Ceviche: My Southeast Asian Inspired Ceviche

Ceviche

 

[caption id="attachment_1830" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ceviche - Click To Enlarge[/caption]

I love Ceviche! It is one of my favorite dishes to make because I don't have to turn on the oven. Ceviche is a dish that has gained a lot of popularity in the Americas over the years and can be found in many Mexican and other latin restaurants. Most of us have experienced Ceviche in Mexican restaurants and it is made slightly differently throughout Mexico and the Southwest United States. Ceviche is a dish loved in Central and South America.

Ceviche is generally made of raw fish or seafood that has been marinated in citrus juices and kicked up a notch or two with chili pepper and garlic. Other seasoning are used depending on what type of Ceviche you are making. Other things like onions, cilantro, salt and even rice vinegar are added to enhance the flavor.

Today Ceviche is an international dish that is made in a myriad of ways and is still open to interpretation as the the ingredients used to make the dish are so wide and varied. In my opinion the best Ceviche comes from places like Peru, Chile, Mexico and the Caribbean. The fact of the matter is that it is all good and no one can say they have the best Ceviche.

Some people in the "know" feel that Ceviche has it's origins in Peru. This might be so I really can't say. It is thought that Ceviche goes so far back in history that it was eaten by the Incans. Supposedly the Incans marinated the fish in a concoction called "Chica" which is a fermented drink from the Andes and then later in history the Incans switched to using citrus juices from the fruits that the Spanish had brought with them from Spain.

Nevertheless I felt like making Ceviche for this blog post and video and so I wanted to make a version of Ceviche that was different from the standard Mexican and Southwestern varieties that so many of us are accustomed to. So I thougth to myself how do I want to make this dish. I thought if I used shrimp and scallops then it would be close to the Mexican/Southwestern variety. I didn't want to just use fish and make it like Ceviche Peruano. So I thought to myself about the fact that I LOVE Southeast Asian flavors and the idea came to me to make Southeast Asian inspired Ceviche.

How was I going to pull this off? I started looking for fish from Southeast Asia and I found that the Swai fillets that I buy all the time are from Southeast Asia! The Swai is a shark variety of catfish called "Tra" in Thailand. It is the number one aquaculture crop of Thailand and is eaten by the Thai's and exported to us here in the states. It is a fresh water catfish from the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam. It is called Swai because the United States Agriculture Dept. and the government of Thailand had to come to an agreement to all it something other than catfish so as not to cut in on the American catfish market and the profits of American catfish farming and sales. Hence the name Swai. Whammo! I was in there! I had some shrimp which is used in Southeast Asia and whammo! I was in there again! Then all I had to do was choose my seasonings. I chose purple onion(which is used in the Latin versions of Ceviche as well!)and I chose garlic(also used in the Latin versions of Ceviche)I also chose lemongrass, Thai bird chilies, cilantro(used in the Latin versions of Ceviche)Limes(used in the Latin Ceviche)lemon, orange, and a grapefruit.

Many of these ingredients as stated above are used in the Latin versions of Ceviche but in this case are also the flavors of countries like Thailand and Viet Nam. This is one of the things I love best about food is the similarities of ingredients and useage around the world. So let's make some Ceviche!

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Options For Serving:
I cut an avocado in half and stuffed the halves. I also did the same thing with a roma tomato and a regular cucumber. My favorite was to either grill or fry up some corn tortillas and make Asian Ceviche tacos! Yummy. I usually drizzle a bit of sesame oil on these items before serving them. I been adding the Ceviche and a combination of olive and sesame oils to some spaghetti and taking it to work with me this week and my co-workers love the smell of it after it is cooked. This Ceviche also makes for an excellent Ceviche Bruschetta on some nice toasted French or Italian bread. This is just a smattering of suggestions for this recipe and I am sure that you my readers can come up with many, many more great ideas for this Ceviche dish! Make it your own and above all else please ENJOY!

Thai Recipes: Tom Yum Goong One Of My Favorite Soup Recipes

Thai Recipes: Tom Yum Goong

 

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This week I am back to making another one of my soup recipes in my kitchen. This week I will be making one of my Thai recipes for soup. The weather here where I live is still dropping and we are not even into winter yet. All I know is that if my feet and toes are cold then it is time for one of my soup recipes. I love making soups in the cold weather. As stated in earlier blog posts it is because they are hearty, healthy and nutritious! Thai recipes comprise some of my favorite soup recipes. Thai recipes are amongst the most healthy and nutritious soups around and that is why I make them so often and as a side note they are very easy on the wallet to make and feed a family with as well and in these trying economical times I am sure many, many of us are watching food prices go up and so in turn we are keeping a watchful eye on our budgets.

