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Archive for the ‘arugula’ Category
Monday, April 9th, 2012
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a braising kick. Maybe it’s because my Le Creuset French Oven doesn’t fit in my cabinet so it’s always staring at me from the stove top, beckoning to be filled with something yummy.
I didn’t have hours to let something braise so I cut up a chicken. I dug through the fridge and found enough to make a meal.
Cut the chicken into 8 pieces. I left the bones in the breast pieces. Brown chicken in a large, heavy, (oven-ready and lidded pot, like a dutch or french oven). Remove and set aside.
Add 1/2 c. mirin and and onion sliced into 1/2 moons, scrape up brown bits from the chicken to get all the flavor.
Let onion soften.
Add:
2 c. chicken stock
1/4 c. mirin
1 c peanut butter
3 chopped garlic cloves
2T honey
Bring to boil.
Add chicken back to pot.
Cover and bake at 325 for 45 min.
Remove chicken and reduce the sauce by about half. Stir in arugula off the heat, the sauce is plenty hot to wilt the greens. Stir in juice of 2 limes.
Serve over rice.
I was in a huge hurry plating and eating this though so no pictures this time! I’ll have to photograph it next time I make it which I’ll have to do pretty soon since my son LOVED the peanut sauce.
Posted in amateur, arugula, chicken, dinner, flavor, food, recipe, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Japan met Italy in my kitchen tonight. I got black cod from my CSS (Community Supported Seafood), my weekly seafood CSA. I was in the mood for something japanese-y.
I found this recipe for miso-glazed cod. I used the marinade (1/4 c mirin, 1/4 c sake, 3t sugar, 4T miso) and let my cod marinate in that for about an hour.
In the meantime I dug around my kitchen to see what I should serve with the fish. I decided to make some sushi rice and make arancini out of that. Once the rice was cooked, I added seasoned rice vinegar, a little soy sauce, some minced green onion and some parsley…mostly because I have a cubic yard of parsley from my dad’s garden right now. I shaped the rice into balls and fried them in 300° grapeseed oil until they were brown.
I also have a 1/2 cubic yard of arugula from my dad so I wilted that in a pan with some garlic and olive oil.
I grilled the cod on the barbecue for about 5 minutes on one side then about 2 minutes on the other.
To serve I put the arugula, then three of the rice balls, balanced the cod on top and put some grated daikon on top of the fish.
For a complete experiment, I’d say this was a huge win.
Tags: arancini, cod, daikon, fish
Posted in amateur, arugula, dinner, flavor, food, italian, recipe, recipes, rice | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
 Frying up the Crab Cakes This is a variation on crab cakes I’ve done in the past. This time I only sauteed up shallots and garlic and threw a little chopped arugula in at the last few seconds. Added salt, pepper and chopped thyme. The hardest part of the crab cakes is getting the crab meat out of the shells, the rest is a cinch! The key is to not touch the cakes in the pan until the are crispy brown on the bottom or else they’ll completely fall apart. Put the patties in and walk away. I also used semolina flour to dredge them in instead of white flour. I like the texture better.
 Crab Cakes on Arugula I just drizzled a quick dressing of shallots, lemon, salt and olive oil over the cakes and salad.
Yummy!
Posted in arugula, crab, dinner, flavor, food, recipe, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
I sent a request out to the twitterverse to help me plan dinner. I just needed a protein. I was having chef’s-block. My dear friend Olga Nunes (soon to be featured in the celebrities section of this site) threw “Lamb” back at me. I had never cooked lamb. I didn’t really even know if I liked lamb! But I took the challenge.
Since I was flying blind on this one, I went to Epicurious and found a recipe that didn’t only look good but was over the top with flavor and a bit eccentric: Spice-Coated Rack of Lamb with Arugula, Avocado, and Blood Orange Salad. WOW!
There used to be a restaurant at the summit of Highway 17, the main artery between Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley. The restaurant changes hands about once a year. No one wants to stop at the summit, they’re almost home! Anyway, one of the restaurants had a huge sign that said, “BEST RACK OF LAMB IN THE WORLD!” It made me laugh. I never stopped, it’s gone now. I’ll never know, but if it was this recipe, it may have just well have been the best in the world. This dish was AMAZING. Apparently I do like lamb.
Poured an amazing 2003 Cornas with it. It was perfect.
Tags: blood orange, lamb
Posted in arugula, avocado, dinner, recipe, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Friday, January 9th, 2009
The salad is so easy and so heavenly. It can be done with spinach or arugula, I prefer arugula. Throw a diced shallot into a pan with far too much olive oil (this will be your dressing and you won’t be adding more oil) and let them cook at medium heat until they’re soft. Whisk in juice of a lemon, salt, and pepper and voilà! Easy fancy pants salad dressing. Spoon the concoction over the arugula and top with toasted pecans, chopped apple or pear, and crumbled Point Reyes blue cheese.
For the main course, dice another shallot and sauté that up in a small pot with butter. Add a cup of Israeli couscous and let the couscous toast in the pan a little. Add 1 1/4 cup chicken stock, a handful of herbs (I use marjoram) and cook until the couscous is done. When it’s done stir in some toasted walnuts and chopped parsley.
While the couscous is cooking, take a thin fish fillet such as Petrale sole or, my favorite, sand dabs, dredge them in semolina flour and pan fry them in butter.
Assemble on a plate and enjoy with a crisp white wine!
Posted in amateur, arugula, couscous, random recipes, sole, warm shallot vinaigrette | No Comments »
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