Tag: recipe

Show me your mussels..

Sometimes I crack myself up with the headlines for these posts. But enough random food blogger banter let’s get down to business.  The dish below is a favorite at our house for a couple of reasons. It’s healthy, uses one pot, cooks in 20 minutes and will cost you under $10.00, and uses only 10 ingredients. That alone should be enough to get any weeknight cook excited for what’s coming next. It utilizes frozen precooked mussels in a tomato sauce. We purchase ours at Aldi’s and at less than $3.00 for a 1lb box how can you go wrong.

Bloody Mary Mussels

  1. 1/2 tbs olive oil
  2. 3 ribs of celery finely diced
  3. 1 whole onion finely diced
  4. 1/2 tsp each of sea salt and cracked black pepper
  5. 3 large cloves of garlic minced
  6. 16.9z can of fire-roasted tomatoes with the juice
  7. 1.5 tbs of horseradish
  8. 1 TBS of Worchester sauce
  9. 1.5 tsp cayenne hot sauce
  10. 2lbs of precooked mussels in sauce thawed

In a large heavy-bottomed dutch oven heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced celery and onions and cook for 3 minutes or until they start to soften and go a little translucent. Add the minced garlic and the salt and pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes. lower the heat to medium and add the entire can of diced tomatoes with the liquid along with the horseradish, Worcester, and hot sauce and allow the sauce to reduce for at least 5-6 minutes (Depending on your tastebuds feel free to add more or less of the hot sauce and horseradish) Add the mussels with the sauce to the pan and bring the heat back to medium-high, cover with the lid and allow to cook for another 4-5 minutes or until mussels are heated through and the shells have opened up. I usually give the mussels a stir once or twice during the cooking process to make sure everything is cooking evenly.

If your feeling fancy garnish with leaves of celery and scallions and you’re ready to eat. We usually eat this over pasta or with some crusty artisan bread. The sauce is really the star of this dish and you’re going to want to make sure you scoop up every bite.

If you are going to use fresh mussels add about a 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce to the recipe and add it when you put in the other wet ingredients. The key with cooking mussels or any other shellfish like clams and oysters is they are ready once the shells open. If a mussel or clam doesn’t open during the cooking process don’t eat it, it very well could make you sick.

So dinners on the table in under 20 minutes and when you finish up all you have are the plates and probably two pans to clean up, what could be better than that? The only thing I can think of is if someone else does the dishes.

breakfast club… 1

I don’t know about you but I’ve always been a fan of savory/spicy breakfast dishes than sweet breakfast items. In fact, I bet I haven’t had a bowl of cereal with milk more than a handful of times this century. So without further ado here’s another recipe you can add to your repertoire.

I know I said I was going to get down to business but I want to talk about the word “recipe” here and elaborate that I see them as a general set of guidelines that will help point you in the right direction. I’m always more interested in the over reaching concept of a dish than a lot of the specifics. This way if you don’t have peas but you do have zucchini you can improvise and still create something delicious. Do not take this approach to baking as it will end in a total disaster.

Kedgeree. aka Indian fried rice.

Kedgeree is traditionally made with smoked fish and a small number of vegetables and often cream and butter. This version ups the vegetables and although it calls for boiled eggs you can easily leave those out to make it vegan

  1.  cup basmati rice
  2.  8z package of baby portobello mushrooms
  3.  Thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
  4.  1 red chili
  5.   ¼ of a bunch of fresh cilantro
  6.  2-3 scallions
  7. 1.5 teaspoons curry powder
  8.  olive oil
  9.  15-20 cherry tomatoes cut in half 
  10. 4oz of frozen peas
  11.  2-3oz  fresh greens, (kale, collards, spinach)
  12.  Fresh Lemon

Cook the rice following the instructions on the package and allow it to cool off and dry out a little bit. If you can do this step a couple of hours in advance it will turn out even better.

Quarter the mushrooms and add them to a dry frypan over medium heat and cook for 3-4 minutes, stir them frequently allowing them to get a bit of color.  Chop half of the cilantro, deseed the chili and finely slice, reserve some of the chilies for plating, and finely chop the ginger and the green onions. Move the mushrooms to one side of the pan and add 1 TBS of olive oil. Add the above-mentioned cilantro, chili, ginger, and green onion and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder and mix thoroughly into the vegetable mixture. After 1-2 minutes add the tomatoes and the greens and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add your peas to the vegetable mixture and cook until they are heated through. Add your cooked rice and stir regularly to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan, at this point zest your lemon and add it to the mixture. The goal here is to bring everything up to temperature. just before service juice half your lemon and serve with remaining cilantro leaves, sliced chilis, and top with the cooked eggs.

I love Soup.

