Day 360: What Happens When I Do Not Have a Plan

It's too bad that I had to create such a terrible meal during the last week of this blog.  The problem was that I really didn't have a plan when I went to the market - that hardly ever works out.  All I knew was that I wanted to use some of the items purchased at the farmer's market this weekend to make something healthy.  I accomplished that, but unfortunately, it wasn't very tasty.

I purchased some tilapia to make fish tacos and marinated it for about 1/2 hour in a mixture that included the juice of 2 limes, sliced fresh ginger (a 1 inch piece), a sliced jalapeno (seeds and all), 2 smashed garlic cloves, 1t sugar, and 2T olive oil.  The marinade was really tasty - but the fish just didn't suck up enough of the flavor.

I made two toppings to go in the tacos.  The first was simple - I purchased some tiny little cherry tomatoes and sliced them in half.  That's it - but their freshness added a lot of great flavor.

The zucchini we purchased at the farmer's market served as the second topping.  I ran it across the large holes of a box grater and sprinkled it liberally with salt to soften it up and pull the extra liquid out.  I placed it in a strainer and pressed the liquid out every several minutes.  Then, I mixed it with the juice and zest of a lemon and seasoned it to taste with S&P.  This was meant to be a substitute for cabbage, which what one would normally use on a fish taco.  But I've found that we found up throwing half the head of cabbage away the last few times so I thought I'd try this since we already had the zucchini.  It actually wasn't bad - but when the fish in the fish taco isn't too tasty, all the delicious toppings in the world can't save it.

Okay...my commitment to you - readers who have stayed with me for nearly a year - is to create and/or eat nothing but GOOD food for the last 5 days of this blog.

Day 343: An Oldie, But a Goodie

The recipe for this tart is from the May 2006 issue of Saveur magazine.  I made it several times for dinner parties when the magazine first came out, but then forgot about it.  Tonight we were having some friends over, so I brushed the dust off the issue and made this delicious tart again.

I'll warn you - this recipe isn't difficult, but it takes a long time to pull it together.  But it is so yummy, so it's worth it, especially if you're making it for people who will appreciate it. 

The main course tonight was flank steak (2 lb), marinated for 6 hours in this delicious mixture and then grilled:

1.5T freshly squeezed lime juice

1T olive oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1t hot chili paste, like Sambel Oelek

1/2t grated or minced ginger

1/2t honey

Finally, we had some grilled figs, which are a seasonal specialty that I absolutely love.  Fresh figs are lightly coated with olive oil, then seasoned with S&P, and grilled for a couple of minutes over medium-low heat.  Simple, but amazing.

I encourage you to try any or all of these recipes!

Day 330: Still Gumming It

Still on the road to recovery after my wisdom tooth extraction yesterday, I opted for a wholesome and soft dinner of grilled salmon at Capannina. It was served over a bed of artichokes, olives, and thinly sliced zucchini. The menu description said it was "pesto crusted" but I didn't get much pesto flavor. The dish was excellent in any case.

Lucky for us, it's still zucchini blossom season, so we ordered the special appetizer - said blossoms stuffed with cheese and lightly fried. Yum yum delicious.

Day 316: A Real Seasonal Treat

Tonight's dinner with my visiting in-laws was full of tasty treats, but the greatest of all was the stuffed squash blossoms that I had as my appetizer.  Filled with fresh mozzarella, lightly fried, and plated with drizzles of tomato sauce and pesto. 

As I almost always do when we go to Capannina, I ordered fish.  Tonight it was sea bass served with cherry tomatoes, asparagus, and grilled polenta.  Yummy.

And because we had special guests, we decided to splurge and have dessert. Of course I insisted on an order of Capannina's to die for profiteroles.  These light creme puffs are served with two dipping sauces - chocolate and caramel - and they are heaven on earth.  My hubby's choice was molten chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream.

This was a treatful night indeed.  Squash blossom season is a short one - I'll have to try to get back to Capannina again before it's over!

