Surrounded By Scalawags
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Showing posts tagged spinach
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Food post! Monday dinner: Homemade ravioli in butter and sage sauce (Burro oro e salvia) with fresh spinach and avocado salad. The former recipe was from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, while the latter recipe was from Vegetarian by Linda Fraser. The ravioli were stuffed with beef and ricotta cheese, brushed with egg and pressed on the edges with a fork to seal. They were lightly rolled in parmesan cheese, butter, and sage to finish. The salad called for baby spinach, cucumber, cherry tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes), beets, avocado, and scallions. I actually had scallions, but I forgot to add those (oops). The dressing called for a purée of dijion mustard, white vinegar, silken tofu, milk, black pepper, chili powder, and salt. I used a splash of half-and-half for the milk, and since I had no tofu (silken or firm), I substituted a heaping scoop of plain Greek yougurt. The dressing turned out light and flavorful; you could really taste the mustard.
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Food post! Wednesday dinner: Peppered steak (entrecôte au poivre) and salad with mustard vinegarette (vinaigrette à la moutarde). Recipes from La Cuisine de France by Countess Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec. The recipe for the steak called for pressing crushed peppercorns into the steak. Not ground pepper from a pepper mill, mind you; the cookbook was quite persnickety on this matter. So I took raw peppercorns and crushed them coursely with a mortar and pestle. The book suggested wrapping them in paper and crushing with a rolling pin… but my way did the job fine. The steak was then topped with a sauce made from butter, beef broth, flour, and brandy (the book said to use “the best cognac that you have”). One shot of bottom-shelf V.S. coming up! I served it with a salad made with green lettuce, baby spinach, carrots, red onions, green bell peppers, cucumbers, dried cranberries and topped with a mustard vinegarette, which referenced the recipe immediately above it for french vinegarette, except called for the addition of a teaspoon of dijion mustard. I mixed the salad dressing in a cocktail shaker just before eating. Over-all it was a success.
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Food post! Friday dinner: Salmon steaks in curry sauce and spinach salad. The salmon recipe was yet again from The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. It called for cooking the salmon in a curry sauce made from lemon juice, white wine, curry powder, and tumeric. However I was out of lemon juice and didn’t have a bottle of white wine open… so I adapted it into a curry powder/turmeric rub. I served it with a salad made with spinach, celery, radishes, and a little bit of feta cheese.
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Food post! Saturday lunch: Chez Lorraine’s baked salmon with spinach and walnut salad. This recipe was again from The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. Not many recipes in this book, but the ones that are in there seem to be simple and good. The recipe called for baking the salmon with dill and lemon juice wrapped inside a piece of aluminum foil. I used lime juice rather than lemon juice, which worked out fine. It also called for fresh chives, but I was out so I used dried chives instead. I served it with a salad made with spinach, green bell peppers, walnuts, and radishes.
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Food post! Saturday dinner: Paleo-correct meat loaf with spinach salad. The recipe was from (no surprise) the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. The meat loaf was easy; I took 93/7 lean beef and mixed it with a couple of cage free eggs, onions, garlic, parsley, black pepper, cilantro, and olive oil. The salad was made with spinach, radishes, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. There’s more meat loaf left, so looks like I know what’s for lunch today.
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Food post! Thursday lunch: Apricot-stuffed pork loin with spinach and avocado salad. Both these recipes were from the Paleo Diet Cookbook by Loren Cordain. The pork loin was sliced in half and stuffed with a sautee of dried apricots, white wine, mushrooms, garlic, and shallots. The recipe called for tying the porkloin back together, but since I had no butcher’s twine (I keep forgetting to pick some up!) I instead took a large skewer and stitched it together, cooking it with the skewer in place. It may have looked like a lop-sided shish-kabob to some; but to me it looked like ingenuity! The salad recipe actually called for arugula, but I had none, so I used spinach instead. It also called for raspberries, but strawberries worked great. Finished the salad with walnuts and a vinegarette made from olive oil, lemon juice, and flaxseed oil. Definitely a good meal.
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Food post! Saturday lunch: Peppered chicken breast with spinach and strawberry salad. Recipe from the Paleo Diet Cookbook by Loren Cordain. This recipe was in the book under the title “Homewood chicken”, but near as I can tell, it has little or nothing to do with Jefferson county. The chicken was started in the skillet, then baked for 30 minutes, then finished with a 5 minute broil. Easily the most involved Paleo recipe I’ve seen. It was accompanied by fennel, mushrooms, and radishes (the recipe called for tomatoes, but I was out). I served it with a salad of spinach and strawberries topped with cashews and a pepper/lemon juice vinegarette.
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Food post! Monday dinner: Altamira Stuffed Chicken, boiled root veggies, and spinach salad. Recipes from The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. The recipe actually called for stuffing a whole chicken; I adapted it by tenderizing a chicken breast with a mallet, layering the stuffing on top, then rolling it Cordon Blue style. The stuffing was assembled from chicken livers, celery, apples, raisins, white wine (recipe called for red), and walnuts. The side dish was simply boiled carrots and parsnips, seasoned with pepper and dill. I served it with a spinach salad made with walnuts and grape tomatoes.
And in a side note, I was in New Orleans all last week when the bad weather rolled through Tuscaloosa. I was lucky, I came back to find my house and vehicles were still there. Where I live (north of the river off of Snows Mill Avenue) had hardly any damage. A tree was down in my neighborhood, and part of a fence was blown over. Otherwise, nothing. Like I said, lucky.
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Food post! Saturday dinner: yellowtail snapper and spinach salad with dressing. Recipes from the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain PhD. The fish recipe used was called “Red Snapper in Snappy Sauce”. I used yellowtail snapper instead, and also used only a red bell pepper (recipe called for both red and green). The second recipe was for a spinach salad dressing made with tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, and black pepper. Served it over a simple salad made with spinach, kalamata olives, and red bell peppers slices. Both dishes were easy and delicious.
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Food post! Sunday dinner: Grilled Yellowtail with broiled mushrooms and spinach salad. Recipes from the Paleo Diet Cookbook by Loren Cordain Ph.D. The fish recipe was in the book under the title “Grilled Snapper”. Once again, the recipe called for Red Snapper, but I used Yellowtail Snapper. The mushroom recipe was interesting. Found in the book under the title “Wild Roasted Mushrooms” it called for cremini, oyster, and enoki mushrooms. But since all I had were baby portabellos and white mushrooms, that’s what I used. The spinach salad was made with radishes, red bell pepper and some of the leftover dressing from last night. A nice dinner, for sure.
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Food post! Wednesday dinner: Stuffed pork chops with spinach salad. Recipe from the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. The pork chops were from a recipe called “pork chops stuffed with liver”. The filling called for chicken livers, parsley, and mushrooms. The salad was a simple spinach salad made with tomatoes and sliced almonds.
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Food post! Thursday breakfast: spinach and avocado omelet with bacon. Recipes from the Paleo Diet Cookbook by Loren Cordain. The recipe was in the book under the title “So-Cal Omelet”. It was made with three free-range eggs, and filled with spinach, basil, black pepper, and avocado slices. I topped it with more avocado slices and served with two slices of bacon (cooked in the broiler). Good way to start the day.
Likes
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Tennessee’s new locker room doors *facepalm*
It’s supposed to read “Opportunity is now here”
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I know where I get my obsession with bikes, my Grandfather was a motorcycle policeman in the 50’s....
