.spinach salad w/ blue cheese and walnuts.

This is the spinach salad for our Valentine dinner cook-along. I love a good salad and this one definitely hits the spot. You want to make sure you use really good ingredients. Make sure your blue cheese is a good brand with nice veining throughout the wedge. You won't need much because it's such a pungent cheese, so don't buy more than you think you'll use. If you aren't a fan of blue cheese, you can sub with parmesan. My daughter had cheddar on her salad.

I made this with a warm bacon shallot vinaigrette. The sweet and sour dressing was a perfect compliment to the creamy cheese and nutty flavor of the walnuts.


Slice two shallots.












Chop up two strips of bacon. I used thick sliced bacon.











Put the bacon in a skillet. Fry over medium high heat.











When the bacon is halfway done, add the shallots and let saute for 3-4 minutes.











Add 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. If you find there isn't a lot of "dressing", add a little olive oil.

Season with 1/2 tsp sugar, salt, and pepper. If it's too sour, add more sugar. If it's too sweet, add more vinegar.

That is all this is needed for the dressing. I transferred to a bowl and kept in a low temp oven.

Slice some of the blue cheese and break into pieces.

I used one of those pre-packages of spinach that you can find in your produce section. I like these because the spinach is already washed.

Make the viniagrette a day in advance. It will save you a lot of time. Reheat in the microwave just before serving. You can also toast the chopped walnuts the night before too. Trust me. Do as much as possible before hand so you aren't killing yourself in the kitchen.

To plate: Tear some of the spinach on top of a plate. Sprinkle around some blue cheese and walnuts. Spoon the bacon-shallot vinaigrette over the top. Serve immediately.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_136ffs6dtdv

.chicken stuffed with italian sausage.

I was cruising the internet for copycat recipes for some of my favorite places. Carrabbas is one place we looveee to go.



Well, surprisingly enough, I came across a website for PBS. Did you know that one of the Carrabba brothers hosts a cooking show on there? YES! This was one of the free recipes they had available on the website. The official italian name for this dish is Involtini di Pollo. Absolutely delicious.



Dice half of an onion.



Mince 2 cloves garlic.




Thaw 1/2 cup spinach. Squeeze out as much of the water as possible. Set aside.



Remove the casing off two mild italian sausage links. Set aside.



Heat about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a skillet. Saute the onion and garlic for a minute.



Sprinkle in a little fennel seed.



Add the italian sausage. Break apart while it cooks.



When there's no longer any pink in the sausage, add the spinach. Remove from heat and mix well. Make sure you break up the meat and spinach so they are well distributed.



Remove from the pan and put in a bowl. Cool a little.



Break in one egg.



Grate about 1/2 cup fresh parmegiano-reggiano.



Mix everything together well.



Take a long length of saran and put it on the counter. Sprinkle lightly with cornstarch.



Put down the chicken breasts. I used three and just spaced them out on the saran. Dust lightly with cornstarch and then put another length of saran on top.



Use a mallet or a heavy skillet to pound out the meat starting in the center and working your way out.



This is about as thin as you want it. Any thinner and you're going to rip it apart.



Put a couple tablespoons of filling down the middle of the chicken breast.



Roll up and seal with toothpicks.



At this stage, wrap each involtini with saran and hold in the fridge overnight. This firms everything up and keeps it from falling apart while cooking. You could easily freeze these too. Wrap in saran and then hold in freezer bags.



Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a skillet.



Sear all sides of the involtini.



Remove from the pan and put in an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and put in the oven at 250*. This is just to keep them warm while you make the sauce.



Cut one stick of butter up into 8 pieces.



Using the same skillet you cooked the chicken in, add 1/4 cup chicken stock.



Add 1/3 cup red wine. Cook this down while scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Season with some salt and pepper.


Keep over medium high heat until half the liquid has evaporated.



Add 2 pats of butter at a time, stirring frequently. You don't want this to come to a boil because it will break up the sauce.



Once the 2 pats are melted, add another two. Keep doing this until you've added all the butter and you have a smooth sauce.



Remove chicken from the oven and carefully pull out the toothpicks. Slice on the diagonal and plate. Spoon some sauce over the top.



I served this chicken with some lemon basil linguini. I don't have pictures of the pasta dish, but I will walk you through it.

Lemon Basil Linguini



1 handful linguini pasta, boiled in salt water and drained

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp basil (fresh is best, but dried works just as well)
Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano

1 Tbsp butter



In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Saute the garlic for a minute. Don't let it burn. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle in the basil. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Remove from the heat and toss in the cheese and butter. Toss well. Serve immediately.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_77hjfg93hq

.greek steak.

Do you feel like you always make a dish a certain way over and over? I feel this way about steak. I always seem to get ribeye and we usually throw on some Montreal seasoning and grill it up.



