Grilled Vegetables
Our new favorite thing to have in the 'fridge is a big batch of grilled vegetables. They can be eaten cold as a salad, or warmed and used as a side dish or ingredient for something else - total versatility.
And reasonably healthy, as well.
Today's batch included:
- broccoli
- cauliflower
- mini potatoes
- asparagus
- green onions
- mushrooms
- yellow zucchini
- mini peppers
- carrots
- beets
The basic is to keep them whole or in fairly large pieces, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and slowly grill until tender - taking items off the grill as they're done. Once cooked and cooled, they get chopped into bite-sized pieces, drizzled with a bit more olive oil, and a bit of balsamic vinegar - just enough to add a bit of sweetness - not enough to mask the vegetable flavor.
From there, it's lunch, dinner, side, or snack. Tonight, it was dinner.
We still had polenta from the other night, so I cubed it into about 1-inch cubes and lightly browned it in a skillet. I took it out and added a cubed chicken breast and cooked it until about half-done. I added an almost-ripe tomato from the garden that I chopped, along with a splash of white wine.
Next into the skillet went the grilled veggies, and when they were heated through, I stirred the polenta back in.
A bit of S&P and some chopped fresh herbs from the garden finished it off.
The only thing missing from the vegetables was coen. Gentile's only had white corn on the cob - and I'm a yellow corn person. I really don't care for white corn - I find it rather tasteless. I'll see about getting a couple of ears today and adding them in...
In the meantime, we have lots of good food in the 'fridge to get us through the week - and plenty of ideas for using it!
Boursin Burritos
We were watching a cooking show a while back and the folks were in France. Someone was whipping up a quick hors d'oeuvre and pulled out some Boursin from the 'fridge. She said that Boursin could be found in every refrigerator in France - it's the French Velveeta!
Who am I to argue? We have it in our 'fridge most of the time. On the other hand, we never - ever - have Velveeta. Ever. I have never cared for it - even as a child on grilled cheese sandwiches. We always had it in the house, but my mom loved different cheeses and I'd get the good stuff whenever I could. As a teenager, by brother's then-girlfriend, Chris, and I would roam San Francisco trying to find the stinkiest cheeses to try and gross the other out. Neither of us succeeded in grossing the other out, but we did find that Limburger was the stinkiest we could find. I still like it.
I remember when Boursin hit the market and was all the rage. Burgers stuffed with molten Boursin, and sauces on everything from beef to vegetables. It's still pretty tasty and very versatile all these years later.
Which brings us to dinner, tonight...
My original thought was a Mexican-inspired burrito-ish dish - spicy and tomatoey - but we all know that what I first think of and what actually gets made can be pretty different. I had most of a grilled chicken in the 'fridge, plenty of vegetables, the Boursin, and a package of small flour tortillas - and gravy that I had made from the chicken. The wheels started turning and I went to work.
I grabbed a couple of mushrooms, a small zucchini, and a piece of red onion and chopped them all fine. Next was a small package of diced pancetta. It went into the skillet and I browned it up. Next went the diced veggies. I cooked it all together with a bit of minced garlic, added some white wine and cooked it all down.
Meanwhile, I prepared the tortillas. They were easy - all I did was spread them with Boursin.
I topped them with some of the vegetables and some chopped, cooked chicken and rolled them up. Into a disch they went. I covered it and placed it in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes. While they were in the oven, I heated the gravy.
They were surprisingly good with lots of flavor. The Boursin really stood out without being overpowering. I made six, put three on each plate - and that was waaaaay too much food. We barely finished two - the leftovers will be lunch.
And it's the chicken that keeps on giving. There's probably half a chicken still left. Time for some more creativity!
More from the Garden
We've been harvesting more cucumbers. I think by this weekend we'll be making a chilled cucumber soup. call me naive, but I really didn't know one little plant would be producing so much! It's rather fun, because cucumbers are not something I've ever really thought about. I mean... sliced or cubed into a salad, but I've never had such an abundance of them that I had to think about what to do with them. Methinks I'm going to be thinking about what to do with them.
I didn't have to think, tonight - Victor made a cucumber salad. Thinly-sliced cucumber, red onion, and celery, minced garlic, fresh herbs from the garden, a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice - we're still using it up from the limoncello - and some S&P.
Simplicity.
The rest of the salads were from the 'fridge - a barley salad and an ancient grains salad I made a couple of days ago, eggs, tomatoes, grilled chicken, hot peppers...
The chicken was a whole roaster done on the grill like a beer can chicken - except I used a vertical roaster. I liberally doused the chicken with Penzey's Mitchell Street Steak Rub and it grilled to perfection.
Chicken is going to be on the menu for a couple of days, I think...
