MacGourmet News

What could be more appetizing than a colorful symphony of fish on a dull, dark day. Spice up your evening and enjoy this meal. -- EclecticCooking.com

Fish

Ingredients:

4 plaice fillets
4 salmon steaks (4 to 4-1/2 oz / 125 g each), boned and skinned
1 -2 leek, julienne
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
½ Cup (1 dl) dry white wine
¼ cup (½ dl) Noilly Prat (dry martini)
¼ Cup (½ dl) fish stock
Accompaniments: 8-½ oz (ca. 225 g) broccoli and small, boiled potatoes.

Directions:

Dry the fish with a paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt. Saute the leek in a little butter and water until they are soft but not browned. Place the fish filet on a cutting board, sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt, top with a little of the leek and then with the salmon steak. Roll up the fish fillet around the salmon and fasten with string. Place them in the dish with the open side down in a buttered oven-proof, casserole dish. Pour the white wine, the Noilly Prat, and fish stock over the fish. Season with a little freshly ground pepper and sprinkle a little olive oil over the fish. Cover the fish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven at 330 F (170 C) for 15-20 minutes or until fish is just done (it will turn an opaque color). Remove from oven but keep hot.

Serve the fish by pouring a little of the sauce onto a plate, place the fish on top of the sauce and the potatoes and broccoli next to the fish. Garnish with a little freshly chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

Sauce

Ingredients:

Stock from the fish
Grated rind of ½ orange
Juice of ½ orange
1-½ oz (50 g) butter
¾ Cup (1 to 1-½ dl) cream
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Sieve the stock from the fish into a small saucepan, add the grated orange rind and orange juice and boil to about 1/3. Add a little of the butter at a time, and use a whisk to blend the butter and stock. Bring to a boil now and again to thicken the sauce. Add the cream and heat through but do not boil, season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

(Serves 4)

Symphony of Fish. To import, drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box.

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Winter soups are easy to make and can be very nourishing. Serve this soup with a good bread or rolls and your meal is healthy and delicious. -- EclecticCooking.com

Ingredients:

1-½ liters (1-½ quarts) beef or chicken stock
½ lb goulash beef, in small cubes
2 leek
2 carrots
6 small onions
12 cherry tomatoes
1 small parsley root
2 stalks celery
2 bay leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

In a large saucepan simmer the beef and bay leaf in the beef of chicken stock covered for 30-40 minutes over low heat. Skim the froth from the soup with a slotted spoon.

Meanwhile, peel and cut the leek, carrots, onions, parsley root, and celery root into cubes, and together with the small onions, add these to the soup and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the cherry tomatoes a couple of minutes and serve.

(Serves 4)

Vegetable and Beef Soup. To import, drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box.

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These kitchenware deals are all good for the day of Friday, February 18, 2005. (Deals now expired. Check back next week for new deals)

Appliances

West Bend 84765 5-Quart Oblong Slow Cooker with Tote, White. Price: $34.99, You Save: $15.00 (30%)
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Bakeware

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Cookware

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Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 2-1/2-Quart Shallow Saucepan with Lid. Price: $19.99, You Save: $99.01 (83%)

Cutlery

Calphalon Kitchen Essentials 6-Piece Traditional Cutlery Set. Price: $49.99, You Save: $85.01 (63%)
Farberware Tristar 21-Piece Cutlery Set with Block. Price: $29.99, You Save: $70.00 (70%)


Save $25 on orders of $125 or more. Save $25 on your order today when you spend $125 on Kitchen & Housewares or Bed & Bath products. Offer valid through February 28, 2005.

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A tangy, fruity accompaniment to a medium or hot curry meal. You can add a little more chili peppers if you like the salad spicier. -- EclecticCooking.com

Ingredients:

1 Cup fresh pineapple pieces
1 medium-sized papaya, peeled and cut into cubes
½ red bell pepper
1 small red onion
1 red chili, seeds removed
1 clove garlic
1 tsp grated lime peel
1 Tbsp lime juice
Small bunch coriander
1-2 Tbsp Mango and Chili vinegar (optional)

Directions:

Chop all ingredients and mix. Let stand for the flavors to mix for 20-30 minutes.

Serve at room temperature as an accompaniment to a good curry or other meats.

(Serves 4)

Papaya and Pineapple Salsa. To import, drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box.

