Tuna Cakes

We need to come up with a better name for these- it doesn't do them justice! It's one of the things I serve that most people start out with a timid tiny serving and then come back for more. The key is really the slivered almonds with the sesame oil and the sushi flavorings of the ginger aioli, avocado, soy, wasabi- that's enough favorite tastes to make anything good- even canned albacore.



Tuna Cakes or.....anybody have a new name?
~Chop in rough dice and sauté in sesame oil (or sesame/olive oil)
1 walla walla sweet onion
4 ribs celery
1 seeded sweet red or yellow bell pepper
2-3 cloves garlic
let cool- add 1- 8 oz can chopped water chestnuts
~Process to fine grind (don’t let it get too mushy) set aside

~Toast 1 cup whole almonds- cool and rough grind in food processor (set aside)
~Process french bread (or other) to make 6-8 cups soft bread crumbs or
substitute Japanese Panko crumbs. (set aside)

~Process to blend:
8 oz cream cheese (I use soy cream cheese- but it shouldn’t matter)
1 TBL ground ginger
2 TBL sesame oil
soy sauce to taste- 1 tbl?
2 eggs
3/4 cup mayonnaise (nobody said these were low fat!)
juice of one lime (or to taste)
1-2 tsp powdered wasabi
~Combine 5 (6oz?) cans of drained albacore tuna (flake into little pieces)
with:
the veggies, the almonds, the mayo stuff

~Add handfuls of the bread crumbs until it’ll hold together enough to form into small hamburger size patties- dip the patties in more crumbs to cover and set on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Cover and chill for 30mins or so. Saute in oil ( I use a combination of wasabi oil, garlic oil and sesame oil with olive oil) until browned.
Drain before serving.
Serve with:
ginger, soy aioli (just mix up flavors with mayo to taste)
wasabi oil (available at Newport Market) or wasabi paste
pickled ginger, green onions, and avocado slices
~Makes a bunch- like 18 or so. These also freeze well. Okay to sauté right from the freezer- not quite as pretty and they spit and fizzle a bit- but great to have on hand! You should be able to halve the recipe –

Making Christmas Pizza

Christmas Pizza:

It’s easiest to buy the dough from a pizza shop- but you can make this ahead
with a food processor and keep it in the frig or freeze it. We make our own pizzas for Christmas Eve and there are always some leftovers for lunches later.

For the dough: (this makes two regular size pizzas)

~Heat 1 cup water and 2 tbls shortening just until shortening melts- cool
until tepid-
~Process 1 1/2cups flour with 2 tbls sugar, 1 tsp salt, and 1 package dry active
yeast to mix.
~With motor running, pour shortening mixture slowly through the feed tube.
Add 1 egg and mix for 2 seconds- sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of flour over and
process until dough forms a ball.
~Turn dough out onto a board sprinkled with 1/4 cup flour and knead until flour is
absorbed and dough is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes)
~It’s good to let the dough rest if you have time (rub olive oil over dough) - but it’s also ok to just go for it and divide it into balls at this point and
stretch and roll it out to a personal pizza size crust. Sprinkle some corn meal on a pizza pan or cookie sheet- brush the dough with olive oil and
get ready to make your pizza!
For the sauce:
~Sauté in 2 tbls of olive oil- 1 lg onion chopped fine, 2 minced clove garlic
until golden and fragrent. (5 –10 mins)
~Remove from heat and stir in 2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste, 1 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp each (or to taste) dried marjoram, thyme, oregano and basil leaves.
This is enough for 2 big pizzas- it’s easy to double, and I also use it as a
good starting point if I want a spaghetti sauce*





To make the pizzas- heat the oven to 500 – they take about 15-20 mins to cook.
This is the fun part- just brush with olive oil and spread with sauce or
pesto or a combination and add whatever you like. I usually have tomatoes,
different cheeses, mushrooms, pepperoni, salami, dried tomatoes,
marinated artichoke hearts, onions, olives….the hard part is organizing the
cooking- we could usually do 2 to a cookie sheet – so about 4 at once.

