Showing posts with label Food Experience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Experience. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Back in Action - Tropical Thanksgiving

After a somewhat brief hiatus, I am back to blogging!  The holidays were extremely busy, but don't worry, you no longer have to go through KitchenTravel withdrawal...

Now that it is 2011, I have to catch you up on a few things, namely my trip to The Bahamas over Thanksgiving 2010.  As the meal planner of my family, I organized several days of delicious, tropical-themed dishes that were enjoyed after long, hard days of golf, tennis, beach time, and laziness.  Almost all of these dishes were served with a hearty portion of fried plantains.  Lucky for us, the Bahamian grocery store sells an enormous bag of frozen plantains - all you have to do is defrost them a bit and dump them into a frying pan with a little bit of oil.  And they are YUMMY.

But first, let's set the stage.  The Abaco Club at Winding Bay is where we ate these delicious meals...

 
 

Now that I have made you sufficiently jealous, I will now make your mouth water...

Meal One: Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Fried Plantains, and a Green Salad


Meal Two: Shrimp Tikka with Mango Chutney and Grilled Corn on the Cob.


Meal Three: Beef Kebabs with Red Onion and Bell Pepper, Greek Salad, and Fried Plantains (forgot to take photos of the Beef Kebabs...apologies!)


Meal Four: Fish Tacos and Fried Plantains


These fish tacos were to die for and are very easy to make.  They are even customizable if you want to add/subtract ingredients!  Here are the easy steps:

Ingredients:
- Red onion
- Red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1.5 teaspoons chili powder
- 1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
- 0.5 teaspoons cumin
- approx. 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 jalapeño
- 1 lb. mahi mahi
- small tortillas
- salsa
- avocado
- sour cream
- mango
- limes
- anything else you may want to add!

1. Thinly slice a red onion and marinate in red wine vinegar for at least 30 minutes.

2. Grab a gallon-sized seal-able plastic baggie and add 1/4 cup olive oil, 1.5 teaspoons of chili powder, 1.5 teaspoons of dried oregano, 0.5 teaspoons of cumin,  1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (chop up some more to add to your tacos later), 1 minced jalapeño, and 1 lb. mahi mahi (without any skin).  Seal the bag and squeeze/shake so that the marinade spreads evenly over the fish.  Marinate for 20 minutes.

3. Cook the fish in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.  Add a little salt and feel free to pull apart the fish as you cook (because that's how you will want it in your taco!)

4. Warm the tortillas (if you want) and then assemble your tacos (don't forget the marinated red onions)!  In addition to the fish, I added salsa, sour cream, fresh mango, fresh avocado, extra cilantro, and a bit of fresh lime juice to my tacos.  They were unbelievably tasty!
And of course, I should mention that we did eat Thanksgiving dinner.  We just didn't cook it :)


Credits: My Fish Taco recipe is adapted from Lourdes Castro's cookbook, Simply Mexican, which I found online. The photos were taken by yours truly.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Pennsylvania Food and Fun

We spent a good amount of November in Pennsylvania.  One weekend was spent in the Philadelphia area for visits with family and friends, as well as a cousin's fencing tournament.  Another long weekend was spent all over southern and southwestern Pennsylvania from Gettysburg to Pittsburgh and everywhere in between.  On both trips we ate EXTREMELY well.  We had Italian and Moroccan in Philly (and a cheesesteak of which there is no photo).  And we had Civil War cuisine and home-cooked Persian food in Gettysburg and Pittsburgh.  Let's just say that this was not very good moderation to prepare for the Thanksgiving calorie intake...but it was worth it.

Friday night dinner on Weekend One was spent at Modo Mio in Philly with my beautiful cousin.  If you live in or plan to visit Philly, this hole-in-the-wall BYO Italian restaurant is a dining requirement.  It serves legitimate Italian cuisine and offers a very affordable four-course prix fixe menu.  If these samples don't get your mouth watering, you are inhuman...

Italian bread with olive oil, ricotta cheese, and spices.  And good red wine!


Antipasti: Bruschetta with snails; Sformato (crab and ricotta cake); Lingue (braised calf's tongue)


Pasta: Raviolo (mozzarella stuffed with apricots and sage); Gnocchi with porcini and Gorgonzola cream; Agnolotti (veal and rabbit ravioli with sage butter)


Secondi: Melanzana Ripiena (tomato braised stuffed eggplant with mint and ricotta); Anatro (prosciutto wrapped duck breast with figs); Vitello (braised veal cheek with fruit chutney)


Delicious Desserts that I can't remember...


We graced the college fencing tournament at Temple University on Saturday of Weekend One...


And then we enjoyed Moroccan food (with an Italian twist) at the delicious BYO Novita Bistro (you can thank the Quakers and their limited liquor licenses for all of the fantastic Philly BYO restaurants): Delicious bread with olives and oil; Calamari and Merguez (Moroccan lamb sausage); Lamb Tagine; and Roast Duck Breast with Lentils


Our Sunday was spent at the Valley Forge National Historical Park and watching football while eating cheesesteaks.


Weekend Two was full of stamps for my National Parks passport.  Gettysburg National Military Park, David Wills House, and Eisenhower National Historic Site were visited on Veterans Day.  


We also dueled at lunch at McClellan's Tavern with the hubby's Confederate Burger and my Union Beef.


11/12 at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Johnstown Flood National Memorial, Downtown Johnstown, Flight 93 National Memorial, Fallingwater, and Ohiopyle State Park.  PS - I can't legally post photos of Fallingwater.  Email me if you want to see them!


11/13 in downtown Pittsburgh and Point State Park, as well as Oakland for the Learning Chapel (University of Pittsburgh) and the Carnegie Museums.  


11/14 at Friendship Hill National Historic Site and Fort Necessity National Battlefield.


Let's just say we had a great time in Pennsylvania - with both food and travel.  Hold tight for Tropical Thanksgiving details and recipes...