It’s Super Bowl time again! We hand picked snacks and appetizers we think you might like to include on your Super Bowl Food Fest menu, we’ll be posting a few new recipes soon!
I’ve made this recipe several times already, it’s quick, it’s easy, it’s delicious, budget friendly and my toddler asks for seconds. I love this recipe.
It’s not only a great choice for a weekday meal, but it is also perfect for a day at the beach. A good idea (that I have not tried yet) is to make tuna burgers with them. If any of you tries them, please let me know. How would that go? I’m thinking I would make them with lettuce, sliced cucumber… I think that should go in there. Sliced tomatoes, a little bit of grated ginger on top ( I always put grated ginger in my tuna.), and perhaps some wasabi mayonnaise?
That sounds good already, I think I’ll try it this week.
2 6-ounce cans tuna
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives, green onions, or shallots
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple squirts of Tabasco
1 raw egg
2 Tbsp olive oil
Procedure:
Drain the liquid from the tuna cans. If you are using tuna packed in water, reserve a tablespoon of the tuna water, and add a teaspoon of olive oil to the tuna mixture in the next step.
In a medium bowl, mix together the tuna, mustard, torn white bread, lemon zest, lemon juice, water, parsley, chives, and hot sauce. Sprinkle on salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste the mixture before adding the egg to see if it needs more seasoning to your taste. Mix in the egg.
Divide the mixture into 4 parts. With each part, form into a ball and then flatten into a patty. Place onto a wax paper lined tray and chill for an hour. (You can skip the chilling if you want, chilling just helps the patties stay together when you cook them.)
Heat the olive oil and a little butter (for taste) in a cast iron or stick-free skillet on medium high. Gently place the patties in the pan, and cook until nicely browned, 3-4 minutes on each side.
This is a variation of the classic bread crumb crusted fish fillet. You can try it with chicken as well, only if you will swap the recipe to use chicken, then you need to add an extra step. Coat your chicken breast fillet in an egg wash before you try to get them covered with the almond mixture. The nice thing about this recipe is that it sounds and looks so appetizing, you are guaranteed a hit at your dinner table that won’t take more than 20 min to make. It is also kid friendly (if they’re not allergic to nuts).
Almond Crusted Fish Fillets
Ingredients
1 cup sliced almonds, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 (6-oz.) tilapia or sea-bass fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preparation
Process 1/2 cup almonds in a food processor until finely chopped, and combine with 1/4 cup flour. Place this mixture on a large flat plate.
Sprinkle fish evenly with salt; then coat both sides with almond mixture by placing fish on top of the prepared flat plate and press lightly, turn over pressing and sprinkling until it is completely covered.
Melt butter with olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat; add fish, and cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove fillets to a serving plate.
Add remaining 1/2 cup almonds to skillet, and cook, stirring often, 1 minute or until golden. Remove almonds with a slotted spoon, and sprinkle over fish
Serving suggestions:
This fish will go well with potato puree and green vegetables.
When my dad was growing up, my grandmother had to make sure the kids got their veggies and proteins, but at the same time she needed to use the leftovers from days before… I don’t know exactly when she came up with the recipe but it’s one that has gone from generation to generation. She would call it the “scraps pie”, by using the left over chicken or meat from the day before (never together though). My favorite from the versions, is definitely this one: with tuna. The “fishy” flavor from the tuna is toned down with both the Bechamel Sauce and the spinach. Give it a try! This soon will become your left over go-to recipe.
Torta Pascualina A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Serving Size: 8 servings
Ingredients:
10 ounces spinach, clean and drained
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
5 ounces tuna
4 teaspoons cornflour or cornstarch
2 carrots, medium, diced
1/2 cup green peas
pepper to taste
salt to taste
garlic salt to taste
Single crust Pate Brisee (Pie Dough)
Directions:
Preheat the oven at 350ºC
Follow the directions to make the Pie crust recipe, and bake for 15 minutes, until light golden color. Make sure you pinch the crust with a fork before baking.
Mix the cornstarch, milk, salt, pepper and garlic salt on a heated pan and set the stove to medium.
Add the spinach and tuna, blend it completely.
Add to the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes.
Let it set for about 15 minutes as with any pie, and serve immediately.
I don’t normally eat a lot of fish, but we have been starting to include it in our weekly menu at home, which is a welcome addition for me since I think I’m growing feathers from eating chicken all the time. There are two things that, accoding to my preferences, you will never go wrong with when cooking fish: lemon and/or wine.
I decided to cook these fillets en papillote, which is a method of cooking in which food is put into a folded pouch and then baked. It is usually cooked in parchment paper, but it can be done with aluminum foil instead. You can use aluminum foil if you are not adding lemon juice, otherwise the acidity from the lemon will react with the foil. The pouch has to be well sealed, because the moisture and steam that is built inside will cook your fish. The moisture may be from the food itself or from an added moisture source like water, wine, or stock.
