Sōté seasoned salmon, roasted Hatch pepper sauce and Jicama mango ‘slaw’

I was introduced to a great seasoning blend after a volunteer stint recently.  If you are a Houston Chowhound, you are undoubtedly thinking about food most of your waking hours.   Which vendor has the freshest seafood?   Which taco truck is conveniently located on your errand route?   Where to savor your next gourmet meal?   So it was no surprise to me when a fellow civically-minded Chowhound organized a meeting of our food-obsessed minds at the Houston Food Bank early one Saturday morning.  

After a short tour of the facility, we entered the vast kitchen.   A thorough hand-washing followed, and then we donned the oh-so-flattering hairnets, plastic aprons and gloves and formed two long assembly lines.   I was in first position in my line, separating individual containers and portioning out handfuls of ice-cold spaghetti from an enormous bin to my right.   My friend Maureen followed with a piece or two of chicken, and the rest in line scooped vegetables, sauce, parmesan, fresh basil (yes fresh basil) and lastly, canned fruit.   By the time each container reached Gary, Maureen’s husband,  it was pretty greasy and sticky.  Gary was responsible for one of the ‘sealing machines’ and tried gallantly to keep the plastic wrap in position so that it could form a tight seal on each tray before it was carted off to the freezer.   Fortunately for us he is mechanically inclined and in less than three hours we had assembled almost 1,000 wholesome meals!

To my left was a quiet gentleman named Larry.   He was not part of our assembly line.  He had a special spot at the head of the table and was our designated “basil chopper”.   Larry wowed us with his superior knife skills by mincing bushels of basil for the spaghetti dinners we were packaging.   I later found out that his ‘gramma’ Douglas developed a recipe for a delicious Kosher seasoning named Sōté. 

Sōté, pronounced So-tay, stands for “salt of the earth”.    The Serb in me and my knowledge of Cyrillic loves the use of diacritic marks in the label!   Sōté is a mixture of Kosher salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic, chilli, ginger, spice extract, turmeric and other spices.   It is not spicy and contains no MSG.   Salt is King here and the accompanying spices dance delicately around him.  

Coarse Kosher salt, black pepper, paprika…

Larry gifted me with a few containers to share with friends and family (disclaimer: I am not making a dime as I promote it).   I have used it on baby back ribs and flatiron steaks with great results.    Sōté is also suitable for vegetables but be forewarned that it is mostly salt so a little sprinkle goes a long way.   I lightly sprinkled the salmon in my recipe below and paired it with a homemade roasted Hatch pepper sauce for a little fire and a sweet and crunchy jicama salad – the pairings were excellent!     

Sōté is locally produced (another positive point in my mind) and packaged by the Texas Custom Spice Company in Houston.   The packaging is understated and comes in a well-sealed metal container with a see-through lid.  To order Sōté, click on the link.   Also for sale are cool t-shirts and salt shakers.  

Juicy ‘slaw’

Sōté rubbed salmon with Hatch pepper sauce and Jicama mango slaw

Serves 2

¾ lb salmon filet

Sōté seasoning or seasoning of your choice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pat salmon dry with a paper towel to remove any moisture. Rub a little Sōté seasoning on the salmon, remembering that the Sōté is mostly salt.

Pour olive oil into an oven-proof pan or cast iron skillet. Heat pan over medium heat until the oil is very hot. Carefully add the salmon, skin side down. Cover with a splatter shield if necessary to prevent oil from splashing everywhere. Sauté salmon until the edges begin to turn color, about 5 – 6 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Remove pan with salmon from heat and place under broiler for 2 minutes to sear the top. Remove pan from oven using an oven mitt. Serve with Hatch pepper green sauce and Jicama mango slaw.

Hatch pepper sauce

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup sour cream

1 roasted Hatch pepper (spicy or not), skin removed, stemmed and seeded

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

¼ cup lightly packed cilantro leaves

1 peeled and chopped Roma tomato

Place all ingredients in a small blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Jicama mango ‘slaw’

½ lb jicama, peeled and julienned (use the mandoline for this if you have one)

1 mango, peeled, sliced thin and then longwise into thin strips

8 radishes, sliced thinly (here again, the mandoline comes in handy)

1/3 cup red onion, sliced thin

¼ cup cilantro, chopped

4 tablespoons fresh orange juice

4 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon sesame oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Chill until ready to serve.  Serve using tongs to drain slaw from the juices.

