Shichimi Togarashi-Spiced Fried Chicken

I will be sharing more about the 2019 Sin Banderas Rhône Rosé for the March 2021 #WinePW event that focuses on the wines of Washington State's Yakima Valley. Stay tuned for more on that next weekend, but I am going to be posting several of my recipes ahead of time. The participating wineries  were so generous that I have more seven pairings to share. Seriously. Seven. So, I'm starting now and will continue throughout the entire month of March.

I love pairing Rosés with fried chicken. So, after a conversation Susan of the Sin Banderas team - she's the pairing guru! - I settled on a friend chicken with a little it of Asian  flair. I added Shichimi Togarashi into the chicken breading and served the chicken with a remoulade-meets-shichimi-togarashi style dipping sauce.

Shichimi Togarashi is also called Japanese Seven Spice. And though you can make it yourself, I usually just order it. A typical blend may contain: coarsely ground red chili pepper (the main ingredient), ground sanshō (Japanese pepper), roasted orange peel, black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds, ground ginger, and nori (dried seaweed). 

Ingredients

Chicken

• 3 Tablespoons Shichimi Togarashi plus more for sprinkling
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
• oil for frying
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• large flake salt for serving
• Shichimi Togarashi-spiced dipping sauce for serving

Shichimi Togarashi-Spiced Dipping Sauce 

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons mustard
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon pickled  ginger, finely chopped
• ½ Tablespoon paprika
• ½ Tablespoon Shichimi Togarashi

Procedure

Chicken
Place chicken in a dish where each piece is flat and sprinkle with 3 Tablespoons Shichimi Togarashi. Massage the spices into the meat on both sides. Let stand for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Pour buttermilk over the chicken and let stand for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to fry the chicken, fill a large cast-iron skillet (I use my Le Creuset braiser which is cast iron covered with enamel) with 1" of oil. Heat gently over medium heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Beat the eggs in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. Place panko breadcrumbs in another dish.

While the oil is heating, remove the chicken from the marinade and gently shake off the excess.

Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour, coating thoroughly. Dip it in the beaten egg. Then dip it into the panko breadcrumbs to get a nice thick coating.

Once the oil reaches temperature, carefully place the chicken in the hot oil. Try not to crowd the pan; I did three thighs at a time.

Cook the chicken until it is deep golden brown and cooked through, about 6 minutes on each side, or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Drain the chicken on the paper towel-lined plate or a cooling rack. To finish, drizzle each piece with 1 teaspoon melted coconut oil. Sprinkle each piece with a pinch more of Shichimi Togarashi and some flake salt.

Though this fried chicken has lots of Asian flair with the Shichimi Togarashi in the chicken and the dipping sauce, I went with a basic buttermilk mashed potato on the side and a crisp spinach salad.

Cheesy Bites, a Colorful Board, and a Barbera...from California #ItalianFWT

Linda of My Full Wine Glass is hosting the Italian Food Wine Travel bloggers as we explore Italian grape varieties that are cultivated and made into wines outside of Italy. You can read her invitation here. What a fun topic! 

If you are reading this early enough, feel to  join the group for a live Twitter chat. We'll be live on Saturday, March 6th at 8am Pacific time. Just follow the hashtag - #ItalianFWT - and be sure to add it to anything you tweet so we can see it. In the meantime, all of these posts will go live before Saturday. Cin cin!

• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Cheesy Bites, a Colorful Board, and a Barbera...from California
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm: Italian Grapes Grown Outside of Italy and Served Out of a Box? Che Diamine!!!
• Andrea at The Quirky Cork: Tuscany Meets Turkey with Chateau Murou Montepulciano Sangiovese
• Marcia at Joy of Wine: Exploring Italian Grape Varieties Down Under with Zonte's Footsteps
• Jeff at FoodWineClick!: Italian Grapes from Unti Vineyards at the Winter Grill
• Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog: A Splendid Cal-Ital: 2016 Giornata Nebbiolo Luna Matta Vineyard
• Jennifer at Vino Travels: Remy Wines: Italian Grapes in Oregon and a Winery After my Heart
• Terri at Our Good Life: Italian Grapes in Lodi Paired with Grilled Salmon Tacos
• Nicole at Somm’s Table: 2 Italian White Wine Blends Born in California
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator: Italy in California: from Aglianico to Zinfandel and Italy in California: Nebbiolo from Humboldt's Terragena and Santa Barbara’s Silver
• Susannah at Avvinare: Vermentino, A Star In and Out of Italy
• Lynn at Savory the Harvest: Honoring An Italian American: Palmina Wines in Santa BarbaraCounty
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass: Native Italian grapes find a home in the land of Pinot Noir

