crispy salmon cakes with lemony yogurt sauce

Something I've been interested in trying to make for a while now is salmon cakes. Traditionally they have mayonnaise and often bread crumbs incorporated into them. I wanted to see if I could make them without either one of those things. I came across this recipe on Epicurious which sounded quite nice, so I figured I'd tweak it a little and give it a try.

The recipe calls for pitas or bread. Obviously, that had to go. I also ixnayed the mayo that the recipe called for. Instead of bread, I added a 1/4 cup of gluten-free baking mix (I like King Arthur Flour brand). I mixed everything else up the same as the recipe, and it didn't seem too dry in the least, so I just skipped the mayo altogether. I formed the mixture into patties and fried them in a little bit of coconut oil, about four minutes per side. The cakes crisped up nicely, but stayed very moist inside. When they were done, I mixed up the yogurt sauce and spooned it over the top, and served with some quickly-steamed asparagus. The sauce was good not only on the cakes, but on the asparagus as well.

Next time, I think I might go for less lemon in the cake itself. I think would also be quite good done in a ginger-garlic-sesame direction rather than lemon and chive.

Crispy Salmon Cakes with Lemony Yogurt Sauce

mince curry

During a recent discussion with several online friends about various uses for ground beef, a small revelation was handed down to me: mince curry. ("Mince" is a general term for ground meat - you can have lamb mince, pork mince, etc.) I had never even considered making curry with ground beef until one of said online friends mentioned that her South African step-dad made a really nice mince curry, and then described the general recipe. I drooled a bit reading it, and vowed that I would some day try making it, if my apartment ever came down to a reasonable temperature again.


Today happened to turn out fairly nice and cool (compared to the last few days, anyway), so I decided I'd give the mince curry idea a try.

Mince curry!

Now, I know it doesn't look like much in the picture. Curries don't tend to be particularly pretty affairs, in my opinion. But let me tell you...this stuff? Heaven in a bowl. Maybe it was because I was really hungry. Maybe it was just a good day for curry, I don't know...but honestly, this tasted SO GOOD. I'm a mince curry convert for sure. 

Traditionally, this dish should have peas and potatoes in it, but since I'm not a huge pea fan and I don't eat many potatoes, I nixed them both in favor of cauliflower...but you could easily add them (and whatever other veg you want) back in. Also, if you have a while to cook and you want a richer sauce, you can add the ground beef raw and let it cook right in the sauce - it would probably take 40 minutes or so. I didn't want to wait that long, and since 80/20 was the leanest ground beef I could find at the time and I didn't really want my sauce inundated with fat run-off, I chose to brown my beef beforehand and then chuck it in later.

Mince (Ground Beef) Curry

1 lb ground beef (I used 80% lean), browned
1 head cauliflower, washed, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 can coconut milk
1 sm. can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 large white onion, chopped
2 tbsp garam masala
3 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
2.5" worth of fresh ginger, minced or grated
1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil

Melt butter or coconut oil in large pan. Add chopped onion and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until onion is soft and somewhat golden. Add garlic, ginger, garam masala and tomato paste. Stir and cook until fragrant - 1-2 minutes. Add coconut milk and water, stir to incorporate. Add cauliflower and browned ground beef, stir well. Cover and allow to cook on medium-low until cauliflower is tender, about 10 - 12  minutes. Serve.

chicken piccata

Pretty much what it says on the tin:

As you can see, I over-parsley'ed the sauce a bit, but it was none the worse for wear from it. I was being lazy and just rough chopped the parsley rather than mincing it. It's Friday, sue me.

Chicken piccata is dead easy to make - just split a couple chicken breasts into cutlets (you can pound them thin if you want, but I didn't bother and it came out just fine), brown them up in some butter and oil, then add some more butter, wine, lemon juice, parsley and capers to the pan to make a sauce, and you're ready to roll! It seriously takes longer to prep everything than it does to cook it. I paired the piccata with asparagus because it's in season, and because asparagus plays nicely with the flavors of white wine and lemon. It worked out very nicely.

Chicken Piccata
(serves 3 hungry adults)

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, split horizontally into cutlets
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil (regular - don't use extra virgin)
4 tablespoons dry white wine (I used chardonnay)
2 tablespoons jarred capers, drained, rinsed well and chopped
1/2 a cup (or so...haha) minced parsley
2 bunches of small-diameter asparagus (mine was mostly pencil-sized), steamed to your liking

Split the chicken breasts horizontally into cutlets and lightly season with salt and pepper. In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil and 1 tablespoon of butter until butter stops foaming. Carefully add chicken to pan. Cook, working in batches if necessary, for 1-2 minutes per side until just cooked through. Remove chicken to platter (I put mine in a preheated 200 degree oven with foil over while I finished the rest of the chicken and made the sauce). Pour fat out of skillet, then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, the wine and the lemon juice. Let come to a boil, stirring to loosen brown bits from bottom of pan. Stir in the capers, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste, and remove from heat. Serve chicken over bed of steamed asparagus, with sauce spooned over.

If you're a starch eater, this would be good with pasta, rice pilaf, or even some garlicky mashed potatoes.

thai red curry fish stew

I was thinking about dinner on the way home tonight (as usual), and trying to think up a way to use leftover chicken thighs. Somehow, stir-fried chicken thighs morphed into chicken curry, which morphed further into thai red curry with shrimp.

Shut up, I'm complicated.

