Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  David and I kicked off our weekend today with a little gardening.  Our tomato plants are coming along nicely, so we put up some tomato “cages” to support them as they grow taller.  This year in our petit jardin we have: 4 types of tomatoes, 3 types of basil, serrano chiles, habañero chiles, sage, thyme, some shiso/perilla (stray seeds from last year were in the soil, it seems), mint and rosemary.  Although the temperatures aren’t as summer-like as we’d want this weekend, it’s so nice to look out onto our balcony to see so much (edible) greenery.

Blogging had stalled here for a while, but I will pick it up this weekend with new posts and recipes.  Stay tuned!

Whole Foods had a big sale on wild sole last week, which inspired me to think of an easy way to eat a lot of the delicious fish.  I happened to have a lot of fennel in the fridge, and so I experimented with cooking the sole and fennel together — and discovered our new favorite way to cook sole!  The fennel and lemon pair perfectly with the fish.  Baking the fennel brings out a lot of the vegetable’s flavor and sweetness, and the lemon and garlic add a nice zesty quality to the dish.  The sole is so moist and flavorful!  This dish should typically serve about 4 people, especially when accompanied with another side vegetable, but, truth be told, it was so light and delicious we ate the whole thing when I made it last night!  This recipe will be a nice addition to my work-week dinner roster, as it is so simple to make and healthful, too!

BAKED SOLE WITH FENNEL+LEMON

• 2 lbs. wild sole
• 6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 large fennel, cored and thinly sliced (also, keep some of the green fennel tops and chop finely)

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Wash and pat dry the sole filets.  In a baking pan, lay out the sole.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Lay out the garlic and lemon slices over the sole.  In a bowl, toss the fennel in a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Cover the sole with the fennel.  Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.  Finally, broil for about 7 minutes to lightly brown the fennel.  Serve and Enjoy!

Lay out the sole in a pan, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

Lay out the garlic and lemon slices.

Cover the sole with fennel slices, which have been tossed in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Out of the oven!

So flavorful and delicious!

Filed under: Mains, Seafood, Simple Dishes Tagged: fish, seafood, Simple Dishes ]]> http://eatlivepaleo.com/2013/03/17/simple-dishes-baked-sole-wfennellemon/feed/ 2 nycmangosteen fennel sole - plated fennel sole - sole in pan fennel sole - add garlic and lemon fennel sole - cover sole with fennel fennel sole - out of oven fennel sole - up close http://eatlivepaleo.com/2013/03/03/gluten-free-french-style-anjou-pear-tart/ http://eatlivepaleo.com/2013/03/03/gluten-free-french-style-anjou-pear-tart/#comments Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:58:54 +0000 tomoko http://eatlivepaleo.com/?p=1450 ]]>

This French-style Anjou pear tart is the perfect light and fruity dessert to serve when you have brunch or dinner guests.   Not only is the tart gorgeous and delicious, it is very simple to make.  Before our gluten-free days I made this tart quite often, but once we went off gluten I stopped, for obvious reasons — no more flour in our lives!  I recently started to experiment with gluten-free flour, however, and I discovered that this tart works just was wonderfully gluten-free.  We love that the tart is mostly pear — the crust is thin, buttery and flaky.  Instead of regular sugar I use organic coconut palm sugar, which is low-glycemic, and I try to buy apricot jam or preserve with the least amount of sugar per serving.  If you are looking for a simple and beautiful dessert to serve the next time you have company, do try this tart!  I like to make the dough the night before.

GLUTEN-FREE FRENCH-STYLE ANJOU PEAR TART

PASTRY

• 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks of cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 cup cold water

TART

• 6 Anjou pears, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4 in slices
• 1/2 small lemon
• 1/4 cup palm sugar
• 1/2 cup apricot jam or preserve
• 3 tbsp rum

For the pastry:

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the food processor.  Pulse for a few seconds to combine.  At the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small pieces (size of peas).  With the motor running, pour ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough comes together.  On a floured board, knead the dough quickly into a ball.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight).

The tart:

Preheat the oven 400F.

Cut parchment paper in the shape and size of the pan (I use a pan that is 10 by 14-inches).  On the parchment paper, roll out the dough (I fine this method the easiest to roll out the dough to the appropriate pan size).  Place the dough (on the parchment paper) on the sheet pan.  Any edges could be tucked in and spread evenly.  Place the dough/sheet pan in the fridge while you prepare the pears.

