I am officially a huge fan of millet. This is the 2nd really great recipe I’ve made with this grain and it was delicious. I suppose if you don’t have millet, you could use orzo or pearl couscous, but really, get some millet!

This is made in a few different steps, the millet is cooked separately, then stirred into the tomato and pepper mixture and then the fish is cooked in a different pan and added to the top.

The original recipe used shrimp, which would be great of course, but I had some frozen Ono* that I used (defrosted). Halibut or cod would also probably be delicious! Oh and I always thought saganaki was just the flaming cheese — apparently it refers to the actual frying pan that you maybe flame the cheese or say, cook tomatoes, peppers, olives and millet. Who knew? well, I guess I . . . → Read More: Greek Millet Saganaki with Grilled Ono and Ouzo]]>

I am officially a huge fan of millet. This is the 2nd really great recipe I’ve made with this grain and it was delicious. I suppose if you don’t have millet, you could use orzo or pearl couscous, but really, get some millet!

This is made in a few different steps, the millet is cooked separately, then stirred into the tomato and pepper mixture and then the fish is cooked in a different pan and added to the top.

The original recipe used shrimp, which would be great of course, but I had some frozen Ono* that I used (defrosted). Halibut or cod would also probably be delicious! Oh and I always thought saganaki was just the flaming cheese — apparently it refers to the actual frying pan that you maybe flame the cheese or say, cook tomatoes, peppers, olives and millet. Who knew? well, I guess I do now. Okay, carry on with the recipe.

Greek Millet Saganaki with Grilled Ono and Ouzo
Adapted from a recipe in Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck — a cookbook that is quickly becoming one of my favorites!
3 Tbsp olive oil (divided)
1 1/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3/4 cup millet
1 bay leaf
Pinch of salt
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
1-2 bell peppers (I used a half a red, yellow and an orange one — about 1.5 total), cored and diced
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, crushed in a bowl
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup green pimiento-stuffed olives, halved if large
4 oz coarsely crumbled Greek feta cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 lb firm white fish (I used Ono but halibut, cod, etc…would work)
Salt and Pepper
1/3 cup ouzo, or other anise-flavored liqueur
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used cilantro)

To prepare the millet, add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a pot over medium heat. Add the millet and toast for 4-5 minutes. Add the broth, bay leaf, and salt and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook until the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. Uncover, remove the bay leaf, and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, make the saganaki. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion, garlic, belle pepper, and salt; cook, stirring frequently, until the onion softens and turns light golden, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until it darkens, about 1 minute. Add the pepper flakes (if using), tomatoes with their juices and the black pepper; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to maintain a light boil and cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes.

Stir in the millet and green olives. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust (keeping in mind that olives and feta cheese can be quite salty).

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle with the feta, and cover to allow the cheese to soften.

To prepare the fish, season with salt and pepper and heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a 12-inch skillet or grill pan, over high heat until it shimmers. Add the fish. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side (depending on thickness and size of fish pieces). Add the ouzo and cook until syrupy, about 30 seconds.

Using a spatula, briskly remove the fish from the pan and arrange on top of the millet. Pour any syrupy ouzo from the pan on top. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve at once.

* I’ve been getting this at Trader Joe’s recently and I’ve become quite find of it. It’s a very mild, nice white fish from Hawaii (also known as Wahoo).

Okay, wow, so first off, this is the first recipe that I have ever made with LESS cheese than the original recipe called for. Well played, Saveur Magazine. I have never been out-cheesed on a recipe before! You, sirs and madams, are magnificent cheese bastards.

The recipe called for 12 oz. — 4 cups grated cheese (I ended up using about 9 oz, or 3.25 cups) and I decreased the feta from 1 3/4 cup to about 1/2 cup. And it was plenty cheesy and rich, believe you me. Aside from all that, I’d like to comment that the dill here is delicious! In fact, I think this is my favorite mac and cheese recipe ever…jwa agrees and called it his favorite too.

Now typically, when I make macaroni and cheese, I use low-fat milk for the béchamel sauce. My thought is that it’s already . . . → Read More: Greek Macaroni and Cheese]]>

Okay, wow, so first off, this is the first recipe that I have ever made with LESS cheese than the original recipe called for. Well played, Saveur Magazine. I have never been out-cheesed on a recipe before! You, sirs and madams, are magnificent cheese bastards.

The recipe called for 12 oz. — 4 cups grated cheese (I ended up using about 9 oz, or 3.25 cups) and I decreased the feta from 1 3/4 cup to about 1/2 cup. And it was plenty cheesy and rich, believe you me. Aside from all that, I’d like to comment that the dill here is delicious! In fact, I think this is my favorite mac and cheese recipe ever…jwa agrees and called it his favorite too.