Of all the soup recipes in Thailand Tom Yum Goong is the most popular of the Thai recipes for soup. It is also one of the most popular soup recipes in Thai restaurants in America as well. Tom Yum Goong is served all over Southeast Asia as one of those countries favorite soup recipes as well. The words "Tom Yum" are Thai words. The word "Tom" means boiling the soup and the word "yum" means spicy or hot and sour. The soup called "Tom Yum" refers to Thai recipes for hot and sour soup. Tom Yum goong is a hot and sour soup that has a fish stock base and other fragrant herbs and spices such as Kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, galangal, tamarind, chili peppers, Nam Prik Pad/Pao and lime juice. You can see why this is one of my favorite soup recipes. It is just loaded with flavor, aroma and lots of vitamin C in the form of the lime and chilies.


Many times I have had Tom Yum Goong that was made using Sambal sauce to add some of the heat and it works but what you really need to authenticate Thai soup recipes like Tom Yum Goong is a chili paste called Nam Prik Pad or Nam Prik Pao. This chili sauce compliments the nature of these Thai recipes. Nam Prik Pad chili paste is made with chilies, garlic, sugar, shallots and shrimp to add just that little extra seafood flavor boost to Thai recipes like Tom Yum Goong. I couldn't locate Nam Prik Pad made with shrimp for my recipe but, I did locate a version of it made with chilies, garlic, sugar, shallots and scallops. In my opinion the scallops add a much more pungent seafood taste for soup recipes like this one.  I like this version very much.

In some of the other countries where soup recipes like Tom Yum Goong are served the recipe itself can vary greatly from the original Thai recipes. So many times when a patron is at a restaurant other than a Thai restaurant and they see Tom Yum Goong listed in the soup recipes and they order it they can end up disappointed because it will be different from the Thai recipes. Let me just say this: It is quite easy to just go to an Asian market and buy pre-packaged stocks for Asian soup recipes like Tom Yum Goong but in my opinion these stocks and pastes just don't do any just to these great Thai soup recipes. I mean let's face it we are foodies and we strive to make soup recipes or any recipe we are working on as fresh as possible.
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Check Out This Great Nam Prik Pao!

Potato Soup Recipe: Cream Of Potato Soup My Special Potato Soup Recipe

Potato Soup Recipe

 

 

[caption id="attachment_1735" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Potato Soup Recipe - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]

Here is a wonderful potato soup recipe that is sure to please even the most discriminating potato soup recipe connoisseur! This potato soup recipe is a cream of potato soup with bacon, mushrooms and hatch green chilies from New Mexico. This potato soup has multiple layers of flavors as well as textures. Like some of my friends in Australia would say it's a "sticktoyourribba!"  Well here it is! The cold weather of winter is coming all over the country. When this weather hits all I want to do is stay warm Who doesn't? In the mornings all I want to do is stay nice and toasty under the covers and hide! Who doesn't? When it comes to eating dinner in the evening and it's getting colder at night I want something to help keep me warm and glowing inside and out!

This potato soup recipe that I am making this week is one of my favorite soups to make. This potato soup recipe is thick and creamy and is guaranteed to please! This is not your regular cream of potato soup recipe which is usually made with boiled and blended potatoes and maybe some fried onions, chicken stock and salt and pepper. This cream of potato soup recipe has a base that I use to make vichyssoise which is potatoes and leeks and some brown onion. This adds really good flavor and a fantastic base to this cream of potato soup recipe.

I experimented with this potato soup recipe for quite some time to come to the place where I am with it now. When it comes to the bacon in this recipe I tried to use regular strip cut bacon but it did not work out. Don't get me wrong it imparted great flavor to this potato soup recipe but it didn't offer the texture I was looking for. So I bought some bacon ends and pieces and found this was what this potato soup needed to put that much needed "chew" into it. If you make this potato soup recipe I urge you to use bacon ends and pieces because you get the texture of large pieces of bacon and you can control that amount of fat that goes into the potato soup recipe because you can trim the excess fat off of most of the bacon.

As far as the mushrooms are concerned for this potato soup recipe I used baby portabello or crimini mushrooms but you can use any mushroom that you want like Shitake, Shimeji or even porcini if you desire. Then the added warmth and flavor of New Mexico Hatch Green Chilies to round this cream of potato soup recipe off to give it the added warmth that you need in a really good soup for those cold winter nights!


