by Sam Tackeff | Dec 29, 2014 | Meal Planning, Seafood
Well hello there! If you’ve come looking for the recipe for this gorgeous Brazilian fish stew, it’s at the bottom there for you. But first – my week! I spent a lot of time thinking about the months past. I’m a sucker for resolutions, vision boards, and planning the future, but I try to make a really earnest effort to look back at the year, take stock, and feel thankful for the opportunities that I’ve experienced, people I’ve met, and things I’ve achieved.
This was also a week of rest and rejuvenation. We continued to listen to Serial, this time as we headed to IKEA for some post holiday shopping, which is code for (we’ve run out of their crack-meatballs). I ended up taking home another Lack coffee table, only to put it together and find that the color (white) totally clashed with our living room. So it ended up repurposed as part of my photography station in the kitchen. Speaking about that – I’ve been working on my photography (both with my DSLR, and iPhone – and sharing regularly on my Instagram account!) – skills that I want to continue to focus on in the new year. I also got myself an extra Lowel Ego light to take pictures in the evening – or in New England, any time after 3:30 pm. And I got another cutting board from Ikea to take photos on. And I spray painted some foam core as a photo board, but I will tell you that that experience was a little bit of a bust. I’ve also been listening to the Tim Ferriss Podcast from the very beginning, and I’m currently on the episode with Chase Jarvis, one of the co-founders of CreativeLive – an excellent resource for creative courses online.
And I must tell you about my incredible luck: last week I got a huge shipment from Chronicle Books – a few weeks ago I entered a giveaway over at SF Girl By Bay (one of my favorite blogs), and I ended up winning! Chronicle is another of one my favorite publishers, so this had me smiling for days. Some of these were in my collection already, so a few lucky people got some cookbooks this holiday season!
The Meal Plan: Week of December 28th
I’m already over the gluttony of holiday eating, and looking to get back on track. Healthy in this house is always delicious, and you won’t find any plain chicken breasts for dinner, but I do like simple meals! Things to use up in my kitchen: almost everything from last week: chopped Buddha’s hand citron, some chicken basil pesto sausage, a little bit of cheese, peppered turkey, dill. I have some cooked borlotti beans, boiled potatoes, celery, some beets, and a little bit of tomato sauce left as well.
Saturday: Whole Foods Salad Bar Night! I try to cook us meals to share, but some nights we’re craving different things, which is a perfect excuse to go and pick out our own meals. Have you tried their zucchini and tomato with garlic? It’s very good. I also came home with a maple kefir from Butterworks Farm.
Sunday: Brazilian Fish Stew inspired by my Cook Smarts subscription. (Recipe Below). I love this coconut seafood dish.
Monday: rack of lamb with pesto and roasted vegetables. My freezer currently has a bit of a storage problem – a rack of lamb came flying out at me when I opened the door this weekend, so it ended up defrosting in the fridge for Monday night dinner. The vegetables are all actually leftovers from my spiralizer sessions. I put them in a small tupperware until I have a few cups to roast.
Tuesday: greens and eggs. I used to eat this meal once a week while Devon was taking his late night classes in Hayward. It’s still my favorite meal to go to when I’m craving all of the green things.
Wednesday: Mexican flavored meatballs? Baked potatoes with caviar? I feel like I should do something significant to usher in the new year, but as of yet, I haven’t figured out what. I’ll keep thinking about it!
Thursday: scallops with Thai scented pea puree A few years ago I bookmarked this recipe in Nigella’s Kitchen cookbook, and have kept coming back to it when I want something light. It’s always a nice treat!
Friday: Out! Or possibly eating more green vegetables.
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Quick Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca)
Some notes – I’ve gone ahead and tweaked this recipe slightly from a traditional version – I like my onion and pepper texturally in a sort of smooth salsa-like paste before I cook them into stews. You could use any type of thicker white fish here, but I use cod. It’s also good with shrimp. You’d typically marinate the seafood in advance in lime juice, but for an easy weeknight meal, you don’t have to, and it still turns out delicious. Traditionally you would use full fat coconut milk and palm oil (which I spotted today in Trader Joe’s! – but I substitute olive oil, because that’s usually what I have in the house.)
