Roasted Asparagus

I love roasted asparagus. The cooking method is a variation of my other recipes for roasting potatoes and cauliflower. The main difference is the roasting time. Asparagus cooks much faster.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of asparagus
Olive Oil
Salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425F. Generously rub asparagus with olive oil and assemble on a baking sheet. Salt to taste. Roast asparagus for 10 minutes turning once midway through, around minute 5.

Tomato Cucumber Avocado Cilantro Salad

This is a salad that I make almost everyday. It is easy, simple, healthy and tasty. It goes well with chicken, fish, steak or pizza. I love adding avocado. It gives richness to the salad (plus it is full of healthy fats).

Ingredients:

2 cups of baby mixed greens

1/2 of cucumber, sliced

1 large tomato and 15 cherry tomatoes, sliced into bite size pieces

1/2 of avocado, seeded and sliced

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, minced

salt and pepper

Preparation:

In a large salad bowl combine mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, avocado and cilantro. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Pour salad dressing into the bowl with salad ingredients and toss. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sunday Morning at High 5 Pie

It is Sunday morning and time to meet my friend for coffee. Today we decide on High 5 Pie located on 12th and Madison/Union on Capitol Hill. I am in a desperate need for coffee and some flipside, which reminds me of Russian Pyrogi. I got Potato Dill Cheddar flipside and Americano. The flipside was tasty! Almost anything wrapped in some good buttery dough with cheese is tasty!!! How can you go wrong with butter and cheese?!

Cafe is nice and spacious. They serve variety of pies: different kinds and sizes. Cutie pies are cute individual little pies, which may seduce even serious dieter ;)

While taking pictures of the case full of pies my attention got caught by this beautiful Apple Pie. Say Pie!

Polenta Fries

What do you with polenta the next day if you cannot eat it all at once (like me last night)? There is actually a very nice way to serve polenta the second day. You can make polenta fries! 

Polenta solidifies once it cools off. Cook polenta following my recipe How to make Polenta? So, last night I poured warm polenta into a rectangular tupperware and spread the top evenly. I let polenta cool off in a room temperature and then put it in a refrigerator for the night. Today I took polenta out and it came from a tupperware like a nice block, which I sliced into rectangles shaped like “steak fries" (about 3/4 inch by 1 inch by 5 inches).

I fried them on both sides in olive oil (or butter - of course butter is tastier!!!) in a frying pan on medium high on each side until golden brown. 

Oh, polenta fries came out delicious. Crust is so nice! Happy cooking!

Mom's Fried Fish

I like to fry fish such as tilapia, red snapper and catfish the way my mom did when I was growing up in Lithuania. She still makes it this way. This recipe is very easy.


Ingredients:

2 fillets of tilapia, red snapper or catfish (whatever is fresh in a store)
1 egg
flour for dipping
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cajun spice (optional)
Olive oil for frying


Preparation:

1. Wash fish fillets with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

2. Beat egg in a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste (I like cajun spice so I add it too). Take one fillet at a time and deep it into the egg wash.

3. Next, put fillet into a bowl with flour and cover it with flour on both sides.

4. Pour Olive oil in a pan so that the bottom is fully covered with oil. On medium high fry fillets on both sides until golden brown.

5. Cover the pan with a lid and cook fish covered for about 6 minutes or until it is done. This fish is very thin so it does not take that long for it to cook through.

6. Serve fish with mashed potatoes and/or salad. I served it with polenta tonight. I also save fish for lunch the next day and it is good to eat either cold or warmed up. Enjoy!

How to make Polenta?

I learned to make polenta from scratch one summer when I was in Lithuania and none of the stores there sold pre-made polenta. Once I learned how to make it myself I have not bought it in a store ever since. Polenta is usually served with lamb in the restaurants but in my kitchen I like serving polenta as a side dish for lamb, chicken, fish or with veggies. I especially like eating polenta with a zucchini dish that I make in the summer.

Ingredients:

1 cup of polenta, Bob’s Red Mill brand

4 cups of water

1 teaspoon of salt

3 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan

1 tablespoon of butter

 

Preparation:

Polenta to water ratio is 1 to 4. Pour water in a pot and add salt, bring to boil. Take cup with polenta into one hand (I use left) and a whisk into another (right for me). To the boiling water in a pot slowly start adding polenta and as you add whisk polenta into the water. Whisking prevents clumps from forming. Continue whisking until all polenta is in a pot, stir polenta and reduce heat to medium low.  Close the lid and let polenta cook for 10 minutes. Stir polenta few times while it is cooking. After 10 minutes once polenta has cooked, take the pot off the heat and add butter and parmesan and mix. Polenta is now ready to serve. Serve it with some shredded Parmesan on top.

Fennel, Orange and Red Pepper Salad

It is almost spring and I crave something refreshing. I love combination of fresh fennel and orange and tonight I made a salad using these ingredients. Salad was exactly what I needed. I served it with a piece of pan-fried Black Cod with Tom Douglas Salmon Rub with love.



Ingredients:

1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fennel fronds
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped into small pieces
2 oranges, navel
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of white sugar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Peel orange with a knife so that you cut most of the membrane off and the flesh is exposed. Next from the top cut orange in half. Take each half and put it flat side down. Cut orange into thin slices so that each piece has several small sections of the orange held by the leftover membrane. See picture above.

2. In a salad bowl combine together fennel slices, fennel fronds, red pepper and orange slices. In a separate small bowl whisk together white wine vinegar, sugar and olive oil. Add vinegar and oil mixture to the salad bowl. Mix all ingredients together. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and put it in a refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving letting all the flavors meld together.