Salmon and Sweet Potato Hors d'oeuvres

These make great appetizers; or if you want a light meal, add a salad, and you've got lunch or dinner. I have made salmon cakes with parsnip and potato (also delicious), but the sweet potato is the ultimate complement to the salmon.

6 ounces of cooked salmon (or crab meat)

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 cup bread  crumbs

1 cup mashed potato flakes

1 large egg (2 medium)

1 rounded tablespoon sautéed garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix ingredients thoroughly with a mixing fork.

Divide into 12 portions and form small patties on a well oiled baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Flip, and bake for 10 more minutes on the second side.

Spicy Sauce:

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon dill weed

2 tablespoons finely minced dill pickle

If you don't want the heat, leave out the red pepper.

Contrary to the cliche, it isn't the thought that counts, but the effort. Oliver Burkeman

Citrus Molasses

Citrus Molasses

Molasses is typically made by cooking down or boiling sugar cane or sugar beets until you have a thick syrup. In the Middle East, molasses is made with pomegranates, grapes, and dates. So basically, it is a thick, sugary syrup.

I found myself a few weeks ago with more citrus than I could reasonably use. When you live in California, sometimes there is a profusion of citrus. I had made orange juice ice cubes and frozen some lemon juice chips as well; and the table was still piled high with grapefruit, tangelos and other assorted​ citrus.

I began juicing and decided to make a citrus blend and cook it down into a syrup. As it cooled down and became thicker, I added a bit of sugar and a bit of maple syrup. I added the sweeteners sparingly because I wanted the syrup to retain some tang. I started with about 3 1/2 quarts of juice and cooked it down to about a third of that amount.  I added a cup of sugar and a 1/2 cup of maple syrup.

The result is a tangy sweet and sour sauce that I have used to:

1. Drizzle over stir fry vegetables Mix with olive oil and tahini and drizzle over roasted vegetables

2. Mix a spoonful in drinks as a flavorful sweetener

3. Create a marinade for fish using equal parts of tahini, olive oil and citrus molasses.

4. As an ingredient in salad dressing

I keep it in the refrigerator and have shared some with friends. I have not yet used it in any dessert recipes, but I am quite certain that it could be drizzled over ice cream or cheese cake for a delightful burst of flavor.

Any fruit or fruit juice could be used to make a molasses. This simple flavorful syrup can retain quite a bit of pulp so you are using most of the fruit.

The drink pictured below was made with about 1 1/2 cups of fresh squeezed orange and lime juice, 1/3 cup of citrus molasses, and 3 cups water. It is light, aromatic and delicious, and it mixed well with champagne!

Where there is great love, there are always miracles. Willa Cather

Mango Salsa

This one's for Reggie; I hope he likes it.

1 Anaheim or Poblano pepper

3 cloves garlic

3 large tomatoes

2 large or one giant ripe mango

2 red chili peppers

¼ cup pineapple orange guava juice (any fruit juice could be substituted)

Juice of 1 large lime

Few sprigs of fresh cilantro

1. Remove seeds from the Anaheim pepper and dice.  Peel and mince the three cloves of garlic. Put the garlic and green pepper into a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and sauté until they are both soft. 

2. Cut the tomatoes in half. Remove the seeds; if a few remain, that’s OK.

3. Dice the tomato into small pieces and set aside.

4. Peel and dice the mango and add to the tomato.

5. Chop the cilantro and add to the mango/tomato mixture.

6. Remove the chili/garlic mixture from the heat and let cool for 15 minutes.

7. Add the lime juice, mango/ tomato/cilantro mix and fruit juice to the pepper/garlic mix.

8. Mince the chili peppers as finely as you can and add them to the salsa.

Let the mixture sit a few minutes, or a few hours if you have time, for the chili peppers to be infused into the liquid. Serve as a garnish for fish or rice or use as a dip for tortilla chips.

Do something you love every single day.

Heather McCloskey Beck

Quick and Easy Fish with Tangy Sauce

3 tablespoons orange marmalade

3 tablespoons mustard (Dijon or spicy – Use the Inglehoffer sweet hot if you are adventurous.)

