Baby Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
Serves 2 for dinner, or 4 as a side-dish

4 slices of bacon, diced
1 shallot, fine mince (or an 1/8 cup finely minced red onion, if you must)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar — no substitutes this time.  this is the real deal.
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 package baby spinach (about 6 cups)
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced paper thin (about half a small package)
1/4 cup red onion, sliced paper thin
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into wedges

Go ahead and put your eggs on to boil.  Seriously, I know you don’t have any sitting around in your fridge.  For the record, I like to start mine in cold water, bring to a rapid boil over high heat, cover and switch the heat off.  20 minutes later the eggs are perfectly cooked.  Then drop the whole pan under the faucet and run cool water in until the eggs are chilled enough to handle.

While the eggs are cooking, drop the bacon into a large skillet over medium heat.  The closer the bacon gets to done, the lower I drop the heat.  It takes 7-10 minutes for the bacon to get beautifully golden and crispy.  Remove with slotted spoon and let the bacon drain on a paper towel while you finish the dressing.

You should have about 3 tbsps of drippings left in the pan. Add some olive oil if you’re short to round it out. Gently saute the shallot over medium heat until its lovely and golden.  Now add the vinegar, sugar, mustards, a healthy grind of pepper and a pinch of salt and whisk to combine, scraping up all the little bacony bits that stuck to the pan.  Allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes so the dressing can thicken up and for some of the bite of the vinegar to cook off. If you really feel the need to wilt your baby spinach, or if you’re using the adult spinach leaves, toss the greens into the skillet for the last 30-60 seconds of cooking, being sure to flip/stir the spinach to ensure even wilting.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, mushrooms and red onions and toss gently. Pour the warm dressing straight from the skillet into the bowl and quickly toss to coat evenly.  Now sprinkle over those yummy bacony bits.  You forgot about them, didn’t you?  No you didn’t, you’ve been snacking on them the whole time you’ve been cooking.  Wait, that was me.

Season the egg wedges with a bit of salt.  Serve the salad in a big bowl with the wedges of egg adorning the outsides.  Look at that, what a pro.

Once again!  HORRIBLE picture!  I apologize internet food blogging posh world.

Nonetheless!   This is a quick and easy dinner option.   I personally love the taste of pork.  It has it’s own complex flavors that I enjoy more than chicken but is definitely not as intense as beef.  I’ve made versions of this recipe a few times and no matter what, it has always tasted amazing.  You can add more sugar to the sauce to make it a little more sweet, add red wine, slice up some crunchy Asian/Korean pears or a crisp apple in with the onions.  I love this recipe and so does Sean.  Whenever we are feeling like an Americanski-riceless-not-so-Asian dinner, grilled pork with a balsamic sauce is the awesome.

Grilled Pork with an Onion Balsamic Reduction Sauce
Serves 4

4 Pork Chops
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
1/4th cup of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of sherry
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
salt and pepper

Heat up a hot griddle/grill or skillet on medium.  While the grill is getting hot, lightly coat the pork chops with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Throw those chops on the grill for about 5 or 6 minutes on each side.  These chops are a medium thickness.

In a small pan, add a little olive oil to coat the bottom and add the sliced onions. Lower the intensity of the fore to low.  Once they start to get soft and brown, add the balsamic, sugar, honey, and sherry.   I let it cook/reduce for about 8 minutes.

Plop the grilled pork on a plate and spoon the onion and balsamic ontop.  Eat!

Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon
Adapted from Bon Appetit’s much longer titled recipe, which you can find here.
Serves 2

1/4 cup Asian Sweet Chili Sauce, such as mae ploy
2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, divided
1 tablespoon mirin
2  8-oz center cut salmon filets with skin
1 tsp grapeseed oil, or any plain vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4  bunches bloomsdale spinach leaves, substitute with 2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 cup pea sprouts

Line a baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil, or lightly oiled regular foil.  Place salmon fillets skin side down on the prepared sheet pan and season with salt and pepper.  In a small bowl, stir together the sweet chili sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar and the mirin.  Spoon marinade over the salmon and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Preheat broiler.  Spoon any marinade remaining on the baking sheet over the salmon fillets.  Broil salmon without turning until browned at corners and the fish is almost opaque in the center, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the grapeseed and sesame oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Toss in the garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds until aromatic.  Add spinach leaves and cook, stirring regularly for 2 minutes.  Add the pea sprouts and stir til just wilted, about 1 minute.  Add the remaining soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and fresh black pepper, then turn off heat and set aside.

