Coconut Rice Noodle Salad

Coconut Rice Noodle Salad

Weather is perfect for a wonderful outdoor garden meal.  Rice noodles create the base of this simple lunch or dinner.  They are easily found now, at your local supermarket.  Ready in five minutes, and gluten free.  I've created a light creamy dressing with coconut milk which you can make ahead of time.  Leaving you free to enjoy the outdoors!

Salad Ingredients (for two) 

4 oz of rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions

1 red or yellow pepper, julienne

12 baby tomatoes, cut in half

1 jalapeño, minced and seeded

1-2 scallions, sliced thin crosswise

1 mango, sliced

1 avocado, sliced

mint/basil, for garnish

8 oz of poached shrimp, split in half lengthwise

2/3 cup of coconut dressing, recipe below

optional:  honey roasted peanuts & balsamic drizzle

Dressing

(note:  will serve four, will keep for a few days)

1 cup of coconut milk, not lite

1/4 cup of lime juice

1 tbsp of soy sauce

1 tbsp of fish sauce

2 tbsp of light brown sugar

2 tsp. of Sirachi sauce

2 cloves of peeled garlic, chopped

1/2 piece of peeled ginger, chopped

Place all ingredients in a mini blender or food processor.  If unavailable, mince the garlic and ginger, then stir with the above ingredients.

Directions

Prepare all ingredients as mentioned above.  Prepare dressing.  Ingredients should be chilled.  When ready to serve, divide chilled noodles in two serving bowls.  Top with peppers, tomatoes, jalapeños, mango slices and avocado, and poached shrimp.  Shake dressing and drizzle among the two bowls, garnishing with the fresh mint, and basil leaves.  Yes, you can top with the infamous honey roasted peanuts and balsamic glaze.

Wild Salmon Corn Chowder

Corn Chowder is such a crowd pleaser!  It can be easily made into a meal with the addition of a protein. The ingredients are easily at our fingertips right now.  Corn is at it's sweetest, and is still very abundant at the markets.  I am going to show you an easy, no-smell, way to cook wild salmon.


Now, what do we know about wild Salmon?  We know it's good for us.  It's almost double the price of fully farmed Salmon.  The beauty of this chowder recipe is you can use eight ounces for two people.  Poaching the salmon in the corn stock is an easy, no-aroma releasing, way to cook salmon indoors.

Can you make this chowder in the cold winter months?  Sure, just use good quality frozen corn. Eliminate throwing the cobs in the stock, and substitute a few bay leaves, which can be easily removed before serving.  If it needs a little sweetening, add a tablespoon of brown sugar.  You can also remove two cups of stock and vegetables and puree.  Then, adding the puree back into the stock to poach your Salmon.  You can fool around with different herbs, and proteins.  You might try, adding sauteed chicken sausage one night in lieu of salmon.  Make this recipe your own.  Have fun with it!

Recipe

(feeds two)

1/2 pound of wild Salmon

2 cups of good quality unsalted chicken stock

1/4 cup of dry sherry or dry white wine for deglazing

1/2 onion, diced

1 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange), diced

2 carrots, diced

1 rib celery, sliced

2 ears of corn, shucked 

(kernels removed/cobs broken in two)

1/4 cup of evaporated milk

1 tablespoon of butter 

salt and pepper

herbs (thyme, tarragon, bay leaves, dill and/or chives)

soup crackers/croutons

Serving Suggestion:  salad and wonderful bread                     


 Recipe Directions

               

Chopped vegetables all ready to go.

Melt butter add chopped vegetables and saute.  Remove corn from the cobs, saving ears.  Add corn after five minutes and any herbs you might want to use.  Then deglaze with a quarter cup of white wine or sherry.

  

Now you can add your ears, broken in two pieces and two cups of stock.  Bring to a low boil, and turn down heat.  Cover partially and let cook for at least thirty minutes up to one hour.

Remove your wild Salmon from the refrigerator, and season well with salt and pepper.

Let poach for 15 minutes, partially covered.

Add 1/4 cup of evaporated milk.

Gently break up your Salmon with a fork into chunks.  

Check seasoning.

Adorn soup with croutons, balsamic drizzle and/or smoked cheddar.

Enjoy!

Summertime Blueberry Muffins

   

     Summer is the time when time can stand still.  We capture small snippets of moments that take us back to our childhood.  Starting the day with the warm sun, fresh blueberry muffins and great coffee is one way to take a step back and relax.

     Now, I don't mean the muffins of yesteryear.  Which are theoretically cake, with a few berries thrown in.  I'm talking about muffins that when you plunge your fingers into it to separate the tender bottoms from the crispy top your fingers come out blue.  Licking that blueberry stain off your fingers, pure heaven.

     Sara Foster of Foster's Market clearly has the right idea.  Her recipe is by far the blueberriest recipe you will ever come across.  She uses chopped blueberries, quickly pulsed in your food processor, along with whole berries.  I am going to give you her recipe with just a few altercations I've made along the way to make it standout just that much more.  Now, look and enjoy.



Now for the recipe. . .

Summertime Blueberry Muffins

(Adapted slightly from Sara Foster's Blueberriest Blueberry Muffins)

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of fine salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 large eggs

3/4 cup of milk

grated zest and juice of one lemon

2 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of lemon extract or oil (optional)
about 1/4 cup of turbinado sugar with one teaspoon cinnamon mixed in for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 400. You will reduce your oven temperature after the initial 15 minutes to 350 degrees.   Line your muffin pan with liners and/or spray with nonstick spray.  (I personally like to do both).  Sift your dry ingredients together, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Melt your butter and let it cool.  Bring your eggs to room temperature by soaking them in warm water for five minutes.  Add the wet ingredients together, butter, milk, eggs, lemon, zest and extracts.

Pulse one cup of your blueberries in the food processor just till chopped.

Now combine your wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix.                                       

Gently fold in your chopped blueberries with the remaining one and a half cups of blueberries.

Use a one third measuring cup, if available, to scoop out muffin batter into lined muffin pan.

Sprinkle turbinado sugar with cinnamon mixed in on top.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400, then turn down oven temperature to 350.  Continue cooking another ten minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin's center comes out clean.

Big, beautiful muffins!  Let cool five minutes, and run a knife under the edges of the tops to unseal, and gently pull out to finish cooling.