Sesame-Crusted Tuna with Wasabi Dressing

• 3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar, divided
• Sugar
• Kosher salt 
• 2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• ½ to 1 teaspoon wasabi paste (or to taste)
• ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed, plus more for sautéing
• 1 portion albacore tuna (8 to 10 ounces) 
• Soy sauce for brushing
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, preferably black and white
• 1 cup baby arugula 
• Warm or room temperature sushi rice for serving
• Thinly sliced scallions and radishes for serving

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DIRECTIONS

PICKLE THE CUCUMBERS

In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and 1 teaspoon each sugar and salt. Add the cucumbers and stir to combine.

MAKE THE DRESSING

In a small bowl, add the remaining vinegar, mayonnaise, sesame oil, wasabi paste, ginger, and a pinch of sugar, and whisk to combine. In a steady stream, whisk in the neutral oil and season with salt.

PREP THE TUNA

Season the tuna all over with salt and brush with soy sauce. Coat the tuna with the sesame seeds, pressing to adhere.

SEAR THE TUNA

Place a medium nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add a thin layer of neutral oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the tuna and sear on all 3 sides until golden, 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into ½-inch-thick slices.

ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

Add the arugula to the cucumbers. Spoon the rice into bowls and top with the sliced tuna and the cucumber-arugula salad. Drizzle with the wasabi dressing and garnish with scallions and radishes.

Arroz con Pollo

Inspired by Asopao de Pollo from Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook and various online recipes. This can be cooked on the stovetop in a covered pan, but I think it would work better in the oven.

For you Kelsey.

2-3 pounds of Chicken – a broiler chicken cut up or my preference, boneless chicken thighs
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1/2 tsp. ground corriander
2-3 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, heated
1/2 cup tomato sauce/puree/diced tomatoes & their liquid
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup uncooked rice
2-3 carrots, diced
1 green or red pepper, I used 2 frozen, roasted poblanos
1/2 cup cooked ham, diced
1 cup (+/-) frozen peas
1/3 cup pitted green olives, sliced
1 Tbsp. capers

Heat oven to 350F.

Dust the chicken with flour and season with salt, pepper, corriander & oregano.

Heat oil in an heavy 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven. Add chicken, brown, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan.

Add onions, peppers, carrots, garlic and ham to pan and sauce until softened. Add rice and stir until coated and color changes. Stir in chicken broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cover.

If cooking on the stovetop, lower heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
If using the oven, place in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, add peas, olives and capers, return lid and simmer an additional 5 minutes or until rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed.

Serve with grated parmesan or cotija cheese if desired.

Turmeric, Pea & Onion Frittata

Lois & I made this with zucchini instead of peas in an effort to minimize the carbs for me. Modified liberally from Rocco’s Healthy & Delicious cookbook

1 T olive oil
1 cup sliced red onion
2/3 cup frozen peas, thawed or
1 medium zucchini sliced (or go wild and use both)
1 Tablespoon finely grated fresh turmeric (are you kidding? we used dried, about 1 teaspoon)
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 325F

Heat a 6-inch nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add oil and onion and zucchini if using. Sweat until soft, about 7 minutes. If using peas, add now and cook another 3 minutes.

Add the turmeric and eggs and stir until about half-set.

Move the pan to the oven abnd bake until set, about 7-10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook.

Sweet Pickled Pepper Slices

This recipe is heavily adapted from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich and is orginally for sweet peppers. I like to use cherry peppers.

Makes 4 pints.

4 garlic cloves
2 tsp. pickling salt
2 pounds cherry peppers sliced in half or generous rings
1 carrot thinly sliced (optional)
2 cups white vinegar or cider vinegar
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar

Put 1 garlic clove and 1/2 tsp. pickling salt into each of 4 pint size mason jars. Pack the peppers and carrots snugly into the jars.