Day 299: Kitchen Sweet Kitchen

I love eating and I dislike doing dishes, but tonight, after a week on vacation, I was excited to be home where I'd have to cook and clean.

I decided to make up for my insanely unhealthy diet of the past week with a meal packed with lean protein, whole grains, and lots and lots of veggies.  That manifested itself in brown rice with shrimp and sauteed vegetables.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1/2 cup brown rice, prepared as suggested on the package

2 T olive oil

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined and cut into three pieces each

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1.5 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1 shallot bulb, minced

White wine or chicken broth

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup sugar snap peas, halved crosswise

2 stalks of celery, chopped

Zest from 1 large lemon

Pre-heat olive oil & red pepper flakes in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add shrimp, season with S&P, and saute for a minute or two until pink.  Remove, set aside, and cover.

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook garlic, ginger, and shallot until soft.  Turn up the heat to medium-high, add a few splashes of white wine or chicken broth, add all veggies, and saute for 8-10 minutes until all veggies are crunchy tender.  If the pan dries out during cooking, add another splash of liquid.

When veggies are cooked to desired consistency, add shrimp and cooked rice to the pan and mix all ingredients together until it's all heated through.  Turn off the heat, mix in the lemon zest, and serve!

I adore vacation, but I also like getting back to "normal life", especially when it includes homemade, nutritious, tasty dinners like this one!

Day 282: Brownie Points from (Someone Else's) Mom

We have a couple of goy friends who really love when I cook up a Jewish feast for them.  So, in celebration of Passover, I invited ourselves to their house with a feast in tow:  matzoh ball soup, brisket, and roasted butternut squash.  One friend's parents were in town so it was a downright Passover party of six.

This was actually my first time making matzoh balls, so I cheated and relied on a mix.  Considering how delicious they turned out, I may cheat every time!

My soup took awhile to come together but once it was done, it was SO good.  I followed a recipe from Epicurious.com but found that once it was complete, the broth was thin and rather tasteless.  To solve that problem, I simmered the broth (minus the chicken which I reserved to serve with the soup and the veggies which I threw away) for about 2 additional hours, allowing it to reduce, bringing out much more flavor.  Adding more salt helped as well.

My brisket recipe was also from Epicurious.com.  I prepared this dish for others on Hanukkah to rave reviews and it didn't disappoint this time either.

I roasted the butternut squash simply.  After peeling it and removing the seeds, I cut it up into uniform 1 inch pieces and mixed them with olive oil, about 2 T fresh thyme leaves, and a good dose of S&P.  I lay the pieces out in a single layer on a baking sheet and roasted it at 400 degrees for about 22 minutes, or until very tender.

My friends loved the meal, as did my husband and the visiting parents.  They didn't just clear their plates, they gobbled it all up and handed out lots of compliments.  I'm always happy to earn some Mom love, even from someone who isn't my own mom!

Day 281: En Papillote

A few weeks ago, while in a taxi, I went past a cute looking restaurant called Hyde Street Seafood House.  Coincidentally, during an office happy hour last week, a couple of my co-workers were talking about the place and how much they loved it.  This weekend I decided to try it for myself.

The restaurant prides itself on en papillote preparation.  That's when you bake food in parchment paper, usually with veggies and starch, like rice or potatoes.  I went with the New Zealand Blue Nosed Sea Bass which frankly, I had never heard of.  It was baked, as you can see, with loads of thinly sliced zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, and jalapenos.  I squeezed two juicy slices of lemon over the top and presto - a light, flavorful, super healthy meal.

En papillot is actually a pretty easy and very impressive dish to make yourself.  Several months ago, I tried it for the first time with halibut and it was a huge success.  Give it a shot!

Day 249: Dinner in (Practically) an Instant

Believe it or not, this dinner took about 15 minutes to put together.  And it was healthy.  And tasty!

I purchased some marinated pounded pork tenderloin at a fantastic store in my neighborhood and my husband grilled it up.  Because it had been pounded, it cooked up quickly and because it was already marinated, it was full of flavor.

