Spiralized Cucumber Greek Salad

Today is Super Salad Sunday. I was recently given a vegetable spiralizer and have been experimenting with different ways to make some vegetables. The standard is zucchini noodles (zoodles), but I have yet to perfect them. So, I made something which would not require me to actually cook it.

This salad is incredibly refreshing, full of tangy flavor, and surprisingly not very time consuming to put together. I recommend you go for some higher quality ingredients (the olives, feta cheese and olive oil, in particular) because I think that those flavors really make this the stand out dish. It is good as a side, and if you put some protein with it (I have served it with grilled salmon), it can be an entree unto itself. 

What you will need:

2 medium sized cucumbers, unpeeled

1 green bell pepper, medium

1 small red onion (we will only use about 1/3 of the onion)

1 carton cherry tomatoes

1 lemon

mediterranean olives (I tried to find good olives which were already pitted, but alas, was unable to do so. These are from the olive bar at the local grocery store)

fresh tarragon leaves

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

I used the 1/8" blade for the cucumbers on this one. I also keep the skin on the cucumber because I find it gives it a little more crunch when the salad is composed. Run the cucumbers through your spiralizer--this is a very fun activity! You will get very long spirals; I tend to cut them with a knife.

Spread the cucumber on to a few paper towels and blot for a while to remove excess water as they tend to get a little drippy. I leave them on the towels and lightly covered while prepping the rest of the ingredients.

In a large glass (or other type of non-reactive) bowl, you will place the rest of your ingredients.

Slice your cherry tomatoes in halves, cut your green bell peppers into thin strips, and put in tiny dices or ribbons of red onion in a ratio that suits you. Add your olives (either pitted or unpinned--I tried using an olive pitter which was funny, but horribly frustrating and not particularly effective).

Once you get all your veggies in the bowl, take a few fresh tarragon leaves, tear them up roughly and rub them a little bit to release their oils, and drop them in. Squeeze your lemon in to give it some juice, drizzle some olive oil (a few tablespoons at most), and salt and pepper to taste. Toss all that together and let it sit for a few minutes. Then add your cucumber spirals, and toss again.

Mmmmm. It is very yummy.

When you are getting ready to serve the salad, set on individual plates, then take your feta cheese and slice a nice thick block off of it to place on top of each salad.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the feta, sprinkle a little more salt and pepper, and voila! Serve, and enjoy!

Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables (Adapted from Thomas Keller)

One of my favorite things to do is to make a roast chicken on a Sunday evening. The leftovers are great for work lunches, it makes the house smell delicious, and just makes me feel like I'm putting myself in the right frame of mind to face the week. So, I'm always on the look-out for a new, tasty roast chicken recipe. 

This Thomas Keller Ad Hoc recipe does not disappoint. Full of flavor, some interesting new vegetables to try, and except for a lot of knife-work, one of the lowest-maintenance TK recipes you will ever attempt. There are no weird kitchen tools and the ingredients can all be found at a regular grocery store. He's very particular about the size of the vegetables you use, but I did not stick to those recommendations and found that as long as I chopped the vegetables to be approximate the same size, it didn't matter. Also, these are just the root vegetables I chose to use on this particular day, but I've used tons of other veggies, depending what I've had in my fridge. You can use parsnips, celery...pretty much anything that is a hardy wintery-type vegetable. 

The other note I want to make is that a lot of TK's recipes suggest that it is absolutely essential to bring your meat to room temperature before cooking, which I think discourages us working people quite a bit, as I don't feel comfortable leaving a chicken sitting out all day, and I don't want to wait four hours when I get home at 7 PM to make dinner. My general rule is--if I have time on the weekend to take the meat out and let it warm up a bit, then I do. But if I want to make a meal on a weekday, I just take the meat out of the fridge as my very first step and it will get as warm as it can while I prep the rest of the meal. It really doesn't ruin a meal. 

You can make this chicken in a roasting pan (without the roasting rack), or in a dutch oven type dish (I use my Le Creuset braiser because it's easiest to wash). 

