Quick and Easy Shrimp!

Tonight we wanted something light for dinner. We had roasted prosciutto wrapped shrimp with cantaloup.  It was quick, easy, and delicious!! An arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette and shaved parm makes this a complete meal. The key is to get good prosciutto; I'm talking $24/lb cut by someone who knows what they are doing. You end up spending the same amount of money buying prepackaged/cheaper prosciutto as you do on the real stuff from Italy. Most of the American knock-offs just don't have the same intense flavor and it is sliced thicker. So to get a similar taste, you use more. I used 3 very thin slices of prosciutto di Parma for 1/2 pound of shrimp. The prosciutto only cost $1.75 and the Whole Foods cheese-monger did not blink when I only asked for 3 slices.


Hope y'all are all enjoying your summer!  ~  Ellen


Roasted Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp
(serves 2)
1/2 lb shrimp
3 slices of prosciutto di Parma
olive oil spray
freshly ground black pepper

Place a stoneware baking sheet or pizza pan in oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Use convection if you have it. Peel and devein the shrimp. Wrap with a small piece of prosciutto and secure with a toothpick. Spray with olive oil spray and season with pepper. Transfer the shrimp to the hot pan and cook 3-5 minutes. (OK, I didn't time this. It doesn't take long. The shrimp turn white and curl a little bit. People also vary wildly their shrimp temp.) Serve immediately as they will keep on cooking on that hot pan!

Anniversary Dinner

I just celebrated my 21^st wedding anniversary with my sweet husband. I started cooking dinner rather than going out on our anniversary many years ago. It’s really nice to celebrate with just the two of us. Since I enjoy cooking and he likes eating at home, it’s a perfect easy gift. It was a lovely evening. Cheers, Sweetie!

The menu all started with some good looking rainbow trout at the grocery store. I thought it would be nice grilled. Also the Georgia peaches have been fabulous this year. I love grilled peaches in a salad with some feta cheese. I picked up some Cypress Grove Purple Haze. This is a lovely creamy artisan goat cheese seasoned with lavender and fennel pollen. Unfortunately the Kroger didn’t have any Sweetgrass Dairy goat cheese. I would have loved to have gone local! I picked up a nice baguette and a bottle of wine and left the grocery store a happy girl.

Grilled Rainbow Trout with Pecans

Grease a sheet of aluminum foil with butter. Place the trout filets skin side down on the foil. Drizzle with melted butter and top with salt, pepper and chopped pecans. Grill for about 7 minutes over medium hot coals or until fish is opaque and flakey.

Grilled Peach Salad

(for four)

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

            3T apple cider vinegar

            ½ tsp Dijon mustard

            scant ¼ tsp salt

            freshly ground pepper

            2 T canola oil

            4 T olive oil

2 peaches*, cut in half & pitted

baby romaine lettuce

goat cheese**

2 T chopped pecans

Make your salad dressing by combining the vinegar, mustard, salt & pepper. Slowly whisk in the oils and set aside. Grill the peaches flesh side down for 5 - 7 minutes over medium hot coals. You should have some nice grill marks & a golden color; and the skin should come off easily.

Remove the skin from the peaches, slice and serve over a bed of romaine, goat cheese, and pecans. Taste your dressing for seasoning then drizzle over the salad.

* The peaches should be ripe but still firm. Freestone peaches work the best here as they are easy to pit. Most Southern & Eastern peaches are freestone. Sometimes early in the season you get some that aren’t though.

** I have used everything from crumbled feta to a smear of super creamy artisan goat cheese. Herbed is good as is plain. If you are not using an herbed cheese, try adding a little thyme, lavender or chervil if you have it on hand. 

Quinoa!

Gosh, I can get really philosophical about this but I'll try to hold back. Quinoa kind of symbolizes where I want to be in life but half the time I'm just potato chips!!! Quinoa is the perfect food, it looks, cooks and acts very much like cous cous but is a wonderfully balanced nutritional element. It's been classified as a superfood - has a lot of protein but is exquisitely balanced in amino acids. Like pasta, it takes on flavors beautifully; unlike pasta, it's actually good for you. I think of quinoa as the food that can ease hunger and obesity in one food! Is that possible? I'm totally infatuated...

