CEiMB: Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut-Curry Broth

This recipe had elements I love (coconut) and elements I'm not a big fan of (fish, curry). I'm a little disturbed by my recent trend of "I'm not a big fan of......" in this blog, but on the other hand, I've definitely been pushing my culinary envelope this week.

I like shell fish much more than "real" fish, but if forced to have "real" fish halibut is one that I will pick. Curry isn't something I've had a lot of experience with, and only like if coconut milk is involved to tone down the taste and the heat. That said I had a good feeling about this pick, and was pretty excited to give it a try.

This was pretty easy to put together. I must confess I cheated by using a pre-cooked brown rice from Trader Joe's (at least it was organic!). The spinach I did fresh, and I used curry powder rather than the red curry paste. The curry powder I bought from the bulk area at my local Henry's so it only cost me 21 cents. I figured I wouldn't be out much if I hated it.

All the elements came together nicely and quickly, and I have to say I really liked it. Each individual element was okay, but I really liked all four elements blended together (the fish, rice, spinach and sauce). Together they were yummier than the sum of their parts.

Since I really should eat fish and brown rice more than I do, this is a sure bet to try again. Thanks to Liz over at Not So Skinny Kitchen for this week's recipe. Head over there for the recipe, or go to page 232 in "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger.

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

I can't say I've ever been a fan of the mango. I like mango mixed with other foods, especially passion fruit. Orange Passion fruit Mango is one of my favorite juice drinks, for instance. But every time I've had mango there's been a little something about it I haven't really warmed up to.

While I was cutting up the mango for this bread, I was thinking about a long lost friend of mine I've recently found thanks to Facebook (I'm up to 17 friends, pretty exciting!). AK lives in the Florida Keys and was announcing on her page a massive mango give away, posting "Mangoes! Mango bread, mango muffins, mango mousse, mango smoothies, mango chicken, sliced mango, diced mango, frozen mango, mango wine..." Mangoes in Florida must be like Avocados here in California. Lots of people have trees, when they are ripe you can't get rid of them fast enough, and everyone has lots of ways to use them. Plus people either love them or hate them. (Did I mention I'm not a fan of the mango?)

So there I am comparing mangoes with avocados (even the way you cut them is somewhat similar) when I unthinkingly put a stray piece in my mouth and ate it. And didn't hate it. In fact, I rather liked it. Since I didn't have many to spare I scrounged around for another taste just to be sure I still didn't hate it. Not bad. Perhaps I've been trying "bad" mangoes all this time. But I liked it, I really liked it!

I heeded the early reviews from the P&Q and didn't add all of the ginger, and bought two mangoes just in case they were needed, and they were. The bread came together easy enough, just very late in the day....er evening.....well, night, really. As in "I hope the bread gets out of the oven before midnight" late. Since Dorie says it will be tastier to eat the next day, it will be perfect to bring to work tomorrow. Technically tomorrow is "the next day," though perhaps only 9 hours after it comes out of the oven.

Thanks again to all who contributed to the P&Q this week. The news on needing more than one mango was very helpful and very needed. And thanks to Kelly at Baking with the Boys for this week's selection (recipe can be found on Kelly's blog).

ed on 5/20 to add top photo of it cooled and out of the pan. Also to add that it is tasty, though the strongest flavors are the spices and not the mango or the zest. A little chopped nuts and coconut would be nice additions for a second baking.

CEiMB: Jerk Chicken with Cool Pineapple Salsa

As you can see I've joined the Craving Ellie in My Belly crew. Since all the cool kids are in the group, I wanted to join to (by cool kids I mean Pamela and Leslie and Cathy, to name a few). The food always looks good, and the reviews the same. Plus one can not live on desserts alone (as tempting as that may be). One of my goals is to do more cooking for myself, and to be mindful of what I eat (quality of ingredients, eating whole foods, not to mention quantity), so this seems to be just the thing to be "cool" and accomplish goals. During my stress shopping last week I added "The Food You Crave" to my Amazon cart. The book arrived on Monday and I've had some fun looking through it.

