Chick Pea and Sweet Potato Curry with Crispy Roasted Kale and Cauliflower

This may look complicated, but is actually fairly simple to make.  The kale and cauliflower crisps up in the oven as you whip together a simple curry with chick peas and sweet potato.  Definitely a weeknight dish.
3 cups cauliflower
4 cups Tuscan kale, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
powdered coriander

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, diced
1 purple (or normal, orange) sweet potato, diced (about 2 cups)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2-inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp favorite curry powder
1 tsp garam masala

1 can coconut milk
6-8 fresh curry leaves
1/4 cup cashews, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 400F. You'll need some cooked rice for this curry so if you don't have any hanging around, cook up a few cups of rice.

Toss the cauliflower and kale with the olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Turn mixture out to a large rimmed baking pan. Season generously with coriander powder to taste.

Roast 30 minutes, turning once or twice. The cauliflower should begin to brown.

Sauté the carrots, onion and sweet potato in a pot in a bit of canola oil.

Toss in the garlic, ginger, cumin and fennel seeds and bring up the flavors for another 10 minutes or so. Add the curry powder and masala and cook another 3-5 minutes. Add the chickpeas.

Add the curry leaves.

Add the coconut milk, and simmer for at least 15 minutes.

When the kale and cauliflower is fully roasted, remove from the oven. Spoon the curried chick peas onto cooked rice. Top with the crispy roasted kale and cauliflower and the chopped cashews.

Serves 4-6.

Cook's Note:  I used purple sweet potato here, but you could use any other orange or white sweet potato.  The purple color does bleed a bit and turns the chick peas and the sauce a bit red.  If that turns you off, use a regular sweet potato which will not change the color of the dish.

A Scotch Broth of Beef and Barley

This is a great soup to use up leftover beef or lamb.  The result will be as good as the broth, so use your best home-made stock, or choose a good one at the grocer - there are many good ones out there today, and its worth choosing a good one.

2 carrots, finely diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 lb leftover beef steak or roast, or chuck beef, cubed 1/4-inch
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp Italian herbs
6 fresh sage leaves, minced, or 2 tsp dried
1 quart beef broth
1/3 cup pearl barley
2 turnips, diced
1 can kidney beans, drained

Sauté the carrots and onions in a bit of olive oil in a soup pot for about 8-10 minutes, until beginning to color. Add the beef and brown well, about 10 minutes. Season with the herbs and add the tomato paste. Cook another few minutes to deepen the color and flavor of the tomato paste.

Add broth and barley and bring to a boil. Return to a simmer, cover and cook about 20 minutes. Stir in the turnip and beans and simmer another 20 minutes.

Serves 4.

Prime Rib Blue Cheese and Almond Salad with Tamari Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is my favorite way to use up left-over prime rib roast (if there is any, that is!).  Just brown it up to present warm beef on a crisp, cold salad.  A very fast weeknight dinner.
About 5-6 cups mixed greens, washed and drained
About 2-3 cups baby arugula, washed and drained
About 4-inches English cucumber, cut into matchsticks
1 orange pepper, sliced
1/2 lb prime rib roast beef, cut into 1/4x1-inch pieces
1/4 cup roasted almonds
1/2 can small red or light kidney beans, rinsed and drained
About 1 cup cooked green beans
1/2 small onion, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Dash red pepper flakes

Tamari Balsamic Vinaigrette:
Juice of half a lemon, about 2 Tbsp
2 Tbsp Tamari fermented soy sauce
3 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp fine French Dijon mustard
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
fresh ground pepper

Whisk together the dressing ingredients until well blended.

Toss the beef into a non-stick skillet and brown up just a bit with a bit of salt and pepper, just enough to warm through and color exterior a bit.

Meanwhile, mix together the greens, arugula, cucumbers, and peppers together in a big bowl. Toss with a generous amount of dressing and divide amongst 4 plates. Distribute the beef evenly about the plates, and decorate salad with the almonds, beans, onions and cheese. Sprinkle with dash of red pepper flakes to taste.

Serves 4.

Cook's note:  You could substitute most any meat, poultry or fish in this salad.

If it's Wednesday, it must be Feijoada

In Brazil, Wednesday is Feijoada day.  No one down there seemed to be able to tell me why - it's just tradition.  And I like that.  Feijoada is a great way to get over the mid-week blues.  But it takes some time to make, so my busy Brazilian colleagues instructed me to make it on Sunday and let it sit.  Like so many rich stews, it only improves sitting a day or two.  A quick reheat on Wednesday and we're good to go.

