Batter-Splattered

Bok choy slaw

What can I say, we love our leafy greens around here. At least, the dog and I do. I can't speak for the husband. I think you'll agree with me that it's pretty bad when your dog's more civilized than your husband. Sadie loves to dig into the tall green grass that grows on the edge of our -- ahem -- lawn (we like the natural look):

She loves that grass.

No.

Wait a minute.

Love's not a strong enough word.

She LUSTS after that grass would be more accurate:

As for me, I've been lusting after this recipe for bok choy slaw. I found a big and beautiful bunch of bok choy at the store the other day. I wasn't really planning to buy bok choy but when you see a score like that, you've just gotta pounce on it. You can always trust Real Age for a good and healthy recipe, especially when you have some healthy little something or other like salmon and want to dress it up fancy without totally ruining it's healthy-schmealthy-ness.

Most recipes want you to stir-fry bok choy but I was after something much more fresh and crispy -- something to go along with grilled chops so I wouldn't have to light the stove in the kitchen. I found what I was looking for. It's like summer in a bowl.

 

You whisk together some toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and dijon mustard and toss it with thinly sliced bok choy, carrots and green onions. It was wonderful.

Although.

Did I mention it was a big bunch of bok choy?

Well, it was really big. As in, eating slaw for four days straight. The first three office lunches of slaw were wonderful but I must say, I was suffering from a bit of bok choy burn out by the fourth day.

I'd say that's pretty good though, if you can eat something for three days straight without a whimper.

To keep it nice and crispy, I didn't stir the dressing in with the slaw. I saved it in a separate container and added it to each individual bowl.

Bok Choy Slaw

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups very thinly sliced bok choy, (about a 1-pound head, trimmed)
• 2 medium carrots, shredded
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Whisk vinegar, oil, sugar, mustard and salt in a large bowl until the sugar dissolves. Add bok choy, carrots and scallions; toss to coat with the dressing.

Cajun Fish / Cole slaw

Neatly-wrapped filets of fish

So I heard-tell from the newspaper's food section on Wednesday that 10th and M Seafood got a shipment of crawfish and it just so happened that they're located within walking distance of my office downtown so my co-worker and I trudged on over in order to fulfill our 30 minutes of daily exercise, as mandated by the Presidential Challenge.

Exercise is so much easier when the fixin's for a good dinner are involved!

But then again, I discovered that it's awfully difficult to find a crawfish recipe that isn't based on a stick of butter and a pint of cream, thereby dashing any effort I put forth for the challenge.

But I needn't have worried because when we got to 10th and M, there was no crawfish stocked on the shelf behind the crawfish sign. Just as I was about to bemoan my crawfishlessness, these two fellows who'd followed us into the store, hot on our heels, went straight to the counter and requested the two pounds of crawfish they'd called ahead for. The Fishmongette behind the counter had some bad news for them: the crawfish was still en route to the store (I love saying en route -- it's makes me feel like I'm on official police business).

She offered to call Fed Ex and find out where the crawfish-laden truck was located at that very moment.

They took her up on that offer.

The truck was only a couple of miles away and headed straight for the store.

They agreed to wait.

Those were my kinda fellas.

I remembered back to my desperate search for a light and healthy crawfish and decided maybe the food gods were telling me something. Maybe I should buy something besides the crawfish, provided it ever arrived. It had to be a sign.

Instead, I got a filet each of sole and rockfish. Six bucks! Score. And as we sailed out the door, brown paper packages in hand, the Fed Ex truck sailed into the parking lot, so it's nice to know those crawfish lovin' guys were rewarded for their patience and devotion to shellfish.

It was all I could do to resist the urge to spin around and follow that Fed Ex man back into the store.

I decided to stray from my favorite recipe site and go farther afield, settling on this recipe for Cajun Sole with Remoulade Sauce, found on the Food Network but originating in Family Circle magazine. Proving once again that I am no food snob, I saw it as a bonus that the recipe called for crumbled cornflakes because, just the night before, the husband polished off a box. Now that's multi-tasking grocery-shopping.