So what have I been doing these last few months since I haven't been blogging? I've been stuck. I've been looking for perfect recipes for really healthy food that is affordable and easy to make. I would like to find a way to help people be more healthy in their diets but it seems such a huge task that I've become paralyzed. Please pray that I can get past my shortcomings and move on to my calling - 'bridge the gap!'.

In the meantime, I've come up with this really great dish that I can't get enough of. I think it is so healthy and delicious that you can eat your fill with no worries.

Quinoa with Corn and Roasted Red Pepper
1 C quinoa
2 C water
2 tsp Knorr Caldo de Pollo (chicken bouillon)
1/2 red pepper
1/3 C Vidalia onion
2 Tbs olive oil
3 ears of corn - cooked and cut off the cob
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp chopped parsley
salt & pepper

Rinse the quinoa. (This removes a bitter taste but none of the nutritional value.) Put in a medium pot and add the water and bouillon. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. It should still be moist when done. In the meantime, saute the onion and red pepper in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add this to the cooked quinoa along with the cider vinegar and parsley. Taste for seasoning and finish with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Friday...

Here it is again - Friday without meat. Last Friday night we had some store-bought frozen cheese enchiladas that ended up mushy. Lesson - you can probably make it better fresh. However the Trader Joe's individual frozen spinach lasagna wasn't bad for lunch. Yes, I could have made it better fresh, however, I only have a microwave at The Big Chandelier and I didn't plan ahead. Today for lunch I will have edamame & a salad. I like the Trader Joe's fully cooked frozen edamame. And I need more soy as a middle-aged woman who gets very cranky! Tonight I think we are eating out - Mexican. Rice, beans and fish tacos are calling my name!

But here's a thought. My ancestors and Jacks were country folks who ate a lot of veggies. There's some evidence that our bodies are genetically inclined to process these foods better. The theory is that those folks with farming ancestors can process carbohydrates better than those who are descended (we're talking a couple of hundred years) from hunters and fishers. The hunter/fishers can process the animal fat and don't have as many issues with cholesterol. Interesting...

Thai Market

Here's the 411 on the Thai Market where I bought the ingredients for Tom Yum Soup. It looks just like a little country store with Asian food instead of pickeled pigs feet!

Oriental Food Mart
located in Northwood Plaza
5091-F buford Hwy.
Doraville, GA 30340

Tel:770.457.5666

Flat Iron Steak with Chimichurri

Spring is here and the weather is NICE in Atlanta. Here's a great recipe when you're ready to grill out. This is an Argentinean style dish. The grilled meat is flavored with a little smoked paprika and is wonderful on it's on. The chimichurri sauce is a dressing of parsley, cilantro & garlic. It's traditionally paired with skirt steak but I had a flat iron steak. I served it with a salad with vinaigrette dressing. If you want even more flavors, gorgonzola in the salad works nicely with the flavors. If this isn't versatile enough yet, turn it into a wrap! Very delicious!

Chimichuri Sauce

1 1/2 Tbs minced parsley

1 tsp minced cilantro

3 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients and taste for seasoning. Let sit for an hour or more so the flavors come together. (This will keep in the fridge for a week or so.)


Chilli Water Marinade
1 C warm water
2 Tbs salt
1 Tbs smoked paprika

I got this marinade from a Food Network recipe. Mix the ingredients and pour it on the meat and let it sit at room temperature while the grill heats up. I love this because it adds tons of flavor to beef but no fat. This is the recipe that sold me on smoked paprika and I haven't looked back!

The grill needs to be 450 - 500⁰ - nice and hot! Grill on the first side about 8 - 10 minutes until you have a nice crust. Flip over and cook for another 5 minutes for medium-rare. It should be nice and dark brown on both sides with a good crust.  Remove from the grill, loosely cover with foil and do not touch it for at least 10 minutes!!!  After the meat has rested, cut it into ¼” slices.

