News at The BMK!

After thinking I was off my rocker last year, Adam's switched tactics and joined me in the sport of triathlon. He went from "hating running" to whooshing past me on the trail. We went from straggling along in the pool at our gym to 5am swim sessions with our local Master's Swim group. Lazy Sunday beach cruiser rides have been replaced with fast paced cycling around the bay and beyond. Now we're signed up for the OC International Tri, I'm doing the Escape From Alcatraz, and we'll be doing the Pacific Coast Tri later this year!! Needless to say, the diets have changed.

Athletes need fuel. I'm poking at my post-Portland-trip-pot-belly thinking, "Athlete?!". Seriously though, regardless of how much you exercise good, clean, unprocessed food is the best fuel you can provide your body. For those of us with twice a day workouts 6 days a week, what we put in our bodies is the deciding factor between health and injury, strength and weakness, recovery and exhaustion. Calories are the gasoline your body needs to run. Fat is necessary to help your body recover and heal. Protein is needed to build your muscles. Fiber to keep you full! Vitamins and minerals to aid in recovery, growth, a strong immune system and balancing your body out.

Last year we struggled to keep posting as I went through the insane rigors of triathlon training. This blog started as my means of keeping track of recipes. I use it as my online catalog, and being reticent in my blog posting hurt me worse than my readers! We may end up short on words, but we will make our best effort to get a pretty photo up and a delicious recipe. Most of the stuff we're cooking these days is coming through or modified from a few excellent sources: Clean Eating Magazine and Eating Well (online). I can't recommend these sources enough (especially Clean Eating)!

If you're interested in following along with my side of the triathlon training check out my other blog over here! 

Thanks for your support and keep your eyes open for some new recipes headed your way!

Salmon with Blackberry Glaze over Cous Cous

I've met a lot of people who don't like salmon or couscous and I'm on a mission to change that! My love for couscous developed out of my inability to cook rice the way that I like it. Couscous? Boil water. Add seasonings. Turn heat off. Add couscous, cover. Done in 5 minutes. Works every single time.

Sometimes we think we don't like certain foods only because we've had them prepared in a limited fashion. If your parents fed you less than farm-fresh or canned vegetables, you may think you don't really like them. If you dined on an older or cheaper cut of fish, you might abhor the "fishiness". Or you had just steamed Brussels sprouts and never experienced the mind-blowingness of roasted crispy slightly salty Brussels sprouts. The point is, you could be missing out on a whole range of deliciousness based off a bad experience or two!

Be bold, be brave, try something new!

You can't go wrong with blackberries, a hint of orange zest in the couscous and a scattering of fresh greens.

Clean Eating July/Aug 2010
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pcs salmon filet, about 1/3 lb each
• cooking spray
• handful of asparagus tips, sliced diagonally
• 1 cup blackberries, divided
• 1 tsp raw honey
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/8 cup fresh orange juice
• 3 cups mixed wild greens
• 2 scallions, sliced on the diagonal
• 1/4c cous cous
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1/4c plus 1 Tbsp water
• pinch salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Steam asparagus tips over boiling water until tender, about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2. Mash half of blackberries with honey, soy sauce, sesame oil and orange juice. Set aside.
3. Cook cous cous by bringing 1/4c plus 1 Tbsp water to a boil with pinch of salt and zest. When boiling, add cous cous and cover. Remove from heat. Allow to sit covered, 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.
4. Preheat oven to 400'. Mist baking sheet with cooking spray. Place salmon on baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes until it flakes with fork, but is still pink inside.
5. Toss greens with half of mashed blackberry dressing. Arrange greens on plates. Top with cous cous.
6. Arrange salmon on top of cous cous and drizzle with rest of mashed dressing. Scatter dish with whole blackberries, asparagus tips and sliced scallions.

Vegetarian 'Beef' Stew

There's something indescribably satisfying about a steaming bowl of stew, chock-full of vegetables and hearty chunks of savory meat swimming in a thick, savory broth. Unless you're a vegetarian; then the experience can leave you quite unsatisfied.

