Category Archives: recipes

Faux Remoulade

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This simple and quick sauce goes very nicely on “pink” fish, like salmon and trout – and it was my solution to a funny dinner problem. DH had a tooth for cornbread, and since it was on sale at the store we decided to make some barbecue later in the week as an accompaniment. With one dinner still open on the meal plan, what to do? I was pleasantly surprised to find steelhead trout available at our store’s fish counter, and since it’s one of the few sustainable pink fishes we can get here in New England, I jumped all over that. I figured that I’d need a meaty fish to hold its own with cornbread, since whitefish – baked or fried – is just not the most flavorful thing in the world.

Hitting the interwebs whilst watching my beloved Redskins imploding versus the Seahawks, it came to me: I’ll make a remoulade! There are any number of great remoulade recipes out there, including the ones in my cookbooks and ones from folks like Emeril. However, I didn’t have all the ingredients for any of THEIR remoulades, and I didn’t have the time to let mine sit for the several hours that one recipe suggested.

This is the point in the story where I told DH, “I’m going to wing it and I hope this works!” He looked at me with a mix of skepticism and hope, as he always does whenever I say I’m going experimenting in the kitchen. Thankfully for both of us, this one worked out. Better still, it’s quick to put together and takes only five ingredients that should be in any house ANYWAY. I recommend pairing this with pink fish, and the prep I did for the trout was really simple (poached in lemon juice and champagne). I suppose you could pair this with a breaded and fried whitefish, but don’t be surprised if it overwhelms the blander fish that typically are just used as sauce-delivery-vehicles anyway.

I’m SURE this could be tweaked to rely on fresher ingredients (homemade mayo, homemade ketchup, etc.) but if you don’t have those on hand already, there’s no need to spend the time on it. Also, please note that I list “organic ketchup” below. We use the Heinz Organic ketchup in our house specifically as a way to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup, which I loathe. If you use ketchup with HFCS in it, make sure you taste the sauce and adjust the spices as needed to counteract the hyper-sweetness the HFCS imparts to the ketchup. Note also that this is easily veganized if you have a mayo-ish spread that’s egg-free. Just make sure, again, to adjust the spices to taste.

 

Faux Remoulade

So simple…so yummy!

 

Prep: 5 min

Cooking Time: NONE!

Serves: about 4

 

Ingredients

6 Tb low-fat mayonnaise

2 Tb organic ketchup

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp paprika

 

Make it Happen

Stir to combine all ingredients in a small bowl; serve immediately.

Edamame Salad

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There are times when you just need a go-to side dish for a party, whether you’re hosting or merely bringing. This is just one of those dishes, and it has the added benefit of being vegan – which means it can go for just about any crowd. It’s also possible that this is a gluten-free dish, but don’t quote me on that; I’m not an expert on gluten-free dieting. At least upon first glance on the mighty interwebs, it looks as though it may just be.

I’m also in love with this dish because it’s stupid-easy to make and it’s best made in advance of a party, which also takes some of the pressure off trying to make EVERYTHING the day of. For regular lunch/dinnertime eating, I’d recommend just halving the recipe, or (what we often do) making the full recipe and taking leftovers as a side for lunches.

 

Edamame Salad

Simple + Tasty = WIN

Prep time: 10 min. (+ overnight sitting in fridge)
Serves: 8

Salad Ingredients
1 lb frozen shelled edamame
3 cups frozen corn
1 (15 or 19oz) can black beans
2-3 small shallots or 1/2 cup red onion, chopped finely
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tb parsley
1 Tb marjoram
1 Tb basil

Dressing Ingredients
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 Tb dijon mustard
1 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Make it Happen
1. Rinse and drain the edamame. Make sure to shake the colander well to release any extra water. Place the edamame in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the corn to the mixing bowl.
3. Rinse and drain the black beans; add to the mixing bowl.
4. Add the shallots, garlic and herbs to the bowl. Stir well to blend the ingredients.
5. In a separate bowl, prepare the dressing by adding all five ingredients to the bowl and stirring quickly until all dressing ingredients are mixed.
6. Add the dressing to the mixing bowl with the salad and stir well to coat the salad with the dressing.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Notes

  • This salad can be prepared same-day IF the edamame and corn are well thawed so that they’re not completely frozen. However, the dressing gains a little strength & oomph by being left to sit overnight, so preparing the night before is preferable. If you want to throw it together the same day you’re eating it, I recommend putting the frozen corn and edamame into the refrigerator the day before, so they can thaw before you construct the salad.
  • You can substitute fresh herbs for the dried ones noted above, but if you do make sure that you chop finely.

Root Vegetable Chips

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A number of years ago, I stumbled across Terra Chips at a grocery store and realized I’d found something BRILLIANT AND WONDERFUL that I couldn’t afford to eat on a regular basis. When we got potatoes, turnips and beets in this past Friday’s veggie box, the first thought that came into my head was: I MUST MAKE MY OWN TERRA CHIPS. At first, dh was totally on board. Then we sorta ran out of time and he was completely against it. Still, I managed to have my way…and it was a good thing I got what I wanted, because these turned out SO NICELY.

We also learned, really quite by accident, that we were slightly off in our assessment of the potatoes; turns out they were purple potatoes – a fact we didn’t discover until we put them in the food processor and there was suddenly purple juice in the bowl. Needless to say, purple potato chips >> potato chips. Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE PURPLE. Of course.

Now, this recipe does call for the use of a food processor. If you don’t have one, or if you don’t have a slicing blade and can’t acquire one, this can be done with a mandoline or similar slicing tool. I wouldn’t recommend doing the slicing by hand…the equipment is needed to make the slices a relatively even, consistent thickness (in a short amount of time).

 

Root Vegetable Chips

nom *crunch* nom *crunch*

 

Prep Time: 20-25 mins

Cooking Time: 30-35 mins

Serves: up to 3 people, fewer is a distinct possibility

 

Ingredients

3-4 small or medium-sized purple potatoes

1 bunch small turnips, greens removed

1 bunch red beets, greens removed

2 Tb canola oil, divided into three 2 tsp servings

salt, to taste

 

Make it Happen

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.

2. Wash the potatoes, turnips and beets. Peel the turnips and beets, set aside.

3. Put your slicing blade into a food processor and add the turnips. Pulse until all of the turnips are thinly sliced.

4. Place the turnips into a bowl and toss by hand with 2 tsp of canola oil.

5. Place the turnips onto a large cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil, in a single layer.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 with the potatoes, then the beets. Make sure to rinse the food processor parts immediately following the slicing of the beets, to keep from staining the plastic.

7. This process should probably cover two large cookie sheets (one for the potatoes and one shared by the turnips and beets).

8. Place the cookie sheets into the oven, on separate racks, and bake for about 30 minutes.

9. When the chips are cooked to your desired amount of doneness, remove them from the trays with a spatula and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle a small amount of salt on top and toss to coat lightly.

NOTE: the turnips and beets will be a little softer than the potatoes and may not be crisp after 30 minutes. If you want to ensure crispness of the turnips and beets, I recommend slicing them thinner than the potatoes and/or putting the sheet with the turnips and beets into the oven about 5 minutes before the one with the potatoes.