Serve with a small amount of chimichurri and enjoy the explosion of flavors!

Straight from the Freezer

I am truly thankful some nights for frozen pizza! Tonight I worked late and didn't have anything lined up for dinner. I opened the freezer and there it was... pizza! My favorite frozen pizza is Newman's Own. It's the best I've tasted anyway. Tonight we had California Pizza Kitchen peperoni. It's not too bad but a little smaller - not enough for 3. Also in the freezer were some Trader Joe's Arugula and Parm ravioli. I sauteed some mushrooms in olive oil and tossed it with the ravioli. Caterina devoured it so I assume it tasted good! What do you cook in a pinch?

Roasted Chicken

I love roasted chicken! It's great comfort food for me. This afternoon I bought a whole chicken and was going to put it on the grill, beer can style. But my friend, Cary, called and invited us over for a drink (OK, I kind of invited myself.). The weather was great and we needed one last Hooray before spring break was over. So I decided to stick the chicken in the oven for an hour and go enjoy myself. This got me thinking, this is perfect when you have to go run the carpool after whatever practice/game your kids are involved in. Tonight we came back home to an amazing smelling house and a perfectly roasted chicken!

Whole Roasted Chicken
1 whole chicken
1 lemon - quartered
1 head of garlic - sliced in half crosswise
2 large sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of thyme - minced
Kosher salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove any neck or innards from the chicken cavity. Wash the chicken and place it in a roasting pan. Cut the lemon into quarters and cut the entire head of garlic in half crosswise with the skin on. Season the inside of the chicken with lots of salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with the lemon, garlic and rosemary. Season the outside of the chicken with the salt pepper and minced thyme. If you have any kitchen twine, tie the legs of the chicken together. If not, don't worry about it. If you have a convection oven, use that setting. Cook the chicken for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It should be golden brown with a crispy skin. Check the chicken for doneness by puncturing the skin between the thigh and the body. The juices should run clear. The thigh should easily pop out of joint when it's thoroughly cooked also.

Hope this helps you out some night. It's so much better than a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket!

Fishy Fridays!

OK, I'm back from spring break and ready to hit the blog-o-sphere! Well lent is now upon us and as I'm always attempting to live my faith, I'm trying to come up with good, cheap non-meat dishes. I take lent as a time to do without a few of life's luxuries. Some may say that not eating meat on Fridays is not necessarily giving up luxuries. In the ancient times when the tradition was started, meat was a luxury. Now it takes a little effort to make seafood not a luxury. I'm not talking about eating badly. I mean if you're going to eat, make sure it tastes good. But one shouldn't "break the bank" as this is a time for alms-giving as well. I can't exactly afford to eat expensive meals AND give to the needy. For example on Ash Wednesday I had tuna fish for dinner. I don't especially like traditional tuna salad. A roommate of mine taught me to think about it differently. So here's what I put in my tuna salad these days.

Canned Tuna
Hellmann's Mayo
Lemon Juice
Dill Pickles - fine dice
Carrots - diced
Celery - diced

Truly the carrots and the dill pickles make all the difference in the world. Red pepper and cucumber are nice also but weren't on hand.

Friday night I made Tom Yum Kung (spicy Thai shrimp soup). This is usually an appetizer so in order to make it a meal I added some rice noodles. A friend of mine took me to a Thai market on Buford Highway with her Thai housekeeper. Noi told me what brands to buy. If you have the ingredients, this is really fast and easy!

Tom Yum Kung
(3 servings)
5 cups water
5 Tbsp Maesri tom yum paste
3/4 pounds shrimp pealed & deveined
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 package of rice noodles (I've thrown away the package and have no idea how big it is. Sorry!!)
juice of 1 key lime (or 1/2 a regular)
chopped fresh cilantro

Bring the water to a boil and add the paste. Reduce heat to low and let simmer. (I didn't have lemongrass or a kafir lime leaf on hand. If I did I would let it simmer in there also. It was quite tasty anyway!) Bring another pot of water to boil. Turn off the heat and sprinkle in a few drops of fish sauce and soy sauce if you have it on hand. Put the noodles in the pot and let them sit for the low end of the time indicated on the package directions. Raise the heat on the soup to bring back to a boil. Add the mushrooms to the soup and cook for 1/2 minute. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 - 2 minutes or until bright pink. Put the noodles in a bowl and top with the soup, a squeeze of lime and some chopped cilantro.

