Archive for September, 2009

Red Pepper and Shrimp Risotto

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Shrimp Risotto

After a successful first attempt at risotto I was excited to experiment with other varieties of this great dish.  I just wasn’t sure how to incorporate different ingredients but still getting that creamy taste of the risotto.  I figured that shrimp would go nicely with the risotto and so now it was just a matter of figuring out the rest of the elements to the dish.

A few months ago after picking up Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian cookbook I made roasted red peppers for the first time.  They were very easy and give a great taste to any dish, I figured they would go nicely with the shrimp.  Just adding some chopped onion and a little garlic I was ready to make the risotto.

Since I was going to be cooking with shrimp I decided that vegetable broth was going to be a better fit than chicken broth, it worked out wonderfully.  My second attempt at risotto, complete with an entirely improvised recipe, turned out great.  The only thing I might do differently next time would be to add the shrimp at the very end to keep from over cooking.

Now that I am slightly obsessed with risotto I hope to keep finding different things to mix with it.  Each time I make it I will find the elements that work and those that don’t while at the same time building my confidence in improvising.  It is always fun trying new things.

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Posted in Seafood |

Almond Butter Sticks

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Baby Kayley

Last weekend my husband and I had the chance to finally meet our friends new baby, something I have been waiting patiently to do since she was born 6 weeks ago.  I always love a reason to bake so I thought it would be nice to bring over a treat.

After deciding against a handful of ideas I narrowed it down to either Lemon Bars or Almond Butter Sticks, both of which are pretty easy to make and very yummy.  Now I had to track down both of these recipes from either my mom or sisters and decide which one I can get done in time.  Because my mom and sisters have been cooking much longer than me they are always my go to people when I need a recipe.

For years my mom and sisters have been passing along recipes as I get the inspiration to make different dishes.  The only problem with this is that I usually write them on scratch pieces of paper and in the end lose them.  So inevitably the next time I decide to make the dish I have to call them up and get it again.  As you can imagine, my sisters get a little tired when I ask for the chicken enchilada recipe for the 10th time.  Thankfully now that I am doing this blog I end up writing about the different dishes and have the recipe at my finger tips for the next time I make the dish.

The decision was made to make the almond butter sticks simply because it was the first recipe I could get my hands on, thanks to my little sister.

Almond Butter Sticks

The end result was light butter pastry with a sugar almond filling that was a perfect treat to share with our friends.

Almond Butter Sticks

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons almond extract

2/3 cup butter

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg yolk

Slivered almonds

Mix the sugar and almond extract and set aside.

Combine remaining ingredients.  Kneed and roll out on a floured surface and spread with 1 teaspoon butter.  Cut in half and place half on a greased sheet, butter side up.  Spoon sugar mixture on pastry and place other half of pastry, butter side down, on top of sugar mixture.  Press the edges together tightly and brush the top with a slightly beaten egg white.  Sprinkle top with slivered almonds.

Bake for 15 – 35 minutes at 375 degrees.

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Posted in Baking |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 5

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade

with Individual Spinach-Asiago Gratins

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade

For the final night of my Cooking Light week I thought I would really push myself and try a recipe that looked much more complicated than some of the other quick and easy recipes found in the magazine.  I picked the recipe for Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade for a couple reasons.  The first being that the recipe called for goat cheese (will explain more about goat cheese in a moment) and also because it looked like it would be a challenge, which is definitely what I was looking for.

The recipe started with the pounding out of pork tenderloins, something that can be a bit challenging when you don’t have a meat mallet.  After some unsuccessful attempts to flatten it using a frying pan my husband found an open ended wrench in the closet and figured it would do the trick.  The wrench definitely worked better than the frying pan and we were left with flattened pork ready to be stuffed.

Oh goat cheese, what an ingredient!

