Tailored meals

Quick yummy Vegetable Stew with tons of flavors

I like to start with 2 cups of button mushrooms chopped,  Add mushrooms and olive oil in pot on medium high heat.  Sautee mushrooms until golden brown, add  2 cups of yukon gold potatoes cubed.  Give mushrooms and potatoes a few good minutes like 5 in the pot on medium high heat.  Next chop and add 1 1/2 cup of carrots half cup onions dices and 6 cloves of garlic chopped or pressed.  Give the flavors about 3 minutes to mingle, next add 1 quart of vegetable stock and reduce on the same medium high heat until stew begins to thicken.  Add  another 1/2 quart of broth and a few sprigs of thyme to pot and let simmer on medium low heat for 20 minutes.  In that time your stew should be thick and ready to sever.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley.  Goes great with some rustic bread and a hunk of cheese.  Feel free to add other vegetable or protein if you so choose.  Enjoy.

Meatballs

We begin by chopping 1 pint size package of baby portobello mushrooms.  In pot add chopped mushrooms with 2 tablespoon of olive oil and sautee on high until mushrooms start to brown then add 1/4 cup of cubed cured bacon.  Add 3 chopped cloves of garlic and one half of dice onion sautee for two minutes remove from fire transfer mixture to bowl and let cool.

After cooling add 1 lb of organic ground beef to bowl with mushroom mixture 1/4 cup of chopped herbs( parsley cilantro chives oregano one two or all of these no worries).  Next add one egg salt and pepper and using your best kitchen tools(your hands) begin kneading mixture.  After you are finish make meatballs to desired size and place meatballs in large skillet with two tablespoon of olive oil.  Brown one side of meatballs and turn, take skillet and put in 400 degree oven and finish cooking for 10-12 minutes.  I had made some linguine pasta and added some of the pesto from my previous post and the results were astounding.  Hope you like it and the info I presented reaps the same results for you.

Broccoli Rabe Pesto

Seriously this is the best pesto I’ve ever made, healthy fluffy not oily and so damn yummy.

I start with 1 bunch of broccoli Rabe.  Breaking down the bunch by composting the leaves and just using the flower stalks, you will find most of the bunch is leaves.

After filtering the leaves, blanche broccoli rabe until bright green somewhat tender and cooked.

Blanche: To partially cook food, usually vegetables or fruit, in boiling water or steam.  Immediately after blanching, vegetables are usually placed in ice or cold water to stop cooking and set the color.

In food processor add broccoli rabe, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup of pine nuts and 2 tablespoon of olive oil.  I like to add the oil gradually and not all at once, you are not looking for a runny consistency it should be more on the thick side.  After you mix the ingredients transfer pesto to a blow.  Add a 1/4 cup of grated parmesan reggiano and salt and pepper, use a spatula to fold into pesto.  Enjoy

Broccoli and rice cakes.

I started this dish with 2 cups of rice that we had made for dinner the previous night. keep in mind the rice we had was basmati w/saffron and edamame.  it doesn’t matter which rice you use as long as its room temp and cooked.

1/4 cup of green onions

1 cup of blanched broccoli( blanche it to the point where its soft and bright green then let cool)

1 tablespoon of chopped jalapeno pepper

2 eggs

1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs

sea salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400

In large bowl combine all ingredients, using hand knead mixture for about a minute until it becomes gelatinous.  Heat large skillet and add 1 tablespoon of oil.  Using hand make cakes with mixture to your desirable size.  After making cakes arrange them on skillet at a medium high heat.  Flip cakes when they become golden on one side and put skillet in the oven 400 for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve.

Pictured: Wild caught salmon w/sake soy glaze a yogurt mint dressing on a bed of baby arugula served with a broccoli rice cake.

Pan Baked lasagna, who would have guessed it super easy and fun.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees 

Start by adding 1 cup of julienned shiitake mushrooms to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to sauce pan, sautee on high a few minutes to get crisy and brown but not too dark. 

Next add 1 cup of julienned zucchini 

Add 1 cup of kalamata olives and 3 cloves of chopped garlic to pan.

Next add 2 cups of marinara or puttanesca sauce( store bought or homemade whatever works for you) add sea salt and pepper to taste and mix.

In nonstick pan start by adding sauce to bottom of pan next ricotta and mozzarella and a layer of uncooked pasta.  Repeat step until pan is almost full.  Chop cherry tomatoes and spread out on top of lasagna, sea salt and pepper and a drizzle of your favorite olive oil bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy

Click each photo for a little more info.

Heirloom tomatoes and avocado salad

1 small red onion, cut and dice half use in salad.

1 red pepper, cut and use only one side

1 whole jalapeno diced, caution some peppers are hotter than others use what you can handle.

2 ripe avocados pitted and diced

2 heirloom tomatoes diced, if possible use two different colors

light splash of a half of a lemon and salt/pepper to taste a drizzle of your favorite olive oil finishes things off.  A few chopped sprigs of parsley and a light toss your salad is ready to be served.