main dishes – Page 19

Eggplant Soba

May 25, 2019May 24, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

This recipe is the first stab at recreating a bread spread I had at lunch one day that was so magical I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. I thought some form of mustard with cardamom, but no – hidden veggies! Yay, hidden veggies!

This version isn’t half bad. It isn’t quite there, so expect to see more attempts this summer – but it’s good. And it was delicious swirled into some leftover buckwheat noodles with nice crunchy radishes on top.

gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan

Eggplant Soba

4 small Italian eggplants
10 garlic cloves, halved
Neutral oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 tsp, fresh ginger, minced
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
3 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cardamom
2 tsp. cayenne powder
2 tsp. lemon powder
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
Salt & pepper
1 stack soba noodles per person to serve
2 – 4 thinly sliced radishes per person to serve
1 green onion, thinly sliced to serve

Halve your eggplants lengthwise and cross-hatch score. Salt, and lay face down on a cooling rack to drain for 10 minutes.

When your eggplants have drained, pat dry and preheat your oven to 200 – 220C. Line a baking sheet with foil or a silpat.

Fill the scores of the eggplants with the garlic halves. Drizzle some oil over top and sear in a large pan 3 – 5 minutes or until you get some color. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet face side up.

Roast eggplants 20 – 30 minutes or until softened and cooked through. Pull from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.

This is a good time to make the soba according to package directions.

When your eggplant is cooled, scoop the flesh into a blender or food processor.

In your searing pan, toast the onion and spices in 2 Tbsp. oil over medium-high heat until the spices are fragrant and the onions are beginning to go translucent. Add the mixture to the eggplant and blitz. Taste, add the vinegar (if desired) and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve tangled into the buckwheat noodles and topped with the green onions and radish if desired.

Makes enough sauce to feed 4

Chicken Shawarma Pan

May 18, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

This one-pan meal makes a fantastic batch cook dish and can be dressed a million different ways. I went vaguely Middle-Eastern (hence the shawarma) because what I really wanted was a huge sad bread chicken sandwich that day – but I wanted spicy, and I needed to use up some of the ubiquitous cucumber & tomato I swear just comes with the shopping basket where I live.

Gluten-free, paleo, Whole30

Chicken Shawarma Pan

Preheat your oven to roughly 425F. Prepare a baking sheet with lining.

Toss together:

1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 Tbsp. your favorite oil
4 grated cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. zaatar
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper

Scootch to one side of the pan. Add:

1 sweet potato, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds

Brush with:

1-2 Tbsp. your favorite oil

Sprinkle:

2 tsp. sesame seeds
2 tsp. cumin
Salt & pepper

Add the lemon halves to the pan

Bake 40-45 mins or until the chicken is cooked and the sweet potato is soft and browned.

There are a number of ways to serve – my favorite combo was with a swirl of hummus on the bottom of a bowl, a side of roasted tomatoes, a whole wheat pita or tortilla, and the salad below.

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl:

2 small cucumbers, chopped
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Squeeze of the roasted lemon from the chicken
1 tsp. cumin
Salt & pepper
2 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Makes about 4 servings

Quick Korean-Style Bowl

April 20, 2019March 29, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

This bowl has it all: sweet, spicy, umami, crunch, shrimp – what more could you ask for? And it’s quick! Like 15 minutes, 1 mug & a bowl!

Gluten-free, pescatarian

Quick Korean-Style Bowl

Shrimp (I used half a pound or so small cooked shrimp, but uncooked would have been even better)
2 Tbsp. arrowroot powder or cornstarch
2 Tbsp. neutral oil
Two big hand fulls snap or snow peas
2 cups finely shredded carrots
2 green onions, sliced

For the sauce:

1 Tbsp. gochujang
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce (or honey soy – something salty & sweet)
1 Tbsp. soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. arrowroot powder or cornstarch
2 Tbsp. water

Heat your largest skillet over high. Add the oil to heat up.

While the oil is heating, toss the shrimp in the cornstarch.

Add to the pan, stir-frying until just beginning to brown.

