Moqueca - Brazilian Fish Stew

(adapted from Saveur magazine)

While we're on the topic of shrimp (when are we not?!), here's a great and pretty easy recipe for a hearty stew that uses them, discovered in a recent issue of Saveur magazine.

The recipe was a good one, although we both agreed that we expected more flavor from the final result. So I've modified the original recipe to include some additional things (my untested additions are starred below, so you can make it as-is, or give the alternative a shot and lemme know how it goes), like cayenne and extra garlic. Maybe it's because we couldn't find palm oil and had to substitute butter. In any case, it was still pretty delicious, and a nice alternative.

1.5 lb boneless, skinless catfish filets, cut into 2" pieces
8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
Juice from two limes
*12 cloves garlic (recipe called for 8)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium/large yellow onion, 3/4 minced, 1/4 thinly sliced
1 "Italian frying pepper" (if you have any idea what an Italian frying pepper is, use it; I used a jalapeno); 1/2 minced, 1/2 thinly sliced
*Cayenne pepper to taste
2 plum tomatoes, 1 minced, 1 thinly sliced
*1 cup chicken stock (recipe called for fish or vegetable)
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp palm oil (recommended if you can find it; I used butter)
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/2 cup minced Thai basil leaves
Cooked brown rice, to serve

Toss the fish, shrimp, lime juice, half the garlic, and the salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the rest of the garlic, the minced onion, and the minced pepper, sprinkle with cayenne, and cook until soft. Add the minced tomatoes, and cook until broken down. Add the stock, coconut milk, and palm oil/butter, and bring to a boil. Drain the fish and add to the pot, cooking until just cooked through, about 7 minutes. Add the sliced onion, pepper, and tomato, and cook, covered, for about five more minutes. Stir in the cilantro and basil, season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice.

Shrimp and Chicken Etouffee

(adapted from www.simplyrecipes.com)


I have no idea if this tastes anything like a true etouffee, but I scarfed it down nonetheless. Maybe it's just because I love shrimp. Love it. But the other thing I loved about this was the flavor of the sweet paprika. And the addition of the tender chicken thighs (to placate my shrimp-neutral husband, tsk!) made it extra-savory and delicious. Plus, etouffee always makes me think of the Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis, which catered our wedding. Can't beat that!

I didn't have any Cajun seasoning, as the original recipe called for. A Google search found a recipe for Cajun seasoning that included salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, thyme, sweet basil, and bayleaf. I wasn't about to make five cups of the stuff, so I just sort of sprinkled a selection of those ingredients in at will. Which doesn't make this the most easy or, um, reliable recipe, but hey - season according to taste!

1/4 cup vegetable oil
Heaping 1/4 cup flour
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 large celery stalk, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into small bites
5 cups chicken broth, hot
A combination of cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and basil, totaling about 1 tbsp - plus more cayenne
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1/2-3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
Salt to taste
3 green onions, chopped

Start by making a roux (my friend David from Louisiana taught me this a few years back): heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the flour, leaving no clumps. Let this cook, continually stirring, until it browns, 5-10 minutes.

Add the celery, green pepper, jalapeno, and onion, and stir into the roux to coat. Cook this over medium for another four minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Next, add the garlic and and the chicken, and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, black pepper, seasoned salt, and dried basil - and cook another 2 minutes.


Slowly add the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly so it incorporates. Add enough stock to make a sauce about the thickness of syrup, about 5 cups. Add more cayenne, along with celery salt and paprika, and mix well. Sprinkle in more of the spices as desired. Add salt to taste, then stir in the shrimp. Cover the pot, turn the heat to its lowest setting, and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered. 

Add the green onions and hot sauce to taste for garnish. Serve over brown rice.

Spaghetti with Shrimp and Spicy Tomato Sauce

I need to think of a cooler-sounding/shorter name for this delicious dish. Any votes? My dad makes something similar, usually on Christmas Eve, except his also has scallops and calamari (drool). And he also used to make "shrimp sauce spaghetti" fairly regularly when I was little, now that I think of it.

