I don’t get very many comments left on my blog. To those of you who do leave them occasionally, a thank you is in order. But when I read other people’s blogs, and write a comment there, some people have 30-80 comments on each one. Some of the comments don’t say a whole lot (like “looks good,” or “great photo,” or perhaps the most common . . . “can’t wait to make this.” But I get the feeling that those people aren’t really going to make the recipe, whatever it is. They’re just saying something nice.

Some people, I assume, are scared to leave comments – they’re not very savvy about blogging, and want to protect their anonymity. Comments left here on my blog go nowhere but here on my blog. No one tracks them, sells email addresses or anything like that. It’s just little-old-me. And you can leave a comment without your name appearing, although your email address is required to submit a comment. But it doesn’t get published with the comment. Lots of people have screen names they use like “cookiebaker,” “grillerman,” “sadiesmom,” etc. That’s fine. Some bloggers and commenters use their real names, others don’t.  I guess it’s up to you. I do approve/screen all the comments, so I won’t get any crackpot messages. Spam is something you don’t see on my blog – I get somewhere between 60-100 a day left on various posts on my blog. Fortunately some free software called akismet runs in the blog background and captures those, which I delete every few days. I don’t even look at them anymore, just do a global delete.

So all that rhetoric is a preface to say that last week I was absolutely thrilled to receive a comment from Joanne Weir. She’d read my write-up about one of her recipes (stewed eggplant & tomatoes) from one of her cookbooks. Although I’ve attended numerous cooking classes with her, she doesn’t know me at all. Her classes were always very full, and I was just another face in the crowds. I’d drive miles and miles to go to a Joanne Weir cooking class, if she’d ever have any here in Southern California. She lives in San Francisco, and you can see her PBS TV series (filmed in her own kitchen) if you hunt for it in the listings. She has her own website – and does offer culinary tours in Italy and France, but they’re very pricey. Two or three of my friends and I keep up with anything-Joanne-Weir. We tell one another if we’ve made another Joanne recipe from one of her books (I don’t own her newest book Tequila).

So, I was very presumptuous and sent her a private email. Thanked her for leaving a comment, told her I was a huge fan of hers, owned most of her cookbooks, and that my all-time favorite recipe of hers (and expected her to laugh) is Sicilian Tuna Salad. I also asked about her fiancé (she’s recently engaged). I follow her own blog too. She was kind enough to respond back, and said “Sicilian Tuna Salad?” What cookbook of mine is that from, she asked? Well, it’s not in any of her cookbooks that I can find. But it was at one of her classes. Or perhaps it was one of the Sur la Table’s group recipe classes – where the staff combed through and demonstrated their favorites from all the cooking classes that year from various chefs. But the recipe was credited to Joanne. Unless the folks at Sur la Table made a mistake. Well, it’s still a favorite anyway.

I do have some other favorite Joanne Weir recipes – some of them I haven’t posted here on my blog – note to self – make the warm chocolate cinnamon and coffee tart sometime soon. Also the white peach belllinis. Check out the fiery Feta & pita bread appetizer. Maybe the escarole salad too. Nevertheless, it’s still the tuna pasta salad that trumps them all. It’s just so simple, really. I decided to fix the salad, because I haven’t made it in a long time. I posted about it in 2007, but I’m going to repeat it here since I know I have new readers who likely haven’t read through my ancient posts.

If you like tuna and pasta, but don’t like the usual mayonnaise-based gunk that goes on it, you’ll enjoy this salad. It’s full of herbs (basil, cilantro and Italian parsley) and a bit of capers too. And lemon juice. All those kinds of things that make it Sicilian. It’s a relatively dry pasta salad, so if you prefer a wetter one,  add some more olive oil just before serving it. I make it with pennette (little penne) as my first choice of pasta.
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A year ago: Apple Buttermilk Scone Round

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t buy very much shrimp anymore. According to the shrimp police, or the fish police, or the FDA?, eating almost any kind of shrimp is questionable because of the raising conditions, what they’re fed and what kind of unhealthy minerals we then ingest. I read recently that U.S. grown shrimp are safe, though. But, it’s hard to find U.S. raised shrimp these days. I’ve been looking, but haven’t found any in several months of inspecting labels in minute fine print at my local stores. Of course, I don’t (won’t) buy shrimp from the regular grocery stores anyway. Those shrimp don’t even look appealing, sorry to say. Usually I trust Trader Joe’s, but these shrimp pictured above came from Thailand, I think. Probably not a good source, either. So right now my freezer is empty of shrimp, and may be so for awhile. Makes me sad, because I really like shrimp. Sigh.

