September 30, 2015 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

September in the Kitchen – Carrot Habanero Sauce

‘Tis the season for peppers…sweet peppers, hot peppers, small peppers, large ones, and all colors…green, red, yellow, purple and orange.

Sweet peppers

But the season is short, much too short here in Northern California. This bright orange hot sauce using habaneros will bring back the taste (and heat) of summer on a dull winter day. What’s the best part? You can save a bit of summer in a jar and it is easy to make even for a beginner.

Habaneros

Use the sauce on grilled cheese sandwiches, tacos, or scrambled eggs…anywhere you need a touch of spicy heat. The carrots add sweetness and a lovely orange color. Plus it’s a wonderful hostess or Christmas gift.

I recommend using small (4-ounce) jars. This sauce is potent and a little goes a long way. If you prefer less heat, use more Serrano chilies or jalapeños and less habaneros. The habaneros are one of the hottest of the chilies.

Use a hot water canner if you have one, or a large pot if you don’t. Please refer to a good book on canning for more detailed instructions if you are not familiar with the basic techniques.

Carrot Habanero Sauce

1 1/2 pounds of carrots (orange), peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds. A food processor will make short work of this.
Carrots
1 large white onion
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
4 habanero peppers, seeded and chopped
2 jalapeño peppers (red if you can find them), seeded and chopped
5 cups white vinegar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

Combine the carrots, onion, water, lemon juice, salt, garlic and ginger in a medium non-reactive pot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer until the carrots are very soft. This could take 30 minutes. If the mixture seems dry, add a tablespoon or two of water.
Once the carrots are soft, add the peppers and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the vinegar, lime juice and zest.
Either blend the mixture with an immersion blender or transfer in batches to a standing blender or food processor. (I prefer the smoother texture you get with a blender, you might like more texture.) Blend until smooth.
Optional (I don’t do this as I prefer the color and texture of the unstrained sauce. Your yield will also be higher): Strain the sauce through a strainer, using a rubber spatula to press the liquid through. Discard any chunky bits.
Pour into a large container and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors blend.
The following day, blend the sauce again. Return it to the pot and bring it to a simmer, cook for about 25-30 minutes until it is thick and glossy.
Ladle the sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Check for air bubbles, wipe the rim, and seal. Process for 10 minutes.

This recipe makes approximately 6 pints of sauce. I use 4 oz. jars, so you will have plenty for both your own use and gift giving.

Carrot Habanero Sauce

Recipe adapted from Tart and Sweet by Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler.

And what is my personal favorite way to use it? Grilled cheese with a sharp Canadian white cheddar. I was recently in Seattle where grilled cheese is big business, here you see a food truck parked in from of Tesla. “Gourmet Grilled Cheese”… I think this could hang in there with their offerings.

Grilled Cheese is Big Business

Grilled cheese on Focaccia with Carrot Habanero

May 29, 2015 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

May in the Kitchen – Slow Roast Salmon with Herbed Lemon Verbena Pesto

It is hard to beat salmon on the grill, crusty skin and tender center still slightly pink. On the downside it does require careful watching and can overcook with even an additional 30 seconds on a hot BBQ or grill pan. This recipe for slow roast salmon is very forgiving, and you can walk away. You will have time to serve the bruschetta and have a glass of wine with your guests.

The recipe is adapted from the SF Chronicle archives. I used a mix of herbs, heavy on the lemon verbena but with the addition of lemon thyme, chives, and an Italian calamint (member of the mint family which has flavors of oregano, mint and basil).

Herbs for lemon verbena pesto

Slow Roast Salmon with Lemon Verbena Herb Pesto

1 cup of washed and packed mixed fresh herbs such as lemon verbena leaves, sorrel, chives, mint, chervil and thyme.
2 shallots, peeled
4-6 tablespoons of olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 fillets (4-6 oz) or 1 larger (about 1.5 lbs) fillet of salmon, skin on

Lemon Verbena Pesto

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Combine the shallots and herbs in a food processor. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Process to a paste.
Rub the paste over the cut surfaces of the salmon.
Place the salmon, skin side down, on a non-stick or parchment lined roasting dish.
Bake for 20 minutes for smaller fillets, up to 45 minutes for a single larger one. The fish should be translucent in the center but opaque.