I love to eat soups in the winter and I hope you do to! I hope you try this potato soup recipe because I know that you will just love it. So watch the video and then make this soup! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

A large skillet.
A Potato masher.
A blender or immersion blender.
4 Cups of diced potatoes. Any type of potato will do.
4 Cups of cleaned and sliced leeks. Slice leeks about 3/4 to 1 inch wide on the bias.
1/2 to 1 whole small brown onion diced or sliced.
1 Lb Bacon. I use bacon ends and pieces because there is more meat and you can trim excess fats.
1 Lb of mushrooms. Any type will do. Button, Crimini, Shitake, Porcini or even Shimeji.
1 7oz minimum sized can of diced green chilies. If you can get the Hatch variety from New Mexico that's great!
1/4 to 1/2 stick butter to cook down the leeks.
1 or 2 Tbsp. Olive oil to cook down the leeks.
Salt and pepper to taste.
1 to 2 cups Half and Half. Use either 1 or 2 cups depending on the color you are trying to obtain. I used 2 cups in the video.
6 to 8 cups of chicken stock.
French fried onions.
Mild Cheddar cheese shreds.

Method:
1. In a skillet cook down your bacon.
2. When bacon is done remove from skillet and put aside.
3. Now pour bacon grease from the pan and put about 1 Tbsp. of bacon grease back into pan.
4. Add your mushrooms to the skillet and start to saute. Then add a ladle full of chicken stock and cook the mushrooms until they are soft. Add another ladle full of stock if necessary to cook/soften the mushrooms.

5. Once cooked remove mushrooms from the skillet and put them aside for later.
6. Put 1/4 stick butter and 1 to 2 Tbsp. of olive oil in your skillet and sweat down your leeks.
7. Now add your potatoes to your soup pot or stockpot.
8. Add your leeks to the stock pot on top of the potatoes.
9. Pour in enough chicken stock to just cover the potatoes and leeks.
10. Bring the pot to a boil and let boil 1 to 3 minutes then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes +/- until all the contents are soft.

11. Once the potatoes and leeks are soft then take a potato masher and mash for a couple of minutes to make the size of the ingredients smaller and easier for your blender or immersion blender to handle. You can use a food processor as well to blend the soup.

12. Once the soup has been blended put the soup back in you soup pot and bring back to a simmer for a minute or two.

13. Now slowly add your 1 or 2 cups of cream to get the desired color you want and simmer for one minute or two and keep stirring. Add some black pepper. Cream soups LOVE black pepper.

14. Now add your bacon and stir it in well for a minute or so.
15. Add your mushrooms now and stir them in well and simmer for about one minute.
16. Add your green chilies now and stir in well and simmer for about one minute.
Finally allow the soup to simmer for another three minutes or so to let all the flavors blend together while you stir it constantly to prevent sticking.

17.Ladle you soup into a large soup bowl and add some french fried onion to the center of the bowl and then add a sprinkle of red chili flakes for more heat and then a nice ring of mild cheddar around the bowl. Eat and enjoy!

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Salmon Recipes: Salmon With A Creamy Dijon Mustard Dill Sauce

Salmon Recipes

 

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Salmon is probably my favorite fish to cook at home. I love my salmon recipes! Salmon burgers, salmon steak, smoked salmon and salmon with pasta but to name a few. I love salmon recipes! So I have been building this blog since March of this year and I have been having a blast! I have experimented with lots of recipes and flavors and I have even put on some weight! Oh well!

In the time that I have had this blog I host my videos on Youtube and one of my earliest subscribers is someone called the White Witch. She has a channel called whitewitchwares and she has lots of videos of nature and animal life. I happen to love animals and so I watch the videos on her channel. The White Witch has been watching my recipe videos since day one and at times she has always given me a bit of a ribbing about "When are you going to make me dinner? I want a real meal!"

I began to think that if she wanted a real meal that she was most like living on french fried foam rubber or something like that. So I finally asked her "What would you like me to cook you for dinner?" She told me that she liked salmon recipes and that her mother always used to make her different salmon recipes. Well! It was a good thing that the White Witch likes salmon recipes because I love salmon recipes to! She told me that one of her favorite salmon recipes that her mother used to make for her was salmon with a nice cream dill sauce.

It was set then! I decided to make Salmon With A Creamy Dijon Mustard Dill Sauce. So I went to the market and got the ingredients for this recipe and I made this video this week. I hope this becomes one of the Witches favorite salmon recipes and I hope it becomes one of your favorite salmon recipes as well. I know it is mine! Enjoy the video!


