Turkey Black Bean Tamale Pie

We didn't host Thanksgiving this year so I had only a limited amount of leftovers. I decided to use my precious turkey on this recipe by Rick Rodgers, a cookbook author and frequent contributer to Fine Cooking magazine. This is his recipe for Turkey Tamale Pie. I have no former experience with Tamale Pie, so I can't compare it to others. But this was delicious. (Jeanette, if you're visiting, I was thinking of you and Mark the whole time I was making this.) You make a sauce with jalapenos, onions, garlic, tomato sauce and chili powder (I added some some cumin, ground coriander seed, cayenne and chipotle powder to our sauce to spice things up a bit more.) And then you mix in some chopped turkey meat, black beans and corn.

This is all heaped into a baking dish and covered with a cornmeal crust. Then the whole concoction (dare I call it a casserole?) is baked to bubbly goodness. Did I mention you cover the cornmeal with some shredded sharp cheddar cheese? The cornmeal crust is made from stone ground cornmeal and water - no fat is cut into the dough which makes this recipe reasonably healthy. The only oil you use is to saute the aromatics and there's not a huge amount of cheese. I halved the entire recipe. It fitted nicely in a medium size oval baking dish. This one is about 2 inches deep.

Pork Chops with Ginger-Cherry Sauce

If we were playing the word association game and you said "pork," I would say "fruit." Because for me, fruit is just the best possible accompaniment to somewhat bland pork. I really have a hard time getting excited about pork chops for dinner unless there is fruit involved (with the exception of squash and pork - that's good too for the same sweet reasons) Apples, of course, are a natural pairing, along with its buddies applesauce or apple cider. Pineapple or peach salsa can top off of pork taco pretty well too, especially when there's some red chile sauce involved as a contrast to the sweet.

So when I stopped by to visit a favorite blog, Pork Cracklins, and I saw a Cooking Light recipe for Pork Chops with Ginger-Cherry sauce, I knew I would have give it a try because the thought of it just made my mouth water. This is a really delicious simple recipe and I made only a few changes. I used fresh ginger instead of jarred(?) And I added some real tart red cherries from my frozen stash to the sauce, in addition to the preserves. These red cherries looked like jewels on the plate and really made the dish special.


We tried to convince the kids that this sauce was sweet and made the pork taste better, but alas, they had theirs sans sauce. With the red sauce and the green veg, wouldn't this make a festive dish for a holiday dinner party? Our green veg of the night was green beans sauteed with garlic and shitake mushrooms. I'm puttting shitake in everything lately, I'm just hooked on them.

Portuguese Kale Soup

I was in the mood for healthy and hearty when I stopped in to see what Lisa at Champaign Taste has been up to. She had just made a kale soup that looked delicious, so I decided to give it a try. I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to kale. I've eaten it a few times before but never prepared it at home. But because I'm always trying to improve our diet nutritionally, my husband has this silly running joke where, when he sees spinach or chard on his plate, he always calls it kale. "What is this you're making me eat? Kale?" (because I'm such a mean wife, you see) Well, this time the joke was on him because I really did serve him kale. Ha! All that aside, the kale holds up well in soup, better than spinach, especially after a day or two. With the greens, some potatoes and sausage, this is a substantial meal in a delicious broth. I used Amy's smoked andouille chicken sausage for this. It is a little more figure-friendly than pork sausage and it packs a punch in flavor. I also went with a reader's comment and used chickpeas instead of kidney beans. You can visit Champaign Taste (link above) for the recipe. Thanks Lisa!

Teriyaki Salmon

Just looking at my recent posts, it seems like all we cook is fish. That is really not the case. It is just that the most interesting dishes I make usually involve fish. In between these dinners are days when we have roasted chicken breasts or pork chops or pasta in one form or another. Sometimes I can come up with a neat recipe for chicken, but I'm not going to post about plain old chicken. And since I'm feeding children, usually that's how we have it - plain. My kids recoil at the sight of pepper on their chicken. Really we do eat a lot of fish and much less red meat than we used too.

So here goes another salmon dish. The saving grace here is that this glaze can be used on chicken breasts or pork chops. I really like it on roasted chicken wings. It is also fine on shrimp. But my favorite, of course, is with salmon. I love sticky salmon. In a recent post, I discussed a salmon glaze that wasn't so hot. I said I've had better sticky glazes and this is one of them. It is the Ginger Teriyaki Marinade from Nina Simonds' Spices of Life. I love Nina Simonds' books because she is all about asian flavors with a healthful leaning. My favorite of her books is A Spoonful of Ginger. She also has an interesting blog that I need to add to my blog roll. I like that she makes healthy meals but she doesn't sacrifice taste to that end. For example, the following recipe has 7 Tablespoons of sugar in the glaze. That's a lot. But the glaze is for nearly 2 lbs of meat or seafood. I probably only used a tablespoon full of glaze on each portion of salmon, so it probably isn't that horrible for us to have. Dr. Atkins might not approve but I'm not too concerned with what Dr. Atkins thinks.

Her books are loaded with good recipes that are practical for real life, not too fussy or difficult. You do need to have a pantry stocked with asian ingredients though.