Salmon with lemon verbena pesto

I’m taking this to share with the gang at Fiesta Friday #70. I didn’t get to party last week and am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to. Please come join us at Angie’s.

Fiesta Friday

April 26, 2015 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

April in the Kitchen – Teriyaki Salmon with Spring Vegetables

Did you ever think there could be a “healthy” teriyaki sauce? Certainly one without MSG is making progress. But, what about one without granulated sugar? Impossible! Well, I’m going to give you an alternative…dates, yes dates. This sauce consists of medjool dates as the sweetener. What a brilliant idea, don’t you think? Simply soak them in warm water for a few minutes, then dump them with some garlic, ginger, soy sauce and rice vinegar into the jar of your blender. Puree all of them together with some of the soaking water from the dates until smooth. That’s all there is to it. It goes together very quickly.

I’m sorry to say I didn’t invent the sauce. I saw it in a post on the blog “A Pinch of Yum” for 30-Minute Sesame Mango Chicken. It was too good to pass up. If you are not familiar with that blog, it’s worth a visit as she posts some great recipes, many of them healthy and vegetarian.

This is a thicker sauce than my own “old” favorite using maple syrup. You’ll find that recipe here from an earlier post in February of this year.

I marinated some wild caught salmon steaks (the first of the season) in the sauce, then sautéed them quickly. They were still slightly pink in the middle, just the way we like them. Served with a quick stir fry of asparagus and snap peas with a spoonful of roast garlic lemon butter it was a quick and delicious mid-week dinner. You’ll find the recipe for the roast garlic and lemon butter here.

Salmon Steaks in Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

15 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked in 1/2 cup of very warm water for 30 minutes
3/4 cup soy sauce, regular or low sodium
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced or grated
Optional – pinch of red pepper flakes
Optional – 1/4 cup sesame oil

Medjool Dates

Soak the pitted dates in the hot water
Dump the dates and rest of the ingredients (including the soaking water) into your blender and blend until very smooth.
Pour into a container until ready to use.

Teriyaki Sauce with Dates

This will keep in the fridge for at least a week, we found it got “hotter” and spicier the longer it sat.

Teriyaki Sauce

Grilled or Sautéed Salmon with Teriyaki Sauce

I sautéed the salmon steaks but they would be equally wonderful on the BBQ.

Marinate salmon steaks or fillets in the sauce for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour in the fridge.
Heat 3 tablespoons of peanut or other vegetable oil in your skillet on medium high heat.
Add the salmon, skin side down.
Saute on medium high heat for about approximately 10 minutes total for every inch of thickness. We like our salmon on the rare side and they weren’t quite so thick, so I started the steaks skin side down and turned them after 4 minutes.

Wild Caught Salmon

Asparagus and Snap Peas with Roast Garlic and Lemon Butter

1 bunch of asparagus, ends snapped and cut into pieces about the length of the snap peas. I used a spiral diagonal cut, turning the stalk a half way round after each diagonal slice. That exposed more of the inner part of the stalk to the heat, cooking is a bit faster.
Asparagus
About 3-4 cups of snap peas, stringed if necessary and cut in half lengthwise
Snap peas
4 scallions, cleaned and cut in half lengthwise, then into pieces the same size as the asparagus and peas.
Snap peas and scallions
2 tablespoons of roast garlic and lemon butter, (or 2 garlic cloves, finally minced, plus the zest and juice of one lemon, and 1 tablespoon of butter)
Roast Garlic and Lemon Butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium low heat.
If not using the roast garlic butter, add the minced garlic to the pan and saute until softened but not brown.
Add the asparagus to the pan and turn up the heat to medium high. Saute for about 4 to 5 minutes until bright green and beginning to soften.
Add the snap peas to the pan and saute for an additional 3 to 4 minutes until everything is bright spring green and slightly softened but still crisp.
Asparagus with Snap Peas
Finish with the roast garlic butter or add the lemon zest and juice plus the tablespoon of butter. Continue to heat until everything is coated with sauce.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Asparagus with Snap Peas and Roast Garlic/Lemon Butter

Salmon, asparagus, and fresh peas…this meal is the essence of spring. What are you serving to celebrate the season?

