Pork Pho - Easy and Good

Wow - its been so long since I have posted, and so much has happened - spending most of my time these days facilitating my daughters education from home utilizing the amazing k12 program!!

Jut made this super quick, easy and healthy version of Pho...

1 pork tenderloin
1/2 vidalla onion
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
salt, pepper

6 cups chicken broth (i always use low sodium if store bought)
8 oz fresh noodles
optonial: bok choy, mushrooms to add to soup
optional: cilantro: green onions, mung bean sprouts and lime for garnish

Char the onion, place cut side down in a hot cast iron pan and cook for 3-7 mins, until blackened on cut side. Remove onion to soup pot. Add star anise and garlic to hot pan, stir for 30 seconds, add cinnamon stick, fennel seeds and crushed red pepper and stir for 30 seconds. Transfer hot spices to soup pot, add chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Heay 2 Tbs oil in cast iron pot, season pork with salt and pepper, sear pork on all sides 5 mins per side. Cut pork into quarters and continue to cook for 10 more minutes. Remove to plate and let sit until cool enough to handel *~10 mins). Slice pork thinly across the grain (~1/4' slices).

Add noodles to pot and let cook three mins. Add pork and any juices on plate where pork rested. Add mushrooms and sliced dark green leafy part of bok choy leaves if using. Ladle into bowls and top each bowl with a sprinkle of chopped fresh cilantro, chopped scallions and a wedge of lime if desired.

Minestra di Ceci or Chickpea Soup

Veggie Platter inspired by Emeril (+playlist)

Veggie Platter inspired by Emeril (+playlist)

Elegant Everyday Cooking

Spicy Roasted Pepitas

Olive oil Zucchini Cake with Lemon Glaze

Trying to come up with an easy, relatively healthy cake my daughter could make completely on her own...so here it is:

Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups all purpose unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated (or ground) nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium zucchini, finely grated

Sift together dry ingredients (except sugar). In bowl of standing mixer, or with electric beater, beat eggs for 5 mins until thick and lemon colored. Add sugar and beat an additional minute. Add olive oil and milk and beat to combine. Stir in dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Pour into a 9" loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Turn out to wired rack and spread with optional glaze if desired, let glaze adhere to cake as cake cools completely and glaze dries.

Optional Lemon Glaze

• 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 3 Tbs granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Mix together sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whisk in confectioners sugar until completely smooth.

If you slice this cake into 24 slices, there are 110 calories per slice, see my daughters calculation below!

Caprese Skewers

Super easy and really pretty little appetizers - great for picnics and BBQs perfect for summer.



Caprese Skewers

• Fresh Mozzarella balls (tiny ones called Ciliegine are best, but you can cut cubes as well)
• Basil Leaves
• Cherry tomatoes, halved if large

Marinade for Cheese

• 1/4 cup Olive oil for every cup or so of cheese
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 TBS chopped oregano, fresh is great dried works too
• salt
• pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients and toss in cheese, gently, to coat. Let sit for at least 20 mins and up to 8 hours. I usually let the amount of cheese dictate how many cherry tomatoes to use.

Thread one ball cheese, one leaf basil folded like an S and one cherry tomato on each toothpick or cocktail skewer. Arrange on platter. Garnish with additional whole basil leaves if desired. Serve at room temperature.

NOTE: Fresh mozzarella comes in different sizes:

Ciliegine  cherry size, about 0.3 oz of cheese
Bocconcini  (bite sized) are larger about 1.5 oz per ball
Ovolini (egg sized) about 4 oz each

I love the ciliegine for this recipe, but they can be pricy and/or hard to find. You can always use any fresh mozzarella and cut it - or even use the packaged type of block mozzarella.

Stuffed Strawberries

Egg Salad

Baked Zucchini Chips

These delightful little crispy chips are easy and absolutely fantastic! A wonderful way to use excess zucchini, but I actually buy zucchini just to make these. They're a low calorie, very low fat delicious snack or appetizer.

Zucchini Chips

• 2 Zucchini's sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
• 1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)
• olive oil cooking spray

Coating:

• 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lay a large baking rack over a baking sheet and spray rack with cooking spray.
Mix all coating ingredients on a large flat plate. Dip zucchini rounds in milk and then dredge in coating pressing lightly to help it adhere. Place coated rounds on baking rack, n a single layer. Spray with cooking spray (or mist with olive oil if you have one of those cool little oil misters). Bake for 30 mins, no need to flip because they are on a rack!
Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes then carefully remove and serve while still warm, although they are also good at room temperature.

You can vary the flavor of these by adding fresh or dried herbs to the breadcrumb coating. Can also use gruyere instead of the parm

Ham Salad - a wonderful way to reframe leftover ham!

Easy Ham Salad

After a holiday wherein you have served a wonderful ham, there tends to be a lot of leftover ham - ham sandwiches made with thick slices of ham are fabulous, ham noodle casserole is wonderful - ham and eggs are a treat but after awhile you really want the ham to be a little, well, different...enter this ham salad - its the easiest recipe ever - just three ingredients but it works wonders on creating a whole different way to experience ham!

