Peking Quail w/ Chinese Stir-fried Bok Choy & rice

I’ve been reading an awesome Chinese cookbook recently, so that explains this dish! I had the best Peking duck in Chinatown NY and while I want to try that soon, I decided to start small. I noticed a Chinese BBQ place (Ming’s BBQ on Buford Hwy) that hung quail with their Peking duck. Quail is basically just a tiny chicken, so don’t let it throw you off- it was actually cleaner picking it apart than chicken.

Quail-
I mixed a couple of tablespoons of honey and a teaspoon of brown sugar, with a few tablespoons of water- basically a sugary, dense liquid. I added a chinese five-spice powder, which is just a Chinese seasoning salt. (Salt, pepper, garlic would be good too!) Rub all over the quail and let marinate for a few hours.
Bake at 325 for 15 minutes and then 375 for 8 minutes (until red and crispy)

I will be doing this Bok Choy a lot, it was sooo good! Chinese flavors are unreal.
BOK CHOY
Heat a high temp oil in a wok or large pan over medium-high heat. (I used an expensive black truffle olive oil- unreal aroma, definitely not necessary)
Mash three cloves of garlic with side of knife
Mash 4 thin slices of ginger root with side of knife
Sautee garlic and ginger for 30 seconds, add chopped up bok choy
Once it starts to wilt, add three tablespoons of chicken stock, teaspoon of sugar, and tablespoon of soy sauce)- Cover for 1 1/2 minutes.
Uncover and drizzle with toasted sesame oil.
Serve hot. Add drippings to rice and quail.



I have a new found respect for Chinese cooking. More to come!

Healthy Country Fried Steak & Garlic Mashed Potatoes/ Kale

Country fried steak doesn’t have to be unhealthy! I was given a package of grass-fed cubed steak from my cousin’s farm in Alabama and wanted to do something nice with it. Cubed steak is usually sirloin or a tougher piece of meat that is beaten with a mallet until it is thin and tender. It has that amazing farm taste and the sauce makes it delectable. This is now one of my favorite dishes!

I marinate the cubed steak with aminos and seasonings. I dip it in an egg and then LIGHTLY dredge each piece in flour. I would have been happy not using any breading at all. I used a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil instead of a heavy frying oil. A few minutes on each side over medium-high heat and I have a thin crispy coat with a moist center.

***For the SAUCE I started with the leftover drippings in the cast-iron pan. In that same pan, I reduce the heat to medium-low and sauteed crimini mushrooms and one shallot. I then added a splash of white wine and aminos (or soy sauce). This is where you add the cream. I, however, wanted to be a little healthier and my decision was easier because I only had 2% milk. I poured about two cups of milk in the pan and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

**Potatoes: I halved the gold yukon potatoes, diced a quarter of an onion, and cut up a few cloves of garlic. I boiled everything for about 20 minutes. Everything becomes so soft that you can leave big chunks, it will all be mashed together at the end. Season with salt and pepper. Mash. Add chopped parsley for more flavor.

Served with Kale… green beans or asparagus would have been great as well!

Wild Atlantic Salmon & Avocado Cream Sauce w/ Garlic Kale and Rice

It’s easy to forget how tasty fish is. With such a short cook time, I don’t know why we don’t cook it more. It’s often expensive to get decent fish, but once again the Farmer’s Market comes through and offers this wild salmon for $8.99/lb. I try to stay away from farm raised salmon, which are raised on corn and lack the nutrients found in wild salmon.

This was a simple dish, I just added a sauce to make it different.
AVOCADO CREAM SAUCE:
1 Avocado
Half of Lemon
Splash of EV Olive Oil
Splash of milk (can be left out)
Teaspoon of coarse black pepper
Salt to taste
::::Mix in food processor::::
::::Then add the following two ingredients and mix for another short time::::
Half a shallot, or the equivalent size using an onion (as shown)
Chopped parsley (as shown)

Salmon: Marinated in EVOO, Soy Sauce, Seasoning salt, fresh rosemary, dried dill
Cook until you can barely see the bright orange from the side ( approx. 4 min on each side on medium low heat)

Rice: Standard white rice, 1 part rice, 2 parts water. Add rice when water reaches a boil, stir once, add a dash of salt, reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. In 20 minutes you have perfect rice, works every time. I like to add chopped parsley at the end to add a little spark.

Kale: Talked about on previous posts… two cloves of minced garlic sauteed in a splash of olive oil. Added a chopped bundle of kale and a splash of soy sauce. Takes less than 5 minutes to have perfectly crunchy kale.

It doesn’t get any healthier than salmon and kale!

Seared Tuna Salad w/ Sesame Sticks & Ginger Dressing!