So often, traditional dishes with peasant roots come in many varieties.  But the basics of black beans and lots of pork and beef, are a foundation. Here I prepare a version heavy with meat, as I had in Brazil many times.  Sorry, Mark Bittman.  I look forward to the challenge of a followup endeavor to develop a lighter version aligned with Mark's "Eat-less-meat-arianism" philosophy, very soon.
1-1/2 lb corned beef, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb kielbasa sausage (fresh used here)
1-1/2 lb boneless pork country ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 smoked ham hock
1 lb dried black beans
1/4 lb bacon, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 red chili pepper or jalapeño, diced
4 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
About 6 cups water
2 navel oranges, peeled, one sliced and one diced

Soak the beans in a large mixing bowl of water all day or the previous night. Drain when ready to use. Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat a bit of canola oil in a very large Dutch oven. Cook the bacon for about 10 minutes and then remove to a bowl. Add the pork to the Dutch oven in two batches, and brown well. Remove to the bowl with the bacon. I also browned the corned beef as well, but it is probably not necessary.

Meanwhile, cook the sausage in about 2 cups water for about 15 minutes.

Slice into 1-inch pieces. If using pre-cooked kielbasa, omit the pre-cooking step. Add the sausage to the Dutch oven and brown. I moved them to one side and added the onions to the other.

When the sausages are browned, remove to the bowl and continue cooking the onions for a total of about 10 minutes, until they are well softened and caramelized a bit. Add the garlic and the red chili (or jalapeño) and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Now return all the meats to the Dutch oven and fold in the beans.

Add enough water just to cover. Add the diced orange and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir gently, cover and place Pot in the oven.

Bake for an hour and then give the stew a stir. Continue cooking for about another hour to hour and a half, until all the meats are very tender and the meat falls off the ham hock. When finished cooking, remove the ham hock from the stew and remove the meat from the bone. Discard the bone and any skin (I save the bone for soup!). Return the hock meat to the stew and stir it in.

Your beans should be very soft and the stew should be thickened, but with a sufficient broth. Adjust water if needed and salt and pepper to taste as needed (I found the corned beef did plenty of salting, and none was needed).

Serve over rice with orange slices, cilantro, and ideally a nice sautéed kale, which is traditional.

Serves 8.

Feijoada in Brazil served with rice and traditional fried manioc (cassava or yuca root).

Pan Fried Orange Roughy with Brazilian Vegetable Sauce

Last week in Brazil, I was lucky enough to have stayed by the sea, and gotten to experience an abundance of Brazilian fish dishes.

Several stews and sauces were thickened with manioc powder - made from cassava, or known up north here, as yucca. This is the root from which tapioca is made, and it is eaten in many forms in Brazil.  I haven't sought out tapioca powder yet, so I substituted corn starch as a thickener.  But the end result was true to many of the seafood dishes I had just south of Sao Paulo.
1 Tbsp butter plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 lb orange roughy fillet, cut into four portions

Sauce:
1 onion, finely diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 red chili pepper, seeded and sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 green onions, sliced (reserve about 1 Tbsp for garnish)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp corn starch (or tapioca/manioc powder)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 lemon, cut into four wedges

Get the sauce simmering. Sauté the orange pepper, onion and chili pepper in the olive oil in a small sauce pan for about five minutes. Add the garlic and green onions, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Whisk the corn starch (or tapioca/manioc powder) into the chicken broth and pour into the saucepan. Whisk and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cover.

Meanwhile heat butter and oil in a large non-stick skillet until almost smoking. Add the fish fillets to the skillet, presentation-side down (more curved surface). Cook about 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat. Carefully flip fillets and cook another 3-4 minutes, until just cooked through - be careful not to over-cook the fish.

Stir the sauce and swirl evenly on each of four plates. Place a fillet on top of the sauce. Top with a little bit more sauce, and some left over green onions. Serve with lemon wedges.

Serves four.

Surfers on Guaruja beach, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Cook's Note:  It was unfortunately only after I brought home my orange roughy from the market, they I researched the sustainability of orange roughy.  From what I can find - not so good.  I'd substitute tilapia or cod, or any other sustainable while fillet - this wonderful sauce will go with any white fish.

