TALKING FRESH

Salt & Vinegar Smashed Red Potatoes

Ellen came up with this one, from a magazine, and it has already become one of our favorites!  Salt & vinegar potatoes, hot and tasty.  Try these:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds small round red potatoes

kosher or flaked sea salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup malt or cider vinegar

 

Preparation:

    In a medium pot, bring potatoes to a boil, in salted water.  Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain, then place the potatoes between a dish towel and gently smash the potatoes until they are flattened, but still in one piece.  Place on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil.

      Brush the tops of the potatoes with oil, sprinkle with salt and place in an oven preheated to 450 degrees, and bake, flipping once, until they are crisp and golden on top, about 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, toss with vinegar, sprinkle with salt, and garnish with fresh chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

    Yum!

Green Chile Frittata

This rich recipe is great for either a brunch or breakfast. You can make this a day ahead if you want to serve it for an early morning breakfast. Just reheat in the microwave. You may use any combination of cheese in this recipe, even non-fat.  If you want a wicked good flavor, use jalapeno-jack cheese and add a half teaspoon of ground cumin.  This frittata will get your day started with a kick!

Ingredients

• 10 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• 1 (7 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained
• 1 (16 ounce) container low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the green chile peppers, cottage cheese, Cheddar cheese, and melted butter. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C), and continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool slightly, and cut into small squares.

Asparagus and Ham Frittata

Here's an alternative recipe with ham and a slightly smoky flavor.  The recipe calls for ham, but we use turkey ham, a lttle leaner and healthier.

 

Ingredients

• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1-ounce Parmesan, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted asparagus
• 1/2 cup chopped country ham
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to broil setting.

In medium size bowl, using a fork, blend together eggs, Parmesan, pepper, and salt. Heat 12-inch non-stick, oven safe saute pan over medium high heat. Add butter to pan and melt. Add asparagus and ham to pan and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour egg mixture into pan and stir with rubber spatula. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until the egg mixture has set on the bottom and begins to set up on top. Sprinkle with parsley.

Place pan into oven and broil for 3 to 4 minutes, until lightly browned and fluffy. Remove from pan and cut into 6 servings. Serve immediately.

This one comes courtesy of Alton Brown at the food network.

Homemade Lime Valley Mill Lamb Ravioli

The incredible Allyson Brian of the Lime Valley Mill shared this recipe with me, and it's a drop-dead winner.  Allyson and her henchmen (henchpersons?) appear yearly at the Landis Valley Herb & Garden Faire, and this year (2012) is no exception.  Thanks, Allyson, and Mangia!

  

Ingredients - 

The Pasta:

220 grams all-purpose white or whole-wheat flour (1 3/4 cups)

2 Lime Valley Mill eggs

4 tablespoons melted butter

The Filling:

3/4lb Lime Valley Mill Lamb (Chops, Steaks, Ground, Leftover Roast Meat, etc)

1/3-1/2lb Lime Valley Mill Cooking Greens (Kale, Swiss Chard, Collards, Spinach, Mustard Greens or any combination of)

2 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Chicken Stock

1 Teaspoon Lime Valley Mill Rosemary

2 Cloves Lime Valley Mill Garlic

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Preparation:

On a clean countertop, create a mound with the flour, hollowing out the center. Crack the eggs into the mound's center and then work together with your hands. Knead for about 10 minutes or until the pasta dough is thoroughly mixed and a uniform yellowish color. Add a small drop of water (a little goes a long way) if the dough becomes too dry. If too sticky, add a sprinkle of flour and work some more. Dough should have a small bounce-back elastic effect when you press it down flat. Put dough, covered, into the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

In a large pan, add olive oil on medium heat. Add garlic and lamb and lightly brown without thoroughly cooking the meat. Add cooking greens and let wilt. Reduce heat to low, and add chicken stock, rosemary and salt to taste. Let simmer for about 5 minutes or until meat is medium (pink), then turn off the heat. Add all of the contents (saving some juice to serve later) into a blender or food processor and mince the filling until it is fine enough to shape into patties in your hand. 

When ready, remove dough from refrigerator and roll the dough in portions until the pasta is thin enough for you to just be able to see your hand through, about 1/8-inch thick.  If you're using a pasta making machine, roll thedough down to 2-thickness. Generally, you should start at 7-thickness and work your way down in 1-thickness increments. Cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch squares or circles.

Place a spoonful of filling in the center of half the pasta pieces. Brush the edges with melted butter and place the remaining squares on top. Seal the edges by pressing them with a fork. If they are not sealed well, the filling will escape when they are cooked.

 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ravioli a few at a time, make sure not to crowd the pot. Cook for 3-5 mins, until the ravioli floats and changes to a whiter color. Drain. Serve with butter, the leftover juices from the filling cooking and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Or, deglaze the pan you used for the filling with a few tablespoons of chicken stock, then add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, stir until combined, then add 1 1/2 cups more stock, and simmer until the sauce thickens.  Serve with this white sauce and freshly grated Parmesan.

