Quick Spicy Mussels with Salad Greens and Avocado

I love dazzling people with dishes that look amazing, and sound sexy, but are ridiculously cheap and easy to make. I learned that trick from my Mother. I grew up extremely poor. There were times when it was touch and go if we were going to be evicted from our home, and for most of my life my Mom worked two jobs, usually two minimum wage jobs.

My Mother was a hero, period, but she was a goddess in the kitchen. One thing that she did was turn mundane, everyday food, into miracle treats. My little brother Jason and I were convinced that buttered egg noodles were a delicacy, when in fact it was nothing more than sauteed noodles in butter, salt, and garlic. But, my mother would only make the dish rarely, and she made a big deal out of it when she did. Presentation and flair when serving a dish can turn anything into a fancy treat.

Last night, I made my favorite mussel recipe. Other than the brown rice, the entire dish takes roughly 15 minutes to make INCLUDING cooking and prep time. The reaction, however, when I posted a picture of my plate to Facebook was astounding.

So here is the recipe for my dinner last night. Enjoy!

Spicy Mussels with Salad Greens and Avocado

2lb Prince Edward Island or Blue Mussels
3 garlic cloves minced
2 jalapenos sliced
3 Thai chili peppers sliced
1/2 red onion diced
3 cups white wine
1 to 2 ripe avocados
1 bag of mixed garden greens

Mussels are wonderful because you don't have to clean them first. They generally come in 2lb bags at your local grocer in the fresh seafood section. The first thing that you want to do when you get home is go through the mussels and toss out any broken mussels. Next, in a large pot, add the wine, peppers, onion, and garlic. Next add the mussels. Cover the mussels and cook over high heat for 8-10 minutes until the mussels are opened. After 10 minutes (MAX!) remove from heat. Do not cook longer or the mussels will start to get chewy. Do NOT eat any mussels that haven't opened. Throw those away as well.

To dish up the mussels, lay down a bed of salad greens on a plate, next add white or brown rice to the top of the salad greens. You can then add the mussels (in the shell or out of the shell) to the top of the rice, and add slices of fresh avocado to the plate as well. Salt to taste and ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!

You can also serve the mussels as an appetizer. Just place the mussels, in the shell, in a large bowl, and provide a separate bowl for shells. Folks can just dig in and eat 'em up.

This dish will serve 2 people well and the total cost, depending on the price of mussels, will run from $8 to $11.

Sweet and Spicy Party Wings

Growing up I lived for my Mama's chicken. Fried chicken, smothered chicken, baked chicken, roasted chicken, if it had chicken in it, I knew it was fixin' to be fierce. Hell, my Mom's chicken was so good, chickens would stop by the house and asked to be cooked up by her.

Now, pale as my Mother is...she cooks soul food better than most black folks that grew up in the South. Her fried chicken was out of control, and her fried chicken wings made you see visions of the Virgin Mary. She also made a baked chicken that she covered in soy sauce and honey, and it would come out sweet, moist, and hot...how many of my lesbian friends like their women.

Seeing as I have tried to stay away from Crisco and its accompanying health problems as an adult, but recognizing that I love me some chicken wings, I decided one day to use my Mom's honey/soy sauce glaze on some wings.

The result was soo good that I had a roommate that would just come home from work with a package of wings and a hopeful smile.

Over the years I have added a bit of this and that to the recipe. For my birthday party this last weekend, I marinated and baked 8lbs of chicken wings for the party. At only $1.99 a pound, I got away with enough chicken for thirty people for less than $20, and there wasn't nary a piece of chicken left up in the house when it was over.

Here's the secret recipe.

Sweet and Spicy Party Wings


1 to 2lbs fresh or frozen chicken wings/drummies
1 Cup Honey
2 Cups Soy Sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
5 or 6 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper

For cheapness sake...buy a couple bags of the frozen wings at Cub or Rainbow and make sure they are thawed out.

Spread them out in a large cake baking dish. Something that has some depth to it.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium size microwave safe mixing bowl, pour about a cup to two cups of honey...depending on how many wings you want to make.

Nuke that for about 20-30 seconds so the honey melts.

On standby have about two to three cups of soy sauce. Mixed in with the soy sauce you should have some minced garlic...if you mince it yourself mince five or six cloves. If you buy the preminced stuff...buy the stuff in water and not olive oil and use about three heaping table spoons.