Shrimp is (are?) one my favorite things. I'm a total sucker for any menu item that mentions shrimp. Grocery shopping the other day, I was thinking about this, and then I realized that I no longer have to be at the mercy of a restaurant menu. I can just cook with shrimp. Anything I want. Any time. Mountains and mountains of succulent shrimp...or, to be more reasonable, I suppose, a handful or so cooked in a spicy tomato sauce.

The husband has returned (hooray!), and he, while not an insane shrimp enthusiast, loved this dish, too. So it's a crowd-pleaser, to boot.

Here's how:

3/4-1 lb spaghetti (angel hair would be great, too, or linguine fine)
1/4 cup olive oil
5-7 small/medium cloves garlic
Red pepper flakes
Ground cayenne pepper
3 small tomatoes, chopped and lightly salted
1 small can tomato sauce
Splash of white wine
25 or so uncooked shrimp, peeled and with tails removed
Dried or fresh parsley

Combine the olive oil and garlic in a pan over medium heat. Sprinkle in red pepper flakes to taste, and a pinch or two of cayenne. Let the garlic cook for a couple of minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook with a garlic for a couple minutes, then stir in the tomato sauce. Start the water boiling for your spaghetti. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Partially cover if it seems like the sauce is evaporating. Stir occasionally.

When the water boils, add the spaghetti. About 4-5 minutes before the noodles are done, add a splash of white wine to the sauce and turn the heat back up to medium. About 2-3 minutes before the noodles are done, add the shrimp to the sauce and cook until they pink and plump; sprinkle in a pinch of parsley. Turn off the heat, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce pan.

Pasta Salad with Salmon

My folks, aunt, and uncle were in town this past weekend, and thanks to that, I re-discovered one of my favorite summer recipes of my mom's. It's very similar to Salmon Salad, except that it omits the beans and adds pasta (which I'm always in favor of, obviously - nothing against beans, but pasta is my...um...bread and butter?).

This is seriously so good - the perfect summer recipe, because the only stove time is to boil some water for the pasta, beans, and eggs (which you can do in the same pot, if you're clever like my Ma). This recipe has changed over the years - we used to not use avocado or arugula; used lettuce, used peas, used tuna...you can really make it however you like. It's light, delicious, and relatively healthy. We top it (surprise!) with grated parmesan cheese, which really puts it over the edge.

Serves 5.

3/4 lb baby shells (bowtie pasta is really good for this, too)
Handful and a half or so green beans, cleaned and rinsed
3 eggs
10-15 baby carrots, sliced thin
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
1 container grape tomatoes, halved
2 cans or packages salmon
A few handfuls of arugula
Olive oil
White balsamic vinegar (lighter in flavor than regular balsamic; alternately, you can use fresh lemon juice)
Ground black pepper
Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Place three eggs into the pot you'll use to cook the pasta in and add water for cooking the pasta. Bring to a boil, then add the pasta and the green beans.

Meanwhile, in a very large salad bowl, combine carrots, avocado, and grape tomatoes. Add the salmon and mix together.

When the pasta is ready, remove from heat. Drain the pasta and green beans and rinse with cold water. Remove the eggs and place in a bowl of cold water to cool. When the eggs have cooled, peel them, remove the yolks (unless you don't want to), and cube the egg whites into the salad bowl. Add the pasta and green beans.

Next, dress the salad. Oy, I wish I had actual measurements here for ya. You will use more olive oil than you probably would think - the ingredients soak it up well. Use the olive oil and balsamic in approximately a 2:1 ratio of oil to vinegar. I just watched my dad pour on the olive oil - I want to say it was at least 1/4 cup. Add olive oil, then balsamic, then toss to coat. Taste and adjust as needed.

Finally, add the arugula, along with just a splash more olive oil and vinegar. Grate in a little black pepper to taste. Toss to combine and serve!

Linguine with Scallops and Lemon-Butter

This recipe isn't finished yet. It was good, and it could be better. It holds great promise - I mean, anything involving scallops AND butter is, well, kind of unstoppable.

I'm not quite sure yet what to do differently with it. Maybe more butter - I really only used a pinch. Less lemon? Adding the lemon at a different time? More ginger? None? White wine? Red pepper flakes? Sadly, the answer probably is just more butter.

Anyway - if you have ideas, send them my way!

