Tag: easy marinade

Grilled Shrimp

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, IngredientLeave a comment

Chipotles in adobo boost the smoky heat of a marinade or sauce. Get grilling recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
In case you haven’t noticed, I love the flavor of smoky chilies. I buy cans of chipotle chilies for my favorite salsa. I also home-smoke homegrown chilies to dry or turn into paste and then use in everything from spiced nuts to cheese dip to fish cakes. In my pickling cookbook, I recommend Fresno chilies in many recipes because of their natural slightly smoky flavor.

Chipotle peppers are actually jalapenos; they’ve just been smoked and dried. When you buy them canned, they’ve been rehydrated and stored in a spicy tomato-based sauce. The sauce can be as flavorful as the peppers, and they boost the heat and smoky flavor of a marinade. You only need a little chipotle flavor for a marinade, but don’t let that stop you from opening a can. Scoop any leftover chilies and adobo into an ice cube tray, and then freeze and bag the cubes for future use. A standard ice-cube tray holds about 2 tablespoons per cube.

After I’ve used a marinade for grilling, I hate to toss what’s left. So I boil it into a sauce and mix it into a second meal.
Learn to make Chipotle-Marinated Grilled Shrimp and Spanish-Inspired Fried Rice

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Grilled Fish

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, Ingredient1 Comment

For an off-the-stovetop meal, I combine marinated fish with my favorite couscous trick. Get grilled fish recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Of all the foods I throw on the grill, fish is probably the easiest for other people to recognize. If you have a high-quality piece of freshly caught fish, a little lemon, salt, and pepper may be all you need to make it grill ready. But I find that approach works best if you’re following my dad’s mantra: “You catch it, you clean it, you cook it, you eat it.” These days, I apply that philosophy to homegrown and grilled veg. For store-bought fish, I tend to bring out the flavor with an easy marinade.

I’ve been making a North African-inspired marinade for years, modifying and tweaking it until it reminds me of the spicy olives I fell for while traveling in Morocco and blends in some of the runaway cilantro and mint from the garden. To pull together a meal off the stovetop, I turn to my favorite trick for couscous, often making a big enough batch to turn the leftovers into a separate, second meal.
Learn to make North African-Inspired Grilled Fish and Pour-Over Couscous

Salmon

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Grilling, IngredientLeave a comment

To celebrate milestones, I often choose foods I love but can’t grow and prepare them so that their flavors shine. Get grilled salmon recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Some people think that to be worthy of a special occasion, a dinner has to be labor intensive. I have plenty of kitchen projects that take time and effort, but most have a larger purpose than a single meal: they’re destined for the freezer for later quick meals, the canning shelf for a year’s enjoyment, or the holiday cookie collection to share widely. When I celebrate milestones, like Twice as Tasty’s 5th birthday, I often choose foods I love but can’t grow, and I prepare them in a way that lets their flavors shine.

Wild Alaska salmon fits that list, especially when the fresh sockeye catch starts arriving from the Copper River watershed in late May and early June. Since this fish is being transported fresh, I ask the seafood market or fish counter for the expected delivery dates and try to buy and eat it the day it arrives. I prepare this fish many ways, but one of my favorites has evolved from a recipe in the Junior League of Seattle’s 1993 cookbook, Simply Classic.
Learn to make Whiskey-Basted Grilled Salmon and other grilled goodies

Quick-Pickled Beets

On By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Ingredient, Refrigerating, Using5 Comments

For any meal, refreshing, easy pickles take minutes to make and are gobbled up in as little time. Learn to make Get quick-pickle recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I spend much of my summer pickling produce; it’s my favorite way to preserve vegetables. As the harvest grows and I haul pounds of cucumbers, snap beans, summer squash, and more from the garden to the kitchen, my canning shelves fill with vinegar-preserved pickles and every other available surface holds fermenting ones. There they wait for weeks, if not months.

So for any given meal, you can also find me making pickles—refreshing, easy ones that take mere minutes to prepare and are gobbled up in as little time. Quick pickles are defined by their name. They won’t satisfy your pickle craving through winter or preserve the bulk of your garden, but they will extend shelf life a bit and give a new flavor spin when you tire of eating a particular fresh vegetable, like beets.
Learn to make Quick-Pickled Beet Snacks and Orange-Sweetened Marinated Beets