Once the honey comes out of the microwave add the soy sauce and garlic to the bowl.

Then evenly pour the honey/soy sauce mixture over the wings in the cooking pan/pans.

Sprinkle the crushed red pepper, pepper, garlic salt, and seasoning salt over the wings.

Then add about a half cup water to the bottom of each pan. This will keep the soy sauce from scorching.

Make sure the wings are thoroughly covered with the sauce....and pop in the oven for about 40 minutes. Check them from time to time to make sure that the soy sauce isn't burning on the bottom of the pan, and add more water to the bottom of the pan if it looks as if it is going to dry up.

Turn the wings about 10 minutes into the deal and then turn them again after 10 minutes.

Pull 'em out and serve 'em up.

This recipe will easily feed six to eight people if eaten as an appetizer. Serve them with brown rice and vegetables for a meal and you can feed four to six people. Either way, the entire cost of this meal should run you about $6-$8.

PS For every pound of wings you add...add another 1/2 up of soy sauce and 1/2 cup of honey. The rest of the ingredients are really to taste.

David's Pico de Gallo

David and I are blessed with some very wonderful friends. Last night, we had three of them over for dinner: Yuval Sheer, Adi Marom, and Karlo Colon.

Yuval and Adi are our favorite couple...two Israeli's with big hearts. Yuval is a politically aware and plugged in Israeli lawyer. He fights for justice at here, and has dreams of going back to Israel and becoming engaged in politics back home. Both he and Adi understand the deeply complex relationship between Israel and Palestine, and they both abhor the violence and hurt that the colonization of Palestine has created. Adi is a tremendous artist. A graduate student at NYU, her work combines the very real and the whimsical. I particularly am a fan of her kinetic sculptures that combine art and robotics.

Karlo Colon is an extremely talented "painter of faces," aka a make up artist. He has worked with some of the top celebs and top fashion houses on the planet, yet he is so down to earth and sweet and real and wonderful. He is David's and my first friend that we made together. I met Karlo one evening at the Hispanic AIDS Forum's Sol Awards, and it was the greatest gift I received that evening.

So, last night, we decided to have these three fantastic individuals over for dinner. David'd made veggie tacos for the non-meat eaters. Karlo brought veggie Puerto Rican beans, which we served with brown rice. We had freshly made pico de gallo and tortilla chips for appetizer, and I also made a delicious chicken to go with the rice and beans for Karlo and I. And for a green, we had fresh green beans sauteed with butter and garlic.

This week, I am going to post the recipes for the pico de gallo, as an easy cheap appetizer that is full of fresh goodness, and I will also include the chicken recipe...which will have you lickin' your fingers and drunk on the flavors.

Here, first, is the Pico de Gallo recipe.

David's Pico de Gallo

8-10 ripe plum tomatoes diced
5-6 cloves of garlic minced
3-4 large jalapenos minced
1/2 cup cilantro minced
1/2 medium sized red onion minced
1 lime
salt to taste

Pico de Gallo is quick, delicious, and highly healthy. In a large bowl add the diced tomatoes along with the garlic, jalapenos, cilantro, and onion. Cut the lime in half, and squeeze each half over the pico, with a large spoon gently stir the pico de gallo together...be careful not to mash the tomatoes over much...this is not a pureed salsa. After mixing, salt to taste. Serve with tortilla chips or, if you like Yuval, grab a bowl, a fork, and eat it as a side salad.

The pico makes a delicious fresh and light appetizer that is way low in calories, and you control the saltiness of it. The whole shebang, minus the cost of the chips, will run you about $3-$4, and it heartily fed five people to their fill.

PS The great picture on this recipe page is courtesy of the incomparable Karlo Colon.

Tostones with Guacamole and Salmon

This week I had my first Fairy Chef dinner party. Sounds fancy don't it? Actually, it was just me, David, Tasha, and Nat drinking some vino while I plied them with my new creations. Now, Tasha and Nat are real foodies. When they talk about food, they sound like that crazy opera singer judge from the original Iron Chef that was obviously dubbed over by a cheerleader using her best porn voice, but she knows a thing or two about how food should be experienced.