I decided not to use the remoulade / tartar sauce with this recipe because I was also whipping up a big bowl of cole slaw from a head of cabbage that came in my CSA box. The cole slaw was for the husband because awhile back, when I tackled this recipe, I explained to him that the skillet full of delectable-looking red cabbage he was examining was a 'red cabbage confit,' and that's when he smacked his forward and asked, "Why not just make some plain old cole slaw?"

So I used this recipe, which includes a cup or two of of the tartar sauce recipe from Pearl Oyster Bar. I used the extra sauce for the fish.

It was all really good.

Cajun Fillet of Sole with Remoulade Sauce

Serves four

3/4 cup cornflake crumbs
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/ 2 teaspoon onion powder
1/ 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 sole or flounder fillets (8 ounces each) -- I used a rockfish fillet and it turned out really well
3 tablespoons light mayonnaise
Vegetable cooking spray
Parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, for garnish

Fillets: Combine cornflake crumbs, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and pepper on large sheet of waxed paper. Brush each fillet with about 1 teaspoon mayonnaise per side. Dip fillets into crumb mixture, coating both sides. Spray both sides of each fillet with vegetable cooking spray. Place on prepared baking sheet. Broil 5 inches from source of heat, without turning, about 8 to 10 minutes or until fish just begins to flake and coating is golden. Serve with remoulade sauce. Garnish with parsley sprigs and lemon wedges.

Cabbage Slaw

Serves three

2 cups julienned Savoy or green cabbage (or 2 cups red cabbage, julienned, and 2 cups green cabbage for a more colorful presentation)
3/4 cup Pearl Oyster Bar Tartar Sauce (recipe follows)
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate till  you're ready to eat.

Pearl Oyster Bar Tartar Sauce

2 heaping T chopped red onion
2 heaping T roughly chopped capers
2 heaping T chopped cornichons, plus 2 tablespoons of the juice
1.5 cups Hellmann's mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and refrigerate till you're ready to use. 

An ever-so-simple salad

I hesitate to admit this to you, my far-flung readers, but arugula is something of a rarity here in Alaska. At least at the stores I frequent the most. Sometimes a little bag of it pops up here or there. Usually a bit wilted. A bit forlorn.

It's a summer treat for me and I'm happy with that. My lack accentuates my arugula adoration. It becomes an occasion for me. Once or twice (or perhaps three times) in the summertime I'll hop on down to the Saturday Market in downtown Anchorage...

(if you've been there on a busy day, perhaps you can sympathize with my frustration with the crush of tourists which makes it impossible to even find a spot to stand still -- I'm always in someone's way at the Saturday Market even when I'm plastered up against the side of the deep-fried Twinkie stand or perhaps especially when I'm pressed up against the deep-fried Twinkie stand)

...but still, it's where I go to peruse the locally grown vegetables, savoring with my eyes rather than my tastebuds more often than not because the produce prices are usually too rich for my blood and my thrifty nature takes control of the wheel, smashing my earnest desire to buy local whenever possible, which here in Alaska means the summer months unless you count potatoes and carrots which are available in abundance throughout the year, unless of course you watch for the same summer veggies in the local grocery store at a more reasonable price, or unless of course you head on over to Pyrah's U-Pick Farm and grab yourself a huge green plastic bucket with rope handles and load up on reasonably-priced broccoli and cauliflower and rhubarb and mizuna and...

Where was I?

Arugula. I buy a bunch or two of it from a local farmer a few times each summer, take it home and make myself an ever-so-simple salad, relishing it all the more because it's such a rarity, and it's mine all mine because the husband won't touch the stuff which is all the better because it leaves more for me. I am the queen of the run-on sentence tonight. Must be the almost-empty bottle of locally-brewed beer that's talking.

Arugula. It tastes just like summer to me so imagine my delight when, in the frosty fathoms of January I found a local store selling little tubs of my dear peppery leaves for a very reasonable price. And it was organic to boot.

