Cucumber, Crab and Avocado Salad

Great side dish for sushi or a great lunch or dinner for a hot summer say.

8 oz lump crab
1 avocado, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and jullienned into matchsticks
Juice from 1 lime
1 Tbsp Coconut aminos
2 tsp black sesame seeds
2 tsp white sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients, serve cold

Sardine Nori Rolls

Do you want to enjoy the health benefits of sardines, but don't want to just eat them right out of a can? Here's a fun way to enjoy them with colorful avocado and pro-biotic carrots. You can use regular shredded carrots of you don't have fermented ones.

2 Nori sheets
1 4 oz can of Sardines
1/2 cup shredded fermented carrots
1/2 an avocado

You'll also need a small bowl with a little water and a rolling mat.


Place Nori sheet on rolling mat.

Add carrots

Then Sardines

Then add avocado

Roll.

When you get to the last half inch of the roll, dip your fingers in the water bowl and moisten the top of the nori sheet. This will make it stick.

With a sharp slice rolls. The nori sheets I buy have perforated lines to guide here to cut. If your nori doesn't have those, cut them about an inch in length. Serve cold. I like to drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil on mine.

Grilled Ginger-Garlic Shrimp

I was in the mood for Chinese food so I decided to try this. It goes well with Pork Fried Cauliflower Rice.

1 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined

Marinade:
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp honey (optional)
1 Tbsp Red Boat Fish Sauce
1 Tbsp Coconut Aminos
1 Tbsp Coconut vinegar
1 Tbsp Coconut oil

Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Let sit in fridge for about 30 minutes. Place shrimp on skewers and grill for about 5 minutes on each side, or until done. 

Green Curry Shrimp

2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 lbs Shrimp
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 Tbsp Thai green curry paste

Heat oil in pan. Add onion. When onion is translucent, add shrimp. When shrimp starts to get pink and curly, then add ginger and garlic. after about 2 minutes, add coconut milk and curry paste. Cook for a couple more minutes and serve with cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles.

Bay Scallops with Squash Linguini

Making linguini out of butternut squash is freakin awesome. I like it better than spaghetti squash. Nikos thought this was one of the best meals I ever made for him. He likes everything I cook for him, or at least he tells me so. 

1 Tbsp ghee or clarified butter (or more if you really like ghee)
1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb
3 cups butternut squash, spiral sliced or julienned
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp anise seeds

1 Tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 lb Bay Scallops
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 lemon juice

Cut butternut squash into quarters. then cut into chucks that will fit into your spiral slicer.

Heat 1 Tbsp of ghee in a pan. Add fennel and cook for about a minute, then add squash and spices and toss. Saute for about 10 minutes. While that's going on, heat the other Tbsp of ghee and add garlic. after about 30 seconds, add scallops. those will cook fast, so when they're done, take a slotted spoon and remove the scallops. If the squash is cooked, put that on low and throw the scallops in. Squeeze the 1/2 lemon into the empty pan with the scallop liquid. Reduce liquid until it thickens, then add it to the pan with scallops and squash, toss and serve.

Salmon Bacon Awesome

This was a quick dinner that turned out awesome. Everything is better with bacon.

1 lb Salmon
4 oz bacon
Dill Aioli
1 Avocado
Sundried tomatoes chopped into bits
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt, pepper, dill, oregano, garlic powder


Marinate salmon in lemon juice and sprinkle with salt, pepper dill, garlic powder and oregano. let stand for about 30 minutes. Cook bacon until it crisps slightly. liberally spread bacon and sundried tomatoes on top of salmon and grill until salmon starts to flake. (approx 10 minutes). Serve with Dill Aioli and avocado.

Fish Tacos

Fish tacos are the greatest gift Mexico has given the world since chocolate. 

Marinade:
1 lb of fish (cod, mahi, something you can grill)
1 lime, juiced
salt, pepper, Mexican oregano to taste
1-2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

Marinade the fish for at least 30 mins. grill until fish begins to flake.

What you need to assemble the tacos:

Fish or shrimp
Tomato Tortillas
Guacamole or avocado slices
Chili Cilantro Aioli
Shredded cabbage

You may need to eat them fast or they'll fall apart.

