Cauliflower Au Gratin: Nutritional (If not exactly healthy) Comfort Food

With colder weather moving in, and Thanksgiving approaching, it's turning into comfort food season. I love comfort food. Boy oh boy do I love comfort food. I also love my health. It can be quite the challenge to turn comfort foods into a healthy snack, but it's not impossible. When it comes to creamy cheesy concoctions though, lets be frank, "healthy" isn't really going to be accurate. What we can do, however, is increase the nutritional content of what we're eating. Substituting cauliflower for pasta surely bumps up the number of vitamins and nutrients being consumed, at least that's how I'm justifying it. If you don't need any justifications, good for you! Here's how you get started:

YOU'LL NEED:
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour
2.5 cups gruyere
large head of cauliflower
salt to taste

First, break the cauliflower into bite sized chunks, and boil for about 10 minutes; until tender. In a separate sauce pan, slowly heat the milk. Once it's warm, but before it begins to boil, whisk in the flour, and add 1.5 cups of cheese. Stir it all together until it's all one creamy mixture. Pre-heat the oven to 450. When the florets are sufficiently tender, spread them evenly around a glass baking dish. Make sure they're not piled too high, I needed to use two 9x9 pans. Pour the milk/cheese/flour mixture over the cauliflower, it should cover roughly the bottom 1/3rd of the florets. Sprinkle the remaining cup of cheese on the cauliflower, and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top begins to brown ad bubble. Let cool, (though it is particularly good when it's hot and gooey) and ENJOY!

Keepin' It Simple

In science, the idea of parsimony carries a lot of influence. The simpler explanation is often the correct one. It's not always true, but it's a nice rule of thumb. The same can be said of food. Sure, sometimes your meats and veggies are just a vehicle for the spices you're using. But often enough, good food can speak for itself. Sometimes, you're actually doing yourself a disservice by masking the freshness and quality, especially at this time of the year. Some might even say grilling veggies is too much. I think it was just right. 

The main point is, we grilled walleye in the cage, and salmon on the plank (because that's how pirates do things, it's either the cage or the plank). Both turned out well, but the walleye was a little dry and was definitely better when eaten before the salmon. 

Walleye: 

raw walleye, descaled

salt and pepper to taste

**a squirt or two of lemon might have been a good idea... 

The salmon was marinated in a mixture of soy sauce and brown sugar, with a little lemon juice to add some acidity. It was fantastic! We mixed about two table spoons of brown sugar into half a cup of soy sauce, and half a lemon's worth of juice. Feel free to adjust these ratio's to taste, but they worked well here. 

salmon:

large fresh salmon steak

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 a lemon, juiced

CATCH of the day, SOUP of the day!

Of all the adjectives suited for this soup, VERSATILE is probably the most fitting. The brothy and fishy qualities complement the summer season, while the parsley and tomato aromas belong to the winter kitchen. This is truly a soup for any season. This soup also works with almost any fish you have at hand, making it the perfect dish for whatever happens to be biting today. Ready to give it a try? Here are the simple directions, and as always, feel free to modify and let us know which substitutions work and which additions don't! 

You'll need: 

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1 teaspoon basil 

1 teaspoon oregano

salt

pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chunky tomato sauce (or 1 can crushed tomatoes)

1 cup water

24 oz fresh fish

Start by:

Melt butter and heat oil over medium flame in a stock pot. 

Add diced onion and garlic, and simmer until the onions become translucent (fairly standard soup starter).

Stir in parsley, basil, and oregano, with a pinch of salt (be sure to save a few pinches of parsley for garnish).

Add white wine and let the mixture cook down for a few minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, water, and continue to cook down for a few more minutes.

Cut the fish into 1 inch cubes, stir into the soup, cover, and boil until the fish is fully cooked through (10 to 15 minutes).

Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with a pinch of parsley and a sliver of butter.

This soup goes great with a crusty French or Italian bread. It's never better than with a fresh parmesan baguette! Enjoy!

Food of the Week: The Perfect Summer Fish Sandwich

 I have a tendency to eat a lot of sandwiches in the summer , as I'm sure many of you do. They're great cold, they're light, they're filling, and they're quick, so you can get back to enjoying those summer activities!

