Mind in the Butter

Food for taste, buds, and family

salads

Committing food mutiny with bulgur, eggplant, pomegranate and feta

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bulgarsalad

There are some meals I steer away from cooking because Stingray doesn’t like certain ingredients. Since I’m the best girlfriend ever, I almost exclusively cook in line with his tastes, but the other night I threw down my apron and got all HMS Bounty on his ass. He wasn’t happy; here’s what happened:

“Damnit, Stingray, that’s it! Tonight, I’m giving you the triple threat!” I bark.

Stingray gasps in horror and then, with closed eyes he pleads, “Oh, but Evie, what does that mean?! You’re going to feed me something I despise?!”

“Yes, Stingray. The time is now for you to eat your three least favorite foods: eggplant, pomegranate and…”

“Wait… Evie, what?! It’s not…no!” Now on his knees leaning on the fridge to steady himself, Stingray whispers, “It can’t be…”

“Oh yes, yes it is. Feta. Sheep’s milk feta.“

“Nooooooo!” Stingray screams with his fist to the air, camera zooms out,  as Eva walks triumphantly to the grocery store.

Ok, none of that actually happened but Stingray really hates eggplant and feta, but this week I didn’t care because I got this great idea to make a warm bulgur salad with roasted eggplant, garlic, onions served with pomegranate and sheep’s milk feta. It was awesome.

salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 cup bulgur
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 medium/large eggplant
  • 2 small white onions or 1 large one
  • 6-8 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup pomegrnate seeds
  • sheep’s milk feta
  • juice and zest of 1 one lemon
  • seasoning: salt, pepper, cayenne, italian seasoning, fine herbs

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Chop onions and eggplant into about 1 inch cubes and lay in foil-lined cookie sheet. Whack the 6 cloves of garlic with a knife and add to the onion-eggplant mixture.  Season generously with salt, pepper, cayenne, Italian Seasoning, and Fine Herbs (if you have them) and olive oil.  Toss with your hands to ensure the vegetables are coated with oil and seasonings.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until caramelized.

Heat 2 cups of water and 1 cup Bulgar in medium pot until boiling, reduce heat and simmer, mixing occasionally until cooked, about 10 minutes.

Once cooked, fold the eggplant, onion, garlic mixture as well as the juice of one lemon.  Taste before serving on pretty platter.  Garnish with lemon zest, crumbled feta and pomegranate seeds.

Food mutiny complete!

Lend me your ears!…for some Eva-style Elote

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I don’t really like ears of corn. There’s something so cumbersome about the way they look that turns me off…as in, they look like a real commitment to prepare and eat. You know? No? OK, yea, I forgot that everybody else on the planet freakin’ loves corn…Which means I need to have a few corn recipes in my repertoire. FINE.

Luckily, my Mom decided to buy a million ears of it for our recent trip to British Columbia, so this was the perfect time to practice. I decided to do a riff on elote, Mexican street corn and used our BBQ to char the corn before preparing the dish. Not revolutionary, but it took the dish to a totally stellar level.

Eva-style Elote

Ingredients

  • 3 ears of  corn, husks off, stub on (makes it easier to BBQ)
  • 1/2 medium red onion, diced
  • 1 bunch cilantro, rinsed and roughly chopped
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed
  • 2 heaping dollops of crema (Mexican sour cream), creme fraiche (French sour cream) or just regular sour cream
  • 1 heaping T mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup crumbled cotija cheese or grated Parmesan
  • juice of 1 juicey lime
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 ripe avocado

Char the ears of corn for about 8-10 minutes on a seriously hot grill or griddle pan, probably, 375-400 degrees. Let them cool long enough to take a knife to chop off the kernels.  Reserve a small bunch of kernels, cotija, cilantro and avocado for garnish later, then mix corn with all of the other ingredients EXCEPT the avocado.  Careful on the mayo and crema to make sure you don’t add too much. Taste and adjust flavors accordingly. Fold in the diced avocado near the end so it doesn’t squish. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Garnish the mixture with the remaining corn, cotija, cilantro and avocado, then serve!

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Summer Dinner Party

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Last week after realizing it’s been way too long since we’ve had a dinner party, Ray and I had some friends and their +1s over for a Monday night cocktail/dinner party.  Of course, fitting ten people into any New York apartment is challenge so I kept it really casual and served dinner in the living room around our retro coffee table.

Hosting dinner parties is one of my favorite things in this whole world to do, and I’m finally establishing some good entertaining rules and formulas to keep myself un-stressed, out of the kitchen and in the mix with my guests.  While I don’t follow them all the time, here they are:

1) Make absolutely everything you can the night before, including the cocktail.  (I didn’t follow my own rule and did not have drinks immediately available for my guests upon their arrival, which leads to #2)

2) Have something to eat and drink on the table 30 minutes before your guests are supposed to arrive, even if it’s just some radishes and a bottle of wine or a pitcher of water. Someone is always likely to show up exactly on time.

