Fish Fajitas

In Boston, we don't get to enjoy summer for very long. It usually doesn't get hot until end of May and by the beginning of September, the heat is usually already gone. That being said, when it gets hot in Boston, it gets unbearable. The last few days have been hot and humid - my least favorite combination. After sweating all day, it's hard to muster up energy to cook and sweat some more in front of the stove. I always try to accumulate recipes that incorporate the freshness of summer with the least amount of time in the kitchen.

I have been obsessed with fish tacos lately. I made it at home once and since then, have been completely hooked. Since I've been making a ridiculous amount of salsa - mango, peaches, pineapples - I wanted to try something a little different. I happened to stumble upon a picture of fajitas on the internet and couldn't wait to rush home and make this. To me, it's another perfect summer dish because it's light and incorporates the delicious corn and peaches that are in season. The lime cilantro sauce adds a nice touch of acidity to balance out the flavors.

The fish I used was Monkfish. If you're unfamiliar with it like I was, I definitely recommend trying it. It was recently on sale at Wholefoods so I thought why not? Turns out, this fish is delicious. It's a meaty fish, but the flavor isn't overpowering. It also stays together well during pan frying and assembling the tacos fajitas. 

I used garlic in my fajitas, but I honestly don't think it matters. It smells nice, but the flavors are so rich anyways, I don't think you'll notice the difference - garlic or not. I'm just programmed to use garlic whenever I stir fry vegetables (even if it's not for an Asian dish) that I expect a phone call from my mother if I ever forget to use it. For those who didn't grow up with mothers for whom garlic was always the first thing to hit the pan, please feel free to omit. 

For the corn, I cut the kernels off the cobb when it was still raw and then threw it in the pan with the onions and bell peppers. If you're lucky and have access to a grill, you can grill the corn first. In terms of the peaches, I only used one. I liked the crunchiness and sweetness the peach offered. Grilled peaches are amazing and if you can, do it. You won't regret it. 

Recipe: 

Serving size: 2 very stuffed people

Fish Fajitas:

Ingredients:

1 lb Monk fish 

2 corn - kernels cut off the cobb

2 bell peppers 

1 medium size onion

1 packet of tortillas

Optional: 1 peach - diced 

1. In a pan on medium heat, add the onions (and garlic). Sautee it in the pan for about a minute or two, then add the bell peppers and corn. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I also added some cayenne pepper and paprika. Due to the amount of sugars in the corn, you'll probably see some caramelization on the bottom of the pan. I think this just adds a great depth of flavor. Once the bell peppers are cooked, remove the pan from heat. 

2. If you want to add peaches - you can add this a minute or two before taking the pan off the heat. It doesn't take as long to cook and I think the peaches are better when they retain their crunchiness. 

3. Cut the fish into ~1 inch slices and season with salt and pepper. Heat a pan over medium heat and add the fish when the pan is hot. Keep a close eye on the pan since the fish will cook fast. 

4. Take out the tortillas. An easy way to warm them up is to put them on a plate, cover them with a damp paper towel, and place it in the microwave for about a minute. Perfectly warmed tortillas ready to be filled. 

5. Make your fajitas! I like to set everything out on the table and have everyone make their own with whatever combination they like. I usually add a little of the bell pepper/corn/onions, top it off with fish and then add the sauce on top. 

Cilantro Lime Sauce:

I adapted the lime cilantro sauce from OurBestBites. Since I was in a rush, I didn't want to bring out my food processor. Instead I minced all the ingredients instead. I thought the sauce came out fine and I like seeing the bits of cilantro. You can try whichever way you prefer. 

Ingredients: 

Juice of 1 lime

1 cup canola oil (don't use olive oil - the flavor is too strong)

1/2 large shallot 

1 clove of garlic

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

Mince the lime, shallots and garlic. Add all the ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl. Adjust salt and pepper accordingly. Let sit for at least 15 minutes for the flavors to meld. 

-- Please message/ comment with any questions/ thoughts / or post your interpretation of the dish. 

