Striped Bass w/ Cucumber-Jicama Slaw & Tomato-Peach Puree

Howdy guys! Happy Friday!

It's been a while, I know.  Life has been crazy!

My brother and sister-in-law are coming in to town from Florida tomorrow, so I've been busy preparing for their visit - and it'll be the first time I see their son, who's almost a year old!  So I'm pretty excited about meeting the little guy, too!

Anyway, I decided to make something quick (if you make the tomato-peach puree ahead of time, that is) and fresh for the hot weather we've been having.  This cucumber-jicama slaw can pretty much go on anything, but pairs perfectly with a light, moderately lean fish. 

Enjoy your weekend guys!

Ingredients:

2 6 oz. Striped Bass Filets
flour, for dredging
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Cucumber-Jicama Slaw:

1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and julienned
1 jicama, peeled and julienned
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and julienned
1-2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
1 tablespoon micro-basil, or basil chiffonade
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
salt, to taste

Tomato-Peach Puree:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, small dice
6-7 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. ripe peaches, washed and cut into 8ths
1 tomato, cut into 8ths
juice and zest from 1 lemon
3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon gochujang (korean hot chili) paste
1 tablespoon paprika
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup sorghum 
salt and pepper, to taste

To make the puree, in a large saucepan, heat olive oil under medium high heat.  Saute the onion and garlic until the onion starts to soften and the garlic is fragrant. 

Add peaches, tomato, lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, chili paste, paprika, chicken stock, ketchup, and sorghum.

Simmer for at least 30 minutes.  Puree mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the slaw, in a small bowl, combine the sesame oil, sesame seeds, chives, basil, and vinegar.  Whisk until combined. 

Place the julienned cucumber, jicama, and apple in another bowl.  Pour dressing over top and coat well.  Season with salt, to taste.  Reserve in the fridge until ready to serve.

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat.  Season the fish filets with salt and pepper, on both sides and dredge in flour.  Dust off any excess flour and add to pan.  Cook until golden brown on both sides.

To plate, place and circle of puree onto the plate.  Place slaw on top of puree and top the slaw with fish.  Garnish with a little micro-basil.

Simple and tasty!  I love the cold slaw paired with the fish.  It's definitely a bright summery dish that you can enjoy out on the patio or the porch!  Have a great weekend guys!

Filet w/ Turnips & Braised Kale

How is everyone's week going so far?!  It's been pretty crazy around these parts.  I'm in the process of transitioning between jobs... AGAIN. 


Working at Milkwood has proved to be a great learning experience, but the downside is that I've put in VERY long hours, and little time with my husband.  There's a lunch position (hello Monday-Friday work week!) opening up at the restaurant I used to work at, Jack Fry's, and I've gladly accepted that job.  Which totally means I'll be on the same schedule as Andy and be able to have somewhat of a life again, and not sacrificing on the quality of food that I prepare. 

It's been a whirl-wind, but I think it's all for the best.  Andy and I will just have to learn how to hang out with eachother on a regular basis again.  I'm sure we won't have any trouble with that =)

On my day off this week, I ended up making this for dinner and it was so so good.  Definitely a step up from your normal "steak and potatoes" type of dinner.

Ingredients:

2 6-8 oz. beef tenderloin filets
salt and pepper, to taste

Turnips:

1 large turnip, peeled and small dice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup veal or chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste

Kale:

1 large bunch of kale, ribs removed (about 1/2 lb.)
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 cup bulgur wheat, cooked
salt and pepper, to taste

The kale will take the longest, so you'll want to start with that first. 

In a medium stockpot, add the brown sugar and regular sugar.  Cook under medium low to medium heat until the sugar turns to an amber caramel.  Carefully deglaze the caramel with the vinegar and chicken stock.  Add red pepper flakes and bring mixture to a boil.