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I reviewed my favorite coffee maker, the Black and Decker Infuze a while back. Well, come to find out, and much to my dismay, this excellent coffee maker has apparently been discontinued. Why? Possibly because B&D didn't know how to market it? I dunno. Thankfully, there is now a very similar coffee maker available from Bodum, the Santos Vacuum coffee maker. In many ways it's the same as the Infuze, and it also produces great coffee, using the same exact process. It is a little less user friendly, in that it is a bit harder to clean. However, the Santos line offers a lot more options than just the one Infuze model. You can get a small, mini maker that makes 6 cups, or you can get a larger 12 cup model, both with and without a timer. In addition, the Santos is available in 4 different almost Mac-like colors: transparent, graphite, blue and orange. So, if you were interested in the Black and Decker Infuze and found it unavailable, there is another option now, the Santos from Bodum. I also still stand by my assessment that using a vacuum brew maker is the only way to go for the best coffee. Nothing compares to the smoothness and taste.

The full-size models:

Bodum 3000-10USAA Electric Santos 12-Cup Coffeemaker With Timer, Clear
Bodum 3001-581USA Santos 12-Cup Vacuum Brewer, Graphite Blue
Bodum 3001-586USA Santos 12-Cup Vacuum Brewer, Orange
Bodum 3001-582USA Santos 12-Cup Vacuum Brewer, Teal

The mini models:

Bodum 3004-581USA Mini Electric Santos, Graphite Blue
Bodum 3004-10USA Mini Electric Santos, Clear
Bodum Santos Electric Vaccum Coffee Maker (mini), Turquoise

These deals are all good for the day of Friday, February 11, 2005. (Deals now expired. Check back next week for new deals)

KitchenAid KP2671XMC Professional 6-Quart Stand Mixer, Metallic Chrome Price: $319.99, You Save: $110.00
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Calphalon Commercial Nonstick 10-Inch International Griddle/Crepe PanPrice: $16.99, You Save: $68.01 (80%)
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Farberware Traditions Fine Edge 21-Piece Cutlery Set in Pine Wood Block Price: $29.99, You Save: $70.01 (70%)
Cook's Select-Pro 17-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set Price: $49.99, You Save: $110.01 (69%)
Cuisinart MultiClad 10-Inch Stick-Free Skillet Price: $39.90, You Save: $80.01 (67%)

You can check The Friday Sale at for Amazon.com for deals every Friday, every week for one day only.

The combination of spinach or lettuce leaves, fresh mushrooms, fresh asparagus and wasabi dressing gives the crispy vegetables a refreshing taste of and a reminder that summer barbecues are coming up. -- EclecticCooking.com

Ingredients:

3-4 pieces of salmon filet
4 Cups (8 dl) water
½ onion, quartered
1 tsp salt
3-4 white pepper corns
1 bay leaf
Several lettuce leaves or fresh spinach leaves
4 oz (ca. 120 g) fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 oz (ca. 120 g) fresh green asparagus
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp honey
½ tsp Wasabi

Directions:

In a large saucepan bring the water, onion, salt, pepper corns and bay leaf to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat, add the salmon in one layer and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the salmon cool in the saucepan.

Trim the ends of the asparagus and discard the hard parts of the stem. Divide the lettuce or spinach leaves, sliced mushrooms and trimmed asparagus on four plates. Remove the skin from the salmon and break each filet into 3-4 pieces for each plate. Stir together the white wine vinegar, honey and wasabi and pour in equal portions over the salad. Season with a little coarse sea salt and garnish with a little parsley. Serve as a lunch salad or starter with toasted pita bread or a good Italian bread.

(Serves 4)

Salmon Salad with Wasabi Dressing. To import, drag image to your MacGourmet recipe box.

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Being a lover of Asian dishes, I found this a really interesting read if you ever wanted more information about how to REALLY cook with a wok.

Wok hay is what happens when excellent ingredients - like ginger, noodles, shrimp, walnuts or Chinese chives - meet a wok crackling with heat. It is both a taste and aroma and something else, too, a lively freshness that prickles your nose and makes you impatient for that first taste, like the smell of steak just off the grill or a tomato right off the vine in August. Food with wok hay tastes intensely of itself."

Missteps that prevent us from achieving wok hay, Ms. Young said, include crowding too much food into the wok, using ingredients that are damp instead of dry, and adding the oil before the wok is heated through. But, she said, "the single most common mistake made in cooking Chinese food on a Western stove is using a wok that is not hot enough."

Residential stoves here produce about 10,000 B.T.U.'s, but restaurant stoves in Hong Kong, where the chefs use compressed gas to create a more intense heat, can produce as much as 200,000. At that level of heat, and with the intense activity of a restaurant kitchen, even top-quality woks warp instantly and have to be hammered back into shape after each night's cooking.

Read The Well-Tempered Wok at The New York Times online. (Free subscription required).