Avocado Greek Goddess Dressing

This dressing is very easy to make and is tasty on all kinds of salads, especially ones that have some substance in the flavor department.  Try it on an arugula, fennel and grapefruit salad.  It would also be a nice accompaniment to shish kabobs, roast chicken, a burger, grilled shrimp, or a fish taco.

My mom asked me for this recipe, and I realized that I had adapted it from three or so other recipes online.  Guess I better write it down!

Ingredients  

• ½ C plain Greek yogurt

• ½ to 1 avocado

• 1 clove of garlic

• 1 big handful of cilantro—stems and all

• Pinch of salt and pepper

• 2 T lime juice

• 2 T red wine vinegar

• ¼ C water

• ½ C olive oil (I used the light olive oil so as not to overpower the flavors)

Directions

• Put everything except the olive oil into your blender or food processor. 

• Blend up.

• While blending, slowly add the olive oil.

• If too thick, add more yogurt, water or lime juice.

• Adjust the ingredients to your liking.  It should be fairly strong, especially if  you're going to put it with a meat.

A Yokatta! Super Bowl Sushi

Of all the crazy things I could have done for Super Bowl food this year, I ended up with sushi.  The driving factor was that I had a small but pristine piece of salmon from Number 1 Son's Alaska fishing job sitting in the fridge just begging to become gravlax or something else equally raw and enticing.  

Succumbing to the excesses of my kitchen efforts, I also acquired some very nice blue swimming crab meat (in a small tub at the meat counter. . . no lie!) and a couple lovely avocados.  Foraging through the veggie drawer revealed some nice scallions, fresh ginger, and cilantro.   And I have a lifetime supply of seaweed sheets--leftover from many years ago.  A yokatta! (oh good!  in Japanese).  Fortunately, seaweed sheets store well.  

I have never made sushi before (that I recall--despite the amazing amount of seaweed sheets I had accumulated), so I did some research.  Here are some good websites:

http://makemysushi.com/How-to-make-sushi/maki-roll.html

http://www.foogod.com/~alex/sushi/rice.html

Low-down on Sushi Rice:  Authentic Japanese sushi rice is the koshihikari variety, which is not shipped out of Japan.  When we get sushi in US restaurants, it is made with Calrose rice, a variety developed to meet the westerner's insatiable desire for sushi.  You should not use other rice varieties like basmati or jasmine or sticky rice. They will not work  The whole point behind sushi is the rice. 

Make your rice and add the vinegar and sugar to it.  Let it cool naturally, not in the fridge or it will turn out very gelatinous.  And, from what I can divine, sushi purists treat the rice like a god:  carefully tossing it with the sugar/vinegar and not using metal utensils.

One thing you will want is a real bamboo mat.  One of the websites above shows how to do this with a damp dish towel.  That sounds good, also.  But if you can get your mitts on a mat, so much the better.

Method:

--follow the recipes for cooking the rice (1 1/2  C rice to 2 C water).  After, add 1/4 C rice vinegar, 1 T sugar, 1 t salt (good to heat this vinegar solution up to ensure dilution).   Let cool, and only toss with wooden spoon.

--wrap your mat in plastic wrap.
--put the seaweed with the rough side up. This ensures that the rice sticks.
--use your hands, dunked in water, to grab and place the rice on the nori (seaweed)

--for a regular maki roll, leave 1/2 inch at top of sheet of seaweed uncovered. This is the part that is going to stick to your roll.

-- for an inside out roll (rice on the outside. . . think California roll), you will cover the entire seaweed square with rice, then turn upside down on the mat before putting in your fillings.

For both:
--put your ingredients into the middle.
--use the mat to roll up the stuff.
--roll into plastic and put in fridge until ready to serve.  Then cut:  first into halves, then into smaller pieces.  A standard seaweed sheet will make 8 slices.

Advice:
--spicy add-ins are great:  siracha mayonnaise, drops of wasabi, sliced jalapeno, cilantro, a couple dribs of teriyaki, etc.
--your inside ingredients should be pretty:  square slices of salmon or avocado, brightly colored sliced carrots or peppers, etc.  

Serving Essentials:
--wasabi
--soy/Tamari (my preferred) sauce
--pickled ginger (buy or make your own, see below)


Make your own pickled ginger:  since much manufactured ginger contains aspertame, you might as well make your own.  Peel a knob of ginger, slice thinly (by knife or mandoline). Immerse into a jar and cover with rice vinegar, a bit of salt, and a measure of sugar/honey, etc.  You'll want about twice the ration of vinegar to sugar.  Let set for days or a couple hours.  Serve on the side of the sushi as a palate cleanser.

Well, there you have it. Go forth, and may the sushi be with you. . . but not for a prolonged time. . .

Easy Scalloped Potatoes au Gratin

We had these potatoes recently when my family visited, and I realized that I'd never written the recipe down.  This is so simple.  The dish is rich and tasty, and it is a great dish to master for college students.  Bonus is that if you have leftovers, you can add them to a frittata  or just nosh on them the next day--if you end up with leftovers, that is.  :)  BTW, I prefer an equal mixture of half and half and milk for mine.  

I know, this is a bad picture, but you get the general idea.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced to ¼ inch.  (Peel if unappealing. . . pun intended).  Do NOT rinse the sliced potatoes.  (Depending on the size of the potatoes, this could be about 5 medium sized potatoes.)
• 4 T butter
• 2-3 C milk or cream or half and half.  Do NOT use 2% or low fat.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Grated nutmeg (a sprinkling)
• Crushed fresh or dried thyme (a sprinkling)
• ½ to ¾ C cheese of your choice (suggestions: gruyere, Romano, parmesan, gouda, white cheddar)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325
• Butter a 1 quart dish with 2 T of the butter (reserve rest)
• Layer sliced potatoes into the dish in an artistic manner of your choosing.  You can do 2 layers if you want, but feel free to toss extras if you end up with your masterpiece.
• Pour milk/cream over mixture to come just to the top, but not to cover the potatoes.
• Dot with remaining butter
• Salt and pepper lightly
• Grate nutmeg and sprinkle with thyme
• Put into oven for 35 minutes, checking to see how the browning is going
• When it is just starting to color (30-40 minutes into the cooking), sprinkle with the cheese
• Continue to cook until it looks tasty. Poke with fork to ensure it is cooked through.  If you have to cook longer, that is just fine.
• Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before serving