Add the kale and carrots to the pot.  Simmer for at least 30 minutes, then add bulgur wheat and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the turnips, melt the butter in a medium saute pan under medium high heat.  Add turnips and cook until edges start to caramelize.  Add stock and cook until almost evaporated and turnips are tender.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the filet, season both sides with salt and pepper.  Cook to desired temp (we grilled these babies to a perfect medium rare) and in desired manner. 

To put together, place a decent amount of the kale mixture and turnips in the center of the plate.  Top with the filet, and dig on in!

Definitely something that comes together fairly quickly and looks like you ordered it in a restaurant!  Have a great weekend, everybody!

Glazed Carrots

How was everyone's Memorial Day weekend?

We ended up having a pretty decent cookout - the forecast called for rain, but it stayed away and we enjoyed sunshine and great grilled food!  It was a nice way to kick off our grilling season.

I hardly ever put up any side dishes here on the blog so I thought I'd throw an easy one out there.  I know a lot of you may be growing carrots in your gardens this year, so this is a great side to use those babies up!

Ingredients:

1 bunch of carrots, sliced on the bias (about 2 cups)
1 cup veal or chicken stock
1-2 tablespoons sugar or honey
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and pepper, to taste
1-2 tablespoons chopped chives

In a medium saute pan, melt the butter under medium high heat.  Add the carrots, stock (I used veal because we were serving these carrots with some grilled steak), and sugar/honey. 

Cook under medium heat until the stock is reduced and syrupy, stirring occasionally.  You basically just want a "glaze" of stock to be left.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with chopped chives or other fresh herbs.

And voila, a side dish that takes longer to prep than cook! 

What's your favorite way to prepare carrots?
 
Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Spinach Ravioli Stuffed w/ Crab & Ricotta

So I've been a little sparse in the posting lately.  Life has caught up with me and I just haven't had the time to sit down and blog. 

House hunting has become somewhat of a bust - between finding the right home and dealing with the bank... it just doesn't look like it'll be a possibility until the end of the year.  It bums out Andy more than it does me, but it's still a kick in the butt when we had our hopes so high up.

I hesitated to start the garden up this year because we thought we'd have bought a home by now, but it looks like I'll have time to plant one here after all.  I'm doing something different this year, too.  I'm trying the whole "urban gardening" method - growing everything in big planters on our back deck.  I've got one big pot for potatoes, and several medium-sized for bell peppers, tomatoes, and an array of herbs.  I'll keep you guys updated on how that all goes!

I had a bunch of spare time yesterday so I decided to take the time to roll out some fresh pasta.  Ravioli is one of the easiest things and the possibilities for stuffing are endless.  I had a ton left over and ended up freezing them - definitely will make for quick and easy meals later on!

Ingredients:

Spinach Pasta Dough:

3 eggs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
8 oz. bread flour, plus more, if needed (you can use a combination or substitution of semolina, but I find it makes the dough harder to work with afterwards, and most people are more apt to have bread flour in their pantry than semolina)
4 oz. blanched spinach, pureed

Crab Filling:

4 oz. lump or claw crab meat
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
8 oz. ricotta
1 egg
salt and pepper, to taste
 
Parmesan Cream Sauce:

5-6 sprigs thyme
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste

In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the eggs, olive oil, salt, and pureed spinach.  Add about a third of the flour and mix until combined.  Switch to the dough hook attachment and continue adding flour until the dough is dry and cannot absorb any more flour (you may need more than the recipe says - I did).

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap.  Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, you can make your filling.  In a food processor, combine the crab meat, parsley, ricotta, and egg.  Mix until combined and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Keep in the refrigerator until needed.

After the dough has rested, unwrap and cut into fourths.  Using one section at a time (make sure to cover the other sections so they don't dry out), roll out with a pasta machine or rolling pin (I keep it old school and do this).  You'll want the dough to be as thin as possible, but still pliable enough to work with.  Make sure to have some extra flour handy for dusting so the pasta doesn't stick to your machine or cutting board.

Using a round biscuit cutter (I used a 2" diameter round) or ravioli press, cut out an even amount of ravioli shapes. 

