Almond-Topped Fish

My sister gave me this recipe to try. She really liked it.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Almond-Topped-Fish/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 (6 ounce) fillets fresh or frozen cod or haddock, thawed
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted

DIRECTIONS
Place butter in a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish; place in a 400 degrees F oven until melted. Spread butter over bottom of dish; cover with onion. Arrange fish over onion; sprinkle with salt, dill and pepper. Combine the Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, parsley and lemon juice; spread over fish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Sprinkle with almonds.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 fillet) equals 223 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 86 mg cholesterol, 716 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 33 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 4 lean meat, 1 fat, 1/2 starch.

January 31, 2008 update:
Tried this recipe for the first time. Didn't have haddock fish so used the pollack I had instead. Used the Kraft fake parmesan and fresh dill. I think it was coriander too, instead of parsley.



I really enjoy garlic with my food and although this had none, I surprisingly, still really enjoyed it. I wouldn't have thought to bake mayonnaise but it added a really nice crust to the fish, with deep flavour without being overbearing. The crunch of the almonds was a nice textural contrast. The fish wasn't flaky enough for me although I did cook it for longer than the suggested time and it was a bit too moist. Which is not a usual thing for me to say because I don't like dry fish.


AFTER



Rating: 8 out of 10
Things to do different next time: Use a different type of fish. Maybe the ones that are suggested by the recipe.



Update February 1, 2008:
This is NOT a good leftover food to eat when you've drunk too much and you're looking for something to absorb the alcohol in your stomach. One piece in my mouth and I thought I was going to hurl.

Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing

Colleague at work had this dressing on her "Fresh Express" spinach salad the other day. I stole a leaf and it tasted good. I got the recipe below from www.cooks.com.
Will try it out to see how it tastes!


DIJON VINAIGRETTE DRESSING

1 clove garlic, minced (I use 2)
1 to 2 tsp. Dijon style mustard
Pinch of basil and/or oregano
Dash of white pepper
Dash of cayenne
A squeeze of lemon - no seeds please
1 to 2 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. good olive oil

Put all ingredients in a small bowl except olive oil.
Prepare greens and vegetables.

When ready to dress salad, slowly add olive oil to other ingredients while whisking to incorporate oil in a suspension. Immediately pour over salad and toss. Sometimes I use a culinary herb blend instead of just basil.

January 31 update:
Made this to go with a spinach salad I had with my almond crusted fish. Eyeballed most of the measurements. The dijon mustard was disgusting. I bought a huge jar of it from Costco and maybe it's because it was a little old (ok a lot old) but I detested the taste. It would have been better with regular mustard. I recall not liking the dijon mustand even when it was new. It just has this... tang to it that's not pleasurable.
The ingredients were extremely similar to the dressing that Mela taught me to make, other than the change in type of mustard.
Future reminder: DO NOT BUY DIJON AGAIN!

Garlic dill dip

So, again I rave about the Cactus Club food. This time, it's about the sauce they serve with their yam fries. If you've never had this sauce, you have to have it at least once. It is soooo good.

We asked the waitress what they put in it and here's what we were able to gather: mayonnaise, garlic, fresh dill and lemon juice. That's it. I don't know what proportions of each but mmmm mmmm mmm! So yummy with the hot crispy yam fries.

Rating out of 10: 9
Try it again? ohhhh yeah.

Update Jan 26, 2008:
I tried making this at home. Didn't realize before I started that I didn't have enough mayonnaise. So 6 cloves of garlic later, have a super garlicky dressing/dip. Tastes awful. Will leave for husband to eat.

The Brazilian

Sometimes it seems like drinks never change. You have the mojito, the Cosmopolitan, the rum and coke, etc. It's rare that I find something I like because I really hate those drinks that scream "I'M BOOZY!" Plus due to liver memory, my body isn't letting vodka near it without reminding me of the times I prayed to the porcelain god, which really sucks because most of the tastiest martinis and cocktails are made with it.
Anyway, I'm always open to new things so when I tried the Cactus Club's Brazilian the other night, I was floored.

They've muddled fresh pieces of kiwi, lime and sugar cane with rum and soda and I could drink them forever. They are so good! I want to try and make it myself at home but where on earth do you buy sugar cane?! Maybe I'll have to take a trip to Chinatown.

More to come...
Rating: 9 out of 10! Yes, it was that amazing.
Try it again? Yup.

Update: Found some sugar cane drink at T&T and attempted to make this 3 times. Was an absolute disaster on all fronts. i think I'll leave this drink to the pro's at Cactus Club.