1 finely chopped red chili pepper

1/3 cup butter

Salt and black pepper

¼ cup water mixed with 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Cook this mixture for about 20 minutes until the ingredients are blended and it is slightly thickened. If it gets too thick, add a little water. It should be the consistency of a creamy salad dressing.

Coat fish with flour salt and pepper and fry fish in coconut oil – about 5 min on each side on medium high heat.  Pour the sauce over the fish and put in oven uncovered at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes.   

Turn off the oven and let the fish stay warm if you need more time to prepare other menu items

I have used this with salmon, albacore and mahi mahi.  The advantage of this cooking method is that you can prepare it a little bit ahead of time if you need an opportunity to do something else at the last minute.

Listen with the intent to understand - not merely to reply.
Stephen Covey

Salmon Cakes

I have often agonized over what to do with leftover salmon, because I really do not like it the next day. This is a Perfect and Delicious Solution.

1 ½ cups cooked salmon
¼ cup tartar sauce
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 ½ cups chopped, cooked potato*
1 quarter sauteed onion
3 cloves sauteed garlic
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
Spices: ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon beau monde, 1 teaspoon crushed red chili peppers
1/3 cup bread crumbs (coconut or soy flour instead if you want to avoid wheat or gluten)
1/3 cup olive oil

* A mixture of mashed parsnips or turnips with mashed potatoes give this recipe even more flavor.

Chop the cooked salmon and the cooked potatoes. Melt the butter. Mix all ingredients except olive oil.

Put a generous 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a stoneware baking dish. Spoon 8 patties of salmon mixture into the pan. Sprinkle remaining bread crumbs over salmon patties.

Sauce: Mix equal parts of mayonnaise and Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Mustard with Honey. If you don’t have that, any spicy mustard or horseradish sauce will work. The idea is to create a creamy, spicy sauce.

Bake these for about ½ hour at 350 degrees.

Serving Suggestion

Sweet potatoes peeled, sliced and baked in olive oil make a great accompaniment to the salmon. Conveniently, they also bake in about ½ hour at 350 degrees:)

Without its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the size and shape of the estimation of others. Michael Pollan, A Place of My Own

Fiesta Fish

FIESTA FISH

¾ orzo 
1 ½ cups broth
Approximately ¼ cup olive oil
Use a large frying pan to brown the orzo slightly in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and add the broth.

Wash and chop the following:
2 leeks
1 red bell pepper
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow crook neck squash
1 small celery bunch
10 leaves fresh basil

Add all of the vegetables to the pasta. Drizzle remaining olive oil over vegetables, add salt, and a shake of oregano, and let simmer on low.

In a separate pan:

Saute 3 cloves minced garlic

Add ½ cup white wine

1 ½ lbs mild white fish (tilapia, cod, orange roughy)

Liberally sprinkle the fish with red pepper flakes and cook until the fish is flaky.

 Add chopped basil to top of vegetables. When fish is cooked, lay it on top of the vegetable rice mix. Pop the skillet into a 350 oven for 10 to 15 minutes to finish the dish.

Serve with garlic toast and white wine.

Public peace is built in private.        Quinn Eli

Barbequed Mahi Mahi

BARBEQUED MAHI MAHI

Meals that are cooked outdoors are a treat, and one of the best ways to cook fish is over the barbeque. Fresh fish is best, but some processors freeze fish so well and so rapidly that it cooks as well, and tastes as good, as any piece of fresh fish. This allows us to eat fish that isn't caught locally. Fresh fish can be marinated for a time before it is grilled, but the marinade can also be applied to the fish while it is cooking. To thaw a piece of frozen fish, remove it from the freezer and marinate it in the following mixture while it thaws:

1 cup water
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
Seasoning mixture of chili powder, onion powder, dried, minced garlic, cilantro, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix the above ingredients in a 9 x 9 glass, baking dish and place the frozen fish in the mixture to thaw. Place on the grill when it is completely defrosted. Fish is grilled more easily if you have some kind of wire mesh gadget to hold it on the grill. This seasoning and thawing method will work well for many kinds of mild fish, such as: sole, red snapper, orange roughy, tilapia or salmon.


If the bridge between thought and action is crossed often enough, thought and action become integrated and the result is training in its most profound and enduring form.
Howard Brinton