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 small bell pepper
1 tablespoon palm oil (or olive oil)
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 good pinch of salt
1 pound wild cod, cut into chunks
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
juice of half a lime
lime and cilantro for garnish
In a mini Cusinart, chop onion, garlic, and pepper into a thick salsa-like consistency, alternately, you can chop these ingredients with a knife. In a heavy pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil, and cook the garlic, onion, and pepper mixture with the paprika, chile powder, and a large pinch of salt, stirring gently, for about five minutes.
Add tomatoes, coconut milk, stock, and another pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, until the onion and garlic are cooked, and have lost their harshness.
Add fish chunks, and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes, turning the fish over after three minutes to ensure that they cook through. When fish turns opaque, take off the stove, stir in the lime juice, and taste for seasoning – you might need to add a little bit of salt. Serve over rice, with crusty bread, or with mashed potatoes. (This isn’t traditional, I’m just on a mashed potato kick.)
What are you eating this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Dec 24, 2014 | Mixed Drinks
I thought I’d pop in tonight to share an easy winter warmer if you are trying to get through your holiday season in one piece – and could a slightly stronger libation in your hand to do so. It’s also a useful little recipe when you have a single cup of wine leftover that you might get bored drinking plain.
Emergency mulled wine for one
Microwave a mug of red wine (your choice of pour size) with the juice of a clementine, and a spoonful of sugar, for about a minute, or until hot. Add a splash of brandy or cognac, or a little more if you need it. Steep with a few tablespoons of mixed spices in a tea steeper – that’s the Manatea! – I have nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and star anise in mine. Get cozy, and have your drink!
by Sam Tackeff | Dec 23, 2014 | Meat
I ended up with a chicken in my Walden Local Meat CSA this month, and because my freezer is already overflowing, I knew that I’d have to defrost the bird and use it relatively soon. When you get a really great free range and pastured chicken, you want to treat it decently, and give it a good show.
Of course I searched around for a recipe for the very best roast chicken, perfect roast chicken, killer roast chicken – if you consult with the internet, people really love Ina Garten’s chicken, and Julia’s, and my dear Jamie Oliver‘s. And everyone loves Zuni chicken – the dry brine technique makes for a wonderfully moist bird, and I love the Zuni Cafe Cookbook (Judy Rodgers will be forever missed).
From experience, some of the very best roast chicken is from Ad Hoc at Home – which is the recipe that I would have used if I had wanted to follow a recipe to the letter. I have a thing for recipe following, which is to say, unless I’m testing a recipe for a client, I rarely stick to one. I can at best say that I was inspired by this cookbook, which is a very inspiring cookbook indeed! And I will say that if you are for any reason nervous about roasting chickens, just don’t be. If it turns out awful, well, you just chop up your chicken and put it in soup for tomorrow. Or if you actually burn your chicken, you have my permission to go out and get dinner.
This chicken ended up being more ad hoc than Ad Hoc at Home.
Because, well, I read the recipe and didn’t have enough time to let it come to room temperature before cooking it. Or have any twine to truss it. Or fresh herbs. I did have a lemon though. Or at least half of one. And it had been sitting in the fridge for a week. I didn’t want to let any of these problems stop me. There would be chicken on the table for dinner, or else!
So I turned the oven up to preheat at 475, and I cut up some potatoes, and tossed them in olive oil, salt, and dried thyme as a base. And then I coated the chicken in the same combination of olive oil, salt, dried thyme, and nestled the bird on top of the potatoes. Then gracefully put a lemon up the rear end. And I buttered up the breasts. So then I popped in the chicken for 25 minutes at the 475, and turned it down to 400 for 45 more minutes. (This is a 5 lb. chicken mind you. You could probably do less if it was smaller.)
Then I turned off the oven with it in there and went to pick up Devon and go to the gym (about an hour in the warm but off oven.) And then I forgot that I was voluntold to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, so I turned it back onto 450, set a very precise 17 minute timer, and told Devon to turn it off when it beeped, as I went to the store. He turned it off… and then took it out instead of leaving it in the oven as I had intended, so the potatoes could finish cooking. So it “rested” for 15 minutes on the counter, which was only a good thing for this chicken. Resting the meat allows it to redistribute meat juice. And then we (finally) feasted – a big bowl of potatoes (which could have admittedly used a little bit more cooking, but were mostly delicious) and perfect chicken, with crispy skin. I’m still kind of amazed how well it turned out.
