Summer Squash Gratin

Pre-oven Summer Squash Gratin

Just out of the oven.  So GOOD!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 small leeks (1/2 pound), white and tender green parts thinly sliced into rounds
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably on a mandolin
• 3 medium yellow summer squash, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably on a mandoline
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 1 cup finely shredded Gruyère (about 2 ounces)
• 1 plum tomato, very thinly sliced crosswise
• Flaky sea salt and crusty bread, for serving

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over moderately high heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Spread in a 9-inch round baking dish
2. Meanwhile, on 2 large baking sheets, spread the zucchini and yellow squash and brush with the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the cheese and let sit until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. 
3. Tightly roll 1 piece of zucchini and set it on the leeks in the center of the dish. Working 
outward from that center slice, continue rolling and coiling additional pieces of zucchini and yellow squash until you reach the edge of the baking dish. Season the tomato slices with salt and pepper, then tuck in intervals between the zucchini and squash. Scrape any cheese off of the baking sheets and sprinkle on top.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, until the zucchini and squash are tender and browned in spots. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool slightly, then serve with crusty bread.

Ben Ford's Devil's Chicken or The Road Back to Healthy

From January 2017.

The holiday season is over and as I look back it seems I not only took time off from blogging, I also took time off from my usually healthy eating.  

For over two years my husband and I have faithfully followed a gluten free, soy free, sugar free diet.  The first year we stuck to our plan exclusively.  Year two we realized it was ok, in fact, psychologically necessary, to cheat on occasion.  We established the 80/20 rule. Healthy for 80% and the remaining 20% my husband could sneak in a burger and not feel guilty about the brioche bun and I could be guilt free about my order of blackened fish tacos on, gasp, a flour tortilla.

This holiday more and more "bad" food snuck into my diet.  It wasn't so much about the holiday.  It was about the time I was committing to other projects.  While spending more and more time volunteering at a farm that was promoting Buy Local, Eat Fresh, Live Well, I was buying local fast food, eating processed and feeling ill.

It is a new year and time to get back to my routine.  Good bye gluten.  Good bye sugar and the rest of the evils. Usually I am talking about how to modify or change a recipe to fit in with my  diet.  While its fun for me to take these great recipes I find and convert them into my version of "healthier", its also great to find a recipe that is ready from the starting block. That recipe today is Ben Ford's Devil's Chicken from Food and Wine Magazine.

So, if I'm not going to be talking about conversion and substitutions, then what?  How about knowing where your food comes from and is it fresh, organic and, importantly, local?  In this dish we used ingredients mostly from The Fancy Chicken Farm, a local poultry farm that also grows its own herbs.  (garlic, lemon, dijon, crushed red pepper and salt and pepper were purchased at the local market)





INGREDIENTS

·         8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

·         3 tablespoons chopped thyme

·         3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary

·         2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

·         2 tablespoons finely chopped basil

·         2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano

·         1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest plus 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

·         2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

·         1 tablespoon kosher salt

·         1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

·         2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

·         1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

·         Three 1 1/2-pound skin-on, boneless whole chicken breasts  

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

In a food processor, combine the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, basil, oregano, lemon zest and juice, black pepper and salt; pulse until a paste forms. With the machine on, add the oil, then add the mustard and crushed red pepper and pulse to mix. Scrape the marinade into a large bowl. Add the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Set up a grill for indirect cooking and heat to 425°. Cover 3 bricks with foil. Remove
the chicken from the marinade, scraping off the excess. Oil the grill grate. Set the chicken breasts skin side down on the grill and press them down with the bricks. Cover and cook at 425° until browned on the bottom, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the bricks and turn the chicken. Cover with the bricks, press down and cover the grill. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breasts registers 160°, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 5 minutes. Serve.

Brined, Bourbon Injected Smoked Turkey aka Best. Turkey. Ever!

Every year, for a number of years, the neighbors get together at Thanksgiving and cook together. Each year we would try something new.  Deep-fried Turkey.  Mojo Turkey cooked in the Caja China. Twenty-one spiced Turkey.  All good in their own right but none that really grabbed my husband, the self proclaimed, non-turkatorian.  In our house, if you are just ok with something the answer is, in veritably, fine.

In suggesting a turkey for Christmas this year I was met with, you guessed it, Fine.  Ugh.  I thought I had discovered a new fun way to try turkey.  I was psyched.  I was excited.  I had a brand new, shiny injector in hand!  Fine was not the answer I wanted so it was time to cook a test-run bird.

Below is a recipe I adapted from Food & Wine magazine.  The ingredients are true to the recipe with a few minor exceptions.  I, of course, added more than a splash of bourbon (which in the end was un-noticed), the herbs and spices were all organic and we smoked the turkey low and slow over our gas grill.  This was a first time smoking a turkey and I will say, its the easiest bird I have ever cooked.

The flavor of the bird was amazing.  The spice rub seemed intense when applying it to the bird but it gave it amazing flavor without over powering the flavor of the turkey itself.  The injection of butter and bourbon made the meat incredibly flavorful and juicy.  Even the white meat remained juicy as left-overs days later.  No dry meat.

