I was roasting some bell peppers last week and realized I’d been given a bunch of fresh rosemary that I needed to use. So I threw it (the whole stems/stalks/whatever you want to call them) on the baking sheet with the the peppers. When all was done I just grabbed a piece of the rosemary and munched on it, then them, and more. I barely got to the peppers. It was so good. Just nice and crunchy and so much flavor! Love fresh herbs.
Even before this crazy snow started falling (so last week), I was searching for soup. It was actually while needing to sit on the couch for several hours watching football. So a recipe I came across to check out was Bon Appetit/Epicurious’s Saffron Fish Stew with White Beans. I love getting something with that sharp color of saffron (and you can find it for a great price at Trader Joe’s). When I came across this recipe it has so many of my favorite herbs. Anything with seafood is wonderful!
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup pre-chopped onion
1 teaspoon ground fennel (love it!)
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (heaven)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 thyme sprig
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh orange rind
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups clam juice
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 pound flounder fillet, cut into (2-inch) pieces (for this I just threw in a bunch of stuff from my freezer — some white fish, scallops, langoustine tails. I also had a bag of mixed stuff from TJ’s that I’ll use next time)
1 (14-ounce) can great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
Fresh thyme leaves
![IMG_4788[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/img_47881.jpg?w=300&h=225)
Preparation
1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, fennel, coriander, garlic, and thyme sprig; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in rind and saffron; add water, clam juice, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in salt, fish, and beans; cook 5 minutes. Top with thyme leaves.
![IMG_4791[1]](https://melsmosaic.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/img_47911.jpg?w=300&h=225)
This was so quick to make! Served it with some rosemary bread (can’t take credit for making that). Delicious.
Recently found out about a newish (one year old) restaurant in DC at Union Market. It’s a growing area and Union Market alone has tons of great little (food) shops. The restaurant is Bidwell, and there is also a restaurant by the same chef in NYC. They have a garden on the rooftop and in the summer grow their own herbs and veggies — nice!
Our ‘table’ was great — right in front of the kitchen so we got to watch all the action take place. It was a busy night, they didn’t expect it, so stuff was a bit under par, but that just meant we got to watch more of the fun take place.
It took awhile to get our cocktails because they had one bartender but I eventually received my City Sage.
Quite unique. I’m not a huge bourbon drinker but that sage intrigued me. Was totally worth trying it!
For an appetizer, we tried some of the highly-kitchen-rated Brussel sprouts. So nice and crisp and crunchy — give me more!
We then had to try the kale salad, just super fresh, with pine nuts and a nice vinaigrette (that had anchovies in it to give it a perfect saltiness).
To cap it off, went with the salmon served over cauliflower. Again, very good — after I received it 3 times over. They initially told me there was no dairy, but that white stuff at the very bottom is mostly dairy. The second time I got it, the cauliflower should be outside right now (freezing), the third time, delicious!
Overall, I will totally check this place out again. The manager apologized for the slow service but the food was delicious. If you’re in DC and can make it to Union Market, check this place out.
Kitchen gadgets can be so much fun! I went to a business lunch and there were door prizes. I never win anything. Most of the giveaways were gift cards, anyway, and as nice as essential cash is (they were Visa cards), I knew I wouldn’t win. Well, suddenly I heard my name. But, I didn’t get a GC. The stars aligned and I won the kitchen gift bag. The rep giving this one away had been to Sur La Table and had a field day. WOW! I was in luck. So, I got all sorts of new toys that I would totally never go buy for myself but loved getting.
The one I’ve played with the most is the Berry Pincher (that’s the formal name I give it). The manufacturer, Chef’n, calls it the StemGem. You can remove the leaves from strawberries and clean all sort of other things.
You just plunge the sharp teeth of this thing right in the top of the berry.
You give it a little twist.
And yank it out. The motion makes the picture a bit fuzzy! Sorry. The website has better pics.
The other great toys I got in my bag were:
A Kuhn Rikon Pepper Mill with Ratchet Handle — so cool with the handle!
A Joseph Joseph Rocker Garlic Masher — SMASH! Great fun, you can also use it to get rid of the odor in your hands.
And the last toy, by the same producer as the strawberry toy, I got the Zipstrip Herb Stripper. I haven’t actually gotten around to using this yet. I needed it the other day and of course was cooking in somebody else’s kitchen when I was looking for it!!
So if you want so new additions to your kitchen, consider checking these out.
A cold afternoon can only get better with the amazing aroma of mushrooms and fresh herbs! I was having some friends over the other day and we always enjoy hummus as one of our snacks so had to do something different. I came across a new recipe that has one of their favorite foods in it — mushrooms — and then it has the beans of hummus, too. Perfect! So I whipped up a Mushroom & White Bean Crostini. I made a few changes to the original recipe based on what I had on hand and lactose intolerance.
Ingredients
1 (French) baguette, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3/4 cup garlic infused olive oil — just used the regular stuff and sprinkled the bread with garlic powder
1 Tablespoon butter — didn’t use any
1 Tablespoon olive oil — ‘some’ — accounting for no butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms, cleaned and patted dry — picked up a pack at Trader Joe’s
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch Kosher salt
1 15.9 ounce can Bush’s Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed — used Cannellini Beans
2 Tablespoons Italian Herbs — went with flat leaf parsley and fresh rosemary — totally more than 2 tbsp
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese — nixed that for my own reasons — let me know how it tastes
Time to cook!
I put the slices of baguette under the broiler — translation nice and quick vs. extended toasting.
Next, per the recipe, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil, <butter> and mushrooms. Sauté for 5-10 minutes or until mushrooms release their moisture and begin to shrink. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. The kitchen started smelling so good!
Then, get those herbs ready! Now, aroma overload. This is one of the reasons we cook!!!!
Next, add minced garlic, salt, herbs and beans. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture is heated through.
Finally —
I served this in a bowl and let guests dish it onto bread on their own or just put it on their plate and eat it with a fork. Otherwise the recipe mentions…To assemble each piece of Crostini, place a spoonful of mushroom bean mixture on top of a slice of toasted bread. Top with shredded baby swiss cheese.
This was so, so good. Would be great to serve at upcoming parties and can be easily transported if not served on bread if you want to take it somewhere. You can easily make it ahead of time and heat it up when you arrived at required location.
Mel's Mosaic 