Now typically, when I make macaroni and cheese, I use low-fat milk for the béchamel sauce. My thought is that it’s already going to be super rich from the cheese and butter, I can save some fat and calories by using 2%, if not 1% milk. Yay me. That maneuver worked well here.

On the side, we had a giant Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumber, roasted red and orange bell peppers, red onion, kalamata olives, green bell pepper and feta cheese. Dressing was olive oil, red wine vinegar, dried oregano, a clove of minced garlic and some lemon zest. There is a shot of that delicious salad below. The acid in the dressing worked really well to cut and compliment the richness of the macaroni and cheese.

This was a great dinner, lunch, and a meal’s worth of leftovers in the freezer for 2 people.

Greek Mac & Cheese
Adapted from a recipe from Saveur Magazine
3 slices crustless white bread, torn into small pieces
9 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (this will be used in two different places, so you may want to divide into 3 tbsp and 6 tbsp)
Kosher salt
8 oz. hollow pasta, preferably elbow macaroni
1/4 cup AP flour
3 cups milk (I used 2 cups fat free + 1 cup 1%)
3 cups grated graviera or kefalotyri cheese (about 9 oz.) — I used Graviera, which I found at Barbur World Foods
1/4 cup grated Pecorino cheese
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced red onion (or you could use 6-8 shallots, I just had a red onion)
6 oz baby spinach, roughly chopped (or chopped finely in a food processor)
8 scallions cut into 1/4″-thick rounds
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup roughly chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup crumbled feta (about 2-3 oz.)

Put bread into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Put bread crumbs and 3 tablespoons melted butter into a small bowl and combine; set aside. Bring a 6-qt. pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until mostly cooked, about 5-6 minutes. Drain pasta, drizzle with a little olive oil and set aside.

Heat remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When melted, add flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Still whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in milk and cook until sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, 5-10 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Stir in graviera, pecorino, cinnamon, and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste; set béchamel sauce aside.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat (I reused my pasta pot here). Add red onion and cook, stirring often, until soft, 3–4 minutes.

Add spinach, garlic and scallions and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the béchamel sauce, the dill, and the pasta and transfer mixture to a baking dish.

Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs and the feta. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. It will be a very long 10 minutes…

Here’s a shot of that awesome Greek Salad that we had on the side.

I’ve been on a Mediterranean/Greek/Middle Eastern food kick lately so expect more recipes in that genre coming up soon!

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had nice meals, presents and what-not. We did. On Christmas we had Beef Wellingtons — thank you cow, again, you were delicious!, this awesome cauliflower gratin and some braised brussels sprouts. Our snow is almost melted now, which is good as I really need to go to work Monday!

Okay, so the cauliflower recipe is based on one by Bobby Flay, but I changed some stuff. Also, our head of cauliflower was on the small side. Adjust amounts as needed for your amount of cauliflower.

Cauliflower Goat Cheese Gratin Adapted from Bobby Flay 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 clove garlic, peeled, cut in half 1/2 tsp lemon zest 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 2 green onion, chopped 3 ounces goat cheese, cut into small pieces Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add the cream to a small pot . . . → Read More: Cauliflower Goat Cheese Gratin + Beef Wellington Pastry Bot!]]>

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had nice meals, presents and what-not. We did. On Christmas we had Beef Wellingtons — thank you cow, again, you were delicious!, this awesome cauliflower gratin and some braised brussels sprouts. Our snow is almost melted now, which is good as I really need to go to work Monday!

Okay, so the cauliflower recipe is based on one by Bobby Flay, but I changed some stuff. Also, our head of cauliflower was on the small side. Adjust amounts as needed for your amount of cauliflower.

Cauliflower Goat Cheese Gratin
Adapted from Bobby Flay
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, peeled, cut in half
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 green onion, chopped
3 ounces goat cheese, cut into small pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add the cream to a small pot with the garlic and bring to a simmer. Turn off heat and let the cream infuse and cool for about 15 minutes.

Toss the cauliflower, Monterey Jack, parmesan, green onion and lemon zest in a shallow casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Strain the cream over the cauliflower and top with the pieces of goat cheese. Add another grind or two of pepper to the top.

Roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft and the sauce has thickened slightly and become golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Assorted Christmas Dinner Images — (Beef Wellington recipe here)

Dinner wine, a Christmas gift from jwa’s parents

Beef Wellington with a “pastry bot” on top

Mmmmmmm! Beeeeeeeef!

Pastry bot must be eaten!

So, I was listening to the Splendid Table last Sunday night and the first caller asked about green tomatoes and what to do with them. Great question, I thought, as tomato season here is from, uh, September 20th – October 10th. We have a lot of tomatoes that did not turn red. I wore a fleece hat to work today — I think the tomato season is over. We have a number of Romas and Early Girls (small tomatoes) left clinging to our dying vine.

