Tilapia on a Whim

Last weekend, while watching TV, my boyfriend asked me what tilapia was. He had read in his Flex magazine that some professional body builder was helping to train another and he recommended eating lots of tilapia. So naturally, my boyfriend wants to try tilapia too.

I did a little web research and learned that tilapia is not only on the “safe” list, it’s low calorie, high in protein and low in fat compared to, say, sea bass or tuna.

Never one to turn down a challenge I decided to give it a shot. I thought about what would be fairly fool proof, in terms of my boyfriend trying new foods: nothing fancy or spicy, and what ingredients I already had at home: the end of a bottle of white wine from my last seafood project.

On the way home I stopped at the local grocery, grabbed what looked good and threw this together.

2 fillets Tilapia
1 medium Vidalia or yellow Onion, sliced
2 cloves Garlic, sliced
1 Tomato, diced
3 sprigs fresh Rosemary, partially chopped
White Whine
Olive Oil
Salt and Fresh Pepper

Wash the tilapia and lay on a plate. Sprinkle salt, fresh ground pepper and chopped rosemary over fish. Clean and slice garlic and onions. Sautee garlic, onions and rosemary with salt and pepper until onions are translucent. Push onions to sides of pan, lay tilapia fillets in pan to sear on one side. After 3 minutes flip fillets and cover with onions. Add diced tomato and enough white wine to cover bottom of pan. Cover and cooked until fish is cooked through, about 7 minutes.

We had this with brown rice. I started the rice before I started to prepare the fish and they were done at just about the same time.

My boyfriend really liked it, the only thing that slipped my mind in the mad-dash for groceries was the lemon, luckily we always have limes in the refrigerator. I expect I’ll be making tilapia in ever more creative ways in the future.

Fennel & Eggs

As I was reading a health food magazine on the subway I found an article extolling the virtues of fennel. I don't see fennel very often, but I remember my Nonna loved it. It's indigenous to the Mediterranean and I'm sure that she ate it growing up in her Italian family; she used to call in fenochio.

Fennel is a winter vegetable, available from autumn to early spring. It has lots of vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and antioxidants. Historically it’s been used for bad breath and indigestion, intestinal spasms and cramps (maybe it’s the celiac’s best friend?)

I’ve almost exclusively had it in salads; it’s great with some walnuts, cranberries, citrus fruit and just a little vinaigrette. This article had some good ideas, but I wanted to try something a little heartier.

It’s hard to use many of the recipes I find, since I’m really only cooking for one. The rest of the folks in this apartment won’t try anything new, so whatever I make gets eaten by me. This was my first attempt, and although it doesn’t look like much, it is delicious! And quick.

Makes 1 Serving:
3 Eggs or egg whites
½ bulb Fennel
1 clove Garlic
1teaspoon Olive Oil
¼ cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
Salt and Fresh Pepper to taste

Thinly slice fennel and garlic, sauté in a large skillet until fennel is soft. Add eggs and stir, cook until eggs are set. Top with cheese, cover and turn of heat. Serve warm.

This is really filling, it makes a great breakfast. I think it would work well with just about any type of cheese. It could also be made to serve more; a larger batch could be baked in the oven.

Low-fat, Gluten Free Cheesecake

Despite the name of this recipe it's really very good. I'm used to modifying recipes to meet my needs and I found the base of this one in a women's magazine. I tweaked around so that one 1/12th of a cake slice is only about 200 calories. It's perfect for my end of the day, after my workout sweet craving. I'm putting down the basic recipe, but lately I've been preoccupied with jalapeno jelly, and I found a gluten free variety at the Union Square Greenmarket from Beth's Farm Kitchen. Both the Mighty Hot Pepper Jelly and the Habenero Jelly are gluten free. This cake is great with just a little bit of the jelly on top.

Note: To see the entire ordeal of making the first cake check out my LiveJournal post

Crust:
1/4 cup chopped pecans and walnuts
dash cinnamon
dash salt

Filling:
15 oz part-skim ricotta
8 oz 1% fat Whipped Cottage Cheese
1 cup sugar, more or less
½ cup fat free sour cream
4.5 tsp Ener-G egg replacer powder
3 Tbsp warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract (or more)
2 tsp Bob's Red Mill GF all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt


Heat oven to 350. Toast nuts with a little salt and cinnamon in the bottom of an 8" spring form pan for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce heat to 325. Wrap outside of pan in foil to prevent seepage. Filling; puree ricotta in a food processor until smooth, about 1 min. Add cottage cheese, sugar, sour cream, egg replacer, water, almond extract, flour and salt; puree until smooth. Pour filling into pan. Add 1-inch hot water to a shallow baking pan; place spring form pan in baking pan. Bake until cheesecake is firm around the edge and slightly soft in the center, 45-50 minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan. Remove foil; let cool on rack. Chill 6 hours or overnight before removing sides of pan.