Maybe tacos tomorrow night...
Chicken 'n' Veggies
We're off to the produce store in the morning after the gym, so it's time to clean out the 'fridge.
Sunday dinner can be a lot of fun when we're in use-up-what's-in-the-fridge mode. Fortunately, we're pretty good at it - lots of experience over the years!
First, I sliced, floured, and lightly cooked a chicken breast and set it aside.
We had leeks, fennel, carrots, green onions, and mushrooms - so into the skillet they went with some chopped garlic, and after a few minutes, I added white wine. I cooked it down until the veggies were tender and then added the chicken back in. A bit of salt and pepper, to taste.
Another splash of wine, and dinner was ready.
White rice was the perfect accompaniment.
Parmesan Fried Eggs
Do you ever see a recipe and decide that you have to cook it right this very minute?!? That's pretty much how I felt when I saw a recipe for a salad with a parmesan egg on top, except I didn't want to make the salad - it was all about that fried egg and cheese. It sounded too ridiculously good not to make right away.
Spoiler Alert: It's ridiculously good.
The concept is frying an egg on top of frico - a parmesan crisp. And a frico is merely taking freshly grated parmigiano reggiano and placing it in a skillet until it melts and crisps. It's an Italian invention - or, at least this iteration is. I'm sure other cheese-producing countries have something similar.
You can't use the green can of faux parmesan or anything powdered. It really needs to be the real deal.
To make the frico and egg:
- Very lightly oil a 10" non-stick skillet.
- Place 1/4 cup freshly-grated parmigiano reggiano per egg in skillet over medium heat. Cook about 2 minutes - until cheese begins to melt.
- Crack egg on top of cheese and cover. Cook about 3 minutes.
- Remove cover, increase heat, and cook until egg is cooked to your preference.
For dinner, I sliced a beefsteak tomato into really thick slices and put them on the plate with olive oil, salt, and pepper. On top of the tomato went sliced of grilled chicken. On top of the chicken went the cheese and egg.
It was one of those meals that just worked on every level and every flavor worked with every flavor.
Juicy tomatoes, spicy chicken, and crispy salty cheese wedded to a fried egg on top.
How could it not be good?!?
Bucatini
It has been raining pretty much non-stop since the wee hours of the morning. It's also been really windy - not a good combination, around here. And I'm pretty sure it put a damper on a lot of Mother's Day festivities.
Today is second only to New Year's Eve for days I absolutely hated working - and it is such a pleasure to be retired and not have to deal with that insanity, anymore. Instead, we cooked a simple pasta dish and watched the rain water the three shrubs we planted yesterday to shield us from our new neighbor.
Sadly, the new folks had a company come out and completely strip every bit of plant material out of their yard and replace it with grass. There were beautiful fire bushes along the fence that were perfect for both sound-break and privacy. Gone. Brick flower beds. Gone. We can now sit out in our yard and look right through their kitchen and into their living room. We kept thinking that they'd put something up to replace it all, but... their guys were back out this week and planted grass right up to the fence.
We headed off to the garden center...
Hopefully, the new plants will enjoy all of the water they're getting and grow big and tall - quickly.
The rest of the garden is enjoying it, as well. The vegetables are all looking good - and hopefully by next week we'll be planting our San Marzano tomatoes and a bunch of other stuff we started from seeds. We're still a couple months away from planting the last of the peppers - seeds my sister-in-law, Debbie, sent us from New Mexico. They're going to be a great addition to all the other hot peppers out there. I am really looking forward to making hot sauces in the fall!
I picked up some jalapeño peppers at the store the other day that were so mild, I can't even believe they were called jalapeño. I chopped them up and put them in tonight's sauce - no heat, whatsoever.
The sauce really didn't need heat - but I usually like a bit of a kick with my spaghetti - or bucatini as the case may be. A noodle by any other name...
We had an open jar of Victor's sauce in the 'fridge, so I used it to braise a couple of chicken thighs and made a really nice sauce. I chopped the bland jalapeños, a bell pepper, a bit of garlic, and an onion... browned them off, added the chicken thighs and browned them off, as well.
Next went some red wine and, finally, the pasta sauce. I put a lid on it and placed it in a 325°F oven for 2 hours. The end result was fall-off-the-bone chicken and a deep, rich sauce.
I'm still weighing our pasta - I probably always will - and made just enough for two. Nonna won't eat noodles or pasta sauce with things in it, so she got farfalle and the undoctored sauce. Whatever works, right?!?
In the meantime, we're getting a break in the rain for a few hours and then more rain all day tomorrow. We may see some sun by Wednesday...
