Here's one of my favourite Spanish dishes - Although I have been making it for years the way a Spanish cook once showed me, this time I followed the preparation seen recently on a Spanish Cooking TV channel. Their ingredients included a small piece of or pork fat and a stewing chorizo (chorizo para guisar). If choosing a chorizo for this dish, be sure it is the right type which has the red pimiento colour. The small piece of tocino can be seen just to the right of the sprig of rosemary. Stewed Lentils (Lentejas Estofadas) 350 grams (1 1/2 cups) of small dark lentils - put them to soak the night before in water to cover 100 grams (3.5 oz) red stewing chorizo sausage - lightly pricked over with tines of a fork 50 grams (1.7 oz) salted tocino pork fat - cut into large diced pieces 1 TBSP flour 2 carrots diced fine 2 medium leeks, using only white stems sliced finely in rounds 1 lg clove garlic (this was optional but I wouldn't leave it out) - pass through garlic press 2 cups beef broth (I used 2 Knorr cubes) 1 bay leaf fresh rosemary - small sprig olive oil - about 1/4 cup 2 cups extra water to add after 1st hour 1. Soak lentils the NIGHT BEFORE in water to cover. * Note this if now often unnecessary with newer fast cooking lentils. 2. Next day drain and rinse lentils, put aside. 3. Heat olive oil in heavy cooking pot. When sizzling, add carrots, garlic and leeks. Lightly brown while stirring. 4. Add 1 TBSP flour and keep stirring for about a minute. 5. Add lentils, beef broth, whole chorizo, tocino, laurel and rosemary 6. Put on lid and simmer very gently for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Check after 1st hour and add up to 2 more cups water as needed. 7. Adjust seasoning and serve. ***************************************** Lentil & Potato Potaje (Potaje de Lentejas y Patatas) 3 cups of presoaked lentils 4 medium potatoes - cut into large dice 2 slices of stale bread 3 cloves garlic vinegar salt Put lentils in large pot, cover with water and begin to boil. As soon as lentils have begun to cook do the following: In a frying pan with 1/2 inch of oil brown the garlic and then add the bread and fry until brown. Remove garlic before it's too dark. Put browned bread and garlic into a mortar and grind to a paste. During the early part of cooking the lentils add the paste from the mortar to the lentils together with the oil that's left in the pan After about half an hour and before lentils are tender, add the diced or quartered potatoes, salt and finish cooking until all is tender. Check and correct salt and a dash of vinegar before serving. Source: A cook friend from Mallorca. *************************************** LENTIL & VEGETABLE SOUP Ingredients: lentils - 250 grams (slightly over 1 cup) garlic - one whole head onion - 1 large - quartered Kasseler smoked pork chop - 1 large (or 250 grams other smoked pork or bacon) ham or pork bone as for making stock 4 medium carrots - sliced into coins 2 stalks celery - diced 5 medium potatoes - peeled and cut into 8ths 6 flowerettes of cauliflower green beans - handful sliced tomato puré - small 4 oz tin olive oil - 4 TBS fresh garden herbs: 1 bay leaf, several sprigs thyme, Italian flatleaf parsley 2 or 3 sprigs chicken stock 1 liter (4 cups) or water and 3 Knorr chicken stock cubes salt & fesh ground pepper water to cook lentils vinegar - 1 teasp garlic croutons - optional garnish Method: 1) Turn on oven to 350F. Put lentils in large heavy bottomed stew pot with water to cover plus about 2 inches, bring to boil and simmer 45 minutes. Check water level and add more as needed. 2) Meanwhile put whole head of garlic into shallow baking pan together with quartered onion, Kasseler or smoked pork and ham or pork bone, drizzle with olive oil and roast in oven at medium heat about 45 minutes. 3) Remove baking tray from oven when all is nicely browned and cut meat into small dice and add to lentil pot along with onion. Squeeze garlic from skin into lentil pot, adding ham/pork bone along with oil and juices scraped from roasting pan. 4) Add rest of vegetables to lentils, chicken stock (or water and stock cubes), tomato puré, fresh herbs and bay leaf, parsley - reserving one sprig, fresh ground pepper. Bring to boil and simmer about 1 hour until vegetables are done, adding more water if needed. 5) When vegetables are tender, remove ham/pork bones and any bare thyme stems from pot, check for flavour and add salt as needed. Add vinegar and stir. 6) Serve with a bit of chopped parsley and more fresh ground pepper. Homemade garlic croutons are also nice as a garnish. Source: Recipe as I learned from a Mallorquin housewife years ago. ******************************* Lentil Purée Convert leftover stewed lentils into a delicious purée by putting them into a food processor and adding the following: 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth 2 lg cloves of garlic crushed and browned in 1/4 cup oil in small frypan 2 slices brown bread broken in small pieces and fried in the garlicky oil until brown Processed the above until smooth and then heat it gently. Dice more pieces of brown bread and toasted them in the frying pan with oil and garlic salt for the croutons. SharonCb

