Grilled Fish Tacos Recipe

© RB Photography
© RB Photography

I think you should have a Cinco de Mayo party!  Wouldn’t that be fun?  Even if you’re not up for hosting a bunch of people next Saturday night, you at least need to prepare some delicious Mexican-inspired food for your family.  Who needs to go to the local overcrowded Mexican restaurant and eat greasy, over-sauced, heavy food in the presence of too many inebriated partyers?  Not me, friends!  Although I don’t need it to be Cinco de Mayo to make Mexican food.  My family requests Mexican about as much as anything else and I am happy to oblige with fresh, healthful and easy-to-prepare recipes.

The Mexican dishes I like to make and eat are perfect for busy weeknights, but even better for entertaining because they’re always crowd pleasers and often it’s all about the toppings and allowing everyone to make their own.  I love this for many reasons — it gives kids more control in what they’re eating and really encourages them to try new things, it’s less work for me, and it’s fun!

One of my favorite Mexican dishes is fish tacos.  Not only do I make them all the time at home, but I find myself ordering them whenever I can especially on vacation (what vacation?).  I’ve been known to eat fish tacos every single day for a week and not tire of them.  I love changing the toppings each time to keep it different.  Sometimes I’ll even use a Savoy cabbage leaf instead of a corn tortilla.  In my house we’re split down the middle as to the preferred fish preparation, so in my classes this month and on my blog post, I decided to demonstrate two delicious methods.  I prefer a lime juice-based marinade and my husband likes the dry rub better, but you can’t go wrong with either.  Where you can go wrong is not putting together a great assortment of condiments, because this is the KEY to building a perfect fish taco.

Grilled Fish Tacos|Pamela Salzman

I went on a reconnaissance mission to Wahoo’s Fish Tacos in Manhattan Beach to see what a restaurant with the words “fish tacos” in its name does with fish tacos.  Wow.  Major disappointment.  A piece of grilled fish in a soft corn tortilla with a pinch of thinly sliced cabbage.   Ok so far.  Plus shredded cheddar cheese.  Huh?  Fish and cheese?  No.  And then a tiny scoop of pico de gallo (fresh tomato salsa) on the side.  People, we can do so much better!  A delicious and satisfying fish taco has a balance of different tastes and textures (and no cheese!)  Here’s what you need:

  • creamy:  I personally can’t even eat a fish taco without the white sauce I’ve shown here and/or some sliced avocado or guacamole.
  • crunchy:  thinly sliced cabbage or a firm lettuce, even a good slaw like this Cilantro-Lime Slaw.
  • spicy:  even just a little kick makes it better.  Try adding a little heat to your sauce, slaw, dry rub or salsa.
  • tangy:  a tart, acidic flavor helps keep everything fresh and balanced.  You can squeeze fresh lime over everything or incorporate it in a marinade, slaw or salsa.

 

© RB Photography
© RB Photography

Grilled Fish Tacos|Pamela Salzman

© RB Photography
© RB Photography

I am excited to share a few more great Mexican-inspired recipes next week in hopes to inspire you to enjoy your own fiesta at home!

Grilled Fish Tacos

Pamela
4.67 from 3 votes
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Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • White sauce:
  • 6 Tablespoons mayonnaise I like soy-free Vegenaise
  • 6 Tablespoons whole unsweetened yogurt
  • 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce or ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle powder optional (taco on the left has sauce with chipotle powder, taco on the right has sauce without)
  • pinch of sea salt
  • Marinade:
  • ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 2 Tablespoons unrefined olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • OR
  • Dry Rub
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 pound firm white fish such as halibut or mahi mahi
  • Oil for brushing grill
  • 8 6- inch corn tortillas warmed either on grill or heated griddle pan until pliable
  • Suggested Accompaniments:
  • Sliced avocado guacamole, pickled red onion or radishes, shredded napa, savoy or green cabbage or slaw,
  • fresh pico de gallo salsa, fresh lime cut into wedges

