A new favorite, this shrimp stuffed poblano peppers recipe can be prepared ahead and cooked on a weeknight, it’s healthy and chock-full of vegetables and lean protein. I clearly was lazy in peeling my peppers, but we didn’t mind a bit of charred skin here and there.
- fresh poblano peppers 4 whole
- shrimp, peeled and chopped roughly 3/4 Lb
- garlic, minced finely or mashed 2 cloves
- fresh cilantro and/or basil, chopped 2 Tbsp
- red bell pepper, chopped finely 1/4 whole
- ground cumin 1/2 tsp
- sea salt 3/4 tsp
- red bell pepper 1 large
- roma tomatoes or one small can peeled roma tomatoes or chopped tomatoes 2 whole
- garlic, chopped 2 cloves
- chili flakes or equivalent 1 tsp
- shallots, chopped finely 4 small-medium
- coconut oil or other cooking oil 2 tsp
- Char the whole, washed peppers over a flame and peel, or, cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and peel. Set aside.
- Combine all but the peppers in a bowl, and stuff the peppers with the mixture, closing them again as best you can.
- Bake in oven at 350 for 8-11 minutes, depending on size of the peppers. Shrimp will be completely white and pink when done.
- In the oven at 400 degrees, roast the red pepper until soft. Peel, remove seeds and set aside in blender.
- In a sauce pan, warm the coconut oil and add the shallots and chili flakes, cooking until shallots begin to go limp.
- Add the garlic and chili flakes, followed immediately by the tomatoes--slice thinly the tomatoes and add to the pan, cooking at medium heat until they are falling apart, about 20 minutes.
- Add it all to the blender with the roasted pepper and puree.
- It will likely be thicker than soup; you can thin it with vegetable or chicken stock, or serve it thick under the cooked peppers.
Serves two for main course
The Peppers & Filling
4 poblano peppers, charred over a flame and peeled or cooked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and peeled
3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and chopped roughly
2 cloves garlic, minced finely or mashed
2 T fresh cilantro and/or basil, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped finely
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp sea salt
Combine all but the peppers in a bowl, and stuff the peppers with the mixture, closing them again as best you can. Bake in oven at 350 for 8-11 minutes, depending on size of the peppers. Shrimp will be completely white and pink when done.
For the Tomato-Red Pepper Sauce
1 large red bell pepper, roasted at 400 degrees, peeled, seeds removed and tossed into a blender
2 ripe, never refrigerated roma tomatoes or one small can peeled roma tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp chili flakes or equivilent
4 small-medium shallots, chopped finely
2 tsp coconut oil or other cooking oil
In a sauce pan, warm the coconut oil and add the shallots and chili flakes, cooking until shallots begin to go limp. Add the garlic and chili flakes, followed immediately by the tomatoes–slice thinly the tomatoes and add to the pan, cooking at medium heat until they are falling apart, about 20 minutes. Add it all to the blender with the roasted pepper and puree. It will likely be thicker than soup; you can thin it with vegetable or chicken stock, or serve it thick under the cooked peppers.
Roasted Spring Root Vegetables
April 20, 2012
A beautiful and simple lunch or light dinner, these roasted spring root vegetables are pleasing to the eye and are the perfect summary of the spring bounty that is now my CSA/farm shipment.
Simply find the best spring veggies you can, cut them in fairly even sizes, toss them in olive oil, salt, and pepper (or add some herbs de provence if you like), and roast them 25-40 minutes at 400 degrees on some foil (for easy clean up). Save them cold to toss into salads for the coming days or feast on them then; serve them as an appetizer with friends over on a large platter and cocktail forks. It’s a pleaser.
Use things like: Baby Carrots, Turnips, Easter Egg Radishes, Golden Beets, Chiogga Beets, Rutabaga, Celery Root
Leave the stems on (they are edible! and save those radish & turnip greens for a sautee, a quiche, or a pesto) but trim off any broken or decrepit parts of the stem and use a vegetable sponge to scrub the dirt from the tops and sides. Don’t peel the carrots, just scrub the dirt off. You can also roast everything whole and slice them in half afterwards for brighter centers, but you may need to separate a few trays by size of the objects to ensure even cooking.
Easy Weeknight Rack of Lamb Recipe
March 18, 2012
This is painfully easy; it’s shamelessly stolen from artist Joanne Ruggles who treated a whole gaggle of us to it on New Years Eve this year. I’ve been making it every few weeks since–I even took a cooler pack of lamb with the ingredients up to Orr Hot Springs and made lunch out of it on a weekday–after which several people who saw me preparing it in their wonderful kitchen asked me for the recipe. Yeah, that good!
