Slaw with Cucumber and Jicama

I don't think it is possible to use an entire jicama at one time, so I ended up with half of one that needed to be used.  I also had some other miscellaneous partly used veggies in the fridge.  This is the resulting slaw.


Cabbage, jicama, cucumber, red bell peppers and red onion.  Dressing of rice vinegar, a tiny bit of agave nectar  (used because I am told it does better things to your system than refined white cane sugar), some olive oil, and a bit of salt.


As an aside, the oil is from the olive business that has been developing over the last several years right here in the Texas Hill Country.  And while I think some people from Texas tend to brag about their state just a bit too much (especially about its politics), I have to say the olive oil here could stand up to just about anything from Italy, Spain, or California.


This slaw should go well with the Los Angeles food truck carne asada that I am going to try this afternoon. It is a Korean-Mexican fusion recipe that you can read on the NY Times. (see the link)  Interesting article even if you think the recipe sounds odd, although I am betting the recipe will be a keeper.   

Houston's Thai Beef Salad

It's getting to be time to think about good summer meals.  The kind you eat out on the patio on a lazy Saturday afternoon when you don't need anything real heavy.  We just discovered this salad recipe, and it is just right for that kind of day.
 
I flat stole the recipe.  I had an urge for a Thai Beef Salad, and I found this one on the internet.  No adaptation, no combining with other recipes, no adjustments (well, I did double the Sriracha sauce, but the recipe allowed for that).  The recipe is great just the way it is.


This salad is the author's interpretation of a recipe from Houston's Restaurant, a chain.  The restaurant's menu describes it as "Thai Steak & Noodle Salad (or with Chicken): Marinated filet or rotisserie chicken with avocado, mango and herbs in Thai dressing" and they get $19 for it.  I have never been to a Houston's, but as I was looking at their web site, I discovered that there is one at Kirby and Westpark in Houston, just a few blocks from my brother's house -- I guess we will have to give it try sometime so I can make my own judgement on Houston's version.

I found a picture of the salad purportedly taken at a Houston's in California - I think mine looks better, but judge for yourself.

Summer Treats - Mojito

It's really a little too late for summer treats, but here in Texas and a lot of the south it still feels like summer.  And with recent rains I was reminded of that by the sudden explosion of peppermint and spearmint that we grow in pots on our patio. (Remember that we do not have a vegetable and herb garden because of the various beasts that frequent our yard - as one of our dear departed neighbors used to say in her Texas twang "It's a regular Jooo-rassic Park out there". But I digress....)

Anyway, we grow the mint for one purpose only - making Mojitos, one of our favorite summer treats.  It is a very simple, refreshing cocktail of rum, mint, and lime, and it is perfect for sitting out on the patio watching beasts on a hot summer afternoon. 

It is not at all traditional, but the drink is also pretty good with one of those cocktail cherries!

With the recipe linked above, I have included a post from Spice Lines, one of my favorite food blogs.  In it, Courtenay Dunk, the author, gives a bit of history and her take on Mojitos.

I hope you enjoy Mojitos as much as Kathy and I!

Summer Treat - Fitzgerald Cocktail and Other Refreshing Gin Drinks

My recent posts have featured some of my favorite summer treats, and today I decided to talk about another one.


It's been a little while since I posted a cocktail of the week -- sometimes I just want to drink one of the old standards, or maybe even not have a cocktail. So this week after my cocktail of the week hiatus, I picked one of my favorite summer spirits - Gin.  Especially Bombay Sapphire Gin.

Gin and Tonic is maybe the best, most refreshing, summer drink of all times.  Imagine some British officers in India in their idle times, standing around in a rather fancy officers' lounge with pith helmets under their left arms and drinking cocktails served by guys in turbans. But I digress...  No recipe really required - a couple of ounces of Sapphire gin, about 6 ounces of good quality tonic water, and a big twist of lemon, served over ice. Sitting outside on a shaded back porch with friends on a hot summer day, trying not to imagine guys in pith helmets. 


This week's cocktail of the week is a nice change, though. And it is good enough that Kathy offered that it is probably the best gin drink she has tried. (That does not, however, mean that she now likes gin.)


The Fitzgerald Cocktail was invented by Dale DeGroff, author of The Craft of the Cocktail, my favorite cocktail book.  As you can tell from the linked recipe, it is really just a Gin Sour with a splash of Angostura bitters.  (Also, if you use lime instead of lemon, the Fitzgerald would become a Bennet Cocktail.)


Click on the picture to get a closer look at how pretty the drink is.  You can almost smell that wonderfully refreshing gin / lemon combination.  Enjoy!