When it comes to goat cheese I typically cringe when thinking about eating it.  I might be the only one with this problem but some goat cheeses are too ‘goaty’.  Too ‘goaty’ to me is when the cheese tastes way too much like the way a farm smells.  I know it sounds crazy but I just can’t get past that thought and there for it has affected my feelings towards this form of cheese.  I am happy to say that not all goat cheese has this affect on me and so I am forcing myself to find ways to use this cheese to one day possibly begin to enjoy it.

After combining all the ingredients for the stuffing I spread it out on the pork and then began to roll it up armed with my new roll of kitchen twine.  It was at this point that I realized we didn’t quite pound the pork enough because it was almost too thick to roll.  But I kept going and was convinced I would make it work even if it meant using more twine to keep it closed.

Once I got the pork tied up it was off to the grill to cook while I put together the individual spinach-asiago gratins.  In keeping with the theme of the week I found this Cooking Light side dish recipe.  Spinach and cheese are a great combination especially with a little panko sprinkled on top for texture.  This creamy side dish was easy to prepare and was ready to go when the pork was done being grilled.

The end result of this finale for Cooking Light Week was a great meal that turned out to not be as much of a challenge as I had originally thought.  It was nice to know that I could tackle what I thought to be a challenging recipe and have it turn out overall pretty good.

I am working on reminding myself that you can always improve on things you try and so although it wasn’t a complete success there were some good elements to the dish and lessons learned for the next time I decide to tackle Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade with Individual Spinach-Asiago Gratins.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade

Courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine

1 pound pork tenderloin trimmed

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

Prepare grill to medium heat.  Slice tenderloin lengthwise, cutting to, but not through, other side.  Open halves, laying tenderloin flat.  Place tenderloin between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/2 inch thickness using a meat mallet or heavy skillet.  Sprinkle shallots, cheese, walnuts, and thyme on tenderloin.  Roll up, starting with the long side, secure pork at 1 inch intervals with twine.  Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray.  Grill for 27 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155 degrees, turning after 13 minutes.  Remove from grill; lightly coat with foil.  Let stand for 10 minutes; cut crosswise.

Individual Spinach-Asiago Gratins

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

1 teaspoon butter

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (10 ounce) bag fresh spinach coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup fat free milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dash of ground nutmeg

1/4 cup grated fresh asiago cheese

Panko

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preheat broiler

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add butter; swirl pan until butter melts.  Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender.  Add half of the spinach; cook 2 minutes or until spinach begins to wilt, stirring frequently.  Add remaining half of spinach; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts, stirring frequently.  Remove pan from heat.

Place flour in a small bowl; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk.  Stir flour mixture into spinach mixture; add salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.  Divide mixture evenly among 4 ounce ramekins coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle panko and parley over each serving.  Place ramekins on a baking sheet.  Broil 1 minute or until browned.

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Posted in Pork, Theme Weeks |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 4

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Cucumber

Sesame Noodle Salad

Why did I choose Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Cucumber for night 4 of Cooking Light week?

Was it the chicken and cucumbers, always a great combination.  Or could it have been the sambal oelek, an ingredient I love but never seem to use in enough recipes.

I am happy to say that regardless of the reason this now one of my favorite recipes from Cooking Light.

The dressing on these noodles makes this recipe.  With a combination of rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey and sambal oelek you get a clean and refreshing dressing with a little heat.

My husband and I were pleasantly surprised at just how good this recipe is, and just as good the next day for lunch.

Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Cucumber

Recipe from Cooking Light

8 ounces uncooked dried udon noodles

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons sambal oelek

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups shredded skinless, boneless chicken breast

2 medium cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced

6 tablespoons chopped green onions

3 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain and rinse under cold water; drain.

Combine rice vinegar and the next 5 ingredients (through ginger) in a large bowl, and stir with a whisk.  Add noodles, chicken and cucumbers to bowl; toss gently to coat.  Top with green onions and peanuts.

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Posted in Chicken, Theme Weeks |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 3

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Oven-Fried Chicken Parmesan with Polenta

Chicken Parmesan

At times I wonder if my husband is tired of chicken for dinner, he might joke about how we have chicken a lot but is way too nice to tell me to make something else.  If you looked back over a month of cooking you would probably find 60-70% of the recipes involve chicken in some way.  What can I say, I really like chicken breast.

