Author Archives: Shari

Indian Inspired Mussel Pilaf

I’m not a huge fan of seafood, but the other night while I was paging through one of my cookbooks (Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape: India) I noticed a beautiful photo of a whole sea bass cooked in banana leaves. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since. It’s pretty much embedded.

I’ve had Mr. Ramsay’s cookbook for quite some time now, but have yet to cook anything out of it; so I was really excited to give this recipe a go. Unfortunately for me, buying a whole sea bass in Rochester is absolutely impossible. I can’t even have it ordered from our local grocery stores. Seriously.

Luckily, the man behind the fish counter was very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. He called his supplier to see what they could offer me. They had a few options, and he suggested I try the strawberry grouper. I ordered a couple fish and should be able to pick them up tomorrow.

Now that my dinner plans were officially and completely shot–yes, I am that dramatic–I decided to buy a pound of mussels and do something with those instead.

mussels: scrubbed and de-bearded

I brought my mussels home and sorted through them. Any mussels that will not stay closed when they’re pressed on should be tossed aside. They’re most likely dead. The photo below shows a mussel that has not yet been cooked, but refuses to keep it’s shell fastened shut.

Mussel won’t close before cooking? Throw that sucker out!

Once the mussels were sorted and scrubbed, it was time to de-beard ’em.

You see those nasty little string-like things poking out from the shell? That’s the mussel’s beard. I left this on until I was just about ready to toss them in my pot. Removing them too soon could–and probably will–cause your mussel to die.

The easiest way to remove the beard is to just grab it and pull quickly. I thought that some of the beards were really hard to remove, and patience is not something I’m known for, so I enlisted Piyush to help with this task. I also don’t like killing things–not even mussels–but I guess that’s another issue all together.

After the mussels were cleaned, I still didn’t know exactly what I was going to make. So I did what I always do when I don’t know what the heck I’m planning to make…

I diced an onion.

You’ve gotta start somewhere, right?

I looked in the fridge and found a green pepper, carrots and thai chilies. I grabbed a couple potatoes, some frozen peas and some peeled roma tomatoes. It was right then that I decided to make a mussel stew, similar to my bouillabaisse recipe.

I added some Indian spices and on a whim I decided to toss in some raw basmati rice. It was absolutely brilliant.

Modesty, like patience, is not something I possess in large quantities…

Indian Inspired Mussel Pilaf

The mussels had so much flavor and the rice was incredibly fragrant. Not only did this dish taste amazing, it was also relatively quick to make. The entire meal took approximately an hour from start to finish.

Indian Inspired Mussel Pilaf

Now, before I post this recipe, I have to say that it is not an authentic Indian preparation. It’s just inspired by my love of spice. 🙂

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb. mussels– washed and de-bearded (see notes above)
2 tbsp. oil (I used a mix of olive oil/ghee)
1 large white onion- diced
5 garlic cloves- crushed and minced (add less if you don’t like garlic a lot)
1″ piece of fresh ginger- peeled, smashed and minced
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
4 thai chilies- slit (you may remove the membrane/seeds if you don’t like heat)
1 large green bell pepper- diced
2 medium potatoes- diced
2 carrots- diced
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 bay leaf
1″ small piece of cinnamon
4 green cardamom pods- slightly crushed
3 whole cloves
2/3 c. dry white wine*
14.5 oz. peeled roma tomatoes- diced (equivalent to 1 can store bought tomatoes)
1 c. frozen peas
water- 1 c. to start
pinch of saffron
1 c. basmati rice- rinsed
salt- to taste
pepper- to taste
fresh coriander (cilantro)- 2 handfuls, chopped (one for recipe, one for garnish)

*If you do not wish to use wine, you can use water. No problem.

