Food we ate while in Vancouver

It has unfortunately been over a month since I last posted.  I can come up with a lot of excuses, but really I've just been too tired at the end of the work day to sit down and write. (We got really busy in August, then we were in Vancouver & Chicago, and the high holidays coincided with this period.  So, I have lots of foodie recipes & pictures to post, and will try to get to them in the next few weeks.)

Before the recipes begin, a friend of mine always wants to see pictures of the food we ate while on vacation.  I don't usually take these pictures, but after vacationing with Cheryl a few years ago, I thought I would take a few.  Here is the food we ate the first day or two that we were in Vancouver:

The first morning we walked to the Granville Island Public Market.  The market is full of people selling fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, baked goods, and crafts.  These donuts came from a little donut shop inside the Granville Island Public Market, and they may have been the best donuts that we have ever eaten:  Fried and crunchy on the outside, and soft and moist on the inside.  On our way outside to enjoy the donuts, there was a stand selling frozen beverages.  The drink pictured here is a pomegranate-rose drink that was made with pomegranate juice, rose water, and some other things I can't remember.  They put the liquid drink through a machine that freezes the contents, then they seal off the top and stick a straw in (no loose lids, just laminated plastic).  The drink was really refreshing and tasted great!

After the public market, we continued to explore on foot (and false creek ferry to save out feet a bit).  On our way back to the hotel we stumbled upon a gelato place called Bella Gelateria.  The gelato was really wonderful, but that may have partly been because we were hot, exhausted, and in the mood for something cold and sweet.  You will have to make do with the picture of the sign because we ate our pistachio, chocolate, and hazelnut gelato too quickly to remember to take a picture.  I think this was the first time I have ever had the option between 2 different pistachio flavors and 4 different chocolate flavors - they let us taste all of these and decide what we wanted.

Day 2 started with coffee, tea, and pastries at a Caffe Artigiano which was only a block or so from our hotel.  The cappuccino that I had and you can see in the picture above was wonderful!  The roast was dark but not bitter, the amount of milk and coffee was great, and as you can see, it was beautiful.  In case you are wondering, the tea and pastries were good, but the coffee is what you should go to this place for.

 We spent the following several hours riding bicycles around Stanley Park which is a 1000 acre park on the water.  This was a clear day, and the views were great - mountains, water, and cityscape - who could want more?  When the wind picked up and we decided that we were done, we returned the bikes and asked the girl at the counter to recommend a place for lunch.  She sent us to this little Mongolian BBQ restaurant.  In the front of the restaurant they had two men cooking the vegetables and meats you chose using very long chop sticks on a single round cooking surface that was about 4 ft in diameter.  After waiting in line for a while, our own selections were cooked for us, and they we were able to enjoy.  The food was great! 

This is the end of the pictures that I took during those two days.  I am glad that I could share a little bit of our trip to Vancouver with you.  With the next post, we will be back to food we have cooked in our kitchen including: Chocolate Babka, Eggplant stacks, and Turkey Chili.

Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs

I'm sorry it's been a while - we've been busy with visitors and enjoying the good summer weather.  This dish give you everything you love about spaghetti and meatballs without being so unhealthy - the meatballs are made from ground turkey, and they're baked instead of fried.  I actually like how the turkey meatballs taste better than those from ground beef - so all around this is a winner.  For those of you that really want to, you can still do this with beef, go half & half.

Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs




Semi-Homemade Tomato Sauce
I call this semi-homemade because I start with canned tomatoes, instead of fresh tomatoes. 

2 1/2 T olive oil

1 1/2 T garlic, minced (~ 3-4 large cloves)
1/3 c. onion, diced (~ 1/2 of a medium onion) 


1/3 c. red wine
1/2 T basil
1/2 T oregano
1/2 t red pepper flakes (if you shy away from anything spicy, leave this out)
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 1/2 T sugar
1 t kosker salt + 1 t black pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat.
2. Saute onion and garlic for several minutes until translucent and fragrant.

3. Add red wine, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add canned tomatoes (with the liquid) and the sugar to the pot.  Stir to mix well.

5. Simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve with spaghetti or angel hair pasta (and meatballs if you like).  For the pasta, I used whole grain thin spaghetti and followed the instruction on the box.  After draining,drizzle with olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking to one another.