3) Make sure the night of the dinner party works for the rest of your week. I chose Monday night so I had all of Sunday to shop and cook. It allowed me start off the week with my friends when the rest of the week was filled with business dinners. Friday nights are impossible because you’re tired and there’s no way to shop, cook and clean in time for guests to arrive at a reasonable hour.  Saturday and Sundays night are of course great too.

4) Get the 411 on food allergies and check the menu over with them beforehand.  Ray doesn’t eat meat and I have another friend who’s, well, allergic to everything so instead of getting really creative, I kept it simple.  I made sure my one-pot dish could be easily adapted to serve (almost) everyone. For my friend, I made a “hypoallergenic” pork chop- seasoned with sesame oil, Dijon mustard, rice wine vinegar served with white rice.

5) You must have a co-pilot/extra Indian/Sous-chef.  I don’t care if you’re Martha Stewart, you need an extra host. Ray always does an amazing job setting the mood with music, candles and lighting. For this party he had the genius idea to pull a Charlie Chaplin film off of Netflix to play in the background while we ate. Thanks, babe!

6) Candles and music are a must.  Films noir and cats to entertain your guests are a plus.

7) When you’re friends ask if you need help…say yes! I am very verbal and eager to have my friends help me in the kitchen when I am in the weeds, even if they just stand there and give me the latest gossip on their lives while they completely assault a tomato.

8) Eva’s (generally fool-proof) Food Formula: 2 appetizers (at least 1 vegetarian option) + 1 signature cocktail + 1 one-pot dish (that can be made the night before) + vegetable + 1 dessert = dinner party success.

Here are some highlights after implementing the formula for last week’s dinner party:

The Coconut Crusher

The Coconut Crusher

As my signature cocktail, I served a drink I completely made up: Coconut Rum, Vodka, pomegranate and blueberry juice with a mint garnish. It’s possible that I subliminally  stole this idea from a photo my brother’s girlfriend posted on my sister’s Facebook wall, but I think it’s safe to say, I made it completely my own. My original recipe called for white grape juice, but the pomegranate was an awesome substitute.

To make this divine cocktail: tear 6 mint leaves and put at the bottom of a glass, fill to the brim with ice, then add 1 oz vodka, 1 oz coconut rum then top it off with some slammin’ juice–pomegranate, raspberry lemonade, peach, white grape juice, surprise me. Stir. Sip. Smile. Ah.

White Bean, Prosciutto and Arugula Crostini

Smashed White Bean Crostinis with Arugula and Prosciutto. This is a riff on a crostini served at our local Italian restaurant. My interpretation involves 1 can of rinsed, smashed white beans with 2 cloves of garlic, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. I spread a little salted butter on the sliced baguette before  spreading the white beans.  Top it with prosciutto and/or arugula and then the party is in order!

Arugula, Radish and Pecorino Salad.

Arugula Salad

My formula calls for a vegetable, this salad is by far the easiest most delicious solution to a large group: washed arugula, shaved Pecorino, sliced radishes. Add tomato and/or hearts of palm if you have them handy.  For the vinaigrette I simply squeezed the juice of one lemon over the lettuce with a hefty splash of good olive oil, salt, pepper. I could eat this salad everyday.

Chocolate Flourless Cake, Black Cherries and Fresh Whipped Cream

Chocolate flourless cake with black cherry coulis and fresh whipped cream. Normally I use this recipe for the cake and jazz it up with a berry sauce.  Last week I chose black cherries, so I heated them on the stove with 2Ts of sugar, 1t of vanilla extract and reduced it until it was a syrupy sauce.  Served with homemade whipped cream, it’s divine!

Two Coudies Archive: Fine Investment Father’s Day Rockfish

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Daddy-Happy Father’s Day!  Along with great hair, thank you for gifting me with a discerning and rather expensive palette. You’ve programmed me to thrive best when consuming fine wines and champagne, imported cheeses, charcuterie, caviar and fresh seafood.  While my wallet doesn’t appreciate it, my belly definitely does.

Since it is Father’s Day I’ve pulled from the Two Coudies Archive this Father’s Day fish post.  It reminds me of such a great Father-Daughters trip we took a couple of years ago, I’m happy to have a place in cyber space to remember it forever. Love you, Dad!

