Meat Talk - Salmon

Lets start the ball rolling with talk about some more yummy foods before I go into more recipes. Just to get things started here again properly after my mind break down of not having a functioning oven!

If you are like me who has had to turn to this life style not having known much about it at all, not having grown up having to eat this way or some other reason that you had to start eating gluten free then most likely in the beginning you also had a 'down spell' as well. What do I mean by that?? Simple, I want all the things I can not have any more... worse though is that I know for a fact that if I even slightly ingest something with gluten, I will have some nasty and very unwanted effects from it.

You know, I've started to learn to live with this but not with the thoughts of 'oh I just can't have that any more so I won't and I won't think about it again' but now with the mind set of 'I want that, I know I want it, I know it being made the normal way I can't eat it so now how do I make it and make it so I can eat it?!' mind set.

I have yet to find a task that if I really want it that I can't hit head on and in full force. But that takes me back to why I choose to talk about salmon... it's simple, it's fresh, it's 100% gluten free if you buy fresh (no deep freeze, no pre-herbed/processed or what not. If you choose to buy frozen or seasoned READ THE LABEL! There are hidden things in processed foods even as simple as being processed in a place that makes other wheat/gluten items!). Today's photos show that I even have a piece from a fresh fish monger that he has prepared with white pepper corns and parsley.

There are so many countless ways to prepare salmon in the form of dishes that you can make, ways to seasons it, ways to cook it. It's an untamed piece of meat that is just waiting for your creative juices to flow! What about a lightly fried piece with just a light sprinkling of fresh (or dry) dill added just at the end? How about cutting it into fine chunks, flash fried to cook it and add a crunchy texture so that you can add it to a gluten free pasta dish with cheese sauce? What about thinly sliced (paper thin mind you, ask your fish monger about this) pieces marinated in a citrous mixture and placed on top of gluten free toast or crackers spread with cream cheese? Key thing here is that citrous (lemon, lime, grapefruit ect) will cook the salmon! Ever bought a piece of fish that is still fresh that day but pre-wrapped like you would buy say beef or such from the local grocery store and it have a lemon piece resting again the fish? Remember pulling that lemon piece away to see that the fish under has changed colour? Yep, you guessed it, the lemon piece has started to cook that part of the fish.

Ok so I'm getting all over the place. Simply put, salmon is healthy, again full of the Omega 3 fatty acids that we are all told we should have more of and there are just so many ways to prepare it. This is also a fish that if prepared properly, the skin (as long as it has been scaled) can be eaten and should be as it also contains a number of good for you things!

A tip for all that like to pan fry... use a pan fit to what you are making. Don't use a pan overly small for your item/s but also don't use a pan that is overly big for it either. The reason for this you ask? Simple, the more area you have to heat in your pan, the more the heat will spread out and not centre on cooking the meat that is in the pan. Same thing for too small of a pan, your meat will either not sit against the bottom so it doesn't cook properly all over or it'll stick to the sides where you don't want it cooking either. You wouldn't put a pan that is too big on a small burner or a large pan on a burner too small would you? The same goes for the meat that you add to your pan. Make sure there is enough room to let the meat rest completely on the pan bottom. If you are frying more then one piece at a time, make sure you don't over crowd the pan because then some pieces will cook/brown quicker then others and they will stick. Just a tip, you'll find that it works well. Another small tip on preparing meat... if you are preparing a meat where you will want to de-glaze the pan afterwards (in cases where you want to make gravy lets say) use a pan that does not have a non-stick coating. You will want to 'scratch' at the bottom of the pan in order to get all the wonderful meat pieces and flavours off of it and no matter what you go scratching with, you'll end up marking your best non-stick pan so go for a good ol' favoured, old fashioned steel pan with no coating. They can also handle a much higher temp and deal with de-glazing better too.

The best way to prepare a piece of salmon... that is really up to the person I think but here is what I do. The piece I have shown in this entry has skin. When you cook it with skin, you want to start cooking it skin side down, this one is never up for discussion if you are looking to present this as a beautiful piece of art to the mind and taste buds. If no skin then it doesn't matter which side you start on.

