If you can’t stand the heat, no problem: non-fiery Grilled Cumin Salmon with Mango Tomato Salsa

Cumin, paprika and a mango and tomato salsa give grilled salmon plenty of flavor with no spicy heat. Recipes below.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]O[/su_dropcap]kay, here’s something just about every cook occasionally faces. Guests’ food restrictions. One of our friends who joined us for Memorial Day dinner can’t eat spicy food; the other simply doesn’t. Now, I know as menu limitations go, this is pretty minimal. But I was in the mood to be cooking, serving and tasting the kinds of big flavors often accompanied by a spicy kick.

We happily cook and eat plenty of non-spicy meals here. We embrace subtle dishes—watercress vichyssoise, coq au Riesling, green tea shortbread cookies… But we’re equally big fans of powerful tastes that pack heat. So when thinking about what to make for our heat-averse guests, I challenged myself to bring the flavor without the fire. Turns out it was easy. Continue reading “If you can’t stand the heat, no problem: non-fiery Grilled Cumin Salmon with Mango Tomato Salsa” →

Steamed Fish with Leeks and the challenges of seafood fraud

Sustainably farmed tilapia is simply steamed with wine and lemon juice on a bed of sautéed leeks and garlic for this weeknight-quick seafood recipe.

Eating seafood keeps getting trickier. For years now, we’ve been urged to eat more of it for our health. Fish is a low-fat source of protein. And instead of the artery-clogging, cholesterol-raising saturated fats found in meats, even fatty fish such as salmon contain heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids that do all sorts of good things for us.

But also for years, we’ve been warned about mercury and other harmful pollutants in some fish. We’ve been told that certain species are being overfished to the verge of extinction, and that fish farming often takes a heavy toll on the environment. And now a study on seafood fraud says that even when we try to choose the right seafood, chances are good we’re not getting what we think we are. Continue reading “Steamed Fish with Leeks and the challenges of seafood fraud” →

Mussels with Fennel and Star Anise: wow power that’s weeknight quick

Mussels steamed in a broth of wine, butter, fennel, shallots, garlic, tomatoes and star anise are an easy, delicious, sustainable dinner. Recipe below.

A funny thing happened on the way to this recipe, and it illustrates the twists and turns that often occur in our kitchen. The idea to do something with mussels started with a comment on my Black Bean Soup with Ham Hocks post, oddly enough. In passing, reader Dani H. mentioned that she’d finally gotten around to cooking the Moules Marinières recipe I’d posted a couple of years ago. The next day, I came across a recipe for mussels using fresh ginger and lemongrass. Okay, the delicious, easy-to-cook bivalves were back on my radar screen.

Lemongrass, ginger and fresh mussels were acquired. I was busily mapping out how I would make the recipe my own. Then I took a quick look at past Blue Kitchen mussels recipes (and was shocked to find four of them) and realized I had cooked mussels with lemongrass and ginger already. Granted, it was a curried version, but it still seemed like time for a new direction. Continue reading “Mussels with Fennel and Star Anise: wow power that’s weeknight quick” →

Spicy Shrimp with Tomatoes and Cheddar Grits deliver the down-home Taste of Tremé

Adapted from a recipe in Todd-Michael St. Pierre’s Taste of Tremé, this dish combines seafood, peppers and Creole seasonings on a bed of creamy grits—comfort food with a kick, quintessentially New Orleans. Recipe below.

New Orleans is one of our favorite cities for food. Everything tastes of history, blended cultures and spices. Lots of spices. Some of them hot, of course, but more often just big flavored. And from the diviest dives to the fanciest white tablecloth spots, you have to work hard to find a bad meal.

It’s been too long since we’ve been back to New Orleans. Fortunately, Taste of Tremé: Creole, Cajun, and Soul Food from New Orleans’ Famous Neighborhood of Jazz, delivers. Published just last month, it is stuffed with doable recipes, from breakfast right on through to dinner, dessert and cocktails. Continue reading “Spicy Shrimp with Tomatoes and Cheddar Grits deliver the down-home Taste of Tremé” →

Shrimp Fideos: Short for little Spanish toasted noodles and shrimp

Toasting uncooked pasta with olive oil in a skillet before adding liquid gives it a pleasingly nutty taste in this globe-trotting, Spanish-inspired dish with shrimp, red bell pepper and edamame. Recipe below.

One of the things I love about cooking is how recipes for the same essential dish can be so different. For fideos—short, thin noodles toasted and then cooked into Spanish (and Italian and Mexican) stews and soups, this is spectacularly so.

