Strawberry Spinach Salad

As summer draws to a close, I must share my favorite recipe for strawberry spinach salad.  This is a real crowd pleaser!  I used to have my nurse anesthesia graduate students to dinner nearly every month for dinner and journal club and this was their favorite salad!  It is especially good in the summer when all of the produce is fresh!  This became known as “journal club salad”.  I also used to serve a special recipe of chicken that became known as “journal club chicken” that I’ll share with you another time.   This salad can be increased for the size crowd you will be serving.  Be careful not to be “heavy handed” with the dressing because it will get soggy!!

Ingredients

Salad:

1 pt strawberries, cleaned, hulled, thickly sliced*

1 bunch cleaned fresh baby spinach, torn into bite-sized pieces

1/2 red onion sliced

*Strawberries should not be too ripe, but firm.

Dressing:

1/2 C mayonnaise or Vegenaise®

2 T white vinegar

1/3 C raw sugar/cane sugar

1/4 C soy milk or whole milk

2 T poppy seeds

Toss strawberries, spinach, and red onion in bowl.  Blend together dressing ingredients: add to strawberry/spinach mixture.  Serve immediately.  Serves 4-6.  If you can get these ingredients at the holidays, it looks beautiful as a Christmas salad!

Seared Rare Ahi Tuni

Since I’m in a fish mode today, I’ll give you my easy tricks for making seared ahi tuna!!  And you thought you could only get this in a fancy restaurant!!  Well, it still isn’t an inexpensive meal and the better the quality of ahi tuna, the better your meal will be!  For an elegant and impressive meal at home, forget the filet mignon and lobster tail, and bring on the ahi tuna.  If you use sushi grade ahi tuna, whoever you serve it to, will never stop showering you with gifts, attention and affection!!  This is the fish lover’s true delight!!  As I said the key is excellent tuna and then slicing it paper thin!  I like to buy a fairly thick ahi tuna fillet (it should look like a nice filet mignon, 6-8 oz.)  Then you need a good quality of pepper corns, whatever type you like or a mix.  I like a mix because all black is just too spicy for me, so I use pink, green and black.  You need a mortar and pestle to crush (if you are very strong or have access to someone from the WWE), or a coffee or spice grinder, or a big knife, or a hammer or mallet.  The object is to crush the peppercorns to a medium coarse grind.  You want them to be flavorful, but not big chunks or too fine.  The amount depends upon how peppery you like your tuna and how much tuna you have to cover, so for a 2 inch thick, 6-8 oz fillet of tuna, I would have about 1/2 of crushed very coarsely ground mixed peppercorns (I would rather have extra to throw out than have to make more in the middle of covering my tuna).  This is equivalent to about 1/2 to 3/4 of a typical spice bottle of each of the 3 colors of peppercorns prior to grinding.  You can get your tuna fillet completely prepared (covered with the pepper and sit it back in the refrigerator) and cook it at the last minute before dinner or since it really doesn’t need to be served piping hot, you can pre-prepare it and then cook it during your final meal preparation time.  Set the tuna fillet out on the counter about 15 minutes before preparation and/or cooking so it is still cool in the center when you prepare it.

1/2 C crushed/coarsely ground mixed peppercorns

1 6-8 oz high quality ahi tuna fillet

Kosher salt

Olive oil

1 T butter

Coat the ahi tuna fillet lightly with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil and apply Kosher salt.  Place crushed/ground coarse peppercorns on piece of waxed paper and gently cover tuna fillet with pepper pressing into fish until covered on all sides.  Heat olive oil and butter in a medium frying pan over medium high heat, place tuna fillet in skillet and saute on 1 side for 2 minutes, turn and saute on other side for 1 minute, 30 seconds.  Holding fillet with tongs, carefully brown fillet on sides all the way around the fillet holding only for 10-15 seconds in each position.  Remove immediately from skillet onto plate and cover with foil and allow to rest for 2-3 minutes.  Using a very sharp knife, slice tuna in 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices and arrange decoratively on the dinner plates over rice, arugula, or as desired.  Drizzle with a wasabi sauce for perfection!  This should make a lovely dinner for two.  Yum!  B’tayavon!

Fabulous Foolproof Fish

Many of my friends and family are afraid or do not like to cook fish, either because they do not know how to or because “it smells!”  Fresh fish should never have a strong odor, before it is cooked, while it is cooking or after.  If it does, throw it out and don’t use it.  Smelly fish = old fish or fish that is beyond its prime or perhaps even leaning towards spoiling.  Fish should “smell like the ocean,” as the chefs say.  What you should smell when you open your package of fish is no fish odor!!  Always buy fresh fish or “flash frozen” fish.  There is a great debate about flash frozen (quick frozen) vs. freezing in your freezer (there are many blogs and posts on it).  The type of fish may play a part in whether a fish freezes well or not.  Some believe a fatty fish like salmon freezes better than a thin fish like tilapia, but this is also a subject of controversy and perhaps worth additional research if you are truly interested or concerned.  My personal preference is to purchase “flash frozen” fish from a fishery (not a supermarket) when I can’t get fresh or it is a good deal.  Recently, one of my favorite seafood fisheries in Alaska had a big sale on Coho salmon fillets (flash frozen) and I purchased 25lb. and split the order between two friends and me.  If you buy fresh, buy what is in season and not something that has been “previously frozen.”  I prefer “wild caught” over “farm-raised” but this is personal preference.  If you shop regularly at the same fish market (or fish section in your grocery store), get to know your fish monger and learn what you can about the different fish that the market carries, what fish are in season at what time and know the local catches in your area.  Buying local is best and always the freshest when you can get it!!

