RECIPE: Crunchy Chipotle Lime Tilapia with Coconut

This recipe came by way of my mother, but I have made a few alterations since we first tried making it together.  Namely, I have eliminated the sour cream in favor of plain yogurt (which tastes better, funnily enough), and substituting coconut for crushed tortilla chips.  The chips were fine, but the toasted coconut is the perfect flavor complement to the lime.

INGREDIENTS

1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
2 tablespoons adobo sauce from the can
2 fresh chopped roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 tilapia fillets (or 6, if they are small)
3/4 cup shredded coconut

1 small avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced into large chunks
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place foil in the bottom of a baking sheet, or grease with cooking spray.

Combine the chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of lime juice in a blender.  Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Spread half of the coconut on the bottom of the baking sheet; coat one side of your fillets with the chipotle mixture, then place them on top of the coconut, chipotle-side down.  Spread more of the chipotle sauce on the top sides of the fillets, and press remaining coconut on top of that.

Bake the fillets for 15 minutes, then turn over and bake until golden brown (about 10 to 15 more minutes).  Serve hot.

While the fish bake, blend together the avocado, yogurt, and 1 tablespoon lime juice until smooth.  The consistency should be similar to ranch dressing.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spoon the sauce over the baked fillets when serving.

VERDICT: By now, I'm sure you're aware of how much I love strong, spicy foods.  This is no exception--the tilapia is hot, hot, and richly sharp in flavor.  You really can't do much better than that!  I recommend serving it with sticky jasmine rice.

RECIPE: Toffee Date Puddake

This isn't strictly a pudding.  That is, you don't steam this cake.

*insert scream here*

But wait?  Is it a pudding, or is it a cake?  It can't be both!

Well, I have news for you.  I believe it is both.  This puddake has a lot in common with the flavors of Christmas puddings we used to run across while shopping in Woolies in Sydney, but it has a lighter consistency--close to a cake, but not really.  You'll see why.

I first had a slice of toffee date pudding with my friend Lindsey while dining at The Trout one fine evening with Michael Ward* (whose excellent book, Planet Narnia ... okay, so I couldn't resist.  I'm an English major to the bone.).  We were on a two-week study abroad attached to the class, "Myths and Epics of Northwestern Europe."  We were Oxford for the week, and had already footed our way down every cobblestone alley you can imagine.  Nathan had fallen asleep at the table, exhausted, and Mr. Ward thought it would be great fun to take a picture of him while he was sleeping.  We never quite got around to it, seeing as how Nathan did eventually wake up, but we definitely enjoyed the pudding.  It was such a memorable pudding, in truth, that we spent some time searching for a recipe by which to replicate it.

* NOTE: We ran across Mr. Ward a year later when he came to JBU to present his second (smaller) book (The Narnia Code) to the entire campus.  He didn't recognize us, save for a vague recollection of our faces.  I doubt very much he would remember our evening at The Trout and our intended prank on Nate.

This is quite a large recipe--I figure you could make a regular-sized cake with half a recipe.  As it was, I made a large bundt cake and at least half a dozen muffin-sized cakes, and the amount was just perfect.


INGREDIENTS for the cake

1 pound dates, pitted and chopped
2 teaspoons baking soda
8 ounces butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
3 tablespoons baking powder

INGREDIENTS for the sauce

8 ounces butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream (or yogurt, as I do)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving (optional)



DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Butter and flour three 9-inch-round cake pans, two dozen muffin tins, or one large bundt cake pan and a half dozen muffin tins.


Place the chopped dates (I used almost two bags of the kind you buy for cheap in Aldis, and they worked perfectly) in a large saucepan with 3 and 1/2 cups water.  Bring to boil, stirring occasionally to break up the dates.  Simmer for a couple of minutes before removing the mixture--which will be looking a little lumpy and foamy--from the heat.  Stir in the baking soda, and be prepared for the mixture to froth up rather violently.


Cream the butter and sugar together with a mixer until creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and scrape down the sides of the bowl between each one.  Add the vanilla extract and then the flour and salt and mix briefly to give a thick, lumpy dough.


Add the warm date mixture to the eggs and flour in two batches, scraping the sides of bowl in between batches.  The dough will be quite watery at this point.  Add the baking powder.  There will be more bubbling and frothing.

Pour the batter evenly between the cake pans or muffin tins.

Bake for about 30 minutes for cake pans, 20 minutes for muffin tins, and 45 to 50 minutes for the bundt pan.  Test to see if they are cooked through with a small knife or toothpick.  It ought to come out clean if the cake(s) are done.

While the cakes are baking, start the sauce.  Combine the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream (or yogurt), and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan.  Bring to boil--slowly!--and then reduce to simmer gently until thick and well blended, around 5 minutes.

While the cakes are cooling, poke little holes all over with toothpick.  Pour the caramel sauce over the cake(s) while both are still warm and leave to soak until absorbed.  I left mine overnight, and it came out perfectly even and moist.

Turn the puddake out upside-down onto a serving plate.  I found I had to give my pan a good whack before the puddake came out--but when it did, what a beaut!

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if the fancy takes you.  I like the delicate, complex flavor of this cake all on its own.

VERDICT:  This is a delicious puddake.  Next time, I might be even more adventurous and throw in some shredded coconut for added texture, or maybe some additional spices.  I'm thinking a touch of molasses would kick the flavor profile up a notch--but I like my foods to be exorbitant in flavor.  This was pretty near perfect anyway!  A moist, fine crumb, with a delicate date taste complimented by all those spices (and, let's face it, some sugar).