Instructions
 

  • Whisk together ingredients for white sauce and refrigerate until ready to use.
  • Combine lime juice, oil and cumin in a shallow nonreactive dish small enough to just hold the fish. Add fish and turn to coat in the marinade. Season with salt and pepper and marinate fish at room temperature for 30 minutes. OR mix dry rub spices together and sprinkle on both sides of fish.
  • Preheat grill to medium-hot. Brush grill grate with oil. Grill fish until just cooked through, about 3-5 minutes per side. Break fish into large pieces.
  • Fill tortilla with fish and desired accompaniments. Drizzle with white sauce and squeeze fresh lime wedges over tacos.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Low-Sugar Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Have you ever eaten a piece of fruit and said, “this is the best darn [insert name of fruit here] I ever had”?  I’ve been saying that daily with strawberries and every time I do, my kids roll their eyes with that look like, “here we go again.”  It’s just that when strawberries are so deep red, fragrant, juicy and sweet as they have been, I get emotional.  I also want to take a minute to enjoy them since their season doesn’t last forever.

I hadn’t made dessert for the kids in a while.  So I thought it would be fun to surprise them with something special after dinner on Sunday, and I wanted to incorporate strawberries.  One of the easiest and quickest desserts to make is fruit shortcakes.  The classic is strawberry shortcake, but I have used blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, nectarines and (my favorite) peaches.  I do not exaggerate when I say that you will have your biscuits on the pan ready to be baked before your oven is preheated.   For that reason, it’s an especially fun dessert to make with your kids.  They can knead the dough, cut out the biscuits, brush the tops with cream and sprinkle them with sugar.  I had a great time baking these with Mr. Picky, who was very proud when he announced to everyone that he made dessert.  The kids love strawberry shortcake because they can assemble their own and pile on as much fruit and whipped cream as they want.  I like it because it is a very low sugar dessert, maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons per person which doesn’t even get a sugar nazi like me worked up.  So many fruit desserts call for silly amounts of sugar which is unnecessary if the fruit tastes good to start.  I want the dessert to taste like the fruit I am using and not just sweet.

Traditionally strawberry shortcake is just a barely sweetened biscuit split with whipped cream and fresh fruit piled onto the bottom half of the biscuit.   But who wants to stick with tradition all the time?  Besides mixing it up with different fruits, we have also had fun using toppings other than whipped cream.  Have you tried my favorite way?  A biscuit with yogurt, strawberries and sliced almonds?  Freakin’ delicious.  When the kids were much younger, I used to do mini-shortcakes which are great for little ones or for a party .  You can add mini-chocolate chips to the dough or shave some dark chocolate on top of your berries and cream.   If whipped cream and yogurt aren’t your thing, try putting a can of coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours and scoop the top out and use that instead.  However you slice it, strawberry shortcake is a classic dessert that is always welcome!

Low-Sugar Strawberry Shortcake

Pamela
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Ingredients
  

  • Shortcakes:
  • 2 cups flour I like 1 cup whole wheat pastry and 1 cup all-purpose
  • ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar + additional for sprinkling on top
  • ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
  • 1 cup heavy cream half and half or whole milk
  • Whipped cream whole yogurt or coconut milk cream
  • Fresh sliced strawberries or other seasonal fruit
  • Whipped Cream:
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Place the flour(s), salt, baking powder and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse a couple times to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles small peas or pebbles. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
  • Add the cream and blend with a fork until just combined.
  • Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a couple times to bring the dough together. Roll out to a ¾-inch thick disc and cut into 2 ½ -inch circles with a round cookie cutter or small glass dipped in flour. Gather the scraps, roll again and cut more rounds until you have used up all the dough. Transfer the dough pieces to the prepared pan and space evenly apart.
  • This is optional, but it creates a light golden color: remove 1 Tablespoon of cream from the cup for whipped cream and use that to brush the tops of the shortcakes. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake 17 minutes, or until puffed and lightly browned.
  • Cool the shortcakes slightly on a wire rack.
  • Whip the heavy cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Dollop on a split shortcake and serve with fresh berries.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Gluten-Free Oatmeal Pancake Recipe

gluten-free buckwheat pancakes | pamela salzman

I have two things on my mind this week — eating anything that was forbidden during Passover (like grains) and being mindful of our consumption of limited resources with Earth Day coming up on April 22nd.   “How will she ever revert this to a pancake recipe?” you ask.  Stay with me, peeps.