Almond Butter

Several of the girls at work have recently bought "almond butter". Ingredients? Roasted almonds. That's it. So many of them raved about how delicious and healthy it was so during a recent trip to costco, I picked some up. Of course, it no pansy small jar. It's a huge honkin Coscto-sized jar of Almond Butter!

Tried it on a cracker. Nyeh.
Tried it on an apple. Nyeh nyeh.

I'm just not taking to the taste which is blank or the texture which is really sticky. In fact, since it's somewhat liquidy you end up putting it on top of whatever you're eating it on before putting it in your mouth so inevitably the gooeyness ends up all over the roof of your mouth so you're smacking your tongue to try and dislodge it. Not for me, thanks.

Rating: 2 out of 10
Eat it again? Maybe. But so far I've left it in the work fridge with a sticky note that says "Penelope's almond butter. HELP YOURSELF!".
Maybe I'll bring in some celery sticks and try it on that next time.

Aveda Comforting Tea

I visited the Aveda Academy salon last week to have my hair coloured and while waiting, they offered me tea. I've been on a green tea binge lately and was slightly disappointed to learn that it was a herbal tea. HOWEVER, my disappointment would soon change...
The tea is called "Aveda Comforting Tea" and it was so good. Although they told me no sweeteners had been added, it was naturally sweetened with licorice (which you couldn't taste by the way and I detest black licorice) with a refreshing end to the sip with mint.

This tea scores a 9 out of 10 for me.
Try it again? For sure. In fact, I'm going to try and buy it!

Low-Fat Caesar salad dressing from "Cook Yourself Thin"

I haven't made this yet, but wanted to write it down before I forget. I caught this new show last week called "Cook Yourself Thin". It's a UK show featuring this 4 girls who are quite slim, showing you how to eat foods that are lower in calories. It was quite easy to watch, actually. The foods they cooked were more on the English side, but they made it look simple and the show had a qualitative side to it since they showed how they measured caloric content, etc.

Anyway, one of the recipes was for a chicken caesar salad. Here is the recipe:

Healthy chicken caesar salad recipe

Serves 2
Ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients
The salad
2 boneless free-range chicken breasts, take the skin off for extra skinniness
Olive oil spray
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 slices of soya and linseed bread
3 little gem lettuces 6 fresh anchovy fillets (optional)

The dressing
1 small clove of garlic, peeled and grated
2 anchovy fillets in olive oil from a jar
Salt and ground white pepper
3 tablespoons 0% fat Greek yoghurt
A squeeze of lemon juice
20g freshly grated parmesan (with a microplane)

I'll probably skip the chicken breast bit but they made the dressing sound delish. If it's low fat, why not right? I love caesar salad!

Tinhorn Creek Gerwerstraminer

Yesterday Nica and I dined out at the Salmon House Restaurant in West Vancouver. The meal was absolutely delicious. The portions weren't overly generous but that was okay because when we were done, we were pleasantly filled and not full.

Because I don't like dry wines, I asked what sweet wines they had to pair with my porcini mushroom appetizer and citrus shrimp main. The server/bartender suggested the Tinhorn Creek Gewurztraminer as well as the Cedar Creek Pinot Noir. I enjoyed the Pinot but Nica didn't. It didn't have as much of a dry taste but it was mildly spicy and light. It was surprisingly good but the Gewurztraminer was excellent. It was light, refreshing and exactly what a Gewurztraminer should taste like.

So the Tinhorn Creek Gewurztraminer earns a 8.5 out of 10 from me. Would definitely look for this bottle in the liquor store.

Salad Dressings: Sweetened balsamic and garlic vinegrette

Another note to self: Never buy salad dressings again (unless it's ranch!)

Much like my obsession with bed sheets, I am constantly looking and buying salad dressings. I pass them while in the produce section of my supermarket and I can't help but salivate at some of the flavours they come up with. Like raspberry vinaigrette or Japanese Ginger or Asian Sesame. But it always ends up being a salad dressing gambling game. It might sound like heaven, but does it taste that way?

Currently in my fridge I have over 7 different types of salad dressing, the majority of which are fairly full having tried it once and deciding that I really didn't like it. But I can't throw something like that away and I can't donate it to the food bank because it's perishable. It's the salad dressing dilemma.

At the same time as this salad dressing obsession, I have also been creating my own dressings and I have to say: they are damn good. So why do I keep buying these other dressings? I don't know. I can see why I'd buy Ranch since I have no idea how to make that but all the other ones are reproducible I'm sure. You just need your basic oil, vinegar and seasonings and voila!

Mela gave me this recipe about a year and half ago and I still use it because it's really amazing:

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup mustard (I personally like the liquid kind, not the ground dry kind)
1/4 cup honey
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up and toss over salad. It's YUM!

