A Marsala Meal

What. A. Meal.  

We had friends over for dinner on this beautiful, warm Friday night, and I decided to go all out, formulating a fantastic meal around a main ingredient - Marsala wine.  I use a sweet, superiore Marsala when I cook.  It is a versatile cooking wine, since it goes so well with tomatoes, cream, fish, veal, chicken, and so many vegetables that it is hard to go wrong.  I made boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a Marsala cream sauce and I also used the Marsala to make stuffed onions.  Since one of our guests was vegetarian, I separated some of the sauce and made some rosa bianca eggplant steaks as a substitute for the chicken.  Add some of my standard roasted sweet potatoes and turnips into the mix and we had ourselves quite the meal!

The Meat

- 6-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (approximately 2-3 thighs per person)

- olive oil for cooking

The Sauce

- 1 1/2 cups of whole milk

- 1 cup of Marsala wine

- 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste

- 4 tablespoons butter

- salt, pepper, marjoram, oregano, parsley to taste

- potato starch to thicken

The Veggies

- 1 medium sized rosa bianca eggplant,  sliced into steaks

- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

- salt, pepper to taste

- 2 large sweet potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces

- 1-2 large turnips, chopped into bite size pieces

- olive oil, salt, pepper, dill to taste

- 7-10 small onions

- 2 stalks celery, diced

- 1 large scallion, diced

- 1 1/2 cup spinach, raw and chopped

- 6-8 lare white mushrooms, diced

- 6-8 cloves garlic, diced

- 1/2 cup Marsala wine

- 1 tablespoon tomato paste

It is a several step process to make the stuffed onions, and since they took the longest, that is what I started with first.  Begin by peeling the onions and cutting off the ends - don't cut off too much, though, because you don't want the layers to separate.  Bring a pot of water to boil on the stovetop and once you have a rolling boil, drop in the whole onions for 12-15 minutes.  

In the meantime, take your chopped celery, garlic, sliced scallion, and mushrooms and put them into a large pan with the tablespoon of olive oil.  Saute for a few minutes, then season.  Separate a small amount out to use in your Marsala sauce for your chicken. With what is left, add the walnuts, spinach, tomato paste and the Marsala wine.  Bring the whole mixture to a simmer and allow it to cook for around 8-10 minutes, helping the alcohol burn off and infusing the stuffing with flavor.

When the onions are soft from boiling, take them out of the water and let them cool for a little while.  Use a small paring knife and gently cut through the center layers - you are using the knife to help separate the inner layers of the onion, not butchering them!  I also cut a small X on the side I would be pushing the centers out from, to help create a larger opening for the onion inners to go out, and later, my stuffing to go in. Hold the onion in both hands, and using your thumbs, gently (GENTLY!!!) push the inner layers of onion out into a bowl.  You want to leave around 3 of the outer layers intact, as your stuffing "shells." Place the intact outer layers in an oven safe baking dish.

Return to your stuffing and bring the onion innards with you!  Chop up the cooked onion that was leftover from creating our shells, and mix it into the stuffing mix.  Saute on medium heat for only a few more minutes, and then spoon the mixture into the onion shells in your baking dish.  You will have to use your fingers to really get as much stuffing in there as possible, so watch out for burnt fingers, and try to be as careful as possible so you don't split your shells.  Layer any leftover stuffing on top and around the stuffed onions.  Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and getting a little crispy.

I put the onions and my sweet potatoes and turnips into the oven at the same time, since they both needed around the same amount of time to cook.  I had chopped my sweet potato and turnips before, lightly brushing them with olive oil and seasoning them.  When you put the veggies into the oven, add a 1/2 cup - 1 cup of water to the bottom of your glass baking dish to ensure the veggies don't dry out during their cook time.  Cook them for 40 minutes on the center rack of the oven (right next to your onions!)