Passover, which occurred last week,  is a mighty 8-day abstinence from eating all grains, except wheat turned into matzoh.  Giving up bread, pasta and most starches isn’t such a big deal to me, but my hubby and the kids start groaning after about Day 3.  “How much loooooonger?”  “How come we can’t have rice?  Jack’s family eats rice during Passover.”  “What??!!  It ends on Saturday night?  I thought it ended on Friday!”  And so on and so forth.  Same spiel every year.  Yawn.  So on sundown of the 8th day, my people were freed from bondage, ordered pizza and ravaged it like contestants on “Survivor.”   As for me, I will admit, I was missing oatmeal for breakfast.   Sunday morning I made an extra-large batch thinking everyone craved it as much as I did.  Wrong!  Everyone was craving bagels.    That brings me to my other thought for the week which is being efficient with resources and limiting waste.  I needed a creative way to use that leftover oatmeal!

dry ingredients

By now you know I am serious about pancakes.  I make them twice per week, very often varying the flours or even adding pumpkin and spices to the mix.  I love that everyone has fun customizing his or her own with fruit, nuts or chocolate chips.  Yesterday I made a a lovely batch of oatmeal pancakes with some of the leftovers from Sunday’s excess.  I added a good cup’s worth of steel cut oatmeal to gluten-free oat flour and buckwheat flour, which gave the pancakes these fantastic tiny little chewy bites.  I am a big fan of texture and whole grain flavors, so I adore these pancakes.  If you’ve never tried buckwheat flour, it has a great wholesome earthiness, but it does lend an odd, grey color to the batter.  By the way, buckwheat has no wheat in it and isn’t even related to wheat.  In fact, it is a relative of the rhubarb family, which is why it’s gluten-free.

leftover steel cut oats

 

gluten-free oatmeal pancake batter |pamela salzman

Oat flour is quite simple to make yourself if you don’t feel like buying it.  Just process rolled oats in the food processor until powdery.  That’s it!  If you need or want the oat flour to be gluten-free, you must buy oats/oat flour that is labeled as such, because otherwise it can contain trace amounts of gluten.  If you’re like my husband and are wondering how they take the gluten out of oats, they don’t really.  Botanically oats should not contain gluten, but they do share crop space with gluten-containing grains and often they are processed in facilities which also process wheat and barley, for example.  So the oats can pick up gluten that way.  But if you prefer, feel free to use my standard whole wheat pastry flour for the oat and buckwheat flours.  It just won’t be gluten-free and it will taste more like my traditional buttermilk pancakes, but with a little chew from the oats.  I tend to adorn these pancakes with the same yummies that I would add to a bowl of oatmeal — diced bananas, chopped walnuts, and the like.  But strawberries are incredible and plentiful right now, so we all included them yesterday and my husband tossed in his standard handful of blueberries.  Mr. Picky eats these pancakes just fine, but did declare my “normal” pancakes are his first choice.

add fruit to pancakes before flipping | pamela salzman

Extra pancake batter?  We won’t waste it!!  It will stay good in the refrigerator for a few days and can be used to make fresh pancakes later in the week.  If you use buckwheat flour, don’t be put off by the gumminess of the batter.  It’s very normal and still turns out perfect pancakes.  You can also make all the pancakes at once and freeze them for another day.  I like to put a piece of parchment paper in between each piece so they don’t stick together.  Another idea is to use the pancakes instead of bread for a sandwich or a roll-up.  Any other creative ideas for using up oatmeal or pancakes??

 gluten-free oatmeal pancakes | pamela salzman

Gluten-Free Oatmeal Pancakes

Pamela
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Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 1 cup buckwheat flour or substitute whole wheat pastry flour for all or part of the oat and buckwheat flours
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking soda
  • pinch ground cinnamon optional
  • 2 cups buttermilk*
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 Tablespoon 100% pure maple syrup
  • 1 cup COOKED oatmeal preferably steel-cut
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
  • Melted unrefined coconut oil for brushing the griddle

Instructions
 

  • Preheat a griddle to 400 degrees or medium heat. (Not all built-in griddles are the same. 350 degrees may be fine for you.)
  • Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
  • In a medium bowl or 4-6 cup measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup, melted butter and oatmeal until well blended. (Or combine all wet ingredients in a blender and add to dry mix with oatmeal.)
  • Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
  • Brush the griddle with coconut oil and spoon about ¼ cup of batter onto the griddle. Add blueberries, chocolate chips or diced banana to the surface, if desired. When bubbles start to form on the surface of the pancake and the edges become slightly dry, flip it over and cook until done. Maintain the heat on medium-low or 400 degrees.

