Monday Night Meals: Salmon Steaks in Chraimeh Sauce

Salmon Steaks in Chraimeh Sauce

Typically served as a starter, the hero of craimeh is the sauce so use any large firm fish steak.  Typically served with bread for dipping, or over rice or couscous, I served mine with a root vegetable slaw and labneh.  Both recipes are in my latest cook book obsession - Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.

Ingredients:

110ml sunflower oil

3T plain flour

4 salmon steaks

6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2t sweet paprika

3T caraway seeds, dry-roasted and freshly ground

11/2t ground cumin

1/3t cayenne

1/3t ground cinnamon

1 green chill, roughly chopped

150 ml water

3T tomato purée

2t caster sugar

1 lemon cut into 4 wedges plus 2T lemon juice

2T coriander

Salt and black pepper

Method

Take a frying pan with a lid that will comfortably fit all four fish fillets.  In a bowl or plastic bag, season flour with salt and pepper.  Toss fish until coated and shake off excess.  Heat 2T oil in pan and lightly sear fish on both sides until golden. Remove from pan, set aside and wipe pan clean.

Blitz spices, chili, garlic, 2T oil in a food processor to form a thick paste.  Add a bit more oil if you need to bring it together.

Heat remaining oil in frying pan, stir and fry the spice paste for 30 seconds (so it doesn't burn) and then add water and tomato paste (it will probably spit!) to stop the paste cooking.  Bring the paste to a simmer; add sugar lemon juice, 3/4t of salt and black pepper.  Season to taste.

Add fish to sauce, bring to a gentle simmer, cover pan and cook for 7-11 minutes, or until fish is just done.  Remove from heat and allow to cool until warm or room temperature. Serve with lemon wedges and coriander over rice or couscous.

Looking for more Jerusalem recipes?  I have another one here for aubergine stuffed with lamb mince.  Delicious! 

Have you tried any of the recipes from Jerusalem?  Do you have any favourite Middle Eastern staples to recommend?

Quick Rogan Josh and Spicy Carrot Salad

I find myself searching for more and more Monday-night-meal options lately as work has been heating up.  At home this often means leafing through Jamie's 30 Minute Meals, where I found rogan josh curry and spiced carrot salad.

I definitely seem to be a little Indian influenced recently with Saag Paneer and Chicken Tikka (here) or Channa Chat (here), but when it's home made it's easier to make healthier versions of what I would get eating out.


Quick Rogan Josh Curry with Spicy Carrot Salad

I made my own rogan josh paste using another of Jamie's recipes - he has a fabulous page with a multitude of different curry paste recipes for an easy reference (here).  I followed the recipe as written and ended up with almost exactly the right amount of paste.

I was also 'shopping in my pantry' so used frozen spinach and a tin of cannelini beans instead of chickpeas.


Curry
2 onions, sliced
1 medium pumpkin, cut into 1cm chunks
1 small cauliflower, separated into florets
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
a bunch of fresh coriander, chopped including stalks - keep a few leaves for garnish
1/2 283g jar of Patak's rogan josh paste
1x400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed
100g prewashed baby spinach
1x500g tub natural yoghurt

Cook onions in a pan with a few good lugs of olive oil, add cauliflower and pumpkin, chilli, garlic and coriander with a few good splashes of boiled water.  Add curry paste, chickpeas and half a tin of water.  Season and cook, stirring occasionally.  Closer to serving time check the consistency of the curry - add more water if needed.  Season if necessary, add spinach and stir through.  To serve, dollop some of the yoghurt onto the curry, sprinkle with coriander leaves and take to table.

Spicy Carrot Salad
a handful of flaked almonds
5 or 6 small carrots
1 fresh red chilli
a bunch of fresh coriander
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 lemon

Toast almonds in a small pan over a medium heat, tossing until golden.  Set aside in a small bowl.  Grate carrot, chilli, most of the coriander leaves and ginger.  Tip into serving bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil, add a pinch of salt.  Grate lemon zest and squeeze lemon juice over the top.  Sprinkle over the almonds and remaining coriander leaves and take to the table.