When serving fish en papillote, your guests will get the sealed pouch on their plates which they will open up themselves to reveal the surprise inside.
Here’s a video to help you with your papillote folding:
Mushroom-Wine Fish Fillet En Papillote
A The Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Yields: 2 servings
Ingredients:
2 sea bass fillets
4 springs of thyme (fresh)
1 spring onion, sliced
4 whole mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons cream
salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 400 F
Prepare your parchment or aluminum paper to fold your pouch.
Season fish fillets with salt and pepper on both sides
Place both fillets on individual pieces of parchment or aluminum, and top evenly with spring onion, mushrooms, and thyme.
Start to make the folds on your pouch and before closing it up completely, add the cream and wine.
Make sure your pouch is securely sealed, and place them on a cooking sheet.
My parents love to watch cooking shows, lately they’ve been watching Jamie Oliver and this one stroke them. We’ve made it two Sundays in a row for lunch. It’s that good. Usually, fish is not a savory dish, but this one… you’ll love! The technique for the spinach is wonderful too, since it lets it retain it’s bright green color and the lemon you drizzle it before cooking takes away the bitter flavor. This recipe became an instant favorite for my family!
Ingredients:
Two 150g fish fillets
1 teaspoon crushed cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon butter Three handfuls of spinach
Juice of one lemon
Directions
Sprinkle the fish fillets with the cumin and thyme, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Add a little oil and the butter to a hot frying pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on the first side. Have the lid of the frying pan handy.
When turning the side wait two minutes and add the handfuls of spinach on top of the fish while it’s still cooking and add the lemon juice. Top with lid and let it cook for 4 minutes.
Traditionally, sushi is fermented fish and rice. Its origin is from Southeast Asia, where it is still eaten in this manner. Literally, sushi means “it’s sour”. Contemporary Japanese sushi, has little resemblance to this type of dish (thank God!), and it has a great variety of combinations using sea food and vegetables. Some can be spicy, others can have fruit in them, such as pineapple or mango, other are more salty, fishy, or pungent. All of them are based on Japanese rice, which after being cooked is mixed with a rice vinegar and sugar blend.
The only special equipment you need to make sushi rolls is a sushi mat or “makisu”, this is made out of bamboo and it is the base for all the ingredients to be rolled in and give it its cylindrical shape. You can find it in any Asian gourmet shop.
Now, regarding the ingredients: Make sure you buy sushi rice, you will find that the grains are shorter than regular rice. The things I get when I want to make sushi at home are always a pack of seaweed or “nori”, a tube of wasabi paste, a jar of pickled ginger, Philadelphia cream cheese (not the kind in a tub, but the bricks… so you can slice it), sushi rice, sesame seeds, and make sure you have soy sauce for dipping.
For the filling, you’ll be surprised of how little you need. Just get one unit of any kind of vegetable you need. You’ll be able to make plenty of rolls with just one avocado, carrot, cucumber, a few lettuce leaves. And get any variety of sea food you want to use. I always go for crab, tuna and/or salmon.
Making sushi rolls is something we enjoy preparing together with my sister, Petra. We love it almost as much as we love eating them until we can’t have another bite! It’s been our thing for years, although the last time we got together to make them, was last December. She’s a med student, so between her schedules and mine, it’s gotten harder to do this more often. But we did get together recently, and had our sushi fest! It was delicious. We’ll surely do it again before this year is over.
Oh! and another thing, which is also important. You need a really sharp knife to cut the rolls with, to get a neat slice. Otherwise, even if you have a perfect roll, everything will fall apart.
Sushi Rolls Ingredients: Serves 4-6
For the Rice:
3 cups Japanese rice
3 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
6 dry seaweed sheets
Roll Filling:
1/2 8oz package Philadelphia cream cheese
1 carrot, julienned
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 cucumber, seeded and julienned
4 sticks imitation crab meat, julienned
1 pineapple slice, julienned
1/2 avocado, julienned
4 lettuce leaves, julienned
Sesame Seeds
Soy Sauce for dipping
Pickled Ginger
Wasabi
Special equipment:
Sushi mats, for rolling. It is best to have two, if you’re getting help from a second person.
Preparation:
Wash the rice thoroughly, and place in your usual rice making pot. Add 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice.
Bring rice to a boil, and cover it. Let is cook for 20 minutes on LOW heat.
Turn the heat off and let it steam for an additional 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare sushi vinegar (sushi-zu) by mixing rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan. Put the pan on low heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture.
Spread the hot steamed rice into a large plate or a large bowl. Please use a non-metallic bowl to prevent any interaction with rice vinegar. Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold the rice quickly. Be careful not to smash the rice.
It’s best to use sushi rice right away.
