As the Days Get Longer...

What’s cooking? Five Great Meatless Dishes

It’s Lent. Again. And I’m not any better at denying myself than I was during previous Lenten seasons.

One of the good things about the COVID shutdown – and there were precious few of those – was that I had fewer opportunities to indulge. At least in the beginning, grocery runs were limited to what I could get brought to my car, and while I didn’t stop lusting after the occasional Baby Ruth or Snickers, I couldn’t really bring myself to stick them on the grocery list of what was surely supposed to be basic requirements. In the end, I lost 30 pounds over that 2-year span. And while I’ve since recovered a few of them, it was that early period of curbside pickup – when no candy bars, donuts, Starbucks’ marshmallow crisps, or those wonderful chewy ginger cookies that my grocery store sells individually – that kept me on the road to success.

So on the subject of fasting, I’ve done a little research, and apparently, many of the feast and fast days of Christianity actually predate the religion. Lenten fasting didn't evolved as a Christian practice until about 300 AD. And the word “Lent” comes from the Old English word læncte, meaning “lengthening (of daylight hours).” In other words, Lent was more than a period of self-denial – it was a recognition of the longer days and the coming of spring.

Easter itself is a moveable feast tied to the start of springtime, taking place on the Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox. And if you can wrap your brain around that calculation, I congratulate you.

In any case, the most popular way Christians recognize the Lenten season is to abstain from eating meat, if not for the whole 40 days, then at least on Fridays. And in my book, the best way to counter that bit of self-denial is with a few really good fish recipes.

Ta-da! Kitchen Goddess to the rescue. Here are five of my best fish/seafood dishes, in no particular order. I did try to make them for a range of types of fish – regardless of how much you might like a particular fish, no one really wants to eat the same one week after week. As in life, the joy is in variety. I do hope you’ll try at least one, even if you’re not Christian or even religious in any way. We can all celebrate the coming of spring!

Whitefish al Cartoccio (or en Papillote)

One of my prince’s favorite ways to have fish is al cartoccio – the Italian term for baking food in a foil or parchment packet. The French call it en papillote, but it’s exactly the same thing. my hubby and I use the Italian name in deference to the tiny Italian restaurant in Manhattan where we were introduced to the concept.

You’ll be amazed at how easy it is. The fish bakes in tightly closed individual envelopes, with herb butter, lemon slices, and spring veggies, ensuring that all the flavors swirl together. The parchment or foil holds enough of the heat that the dish is still warm when you open it, so the rising steam presents your nose with a treat of its own. I usually make this dish with flounder or sole, although that little Italian restaurant served it with red snapper. Click the link HERE.

Salmon with Miso and Maple Syrup

The Kitchen Goddess has a couple of friends who serve this dish as part of their regular rotation. It’s that good and easy.

If you don’t know miso, you must give it a try. It’s a traditional Japanese seasoning: a paste made from fermenting soy beans. But don’t let that turn you away – it’s a great source of umami flavor, combining sweet, salty, nutty, and it’s the secret to this dish. The fact that the veggies cook in the same pan alongside the salmon... well, that’s just a bonus.

Don’t leave any of the marinade in the pan – you will want it on the plate and in your mouth. Let me just say that the leftovers engendered a small lunchtime skirmish between me and my prince. Click the link HERE.

New Jersey Fish Chowder

This is a tiny bit of a cheat, because it starts with bacon fat and uses the bacon to top the soup, but you don’t have to use bacon – more butter or some olive oil will do as a substitute. And while I used flounder to make the soup in the photo, I much prefer a meatier fish like cod.

Chowder is one of those dishes that tastes great the day you make it, and might taste even better the next day. And if you’re in an area of the country where there’s still a bit of cold weather, try this terrific comfort food. Click the link HERE.