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add black mustard seeds. Once they start to sizzle, toss in the diced onion, green bell pepper, carrot, chili peppers and potatoes. Lower heat to medium, and sweat the vegetables until they become soft and tender.
Add ginger and garlic. Also add the turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and 1 handful chopped coriander. Cook for one to two minutes or until the raw smell disappears. Things should start sticking to the bottom of the pan, and you’ll notice things will turn a little brown.
De-glaze the pan with 2/3 cup of wine. Stir everything really well and let this simmer for a few minutes or until the wine doesn’t smell so strong. Add the tomatoes and cover the pan. Let this cook for about 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes break down.
Add 1 c. water and a pinch of saffron. Cover and let this simmer another 3-5 minutes.
Add the uncooked mussels to the tomato mixture and put the lid back on the pot. Let the mussels steam for 5 minutes, then remove the lid. Using a tongs, remove any mussels that have opened their shells and set them aside. If there are any unopened mussels, place the lid back on the pot and let them steam an additional 2 minutes. If they still do not open, they are most likely bad. Toss them out.
Add 1 c. frozen peas.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add 1 c. raw basmati rice and an additional cup of water. Cover the pot and let the rice cook. After 10 minutes, check your rice. Add more water, if needed. The rice will take anywhere from 10-20 minutes to fully cook.
Once the rice is properly cooked, check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
Place the cooked mussels back into the pot of rice, place the lid back on the pot and turn off the heat. Let the dish sit, covered for at least 3 to 4 minutes so the mussels re-heat.
Garnish with additional chopped coriander…and enjoy!

**NOTE** I leave the whole spices in my dish, but if you would like you can remove them. This can be difficult, but if you put all the whole spices in a little bag of cheesecloth before adding them to the pot it will make this task a lot easier.

I’ll get the printer-friendly recipe posted soon!

The only bad thing about this meal?

The lingering smell of the mussels. Now my house is going to smell fishy for about a week. Yuck.

Bhindi Masala (Okra/Ladies Finger Dry Curry)

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Bhindi, commonly known as okra in the United States, is one vegetable I’ve had little– to no– experience with. It’s not that I didn’t like it, or that I felt intimidated by it’s funny shape and sticky, weird texture. In fact, I didn’t even know it had a sticky, weird texture until fairly recently.

Instead, the simple truth is that okra is not a popular vegetable in Minnesota. Most grocery stores don’t carry it, and most people wouldn’t know what it was or what to do with it even if they did.

Before Piyush and I were married, I wanted to impress him and make his favorite dish. I asked him what it was and he told me “Bhindi Masala.” I was absolutely confused.

I thought bindi was the forehead decoration (usually a red dot or jewel) worn by women…I didn’t realize it was also a vegetable! I must have had some sort of befuddled look on my face because Piyush then went into a 15 minute lecture about the Hindi alphabet and its correct pronunciation.

I learned that bhindi and bindi are not the same thing, but they sound exactly the same. Exactly. Piyush assured me that they don’t, but I know what I hear; and to me there is no difference.

He then went on about bhindi, trying to explain to me what it was in English. He kept saying “ladies finger” …I was even more confused. I thought ladies fingers were oval shaped cookies! Then he said, “okra.” I still had no idea what he was talking about.

Oh how times have changed…

bhindi masala

I can’t say that okra is my favorite vegetable, but I’ve grown to tolerate it. Piyush, on the other hand, could eat a whole pound in one sitting. He loves the stuff!

Fresh okra should be firm, crisp and bright green. They should also curve very slightly towards the narrow end. Piyush says the best okra should be pretty small to medium sized. The bigger the pods, the more bitter they taste…I guess.

I’ve learned that I can purchase fresh okra from any local Asian market. Occasionally one of the sellers at the local farmers market will have a small container full as well. I’m still not the greatest at picking the best pods, so when all else fails, the Indian market will have frozen okra.

Before you begin to cook the okra, there are a few things you should know. First, it’s important to wash and dry off the pods, and to trim the ends. Second, there will be a sticky, gel-like substance inside the okra. It’s weird and slightly intimidating, but it will disappear as the okra cooks.

For this recipe, I sliced the okra pods in half, and then cut them into manageable pieces–about 1 inch long, or so. If you prefer, you could slice the okra into 1/2 inch circles instead.

The cooking process:

Onions and chilies are cooked until softened, tomatoes are added.

After the onions/garlic mixture has cooked…the okra simmers in a mixture of tomatoes and water

I’ve found that by adding the extra water to the masala, the okra is sure to cook properly and there will not be any stickiness left behind. Simply cook the masala until the water evaporates and the bhindi is softened. The resulting curry is considered dry, and is perfect for eating with naan, rotis or chapatis!