To go with the pork, I sauteed some zucchini, yellow bell pepper, and mushrooms and mixed them with some leftover quinoa from the other day.  To flavor and season the dish, I ran about 1/4 cup of leftover chimichurri sauce through a fine strainer and mixed the resulting liquid into the quinoa and veggies.  I also added two chopped vine ripened tomatoes for some freshness and additional color.

Before we knew it, dinner was ready!  You've gotta love that on a work night - especially if you work late or want to get to the gym after leaving the office.  The key is having some good staples and leftovers in the house to make things quick and easy so always make extra and be creative about how you use what's left.

Day 182: Third & Fourth Wheels

Friends of ours from the East Coast have been in the Bay Area this week and today was their 10th wedding anniversary.  Since I had attended that wedding so many years ago, I thought it appropriate to suggest that we all celebrate their anniversary together.

As always, our dinner at Capannina was delightful.  You may recall that my husband and I spent Christmas Eve at this restaurant.  That night, my husband and I shared two appetizers - a beet salad with goat cheese and spicy prawns stacked high with polenta cakes.  Those prawns were so good that I had to have them again tonight.

For my entree, I chose linguini with clams and zucchini.  This dish was so simple and yet so delicious.

And of course, because we were celebrating an anniversary, we just had to take advantage of Capannina's amazing dessert menu.  The four of us shared three desserts:  a warm chocolate cake with hazelnut gelato, profiteroles with chocolate and caramel dipping sauces (my personal fave), and tiramisu.  

What a meal!  We'll have to invite ourselves to help celebrate friends' events more often!

Day 179: This Photograph is a Big, Fat Lie

Our friends Amy and Len and their 2 year old Jack came over for dinner tonight.  They flew in last night from the east coast and were all adjusting to the time difference - especially little Jack.

I attempted to prepare a dinner that would be finished nice and early so that we could eat before complete exhaustion set in.  But somehow, I misjudged the timing of nearly everything and so these three items were eaten separately - first the shrimp, then the butternut squash, and then cauliflower course was served.

The shrimp was salt roasted and served with a lemony dipping sauce - easy and always a crowd pleaser.  I first shared this recipe with you on day #50 ("Party!").

Next, we had roasted butternut squash & cranberries, made tasty with thyme, brown sugar, freshly grated nutmeg, and brown butter.  This was something I "invented" about a week ago on day #170 ("You Must Try This!").

The cauliflower course was simple:  I cut a head of cauliflower into large pieces, tossed them with olive oil and S&P and roasted them at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

For dessert, we had a cheese course that included a triple cream brie with chopped dried apricots and Craisins and a mustard seed cheddar called Red Dragon (delicious and available at Cheese Plus here in San Francisco).

So the dinner was super staggered, but everything was tasty and it was fun to catch up with our friends over multiple courses.  Even if one of them was just cauliflower.

Day 171: Low Carb Latkes. Yes You Can!

Tonight marked year 2 of our annual Hanukkah dinner celebration.  Like last year, I made a brisket, but this year's recipe was world's better than last year's.  Braised slowly with dried apricots, garlic, and several aromatic seasonings - this dish forced a delicious aroma throughout the house all afternoon yesterday.

Everyone knows that you can't have Hanukkah without latkes, but this year I tried something new - much to my husband's chagrin.  Rather than make carb laden potato latkes, I decided to try zucchini latkes.  I thought they tasted pretty good and they added a nice little bit of color to the table - but my husband thought I should have stuck with the tried and true.

Speaking of tried and true, we of course had a loaf of challah on the table tonight.  Not just any challah - challah from the amazing Noe Valley Bakery - makers of the best challah in SF.

Last minute, I panicked about not having enough side dishes so I dashed out to our local grocery store and purchased some cous cous with raisins and veggies and a stewed white bean salad.

