Tag: gluten-free

No Tato Salad

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This is a vegetarian-ish, gluten-free and paleo-friendly version of that perennial Summer favorite – potato salad. I went German with my inspiration, but curry or hot spice versions would be great as well. This really does end up tasting like potato salad. You don’t get the density of potatoes, but if you’re trying to avoid them and Summer just ain’t Summer without some homestyle potato salad (and a big ear of corn and some brats), this salad is for you. It’s also pretty quick to whip up and makes a great side dish for a nice big steak.

No-Tato Salad

1 head cauliflower
2 stalks celery
1/4 to 1/2 c. yellow onion (~ 1/4 of an onion, preferably Vidalia or some other sweet variety)
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. mayo (I use the type made with olive oil – sub with home made to make it paleo)
2 Tbsp. capers (or good old green Spanish olives)
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard (sub with yellow mustard to make it Whole30)
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Salt & pepper
Sweet paprika (optional)

Place the eggs in a small pot. Cover with water and put over a burner on high. Bring to a boil, let go 4 minutes and cut the heat. Remove pot to the sink, drain, and fill with cold water.

While your eggs are cooking, chop/snap the cauliflower into small florets. When this is complete, add to a large pan over medium high heat with a splash or 2 of water. Cook until softened – if you want to go a little brown here, have at it. I went for just steamed to taste as close as possible to potatoes, but brown would be nice, too. Remove from the heat when done. Add to a large bowl to cool.

While that is working, dice the celery, onion, capers and parsley. Add to the bowl with the cauliflower.

When the eggs are done, cool, peel and dice. Add to the bowl.

Add the mayo, mustard, celery salt & garlic powder. Combine. Taste & add salt and pepper if needed. Dust with paprika as an optional old school garnish.

Serves 2 for dinner with a nice steak and 1 for lunch beefed up with a little chicken and the gift that keeps on giving: hazelnut gremolata (yes, this is the same gremolata that’s been kicking around the back of my fridge and popping up here and there since Easter).

Light, Bright Tuna Salad

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Light Bright Tuna Salad

This light, bright tuna salad makes a great weeknight meal. Bold and flavorful – you won’t miss the calories.

2 packets tuna in water
2 Tbsp. beet horseradish
2 Tbsp. dill, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp. capers
1 can garbanzo beans, washed & drained
2 ribs celery, diced
1/4 preserved lemon, diced
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried ground chipotle
Salt & pepper to taste

Prep all ingredients. Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Taste. Salt & pepper to your liking.

Serves 2 + 1 for a light dinner & lunch. You can beef this salad up with some crusty bread or crackers, but it is perfectly satisfying without.

Corn Salsa Pasta

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This easy weeknight dinner combines all that is good about corn salsa with a nice gluten-free pasta for a no-fuss meal that is high in taste and low in drama.

Corn Salsa Pasta

2 ears corn, de-cobbed
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 pickled jalapeño, diced
3 Tbsp. salsa
3 Tbsp. crema
1/2 package (2 servings) corn pasta
Salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Put a large pot of water on to boil. While your water is boiling, de-cob your corn kernels, chop your bell pepper, slice your onions, dice the jalapeño and gather the rest of your ingredients.

In a large pan over medium heat, bring the olive oil up to temperature. Add the onions and sautee until translucent. Add the corn and pepper and sautee, raising the temperature a bit if needed, until starting to brown around the edges. The goal is for the corn and peppers to get some nice browning (especially the corn), but to not burn the onions. This is a fine line to walk. When the pepper is soft and everything is browned to your liking, it is time to add the pasta. If the pasta is done, add it now. If not, knock the heat down to low to wait for the pasta.

When draining the pasta, reserve 1/2 a cup or so of the starchy water to help make a sauce.

Add the drained pasta to the pan, along with the jalapeño and salsa. Cook over medium heat, stirring to combine. When all is combined, add the crema and enough pasta water to create a sauce. Toss and serve.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Spring Peas and Bacon with Lentils and Miso

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This dish takes the great springtime combo of peas + bacon and adds an unexpected umami hit from miso. The miso isn’t pungent here, it’s more of a supporting character, so don’t worry about it tasting weird. The Europe-meets-Asia flavors mesh quite well.