Fideos is actually the name of a specific type of thin noodle, most often short, slightly curved pieces. According to Joey Campanaro, chef/co-owner of The Little Owl in New York, fideos is the Catalan word for noodles, and many Spanish cooks use it instead of rice to make paella. Typically, English-language recipes call for using vermicelli, cappellini or spaghetti and breaking it into short pieces. Continue reading “Shrimp Fideos: Short for little Spanish toasted noodles and shrimp” →

Cook For Julia: Tarragon and French technique flavor Fish Stew with White Wine and Tarragon

Based on a Julia Child recipe, this delicately-flavored fish stew combines classic cooking methods and ingredients. Recipe below.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Julia Child’s birth, PBS.org is inviting bloggers to cook one of her recipes, post it and share the link on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #CookForJulia. Here is my contribution.

Each generation stands on the shoulders of the one before it. Our children use our experience and our knowledge as a foundation to see further than we can. To see things in a way that we can’t.

The same is true in cooking. In looking at some of Julia Child’s cookbooks, it’s easy to see them as a little old-fashioned, right down to the recipes. Chicken Marengo. Ham Steaks with Cream and Mushrooms. But home cooking is only where it is today because we stood on her shoulders. Continue reading “Cook For Julia: Tarragon and French technique flavor Fish Stew with White Wine and Tarragon” →

A barely warm dinner for hot nights: Butter Poached Tilapia with Thyme and Mixed Greens

Chunks of fresh fish are poached in butter and olive oil over very low heat with fresh thyme, salt and pepper and served over a simple salad for a quick, cool summer meal. Recipe below.

Summer didn’t just arrive in Chicago this year. It squeezed its big, hot, sweaty self between us on the couch and settled in, kicking off its shoes, radiating heat and acting like it had no place else to be for a while. In weather like this, you don’t want to heat up the kitchen cooking a big, hot meal that no one feels like eating anyway. Poaching in butter isn’t necessarily a hot weather cooking technique, but in this case it was perfect for the heat.

I stumbled on the technique when I was looking for more traditional fish poaching methods that I figured might involve white wine and broth. When I read Melissa Clark’s informative and charmingly confessional piece on the topic in the New York Times, I was hooked. Continue reading “A barely warm dinner for hot nights: Butter Poached Tilapia with Thyme and Mixed Greens” →

One versatile spice rub, two recipes, part 1: Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon

A spice rub of cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric and cayenne teams with fresh ginger and garlic to create an aromatic marinade for Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon. Recipe below.

Quick note: This is the first of two recipes using this fragrant, flavorful, slightly spicy rub. Check back next week for a one-pan dinner recipe.

For no good reason I can think of, I often consider grilling a peculiarly American cooking method. It is, of course, not. The basic technique was pretty much born when early man learned to build a fire, and just about every culture has embraced it and created its own spin on it. Continue reading “One versatile spice rub, two recipes, part 1: Tandoori-spiced Grilled Salmon” →

Butter + leeks = delicious: Scallops with Melted Leeks and Egg Noodles

A recent dinner out brought home a new cooking technique for us—“melting” leeks by cooking them slowly in butter. They’re a sweet complement to sautéed scallops and pasta. Recipe below.

We’ve used leeks any number of ways here. Sautéed, puréed in soups, braised with duck legs, baked into tarts and quiches, even cooked almost whole as a side dish. But melted?

That’s how they were served with a nicely cooked piece of halibut when we ate at Frontier in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood recently. As delicious as the fish was on its own, the melted leeks took it to a whole new place. We knew we’d be trying something with them here soon. Continue reading “Butter + leeks = delicious: Scallops with Melted Leeks and Egg Noodles” →

A delicate balance of New England shellfish, world flavors: Curried Mussels with Cilantro

Curry powder, garlic, shallots, coconut milk, wine and cilantro blend into a surprisingly delicate broth for steamed mussels. Recipe below.

One of the things I love about cooking is the prep work, getting everything chopped, minced, measured and ready to go. I still remember the first time, years ago, that I did a proper mise en place, organizing everything I would need before turning on the flame under the pan. Seeing the five or six little bowls of ingredients lined up on the counter, I could tell I had taken a step forward in my cooking.

An added bonus of doing the prep work, certainly with this dish, is all the wonderful aromas that take over. Garlic, shallot, cilantro, the lemongrass as you smash it with the side of the knife, the curry powder as you spoon it into a waiting ramekin… Their fragrances come in waves as you work, layering together and hinting at the flavors you’ll soon be enjoying. Continue reading “A delicate balance of New England shellfish, world flavors: Curried Mussels with Cilantro” →