Steamed Halibut with Mango Teriyaki by Eric Akis of the Times Colonist · Monday March 26, 2012 by colin newell
Steaming a fish, like Halibut, has some distinct advantages – you can cook it precisely without using any oil or on a grill or flat-top – and all you taste is the delicate nuance of the fish – no distraction. Perfection!
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: About 10 minutes
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce – most brands are OK – watch the salt content!
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock or broth
2 Tbsp honey or corn syrup
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp Asian-style chili sauce, to taste
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into small cubes
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped fresh grated ginger
1 small, ripe mango, peeled and cut into small cubes
4 (5 to 6 oz.) halibut fillets
2 green onions, thinly sliced
The side – we prepped a 1/2 cup of cooked Basmati Rice – the perfect compliment to this dish.
The sauce – Place the first 6 ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved.
Heat the oil in small pot set over medium-high.
Add the bell pepper, garlic and ginger and cook 2 minutes. Pour in the Teriyaki sauce mixture, bring to a simmer, and simmer 1 minute until lightly thickened. Be careful not to burn the garlic – burnt garlic changes everything!
Stir in the mango, turn the heat to low, cover and set aside the sauce until needed.
The Fish – Get out a large bamboo or stainless steel steamer. We used a steel one and used some parchment paper in a perfectly cut ring (of paper) in the bottom with around 10 pin holes punched in the paper.
Set the halibut in the steamer.
Cover the steamer, set over simmering water, and steam until the fish is just cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Plate the fish on top of the rice pilaf – top with sauce, sprinkle with green onion, and serve.
It’s delicious, it’s healthy and it has a zesty chili kick that you can regulate entirely to taste. Enjoy! Thanks to Eric Akis at the Times Colonist for this great recipe.
Click on the photo below for the bigger view.
2012 Variation of Alton Brown Texas Chili · Sunday March 25, 2012 by colin newell
Here is a another subtle variation on Alton Brown’s classic – it is not vegetarian but you can easily take out the sirloin and pitch in some firm tofu (grilled in advance of course…)
Use a 4L or 4-quart stock or stewing pot minimum – the biggest you have.
2 pounds Sirloin tip or lesser grade of beef (any grade of ground beef or pork… or Tofu)
4 tablespoons Canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 bottle of beer, medium pale ale (you can sub in 2 cups of beef or vegetable broth)
1-2 (16-ounce) container medium or hot salsa
60 tortilla chips (really! 60… not 59 or 61!)
(option) 1/2 cup chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, chopped
2 medium onions – chopped
1 Yellow pepper chopped
1 Red pepper chopped
1 small Zucchini chopped
1 large Pablano pepper chopped
2 Anaheim peppers chopped
1 chopped Habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers (be VERY, VERY careful with these peppers! There is a real risk of burning or blistering if your skin comes in direct contact with the seeds or chopped pepper flesh.)
2 tablespoon adobo sauce (from the chipotle peppers in adobo)
2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon ground cumin
Heat your stewing/cooking pot (largest one your have!)and toss/brown meat with the Canola oil and salt/pepper in smallish batches. Add the meat in 6 to 8 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2-3 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl or plate.
Once all of the meat is browned and set aside, add several tablespoons of beer or broth to deglaze the pot.
Depending on how dry your pot is, add a tablespoon or two of your favorite canola oil.
Put in onions, yellow and red peppers, zucchini and carrots to brown for around 5 to 7 minutes.
Add Pablano and Anaheim chopped peppers – cooking an additional 5 minutes
Add Chipotle peppers and adobo sauce – stir in well.
Add bottled salsa (1 bottle at a time) and beer/broth gradually.
Add tomato paste and ground spices
Add corn chips.
Return meat to the mix.
bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes, reduce heat to LOW, cover
and simmer for 1 hour (minimum) 2 hours = better!
Depending upon how hot your Habanero, salsa and chilpotle chilis are will dictate how much of a sweat you will work up – add sour cream to serving for the more delicate among you! Be warned: Habanero chili’s are among the hottest chili peppers on the planet – they are easily hundreds if not thousands of times hotter than the lowly jalapeno pepper. Use extreme caution with these orange peppers. If you are not prepared to assume the risk, leave this pepper out.
After the chili has stewed for a few hours, a lot of the extreme edge of the peppers have been tamed – including the habanero chili’s – that said, this is a very, very hot and spicy disk: Want it milder? Back off on the chili powder, use a mild salsa and avoid the Habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers.
Serve with ice cold beer, corn chips and a cotton napkin for wiping your brow.
This batch would easily serve 12 to 16 hungry folks – I freeze the chili in plastic containers for frugal hot lunches!
2nd day of Spring 2012 wonderful pizza · Wednesday March 21, 2012 by colin newell
Colin and Andrea’s Amazing Pizza
Fresh dough from Ottavio.
Out of the fridge for 20 minutes minimum.
Caramelize 2 medium onions in olive oil/canola oil/butter mixture for 1/2 hour.
Roll dough on counter lightly dusted with flour.
Prepare pizza pan with PAM anti-stick product & light dusting of oil.
Transfer dough to pan.
Add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of your favorite organic pizza sauce.
Add onions
Add 2 cups of grated good quality Mozzarella cheese.
Add rings of sliced Chorizo sausage (in our example, a great sample
from Oyama, Vancouver.
Oven pre-heated in advance at 450 degrees.
Drop oven temperature to 425 and Put pizza in oven for 20 minutes.
Remove pizza from oven and gently add Bündnerfleisch cured meat (It is like proscuitto) – do NOT bake the pizza with super-thin Bündnerfleisch charcuterie – it will “kill it” – not good.
To be honest folks: This is the single best pizza I have ever had in my life! What a great day!
First day of Spring 2012 Brannana Bread · Tuesday March 20, 2012 by colin newell
I cannot think of a better use for a banana than sticking it in something to hide the fact that it is a banana –
Banana bread – it is not really bread, but it is great with coffee in the afternoon when everyone’s blood sugar starts to crash.
I have a few recipes on this subject – and Yup – here is one more variation on the classic.
I buy banana’s to eat and I rarely eat them – they sit on my microwave til they turn darker than a cup of drip brewed Sumatra.
And they end up in Banana bread. And here is the recipe with a variation or two:
A little healthier than the standard…
Colin’s Bran-nana Bread
Wet
1/2 Cup butter softened
1 Cup raw sugar
2 Eggs
3 medium mashed bananas
Dry
1 cup whole bran
1 cup white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped almonds
In a mixer, add butter til creamed. Add sugar. Add 2 eggs one at a time
add banana’s one at a time.
Add dry to wet in mixer and mix to moisten all ingredients.
1 hour in greased pan at 350 degrees.
Let it cool before you attempt to cut!
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