Spring Peas and Bacon with Lentils and Miso

3/4 cup beluga (or French green) lentils
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
2 ounces slab bacon, cut into batons
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. white miso

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the lentils, stock and water. Bring up to a boil, cover, knock the heat back and let simmer 20 – 25 mins. or until tender.

Meanwhile, crisp the bacon over medium heat, drain and reserve.

Put the pan back on the stove and add the garlic. Let the garlic go until it is just beginning to smell fragrant and add the peas. Cook until the garlic is golden brown & delicious and the peas are starting to color. Salt & pepper to taste.

When the lentils are cooked, toss in a medium bowl with the miso. Salt & pepper to taste.

Add the peas & garlic and bacon. Toss to combine & serve.

Serves 2 for a hearty dinner or 2 + 1 lunch for a light dinner.

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Duck with Broccolini & Tart Dressing

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This meal makes a decadent weeknight dinner. Since duck is so rich, two people can very comfortably split one large breast. This not only saves calories, it saves cash.

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Duck with Broccolini & Tart Dressing

3 Tbsp. good aged balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. pomegranate molasses
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
1 large boneless duck breast (skin on)
1 cup grits
2 cups milk
1 cup water
1 big handful Parmesan cheese
1 bunch broccolini, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
White pepper

Start the sauce

In a small sauce pot over medium low heat, combine the vinegar, molasses and ginger. When the sauce comes up to a boil and becomes syrupy, turn off the heat.

Start the grits

In a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, combine the grits, milk and water. Whisk. Continue to whisk every few minutes until grits come up to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring every minute or two, until grits are soft and liquid is absorbed. If mixture gets too dry, add water. When grits are done, remove from heat. Add cheese & salt & pepper to taste.

And now for the duck

While the grits are cooking, cook the duck. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil and bring up to temp. Add the duck skin-side down – season with salt & pepper and sautée until deeply browned. Flip, season, and sautée on side 2 until deeply brown. Knock the heat back and continue to cook until medium-rare. Duck feels just like beef to the touch. Remove from the pan and set aside to rest while you cook the broccolini.

Some green veg

Drain fat. Put the pan back over the heat with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Add broccolini. Sautée 7 minutes or until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice the duck and serve with grits, broccolini and pomegranate molasses sauce.

Serves 2 for dinner.

Coconut Curry with Naan

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I never promised it was pretty. This pic was taken right before plunging into after-dinner snack bowl full #2.

A nice light Thai-style coconut green curry that’s perfect over noodles or simply scooped up by naan bread. Mixed with a little Greek yogurt, I could see this becoming a go-to dip.

Coconut Curry with Naan
Based on Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Rice Noodles from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Curry paste
1 inch piece of ginger, peeped and roughly chopped
2 green chiles, seeded and roughly chopped
2 lemongrass stalks, outer layer and tough ends removed and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 small shallot, roughly chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
zest and juice of 2 limes
2 Tbsp canola oil

Sauce
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sugar
Big pinch salt
Zest and juice of 2 limes
1 can (15 oz) light coconut milk

To make the curry paste: Combine all the ingredients in a small spice grinder, food processor or mortar & pestle. Grind/blend to a paste. If your mixture is too dry and isn’t paste-ing, add a little more lime juice or oil and move things around in the bowl. Your paste won’t be smooth, but it will come together and the lemongrass fibers will break up. It’s not the prettiest thing in town, but it gets the job done.

To make the sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil until it begins to sputter. Add the onion and sautee, stirring to avoid burning, 3 minutes or until softened, translucent and beginning to brown around the edges. Add curry paste and continue to sautee, stirring frequently, 3 minutes more. At this point, everything should be looking rather toasty in the pan and the smell should be incredible. Add salt, sugar, lime zest and coconut milk. Stir, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring up to a boil, knock the heat back to a simmer and let go 7 minutes.