Ginger Teriyaki Marinade

1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c water
1/3 c sake
7 T sugar
1 1/2 T minced fresh ginger
1 t dried chile flakes
1 1/2 T corn starch

Mix together all the ingredients in a heavy med. saucepan and heat until thickened, stirring constantly oved med. heat with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Note: you can halve this recipe but you need a really small saucepan. You can save any extra marinade for another day just don't taint it by allowing any utensils that touched the fish or chicken come in contact with the marinade.

Also, don't walk away from this while it is heating. It comes to a boil and thickens very fast.

For the salmon, I don't use it as a marinade but as a glaze. I sear the salmon, flip it, brush it with the glaze and stick it in a hot oven 400' until the salmon is done to my liking. It is good to give it an additional brushing of glaze when it is about halfway cooked.

Sake et al.

When I first read this recipe, Salmon in Crisp Rice Paper with Sweet & Spicy Sake Essence (FC 57), I was intrigued by the idea of wrapping rice paper around fish and pan-frying it crisp. Up till now, my only experience with rice paper has been wrapped around fresh cold ingredients for spring rolls. I had to see what the rice paper did for the fish because, you know, anything that promises added crunch is a must-try. I didn't consider the sake essence until I was elbows deep into the recipe. And that's funny to me now because really, it is the sake essence and not the rice paper that makes this recipe quite good.

The essence is comprised of sake, mirin, rice vinegar and some aromatics like ginger, garlic and green chile. You boil it down to its "essence" and then add some soy sauce and tiny diced veggies for a beautiful sauce. I don't know the first thing about Sake, a Japanese rice wine. I used Trader Joe's brand - hoping, at least, they picked a decent one to put their name on. Mirin is a sweet Japanese wine. Here I was stuck with the only brand available from Jewel, Kikkoman's. I'm sure connoisseurs would frown upon these choices; but everything worked out just fine, so relax. I included the spring roll package in the picture, just for reference.

So you prepare this sauce and then move on to the fish. The rice paper is not difficult to work with. You moisten it very briefly (2 sec.) in water, give it a moment to soften out of the water and then wrap your seasoned salmon fillet up in it like a burrito. These little packets are then pan-fried in a med. hot non-stick skillet to which you've added a little canola oil. By the time both sides are browned, the salmon is cooked through. You can then plate the salmon in a pool of sauce. For the best presentation, a white plate would be best. My Fiestaware did not compliment this dish in the least bit.

The rice paper-wrapped salmon does get a little crispy, especially on the edges. But I really prefer the fish itself to be browned, not the coating. So that part ended up not being all that exciting. But the sauce... the sauce is amazing. It gets sweet from the reduced mirin, and there's some heat from the chile. The little diced veg. makes it gorgeous. I didn't use a yellow pepper in mine but that would've made it even more attractive. There is no detectable booziness to the sauce, although it is comprised mostly of strong wine. I will be making this sauce again, but just serving it with pan-fried or grilled salmon. It is great for guests because it can be make in advance and held warm.

Salmon in Crisp Rice Paper with Sweet & Spicy Sake Essence

Serves four.

For the sake essence:
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. sake
1 cup mirin
1 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. seeded and minced fresh serrano chile
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 Tbs. finely diced red bell pepper
2 Tbs. finely diced yellow bell pepper
2 Tbs. finely diced zucchini (skin side only)
2 Tbs. finely diced carrot
1 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro; more sprigs for garnish

For the salmon:

4 skinless salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
4 rounds rice paper (8 to 10 inches in diameter)
how to make
To make the sake essence:
In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, combine the sake, mirin, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, and serrano. Bring to a boil over high heat, and reduce to about 1/2 cup, 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the peppers, zucchini, and carrot until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and vegetables to the sake essence; set aside and keep warm.

To prepare the salmon:

Sprinkle both sides of each salmon fillet with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little of the vegetable oil, using 1 Tbs. total for the four fillets. Completely immerse one round of rice paper in a bowl of warm water for a few seconds. Transfer to a work surface and let stand until pliable, about 30 seconds. Set a salmon fillet in the center of the softened rice paper. Fold the paper over one long side of the fillet, and then fold the paper in over the two short sides. Roll the fillet over until it’s completely enclosed by the rice paper. Set it aside with the seam side down. Repeat with the remaining fillets.

Heat the remaining 3 Tbs. oil in a heavy 12-inch skillet over medium to medium-high heat until it’s hot and shimmering but not smoking. Put the wrapped fillets in the skillet without touching and sauté, turning to brown top and bottom, until the rice paper is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side; don’t overcook. (If the fillets are very thick, you can also brown the sides for 1 minute each, but most fillets will be cooked through—just barely opaque—if just the top and bottom are seared.) Transfer to paper towels and let drain.
Stir the chopped cilantro into the sake essence and spoon some onto each of four warm dinner plates. Put a salmon fillet in the center of each plate, top with a cilantro sprig, and serve at once.

Make Ahead Tips

The sake essence can be made several hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature. Wait to sauté and add the vegetables until just before serving. The fillets can be wrapped in rice paper up to two hours ahead. Put them on a plate in a single layer without touching. Drape with a damp paper towel, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until ready to cook.

drink suggestions
This recipe calls for sake, which would make for delicious sipping with the finished dish, as well. Try Ginyushizuku Samurai Shion or Nigori Takara.

From Fine Cooking 57, pp. 42