Red Snapper with Chorizo and Mixed Rice

June 20, 2013July 7, 2013 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Last Sunday evening I invited three friends over for dinner. They come to my house all the time so I decided to try something different. Red snapper was on sale at the market so I bought one big fillet and one smaller one, thinking they would fit perfectly in the heavy cast iron fish pan I have. I use this particular cast iron pot because I can put it on the grill in the summer and avoid heat in the house. In my refrigerator I also found some soyrizo–chorizo made from soy instead of pork. Since one of the friends is Muslim, I make sure never to feed him pork–he does not want me to go to hell, he says. Since the fish and the chorizo made for rather sizable servings, I did not expect all of it to totally disappear. Wrong. They ate all of it and asked for the recipe.

Approximately 1 1/2 pounds red snapper or similar firm fleshed fish

Enough soyrizo (or chorizo) to cover the fish in a thin layer sprinkled over the fish

1 onion finely chopped

1 large poblano pepper, seeded and chopped

Olive oil

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 small can tomato sauce

Pour enough olive oil into a heavy pan to cover the bottom

Lay the fish in the bottom of the pan and cover with chorizo

Saute the onions and poblano pepper in olive oil until onions are translucent

Spread the onion/pepper mixture over the top of the chorizo

Stir the cinnamon into the tomato sauce

Pour the cinnamon/tomato sauce mixture over the top

Place a lid on pan and bake on the grill at medium heat.

It takes the cast iron a long time to heat up so once it was heated, I baked the dish for approximately 20 minutes or until the fish was done and everything was bubbling.

I served this with my favorite rice: 1/3 Jasmine red rice, 1/3 Jasmine white rice, combined with 1/3 black rice. I used one half cup each, sauteed with 1 TBS. finely chopped garlic in enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a large sauce pan. Saute until the rice appears to be sticking slightly, then pour water double the total amount of rice. Stir in 1 tsp. bouillon, cover with six paper towels and then the lid, turn down to low, and cook approximately one hour. The red and black rice take at least twice as long to cook as white rice.

This easily serves four. I served it with a salad: romaine, red cabbage, dried cherries, yellow pepper, diced radishes, and feta cheese. Bon appetit!!

Vegetables with Coriander, Cumin, and Tumeric

January 26, 2013 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Vegetables are my favorite food. Interspersed with the poems and essays I publish, I try to post unique recipes. My recipes come from years of interaction and relationships with people from all over the world, husbands, exchange students who enhance my extended family, travels to Asia and Latin America, my international friends near where I live. Recently, after a dinner party, I had left over vegetables that needed cooking so one evening home from work, I created this recipe. It is vegan by accident not intention. One could add fish, chicken, turkey leftovers (see recent post for turkey curry), shrimp…you get the idea. The options are endless. I used the vegetables I needed to use up, but take a look in your refrigerator and try what you have on hand. Experiment.

1 medium sized beet, peeled and cut into half coins

1 poblano pepper seeded and chopped

1/2 purple onion, chopped

Several pieces of Swiss chard, stems removed and chopped, leaves cut into large, bite sized pieces

Garlic cloves, peeled and chopped–amount to your own taste

Olive oil

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground

1/2 teaspoon cumin–or extra to taste

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Saute the beets, chopped Swiss chard stems, garlic, and onions in olive oil until beets are cooked through. Add spices and poblano pepper. When the pepper is nearly done, add the Swiss chard leaves and cook only until wilted.

Serve over rice. I used equal amounts of black, red, and Jasmine rice.

How to cook rice:

1/3 cup black rice

1/3 cup red rice

1/3 cup brown or Jasmine rice–your preference

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon concentrated broth/bouillon–I use Better Than Bouillon brand which is available Vegetarian as well as Chicken, etc.

Pour enough olive oil into a saucepan to cover the bottom. Add the rice and chopped garlic. Saute at high heat until rice starts to stick, stirring constantly. Add two cups water and the bouillon. Stir rapidly until bouillon dissolves. Turn down heat to low, cover the top of the saucepan with four paper towels or a tea towel folded to make several layers. Put sauce pan lid on the top and cook for approximately one hour. Red, brown, and black rice take twice as long to cook as white rice. Do not peek while rice is cooking. Lifting the lid to check causes the rice to be mushy.

Teriyaki Salmon with Red Chard and Cassia Cinnamon (for two)

July 18, 2012 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

The red chard leaves, chopped.

Just after adding the salmon.

The finished product.

2 6 oz. servings of wild salmon

1/2 medium red (purple) onion, chopped

1/2 large poblano pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

2 large red chard leaves and stems

1/2 to 1 tsp. cassia cinnamon

1/8 cup teriyaki sauce mixed with 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce

Olive oil

Marinate the salmon in the teriyaki/Worcestershire sauce while you prepare the rest. Using a sharp knife, destem and devein the red chard. Coarsely chop the stems and veins. Chop the leaves into pieces as indicated in the photo above. Cover the bottom of a medium sized skillet with olive oil. I love extra virgin olive oil and use a lot of it, but not absolutely necessary. Saute chopped onions in the olive oil until translucent. Add the poblano pepper and red stems of the chard. When the peppers and chard stems are slightly cooked, add the salmon and marinade and sauté for about 2 minutes. Turn the salmon and place the chard leaves on top. Scatter the cinnamon on top of the chard leaves. Saute until the chard leaves are wilted.

Serve with mixed grain rice (khao-pa-som in Thai) which can be found at Asian markets. It is a mixture of brown, black, and red rice with various grains including what appears to be barley. I cook it exactly like rice: sauté in olive oil with finely chopped garlic for a minute or so, add water, and stir in 1 tsp. concentrated bouillon. Turn heat to low, cover pan with several layers of paper towels, and put on lid. This, like red and brown rice, takes about twice as long to cook as white rice. It is more nutritious than white rice. If you want the health benefits of cinnamon, it is necessary to use cassia cinnamon, not Ceylon cinnamon.