RECIPE: Gingersnaps

It's that time of year.  I cracked open my spice cabinet and felt the need for something rich and spicy and ... with just the perfect amount of crunch.

I have a rather large spice cabinet, by the way.  It's getting larger, too, despite my vow to not buy more than I need.  Apparently, I need quite a few.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/8 teaspoon garam masala
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS

Beat butter and shortening together with an electric mixer.  Add the 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure you get all the butter into the mix.  Beat in the egg and molasses, then beat in the flour.  If you're using an electric hand mixer, you may have to do some of the beating by hand.  KitchenAid and other upright mixers won't have much trouble, even though the dough becomes incredibly thick.

Cover and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place sugar in a small bowl.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll the balls in the sugar and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet (or a foiled one, as I do).

Bake 8-10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are crackled and the edges firm.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

(Yield: approximately 50 gingersnaps)

VERDICT:

These cookies were, as always, a bit of an experiment.  I like my cookies to be very flavorful, and spicy almost to the point of endurance.  Don't worry, I always tone them down for public consumption.  And these will be consumed publicly, as I'm taking them in to work tomorrow.  They have a nice bite--the ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon lend the usual richness of flavor, but the cardamom and garam masala give the cookies a little extra punch.  Really, they're quite delectable.  Crunchy on the outside ... and soft on the inside.  Purr-fection.

RECIPE: Pumpkin or Squash Soup - North African Style

I did not set the kitchen on fire today. Actually, today was TAME in comparison to my first mediterranean experiment (of the culinary type).

And I know it's high summer and that, as such, soup is generally not the number one item on the want-to-eat list. Thankfully, my parents keep the thermostat set at 76 degrees and thus I my adventures are not limited by the external atmosphere. On with the food!

Today I felt miraculously free to exercise my artistic license on the recipe at hand, which was from the same cookbook as last time (The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins):

Pumpkin or Squash Soup - North African Style

Because I took such liberty with the original recipe, I feel no qualms about sharing it with you.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin (because the best virgins are extra-virgin) olive oil

1 medium carrot (or, in my case, about 10 mini-carrots), chopped

1 celery stalk (you can include 2 or more, according to preference), coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper (or 1 small fresh red chili pepper, if you have one)

1 + 1/2 pounds pumpkin or hard winter squash, peeled and cubed (about 6 cups––I used a butternut squash and it came to approximately 7 cups ... so I just threw it all in)

1 - 14.6-ounce can chopped plum tomatoes with their juice

2 bay leaves

1 short piece of cinnamon (I did not have this, so I included 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon)

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3-4 tablespoons fresh chopped chives
1/8 cup fresh chopped cilantro or parsley

I also added:

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

about 1 square inch of finely chopped FRESH ginger (I'm a bit of a ginger fan)

1/2 teaspoon thyme

The recipe also calls for:

1 sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

... but I didn't include these, a) because I didn't have them, and b) I'm too lazy to run to Publix for 2 tablespoons of an herb I'm not even certain I like.

And thus! To the process! It is remarkably brief.

Chop everything beforehand. It will save you the scurrying and frazzledness of my experience.

Throw all of the olive oil, carrot, celery, garlic, and ginger in a large pot––you will make the whole soup in the one pot, so don't think small––set over a medium-low heat. Cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft but not browned. If you're a better cook than I am and have the peppers on hand, throw them in, too. Add the cubed pumpkin and stir the lot together. When the cubed pumpkin starts to sizzle, add the tomatoes, bay leaves, spices, and 2 cups of water. Bring this to a simmer (which takes longer than you'd think––about 10 to 15 minutes––and then cover the pan. Let the pot simmer for between 20 and 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft enough to blend with a stick blender or a food processor (stick blenders are much less messy, and you don't have to switch pots). If you can, fish out the bay leaves before you blend. If you can't ... eh. Oh well. Add salt and pepper to taste, along with the lemon juice. If you're into cilantro, you're supposed to stir it in right before serving.

A quick note on the crushed red pepper thing: I was reading the back of the crushed-pepper jar and it said something about combining it with equal amounts of thyme and allspice. And, since I was in a mood to experiment, I threw all the spices into a little tiny cup and poured a touch of boiling water over them as I was chopping the butternut squash. The result? I think the rehydration technique brought out a bit more of the pepper flavor––it wasn't as dry and nasty when eating the soup as it normally is. I'm really not a fan of crushed red pepper flakes at all ... but you use what you have, so I tried it out. And it worked pretty well! I don't know if I would recommend rehydrating all your herbs and spices before cooking, but I think it's kind of fun.

Anyhow. The soup tasted pretty darn good. Between the turmeric and gingers and crushed red pepper, it's quite spicy (and would have been spicier if I had included the chopped peppers). It's not a creamy soup like a lot of pumpkin soups are, but there are merits to non-creamy soups. It leaves a faint zing on the back of the tongue, but it cleanses the palate instead of coating it like a cream-based sauce would. I threw around the idea briefly of maybe adding low-fat plain yoghurt to the soup once it cooled down, if one really wanted that creamy texture. It would be better than adding sour cream or heavy cream. I actually think this soup would taste really excellent as a cold soup––it's got enough flavor and spice that the coolness might even add the perfect soothing touch! I'll let you know tomorrow afternoon, when I taste it cold.

VERDICT: A success! (Although, I'm guessing, a little too spicy for some tastes.)