Green Eggs and Sesame

ok, the eggs are not green but the greens sure are.  This is a super fast, easy dinner with lots of flavor.  Same flavor idea as fried rice but with greens instead of leftover rice and a fried egg rather than scrambled.

Here's the recipe:

1-1 ½ tablespoons Sesame oil

2 cups chopped kale or spinach

1 egg

Soy sauce to taste

Warm sesame oil in your favorite egg pan over medium heat

Add greens and sauté until wilted or desired doneness

Using tongs or slotted spatula remove greens from pan and put in a bowl

Fry egg in the same pan; if it seems too dry add some more oil
Remove egg from pan and place on top of greens

Add some soy sauce, and enjoy.

Super fast, super tasty and makes the house smell good. 

Homemade Salad Dressing

Homemade salad dressing is really the way to go, it’s pretty easy to make, you can adjust the flavors to your own preferences and if your goal is real food, it is way less processed than store brought.  Plus, the savings!  I admit a drunken late night with pizza and ranch dressing is a night I can get behind but usually I opt for homemade.  Added bonus, it’s a great way to use up all those fresh herbs that are wilting away in your refrigerator.  

Below are my basic recipes but as mentioned above work with the herbs you have in your refrigerator.  The fresh herbs do make the dressing go funky faster but the flavor really jumps out at you so it’s well worth it.  I make the dressing in small amounts anyway so don’t have a problem using them up within a few days.

Basic Vinaigrette

1-2 shallots or garlic cloves chopped fine

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon or a good squeeze from half a lemon

½ tablespoon mustard (I opt for stone-ground, spicy but Dijon is traditional)

Salt and pepper

Chopped herbs (anything you have on hand)

½ cup olive oil (use the best you have)

Whisk all ingredients except olive oil in high sided bowl until combined, continue whisking as you drizzle in olive oil.

Greek Salad Dressing

1-2 shallots or garlic cloves chopped fine

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon or a good squeeze from half a lemon

½ tablespoon mustard

Salt and pepper

Oregano

2 tablespoons feta

½ cup olive oil (use the best you have)

Whisk all ingredients except olive oil in high sided bowl until combined, continue whisking as you drizzle in olive oil.

Creamy Herb Dressing

1 garlic clove chopped fine

Juice from 1 ½ -2 limes

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons chopped herbs (basil, parsley or cilantro)

¼ cup sour cream or yogurt

¼ cup olive oil

Whisk all ingredients except olive oil in high sided bowl, continue whisking as you drizzle in olive oil.

Caesar Salad Dressing

It is easiest to make this in a food processor so all the ingredients really blend together.  You can also use a mortar and pestle.  If you don’t have either of those chop all your ingredients very finely; especially the anchovies

3 cloves garlic

3 anchovies

2 tsp Dijon mustard

Juice from half a lemon

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 soft boiled egg

½ cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients except egg and olive oil in a food processor and blend until it forms a paste.  Add soft boiled egg and mix in.  Add olive oil and mix again until combined. 

Compare the Basic Vinagrette to the Greek Salad Dressing, as you can see they have the same basic premise.

Allium (garlic, shallot or onion)

Acid (lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar)

Herbs

Oil (olive, sesame, walnut)

Change the vinegar and herbs and add some feta and you have a completely different taste.  Give it an Asian flavor profile with rice vinegar and sesame oil.  Have fun with it and make it exactly how you want it.  Enjoy, your salads will thank you for it!

Grain Bowls or an Easy, Healthy Lunch

These have been my go-to lunch and sometimes dinner for awhile now.  Back in the beginning of the year when I was on my super healthy kick (it lasted about 12 days) I started eating these and they are delicious and easy to prep.  Basically you start with any grain, top with a cooked vegetable, add some greens, half an avocado and whatever dressing you have around. 

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup cooked grain

1 cup cooked veg

1 bunch greens

½ avocado

Dressing to taste

Salt & pepper

Combine the grain and veg in a bowl.  If you are cold, heat it up in the microwave for 45 seconds.

Tear spinach or cut with kitchen shears and add to bowl

Chop half an avocado in its shell and add to bowl

Add dressing and s&p, enjoy!

Healthy, filling, and fast.  YUM!

Regarding the recipe, you can proportion each bowl however you want.  Clearly I don't actually measure when I am putting these together. If I have a cup and a half of quinoa left you can bet it's all going in the bowl. Likewise I usually use half a sweet potato, but with a really big one I'd probably still use half.  I like getting a mix of everything in every bite so measure by sight as I am putting it together.   

Grain options:

Black rice

Brown rice

Quinoa

Barley

These are the ones I usually use, I think you could probably use any grain so when I expand my repertoire to include millet or amaranth I’ll update you on the results.

Lately I have been using a mix of brown and black rice.  I got the black rice (aka wild rice) at Trader Joes and then could not figure out what to do with it.  Every wild rice recipe calls for a mix of rice’s not just straight up black rice.  Initially I would cook a pan of brown rice and another pan of black rice but the last time I made it I was trying to use up the last of the brown rice, barely a quarter cup and didn’t have a pan small enough to cook it in.  I was concerned too much surface area would cause it to not come out right.  I went ahead and combined it with a quarter cup of black rice and 2 cups of water and cooked it on low for 40 minutes.  It came out perfect, or close enough. 

Vegetables: 

Sweet potato

Butternut squash

Kabocha squash

Acorn Squash

I have tried all of the above but I usually opt for baked sweet potato because I can never get enough of it.  Occasionally I spice it up with butternut squash roasted with tons of garlic.  The others I used because I had them around and needed to use them before they went bad.  You could definitely use mushrooms or eggplant or whatever your favorite is. 

