Genius Rice

The folks at Milk Street Kitchen are geniuses.  That is the only explanation for this fantastic dish.  It is true that an internet search for similar recipes will certainly turn up others, and they may all be good.  Who knows?   I might even be inspired to try one.  It will have to compete with the one I got from these folks though.

I am a bit of a lame cook while I am not providing food for others.  All sorts of stripped down versions of food end up being dinner and not many are worthy of repeating.  However, I try to generate at least one decent meal that involves several components each week.  This recipe stems from this effort.

I confess I was literally moaning.   The rice dish was that good.  If that isn't enough inspiration, then picture a dish of rice with so many colors and textures and flavors that the remaining meal seemed an afterthought.  All this in the spirit of testing a recipe that would be used at a future book club!  It's what I would call a win-win.

Persian Jeweled Rice

serves 4

Adapted slightly from Milk Street Kitchen 

1 t saffron threads

4T salted butter

2 medium yellow onions, diced in 1cm pieces

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

2 c basmati rice, rinsed and drained

2 t ground cumin

1 3/4 t ground cardamom

2 carrots, peeled and shredded on a box shredder (about 1 c)

1 c dried cranberries

1 t grated orange zest (see note)

1/2 c chopped unsalted pistachios

Combine saffron with 2 2/3c water and microwave until water is yellow, approx 1 min. 

In a medium to large skillet, melt the butter, add onions at 2t salt, stirring, until softened and light golden brown.  Add rice, spices and 1 t salt and 1/2t pepper.  Cook until rice is lightly browned, stirring.  

Add the water, carrots, and cranberries.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, and cover.  Until rice is absorbed and tender, approx 20 min.     

Fluff the rice and add the orange zest and 1/2 of the pistachios.  Correct seasoning, and garnish with remaining pistachios.  

Note:  this could easily be vegan if the butter were switched out for oil.  I used easily twice the amount of carrots, and will keep doing this.  I only had orange sweetened cranberries, so used a bit less and skipped the orange zest.  This was fine.  

**  If you serve this with broccoli and baked salmon, it might cause you to moan, so do so at your own risk.  

Salad for January Darkness

     The days are getting longer.  Well, you know what I mean:  the day is still only 24 hours, but the dayLIGHT is getting longer.  I have often said that the hardest time for me is from early November to early January.  I go to work in the dark, I come home in the dark.  I never see the chickens awake except on the weekend.  I hunker down and endure.  Once I can see and feel that the days are getting longer, my attitude changes, and I find the rest of the winter much easier to bear.
     The press and strain of the holidays doesn't help.  So it all feels like a breath of fresh air once January hits.  I don't do resolutions per se.  But I did review the last year and tried to find some highlights during my book club get together in December.  (we did a brief round robin).  I have to say 2018 wasn't too stellar.  I am determined that 2019 will be better.  It already is!   I have trips to Fairbanks and South Carolina planned.  Aurora Borealis!  I am going to Greece in September!  This fills the upcoming months with exciting adventures.  Other things are better as well:  say, for instance, health.  Mine and others.  The recent elections give me reason to feel more optimistic.
     I do try to eat more healthfully in January.  No rooibos tea detox stuff, just more vegetables, and less cheese and animal proteins.  I feel lighter and more energetic.   To that end, I ended up looking about for dinner options tonight that fit the billand remembered this one.  I have had the recipe for years, and it is visually beautiful, jewel toned.  It tastes fantastic.  I got it from Sunset magazine years ago.  I am sure there is nothing 'authentic' about it being Norwegian---I mean, they don't have coconuts there for one.  Or ginger for that matter.  But I hardly care, as the salad is a departure from a green one, and interesting flavors are to be found.
     This recipe is somewhat similar to one I ate growing up.  That one had carrot and apple, and a lemon/sugar dressing.  This one takes to a whole other level--a more grown up version, if you will.  The recipe is fairly faithful to the one I got years ago, but I confess to adding 1-2t of sugar to it.  Do what you want.  Don't be too concerned about the amount of the vegetables.  I use whatever I have on hand.

