Coloring The City

It’s the last day of May, which leaves just enough time to sneak in one last radish recipes before my attention turns completely to broccoli and strawberries.

And I’ll throw in some asparagus since they got sort of over looked in my kitchen this month….

And we’ll serve it with some Filet Mignon and a glass of a nice California Pinot Noir…which I heard is yummy. From experience, the “Value Brand” works well too. The perfect way to end another cupcake-filled Saturday.

This meal is incredibly delicious and easy. Just so you know…I’m letting you in on my super secret streak marinade that I use all the time. Guard it with your life.

Beer and Brown Sugar Marinated Steak

• 2 steaks (I used filet mignon, but anything works)
• 1 dark or strongly flavored beer, I like using an IPA
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 cloves crushed garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Creamy Worcester Sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Place the steaks in a large Ziplock bag. In a small bowl, combine all other ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into the bag with the steak and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 24.The longer the steak takes a marinade bath, the better it tastes!

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet and add steaks with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the marinade. Cook for about 7 minutes on each side or until they reach desired doneness.

Brown Butter Roasted Radishes with lemon and Radish Tops

By Bon Appetit Magazine

• 1 bunch radishes
• 2 tbsps lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 450. Wash and dry radishes and place in glass dish with stems still on, then drizzle with olive oil. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter and continue to cook until butter begins to brown. When butter is brown, add the salt and the lemon juice and stir to combine. Roast for about 25-30 minutes. When the radishes are done roasting, pour the brown butter over top and serve.

Pan Roasted Garlic Asparagus

• 10-14 asparagus spears
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a pan then add the asparagus, cook for 5 – 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes or until asparagus is easy to pierce with a fork.

I’m big on grocery lists. Especially when I go to the Associated Grocery Store near my apartment, which I’m pretty sure is the root of all obesity problems in New York. If I go to that store without a list, I always end up lost in the candy aisle with no hope finding my way back to the outer aisles where they hide the “healthy” food. So then I end up back home with nothing to make for dinner except grilled cheese with a side of M&Ms. That doesn’t sound terrible now that I think about it.

When I go to Whole Foods, it’s a different story. I never take a list there. All I need is my reusable bag to save the earth (which suddenly seems pointless since tomorrow is clearly the end of the world, shoot) and my iPhone with the Epicurious App. I wander through the produce section and pick out the most beautiful vegetables, enter them into the app and pick a recipe! My last trip led me to the Graffiti Eggplant.

Graffiti and I have never met before. Of course, I know his sib the regular eggplant (booor-ing) and I’ve even met his foreign cousins the Japanese and Italian eggplants once or twice. And I have to be honest, I wasn’t so impressed with his fam. I always want to like eggplant. I want to forget that it is sponge-y and tastes a little like dirt. I want to rejoice in the fact that this is one vegetable that encourages a good smothering of melted cheese. But I can’t. Until I met Graffiti. Since beauty, as we all know, is only skin deep, I instantly fell in love with this variety of eggplant. So I picked one out and found a recipe that involved lots of cheese and took it home for dinner.

It turns out that a graffiti eggplant is really just a regular eggplant with a prettier face. Surprised? Didn’t think so. But, this recipe might have changed my mind about eggplants…I think I like them now? I’ll have to make this one a few more times just to be sure. Hope you all enjoy it as well!

Quinoa Cakes with Graffiti Eggplant-Tomato Ragu and Smoked Mozzarella.

(adapted from Epicurious)

Serves 4

Quiona Cakes

• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 table spoons olive oil

Graffiti Eggplant-Tomato Ragu

• 1 graffiti eggplant cut into 1/2 inch squares
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers, drained and chopped.
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 pound smoked mozzarella diced

Quinoa cakes

Add the water and the quinoa to a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the water is all absorbed.

Put quinoa in a bowl and whisk in the egg. While the mixture is still warm, pack ¼ cup measuring cups with the quinoa to form cakes and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet to set for 10 to 15 minutes, preferably in the fridge.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the quinoa cakes, cooking 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Place on a paper towel and set aside while you make the Ragu.

Eggplant Ragu

Add the chopped eggplant, onion, garlic, oregano and ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper to a skillet over medium heat and cover, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until softened.

Stir in the tomatoes and roasted red peppers and water and simmer, covered until eggplant is very tender and mixture is thick, which should take about 10 minutes.

Return the Ragu to a simmer and all half of the mozzarella, stirring until the cheese begins to soften, about 30 seconds.

