I’m currently in Mexico at the beautiful ClubMed Ixtapa resort with my good friend, Diane of WhiteOnRiceCouple and my brother. It would be silly to call this a “work trip,” since we’ve done more relaxing, napping, eating and drinking than actually working, but I guess that’s the whole point of ClubMed, right? They’re hosting us for a wonderful Food and Wine festival and I’ll be posting more when I return. In the meantime, enjoy this recipe for Grilled Fish Tacos with Roasted Corn and Pepitas.

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All my friends from “not-Florida” and are gushing about their cozy Fall dishes, how it’s time to break out the dutch oven and that finally, they can start wearing boots without looking like a summer fashion faux-pas. And I’m just here loungin’ in my swimsuit, sipping iced tea, toes dangling a $3 flip-flop and beaming from ear to ear, gently shaking my head.

Don’t get me wrong, I love long braises and warming stews, but Fall is just starting to breeze in and it’s still too damn hot to turn my kitchen into a sauna. Fall is finally grilling time. Oh, sure, we grill plenty during the summer, but pity the poor person with grilling duty outside in the middle of the sweltering, suffocating summer heat, which usually is my husband. It’s worse especially when we have a dinner party and I have to hand him his sunglasses, hat, sunscreen and a mountainous platter of foods to be grilled.

I get the glare. He heads outside.

And then we air-conditioned folks feel all guilty for leaving the lone man outside (but not guilty enough to join him), huddle right in front of the patio sliding glass door and give him the occasional smile-nod and thumbs up to make him feel like he’s still part of the party.

Fall is time when that dinner party heads outside, guests hover around the smoking grill, husbands gets the congratulatory slaps on the back, beers are passed around and all is well and dandy. That is…until I am forced back inside the very lonely kitchen to finish off a dish on the stovetop that couldn’t be grilled and to assemble that salad last minute so it can be served chilled.

My husband strolls towards the glass door, entourage behind him, raises his drink towards me and smirks.

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Grilled Fish Tacos with Roasted Corn and Pepitas Recipe

Buy firm fleshed fish at leat 3/4″ thick, otherwise the fish will come apart on the grill. If using thinner fillets, cook the fish in a frying pan. You can still stay outdoors - just use your frying pan directly on the grill grates. To prevent the fish from sticking to the grill grates, make sure your grates get a good scrubbing. You can also pour a little oil on a wad of paper towels and wipe on the grates. The fish will be coated in some olive oil to also prevent sticking. This recipe was inspired by Jim of The Lucky Pelican in Lakewood Ranch, where I had the best fish tacos outside of San Diego. Recyclable plates made of pressed fallen leaves from Verterra.

1 1/2 pounds firm fleshed fish fillet, 3/4 inch thick (I like grouper or mahi-mahi)
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ear corn, shucked
1 large tomato, 1/4″ dice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
8 corn tortillas
1/2 cabbage, shredded
2 limes, cut into wedges
1/4 cup pepitas or roasted pumpkin seeds

For the sauce (stir together)
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder (substitute with regular chili powder)

Preheat your outdoor grill. Cut the fish into 8 thick strips, about 1″ wide x 4″. You’ll be using 1 fish fillet per taco, 2 tacos per person. On a plate or bowl, toss the fish with the garlic salt, paprika and olive oil. Brush a bit of the oil onto the corn on the cob. Grill the corn on the grill over direct heat, rotating a few times.

Three minutes after starting the corn, it’s time to grill the fish for 2-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness of the fish. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, throw the corn tortillas on the grill, flipping halfway. The corn, fish and tortillas should be ready around the same time.

Use a serrated knife to cut the kernals off the cob. Toss with the tomato, salt and cilantro. Assemble tacos with cabbage, a piece of fish, a spoonful of sauce, grilled corn/tomato, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkling of pepitas.

Serves 4

See shot-by-shot commentary of photos that led up to the money shot.

From my weekly food column in Tampa Tribune newspaper

Rock Star Chef Kerry Simon

A couple of weeks ago during a trip to Los Angeles, I bumped into rock star chef Kerry Simon at every kitchen fanatic’s dream bookstore, The Cook’s Library. What elevates Kerry to rock star status? Well, how about the fact that Rolling Stone tagged him with the unofficial title “Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef.” OK, that reason ALONE is enough for me to swoon all over him.

Chef Kerry Simon

My brother Jay and I met up with one of Jay’s friends, who has a Hollywood job so bizarre HE HAD TO WHISPER IT IN MY EAR, and so our hodgepodge group - a food writer, a cardiologist and a … um … let’s call him a “gay reality show researcher,” dined at Simon LA, Kerry’s signature restaurant.

