Oui, Chef

Quinoa and Arugula Pesto Salad

The inspiration for this dish came from Heidi Swanson, the author of Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen , and the great food blog 101 Cookbooks.  Heidi has a dish on her site that is a wheat berry version of this to which she adds tofu or seitan.  Due to my wife’s gluten intolerance, I decided to whip up a quinoa version of this salad, and because I generally loathe tofu and seitan, I left it out.

Sweet Corn Soup

This dish is one that Grid and I worked on the other day for submission to a Food52 contest for their best "Corn Off the Cob" recipe.  At first, I thought of submitting a succotash, which is a favorite summer dish of mine, but I've always wanted to work up a recipe for a creamy sweet corn soup, and this contest provided a perfect excuse to do just that.

Green Tomato Chutney

This is a recipe I found last fall when I had an abundance of green tomatoes from my garden, and found a lot more at my local farmer's market that were practically being given away.  At about the same time I made my batch of chutney, my friend Winnie at Healthy Green Kitchen posted a version of this very same chutney (what is it they say about great minds?), so I decided to hold mine back for a later date.  When I saw a farmer selling a bunch of green tomatoes at Thursday's farmer's market (many farmers don't just sell green tomatoes at the end of the season), I was reminded of this tasty treat and wanted to get the recipe out to you.

Winnie adapted her awesome chutney by altering the spices and sugar some, mine is just as Tom Colicchio wrote the recipe in his great cookbook, Think Like a Chef .  Try either recipe, or play doctor and come up with your own spin.  Either way you go, you'll end up with a dead-simple recipe that will yield a delicious condiment that will enhance anything you serve it alongside.  Really, this is good with beef, pork, lamb, poultry, seafood...you name it.

Enjoy - Steve

Edamame and Cilantro Purée

This past Sunday I attended what must have been the 5th or 6th H.S. graduation party for my oldest son Grid, and his classmates.  Despite the rather frigid temps at the beach where the party was held, and the fact that some of the kids HAD to have been suffering from party fatigue (it seems that current fashion dictates that EVERY family of a graduate must host a party in order that their kids remain in good standing with their class), a great time was had by all.  Calypso Hurricane rocked the house, and even pulled our young star Boris to the stage to lay down a sweet bass track for the band. Entwistle would have been proud.

Sweet Potato Chips!

 

Making this gorgeous treat hardly requires a recipe at all.  In fact, crafting homemade potato chips is so easy, and the results so delicious, that once you give 'em a try, I bet you'll think twice before buying store bought chips again.  Really..... still warm from the fryer, and seasoned with a generous sprinkle of salt, they are very hard to beat.

I first pursued making sweet potato fries and chips as a means of getting the kids to take more of a liking to them....um....that would be the sweet potatoes, not the chips and fries.  It's funny, but while they all love potatoes, and adore all things sweet, when you put the two together, not one of them would eat them.  I've baked them, steamed them, and smashed them, and always the answer was the same....no thanks.  

Smoky Tomato Soup

Peyton, home from school the other day, was banging around the kitchen at lunchtime looking for a way to enhance her standard lunch fare, a classic grilled cheese.  She was looking for something to elevate the dish to something more befitting the special occasion that is a SNOW DAY.  Her first inclination was to make a croque monsiuer (a brilliant idea for a future post), but as we didn't have any ham in the house, decided instead to whip up some tomato soup as an accompaniment.

The girl was in luck, not only did we have all the ingredients needed to make a delicious tomato soup from scratch, but I had recently stumbled across this recipe and was dying to give it a try.  In our studied opinion, there are few things more perfectly matched than a gooey grilled cheese sandwich and a creamy bowl of tomato soup.  I don't know about you, but the combo was one of my favorites as a kid, ranking right up there with a PB&J with potato chips!

Bacon Wrapped Cod

This is another Jaime Oliver inspired dish, that although it may cause certain types a bit of trouble, is so delicious that I predict you're going to make it again and again.  I'll be the first to admit that this dish is not exactly seasonally pure, and understand that those of you who will ONLY cook what is locally and seasonally fresh may fight back on this one a bit.  I am of course talking about the inclusion of asparagus in this dish, because let me be clear, in my book there is never a season where something wrapped in bacon isn't appropriate.  Are in agreement on this point?  

Good, then let's move on.

Ming Tsai's Pork Tenderloin with Five Spice Apples

This is the first Ming Tsai recipe I ever cooked, and it remains my favorite.

Why?  Three reasons.

First, it is absolutely delicious and requires no hard-to-come-by ingredients.  Second, with the exception of the brining which takes a little advance planning, the meal is very quick to put together.  Third, with just a little extra effort it can be quite gorgeous on the plate.  For a weeknight family meal, a dollop of the pureed potatoes, a couple of slices of pork, and a spoonful of apples and you are good to go (don't feel like making the apples, put a little Chinese Five Spice Powder into your favorite applesauce, and you'll have an easy substitute).  For a dinner party or special occasion, plate it as I have in the photo above, and its a real stunner.

Fig and Radicchio Risotto

 

This was one of the fabulous dishes we learned to cook on our recent trip to Italy with Chef Jody Adams, and the gang from ItaliaOutdoors.  This risotto is packed with flavor, but is relatively "light" as risottos go, there is NO cream, and not a lot of butter and cheese to speak of.  I know...I know, it's hard for you to believe that I can like it so much given that it isn't just swimming in fat, to be honest, as someone that's used to lots of cream, butter or cheese in my risotto, I was a little shocked myself.  

What makes this dish so exciting is the classic juxtaposition of sweet (from the figs) and bitter (from the radicchio), toss in a little saltiness from the cheese, and the earthy richness of the rice and red wine, and you have a dish in perfect balance, without unnecessary fat and calories.  As you all know, I'm not exactly afraid of fat, but if I don't NEED it in a dish, I don't WANT it in a dish.  

Steaks with Creamy Beans and Leeks

This gorgeous little treat is a slight adaptation of a Jaime Oliver recipe from his great cookbook,Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook , and it was a big hit around our table a few nights ago.  We found it a delicious way to serve steak, and just loved the way the meat juices mingled with the creamy beans and leeks to create a plate-licking pool of goodness.

Arthas, who is always up for a big old slab of red meat, assisted with seasoning and grilling the meat, as well as slicing and washing the leeks.  Beyond that, there was hardly anything else to do.  The mincing of some fresh herbs, and the dumping of the canned beans into the pan he left to yours truly....he's a slave driver I tell you!