My daughter Jade was born a foodie. She has always loved food and everything that has to do with food. She appreciates good food and is a bit of a snob when it comes to processed and fast foods. She's been my main assistant in the kitchen and lately she's been venturing out on her own.

She made these king crab legs crostini when the rest of us were happy enough to dunk them in butter and swoon. She was nice enough to make enough crostinis for everyone and we all deemed these to be equally swoon worthy. It's like swooning on a silk covered duvet rather than on the sofa. Very classy tasting and nice variation of texture and flavor. Certainly good enough to serve company.

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This is a borrowed recipe from the Pinoy Cook and I think we are keeping it. It's so delicious! She used Trevally Steaks and I used Tilapia because it's what I have. Cooking fish in pesto sauce is so flexible that you can use any seafood you want and it comes out delicious every time. I've cooked salmon and crabs in this manner and they were yummy. The thing with this sauce too, for some reason it just goes so well over rice. I think I prefer it with rice much better than the girls who are still partial to pesto and pasta. Whichever way you go, you've got to try this super easy recipe. It's a keeper! Thanks, Pinoy Cook!

Here's the recipe for Fish in Pesto Sauce.

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This dish is perfect for a light summer lunch, a picnic or for any summer time party. The great thing about it is, it's a marinated dish so the longer it sits in the dressing the better the flavors get!

Now I know ceviches are supposed to be made from raw fish or seafood, but I just happened to have these cooked shrimps and thought this dish would be a perfect way to use them up.

Click here for the recipe...



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Easy weekday meal. You hear me say that over and over again. Well, here's another one. You can get dinner on the table in less than an hour and you come out looking like superwoman when you serve this baked salmon with pasta and marinara sauce with a side of green salad. Sounds fancy, doesn't it?

Well, it's actually quite easy. Get a pot of water to boil your pasta in. In helps if you have some ready made tomato sauce, but if you don't it's quite easy to make a quickie tomato sauce with some diced tomatoes sauteed in garlic and onions. Season to your taste and spoon over pasta.

Of course, the star of this meal is the salmon which is just about as easy to prepare as it is to shove in the oven for 20 minutes. Click here for the rest of the recipe for Baked Salmon with Capers and Pine Nuts...



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Recipes to Rival is a food blogging event similar to Daring Bakers but instead of baking sweet stuff, the challenge is for savory dishes. I found out about the event last month when they had their first challenge which was Ratatouille. I had to cook it. Now only did it look delicious, it was also the recipe from the movie of the same name. How could I resist? :D

This second time around, the challenge is Thank George's Bank, a recipe from the Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook. It is a dish comprised of fish cake, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. While the recipe was a bit daunting (aren't all challenges?), I found that after I did a run through of the entire recipe it got easier the second time around and I found that it really wasn't that bad at all! By the third time I made the recipe, I didn't even have to look at the recipe.

Check out the recipe and see what you think...



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This is a very easy weekday meal, easily done in under an hour. Thirty minutes even if you plan ahead. This is certainly a better solution than fast food on those days when time is short.

Click here for the recipe for Baked Tilapia with Teriyaki Sauce & Onions.




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This month's Lasang Pinoy theme is Coconut and I've posted two recipes for this event hosted by Kai of Bucaio.

First one is Ginataang Hito, catfish cooked in coconut milk.
The second recipe if for Laing, which for this version, I used swiss chard cooked in coconut milk.

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I finally had a chance to try my hand out at making my own spring rolls and decided to have a wrap up day when the girls had their sushi rolling day. This would have been a great entry for Lasang Pinoy’s Binalot event, but things just didn’t synch up right and I missed the deadline.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was really hoping I would have the new site set up by now, but I just haven't found the right template or header design yet. I do like the three column design though. Anyway, since I'm still here, I thought I would post the girls' new obsession, their own maki sushi!

If you'd like to try your hand at rolling your own sushi, the California Roll is one of the easiest to make and also pleasing to most palates. For one, it doesn't have any raw fish for those who are still squemish about eating raw fish. My girls don't have that problem though, they love sashimi! I just haven't found any sashimi grade fish around our area. So California rolls and Shrimp sushi it is.

SUSHI RICE: start by cooking your desired amount of rice for sushi. While the rice is cooking, mix in a small bowl: rice vinegar, salt and caster (fine) sugar. If you noticed that I didn't give any proportions, that's because the amount of the seasonings will depend on how much rice you are using. As a starting point, for two cups of cooked rice I will probably use about three tablespoons of vinegar, a pinch of salt and maybe a half a teaspoon of sugar.

