Tired of turkey? We are, so something decidedly different in flavor in texture is in the works. We cooked this batch of fish curry sometime ago, but we'll be duplicating this tonight. I had thought I posted this already, but when I came back to my blog to check the recipe, I realized I hadn't posted it yet! So here, I'll revisit the recipe with you. As I am typing this, I'm starting to wonder how curry would fare with the turkey....but, I better not push my luck with these folks. They loved the brined turkey I fixed for thanksgiving, but I think they'll thunk me in the head if I put anything turkey on the table one more time. I'll sneak in turkey soup on them tomorrow ;)

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs salmon fillets (or any firm fleshed fish of your choice), skinned
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. oil
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced into strips
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
2 small, red hot chili peppers, sliced
1 tsp. chili paste
2 Tbsp. tamarind concentrate
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cups coconut milk
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups of green beans cut into 1 inch lengths
torn cilantro leaves for garnish

Cut the salmon into bite sized chunks. Rub with 1/2 tsp salt and set aside.

Heat the oil and saute the onion, ginger and garlic until fragrant. Add the rest of the spices and sauces (except for the fish). Also add the green beans at this point. Stir, and bring to a simmer. Let it cook for ten minutes for the flavors to blend. Taste and adjust the seasonings. You may have to add a little bit more tamarind or chili paste depending on your preference.

Add the fish and simmer for about 5 minutes or until it is cooked. Serve over rice with cilantro on top.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! It's that time of year again, feared most by turkeys and loved by gourmets and gourmands alike. Thanksgiving has got to be my favorite holiday. It has all the festiveness of Christmas without the worry and stress of giftgiving. This year, we are turning to our traditional Southern menu with a touch of Filipinoness. As you will note, Turkey is the only main dish. It's Thanksgiving after all. Some people will add a second or third main dish, like ham or fish, but we feel the turkey should have front center and top billing. I will probably add a couple of new, experimental (my kids hate this part)dishes but I haven't figured out what yet.

Here is a collection of recipes typically served during our Thanksgiving Dinners. I wish you and your families a happy thanksgiving. Enjoy! (Click on the photos for recipes)

APPETIZERS:





MAIN DISH:

Click on this link if you want to brine your turkey first.


SIDE DISHES:







DESSERTS:

This is round two of beets in the garden and the last (probably) of outdoor grilling. Nothing beats grilling steaks so when we had a few days of unseasonably warm weather recently, we decided to grill one last time.

One of our favorite marinades for steak is bottled teriyaki sauce, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic, cracked black pepper and herbs. We still had some fresh rosemary and thyme in the garden so that's what we used this time around. When we had plenty of basil, we used basil; but one night of freezing weather pretty much burned all the basil left.

These were New York Strip Steaks grilled medium for hubby and I but well done for the princesses.

It is definitely soup weather time again, and we'll have plenty of those coming up. This is our last taste of summer.


maybe...... ;-)

For Beet recipes:
Boiled Beets
Beet Greens with Garlic

This is one of Asi's favorite desserts, tiramisu. She likes tiramisu so much, she even asked for tiramisu for her birthday treat rather than the traditional birthday cake. Every so often when we just have a craving for something sweet and creamy, we also make tiramisu without needing an occasion for an excuse. This strawberry tiramisu came about because we wanted to use up some last-of-the-season strawberries. We adapted this from a Strawberry Tiramisuwe found from Best of the Best from Colorado by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley who spent 22 years combing the country for the best recipes and have compiled them in the Best of the Best Series of cookbooks.

Continue to the Strawberry Tiramisu recipe.

This is an Easy Friday post. I just made that one up, don't bother looking for a link. We had our first hard frost last week, and now our garden looks like it has just been hit with napalm. Everything is blackened and dead save for a few cold weather herbs. Before the frost came, we scrambled to get what we can out of the garden, not that there was much left. So, what to do with a little bit of this and a little bit of that?

I decided to just steam them all and eat them in their natural glory. These were dressed in soy & lemon dressing but I suppose any type of dressing would do. The Clone of course had to have her ranch dressing.

I was tagged by Iskandals for this meme which was created by Dan of Saltshaker.

Here is the guideline for this meme as originally written:

My thought in this meme is food items or events that changed your foodie life. Not some “oh, it’s the first time I didn’t put jelly on a peanut butter sandwich and used bananas instead” sort of change, unless you truly feel that affected you profoundly. That’s the key - it affected you profoundly, in some manner. A moment you can look back at and say “that was a defining moment”. The questions are simple, the answers might be harder - an item, person, event, or place that had that effect on you, and why. They don’t have to be big splashy things - sometimes it’s something very small and simple that changes the way we view the world - the famed “butterfly effect” (and I’m not talking about the Aston Kutcher movie). So, to those who want to participate, copy this and pass it on (and, if you’re so inclined, do a trackback to the originating post). Here are your categories:

1. An ingredient
2. A dish, a recipe
3. A meal (in a restaurant, a home, or elsewhere)
4. A cookbook or other written work
5. A food “personality” (chef, writer, etc.)
6. Another person in your life

1. An ingredient - cheese & crackers with apples, grapes & glass of wine while tutoring an 8 year old girl in English

2. Dish -

3. Meal - Chinese banquet - 20+ courses, 3 hours. Seemed more like a hundred courses.

4. Cookbook -

5. A food "personality" - Julia Childs, Galloping Gourmet, Naked Chef, Yan Can Cook, Frugal Gourmet

6. Another person in your life






Filipino Cookbooks

With the weather turning cold once more, what better way to welcome fall than chowder. The clone really wanted to use some of the leeks from the garden, but they aren't quite ready yet so we settled on using scallions and corn instead. I wish I could say the corn came from our garden, but unfortunately our corn didn't do so well this year and we only got a couple of ears. The potatoes used for this soup was from our garden though.

4 T butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 med onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Scallions (green onions), separate white end from green, set green ends aside for garnish
3 carrots
2 cups corn
6 med potatoes
4 deboned chicken thighs or 2 chicken breasts, cubed
1/4 c. flour
salt and pepper
2 cups milk
3 cups chicken broth

Melt butter in hot pan and sautee garlic onion, celery and white part of scallions until fragrant and onions are translucent. About 5 min. Add chicken and sautee until opaque. Add flour and sautee with the chicken and veggies for another minute. Add potatoes and carrots, broth; and milk. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until potatoes are done and broth is slightly thickened. Add corn and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the green onions, stir through and serve.

In case you, like most of my friends, never use the front door to our house and always come through the kitchen door instead, I invite you to visit me In Our House this month. Through the front door.

This month, I have done something that I will probably regret in a week or so. I am participating in NaBloPoMo or National Blog Posting Month. NaBloPoMo is fashioned after another event called NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, where you are supposed to write a novel in a month. Hah! no, I'm not writing a novel. NaBloPoMo participants are only expected to update their blog every day for a month.

Anyway, visit me there once in a while and see what I'm rambling about.

Summer time always means lots of fresh basil from the garden. This meal, can be categorized as basil overload! You'd really have to love basil for this meal. Luckily, we all love basil!

Click here for the recipe for this crabcake with potatoes and herbs.

Click here for the recipe for the basil aioli and spaghetti with pesto sauce.


This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging which, this week, is back to it's original home in Kalyn's Kitchen.

Read the full post for this round of Lasang Pinoy, Siopao Adobo.