By the time I got to the grocery store, I had a plan. I was going for shrimp, and mussels if I could find them. If not, I was going to try fish. The idea of fish curry scared the crap out of me. I've had it before and I knew I liked it, but I'm not generally super good at cooking fish and the idea of it just makes me nervous.

Lo and behold, there were no mussels at the store, so I grabbed a bag of shrimp and lovely big cod fillet, along with some zucchini and cauliflower, coconut milk and red curry paste. When I got home, I thawed the shrimp under cold running water while I sauteed some chopped onion in coconut oil and red curry paste. I added the coconut milk, some fish sauce, chopped zucchini and cauliflower, unsweetened shredded coconut, and some water and let it all simmer for about 10 minutes. When the veggies were basically tender, I added the shrimp and chopped-up cod and let the whole thing fester for about 5 more minutes, then shut the heat off. I scooped some into a bowl and added a bit of fresh basil.

Here are the fruits of frankly not a whole lot of labor on my part:

It was everything I was hoping for. The only criticism I have is that I should have had two cans of coconut milk rather than just one, because more sauce is better!

Easter dinner

We didn't do much for Easter this year because my husband had to work early in the morning, but I did manage to pick up a small boneless ham and some veggies for roasting, all of which came out quite well.

I had a couple pieces of prosciutto left over from the pork chop project the other night, so I got all fancy and made asparagus bundles wrapped in prosciutto, with a bit of Parmesan on to. The cheese doesn't look very toasty in the picture, but it actually crisped up nicely. The veggies are my usual potato / carrot / radish / onion / Brussels sprouts with a bit of bacon added. So, all in all, we had a pretty pork-tastic Easter!

prosciutto mushroom stuffed pork chops

As many of my cooking stories begin, so does this one - trawling through the meat department at the grocery store. I encountered a pair of nearly-two-inch-thick boneless pork chops that just begged to be stuffed, so home with me they came! Here's what I did with them:

The stuffing is a quick and simple combination of minced onion, white mushrooms, garlic and thyme, sauteed in a little butter. I cut a deep pocket into each chop, laid a piece of prosciutto into each one along with a piece of fontina cheese, then stuffed the mushroom mixture in. I pan-seared the chops for 2 minutes per side, then put them on a pre-heated pan in a 450 degree oven. The chops baked for 10 minutes while I steamed some asparagus, then it was time to eat.

As you can see, my stuffing started to fall out as I was taking pictures. I usually tie meat up with kitchen twine when I've stuffed it, but I didn't bother this time...and I re-learned my lesson! Other than the stuffing falling out, these came out quite well. I really like fontina cheese - it melts so smoothly, and it has a really nice nutty flavor that, in this dish, mixed nicely with the sweetness of the onions and the saltiness of the prosciutto.

shrimp scampi

Today I was sitting at work when a deep longing for shrimp came over me. Over the course of the day, I dreamt of tempura shrimp, cioppino loaded with shrimp, even shrimp cocktail. My brain would NOT let go of shrimp. Toward the end of the day, after much Googling of cioppino recipes and consulting of the budget, it was clear that I was NOT going to be making any lovely mixed seafood stew for dinner tonight. I did, however, happen to have two bags of frozen shrimp in my freezer, so all was not lost!

I contemplated green curry for a while, but it just wasn't quite what I wanted. Dreaming of shrimp, I went on with my work day. Towards the end of the afternoon, it hit me: scampi. Garlicky, buttery, lemony, winey, shrimpy scampi. After that revelation, itt was on like Donkey Kong. I was on a mission.


On the way home, I stopped to pick up the few items I did not already have in the house for scampi - a bottle of white wine, some fresh parsley, and some lemons. When I got home, I defrosted the shrimp under some cold running water and peeled them (because apparently my idea of "peeled and deveined" is different than the shrimp manufacturer's...), then left them to dry on some paper towels while I finely chopped a small yellow onion and six cloves of garlic. Yes, six. Some of them were small. And I really like garlic.

When things were chopped and ready to roll, I put 4 TBSP of unsalted butter (I use Kerrygold Irish butter. It's wonderful and well worth the extra money) and 2 TBSP of coconut oil in a large pan over medium heat. Yes, I realize most recipes call for olive oil, but I like coconut oil better.

Once the butter had melted and stopped foaming, I added the chopped onion and garlic. Things went pretty quick from here on out - the onion and garlic only cook for a couple minutes, until the onion starts to become translucent. Then, the shrimp go in and get stirred around pretty frequently until they're about halfway cooked, which only takes 2-3 minutes. Then the wine goes in - I used pinot grigio but chardonnay would also be yummy. I used about half a cup. The juice of two lemons also went in. To that, I added a little salt and black pepper and just the scantest bit of cayenne pepper (which you can totally omit if you don't want any bite). I turned the heat down to low and let everything cook together for 2-3 minutes more, until the shrimp were fully cooked. I then killed the heat, chopped up some fresh parsley, gave it all a good toss, and plated it up:

Yes, I realize that scampi is usually served over pasta or rice - something to soak up the fabulous sauce. I don't eat pasta or rice anymore, so I just skipped that part. And you know what? The sauce tastes just as good when you're slurping it up off the plate by itself as it does when you're slurping it up with pasta. When you tip the plate up to your mouth to get the last dregs of sauce, you know it's good! Next time, I think I WILL roast up a spaghetti squash to have with this simply because the shrimp would go a lot further with a filler like that...but for tonight, I shall revel in the decadence of straight-up shrimp in garlicky winey lemony butter sauce. Aww, yeah.