Notes

*No buttermilk? Sub half unsweetened yogurt and half whole milk. Or use 2 cups milk, omit the baking soda and use 1 Tablespoon baking powder instead.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Gluten-Free Millet and Shiitake Pilaf Recipe

I waited several years before I taught a recipe with millet in my classes.  Why?  Because I was afraid.  Afraid my (adult) students wouldn’t like it.  Afraid I would turn them off to millet forever.  Afraid I would lose credibility as someone who could offer them nutritious food that tasted great and that their families would probably eat.  And then I realized this is exactly the attitude I am trying to teach my students to avoid.  It’s such a mistake to fear introducing new foods to your family because you’re not sure if they’re going to like them.  So it was really silly of me to be reluctant to teach Millet and Shiitake Pilaf, which I absolutely love, love, love.

First off, let me introduce you to this fantastic seed.  Millet in this country is used more as bird feed than a nutritious and tasty side dish, which is nuts because it has been cultivated for many thousands of years.  I know millet looks like a grain, tastes like a grain, and cooks like a grain, but it is actually a seed.  Millet is gluten-free and kind of similar to quinoa, but a bit drier and it has a slightly nutty, corny flavor.    It is naturally alkaline, which is not easy to come by in a grain or seed, as most are slightly acid-forming.  Millet is also considered to be one of the least allergenic and most digestible grains/seeds.  It is nearly 15% protein and rich in B-complex vitamins, as well as iron, magnesium and potassium.  Wow!

Are you wondering why you have never tried it, let alone heard of it before?  Crazy, I know.  I buy millet in the bulk section at my local natural foods supermarket, but there are several manufacturers including Eden, Bob’s Red Mill, and Arrowhead Mills which sell it packaged.  I use it the way I would any other grain, in a pilaf, a salad, in soups, even pureed with cauliflower for an awesome mashed potato substitute.   One of my favorite breads is a millet bread by Food For Life.  I’ve seen many recipes for millet porridge which call for doubling the liquid and stirring the millet constantly to make a super creamy, hot breakfast cereal.  Personally, I prefer millet in a savory preparation, but many people love millet this way.  Besides the cauliflower mash which I’ll show you how to make one day, a pilaf is my favorite way to eat millet.  I especially love the soft texture of the mushrooms and onions with the dry millet.  But if you aren’t a fan of mushrooms or your kids won’t just pick the mushrooms out like Mr. Picky, leave them out and use something else like peas or asparagus tossed into the pot with 5 minutes to go.  Just like my students last year, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much you like millet and that it’s not for the birds!

Have you tried millet before?  I’m always on the look-out for delicious ways to prepare it, so please share!

Millet and Shiitake Pilaf

Pamela
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Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ cups millet rinsed and drained
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons unrefined cold-pressed olive oil
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 1 clove garlic finely chopped
  • 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms stems removed, caps wiped clean with a damp paper towel and chopped into 1 –inch pieces (you can use any mushroom, but shiitakes are so much more nutritious!)
  • 3 1/3 cups water or homemade chicken stock use 3 1/2 cups liquid if you're NOT going to eat it right away since the millet will dry up as it sits
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • a little chopped parsley or shaved parmesan cheese for garnish optional

Instructions
 

  • In a 2-3 quart saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic and mushrooms until softened.
  • In the meantime, place the millet in a heavy skillet over medium heat and roast until dry with a toasty aroma.
  • Transfer the millet to the saucepan with the onion mixture and stir to coat. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Notes

Millet dries up and gets fluffier as it sits. Leftovers will firm up considerably in the refrigerator, so add a little liquid when reheating.
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Egg-Free Avocado Caesar Salad Recipe