Let me give a shout out to the Ansley Kroger which I love! Imagine my delight when I sat down to peel and devein the shrimp only to discover that the shrimp was already deveined! That made peeling them so much easier! They were small previously frozen shrimp for $5.99/lb - now that's a bargain and they had a great flavor!

Omega-3 Yummy Waffles

Caterina is out sick today - and right before spring break too. Please pray for a quick recovery! She really feels awful! Since I can't go to work, I decided to make one of her favorites, waffles. What really inspired me was a New York Times article sent by my sister-in-law. Thanks, Mary Leita! I love to use coconut oil in the place of butter. Read the article if you have a minute.
DINING & WINE   | March 02, 2011
A Good Appetite:  Once a Villain, Coconut Oil Charms the Health Food World
By MELISSA CLARK
After gaining a bad reputation at theater concession stands in the '90s, coconut oil is back.

Please get extra virgin coconut oil. The refining process takes out much of the nutritional benefits of coconut oil. What I have found is that I can use less coconut oil than I would canola oil. For example with this mix I usually use more oil than recommended so they are not dry. With coconut oil I can use the recommended amount and have moist delicious waffles & pancakes. Since most fats have the same amount of fat & calories per tablespoon, I must be dishing up a lower fat waffle with the same great taste! As I mentioned before, I love this Maple Grove Farms of Vermont Pancake & Waffle Mix. It has no trans fat (not just 0 grams) or preservatives and has some whole wheat flour (not sure how much but better than none!). To make the waffles more healthy I added ground flax seed. Flax seed is super high in Omega-3 fatty acids which is good for your immune system, brain and heart!!! Don't use whole flax seed because it is not digestible unless ground. I also used Omega-3 eggs. Caterina eats a lot of eggs so I'm sure to get Omega-3 and/or organic.

Omega-3 Yummy Waffles
3 cups Maple Grove Farms Buttermilk Waffle Mix
1 1/2 Tbs ground flax seed
3 omega-3 eggs
3 Tbs coconut oil melted but not hot
1 1/2 cups of water

Mix together with a whisk. Brush your waffle iron with a small amount of coconut oil. Cook according to your waffle iron's directions. No need to butter! They are delicious with just a little maple syrup.

Oh my word! Caterina is now texting me requests for food from my bed. My house is not that big!!!

Salmon & Chicken Tacos

Saturday night we had a wonderful evening with some good friends. We had Salmon Tacos with Mango Salsa and Chicken Tacos with Chunky Guacamole! These tacos are really healthy and so yummy! They made great leftovers too. On Sunday evening I used the salmon in a salad with pink lady apples, pecans and a balsamic vinaigrette. The chicken made a great BBQ sandwich (that I just ate for lunch) but would also be fabulous in a pasta or green salad.

Saturday evening's salad was cucumber and red pepper with an apple cider vinaigrette. Beforehand we had chips, salsa and queso. David Hernandez who worked at our store, The Big Chandelier, is opening a Mexican restaurant in Texas. This is his recipe for salsa:

Restaurant Style Salsa
1 can of whole tomatoes
2 pickled jalapeno peppers
finely diced white onion ~ 1/4 cup
chopped fresh cilantro ~ 1 Tbs
salt

Blend the tomatoes & peppers. Add the onion & cilantro. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed. Made ahead of time so the flavors can come together.

Mango Salsa

1 mango - small dice

1/4 red onion - chopped

1/2 Tbs fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp cumin

juice of 1/2 lime

dash of salt & pepper

Mix together and let stand to allow the flavors to come together. Serve at room temperature.