Spoon the Ragu and the remaining cheese over the quinoa cakes and serve!

If you have been reading my blog lately, you probably think I have got to weigh at least 500 pounds by now with all the cookies and cupcakes I’ve been posting. But in all honestly, I try to eat a very healthy and balanced diet. The unhealthy food just seems to make it on the blog more often for some reason :) I think it’s about time to share another healthy dinner option with you, so we can take a much needed break from the sugary mess that has been Coloring the City for the past week.

This recipe is for Warm Balsamic Chicken Pasta Salad that I got from an old, family friend. It checks off all the boxes for meal requirements: healthy, easy to make and delicious. Recipe is as follows:

Warm Balsamic Chicken Pasta Salad

(serves 4)

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 pound of whole wheat pasta
• 1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped asparagus

Balsamic Marinade

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pinches cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

Wash the chicken breast and pat dry with a paper towel, then set aside. In a bowl, mix the all ingredients for the balsamic marinade. Place all the chicken breasts into the bowl and make sure they are completely submerged in the marinade. Pre-heat oven to 425. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Quickly brown the chicken on both sides. This should only take about 3 minutes per side. Place in a baking dish and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink when you cut into it.

While the chicken is baking, bring water to a boil then cook the pasta. Strain the pasta when it is soft and set aside. Add the chopped pepper, tomatoes and asparagus to the pan that you used for the chicken. You may need to add another tbsp of olive oil. Cook until veggies are soft. In a large bowl, combine the pasta and veggies. Make one more batch of the Balsamic Marinade, and pour over the pasta, and toss to combine. When the chicken is done, cut it into bit-sized chunks and add to the pasta. Serve warm.

This recipe is great because it is very versatile. Don’t like asparagus? Use broccoli or snap peas instead. I like to use less pasta and more veggies than the recipe calls for to get a double dose of green. I’m also 95% sure that you could use the marinade that you made for your chicken on the pasta, but I never take chances with raw chicken, so I made another batch to use as dressing. Please let me know if you try the recipe, and if you tweak it to make it your own! I’m always open for new ways to change recipes.

BONUS RECIPE!!

I was feeling like I needed A LOT of vegetables when I had the balsamic chicken pasta salad the other night, so I also made a side of boiled kale. The picture is not at all appetizing, I know, but I promise that it tastes wonderful. I only add salt and pepper when boiling kale because it has so much spicy flavor of it’s own, it really doesn’t need anything else.

Boiled Kale

• 1 large bunch of kale
• 3 cups water
• salt and pepper to taste

Bring the water to a boil. Coarsely chop the kale, removing the bottom, thick part of the stem. Add the kale to the water with the salt and pepper. Let the kale boil in the water until the remaining stems can be easily pierced with a sharp knife, about 15 minutes. Remove from water and serve with a splash of fresh lemon juice squeezed.

If you are not really into eating greens, I would recommend this recipe for preparing kale because it is so delicious, you might forget that kale is a vegetable. However, most of the nutrients boil out of the kale into the water while it cooks. To get the full nutritional value, you might consider saving the water and using it in smoothies or home made juices. It will have a very faint kale taste but it will most likely be overpowered by whatever else you choose to put into your smoothie.  This is a trick I learned from my health coach months ago, and have been doing it ever since. The best way to cook kale, or spinach or even collard greens to retain all the nutrients is by steaming it. If you are looking for a veggie side that is extremely healthy, steaming is by far the way to go.

So there is you go. A good, old-fashioned dose of vegetables to brighten your week!

One of my favorite easy dinners is baked fish from the Trader Joe’s Freezer section – I usually go for the Salmon or Mahi Mahi – with a side of steamed spinach or broccoli. While this healthy meal usually does the trick, Sometimes you just need to spice things up a bit. Which, is exactly what I did with this meal. Inspired by the mango I had ripening on my counter and the fish I had in the freezer, I created these Coconut and Cornmeal Breaded Mahi Mahi Tacos with Mango Fruit Salsa.

This dish may sound intimidating, but it’s actually fairly easy to make and very quick. Here is everything you need for a dinner for 2:

Coconut-Breaded Mahi Mahi Tacos with Mango Salsa

• 2 fillets of Mahi Mahi – Sliced horizontally into 4-5 pieces each
• 3/4 cup corn meal (I used Jiffy cornbread mix)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 ripe mango
• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime
• 4 small corn tortillas

Find 3 shallow bowls. whisk eggs in one, flour in another and the cornmeal with coconut in the third. Make sure fish is completely defrosted and patted dry. Coat each piece in flour, then in the egg, next roll the fish in the coconut mixture until completely covered and set aside on a clean plate. Repeat with each piece of fish.

