greg cooks

nourishing the body

Archives for February 2009

Mediterranean Meditation – Greek Salad

In the middle of winter when the temperatures are hovering near 0 °F a little bit of Mediterranean can make a salad appetizing. Hence the inspiration for my Greek salad with tuna. Glistening with a lemon/olive oil dressing, this salad really hit the spot tonight.

On the bottom is a bed of chopped romaine lettuce. This was seasoned with the dressing and some dried oregano. I also mixed some carrots, cucumber and tuna together and dressed that. An onion was sliced into rings and the bite was taken down by soaking for a few minutes in ice water. This also does a great job of crisping up the onions. These were tossed in the dressing and placed on the lettuce. The carrot/tuna mixture was added on top of that. Finally I added feta cheese and kalamata olives. The whole dish was seasoned with some salt, pepper and more dried oregano.

It matched perfectly with a crisp, citrusy New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

Rustic lemon chicken with peppers and butter beans

We used to have a local Italian restaurant many years ago that would serve a rustic country dish made with sausage and peppers. I remember the wonderful tangy lemony broth that the dish was cooked in and how it mingled with the Italian herbs and the sweetness of peppers. This isn’t quite the same but I was inspired by that dish when I made this for dinner the other evening.

My dish was composed of two boneless skinless chicken breast cut into slices; one each of red, yellow and orange sweet bell peppers, sliced; one onion, sliced; six cloves of garlic, chopped; one can of butter beans, drained; dried Italian mixed herbs; juice and zest of two lemons; salt, pepper and a bit of water.

I started by sautéing the seasoned chicken breast in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil.

The onions and peppers were added followed by the garlic and lemon zest a few minutes later. These were cooked until they just started to soften.

I then added the beans along with about a half cup of water. You could add chicken broth or even wine at this point. I put in about half of the lemon juice. The cover was placed on the pan and everything was simmered together for about 5-8 minutes.
After the vegetables were tender I uncovered the pan, added the rest of the lemon juice and cooked it down for a few more minutes to concentrate the liquid to a flavorful broth.

This rustic stew-like chicken was served with a big slice of 5 minute wheat bread to sop up the juices.




Pappardelle with mushroom and eggplant ragu

I know ragu is traditionally a meat-based sauce but I think these mushrooms are ‘meaty’ enough to consider this sauce a ragu. Combined with homemade semolina pappardelle, this was a home run hit for dinner. My sauce started with a combination of baby portobello and button mushrooms.

They were halved and sliced.
I also cubed up a whole eggplant for this dish.
Of course you can’t have a pasta sauce without garlic and onions!
First the onions and the mushrooms were cooked down until softened and tender. Then the garlic was added to the pan.
The eggplant was combined with the cooked onions and mushrooms.
Everything was sautéed until the eggplant began to soften.
A bit of red wine was added to the pan.
And a can of tomato paste was stirred into the sauce.
The ragu was covered and cooked down until the eggplant dissolved and the sauce was rich and delicious. A little water was added during the cooking to keep the sauce from getting to dry.
Meanwhile, a pasta dough made from all purpose flour, semolina flour and eggs was prepared and rolled out into sheets using my pasta roller.
The pappardelle was cut by hand into wide noodles.
The noodles were boiled until al dente and tossed with the ragu. Finally I topped it off with some parmigiano reggiano. 

Soba stir fry

Can you stand more soba noodles? I can. This time I put them into a stir fry dish. I cooked up some carrots, cauliflower and red, yellow and orange peppers with some garlic and ginger. I quickly boiled the noodles and added it to the stir fry pan. The whole dish was seasoned with soy sauce, a bit of garlic chili sauce and sesame oil.

Broccoli Soup

Ok, I know it doesn’t look like much but it did taste pretty darn good. I started with a hot pan and sautéed an onion and some garlic. Once the onions started to soften but not brown I added a ton of broccoli and covered it with water. All the while I was seasoning with salt and pepper. The broccoli was simmered until tender and then puréed with a little milk using my hand blender until smooth. I added a pat of butter to the soup for some extra creamyness and flavor. Nothing special but a pretty good way to get your veggies.