Category: Chicago Culture

A Craving For Fish

When Certain Someone is away, as he is now,I tend to eat things that I don’t when he’s home.For a man who spent some major time in Sweden , he doesn’t care for fish. He does like shellfish however.Anyway I haven’t been eating as much fish as I would like while shacking up with him.That could explain the enormous weight gain. Today I craved fish. The weather was spectacular,and as I drove home,with the roof open, from a meeting in the suburb,I decided to get some fish from store I like. This supermarket caters to Mexican, Asian, and Arab communities . I love their meats, produce, and seafood.If I wasn’t concerned about time and traffic on the highway, I would have stayed a long time. I picked a whole Red Snapper. I love Red Snapper and remembered the many ways I had it in Costa Rica a few summers back.
My Aussie friend Gabi had given me some Donna Hay cookbooks, and I decided to use them to find a way to cook up fish. Donna uses a lot of Asian influences in the The Instant Cook. I had purchased some Key Limes, Habeneros, and cilantro as well. So with that in mind I chose her Crispy Fried Fish with Soy and Ginger. She calls dredging the snapper in rice flour(which I had on hand) and frying it up. Then topped off with a soy and ginger sauce. I decided to forgo the fried route , took her ingredients, added leeks for scallions, a diced Habenero, and roasted the snapper.

Sorry for the bad picture, but Certain Someone took his camera which I use for the blog. He needs to photograph some future real estate he’s trying to acquire in Sweden. I don’t complain because I can’t wait to spend my summer vacations there.So I make due with my old HP digital demom camera.
The sauce caramelized and leeks were crispy. It was good balanced with rice.However next time I will cook the sauce on the side and then add to roasted fish and leeks. But the flavor came through the fish well.
Coco’s Red Snapper (influenced by Donna Hays Crispy Fried Fish with Soy and Ginger)
1/2 oz grated ginger
2/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 whole Red Snapper( gutted and scaled)
vegetable oil
1 whole leek cleaned and sliced
1 Habenero pepper diced
fresh cilantro sprigs
Put cleaned fish in a slightly oiled baking dish . Place sliced leeks over or inside the fish. Mix all the remaining ingredients together and pour over the fish. Bake on higher temp ( around 400 degrees ) for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the fish. Serve with rice and fresh cilantro sprigs.

Miso Soup…Western Style

I’m telling you right off the bat,I’ve never been a fan of Miso soup. Instant or the ones I have had at some sushi places really don’t appeal to me. I want to like Miso,I really do.I hear people wax poetic over it and I never got the hype. I have had some terrific dishes with Miso as a component and have loved it!Just not the soup.There are so many benefits to Miso that I want to explore it more, on my terms.
Saturday I have a big last minute invite to a Gala at the Opera.I had been quite involved with them for some years, but have dropped out of the ‘scene’. My aunt is still a grand dame on the social scene and quite the fashion plate. Pick up a magazine or social page and there she is. So what does this have to do with Miso? Not much, but I can’t fit into any of my many ball gowns and need to eat light for a few days and drink tons of green tea. Not much notice is there? So trying to figure out a low cal healthy dinner with Certain Someone out with his boyz all night, I ventured to the new improved Hyde Park Produce. Since Co Op is no more and Treasure Island is still not ready, the expanded neighborhood produce shop was packed.It has everything. It reminded me of a mini Whole Foods with good prices. In wandering the aisles I found this.

I decided to revisit the Miso and have a light dinner. The instructions were simple enough. It takes no time and its essentialy simmering onion, Wakame Flakes, carrots, etc. in a broth or water(The Miso soups I have had before didn’t have much in it). You add the Miso diluted slightly in water , but NEVER LET IT BOIL(or it loses it good properties). In quick research of Miso and Wakame I find its packed with health benefits( reduced cancer risks,restorative powers,etc). Wakame has been found to burn fatty tissue! I was amazed how this sea vegetable expanded!There’s a lot of it in the world and we need to eat it up. Wakame if anything, was the only thing I ever liked about Miso Soup in the past and now I want to find other ways to use it like a Tofu Salad. My contraversial deviation was that I used chicken broth( I hear the gasps) rather than dashi. I know its not pure Miso Soup, but tough , I liked it!I also added some fried tofu cubes. A light refreshing lunch/dinner that I plan to consume until Saturday. I have changed my mind and homemade Miso soup is pretty good.