Pair up the rounds, one round will have filling (the bottom), one will be the topper.  Place about a tablespoon or so of filling on each bottom round (this will vary depending on the size of your ravioli) - you'll want a decent amount of space around the filling. 

Using a pastry brush, brush some warm water around the edges of the bottom round.  Place the top round on top of the filling, and sealing the edges.  Make sure to press around the filling so there are no air pockets.

Continue until all of the dough is used up.

Place ravioli on a baking sheet dusted with flour and place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
You can also freeze the raviolis at this point for use later.

When you're ready to cook these guys, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the raviolis and cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the pasta is just cooked.  Fresh pasta most always takes less time to cook than dried.  Drain and add into the sauce, or reserve and pour sauce over top.

To make the sauce, just add the olive oil to a medium saute pan under medium high heat.  Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about a minute or so.  Add the cream to the pan and reduce until thickened.  Stir in the parmesan cheese until melted.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  You can add the raviolis to the sauce at this point or pour the sauce over top of the raviolis - whichever you prefer!

And voila - homemade pasta at it's finest.  Definitely easy and worth the little bit of extra effort!

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Mussels w/ Spinach & White Wine Broth

Happy Derby weekend, folks!

Oh, don't live in Kentucky?  It doesn't matter!  If you're not all about the Derby this weekend, then you don't know what's up!  Tons of people from all over flock to Louisville, KY just for this weekend to celebrate horse racing, bourbon, and great eats! 

Being in the restaurant industry, this is probably the biggest week/weekend of the year for Louisville, KY.  I've already seen Top Chef stars like Stephanie Izard, Marcus Samuelson, and Michelle Bernstein dine at the restaurant.  Even the mayor of Los Angeles was in to eat last night!  However, I'm most excited to meet the editor in chief of Bon Appetit magazine, who is scheduled to dine this weekend! Lots of pressure, right?

Anyway, with little time to do much of anything this week, I had to make quick and fresh meals.  I was really in the mood for a big bowl of mussels - which always seems to fill me up, especially when served with a fresh, crusty baguette.  I always have the problem of buying a big bag of spinach and never finishing it in time, so I thought I'd wilt some spinach with the mussels, too.  So it definitely made for a filling and tasty meal.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. mussels, cleaned and debearded
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, small diced
1 lb. spinach
1 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup white wine
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste

Melt the butter in a medium stockpot under medium high heat.  Add the garlic and onion and cook until the onion is starting to soften, about 3-4 minutes.  Add the spinach and cook until just wilted.

Add the chicken stock, white wine, and dijon to the pot.  Bring to a boil and add the mussels.  Cover and cook until the mussels open up, discarding any that don't open.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Ladle the mussels into a large bowl and serve with a nice French baguette.

This was a great meal to sit outside on the patio and enjoy.  Definitely a quick and easy meal for any day of the week!

Good luck to all the betting folks out there!  Be sure to watch the most exciting 2 minutes of sports this Saturday!

Pork Burgers with Fried Brussels Sprouts

So, I graduated.  Officially graduated from culinary school.  I now have a degree in Culinary Arts.  Pretty freakin' awesome.

How did we celebrate?  Well, thanks to a fantastic gift card from my parents, we now are the proud owners of a meat grinder attachment to our KitchenAid (as well as a pretty awesome juicer - Andy's been on this homemade juice kick - and I gotta tell ya, I'm loving the fresh juice combos he's coming up with!).

So the first thing I did?  Went out and bought some pork sausage casings and ground up some sweet pork sausages.  Let me tell you - without an actual sausage stuffer attachment for our KitchenAid or an actual manual sausage stuffer - it's pretty time consuming to stuff some sausages.  I ended up MacGuyver-ing my way through with a pastry bag fitted with a large tip and ended up with decent results - although I'd much rather dish out the $12 for the sausage stuffer attachment for next time.