Make it again? Hell, I make it all the time.
Rating: 10 out of 10.

Couscous with garlic, onions and pepper

For the past week I've been struggling with whether to do a cleanse or not. A woman in the office suggested the 'Wild Rose' one but the last time I tried that, I ended up puking all the pills and tonic up. Maybe it's because my insides are just that dirty, but I figure there have got to be easier ways to clean my pipes. And no, that wasn't suppose to sound dirty

The associated Wild Rose D-Tox diet consists of cutting down significantly on meat, no fermented foods, no dairy, no sugars, no soy products, etc. Today almost being Day 1, I decided to do something with couscous.

Couscous has got to be the easiest thing to make. EVER. I only discovered it last week when I directed Mela to make it for the girls night. Since I couldn't have mushrooms (fungus), I looked in the fridge to see what else I could toss together with couscous. Here's what I whipped up:

1/2 cup couscous
slightly more than 1/2 cup hot boiled water
two slices of red onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
three slices of green peppers (diced)
salt and pepper to taste.

I know, I know. lots of cleanses say NO SALT while cleansing, but that's just Bullshit. I mean, who can eat vegetables without Salt?! Gross.

Anyway, tossed it all except the boiled water into a ziploc container, then added the 1/2 cup of boiled water (then a little more so the vegetables could absorb it a little) and then took it to work. When i was ready for lunch, nuked it for 30 seconds and voila! Mmmmm hmmm. Yummy! I used the Bragg fake soy sauce that I'm "allowed" to use and it was so good. Filling too!

Unfortunately, further research has shown that couscous is actually small granules of pasta so no more of that for me. But it was a nice thought while it lasted. Maybe after I finish my cleanse I'll add it to my regular, healthier diet.

Rating out of 10: 7.5

Salmon teriyaki with udon noodles

Since I still had a whole filet left from my party, I needed to do something else with that salmon.
Nica and I had been out all day doing errands and when we finally got home, I thought about having udon noodles with salmon teriyaki on top.

Here is what I used:
1/3 salmon filet from Costco
teriyaki sauce (the huge tub from Costco, where else?)
salt and pepper
2 packages udon noodles (from Superstore, the ones that don't need to be refrigerated)
soy sauce
worcestire sauce
oyster sauce
water
broccoli
cabbage
garlic
1/2 onion, sliced
oil

Instructions:
In a wok, heat a little bit of oil. Add the washed cabbage, garlic, onion and broccoli and stir fry.

Heat a separate frying pan and add the salmon that has teriyaki sauce brushed all over it. Cover.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the udon noodles and some water. I like the udon noodles tender and juicy. I also added worcestire, soy and oyster sauce. Cover and let the evaporating water steam the noodles. Stir often. Leave it for a few minutes uncovered so the soup can evaporate.

Serve the salmon over the udon/vegetable mixture. There shouldn't be much juice left since most of it should have evaporated.

Nica loved this dish which again, surprised me because he doesn't like salmon!

Make it again? Yup. But maybe add some carrots next time for more colour.
Rating: 8 out of 10.

Red Sangria

We use to frequent this restaurant called "La Bodega" a lot. It's a Spanish tapas restaurant downtown and it has the best sangria ever (not to mention food). We could order pitcher after pitcher and our conversations would only get louder and louder. Pat and Ali were able to convince the waitress to give them the recipe.

Years ago, I had copied this recipe from Ali on 3 separate occasions. Each time (perhaps due to drunkenness from the Sangria) I lost it. Embarrassed, I never asked Ali again and thankfully, one day while sober I stumbled upon one of the copies. I quickly filed it away and reminded myself to make it for the next girls night.

On the day of my party, I tucked it away in my pocket to go shopping for the ingredients but took it out while chatting with Andrea on the phone at work and forgot it on my desk. So when the party started, I had to use my aging memory to try and remember what was on it.

I put Tricia to work on this. Here is what I told her:
1/2 bottle of the 1.5 Litre cheap red Californian wine
2 shots triple sec
2 shots st. remy's brandy
2 shots orange juice
2 shots lemonade
6 shots 7-up

We used an orange and an apple as our fruits. We put it all in the pitcher which I think was a mistake because it ended up being really hard to pour. 1/4 of each would have been fine. The apples were sliced super thin too which was also a mistake because once they were saturated, they just kind of crumbled apart. And once I found my recipe at work, I realised we also forgot the lemons.

All mistakes aside, everyone enjoyed it. I made the third batch to which I added a shot of peach liquor and Mela really liked that version but Nica hated it. Ivan G uses that in his sangria and personally, I think it adds just a little more sweetness.