To prepare your chicken, you will need your meat tenderizer.  Lightly tenderize the chicken thighs with the smooth side of the tenderizer.  Set the chicken aside, they are ready to be seared.  In a large pot, pour the milk and Marsala wine together.  Add the butter, tomato paste and seasoning, and bring your sauce to a simmer, stirring often.  This will simmer the entire time you cook the rest of the meal.  You'll be dropping your seared chicken into the sauce as well, letting them infuse with flavor and in turn, help flavor the sauce.  When it was time to add the chicken to the sauce, I separated a small amount and kept it apart to keep it vegetarian for our guest.  If you aren't serving vegetarians, you can omit that step.

To cook the chicken, I took my largest pan and heated up some oil.  I sauteed some celery, scallion, garlic, and mushroom in the pan to get it all flavorful, then I tossed the sauteed veggies into the pot with our simmering Marsala sauce.  I seared my tenderized chicken thighs on high heat, adding oil as needed, and flipping them a few times to make sure they got nice and brown on each side.  

It was at this point that I separated out some of the sauce and put it in a smaller pot to continue simmering.  I placed my seared chicken into the larger pot with sauce, allowing the chicken to finish cooking in the sauce.  Add to both pots some potato starch to help thicken the sauce a bit.  I added a teaspoon to the smaller pot and a tablespoon to the larger pot.  I let the chicken and both sauces continue to simmer on lower heat for around 20 minutes until my meal was all set to be served.  During that time I used my griddle pan and some olive oil to cook the rosa bianca eggplant steaks.  Season the thick slices of eggplant lightly and brush them liberally with olive oil.  Cook on medium heat, turning every so often, for around 15 minutes or until the eggplant is soft to cut and golden brown on the edges.  When it is time to serve then, pour the Marsala sauce all over the eggplant steaks. Garnish both sauces with green onion.

This meal was so great, we scraped all the dishes clean!  Enjoy!!

Wahoo in Garlicky Lemon Butter

We hung out with some great friends and watched the Michigan game this afternoon at a nearby bar, but when it was all over my husband was HUNGRY and I needed to make him something fast.  Fish is always a good idea because it cooks so quickly.  I got this meal plated and served in around 35 minutes.  When I need to, I can turn on the steam, but the meal still tasted awesome!

The Meat

- 3 fillets of Wahoo fish

- bacon grease for the pan

- salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste

The Sauce

- 3 tablespoons butter

- 1/2 shallot, thinly sliced

- 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

- 3 teaspoons lemon juice

- dill, salt to taste

The Veggies

- 1/2 eggplant, sliced then cut into quarters

- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into small pieces

- 2 small turnips, cut into small pieces

- dill, basil, seasoning salt to taste

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

- 2 summer squashes, sliced

- 1 tomato, mostly crushed

- 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

- 1 teaspoon lemon juice

- 1/4 cup water

- salt, pepper, dill to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Chop up the veggies into small pieces, so they'll cook faster.  Throw together the eggplant, sweet potato, and turnip and generously season it.  Pour in the water and brush the olive oil over the tops of the veggies.  Cook for 30 minutes.

Sautee up the squash with the tomato, oil, lemon, and water.  Season it and cover it with a lid.  Let it cook on medium high heat for 25-30 minutes. 

Melt the butter with the lemon, garlic, and shallot and let it cook on low heat, stirring every few minutes.

On a griddle pan, turn your heat to high and cook your seasoned wahoo fish.  Flip it every 3-4 minutes. It should be done after 10-12 minutes.  You want the fish to be opaque, white, and flaky.  

When all the components are ready, plate the veggies and toss the fish in the butter.  Put the softened garlic and shallots on top of the fish and feed your hungry selves.

Tomato Roasted Eggplant with Turkey Meatballs

Here is another fun meal to serve to friends!  The presentation is great and it tastes just as good as anything you can find over in North Beach.  The turkey meatballs taste so good, because they have bubbly hot Parmesan cheese rolled into their mixture.  Yummmm.