Ingredients:
A nice salmon fillet 1 Lb. minimum skin on or skin off.
2 Tbsp. Butter.(For cooking the salmon and making the side dish of onions and tomatoes.

5 Tbsp. Olive oil.(For cooking the salmon, rice pilaf and onions and tomatoes.)
1 Cup sour cream.
1/3 Cup of fresh chopped dill weed or equivalent amount dry dill weed.
2-3 Tbsp. fine chopped brown or white onion depending on taste.
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard either coarse ground or smooth.
10 Pearl onions.
10 Grape tomatoes or 8 cherry tomatoes.
1 Cup white rice.
2 Cups chicken stock.
1/2 White or brown onion finely chopped.
Salt and black pepper to taste.

Method For Sauce:
In a bowl:
1. Take cup of sour cream
2. Add 2-3 Tbsp. finely chopped onion.
3. Add 2 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard either coarse or smooth.
4. Add 1/3 Cup fresh or dried dill weed.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Now whisk all these ingredients together really well and then put a cover on the bowl and sit this sauce mixture aside for minimum of one hour. You want this sauce to be used at room temperature. Now it is time to move on to making the rice pilaf.

Method For Rice Pilaf:
1. In a large sauce pan pour 1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil and heat it up.
2. Take your half of finely diced white or brown onion and sweat it in the oil.
3. Add your rice and make sure all the grains get coated. Add Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Pour in 2 cups of chicken stock to the sauce pot and stir. Bring to a boil for one or two minutes and then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for five minutes and then stir the pilaf again and then take off the heat and let stand for fifteen minutes. It will stay warm for a long time in the sauce pot so don't worry it won't get cold before serving. This is one of the fastest salmon recipes I know how to make! Now it's time to make the tomatoes and onions. This dish will all come together!

Method For Tomatoes And Onions:
1. In a medium saute or medium sauce pan take 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. olive oil and heat it up.

2. When the oil/butter mix shimmy's then put in your pearl onions first and get them browned up a bit on all over.

3. When pearl onions are browned up then put in your grape or cheery tomatoes and saute well. Wait for the tomatoes to break open and then continue to saute for 1 to two minutes and then take off heat and cover and put aside. Time to make the salmon!

Method For The Salmon:
1. In a large skillet depending on how big your salmon fillet is you will need 1-2 Tbsp. of butter and 1-3 Tbsp. of olive oil in the skillet.

2. Season both sides of salmon with salt and pepper to taste. (Optionally you can season with salt and pepper and then do a light dusting of AP flour before putting salmon in the skillet as this will allow for some nice brown bits to form and then you can add the tomatoes and onions and then deglaze with some dry white wine if you wanted to before plating the dish!)

3. Now when the oil/butter mix is shimmying then gently put your salmon fillet in the skillet. Watch how it cooks! You only want it to cook a certain amount on each side because you want this piece of salmon to have just a little bit of red in the center of the fillet.

4. When the time comes to turn the salmon due so and watch it cook. It depends how long it will take depending on how thick your fillet is but look for just a thin maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch depending on fillet thickness of pink/red flesh in the middle. Like making a medium rare steak.

5. When the fillet is done plate it in the center of the plate.
6. Take your tomato onion mix and scoop some on either side of the salmon.
7. Now take your rice pilaf and scoop some on either side of the salmon.
8. Take your Creamy Mustard Dijon Dill sauce and spoon some or as much as you want on your salmon fillet and serve!

Enjoy!

Shrimp Recipes: Ravioli Recipe! Shrimp Ravioli With Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce

Shrimp Recipes: Ravioli Recipe

 

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Who didn't grow up loving Ravioli? We all did! Did you eat homemade Ravioli? I did!  What was your favorite Ravioli recipe? Mine was always the seafood Ravioli recipe made in my house made with either lobster or crab and even clams! Over the years I have eaten tons of Ravioli and I have made tons of Ravioli to boot! I love shrimp recipes as well and I will eat shrimp anything if I can get my hands on it.

I had sat around for the better part of the week trying to think about what I wanted to cook for my video and blog post this week and I was really having a hard time trying to think of something to make. I know that sounds strange in a world full of food and recipes that could reach the moon a hundred times over. I guess I wanted to get my hands dirty and dig in a bit that is why I finally landed on a Ravioli recipe!

