melting your mouth

So in order to balance out my recent attempt at cooking more simply, I decided to join another blogging event! This one is hosted by Shari at Whisk and is called Whisk Wednesdays. I’m joining late, but they have been cooking through the lessons in Le Cordon Bleu at Home, which includes an entire cooking school curriculum. As I said, I’ve come in several lessons into the process, so I may also be playing catch-up while I try to keep up with the recipes everyone else is on as well.

They’ve just started a new chapter on soups, and this week’s “assignment” was Billy Bi, or Mussel Soup. I’m not sharing the recipe here; for that you’ll have to buy the book. (Mine’s still in the mail, by the way, so thanks go to Kayte for typing up the recipe for me while I wait.) The pictures below give you an idea of what the process of making this soup was like. (Unfortunately, my camera battery died as I was downloading the picture of the finished soup, so I’ll fill that in tomorrow)

I will say, the final product was absolutely delicious. The soup was rich, but somehow not overly heavy at the same time. It was creamy, but still pretty thin, so even though it’s summertime, it wasn’t too heavy to eat. The mussels are cooked in the broth, and then some of them are simmered further to flavor the broth (but removed since the meat is overcooked), helping to give the soup it’s rich flavor. I hope we have this much success every week!

Now, go to Shari’s list and check out how everyone else fared!

My younger brother, John, asked me a couple days ago for the address for our blog. I’m pretty excited when anyone shows interest in what we’re writing, and I’m also always trying to make the blog better and more usable, so I asked him for his input. The first response I got (via Google chat) was this:

1:15 PM John: ok

im real gald you put the carrot recipe up

im going to make a vat of them

Score! Something I wrote was actually helpful to someone else! I’m not just typing off into the ether! What else you got?

1:24 PM John: you need more entrees

that i can afford

1:25 PM i dont care what kind of experimentation you want to do i just need ideas for meals i can afford that taste real good and are real easy to make and are really cheap

if it doesnt fit that criteria then dont put it up

that is all

Ok, well that one’s a little more of a bummer. But, he makes a good point. (I should probably mention that my brother and I were taught from a young age to tease each other incessantly, so while that might come across as an insult to the untrained ear, to me it sounds like bother … err … brotherly love. And yes, I said taught — you know who you are.)

Anyway, I’m not going to stop my “experimentation,” but the idea of posting (and cooking/eating) more affordable, quick and easy meals sounds like a worthy goal to me. As a junior in college, I can certainly understand why John wants to do that, and it’s probably a good target for me, too, before I bankrupt us with my foodie habit.

Sooooo, I’m starting a new category called “Just for John” (though honestly, I’ll let anyone read it, even if you’re name isn’t John) that includes “meals i can afford that taste real good and are real easy to make and are really cheap.” And I’m going to try to add “and are reasonably healthy” to that list too, before someone starts thinking we should add French Bread pizzas or Cook Out to the category. I’ll also try to include an estimate of how much I spent on the groceries (per serving) and how much time it took to prepare.

The first installment will be this recipe for trout, inspired by recent recipes from Cooking Light and from The Wednesday Chef. We served it with creamed spinach, but in a hurry, just sauteed spinach or a salad would be good, too. The sauce is somewhat like that used in Chicken or Veal Piccatta. You could easily leave out the prosciutto for a crowd that doesn’t eat pork, or just to make things a bit healthier. If you’re really in a hurry, the fish is flavorful enough by itself you could even leave off the sauce entirely, in which case this meal takes no time at all to prepare.

Lemony Trout with Prosciutto, Caper, and Lemon

Sauce:
olive oil
1/4 c of finely chopped onion or shallots
a couple slices of prosciutto, pancetta, or bacon, chopped
juice from 1/2 a lemon
a couple forkfuls of capers

Fish:
whole boned trout, head and tail removed (depending on the size, 1 trout per 1-2 people; we were able to split a large one and had plenty of food)
1/2 lemon, sliced thinly
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the broiler. Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until soft. Add the prosciutto and saute until it’s a little bit crispy. Add lemon juice and capers. Turn the heat down and simmer until most of the liquid is reduced away, and there’s just enough left to hold the sauce together a bit. Remove from heat and put the lid on to keep warm.

