Green Coconut Curry with Scallops

You know that I love coconut milk and here's another type of coconut recipe - a Thai curry. I've made this probably 5 or 6 times for company this last year and it turns out great every time. The recipe comes together quickly in one pan and I serve it over jasmine rice (tonight, brown jasmine rice). I'll add a couple of photos soon but the header above this post is a picture of the ingredients (minus the scallops). Hope your company likes it as much as mine did!

Green Coconut Curry with Scallops (2 servings)

12 ounces sea scallops
3/4 c. canned unsweetened coconut milk
1-2 tsp. Thai green curry paste (depending on how spicy you want to make it)
1/2 red bell pepper cut into 2 inch strips
Garlic clove
1 T minced peeled fresh ginger
1 T fresh lime juice
1 T soy sauce (or fish sauce)
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
Hot cooked jasmine rice

Saute bell pepper, ginger, garlic and green curry paste for 3 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and bring it to a boil. Add the scallops, lower the heat a little, and cook until just opaque (time will depend on how large the scallops are). Remove from the heat and add the lime juice, soy sauce, green onions and half of the cilantro. Put the rice in 2 bowls, place scallops on top and divide the sauce in half in each bowl. Sprinkle with the rest of the cilantro.

I think basil might be good instead of the cilantro and if you want it spicier, add some minced jalapeno when you saute the bell pepper, ginger and garlic.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

When we have brown bananas (I'm weird and I like eating them on the green side), this is sometimes what I make. The recipe is originally from Bon Appetit and is great - the muffins always come out perfectly, I usually have all the ingredients on hand, and today is probably the first time I've even modified the recipe. I've heard my friend Nicole has had good luck with some changes and I was trying to make them a little healthier for my daughter to eat (see notes on original recipe at the end).


My daughter had fun baking again today and tried to mash the bananas. I drew the line at her cracking the egg.

My favorite part was when the muffins came out of the oven and she ran to get a ziplock bag and wanted to put muffins in bags to give to Ray, our friend who was working on our house and Brayden, her best friend down the street.



Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (12 muffins)

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. mashed ripe banana (about 2 large)
1 egg
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. mini chocolate-chips (semi-sweet)
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare muffin tin (I used paper liners). Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix bananas, egg, milk, and butter in a medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients until just blended (don't overmix). Stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake until tops are pale golden and toothpick comes out with no crumbs - about 32 minutes.

*If you want to make the original recipe, use all white flour, 3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips and no walnuts.

Feels like summer

We had some 90 - 100 degree weather last week and some citrus fruit falling off the trees so I decided to get out the ice cream maker and make sorbet. I made two citrus/herb blend batches and they were great. Well, the grapefruit was WAY too sweet (forgot to change the proportions of sugar from when I made the lemon) so there are some adjustments that I made before posting the recipe below.

In this previous post, I already raved about my ice cream maker but I seriously love it and I know it's going to get a lot of use this summer. But, if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can do this to make sorbet: When it gets to the part about putting it in your ice cream maker, put it in a big shallow pan (9x13 will do) in the freezer. Freeze until the mixture becomes slushy, about 2 hours. Using fork, stir to blend it and put it back in the freezer. From this point, stir it every hour for about 4 or 5 hours. Then, you can eat it or leave it until you're ready to eat it. The stirring makes crystals form and keeps it from being a big ice cube. This is technically called a granita and if you drink, the texture is actually better if you add a shot or two of vodka to the recipe (alcohol keeps things from freezing solid).

Sorbets (or granitas) make a good palate cleanser between courses if you want to make a fancy meal.

Lemon-Rosemary Sorbet (4-6 servings)

2 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
1 sprig of rosemary
1 T. lemon zest (optional)

Combine the sugar, water, and rosemary sprig in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the sugar dissolves - about 3 minutes. Discard the rosemary. Cool completely (in refrigerator for a few hours or in an ice bath for 30 minutes). When it's cool, add the lemon juice and lemon zest and make it according to your ice cream maker's directions (for mine, it thickened in about 25-30 minutes and then I transferred it to the freezer for a few hours).

Grapefruit-Mint Sorbet(4-6 servings)

2 c. water
3/4 c. - 1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. fresh grapefruit juice
1 large sprig of mint

Combine the sugar, water, and mint sprig in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the sugar dissolves - about 3 minutes. Discard the mint. Cool completely (in refrigerator for a few hours or in an ice bath for 30 minutes). When it's cool, add the grapefruit juice and make it according to your ice cream maker's directions (for mine, it thickened in about 25-30 minutes and then I transferred it to the freezer for a few hours).

Swiss Muesli

I've had this recipe cut out from some random magazine (Health? Self?) in a notebook for probably 4 or 5 years. I look at it from time to time and have never made it until yesterday. One of my favorite things at Corner Bakery is their cold oatmeal and this isn't exactly the same but it's pretty good. I'm trying to minimize added sugar and white flour in my diet and on the mornings that I leave around 6:30am to teach, I have a hard time making breakfast. It's usually a hard-boiled egg and a banana and it's becoming harder and harder to resist that Currant Oatmeal Scone at Peet's when I stop for my coffee.