To Serve
basmati rice (cook with a few cloves for added flavour)
naan bread or chapattis or poppadoms

Monday Night Meals: Channa Chat

Continuing with my Indian-influenced meals, this one is a winner.  It's quick, light, tasty and a feast for both the eyes and stomach.

The recipe is from Vegetarian, by Alice Hart (here) - a well-used gift from a few girlfriends for my birthday last year.

Channa Chat

I used a large red chilli instead of green, olive oil instead of groundnut, and hot chilli powder (love the kick).  I also had cherry tomatoes in the fridge already, so used those.  You'll see from the photos that I also added some sugar snap peas, broccoli and corn, also already in the fridge - really, you can add whatever vibrant combination of veges you like.


A word of warning - wear an apron if you're deseeding the pomegranate wearing light coloured clothes - the juice will stain and splashes are common.  The best way to deseed a pomegranate (I find) is to slice it into quarters and then use your fingers to pull pack the skin gently.  The most of the seeds will begin to fall out with a gentle nudge.  Allow the seeds to drop into a bowl/sieve and after emptying the shell, shake the loose seeds and remove any bits of the bitter white pith you see.

For the Chickpeas:

• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 2cm piece of ginger, finely grated
• 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 T groundnut oil
• 300g cooked chickpeas, or 1x400g tin, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 t mild chilli powder
• 1 t garam masala

For the Rest:

• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
• 2 vine tomatoes, diced
• a squeeze of lemon
• 1 small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped, plus extra leaves to serve
• 4 heaped T natural yoghurt
• seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 2 large cooked poppadoms, roughly crushed

Saute the onion, ginger and chilli in oil for 5 minutes until onion is soft.  Add the chickpeas and cook for a further 5 minutes until golden.  Ad the chilli powder and garam masala and cook for another 2 minutes more.  Remove from heat, season well and set aside to cool.

Mix the cucumber, tomatoes, lemon juice and chopped coriander in a mixing bowl.  Divide between 4 plates and top with the chickpea mixture, yoghurt, pomegranate seeds and the crushed poppadoms.

Sprinkle with coriander leaves an serve before the poppadoms soften.

Do you have any Indian (or Indian-influenced) go-to recipes?

Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta

I love it when you stumble on to a healthy, rich, filling and quick Monday night meal.  Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, you can eat this with your fingers!

Cooks Notes:  I used only a small glug of oil (original recipe calls for 1/4 C) and four eggs instead of eight.  Instead of the sweet paprika I used the same volume of smoked paprika tabasco sauce, and pickled jalapenos from a jar I had in the fridge.  I forgot to add feta, but sprinkled parmesan over the pan at the end and it tasted delicious.

This recipe is from my favourite iPhone/iPad app - Epicurious.

Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta

Glug of olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, chopped
1 400g can chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoon of smoked paprika tabasco sauce (in place of 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 400g can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand, juices reserved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup coarsely crumbled feta (I forgot this)
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (I forgot this too!)
Warm pita bread

Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and jalapeños; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add chickpeas, paprika, and cumin and cook for 2 minutes longer.

Add crushed tomatoes and their juices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta evenly over sauce. Crack eggs one at a time and place over sauce, spacing evenly apart. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 5–8 minutes. Garnish with parsley and cilantro. Serve with pita for dipping.

Chinese Chicken Salad and Spicy Ginger Dressing

Design*Sponge has a series called In The Kitchen With, featuring some inspiring recipes.  The series has also introduced me to a couple of great food blogs which are an endless source of inspiration for food and food photography.  For example, 101 Cookbooks' Stuffed Ricotta Pasta Shells - delish!  And now Kiss My Spatula's Chinese Chicken Salad with Spicy Ginger Dressing.

I seem to be on a bit of a ginger binge at the moment.  This salad is a perfect whip-together-in-a-flash Monday night recipe, it's healthy and tasty and the spicy ginger dressing is definitely a keeper for other dishes.

My take on it was much chunkier than the original recipe, with a few ingredient variations (red cabbage, no peanuts, dark brown sugar, celery), but the end result was polished off so quickly it's definitely going to be a repeater - perhaps for the BBQ I'm going to on Sunday.

I have to share their original photos as well because the look so much better than my iPhone snaps.



