So I Entered A Contest...

As many of you know, my husband and I try to eat Primally, and we love to follow Mark's Daily Apple, created by Mark Sisson.  Mark started a Primal Recipe Video Contest, and we decided that it might be fun if I participated.

The video below is me cooking a tasty chicken meal!  It is totally unedited (we watched it through and while it is long, we thought it'd be more fun to watch the whole process, like a cooking show, instead of editing it down) and kind of funny - the smoke alarm went off right in the middle of taping it!! But we enjoyed ourselves and I made another fun meal.  Hopefully it does well in the contest, but really, cooking the meal was reward enough.  

Without further ado, I give you:

Tenderized Yogurt Chicken With Fresh Veggies

Watch it to learn how to make this meal!

Butterfish with Baked Crab

Another wowing meal to serve when friends come over!

The Meat

- 4 fillets butterfish

- salt, pepper to taste

- 1 tablespoon butter for frying

- 6 ounces of crab meat (although fresh is best!)

- 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt

- 8-10 pieces of Port Salut cheese

- 1 stalk celery, diced

- 1/2 a scallion, minced

- 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish

- salt, pepper, savory, marjoram, paprika to taste

The Veggies

- 3 sweet potatoes, chopped in large pieces

- 1 cup green beans, ends trimmed

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- salt, savory to taste

- 1 pound spinach

- 1/2 cup water

- 8-10 cloves of garlic, chopped

- 2 tablespoons butter

- lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.

To begin this meal, peel the sweet potatoes and trim the green beans.  Place the veggies in a glass baking dish and sprinkle them with the salt and savory spice.  Brush everything with the olive oil and pour the water into the pan to keep the veggies from drying out.  Put the baking dish into the oven and let them cook for 40 minutes.

Next, make the crab melt.  Drain the crab and place it in a mixing bowl.  Add the diced celery, minced scallion, horseradish, and spices.  Mix in the Greek yogurt and toss in the Port Salut cheese.  Blend everything together with a fork and set aside - I warmed this in a pan until the cheese got all gooey and melted the whole mixture together into a delicious melt-style lump.

Warm the griddle pan and melt the tablespoon of butter for the butterfish.  Season both sides of your fish fillets and let them cook on medium heat, flipping every 2-3 minutes until the fish is white, opaque, and flaky.  

In another small pan, melt the rest of the butter and saute the chopped garlic, stirring occasionally, for around 5 minutes.  Set it aside to toss with the spinach - which you can put in a large pan with the water, lemon juice, pepper, and salt, and wilt on low heat.  When the spinach is wilted and dark green (don't let it go brown), drain it and toss it with the butter and garlic.  

While your spinach is wilting, you should use your fourth burner to heat up the crab mixture with some medium-low heat and turn it into a crab melt.  Use a spatula to flip the gooey awesomeness after 3-4 minutes, and after 8 minutes or so it should be ready to layer on top of the fish.  Plate everything and serve with some white wine!

Cranberry and Walnut Stuffed Lamb Patties

Tonight was family game night at our house, and my darling little sister adores lamb, so I decided to treat her and my brother to some delectable lamb patties.  I mixed celery, dried cranberries, diced scallion and walnuts into the ground meat to make the patties have a little extra pizzazz.  

The Meat

- 1 1/2 pounds of ground lamb

- 1 scallion, diced

- 2 stalks of celery, diced

- 1/4 cup of dried cranberries

- 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts

- 2 stalks of green onions, diced

- 4 slices of Port Salut cheese

- salt, pepper, dill, marjoram, savory, cinnamon, paprika to taste

The Veggies

- 1 head of cauliflower, chopped

- 1 large sweet potato, chopped

- 2 turnips, chopped

- 1 zucchini, cut into large pieces

- 1 summer squash, cut into large pieces

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- salt, pepper, dill, marjoram to taste

- 1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.

Put the chopped veggies into a glass baking dish.  Brush the tops with olive oil and season everything.  Pop the pan in the oven and cook the veggies for 45 minutes.

In a metal mixing bowl, prepare the ground lamb with the goodies listed above.  Form the patties with your hands (remember to take off your rings!) and place them on your griddle pan to cook.  Cook them on high heat, turning occasionally, until the inside is just pink in the center if you cut one open.  The lamb will continue to cook a few minutes after taken off of the heat, so you don't want them to dry out.  

Layer the Port Salut cheese on top of the patties and let it melt for a minute before serving.  Sprinkle green onion on top of everything and enjoy the meal!

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.

Lomo De Cerdo Al Horno...with Roasted Salsa Sauce!

Our wonderful friend is in town and staying with us this week, so I made a few awesome meals to make her feel welcome and loved.  This meal is based off the Puerto Rican Pernil Al Horno, but I didn't have a bone-in pork shoulder to roast, nor did I have 6 hours plus a day in advance to prepare something that tasty.  I had a pork tenderloin and a whole lot of heirloom tomatoes, Padron peppers, and summer squashes from our weekend trip to the farm.  This worked out better than fine, the meal was fantastic and we all really enjoyed it.

