recipe: porchini mushroom salmon

I don’t really know what inspired this meal, it just kind of came together by accident. I was lucky to find fresh caught salmon for this, as opposed to the usual farm raised fish. Combine that with fresh spinach and mushrooms and it really did come together nicely. I realized after I finished eating it, it was one of those meals I really should have taken notes on what I was doing. A really good sized fry pan will allow you to actually cook the whole thing in one pace rather than having to dirty a bunch of dishes. Don’t feel obligated to follow the directions exactly though, because it would be equally as well to serve the elements separate too.

Salmon fillet
porchini mushrooms
spinach
shallot
garlic
black pepper
large skillet

Dice the mushrooms, garlic and shallot and cut the spinach
Place the salmon fillet skin down in the skillet and begin to cook it over medium heat
Season the top of the fish with black pepper
Once the fish begins to cook place the veggies on either side of the fish in the skillet and season the veggies with black pepper
Allow the spinach to wilt and the mushrooms to reduce in size (right to the point of browning)
If necessary, cover the frying pan to help combine flavors and speed cooking, also (such as using a non-stick pan) add a little bit of oil to prevent sticking
Once the veggies are reduced and the fish is cooked through and its skin crispy, remove from heat.

I served by plating the fish and then topping the fillet with the veggies, the favors came together surprisingly well and offered different mouth textures during each bite rather than eating the veggies and fish separately. As stated earlier though, they can easily be done separately.

RECIPE: crowded soup

When I (eric doormouse) was younger I always heard stories about the infamous crowded soup my grandmother used to make. She would collect the leftovers from the week (which is difficult to believe there would be any, considering my uncles and grandfather) and put them in a stock pot and make a big soup out of them so as to see nothing go to waste. It hardly requires a recipe when you think about it, so long as most of the leftovers make some kind of culinary sense with one another and could be construed as soup-worthy.

Although this is not exactly my grandmother’s recipe for a Crowded Sunday Soup, this is one of those recipes that changes a little bit every time I make it based on what veggies I have hanging around the place. In this case, it was time to use up a number of base veggies and the last bit of homemade stock I had left. This is the gist of what I used. The okra, a traditional African and later Mississippi Delta veggie that acts as a wonderful thickener for meals. Typically, I cook with the trinity (in Delta cooking the combo of onion, celery and bell pepper is a replacement for the more traditional miraquois of onion, celery and carrot) but in this case I combine a number of aeromatics to create the base flavor and build up from there. Once the base flavors are in and the stock is settled, the rest of the veggies are just a suggestion…

Also, I used leftover sugar ham in the dish, because pork typically makes everything better, however, eliminating it makes it a very nice vegitarian dish. I also actually made this in a crock pot on low after a quick saute of the base veggies, but the recipe is written the way I would do it over long cook in a heavy stock pot.

coarsly diced:
onion
bell pepper
anaheim pepper
celery
carrot
garlic
okra

sugar cured ham

shredded dark leafy greens (spinach, kale, mustard leaf, collard green, chicory, chard, etc.)
corn (frozen or cut fresh from the cob raw)
tomato (diced / sliced / crushed, fresh is best, though canned can work too)
squash (yellow summer, butternut, zucchini, etc.)
beans (red kidney, red pinto, black, black eyed pea, Cannellini, blue navy, etc. NOTE there is a difference in cooking using canned, frozen & dried!)
lentels (if you use ANY lentels you NEED to ensure there is enough extra liquid for the lentels since most are dried)

