It is the last few weeks of summer – I am horrified (yes, horrified) at how quickly the summer went by. Asides from my week of vacation, I think I’ve been in the sun for a total of 10 days. Sigh, the life of a medical student/netflix watcher (Buffy the Vampire slayer and Friday Night Lights – 2 very different shows that live deep in my heart).

Asides from the earlier sunset, August also means it’s peach season. They are so fresh and sweet now that they add something special to any dish. You can go for the classic peach cobbler, or you can cut fresh peaches into a green salad (if you just came back from a heavy-eating vacation). In my case, I used sweet peaches to balance the spicy zing of my cajun salmon – and it went perfectly.

This dish is a cajun spiced salmon with a fresh tasting peach salsa. You can buy cajun seasoning pre-made at your grocery store. No need to make a melange (that’s french for “mixture”) of your own. And while the recipe calls for a peach salsa, I didn’t cut my veggies and fruits into teensy tiny pieces – I’m rebellious. Conform if you wish.

Cajun salmon with peach salsa

Ingredients: (for 4)

For the fish:

• 4 salmon fillets
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp cajun seasoning (warning: it can be spicy!)
• salt and pepper

Peach salsa:

• 1 1/2 cups (finely) diced peach
• 3/4 cup (finely) diced red pepper
• 1/2 cup (finely) diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cups finely diced onions
• 1/4 cup diced fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon huice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• salt and pepper

 Hola all you loyal Sundays With Jennie readers! My name is Erinn and I am honoured to be guest blogging on this esteemed site today.  I am not a chef, nor a foodie, nor a food blogger, nor a med student, BUT I am a chica who likes food, likes photos of food and likes Jennie, so here I am!

This opportunity to guest blog all began a few weeks ago when I had the daunting task of making dinner for the Jennie, of Sundays with Jennie.  I was nervous to say the least- I mean come on, all of you faithful readers have seen the stuff Jennie puts out, this girl is good! How would I impress? Or, in the very least satisfy.  I didn’t want to go with something too safe -my standard honey mustard pistachio encrusted salmon, roasted green beans and baked sweet potato- but I did not want to go too fancy either- homemade pasta, filo-dough wrapped fish or anything that requires a Cuisinart.

So, after scouring the internet and racking my brain I decided on fish tacos, and then the rest of the meal was inspired from there. There was guac (that’s how cool people say it, trust), tortilla chips and salsa to start, followed by a taco frenzy:  2 types of tacos- hard and soft, 2 types of fish- sole and tilapia (I preferred the sole, I don’t think my fellow diners noticed a difference) made 2 different ways- spicy and zesty (spicy was not even spicy enough for our spice lover, Jennie) and all the delicious accoutrements to go with including homemade mango salsa (mmm!), cabbage, tex-mex cheese, sour cream and a side of wild rice.  And, to top it all off I made a pitcher (well, actually 2 pitchers) of strawberry mojitos (which by the way are my new summer drink).

I must say I was really pleasantly surprised with how it all turned out.  Everyone loved the food, so much so that I was asked to guest blog J

Disclaimer for the recipes: I am more of a taste and eye ball than recipe and measuring cup kinda gal, so here are my makeshift recipes.

RECIPES:

FISH for the Fish Tacos (*Choose a solid white fish, I liked the sole)

Zesty:

• -       ¼ cup lemon juice
• -       ¼ cup olive oil
• -       1 handful of fresh cilantro
• -       A few generous shakes of garlic powder
• -       Salt and pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Pour over fish (I like to marinate in a bowl), cover and put in fridge to marinate for 30 min. to 2 hours.

Spicy:

•  2 tsps mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 tsp Sirracha (or more if you love spice)
•  Juice of 1 lime

Same instructions for marinating as above.

 MANGO SALSA

• -       1 mango
• -       1 red onion
• -       ½ a cucumber
• -       1 tomato
• -       Juice of 1 lime
• -       Small handful cilantro
• -       Salt and pepper

Dice up all the fruit and vegetables and mix all ingredients together!

 GUAC

• -       4 avocadoes
• -       ½ red onion
• -       1 tomato
• -       Juice of 1 lemon
• -       2 cloves of garlic finely chopped (or more if you love garlic like me)\

1. - Take avocados out of their skin and place in medium sized bowl.
2. - Seed and dice tomatoes.
3. - Dice the onion
4. - finely dice the garlic
5. - Place all ingredients into the bowl
6. - Pour in the lemon juice
7. - Mix all together using a fork and knife to make it chunky (rather than mashing with a fork)

 MOJITOS:

• - White rum
• - Club Soda
• - Sugar
• - Mint
• - Strawberries

*Quantities vary depending on how strong you like your drinks!

Check Erinn out on twitter!

I’m going to gloss over the whole April Fools aspect of today. I am too gullbile for a day of trickery – I grew up with my grandmother calling me every year on April 1 to tell me school was cancelled cause of a snowstorm…and then as I excitedly look outside she laughs on the other end. EVERY YEAR.

Even at the tender age of 24 I fell for the classic ” NASA has put pigs on the moon to study the effects of gravity on swine flu”…yah. That one got me good. I was talking about how hurtful that experiment was to the pig community for days.

Today I was “on call” in the emergency psychiatry department. You don’t pull jokes like that there. Phew!

Since I had an early morning of hospital duties, I didn’t want to go out last night. So I cooked an easy, light and tasty meal for two. Some may call it a romantic dinner for two. How sweet.