I hope you all had a lovely Easter or Passover holiday.  Ours was so nice thanks to my mother-in-law took care of the meal and all I had to do was show up with desserts.  But now I’m ready to move on from anything to do with coconut or eggs.  In fact I am going to be a rebel and just omit eggs in recipes where you would normally expect to find them!  I can be crazy that way.   One thing that has surprised me in teaching cooking classes the last few years is how many people have food intolerances/allergies.  If you or one of your kids is one of those people, you are not alone.  The most common allergens I run across with my students are gluten, dairy, nuts and eggs.  There are others of course, like soy, corn, mangos and shellfish, to name a few.   Then there are people who can’t tolerate garlic, which I’m not sure how I could live without.  But eggs is a big one.  So it’s always in the back of my mind when I come up with a recipe and I try to share egg-free versions of anything I teach.

 

Caesar salad dressing is traditionally made with olive oil, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice or lemon juice and red wine vinegar, mustard and raw egg yolks.  Normally I substitute mayonnaise for the egg yolks because I’m not always comfortable serving kids raw eggs, but sometimes mayonnaise contains egg, too.  So to make this dressing egg-free, but still creamy, I tried using one of my favorite rich, nutritious foods — avocado — and a new favorite salad dressing was born.  The color is a tad green, but you won’t notice it once it’s tossed with the lettuce.  And the avocado does nothing to change the flavor of the dressing so you would otherwise have no idea that you weren’t eating a regular Caesar salad.  Do I dare say this is even better than a normal Caesar?  I made this for a working lunch at home yesterday and my assistants and I couldn’t stop eating it.  So goooooood!

Did I mention that Caesar salad is also very simple to prepare at home?  That’s one reason I’m not likely to order it in a restaurant.  I have a thing about ordering food in a restaurant that can be easily made at home.  I don’t mind paying for handmade pasta, high quality sushi, or foods that are either unusual or labor-intensive that I can’t reproduce at home.  But even the novice cook can make a delicious Caesar dressing for a fraction of a restaurant’s price.  I can buy an entire head of romaine lettuce at the farmer’s market for $1 and probably make Caesar salad for 4-6 people for under $4.  You’ll think twice about spending $12 for one portion.

 

Salads are a great way to use the topping bar method with your kids.  Many children do like Caesar salad,  but if yours are unsure about all that lettuce, allow them to add whatever they like to their plate, even if it’s something that you might not eat on the salad — olives, pecans, dried fruit, popcorn, avocado, chopped up chicken tenders.  That’s not what’s important.  We’re just allowing them to have some control over what they eat while encouraging them to eat the same food we do.  They’re still finding their way.

I don’t add cheese to the actual Caesar dressing, but instead sprinkle it on top of the chopped lettuce and then toss with the dressing.  If you are dairy-free, you can leave the cheese out completely or substitute Parma (vegan “Parmesan cheese”) or nutritional yeast and a little extra sea salt.  And if you’re vegan, omit the anchovies and add a drop of vegan worcestershire sauce.  Dairy-free and vegan peeps, did you think I was only going to give love to my egg-free friends?  I have more than enough to go around.

Avocado Caesar Salad

Pamela
5 from 2 votes
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Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • Dressing makes about 1 cup:
  • 2-3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 3 Tablespoons unrefined cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 ripe avocado pitted and peeled
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt you can add more if you’re skipping the cheese
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon anchovy paste or 1-2 anchovies** optional, but traditional
  • 1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 6 Tablespoons water
  • Salad:
  • 1 head romaine lettuce washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
  • ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese* or a wedge shaved into thin strips
  • croutons for garnish if desired

Instructions
 

  • To make the dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little more water to make it thinner, if desired. Taste for salt and pepper, but be conservative with the salt since the cheese is salty.
  • Place the lettuce in a serving bowl or on a platter and sprinkle with grated cheese and croutons. Depending on the size of your head of lettuce, you may have more dressing than you need, so just toss lettuce with enough dressing to coat lightly. Or toss salad with dressing and garnish with shaved cheese.