At this point you have a very lovely coconut green curry sauce. You can serve this over rice noodles and broccolini like the original recipe calls for (which is great), or you can spoon some leftover curry sauce into a small bowl and scoop it up with naan bread. This makes an addicting after-dinner (or any time) snack. So addicting I managed to eat 2 small bowls worth right after dinner and i wish I had more.

I would imagine this sauce would keep in the fridge for a few days, but since I decided playing garbage disposal by myself last night was a good idea, we have no leftovers. Which is a total shame, I would eat this again today and in mass quantities.

Note: This is a very, very mild curry. Not hot in the slightest. If you want more heat, I would suggest leaving the seeds in the chiles or adding a bit of heat at the end.

Serves 2 if I’m one of the 2, 4 if I’m not. Really, there is enough curry to happily sauce a family of four’s dinner.

Braised Turnips & Apples

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Ok, so this doesn’t sound like the most exciting dish in the world. It’s pretty good, though, and a great way to use up a ton of greens at once if you, like me, are drowning in CSA greens. It’s also a good excuse to whip out not one, but two, meats in a single dish.

Really, me? Why do I insist on writing every damn thing on 1 teeny tiny scrap of paper?

Braised Turnips & Apples

1 bunch baby turnips (or regular turnips)

1 bunch turnip greens

1 bunch Ethiopian kale (or any other green, really)

2 Fuji or other semi-sweet apples

1 onion

2 hot Italian sausages

4 oz. bacon (I used home made bacon flavored with garlic, black pepper and bay)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. white wine

1 c. chicken stock

2 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. hot paprika

1 tsp. salt

3 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Put the largest pan you have a lid for over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. olive oil. While you are waiting for the oil to come up to temperature, slice the onion into thin half rounds and the bacon into 3/4 inch chunks.

Add the onions and bacon to the heated pan. Let the onions soften while you attend to the greens. Wash all greens, remove any tough stems, and slice into ribbons. Add to the pan.

Add the white wine, wait a minute or so, and add the chicken stock. Bring up to a vigorous simmer, cover, and cook on a low simmer 20 minutes.

While your greens are braising, prepare your next additions. Chop the turnips into roughly 3/4 inch pieces. Slice the sausage into bite-sized pieces.

Add the turnips and sausage. Re-cover and cook an additional 10 mins.

While that is working, de-seed the apples and chop into 3/4 inch chunks.

Add the apples and cook an additional 10 minutes. Gather your seasonings.

Add the honey, paprika, salt and cider vinegar. Stir well to combine. Put the lid on and let the mixture cook 5 minutes more.

Serve with mashed potatoes for a hearty stick-to-your-ribs German style meal or with buttered bread for a lighter take.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch

Carrot Pesto Risotto

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I got carrots with their tops in this week’s CSA and needed something to do with the greens other than halfheartedly toss a handful in a dish for garnish. Enter pesto. Pesto is one of those great little things to have in your bag of tricks to pull out on a rainy day, or a great way to use up an ingredient you have zero idea what to do with. This pesto doesn’t give you the flavor wallop a traditional basil pesto does, but it’s not half bad. And it’s frugal. Frugal, I tell you. Next time I might add some garlic to the mix to liven things up a bit. I tried a bit of cheese, but it really didn’t make any difference.

Carrot Pesto Risotto

For the pesto

1 bunch carrot greens, hacked into manageable chunks
2 tsp. lime juice + more to taste
1-2 dried chills, sliced or torn into pieces
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Blanch the carrot greens in a big pot of salted water for about a minute, or until they are bright green and kind of wilty. Drain and add to the bowl of a large food processor.

With the motor on, add 2 tsp. lime juice, 2 huge pinches salt, chilis and olive oil. Taste. If it needs more brightness, add some more lime juice. If it’s a little dry, add a couple Tablespoons of water.

