Funky Lime Pizza

I originally posted this funky lime pizza here. I have refined it a fair bit so am reposting with the refined directions ...

pizza dough enough to make two pizzas

4 cloves garlic, minced ~ I do a whole lot more but you do what you like !!

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

2 ears of corn, kernels removed

pinch of black pepper

2 cups Mozzarella, shredded

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

zucchini, thinly sliced

feta cheese, crumbled

fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, coarsely chopped

juice of 2 or 3 limes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/ 200 C if using oven.  (We do ours in our outside pizza oven ... and have even done it in the weber ... just cook it however you would normally cook pizza)

Use your favorite dough, roll out two bases.

Drizzle olive oil on both bases, spread around with a spoon.  Sprinkle with black pepper.  Top with zucchini, onion, corn and feta.  Top with mozzarella.

Bake for about 8 minutes then swap which rack the pizzas are on. Bake for another 5 - 8 minutes, til cheese is done to your liking ! I like it a bit brown ...

While the pizzas are cooking, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, til light brown ... DON'T BURN IT !! Burned garlic is bitter and narsty ! (that's for you Jimmy !)

Immediately after removing the pizza from the oven, top with garlic, squeeze a lime over the top and cover with the cilantro.

I serve with additional lime and we sqeeze more lime over during the meal !!

PS ... I googled funky lime pizza today and my original post came up FIRST ! How fun is that ? It also brought up another couple people who have reposted the recipe. One I knew about. One I didn't. Again ... FUN !!!

Pad Thai

i made this again the other night and decided it should be re-posted.
ya'll need to try this !

200g Thai Rice Noodles, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, then drained & rinsed under cold water.
6 Tablespoons oil of your choice, i use olive
2 eggs, scrambled
a bunch of cilantro (coriander leaves)
5 Tablespoons crushed roasted peanuts (i just quickly dry roast them and then crush them)
250g sliced chicken breast
10 peeled, deveined prawns (i buy ones that have been sitting in garlic and parsley)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red chilli, chopped
1/2 bunch chives, cut in 5cm lengths
5 Tablespoons fish sauce
juice of 2 limes (roughly 4 Tablespoons)
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar
250g bean sprouts

Chop everything before you start. Mix together the fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar.

Heat 3 TBLS oil in a wok on high heat. Add chicken, prawns, garlic and red chilli ... stir for 5 minutes (or til chicken is pretty well done) and then set aside.

Heat the other 3 TBLS oil in same wok on same heat. Stir in rice noodles ... keep stirring for 2 minutes. Add scrambled eggs. Add chives, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar and bean sprouts. Stir stir stir ! 3 minutes.

Add chicken/prawns back in.

Garnish with cilantro and peanuts.

Burrito Bowl

This is such an easy meal ... I love it.

We just throw everything on the table, or on the kitchen counter, and everyone

makes their own bowl to their own liking.

Here's what we have in ours, but you can do whatever you like, that' s the beauty of the burrito bowl !

Brown Basmati Rice, cooked and mixed with lime juice and fresh coriander (cilantro)
Black Beans
Grated Cheese
Spring Onions, Sliced
Black Olives
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Salsa (optional)
Jalapenos (optional)

That's it ... then just fill your bowl with whatever combination takes your fancy ...



My bowl.



Rory's bowl.

**

yum

Guacamole

My Mom gave me her guacamole recipe years ago ... I'm still making it the same way. (Except she doesn't like cilantro so I'm not sure she actually puts that in hers ...)(Do you, Mom?)

2 avocados, one mashed, one chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
red onion, diced
garlic - to taste, I use about 4 or 5 cloves - crushed
splash of lemon juice
fresh cilantro ( coriander )
jalapeno (optional)

Mix all those things together. EASY DONE ! Very Tasty !!
Do ahead if possible because it's yummiest after the flavors all infuse !!

Thai Coconut Soup

This recipe was adapted out of my fabulous new cookbook, The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook! I'm am loving this book!!! I am also loving exploring the fabulous world of cilantro! It turns out that I love it, and so does Bex, so we've been using it a LOT.
Plus, this soup is delicious. You won't be able to believe how tender this chicken is.

1 T vegetable oil
1 T grated ginger
3 T Thai red curry paste
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 T fish sauce
1/2 T brown sugar
1 14oz can coconut milk
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast,
trimmed and sliced thin into 1" strips
1/4 lb mushrooms,
in big chunks so your roommate can pick them out
1 1/2 T fresh lime juice
Salt
1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Heat oil until simmering. Stir in the ginger and curry paste (more or less curry, depending on your taste, keeping in mind that some brands are more intense than others) and cook for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup of broth and stir until curry past dissolves. Stir in the remaining broth, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook partially covered for 15 minutes.

