Friday, June 28th, 2013

Tender Turkey Meatballs with Grilled Zucchini

RECIPE: Tender Turkey Meatballs with Grilled Zucchini

Turkey Meatballs with Grilled ZucchiniI have to say, I am PARTICULARLY proud of this recipe.  And I feel like it is very Summer-Sunday-Night-Supper.  I only wished it weren’t so filling, so I could have eaten more of it.

Lately, I’ve really been on the pescatarian train.  But sometimes I just want to say, to hell with it, I want me some Mulberry Street spaghetti and meatballs.  I feel like this is an excellent compromise (Mr. English is probably scoffing that I’m even attempting the word–I’m very all or nothing!).  A bed of thick slabs of grilled zucchini, marinated in olive oil, herbs, and garlic, piled high with bold, juicy, and tender meatballs, stewed in really good tomato sauce (I buy the best jarred one I can find to keep this in my weeknight repertoire).  I made this around 9:30 the other night, and we crashed on the couch with big bowls of steaming meatballs, watching TV.  It was epically wonderful.  The meatballs, aided by their breadcrumbs, and stuffed full of meaty flavor with the Worcestershire and ketchup and herbs and garlic, were fork-fall-apart perfect.  And the zucchini was a nice fresh summer counterpoint, instead of a bowl of spaghetti.  I was so proud!

I was only disappointed that I couldn’t fit the last meatball into my stomach.  I hate to waste something so good.

Tender Turkey Meatballs with Grilled Zucchini
serves 2 to 3

Turkey Meatballs with Grilled ZucchiniTurkey Meatballs

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound ground dark meat turkey
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • S&P
  • 1 24-ounce jar of tomato sauce
  • Fresh globe basil leaves for garnish

PROCEDURE

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients until just combined.  Form mixture into 8 meatballs, and place on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Transfer to a sauté pan with the tomato sauce, and simmer, covered for 25 minutes, adding water if the sauce becomes too thick.  Serve over the zucchini, topped with fresh basil.  (I wouldn't complain if you wanted to shave over some good Parm or Pecorino either!)

Grilled Zucchini

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 medium zucchini
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoons herbes de Provence
  • 1 clove of garlic, grated
  • S&P

PROCEDURE

Slice each zucchini into 4 long planks.  Toss with olive oil, herbes de Provence, garlic, and S&P.  Place on a hot grill pan, and sear 5 minutes on each side.print this recipe
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Categories: 30 Minutes, Eat, Main Courses, Poultry, Recipes
 
Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

Old-Bay Blacked Salmon with Greek Yogurt Tartare Sauce

RECIPE: Old-Bay Blacked Salmon with Greek Yogurt Tartare Sauce

Old Bay SalmonI got home late last night, craving something healthy, hearty, and full of Americana.  I brought one of those little tin tubs of Old Bay back on my last flight, thinking I might conjure up some homemade fish sticks or something like that.  But last night, confronted with a slab of fresh British salmon, I decided to go a different route.

I slathered the Old Bay on the salmon, and blackened it in a pan, finishing it off simply in the oven.  I have a really soft spot for the single ‘side’ of salmon that you divvy up around the table.  This wasn’t quite a side, but for me and Mr. English, it had the same effect.  And to go with it, a Greek yogurt tartare sauce stuffed with cornichons, green onions, parsley, and lemon.

I love that smell of Old Bay–nothing quite like it, is there, kind of sweet, fresh, briny, and savory–charring in the pan.  I love the bite and coolness of the yogurt tartare (I actually exclaimed to Mr. English that I may never go back to mayo–we’ll if that lasts, but this was a great sauce).  And I served with with Bon Appetit’s Snap Pea and Cabbage Slaw.

It was the perfect dinner.  Bright, filling, and I think pretty healthy!

Old-Bay Blacked Salmon with Greek Yogurt Tartare Sauce
serves 2 to 3

Old Bay Blackened SalmonINGREDIENTS

Old Bay-Blackened Salmon
  • One 1-pound piece of skin-on, boneless salmon fillet
  • 2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
  • 1 tablespoons olive or canola oil
Greek Yogurt Tartare Sauce
  • 8 cornichons
  • 2 scallions, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley
  • The juice from 1/4 lemon
  • One 7-ounce container of 2% Greek yogurt
  • S&P

PROCEDURE

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Rub the salmon all over with the Old Bay seasoning.  Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and quickly add the oil.  Add the salmon, flesh-side-down, and sear for 5 minutes.  Carefully flip over, and put in the oven for 10 minutes for salmon that is cooked through. For the yogurt tartare sauce, blitz the cornichons, scallions, and parsley in the food process until roughly chopped.  Add the lemon juice, yogurt, salt, and pepper, and blitz until combined but still just a bit chunky.  Serve together with lemon wedges!print this recipe
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Categories: 15 Minutes, Easy, Eat, Fish, Main Courses, Recipes
 
Sunday, June 9th, 2013

Where I’ve Been…

RECIPE: Wholegrain Fusilli with Organic Arugula Pesto and Haricots Verts

As some of the regular readers may have noticed, I haven’t been here for a while.  Because it’s been a while, and because it’s certainly not permanent, it’s time I told you why.

