Linguine with Spinach Pesto and Shrimp

Another crazy long day at work, and my family was off at water polo scrimmages and would not be home until late.  If my solo dinner was going to happen at all, it had to be super simple and tastey enough to make it worth even that much effort.  Mmmmmm, spinach pesto was in the fridge and some shrimp were in the freezer.  Add a little pasta for comfort.  Perfecto!

Sometimes we buy those bags of frozen shrimp and just make them all up in one perfect low country boil kinds of meals, but lately, we’ve just kept frozen shrimp in the freezer to use a small handful in this or that.  Makes us feel pampered and like we’re “all that.”

The pesto made with just barely enough oil had me a bit worried about whether or not it would properly coat the pasta.  The resolution was a to spoon some spinach pesto into a mixing bowl, add a bit of pasta water before dumping the pasta in the colander, and voila, success!

Linguine

Spinach Pesto

Handful of Shrimp

oil

Parmesan, grated

Directions:

1.  Boil water for linguine and cook according to package instructions.

2.  Thaw a handful of shrimp.  Heat a saute pan over medium heat, add a bit of oil to coat the bottom.  Dry the shrimp and add to the pan when it is hot.  Flip over each shrimp after 1 minute, cook for another minute, and turn off heat.

3. Place 3 TBS spinach pesto per serving into a mixing bowl, and add 1 TBS pasta water as pasta finishes cooking, and mix.

4.  Drain pasta and place in bowl with pesto.  Gently mix to coat the pasta.

5.  Plate the pasta, top with shrimp and parmesan.

Snapper with Spinach Pesto and Corn Salad

Greetings once again!  Do know, you have not been forgotten in any way, but amazing projects at work have me coming home late every evening, followed by research and writing papers for a set of classes I’m taking.  Currently I’m in survival mode, which means … time to cook!

Spinach pesto has been on my mind since I read it in someone’s blog awhile back.  In looking for a balanced, light meal, some spinach pesto over whatever fish looked good that day sounded like a good plan.  Has anyone seen the Ask Aida show on FN?  While the format is a bit odd for my preference, she is someone who comes across as trustworthy and the calmness of the show is welcome these days.  Turns out she has a corn salad recipe, so I gave it a go.  Good decision making on this meal all around!

Spinach pesto

5 oz pkg baby spinach

2 handfuls pine nuts

2 limes, juiced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Put the spinach, lime juice, pine nuts and garlic in a food process or and pulse until smooth.  Add olive oil and parmesan cheese and process a few seconds.  Taste.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Corn Salad

For the dressing:

• 1 1/2 cups packed fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup  extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the salad:

• 4 ears cooked corn, kernels removed (about 3 cups)
• 1 1/2 pounds grape tomatoes, halved (about 3 cups)
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, diced
• 2 medium avocados, diced

Directions:

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl, using 2 teaspoons salt, and pepper to taste. Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving, or cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Pan fried snapper:

Heat a pan over medium heat until nice and hot.  Add 1 TBS oil, and let warm.  Add snapper.  Flip after one minute, or when fish is opaque a bit on the bottom edges.  Cook for one minute.  Turn off the heat and allow fish to finish cooking with the residual heat for about 4 more minutes.

Notes:

* The pesto is meant to be very spinachy and not very garlicky.  If you just can’t handle that notion, just double the garlic as you always do.  (You know who you are!)

* It was a warm day meaning that the pesto likely required less oil, so I stopped adding olive oil just when the first little puddle of oil gathered on top of the spinach.  Lately, I’m just not into pesto that is crazy oily.

*  I cut the snapper into potion sizes before cooking to make the flipping part easier.

* Corn salad of various sorts is a common dish around here during corn season, but the addition of fresh mozzerella was a new twist for me.  Yummy!