I must confess when I saw "Jerk Chicken" as the first recipe I thought about skipping it and waiting until next week to start. Anything super spicy, or medium spicy, or anything that even has a hint of spicy is too much for me. My dad, who I'm very much like in so many ways, could eat a jalapeno pepper whole and not even break a sweat. I break a sweat just looking at a jalapeno, let alone a scotch bonnet (which is ten million times hotter on the Scoville scale --okay, perhaps I exaggerate -- but not by much). I was going to try a bit of jalapeno, but ended up having everything else I needed at home, and simply did not want to stop at the store to buy one ingredient that I don't like very much.

One of the things I had were gigantic organic chicken breasts from Trader Joe's. They were large enough that I just pounded out one and cut it in half, and then halved the recipe to make two servings. This was tasty enough, and I really did like the salsa that goes with it, but I'm sure something was lost in the translation by leaving out the heat. Tasty, indeed, but okay.

I'm so looking forward to exploring this book. I definitely don't need another cook book, but I love the pictures, and the fresh ingredients, and the helpful hints inside. I think this will be fun. Plus I get to be in some pretty nice company.

Too bad I joined after Jen from Notes From the Table, who picked this week's recipe, headed to my home town. I could trade her a city tour or a ride to the Zoo for a taste of all those yummy treats she made for the trip. Oh well -- next time.

Thanks for allowing me to join CEiMB!

TWD: Tartest Lemon Tart

I must say I approached this week's pick with a little hesitancy. Don't get me wrong, I like lemon and tart as much as the next girl. But the reports in this week's P&Q section indicated that this was a mighty tart tart!

This recipe gives me the opportunity to introduce the newest member of my family! Apparently I'm not only a stress eater, I'm a stress buyer as well. Last week was the busiest week ever for my company (I'm not exaggerating). In the middle of the hustle and bustle, I took my lunch break and meandered on over to Amazon, where they had a 3 cup Cuisinart food processor on sale. Every time we have a Dorie recipe that says "In a food processor....." I say "oh dang it" (well, maybe something a little stronger) and long for the day when I own one. So this little guy is perfect for my little kitchen and little ol' me. Without a moment's hesitation I clicked "add to shopping cart" and 2 clicks later it was on it's way.

My new toy.....er.....tool made it's maiden voyage this weekend when I made the tart crust for both this recipe and the Chocolate Cream Tart from a few weeks back (more on that later -- made it for Mom's day and it was yummy! Mom is still talking about how good it was). Worked like a dream. Since I'm minus a blender I used this for the filling of the Lemon Tart. I made half of the filling recipe as I was only using two mini-tart pans.

The filling was easy enough, and soon enough the tart was on its way to the oven. I have some filling left over -- hopefully it won't mind an evening in an airtight container enjoying a rest in the fridge.

My only complaint is that this recipe takes a long time to make from beginning to end. I'm really happy I had the pastry dough all ready. My crankiness at the bake time is undoubtedly in direct proportion to my level of tiredness. I thought I'd just suck it up and stick it out tonight, and come home and crash tomorrow. That was before I remembered the season finale of LOST is on tomorrow night, and my Tivo is jammed (that cute little logo is bulging out and his little antennas are droopy). But I digress.....

Due to the hour this is once again a recipe where the components taste yummy, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to know how the whole package will taste. The edges are a little dark, and I'm not sure I cooked it too long, or not long enough. I guess I'll find out in the morning. If nothing else I can think of worse choices for breakfast.

Thanks to Barb at Babette Feasts for picking this recipe. The lemon is such a nice change of pace from all the chocolate, and this looks to be tasty!

ed. added photos from the second attempt, which was much tastier, and prettier, than the first attempt. It's amazing what a little sleep can do for a girl.

TWD: "Tiramisu" Cake

This is going to be a pretty quick post, but it's a pretty quick dessert as well. I must confess that the reason the Tiramisu is in quotes is because I'm not a fan of coffee, or any coffee flavored thing. When the Tiramisu craze hit I simply didn't get it. I'm sure if I liked coffee I would, but alas, I don't. The upside of that is I haven't given half of my earnings to Starbucks in the last decade.