Next, heat the oil olive in a large frying pan and place all of the fish in the pan. Cook on each side for 2-3 minutes until all sides of the fish are browned.

To make the mango salsa, you will need one large bowl. Cut the mango into small chunks and place in the bowl. Slice the 1/2 cup of grape tomatoes and add to the mango. Cut avocado into chunks, add to the bowl as well. Add the coarsely chopped cilantro and squeeze the juice of one lime into the bowl (I squeezed the lime into a separate bowl first to avoid getting the seeds in the salsa.) Mix the salsa gently with a spoon to avoid mashing the avocado or mango. Set aside until fish is done.

While the fish continues to cook, place the 4 tortillas on a damp paper towel and microwave for 20 seconds just to soften and warm them before serving.

To plate your meal, place the tortilla on the plate and add 2 or 3 pieces of fish on top. Next spoon a very generous amount of mango salsa on top and enjoy! As you can see, these tacos truly are over flowing, so be prepared to eat with a knife and fork instead of picking them up like a traditional taco.

I absolutely love this meal. The coconut breading gives the fish a very flavorful crispiness, while the mango salsa gives it a fresh punch. This is a meal that leaves you feelings satisfied but still with room for dessert…which, we know is very important!

Happy Monday, Everyone!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. I had a much needed dose of relaxation this weekend. I needed to save up all my energy for the LADY GAGA concert tonight! (Had to sneak that in some how.) I’m training for a half marathon and had to run 9 miles this weekend. 9 miles is already miserable and worthy of a hefty dessert reward BUT this particular 9 miles was really bad (picture running into a tornado, in a snow storm, up hill both ways wearing short leggings in 30 degree weather…not at all exaggerated) so I decided that I deserved an entire weekend of good eats. I started with a Butterscotch tart, recipe from BAKED, which you may recall is one of my absolute FAVE bakeries in NYC. I wasn’t entirely happy with this dessert…mostly because it turned out really ugly. It tasted delish, but I just can’t share such a disastrous photo with you. It just means you can anxiously await my re-do of this tart in the coming weeks.

Sunday is when things got really good.

I had to get the tart out of the way to make room for my next baking endeavor, so I had half of the for breakfast…then the other half for lunch.

Menu:

Southwestern Chicken Green Leaf Lettuce Salad

Recipe:

serves 2

• 2 grilled chicken breasts, sliced
• 1 medium head of green leaf lettuce
• 2 tbsp of Chipotle Roasted Red Pepper Dressing
• 2 tbsp of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 14oz can of corn (not pictured)
• pepper to taste

Toss lettuce with dressing in large bowl. Plate lettuce, top with one grilled chicken breast, corn, cheese and as much pepper as you want.

The corn was kind of a game time decision on this one, so it’s not pictured but it is highly recommended.

Swedish Style Roasted Potatoes

Recipe:

(serves 2 with leftovers for brunch the next day!)

• 4 medium Russet potatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic, sliced.
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Wash potatoes and pre-heat oven to 400. Slice into thin slices without cutting all the way through the potato, the slices should all be connected at the bottom of the potato. We found the best way to do this is by placing the handle of 2 wooden spoons on either side of the potato and cutting down until the knife hits the spoons. place a sliver of garlic in between each potato slice, put in glass dish and coat with olive oil. Salt and Pepper as needed. Bake for about 45 -50 minutes. Serve Hot.

Rustic Apple and Pear Tart

Serves 4-6

• pie dough (use this recipe, omit the cheddar if desired)
• 2 apples
• 1 pear
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 cup grapefruit or orange juice
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp corn starch

Pre-heat oven to 375. Peel and slice apples and pear into 1/2 inch thick pieces. In a bowl, mix the apples and pear with juice, coat fruit completely. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, corn starch and spices together. Add the fruit mixture to the spice mixture. Chill for 10 minutes. Roll out the pie dough into a 8 inch circle and place on a jelly roll pan (baking sheet with raised edges). Pour fruit filling in the middle of the dough and wrap the sides of the dough up to contain the fruit. Bake for 30 minutes or until dough begins to brown. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The inspiration for all of these dishes was the Urban Organic box I received last week. We sufficiently found uses for the Russet Potatoes, Green Leaf Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples and Bartlett Pear. Running low on veggies now…but if anyone has a good kale or carrot recipe, send them my way!!