Easy Weeknight Rack of Lamb Recipe
Rack of Lamb, however much you want, trimmed of fat (this is important! slice that stuff off or you’ll be gnawing on it)
Sweet Mustard
Montreal Steak Seasoning shamelessly purchased from Costco (Yeah, I know. This is a serious tangent from this blog).
Oven, 400 degrees. Slather that trimmed lamb with mustard, even the bones. Generously coat it in the steak seasoning. Throw it on some foil and put it in the oven for about 20-35 minutes, until medium or medium rare. If you like your lamb more cooked than that then you don’t deserve to make this.
Serve it with anything! A big salad, some couscous, zucchini, asparagus, sauteed chard or spinach..Whatever!
Red Snapper En Papilotte + Endive, Apple & Red Cabbage Slaw
April 17, 2011
Red Snapper Filets en Papilotte
1/3 lb snapper filets, as many as needed (1 per person)*
lime, sliced thinly
thyme sprigs
parchment paper
*great* olive oil (optional)
salt & pepper
Begin by patting dry and lightly salting the filets. On a piece of parchment wider than the fish is long and twice as long as the fish is long, place the filet. Layer a few slices of thin lime on the fish, topping with some thyme sprigs and a dash of olive oil if you like. Top with pepper.
Fold the parchment in half, with the filet sitting flat against the crease of the paper. Fold the corners in, folding down several more times. Fold in the other sides and tuck under to create an enclosure (the fish will steam). Repeat on remaining fish.
Bake on a sheet (in case of leaking juices) for about 15 minutes at 350-400 degrees. Fish will flake away easily when done.
*This recipe will work for any fish en papilotte; you may need to adjust cooking time for thicker fish and I think the method lends best to more delicate fish (ie, not salmon)
Endive, Apple, Red Cabbage Slaw
serves four
1/2 small red cabbage, sliced very thinly
1/2 medium red onion, sliced very thinly
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 or whole apple of choice, cubed
2 endives, sliced in 1/4 or 1/8 inch short strips (can use radicchio, etc)
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp walnut oil (or other mild oil)
1/2-1tsp ground cumin
salt
Using a mandolin (ideally), slice the onion and cabbage. Slice the endives (or radicchio or other chicories), chop the apple and shred the carrot. Whisk the lime juice, cumin, oil and salt to taste. Mix everything together. Keeps well for 1-2 days, but best fresh.
White Lasagna with Kale, Sausage, & Sweet Potatoes
January 4, 2011
For the lasagna assembly:
1 pack no-boil lasagna sheets (GASP, a shortcut!)
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
2 lbs kale (mixed is OK), blanched, drained, and chopped finely
1 lb sweet italian sausage, no casing, pan fried and set aside
2 large leeks sliced thinly and cooked at medium low heat in fat from sausage
Bechamel sauce for white lasagna
8T butter
1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove fresh garlic
3 3/4 C milk
1 C chicken or vegetable stock
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 C marsala
1 C mixed grated cheese such as parmesan, pecorino, fontina, gruyere
salt & pepper
Melt the butter. Once it reduces spitting/bubbling, add flour and whisk, cooking for 3 minutes at medium heat. Slowly add the milk and the stock, raising heat to high. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until sauce coats the back of a spoon. Set aside to cool until warm to touch.
Once warm to touch, add the beaten eggs, 1/2 C marsala, 1/2 C of cheese and salt & pepper to taste.
Assemble the lasagna
Preheat oven to 375. Pour a thin layer of bechamel sauce on the bottom of your lasagna pan (preferably 8×10 or something similar/bigger), add two layers of lasagne sheets. Spread the sausage evenly, add salt & pepper, and cover with more sauce.
Add another 2 layers of lasagna sheets, next adding the kale. Top with salt & pepper, sauce, and more lasagna sheets.
Add a thin layer of leeks, and then as if making a gratin spread the sweet potato slices in a single overlapping layer.
Add more salt & pepper, sauce, and the final layer of lasagna sheets. Top with sauce and remaining cheese. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour.
St. Louis Style Cannelloni with Pork, Ricotta, & Chard
December 3, 2010
This recipe will feed about 4 people with a side dish or 3 hungry people without one. It helps to have a food processor available.
