Watermelon Cilantro Granita - October Secret Recipe Club

Inaugural Secret Recipe Club post!  This was supposed to happen last month, but unfortunately I broke my ankle and had surgery the day of my first reveal.  Oops, sorry SRC!  But no fear, my post was covered and I'm ready and raring to go for October!  Well, more puttering than raring but you get it.

The blog I was assigned is an adorable four-sister venture called Crumbs and Chaos.  It is run by Becca, Emily, Kate, and Megan and there are so many recipes I want to try!  The ladies have lovely baked goods, a focus on seasonal food, and highlight their fellow bloggers every week with their 5 on Fridays posts.  Bonus - the incredibly creative children's parties like the Minnie Mouse Party and the Spiderman Party.  I loved the Caramel Apple Cinna-minis for their tiny package of big fall flavors, the innovative Apple Pie Salsa that would perfectly pair with some baked pie crust pieces, and the supremely simple but flavorful Mongolian Beef Lettuce Wraps.  However, I don't have a crock pot or two legs to stand on so I chose something that was simple and fast so that I wouldn't hate my kitchen by the time I was finished.  Enter Watermelon Granita!

I love granita for its ease of preparation, its versatility, and (in my versions) a balance of tangy and sweet flavors.  The basic idea is to combine juice from any fruit(s), sweeten with a touch of sugar or simple syrup, freeze, and scrape (read: fluff) with a fork to create a light and airy frozen treat.  The key is to find the balance in the "base" of the granita before freezing by slowly adding the lime juice and simple syrup and tasting in between.  I chose cilantro and lime to complement my watermelon base, simple and unadorned flavors.

And you may be asking me, "Sarah, why are you doing a frozen dessert when my google reader and facebook is filled with apple and pumpkin recipes?"  Well, first of all, I made this last week when it was still 70-80 degrees out in DC so I could still comfortably wear shorts outside.  I hadn't taken my boots out of their boot shapers since April.  But most of all because it was barely fall yet.  This week, I feel like it is finally time to flood me with all things pumpkin and spice yet here I am with a granita.  Oh well, win some lose some.  Thanks, Crumbs and Chaos, for the inspiration!

Avocado and Tomatillo Soup

One of the best parts of sticking around DC after graduation has been having most of my friends from college still here.  A few weeks ago, a bunch of us went out to the new Mike Isabella mexican restaurant Bandolero to catch up, have margaritas on tap, and enjoy Top Chef alum fare.  And it was GOOD!  Duck confit in the queso fundido, crazy delicious tacos, and the dish that completely caught my eye tomatillo and avocado gazpacho.  It was a cold and creamy soup with tiny pieces of tequilla-soaked watermelon and orange sprinkled throughout like jewels.  After the soup got passed around the table for everyone to try, I finished it slowly because I knew I wanted to recreate the dish myself.

I was reminded of the dish a couple of weeks ago when Bandolero was doing demos at the Dupont farmer's market so I picked up some fresh tomatillos and got to work!  After taking off the outer husk, I removed the core and then used my food processor to buzz them all up.  I strained the pulverized tomatillos through a sieve and then used a stick blender to add avocado, sour cream, lime juice, and garlic.  Topped with teeny pieces of watermelon and orange supremes, it was a beautiful and healthy dinner without the trek to M street!

Girls night is headed to dim sum soon, expect barbecue pork buns to follow that one!

Cucumber Coleslaw for Foodie Friends Friday

Welcome to my first linky party!  I thought I would bring coleslaw to the party, because who doesn't love coleslaw at a summer party?  Instead of the traditional cabbage mix and mayo, I used shredded cucumbers and bleu cheese.  It is tangy and cooling and a great twist on a barbecue classic.

Lime juice, juice from shredding the cucumbers, and a splash of rice wine vinegar mixed with crumbled bleu cheese mimics the color of traditional coleslaw sauce with its own refreshing flavor.  Crunchy granny smith apple and cucumber with the sweet corn and a touch of honey contrast beautifully with the bleu cheese.  I made it a few years ago and it has been rattling around in my brain for the past few months, just waiting for the fresh corn to come back!