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For Father’s Day, my sister and I took Dad to St. Michael’s, Maryland (GO THERE!) for a nautically-inclined weekend.  Amidst sunset sailing, an antique boat show and a private plane ride over the Chesapeake Bay (!), we set him up with a fishing guide. Luckily for me he caught three HUGE Rockfish (called Striped Bass, where I’m from). He couldn’t take them back on the plane with him so when I returned to DC, I invited some of my girlfriends over and made a super simple Parmesan Rockfish.  To celebrate summer I added a feta and watermelon salad. While we ate the meal with rice, I’ve added a recipe for some insanely rich mashed potatoes…because that’s what the rockfish would have wanted. Thanks to my girl Nicole GoodHat Aguirre of Worn Magazine for the photos.

 

Parmesan & Parsley Fish:

Preheat oven to 350 and begin marinating fish.

Marinade:

  • 2 large garlic cloves crushed
  • 2  1lb filets of rockfish (or any other white fish)
  • the juice of 1 lemon
  • splash of white wine
  • 2 tsp salt and pepper
  • 3 tsp olive oil
  • 2 shakes of chili flake if you want to get KrAZy

Topping:

  • 1/2 cup Parmesan
  • 2 tsp finely chopped parsley

Mix fish and marinade ingredients together in gallon-size Ziploc and stick in fridge. After it’s chilled again, place in buttered glass dish large enough for filets to lay flat.  Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh chopped parsley.

Depending on thickness, bake for approx 13-15 minutes.  The fish should flake when you pull a fork through it.

**WiLd SiDe:turn on the broiler at the end of cook time for 2 minutes to brown the top.

They will love you Forever Boursin Mashed Potatoes:

  • Russet, Yukon Gold or bliss potatoes
  • 1-3 garlic cloves
  • 3/4 small package of Boursin or Alouette herbed cheese
  • 2 T butter
  • 2 T sour cream
  • splash of milk or cream
  • 1 egg
  • salt/pepper

Quarter and boil potatoes in large pot for about 30 mins. Potatoes will be ready when you can pass a fork or knife straight through with little pressure.  When cooked and tender, drain and return to large pot and turn heat to low.  Mash slightly with with masher or hand mixer. Incorporate all other ingredients except for egg. Continue to taste to adjust flavors and consistency to your liking. Add raw egg and blend.*

*If you have a Jewish family member in the kitchen, do this discreetly. If you get caught, deny everything.

 I-Am-A-Sex-MaH-Cheen Watermelon and Feta Salad:

Vinaigrette:

  • 1 part lemon juice
  • 2 parts Extra Virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt/pepper
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • the leaves of 4 thyme sprigs, finely chopped
  • 5 raspberries, optional
  • splash of any good quality fruit juice in the frig (lemonade, limeade, raspberry juice)
  • 1 T dijon mustard

Mix all together in blender until smooth. If it’s too sweet, add one more lemon and/or pepper. Too tart, more olive oil, then more sugar.

Place a handful of washed spring mix, arugula or spinach on a salad plate. Serve with a slice of watermelon and a feta cube, drizzle with vinaigrette.

Herb Infused Oil – Best Gift Ever

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Herb Bounty

Herb infused oil, really…the best gift ever. It’s elegant, luxurious and very easy to make. Make it in batches and give as holiday or hostess gifts or use at home, you really can’t go wrong. In my case, this is a thank you gift for my co-worker EBAY. Not only does EBAY, help me with the printer and crazy espresso machine in the office kitchen, but she even babysat my cats while I was away. It doesn’t get any better than that.  To show her my appreciation, I decided to make her homemade herb infused olive oil.    I used sage, rosemary, peppercorns and garlic, but the possibilities are endless (lavender, chili flakes, salt, oregano, orange peel, thyme, sun-dried tomato, roasted garlic, to name a few).  I stopped off at TJ Maxx to pick up pretty bottles, some good olive oil and really cute gift tags. I bet a hardware store would also have good supplies for this project.

Ingredients:

  • several bottles with proper tops (the suction cup tops are best for traveling gifts, cork is good if you are keeping at home)
  • 1 big bottle of olive oil
  • Red and Black whole peppercorns
  • Garlic cloves*
  • Fresh herbs
  • Twine and scissors
  • gift tags, a pen and someone with good handwriting

Keep oils infused  with garlic in fridge to avoid botulism!!*

Wash bottles with soap and water  to remove price tags. Dry thoroughly and set aside. Rinse and pat dry herbs.  I recommend doing this the night before so they air dry. DON’T put fresh herbs in oven to dry. I may or may not have done this and completely ruined half my herb rations…

Drop several peppercorns, 1 sprig of rosemary, 1 leaf of sage and 1 clove of garlic (unpeeled) into each bottle, bending and bruising the herbs as you drop them in to encourage infusion.  I chose to slow the infusion of the garlic by keeping the peel on the cloves, but do as you wish.

Using a funnel, pour oil into each bottle.

Write a nice little note on the gift tags, wrap around neck of bottle et voila!

