a recipe book that I was working on for my grandmother - she had spent a couple months with me and was cooking all of the food. So, I guess my lost Thai recipes were the least important, but still I was pretty bummed. Again, this February, for some reason I've had a craving for this type of food, so I made another attempt at some yummy Thai soup with fresh ingredients on top. As always, I love the contrasting flavors, colors, temperature, and textures of this food mixed together.

Ingredients:
1/2 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1 lb shrimp, deveined
2 Cups sliced Mushrooms
6 cups chicken broth
8-12 drops Thai fish sauce
2 stocks lemongrass
1 Tbsp Red curry paste
Rice Noodles
1 15 oz can coconut milk

Top with:
Finely sliced Napa Cabbage
Green Onions, sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Red Chili Peppers (I use dried Chile de Arbol)

Slice toppings and set aside in separate dishes.

Saute onion and garlic in coconut oil on medium heat. When onions are translucent, add shrimp and mushrooms and cook until shrimp is cooked through. Add 6 cups of chicken broth and bring to a simmer. add fish sauce, lemongrass, curry paste and let flavors blend for a bit. Turn off heat and add coconut milk.

Prepare rice noodles separately according to package directions.

Serve soup into bowls. Add rice noodles, Top with toppings and enjoy.

Delicious Fried Shrimp Dinner

When I want to make something special around here, I make shrimp. Everyone loves it and we don't eat it so often that it feels like an everyday meal. I love shrimp salad, shrimp tacos, and seafood stew, but my husband's all time favorite is fried shrimp. I think I made it for him the first or second Valentine's Day we were married and since tomorrow is our anniversary, I thought I'd share this simple recipe.

1 pound medium to large shrimp (your preference)
1 cup flour
paprika
salt
vegetable oil

If you buy already peeled and deveined shrimp, that's great, but I still always like to wash mine and make sure there is nothing left behind. After washing, pat dry with a paper towel. Mix 1 cup of flour with a dash or two of paprika and salt (around a teaspoon). Stir well. Dredge the shrimp in the flour mixtrue and place on a plate while heating the oil to medium high heat.

Fry on each side until golden and remove from oil and place on a plate lined wtih a paper towel. Serve with mashed potatoes and a fresh green salad.

Crispy and Tangy Fish Tacos

I'm the kind of person that goes to a restaurant, has a dish I like and I order the same thing again and again and again on subsequent visits. Well, awhile back something strange happened. It wasn't premeditated. I just listed to what my taste buds really wanted and I ordered some shrimp tacos at one of our favorite local restaurants. I couldn't believe how delicious they were. And why hadn't I thought of ordering something different before? So, the very next week I had to try and figure out what the recipe was and this is what I came up with (with fish instead). It was close and VERY DELICIOUS. From here on out shrimp tacos are going to be my regularly ordered dish there . . . at least until I have an urge to try something new.


Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas (2 per taco)
Tilapia or Salmon filets (1/2 filet per taco)
/2 cup flour
salt to taste
1/2 tsp paprika (for color)


Salad:
1/2 head Cabbage
1 carrot
2 tomatoes
15 sprigs, cilantro
2 limes
salt
cumin

Tangy Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/8 cup onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon black ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 jalapeno, finely chopped and seeded

Prepare sauce by mixing all ingredients and set aside.

Prepare salad. Finely shred cabbage. Shred carrot. Dice tomatoes. Chop cilantro. Dash a bit of cumin, salt, and pepper over salad. Mix well. Add the juice of 1-2 limes and mix well again, adding salt to taste.

For filets: Divide them in half and dip them in mixture of flour, salt, and paprika. Drop in hot oil and fry until gold brown and cooked through.

Serve on two warm corn tortillas garnished with cabbage salad and topped off with the tangy sauce. Serve with fresh squeezed lemonade or fruit drink of your choice. I recommend this one.

Creamy Coconut Lemongrass Tilapia

One of the things that I love about visiting Honduras is the variety of foods and flavors. One day after running errands with Armando, we came home to the most delicious meal I ate while I was there. My sister-in-law, Ana had made her own concoction of Coconut Lemongrass Tilapia. Lemongrass was the new flavor I fell in love with while we were there. I couldn't get enough of the tea or this delicious dish Ana made. I had to have the recipe. As soon as we got back, I began the hunt for lemongrass and luckily found a grocer nearby that sells 4-5 little stems for a pretty penny (not like the bundle of huge grass stems you can get for pennies at the market down there . . . ) [sigh].

This is actually a quite simple and delicious recipe. I like it because it is quick, yet still has a flare of uniqueness that's not just your everyday dinner flavor . . . at least not at our house. ;)

Like any Latin-American "recipe" I get from our family or friends, there aren't exact measurements, but this is what I did:

Rinse 6-8 tilapia filets and let dry. Sprinkle with salt. Set aside.

Saute in coconut oil (or oil of your preference):
1/4 onion (diced)
2-3 garlic cloves

until onions are translucent and garlic starts to brown.

