Tasty, Fast and Fabulous Appetizers

VEW

Here are a couple really good, really easy appetizers that look nice as well.

Jacques Pepin’s Tortilla Pizza
Truly you won’t believe a pizza made on a flour tortilla could be this good and certainly not elegant. But you would be wrong, like I was. Were it not for Monsieur Pepin touting these as something he loves I never would’ve tried them.

Lightly coat both sides of a couple flour tortillas with olive oil, then sprinkle with 1 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese (each), sea or kosher salt and pepper. Top with thinly sliced tomato and grated fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with 1 T olive oil and bake at 500 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Let rest for a minute and then add freshly chopped basil. Slice and serve.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp with Herbed Goat Cheese
These take about 4 minutes to cook and a few minutes to assemble. If you want to make it even faster, buy goat cheese that already has herbs mixed in it.

Find the recipe here.

Smoked Salmon Crostini with Cilantro-Lime Sauce
Slice a baguette and brush with olive oil, toast in the oven. Let the toasts cool, then spread each with a bit of the cilantro-lime sauce (below). Top with a small piece of smoked salmon.
For a slightly different presentation, plate the salmon pieces and toasts separately on a platter with the sauce in a pretty bowl on the side.

Cilantro-lime sauce (from epicurious.com, but perhaps under a different name as I couldn’t find it on the site.)
1C pakced fresh cilantro leaves
3 T fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, peeled
1t Dijon mustard
¼ t hot pepper sauce
¾ C mayo
Blend first 5 ingredients in a food processor until cilantro is finely chopped. Add mayo and process just to blend. Transfer to a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead).

Weekly Menu 7

VEW

Baby Romaine Salad with Spicy Chicken and Warm Chipotle Vinaigrette & Smoky Refried bean Tostadas

Lettuce Gyros Filled with Spicy Halibut

Grilled Fish & Two Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm and Blue Cheese

Pork Skewers with Avocado Tzatziki and Pita Bread

Lentil Soup with Curry and Lamb

Day 1
Both of these recipes are from the Fine Cooking Annual (2007) cookbook. The Tostadas are so simple I didn’t expect much but they were great and literally take minutes to prepare. I modified the recipe (see below) to my tastes and what I had on hand. The salad is a refreshing change from the norm, which is a plus if you’re like me and easily get burned out on salads.

For the tostadas, brush 6 corn tortillas with a little bit of olive oil, place on a cookie sheet and put in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes until they start to brown and are crisp. In a pan sauté a small chopped onion in some olive oil, add in 1t of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles in adobe and a can of pinto beans. Stir in one cup of water and salt to taste. Cook until creamy and thick. Top tortillas with some beans, sliced radish and fresh cilantro.

Day 2
This fantastic dish was the first recipe I made from Cat Cora’s Cooking from the Hip cookbook and my first ever Cat Cora recipe. It will go on my relatively short list of phenomenal dishes. Flavors, presentation, ease and healthfulness make this a truly outstanding dish. It seems like a bit of work at first glance but everything comes together very quickly—the feta mint Tzatziki is to die for…I ate the leftovers with hummus and pita for lunch the next day.

Day 3
This salad was good, colorful and definitely substantial enough for a lunchtime meal, but I added some grilled fish when I served it at dinner. It makes a big salad, and it will all keep well as leftovers as long as you don’t mix the arugula in with the rest of the ingredients, but rather serve the salad on a bed of arugula when you plate it.

I was unable to find this recipe online so pick up a copy of Cooking From the Hip or check it out from your local library if you’re interested!

Day 4
The pork skewers were inventive and interesting, though I found the pork was tastier two days after the meal. I added the suggested cherry tomatoes to my skewers and they were a nice addition. I also served the whole meal with pita bread to make it a little more substantial. It’s cold here right now and as we haven’t yet acclimated to the change of seasons, I grilled these on my grill pan as opposed to outside on a real grill.

(The avocado tzatziki recipe can be found here.)

Day 5
Adapted from an Alfred Portale recipe, this is one of my favorite soups.
Gently brown about 1.5 cups of chopped lamb and 1 chopped onion in a bit of olive oil. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic, a generous teaspoon grated ginger, some red pepper flakes if you like heat, and 3-4 t of your favorite curry powder (Portale uses Madras, I use a mixture of that and some others I have on hand). Stir for a minute and then deglaze the pan by stirring in 4.5 cups low sodium chicken broth and 1 cup water. Add in 1 cup lentils and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and partially cover, cooking until lentils are done, about 30 minutes. Bring the soup back to a boil and toss in 4 cups chopped baby spinach cooking just until wilted. Serve with freshly chopped cilantro.