Simply pre-heat a pan to a medium-high heat, use only a VERY small amount of olive oil in the pan as the salmon will release it's own fats/oils almost as soon as it hits the pan and drop the salmon (skin side down if you are using the skin) carefully into the pan as it will start to spit. LEAVE IT ALONE for at least 3 minutes. Do not turn it, do not move it, do not flip it, do not 'peek' under it or anything... simply leave it to be for 3minutes. The reason for this is if you start to wonder and mess with it, the more chance you have that it'll either stick to the pan or not cook evenly across the skin for that golden finish you want. Once you see the salmon start to change colour about 1/3 to 1/2 the way up, this is the time that you want to flip it. Again, leave it alone. I can't stress how much you should just leave your meat alone and either use a timer or your normal gut feeling on when to turn it. Meat loses a lot and you can cause a lot of un-wanted damage to it if you start to do more then 'wonder' about it.

Remember salmon if fresh from a well known fish monger can be and is eaten raw... so you don't want to over cook this meat. It's like pre-paring fresh tuna. You want seer the outside while leaving the middle hot, moist and even a bit more pink then the outside.

Go on now... go find your local trusted fish monger and ask him/her for a wonderful fresh piece of fresh salmon. Come back to me and tell me what you've done with it! I would LOVE to have some suggestions or ideas on what to do with it! I'll get to posting some of my own recipes but for now, I just wanted to share a wonderful piece of meat that is at least a bi-weekly if not weekly meal in this house.

Where Do I Start?

My mind is reeling... I have so many ideas and I keep getting more and more every day. Now that I have my new oven, the world is my oyster (and I'm going to make those too!).

Today I sit here doing something I shouldn't.... stumbling through the food/cooking subject in FireFox Browser's 'Stumble' add-on (GO HERE to get the add-on if you don't have it already, you'll thank me for this later!). It leads to all sorts of naughty dessert thoughts, new pasta recipe ideas, what I can do with items I have in my house that I have no idea what to do with yet like the wonderful chunks of white cheddar I recently found on a shopping trip with my mother (mac & cheese have come to mind today and earlier deep dried cheese balls came to mind... going from good to bad Missy).

I also have this wonderful little book, it's quite actually 'little' as it's only about ooo 4-5inches wide and high but it's also a good 1inch thick... it's all soup recipes from hearty soups to cold soups (sorry cool summery soups, you'll have to wait until next year I'm afraid) to meat soups and meatless soups. I came across one I'm interested in and it's an almond with grapes one. Not sure if it's cold or hot yet as it's also in Nederlands. I can read a lot of it but when it comes to breaking apart a recipe properly I rather have my husband here to translate before I go messing something completely up and ruin the desire to want to taste it properly!

So I have these ideas floating through my head....

1. mac & cheese made with fresh white cheddar (perhaps adding bacon but not sure)

2. just a few cheese balls made with the above mentioned white cheddar (can't use 1 pound just mac & cheese.... can I??)

3. Peanut Butter Cups (I have all the ingredients and have yet to use that wonderful mini muffin pan that I posted about like 2 months ago now)

4. quite a number of soups from watercress to mussel with sage to that almond with grapes one. Cook books are the devils work I swear!

5. bolognese sauce with ground turkey, fresh bell pepper and properly made with a nice hearty red wine (of course to go over some nicely cooked rice based spaghetti pasta!)

6. chocolate souffles (after making lava cakes last night, I have a mood for the 'lighter' version now)

7. new stew... my Italian style stew is really nice but I have to admit 2 winters of it later I think it's time to invent a new one

8. egg fu yung (the ways of doing this and the things you can put it in it are just endless!)

9. taco omelets (long story on how I got onto this btw so better for another time)

So you see just this afternoon my mind is swimming with all these ideas. First though I have to finish the roasted veggies for dinner tonight and the other 2 lava cakes for dessert and then I can start to think about what new to make. For now *sigh* I sit here with just the stuff I have already made and wondering what I should post about next. I have so many wonderful and colourful recipes/photos on hand that even that is a question now.