The best salad I’ve ever had. This is now my go-to salad to impress, it’s absolutely amazing.

This sashimi grade tuna from the Farmer’s Market is only $12.99/lb. Technically, you can eat it raw, but searing it adds a little flavor and texture to it. It is safe and healthy to eat it this way, and if you cook it through it’ll taste like a dry steak. Sometimes it’s even on sale for $9.99/lb. At Whole Foods, it’s $19.99/lb! So I used a nice, big tuna filet that cost a total of $7.50. After all the ingredients, this made two nice salads for a total of about $6.00 per person. You can’t get a burrito for that price… and look at what you can eat instead!

Tuna lightly seasoned w/ LaFavers Seasoning (Salt, Pepper, Cayenne, Garlic, etc.)
Organic Spring Mix
Toasted honey sesame sticks (Really made the salad)
Shaved Mozzarella
Sliced Tomato
Shredded Carrot
Diced Red Onion
Diced Red Bell Pepper
Ground Coarse Black Pepper
Annie’s All-Natural GINGER DRESSING

Enjoy!

Fresh homemade salsa – Straight from the Garden!

It’s been a long summer of spaghetti, tomato sandwiches, and salsa! I was gathering about 50 tomatoes every week back in June. I’m already missing them, but thankfully froze bags full of peeled tomatoes. They will be great to use in Italian dishes in the fall. Tomatoes are beyond healthy, and is worth the short time it takes to plant them!

I grew up on this salsa, and I will put it up against any brand. It’s crazy that whole foods charges $5+ for any 12 ounce jar of any organic salsa. I could probably fill up 20 of these bottles with just this batch. Total cost: $1.00 for an onion and garlic. I picked the bell pepper and jalapenos from the garden as well.

Such a simple recipe:
Chop up as many tomatoes as you want.
Boil a pot of water and boil the Bell pepper, garlic, onion, and jalapenos for 6 minutes (don’t peel anything!)
Let cool and then peel and chop the vegetables.
Combine the cooked vegetables with the chopped raw tomatoes, and add some chopped fresh cilantro with a little salt and ground pepper.
Voila!

I love “Garden of Eatin” chips, especially the blues. So fresh and nutritious. Enjoy!

Pistachio encrusted Tuna Steak w/ garlic Kale & Mushroom Havarti Risotto

My plating wasn’t fancy, but this meal was delicious. I vow to do fish at least once a week, considering all the health benefits, and we tend to forget how tasty it can be. I purchased these two tuna steaks for $15.00 total, $12.99/lb at the DFM. They say they are sashimi grade (the highest quality, and you can eat them raw). I know whole foods didn’t look as fresh as these, and theirs are $18.99/lb. AND if you go behind the sushi counter the sashimi grade tuna is $30 + a pound. You just can’t beat $7.50 per steak, plus risotto and kale are cheap… so for $10 per person you can eat what tends to be the most expensive meal at most restaurants.

TUNA-
Crush pistachio nuts in plastic bag.
Drizzle olive oil and a dash of aminos (soy sauce) over tuna.
Dip each side of the tuna in the crushed nuts.
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat.
Cook each side for only about a minute, maybe two.
SAUCE-
I added a tiny amount of sauce to the tuna after plating- just a spoonful for each steak.
Half a lime
Balsamic vinegrette
Chopped parsley

You want to see at least half red. This isn’t a Kroger steak, the rawness is safe- especially sashimi grade like the farmer’s market. Some people only sear it for 10 second on each side. I like a little cooked texture. I actually cooked this a little longer than I would like. So I’m going to cheat and add a picture of a perfectly cooked piece I cooked tonight for a salad (post to come in the future). Below (no pistachios).

I had an acquaintance who was allergic to legumes, which includes pistachios. We used peanuts instead and it was great. I do this dish with swordfish as well, similar texture.

Click for my post on making the perfect RISOTTO

KALE
Kale is the most nutritious vegetable available, yet many people don’t know much about it. It is great, and tastes better than any other greens in my opinion. I sauteed garlic and half a shallot, turned the pan on medium, and threw the kale in for about 5-7 minutes.. I added a splash of Liquid Aminos. The key is to keep it crunchy by not overcooking it. Not only does it taste better, it is more nutritious the less you cook it.

How to make the perfect Risotto Rice! Mushroom, garlic, havarti Risotto + more

I am giving this side it’s own page, so I can just link to it every time I have risotto on the menu. A lot of people believe risotto is hard to get just right. I have the process down to a science… it’s really not that difficult, but it does take at least an hour. The good thing is you can just let it simmer while you are making the main dish. I like to mix up the cheeses and vegetables I put in my risotto. My most common is using a bleu or Gorgonzola cheese and adding spinach. For this first risotto posting, I used mushrooms and Havarti cheese.