 The colors are so bright it almost hurts to look at them

Norwegian Beet Salad

Adapted slightly from Sunset Magazine

serves 3-4

1 beet
1-2 carrots
1 apple
1 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c coconut (flaked is better texture-wise)
2T lemon juice
1 T grated fresh ginger
1/2-1T sesame oil
chopped parsley
salt (1/4t +)
1-2 t sugar

Peel and grate the vegetables.  I to this in a food processor.  Add the remaining ingredients up to the salt,  then adjust the salt and sugar to taste.
No excuse not to make this for dinner, it's that easy.  Just put your sunglasses on to make and eat it, and pretend like it is summer.

Tuscan Butter Salmon via Guest Post!

Guest Blog by Karen Petersen 

Living in Alaska – it is a challenge sometimes to come up with new seafood recipes that are easy and have simple ingredients.  No point in ever putting in capers or radicchio in a recipe since the store in Thorne Bay can’t even special order that stuff!  It mush be bootlegged into town….

In any case – the Keep-It-Simple philosophy tends to work best, and the gas grill gets a lot of use.

So, when my husband sent me an email link for Tuscan Butter Salmon (Here is the original web link  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a58412/tuscan-butter-salmon-recipe/ )   I thought there is no point in even looking at the recipe (I mean – it has the word “Tuscan” in it, so it must be complicated right?)  But it is rare that he ever looks at recipes, and he insisted that it looked good, so I gave it the once over and thought – okay – we can try this.  We have lots of Sockeye in the freezer and it needs to be eaten!

My metric for making a new dish is I try really hard to stick to the original the first time around and then all bets are off for further incarnations.  I decided if I could find all the ingredients at the store then it was meant to be.  Cherry tomatoes, Parmesan Cheese, spinach, heavy cream and garlic – how hard could it be?  For a bit of perspective, the previous week there was no dairy product to be had at the Thorne Bay Market (they didn’t send it) and the week before THAT it was no eggs, so I was prepared to pass, BUT lo and behold, all ingredients were to be found, and they looked pretty good (as opposed to 3 weeks old and slimy).

I daringly invited guests over for dinner and immediately had to double the recipe – but that was okay – have lots of salmon….

And I discovered my paella dish worked JUST FINE for the preparation.  So – it was off the races:

Get all your stuff ready to go before cooking since this goes licketly-split fast”

Prep the salmon (I pull out the bones) by cutting into pieces, drying them with a paper towel (this is a new thing for me) and lightly salting.

Chop the garlic, and parsley and put into separate little dishes.  Also wash and dry the spinach.  Grate the cheese, and slice the tomatoes in half.  Premeasure the cream and butter and you are ready.

Tuscan Butter Salmon

serves 4, increases easily

This goes together very fast – and  I found the fish cooked faster than the recipe says.  Better to under-cook than over cook because you can add cooking time at the end.  Here is the recipe as it was found:

Ingredients

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 (6-oz) salmon fillets, patted dry with paper towels

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp. butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 c.halved cherry tomatoes

2 c.baby spinach

1/2 c.heavy cream

1/4 c.freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 c. chopped herbs (such as basil and parsley), plus more for garnish

Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Directions

    In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Season salmon all over with salt and pepper. When oil is shimmering but not smoking, add salmon skin-side up and cook until deeply golden, about 6 minutes. Flip over and cook 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

    Reduce heat to medium and add butter. When butter has melted, stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook until tomatoes are beginning to burst then add spinach. Cook until spinach is beginning to wilt.

    Stir in heavy cream, Parmesan, and herbs and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes.

    Return salmon back to skillet and spoon over sauce. Simmer until salmon is cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

    Garnish with more herbs and squeeze lemon on top before serving.

I added red pepper flakes and only used parsley because that is all I had in the garden….

ENJOY!