 

Colorful juice from the ‘slaw’

Prijatno!

Tuna Puri wins 2nd place at the Tournament de Tuna!

I travelled the world in my mind with ideas for a winning combination of flavors that would wow the judges during Saturday’s Tournament de Tuna.  I bounced from Portugal to Spain, Northern Africa to Greece, and I finally settled way out east in India! 

Featuring canned Portuguese tuna, Queen of the Coast was introducing its products to the USA.   The Queen herself made a graceful appearance.

It was an intimate affair – six eager contestants butting into each other in the home kitchen as we plated our promising dishes.  From left to right:  Todd Romero, Chantal Duvall, yours truly, Joni Buck, and Holly Erickson watched Jenn Molholt win with her tasty Baked tuna fritter with spicy/tangy tomato relish and avocado.   It was crispy on the outside, perfectly tender on the inside and delicious! 

After much hype on Facebook,  the romantic and adventurous Raphael made his grand appearance, fresh off his seafaring boat.  He was very handsome, charming and gracious, even when Chantal planted a big red kiss!  His accent made my legs buckle…and it looked like he was enjoying my Tuna puri! 

Pani puri is an Indian snack (chaat) found in street food carts.  A foodie friend, Jay recently introduced me to a great vegetarian restaurant in Houston called Shiv Sagar.  Their dosas are excellent and that’s where I spotted the delicate pani puri.   (Thanks Jay for steering me away from making dosas, oy!)    I picked the soft-spoken restaurant owner’s brain for information and ideas for pani puri and eventually bought a package.  They had potential -  small, hollow, crispy fried breads are the vessels for spiced vegetables and sauces.   In order to incorporate the canned tuna, I checked with my Indian connection and knowledgeable friend, Manjula.  

A vegetarian herself, Manjula described the various sauces I should use and assured me that tuna would fit right in.  Her mother’s own garam masala and a fair amount of chopped onions contributed greatly to the richness of the filling.   Willing taste-tester and an excellent cook herself, my neighbor Cheryl stated that the sweetness of the yoghurt sauce balanced the spiciness of the serrano chiles in the green sauce.  The sauces – one sweet, one sour, and one spicy; and a variety of crunchy and leafy garnishes created a complete flavor and textural sensation. 

This was my presentation.  A shot of Mango lassi completed the plate.

Thanks to Karen, Dwight, Joan and Amber at Soundworks for hosting the fun-filled affair and giving us amateur cooks an opportunity to experiment and revel in each other’s company.  Judges Brandy Graesser of Hubbell and Hudson Viking Cooking School, food marketing wiz George Darsey, and Raphael himself made positive comments and I walked off with a fantastic prize – cooking lessons at the Viking Cooking School, perfect for someone who’s always willing to experiment in the kitchen! 

Yours truly, Jenn, Raphael, Holly and the Queen of the Coast

Now to the recipe!  Start with paper-thin Pani Puri (these are made by Satyam Foods & Snacks, Inc.), and thin, crunchy sev, a vermicelli-like snack made with chick pea (gram) flour.

Here’s the filling…simple ingredients deliciously seasoned with garam masala and black mustard seeds. 

To make a hole for the filling, tap the top of one side of each puri with the back of a spoon, and then fill it with the tuna mixture.  Drizzle with Spicy green chutney, Dahi, pomegranate molasses and top with sev, chives, tomato and cilantro.  Pop the entire puri in your mouth for a blast of savory, sweet, sour and spicy heaven!

Tuna Puri   Please note that this recipe looks more complicated than it is!  You can substitute store-bought Spicy Cilantro Chutney and the rest of the components are very simple to assemble.

One bag (7.4 oz) Pani Puri (small, fried and hollow Indian breads, available at all Indian grocers)

Tuna and Chick Pea filling

1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely diced onion

1 – 2 teaspoons garam masala (a spice mixture available at all Indian grocers)

½ teaspoon black mustard seeds

1 cup diced fresh tomatoes, seeds removed

3 cans (6 oz/170g each) Queen of the Coast Tuna Salad with Chick Peas, or 5 oz canned tuna in oil plus 11 oz cooked chick peas

salt, to taste

In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes until beginning to soften but not brown. Add garam masala and mustard seeds and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and sauté for 1 more minute. Add canned Tuna Salad with Chick Peas and stir gently until heated through. Season with salt, if necessary.