If you want experiment with marbling the cake mix 1 cup of plain filling with your additional ingredients and drizzle it on top.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

It's not actually my birthday, that was in September, but I really wanted to post my mom's carrot cake recipe. When I went home to visit for my birthday, my mom tweaked our family's old standby carrot cake-cum-birthday cake recipe (my dad won't touch chocolate with a ten foot pole, don't ask) to be gluten free for me, and heart healthy for my dad, who had open heart surgery in May. It turned out great! Here's the recipe:

Vegetable Nut Torte aka Carrot Cake
Modification for gluten free, low fat

3 c gluten free flour (we like Bob's Red Mill)
1.5 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1.5 c sugar

egg replacer for 4 eggs (Ener-G)
1.5 c apple sauce (no additives) in place of oil
1.5 c grated carrots
0.5 c finely chopped celery
1.0 c finely chopped rhubarb
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
0.5 c chopped pecans

(apple sauce, carrots, celery could have been increased from her original recipe to provide more
moisture)

Sift dry ingredients. Beat or mix eggs, add applesauce, veggies, then
dry ingredients. (When using Ener-G egg replacer, I usually just use the powder with out additional water)

Bake in a greased and floured spring form pan (or other of your choice)
at 350 for 45-50 min or until tooth pick comes out clean.

When fully cooled frost

Modified cream cheese frosting:
8 oz rice cream cheese
0.5 c sifted powdered sugar (could use less)
2-3 oz Smart Balance spread
1 tsp almond extract

Enjoy!

Seco de Chivo (Peruvian Lamb Stew)

Two weeks ago my boyfriend and I went to our favorite Peruvian restaurant for dinner. As we looked over the menu we decided that we wanted to try something different from our usual grilled fish. We settled on lamb stew. The stew arrived, and was quite tasty. Since we always share our meal, I didn't eat to much of it, we had beans, rice, and salad as well. By the time we got home, my skin was starting to feel a little funny. His mother asked us what we had, and when we told her "seco" she told us that, in Ecuador, they use beer in seco. Now, what with the language barrier and all, I don't know how much she understands about my celiac disease, but she does know that I can't eat anything prepared with beer.

Now, she's a good cook, as far as the things she knows how to cook goes, but she said she didn't know how to make seco and I managed to ascertain that she wanted me to make seco if I could. Feverish internet research ensued. I discovered that all the seco recipes did indeed use beer. Not to be deterred I set about finding gluten free beer. The Whole Foods in the Bowery happens to have a beer room which carries several brands on gluten free beer, including at least one that can be purchased individually.

This recipe is tasty, great for cold winter days, and I'm sure can be made with any type of meat of your choice. It got rave reviews from my future in-laws, so it's authentic. It's also fairly fool-proof as far as I can tell.

8 large Garlic cloves
2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp ground Cumin
1 tsp fresh ground Black Pepper
1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar
5-7 lbs lamb, cut in 2 1/2 inch chunks
3 tbsp Olive Oil
4 med Onions finely chopped
1 1/2 cup GF Beer
4-6 cup GF Beef stock or broth
1 bunch Cilantro, leaves only chopped

Mix the garlic, salt, cumin and black pepper with the vinegar in a large non-reactive dish. Place the lamb in the marinade, evenly coating the chunks. Marinate at room temperature for at least 3 hours, overnight if possible.

Remove the lamb from the marinade with a slotted spoon, reserving marinade. In a large heavy casserole, heat the 3 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Brown the lamb, turning with tongs to sear all sides evenly. This will take about 20 minutes (if the lamb does not fit all in one layer, brown in 2 batches, otherwise the meat will steam rather than sear). Transfer the lamb to a plate with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium-high and add onions and salt. Saute, for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are golden. Add the beer and lower the heat so that the liquid is simmering. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until all of the beer has evaporated. Return the browned lamb, along with the accumulated juices from the plate, to the pan. Add the stock and stir to mix. Bring up to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the dish, covered, for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the meat is tender.

Add the reserved marinade and the cilantro, stir to mix, and cook for 1 minute more. Serve from the casserole.

To serve in a traditional manner have rice or boiled potatoes on the side. You could also add precooked peas or carrots at the end.

This is really tasty!

Bob’s Red Mill Pancake Mix

I was never a fan of pancakes growing up, so I never really missed them when I went gluten free. However, my boyfriend likes to have bread and cottage cheese for breakfast, and I wouldn’t allow gluten containing bread in my house. To settle this dispute I decided to try making gluten free pancakes for us to share one Saturday morning.

I had previously experimented with making them from scratch and had decide that a mix was the way to go. I picked up Bob’s Red Mill gluten free pancake mix at my local organic store and decided to give it a try.

This mix is so easy that anyone, except maybe my boyfriend can make it. I just put an egg, some milk and the pancake mix into the blender and let her rip. I get four nice sized pancakes out of one batch and everybody loves them. My boyfriends family is from Ecuador, and had never had pancakes before, and now they wait expectantly every Saturday morning for me to get up and make them. Even our two gerbils love them.

I can say that these are better than the ones I had as a child, and they have awakened in me a new appreciation of pancakes. We like to have them with cottage cheese and maple syrup, but the few times I’ve made them with blueberries they’ve been just as good. The recipe thins out just as a regular pancake batter would and this summer I plan on experimenting with crepes to go with some of the great fresh fruit.

The mix itself is not only gluten free but egg and dairy free as well. It can be made with soymilk or water and the egg replacement of your choice.