Today I threw together a Brazilian fish stew, or at least somewhat inspired by Brazil. Very colourful and tasty, took some time to prep and cook though.

Here’s what we need:

• 28 oz can of tomatoes
• 1 lbs of salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 big yellow squash
• 1 big zucchini
• ½ cup fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup dried cilantro
• 1 tbs peperoncino
• 2 plantains
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup water
• 1/4-1/2 cup lime juice

Roughly chop up the onion. Pour the olive oil into a big pot and fry the onions on low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and garlic, let boil under lid while cutting up the yellow squash into strips (like fries) and the zucchini into small cubes. Add to the mix and also add the cilantro, peperoncino. Cut up the parsley rough and add as well.

Put the salmon on top and squeeze a good amount of lime juice over them. Put on the lid and cut up the plantains. About 1 inch thick pieces (around 8 pieces per plantain) add to the mix and stir. Add water and let simmer on medium heat until the fish and plantain is cooked through. About 20 minutes. Stir forcefully to break up the salmon into small pieces.

Salt and pepper to taste and then it’s ready to serve!

Kicking off this theme weekend with plantains :)

For this simple recipe you’ll need:

• 1 plantain
• 1½ cup water
• 1 tbs salt
• 3 cloves of garlic
• vegetable oil

Peel and cut up the plantain into about half inch thick pieces. Fill up a frying pan with vegetable oil, it should cover up about half the slice of plantain, so this will vary depending on the size of your frying pan. I used a small 8 inch skillet and used about half a cup or so. Fry the plantains for about 2 minutes on each side on medium heat.

In a separate bowl: mix water, garlic and salt.

Take out the plantains from the frying pan and let them soak in the salty garlic water for about a minute or so. Heat up the oil again and refry them for  2-4 minutes (until tender).

WARNING: Use a splash screen when refrying the water soaked plantains in the oil. If you don’t have one, pour out the oil and refry them as if you were frying eggs. Good luck :)

I mixed together some ingredients and added ginger to the mix and let me tell you, it was so much better than I thought it would be – definitely Kingly Foods worthy!

My mix:

• 1 head of red cabbage
• 1 inch cube of fresh ginger
• ½ cup red wine
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash of Tabasco

Cut up the red cabbage into strips, about 2 inches long. Add some olive oil to a frying pan and let it heat up. Pour in the cabbage and pour over the wine. Put the ginger in a garlic press (you will be surprised with what you can do with these!) and press over the cabbage. Add salt and pepper and let simmer until the wine is all absorbed/steamed away. Stir occasionally. Finally add the Tabasco and serve :)

What we need:

• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 can of water
• 1 can of jasmine rice
• 2,5 tbs unsweetened shredded coconut
• a pinch of salt

As you see I use the measurement “can” in this recipe. As simple as it sounds you just use the same can that the coconut milk came in. As a rule rice is cooked two parts liquid and one part rice. So it works out great.

In a pot pour in about a teaspoon of vegetable oil and grease up the bottom and sides. It just has to be a very thin layer. This will help the rice not stick. Pour in the coconut milk, water, rice, shredded coconut and salt and let boil up. Stir every now and then. When the mixture has come to a boil lower the heat to the almost lowest possible and let steam covered with a tight fitting lid for about 20 minutes. Check in on the rice around 15 minutes into steaming and see how much liquid is left, if already has been all absorbed then you can turn it off and let steam for another few minutes without heat.

The rice is ready to serve! It is rather sweet and my suggestion is to serve it with something spicy and slightly fruity. Mangoes and shrimp in Thai chilli sauce maybe?

Served with home made tomato based curry
chilli sauce. Shrimp and broccoli.

For the pasta recipe:

• 1 cup of penne pasta
• 1/3 cup kalamata olives (10-15 olives)
• 1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt

Bring water to a boil in a big pot, add pasta and salt. Let boil for about 9 minutes.

While pasta is boiling, pit the kalamata olives. See previous post for pitting tips. Cut up the sun dried tomatoes into little squares.

Drain the pasta and mix all the ingredients together. And if you have any, garnish with basil and feta cheese. It shall be delicious!