Meatballs

1 clove garlic
1 small onion
1T olive oil
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. matzah meal or bread crumbs
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
~1 t each of dried basil, rosemary, oregano, and thyme
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Mince the garlic and onion.  Saute 5 minutes on medium heat in olive oil.

3. Mix the broth and matzah meal together in a medium bowl. 
4. Add the onion and garlic to the matzah meal mixture and mix. 

5. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix well with hands. 

6. Shape into 1 - 1 1/2" balls.  Arrange on a baking sheet (they don't need to be far apart like cookies). 

7. Bake 25 minutes, turning halfway through.

8. The meatballs can then be added to the tomato sauce to be served with pasta! If you made too many to enjoy now, can be frozen in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a baking pan, then moved to freezer bags for storage until you next crave them.

Spanikopita

When David and I started receiving our CSA box from Eatwell Farm last fall, one of the things we had to learn how to enjoy was spinach.  We still mostly prefer spinach uncooked in a salad, but can enjoy it in lasagna if there isn't too much, and in spinach pie.  Who can resist melted feta in a flaky crust?  The spinach can't even ruin that!  So here is how we make spinach pie, or spanikopita.  We like making these in triangles which are great for one person and for eating as finger food.  This also makes it easy to freeze unbaked triangles and cook when you want one or two portions.  As you see in the picture, we frequently enjoy this with a greek salad (more feta, lots of tomatoes, and a lemony dressing!).

Spanikopita


4 cups uncooked spinach 
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
1 cup feta

1 package filo dough, defrosted
3 T butter

Spinach Filling
1.  Clean spinach and break up into large pieces or very coarsely chop.
2.  Heat olive oil in a medium or large frying pan over medium heat.  Add garlic & onion and sautee for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
3.  Add spinach in bunches, stirring occasionally.  The spinach will wilt.

4.  Remove pan from heat.  Let cool until you can handle with your hands.
5.  Remove spinach from pan with your hands, squeezing to extract the moisture (you don't want the spinach filling to be too soggy) 
6.  Finely chop cooked spinach mixture.

7.  Mix spinach mixture with feta.  Add salt & pepper to taste (yes, this means taste and see what you like).

Making individual spanikopita triangles


1.  Melt butter (I usually do this in a loosely covered glass dish in the microwave, but the stove top works well too)


2.  Open up your package of filo & unroll.  This stuff dries out quickly, so it is good to keep the stack loosely covered with plastic wrap or even a damp kitchen towel when not removing individual sheets.


3.  Remove one sheet of filo from the top of the stack and place on your working area (I recommend a large cutting board or a jelly roll pan).  Gently brush butter onto the sheet.  Place another sheet on top of the buttered sheet.  Once again, gently brush butter onto this sheet.  Place a third sheet of filo on top of the first two. (Don't butter the top sheet!)

4.  Now we cut the buttery filo stack into strips using a sharp knife.  I like to make two equal cuts parallel to the short side of the stack - each stack of three filo sheets will give you three triangles.

5.  Place a heaping tablespoon of the spinach filling into the corner of one of the strips.  Folding in the corner to form a triangle.  Continue folding the filo strip until you are at the end.  Seal with a little bit of melted butter.  Place on a baking tray & repeat until you run out of filling!  This makes about a dozen.

 6.  If you are going to bake these immediately, arrange on a sheet of parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat) on a baking sheet.  Brush a little bit of melted butter on the top side.  Bake at 375°F for about 20 minutes until lightly browned.

7.  If you would like to freeze these, I arrange them tips facing on parchment paper in a large enough tupperware dish, then place another piece of parchment paper over the first layer followed by more triangles.  Continue until the dish is full.  Finish with a sheet of parchment paper and the lid.  To bake, place individual pieces on parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Bake at 400°F for about 25 minutes (do not defrost first!).
 

White Wine Chicken with Lemon Basil

White wine chicken tastes so good & is easy to make on a weeknight, which both make this dish one of our staples.  Another great thing about it is this is really a base recipe than can be easily altered to your purposes and ingredients.  Sometimes I want lots of garlic chicken - so you use a whole head of garlic cloves, and cook these for 10-15 minutes in the sauce before adding the chicken back in.  Or you have great fresh spices like rosemary & thyme to add as seasonings.  This time our CSA box came with a bunch of lemon basil, which I had never had before, but had such a wonderful aroma.  It seemed that paired with white wine & chicken we couldn't go wrong - and it worked out fabulously!  We usually do white wine chicken with pasta or roasted fingerling potatoes.  Here we used a whole wheat thin spaghetti and served it with a salad of heirloom tomatoes & avocado dressed with olive oil, lemon basil, and balsamic vinegar.

