Showing posts with label Mayo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mayo. Show all posts

Fish Tacos - The Low Sodium Way

My cousin Liz (Jill, at the time) posted her fish taco recipe a few (like six!!) years ago.  It has been a favorite in our house ever since.  Rory wanted to have them the other night so I set about making them low sodium.  It wasn't difficult.  The high sodium portions are the tortillas and the mayo but I made both of those from scratch so no problem!

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I'll list the ingredients in bold in the actual recipe ... There's a few steps but they are easy and I'll put them in the order I recommend ...

Put rice in rice cooker (or cook on stovetop)  I do two cups of rice

In a bowl, mix ¼ cup lime juice, 1 TBLS water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp chili powder.  This is your marinade.  Cut flakey white fish (I do two fillets for our family of four) (and I use Snapper) into into taco-sized pieces, about 1 ½” x 2 ½” (thin pieces work best).  Add to marinade and let stand.

Mix ½ cup homemade mayo,  ¼ cup cream, 1 clove garlic, and pepper to taste. You can add 1-2 Serrano chilies, seeded too if you want, but I don't.  Liz blends all this in her blender but I don't mind it chunky so I just mix it with a spoon.  Pop it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. 

I made the dough for the tortillas in the Thermomix but you could mix it by hand.  370g flour, 180ml lukewarm water, 40g olive oil, 1 tsp sodium free baking powder.  Add to TM bowl, blitz speed 5 for 10 seconds.  Knead setting for 2 minutes.  Tip dough out, roll into big ball then divide into 8 equal portions.  Roll with rolling pin and set aside.  Fry in hot, dry (no oil) flying pan for 1-2 minutes or until it bubbles, then flip.  The second side never takes as long.  AND the first tortilla never works!  (Roll out a tiny one to be 'first one' that goes in the trash!)

In shallow bowl, mix 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp sodium free baking powder and 1 tsp chili powder. Add water until a thick batter forms.

When your rice is finished cooking, mix in the juice of one lime and a handful of fresh coriander.

You can decide whether to cook the fish or tortillas first.  I had help ... Rory cooked the fish while I cooked the tortillas.  If I had to do it on my own, I would have cooked the tortillas first.

Fry tortillas in a preheated (on medium low heat), dry (no oil) flying pan for 1-2 minutes or until it forms bubbles, then flip.  The second side never takes as long.  AND the first tortilla never works!  I always make a tiny one to be 'first one' that goes in the trash.  Place tortilla's in a stack under a clean tea towel until ready to serve.

Grab your marinated fish.  Dredge each pieces in flour then coat liberally with batter and shallow fry (you can deep fry but I never do!) until golden. (It is okay if your fish does not get completely opaque, if your pieces are thin enough, the lime juice will have already cooked them) Drain on a paper towel.

To serve ... top tortilla with rice, fish and sauce.  I often sprinkle with extra coriander.  And Rory adds Sriracha to his.


Tuna Mac

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I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe before.
It's one of my favorites.

And so easy ...

1 bag of shell pasta
1 small jar of pimento stuffed green olives, I chop mine in half
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 can of tuna (i like it in spring water but whatever), drained
1 cup mayo (i make mine like this), add a bit at a time, you may not need this much ~ or you may need more ... you just want the pasta nice and coated ! (not like mine looks in the photo !)
a couple squirts of american mustard

Cook the pasta al dente. Drain. Cool a teensy bit so the mayo doesn't go icky. Add all ingredients and mix. And that's that. I love this warm ... and I love this cold and leftover !!


The Bohemian

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This burger is deliciousness at it's best.
You will find it at Cheese and Burger.com
Have you visited that site yet ? No ? What ?!
Come on ... go there ! You will like it ... it's fun !!

What you need to make this beast ...

Beef Patty ... have you tried our beef patty's yet ? Rory is convinced they are the best on the planet. So, maybe you should.

Gouda Cheese
Fried Prosciutto
Sliced Turkey
Pesto Mayonnaise
Spinach
Oat Bread - we buttered ours and pressed it in the panini maker ...

So ... I made the pesto mayonnaise. It was easy and so delicious ... Just whip up some mayo using your stick blender. And then make some pesto ... like this ...

2 cups fresh basil leaves ~ I used greek basil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup nice olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
garlic cloves, minced ~ to taste, I used a couple of cloves
Salt and Pepper

Mix basil, pine nuts and garlic in food processor. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Add the grated cheese and keep going til blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

To make the pesto mayonnaise, just add some of this pesto to the mayo ...

