a peek inside the fishbowl

Well well.

Remember my splendid dinner failure the other night? This redeemed it.

This is one of the recipes I made with a group of ladies during an organized co-op kitchen cooking night last week. It’s something I have participated in a few times. Basically, someone picks three dinner recipes, buys the ingredients, and then we all show up in her church kitchen to cook it all up. It’s pretty fun, but the entire time we were cooking and chopping I was thinking good lord I hope the kids will eat this. It has the word THAI and SALMON in the title. Double bad.

Anyway, I tricked my kids into trying this by turning burgers into wee sliders. Who can resist tiny ciabatta buns? Surprise, surprise, they ate them all up.

Thai Salmon Burger Slider recipe (makes 8-10)

4 boneless, skinless salmon fillets, about 550g/1lb 4oz in total, cut into chunks
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
thumb-size piece fresh root ginger, grated
1 tsp soy sauce
1 bunch coriander, chopped
oil for frying
ciabatta slider buns
burger fixin’s (e.g. lettuce and mayo)

Toss the salmon into a food processor along with the curry paste, ginger, soy and chopped coriander. Pulse until roughly minced. Shape into small burger patties.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, then fry the burgers for 3-4 minutes on each side, turning until browned and cooked through.

We served the sliders on the bun (as pictured) with lettuce and a swipe of mayonnaise, along with a cucumber salad and oven fries.

This one is a keeper for sure!

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Edited to add: I will be eventually be taking the Will They Eat it series over to my new residence at recipes.ca once it’s up and running. If you want to be notified of our launch date, please follow us on twitter at @recipesdotca or Facebook!

My family and I were invited to attend a members-only preview of the new Whales Tohora exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature last week. We were pretty excited about this opportunity. We are big time nature buffs here at Casa Fishbowl and were looking forward to seeing what all the excitement was about.

I find whales pretty amazing don’t you? Think about it, swimming mammals! With blowholes! Whales are the largest living animals on our planet. Some have giant teeth while others eat tiny things they strain through a comb-like sieve. They socialize and communicate with one another though clicks and songs and haunting melodies and for all we know they might even be smarter than we are. Then there’s the evolution side of things. Did you their know their skeletons are remarkably similar to our own?

YET they are so still very poorly understood, that’s why I really appreciated Whales Tohora, because it shed some light on topics that I find utterly fascinating.

Tohora means “whale” in Maori (they are the indigenous people of New Zealand) which is where this exhibition comes from. Whales are regarded with reverence here and the Maori have a complex relationship with them; they see whales as friends, guardians and food… and they figure prominently in Maori culture.

The centrepiece of this exhibition is two fully articulated sperm-whale skeletons, one male and one female. The little one is the female, and the big male is 17.8-metres long. It’s quite a sight.

Two articulated sperm whale skeletons are a highlight of the Whales | Tohorä exhibition. © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2008

Note: Photography is strictly prohibited in this exhibition at the request of the lending institution, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The Museum of Nature supplied this photo to me.

In case you’re wondering, Sperm whales are the ones with the odd-shaped mouth. They have the largest teeth of all mammals, and although they don’t have any teeth in the upper jaw there are about 60 in the lower one. Their teeth are about 20 cm long and weigh approximately 3 kg (6 or 7 lbs!) each.

There was so much to see and learn here. The girls were really impressed with a life-size model of the heart of a blue whale, the largest creature on Earth. You can crawl inside it … and it’s about the size of a small car. I really liked the cultural artifacts and the tooth/baleen displays. And the vocalization and sonar info. And the movie about how they hunt squid. As I said, lots to see!

After Whales Tohora we poked around a few other exhibits before we called it a day. It was a great way to spend a snowy afternoon and I really recommend paying a visit.

What about you? Have you seen Whales Tohora yet? Planning to go?

I am going to begin this post with some critical information I normally save until the end. I thought you needed to know that the kids did not eat this AND they made very long faces at me THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DINNER. (I can deal with the fact that they didn’t eat it, but I certainly do not appreciate the long faces. Bah.)

Even the “you have to try it at least once” rule (along with a recent addendum, “… and make it a good one”) was a hard sell.

Mark liked it well enough (he finished Sarah’s helping) even though he picked out the sweet potatoes. Note to self: they need to be diced MUCH smaller next time. Just like the onions! Heh.

As for myself… I loved it. Sigh.

It’s a very easy dinner to pull together.

Chicken, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burrito Recipe (makes 8)

3 cups sweet potatoes (peeled and diced)
½ onion, diced
2 cups canned black beans (rinsed)
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cinnamon (YES really)
2 cooked chicken breasts, cubed
8 flour or corn tortillas
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
chopped fresh cilantro to taste (maybe 1/4 cup?) … optional, but I really recommend you add it.

Sauté the sweet potato and onion in a medium sized pot until tender, adding water as needed to prevent sticking. Add black beans, chicken and spices. Mix until it’s all heated through. Add the cilantro at the very end.

Divide cheese between tortillas and then the chicken and bean mix on top.  Roll up. Serve with a big salad and a tall glass of milk, because they might be the only things your kids eat for dinner.

I would be most interested to hear if you try this one out on your family. If you do, come back and file a report! (Did I mention I really liked this recipe? Sweet potatoes and all?)