Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios, Lemon and Parmesan

I love Brussels sprouts and am always looking for another way to prepare them. I saw this method on a Bobby Flay cooking show and thought I'd give it a try. Fantastic...

 

Ingredients:

1 pound Brussels sprouts
1 lemon
1/8 cup shelled pistachios
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium high heat. Take the Brussels sprouts and cut them in half. Add  the olive oil to the sauté pan and place the Brussels sprouts flat side down. Give the Brussels sprouts a grind of salt and pepper. Cover the sauté pan and let the Brussels sprouts sauté until they have a nice deep golden brown char on the one side. This should take about 20 minutes over medium to medium high heat. Check the sprouts often to ensure they're not burning. Adjust the heat accordingly, a little higher if they're not browning and a little lower if they're browning up too fast.

 

When the Brussels sprouts are finished cooking, add the juice from 1 lemon and pistachios and you're done.

 

To serve, place the Brussels sprouts on a plate and top with a drizzle of olive oil, grated parmesan cheese and a grind of salt and pepper.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Whole Roasted Garlic Cloves

Fingerling potatoes are very interesting because they have a tough skin like a russet, but have a soft creamy texture like a new potato. Preparation is about as easy as it gets and it amazing how good these little suckers are..

 

Ingredients:

1/2 pound fingerling potatoes

10 -12 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the fingerling potatoes and cut them in half. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and add the olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper. Place the potatoes in a baking pan and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

After 20 minutes add the garlic cloves to the pan. If you were to add them in the beginning they would over cook and burn. Cook another 20 minutes and you're done.

Ground Chicken Tostada

I could seriously eat this 4 nights a week...Being able to make your own healthy tostada bowl is really fun and makes you feel like your eating out at a restaurant.

 

Ingredients:

Trader Joes Flour tortillas

1 pound ground chicken

1 packet Trader Joes taco seasoning

1/2 head shredded ice burg lettuce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced tomato

1/2 cup dice yellow onions

6 diced green onions

1/2 bunch chopped cilantro

Sliced black olive 

1 avocado

Lite sour cream

Lime wedges

 

Preparation:

First prepare the tostada bowls. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I've used a lot of different tortilla's

and highly recommend Trader Joes. They're healthy, meaning no trans fat and taste great.

 

Place the tortilla's into the metal mold and bake at 400 degrees for 6 - 7 minutes. At this point, the tostada bowls are almost finished. Take the tostada bowls out of the oven and turn off the oven. 

 

Remove the tostada bowls from the metal mold and place them back into the oven directly on the wire rack and cook for another 10 minutes. At this point you will have a wonderful crispy crunchy tostada bowl.

 

Next prepare the taco meat, in this case ground chicken. Add the ground chicken to a 12" sauté pan and cook the meat breaking up into small pieces. Add the Trader Joes taco seasoning mix and cook until done, about 10 minutes.

 

Shred the lettuce and set a side. Dice the tomato, yellow inion, green onion, cilantro, black olives and avocado and set a side.

 

To serve, place your tostada bowl on a plate. Add some shredded lettuce to the bowl. Next, add the ground chicken taco meat. Next, add a tablespoon of the diced the tomato, yellow onion, green onion, cilantro, black olives and shredded cheddar cheese. Top with diced avocado and sour cream. Squeeze on a little lime and your ready for an awesome meal.

Sesame Noodles

I've made a number of different version of this dish, whether it be just plain sesame noodles like this or with chicken, beef or tofu and I have to say this is becoming one of my all time favorites. The key to this dish is the noodles. I've tried many different brands and this is the one: Welpack Japanese Udon Noodles.

Ingredients:
1 package Welpack udon noodles
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon lite soy sauce
4 green onions
1/4 yellow onion
1/4 red onion
1/4 red bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
crushed nuts

Preparation:

Cook the udon noodles according to the package which is to boil for 4 -5 minutes. When cooked, strain in cold water and set a side.

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium. Add the canola oil, diced yellow onion, diced red onion, diced red bell pepper, chopped garlic and sauté for a few of minutes until the onions start to turn translucent.

Next, add the udon noodles to the sauté pan and toss. Once the noodles start to heat up, add the sesame oil, soy sauce, green onions and cilantro. Continue to heat and toss to incorporate the flavors. When steaming hot, place a potion on a serving plate. Finish the dish by topping with more chopped cilantro and crushed nuts.

Grass Fed Fillet Served with Potato Crisp

This is just me fooling around with a different way to make potato to serve with steak. I took my mandolin and sliced up a russet potato and layered in an 8" sauté pan. I cooked both sides so they were crisp and it turned out great, kind of like a big crispy french fry.

As for the grass fed fillet, I love it! It's tender, juicy and such a wonderful flavor. More and more if the steak isn't prime or grass fed, I just don't really want it, it's that much better.

1 8oz grass fed fillet

2 teaspoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 russet potato

1 tablespoon canola oil

lite sour cream

Prepare your steak by making sure it's at room temp, always cook steak starting at room temp because the steak cooks more evenly. Make sure you steak is dry. Setting the steak on a couple paper towels while your bringing the steak to room temp is a good approach.

Liberally coat the steak with salt and pepper. Brush on some olive oil and cook in a sauté pan for about 4 minute per side. After 8 minutes check for doneness. Cook for 1 more minute if needed. When cooked remove and set on a plate for at least 5 minutes.

To serve, place the potato crisp on a plate. Place the steak on the potato crisp and add a scoop of lite sour cream and a couple of dashes of tobacco sauce. Garnish the dish with chopped Italian parsley.

