Poisson Cru- Tahitian Ceviche with Coconut Milk

A couple years ago, we took a trip to Tahiti as the flights from Seattle to Papeete were direct (9 hours) and very inexpensive on a Air Tahiti Nui's new 787's.  We actually spent less going to Tahiti than we did for a week in Hawaii.  Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, and there is so much French heritage, food and wine there.  You don't think of eating stinky French cheeses, a freshly baked baguette and wonderful French wine in the tropics, do you?  Yes, but you certainly can.  This recipe is Tahiti's version of poke, or seviche.  Similar dishes available in other countries, but we really, really loved this!  We ate it over jasmine rice, with loads of local fruits at a picnic shelter on a beach on the island of Moorea.  Moorea is about an hour ferry boat ride from Papeete, so its an easy way to see a very lush and naturally beautiful island.  We did a small group tour of the island, just 8 of us in the back of a bus/jeep.  We did a grand tour of the island, a waterfall hike, some fruit markets and bakeries to shop for our lunch and then lunch at the beach.  They also sell a wonderful rum punch, already mixed, and sold like orange juice which was pretty fantastic too.

Serves about 6-8

Ingredients

 2lbs white fish, chopped into cubes

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup carrots, cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/2 cup cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/2 cup thin sliced red cabbage

1/2 cup onion (red or white), cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/4 cup green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal

Salt and Pepper to taste

I'm going to keep the instructions simple, cut fish into small bite size portions, add everything else and mix.  Let chill for about 10-15 minutes and serve at once, on rice, or just on the side.

Here's a picture of our guide making the poisson cru at the beach. Okay, he is super darling and fit, right?

He was our tour guide for a great tour of the island, plus he had everything planned for our lunch for 8 people.   His friend had caught the tuna the day before and he had brined it is sea water. We stopped for fresh fruit, local candy and some great rum fruit juice cocktails that they sell pre-mixed in Tahiti.

It was a fun and different lunch that tasted delicious!

His attention to detail was amazing, displaying the fruit on fronds from a palm tree. Fruit platter is below and also the strange local candy, called po'e, that is made with fruit, starch and coconut milk.  Pineapple, grapefruit, mini bananas and papaya all came from local fruit trees.

Here's another meal in Tahiti; this one was at the hotel pool... where we rented a cabana to wait for our late evening flight to SEA.  What a wonderful way to go!  I am having poisson cru again below...  My husband is having his favorite French dish, Steak Frites!

Tahiti was so beautiful!

Presidential All Meat Chili

I read a great book recently called "Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House". It was really interesting cover foods and meals favored by all the presidents from Washington to Biden.   What people will, and will not, eat says so much about a person, so it was fascinating to me to see all the presidents tastes. How about the one president who likes his steak well done with ketchup! Ugh.

The book included some recipes at the end, and this recipe was popular with Lyndon Johnson during his presidency.  It was so simple, I just had to try it!  It was a big hit with everyone that I've served it to, so I wanted to share this one.  It does make a bunch, but I would recommend making the full batch and freezing it for future easy mills.

 Link to the LBJ recipe 

12 servings

Ingredients: 

• 4 pounds ground beef (I used 80/20 mix)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3-4 tablespoons chili powder, or to taste (I used Extra Hot chili powder)
• 1 tsp cayenne, optional
• 2 cans (15 oz) of diced tomatoes (I used with green chilies)
• 2 can (8oz) of tomato sauce
• 1 can (6 oz) of tomato paste
• 2 to 6 dashes hot sauce, or to taste (optional)
• Salt to taste (likely needs between 2-3 tsp)

In a large pot, cook the ground beef, onions and garlic, over medium high heat.  There's no need to add any olive oil, as ground beef has a lot in it naturally when you use 80/20 mix. Using a flat bottom wooden spoon breaking it into small pieces. 

Drain the meat, there's a lot of fat and water in there that won't add anything to your chili.  Here's how much I got from my 4lbs of ground beef.  I usually put this in the fridge to harden and then throw away the fat.  You could add the watery broth back to your chili if you felt it was too thick.

Add the chili powder, cumin and oregano.  Mix well. Add all the tomatoes, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 small cans of tomato sauce and the can of tomato paste.  Let simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes.  Add the salt gradually, to ensure its just the right amount of salty for you.

I have made this ahead and it keeps, and reheats, very well.  

Serve with grated cheese, chopped onions, jalapenos and cilantro and maybe some sour cream.  This is also great for chili hot dogs or even "chili sloppy Joe's" on hamburger buns.