Bhindi Masala

Bhindi Masala

Serves 2 as main course, 4 if served on the side

Ingredients:

1 lb. bhindi (okra)
2 tbsp. oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
4 green chilies (I used Thai), slit
1 tsp. khus khus (white poppy seeds)
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin, ground
1 tsp. coriander, ground
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. turmeric, ground
5 medium garlic cloves, minced
3/4 c. fresh diced roma tomatoes (you may substitute canned or even use my curry base recipe)
1/2 c. water –more if needed to cook the okra through
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
fresh corriander (cilantro), for garnish

Directions:

Wash, dry and slice bhindi as desired. Set aside.
Add oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Toss mustard seeds into oil and cook until they start to splatter. Once the seeds splatter, add the cumin, corriander, garam masala, tumeric, chiles and sliced onions. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add garlic and khus khus. Cook an additional minute, or so.
Add the tomatoes to the curry. Mix everything well and cook for two minutes before adding the bhindi. Add 1/2 c. water, or more and allow the bhindi to simmer. Keep adding water, as needed, if the bhindi is still giving off a sticky substance. Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Season with salt and black pepper, to taste.
Turn off heat and garnish with chopped corriander. Serve with rotis…and enjoy!

Time to get ready for work! Have a happy Friday, everyone! 🙂

I’m a Crazy Canner

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I love canning. It’s no secret. I have shelves upon shelves to prove it.

I’ve been neglecting my little blog lately, but I have a good reason.

Canned roma tomatoes

Fresh produce waits for no one!

All my free time lately has gone to preserving fruits and vegetables for the winter.

Bear with me, dear readers, I promise I have some wonderful recipes to share with you. Including some new, fabulous curry recipes!

Black Truffle, Prosciutto and Purple Potato Fritatta

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I have so much I’d like to write about tonight, but the words just won’t flow. Have you ever had a day like that? It’s frustrating, to say the least.

This past Saturday and Sunday was my scheduled weekend to work; and man, was it a doozy.

Working at a hospital is hard. Really hard.

Emotions–of all types–surround you everywhere you go. There’s no escape. Seriously. I’ve even seen people crying or trying to hide in the stairwells because they were so overwhelmed with emotion.

You may see a family weeping in the hallways or comforting each other with tears in their eyes and hope in their hearts one moment. A few minutes later–maybe even simultaneously, or just a few steps away–there may be another family celebrating good news with ringing laughter and ice cream cakes.

If you work in a hospital, you understand. If you don’t, my rambling may make absolutely no sense; and for that, I apologize.

Now that I’ve got that somewhat out of my system, I’d like to introduce you to dinner!

I made this simple frittata in a manner of minutes using ingredients I had on hand and “dressing them up” with the very special addition of fresh black truffle.

Italian Summer Black Truffles

A little goes a long way with these suckers. They have a really strong smell and impart a fantastic, earthy flavor into a dish.

I decided to thinly slice the truffles and add them to a fritatta along with a little diced prosciutto, boiled purple potatoes and chopped parsley.

I love how beautiful the inside of the truffle is. I find it almost hypnotizing.

I whisked 6 eggs with a little salt and pepper. I added my other ingredients to the mix and got a oven-safe pan on the stove top.

I added a bit of oil to the pan. Once it was nice and hot, I added my egg mixture. I cooked it the same way one would cook an omelet, and once the eggs were about 2/3 of the way cooked…I tossed them in the oven–under the broiler.

The eggs cooked in the oven for approximately 2 minutes before my fritatta was finished. Easy!

Coming out of the oven…

Once I pulled the fritatta from the oven, I scattered a bunch of fresh truffle slices on top (I used 2 decent-sized truffles for my fritatta).

Because I used an enormous pan, my fritatta was really thin–more like an omelet, I’d say.

I served my fritatta with a simple side salad and some fresh fruit.

stacked!

It kind of looks like a colorful pie there, doesn’t it?

Ohh…pie. That reminds me.

There is a fabulous food event coming to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in September. It’s called The Food Experiments, and I’ve got to say…I’m really excited to be taking part! It looks like a lot of fun. Pie. Beer. Shenanigans. What could be better?!

Check out their website (linked above), and if you’re in the area…you should snag some tickets before they’re sold out! Or, if you’re feeling quite daring, sign up to compete!

After the great success of the 2011 National Tour, the Food Experiments will be bringing the show to Minnesota on September 30, 2012. It will be the twelfth stop on our 16 city tour, in which we bring together amateur chefs to create inventive takes on the event theme for a panel of local celebrity judges and an audience of food enthusiasts.