A Brunch of Crepes and Apples

Sunday Crepes:

These are a little time consuming but fun to make! They're great for any fancy brunch - but I've also frozen them and warmed them up for a camping breakfast treat.

~ Combine in a food processor and process to blend*:
1 cup flour
1 tbls sugar
~Add with motor running and process until smooth:
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3 tbls melted ,cooled ,butter or margarine
1 tsp grated orange rind (opt.)

~ Heat a 7 in. non stick skillet (about ‘water droplets dancing hot’):
And coat it with a very thin film of margarine or butter for each try (opt.)

~Pour in 3-4 tbls of batter, then quickly tilt the pan so the batter spreads
evenly, covering most of the bottom of the pan. Cook until the edge curls up
a bit (30-45 seconds) then flip- cook only 5-10 seconds. Folding the crepe over
itself into a pie wedge shape makes it easier to remove from the pan and helps keep it moist in a warming oven while you cook the rest.

*Makes 12 crepes- recipe doubles easily- but you have to have a big processor to
handle it all at once. These keep 2 days wrapped and covered in the fridge-

Serve with Fried Apples or other crepe toppings.

Fried Apples:

~ Saute in large non stick pan until just barely softening
4 green apples, cored , partially peeled, rough chopped
4 tbls margarine
~Add, and continue cooking until syrupy- but the apples still hold their shape:
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbls ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp grated orange rind (opt.)

Quick Fruit Toppings:

~Combine in small saucepan over medium heat-just until first boil:

2 cups fresh berries
3 tbls orange marmalade

Lemon Tarragon Chicken

Lemon Tarragon Chicken –

This is one of the chicken recipes that we've used a lot- rain, snow or shine-
but it is a weird recipe- just because you let the garlic get bitter and the tarragon is sort of bitter too- some how it works with the savory chicken. I’ve used it with individual game hens too and any garlic lover will like it.

~Place 8 chicken pieces in a roasting type pan – I think that thighs (with skin and bones) are best- but you can also use halved (like you have to cleave the usual size chicken breast in half) chicken breast pieces (so they’re more the size of thighs) if you only like white meat- or mix and match.
~Preheat oven to 425
~Cut off the ends of three large lemons and then cut off the rest of the peels.
Of course you can peel lemons any old way you like- but this way you get to have a flat part that helps the lemon sit still while you work on the rest of the peeling.
~Cut out the little lemon segments leaving behind the white membrane and the seeds.
~You should pour any lemon juices you can salvage over the chicken. Once in a
while, I add a little margarine or white wine to the roasting pan- especially if I’m using a lot of white meat.
~Sprinkle about 3/4 tblsp dried tarragon leaves over your pile of prepared lemon
and mix it all up.
~ Slip about 1/8th of your total lemon/tarragon stuff under the chicken skin
of each piece- smoosh it down so it covers the piece pretty evenly.
~Use your garlic press to mince 3-4 cloves of garlic and spread scant 1/2 of a
minced clove over each of the chicken pieces skins.

Roast for 15 minutes at 425 and then turn oven down to about 375 and continue roasting uncovered until quite done-(1-1 1/2 hours) this is hard to cook too long- the chicken pieces actually stay pretty moist in their own juices and the skin should be crispy with browned garlic.

Serves 4-6 depending on their appetites.

Oregon Coast Crab Cakes

Crab Cakes:

~Chop in a uniform dice and sauté in olive oil
1/2 c onion until soft and sweetly fragrant
~Add and continue cooking until slightly soft-
1/2 c diced celery
1/2 c chopped seeded sweet red or yellow bell pepper
2-3 cloves garlic minced
let cool- add 1/2 8oz can chopped water chestnuts
1 c. defrosted frozen corn kernels
1/2 c. chopped marinated artichoke hearts
~Process to fine grind (don’t let it get too mushy) set aside or
just do a good job on the dicing part!