So I started off the evening with an appetizer. Tostones (fried green plantains) served with fresh guacamole, and diced salmon. Now, here is what you are going to get from the Fairy Chef....honesty. At first, I wasn't particularly wowed by the combination. The flavors worked together but something wasn't quite right, but thanks to Nat I figured it out. I hadn't cooked most of the tostones long enough. The minute I had a toston that was crispy (I usually fry them twice but only fried them once this time), the combination of the texture of the tostone with the fresh guac and the salmon was D-I-V-I-N-E.

PS Eating guacamole with homemade tostones is WAY healthier than guac and chips!

Then we moved on to the main course. The main course was a pan fried tilapia, which I sauteed in a delicious mango/jalapeno/mushroom chutney. The chutney on the fish was so good that I thought we all might break out into a Bollywood moment and starting dancing and singing Tilapia to the tune of Jai Ho.

In the end, the dinner was a success. As I experiment further with the appetizer, I will update the recipe. But, here are this weeks recipes. I am breaking the recipes into two posts for easy searching.


Tostones con Guacamole y Salmon

3-4 green plantains
2 small salmon fillets
4-6 avocados
½ small red onion
1 jalapeno
2 limes
1/3 cup cilantro
6 cloves of garlic minced
2 plum tomatoes
1 cup canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
2 brown paper bags
¼ cup garlic salt

This is is a three part recipe...it is actually three recipes in one. I am magic. Ta-da! So, begin by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees. Place the two salmon fillets on a deep baking sheet (I use a small glass square baking pan), pour the soy sauce over the salmon, and then cover the baking pan with tin foil. Place the pan into the oven. It is going to take about 30-40 minutes for the salmon to bake. Check after 20 minutes and make sure it is cooking evenly. You don't need to flip the salmon over unless they are very thick fillets, if so, flip them at the 20 minute mark.

Now, while the salmon is baking away, you can begin preparing your guacamole.

Guacamole

Now it's been said that my guac may be the best guacamole in the world. Perhaps even the entire Milky Way. I hear that the Mexicans of the Andromeda Galaxy may have a better recipe, but I doubt it.

First mince your garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, red onion, and tomatoes. Put them all in a large mixing bowl. Take your avocados and halve them. Remove the giant pit. Now here is the fun part. Take each half and squeeze the ripe avocado out of its skin into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Next, grab the two limes and cut those in half. Squeeze the lime into the bowl. Make sure to dig your fingers into the meat of the lime to make sure you get the most juice out of each half. And next, the messy part......if you really want your guac to be well mixed...wash your hands...and then dig into the bowl. Squeeze the avocado and mix the ingredients by hand...squashing and squishing as you go. Once the guac is well mixed, add about a full teaspoon of salt, and then set aside.

If the salmon is finished cooking, remove from the oven, and set on a cutting board. Most salmon fillets come with a piece of skin on the underside of the fillet. After baking, this should be easy to peel off. Remove the skin and discard. Then, mince the salmon until it is in pieces that resemble canned salmon (yuck!). Place the salmon into a small serving bowl and set aside.

Now, making tostones is an art form. If you have had good tostones, you know what I am talking about. First lay out one brown paper bag on the counter. Set the second aside, nearby. Next peel your plantains. The skin on a plantain is much thicker than a banana, and it is attached tightly to the fruit. You will need to use a large knife to make a slit down the length of the plantain. Once they are peeled, you want to cut it into pieces about the size and thickness of a quarter, more or less. Next, in a large skillet heat your canola oil. Once it is sizzling hot, add the plantains to the oil. Fry the plantains until they start to brown, flip them over and brown the other side. This will take about 5-6 minutes. Remove the plantains from the skillet and lay them out on the brown paper bag. While they are still hot, lay the second brown paper bag on top of them. If you have a rolling pin, roll over the plantains to squish them flat. If you don't have a rolling pin (lord knows I don't) a spaghetti sauce jar or a thermos will work just as well. Once you have squished the plantains flat, put them back into the skillet and fry them up for another two minutes on each`side. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with garlic salt.

Here is the tasty part. To serve, lay a heap of tostones on small plates, cover with scoops of guacamole, and then sprinkle the top with the baked salmon. Sprinkle each plate with a little salt and serve.

This recipe will happily serve four people, and it costs about $10. If you choose to make the recipe without the salmon, the entire cost of the appetizer is about $4.

