Achiote Mahi Mahi with Gulf Coast Rice

This was the recipe that introduced me to Achiote paste. The recipe is in Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday (Recipes Featured on Season 4 of the PBS-TV series "Mexico One Plate at a Time"). The Gulf Coast Rice is another recipe in the same book. It is a rice pilaf that I make with black beans and fried plantains. If mahi mahi is on sale, chances are this is what we're having for dinner.

Fried Chicken

This is chicken fried like my mother and her mother fried chicken. I like to use thighs, as did James Beard. Here is the recipe my daughter wrote for a school project:

Fried Chicken

Ingredients
6 skin on chicken thighs
1 cup all purpose flour
Peanut oil (for frying)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper


Directions

In a one-gallon Ziploc, mix the flour, pepper, and salt. Add the chicken, seal the bag, and coat the chicken in the mixture by tossing it around in the bag. Meanwhile, in a large cast iron skillet, heat the oil to 350 degrees. When the oil is hot, add the flour-coated chicken to the skillet skin side down. Fry, checking often, until skin is golden brown. Turn chicken over and cook for 20 minutes total. Remove chicken from skillet and drain extra oil on a plate lined with paper towels.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is a favorite family recipe that is my grandmother’s recipe handed down to my dad, who uses the same skillet my grandmother used to use.

Clam Chowder

See the entry for January 26, 2008.

Posole Verde

This is my version of a Cooks Illustrated posole recipe in The New Best Recipe. I use chicken thighs instead of pork.

Snails

Tess has been wanting to try escargot for the longest time. So I went to Corti Brothers and bought shells and canned snails. I stuffed the shells with the snails and added a parsley and shallot butter before I baked them. Tess liked them. The best part is she took leftovers for her lunch the next day...I also made an asparagus rissotto for dinner just in case.

Grilled Beef Paninis with Arugula and Horseradish Sauce

I sliced up the leftover beef from the previous night's dinner and made paninis with arugula and a homemade horseradish sauce.

Truck Stop Deluxe

Truck Stop Deluxe is a steak and potato dish from Mustards Grill in Napa. New York Steaks are salted for 24 hours then marinated in a chipotle marinade for another 4 hours before grilling. The steaks are then served with a red wine butter sauce. I made buttermilk mashed potatoes to go with them.

Goat Cheese Calzone

If it's Valentine's Day, it must be Calzone. This is Chez Panisse's calzone recipe that I have been making for almost 30 years. The filling is a mix of goat cheese, whole milk mozzarella, parsley, thyme, chives and prosciutto. I bake it on a stone and sprinkle the cooked calzone's with some parmesan cheese. We also had a shaved fennel with arugula salad.

Halibut Sweet Potato Chowder

I pulled some of the halibut out of the freezer that Murre Traverso gave me. This is a sunset magazine recipe that is quick, simple but really good.

Bibimbap

Another repeat dinner...

Teriyaki Chicken

This is a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Stovetop Teriyaki Chicken using boned, skin-on chicken thighs http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=2308. The chicken is essentially fried in a skillet with a weighted pot on top. Once the chicken is cooked, the teriyaki sauce is warmed up and poured over the cooked chicken. The skin stays wonderfully crunchy.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The first repeat dinner of 2008.

Sweet Potato Curry with Tofu

This is a simple dish from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers. Steamed sweet potatoes are simmered in a curried coconut milk sauce. Cubed tofu is browned in a skillet with a little roasted peanut oil then added to the sauce with the sweet potatoes. The dish is served over rice with fried shallots...don't omit the fried shallots.

Smoked Turkey Hash

I love smoked turkey hash almost as much as corned beef hash...I use a recipe from Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe. The turkey is combined with sauteed onions and garlic and thyme and cooked in a skillet until browned. We serve it with poached eggs.

Smoked Tri Tip Sandwiches

I pulled out the smoker yesterday and smoked a tri-tip roast and a whole turkey breast. The idea for the tri-tip came from Cindy Pawlcyn's Mustard's Grill Cookbook. I coated the tri-tip with a rub of garlic, sugar, chile powder, salt a pepper and let it marinate overnight. I simply salted and peppered the turkey breast. I smoked both the tri-tip and the turkey for about 2 hours. I thinly sliced the tri-tip and served it on rosemary focaccia with homemade fresh horseradish cream and arugula. The smoked turkey was saved for later in the week.

Cauliflower and Potatoes with Fenugreek

Another recipe out of Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian. We have been making this for years as a staple of our "Indian dinner" --this recipe with dal, white rice and another recipe of chickpeas and tomatoes. We served this with dal and white rice.

Singapore Noodles

This was a tasty dish from Mai Pham's The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking. Her Lemongrass Restaurant in Sacramento is one of my favorites. Singapore Noodles are rice noodles with a curry sauce accompanied by a stir fry of prawns, garlic, ginger, onion, bok choy, bean sprouts and green onions. Very good...

Saag Paneer

When we were in India many moons ago, I loved Saag Paneer, Spinach with fresh made cheese. I thought Tess would enjoy making and eating fresh made cheese. I used the recipe out of Madhur Jaffrey's World-or-the East Vegetarian Cooking. I really liked it...Lisa and Tess, not so much.