I’m taking this to share on Fiesta Friday #66 hosted by Angie. If you would like to see what is on the menu, come pay a visit to the party.

Fiesta Friday

April 18, 2015 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

April in the Kitchen – Grilled Steak with Roast Garlic and Arugula Chimichurri

BBQ season is here, although I wouldn’t complain if we had some more rain. We are headed into serious drought conditions here in California. But, no rain is forecasted for the weekend and temperatures are up in the 70’s. It’s good grilling weather and steak is on the menu. We prefer hanger, skirt, and ribeye steak on the grill. And, of them all, my family is most fond of skirt steak, a cut which has unfortunately become more expensive because its popularity for fajitas.

Arugula is present year round in my garden, it has self sowed itself prolifically enough to more closely resemble a weed. The wild selviticca is very peppery and tart, unlike the tamer varieties you find in the supermarket. You don’t need much to make a big impact.

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Grilled Steak with Roast Garlic and Arugula Chimichurri

8 cloves of roasted garlic
1 small shallot
1 large handful of arugula
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 to 2 pounds of steak for the BBQ

In the bowl of a regular or mini-food processor combine the garlic and shallot, pulse until finely chopped. Add the arugula and pulse again, add the olive oil, wine vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Pulse to combine into a green sauce.
Meanwhile preheat your BBQ grill or stove top grill pan on high heat. Rub the steak with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill to your desired doneness. Let the steak rest on a cutting board for at least 10 minutes before cutting against the grain.
Serve with chimichurri sauce.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Arugula Chimicurri Sauce

Grilled Skirt Steak with Arugula Chimichurri Sauce

Note: Roast Garlic

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut the top 1/4 inch off the top of a head of garlic.
Place in the center of a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil.
Wrap the foil, enclosing the garlic, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until soft.
Allow to cool before squeezing the cloves from the skin.

March 1, 2015 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

March in the Kitchen – Spicy Lemon Salsa Verde

Salsa verde is a green herb sauce with an olive oil base. It is amazingly adaptable to what you have on hand and at its simplest consists of only parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt. In the book “Twelve Recipes” by Cal Peternell, he lists an amazing number of variations. Replace the parsley with basil (a simple version of pesto), cilantro, or chervil; or add a bit of rosemary, sage, and savory (finely chopped) along with the parsley; or add a chopped hard-boiled egg; anchovies are good; capers, chopped pickles…I think you get the picture.

This is a basic sauce that will last a week in the fridge. It has endless uses and will dress up everything from scrambled eggs to roast cauliflower. I used the last drops in a pasta dish (look for a future post) and it was delicious.

This is simple to make, you could hand chop everything but I simply put everything in my food processor and chopped them until it was a lovely green mess. The chili adds a punch; add a whole one if you like more spice. I wanted the lemon to shine through and kept the heat in control. A pinch of red pepper flakes would work if you don’t have a chili handy.

The sauce is a spring day in the middle of winter.

Spicy Lemon Salsa Verde

1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped
1 bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
2 lemons – zest and juice
1 large shallot, skinned and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, skinned and roughly chopped
½ Serrano chili, seeded and roughly chopped
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt

Spicy Lemon Salsa Verde

Dump all the ingredients except the olive oil into the bowl of your food processor and process until finely chopped.
Add the olive oil and continue to process until it becomes a smooth sauce.
Taste for salt, mine needed the entire teaspoon.

Salsa Verde

Done!

Spicy Lemon Salsa Verde

It was wonderful on a simple vegetable side dish of roast cauliflower steaks and elevated a somewhat bland (but amazingly adaptable) vegetable to new heights.

Roast Cauliflower Steaks

Roast Cauliflower with Spicy Lemon Salsa Verde

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Adventures in gardening, cooking, and eating

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September in the Kitchen – Carrot Habanero Sauce

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May in the Kitchen – Slow Roast Salmon with Herbed Lemon Verbena Pesto

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April in the Kitchen – Teriyaki Salmon with Spring Vegetables

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April in the Kitchen – Grilled Steak with Roast Garlic and Arugula Chimichurri

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March in the Kitchen – Spicy Lemon Salsa Verde

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