Cheesy Bites and a Colorful Board

I love making and serving cheese boards. It's sort of like a painting where food is my palate. There is no  recipe for  this, but here's a video, from my Culinary Cam YouTube channel, showing you the four simple steps that I use in making my boards. And the boards I paired with the wine were from a virtual cooking class I led recently.

After  the class, my tech support got to eat. Not bad for a couple hour's worth of work, right? 

Jake helped run the camera and D manned the Zoom meeting for us. And I was super appreciative to just get to assemble the boards, demonstrate the savory goat cheese truffles, and interact with the class participants without having to figure out how to spotlight the presenters, etc. I mean, we've all been doing virtual meetings for a year now, but there are intricacies to the platforms with which I am completely unfamiliar. Thank goodness for tech-savvy teens and husbands, right?

These colorful boards included everything from comte, coffee-infused cheddar, goat milk brie, fontina,aged manchego, hard boiled eggs, fresh radishes, Moroccan olives, carrots, cucumber, dried apricots, marcona almonds, cornichon, onion chutney, anchovies, brioche, crackers, and fresh herbs. 

A Barbera from California

Initially I was going to share the Stolpman Vineyards 2019 Love You Bunches Carbonic Sangiovese from California, but I am saving that for another day. Instead I decided to share a wine from California that's made with one of my favorite Italian grape varieties: Barbera. 

I have always loved Barbera, but until I found this bottle, I have only ever had Barbera from Italy! Two  years ago - back in March 2019 for #ItalianFWT - I posted Braised Short Ribs + 2016 Nuova Cappelletta Barbera del Monferrato. Later that year I shared Wild Boar Tamales + 2018 Cascina San Lorenzo Barbera. And I've even poured and paired a Barbera blend from Israel in Peppered Brisket, Honeyed Onions, and the 2016 Galil Mountain 'Ela'.

Barbera is a red Italian grape variety that is the third most planted grape in the country. And I've read that it's probably a millennium older than Cabernet Sauvignon. Even still, until very recently, Barbera was virtually unknown in the American markets.

In Italy, Barbera is cultivated in the Piedmont area - the same region renowned for the Nebbiolo grape variety and the Barolo and Barbaresco wines that come from the Nebbiolo grape. But the wines from the Barbera grape are much more affordable.  I haven't come up with a reason for that yet. However, it means that Barbera can easily be an everyday sipper. And though usually very intensely colored, Barbera is surprisingly light in taste. Because it's also usually low in tannins and high in acidity, it's a perfect match for the richness of cheeses and meat dishes.

This Barbera from Boeger Winery which is a historical estate that was homesteaded during the 1849 California Gold Rush. Like many who headed to California in the middle of the 19th century the Fossati-Lombardo family arrived to try their luck in the gold mines. But they quickly realized that the real money was to be made in selling foods and supplies to the miners versus doing the actual mining themselves. Later all of the wineries in the county were shuttered during Prohibition. But in 1972, Greg and Sue Boeger discovered the property and decided to become the first post-Prohibition  winery in the El Dorado AVA.

Boeger began to experiment by pioneering lesser-known varieties such as Barbera, Carignane, Refosco, Charbono, and Aglianico though there are now nearly three dozen varieties that they grow. This wine is made from grapes grown at vineyards that sit over half a mile above sea level. On the nose, you get a  berry patch of aromas from strawberry to blackberry. But on the palate, the wine is much more balanced and soft with generous acidity that makes it a beautiful partner with a variety of flavors.