Weekly Menu 6

VEW

Roast Chicken with Apple Cauliflower Soup

2 Kinds of Pizza: Barbeque Chicken Pizza with Roasted Yellow Peppers

Spicy Sausage and Goat Cheese Pizza with Roasted Peppers and Rosemary

Spicy Sausage and Wild Mushroom Pappardelle, Green Salad, Sour Dough Bread

Day 1
I am a big fan of roasting whole chickens and I have made a variety of different recipes to that end. Chickens stuffed with lemons, herbs, apples. Chickens simmered in broth and then roasted; chickens rubbed in herbs and slathered in butter. The following recipe is my favorite—the trick is that you do nothing. It sounds too good to be true but trust me. Or trust Thomas Keller because it is his recipe, his favorite roast chicken and he is a master. You rinse and pat dry a chicken. Salt and pepper the cavity, truss the bird (find trussing how-to here) and sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast at 450 for about 50 minutes and then you’re done. Keller gives some ideas on what to do after that, but that’s all I do and it is awesome every time. You really won’t believe doing nothing could taste so good.

Apple Cauliflower Soup
The soup is something I just made up tonight as I was waiting for the chicken to cook. I would like to work on this recipe more because it’s pretty good, but who knows when that will happen so for now, here it is:
Chop up 2 peeled apples ( I used Golden Delicious, but I think something more akin to a Granny Smith would work better) and put in a pot to simmer with 1 can chicken broth. Cut up 3 shallots and caramelize in a pan with 1 T butter, 1 t fresh thyme, minced and a little olive oil. Steam 1 head of cauliflower (this will take about 20 minutes). Add the onion mixture and the cauliflower (along with up to ½ C of the water used to steam it) to the pot of apples and stock, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend until smooth and return to pot. Add 1/4 C light cream, 2T butter, salt and white pepper to taste (it requires about a teaspoon of salt if you’re using low sodium stock). Serve warm. (Makes about 4 servings)

Day 2
I have always been a believer that chicken doesn’t go on real pizza, but my husband has always liked barbeque chicken pizza so I finally gave it a try and I really like it. Here’s our easy (dare I say low-brow?) take on it. On a premade pizza crust such as Mama Maria’s, spread purchased barbeque sauce. Add shredded chicken (I just boil boneless, skinless chicken breasts until cooked and then shred them). Roast some cut up yellow peppers drizzled with olive oil at 400 until the skins are just starting to char, then add them to the pizza. Top with sliced jack cheese and bake until cheese melts. Top with fresh cilantro.

For the sausage pizza, remove the casings from spicy Italian sausage and crumble in a pan to brown. I made a quick sauce of tomato paste, salt, fresh rosemary minced, dried oregano, pepper and olive oil all to taste, and spread it on the crust sparingly. Top with sausage, more of the roasted peppers from above, dollops of goat cheese and a few slices of jack cheese. When it comes out of the oven, top with fresh flat leaf parsely if you’re so inclined…

Day 3
This is a recipe from Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef Takes Off cookbook. As such it was simple and fast yet good. My husband made the pappardelle from scratch which automatically takes any pasta dish up about 5 notches. Here is a similar recipe, just add in the sausage.

Green Salad
I get really tired of salads, but they are a good idea so I try to come up with interesting combinations so as not to bore myself. For this one I used a combination of greens I had in the fridge and added in a lot of herbs—fresh parsely, basil, mint—but you can use whatever you have around. Adding in about ¼ C of each herb really imparts a great flavor that is a much needed change from the typical salad. I dress it with whatever kind of vinaigrette suits my fancy…just pick an oil and then pick a vinegar and toss as little sea salt on top.

Weekly Menu 5

VEW

Chicken Enchiladas with Green Rice

Greek Lamb Burgers with Oven-Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus Soup with Pan-Roasted Scallops & Tomato Bread

Day 1
This recipe was given to CLN of this blog by a friend of her mother’s. It is very good and different than any of the other enchilada recipes I have.

Boil 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with salt and pepper and a bayleaf until cooked through. Remove from water and let the chicken cool, then shred it. Add ½ C water, 10 oz green enchilada sauce (or a salsa verde, or blended tomatillos if all else fails). Mix together with ½ C sour cream, ¼ C chopped cilantro and 4 oz can of green chiles. Heat tortillas to make them pliable and put the chicken mixture along with some jack cheese and onion inside and roll up. Place seam-side down in a baking pan and cover with enchilada sauce (see below). Bake covered for 20 minutes at 375, then take the foil off, add additional cheese on top and bake for another 5 minutes.

Enchilada Sauce
Here is a great 10 minute enchilada sauce that gives a pretty authentic flavor and depth to this dish. The quality of the chili powder determines how good the sauce will be…

Green Rice
CLN turned me on to this great side. It’s a nice alternative to Spanish rice or plain rice and beans as a side when you’re making the enchiladas.