Southwestern Grilled Chicken

Juice of 3/4 lime (someone had a gin & tonic the night before)

2 shots of tequila

1/2 Tbs ancho chili powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika (hot)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried coriander

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs chopped white onion

1/2 Tbs chopped cilantro

3 pieces split chicken breasts 

Mix together everything but the chicken. Pour over the chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 - 6 hours. Cook on a 350 degree grill until done (approximately 32 minutes turning every 8 minutes). Let rest for 10 minutes covered with foil before removing skin, removing the chicken from the bone, and slicing. Serve in a warm tortilla with chunky guacamole and salsa.

Chunky Guacamole

(You can make this while the chicken is cooking)

1/2 jalapeno pepper fine dice

1/4 tsp salt

1 avocado diced

1/2 Tbs cilantro diced

juice of 1/2 lime

I like to crush the salt and jalapeno together in a mortar and pestal. Mix it in with the avocado and cilantro and squeeze 1/2 a lime over the top.

Grilled Salmon Tacos

1 lb salmon filets with skin on

salt & pepper 

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Place on a 350 - 375 degree grill skin side down. Cook until the fat starts to rise to the top. Flip and cook another 3 minutes. Remove skin and break apart. Serve on warm tortilla topped with mango salsa. Enjoy!

Smoked Boston Butt (Shredded Pork BBQ)

I wonder why they call this a Boston Butt. I don't know what they do with it up there, but down here in Georgia I smoke mine low and slow! It is great for feeding a crowd and the smoked meat freezes well. I decided to do one so we would have lunch options for the next couple of months. First I made the dry rub (recipe below). If you don't want to make the rub you can buy dry rubs. Read the label carefully. I don't like sugar in mine. I grew up near Memphis and am a Rendevous fan. That dry rub does not have a lick of sugar in it and that's where my taste buds developed. I also like Butt Rub. I saw it recently at The Cook's Warehouse. I've seen it in the past at The Big Green Egg Store. It has a white label with a sassy pig walking around on two legs.

I trimmed off the outer layer of fat and then I coated the butts in salt, pepper, garlic and dry rub. Jack started the Big Green Egg (our smoker/grill) with a thick layer of charcoal, soaked wood chips and one fire starter in the very middle. When he had a red spot of coal in the center, he set the vents on low and stabilized the temperature to 200 degrees. We use a heat deflector under the wire grill so it doesn't get direct heat. We then smoked the meat for 20 hours. It took that long for the temperature to reach 170 internal. We usually cook it for 12 hours but you just never can tell. When it was cool Jack shredded the meat taking out the fat. Topped with a little of Daddy's BBQ sauce it made an awesome sandwich!

Ellen's Dry Rub
1 cup ancho chili powder
1 T smoked paprika
1 T granulated garlic
1 T ground cumin
1 T coriander
2 tsp dried mustard
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup of Kosher salt
1 tsp pepper

Coming up!

This week I'm planning to smoke a pork butt for some good ole pulled pork bar-b-que! I'll provide recipes and techniques afterwards. This is not the most healthy of foods but I'm a southerner so I'm going to eat 'que. I might as well make it myself and pull out as much fat as possible! Plus it freezes great!!

With the beautiful weather coming up this weekend, I'm sure I won't be able to resist making grilled salmon with mango salsa. Now this is a super healthy meal filled with Omega-3 fatty acids and anti-oxidants. Plus it tastes GREAT! Here's the salsa recipe so you can do the same.

Mango Salsa
1 mango - small dice
1/4 red onion - chopped
1/2 Tbs fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
juice of 1/2 lime
dash of salt & pepper

Lamb Chops & Polenta

And the Valentine's Day winner is... Lamb Chops and Polenta! I paired it with a salad with strawberries & walnuts. This was so good!!! Definitely a keeper for a special dinner. The polenta was just delicious. For those of you who haven't had it, it is basically Italian grits. I had a second helping. I had to do lamb chops because when I got to Sam's Club at 4:45 on Valentine's Day there were no racks to be had! I was mentally wed to lamb so I got the chops. This complicated the meal a little because I like to marinate the chops. Here's the recipe:

Lamb Chop Marinade
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs red wine
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

It marinated for about 30 minutes at room temperature while I got the ingredients together for the rest of the meal. Prepping for this meal is very important because timing is a little tricky. Here I will admit that since I didn't get started until 6:00 I had to enlist Jack's help with getting the salad made. He's a good Valentine :-)! The recipe for the polenta is below. Get everything measured out before hand.