Crabby Cakes

Light and crab-filled, these cakes are a snap to make. You can use a ⅓-cup measuring cup as a mold, so you don’t even get your hands yucky – a big plus in the KG’s mind. And this post also includes a wonderful recipe for tartar sauce that you’ll want to use with any number of fish dishes. Click the link HERE.

Sheet Pan Shrimp Scampi

If you are like the Kitchen Goddess, the fact that this recipe was in a post from last November will not mean that you remember it. The KG finds that her short-term memory these days is... well, short. Not gone, mind you, just not the lightning speed it once was. Nevertheless, this is a dish well worth remembering, certainly because it’s yummy, but also because the whole thing happens in a single pan in the oven. Less mess, more fun. You’ll still need a veggie or salad, and I love it with pasta or rice, but even some crusty French bread is great – you’ll just want something to absorb the sauce, so you don’t have to lick the plate. Click the link HERE.

The days are in fact getting longer, so celebrate!

Enough with the Leftovers!

What’s cooking? Sheet Pan Shrimp Scampi

So are you tired of Turkey Day leftovers yet? I’ve now had stuffing for lunch three days in a row, and turkey soup for the past two dinners. Thanksgiving is the gift that keeps on giving, even when you want it to stop.

How about something light? Anyone for shrimp? Fresh, wild-caught shrimp are a delicacy I don’t often get in the summer, mostly because we spend that time in New Jersey, where scallops are the fresher, more plentiful alternative. Not that you can’t get good, fresh-frozen shrimp at the better grocery stores there, but if you want truly fresh, wild-caught shrimp, your best bet is to be near the Gulf or the southern Atlantic coast.

As it happens, the Kitchen Goddess has a private source for shrimp. My brother, who lives in the tiny coastal town of Port Aransas, Texas, periodically heads down to the wharves when the shrimpers are coming in and bags a few pounds that he then ships overnight to me. I know, I know – I don’t deserve such largess. So I send him the occasional tin of my rollout cookies, and he seems to think it’s an acceptable trade: cookies for shrimp.

According to The New York Times, some large chains, like Wegman’s and some regional Whole Foods Markets, as well as upscale markets like Eataly and the Lobster Place in New York, also carry fresh shrimp, albeit at a premium price. But most wild shrimp is frozen and shipped around the country, where it shows up either in bags in supermarket freezers, or thawed and piled on ice. The quality varies widely, depending on how the shrimp was processed after catching. The best quality wild shrimp have been frozen without chemicals, either onshore soon after harvesting, or on plate freezers while still on the boat. You can find this shrimp at upscale supermarkets and fish shops; ask for chemical-free wild shrimp.

Good shrimp have such wonderful flavor that the simplest preparations are the best. The one here is so simple it seems like hardly any trouble at all. And the Kitchen Goddess loves any recipe that lets her avoid stove-top cooking in favor of a sheet pan.

The garlicky, lemony flavors are the same as in classic shrimp scampi, but cooking the whole thing on a sheet pan is even simpler than in a skillet, and roasting the lemon slices adds caramelization and a deep, concentrated lemon flavor that you don’t get as strongly with the skillet method. Surrounding the lemon slices with the wine produces a sauce you don’t even have to think about. And then there’s the butter... 

Need I say more? Serve it with crusty bread for dipping, or over pasta or rice to absorb the sauce. A bonus spritz of lemon juice and red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper add a final flourish. And the whole process takes less than half an hour, so get that parsley chopped before you start. Your family and your guests will love you for the change of pace.

Sheet Pan Shrimp Scampi

Adapted from Melissa Clark in The New York Times.

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients

2 lemons (one for cooking, one for serving)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
1 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound peeled large or extra-large shrimp
2-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
¼-½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Note: In some stoves, the broiler is separate from the oven; in others, the difference between broiling and baking/roasting is merely a setting. These directions attempt to accommodate that difference.

Preheat your oven to broil, with a rack set about 4 inches from the heating element. If your oven is separate from your broiler, also heat the oven to 450º.