Easy Ham Salad

• 1-2 cups chopped ham (outer skin removed)
• 1-2 Tbs sweet pickle relish
• 1-2 Tbs mayonnaise
• freshly ground black pepper, optional

Pulse everything together in a food processor to create a spread with the consistency of pate. Serve on toast, buns, or as a dip!

Lamb Rib Chops

Pan Seared Lamb lollipop Chops

These are so amazing - so easy, so very very good and so quick! Ok, they can be expensive, particularly if you buy them already cut and frenched - but they are just so fabulous.

This year for Easter I made a ham, which was wonderful - but it just isn't Easter without lamb to me, so I turned to these adorable little lamb chops to serve as appetizers - and everybody loved them

• 6-8 tiny frenched lamb rib chops (you can cut these yourself from a rack of lamb as long as the chine bone has been removed)
• 6 Tbs stone ground or dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary
• salt, pepper

Coat the meaty part of the lamb chop with mustard, smear on garlic mixed with olive oil, add salt and pepper and rosemary and press it to adhere. Let the lamb sit for an hour at room temperature. Heat a cast iron pan and add 1 tbs olive oil. Sear chops on both sides about 3 minutes per side. Move to a 400 oven for 6 mins for med. Tent with foil and let rest for 5 mins, serve.

Baked Apples with Strawberry Sauce

Baked Apples with Strawberry sauce - these are SO easy and wonderful for special dinners, like a romantic meal for two - or everyday dinners or even as healthy after school snacks.
I like to use Granny Smith apples because they hold their shape so well when cooked, but you can use any baking apple such as Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Fugi or Rome Beauty - don't use the wonderful eating apple, McIntosh (although they make great applesauce they fall apart when baked)

Baked Apples

• 4 Granny Smith Apples
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup rasins
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or slivered almonds
• 4 Tbs unsalted butter
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

Core apples and make a well, leaving 1/2 inch on the bottom. Peel a strip from center of apple, around its equator so the apple skin doesn't burst while cooking. Combine sugar, rasins and nuts. Pack each apple with sugar mixture filling. Top each apple with 1 tbs softened butter. Place in a pie pan and add 1/2 cup water to pan (about 1/4 inch up sides of apples) Cover dish with buttered foil (buttered side down). Bake in a 350 F oven for 30 mins to an hour, or until apples are tender but still hold their shape. Remove foil after 20 mins. and sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired. Apples can be made ahead and kept refrigerated for up to 4 days, reheat covered with foil in a 350 oven for 10 mins.

Strawberry Sauce

• 1/4 lb strawberries, washed and stemmed
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 Tbs orange juice
• 1 Tbs lemon juice

Puree strawberries in a blender or food processor. Press mixture through a fine strainer. Discared (or eat on yogurt) solids. Stir in confectioners sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Whisk in juices, and cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (This sauce is also fabulous on ice cream, or with waffles or pancakes)

To serve: Spoon some sauce onto each of four dessert plates, place an apple on top. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired and garnish with fresh mint if available.

Dinner with Friends

Last night we had a wonderful couple over for dinner. They are great people and I wanted to wow them with the meal, but I was stressed because my daughter had a major sports event that same day. I knew I would only have about 2 hours after getting home from the meet before company arrived, so I decided on a menu I could mostly prepare ahead. The dinner I came up with was focused on my 100 layer lasagna - the one with home made pasta. Once I decided on that, I built up the meal around it. So I made:
homemade ricotta crostini, a veggie platter with roasted red pepper dip, the lasagna, garlic bread, a simple salad and Italian cheesecake with a blueberry sauce for dessert - which I paired with high quality store bought cookies.

The cooking went like this - two days before the dinner I made the meat sauce for the lasagna, one day before I made the white sauce, the pasta and assembled the lasagna. The night before I made the cheesecake. The morning of the dinner I made the blueberry sauce, the ricotta cheese and the crostini. After my daughters meet I took the lasagna our of the fridge so it wouldn't take so long to cook and preheated the oven, I cut up veggies and used a store bought dip and made a pretty platter, plated up the crostini, spread on the cheese and drizzled with some olive oil. I preheated the oven - took a shower and got ready, set the table - popped the pasta in the oven and greeted my guests. We enjoyed drinks and appetizers and I made a simple salad. When the lasagna was done I took it out to rest a bit and popped the garlic bread in the oven. Got everything on the table, ate made coffee - enjoyed their company and then served dessert - it was awesome and very little work on the actual day of the meal!

All of the recipes mentioned are here in this blog and also on my youtube channel.

