by Sam Tackeff | Jul 12, 2012 | Seafood
This week I’ve been reading Cheryl Strayed’s ‘Wild’, her captivating story of solo-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I’ve long been interested in the travel memoir, and particularly drawn the arduous – usually foolish – journey across a thousand miles of trail, or flatland, or through the desert, the bush, or up Mt. Everest.
Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the Wild‘ tempted me to hitchhike into the wilderness of Alaska (until I got further into the book), and for a brief moment (really brief) Rory Stewart had me contemplating trekking across Afghan provinces as he had in ‘The Places in Between‘. Bill Bryson’s ‘A Walk in the Woods‘ had me lusting after the Appalachian Trail, which in my mind still seems like an achievable adventure.
So, in the spirit of this adventure-seeking, let’s talk about one of my favorite non-culinary activities for a moment – getting into a kayak, paddling away from shore, and gliding down a quiet river.
When I’m in a kayak, I can paddle for two hours without thinking about much of anything. My phone nests out of reach in my double ziplock, I don’t have my headphones in, and yet I’m never bored. Occasionally I’ll set my oar down and let the boat drift where it wants.
Then it’s back to the rhythmic paddle, paddle, paddle, until I spot something and drive my oar down into the water to stop the boat: Oo! Dragonflies mating on my bright yellow kayak! (I was tempted to Instagram this one, but I resisted.) Look! Three turtles sun-bathing on a rock. Paddle, paddle, paddle. Swans! Geese! Paddle, paddle, paddle.
On the river you may be alone, but you are never lonely.
There is always a sense of wonder on the water, something to pause for. A heron hunting for fish, waterbugs frantically skating across the surface of the glistening river, or a duck mysteriously perched on a log that you can’t actually see just under the surface. That one got a few extra seconds of pause.
* * *
After kayaking for two hours on Tuesday afternoon, I reluctantly got out of the water, and headed to the store to find us dinner. I thought that something aquatic would be fitting. The plan? Fish Taco Salad (Minus the Taco).
I’ve been eating much more seafood lately, thanks in large part to the shipments of Copper River Salmon that I’ve been blessed with as part of the Fresh Catch Crew. (More about that soon!) Because I was starving and couldn’t wait to defrost a salmon filet, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some swordfish which was on sale this week.
This dinner is beautifully simple to put together, and can be done with any firm fleshed fish, such as salmon or halibut. I had the fishmonger cut a single one pound swordfish steak into two thinner cuts. Yes, I could have done this myself, but it saved me about two minutes and some knife washing to get it done.
To start, I set my cast iron to heat up while I seasoned my fish with this Just Cook Foods Ancho Chile Chicken Rub that came in this month’s Foodzie Tasting Box. The main ingredients are smoked paprika, ancho chile, cumin, and oregano. This was a good mix, but you could easily do something similar in your kitchen with your own spices – just make sure to include some salt.
After seasoning the fish, I set it aside while I started work on the other parts of the meal. You want to let the fish sit for a few minutes to let the spices permeate before you cook.
While my pan was heating up, I started out on the Lime-Parsley Vinaigrette for my salad. My new toy this week was a four cup Cuisinart, and I’ve been making efforts to use it as much as possible. Into the food processor went the juice of a lime, a large handful of parsley, two garlic scapes, two pinches of salt, a grinding of pepper, and about a scant half cup of olive oil. In thirty seconds the dressing was done.
I then started out on the Cheat-Guacamole. When I can’t find ripe avocados, I like to use Trader Joe’s Avocado’s Number Guacamole, and mix it with some fresh pico de gallo. Stir it up, let the flavors meld, and it makes for the perfect side. It tastes good, and you get to chuckle about the math joke that most people won’t get.
Then, I set my fish down in the pan, and set the timer for three minutes.
After three minutes, I flipped the fish, and let it go for three minutes more. I probably could have taken it up after two – my cut was pretty moist, but Devon’s was a little bit dry. Grumble.
Last step was to rip up some romaine, toss my salad, add a few cherry tomatoes for color, and to top it all off, some hatch chile cheddar (yes, cheese and fish, don’t smite me Scott Conant).
Voila!
What have you been doing with fish lately?
by Sam Tackeff | Jul 7, 2012 | Cookware
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Holy Scandinavian Design, Batman!
I was shopping around at Crate & Barrel and noticed that the re-issue of Dansk Købenstyle are in stock!
Købenstyle originally came out in 1956, created by the prolific Danish industrial designer Jens Quistgaard – for Dansk, an American company founded by Ted Nierenberg – and quickly became one of the most iconic cookware designs of the time. Known for it’s bright, cheerful colors, and innovative design (the lid flips over to become a trivet), it’s not surprising how popular this line became.
Since Crate & Barrel doesn’t have them up on their site yet, I’ll report to you that I found the red, white, and very dark blue (I actually thought they were black) in various sizes. The enamelware is lighter than your typical cast iron, which means that it won’t strain your back on the way to the sink, and it won’t strain your wallet as much as a new Le Creuset. Even the big pieces were around $100 – the 6 qt. I spotted was $119.95, the large baker $99.95, and the 4 qt. $99.95.
I want them all.
They don’t however carry my favorite color – bright yellow. You have to shop vintage for that.
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by Sam Tackeff | Jun 18, 2012 | Lunch, Meat, Quick and Easy, Vegetables
Last month I realized that I had spent nearly three months without doing any real exercise… at all. It happened slowly, crept up on me. First, my three mile walks to work stopped, then my 45 minute long lunch walk was traded for a meal at my desk. My weekend outdoor sojourns with my beloved RadioLab (the best!) ceased to happen. The gym? What gym. Weights? No. I had turned into a sedentary blob.