I think my obsession with chicken began when I was living on my own and had absolutely no desire to cook.  Anyone can get out a frozen chicken breast and either put it in the oven to bake or on your George Foreman to grill.  Depending on what my side dish was, or if I was even going to be having a side dish, would determine my method of cooking.

This was my dinner most nights of the week if I wasn’t ordering take out or going to my moms for a nice home cooked meal.  There are some definite benefits to living near a mom who is a great cook and always happy to have you over.

You will still notice that I am heavy on chicken recipes but now that I am becoming more confident with my cooking skills I can branch out from plain baked chicken and try things that are a little more challenging.

Chicken parmesan always seemed like a really complex recipe, breading chicken shouldn’t be a difficult feat but for some reason for years I was scared to try it.  Little did I know that this would become one of my favorite chicken dishes and surprisingly easy.

The thing about this recipe that caught my eye, besides the obvious presence of chicken, was that the chicken is breaded in panko.  For any of you who are unfamiliar with panko it is a japanese breadcrumb that is not quite as fine as traditional breadcrumbs.  Panko gives the chicken a nice texture and a bit of crunch, I have found that I pretty much use it whenever breadcrumbs are in a recipe.

Night 3 of Cooking Light Week was found in their Dinner Tonight section which has a great new look.  Not only do you get a picture, recipe, possible side dishes and tips but also a ‘game plan’.  The game plan is great for beginning chefs like me who still struggle with when to make what part of the dish so that everything is ready at the same time.  It helps to maximize the time you have so dinner is ready much quicker, which is nice during the week.

The end result with this recipe was a wonderfully juicy chicken breast with crunch complimented with basic polenta and light lemon mustard dressing for a salad.  This recipe was definitely a hit especially with my husband who loved the polenta.  I will be adding this to my rotation of great recipes for the future.

Oven-Fried Chicken Parmesan

Courtesy of Cooking Light Recipe

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup jarred spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

3/4 shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish; place egg whites in a bowl.  Place panko in a shallow dish.  Dredge 1 breast half in flour mixture.  Dip in egg whites; dredge in panko.  Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour mixture, egg whites and panko.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat.  Add chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes.  Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil.  Turn chicken over, cook 2 minutes.  Coat chicken with cooking spray; place pan in oven.  Bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes.  Turn chicken over; top each breast half with 2 tablespoons sauce, 2 tablespoons parmigiano-reggiano, and 3 tablespoons mozzarella.  Bake 6 minutes or until chicken is done.

Basic Polenta

Bring 2 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth and 1 cup milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Gradually whisk in 3/4 cup instant dry polenta.  Cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly.

Lemon Mustard Salad

Whisk together 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons honey, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.  Drizzle over your greens of choice and toss well.

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Posted in Chicken, Theme Weeks |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 2

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Cincinnati Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

Fall is my absolute favorite season.  It is the time of year when you get to start wearing sweaters again.  Watching TV with a blanket while it is raining outside is really a little piece of heaven to me.  When I think of fall I immediately think of warm soups, stews and chili’s.

Little did I realize when picking Cincinnati Turkey Chili for night 2 of Cooking Light Week that it was going to be a raining and stormy day.  What a perfect day to come home from a late meeting at work to a warm chili in the crock pot.

The Cincinnati Turkey Chili didn’t originally call to be made in the crock pot but I figured you can pretty much put most things in the crock pot and just let them simmer all day, especially chili.

With only a small modification to the recipe to keep the chili from getting dry we ended up with a great turkey chili.  Since the chili was going to be cooking all day I decided to omit the spaghetti noodles from the recipe.  After it cooked all day it needed a little more liquid added to give it the texture traditionally found in chili so I added about half a cup of tomato sauce.  With a little cheese on top we were left with a warm bowl of turkey chili, a pretty good first try at the recipe.  I would love to see how this recipe turns out when made according to the actual recipe.