Polenta
2 cups of chicken broth
2 tsp butter
1/2 cup uncooked polenta (I used organic yellow corn grits from the Farmer's Market - such a bargain!)
salt if you are using low sodium broth
pepper
1/4 cup of cream
2 Tbs freshly grated parmesan cheese

Bring broth and butter to a boil. Stir in polenta and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for 5 minutes until  thick and creamy. Stir in the cream & cheese. Taste for seasoning.

Sauce 
1/2 cup prepared veal stock from demi glace
1/2 cup red wine
pepper
2 Tbs cream
1 Tbs butter

Deglaze pan with red wine. Let simmer 3 minutes. Add veal stock. Let simmer 5 minutes. Stir in cream & butter.

Easy, peasy, right? The trick was getting the timing right. The lamb, polenta & sauce all needed to cook at the same time so that everything was hot at once. I'm probably overcomplicating things here but here is how I think thru a meal ahead of time. Like an athlete I envision the race:

Marinate the lamb.
Make salad dressing (raspberry vinaigrette).
Wash the greens and strawberries.
Toast the walnuts.
Measure out all your ingredients for your recipes.
Make salad but don't dress it.
Put a plate behind the eye you will cook the chops on so it will get warm.
Heat an ovenproof skillet (NOT non-stick) with 1 Tbs olive oil.
Turn on stock for polenta & water for demi glace.
Brown chops on both sides.
Put chops on plate and drain off oil from bottom of the pan.
Put chops back in the pan and place in oven.
Set timer for 4-5 minutes based on how well done you want your lamb.
Put polenta in stock and demi glace in water stirring both. Reduce heat on polenta to low when boiling.
Remove chops from the oven. Wrap a towel or place a hot pad on handle so you won't burn yourself. It's easy to forget it's hot when you have so much going on! Place the chops on the plate and cover loosely with foil.
Over medium high heat deglaze pan with red wine.
Stir polenta.
Add stock to sauce, season with pepper and continue to cook down.
Put your dinner plates in the warm oven.
Add cream & cheese to the polenta and taste for seasoning. Try not to swoon because it tastes so good!
Add cream, butter to sauce
Dress your salad.
Plate your meal - polenta, chops, then spoon on sauce.
Enjoy & refrain from licking your plate!

Meatballs for sale?

This afternoon we went to Gainesville for a swim meet. Nice meet as many friends were swimming. I enjoyed seeing all the moms! Last night in anticipation of a late arrival home I pulled out a jar of frozen meatballs and sauce. I made a salad, boiled some rigatoni and Jack and Caterina were in heaven. So easy! It made me start thinking, "What if I didn't have stuff to pull out of the freezer?". How much would people pay to have a good meal at their fingertips? What do you think? If I were to sell jars of Ellen's Kitchen Meatballs & Sauce, would you buy it? How much would you pay? If you don't have a google account and can't leave a comment, send me an email. lnprestia@gmail.com

Valentine's Dinner

Whatcha gonna cook?? Don't tell me this is your night to go out to dinner. Valentine's Day is on a Monday and who has time for a romantic night out on the town on Monday? I say it's time to cook something yummy and make your Honey do the dishes! Do your planning & shopping this weekend and enjoy a special beginning to the week! Here are some ideas I'm throwing around.

The first time I made Grilled Steaks with Stilton Sauce was for Valentine's Dinner a bajillion years ago. Caterina was a baby. It is one of Jack's favorites; Sara Moulton was right. It's a Gourmet Magazine recipe she had on her now defunct show Cooking Live.  It is made for all sorts of special occasions at my house. Measure everything out for your sauce ahead of time and you can make it pretty quickly.