Here's my ever-so-simple salad: slosh some nice olive oil in a bowl, grasp a little wooden reamer and use it to add a good twist of lemon juice to your bowl-- don't worry if a seed or two plops into the mix -- then sprinkle in some coarse-ground pepper and whisk it all together with a fork (or an actual whisk if you wanna go and get all fancy-pants on me). Toss that with a couple handfuls of arugula leaves, then grab your vegetable peeler and use it to shave off some nice curls of really good parmesan cheese.

Dig in and it's like it's July all over again.

Taco Salad

I have this guilty pleasure of a salad that I crave on a regular basis -- my favorite version of it includes crushed Doritos and Kraft Sweet Honey Catalina dressing.

I KNOW. Gasp.

It's just so good.

I am obviously not a food snob (not every day anyway). But at least I'm not hooked on the taco salad recipe with the tater tots.

Although.

I do love me a tater tot.

Last night, I cleaned the recipe up a little -- added lots of organic vegetables, crumbled cheddar Pop Chips instead of Doritos, sauteed up the leanest ground turkey, stirred in kidney beans BUT! I'm still clinging to that catalina dressing (it's the high fructose corn syrup that calls to me). I can't help myself. I don't pour it on anything but this salad and it makes me all nostalgic when I do -- it reminds me of all those steak restaurant salad bars I went to as a kid in the 1980's.

Taco Salad

6 servings

1 lb lean ground turkey

Taco seasoning, to taste (this mix will make more than enough -- 1 T chili powder,  1/4 t garlic powder, 1/4 t onion powder, 1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes, 1/4 t dried oregano, 1/2 t paprika, 1 1/2 t ground cumin, 1 t sea salt, 1 t black pepper)

One can of beans, drained and rinsed (kidney, black, etc)

3 heads organic romaine lettuce, sliced or torn, then rinsed and spun dry

One bunch of organic green onions, sliced thinly

One organic green bell pepper, chopped

6 organic carrots, peeled and sliced thinly

3 organic tomatoes, chopped

3 c shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, etc)

Tortilla chips

French dressing

Cook turkey in large skillet over medium heat until evenly browned, then add beans and stir in taco seasoning to taste. cook until heat through then remove from heat.

While turkey is cooking, chop and slice all of the vegetables and place in separate small bowls.

Let everyone build their own salad, crush tortilla chips over the top, and toss with dressing.

Spinach Strawberry Salad with Pomegranate Viniagrette

I found this lovely little salad in one of those recipe booklets they sell at the checkout stand at the market (I've professed my love for these booklets before). This one's called Easy Organic Cooking and it has a section on Take-Along Lunches -- it's the very reason I bought the book in the first place because there were all these lovely little salads on page after page after page. Just the thing I always wish I had at work during my lunch hour when I'm sinking my teeth into yet another turkey sandwich.

The recipe comes with intricate instructions on packing individual portions of the spinach and red onion mixture into one bag, then packing individual servings of the dressing in another bag, the strawberries and almonds in yet another bag... I say just divide everything up and pack it in individual rubbermaid containers. They're reuseable and way better for the environment than wasting all those plastic bags.

I made this salad for dinner tonight and I'll definitely be toting another one to work tomorrow.

The dressing is awesome. It has pomegranate juice, toasted sesame oil, cider vinegar, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. It all melds together nicely and you can taste each individual ingredient in every bite.

My version of the recipe (a little less sugar, olive oil instead of vegetable oil...). In the spirit of the cookbook, use as many organic ingredients as you can:

Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Makes 5 two-cup servings

Dressing ingredients:

1/3 cup pomegranate or pomegranate-cherry juice

2 T toasted sesame oil

2 T olive oil

3 T cider vinegar

2 T sugar

Large pinch of red pepper flakes

Pinch of salt

Salad ingredients:

1 bag (9 oz.) spinach leaves

1/2 c red onion, thinly-sliced

2 c strawberries, sliced

2 - 4 oz. slivered almonds

Combine dressing ingredients in a jar, secure lid, and shake vigorously until well-blended. If you're having a salad right this minute, toss a little of everything together and dig in.

