coconino's food posterous

I have a bunch of Food & Wine cookbooks that were sent to me from AMEX because I have never taken the time to write back to them to refuse the order. I would like to call them complimentary but it wasn't really free since I was charged with shipping fees. Although I have a bunch of these cookbooks I have never really cooked with them. So I recently picked up one of the series called "Quick from Scratch" - herbs and spices cookbook and decided to try their recipes because the ingredients are not hard to find. A nd this is the very first dish I tried and I continued to try 3 more recipes and they have been nothing but delightful. 

The theme of this dish is dill. This dish is perfect for summer when grilling is popular and salad is the way to cool off. Many of my friends (non-foodie) do not know what orzo is, it is actually a short pasta that looks like rice. It is easy to cook and delicious to pair with any sauces, I especially like to boil it for 20 mins, then add parmesan cheese and chopped basil and parsley. It is hmm-hmm-good. If you don't have orzo, you can always substitute it with other pasta of your choice. Also, if you do not have a grill you can always pan sear the salmon. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and cut into .5 inch dice
• 4 plum tomatoes, cut into .5 inch dice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• .5 lbs orzo (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1.5 lbs salmon fillet, about 1 inch thick, cut into 4 pieces (based on your serving size)
• grated zest of half a lemon

Steps

1. Toss cucumer, tomatoes and .5 teaspoon of salt in a strainer set over a medium bowl. Let drain for 15 mins.

2. In a large boiling pot, salted water, cook orzo until just done (about 12 mins). Drain orzo, rinse with cold water and drain. Toss orzo with 1/3 cup of olive oil, lemon juice, 1/3 cup of dill, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, some ground black pepper, and the cucumbers and tomatoes.

3. Grill salmon with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. About 4 mins each side. Turn and sprinkle with the 1 tablespoon dill and the lemon zest. Cook fish until golden brown or just barely done. (the fish should still be translucent in the center). Serve the fish with the salad. 

Texas' summer is long and when people think of summer, they think of BBQ.
For a change, I always like to make summer dishes that are refreshing and healthy so I tried this recipe for the first time yesterday and it was indeed refreshing!

(Serves 6)

Besides tomatoes, nothing in this recipe will make it to the Health magazine but it can definitely go into Saveur, which is what I often love to read online. I personally don't bake and do not have the interest or the skills to make good homemade crust but Matt does, he is God sent. 

Soup diet is no longer new to me.That's how I shed 15 lbs since I started wearing braces a year ago. My braces get tightened every 8 weeks therefore I can never bear to eat anything that requires too much chewing, plus I am too lazy to clean my teeth post meal. I am tired of congee tired from last week so I looked up the Food and Wine cookbook and found this easy soup recipe. I think many of you will like it too. 

Serves 4

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

3/4 cup of rice

1/4 tbsp of red pepper flakes

1 big canned of tomatoes (puree or crushed) - about 28 oz

5 cups of water

1 cup canned unsweetened coconit milk

1.5 lbs of medium shrimps, shelled and de-veined  (can substite for chicken or pork, in small pieces)

1 tbsp of lemon juice

.5 cup of chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

1. In a large pot, heat oil in moderate low heat. Add onion, bell peppers, garlic and cook until they are softened - about 10 mins. 

2. Wash and rinse the rice. Add the rice, red-pepper flakes, salt and tomatoes, and water to the pot. Bring to boil and cook the rice until tender. - about 10 mins. 

3. Stir the coconut milk into the soup. Bring back to simmer and then add the shrimps. Simmer and stirring occasionally, until the shrimps are cooked (about 5 mins). Stir in the black pepper, lemon juice, and parsley. 

I love the Alessi bowl.

Since I am living with a Frenchman, we always like to make our dressing from scratch. They are refreshing, easy and best of all, they are healthy with no stabilizer or preventatives in it. In my opinion, the most important thing about a great salad dressing is splurr yourself on the good quality olive oil, vinaigrette, mustard or whatever that you are using. They go a long way and you will thank yourself after a healthy salad. 

Here are a few salad dressings we often make for dinner. These dressings are great for summer, our favorite vegetable for these dressings are butter lettuce. Like its name, it is truly buttery and smooth. Bon appetit!

Red wine vinaigrette dressing

• equal portion of red wine vinaigrette + equal portion of olive oil

Balsamic dressing

• 1 part balsamic + 3 part olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

Ginger dressing

• Juice of 1 lemon + 1 teaspoon of ginger powder (look them up in your spice aisle) + 1 teaspoon of sugar + 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
• 1 shallot (sliced really thin)
• mix together and let it sit for 10 minutes or longer to soak the shallot with taste

I often make adjustment after I mixed all these ingredients together and I would usually save the seasoning (salt + pepper) until after I mixed the dressing with the vegetable and ready to plate. It's probably the best idea to let your guest to season their salad themselves.