Add the snap peas, stir-frying until warmed through.

Add the carrots, stir-frying until well distributed.

Add the sauce, stir-frying until the mixture looks homogeneous as possible and the sauce begins to thicken.

Add the green onions, give it a couple stirs, and serve.

Serves 2 for dinner, with or without 1 for lunch depending on whether this is all you eat

Vinegar Poached Chicken Bowl

April 13, 2019March 27, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

I first came across a version of this chicken on Instagram in relation to a sandwich, and it got the wheels turning.

What you end up with is a pile of tender, shreddable-if-you-look-at-it-crosswise chicken that pairs beautifully with roasted, nutty veggies and a rich sauce.

I can imagine this would also be fantastic as part of a chicken salad with grapes, pecans and extra rosemary. Or dill. Dill might be great here.

I served mine as part of a quinoa/rice bowl with some leftover cauliflower I’d batch roasted a few days before.

Gluten-free, paleo & Whole30 with a different bowl base

Vinegar Poached Chicken Bowl

4 chicken breasts
1c. red wine vinegar
1c. olive oil
Peel of half a lemon
2 sprigs rosemary
1 jalapeño
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. coriander seeds
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 onion, peeled and quartered
Salt & pepper

For the bowl:

Quinoa & rice, cooked (optional)
1 Tbsp. mayo mixed with 1 tsp. rice vinegar and 2 tsp. minced rosemary
Roasted cauliflower or other veggies

Combine all the non-bowl ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring up to a boil, cover, lower the heat & simmer 1 hour or until the chicken is falling apart.

Cool chicken, pull out of the oil & vinegar, and shred. Place in the bowl with the other ingredients.

Serves 4

Combine all

Chicken with Raisin Oil

April 6, 2019March 23, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

This recipe is based on a show-stopper in a cookbook from one of my absolute favorite chefs in Miami.

This version incorporates chicken thighs and stovetop cooking – I don’t currently own a pan that can go in the oven; and the whole chickens looked kinda sketch at the store the day I shopped for this meal, so modifications it was!

If you can, check out Michael’s Genuine Food: Down-To-Earth Cooking for People Who Love To Eat by Chef Michael Schwartz. Where he excels, and what makes his Miami restaurant(s) so successful, is taking a few good ingredients, treating them with love and not much else, and turning them into something that sounds dead-easy but tastes special.

Michael’s Genuine (and later the pizza restaurant Harry’s) were two of our favorite go-tos while living in Miami and places we could visit often, get something we would never order (like chicken that sounds kinda boring on paper), and have it be an experience we talked about for weeks after.

This recipe takes the spirit and the general flavors of one of our ‘company is coming’ go-tos from that cookbook, and makes the technique more approachable for where we are currently and the tools we have to work with.

Note: What’s up with raisin oil? It’s delicious! This dish was the first we’d encountered it, and while it is definitely a delicate taste – it adds a little somethin’ to this dish that helps it stand out. Want more? This recipe from the NYT also helped when coming up with this (super-simplified) dish.

Gluten-free, paleo

Chicken with Raisin Oil

8 chicken thighs
1/3 cup raisins (mixed golden and black is my fav)
1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 rosemary sprig
4 sprigs lemon thyme (or regular)
Wine
Salt & pepper

First, make the raisin oil by simmering the raisins and rosemary with a Tablespoon of water in the 1/2 cup olive oil about :30 or until the raisins have plumped.

I left my heat up long enough to fry the rosemary leaves a bit for an added garnish.

Set aside.

For the chicken, heat your largest skillet over medium-high. Add 3 Tbsp. oil. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and arrange in a single layer in the pan skin side down. Salt & pepper liberally and sear until golden.

Flip, salt & pepper, and brown the other side.

Add the thyme sprigs and a few good glugs wine (dry white would be best but I only had some aging White Zinfandel). Cover, knock the heat back to low, and cook 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

Make sure to check your chicken at the halfway point, baste, and make sure anything isn’t drying out. If it is, add a little extra wine or water.