I like to use a whiskey sized cocktail cup to measure a scoop of rice. This usually makes enough for 4 people. It is probably a cup and a half. Add two parts water or chicken broth to your one part rice. I usually add more throughout the process. You add until it’s perfect, but the two parts to one is a good starting point and will last 45 minutes. I know most risotto recipes say to add a ladle full of hot broth to the rice one at a time as needed. You can do this if you want to constantly stir for an hour. I am taking a short cut, and I’ve had great results. I do both, but this is more sensible.

Chop half an onion and mince a couple of cloves of garlic. Saute them in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or butter. I added mushrooms in this step because they take longer to get soft. If I’m using spinach or something, I’ll add towards the end.

After about 15 minutes of caramelizing, add the Italian rice directly to the pot, with no liquid. Constantly stir for 5 minutes.

Add about a cup of room-temperature white wine to the hard rice. May I recommend the 2.99 Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck (better than most $10 dollar bottles! Great for cooking) DO NOT add cold wine, as it will shock the rice and make it have a hard outside.

Add one ladle full at a time of chicken broth or water, or add two parts all at this time. The chicken broth provides more flavor, but with the onions, garlic, and spices… you will still have an extremely tasty risotto if you use water. I like to to use both.

Never cover!

Stir once in a while when there’s lots of liquid, and quite often when there isn’t much. When it is mostly absorbed, taste it. If it has any crunchiness, add another half cup of broth. You would think cream was added, but it naturally gets creamy because of the starch. You want it to be soft and creamy, but not gooey. It still has to have a little give in the grain, some firmness. So taste until you think it is almost at that point. I add very little cheese at this point, just to get the flavor, not for the cheesiness. Now would be the time to add things like spinach as well. Top with a little chopped parsley.

The time you put into it is worth it! Tastiest stuff in the world. I love it with every bite of my food. In the pic shown: Tuna and kale.

Enjoy!

Pork Loin stuffed w/ Apple + Garlic Stuffing

I haven’t done pork tenderloin in a long time, but I found one for a great price. I happened to have a couple of red apples, so I decided to do some type of stuffing. It turned out amazing.

The pork was marinated in aminos, apple cider vinegar, garlic, LaFavers seasoning, rosemary, and a couple spoons of apple sauce.
Meanwhile, I caramelized half a vidalia onion, a few minced cloves of garlic, chives, and rosemary. I turned the low heat off and added a few cups of bread crumbs and the diced apples.

I cut the incision in the center and loaded it up with stuffing. I also made little slits and put some more small garlic gloves in them. There wasn’t much fat on the tenderloin, but I cut the majority of it off and put it on the side along with extra stuffing. Baked at 350 degrees for around an hour. It turned out absolutely perfect thanks a new digital thermometer. Pork is perfect at a 160 degree temperature.

I served it with toasted ciabatta bread and made pork sandwiches the next day!

STRAWBERRY SEASON! Spinach Salad w/ Strawberries, Pecans, Steak, & Bleu Cheese

It is late March, which is the start of strawberry season. In looking for ways to use them, we decided to make a salad. This was the best salad I’ve had all year.
As I stated in the previous post, it’s nice to use left over steak as an addition to a salad. The salad was made up of:
Spinach
Toasted Pecans
Sliced Strawberries
Bleu Cheese Crumbles
Flank Steak Strips
Balsamic Vinegar and a splash of olive oil
Croutons

So simple, and yet so nutritious and delicious. It was a reminder to eat more salads. I am going to try to have one as the main entree at least once a week, along with fish once a week. Give this salad a try, you won’t regret it!

Flank steak w/ Asparagus & Baked Potato

I love doing a big flank steak so I have leftovers. I had steak & eggs the next morning, and a salad with steak strips the next night.
The steak was marinated in Bragg’s Aminos Liquid and LaFavers seasoning salt. Cook it like any other steak, on a high heat cast iron pan. I was excited to use my new Griswold antique cast iron pans that came from my Dad- it doesn’t get any better. Letting the steak get room temperature first helps it cook more evenly. I like to add some whole scallion onions to the skillet, the juices from the steak make them taste amazing… I love having a piece with every bite of steak. Remember to cut AGAINST the grain… as you can see the grains running the opposite way of the slices I made.
It’s about to be asparagus season, and it already is in Mexico. I like to cook them with a tablespoon of olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and a good squeeze of a lemon. Like all greens, don’t cook them long… the brighter they are, the more nutritious.