Easy Seared Ahi- Sesame Crusted

This is such an easy dinner that we have been making forever, so I was surprised that I hadn't shared this one before!

Frozen ahi tuna is pretty easy to find at the grocery store, ask at the fish counter they might have some there that is kept in the freezer. We usually buy a case from Costco online every January when it's on sale.  You get about 26 pieces and it comes to about $5 to $6 a piece. It thaws SO fast, that its a great last minute dinner idea.  We also make a homemade poke with it, which is pretty awesome for a lunch or an appetizer.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

2-4 pieces of frozen ahi tuna

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup Sesame seeds, toasted

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil for cooking

In a ziploc bag, or a low dish, add the soy sauce and the sesame oil. Add the ahi to marinate for about 10 -15 minutes. If you marinate it much more than that, it will be overly strong.  I learned this the hard way.

Once marinated, drain the fish and dredge it in a plate of the sesame seeds.  

Add to a nonstick fry pan heated over medium heat.  Cook for 2-3 minutes per side.  Remember, ahi is best a bit under cooked, which is what my cooking times account for. If you want your fish well done, you will need to cook it more.  Don't use too high of heat, or your sesame seeds will burn.  Serve at once with some stir fried veggies and rice.

We love to serve it with this wasabi sauce.  I know this is NOT authentic and made with horseradish and sugars, but it is really good!

Giant's Causeway- Northern Ireland Weekend

It's not often that I start in reverse order, but here we are!  I'm new to updating my blog from my phone, but it's weird and hard to upload the photos easily. So until I figure this out.... here's what I'm just going to go with!  Our wonderful weekend in Northern Ireland after a business trip to Belfast last year. We flew in, and out, of Dublin, so I have included a couple pictures from there.

Below is the Irish Breakfast that we had at a cafe in Dublin.  Counterclockwise from the grilled tomatoes, you have:

Grilled tomatoes, fried eggs, bangers (sausage), black pudding (blood), white pudding, grilled portobello mushrooms, bacon, Irish soda bread and "baked" beans.  Lovely.

I am not including much about Belfast as I have been there a couple of times for business and this time I was also working.  My husband had a great time at the Titanic exhibit, so  according to how long he talked about it at dinner that night, I would say it's a MUST go item!  We took off from Belfast with our rental car and headed towards the coast to see the sites.  

Ballymoney is called the most photographed street in Northern Ireland, which is saying something as it's in the middle of nowhere!  These tress were planted in the 1700's and are very cool to walk up through them on the road.  The road is closed to vehicles, but there were lots of busloads of people when we visited.  We took our time and worked on our patience to get the photo below.

Called the "Dark Hedges" locally, this street is also known as the King Roads from Game of Thrones.

Lots of people visit the Giant's Causeway, and its definitely worth the trip. It's very close to Bushmills, so we made that our homebase to see the local sights.  I used AllTrails and found a cool hike that comes in the "back way" to the Causeway. In other words, you will come in from the opposite side that 95% of the tourists use. I highly recommend doing this easy hike (it's mostly down... hahaha).

Dunluce Castle is a fantastically placed ruins of a castle on the coast, not far from Bushmills and Giant's Causeway. We certainly had a great day for it!

Lots of people visit the Giant's Causeway, and its definitely worth the trip. It's very close to Bushmills, so we made that our homebase to see the local sights.  I used AllTrails and found a cool hike that comes in the "back way" to the Causeway. In other words, you will come in from the opposite side that 95% of the tourists use. I highly recommend doing this easy hike (it's mostly down... hahaha).

The rock formations are so amazing, the shapes are beautiful.  Basalt rockis created from lava flow when it cools, it contracts. This stress causes cracks to form, and the most efficient way to relieve stress is by creating geometric columns, most commonly hexagons. 

Views from our hike

More views from our hike, very few tourists took this route.

We stayed at the Bushmills Inn, which was about 7-10 minutes to the Giant's Causeway.  A fun place to stay in a very small town. We hadn't purchased tickets to the Bushmills distillery and there were none to be had! Plan ahead.  We did drink some nice Guinness here in the courtyard in the sunshine and met some nice locals too.

Here's a little lane on our way to the Giant's Causeway....hmmm, where should we park?

If you want a link to the hike we took at Giant's Causeway, check out this one:  https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/giant-s-causeway-blue-trail-6d58427

Here we are in Belfast having a Guinness at the oldest pub. We highly recommend "The Crown" for a welcoming pint to start your trip to Northern Ireland. Guinness is traditional, of course.