My chunky version





Image from Design*Sponge




Image from Kiss My Spatula



Ripe's Got It Right - Raw Energy Salad

Hands up who's a fan of raw beetroot!  I'm unsurprised if not many hands are waving in the air right now.  Mine wouldn't have been, until I came across this amazing salad from Ripe (awesome deli in from back home with an outstanding cook book).  Beat back your scepticism and try it once - the flavours and textures (chewy raisins, toasted nuts, raw vege crunch) will have you coming back for more.

Ripe's Raw Energy Salad

• 500g beetroot (peeled and grated)
• 700g carrot (peeled and grated)
• 1 C fresh mint leaves chopped
• ½ C raisins
• ¼ C sunflower seeds (toasted)
• ¼ C pumpkin seeds (toasted)
• ½ t salt

Dressing

• 2 T pomegranate molasses
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• ¼ C orange juice
• ¼ C olive oil
• 1 T honey

Dressing:  Place all ingredients in a jar, put lid back on and shake well to mix.

Salad:  Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then pour over the dressing and toss

Yes, it's really that simple!  I had mine with a sprinkling of feta cheese on top and next time I'll have fish.  And I had plenty left over for lunch.

Look at the dressing oozing out - delicious!

Simple Warm Chicken and Greens Salad

Wow, it's been two whole weeks since I last posted and it has flown by in a flurry of Sander's family visits, work events and a long weekend in Bali (amazing - I promise I'll post photos).

After almost two months of over-indulgence (indicative from the number of restaurant posts I've done recently) it's time for a fresh healthy start to get back on track.  And I must admit after two months of eating out (as wonderful as it is) I'm glad to be back in the kitchen.

First up was an adaptation of a chicken and zucchini dish from Epicurious.  When I say 'adapted' I mean the only consistency with the original recipe was the chicken, despite my best intentions.  Zucchini was hiding from me at the supermarket, so I bought asparagus instead, then threw bok choy and ginger into my shopping basket along with two cobs of corn.

I marinated the chicken fillets in lime, olive oil and ginger, sliced and then pan fried.  I parboiled the corn and set aside (because the tap water temperature here is about 25 degrees - too warm to rapidly cool the cobs and stop cooking), then blanched the asparagus and chopped in half.  Heating a large pan over a medium flame, I briefly fried finely chopped shallot, three chillis, a garlic clove and some ginger.  Just before serving I wilted the bok choy, tossing it through the chilli mixture then did the same with the asparagus.  Place the salad on a large serving dish, sprinkle salad with mint and baby tomatoes and serve with corn cobs on the side.  Additional extra: deglaze the chicken pan with a little white wine.

The verdict?  Well I think I overdid the chilli a little, and the thick ends of the bok choy were a little too bitter.  Next time I'll use two chillis and an alternative Asian green - maybe gai lan which has thinner stalks.  This recipe is perfect for the Monday night rush, from go to whoa approximately 20 minutes.

Easy Peasy Pizza

The great thing about pizza is that it can be as healthful or as sinful, as involved or a simple as you like.  Last night’s pizza was a true team effort.  Sander was the advance-guard (I was at team work drinks celebrating the end of the fiscal) and decided he wanted to make the pizza base from scratch because the supermarket-bought versions weren’t thin enough.  Excellent idea!  There’s nothing worse than thick soggy pizza crust.  I was in charge of composition and final cooking.  Next time I’m definitely going to do the base as well – it looks fun!

I hear that base-attempt number one didn’t go so well – the carefully built ‘well’ of dry ingredients had a weakness in the wall which resulted in a river of flour on the floor.  Learning from experience, the second attempt was much more successful and patiently rising on the balcony when I arrived home.

A minor obstacle presented itself in the absence of a rolling pin.  Not to worry, who needs a rolling pin when you have an Easiyo maker? Not us!  Plus our pizzas were delightfully non-circular.

The toppings were very easy to whip up – minced garlic, ricotta, feta and oregano as the base, fresh cherry tomatoes (halved), baby spinach, artichokes and pan-fried chicken, then a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.  Less than 10 minutes later we were curled up on the sofa, eating pizza and watching Season 4 of Mad Men (utterly addicted – dining room table has been abandoned until the end of the season).

And as I type here with left over pizza warming my tummy for lunch, I can tell you that the leftovers taste just as good the next day.