The Meat

- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey meat

- Parmesan, salt, pepper, marjoram, basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder to taste

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1/3 heirloom tomato, mostly crushed

The Veggies

- 1 large eggplant, sliced

- 1 summer squash, sliced

 - 6-10 Padron peppers, stems and seeds removed

- 1 heirloom tomato + the leftover tomato from the meat, mostly crushed

- 1 heirloom tomato, sliced

- salt, pepper, basil, oregano to taste

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil

- 2 cups spinach, wilted

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 385 degrees. 

In a large baking dish, layer your eggplant, squash, and tomato, brushing each piece with the olive oil and then covering all of it evenly with the peppers, spices and crushed tomato.  Bake the veggies uncovered for 40 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, add the meat ingredients.  Take off your rings and get your hands in there.  Squish everything together until the spices and cheese look to be evenly mixed in with the ground meat.  Then go at it and roll some modest sized meatballs.  I ended up with around a dozen.  Bake them for 40 minutes on the rack above the eggplant and other veggies. They should be brown on the tops and the Parmesan should be hot and gooey when they are all done.

10 minutes before the baking dishes are set to finish, get a large saute pan and wilt the spinach over medium low heat.  Drain the spinach with a slotted spoon when moving it over to your serving dish.  When you pull the eggplant out of the oven, do the same, leaving the juices and crushed tomato mostly in the baking dish.

I served all of the food together on one huge serving platter. The baked eggplant and squash went on the bottom, then the spinach went on top of that, with extra Parmesan and some of the tomato sauce.  The meatballs were layered on the very top, with even more cheese and leftover tomato sauce.  Satisfying. 

Buttery Marsala Cream Chicken

This dinner was sooo good!  While it took some time to cook, it was easy to prepare and we gorged on the creamy Masala wine sauce.  I chose to make this sauce because I had some leftover cream from this weekend when I made cupcakes.  The figs made the sauce naturally sweet and tapioca starch thickened it up yet kept the meal gluten free.  

The Meat

- 2 chicken legs and thighs, meat removed in chunks

- thyme, rosemary, bay, coriander seed, salt, pepper, dill, crushed red pepper to taste

The Sauce

- 1 cup heavy cream

- 3 tablespoons butter

- 1/2 cup Masala wine

- 4-6 fresh figs, chopped into pieces

- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch (to thicken the sauce)

The Veggies

- 1 turnip, cubed

- 1 cup green beans, tips trimmed and beans cut

- 1/2 small eggplant, sliced into quarters

- salt, pepper to taste

- bacon grease for frying

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Debone the chicken and layer it in the bottom of you baking pan.  Add the chopped figs and season everything well.  Mix together the other sauce ingredients and pour it all over the chicken.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  

In a 3" deep pot, cover and boil the turnips and snipped green beans for around 25 minutes.  While they are cooking, grease your saute pan and cook the eggplant slices until they are soft on each side.  Use a wooden spoon to keep the eggplant moving in the pan, and re-grease as necessary to keep the eggplant from burning or drying out.  When the turnip and green beans are done, I tossed them together with the eggplant and seasoned all of them together. 

I layered the veggies on the bottom of the plates and poured the chicken and sauce all over the top.  Serve this dish with a spoon - you'll want to savor every last drop of the delicious, creamy sauce!

Curry Lamb Patties with Asparagus and Baked Eggplant

I love lamb.  This is such a rich and yet simple meal.  The eggplant is soft and savory, and the hint of curry powder makes each bite a little exotic and extra flavorful.  

The Meat

- 3/4 pound of ground lamb, divided into 2 patties

- curry powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste

The Veggies

- 1/2 eggplant, sliced

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, chopped

- 1/2 medium sized red onion, sliced and diced

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

- salt, pepper, curry powder, parsley, dill to taste

- 20-24 asparagus stalks, bottoms cut off

- bacon grease for frying

- salt, pepper to taste

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, sliced

The Sauce

- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

- curry powder, salt, dill, lemon juice to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Layer your eggplant slices into a glass baking dish that can go into your oven.  Cover them with the chopped tomatoes and red onion.  Pour in the water and oil, and season generously.  Bake the whole shebang for around 25-30 minutes.