I have a love-hate relationship with restaurant reviews. I love it when it’s a great restaurant and the critic’s eloquent trail of words tickles my taste buds and seduces me onto the plate. But you know what? It’s like the biggest frustrating tease when the restaurant is 2,471 miles away, and there’s no way to actually enjoy the meal in person!

I’m not going to tantalize you with play-by-play of my four-course meal, which would be cruel because it was totally rock-star phenomenal. Instead, I’m doing one better. I called Kerry up and asked for a recipe. He obliged and sent along his Lamb Chops with Curried Pears.

One thing about restaurant chefs giving you recipes is that they normally feed, like, 50 people, and some of the cooking techniques may be a bit difficult for home cooks. So, I’ve simplified his recipe and scaled it down so you’re not inviting all the families within a 2-mile radius to dinner.

I think you’ll really enjoy it. Chef Kerry is a master of taking a few simple ingredients and coaxing the flavors and textures into something so sublime, surprising and sexy.

To core a pear, lop off the top and the very bottom of the pear. Cut the pear in half, starting from the top at the stem end. Since I don’t have a melon baller, I used my measuring spoon - the 1-teaspoon spoon was the perfect size and shape to remove the core. Cut cored pear into wedges, lengthwise. You can cook with apples instead of pears; just increase the cooking time by 10 minutes.

The jalapeno pepper is to flavor the butter so that you get a subtle, spicy tingle on your lips instead of a jab-in-the-mouth type of spicy. If you want spicy, add another jalapeno.

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Lamb Chops with Curried Pears Recipe

inspired by Kerry Simon

12 single lamb chops
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sprig rosemary, leaves torn off stem
1 teaspoon kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon table salt)

For the spicy pears:
21/2 tablespoons butter
1 jalapeno pepper, quartered, seeds removed
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 pears, cored and cut into 6 wedges each

Slather the lamb chops with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and rosemary. Let marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes to overnight in the refrigerator.

In the meantime, make the spicy pears. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter, and when the butter is bubbling add the jalapeno pepper and the curry powder. Saute for 1 minute, until the curry and pepper is fragrant. Take care not to burn the mix; you may have to turn the heat down. Whisk in the lime juice, honey and the soy. Add the pears and stir to coat the pears. Cover, turn the heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes until the pears are softened. Discard the jalapeno peppers.

Season the lamb chops with salt. Heat a frying pan over high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the 1 tablespoon of olive oil and swirl to coat. Add the lamb chops in a single layer, not touching. Fry for 2-3 minutes each side, depending on thickness of the lamb chops.

Serve with spicy pears. Makes 4 servings.

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Food Styling and Photography

Here’s another series of photos where I give you shot-by-shot commentary of photos that led up to the money shot.

(click on photo for shot-by-shot food styling and photography analysis of some of the photos that led up to the “money shot”)

Chinese restaurants in China don’t really have Chinese Chicken Salad on their menus, it’s a creation of Chinese-American restaurants! According to Cecilia Chiang, author of The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco(one of my all time favorite Chinese American cookbooks), lettuce was rare and imported in China, and “salads” referred to pickled items. But, I still love a good Chinese Chicken Salad, especially if it’s got a tangy, sweet sauce and crunchy bits of fried wonton strips.

But please, Applebee’s restaurant, can we rename your “Oriental Chicken Salad” to something more hip? Asian Chicken Salad or Chinese Chicken Salad would be much better. Oriental is such a dated word…so..19th century!*

Recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad is below.

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Food Styling and Photography

Many of you requested that I continue posting my shot-by-shot analysis of all the failed photos that led up to this one that I like…my “money shot.” I also show you my photo setup - which really doesn’t change too much during the “NOT-winter” season. I use natural light as much as I can, and when dreary winter comes along, I switch to using my Lowel EGO lights.

Vegan Yum Yum just posted a fabulous write up on food photography - make sure you check it out.

In the meantime, here’s my shot-by-shot analysis of the Chinese Chicken Salad photos!

For more food photography posts, I have a whole category called “Food Photography/Blog Tips.”

Updated Steamy Kitchen Web Design

Do you like the new look? Cleaner, brighter and much faster. I’m still working on it, but I think this is a lighter design that fits my personality more.

Guess what? Now I have a print functionality!!! If you want to print out a recipe without the sidebars and ads and stuff, there is a little print icon right next to each post’s header text. Click on that and you’ll get a nice, clean version that you can print out.

Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

This Chinese Chicken Salad recipe makes a really quick light meal if you use store-bought roasted chicken and pre-fried crispy noodles (found in a bag or canister in the Asian section of supermarket.) I like to get a whole rotisserie chicken, use the breasts for the salad and the remaining meat for paninis the next day. The bones? I throw them in a pot, add water carrots, celery and make a very flavorful soup. Don’t waste the bones of a roasted chicken!

You can also throw in a handful of almonds too. The dressing for this Chinese Chicken Salad is one of my husband’s favorites - a copycat version of Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad dressing which is a tangy and sweet.

serves 4-6

15 wonton skins, cut into strips (or if you don’t want to fry: 1 cup fried crispy chow mein noodles)
oil for frying
1 head lettuce, leaves shredded or torn
2 cooked chicken breasts, meat shredded with your fingers
1 cucumber, sliced
handful snow peas, sliced on diagonal
11 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

For the dressing
a la Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad Dressing

makes 1 cup (use half for the salad and store the rest in refrigerator)

3 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

To make the salad dressing, whisk together the honey, mayonnaise, mustard until very smooth. Then whisk in the oil and vinegar.

To fry the wonton skin strips, heat 1 inch of oil until 375F. If you don’t have a thermometer, just slide one wonton strip into the oil - it should sizzle immediately and turn light golden brown in about 30 seconds. Fry the wonton strips in several batches and drain on a rack or layers of paper towels. Each batch should take about 30 seconds to 1 minute to fry.

Assemble Chinese Chicken Salad with lettuce, chicken, cucumber, snow peas, mandarin oranges. Drizzle on salad dressing and sprinkle with wonton strips.

How to poach chicken breasts

If you have uncooked chicken breasts, you can poach the chicken breasts. In a medium pot, add the chicken breasts and fill with water or broth 1 inch above the chicken. Add 1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt to the water. Bring the pot to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low, simmering for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and cover. Let sit for 20 minutes. Save the poaching liquid for cooking or for soup. There you go…perfectly poached chicken breasts!

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Classy Is My Middle Name

The winner of the cookbook, Dave’s Dinners signed by Dave Lieberman is Lynn, the Half Asian. Part of the fun was to have each of you guess what my pickup line to Dave Lieberman was, when I first met him. Though your answers had nothing to do with winning - it was just for shits and giggles.

Here’s what Lynn thought I said:

“I don’t have to show my husband the film…”

Funny! Even though that’s not what I said, Lynn is the random winner that  was chosen by the Psychic Science random number generator. Congrats! Email me at jaden@steamykitchen.com with your address.

So, what was my pickup line to Dave Lieberman?

“Ohmygod. I have lens envy!”

Clearly, his was big.

imabigdork. Yes, that’s exactly what I said to him the moment I saw Dave Lieberman. And he was sooo sweet, offering me use of his big lens. But after further inspection of his big lens, we discovered his big lens didn’t fit into my camera.** Just wasn’t a good fit, which was just too bad. We tried, but it didn’t work out.***

Sigh.

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*The word “Oriental” is not offensive at all to me (very few things actually offend annoying people like me) It’s like the word “Chinaman” - not offensive, it’s just a dated word that people don’t use anymore. Funky seeing the word “Oriental” on a big chain’s menu!

**My camera is very capable of handling big lenses, just not Dave’s big lens. Seems like wrong type. (ahem)

***But if you must know, his big lens fits his Canon Rebel XT but isn’t compatible with my Canon 40D.

When Elise asked me to be a guest writer for Simply Recipes, we decided to take Chinese favorites and make them better, lighter and easier to cook at home. So, I grabbed a take-out menu from the local Chinese restaurant and I will be working my way around those recipes for you. The first dish that popped out was Sweet and Sour Chicken.

If there’s one thing that I detest, it’s greasy fried food covered in goopy Chinese take-out sauce. Okay, so sometimes I like that stuff, but it usually those cravings come at 3 o’clock a.m. during a certain time of the month.

But, I digress.

This recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken doesn’t deep fry, but instead uses a method for creating a delicate, smooth and succulent chicken that goes perfectly with a lighter sweet and sour sauce. The secret is in the chicken marinade, specifically using egg white and cornstarch, which creates a super-light coating all around the chicken. It won’t be a crunchy, deep fried coating, but I think it’s a nice alternative, both texture-wise and weight-wise!

Read the rest of the recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken over at Simply Recipes…

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My Spontaneous Los Angeles Trip

Last week, I took a spontaneous trip to LA to shoot a little video that was sent off to a television station. Got an email on Thursday and flew out Monday to see Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple, two of the most generous and talented people I know. Big hugs to them as they are in Vietnam making a documentary at the moment. Diane is my date to a week in Ixtapa, Mexico to Club Med for their Food and Wine festival!!! Yes, our husbands are jealous.

