Recipe – Broiled and Stuffed Beefsteak Tomatoes

Last night, I didn’t make anything particularly exciting for dinner, but wanted to do something different for a side dish. More often than not, I often just wing it with my side dishes, using whatever I happen to have in the pantry or the fridge. One of the skills I’m trying hard to develop is pairing sides with meals properly and coming up with things that are different than sauteed veggies or the common side salad. So, when I found a recipe for “Blue Cheese Crusted Tomatoes” on Epicurious, I decided to modify it to something that sounded more interesting to me and came up with these Broiled and Stuffed Beefsteak Tomatoes (the stuffing is Danish Blue Cheese, Seasoned Bread Crumbs and Minced Garlic).

First of all, deepest apologies for the blurry photo of the finished product. I’m think my camera may have not been properly set on my manual macro settings and I got camera shake. Unfortunately, wifey and I had already eaten said tomatoes before I noticed the error. Rest assured, they look fairly appetizing upon exit from your oven. We had these guys with grilled spinach and feta chicken sausages and side salads. The creamy Danish Blue Cheese melted nicely with the breadcrumbs and the beefsteaks held up nicely to the broiling process. I always think I’ve found a winner when my wife says, “I’d order this in a restaurant.” Those words make for one happy would-be chef.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium/large beefsteak tomatoes (buy them the day of to make sure you can get some reasonably firm specimens. If they’re too ripe, they’ll turn out stewed)
• 1/4 cup of dry breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1.5 to 2 ounces of Danish Blue Cheese
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Pre-heat your oven using your broiler setting. Low is fine, but if your oven forces a temperature on you, shoot for 350 to 400 tops.

2. Cut the top 1/4 of the tomatoes off. Use a pairing knife cut out a good portion of the ribs and seeds from the tomatoes and scoop them out with a spoon. Be sure to leave some of the seeds and juices so the breadcrumbs and cheese have some of those great tomato flavors to merry.

3. Mix breadcrumbs, herbs and olive oil in small bowl, mashing to coat. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and pepper and place in a small roasting pan.

4. Top each with 1 or 2 tablespoons of blue cheese and top it off with as much of the breadcrumb mixture as you’d like.

5. Toss it under your broiler and and cook tomatoes until slightly soft and cheese melts. Mine took about 10 to 11 minutes. Just be sure to check on them to be sure they don’t get too soft.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about some of my new breakfast experiments, as I’ve found a chicken and turkey Chorizo that Vita can eat. That means breakfast burritos y’all.

Recipe – Grilled Chicken With Spinach Pesto

The past few nights I’ve been working a bit later than I’d like to be. This fact usually means we do very quick things for dinner, like pre-made soups, leftovers worked into something new and different or meals that I can pick up on my way in from the office. Even though I knew I was in for a longer day, I’d have none of that tonight. Since I had leftover fresh spinach from Souper Sunday’s Creamy Chicken Florentine, I opted for a twist on a traditional Basil and Pine Nut Pesto.

We did our spinach pesto over a grilled chicken and paired it with balsamic marinated asparagus spears and fresh Roma tomatoes seasoned with salt and pepper. Here’s how you do it.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 1/2 fresh lemon squeezed
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons garlic salt
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Preparation:

1. Heat a grill pan on medium high heat. Lightly oil the grill pan. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and some garlic salt. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Grill asparagus that has marinated in balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper on separate portion of the pan. Turn asparagus at the same time you turn the chicken. Remove after about 6 to 8 minutes. It should cook a little faster than the chicken. Just set it aside to cool.

2. While you’re grilling, combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a food processor. Lightly pulse. Pause occasionally to gradually add the 1/3 cup of the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy.

3. Transfer the spinach mixture to a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan. Season the pesto with salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Spread the pesto over each piece of chicken and serve.

It’s awesome and super fast (like 15 minutes fast). I don’t think I’ve made something recently that Vita has enjoyed so much. She was raving about the spinach pesto and found herself looking for things to put it on after the chicken and tomatoes were gone. Enjoy!

