Greek Salmon Lettuce Cups

Lettuce Cups or wraps are a common site in Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants around me. One of the first times I ever saw them was in the Asian Fusion restaurant P.F. Changs. Its been years since I have been to one of these and to be honest my Asian inspiration stops there! This dish uses traditional Greek flavors with a little twist. If you are trying to eat low carb, lettuce wraps can be a great invention since a single leaf of lettuce is almost no calories! I love using fresh local ingredients and when I saw this Boston lettuce at my local farmer's market the other day I decided that I had to create something fresh and healthy. I have done a few other versions of this type of dish using shrimp and crab so don't be afraid to make this your own based on the ingredients that you have handy.

What do Lettuce Cups have to do with phylo dough and grape leaves you ask? Well the connection here is in the spices that I used - garlic, parsley, oregano and lemon were my base ingredients. There are two ingredients that always makes me think Greek that I didn't include - Feta Cheese and Olives. My boyfriend only has one real food hate and that is olives so they usually aren't in the house unless I get them on takeout and while I do often use grated cheese on my pasta with seafood I didn't think that the flavors really worked in this situation. This recipe calls for about 1 lb of wild salmon (I used Coho which is a bit thinner than other types) if you can't find wild salmon or don't want to spend the money consider using another type of wild fish versus using a farmed fish. The health benefits of wild fish are greater than the farmed versions so the difference in price is absolutely worth it!

click through for the recipe

Roasted Cauliflower and Red Lentil Curry

I love to use my Moroccan spice blend every time I roast veggies - especially cauliflower but this time I went a bit further. I decided to try my hand at a Indian flavored dish that using red lentils.  There were many recipes for dishes that were more like a stew with all the ingredients together in one pot but I decided to roast the cauliflower to maintain some of the texture of the dish. By not cooking the cauliflower in the lentil stew you have more distinct tastes and textures. Usually we don't eat to many Indian type dishes as curries are often a bit overpowering to me. In this dish  most of the ingredients retain their own flavors which is more pleasing to me. I also used some lemon to brighten up this dish.

I used chicken broth in this recipe just since we had an open container available but feel free to use water or veggie stock to make this recipe appropriate for vegetarians/vegans. If you would like to serve the dish with the roasted cauliflower I would suggest putting that in the oven before starting on the lentils - I usually roast at 400F  but feel free to use 350F if something else is in there! Just toss with some olive oil and a bit of spices into the oven for about 30-40 min depending on the size of the florets. If you aren't a cauliflower fan you could try adding rice or even a protein like grilled chicken or fish.

click through for the recipe 

Asian Veggie Soup

Soup is one of those meals that I can't help ordering even if summer is in full swing outside. It is a staple of my diet all year long and I love to come up with some different ideas from standard chicken noodle and the Italian soups like Pasta Fagioli I ate growing up. I have tried to make Tom Yum soup a few times but I always get discouraged because it doesn't taste "right" and it takes so long and uses hard to find expensive ingredients. Sometimes its easier and cheaper just to order take out! This soup is a take on Tom Yum and other south east Asian soups but it uses  ingredients that are easier to find at the ethic market. Since I am a believer in sweating out the heat, this soup base is great for summer time!

I used boxed chicken broth to make this base but please feel free to take the homemade route and either make your own chicken stock or be even more traditional and go for a shrimp stock. If you are interested in making an authentic bowl of Tom Yum check out the directions on Chez Pim.  You can make a million different version of this soup - noodles or none, chicken, shrimp, veggies etc so feel free to add or subtract as you like...one of my favorite treats is pre-made frozen dumpings! The basic broth is really versatile and can pull together all those "why did I buy this?" ingredients that are starting to sag in the crisper drawer.

Click through for the recipe!