In January, fresh back from Marrakech and ready to report all the amazing eating I had done there, I came down with a very bad gastrointestinal infection.  Not the best thing to develop when you’re a food writer, especially if it escalates, which it did.  I developed something called POTS, and what that meant, simply put, is that every time I got up—to stretch, to get a glass of water, to walk to the bathroom—my heart rate would triple and I would collapse.  Not fun.  Terrifying, in fact.

After a barrage of tests that took several months, I was finally diagnosed, and able to start my recovery.  The great thing about my POTS is that it can self-correct and eventually go away, and after nearly six months, I am finally getting close to back to myself.  But I’ll never forget when I first got out of the hospital, and came home wanting to make dinner for Mr. English and my mother.  The Ditalani with Chickpeas and Garlic and Rosemary Oil in Bon Appetit looked to die for, but after ten minutes of standing by the stove, I realized I couldn’t go on.  It would be months before I could eat close to normally, and even longer before I could boil a pot of water.

As someone who had always lived to eat, I was suddenly put in the position of having to eat to live.  The treatment for POTS is oral—salt and water.  I was in the position of having to force myself to keep down miso soup and yogurt, begging my mom to just let me not eat today.  Was that really me?  I had never before been in the position to really regard food as a lifeline, rather than as a hobby—indulgent and pleasurable.

Don’t worry, this is not going to turn into an eat to live website, full of seaweed crackers (although, those are kind of good…).  But I have started looking at food and my body differently.  What once was should, is now must.  I now have to drink three liters of water a day.  I now have to exercise every day.   And I now know what it feels like to be truly sick—the feel the separation between your core you, and your body, when they no longer work together.  It just made me look at food and the body and health differently, and I’m really enjoying the new perspective of loving food for what it is: delicious, wholesome, wonderful fuel, as I rediscover what it is to really eat.

While I have every confidence that I and this site will get back to where we were in 2012, for the coming weeks and months, I will be keeping things a bit more simple, and maybe, you’ll notice, a bit more wholesome.  But don’t worry—I’m still me, and if it’s not good, we’re not eating it.

I hope you’ll love the food that I put together, and I hope we can get back to sharing that and this place.  Thank you to all the readers who emailed asking where I was.  I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you, but I didn’t want to burden this happy place with anything less than a happy story.  Which this is.

Santé!  To health, happiness, and tomorrows full of terrific meals.

To kick it off, check out this recipe I’ve been making–a healthy riff on the classic pasta with pesto, potatoes, and green beans.  It’s a wholegrain fusilli tossed with an organic arugula and basil pesto with roasted haricots verts.  It’s delish, and cinch to throw together at night.  Leftovers make a great pasta salad for lunch.  Bon app!

Fusilli with Arugula Pesto

 

Wholegrain Fusilli with Organic Arugula Pesto and Haricots Verts
serves 2 to 4

Fusilli with Arugula PestoINGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound whole grain fusilli
  • 1/2 pound trimmed haricots verts, halved crosswise
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 cups organic baby arugula
  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts, chopped walnuts, or chopped almonds
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus some extra
  • S&P

PROCEDURE

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Toss the haricots verts with a little bit of olive oil, S&P on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Roast for the beans are tender and just starting to char--5 to 8 minutes.  Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.  They should be done around the same time.  Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid, and drain. Meanwhile, whiz together the garlic, arugula, basil, nuts, oil, and salt and pepper in a food processor, scraping down the sides as needed, until you have a nice smooth pesto. Toss the pasta, the haricots verts, and the pesto together in a large bowl, adding pasta water if you need to loosen the sauce.  Eat up!print this recipe
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Categories: 15 Minutes, Cheap, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Recipes, Sides, Starches, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
 
Thursday, February 21st, 2013

Sea Scallops Baked with Sweet Butter and Endives

RECIPE: Scallops with Butter and Endives
Scallops Baked with Butter and Endives

Scallops Baked with Butter and Endives. You must dip the bread into that butter!

Every time Mr. English and I are in Paris, we never miss an opportunity to eat at Le Comptoir, our favorite restaurant, just down the street from where we used to live when I was in cooking school. It’s become a lot more popular than it was back then, but the food remains, in my opinion, the best in Paris. Their scallops with endives is one of the best dishes on a menu packed with best dishes.