On to the GOOD stuff! What should I make?! Coming to think about it, there are also all those things that I want to re-make not only because they were really good but so I can get some much better photos of them such as spinach souffles, chocolate dipped macaroon cookies (the coconut style ones but the almost powder types), corn bread muffins, au gratin potatoes, mini apple fritters with icing.... the list is endless. I have photos, I've made the items but I want to perfect them and I want better photos. Good gravy (mmm that too!), I'm glad blogs aren't ending any time soon, I think I'll be very happy here for a while!

My New Oven *YIPPEE!!!*

I know it took a while to get but I'm happy to say that I have finally gotten to replacing my oven! It should of been the landlord's problem to fix or replace the one that broke but trying to point out that this problem was simply a problem with the oven itself was next to impossible and I was not about to go through the hassle, not to mention the wait, of it all.

So just a bit of time to save for the new oven and we found a great deal at only 266euro that included delivery up 2 stories and installation. And what better to have as an oven name then 'Candy'. So without farther wait, let me introduce you to my newest piece of kitchen equipment... Candy!

Today 'Candy' is getting her first official work out too! I've already made a nice pork roast the day she was installed (will post about it later with photos of course) but today she has been on and going strong since about 2pm and as I come to a close in this post it will be past 6pm with her having to run another couple of hours. I have prepared some wonderful cinnamon/sugar cashews and almonds which are already finished. Then after, I turned the heat back up and am now in the process of letting a nice big batch of veggies roast away. And after all that there will of course have to be some sinful but so needed dessert in the way of lava cakes with fresh raspberries mixed in. And of course I've taken great care to take photos of every thing for later posting! Well, not the lava cake yet... those still have to be made!

Oven Out Of Commision

My cooking experiences and plans have taken yet another hit to my wallet and not in a good sense and atm I don't know for how much. Could be as little as 15 euro or as much as 300/400 euro. Only the week will tell me for sure.

Basically the other evening I was getting ready to put something in the oven which is now pre-heated for it (was going to make salmon cakes and zuchinni chips) and well it has this automatic 'spring' system to help close the door. I always found this quite stupid actually... I mean who in the right mind forgets to CLOSE their oven any how? So back to the point, I miss holding it open while putting in the chips and the door closes. Not hard, not forcefully or any thing of the like... just it's normal every day spring back motion and BOOM... the entire front door explodes into a million little glass pieces with exception of this big metal and plastic piece that use to be the handle.

Now the reason I say it could cost as little as 15 or as much as 300/400 is simply... either it's going to cost us 15 euro to talk to people that specialize in the laws of renting apartments to talk to them about if the landlord is responsible to repair/replace the oven or if we are... since it comes with the apartment and we were not liable for the damage done we figure it's the landlords job to repair it. Now if it is ours to have to repair then it'll either be repaired for 100euro or less... if it's higher then that we're not going to throw the money out the door and we'll just buy a new one but rest assured, we'll take it with us and leave them the one they wouldn't repair and they can deal with it when we move! My oven (gets overly possessive).

So my poor oven... stove top still works so at least I have that and tonight I'll be making a nice simple taco salad (will take photos!) and then for dessert we're planning on making bit sized apple fritters since we also have a freshly cleaned/oil replaced fryer :D So my cooking hasn't ended but my baking atm has... will have to do with what I have and see what things I can get into trouble with!

I hope in the end, it's the problem of the landlord to repair or replace the oven as if we have to, I won't be able to afford my pasta maker :( That is the only really truly bad thing about this happening... I WANT MY PASTA MAKER! LOL I have for quite a number of years so I hope this is just a case of him having to repair it. I rather be without an oven for a couple of months even then have to forfeit getting my birthday present!