Spring Rolls with peanut hoisin sauce

Spring rolls are pretty much my go to recipe if I want something light and on the healthier end. This is makes a great lunch or dinner in the summer when it's too hot to think about being in the kitchen too long. It also makes a great appetizer for any dinner party. 

Vietnamese food is all about what you have on hand. There are endless combination of what you can put in the rolls and the sauce you can dip it in. I remember childhood dinners where my family and I would sit around and roll endless number of spring rolls. Everyone had to roll their own - there were always competition for who had made the "perfect" roll. 

Traditional spring rolls, at least the way my mom would make them, included greens, herbs, some vermicelli, cucumbers and your choice of shrimp or thinly sliced pork belly. I'm not a fan of vermicelli - I think it's unnecessary carbs. I'd rather cash in my carb credit for some warm bread instead. Because I usually am making spring rolls on the fly, I use whatever greens I have on hand - spinach, arugula, spring greens, lettuce. Yup, they all go in there. The recipe below is a starter recipe - add/ subtract whatever you have on hand that day. It's really that simple.

Getting ready to roll - you to evenly distribute the greens but leave an inch on both sides to tuck over. 

Shrimp spring rolls with peanut hoisin sauce. 

Recipe:

Peanut sauce:

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup peanut butter (I like the crunchy types because it adds some texture to the sauce, but you can use creamy if you want)

2 tbs water

Sriracha or chili optional (I used jalapenos this time)

Combine ingredients and stir! Yes it's that easy. Warm in microwave for ~30 seconds - 1minute to make the ingredients combine better - the sauce will be smoother. Add more peanut butter or hoisin sauce to taste. My usually combination is closer to 1:1.

*If you're feeling fancy that day, mince a clove of garlic. In a small pan on medium heat, sautee the garlic with some vegetable oil (olive oil imparts too strong a flavor) until light golden brown. Then add the hoisin sauce, peanut butter and water. Take the pan off the heat and combine. The garlic adds a nice earthiness and smells amazing.

Spring rolls:

bowl of warm water

rice paper

greens (I use 50:50 spinach and spring greens)

1 cucumber sliced longitudinally into 1 inch strips

shrimp - deshelled and boiled 

1. Dip a piece of rice paper into warm bowl of water - either rotate it or completely immerse it. Remove quickly - you don't it too wet.

2. Lay the wet rice paper on a flat surface - I use a plate. Make sure the rice paper is not folded onto itself and is completely flat. 

3. Arrange a handful of greens on top of the rice paper, towards the top. Add whatever herbs or extra vegetables you like. I like cucumbers for the added crunch - you can use thinly sliced carrots as well. Add shrimp or tofu - spread evenly across your greens.

4. Roll! Roll the top down, then fold in the sides and keep rolling. Use your fingers to tuck in the greens as you go. 

5. Don't place the rolls too close to each other as they'll stick to each other and rip apart - not a fun end to all your hard work. 

Korean Noodle Soup

So this is my attempt at making everyday korean food. I think the soup is called "janchi guksu", but I'm going to be referring to it as Korean noodle soup. I decided to make this because the broth is light and there's a good mix of carbs, vegetables, and protein. The broth is lighter than I would like it so if I make this again, I would add some kimchi juice or more flavorings, but then I don't think it would be called janchi guksu anymore. I'm used to my food being hearty and often heavily spiced that I feel I sometimes don't appreciate lighter foods as much as everyone else does.

I encourage you to try this if you have a chance. There's just something about warm noodle soup that makes my day and maybe it could make yours =D

The recipe I used can be food at Eating and Living. It's a Korean-American mom's food blog and it's pretty amazing. I love many of her recipes. I followed the original recipe as closely as I could.

I'm told the broth is a very standard Korean broth.

Ingredients of the broth:

10-12 medium to large dried anchovies

2 3" dried kelp

1/2 onion

3 garlic cloves

2 1/2 of scallion (white part)

Water to fill your pot =)

Add all the ingredients into the pot and bring the pot to a bowl. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to medium and let the broth boil for 10 minutes, uncovered. After the 10 minutes, remove the anchovies and kelp and add soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Let the pot boil for another 15 minutes, again over medium heat. At this point, you can remove all of the vegetables from the broth. Keep the broth warm over low heat while everything else is cooking.