Clean Out The Refrigerator Chicken
Today is my Aunt Dolores' birthday. Actually, great-aunt. She was my grandmother's sister and my mom's aunt. She was born in 1898, so today is the 121st anniversary of her birth. She was the youngest of six, born in Colorado, married twice, and a damned good cook. Her Rum Balls are legendary. And her leg of lamb... if only I could replicate that gravy...
She made it to 96. Not bad, at all...
Her mother-in-law - my Aunt Katharine - was born in 1882, and is probably the oldest person I have vivid memories of. Since Aunt Dolores and Uncle Tommy never had kids, i was the grandchild she never had. She did a good job of spoiling me...
As I said, Aunt Dolores was a great cook. We would head over to their apartment (at this point, she and her sister, Aunt Phoebe, were both widows and lived together) in Stonestown - in a high-rise! - and she would cook up some of the best meals.
As were most women of her time, she was an intuitive cook - never used a real recipe and when she wrote something down it was with the expectation that you knew what to do with the minimalist information.
If she had only written down her lamb gravy.....
But I digress...
I cooked something up tonight that I'm sure Auntie would have enjoyed. A clean out the 'fridge vegetables and chicken thighs.
I started by browning 2 chicken thighs. I took them out of the pan and added a half-bag of broccoli slaw, a zucchini, and 2 tomatoes. I chopped the tomato and zucchini and sauteed it with the slaw, and a bit of S&P.
When it all started wilting a bit, I added a splash of red wine and about a cup of pasta sauce that was left over from another meal. I nestled the chicken thighs on top, added some chopped green onions, and put it, covered, into the oven at 425°F for 30 minutes.
Lots of flavor, lots of texture, lots of leftovers used up. A perfect meal.
And... just for grins and giggles, here's Aunt Dolores in Italy in the '30s before the war... She was between husbands at this time...
She was a lot of fun.
Chicken with Honey and Garlic
When Victor got back from the gym, this morning, he casually said, oh, by the way... I'm cooking dinner, tonight.
That is always music to my ears. I am a firm believer in if you're cooking, I'm eating - and it really is nice when the person cooking knows what in the heck they're doing!
Both of us are intuitive cooks - we just kinda know what works and what doesn't. It usually means reading a recipe and being able to alter ingredients as you're going down the list. My mom used to talk about reading a recipe and mentally tasting it as she read it. That really makes a lot of sense to me.
Victor wanted to do something non-Italian, tonight. We both tend to go Italian as a go-to, although back in the day, my go-to was always Mexican. I conceded defeat when we first moved east and I couldn't find basic Mexican ingredients in the grocery store. (For the first 8 years we lived here, we would bring cans of chipotles in adobo back with us every time we traveled west.) Ingredient-wise, things have gotten much better, but the go-to Italian is still the go-to because I've gotten lazy.
He had an idea for something spicy with garlic and honey - and asked if we had any chicken breasts in the freezer. I grabbed one for him and walked away - seeing the wheels turning.
What he ended up with was something worthy of any decent Chinese restaurant - simple with clean flavors.
Chicken with Honey and Garlic
- 1 chicken breast, cubed
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 cup broccoli, cooked
- 1 tbsp sambal oelek
- black sesame seeds
- natural sesame seeds
- flour
- salt and pepper
Dice chicken. Dredge in flour mixed with a pinch of salt & pepper.
Make a sauce of the honey, rice wine, soy sauce, and sambal oelek.
Saute chicken in a bit of oil. Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant - 2 or 3 minutes.,
Add sauce and simmer until thickened. Add broccoli and mix well.
Serve with rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
For an Italian, it was a pretty good rendition of Asian-American cooking. My stomach is smiling!
Spicy Peanut Chicken Thighs
The inspiration for this particular dish comes from Fine Cooking magazine, but the concept dates back forever - peanut stew, groundnut stew, spicy peanuts and sweet potatoes - it's African cooking at its finest.
Peanuts and spice are a match made in gastronomic heaven - and a combo I just don't make often enough. But after seeing how easy this was, I'm sure to be going it more often!
Spicy Peanut Chicken Thighs
- 1/2 cup peanut butter - smooth or chunky
- 2 hot peppers, minced (or to taste)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 skinless chicken thighs - bone-in or out
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 head baby bok choy, coarsely chopped
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
- olive oil
Thoroughly combine the peanut butter, chiles, 2 tbsp olive oil oil, the lemon juice, 2 tsp. of the garlic, and salt to taste.
Place chicken in marinade and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 375°F.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large ovenproof skillet. Add the onion and the remaining garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and the garlic is fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the sweet potatoes bok choy, and tomatoes, and cook about 5 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, and place on top of the tomatoes, spooning marinade on top of each. Scatter the peanuts over the chicken, and then transfer the skillet to the oven.
