Adventures in Horse-Mackerel Grilling

Now if that's not a catchy title, I don't know what is! :D I must say that if pics of dead fish (with big eyeballs) gross you out, you should stop right here.

We decided to "taste the culture" yesterday, and headed to the outdoor market for some fresh, local, Azorean treats. We started out at the fruit and veg store, where our friend Humberto sold us all kinds of deliciousness, mostly all of it local. Figs, melons, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, etc. Humberto is great- he acted unfazed when my 2-year old did a literal face-plant into a huge bunch of grapes, eating and slobbering as he went. He let us have them for free (though I couldn't help but wonder if he secretly hated us! He didn't act like it though. Good ol' Humberto. We did offer to pay a few times, but he wouldn't let us).

Then, we went to the fish store. I was on the lookout for some fresh sardines, but being the brilliant one that I am, I forgot to look up the Portuguese word for them ("sardinhas"- what a toughie!) I didn't even look online to see what they look like. So, I ended up buying what I thought were fresh sardines, but were really horse mackerel (I think). As a cooking friend candidly said, "What an appetizing name for a fish!" Lol!

Even though they weren't the coveted fresh sardines, they still needed to be eaten... before they stank up the fridge. So we put those babies on the grill! (Seasoned only with olive oil, coarse sea salt, and TJ's lemon-pepper). The fish-monger ladies cleaned out the guts for us... I'm grateful. They left the poor heads on though, so that part kind of freaked me out while I was handling them. And the cooked meat was a pain to get off, as these fish are so tiny, and full of even tinier bones. But when it was all said and done, the meat was very yummy and everyone thought it tasted good; the kids couldn't get enough.

Needless to say, the mini horse-mackerel experience is not something we'll be rushing to repeat! Still on the lookout for those fresh sardines, though.....

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Feta Bowties

Here is another pasta dish that is simple, and easy to throw together, too. It's similar to some other pasta dishes I've posted on here, but different enough to get it's own post. :) I've made this a few times as a main dish, and all we need is a good veggie to go with it for dinner.

Feta Bowties

12 oz. bowtie pasta
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons EVOO
salt and pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
2/3 cup Kalamata olives, cut in half
1 cup small cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
6-8 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile, mix together vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, galic, and Italian seasoning in a large serving bowl. Add hot cooked pasta to this mixture and toss to coat. Add olives and cherry tomatoes, and stir together gently. Add feta cheese and stir to combine. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Grilled Naan Bread

The last time I made Chicken Korma, I made homemade naan bread to go with it. It was so, so good; I vowed that next time, I'd make the naan and just have that be the star of the meal. That is what we did last night. We grilled naan and dipped it into garlicky, wonderful Tzatziki Sauce.  On the side, we had lemon/garlic broccoli, and eggplant grilled with a honey/balsamic/garlic marinade. A lot of garlic goin' on, but I've missed garlic lately. It was a wonderful meal, and we all loved the chewy, buttery naan dipped in the tzatziki sauce, even my 2-year old!

PS:  4/18/2013:  I've made this recipe countless times since 2009.  We all continue to love it.  I've updated this post with some new photos.  This is one of my fam's all-time fave recipes, ever.

The recipe I use for Naan comes from here, and I need to put it on my blog so that I can have eaiser access to it, and change the grams and milileters into cups for my own convenience. :) This recipe is super easy; I have never had time to let it rise the 4 hours, usually I make do with 2 and it's fine. I love the use of yogurt in this. We make this on the outdoor grill, and I'll include instructions for that. You can also make it indoors, as the original recipe states.

Naan

adapted from Folkmann.ca

Ingredients
3+ cups white flour (Can use one cup of whole wheat flour)
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2/3 cup natural (plain, unsweetened) yoghurt (room temp)
Ghee or vegetable oil for greasing
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Preparation

1.  In a large mixing bowl (I used my Kitchenaid) dissolve the yeast in the milk and sugar, and stir in the yoghurt. Add the flour and stir in the salt and baking powder. Mix thoroughly with the flour to form a dough.

2.  Using your Kitchenaid or your hands, knead the dough until it is smooth and only slightly sticky (you might need to add more flour, I did), and place in a bowl covered with a clean cloth. Place in a warm place to rise for 2-4 hours.