Well anyway, I decided to whip up something with this last bag. I went to my to-try recipes and found something called Southern BBQ shrimp. Well, these aren’t like any kind of “barbecue” I know. They don’t even make a fly-by over an outdoor grill. They’re broiled. (And no, you wouldn’t want to grill them because they’d burn with the amount of brown sugar in the marinade.) So how come the name? Well, it’s a southern (American) tradition – making a “barbecue” kind of sauce with Worcestershire sauce, butter and brown sugar. This recipe also had lemon juice, and some seasoning too. Whatever it’s called, it was easy to make. And QUICK. The recipe came from Bon Appetit, in July, 2006. With a nice multi-vegetable green salad, this was dinner. The article recommended some baguette slices on the side too. I used shrimp with only the tail shells attached, but the recipe calls for raw, full-shell types. Some of these versions of Southern BBQ shrimp came from shrimp boat chefs, when they were out at sea. Maybe somebody who reads my blog and is from the South will weigh-in on the origin of this kind of barbecue . . .
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A year ago: Greek Pita Sandwich
Two years ago: Roasted Poblano Asiago Soup (oh, a real favorite)

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Did you know it’s halibut season? At our local Costco, they have fresh Alaskan halibut that is unbelievably fresh and tasty. Most of what they have is in large portions – I should have invited some guests to come over as we have leftovers to serve probably another 4 people. The fish I bought was $20. What a bargain.

Now, if I can just get you to make this recipe. I think it’s going to have to go into my favorites list, it’s that good. Will you trust me about this? And, the recipe came from Cooking Light, too! Imagine that. Healthy and tasty too. According to the write-up from September of ’07, this recipe was created by Lia Huber and first printed in the magazine in March of ’04. The recipe received the test kitchen’s highest rating, and continues to be a staff favorite. I can see why. This may be my new, forever go-to recipe for halibut.

This  is VERY easy to make. Truly it is. Trust me on this too. The aioli is just mayonnaise, minced fresh cilantro, a bit of fresh minced chile (serrano) and a minced garlic clove. The breading is merely flour and cornflake crumbs (with salt and pepper added in). You dunk the halibut into a mixture of milk and egg white, then into the breading mixture. You pan fry the halibut about 4 minutes per side, put on a dollop of the sauce and it’s done. How easy is that?

My DH made mmm noises all through dinner. A good sign. I served the fish on a bed of mashed potatoes (a real treat) and alongside I served some fresh asparagus, made according to Marie’s recipe from over at A Year from Oak Cottage. It’s called crumbled asparagus, and it’s become one of my favorite ways to make asparagus. So now, will you please go out and buy some halibut and make this?

A few changes have been made from the Cooking Light recipe: (1) I used less serrano because it was way too hot; (2) a full cup of milk is more than needed for dipping; (3) less cornflake crumbs were needed; (4) I also made this with regular mayo since I didn’t have any fat-free, and I made more sauce than the recipe called for. So those changes have been incorporated into the below recipe. The nutrition count below assumes you eat all the dipping and dunking mixture, which you probably won’t.
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If you really like halibut, and have time to make it, I have one other recipe here on my blog for Halibut Osso Buco.

A year ago: Shrimp, Bacon & Vegetable Chowder

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You know how it is about the weather influencing what you decide to cook for dinner? If it’s a rainy day I like to stay in and bake something. Cloudy, cold days often mean soup. A warm balmy night often triggers salads of some kind. Well, my bell weather was working the day before when the temps were in the 70’s and 80’s, but the next day it was cold. But I’d already decided what I wanted to make, so what can a girl do except follow through? So even though it was cool weather, I made salad for dinner.

The recipe came from a Bobby Flay episode I watched on the Food Network several years ago. It reminded me of a favorite recipe – one that won a reader’s recipe contest in Cooking Light for a Crunchy Shrimp on Couscous Salad with a yummy dressing. That’s what I was thinking about as I flipped through my to-try recipes. Mint is in season, I think, and this salad was perfect – hot, grilled marinated shrimp served on a bed of tabbouleh salad.

