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By mlb, on May 13th, 2013%
This is a great spring or summer meal. First of all, it has an easy one pot type set up (always a plus) and it’s Spanish in influence, which always makes me think of sunny weather. You could easily skip the chorizo if you can’t find any (this requires the real, cured Spanish variety) but if you can track some down it’s highly recommended.
In the oven, the broth, spices, and chorizo kind of work this magic and transform into a thick, flavorful broth. The potatoes are well, potatoey and get all infused with that awesome broth and the fish makes it healthy for you. If you added some bread and a hunk of manchego cheese on the side, you would be even happier. Trust me on that.
As a side note: I often wonder how I got along in the world before I discovered smoked paprika.
Baked Fish, Potatoes and Spanish Chorizo
Adapted from Real Simple magazine; serves two, easily doubled.
1 tbsp . . . → Read More: Baked Fish, Potatoes and Spanish Chorizo
By mlb, on April 30th, 2013%
This was a recent meal at our house and even though I accidentally made two “errors” with it, the meal was still delicious. So, I think we’ll call this one both forgiving and versatile.
Error number one was not realizing this recipe made two cake pans worth of polenta (not a big deal as the other polenta is safely in the freezer awaiting a dinner soon) and error number two was baking the polentas in the cake pans. Also not a big deal since, as far as I can tell, it worked out fine. Lessons learned: if you’re just trying to feed two, just make a half recipe of the below and for possibly crispier polenta, turn them out onto a baking sheet. But you know, no big deal.
That all said, the versatility comes in by really being able to top these pizzas with anything you might normally put on a pizza. Mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, lamb sausage, feta — it’s completely adjustable to the season and whatever you’re in the mood for eating!
 . . . → Read More: White Polenta with Sausage, Chard and Fresh Mozzarella
By mlb, on April 20th, 2013%
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie was a very interesting thing indeed — so interesting, in fact, that I am a day late in getting the post up.
Cod and Spinach Roulades — a spinach and onion filling, wrapped up in fish mousse, steamed and served with tomato sauce and pesto. Kind of like an Italian-French fish tamale?
I don’t see the recipe officially online, so I can’t link to it, but it can be found in the cookbook, Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan.
Notes:
1. I did not use plastic wrap. I know that it is probably fine, but I just don’t like the idea of wrapping plastic around food and then heating it. So…I used parchment paper. And it was moderately successful. It did let some steam/condensation in while steaming, but the fish still held together fine.
2. No cream on hand and didn’t want to go buy some for such a small amount, so I used a mixture of full-fat Greek yogurt and non-fat milk for a substitute. It seemed to work. I also substituted some plain lemon zest for the preserved lemon zest.
3. Plating was not as . . . → Read More: FFwD: Cod and Spinach Roulades
By mlb, on April 15th, 2013%
Recently, Freekehlicious offered to send me some Freekeh from to try, which was very exciting, as I had heard of the grain before and had wanted to experiment with it for awhile.
So, what is freekeh, you ask? Well, freekeh is a grain that I think looks a little like spelt. “Young roasted green wheat is harvested while still young and green, then parched, roasted and dried. The process captures and retains the grains at the state of peak taste and nutrition.” And besides that, it’s just a really tasty whole grain and a healthier replacement for rice (or even pasta).
The cooking time is about what you would expect — 20-30 minutes. For the sake of experiment, I tried soaking it for 8 hours, while I was as work, before cooking and was able to then cook it in about 10 minutes (this was the cracked freekeh, but I’m sure that would work with the whole grain freekeh as well).
When looking for inspiration for freekeh, I turned to one of the cookbooks that I usually look to first when I need some ideas on what to do with . . . → Read More: Freekeh with Green Onion Sauce, Toasted Walnuts, Asparagus and Tuna + a Giveaway
By mlb, on March 13th, 2013%
As promised, here’s another St. Patrick’s Day recipe (although it’s about a day later than I was hoping to post it). Luckily, there’s still plenty of time to plan on making a risotto like this for Friday’s (or Saturday’s, Sunday’s) dinner. If you are really smart, you will get a little extra corned beef and make yourself a sandwich at a later date — I was not smart. Learn from my mistake.
This is the second time I’ve used cabbage in risotto and I think it works very well — especially if you let it get a little color before you start adding broth.
On the side, we had a large arugula salad and, although we didn’t have any, some crusty bread or even Irish Soda Bread would be great too. Erin Go Bragh.
Corned Beef and Cabbage Risotto
Serves 3-4
4 cups vegetable broth
2 . . . → Read More: Corned Beef and Cabbage Risotto for St. Patrick’s Day
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