Spicy Cilantro Chutney ( substitute with store-bought chutney, if you wish)

3 green chiles such as serrano or jalapeno, stemmed and seeded

¾-inch piece peeled fresh ginger

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon oil

¼ cup water

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sugar or jaggery (palm sugar)

1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted

1 bunch cilantro (about 5 ounces) less about 6 stems- reserve for garnish

Place all ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender. Pulse until combined and finely chopped. Add cilantro and blend until smooth. Season with additional salt if necessary.

Dahi (sweetened yoghurt)

1 cup plain yoghurt

1 tablespoon sugar or jaggery (palm sugar)

½ teaspoon pomegranate molasses

pinch of salt

Whisk yoghurt, sugar, pomegranate and salt to blend. Adjust to taste.

For the garnish:

½ cup sev, a fried vermicelli-like snack made with gram (chick pea) flour (available at all Indian grocers)

pomegranate molasses or sweet tamarind chutney (available at all Indian grocers)

¼ cup finely sliced scallions or chives

½ cup chopped fresh tomato

leaves from about 6 stems cilantro (reserved from Spicy Cilantro Chutney), finely chopped

To assemble Pani Puri

Carefully make a hole on one side of each pani puri. Fill each one about ¾ to the top with warm Tuna and Chick Pea filling. Arrange pani puri on a serving platter. Drizzle with Spicy Cilantro Chutney, Dahi, and garnishes (sev, pomegranate molasses, scallions, tomato and chopped cilantro). Serve with a shot of Mango Lassi to cool the palate!

 

Mango lassi

2 cups plain yoghurt

2 mangoes, peeled and chopped, or 2 cups frozen mango cubes

¼ cup milk

toasted and ground pistachio nuts and a slice of fresh mango for decoration

Blend yoghurt, mangoes and milk in a blender. Pour into glasses and sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts. Serve cold.

Mango lassi – refreshing and not too sweet!

Click on the link for more pictures of the Tournament de Tuna. 

This post is my entry to the Magic Bullet To Go Giveaway, for which you can find details @ Fun and Food Cafe. You could win a Magic Bullet Food processor!  It’s easy!

Prijatno!

I say tomahto…

We have been enjoying the produce of our small vegetable patch this summer.  Every March, when we plant ours, I especially look forward to gorging on home-grown organic tomatoes and it doesn’t get much better than these purple heirlooms (next to my all time favorites – figs!). 

This is a traditional Srpska Salata - Serbian Salad.  Sliced tomatoes, green pepper, red onion, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper.   And Husbie says KISS - Keep It Simple Sam! 

Who can resist Insalata Caprese?  A perfect stack with thick slices of mozzarella and basil leaves nestled between sliced tomatoes and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil:

 What do you do with a mango, a tomato and a jalapeno pepper?  Why, you make Salsa!

To balance the sweetness of the mango, I add red onion, lemon juice and lots of cilantro:  You can never have too much cilantro, if you ask me!

Tomato Mango Salsa on grilled salmon – refreshing summer fare:

Cherry tomatoes in potato salad:

On whole grain bread with melted feta cheese and oregano – bringing out the Balkan in me!

By now, I’m battling the birds and the stinkbugs.  The netting I have cast seems to be keeping the birds at bay, but the stinkbugs have struck overnight.  They are my biggest enemy during tomato season because they suck the Dickens out of the fruit and leave disease and rot behind.  We refuse to use pesticides and one year my daughter and I went out to do battle with our tweezers.  Yes, tweezers!  Stinkbugs aren’t fast, you see, so it was easy to pick them off and stomp them in the ground…as you can imagine, it was sooo time-consuming.  Needless to say, we lost the battle after a couple of days. 

I thought about spraying vinegar…nah, it’ll kill the plant.  My next means of attack is per Husbie’s suggestion – the vacuum cleaner!  Brilliant!  I can see myself with the suction hose, grinning from ear to ear, as those suckers enter the bag, never to pester my home-grown tomahtoes again!  I’ll let you know if it works! 