White Wine Chicken with Lemon Basil


4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon pepper (or 1 teaspoon kosher salt + 1 teaspoon ground black pepper)
1 green onion or 1/4 c. white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chicken stock 
1 T corn starch
1/2 cup coarsely chopped lemon basil


1.  Clean & pat dry chicken breasts.  Trim any excess fat.  Season chicken breasts with lemon pepper or salt & pepper (both work fine, the lemon pepper is a salt & pepper mixture that has a lemon flavor to it).
2.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large frying pan.  It is important that you have a lid for the pan you use!
3.  Brown chicken breasts on both sides. You are not trying to cook the meat through here - just brown them.  Remove the breasts from the pan (put these in a bowl or on a plate - they are going back into the pan in a few minutes) and reduce the heat to medium low.

4.  Add  onion & garlic to the pan.  Saute for 2 minutes.

5.  Add white wine & chicken stock to the pan.  Bring to a simmer.
6.  Return browned chicken breasts and any juices that have collected to the pan.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.  You don't have to do anything to the chicken for the next 15 minutes, so this is a great time to cook a vegetable (green beans or broccoli?), make a salad, or sit back & relax.

7.  Remove chicken from pan & place on serving dish.
8.  To finish the sauce: mix corn starch with a few tablespoons of the liquids in the pan in a small dish, then stir into to the pan and cook on medium heat until the sauce begins to thicken.  Add lemon basil, and cook for 2 more minutes.  Serve sauce over chicken.

Oatmeal Cranberry Pecan Scones

I love eating scones! While these are not the soft, flaky, English variety, they are a yummy treat to look forward to at breakfast time.  And David doesn't need any convincing to eat these :-)  In a lot of ways, these have everything you want in breakfast in one baked treat: oats, fruit, nuts, eggs, milk, oj.  This takes about 30 minutes from beginning to end, so go whip up a batch and enjoy them tomorrow morning!

Oatmeal Cranberry Pecan Scones

Dry ingredients: 
  3/4 c. whole wheat flour
  3/4 c. all purpose flour
  1 1/4 c. oatmeal, coarsely ground (I measure then grind in my mini food processor)
  1/2 c. sugar (I sometimes use 3/4 c. brown sugar instead)
  1 T. baking powder
  1/2 t. salt  

Wet ingredients:
  1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
  1 1/2 t. orange juice
  1/3 c. milk (I generally use 1 or 2 %)
  1 egg, beaten

1/2 c. pecans
1/2 c. dried, unsweetened cranberries


0. Preheat oven to 450°F
1. Mix the dry ingredients together in one small bowl.
2. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium or large bowl.
3. Coarsely chop pecans and cranberries.
4. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  

5. Mix in pecans & cranberries.

6. Make 12 mounds of dough on a cookie sheet.  I like to use parchment paper to keep them from sticking to the pan.  Sil-pat would work too.

7.  Bake for 12 minutes!  Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Apple Pecan Pancake

This recipe is a wonderful Sunday morning treat that can be made in less than half an hour.  I love the apple cinnamon goodness this pancake brings when I am in the mood for a sweet breakfast.  Since I started making this last year, it's been a hit amongst my friends and family when they visit us, or when we visit them.

This pancake reminds me of the apple pancakes we would get from Walker Brothers' Pancake House the Chicago area, except it's not so sweet (which really makes it better), and I use 50/50 white/whole wheat flour.  I would say that the recipe as written serves 3-4 - we usually quarter it, and end up reheating the last two quarters the next day.  However, this may be appropriate for two particularly hungry people, or be served in slices along with a full brunch buffet for more. If you want to omit the nuts, use only all purpose flour, reduce the sugar amounts, etc. it should be straightforward to do so. 

Apple Pecan Pancake


1 Large Apple (preferably tart & crisp)
1/2 c. pecans
2 T butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk

0.  Preheat oven to 425°F.
1.  Coarsely chop pecans.
2.  Peel and thinly slice apple.
3.  Make pancake batter: whisk together flours, eggs, and milk in a small bowl.

