(Side note: about nicknames and abbreviations, since this seems to be something people keep asking me about. All I’ll say is: I’ll keep this one my Dirty Little Secret… just another regret…)

The salmon adorably comes wrapped in brown paper listing off just some of the positive attributes of the Verlasso salmon. Fun!

The salmon was brilliantly vibrant and orange, gorgeous.

I chose to make the salmon en papillotte - which is just a fancy pants way of saying ‘in a pouch’. Honestly, though, I realized much later that I did it wrong… I’ve never cooked this way before, and I didn’t realize you need to add liquid to the packet. But… well, you’ll see.

I served it with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts, but due to a miscommunication about when dinner should be served, they got a little over browned. Still delicious and super crispy, but not burned, just not the prettiest to look at.

On the other side, I added more veggies – Earthbound Farms baby kale and dried Calimyrna figs with a simple lime vinaigrette. This went over very well!

And the salmon, which I cooked to the rare side of medium rare, came out gloriously. This was also very well received!

One of the lightest, healthiest meals I’ve made for DLS to date. I had a lot of fun working with the Verlasso salmon, and found it flavorful and delicious. I highly recommend it for those who care about the origins of their fish, the sustainability and about a fish’s life before it gets to your plate.

Lime Dill Salmon en Papillotte (sort of)

2 6-8 ounce fillets of Verlasso salmon
dried dill
slices of lime
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take a measure of aluminum foil and lay each piece of salmon on its own piece of aluminum foil. Season the salmon liberally with the dill, salt and pepper, then lay the slices of lime on top to make it look pretty. Lift the ends of the foil (along the longer side of the salmon) and bring the edges together, then fold down twice. Roll the short ends up, crimping as you go. (If you want to make this truly “en papillotte” you would do well to add a tablespoon of water, wine or broth before you close it up.)

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes for rare to medium rare, up to a full 20 minutes for medium.  Be careful when you take them out – it’s hot!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Batali-style

1 lb of Brussels sprouts, cut in half
Olive oil
salt/pepper
5-10 peeled whole cloves of garlic

Preheat oven to 475 degrees with sheet pan inside. (I line mine with foil for easy cleanup, but that’s up to you.)

In a bowl, toss the Brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic cloves. Once the oven has come to temp with the sheet pan inside, take the pan out and quickly spread the Brussels sprouts across it in a single layer, then replace inside the oven. Roast for about 20-30 minutes or until it’s as tender/cooked as you like.

Try not to eat them all while they cool.

Baby Kale & Calimyrna Fig Salad

1 box of Earthbound Farms baby kale, chopped
5-8 chopped dried Calimyrna figs
juice of one lime
extra virgin olive oil
salt/pepper, to taste

In a bowl big enough for everything, add olive oil, lime juice, salt/pepper and taste. Whisk together until it emulsifies. Add kale and figs, tossing to coat, then store in fridge until you’re ready to eat. (The kale wilts a little bit and softens as it sits.)

Happy eating!!!

Please note that as a result of the $20 gift certificate to Fresh Direct that I received, I did not pay for the salmon or the Brussels sprouts. I also received the Earthbound Farms kale mix from a Food Fete event that I attended, as I did with the Calimyrna figs as well. However, I was under no obligation to post about any of these items and received no monetary compensation to do so.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: brussels sprouts, DLS, figs, kale, salmon

Steve led us around the world and explained 9 different olive oils to us.

Of course, we were fed as we sampled each oil. This was really fascinating: apparently a popular Spanish tapas is taking a piece of toasted bread, rubbing it with the cut side of a piece of garlic, the cut side of a fresh tomato, and then drizzling it with olive oil. I’m more prone to eating the tomato, but doing it that way was incredibly tasty – and even more so with the various olive oils offered. (One of them made me want to just drink it straight, it was so buttery and delicious…)

Next we sampled three different cheeses with a quick salad, and three different olive oils. Again, I had my favorite that I wanted to simply drink from the little cup, but I refrained.

I realize many of you are now wondering “Well, aren’t you going to tell me which olive oil you liked?” but no, I’m not going to. More on that in a second.

Then, we had slices of a perfectly medium rare steak with new potatoes and another salad. And again, I had my favorite of the three olive oils. I love side-by-side comparisons – it makes it so much easier to pick out notes and understand what someone means when they say something is creamy or lemony or grassy…

We finished with lovely apple tarts a la mode – no olive oil this time.

I’m not sharing which olive oils I liked best because taste is a matter of personal preference. Maybe you’d like a different one more or less than I did. Whichever – my point in posting this is that you should all keep an eye on Fairway’s website for more such events, as they’re fun, informative, and they feed you so much!  Tickets to this particular event were going for $40, and there are sure to be more to come.

