These past few weeks have been crazy. Between being out of town every weekend for the past month, to seriously overcommitting myself on several blog projects, to general insanity at the office, I feel like I’ve barely had time to catch a breath, let alone plan a menu or go grocery shopping. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I love being busy and everything has been 100% worth it. But I’m exhausted and I haven’t really felt like cooking. But a girl can only eat so much takeout before she starts to feel sick, and I knew that, despite the fact that I felt like collapsing onto the couch and not getting up until bed, it was time to cook a real dinner.
I came up with this porcini dusted steak with red wine sauce and a summery green bean, corn, and tomato salad on a whim, and I couldn’t have been happier with it. The steak was rich and flavorful, with a perfect crust of powdered mushrooms. The salad was light and fresh, featuring some of the best that August has to offer. And the whole thing was on the table in under 15 minutes. Which meant I could get back to the couch and put my feet up in half the time it would have taken to get a pizza delivered.
Healthy Delicious
Porcini Dusted Ribeye with Red Wine Sauce A spice grinder is ideal for processing the porcini mushrooms into a fine powder, but a knife works just as well. Cut the mushroom into thin strips, then cut cross-wise to create tiny pieces no larger than coarsely ground black pepper.
1 pound ribeye steak, cut into four portions
4 dried porcini mushrooms
1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tsp butter
salt and pepper
Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel — drying the steaks will help them get a nice sear. Season with salt and pepper. Using a spice grinder or a sharp knife, process the porcinis into a fine powder. Sprinkle the porcini powder over both sides of the steak, and use your hands to press the seasonings into the meat a little to help it stick.
Heat a frying pan — preferably cast iron — over medium-high heat. Once your pan is nice and hot, add the oil. Let the oil heat up for a minute and add the steaks. Cook for 3 minutes on each side for medium rare. Remove the steaks from the pan and let them rest. Turn the heat down to medium and add the wine to the pan. Stir it to loosen up and bits of browned steak in the bottom of the pan. Allow the wine to simmer and reduce by about half. Stir in the butter and remove from heat.
Spoon the sauce over the steaks.
Serves 4.
Healthy Delicious
Green Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad I like my green beans to have a snap to them, so I quickly blanch them. If you prefer your beans softer, like Shawn does, cook them for a few minutes longer.
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
Kernels from 2 ears of corn on the cob
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs rice vinegar
pepper to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the green beans and cook for 2 minutes. Immediately drain into a colander set in the sink and rinse them with cold water to cool them off.Transfer the beans into a large serving bowl. Toss together with the remaining ingredients.
Fate smiled down on me last week when I opened the box containing the mystery ingredient for week two of the Tazo Cookoff. I had been dreaming of a tea enriched breakfast appropriate rice pudding for months. When I was first asked to participate in this challenge I knew I finally had an excuse to actually make it. But I wanted to step things up for this challenge so I decided that instead of using rice I would use quinoa. I crossed my fingers and hoped that one of the mystery ingredients would work in this dish.Imagine my delight when I opened he week two box only to find a jar of organic red quinoa waiting to take part in some culinary magic. My quinoa pudding was meant to be.
I used boxed vanilla rooibos latte concentrate for this recipe because cooking with a product clearly meant for drinking (even more than tea in general) seemed fun. Plus it meant that I didn’t need to add any additional sugar or spices (the concentrate is slightly sweetened and contains vanilla and cinnamon). Complete with toppings, this recipe contains a grand total of sixingredients. You can’t get much simpler than that!
The quinoa gives this pudding a nutty flavor and a coarse texture — it lacks the creamy starchiness or rice pudding and reminds me more of steel cut oats. The flavor of the tea is very prominent and combined with the sweetness of the cherries and the crunch of the pistachios, it makes a great breakfast or a filling snack.Also, vanilla rooibos lattes? Totally my new favorite drink. Warm and creamy, with a slightly floral this drink reminds me of the perfect rainy day. The kind where you have nothing better to do than sit in your yoga pants, drink tea, and curl up with a book while the rain softly pitter patters outside the window.
A few tips for making this pudding:
Make sure to rinse the quinoa well. Until the water runs clear. This will prevent it from being bitter.
Ignore the directions on the back of the box of concentrate. If you look at the box, you’ll be tempted to use more concentrate than this recipe calls for. That would be a huge mistake. Even though you start with a cup and a half of milk, it reduces down to form the pudding and you’ll only end up with about a quarter cup of milk in the final dish. If you use too much concentrate the ratios will be way off and your pudding will be far too sweet.
Healthy Delicious
Vanilla Rooibos Quinoa Pudding with Cherry & Pistachio
For a more dessert-like pudding, use rice instead of quinoa. Cherries are delicious, but any combination of a seasonal fruit and complimenting nut will work.