I can't wait to track down more of the Boeger wines. And when the world opens back up - Vafanculo, COVID! - I might just head up the El Dorado county for a wine-tasting adventure. It's only a few hours from where I live and on the way to Lake Tahoe. I miss traveling, don't you?

Well, that's a wrap on our Italian wines grown outside of Italy event for the #ItalianFWT group. We'll be back next month as Katarina of Grapevine Adventures leads the discussion of wines from Lazio. And, in May, I'm excited to see what the group shares when the focus will be Barbera. Stay tuned....

Golbaengi-Muchim (Spicy Whelks with Noodles) #LitHappens #FoodieReads

If I had to pick a favorite genre, historical fiction is it. And I decided to pick The Island of Sea Women: A Novel by Lisa See* for our March selection in our online book group, Lit Happens. I have read the book before, but was happy to re-read it when another gal suggested it for the group.

On the Page

This is the story of two friends' lives erected on the framework of the historical matriarchal society where the women in Korea work as haenyeo divers. These women free-dive and harvest the ocean's treasures including abalone, urchin, and octopus. You see how their bodies have adapted to withstand the cold and the hardship when they are medically studied and tracked.

The men stay home and watch the children. However, despite the matrifocal structure of the divers, property is still in the man's name. And husbans often take the women's wages and squander it through gambling and drinking.

Young-sook and Mi-ja are haeneyo. They grew up together, became divers together, then their paths diverged after their respective marriages. This story is tragic and heart-breaking. And, a word of warning, there is violence, but it's temporally appropriate violence if that makes a difference to you. It's not gratuitous violence. I don't care for books like that.

Beyond the exposition of human psychology on forgiveness and love, See also weaves in the mysticism of the island landscape of Jeju. The folklore and superstitions are characters of their own. From the village to the caves, you are pulled into the Jeju world from the 1930s to 2008, from Japanese occupation to Los Angeles.

This is another stunner from See. I think I might need to re-read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane* next. And I need to see if she has published anything else recently. But I devoured this book in just two days. Now I am ready to lend it to someone. Jenn? Denise?

On the Plate

Food, for the haeneyo, is both functional and ceremonial. They always share a meal before they head out on the boats; and they make special dishes to honor their gods.

"'I call on all the gods and goddesses of Jeju,' Shaman Kim beckoned. 'We welcome Yeongdeung, the goddess of the wind. We welcome all ancestors and spirits who accompany her. ...Embrace the beauty of our island. ...Offerings of fruit, bowls of rice, dried fish and squid, bottles of homemade liquor, and hard-boiled eggs spilled across the makeshift altar" (pg. 268).

"When Dr. Park finally came to my house, I invited him to sit and poured him a bowl of rice wine. The low table was already set with side dishes: kimchee, pickled beans, lotus root, boiled squash, sliced black pig,  salted damselfish, spiced bracken, and boiled, seasoned, and slivered sea cucumber" (pg. 288).

I thought about tracking down some lotus root as I did when I made Ling Ngau Tong (Lotus Root and Nut Soup) a  couple of years ago.

"I found her in the kitchen preparing Joon-lee's welcome-home meal. A wall was stacked with earthenware jars, filled with homemade pickled radishes, sauces, and pastes.  To me, those jars were like stacks of gold bars, representing how far I'd brought my family" (pg. 323).

Pickled radishes and kimchee come out of my kitchen often...so I wanted to make something new to us. I stopped at a local-to-me Korean market and saw canned whelk. What?!? Okay, I am always up for a culinary adventure. I bought that can and did some research as to how to use it. I did have lots of Korean banchan on-hand, so I didn't really cook anything for this; I just assembled this delicious, hearty salad.

Ingredients serves 4

• 1 can canned whelk, drained and rinsed
• 1 Tablespoon red pepper chile paste
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 cup kimchee, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup pickled bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup pickled julienned daikon
• 1/4 cup pickled julienned carrots
• 1/2 cup seaweed salad
• 2 cups rice noodles, soaked according to package directions
• sesame oil

Procedure

You can chop the whelks into smaller pieces, but I left them whole for the effect!