Total prep time: 30 minutes (not including the time it takes to bring chicken and butter to room temperature)

Total cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes

What you will need:

4-4.5 lb whole fresh chicken, gizzards/parts removed
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
6 garlic cloves (you can use fresh ones if you have them on hand, otherwise, I use this minced stuff and it's fine)
6 fresh thyme sprigs
2 large leeks
1 rutabaga (TK calls for 3 tennis-ball sized rutabagas. My grocery store only has humongous, softball sized rutabagas so I reduced to 1).
2 turnips (TK calls for tennis-ball sized turnips. I didn't have a lot of options).
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally (I actually did not use carrots in this batch--see my note above about how you can use whatever veggies you feel like using)
2 small yellow onions, peeled and quartered
8 small red potatoes (golf ball sized)
1/3 cup canola oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

Preheat your oven to 475. Yes, you read that correctly. It's not going to stay there the entire time, I promise you.

If you want to rinse your chicken, go ahead and do so. TK actually says you don't have to because when you cook at that high of a temperature, it kills the bacteria, and you're only adding undesired water by rinsing. Whatever your choice, make sure you dry it very thoroughly with paper towels (both outside and inside--I typically stuff a few paper towels in the cavity and let them absorb for a few minutes). This is a super important step as it is the key to making sure you have roast, crispy chicken, not steamed uncrispy chicken.

After the chicken is dry, liberally coat with kosher salt and black pepper. Pour salt and black pepper in the cavity as well, and really, don't be shy with it. You want it to permeate the chicken and give it good flavor. You can rub some underneath the skin as well. 

Put 3-4 thyme sprigs in the cavity of the chicken along with three smashed or chopped garlic gloves. Now put your hand in there and rub all the seasonings and herbs along the inside of the cavity. It really helps get the flavor into the chicken. You can truss the chicken if you want to, but it's not a necessity.

Set the chicken aside and start chopping vegetables. For turnips, you have to peel the outside of the turnip. You can do that with a peeler, but I tend to just slice the outside of the turnip off with my knife, cutting off one end of the turnip to give me a steady base on the cutting board.

Once it's peeled, cut into approximately 1" cubes.

Once these are cut, put them into a large bowl where you will combine the rest of the vegetables. Make sure it's a big bowl, because these veggies take up some room.

Next, take your potatoes and either halve or quarter them, depending on how large they are. The key is to try to get them all to be roughly the same size or weight.

With the rutabaga, the strategy is much the same as it was for the turnip.

Next, make sure your leeks are thoroughly rinsed. Cut the dark ends off. Rinse again. Leeks are dirty little suckers.

I sliced the leeks diagonally into large chunks. They were tasty.

Peel your onions, cut off the ends, and quarter them into wedges.

Once you have all of your vegetables in your mixing bowl, add a generous amount of salt, black pepper, 1/4 of the cup of canola oil (set aside the rest to use on the chicken), and the rest of the garlic. mix well. I just stick my hands in there and toss.

Next, spread the vegetables at the bottom of your casserole dish/roasting pan. Rub the remainder of the canola oil on the chicken, then place the chicken in a "nest" of the vegetables. You don't want to put the chicken on a roasting pan for this one...you want the delicious chicken juices and fats to run directly all over your vegetables to give extra flavor. You can throw the rest of the thyme sprigs on top of the veggies at this point.

Put a couple of pats of butter on top of the chicken (you can skip this step if you're trying to make it kosher, just use a little extra canola oil on the chicken breast).

Pop that baby in the 475 degree oven uncovered for approximately 20 minutes.

You'll see that there's a delightful crisp skin forming on the chicken and you've given it a good jump start to the cooking process. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 and cook for approximately an additional 45 minutes. After about 30 minutes of additional cooking, I start paying a lot more attention to the chicken, and check the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, waiting for it to register to 160 degrees.

Once the chicken is 160 degrees, remove from the oven and let it rest for at least 5 minutes before you start cutting. They say this helps trap the juices, but I'll tell you, it's really so you don't burn the crap out of your fingers trying to carve. Feel free to sneak a veggie or two while you wait.

Once it's not so piping hot, start carving and serve on a platter or just right out of the dish. Enjoy!