Since lemon and lemon juice are frequently seen in my recipes, it’s probably no surprise that I’d like tabbouleh, right? I remember exactly when I first had it – it was about 1970, served to me by a friend of my mother’s, Ruth Spilmer. Ruth was a very good cook, and one day she invited a few friends over for a lovely lunch. Remember, back in those days when most women didn’t work, that’s what we did to entertain . . . we invited lady friends over for a nice luncheon – crystal, china, the whole deal. No alcohol though. The other thing I remember about Ruth was her shoes. She always wore spiky high heels. She wore them morning, noon and night. At home, she wore the kinds with feathers around the toes. She said that for so many years she’d worn high heels that her tendons couldn’t stretch to wear flatter shoes, so she just had to wear heels from the moment she stepped out of bed. I can’t imagine! Isn’t it funny sometimes, the things you remember?

So back to this luncheon – what else Ruth served, I don’t remember, but the tabbouleh was a stand-out. I’d never had Bulgar wheat – didn’t really even understand what it was (a parboiled wheat berry that’s been sliced, chunked). But all it takes to make it chewy and edible is a soak in boiling water for an hour or two. And the addition of some key ingredients, namely lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and green onions makes it salad. Ruth always added diced cucumber and diced fresh tomatoes too. I’ve made her recipe off and on for years. So, this Bobby Flay recipe has been changed – only to make the tabbouleh salad like my friend Ruth did. We had it for leftovers a few nights later, and I just added bit more cucumber, tomato and that time I added radishes. And more arugula. So then I had to add a tad bit more lemon juice and olive oil too, but not much.
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A year ago: Salmon Filets with Orange & Leek Cream Sauce

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Oh, was this dish ever delicious. It was served at the cooking class I went to last week. The class was all about martinis, but Phillis Carey served food along with each of the three martinis. This was my favorite food item of the evening. It’s a sausage (andouille here, although she said you could also use hot Kielbasa instead) and shrimp stir-fry kind of mixture with onions and bell peppers, served over a bed of rice with spinach, garlic and pecans (that recipe tomorrow). What held the andouille shrimp mixture together was a sauce made up of Creole mustard, chicken broth and red wine vinegar.

Cajun seasoning is available most places now, but just in case, Phillis gave us a recipe to make our own without the salt (preferred): combine 5 T paprika, 2 tsp or up to 1 T cayenne pepper (if you like heat you can add more, to a max of 2 T), 1/4 c garlic powder, 2 T onion powder, 2 T black pepper, 3 T dried oregano and 2 T of dried thyme. It will keep for one month (enough for several dishes). Do not add salt to this (most prepared ones contain salt, which would make this dish way too salty).

The shrimp is tossed with the seasoning mixture (above). The sausage is cut diagonally and briefly sauteed. The shrimp is also briefly sauteed. Then you saute the onions and red bell pepper strips, make the sauce in with them, then you add in the sausage and shrimp just to heat through before serving over the rice. If you enjoy spicy stuff, here’s your ticket.
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A year ago: Herbed Biscuit Ring

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Over the holidays I’d planned to make this chowder, but just didn’t get around to it. But I had most of the ingredients, so it took little or no time to put it together the other night. We’re trying to eat a bit more healthy – note only 300+ calories a serving and 10 grams of fat. And that’s WITH some heavy cream in it.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a Trader Joe’s near you, they carry a mixed shellfish bag (calamari rings, bay scallops and shrimp). And I augmented it with a bag of already-cooked extra-large shrimp, cut up into chunks. The most amount of time spent was on chopping up the vegetables and cleaning the leeks. So that tells you how rapidly you can make this. The Cajun seasoning adds a zing to it – and I caution you to be careful about how much. Cajun seasonings vary in heat levels, and I don’t think I even added 1/4 teaspoon, and it was on the fence of being too hot for us. I wanted some vegetables in it (mushrooms) but you could use whatever you prefer. And it’s been mentioned here before that I am partial to Penzey’s (concentrated) soup bases– in this case I used the Seafood Soup Base that I’ve had in the refrigerator for about 6-8 months. It’s SO worth buying – rather than having to buy jars and jars of clam juice for this. Maybe you can find Knorr’s little cubes of fish stuff – that would work too. Be careful of the sodium on other products.