Slice one of the lemons into ¼-inch thick slices. Remove the seeds. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

Brush the lemon slices generously with oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Carefully pour the wine onto the baking sheet, without pouring it directly onto the lemon slices.

Broil the lemons and wine until the tops of the lemon slices are caramelized and charred in spots, and the wine has reduced by half. This can take anywhere from 6 to 12 minutes, depending on the intensity of your broiler, so watch carefully.

Once the lemons are caramelized and the wine is reduced, remove the pan from the heat. (If your broiler is in your oven, switch the setting from broiler to baking/roasting at 450º.)

Meanwhile, in a medium pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Off the heat, combine the raw shrimp, garlic, ¾ teaspoon salt, the Aleppo pepper (or red-pepper flakes) and black pepper, then toss with the butter to coat the shrimp well.

Transfer the shrimp mixture to the baking sheet, arranging the shrimp in an even layer on top of the lemon slices. Roast at 450º for 3-5 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked through. Remove the pan from the oven and toss the lemons and shrimp together; taste, and add more salt if needed. 

Move the shrimp, lemons and any pan juices to a serving platter and sprinkle with parsley and more Aleppo pepper (or red-pepper flakes).

Serve immediately, with thick, crusty bread or pasta or rice to soak up the juices. Serve wedges from the reserved lemon for squeezing.

The Next New Idea

What’s cooking? Ensalada de Nopalitos y Camarones (Cactus Salad with Shrimp)

SPOILER ALERT: Don't pass this salad up because you don't have cactus leaves. You can also make it with fresh green beans. And now, on to my story...

Creativity for me is a little like growing grapes for wine: the harder the vines have to work, the better the outcome.

Consider today’s dish. The occasion was a dinner with our gourmet group: four couples who like to experiment with food and cooking techniques, and who also like wine. Which makes them not all that different from many of our other friends.

What this group has that not all the other friends have is one guy who is a relentless organizer. I’ve mentioned him before in a post – he’s the one who got us together in the first place, the one who puts all the courses into a fancy menu format before the dinner, the one who keeps a spreadsheet record of every course in every dinner. And the one who sends cheery email notes out a day or two after each dinner, to say, “So when should we schedule the next gathering?” And since no one has the nerve to tell him to lay off for a month or two, we keep having another dinner. Not a terrible outcome.

When that email arrives, the Kitchen Goddess reacts with undisguised glee and unbounded enthusiasm – no, wait. At this point, the Kitchen Goddess is out of steam. Having just barely recovered from focusing on the last dinner’s designated theme (proposed by whichever couple will be hosting and preparing the entrée) – I can’t get even a little interested in shifting to the next new idea. So I react with my usual level of equanimity.

“We should get out of this group,” I say to my mate. “I don’t have any new ideas. And I like it better when I have total control over the menu.”

“But I thought you liked the last dinner,” he says. “And the people are really fun.”

“I did, and they are,” I sigh. “I’m just not ready to start thinking again.”

Fortunately, there’s probably a month between the “start your engines” email and the announcement of the next theme. And a funny thing happens on the way to the kitchen. All that grousing and mentally stomping my feet dispels the bad energy, so what’s left is acceptance. “Ok, fine,” I say. WTF.

As I start paging through cookbooks and wandering around the internet for inspiration, the process begins to be more interesting. Also, I remember that creative people are at their best when the challenge is greatest. There’s not much creativity needed to cook “anything.” But is there a salad that’s more than baby lettuce with vinaigrette for a fancy French theme? Why yes, there is. And it’s here:

Tomato Tarte Tatin

Or what if I need to come up with an Asian-inspired dessert? How about Molten Chocolate Cakes (made with Chinese Five-Spice Powder), served with Bubble Tea and Green Tea Ice Cream:



So what’s next? For our group’s most recent gathering, my assignment was the appetizer portion in a meal with an Interior Mexico theme. For a while, all I could picture was chips and guacamole, or chips and queso. Then I remembered a salad of cactus strips and pico de gallo that a friend served with a meal of enchiladas. The salad had a refreshing crispness with a vaguely citrus flavor. I decided to build on those ingredients and give it a bit more sparkle with sautéed shrimp, and... “¡Dios mío – delicioso!”

