Sultry Salmon w/ Divine Mash

Even though we are mostly vegetarians, we have always eaten fish. I mean, seriously, we live in Maine....it's sort of a given that we have to eat fish. I admit, however, that I'm not very good at buying local fish even though I live in a fishing community. Part of it is because our local grocery market does not carry local fish....something I'm hoping to change with a letter. The other part is that I don't think I can use my EBT card at the local fish stores. I will have to do some investigating and see how to affordably localize our fish eating habits. Especially since starting tonight we have instituted Fish Wednesday's in our house. That's some sort of "meat" twice a week and vegetarian 5 times a week. I think that's a good balance, nutritionally and sustainably.

Sultry Salmon
1 lb fresh Atlantic salmon
pinch of Maine Sea Salt
1 small red onion, halved and sliced thin
1/4 C fresh chopped parsley
4 cloves garlic, chopped
5 T butter
1 lemon, squeezed

Preheat oven to 450. Add all ingredients - except salmon, salt and onions - to a saucepan over medium heat and cook until butter is melted. Bring to a boil for 1 minute then remove from heat. Place salmon in a glass baking dish skin side down and lightly salt. Pour butter sauce over salmon and cover with sliced onions. Cover dish with tinfoil and bake for 15 minutes (add time depending on thickness of salmon, cook until flaky).

Divine Mash
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 celeriac root, peeled and quartered
8 T butter
1/4 C milk
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic
salt & pepper

Boil a large pot of water and add potatoes and celeriac. Cover and boil until tender. Strain and set aside. In a sauce pan, melt butter, onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until butter starts to get golden. Add milk, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Pour over potatoes and mash all together thoroughly.

Serve a heaping pile of potatoes with salmon placed over it, then spoon some of the butter from the salmon over it all. Add a small salad of greens and dried cranberries with balsamic vinaigrette...ENJOY!

Beef Stroganoff

Well, we did it. We made the plunge and started eating beef tonight. I bought some local organic beef sirloin tip from Caldwell Farms and made up some yummy beef stroganoff. I knew my boys would eat anything with sour cream, noodles and mushrooms. I was right! The meal went off without a hitch and all the plates were licked clean. We have decided to make Mondays our meat days (in direct juxtaposition of the typical meatless Monday menu's at many colleges). I think we'll stick to beef right now, but who knows in the future.

Serve this meal with a light salad of greens, apples and goat cheese tossed in a light balsamic vinaigrette, and a glass of Blueberry Wine from Blacksmith's Winery.

Beef Stroganoff
2 T butter
2 C beef, cubed
2 C mushrooms, sliced (I used white button, but use any type, or a mix of mushrooms)
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 C stock
2 T flour
8 oz sour cream (or plain yogurt)
salt & pepper
1 t cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)

In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add beef and saute 1-2 minutes until it starts to brown. Stir in onions and 2/3 C of the stock and simmer for about 10 minutes until beef is cooked through. Add mushrooms and garlic and a pinch of salt and cover for 5 minutes. Put remaining 2/3 C of stock and flour in a container and cover tightly the shake vigorously to mix. Add to meat and mushroom mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, allowing sauce to thicken.

Remove from heat and add pepper, sour cream and cinnamon and mix thoroughly. Serve this over some egg noodles or rice. Adjust seasonings as desired.

Sweetheart Pie

As many of you know, I'm a BIG fan of potpies, especially in these winter months when my fridge is full of root veggies. This past weekend my friends did a Thanksgiving Re-do and I decided to bring a potpie for us vegetarians. I made this one extra special with heart cut-outs because I'm so lucky to have all these wonderful people in my lives - AND because unbeknownst to me I was going to be getting engaged just a few hours later. So here it is, my sweetheart pie.

Veggie Pot Pie
double pie crust
1 rutabaga, peeled and cubed
1 large carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 C edamame
1/2 C quorn turkey roast
1/2 large red onion, chopped
4 small parsnips, peeled and sliced
4 T butter
1 C veggie stock
2 T flour
salt, pepper and oregano

Heat oven to 375 and line a pie plate with one crust. Using a fork poke holes in the bottom and sides, then gently press the fork down around the edging of the crust. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat and add veggies and quorn turkey. Saute for 10 minutes. Add stock and cover, simmering gently until veggies are soft and stock is gone. Remove from heat, add flour, salt, pepper and oregano and stir thoroughly. Spoon veggies into crust. Take top crust and a heart-shaped cookie cutter (or any shape you like) and cut out for evenly spaced hearts. Place crust over veggies and using a fork, press the edge tightly onto the bottom crust all the way around. Trim off any extra crust. Take the four heart pieces and place them on the crust in between the heart cut-outs. Bake for about an hour, with foil around the edges so as not to burn. Remove and let sit 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!!!

***The highlight of the dinner for me was when one of the guys there complimented me on my "meat" pie. I smiled and said "actually, there isn't any meat in it...." His response was simply, "huh, well it's delicious!"***

Huevos Frijole Rancheros

If you saw last night's blog, you know I made some yummy fish tacos. Well, as usual, I made too much rice and beans and decided to use some of them up for tonight's dinner. With corn tortillas, rice and beans, cheese and salsa, I knew exactly what I wanted to make - Huevos Rancheros (or at least my east coast American version). I added a side of blue & white potato's for a full meal. Scrumptious!