Voila!

I rounded out our meal with a sort of deconstructed salad.  The greens are a beautiful head of red-tipped romaine, tossed with a light asian-flavored dressing and sesame seeds along with some avocado slices and some simple sunomono cucumbers.  It was the perfect crisp and bright companion to the buttery-textured, sweet and salty salmon.  Enjoy!

If you’ve never heard of Columbia Restaurant, it means you haven’t spent much time in Florida.  It’s a chain of about a dozen restaurants that to my knowledge is restricted to the Sunshine State.  To be perfectly honest, it’s not a very spectacular restaurant overall.  It definitely caters to the tourists and the snow birds, and as a college student, I found it severely overpriced.

So why is it worth mentioning?  Because they have a spectacular salad on their menu, called the 1905 salad, named for the year their flagship restaurant opened in Ybor City, a district in Tampa.  The 1905 salad is Columbia’s big ta-dah, because all the servers know the recipe by heart and whip it up table-side.  This should clue you in to how simple and fast you can prepare this for a weeknight dinner.  The classic is with ham, which you can swap out for turkey or shrimp.  I like the combo of ham and turkey, but rock it out to your tastes.  Oh and did I mention it was really delicious?

Columbia Restaurant’s 1905 Salad
Makes 2 giant entree portions, or 4 appetizer/side dish portions

For the Salad:
1 small head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 lb swiss cheese, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli ham, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli turkey, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 cup green spanish olives, sliced
2 tbsp fresh grated romano or parmesan cheese

For the Dressing:
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1/8 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil, along with salt and a fair bit of fresh ground black pepper.  Pour in the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking vigorously until fully incorporated.  (Alternatively, you can also drop all the ingredients into the blender, or mix them quickly with an immersion blender as I did here.  The bowl-whisked dressing is traditional.)

You know the drill.  Drop all of the salad ingredients into the large bowl, coating everything in the dressing.  Portion out into serving bowls, and top with more ground pepper and romano cheese as desired.

Pre-dressing…

And yum…

This really makes for a filling, yet light dinner.  The flavors are very balanced and the dressing is super yum.  And I seriously cannot stress enough how quickly you can whip this up on a weeknight.  Enjoy everybody!  Oh, and thanks to that magazine that published this recipe which I found in that snobby coffee shop in Sarasota that I never patronized again.

You see, I’ve had a batch of homemade chicken stock sitting in the freezer, just waiting to be used.  And since I spent so much time on it, I wanted to showcase it in a recipe that would be all about the broth.  Hence the obvious choice, soup.  All it took was Kim talking about soup today and I knew it was time.

This is my take on Italian wedding soup, partly inspired by a Tuscan soup called ribollita, sortof a minestrone thickened with bread with tons of local, cheap vegetables.  And since we’re still getting our CSA veggie delivery we had a plethora of local, cheap veggies on hand.  It basically came down to luscious chicken stock base with delicious, basily chicken meatballs, cannellini beans and lots of healthy, vibrant kale.

Tuscan Wedding Soup
Makes 4 generous portions

For the Meatballs:
1 lb ground chicken
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly whisked
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

For the Soup:
1/2 sweet onion, small dice
1 rib of celery, small dice
1 carrot, small dice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 – 12oz cans cannellini beans, drained
3/4 lb kale, washed and roughly chopped (i like a mix of dinosaur kale and curly kale for this)
Parmesan for serving

For the meatballs, preheat the oven to 400°F.  Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.   The mixture will be looser than ground beef/pork, but it should still hold together when formed into a ball.  Place meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes until they begin to brown.  Alternatively, you can cook the meatballs in the soup, if you like them softer and don’t mind their lack of color.  I’ll point out where in the next step.

For the soup, put a large stock pot over medium-high heat.  Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in a few turns of olive oil until softened, about 7 minutes.  Add the wine and cook until its reduced by half or almost fully evaporated.  Add the stock (its a good idea to have this heating up in another saucepan on your stove, so you don’t have to wait to bring this to a boil) as well as the cannellini beans and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Go ahead and check the seasonings on the soup at this point and add some salt and pepper.  Now’s a good time to prep your kale and allow your meatballs to finish browning.  If you’re cooking the meatballs in the soup, go ahead and add them now and bring the heat up closer to a low boil.  They should take about 10 minutes to cook through, then proceed with the next step.

