Greek Salad

I know it's not a classic Greek salad ingredient, but I wish I added some sliced mild banana peppers. Next time for sure...

Ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce
2 medium tomato's
1 large cucumber
Red onion sliced thin
1 cup Kalamata olives, pit removed, 6 olives reserved for the dressing
Diced Feta cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Grind of salt and pepper
Lemon

Preparation:

Wash and dry the lettuce in your salad spinner. Cut the romaine lettuce into bite size pieces and add to a large salad bowl. Cut the tomato's into 6 wedges each and then cut each wedge in half and add to the salad bowl. Peel and remove the seeds from the cucumber, dice into large pieces and add to the salad bowl. Add the onion slices, Kalamata olives and Feta to the salad bowl.

 

To make the salad dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, minced garlic, minced Kalamata olives, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl or shaker. Whisk or shake until the ingredients are well combined.

 

To serve, place a portion of salad on a serving plate, squeeze on some fresh lemon and finish with a grind of fresh ground pepper.

Grilled Pork Shoulder Chops

When it comes to pork chops, I only go one way, pork shoulder chops. The reason is because they are so much more flavorful and juicy. I marinate then with lots and lots of minced garlic for a couple of hours and cook over a really hot grill. The key to this preparation is to remove the minced garlic from the chops before cooking on the grill because the garlic will just burn leaving a bad taste. 

Ingredients:

Pork shoulder chops
3 tablespoons minced
Spray olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Take the pork shoulder chops and rinse with cold water and dry. Take about 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic and rub on each side of the chop. Place the chop in a large Ziploc bag. Repeat the process with the rest of the chops until you have a stack of chops in the Ziploc bag. Place the chops in the fridge for a couple of hours. You've got a lot of garlic on the chops so you really don't want these marinating for more than 2 hours.  

 

Heat the grill to high. Remove the chops from the Ziploc bag and take a paper towel and rub off the minced garlic. I like to use a little spray olive oil to spray on the chops before placing on the grill which helps keep the chops from sticking to the grate. Cook the chops for about 5 minutes on each side.

 

When finished cooking, remove the chops from the grill to a large plate. Cover the chops in foil and let rest 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the chops will be juicy and ready to serve.

Green Beans with Garlic and Chopped Walnuts

I love a perfectly cooked green beans. I believe Costco has some of the organic best green beans going. They're pre-washed and trimmed and all you have to do is cook them. To make perfect green beans involves 2 cooking methods. First you steam the green beans and when they're just cooked through, soft to the bite, take them off the steamer and rinse in cold water which stops the cooking process. You finish the green beans in a sauté pan with some butter, chopped garlic and salt and pepper. Toss on a few chopped walnuts and enjoy.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound green beans, washed and trimmed

1 tablespoon butter

3 chopped garlic cloves

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Salt and pepper

 

Preparation:

Bring a large steamer up to a boil and add the green beans. Steam the green beans until they become soft to the bite, about 10 minutes. If you like your green beans a little crunchy, pull off the steamer a couple of minutes early. Once cooked to your satisfaction, rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process.

 

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium. Add the butter and let melt. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. If the pan is too hot the garlic will burn, so don't rush it. Add the green beans, a quick grind of salt and pepper and toss. Turn the heat up to high and sauté the green beans until they reach serving temp.

 

To serve, place a portion of green beans on a serving plate. Toss on the chopped walnuts and finish with a grind of salt and pepper.   

Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage Etouffee

I had this one time at Mothers in New Orleans for lunch which was out of this world. If I'm ever in a restaurant and they have etouffee, I'm ordering it! It's rich and savory and Cajun and yummy.

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
1-1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1 medium yellow onion diced
3 medium celery ribs diced
1/2 chopped bell pepper, any color, I used a red bell pepper
2 cups vegetable stock
1 can diced tomato's, strained in a colander removing the sauce
3 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Emeril's Essence, more as needed per taste
1 chicken 1/2 breast diced
12 medium shrimp, pealed and deveined
1 cooked Cajun sausage link cut to medium pieces
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch Italian parsley

Preparation:

Place the rice, water and salt into a rice cooker and let the rice cook while you prepare the etouffee.

 

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium. Add the butter, olive oil and flour to make your roux. Sauté the roux for 10 minutes stirring regularly. The longer you cook the roux, the darker it will become. You want the color of the roux to be like a dark peanut butter color and then you'll know it's done.

Add the onions, celery, bell pepper and sauté cook for 10 - 12 minutes over medium low heat until the vegetables soft and translucent. Add the stock, diced tomato's, garlic, tabasco sauce, Emeril's essence, bay leaf and cook a couple of minutes to bring up to temp. 

 

The sauce should become fairly thick as heats up to temp. If you find the sauce is not thick enough, take a 1/4 cup water and mix in 1 tablespoon four and add to the sauté pan. Make sure the sauce is nice and thick! 

 

Add the diced chicken, shrimp and sausage and cook 10 minutes over medium heat, but not so high that the mixture is boiling. After 10 minutes check that the sauce is the perfect thickness and that the seasoning is perfect. Lastly, stir in a tablespoon of rough chopped Italian parsley and 4 diced green onions and you're done.

 

To serve, place a mound of rice in the middle of a serving plate. Spoon the etouffee onto the plate around the rice. Garnish with some green onions.