4.  Melt butter in medium, metal, oven-safe frying pan over medium heat.  I used a 8" pan.  If you do not have an oven safe frying pan, see my note in step 7.
5.  Add brown sugar and cinnamon to butter and stir to mix.
6.  Add apple & pecan pieces to the frying pan.  Stir to coat the pieces in the sugary buttery goodness.  Cook until apples begin to soften.

7.  Pour batter over apples & pecans.  Place pan in oven and cook for 12 minutes.

**Note:  If you do not have an oven save frying pan, you can prepare the apple mixture in whatever frying pan you have (Follow steps 1-7 as written above).  To bake, prepare a pie tin, or 8" round baking pan by greasing with butter.  Add cooked apple mixture then batter to the pan. Bake for 12 minutes at 450°F.

8.  Remove pan from oven. ***Pan is VERY hot*** do not touch with your bare hands (trust me on this one).  You can cut slices out of the pan, or you can turn it out (upside down) onto a plate for serving at the table.

Tea Spiced Flank Steak

We really enjoy drinking tea in the Falk household, and I have been buying all sorts of loose leaf tea for a while.  I've been itching to start incorporating tea into my cooking for a while now.  While we were in Half Moon Bay (for the beach) with Ashley, we found this Ming Tsai's cookbook, Simply Ming, at a local used book store and had to bring it home.  The first recipe we have made from it has given me the opportunity to start cooking with tea  - here it is mixed into a spice rub and then rubbed onto a piece of red meat before grilling.  We used Keemun Concerto from Adagio Teas - a smoky black tea, and we all agreed it added a nice smokiness and extra depth to the meat.  If anything should be changed form Ming Tsai's recipe, I think that for many of my friends and family this spice rub is too spicy - I will include the amounts suggested as well as possible reductions for the more sensitive palate.
In terms of the meat, we have been buying red meat from Open Space Meats which is a ranch located a few hours from us and provides very tasty grass fed beef at quite reasonable prices.  For those of you not in California, Oregon, and Nevada, they will not ship to you, but you may be able to find your own locally ranched meats.  Eat Wild provides a search engine to find places by you.

Tea Spiced Flank Steak


Spicy Tea Rub

The original recipe calls for enough ingredients to make 6 cups of rub.  On the flank steak shown, we used nearly 1/2 cup.  The ingredients listed are scaled down to make ~ 2 cups of rub.  This can be stored for several weeks.

1 cup black tea leaves (Keemun Concerto worked well, but so will many others)
2 T kosher salt
2 T red pepper flakes (consider reducing to 2 t.)
2 T chile powder (consider reducing to 2 t.)
2 T garlic powder 
1 T cayenne pepper (consider reducing to 1 t.)
1 T dried chives or dried onions
1 T five spice powder


1.  Mix all ingredients together.  We found that we like the texture better after grinding with a mortar & pestle.

My sister, Ashley, is grinding up the spice rub :-)

Flank Steak


1 Flank steak
1/2 cup of spicy tea rub (above)
2 T extra virgin olive oil


1.  Trim excess fat from flank steak.  Rub olive oil and spicy tea rub onto the meat.

2.  Let sit for 15 minutes for spices to meld with meat.
3.  Grill over medium high heat.  We like this cooked to medium which takes about 5 minutes per side. (David says: until it looked done...)
4.  Let sit for 5 minutes, then slice at an angle.  My suggestions for sides:  garlic mashed potatoes and grilled veggies such as zucchini & bell peppers.

Challah French Toast

Growing up, it was customary for us to have Friday night Shabbat dinner at home as often as possible.  One of the best parts of Shabbat dinner is getting to eat challah - the traditional Jewish braided egg bread.  One of these days I will bake homemade challah and write about that - it really is wonderful to have the smell of fresh-braked bread permeate your home, and this is a lot of fun to make, but that is not what this post is about.  The next best thing to baking challah is turning the challah leftover into french toast in the morning.  For many years I tried to cook this through in the frying pan on the stove top, but have recently realized that it is much easier to have a perfect brown on the bread and a fully cooked through piece of french toast when you finish it in the oven - no more burnt bread to make sure you aren't eating raw egg.

Challah French Toast


Here are the ingredients to make 4 slices of french toast.  It ought to scale up proportionately to the number of slices that you are going to use.  There were only three of us, so I didn't want to make any more...

