FYI: the fall colors in central NY are pretty spectacular right now! (hmm, it looked better in person... o well) I went to visit a couple of my aunts, and what did I come home with? Bounty from a friends' farm (thanks guys ;-))!! "How about some swiss chard?" left me with this:
Yeah, just a little. :) The red chard is just GORGEOUS! I had tried swiss chard last year, but couldn't for the life of me remember what I had done with them... enter: a rice and greens casserole I had seen over at Diet, Dessert and Dogs. I haven't had too many dolmades, so I have no basis for comparison, but I really enjoyed the combination of flavors in this dish! Another winner, Ricki, thanks for sharing!!
I think of my cooking as healthy because I like to cook with farmers' market fresh ingredients, I don't make elaborate sauces, and I'm careful to minimize fat. But I do cook with eggs, cream, red meat, bread, and lots of pasta. My wife, Michelle, enjoys what I cook but she's looking for a bit of a change. She's decided to try a fresh vegetables and fruit, whole grains, no red meat, non-caffeine, sugar-free diet.
For me, cooking this way will require adjustments. I'll try my best to make meals that have flavor and keep to her diet. This is a little terraincognita to me and it would be nice to have some road maps. If you have any suggestions, please send them in.
Sautéed Beet Greens with Tofu and Brown Rice
Yield: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
1 bunch farmers' market fresh beets
1 yellow onion (washed, peeled, roughly chopped)
5 garlic cloves (washed, peeled, roughly chopped)
1/2 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella (washed, roughly chopped)
1 tablespoon sweet butter (optional)
1 pound firm tofu
2 cups cooked brown rice
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Method
Prepare the brown rice first. I use a Japanese rice cooker and the proportion is 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water. Turn on the rice cooker. When the cooker shuts off, fluff the rice, and put the cover back on for 10 minutes.
When you buy the beets, pick out a bunch with fresh looking leaves. To prepare the beets, cut off the beet greens. Clean the beets and reserve to use raw or roasted in a salad.
Soak the greens in water to remove grit. Cut the stems from the leaves. Finely chop the stems and roughly chop the leaves.
On a medium-high flame, heat a large pan with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and pepper. Sauté the beet green stems with the onions and garlic until they are lightly browned, then add the greens and cook until wilted. Stir frequently. Add the mushrooms and sauté until lightly browned. Add 1 cup water to deglaze the pan, reduce the flame and simmer 15 minutes.
Taste the greens to confirm that they are tender. At this moment I would add a pat of butter but that's entirely optional.
Pat dry the tofu and make 1" thick slabs, then cut the slabs into 1"x1" cubes. The tofu needs to be heated. That can be accomplished in a number of ways. Personally I like to lightly sauté tofu to add a bit more flavor. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and lightly brown the tofu pieces. If you'd like to avoid this step, the tofu can be heated in a microwave.
Add the tofu to the beet green sauté and gently toss together to coat the tofu with the sauce. Serve with the brown rice on the side.
:) while the rest of that tune is going in my head, I wanted to post about this amazing stuffed salmon. So delicious and easy, perfect for entertaining!! My aunt first made this for me a couple of years ago, it this is surely a keeper. This was actually my first time making it (although I've eaten it many times), so I didn't do quite the best job slicing into the gorgeous piece of salmon, but it all worked out in the end! A montage, to illustrate what I might not be able to describe well...
Stuffed Salmon Recipe from Aunt Lorraine
1 salmon fillet, rinsed and patted dry ~10oz spinach (fresh or frozen works) 2-3 cloves garlic, minced EVOO 3-4oz goat cheese hot sauce (I used Franks' buffalo sauce)
Preheat the oven to 350deg. In large nonstick skillet, heat ~1T EVOO over medium-low heat. Add garlic and saute 1-2min, then add washed spinach and cook until wilted. (If you're using frozen, be sure to squeeze all the water out of the defrosted spinach, and just cook it with the garlic until the chill is off) Remove from heat and let mixture cool.
In a baking dish (I think I used a 9x13 pan here), add some hot sauce and then the salmon. Do your best and try to cut through the middle of the thickest part of the fillet (there's usually a hump that's thicker than the rest, this is where you want to make a pocket). No worries, I did an aweful job at this and no one noticed :)
Add your cooked spinach to the larger part of the salmon, as evenly (or unevenly) as you'd like, then crumble up the goat cheese. Fold over the flap of salmon you cut to encase the stuffing. Pour some more hot sauce on top of the salmon. If any guests don't want the added flava, you can also squeeze some lemon juice on top (the lemon slices were more to distinguish which portion lacked hot sauce, I don't think she actually ate them). Bake for 20-30min, depending on the size of your fillet. Voila!