DELICIOUS !!
TRY THIS BURGER !!


Making Mayonaise ~ The Video

In December of last year, I made my first batch of mayonnaise ... it was great tasting but soooo hard ! It took soooo long ! Not what you want to hear when making mayonnaise ...

After that, my Mom and my cousin had the aioli-sytle throwdown and discovered a new way to make mayonnaise ... a super easy way.

And just to clarify ... aioli and alioli are the same thing. The first is French. The second is Spanish. And I stand corrected !!

Here is the definitive mayo recipe ... the one I use all the time now ... the one I'm going to show you in this video. This 58 second video that shows making it from start to finish and even a shot of me speaking some unintelligible gobble-de-gook at the end !





It is seriously so simple. If you don't believe me ... and you have a stick blender ... try it, just to prove me wrong ! :)

The Definitive Mayo Recipe


This mayonnaise recipe, which lost the throwdown, but is still a winner, is modified from one given to this blog by Arabian Knits. It uses a stick blender instead of a regular blender (or a whisk and tons of elbow grease). It's so simple, easy, and quick, you may never need to buy store-bought mayonnaise again!

BASIC MAYONNAISE
(yields 1 cup)

In a glass jar that is wide enough for the blender to fit through put, in this order:

1 egg, room temperature (we ran the egg under warm water to take the refrigerator chill off it)
1 1/2 tsp. Fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup light oil (we used canola, but any oil will do, just use what you like/have on hand!)

The original recipe called for ground mustard. It added a taste we weren't really going for, so omitted it in the second batch. However, if you're looking to make a Japanese style mayo, use the mustard and substitute rice vinegar for the lemon juice.

With the stick blender OFF, put it down to the bottom of the jar. Then start it and, rocking side to side, slowly pull it up to the top. Continue pushing it back to the bottom and up to the top SLOWLY, until you reach the desired consistency, about 20-30 seconds.

To make GARLIC MAYONNAISE (Aioli):
Make the basic mayo recipe. Add in 4 pressed cloves of raw garlic (more or less, to taste). Let sit for a while, the garlic flavor will intensify.

THROWDOWN! Aioli-style

Aunt Kathy and I both had new aioli (garlic mayonaise) recipes to try.
So we had a throwdown!!!

My version was made according to Julia Child's very traditional French recipe.
AK's was made using a stick blender and slightly different ingredients.

We mixed both with some plain, cooked potato (patatas alioli)
and gave Uncle Jim (our judge) a blind taste test!

The verdict:
The traditional method is DELICIOUS! But it is a TON of work.
Be prepared to have your arm fall off from whisking.
On the other hand, this mayo can be eaten without guilt,
'cause you've already worked off ALL the calories!!
The stick blender method is much much much much much much easier.
It's not quite as good, but is a wonderfully acceptable alternative.

Making Mayo



So ... I spent a looong time trying to make mayo today ! A freaking long time !! I knew mayo was tricky to make but sheesh ... I was ready to throw it all out the window ! I made two batches of "mayonnaise soup" but the third time was some wonderful kind of success !! And I am thrilled ... let me tell you about it ...



Here's the recipe I used :
Crack one egg into your blender. Add 1/4 cup of oil and whizz for just a couple secs. I used peanut oil this time. Then ... very very slowly ...my Mom said it should be like almost dripping into your blender... add the rest of the oil ... with the blender on, of course ! It took ages and I kept having to switch hands ... Anyway, once you're done, you should have beautifully emulsified eggs and oil ! AKA: mayo ! At this stage, I split the batch into three. I folded lemon juice to one. White Balsalmic Vinegar to another. And WBV, lemon juice and garlic to another. I just did it to taste. Maybe a teaspoon or two but I just drizzled it in, mixed it up, tasted ... and so on.

And so it begins ...

Not officially, of course ... until the 1st of January, but I'm working through the things in the house that we are no longer going to eat. Some of them, as I read the list of additives and cross-reference with this book, I'm just throwing away ! Others ... we are eating through and I'm just not going to buy anymore. Such is the case with the jar of mayonnaise I finished tonight !



So ... I need to make mayonnaise in the morning ! I boiled 6 eggs to make egg salad and then discovered I was at the bottom of the mayo jar ... after I'd chopped all the eggs !! Luckily, I had enough to make one sandwich for Rory for work tomorrow !

Does anyone have a tested mayo recipe ? (preferably one that works !)