One of the dishes described was for a pasta with ricotta cheese, diced green tomatoes, lemon zest, garlic and pine nuts. That sounds fabulous but, looking in the cabinet, I spied some lasagna noodles and decided to give that a try. Below isn’t an exact recipe, just an overview of what I did. More fiddling is encouraged. I used a 9 X 9 . . . → Read More: Experiment: Green Tomato & Mushroom Lasagna]]>

So, I was listening to the Splendid Table last Sunday night and the first caller asked about green tomatoes and what to do with them. Great question, I thought, as tomato season here is from, uh, September 20th – October 10th. We have a lot of tomatoes that did not turn red. I wore a fleece hat to work today — I think the tomato season is over. We have a number of Romas and Early Girls (small tomatoes) left clinging to our dying vine.

One of the dishes described was for a pasta with ricotta cheese, diced green tomatoes, lemon zest, garlic and pine nuts. That sounds fabulous but, looking in the cabinet, I spied some lasagna noodles and decided to give that a try. Below isn’t an exact recipe, just an overview of what I did. More fiddling is encouraged. I used a 9 X 9 square pan and about 6 no-boil lasagna noodles. My sauce was a concoction of butter, garlic, mushrooms, onion, flour, vegetable broth, cheese and lemon zest.

Green Tomato & Mushroom Lasagna
green tomatoes
lasagna noodles
butter
flour
mushrooms
dried thyme
onion
garlic
a lemon
parmesan cheese
ricotta cheese (park skim)
mozzarella cheese

Slice your tomatoes into rounds. Then start the sauce. I used 2 tablespoons of butter and sauteed a bunch of mushrooms, 1/2 a diced onion, and 2 cloves of minced garlic for a few minutes. Then added some lemon zest. Then 2 tablespoons of flour (cooked for a minute or two) and added heated vegetable broth. It thickened and I added some parmesan cheese for creaminess (I think goat cheese or cream cheese would work well too). A squirt of lemon juice and about a 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Ladle a little sauce in the pan and put two noodles down. Cover with green tomato slices.

More sauce. Two more noodles. Next, ricotta cheese (a whole tub) that I mixed with some salt, pepper, a garlic clove and a handful of parmesan cheese. Then the last layer of tomatoes.

Last two noodles, the rest of the sauce and slices of mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

When you take it out you will think, “Oh my god. That looks so good. Thank you, lasagna gods. Thank you!”

For optimal slicing, let it cool for a few minutes first.

What else should I do with our remaining green tomatoes?

***
On a completely unrelated note, if you are in the hospitality business, you should not be a raving lunatic of a woman. Just a thought.

When I made this from The Big Book of Casseroles, I figured it would just be an okay workday lunch and we could use up some salmon we had in the freezer. That is why I didn’t take many pictures of it. But…but…it was good!

The original recipe called for ahi tuna which, personally, didn’t sound that good, but with salmon it was really tasty! I also swapped the papaya in the original for mango.

Oh and jwa liked the casserole too which is always high praise for cheap fish project dishes! Now, I probably wouldn’t use fresh salmon for this but for defrosted frozen salmon it’s perfect — hence the cheap fish (about $7/pound at Trader Joe’s) tag.

FYI, this makes more sauce than you need for the casserole. You can either pass the unused sauce with the cooked casserole or save the extra sauce for a stir-fry or . . . → Read More: The Salmon Casserole That Could…]]>

When I made this from The Big Book of Casseroles, I figured it would just be an okay workday lunch and we could use up some salmon we had in the freezer. That is why I didn’t take many pictures of it. But…but…it was good!

The original recipe called for ahi tuna which, personally, didn’t sound that good, but with salmon it was really tasty! I also swapped the papaya in the original for mango.

Oh and jwa liked the casserole too which is always high praise for cheap fish project dishes! Now, I probably wouldn’t use fresh salmon for this but for defrosted frozen salmon it’s perfect — hence the cheap fish (about $7/pound at Trader Joe’s) tag.

FYI, this makes more sauce than you need for the casserole. You can either pass the unused sauce with the cooked casserole or save the extra sauce for a stir-fry or something.

Salmon, Mango and Rice Casserole
2 salmon fillets (about 1 pound total)
2 mangoes, sliced
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
2 cups orange mango juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Asian chili-garlic hot sauce
2 1/2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
Non-stick canola oil cooking spray

Make the sauce first by putting the orange mango juice through the cornstarch in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread rice on the bottom of a baking dish (9 X 13 or 9 X 9) coated with canola oil spray. Arrange salmon over the rice and cover with the mango slices. Pour about half the sauce over the mango slices. Top with the panko breadcrumbs. Spray the top with a little canola oil spray.

Bake, uncovered, until the top is golden and the fish is done, 15 – 20 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes, then cut and serve. Or pack up to bring for lunch the next day.

Oh and on the wedding front…there’s puppets!

Well, finger puppets anyway…