Salpicon of Chicken Tacos

Burning Desires, Salsa, Smoke and Sizzle is a cookbook you just need on your shelf.  If you are a cookbook reader, ie you take a stack of cookbooks and a nice cold one out to the deck to plan all of the wondrous meals you will make during the endless hours of your weekend, you’ll be way into this.  The topics are all things grilled and lovely marinades and sauces to accompany them.  Chapters include the obvious like “A Smoldering Passion:  BBQ and beyond” and the less obvious such as “With a Little Help From My Friends: Starters, Salads, and Starches”  and yes, all of those are actually grilled.  There are recipes (duh!), each preceded by a little story.  But, the key here is the perfect introduction to each section.  How to grill?  Got that.  And I know you have access to this basic information a gazillion places.  Salads on the grill?  Interesting, but not new.  Here’s the kicker people … if you actually follow these conversational style directions, you cannot lose.  This is one of very few books where everything, and I mean everything, made from it is 100% top notch! Um sorry, just double checked on where you can find this priceless book, and discovered it is out of print.  Shoot!

On to today’s dish … this is kind of like a spicy chicken salad in a soft taco.  There is an interesting technique of marinating the smoked, shredded chicken after it was cooked.  It really makes for a fresh, bright flavor.  The book desribes how to perfectly smoke the chicken on a kettle grill.  While the dish is certainly exceptional with that method, I’ve been known to just rub a bit of liquid smoke on the chicken before popping it on a gas grill when the wind is whipping up too much of a breeze.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut into breasts, drimsticks, thighs, and wings

3 cups smoking chips

1/2 cup lime juice

1/3 cup olive oil

2 fresh jalapeno chiles, seeded and minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 medium tomato, cut into 1/2 inch dice

1 avocado, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup whole fresh cilantro leaves

3 TBS thinly sliced green onions

Romaine leaves

flour tortillas, warmed

Directions:

1.  Smoke the chicken by setting on the cool area of the grill, starting skin side down, and turning every 15 minutes until just cooked through.  Remove from the grill and cool to room temperature.  Skin the chicken, remove the meat from the bones and coarsely shred it.

2.  While the chicken is almost finished cooking, prepare the marinade.  In a large bowl, stir together the lime juice, olive oil, jalapenos, salt, and pepper and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.  Add shredded chicken and toss together.  (The salad can be prepared to this point up to 1 hour ahead.  Cover and refrigerate.)

3.  Just before serving, add the tomato and avocado, tomato, cilantro and green onions to the bowl and mix gently.  To serve, line a tortilla with a large romaine leaf, top with chicken salad, and fold in half to create the taco.

Notes:

*  For a lower carb version, just do away with the tortilla.

*  Fresh lime juice is a must in this dish for that bright, zesty flavor.

Fiery Fish Fry for ‘Fraidycats

Ok all you fish ‘fraidy cats, this one is for you. The fish is not too fishy, has no bones to remove and no skin nor scales to deal with, and is firm enough so that it doesn’t flake apart when you cook it. So there, all of your excuses are now gone!

Oh, but you are trying to lose a few pounds and don’t want to fry your food? Actually, this is pan fried with very little oil. And for one more “actually” the recipe idea actually came from a healthy cooking magazine.

Oh, but you are not into spicy foods? The fiery part of this dish is a dip, so it is optional. And back to the person who is trying to lose a few pounds, it is so spicy that you’ll just use the itsy bitsy-est of bits so the calories are not of worry.

And now, on to the cooking!

Ingredients:

Aioli

• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
• 1 garlic clove, mince

Fish

• 1 cup fat-free or 1% milk
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 (6-ounce) cod fillets
• 4 lemon wedges

Directions

To prepare aioli, combine cilantro, mayonnaise, serrano, and minced garlic, stirring well.

To prepare fish, combine milk and egg white in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Combine panko, salt, and black pepper in a dinner plate.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dip fish in milk mixture, and dredge in cornflake mixture. Add fish to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

Serve fish with aioli and lemon wedges.