~Combine with:
1 lb. shelled lump crabmeat (fresh Dungeness is best- a real labor of love to shell it! but I’ve used canned sometimes, too- and rinsed it with water and added a bit of lemon juice)
2 Tbl sweet hot mustard
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
juice of 1/2 -1 lemon (or to taste)

~Process sour dough bread (or other) to make about 3 cups soft bread crumbs or
substitute Japanese Panko crumbs. (set aside)

~add handfuls of the bread crumbs until it’ll hold together enough to form into small hamburger size patties- dip the patties in more crumbs to cover and set on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Cover and chill for 30mins or so. Saute in oil until browned. (3 mins/side or so)
Drain before serving.
Serve with:
Garlic/lemon aioli (just mix up flavors with mayo to taste)

~Makes about 8-10 patties.

Rogue River Salmon

Salmon Florentine

~Chop in a rough dice and sauté in 2 tbls good quality olive oil
1 small sweet onion until soft and sweetly fragrant
2 cloves minced garlic
~Add to pan:
1 1/4 cups chopped ripe tomatoes (guessing here as usual-4 tomatoes?)
2 tbls Ketchup
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbls margarine or butter (this one needs the buttery flavor)
2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tbls Worcestershire sauce

~Cook over medium heat until flavors marry and tomatoes soften and it all looks
‘juicy.’ At this point you might want to add either more margarine or some
chicken broth- you want enough liquid to create a saucy effect –

~ Add and sauté just until limp:
2-3cups torn fresh baby spinach leaves
lemon pepper or salt and pepper to taste

~Serve surrounding a broiled or barbequed fillet of salmon
~nice with a dollop of mayonnaise- if you’re so inclined- and lemon wedges

Spanish Shrimp

Spicy Garlic Prawns: (or chicken)

This is adapted from a recipe from Uncle John- the paprika and olive oil and garlic are reminiscent of Spanish tapas- but the stir fry and the broccoli make it kind of Asian-
anyway, it's fast and good.

~Chop in a rough dice and sauté in 1/2* c good quality olive oil
1 smallish sweet onion until soft and sweetly fragrant
1/2 c chopped seeded sweet red or yellow bell pepper

~Add
2 Tbl. Hungarian or smoked Spanish Paprika
3/4 Tbl. Chili Powder
1 tsp Chipolte chili pepper flakes or red chili flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Thyme leaves
~Add
1 cup diced ripe tomatoes
2 Tbl. Ketchup
7-10 minced cloves of garlic
(depends on clove size and how many vampires you’re warding off tonight)
4-6 chopped scallions
juice of 1 lime or lemon
1 c. broccoli florets (optional) (I also leave out the broccoli sometimes and
serve with chopped avocado and more green onions.)

Bring to a gentle boil- when broccoli is bright green add-
24 medium thawed or fresh (shelled and veined) shrimp
Cook just until shrimp is pink and translucent

Cook longer if you use chicken- add it prior to your broccoli.
*the oil is the best part of this dish- so feel free to increase so there’s plenty to--
Serve with lots of bread to dip in to the oil

Serves about 4-6

Muffin Girls

Blueberry Muffins-
These are from the book Mostly Muffins by Albright and Weiner –
St Martin’s Press. They have lots of fun combos and a good recipe for basic sweet or savory muffins. These are our Wright family staple for Sundays.

Preheat oven to 400- grease 12 muffin cups or use paper liners.

~Stir together in a large bowl:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-cup sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon (opt)
~Mix together in another bowl until blended:
1/2-cup milk or soymilk
1/2 cup melted and cooled margarine or butter
1 lightly beaten egg
1 tsp vanilla
~Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to
combine- batter is usually kind of stiff
~Gently stir in:
2 cups fresh or thawed, drained frozen blueberries

~Spoon into prepared muffin cups – sometimes I sprinkle with more sugar…
~Bake 20 – 25 minutes - or until a cake tester* inserted in center comes out clean

*One of those occupations that sound good, but might not be so fun?