Vegan Bean and Grain Salad

This winter I decided to take a few days off from meat. I love vegetables and usually have more veggies with my meal than any other type of food but there generally is some meat in there (even if it is only chicken broth or a slice of bacon for flavor.) I wanted to challenge myself for a week to see if I could eat totally vegan (so no dairy or other animal products). Unfortunately I forgot about plans with some friends that involved helping her make a roast beef with all the fixings so I didn't get to go a week but I did have a great time coming up with this delicious lunch option that is easy to make ahead and can be packed up for work.

I really love eating a fresh healthy salad for lunch but most mornings I am not in the mood to start peeling vegetables and cleaning off lettuce so I had to do some advance planning. But a little time on Sunday made the week go by so easily! I was able to pack up individual servings of the bean and grain salad along with a baggie full of lettuce. When I lunch time arrived mixed all of the ingredients together and added a tiny squirt of balsamic dressing. You can also eat this warm as a side dish to almost any dinner!

Coconut Shrimp

I love seafood and I am always trying to come up with ways to get "haters" to try it. It seems that many people refuse to eat seafood even though they have never really tasted it (or at least any of MY cooking).  Sometimes they even go as far to fake allergies in order to avoid offending the cook! While I can't guarantee that this recipe will get everyone to love seafood it is a wonderful and easy to make ahead dish that works as a main or appetizers. Most recipes for coconut shrimp include a quick dip in the deep frier but these are made in the oven so you can have a few extra with out all the guilt!

I recently made 4 lbs of shrimp using this recipe to use as appetizers for a party I hosted it actually gets really easy and mindless after the first few batches! I loved being able to bake them ahead of time and then just quickly crisping them up in the over right before serving. We actually had lots of left overs so I saved a bag full (once cooked stick in freezer to individually freeze then stick in a zip top bag till you are ready to reheat) and have been using them as a fun little appetizers when the girls come over for our after work glass of wine...they are better for you than breaking out some cheese and crackers! I used a store bought Mandarin Orange and Ginger Vinaigrette dressing for dipping sauce (and it was delicious - Shop Rite brand if you would like to try and find it)  but if you want to go homemade just look for something asian and citrus flavored.

Greek Potato Salad

I love summer BBQs just as much as the next girl but traditional fare is...well boring and full of bad fats! Now I am not one to start preaching about fat and calories  (especially when most of my recipes involve a fair amount of "good" olive oil) but eating mindless gobs of mayonnaise when there isn't any taste just isn't my style. I decided to come up with this potato salad recipe that has tons of flavor by using my favorite type of green salad as inspiration. I used large red potatoes cut into bite sized pieces, however small marble sized potatoes would be very cute as well!

Because this salad is mayo-free its a little easier to store and serve at a hot summer BBQ, there is some cheese in it however so don't leave it out too long! We have an olive- hater in our family so serving anything "Greek" style can be a little challenging. The best part of this salad though is that the olives (or the cheese is there is a dairy-free person) can be tossed in to individual taste.

All Purpose Marinara Sauce & a photo show of gnocchi making

Growing up there was only one type of sauce, my mother made it almost every Sunday after frying up a few dozen meatballs and some spicy Italian sausage. This was just how things were...we didn't know any vegetarians and so there was no reason to make a sauce that didn't start with the rich meaty flavors that came from using the left over bits of meatball stuck in the bottom of the biggest pan we had in the house. But now that I am living a few hundred miles away and have friends that follow every diet under the sun, I rarely make meat sauce because pasta is one of the only meals that most of us can eat together...as long as the sauce is vegetarian friendly (and we ignore those gluten-free people!). When I first moved down here, I would still make my mothers classic meat sauce and use jarred sauce for those friends who didn't eat meat. But when I made things like lasagna where the sauce was already mixed in, we ran into problems. The fix was easy - learn to make a marinara sauce that would rival the deep flavors of any meat sauce.

