Author Archives: debraregan

En Papillote: Startlingly Simple, yet Sounds Super Fancy

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It’s ridiculous, I know, that any time a dish has a French name, one assumes it is complicated, contains a heavy sauce and takes ages to prepare. Well, have you ever tried preparing fish en papillote? Or,  al cartoccio? Or in parchment paper, to use layperson’s terms? It is super simple, and I’d also add forgiving.  The most challenging thing might be to remember to purchase a roll of parchment paper suitable for cooking, because you probably don’t have it in your pantry. Oh, and did I mention this is a very light and healthy method, too?

Here’s a basic recipe for cooking en papillote (note I will try to use the French as much as possible):
  • Rip off a square of parchment paper (15X15 for instance)
  • Place 1 fillet of fish (that’s a fresh fillet of fish of your choice, not a Filet o’Fish) on the parchment. Try thin white fish, like sole or snapper, or denser fish, like salmon or halibut
  • Chop up some veggies that you have in the fridge. Julienne carrots, chop up asparagus, small florets of broccoli, etc, and place a handful on top veggies on top of fish fillet
  • Season with salt and pepper, and any other dried or fresh herbs to your liking.
  • Squeeze some lemon juice or lime juice (some sort of acid) and a drizzle of olive oil
  • Pull one side of the parchment paper to the other side and begin folding, eventually tucking the corner under the packet. Repeat for as many people you are serving
  • Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-25 min depending on thickness of fish
The great thing is that this is a FORGIVING method. Even if the fish is cooked a minute or two too long, it will still taste delicious. It will never get dried out because of the steam formed within the sealed packet. The downside of this method is that you can’t check for doneness. You must trust the recipe you’re following.
Apropos, this is what I’m making tonight – a great recipe from Real Simple.  Steamed salmon with asparagus and scallions. The juice from the lemon makes everything taste fresh and citrusy – yum. I skipped the potatoes (which you prepare separately), and added some cauliflower to the fish packets.  Hubs even approves of this dish, but he hasn’t had it with cauliflower before. Stay tuned…

From the news today: Can athletes run better on a vegan diet?

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I will try not to prosthelytize, and if I do, please stop me. I’m not trying to convert anyone to a certain type of diet, nor am I in favor of extremism, but I do think we can eat healthier and still enjoy food.

In today’s NY Times Health section, there was an interesting article about high performance athletes and vegan diets, debating distance runner Scott Jurek’s choice to be a vegan and whether it is the reason behind his success. That’s Scott below.

The author interviewed 3 sports nutrition experts, including D. Enette Larson-Meyer, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Wyoming. In case you don’t have a chance to read the article, I’ll cut to my favorite quote:

I like to tell people that if we got most Americans to eat one less serving of meat every day, there would be far greater impact from that, in terms of improving overall public health and the health of the planet, than convincing a tiny group of endurance athletes to go full vegan.

Now that’s what I’m talking about. No need to preach, just eat better.

Monday Night Dinner: Quinoa & Bean Salad

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I was feeling like something fresh and light after a long weekend of travel and nonstop snacking. I wanted a combination of veggies and a healthy grain or protein. I settled on quinoa, a newly discovered foodstuff for me.

Oh, quinoa, how do I love thee, let me count the ways?

You are easy to prepare, versatile and oh-so-healthy. Not quite a grain, more like a vegetable, high in protein and the good kind of fiber.  Downsides are that it is messy to clean up when consumed by a toddler, but even the munchkin likes it.
I loosely followed this recipe for Quinoa and Bean Salad, with a few substitutes:
  • Prepare quinoa as instructed on package
  • In a separate pan, saute 1/2 of a chopped red onion
  • Add 12 – 15 stalks of asparagus, cut into 1″ pieces
  • Saute’ for a few minutes and add quinoa once ready
  • Take off heat and mix in 2 cups of arugula, some shredded basil, crumbled ricotta salata and a few tablespoons of vinaigrette
  • Mix well and serve. The arugula should wilt slightly. Add additional salt and pepper as necessary
I used ricotta salata instead of feta in the recipe because I knew hubs would NEVER touch it if he heard it included feta. And I skipped the beans. Would have been another reason for refusal to eat from the audience…
Aftermath
Yummy dinner, maybe a little light as a main dish. Husband asks:

What’s the big deal about quinoa?

What do you do with Garlic Scapes?

Aside

We have picked up garlic scapes from our local CSA for the past few weeks and I know everybody says “use them just like garlic,” but I grew bored of our standard take on spaghetti all’aglio olio with garlic scapes in place of regular garlic. So I searched online and found a recipe for Scape Pesto. What can I say, but delish. Sooo addictive, and much more interesting than regular pesto. Basically, you use scapes in place of garlic, and you can use different types of nuts.

I used pistachios, which was also handy because I had some shelled pistachios on hand that had seen better days. The pesto was a “forgiving” way to use them. Check out the recipe I used on Epicurious. You can also use almonds, as in the recipe linked to in the first paragraph.

What the World Needs Now Is Another Foodie Blog. NOT!

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But, I couldn’t help myself I was inspired to start writing because I love cooking, tasting, and shopping for food, particularly in exotic locations, and also love reading same. So, instead of being merely a consumer of others’ musings, I’m going to start giving back to the global community and share some of my own.

A little about myself: I am a vegetarian who eats fish, aka a pescatarian, but doesn’t that sound pretentious? I mean, the word “pescatarian” doesn’t even pass muster from spell check. I espouse eating local, cooking slow food, and traveling far and wide to eat at foodie hang-outs. I keep lists of restaurants I want to try and places I want to visit on my phone. You may wonder why I have a problem with the word pescatarian sounding pretentious?!

The blog’s title:  references a few themes.  adventures in eating refers to dining with my family, as I consider many meals (whether home-cooked, take away or in a restaurant) to be adventures. What will or won’t my carnivorous husband eat? How much can my omnivorous 2 year old son possibly eat in one sitting? What will wind up on the floor/his chair/my hair/my lap, etc? The phrase “and Everything After” is from the title of a popular 90s band’s debut album. If you have to ask “who”, keep it to yourself so you don’t depress me with your youth.

What you can expect: I’ll share what’s for dinner tonight, the aftermath, how I’m using this week’s CSA pick up, cool places I am visiting, cool places I’d like to visit and general comments on food, eating, cooking and foodie writing.