Notes

Other options: You can also take a head of romaine, cut it in half, brush with olive oil and grill it for a Grilled Caesar Salad. Other sturdy lettuces could be radicchio, endive or red romaine.
*Try Parma or nutritional yeast for a dairy-free option.
**Vegans can drop the anchovies and add a drop of vegan worcestershire sauce instead.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Egg Salad Recipe and Other Things You Can Do with Hard Boiled Eggs

I’m thrilled to have my mother and my 4-year-old niece visiting me this week from New York.  We’re having a great time catching up on magazines, tivo’d shows and of course, cooking.  After she read my post the other day about hard boiled eggs, she said, “so I used to overcook my eggs?”  I speak the truth on this blog and I asked my mother if she remembered the telltale green ring around her yolks.  She remembered.  We reminisced about always eating egg salad sandwiches for lunch the day after Easter, and for old times’ sake I thought it would be fun to make them with my mom again.

The two of us had a little egg salad cook-off with my mom making the version I grew up with, which is no more than chopped up hard boiled eggs combined with mayonnaise, relish and a pinch of salt.  Always delicious and that little bit of sweetness from the relish makes this egg salad kid friendly, unless you’re Mr. Picky who thinks egg salad is one of the “scariest” foods out there.  2 plain hard boiled eggs for Mr. Picky, please!  I whipped up my favorite version of egg salad which is loosely based on a recipe from my heroine, Alice Waters and her fabulous book, The Art of Simple Food.  My more grown-up egg salad may taste more sophisticated than the old version, but I assure you it is just as simple, absolutely delicious, and still kid-friendly (for kids that would actually eat egg salad.)  And look, Mom, no green ring!

Hard boiled eggs are rather bland and the texture is soft, so I like balancing all that out with a little salty bite from some capers, some mild onion flavor from either fresh chives, shallots or green onions, and the smallest dash of cayenne for some kick.  I don’t see how people can eat egg salad on squishy, bland white bread, and not just because white bread is tasteless and devoid of nutrients (maybe I should tell you how I really feel.)  Egg salad just pairs so well with some texture and flavor, like from a nice hearty sprouted seed bread or other earthy, flavorful bread — always toasted.  After enjoying this tasty sandwich with my mom the other day, I asked myself why I never make egg salad.  It was such a simple and satisfying lunch with a side green salad.  Daughter #1 gave the egg salad a try and became a convert, although with mouth half-full announced she liked it just fine, but wouldn’t be taking any egg salad too school for lunch — “I don’t want egg aroma in my backpack all day, thanks.”  Whatever.

If you are in Mr. Picky’s camp and think egg salad is too scary or if you went all out, decorated a bazillion eggs and need something more than just an egg salad recipe, here are some other yummy ideas:

  • Sliced on top of toast with smoked salmon or sliced avocado.
  • Deviled eggs — I think this recipe for Caesar Salad Deviled Eggs at Smitten Kitchen looks interesting.
  • Nicoise Salad — a composed salad of potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, tuna and hard boiled eggs.
  • Cobb Salad — here’s a more healthful version by Ellie Krieger.
  • In a filling for empanadas.  I love my recipe which uses mixed greens, to which you can add a chopped hard boiled egg or two.
  • Pan Bagnat — a sandwich with sliced hard boiled eggs, tuna, tomatoes, onions.  Check out Alton Brown’s recipe here.
  • Chopped over steamed or roasted asparagus.  Then drizzle with one of my favorite everyday salad dressings.

Do you have any great ways to eat hard boiled eggs?  I’d love to know!

Egg Salad

Pamela, adapted from The Art of Simple Food
3.50 from 2 votes
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Ingredients
  

  • 4 hard boiled eggs peeled
  • 3-4 Tablespoons mayonnaise I like soy-free Vegenaise
  • 1 heaping teaspoon of capers drained and chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped chives my favorite, scallions or shallots
  • tiny pinch of sea salt or to taste
  • a few grinds of freshly ground pepper
  • a dash or two of cayenne pepper doesn’t make it spicy, just better

Instructions
 

  • Coarsely chop the eggs and place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Taste for seasoning.
  • Serve on toasted whole grain bread with greens like watercress or your favorite lettuce. I always love a little avocado, too!