Finally, we capped it all off with some adorable and yummy desserts from the Noe Valley Bakery:  a cupcake with blue frosting and a mini dreidel, a petit four with menorah on top, and blue star sugar cookies.

It was a great dinner and a nice celebration.  Happy holidays, all!

Day 170: You Must Try This!

Tonight's dinner was a celebration of autumn and the holiday season.  

If you read my Thanksgiving entry, you may recall that we grilled an herb rubbed turkey breast this year, rather that roasting the whole bird.  The herb mixture includes garlic, thyme, rosemary, and parsley - combined and made into a paste in a food processor.  Since Thanksgiving, I've used this herb mixture with halibut and tonight I used it with organic bone-in skin-on chicken breasts.  As with the turkey, I gently pulled the skin away from the chicken breasts and placed a thick layer of herb rub underneath.  Then, I browned the chicken in a skillet pre-heated with olive oil and then placed it in a glass baking dish to finish in the oven.  (375 degrees for about 30 minutes)

But the star of tonight's meal was the side dish.  I started with a recipe I found on Epicurious.com and tweaked it to make it a bit more dynamic and interesting.

Ingredients:

1 2-lb butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 T light brown sugar

1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

2 T olive oil

1 cup fresh cranberries

3 T unsalted butter

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/3 cup pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

Combine squash, sugar, thyme, and oil in a large bowl.  Season with S&P and toss to make sure squash is evenly coated.

Lay squash out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet (spray pan with non-stick spray beforehand) and roast at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, sprinkle cranberries over the top of the squash and roast for another 15 minutes.

Melt butter at medium-low heat until browned (4-5 minutes).  

Once squash and cranberries are finished cooking, place them in a large bowl.  Pour the brown butter over the top, add the nutmeg and pistachios, and toss it all together.  Serve!

The ingredients in this dish balance each other out perfectly - sweet, sour, a little crunchy, a little salty.  It was pretty close to perfect and I look forward to making it many more times this winter.  Experimenting with recipes is fun - especially when it works out so well!

Day 166: I Hate When That Happens

I assure you that this meal is approximately 1 billion times tastier than it looks.  That kind of bums me out.  Anyone know of any good food plating or food styling classes in the Bay Area?

This is actually a dish that I used to make quite often but for some reason, it fell out of my mental recipe box some time ago.  It's easy, delicious, pretty healthy, and great on a cold winter night.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 links of uncooked spicy turkey sausage, meat removed from casing

1 medium/large zucchini, sliced into 1/2 inch thick half moons

1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips

1/2 onion, sliced thin

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 T chopped fresh oregano

.5 to 1 cup chicken broth

1 can chopped tomatoes, NOT drained

Heat a stainless steel pan coated with olive oil over medium high heat.  Once hot, add chicken breasts and brown on both sides.  Remove chicken and set aside.  Pour off most of oil from pan.

Pour about 1/4 cup of chicken broth and deglaze the pan.  Add crumbled bits of the sausage to the pan and brown.  When nearly done, add garlic, onion, zucchini, pepper, and oregano and continue to cook, mixing from time to time.  If pan is getting too dry, add a few more drops of broth.

Once all veggies are beginning to get soft, add canned tomatoes and another 1/4 cup of broth and mix.  Push veggies away from middle of pan and return chicken to the pan.  Once chicken has been added to pan, cover and surround it with the veggies.  Simmer for another 10-15 minutes, adding more broth if the liquid seems to be reducing too quickly.

Remove chicken and veggies from pot and reduce sauce by simmering on medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.  Drizzle over the top.

We had some leftover cooked whole wheat pasta from earlier in the week.  We added that to the sauce while it was simmering until it was cooked through.  I hadn't ever done this before, but it added a nice extra dimension to the dish.

So, despite an ugly presentation, this was a tasty meal indeed.  Any tips to make it as pretty as it is tasty are welcome!