If you’re inclined, this would be a great time to make a pan sauce with the raisin oil and/or a thickener. Despite the instructions being really clear on how to accomplish this feat in the cookbook, at this point in the evening while already branching out on my own with the cooking method (and having a glass or two of adult beverage under my belt), I didn’t want to mess with it.

So I served mine with a little raisin oil drizzled over top and it was delicious. I’ve made the pan sauce in the past and it was also delicious.

I have also found over the years that I like a hand full of fresh parsley over top (not pictured), and some times I hit the dish with a little lemon juice at the end of cooking for a bright little punch if I’m feeling saucy.

All-Purpose Parsley Sauce

March 23, 2019March 19, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

Parsley sauce?

I know it sounds weird and possibly boring, but this sauce is super quick to knock together and brings a little extra oomph to things like: roasted veggies, plain chicken, potatoes, anything in the bowl of carbs realm, or like toast.

It’s just delicious.

The picture below is of this sauce tossed with some chicken breasts I salted & peppered and roasted quickly, plus the Brussels sprouts/cauliflower/potato medley I batch cooked alongside.

Gluten-free, pescatarian, paleo

All-Purpose Parsley Sauce

Big double hand full fresh parsley (about a cup)
3-5 olives
2 tsp. anchovy paste
1/2 – 1 tsp. dry mustard powder
3 big cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. your favorite oil
2+ tsp. water

Whiz all ingredients together, adding water a teaspoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached.

Get to tossin’. Or slather on some toast. Or drizzle on some eggs. Or swirl into soup.

The world is your oyster. You do you.

Serves a bunch

One-Pan Honey Mustard Salmon

March 16, 2019March 13, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

Is there anything more satisfying than only dirtying one cooking implement for dinner while spending minimal time actually cooking?

Yes, but this is pretty dang rewarding too.

Especially if you’re a dork 🙂

This meal serves 2 with a little left over, comes together in under an hour, and can be dressed a bunch of different ways depending on what you have on hand.

For instance, you may notice some decidedly non-broccolini green stuff on my plate that isn’t in the recipe. That’s because I had a literal hand full of snow peas that needed using up, so I threw them in. Feel free to do the same, just note that if you have something like a carrot that takes forever to cook, you might want to add that in with the potatoes rather than the greens.

Also good to note: the sauce on this dish isn’t the overly sweet, sticky sauce I generally think of when I think ‘honey mustard’ (you know, like the radioactive yellow dressing from a ton of US restaurants that comes straight from Sysco central processing. Which I love in memory theory). This sauce is light and delicate with just a hint of sweet.

gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian

One-Pan Honey Mustard Salmon

Baby potatoes
Salmon
Broccolini
Oil, salt & pepper
2 large cloves garlic
2 tsp. grainy mustard
2 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. butter

Preheat your oven to 200c (400f) and prep a baking sheet with foil.

Arrange your baby potatoes in a single layer in one third of the pan. Sprinkle with 2 tsp. of your favorite oil, salt & pepper and toss.

Bake 20 mins.

Add your broccolini to the other third of the pan, toss with 2 tsp. oil & salt and pepper.

Bake 10 minutes.

While that is baking, mince the garlic and add with the honey, mustard & butter to a heat-proof vessel. Zap until the butter is melted and stir.

Add the salmon meat side down to the middle, sprinkle with 1 tsp. oil + salt & pepper, slather in sauce, flip and repeat.

Sprinkle any remaining sauce over everything else.

Bake 5 mins, flip, and broil if you have the ability an additional 2-3 minutes to crisp that skin up a bit.

Viola.

Serves 2 for dinner with a little left over.

Quick Japanese-ish Bowl

March 9, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

This was supposed to be something complicated involving roasted spaghetti squash and dashi broth with mushrooms, but the day and availability of spaghetti squash at the grocery store conspired against that plan.

So, I went quick and easy – still in the vein of the Japanese I’ve been craving (can you tell I’ve been on an Asian kick lately?) and something I could prepare one-handed while I cradled a pup whose belly wasn’t feeling the best (Princess decided to try mulch while in the park yesterday).