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together red pepper chile paste, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir in the pickled bean sprouts, kimchee, and whelks. Toss to combine with the sauce.

In another bowl, toss the prepared noodles with sesame oil to coat. Divide the noodles between 4 individual serving dishes. Top with the whelk mixture.

Garnish each bowl with seaweed salad and pickled daikon and carrots. Serve immediately.

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

 

Click to see what everyone else read in March 2021: here.

Penang Char Kway Teow (Malaysian Noodles with Crab and Sausage) #FoodieExtravaganza

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

This month Sue of Palatable Pastime is hosting this month's #FoodieExtravaganza. She asked us to help her celebrate National Noodle Month. Now that is a month I can get behind! Here's the list of our noodle creations...

• Instant Noodles Egg Masala by Sneha's Recipe
• Linguine with Salmon and Cilantro Pesto by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Penang Char Kway Teow (Malaysian Noodles with Crab and Sausage) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Sesame Ginger Noodles by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells by Making Miracles
• Thai Coconut Curry Noodles by Magical Ingredients
• Torta di Rigatoni by Food Lust People Love
• Tsuivan (Mongolian Noodles with Meat and Vegetables) by Tara's Multicultural Table

Years ago, we were obsessed with Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.* And, in the Singapore episode, he visited the hawker stands that serve street food. We were drooling.

So, when I saw fresh dungeness crab, I decided to make my own version of Penang Char Kway Teow, Malaysian noodles with crab and sausage for this event. Yum!

First though, I had to crack and clean the crabs. All that succulent crabmeat was totally worth it. I did have to keep myself from sneaking pieces though. I wanted it all for the dish.

Ingredients

• dried rice noodles (I used a mixture of flat - like tagliatelle - and thin - like vermicelli)
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons sambal chili paste, to taste
• 3 sausages (lop chong would be traditional, but I used red pepper-chicken sausages), cut into 1/4" slices
• 1 to 2 cups fish stock
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 pound shelled, cooked Dungeness crab
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 
• lemon wedges for serving

Procedure 

Submerge rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with warm water. Let stand until tender, approximately 30 minutes. Drain and rinse. While the noodles soak, crack and clean crabs if not already done.

Heat a large, flat bottom pan, heat oil. Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook until softened and the onions are translucent and beginning to caramelize. Add the sambal chili paste and sausages. Cook until sausages are browned.

Pour in stock and stir in soy sauce. Bring to a simmer. Add the noodles and stir to coat. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the noodles are soft.

To serve: fold in the cilantro and crab meat. Serve with lemon wedges.

That's a wrap on our noodle event. We'll be back next month, celebrating carrots with Sneha of Sneha's Recipe at the head. Stay tuned....

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

College-Sanctioned Procrastibaking: R's Lemon Bar Cookies for His Freshman Writing Seminar

Last week, R announced that one of his professors had requested that they all bake something and bring it to the Zoom class meeting. Hmmm...something about 'procrastibaking', that is to say heading into the kitchen to bake something when you should be studying. Well, it was college-sanctioned procrastibaking, so okay. He wanted to make lemon squares and called my parents to see if he could raid their Meyer lemon tree.

Then he headed over there at 8 in the morning, baked, and had his plate of lemon squares ready for his class at 10:30am. Only one problem...

R: Mom, maybe I need to learn to read for my writing class.

C: What does that mean?

R: The directions were to procrastibake cookies. I missed that part.

C: Well, these are bar cookies!

R: Really?

C: Yep.

R: Oh, good.

After class, he commented, "Well, I wasn't the only one who didn't read the directions correctly. Other students brought brownies and other things shaped like that.