When I looked on the internet for example recipes (usually I like to look at 4 or 5 different versions then decide which ingredients and methods I will go with), I wasn't happy seeing additions of sugar, powdered spices and other ingredients that my mother (never mind my grandmother!) would never have put in sauce. I decide to make up my own version and over the past year or so I feel that it is really a great substitute. Nothing will compare to a meat sauce and those nicely browned up bits of meaty surprise that are well incorporated into the sauce lending it flavors that are uniquely carnivorous. But this sauce avoids some of the most common pitfalls of vegetarian sauces, too many vegetables (don't get me wrong I love my veggies but this is pasta sauce not minestrone soup!), too thin and watery (I simmer low and slow just like a meat based sauce), too much "raw" tomato taste (the addition of carrots seems to add enough sweetness to balance the acidity of the tomatoes) and with a rich base that gives this flavor to spare (onion, garlic and a splash of red wine).

But first some pics of our gnocchi making session... 3 girls, 15 lbs of potatoes and 3 4  hours of work. Somehow things always seem to take a lot longer than they should but at least when you are making dinner there is a great reward for you at the end!

  Jess and Tova ricing the potatoes

 

Me trying my hand at the ricer 

  

Pouring beaten eggs into the potato

Making the ridges in the fresh gnocchi

 A close up of the finished goods!

Keep reading for the marinara recipe

Easter Dinner - Roasted Leg of Lamb and Turkey Breast

I never pass up a holiday that I can cook for and Easter with the traditional foods that I grew up with is no exceptions. Although I have to admit I don't know if I follow many of our recipes too closely. I'd like to think that I have come up with a good version of my mother and grandmothers cooking but with my own set of ingredients. I have so much respect for my elders when I host a holiday dinner. There was always so much at our holiday spreads and it was always homemade! My easter was a bit smaller - only four of us turned out - but the spread was pretty impressive. One of the best parts of the dinner was the "drunk" girl roasted potatoes that my good friend Jema provided! Not only were they delicious but I loved the story.

This year I decided that I would butterfly my lamb roast and stuff it with a mint chimichurri - it was easy to assemble because my lamb roast had one of those elastic mesh "girdles" on it. I served it with bacon wrapped asparagus which is a decedent twist on the spring time classic. The turkey breast was obtained for free (yay!) due to some smart shopping and a great holiday special at Shoprite. Turkey breasts are such a great option for holidays - they take much less time than a whole turkey and still have all of the deliciously tender white meat that most people enjoy.

As always I brined my turkey, I find it hard to eat poultry prepared any other way recently as brining is just so easy and delicious (though it does take a bit of advance planning)

keep reading for the recipe for the turkey breast

Cinco de Mayo Swordfish Taco

This year it seemed that more and more people were complaining that Cinco de Mayo has turn into a holiday much like St.Patrick's Day - a day of drinking that really has less to do with its roots and more with its alcohol brand sponsorship. However, I love "taco stand" style tacos and I can't pass up a fresh taco with some delicious ingredients so why skip over a good excuse to eat and drink. Traditionally you see often pork carnitas tacos and fish tacos in this style with just a bit of cabbage slaw, some salsa, cilantro, lime and usually a radish slice. These tacos are different than the tacos that are found at tex-mex type places which often are filled with sour cream and guacamole. This makes them a bit lighter so you really don't need an excuse to make them.

I decided to skip the radish slice and went with a "meaty" slice of grilled swordfish instead of a fried fish. This meal was fresh and so fast! I mean from fridge to table in about 15 min total...and anyone can make this.

click through for the recipes!

Shrimp Po'Boy

Its just about time for the Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival but with so much to do this summer, a trip down just wasn't in the cards. However we had to find a way to celebrate. New Orleans is know for a few things but Good food and Great music are two of the things that really speak to me. I decided that even though it was a rainy afternoon we didn't have to settle for the same - old lunch, shrimp po'boys are fast to make and since shrimp keep so well in the freeze its easy to keep most of the ingredients on hand.