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Rib-eye%20steak%20with%20stilton%20sauce

Lamb chops are another favorite around here. John Robinson, friend and executive chef at Manchester Arms in College Park, showed me how to make a perfect rack of lamb BC (before Caterina). It's a classic dish that never goes out of fashion. I usually get the lamb at Sam's and it has always been delicious. You can get a much more impressive bone on a rack from a good butcher, but I'm cheap! Demi glace gold is veal stock paste. It comes in a little jar or small tub. I have gotten it at Your Dekalb Farmer's Market (although I didn't notice it there on Sunday) and The Cook's Warehouse. A good gourmet store should have it. If you are stuck in Clarksdale and can't make it to Memphis, try substituting beef stock. This is so delicious that our former neighbor would come around and beg left-overs whenever I was serving it!

Perfectly Roasted Rack of Lamb
2 lamb racks
salt & pepper
4 sprigs of rosemary
8 sprigs of thyme
demi glace gold
1/2 cup of red wine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse & pat dry the lamb racks and season with salt & pepper. In a large oven-proof skillet (NOT non-stick) brown the lamb, meat side down, over medium-high heat until you get a nice crust on it. Turn off the heat and flip the rack over so the meaty side is facing up. (At this point you can let the pan cool and stick it in the fridge for a few hours then bring it back to room temperature for show time! Very useful for a dinner party!) Top the lamb with the thyme & rosemary. Just put the whole sprigs on top, no chopping. Roast for 15 minutes for rare or 20 minutes for medium-rare. While it's cooking dissolve your demi glace paste in water in the proportions on the package so that you have 1/2 cup of veal stock. Remove lamb to a cutting board (toss the herbs) and loosely cover with foil while you make the sauce. Place your skillet on the stove over medium heat and deglaze the pan with the red wine scraping up those yummy brown bits. Add the stock and let simmer. Cut the lamb (it should have rested at least 10 minutes) & drizzle with sauce. So good!

But if you want to be a little healthier, how about a fish dish? I've seen some nice looking tuna around town and this is super fast and super easy!

Grilled Sesame Tuna
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
cracked pepper
sesame seeds

Light your grill and get it to medium-high temperature. Let the fish come to room temperature. Combine the oil & soy sauce and dip the tuna in the mixture. If you have a steak, sprinkle one side with the cracked pepper & sesame seeds. If you have a tenderloin (my favorite but harder to find) roll it in the pepper & sesame seeds. Grill 3 minutes per side. Slice and serve with a cucumber salad.

I'll let you know what I pick on Tuesday!

I'm not a short order cook!

Really I'm not! When Caterina was a just beginning to eat real food, as opposed to mush, her pediatrician gave me wonderful advice. "Feed her what you are eating. You are not a short order cook." Last night I got home late after running the swimming shuttle with no plan for dinner. Since I didn't want to go to Kroger, I searched for something to throw together. I made the standard Italian Chicken Soup but without the chicken so it needed something to go with it. As I had been to the Farmer's Market (I don't know why I don't do that every week since they have the freshest produce and spices at the best prices in town!!) so I had wonderful bread and salad fixings. I decided to make salad and grilled cheese to go with it. Since it was supper, I used the wonderful Multi-grain Artesian Loaf for mine. Caterina doesn't like this bread because it has a hint of honey in it and Jack doesn't like anything healthy. I used San Francisco Sourdough for theirs. Now, that's not short-order because we are all having grilled cheese. Mine is just a little better. I then made a salad. I like avocado and it is super healthy but I'm the only one who does. I'm not wasting it by putting it on the plate of those undeserving pallets. Jack and I like cucumber. We all like carrots and celery but it didn't go with my salad so I ate one as I was prepping. Caterina likes her veggies whole and on the side and really that's no extra work for me. I chopped up some pecans for Jack and me but, you guessed it, Caterina likes hers whole and on the side. I really take pride in the fact that we will all eat the same salad dressing.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
1/2 tsp dijon
1 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1/2 Tbs Champagne wine vinegar
salt & pepper
~ whisk all this together then slowly add
6 Tbs olive oil
~ let rest then taste for seasoning

And so I take the above picture and do you know what my husband says?!? "Short order cook." No, I mean we are all eating the same meal, they just look a little different. Then Caterina says. "I like my grilled cheese on regular bread. Can I have some Ranch?"  Sigh...

