It Always Comes Back to Food

I'm currently reading "A Homemade Life" by Molly Wizenburg (and I'm loving it).  It's a lovely collection of stories about Molly, her family & friends and food - including recipes.  One of the joys I'm finding in reading this particular book is the discovery that mine is not the only family who's family memories revolve around food!  Whenever we talk about get togethers, vacations, etc., food is always involved. 

For instance, I can remember a trip I took with my parents to California to visit my Aunt & Uncle and my then baby cousin.  It's the first road trip I really took with them without my sister and brother along.  The funny thing is, the majority of my memories of this trip revolve around food - I can remember 3 different restaurants (although, sadly, not their names) & what I ate at each one! 

We always seemed to land in Redding, CA our first night on any road trip to California and this trip was no exception. That first morning heading out of Redding, we decided to hit the road and grab breakfast somewhere along the way.  We ended up on this funky dirt road (that I think was supposed to be a short cut) which eventually lead us to a very small town whose name I cannot even remember.  We discovered a steak house that looked popular & happened to serve breakfast so we pulled in.  It had a Red Baron theme, including drawings of bi-planes on the paper placemats.  Although I no longer remember what Mom or Dad ordered, I still have full recollection of the fantastic strawberry pancakes that I ordered.  They were as big as my plate, smothered in beautiful, fresh strawberries and topped with my all-time favorite, whipped cream!  The pancakes were a perfect, golden brown on the outside and moist and fluffy on the inside.  YUM!

We moved on and ended up in Fort Bragg, California (that same night, I think).  We stayed at a motel with a view of the ocean and I'm sure we must have spent a bit of time on the beach, but again, it's the meal we had there that I remember most.  Mom & Dad chose a lovely seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean.  I've always liked steamed clams (my aunt & uncle who live on Whidbey Island used to have amazing clambakes at their place) and this restaurant had clams steamed in a champagne and herb sauce.  They were wonderful, tender morsels of clams served with melted butter, of course, and lovely, crusty sourdough bread.  I think of that dinner every time I watch "Pretty Woman" - you know the scene where Vivian is having dinner in a fancy restaurant with Edward and his business associates and she sends an escargot flying?  - well, I was attempting to remove a particularly stubborn clam from it's shell and fling went my fork, zing went the clam to land somewhere on the floor near my chair!  I was mortified!  Of course, my first instinct was to chase it, pick it up and discard it, but my mother said "Don't even think about it!" and assured me it must happen with some regularity and suggested that we just let the wait staff know upon our departure.  Which we did - and all was well.

My final food-related memory of that trip was of my first taste of Red Snapper.  Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we've always eaten plenty of fish.  I think at this point in my life (I must've been 13 or so at the time) I had eaten salmon, halibut, the aforementioned clams, oysters, crab, shrimp, trout, steelhead and who knows what else, but I had never tasted Red Snapper.  On the way home, we stayed at a lovely place at Lake Shasta - I remember wishing we could stay one more day to enjoy the resort-setting, but we had a pretty tight timeline on the trip back.  We had dinner in the restaurant that was part of the resort where we stayed.  I ordered the Red Snapper - I don't remember anything, really, about the specific preparation, but I do remember enjoying it thoroughly!  Red Snapper became a favorite of mine for awhile after that and I would often order it when I had the opportunity.

It seems every family gathering involves dinner or lunch, potluck or BBQ.  Of course we need fuel to live, and we all know it's not healthy to "live to eat", but wouldn't life be so much more mundane without those wonderful surprises like a perfectly steamed bucket of clams, a light & fluffy pancake or that first taste of something new?  Our family has been talking about a get-together in October to celebrate all the fall birthdays and, yep, you guessed it, we've already talked about what to fix for dinner!  It's true, it really does always come back to food!

Ina Garten's Roasted Shrimp & Orzo Salad

I picked up a new recipe recently while watching an episode of the Barefoot Contessa.  About a week ago, I decided to try the recipe for the first time - just off the top of my head.  I managed to just about duplicate it, but I did make one minor change.  The recipe was for Roasted Shrimp and Orzo salad and called for cucumbers, amongst the other ingredients.  Rather than purchasing cucs, I decided to use some zucchini I already had on hand and - and this is the inspired part - I had my husband grill the zucchini.  Steven said the zucchini really made the salad - it was his favorite part.  It's a really tasty dish & can be treated as a salad or a side dish.  We've eaten it cold so far, but I'm sure it would be tasty warm too. 