Stock (I prefer homemade veggie, but chicken or pork could work too)
water
olive oil
bay leaf
dried rosemary
tarragon
parsley
black pepper
paprika
Stock Pot

add a small amount of oil to the stock pot over medium heat
add the coarsly chopped veggies (peppers, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, okra) and simmer over medium heat so the veggies soften and the flavors begin to meld
add the dired rosemary and make sure to keep the veggies evenly cooking, do not allow them to over-carmalize as they saute

add the pork and allow it to meld with the rest of the flavors as you saute

add the stock and water, 2:1 ratio stock to water and allow to come to a simmer covered with the bay, black pepper, paprika and tarragon (dried, if fresh only add at the end or it’ll end up mushy grey leaves and taste like nothing)

after those flavors set, add the dark leafy greens, tomato, the lentils and re-season as necessary and allow to simmer

after those flavors set and the greens wilt and lentils become moist add the other veggies and allow to simmer, reseason (with the black pepper, paprika and tarragon etc) as neccessary. do not overcook the last group of veggies, as they will reduce to mush if you do

serve warm… sometimes, i like it with some flat leaf parsley and a hard cheese like parmeseano reggiano or pecorino romano grated on top

RECIPE: NYE Special … Bourbon Lime Chicken over Rice

Nearly every year over the last decade I’ve (Eric doormouse) cooked on New Year’s Eve. Sometimes it was a romantic dinner for two for the lady I was with, sometimes it was for a gathering of close friends, I’ve even cooked with family for it (or at least brought around some of the better leftovers from it). I really enjoy cooking, it’s such a creative and relaxing experience and with a nice glass of scotch or wine, some good music and good company there’s really few other ways I would rather spend time… and that’s exactly what inspired this meal. I made some adjustments in transcribing my notes from actually creating this recipe since it was mostly made up as I went along while looking at the ingredents that were brought along by friends. The ingreds were pretty straight forward, so this wasn’t nearly as big a challenge as say, trying to watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve contemplating 1) where’s the rock and 2) is that really DC or is it a CGI to maintain the illusion of a once great broadcaster?

chicken (breasts or theighs about 1″ cubed)
onion
garlic
bell pepper
anaheim pepper
celery
limes (zested and juiced)
molassas
brown rice
stock (veggie or chicken)
coffee
bourbon
spinach
black pepper
house seasoning
bay leaf
dried rosemary
olive oil
fry pan
large skillet
medium pot

lightly coat the cubed chicken in black pepper and then marinade for no less than 20 minutes in equal parts lime juice and bourbon
rough chop the onion, both peppers, celery and garlic
in the medium pot place 1/4 of the diced veggies, the rice and a little bit of oil
allow the rice to begin to become translucent and the veggies to soften over medium heat
mix the stock, bourbon and coffee 2:1:1 at aprox 4:1 to the rice (ie: 1/4 cup of rice, 1 cup of liquid) and add the liquid to the rice
bring the rice up to a boil, add the bay leaf and rosemary, cover and allow to simmer until rice softens and is tender
while the rice is cooking, heat the skillet with a little bit of oil
remove the chicken from the marinade and sear it on all sides, do not cook through, remove from heat and set aside covered
in the skillet add the rest of the veggies and lightly saute them
carefully add bourbon to the pan, increase the heat to high, carefully light the alcohol and allow to quickly burn off
add the lime juice and zest, mollassas and the reserved chicken to the pan and allow to simmer over low heat until chicken is tender and cooked through and the sauce is reduced by about half (it should come out viscous, not overly thick)
while the meat is finishing cooking place the washed spinach in the fry pan very coated lightly with a bit of oil, the house seasoning (and the leftover parts of the zested & juiced limes)
lightly saute the spinach until the leaves begin to wilt (if you used the lime parts, remove and do not serve them)

I served the rice in the center of the plate with the spinach encircling it and the chicken and sauce spooned over the top.

(note from Jan 1) Because it is good luck to serve pork as part of your New Years festivities, when I reheated this the next day, I used some leftover ham to help set up the rice as I fried it and used some chorizo sausage along with the chicken because there wasn’t a lot of left over chicken and it made for a very nice meal as well, looking back again, a little pork in the rice to begin with and the combo of meats might have even made this even more bold, like a nice andouile sausage, mm mm good