Greek food or a journey with cucumbers

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Nothing (food related) reminds me more of summer than cucumbers. The fresh, well-balanced taste is a welcomed sight from winter and spring cuisine. Cucumbers are great as the star of the show, but really shine in a supporting role. To start summer off right, I decided to dabble in Greek cuisine.

Greek/Mediterranean cuisine is known for its use of cucumber. Pictured below is a homemade tzatziki. Not pictured below was a cucumber/lime/gin concoction. After a hot, DC summer day these two items (as well as a homemade lamb burger and roasted rosemary potatoes) went down with ease. Have you cooked with cucumbers lately?

Fresh Alaskan Salmon

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I recently acquired fresh Alaskan salmon via a neighbor who was up there recently. With such a high quality product such as this, I decided not to do anything to it (other than salt & pepper). The fish still had the skin on and needed a few bones removed. This was actually my first time deboning a fish, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. To top off the meal, I whipped up some couscous and topped that, the fish, and babby greens with freshly squeezed lemon juice. I can’t think of anything else to say really, as this was a simple meal with great flavor. If you’re ever fishing in Alaska (which I hope to do eventually), be sure to catch salmon.

Easy Salad

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I’ve been addicted to super short, quick, and easy meals lately. There’s two reasons for this. One, it’s summer and I don’t feel like spending much time in the kitchen. Two, I’m going through a rut where I simply don’t have any inspiration or desire to think up any new dishes. Summer is always a challenging time for me because I don’t have the outdoor space to grill and hearty meals (which I love to cook) don’t excite me in 90+ degree heat. A few weeks ago, I ran into a great cooking e-book/PDF on lifehacker.com for meals that take less than 10 minutes. This is perfect for me right now as it will solve my dilemmas. I highly recommend the PDF. As for the above picture*, it’s one of the recipe. It consists entirely of mixed greens top with canned chick peas, shredded parmesan, and lemon juice. Simple. Delicious.

*Above photo taken with camera phone. I’m trying out some different styles from my normal DSLR shots.


Radicchio is RAD

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Who says salad needs to be green? Next time you have a hankering for salad, try radicchio! I made this salad with (you guessed it) radicchio, beets, red onions, flax seed, and feta cheese. I had just a tiny amount of flat-leaf parsley left, but that would be excellent in this as well. I made the dressing out of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sometimes I dabble in the vegetarian foodt scene and I think this fills out my card nicely.

Triple-Berry Pie

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Got a frozen pie shell around? Got frozen fruit around? You too can make this easy dessert. Cook your pie shell according to it’s directions. Next, take the fruit (I used strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries) and thoroughly thaw, wash, and drain them. Add them to a non-stick pan and heat through (5-10 minutes on medium-low heat). You’ll see some liquid remain in the pan, save this. Put fruit in cooled pie shell and chill everything in the fridge. Chill for an hour (or up to a day). Next, take the left over fruit juices and add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a rapid boil. Sauce should reduce by half. This makes a great topping for the pie, ice cream, yogurt, and whatever else you can imagine.

Halibut with Dill & Caper Tartar Sauce

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Warning: This recipe has MAYO in it. I’ve never bought panko bread crumbs before, but if you’ve ever watched the Food Network, you know how much they love them. I recently stumbled across a recipe that involved breading halibut in them, so now I had my chance. I’ve been trying to find some recipes that were easy to make after a long day of work; and this is one of them.

1. Take your halibut; give it an egg wash and coat in panko

2. Create your favorite tartar sauce. (Mine includes fresh dill, chives, capers, mayo and dill pickles)

3. Fry your fish in a large skillet with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. About 4-5 minutes on each side.

Pair with some lemons and white wine. I drank Vidal Blanc. I’m very snooty.

Clam Chowder

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Clam chowder or clam chowda, depending on where you live. I love it, but I hardly ever get to eat it. Why? Because good clam chowder is hard to find. Easiest way to find it? Make it yourself. Really great clam chowder can be boiled (haha get it?) down to 4 main components, in my epinion.

1) Broth
2) Clams
3) Potatoes
4) Some kind of pig fat

That’s it. That’s all you need to make a delicious chowder, believe me. Here’s what I did.

Take some thick-cut bacon and slice it into bite sized pieces. Cook it. When finished, take out the bits of bacon but leave the fat in the pain. Next, take a diced onion and saute until soft. Throw in some cubed pieces of potato along with enough milk to cover.  Boil until potatoes are soft. Got clams? The easiest way to get clams would be to get them in a can. They can be found next to the canned tuna. If your grocer has a seafood market, by all means do that. Just be sure to ask for chowder clams. If not, canned works perfectly fine. Drain the clams, but keep the juices and add it to the boiling potatoes. Once the potatoes are soft, you can either leave the chowder chunky or puree it a bit (as I did). Add the drained clams to your mixture and heat through. And you’re finished. Garnish with whatever you want. I used the bacon pieces, a few oyster crackers, and some chives. Now my apartment smells like the ocean.

Sardine Pasta or How Much I Love Small Fish

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Sardines. I have been trying to get more oily fish into my diet because they are high inomega 3 fatty acids. They are heart healthy and delicious, if you use them correctly. A lot of the people I know get freaked out by the sight of sardines, but I absolutely love them. That’s why when I saw this Mark Bittman recipe, it was a must-cook for me. It’s fairly straight forward, just get your pasta water boiling as soon as possible (I was waiting far too long for this). One of the reasons I liked this recipe is because it wasn’t sauce-heavy at all. Often, I get tired of tomato or cream-based sauces on pasta, so this was a welcomed change. I recommend this recipe to all. Give sardines a chance!