Day 2
This is a great recipe from Cooking Light magazine. I generally find their recipes to be a good idea but just not very tasty. This one was an exception; I will definitely make the lamb burgers again. If you have a favorite Tzatziki sauce recipe, feel free to substitute it for this one, though it is pretty good…but don’t make the mistake of making the sauce in a food processor to save time…it will turn out too runny.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

This is one of my favorite sides because it is quick and delicious. Rinse and trim asparagus by holding the bottom of each stalk and bending until it breaks; discard the woody bottom. Lay on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Broil for about 3 minutes until crsip-tender. Serve as is, or grate some lemon zest over them. You can also wrap a bundle of stalks in prosciutto before broiling for a different take on this dish.

Day 3

If you haven't been to Williams Sonoma’s web site for great recipes you are missing a goldmine. I have never made anything bad from their offerings and everything is simple—no über long ingredient lists or ultra-fancy cooking techniques. The results are always elegant and most important, delicious. This soup is great, healthy (if you cut back on the heavy cream or substitute light cream), and you can’t beat the tasty simplicity that is seared scallops. As with all seafood, try to get it the day you plan to cook it, and if you have a good fish monger or seafood shop, that is preferable to the grocery store.

Tomato Bread
Tomato Bread should be a staple in everyone’s repertoire. To make it, toast baguette slices drizzled with a bit of olive oil. As soon as they come out of the oven, cut a garlic clove in half and rub vigorously over the coarse surface of the bread—you will be amazed at how much flavor this imparts. Next cut a tomato in half and rub it over the bread, squeezing it as you go so the juices seep out and are soaked up by the bread. Enjoy immediately!

Weekly Menu 4

VEW

Lamb and Artichoke Kebobs with Lemon and Rosemary, Risotto with peas, Caesar salad, Lemon Crème Brûlée

Wine pairing Chateau de Flaugergue 2003 Coteaux Du Languedoc Cuvee Sommeliere

Mustard-Crusted Roast Chicken, Green Beans with Tomatoes and Pancetta, Crispy Potatoes

Wine pairing: Kendall Jackson Meritage 2003

Prosciutto-Wrapped Salmon with Three Cheese Cavatelli and Spinach

Bun Cha

Day 1

I made this for a dinner I had with 4 girlfriends. It was easy, good and I didn’t spend all night cooking.

Lamb Kebobs
Cut up lamb into small pieces and put in a large ziplock bag with olive oil, 1 T chopped, fresh rosemary, the zest of 1 lemon and the juice of 1 lemon, a container of frozen artichoke hearts, kosher salt and pepper to taste. Let sit in the marinade for a least an hour and up to 4. Grill until the lamb is medium rare. (Adapted from Williams Sonoma Hors d’Ouerves cookbook, which I highly recommend).

Risotto
The Risotto base I used this time was Jamie Oliver’s,which I’ve written about in a previous post, but any will do. At the end I tossed in some peas, fresh flat leaf parsley, freshly grated Parmesan and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

Caesar Salad
The Caesar is self-explanatory. When I have time on my hands (which seems like never lately) I prefer to make my own croutons and dressing which make this salad a lot more enjoyable, but on this occasion I didn’t and none of my guests left out of disgust…

Lemon Crème Brûlée
The Lemon Crème Brûlée was my first time making a crème brûlée and I will do it again as it was easy and good. I don’t have a torch so I just used my broiler to get that crispy, golden brown top and it worked well.

Day 2
This is a recipe from Fine Cooking that is only available online if you’re a member of their site…which is too bad. It was a fabulous recipe so if you get a chance to pick up the September issue of Cooking Fresh, do it! (CN of this blog told me that Sam’s Club sells old issues of various magazines like Fine Cooking for about half the newsstand price…FYI). If you can’t find this exact recipe, any roast chicken dinner will work in this weekly menu, with a side of sautéed green beans and farm stand cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with some balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. Please remember that when we can’t lead you to an exact recipe, the main purpose of this site is to lay out weekly menu ideas because we find that to be the hardest part of meal planning.

Day 3
Wrap wild coho salmon fillets in a slice or two of prosciutto, cook 10-12 minutes (I had 2, 7 oz fillets) at 425 degrees.

Pasta
Melt 2 T butter and 2T olive oil in a skillet. Add 2 cloves chopped garlic and sautee until golden. Add 1 cup whole milk ricotta, ¼ cup half and half, and ¼-1/2 C pasta water. Stir to combine. Add 3 C chopped baby spinach, zest of 1 lemon, nutmeg, gray salt, white pepper, red pepper flakes for heat and 1-2T lemon juice. Cook until spinach wilts. Throw in ¼ C diced smoked mozzerella cheese. Stir and keep warm. Meanwhile, cook some cavatelli noodles, add to the sauce along with freshly grated parmesan and parsley. I wouldn’t serve this as a stand-alone pasta, but the flavors went nicely with the salmon.