Add the meatballs and kale to the pot.  You might have to add the kale in two batches if your pot is not large enough, but don’t worry, it wilts down quickly.  Bring the soup back to a simmer and allow to cook for at least 10 minutes for the kale to soften.  If you prefer your kale softer, go ahead and simmer an additional 10-15 minutes until its cooked to your liking. Ladle the soup into large bowls.  Top with freshly grated parm cheese and a tiny drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil.  Serve with toasty garlic bread on the side.

One such dish is Beef Burgundy, which is basically a simpler, homestyle version of Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon.  The biggest difference is that the bacon and carrot is removed, and the red wine is often a combo of wine and tomato sauce, or for those on slim budgets, just tomato sauce.  So sans recipe, I decided to whip up a batch of beef burgundy from the recollections of watching my mama make it back in PA combined with a few tricks of my own.  I think she’d agree I did it justice.

Beef Burgundy or Tenderloin Tips and Mushrooms in a Sherry and Red Wine Gravy
Serves 5 -6

2 lbs beef tenderloin tips or beef stew meat
flour to coat, about 1/4 cup
1/2 a sweet onion, medium dice
12 oz white mushrooms, sliced thick
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup good red wine (I like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot for cooking)
3 – 4 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp heavy cream

Place a large, heavy bottomed saucepan (I use my le creuset for this) over medium-high heat.  Coat the bottom with extra virgin olive oil.  While the pot is getting hot, cube up your beef into uniform 1-inch pieces.  If you can find tenderloin tips, I much prefer the cut to regular stew meat for this dish.  Its a lower fat content, therefore a less greasy gravy.  Not to mention the word tender is in its title, so you don’t have to cook it as long for it to breakdown and become soft.

Season the beef well with salt and pepper, then toss in flour gently to coat.  Brown the meat in two batches in the pan.  You’re looking for really good caramelization and color on the beef, like in the picture below.  If you went for a large cube size, don’t be concerned with cooking the meat through at this point.  Just go for the color on the outside.  And don’t worry about the flour that’s sticking to the pan, we’ll get to that later.

Pull the meat out and brown the second batch, adding more oil if necessary.  When the second batch is done, pull the beef out, set aside, and turn the heat down to medium.  Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan and saute.  As they begin to soften and release moisture, about 7 – 9 minutes, the liquid will pull up some of the browned nums that are stuck to the bottom of the pan.  This is a good thing.  Don’t worry if you don’t get it all now, you’ve got two more steps to scrape that all into the sauce.  When the onions are geting close to finished, add in the garlic and saute together for atleast a minute.  When the mushrooms and onions take on a beautiful golden color, you’re know they’re done.

Now its time to deglaze the pot with our liquors.  Raise the heat to high and add the sherry and red wine.  If you don’t have sherry on hand, feel free to use only wine, but I would recommend adding a few tsps of sugar for balance.  Now make sure you really scrape at the pan to pick up all that caramelized goodness.  It comes off pretty easy at this point.  Allow the liquid to cook off, reduce and thicken, which takes about 3-5 minutes.  That’s right, it’s starting to look a bit more like gravy now.

Alright, everybody in the pool.  Dump that beef back in, along with any juices that might have collected with it, as well as the bay leaf, tomato paste, and then top with the beef broth.  You might not need all 4 cups, but the broth should just cover the beef by about 1/2 inch.  Stir everything to combine and scrape down the sides of the pan.  When the mix comes to a simmer, turn the heat down to low and partially cover the pan, leaving the lid slightly askew.

Simmer over low heat for 45min – 1 hour, depending on the size and cut of your beef.  You’ll want to stir the pot every 15 minutes or so to make sure nothing’s sticking to the bottom.  How will you know its done?  The sauce will have reduced by half, and become deliciously smooth and thick like a good gravy.

Wowie wow!  Look how that sauce reduced.  Right at the end, I like to stir in a tiny bit of cream which I think really brings the sauce together and a nice pinch of fresh chopped parsley to add a bright note for contrast.  Both are totally optional, and totally worth it in my humble opinion.

Serve over buttered egg noodles with lots of delicious, sweet steamed peas.  Oh billy, your tummy will be thanking you.

So to kick us off for the new year, let’s start with the most important meal of the day… or if you enjoy a good breakfast-for-dinner like I do, then just about anytime.   This, my friends, is a kickass hash.