Brush the skin side of the fish with olive oil. Place on a greased broiler pan, or just a greased pan. Brush the inside of the fish with oil and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the inside of the fish with 3 or 4 slices of lemon and fold the fish closed. Broil about 4 minutes on a side, until the fish is opaque and flakes when tested with a fork. Open up the fish and top with the sauce.

Total time: about half an hour
Total cost:
(I forgot to save my receipt from Safeway, so I’m guessing on most of the produce, and probably overestimating)
Trout: $3.85
Lemon: $0.85
1/3 onion: $0.50
2 slices of prosciutto: $1
1 T capers: $0.50
1 bunch of spinach (for side dish): $2

Total: $8.70 for 2 servings, or $4.35 per meal

Mary dropped a very un-subtle hint that she’d like me (mom) to guest write an entry while she and Matt are providing support for the Team H4 as they pedal their way across the country. While I had great intentions to write while traveling, even including pictures, I have left home without my recipe! So I’ll have to provide specifics of this recipe taken from an issue of Cooking Light magazine at a later date. (You may be able to tell that key ingredients are fish - I used halibut-, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, and basil. In this case, I served with orzo pasta and fresh asparagus).

But I can tell you that the team has made it into Missouri today and they’re more than halfway through their 3,000 mile Race Across America. We’ve been tracking their progress and it sounds as if the team is really working together, in spite of the challenges of sleep deprivation and storm tracking.

I’m only a little embarrassed to admit that the inspiration for this salad was one of those fliers they have near the door at Whole Foods. I know it’s not all that creative or unusual, but what can I say, sometimes I just need a little push to think outside my narrow little box. I’ve always made tuna salad pretty much as I had it growing up, with canned tuna, mayonnaise, relish, salt and pepper, and maybe a little celery if I have it. Which is all well and good, but with all that mayo, it’s not very good for you. This is a healthier alternative which, when served over some nice leafy greens, makes for a pretty balanced meal. It’s great after a hot or long day, when you don’t feel like spending too much time in the kitchen, and we keep all the ingredients for it on hand. We don’t really have a set recipe and it varies every time we make it, but here’s the gist of it.

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Heidi at 101cookbooks recently made this beautiful spring tabbouleh, which Matt and I copied the other night. We changed it up a little — Heidi had used mostly chives instead of the traditional parsley, but I love parsley, so I decided to use it instead. Also, we have this crazy jungle of mint growing outside our kitchen window, and it needs to be tamed a bit, so we we chopped up some of that to add to the mix as well. We also replaced the walnuts with pine nuts.

I had never tried bulgur before, but I keep thinking I should branch out and try different whole grains, so here’s a first step in that direction. This was a wonderful, quick, healthy but fulfilling one dish meal — the perfect thing when we got home from the gym Tuesday night. And so pretty, too!

Spring Tabbouleh

adapted from Heidi Swanson

1 cup fine bulgur
1 bunch of asparagus, cut in 1″ pieces

1 garlic clove, crushed with a couple pinches of salt
1 lemon
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
handful of mint, finely chopped
handful of chives, finely chopped

1 c of pine nuts, toasted
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped

Boil some water (~4 c or so). Put the bulgur in a medium bowl and pour water up to the top of the grains. Let sit until just tender (Heidi says 15 minutes, but it took a little longer before it was tender enough for my taste).

Return the water to the stove, salt it, add the asparagus, and blanch for about a minute, just enough to take the edge off their bite. Or, do what I did, and put the asparagus in a microwave safe dish, pour the water over them, cover them, and microwave for about a minute.

Once the bulgur is done, press out any remaining water and add the asparagus to the bulgur.

Meanwhile, whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Taste the dressing, and season more as necessary.

Add the herbs, half the pine nuts, and a generous splash of dressing. Toss, add more dressing as needed, and adjust the seasoning. (I ended up using not quite all the dressing, and adding a bit more olive oil.) Garnish with remaining nuts and chopped egg.