Day 153: Not Feelin' It

I just wasn't in the mood to cook up a big involved dinner tonight.  Luckily for me, we had a fridge full of veggies that I knew would roast up nicely.  This is a very easy preparation for a work night.  It takes awhile to cook, especially if you use dense firm veggies like carrots, but it's tasty, healthy, and goes with whatever protein you want to eat with it.

Our mix included cauliflower, broccoli, bell pepper, zucchini, pear tomatoes, onion, and carrots.  Everything was cut into large pieces and mixed with olive oil, chopped garlic, lots of fresh thyme, and S&P.  This mixture roasted in a large glass baking dish at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Once it's done, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the whole thing.  If you want it perfect, put the carrots in alone first for 5-10 extra minutes and then add everything else.  If you do it this way, you can cook everything else for less time.

I chose an equally easy protein to have the roasted veggie side dish.  I purchased a couple of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and pounded them thin between two layers of plastic wrap.  You can skip this step, but it helps the chicken cook MUCH faster, so I recommend you at least give it a try.  Then I seasoned the chicken on both sides with S&P and browned it in an olive oil coated pan that I had pre-heated.  Just a couple of minutes on each side, and it was done, so you'll want to cook the chicken once your veggies are done to everything is nice and hot at the same time.

If you want to add just a little flair to this otherwise extremely simple meal, you can then sprinkle one side of the chicken breast with some freshly grated parm and stick it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.

I've noticed that as the week goes on, my cooking enthusiasm wanes and wanes until Friday, when all I want to do is go out and have someone cook for and serve me.  Hey, tomorrow's Friday!  TGIF!!

Day 150: The Thanks That Just Keep Giving

Here we are, four days after Thanksgiving, and we are STILL eating leftovers!!  Thankfully, we polished them all off tonight.

Witness our Butternut Squash and Creamed Spinach Gratin - given new life with a topping of freshly grated parmesan cheese and thrown under the broiler.  The wild rice was still tasty, too, and only required a quick little reheat in the microwave.

Our protein tonight was not the flying kind.  I've had enough of that for awhile.  Instead, we had pork tenderloin marinated and purchased at our local neighborhood grocery store.  It's one of our favorite midweek meals since most of the work is done for us - we just throw it on the grill for 10-12 minutes and voila!  Dinner!

I must say, however, that a quickly and easily prepared dinner is not nearly as exciting as finally finishing all of our Thanksgiving fare.  Time to start planning the next holiday.  Any recommendations for Christmas dinner?

Day 146: Happy Thanksgiving!!

Holy hell.  I'm full!!  

My parents came to us for Thanksgiving this year and my husband and I took care of all of the cooking.  As you can see from our very full table, we went all out.  Our menu consisted of the following, starting from the upper right hand corner of the table.

Main Course #1:  Turkey!!

Rather than cooking a whole bird, we purchased two breasts at Whole Foods and grilled them.  That freed up the oven for the sides and gave my husband something to do (man + fire = happiness).  We prepared each breast differently the night before to give them a chance to suck up lots of good flavor.

One breast got an herb and garlic rub:  1/4 cup each of chopped fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary, a 1/2 cup of parsley, and 10 cloves of garlic.  All of that was ground up in the food processor and then I tucked a thick layer of it underneath the skin of the turkey.

The other breast was marinated in a mix of the juice of 5 oranges, zest from 2 of those oranges, juice and zest from 2 lemons, 1 large sliced shallot, 6 smashed cloves of garlic, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, about 1/4 cup of olive oil, and S&P.

The breasts took about 2.5 hours on the grill on indirect heat.

Side Dish #1:  Cauliflower with Mustard Lemon Butter

Side Dish #2:  Orange Rosemary Cranberry Sauce

Side Dish #3:  Butternut Squash & Creamed Spinach Gratin

Side Dish #4:  Corn Bread (for recipe, see side of Marie Callender package - this was the only thing I did not make from scratch)

Side Dish #5:  Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms

Mushroom Gravy

Side Dish #6:  Thyme Roasted Sweet Potatoes

All of this was quite delicious and satisfying, but what's a Thanksgiving dinner without dessert?  After a short break, we were ready to dive in.

