Pistachio-Coconut Crusted Salmon 

Ingredients

• Salmon fillets, skin on
• Garlic, 3-4 cloves
• 1/2 cup of shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut flakes, unsweetened
• 1 tbsp of dijon mustard — can substitute mayo if desired
• Olive oil
• 2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 2 lemons, halved and grilled cut side down (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. While the oven is preheating, let’s make the crust — in the bowl of a food processor, add the pistachios, garlic, coconut, 1 tsp of salt and pepper
3. Pulse in the food processor until the mixture comes together and is similar in texture and size to sand — you can do this without a food processor by putting mixture into a plastic bag and taking your aggression out on it with a rolling pin!
4. Pat the salmon dry with a towel, and then season with the remaining salt, and transfer it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper — you can use tin foil, but parchment paper will make sure the salmon won’t stick. Plus, makes for super easy cleanup!
5. Using a brush or a spoon, spread the dijon all over the flesh of the salmon — this is the glue the helps the crust stick
6. Using your hands, cover the mustard-covered salmon with the crust mixture. Make sure to cover the fish evenly, so it will cook evenly, and cover it all over — we don’t want any parts uncovered
7. Once the fish is covered, pour some olive oil over the top to help with browning the crust
8. Bake the fish for 10-12 minutes then remove from oven and let the fish cool for at least 5 minutes
9. Garnish with the Arugula-Pistachio pesto, grilled lemons and serve with Grilled Corn, Tomato and Avocado Salad. Yum!

Arugula-Pistachio Pesto

Ingredients

• 1-2 cups of arugula or baby arugula
• 1 cup of pistachios — you can substitute walnuts if you’ve used up all your pistachios on the fish
• 1-2 tsps of lemon zest
• 1-2 tbsps of lemon juice
• Garlic, 4-5 cloves
• 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or Pecorino Romano or an aged, hard cheese
• Olive oil

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor (or mortar and pestle) add all of the ingredients except for the oil
2. Pulse the mixture continuously while adding olive oil until it turns into a loose paste. I like mine a little coarse and chunky, but you can choose your own thickness
3. If you find it too thick, add more olive oil or a bit more lemon juice. Make sure to taste it!
4. Empty mixture into a bowl and let it sit at least 10-15 minutes before using — this pesto is also great as a pasta sauce. Just mix the cold or room temperature pesto into hot pasta. So good!

Grilled Corn, Tomato & Avocado Salad 

Ingredients

• Corn, 4-5 ears
• Cherry tomatoes, 1 pint, cut in half
• Red onion, 1 medium or 1/2 large onion, diced
• Avocados, 2 — make sure that your avocados are ripe, but not mushy, chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup of champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 1 tbsp of dijon mustard
• 2 tsps of dried mint
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat your grill or grill-pan to medium heat — you want it hot, but not smoking
2. While the grill is getting hot, clean your corn by removing both the husk and silk strands — you want corn to grill contact to happen
3. Place the corn on the grill (and some lemon halves which make a great garnish) — don’t worry about turning the corn too too often since you want some of that char and grill color on the corn. You should probably give it a nudge every 3-5 minutes — it will only take about 10-15 minutes total to cook
4. While the corn is grilling, dice your onion and chop the tomatoes in half and place in a large bowl big enough for mixing
5. Once your corn has come off the grill and cooled for a few min, cut off the end of the corn so you have a straight edge, and balance the corn on its straight end
6. Using a sharp, chef’s knife, starting at the top of the ear, cut of the corn kernels by cutting straight down, and rotate the corn once you get to the bottom and repeat until you’ve cut all of the corn off the cob. Repeat for all of the ears or corn. Add the corn to the tomatoes and onions
7. Cut your avocados by running a sharp knife along the outside, around the pit until you’ve gone all the way around. Use your hands to twist the 2 halves apart
8. Take your knife and thwack it into the avocado pit so it sticks into it, then twist to detach the pit from the avocado
9. Use a spoon to scoop out the avocado meat and chop into 1/2 inch pieces
10. Drizzle the avocado pieces in lemon juice to keep them bright green before you mix into the corn salad mixture.
11. For the dressing: mix honey, champagne vinegar, olive oil, dijon, salt, pepper, cilantro and mint in a bowl and mix vigorously until the dressing is one homogeneous mixture — I like to use a mason jar.
12. Pour the dressing over the corn-tomato mixture (reserving some dressing if needed later) and add the avocados
13. Gently toss everything together until all of the ingredients have a little bit of dressing on them, and make sure to be delicate with the avocado so it doesn’t get mushed
14. Garnish with more chopped cilantro, and erve with your favorite fish or chicken dish on a beautiful summer day — like for a wedding celebration perhaps. Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken breast or thighs (Substitutes: tofu), 1-2 lb, cut into chunks
• Curry paste (green or red), 2-3 heaping tbsps
• Fish sauce, 1 tbsp
• Coconut milk, 1 can or 1.5 cups
• Scallions, 1 bunch
• Garlic, 2-3 tbsp or to taste
• Onions, 1-2 small onions or 1 large onion
• Carrots, 3-4 carrots
• Bell pepper, 2 bell peppers
• Potato, 2-3 potatoes
• Peanut oil (or vegetable or canola — something neutral)
• Thai chilies, Sambal Olek (chili paste) or other hot pepper (optional)
• Cilantro (optional)
• Rice (optional)