Monkey Face Roasted Chicken

Roasted Chicken with Orange Salt

Take one large roasting chicken (5lbs or so), clean out the cavity, rinse and pat dry.
~Pre heat the oven to 450 (or use a convection oven if you’re lucky)
~Put in the cavity:
1 med onion –peeled-cut in quarters
1 lg orange –not peeled- cut in quarters

~Season the skin (top and bottom) with:
Laurie’s season-all salt
Garlic salt
1- 2 tsp of dried Thyme leaves
Ground Pepper

~Place breast up on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan-

~Roast uncovered for 30 mins in hot oven and then reduce the heat to 325
and continue cooking until juices run clear and joints seems loose and wiggly
about 1 1/2 hours total
Serves about 4

Halibut at the Beach

Halibut (or Salmon) Du Chef:
This is based on a recipe from the Ark Restaurant on Long Beach, WA. It's easy and
you can bar-be-cue the fish until just about done and finish it under the broiler.


~ Combine:
1-cup mayonnaise
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tsps dried dill
2 tps Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp minced onion
Juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste
Sprinkling of fresh parsley
Ground pepper to taste

(You can also get fancy and add chopped green pepper, celery and dill pickle)


~ Bake at 425 for 12-15 mins (or till just under done) in broiler proof pan:
A 1- 1/2 lb fillet or 4 6oz fillets set in
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
~Squeeze juice of 1/2 lemon over fillets

~Remove from oven – cover with tarter sauce (lay it on pretty thick)
~Cook under the broiler (use top rack) until topping is bubbly and slightly browned

Serve with more chopped parsley and lemon wedges


Serves 4

Pancakes and Kitchen Helpers

Pancakes-
This recipe is adapted from the Joy of Cooking - which I still use to get a recipe starting point lots of times. I just noticed that this quote starts it off:

“That which thy fathers have bequeathed to thee, earn it anew if thou wouldst possess it”
Goethe: Faust

Heat a large skillet or griddle until a droplet of cold water bounces and dances on contact- if your pan is too hot- the outsides burn and the middle stays raw.
Don’t worry about lumps in the batter- pancakes and muffins don’t like to be beaten too much. I like a thinner batter- but don’t be afraid to add more flour or more liquid until you get a pancake that you like.

~Stir together in a large bowl:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbls sugar
1 3/4 tsps baking powder
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1 tbls ground cinnamon (opt)
~Mix together and than add all at once to the dry ingredients:
1-to 1 1/2-cups milk or soymilk or a milk and water combination
3 tbls melted and cooled margarine or butter
1 lightly beaten egg
1 tsp vanilla


~Spoon the batter onto your prepared skillet – flip when the edges start to brown and there are little popped bubbles all over the pancake.

~I’ve added fresh blueberries to this recipe- just make the batter on the thicker side and the skillet a bit cooler.

Las Cuevas Fajita Chicken

Chicken Fajitas

~Chop in a rough dice and sauté in 2 tbls good quality olive oil
1 med sweet onion until soft and sweetly fragrant
2 cloves minced garlic

~Drain, remove from pan and set aside onion mixture.
~Add to pan:
More olive oil (enough to just coat bottom of pan for sautéing)-heat oil
before adding:
3-4 chicken (boneless, skinless breasts)-cut into bite size pieces
~ Sauté about 7 mins.
~ Add to pan and chicken and sauté for 5-10 mins or until chicken is no longer pink
and vegetables are soft:
Sautéed onion mixture
1 diced sweet red or yellow pepper
1 diced large tomato
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
1-2tbls chili powder or scant 1 tbls chipolte chili powder (it’s spicier)
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1-2tsp cumin powder
salt to taste- or garlic salt to taste
1 tsp red chili flakes (optional- just depends on how much kick you want)
1 tbls ketchup

~Fry or heat flour tortillas (ooo- Costco has some ‘ready to cook flour’ tortillas that you just heat in a frying pan and they are really fresh and good)

~Serve in tortillas with grated cheese, lettuce, guacamole, chopped tomatoes,
salsa

Nice with heated black beans (I just heat a drained can in a sauce pan with a little ketchup and pressed garlic) and Spanish rice (I just reheat cooked rice with a bit of tomato paste, salt, diced roasted green chili, and a pinch of saffron)

Serves 4-6

Mustardy Fish Marinade

Citrus and Mustard Marinade.
Great for a big group!


