Jambalaya Presto

Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence that originated in the Caribbean Islands. I concocted this version after having it in a restaurant and tinkered with it several times.

If available, buy shrimp that have already been cleaned and this recipe is very easy to prepare.

6 servings

3/4 - 1 lb. shrimp raw (frozen/thawed okay), cleaned (see note 1)

1-1/2 links low fat smoked sausage (i.e. Polish sausage or similar)

1 can (about 14 oz.) diced tomatoes

2 cans Spanish rice

3 medium green or red peppers, diced into 3/4" pieces

2 onions, diced (sweet onion preferred)

2 pieces celery, diced (or 1/2 teaspoon celery seed)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon crushed thyme

1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic or garlic paste

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 t. cayenne pepper, more or less, to taste (optional)

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 cubes Knorr’s vegetable bullion

 

In a Dutch oven, sauté the onion in the oil for 5 minutes over a medium heat, until softened.  Add all the ingredients, except the shrimp and rice and cook over a low heat for 15-20 minutes.  Add water if the mixture is too dry; it should be somewhat soupy.  Stir often.  Add the shrimp and rice and cook for an additional 6 minutes on low heat.  Serve in bowls with buttered, crusty Italian or French bread.

Note 1: If you don’t know how to clean shrimp, and it’s essential to do, Google it.

Scampinski–Shrimp & Pasta

serves four

The pasta:

If you can find a pasta store that sells fresh pasta, by all means get fresh fusilli. The dried variety works, of course, but the taste and consistency of fresh is superior.

1/2 cup of olive oil
2-3 dashes, Tabasco
2-3 dashes, Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon, Salt (or even slightly less)
1/4 teaspoon, Black Pepper
3/4 teaspoon, Garlic powder
1/4 cup Parsley flakes
32-40 fresh, medium shrimp (i.e. 24 to the lb. size), peeled & deveined. (note: Slice open and clean both the backs and bellies. This is painstaking, but not only is the shrimp cleaned, but the sliced edges curl up nicely during cooking.)

1-1/4 lbs. Fusilli pasta (or Rotini)(Fresh pasta, if available)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Preparation:

Combine the first seven (7) ingredients in a bowl. Add the shrimp and mix well. If possible, prepare this in the morning and let it sit in the fridge (covered).

Place dinner plates or pasta bowls into a 180 deg. F oven. Or, if microwave safe,  heat them them in a microwave for a minute or two before serving.

Bring three to four quarts of water to a rolling boil and add pasta along with 3/4 teaspoons salt. Drain when done, add 1/4 cup olive oil and stir. Set aside.

Place the shrimp mixture to a 12” skillet (I use a non-stick type) and arrange them so that each is lying down flat. Sauté over a medium-high flame until they are cooked through half way and beginning to brown (perhaps five minutes). Then flip each shrimp and to sauté for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the drained pasta and mix everything. Cook on a high flame for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. A dry white white (suggestion: Vernaccia di San Gimignano) pairs well. And, whenever possible, serve with a Green Lime Salad.

Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta

Cheap, fast and good. A rare combination. Pappardelle is a fairly wide and thick pasta noodle. ~ jb 12-3-12

1 lb. pappardelle pasta, prepared per instructions on package
1 teaspoon freshly coarse grated black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cans Tuna in oil (or drained tuna in water and add 2 T olive oil)
juice from one lemon
2 tablespoons of capers
1 tablespoon olive oil

Once the pasta is cooked and drained, add all the remaining ingredients, mix and serve in warmed bowls.

Note 1: Trader Joe’s sells a lemon and pepper pappardelle pasta that saves on having to have a lemon.

Note 2: The cherry tomatoes look great, but they didn’t seem to pair well with the tuna.

Grilled Salmon Steaks with Peach and Mustard Glaze

Grilled salmon is simple to cook and is elegant to serve.  It’s a dish that you can prepare for guests quickly, without having to disappear into the kitchen for 30 minutes because the marinade is made earlier in the day or the night before.

1/3 cup peach marmalade
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cream sherry
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 T ginger powder (shaved and chopped fresh ginger would be ideal)
2 T honey
4 to 8 (8-ounce) salmon fillets

1. Combine first 6 ingredients.   Heat in a saucepan and stir well to mix the ingredient.

2.  Cut the salmon filet into individual steaks.

3.  Place the cooled glaze into a large Ziplock bag with the salmon.  If you have time, seal and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Drink some cream sherry while waiting.  If you are really planning ahead, do this the night before and refrigerate overnight.

4. Preheat grill for 10 minutes on high.  Place salmon on grill and cook for about 6-7 minutes (uncovered).  Reserve the marinade.  Using a wide metal spatula, turn the steaks once and cook an additional 4 minutes.

Serve  on hot plates and liberally spoon the marinade over each steak.  Garnish with a slice of lemon and a spring of rosemary to dress it up.  Nicely accompanied by green beans and oven roasted potatoes.  Or rice.  Or couscous.  Or whatever you like. 

