I found some avocados on sale at the Indian grocery store in Austin.  This is the first time that I ever saw avocados at the Indian grocery store, so I was very surprised to see them.  What surprised me even more was the low, low price.  Only 38 cents a piece!!!

When I got home, my neighbor had delivered some fresh cucumbers and tomatoes from his garden.  I already had the mint and cilantro growing in my sun room.  I feel very lucky to have such wonderful ingredients.  All these fresh ingredients inspired me to make this delightful Avocado Mediterranean Salad.

Ingredients:

• 6 avocados
• 4 Persian cucumbers
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1 small red onion
• 1 Serrano chile
• 1 large lime
• 1 bunch of large mint leaves
• 1 bunch of cilantro (some people really don’t like cilantro.  If you are one of these people, use flat leaf parsley instead.)
• Sea…

I first got the idea to make this dish when I was with my dad at a farmer’s market in Chicago.  I found these beautiful sunburst squash and I just had to use them.  I told dad that I would make scallops and squash for our dinner.  Dad told me that he doesn’t like scallops, but he was excited about the squash because it was so fresh and reminded him of an Indian squash called Tinda.  Tinda is also called “Indian Baby Pumpkin.”  I told him that I would season the scallops with Indian spices and cook them just right so that he would like them.

Dad was willing to try it, so here is the recipe.  He loved it, by the way, and now has become a scallops fan.

INGREDIENTS:

• a dozen large scallops
• 6 small squash (you can used any small squash that is just a bit bigger…

My neighbor, Billy, brought me the first greens of the season from his garden this morning.  These fresh greens inspired me to make a version of my dad’s favorite Dal.  The traditional version of this dish is made with spinach or mustard greens.  

Ingredients:  Serves 6

• 1 cup of dried split mung beans
• 8 large Tuscan kale leave
• 8 large curly kale leaves
• 1 medium onion, diced (1 cup in volume)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 small chilies, minced
• 3 inches of ginger, minced
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 4 cups water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bay leaf (optional)

Prep:

Prep the kale by cutting out the stems with a paring knife.  Then roll up the…

What is Golumpki Soup you ask? Golumpki Soup is a cabbage roll soup that is so easy to prepare! You don’t have to make the actual cabbage rolls because everything from the cabbage rolls is in here. All that wonderful taste with very little effort!

Click on the link below to see the step by step directions with pictures and a printable recipe card.

http://indianeskitchen.com/2018/03/11/golumpki-soup

This is the best tasting Chicken Gizzards & Hearts I have ever had! I have never made them in the slow cooker before and it is the only way I will ever make them again. The process was very easy but it takes most of the day. I put mine in the slow cooker around 8:30 am and I ate them at 6:30 pm. They couldn’t have been more tender and flavorful! Chicken Gizzards and Hearts are so cheap to buy and very low in calories. The broth that was left over was such a beautiful color and delicious so I will be using it for something else!

Ingredients

Rinse the gizzards and hearts.

If the gizzards have not been cut up

at the store, slice each one in half.

Mine was already cut up.

Place the carrots and onions into

the bottom of the slow cooker.

Place the gizzards…

I realized that I didn’t write any post yet about that amazing ingredient which is the ‘Nduja! 🙂

I’m not using it often because I don’t always find it, but when I see it I usually never miss it. The ‘nduja it’s a spreadable meat product typical of Calabria region, especially the area of Spilinga. It is made with pork meat, pork fat, a high amount of hot peppers (25-30% usually) and it is smoked 🙂 so it’s really spicy! And because of such a high content of hot pepper, no preservatives are used.

Traditionally all the “poor” cuts of the animal were used: spleen, stomach, lungs, intestine, heart, trachea, esophagus, pharynx, head, etc. while nowadays many modern recipes don’t use all these things. In the more artisanal ‘nduja the mix is left for a few hours in wooden kneading toughs, then stuffed in guts and smoked with…

Growing up a Catholic in the 1950s and 60s meant eating a lot of fish sticks. If it wasn’t a fish stick, it was deep fried catfish. To this day, I still love a good catfish fry. But there are other ways to skin that fish and have it taste just as good. Take this oven-baked catfish. Too simple and way too delicious to be the real deal, yet it is. Served up with seamed broccoli and you’ve got all the makings for a beautiful yet healthy alternative to a down home fish fry.

I know, this is more in keeping with my Lenten recipes, but wasn’t today’s Crab Dip fun?

Oven-Baked Catfish
1 cup Cornbread Stuffing, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1 lb Catfish (4 fillets)
1 Egg
2 tablespoons Butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Place cornbread stuffing in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade…

There’s a little town not too far from where we live that has the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi. (Have you ever noticed that everything in this country seems to be categorized as either east or west of the Mississippi? What happens if whatever it is we’re looking at happens to be floating in the middle of the Mississippi? Do both sides lay claim? Just wondering).

Knights Ferry is an unincorporated historic community nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. The Willms Ranch, just outside town, was one of many filming locations for such television shows as Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. Julia Grant, wife of President Ulysses S. Grant, had two brothers that settled in the town in 1852. The Dent brothers changed the name of the town to “Dentville”, but the name never stuck since most people knew it as the site…