Here's how I made it. For one, with lunch leftovers:
1/2 lb linguine
A glug or two of olive oil
1/4-1/2 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
Very small piece of ginger, minced (honestly, though, I couldn't really taste it)
1/2 lb bay scallops
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Parsley for garnish

(Get your pasta cooking. The sauce cooks fast.) Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high, and add the garlic, ginger, and butter. Before the garlic starts to get too golden (don't let it get brown), add the scallops. Let them just start to cook, then add the lemon juice. Scallops cook very quickly - they're done when they're not longer translucent. Turn off the heat and add the drained pasta into the pan. Stir to combine, add salt to taste, garnish, and serve!

UPDATE: A delicious-sounding variation from my Pa!

Here's an idea:  saute a good amount of finely-chopped garlic in olive oil with some pepperoncino, chopped parsley and black pepper; when the garlic just starts to brown (you want it to stay sweet) add about a half cup of dry white wine and cook till the wine reduces. At about the same time you throw in the pasta (spaghettini would work too), quickly add the scallops, taking care not to overcook them.  When the pasta is done, add to the sauce to coat, with some of the pasta water if it's too dry.  You could add the parsley at the end, if you like the taste.

You could also experiment with some bread crumbs.

Alternately you could use the same recipe (without breadcrumbs) but just add a small amount of crushed Italian tomatoes to give it color.

Salmon with Asian Pesto

 (from Williams-Sonoma's Fish for Dinner)

I love fish and seafood. It's delicious and somehow, I feel great when I eat it. In spite of that, however, I cook very little fish. Maybe some seafood. But very little fish. This is because I have no idea how to cook it. I don't know what kinds of fish are which, I don't know how to pick it out, and I'm afraid I'm going to kill myself or, at a minimum, make myself violently ill if I cook it incorrectly. Because my wonderful husband knows all this about me, he bought me the perfect cookbook, Fish for Dinner, which not only contains all kinds of delicious recipes, but also walks you through all of these things I've been trying to figure out. I mean, the first page is titled, "Understanding Fish", so this cookbook and I were kind of meant for one another.

The next barrier to overcome was having enough presence of mind to actually plan out a meal involving fish - you know, going to the grocery store, having a recipe in mind, buying the right ingredients, and following through on actually making the meal that night. It's much less challenging with, say, chicken - if you decide you're too lazy to make it that night, you just throw the chicken in the freezer. With fish, you want it fresh. So, you know, it's a big commitment in the cooking department.

ANYWAY. As you can see, I finally was able to pull myself together and see that commitment through. And I'm so glad I did. This was delicious, different, nourishing - all that good stuff. Also, turns out salmon is really easy to cook, at least like this. I mean, really easy.

The original recipe, which I've provided below, makes four servings (four salmon filets). I made one salmon filet, cooking for just myself, and halved the rest of the recipe for the sauce. Next time, I would probably reduce the amount of fish sauce. That stuff is really salty. It definitely provides the unique flavor the recipe calls for, but wow, that stuff is powerful. Let's just say Pancake got a little too excited about the smell it made while it was cooking, which, knowing dogs, is not always a good thing.

On that appetizing note...this is a delicious recipe. And it looks fancy, too.

For four:

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 jalapeno chile, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

3 tbsp chopped fresh basil

3 tbsp peanut oil

2 tbsp Asian fish sauce (again, you could probably halve this)

Juice of 1/2 a lime (plus slivers for garnish)

1 tsp sugar
4 salmon filets, about 6 oz each

Salt and pepper

Combine the garlic, chile, green onions, cilantro, basil, and 1 tbsp water (I actually added an equal part of peanut oil) to a food processor blender and blend to make a paste.

In a small frying pan over medium heat, warm 2 tbsp peanut oil. Add the herb paste and saute for about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the fish sauce, 2 tbsp water, lime juice, and sugar. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes.

Season the salmon filets with a little salt and pepper.

Heat a large frying pan of high heat until very hot, and then add the rest of the oil (1 tbsp). Add the salmon right to the pan, and cook until golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes. Flip the filets and do the same on the other side, about three more minutes. (The recipe wants you to keep it a little rare in the center, but I guess I'm still not 100% comfortable with cooking fish, so I just made sure it cooked through - it should get lighter in color and flaky when poked with a fork.).

