So I finally had an evening to myself where I could be alone in the kitchen, drink some beer, pump some tunes, try something new and chronicle it. There are few things in the world better than a good steak. Add in pan roasted garlic-basil cherry tomatoes and you have a smash hit.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 steaks of your choice (I only made one this time)
1 pint vine-ripened red cherry tomatoes, washed and patted dried
1 Large clove garlic, minced
6-8 Fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pre-heat your oven to 475°. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle in olive oil. Season the steaks with salt & pepper and sear for about 3 minutes on each side, until well browned. Actually, just as you flip the steaks, add the minced garlic to the side of the pan and make sure it gets some of the olive oil. Sauté the garlic as you sear the second side of the steak. After the steak is browned on both sides and garlic is getting toasty, move the steaks aside and add the cherry tomatoes and basil to the garlic. Stir gently to coat and season with salt & pepper.
Place the skillet in the oven and roast until the steak is cooked to your liking and tomatoes begin to burst. I roasted mine for about ten minutes and it came out medium. A bit over cooked for my tastes, but it was awesome anyway. Serve with a side of pasta with the tomatoes spooned over the steaks. Try making it with fresh oregano instead of basil, or a mix. Have fun! Yankees suck!
Slashfood, one of my favorite sites, posted a roasted curried cauliflower recipe that’s similar to the roasted cauliflower I put up. Their variation uses fresh garlic, curry spices and lemon juice. The message is basically the same … Roasted Cauliflower RULES !!!
I was asked by a lady friend if I had a good, light recipe for some sort of chicken-broccoli-ziti dish. One without a cream sauce. I promptly replied, “No, but for you and only you, I’ll go into the lab (my kitchen) and invent one!” Here’s what happened …
Over a week’s time I consulted several cooking web sites, perused through many cookbooks and didn’t really find something that would suit her fancy, or even more important, mine! So, I created one of my own. I used rotini pasta instead of ziti. When I cook, it’s all about what I want. Of course, you can use whatever type of pasta you like best. I only made it once and it turned out pretty damn good. Give it a look.
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 pound rotini pasta
1 stick salted butter
1 cup white wine
1½ cup chicken broth
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 broccoli crowns (a little less than 2 pounds)
Juice of one lemon
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Melt butter in a heavy sauté pan. Add oil and garlic and simmer on very low heat for 10 minutes. Add wine and 2 cups of the chicken broth and bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Cut chicken into small bite size pieces and add to the sauté pan and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chicken cooks fast when it’s cut into small pieces. Season with salt & pepper. Add the lemon juice (no seeds please).
Chop broccoli into small bite size pieces and steam a large pot with a steamer basket for 3-5 minutes. Boil rotini separately to your own liking (al dente for me). In a mixing bowl whisk together the other ½ cup of chicken broth with the flour until the flour is completely dissolved. Turn the heat to high and add the flour mixture to the sauté pan, mix well. Let it boil for a minute or so while you’re stirring. This will thicken the sauce a bit. Once it’s thickened, add steamed broccoli to the sauté pan, toss well and let sit covered over low heat for 5 minutes. Add rotini to the sauté pan and sprinkle broccoli with Romano cheese. Serve with a smile!
Who knew a boring food could be so much fun? This is the recipe that started it all. It’s as simple as it gets, healthy and delicious. What more do you want? I used to make cauliflower three or four times a year, now I make it two or three times a week. The most common way of preparing cauliflower is steaming it. Bland, bland, bland! I’ve sautéed cauliflower several times before with nothing notable to write about. Roasting is takes taste to a whole new level. Who knew cauliflower could be so crisp, fluffy and sweet?
One head of cauliflower
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Dash of ground red cayenne pepper
Heat oven to 475°. Wash and trim leaves and stem of the cauliflower. Chop entire head into ¼ inch pieces. Place in a large mixing bowl and drizzle on the olive oil. Season with salt, black pepper and red pepper. Stir well in the mixing bowl.
Spread the cauliflower evenly in a large casserole dish and place in the oven. Roast for fifteen minutes. Stir the pieces around so each side gets evenly browned. Stir again every five minutes. Usually this dish is done after 30 minutes. For me, the crispier the better!
If you like this recipe, you can spice it up your own way the next time you make it. Try seasoning it with any sort of dried seasoning: oregano, Italian seasoning, thyme, rosemary … possibilities are endless.
I discovered this recipe when I was trying to cut back on starches. When the cauliflower prepared this way it takes on the texture of french fries. That’s why I like them crispy. Most of the time, the texture suits my french fry craving though the cauliflower tastes a whole lot better. Yankees suck!
This is a quick and easy Italian vegetable side dish that can be served with a weeknight family meal as well as a fancy-schmancy dinner. This recipe also works well with yellow squash. The pictures below aren’t of a full pound of zucchini, by the way.
1 pound medium zucchini
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence (dried parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Wash the zucchini and trim off the ends. Slice zucchini length-wise twice and cut into ½-inch pieces. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the flour with salt & pepper. Toss zucchini with flour and add to the hot oil. Season with Herbes de Provence.
Sauté over high heat until slightly tender and golden brown, about 5-10 minutes. Don’t expect the flour to stick too much to the zucchini, most of it will clump up into brown toasted bits adding texture and flavor to the dish.
Remove from heat. Sprinkle with freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, cover and let sit for a few minutes to allow cheese to melt. Yankees suck!
Alright! I’ve been getting tons of feedback on the roasted cauliflower recipe. It seems to be everyone’s favorite. Many people have been asking for me to come up with something similar for broccoli. I found this recipe and made a few changes to it. Let me know if you like it.
2 Heads of broccoli
¼ cup of chicken broth
4 Cloves of fresh garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
¼ Cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oven to 350°. Cut the broccoli into florets and arrange flowers up, in an 8″x8″ baking pan or 9″ pie tin. Pour the chicken broth and sprinkle the garlic slices over the broccoli. Drizzle with the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Turn the oven up to 425°. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the Parmigiano, and bake another 5-10 minutes or until the broccoli is lightly browned. Let the pan sit for five minutes before serving to dissipate the cruciferous smell.
Tex-Mex Variation: Replace the garlic with 2 tablespoons of minced onion and the olive oil with corn oil. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon chili powder. Omit the cheese or use Mexican-style cotija.
Asian Variation: Replace the salt with a few squirts of soy sauce and the olive oil with peanut oil. Add a dash of sesame oil, minced fresh ginger and scallions along with the garlic.
The French definitely got this one right.
½ cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
3 garlic cloves
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 pounds assorted fresh white mushrooms, stemmed & sliced (larger mushrooms quartered, medium mushrooms halved)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
Additional fresh Italian parsley
Finely chop parsley with 1 garlic clove and set aside. Finely chop remaining 2 garlic cloves. Whisk chopped garlic, 4 tablespoons oil, wine and ½ teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Add mushrooms and toss to coat.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add mushroom mixture and sauté until mushrooms are light brown and just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Mix in parsley mixture and lemon juice. Season to taste with more salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer mixture to bowl. Garnish with additional fresh parsley and serve.
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