Garlic Ginger Basil Salmon - A Food Stylist's Nightmare

This very delicious salmon video recipe features a classic flavor profile from Southeast Asia - garlic, ginger, and basil - all playing together in a slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce. People are always looking for easy and quick salmon recipes, and this is both. As an added bonus, the fragrant sauce will scent your kitchen with more than the smell of seared salmon.

There really isn’t anything to not like about this recipe…unless you are a food stylist. I can't think of a harder recipe to make look great in a photo. The chopped basil turns dark green as soon as it hits the sauce, and against the coral fish, looks almost black. In fact, as I admit in the video, I almost skipped the basil knowing what dark horrors it would inflict on my beautiful sauce.

Luckily, I didn’t succumb to such superficial concerns as the flavor the herb gives the salmon is critical. When cooking, the form verses function debate is always settled with a fork. By the way, you can make three equally delicious versions of this by using cilantro, or mint, in place of the basil. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
2 center-cut salmon fillet
salt to taste
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
hot chili sauce to taste (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp chopped basil

NEW and IMPROVED: Eggy Potato and Pepper Pie - Now with Scintillating Narration!

By popular demand, here is a version with narration. I still wasn't in the mood, so I decided to try and have a little fun with it. By the way, it is very inspiring to know I can have a positive effect on some of you just by talking! Thanks!

Eggy Potato and Pepper Pie - Breakfast, it's What's for Dinner

This really should have been called a frittata, but I've already done a frittata video recipe, and I'm tired of giving everything European names. Sure they made all these recipes first, but they had like a few thousand years head start, so it's hardly fair.

By the way, this video recipe doesn't have a voice-over (I wasn't in the mood), and there is no written recipe (I wasn't in the mood). I can’t confirm or deny that this has anything to do with my brunoise-sized stock portfolio.

This is simply meant to remind you that a big, broiled omelet makes a great (and cheap) dinner. This is one of my favorite combos - potatoes, sausage, peppers and eggs. This recipe can also be cut into squares and served room temperature as party snacks (a popular item in Spanish tapas bars). And, the real measure of any recipe…the leftovers are delicious in a sandwich (with some ketchup of course). To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "Eggy Potato and Pepper Pie…is this anything you can't do?" Enjoy!

My Favorite Apple Pie Recipe - Getting Down with the Pillsbury Doughboy

The caramel apple pie seen in this video recipe was used as a test for Pillsbury Pie Crusts. I've wanted to give them a try, so I could post a review on my American food site. I had heard anecdotal evidence that they made a very respectable crust, and wanted to see for myself. And, I felt like pie.

If you're going to test a pie crust, you have to go with the quintessential pie…apple. But, I didn’t make the traditional apple pie, I went with this caramel apple recipe which is super easy, but very unusual in its construction. It contains no flour or other starch in the filling to bind it together. The texture of the filling is basically caramelized apples, glued together with a very glossy, very clean, just thick enough, apple syrup.

I leave the red peel on the apples in this pie, which not only adds nutritional value, but also gives the filling a beautiful color. I used Gala apples, and after the pie was cooked, the skin was perfectly tender, and almost disappeared into the filling. Be sure to let this pie cool completely! Since there is no starch to bind the apples, the caramel/apple syrup in the filling will not set while warm.

To me, this is the purest and most intensely flavored apple pie recipe there is. The interesting thing about this recipe is the way the caramel sauce is poured over the apples and the lattice crust. You know how with a traditional apple pie some of the apple juices will caramelize as it bakes and bubble out of the pie and bake into and onto the flaky crust? You know how awesomely chewy-flaky-sticky-crumbly that part is? That's how this whole pie is. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
4-6 large red apples, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1 package Pillsbury Pie Crust, or pie dough for a double-crust 9" pie

Slow Food Nation's Food for Thought Panel Discussion

Thanks to FORA.tv and Slow Food Nation, the panel discussion I attended during the SFN'08 event has been made available online. This panel is a who's who of the slow food movement, and I found the discussion to be fascinating on several levels.

The passion of the speakers is undeniable, their dedication to the mission is unquestioned, but beneath it all is a nagging frustration at not being able to fully answer the skeptics charges about how this "good, clean, and fair" food revolution will really take hold.

I left the lecture with almost as many questions as answers, but I also left with a smile, wondering how long it would be before food changes us, instead of the other way around.

This was a long discussion, so FORA.tv broke the video into two parts. This is part one. Enjoy!

Aunt Mary's Pollo en Crema - Sorta Salvadorian Chicken Stewed in Cream

Aunt Mary's was a popular brunch restaurant here in San Francisco that served a wonderfully homey array of Mexican and Salvadorian dishes. Michele and I used to go every Sunday for a late breakfast (that's what brunch used to be called). She would always get the Huevos Rancheros, and my usual was the Pollo en Crema, which is the subject of today's video recipe.

Sometimes it's fun to cook a recipe that ignores the standard techniques that usually rule the production of my food. This recipe is a simple boiled chicken - no browning, no deglazing, no reducing, and no layering of flavors. As you'll see, you just toss all the ingredients into a pot and simmer it until tender and delicious.

My standard ethic recipe disclaimer applies; I'm not, nor have I ever been, Salvadorian. This is what I used to get at a restaurant that claimed to serve Salvadorian food, and they called it Pollo en Crema. I'm sure those of you in the know will point out if, and how, this varies from the "real" authentic recipe, but what I can tell everyone is that this simple pot of chicken is great food. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 big chicken
1 onion
2 red bell pepper
2 jalapeno
2 Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
cayenne
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 cup sour cream, or Mexican crema
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
fresh chopped cilantro

Cauliflower Thursday!!

There were a couple comments on the Beef Merlot recipe about using cauliflower, instead of potatoes, for a side dish. I remembered doing a mashed cauliflower video recipe a while ago, so I thought I would post it. When I went to grab it, I realized that it was actually mashed with potatoes, but it's better than nothing, so here you go.

I've also posted my other cauliflower video recipes below. If you want to read the original post, click on the link provided. Warning, some are really old, and were filmed/ edited with my original equipment. Enjoy!

Potato and Cauliflower Mash [read post]



Atlantic City-Style Butter Roasted Cauliflower [read post]




Cream of Cauliflower with Fried Oysters and Chervil [read post]



Cauliflower Spaghetti “Aglio Olio” [read post]



Photo (c) Flickr user Sophiea