Make it again? For sure!
Things to change: Use less fruit in the pitcher and remember the lemons, slice apples thicker, chill the red wine before it's served (or add ice cubes to the mixture)
Rating: 9 out of 10.

Garlic Mushroom CousCous

I was busy trying to put the herb salmon recipe together (see last post) so I asked Mela if she could help me make the Garlic mushroom couscous. I decided on this one because it seemed healthy and I love garlic and mushroom. I didn't want too much onion in the food since it leaves such a strong after-breath.

I'm pretty sure she followed the directions to a T, so here it is:
1 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup couscous
1/3 cup chopped mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp shredded parmesan cheese or soy "parmesan" shreds

Instructions:
1. Bring broth to a boil in sauce pan or microwavable dish. Remove from heat.
2. Add couscous, mushrooms, and garlic. Mix well.
3. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes
4. Stir and fluff couscous mixture
5. Top with cheese before serving.

Yes, it was *that* easy. Now for the bumps we hit along the way: Mela accidentally opened cream of chicken soup instead of the chicken broth. No biggie, but now I have to find a recipe that uses that since it's just sitting in a container in the fridge. We didn't have real parm cheese so I used the fake KRAFT Parm cheese. Not quite the same, but the results were delicious! It sat for a while before we ate (we were waiting for the salmon and garlic bread) so it was kinda cold but I imagine it would have been better if we could have eaten it immediately.

Would I make it again? Rather would I make it myself again? Definitely. But I would leave it until 5 minutes before everything else was made since it was so simple and quick.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Herb Crusted Salmon

With Ali's allergy to tomatoes and dislike to chicken and Andrea's dislike to beef, I decided to serve salmon at the party. I didn't really want to use the BBQ because it was so cold outside so I looked for those recipes I could do either in the oven or on the oven element. I found this recipe on the Internet:

Herb-Crusted Salmon
1/4 cup dried basil
1/4 cup dried thyme
1/4 cup dried oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary crumbled
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt

I didn't have all the oregano I needed (probably 1/8 of a cup) so I substituted parsley. I mixed all those ingredients, took one of the huge filets that I bought from Costco and sprinkled it all over and tossed it in the oven which had preheated itself to 400F.

I can't remember how long I left it in there for. I was suppose to leave it for 8 to 10 minutes but well, you know how these things get. I was directing someone how to make sangria and then I was drinking sangria and answering the door so the salmon got lost in there somewhere until I yelled, "Shit! the Salmon!" and checked on it. Thankfully, the herbs must have slowed down the cooking process because it still wasn't done. But I did notice it was a bit dry and slapped for my forehead and exclaimed, "Shit! The oil!". So I took it out, and tossed a little olive oil on top. The instructions say "brush with oil" but how on earth they do that and not have a gummy herb mixture on the salmon is beyond me. Anyway, threw that on and went about the other dishes.

Once it was out, Tricia helped me make the sauce. Here are the ingredients for that:
1 cup dry white whine
4 sun dried tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon lemon juice fresh
1 each shallot finely chopped
4 ounces margarine.

Again, we kind of cheated. The sun dried tomatoes were from the jar I bought from Costco and I didn't pick out just four, I just took a tablespoon. I have no idea if I actually put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice either - I just took half a lemon and used the rinder. Finally, I have no idea what shallots are - I think they're small little onions but I just used half a cooking onion and minced that instead. And by the time we needed the margarine, I couldn't find it in the fridge so we used butter and eyeballed 4 ounces.

The directions say:
"In a skillet combine the wine, tomatoes, lemon juice and shallot and boil the mixture until the liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Reduce the heat to moderately low and whisk in the butter, 1 bit at a time, lifting the skillet from the heat occasionally to let the mixture cool and adding each new bit before the previous one has melted completely. Sauce should be the consistency of thin hollandaise. "

Let me tell you: It was NOT the consistency of thin hollandaise. It was a lumpy mixture of tomato and onion. But it was good so we threw on the salmon and ate it anyway.

I think the salmon was a bit too dry and WAY too herb-y. A lot of the other recipes I read mentioned adding bread crumbs and this had none. Andrea thought it was good but again, thought it was too herby. Nica loved it even though he hates salmon. So mixed reviews. No one else complained and I didn't see any leftovers on their plate.

Would I make it again? Probably not.
Score: 6 out of 10.

Welcome

While planning a girls night complete with Herbed Salmon and Sangria, it struck me that it would be a good idea to keep track of the recipes and drinks I've tried since I have the memory of a goldfish and can never remember if I liked something or not.
So here is my first attempt at a Food and Wine blog. It'll contain recipes that I've tried or want to try.