Add tilapia filets and cook until golden brown on one side. Turn the filets to cook on the other side. When they are just about cooked, add a can (15 oz) of coconut milk. Add 2-3 stems of lemongrass (I folded mine in half so that the stem broke and the aroma/juices would flavor the dish quicker). Bring just to a boil over med-high heat.

Serve over a bed of warm rice with a green salad or steamed vegetables.

Orange Avocado Salsa

I stumbled across this recipes a few years ago, made it in the same day and it has remained among our favorite to garnish fish tacos. The mix of flavors and the exploding citrus makes it perfect for fish.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tsp honey
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 large navel oranges
1 firm, ripe avocado, pitted and diced
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

In a medium bowl, whisk lime juice and honey until combined. Season with salt and pepper; set aside. Slice off both ends of each orange. Following the curve of the fruit, slice away peel and white pith. Cut oranges into quarters lengthwise; slice sections crosswise into 1/4-inch thick pieces. Transfer to bowl along with onion and avocado; toss gently to coat with dressing. (Make sure not to stir this up too much or the avocados will fall apart. The mix of the honey and lime with the pepper on the oranges is absolutely divine!) Set aside to serve.

Summer Shrimp Salad

It's been awhile since I've posted. I decided that the "What's cooking at Daisy's" blog title had to go. My new and improved, "Daisy Cooks, [sometimes]" seems to fit better. I do cook. And a lot more often than you'll see proof of here. So when I actually take a sec to photograph the food and then have another minute to post, I will. For now, here's a little inspiration for a summer salad that I LOVE. If you don't like seafood, stop here.

Summer Shrimp Salad

1 pkg pasta (I usually use shell, but didn't have any this time)
1 lb salad shrimp, cooked and deveined, with tail off
1 cucumber
3-4 roma tomatoes
3/4 c mayonnaise (honestly I've never measured the mayo & ketchup)
1/3 c ketchup
salt & pepper to taste

Boil pasta 'til well done. Let cool. (When I'm in a hurry, I run cold water over it). Rinse shrimp. Cut cucumbers and tomatoes into slices and fourths. Mix with pasta and shrimp. In a separate bowl, mix mayo and ketchup with salt and pepper. Add to pasta, shrimp, and veggies. Add more salt and pepper if desired.

Shrimp and Mussel Pasta Skillet

This is a recipe I came across online and decided to make for our New Years Dinner this year. It was a delicious way to start out the new year before we thought about any serious dieting resolutions.

Ingredients:

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
20 (26/30 count) shrimp, tail on
28 mussels
20 (20/30 count) scallops
28 kalamata olives
4 vine-ripened tomatoes, diced
20 baby broccoli florets
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons white wine (substituted with chicken broth)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
20 ounces orechiette pasta, cooked al dente
4 tablespoons minced fresh basil
8 ounces shredded Parmesan

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in saute pan. Saute all the seafood for about 2 minutes.


Add olives, tomatoes, and broccoli. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Deglaze the pan with white wine and lemon juice.


Add hot, cooked pasta and finish with the fresh basil and cheese.


It says it serves 4. I'd say that's 4 VERY LARGE plates! We had way too much leftovers. I'd probably halve the recipe next time.

A No Fail Fish Marinade

I apologize to all of you who check this site regularly and have found nothing for . . . too long. Life has been busy, but I think I may have time to add to this a little more often and I've also been thinking that I'd like to invite any of you who have found great recipes and tried them out to snap a picture next time you make the dish and send it along with the recipe and I'll highlight it on my blog. That way this site can be a great resource for all of us looking for new ideas. Anyway, I came across this TO DIE FOR marinade recipe on Stormy's blog and we tried it. It's one I'll refer to again and again - we LOVED it! Thanks for sharing Stormy.


Lime-Marinated Broiled Tilapia (The original recipe was Salmon)

Ingredients

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 (6-ounce) skinless Tilapia fillets (about 1 inch thick)
Cooking spray
4 lime wedges

Preparation

Place first 5 ingredients in a blender; process until smooth. Pour into a large zip-top plastic bag. Add salmon, and seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally. (I marinated it over night and it was great!)

Preheat broiler.

Remove salmon from bag, discarding marinade. Place salmon on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; broil 8 minutes. Turn, and broil an additional 4 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with lime wedges.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and 1 lime wedge)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 281(42% from fat); FAT 13.1g (sat 3.1g,mono 5.7g,poly 3.2g); PROTEIN 36.8g; CHOLESTEROL 87mg; CALCIUM 25mg; SODIUM 414mg; FIBER 0.1g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 7.9g

Cooking Light, MAY 2003

Fried (Whole) Tilapia

Well, I think the last few posts would confirm that we like fish and seafood. The final dish that Don Israel (Armando's dad) prepared for us was fried whole tilapia (whole - yes, whole as in head, fins, everything). I like Tilapia. But I told them I wouldn't eat the head. I was wrong. I ate every last ounce of meat off of those bones. It was the best meal I've had...well since the Paella I guess. :)

So for those of you who are brave...here's the instructions.

