Mediterranean Chicken Salad

Made this delicious and healthy little recipe up all by myself! 
For Quinoa:

2 cups water          
1 cup quinoa   


Place quinoa and water in a 1-½ quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until all the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes). You will know that the quinoa is done when all the grains have turned from white to transparent, and the spiral-like germ has separated. Makes 3 cups.   

For the Chicken:

Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp each sea salt, pepper, paprika, oregano; combined
2 tbsp olive oil

Pound the chicken breasts until they are an even thickness, but not too thin. Dry the chicken breasts with paper towels just before heating. Sprinkle with the spice mixture. Heat up a grill pan or saute pan with olive oil until almost smoking. Add chicken and cook about 7 minutes on each side, allowing the chicken to develop a char or grill marks on the outside. Cut into one breast to check that it's done, remove from heat and set aside. Don't overcook the chicken. The salad will be VASTLY better if the chicken is tender, and moist.

Quick Pickled Red Onion and Shallots

One medium red onion, cut in thin slices
1 shallot, cut in thin slices
1/4 scant cup of vinegar (white, red, or cider will do)
splash of good balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper

Heat all ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the onions are light pink and color and soft, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Almost all of the vinegar should be absorbed. Set aside:

Remaining Salad ingredients:
1/2 cup currants
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds
3 Persian cucumbers, (or one regular if you can't find these), diced
1 container cherry tomatoes, sliced in halves
1 red or orange bell pepper sliced in very thin strips
chopped spinach and salad greens
hanful of crumbled feta or parmesan cheese
1 can, no sodium chickpeas, drained
large handful of fresh basil, julienned
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt, pepper

Assembly:
Toss all ingredients in a bowl and serve warm or cold, depending on your preference. Adding a bit of hot sauce isn't a bad thing.

Melon-Nectarine Agua Fresca

Here's a recipe to help you battle the 'end of the summer heatwave' that's been going on in SoCal. It's from my homeboy David Lebovitz, and couldn't be more refreshing or delicious. I will be bringing this to Lauren's bachelorette party!

Melon Nectarine Agua Fresca, Adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe.

You can use any kind of melon that’s available to you during the season. Look for yellow 'Crenshaw' melons. If you've never tried one before, they will blow you away. They are always sweet and delicious, unlike many cantalopes. I used a good cantalope that I found at Gelson's. Agua fresca is generally quite thin – the name means “fresh water.” I like it a little spicy, so top it with a dusting of red pepper powder. Of course, you could turn this into a cocktail with a shot (or two) of tequila. However you serve it, make sure it’s well-chilled and served over plenty of ice.


1 small melon (2-pounds, 900 g), peeled and seeded
2 yellow or white nectarines, pitted and sliced
2 cups (.5l) water
2 tablespoons agave nectar/syrup juice of one lime


1. Puree all the ingredients together in a blender until very smooth.
2. Pass the mixture through a mesh strainer, pressing it through with a flexible spatula. Chill the agua fresca mixture thoroughly. Serve well-chilled over ice (Shot of tequila optional). Dust with red pepper powder, if desired.

"Pumpkin Dessert"

Here's a recipe that I am both excited and hesitant to share with you. It's an ancient photocopied recipe of my mom's that she got from god knows where, mysteriously titled"Pumpkin Dessert". Besides the presence of pumpkin, I like that the name gives no clue as to what the dessert might actually look or taste like.

This is not a gourmet recipe. It's secret ingredient is a box of store-bought yellow cake mix. BUT! But!--before you turn your food-snobby nose away, let me tell you that this is so terribly delicious. I am embarrassed to admit how much I love this thing. Me: the person who bought rendered duck fat from Whole Foods this week to make duck confit. I really love this weird little "pumpkin dessert".

It's actually quite wonderful for anyone to make, including people with more "sophisticated" palates because with a little tweaking the taste is spectacular and addicting. It takes under 10 minutes to assemble, before placing in the oven, and feeds a crowd if you feel like sharing (which I don't!!).

So here it is for you to try, and love:

Pumpkin Dessert
(via mysterious photocopied recipe of my mom's)

Bottom:
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix* reserve one cup cake mix for later use
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg

Filling:
1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs1 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

Topping:
1 cup cake mix
1/3 cup butter, chilled
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Set aside 1 cup of cake mix. Combine remaining cake mix with melted butter and 1 egg and mix until well blended; spread mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
In a large bowl combine pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, vanilla milk, 3 eggs and pumpkin pie spice; mix well and pour this mixture over cake mix mixture in baking dish.
In a small bowl with a pastry blender, or in a food processor, combine chilled butter and white sugar with reserved cake mix and flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over all.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden. 

 

It's been awhile...

I've been very lazy with this blog recently! Although I've made many new and delightful recipes in the past few months, I haven't taken the time to share them. I will try to update my blog over the next few weeks, making sure to include the recipes that came out really great; like this one that I made this weekend. Enjoy!

Wild Mushroom Risotto, from Bon Appetit. This was my first time making risotto. Although it's a bit labor intensive standing at the oven and stirring for 20 minutes, the results were worth the effort. (Don't be weird like me and decide to make this on a hot summer day in a tiny apartment kitchen!). I followed the recipe exactly, but there are a few things I would change when I make it again. Oddly, my rice was done cooking much faster then the recipe says, so I ended up using less both then the recommended 7 cups. I would use half broth and half water next time to cook my rice in because I felt that the flavor of the chicken broth was too overwhelming. Since I spent a pretty penny on fancy mushrooms at Whole Foods, I would have liked to taste more mushroom flavor and less broth. I'd double this recipe next time too, Mike and I ate almost all of it in one sitting and it would have been nice to have leftovers the next day!

First batch of mushrooms cooking. The brown ones are 'Hen of the Woods' and the little white ones are called 'Shemeji' or Beech mushrooms.

Finished product, keeping warm in my new Le Cruset!

Doritos Locos Taco

 Along with the McRib and the "Double Down" the fast food industry has created yet another product that makes me ashamed to be an American: it's the "Doritos Locos Tacos" from Taco Bell. Who thought it would be a good idea to combine junk food with fast food?!

Taco Bell is terrible to begin with. The "meat" for the tacos comes in a bucket, the contents of which are 36% beef, mixed with 64% "other stuff" (see lawsuit). Then there's the sad, wilted, iceberg lettuce and the dollop "sour cream" which may or may not actually be mayonnaise.

Taco Bell decided to wrap all that crap up in a fried shell covered with day-glo-orange flavor dust made from highly processed fried corn meal, infused with sugar, artificial flavorings, dyes, and food glue! Great idea, guys.

Mixing Taco Bell's tacos with a Dorito is much like mixing ammonia and hydrochloric acid. Normally I'm not one to believe in religious fanaticism, but this taco may just be a sign of the coming apocalypse.