A brief note about prickly pear cactus
Low in calories and high in fiber and antioxidants, prickly pear cactus is touted for its antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s promoted for treating diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and even hangovers. There’s some evidence it can decrease blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

And it tastes so much like green beans that you can substitute green beans for the cactus strips if you can’t find cactus leaves in your yard or at a local Latino grocer. Or if you can’t be bothered with the cactus leaf prep. Which I understand. Just blanch the green beans in boiling water for 15-30 seconds.

 Ensalada de Nopalitos y Camarones (Cactus Salad with Shrimp)

For the cactus paddles, choose new, tender growth – the young, thin paddles that appear in spring and summer. They should be pale to bright green in color and no larger than hand-size (6-7 inches from top to bottom). The thorns on these leaves will be fat and curly and easily knocked off. But you’ll still need to eliminated the nubs of the mature thorns that will be developing underneath. Those nubs must be removed before you can cook or eat the cactus. If you can’t find prickly pear cactus growing wild, try a Latino grocery store. The Kitchen Goddess was fortunate to have many cactus plants growing in her neighborhood.




Serves 8.

Ingredients

6-7 young paddles from prickly pear cactus
1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
½ cup shallots, minced
¼-½ cup white wine vinegar
1 pound jumbo shrimp (21-25 per pound), cleaned and deveined
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, separated
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters or eighths
1 large avocado, cut into ½-inch dice
1 small jalapeño, seeded and deveined, minced
⅓ cup fresh cilantro, loosely chopped
1 cup frozen corn
⅓ cup fresh lime juice
kosher salt/freshly ground pepper for seasoning
Garnish: tortilla chips

Directions


KitchenGoddess note: Be sure to protect your hands well in this first process: use heavy paper (like grocery bag paper) or heavy leather gardening gloves to hold the paddle with one hand while you cut with the other. 

1. Rinse the cactus paddles and lay them flat on a paper towel or cutting board. Using a vegetable peeler, paring knife, or other small, sharp knife, slice the nubs of thorns from the flat parts (rinsing or wiping your blade often to rid it of any small spines sticking to it), then trim ⅛- ¼ inch off the round edges of the paddles (where more nubs are growing).

Once you have all nubs off, slice the thin, flat parts of the paddles into strips about ¼ inch thick, discarding the thick bottom inch of the paddle where it attaches to the rest of the plant.

2. In a mixing bowl, lightly massage the strips of cactus with the kosher salt, then spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate for an hour. This process will help the cactus strips to weep much of the thick, clear sap inside.

3. While the cactus strips are weeping, soak the minced shallots in a small bowl with white wine vinegar (or champagne vinegar) to cover. Set aside.

4. Slice the shrimp into bite-sized pieces (mine were 2-3 pieces per shrimp). In a small skillet, heat the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high, and sautée the shrimp 5-6 minutes. Transfer the cooked shrimp to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool.

5. To assemble the salad, in a large bowl, toss together the shrimp, tomatoes, avocado, jalapeño, frozen corn, cilantro and lime juice. Drain the shallots and add them to the mix. Discard the vinegar.

6. Remove the cactus strips from the fridge and rinse really well. Then, using paper towels, blot them dry really well. Many of them will have broken into smaller pieces; with a knife, cut the remaining strips into pieces 2-3 inches long. Add the cactus strips to the salad with the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss well. Add several grinds of fresh pepper, but be sure to taste before you add any salt, as the nopalitos (cactus strips) will add more salt than you’ll expect.

Serve with tortilla chips.

* * *

And if you’re wondering what beverage we served with this delightful salad, here it is: Gingered Pear and Cucumber Margaritas. These were such a hit, I had to promise the other members of our group that I’d include them in this post.