Well in today's economy things like lobster and crab can get costly for making things like a Ravioli recipe. Now of course if you can get lobster or crab on sale then it's all good! I am always looking for sales! So this week I decided to make you a Ravioli recipe. This week I am making shrimp ravioli with a lovely tomato vodka cream sauce.


This is a wonderful recipe that is easy to make and easy on the wallet! This Ravioli recipe can be made with shrimp, crab, lobster and even surimi or a combination of any of the above! Sure I know lot's of people just go out and buy frozen ravioli but that is nothing like making your own Ravioli recipe catered to your tastes! So let's take a look at how to make Shrimp Ravioli With A Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce! NOTE: I make the ravioli's beforehand and I put them in the fridge to chill while I make the sauce. When the sauce is done I make sure to have the boiling water needed to cook the raviolis quickly so I can plate them and add sauce!

Ingredients For Ravioli:
1Lb Cooked shrimp.
2 packs of won ton wrappers.
1 Cup Ricotta cheese.
6 Cloves of garlic minced fine.
3-4 Tbsp fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
1 Cup Mozzarella cheese.
1 Cup fresh finely chopped basil.
A pinch of dried Greek or Italian oregano bulbs.
You will need a plastic cutting board, a plate and a fork for scoring the ravioli if you decide to do that.

Make Quick Seafood Stock:
Pour the water from the bag of defrosted cooked shrimp into a bowl. Then squeeze out the excess water from the shrimp into the bowl as well. Squeeze the shrimp gently it is not going to be a lot of water but enough for this quick stock. Then take the water from the shrimp and add 2-3 Tbsp. of Clam Juice and place in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer add some black pepper and reduce to about 2 to 3 oz of fluid depending on how much water was in the bag of cooked shrimp. Now allow the stock to cool and add 1-2 Tbsp. of cream and stir it in and bring to a simmer and reduce a bit then take off heat and cover it and put it aside. This will be added to the sauce later on.

Method For Making Ravioli:
1. Drain the water from the bag of cooked shrimp and put aside.
2. In a food processor grind the shrimp to a rough consistency.
3. Once the shrimp has been ground find a large bowl and put the shrimp in it.
4. Now one by one add your ricotta cheese, garlic, Parmesan, basil, mozzarella, oregano, salt and black pepper to taste and mix it up with either a spoon or by hand. Mix it up well.

Now take some of the filling and put it in the middle of a won ton wrapper and then take a little water on your fingertip and spread on the won ton wrapper and fold the wrapper in half and press the ends together and make sure you squeeze out all of the air from the ravioli because if your don't they will pop in the boiling water. Place your finished ravioli's on a plate. When you are finished making all of your ravioli's put a damp towel or paper towel over them and put in the refrigerator for about an hour to chill as they cook better this way.(See Video) Go make the sauce now. When it comes time to cook the ravioli's you won't cook them in a rolling boil but rather a gentle rolling boil for about 6 to 10 minute to make sure that the won ton wrappers cook and the filling cooks completely!

Ingredients For The Sauce:
I used two cartons of Pomi imported Roma tomatoes from Parma, Italy! one carton strained and one carton chopped. I love this product!
4-6 Cloves of garlic finely minced.
1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil.
1 Medium onion finely chopped.(I used Onion Confit)
1 Tbsp. Greek or Italian oregano bulbs crushed.
Just about 1 Tsp. of red pepper flakes for flavor not heat.
1-2 Tbsp. Honey or sugar as an acid balancer.
The quick seafood stock from recipe above.
1/4 to 1/2 cup cream to lighten the sauce and add flavor and richness. How light you want the sauce is up to you hence the measurment.

Optional: 2-4 Anchovy fillets melted into the olive oil before proceeding with making the sauce.
Salt and black pepper to taste.

Method For The Sauce:
1. In a large skillet or large sauce pot add your olive oil and heat it up and then add your chopped onion to the oil with a pinch of salt to sweat the onions.

2. Once the onions have softened add your garlic and saute for 1-2 mins until soft.
3. Add your tomatoes and oregano and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.
4. After about 30 minutes add your honey and mix it in well.
5. Now add your vodka slowly and stir in well. Let cook 3-5 minutes to burn off alcohol.
6. Now add your quick seafood stock from recipe above and mix in well.
7. Now add your cream slowly and mix it in well.
8. Add pinch of red pepper flakes.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste.
10. Continue to simmer real low and real slow while you go and cook the raviolis.

Optional: Add Anchovy fillets to the olive oil and let them breakup before adding other ingredients.
Eat and enjoy!