Exciting!!!

The Pie Disaster.

9 Replies

I’ve been working on a few new recipes lately.

Some have been good…but not perfect.

Some have been complete failures!

These little pies would be an example:

I made these delicious, mini crusts using tea biscuits, pistachios, butter, flour and a few spices. They were incredible! They firmed up perfectly and popped right out of the pan I used to bake them.

Then I whipped together a filling. This is where it all went down hill…fast.

I aimed to make a delicious chai flavored filling. Kind of like a custard, I guess. Something the consistency of key lime pie would have been perfect.

I wanted to use real tea because too often (almost always) things that advertise themselves as being “chai” flavored don’t even contain tea at all! They toss together spices–usually an abundance of cinnamon–and call it “chai.”

Chai is the word for tea, it’s not just a simple spice mix. And since I’m already on my soapbox, I might as well say that “chai tea” is a ridiculous thing. Chai is tea. They mean the exact same thing. “Chai tea” is tea tea. It sounds so silly. (I’m looking at you, Starbucks!!!)

oops.

So, I brewed some really strong Darjeeling chai–flavored with all the essential spices: black pepper, cardamom, bay leaf, ginger, clove and a little cinnamon.

The tea was fantastic.

Unfortunately, when I added the tea to the rest of the filling ingredients the mixture thinned out more than I had planned; but it still tasted quite good.

I decided to bake it anyway, knowing that it would probably thicken up, and it eventually did…after it had already caused my beautiful crusts to crumble. 😦

I think it would have probably worked if I tossed the pie shells back into the pan and baked them that way instead of putting them on a cookie sheet and letting them stand free.

Oh well.

You win some, you lose some.

Lesson learned.

Not everything can be perfect and beautiful all of the time. Not me. Not life. Especially not pie.

Fig, Prosciutto, and Caramelized Onion Pizza with Pistachios, Chevre, and Honey

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This weekend was a whirlwind of events; and I’m glad it’s over.

My gorgeous niece, Madelyn, was very sick and was admitted into the hospital.

She was full of bruises and her blood counts were not normal. It was incredibly scary, but hopefully everything is figured out now (fingers crossed!). Her counts are still not normal, but they are improving; and that is a good sign.

Because I spent my days worrying and my evenings working, I didn’t have time to post this incredible pizza I made last week.

Fig, Prosciutto and Caramelized Onion Pizza with Pistachios, Chevre and Honey

It was a pure pizza masterpiece.

Fresh figs are one of my favorite things. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find really good ones here in Minnesota. Because figs are so delicate, they don’t ship well. They started showing up at Trader Joes a few weeks ago–and you better believe I did a little happy dance!

But sadly, they weren’t good.

I was lucky enough to find a few cartons of them at my local co-op, and they were just right (the price was also significantly higher–unfortunately).

Fresh Figs: Black Mission. This little guy isn’t quite ripe, but it sure is pretty!

I sliced about 1/2 lb of figs along with some prosciutto (a very salty and thin sliced ham) and set them aside to top my pizza. I also crumbled a couple ounces of chevre (goat cheese. I used Trader Joes Honey Chevre) and chopped up some pistachios.

Prosciutto, Figs and a log of Chevre

If you love baking or cooking with pistachios, here’s a little tip I’ve learned:

To make it easier to shell and remove that paper-like skin over the pistachio, keep your pistachios in the freezer. It seriously makes using pistachios a lot easier and takes a lot less time.

I used my go-to whole wheat pizza crust recipe. It never fails me. You can get the recipe by clicking on the printer icon below.

Printer Friendly Recipe

While the dough was resting, I caramelized some onions with some fresh thyme (leaves off a few sprigs).

I used some onions that I had left over from another recipe, so It was probably 1/2 of a large onion. I would definitely use 1 large whole onion, or maybe even 2 next time. The pizza was amazing, but more caramelized onions would have made it even better.

Caramelized onions with fig preserves

Once the onions were caramelized, I tossed in about 2 tbsp. of fig preserves and let it all melt together.

I thought that by adding the fig preserves to the onions instead of just spreading them out on the pizza I would get better flavor, and it might help keep the pizza from becoming too sweet.

I was right.

After my crust had been precooked for about 5 minutes (I always precook my crusts), I spread the caramelized onion mixture on top of it.

