Chicken and Avocado, a perfect pair

I've always seen the combination of chicken and fresh avocado used in recipes before but never bothered to try it. It seemed so much more convenient to buy store-made guacamole rather than cut apart fresh avocados and slice them without turning them into mush. This weekend I decided to change that and made a chili-lime chicken salad with fresh avocado and a cilantro-lime vinaigrette. So much better than chicken with guacamole! I'm now officially addicted to using fresh avocado with chicken. There's so many things that can be done with the pair. Here are a few ideas to play with:

Chicken and Chipotle Soup with Diced Avocado

Grilled Chicken Skewers with Avocado Sauce

Chicken and Avocado Soft Tacos

Spicy Shredded Chicken and Avocado on Tortilla Wedges

Chicken Salad-Stuffed Avocados

Grilled Chicken and Avocado Sandwiches

Chicken and Avocado in Cream Sauce (Poulet et Poire d'Avocat a la Creme)

Chicken and Avocado Quesadilla

The list goes on! Just be creative and see what you can whip up.

Goat Cheese

Goat cheese, found in the gourmet or imported cheese section at your local grocer, is a soft cheese made from goat's milk. It is often lower in fat and higher in protein than cheese made from cow's milk and more easily digestible. Its flavor is tangy and sometimes earthy, however it is very versatile and can be used in many ways, from being crumbled into salads, melted into spreads and sauces, or used to top meats and vegetables.

Tonight my fiance and I made steaks topped with a goat cheese and sun-dried tomato topping complemented by mashed potato cakes. It turned out amazing, however it is not for those who favor bland food. The flavors are intense and rich. The recipe follows.

Tip: Cook mashed-potato patties before starting the steak, as they will take longer to cook. You can reheat them in the oven or keep them warm by covering with foil.

Mashed-potato patties with mushrooms and chives

2 C mashed potatoes, chilled

4 large fresh mushrooms of your choice, sliced, or 1 sm. can mushrooms

¼ C chopped chives

¼ C flour

Salt and pepper

1 TB butter, 1 TB olive oil to cook

Additional butter to add to pan as it is absorbed

1. Heat 1 TB butter and olive oil in Medium saucepan over Medium heat.

2. Mix flour, salt and pepper on a plate.

3. Combine mashed potatoes, mushrooms and chives in a bowl. Form small patties and dredge in flour mixture.

4. When pan is heated, cook patties 3-4 at a time, 10 minutes on one side and about 6-7 on the other, until a crisp golden brown. Add butter a little at a time as it is absorbed. Do not move patties around much to discourage breaking apart.

5. Drain on paper towel and serve on a plate with your choice of sauce. Recommended is a Dijon-mayonnaise made with 1 TB mayonnaise and 1 TB grainy Dijon mustard.

Pepper-crusted Steak with Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Topping

1 lb good steak, preferably 2 Filet Mignon or 2 tenderloin filets

3 TB goat cheese, crumbled

2 oil-packed or water-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and chopped to your preference

4 TB cracked black pepper to crust steaks

Olive oil to cook

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.. Place cracked black pepper in a bowl and press into steaks, or place on plate and roll steaks in.

3. Heat oil in medium, oven-safe skillet.

4. While oil heats, toss crumbled goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes together. Set aside.

5. When oil is hot, cook steaks on one side for 6 minutes. Turn and cook on opposite side about 5 minutes. (For steaks done medium or well add 1-2 minutes to each side, as this is for medium-rare).

6. Press the goat cheese and sun-dried tomato mix onto the tops of the steaks. Place in oven about 4-5 minutes, long enough to warm and slightly melt topping while not melting it entirely.

7. Serve hot with your choice of garnish. For this dish I chose crumbled toasted prosciutto to use up the rest after yesterday’s meal of prosciutto-wrapped orange roughy.

Plate with the vegetable side of your choice.

The link to an awesome goat-cheese dairy farm: http://www.surfinggoatdairy.com/index.html

Surfing Goat Dairy is located on Maui, Hawaii and has won multiple awards for their cheeses. They have an amazing selection, from a more traditional cheese with Herbs De Provence, to an exotic, spicy cheese with jalapeno, chilies and cilantro. Their great products are not the only thing that draws me to them- they are so humane to their goats that they almost treat them like family. It was a very refreshing change from the majority of dairy farms that I'm used to seeing.

Orange Roughy

Here in Wisconsin, it is a rare occurrence to come across any fresh seafood other than the typical; salmon, cod, halibut, lake trout, shrimp and bay scallops. The majority of all other seafood can only be accessed as frozen, which highly compromises the taste. That's why, yesterday, while browsing through a local grocery store's fresh seafood department I noticed fresh orange roughy fillets and knew that I had to try them.