Tamarind Coriander Lamb Kebabs

What is it about lamb and skewers?  In the deepest end of winter, one still gets that inkling to grill a skewer. Maybe it's the feeling spring is coming?  Probably not. Do we feel the polar is un-vortexing?   I kind of doubt it.

But at this point I'm starting to tip-toe out into the back deck now to grill; skewers at the ready, pointed into the nip of the winter evening.

Marinate this mixture for as long as possible - ideally overnight.  Tamarind paste is a regular flavor in the Middle East and India, and Sumac is a spice used in northern Africa.  Tamarind - sour.  Sumac - almost smoky.  Coriander - sweet.  Integrating divergent flavors; sweet, smokey and sour.  And just a bit of garlic :-))
2 lb lamb, cut into about 35 1-inch cubes
28 grape tomatoes

Marinade:
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sherry
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground sumac
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp molasses

Place the marinade ingredients into a small food processor and blend well. Fold together with the lamb in a non-reactive bowl.

Cover and allow to marinate at least an hour or two - overnight even better.

Heat grill to high. Thread lamb on skewers, alternating with tomatoes. Grill 4 minutes on first side. Turn skewers over and grill another 4 minutes on second side. Serve with lime wedges.

These kebabs are wonderful served over greens.

Serves 4-6.

Cook's Note:  And here is a bonus.  The next day, fill a tortilla with some leftover kebobs and zap in microwave for a minute.  Serve with a bit of plain Greek yogurt and cilantro.  Viola, quick leftover dinner or lunch.

Greens and Tomatoes

These greens make a great side dish and a really nice bed for fish or meat.  And they have nice red for Valentine"s Day too ...  :-))
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
dash red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 lb greens

Heat the olive oil in a deep pot. Sauté the onions with the red pepper flakes  in the oil for about 10 minutes, until they have softened and begun to color up a bit.

Add the tomatoes and cook them over high heat to color them and develop their flavor, for about another 10 minutes.

Add the wine and then the greens to the pot and stir well. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook about 15-20 minutes, depending on the green, stirring from thine to time.

Serves 4.

Cook’s note: You could use any green you like. I used Trader Joe’s mixed greens, but I have used Tuscan Kale, spinach and arugula, collard greens and Swiss chard.

You can substitute a can of drained petite diced tomatoes, in winter, which I think are a great answer when no good fresh tomatoes are available.

Haddock in Coriander Marinara

Some purists will say this is not a marinara, while others allow onions (or leek) and capers in a marinara.  But would purist allow Balsamic and coriander?  Who cares?  With Thai fish sauce to enrich, this tomato sauce is perfect for a hearty fish, so why not call it a marinara?  And any busy fisherman can whip this up on a gas stove on the docks in no time flat.
1 lb Haddock fillets, cut into four portions
1 15-oz can whole tomatoes (or petite diced)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup water
1 leek, cleaned and diced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp powdered coriander
1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp Nam Pla, Thai fish sauce, or soy sauce
1 Tbsp capers
Palmful cilantro leaves
Fresh lime wedges

Heat oil,in a wide, deep skillet and cook leek for about 7-8 minutes to soften and color a bit. Add the garlic and cook another 3-5 minutes. Pour the tomatoes into a bowl and crush each one with your hands until you have bite-sized pieces. Add tomatoes to leeks along with the water and wine. Add the coriander, vinegar and soy sauce, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook about 10 minutes, stirring every once in a while.

Nestle the fish fillets in the tomato sauce, cover and cook 8-10 minutes.

Sprinkle with the capers. Distribute fish and poaching broth between four bowls. Serve with cilantro and lime wedges.

Serves four.

Pan Roasted Steak with Shiitake Stroganoff

Sometimes when there's that nasty polar vortex going on outside, I can't even bring myself to go out on my back patio to grill.

Sacrilege.  I know.

But actually not so bad - NY strip steaks do really well even when pan roasted, especially if you have a grill pan (which I didn't even use here).  I like steak that much.  And you get the bonus that you can make a nice sauce with the browned bits in the pan.

Well, this is not really a sauce, nor a stroganoff really.  Just unctuous shiitake mushrooms and yellow peppers tossed with a bit of sour cream and sherry.  How can't that be delicious on steak?
2 NY strip steaks
10 oz Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 leek, cleaned and diced
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup light cream
1/4 cup cream sherry

Sauté the mushrooms in a large skillet in a bit of olive oil. Heat them over relatively high heat until they release any water they might want to give off, and they brown up nicely, about 10 minutes. Set mushrooms aside in a bowl. In the same skillet, sauté the leek and pepper in a bit of olive oil over medium heat, until the veggies are softened and beginning to color.  Remove the pepper mixture to the mushrooms and keep warm.

Meanwhile, salt and pepper the steaks generously. Heat the same skillet over high heat. Add just a bit of canola oil and place steaks into pan.

Pan roast the steaks for about 3-4 minutes per side, until just medium-rare. Cook a bit longer if you simply must. Set steaks aside on a cutting board and cover for 5 minutes while you finish the veggies.

Add the sherry to the pan in which you cooked the steaks and bring to a boil, scraping up all the nice browned bits. Add the sour cream and cream and stir in the mushrooms and peppers. Leave to simmer while you slice the steak.

Slice the steak on a bias and plate on four plates. Top with the stroganoff-ed mushrooms and pepper.

Serves 4.

SuperOmega SuperBowl Fish Nachos

Ha!  I've turned nachos into a healthy meal.  So go ahead and splurge as you scream and rant at your TV set!

You've heard of fish toacos, right?  Well here come fish nachos.  They're packed with greens and veggies and lots of flavor.  Don't recoil at the Brussels sprouts (one of my favorite veggies, as anyone reading this blog knows).  They are cooked only very lightly, so are very sweet and not at all cabbagey.  If you are still squeamish, substitute kale for a good green crunch.  And with omega-3-rich flaxseed tortillas, who can't say these are really good eats, even if they still are SuperBowl fare?!
2 red peppers, diced
2 cups shredded Brussels sprouts (or other favorite greens, like kale)

1 lb tilapia fillets
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp favorite cajun seasoning (or chili powder)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lime, quartered

1 bag Trader Joe’s flaxseed corn tortillas, or other favorite tortillas
1/2 lb monterrey Pepper Jack cheese, grated
4 green onions, sliced
1 ripe avocado
1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
2 Tbsp pickled jalapeño peppers
palmful cilantro leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 450F. Sauté the red pepper and Brussels sprouts in a large skillet with a bit of olive oil, until the edges of the peppers begin to color, but the Brussels sprouts are still crisp-tender, about 6-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, dust the tilapia fillets evenly with the chili powder and cajun seasoning (if using). Sauté the fish fillets in a non-stick skillet in the oil, just long enough to brown them and cook them through, about 5-7 minutes, flipping once.

Cut the fish up into small bite-sized pieces and sprinkle with the juice of half the lime. Set fish aside.

Spread half the tortilla chips on a large rimmed baking sheet. Top with half the cheese, half the red pepper mix, and half the onions. Top with the remaining chips, fish, red pepper mix and cheese.

Bake nachos for about 10 minutes, watching carefully so that they do not over-brown, but that the cheese is melted through.

Meanwhile, peel, seed and dice the avocado and fold gently with the juice of the remaining lime.

Remove nachos from the oven and top with the remaining onions. Place the tomatoes, avocado and jalapeño in a line down the center of the dish. Scatter the cilantro about the nachos. Top with dollops of plain Greek yogurt or sour cream and serve with lime wedges.

Serves 6-8 as appetizer. Serves 4 as main course.

Salmon Poached with Lemon Wine and Dill

Eating salmon can boost your Omega-3 fatty acids levels. Omega-3's are said to promote health by reducing inflammation. Apparently, many Americans have a diet excessively rich in Omega-6 fatty acids, which unlike Omega-3, promote inflammation. Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratios as high as a 15:1 for Americans are high compared to Japanese and many European diets, which fall much closer to an ideal ratio of 4:1, according to nutritionists and many government agencies.

To work towards these lower ratios, the American Heart Association suggests eating salmon and other Omega-3-rich fish as much as twice a week. I suggest you start here with this simple poached salmon that absolutely melts in your mouth.

1-1/2 lb salmon fillet, skinned and cut into four portions
1 lemon, sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp dried dill

Melt the butter in the wine and water in a large skillet. Bring to a boil and add the salmon portions to the skillet. Arrange some of the lemon slices around the fish and return to a boil.

Sprinkle with dill, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 7 minutes, until the salmon is just cooked through.

Remove salmon and keep warm. Bring sauce to a boil and reduce if necessary to a saucy consistency.

Plate salmon with lemon slices and drizzle with wine butter sauce.

Serves 4.