Notes

1.   Feel free to substitute orange marmalade.

2.  We generally buy the Farm Raised Atlantic Salmon, boneless & skinless, at Costco. 

3.  There are health benefits to eating salmon, but also risks.  Read the following article to be informed.

Wild vs. Farmed Salmon, The Pros And Cons

By Joseph Schwartz
bjs54@cornell.edu
Cornell University News Service
http://www.news.cornell.edu

On the one hand, farmed salmon has more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids than wild salmon. On the other hand, it also tends to have much higher levels of chemical contaminants that are known to cause cancer, memory impairment and neurobehavioral changes in children. What's a consumer to do?

In general, a new study shows that the net benefits of eating wild Pacific salmon outweigh those of eating farmed Atlantic salmon, when the risks of chemical contaminants are considered, although there are important regional differences.

Those are the conclusions of Barbara Knuth, Cornell professor of natural resources who specializes in risk management associated with chemical contaminants in fish, and Steven Schwager, Cornell associate professor of biological statistics and computational biology and an expert in sampling design and statistical analysis of comparative data. The two have co-authored a benefit-risk analysis of eating farmed versus wild salmon in the Journal of Nutrition (November, Vol. 135).

Read the rest of this article here: 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/35370.php

Mussels Provençal

Last Saturday, May 15, 2010, Carolyn, Julia and I had lunch at El Obrero, a well known and well regarded “bogedone” in the La Boca barrio of Buenos Aires.  The restaurant is well off the beaten path, in a somewhat seedy neighborhood containing many industrial buildings, stray dogs and little street life.  The sidewalks in this area are unusual, abruptly changing elevation that presumably is meant to protect the buildings against flooding from the nearby river (see photo below).  Note that there are no guard rails at the top of the elevated sidewalks.  The restaurant, which dates back to 1954, is popular and crowded. The food and service were excellent.  Here, Carolyn and I introduced Julia to mejillones a la provençal (mussels provencal).  Following is my interpretation, which I developed after a trip to France in 2000.  Extremely simple, but totally satisfying.  -jb

2 lbs. mussels, cleaned and debearded
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 cup white wine
¼ teaspoon celery seed
salt and black pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 medium/large tomato, diced

In a Dutch oven, cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil for 10 minutes over a medium heat.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes.  The heat to boiling and add the mussels, cover and reduce heat to medium.  Cook about 8 minutes or until all the mussels have opened.  Discard any mussels that remain closed.  Serve with bread and white wine.

first prepared June 29, 2000

At El Obrero, located at Augustin R. Caffarena 64

Blackened Tilapia

This recipe is not too spicy, but very flavorful.  It's pleases everyone, every time and is simple to prepare.  Paired with small, boiled red potatoes (or fingerlings) and a green vegetable (green beans, broccoli, asparagus), it's elegant and quick.  We usually use Tilapia for this dish, but it was intended for Swordfish by chef Jacques Pepin.  Grouper would be another good alternative.  (Photo above, taken 3-7-09, shows tilapia with Potato & Bacon Gratin and green beans, which we served to guest We serve this dish to Curt and Jennifer Finfrock).

serves four

4 fillets of Swordfish (3/4-1" thick) or Tilapia (6-8 oz. each)
1tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
4 tablespoons Canola oil

Trim away and discard the skin (if using Swordfish).  Mix the herbs and spices and spread on a plate or piece of waxed paper. Press fillets into the herb and spice mix, coating the fillets completely; bottom, top and edges, using 1/2 of the mix.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet until hot.  Add the fish, seasoned side facing the oil.  Sprinkle with the remaining herb and spice mix.  Sauté for three minutes, turn and sauté three to four minutes.  Serve immediately on warm plates.

Sea Bass

This is a simple but elegant dish with wonderful flavor. Unfortunately, Chilean Sea Bass is terribly over-fished and the population in the South Pacific is threatened with extinction. The Chilean Sea Bass is not technically a bass at all and was tagged with this name to overcome the fact that it's actually a rather prehistoric looking fish called "Toothfish." Alternative choices are black cod, grouper or hake.

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 (6-oz) fillets Chilean sea bass, black sea bass or striped bass, skin removed
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon tri-color pepper, freshly ground
2 Meyer lemons, sliced thin slices
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
20 cherry or grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons drained bottled capers

Pat fish dry and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Place olive oil and sliced garlic into a 12" skillet. Heat over a medium heat until aromatic. Cook another 5 minutes, careful not to burn the garlic. Remove and discard garlic, but retain the oil.

Cut the tomatoes in halves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Immediately arrange the lemon slices in the skillet, covering the entire bottom, and place tomatoes and capers around the edge of the skillet (see photo). Quickly place the fish over the lemon slices and sprinkle with thyme. Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid and cook the fish on a fairly high heat for 6 -8 minutes.

Spoon the tomatoes, caper and lemons, with the pan juices, over the fish. Serve the fish on a warm plate with a green vegetable (green beans, asparagus, broccoli, etc.) and small red or heirloom potatoes.