This came from my sister in law a long time ago. I forget about how great and easy it is-and yet sophisticated too. I use it on mild fish- but it'd be great on pork or chicken.



~ Combine:
3 tbls olive oil
2 tbls sweet hot mustard
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbls lemon juice
1 tbls orange rind
Juice of 1/2 orange

~ And use to marinate for 15-20 mins:
1 1/2 lb firm white fish fillet (salt and pepper to taste)

~Remove fish from marinade and broil or grill

~Heat marinade in small sauce pan with 3 tbls fresh chopped parsley

Serve fish with marinade – garnish with fresh cilantro and orange slices
Serves 4-6

Baja Tomatillo Shrimp

Tomatillo Shrimp and Sweet Potato Fries*

For Tomatillo Salsa:
~Roast together, uncovered, in a 350-oven -basted in about 2tbl olive oil
until mostly soft and translucent (20-30 mins – remove garlic early before it hardens) Save the oil and pan to reuse later.
1 red onion cut in half
6 medium tomatillos, husked and washed
10 peeled garlic cloves
~Puree in food processor with:
1 whole roasted green chili (canned)
Juice from 1 large lime
3 tsp dried oregano

For Sweet Potato Fries:
~Peel one or two sweet potatoes- cut into French fry size pieces
Microwave for 5-7 minutes on high until just barely soft
Add to olive oil left in veggie roasting pan- stir to coat
Season with paprika, salt and chipolte pepper flakes to taste
Roast at 375 until yummy- about 15 minutes

For Shrimp:
~Sauté in 1 –2 tbl olive oil:
1 cup diced ripe tomatoes
24 medium thawed or fresh (shelled and veined) shrimp
Cook just until shrimp is pink and translucent
2 Tbl. Ketchup
~Add- before shrimp is finished cooking:
3/4 cup (or too taste) tomatillo salsa (you’ll have extra)

Spoon shrimp and sauce into halved avocado shells –
Serve with sweet potato fries and extra salsa

Serves about 4

*First time Rick actually raved about sweet potatoes!

Apron Strings and Pull Apart Rolls

Pull –apart Honey Wheat Rolls
are fun to make with kids!


~in a large bowl, stir together:
1 1/2 cups warm water, 1/2 cup salad oil, 1/4 cup honey, 3 packages
active dry yeast
~let stand 15 mins
~stir in with a heavy duty mixer or wooden spoon:
1 tsp salt, 2 eggs, and as much of 6 cups whole wheat flour
(or part white, part whole wheat)
needed to form a stiff dough that’s not too sticky to knead
~turn dough out onto a floured board and knead into a smooth ball
~tear off pieces of dough (about 1 1/2 inches each) and roll into little
balls.

Place the balls just slightly apart on a well-greased rimmed 10 by 15 in pan
Let stand until puffy- about 15 mins-
Bake uncovered in a 375 oven 15-20 mins
Turn out and cool slightly and pull apart to eat!
Makes about 3 dozen rolls that can be frozen

Sister's Lamb Chili

This is my version of Robert Redford’s Lamb Chili w/ Black Beans
But my sister makes a great spring lamb stew- so this one's a new one for her to try.


~Roast:
One garlic head, until soft (I usually do a few together sprinkled with thyme leaves, basted in olive oil, wrapped in foil in 350 oven - 30mins or so)
~Char:
3 large tomatoes –baste in olive oil, broil on high, 4 inches away-turning to blacken
~Sauté in 1 –2 tbl olive oil in large (heavy) sauce pan:
1 med sweet onion- diced
1 1/2 pounds cubed lamb stew meat
1 med red pepper- diced
~Stir in:
Minced roasted garlic
2 tbls chili powder
1 tbls ground coriander
~Cook 5 mins.
~Add:
4 cups chicken broth
1 16 0z can crushed tomatoes
Blackened tomatoes
2 tbls Ketchup
1 tbls Worcestershire sauce
~Cook on Medium heat for 45 minutes- stirring every once in a while
~Add:
1 can drained black beans
1 tsp died mint leaves
~Heat through-
Serve with chopped green onions, toasted pine nuts and sour cream

Serves 6