I'm always looking for new combinations and new concoctions, and when it comes to sandwiches (and not just sandwiches) there are millions of great pairings. This was a fun combination centered around pickled red onion, which we happened to have in the fridge. It's sort of a spin off of the Veitnamese Banh Mi, but with some extra cream to smooth it out for the summer. Here it is:

Ingredients:
peanut oil, for frying
4 or more fish fillets (what ever's biting that day)
1 1/2 tablespoons seafood seasoning
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups panko bread crumbs (for best results, make sure they're panko style bread crumbs)
2 eggs beaten
1 jar pickled red onion (you can make your own here)
cillantro
thinly sliced jalapeno peppers
thinly cut carrot sticks
thinly cut cucumber sticks
ranch dressing
sourdough or french bread

Method
Preheat oil in a frying pan. Wash off fillets and pat dry with a towel. Lightly sprinkle with seafood seasoning on both sides. In 3 separate bowls, place flour mixed with seafood seasoning, panko, and beaten eggs. Dip fillets in flour, egg, then panko. Fry the breaded fillets in oil until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove and set on a paper towel to soak up excess oil.

Spread ranch dressing on bread, lay fish on, spread pickled red onions on, followed by jalapenos, carrots, cucumber, and top with cilantro.

What's your favorite sandwich combination? We'd love to know your different versions!

Food Of The Week: Grilled Teriyaki Chicken!

Boy I'm starving, not only because it's dinner time, but also because I keep thinking about this grilled teriyaki chicken recipe. It's a great midweek meal! You can mix the marinade the night before, and once you've got the grill going, it's only about 10 minutes from there. Here's the simple version, but like almost everything in the kitchen (or backyard grill) it can be tweaked in a million different directions…  one tablespoon of brown sugar or a teaspoon of cayenne pepper can really change the taste of this one, depending on how you like it! Add your favorite variations to the comments section so we can all give it a try!  

Ingredients: 

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 cup teriyaki sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Steps:

1. Place chicken, teriyaki sauce, lemon juice, garlic, and sesame oil in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal bag, and shake to coat. Place in refrigerator for 24 hours, turning every so often.

2. Preheat grill for high heat.

3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Remove chicken from bag, discarding any remaining marinade. Grill for 6 to 8 minutes each side, or until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a fork.

TIP: I prefer to skewer the Chicken, it makes it easier to flip and manage, and certainly doesn't hurt the flavor! Plus, you can skewer it with pineapple, onions, tomatoes, or just about any veggies for a great, well rounded meal! 

Fish Tacos!

Given how often I eat tacos, I figured it was about time I shared one of my favorite recipes for fish taco's. There are lots of ways to modify this recipe, we seem to make it slightly different every time, so feel free to experiment and let us know what works, and what doesn't! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Marinade
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste
• 1 pound tilapia (Mahi-mahi works great as well) fillets, cut into chunks 
• Dressing
• 1 (8 ounce) container light sour cream
• 1/2 cup adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
• salt to taste
•  
• Toppings
• 1 (10 ounce) package tortillas
• 3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 red onion, diced 
• 1 avocado, cubed 
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 small head lettuce, cored and shredded
• 2 limes, cut in wedges

Directions

1. To make the marinade, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, lime zest, honey, garlic, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning, black pepper, and hot sauce in a bowl until blended. Place the fish in a shallow dish, and submerge in marinade. Cover, and refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.
2. To make the dressing, combine the sour cream and adobo sauce in a bowl. Stir in the lime juice, lime zest, cumin, chili powder, seafood seasoning. Add salt, and pepper in desired amounts. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
4. Remove fish from marinade, drain off any excess and discard marinade. Bake fish in preheated oven until it easily flakes with a fork, 9 to 11 minutes.
5. Assemble tacos by placing fish pieces in the center of tortillas with desired amounts of tomatoes, cilantro, and lettuce; drizzle with dressing. To serve, roll up tortillas around fillings, and garnish with lime wedges.

*modified from a recipe by mabcat on allrecipes.com