Thank you to Susan for inviting me to this event – I had a great time and learned a lot about olive oil’s origins and what I like or don’t like in olive oil! Per usual, I received no monetary compensation to post about this event, nor was I obligated to do so, positively or negatively. However, I did feel that this was an informative event that any of my readers would be interested in attending the next time they have one!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: class, press event, tasting events

In any case, I recently received 5 ears of corn in my CSA.  Long time readers will remember that my CSA is local & organic, which meant… there were worms in my corn.  After I’d taken care of those (shudder) and cut what kernels I could off the cob, I thought about what I wanted to do with it.  Well, I’d also received cilantro… and I had some tomatoes from a previous week… and of course shallots and red onions… yeah, go to the store and pick up some limes and jalapenos, what do you have? 

Something delicious, my friends. 

I “bribed” Beer Boor into making me more fresh tortilla chips by giving him half of the fresh corn salsa, and the trade worked wonderfully.  I even made this batch spicier than I normally do, partially because I thought he’d like it more, and partially because heck, why not? 

I like pushing myself sometimes to eat spicier foods. 

And this, my friends, was bangin’. 

5 ears of corn, cut off the cob – RAW! (feel free to blanch it quickly; see note below)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (I like the stems a bit so I usually keep some in there too, but you can use just the leaves if you like)
1-2 shallots, diced
1 small red onion, diced (I used the combination because that’s what I had, but feel free to use what you’ve got on hand)
1 tomato, diced
2 jalapenos, diced (I removed the seeds and ribs completely, but if you want it spicier, feel free to leave those in or use more jalapenos)
Juice of one very juicy lime

Mix everything altogether.  Salt to taste (I used very little or no black pepper).  ENJOY.  This was so good on the chips, but would also be delicious with a nice light white fish, or alongside chicken, or … well, with just about anything.  Slightly spicy kick, sweet corn, and just yum.  I had to stop myself from inhaling it all. 

In fact, I decided to make more a week later, since I still had chips but no more salsa.  So I went to the supermarket and finally bought some packaged corn on the cob, and did just about everything the same… but the corn didn’t taste quite as good.  It was a lot starchier and just had this taste to it that might have been washed away, had I blanched it first.  So I guess I learned my lesson: my local organic corn was so much better than the supermarket stuff.  Wah. 

In any case, enjoy the recipe as it is, and let me know how you like it!  I would really like to put this with some flaky white fish for a slammin’ meal… yum yum yum! 

Happy eating!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: salsa

The first year I joined a CSA, I posted about it on a near weekly basis.  Last year, I posted much more infrequently about it, but I continued to eat my way through boxes of vegetables every week.  And this year, I imagine the posts will be even more infrequent, as, for my CSA duties, I’ll be blogging for them (my first article is here!).  I made the above with the arugula I got the first week this year.  I’ll be honest, I don’t particularly like arugula, so I wilted it a bit to cut through the bitter pepperiness I don’t like.

1/2 pound of campanelle (or other small pasta form)
1 bunch of arugula, carefully washed
diced sausage (I had wild boar sausage, so that’s what I used)
minced shallots (or onions)
minced garlic
peppadew peppers, sliced (optional)
bit of butter

Cook pasta according to directions. 

As water comes to a boil, melt butter in a heavy bottomed skillet over low heat.  Add sausage, garlic and shallots (or onions if using). 

As pasta finishes cooking (about a minute before your desired doneness; it will continue to cook), use a slotted spoon to scoop into the skillet with the garlic/sausage/shallot mixture.  Turn off heat.  Add arugula, tossing everything together until the arugula begins to wilt. 

If you have the peppadews, add them now, along with the excess liquid from the bottom of the container.  If not, squeeze the juice of one lemon over everything, season to taste with salt (no pepper needed!), and enjoy! 

Quick and easy pasta dish that you can make any night of the week with tasty results.  How do you prepare your arugula?  I have another bag in my fridge…

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: One Pot Meals

Recently, to help celebrate the launch of TravelZoo’s deal site, we were invited to SD26 for some nibbles, beverages and mingling.  SD26 sits at the north end of Madison Square Park, home to NYC’s best burger.  The space is large and can easily accomodate large groups, as we proved by taking up the entire front section and then some. 

Some of the nibbles passed around were foccaccia with mortadella, and crostini topped with an out of season tomato.  We enjoyed these while taking advantage of the open bar – some of us a bit too much – and spent our time chatting with various members of the TravelZoo team about their plans in the future with the deal site, and what distinguishes them from the other deal sites that have all popped up in a short time. 

Another bite that was passed around – chickpea fries with a bit of dipping sauce.  I wasn’t too fond of these, finding them a bit mealy and uninteresting, but other people sure seemed to like them.  As we munched, we chatted merrily away. 

And the best part of the evening?  The goodie envelopes we received, containing vouchers for Kirakuya Sake Bar in K-town, which I plan to put to use soon (and yes, I’ll be writing about that meal as well!). 

Thanks for the fab party, TravelZoo!  Check out their site for more great deals. 

Please note that I received no monetary compensation for this post, nor was I obligated to post anything about it whatsoever, positive or negative.  I received the above mentioned items (food, drink & voucher) courtesy of TravelZoo. 

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: TravelZoo