South Beach's Joe's Stone Crab Creamed Spinach

At the center of South Beach is the world-famous Joe's Stone Crab restaurant, one of America's finest eateries.  If you've never had stone crabs, this is the restaurant you  need to get to before you die.  There is no finer restaurant meal in the universe.  And while stone crabs are the featured centerpiece, no meal at Joe's is complete without the cottage fries and the creamed spinach.  There is no other way to order there.  If you only get there once in your life, your meal of stone crabs, cottage fries, and creamed spinach will be the restaurant highlight of your life.

While you cannot get the stone crabs easily (you can order them from Joe's to be shipped, and they are fabulous, you can make their creamed spinach at home, and rather simply.  Here's the recipe, and if you don't like this one, you don't like food.

Period.

Joe's Stone Crab Creamed Spinach

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons salted butter

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

¾ cup half-and-half

2        ½-pound bags baby spinach, washed, rinsed, and chopped

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 

Preparation:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute’ for 30 seconds.  Whisk in flour and heat for about 1 minute.  Whisk in half-and-half.
2. Squeeze the spinach as dry as possible and add to the saucepan.  Add the salt, nutmeg, and black pepper and simmer for 20 minutes on medium-low heat.

 

Serve immediately.

Saffron Risotto Milanese

SAFFRON RISOTTO:

8 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups Arborio rice
3 pinches saffron threads
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a saucepan, bring chicken broth to a simmer. Keep warm over low heat.

In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add oil and rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to coat each grain. When rice begins to make a crackling sound, add saffron threads. Add 1 cup of the warm chicken broth and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Add the remaining broth, 1 cup at a time. Continue to stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. Test the rice for doneness, it should be al dente but creamy. Remove risotto from heat, add grated cheese, salt and pepper. Serve at once with Osso Buco Milanese.

Uncle Sidney's Osso Bucco Milanese

Uncle Sidney’s Osso Bucco Milanese

Ingredients:

• 8 large 2 1/2-inch-thick veal shanks, each patted dry and tied securely with kitchen string to keep the meat attached to the bone
• all-purpose flour for dredging the veal shanks
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter plus additional if necessary
• 3 tablespoons olive oil plus additional if necessary
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
• 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3 to 4 cups chicken broth or beef broth
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato or 1 1/2 cups drained canned San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
• a cheesecloth bag containing 6 fresh parsley sprigs, 4 fresh thyme sprigs, and 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Gremolata

• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves (preferably flat-leafed)
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

General Tso's Chicken -- Weight-Watchers' recipe

I've always judged a Chinese restaurant by   two things:  its Hot-Sour soup and its General Tso Chicken.  These are, to me to two critical dishes a restaurant has to get right--to my taste buds--to get me to come back.  Tough standards, but it's my money after all, and if I don't like those two dishes, I won't go back.  Replicating these dishes at home are extremely difficult, but not impossible.  Replicating either one for a family on Weight Watchers is nigh on impossible.  However, I stumbled on this recipe on one of the Weight-Watchers sites, and tried it tonight for the women.  Success!  My calculator (okay, okay, it's hers) tells me that the way I am making this dish, it clocks in at a fabulous 6 points on the Points-plus scale they use there.  I've made some alterations to the recipe to lower the point value, and the dish is perfectly acceptable to me for a short-notice meal made from on-hand ingredients.  It's not an authentic recipe that would please General Tso, but my family gobbled it all up, and I will make it again.  Only a half hour start to finish, and pretty darn good.  Try this at home. If you want to make it just a bit more authentic and a point or two higher in WW value, , use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts, and regular brown sugar instead of Splenda brand.   Otherwise, its a pretty good home-made chinese supper.

Ingredients

	3/4 cup  chicken broth
	2 Tbsp all-purpose flour 1 1/2 Tbsp Splenda brown sugar
	2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
	2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
	1/2 tsp ground ginger
	2 tsp peanut oil
	3 medium scallions, including white parts, chopped
	2 cloves garlic, minced
	2-3 red chili peppers or 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
	1 pound boneless, skinkess chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces 2 cups broccoli florets
	1 cup cooked white rice rice

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, flour, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.
  
  
• Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add chili peppers or red pepper flakes and stir fry them until they turn black but not burned, 30 - 45 seconds.  Add scallions and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, about a minute. Add chicken; sauté until browned all over, about 5 minutes.
  
  
• Remove the chicken to a bowl.  Add 1/4 cup water and the broccoli florets to the wok, cover and steam three minutes.   Place the chicken back in the wok.

• Reduce the heat to medium high, add the reserved sauce to the wok and cook until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.
  
  
• Serve chicken, broccoli, and sauce over rice. Yields about 1 cup chicken with sauce and 1/4 cup rice per serving.