3.  Divide the risen dough into 12 equal sized portions and roll them into balls. On a lightly floured surface flatten the balls into oblong shapes, using both hands and slapping the naan from one hand to the other. (Or you can just use a rolling pin; I find that easier).

4.  For grilling: Rub your grill grates with oil. Preheat your grill for 5-10 minutes on high (for gas). You want it nice and hot when that dough comes into contact. Place rolled-out naans onto grill and wait for the one side to cook and brown a little. The raw side should bubble up. Brush the raw side with melted butter, and flip over to cook the other side. Cook until you reach your desired color.  (You can brush the other side with butter, too).

5.  If cooking indoors:  Grease a griddle or heavy based frying pan lightly with ghee or vegetable oil and heat it until it is very hot. Cook the naan on one side only a few at a time (careful not to burn it). Spread the raw side with butter, and flip and cook the other side until browned. Serve hot.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Back from the U.S.

We just can't seem to stop traveling this summer. We took a last-minute, 2-week trip to the U.S. and got back a few days ago. It was a quick trip, and every minute seemed to be busy. We went to a few weddings/receptions, saw friends and relatives, ate out a few times, went shopping (of course), and traveled to the Oregon Coast (photo above). We love that area, and always make sure to go blueberry picking and visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way there. A trip to the U.S. wouldnt' be complete without a visit to Trader Joe's, so we made time for that and brought a few things back with us in our luggage. I was really glad to visit the U.S., but even more glad to be back home.

I look forward to settling in here, getting back into a routine, and cooking more often!

I'll miss you, Fred Meyer! We had some beautiful moments together. Sniff, sniff.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Grillin' Pizza..... Again!

Tonight, we grilled pizza again. It was soooo good! This is only the second time we've done it, but it makes me realize that we need to do it more often. I had limited choices for toppings, so I topped this with tomato sauce (the same pizza sauce I used here), mozzarella, black olives, and cooked bacon. For the crust, I used the same recipe I used before, from Allrecipes.com. I love the smoky flavor the grill imparts to pizza, and the crispy, almost- blackened edges and bottom.

Crust (for Pizza on the Grill)
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 pinch white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Garlic Oil:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Cheese and Toppings of Your Choice

In a bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, and mix in sugar. Proof for ten minutes, or until frothy. Mix in the salt, olive oil, and flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Knead in garlic and basil. (I just mixed and kneaded with my Kitchenaid). Place dough in a well oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down. Set aside to rise for 1 more hour, or until doubled again.

Preheat grill for high heat. Heat olive oil with garlic for 30 seconds in the microwave. Set aside. Punch down dough, and divide in half. Form each half into an oblong shape 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick.

Brush grill grate with garlic flavored olive oil. Carefully place one piece of dough on hot grill. The dough will begin to puff almost immediately. When the bottom crust has lightly browned, turn the dough over using two spatulas. Working quickly, brush oil over crust, and then spread on pizza sauce, cheese, and other toppings. Close the lid, and cook until the cheese melts. Remove from grill, and set aside to cool for a few minutes while you prepare the second pizza.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Back Home

After traveling and being away for so long, it's nice to be home! Upon arriving back in the Azores, we were struck anew with just how beautiful it is here. While we were gone, thousands of hydrangea bushes around the island have been hard at work blooming; transforming themselves into colors of lilac, periwinkle, pink, and pure white. I thought there were a lot of hydrangeas here when we left in June.... that was nothing compared to now! I don't know if someone has planted all of them, or if they grow wild, or what. There are so many, and they are everywhere- even lining cow pastures!
**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Pizza in Naples