Since I had some garlic and saffron rouille on hand (from a chicken bouillabaisse I made a few nights ago) I added a dollop of that on the top of each soup bowl and garnished with the parsley. If we were eating bread I’d serve this with a baguette and butter, and a green salad with a garlicky dressing. Just delicious, and probably even better once it’s sat overnight in the refrigerator.
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Just a few nights ago I attended my book group’s Christmas potluck dinner. We always have such fun at this annual event. Everyone brings something, the hostess provides wine, soft drinks and coffee.  After we’ve stuffed ourselves with all the good food, we sit around in a circle and share something about the holidays – a funny personal story, a poem perhaps, or a very short (published) story.

One of our members, Nancy K, brought a soup this year. Not a very easy thing to take to a potluck, but it survived without spilling in her car. We’re ever so glad she did because it was just wonderful. I couldn’t believe it when she told us what was in it. Canned soups. Amazing. This could be my new fix-and-eat-in-a-hurry dinner, providing I’ve got the ingredients. Notes to self: buy some of those canned soups to keep on hand plus the frozen seafood mixture at Trader Joe’s.  The recipe is below.

This year at my group gathering, I shared a short chapter in Caroline Kennedy’s book A Family Christmas (published in 2007), a compendium of Christmas stories, lore, etc. The one I read was about NORAD. I know, what’s NORAD got to do with Christmas, you ask? Perhaps some of you know about this already, but I’d never heard that NORAD (and the comparable military group in Canada) track Santa on Christmas Eve, and you can read all about it on the internet at NORADSanta. You see, Rudolph’s nose is infrared, so the sensors in NORAD’s high-powered system can track exactly where Rudolph is at all times because of that glowing nose! They carefully monitor when Rudolph leaves the North Pole, and shortly after you can watch Santa’s progress (starting about 3 pm on Christmas Eve) around the world. Sometimes fighter jets get a sighting of Santa, and some planes are equipped with “Santa Cams” that also get occasional shots of Santa in different locations. Those photos are uploaded to the website so you and your children can see them. Anyway, the story I read aloud was all about how NORAD ended up even doing this project (because a newspaper misprinted a phone number for a Santa hotline, and the calls ended up going to a communications chief at NORAD. A quick-thinker that guy was – he decided his staff needed to pitch in and help, and the NORAD Santa project was born.)

Another book club member shared a joke – a very cute one. It’s the story about why Santa is a woman. If you’re interested, you can check it out at Christmas Jokes. There’s also some rebuttals out there about why Santa couldn’t possibly be a woman. All good for a laugh.
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Normally I don’t repeat recipes here on the blog – I’m not certain I ever have. However, this recipe bears a reprise, it’s just so absolutely fabulous. My friend Joan told me recently that she was searching around on my blog one day and came upon this recipe, which she made for her husband. Tom, who usually doesn’t comment much about anything she cooks, raved about this one. It got me to thinking about it, and so I decided I needed to make it again.

The original recipe comes from Cooking Light – the result of a reader’s recipe contest – and this was the winner. Hands down winner. I’ve only made it once, and I blogged about it immediately thereafter. You can read my original blog post, or you can read it here, with last night’s modifications. The winning cook/chef, Karen Tedesco from Webster Grove, Missouri, contacted me after I posted the write-up about it last February– she thanked me. Well, I thank HER for inventing this wonderful combination of shrimp, couscous and orangy dressing/sauce. But I’ll have to apologize to her – I improvised a little bit – I hope she won’t mind. It’s still her recipe! I ended up not making more sauce as I’d suggested in the previous recipe. It actually seemed sufficient this time – maybe because the orange juice concentrate gave it more punch.