We had three desserts:

1.  Chocolate Pumpkin Tart

2.  Apple Crisp (made my our friend and dinner guest Julie)

3.  Coconut Macaroons (recipe available on the back of the blue Baker's Shredded Coconut bag)

Everything was enjoyed by all.  We are slipping into a food coma as I type this.  In fact, typing this is becoming increasing difficult.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 141: Yay! Crab Season is Here!

Our friend Sarah had us over for a fantastic dinner tonight. It's the beginning of Dungeness crab season here in Northern California and we took full advantage of it, cracking into three of those suckers.

One of the best parts was that we were able to buy the crabs pre-cooked (steamed) at Whole Foods, which made the meal much easier. The dude behind the counter even offered to clean and break the crabs up for us.

We had two dipping options on the table - drawn butter (my preference!) and cocktail sauce. To go with the crabs, we prepared a salad of greens, avocado, tomato, mushrooms, and pine nuts. Sarah also made some mashed butternut squash. She sliced the squash in half lengthwise, scooped out the seeds, and laid the halves cutside down in a baking dish with some water and microwaved them. Once the squash was softened, she scooped it out, mashed it, and mixed in some butter and S&P.

Of course, our meal was accompanied by a good amount of red wine and a plate of yummy desserts from the Whole Foods bakery case.

Steamed crabs are healthy, delicious, and fun for a dinner party. We're definitely going to have to steal this idea!!

Day 136: Back to Work

Back from vacation and back to work - at the office and in the kitchen.  Dinner tonight was pork tenderloin and stewed zucchini.

First, I turned my oven on to 400 degrees and then browned the pork (well seasoned with S&P) on all sides in a large pre-heated stainless steel pan coated with olive oil.  Once the pork was browned, I removed it from the pan, rubbed it with about 3 cloves of chopped garlic all over the outside, placed it in a roasting pan that I'd sprayed with Pam, and placed it in the oven for about 20 minutes (18 may have been enough, but I'm always worried about under-cooking).

While the pork was roasting, I prepared the side dish.  I deglazed the pan that had been used to brown the pork so that I could make the best use of the flavor left behind in all those brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.  If you haven't tried this little cooking trick, you really should.  It's so easy and really enhances the flavor of your food.  While the pan is hot, pour inabout 1/4 cup of some kind of liquid - I usually use white wine or chicken broth.  

My white wine started sizzling in the pan immediately and I took a wooden spoon and began scraping up the brown bits.   They come up surprisingly easy.  Then I added 2 minced cloves of garlic, half an onion (sliced thin), and a few shakes from the red pepper flake jar.  I allowed these items to simmer in the wine for a few minutes until soft and then added 3 zucchini, sliced in half vertically and then horizontally at 1/2 inch width.  I also added a can of chopped tomatoes, about 1/2 tsp of dried oregano, and a good dose of S&P.

Zucchini is one of the rare vegetables that I like cooked until soft.  I turned down the temperature to medium low and allowed the concoction to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Of course, if you prefer to keep it more al dente, you can cook it for less time - but try it my way, at least once.

Day 120: A Sure Sign of Autumn

I love to cook, but I also love when someone cooks for me!  Tonight we went to our friend Julie's house for dinner.

I have been resisting the purchase of a butternut squash, as I feel they are a true sign that summer's over and autumn has arrived.  This dinner got me over that hump, though, and reminded me how delicious this ingredient is.

As you can see, the butternut was incorporated into a pasta dish.  It was roasted in the oven with some onion first.  Once cooked, it was added to the pasta along with turkey sausage, fresh spinach, fresh sage, and freshly shaved parmesan cheese.

This was comfort food at its best - warm, hearty, and without the guilt that comes along with a lot of other comfort foods.  If you'd like to try this dish out, the recipe is available at Allrecipes.com. Click here and get ready to welcome autumn with open arms!