Mango Lime Salad with Adobo Tilapia

Recently, I made a trip to a salad and sandwich place and had the most addictive mango and lime vinaigrette on a Caribbean chicken salad.  Tangy and sweet with a little herb-y kick, a perfect summer flavor.  Unfortunately, the contents of my salad were mostly limp and flavorless.  The supposedly spicy chicken was tame and it was seriously lacking in avocado, or really anything other than lettuce for that matter.  But that vinaigrette was worth a revisit so I decided to "dress" up the salad!

Using my food processor, I buzzed up a chunked champagne mango with lime zest and juice and a couple cloves of garlic.  Rice wine vinegar was added followed by streaming in olive oil until I got the perfect texture.  Out of the processor, I added some chopped cilantro, cumin, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the fish, I just used the spicy adobo sauce from the chipotles in adobo can.  (If you like super spicy, go ahead and mince some of the chipotles and add to the adobo sauce!)  After seasoning with salt and pepper and a shake of ground cumin, I rubbed about a teaspoon of adobo sauce on each filet.  After a quick sear, I flaked the tilapia over spring greens, red bell pepper, cucumbers, and chunked avocados tossed in the mango vinaigrette.  The end result was a great summery salad that I can make for much less at home!

Coconut Cupcakes with Pineapple Habanero Curd

Coconut flakes are gross.  They are chewy and get stuck in your teeth and taste artificial.  The texture had put me off to the flavor for years.  But recently, I have really warmed up to coconut due to my new love of all food Thai.  Coconut milk is the basis of a lot of Thai dishes and my pantry normally has 3-4 cans of coconut milk at any given time.  Curries, soups, and quick sides, I had yet to try any desserts.  Enter Ina Garten's coconut cupcakes!

Ina is my favorite so I thought I would give the flaked coconut one more try.  Sorry, lady, but I still hate the texture.  So I decided to improvise a bit and use reduced coconut milk, as suggested by Bon Appetit in April 2009, instead of the buttermilk in the recipe and left out the flakes.  Incredible.  The cupcakes have the scent of coconut and work perfectly with the pineapple habanero curd!

After injecting the curd in the middle of the cupcake, I topped the cupcakes with a thown-together lime and coconut cream cheese frosting.  They were a tropical treat!  I brought them to a barbecue as a kit: cupcakes, the curd loaded into a ziptop bag with a pastry tip in an air tight container, and a large ziptop bag of the frosting.  At the party I cut little x's into the center of the cupcakes, injected the curd, and then snipped a corner in the frosting bag to pipe the frosting on the top.

Special thanks to the ladies hosting as well as the guest-guinea pigs who were game for a dessert with habanero!

Cherry Chipotle Chutney

As a scientist, even I cannot fathom the amount of ingredients found in most sauces in the grocery store.  From teriyaki sauce to barbecue sauce to ketchup, the first or second ingredient is usually some crazy form of sugar.  After years, I finally got my mom on board to start making her own barbecue sauce last week.  Proud moment.  But for this week's condiment, I wanted to try something a little out of the jar, if you will.  In the summer I always pair fresh fruit salsas with chipotle; I love the smoky flavor in contrast with the sweet fruits.   I took that idea and paired the chipotle with frozen cherries, lemon and lime, and a little agave nectar to create a sweet, spicy, and smoky chutney.

Chutney Pork Chops

A chutney is a relish consisting of fruits, acid like citrus or vinegar, spices, and sugar.  It can be used to brightened up dishes from antipasti, a topping for chicken or fish, or combined in a dressing.  I ended up using mine for a glaze on pork chops and in a simple salad with bitter watercress.  I feel better when I'm eating this straight from the fridge with a hunk of cheese because I made it myself without any crazy preservatives or other chemicals!

