Guacamole!

A batch of guacamole for our Cinco de Mayo feast:

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 c canned diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
2 T cilantro, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno, finely diced
1 shallot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 limes, juiced
pinch salt
dash pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl, then mash/stir with a fork until blended and still slightly chunky. Serve immediately with low-sodium tortilla chips.


Serves 4, 90mg sodium per serving (not including chips)

Cheesy Pasta Bake, Revisited

I've been in the mood for comfort food, so we decided to give the cheesy pasta bake a second look. This dish used to be in regular rotation - it is easy to prepare, tastes great, fills you up, and makes good leftovers - but since the sodium restriction went into effect we haven't tried it many times. Our previous attempt at converting this recipe was not a bad effort, but it wasn't quite as wonderful as we had remembered. Something was missing, and it wasn't hard to define: this recipe just isn't the same without real smoked sausage. Out of all the adjustments, substituting raw homemade (and unsmoked) sausage for the Andouille had the biggest effect (in terms of sodium and flavor/texture).

Last night we cooked this dish with Thomas Ragin Cajun Andouille Sausage. Yes, it has 550mg of sodium per 2.5 oz, but I found a way to manage this and keep the sodium per serving of pasta at 700mg. I followed our previous recipe (other than the sausage) with these modifications:

1. We started with 3/4 of the package of sausage, saving the remainder for use in omelets and such. This left us with 10.5 oz (2310mg sodium).

2. After browning, I separated about 1/3 of the cooked sausage and did not return it to the cooking pot. This left only 7 oz of Andouille in the pot (1540mg sodium). The reserved portion of meat was added at the end to my husband's portions only. My servings had less of the salty meat, but it was enough to provide the correct flavor and texture. PDM certainly didn't mind taking one for the team and eating the extra Andouille.

3. With less meat in the dish, I increased the amount of pasta (16 oz instead of 12 oz) and low sodium organic chicken broth (3.75 c instead of 3 c).

While noticeably less meaty than our traditional version, this revised recipe had ALL of the yummy texture and taste of the original. Unless we get a smoker and start making our own real Andouille, this will be the "go to" version of the recipe, and the cheesy pasta bake will be back in the regular rotation.  Happy!

Grilled Swordfish with Tropical Fruit Salsa

Fire up the grill for this easy and delicious meal!

Grilled Swordfish with Tropical Fruit Salsa - serves 4 (~250mg sodium per serving)

1 lemon, juice and zest
1 lime
1 ripe mango, diced into small pieces
1/4 c diced fresh pineapple
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine
1/2 red onion, diced fine
1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t cayenne
2 lb swordfish steak (four 1/2 lb steaks)
olive oil
salt and pepper

For the salsa:
Combine the mango, pineapple, jalapeno, red onion, red pepper, sugar, a scant 1/8 t salt, and cilantro in a small container. Add the juice of 1 lime, plus the juice of 1/2 lemon and stir. Cover and set aside until the swordfish is ready.

For the swordfish:

Prepare the grill - light the charcoal and when ready pile onto one side of grill to create a two zones of heat. Brush each swordfish steak with olive oil and season with a very small amount of salt and black pepper to taste. Grill over coals in hot part of grill for about 3 minutes per side, turning once. Transfer to cooler part of grill and cook for another 3 minutes per side, turning once. Serve on warm plate topped with lemon zest and tropical fruit salsa. Cut the remaining 1/2 lemon into quarters and place one onto each plate to squeeze onto the swordfish if desired. Serve immediately.

Lamb and Butternut Tagine

A tagine  is a North African stew that is named for the traditional pot that is used for cooking. We altered our chicken version to take advantage of some lamb that we had in the freezer.

Lamb and Butternut Tagine - serves 4 (500mg sodium per serving)

~1.5 lb lamb stew meat, cubed
1 T canola oil
1 medium onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T harissa
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/4 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
3 c low sodium organic beef broth
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into cubes
2 c golden raisins
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 350F.

Brown the lamb in oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat, then remove meat from pan, cover and set aside. Saute the onion until softened, then add garlic and cook another minute or so until fragrant. Return the lamb to the pot and add enough broth to cover the contents. Cover the pot and braise the lamb in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hrs. Add broth as necessary to keep the lamb covered.

Return the pot to the stovetop. Add all remaining ingredients except chickpeas and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the chickpeas and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Serve alone, or with couscous.

Salt-Free Harissa

Harissa is a hot chili sauce that originated in Tunisia. We use it mainly to make tagines (North African stews), but have had to get it via mail order since it is too exotic for most grocery stores. Since this is kind of a pain, we decided to make our own. After synthesizing about six different recipes, this is the one we came up with:

Harissa (makes enough to fill a small jelly jar, and will keep for one month in the refrigerator)

4 oz dried red chili peppers (such as guajillo, ancho, etc. - we used California chiles)
10 cloves garlic
1 T whole coriander seed
1 T whole cumin seed
1 t whole caraway seed
2 T lemon juice
olive oil

Soak the dried chiles in very hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then drain.