I feel bad for hashes.  They’ve got a pretty bum rap.  Probably because most of them are… pretty bad.  Gray, lumpy concoctions of some sort of over-salted canned meat mashed with yesterday’s homefries in a greasy spoon diner.  Hash has been around since the 1600s as a way of making unpalatable leftovers more palatable.  But when you start with delicious, fresh ingredients, a hash can be so much more.

Chicken-Apple Sausage Hash with Roasted Asparagus
Makes 4 Dinner Servings
For the Hash:

1.5 lbs red skinned potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
4 links of chicken-apple sausage, diced to the same size as the potatoes
1/2 a sweet onion, very finely diced
1/2 gala apple, very finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, 1/4 inch dice (optional)
2-3 stems of fresh thyme (about 1/2 tsp chopped thyme leaves)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Cayenne Pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
4 eggs

First thing’s first, you gotta par-boil your potatoes.  I prefer the skins on the reds, but feel free to peel them.  Chop them up into uniform pieces like-a-dis:

Boil your potatoes for 8 minutes in salted water.  You’re looking for an al-dente on the potatoes, so not quite all the way cooked through.  Otherwise the potatoes will be too soft when they hit the skillet to brown later.  Go ahead and drop the taters into a strainer and set aside.

While the potatoes are boiling, put the biggest skillet you’ve got over medium-high heat and add a little bit of oil to coat the pan.  Toss in your diced sausage to brown.  Remember, the sausage is already cooked, so you’re just trying to get some color on it.  Remove from the skillet and set aside, like-a-dat:

Back to the skillet!  Drop the heat down to medium and toss in your chopped apple, onion, and red pepper if you’re feeling that.  Saute until they soften up and become translucent, then add the garlic and thyme and cook another minute.  Check it:

Ok, time to get serious.  Add some more oil, or better yet, a couple tbsp of butter to your pan.  Dump the potatoes into your skillet and stir gently to mix evenly with the onions.   The potatoes will take about 10 minutes to brown, and you’ll need to flip them every couple of minutes to make sure they brown evenly, so keep your eye on the skillet.

Meanwhile, in another skillet, its time to fry your eggs.  (Now’s also a good time to stick the asparagus into the oven if you’re making that too, so everything finishes at the same time.  The recipe for this follows the hash.)  I like a combo of olive oil and butter, probably 1 tbsp each for 4 eggs.  Make sure you season your eggs early so the salt and pepper sticks before the eggs solidify.  Cook them to your liking, but in my opinion, hash works best with a nice runny, sunny side up egg.  That way the yolk makes a delicious lil sauce for your hash/asparagus.  Oh yeah.  It’s a great thing.  Back to the taters, precious.

So as the potatoes finish up their browning, I like to add a little broth when the pan becomes dry.  It helps bring everything together.  Some leftover gravy works really well here (think thanksgiving leftovers: replace the sausage with cooked turkey and the stock with the gravy and toss in a handful of cooked peas close to the end… serious yum.)   Take a taste and adjust your seasonings if necessary.  Then toss in your chopped parsley and stir gently to coat evenly.  See those eggies working in the background too?

At this point, your hash is done, your eggs should be beautifully fried and you just pulled the asparagus out of the oven.  Way to go, you!  I serve the egg overtop of a nice pile of hash with the beauteous asparagus on the side.  You dig?:

Here’s that yolky sauce I was talking about… yes ma’am.

And let’s not forget about that asparagus…..

For the Roasted Asparagus:

1 large bunch of medium-thickness asparagus
1 – 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice OR 2 tbsp lemon vinaigrette

Preheat oven to 450°F.  Chop off the woody ends of the asparagus.  Arrange in a single layer on a baking tray.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper and toss to coat evenly.   Place on a high rack in the oven for 5 – 10 minutes, flipping the asparagus once for even browning.  The asparagus is done when the stalks become slightly flimsy and have a hint of carmelization to them.  Remove from oven, and drizzle with fresh lemon juice or a delicious vinaigrette.  Serve hot or room temperature with just about anything!

One of the best looking pieces of produce in our first CSA box was a gorgeous head of bok choy. Usually bok choy ends up playing second fiddle in my cooking, but I knew I really wanted to showcase this great ingredient. I came up with an easy stir fry using items I had on hand, including frozen shrimp and some tasty mushrooms. I was really impressed with the simplicity of the dish. In fact, I would barely change a thing next time around, and I can’t wait to make it again.

Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir Fry
Makes 2-3 entree portions

3/4 lb shrimp (25 count), deveined and shells removed
2 tbsp dry sherry or sake
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp plus 1 tbsp soy sauce
1 large head of bok choy
6 oz sliced white or shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sherry, 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tsp soy sauce. Add the shrimp and toss to coat evenly. Set aside. In another small bowl, combine the chicken broth, mirin, sugar, the additional 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 2 tsp cornstarch and set aside.

The most important step of stir-frying is the prep work. Since the cooking happens so quickly, everything must be ready to hit the pan before you begin. Wash and prep your bok choy. I like to slice the thick white stems on the bias, and then roll up and do a large, rough chiffonade of the green leaves. Be sure to keep these separate, as they’ll hit the pan at a different time.

When everything is ready, heat your wok over the highest heat your stove top can get. When the pan is screaming hot, add 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil. Start by adding the aromatics, in this case the ginger and the garlic. Stir for only 15 seconds, as the garlic can burn quickly, then add the shrimp. Keep the shrimp moving around the pan, and when they’re still slightly translucent, about 1-2 minutes, pull them out of the pan and set aside. They’re not fully cooked through, but that’s what you’re looking for, just like in the pic below.

Allow your pan to come back to heat, then add the remaining tbsp of vegetable oil. Toss in the white bok choy stems and the mushrooms. Stir fry for about 3 minutes until the edges of the bok choy become translucent and the mushrooms soften, then add the green leaves of the bok choy and cook an additional 2 minutes.

When the greens have slightly wilted, return the shrimp to the pan. Add the broth mixture. Continue to move the ingredients around the pan until the shrimp is fully cooked and the sauce begins to thicken slightly, about 2 minutes.

Serve alongside steamed white rice and dig in!! Enjoy, my fellow foodies!

You know, I always have great intentions for a fabulous, involved Sunday supper.   But let’s face it:  I typically don’t wander into the kitchen on the weekend until  I’m actually starting to get hungry.  So when we bought this rack of ribs for the weekend, I’m sure we pictured firing up the charcoal grill and recreating some 3-hour Bobby Flay masterpiece.  This did not come to pass.  Instead, I went for the easy option in half the time.  And gosh darnit, they was gooood.

Lazy Oven Baby Back Ribs
Serves 2

1 rack of pork baby back ribs
2 tbsp bbq rub (I recommend the California BBQ Seasoning from Surfa’s, but most anything will work here.  You can also put together your own my mixing some chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, granulated garlic and onion etc)
2 tbsp brown sugar
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 cups of your favorite bbq sauce

Set your oven to a toasty 400°F.  While its coming to temp, wash and trim  your rack of ribs.  It’s good to have a thin layer of fat on the meaty side, but not too much as it won’t have time to fully render in the oven.  Pat it dry and then thoroughly rub in the bbq rub, brown sugar, and salt and pepper into both sides.  You want a nice even coat of seasoning, just like in the pic below.

Now wrap the whole rack up burrito style in two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil.  You’re looking for a very tight seal to trap in all the meat’s juices during cooking.  Toss that onto a baking sheet, bones down and meaty side up, set the timer for an hour and they’re ready for the oven.

Alright, so the hour has passed and these ribs are ready for some tasty bbq sauce.  Tonight I just doctored up a generic bottled sauce with some honey, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and a tasty chipotle hotsauce.  You wanna whip up something homemade?  Knock yourself out.  Open up the foil (and keep it open from this point on), give the ribs a flip, and baste about 1/3 of the sauce onto the bone side of the rib rack.  You’ll notice that the meat has started to pull away from the bone at this point. Return that to the 400° oven for about 15 minutes.

Flip the ribs again and baste the meaty side, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.  Finally, give them one last baste then slide them under your oven’s broiler for 2-5 minutes, and keep a close eye on them.  This will help caramelize and set the bbq sauce which sorta replicates how the grill would treat them.

And there you have it!  I probably should have let them go a few more minutes in the broiler, but my tummy won the battle.  Slice them up and EAT.  What I really liked about this recipe is that they produced the perfect rib tenderness.  Not so tender that they fall off the bone before they reach your mouth, but just tender enough to very easily pull away when you’re eating.  And yeah, ok, I know it sounds like a lot of work to call them lazy.  But all in all, although it took about 1hr 40 minutes from start to finish, less than 20 minutes was actual hands-on cooking time.  And that suits me just fine.  ENJOY!