Notes

Other delicious additions to the egg salad: diced celery, Dijon mustard, fresh parsley
My Mom’s Egg Salad
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
3-4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons sweet relish
pinch of salt
Mix everything to combine well.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

How To Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

I imagine many of you are getting ready to boil eggs this week, either to decorate for Easter or to include at a Passover seder.  I loved the annual event of dyeing Easter eggs when I was a child.  (It also meant a basket full of candy was only a few short days away. ) My mom would buy a dozen eggs and my 2 sisters and I each took 4 eggs to dye.  It never seemed like enough eggs to us.  But whatever we decorated would also have to be eaten, because perfectly good food was not thrown away in our house.  So 12 seemed to be a good compromise.

I actually liked hard-boiled eggs and I still do.  A quick breakfast for me is a boiled egg or two with a sprinkle of sea salt and a piece of toasted millet bread.  Eggs are a great source of inexpensive, usable protein.  I’m so glad research is showing that the dietary cholesterol in eggs is nothing to get worked up about.  People used to think that foods high in dietary cholesterol increased one’s blood cholesterol, but it’s really saturated fat that seems to be the culprit and most of the fat in eggs is unsaturated.  In addition, the phospholipids in the yolk interfere with our absorption of the yolk’s cholesterol.  Now you’re not going to imagine I said something which I didn’t and go hog wild eating eggs like crazy every day, are you?  Good.  We still need to emphasize plant foods, people.

Sadly, my mom’s hard boiled eggs always came out slightly overcooked and with that unattractive green ring around the yolk, so I was never super enthusiastic about eating more than I needed to.   So on the eve of the great hard boiled egg cook-off, let’s figure out once and for all how to prepare a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg.  I’ve done a few videos for the amazing website, The Chalkboard, including one on boiling eggs which I’ve inserted below.  Click here to see the original post.  Once we’ve got this down pat, on Friday I’ll give you my favorite way to make egg salad, as well as few other creative ideas for eating hard boiled eggs, that way you don’t have to worry about what in the world you’re going to do with them all the day after.

Here are a couple of tips to follow:

  • Fresh eggs are harder to peel, so if you are getting them right from the nest or from the farmer’s market, it’s best to wait a few days before boiling them.  If this isn’t possible, add a half teaspoon of baking soda to a quart of water to make the cooking water more alkaline.  Also, allow the eggs to firm up in the refrigerator before peeling.
  • Cover eggs in a pot with cold water and plenty of room to move around.  No one likes cracked shells.
  • Bring the water to a boil and then turn off the heat, cover your pot and set your timer for 10 minutes.  Why not boil the eggs for 10 minutes?  Cooking the eggs in boiling water will overcook them, resulting in a rubbery white and a dry yolk with that unattractive ring around the yolk.   You want a solid, but tender white and a moist yolk.  Trust me, you do.
  • After 10 minutes in the pot, submerge the eggs in ice water to stop the cooking process, just like blanching vegetables.  Either remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a bowl of ice water or drain the eggs in a colander and run them under very cold water.  I usually run them under cold water if I want to eat the eggs right away and I want them to be slightly warm.  But for decorating, ice water is the way to go.

Video Here

How To Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Pamela
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Ingredients
  

  • Eggs

Instructions
 

  • Place the eggs in a pot that’s big enough so the eggs won’t crash into each other. Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover eggs by an inch.
  • Put heat on medium-high and bring the water to a full boil. Cover the pot, turn off the heat and set a timer for 10 minutes.
  • In the meantime, prepare a bowl of ice water to accommodate the eggs. When the timer goes off, transfer the eggs from the pot to the ice water bath with a slotted spoon. Or drain them in a colander and run them under cold water if you’d like to eat them immediately.
  • Store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

Coconut-Almond Tart with Strawberries Recipe

When I was a little girl, I loved any holiday where candy was involved.  I was crazy about sugar and my mother didn’t allow many sweet treats in the house, so I really looked forward to those “special occasions.”  Lucky for me, my auntie was all too happy to satisfy my sweet tooth whenever possible.  She was and still is an unbelievable baker as well as a top customer at her local chocolate shop.  You name the holiday, she had the matching sweets, especially on Easter, which was like sugar-on-steroids.  There were small little foil-wrapped bunnies for our baskets, large chocolate boxed bunnies, jelly beans in every color of the rainbow, chocolate eggs and the best one of all — a ginormous chocolate-covered coconut egg.  Imagine a moist, dense, sliceable orb of sweetened coconut covered in milk chocolate — I was obsessed with this confection!  Believe me, I’m not trying to tempt you here.  It was so sickenly sweet, I am sure if I had a bite of it today, I would be nauseous.  Definitely not worth it!