Summer Treats - Basil

Basil is one of summer's treats. Whether you grow it in your garden, get it from your friend at work, or buy it at the farmer's market, it is plentiful during those months.  It is very versatile, and  it goes wonderfully with summer's fresh garden tomatoes.  The example that comes immediately to mind is Insalata Caprese, a very simple, very tasty combination of tomato slices, fresh mozarella, basil, olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  This beautiful salad is very appropriately the colors of the Italian flag.


Another of my favorite uses for basil, and one of the most traditional, is Pesto.  I like it in soups, salads, sandwiches, or pasta dishes (maybe a simple lasagna with bechamel and shredded mozzarella), but those are just a few of the many ways it can be used. It would be hard to find a Pesto recipe that didn't give good results -- look in any Italian cookbook and find a recipe and it will be pretty much the same as every other recipe you find.  This Classic Basil Pesto Recipe is one of several I found in my favorite cooking magazine, Fine Cooking. It can be made by hand with a mortar and pestle, as illustrated by my photograph here, or it can be made with a lot less work using a food processor like I really did before putting it into the mortar for the photograph.

I like Basil Pesto in soups, salads, sandwiches, and pasta dishes but those are just a few of the many ways it can be used. The batch here went into a very simple lasagna.  I made it with enough lasagna noodles to make three layers in the baking dish, the basil pesto, shredded fresh mozzarella, and a bechamel with just a touch of nutmeg. There's not really a recipe, but I spread a layer of bechamel in the dish, then put layers of lasagna, pesto, mozarella, and bechamel twice. I finished with a third layer of lasagna covered by bechamel and a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and baked it at 350° until bubbly and browned.

No meat, no tomatoes, no ricotta, although you could put some cooked Italian sausage or chopped drained tomatoes  or both, in the layers and it would be great. 

Kathy and I liked it just fine, though, as shown above, and served with a green salad and a nice pinot noir. (Click on the picture to take a closer look - yum!)

Summer Treats - Jim's Gazpacho

One of the best treats of summer is home grown tomatoes.  And if you are lucky enough to have some, then you should certainly try Jim's Summer Gazpacho.


Gazpacho is a perfect summer treat, light and refreshing, but with a substantial flavor.  It is my favorite use of all those home grown summer tomatoes, and the only uses I can think of that can even come close are tomato sandwiches on homemade bread, and Insalata Caprese, a simple combination salad with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozarella slices, basil, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is my latest take on Gazpacho, but it is very flexible, and you should experiment freely with types of peppers, type of tomato juice, green onions, an addition of a handful of diced homemade white bread with crust removed, julienned basil, diced zucchini, or whatever else strikes you.  And if you want a finer texture process in a food processor.

Gazpacho makes a pretty good meal served with a good loaf of crusty bread, but it can also be part of a light meal of cold shrimp or grilled fish, or some good fish tacos, chicken salad, or another light entree of your choosing.  If you are fortunate enough to live somewhere where lobsters live, a lobster roll would be an outstanding pairing!  And for the kiddies, this Gazpacho would be oh so much better with a grilled cheese sandwich than that nasty Campbell's Tomato Soup, provided that you didn't make it too spicy .

Brazilian Coconut Shrimp

I don't need to say a whole lot about this one.  If you love shrimp on the grill, you just have to try it.  This recipe for Brazilian Coconut Shrimp started with one by Steven Raichlen in his How to Grill.  But I don't like green bell pepper, and I like ginger more than he does, and it does not need any basting or extra lime at the end, so I changed the recipe around.  You should do the same.  This recipe idea is really flexible, and you should make it in just the way that sounds good to you. I would not have thought about marinating shrimp in coconut milk, but with the ginger and jalapenos, and just a touch of char on the edges, it really has a pleasant spicy, slightly sweet flavor that is perfect for summer.

Raichlen thinks his recipe would also be good with scallops, fish, or chicken, skewered or not.  I think this variation would, too.  If you don't want to take the trouble to skewer everything, just grill some chunks of onion and red bell pepper.

We had it with a salad and some leftover (!) potato salad. Don't remember for sure what we drank with it, but looking at this picture, it strikes me that your favorite ice cold beer would be perfect -- sit out on the back porch and watch the antelopes run around while you eat.

Grapefruit Cocktail

The idea for this Grapefruit Cocktail came from a recent issue of Fine Cooking, and I have included their version with my recipe.  Kathy and I tried theirs, and it was good, but thought we could make one a little more to our taste.  After a number of tries, we figured out it out. (Maybe anything would have been good by then?) 

This is another good summer cocktail -- not too sweet, and very refreshing.  Since we first tried it and the Hemingway Daiquiri, I have been surprised to learn how many people like grapefruit juice.....

Be sure to use a good 100% blue agave silver tequila.  These were made with Patron, but there are a lot of others out there.

One last thought - a blender wouldn't hurt this drink a bit!