Anyway, as I got tired of manually stuffing sausages, I didn't end up going through all of the ground pork I had.  With the rest of it, I made these pretty sweet burgers.  So good.  And yeah, I definitely don't plan on buying ground meat ever again (well, let's keep it real, maybe once in a blue moon... or if Andy goes grocery shopping and ends up bringing it home).  But seriously, freshly ground meat is definitely more superior than the grocery stuff!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground pork (I had about a 70/30 ratio of meat to fat)
salt and pepper, to taste
Mayo, optional
pepperjack cheese, optional
fried egg, optional
burger buns, or sandwich bread in my case

Fried Brussels Sprouts:

1 lb. brussels sprouts, quartered and blanched
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
oil, for frying

You of course could season your ground meat with whatever you fancy, but I like to keep it simple with just a bit of salt and pepper.  I like dressing up a burger as a whole, rather than trying to really flavor the meat.  Because well... the meat speaks for itself.  Right?  Right.

Anyway, form the meat into thin 4 ounce patties.  Think Steak N' Shake burger style. 

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat and add a little bit of oil to coat the pan.  Place two patties in the pan and cook until starting to brown.  Flip over and place cheese (if using) on top of each patty.  Continue to cook until the patty is cooked through and the cheese is melted.  Place one patty on top of the other and transfer to a plate to rest.  At this point, you can assemble all of your burger toppings, and you can really be as creative as you want here.   But I had some extra brussels sprouts in the fridge and needed to use them up, so why not fry them, right?

Heat oil or deep fryer to 325 F.

Combine the flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and oregano.  Mix well.  Dredge the brussels sprouts in the seasoned flour and dust off any excess.

Place in deep fryer and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-4 minutes.  Drain on paper towel-lined plate and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

To assemble this awesome burger, toast some burger buns lightly (or use sandwich bread like I did - I had everything else on hand and I was too lazy to leave the house to get some burger buns).  Get a good smear of mayo on both pieces of bread.  Top the bottom bun with the two burger patties.  Then place a good amount of the fried brussels sprouts on top of the burger and top with a fried egg - good and yolky!  Then close is on up with the top of the bun.

And there you have a pretty darn good burger.  Different, but oh so delicious.

What's your favorite burger combo?!

Honey Glazed Pork Loin & Belly

It's hard to speak about the trivial things going on in my own life when such tragedies as today's events in Boston occur.  So instead of rambling about being tired, or being over-worked, or stressed... I'm just going to say I'm thankful.  We never know when our last day will come.  Nor do we know what tomorrow will bring.  So I'm thankful for my health, my sanity, my family.  And my prayers go out to all of the families affected by today's awful event.

Ingredients:

Pork Belly:

1 lb. pork belly
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 cups chicken stock
1-2 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb. pork loin, cut into 1 & 1/2 inch thick medallions
salt and pepper, to taste

Honey Glaze:

1/2 cup water 
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup honey
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, paprika, onion powder, cayenne, and garlic powder. 

Score the pork belly and rub the spice mixture all over the pork belly, making sure to get in the creases of the scoring.  Tightly wrap pork belly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 275 F.

Unwrap pork belly and rinse off spice rub.  Pat pork belly dry. 

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add olive oil.  Sear the pork belly, scored side first, until golden and caramelized.  Add enough chicken stock to the pan to come up halfway on the pork belly.  Transfer skillet to oven and cook until pork belly is nice and tender, about 4-6 hours.  Alternatively, you can do this step in a slow-cooker if you don't want to have your oven on for such a long period of time.

Combine the water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, garlic, and black peppercorns in a small saucepan.  Reduce mixture by half or until slightly thickened.  Set aside.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat.  Season the pork loin medallions with salt and pepper, to taste.  Add oil to the saute pan.

Add the pork loin to the pan and cook until caramelized.  Flip over and cook until at desired temperature.  About a minute or so before done, pour some of the glaze liquid into the hot pan and let the mixture thicken around the pork loin to coat it.

Brush some of the thickened glaze on the pork belly, as well.

We served this with some creamy grits and balsamic brussels sprouts.  Definitely a tasty meal.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week and remember not to take any day for granted!  Be safe!