Too Easy Split Pea Soup

This soup is just too easy - really. It takes absolutely no skill to make. It just takes time. The result is a thick, rich, tasty soup.

Ingredients

• 1 smoked ham hock, with bone or without
• 1 16 oz. bag of green split peas
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1/2 medium yellow, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 t dried parsley (or 1/4 C chopped fresh)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 T salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 6 C water

Put all dry ingredients in a crock pot in layers, do not mix. Add water. Adjust crock pot heat to low and cook for 6-8 hours. Just before serving pull out the ham hock and remove the bone. Break up the meat and return to soup. Stir well and serve. It's all that easy - too easy.

If you don't have a crock pot, put all the ingredients on top of a stove over very low heat. One suggestion made a long ago at a dock pot luck was put the pot on top of the engine manifold while running - just make sure it doesn't tip over.

Green Curry Chicken

I love green curry. Some think it is hard to make, but really is quite easy. The trick is in making the green chili paste. Making green chili paste really can't be made on the boat, but you can make it in advance at home and bring it to the boat or wherever you might be.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 green jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 t white vinegar
• 3-4 large chicken thighs with bone & skin
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T freshly grated ginger
• 1 t ground coriander
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t ground tumeric
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1/2 C fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 C sliced bell pepper
• 1 t lime juice
• 2 cans coconut milk

Green chili paste:
Place jalapeno peppers and vinegar in food processor and process until peppers are a fine paste. Wear gloves and be very careful not to get any in your eyes.

Green curry:
Using a heavy pot, heat oil until almost smoking over high heat and add chicken thighs. Brown chicken thighs turning often for about 5 minutes. Don't worry if chicken skin or other parts stick to bottom of pot. Remove chicken from pot and set aside. Next add chopped onion and cook until onion is browned on edges about 5-7 minutes. Add 2 T green chili paste (more if you like it hotter), garlic, ginger, spices, and stir fry for 1 minute. Return chicken to pot and mix well with ingredients. Add chicken broth, reduce heat to low and let cook covered for 30-40 minutes. You may need to add some water if too mix gets too thick. Finally, add the fresh basil, fish sauce, sliced peppers, lime juice, coconut milk and mix well. Let this cook uncovered for another 20-30 minutes over low heat. This will reduce and thicken your chicken green curry. Pick out the chicken thighs, remove the meat from the bone, and put the chicken meat back into the curry.

Serve over fresh cooked basmati rice.

Serves 4. Preparation time: 15 minutes. Total time: 90 minutes.

Jalapeno-Sunflower Seed Pesto

This recipe is from my cookbook, "Independence Recipes."

This recipe sounds spicy, but by adding the cream it takes the spicy heat out of the jalapeno so you can enjoy the subtle flavors. It's a rich dish so cut the richness with a glass of red wine or some spirits.

It was invented during a stormy fall boat trip out to McMicken Island here in South Puget Sound. I wanted something spicy, hearty, and with plenty of flavor. When served it was greeted with rave reviews - a bunch of hungry guys who just finished scuba diving. I have made it many times again and always seem to get good reviews from it. It's definitely a different take on pesto.

Pesto:

• 1-2 fresh jalapeno chilis, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/3 C toasted sunflower seeds
• 1 1/4 C fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 C fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 C olive oil

Main dish:

• 1 C of jalapeno-sunflower seed pesto
• 3/4 lb. of mild or sweet Italian sausage
• 1 C heavy cream
• 2 C cheese totellini or tortelloni
• Olive oil
• 1/4 C red wine
• Parmesan cheese, grated for topping
• Sunflower seeds as garnish

Make pesto:
In food processor, chop above ingredients with half of quantity of olive oil. Then add remaining half of olive oil and blend until ingredients are finely mixed. Do not overblend.

Main dish:
Add small amount of olive oil (less than 1 tsp) to a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add Italian sausages and cook sausages 10-15 minutes turning occasionally. Use tongs instead of a fork to turn sausages since a fork pricks the sausages letting out the juices. Deglaze sausages by adding red wine, turn heat down to simmer, and cover for 5 minutes. Remove sausages from pan and slice thinly. Reserve pan along with drippings.

Meanwhile boil salted water and add tortellini. Reduce heat and cook tortelli according to instructions or when tortellini is done. Drain water and drizzle olive oil over cooked tortellini to keep them from sticking.

Return sliced sausages to pan they were cooked in, increase heat to medium. Add pesto and mix well. Next add heavy cream and stir continuously until mixture is heated and reduced by one third or more. Do not burn!