I was surprised to realize when putting this meal together that this is the first time I have ever made turkey chili.  Thanks to this blog I am trying new things and really experiencing the world of food.

Cincinnati Turkey Chili

Adapted from Cooking Light’s Recipe

8 ounces lean ground turkey

1 1/2 cups onion

1 cup chopped green bell peppers

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground all spice

1/2 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 1/2 tablespoons chopped semisweet chocolate

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup tomato sauce

3/4 cup shredded cheese

Put all ingredients through salt into your crock pot on low 8 hours.  Prior to serving add 1/2 cup tomato sauce and let warm up.  Garnish each both with a handful of cheese.

See how easy that is to have a warm bowl of chili waiting for you when you get home from work!

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Posted in Theme Weeks, Turkey |

Cooking Light Week – Recipe 1

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Crispy Skin Salmon and Fiery Asian Slaw

Orange Salmon and Spicy Coleslaw

This recipe caught my eye to be featured in my Cooking Light Week, mostly for the fiery asian slaw.  I am a huge fan of any variety of cole slaw whether it is creamy or light, spicy or rich it doesn’t matter to me I am a fan.

The fiery asian slaw did not disappoint and really was the star of the meal.  The recipe called for Sriracha which is one of my favorite spicy ingrients so I was pretty confident it was going to turn out.  Upon my first taste I could feel my mouth burning and I was a happy camper.  After one serving I had to tone down the spice a little, as I am pretty sure I added more than it called for, but it was still a hit and will definitely be made again.

Properly cooking salmon is something that intimidates me and so as a challenge I tried a new method to see if I would be more sucessful, pan frying.  Eventhough my salmon was a little undercooked (practice makes perfect) I have been converted to the method of pan frying instead of baking it.  The favours of the salmon were basic with only some salt and pepper and orange juice, giving it the citrus needed when cooking with fish.

Recipe 1 is a hit and I am looking forward to mastering the art of properly cooking fish.

Crispy Skin Salmon

Adapted from Cooking Light September 09 Issue

2 (6 oz) salmon fillets

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle salmon fillets evently with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add salmon to pan, skin side down; cook 4 minutes.  Turn salmon over; cook 3 minutes.  Add orange juice to pan; cook 30 seconds or until liquid almost evaporates and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Fiery Asian Slaw

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons sriracha (hot chili sauce)

1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 (16 oz) package coleslaw

While fish is cooking, combine rice vinegar and next 5 ingredients (through honey) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, cilantro and coleslaw; toss well to coat.

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Posted in Fish, Theme Weeks |

Cooking Light Week

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

September 09 Issue

My Cooking Light subscription started last Christmas when my little sister gave it to me as a present.  For years I have been looking through her magazine to get recipes, but there is just something about having these recipes at your finger tips.

The only problem with my subscription is that it is delivered to my mom’s house in Seattle and I live in Vancouver BC.  This means that I have to wait to get my new issue until I visit my mom, which is usually once a month but not always right in line with when the magazine comes out.  The worst is when you see the magazine at the newstands and you know yours is just waiting for you.

After returning from my holiday I was excited to see the new and improved issue of Cooking Light waiting for me.  I am not sure about the rest of you but I am really liking the new format the magazine has.  They really knocked it out of the park this month and so I have decided to do a Cooking Light Week.

There are so many wonderful recipes in this months issue so it was hard to only pick 5. 

Here are this weeks Cooking Light Meals:

Tuesday – Crispy Skin Salmon with Fiery Asian Slaw pg. 20
Wednesday – Cincinnati Turkey Chili pg. 94
Thursday – Oven Fried Chicken Parmesan pg. 82
Friday – Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken and Cucumbers pg. 88
Saturday – Grilled Pork Tenderloin Roulade pg. 180

Check back throughout this week to see how my Cooking Light Week goes…

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Posted in Theme Weeks |