Stir in the coconut milk, chicken and mushrooms. Simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and season with salt. Serve hot broth over cilantro lime rice, garnish with more cilantro.

Note.
This soup cannot be frozen due to the coconut milk, but it can be made ahead, several days in advance. Just be careful not to let it boil when you reheat it.

Quick and Easy Spicy Tortilla Soup

I found this recipe here.

I didn't change much...

1 green pepper

1 medium sweet onion

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (you won't need all of it unless you like your soup ON FIRE!)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper

4 cups chicken broth

1 can can diced Mexican style tomatoes (I used these...cause they are so awesome)

1 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed.

1/4 cup..or so of chopped up fresh cilantro

1 chicken breast, diced

Tortilla chips, for topping

sour cream, for topping

Monterey Jack, shredded, for topping

limes

few slices of avocado

1. In a large pot heat the oil on medium heat and saute the onions. Add bell pepper, jalapenos (I added two or 3 thin slices...diced.), salt and pepper. Cook until the onions become translucent. Add the cumin and stir until fragrant.
2. Add Chicken. Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add chopped cilantro and chicken broth, tomatoes and corn.
4. Cook for about 15 minutes (until chicken is cooked through)
5. Add salt to taste

Pour into bowl

Crush a handful of tortilla chips on top of soup. Sprinkle cheese, dollop sour cream, squeeze lime and throw a couple slices of avocado on top (We forgot the avocado on ours! But added a spoonful of pico de gallo!)

Enjoy!

We served ours with an amazing Steak Cobb Salad!

Bonnie Made The Ajiaco Soup !

And you all need to make it too !
This soup is so delicious !

I made it just like Andrea said ... with only a couple of changes.

I didn't use onion flakes, but rather, finely diced 1/2 an onion and sauteed with garlic.
I'm pretty sure I used a teesy bit more garlic than called for ...
And instead of adding the instant mashed potatoes
that, just for the record, contain about every
preservative in the book (!!), I used
a couple spoonfuls of whole
wheat flour ... it worked
just as well !!
YUM !

I can't wait til lunch ... leftovers !

Lime {and} Cilantro {and} Salmon {and} Rice

My inspiration for this dish came from this recipe but I changed it a little bit ... The original recipe used the oven but I don't have a dish that can go between stove top and oven so I didn't mine a bit differently ...

Here's how I did mine.

¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus additional for sprinkling
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
¾ cup sliced shallots (about 3 large)
1 ½ cups brown basmati rice
3 ¼ (or more) low-sodium chicken broth
2 salmon fillets salmon fillets
2 bunches broccolini, chopped

Mix lime juice, lime zest, honey, 2 tablespoons cilantro, and soy sauce in a small bowl; set aside.

Heat oil in big electric frying pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté til beginning to brown. Add in rice, and broth; bring to a boil. Cover tightly with lid and cook til rice is 10 almost cooked through.

Push the rice to the sides to make room for salmon. Add salmon to frying pan ... seasoning both sides with salt and pepper, and a bit of lime mixture. Add broccolini. Cover.

Cook until salmon is done to your liking (I turned it once). And I think I broke it up into smaller pieces to allow it to cook faster ...

Once fish is cooked, drizzle remaining lime mixture and chopped cilantro oven fish and rice.

I served this with spicy potatoes and kale crisp !

Growing Coriander

So ... I had a great crop of Fresh Coriander (Cilantro) this year.
And I'm about to have it again !
And my plan is to keep planting it so that I have a continuous crop !

Once it went to flower, I just let it go wild !
It grew and grew.
Amazing !



When the seeds turned brown,
I pulled the plants out of the ground,
put a big garbage bag over the top
of the plant and hung it
on my patio.



Once they had dried out
~ maybe a week or two later ~
I took them down and gathered
all the seeds.



I have plenty to plant
repeated plantings from here until
forever, I think !



When I was finished, there were heaps
all over the ground too.
I swept them into
a dustpan and
threw them
into
an open
spot in our
garden bed. I noticed today
that they have sprouted and so we are well on our
way to having more yummy fresh coriander at our fingertips !



Easy to grow.
Just don't disturb the roots.
That's what I've learned ... the hard way !

The Fish Taco Verdict

A week ago, I'd never had a fish taco.
I've now made them TWICE !