As omnivores with herbivorous tendencies, we often cook vegetarian and sometimes vegan. Living in Southern California means that while our cost of living is absurdly high, we live a stone's throw from a handful of markets specializing in healthy diets. Adam emerged from his few years as a vegetarian with a roster of favorite items. One item in particular, Vegefarm Vege Beef Chunks makes its way into our weekly menu in anything from stir fry to this stew!  If you can find them, they'll be in the frozen food section at Mother's Market (or your local healthy grocer) and very closely resemble tender chunks of slow-cooked beef.

Honestly, when Adam told me he wanted to make a 100% vegetarian stew, I was skeptical. Could it really live up to the richness and depth of a beef stew? Would it satisfy, or would it be a hollow reminder of its meaty cousin? With Adam's magic for soups, stews, and sauces, the answer is YES. It's freaking amazing!

Serves 6


INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 8-10 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped roughly
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 5 small potatoes chopped (about 2 cups chopped)
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 1 container cherry tomatoes
• 48 oz no-chicken chicken stock
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 Tbsp thyme
• salt and cracked pepper
• 1 Tbsp marjoram
• 1 can beer 
• 2 packages Vegefarm Beef Chunks
• 1/4 cup flour whisked into 1/2 cup soymilk
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch whisked into 1/4 cup soymilk
• 4 Tbsp Worcestershire

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot over medium-high to high heat, add olive oil and sauté onion, carrots, garlic, celery, and potatoes until lightly browned.
2. Add Vege Beef Chunks, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes, and continue to sauté the mixture until nicely browned, 15-20 minutes or until onions begin to caramelize and fall apart.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and deglaze with the can of beer, scraping up all browned bits.
4. Add Worcestershire. reduce until sharp smell mellows.
5. Add stock, marjoram, bay leaves, and thyme.
6. Simmer until broth thickens a little about 20 minutes, then stir in the flour/soymilk mixture.
7. For extra thick and hearty stew, add cornstarch/soymilk mixture, and simmer at least 5 minutes before service.
8. Season to taste with salt and black pepper!

Salmon Wellington

Hello Readers!

Hopefully everyone had a lovely holiday and started 2011 on the right foot! Our postings dwindled to a trickle around Thanksgiving, but have no fear, they'll be picking up speed again now that we're on the other side of the calendar. So, Happy New Year, everyone!

In my opinion, you can improve almost anything by wrapping it in puff pastry. I also adore the enriching properties of duxelles, and will add it in just about anything. Any dish that wraps those two ingredients around fresh, sustainably-caught wild salmon is a guaranteed win in my book!

When you buy your salmon, buy half of what you expect you'll need. You really, truly, honestly only want a reasonably small piece (think the length of your hand and the width of two fingers). The pastry puffs up and produces a rich, luxurious meal. Unless of course, you've got tons of cash for a sweet piece of salmon and you're feeling a wee bit gluttonous. Then, by all means, indulge.

Serves 4
(Inspired by an Epicurious recipe)


INGREDIENTS:

• 4 pcs salmon (4-6oz ea, all roughly same thickness)
• 8-10 cremini mushrooms finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp herbes de province
• cracked pepper and ground sea salt
• 2 oz goat cheese
• 1 - 17.3oz package puff pastry 
• 1 egg beaten to blend

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425'
2. Set out puff pastry sheets to thaw
3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, shallots and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have reduced in size and everything is a very soft reduced consistency, about 10 minutes.
4. Combine with goat cheese, stirring to blend.
5. Season salmon with sea salt and cracked pepper.
6. Roll out each pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to 12-inch square. Cut each in half, forming four 12x6-inch rectangles. 
7. Place 1 salmon fillet in center of each rectangle, about 3 inches in from and parallel to 1 short edge. 
8. Top each salmon with 1/4 of mushroom-goat cheese mixture.
9.  Brush edges of rectangles with some glaze. Fold long sides of pastry over fillets. Fold short edge of pastry over fillets and roll up pastry, enclosing fillets. Seal edges of pastry. 
10. Place pastries, seam side down, on baking sheet. Brush with glaze.
11. Bake pastries until dough is golden brown, about 20 minutes. 
12. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.