Provencal Swordfish dinner

Ryan and I had been craving fish lately, but the selection at our Publix is not exactly appetizing, so we've been eating mostly chicken.  Luckily my mom was nice enough to pick us up a gorgeous swordfish steak from the farmers' market in Sarasota.  We prepared the fish simply, but it produced a complex and delicious result.  

Ingredients:

1 swordfish piece (about 12 oz for two people)
2 lemons, juice squeezed and then the remaining lemon sliced thinly
Fresh thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Swordfish before baking

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Make a thin layer of the lemon slices and thyme in the bottom of a baking dish.  Lay the fish on top of it.  Squeeze the lemon juice and olive oil on top of the fish, along with salt and pepper.  Bake for about 15 minutes, but careful not to cook it, you want the fish to be just opaque.  When you take it out of the oven, put a pat of butter on top.  Serve with rice or quinoa and don't forget to spoon on some of the drippings from the baking dish for a wonderful sauce. 

Mommy's helpers

After cooking

Ready to eat, swordfish on a bed of quinoa

Easy Roast Chicken For Two

Several times, Ryan and I will get a craving for a roast chicken (so good) in the middle of the week, but just don't have the hours required to cook an entire chicken.  We've made this version of roast chicken, and while not quite as good as a three-hour roasted bird, it is quite good!

Ingredients for Roast Chicken for Two:

2 chicken breast with skin and bone-in
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus extra springs
2 lemons
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

Chicken, before going into the oven

Pre-heat an oven to 375 degrees.  In a baking dish, line the bottom with lemon slices (save some to squeeze over the top of the chicken) and thyme sprigs.  Place the chicken breast on top of the lemon and thyme and drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Cook in oven for 45-60 minutes depending on the size and serve with anything you like- rice, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, spinach, sweet potato, etc. and don't forget to spoon on some of the juices from the pan, it'll make the yummiest, easiest gravy ever! It really is a breeze, and gives you the all-day cooking flavor, without all the time and work.

Pork Tenderloin with Quinoa

Quinoa is one of those things that we've heard for years how nutritious it is and how it is filled with protein, fiber, etc, but we were hesitant to try it.  When we finally did, we were pleasantly surprised at how tasty and how versatile it is.  It is delicious cooked in chicken stock and served like rice or served cold mixed with herbs, veggies, and cheese.  This is one "health" food that we actually enjoy eating. 
Not that there is anything wrong with chicken, but even I get sick of it; so we branched out and made pork tenderloin.  It turned out really well and it was quite simple to make.

Ingredients for Quinoa:

1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup water
A few sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)

In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and bring to a rapid bowl.  Put the lid on and reduce to low and cook for 15 minutes (try not to lift the lid).  Fluff with a fork before serving.

Quinoa, before cooked

Ingredients for Pork Tenderloin:

1 Pork Tenderloin (about 2 pounds)
1 large onion, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup apple juice or cider
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil for cooking

Spice rub:
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or fresh) leaves

Spice rub

Pork tenderloin, before searing

Searing the pork

Browning the pork medallions

In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.  On a sheet of aluminum foil, add the spices for the rub.  Roll the tenderloin in the spices so it gets covered on all sides.  (You can do it on a plate, but I found this much easier, and made for one less plate to wash!)  Once oil is hot, add the whole tenderloin and cook on each side for about 5 minutes each, or until browned all over.  Remove the tenderloin from the pan and set on cutting board (pork will not be cooked through at this point).  Leave the pan on.  Slice the tenderloin in 1/2 inch slices and add back into the pan so the medallions can get browned and cooked through.  Once browned on both sides, remove from pan.










Turn the heat to medium and add the sliced onion and more salt and pepper.  Cook the onions for about 15 minutes, or until caramelized.  Add the pork medallions back in the pan, along with the chopped thyme, chicken stock, and apple juice/cider.  Bring liquid to a boil, and then turn heat down and simmer until ready to serve. 

Caramelizing the onions

Serve pork medallions on top of the quinoa and some sauteed spinach and spoon on some of the cooking liquid and enjoy!

