Spicy Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

This is a riff on the meal Tess ordered at Zuni Cafe last week. I served the meatballs on grits instead of polenta and added some sauteed sweet peppers with a reduced balsamic glaze. The meatball recipe came from Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze.

Smoked Salmon and Jicama Sushi

Continuing the sushi theme... I found a Ming Tsai recipe for smoked and and jicama sushi rolls that was very good.

Sushi Futo-maki

My sister gave me Hiroko Shimbo's cookbook The Sushi Experience. I love sushi but rarely make it. Futo-maki is a thick roll with shrimp, shiitakes, asparagus and eggs. This was pretty good.

Achiote Mahi Mahi with Gulf Coast Rice

This was the recipe that introduced me to Achiote paste. The recipe is in Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday (Recipes Featured on Season 4 of the PBS-TV series "Mexico One Plate at a Time"). The Gulf Coast Rice is another recipe in the same book. It is a rice pilaf that I make with black beans and fried plantains. If mahi mahi is on sale, chances are this is what we're having for dinner.

Fried Chicken

This is chicken fried like my mother and her mother fried chicken. I like to use thighs, as did James Beard. Here is the recipe my daughter wrote for a school project:

Fried Chicken

Ingredients
6 skin on chicken thighs
1 cup all purpose flour
Peanut oil (for frying)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper


Directions

In a one-gallon Ziploc, mix the flour, pepper, and salt. Add the chicken, seal the bag, and coat the chicken in the mixture by tossing it around in the bag. Meanwhile, in a large cast iron skillet, heat the oil to 350 degrees. When the oil is hot, add the flour-coated chicken to the skillet skin side down. Fry, checking often, until skin is golden brown. Turn chicken over and cook for 20 minutes total. Remove chicken from skillet and drain extra oil on a plate lined with paper towels.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is a favorite family recipe that is my grandmother’s recipe handed down to my dad, who uses the same skillet my grandmother used to use.

Clam Chowder

See the entry for January 26, 2008.

Posole Verde

This is my version of a Cooks Illustrated posole recipe in The New Best Recipe. I use chicken thighs instead of pork.