At the end of our trip, we traveled, by train, from Germany to Italy. We stayed in Naples overnight before catching a flight home. Naples is very large, crowded, and not too clean. Although, the trash problem is not as bad as it once was. Just google images of "Naples garbage" to see what it used to look like, not too long ago. You no longer have to wade through trash on the streets, at least. I wouldn't go visit Naples on purpose, just FYI. I'm here to talk about the food, though. :) The food was great. We only had the chance to eat breakfast and dinner there. I'd love to visit Italy again (maybe a nicer part this time) to sample more of the wonderful food. From our hotel, we could walk down a (somewhat questionable) street to a pizzeria that was only 2 buildings away.
I ordered the quattro formaggio pizza, which was, no surprise, 4 cheeses with no tomato sauce, and some fresh basil on top. My husband got a pizza with artichoke hearts on top, my boys got the margherita, and my daughter tried one with rosé sauce and ham. I tried them all and they were all delish!! Those pizzas are huge, too. They overlapped huge dinner plates. The kid's portions were even huge! The next day, our hotel had a lovely breakfast bar- with fresh-baked croissants (filled with cherries and some kind of custard), fresh-baked hard rolls with jam and butter, cereal, yogurt, honey, juices, milk, and a machine that made hot chocolate (and many kinds of coffee). We ate outside on the patio of the breakfast room, and enjoyed some delicious, creamy hot chocolate, even though it was probably 85 degrees outside at 7am! The meal was delicious, and a good note to end our stay in Italy! **This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Doner Kebabs

A popular fast-food item in Germany is the Döner kebab. These originate in Turkey, but change a little from country to country. There is meat (roasted vertically on a spit) with lettuce, tomoatoes, onions, cabbage, and delicious garlicky yogurt sauce, all on warmed flatbread. A lot of times, the meat is "mystery meat", where you're not really sure what you're getting, but when we had Döners on our last night in Germany, the place we went to asked if we wantd chicken or beef! I chose chicken, and it tasted like roast chicken with a great mix of spices, including cumin.
**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

French Village

One of our fave places on our vacation was a little French village just over the German border. I've mentioned this village twice on this blog already, here, and here, but I can't help mentioning it again- it is just so quaint and charming! This time, we sought out that french bakery, but it was closed for the owner's summer vacation. We went across the street for some croissants and eclairs, and they were good, but we missed the fancier one. Then we spent a lot of time just strolling around the village, going down into places where a lot of visitors might miss. We saw some beautiful buildings, and some interesting ones, including a doorway from 1593.

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The Netherlands

The Netherlands was only about a 2-hour drive from where we were staying in Germany, so we decided to make a day trip of it, since we had never been before. We visited a small, southern section of the NL. It was very clean and tidy there, with lovely, brick-housed neighborhoods with immaculate yards, and there were bikes everywhere!

We went to a bakery (of course!) and a grocery store first. The bakery said that these mini-pies were their specialty, baked from scratch right there. I got a cherry-almond one, and my husband got an apple-cinnamon. My kids tried cherry turnovers and sugared donuts.

Then we took a picnic to a park, and spent a few hours there. There was a large petting zoo, canals, a small playground, and an old castle wall. After the park, we visited a beautiful castle that was in excellent condition.

We finished up our visit with some stroopwafels- these things are so, so, good! I wished we had bought more than just that one package.

On the way home, we drove to the border of the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. It was also the highest point in the Netherlands.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

German Food

**We are back from our vacation now, but bear with me as I play catch-up to showcase some of the things we did on our trip to mainland Europe.**I finally managed to take a photo of some schnitzel, actually, we got pics of it at two different restaurants. On almost every menu in Germany, there are a few different kinds of schnitzel. My fave is the rahmschnitzel, or schnitzel with cream sauce (photo below). Another good one is pfeffer schnitzel- schnitzel with a pepper/cream sauce. (Photo above, with spätzle on the side- so, SO good!).

Every time we ordered a schnitzel, it came with a wonderful green salad, and the restaurant's own sweet/tangy dressing, many times made with yogurt. (That drink in the background looks like beer, but isn't. For us non-alchohol drinking folk, a yummy German drink is apfelsaftschorle; apple juice mixed with sparkling water.)

At one restaurant, my daughter ordered a kleine (small) plate of käsespätzle. Spätzle is mixed with cheese, sauteed onions, and ham. This was soooo good, and super rich. And this plate was not very kleine! (I made a homemade version of this a while ago, but I didn't use a recipe and didn't really know what I was doing; it tasted like nothing compared to this!)

We were always too stuffed in restaurants to order dessert, but we did have our share of Germany pastries at other occasions. No wonder I came away from Germany with a little extra poundage!!

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **