Juice Press-Style Raw Oatmeal

Baby is here! Little Billie arrived on May 21 and we're so thrilled. She is the sweetest little thing and Jamie and I are over the moon. 

My cousin Dorrit brought us all of these great Juice Press goodies when we were in the hospital and it was so nice to have some healthy food and juice. The raw oatmeal was amazing. I tried to recreate it this week and I think I got pretty close. The steel cut oats are quite chewy so feel free to use rolled oats if you want a smoother texture. It's rich and hearty and it's cold which is good for this hot weather. 

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup steel cut oats

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

5 pitted dates

A handful of raw cashews

2 tbsp vanilla

Pinch of kosher salt

Directions:

Purée everything except the oatmeal in the blender for a few minutes until very smooth. Pour it into a bowl or some Tupperware with the oatmeal, stir well, and let it sit, covered, overnight. 

Summer Rolls

These are the best summer rolls I've made. They were so fresh and flavorful and crunchy. I did use this and this for inspiration and sort of merged them. Yum!

Makes 8 summer rolls

Ingredients:

1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

2 carrots, peeled and shredded 

1/2 cucumber, cut into matchsticks

Snap peas

3 scallions, cut into matchsticks

1 handful cilantro, chopped

1 handful mint leaves

Red leaf lettuce, ripped into pieces

Handful of peanuts, roughly chopped

8 rice paper rounds

Thai Chicken Soup

This is a really light and flavorful soup. I recommend making your own stock, but store-bought is fine, too. 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 lemongrass stalks, 1-2 hard outer layers discarded

2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced 

2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced 

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

2 quarts chicken stock

1 14oz can diced tomatoes, drained but reserving juice

2oz tamarind paste

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 Serrano chiles, thinly sliced

A little lime zest

Adobo Fish Tacos

I already teased the picture here in my tortilla post, but these tacos were fabulous. (And gave me a chance to use my lovely bass.) The adobo sauce is pretty simple - you just need the peppers - but it gives the fish a really nice flavor. It's healthy and tasty, especially served with some chopped jalapenos, pineapple salsa, radishes, and chipotle salsa. 

Ingredients:

2 dried ancho chilis

3/4 cup water, for blending

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 garlic clove, peeled

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp oregano

pinch cumin

1 tbsp oil

2 pieces of firm fish such as striped bass

juice of 1/2 a lime

Fried Rice-Style Quinoa

I was marinating flank steak the other night and asked Jamie what he wanted as a side. He requested peas. The flank steak was marinating in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, etc (Asian-style), so I was trying to think of an Asiany way to make peas - fried rice! I had just bought a bag of quinoa, so I figured I'd make it as if it were fried rice. It was delicious (and cheap and easy). Jamie loved it, and it even tasted great the next day.

Striped Bass en Papillote

For my first bass recipe, I made Striped Bass en Papillote with Brown Rice. It's pretty simple, and the provencal/Mediterranean-style sauce is sweet from the tomatoes and briny from the capers. It's also great for not making a mess because the fish is cooked in tin foil which you can just throw it out.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 1-inch pieces of striped bass filet

1 medium sized ripe tomato, or a handful of grape tomatoes, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp drained capers

4 sprigs thyme

4 slices lemon (I used lime because I didn't have lemons, but I think lemon would work better)

salt and pepper

Brown rice cooked according to the directions (I used a Lundberg brown rice mix - it adds great nutty flavor and texture)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Pat the fillets dry and season with salt. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and drizzle a bit of olive oil on it, then place the fish on top of the oil. Slide the lemon slices under the fish and top each with two sprigs of thyme.

Minestrone

On a cold fall day, what beats a big bowl of minestrone? I'm not talking Progresso. Homemade minestrone is hard to mess up, and sooo tasty and warm, and healthy! This make A LOT so feel free to cut back. (Probably enough for 8 people.) Cooking it with an old Pecorino rind gives the broth an amazing flavor, and topping it with a fresh dab of pesto gives it a little zip. I also like to grate a little Pecorino on top. I'm having two friends over tonight to help me with the leftovers. Mm mm mmm.

Ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
3 pieces turkey bacon (you can use pancetta, too), diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large leek, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 large celery stalks, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes and their juice
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Squid with Watermelon and Basil

After a long weekend of lots of food, Jamie and I wanted something fresh and healthy for dinner. I saw this recipe in Simple, Fresh, Southern and immediately started drooling. Watermelon just sounded so refreshing and nice, and I love fresh calamari. It's pretty simple - you just need to have an hour or two so it can marinate. It's pretty with bright pink and green from the watermelon and basil and it tastes great. Put in more jalapeno to give it a bigger kick.