It was one of my most memorable trips - dinner with Matt and his partner Adam of Matt Bites (who was on Martha Stewart yesterday — cooking with Martha herself! Did you see?) All the pics of that evening are on Diane’s camera…which is in the jungles of Vietnam at the moment…so we’ll have to wait til she gets back.

Also met up with my “sister-in-blog” RasaMalaysia and Sarah of The Delicious Life and Tastespotting. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE PHOTOS OF THIS AWESOME NIGHT??? All of us had cameras, but no pics? WTF!!!

And here’s my baby brother, Jay. He’s 32 years old, a doctor (cardiologist) and moving to Wichita, Kansas next year to take job at a clinic.

HE’S SINGLE. HANDSOME. A DOCTOR. NO ARREST RECORD.

To apply, please send $25 $100 (brother sez i’m too cheap) in a self addressed stamped envelope…haha…just kidding! oknoimnot

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Free Signed Cookbook by Dave Lieberman

Don’t forget to enter the random drawing for a signed copy of Dave Lieberman’s cookbook! You have until Saturday!

I’m a guest writer over at Martha Stewart Everyday Food! Have you been to their website? They’ve got thousands of recipes, all of them simple and perfect for dinner tonight.

My kids made Thai Curry Beef Skewers and Grilled Banana with Dark Chocolate for them. Come on over to Martha Stewart Everyday Food’s website and take a look. The recipe for the MUST MAKE dessert inspired by the lovely Andreaa is over there.

I love it when my two young sons — 3 years old and 5 years old — help me in the kitchen. It’s good to nurture an interest in responsible nutrition and teach them correct food pairings, like how super-thin, shatter-crisp Lay’s potato chips are much better stacked between a hamburger bun and patty than something big and smushy like a chocolate Ho-Ho.

We have one small rolling stool in the kitchen perfect for just one little boy to stand on. Why not two? Well, because physically, my two arms and two eyes can keep track of only one child within arms reach of a smorgasbord of spices and seasonings. Trust me when I tell you that behind my back, they’ve dumped a jar of chili powder in the fried rice just because it needed more color. Well, that evening magically turned into a Happy Meal night. Which, now looking back, seems like an awfully suspicious trick that I’m sure a certain trouble-stirring uncle taught them recently.

But the kids do love to come tinker in the kitchen, especially when it involves food on a stick. You could put anything on a stick and my kids will think it’s like the best meal ever. How do you think I got them to eat brussels sprouts? You skewer them between chocolate dipped marshmallows. To get to the next marshmallow, you’ve got to eat that brussels sprout.

Once Andrew heard we were making Thai Curry Beef Skewers with his favorite fruit in the world, pineapple, on sticks, he went totally nuts and called dibs on skewering duty. One piece of pineapple for the Thai Curry Beef Skewer, one piece of pineapple for Andrew. One for the Thai Curry Beef Skewer, two for Andrew. It took two cans of pineapples to finish the job, but I guess he got his recommended vitamin C ration for the week.

Grilled Thai Curry Beef Skewers Recipe

Serves 4
Inspired by Martha Stewart Everyday Food

I have tweaked Martha Stewart Everyday Food’s Grilled Thai Curry Beef Skewers recipe just a little, adding fresh lime juice and using pineapple juice in place of some of the honey and brown sugar. The pineapple juice will also help tenderize the meat. Thai curry paste can be found in any Asian market and in the international aisle of your supermarket. Although Thai curry is normally spicy, we’re using only 1 tablespoon of the curry paste so that even the little ones can enjoy this dish. If you do enjoy spice, feel free to add another tablespoon to the recipe. Store the remaining paste in a covered jar or plastic container in the refrigerator. It will last several weeks if properly stored.

Grilled Thai Curry Beef Skewers Recipe

Ingredients
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks, 2 tablespoons of the juice reserved
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon vegetable, canola, or peanut oil
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 pounds top sirloin beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 red onion, quartered, layers separated

Directions
1. If grilling outdoors, prepare your grill for high, direct heat. If broiling in your kitchen, heat the broiler with rack set 4 inches from heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Soak 8 wooden skewers (12 inches each) in a pan of water.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, oil, and red curry paste. Reserve half of the sauce for serving (pour into a separate bowl.)

3. Add the beef to the marinade and let sit for 10 minutes at room temperature. Thread the beef, onion, and pineapple onto skewers. Grill on your outdoor grill or under broiler for 5 to 7 minutes, flipping halfway, until medium-rare.

Andrew enjoying Thai Curry Beef Skewers

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Free Signed Cookbook

Don’t forget to enter the random drawing for a signed copy of Dave Lieberman’s cookbook!