Test run Bourbon Brined Smoked Turkey Nov 2016

Bulleit Burbon at the ready

Inject the turkey with:
1/2 C melted butter

1/2 C Chicken stock

Splash of Bourbon (my splash was more like two)

Inject the Bourbon mixture into various parts of the bird.

Ingredients for the Rub

2 Tbs Paprika

2 Tbs Ancho

1 Tbs Onion powder

1 Tbs Cayanne

1 Tbs Thyme

1 Tbs garlic powder

1 tsp ground bay leaf

1 Tbs each salt and pepper

The spices for the rub.

Mix the spices fully and distribute over the entire bird.

Our brined, injected and now freshly rubbed Turkey

Since we do not have an actual smoker, we used our Weber gas grill with smoking chips on one side with the heat, bird on the other side.  It is recommended to smoke the bird at 240 degrees.  Our grill wasn't able to maintain that low of a temp and we smoked the turkey at 300 degrees.  The timing is 30 to 40 minutes per pound.

We are making this recipe again for Thanksgiving 2017 because it was The. Best. Turkey. Ever!

The Fancy Chicken Duckumentory Part 3

Because we love our new baby duck...

Shepards Pie My Way

Somehow a comfort food dish like Shepard ' shepards pie doesn't come to mind as a dinner option in August in Florida.  Yet, the other night I was reading an article about "old time" recipes that need to make a resurgence.  Shepard's Pie was on the list and I had a hankerin'

My version will substitute the mashed potatoes with a very delicious cauliflower mash.  The texture will be the same and the flavor just as good if not better.  And, I consider it a healthier alternative to the starchy potato. 

When making the cauli-mash, if you have an immersion blender it will be done in a snap!

Shepard's Pie 

Ingredients
For the faux  potatoes:
1 head of cauliflower 
1/4 cup coconut milk 
2 ounces unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk

For the meat filling:
2 tablespoons coconut oil 

1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons almond flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 bottle of Guiness Beer
2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup fresh or frozen English peas



Directions

Quarter the cauliflower head, removing the steam. Place in a medium saucepan with about an inch of water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed but not mush, I'd say about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the water from the sauce pan. Toss the coconut milk and butter in with the cauliflower and mash.  Add butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined. 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
While the cauliflower is cooking, prepare the filling. Place the coconut oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the Almond flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, Guinness, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.
Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the cauli-mash, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Gluten Free Spaghetti with Mushroom Bolognese

Every month I look forward to the arrival of my new Food & Wine magazine.  The covers are always tantalizing.  The celebrity Q&A surprises me most months as I assume all celebrities never actually do anything as mundane for themselves as cooking.  (So and So can do what?) And the Editors' Top 10 Objects. There are usually at least one or two items I'm not sure how I ever lived with out.  Really. Seriously! I DO need the "Chicken Shaped"  Food jewelry.  See March 2016 pg 18.  (A blatant hint for my dear husband)

Page 86 of the March issue.  Mushroom Bolognese!  The photo of the dish in the magazine made me warm and fuzzy and sent me back.  Transported back to a comfortable, safe haven.  Saturday dinners with Dad.  As a teen, I remember Dad and I making Kraft Italian Style Spaghetti from a box.  We always doctored up the the recipe, adding meat and more mushrooms and more spices. It was a fun bonding time of father and daughter.  Page 86 reminded me of my comfort food but without the beef.

The next best thing about this recipe is it required very little altering to fit our dietary restrictions (elimination of the sugar ingredient and the use of gluten free pasta) and some of its ingredients could, in some form, come from my very own garden!  Fresh carrots, baby eggplant and tomatoes, tomatoes. tomatoes!  Doesn't it taste better when you've grown it yourself!

Stubby raised bed carrots.  They are meant to be this short and aren't they cute!

INGREDIENTS

·         1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms

·         6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·         1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

·         2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice

·         1 baby eggplant (8 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice

·         1 pound cremini mushrooms, one-fourth sliced, the rest cut into 1/4-inch dice (FYI, Cremini and Baby Bellas are the same thing.  I NEVER knew!)

·         8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps cut into 1/4-inch dice

·         Kosher salt

·         Pepper

·         5 garlic cloves, minced

·         2 tablespoons tomato paste

·         1 tablespoon white miso

·         One 2-inch chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus grated cheese for serving

·         One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed

·         1 thyme sprig

·         12 ounces brown rice spaghetti

·         2 tablespoons chopped parsley

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

1.     In a small bowl, cover the porcini with 1 cup of boiling water; soak until softened, about 30 minutes. Finely chop the porcini, discarding any tough bits. Pour off and reserve 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid.

Shitakes, creminis, porcinis, garlic, onion and carrot from my own garden

2.     In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the onion and carrots and cook over moderate heat until light golden, about 8 minutes. Add the eggplant and 2 tablespoons of the oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8 minutes. Stir in the cremini, shiitake, chopped porcini and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste and miso and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chunk of cheese, the tomatoes and their juices, the thyme, sugar and reserved mushroom soaking liquid and bring to a simmer.


3. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is very thick, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig; season the sauce with salt and pepper. 


Hearty and flavorful.  One would never know it was vegetarian!

4.In a pot of salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

5.     Add the pasta, pasta water and parsley to the sauce; toss to coat. Serve in bowls, topped with grated cheese.

MAKE AHEAD

The mushroom Bolognese can be refrigerated for 2 days.

Delicious

Lamb Rogan Josh

My husband and I are both big fans of lamb protein and in various cuts, not just the pricey chops or loin.  We love ground lamb (our Lamb Ragout recipe will be coming soon to a blag near you) and lamb shoulder.  Usually we grill the lamb shoulder but then I stumbled on this Persian lamb recipe from Food & Wine. The deep, heavy spices and slow cook time make this a very rich and flavorful, hearty dish.

Forgive my blurry photo and sloppy plating...it was getting late and we were HUNGRY!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces

Himalayan pink sea salt

2 onions, thinly sliced (3 cups)

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Madras curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 bay leaves

One 14-ounce can tomato puree

1 cup coconut milk

1 cups water

1 teaspoon garam masala

Cilantro leaves, for garnish

Brown rice, for serving

On this third round of testing my husband picked up lamb loin chops but it words wonderfully well with lamb shoulder

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE

In a large, enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the oil. Season the lamb with salt and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is browned, about 12 minutes; using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate.

Browning in the lamb.

Add the onions to the casserole and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned, 4 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, curry, turmeric, cayenne and bay leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato, coconut milk and water; bring to a boil. Season with salt.

The lamb returned to the casserole dish where it will cook for roughly another hour.

Return the lamb and any juices to the casserole. Cover partially and simmer over low heat until the lamb is very tender, 1 hour. Stir in the garam masala; cook for 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with rice.

Delray Beach Garlic Fest 2015

Blogging about food for my family and friends has been a fun adventure.  For months I thoroughly enjoyed the process.  Experimenting with recipes, of cooking and plating and then, doing it all over again to make sure the flavors worked or given a tweak where necessary.

Then life got in the way.  I was still cooking.  Still experimenting.  An unexpected family situation arose and I just lost the time needed to properly put my experiments down on paper.  I can't believe I let six months go by.

My place card at the Semi Finals Judging table

Garlic & Greens Spaghetti - Because Garlic Fest is just around the corner

GARLIC!!!!!!GARLIC!!!!!!!!GARLIC!!!!!!!!

Last year, by virtue of a glitch is the cosmos, I was asked to fill in as a guest judge at the Delray Beach Garlic Festival.  I suspect is was the universe pointing to one of the true lovers of all things garlic because clearly it was not pointing to a public speaker.  This year, another judge must have fallen into a black hole, as I was asked, again. to participate as a Judge.  (Someone seriously needs to do a better vetting process if I'm asked to speak with a microphone in hand)

In any event, to ready myself for the challenge I have re-invented Garlic & Greens Spaghetti from the Food Network Magazine Cookbook, Great Easy Meals. (Page 277 for those who want the original recipe)

This dish has everything my husband and I love.  GARLIC in abundance.  Fresh greens.  And, Pasta.

The modifications to this recipe were minimal.  We, of course, added more garlic than required and less EVOO.  We found adding two onions to the dish made it too sweet and lessened the recipe it to just one.  If you have followed us before, the standard pasta is replaced with brown rice pasta. (An FYI, we also tried it with linguine but much preferred the spaghetti version)

We attempted this recipe twice.  Once with grilled pork and the second time with blackened shrimp on top.  Both were delicious.  Both would be made again.

The original recipe suggests par boiling the greens, however we omitted that step.  I preferred to saute the greens in the onion/EVOO.  I hate to lose any nutritional value in the water bath and we both love sauted greens.

Ingredients
20 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onions, halved and sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
Kosher salt
12 cups torn winter greens, such as kale, chard, escarole or mustard greens (about 2 1/2 pounds)
12 ounces brown rice spaghetti 
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese


Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. (Be careful not to over-brown the garlic or it will taste bitter.) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic chips to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil into a small bowl to use as a dip for crusty bread, if desired. 

Is there any better smell than a saute pan full of garlic?

When the water is boiling, Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente.  Our brand of pasta takes about 15 min.

Brown Rice Pasta has a different cooking method than traditional pasta.  Be sure to follow the instructions

Add the onions and red pepper flakes to the oil in the pan; cook, stirring, until the onions are light brown, about 10 minutes. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt. When the onions are almost done, add the greens and cook, uncovered, until just tender,stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Greens and onion mixture with Garlic waiting in the background.

When the pasta is done, remove and reserve about 1 cup cooking water; drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the cheese and toss. Add the greens and some of the reserved pasta water and toss, adding more water as necessary to keep the pasta from clumping. Top with the garlic chips and protein of choice.

Almost ready to serve

Garlic & Greens with Blackened Shrimp

Garlic & Greens with grilled pork