Tomato, Avo and Mozzarella Salad (Caprese Deluxe)

Happy New Year!!! For all of you who are trying to start 2014 off with healthier, lighter foods, this salad is for you (though the mozzarella doesn't help a ton). I love a good caprese salad, and I love avocado, so this just plumps up an old classic!!!

Total Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Total Cook Time: 0 minutes!! (it's a salad!)

What you will need:

1 package of baby spinach (I use the "mini" bags since the spinach isn't the star of the show and there are only two of us eating)

1 or 2 tomatoes (if your tomatoes are particularly small, use 2, but I recommend starting with just one and seeing if you want more)

2 balls of fresh mozzarella (I use the medium-sized balls fresh-packed in water)

1 hass avocado

2 large leaves of fresh basil (you can use dried too if it's handy)

good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegars

sea salt

black pepper

First, divide the baby spinach into two bowls (or however many people you are serving). It should just form a light bed. 

Next, dice your tomatoes in a large dice. The end goal will be for all of the components of the dish to be roughly the same size dice.

Now, cube your avocado.

Drain two mozzarella balls in a paper towel and cube to similar sizes of the avocado and tomato.

Place the avocado, tomato and mozzarella in the bowls on top of the spinach. Chiffonade* your basil so it's in tiny little ribbons:

*chiffonade: best way to cut basil or other fresh large leafed herbs. Stack the leaves, roll them up, then slice horizontally to create ribbons. Longer ribbons can be created by slicing lengthwise down the leaves.

Sprinkle on top of the salad, then drizzle olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper over to taste.

Serve, and enjoy!!!

Savta's Zucchini in Tomato Sauce

I have already posted a recipe from my Bubbe Elaine. Now it's time to go to my Israeli roots and post a recipe from my Savta Leah. This is one of my favorite side dishes to make...it gives zucchini a completely different texture than what you see in a lot of American recipes using zucchini. Kids go crazy over it, since there's a bit of ketchup in it (a 1950s housewife throwback), and it's certainly not gourmet, but boy is it comfort food...best of all? It's pretty quick and easy to make.

Total prep time: 10 minutes

Total cook time: 35 minutes

What you will need:

2-3 medium sized zucchini
1/2 white onion
1 regular sized jar tomato sauce (any brand is fine)
2 tbsp ketchup
1 packet splenda (you can use sweet n lo or even sugar if you're not trying to be low-cal)
1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable/canola oil (not pictured)
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Wash your zucchini and make sure you scrub them. Zucchini have tiny little hairs on them that can prickle you. Then dice them into large chunks.

Next, dice 1/2 of a white onion. It does not need to be finely chopped, but you want the pieces to be much smaller than your zucchini slices.

In a medium sized saucepan, add 1 tbsp of the oil of your choice and heat on medium heat. Once it is warm (you can tell by holding your hand slightly above the oil, and if you look closely, you'll see it change color a bit) add your onion and saute until translucent and slightly browned.

Next, add the zucchini and saute for a few more minutes.

Then, add the tomato sauce, ketchup, and splenda packet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer on a low-medium low heat for anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour...the longer you let it sit, the more the flavor melds, but it's definitely ready to eat when the zucchini becomes very tender after about fifteen minutes.

Now it's ready to serve! The resulting taste is not quite an "italian" style sauce as it is definitely sweeter than a typical marinara. This is a good side dish for any roasted or fried type of protein...I typically pair this with chicken schnitzel, brisket, or some sort of roasted chicken breast. Enjoy it!!!!

Italian Turkey Meatballs

Confession: Before I made this meal, I had never, ever, in my life, made a meatball. I've enjoyed many a meatball, but I've always been a bit apprehensive of making them. It seemed overwhelming to try and keep the meat together, in ball form, appropriately seasoned and evenly cooked. But I found out how wrong I've been, and how easy they are to make. Best part about meatballs? As long as you have fresh ground turkey and a fairly well-stocked pantry, you have all the ingredients necessary. And these recipes seem to be pretty flexible!

