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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Pizza-Creme Fraiche, Pears, Brie and Basil

So I ventured outside of my comfort zone of Washington Square West earlier this week to try out a new happy hour establishment (Dock Street Brewery). For the gluten lovers-this place looked amazing. For gluten haters-like myself, the only respite was the gluten free beer they had on TAP! But this joy was quickly taken away from me as they informed me that I had gotten the last glass...So after I finished my one lonely beer, I stared at my dear friends as they ate some of the most delicious looking pizzas I had ever seen!

SO, I came home tonight from the store with gluten-free pizza dough, creme fraiche, pears, basil, and brie to recreate one of the pizzas I had tried not to be jealous of just a few days prior...

Verdict: besides the obvious (gluten free pizza crust has a long way to go to compare to the chewy, charred, crusty crusts of it's gluten competitor), it was quite the delicious pizza! Not very healthy...but it is not like I am going to a beach for Memorial Day weekend or anything...oh wait, I am...crap!

Ingredients:
Gluten free pizza crust of choice
1 pear, sliced thin
Brie
Creme Fraiche
Basil, chiffonade(d) is that a word?!
Fresh pepper and salt

Assemble as you like, I used the creme fraiche like pizza sauce, the brie like cheese, and the pears and basil like toppings. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, cook according to crust directions, and then... EAT!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Sauteed Baby Bok Choy

I just started cooking with baby bok choy a few months ago and it is so good! I love using it with asian-inspired flavor combinations--but I bet it would be good roasted with lots of olive oil and garlic as well. Here is a fast, simple recipe for using baby bok choy as a side dish, enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 baby bok choy, rinsed and halved
olive oil
3 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
pepper

Directions:
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat, add baby bok choy, halved side down and sautee for about 7-10 minutes or until the halved side facing down starts to caramelize and brown. Flip each baby bok choy over, reduce heat to medium low and add soy sauce and lime juice. Let the baby bok choy simmer until tender. Add a light sprinkle of pepper and serve hot, with some extra pan juice dripped over them.

Broccoli Rabe Risotto with Mushrooms and Scallops

Risotto is an amazing dish-I used to think it was boring and would never order it at restaurants--now after watching my fair share of Top Chef, I can appreciate how hard risotto can be-yet so versatile (and it really is not that hard when you don't have a panel of judges trying to vote you off a show). You can really find recipes for every type of risotto--with millions of different flavor panels, some have white wine, others have meat, vegetarian, oranges, beets, whatever! I chose to make a more traditional one, with lots of cheese, some butter (yum), and some more spring vegetables! You can also use asparagus, which tastes great too! Maybe with a little lemon juice/zest?

Ingredients:
1 cup Arborio rice
2 cups (plus an extra 1/2 cup) chicken stock, heated in a saucepan to simmering
2 cup packed broccoli rabe (what I used) OR spinach, roughly chopped, or peas and asparagus!
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1 small onion
olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
two handfuls mushrooms (whatever you want), sliced
1/2 lb scallops, rinsed

Directions:
First, get your chicken stock in a saucepan and start simmering. Dice onion and add to a large pot with 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Let the onions get translucent and soft, about 7 minutes. Next, add rice, keep heat to medium, stirring often to brown the rice a little (this keeps them firm and al dente once cooked), this will take about 5 minutes. Next add about 1/2 cup of simmering chicken stock. Keep stirring until liquid is mostly absorbed, continue this pattern of adding about 1/2 cup liquid, stirring til absorbed until you have added about 2 cups of chicken stock. At this point, add the broccoli rabe, stirring until it has wilted. Now it is time to play with the consistency: Risotto should be fluid enough that when you spoon some on a plate, it fans out a bit. You don't want it to start looking like a rice casserole. I usually have to add about 2 1/4 cups to 2 1/2 cups liquid total to get this desired consistency, play with the remaining liquid, adding a little bit slowly until you get this desired consistency. At this time add the sauteed mushrooms and grated pecorino romano cheese. After you add the cheese (I like to add this first before salting as it has a lot of salt in it already), season with salt and pepper to desired flavor. When you are happy with the consistency and flavor of your risotto, turn off the heat and add two tablespoons of butter, whip the butter into the risotto-this adds a great creaminess to the risotto and keeps it nice and silky.

For mushrooms,
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat, add mushrooms and saute til soft, add salt and pepper to flavor, set aside to add to risotto at the end.

For scallops,
Rinse the scallops and pat dry, season generously with salt and pepper. In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil until water dripped in fizzles. Quickly add the scallops and cook for 2 minutes on one side, flip and cook for an additional minute on other side. Make sure not to overcook scallops! They taste rubbery and gross...

For plating: Spoon some risotto on a plate and top with a few scallops, another light sprinkle of pepper and serve hot!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Weeknight Meal for Spring


Hello everyone,

Spring is finally here! Gone are the days I decide a frozen gluten free pizza is dinner (what, I added mushrooms to the top!?) Gone are the days I make a huge vat of gluten free lasagna and eat it for the whole week/half a week...Til next winter at least.