Notes:

• I started with a cod fillet of about 1 pound and cut it into about 6 pieces. The fillet was thick enough to be able to cook the fish on 4 sides, creating just that much more crunch. Crunch is good!
• The original recipe called for fat free mayo, but personally, I’ve never been able to make the switch. The fat free stuff is just too loaded with sweetners for my taste.
• Any firm white fish would work well here. I went for the cod because it was fresh and affordable. Tilapia should also work well, but would take a bit more care while flipping in the pan.
  

Steamed Clams al Fresco

Mmmm, a Friday evening with a bit of time on my own.  Open some white wine for the clams and the cook … about half cup in a pan, some diced garlic, a taste of diced sun dried tomato, add the clams, cover and warm over medium heat until those little beauties open.  Toss with a bit of flat leaf parsley.  And finally, for the first time this year, relax dining al fresco.  Perfect.

From Our Delta to Yours

Here on the Sacramento river delta, water is everywhere and we refer to it simply as The Delta. Kids growing up here think this is the only delta in the world. They have no idea that when most people in this county speak of The Delta, they are talking Mississippi. This Delta, our delta, is our lifeline.

Last night, a group of friends were fortunate recipients of a gumbo dinner. Oh yum! We had the winning bid at an event auction, and oh boy, did we win big!

Jon, our chef, learned to make gumbo from his grandmother. Mmmmm, authentic. Grandmother instructed him that the proper roux color for a seafood gumbo is just a bit darker than his skin. So, Jon only makes seafood gumbo as he has such a great built in color guide. He was kind enough to take on a sous chef and impart his wisdom throughout the process. That’s Jon for ya!

One great technique he shared was starting the roux on the stove top, then moving it to the oven. Just stir every 30 minutes and allow the constant heat of the oven to do its magic.

Want the recipe? So sorry. Not even Chef Jon has a written recipe to share. You’ll just have to trust me here that the layers of flavor were simply Delta Divine!

Chile Relleno For the Soul

Honestly, I crave chiles the way others crave chocolate. Jalapeños, habaneros, Anaheims, poblanos and so many more. Then, of course, there are the roasted versions of each, and we have not even touched on the dried peppers that add that perfect layer of flavor to so many dishes. This time, it was a deep need for roasted poblanos that prompted this dish. Sometimes, I’m so willing to do the whole deep fried chile rellenos, and its not the frying that bothers me as much as the clean up. After dinner, I just want to toss everything into the dish washer, shut the door and call it done.

If you are in a pinch for time or have not yet found the love for freshly roasted peppers and won’t trust me enough to try it this time around, go ahead and used the canned while peppers.

To roast peppers, follow these easy steps:

• move top oven rack to about 3 or 4 inches below the burner.
• set oven to broil
• put peppers on a foil covered cookie sheet and pop them in the oven on that top rack
• broil until the tops black. Not burned to a crisp black, but more like there is still a bit of green on the pepper showing but there are black blisters not only on the top but also creeping down the sides black.
• flip over the peppers and broil again until perfectly blistered.
• Remove baking sheet from oven, put peppers into that plastic bag you put them in at the grocery store, twist the bag to retain the heat, and let it all sit around on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes.
• remove peppers from the bag, slide the blistered skins off with your fingers (don’t get all hung up on getting every little last bit of skin off, that’s really not the point here), and remove the stem and seeds. Once my hands are all gooey from removing the skins I just finish this last step bare handed. Some people go back to using a knife and being all proper. Doesn’t matter.

Knowing that not everyone in the family was craving poblanos, I did roast a few Anaheim chilis, just to be polite.

Ingredients:

• 6 roasted peppers or 2 (7 ounce) cans whole green chile peppers, drained

• 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 8 ounces Longhorn or Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray an 8×8-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Lay half of the chilies evenly in bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the Jack and Cheddar cheeses, and cover with remaining chilies. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and flour, and pour over the top of the chilies.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, pour tomato sauce evenly over the top, and continue baking another 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Jack and Cheddar cheeses, and serve.