Osso Bucco, Weight-Watchers' style for supper last night, served over couscous. Good, but not the real McCoy. I have a real soft spot for really good osso bucco--my uncle Sidney used to make it for us all the time when I was young. If I were to make it for real, here's how I would do it, courtesy of Tyler Florence at Food Network. Try this and tell me you have ever eaten anything better:

Osso Buco Milanese

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Prep Time:
10 min
Inactive Prep Time:
--
Cook Time:
2 hr 0 min

Level:
--

Serves:
4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 pieces veal shank with bone, cut 3 inches thick
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 cup dry Marsala
2 cups veal or chicken stock
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
Saffron Risotto, recipe follows

GREMOLATA:

Grated rind of 1 lemon
Grated rind of 1 orange
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Directions

In a large shallow platter, season flour with salt and pepper. Dredge the veal shanks in the mixture and tap off any excess. In a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven, over medium flame, heat the oil and butter. Sear the shanks on all sides, turn bones on sides to hold in marrow. Add more oil and butter if needed. Remove the browned veal shanks and set aside.

Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves and parsley to the pan and cook until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Raise the heat to high, add the wine and deglaze the pan. Return the shanks to the pan, add the stock and tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Baste the meat a few times during cooking. Remove the cover, continue to simmer for 10 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit.

For gremolata: combine all ingredients together in a small bowl. Strew the gremolata over the osso buco before serving. Serve osso buco with Saffron Risotto.

SAFFRON RISOTTO:

8 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups Arborio rice
3 pinches saffron threads
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a saucepan, bring chicken broth to a simmer. Keep warm over low heat.

In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add oil and rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to coat each grain. When rice begins to make a crackling sound, add saffron threads. Add 1 cup of the warm chicken broth and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Add the remaining broth, 1 cup at a time. Continue to stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. Test the rice for doneness, it should be al dente but creamy. Remove risotto from heat, add grated cheese, salt and pepper. Serve at once with Osso Buco Milanese.

Yield: 4 servings

Two Fabulous Blueberry Salads

           If blueberries aren't the best tasting of the early-summer fruits, I don't know what is.  Much has been written about the “superfruit” qualities of blueberries.  They are an excellent source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, and antioxidants, all at a mere 80 calories per cup.  What other superfood can give you so much return for so few calories and at the same time taste so sweet?

            And while blueberries are out of season right now, we bought them in the summer and froze them.  Lots of them.  Three flats this summer.  And now, in October, we're still enjoying fresh summer blueberries.

            Next summer, try them yourself.  To preserve blueberries for eating throughout the long winter months, freeze and store them immediately after purchase.  Simply wash the blueberries well and dry them thoroughly, lay them out on trays between layers of clean dish towels, and freeze.  Later, bag them up in quart-size freezer bags and store them on the bottom shelf of your freezer.  The reward for the modest effort expended is unimaginable, especially when you realize that you can dump a load of fresh blueberries on your morning cereal or in your pancakes when there is still snow on the ground.  Or, just eat 'em straight out of the bag, little sweet frozen treats exploding with flavor and nutrition.

            Here, fresh for good summer eating all year, are two fabulous cold blueberry salads, one from the August, 2003 issue of Cooking Light.  The other is one we've been playing with for years.  You can poach or grill your chicken--either way is fine--and both are filling and satisfying dishes that will surprise your family or guests with an unexpected sweet and savory--and extremely healthy--treat. 

Chicken, Endive, and Blueberry Salad with Toasted Pecans

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced Belgian endive (about 2 large heads), or, if you prefer a milder green, Bibb lettuce

2 cups mesclun (gourmet salad greens)

1 ½ cups boneless chicken breast, poached or grilled, chopped to 1-inch cubes

1 ½ cup fresh blueberries

¼ cup chopped red onion

2 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 ½ tablespoons honey

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup (2 ounces) crumbled goat or feta cheese

2 tablespoons chopped pecans, toasted

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

 

Preparation:

            Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper, whisk until combined. Add to salad and toss to coat.

Sprinkle salad with cheese and pecans.  Drizzle olive oil over the salad and toss lightly before serving.

CHICKEN AND BLUEBERRY PASTA SALAD

Ingredients:

2 cups boneless, skinless chicken breast, poached or grilled, chopped to 1-inch cubes
8 ounces whole-wheat pasta - fusilli, radiatore, gemelli or rotini. Or use protein-plus .
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

            Precook the chicken and chill, prepare the pasta according to the package directions, and then rinse with cold water.

            For the dressing, place the oil and shallot in a small skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, 2 to 5 minutes. Add broth, feta and lime juice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the feta begins to melt, 1 to 2 minutes.

            Add the chicken to the bowl with the pasta. Add the dressing, blueberries, thyme, lime zest and salt and toss until combined.