Destination: South by Southwest

I am not sure how to classify tonight's dinner, but I think the label above is correct. I took a recipe from What to Cook & How to Cook It for Cajun chicken with pineapple salsa, and changed it up only slightly. The pineapple salsa was very simple: fresh pineapple, red onion, red bell pepper, cilantro and fresh lime juice with salt to taste. I love the colors of the salsa. And I have a 'fession to make. I love salsa, so much so that sometime when I buy salsa, I eat it straight out of the jar, no chips between us. Just salsita and I.

Instead of mixing up the spice mixture for the chicken from the recipe, I discovered blackened seasoning in my pantry. I completely forgot that I bought it a few months back to use with seafood. I covered the chicken breasts with the seasoning, and then "grilled" them on a lightly oiled grill pan, which is becoming my new kitchen hero. The chicken was really tasty, although it did have a little kick that I had to rinse some seasoning off it so my girl would eat some of it.

As a neutral accompaniment to these flavor packed dishes, I served brown basmati rice which I seasoned with a teaspon of canola oil, salt, some fresh chopped cilantro and about two teaspoons of lime juice. If you have never tried brown basmati rice, you really should because it tastes amazing. It has that nutty flavor that brown rice has, but then each grain is in for itself: no mixing, no squashing and definitely no sticking.

In conclusion, our tummies were very happy and very full, and now I am again hungry because I mainly filled up on salsa. And I already brushed my teeth, so any late snack is out. Only about 8.5 hours until breakfast...

Destination: Southeast Asia

Last night I made a laksa, which is a spicy soup made in Southeast Asia. I could call it a curry too, because instead of laksa paste, I used green curry paste since the recipe recommended it. Anytime you mix curry paste, coconut milk, lime juice and fish sauce, wonderful things happen. The flavors blend into a delicious mixture. I love the pungent smell of curry paste while it is frying in the pan...  It makes me feel adventurous  even though all I am doing is just frying some curry paste that I scooped from a jar bought at the store. Now, if I made the curry paste myself, which really sounds like a great idea, then I could see where that sense of adventure is coming from.

The laksa recipe, from What To Cook & How To Cook It, is very simple. Chop, chop, fry a little, stir in some stuff, bring to simmer, season. Done. I did make a slight alteration. Instead of scallions (Whole Food only had conventional) and bean sprouts (not liked by my people), I chopped a zucchini and it was really a quite good substitution, although I can see how scallions would really enhance the flavor of the dish. The soup is served with rice noodles, and I used mai fun brown rice noodles. Since the broth was so tasty, I ended up mainly drinking it while skipping on the noodles, veggies, shitake mushrooms and shrimp. Then I went to bed hungry...

Recap of Christmas Eve Dinner

I know Christmas is over, but I am still thinking about the Christmas Eve dinner. What can I say, I liked how it turned out. It is a custom in Croatia (where I come from) to make seafood for Christmas Eve dinner. It has to do with the whole idea of fasting before Christmas Day, although I don't really consider it a fast when eating delicacies from the sea. However, this tradition allows you to structure an entire meal around seafood. There are many ways to go about planning the menu.
Last year, since we had company for Christmas Eve, I made a three course all seafood dinner. I started off with Bacalar in bianco (mashed cod with garlic, potato, olive oil and parsley) and assortment of crackers. Then we had shrimp risotto with cream and saffron. And as a last course, we had brodetto (white fish cooked in tomato and wine sauce) with polenta.
This year, since it was just the three of us and I didn't want to deal with leftovers, I made a small shrimp cocktail as an appetizer. I followed it with leek potato soup (a very simple soup with wonderful flavor from The Silver Spoon). And finally as my pièce de résistance, I had grilled branzino a la Croata, and chard and potato salad. Magnifico! Now all this may seem complicated, but in fact these are all very simple dishes. Read below.

Shrimp Cocktail:
Mix equal quantities of mayo and yogurt. Add a handful of chopped parsley, and freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and black pepper to taste. Mix well, chill and serve with boiled shrimp tails. Done.

Branzino a la Croata:
This dish is best done on a grill, but since I don't have one, the second best is to use a grill pan. You can also bake it, but I have not tried it that way. Buy a whole branzino, with the head if you don't mind it, because it makes for a dramatic entrance. My little one was so fascinated with the head and kept insisting that the head should be placed on her plate. Ask your fishmonger to clean the scales and the guts, and then you are all set. Once you are ready to prepare the fish, rinse it in cold water, pat dry it with paper towels. Salt the fish well, and then chop up a handful of parsley, add to it a sprig of rosemary (not chopped) and a bay leaf (not chopped), a chopped clove of garlic and a teaspoon or three of lemon juice. Tuck all that stuff into the stomach cavity of the fish and kind of press it closed. Meanwhile, heat up the grill (pan) to pretty hot. When you are ready to grill the fish, coat both side of the fish with olive oil, and then plop it on the grill (pan). Feel free to brush the fish with olive oil during grilling, and press on it so you get the grill marks. Let it grill about 5 minutes, on each side, and make sure you flip it gently. Then let it grill 2-3 minutes each side, and by then the fish should be pretty much cooked (it will start falling apart). Beware of the fish bones while your enjoy the fish!

