Blah... it's still winter!

The snow is gone, it melted last Thursday/Friday. We ended up with 4-6 inches; it was nice while it lasted. At least I got 2 snow days out of it. Now it's back to the dirty, dreary, coldness of winter. The dogs have been enjoying dragging parts of the yard in with them every time they come inside. I think I will need to borrow David's mom's steam cleaner this spring.

Even the house looks blah, not only from doggy mud prints, but because the Christmas decorations came down today. I did leave all my snow man stuff up however. Maybe they will bring us luck with more snow.

I did enjoy a 3 day weekend though. Two days in a row of girl time! On Sunday I met my good friend Amy for Cheesecake Factory and manicures. Just what we both needed. I tried a deep purple color on my nails this time, and I actually kind of like it. Usually I'm not a pink and purple kind of girl. Then yesterday David's sister Aimee and I went for Indian food in Oxford, near Miami University and then shopping. By the way, if you are looking for good deals on really thick lotion, Bath and Body Works is having a great sale. Buy 2 get 1 free, or buy 3 get 2 free. So of course we ended up with 5 bottles of lotion and spent just over $30!

So now it's back to work and cleaning house. If anyone wants to come fold laundry, be my guest!!

Pan Roasted Mahi-Mahi with Mango Couscous and Papaya Chutney

Sounds complicated and involved - Pan Roasted Mahi-Mahi with Mango Couscous and Papaya Chutney - but it doesn't have to be.  In true Semi-Homemade fashion, you can whip up exotic sounding dishes on a week night in no time flat.  Pan roasting a nice cut of fish requires exactly four things: a piece of fish, olive oil, a pan and a stove.  Mango couscous takes three:  a box of couscous with a pre-made mango flavoring mix, water and a pot.  Same for the chutney: a jar of chutney, water and a bowl.  Get the idea.  Sure, we can go to our Indian cookbooks on a weekend and make a home-made chutney, but even if we have the time, the right fresh fruits may not be in season.  The key, then, is just pairing the right store bought pre-mixed products for that occasional semi-homemade meal.  Use your creativity and personal preferences to put together your flavor combinations.  There are plenty of products available even at the most basic supermarkets.  Have fun, and enjoy.  Serves 2.
   
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
salt/pepper
2 mahi-mahi filets (or fish to taste such as salmon or red snapper)
1 box couscous with flavor mix included
1 jar chutney, such as papaya
1 tbsp water
   
Directions:
In a medium pot, prepare the couscous according to the directions on the box. While the couscous is steeping, heat olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat until smoking.  Season the fish filets on both sides with salt and pepper.  Saute until gold on both sides and the fish is cooked through, approximately 3 to 5 minutes on each side.  While the fish is cooking on its second side, spoon out a few tbsp of chutney into a bowl.  Add a tbsp of water, more or less as needed, to loosen the chutney into more of a sauce consistency.  When the fish is finished, transfer to plates and spoon some of the chutney sauce over each piece of fish.  Fluff the couscous in its pot and then serve a portion on each plate.
   

Korean!

January 19

It’s official: Korean will be the next big ethnic cuisine in America, at least according to the 33 readers of this blog who were good enough to respond to my poll on the topic, eight of whom picked Korean.
Seven picked Indian and, well, you can see the results yourself below.
I asked about Roman cuisine because we've seen a little trendlet of Roman happening here in New York, as Florence Fabricant reported in The New York Times last week. I asked about Scandinavian because that was advocated by my friend Jody Eddy of Art Culinaire. She’s been on a big Iceland kick lately. Technically, last time I checked, Iceland wasn’t part of Scandinavia, but it’s close enough. I mean, they’re practically Vikings up there.
I think it’s interesting that regional Italian got no (0) votes. I’d be curious to know what the three people who said the next cuisine would be one I didn’t list think the next cuisine will be. If you’re one of those people, or even if you’re not, feel free, by all means, to comment below.

My next poll is in honor of the fact that we’re in the planning stages of our next MUFSO conference and, as always, we’re looking for feedback.

What will be the next big “ethnic” food to emerge in the United States?

Indian: 7 (21%)

Korean: 8 (24%)

West African: 3 (9%)

Roman: 1 (3%)

not Roman, but some other regional Italian: 0 (0%)

Scandinavian: 3 (9%)

Regional Mexican: 1 (3%)

Malaysian/Indonesian: 1 (3%)

Vietnamese: 1 (3%)

Regional American : 1 (3%)

An ethnic cuisine you didn’t have the good sense to list: 3 (9%)

Ethnic fads are done; it’s all about local, seasonal ingredients now: 4 (12%)

Not Quite Bangers and Mash...

Bangers and mash is a very popular dish in the UK. It is basically sausages served in or on top of mashed potatoes. This dish is sausages served on crushed - as opposed to mashed - potatoes but probably looks a great deal different to most people familiar with bangers and mash.

The principal reason why this dish is so different from bangers and mash is that the sausages used in it are Lorne sausages, a type of sausage peculiar to Scotland and certain parts of the North of England. These are sausages where, rather than being stuffed in to skins, the sausage meat is compressed in to large blocks which are subsequently sliced to form the sausages. Although Lorne sausages were not around in the time of Rabbie Burns, they are a hugely popular item in Scottish cuisine today.

The following recipe is in the quantities required per person.

Ingredients

2 Lorne sausages
6 to 8 small new potatoes
Handful of frozen peas
1 clove of garlic
A knob of butter
Half a tomato for garnish (if desired)

Method

The new potatoes should be left whole and unpeeled, placed in to a pot of boiling, salted water and simmered for twenty-five to thirty minutes until soft. The Lorne sausages should be grilled and will take around three minutes each side under a medium to hot grill in order to cook. This should be timed so far as possible to coincide with the potatoes being ready.

The peas will only take about three minutes in boiling water to cook and should therefore be put on immediately prior to draining and starting to finalise the preparation of the crushed potatoes. When drained, the potatoes should be placed in a bowl and crushed with a fork. The butter and crushed or grated garlic clove should then be added and the mixture stirred. The potatoes should then be arranged on a plate, the Lorne sausages sliced in half diagonally and arranged on top as shown in the photograph and the peas drained and arranged round the edges of the plate. The tomato may then be placed on top as a final garnish.

Healthy Scottish Recipes: Food Tip of the Day - Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

It is not often that the phrase, "Healthy Scottish recipes," is included on any food blog, website or in any cookbook. It is fairly safe to say that most Scottish recipes are considered outside Scotland to be anything but healthy. While there are of course a great many faults in the eating habits of the Scots, to generalise by saying that there are no such thing as healthy Scottish recipes is not only grossly unfair but wholly inaccurate. Historically, Scottish recipes have been devised around the freshest of seafood, the finest quality beef and lamb and hardy root vegetables fresh from the rugged ground. The Scots even had a most unique way of making a bread equivalent, prior to the introduction to the country of bread ovens, called soda scones. This means that there are a great many healthy Scottish recipes to be found, which are not only healthy but incredibly tasty.

The site linked to immediately below examines some of these recipes in our continued run-up to Burns' Night 2010 and will hopefully go at least some way to convinving the sceptics of the worth of my claim.

Healthy Scottish Recipes