When the rice is cooked, transfer it to a bowl or large plate and stir to fluff it up. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold it in gently so as not to mash the rice. You can use a fan while your are mixing so that the rice will cool off faster and it will develop a slight sheen to it. When it is cool enough to handle, you can start making your sushi rolls.

The basic ingredients for these California Rolls are:
Nori(seaweed)
Crab Sticks
Carrots, cut into matchsticks
Cucumber
Wasabi (Japanese horseradish)

Here's a good place to learn how to roll your maki sushi, with step-by-step photos. Visit Sushi Day for a daily dose of sushi.

Shrimp and Grits is an old Southern favorite with as many variations as there are cooks. This is my simple version. It is great as a light supper or a filling breakfast. This was a quick and easy supper for me and my husband while we were by ourself last month.

Shrimp and Grits recipe:

This is a slight twist on a previous recipe for Shrimp in Garlic Butter. For this variation, a garlic aioli is served as an additional sauce or dip for the shrimps.

Here's how to make aioli:

This is an old appetizer standby, and a favorite at parties. For parties, you probably should use smaller, bite sized mushrooms. This time though, I had some large mushrooms that were just waiting to be stuffed so I fixed this for dinner for me and the husband and still had plenty leftovers for lunch the next day. We had a nice big salad with plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden with these and they were delicious! It was a perfect, light summer dinner.

INGREDIENTS:
12 fresh mushrooms, large
3 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup onions, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup spring onions, chopped
1 cup (a little over) lump crab meat
2 Tablespoons mirin
1/4 cup mayonaise
2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Salt/pepper to taste
Olive oil

Remove the mushroom stems and chop, set the mushroom caps aside. In a skillet, melt the butter and add the onions, garlic and chopped mushroom stemps. Saute' for a few minutes until they are fragrant, the onions are translucent and almost all liquids have evaporated. Stir in the spring onions, mirin, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Remove skillet from the heat and add the crab meat. Mix well and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Spoon the crab mixture into the mushroom caps and place them on a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

This is one of my favorite ways of cooking clams, and whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant that offers this, I never fail to order it. These clams, I found at Costco. Asi is my only daughter who shares this dish with me. She loves to put the sauce over her rice. When she and I are hungry, we can put away a whole order of this dish.

When preparing fresh, live clams, make sure that all the shells are tightly closed. Or that they close up when you touch them. This means that the clams are still alive. There is nothing more disgusting than eating shellfish that has died before cooking. Their flesh deteriorates really fast that is why you have to cook them alive. Scrub the outside of the shells to make sure any mud, sand, or other impurities are removed. Wash them several times to get rid of any grit. It also helps if you soak clams in clean water for a few hours before cooking. This will allow them time to spit out any impurities like sand before cooking. Some suggests soaking them in milk too, but water works just as well I think.

INGREDIENTS:
Fresh Clams (about 3 pounds or a big bowlfull)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 large Onion, chopped roughly
1 large Green Bell Pepper, cut into 1 inch squares
1 bunch of Green Onions, cut into 1 inch length
2 fresh hot chili peppers, cut into diagonal slices
2 Tbsp. fermented Black Beans
4 Tbsp. Oyster Sauce
2 Tbsp. Oil
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in water (about 1/4 cup or so)

Heat oil in a wok or heavy bottomed pan. Saute' the chopped garlic and ginger for a minute then add the black beans. Lightly mash the beans to release the flavors and stirfy for another minute. Add the onions and bell peppers, stir, and add the clams and oyster sauce. Stir and cover the pot. Let it cook/steam for about 5 minutes until the clams have opened. Remove any clams that did not open up. The clams should have released some liquid at this point. Add the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce, stir in the chili peppers and green onions. Serve over rice. Lots of rice!

Aside from plainly boiling them, this is probably the simplest way to fix shrimps. Lately, rather than making pasta and shrimps, I've been cooking the shrimps this way separately so as not to get any essence of seafood for The Clone who will not touch any food tainted by the sea.

To make this dish, prepare:
Shrimps (head-on or less, peeled or not - your choice)
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 stick of butter
3 Tablespoons of flat leaf parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a skillet at high heat and briefly saute' the garlic before adding the shrimps. Quickly stirfry until the shrimps turn pink, add the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta or with good french bread and wine.

Although I am not religious, one remnant of religious tradition that I still follow on most occasions is eating fish on Fridays. The significance of it has been lost to my family long ago; nowadays it is more of a convenient way to remember to have our weekly fish ration. So it being Easter weekend, this was what we had for our very simple fish dinner.