The final product!

Make Ahead- Black Beans & Rice

Continuing with our make ahead theme, we made a big batch of black beans last week.  By now our freezer has a good assortment of stuff to re-heat.  This recipe is one of our go-to favorites.  Instead of serving it on top of white rice, we used brown rice and really didn't miss the white rice.

Ingredients:

2 large cans of black beans (preferably low sodium), don't rinse
1 package of Polish kielbasa
2 large Spanish, yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves of chopped garlic
1/2 cup of water
2 bay leaves
Salt & red pepper flakes to taste
Olive Oil

Browning the kielbasa

Start by browning the kielbasa in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Once they are browned, remove from pot, leaving behind any oil.  Add the chopped onions and garlic.  Cook for up to 45 minutes, or until completely caramelized.

Onions and garlic caramlized

Blending everything

Once pureed

Next, add one can of the black beans to the vegetable mixture and stir.  Using an immersion blender or food processor, blend until it's a puree.  Then, add the other can, bay leaves, seasoning, and sausage back into the pot.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer.  The longer it cooks, the better it will be.  Delicious as leftovers.  Just the other day, I took it out of the freezer and had the most delicious lunch.  It's good as is, and even better over some rice.  

Make Ahead Meal #2- Chicken Meatballs

Like I said in the previous post, we had a lot of time on our hands at home this weekend with the Tropical Storm, so it was the perfect opportunity to make lots of food to store and freeze for the nights when we don't have time to cook.  Besides pot roast, we also made a giant batch of tomato sauce and chicken meatballs.  Now I will never claim to be a true Italian cook, but I do think I make a darn good batch of spaghetti/tomato sauce and even better meatballs.  This is kind of a spin on traditional meatballs, using ground chicken instead, but it'd be just as good with ground turkey or beef.

Ingredients for spaghetti/tomato sauce:

2 large cans of crushed tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)

1.5 large onions, diced

4 cloves of garlic. diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil

1 pinch red pepper flakes (to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 Bay leaves

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat and when hot, add the onions and salt and pepper.  Stir frequently and cook until onion is completely caramelized (about 15-20 minutes).   Add the garlic, bay leaves, herbs, and red pepper flakes and stir for a minute.  Add the red wine and cook for 5 minutes or until it has almost completely reduced.  Add the tomatoes and some more salt and pepper.  Once sauce starts to bubble, reduce to low and put a lid on it.  At this point the sauce is done, but the longer it simmers, the better it will taste (I recommend at least an hour).  

Sauteing onions for sauce

Ingredients for chicken meatballs:

1 pound ground chicken

1/2 large onion diced

1 large egg

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup or more of bread crumbs

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper 

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a small frying pan on medium heat, add the oil and onion.  Stir and cook for 5 minutes, or until onion begins to soften (doesn't need to caramelize), turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly..  In a large bowl add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.  Once the onions are cooled, add those as well. If mixture is too wet, then add more breadcrumbs.  Now you're ready to form your meatballs.  The size is totally up to you, in this case, I made small ones (about 1/2 inch in diameter).  Once meatballs are formed, add to a greased baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until browned.   

Meatballs formed and ready to be baked

Now that you're sauce and meatballs are done, there are a few options for serving.  You could boil some pasta and serve it as spaghetti and meatballs with some fresh basil and Parmesan on top.  Or you could make meatball sliders and serve on small rolls with shredded mozzarella on top (place sandwich under the broiler for a minute to melt the cheese.  Or you could serve the meatballs and sauce as is with a side salad.  Whatever you do, it will be delicious, because the base for your meal is tasty sauce and tender and moist meatballs!

Make Ahead Meals

I don't know if it's because it's the beginning of the school year or what, but it seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day.  Too often with our family and many others, that means family dinners get cut and replaced with take out or fast food (nothing wrong with either, as long as it's not too frequent).  One of the ways we solve this problem is by making a big batch of food on the weekend and then storing or freezing the leftovers to use later in the week.  Since this weekend we had Tropical Storm Isaac holding us indoors, it was a perfect opportunity to make some food ahead of time.  I will post a few of these recipes during the week, first up is our spin on pot roast.