Meanwhile, toast the seeds in a dry skillet until they pop and become fragrant. Grind the toasted spices to a fine powder. (We use a dedicated coffee bean grinder for this, but you could use a mortar and pestle or a small food processor.)

Pulse the chiles, garlic, spice mix and lemon juice in a food processor. Add oil as necessary to bring the consistency to a thick liquid paste. When the ingredients are thoroughly processed, use a small spatula to transfer the contents to a small jar. Add a thin layer of oil to the top of the sauce so that none of it is exposed to air. Cover and refrigerate.

Use 1-2 T at a time to add flavor and heat to soups and stews.

Chicken Piccata

It did not take too much effort to create a lower sodium version of chicken piccata. We did it by starting with organic chicken, using white wine only instead of broth for the sauce, and reducing the amount of salt and Parmesan cheese in the breading. These reductions allowed us enough leeway to keep the delicious capers that are a signature flavor in this meal.

Chicken Piccata (serves 4) - 545 mg sodium per serving*

2 chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
1 egg
1/2 c flour
 2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t salt
1 t pepper
~2 T olive oil
4 T unsalted butter
1/2 c dry white wine
3 T lemon juice
3 T capers, rinsed thoroughly and drained
3-4 T chopped fresh flat leaf (Italian) parsley

Slice the chicken in half to make two thin cutlets from each breast. Pound the cutlets until they are evenly flat and about 1/4" thick. Beat the egg and place into a dredging bowl. Mix the flour, cheese, salt and pepper in a second dredging bowl. Coat each piece of chicken with the egg, then dredge in the flour mixture to cover, then brown in a skillet with a small amount of oil. This is best done in two batches. Remove chicken from skillet and cover.

Add more oil to pan and use 1 T of the flour mixture to make a roux. Add oil as needed to maintain a thick liquid consistency. Cook the roux until slightly browned. Add the wine and lemon juice and cook to for a few minutes to reduce the liquid. Whisk in the butter 1 T at a time until combined. Add capers and cook for another minute or two, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Plate the chicken, cover with sauce, and garnish with parsley. Serve hot.

*Actual sodium content is probably less than this maximum because not all of the salt in the flour will be transmitted to the finished meal. Rinsing the capers probably reduces their sodium content as well.

Recipe Coversion: Batter Fried Chicken

Week 14's adventure was a successful recipe conversion.Unfortunately, success did not occur the first time we attempted this! Our starting point was a wonderfully delicious batter-fried chicken recipe from Cook's Country (the August/September 2009 issue). When we made this in the pre-salt-avoiding days it was messy, but super good. Well worth the clean up.

The major problem we needed to solve was how to brine the chicken in a low sodium way. When we tried again about a month ago, we substituted KCl for the NaCl. The result was some really funky off tastes that overpowered all of the other flavors. We could have tried the recipe and omitted the brine altogether, but we felt that it was important to the texture of the chicken - especially the white meat. This week we tried again with a modified "brine" with greatly reduced salt content and had better luck. Our only other modification was to omit the salt from the batter.

*Since I cannot tell how much of the salt in the brine ends up inside the chicken, my sodium math is only approximate. To be safe, I will assume that all of it somehow gets incorporated and my estimate will represent an upper limit for this recipe.

Batter Fried Chicken - serves 4 (not more than 675 mg sodium per serving*, but probably much less)

"Brine"

1 Q water
1 T salt
3 T sugar
2 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (breasts should be cut in half to reduce volume of each piece)

Batter

1/2 c flour
1/2 c cornstarch
1 T pepper
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t low-sodium baking powder
1 c cold water

Other

3 Q oil (peanut or vegetable)

Dissolve the salt and sugar in 1 Q of water, then soak the chicken in this brine for 30 minutes to 1 hour (in refrigerator).

Whisk the flour, cornstarch, seasonings, baking powder and water together in a large bowl. Refrigerate this mixture while chicken brines.

Heat the cooking oil in a large Dutch oven to 350 degrees. Remove chicken from refrigerator and drain the brine. pat chicken dry with paper towels. Stir batter and add chicken pieces to bowl. Transfer chicken to cook pot one piece at a time, allowing excess batter to drip back into bowl. To avoid crowding the pan, work in small batches. Keeping oil between 300 and 325 degrees, cook the chicken until batter is golden brown and meat meat reaches 160 F for white meat and 175 F for dark. This should take 12-15 minutes. Drain cooked chicken on wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Reheat oil to 350 F between batches.