Category — Recipes

Halibut Asian Style

• 2 pounds halibut fillets, cut into chunks
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 lemon
• 5 sprigs of fresh coriander, leaves pulled off
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 1 fresh red chile, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Place the sesame seeds onto a flat dish, then add the halibut chunks, turning them over in the seeds to nicely coat.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 3/4 of the sliced garlic to the pan and fry for 1 minute, or until golden and crisp, remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to quickly transfer to a plate, leaving the oil in the skillet.

Return the pan to the heat, then add the sesame-coated halibut to the garlic oil. Sear on one side for 1 to 2 minutes. Using a spatula, turn over and cook on other side for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Place the grated ginger in a small bowl with the soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and the remaining sliced garlic. Add the zest of the lemon and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, then mix well to combine. Taste and add more lemon juice, if needed.

Thank you for all your input and comments on which of the 8 recipes I put forth you’d like to see first. The requests were all over the board, but the jalapeño jelly had a couple more than the rest. I believe the halibut had the next most, so that recipe will be second and then I’ll go from there until all recipes are posted here for you.

I made this jelly as a take-home gift for the students in my series at Les Gourmettes Cooking School. All of the recipes from this particular class were from Barbara Fenzl’s Southwest The Beautiful Cookbook. This jelly is the perfect homemade gift or hostess gift, especially during the holidays. But I promise you, it’s would be a much-appreciated gift any time of the year.

The recipe below is written just as it is in the book, but here is a tip I’d like to add: When dispersing the jelly between the jars, use a slotted spoon to evenly divide the solids into each jar. If you pour the jelly directly in, the first few jars will end up with all the solids and the last will have none.

Once the solids are distributed, then ladle the hot liquid evenly between the jars. I used 4-ounce jars and ended up with 17. That is a very satisfying amount of gifts for one quick cooking session.

As I sit here on Sunday night at nearly 8:00, in my heart I want to put up a recipe post but I really don’t have it in me. I had a busy (work-wise) weekend but also a kind of shitty (sorry, it’s still my favorite word) personal weekend. In fact, after working the morning away, I spent all of the rest of Sunday, in avoidance, watching a great show on Netflix called “Dead To Me” Which coincidently, was picked up for a second season just this week.

I highly recommend it and I thank Lisa and Jen for recommending it to me. xoxo

So how about I give you some choices for recipe posts for the coming days? I’ll show you a few photos and you can leave me comments telling me which ones you are most interested in getting the recipes for. I’m sure that eventually, I’ll post the recipe for each and every single one, but how you respond (or choose not to respond) will help me decide which to post first.

Then once I’ve posted the recipe, I’ll like it to the photo below for easy reference.

Several of these recipes are long-time favorites that I featured in my last series of classes at Les Gourmettes Cooking School.

And some of the others are dishes I made for an early birthday dinner that Peggy and I hosted on Thursday night for our sweet Anne.

In fact, TODAY is Anne’s actual birthday! Happy Birthday, Sweet Anne. I adore you! xoxo

For me, it’s never too hot for soup. I understand why some people shy away from soup during the summer because I’m the same way about red wine. Give me white or rosé (also known as Summer Water) or nothing at all. But my love for soup is year-round.

I actually made this batch of broccoli soup on Memorial Day when it was unseasonably cool outside. I had a big bag of broccoli florets that needed to be used, time was not their friend. I also had a loaf of brioche in the freezer left from cooking classes earlier in the month which would make wonderful croutons for this soup or a salad later in the week. I always feel good about using up stuff I have on hand instead of another grocery store run.

For the mix of fresh herbs, I used rosemary, parsley, thyme, and oregano. Use whatever herbs you like best or have on hand.

I have so much to tell you about this simple brown, dump, and walk-away turkey chili recipe. It’s so easy that I shouldn’t have anything to share, but somehow…

The first thing is these chips! They are so good that I am never buying them again. I’ve made the chili twice a week and I’ve gone through two bags of these devilishly yummy chips. Five pounds on the hips later and nope, I’m done with them! So take that, Tostitos Hint of Jalapeño.

Next is this cheese. I hope that all Trader Joe’s lovers, like myself, know about TJ’s Unexpected Cheddar. It is the bomb! It makes me unsatisfied with plain old cheddar now. There is just something about this cheddar-Parm combo that makes me happy. The texture isn’t great for slicing, it is a bit crumbly, but I don’t care, I use it on Harmony Boards anyhow just to spread the love.