 Ingredients makes three 8" pans

Crust

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup organic powdered sugar
• 1-1/2 cup butter (3 sticks), cold and cubed
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons cold water
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons gin, vodka, or other spirit (or more water if you don't want to use alcohol he used Liquore Strega)
• zest from 2 organic Meyer lemons

Topping

• 8 eggs
• 2 cups organic granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• zest from 2 to 3 organic Meyer lemons
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• organic powdered sugar for serving

Procedure

Crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, blend flour with the sugar and lemon zest. Add the butter cubes and use a pastry cutter to create chunks the size of small peas. Pour in cold water and alcohol, alternating 1 Tablespoon at a time. Press between each addition till the dough comes together in a ball. 

Press the dough into three 8" baking dishes; he used one square and two circles. Place in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. In the meantime, make the topping.

Topping

To make the lemon layer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a bowl till smooth and combined.

Pour lemon mixture over the cooked base.

 Return the pans to the oven and bake for another 25 minutes. Leave to cool.

Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Slice into squares.

Fire & Ice Ceviche #CooktheBooks #FoodieReads

 

Claudia of Honey from Rock is hosting our bi-monthly reading group Cook the Books. And, if you'd like to join the fun, the posts aren't due till the end of March, so you still have time. You can read her announcement here. She has asked us to read Where I Come From: Life Lessons from a Latino Chef by Aarón Sánchez* which is the book pick for February and March 2021.

I have had this on my shelf for a few months and just kept pushing off starting it until I read some other books. When I had a lull...and realized that February was almost gone...I picked it up. And it was a breeze to read and a completely delight!

I know that I have seen Aarón Sánchez on television when we've stayed in hotels and watched the Food Network. Maybe Chopped. Maybe MasterChef  or IronChef. But he never struck me as a television personality that I was compelled to read more about or learn his back story. So, I'm glad that Claudia picked this memoir because his story was absolutely wonderful.

On the Page

From his parents' divorce and his move to New York City with twin brother and his mother - herself a pioneering Mexican chef - to dropping out of culinary school after a year to opening and closing restaurants of his own, the candor with which Sánchez tells his story is both compelling and inspiring. He writes with reflection about his failed marriage, depression, and even the MeToo movement in the restaurant industry. But it is his dedication to his craft, especially shining the spotlight on Latino cuisine and traditions, that created a book that I couldn't put down.

Here's how he described Mexican cuisine, "Always the food. Rusty, dried guajillo peppers. Verdant sprigs of curled cilantro. Flavors that take days to develop, layered with wildly complex blends of spices and ingredients, techniques that take years to master, so that every dish pops and dances on the palate. There is nothing about the food of Mexico that is dull or muted." And "In Mexico, cooking for someone is the ultimate gesture of love, so what better way to draw your brother back from the dead than with his favorite earthly delights?"

He writes about mole. "But the canon of mole variations is so much more vast than most diners recognize. It can be made from almonds or pumpkin seeds. It can be yellow or green or red or pitch black. There are legends about its invention, one tale including nuns, another involving an Aztec king. Regardless, the constant is the sauce’s complexity. Some versions use thirty or more ingredients, the spices and peppers carefully toasted and ground together, most often by hand, in a molcajete—a sort of Mesoamerican mortar and pestle."

And he writes about his identity as a Mexican-American chef, "Being bicultural always presents that challenge; you’re never quite American enough north of the border, and never exactly Mexican enough on the other side."  About culinary authenticity, he muses, "I think what I’ve learned in my time in Mexico is that in some ways, the 'authentic' Mexican way of doing things means doing it your own way. With the ingredients and techniques that come from your own heritage and your own surroundings. We wouldn’t expect a homogenous product from Puebla to Veracruz; adaptation based on geography and personal experience is making food in the true Mexican spirit."

After I finished the book I started streaming The Taco Chronicles on Netflix. It's not his show, granted, but there was something about his book that inspired me to watching several episodes that focused on regionally relevant and traditional tacos from all over Mexico. Word of warning: don't read this book while you're hungry. Seriously.