Recipe - Zucchini Bread

Time for another recipe. This time sweet meets savoury in this wonderfully high protein, nutrient rich and omega 3 fatty acid filled recipe for zuchinni bread. Zuchinni by itself contains so many nutritional values alone including but not limited to vitamins A, C & K, Manganese, Potassium and Folate. In my version of this recipe, I make the wonderful goodness of this veggie even better for you with the addition of an omega fatty acids filled blend of pine nuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts (or pecans) and even pumpkin seeds. Then add to that some yummy fruit additions like apple sauce and raisins for another healthy boost of vitamins & other good for you stuffs. Top it off by the fact that I've also lowered the fat content from a normal recipe which can call for an entire cup of oil to only a 1/3rd cup and you've got a power packed and good for you dessert, quick breakfast or lunch grab or even a healthy snack

This recipes calls for you to leave the skin on, without it you lose a lot of the nutritional value not to mention a lot of the colour and taste! So for heaven's sake, leave it on... you'll be thankful in the end that you did. Make this recipe with the darkest deepest green zucchinis you can find for the best vitamin boost you can get.

Ingredients

 ♥ 2 cups GF flour

 ♥ 1 cup granulated sugar
 ♥ 2 tsp GF baking powder

 ♥ 2 tsp ground cinnamon
 ♥ 2 cups shredded/grated fresh green zuchinni

 ♥ 1/3 cup vegetable oil

 ♥ 2 large eggs

 ♥ 1/2 to 3/4 cup unsweetened smooth style apple sauce

 ♥ 2 tsp vanilla extract
 ♥ 1/4th cup unsalted, shelled pumpkin seeds

 ♥ 1/4th cup unsalted, shelled sunflower seeds
 ♥ 1/4th cup pine nuts
 ♥ 1/4th cup crushed/chopped walnuts or pecans

 ♥ 1/2 cup dark or golden raisins

** Note - You might need a splash of milk to thin out the batter if your flour soaks up liquid like mine.

Directions

If you have already shredded your zuchinni, put it in a find mesh strainer or wrap in cheese cloth and squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can. You want it as dry as possible or the liquid will make your bread/cake soggy and runny.

Pre-heat oven to 350F (180C). Lightly butter or spray a 13x9 inch cake pan. This recipe works well in a 13x9inch cake pan but also works well in 2 loaf/bread pans, you just need to adjust how long you bake it for... same temp but bake it longer if you use loaf pans as there will be more depth the width like there is in a cake pan. If you are unsure of long, simply add 10 minutes to the time mentioned at the end, remove a pan and pierce the middle with a knife of wooden toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done. If it comes out with batter on it then keep adding another 10 minutes at a time. This part is not rocket science, if it's getting too dark on the top, cover with foil for remainder of baking time. I like to keep it simple though and do it in a cake pan myself.

In medium to large bowl, combine dry ingredients of GF flour, GF baking powder, sugar and cinnamon, set aside for a moment. In another medium bowl combine wet ingredients of oil, apple sauce, eggs and vanilla extract.

In a semi small bowl combine the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pecans or walnuts and raisins. You can skip this step all together if you are lucky enough to have a mixture such as I do but if you don't have this as an option, it's best to follow this step or you won't be able to get a good coverage of all nuts and seeds through out your batter in the end.

Combine wet mixture to dry mixture and whisk until just about smooth. Add the shredded zucchini and mix with a spoon. At this point decide if you need that splash of milk or not. You should have a pourable mixture after adding the nuts and seeds but can't mix in milk well after this addition so judge now if you'll need or want that bit of extra moister.

If you're ready, pour in the seed and nut mixture, combine well with your spoon and pour into your greased cake pan. Make sure to have a jar scraper style spatula at hand to get all of the wonderful batter from your bowl.

Bake in pre-heated oven for roughly 50 minutes but check after 40 minutes to ensure that the top doesn't over cook. If it's getting too dark and you've tested the centre with the toothpick/knife method, simply cover with foil for remaining time.

 

In the photos for my recipe this time, I was looking to simply use up the other half of my huge zuchinni, didn't have my nut & seed mixture and was looking for a dessert for dinner. So the photos also show a 1/2 cup of nib sugar (also called pearl sugar) sprinkled across the top before baking it.