We have a fantastic butcher here in Park Slope called Fleisher’s.  Fleisher’s carries fabulous quality meats free of hormones or antibiotics, which are locally sourced and raised on a primarily grass-fed diet.  We love everything from them.  Yesterday, we stopped by Fleisher’s and picked up some pork chops, steaks, and some “bork” — ground beef and pork mix.  For late brunch today, I used the bork to make some spicy “bork” mince with onions, capers and parsley, topped with scrambled eggs.  So easy to make and packed full of flavor!  The capers add a nice tangy flavor to the spicy mince meat, and the parsley gives the dish a lovely freshness.  Eat with some scrambled eggs, and you’ve got a great protein-packed brunch in a bowl!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. bork (ground beef and pork mix)
• 3 red onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped

In a pot over medium-high heat, drizzle some olive oil and add the onions and garlic.  Add a generous sprinkling of salt, mix, and sweat the onions.  Once the onions soften, add the meat.  Add cumin and cayenne, and mix well.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Once the meat has cooked through, add the capers and parsley and mix well.

Serve in a bowl.  Top with scrambled eggs.  Enjoy!

Our first spiraling effort was on a couple of zucchinis.  With the thinner, 2 x 3 mm setting, we made gorgeous ribbons of zucchini.

These zucchini ribbons were perfect for my super simple lamb “bolognese” (recipe below), which I made last week when I came home from work later than usual and needed to make a simple, quick dinner.  The zucchini ribbons were delicious and a great way to eat more vegetables along with the “bolognese.”  Although we have cooked chopped zucchini with mince meat before, keeping the zucchini separate — in the form of “pasta” –  prevented the tomato sauce from getting too watery.  Because the zucchini ribbons were quite thin, they cooked fast, too.  We loved the crunchy texture of the zucchini ribbons with the “bolognese,” and look forward to experimenting with spiral slicing other vegetables!

SUPER SIMPLE LAMB+OLIVE “BOLOGNESE”

I refer to this “bolognese” in quotations because it’s not really a bolognese in the classic sense (it’s just the closest dish relative I can think of).  This dish takes obvious shortcuts on the idea of bolognese by using a ready-made tomato sauce and not cooking for hours.  But it’s perfect for a busy workweek dinner, as it is easy and quick to make.  Kalamata olives go so nicely with lamb, and the parsley gives the hearty bowl a lovely freshness.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs. ground lamb
• 4 red onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
• 1 jar of arrabbiata tomato sauce (I like Mario Batali’s Arrabbiata Sauce)

Drizzle some olive oil in a pot and heat over medium-high heat.  Saute the onions and the garlic with some salt, and let the onions sweat.  Once the onions soften, add the ground lamb and mix well using a wooden spoon.  Cook, mixing frequently, for about 5 minutes.  Add the tomato sauce.  Bring the heat down to medium and simmer for another 15 minutes or so, until the ground lamb is cooked through.  Add the olives.  Taste and season with salt as needed.  Cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the parsley, mix well.

Ladle the bolognese into a bowl and top with zucchini “pasta.”

**For the zucchini “pasta,” I used 2 zucchinis and spiral sliced them with the 2 x 3 mm setting.  I then pan-sauteed the zucchini ribbons with a drizzle of olive oil and lightly seasoned them with salt and pepper.  Cook the zucchini ribbons until just tender — don’t over cook! — about  5 minutes.

I recently bought a rack of lamb because it was on sale, without thinking deeply on how I wanted to cook it.  All I thought was that I could cook it on the weekend.  In the past, I’ve made  rosemary/garlic/lemon-crusted rack of lamb, but this time, since I had purchased the rack of lamb as an impulse purchase rather than for a concrete cooking plan, I forgot to buy along with the lamb rosemary, parsley, or any other kind of fresh herb.  When the weekend arrived, all I had on hand in way of a herb was some herbes de provence, and I was too lazy to go out shopping.  And so I just made up a simple mustard marinade with ingredients I had lying around in my kitchen.  The result was a very tangy and flavorful marinade that worked very nicely with the rich, gamey lamb.  The mustard and lemon cut the fattiness of the lamb, while the red onions added some texture as well as a faint sweetness.  I’m not so sure if the herbes de provence made much difference in terms of flavor, but it did add a kind of rustic quality to the appearance of the mustard crust.  David was a fan of this simple marinade, and so I think I might make it again in the future!

MUSTARD-COATED RACK OF LAMB

• 1 rack of lamb, frenched

MARINADE

• 1/2 cup mustard (I like stone ground)
• 1/2 small red onion, chopped finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Zest of one lemon
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp Herbes de Provence
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Season the rack lightly with salt and pepper on both sides.

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade.  Using half of the marinade, coat the rack of lamb on both sides.  Keep the remaining half of the marinade for later.  Cover the rack and refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Take the lamb out of the fridge, and scrape off the mustard marinade (keep the scraped-off marinade to use again later).  Let it stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

In a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil on medium-high heat, sear the lamb on both sides — first, with the fat size down, for about 3 minutes, and then the other side for another 2 minutes.

Transfer the rack on to a roasting pan, fat side up.  Cover the rack with the remaining marinade (and also the any marinade scraped off from the lamb).