Season and make your lamb patties by dividing the ground meat and rolling it into two large balls, then slowly squishing it flatter with the palms of your hands.  Try to blend the meat together enough so it won't crack down the middle of your patties.

When the eggplant is around halfway cooked, grease your griddle pan with some bacon grease and on medium-high heat grill/fry up your asparagus stalks for around 6-8 minutes, rolling them so they don't char on one side.  Then cook your lamb patties on the same pan, using the leftover grease that's there from cooking your asparagus.  Flip the patties after around 5-6 minutes, and cook them another 5-6.  You want the centers of the patties to be slightly pink when you take them off, because they will continue to cook and you don't want to dry the meat out by overcooking it.  

When mixing your yogurt sauce, add curry powder a little at a time, blending well, until you have a taste you like and your sauce has the faintest tinge of curry orange to it.  Dollop it onto the cooked lamb, arrange the remaining slices of tomato, and serve!

Thai Basil Curry Crockpot Goodness

I. Love. My. Crockpot.  We received it as a gift for our wedding in the spring, and ever since then I use it regularly to make delicious curries and slow-cooked meats.  I love it because I will make the meal right before I go to bed, and when we wake up in the morning, we open the bedroom door and our entire home is drenched with delicious aromas.  Then I send my husband off with his Thermos.  This is a great Thai curry with lots of savory spice and hints of coconut.  

The Meat

- 1 pound of beef stew meat

The Veggies

- 1/2 head cauliflower

- 8-10 carrots

- 3 yellow potatoes, skinned and chopped into large pieces

- 1/3 eggplant, chopped into large pieces

- 2 summer squashes, chopped into large pieces

The Sauce

- 1 cup coconut milk

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 teaspoon onion powder

- 2 tablespoons Thai chili paste

- 1 tablespoon coconut oil

- 1-2 teaspoons tamarind puree

- 1 teaspoon tapioca starch

- 2 teaspoons lime juice

- salt, garlic powder, lemongrass powder, basil, coriander to taste

Chop all your veggies the night before, and toss the raw meat and veggies in the crock pot.  I make my veggie pieces extra large, because they get so soft in the Crockpot that if they are small they will literally cook away to nothing.  Mix together the sauce (or, you could be lazy and buy World Foods' Thai Basil Curry Stir-Fry Sauce.  It has sugar in it, but is gluten free, and has no artificial preservatives or genetically modified ingredients.  Use the whole jar).  Pour the sauce over the veggies and meat, turn the Crockpot on "low" heat, and let it cook overnight (around 6-8 hours).  Go to sleep.





When I wake up, the first thing I do is open my eyes and wish I could sleep later...then I get up and go turn the Crockpot setting to "warm." I send my husband to work with a Thermos of curry and some crunchy apple slices and nuts.  The veggies and meat are SO soft, they melt in your mouth.  I use a slotted spoon to get the curry from the Crockpot to the bowl/thermos, because there is usually greasy liquid at the bottom of the Crockpot.  It is tasty too though if you feel like splashing some into your meal.

TomMmmato Appetizer

As I mentioned in the last post, I have tomatoes coming out of my ears.  Our Farm Fresh box was full of slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and heirloom tomatoes this weekend.  Tonight we were going to dinner at our momma's house, so I only needed to prepare an appetizer.  This is a great summer dish that can also be eaten as a lunch (or add some chicken and you have a whole meal, honestly).  I, of course, add bacon to everything, but it can be omitted for a vegetarian version. 

The Meat

- 4 pieces bacon, crispy and crumbled

The Veggies

- 2 summer squashes, sliced

- 1/4 eggplant, diced

- 1/4 cup water

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- pan drippings 

- salt, pepper, basil, oregano, dill to taste

- 1 large slicing tomato, chopped

- 12-15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1/3 cup fresh mozzarella balls

- 1/2 pack soft cheese (read below)

- salt, pepper, basil, oregano, marjoram, onion powder to taste

- green onion, sliced

- 1/4 cup raw spinach, sliced

This dish has two stages of prep - hot prep and cold prep.  While the squash/bacon/eggplant part should be served warm, I intentionally keep the rest of the appetizer chilled, so that way the tomatoes stay fresh and don't get mushy, and the cheese also stays solid instead of getting gooey.  

