Tomato, chard and spinach with toasted almonds

 From Ottelenghi Simple

Serve room temperature or warm.  Serve over a grain.  Will try cooking with the lid off next time to try to avoid the chard turning dark green instead of bright (according to FOK). Lime with herbs was refreshing, but will try to better balance dill with mint.  It's much easier to get a large amount of dill from a bunch!

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 tsp paprika

1.5 tsp caraway seeds

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

28 oz plum tomatoes

1 lb 2 oz Swiss chard, stalks thinly sliced and leaves roughly chopped

salt

4.5 oz spinach, roughly shredded

 2 limes, finely zest to  get 1 tsp and juice for 2 Tbsp

1.75 cups mint, roughly chopped

1.75 cups dill, roughly chopped (don't overdo it with this; balance with mint)

8 green onions, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1) Place a large saute pan with a lid over medium heat with 2 Tbsp of the oil, the almonds, and paprika.  Fry for 2-3 minutes, until the almonds are golden brown, then transfer to a bowl, discarding the oil once cooked.

2) Return the pan to medium-high heat with the remaining 2 Tbsp oil.  Once hot, add the caraway and garlic and fry for 1 minute until they start to sizzle and brown.  Add the tomatoes with their juice, chard, and 3/4 tsp of salt and stir through, crushing the tomatoes as you go.  Cover the pan (?) and continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring every once in a while until the chard wilts and the tomatoes break down.  Remove from the heat, stir in the spinach, lime zest, lime juice, the mint, dill and green onions.  Serve with almonds sprinkled on top.

Can serve with grains, with or without yogurt, perhaps. 

Baked Farro with Tomatoes and Herbs

From The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook Veganomicon, 10th anniversary edition   2017

For vegans, who don't eat cheese, a frequent substitute to get a cheesy taste is nutritional yeast.  The benefit of using this is that it also supplies a good amount of vitamin B12, which is usually found in animal products.  Although supplements are not recommended in general, for  those who eat a broad variety of foods, vegans are encouraged to take B12 vitamins to avoid deficiency.  Nutritional yeast may suffice for part of the daily B12 supply.

Farro is one of my favorite grains - it's chewy and a little nutty. It supplies 6 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving - and who can stay with 1/2 cup?   I also love wheat berry and bulgur.  In a dish like this, you can use fresh herbs that look like they've seen better days, since they're baked before anyone sees them.  I also had some zucchini left over from our gleaning last week, so I added about 2/3 cup chopped as well.  You know I don't like to waste food!

This smells and tastes delicious.  The mouthfuls with a lemony taste are a little more special, so adding more lemon zest to the topping may be helpful.  I'd like more veggies in it, I think, and probably more herbs.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups uncooked farro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely chopped shallot
1 bay leaf
2 cups vegetable broth, or water
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme or basil
1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste
1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil (I had cilantro, so I used it w/ parsley & basil
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

TOPPING:
1/4 c chopped walnuts
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9x13" baking dish with 1 Tbsp olive oil
2) Sort through the farro to remove any broken grains and rinse in a colander.
3) In a large saucepan, over medium, sauce the garlic and shallot in 1 Tbsp of olive oil for 2 minutes to soften the shallot
4)Stir in the farro and the bay leaf and sauce for another minute, then pour in the vegetable broth and the tomatoes.
5) Increase the heat to high and bring to a rapid simmer.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add oregano, thyme and salt.  Remove bay leaf.  Taste and season with a little more salt, if desired, especially if using water instead of broth.  Then stir in the parsley and nutritional yeast.
6) Pour the farro mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until the farro has absorbed almost all of the liquid.
7) Pulse together the topping ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor (or pound with a mortar and pestle) into coarse crumbs.
8) Take the casserole out of the oven, remove the foil, and cover the top evenly with the walnut topping.  Drizzle those 2 Tbsp of oil on top and bake for 10 minutes, to lightly brown the top of the casserole.
Let it sit for 10 minutes to allow it to firm up.  Serve warm.  It tastes even better the next day, after the flavors have blended more.  Try with tofu or tempeh for a complete meal.

