SkinnyCook

Migas are the lovely Texan dish I first enjoyed in Austin at SXSWi. Here’s my quick and dirty rendition. This can easily be made vegetarian and gluten-free. This recipe is for one. Double or triple as necessary.

Recipe

2 eggs
1 tbl. of milk or water
2 corn tortillas
1/4 cup of salsa I prefer Herdez Salsa Casera for its freshness.

Extras
Add on any of these for extra deliciousness
chopped flat leaf parsley
black olives
grated cheddar
sour cream
bacon
sauteed zucchini
caramelized onion
peppers

Heat some butter, oil, or *ahem* bacon fat in a skillet. Tear up the tortillas into roughly 1 inch pieces and fry until crunchy. Scramble the eggs together with the milk and add to the pan. Stir until cooked through. Turn out onto plate and garnish with toppings to your taste.

Yeah baybeee!! You know you love a big steaming bowl of macaroni and cheese. I have a secret for you… There are four ingredients in it. Nix the box crap. This how I roll with it at my house. There’s no recipe this time because you don’t measure anything. I’ll give approximate amounts.

Step 1: Buttttaaahhh

It’s like this. You melt 4 tbsp. (half a stick) of butter in the pan over medium high heat. Start your pasta boiling with a big dose of salt.

Step 2: Flour

Put an equal amount of flour, 4 tbsp. into the melted butter and whisk. Stir it around occasionally for a few minutes. In French terms, you’re making a “roux.” In the South, we generally refer to this technique as “cookin’.”

Step 3: Milk

Quickly whisk as you add about 1/4 cup milk. At first, it will make a goofy, lumpy paste. Continue to whisk until smooth, then add more milk. Repeat this until you get a sauce a bit thinner than you want the final product to be.

Step 4: Cheese

Here’s the magic! mmmmm cheese! Use whatever cheese you like that melts well. If you have not already discovered this, not all cheese melts. Weird, I know. I recommend American, cheddar, fontina, colby, or monterey jack.

Step 5: Salt

So now you have a beautiful cheese sauce. I can’t understate the importance of salt. Pasta needs way more salt than you would think. Salt. Taste. Salt. Taste again. Err on the side of a bit too salty, since you’ll be adding the pasta later.

Step 6: Mix

The only thing left to do is mix it all together. Add your beautiful sauce to 1 lb. of cooked pasta. I added broccoli at this point for extra credit. Plus, it a bit healthier. Cheers!

Here’s a magical 10 minute wonder. If you have enough cooking skills to make a sandwich, you can make this light meal in no time. I recently discovered this wonderful thing called fromage fort at New Seasons. It’s a blend of cow, sheep, and goat milk cheeses with wine and herbs. How could this be less than unbelievable? I predict that this will never be missing from my refrigerator. A bowl of soup, perhaps a nice premade squash soup from Imagine Foods, would turn this into a more substantial dinner.

Components

fromage fort
good bread - French or whatever you like
perfectly ripe pear, sliced
extra bonus points
salad greens w/ dressing of oil and vinegar
** balsamic or sherry wine would be perfect
walnuts
white wine - pinot grigio or prosecco

Traditional Japanese Rice and Fish

I have a burgeoning interest in tradtional Japanese cooking, so today’s post is about my lunch of rice and poached fish. Sexy, no? It’s actually ridiculously fast (if you already have some leftover rice chillin’ out in the fridge) healthy, tasty, and utterly easy.

Poached Fish

1 or 2 filets of fish - Again, use whatever you like. I used dover sole, but it could be anything. Mild white fish will poach well. Salmon or tuna would work, but they will be more delicious broiled or grilled because of their high fattiness.
1/2 cup stock, bullion or white wine - We need something with a bit of flavor for poaching the fish. Vegetable, fish, or chicken stock will do fine, just don’t use beef stock.
cooked rice - Any sort will do fine. I like jasmine for this.

Heat a large skillet with the cooking liquid of your choice. Rinse the fish. When the liquid comes to a boil, add the fish. Let cook, undisturbed for 3-4 minutes. Flip it over for an additional 3-4 minutes. That’s it! Put that over hot rice and you’re golden. It’s pretty plain just like that, so I suggest some soy sauce. A traditional Japanese meal wouldn’t be complete without their weird pickles and condiments. I know you’ve been dying to buy a jar of them from your local specialty grocery, so now’s your excuse. I’d suggest salted plums, gomiaso or my new fave, seaweed salad.

Seaweed Salad

1/2 cup arame or wakame seaweed
1/2 cup hijiki seaweed
*Seaweed is available dried in PDX at Peoples and Food Front in the bulk bins. Otherwise, all Asian grocers (Fubonn)  will carry more types of seaweed than you knew existed.
1 tbl. lemon juice or rice wine vinegar
1 tbl. olive oil
3 tbl. apple cider or 2 tbl. mirin
1 tbl. sesame oil
1 tbl. soy sauce

Soak the dried seaweed in enough water to cover for one hour. Rinse and drain. Saute in a smallish skillet for 15 minutes with the olive oil. Add remaining ingredients and cook for about 5 minutes more until the liquid is absorbed. This will make enough for several meals and is good with all types of grains or on top of some lettuce for a super-healthy salad.