Greek Salad with Sardines

Serves 4

Another photo stolen from a website—now that I found our camera, the battery is dead. This recipe is from Eating Well magazine, and Chris—truly, this is some kind of miracle—had flipped through the issue and DOG-EARED the recipes that he wanted me to try. That’s the most enthusiasm and interest he’s shown for anything in the kitchen pretty much since we’ve been married. Greek salad is nothing new for the Grays, we do quick dishes like this a lot, but the addition of sardines was something new. Buying sardines at all was something new, in fact, even though we’ve both heard how good they are for you. We had the perfect family dinner last night, yumming up this refreshing salad on the back porch with toddler and dog, enjoying the 80 degree evening.

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons dried oregano (I used Greek seasoning instead)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 medium tomatoes, cut into large chunks (I used cherry tomatoes, halved)

1 large English cucumber, cut into large chunks (I used 2 regular cukes, peeled and seeded)

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

2 tablespoons sliced Kalamata olives

2 4-ounce cans sardines with bones, packed in olive oil or water, drained

Whisk lemon juice, oil, garlic, oregano and pepper in a large bowl until well combined. Add tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, feta, onion and olives; gently toss to combine. Divide the salad among 4 plates and top with sardines.

Fish Tacos with Citrus Salsa and Cilantro Cream

Serves 3

Oh. My. So. Good. What a happy intersection of circumstances that brought this most delicious lunch together today. This is, admittedly, more than we usually bother to put together for a weekday lunch, but it was so good that I think it will carry me happily into next week, flavor-wise; I can just eat cardboard until next Tuesday or so.

Fish

White fish such as Orange Roughy or Tilapia

marinade (this is very approximate, sorry, I didn’t measure anything): 2 Tbs lemon juice, 2 Tbs olive oil, 1 Tbs salt, 1 tsp taco seasoning, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp dried onion

Let fish marinate for a few hours before broiling.

Citrus salsa

1 avocado

1/2 grapefruit

1/4 bunch cilantro, stems removed, minced

1/4 C minced red onion

salt to taste

Soak red onion in a bowl of water while preparing other elements of the salsa (this will neutralize the intense raw onion flavor). Cube avocado, remove grapefruit sections from the pith and slice. Mix all ingredients together, salt to taste.

Cilantro cream

1/2 C thick plain yogurt

1 garlic clove

1/2 bunch cilantro, stems removed

a few tablespoons lemon juice

salt to taste

Place all ingredients in the food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Sides: beans and rice

1 C brown rice

2 C water

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes

1 15-oz can pinto beans

Bring water and rice to a boil with salt; cover, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan heat olive oil. Saute onion and garlic until translucent. Add tomatoes and rice, cover and simmer until excess liquid is absorbed. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the pinto beans in a small saucepan. If you have time you can add diced onions and spices, but I like them plain too.

   

About 10 minutes before you’re ready to eat, turn the fish and marinade onto a small cooking tray (I did mine in the toaster oven)—set oven to broil, cook fish for about 10 minutes until cooked through and browned slightly.

 

To serve the tacos you’ll need 8 to 12 small corn tortillas and some cheese. We like to heat our tortillas with a little cheese in the microwave, then add the fish, salsa and cilantro cream.

Shrimp Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger-Peanut Dressing

More opportunities for healthful raw vegetables, omega-filled seafood and whole grains (soba noodles are made from buckwheat)! This is a combination of a recipe from Eating Well Magazine and another from Women’s Health—one recipe’s dressing with another’s ingredients. A snap to make, totally delicious (the ginger is like a tiny burst of eternal sunshine) and full of goodness, the Gray Family is going to take this one DOWNTOWN for dinner tonight.

6 oz. buckwheat soba noodles

1/2 C chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 C chopped fresh basil

1 C sliced bell pepper (red, orange or yellow, preferably)

1 large carrot grated

1 mango, peeled, flesh cut into cubes

1 1/2 C cooked, peeled, deveined, detailed shrimp

dressing:

1/2 C natural smooth peanut butter

1/4 C rice vinegar

1 Tbl honey or agave nectar

1 Tbl minced fresh ginger

1 Tbl + 2 tsp soy sauce (San-J tamari and LaChoy soy sauce are gluten-free)

1 Tbl lime juice

1 tsp lime zest

1 Tbl water

chopped peanuts for garnish

While the soba noodles are cooking, chop all of your vegetables, herbs and mango, and get your shrimp ready. The soba only takes five minutes, so pay attention. Rise the noodles in cold water and set aside.