If you're doing the take-along thing, divide everything by five. Toss spinach, onions, strawberries, and almonds into large plastic containers. Pour equal portions of dressing in small plastic containers.

Seared scallops and sausage on a bed of baby greens / baked cheese grits

Something you should know about me: I have a thing for grits. I even like the word. Say it with me now: grits! It sounds so earthy and frugal and homespun.

I never ate them as a kid, in spite of growing up in Mississippi -- it's such a gritsy locale, but we were more of a homemade granola and bran muffin household. I was always intrigued when they were served up at my friends' breakfast tables the morning after rowdy and sleepless sleepovers. I wasn't too sure about them back then. Too runny? Too grainy? Too plain? I couldn't put my finger on it. I just didn't kow what to think of them. I'm making up for lost time now and the latest installment of my grits groove is my version of this recipe for Baked Cheese Grits.

I had a great time in the kitchen the night I cooked this up, barefoot, wooden spoon in hand, the new Pink Martini album playing on the stereo, the sound of rain falling outside the screen door, a glass of good (and thrifty!) wine in my glass, tickling each and every one of my taste buds. For this recipe, you stir the grits in a slow stream into broth, simmer awhile, then add garlic, butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Simmer till thick and then pop it all in the oven where it will puff up, up, and away. It turns a lovely golden brown and comes out looking almost like a really good frittata.

Slices of Tillamook cheddar, diced and ready to get stirred in:

Baked cheese grits straight from the oven:

If you really want a treat, serve a heaping spoonful of these in a bowl of jambalaya -- a recipe for which I'm working on posting in the coming days. That's what I had for a simply heavenly lunch today. The grits are like a dense cornbread, soaking up the jambalaya's broth. How can leftovers be so lovely?

But on this particular night, I needed something to go along with the grits and jambalaya was not yet on the menu. This recipe for scallops came up when I ran a search on epicurious for cajun and creole recipes, my cuisine of choice for the month of July. The results didn't seem too very much like something you'd dine on in Louisiana, but it was decadent and good nonetheless (how can scallops and sausage not be decadent?) and very easy to prepare on a weeknight after work. And look how pretty it turns out:

How could you not want to dig into that? I thought the dressing was a little bland and too heavy on the olive oil, so I tinkered with a few of the ingredients.

Scallops and grits in the same meal? My cup runneth over.

My versions of the recipes are as follows:

Seared Scallops and Sausage on a Bed of Baby Greens

Serves six as an appetizer

1/4 c shallots, chopped

3 T balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 T dijon mustard

1/3 c plus 3 T  olive oil

4.5-ounce bag mixed baby greens

18 sea scallops

6 ounces andouille sausage, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (or use your favorite sausage instead -- I used kielbasa)

2 T fresh parsley, chopped

Combine first three ingredients in a bowl and gradually whisk in 1/3 c olive oil (adding more or less to suit your taste). Season with salt and pepper. Can be made several hours in advance. Let stand at room temperature and re-whisk before serving.

Heat two tablespoons of remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops on both sides with salt and pepper. Add scallops to skillet and cook until both sides are lightly-browned and juices evaporate and centers are opaque, about two minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet and heat over high heat. Add sausage and saute until browned, for 3 minutes or so. Return scallops to skillet for 30 seconds or so to re-heat.

To serve, nestle scallops and sausage on a bed of baby greens on individual dishes and drizzle with dressing. 

Baked Cheese Grits

Serves four.

3 cups broth

1/2 t salt

1 c yellow grits (not quick or instant)

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1/4 t pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 c cheddar, grated

2 eggs

1/2 c milk

Bring broth to a boil in a two-quart heavy pot. Pour in grits in a slow stream, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking, until very thick.

Add butter, salt, pepper, garlic and cheese, stirring until butter and cheese are melted. Lightly beat eggs and milk in a bowl, then stir into grits until well-combined.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the center.

Pour grits into an ungreased 4-inch square (2-inches deep) baking dish and bake until set and lightly-browned, about 1 hour. Grits will puff up but won't overflow.