Filling
2/3 lb spicy or sweet Italian pork sausage, out of casing
3 cups chopped chard and/or spinach
1 cup ricotta cheese (preferably sheep’s ricotta)
1/2 yellow or white onion, diced
Cook the sausage in a medium high heat skillet in a little chunks, seperating with your fingers, until brown on one side. Add the onions, and cook until mostly tender. Add the chard/spinich, and cook briefly until wilted. Allow mixture to cool slightly in pan or in thin metal bowl, and if you have one, use a food processor to make the mixture more even/fine. Once cooled to room temperature or close to it, add the ricotta and stir until blended. Adjust seasoning.
Red Sauce
1 container chopped or strained tomatoes (I used a carton of POMI)
1 stick butter
1/2 onion, peeled and intact
Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and simmer until delicious. Add salt. About 30 minutes. Can make ahead.
White Sauce
1 T butter
2 T flour
1-2 cups milk
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp thyme or 2 tsp fresh thyme chopped
Melt the butter until the water content has fizzled off, add the flour and whisk, cooking about 1 min until slightly darker. Slowly add milk until you have a nice, somewhat thick consistency sauce. Set aside. You’ll be reheating this shortly and possibly adding more milk to pour over the cannelloni.
Pasta
2 eggs
00 white wheat flour if possible
0 semola / semolina flour
Use this recipe and roll out as thin as possible into sheets, cutting into strips about 10 inches long by 4 inches wide, roughly. It is ok if the sheets vary in size, so long as they’ll roll into a cannelloni giving it a few layers around. Boil water, add salt, and one at a time blanch the strips for 30 seconds or so, until they toughen up a bit. Remove, set on paper towels flat, not touching other pasta, in layers, to reserve for use.
Alternatively you can buy cannelloni tubes from the grocery or lasagna sheets without the ruffles.
Assembly
Put a thin layer of red sauce in your baking/casserole dish to prevent pasta from sticking to bottom. Roll several spoonfuls of filling into each pasta sheet, placing each closely against the next in the dish. Once finished, top with red sauce thoroughly, then white sauce. Top with grated parmesan or asiago, bake at 375 for 25 minutes until golden and beautiful on top.
Oven baked babyback ribs to fall off the bone all year long + mango slaw
September 12, 2010
I know it’s barbecue season and all, but the nice little disc that distributes the heat on my gas grill pretty much withered away to dust all of the sudden, and I’m grill-less unless I want to bother with the whole charcoal thing, which most of the time just takes way too much planning.
And so, after my latest grocery impulse buy–a rack of ribs–I had to come up with somethin’ new.
Oven Baked Ribs
1 rack (or more! hey! who’s to stop you) babyback pork ribs
For the spice rub:
1/4 C brown sugar
1 T paprika
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp berbere mix if you can get your hands on some
Mix it up and rub it on the ribs generously. Let sit overnight in the fridge with it on or at room temp at least 30 minutes.
Make a loose foil packet for the ribs and bake at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.
When rib meat is pulled away from bone, dress top in bbq sauce (store bought in my case) and stick under the broiler meaty side up for a few minutes until bubbly and caramelized.
Mango Slaw
1/2 cucumber,seeded and sliced thinly
1/4 mango, julienned
1/4 jicama tuber, julienned
1/8th head red cabbage, sliced thinly
1/4 carrot, sliced thinly in wafers
2 radishes, quartered and sliced thinly
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp walnut oil
1 tsp sushi vinegar or other vinegar
pinch salt
Whisk together last 5 ingredients and add all other ingredients. This’ll be fine the next day too but I prefer it immediately.
Miso Black Cod & Winter Flatbread
February 21, 2010
Miso Fish (black cod)
1/4 lb french fingerling (red) potatoes, cut into rounds 1/4 or less thick
1/4 lb butternut squash flesh, cubed or sliced 1/4 inch thick and cut into chunks
olive oil
garlic
Roast garlic cloves in oil in the oven, and remove when soft but not deeply colored or dried out. Puree in small food processor or with mortar & pestle. This will be spread over your pizza skin.
In a nonstick pan, use a bit of oil to cook the potatoes & squash, covering to cook through if necessary. Reserve. I used leftovers from another meal, so it’s fine if they are cold when you use them.
Preheat oven to as hot as it will go and be sure your pizza stone is clean. If you don’t have a pizza stone, place skin on a cookie sheet preferably without edges and “dock” the skin with a fork to allow air to circulate better and crisp it while cooking.