Two good recipes posted above. The stock is similar to what i follow. I remove the eyes and never bring to near a boil. Just a small rumble simmer. 10 minutes and turn off heat. Freezes nicely. With salmon i like to make a fish chowder.( My seafood cookbook says the eyes can cloud the stock.) Salmon will be a bit richer flavor being oily but still delish. I always add, at the end of cooking a fish soup or chowder , the final 5 min before serving, a pureed fresh tomato and half a lemon juice. The rest of the lemon i slice paper thin and top each bowl. The little bit of acid gives a nice fresh flavor. (tomato paste or canned would ruin it...way too harsh and metalic) Wow, the Japanese Salmon head soup looks great! Never thought to use white miso. I have some that i use for a veggie dish. Never thought to make a seafood dish with it. The small 8oz makes about six soups and keeps in the fridge about 9 months even after opening...my local health food store stocks it. Here is a link that might be useful: mellow white miso

Okay, I made fish tacos tonight and we ate them outside on the patio. Sorry no pics - it was candlelight only - but here is the semi detailed process. Lightly salt half the fish and set aside in fridge. Cube the other half, put in a bowl with lime juice, and refrigerate, stirring occasionally. I used tilapia fillets. Make pico de gallo. Medium dice four largish tomatoes (seeds, skin and all), one largish onion. Fine dice one jalapeño or Serrano pepper (seeds removed), four garlic cloves. Optional: cut the flesh from three peaches and dice. Zest and juice three limes. Chop a handful of cilantro. Combine all in a large bowl. Mix with your hands, squeeze a few handfuls to mush up a bit of the mixture, which gives it a bit of thickness. Set aside for 10-20 minutes, then salt and pepper to taste. De-stem the remaining bunch of cilantro, put in a bowl. Optional: my wife likes sauce, so I had to do this. Mix a half cup of mayo with some jalapeño or habanero chile oil (cut up the de-seeded pepper and crush it, e.g. using a garlic press), and a little lime juice. Add the pepper oil and juice bit by bit, tasting as you go. If it gets too hot, add more mayo. Optional: make some guacamole, just mash up avocados with a fork and add a bit of salt and a bit of lime juice. Again, my wife wanted this, actually she made it. Heat oil in a pan, use high heat, fry corn tortillas, folding them in half after they've softened in the oil, then frying on each side until they start to brown. This isn't necessary, our beachside Baja tacos weren't hard shelled, but I like it anyway. Set tortillas aside on paper towels. Heat more oil, put the fish fillets in the pan, add a dash of lime juice, sprinkle on paprika and fry on high heat, tossing to distribute the paprika and get all sides of the fish fried. The paprika is an optional cheat; it makes the fish look browned, but you don't have to actually brown it which would mean overcooking it. Cooking time is only about 3-4 minutes. Fork the fish into small pieces. Take the lime juice-soaked fish out of the refrigerator, discard the lime juice. This is your ceviche. It needs to have soaked in the lime long enough to be opaque white, no longer translucent like raw fish is - half an hour or more. Assemble tacos. A tortilla, some fish - either the fried fish or the ceviche - plus cilantro, pico de gallo, and optionally the sauce or guacamole. A beer would be good accompaniment. I made some Mexican rice too, but I don't put it in the taco. This post was edited by johnliu on Sun, Aug 17, 14 at 2:10

I like this one, it's the most like the good Brunswick Stew we ate many, many years ago at our favorite BBQ place in Durham, NC. It calls for chicken or squirrel or rabbit, but I only ever used chicken, as well as pork or beef. It's from my old Fannie Farmer cook book. Brunswick Stew Vary this famous Southern dish in many ways. It is often made in huge quantities for an out-of-doors get-together and can be made of squirrel and rabbit as well as stewing chicken. Sometimes pork spare-ribs and pieces of stewing beef are cooked with the chicken, and other vegetables are added, such as green beans, okra, diced potatoes and peas. Cover with boiling water 1 stewing chicken, cut in pieces Cover and let simmer over low heat for 45 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons salt Cover and continue cooking until tender (about another 45 minutes). Take out the pieces of chicken. Remove the bones and cut the meat in l-inch pieces. Put back in the kettle and add l can condensed tomato soup, 8 tomatoes or l cup canned tomatoes (I use diced tomatoes) 1 onion, sliced thin l cup green lima beans 3 potatoes, sliced thin l tablespoon sugar Salt and pepper Cook until the beans and potatoes are tender. Add 1 cup corn, cut from the cob, or canned whole-kernel corn 1/4 pound butter Cook 5 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.