Cook until the chicken is cooked through - about 30 minutes.
The End of Week Thirty-Six
We're still measuring weight-loss in ounces, not pounds - but it's still weight-loss. That's the word that matters.
On the gym-front, our trainer keeps pushing with rapid-fire sets. There's nary a second to catch a breath and we're on to the next ordeal. It really is just a continuous workout.
What has surprised me, is after thirty-six weeks, I can do it! I'm keeping up. My pure pigheaded stubbornness has paid off. The other thing that has surprised me is I feel fine walking out the door. Where once we were both exhausted for quite some time after a workout, it's now a thing of the past. We get home and have the energy to do whatever we want to do. I just wish the weather would start cooperating, because what I really want to do is a yard clean-up.
I just need to work on patience... It will happen in the next few weeks...
Another thing that will happen is the garden - and we will rely less on the store and more on what we're growing. In the meantime, fresh veggies and a few canned things work just fine.
I spaced out taking a picture of the actual dinner plate, tonight, but it was a grilled bone-in chicken breast with the bean salad from the other day. Like our luncheon soups, we make the salads in quantity to last a few days.
There are no recipes for salads like this - and no wrong way to make them. Put what you have in a bowl ad tie it all together with a simple vinaigrette. Add some salt and pepper, and it's a great side or center of the plate.
On to week thirty-seven. I can't wait to see what our trainer has in store for us...
The End of Week Thirty-Five
Weight-loss this week is being measured in ounces, not pounds - but it's in the loss category. I'll take it.
It's also being measured in the pain category. Our trainer is ramping it up, again. He had us working the core, today. I wanted to die several times. The core muscles are just that - the abdominal muscles, back muscles and the muscles around the pelvis. They are where it all begins - and, where I may meet my end.
Strengthening the core means actually doing things with your body instead of with weights or machines. Weights and machines are a lot easier. If weight-loss was measured by perspiration, there would be nothing left of me.
But... it's all working. Slowly and painfully - but it's working.
The weather is working, as well. It is 74°F outside, right now. We're already planning our yard clean-up - called the local recycling center and got info about bringing in yard waste and buying some topsoil and compost - and starting to think about the garden and what we plan to grow, this year.
I'm totally ready for Spring!
But while I'm ready for Spring, Mother Nature still has a few tricks up her sleeves. Temps are set to drop, again. Our final frost date is April 30th, which means I can start doing a few inside seeds any time, now...
In planning for the better weather, the grill parts I ordered will be here on Tuesday. I had planned on grilling a chicken breast, tonight, on the falling-apart grill, but Victor volunteered to do cutlets - and I'm always ready for a change in plans. I'm much more flexible mentally than I am physically.
The cutlets were a simple chicken breast, sliced and pounded, dipped in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. The potatoes were baby yukons with olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper - in the oven at 350°F for 35 or so minutes.
And the bean salad from yesterday.
Another successful gym day and dinner.
To toast our success and kick off the St Patrick's Day weekend, those glasses on the top right of the photo hold The Sexton - an outrageously good Irish Whiskey - created by one of the few female Master Blenders in the industry.
She did well.
Here's to more success.
Vaguely Chinese
Tonight's dinner is brought to you by things that we needed to use up.
I do the majority of our grocery shopping once a week - not because of any reason other than I hate dealing with grocery stores. I usually have two stores to go to and then I have the treks to the Farmer's Market, Reading Terminal Market, or a specialty store here and there... But wherever I go, I tend to buy enough so I don't have to go back too soon. It's a great system, except towards the end of the week I have to make sure I use up all of the fresh the stuff I bought.
Right now that's kinda easy since anything can go into a pot of soup, but when the soup is made and there's still bits and pieces of veggies that need using, a bottle of cooking sauce is the perfect little helper.
I've said many times that I'm not an intuitive Chinese cook, but I can take a jar of faux-Chinese sauce and doctor it up.
We had a small piece of turkey left from the other night and a small chicken breast, so I cut them both up and marinated them in a concoction of soy sauce, chili paste, sesame oil, fish sauce, rice wine, and lots of garlic.
I sliced up a celery stalk, 2 small carrots, a broccoli crown, and a red onion. Into the skillet they went, and then the marinated chicken and turkey went in. I quickly cooked it all and then added the rest of a bottle of spicy orange sauce that was hanging out in the 'fridge, and a few tablespoons of sambal oelek. When it was hot, I added a drained can of bean sprouts - because there is no such thing as fresh bean sprouts around here.
A few sesame seeds and green onions on top, and over white rice it went.
Really simple, quick and easy, not remotely authentic, but it was tasty and filling.
Tomorrow, Victor is making homemade ravioli.