I'm pretty sure you can add any toppings you want. Here I cut up 1 large carrot and 1 large zucchini into matchstick sizes.

Sautee the carrots for approximate 3 minutes over high heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once done, set aside the carrots and sauté the zucchini for 2-3 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. (Note: for the zucchini, the original recipe called for sprinkling it with some salt and squeezing out the excess water after 5 minutes before sautéing it. I did this previously and it does have a better result than just sautéing the zucchini so if you have time, I suggest doing that.)

As additional toppings, I lightly sauteed some kimchi, to bring out its flavor, to add to the soup. I also scrambled some eggs and then sliced it into thin pieces because I had no beef on hand. If you do have beef, slice the beef into thin pieces and marinate in a bowl with 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic and some black pepper. The beef doesn't need to marinate for long. Once you finish cutting the vegetables, the beef is ready to be sauteed. This is a great addition to the soup and I highly recommend adding it if you have time.

Cook whatever noodles you like for the soup. The original recipe called for somyeon noodles, but I often use buckwheat soba noodles. I'm not sure what noodles I used in the picture below. As always, with Asian noodles, you want to wash it well in cold water to stop the cooking and to wash out the starch. Not doing this might leave you with very sticky noodles. I separate mine into portions before leaving it to drain so that I can easily serve it once everything is ready.

Time to plate the food! Place the noodles in a serving bowl. Add a little bit of each topping, zucchini, carrots, egg, and kimchi. Add broth and serve! You can add some chopped scallions for a more professional finish.

As always, let me know if you have any questions and if you do make it, please let me know how it turned out!! Enjoy.

Crepes

Easy, fast and indulgent. Why go out for fancy crepes when you can make it at home in probably the same amount of time it takes for you to get to the restaurant? This is my go to crepes recipe. It's easy and you can add just about any filling your heart desires. I can't ask for much more. I happened to be making a banana foster type filling the day I made these crepes and so the recipe follows that.

Ingredients:

Crepes:

2 eggs

2 tablespoon butter, melted

3 tablespoon sugar (omit if making savory crepes)

1 cup flour

1 1/3 cup milk ( I use 2%)

Banana filling:

2 bananas

~ 2 tablespoon sugar ( I used brown, but white works as well)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Mix the eggs, sugar and butter.


2. While whisking, slowly add flour. Incorporate as much flour as you can. If the paste is too thick, you can start adding a little bit of the milk. I find I can add all of my flour into the mixture. Once all of the flour has been added, you'll have a very thick paste.


3. Slowly add the milk. Whisk the milk in ass you're adding it to incorporate it. This helps reduce the amount of lumps you will have. If you still had some left over flour, add it slowly in between adding the milk. The batter should be lump free and very thin once everything has been whisked together.

4. To make the crepes, I used a regular, non-stick pan. I sprayed some oil on it. Once the pan is heated, add just enough batter to make about a 4 inch circle, I used about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe. Take the pan and twirl the batter around so that it's spread out in a thin circle.

5. Once the edges are set, flip the crepe. I use a spatula to get under the crepe and flip it over. Cooking the second side takes seconds, literally about 15 seconds. During this time you can either add your filling or just flip the crepe out onto a plate and add the filling then.




6. Spray the pan again and repeat.

7. To make the banana filling, peel and slice the banana.

8. Melt 2 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan under low heat.

9.Once butter has slightly turned brown, add bananas. When bananas become squishy (technical term, I know), add sugar. Once sugar is incorporated, smash the banana with a wooden spoon until the pieces are small. Add the vanilla extract and some water if you feel that the filling is too thick.

I find that if I use riper bananas, the consistency is perfect, but if I use under-ripe ones, I have to add about a tablespoon or so of sugar. As always, taste it as you're going to make sure it's perfect for you!