Now for an explanation as to why I used a slow cooker instead of my Instant Pot for this chili. Laziness is the simple reason. Both my slow cooker and Instant Pot are in this cupboard on the left in my garage. The day before I made the recipe for the first time, I’d bought a bunch of wood for Harmony Boards. The sanded, branded and oiled boards that are ready to go are in the rolling bin to the right. The new wood is stacked against the bin and is blocking half of the cupboard. The Instant Pot is behind that locked door on the right and the slow cooker is behind the unblocked door on the left. That’s the reason. You could easily use an Instant Pot for this recipe and cut out the step of browning the meat in a skillet and brown it directly in the pot.

Lastly, I want to share a “Grandma Tip” that I’ve always assumed everyone knows and uses. And that is when you use canned food, such as the diced tomatoes used here, and you have a liquid that is also added to the dish, such as the water in this recipe, you pour the liquid into the empty can to wash out the can and get every little bit of the food out. You do that, right? If you don’t then your grandma or mom messed up. You need to do that. And in the case of this recipe which uses two cans of tomatoes, you add the water to one of the cans and then pour it into the other can to wash it out and then pour it into the slow cooker.

See, I had a bunch to share! Now on to this delicious recipe! I love it because the addition of tortilla chips at the end gives it a hint of tamale taste. YUM!

These last few weeks have been my favorite time at Trader Joe’s. Immediately upon entering you see and smell the peonies. At $7.99 a bunch, I can not resist. Even when the petals are falling off, they are the perfect still life. When I went to bed the night before, they looked perfect, when I woke up, this was the vision, still perfection.

Marti, a student in my series at Les Gourmettes, shared the recipe for the cake that I’m sharing with you today. After listening to my constant complaints about baking and my disdain for it, Marti handed me a printout from the January 2019 issue of Costco Connection.

The article is about the book The Gown, by Jennifer Robson. The story takes place during WWII. This one-egg cake recipe is one of Robson’s favorites because she imagines it represents the shortages of war and the community spirit of sharing that prevailed. And I imagine that Marti thought I might enjoy making this cake since it has so few ingredients and is simple and quick to put together.

Could Marti be right in that basic assumption? Let us see… Looks beautiful, doesn’t it? Look at those peonies, gorgeous!  But… what are they hiding?

Surely all is well, nothing to see here, move along. I mean, there is nothing to be suspicious about, peonies are edible after all. According to the Thompson and Morgan Edible Flower Guide, the petals taste lovely in fresh salads. I’m certain they would taste lovely on a slice of cake too.

Fine, I’ll remove the flowers for cutting.

Seriously! Is it any wonder I hate to bake?

I followed the recipe. I did substitute watered-down heavy cream for the milk because that’s what I had available and in the spirit of rationing, that seemed a fair way to go. Also, the recipe did not indicate if you were to leave the baked cake in the pan, on a rack, to cool completely or take it out after 10 minutes or any sort of instruction on that step. As such, I have added it to my recipe below. Maybe it would not have fallen apart if I’d let it cool completely. You can give that a try and let me know because I am not making this again, although it did taste quite delicious.

Marti, thank you for having faith in me, sorry to let you down. xoxo

On a side note: I do know a baking rule or two such as, always checking the expiration date on your baking powder before you use it. If it’s expired, run out and get another can. As you can see, I can’t blame my failure on that.

Kim made these delicious cauliflower toasts for happy hour this past weekend. I’m not really on the “cauliflower is everything” train, but I do have to admit, these are darn good. Of course, they do include bread and a trio of yummy cheeses; mascarpone, Gruyère, and Parmesan, so that could contribute to me loving them. #cheeseislife

Kim found the recipe in the New York Times. The author of the article had adapted an Ina Garten recipe, removing prosciutto and more cheese from the original recipe. I adore prosciutto, but I like these toasts this way.

Cheesy Cauliflower Toasts

• 1 head cauliflower, leaves, and thick core removed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces mascarpone
• 4 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated  
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 6 slices rustic sourdough type bread
• Freshly grated Parmesan, for topping
• Sweet paprika, for topping
• Finely chopped chives or parsley, for garnish (optional)

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the cauliflower into 1/2-inch clusters. Transfer to a sheet pan and toss with the olive oil, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Spread florets out into a single layer and roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until tender and browned in spots, 25 to 30 minutes.

Sometimes when I look back at this nearly 10-year-old blog, I find it shocking what recipes I DON’T have on here.

