{Food} Trout With Mushroom & Bean Ragout

As summer comes to a close (temperatures, please drop, and asap.), the heat here in Dallas seems to persist.  Which of course, leaves me wanting light and healthy meals.

I've already mentioned before that chorizo and beans are somewhat of a staple in my pantry.  And with the desire to be frugal, I wanted to buy as little as possible and use what I have.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I will say that I've seen the flavor combinations below numerous times.  However, I, until recently, have never put them together.

In twenty minutes, a great summery dish was on the table.

I first cooked the chorizo, adding bits of diced shallot and garlic.  Once I felt that the chorizo was almost finished I added diced shiitake mushrooms.  I let those cook a bit more, seasoning with salt and pepper and then added the can of beans.  (I drained and rinsed them first.)  I then readjusted my seasonings and added a generous cup of crisp, white wine.

While that was reducing down, I roasted some cherry tomatoes in the oven.  In a foil pouch, I threw in some butter, white wine, shallots and garlic, and let them roast.

I cooked the trout in a pan, crispy skin side down.  I laid the fish atop of the ragout of beans and mushrooms, topping it with my roasted cherry tomatoes and finished the dish with chopped romaine tossed in a light vinaigrette.

Easy Peasy.  And Delicious.

{Make} Smoked Salmon & Cucumber

Have I ever mentioned my love of dips?  For me, dips are in a food group all on their own.  Dips = The food group of excellence.

The thing is, I love crackers with dips.  Or tortilla chips.  But cucumbers are an amazing replacement; crispy, refreshing, and low in calories.

I made smoked salmon canapés, replacing the toast with a cucumber instead.  So delicious and light!

Basically, you slice English cucumbers, spread with a low/high calorie dip (I used Alouette instead of Boursin), top with diced onion, capers, and smoked salmon.

And Presto!  Appetizer or light lunch in minutes.

{Make} Steak Tartare

Last night, Mr. C and I were craving steak.  We sort of had steak overload (look away, vegetarians), so with the third filet, the hubs whipped up steak tartare a la Mad Men.

We used my "Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook" as a guide and then added ingredients as we tasted.

I'm halfway wondering if this post is going to freak some people out.  Raw steak?

I figured I'd go ahead and post it anyway, because it tasted great.  I also really love pretty much any tartare.

Quick Chicken Soup, Y'all!

 

I woke up this morning feeling like I was fighting off a cold.

Naturally, my first response was "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  and of course, because it's me I'm talking about, some expletives.  If I actually rated colds, summer colds would get the crappiest rating.  It's hot outside, you're hot, gross stuff happens, you can't breath.  And you're hot.  So pretty much, it sucks.

The other thing that sucks about being sick?  Nothing sounds good.  AND eating is my favorite thing to do.  Besides drinking.

So I called in the troops.  Aka I made a quick chicken soup.  I need this to restore all that is good in the world and more importantly, make me feel all good again.

Grab all the veggies you have.  Chop them and sauté the aromatics.  Then you add the chopped vegetables.  Add the chicken broth (or bouillon cubes).  Throw in the shredded rotisserie chicken that I know you have lying around. (I did.  Did I know I was going to get sick yesterday? Weird.)

Add spices and lime juice and let that baby simmer for a good twenty.  Go hit the cough syrup.  Come back and eat.

Lets cross our fingers, pray, and chant (do what you will), that this works.

And with that, I'm going back to bed. 

Recipe: Zucchini Lasagna

Have you ever made lasagna?

The other day I made a version using zucchini instead of pasta.  It turned out really well.  Maybe I'll try to create the classic version.

I made too much sauce, though.  We're going to be eating tomato sauce for years.