4 slices challah, 1/2" thick 
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 T sugar
2 T milk (we use 1 %)
1 T butter

0.  Preheat oven to 375 °F.
1.  Mix eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, and milk in a bowl.
2.  Soak bread in egg mixture, turning to coat as necessary.

 3.  Heat butter over medium-high heat in frying pan.  Brown both sides of the eggy challah slices - since we are going to finish the french toast in the oven you do not need to worry about ensuring it is cooked all the way through.

4.  Move browned french toast slices to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  If you are making more slices than your frying pan can accomodate, fry the next batch(es) as well - there is plenty of room on the baking sheet since the slices do not need to be spaced apart from one another.

5.  Bake at 375 °F for 10 minutes.

  
6.  Serve with maple syrup & fruit for a satisfying, sweet breakfast.

Rainbow Trout with Sage & Lemon

We've had my sister visiting for a few weeks and that led to us not posting any new recipes.  But while she was here we were definitely cooking, including some experimenting.  In the next few posts I will share some of what we made together.

On Friday night I really wanted to make fish and went to Whole Foods to see what my options were given that David would rather not eat salmon (unless it's lox or sushi) and that half of the fish options are usually salmon.  I was hoping for arctic char which is pink and meaty and has all of the things I like about salmon without the fishiness that he dislikes so much, but I was out of luck.  Instead I brought home rainbow trout fillets - a favorite of mine since childhood, and one that reminds me of my dad - it is nice to think of the good memories at this time of year.  I've made this several times now and each time find a way to make it a little bit easier and better.  I think it is really best when pan-fried to leave a great crispness on the fish, but it is quite a bit easier to broil when cooking several fillets.  This goes great with string beans and roasted garlicky potatoes.

Rainbow Trout with Sage & Lemon

Rainbow trout fillets - ~ 1 per person
Extra virgin olive oil - ~ 1/2 T per fillet
Fresh sage, chopped - ~ 1 loose t. per fillet
Kosher or sea salt - ~ 1/2 t per fillet
Ground pepper - to taste - I used ~ 1/4 -1/2 t per fillet
Fresh lemons - at least one, consider additional for serving with fish

1.  Clean fillets (I rinse with water and make sure there are no scales on the meaty side of the fish), then pat dry.
2.  Place fillets skin side down on baking tray.  If you are going to broil, make sure to put some parchment paper, no-stick foil, or use a silpat on the baking sheet to prevent the fish from sticking to the pan since you will cook it in place.  If you are going to pan-fry, then this is just a easy way to lay the fish out for adding the seasonings.

3.  Drizzle this fillets with olive oil & rub over meaty side.  Add sage, salt, and pepper.  Squeeze 1/2 of fresh lemon over fillets (I used 1/2 lemon for the three fillets we cooked here). 

4a.  Broil on high for about 6 minutes - the meat should be beginning to crisp up.  If they don't look done, let them cook for a bit more time, but these are thin pieces of fish. 
4b.  If you prefer, pan fry meat side down on medium high heat for 3 minutes.  Turn fillets and finish for 2-3 minutes.

I like to add some fresh squeezed lemon juice after cooking and think lemon slices look nice on the plate with this fish.  Enjoy! 

Chicken & Pesto Pasta

One of my favorite herbs is basil - it has such a sweet & flavorful taste and the smell permeates the car, then kitchen when you bring it home leaving me smiling.  This star of this dish is the pesto - since we don't eat meat and dairy products together, there is no cheese, but with the garlic & balsamic you don't really miss it. Our CSA has been providing us with wonderful fresh garlic - in the early spring it was green garlic (think along the lines of green onions, but garlicky), but has turned into full heads of garlic in the last few weeks.  So, here we get to meld the flavors of basil and garlic into something that tastes great and is fairly easy to make.

Chicken & Pesto Pasta

I think of this as a three component meal: you need to make the pesto, cook the pasta (I use linguine or spaghetti, but you can use whatever you have in the pantry), and cook the chicken.  Then you can throw all three together for dinner.  Sometimes this means using leftover grilled chicken breasts.  You can make the pesto ahead of time, or you can make a lot and freeze it in portions for later use.  I frequently add tomatoes to the dish, and it certainly would be good with other vegetables like bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.