Notice that I didn’t have any feta cheese or
basil :(

I looked up a remoulade recipe a while ago and made some changes to it. It’s not as good as other remoulades I’ve had in the past but it was alright :)

For the remoulade:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 tsp capers
• 2 tsp shallots
• 2 tsp spicy brown mustard
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbs lime juice
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 tsp fresh Italian parsley

Separate the yolks and whites in two different bowls. We will use both. Mix together the mustard and yolks. Add the oil in a thin stream against the side of the bowl. When all mixed together and smooth add all the other remoulade ingredients. It doesn’t matter what order :) When all mixed together, cover with plastic wrap and let stand in fridge while making the fish.

For the salmon:

• 4 salmon fillets  (inch thick)
• 2 egg whites
• Rest of shallot
• A tbs of dried tarragon

Mix together shallots and tarragon in a bowl. Dip the salmon in the egg whites, make sure it’s fully covered and dip down in the shallot/tarragon mix. Let fry on low heat for about ten minutes, flip fillets and cover. Let fry for another ten minutes or so. If unsure, just gently split the fillet with a fork or knife down to the middle to see if cooked through.

Served on a bed of potatoes garnished
with Italian parsley

What we’ll need:

• about 1 lbs green asparagus
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup milk
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tbs butter
• 1 tbs corn starch

Rinse the asparagus and chop off the tips, save them for garnish. Chop up the onion roughly and then put it in a big pot together with the asparagus spears. Pour over about half a cup of the broth and let simmer/steam with lid on until all softened, about 10 minutes. Then pour the vegetable mix into a blender and mix into a purée.

In a big pot (use the one you simmered the asparagus and onions in) pour in the other cup and a half of broth, a table spoon of butter and a table spoon of corn starch. Stir until thickened and then add the vegetable purée, milk, salt and pepper.

Pour into small bowls and sprinkle the cut of spear tips onto the middle of the bowl for garnish.

Here’s what I used:

• One deer round roast, about 1 lbs
• 5 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs dried marjoram
• 1 tbs pickapeppa sauce
• 1 tbs dried chipotle peppers

Mix together all but the venison to make a marinade. Rub it over the roast and sear it in a hot pan for colour. Brush on the rest of the marinade all around the roast and put it in the middle of the oven at 300F for about an hour.

That’s it.

Note: the pickapeppa sauce made it very sweet, so in hindsight – maybe only half a tablespoon.

Served rare to medium rare, garnished with parsley

Here’s what I used:

• 5-6 green onions
• 1 zucchini
• 14oz canned tomatoes
• 4 celery stalks
• 1 red bell pepper
• salt, pepper to taste
• garlic powder
• handful of parsley
• 1 tbs dried tarragon

Start out with chopping up the green onions and fry them on medium heat in a big pot in some olive oil. Add the zucchini and celery, stir and let cook for a few minutes. Add the bell peppers and the can of tomatoes, all the dry spices and lastly the parsley. Let simmer covered for about 10 minutes. Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

This is kind of Ratatouille inspired, simple, fast and can be made with any onions/chunky vegetables. Have fun! :)

Me and my assistant went to the grocery store yesterday, the first day after the storm for it to be open and it was chaotic. Not as bad as the day before the storm but it was still pretty bad. Trying to cram pass people in the isles. Finding the right ingredients and finding anything organic was hard even. I suppose it has been rough for the store itself to receive groceries. Anyway, we got what we came for.

• 1 lbs ground beef
• ½ yellow onion
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 4 oz can of mushrooms
• 1 jalapeño
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbs ketchup
• 1 tbs dried oregano
• salt & pepper to taste

We got home and immediately started cooking. She helped me mince the onion, chop up the bell peppers and crush the garlic cloves.

I heated up a large frying pan with some olive oil and started frying the onions, adding the meat after the onions got soft and let sear until almost all the meat has colour. I added the bell peppers, garlic, jalapeño and mushrooms stirring and giving more colour to the meat and vegetables. Lastly I added the can of tomatoes and the oregano. Let it boil up for a little bit and then add salt and pepper to taste. Ready to serve!

As I said earlier it can probably be used as a bolognese on pasta as well but I prefer eating it by itself, maybe it’s just me. Enjoy! :)