Whole Foods Demo tomorrow- Wednesday

I will be doing a cooking demonstration at Whole Foods in Norwalk tomorrow (Wednesday) from 1:30-3:30p.m.

Here are a couple of the recipes I'll be showcasing. Every month they have a new food theme, and this month is seafood. I was making the chimichurri sauce this afternoon and it is awesome! I'm going to grill a piece of fish tonight and drizzle a little of the sauce over it! The other recipe is a great summertime appetizer, grilled sea scallops over rice crackers with a wasabi sour cream. Give it a try, it's very easy!

The other bit of exciting news is that Christopher Peacock Cabinetry has been named Best Kitchen in America they have built out a live kitchen at Rockefeller Center in NY and I will be the featured chef on July 17th at their event party. Will give more details as the event gets closer.

Swordfish kebabs with chimichurri sauce

1 swordfish steak
2 tbs. olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
1 onion quartered
1/4 cup olive oil
2/3 cup sherry vinegar
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 large cloves garlic, chopped
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Preheat grill to medium high. Cube swordfish and marinate for 10 minutes in olive oil, salt and pepper and lemon juice. While fish marinates, assemble chimichurri sauce in a food processor or by hand. Combine all ingredients from ¼ C. olive oil to garlic and pulse until roughly chopped. Set aside until ready to use. Skewer swordfish adding pieces of onion and grill for 5 minutes or until swordfish is firm to the touch. Place chimichurri sauce in a decorative bowl and place skewers on a platter. Serve with crusty bread.


Grilled scallops with wasabi sour cream on rice crackers

1 lb. sea scallops
kosher salt and pepper
peanut or olive oil
3 to 4 teaspoons wasabi paste (Japanese horseradish paste)
6 oz. sour cream
30 (2-inch) thin rice crackers
1 scallion, thinly sliced
Snow peas thinly sliced
Toasted sesame seeds
Wasabi peas for garnishing plate

Preheat a grill to high. Brush scallops with oil and add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper to each side. Grill for 1 minute per side and remove promptly. Set aside. In a bowl, add wasabi and sour cream, stir until combined and cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated until ready to use. Garnish serving plate with wasabi peas. To assemble, slice scallops lengthwise so they are thin, and place on a rice cracker. Add a small dollop of the wasabi sour cream, a few bits of scallion and snow pea and garnish with a pinch of toasted sesame seeds.

Whole grilled fish and octopus

Hi, sorry for the extreme delay in posts, school has come to an end, need I say more??

Anyhow, my friend took me to a fantastic dim sum restaurant yesterday in White Plains NY, called Aberdeen on 3 Barker Avenue, it was delicious. We then walked across the street to an unassuming building that housed not only the DMV, but a very large Asian Grocery store in the lower lever.

There are few things I enjoy more than perusing a new NON- American food store. I leisurely strolled down each aisle examining new products, most of which I was not able to identify, picking up new items to try as well as a few tried and true ones.

I bought some delicious roast duck that we ate for dinner last night with some steamed edamame and I also bought 2 small fresh fish about the size of your hand as well as 2 tiny baby octopus which I made for lunch today with another friend who took me on a gorgeous bike ride.

When we returned from the ride, I put each of us to work. She cut the cantaloupe and papaya and I chopped a handful of fresh parsley which I mashed in 2 cubes of frozen garlic, a little olive oil, the juice from a lemon and a good pinch of salt and pepper. I rinsed the fish and cut a slightly larger cut in the middle of the fish, then I stuffed the fish with a bunch of the parsley mixture and rubbed the rest of the mixture on top of the fish. I used whatever was leftover to season the octopus with.

I turned the grill to high and grilled the fish and octopus for about 5 minutes total time. The octopus tentacles curl up almost immediately and I turned them, and the fish I let cook for a couple minutes per side. They don't flip so easily as the skin cooks off.

My friend made a salad and we enjoyed a yummy lunch al fresco.

If you've never grilled whole fish, don't be intimidated, it's very easy and so delicious.

chili powder and lime grilled corn

I picked up some delicious corn at the market today, in fact my little one ate it raw as we strolled through the aisles.

I boiled a few ears for the kids and after they were boiled, I threw them on the grill on high heat for about 5 minutes turning them a couple times.

While they grilled, I melted some butter, a pinch of cumin and about a tablespoon of chili powder. I rubbed this mixture over the corn. When the corn were ready ( the kernels become brown, but NOT charred) I removed the corn and squeezed a little fresh lime juice over the top with a pinch of salt before serving.