Recipe – Gluten Free Pasta in Portobello Mushroom Cream Sauce

One of the things I was most worried about losing in the move to being gluten free was pasta. I love Italian food, especially the various textures and forms that pasta can take. Thankfully, Vita was able to find a gluten free option to pasta. So, tonight we tried it for the first time, mainly because we had some lovely portobello mushroom caps that we didn’t want to let go to waste and we needed a meal that I could make quickly. So, we whipped up the gluten free pasta (which is made from potato, rice and soy) and I made a portobello mushroom cream sauce.

Here’s how you make it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (about two large caps) finely chopped portobello mushrooms
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1/2 cup of cream or half and half
• 1 cup of white wine
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup Gluten Free Pasta

Preparation:
1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan.
2. Add the chopped shallots and fry for 3 – 4 minutes followed by the garlic. Cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Add the chopped mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
5. Stir all of the ingredients together and cook until the mushrooms have softened and darkened in color then turn the heat up on the stove and pour in the white wine and add parsley.

7. Stir the ingredients and cook until the wine had reduced by two-thirds, then reduce the heat and stir in the cream.

That’s all there is to it. It’s very simple and really pretty quick. The mushroom cream sauce has a really subtle sweetness to it, but it’s also very flavorful and adds a nice dimension to the gluten free pasta. There’s lots of great textures and the color is really nice as well. I think the gluten free pasta will be a fine replacement to the normal semolina. There is a notable taste difference, but covered in sauce it’s actually really nice.

See you next time.

Recipe – Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

Tuesday night was one of those nights that I honestly didn’t have anything planned for dinner. So when Vita sent me a text asking for a meal that she’d originally had at my mother’s house, I took it as a welcome out of having to come up with something original. I made two different meals. For myself, I made a Grilled Greek Chicken Salad. For Vita, simply grilled Greek chicken, grilled veggies and Tzatziki sauce.

The real secret is good chicken breasts and the right blend of Greek spices. The best in my opinion is the blend my mother uses, which we buy at Rafal Spice Company in Detroit’s Eastern Market area. You can order it online here.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Red onion – chopped
• 1 Red Bell Pepper – Diced
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper – Diced
• Black Olives – Diced
• Cherry Tomatoes – Halved
• 2 medium sized chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons of Greek Seasoning Mix
• 4 cups pre-packaged salad mix
• 2 tablespoons low-fat Greek Dressing
• 4 tablespoons Feta cheese

Preparation:
1. Preheat grill pan over medium high heat. As your pan is heating, coat both sides of chicken breasts with the Greek seasoning mix.

2. Dice vegetables and spray grill pan with non-stick spray. Grill chicken four minutes per side and grill veggies until tender. Turn chicken and remove from grill. Allow chicken to rest.

3. Slice chicken and add to salad. Distribute toppings and dress to your liking.

This is so simple and so good. Vita’s dinner is pictured below.

Not really a complex recipe, but it’s really, really tasty. It’s so much more fun to make your own grilled salads anyway.

Recipe – Roasted Tomato and Parmesan Soup

When I was a boy, I was never a big fan of soup. But as we age, so do our tastes. Now I can say that soup is one of my favorite things. I find myself pining for it in the summer months, and cherishing it throughout the fall and winter. In Michigan, it has been one of the coldest winters I can remember. We’ve had lots of snow and only a few days above freezing, which makes it absolutely perfect to start a weekly series on soup. So I give you round one of Souper Sunday!

For the first Souper Sunday, I’ll go with an awesome Roasted Tomato and Parmesan Soup. It takes a little while to do the roasting, but the payoff in flavor is definitely worth it. I borrowed the roasted tomato soup recipe from Kat over at A Good Appetite and modified it to add in the Parmesan and a little bit of a kick. Here’s how it’s done.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 yellow onions, quartered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 3 tablespoons crushed red pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Halve your tomatoes and remove the seeds. You can do this easily with a spoon or a pairing knife.
2. Put the tomatoes, onions and garlic in a large baking pan. Coat with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Try to arrange the tomatoes so the cut sides are up.

3. Roast for 45 – 55 minutes until everything is soft and starting to brown. Allow to cool slightly.

4. Put the tomatoes, onions, garlic, fresh herbs and any liquid in the roasting pan into a food processor. Purée until smooth.

5. Put purée into a large soup pot and add remaining ingredients. Add cheese slowly in small batches. If you want a little kick like I did, add the three tablespoons of crushed red pepper. Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes before serving. Salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 big, tasty servings.