Without the friend shrimp (or some other seafood), you wouldn't have a po'boy but don't underestimate the power of the bread in this sandwich. For us, we were lucky enough to hit the local store as a fresh delivery of brioche rolls were just being unloaded from the cart. I couldn't resist the soft buttery, flaky pillows of bread even though they are not traditional for a po'boy (a crusty french baguette seems to be favored down in NOLA). When toasted and smeared with a healthy dose of remoulade, pickles and lettuce, the crisp bread is the perfect contrast to the shrimp.

Use the same recipe as the Soft Shell Crab Po'Boy here

Over All Soup Swap Winner: Indian- Style Seafood Stew

We had so many wonderful options in the soup swap but there can be only one winner. Matt's Indian-Style Seafood Stew won not only in his category (seafood and meat) but took in the most votes overall! He agreed to write up a little guest post about his experience cooking this winning dish and share it with us.....

I had this recipe in my possession for a while now however, since it feeds six, and I'm a single guy who's doesn't generally have dinner parties, finding the right opportunity to make this eluded me until this event. I picked up all the fish from my favorite local fish market, Two Cousins Fish Market on the Nautical Mile in Freeport (once you find a good local fish market you'll never buy fish at the supermarket again). I doubled the recipe to make sure I had enough stew for both the swap and the contest. It took me longer to clean the shrimp and marinate the fish than it did to cook. This couldn't have been an easier recipe to follow. When I first tasted it after it was done I was worried I had used a bit too much cayenne, but the jasmine rice balanced out the heat perfectly. I was blown away by how everybody enjoyed this! Seemed like I everyone was going back for seconds (and some for thirds). There wasn't a drop left in the crock pot by the end of the night. I look forward to the next time I can make this for friends.
read on for Matt's recipe

Souper Soup Swap & First Annual Soup Awards

Food swaps are the newest craze in the foodie world....they aren't exactly new as cookie walks have been around as a holiday staple basically forever. But now you can mass produce and swap baked goods, soups, baby food, garden harvests, frozen dinners or any thing homemade! The benefits of food swapping are simple instead of having leftovers for a week of the same old boring meal,  you switch with friends (or strangers in some cases) for their versions of the food in question. If you have ever tried to cook soup for one you know how hard it can be - it seems like no matter how carefully you measure you end up with a giant pot simmering away on the stove and lunch leftovers by the dozen.

 (pictured clockwise from top left - split pea, minestrone, indian style seafood stew, 

and tom yum goong) 

We had 9 different soups entered into the swap and everyone who participated brought home 4 different containers for a variety of leftovers. We ended up with three main categories for our soups - vegetarian, meat/seafood and chicken broth based.  It was a lot of fun and we had a great time sharing our recipes and picking our favorites. Then again when you have good friends any reason to get together is always a great time!


Here are the entries & winners in each category:
Vegetarian:
1st Place - Split Pea Soup
2nd Place - Cold Watermelon Soup
3rd Place - Wild Mushroom and Leek Soup

Meat/ Seafood:
1st Place - Indian Style Seafood Stew (pictured above)
2nd Place - Chili
3rd Place - Tom Yum Goong

Chicken Broth-Based
1st Place - Pasta Fagoili (pictured above)
2nd Place - Vermont Cheddar Ale
3rd Place - Minestrone

Some of the participants:

                       

VIDEO POST! Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri Sauce

Hello Readers......

something about this post is not like the others..... one of these things is not the same! We have stepped into the 21st Century and now have video... thanks so much to Newman's Own and Foodbuzz for sending me this amazing Flip video camera. In the next few days we will be posting some of our videos on the blog. Because I still am learning some of these videos are not exactly perfect (editing is harder than it looks!) but they should help you master some new techniques in a new way. So far the feedback is great, my friends and family love the new style and we hope to bring you a new video post every few weeks after we get the initial 4 videos up. We have already had a request on cooking a whole chicken and making a baked good. I would also like to do a seafood dish but please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments. If there are recipes already on Carla's Tasty Treats that you would like to see in video form we just might be able to help!

