Crabcakes and Quinoa

Friday 1 March

We made a nice set of crabcakes, seasoned with a paste of chilpotle instead of our usual dijon mustard.

They were presented on puffs of leftover black olive quinoa, just nuked for a minute or two, and still fresh tasting.  Very versatile!

Prospectives' Dinner at Kathleen and Steve's

Thursday 28 Feb

Our department's prospective graduate students came in tonight.  We picked them up from their hotel and ferried them to Kathleen and Steve's, where we were regaled with wine, beer, and pizza and salad from our local chain, Dewey's.  

Though there was a variety of pizzas, it turned out that the prospectives were going to have pizza again at the grad student party tomorrow.  But as it was unusual for us, we enjoyed our varied slices of pizza.

Salmon Hash

Wednesday 27 February

This season means fish leftovers, especially salmon.  We had already done our famous salmon cakes and salmon chowder, so we decided to go in a new direction.

There are a bunch of salmon hash recipes on the web, so we adapted features of some of them, including the recipe that (allegedly) Calvin Trillin loves.

Salmon Hash that Holt and Barbara Love

About half a pound cooked salmon with skin (from Sunday)

3 little yukon golds, cut into tiny quarter inch dice

half a yellow onion, diced small

half a green bell pepper, ditto

oil

white wine or water (less than a quarter cup)

heavy cream (a Tablespoon or two)

about a quarter cup sour cream or low-fat plain yogurt, drained

teaspoon white horseradish

teaspoon grain mustard

salt

Flake salmon to set aside, remove skin.  Crisp skin in hot pan in oil.  When cool, cut into dice.

In same hot pan and oil, put potato dice in single layer.  Let them crisp for ca. 5 mins., then turn and toss until browned on all sides.  Add green pepper and toss 1 min, then onion and keep tossing until all are tender and brown at edges. 

Lower heat, add a little water or wine, and cover to steam for 3-4 minutes.  When it's dry, add a glug of cream, salt to taste, horseradish and mustard, then flaked salmon, and let cook on low, tossing gently to combine.  Remove from heat and add yogurt by spoonfulls, turning until consolidated.  Top with crisped skin cubes, and serve.

It's too delicate to crisp the top in the oven, but even without, it's a little pile of heaven.

Pork with Broccoli and Oyster Sauce

Tuesday 26 February

The Chinese norm is beef with broccoli, but Rose Cheng's Chinese Cookery has a version with ground pork.  We had a head of broccoli, and also some scrappy pork from the last tenderloin we portioned, so we adapted.

Make a marinade of a Tablespoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of Shao Xing wine, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a grind of white pepper, and a teaspoon of minced garlic.  Put the cubed pork in, toss, and let sit while you chop up the other ingredients: a teaspoon of fresh ginger root, a whole broccoli (cut the florets small, pare the stems, and cut the stems into thin strips; keep the two separate).

In a medium-hot wok, add a glugg of oil and stir-fry the broccoli, florets first, then stems, with a pinch or two of salt.  When it's dark green but still crisp, add a Tablespoon or two of chicken broth, cover, lower heat, and simmer till tender.  Set aside and keep warm.

Heat the wok to high, add more oil, and stir-fry pork until it turns brown and no pink is showing.  Return broccoli to wok to reheat. 

Taste, and you'll find it lacks zip.  So add oyster sauce, spoonful by cautious spoonful, at the bottom of the wok, stirring to heat and incorporate.  When it has enough zip for you, anoint with a drizzle of sesame oil, and serve.

It'd be good with some onions stir fried right before the broccoli, too.

Penne with Asparagus, Lemon Cream, and Lox

Monday 25 February

You would think this was a variation on the eternal Penne alla Saffi, with lox instead of ham.  Instead it was this, with shreds of lox sprinkled into the final toss.

Salmon with Asparagus and Quinoa

Sunday 24 February

Today was Lantern festival in China, but we were so not going to have the appropriate specialty, glutinous rice balls.  So we were grateful that it is also Lent, and fishy specialties are widely available.

We bought some fresh salmon fillets, which we roasted along with asparagus.  Ho-hum for us, but we also did something we haven't every cooked before: quinoa, everybody's new favorite supergrain.  We made it this way but without the goat cheese, basil, or parsley, because it's winter, for heaven's sake; so it was just quinoa with oil-cured black olives.  Tasty, and it seems very forgiving to cook; we'd like to try it with something lemony next time.