Tofu and Mushroom Miso Soup

I had this dish years ago in a Korean restaurant and it was so good! This dish is called bubbling tofu. The reason it's called bubbling tofu is because it's served in a cast iron bowl that keeps the soup basically boiling for about 5 minutes at your table. What makes this soup so luxurious is the thickness of the broth and flavor of the miso broth.

 

Ingredients:

32 ounce organic miso broth from Whole Foods

1 package firm tofu diced

1/2 pound crimini mushrooms

1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms

1/2 medium yellow onion diced

2 cloves garlic diced

2 heaping tablespoons corn starch 

1 bunch green onions

Cilantro

Chopped nuts

 

Preparation:

This is a one pot wonder and so easy to put together. Take an large 4 quart sauce pan, add the miso broth, reserving 1 cup, bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce to high simmer. Add the diced yellow onion, diced garlic, crimini and shiitake mushrooms and tofu and cook for 15 minutes.

 

Mix the corn starch with the reserved cup of miso broth and add to the soup. This should thicken it up quite a bit. You want the consistency of the soup to be like motor oil, not a great comparison, but I can't think of anything else. If the soup didn't get thick enough, mix another heaping tablespoon in with a half cup of water and mix into the soup. The soup is done.

 

To serve, place a portion of soup into a serving bowl. Garnish with chopped green onions, chopped cilantro and chopped nuts. Yummmm!

 

Oven Baked Barbequed Chicken served on Ramen Noodles

One of my favorite meals lately is oven baked barbecued chicken thighs. The chicken just comes out so tender and flavorful, just completely different from the grill. For something unusual, I cooked up some ramen noodles with the provided seasoning packet and then pulled the noddle's out of the broth to use as a bed for the chicken, very tasty indeed...

 

Ingredients:

Organic boneless skinless chicken thighs

BBQ sauce, I like Sweet baby Rays

2 packages chicken flavored ramen

Diced green onions

Sesame seeds

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken thighs in a baking pan and spread on a little BBQ sauce. Place into the oven and after 10 minutes remove and take a paper towels and soak up the juice being released by the chicken thighs. Spread on some more BBQ sauce and put back into the oven. Repeat this process 2 more times and after 30 minutes the chicken will be done.

 

While the chicken is cooking, take a medium sauce pan and add a couple cups of water and the ramen seasoning packs. Bring to a boil and add the ramen noodles. Turn off the heat and let the noodles rest until the chicken done cooking.

 

To serve, use some tongs and pull some noodle's out of the sauce pan. Let the noodle drip most of the moisture back into the sauce pan and place the noodles on a serving plate. Next add the chicken thighs on top of the noodles and garnish with diced green onions and sesame seeds.

Avocado, Tomato and Green Onion Salad with Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Dressing

Here's a wonderful light and bright salad that knocks it out of the park with the Bolthouse Farms Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Dressing. Bolthouse farms never lets you down!

 

Ingredients:

1 head green leaf lettuce

2 tablespoons per person Cucumber Dill salad dressing

1 diced avocado

1 cup cherry tomato's sliced in half

1 bunch diced green onions

 

Preparation:

Prepare the lettuce by cutting into bite size pieces and then rinsing in cold water and drying in a salad spinner. Toss the lettuce into a large salad bowl and add half the avocado, tomato's and green onion. Add the salad dressing 1 tablespoon at a time mixing really well until all the dressing is incorporated into the salad.

 

To serve, place a portion of salad onto a serving plate. Add some of the remaining avocado, tomato and green onions to the top of each salad and grind on a little fresh pepper and you're done.

 

Gluten Free Fusilli Pasta with Diced Chicken and Kale

I'm not really sure what the whole gluten free thing is all about, but I curious. I realize that there are people who are discovering that that are allergic to wheat or don't process wheat very well. For me, wheat flour, whether bread or pasta or fills me up and usually make me feel bloated, like I ate too much. So, this brings me to try this product from Trader Joe's; brown rice and quinoa pasta. Guess what? It's awesome! Why, because the combination of the brown rice flour and quinoa flour taste very much like wheat flour. The pasta comes out flavorful and will cook to a wonderful al dente and won't leave you feeling like a couch potato.

 

Ingredients:

1 package Trader Joe's brown rice  and quinoa fusilli pasta

1 poached and dices 1/2 chicken breast

1/2 dice yellow onion

4 diced green onion

2 clove minced garlic

1/4 small dice red bell pepper

2 cups chopped organic kale

1 table spoon olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper
Chopped Italian parsley

 

Preparation:

Take a large stock pot and fill with water. Add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to boil. Cook the pasta according to directions which is usually 10 minutes to al dente which is firm to the bite. Drain the pasta and set a side.

 

While the pasta is cooking, heat a 12" sauté pan to medium and add the olive oil. Next add the yellow onion, cook for a couple of minutes and then add the garlic. When the onion is translucent, about 5 - 7 minutes add the kale and cook until the kale starts to wilt. Finally, add the dice chicken breast, green onions and bell pepper. Cook on low until you're ready for the pasta.

 

When the pasta is done, drain, reserving at least one cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the sauté pan and toss to incorporate all the flavors and bring up to serving temp. As you bring the pasta up to serving temp, add the pasta water as this helps with the overall consistence of the dish.

 

To serve, place a portion of pasta on a serving plate and drizzle with some olive oil, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, season with fresh ground salt and pepper and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.