Caribbean/Asian Fusion Shrimp Stir Fry with Fried Mushroom Appetizers

So, last night, David and I stayed in and had a movie night. We finally have the apartment to ourselves as the "roommate" finally moved out a couple of days ago (for more on the "roommate" check out my post the Ex Files at My Feet Only Walk Forward). And I decided to do a little fusion experiment in the kitchen.

Our friend Karlo Karlo was a gem super star and stopped by last week with a whole mess of freshly made sofrito, I had some shrimp thawed out, and I had purchased a beautiful finger pepper from the Amish Market near our apartment. I decided to build a recipe around these three items. I also had a package of button mushrooms, and since we were having a special night in, and both David and I were starving after having just come from the gym and gongyo, I thought appetizers were in order. Here is the menu from last night.

I will be uploading photos of the cooking process in a bit.

Lightly Fried Mushrooms

1 package button mushrooms
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tablespooon seasoning salt
1 tsp black pepper
two cups vegetable oil


In a medium size mixing bowl, mix flour, seasoning salt, and pepper. Set aside. In a separate small bowl, crack the egg, and mix it together so that the yolk and egg whites mix up.

Over a medium-high heat in a medium size sauce pan, heat your vegetable oil. After cleaning the mushrooms to make sure that all the dirty is off of them, roll each mushroom in the egg and then roll in the flour so that the mushroom is covered in a light layer of batter. Then drop the mushrooms into the oil. Fry the mushrooms for about seven or eight minutes. The crust should turn a golden brown and be very light and flaky. Make sure to move the mushrooms around while they sizzle.

Remove from the pan and lay on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up some of the extra oil. Sprinkle with salt and enjoy.

This tasty little treat feeds two people with about four to six mushrooms each and will cost you $2 to $3.

And now on to the main event.

Fusion Shrimp Stir Fry

1 lb frozen or fresh uncooked shrimp
1 finger pepper
1/8 cup shredded fresh ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup sofrito
1 tbs garlic pepper sauce (optional)
1/2 soy sauce
20-30 pieces of okra chopped up
1 large sweet red bell pepper
6 scallions
1/4 cup Goya olives with capers
1 cup white wine (cooking wine or Sauvignon Blanc)
1/4 cup olive oil

So, first things first, make sure that you thaw out the shrimp (once again, Trader Joe's has GREAT large frozen shrimp, pre cleaned with only the tails on). Remove the tails from the shrimp. They should just pull right off. Set the shrimp aside.

Mince your garlic and the finger pepper. If you have a cheese shredder, use that to shred the ginger. And then chop up your scallions. Make sure you chop up a part of the darker green leafy section of the scallions as well.

Also, make sure your okra and sweet red bell pepper are chopped into bite sized pieces and set aside.


In a large wok, heat up your olive oil. Once the oil is nice and toasty, add in the ginger, garlic,scallions and finger pepper. Let these sizzle and pop for about four or five minutes. This allows the flavors to mix with the oil. It also allows the garlic to carmelize, which brings out a fuller flavor.

Add to the wok your shrimp, soy sauce, garlic pepper sauce, and olives with capers. You can find the garlic pepper sauce in most grocery stores these days in the Asian section. It's a clear bottle with a rooster on it and a green cap. It's great stuff. Also, in that same section, you can find the Goya Olives with Capers. Be careful, the olives still have pits, but they have a great flavor. Then add your sofrito. You can buy sofrito from the store, but I do not recommend it. It isn't difficult to make, and you can freeze it. There are many good recipes for making sofrito on the web. Make sure it is Puerto Rican sofrito with recao.

Keep the shrimp and the mixture moving in the pan to ensure that all the flavors are mixing and the shrimp are coated. After about a minute add the okra, sweet red bell pepper and the white wine. Keep stirring the food for about five to six minutes. Once the shrimp have turned pinkish/orange, cook for another minute or two, and then remove from the heat. You don't want to overcook the shrimp or they will be dry.

This stir fry makes a rich sauce that is a little thicker than other stir fries. Serve the stir fry over brown rice and enjoy. The mixture of Caribbean and Asian flavors in this dish are pretty damn stupefying. So good.

This dish will comfortable serve three to four people and will run you $9-$16. The price range spread is based on your access to large uncooked shrimp. Again, Trader Joe's is your friend.