Overnight Chile Verde

Oh, the back story! If you’re just looking for a too easy to be true recipe, skip on down the post a bit, but if you want a laugh stay here for the details.

Let’s just start by saying this should be categorized under “Should have seen this coming a mile away”. Here’s the lowdown:

• Teen age son comes home from school needing Dad’s famous chili recipe for Spanish class. That’s an easy one! Dad’s recipe means wait until Dad comes home and ask him. I’m done!
• Sure, I know that Dad’s chili recipe is a tightly held secret and no written account of this divine dish exists, but again, not my issue.
• Next day, son still needs recipe.
• Late-ish that night, son hands me my totally unorganized recipe binder asking for another recipe, Chile Verde. Good alternate choice! A great dish.
• Son types up said recipe in Spanish and prints it for class. (Printer actually has toner for the first time ever in the history of computers when an assignment was started the night before it was due. Yahoo!)
• Ok, you can already see this coming a mile down the tracks, but I’m just relieved that none of this has landed on my plate so to speak. We’re talking week day survival skills here!
• Skip ahead a few days. Son texts me to say that he needs to bring the Chile Verde to school the next day to share in class. Are you kidding me? A long cooked dish with a small army of ingredients and I’ve got less than 24 hours notice?! And, of course since the gods and goddesses are all against me at this point, I’m at work for a late meeting until 8 that night to find out how awful the upcoming budget cuts will be on everyone. Sucks to be me.
• In a moment of desperate inspiration, I realize that while there is no way dear Son will be bringing in Chile Verde from that recipe, there just may be a slow cooker recipe out there. Hit up All Recipes (with a great slow cooker recipe selection to be sure), choose the Chile Verde recipe with the fewest ingredients and best ratings.
• Stop by the store on the way home to pick up the very few needed ingredients, prepare and toss in the slow cooker and go to bed.
• In the morning, Voila! delicious food for the wonderful Son to take to school the next day.
• Next day, Grateful Son comes home and (without any prompting whatsoever) tells me that my Chile Verde was a hit. Yes!

Honestly, this is so good that I’ll likely toss the previous, more authentic, recipe and just stick with this. Its that good!

Slow Cooker Chile Verde

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cubed
• 5 (7 ounce) cans green salsa (Hernandez is a good choice)
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook and stir until fragrant. Add the cubed pork, and cook until browned on the outside. Transfer the pork, onions, and garlic to a slow cooker, and stir in the green salsa, jalapeño peppers, and tomatoes.
2. Cover, and cook on low over night.
   

Notes:

• I doubled the recipe and ended up using 3 cans of Hernandez green salsa and one bottle of store brand green salsa.

• The original directions were to cover, and cook on High for 3 hours. Reduce the setting to Low, and cook for 4 to 5 more hours.
• This has a bit more kick than you may expect from the ingredient list.
  
• Do be sure to trim all fat off the pork. Anything missed with feel pretty gross in your mouth when eating the meal.
• Serve in a bowl with a dollop (love that word!) of sour cream or over rice to soak up all the delicious broth.
  

Braciole

No picture of the food here, and for good reason. Picture a rolled piece of beef, simmered in tomato sauce, and um, yeah.

Cutting to the chase, this is scrum-diddly-icious and a welcome to your favorite Sunday Gravy. If you haven’t had the fortune to enjoy this in your local Italian dining establishment, put it on your short list of things to try at home.

Ingredients:

4 slices boneless beef round (about 1 pound)

3 garlic cloves, diced

6 TBS Percorino Romano, freshly grated

4 TBS flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

salt and pepper

4 thin slices prosciutto

2 TBS olive oil

kitchen string

Instructions:

1. Place the beef between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound gently with a meat pounder or the edge of a small skillet to a 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness.