I’m no longer obsessed with that coconut egg (or candy, for that matter.)   But since then, I’ve always associated Easter with coconut, which is funny because it’s really a season-less food.  And in the last decade since I’ve been on the health food path, coconut has found it’s way to me in many forms, none of which is sweetened with sugar nor coated with chocolate-flavored sugar.  Today I rely on unrefined coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut water and unsweetened shredded coconut and my body is much happier with me.  So when I was coming up with a new Easter dessert a few years ago, coconut immediately came to mind.  But since I also celebrate Passover with my husband’s family, I wanted something I could serve on that holiday, too, so no grains or flours allowed.  Lastly, I wanted a delicious dessert that wouldn’t make me feel sick after I ate a slice.  And this is what it really boils down to for me.  I rarely eat sweets and when I do, I’m not looking for dessert to take care of my nutritional needs.   So whereas it’s nice in theory to know I may be getting a few extra minerals from unrefined sweeteners and unprocessed ingredients, I just want a tasty treat that doesn’t make me feel like hell afterwards.  Like this coconut tart!

 

This tart is so delicious and light, but it also happens to be gluten-free, vegan (if you use coconut oil), Passover-friendly, and adaptable to the fruits of the season.  I love making this tart with strawberries now since they are absolutely everywhere and super luscious.  But I’m sure you can picture this like a traditional fruit tart with raspberries, blueberries, kiwis, ripe peaches and/or apricots.  If you don’t like coconut (seriously?), you probably won’t love this, but you can always swap your favorite (hopefully not too toxic) crust for this one.  The coconut custard is very subtle and not overly sweet, so do give it a chance.  For those of you looking to get a jump-start on your holiday baking (I love the way you think), you can definitely make both the crust and the pastry cream 2-3 days in advance and keep both covered in the refrigerator.  You can even wash, dry, and slice your strawberries the day before and keep them covered in the fridge, if it makes your life easier.  It’s best to wait until the day you serve it to spread the cream on top of the crust to avoid it becoming soggy.  Leftovers (what leftovers?) should be kept refrigerated otherwise you’ll run into the same soggy crust issue.  For my other two favorite go-to Easter and Passover desserts, check out my Lemon Ice Torte, which I’ve been making since 1991 (gasp!) and Coconut Macaroons.  With desserts like these, you won’t be tempted by your kids’ Easter baskets!

Coconut-Almond Tart with Strawberries

Pamela
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Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil or unsalted butter plus additional for greasing pan
  • ¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup preferably Grade A
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup almond meal or almond flour
  • 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ vanilla bean halved lengthwise
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • ½ cup coconut milk not light
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup preferably Grade A
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • 2 ½ Tablespoons non-GMO cornstarch such as Bob’s Red Mill or Rapunzel
  • 1/3 cup cold water
  • 1 dry pint strawberries sliced

Instructions
 

  • Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat a 9 ½ -inch tart pan with removable bottom with butter or coconut oil. Whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla until well blended. In a mixing bowl, combine almond meal, coconut and salt. Add wet mixture to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. It will be quite sticky. Press into bottom and up sides of pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • Make the filling: Scrape vanilla seeds into a small saucepan, and add pod. Stir in the almond milk, coconut milk, maple syrup and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard vanilla pod.
  • In a small bowl, combine the cold water and cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Pour into the coconut milk mixture and simmer, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened like pastry cream. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer cream to the refrigerator and chill.
  • Just before serving, pour custard into crust and spread evenly. Arrange berries decoratively on top and serve immediately. Best kept refrigerated.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!