Today’s recipe is the perfect example. I’ve been making these nachos since 1993, a year before the cookbook that they are printed in even came out. That is because I tested the recipes in the cookbook, Southwest The Beautiful Cookbook by Barbara Pool Fenzl.

The recipes for the second week of my cooking series at Les Gourmettes Cooking School all came from the book. And this recipe is one of my absolute favorites. I’ve made these nachos dozens of times. Everyone loves them! So how it is that they’ve never made it on here? It blows my mind.

A funny side notes: when I was purchasing the ingredients this past weekend so I could blog and photograph the recipe, I accidentally grabbed sour cream with chives. It works in this application – the funny part is that I didn’t even know that existed until I got home and opened the container. I practically live in grocery stores, how did this slip past me?

One thing that hasn’t slipped by is the fact that Tostitos Scoops are great tortilla chips. They were not introduced to the market until 2003, ten years after this recipe was developed. But by all means, use them because they are perfect for these individual nachos such as these.

For the first week of my final series of classes at Les Gourmettes, I chose the menu from recipes from the very first series of classes I took from Barbara Fenzl more than 30 years ago.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared the story of how I came to work for Barb at Les Gourmettes Cooking School. With these next two weeks of classes being the last, now seems like a good time.

In the fall of 1988, when my daughter, Marissa, was not yet 1-year-old, I first learned that there was a cooking school in Phoenix called Les Gourmettes. Our local newspaper, The Arizona Republic, used to have a glorious Food & Dining Section. It was massive compared to what you find in the paper today. At least once a month, there was a “Food Calendar” and Barb’s school was listed there. It was one of, if not the only, avocational cooking schools in town back then.

We didn’t have much money to spare, but I splurged and signed up for the series of three classes. I loved it! I was hooked! Now I was on the mailing list, so when the schedule for the next semester came around, I not only signed up for Barb’s series again but also for Jacques Pepin’s class.

I adored Jacques. I had several of his cookbooks and Jacques would come to the Scottsdale Culinary Festival in those days and I went to see him whenever he was in town.  The series was first, and after each class, I would tell Barb that I was a stay-at-home mom, and if she ever needed anything, I would run around town to get it for her. I assured her I knew how to cook, that I had worked for a respected caterer in town, and that I personally catered on the side. I had a growing cookbook collection and I rarely made the same recipe twice because I loved to create and experiment. Basically, I was not only passionate about cooking, but I was also good at it.

During the time between Barb’s series and Jacques’ class, Barb’s assistant had to leave and get a full-time job. All my offers of help had paid off! Barb called to see if I’d be interested in apprenticing as her assistant, starting immediately. I was over the moon!

Not only was I going to work in a cooking school, but I was also going to assist Jacques Pepin! And the cherry on top – I was going to be refunded the money I had paid for Jacques’ class. That was huge for us back then! We had a new baby, I had recently been in a serious car accident and bills were piling up. Dave had just been made a partner at his CPA firm and we were making very large monthly payments for his buy-in.

As they say, the rest is history. I’ve been with Barb for 30 years. Working there lead to me opening my own children’s cooking school, to dozens of articles in the newspaper, in national parenting magazines, local TV appearances, starting this blog, meeting and working with the likes of Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse, teaching Larry Fitzgerald to cook and so much more. So yeah, I have a lot to thank Barbara Fenzl and Les Gourmettes for, including this recipe. Enjoy.

Today is my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Sloane! I love you and I’m looking forward to celebrating with you tonight!

Also, this is the last post of April. If you don’t already know, there is a contest that ends today. If you’re not playing along, it’s not too late, just go read the rules HERE. You may still leave comments through Thursday evening since the winner(s) will be drawn on Friday.

If you are playing, please double-check all the April posts to be certain you’ve left a comment on each one, there are a total of twelve posts this April. The winning name(s) will be drawn and notified on Friday, May 3, 2019. Helpful Hint: To easily look at each post this month, there is an April calendar in the top right corner of this page. The dates in blue are days with a post. You can click on each of those blue days and scroll down to the comments to check and see if your comment is there. This is the page layout for a computer. On a cell phone, you’ll need to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “View Full Site” to see the calendar in the upper right corner.

Since April is coming to an end, this is also the last post about Easter 2019. Here are photos of the Easter Harmony Board and Bloody Mary Board which I created, along with my table setting. Plus a simple recipe for the second salad I served for Easter. HERE is a link to the first salad.