The finished product



Our unique pizza base shapes

Here are the recipes: Jamie Oliver’s super quick and easy pizza base, and Epicurious’ pizza recipe

Pizza Dough

We used half of everything in this recipe and still have a medium sized ball sitting in our freezer for later use.  Despite my campaigning for whole wheat flour, Sander used standard all-purpose white flour. 

Here’s the link to Jamie’s full recipe (here) – but I have faithfully copied the key points.

Ingredients

1kg strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour or 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour

1 level tablespoon fine sea salt

2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast

1 tablespoon golden caster sugar

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

650ml lukewarm water

Sieve the flour/s and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

Artichoke, Feta and Chicken Pizza

I’ve amended the recipe below to reflect my method - I added some minced garlic to the base sauce  and sprinkled some dried chilli over everything at the end for a bit of zing.

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 clove of garlic, minced

115g  goat cheese

1/2 cup nonfat ricotta

1 whole-wheat pizza crust (large)

1 can rinsed and drained artichoke hearts, halved

Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

As much Parmesan cheese as you like, grated

1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or basil)

Set oven to 230°C.  Sprinkle chicken with dried oregano, salt and pepper and pan-fry until cooked. Mix goat cheese, minced garlic, dried oregano and ricotta in a bowl; spread evenly over pizza crust. Top with chicken, artichokes, and tomatoes; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until Parmesan turns golden, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh herbs if you have them and serve.

Impromptu Saturday BBQ: Chickpea Salad

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring a salad to a Saturday BBQ. 

Constraints:

1.       Not a green salad

2.       You have 2 hours to shop, go home, make salad and arrive at your destination

3.       Salad must still look fabulous in the three hours between construction and consumption

The solution is a simple chickpea salad.  Healthy, tasty, colourful, quick, inexpensive and flexible – whatever you feel like, or whatever you have on hand. 

I love roughly chopped fresh herbs.  Some people like theirs finely chopped, but I just tear mine up and throw them in.  I wish there was a way to describe how evocative the smell of freshly torn basil leaves is… I was thinking about this as I was making my salad, and I really don’t think it’s possible.

There really isn’t a recipe for this, just toss your ingredients together and spend the extra time getting changed or having a glass of wine.

Chickpea Salad

·         3 cans of chickpeas, well rinsed

·         Handfuls of fresh Italian parsley and basil, torn or chopped

·         ½ pack of feta cheese

·         ½ C grated Parmesan cheese

·         Juice of 1 lemon

·         Pinch or two of dried chilli flakes

·         Cherry tomatoes, halved

·         ¼ C raisins, soaked for a few minutes in hot water

Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl, add salt and pepper (and extra lemon juice or chilli flakes) to taste.  Drizzle with a good olive oil just before serving.

There are endless variations on this theme – add seafood, haloumi cheese, nuts, lemon zest, fresh chillis…. Endless!

We had ours with an enormous green salad, perfectly BBQed NZ lamb racks, some delicious red wine and excellent company.

Monday Nights Continued: Smoked Salmon and Spinach Orzo Salad

Continuing my week of Monday night meals...

I'm all for a fancy, complicated meal every once in a while.  When you've personally attempted to cook one (for two, six or whatever) you fully appreciate the effort which goes into them.  However, I think the tastiest meals are often the simplest, especially when they use the freshest ingredients: a simple rocket and prosciutto pizza from the Italian on the corner, roast pumpkin soup, steamed flounder for breakfast.  Some ingredients don't need any help to shine, and salmon is one of those for me.

Last night I had the luxury of being cooked for (it's a frequent luxury, but certainly a luxury none the less) by Sander.  On the menu was a simple smoked salmon, spinach and orzo salad - that's a lot of 's's'.  It's an old favourite of ours, but a meal we haven't had in a very long time.  It certainly fits into the 'Monday night meal' category.

I was so relaxed with my glass of wine that I forgot to take a photo (below is from Simply Recipes), but I wanted to share the recipe anyway.  It's a winner to have in your back pocket.  It's this simple.