Fish is really very easy to cook and something I often make as a main course when I want to make dinner in a hurry.  From store to table, fish fillets can be prepared according to my foolproof recipe in 30 minutes.  You can serve fish with a number of interesting side dishes, ones you make or ones you purchase, depending on how much time you have or wish to take to prepare dinner.  You can have a healthy nutritious, no fuss dinner and the clean-up isn’t difficult either.  I use the recipe for foolproof fish on many different types of fish, but typically ones that lean towards the fatty or meaty side such as salmon, halibut, cod, chilean sea bass.  I have also used this recipe for mahi mahi, red snapper, and some other thinner fish (with a cooking time of about 2 minutes on each side).  The recipe also works for fish steaks like swordfish or tuna, but just be careful not to overcook as steaks can run to the tough side anyway.  I must admit these are not my favorite cuts of fish.

If the fish has skin on one side, leave it on to cook the fillets, it keeps the fish moist when cooking and is easily removed once the fish is cooked.  Removing the skin prior to cooking is a Herculean feat!!

Sauteed Herbed Salmon

1 salmon fillet/person (approximately 6-8 oz)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Dried dill weed

Olive oil

1-2 T butter

Defrost salmon fillets if frozen (in refrigerator or ice water [in air-tight packets]). Set fillets on counter and allow to come to room temperature (about 30 minutes).  Rub 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil on top of each salmon fillet, salt & pepper, sprinkle with dried dill weed to cover and press seasonings onto fish.  In a medium-large to large frying heat 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter (depending on how many fillets you are cooking, you can also increase the olive oil and butter according to the size of the pan).  Place fillets fish side down in skillet over medium heat and cook for 3 minutes (for 1/2 inch thick fillets).  Sometimes I cover the skillet at this point for 1 minute to steam the fish a bit.  After 3 minutes, turn the fish over skin side down and cook for 3 more minutes.  Serve with lemon slices or wedge and a few sprigs of parsley.  You can see from the picture that the salmon is cooked perfectly and is very moist.  If you like your salmon a little pink, medium-rare in the middle, saute a 1/2 inch fillet for 2 minutes on each side.  If the salmon is 1 inch thick, I would saute it 4-5 minutes on each side and check the middle for “doneness” at 4 minutes either by pressing down with your finger (if it springs back, it’s done) or make a small cut and peek.  You can also use a meat thermometer to check the temp.  At  125 degrees, the fish should be medium-rare and by 140 degrees, it will be opaque and flake.  The main issue with fish is that you don’t want to overcook it.  You are better off to err by undercooking it because if it is a bit underdone, put the fish on your serving plate and cover it with a piece of aluminum foil for a few minutes and it will finish cooking just by the heat of the fish itself and it will not overcook and get dry.  You can see the stages of preparation in the photos above.  B’tayavon!

You can use different dried herbs with different dried fish, e.g. tonight I am making Alaskan black cod and I probably will use Herbs de Provence as my dried herb in addition to salt & pepper.  I don’t recommend fresh herbs because they tend to contain moisture and burn in the oil during sauteing.

Stuffed Cinnamon French Toast

Greenlees Bakery in San Jose, CA makes the best cinnamon bread in the planet!!  Their cinnamon bread is available through their on-line store (http://www.greenleesbakerysj.com) or at a variety of specialty grocery stores in California.  I purchase it at Whole Foods Market locally.  This morning for brunch, I made  stuffed French toast that was divine because the cinnamon bread was so delicious.  If you can’t find Greenlees’ cinnamon bread, just purchase the best darn cinnamon bread that you can find (we prefer it without raisins!!).  I used Marscapone cheese rather than cream cheese as the filling because this bread is quite sweet and the Marscapone lets you really experience the full yumminess of the cinnamon bread!  B’tayavon!

Ingredients         Serves 4

2 slices of cinnamon bread/per serving of French toast

1-2 heaping t of Marscapone cheese/per serving of French toast

4 extra large eggs or equivalent egg substitute (for vegan)

1/4 C of almond milk or vanilla soy milk (Light is fine)

Pinch of salt

Toasted sliced almonds  (To toast, place sliced almonds in dry frying pan for 5 minutes on medium heat, stir occasionally until start to brown, remove immediately to prevent burning)

2 pints of washed, fresh strawberries, sliced and sweetened to taste with raw sugar or agave nectar if needed

Pure maple syrup (grade B medium recommended)

Break eggs into a shallow bowl or pour equivalent amount of egg substitute and add soy or almond mild and pinch of salt.  Whisk together.  Place toasted almonds on a plate or tray.  Take 2 pieces of cinnamon bread and spread 1-2 heaping t of Marscapone cheese on one side of bread and press the 2 pieces tightly together to seal.  Dip cinnamon bread “sandwich” in egg or faux egg batter until coated well on both sides, allow excess to drip off. Dip both sides of the sandwich into the toasted almonds.  Place the sandwich into a heated 10″ nonstick frying pan sprayed with nonstick vegetable spray or with 1 T of  Earth Balance (a vegan spread) melted over medium heat.  Fry on both sides until golden brown.  Serve with maple syrup and/or fresh sliced strawberries.  Serving size = 1 French toast “sandwich.”  (Try to eat just one!!)

Welcome to My Blog!

I love two things, dachshunds and cooking.  My daughter convinced me that I should start a blog to post my recipes since I decided that I’ll never have the nerve to compete on Food Network’s next star show!  My name is Wynne and I am a university professor living in Los Angeles, California.  My stress relievers are cooking and baking and playing with my dachshunds, Chloe, Mongo, and Cosmo.  I look forward to sharing some of my recipes with you as well as the antics of my three adorable dachsies.  B’tayavon!