Somebody waited patiently for me to return through our booth door with the beers, he's very clever.  These booths were originally for the ladies to drink in private, without men disturbing them.  We shared with another couple and made new friends from Ireland.  Looks like most of these booths would fit 10-12 people, so there's a private party room already to go.  Have the fish and chips, they were fantastic.

Palma, Mallorca, Spain

 When I lived in the UK, I knew a lot of people who went to Mallorca for their holidays. It always sounded so exotic and beachy to me.  With so many amazing places to visit in this world, I wondered if I would ever get the chance to visit. Fast forward, 40 plus years, We took a transatlantic cruise not that long ago, and the last stop before Barcelona departure was Palma, Mallorca. 

We were a little "excursioned" out and wanted to have a low key day wandering Palma. We did take a taxi from the port docks to the city park below the Gaudi "Arc" cathedral. Let's be clear, the cathedral existed onsite for hundreds of years before Gaudi was commissioned to help with the restoration.  Having been to Sagruda Familia a couple of times, I expected so much.  It did not disappoint... but so very different from Sagruda Familia.  He wanted to infuse the worship space with light, and as you can see from the photo below, it was stunning in the early morning that we arrived.  I would recommend buying tickets in advance and getting there at opening.  You only need an hour or so to see the cathedral.  Be sure to check out the huge Gaudi chandelier, it was so unusual and beautiful.  

Photo tip, move way back from the altar and show someone holding the ball of light. See below... 

Next we walked through the city, looking for the Arab baths.  The old town is truly a labyrinth of crooked little streets. Go ahead!  Try to get lost... but it was easy enough to find it using your phone to walk you there.  We had the gardens to ourselves that morning, not bad for a town with a couple cruise ships in port that day.

Beautiful parks everywhere in the city!

Hard to see the beautiful mosaic details on the top floor, but it was amazing.

After two weeks on a cruise ship, you'd think you'd never be hungry again... haha, fat chance of that!  We stopped for a coffee and a pastry and sat outside watching the shoppers on the shopping street, and the pigeons at our feet looking for a handout. 

We continued to walk, running out of the fancy high street and into a more local neighborhood.  So many of the people on the street we're on their way to a low building that looked like some sort of shopping mall.  On a whim, I said "let's go over there"!  I am so glad that we did, it was a wonderful, unexpected surprise with shopping for fruits, veggies, meats, seafood, cheese- - you name it, if it was food, they were selling it!  They even had foods to go and an oyster bar!  Knowing my guy will always say yes to oysters, I suggested we stop and have some with a cold glass of white wine. 

It's not that I look happy, I AM happy!  These guys were so nice and took turns making little bites of goodness for us to try. It was so much fun. 

Paella to go, if you wanted it!

 

As we left the port, we scored the corner hot tub with views of the city.  Great shots of the Cathedral as we sailed away.  I would love to go back to Palma someday.

Mexican Red Lentil Soup

Yummy!

Healthy!

Easy to make!

What else do you want?

This soup was easy and came together in under an hour.  We will definitely make this one again. We had dinner for two with this recipe, plus another 6-8 servings ready to go in the freezer, perfect for a lunch or a starter on a cold night.

A word about the canned tomatoes, you could easily used diced tomatoes with green chilies, or just regular diced. I only had an Italian spiced diced tomato, so I used that.  If you had people that don't like bigger chunks of tomatoes, used either crushed tomatoes or petite diced instead.

If you don't want it too spicy, you can omit the jalapenos and the hot sauce! I like everything kind of spicy though.

Makes about 8-12 servings (Freezes well)

Ingredients:

2 cup dry red lentils

4 cups water

1 T olive oil

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped

3/4 cup finely chopped celery

3/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)

1 1/2 T minced garlic

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken if not doing a vegan soup)

1 T. hot sauce (optional)

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1/2 – 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Serve with additional lime wedges, sour cream and a sprinkling of cilantro

Put red lentils in a small pot, rinse and drain if needed, then add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, turn off heat and cover. Let lentils sit in the hot water 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop onions and celery and mince garlic. Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot, add onion and celery and saute for 3-4 minutes, just long enough that vegetables are starting to soften. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add ground turmeric, ground cumin, and chili powder, stir, and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Add diced canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, and hot sauce. Add lentils after they have soaked for 30 minutes.

Let soup simmer for 15-30 minutes (or until lentils are as soft as you’d like them, about 25 minutes.) When the lentils are softened as much as you’d like, stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice and cook 5 minutes more. If it seems too thick for your liking, add a bit of water and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve hot, with additional cut limes to squeeze into the soup. Can top with sour cream or vegan substitute if desired.

It was a great soup to enjoy on a very snowy day!