Orange roughy is a deep-sea dwelling fish that is delicate in taste and similar to cod in texture. Unfortunately, its buttery flavor and light texture have made it overly popular, as orange roughy are being over-fished to the point of underpopulation. Because they are deep-sea dwelling, bottom-trawling is the method in which they are fished for, which means that much of the sea-bottom ecosystem is destroyed in the process. That is why I ask you to be a responsible consumer and only eat orange roughy occasionally as an exotic treat.

Tonight my fiance and I made a dinner of prosciutto-wrapped orange roughy fillets topped with homemade pesto and panko breadcrumbs, complimented by butter-herb sauteed cabbage. Although it may sound complicated, it is actually a very easy dish to make at home. Keep in mind that any type of whitefish fillet may be substituted for the orange roughy.

Prosciutto-wrapped Orange Roughy Topped with Fresh Pesto and Panko

1 lb orange roughy fillets (2 fillets)
4 slices prosciutto

4 TB homemade basil pesto (store-bought will work)

2 TB panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs)

1 TB extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Heat large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Coat with the olive oil.

3. While olive oil is heating, take 2 slices of prosciutto and overlap them, not stacking them but creating a wide bed for the fish. Take a fish fillet and roll it up with the two prosciutto slices. Repeat with second fillet.

4. When oil is hot, add fish seam-side down to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, and cook about 3- 4 minutes. Flip and cook about 2 minutes.

6. While still in the frying pan, spread 2 TB of pesto on each fillet and top with 1 TB panko. Place

pan in oven and cook 5-7 minutes, until panko crumbs are lightly browned.

7. Pull from oven and plate, served with the side of your choice.

This is just one of the many ways to prepare and enjoy orange roughy. Feel free to experiment, as it is a very versatile fish that works with a variety of ingredients.

Lychees

Left: Ripe lychee fruit


In the 1970's, the American government gave aid to thousands of Hmong refugees, a nationality that is from the southeast region of Asia, primarily Laos. Many of them were relocated to the city I live in, which has resulted in a kaleidoscope of exotic new foods, celebrations and traditions.





Another result of this union is the opening of many Asian specialty stores, which are within walking distance from my home. I frequent these stores for new ingredients to incorporate into my cooking experiments. My current focus is on lychees.





The lychee (pronounced litchi) is a sweet, juicy fruit that is indigenous to the southern regions of China. It has a tough outer exterior that is inedible but can easily be peeled away from the fruit. The uses of lychees are endless. It can be eaten fresh, canned, in sauces, in drinks and can even be used to make honeys and candy.

Two things that I plan to make using canned lychees and lychee juice, as fresh lychees are currently unavailable to me, are lychee martinis and scallops in a spicy-sweet lychee sauce. Both are fairly easy to make. The scallops in lychee sauce is a recipe adopted from one of my favorite chefs, chef Ming Tsai and follows:

Seared Lychee Scallops in Champagne-Butter Sauce
Serves 4

1/4 cup lychee syrup, from canned lychees
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon madras curry powder
12 large scallops, day boat preferable, dried, foot removed
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup 1/4-inch dice lychees
1 cup Champagne
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chive batons, for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Canola oil to cook

Pour lychee syrup into a small dish. In a pie plate, combine rice flour and curry powder.
Season the scallops on both sides and dip in syrup and then flour/curry mix.
In a saute pan over medium-high heat coated lightly with oil, sear the scallops until browned on both sides, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Remove scallops to a plate.
In same pan, add shallots and lychees, season and saute for 2 minutes. Deglaze with Champagne and reduce by 75%. Whisk in butter, check for seasoning.
Plate scallops and spoon Champagne-butter sauce over. Garnish with chive batons.

I will let you know how it turns out after I successfully make it!

Introducing: me

I created this blog as a way to explore the culinary discoveries that I make as someone who cooks as a hobby, not as a professional. Cooking has always been a passion of mine, preferably gourmet cooking over home-style cooking. I love learning about new flavor combinations, and nothing thrills me more in the kitchen than bringing in a new ingredient and incorporating it into an excellent dish.

My fiance works at a local upscale restaurant. He works alongside the people who choose what appears on the menu, so he usually has creative control over the before-dinner butter or the between-course sorbet. Although I wish that he had more creative opportunity at the restaurant, I enjoy brainstorming with him for ideas.

Today we came up with a butter that went over very well: Toasted coconut, carrot and honey butter. We came up with the idea together after looking at a muffin recipe. It's interesting to apply the elements of one recipe into something entirely unexpected and find that it works well.