Directions:

1. Chop some potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces, toss with a little bit of oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes on 450
2. While that’s going, cut your chicken into medium-sized chunks — you can also use already sliced chicken or chicken tenders, but I think it’s fun and rustic to DIY
3. In order to get a good sear on the chicken, you should heat your wok or sauté pan until it’s very hot, then throw the chicken in with a little bit of neutral-flavored oil like canola
4. While the chicken is browning, mince your garlic, scallions and chop your other veggies (onion, peppers, carrots
5. Once the chicken is cooked, but not cooked to death, take out and reserve for later,  and toss veggies into the hot wok starting with the garlic to perfume the pan
6. Once you’ve sweated the veggies, add the scallions and deglaze the pan with some fish sauce (or soy sauce)
7. Add a few heaping spoonfuls of curry paste and make sure that it gets evenly distributed so that it gets incorporated throughout the dish
8. After cooking the curry paste into the veggies for a few minutes, add your coconut milk and mix thoroughly, and this would also be the time to add some sambal olek chili paste or dried chilies if you like a spicy curry. Can skip this if you want.
9. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the chicken back into the pan along with the roasted potatoes which should be done at this point. This would also be a time to add other starchy ingredients you might be using: roasted squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, tofu, etc.
10. Simmer uncovered for about 10-15 min so that curry thickens up
11. Serve immediately over noodles or rice and garnish with cilantro and Thai chilies, or put it in the fridge and eat it the next day. So delicious as leftovers — Yum!

Enjoy and let me know how yours turned out!

Cooking Under Quarantine is back! In this episode, we’re making Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya. I first ate Jambalaya for the first (and certainly not the last!) time while visiting New Orleans. New Orleans is the kind of city that foodie dreams are made of, and I love it. In the past, I’d visit about once a year with friends and we’d spend a long weekend eating delicious cajun food, drinking, spending time at the pool, then rinse and repeat.
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So, when I thought of what to make next in this series, the choice was easy. Jambalaya is a hearty rice-based dish with meat and/or seafood, tomato, veggies and a little cajun kick. This comforting one-pot dish comes together in under an hour and is super versatile and adaptable for cooks of any level. So follow along with Chef Jon and let us know how yours turned out!

Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken breast or thighs, 1-2lb
• Andouille sausage (or another kind of smoked sausage), 4 links
• Onions, 1 big or 2 small, chopped 
• Carrots, 2, chopped 
• Bell pepper, 2 chopped 
• Scallions, 1 bunch
• Can of crushed tomatoes, 28oz can
• Tomato paste, small can
• Cajun seasoning, 2-3tbsp
• Gumbo file, 2 tsp (optional)
• Rice, 1 cup
• Chicken broth (or vegetable broth), 1-2 cups
• Garlic, 5-6 cloves
• Favorite brand of hot sauce

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil frying pan with at least a 1 inch lip, and sauté sausage for at 7-10 min until browned but not 100% cooked through
2. Remove sausage from pan and set aside for later.
3. In the sausage fat, start to sauté your veggies. Season with salt and pepper 
4. Add garlic once veggies are soft and sauté until starting to brown
5. Make a well in middle of pan by pushing veggies to the sides, and add chicken
6. Once chicken has browned, add 1-2 spoonfuls of tomato paste as well as Cajun seasoning
7. Add rice to pan and toast for a couple of minutes
8. Add crushed tomatoes and broth and give the pan a few big stirs so everything is mixed up well. Also add sausage back into the pan
9. Cover and cook for 20-25 min depending on what kind of rice you’re using — stir pan every 5-10 min but don’t mess with it too much. Add extra liquid if needed
10. Garnish with chopped scallions and add hot sauce

Enjoy y’all!

While everything is going on, even a quick run to the grocery store has become a great feat. So, it seems like a great time to use up those items in your pantry. Something that I almost always have in my cabinet? Canned tuna.
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Now, I too love a great tuna sandwich, but tuna salad gets boring after a while, amirite? Enter “Tuna Pasta Puttanesca” — this hearty, comforting pasta dish pulls double duty as not only a delicious dinner, but also uses up ingredients you might not have even remembered you had! Tomatoes, olives, capers, and our star ingredient, TUNA, make this easy meal a crowd pleaser and it’s packed with protein so will feed about 4 or 2-3 very hungry people!

For the last couple of years, we've been heavily focused catering for large and our Pop Up Foodie Shabbat dinners. While the current public health crisis is going on, there are less parties and events happening, but people have still got to eat, right?!? And since we’re all stuck inside, why don’t we cook together? Enter in our new cooking series — “Cooking Under Quarantine.” Each episode will feature delicious and easy-to-make recipes that you can make at home with accessible ingredients. Perfect for chefs of all levels!
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For our first episode, we’re cooking up a classic chicken dish to celebrate Shabbat (Friday night). This delicious Chicken Marsala is an easy, one pot dish that comes together in under an hour! So, it’s also great for a weeknight dinner that you want to make a little more special. This recipe is also great for veal cutlets or even tofu or a meaty fish to make it vegetarian.

Have ideas for future recipes you’d like to see? Email us at info@jsquaredfood.com.
Bon Appetit from our kitchen to yours! Now, let’s get cooking! Follow along with the video or the attached recipe below.

We finally got the chance to return to our original stomping grounds for another Pop Up Foodie Shabbat this past Friday. Inspired by Jon H's recent travels through Greece, we decided to do a Greek taverna themed menu for "My Big Fat Greek Shabbat." Then came the all important question: what do we cook? Whole fish, of course! Our original idea was to have a whole fish for each person or couple of people, but that was a fantasy--especially with how much seafood costs! Compormise: we do a big whole fish that's perfect for presentation and inspiration (see below) and then add more filets to fill people up. So that's how we came to meet our big fish friend, whom we dubbed, Hercules. Hercules was roasted whole with lemon, oregano, lemon pepper, olive oil, salt, garlic, parsley and over a bed of lemon slices and fresh dill. He was delicious and fed almost 20 people all by himself! 

The final menu? Whole Roasted Red Snapper and Crispy Skinned Salmon,  Greek Salad with lots of feta cheese tossed in a lemon and mint tzatziki dressing, and Orzo with Black Olives and Feta Cheese. Yum! Plus, baklava for dessert as well as Greek yogurt flavored with vanilla, topped with fresh mixed berries and honey. Super fresh and super delicious! Overall, an awesome event and can't wait for the next one. ευχαριστώ​ (Efcharistó)

Mazel Tov! We had gotten a call a few weeks before Passover about potentially catering an event celebrating a bris for a young family in Long Island. They weren't exactly sure when they baby would come, so the date had to be fluid. That's not so unusual though. What was the tricky part? The original due date was during Passover--how do you make an amazing brunch party without bread, or flour for cakes, or bagels for lox, etc.? So, we created two differnt brunch menus--one for during Passover that was chametz-free, and one post-Passover. Baby boy ended up arriving on the first day of Passover, so the bris took place on the day after the holiday ended. So, we cooked a much as possible in advance during the holiday, and finished up the rest of the food the night before the event.