Enjoy the final product. On the left side of the plate is just a plain crepe with no filling. I usually spread some nutella or honey on the plain crepes. Enjoy it however your heart desires =)

Cream Scones

One of my absolute favorite breakfast food is scones, especially warm scones. There's just something about warm scones and coffee that leave me satisfied and ready in the morning. I've been having trouble making scones because many of the traditional recipes use butter. In these recipes, the butter has to be "cut" into the flour in order for the final product to be flaky and buttery. I can never seem to do this correctly and so my attempts have come out dense. Trust me, dense scones are something that you do not want to start your day with.

Finally, I came across this cream scones recipe that uses heavy cream instead of butter. The number of ingredients is extremely minimal, you have to only mix in the cream and the scones come out flaky and moist. What more could anyone ask for? Even if you are not a baker, these are a must try! The recipe is extremely easy and straightforward ( I know I say this a lot, but I'm serious!!). Please try it when you get a chance. You won't regret it. I adapted this recipe from a different blog. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1 Tablespoon sugar

That's it!!!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3. Pour in the cream and stir with a fork just until combined. DO NOT over mix.
4. Transfer dough to another surface and gently knead with your hand a few times. If you don't feel comfortable kneading the dough, just fold in in half, spread it out again and then fold the dough in half a few times. If you are not working on a non-stick surface, spread a little flour on the surface you're working on. Don't add too much flour - you don't want to dry your dough. Your dough should be very soft.

5. Pat the dough into a circle. Cut it into four equal pieces.

6. Brush the scones with melted butter and sprinkle them with sugar.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes. It's done when you press on the top and it springs back at you. The scones should be a little golden brown on top.

Enjoy it with jam, butter, whipped cream, or whatever you like. These buttery, moist, flakey scones will go with anything. I made some berry compote for the scones.*

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*The berry compote is another quick and easy recipe.

While the scones are in the oven, I placed some frozen berries in a saucepan, about half a cup. Heat up the berries until soft. Smash the berries into small pieces with a wooden spoon and add about a tablespoon (or more if you like it sweeter) of sugar.

This is what it looks like plated =)

Scallop Ceviche

This is my first attempt at making ceviche. It always looked so amazing when Alton Brown makes it so I wanted to give it a try. It also helps that Ben really really really wanted to eat it and bought all the ingredients (in the off chance I might make it). Of course, since I had the ingredients in the fridge, I thought I should give it a try. The recipe is not hard so don't let the word ceviche scare you like it did me. Give it a try =)

Most of you know I don't usually measure when I cook, but since the proper amount of citrus is needed to cook the scallop, here is a breakdown of what I use, followed by the recipe. The recipe is adapted from epicurious.

Ingredients:
1 pound of scallops (either sea or bay scallops)
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (use more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 stalks of scallions, diced
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup orange juice
salt to taste

1. You can use either Bay or Sea scallops, whatever is fresher that day. We bought sea scallops. Each scallop was thick so I sliced the scallop in half and then quartered the half (just make smaller pieces).


2. Chop the cilantro, scallions, jalapeno pepper and cherry tomatoes. Add it to the citrus and mix.



3. Add the citrus and herbs mixture to the scallops. Add salt to taste and mix.


4. Wrap the dish in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before eating. Remember to store the ceviche in nonreactive bowl ( a bowl that won't react to the acid).


5. Taste the scallops to make sure it's to your liking and serve! Add fresh cilantro for garnish. Enjoy!

Asian Inspired Baked Fish

A dish that's healthy, flavorful and easy to make. What more could you want in an entree? The recipe is extremely easy.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Clean the fish and make two diagonal slices on the largest part of the fish.


2. Make the sauce to put on the fish from 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part rice vinegar, 1 part sesame oil and a little dash of salt. You can make the sauce proportional to how big your fish is. Next, chop some garlic, scallions and ginger to put on the fish for even more flavor.


3. I like to line my pan with aluminum foil so the clean up is easy. Place the fish on the foil and pour on the sauce. Add the garlic scallion and ginger to both sides. Remember to put some in the belly of the fish.


4. I steamed the fish first so tented the fish in aluminum foil and baked it for 20 minutes (sorry there's no picture of the tented fish). Final product =)


5. Make some rice to eat with the fish. I always like to have vegetables with dinner so I stir fried some green beans. As always - add sriracha.