Finally here's an example of his writing that blends together culinary history, food commentary, and personal experience just as he would blend together a multitude of ingredients to create a delicious dish. "Eating food where it’s grown or where a dish was created, still consumed for the same reasons and by the same people, where tradition runs centuries deep—there’s just nothing like it. It’s spiritual and emotional. It is humbling beyond words. I was also exposed to flavors and cooking techniques that explained much about the pre-conquistador connection to Mexico, the ingredients that were exchanged, the history and timeline of events that altered the course of both countries and hugely influenced modern Mexican cuisine. When the conquistadors landed at the port of Veracruz in 1519, they brought ingredients that influenced and enlarged the canon of modern-day Mexican flavors: olive oil, wheat, pigs, and Vitis vinifera, the grape vine. And beyond following the trajectory of different foods, when we visited an archival library, I was also able to trace our family back to Spain in the 1500s. I learned my ancestors on my mom’s side are from the Basque country and were once musket makers. It was an influential, insightful trip both professionally and personally, and it intensified my appreciation for understanding where things come from and why—myself included. Then, several years later in early November 2008, I had a chance to take a trip with the Chilean tourism board. We traveled to San Pedro de Atacama in the northern part of the country, which is the most arid place in the world, even more so than the Sahara and Mojave deserts. I learned about the machuca people, natives of a small Andean village where only twenty or so buildings, constructed from clay and cactus wood, comprise the entire town. They lived on and traded llama meat and empanadas, their simple lives heavily reliant on the tourism industry and visitors to their little piece of the globe, and were generous and welcoming to travelers."

On the Plate

Clearly there was a lot of food inspiration in this book! And I will be trying several of the recipes he included in his book.

He describes the Texas barbeque that he had when he visited his dad: "I learned then that Texas barbecue was all about the beef. We’d get this huge spread: pickles and white bread—always untoasted—and then the beef brisket and massive fucking Flintstones–style, dinosaur-sized racks of ribs. It was always super hot outside, so we had huge red cups of Coca-Cola packed with ice to wash it all down. I always left with sticky fingers and a smile on my face, full and satisfied, knowing I had a whole El Paso summer ahead to spend with my father. Even now, the flavor of smoke and brown-sugar-sweet, vinegar-spiked sauce is enough to take me right back in time, to that little Texas joint, and bring back those feelings of excitement and anticipation."

He shares what he made for his mom when she first came to visit his restaurant, "When she came for the first time, I made a point to cook for her personally. I roasted a lamb loin with a pomegranate ancho chile sauce that she loved. I did a whole roasted suckling pig, cocina de pibil style, slow-roasting the pork in a marinade with pickled onions with habanero, served with a big cracklin’ on top and fresh tortillas on the side. I made a simple sautéed fish with lime, serrano, cilantro, and olive oil. I think she recognized the effort I was making, what I was trying to do, and that I had a clear vision—and that was really important for her to see." Everything he described made my mouth water. 

But I was inspired into the kitchen from this passage about his menu at Patria: "a dish called 'Fire & Ice'—a coconut ceviche with tuna and ginger and tons of chile, served out of a coconut shell over ice, surrounded by a flurry of snow-white coconut shavings. Or ceviche negra, octopus and scallops served in an emulsion of black-as-night squid ink. Golden arepas were made fresh, one side with yellow and the other with white corn, stuffed with a satiny black bean puree and farmers cheese, served with blistered heirloom tomatoes and finished with a fire-branded star. The stuff coming out of that kitchen was creative and beautiful and completely unique. We had a dessert burro made to look like a cigar; we called it the 'Smokeless Cuban.' It was stuffed with dulce de leche and chocolate mousse, rolled in tons of cocoa powder and served with matches made from spun sugar and a whipped coffee custard—even a cigar band with the restaurant’s name. Every night I went to work so proud to be putting my small stamp on each of those dishes."

Ceviche is a simple dish of seafood "cooked" by the acid in limes. It's so easy, but it requires incredibly fresh ingredients. I usually ask my fish monger which is the best choice for ceviche that day. That day he offered me wild-caught, local rockfish. Perfect!