Greens:

Spinach

Kale

I always use either spinach or kale, whichever one I have in the refrigerator and/or is closest to going bad.  Feel free to use your favorite green or whatever you have on hand

Avocado

The avocado really makes it for me.  This is another vegetable (fruit?) that I cannot get enough of.  I put them in just about everything and eat them plain too.  Well, with salt and lime juice, so good!  Ideally my bowls will be so perfectly proportioned that I get a piece of creamy, yummy avocado in each bite. 

Dressing…To be continued because this is a whole post in and of itself

Sausage with White Beans

I love making this one because it is so easy and you can have a hearty, warm, stomach satisfying dinner in less than 30 minutes.    I live in San Francisco and most of our nights are foggy and chilly so you really can eat soups and stews all year long.  This is one of my favorites when I return from a long day of activity cold and tired and want something warm and satisfying for dinner but have nothing prepared.  It also goes great with a glass of red wine so win-win.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb Italian sausage (bulk if you can get it)

1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans drained (I have also used great northern.  Are they interchangeable? Yes, they are for me)
1 can (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp Olive oil
Fresh parmesan
Basil and/or parsley if you have it

Pour a glass of red wine, I prefer pinot noir but shiraz is good too or any nice Italian red.

Warm olive oil in your sauce pan over medium heat

Add sausage, if using links cut the casing and squeeze out the sausage.  Discard casings

Break up the sausage as it cooks and cook until there is no pink left.  Remove it to a plate lined with paper towels.

Pour off most of the fat from the sauce pan

Add drained beans and tomatoes to sauce pan.  If it looks dry add some more water, or another can of chopped tomatoes.  Cook covered over medium heat for 15 minutes.  If you don’t have a lid for your sauce pan cook uncovered but watch that the pan does not dry out. 

Add the sausage back to the sauce pan and cook another few minutes until hot and bubbly. 

If you have basil and/or parsley throw in a handful of each now. 

Serve immediately garnished with fresh grated parmesan.    If you are feeling decadent drizzle with some quality olive oil

Top up your glass of red wine and enjoy!

Crostini Three Ways

I made these for a party I went to recently.  They are all very delicious and easy to make.  The only negative is that you will have to spend some time right before serving to assemble the crostini’s.  I found the first version last year when I was scouring the interwebs for a lemon pasta dish.  I never found a perfect lemon pasta dish but did find this easy, delicious roasted tomato and lemon ricotta crostini.  I don’t know where specifically I found it so will link to one version on the web at the end and show my modified version below:

Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Ricotta Crostini

1 lemon zested
1 small tub ricotta cheese
1 small carton grape or cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 425.

Rinse tomatoes and put in roasting pan.  Coat with olive oil and give a sprinkle of salt.  Roast for about 10-15 minutes until the burst from their skins. If you are feeling ambitious you can slice in half after rinsing; which will cut down on cooking time but increase prep work. 

Combine tub of ricotta and lemon zest.  If you do not have a zester you can use a microplane or fine toothed grater.  If you don’t have those you can use a regular peeler but be careful too only get the zest and none of the bitter pith.  I usually use a microplane but was making this at my Mom’s and she had an actual zester.  Fancy, I was momentarily inspired to make a martini with a twist. 

Add a squeeze of lemon to the ricotta mixture.  I like mine very lemony so gave half a lemon a good strong squeeze.  I also used most of the zest from the whole lemon.    

Prep the crostini

Each slice gets a smear of lemon ricotta, then top with a few roasted tomatoes.  If you can, make a tiny cavity in the ricotta to hold the juices from the roasted tomatoes.

Feta & Honey Crostini

I stumbled across Food52’s recipe for feta and honey and thought it would be good in crostini form.  In the past I have made a blue cheese and honey crostini but I have a hard time finding a mild but still flavorful blue cheese.  The warmed feta and honey combination sounded amazing so I bookmarked this one too.    

The first time I made this I made it in dip form as instructed.  I then decided to make it in crostini form when I wanted a third version.  Here’s what I did:

8 oz Greek feta, patted dry and cut into slices

2 Tbls honey

Put a couple pieces of feta on the premade crostini and bake for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Remove crostini and turn oven up to broil

While the oven heats up:

Warm honey in microwave for about 30 seconds or until it is spreadable

Spread on top of cheese

Put back in oven and broil until the honey and feta get a little color.  I had to whisk mine out as my pre-made crostini was getting too much color, ie burning.

Next time I will only cook my crostini on one side.  Then I will use the uncooked side to top with feta and honey mixture and hopefully avoid any burned bits on the final dish.

Even with some burned pieces and without the thyme and olive oil the warmed feta and honey combination was delicious: sweet and salty and warm it received lots of raves at the party.  I’ll definitely try it again.

I picked up the next recipe from Dinner a Love Story.  I bookmarked the Minty Pea Dip and was inspired to make it in crostini form for a baby shower I attended last year.  For this recipe I followed instructions exactly (ok, I tried to make it with still frozen peas and then had to leave the mix in the food processor for about 20 minutes while they thawed out). 

Once the dip is assembled simply spread a few tablespoons on a pre made crostini.   You can grate some fresh parmesan on top or serve as is.

Making crostini:

2 baguettes

Olive oil

Heat oven to broil

Slice the baguettes thinly (it helps if they are a couple of days old but fresh will work too)

Place slices on baking sheet and brush with olive oil
Put in broiler for 1-2 minutes to toast
Remove from broiler and flip crostinis
Back under the broiler to toast the other side

I find it easiest to use two baking sheets so you can be flipping one batch while the other is browning.  But be aware, they cook very quickly.

Here are the links:

Minty Pea dip

Feta & Honey

Lemon Ricotta with Roasted Tomatoes