1. Cut open bottom of fish and remove guts.
2. Wash fish thoroughly.

3. Combine flour, salt, and pepper and coat fish generously.

4. Bring enough oil (olive or vegetable) to frying temperature and fry until fish is cooked through.

5. Cover generously with fresh lemon or lime juice. Serve with rice, cabbage salad, and curtido.

Spanish Food 101: Paella Española

I love to cook. But I love it even more when someone else gives me a break. My father-in-law is visiting from Honduras and he's been spending some time in the kitchen, cooking what Armando's misses the most. One of Armando's favorite dishes is Paella Española and his dad made it for us this week. His dad didn't have a written recipe, so I found one that sounded about like what he did online at this site. We didn't have any fresh saffron on hand (which would have been nice) so he used some rice that had saffron in it. It worked and I think this is probably my favorite dish yet.

Herb Blend:
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large garlic gloves, minced

Paella:
1 cup water
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3 cans (16-ounce) fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
8 jumbo shrimp (about 1/2 pound)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 skinned, boned chicken thighs, cut in half
2 links Spanish chorizo sausage (about 6 1/2 ounces) or turkey kielbasa, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 4-ounce slice prosciutto or 33 percent-less sodium ham, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
3 large garlic cloves, minced
3 cups Arborio rice or other short-grain rice**
1 cup frozen green peas
8 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, lemon wedges optional

For the Herb Blend: Combine all ingredients, and set aside

For the Paella: Combine water, saffron, and broth in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer, do not boil. Keep warm over low heat. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving the tails intact; set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large paella pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan. Add sausage and proscuitto; sauté 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, paprika, and garlic; cook 5 minutes. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in herb blend, broth mixture, chicken, sausage mixture and peas. Bring to a low boil; cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add mussels to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until shells open; discard any unopened shells. Arrange shrimp, heads down, in rice mixture, and cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Remove from heat; cover with a towel, and let stand 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired. Makes 8 servings.

** Rice note: Cooks in Spain prefer Valencia rice - which is hard to find in the U.S. You can usually find Italian Arbor rice or California's new Arbor equivalent called Cal Riso. No matter what, don't try to make Paella with long-grain rice. It doesn't cook the same and won't set up correctly.

Bon appetite.

Fish Tacos with Orange-Avocado Salsa

This recipe comes with very high recommendations. I've made it twice in the last month and Armando has given it a 10 both times. And it's not an easy task to get a 10 out of him. This to me is the perfect summer dinner recipe.

Fish Preparation:
8 Tilapia Filets (or other white fish. I think salmon would be good with this as well)
2 or 3 garlic cloves finely minced
1 fresh lime
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Wash and slice filets into 16 strips. Place fish in a dish they can marinate in for awhile. Mince garlic and spread across both sides of fish strips. Salt and pepper filets and squeeze the juice from one lemon across all filets. Set aside to marinate in the juices and garlic while preparing the rest of the dish.

Cabbage Filler:
1 Tbsp sour cream
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 small red cabbage, very finely shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)
4 scallions, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)

Finely shred 1/4 small red cabbage. (You can also use a regular green cabbage if you'd like. I've found that the red cabbage is much more dense and easier to shred into very paper-fine slices.) Slice scallions and add to the cabbage. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add sour cream and lime juice. Stir all ingredients together.

Orange Avocado Salsa:

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tsp honey
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 large navel oranges
1 firm, ripe avocado, pitted and diced
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

In a medium bowl, whisk lime juice and honey until combined. Season with salt and pepper; set aside. Slice off both ends of each orange. Following the curve of the fruit, slice away peel and white pith. Cut oranges into quarters lengthwise; slice sections crosswise into 1/4-inch thick pieces. Transfer to bowl along with onion and avocado; toss gently to coat with dressing. (Make sure not to stir this up too much or the avocados will fall apart. The mix of the honey and lime with the pepper on the oranges is absolutely divine!) Set aside to serve.

Also, chop 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves and sets aside to serve.

Cooking the Fish:

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; swirl to coat bottom of pan. In two batches (starting with larger pieces), cook fish until golden brown on all sides, 5 to 6 minutes.

Tortillas:

8 uncooked flour tortillas (6-inch) (My husband prefers corn tortillas - either are great). While the fish is cooking, warm tortillas according to package instructions.

To make tacos, fill tortillas with slaw, fish, and fresh cilantro leaves. Serve immediately and ENJOY!

**I must give credit to the blog I found this recipe on - Cuisine Nie - perhaps one of the best recipe blogs I've ever seen. Visit it. You'll love what you find! And here's the link to the original recipe as I have changed it up a bit to meet our family's needs and likes. Some of you who like a little more sour cream and the picante jalepeño should trie Nie's recipe.