The dish is unpretentious, but unexpected: five giant sea scallops from Brittany, still on their enormous half shells, tucked under a blanket of soft, roasted endives, anointed with bubbling sweet butter. The sweetness of the scallops and the butter is gently counterbalanced by the bitterness of the soft endives. Breathtaking! And it only takes three ingredients and about 20 minutes. Paris, je t’aime! Continue reading …

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Categories: 15 Minutes, Easy, Eat, Fish, French in a Flash, Main Courses, Recipes, Series
 
Thursday, February 14th, 2013

Chunky Cherry Tomato Shrimp Puttanesca for Two

RECIPE: Chunky Cherry Tomato Shrimp Puttanesca
Chunky Shrimp Puttanesca

Chunky Shrimp Puttanesca

I love the flavor of pasta, but sometimes, I don’t want to eat pasta. Do you know what I mean? I get pasta guilt.

I’ve fallen hard for this dish. A super fresh puttanesca sauce, made from throwing olive oil, cherry tomatoes, olives, garlic, a fresh chili, capers, oregano, and lemon zest together, and used to poach a ton of giant, tender, meaty shrimp (I always keep jumbo peeled and deveined shrimp in my freezer for just such an occasion as this). The sauce is spicy and bright, and all those salty classic puttanesca ingredients go so naturally with seafood. I grill up some rustic bread, rub it with garlic, and dig in. Another super easy, slightly different one-pot wonder for you and your beloved after work this week.

Chunky Shrimp Puttanesca

From my weekly column Dinner for Two on Serious Eats.  Check it out every Friday!

Chunky Cherry Tomato Shrimp Puttanesca
serves 2

Chunky Shrimp PuttanescaINGREDIENTS

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, sliced or chopped
  • 1 Fresno chili, seeded and sliced or chopped
  • 1 tablespoon capers
  • 35 pitted Kalamata olives, halved
  • 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
  • 1 pound cherry tomatoes
  • 1 pound large peeled and deveined shrimp
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
  • The zest of half a lemon

PROCEDURE

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan.  Add the garlic and chilies, and sauté over medium heat just until fragrant.  Add the capers, olives, and anchovy paste, and stir around.  Add the tomatoes, clamp the lid on, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Use a potato smasher to smush the tomatoes.  Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and cook until opaque—about 5 to 8 minutes.  Toss in the oregano and lemon zest, and serve with grilled bread (rub with garlic for extra kick!).print this recipe
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Categories: 30 Minutes, Easy, Eat, Fish, French in a Flash, Main Courses, Recipes, Series
 
Monday, December 31st, 2012

Greek Lamb Burgers with Chunky Mint Tzatziki for Two

RECIPE: Greek Lamb Burgers with Chunky Mint Tzatziki
Greek Lamb Burger

Lamb burger with garlic, oregano, chives, mint, and a chunky tzatziki in warm, soft pitas

I love writing this column!  Because, some lucky weekends, I get to stuff like this.

The best vacation Mr. English and I ever took–and there is some stiff competition–was to the Greek islands.  In terms of a culinary adventure, no other trip has ever matched it.  The gigantes beans baked with tomatoes.  Those deep fried Greek salad fritters (that’s my name for them).  The olives.  The baklava.  The walnuts and yogurt.  The sea bream, every night.  The pomegranates.  The octopus, and urchin, and ouzo.  I was never not hungry on those islands.

Because this column is about what Mr. English and I really eat in our little menage à deux, I take inspiration from what we really love and want.  And that was a little reverie back to swimming in the clear Grecian waters–so different from swimming in puddles under the gray English storm clouds.  These couldn’t be easier. Continue reading …

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Categories: 30 Minutes, Bread & Butter, Cheap, Dinner for Two, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Meat, Recipes, Sandwiches, Series
 
Friday, December 28th, 2012

Salmon with Thyme and Three-Lemon Crème Fraîche

RECIPE: Salmon with Thyme and Three-Lemon Crème Fraîche
Salmon with Thyme and Three-Lemon Crème Fraîche

Salmon with Thyme and Three-Lemon Crème Fraîche

Salmon is my sit-down-and-be-good food.  The I-ate-too-many-latkes antidote.  And I’ve been doing a zillion variations on this theme this winter: a slab of salmon slow-roasted with olive oil on a bed of herbs.  Traditionally, I do a simple pairing of rosemary and thyme with a good cascade of olive oil.  But this is a lighter and brighter version, roasted over thyme and lemon.  Usually, I roast fish at 400 to 450 degrees–hot and fast.  But with this, I let it go longer at 350–the edges get crisp.  The cooking is more gentle.  The fish soaks up the flavor of the herbs and citrus.  Everyone is just more relaxed.

I serve it hot, for dinner, or room temp, for brunch, with a throw-together sauce of crème fraîche, thyme leaves, and three variations on the lemon theme: lemon zest, lemon juice, and minced preserved lemon (a gift from my Moroccan grandmother, who makes them herself).  It the salmon is hot, the cream melts and pools in the cracks in the cooked fish.  If the salmon is room temperature, it’s like a dipping sauce.  Either way, this feels light and lean, and it pays due respect to the citrus season. Continue reading …

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Categories: 30 Minutes, Easy, Eat, Fish, French in a Flash, Main Courses, Recipes, Series