As I stopped moving, I started getting more and more tired, which of course made it so that I had no more energy to move… or read.. or write. It’s a vicious cycle. I thrive on being fit and healthy, so finally, I decided to do something about it. And that something… was CrossFit. You may have heard of it, it’s basically giving your body a beating, in order to get stronger, fitter, and awesome-er. It’s non-repetitive, challenging, and most of all a lot of fun – which is exactly what I need to stay motivated. Watching Annie Thorisdottir bring it at the CrossFit games on ESPN was pretty much the most exciting thing ever – so I’ve been trying to channel her every time I step into the gym to get my ass handed to me.
This is her doing handstand pushups. Ridiculous.
I’m… not quite there yet.
(Photo via a random tumblr on the internets – I couldn’t for the life of me find the original source. Edit: actually by Fitbomb – see below! )
The one thing that becomes clear when you are doing this type of intense exercise is that in order to sustain energy you have to clean up your diet, and clean it up fast. Many CrossFitters have jumped on the Paleo bandwagon, and while I don’t subscribe to diets that cut out major food groups, I do tend to gravitate towards an eating style that champions proteins, vegetables, and slow-burning carbs.
Recently I’ve been getting a whole bunch of culinary inspiration from my blog-crush Michelle of Nom Nom Paleo, who to my absolute delight won a Saveur Best Food Blog award this year!
Now before you get all worried that I’m obsessed with a crazy-person-woo-woo-nutrition blog, you should know that Nom Nom Paleo is first and foremost a food blog with delightful food photography – it ain’t no preachin’ blog. Michelle and her husband Fitbomb, and two adorable kiddos Lil-O and Big-O live in the Bay Area. They have a gorgeous kitchen filled with some fun toys including the Sous Vide Supreme, and some beautifully seasoned cast iron pans. By night she’s a vampire drug-pusher (she works the graveyard shift at a hospital pharmacy), and yet she still manages to make meals for herself and her family daily.
The recipes on her site are just great. Things that I’ve made and savored: her damn fine chicken which, is in fact, damn fine, her rice-less Asian cauliflower fried rice, world’s best braised cabbage (a Molly Stevens recipe, but I love her too!), and her sister’s phenomenal grilled green chicken to name a few.
She also has a well-designed iPad app that I’ve taken in the kitchen and cooked from as well – last night we had her roasted pepper salad with dinner, and her magic mushroom powder seasoning is next up on my kitchen docket.
So, today, I have a recipe for you of sorts that I’ve adapted from her blog. It’s another one of those not-quite-a-real-recipe, core concept meals that I try to use every day to feed myself when I’m not feeling very creative in the kitchen.
Nom Nom Paleo’s Emergency Protein
Adapted from the original recipe here
1 pound organic ground meat or protein (I most often use ground turkey)
2 tablespoons delicious fat (ghee, coconut oil, lard)
½-1 cup of an allium – onions, leeks, or shallots – diced
A few handfuls of vegetables (mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, asparagus, zucchini, etc.)
Several handfuls of leafy greens (baby spinach, kale, chard)
1-2 tablespoons coconut aminos (or Braggs, tamari, soy sauce, or dried spices)
Salt & Pepper
Here’s today’s version:
I first started by sautéing a shallot and a handful of garlic scapes in some organic ghee with a pinch of salt. Garlic scapes are some of my favorite summer vegetables that I usually make into this pesto. They are great in stir-fries because they impart a sort of sweet-garlicky flavor, and excellent crunch. If you can’t find garlic scapes, by all means use some more shallots, or an onion, or some leeks. You could also use scallions, but I find them to be a little too zippy.
I used ghee here, because it’s sweet and buttery and delicious. You could also use coconut oil, or lard, or good olive oil.
After the shallots and scapes softened, I added the longer cooking veg – in this case two chopped portobello mushroom caps – and stirred everything around until they cooked down a bit. The mushrooms are a great addition because they add some heft and volume, and are supremely nutritious.
You can add any sort of vegetable you want to this dish. Sometimes, I’ll add carrots, or chopped tomatoes, or asparagus. I typically try to use what is in season and looks the freshest at the market.
After a few minutes of stirring, I added my ground turkey. I like using ground dark meat because it tastes better and has some more fat. Sometimes though I’ll use lamb, chicken thighs, ground beef, or bison. To season, I added a good pinch of salt, a grind of pepper, and a tablespoon of coconut aminos.
Coco-whats-ohs?? Think of these as magic seasoning liquid. Coconut aminos lend some funkiness and depth of flavor, or umami similar to fish sauce or Worcestershire (which you could use here as a substitute) but are soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan. You can pick up a bottle of the stuff at Whole Foods for about 5 bucks, and it’ll last you a while.
When the turkey was cooked through, I tasted for seasoning and opted to add a pinch of my grandmother’s Turkish spice mix she makes in the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. It’s a combination of a million things, but the main notes are cumin, hot pepper, and oregano. Another favorite addition is taco seasoning – I have my own mix, although in a pinch the Trader Joe’s taco seasoning works well here.
Finally, after giving it a few more minutes to let the flavors meld, I turned off the heat and added several big handfuls of baby spinach. Sometimes when I make this I use kale, or swiss chard, but baby spinach is my favorite.
Let the spinach wilt down, and voila!
The great thing about this dish is that it’s easy to make, keeps for a couple of days, and is really flexible. Leftovers work great for breakfast (topped with an egg), or for lunch in your lunchbox.
I could eat a variation of this every day without getting bored.