You can see it needs more onions

Then, I topped the onion mixture with the prosciutto, sliced figs and chevre.

Unbaked Pizza

I baked the pizza on a stone for about 10 minutes in a preheated 450 degree F oven.

One the pizza was done baking, i tossed on a bunch of chopped pistachios (they were previously salted and roasted) and drizzled a bunch of pistachio honey over the entire thing.

The saltiness of both the prosciutto and the pistachios really helped even out the sweetness of the figs and the onions.

The chevre added an invaluable tang.

Piyush and I enjoyed our pizza while we watched the American women win Olympic GOLD in gymnastics! So exciting!

All Sliced Up!

Now, here’s to hoping this week is less stressful…

…and if you liked this pizza, you may also like my Caramelized Onion, Purple Potato and Pistachio Pizza!!!

Check it out here!

Mini Turkey Lasagnas & the Woes of Summertime

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Summer has never been my favorite time of year (except for summer of 2008—yeah that was fun!). Because I have crazy sensitive skin, summertime has become synonymous with sunburn. If that’s not bad enough…I’m allergic to sunscreen.

This year–in particular–has been especially difficult because of the high temperatures and terrible humidity. Not to mention the drought. Okay…I mentioned it. We need rain!

In my opinion, the only thing good about summer (as an adult) is the vegetables. I love being able to just step outside my home and come back inside–into the air conditioning–with a basket full of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and herbs.

Some vegetables from the garden

I am especially proud of my shallots. I am an amazing shallot grower, apparently.

beautiful shallots

In fact, I’m so proud of my shallots, I tear up. Literally. They make me cry! I’m not sure what the reason is, but these tiny, purple-hued beauties make me bawl worse than a baby!

Their crying power is way stronger than that of any onion. But, they taste incredible; so the crying is worth it. I guess.

When I woke up today, I planned on going to the gym. But those plans quickly changed. The weather report said it was 71degrees outside, and I knew I better take advantage of that! I decided to clean up my gardens and plant a few more cone flowers, mums and burning bushes.

When I finished, I came back inside with all this:

and had Lasagna on my mind.

You see, I love lasagna. A lot. In fact, I can’t be trusted around it.

Knowing this, I decided to make mini lasagnas instead of a giant pan full. They’d be perfectly portioned and I wouldn’t have to worry about eating more than my share.

Instead of noodles, I used wonton wrappers. This isn’t anything new, and I’ve seen tons of stuff made with the little dough squares–from raviolis to tacos…to pie crusts! How versatile!

I figured I’d use the wonton wrappers instead of traditional pasta for three reasons.

There is no need to pre-cook the wonton wrappers, so I won’t burn my fingers. I always burn my fingers on lasagna noodles!
The wrappers fit perfectly into a muffin pan.
Wonton wrappers are relatively low calorie. They ring in at 20 calories/each.

I also decided to use ground turkey meat. I cooked the meat with finely diced green bell peppers, basil, oregano, lots of garlic, and a bunch of finely diced mushrooms.

Because I’ve been scaling back the amount of meat I cook with, adding the mushrooms allowed me to use less turkey and also stretched the meat into multiple meals–instead of just the one. In fact, I have made these lasagnas twice this week, and still have over half a pound of the cooked meat left over (frozen, for some other time).

I turned the tomatoes, garlic and basil into a simple–and flavorful–sauce (no real recipe, sorry! I just tossed stuff together, blended it up and then let it cook for about 10 min. to reduce).

And made a mixture of basil, cottage cheese (3/4 c.) and Parmesan cheese (1/4 c.). [Enough for 6 mini lasagnas]

I then layered everything together in a muffin pan which I sprayed with a little olive oil. I started with a wonton wrapper, added a little sauce, cottage cheese mixture, meat, more sauce…and repeat. I then topped the mini lasagnas with a little shredded cheese and some dried herbs.

The lasagnas were popped into a 375 degree F oven, and were baked for about 20 minutes–or until they started to get a little browned.

I let them cool in the pan for a good 10 minutes before I popped them out–simply using a fork.

Each mini lasagna was a little over 150 calories, so I had two. And I’ve got to tell you…I enjoyed every single one of those delicious calories!

I plan on making another batch this weekend, but instead of baking them, I’m going to freeze them. If all works out, I think they’d be a great way to preserve my garden’s bounty! 🙂