They were delicious and my older daughter even asked for a taste!

Try it with some of your local corn.

Radio show tomorrow night

Hi,

I will be doing another episode of Doryn's Dish tomorrow night at 9 p.m. EST, (Look to the left to see the radio show link). I will be talking about easy hors d'oeuvres and YOU can call in and ask questions.

I'd LOVE to hear from any of you who read the blog.

It was stinkin' hot here today and I just didn't have it in me to make dinner, fortunately we had some left over pasta and chicken from last night, we also went to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard, are those the most perfect dessert or what??!!

Anyhow, the kids were happy and so was I.

Also, I will be doing the Thai noodle salad on both News Channel 12 here in CT as well as WTNH Channel 8 this weekend. Tune in and watch the recipe, it's a goodie.

cellophane noodle salad with grilled shrimp

We had a great weekend, it was hot, hot, hot and we spent much of the time in a pool!

Our friends came for dinner tonight and I had quite a few things in the fridge so I decided to pull everything out and see what came together.

Here is a list of what I had:
spicy chicken sausage
romaine hearts
cucumber
steak
shrimp (in the freezer)
Cellophane noodles (in the pantry)
scallions

I decided to grill the steaks for the kids (5) and make them a little pasta and I made us a delicious Thai cellophane noodle salad with grilled shrimp.

For the salad, I enlisted the help of my husband who impressed me with his knife skills tonight! He thinly chopped 2 heads of romaine, diced 1/4 of a cucumber, chopped a bunch of scallions, and thinly sliced some carrots.

For the noodles, boil water, add the noodles to a bowl and pour the hot water over the noodles. let the noodles soften for about 5-7 minutes, drain and rinse under cool water and put aside until ready to use.

To make the dressing: mix together
3/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 cubes frozen ginger
1 tbs. thai chili sauce
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 tbs hoisin sauce

Mix the noodles in with the salad and pour the dressing over the salad.

Defrost shrimp and grill on HIGH for 2 minutes total time, shrimp will cook very quickly on the grill.

OPTIONAL: Our vegetable garden is growing beautifully and the herbs are ready to be used, I added in a few leaves of fresh cilantro, mint and basil, which Kirk chopped up and threw into the dish.

Add the shrimp to the top of the dish and crush a handful of peanuts roughly (I use the bottom of a glass), top as a garnish.

I grilled the chicken sausage and we enjoyed it on the side.

Lentils and kale, it's kid food?!!

We had a fantastic trip to California last week. Everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly and I spent today getting back to the grind. Went to the market, attempted to clean house (didn't get far...) and made a yummy dinner tonight.

Made our standard roasted chicken (check old blog entries for recipe), some rice, roasted kale, which we call "disappearing chips" in our house and some delicious lentils.

I got Emma to help me prepare the kale by tearing the leaves from the stem, I drizzled the olive oil and she added some pinches of salt. (recipe is also in old blog entries).

Was craving some whole grains so I made some lentils, they are so easy and really good mixed in with rice and kale.

I boiled 2 cups of water and a little bit of chicken bouillon. When the water was boiling, I added in 1 C of rinsed lentils and a Tbs. of butter. I reduced the heat to medium low and covered. I let the lentils cook for about 25 minutes until they were soft, but NOT mush. I turned them off, tasted them and seasoned with a little salt and pepper.

I still can't believe my eyes when I see my kids piling on roasted kale to their plates followed by spoonfuls of lentils and rice. They didn't really even want the chicken! My girlfriend dropped in and I had her kids eat a "disappearing chip", they both liked them, and I whispered to her what it was!

Don't be intimidated to give your kids foods you think they will NOT eat, you will probably be suprised.

We also packed our food for the plane trip home yesterday.

Here are some foods that travel well.

Boiled edamame in the shell
Baby carrots
Presliced apples in the bag (these come straight from the market)
Roasted chicken roll ups- perdue cooked chicken breast rolled up in a tortilla, easy and clean to eat.
Rinsed and dried garbanzo beans
Any kind of nut, preferably NOT salted.
Small bag of chopped lettuce (can be purchased chopped from the market) with a little package of lite dressing (also prepackaged). SImply open the bag of lettuce, add the dressing and eat with a fork directly from the bag. Clean, healthy and you can add in some of the apple, carrot, garbanzo bean and almond to spice up your salad.

Glad to be home and a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who told me what you were having for dinner. Your meals sound delicious!!