1/2 cup red quinoa, rinsed well
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup heavy cream*
1/4 cup vanilla rooibos tea late concentrate
1 cup cherries, pitted and chopped
2 Tbs chopped pistachios
Combine the quinoa, milk, cream and tea concentrate in a medium saucepan over low to medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, for a half hour. For the first 20 minutes, the mixture will seem very liquidly, but after that it will begin to reduce very quickly. Keep a close eye on it at this point. When the mixture has reduced down to a pudding-like consistency, remove it from heat. Chill for at least a half hour.
Add the cherries to a small sauce pan with a tablespoon of water. Cook over medium heat until soft and slightly syrupy. Top the quinoa pudding with the warm cherries and a sprinkle of chopped pistachios.
Serves 4
* I added the cream because the pudding won’t reach the right consistency without a little fat and I only had skim milk. Feel free to substitute 1-1/2 cups whole or reduced fat milk for the skim milk and cream.
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Looking for a second chance to win a great Tazo gift pack including a one year supply of tea and a selection of tea-brewing essentials? You’ll be entered one time for every comment you leave on one of my Tazo recipes. This is recipe # 2 of 3. The first recipe was my tea-smoked salmon with lavender and honey glaze. (Every comment you leave will also help me win a $1,000 gift card to Williams Sonoma.)
I was provided with a selection of Tazo teas and quinoa to use as inspiration in this challenge. I have no affiliation with Tazo or Starbucks, and any opinions stated above are my own.
Yesterday – August 8 – was “National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbors Porch Day.” It sounds like a joke, but think about it. If you have a garden (or know someone who has a garden) chances are you’ve been up to your ears in zucchini and summer squash for a few weeks already. You might be sick of them. And looking for an excuse to sneak some on an innocent neighbor under cover of night. But this gratin might just rekindle your love of the ubiquitous summertime vegetable.
As delicious as my tea-smoked salmon with lavender and honey glaze was (Have you seen it yet? Entered to win some tea?), this gratin held its own. Served together, dinner was an event. I half expected fireworks to go off as I finished my plate. The squash bakes in their own juices until they are soft and delicate. The tomatoes begin to dry from the heat of the oven, leaving them sweet and intensely flavored. The sharp Parmesan and crisp breadcrumbs lend classic comfort. And then, there’s the unexpected. Instead of using italian seasonings, you take a little detour through the south of France thanks to fresh thyme and herbs de Provence (a mixture of savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and lavender).
Sure you may be reluctant to turn your oven on in the height of August. Wait for a rainy day if you must. But I wouldn’t wait. Really, it’s already so hot that having the oven on doesn’t seen to make it any worse. And even if it does, it’s totally worth it.
Healthy Delicious
Zucchini and Summer Squash Gratin
1.5 Tbs olive oil, divided
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs fresh thyme
1 zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1 summer squash, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbs herbs de Provence
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook stirring occasionally, until golden brown and very soft — about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme. Spread the onions in the bottom of a medium casserole dish (I used a 10.5 by 7 Le Crueset baking dish).
Begin to layer the squash and tomato in the pan, letting them overlap slightly – I did one row on zucchini, one row of summer squash, and one row of tomato. Sprinkle with a little bit of the herbs de Provence and about 1/3 of the cheese. Make a second layer of vegetables, using the same technique as the first layer but mixing up the order of the rows so that you don’t have two layers of the same vegetable stacked right on top of each other. Add more herbs and cheese. Make one final vegetable layer. Top with the rest of the herbs de Provence and the cheese. Sprinkle a thin layer of panko bread crumbs over the top and drizzle with the remaining 1/2 Tbs of olive oil.
Bake at 375 for 60 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 4
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I’m submitting this post to Two for Tuesdays, a weekly blogging event about cooking Real Food.
I’ve been in something of a cooking rut lately, struggling to find inspiration and ideas for new dishes. Apparently all l needed in order to get back in the groove of things was a good challenge! When I received an invitation to take part in the Tazo Cook-Off, I almost declined. Somehow, in the bat of an eye, my schedule for August has filled up and I couldn’t imagine how I would find time to participate in a challenge that would require me to come up with three new recipes over the course of three weeks, each involving both tea and a mystery ingredient that would be disclosed to me the cook-off progressed.But, if you know me you know I love a good culinary challenge — of course I ended up saying yes! And boy am I glad I did, because I never would have thought to create this amazing tea-smoked salmon with honey & lavender glaze otherwise. And that would be sad, because this recipe is so good that you should just go ahead and cancel whatever dinner plans you have for tomorrow and make this instead. (And if that’s not enough to get you to keep reading this post, what if I told you there’s a fantastic giveaway opportunity if you keep reading?)