Here's the link to the recipe - try it, it's so delicious that when I decided to take it to the family reunion for my potluck contribution, he said I should but a warning on it that eating it may cause "orgasm" - yes, he really said that!  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-shrimp-and-orzo-recipe/index.html

The weather has been fairly hot here lately (for the Pacific Northwest anyway), and I haven't really wanted to heat up the house by turning on the oven, so I did cook the shrimp in my cast iron skillet - they were delicious, but I've tried Ina's oven roasting method too - and they are especally yummy prepared that way.

It's really best to prepare a day in advance, we both thought it was at it's best the next day and it's held up well enough for us to pack it in our lunches for a couple days following. 

Fish Tacos - Perfect Summer Fare!

I picked up some lovely, fresh cod at the grocery store the other day and decided we'd have fish tacos.  The kids aren't big on fish though and since they headed to Grandma's house for a visit yesterday, I decided to fix the fish tacos last night. 

I really like dill, cumin, coriander and fresh lime juice on white fish so that's what I used last night, plus salt & pepper and a bit of olive oil.  I prepped the fish, then baked it in the oven - no breading, no frying.  I baked it at 375 degrees (f) for about 15-20 minutes.  It came out moist and delicious! 

For toppings, I'm not big on the traditional cabbage, so I just shredded up some romaine lettuce instead. I also cut up some fresh zucchini into matchstick-sized pieces and cut a lime into wedges and made some fresh tartar sauce. 

Tartar Sauce:
1/4 c light sour cream or greek yogurt
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
1 tbls capers, chopped
1 tbls. dill (fresh is best, if you can get it)
1/2 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. cumin
salt & pepper to taste

Stir it all together and Chill while the fish is baking.

I found some lovely corn tortillas at the store that were really soft & "hand-made style" - they were a bit thicker and a lot moister than the usual corn tortillas - and healthier too.  The zucchini added a nice crunch and their mild flavor allowed the fish to remain the star. We also had a lovely spinach salad with honey-mustard dressing to balance out the meal.  My husband enjoyed this delicious, light and healthy meal so much, he had a 2nd helping!

Queso Fundido!

Queso Fundido is a delicous, melted cheese appetizer.  I've been playing around with devising my own recipe and I think I've finally come up with "my recipe"!  Here it is, I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as much as we did (even my pickiest eater enjoyed this one):

approx. 1 lb Chorizo (I found bulk Chorizo at my local grocery store)
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz. Queso Quesadilla Cheese (cheddar, aged monterey jack or pepper jack would be good too), grated
1/2 large or 1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tbls sour cream
juice of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a cast-iron (or oven-proof) skillet brown the Chorizo.  Add the chopped onion and bell pepper & saute until Chorizo is browned and the onions are transparent.  Cut cream cheese into chunks and add to chorizo, veggie mixture.  Turn off eat and allow to sit for about 1 minute.  Stir until cream cheese is well combined with chorizo mixture.  Add grated cheese, sour cream and the lime juice and stir until all is well blended (it's ok if the cheese hasn't melted fully).  Place skillet in preheated oven and bake about 10-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly (I like it a bit browned on top too).  Serve hot with tortilla chips.

The chorizo added just enough spice for our family, but if you prefer it spicier you could certainly add a couple of hot jalapeno or other hot peppers.  I have made Queso without chorizo and that is tasty too!

Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pizzetta

I was fortunate enough, recently, to receive some wonderful wild mushrooms from a friend who gathers them and then cans her harvest.  I have to admit, I've been hoarding them.  They are an extra-special treat and I knew right away I wanted to use them for a really special pizza or pizzetta.  Our Godson recently arrived to spend the summer with us, so a couple nights after he arrived, when the weather was beautiful, we BBQ'd some steaks and I decided to grill some pizzetta to go along with it!  To cut corners, I picked up some "pocketless" pita.  Then I warmed some olive oil in a small saucepan and dropped in several cloves of coarsley chopped garlic as well as some fresh rosemary & thyme.  I let them all steep together, then brushed a couple rounds of the pita with it, being sure to include the herbs and garlic.  I topped them with some sliced red bell pepper (I would have preferred roasted, but the fresh worked out fine), 1 can of the wild mushrooms, drained and some goat cheese.  We threw them on the grill - a bit to the side where the heat wasn't as hot.  We covered them with the lid to a sturdy pot to trap in the heat & melt the cheese.  They came out utterly delicious! 

Ciao!