Extra: You can prepare some wasabi mayonnaise to add little dots of it on top of each individual roll. Just mix mayonnaise with a little bit of wasabi (or not so little if you want it very hot) and a few drops (and I mean drops!) of soy sauce.
We’ve included this video to help you with the rolling part:
I made these rolls with my sister, Petra for our sushi fest. Just a little something to serve alongside the sushi rolls.
I confess I didn’t take pictures of the procedure, so I included a video on how to make the rolls, so you can see. You can fill them with anything you want, shrimp, crab, or chicken. I put some pickled ginger inside as part of the ingredients, it gives it a fresh bite.
Vietnamese Spring Rolls (crab)
Yields: 8 spring rolls
A The Foodies’ Kitchen original recipe
This is a great sandwich for a light supper. The olive cheese is very flavorful and it balances out with all the vegetables in the sandwich to give it a little punch… and also make it more filling. I used crab meat, but you can make with sliced chicken or turkey ham. Lets face it, sandwiches are dull, so if I want to get away with making a sandwich to serve my husband for dinner, I have to try to make it with as many ingredients as I can. Even use seasonings in it. After a long day you don’t want to sit in front of two pieces of bland bread with ham and mayo, do you? A nice tomato soup would be a great accompaniment for this sandwich.
Pita Bread Sandwich with Olive-Cheese
Serves: 2
A Foodies’ Original Recipe
Ingredients:
2 pita breads
½ cup cream cheese
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Chives, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
10 green olives, chopped
6 Romaine lettuce leaves
1 Tomato, sliced
A few slices of cucumber
Chicken or crab slices
Dried basil leaves and pepper, as seasoning.
Procedure:
Slice open the pita bread.
In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, mayonnaise, chives, olives, salt and pepper. (use salt sapringly, remember the olives are salty)
Spread this mixture inside both pita bread halves.
Arrange lettuce leaves, chicken or crab meat slices, tomato, cucumber.
I made this for my mom and husband last weekend. We were in the mood for something fresh, so we made Ceviche.
Ceviche is a very popular dish in Latin American countries. It consists of raw seafood being marinated in a lot of lemon juice. Since the seafood is not cooked with heat, but with the acid in the lemon juice, it is imperative to use fresh fish, shrimp, or whatever kind or seafood you want to use. You can mix your ceviche with fish and shrimp, or scallops, calamari…. Whatever you want.
I made two versions, which are the most popular ones. The traditional one with tomatoes is the most common type, we added some shrimp to that one. The other one, which is the Peruvian Ceviche (my favorite) has jalapeños in it, so it can be quite hot. This type is always made with red onion, and served with sweet potatoes.
Ceviche de Pescado: Two Ways Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Tomato Version:
3 tomatoes, finely chopped
½ white onion, finely chopped
1 small cilantro bunch, finely chopped
1 lb fresh fish, such as snapper or corvina
1/2 lb shrimp (optional)
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Peruvian Version:
2 sweet potatoes, cooked and cubed
½ red onion, sliced
1 jalapeño pepper
1 small cilantro bunch, chopped
1 lb fresh fish, such as snapper or corvina
1 1/2 cups of lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
Procedure:
Cut the fish into cubes
In a deep ceramic, or glass bowl: Add the fish cubes (the whole 2 lbs used for both versions) and the cup of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. About 1 teaspoonful. In a small bowl, put the shrimp and add the remaining lemon juice. Use enough to cover them, if you need to squeeze some more lemon juice, do so. Put the bowls in the refrigerator and let the fish and shrimp sit for at least 1 hour, to let them “cook” in the lemon juice.
Meanwhile, in a small pot of boiling water cook your chopped onion for about 3 minutes. You can use your onions raw, but personally I prefer to cook them a little bit first to take that excess oniony flavor out.
Do the same in a different pot with your red onion.
The Peruvian version calls for chopped jalapeños. Use rubber gloves or sandwich bags in your hands when cutting this pepper, otherwise it will burn your skin. If you take all the seeds and veins out, it won’t be hot at all. You can leave some in for a little spice, or you can just slice it as it is and incorporate it into the Peruvian version bowl. (This version is supposed to be hot)
Mixing the Ceviches:
For the Tomato Version:
1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the “cooked” fish, tomato, white onion and cilantro. Add some of the lemon in which the fish was cooked. If you are using shrimp, add them. Serve. (Let each person adjust the amount of salt to their liking) I am allergic to shrimp, so we kept them in a separate bowl the whole time and my mom and husband just added them to their individual bowls.
For the Peruvian Version:
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix the “cooked” fish, sweet potato cubes, red onion, cilantro and jalapeño. Add some of the lemon in which the fish was cooked. Serve. (Let each person adjust the amount of salt to their liking)
Typical ways of accompanying Ceviche, is to serve with one, or all of the following dressings so each person can add them to their liking:
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