To serve, arrange tortellini in bowls or plates, and pour heated sausage, pesto, cream sauce over tortellini. Top with parmesan cheese and some extra sunflower seeds.

Serves 4. Prep time: 15 minutes. Total time: about 1 hour.

Cajun Lentil Soup

This is a nice, easy and flavorful soup to make for those cold, winter days. The earthy favors of the lentils goes nicely with the toasted fennel. The vegetables give the soup a very savory flavor, and the Cajun spices and Andouille sausage give it that nice "kick."

Cajun seasoning:

• ¼ t Cayenne Pepper
• ¼ t White Pepper, ground
• 1 t Thyme, ground
• 1 t salt
• ½ t black pepper, ground
• ½ t onion powder

Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 C sliced Andouille sausage (about 2 small links)
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• ½ large green pepper, diced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 C sliced okra
• 1 C lentils
• 3 C chicken broth
• 2 C water
• 1 T fennel seeds
• 1 T Cajun seasoning
• ¼ C fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat a small frying pan over high heat and toast fennel seeds for about 1 minute, stirring frequently. Set toasted fennel seeds aside. Make Cajun seasoning by mixing the spices together. Add toasted fennel seeds to seasoning.

Heat oil in large pot oven over medium high heat. Add sliced Andouille sausage and sauté until sausage just begins to brown, about 1 minute. Then add the ‘holy trinity’ of vegetables – onion, celery, and green pepper. Sauté vegetables with sausage until vegetables become soft about 2-3 minutes. Next, add chicken broth, water, lentils, chopped tomato, chopped okra, and spices. Reduce heat to low, mix ingredients well and let simmer for 30 – 40 minutes or until lentils are soft. Add chopped cilantro, mix well and let cook for another 2-3 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with plenty of Louisiana Hot sauce.

Note: Could also be served over hot steamed rice.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Sesame, coriander & black pepper crusted fish

After a conversation a few days ago left me wondering, wondering about using sesame seeds as a crust. A couple of friends and I were discussing black cod (or black rockfish) and how to prepare them, and the suggestion was using sesame seeds. I then started thinking... sesame seeds. I did a bunch of Internet research and literally read hundreds of recipes that used sesame seeds as a coating. My dilemma was that pure sesame seeds left sometimes a nutty taste or no taste at all. I like things flavorable, I wanted some "zzzing." So I then thought about adding black pepper. It needed some other flavor, so I added salt along with the black pepper, and sesame seeds. I was starting to get somewhere, but it still didn't have the flavor I was looking for. Then I thought of coriander. When lightly toasted and then crushed it has a delicate lemony flavor, but also nutty and spicy. This would be a good addition. No, it was an excellent addition.

Here's the recipe.
2 T sesame seeds
2 t black peppercorns
2 t coriander seed
1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil
1 lb fresh fish (salmon, halibut, rockfish), cut into 4-5 oz. portions
1/2 C red bell pepper, diced (1/4")
2/3 C orange juice (or apricot nectar, or peach nectar - should have some pulp)
1 T fresh ginger, grated
1/4 C red wine vinegar

Over medium-high heat, get a small pan hot and add sesame seeds, black pepper and coriander seeds. Toast seeds and pepper for 2-3 minutes until aroma is released. Move toasted seeds to a mortar and grind until well crushed (or you could place them in a plastic bag and hit them with a hammer). Add salt.

Oil fish pieces with 1 T or so of olive oil and then coat with ground up seeds, pepper and salt mixture. Let fish stand for about 10-15 minutes.

Using a saute pan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat until oil is almost smoking. Add fish pieces and fry 2-3 minutes per side. Fish should have a nice brown crust on the outside. When fish is done remove and set aside.

Using the same hot pan, reduce heat to medium, add bell peppers and saute for 1 minute, then add juice, ginger, and vinegar, cook for 3-4 minutes or until sauce is reduced.

Arrange fish on plate and spoon sauce over top of fish. I know it sounds kind of funky but the flavors really blend very well. I served the fish with some warm spicy sesame noodles on the side, and some nice steamed baby bok choy with garlic. It was delicious. If you try it let me know.

A New Beginning

I created this blog well over a year ago, but just now I found a real use and purpose for this blog. I plan on using this blog to update my recent "Tastebook.com" recipe book "Independence Recipes" and get your input on the recipes that I published. Please let me know your comments and suggestions. Of course, I would also like to get your stories of adventure, and your recipes.

I also plan on providing some new recipes that I plan on adding to future "Tastebook.com" recipe books.