Do you have a favorite roast chicken recipe? I’d love some more inspiration!
by Sam Tackeff | Dec 21, 2014 | Meal Planning
I’ve started listening to Serial. I’ll freely confess that I should have started listening weeks ago, with the first of my friends’ qualified recommendations. But I was stubborn about it. Everyones doing it! Why should I do it? Of course I didn’t actually have any idea what it was about, and true crime is one of my favorite genres. Eventually I couldn’t escape hearing about it, so it was one of those things that I thought that I might as well start before everything is ruined for me. Now I’m a single episode in, and I’m already captivated. If you haven’t started listening, you probably should.
So what can I tell you about this coming week? The office was quiet on Friday, and will likely be until the end of the year, but I’m looking forward to heading in on Monday – somehow it always feels fun when there’s a small group of people there in it together – it’s like a snow day, but for adults. Except you manage to get a lot of work done? Okay, so I probably would have resented that as a kid. But I really like going to work!
There’s likely to be a movie – on Friday we learned that one of our coworkers has not seen the majority of influential movies from the late 70’s to the early 2000’s. Including Star Wars (any of them), Indiana Jones (really??), or the Princess Bride. (No, just no.) The list of must-see movies ended up about 84 long (we’re keeping a Trello board), so there might have to be some group encouragement to get this thing started. Last night I ticked off one of my own on the to-watch list: Grosse Pointe Blank, with the Cusacks, and Minnie Driver, known in this house as Petite Chauffeur. Super fun!
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Week of December 20th
My Walden share arrived a week early this month, because of the holiday delivery schedule – which means that my freezer was overflowing, and I needed to pull out a bunch of meat to defrost. Things to use up in my kitchen: chopped Buddha’s hand citron, some chicken basil pesto sausage, a little bit of cheese, peppered turkey, dill.
Saturday: Shake Shack! For as often as I cook at home, we aren’t saints when it comes to diet – and Shake Shack is one of my very favorite treats. There’s something about those crinkle fries (back, finally!), potato buns, and that Shack sauce that make the trip special. And right now, because it’s in season, the salted caramel hot chocolate. (Just get it. Get it now.)
Sunday: Italian sausage, zucchini noodles, and marinara. Whole Foods is having a madness sale on Rao’s Marinara right now, $64 for a case of 12. I couldn’t pull the trigger, but I adore this sauce.
Monday: roast chicken and potatoes. I got my first chicken from my CSA this week! The difference between a chicken from the supermarket and a pasture raised chicken is pretty huge – the farm chicken just tastes better.
Tuesday: pesto zoodles. Are you surprised at how many zucchini noodles I’ve eaten in the past few weeks? I have mixed emotions about eating vegetables that aren’t in season, but if it means that our entire household inhaling vegetables with glee, I’ll buy them.
Wednesday: Chinese food? Something Christmas-y? After seven years, we’re still trying to figure out some of our family traditions. Growing up, Chinese and a movie was de rigeur for most Jewish families (still is). Usually we were in Florida for the occasion. With our mixed household, we’re still trying to determine how best to do holidays when we don’t travel to family.
Thursday: Christmas day! One year, I spent Christmas in New Jersey with my dear friend Julia, and we had these formidable waffles at her cousin Holly’s house. (I still have this memory shining bright it my mind.) I love the idea of waffles, but we don’t have a waffle maker anymore. I’ll still try to do brunch! We might also do a late afternoon dinner – I have some lamb shanks defrosting.
Friday: out! Or possibly eating more green vegetables.
What are you eating this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Dec 14, 2014 | Books
This weekend I started – and finished – reading Marie Kondo‘s book “the life-changing magic of tidying up“, which I highly recommend to anyone who feels like they need a little bit more order and organization at home. The book is full of practical advice, and simple, clear instruction. It’s another great success of the current Ten Speed Press lineup – one of my favorite publishing houses.