Serves 2, double it for 4
Ingredients:
kosher salt
1 lemon, halved
1/2 lb cleaned squid, cut into 1/3" rings and tentacles cut in half
4 oz seedless watermelon cut into 1x1x1/4" tiles (about 1 cup)
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1/2 a jalapeno, finely chopped
a little less than 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
leaves from 2 sprigs basil, roughly chopped

Chicken Chili

I love chili. Nothing better on a rainy, awful night like last night than a big bowl of spicy chili to warm you up. So I had my friends Alice and Elaine over for a chili night. I made chicken chili to be healthy, and it's so tasty and satisfying and I only used 2 tablespoons of oil in the whole thing. All of the different beans make it colorful and have great flavor and texture and the chipotle powder gives it a little bit of smokiness. Next time I may double the recipe so there are more leftovers! (This recipe serves 6)

Ingredients:
1 package ground chicken (turkey is fine too)
1 28 can whole tomatoes, chopped or torn up w your hands, juices reserved
1 can red beans
1 can white beans
1 can black beans
2 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 yellow onions, diced

Summer Rolls

After a very fun weekend in Seattle full of eating and dancing and sightseeing at the wedding of our friends Charley and Andrea, we needed something healthy and veggie-full. Light and crunchy and fresh, summer rolls sounded perfect. I found a tasty recipe and whipped some up. They're not very hard, except it takes some time to assemble everything. They were so good that we ate them two nights in a row. I even found rice paper at the grocery store. They're colorful and full of fresh flavor and the spicy peanut sauce is amazing.

Ingredients:
Sauce:
3 tbsp finely chopped yellow onion
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp water

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Jamie has a cold, so I wanted to make him a warm soup to make him feel better - and I also love soup and the weather is cold and rainy, so I was in the mood. He requested chicken tortilla soup - one of my favorites. It's not too tricky to make and it's so flavorful and also pretty healthy. This recipe serves 6-8, so we'll be eating it for lunch for a while too, but I don't mind. I definitely suggest making this soup this week to ward off the fall dampness creeping in.

Ingredients:
3 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
olive oil
1-2 tbsp canola oil
2 yellow onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 quarts chicken stock
1 28oz can whole tomatoes, crushed
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
2 minced jalapenos
4 gloves garlic, minced
4 corn tortillas, cut in strips
1 bunch cilantro, rinsed (half the bunch, including stems, minced, other have roughly chopped for topping)

Ostrich

When I lived in Cape Town, I was strolling down the meat aisle in the grocery and passed chicken, pork, beef, and then ostrich. They had ostrich filets alongside the hamburger meat and steaks. With this rare bird (which is actually red meat, and you'd think it was beef by looking at it) at my fingertips, I thought I'd experiment. It's extremely healthy and has hardly any fat, but lots of protein, so it's best cooked rare/medium rare. I made it a few times in Cape Town and really loved it.
Since moving downtown, I am right around the corner from Ottomanelli's. I've often seen their sign in the window stating that they sell ostrich, and until Monday, I hadn't investigated. I went in and got one ostrich filet (frozen) for $8. It was the afternoon and I didn't know if it would thaw by dinner, but it said "DO NOT THAW IN THE MICROWAVE" in big letters, so I popped it in a bowl of warm water and it was thawed in less than half an hour. I threw it in a marinade and got started on my ostrich brainchild menu that had been brewing since the first time I saw the sign "We have Ostrich!" Here it is, if anyone wants to try it. I made it for Jamie and it seemed to be a success. (He thought it so impressive he took a picture on his iPhone--above.) It's a good dinner to impress someone. It looks pretty, tastes great, is healthy, and isn't all that difficult. (Feel free to buy store bought noodles and just throw a little red wine in the cooking water.)

(This only serves two with a little leftover, so double it if it's for more.)

Ingredients:

Ostrich
1 ostrich filet
1 bottle of red wine (I used Charles Shaw Shiraz)
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 chopped garlic clove
1 chopped shallot
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
salt (to taste)


Pasta
2 cup 00 flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup red wine

Sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 shallot, sliced
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
red wine

Garnish

12 cherry/grape tomatoes (I got little heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joe's)
2 wooden skewers

Directions:
First, mix all the ingredients for the marinade together, tasting as you go and adjusting salt/spice, and throw in the ostrich. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing it down so it touches the ostrich and the marinade. Marinate for about 4 hours, give or take a couple of hours if you don't have time or want to give it more flavor.