My favorite thing about this dish is how easy it is to clean up after – the fish is baked in tin foil packets, so there isn’t much mess to clean up afterwards! And cause it’s spicy. Duh.

Unfortunately, the recipe did call for cilantro (shudder) that I left out because I am not a fan. Feel free to add it to your fish recipe, I won’t judge!

I served this fish with rice and fresh salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

 Foil Baked Chipotle Tilapia with Black Beans and Corn

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless white fish fillets (6 to 8 oz each), 1-inch thick ; Tilapia, cod or halibut
• salt and pepper
• 4 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 2 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (16-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups corn kernels
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 2 scallions, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (at your own risk)

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 450 degrees.
2. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
3. Using a fork, mix together the butter, 1 teaspoon chipotle, orange zest, half the garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper in a medium bowl until well-combined.  Spread butter mixture over the fish.
4. In a medium sized bowl, combine the beans, corn, onion, scallions, 2 tablespoons of cilantro, orange juice, remaining chipotle, remaining garlic, scallions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl.
5. Prepare and lay out four 14 inch lengths of aluminum foil on the counter and divide the bean mixture evenly over the lower half of each piece of foil. Place the fish on top of bean mixture and fold foil over the fish, folding the edges to seal.
6. Place the packets in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the fish is just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.  Carefully open the packets and sprinkle with remaining cilantro.
7.  Serve and enjoy.

Source:  Pink Parsley food blog, originally from America’s Test Kitchen, The Best Simple Recipes

This dish really makes an easy meal that will be greatly appreciated and enjoyed!

- Jennie

I have never ventured into the curry cupboard before – I admit it, I was scared. Such strong flavors and smells come with Indian cooking and I honestly didn’t have the courage for the flavor explosion that would erupt on my stove.

After enjoying some lovely hospital smells (I think I’ll spare you the details) I needed a good nose cleanser. Indian food it was!

After not really knowing where to start, I found this recipe on a blog I really enjoy reading, A Cozy Kitchen – The recipes are great and the pictures are beautiful (my favorite part!). This curry is very simple to make, and has a nice kick to it. Having never cooked or eaten much indian before, I enjoyed the mild curry flavor of the dish. Next time I will have to take it one step further! Muahahaha. (Curry apparently makes me evil, who knew?)

Shrimp Curry -

Source: A cozy kitchen, originally adapted from 101 cookbooks

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of small waxy potatoes no bigger than a small lime, halved
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon of curry powder
• 3/4 teaspoon of cayenne powder (If you don’t want it too spicy, use up to 1/2 tsp)
• 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup of water
• splash of cream or creme fraiche
• 8 ounces of shrimp, peeled and deveined
• a small handful of cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. Start by sprinkling 1 tsp of salt on the potatoes and steam (or boil) the potatoes. This should take about 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, in a large skillet, melt the butter in the olive oil, add the onion and cook over LOW heat until they are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cumin powder, curry powder, and cayenne pepper, wait about thirty seconds, then stir in the tomatoes, water, and the other teaspoon of salt. Remove from heat, stir in the cream and blend with a hand blender  or transfer to a blender. (Hand blender are the coolest!)
3. Dry your shrimp completely dry with a paper towel. In a skillet, over medium,  pour a few tablespoons olive oil and wait until it gets hot, then add the shrimp and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  Cook for approx 1 1/2 minutes on each side.
4. Once done, transfer shrimp to the pot of curry and bring barely to a simmer.  Add the potatoes when they are finished steaming. Transfer to a large family-style bowl, and sprinkle with cilantro before serving.
5. Enjoy!

Hope you liked this culinary adventure! Where should I venture to next??

- Jennie

Being a medical student in the hospitals means that lunch time is usually non-existent. There is no such thing as a specified time for lunch let alone a “lunch break”. You have to shove food in your face whenever you have the chance – it’s totally hot. Especially when someone catches you huddled under a desk with your face in a tupperware desperately trying to eat…happens to the best of us I imagine.

Seeing as how I would literally eat anything that’s put in front of me during the day (I’m looking at you donuts and bagels in the birthing center) I try to pack a large but healthy lunch to keep me satisfied throughout the day.

I tire easily of salad every day so I try and change it up with rice paper spring rolls! You can put in different vegetables and use different dipping sauces for variety. My favorite one I make uses rice noodles, shredded carrots, avocado and red pepper. I then dip it in a spicy teriyaki sauce. The roll comes together very quickly and its a healthy and yummy lunch. I often add that “fake” crab meat that you find in the fish section of your grocery store to add some extra protein but shrimp or tofu works too. Peanut butter dipping sauce can also be used as an alternative to teriyaki sauce.

Rice paper can be found in the japanese section of the grocery store. I often use 2 rice papers together for one roll because they are very thin and it rips easily.

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets of rice paper
• 1/4 avocado sliced
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 red pepper sliced
• 1/4-1/2 cup cooked rice noodles (according to how much you want)
• Crab meat/tofu
• +/- bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, basil, mint leaves

Directions:

(step by step photos will be added since my explanation is lacking finesse)

1. Soak sheets of rice paper in lukewarm water for 15 seconds (until pliable)

2. Place filling in center of sheet

3. Fold over to cover the filling. Then fold the ends in (so that the filling doesn’t fall out of the ends) and then finish rolling it.

4. Cut in half, dip and enjoy.

I will be in NYC this weekend and will unfortunately be unable to post Sunday but I’ll have something great for you Monday!

-Jennie