 

Prijatno!

TWD Fresh mango (bread) muffins

I was intrigued when I first found out that Fresh Mango Bread was the TWD (Tuesdays with Dorie) recipe for this week. I’ve made many banana, apple, cranberry, blueberry, carrot and even a zucchini bread, but mangos in a loaf never crossed my mind.

When I read the recipe, I suspected that the subtle flavor of one diced mango would not be very prominent in the bread, so I looked for ways to make it more mango-ey. And as my family already knows, in true Dragana fashion, I just had to put my twist to it: the raisins had to go – they’re way too pedestrian! What I found were delicious, sweet and intensely flavored dried mango pieces. To 1/2 cup of chopped dried mango, I added just enough rum to cover them. Later, I added 3 tablespoons of the soaking rum to the batter (I’m never in favor of discarding good liquor!). I reduced both the sugar to 3/4 cup and the ginger to 1 teaspoon – after all, it’s all about the mangoes, right? I came away with 12 moist and tasty individual muffins.

Thanks to Kelly at Baking with the Boys for selecting this recipe. You can find the original recipe on her blog. After the TWD chocolate onslaught in April, this was a refreshing change. Topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream, diced crystallized ginger, freshly grated lime zest and a chunk of dried mango, these muffins are a winner! Just ask Carolina!

Prijatno!

Cinco de Mayo!

Hola, dear friends!  Today many Americans of Hispanic heritage commemorate the victory of a small, ill-equipped Mexican army over a much larger and more sophisticated French militia at the Battle of Puebla.  The Batalla de Puebla took place on May 5, 1862.  Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day (that being September 16, 1821).  It is not widely celebrated in Mexico but is a regional holiday limited to the state of Puebla.

The Darling Bakers are also celebrating Cinco de Mayo today!  Here’s how the holiday came to be:  Napoleon III was determined to collect a loan and expand his empire.  His troops landed near the coast of Veracruz and proceeded to march towards Mexico City.  Abraham Lincoln, sympathetic to the Mexican cause, could offer no assistance because he was involved in his own war, the American Civil War.  In Puebla, General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin and his small militia were able to stop and defeat the French.  It was a sweet victory for a troubled country.

But that was not the end of the French!  Napoleon sent 30,000 (yes, thirty thousand!) more troops who eventually took over Mexico City.  His cousin, Archduke Maximillian of Austria became the ruler.  After the American Civil War, Lincoln provided more military assistance and Maximillian was executed in 1867.  That, in a nutshell is the story behind CDM.

That’s Linda Landeros in the picture above.  Landeros is a dance instructor and performer with many dance companies in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The colors in her dress express the spirit and vitality of the Mexican people.  In the US, particularly in the border states, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated with music, folklore dancing, art and of course food!

One of my favorite Mexican foods is grilled corn with a chili lime sauce.  I first came across it outside a local Hispanic grocery store called Fiesta.  The aroma of roasted corn wafted through the parking lot, leading me to a mobile kitchen where the vendor was slicing the kernels off the cob and into a styrofoam cup.  He topped it off with a delicious, spicy and creamy sauce.  My daughter and I just can’t resist this kind of street food!

 I broiled these in their husks.

Quesedillas are also a favorite.  These are filled with crabmeat, roasted poblano pepper, roasted sweet red pepper, avocado, caramelized red onion, corn, cilantro, chili powder and Monterrey jack cheese.  I served them with my Cilantro Crema – sour cream, lime juice and chopped fresh cilantro. 

This is how I like my cerveza:  ice cold and in an ‘O’ with lime.  Believe it or not, that’s the entire 12oz. bottle in there!

Lime suspended in a golden brew:

Mangos flameados comes from Diana Kennedy’s classic book The Cuisines of Mexico.  It’s a Mexican take on Bananas Foster crossed with crepes Suzette!  I served it with vanilla ice cream.   Mmmm….

These Mexican Nutella cookies are perfect with a cup of coffee.  You can serve them plain or with a dusting of powdered sugar.

I leave you with a bite!   Adios!

 

Prijatno!