Image from Simply Recipes

Smoked Salmon and Spinach Orzo Salad


1 C orzo pasta (or rissoni)
85g smoked salmon (hot or cold, flaked or chunked - your preference entirely)
1 bag baby spinach
1/2 C pinenuts
Chopped feta cheese


Cook orzo according to pack directions.  Empty bag of baby spinach into the serving dish and lightly toast the pinenuts.  Drain orzo, pour on top of baby spinach and leave for a moment while you chop feta and salmon.  Add pinenuts, a drizzle of good olive oil and some salt and pepper, then mix it all together.  Voila!

There are usually some left overs for lunch the next day.

A Week of Monday Nights: Fish Tagine and Brown Rice

We all have one evening a week for which all effort flies out the window.  For me it's a Monday night.  Monday is usually supermarket day (because, despite best intentions, I didn't get around to it on Sunday) which is always done after work.  Even though usually there are two of us to do the shopping, we never seem to make it home before 7pm.  So Monday night meals must always be extremely quick but tasty to sooth those tired taste buds.

This week has felt like a week of Monday nights so the next few posts will be paying homage to this.

When you're pushed for time, fish is a wonderful go-to: quick cooking, flexible, healthy and delicious.  This fish tagine recipe is from my trusty Epicurious iPhone app and (as my friend Jess says in her blog) is "fridge to fork" in less than 30 minutes.  The beauty of this recipe is that almost everything was already at home in the pantry - tinned tomatoes, spices, rice.  All I had to do was pop into the supermarket and pick up some fish.

I served mine on brown rice (love the chewy texture) but it does take a little longer to cook.  Really pressed for time? You can pick up par-boiled brown rice from the supermarket (when you drop in to get the fish) or if you're super-prepared you may have some in your freezer (not me).  Otherwise, just put the rice on as soon as you walk in the door, and it will be done by the time the fish is. 

I also added a few more veges because I can't resist added veges to recipes (occasionally to their detriment).  I chopped half a zucchini, a stick of celery and a carrot.  The carrot I added about five minutes before the end, the celery and zucchini about two minutes before the end.  I like my veges crunchy, so add them with the fish if you like.  I also chopped the fish into large-ish pieces.

This recipe is for six people, but we both had double helpings, and I took the left overs to work for lunch the next day.  Left overs are often better the day after, I think.


Fish Tagine with Tomatoes, Capers, and Cinnamon

Makes 6 servings

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil [I just used a good couple of slugs]

1 (15-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers [I forgot these]

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 (6-ounce) pieces hake or halibut fillet (about 1-inch-thick)

Heat cumin in oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, capers, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Pat fish dry and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, then add to skillet. Cover and simmer until fish is just cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes.

 

Super Quick But Healthy - Especially for Inspirationless Monday Nights

Short on inspiration for Monday night dinner?  That was me last night so I decided to make the frittata recommended by my bootcamp trainers.

It serves 8, so I halved it to feed myself and one ravenous boyfriend who had spent the entire afternoon building a set of shelves for our kitchen - very hot, sweaty, thirsty work.  Well deserving of an extra portion!

Frittata with Spinach & Leeks

Ingredients 8 large eggs 2 cups egg whites 1/4 cup skim milk 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 1 cup chopped leeks 1 cup chopped spinach 1/8 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese Instructions 1.  Preheat oven to 180ºC. 2.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk and lemon juice. 3.  Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sauté leeks and spinach until tender and season with salt and pepper. 4.  Add cheese and sautéed vegetables to egg mixture and stir until combined. Pour  mixture into a 9" cake pan. 5.  Bake frittata in oven until eggs are cooked and cheese is melted, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool briefly and cut into 8 pieces. Serving Information Makes 8 servings My pan was a little too big for halving the recipe, but it didn't matter as I just doubled the slices up on each other. Just to boost vege intake a little more, I made a salad and some corn on the cob as well - yum! Big benefit of living in Singapore - outdoor dining every day of the year! So far this week: I managed to beat a certain someone TWICE in tennis (although he was pretty tired) I succumbed to sharing a slice of delicious sweet and sour lemon pie after lunch - but stopped at two bites.  It looked so good, I just couldn't say no - and it tasted just as good as I expected.  Why oh why would anyone want to deprive themselves of such delicious goodness is beyond me.  Citrus - such a delicious weakness!