 

Serve this fresh from the oven, keep it in the fridge for even up to a week. Serve it warm with a bit of butter melted on it or add some extra protein with a yummy layer of reduced fat cream cheese or see how your taste buds like a bit of apple butter or even a berry based jam. Dessert, snack, quick lunch... you can't beat it!

Meat Talk - Fresh Tuna

If you like fish, then there is no reason that you wouldn't just LUV tuna... FRESH tuna that is! Ok yes, I too use the ready-to-use/cooked canned version but they are so over dry, tasteless, colourless, bland and just over all nothing compared to the fresh stuff. If your going to make a pasta salad slathered with mayo or looking to make a quick and cheap tuna melt, then reach for the canned version but if you are looking to have a wonderful fried piece of fish or are taking the time to experiment with over all good quality foods then fresh tuna is the way to go.

I've personally have tried both the very deep red coloured tuna and then the very pink tuna. I find that there is a very big difference between the two. The deeper the colour the more tender and moist it seems to be. Although the pink coloured tuna is not bad and more so it's still 100x's better then the canned stuff, if you can get a very deep red coloured piece at not too bad of a price... GET IT!

I don't think I ever ate fresh tuna until I moved here to Belgium. It seems in the USA that canned tuna is what every kid grows up on from it being made into mayo based sandwich spreads to pasta salads to even tuna casserole... this is what I even grew up on. Even what I consider 'poor man's tuna casserole' which was simply a cheap store brand box of powdered cheese mac & cheese with a can (or 2) of tuna and some peas added to it. Man oh man, if I knew then what I knew NOW.... there would never be another tuna casserole in the house again. That is except of course for a very plush variation that I create with hmmm fresh home-made macaroni pasta (with my new pasta maker of course!) made into home-made mac and cheese with fresh cheddar or gruyere cheese in the sauce, some fresh broccoli, perhaps a bit of sour cream or cream cheese in the mixture to make it even more creamy and then baked right into the dish, still raw, fresh chunks of deep red tuna... just so that they will still be moist and full of flavour then the dish is done baking. Yes I'm already processing and preparing for a new tuna dish as I write this!

Back to the real thing. If you say to yourself 'I just don't like tuna' then also think to yourself 'have I ever eaten a piece of properly pre-pared fresh tuna or has it always been canned or poorly cooked?'. I'll make a bet that at least half or more of you have answered 'no' to the last question haven't you? I know I did when my husband asked me as we stood one day in front of a fresh fish shop looking at these dark red gems in the display case. He asked me 'what about some tuna'? I remember quickly responded that I had that so much when growing up that I just wanted something different. Mind you this is when I first moved here almost 10 years ago! I'm so glad he opened my mind to some foods because I think only he would know what I was truly missing if he had let me pass up the chance.

Tuna when pre-pared properly which should be medium to rare like you would a steak (still pink to red through the centre) just melts in your mouth. It's so flavourful and moist. It's so full of the most important fat to our bodies as well... the all vital Omega 3 fatty acids!

Here is just a very simple yet wonderful photo my husband took as I started to prepare our steaks one night. I try to make the seasoning process go smoother by spicing either the frying pan or a plate for one side of the meat and then while it rests on top of the first layer of seasoning, I then use fresh cleaned hands (so as to not always touch meat and then my spices... always nice, neat and clean since I use grinders a lot) I season the other side. This time I did it on a plate and hubby thought even just that was worth exploring more settings on the camera with.... so I let him... and he produced a wonderful piece of photography art. Just a suggestion though, season your meat outside the frying pan on this one because you really do want a very hot pan when you first place your fish in it and if you heat you pan with the seasoning and oil already in the pan, it'll simply burn before it even gets to the fish.

Now on to how to prepare a properly cooked piece of fresh tuna. First when you select tuna, it's all about how you like stuff. As said before, I prefer the deepest darkest piece I can find and I usually ask for a steak any where from 1/2 inch to a full inch thick. The thicker it is, the easier it is to get it cooked properly. Just like a beef steak, except fish cooks 10x's faster.