This might be the answer to my problem - some protein to keep me full, no added sugar, and something I can grab out of the refrigerator and take with me to eat in my office before class. After getting some bran and flax seeds out of the bulk bins at Whole Foods, I had the rest of the ingredients and the "cooking" part is really a matter of stirring stuff together. I doubled the recipe except for the flax seeds, bran, and wheat germ (kept it at this amount).

I have a feeling this will be the recipe I'm constantly playing with since I've got the granola pretty much how I like it but for now, here's a basic recipe:

Swiss Muesli (2 servings)

1/2 c. water (boiling)
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt (I used non-fat greek yogurt)
1 apple, cored and diced (I left the skin on)
2 T oat bran
2 T wheat germ
2 T ground flax seeds (I left them whole)
1/2 c. dried fruit (I used a combination of cranberries, blueberries, and raisins)
1 tsp. cinnamon

In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over the rolled oats. Let it stand for 25 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, cover and refrigerate. Serve chilled. Will keep in the refrigerate for 4 days.

Variations: If you like sweeter things, you could use vanilla yogurt or add some honey to the top. I bet other fresh fruit or nuts would be good if you added it when you were going to eat the muesli (don't know how it would hold up in the fridge for a few days . . . I'm picturing soggy walnuts and brown bananas - yuck). Mine was a little dry when I took it out of the refrigerator and I poured a little soy milk over the top of it. Just add more water, yogurt, milk, soy, or whatever if it seems too dry.

PS -The recipe is called "Swiss Muesli" because Muesli was developed by a Swiss physician in the early 1900s, not just because I'm Swiss.

Monday Morning Muffins

After not wanting the cereal I poured for her and barely eating the oatmeal that she wanted next, my daughter brought me a mini-muffin pan and announced that she wanted to eat muffins. I tried (obviously unsuccessfully) to tell her that I'd make muffins later or tomorrow and that they took a long time to bake. After about 10 minutes of that "discussion" I gave in and gave her her first hands-on cooking experience that didn't involve plastic food and the little kitchen in her bedroom. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that this is one argument she won.

She was great at the mixing and dumping parts of the recipe and not so good at the waiting. About halfway through the cooking time, she decided to eat a rice cake to tide her over. The good news is that she LOVED the end product and after sharing a few with her friend Brayden, there are only a couple left.

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Joy of Cooking and I left the nuts out today but I like them with walnuts.

Apple Mini-Muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour (can use all white flour if you prefer)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
1 medium apple, peeled and grated with juice
2 1/2 T. warm melted unsalted butter
1/4 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tins (see below for yield).

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.


In a larger bowl, whisk together the egg and sugar. Grate the apple over the wet mixture so all the juice gets in there, stir together, and let set for about 10 minutes. Then, stir the butter and nuts (if using) into the egg/apple mixture. Add the flour mixture and fold until the dry ingredients are moistened but don't overmix. Divide it among muffin cups and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes and then on the rack. These are best the day they're baked.

Mini-muffins: Bake 9-11 minutes. Recipe yielded 20 mini-muffins
Regular size muffins: Bake 14-16 minutes. Recipe yields 6 regular muffins. For a full dozen, double the recipe

Roasted Chicken & White Bean Salad

Here's what I did with the leftover meat from my roasted chicken:

Roast Chicken & White Bean Salad - 4 servings

Ingredients
2 cups coarsely chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken
1 cup chopped tomato
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup sliced fresh basil
1 (16-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained

Dressing ingredients:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
To prepare salad, place first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir gently to combine. To prepare dressing, combine vinegar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over salad, tossing gently to coat.

Roasted chicken with lemons and rosemary

This is the tree on one of our properties - it's killing me to see all these ripe lemons and I don't have any very good ideas for them. Any suggestions other than lemonade? I might try some lemon-rosemary sorbet in my ice cream maker but other than that, I'm at a loss. Has anyone ever tried homemade lemon curd? I watched Ina Garten do it once on TV but my experiences with jam / preserves have been less than stellar.

Last night, I used lemons to make roasted chicken. Cooking a whole chicken is new to me in the last few months but I've been pleased with the results.

Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary

I started with a 5 pound kosher bird from Trader Joe's, took the guts out of the cavity, rinsed it, and patted the skin dry with paper towels. Then, I filled the cavity with lemons and rosemary (quartered lemons, sprigs of rosemary from the yard). I drizzled and smeared olive oil over the outside (about 2T) and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and some more rosemary. Then, I roasted it on a rack in a roasting pan (uncovered and breast side down). The only advice I can give about knowing when it's done is to check with a thermometer in the thigh (should be around 165 degrees) and wiggle the legs to see if they're loose. Cooking time depends on how big your chicken is and what temperature you use for roasting.

This recipe is so easy and the chicken was so moist and tender that I told my husband that I plan to make this once a week. We had about 2 cups of cooked chicken left over and I'll let you know what we do with it! If you live in the area and want some lemons, just let me know!