The Kitchen Goddess completely outdid herself on this one. She took a recipe for a Gingered Pear and Cucumber Cooler (click here for the recipe), and substituted tequila for the original gin. Serving the drinks in a martini glass, she rimmed the glasses with lime juice then dipped them in a mix of pink salt, yellow sanding sugar, and cayenne pepper. Simply gorgeous, and dynamite flavors with the salad. It’s not always easy to get the layer of green to drift into the layer of golden yellow like a rainbow, but that doesn’t matter. The other group members fairly swooned, and there wasn’t a drop left in anyone’s glass.

¡Salud!

Happy Valentine’s Day! And Lunar New Year! And Mardi Gras! And... What’s cooking? Shrimp Ramen Noodle Soup

What a week! Superbowl Sunday followed by the start of the Lunar New Year festival on Monday followed by Mardi Gras, and now Valentine’s Day. At one point, I was frankly grateful for the subdued mood of Ash Wednesday.

But the Lunar New Year festival is still in full force. Celebrations will continue until February 22 with the Lantern Festival, often thought of as the Chinese equivalent to Valentine’s Day. Now you may be thinking that the Kitchen Goddess has flubbed in her mention of the Lunar New Year by not calling it the Chinese New Year. Au contraire, mes amis. Even the Chinese refer to this 15-day hoopla as the Lunar New Year. As I understand it, the reason it’s so frequently known as Chinese New Year is that the Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Vietnamese celebrations all base their timing on the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Now, aren’t you glad you asked?

While regional traditions vary widely throughout Asia, the most common themes have to do with ensuring good fortune and happiness for the coming year. In addition to dressing and decorating one’s home in red (it’s said that red scares away evil spirits), and setting off fireworks (also to frighten evil spirits), there’s a heavy focus on eating.

One of the dishes eaten during the Lunar New Year festival is “longevity” noodles – long noodles that symbolize a wish for long life. To preserve the luck, the cook tries not to cut or break them, and it’s considered even luckier if you can eat them without biting through. Sounds like a very slurpy dish to me. Though they’re usually stir-fried, they can also be boiled and served in a bowl with broth.

In a stroll through Netflix recently, I happened upon the first episode of Mind of a Chef, which starred David Chang. And yes, I know he’s South Korean, not Chinese, but he spent most of the episode talking about – and eating – ramen noodles, which seem like a similar dish to longevity noodles. Chang went so far as to take healthy bites out of those dried squares of ramen noodles that you get at the grocery store. And yes, I know ramen is a Japanese noodle dish, but they’re the same style as Chinese wheat noodles. And I’d been yearning to figure out some version of Chang’s noodle soups ever since I had lunch last summer at his NYC restaurant, Momofuku. So give the Kitchen Goddess a small break on the details.

I also wanted to cheat. Exactly. I wanted to use those instant noodles from the grocery store, because they’re easy and because I like the flavor that you get in the accompanying spice package. So what you have here is a sort of “tricked out” (as in heavily accessorized) version of instant noodle soup, but tricked out in a way that raises the bar for the soup. But it’s still really fast and easy.

Kitchen Goddess note: You don’t have to split the shrimp in half, as the Kitchen Goddess has done, but cutting them that way accomplishes two things: (1) the shrimp goes twice as far in populating the soup, and (2) the halved shrimp take on a really pretty shape when cooked. And we all know how important presentation is to the Kitchen Goddess, don’t we?

Shrimp Ramen Noodle Soup

Serves 6.