Transfer the filets to plates and drizzle with the pesto. Serve it up!

Travel Edition: Dining in Japan

(Tokyo - Pickled Vegetables, Various Tofus and Bean Curds, Sardines, Rice with Tiny Fish (Jayko!), Miso with Shellfish)

Time for a post that's long overdue: dining in Japan! Come on, you know I'm that embarrassing tourist who photographs every single meal item. And now - lucky, lucky you - I'm dedicating a whole post to those embarrassing photos.

One of my many, many favorite things about Japan was the food. The traditional cuisine is fantastic, the options are endless (we barely ate the same thing twice), and you can get just about any other international cuisine you want, and get it done right. So, in addition to Japanese food, we had Spanish, Thai, French, Irish Pub...aaaaand one trip to McDonald's (the most polite McD's experience ever, by the way - they even arranged the food in neat rows on the tray table).

Because everything is so clean, etc., you can really feel good about trying more adventurous dishes, which is fantastic.

One thing we noticed halfway into the trip was how fast the food was prepared, too. I didn't really realize this until two restaurants apologized that the food would take - horror of all horros - 15 minutes to make it to our table. Of course, that seemed more than reasonable to us, especially considering what was being prepared.

The single thing I didn't like: fermented soybeans, which made an unfortunate appearance in my last meal of soba noodles. Hey, I tried it. Not. Good.

Final food note: Tsukiji Fish Market. Massive and amazing. And they do it EVERY day!

The country is clearly still suffering from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters, and will likely continue to do so for years to come. As many people have observed, however, the Japanese are not ones to let themselves be set back by extreme adversity: three days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the community had the trolleys running again. I loved our trip, the country, and the people, and am hopeful for Japan's recovery.

Tokyo - Thai


Tokyo - Conveyor Belt Sushi


Tokyo - Yakitori; Sushi, Fresh from Tsukiji Fish Market; Udon; Making Soba Noodles


Nikko - (Politely Slurping) Ramen and Mizuyokan (Red Bean Jelly)

Hiroshima - Okonomiyaki and Food Display

Miyajima - Grilled Oysters, Prawn Tempura with Udon, and Momiji Manjū


Kyoto - Paella, Boulangerie Breakfast, Fish and Chips, McDonald's


Kyoto - Tempura; Carpaccio; Spaghetti with Shrimp, Asparagus, Garlic, White Wine, Parsley - Topped with Fish Eggs! (Seriously Delicious)


Kyoto - French Bistro - Carpaccio, Potage, Tender Beef




Kyoto - Gion - All One Meal!


Nara - Mackerel and Salmon Sushi Wrapped in Persimmon Leaves (Delicious!)


Tokyo - Fugu (Pufferfish) - (I didn't get to try it, but Joef did!)

Mexican Feast, Part 2: Chipotle Shrimp

(from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

The second course we served for our Mexican Feast, along with the chips and salsa, was Chipotle Shrimp, which tided us over till I finished making the chicken...erm, a few hours later. I love these shrimp - I've made them a few times before, and they are great - pop-in-your-mouth smoky-spicy.

This is really two recipes in one: first, the Essential Sweet-and-Smoky (ah, there's the adjective combo I was looking for) Chipotle Seasoning Salsa, and then the Chipotle Shrimp, which calls for that seasoning. The seasoning makes a lot of leftovers (it makes 1 1/4 cups, and you only use 2-4 spoonfuls in the shrimp themselves), which can be stored in the fridge and used for other things (added to wine for mussels, added to dips, etc.) - although truth be told, I've never done any of that. Missed opportunity!

Let's start with the Chipotle Seasoning:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp molasses
Vegetable oil to a depth of 1/4 inch, for frying
4 oz dried chipotle chiles (Bayless prefers the red moritas, but I always use - because I can only find - the brown mecos), stemmed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp salt

In a medium saucepan, measure 1 1/4 cups of water, add the sugar and molasses, bring to a boil, remove from heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Set a skillet with the vegetable oil over medium heat, and when the oil gets hot (before it starts to smoke), add half the chiles. Stir and coat in oil until they start to smell spicy; some will puff up - cook for about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the oil and drop them into the sweet water and stir. Do the same with the rest of the chiles.