Grilled Halibut with Cilantro Garlic Sauce

 

This perhaps the easiest piece of fish to cook. The flesh is firm and typically doesn't stick to the grill and is easy to identify when done cooking. I've cooked this several different ways my favorite is using a stove top grill and serving with a simple sauce of olive oil, sautéed garlic and cilantro. 

Ingredients:
Halibut filets
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1/2 bunch cilantro

Preparation:

Take your halibut filets and place them on a plate with paper towels on the bottom and top. The paper towels will soak up any moisture while the filets come to room temperature. Replace the paper towels if they become saturated.

Heat an 8" sauté pan to medium and add 1 tablespoon olive, 4 cloves rough chopped garlic and chopped cilantro. Let this sauté for just a couple of minutes until the garlic pieces are translucent. Turn off the heat and set a side until the fish is cooked.

Heat you stove top grill pan to medium high. Coat the halibut filets with olive oil and salt and pepper. I have a general cooking rule which is 2/2 flip 2/2 which I will explain.

Place the filets on the grill pan facing 45 degrees to the left side and cook for 2 minutes. Use your tongs and turn the filets 45 degrees to the right side and cook for 2 minutes. After a total of 4 minutes flip the filets and cook them the same, 2 minutes to the left side and then 2 minutes to the right side. At this point the filets should be done. You can check by cutting into the center of one filets and the flesh will be firm and white. If still slightly translucent, cook one more minute. Remove the filets to a serving plate and let rest 2 -3 minutes.

Warm your garlic cilantro sauce and top each filet with a generous portion and serve.

Grilled Chicken Burger on Ciabatta

I find myself making more sandwiches these days and they're just so good and usually healthy. The ciabatta roll gives this chicken sandwich a more rustic taste and red onion really takes it to the next level. I like to serve with a simple salad for a complete meal.

Ingredients:
Grilled chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic
Romaine lettuce
Red onion
Ciabatta bread roll
Mayo
Stone ground mustard

Preparation:
Take your chicken breast and cut it in half to make it twice as thin. Then take a large piece of wax paper and set the 1 of the pieces chicken on it. Fold the wax paper over the top and pound the chichen breast so it's about 1/2" thick. Repeat the process for the remaining pieces.
 

Crush the garlic and spread some on each piece of chicken. Stack all the pieces together and place in a large zip lock bag to marinate for at least 1 hour.
 

Grill your chicken over high heat which should only take a couple of minutes because the pieces are so thin. While the chicken is grilling, place the rolls into a 350 degree oven until they are warmed and crispy on the outside.
 

To assemble, take your ciabatta roll and slice in half. Spread some mayo on the bottom half followed by lettuce, red onion, chicken and tomato. Spread some stone ground mustard on the top half of the bun and top the sandwich. Serve with a simple salad.

Grilled Chicken, Shrimp and Asparagus Caesar Salad

Here's a salad that you can serve as a main dish for dinner. It's really pretty easy to prepare and the flavor combination of the chicken, shrimp, red onion and parmesan cheese work very well together. As usual, I use my favorite salad dressing, Bolthouse Farms and this is the Caesar Parmigianino Yogurt Salad Dressing.

 

Ingredients: Serves 2

1 head romaine lettuce, washed and cut into bite size pieces

1 grilled chicken breast

8 medium cooked shrimp
4 asparagus cut into 1" pcs

Sliced red onion

shaved parmesan cheese

Bolthouse Farms Caesar Parmigianino Yogurt Salad Dressing.

 

Preparation:

Take you prepared romaine lettuce and put into a large salad bowl. Add the sliced grilled chicken, shrimp, asparagus, red onion and 4 tablespoons Caesar Parmigianino Yogurt Salad Dressing and toss. Plate the salad and be sure to have 4 shrimp per serving. Garnish with shave parmesan cheese.

Saffron Rice

 

I saw some saffron at Costo and thought I would make some saffron rice. The saffron gives the rice a sweet taste and very is aromatic. I serve this with a grilled chicken breast and it's a good combination. 

 

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 package saffron

1 tablespoon chopped nuts

 

Preparation:

Add the rice, water, saffron and salt to a rice cooker and let the rice cooker do its thing. When cooked, fluff with a fork and serve. Garnish with green onion and chopped nuts.

Coconut Shrimp

I saw these jumbo shrimp at Fred Meyer and just had to make something with them. I was hoping to make a healthy version of coconut shrimp that actually tasted as good as deep fried. I looked over a lot of different recipes for oven baked coconut shrimp and put this together and it was amazing. 

 

Ingredients:

12 extra large shrimp

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
 3 tablespoons flour

2 egg whites
Dash of sriracha sauce
Spray canola oil

 

Dipping sauce:

1 tablespoon catsup

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

Juice of 1 orange

Zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon curry powder

Pinch red pepper flakes

Dash of sriracha sauce

Salt & pepper

 

Preparation:

For the dipping sauce combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set a side.

 

To make the coconut shrimp, beat 2 egg white with a dash of sriracha and put into a shallow bowl. Combine the shredded coconut, panko bread crumbs and flour and put into a shallow bowl.

 

Make sure your shrimp are dry for the next step. Dip a shrimp into the egg whites and then into the coconut bread crumb mixture. Coat all sides of the shrimp and shake off any excess and put onto a baking pan. Repeat the process for the rest of the shrimp.

 

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Take the spray canola oil and give a good spray to the shrimp. Put the shrimp in the oven and cook for 8 - 10 minutes.

To serve, place the dipping sauce in a small bowl in the center of a plate. Take the coconut shrimp and place around the outside of the dipping sauce on the plate. Garnish with diced green onions and crushed nuts.