The Meat

- 1 1/2 pound pork tenderloin

- salt, pepper to taste

- A few slices of Port Salut semi soft cheese

- 2 green onions, diced

The Veggies

- 2 summer squashes, cut into large chunks

- 1 large zucchini squash, cut into large chunks

- 1 large sweet potato, cubed

- dill, salt, pepper to taste

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

The Sauce

- 3 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into really large chunks

- 1 slicing tomato, cut into really large chunks

- 1/2 red onion, cut into pieces

- 10-12 Padron peppers, stems and seeds removed

- 1 jalapeno pepper, stems and seeds removed

- 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

- chipotle habanero sauce to taste

- chili pepper flakes, chipotle pepper powder, black pepper, paprika, dill, cilantro, salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Using a strong blender or food processor, blend together the sauce ingredients until everything is mostly smooth with a few chunks of tomato still intact.  Play with the taste of the sauce - if you like it spicier, add more spice, or keep the jalapeno seeds in your mix.  If you want it milder, omit the jalapeno pepper, chipotle powder, chili flakes and chipotle habanero sauce.  

Salt and pepper your meat, put it in a deep enough baking dish to contain both the meat and your sauce, and slowly pour the spicy tomato mixture over the whole tenderloin.  Stick it in the oven and cook it for an hour to one hour and fifteen minutes.  Make sure the internal temperature is at 145 degrees to ensure your food is properly cooked through.

Put the large chunks of squash and cubed sweet potatoes in a glass baking dish and sprinkle with dill, salt and pepper.  Brush the olive oil on and pour the water into the bottom of the dish.  Cook for 35-45 minutes on the same rack as the pork. 

When the tenderloin is all done, the sauce should have thickened and darkened a bit.  Slice up the tenderloin and spoon the sauce back over the top of the meat.  Layer some of the delicious semi-soft cheese on top and let it melt for a few minutes before you serve it.  Sprinkle on the green onions and present your food!  I put some fresh green grapes and some full fat Greek yogurt on the table as garnish - the sweet grapes paired great with the smoky, spicy flavors, and the Greek yogurt soothed our slightly burning tongues from all the delicious spiciness.  You could also use sour cream if you wanted, it's all about your preferences and palates.  

A Trip To The Farm Means Twice Baked Zucchini

Our friend has a small plot of farmland up in Petaluma, and he brought us up there yesterday to weed, seed, and harvest some amazing heirloom vegetables.  We were so impressed with his bountiful crops and we truly enjoyed spending the entire day weeding, learning, and picking some fantastic vegetables.  We were lucky enough to get to bring some of the veggies home to make, including THE BIGGEST ZUCCHINI SQUASH I HAVE EVER SEEN.  It was two feet long (!!), and I had to get creative to cook it.  Much like you can make twice baked potatoes, I made a twice baked zucchini, and it was superb!  

We have a dinner party with some family every Sunday night, and we love to go to The Fatted Calf and get some of their special made crepinettes.  This week we had lamb patties wrapped in their signature fatty netting, with pine nuts and figs.    

The Meat

- 7 lamb crepinettes from The Fatted Calf

The Veggies

- 2 large turnips, cubed

- 8-10 cloves garlic, peeled

- 1 gigantic zucchini

- butter, salt, marjoram, pepper, garlic powder to taste

- 3-4 figs, chopped 

- Parmesan cheese, to taste

- 6-10 Padron peppers, diced

- 1/2 red onion, sliced

- 4 tablespoons of olive oil, divided

- 2-3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

Preheat your oven to 380 degrees.

This meal took around an hour and a half of prep, so try to time out your cooking times so you don't have food sitting and getting cold waiting for the other parts of the meal to come together.

I cubed and roasted the sweet potatoes with a tablespoon of olive oil, half a cup of water, and salt and pepper in my glass baking pan for around 45 minutes.  I had the pan ready to go and just popped them in when it was around 50 minutes before serving time.  

Cube and boil the turnips with the garlic until they are tender, around 20 minutes on medium high heat.  Drain them and then mash the turnips and garlic together and set them aside to add to the zucchini later.

Look at the size of this zucchini next to my bread knife.  When I cut it open, the seeds were big enough to be mistaken for pumpkin seeds!  I scooped out the raw innards and kept the skins to become my "bowls".  The skins got dolloped with butter and brushed with olive oil, and then I liberally salted and peppered them.  Then they got popped into the oven to roast for 30 minutes.  

I took the "meat" of the zucchini that I had scooped out and put in a saute pan with the cooked turnips and garlic.  I added butter and olive oil, plus some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and marjoram.  I sauteed the mixture until the zucchini was soft, around 15 minutes on medium low heat, then used my masher to really blend everything together.  I added a few teaspoons of tapioca starch to the mash to thicken it a bit.  

While the zucchini was sauteing, I also softened some red onion and the Padron peppers we had picked in a small pan with a little olive oil on medium heat.  I moved everything around in the pan pretty often, and after around 10 minutes they were ready for the next step.

Next it was time to remove the roasted zucchini skins and spoon the mash into them.  I sprinkled chopped figs, parmesan cheese, and the sauteed Padron peppers and red onion on top of the mash and then put the whole shebang back into the oven for 15 more minutes.   

I grilled the lamb patties on my Griddler and then put everything on platters to serve.  This dinner party menu went over really well, everyone loved the way I presented the giant zucchini! :)