Vegetarian option, paleo option, low carb option

Quick Japanese-ish Bowl

1 Tbsp. neutral oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 packet shimeji or other mushrooms
1 small packet shiritaki (aka kontjac) noodles
2-3 tsp. Kenko triple balance onion dressing (https://goo.gl/images/Q3GwQd)
2-3 Tbsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos
Optional: leftover ground chicken
Optional: green cabbage noodles, carrot and/or green onions

In a large skillet over medium – high heat, warm the oil.

If you’re adding carrot, add now.

Add the chopped onion and sautée until beginning to brown.

If you’re adding cabbage, add now.

Add the chicken if using and mushrooms – sautée until the mushrooms are beginning to soften.

Drain noodles and add. Cook, stirring, until water has evaporated and everything else is almost where you want it.

Add the sauces and stir; cook an additional 2-3 minutes.

Tip with sliced green onions if using.

Serves 1 with a small pack noodles & mushrooms and no additions; stretches to 2 with additions or larger packets

Berry Oat Protein Pancakes

March 2, 2019March 2, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

These little babies are delicious, dairy-free, travel surprisingly well, and hold up to an alfresco breakfast picnic in the park.

Gluten-free, vegetarian

Berry Oat Protein Pancakes

1/2 c. frozen berries
2 eggs
1 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. your favorite plain dairy-free yogurt
2 Tbsp. flaxseed
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
1 date
1/4 tsp. salt
Fat of choice for the pan

Whiz all ingredients but the fat in a blender until incorporated.

Heat a Tablespoon of your fat of choice (I used ghee) in a large skillet over medium/medium-high heat.

Drop silver dollar sized amounts of the batter into the prepped pan and cook until bubbles form. Flip and cook an additional couple minutes.

Remove to paper towels and repeat.

Makes about 18 pancakes – enough for small servings for about 8 as part of a larger brunch spread. Perfect if served with fruit and/or whipped cream if you’re having that kind of morning – a more virtuous serving suggestion pictured here with extra yogurt and berries

Korean Coconut Buddha Bowl

February 23, 2019RecipesLeave a Comment

I’ve been quite excited to see a resurgence of bowl-related meals in the popular press (mostly because that’s what I’ve mainly been making for dinner since .. Miami) – Call them Buddha Bowls, Nutri Bowls, Glow Bowls … they all amount to the same basic formula: filling item, accents, protein source & sauce.

This version starts with a coconut curry, and wanders into the territory of Korea with the substitution of gochujang for red curry paste. Yum.

gluten-free, low carb

Korean Coconut Buddha Bowl

For the sauce

1 Tbsp. neutral oil
2 medium shallots
1 inch ginger
2 Tbsp. gochujang
1 can coconut milk
2 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. sambal olek
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

For the bowl

1 Tbsp. neutral oil
1/2 onion
1 c. snap or snow peas
1 c. carrot batons
1 c. asparagus
2 c. shredded purple cabbage
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1-2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/4 c. water

Optional: ground chicken & fried eggs

Sesame seeds

Mince the shallot & ginger and sautée in the oil until softened. Add the rest of the ingredients, whisk to combine, and let simmer 15 minutes or until thickened and velvety.

While that’s working, prep your bowl.

When your sauce is done, set aside, wipe your pan and add the oil + carrots. Stir. Add the onion and sautée until the onions are softened.

Add the peas and sautée, stirring frequently, until the peas are beginning to soften.

Add the cabbage and stir. Add 1/4 c. water and cook, stirring frequently, until the water has evaporated and the cabbage is crisp-tender.

Add the asparagus, soy sauce & lime juice and cook, stirring, a few minutes more.

Divide veggies between two bowls and top with ground chicken & fried egg if desired. Spoon over about a quarter to a third of the sauce per bowl. Sprinkle sesame seeds over top.

If you are after a shot for the ‘gram, cook all these veggies separately and arrange artfully. Ain’t nobody in this house got time for that.

Bowls serve 2 with leftover sauce

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