Chard and Potato Salad:
To make it a truly authentic Croatian dish, this recipe calls for Swiss chard, but I could not find Swiss chard, so I got red chard instead. Wash the leaves of the chard (1 bouquet) and trim them from the stem, then chop them into 2cm ribbons. Peel 2-3 medium yellow potatoes (I like Yukon Gold), and cut them into cubes, 1-2cm overall. Place all that goodness into a pot of lightly salted water and bring it to boil, cover and simmer on lower heat for about 20 minutes. It's all right for potatoes to be really soft, and chard as well. After 20 minutes, with a slotted spoon, take out potatoes and chard, making sure that some of the cooking liquid makes into the bowl as well. Once all the chard and potatoes are in the bowl, use salt and pepper to taste, then add to it a spoonful of good quality extra-virgin olive oil. I love Spanish olive oil because it is green and fragrant and it tastes like Croatian olive oil, which I have not found in the States.

And that's it. Serve this meal with some nice white wine. We really like Vouvray because it is slightly sweet. Dobar tek!

Destination: Spain

After three days of Holiday food, I craved something much simpler and yet nutritious. Something that can be eaten hot, with a spoon. Last night, while I was going through 1080 Recipes, I came across Lentejas Guisadas (Lentil Stew - recipe 227). A quick check of my pantry confirmed that I had all the necessary ingredients. I also added half a chopped potato and some diced ham to the stew, and we really loved it. I served it with brown basmati rice. My husband went as far as saying that it was the best lentil soup I made to date. Even my daughter ate a bowlful, after lacing it with only minimal amount of Parmesan cheese.



While browsing through the book, I also came across Ensaladilla Rusa (Russian Salad - recipe 21). Now this particular salad is something I grew up on. We call it Ruska salata (Croatian), and it is a staple salad for any larger celebration, especially New Year. There are many small variations to it. My mom used to make it with boiled ham, peas, carrots, cucumbers and potatos. Sometime she would also add boiled parsnip, which I would try to pick out of it. If you look at the picture aove, you can guess that it was a fairly futile effort. The French salad has all the same ingredients minus the ham, so in my book it was less liked. The salad calls for a significant amount of mayo, so I've never made it for my family until today. Instead of using pure mayo, I mixed half quantity plain fat-free yogurt and half quantity Ojai Lemonaise Light mayo (which is the most amazing mayo I've ever tried). The salad was light yet very creamy. I served it with some whole wheat flat bread.

Christmas Loot

This Christmas I have received four wonderful cookbooks from my husband. I love books, so for me a gift of a good book is the best gift I can receive. He selected cookbooks he thought I would enjoy using (and he would therefore benefit directly from my usage of the books), and he really impressed me with his selections.

I got What To Cook & How To Cook It, by Jane Hornby.


It's a mouthwatering book, and I cannot wait to make dishes from it. Although it is a beginner cookbook, it is really well done. The pictures of the dishes are amazing, and I like the way it is organized. This week I am cooking a couple of dishes from it: Huevos Rancheros (p.44), Shrimp and Mushroom Laksa (p.80) and Tomato Thyme Soup (p.76).

Another gem of a cookbook, that is now in my possession is 1080 Recipes by Simone and Ines Ortega.


Apparently this book is The Silver Spoon (famous Italian cookbook) of Spanish cooking. It's daunting piece of work with almost 1000 pages. Tonight I made two dishes from it: Lentejas Guisadas (recipe 227) and Ensaladilla Rusa (recipe 21). Both were very delicious, but more on that later.

The other two cookbooks are The Wagamama Cookbook, by Hugo Arnold, and Thai by Lulu Grimes. I have not had a chance to really dive into them yet, but over the next month I will. I am particularly curious about Wagamama, which is a Japanese cookbook, and since I have never prepared any Japanese food at home, I am very excited about trying it out. I love making Thai curries (or any curries for that matter), so I know I will enjoy using the Thai cookbook.

A Beginning

I've created this blog almost two years ago. I wrote exactly one post, which I did not publish. Why? Because I thought I should figure out exactly what aspect of cooking I should write about. I wanted to take pictures of dishes I made. But then I realized I would need prettier dishes, and some special tablecloths, and new napkins of course, and the right light, the backdrop, etc ... In the end none of those details mattered. They only served to keep me from writing this blog. So two years later, I am starting out again, although I never really started before.