Since infused oil doesn’t actually need that many herbs to create flavor, I had lots left over.  I wrapped them with twine, then hung them on my fifty dishtowel rack. I’ll stop by the hardware store this weekend to pick up a pretty jar and I’ll have rosemary for the rest of the year.

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Birthday Fish Tacos

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This past weekend marked Mom’s __th birthday, celebrated just the way she likes, with all her chicks back in the nest on Cape Cod. Since Mom is rather difficult to shop for, I kept to what I know and made her dinner – Birthday Fish Tacos with a Carrot and Cabbage slaw, Black Bean and Hominy salad and a homemade “crema lima.”  This dish is easy, inexpensive, and loaded with vibrant and flavorful raw vegetables. It’s hot and cold, crunchy and soft, spicy and mild and has ingredients that can be easily swapped out for picky or sensitive palettes. Long story short…crowd pleaser.

This dinner was a team effort, so after we perched Mom on the couch with some tune-age, we all (armed with plenty of wine and SoCo) took off in separate directions like oil and vinegar.  The men congregated around the BBQ (despite heavy rains!) and we ladies set up shop in the kitchen to make the salads. The result was a perfectly balanced family-style meal . Check out the recipes below, which have been adjusted to feed about 4 people.

Seafood:

For my version of these tacos, I was lucky enough to have salmon, halibut and shrimp on hand, and even luckier, had Dad on hand to grill the seafood with smoky Mesquite wood chips for insanely intense flavor.

  • 8 oz filet of fish – Halibut, Salmon preferred.  Local options: Hake, Bluefish, Cod. Cheap option: Tilapia
  • 1 lb shrimp (frozen is fine but de-shell and de-vein before grilling)
  • McCormicks Cajun Seasoning
  • Cayanne Pepper
  • Paprika
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 3 T Olive Oil
  • Salt/Pepper to taste

Slice fish into 2-3 inch filets against the grain, rinse and pat dry, put into gallon Ziplock with shrimp (fresh or frozen). Put back in frig.

For marinade: In a small bowl, mix juice of 2 limes, olive oil, 2 taps of Cayanne, 2 taps of paprika and 1/4 canister of McCormick’s Cajun (seems like a lot, but just trust me).  It should be pasty but not dry. Add more oil or a splash of whatever you are drinking to thin it out, or dump in more spices if it needs a charge up. Be sure to taste it to see what the salt/pepper situation is, add S & P accordingly.  It should taste really intense since it’s a marinade.

Pour mixture over fish and shrimp and shake bag around so all seafood is coated. Keep in frig and hold off on cooking until salads are done, about 30 mins. (We’re getting there.)

To BBQ: call your Dad to prepare and insanely hot and smokey grill for you.  While he does this, create 2 foil boats (1 for fish, 1 for shrimp) so that the marinade doesn’t escape once you place the seafood down on grill- nothing fancy. Once BBQ is ready, set foil boat on grill rack and place just the fish filets to cook, about 4-7 mins on each side (depends on thickness of fish).  Remove and add the second foil boat with shrimp and cook 2 minutes on each side. Do them separately since shrimp cook wicked fast.

If Dad is not available/Stovetop Instructions: Heat large frying on med-high. The pan is ready if you flick water into it and it spits.  Don’t add oil or butter because marinade already has considerable amount. Add just the fish filets using instructions above.  Once cooked, keep filets under foil or in low heat oven while you cook shrimp.

While the fish marinates…make salads

Carrot and Cabbage Slaw

  • 1 small red cabbage, or 1/2 large cabbage (don’t buy the pre-shredded)
  • 1 bag of pre-shredded carrots
  • 1 box crystallized ginger (in the dried fruit/nut section)
  • 2 T apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 chop cilantro, rough chopped
  • 4 T Olive oil
  • Salt/Pepper

In a small bowl, wisk vingear, olive oil and salt and pepper. Taste. The rule is 1 part acid to 2 parts oil, so adjust this based on your salad size.

Slice cabbage into thin pieces to match carrots.  Be sure to remove white core. Thinly chop about 12 pieces of ginger. In large bowl toss carrots, cabbage, ginger, cilantro and vinaigrette so salad is coated evenly. Place on dinner table.

Black Bean and Hominy salad:

Black Bean and Hominy with Cilantro and Red Onion

  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can hominy
  • 1/2 medium red onion, diced
  • 1/4 c cilantro, rough chopped
  • 3 T Olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lime

Drain and rinse beans and hominy (can substitute yellow corn). Toss all ingredients together. Place on dinner table.

Crema Lima

Sounds fancy, super simple.

Crema Lima

  •   juice of 1 lime
  •  1 canister creme fraiche or sour cream
  •  salt

In a small bowl mix creme fraiche, lime juice and pinch a salt. Should smooth, runny and  super tangy.

Serve meal buffet-style with warm corn and flour tortillas.