Ingredients
2 slices thick-cut bacon, sliced lengthwise and chopped into ½-inch dice
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms (or crimini), sliced
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (crosswise)
1 large carrot, thinly sliced rounds
8 cups good quality chicken broth
2 packages Maruchan Shrimp Noodle Soup (or any other flavor)
1 pound large shrimp (16-20 per pound), shelled, deveined, and sliced in half lengthwise
zest and juice of 1 lime
2½ ounces (a large handful) baby spinach, any thick stems removed
Garnish (if you want to add a bit of heat): Korean chili sauce

Kitchen Goddess note: As noted above, I had a ramen soup lunch at David Chang’s NYC restaurant, Momofuku, and became addicted to his Ssäm Sauce, which is a Korean chili sauce with oomph. I love it in this soup. It’s available online at Momofuku Market: $7.50 for an 11-ounce bottle, plus $9 for shipping, but you can get as many as 5 bottles for that same $9, so maybe get some friends to go in on a shipment. It’s spicy, but not ridiculously so (the KG is very conservative when it comes to heat), with lots of Asian flavor.

Preparation

Sliced fennel.

In a heavy soup pot, sauté the bacon bits 5-7 minutes, until crisp. Add the mushrooms and sauté the mixture, stirring, another 3 minutes. Add the fennel and carrots and sauté the mixture 3 more minutes, stirring.

Stir in the broth and bring it to a boil. Add the noodles from both packages, reserving the spice envelopes. Reduce the heat to keep the noodles on a low boil. When the noodles have cooked 3 minutes, empty the spice envelopes into the broth and cook an additional minute, stirring to incorporate.

Add the shrimp to the soup, stir, and cook on a low simmer for 3 more minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach, covering the pot to let the spinach cook in the residual heat. When the spinach is thoroughly wilted (1-2 minutes), stir in the lime juice and zest, and serve.

Kitchen Goddess Post Script: Others of the foods considered to bring good fortune fruit include tangerines and oranges, because their round gold color symbolizes fullness and wealth. The wonderfully delicious Cara Cara oranges are in most grocery stores now, and they’d make a great accompaniment to this soup.

So get your noodle soup and oranges and celebrate now!

Note the difference: Navel oranges on left, Cara Cara on right.

Risotto Triumphant What’s cooking? Tomatoey Risotto with Shrimp

Whew. The election’s over, and thank goodness, because I don’t have any ironing left. While we ground our way through the state-by-state assessments, I managed to press 7 shirts, 6 pairs of pants, 2 sets of king-sized sheets, and 3 dishtowels. I’m not sure which was the more exhausting activity – the election or the ironing – but I’m glad to see the end of both.

The more exciting news is that the Kitchen Goddess has once again outdone herself, in a very creditable job of replicating the risotto with shrimp I had in Ravello last month. Unlike our politicians, risotto is very companionable – it makes friends with just about anything you throw in with it. It’s best if you don’t get too crazy with the number of additions, but I’ve made amazing dinners of butternut squash risotto, shrimp and asparagus risotto, wild mushroom risotto, lemon-herb risotto, Parmesan cheese risotto, and of course, plain old risotto with some extra butter on top. It’s a really filling dish – and gluten-free for those of you who care – so all you need to add is a salad, or a nice green veggie.

Out Briefly from Africa -- with Great Shrimp What's cooking? Mango Salad with Grilled Shrimp

A Prologue
I have to apologize for the delay in getting my second Africa post out – I’ve been dealing with a phenomenon known mostly to food writers, which I’m calling OPR: Other People’s Recipes.

We had a delicious salad at our hotel in Cape Town, and a really interesting South African dish as an appetizer on the train from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Never shy about these things, I wrote to the Customer Service/Marketing people at both places and asked for the recipes. Both seemed happy to help, and forwarded my request to the appropriate chefs.

Then the fun started. One chef sent me a list of ingredients with no quantities or instructions. The second sent ingredients plus quantities, but they must have been trying too hard to either downsize the recipe or to translate from the metric measures, with the result that I got a recipe calling for (among other ingredients) 11 ounces of beef to feed 20 people, plus two (2!) raisins, yet a full tablespoon of curry powder. Hmmm... Not sure that one will work. So while I play with these recipes to give you something you can actually use and enjoy, ...