how to make a roe butter

In the summer I make a lot of seafood (Summer is year round in the Dominican) and nothing pairs with with seafood quite like a good butter and lemon sauce.  When you want to knock that flavor profile up a notch and give your sauce a little complexity let's talk fish eggs. For this the cheap Roland in grocery aisle or the carp roe from Chinatown will do just fine. No big dollars are needed to get big taste.

For 8 to 10 servings take 1/4 pound of butter and melt it along with 4 anchovies. Add 1/8 (amount can vary) of cheap caviar and pulse the melted butter, anchovy, caviar mix in the blender, put back on the stove and warm just before serving the fish.

Pour the butter on the filet and give it a big squeeze of fresh lime juice and serve. If you have a little parsley or chopped basil toss it on as well.

In a restaurant you could easily pay 30 bucks for something that takes all of 5 minutes to make.

I don't care if you don't like anchovies, they add both salt and a complexity of flavor so stop thinking about hairy little filets and just go for it.

What to eat when you don't want to eat your vegetables?

Way back when I wrote the syndicated FitnessGuru colum I began to sound like a broken record. Eat your vegetables was my constant rejoinder.

Someone wrote in and asked about lipo...I told him to eat his vegetables.

Folks wrote in about the idiotic Atkins diet...No one ever got fat on too much broccoli I would tell them.

When the silly cleanse drink became popular...You want to cleanse...get some fiber, eat your vegetables.

And on this site I have said it over and over again. It is the best advice your mother ever gave you...organic is best, but whatever you do eat your vegetables. Pound by pound they are one of the best values in the markets and for your health they are indespensable.

I recently had a night when I was very tired and broccoli just seemed like more chewing than I was capable of. I wanted nothing more than to pig out on pasta...BUT

I drank my vegetables instead and this soup is really good. It helps to have a good blender or food processor but you get your vegies and it is practically without calories.

6 cups strong chicken stock
1 large head broccili
1 bunch asparaus (I used white but green is fine)
1 garlic clove chopped
1 huge handful fresh basil

Simmer all the veg and the garlic in the broth til tender, put the veg and a couple cups of stock in the blender along with the basil and puree the _____ out of it. It is so smooth you can drink it from a cup, no cream needs to be added.

I had half one night and half the next, but you can share with a friend...if you like.

Beans, hold the rice

Dominican rice frightens me. I don't trust any form of white rice that takes more than 20 minutes to cook.

In addition to taking forever to stew/steam it contains massive quantities of oil (Crisco, the nasty stuff) and feels a bit like lead in my stomach. The gardeners and maids and all the manual laborers here at the Villa MUST have rice and beans at lunch, I cannot substitute potatoes or pasta (They can be served in addition) but rice and beans every day 7 days a week is the fuel that keeps them going. Far be it from me to change such rigid rules, but I don't have to eat the stuff.

The beans however are quite good and served with a Basmati or Jasmine rice (or no rice at all) I love them.

I do admit to switching heart clogging hydrogenated fat for olive oil and pushing Goya products. In the states Goya is fairly readily available and their products are pretty good, but any brand you have will work.


• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• One 8-ounce can tomato sauce (such as Goya Spanish style)
• 2 teaspoons adobo (seasoned salt) plus a little salt and pepper if needed
• 1/2 teaspoon Goya Sazon plus a little shake of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 medium bunch fresh cilantro, including stems, roughly chopped (optional)
• 2 cups (1 pound) dried red beans, soaked overnight in 1 quart cold water, drained


Directions
Heat the olive oil in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients.

Saute the onion and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the oregano, bay leaves, tomato sauce, adobo, and Sazon.

Bring to a simmer and add the cilantro (if using) and beans, adding enough water to cover (about 3 cups).

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook 1 1/2 hours, covered, until the beans are tender enough to mash between two fingers. Puree a couple of cups of the beans and mix back in with the whole ones to make a great bean soup. If you must serve with rice, but realize you are a culinary chiche.