(Serves 2)

Huevos Rancheros
3 corn tortillas
1/2 C rice & beans mixture
2 eggs
4 T butter
salt & pepper
salsa
shredded cheese (optional, NOT traditional)

Warm oven to 300. In a frying pan melt 2 T butter and fry 2 of the corn tortillas on each side. Slice third tortilla into 1 inch strips and fry. Place each whole tortilla on baking sheet and spread with 1/2 the rice & beans mixture. Put the sliced tortilla on the sheet to the side. Place in warmed oven.

Fry an egg on 1 side, leaving yoke runny (if you like, if not, by all means fry it up!). Gently slide egg onto tortilla and bean mixture and place back in warm oven. While that's finishing, cook up the side.

Blue & White Homefries
2 potato's - one white, one blue (if available, if not, use any potatoes you have), peeled & diced
1 small onion, peeled & sliced
salt & pepper
2 T butter

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat and add potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes until they start to brown. Add onions, salt and pepper and stir thoroughly. Cook another 2-3 minutes.





Serve on the side of a plate with ranchero. Top everything with cheese, fried tortilla strips and salsa! Devour with a good beer.

Fish Tacos

We are a mostly vegetarian household, but we do love our fish! We're from Maine, it's sort of bred into us. We have decided to perhaps start adding some local organic meat back into our diet, too, so maybe someday soon I'll have a recipe for beef tacos on here. Until then, here's what I got for today.

Filling
2 inches of daikon radish, sliced thin and salted for at 30 minutes (I left mine in fridge overnight)
1/2 C shredded purple cabbage
1-2 T mayo
salt & pepper
dash of Braggs Amino Acid
fish (any type you like, I used tilapia)
1 T lemon juice
salt & pepper

In a large bowl add daikon, cabbage, mayo, salt pepper and braggs and mix thoroughly to make a slaw. Set aside in fridge, the longer the better. Then heat oven to 375 and sprinkle fish with lemon juice, salt & pepper. Bake until flaky (time varies depending on fish)

Side
1 C dried black beans, soaked overnight with kombu and boiled until soft (with kombu)
1 C brown rice
2 C veggie stock
salt, pepper, cumin (basically any seasonings you like to give them flare)

While beans are cooking, add rice to stock in separate pot and bring to boil. Drop down to a simmer for about 45 to 50 minutes. When rice is done, add beans and seasonings to it and stir thoroughly.

Toppings
shredded cheddar cheese
salsa
sour cream

Put everything together and scoop into corn or flour tortillas, or hard taco shells, or just eat as a salad.

***BONUS - I had some daikon left over and I drizzled olive oil and salt over it, then baked it into chips in the oven at 315 for about 30 minutes, flipping often. Serve these on the side of your tacos for an extra crunchy snack.

Latkes & Greens

I created this tonight for my family. We were swimming in potatoes and I steamed a bunch of purple ones last night in a hunch I'd want them tonight. I also pulled out my last bunch of kale from the freezer from last summer's CSA. This was born!


6 potatoes, peeled & steamed

1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 C milk
2 eggs
1/4 C flour
1/2 C cheese, shredded
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste

2-4 T butter
oil for frying

1 bunch of kale, steamed gently until bright green
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2-4 T tamari (or soy sauce, bragg's, etc)
1/3 C adzuki beans, boiled until soft (about 40 minutes)
1/4 C water/broth
2 T butter

Heat oven to 275. Mash potatoes, milk and butter. Melt 1T butter in skillet, Saute onions until golden. Add cheese, onions, garlic, flour, eggs, salt and pepper to potatoes and mix thoroughly. Heat oil in large skillet, then drop large mounds of potato mixture into skillet and cook about 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Place on baking sheet in oven until all are cooked up. Once latkes are done and in the oven, heat butter over medium heat in skillet and toss in onions and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes, add kale and mix thoroughly. Add water/broth and beans, and cook for 5 minutes. Toss with Tamari. Serve latkes hot from the oven with sour cream in a bed of kale & adzuki beans, sprinkle with pepper.

Halushki

I had some cabbage to use up from my CSA at Little Ridge Farms and after a search on the internet for something different, I found a traditional polish recipe, Halushki. Here is my spin on it! And it was yummy, the kids and man loved it, gobbling up every bite.

CSA Halushki
1/2 cabbage, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
4 cloves, garlic, minced
1/2 C butter
8 oz multi-colored organic pasta
1 package fake bacon

salt & pepper to taste

Fill a large pot with water and bring to boil. Once water is boiling add pasta and cook according to package. Meanwhile, in a large skillet melt butter and saute onions, cabbage and garlic until cabbage is soft. Season with salt and pepper. While the cabbage is cooking, heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and cook fake bacon according to package. When it's done, chop and toss into cabbage mixture. Toss cooked pasta with cabbage mixture, adding salt and pepper as necessary.