Pesto

6 medium cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch basil (~ 2 cups of leaves)
1 T balsamic
1 T pine nuts (these can be left out or substituted with other nuts such as pecans)
salt & pepper


Combine all ingredients in a small food processor & chop.  Taste your pesto!  If it needs more garlic or olive oil or balsamic, feel free to add more.  Salt & pepper to your personal taste.

Pasta

1.  Cook 1 lb of pasta according to instructions on package.  I like to use spaghetti or linguine, but penne or any other pasta works well too.  Also, try whole wheat - the nuttiness goes well with the pesto. 

2.  Drain pasta, return to pan, and toss with 1-2 T olive oil to keep pasta from sticking.

Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
~ 1/2 T rosemary  (I use chopped fresh rosemary from the yard, but dried works too)
salt & pepper

Pat breasts dry and season with rosemary, salt, and pepper.  You can grill the breasts, or pan fry them.  I suppose you could even bake them.  I've been known to use my panini grill to put a crisp outside on the breasts and have them cooked through in less than 10 minutes.

Putting it all together

1.  Add pesto to pasta and stir to coat.
2.  Add any fresh vegetables such as chopped tomatoes to the pesto pasta.
3.  Slice chicken and mix in.  Alternatively, for a nicer presentation, put pasta on plates or in bowls, and top with sliced chicken.

Enjoy!

Arugula & Strawberry Salad

One thing I love most about living in California is how easy it is to get fresh local produce - the farmer's markets are awesome.  To make it even easier to know where our food comes from, we joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) in which we get a box of produce every other week from Eatwell Farm.  We get great veggies & fruit and are forced to learn how to make some things we haven't made before - beet greens, mustard greens, chard, fava beans, etc., or to learn how to like some things we didn't like very much (spinach, butternut squash).  It also keeps our eating more in touch with the seasons.

This week our box had lots of those greens we have learned to enjoy, but more importantly, it had arugula and strawberries - both ingredients that I have loved for a long time.  The peppery flavor of arugula makes it a really nice addition to any salad, but this time I wanted to let it have center stage.  I used a local balsamic vinegar produced by a winery that we enjoy wines from (Vincent Arroyo) - they make a fruity, sweet, thick balsamic that is perfect for this salad.  This is a nice light summer salad that I made to go with grilled Mediterranean chicken breasts (double the marinade in this recipe and use whole boneless skinless chicken breasts as a quick weeknight variation on this kabob recipe) and roasted potatoes with garlic & rosemary. 

Arugula & Strawberry Salad

1 bunch arugula
10-15 strawberries
3 T good aged balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
5 T olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

1.  Clean and rip arugula into a salad bowl.
2.  Thinly slice strawberries.  Toss into salad bowl.

3.  Make salad dressing: Combine chopped garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl or small container with lid.  If using a bowl, drizzle in olive oil while whisking to create an emulsion.  I find it easier to add the oil into a tupperware container (8 oz.), put the lid on, and shake, but it should work both ways.
Note:  You should taste your dressing.  If it is not sweet enough, add sugar or honey or orange juice.
4.  Toss salad with dressing & enjoy.

Grilled turkey breast, wild rice pilaf, & iced tea

Tonight we cooked a whole turkey breast on the grill since I was in the mood for turkey and it was too hot inside our home to use the oven.  We ate this with a wild rice pilaf which was sweet and nutty.  This meal was like a light Thanksgiving meal with turkey, rice, cranberries, and mushrooms.   Homemade iced tea was refreshing on this warm early summer evening.

Grilled turkey breast  

For those nights when it is just too hot to turn on the oven, the grill works great - maybe better.  Since we don't have AC and the grill sitting right outside the back door, this happens more frequently than ever these days.  The great thing about a turkey breast is that it is easy to brine and cooks quicker than a full turkey (and is small enough to fit on our portable Weber Q grill).  Since we had some handy thanks to my friend's mom, I included hickory smoked salt in the recipe, but this could easily be left out if unavailable.  The breast was incredibly moist with a slight smokiness.  We turned the leftovers into turkey salad for lunches.