Ingredients

 

• 1 to 1-1/2 pounds, rockfish, cut into 1" pieces
• 6-8 fresh limes, juiced plus lime wedges for serving
• 1/4 cup fresh salsa plus more for serving
• 1 to 2 organic avocados, cubed
• 2 radishes, rinsed and thinly sliced
• 2 Tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped (traditional would be cilantro, but I had dill from our garden)
• 6 Tablespoons coconut milk or coconut cream
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• tortilla chips, for serving
• candied jalapeños (my recipe here), for serving (that's the 'fire' part for my dish!)

 

Procedure

Place the raw seafood pieces in a glass dish and cover them with freshly squeezed lime juice. The seafood should be completely covered by juice.

 

Cover the dish and place it in the refrigerator. Let the seafood marinate or "cook" in the lime juice for at least 4 hours. Once the seafood is "cooked" in the juices, drain the lime juice, but reserve 1 to 2 Tablespoons of the juice.

Stir in the salsa, avocado, radishes, herbs, and coconut milk. Stir in the reserved lime juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with tortilla chips, more salsa, fresh lime wedges, and candied jalapeños (my recipe here). 

If you want to read the book and join the Cook the Books fun, you still have a month to do so. Even if you don't, I highly recommend that you read this book at some point. You'll think differently about Latino workers in restaurant kitchens as well as the regional Latino cuisines. I promise!

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

 

In addition to submitting this to #CooktheBooks, I am adding it to #FoodieReads.
Click to see what everyone else read in February 2021: here.

Chicken Fajitas #SundayFunday

 

Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating chicken. Thanks to Stacy of Food Lust People Love, Sue of Palatable Pastime, Rebekah of Making Miracles, and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Stacy is hosting and she's given us the following prompt: Share your favorite family friendly chicken recipes, cooked any way you like it! Creative or traditional, we are always looking for ways to serve this ubiquitous bird. Vegetarians only: feel free to use protein substitutes.

Here's the line-up of how the #SundayFunday bloggers are using chicken in their kitchens...

• Chicken and Stuffing Bake from Palatable Pastime
• Chicken Biryani-Gujarati Style from Sneha's Recipe
• Chicken Fajitas from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chicken Ramen Noodle Dump Casserole from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Creamy Spinach and Red Pepper Chicken from Making Miracles
• Saucy Pepperoni Roasted Chicken from Food Lust People Love
• The Best Brine for Whole Roast Chicken from Amy's Cooking Adventures

Chicken Fajitas

Fajitas are one of those things that I throw together when I haven't really had time to plan a meal. Really. The thing that makes it: my DIY Taco Seasoning. But you can use whatever taco seasoning you have in your kitchen.  

If you are interested, I shared the process for the spice blend on my Culinary Cam YouTube channel...

For the fajitas, you just need chicken, onions, bell peppers, tortillas, and salsa. We usually make some Mexican rice, heat up some beans, and call it dinner.

Ingredients serves 6

• 4 chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs
• 4 to 5 teaspoons taco seasoning (DIY Taco Seasoning)
• 1 onion, peeled and thickly sliced
• 3 bell peppers, cored and thickly sliced
• freshly ground salt to taste
• freshly ground pepper pepper
• Also needed: grill pan or griddle, oil
• For serving: tortillas, salsa, and sour cream

Procedure

Place the chicken breasts or thighs on a plate. Sprinkle half of the taco seasoning, then flip them over. Sprinkle the rest and let stand while you heat the pan.

Preheat 1 to 2 Tablespoons oil over medium high. Add the chicken breasts to the pan and cook for 5 minutes without moving them. You want a nice char to develop on the bottom. Flip the chicken with a pair of tongs and cook on the other side for 5 minutes.

Remove from the pan and let stand for 5 minutes while you cook the onions and peppers. After 5 minutes, slice the chicken and add it back to the grill pan with the onions and peppers to make sure it's completely cooked through and hot for serving.

Serve the chicken, onions, and peppers on a platter with warmed tortillas and let everyone assemble their own.

That's a wrap on our chicken event. The #SundayFunday bloggers will be back next week to share healthy salad recipes with Sneha of Sneha's Recipe leading the discussion.