First I fried up the bacon in my griddle pan and then crumbled it and set it aside.  I simmered the spiced eggplant and squash with the water, olive oil, and leftover bacon grease for around 20 minutes until everything is soft and cooked through.  Then I mixed in the warm bacon.

In my large bowl I mixed together the tomatoes, spices, and oil, making a nice tomato salad. I added the mozzarella and this AMAZING Foggy Morning Cheese that we picked up at our farmers' market.  It is soft and mild, creamy like goat's cheese but made from cow's milk.  It's fantastic and pairs with the fresh mozzarella awesomely.  

When it is time to serve, toss the warm ingredients (including pan drippings) with the chilled tomato mixture.  Sprinkle the sliced raw spinach and green onion on top to make it look pretty and add a bit of freshness and crispness to your dish.  Whomever you serve this to will love the soft cheeses, the bursts of fresh tomato, the crunch of the bacon, and the savory soft squash.  It's a winner.

Baked Eggplant And Meatballs

Oh my lordy this was a good meal.  When I brought the dish out to my husband, his face lit up like Christmas day.  This meal involves a bit of prep, but it is everything we love about Italian food - meat balls, fresh sauce, tomatoes galore, roasted eggplant, cheeeeeeeese, and lots of oregano and basil.   I made this meal partially because, as Italians, WE MUST EAT THIS FOOD TO LIVE, and partially because I have tomatoes coming out of my ears over here. 

The Meat

- 1 pound ground beef

- 1 raw egg yolk

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1 tablespoon tomato, crushed

- 1 teaspoon onion, minced

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- salt, pepper, marjoram, basil, oregano, paprika to taste

The Veggies

- 1/2 large eggplant, sliced and brushed in olive oil

- 2 tablespoons tomato, crushed

- salt, pepper, oregano to taste

- 1 large slicing tomato, chopped

- 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella dressed with oil and spices

- 1/2 head of broccoli

- 2 summer squashes, sliced

- 1 green onion, sliced

- shaved parmesan

- 1/3 cup water

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- salt, pepper, basil, dill, marjoram to taste

The Sauce

- 2 large slicing tomatoes, crushed

- 1 tablespoon tomato puree

- 1/2 cup heavy cream

- pan drippings

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1 teaspoon lemon juice

- parmesan to taste

- salt, pepper, onion powder, basil, oregano to taste (be liberal!)

Preheat oven to 380 degrees.

Let's roll some meatballs!  Mix together all of the meat ingredients with your hands in a large metal mixing bowl.  Squish it for a few minutes to make sure everything is evenly mixed.  I turned my pound of ground beef into 9 meatballs, but you can make them a little smaller and have an even number if you prefer.  

Throw the sauce ingredients into a small simmer pot and let them cook together for the next hour. I brought the sauce up to a boil and then simmered for the rest of the time, stirring occasionally. 

In order to save space/dishwashing time, I put my meatballs and my eggplant in the same baking dish.  This only helps the flavors, because the eggplant gets infused with the pan drippings of the meat.  I put my meatballs on one side, and layered the other side with my spiced, sliced eggplant and crushed tomato.  I had 3 layers of eggplant and tomato on top of each other.  Into the oven the dish goes, and out it will come after 45 minutes. (If you are really into cheese, you can layer slices or shredded mozzarella in between the eggplant). 

After getting the meatballs and eggplant into the oven I put the rest of the veggies (but not the cheese) into my sauté pan with the water and oil.  I let them cook on medium heat for around 20 minutes and then added the parmesan and mozzarella cheeses a few minutes before serving, so they would be soft and gooey delicious when it was time to chow down.

The veggies went on the bottom of the plate with sauce and then the eggplant and meatballs went on top.  It's a large, satisfying, intensely tomatoey meal.  And we love it.