So so good. The goat cheese melts and the flavor combination is fantastic. Never would've put the hot sauce there, but it really works. I'm sure this would also be good with spinach, feta, and pine nuts as the stuffing... i'm just partial to goat cheese :) Who wouldn't be impressed being served this for dinner? ok, well, you might want to transfer it to a nice serving plate...
Yup, more raspberries! I told you we bought them at Sam's... :) (If you're not familiar, it's a wholesale club, like BJ's and Costco). Finished them off in a delightful, light dessert choc-full of these delicious red rubies--Raspberry Clafouti. I've tried various clafouti recipes, and have liked them all... you'd think I'd just pick one base and vary the fruit, but I'm *slightly* addicted to food blogs and bookmarking tasty recipes!
Preheat oven to 350deg. Spray a 2qt baking dish with nonstick spray. Toss berries with cornstarch to coat and place in dish. In a blender (this is a large amount, dangerous to use in your hand blender... not that I know or anything ;) ), mix egg and egg whites, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt for 15 seconds. Pour over berries in baking dish. Bake until puffed and golden brown in the center, ~50min. Cool, then dust with powdered sugar to serve.
We're at the end of summer and some seasonal vegetables are getting scarce, but happily there's still a bountiful supply of peppers at the local farmers' markets. On a recent visit to the Santa Monica Farmers' Market I saw beautiful examples of red, yellow, and orange peppers at Gloria's Fruits and Vegetables and the Beylik Family Farms stands.
Peppers can be used raw in salads or in a crudité and they're a welcome addition to a stir fry or a sauté.
I've come up with a way of prepping peppers so they're even more versatile.
Grilling Peppers on the Stove Top
To start, simply grill the peppers on top of a gas range, remove the blackened skin, discard the seeds, and put them in a sealed jar where they'll keep a week in the refrigerator or for months in the freezer.
Miraculously overnight the peppers will create their own oil. The peppers can then be used as an appetizer on bread with cheese, in a pasta, or a sauté.
Use a mix of peppers so the result is that much more colorful. As a side note, I haven't had as much success grilling green or purple peppers, so I stick to the red, yellow, and orange ones.
Blackened Peppers with Capers, Parsley, and Garlic
Yield: 6-8 servings
Time: 15 minutes
To add more layers of flavor, I've come up with a simple marinade.
Ingredients
3-4 red, yellow, or orange peppers (washed, pat dried)
Lay the peppers on a wire rack on a gas burner with the flame turned up high. Turn frequently so the charring happens evenly. Be sure to char the tops and bottoms of the peppers as well. Let cool on a plate, then remove the blackened skin and cut open the peppers and discard the seeds. Put the cooked peppers in a jar and refrigerate.
In the morning you'll find that the peppers have created an oil, approximately 1/4 cup for every 3-4 grilled peppers. The peppers can be kept in any form you like: whole, quartered, julienned, or diced.
The garlic can be used either raw or grilled. If cooked, they'll have a milder flavor, which I prefer. Leave the outer skin or paper on the garlic and skewer the cloves. Blacken them on an open flame on top of the stove until the skins have all but burnt away. Remove and finely chop.
Toss together the peppers, garlic, parsley, and capers. Return to the sealed jar and keep in the refrigerator.
Marinated Peppers as an Appetizer
Yield: 8 servings
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 cups marinated peppers (julienned or finely chopped)
1/2 pound soft cheese
Olive oil
Pepper flakes
Sea salt and pepper
Toast rounds or crackers
Method
Perfect for a TV-watching party (Presidential debates, football games, any reality show) or an appetizer with wine before a meal, the peppers have so many layers of flavor, they go well with lightly toasted or grilled toast rounds or even with crackers.
Start with a thin slice of goat cheese, a triple cream, or mozzarella, lay on a strand of marinated pepper, and drizzle some of the pepper's own oil. There are variations to play with: add chopped avocado or scallions or cherry tomatoes or grilled corn...
Top with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper.
Add a bowl of olives and a glass of chilled white wine, and you'll have an easy-to-make starter.