Roast in the oven until the internal temperature of the lamb reaches 125F for medium-rare, about 30 minutes.  Rest for 10 minutes.

Cut between the bones and serve.  We love sauteed, garlicky asparagus with our lamb racks.

Enjoy!

I first learned to make guacamole at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, where one of the activities was a cooking demonstration.   Ever since, guacamole has been a regular party staple in our household.  Who doesn’t like guacamole?  Fresh and flavorful, guacamole is excellent all year round.

There’s room to play in making guacamole.  Normally, I use a habañero pepper (about 1/2, deseeded), but you can also use serrano or jalapeño peppers, depending on your preference.  Recently, we like using serrano peppers because they have a good balance of heat and flavor (David calls it “umami”).  A few of my friends don’t like cilantro, in which case I’ll swap out cilantro for basil and make what I call “Mediterranean” guacamole.  Although traditional guacamole uses yellow onions, sometimes I like to use red onions, which are sweeter.  You can use heirloom tomatoes or cherry tomatoes or beefsteak tomatoes, depending of what looks best at the market.  I like my guacamole crunchy, so you can definitely play with the ingredient ratios.

Here’s the basic mix as a guideline:

GUACAMOLE

• 3 ripe avocados, halved and pits taken out
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 serrano pepper, deseeded and minced finely
• 1/2 bunch of cilnatro, washed and chopped (**if you don’t like cilantro, substitute with about 1 cup of basil leaves, julienned)
• ~ 1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
• Juice of 2 limes
• Salt

In a large bowl, scoop out all the avocado flesh.  The trick I learned in Mexico is to cut the avocados in halves, take out the pits, and then just squeeze the flesh out with your hand (see photo below).  Kind of messy, but this method is really easy.

See, works quite nicely.

Add all the rest of the ingredients:

Mix well and salt to taste.  Transfer to a serving/dipping bowl.

Sometimes, we just feel like eating a nice big piece of fish for dinner.  Wild sockeye salmon is one of our favorite weekday fish, because it is so quick and easy to cook.  It takes less then 10 minutes to pan-sear sockeye salmon filets to crispy-skin perfection.   Sockeye salmon is firmer than your regular salmon, with deep, orange-red color and rich, full, salmon-y flavor.  It is leaner than King Salmon, and less expensive.  I think sockeye salmon is best cooked simply — just make sure to not over cook it, as it will dry out.  Since David and I try to avoid eating farmed salmon as well as salmon with “added color” (usually goes hand in hand), sockeye salmon has become our favorite salmon variety to cook at home (along with coho salmon, which, when in season, is also delicious).  Currently, sockeye salmon found in super markets tend to be “previously frozen” (i.e. not in peak season), but we think they still taste delicious!

Here’s how I pan sear my sockeye salmon filets:

Bring the salmon filets to room temperature.  Generously salt and pepper both sides of the salmon filets.

In a non-stick pan, drizzle some olive oil and heat over medium high heat.  Place the salmon filets in the pan, skin-side down.  Cook for 5 minutes.

Flip the filets, and cook for another 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat, but keep the salmon in the pan for another 1 minute.   Take the filets out of the pan and onto a plate.  Let them rest for a few minutes, then serve with a lemon wedge (optional).  The filets will be medium-rare.  Happy eating good Omega-3 fatty acids!

Last weekend for Superbowl Sunday, I made oven-baked chicken wings… and they were DELICIOUS!!  I took an excellent hint from the Preppy Paleo to boil the chicken wings first — boiling the wings before baking them results in the crispiest oven-baked wings you’ve ever tasted.  Seriously.  The wings were so crispy, you would’ve thunk they were fried!  I am a big fan of chicken wings, and these oven-baked ones were the best I’ve made so far.  Boiling the wings first renders off some fat, and then baking them on a rack over a roasting pan helps crisp up the wings even further.  These wings are easy to make and are sure to impress at any kind of chicken-wings appropriate party.

For my version of the chicken wings, I boiled the wings first and then marinated them for about 30 minutes before putting them in the oven to infuse them with a punch of flavor.

CRISPY OVEN-BAKED CHICKEN WINGS

• 2.5 lbs chicken wings

Marinade

• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• salt + pepper to taste

In a large pot, bring water to boil.  Add the wings and boil for 8 minutes.  Strain, set the wings aside and let cool.

In a large bowl, mix the ingredients for the marinade.  After the wings have cooled, add the wings to the marinade and mix well.

Let the wings marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Lay out the chicken wings over a wire rack.  Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper.

Bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, turn the wings over to bake the other side.  Bake for another 10 minutes.

Take out of the oven, plate, and serve.  (I garnished the plate with a sprinkling of chopped scallions.)  Of course, you can toss the wings in your favorite sauce — but we loved ours just as they were.

Enjoy!

See how crispy they are?