In a nonreactive saucepan, bring the vinegar, water and sugar to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Pour the hot liquid over the peppers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Close the jars with hot two-piece caps. Process jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

Store in a cool, dry place for at least 3 weeks before eating the peppers.

Habanero Hot Sauce

Adapted from RickBayless.com

Ingredients
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup roughly chopped carrot (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup roughly chopped onion (about 1/2 small onion)
12 medium habanero chilies, stemmed
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. sugar

Directions
Roast the unpeeled garlic cloves in a skillet over medium heat, turning regularly, until soft and blackened in spots, about 10-15 minutes. Cool & peel.

In a small saucepan, combine carrot, onion, habaneros, vinegar & water. Simmer over medium-low heat, partially covered, until carrots are soft.

Cool slightly. Add roasted garlic, salt and sugar. Blend in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Adjust seasonings.

Pour into jars and store in refridgerator. Thin with water if too thick.

Makes 2 cups.

This can be frozen but it will separate, shake to serve.

Salt Marinade for Baked Chicken

Puerto Rican Roast Chicken
I found this recipe on a website called Great Food 360.

I was hunting for something to go with some Pique hot sauce. This was perfect.

Measure the ingredients below per pound of chicken:

1 tsp. sea salt (I used Kosher salt)
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 garlic clove
1 tsp. olive oil
1 bay leaf

Stir together the salt, pepper & oregano and a sprinkle (~ 1/4 tsp) of adobo seasoning (optional). Add the garlic and oil to make a paste.

Spread the paste under the skin over the entire chicken. If there is any paste left, spread it over the skin.

Add the bay leaves to the cavity of the chicken.

Refrigerate, uncovered, at least 4 hours.

Place the chicken, breast side down, on a broiler pan. Roast on convection at 350F for 35 minutes. Flip the bird breast side up and continue roasting until a meat thermometer in the thigh registers 185F, approximately 35-45 minutes longer.

Banana Pie

Yelapa Style Banana Pie

Adapted from the Auguest 2018 issue of Food & Wine.

The recipe calls for a hot water pie crust because it is sturdy for eating on the beach. While it was good, I see no reason why a regular crust wouldn’t suffice if you are eating it at home. Also, The recipe calls for a 9 1/2″ deep dish pie pan. But the custard was a bit shallow for my pan so I increased it by 50%.

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup water

Filling
3 large bananas, cut diagonally into 1/3-inch thick slices
3 large eggs, at room temp.
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 vanilla bean pod, split and seeds scraped
1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, optional, for topping

Preheat oven to 375F. Whisk together flour & salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center. Set aside.

Combine butter, shortening and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until butter & shortening are melted, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer and cook 30-60 seconds.

Pour into well in flour. Working quickly, mix until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer to a clean surface and knead until smooth, about 1 minute.

Roll out between two pieces of parchment. Remove top parchment and carefully flip dough into 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie plate, patching if necessary. Line with parchment and fill with pie weights.

Bake in preheated oven until crust is set, about 18 minutes. Remove weights and parchment and bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Remove to wire rack and cool completely.

Reduce oven temp to 325F.

Line pie pan with banana slices.
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs until completely blended.
Add milk, condensed milk, salt and vanilla bean seeds. Whisk to combine. Carefully pour over bananas.

Bake 325F until edges are set and center is slightly jiggly, 45-50 minutes. Banana slices will rise to the top. Remove to wire rack & cool.

If desired, sprinkle with sugar and carmelize with a kitchen torch.

Serve warm or chilled.

Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower (about 2 lbs)
8 Tbsp. butter
1 leek (or just onion if you don’t have a leek)
1 small onion
Salt & Pepper
4 ½ – 5 cups water
½ tsp. sherry vinegar
3 Tbsp. minced fresh chives

Trim of outer leaves of cauliflower.
Cut heaping 1 cup of ½-inch florets, set aside.

Cut up remaining cauliflower into ½-inch thick slices

Melt 3 Tbsp. butter in large saucepan. Add leek, onion & salt. Cook, stirring until onion is softened but not brown, about 7 minutes.