Pecan Crusted Pork Chop

Last week I found some thin sliced pork chops at Whole Foods and was inspired by their pecan crusted fish I had seen in the seafood department. To make the pecan crust I ground up the pecans in the food processor until they were about the size of grits. I then chopped some bigger with a knife and put them both in a bowl to dredge the pork chops in. I salted & peppered the pork chops then dredged them in the pecans and put them on a baking sheet. They were baked at 350 degrees in a convection oven for 20 minutes.

It's hard to tell from this picture (my iPhone can only do so much!) but under the pork chop is a potato pancake. I shredded some Yukon Gold potatoes on a large grater. I also grated some Parano cheese and diced a slice of provolone. While the chops were cooking I heated a skillet sprayed well with olive oil over medium heat and put in a layer of potatoes. I then layered in the cheeses and put another layer of potatoes down. To flip the pancake I slid it out onto a plate that was larger than the skillet, inverted the pan on top of the plate then holding the bottom of the plate flipped the whole thing over. This was a little scary but worked beautifully. I salted and peppered after it was cooked.

The salad had grapefruit & pecans in it. For the dressing I used:

1 part apple cider vinegar
a little finely grated onion
a little sugar
salt & pepper
3 parts canola oil, slowly wisked in

I hope you try some of these. They were yummy and healthy - well maybe not the potato pancake, but the pork and salad were quite healthy!

Jambalaya Kit

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Tonight I went to Kroger in search of inspiration. The produce section did not produce (hee,hee). The fish counter did not do it for me either. I picked up a block of organic ground beef but couldn't think of anything healthy to do with it. I also threw some chicken cutlets in the the cart but wasn't in the mood for Chicken Marinara. So I headed upstairs for a look around the natural food section and found some soup kits that looked interesting. I decided to give the Jambalaya kit a go. I had an uncooked chicken breast in the fridge (extra from soup) that I knew I could throw in there. I had Jack pick up some chicken andouille sausage from Trader Joe's on his way home. I must admit that I was skeptical; really, jambalaya in 40 minutes??? But it was really pretty good - nothing like Anne Schramm's but quite tasty none the less! Next time I think I'll add some shrimp as well as more chicken. Give it a try!

Shivering in the Kitchen

Brrrr... We are snowed in and the heater is broken!!! Thanks to Erin we have 3 space heaters going in the kitchen this morning and the temperature is up to 52 degrees:-) I am so thankful that the electricity has not gone out!

The Farrises visited on Saturday night. What a treat! We also had the pleasure of keeping Virginia Kate for the day. What a cutie she is! Here's the beauty of frozen meatballs - I just defrosted those puppies and cooked up a big ole batch of sauce. We had a wonderful meal at home where Caterina and young Robert were able to run around and act silly. I had enough leftovers for a pasta lunch on Monday, the first snow day, and pizza Monday evening. We like Italian food around here. Recipes for all of this are in earlier posts!

Yesterday afternoon my sweet husband shoveled a wide path to the Big Green Egg (grill). My rosemary was under 4 inches of snow (I hope it survives. I should have covered it - drat!) so I used a Lawry's herb and garlic marinade. It was good but not as yummy as just using rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper. The other thing about store bought marinades is that huge list of ingredients that I don't know what they are! I don't really like them, but hey, it's a snow storm and 'Desperate times call for desperate measures!'. I have to admit that it's nice to have on hand for a quick fix or emergency. I like the flavors of the Lawry's brand best.

Pears are still really good this time of year. Really yummy in a salad with gorgonzola or cheddar and pecans. The citrus fruit is very nice too. We can go thru some clementines and grapefruit around here. I think I'll work on a good dressing for a grapefruit and avocado salad for you! I'm trying to get off the holiday overload and eat healthier - more fruit and vegetables, y'all!