GRILLED HALIBUT FISH TACOS WITH SPICY CORN SALSA FROM FOOD FOR THOUGHT WITH CLAIRE THOMAS

My sister Amanda is not a fish loving lady, whereas I totally am. So for a fun little challenge, I set out to make her something with fish she'd actually enjoy.  My strategy? Keep it light and add something she's obsessed with: corn.  She loves herself some corn.  Especially with a subtle spicy kick. The result?  Grilled Alaskan Halibut (buttery, mild, and oily, so it's perfect for grilling) with Grilled Corn Salsa.  Enjoy!

for 4 tacos

1 halibut filet (about 1/2 a pound)

Corn Salsa:

2 ears of corn

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

1/2 lime, juiced

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Crema (runny sour cream or cream fraiche)

Cotija cheese (any crumbly cheese)

4 corn tortillas

chopped lettuce to taste

Recipe:

Drizzle both sides of the halibut with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Grill on medium high heat for 5 minutes per side (I used a grill pan).  Meanwhile, grill the corn unti lthe kernals blacken a bit (about 1-2 minutes a side).  In a small bowl, combine the jalapeno (I only use a pinch, but more if you like a lot of heat), red onion, and lime juice. Slice the kernals off of the corn cob and add them to the bowl with a big pinch of salt and pepper.  Add the cilantro and stir to combine.  Taste to see if it need more seasoning or spice. Heat the tortillas on the grill so they're warm and pliable. Flake the halibut using a fork (or your hands) and build the tacos: Add a heap of fish in the middle of the tortilla, drizzle with crema, top with the corn salsa and a little lettuce, finish with a sprinkle of cheese.

MY ULTIMATE BURGER FROM FOOD FOR THOUGHT WITH CLAIRE THOMAS

It is no secret that my brother Henry and I love burgers.  It's actually one of our bonding moments.  On our way home from school I'd swing Henry by my favorite spots to eat (Korean rice bowls, mainstream Mexican, and yes, Burger joints) and the procedure would always be the same. Henry would give me MASSIVE side-eye and give me that suspicious brother look, and I would have to explain to him, "Why would I have you eat something I thought you wouldn't enjoy? Am I the mean sister? No, that's Amanda, so eat up!" And wouldn't you know, he loved it all.  And he still gives me trouble when I try to take him somewhere new, which I think is his little brother duty.  

Over the course of these culinary excursions, Henry and I tasted practically every burger of note in town. He zeroed in on his favorite, The Apple Pan, and has never looked back.  Now our burger journey is back in our kitchen, where I make my "girlie" burger as Henry would call it, with arugula, swiss cheese, and a garlic aioli (basically a fancy French mayo), and Henry makes his "meaty meat boy monstrosity", as I call it, a combination of bacon, cheddar, and at least half a jar of bbq sauce, which Henry is very picky about.  These are the recipes for how to make mine, and Henry's burgers.  Enjoy!




Claire's Ultimate Burger
For 4-6 burgers
2 lbs burger blend (20 % fat ground chuck)
1 1/2 tbl salt
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbl pepper
2 tbl worcestshire sauce
1 tsp thyme, finely chopped
a little vegetable oil

For Garlic Aioli
1/2 cup Mayonaise
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (or any type of mustard you prefer)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
Large pinch of lemon zest
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine the sirloin, chuck, salt, garlic, pepper, and worcestshite sauce. Mix with your hands until just combined. You don't want to over work the meat. Carefully shape into 6 patties that are 3-inches wide and about 1 inch thick.  Heat a gas grill to high. Brush both sides of the burgers with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the burgers until golden brown and slightly charred on the first side, about 3 minutes, and flip over the burgers. Cook burgers until brown and slightly charred on the second side, 4 minutes for medium rare (3 minutes if topping with cheese) or a minute longer for each degree of doneness (5 minutes for medium, 6 for medium well, 7 for well done).

For the garlic aioli, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and taste to adjust the seasoning.

To serve
Good burger buns (my local bakery has delicious brioche buns I like to use) lightly grilled and buttered
arugula
garlic aioli
swiss cheese (optional)
sliced tomato
red onion, sliced thinly


For a Henry Burger,
Cheddar cheese
Bacon, cooked and sliced in half
Barbecue sauce





 

MUM'S ANZAC BISCUITS FROM FOOD FOR THOUGHT

If there was a cookie of my childhood, this would be it. They were such a prolific staple of my schoolyard days that they made it into the Franklin Elementary Cook Book, somewhere between Carol Beitcher's fabulous Mandel Broit and another mother’s Choco Peanut Butter Dreams. I remember devouring the warm sticky dough by the handful and the incredulous looks on my classmates’ faces when I offered them these foreign biscuits. They’re not the most attractive cookies for kids--no shapes or chunks of chocolate—but once they get past the exteriors, these cookies make for a perfect recess snack.

Originating from the World War I Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, Anzac Biscuits became popular for their durability due to the lack of eggs and milk (sort of an Aussie version of Lembas Bread); the basis of the recipe are rolled oats and other ingredients that do not spoil easily. But it's not like that really matters, as within a day of baking them they're entirely devoured. Enjoy!