For the pasta, pour the flour out onto a table or cutting board. Make a well in the center and crack the egg into the well. Add a pinch of salt, the olive oil, and a splash of the wine. Using a fork, gently beat the egg mixture, slowly incorporating more flour and adding more wine as needed, until it forms a dough. The dough should be soft, but not sticky. Once it gets to that consistency (and it should be a light brown/purple color), knead it for about 5-10 minutes by pushing it out with the ball of your hand and pulling it back in. Do this until when you stretch the dough it comes back back together and seems elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit for half an hour in a warm place.

After half an hour, run the dough through your pasta maker until it's at the thinnest setting and you have long thin sheets. At this point, I like to halve the sheets so they're not as long and are easier to work with, but if you want long noodles, keep them long. Let the sheets dry out a little because they'll be easier to cut. Once they get a little dry, run them through the pasta maker on the linguine/fettuccine setting. (If you don't have this, you can roll the sheets up and slice them so when unrolled them form long noodles.) You can keep your cut noodles in the fridge until you need them, or if you're about the cook them, just leave them out.

I used a grill pan, but you can definitely use a skillet for your ostrich. Get the grill pan really hot (if you're using a skillet, put in a little olive oil and get it really hot). Meanwhile, bring your water to a boil. Take your tomatoes and put them onto the skewers, then rub a little oil on them and put them on the grill. Grill them until they get a little soft and have a little browning on them. Grill the ostrich for about 3 minutes per side then take it off and let it sit. Put the shallots, olive oil, and tomato paste into a skillet and cook it until the shallots get soft. Cook the pasta (it cooks really quickly because it's fresh) and when it's ready throw it into the pan with a little wine and salt and toss it together. Taste it to see if you want to add more wine or salt.

To plate it, slice the ostrich into thin pieces. Put the pasta in the middle of the plate, top if with the ostrich pieces, then surround it with the grilled tomatoes.

Add a bake at home baguette from Trader Joe's and you're all set!

Chicken Chili

When it's a beautiful day like today, chili may be the last thing on your mind. However, while feeling last week's cold, dreary, end-of-winter blues I thought a rich bowl of chili might warm the cockles of my sun-starved heart. I do enjoy a beefy, greasy chili once in a while, but this chili is healthy, even though it tastes sinful. I took lots of pictures to go with the steps--it's easy and spicy and hearty and everyone who tasted it seemed to love it.

Ingredients
1 can dark red kidney beans and 1 can of blackbeans (use any beans you like) drained and rinsed
1 package of ground chicken (you can also use turkey, but I think chicken has more flavor)
1 1/2 onions (I used a combination of yellow and white, but just yellow works too) chopped
3 cloves of garlic (gives it a good kick) finely minced
1 can whole tomatoes (crushed my sticking your hand in the can and squeezing them, or however you like to crush them)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper roughly chopped
cumin
coriander
chili powder
paprika
hot pepper flakes

I got everything ready before I started cooking because often I'm supposed to stir something for 2 minutes and then quickly add something else, but I find it's not ready and I'm making a huge mess trying to chop an onion while searing a pork chop and measuring water--so, chop/drain/get out all the ingredients first to make your life easier.

First, heat up some oil in a skillet. Then add about 2/3 of the onion and about 2 teaspoons of coriander, cumin, paprika, and chili powder and about a half tsp of hot chili flakes. (It helped release the flavor if you rub them between your hands before you put them in the skillet.)

Mix this all together and saute until the onion begins to soften and then add half of the garlic, stirring until fragrant. Once you smell the garlic, add the chicken. Separate the chicken with your spoon while it sautees and cook until it is browned.

Once the chicken is uniformly browned, but not overcooked (it will continue to cook in the chili), add sald and pepper to taste, and then put it into a bowl.

Next, add the remaining onions and peppers into the pot with a little oil and the same mix of spices as before. Sautee them until they get a little soft, then add the tomato paste and mix until all the vegetables are coated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now pour the contents of the skillet, and the chicken, into a large pot and mix them together. Then add both the canned tomatoes and their juices to the pot, along with the same mix of spices as before, along with the remaining garlic. (It helps if it's mashed into a paste with a little salt.) Stir this all together and bring it to a boil. Bring it down to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens up a little. Then season to taste with salt and pepper and add as many hot pepper flakes or cayenne as you like to give it heat.

I like to garnish it with a few pieces of extra sharp chedder. The bright peppers give it a great freshness. Also, this makes a lot of chili, so either serve it up at a dinner or save whatever you don't eat in your freezer for a cold day.

Good luck!