Thanks again

Carla

Please click through if you would like to see the complete recipe written out

Cajun Shrimp Lettuce Wraps & Salmon Ceviche

As part of the seafood extravaganza, I made quite a few dishes but these two stood out as the favorites of what I made! My original thoughts for the night included a fried shrimp po'boy but concerns over my ever expanding waist line and wanting something a bit fresher tasting over a heavy fried shrimp I kept the main idea but changed my execution. I kept the cajun spice flavors on the shrimp and the all-important creamy remoulade sauce but dropped the roll in favor of a leaf of Boston lettuce.   For my recipe, follow the link at the bottom of the post.

The salmon ceviche was my first attempt at this South American classic. While versions are served in many countries south of the border, I think that Peru is probably the most famous for it. I think that one of my first encounters with ceviche is at a restaurant in NYC called Sushi Samba which blends traditional sushi dishes with South American flavors for an exciting fusion cuisine. I took a look online to see if there was anything that matched up to what I had eaten there and serious eats had posted a recipe! I followed this recipe pretty closely but instead of making lox-like slices with the salmon I cubed it to make it easier for eating and added avocado as suggested in the comments.

Stuffed Grape Leaves

I don't even know when I discovered stuffed grape leaves but it has been a love affair ever since. From sampling greek salads up and down the Tri-State area diner belt to stalking a certain co-worker who knows about my addiction, I feel like I have tasted every type of grape leaf from the spicy to tasteless, meaty or vegetarian, grainy or soft.... I can't help but eat them all. I finally was gifted a whole bag of grape leaves from the coworker so I might attempt my own!

I decided to put my own spin on things and instead of traditional rice (or even brown rice) I decided to go with quinoa. I have used this grain many times before especially when cooking for vegetarians but it works great with meat as well and combines beautifully in this recipe that I adapted from a few ideas out there on the web. Initially when I started searching I was a bit overwhelmed but I found this post from White on Rice Couple that linked to a great Greek Food blog site with amazing step by step instructions. I was a little concerned about using the quinoa and if the different cooking time would affect the dish but I decided to go for it and it worked out fabulously!

Quinoa Stuffed Grape Leaves
2 lbs lean ground beef  (make your own or pre-ground) - or beef and lamb mix
2 c dry quinoa (rinsed)
1/2 onion - finely diced
1/2 pepper - finely dined
4 tbsp finely diced fresh mint
2 tbsp finely diced fresh dill
2 cloves garlic- finely minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp tumeric
salt & pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

50-75 grape leaves - stems cut out and blanched

2 c chicken stock
1 lemon - sliced
handfull of dill
handfull of mint

1) Begin by heating the oil in a lage wok pan, add the garlic to flavor the oil and then remove so it doesn't burn
2) Add the quinoa and let toast (similar to cooking risotto) - stir so all pieces are evenly toasted
3) Remove the quinoa and add the garlic, peppers and onions to pan
4) Once softened, add the meat and dry spices - mix it to crumble it as it browns
5) Once meat is cooked, drain excess fat and place in a large bowl
6) Stir in quinoa and fresh herbs and allow to cool until you can handle
7) To assemble grape leave - place vein side up on a dish, add 1 tsp of filling at about 1/2 " from base of leave- fold over to cover filling and then fold sides in (like a burrito) then fold over 2-3 more times to make a roll - smooth with wet finger so it is secure
8) Line the bottom of a baking dish (I used a corning ware casserole dish) with any ripped or broken leaves then arrange rolled grape leaves - do not pack them too tight but they should be just barely touching - you can have more than one layer (I had 3 layers in total)
9) Add chicken stock & lemon juice till it is just almost covering grape leaves, cover will slices of lemon and herbs - cover with foil and bake at 350F for 1 hr (or until heated throughout)
10) Serve hot or cold with a plain yogurt, lemon and greek seasoning dipping sauce