I made the cake as instructed, only half the recipe to go into my 6" cake pans. I passed on the syrups. When I took a cake making class a year or so ago just about every cake (scratch that -- every cake) had some kind of liquor based syrup that went on it, so I feel like I've had plenty of experience in that area. I did add a smidge of brandy to the frosting, since it clearly needed some flavor and liquid. I didn't add enough, so a couple of drops of milk had it to the correct consistency prior to adding the whipped cream.


A few left over Nestle' chocolate chips in the middle and a few on top for decoration, and viola! A variation on a cake which is a variation on a dessert I don't like very much. Since it is late, and the cake needs to sit before consumption (I'm assuming the chocolate and the brandy need to make each other's acquaintance and become friends prior to eating) I don't know how it tastes all together. But I can say that the individual components are quite tasty. Since it's a crazy week at work, and I am a stress eater, I'm sure the cake will be gone by this time tomorrow. I'm only kind of kidding.

Many thanks to Megan over at My Baking Adventures for this week's recipe. I enjoyed practicing the cake skills I learned in the aforementioned class and seeing how far I've progressed.

TWD: I was ready......

I was excited about this pick, and even went to my favorite cooking store on Sunday to pick up two mini tart pans so I could try both the original version of Chocolate Cream Tart and the Coconut version (love the coconut and have some left over from the Coconut Butter Thins). Unfortunately a few hours later I learned that a relative had passed away. It was one of those situations where you're grateful for the person to not be suffering any more, but saddened for the loss of those left behind. This part of the family has been through a lot in recent years, so my heart goes out to them.

Needless to say, my plans for the week have changed. Tomorrow I will be taking a short roadtrip up the state for the funeral. As a result I will miss work at our absolute busiest time. Being the good worker bee that I am I stayed late to be sure all was covered in my absense. My hopes of squeezing in a baking project tonight didn't make it past my return home at 9pm.

I'm hoping to make this later in the week, as the reports are that it is quite good, and I have my mini tart pans and all. And frankly this is what life is all about. After any loss you simply must pick yourself up and keep on moving, enjoying the good stuff while you can. Horribly cliche, I know, but go on you must, so you might as well do it with some yummy desserts as comfort along the way.

My apologies to Kim over at Scrumptious Photography for not being able to bake along in a timely fashion. Her pictures are amazing, and further inspiration for trying this dessert. I will catch up with everyone as the week progresses. In the meantime -- bake on!

TWD: Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

First, I'm going to apologize to any of you who live in cold climates. Really, I've been there, I know how painful these words are this time of year. The words are these -- it is too dang hot to bake (cruel! I know!). Today wasn't nearly as hot as yesterday. It would be impossible to bake yesterday (actually, just walking into my house at 8pm last night felt like I was baking). This brief warm spell we're having is making me worry about what I'll do this summer. No air conditioning. Little house. I'll have to participate in TWD at 3am. Oy!

Moving on -- it's been awhile since I've done the TWD thing, so I felt a little out of practice. Good thing there weren't too many ingredients. And in this heat, "chopping" the chocolate was pretty darn easy.

I first thought I'd go the 8x8 Pyrex route, but upon looking over some of the comments in the P&Q I decided I really liked the idea of ramekins (ah yes, my still new ramekins in their shinny new roasting pan). I made half of the recipe, and divided into four. It was at this point I remembered the whole "take pictures as you go" thing. As many of you have no doubt discovered, this is not a pretty dessert. Not at all. I find myself trusting in the power of Dorie. Were it not the experience of knowing her desserts taste divine, I would have serious reservations.

This baked for 45 plus minutes, and it still didn't look appetizing. But oh boy, is it yummy! Super rich (perhaps a little too rich even in a 6 ounce ramekin portion) with just the right balance of chocolate and bready goodness. My intention was to only take a bite for the sake of the picture. Alas, the container is almost empty at this point (someone save me from myself!).

Many thanks to Lauren of Upper Eastside Chronicle for choosing this week's recipe!