So I spent the past week thinking about all of the great things that I could make with tea, when a package arrived for me on Monday with my first mystery ingredient. Lavender. Right. There go those ideas! I have to admit, I was a little stumped. I was stuck on the idea of shortbread cookies for a while, but that just seemed so obvious. No, I was determined to go savory with this dish. And I began to think about salmon.The most recent issue of Fine Cooking had an article on tea-smoking that had intrigued me, and this seemed like the perfect time to try it out. I played around with flavors and technique until I came up with the recipe you see here. Which is incredible. The flavors of the teas — orange, cloves, star anise, cinnamon — permeate the salmon and give it an amazing flavor. The honey and lavender give it a floral sweetness that just works. And smoking it gives it the most amazing texture — silky and smooth, yet still flakey and fully cooked. I’ve really never had anything like it before, but this is definitely a technique that I’ll be using again and again.
Healthy Delicious
Tea-Smoked Salmon with Honey & Lavender Glaze
2 bags Tazo chai tea
1 bag Tazo wild sweet orange tea
2 Tbs dry rice
2 Tbs light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbs dried culinary lavender
8 ounces sockeye salmon
1 tsp olive oil
Heat your grill to medium-high.
While the grill heats, prepare the smoking packet by dumpling the contents of the tea bags, the rice, and the brown sugar onto a sheet of tinfoil. Sprinkle the tea with a few drops of water (less than 1/4 teaspoon — just enough so that it’s barely damp). Loosely fold the foil around the ingredients to form a flat packet. Place the packet directly on the coals/burner of the heated grill (under the grate). Close the lid and wait 10 minutes for the packet to begin to create smoke.
Pat the salmon dry and brush with the olive oil. Add to the grill, skin-side up, away from direct heat — if your grill has an upper rack, that’s the perfect place for it. Close the lid and let cook for 5 minutes. Flip and let cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until it’s cooked to your liking.
Meanwhile, add the honey and lavender to a small saucepan set over low heat. Heat through until the honey melts and becomes very thin. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Brush the glaze over the salmon just prior to serving.
Serves 2.
So, what was that I mentioned about a giveaway? Well, this is a cook-off, which implies that I’m trying to win something too, right? Well, to help me win you need to vote. And to vote, you need to leave a comment on my Tazo posts (you don’t need a blog in order to comment — just a valid e-mail address). That’s where the prize comes in. Just in case you need more motivation to leave a comment than to help me out and give me a glimmer of hope in being able to compete against the “popular girls” I’ll pick one commenter from my upcoming Tazo posts (this is #1 of 3) to be the lucky recipient of 12 boxes of Tazo teas as well as a fantastic kit full of tea-brewing essentials. (Anyone is free to comment, but I can only send the prize to you if you live in the US. Their rules – sorry!)
Ready…. Set…. Comment!
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PS – See that casserole up there? Right up there with the salmon in terms of flavor and all-around awesomeness. That recipe will be coming up next. You won’t want to miss it!
I was provided with a selection of Tazo teas and culinary lavender to use as inspiration in this challenge. I have no affiliation with Tazo or Starbucks, and any opinions stated above are my own.
I’ve been really into fruit salsas this summer and when the hot, steamy weather last week left me craving watermelon, I decided to make a Latin American style meal featuring light and fresh summer flavors. These crab and corn empanadas were a huge hit! The crust was crispy and flakey and, while the flavor of the filling was unexpected, it just worked. The smokey and complex flavor of the poblano sauce paired perfectly with the rest of the meal — I based it off the enchilada sauce that I made for my pork and pineapple stacked enchilada and I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be good without being baked with cheese, but it definitely held its own in this dish. The pool of sauce under the empanada made for a gorgeous plate and I wouldn’t hesitate to serve this to guests. Actually, it would make a perfect dinner party dish, since the prep work is very quick and can be done ahead of time.
The empanadas were also great left over! I think they may have even gotten better after spending the night in the fridge. To reheat them, I just popped the in the toaster oven on “light” for 2 minutes — just enough to crisp up the outside and warm them through.
I served these with sauteed plantains and watermelon salsa (watermelon, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt). The meal was light and refreshing. If you want a more substantial dinner, they would also be great with a side of black beans.
Healthy Delicious
Baked Crab and Corn Empanadas
1 can crab meat
2 scallions, sliced
1/2 lime, juiced
1 cup corn
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten together with 1 Tbs water
1 package puff pastry, thawed
In a large bowl, combine the crab meat, scallions, corn, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.
Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 squares. Place one rounded tablespoon of the crab and corn mixture into the center of each square. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg, then fold it over to form a triangle with the filling inside. Use the tines of a fork to seal the pastry by crimping the edges together. Brush the top of the pastry with the remaining egg.
Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Light a grill or broiler to high. Place the chiles on the grill/under the broiler and cook for several minutes until the skins turn black and begin to blister. Remove and allow to cool. Remove the papery leaves from the tomatillos and add those. Cook 1-2 minutes or until they just begin to soften. Remove and let cool.
Remove the stem and seed core from the peppers. Use a knife to scrape away the outermost layer of skin (it will be very thin and film-like and should peel off fairly easily). Chop.
Use a blender or food processor to puree the tomatillos. Add the tomatillo puree, chopped chiles, broth, onion, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Whisk in the cornstarch and let simmer another 10 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened.
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