For the carrot risotto

1 bunch carrots (about 2 1/2 cups), roughly chopped into 3/4 inch segments
Olive oil
1 c. arborio rice
1/2 c. white wine
4 c. stock (I used 2 c. vegetable and 2 c. lobster stock made with my best friend Better Than Bouillon – use all vegetable if making vegetarian or vegan)

Toss the carrots with a glug of olive oil and a generous pinch salt and spread on a baking sheet. Roast in a 450 degree oven about 35 minutes or until browned at the edges and soft.

While you’re waiting for the carrots to brown, make the risotto.

In a medium pot over medium-high heat, sautee the rice 2 mins. in 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Add the white wine, reduce heat to medium and cook 1-2 mins. or until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Add stock by the half cup, stir, and simmer until the rice is al dente and won’t take more liquid.

Serves 2 for dinner.

Pork and Celery Stir-Fry

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This makes a nice, satisfying weeknight meal. The punch from cutting celery gives great flavor, but if you can’t find it, regular celery will be just fine. I usually add fish sauce to this mixture, but it skipped my mind this time, and it was fine without. If you happen to have some and happen to think about, a good squirt or three would be great here. Carrot greens are not mandatory. I happened to have a ton of them slowly dying in the fridge and decided to give it a go. They were nice, but not in the least necessary.

Pork and Celery Stir Fry

1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 red onion
1 carrot
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
4 Tbsp. soy sauce (swap coconut aminos if you’re going strict paleo)
1 Tbsp. ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce – swap for a bit of honey or maple syrup if going strict paleo)
3 tsp. lemon juice
1 bunch cutting celery
2 tsp. rice vinegar
Handful carrot greens

Bring sesame oil up to temperature in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the pork and break apart. Keep working and breaking the pork up until it starts to brown.

While you’re working periodically on the pork, thinly slice the red onion. Add to the pan, stir.

While the onion is working, chop 1 carrot and mince 4 cloves garlic. Add to pan. Stir periodically to avoid burning, 3 mins.

While that is working, chop the cutting celery.

Add grated ginger, soy sauce, ketjap manis, lemon juice and rice vinegar. Add the cutting celery, stir fry a few minutes until starting to wilt.

Meanwhile, chop the carrot greens.

Taste and add a bit more lemon or vinegar if needed. Top with carrot greens and serve over brown rice.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Soba with Starfruit

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Soba with Starfruit

Adapted from Ottolenghi Soba Noodles from 101 Cookbooks

1/2 c. rice vinegar

1/3 c. brown sugar

large pinch kosher salt

2 garlic cloves, pressed

2 big pinches red pepper flakes

1 tsp. sesame oil

zest and juice of 1 lime

canola oil

5 small Asian eggplant

soba noodles (2 bundles or enough to serve 3)

2 star fruit

Red onion

Handful Italian basil

Handful cilantro

Prep your eggplant by trimming the ends and cutting into a small (about 1/4 inch) dice. Set aside.

Prep your starfruit by cutting into 1/4 inch slices and quartering.

Put a large sautee pan on medium high heat and a large pot of water on to boil. Add a good glug or two of canola to the large sautee pan (you want the bottom covered).

While your pan and pot are coming up to temperature, combine the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved fully (about 1 minute). Set aside. Add the pressed garlic, red pepper flakes and sesame oil.

Your oil should be just getting up to temperature (you’ll know it is hot enough when a drop of water sputters when added to the pan). Add half of the eggplant and fry until nice and browned. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt. Add the second half of the eggplant and repeat.

When the water comes up to a boil, add the soba noodles. Cook according to package directions until al dente (about 3 mins). Drain and immediately rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Knock as much water off as possible. Add a little olive oil to your hand and toss the cooled noodles around in the colander to coat. This will help the noodles from clumping all together into a gluey mess while they sit.

Prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Slice the onion into wafer thin slices (you only need a handful or so).

Sliver the basil.

Chop the cilantro.

Zest and juice the lime and add to the dressing.

In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients. Toss with the dressing and let sit an hour to give the flavors a chance to marry.

Toss again just before serving & enjoy.

Serves 2 for dinner with enough left over for a nice-sized lunch.