Worcestershire Sauce

Mr. Wonderful cooked me dinner one night: Cajun BBQ shrimp. I don't know why they call it BBQ shrimp when its sauteed and covered in butter sauce, but that's what it's called.  The recipe called for Worcestershire Sauce. Since I refuse to eat anything with any amount of corn syrup, even a miniscule amount, I had to make my own. Commercial Worcestershire Sauce also contains soy sauce, definitely not paleo. I searched through about 10 recipes, one dating back to 1876 (which was reprinted in 2009 in the NY Times). Food Renegade has an easy homemade Worcestershire sauce recipe. Mine is slightly less easy. In all the research I did, tamarind was one of the original main ingredients so I thought I needed it to be authentic. I don't know where to find tamarind paste, but I do know my local supermarket sells tamarind (aka tamarindo). It has a tangy flavor, so I can see why many recipes would use lemon or lime instead.

This goes great in marinades for all kinds of meat, especially steak. I also mix a table spoon of it into ground meat whenever I make burgers.

8 tamarind pods (yields about 1/4 cup tamarind paste)
1/2 cup shallots finely chopped
1 tsp coconut oil
2 cups cider vinegar
1/4 cup coconut aminos
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 Tbsp Brewer's yeast
2 oz anchovies, drained
1/4 cup honey

Boil about 1-2 cups of water. Peel and devein the tamarind pods and put pulp in a bowl. Pour boiling water over tamarind pulp and let stand for 10 minutes. Once soft, separate seeds from pulp by pressing through a sieve or mesh strainer. Discard the seeds, keep the pulp.

Saute shallots in coconut oil. Once caramelized, remove from pan and put in blender. Add all of the other ingredients to the blender. Might be a good idea to chop the anchovies first, but they creeped me out, so I through them into the blender whole so the wretched creatures would be out of my site. Liquify all the ingredients and refrigerate. Should make about 3 cups.

Shrimp Scampi with a Little Head (of Garlic)

I was searching for the perfect scampi recipe. They all sucked. Only 2 cloves of garlic per 1 lb of shrimp? Really Tyler Florence? Really Giada, and you call yourself Italian! Barefoot Contessa fared better with 4 cloves per pound, but it just wasn't enough. I didn't even bother with Rachel Ray because she's the Food Network's Village Idiot. I want to have shrimp with my garlic. I had a small head. It would have to do. When I think scampi, I think shrimp and garlic. Everything else is just extra.

2 lbs shrimp (pealed, deveined)
1 small head of garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp fat of choice (butter or olive oil)
5 sprigs fresh thyme
2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
2 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
salt and pepper

in a pan, heat fat. add garlic cook for about a minute or 2. Add herbs, salt pepper, cook for a minute then add shrimp. toss Shrimp in buttery garlicy goodness for about 3 minutes or until shrimp is no longer translucent. then add lemon juice and white wine vinegar. cook for another couple of minutes. With a slotted sppon ( i used a spatula) remove shrimp and reduce lemon juice to about half the volume.

Serve on top of spaghetti squash and/or zucchini linguini. I used both because like variety.

Curry Fisherman's Pie

There's eggwhites in this. I must have used the yolks for Hollandaise. Sometimes I can't think of anything interesting to write about. So, on to the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb Mahi Mahi or really any fish will do
2 lemons, juiced
3 tsp madras curry powder separated
4 eggwhites
2 whole large eggs
2 cups frozen spinach
2 cups pumpkin fresh pumpkin puree, or 1 can
1 tsp salt, separated
1 sweet onion
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp coconut oil (or any fat)
1/2 tsp salt separated

Marinate Mahi in lemon juice and 1 tsp curry powder.

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in sauce pan. Saute onion until translucent. add garlic cook for 30 seconds, then add 1 tsp curry.  cook 30 more seconds, add marinated Mahi and 1/4 tsp salt. cook for about 5 -10 minutes, then add spinach cook until spinach is thawed.

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy. Pour Mahi mixture into baking dish, then fold in egg whites. In a mixing bowl beat 2 whole eggs, then add pumpkin puree and 1 tsp curry and 1/4 tsp salt. Blend thoroughly and top mahi egg mixture. bake for 45-1 hour.

Crab Cakes

I traveled all over the East Coast before settling in the vast desert wasteland that is Southern Arizona. There are many, many things I miss about it. Mostly my friends and seafood. I lived in Falls Church, VA for 2 years and when I say I'm homesick, it's usually the DC area that I'm longing for. Not NYC, that place stresses me out.


But back to the seafood. Virginia, being next to Maryland, has it's fair share of great places to get crab cakes. Consequently, so does Delaware, but then you're faced with the dilemma of finding something else to do in Delaware besides eat seafood. If you happen to be passing through DE, it only takes about 10 minutes so there might not be a reason to stop. But if you're stuck working there for 3 weeks like I was, or you're visiting family or you're a NASCAR fan and just have to go to Dover, you can explore the many delicious options. I imagine that there aren't too many NASCAR fans who are going to stumble across this blog.

