Salad

In my family, there is really only one Salad.  Yes, with a capital “S”.   Certainly we eat other salads, but none of them would resemble anything an American would recognize.  None of our salads have lettuce.

Ingredients:
1 small onion
2-3 medium tomatoes
Salt, to taste

Steps:
Cut the onion into thin half-moons. If you want to reduce the bite of the onion, soak it in cold, salty water for a little while (in my case, as long as it takes me to cut the tomatoes).


Cut the tomatoes in half and cut out the woody stem. Cut the tomato halves into somewhat thin slices. Sprinkle with salt, to taste.

There are many variations on this salad. Some add cucumbers, or dill, or dress it with olive oil, or sour cream or a combination of those.

 

Chili

I started making chili a few years ago. I always wanted to know how, but none of my friends made it, so I followed the recipe on the back of a can of beans. But as always, I modified it to my liking.

Ingredients:
1 LB of buffalo (or turkey or chicken, any lean meat is good here)
2 16-oz cans of beans (I use Bush’s, but if you have your favorite, use those)
1 16-oz can of diced tomatoes (today I used italian-style, but anything would work)
1 medium-large onion (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1-2 TBs of olive oil
1 or 2 red bell peppers (I used a red and yellow here)
A handful of spaghetti (optional, but I put it in mine)
3-4 cups of water (depending on if you’re adding pasta and how thick you like your chili)
The following are to taste: salt, freshly ground black pepper, cumin, corriander, chili powder, sweet paprika.

Steps:
In a large pan (I use a dutch oven) cook the diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil until golden brown. Add the meat and seasoning. This is what it should like:

    

Add beans, tomatoes, peppers, and water. If you will add pasta, then for now, just add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. This is what mine looks like at this stage:

Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat.

If you’re going to add the pasta, add the remaining water and salt liberally (if you don’t, it will taste a little sweet because the pasta absorbs the salt that’s already in the chili). I like to break up my pasta (it’s too long if you don’t break it up). Here is an example:
  
Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes on low heat. 

A most delicious result. Voila!

Baked Salmon

I found this recipe on FoodNetwork.com, but it had a few too many extra things, so I paired it down.  Here is my version.

Ingredients:

1 LB of Salmon
Tamari (or low-sodium soy sauce if you can’t find Tamari)
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Steps:

1. Rinse the fish and pat it dry.
2. Put fish into oven-safe dish.
3. Pour as much Tamri as you like. I like it quite liberally on the fish. It keeps it moist during cooking, as well as makes a nice sauce for spooning over your side dish (like rice).
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.
6. Cook for about 15-18 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.
7. Take it out of the oven. If the fish is still too rare for your liking, keep it covered with the foil. It will keep cooking, but won’t dry out.

That’s it. A main dish in 15 minutes. It’s healthy and easy and quick. What could be better?

Salmon with tamari

Baked Salmon

Finished Salmon and Asparagus

Roasted Chicken

This is how my family likes my roasted chicken.  It’s quite simple, really.  All you need is a chicken (or any part of a chicken that you like, such as chicken legs, or chicken thighs, or wings, or chicken breasts).  Because I cut away much of the fat in the chicken, this turns out to be a lower-fat dish than you’d normally expect. Here is my method:

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (or 1 package of chicken legs)
1 bottle of McCormic Rotisserie Chicken seasoning.

Steps:

1. Clean the chicken.
   That’s right, get your hands dirty, get all that yucky film that’s under the skin off, remove as much fat as possible (don’t worry, you’ll have plenty for the chicken to be moist), and remove any remaining feathers that are still on the chicken.
2. Loosen the skin where you can and pull it away from the body of the chicken.
3. Sprinkle the seasoning very liberally (under the skin). The aim is to cover every area that you can get to. If it looks like too much, it’s not. You want it covered.
4. Put the chicken skin back on (remember you “peeled” the skin back in step 2).
5. Sprinkle the seasoning on top of the skin, very liberally.
6. Salt to taste.
7. LET SIT FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS. It’s better if you let it sit overnight.

If you’ve let the chicken season over night, bring it up to room temperature before placing it into the oven. When you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place chicken into an oven-safe dish, cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 45 minutes (depending on size), or until juices run clear.

During the last 20 minutes of cooking, remove the foil so the chicken can get a warm golden color. Also, at this time, there will be some juices at the bottom of the pan. I use that liquid to baste the chicken every 5-7 minutes during the last 20 minutes of cooking (so about 3-5 times).

That’s it! If you try it, let me know how it turned out. I’m trying to capture every little detail of how I prepare it, so it probably looks more complicated than it really is. I’ll also post a picture next time I make it. Don’t think 1 leftover drumstick is gonna make a great picture.

Looks good enough to eat already, but still raw

Just out of the oven. YUM!