chick pea soup

* this is called "milan chick pea soup" on many web pages but when one reads about milanesian (?) cuisine, no such dish is listed. despite its origins, it is delicious.

(1) remove 1/2 pound italian sausage from its casing, brown in a skillet.
(2) add a chopped onion and a chopped head of garlic (sure, all the cloves).
(3) add 1/2 cup (or 2/3 cup to use the whole can) tomato paste.
(4) add 2 cans of chick peas (with the licuid). if you have time but not money,
obviously, cook these yourself in which case i guess you need 4 cups.
i will experiment with this next time.
(5) add 10 oz or so of chicken stock or broth.
(6) add 4-8 oz chopped mushrooms.
(7) add spices: basil, oregano, black pepper.
(8) bring this to a boil, simmer good uncovered 20 minutes.
(9) add one zucchini, in large cubes.
(10) simmer 5-10 minutes.
(11) serve with (whole wheat penne is good) pasta (1/2 cup dry pasta per person)
and parmesan cheese.

this feeds four hungry people and makes 6 cups.

fish tacos for two!

fish tacos are not only delicious, but are also healthier than red meat tacos. we made these on monday with an avocado salsa/guacamole. we used salmon, but i suppose any fish would do. i just really like salmon, and i like how it changes colors while it cooks so i know that it's done cooking (versus orange roughy, which contrary to its name, is a white-fleshed fish, not orange.)

for the fishy part:

1/2 pound salmon was cubed, or rectangled, into small chunks. i mixed together 1/4 teaspoons of the following: black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and garlic powder. i then put all the salmon chunks in with the seasoning and stirred it up. then i sauteed them in a frying pan until they were done with just a little bit of olive oil. easy!

for the avocado salsa:

1 avocado and 1 medium tomato were diced and put in a bowl. add 1/4 cup of diced onion. then we added 4-5 cloves of minced garlic (raw) and minced serrano pepper to it, but i suppose that part is all to taste. chop a handful of cilantro roughly and add as well. a dash of salt and pepper, and a nice squeeze of lemon or lime, stir it up, and VOILA! you're done!

for the eating:

just take a corn tortilla or taco shell or what have you, spoon in what you like, maybe add some sour cream or cheese if that's what you want, and have at it! so delicious, and it was perfect for a warm evening. oh, and we drank red stripe with it and it was good too. and the recipe was perfect for 2 people to eat 3-4 tacos each without being overly stuffed.

vietnamese spring rolls or vietnamese foods, part 2

here is the now perfected recipe:

-boil shrimp, peel
-boil rice vermicelli (pancit noodles) until clear
-lay out bowl of water, wet towel, wrappers, cilantro, lettuce
-dip each wrapper in water for one second, let it drain, place it on the towel
-put in the stuff: rice vermicelli, lettuce, shrimp, cilantro
-fold the right and left side over a little.
-start rolling from the bottom until fully and tightly rolled

serve with a hoisin/peanut dipping sauce which i have yet to produce.

i can eat about 4 and thats a meal for me and its delicious and light.