Add 4/12 cups of water & half the sliced cauliflower and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add remaining cauliflower and simmer until cauliflower is tender and crumbles easily, about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt remaining 5 Tbsp. butter in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat. Add reserved florets and cook, stirring often, until golden and the butter is browned, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and using a slotted spoon, transfer cauliflower to a small bowl. Toss with sherry vinegar and season with salt to taste. Pour butter into a separate bowl to be used as garnish.

Process soup until smooth, using a blender or immersion blender. Return to simmer, adjust consistency with remaining water if needed. Season with salt to taste “Soup should have a thick, velvety texture but should be thin enough to settle with flat surface after being stirred.”

Serve, garnish each bowl with some browned florets, a drizzle of butter, chives and pepper.

Doctored Gefilte Fish

In memory of Shelly Rosenblum.

I assisted in the cooking for Passover this year, 2018. I would like to note that, being a Catholic, I have only attended Passover a few times. But I loved Shelly. I would have loved to have had her recipe to work from but instead I had the website of Sadie Salome. Adjusted below to serve the 28 people attending the Rosenblum/Guagliardo passover.

4 jars of Manischewitz gefilte fish in water or gel or a mix in my case
8 cups of sliced onions (sliced in the food processor)
8 super large carrots
A small bunch of Dill (do yourself a favor and tie up the bunch or mince it finely)
1 sweet potato peeled and sliced
Keep the onion skins

For this quantity I used a canning pot.

Place the pot over medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of acceptable vegetable oil. Add about half the onion, carrots and sweet potato. Pour on the gefilte fish and it’s liquid. Add the remaining carrots, onions & sweet potato, the dill and the onion skins. Add enough water to barely cover.

Raise the heat to bring to bring to a simmer and cook about 2 hours.

Remove the gefilte fish and place in a large container (or two). Strain the broth and pour over. At this point you are supposed to save the carrots. Are you kidding me?! What a mess. So I strained off the solids and used the broth to cook another 5 or 6 carrots to serve with the fish.

Chill and serve with generous amounts of horseradish. (The Polish side of me can get behind the horseradish).

Vietnamese Turmeric Fish & Mango Dipping Sauce

The dill and turmeic combo in this recipe had me skeptical but it turned out to be delicious. The marinated fish gets fried hot and fast in coconut oil. It is served drizzled with a scallion & dill infused oil and served with mango dipping sauce.

Fish 
1 Tbsp. Turmeric Powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/4 lbs. cod fish, boneless & skinless, cut into 2-inch wide pieces
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2 Tbsp. coconut oil for frying

Combine the marinade ingredients and stir in fish to coat. Marinate the fish for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

Infused Scallion & Dill oil
2 cups scallions, sliced into thin strips about 1-inch long
2 cups fresh dill, coarsely chopped
pinch of sea salt

Mago Dipping Sauce
1 medium, ripe mango
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 garlic clove
1 tsp. dry red chili pepper (add just before serving)
Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until desired consistency.

 Additional Toppings
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime juice
Cashews or pine nuts

To Pan-Fy the fish:

Heat 2 Tbsp. coconut oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. When fully hot, add the marinated fish. The fish should sizzle loudly, you may lower the heat to medium-high. Use several batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan.

Do not turn or move fish until you can see the sides turn a golden color, about 5 minutes. Season with a pinch of sea salt. Add more coconut oil if necessary.

Once golden, carefully turn the fish over. When cooked, transfer to a platter and keep warm.

Using the remaining oil in the pan make the scallion infused oil:
Heat the pan to medium-high. To the oil in the pan add 2 cups scallions and 2 cups of dill. Turn off the heat. Give them a gentle toss until just wilted, about 15 seconds. Season with sea salt.

Pour the infused oil over the fish and serve with mango dipping sauce and additional toppings on the side.