5 lb whole turkey breast
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 t ground pepper
1 1/2 t hickory smoked salt (or kosher salt)
Aluminum pan  or boat made from heavy duty aluminum foil
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock

Brine:
6 cups warm water
1 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 rosemary sprigs
4 garlic cloves
1/2 t  hickory smoked salt
1 t ground pepper

About 3 hours before you want to eat the turkey, prepare the brine.  Our turkey breast was small enough to be brined in a gallon sized ziploc bag, but larger tupperware or appropriately sized bowls work well also.
1)  Dissolve salt & sugar in 4 cups warm water.
2)  Peel garlic closed by crushing with heel of hand or large flat knife blade.
3)  Place breast in brining container.  Add rosemary, garlic, and pepper to container.  Add salt, sugar, water mixture to container.  Add more water as necessary to cover - in our gallon bag that was about 2 more cups of water. 
4)  Seal bag or container and allow to sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

To cook the turkey on the grill, preheat the grill on high until hot.
Note: We use a propane grill so we can easily adjust the temperature.  If you use charcoal, place most of the coals on one side so that is the high heat side, and the other side is the low heat side.

5)  Remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry.  Rub olive oil on the skin and season with salt & pepper.
6)  Place turkey breast on grill and reduce heat to medium and cook for ~ 30 minutes with the grill lid closed.  It is helpful to insert a digital thermometer into the bird that allows you to monitor the temperature of the bird without opening the grill lid and releasing heat.
For charcoal grills you will want to leave the bird on the high heat for 15 minutes then move it to the lower heat side of the grill.
7)  When the temperature of the breast reaches 100 °F move the breast to the aluminum pan.  Add the chicken stock and wine to the pan, and lower heat on grill to low.  Grill until thermometer stuck in breast reads 165 °F (this took about 40 minutes on our grill).  Remove the breast from heat and allow to sit covered for 10 minutes.

Wild rice with cranberries, mushrooms, and walnuts

Here is a side dish which is probably most appropriate as a healthy side at Thanksgiving, but is light enough to enjoy year round.  I have adapted the recipe from Wine Enthusiast Magazine's Wine & Food Pairings Cookbook.  This was great warm and was possibly better at room temperature, so it would be a great dish to bring with to potlucks.

1 cup wild rice blend - I used Rice Select Royal Blend (Texmati white, brown, wild, & red rices)
2 cups mushrooms - I used cremini
1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3 T red onion
1 T grapeseed oil
1-2 T good olive oil - I used an Ascolano variety since this is my favorite
salt & pepper

Begin by preparing the individual ingredients:
1)  Cook rice according to instructions on packaging.  Remove from heat when done.
2)  Coarsely chop mushrooms.  Heat grapeseed oil (or other mild oil) in a medium frying pan and saute mushrooms for 5-10 minutes until cooked and slightly browned. Remove from heat.
3)  Coarsely chop walnuts and toast in a hot dry frying pan for ~ 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4)  Finely chop the red onion.  My onion was very potent, so I soaked this in cold water for 5 minutes to subdue it.
5) Chop cranberries then soak in 1/4 cup warm water for 10 minutes then drain.

6)  Mix the mushrooms, walnuts, cranberries, and red onion together in a medium bowl.  Stir in the cooked rice. Add 1-2 T of good olive oil.   Salt & pepper to taste.  Enjoy!


Homemade iced tea


David and I both enjoy tea - hot or cold.  In March we were in Florida for Melanie & Michael's wedding, and couldn't stop drinking the sweet tea - who knew how good that was?  Anyway, I wanted to try to make some at home since the bottled stuff is just not that good.  This is what I came up with which seems pretty good - smooth, sweet, and all around yummy.

 

6 cups water
3 cups ice
7 black tea bags (we used PG tips tea, but lipton, or other varieties should work too)
1/8 t baking soda
3/4 cup sugar

1)  Boil 6 cups of water.
2)  Place tea bags in a glass pitcher.  Add baking soda and boiling water.  Steep covered for 10 minutes.
3)  Remove tea bags and add sugar.  Stir to dissolve.
4)  Stir in ice.
5)  Chill in fridge and enjoy this sweet drink.

The beginning

I've been thinking that David and I need to start a blog on our cooking and eating (and drinking) experiences for a while now, and have finally taken the plunge!  Perhaps this will only be read by us when we look back for recipes, etc, but hopefully a few of our friends and family will enjoy reading about our culinary endeavors.  We want a place to share some of our favorite recipes as well as new experiments in the kitchen.  We will also try to include information about the foods we use, the places we go, and the wineries we have found out here in California as well.