I've gotta tell ya, I'm glad my parents made me eat whatever they put in front of my face and that I grew into a person who will try just about anything. I draw the line at brains and things still alive. BUT ... had I not grown up all over the world, eating new foods and discovering many culinary delights, I may not have tried this. I mean, seriously, fish AND taco ?? Together ?? Nah. BUT ... I did try it and I love it !!! My cousin Jill invented this recipe and I'm so glad she did ! My whole family is. The kids love this ... although, Alia prefers her in a bowl with the tortilla on the side, and we make the kid's batter a bit less spicy than ours ...

Here's take one ... last Sunday night.
I made the batter and I did not do a good job of it.
It was watery.
As well, I forgot to dip the fish in the flour before the batter.
Sometimes I get so excited, I forget to read the recipe thoroughly !
It was still delicious ...

But tonight ...

Uh, yeah, Sunday night again ...maybe a tradition is starting (??)
we made them again only this time Rory did the batter.

And he did a better batter.

He didn't forget the flour.

And it was even more delicious !!

If you haven't tried these, you should ... I'm serious.

Don't let the fish and the taco scare you off.

PS ... the recipe looks complicated, but it isn't ... as long as you don't get too excited !!

Funky Lime Pizza

I got this recipe here. If you need a recipe for the dough she's got one included. Or you could try Khrista's whole wheat dough, or my bread maker dough. (I used my bread maker dough for this, as I do for every pizza I make !)

So ... I made two pizzas with this amount of topping ... (and yeah, I modified it but not too much)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 ear of corn, kernels removed

pinch of black pepper

1/2 t red pepper flakes (I just put this on the table for people to sprinkle as wanted)

1 lb Mozzarella, shredded

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

zucchini, thinly sliced

feta cheese, crumbled

fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, coarsely chopped

juice of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (she did a bunch of tricky stuff with the pizza baking process, i prefer simple so didn't do any of that ... you should go check out her way if you like tricky ... )

In a small bowl, combine the garlic and olive oil and set aside.

In a bowl, toss the corn kernels with the black pepper and red pepper.

Scatter half of the Mozzarella over the pizzas, leaving a 1/2" rim. Place the onion over the cheese and the zucchini over the onion. Scatter the remaining Mozzarella over the zucchini. Sprinkle with the feta and the corn.

Bake for about 8 minutes then swap which rack the pizzas are on. Bake for another 5 - 8 minutes, til cheese is done to your liking ! I like it a bit brown ...

Immediately after removing the pizza from the oven, brush the garlic oil onto the rim, squeeze the lime juice over the top and garnish with the cilantro.

This method of brushing with the olive oil left the garlic a bit raw for our tastes. Next time, I think I will add the garlic to the pizza itself and just brush with plain olive oil at the end ...

Fish with a groovy lime salsa

The other day I bought Notebook, one of my favorite magazines. It had a free bag of goodies and included in it was the December 2008/January 2009 issue of delicious. (another fave) I've made a couple of the recipes out of it that I want to share. The first is this delicious fish recipe ... I, of course, modified it, so here is that modified version ...

You will need :
Olive oil
Firm White Fish Fillets (two big ones served the four of us nicely)
1 lime
coconut (see note below)
1 avocado
fresh ginger, grated (to taste)
1 cup fresh coriander (cilantro)
splash fish sauce
1 tsp sugar

I like to try the recipe as close to the way it is the first time I try it. This recipe called for fresh coconut and since I live in a tropical paradise and can buy coconut fresh, I went for it. Don't think I'll do it again. I googled how to open a coconut, thought it look pretty easy, gave it a go but couldn't do it. Luckily Rory's got skillz and he got the coconut open ! The recipe said to grate 80g !! I never weighed it, I just grated til I could grate no more ! And I still had almost a whole coconut left ! ha ha. So yeah ... next time, I'm going to try using desicated coconut ! But ... you do what you like !!!

How you make it:

Segment and chop the lime. Try to catch the juice, or have another lime handy to use a bit of the juice (depending on how limey you want this). Mix with chopped avocado, corander leaves, ginger, fish sauce and sugar. Set aside. (this is quite a tart salsa ... mmmmmm !)

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large non-stick fry pan ( I used a grill pan ) over high heat. Season fish with salt and pepper. Cook til fish is cooked through. Should only take a few minutes each side.

Serve fish on steamed rice and with salsa on top ....

I also roasted cauliflower and asparagus with a whole heap of garlic and olive oil. Mmmmmm !

You may wonder if our kids eat all these meals I cook ?

They sure do.
For some things ( like the lime salsa ) that I think they won't be excited about,
I only give them a small helping.
I wrote about how we taught our kids to eat, if you're interested.