Total Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Cook Time: 30 minutes

What you will need:

1 lb ground turkey meat (I used 43% lean since my grocery store does not have 93%, but use whatever mix you prefer)

2 tbsp bread crumbs (I used Italian, but you could use whatever you have on hand, including panko!)

1 egg

1 tsp italian seasonings

1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp cumin

salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

1/2 bunch minced fresh parsley (only if you happen to have fresh herbs on hand)

(not pictured: my favorite jar of publix marinara sauce. Use whatever you have on hand).

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. 

In a large mixing bowl, put your ground meat, and add all dry ingredients. Also add egg, garlic and mustard.

Here comes the fun part. Mix all of this together, well. I tried doing it with a spoon. It didn't work. So I got my hands all up in there. Fact: my refrigerator keeps meat very, very cold.

In an ovenproof casserole dish (sprayed with Pam), place rolled meatballs which are approximately 1-1.5 inches in diameter. Roll the meatballs with the palm of your hand rather than fingertips; I find they bind up a bit better that way.

Bake the meatballs at 400, uncovered, for approximately 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and put a non-stick skillet on medium heat on the stove. Place the meatballs (taken out of the casserole dish with a slotted spoon so as to essentially drain them of the fat they've rendered) in the skillet and in a few minutes you will hear them begin to sizzle. Make sure you place them with the browned sides up; essentially, what we are doing here is browning the other sides of the meatballs.

Let the meatballs cook for approximately five minutes, then dump your jar of sauce over them. This is where I really wish that I had a Le Crueset dutch oven, because what I'd really love to do is brown these little suckers in the Le Crueset, pour my sauce in, and then pop it back in the oven...we'll see whether my dreams are recognized from my wedding registry.

Let the meatballs simmer on low heat for approximately ten minutes, then serve and enjoy! These are pretty good on their own (and don't create too much sauce) if you're trying to be low-carb; otherwise, you can serve these with spaghetti for your traditional spaghetti and meatball, or probably could even make meatball subs if you had baguettes and some provolone to melt. Either way...very delicious and easy!

Pan Sauteed Tomatoes

Again, I've been on hiatus. I know. Holidays and work have caused me to resort only to cooking things I've already posted, or I forget to take pictures until halfway through a meal. Don't give up on me.

So, what do you do when you buy a couple of nice vine-ripe tomatoes (or get them in your CSA vegetable delivery box), life gets in the way before you can use them while they're still just perfectly ripe, and you are left with a slightly soft, overripe tomato? If you're anything like me, you don't want to eat that tomato raw. You know it's going to be slightly starchy, and mushy, and just won't live up to its tomato potential. Too many times, those tomatoes end up in the garbage or on the compost pile.

Until now. 

This dish is VERY quick and is simple in its flavor profile. You can fix these tomatoes while you cook a full meal, can make them for breakfast with some hummus and rustic bread (try toasting it in the oven!), or use them as a side for tons of other dishes. They have a little bit of heat, and are super healthy.

Total Prep Time: 3 minutes

Total Cook Time: 10 minutes

What you will need:

1-2 vine ripe tomatoes (slightly soft, overripe is the best kind of tomato for this dish)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
Sea salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Using a serrated knife, slice your tomatoes into thick horizontal slices, like so:

In a small saute pan (avoid non-stick pans for this dish), heat the olive oil on medium heat, and make sure it coats the entire bottom of the pan. You want the oil to be shimmering, but not actually crackling yet. If it gets too hot accidentally, then just reduce the heat and let it cool for a minute before taking the next step.

Place your tomato slices in a single layer on the bottom of the saute pan. They should make a delightful frying sound. 

Once they're in the oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over them, then take a tiny bit of garlic and spread it on each piece of tomato. Shake a few chili flakes on the tomatoes, too.

Let the tomatoes cook for a few minutes, then flip them. Season the other side, which should be slightly bubbled from the oil.

Let the tomatoes cook on the second side, adding whatever garlic is left directly to the oil, for approximately three minutes. Then, turn off the heat and transfer to a serving dish, pouring the oil over the tomatoes. They should stick together, but it's ok if the skin is starting to separate from the tomato a bit.

Serve, and enjoy!