Asian Tuna Salad (LifeCafe)

A few weeks ago our Lifetime Fitness location hosted a Culinary Night that was sponsored by Toyota, and Michael and I thought it would be fun to see the cooking demonstration, which featured dishes from the LifeCafe. There were plenty of samples to go around and everyone received a handout with recipes, so of course we decided to try some at home.

Of all the things we sampled, our favorite was the popular Asian tuna, which the cafe serves on ciabatta rolls or as a green salad topping.

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Fast Fish Tacos with Spicy Chipotle Seasoning

Our spice cabinet is chock full, and although some spices see more use more than others our quick taco seasoning mix goes into a variety of dishes and makes it easy to whip up these fish tacos in a jiffy. Even on a busy weeknight, we can literally have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes which almost makes up for not having a good taco truck anywhere nearby. Read more

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The Daring Cooks Make Creamy Rice with Mushrooms, Artichokes, and Shrimp

When I saw this month’s Daring Cooks challenge announcement, my pulse quickened and I envisioned a moist, colorful, flavorful Spanish rice. The sofregit seemed perfect for the season, with fresh tomatoes, peppers, and garlic, and this was a perfect opportunity to test out the paella pan (paellera) Michael gave me for Christmas. That I still had not used. Time to get cracking.

We used our homegrown tomatoes and garlic in the dish, loving the fresh flavor of the tomatoes and the intensity of our garlic. As I studied the instructions, I realized the recipe only used a small amount of the sofregit, but we enjoyed the flavor so much we added more along with a dollop of the allioli to each serving of rice. Each taste was like a game of roulette, not knowing when we would find the sharp bite of the allioli. Read more

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Miso Marinated Grilled Salmon and a Giveaway

While doing the South Beach Diet, I’m working very hard to make things that we all can enjoy and are healthy. This miso salmon is one of my favorite recipes I’ve tried recently, and it’s easy and fast to boot, so it makes an great weeknight dish. The fish is marinated in miso, mirin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and scallions, and quickly grilled. You can make this with either skinless or skin-on salmon steaks. Serve the salmon as whole steaks or sliced on top of a bed of greens, either way you’ll have a quick, tasty, and healthy meal.

We enjoy grilling year round, but some days it really is too cold to cook outdoors, and for those times we use a grill pan on the cooktop. I recently tested a Scanpan Professional Grill Pan, and in fact made this salmon dish on the Scanpan. You can read my review of the Scanpan Professional Grill Pan.

For this final week of celebrating the third anniversary of Andrea’s Recipes, I have one fabulous grill pan (right) just like the one in my review to give away, courtesy of Scanpan. To enter the contest, just leave a comment telling us about your favorite grilled food. Read more

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Jambalaya with Shrimp, Chicken, Andouille, and Ham and a Giveaway

I don’t have any Creole or Cajun relatives (that I know of), so for authentic recipes I turn to some of my favorite cookbooks. Emeril calls this particular recipe his “Clean Out the Ice Box and Freezer” Jambalaya, my kind of food, particularly now because after the holidays and fall harvest we have a freezer stuffed full of…stuff. After going through it a week ago we renewed our commitment to using up some of the stash and cleaning it out over the next month, which will of course make room for more stuff. The cycle never ends.

The recipe is pretty straight forward, but I made a few modifications as a I went. First of all, I couldn’t believe it had no celery and I added some anyway. The recipe calls for a mix of dark and white meat, but since Michael doesn’t care for dark meat I used only white meat. I also used brown rice instead of white rice and reduced the oil to 1/3 cup. Not much of a difference in the amount of oil, I know, but I think the recipe turned out just fine. And because this was dinner for all of us, I cut back on the cayenne so the boys could enjoy it too. Michael made up for the lack of heat by pouring some hot sauce onto his servings.

This is an easy dish to prepare, and it’s practically a meal in a pot. Add a green salad or other green vegetable and you are set. Read more

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Shrimp with Mushroom Tapas and a Cookbook Give Away

In 1985 Penelope Casas introduced U.S. diners to the world of Spanish tapas with the success of her book Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain. Casas is a recognized authority on Spanish cuisine and has published five books on the foods of the region and writes about Spanish food and travel for several major publications. She also leads culinary tours of Spain, a piece of information I have tucked away for my future (but still unplanned) trip to Spain. Last year she published a revised version of her classic book, and I was fortunate to receive a copy for review from the folks at La Tienda.

The book has over 300 recipes, of which 50 are new, and has chapters devoted to tapas in sauce, marinades and cold tapas, tapas with bread or pastry, tapas with last-minute preparation, ingredients and cookware, sources for Spanish products, and tapas menus. The ingredients and cookware section is like an encyclopedia of Spanish cooking, with detailed descriptions of such things as queso Manchego, Marcona almonds, earthenware dishes (cazuelas), and quince paste (membrillo). The menus are very helpful for planning a tapas party, and I can see us having some kind of tapas party in the next few months. The book is very thorough and the only thing I could wish for is more photos of beautiful tapas!

We selected a couple tapas to make for Michael’s little birthday dinner (Happy Birthday, honey!), and I wanted to serve one with seafood and one with vegetables. I chose the Shrimp and Mushrooms in Almond Sauce (Fricando de Langostinos) and the Stewed Zucchini, Peppers, and Tomatoes (Pisto Manchego). Both have sauces worthy of sopping up with chunks of artisan bread. Read more

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