Continue to the Pecan Crusted Fish recipe.

Here is another dish inspired by bloghopping. Not too long ago, I was drooling over mussels cooked by Iskandals and SpiCES but I wasn't sure where or when I would be able to get a hold of some decent mussels. Then Ces commented that I can use the frozen New Zealand Mussels commonly found in the grocery store. So that is what I did, got me a box of mussels and got to cookin'. This is what I came up with. They were delicious! Next time, now that I know I have a steady source, I will try all the recipes from Iska and Ces.

INGREDIENTS:
New Zealand Mussels
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chives, minced
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley
Mayonnaise
Bread crumbs

Place mussel half shells on a cookie sheet. In a small bowl, combine the garlic and herbs. Sprinkle the mussels with garlic and herb mixture. Place a dollop of mayonnaise (about half a teaspoon) on each mussel. Sprinkle tops with bread crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes until the mayonnaise has melted and the top is lightly browned. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

I am still not up to cooking much. We have just been cooking old standbys like soups...lots of soups. It has been wickedly cold, but I am not going to complain because I know plenty others who are having a much harsher winter than we are.

While going through my saved drafts, I realized that I haven't posted this one yet. Perhaps it was because it was such a simple recipe that I decided to hold off on it. I don't know. But when I saw the photos I just made me remember last summer when we had such an abundance of basil that I started putting it in everything until the kids had pesto coming out of their ears. Not really, that was just a figure of speech, but you get it.

Anyway, I was making so much pesto that we just had to use them up before it went bad. For the salmon, it is really simple. All I did is to take some of the pre-made basil pesto sauce that I had saved in the fridge, about a cups worth, and mixed it with about half a cup of mayonnaise then slathered it on the side of salmon. Bake it for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, and you have dinner! Serve with salad, and in this case, pasta with, what else, pesto sauce.

This salad, I borrowed from Kalyns Kitchen. I also made this last Sunday for our appetizer/nosh day. I had a two pound bag of shrimps, from Costco of course, and decided to make half into shrimp cocktails and the other half into this salad. I modified it a bit to suit what I had on hand and to taste.

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. cooked, frozen shrimps (thawed and drained)
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced yellow bell pepper
2 avocados, diced
1 Tablespoon lemon juice, to toss with avocado
1/2 tsp. salt, to toss with avocado
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. Ancho chili powder

Whisk the mayonnaise and chili powder together, then fold in the thawed and drained shrimps. Set aside in the refrigerator while you chop the other ingredients.

Dice the avocadoes toss with the lemon juice and salt until well coated. This will keep the avocadoes from turning dark. Add the rest of the salad ingredients and toss. Add the mixture to the shrimp and gently fold everything together. Chill (or not), and serve.

Kalyn gives great background on shrimp sizes and how to use raw shrimps if that is what you have on hand. She also says that this recipe is South Beach approved recipe, so if you're on a diet, what a great way to indulge! I had this for lunch the following day, and it was still delicious! I was afraid the avocadoes would have turned black and turned the whole thing into mush, but no, it was still as good if not better as the day we made it!

This recipe was adapted from the Evil Jungle Prince. This is a spicy soup, perfect for cold nights and perfect for using up the okra we had in the freezer from our summer bounty. I adjusted the proportions a bit to serve 4. I also used fresh herbs because I still have some, but you can use dried too, you just may have to reduce the amounts. I believe dried herbs have a stronger flavor than fresh.

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Olive oil
1/2 cup Flour
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1 lg. bell pepper, diced
5 small bird peppers, diced
2 medium jalapeno peppers, diced
1 cup tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh dill
2 bay leaves
7 cups chicken broth
3 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
2 cups corn
2-3 cups okra, cut into 1/4 inch length
2 lbs. shrimps, peeled
Salt & Pepper to taste

Start making a roux by heating the olive oil then add the flour. Stir and cook until the the flour is browned but not burnt.

Next saute' the aromatics: garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and peppers. Let them cook in the roux until they are fragrant and starting to soften. Add the tomatoes and cook for another minute. Add the herbs: basil, thyme, dill, bay leaves. Stir. Add the broth, worcestershire sauce, and a bit of salt and pepper. Let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the corn and okra and simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes. About 10 minutes before serving, add the shrimps and cook just until they are done. Adjust the seasonings and serve in a bowl over rice.

I added additional spiciness with some hot sauce, but I only did that with my bowl.

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.