Happy Cooking - now its time to plan a kid friendly but good Valentines day meal

White Chicken Chili

This is one easy and fast take on chicken chili - great for a quick weeknight dinner, but super good as well. You can add more heat to your liking, but this is how I make mine:

White Chicken Chili

• 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breast
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 cans 15.5 oz white beans (cannellini, great northern, navy etc)
• 2-3 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
• 2 cans chopped green chilies, or one diced jalapeno (seeds removed if you don't want it too hot)
• salt
• pepper

In a medium pot, cover chicken with water add peppercorns and some salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook 10-20 mins or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from water and let cool.
In a dutch oven, heat oil. Saute onion in oil until translucent. Add garlic (and jalapeno if using) and saute a minute more, sprinkle with cumin, chili powder and oregano. Add salt and pepper. Add 2 cups chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Drain and rinse beans, mash half of beans in a bowl with a potato masher or a fork. Shred chicken with your hands or two forks. Add chicken and all beans to simmering broth mixture. Add green chillies. Bring to a boil, add enough cup of broth if it looks too thick. Lower heat and cook for 10 mins. Serve with: sour cream, shredded Monteray jack, chopped black olives, corn chips or buttered flour tortillas.

Notes about the white beans - all three can be used interchangeably. Basically, Cannellini are larger, great northern a little smaller but still will hold their shape - navy are the smallest and best for dishes where the bean shape isn't so important, not for salads or ragouts, but great for stews, soups and of course baked beans.

Biscotti di Regina

Biscotti di Regina

These are for you, Mom! When I was growing up my mother always made these cookies after the Christmas goose - they use goose fat, pure white decadence - they are super easy and very rich. You can make them with butter, but its not quite the same thing. They taste incredible and pair very nicely with a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or tea.

Biscotti di Regina (Queens Biscuits)

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 6 Tbs goose fat (the pure white part)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1 cup sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients, except milk and sesame seeds, to make a soft and crumbly dough. Gather 1 Tbs portions of dough with hands, press together into a small log. Roll logs in milk then seeds. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake in a 350 oven for about 10 mins or until bottoms are golden. Let cool on pan about 2 mins and carefully transfer to a wire rack (cookies are fragile while warm).

Mini Cheesecakes

Mini Cheesecakes 

So fast, so easy and so very very good. I love this recipe, I also like that it doesn't make a ton - and only uses one block of 8 oz cream cheese. You can jazz these up a million ways - swirl in some jam or melted chocolate, add some cherry pie filling as a topper once cooked, adorn with some fresh raspberries or blueberries etc

Cheesecakes

• 24 vanilla wafers
• 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2 Tbs sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients, except for vanilla wafers, use an electric mixer and beat on low until just smooth. Use cupcake liners and line 12 cupcake pan, place one vanilla wafer in each liner. Crumble remaining cookies and divide among liners to cover bottoms. Pour cheese mixture into each liner, about 2/3 or a little more full. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 mins. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate, covered for several hours or overnight. Top as desired.
Optional: add 1 tsp of warmed jam or cooled melted chocolate to each filled cupcake before baking, use a knife to swirl.

Baguette

Heres a very easy take on a homemade baguette, made this today and sautéed up some chicken breasts to create a sandwich for dinner, with provolone and spinach - served it with sweet potato chips - really, really nice.

Baguette

• 1.5 cups warm water (115 F)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 Tbs malt syrup or 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3.25 cups all purpose unbleached flour

Combine water, yeast, malt or sugar and let sit for 10 mins until mixture gets foamy and bubbly and aromatic. Add flour and stir in to form dough, let sit for 20 mins. Add salt, knead dough either by hand on a lightly floured surface or in a standing mixer with a dough hook until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 mins. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour. Turn dough out and form into a 8x6 inch rectangle, fold long sides in towards center and then short sides towards middle. Flatten gently and return to bowl (oil again lightly if necessary). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour. Preheat baking stone on middle rack of oven at 425 F, place a cast iron pan on lower rack. Punch dough down and divide in half for large baguettes or in 1/3s for smaller ones. Form into long thin loaves and place, seam side down, on floured parchment paper. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 mins. Transfer bread, on parchment, to baking stone. Slash top of loaves a few times using a sharp knife to make 4" diagonal cuts. Bake for about 30 mins or until tops are deep golden brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on baking rack.

Chili - Vegetarian

Tired of Turkey ... had Cod with an Asian inspired sauce and a simple fried rice last night, home made mac and cheese the night before - but still, the turkey stares at me when I open the fridge. Decided to go easy (mostly opening cans - but its really good) and meatless tonight. This Chili is very hearty, I didn't even mention to my daughter that it was meatless - served it with grated colby cheese, chopped green onion, sliced black olives and sour cream.

Vegetarian Chili

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 Tbs canola oil
• 2 tbs chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 can (14.5 oz) petit diced tomatoes
• 1 can (16 or 19 oz) red kidney beans, drained
• 1 can (15 oz) pink pinto beans, drained
• salt
• pepper

In a heavy dutch oven or deep cast iron skillet heat oil. Add onion, carrots and bell pepper and saute for 5 mins, stirring until onion is softened. Add garlic, add chili powder and cumin, stir to combine. Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir and simmer for 10 mins. Add beans, salt and pepper. Heat through. Let simmer for 20 mins - 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with cheese, sour cream, green onion, olives and avocado if desired.