Cilantro Cashew Pesto Crusted Tuna Steaks with Mango Avocado Salsa

If you haven't figured this out yet, I love cilantro.  I feel so sorry for anyone who cannot enjoy cilantro because of that pesky gene!  Its brightness perks up almost any dish, including desert.  Today, I decided to use the power of cilantro in a pesto, used to crust a tuna steak.

To top the tuna, I made a quick salsa with champagne mangos and avocado.  I like to use champagne mangos because I can always tell when they are ripe due to their smaller size and yellow flesh.  I have wasted many a mangos cutting in before they are fully ripe, but never a champagne mango!

This meal was easy to prepare and made me think spring!

Lemongrass and Coconut Brown Rice

I am not a fan of prepared food.  As busy as I am, I want to cook every part of my meal.  One of the only prepared foods in my pantry is 90 second microwavable rice.  Don't get me wrong, I love rice but I don't have the patience to cook it most nights and it pretty much tastes the same to me (horrible, I know).  Pasta take 12 minutes, couscous takes 5 minutes, and this rice takes 90 seconds.  So why would I waste time on a 45 MINUTE rice?  This is why:

Brown rice cooked in coconut milk has the consistency of risotto with the sweet taste of coconut.  I seasoned my rice with a stalk of lemongrass, an ingredient used in asian cooking that tastes like a slightly spiced lemon.  It can be found in asian markets, but I got mine from a friend in my bocce league.  I used my coconut milk can to bruise the lemongrass enough to tie it into a knot.  Saveur did a great video tutorial of this process here.  The bruising releases the flavor and the knot allows the lemongrass to fit in the pot to infuse into the liquid while the rice is cooking.  I finish the rice with a lime juice and cilantro.  It is a delicious change from plain rice and pairs well with spicy dishes.

In terms of preparing the rice, I used the directions found on the package.  Thus, your cooking times and amounts may change.  To thicken up the rice at the end, I stirred it uncovered for 3-5 minutes.

Green Papaya Salad

City living has introduced me to so many new cuisines.  One of my new favorite comfort foods is Thai food, with it's impossibly delicious balance of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy.  There is a hole in the wall place near my old apartment that I fell in love with.  Green curry with jasmine rice, crispy soft shelled crab, tom kha gai soup, and my favorite side dish green papaya salad.  Green papaya is just unripened papaya, the perfect vehicle for the spicy dressing of the salad.  I haven't been able to find the unripened fruit anywhere in DC, so I was ecstatic to bring some home from Baltimore.

The papaya should be peeled, seed, and shredded before using.  I prepared the papaya, carrots, and cucumber with the shredding blade of my food processor, but the large holes of a cheese grater would work fine in a pinch.  The shredded vegetables are combined with blanched green beans and sweet cherry tomatoes then dressed with a spicy tart balanced sauce.  It's best to let the salad soak in the dressing for a few hours before serving to allow the flavors to really pack a punch.

Chickpea and Jicama Citrus Salad

I'm a poor grad student and meat is expensive, so I try hard to get protein into my diet in other ways.  My go to is chickpeas - in salads, dips, or crisped up with spices.  For this salad, I combined the chickpeas with crunchy jicama and colorful bell peppers and then dressed it with a citrus dressing.

Corn and Pineapple Salsa

Salsa is a great low calorie way to add a lot of flavor.  While tomatoes are great around here, I love east coast corn and wanted to try to incorporate it into a salsa.  Raw corn adds crunch and sweetness, but it could be charred over the grill.  Pineapple and avocado round out this fabulous topping for fish.

Jerk Pork Loin

I can't lie, I'm very intimidated by jerk seasoning.  Ever since a harrowing jerk experience in college where I was reprimanded by a Jamaican chef for drinking water after every bite of his chicken, I've stayed away from all things habanero.  However, I'm not one for being afraid of an ingredient.  It was time to conquer the pepper and the jerk! 

Jamaican jerk spice typically contains really hot peppers like habaneros and scotch bonnets, allspice, and other various spices.  I started reading around, finding what I liked best, and played with my food processor until I got a great wet jerk marinade.  The most important thing is to taste while your making the marinade to ensure you can handle the jerk.