Mediterranean Herb-Marinated Chicken Breasts

Amy Riolo  The ultimate Mediterranean diet cookbook
p 148

Amy Riolo is an award-winning author, lecturer, food historian and cooking instructor.  This recipe is adapted from her book, The Ultimate Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, Harness the Power of the World's Healthiest Diet to Live Better, Longer.  Part of her journey revolved around trying to understand why her relatives who continued to live in Italy were so much healthier than the ones who were living in the United States.  After living and visiting Italy and other Mediterranean countries, she drew conclusions.  Among others, she found that in the Mediterranean, food is treated as medicine, moderation is key and an active physical and social lifestyle is mandatory.  In the medical field, we favor the same lifestyle choices.

When I was in medical school in the '80's, basic nutrition was not taught.  Then again, pathology professors and respiratory techs were still smoking in the hospital and academic buildings.  We've come a long way, baby.

Many years and many studies later, we are well aware that the conclusions that Amy Riolo reached are key to good health.  After all the fads have been looked at, a Mediterranean style diet is still the most favored.  Fill your plate with a majority of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, legumes and healthy oils, with some fish and lean meat.

LadyDocs was fortunate to have a personalized cooking lesson at Dr. Hammersley's home several years ago, after this cookbook was published.  It gives a good background about the value of Mediterranean cooking, along with many recipes that you can eat guilt-free.

Here's a basic recipe to alter to your own wishes.  She notes that the marinade can also be used for turkey or fish.  We're growing 'Greek oregano' this year, and this is my first opportunity to try it.  I used the herbs she suggested, as well as chives, all from the garden!  The chicken can be prepared in a skillet, as she suggest, or grilled or broiled - I chose the broiler.  Remember to scoop up the extra sauce from the broiler pan.  Leftovers are great on salads.

Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken breast

1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
4 cloves garlic minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt or salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1) Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano and mint well to combine.  Place the chicken breasts in a large shallow bowl or glass baking pan, and pour the dressing over the top.

2) Cover, place in refrigerator and marinate for 1-2 hours.  Remove from the refrigerator and season with salt and pepper.

3) Heat a large, wide skillet over medium-high heat.  Using tongs, place chicken tenders evenly in the bottom of the skillet.  Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken.

4) Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes each side, or until chicken is golden, juices have been absorbed, and meat is cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.

Veggie Kabobs

In my latest Hungry Harvest delivery, I received a 'veggie kabob' extra - which was yellow and green squash, red onion and red pepper.  I recently saw a recipe for chicken and grape kabobs that was intriguing, but hadn't gotten to try it.  So I made a few skewers of my HH grapes and tomatoes.  Roasted grapes are really good!  It creates a different kind of sweetness.  I roasted some others in the same pan as onions and other veggies, but I didn't like that as much as when they were on a skewer, and not resting in the 'juices' of the other veggies.

I didn't measure anything, but I marinated the veggies other than the grapes in some combination of:

Canola oil - just enough to lightly coat
Basil olive oil (Cleo's - just 1 Tbsp or so - optional)
White balsamic or champagne vinegar - few splashes
Fresh herbs (oregano, thyme and Vietnamese coriander), but any herbs dried or fresh would do
Light sprinkle of salt and pepper, preferably freshly ground

Directions:

1) Marinate the vegetables for an hour if you have the time.
2) Meanwhile, if you're using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes.
3) When the skewers and veggies are ready, create colorful arrangements of vegetables.  If possible, balance the skewers so they remain above the broiler pan.
4) If using an indoor broiler, keep the wooden skewers about 4-6 inches from the heat to avoid burning.  Turn kabobs and/or broiler pan every 5 minutes or so.  It may take about 20 minutes to soften the vegetables and have them start to brown.

July 2, 2017

Rockfish with lemon and herbs

I'm trying to eat more fish and less chicken, just for variety.  I've got enough experience with salmon, and enough recipes tucked away, so that I don't have to think much about cooking it.  Today I tried rockfish - it's a white flaky fish that is neutral enough that it takes up whatever flavors you care to try.
I couldn't find a simple enough recipe for a weeknight, so I was pleased when this simple combination worked.  I love using fresh herbs from the garden, but dried would probably be good and would save some time.  I'd show you a photo, but there's none left ;-)

2 rockfish fillets - not quite a pound

Canola oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1" ginger, grated
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2) Combine olive oil and lemon juice, ginger and garlic, and let the fish marinate 'face down' for 10 minutes or so.

3) Turn fish skins down, then add the rest of the ingredients.  Bake for ~ 15-20 minutes.