Month: December 2010

Who Needs Lettuce? Greek Farro Salad

Greek Farro Salad

3/4 cup farro, cooked according to package directions, drained, rinsed and set aside to cool

1 and 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and slice into bite-sized half-moons

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, halved

4 ounces fresh feta cheese, cut into large dice

1 batch of my friend Arnie’s Greek salad dressing

Gently toss all ingredients together until lightly coated with dressing.  You may not need ALL of the dressing, so reserve a few tablespoonfuls  and adjust as needed.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter

Recipe here.

This recipe (served with a simple, small salad and some chicken that was sprinkled with seasoning and grilled) was tasty, but I’ve made a version of this dish before and VASTLY preferred the other recipe.  The other recipe used sweet potato instead of the butternut and also contained some ricotta.  The dough for that version was MUCH easier to work with and the finished gnocchi cooked MUCH faster.  The flavors are good here, but they’re pretty much identical to the other one, which was much easier to execute.  I’ll be sticking with this version in the future.

Veggie Stuffed Pancakes

Recipe here.

Another winner from Giada.  This is one of the weirdest things that I’ve ever made, but it was really easy and we all loved it.  The leftovers even kept OK, which was surprising to me.  I was afraid that the pancakes would get all soggy, but they didn’t.

Mine didn’t turn out looking as pretty as Giada’s (my pancakes were too thick and tended to crack as I tried to roll them,) but the flavor was awesome.  I’ll thin the batter a little next time, to try to make a less cakey pancake.

Flexitarian Tacos with Spinach, Corn, Black Beans and Goat Cheese (with optional Adobo Chicken)

These were delicious and VERY quick and easy.  They were inspired by this recipe.  If you don’t already have some adobo seasoning on hand, I highly recommend mixing up a batch.  It’s great to season lots of things, but is perfect for spicing up chicken to add to tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, salads, etc.  The flavor is wonderful.

Flexitarian Tacos

1 Tbsp canola oil

2 cups frozen corn, thawed and drained of any residual moisture

1 5-ounce package baby spinach

1 can (or about 1 and one-half cups) cooked black beans, rinsed and drained

8 small flour tortillas

3/4 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese (3 ounces)

3/4 cup store-bought refrigerated salsa

(the ONLY acceptable store-bought salsa, if you live in Central Texas, is Rose’s Just Right Fresh salsa…there are no words)

a few teaspoons adobo seasoning (scroll down for recipe), to taste

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Sprinkle chicken thighs liberally with adobo seasoning on both sides and then grill them, either outside on a grill pan.  Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large, wide saute pan over VERY high heat.  Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until corn has started to brown slightly around the edges.  Lower the heat in the pan to medium and add the spinach.  Stir occasionally until the spinach has wilted.  Add the beans to the pan and continue cooking until warmed through.  Remove from heat.

Cut chicken into thin strips.

Fill tortillas with some of the veggie mixture and then top with cheese and salsa, as desired.  The carnivores can add a bit of chicken to their tacos, as well.

I’ve marked this recipe as gluten-free, because you could easily substitute corn tortillas for the wheat.

Warm Farro Salad with Braised Radishes

Recipe here.

This was quite delicious.  Unusual, and not like anything I’ve had before, but light and very flavorful.  The braised radishes were pleasantly both sweet and tangy.  I sauteed the pancetta in a separate pan and then cooked the radishes in olive oil, rather than the bacon pan, so that Vegetarian Girl could have hers with the pancetta.  We just sprinkled the cooked, chopped pancetta on top of ours at the very end.  I served this with some roasted brussel sprouts (also adapted for Vegetarian Girl, but with pancetta added for us.)  Yes, we went a bit crazy with the pancetta this meal…I would probably pick a different green veggie to serve with this next time, but we all love roasted sprouts, so I just went for it!

Peanut Butter Cup and Pretzel Terrine

“Recipe” here.

So, I feel guilty even calling this a “recipe,” because it is so simple, but it was delicious and was a fantastic way to use up some leftover Halloween candy.  It’s a kind of make-your-own Chubby Hubby.  This was quite good and would be fancy enough to serve for a casual dinner party with friends, but takes mere minutes to compose (although it must sit in the freezer for a while afterward.)

Butternut Squash Flat Bread with Cheddar and Pine Nuts

Recipe here.

I was prepared for this to be healthy and I figured that Vegetarian Girl would like it, but I have to say that I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was and at the fact that ALL of us liked it.  It was rich without being too heavy and was VERY flavorful.  I was afraid that the squash wouldn’t cook well and would stay unappetizingly crunchy, but they didn’t.  I did use a bit more dough than the recipe called for, because of the package size of the dough that I bought, so I might double up accordingly on the toppings next time, but it was quite, quite good.  I didn’t serve it with the arugula, but did some kale chips, instead.  This will be a definite repeat.  I’ll probably add a bit more thyme next time, too.

Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper Dip)

Recipe here.

This was delicious.  Both spicy and sweet.  Delicious with veggies to dip, but would also be fantastic with pita chips or as a spread on a veggie sandwich.  I’m always looking for healthy snacks for Vegetarian Girl and this one was a hit and was surprisingly easy.  I actually used pomegranate molasses and Aleppo pepper instead of the honey and crushed red pepper, because I just happened to have both on hand, but I’m sure it would be fine with whatever you have.

Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake

Recipe here.

OK, so there are  very few recipes that would actually live up to a promise like that, but this is one of them.  This was moist and light and VERY flavorful.  Quite tasty.  The Meyer lemons are a fun novelty, if you can find them, but this would also be fantastic if you made it with plain old regular lemons.

I have a long, narrow loaf pan that I bought from The Baker’s Catalogue that I used for this and it made lovely little dainty-sized slices.  It’s ceramic, rather than the metal recommended in the recipe, but it still worked fine.

FYI – Meyer Lemons are a little darker in color and sweeter in flavor than regular lemons.