Zucchini Lasagna
Serves 2


Ingredients:

• 2 large zucchini, sliced into thin strips
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 LB ground beef
• Miscellaneous vegetables (I used corn and extra zucchini)
• 28 oz can of tomatoes
• basil
• egg
• 15 oz ricotta
• 1/4 cup of Parmesan
• 8 oz mozzarella
• Oregano
• Salt/pepper

1. In a skillet, season with salt and pepper, and brown ground beef.  Drain.
2. In a large sauce pan, sauté onions until soft.  Add garlic and sauté, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Add vegetables, sauté some more.  
3. Add ground beef and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to a simmer.  Allow the sauce to cook for 30 minutes or so, melding the flavors together.  Season with salt and pepper, basil, and oregano.  (You can also do this earlier when cooking the aromatics)
4. Mix together Parmesan, ricotta and egg.
5. In a casserole dish, ladle sauce.  Add ricotta mixture and Mozzarella.  Layer zucchini.
6. Repeat these layers.  Top with ricotta mixture and finish with Mozzarella
7. Cover with foil.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
8. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more until the top is golden.

{Basil from the garden}

{Before}

{45 minutes later.  Divine}

Turkey Meatballs Are Amazing.

I'm finally starting to settle back into the groove of things.  I really needed a day or so to unpack and reorganize.  So sorry for the radio silence!

Anyway, I want to show you this great recipe I found.  I've been on a turkey burger kick and had some left over turkey meat in the fridge, but wanted to shake it up a bit.  (I'm a creature of habit.  I can eat the same thing everyday until I get sick of it.  And I never get sick of it)

I found Giada's recipe for turkey meatballs and began to gather my mis-en-place.

I didn't have much ketchup or even a whole jar of tomato sauce, but it turned out great anyway.

I was surprised at how delicious these meatballs tasted.  Honestly, even better than the beef and pork variety that I usually make.

And to keep things light, I gave Victor the orzo pasta and for me, used steamed green beans as "pasta."  It was a tasty swap!

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Broccoli Soup

When I'm craving comfort food, but wanting to avoid consuming loads of calories, broccoli soup is my go-to recipe.  It's hearty, but balanced, and extremely healthy.

I prefer the recipe from Williams-Sonoma's website because of how quick and easy it is.  I use the basic instructions for the recipe and tweak it a bit.  For example, I had some extra zucchini in the refrigerator, and decided to add that.  I also used onions instead of leeks.  It's easy peasy.  Just use what you have on hand.

Broccoli Soup adapted from Williams-Sonoma


Ingredients:

• 2 heads of broccoli, roughly chopped
• 1 small yellow onion, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 TBS olive oil, plus more
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• sour cream, for garnish
• cheddar cheese, for garnish
• salt and pepper, to taste

1.  In a large pot, add 2 TBS olive oil.  Over low heat, saute onions for about two minutes.  Add broccoli, zucchini and garlic, adding more oil, if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.  Saute until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes.  

2.  Add 4 cups of chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Keep slightly covered, cooking until vegetables are tender.  This takes about 20 minutes.

3.  Using an emulsion blender or food processor (or a plain old blender, in my case), puree soup until smooth.  Only puree small amounts at a time.  Hot liquids and blenders can explode.  No fun. 

4.  Once the entire soup has been pureed, ladle into bowls and garnish with sour cream and grated Cheddar.

Sometimes when sauteing the vegetables, I add white wine and let that reduce before adding the stock.  It adds a really nice flavor.

The whole meal takes less than thirty minutes to prepare and it tastes so good.  Broccoli and cheese? Yes, I think so.

Crab Cakes for Two.

I think my biggest weakness is food. In fact, eating is one of my interests. Cooking is too. However, frugality is not my strongest suite. I don't skimp when it comes to food and have noticed an alarming trend over the years. I spend too much money on meals!

My other half and I were were craving seafood, so I decided to whip up easy and inexpensive crab cakes. I adapted the recipe from the Morton's Steak Bible.

Dinner cost all of $15 and took about 30 minutes to make. Not bad, really.

The basic instructions for this recipe:

Mix an egg, your preferred seasonings, a bit of mayonnaise and whisk all together. In a separate bowl place your canned crab meat, making sure to remove any shells. At this point add any additional things to the meat such as onion, bell pepper, or celery. Fold this mixture into the egg/mayonnaise combination. Mix well. With your hands make small balls of the mixture and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 425 F for 8 minutes on each side.










And Voila!