The following is a original recipe is the one my Great Grandma used, originally by Bob Lawson, an ANZAC present at the Gallipoli landing.
Ingredients

1 cup each of plain flour, sugar, rolled oats, and coconut
4 oz butter
1 tbls golden syrup (you can find it on Amazon, here)
2 tbls boiling water
1 tsp baking soda (add a little more water if mixture is too dry)

Method

Grease biscuit tray and pre-heat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients. Melt together butter and golden syrup. Combine water and bicarbonate soda, and add to butter mixture. Mix butter mixture and dry ingredients. Drop teaspoons of mixture onto tray, allowing room for spreading. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on tray for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

AUSSIE PASTA FROM FOOD FOR THOUGHT

There is nothing actually Australian about this pasta dish.  It's just the first recipe I ever created, and because of my mum being Australian and the ingredients are always changing, "Aussie Pasta" became its name.  It's a family favorite because of its versatility, simplicity, and the fact that everyone (from my picky brother to my "make it saltier!" dad).

And the reasons this was the first meal I ever made up are simple: 1. it’s impossible to mess up, 2. it’s made of things I had lying around the house. Enjoy!





Ingredients:
2 lbs ripe tomatoes, wedged into 8 segments each
1-2 small zucchinis sliced about a 1/4 inch thick and halved
1 yellow onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
4 tablespoons julienned basil
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
6 raw chicken Italian sausages (I usually do 3 mild, 3 spicy; you can do pork too if you want)
Cheese for grating, like an Italian Parm

Heat a large saucepan on medium-high with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cut one end of the sausage and push out small one inch balls into the pan (it squeezes out like tooth paste and they look like small meatballs). Do this to all of the sausages and allow them to brown on all sides. Set the cooked sausage aside and drain off the fat. Don't wash the pan, you want to keep all of those fabulous brown bits!

Then add the onion, a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper, and a tablespoon of butter (or olive oil)

Allow the onions to soften (about 15 minutes, they should be translucent and slightly brown. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the sausage and zucchini, cooking for a minute or two to brown slightly.  Add the tomatoes and a bit of chopped basil (1 tblsp). Let the whole mixture cook for about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes have thickened a bit.

Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce and serve with a freshly grated cheese and the remaining basil.  This is a great dish to add any of your other favorite veggies to (peas, corn, butternut squash, whatever you have left over in your fridge). Enjoy!

PIG CANDY

My dad just informed me that it's national bacon day, so I figured I re-post an old favorite that I make EVERY time I have people over. It's just one of those slam dunk dishes that everyone loves. Pig Candy.

Really, what could possibly be better than candy made of pig? Bacon to be precise. Smokey, salty, spicy, sweet: yes please! And the best part is that it is ridiculously easy to make. In 30 minutes you’ll have a bowl of kitsch bar snacks that are just as delicious with a rich red wine as with a spicy ale or sweet and smokey stout. The possibilities are endless and so is my appetite for these little pieces of heaven. In the words of the ad man, bet you can’t have just one.







Ingredients:

For 4

8 strips thin cut bacon (hickory smoked bacon was a wonderful maple flavor already within it)
1 cup golden brown sugar
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

Turn the oven on to 350 F. Meanwhile, blend the sugar and pepper together in a bowl. Taste it. If it’s too spicy, add more sugar, not spicy enough, add more cayenne. However, the spice does become a little more pronounced after being cooked, so be aware of that. Lay the bacon on a cooling rack placed over a baking pan lined with aluminum foil (these means minimal clean up!). Cover each slice of bacon with the brown sugar mixture. It should be an even layer, thick enough so that you cannot see the bacon through it (about 1/8 or ¼ of an inch). Place the bacon in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the sugar is completely browned, and the bacon has curls at the edges and appears mostly cooked. Remove the bacon from the oven and flip. Cover the bacon with the rest of the brown sugar mixture, and pop back in the oven for another 4-6 minutes, or until the bacon appears fully cooked, like crunchy, but not burnt. If the bacon seems underdone, just leave in the oven for a minute or two more.

Let the bacon cool on the rack for at least 15 minutes to let the sugar harden a bit before you start cutting the pieces. I find it’s easiest to use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the pieces over the serving bowl. Serve it up with the libation of your choice and enjoy!

GARDEN FRESH LASAGNA

On the premiere episode of Food for Thought with Claire Thomas, I toured the Venice Learning Garden with Garden Master and all around awesome person David King and got some home gardening tips from Garden Nerd Christy Wilhelmi. Laden with garden fresh zucchini, tomatoes, and basil, I set out to make a fresh lasagna with zucchini "pasta", roasted and fresh tomatoes, and a thick, savory pesto. Served up with a side of roasted garlic bread, this bright and delicious dish made for a simple dinner.












Garden Fresh Lasagna

For 2
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced in 9 slices (about the thickness of lasagna noodles)
2 large tomatoes, sliced about a 1/4 inch thick and cut in half
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup sliced basil
Olive oil

For the pesto:
1 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. Halve the cherry tomatoes and place them face up on a baking sheet lined with a silicone pad. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are juicy and slightly caramelized. Set aside. In a food processor combine the pine nuts, garlic, and parm until pasty. add the basil and big pinches of salt and pepper and while the food processor goes, drizzle in the olive oil. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

To assemble, on a large plate line three pieces of zucchini slightly overlapping. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of the pesto (enough to coat the zucchini) and cover with tomato halves. Add another layer of zucchini. Sprinkle the cherry tomatoes and top with 2 tablespoons of the basil. Top with another layer of zucchini, add the tomato slices, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the remaining basil. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil

Other options: adding cheese, prosciutto, salami, using some of your other favorite vegetables and left overs (chicken breast, sauteed spinach, caramelized onion, roasted butternut squash, whatever suits your fancy).