Instead of rolling out your pizza dough, use your fingers to create a thin but mostly even center, leaving an edge that is thicker.
Spread the garlic oil & garlic over the skin evenly and randomly scatter the cooked potatoes & squash. Cook until golden, 3-6 minutes depending on oven temperature. Cut into wedges.
If you’re feeling fancy, throw some fresh chopped herbs on it when it comes out (thyme or basil would be great) of the oven, and dab the edges with a bit of olive oil.
Sundried Tomato Reduction Pizza + Butternut Squash Pizza with Sage & Fontina val d’Aosta
January 18, 2010
Some of you know that I have stolen my go-to pizza dough recipe from Wolfgang Puck. Here it is for your convenience.
1 pack dry yeast, with an expiration date we have not yet reached
1 tsp honey or brown sugar
1 cup warm water (about 105-115 degrees)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 T olive oil
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water & the honey/sugar. Let it get a bit frothy while you gather your other ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Create a well. Add the yeast mixture to the middle and the olive oil. Add the rest of the warm water, using it to get any yeast that stuck in the bowl. Mix together. It may be quite sticky. Add more flour and knead dough until smooth and supple.
Cover with thin, damp towel (well wrung out) and put in a warm spot like on top of your gas range. Let it sit at least an hour but more if you can.
Cut it into fourths. Grab a fourth and punch it down, gathering it back into a ball. Roll it out on a large floured surface with a rolling pin, until thin but not too thin to handle and put onto a well dusted cookie sheet without a lip or a piel, if you are fancy enough to own one. I was, but I gave it away several moves ago. So back to the cookie sheet.
You’ll want to cook this on a pizza stone–if you’re going to bother making your own dough, you should get one. It makes a huge, huge difference in the texture and moisture of the pizza and how well it holds up to your toppings. It also is handy to leave in a stubborn or unpredictable oven because it will help regulate heat.
Cook it as hot as your oven goes. Don’t over fill it. Too much = hard to handle & won’t cook right. Your pizza, when ready to cook, should NOT resemble any restaurants “veggie” pizza. Too much!
Butternut Squash Pizza
Sautee cubes of fresh butternut sqash in butter or olive oil. Add salt & pepper. When tender, add some fresh or dried sage.
Thinly coat pizza skin in olive oil, and add thin slices of red onion. Add cubes of fontina. Lastly, squash.
Sundried Tomato Reduction Margarita Pizza
My mom visited a while back and left us with a sundried tomato reduction which she had made to use in a risotto. Fancy. We put it on our pizza with some mozzarella and some thyme and it was deliciousss.
My mom is pretty well known for reducing things, too. For example, demi glace. Or, port reduction for sauces on beef or pork. She’s been known to boil beef bones for days. We once had a golden retriever who would lay next to that pot for days. My mom taught her the words “reduction sauce.” She would react like you said “cookie” or “walk.”
Halibut with Fennel and a Roasted Beet Salad
March 2, 2009
1 head baby fennel (or half regular), with fronds
1 piece fresh halibut, .5-.75 lb
mixed salad greens
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil + macadamia oil if possible
vanilla salt & pepper
raw pistachios
1/2 roasted red beet
Heat oven to 350. Clean the fennel and cut off the fronds, placing the fronds on a parchment lined baking sheet in a pile. Add your fish skin down onto the fronds and top with 1 tsp olive oil, vanilla salt, and pepper. NOTE: you may make your own vanilla salt by mixing sea salt with the core of 1-2 vanilla beans in a clean spice jar. The salt should be saturated, so you may minimize the amount of salt you make at once. Leave the cleaned out beans in the jar with the salt, it will create a stronger aroma over time.
Place the fish in the oven, you’ll be baking it 15-20 minutes depending on thickness. Should be opaque white and not jiggly when touched but the meat should not seperate when it’s done. Slice your fennel thinly from bottom to top, after removing the stiff core. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a nonstick pan on medium low heat; when heated, add the fennel, pepper, and vanilla salt. Toss occasionally until parts are golden and all is soft, about 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make salad dressing by combining 1/2 juice of lemon (or just scant), and 1/2 as much olive oil as there is lemon juice. Add a dash of macadamia oil or use it exclusively if you like. Add regular salt & pepper, and emulsify with a whisk. Add your washed and drained salad greens, tossing. Add pistachios to taste and your 1/2 roasted beet in cubes (I had one leftover, you may omit it, probably not worth making on its own).