Vegetarian Pasta with Blackened Peppers and Garlic
Yield: 4 servings
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
3/4 box pasta, penne, cavatappi, or spaghetti (cooked in boiling salted water until aldente)
1 cup pasta water
1 cup marinated grilled marinated peppers
1 tablespoon red or yellow onion (peeled, finely chopped)
1 cup olives, cracked green or kalamata (pitted, quartered)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
1 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese (grated)
Method
Sauté the marinated peppers, butter, and deglaze the pan with the pasta water. Simmer a few minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the pasta and toss, continuing to reduce the sauce until it coats the pasta. Add the olives and onions, toss. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper. If you're using anchovies, you won't need any salt.
Top with the grated cheese, finish with a drizzle of olive oil, toss and serve with a green salad.
Who's singing with me? hehe Fall =APPLES!!! Well, changing leaves, too, but I don't think I'd want to cook with those... I have been enjoying 2 apples a day since I first picked them up from the farm around the corner :) So I wanted to mix it up a little. Plus, this week's ingredient is Apples, so I'm submitting these to Erin and Andrea over at Care to Eat. Check out the details there... there's even a chance to get some of the prized bread Erin's been raving about!!
First, some Pumpkin Apple Butter, from Enlightened Cooking. Mine didn't look as smooth as Camilla's, but still tasted pretty darn good :) I followed the recipe, only reducing the honey just a bit, so I'll point you to back to the original post for the recipe. I'm looking forward to using this on toast, waffles, english muffins... ooh, I bet it would be tasty on pancakes too!
I decided to make 1/2 batch of two quickbreads and make them into mini-loaves so I could share! Friends of my parents are taking me kayaking, so I thought this would be a nice way to say thanks :)
Banana Apple Bread
First was a Banana Apple Bread, which I had seen over in Sunita's World. As I had only written the ingredients, I prepared it more like a quick bread (and didn't sprinkle the nuts on top), so it looks a bit different, but it still tasted delicious!!! Next time I'd use the apple in chunks instead of shredded so the apple taste doesn't get lost (the predominate flavor was banana), and maybe add more oatmeal.
Pumpkin Apple Bread
Before I had decided to do the pumpkin apple butter, I had wanted to combine apple and pumpkin somewhow, so I adapted a recipe seen over at eat me, delicious.
1/2c white whole wheat flour 1/2c whole wheat pastry flour 1t baking powder 1/4t baking soda 1T cane sugar 3/8c unsweetened apple juice (plus some if batter's dry) 1/6c unsweetened applesauce 1/2c pumpkin 1/2 large apple, diced ~1/4c chopped walnuts, if desired
Preheat oven to 350deg. Spray mini loaf pan (or other desired shape) with nonstick spray.
Combine flours, baking powder and baking sugar in medium bowl.
In small bowl, combine apple juice, applesauce, and pumpkin. Mix wet into dry until just combined, adding a little more apple juice if needed. Fold in apples and nuts (if using), then add to prepared pans.
Bake for 25-30min, until it's done (I did the touch "test", and waited until my finger didn't sink in... very scientific!)
Alrighty, well if you haven't already, GO GET SOME APPLES!!! :) I can't believe my month is just about over, and I move to Boston next wednesday!! Crazy...
I'm just trying to give you dear readers a complex, here's a dish that would be perfect for thanksgiving :-P Long long ago I had seen this recipe for Butternut Squash and Spinach. Well, I must've been channeling this when I made dinner tonight. As I had roasted the squash already and it was sitting in the fridge calling my name, this took literally 15min--tops to throw together. Without further ado, I give you...
a rather unappetizing photo :)
and just some guidelines... as I didn't measure anything, and you should feel free to adjust it to your tastes (more spinach or more squash or more craisins...)
Saute 1/2 chopped onion until tender, then toss in roasted squash (any kind of squash would do, as would sweet potato; I roasted 425deg for ~25min) and loads of spinach. Cover and let cook a bit. Stir, and add more spinach if desired (it does wilt down a ton, so I added more once the first batch was done). Add handful of dried cranberries and season with s/p and some freshly grated nutmeg (optional). Cover and cook until all spinach is wilted and squash warmed through. Serve!
And one last picture, of a smiling Spinach-Asiago Chicken Sausage (another awesome Sam's purchase). See, even he liked the squash and spinach :)
Mediterranean Rice Casserole
