Archive | April, 2015

Indian Fish Curry

28 Apr

fish curryThis came from a friend, Elaine Stein, who got it from allrecipes.com and modified it slightly, using a little less cayenne pepper and adding the green beans, which is a great idea. Even with this amount of cayenne it was plenty spicy, so if you don’t like it hot, use just a dash of cayenne. I added the suggestion of using parsley for garnish if you like, instead of cilantro, which many people don’t really like.

The recipe looks complicated but it’s really not.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
¾ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ tsp. salt
1½ Tbs. canola oil
4 fillets firm white fish (cod works well), about 1½ lb.)

Paste:
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely shopped
1-inch piece ginger root, peeled and chopped
20 raw cashew pieces
1 Tbs. oil

Spices (mix in a small dish):
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

Sauce:
½ cups chopped tomatoes
¼ cup vegetable broth or water
½ lb green beans, cut in half
¼ cup chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

Directions:

Mix the mustard, black pepper, salt and oil in a zip-lock bag and add the fish. Marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the onions, garlic, ginger and cashews in a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a paste. Heat the 1 Tbs. oil in a skillet over medium-low heat and stir-fry the paste for1 to 3 minutes. Add the spice mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and broth or water and heat through.

Layer the fish in a greased baking dish, top with the green beans and then sauce. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily. Garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve with cooked basmati rice.

Serves 4

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Miracle Bars: easiest cookies ever

21 Apr

passover miracle barsWhen we make sweets for Passover, the ultimate accolade is, “This is good enough for regular!”

Well, these easy-t0-make bars really are, probably because they contain no matzoh meal or matzoh flour — not even potato starch!

I got the recipe from a collection of Passover recipes that came into my email in-box; I apologize that I can’t credit the source.

It’s one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made, and it would be a great one to make with young children, who can dump the ingredients into a bowl and stir. And they’re gluten-free!

The recipe says you can shape them into cookies instead of bars; I haven’t tried this. My own suggestion is to consider replacing the chocolate chips with Craisins or dried cherries — or add those in addition to the chocolate chips.

The original recipe also called for a 9 x 13-inch pan. I used an 8-inch-square pan and it worked well; I think in a 9 x 13 pan the squares would be too short. I also changed the baking time and temperature slightly.

Another bit of advice: the first few bars tended to stick to the pan, even when I greased it well — after the first few came out crumbled I was able to pry out the others intact. The second time I made this recipe I put a piece of parchment paper in the pan before adding the batter — and had no broken bars!

Ingredients:

1 cups ground almonds
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (extra-large work best)
1 cup chocolate chips
Optional: 1 cup Craisins or dried cherries in place of or in addition to chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. The batter will be thick; do not add water or other liquid.

Grease an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan and put parchment paper on the bottom. Or lightly grease a cookie sheet if you plan to make cookies. Spread the batter evenly in the pan or shape into cookies and place on the greased cookie sheet.

Bake square pan for 30 minutes (cookies will take less time) until the top is nicely browned and the center of the pan looks dry; do not undercook.

Cool completely in the pan, then turn out and cut into 16 squares. (If making cookies, cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.)

Pasta with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce

14 Apr

mushroom pastaI think I told you awhile ago that I was part of a BzzAgent campaign on behalf of HemisFares brand pasta, available at the Kroger family of stores. They sent me a free sample of pasta so I could tell people how wonderful it is. I promised another recipe using the pasta and here it is.

I love the HemisFares fusilli bucati lunghi — it’s long strands of spiral pasta with a nice al dente texture even when cooked a little longer than the directions call for. I wanted to pair it with a fairly substantial sauce. This is a very tasty and fairly easy recipe.

The original sauce recipe said it made enough for a pound of pasta, but I used a half-pound, and there wasn’t a lot of extra! The original also called for heavy cream, but I used half & half. I also didn’t have shallots, so I substituted the white end of scallions.

Ingredients:

½ lb. uncooked pasta (the fusilli is a good choice; farfalle – bow ties – is another)
1 Tbs. butter
12 oz. presliced exotic mushroom blend
½ cup chopped onion
⅓ cup finely chopped shallots
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1½ tsp. salt, divided
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ cup dry white wine
⅔ cup half & half
½ cup grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

Melt the butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, shallots, garlic, 1 tsp. salt and peppr and cook for about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until liquid evaporates and mushrooms are tender. Remove from heat.

Add the cooked pasta, half & half, cheese and parsley, tossing gently to coat. Stir in the remaining ½ tsp. salt.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4