Recipe: Mackerel Salad (Recette: salade de maquereau)

Mackerel is one of the mostunderrated foods. It is also extremely cheap and high in Omega 3. I discovered canned mackerel at my French boyfriend’s apartment in Manhattan about two years ago. I was like “Ahah, another French secret”! It’s true, the French eat mackerel more than Americans (okay, I don’t know this as a fact, but I’m a master at guesstimation).

Fast-forward to many moons later in our Grenoble apartment: I am hungry and do not feel like leaving the apartment (des fois je suis une marmotte). Well, I came up with my very own mackerel salad recipe with what I had in my kitchen, and it tasted délicieux!

Here’s the recipe:

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Mackerel Salad à la Greno-newyorkaise (?):
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 small cans of Mackerel

3 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1/2 of a medium white onion

olive oil (I used lemon-ginger olive oil)

butter

2 cloves of garlic

curry powder

turmeric powder

dry white wine

black pepper

arome saveur (Maggi)

Thai green curry paste

1/2 lemon

mustard

mayonnaise

white balsamic vinegar

paprika

dill

Directions:

Add olive oil and a little piece of butter to medium-sized pan.

Mince celery, garlic and chop onions. Add all 3 to the pan on medium heat.

While simmering, add a tablespoon or two of white wine as well as a pinch of curry powder and a pinch of turmeric.

Turn off heat. Add in a pinch of Thai green curry paste and a few small splashes of Arome saveur.

Add everything to a medium-sized bowl. Mix in mayonnaise and mustard (I add in by eye; go light on these if you want to keep this dish low-calorie) as well as a little bit of white balsamic vinegar. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Add a pinch of paprika and ground black pepper to taste. Add in the dill. Mix. Open the cans of mackerel, drain out the oil and remove the skins. Mix everything together while gently breaking the mackerel into small pieces (they come apart easily). Et voilà !

Guacamole Recipe

Aujourd’hui j’ai fait du guacamole pour accompagner mon repas de fajitas. C’est vaut la peine faire votre propre guacamole parce que ce qu’on trouve au supermarché est pleine des conservateurs, haut en calories et il goût pas si bien. C’est très facile faire si on a un robo. La autre bloguese nouvelle-grenobloise et amie personelle Crystal, qui a aussi une recette de guacamole, m’a inspiré de partager la mienne ici.

Today I made guacamole for tonight’s fajita dinner. It’s worth it to make your own guacamole because what you find in the supermarket is full of preservatives, high in calories and doesn’t taste as good. It’s very easy to make if you have a food processor. Fellow Grenoble-dwelling blogger and personal friend Crystal, who also has a guacamole recipe, inspired me to share my version here.

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados/avocats
• 1 yellow onion/oignon jaune
• 1 or half of a keylime (or lemon)/1 ou demi d’un citron vert (ou citron)
• cilantro/coriandre
• serrano chile (optional/optionel).
• 1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves/1 ou 2 gousses d’ail écrasées
• cumin
• salt/sel
• diced tomatoes (optional)/tomates coupées en cube (optionnel)

Directions:

Insert avocados, onion and chili into your food processor. I used the entire chili because I like it hot (you may want to add it in little by little). / Mettez les avocats, l'oignon et le chili vert dans le robo (Attn. le chili est épicé).

Mix it / Mélangez

Add the lime juice, cilantro, crushed garlic, cumin and salt. Mix it./ Ajoutéz le jus de citron, coriandre, gousses d'ail écrasées, cumin et sel. Mélangez.

Et voilà !

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Servez-le avec des chips, avec des fajitas or servez-le avec n’importe quoi! Pour un guacamole plus épicé mettez du poivre de Cayenne. Je recommande aussi d’ajouter des tomates coupées en cube, surtout pendant l’été (ajoutez à la fin, quand le guacamole et déjà prêt. Ne laissez jamais les tomates dans le guacamole quand c’est dans le frigo). Si vous mettez le guacamole dans le frigo, ajoutez les pepins d’avocats; les-enlevez avant de servir.

Serve with tortilla chips, with fajitas or serve it with anything really! For extra heat you can add cayenne pepper. I also recommend adding diced tomatoes, especially in the summertime (add them in at the end when the guacamole’s already made. Never put the guacamole in the fridge with tomatoes in it). If you store the guacamole in the fridge, put the avocado seeds in it; take them out before serving.

¡Buen Provecho!

Recipe: Tofu and/or Chicken Curry

I’m not at all an expert when it comes to curry; I just like it and looked up some recipes to make a general one. Making curry is very easy and relaxing; it doesn’t involve an oven and you can throw in whatever you like into it. I also have a rice cooker so there’s not much work at all. Here’s one that I have been making lately:

Ingredients:

• Jasmin, Saffron or Basmati Rice (1.5 cups of water for 1 cup of Basmati rice. 1/4 tsp of salt per cup. I like to insert a bay leaf and a little bit of oil or butter in the rice before turning on the rice cooker)
• tofu and/or chicken (cut into smaller pieces)
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• red bell pepper
• can of peas
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 tablespoons of curry powder (or more)
• 1 teaspoon of tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root (or powder if you don’t have ginger around)
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste or Indian curry paste
• 1 cup plain or yogurt or plain Greek yogurt (or more)
• 3/4 cup of coconut milk (or more)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or Indian chili powder

optional:

• small potatoes
• any other veggies you can think of (broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, flat green beans, baby corn…)
• kidney beans
• cilantro
• sour cream
• coconut shavings
• naan (for the side, if you want to be real authentic)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion and bell pepper as well as the tofu/chicken until golden. Stir in garlic, curry powder, tumeric, paprika, cinnamon, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt. Continue stirring for a minute and then add the tomato paste/curry paste, yogurt, coconut milk and peas. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for  20-25 minutes.

2. Remove bay leaf and stir in fresh lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Serve with rice.

In the one above, that I just made tonight, I added spinach, cilantro and tomatoes because I had it in my fridge, and topped it off with a sprinkle of coconut shavings. I topped the rice with some black pepper as well.

Experiment to see how much curry you like. Maybe 4 tablespoons is too little. I add two small packages of Greek yogurt and 1 small container of coconut milk. If it’s a little too ‘strong’ for you, you can soften the taste by adding sour cream (or more coconut milk …or more yogurt to be healthier). If you don’t like spice at all you can skip the cayenne pepper. If you like spice you can add red pepper powder, etc.

Bon appétit!