Interesting fact about people from Maryland and Delaware, they put Old Bay on everything. You can't make Crab Cakes without it. Well, I just did. I used Penzey's Chesapeake Seasoning. I guess you can use any Old Bay wannabe seasoning, but if you have Old Bay, it's probably best.

1 16oz can of crab meat
2 tsp Old Bay
1/2 cup red onion finely chopped
1/2 cup green pepper finely chopped
1/2 Roasted Red Pepper Aioli (or any aioli or mayo will do)
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour (maybe more)
Coconut oil (or any fat you like)

The aioli is what holds the crab cakes together. Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup (or 1/4 cup if you want them smaller) scoop out crab mix and form into patties and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Set up your assembly line with one plate of coconut flour, a bowl with the eggs, and another plate with almond flour. Dredge cakes in coconut flour, then dip in the eggs and then coat with almond flour. Fry until golden brown. try to get the sides cooked too. I did this by putting the cakes against the side of the pan.

Remove from heat and serve with aioli, cocktail sauce or tarter sauce.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Zucchini Linguini

Diabolically Delicious!

I spent about half the day driving around Tempe and being bombarded by the words "Sun Devils". That might have been my inspiration for today's dish. Or maybe I listen to too much heavy metal. \m/ Nah, there's no such thing as too much heavy metal \m/. I bought a lb of shrimp that accidentally dethawed in my trunk despite my best efforts to pack it in an insulated bag with frozen broccoli and spinach. It was only 104 degrees today, but it was a couple of hours between shopping and going home.

So I sat on my couch contemplating what to do with the shrimp. I started to taste the crushed red pepper in my mind, the garlic, the tomato. I had zucchini that was waiting to be turned in to magnificent strands of, um, zucchini.

Zucchini Linguini:
8 small zucchinis
salt
1 tbsp olive oil
pepper and oregano to taste

Using a spiral slicer, make zucchini into something vaguely linguini shaped, put in a colander, toss in salt and let drain for an hour.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo:
1 lb raw shrimp
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
Juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
1/8 tsp anise seeds (optional)
salt, pepper

Mix spices together and set aside

In a large pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add shrimp (peeled) and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.

Add other tbsp of oil to the pan and heat. Add garlic, cook for about 30 seconds, then add the rest of the spices. cook for another 30 seconds. Add the canned tomatoes.  Mix in the lemon juice and tomato paste and simmer. Add the shrimp back in and cook for a few more minutes.

Once you got that simmering, heat the oil for the zucchini in a different pan. When hot, add zucchini. then add the pepper and oregano. Cook for a few minutes then drain excess water.

Put Zucchini Linguini on plate and top with Fra Diavolo. Enjoy!

Apparently some ASU team won some game last night. I guess football. I don't know. So perhaps I inadvertently celebrated a Sun Devils victory with this diabolically delicious dish. However, I did not conjure enough of Hell's minions to assist the NJ Devils and they were defeated 6-2 by the Islanders.

Garlic-Ginger Marinade, Dressing, Dipping Sauce for Seafood

I haphazardly plated this salad for a dramatic effect. Ok, really I was too lazy and too hungry to painstakingly arrange it for the photo.

This recipe was inspired, or should I say borrowed, from my friend Jamie. She likes to marinate tuna steaks in lemon and lime juice with fresh garlic, soy sauce and ginger powder. The first time I tried this I used fresh ginger and garlic powder. Tambien. The remainder of the marinade she uses for dipping.

This recipe works well with any kind of seafood. I used Mahi Mahi for this recipe. This time, I used both fresh ginger and fresh garlic. I use a microplane to grate the ginger root. You only need a little so the rest put in the fridge or freezer and save for something else. When I say something else, I mean the salad dressing recipe that follows.

1 lb Mahi Mahi
Juice of 1 lemon (or 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 a lime)
1/2 tsp fresh ginger
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced

Marinate Mahi in lemon juice and evenly spread the garlic and ginger evenly over fish. Grill.

Top a salad with it. I'm not going to tell you what to put on a salad. You're an adult, you can decide for yourself. But I will give you a recipe for salad dressing using fresh ginger. I make 1 serving at a time because I'm neurotic, but you might want to make a whole batch just so you have something to do with all the fresh ginger you have left over so it doesn't go bad.