Pour off most of the oil in the pan, leaving a thin layer. Return to medium heat and cook the garlic, stirring until golden - about 4 minutes. Add to the chiles. Pour the chile mixture into a blender (with the water) and puree.

Return the same skillet to medium-high. When it's hot, add all of the chile puree to the pan. Stir, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. It will be very thick and will blacken and be shiny on top when it's ready. Season with salt if you want. Set aside.

Chipotle Shrimp
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 small white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium tomato
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
2-4 tbsp Essential Sweet-and-Smoky Chipotle Seasoning Salsa (see above)
1/2 tsp salt
2 lbs (about 50) medium-large uncooked shrimp, deveined and peeled, but with final joint and tails kept on

Roast the garlic cloves on an ungreased skilled over medium until they blacken in spots. If you have a large enough skillet, you can simultaneously roast the onion by placing it in a square of aluminum foil and putting that on the skillet as well. Let it brown and soften, turning as needed. While this is going on, roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet below a broiler until the skin blackens; flip and allow the opposite side to blacken as well, then remove from the oven and let cool before removing the skin. Let the garlic cool and remove its skin, too.

Combine all of the roasted ingredients in a blender along with the pepper, cloves, and 1/4 cup water. Puree.

Heat the oil over medium-high in a very large skillet. When the skillet is hot enough to make a drop of the puree sizzle, add the puree all at once and stir for several minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep cooking and stirring another 5 minutes or so. Now, stir in your Chipotle Seasoning Sauce a tablespoon at a time until they reach the heat you want (I used 3 heaping tablespoons). Remove from heat; add salt if needed.

Once your shrimp are prepped, return the sauce to medium-high and stir into the sauce until the shrimp are cooked, about 3-4 minutes. The sauce will coat the shrimp. Serve and enjoy!

Red Clam Sauce: 100th Recipe!

By an admittedly rough estimate, La Piccina Cucina has hit 100 recipes since the first post in March 2010! That ain't half bad, if you ask me! What graces the 100th recipe spot? Another Popolizio family favorite - red clam sauce. As with most Popolizio recipes, wonderfully simple ingredients and process yield a delicious result.

I'm kind of surprised with myself that I haven't posted this one yet. The recipe is basically the same as white clam sauce, with tomatoes added. Now that I think of it, it does omit the butter and the white wine (which are technically optional, anyway), although I suppose you could keep those in for fun.

And here it is, your (drumroll) 100th recipe!
3/4 lb linguine or spaghetti rigati
3-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, chopped and lightly salted
1 can minced clams (keep the juice)
1 can chopped clams (keep the juice)
Salt to taste
Pinch of parsley, for garnish

Start the water boiling for your pasta and cook. In the meantime, pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and add your garlic; heat over medium-high for a couple of minutes (don't let the garlic burn). Add your tomatoes and let those cook down for a few minutes, then add your clam juice from the two cans. Bring it to a boil if it's not already there, then reduce heat to low and simmer. It should be ready pretty soon after the pasta is done - make sure the tomatoes have started to break down. A few minutes before you're ready to serve, stir in the clams and continue to cook for a few minutes over low heat. Pour your drained pasta right into the pan while still on low, toss, garnish with parsley, then serve.

Christmas 2010

It was a wonderful Christmas this year. Joef and I headed back to my ole homestead in Oak Park to spend six days with my mom and dad. Joef's parents joined us, there were jigsaw puzzles and wonderful gifts, we decorated the tree, I went to a couple food-tastings for my best friend's wedding, I re-learned how to drive stick, we started training for Tough Mudder, and we were surrounded by wonderful friends and family.

And then there was the food. I don't have any recipes to share - yet - as I didn't do any of the cooking. But I wanted to put up a few photos in tribute to the real cooks of the family: Ma and Pa Popolizio. No wonder I like this stuff so much!

Orrechiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage

Seafood Salad

Spaghetti with Shrimp, Scallops, and Calamari

Baked Cod with Potatoes

Great-Grandma's Kuchen

Rolled Veal Breast with Pancetta and Rosemary

Lasagna (with Homemade Noodles)



Happy New Year, everyone! I love you, Mama and Daddy!