Ingredients:

Top round roast (round 4 lbs)

2 tablespoons flour

6 slices of bacon (we didn't have any, so we used prosciutto instead)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 bag of baby carrots (you can get regular carrots, but I didn't feel like peeling and chopping!)

2 pounds of baby yukon gold potatoes (if they are small leave whole, but if not, just cut into pieces)

2 large onions

3 bay leaves

1 pint of button or baby portobello mushrooms (cleaned with a damp rag and remove the stem)

1/4 cup of chopped fresh thyme

1/4 cup marsala wine

1 cup good quality, dry red wine

2-3 cups beef stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Vegetables cooking

Pot roast, just before going into the oven

Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees.  In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add 4 slices of the bacon or prosciutto and cook until crispy (you're not using the meat in the dish, just the rendered fat) and remove meat.  On a plate, add the flour and salt and pepper, roll the beef in the flour mixture until it is covered on all sides and then add to the dutch oven.  Brown the beef on all sides, then take out.  In the same pan, add one of the onions (diced) and some salt and pepper.  Cook the onion for 5 minutes and then add the potatoes, carrots, bay leaves, and half of the thyme.  Stir until all the vegetables are well covered in the oil and seasoning.  Return the beef to the dutch oven, creating a little well for it in with the veggies.  Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the red wine.  Add the beef stock, the amount will vary, but you want enough liquid to cover the beef and vegetables. Once the liquid is boiling, put the lid on the dutch oven and place it in the oven.  Every thirty minutes, take out and stir.  It should cook at least 2.5 hours (the more the better) in the oven. 

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat the remaining bacon or prosciutto slices over medium heat.  Once they are cooked, remove from pan, leaving the grease.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of butter.  Once that's melted add the other onion (sliced) and the mushrooms.  Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown.  Turn the heat down to low, add 1 tablespoon fresh thyme and salt and pepper.  Cook for at least 30 minutes, or until both the onions and mushrooms are completely caramelized.  Turn the heat back to medium, and add the marsala.  Cook while stirring until the wine has reduced completely.  Turn off the heat. 

Mushrooms and onions cooking

 Once the meat is pull-apart tender, take out of the oven and place on top of a burner on the stove.  This is where your preferences come into play, if you like the liquid thicker and more reduced, then simmer without the lid. If you're like me, leave it more "stew" consistency, then just add the remaining thyme and the mushroom/onion mixture and serve!

Pot roast, after cooking in the oven for 3 hours

My two helpers!

Carter, my future sous chef, helping stir

This dish tastes even better the next day and freezes really well.  Hope you enjoy!

Spiced Chicken and zucchini

We've made it a week and a half with healthier eating...mostly good days, a few slip ups (ahem...chicken wings, oops!).  I've worked out every day since last Wednesday which Carter thinks is just hilarious, he giggles and laughs the whole time.  In order to compensate for the lack of fat in cooking, we've tried to make some really flavorful and spicy dishes.  This is one we made on Friday night and turned out really delicious.  The zucchini recipe is one we've posted on before (http://andcartermakesthree.blogspot.com/2012/07/best-vegetable-dish-ever.html )

and this chicken dish was quite simple but really good.

Ryan tossing the zucchini

The spice combination for the chicken actually came from my mom and were from an Ethiopian recipe she made (she gave us the leftover spices to use).  

Spiced Chicken cutlets

These are the spices:

• 2 Tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 Tbsp hot paprika, or 1-2 teaspoons cayenne
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

 In a freezer bag, mix all the spices and 1 tablespoon vegetable and then add 1 pound of chicken cutlets (or any kind of chicken, the original recipe used drumsticks and then grilled them).  Let the chicken marinade for a couple of hours.  You could grill, broil, or pan sear them (I did the later) on each side for about 5 minutes.  Serve with some warmed pita bread and zucchini and you have a tasty and healthy dinner.