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil, avocado oil, macadamia nut oil or sesame oil. See, you have options.
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce for the non paleos)
1 tbsp fresh ginger (I have no idea what the conversion would be if you used powder instead)
4 cloves (or more) garlic, pressed or minced
Salt, pepper

Makes about a cup. Must be shaken before every use.  You can get a little crazy and add some wasabi powder, lemon grass, turmeric, coriander, or whatever you like. Hmm, maybe tonight will be a coriander night.

Walnut Crusted Catfish

I have thing for nut crusted seafood. The nuts add a nice texture. I usually do catfish in pecans because it seems like the southern thing to do . . . but I'm from the Northeast and I'm out of pecans.

I'm also out of cayenne. I'm not sure how I let that happen. I'll use chipotle powder instead.

2 oz walnuts
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp chipotle or cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano

1.5 lbs catfish

Combine nuts, garlic and spices in a food processor and blend until coarse. Spread evenly on catfish and grill or bake for 20 minutes or so.

Almond Coconut Tilapia

Fresh coconut = Pain in the ass. This is how I do it:

A power tool is a single woman's best friend

I drill holes in the 3 spots on top of the coconut and drain the water. It's a refreshing beverage. Then I wrap the coconut in a towel and smash the hell out of it with a hammer. I pry the meat from the shell, peel the brown skin and I'm left with lovely fresh coconut.

Tilapia has gotten a bad reputation for being a dirty, dirty fish. You can buy Tilapia, farm raised in China at Walmart for $5.99/ lbs. Now, over the years China has been trying to poison us and buy us off so I think anything farm raised there and sold in Walmart is suspect. So buy your fish from a reliable source (I shop at Whole Foods because I'm a snob) and sleep soundly at night knowing you're not contributing to the problem.

Marinade:

1 lb tilapia
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
sprinkled with tandoori seasoning

Josh, the awesome fish dude at Whole Foods managed to measure out exactly 1 lb of tilapia. Give that man his propers.

Crust:
2 oz ground almonds or almond meal
50 grams of fresh coconut (you don't have to be so precise if you're not as neurotic as I am)
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp corriander
salt and pepper

I put this in a mini food processor and  blended. The fresh coconut is tough so it takes a bit of pulverizing.

You can bake this or grill it. 350 - 400 degrees for approximately 20 mins or whenever.

Grill Power

Espresso Balsamic Salmon

A few weeks ago, my friend Janet and I stumbled upon a little shop in Scottsdale called Outrageous Olive Oils. They sell a unique variety of flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars. I had to have the Espresso Balsamic Vinegar because I'm a coffee addict. It's sweet and flavorful.

Salmon is a very flavorful fish so I sometimes like to go with something a little stronger than the simple lemon and garlic standby that I would use on something delicate like sole. I thought about what seasonings pair well with coffee: cinnamon, nutmeg, and anise. Since both espresso and balsamic vinegar come from Italy, I went with seasoning used in traditional Italian cuisine:  garlic, oregano, basil and thyme.

Rub:

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp anise
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp basil

If you don't have espresso flavored vinegar, try some finely ground coffee for the rub, or marinate the salmon in coffee liqueur and balsamic vinegar.

Pour about 1/2 tbsp (mas o menos) of Espresso balsamic vinegar on salmon and spread evenly. Add rub, and spread evenly. Let sit in fridge for a couple of hours.

I slow cooked it because I was also roasting a turkey breast and a boneless lamb shank. I cook everything I need for the week in one day so I don't have to worry about it on work days. I also like to cook outdoors to cut down on my electric bill. When my electric stove goes against the air conditioner in a Battle Royale, the only loser is me. You could grill it, bake it, whatever you want.

I have this awesome grill:

I also have a desert wasteland for a back yard. Awesome features of my grill include a gas grill, a charcoal grill, a gas burner, and la piece de resistance: a smoker box (sold separately). I usually do veggies on the gas burner while the meat and fish are cooking on the other side.

Balsamic Reduction:
1 tsp olive oil (I used blood orange flavored, because I can)
1/2 tsp fennel
1/4 tsp anise
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 cup espresso balsamic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup strong coffee (pronounced Strowng CAWfee)

If you don't have Espresso balsamic, just double up on the coffee (or use some coffee liqueur) and balsamic.

Heat oil in sauce pan. Add fennel, then add the other herbs. When fragrant, add liquid ingredients. Heat at low temp until it thickens.

Of course, this will be served with Spaghetti Squash. I use frozen spinach because it's cheap and expedient. I also grilled a red onion, eggplant and roasted some cherry tomatoes for this. Mixed the veggies together with a 1/2 tbsp of the balsamic reduction and topped with salmon.

Get your 5 a day the color way!