Day 4
Bun Cha
Vietnamese food is one of the best kept secrets of the food universe in my opinion. It is the shy step-sister to Thai food and all too often overlooked. This recipe makes easy work of the fresh, healthy and flavorful ingredients that make up much of this region’s diet. Because Vietnamese food relies mainly on loads of fresh herbs like mint, coriander and basil as well as the ubiquitous fish sauce for flavor, you won’t find butters or oils very often in its cuisine. Having traveled to Vietnam, I was skeptical that the simplicity of this recipe would result in an authentic dish, but I was wrong! It was great and reminded us of the Bun we had at Pho 2000 in Saigon. Enjoy!

Confessions of a Foodie

VEW

I love to cook. I love to eat. I eat just about anything and like most of it. But there are some things I have trouble with. Things that people who love food are probably not supposed to have trouble with…things that get me in trouble with fellow, more serious foodies. I write this in a spirit of gest, but I assure you it’s all true.

I have never professed an undying love of lobster. It all began when, as a 14 year old I had my first whole lobster and no one warned me that on top of water gushing everywhere upon cracking the beast open, there could also be a number of other unsavory looking things in there. So I eagerly cracked open the crimson crustacean only to lose my appetite upon seeing the green tomally that some consider the best part. I have only truly lost my appetite on two occasions, that was the first. Not wanting to disappoint my parents, who spent a considerable sum on this treat for the family, I managed to eat the lobster by dousing it in…ketchup. But that’s not the end of my lobster tale. I have grown to love lobster in stews, bisques, pastas and the like, but have never been a huge fan of whole lobsters until recently. On a weekend in Maine we had a fabulous outdoor dinner with farmstand corn on the cob, field greens just picked from the garden and Maine lobster. The lobster tasted fabulous, so much so that upon arriving home one day later, my husband and I bought some lobster to make again—our first time making them at home. The catch was that I would have to plunge them into the boiling cauldron.

Now, I have read all the recent debates about humane and inhumane killing of lobsters. I can’t say I really cared…it wasn’t going to change my mind about eating lobster and I had never actually cooked one myself…but when it came time to take the plunge, I couldn’t do it. And it wasn’t due to a twinge of guilt, it was again a fear of losing my appetite. I took the brown paper bag out of the fridge and opened it to take the first victim out…and the slow moving of the legs gave me the shivers. It is after all, a bit like picking up a giant spider, or rather looking at one because I confess I couldn’t even pick it up. It all makes me wonder who in the world originally looked at a lobster and thought, hmmm, that looks like it could have some pretty tasty meat under all that armor. Clearly not someone who was as far removed from the production of ready to prepare meats as I.

In the end I had to go back on my word and call in the reserves in the form of my husband, who being a man, did the job, but only this once he assured me with a sidelong glance that clearly said, Are you serious? It was a rare moment of weakness in the kitchen. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Weekly Menu 3
CLN

Chicken skewers with parsley-feta pesto and Greek salad

Beef and avocado tacos with beans and rice

Cuban burgers with mojo, grilled red potatoes and cucumber salad

Day 1
This is based on a Rachael Ray recipe, you can find it here. It's essentially a big salad but I find it tastes better with the components served separately. I serve the grilled chicken with the pesto on the side, the salad and toasted pita accompany the dish. I like to make the salad without the celery and make my make my own dressing using Lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and oregano. As a rule of thumb use 1 part vinegar( lemon juice) to 2 parts oil.

Day 2
Find the recipe here. This combination may sound odd but the crisp radish, creamy avocado and pickled jalapeno work really well together. I often use a flank steak in place of the skirt steak if that is all I can find. I like to use Emeril's Essence as a rub for the meat. You can make up a batch and keep it in the freezer. For the beans and rice I simmer a can of black beans, add chili powder and some fresh lime juice to liven them up and serve them over white rice.

Day 3
This burger is a twist on the cuban sandwich, which I love. The recipe calls for making a garlic mayo, I never do that and don't think it is worth the trouble, I just use regular mayo. To weight the burger on the grill, we usually use a brick or heavy cast iron skillet. I serve mojo to dip the sandwich in. Mojo is a citrus, onion and garlic marinade. You can find it in most grocery stores in the Goya or ethnic aisles. For a great side with this you can roast some red skin potatoes and when they're nice and crispy pull them out and pour mojo over them and garnish with scallions.
Mojitos-A traditional Cuban cocktail

Cucumber salad

This is very simple and you can just make it to taste. slice cucumbers and to them add white wine vinegar, olive oil and sugar. Depending on what is on hand you can also add onion and some dill. This is best made a few hours ahead so the flavors can meld and the cucumber can break down a bit.