And what a spread it was! Whole Roasted Salmon cooked to perfection, French Toast Bread Pudding with Maple Granola Streusel, crudités platters, Mozzarella and Roasted Tomato Flatbreads, Mini Quiches, Mini Cupcakes, Cheesecake Bites, Brownie Bites, Cucumber Tomato Tzatziki Salad, Mezze Platter with Hummus, Babaghanoush, Black Olive Tapenade, Crackers and Olives, and a variety of breads. Plus, an onsite Omelette Station with lots of filling for over 25 people! The family was extremely happy and we even delivered a follow-up Shabbat dinner to them a few weeks later! Now it's time for a bagel.

It's matzah time of year again! Confession: I love Passover. Yeah, matzah by itself doesn't taste very good, and you can't eat pizza, mac and cheese, sandwiches, donuts and lots of other good stuff. Buuuutttt.....you get lots of lots of matzah ball soup and delicious leftovers from the Passover Seders. And, if you have J2Food cater your seders, then you'd get to feast on our delicious, holiday menu. What's on this year's menu you ask? Red Wine and Tomato Braised Brisket, Chicken Marsala, Dijon-Tarragon Crusted Salmon, Matzah Farfel Kugel with Roasted Mushrooms, Apples and Caramelized Onions, Herb Roasted Potato & Sweet Potato Medley, Green Bean Almondine, and Flourless Chocolate Cake. Plus, our takes on three holiday classics - Gefilte Fish, Chopped Liver and Matzah Ball Soup. The secret to ours? We use lots of fresh herbs, spices, flavors and everything is from scratch. Everything turned out amazing--and the leftovers were so so good. Can't wait til next year!

Sometimes, our clients have a very specific idea in mind for their event. To celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim this year, our clients wanted to do a South of the Border themed meal, or seudah in Hebrew. Jon S. is Argentine, so, of course, freshly-baked empanadas were on the menu. His family's recipe often uses ground beef, but we substituted ground turkey but kept everything else the same--olives, hard-boiled eggs, adobo, onion and few secret spices. They were delicious and all the guests were very impressed that we made them by hand.

Also on the menu? Shredded Mexican Braised Brisket, Chicken Mole with homemade mole sauce, Fiesta Rice with Adobo, both Beef and Vegetarian Bean Chilis, and traditional Hamantaschen cookies made with shortbread dough. Ours were filled with either strawberry or chocolate fillings. Yum!

But...we also had a bonus event that weekend! Our friends run an awesome annual Purim event, "A Very Awesome Purim," and we sold some special Hamantaschen to their hungry show-goers in multiple flavors: Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese, Strawberry Rhubarb or Nutella. They really made an already awesome Purim even more awesome and delicious!

Have you ever watched Animal Planet? Remember the scene where a pack of lions descend on a gazelle? That's what Saturday afternoon kiddush is like at many synagogues. 

We'd been hired to cater "Enhanced Kiddush" for a big synagogue in Queens, NY for about around 150 people. We were also told that the numbers sometimes swell right before kiddush started with hungry mouths post-praying. We wanted to cook some exciting dishes instead of the standard tuna and egg salad that was the usual fare, but at the same time still have some classic flavors to satisfy the normal crowd. Of course, we made lots of lox platters featuring thinly sliced tomato, red onion, cucumbers and cream cheese, plus bagels and challah rolls. In addition, we also changed it up a little with some Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salad, Middle Eastern Eggplant Salad,  Cucumber and Tomato Tzatziki Salad, Tuna Salad, and Mushroom & Mushroom "Chopped Liver" and more. Yum! We also prepared freshly-baked Raspberry Crumble Bars, tangy Cheesecake Bars, rich Brownie Bites, and fruit platters.

We ended up giving out so many business cards, and the food was a major hit!