2. Mix the garlic, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Sprinkle over each piece of meat. Top with Prosciutto.

3. Roll up like a sausage and tie with kitchen string.

4. Heat oil in a skillet, add braciole and brown on all sides.

5. Add to Sunday Gravy and cook for two hours.

6. Remove string before serving.

 

Notes:

*  While Sunday Gravy is a wonderful choice to cook these in, I’d make them again and put them in a homemade or store bought marinara sauce.

*  Someday I’m going to try these with some crock pot sauce and I think it will work out just dandy.

*  Truly, these are pretty quick to make!

Sunday Gravy and Meatballs

Sunday Gravy, I hardly knew ye. How in the world could a fairly well rounded (albeit non- New Yorker, New Jersian, Rhode Islander) have been so clueless about Sunday Gravy? Just another term for some basic marinara with that “My Grandmother makes the best …” theme? Not on your life! What a grand idea to slowly warm the meats in the tomato sauce then remove them before serving. The layers of flavors in the gravy just have to be experienced first hand to believe. If you’ve never made Sunday Gravy, definitely give this a shot. Don’t let the list of ingredients spook you a bit … they are all available at your local grocery store, after putting it on the stove you still have hours to read other food blogs (grin!), and this recipe will feed your family for several days. Nice.

Ingredients for the sauce:

2 TBS olive oil

1 1/2 pounds pork country ribs

1 1/2 pounds Italian or fennel pork sausages

8 garlic cloves

1/4 cup tomato paste

3 28 to 35 ounce cans Italian peeled tomatoes

1 cup water

1 cup red wine

salt and freshly ground pepper

6 basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Ingredients for the meatballs:

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

1/2 cup homemade bread crumbs

2 large eggs

2 tsp garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano

2 TBS flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 TBS olive oil

Ingredients for service:

1 lb shells or rigatoni, cooked and still hot

Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano

Sauce directions:

1. Heat oil in large heave opt over medium heat. Pat the pork dry and put the pieces in the pot. Cook, turning occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until nicely browned on all sides. Transfer pork to a plate. Brown the sausages on all sides in the same way, and transfer to a plate.

2. Drain most of the fat from the pot and add the whole garlic cloves. Cook for about 2 minutes or until golden. Remove and chop finely. Add tomato paste to the pot and cook for 1 minute.

3. With a food mill or food processor, puree the tomatoes with their juice. Add to the pot along with the water, wine, chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Return the pork and sausages to the pot and bring to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 4 hours. If the sauce becomes too thick, add some more water.

4. To serve, remove the meats from the sauce and set aside to serve separately at this or another meal. Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Meatballs directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a large bowl. Mix together thoroughly.

2. Rinse your hands with cool water and lightly shape the mixture into 2 inch balls.

3. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet. Add the meatballs and brown them well on all sides. (They will finish cooking later.) Transfer the meatballs to a plate and refridgerate.

4. 30 minutes before dinner, add the meatballs to the Sunday Gravy.

5. To serve, top pasta with meatballs or serve them separately.

Notes:

* Yes, the canned tomatoes do need to be Italian. They are different. Just get the Italian ones.

* Splurge on the cheese. Get the really hard hunks of good stuff. You’ll be thankful.

* When digging out the meatballs, Italian sausage, and pork ribs from the pot, realize that a good amount of the pork ribs will simply have disintegrated into the gravy, and most other pieces will fall apart as you lift them from the pot. Mmmmmm.

* This recipe is a combination of those from the Sopranos Family Cookbook and Food Blogga’s recipe on NPR.

* Both recipes actually called for half the garlic, and just cooked it in the oil and discarded. After one try that way, we doubled it (a good call in my book for most anything!) then found that the mild cooked garlic was lovely when added back to the gravy. Without an Italian grandmother to honor, I just followed my heart.

* If you can plan ahead to make homemade bread crumbs, its so worth it!