With spring comes fruits and vegetables that you can actually get excited to cook (winter root vegetables...BORING)! Here is a quick, yet unique, weeknight meal-featuring lots of the spring produce starting to pop up around grocery stores...and the tilapia? Well, the salmon was not on sale this week... :) Very fast, pretty healthy, very colorful!

Ingredients:
For the corn salad:
3 ears of corn, husked and cleaned
3 big handfuls of green beans or asparagus
1 bowl of iced water
1 carton cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
juice of 1-2 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

For the plantains:
2 plantains, peeled and sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper

For the Tilapia:
2 Tilapia fillets
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
For Corn Salad:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. In the mean time, slice tomatoes in half. Also, trim ends off of green beans and slice them into two inch pieces. When water is at a boil, add corn and let boil for about 3 minutes, remove and set aside to cool. Next add sliced green beans, let blanch for 2 minutes and quickly add them to a bowl of ice water to cool. Trim corn off the cob and then slide back of knife over husk to squeeze all juices out of husk. Combine cherry tomatoes, corn, and green beans in a bowl. In a separate bowl, squeeze the juice of the lemons, add pepper and salt and slowly blend in olive oil. Pour this dressing into bowl of vegetables, stir to combine, taste-season as you want.

For Plantains:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place sliced plantains on parchment paper on a baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes, flip each plantain over and cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven, serve while hot.

For Tilapia:
Heat olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat until you can splash a bit of water in the pan and it fizzles. Season tilapia with salt and pepper on both sides. When olive oil is ready, place tilapia in saucepan and let cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from heat.

To serve:
Place tilapia on plate and spoon corn salad on top, serve with plantains on the side. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Seeing as how I am 6 weeks away from being done with my first year of medical school, I thought I would post a cake recipe to celebrate...that is good enough reason, right?

This is quite the cake-very pretty, rich, chocolatey-I think it goes the best with fruit and fresh whipped cream (with a glass or two of champagne)--Just remember if you are cooking this for your gluten-free friends to ask which brands of powdered cocoa and chocolate they feel comfortable with you using!

Ingredients

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) plus 3 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Ghirardelli brand is gfree)
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch spring-form pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Spray the paper with cooking spray, too, then set the pan aside.

2. Place two-thirds (8 ounces) of the chocolate and 1 cup (2 sticks) of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Stirring often, melt chocolate with butter until completely blended. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift cocoa into bowl and stir until just blended.

3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake has risen and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, removing sides of spring-form pan. Remove and discard parchment paper and set cake aside to cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, make the chocolate glaze. Melt remaining 4 ounces chocolate and 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, then stir in milk, honey and vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly.

5. When cake has cooled, pour glaze onto the center. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, very gently smooth glaze along the top and sides of the cake. Chill cake, uncovered, for 30 to 60 minutes before serving to set the glaze and make the cake easier to slice.



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Whole Grilled Red Snapper Provencal


Great recipe to serve for guests familiar with how to eat a whole fish-you may want to serve it with heads and tails removed :) The sauce is really delicious on its own! The first time we made this-the recipe said to use 1 and 2/3 cup olive oil for the sauce-we soon learned this was obviously a mistake in the recipe and have thus decreased it down to 1/4 cup-a much more delicious amount.


Ingredients

2 garlic bulbs, unpeeled

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium-size vine-ripened tomatoes

1/2 cup slivered fresh basil leaves

3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt, divided

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided

2 (2 1/2- to 3-pound) whole red snapper,

dressed, leaving scales on

6 sprigs fresh rosemary


Preparation

1. Cut off pointed end of garlic; place bulbs on a piece of aluminum foil, and drizzle with 1-tablespoon olive oil. Fold to seal.

2. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes; cool. Squeeze pulp from garlic cloves into a small saucepan. Set aside.

3. Cook tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds; drain. Peel, seed, and dice tomatoes; add to garlic. Stir in 1/4 cup olive oil, basil, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

4. Sprinkle snapper cavities with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; insert rosemary sprigs. Brush skins lightly with olive oil. Place fish in 2 lightly greased grill baskets.

5. Grill, covered with grill lid, over high heat (400° to 500°) 10 to 12 minutes on each side or until fish flakes with a fork.

6. Cook tomato sauce over low heat until warm. Spoon 1-cup sauce over fish. Serve immediately with remaining sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Wings with Creamy Roqeufort Dip

Decided to make this cliche snack food for the Superbowl one year-turned out delicious! I also love the Roquefort dip, feel free to use blue cheese as a substitute! And for the vegetarians out there- make the dip and prepare a vegetable platter for dipping!

Ingredients for Wings

12 whole chicken wings

3 ounces unsalted butter

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup hot sauce


Preparation

1. Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

2. Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

4. Replace the paper towels with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

5. While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

6. Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.


Ingredients for Creamy Roquefort Dip

1/2 cup Roquefort cheese, crumbled

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon wine vinegar

1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation

1. Blend all ingredients together