How I changed it started with me not finding watercress at the grocery store. As I stood in the produce section scanning the rows, I spotted mint. I thought “Why not?” And since I don’t normally stock orange juice at home, I thought “how about concentrate instead?” That step cut down on the cooking time by about 10 minutes. So here are my improvised steps:

• I used a boxed mix of Near East brand couscous (which contained pine nuts, so I eliminated the almonds)
• In the sauce I substituted ¼ cup of defrosted orange juice concentrate for the reduced fresh orange juice
• I didn’t do the toasting of the couscous, but did add orange juice concentrate to the water
• I substituted fresh mint for the watercress

The revised recipe is below – almost as good as Karen Tedesco’s original – perhaps just a little shorter and easier to make. I guarantee you’ll be amazed at the flavors rolling around in your mouth with each bite – it’s the orange/ginger sauce that makes it, so don’t skimp on that part if you’re tempted. Joan said she used low-fat mayo – which would be fine – it’s the orange flavor you taste. And even though there are four elements to this dish (shrimp, sauce, mint and couscous) it’s very easy to make. It took me about 25 minutes start to finish. So please, do yourselves a favor and MAKE THIS SOON! I don’t rave this much about all the recipes you’ll find here on my blog, but this one deserved the blue ribbon!

Also, in case you’re interested in such things . . . here’s a photo of the leftovers (I made it to serve 4, so now I have enough for another dinner). Anyway, this is a Tupperware combination – it’s a stack of 3 low, flat containers that hook to themselves and there’s one lid (that works on any of the 3 sections). Bottom: couscous; middle: mint; top: shrimp; cup on top: orange/ginger sauce. I don’t use this container very often, but when it’s right, it’s RIGHT. This was one of those times.
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At the cooking class the other day, I glanced at the list of recipes and certainly didn’t think this one would be the standout of both classes, but it was. It isn’t all that unusual, there isn’t a long list of ingredients and it didn’t take all that long to make. Aren’t those the best kind of recipes to get and make? Easy, quick and yummy delicious to boot!

Although the recipe, by Phillis Carey, is made here for shrimp, it could also be made with scallops (with some bacon added, she suggested). I’ll be making this soon because the flavor was just melt-in-the-mouth. The orzo was smooth and slippery, there was just enough creaminess to make you think you were eating the rice-style risotto, and the broccolini was a perfect side. You can make the orzo ahead, and then it’s just a matter of roasting the veg and combining the rest and you’re done. Definitely make more than needed, as you’ll crave the leftovers.
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A few weeks ago I was watching Martha when she had several famous New York chefs on the show. Seems like they all made fish of some kind, and this particular recipe just sounded interesting. Since Fall is in the air, a more hearty meal piqued my curiosity. The recipe is from Chef Daniel Boulud, certainly one of the pre-eminent chefs out there today. His method is more French than anything else. This recipe isn’t for a night when you’re trying to get dinner on the table in a hurry. It would be more appropriate for guests or a special evening at home. I have changed the recipe just a little. Originally it served 6. I cut it down to serve 2 (shown below). I couldn’t find salsify at the market, so I substituted parsnips. I hadn’t fixed celery root in years, but most markets here in California carry it regularly. I love the subtle taste of celery in this root vegetable.

So, here’s the gist of the recipe. First you make the wine and port sauce. It boils down to next to nothing (I actually left the shallot in the sauce, and I forgot to add the peppercorns altogether). Meanwhile, you peel and cube the celery root. Be sure to use a sturdy peeler if you have one. A light-weight one probably couldn’t pull the heavy peel off. Dig out any eyes and remove most of the very dark swirly parts (the part that’s actually the peel) by just peeling an additional layer or two. Cut into cubes and then you poach the root in milk to which you’ve added some seasonings. That takes about 20 minutes. I pureed it in the food processor (the actual recipe has more steps) and didn’t use all the milk, but just about.

The fish is fairly straight forward – you place some fresh sage leaves (from my garden) on the salmon fillets, then top them with one or two slices of bacon. I wanted to use one slice rather than two, but use your own judgment. It will be harder to turn the salmon if you lay the bacon on top (as I did) rather than wrapping two slices around the middle (so the bacon will stick to itself where the ends meet). I actually baked my salmon in the oven, but the done-ness was much harder to judge (it was overcooked, even though I used a thermometer), so I recommend you stick to the recipe below pan sautéing it.

The results: Absolutely delicious. The celery root puree with its moderately subtle celery flavor was a great pairing with the hearty salmon. The SAUCE is what makes it, though. I wish I’d made more. You want to take each bite that includes a bit of the celery root, salmon, bacon and sauce.
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