The ability to create a tasty bowl of soup from leftovers or limited ingredients is the true test of a cook’s merit in my opinion. It’s also a great skill to learn so you can manage food waste and feed your family a nice home cooked meal that’s cheap but doesn’t feel like it. The recipe below is really easy and the concept of the recipe is a little more important than the ingredients that you use.

Roasted vegetable bisque with croutons and balsamic drizzle.

  1. Acorn squash, medium-sized butternut squash, and 1-2 sweet potatoes depending on size
  2. Olive oil, Salt and Pepper
  3. 1.5 quarts of vegetable stock
  4. 1 cup of oat milk
  5. Crusty bread- preferably a day or so old and a little bit dried out

This version of the recipe has been made vegan but can be adjusted to fit your dietary preferences.

  1. Roughly chop up your vegetables, your not looking for perfection here just the same general size across all 3 veggies so they cook at a similar time.
  2. Place the vegetables on a roasting pan and drizzle with a 1TBS of olive oil and a TBS of Sea salt. with your hands give the vegetables a toss and make sure the oil and salt are distributed evenly.
  3. Place in a 375-degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through and tender to the touch. Cooking time will vary on the size you cut the vegetables.
  4. Allow the vegetables to cool for 5-10 minutes and transfer to a blender and add the stock. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Also, be sure to allow plenty of space and vent the lid to avoid a GIANT MESS when the steam builds up and blows the lid off the blender. I like a velvety smooth soup so we blended the soup for about two minutes.
  5. Transfer the blended soup to a large soup pot and bring it back up to temperature. Add your milk of choice in the last 3-4 minutes of heating and mix thoroughly. Crank in about 8-10 cracks of fresh cracked black pepper and you’re ready to serve.
  6. Fill up your soup bowls, top with the croutons and a drizzle of balsamic, and enjoy.

For the croutons. Start this process with about 15 minutes left in the cooking process for your vegetables

Chunk up a hand size’s worth of crusty bread like a baguette or focaccia into pieces twice the size of a dice. If the bread is a little old and dried out that’s even better. Heat 1.5 TBS worth of olive oil in a saute pan over medium-low heat and throw in the cubed bread. sautee the bread for 5-7 minutes and be sure to keep the bread moving often and pay attention to the heat so the bread doesn’t burn. Making croutons is a delicate balance of time and temp and I’d rather toast the bread at a lower temp for a longer period of time instead of burning the bread. Take the pan off of the burner and transfer it to the oven for another 5-7 minutes worth of cooking to finish developing color and crunch. The croutons are the most technically difficult step in this recipe and staying close and paying attention will result in some tasty crunchy croutons that will elevate the soup.

Easy tortilla soup

I learned to cook through spending time in the kitchen with my parents and through watching cooking shows on Saturday mornings on PBS as a kid. Yep , I wasn’t watching Spiderman as a kid I was watching Julia, Jacque and Graham. In fact right now I’m watching cooking shoes on tv and I’m not talking about the watered down reality shows you see on food network.

I’m not sure when and where I first learned this recipe while sitting in front of the TV but one thing is for certain it sure is tasty and really easy to get on the table. 30 minutes from start to finish, minimal chopping and clean up make for an awesome mid week meal. Along the way I’ve taken some creative liberties and short cuts to make it my own.

Ingredients

  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 1 onion roughly chopped
  • 1 Jalapeno sliced. – ribs and seeds removed
  • 5 cloves of garlic smashed
  • Cilantro stems finely chopped
  • 4 large ripe tomatoes
  • 1 quart of stock. Chicken or vegetable
  • Tortilla chips
  • 1/2 tbs cumin powder
  • Optional toppings- diced avocados, pumpkin seeds, shredded chicken, cotija, finely diced cilantro leaves

In a medium sized soup pot heat the olive oil over a medium heat and sauté onions for 2-3 minutes or until starting to turn a light golden brown and then add the jalapenos and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Follow with the smashed garlic cloves, cilantro stems and cumin powder and cook for another minute or so. Add your stock of choice, the tomatoes and a handful and a half of tortilla chips and cook for 10-12 minutes or until tomato skins have started to peel off. This next step can get a little dangerous so just proceed with caution! Transfer a 1/3 of the mixture into a blender and leave the lid cracked just a little, cover with a clean kitchen towel and give it a 30 second blitz or so. Transfer to another sauce pan and repeat until all of the soup has had its chance in the blender and allow to come back to temperature over medium heat for a few minutes.

When ready to eat, add 6-8 tortilla chips to a bowl and cover with the soup. At this point you can add your desired toppings and go to town on this bowl of deliciousness.

Advanced version

The above recipe is amazing but if you want to push it over the edge here are a few suggestions. Roast your tomatoes, onions and jalapeno in the oven with a gentle rub of olive oil for 30 or so minutes at 375. Or if your really feeling adventuress or have the grill going fire roast and then set off the vegetables to the side of the grill for a gentle smoking.