I came across a recipe in one of those little food magazines you pick up by the register on your way out of the grocery store. The spinach and feta topping is quite delicious with juicy kalamata olives and tomatoes, and a kick of garlic.



I used frozen spinach. I've used both fresh and frozen and I prefer fresh, but this way is just as good when you're in a pinch and don't have fresh on hand. You'll need about 1/4 cup for two steaks. Thaw by running under cold water. Then wring all of the water out. Break apart the spinach clumps and set aside.



Seed and dice one roma tomato.



Chop one clove garlic.



Take some kalamata olives (I used 5-6) and remove the seeds if they aren't already seeded. Chop up and set aside.



Let your steaks sit out on the counter 30 minutes prior to grilling. This relaxes the meat and will help them cook evenly. Rub both sides of the steak with a garlic clove.



I'm breaking out of the montreal seasoning rut and using lemon pepper.



Rub it on both sides of the steaks.



Put on your bbq grill and cook to your desired doneness. We like our steaks medium rare. Let rest while we make the topping.



Heat some olive oil in a skillet and put in the garlic. Saute for 30 seconds. Don't let it burn!



Add the diced tomato. Cook for a minute or two. We don't want the tomatoes to get too soft so don't let them go too long in the pan.



After about a minute, add the spinach. Use a spoon to break it up even more so it distributes itself evenly.



Season with some fresh cracked pepper and sea salt.



Remove from the heat and grate in some fresh parmesan. Mix together.

Spoon some on the top of the steak. Sprinkle on some crumbled feta cheese and kalamata olives.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_73ctgn83gf

.turkey with bowtie pasta and tomato cream sauce.

I had a turkey breast roast in the fridge that needed cooking. Normally I would roast it in the oven and serve with stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc etc... yawn yawn boring! I wanted to do something different tonight. Something italian perhaps?

I thought about the ingredients I had on hand. Thought perhaps I would do an italian sausage stuffed turkey breast, bread it, sear it, roast it. And serve with some type of pasta.



Great plan, huh? Well, even good cooks are thwarted once in awhile. This is what happened when I pulled off the netting from the turkey breast.

Crap.

That's not going to work so well with my stuffed turkey breast!

So I had to think of something else. Here's what I came up with.


In a dish, melt some butter. I used 1/4 cup.

Cut up the turkey breast into chunks.

Before we go any further, we need to prep some things. Mince 1-2 cloves garlic, seed and dice a couple roma tomatoes, mince 1-2 shallots, and chop some parsley.

I had some frozen spinach. Put it in a sieve and run cold water over it until it's thawed. Squeeze all the water out and set aside.

Put the cut up turkey in the melted butter. Coat all of the pieces.

Put them in a large ziploc baggie.







Dump in some italian seasoned bread crumbs and shake to coat.

















Heat olive oil in a pan and brown the turkey pieces on each side.

Pull the turkey from the pan as each piece browns and put in a baking dish. Put this dish in a 350* oven to finish cooking the meat through.

Take some bowtie pasta (also known as farfalle) and boil according to directions on the package. I used the entire box.
















In a pot, put some water in. Bring to boil and add some chopped up asparagus. Cook only a couple minutes.

After those 2 minutes are up, use a serrated spoon to pull from the hot water and put immediately into a bowl of ice water. This is called an ice bath and it will help stop the cooking and electrify the color.

Drain the water.

In a skillet, heat some olive oil. Sautee the garlic and shallots. Add a teaspoon oregano, basil, and about 1/2 tsp fennel seeds. The heat of the pan draws out the flavor in the herbs. After you've sauteed the spices for a minute, add the asparagus, tomato, and spinach. Sautee another minute or two.

Add 1 can of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup burgundy wine, 1 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Cook over medium high heat for two minutes.

Dump in your cooked, strained pasta and stir to coat.










In a bowl mix together 1 cup cream and 1 Tbsp flour. Whisk together until lumps are gone. Add to the pasta and stir.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.














Grate some fresh parmesan cheese and put in the pasta. Add the parsley at this time too. Mix well.

To serve: Plate the pasta and put the turkey on top. Sprinkle with some reserved grated parmesan cheese.

Serve with salad and bread.


Chef notes -- this was a recipe that I just threw together in my head. I used ingredients that I had on hand. If I had to make this again (which I will), I wouldn't bread or cook the turkey the way I did. I would have left it uncoated and sauteed in the pan with the asparagus, tomato, and spinach and let it basically sear then braise in the sauces. I think the turkey would have had more flavor. I also would have cut the turkey into smaller bite-size pieces.

The pasta, however, was fabulous. I could have eaten half the pan myself. In fact, if I was wanting a meatless dish, this would be perfect. Lots of flavor.