Pre-heat a frying pay to a medium high heat. Figure our your method for seasoning the piece of tuna (to each their own I say, for me I hate to get raw meat stuff on my shakers or grinders so I try to practice the 'wash you hands after touching raw meat and before touching any thing else' rule) but trust me on this, from a lady who hardly ever cooks with adding excess salt to any thing she cooks, baking items included, that tuna comes out best when lightly seasoned with a light dusting of sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Pour a very small amount of olive oil into your pre-heated pan. You only need enough to ensure that the fish doesn't stick. For the best results, make sure you use a non-stick pan, if not using one simply apply a bit more olive oil. Also with almost anything you fry, ensure you fit your pan to the meat you are cooking. You shouldn't over crowd your pan but you also shouldn't have tons of space left over either as this just causes uneven cooking to happen.

Then place your steak (or steaks) in the pan. You should hear them sizzle the moment they start to touch the hot pan. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PAN UNATTENDED! This is a VITAL rule of cooking proper fresh tuna. The moment one turns their back, the fish will get over cooked. I've done this many many time as I'm use to having a couple of minutes to finish up say the side dish or the veggies. No, don't walk away, just stay there by the pan. Be ready with something to flip the tuna with because as soon as you see it change light grey about 1/3rd of the way up, your ready to turn it already. If you have a high enough heat, you will have already produced a nice light brown colouring on the side you just cooked. This is great!

Once flipped, rinse and repeat the action but instead of flipping again when the grey colours are just about touching each other, transfer to your serving plate. That's it, you just cooked the perfect piece of fresh tuna. Yes tuna should be eaten as good as still red in the middle! Tuna if bought fresh from a proper monger who sells sashimi quality fish is even eaten 100% raw. Just make sure you buy from a good quality monger... most will advertise if they sell sashimi quality or not, just keep your eyes peeled and if you don't find it written some where, simply ask!

(perfect)

Almost any thing goes well beside a tuna steak btw. It's a hearty piece of meat that will even stand up to the 'meat and potatoes' style dinner but just in the same is tender and divine enough to come down to earth with a few stalks of asparagus and some rice. The combos are numberless and that is not even to mention all the wonderful recipes you could make! I'll get to posting some over the course of this blog's life I'm sure but for now, go get a wonderful piece of fresh tuna and see if you can perfect your cooking technique of this wonderfully good for you fresh fish.

 (slightly over cooked but still yummy)

Soda - Organic Orange

I think I've said it before that this blog is not just going to be about recipes. This blog is meant to be of things that in general fit a gluten free life style. Yes there will be wonderful and tested recipes (lots of photos too) but there are also going to be general life talks, tips, products I've tried and liked a lot, stores I'd like to recommend even though I am located in Belgium and any thing else I believe fits and goes well into the whole 'Gluten Free Experience'.

Today I want to bring to you one of my favourite sodas. I've only recently found this one though. I don't normally drink much else but water and peppermint tea but once and a while I do like a nice cold iced tea or indeed a fizzy bottle of soda. The only problem I have with these though is that most of the time soda carries way too much sugar for me to enjoy even a small glass. I'm not diabetic or anything but I do seem to be carb sensitive. For example I can enjoy a nice bowl of rice based pasta while as a portion of the same in corn based pasta will give me a faster heart rate for a bit.

So lately when I crave something with a bit more flavour and wow to it, I've been turning to a glass of this orange soda. I found it at my local Bio Shop (will have a post on this store sometime in the future as it will be a recommend store!) and for the price compared to it's highly processed and highly sugared orange coca cola counter part, I'll take this any day. I pay about 1.30euro a bottle for this where as it's counter part I'd pay about 1 euro. For it being bio, organic and 30% less sugar without adding any thing artificial (duh, or it wouldn't be able to carry the bio label). If you can find this or another type of soda that you like that isn't loaded processed crap or high in sugar, come share it with us! I'd be glad to even have you as a guest editor if you can tell me a bit about the soda (or any other product you want to talk about) and why you think it should have a place here!

Go grab yourself a nice glass of low sugar but natural soda, go sit in the sun for a bit (remember your sun block!) and again enjoy the last days of summer with a smile on your face.