 

In the meantime make your dressing. It will probably taste wicked-salty to you, but don’t worry, it will be just right once everything is tossed together. Serve chilled, topped with chopped peanuts.

Most Excellent Salmon Snack

That’s a pretty disgusting sounding title, but I tell you that nothing hits the spot like a little smoked salmon on crisps! And of course this is a great mid-morning/mid-afternoon snack for the pregnant lady because of the protein, the omegas, the vegetables, the whole grains and the belly-calming citrus goodness. Check it:

Take some whole grain crisps—I like Wasa Sesame Rye Crisps (there are many that are gluten-free)--and spread them with cream cheese and some sliced raw vegetables such as you see here: bell peppers and cucumbers.

Cover said lusciousness with the smoked salmon of your choice (my hands down favorite is Nova Lox; it’s like the mother I never had). Squeeze copious amounts of fresh lemon all over these babies, and then liberally sprinkle them with fresh pepper. No, these are not all for me; this is one healthy snack that Chris gets very excited about.

Pregnancy-Friendly Sushi, also friendly to those who just don’t do raw fish

 

Sushi is something that a lot of pregnant women miss during those nine months, but also something that a lot of regular humans have a hard time with because of the raw fish element. In fact many kinds of sushi don’t have raw fish at all, and are therefore appropriate and delicious for everyone…except for that tiny, dogmatic portion of the population that for some inexplicable reason is under the erroneous impression that they “just don’t like sushi.” We all know that they “just haven’t had GOOD sushi.”

So here’s an easy primer for those who want to try some user-friendly, non-raw, nori-wrapped lusciousness that won’t weigh too heavily on the recommended fish intake for pregnant women (12 oz. per week), in the form of three rolls: salmon, shrimp and spicy crab.

Start first with the rice. I use short grain brown, but you can follow the rules and use Japanese sushi rice if you wish. This is 1 1/2 C rice cooked in about 3 1/2 C water with a little salt. After it’s cooked, stir in about 2 Tbl rice vinegar and set it aside to cool.

 

While the rice is cooking you can chop your veg: carrots, celery, cucumber, avocado. The more avocado the better. Many different kinds of veg would be tasty, this was just what I had on hand.

You can also use the time while the rice is cooking to make the spicy crab mix. Use 2/3 C shredded real or imitation crab meat (use real crab meat for the gluten-free version), 1/4 C diced celery, 2 Tbl minced green onion, all mixed together with a little mayo (canola mayo is dairy-free) and about 1 tsp Chinese hot sauce. This would also be a good time to toast some sesame seeds.

Once your rice is cool and all the fillings are ready, spread the rice thinly on 6 sheets of nori seaweed, leaving a 1-in seam at the top. It helps to dip your spreading tool (spatula, your hands, whatever works) in water periodically. I had just a small amount of rice left over based on the quantities that I gave above.

Next line up the sliced vegetables. There will be two rolls of each flavor—I didn’t put celery on the spicy crab, since there is diced celery in the mix.

 

Then add the fish and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Here is the salmon (the thinly sliced, lightly smoked kind)…

…the shrimp (cooked, peeled, deveined and de-tailed, of course)…

…and the spicy crab.

I don’t have a sushi rolling mat but find that it really isn’t a problem at all. I just put the nori on a dish towel and roll it carefully and tightly with my hands. When you get to the end rub a little water along the edge to seal it. Here are all six babies lined up, ready to be sliced.

 

While you’re staring at how gorgeous they look, have someone sharpen your best knife. Then have them sharpen it again.

I like to cut the rolls in half first, then work out toward each end. Each roll should make eight pieces. This is three rolls cut up—one of each flavor (crab on the left, salmon on top, shrimp on the right). The other three rolls are in the fridge and will be cut up for me to take to work tomorrow; finding those in my lunch box at about 1pm tomorrow will be about the best thing that will have happened to me all week.

A salmon roll poses effortlessly on my stylish sushi plate.

Chris dips deeply into the sauce (soy sauce plus a dab of wasabi--San J tamari and LaChoy soy sauce are both gluten-free).