Sausauge Making Part 2

Not another sausage post! When you find something fun you want to improve on it. Last week or so I attempted sausage making for the first time. Certain Someone loved them and ate them all up. We both agreed however we didn’t care for the collagen casings. Maybe it was my cooking method. But we cut it away. Nevertheless who knew he would devour chicken sausage. I found natural hog casings on the Internet and decided to try them. They came dry packed in salt and I had to soak them for one hour.Natural Hog Casings reminded me of chitterlings( which I guess they are without the lings).
I took approximately 6 pounds of lean stewing beef and pork loin and ran it through the Kitchen Aid food grinder. Certain Someone and I had seen Tina Nordstrom make Swedish meatballs using pork and beef , and figured why not make our sausage this way. I added a leek to the grinder as well.I had made a seasoning in the spice grinder using juniper berries, a dried chipolte chile, mustard seeds, salt, brown sugar,garlic granules, and paprika. Juniper berries are common in marinades and German cooking. Next was the down and dirty part. I rolled up my sleeves to blend in my spices in the meat mixture. I attached my sausage hose and took one of the long hog casings. Amazingly that one casing was enough for all but a little meat! I still had about 11 more casings soaking I didn’t want to waste. They ran about $3.25 but I hate waste!So I figured you could freeze chitterlings, I would freeze the casings and that and re soak for another time.And I still have another dry pack from the order. The hog casing is very thin but durable. I had to use the smaller stuffer, but they expanded to accommodate the meat nicely. If your squeamish about meat and casing which a lot of people are then you may have a problem. I’m all about the process and its great to learn how things we take for granted are made. I feel way better about eating it. These sausages cooked up great. The casings didn’t slip, shrink or break way. They browned nicely. Certain Someone gave his approval. He has his supply for the mans weekend he planed. We are checking out the Boat Show(indoors) in this – 3 degrees weather outside.We can dream about summer days on the lake. And his games tomorrow. All in all it took me about 2 hours to process and cook. But that’s me .

Chicago’s Christkindlmarket


It’s that time of year again which I love. Certain Someone and I caught up with our old friend the Rock at the cities Christkindle Market. I have lived in Chicago for a decade and only upon partnering up with my German Teddy Bear, have I really discovered this gem. The market is on Daley Plaza and is open from Thanksgiving Day until Christmas Eve. The model is based on the actual Christmas Markets through out Germany. The market attracts local,German, Austrian, and Polish Vendors. You can buy anything from bratwurst to Cuckoo Clocks. I love the scent of the sweet spiced almonds that permeate the air. The boys just go for drinking hot cups of Gluwein and chasing it with German beers. The hot wine comes in cute yearly addition cups shaped like boots which you purchase and get refills. We have a whole collection. from the years. I always forget mine and have to buy another. So while they drank , I browsed the the stalls. I consumed 2 cups of potent Gluwein, 1 cup of Kinder Gluhwein( I was feeling tipsy so switched to alcohol free version), a Lieberkasse Sandwich with Sauerkraut( so good, think fried pate meatloaf), and a half apricot almond strudel. You have to eat a lot so the wind doesn’t blow you away here in the Windy City. You could have stuck a fork in me because I was done. Only a brisk 20 minute walk revived me afterwards. I anticipate a few more visits before Christmas. It’s the perfect meet up spot amongst all the Holiday hustle and bustle. For a German it may not be truly authentic, but I think it comes mighty close .