PS. we had leftovers of the salsa. i ate it the next night on mexican chicken. mmmmmm !!

Garlic and Coriander Chicken

I got the original recipe here. I've changed it a fair bit as the chicken was deep fried in that recipe ...

Chicken Breast (chopped) - 200g
corn flour - 3 TBLS
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Oyster Sauce - 2 TBLS
Soy Suace - 1 TBLS
Sugar - 1 tsp
Coriander (Cilantro) - 1 bunch - chopped
Chicken Stock - 10ml
Garlic - 3 cloves, finely chopped
Oil (for frying)

Coat the chicken with the corn flour. Cook in a fry pan with a bit of oil. Set aside. Stir fry the garlic and coriander til brown. Add remaining ingredients. Mix in chicken and serve over rice.

I also added chopped bean sprouts. And served with steamed bok choy on the side.

Serves 2

Udon Prawn Salad

I got this recipe from
The Matthew Hayden Cookbook 2

It was nice. Refreshing.
The noodles were a bit funny but I think that was our fault -
not the fault of the noodles or the recipe !

500g fresh udon noodles (I used 880g)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
500 g cooked prawns, peeled (I only used about 350g)
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 bird's-eye chillies, seeded and finely chopped
lime wedges, to serve

All you do it prepare the noodles as directed on the packet. The recipe said to toast the sesame seeds, but I didn't. I just used them un toasted. Put the noodles in a bowl. Add the oils ... toss to coat. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Serve with the lime quarters.

It says serves 2-3. I added extra noodles and it served the four of us with a small amount left over for lunch tomorrow !

Vietnamese Vermicelli

Canadian Living Magazine: May 2005
Serves 2 to 3

Beef Marinade:
8 oz (250 g) top sirloin or strip loin grilling steak (1 inch/ 2.5 cm thick)
1 tbsp (15 mL) minced shallot or green onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) fish sauce or soy sauce
Vermicelli Salad:
1/2 cup (125 mL) vegetable oil
1/2 cup (125 mL) very thinly sliced shallots
2 oz (60 g) rice vermicelli
2 cups (500 mL) shredded lettuce
2 cups (500 mL) thinly sliced English cucumber
1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped fresh coriander, mint or basil (or a combination)
1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped dry roasted peanuts
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Noodle Sauce:
1/3 cup (75 mL) fresh lime juice
2 tbsp (25 mL) fish sauce (I just used soy sauce since I did not have fish sauce.)
1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp (5 mL) hot red pepper or jalapeño pepper, minced

Trim fat from steak. With knife held at 45-degree angle, cut steak crosswise into 6 equal pieces. Place each between plastic wrap; with meat pounder, pound each until about 6 inches (15 cm) long, 3 inches (8 cm) wide and 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick. Place in bowl. Add minced shallot, minced garlic, granulated sugar and fish sauce; toss to coat. Let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Noodle Sauce:
In glass measure, whisk together lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, garlic and hot pepper. Set aside.
(Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.)

Vermicelli Salad:
Meanwhile, in small skillet, heat oil over medium heat until it bubbles. Add shallots; fry until golden, about 4 minutes. With slotted spoon, remove to paper towel-lined plate. Set skillet of shallot oil aside.In bowl, cover vermicelli with boiling water and soak until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain; rinse in cold water. Return to bowl; toss with 1 tsp (5 mL) of the reserved shallot oil. Divide lettuce between two or three large bowls or plates. Top with cucumber, half of the coriander and the vermicelli; sprinkle with peanuts and fried shallots. Set aside.Thread beef onto skewers; brush with 1 tbsp (15 mL) of the reserved shallot oil. Reserve remaining shallot oil for another use. Broil beef until dark and crusty, about 8 minutes. (I just stir fried some prepared *already cut up* beef I bought at the meat counter. Broiling sounds like it might be better though! Or even grilling on a BBQ!)
Place on top of noodles; drizzle with any pan juices. Sprinkle with green onion and remaining coriander. To eat, pour noodle sauce over vermicelli salad and toss to combine.

*A few notes on this recipe:*
*The recipe calls for dry roasted peanuts, but I have always just used lightly salted cocktail peanuts.
*The last ingredient, hot red pepper or jalapeno pepper, I just put a dash of dried crushed red pepper instead.
*And in case you are like me as of a few months ago, and don’t know what coriander is it is actually referred to as cilantro here in the states.
*I also use regular vermicelli pasta noodles from the pasta isle. Not rice vermicelli…