Loving the medley of vegetables in my fridge today, I decided to improvise a hearty, fall-like vegetable dinner dish. Making use of the little gnocchetti I had at home, I combined them with bright earthy ingredients such as red onions, fresh Brussels sprouts, sweet craisins and organic tofu for some protein. No red sauce was used or needed and I put a little bit of sharp cheddar on top, which melted beautifully and made the dish comforting.
Vegetarian Gnocchi with Tofu & Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 package of gnocchetti (I use Vantia brand)
1 small package of Brussels Sprouts (about 6-7 heads)
1/2 red onion, chopped
7 oz block of organic tofu, chopped into small squares
Large handful of craisins
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook the gnocchetti according to the directions on the packaging.
In the meantime, sautee the onions and add the Brussels Sprouts and the tofu. Be very careful with the tofu so you don't break it apart too much. Let all these ingredients caramelize for about 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the gnocchetti and add into the veggie/tofu mixture. Be gentle while mixing so you don't break the gnocchetti apart. It is however, OK to let the gnocchetti caramelize a little bit.
Serve immediately and top with grated cheese and fresh herbs if you like.
I’ve been on the road so much lately, that it’s been a while since I’ve made a home cooked meal, and quite frankly, I miss that. Right before our Cali trip, I was eager to get rid of a few things in the fridge and the pantry, so I made my own version of what I call the “fridge clean-out pasta.” Basically consisting of a few random ingredients that surprisingly paired well together, I created a dish that my dining companions coined as “restaurant quality.” They may have just been being kind, but I must admit that it was tasty. Here’s the recipe, which you can change around based on what you have in the house.
Fooditka’s Fridge Clean-Out Pasta
Ingredients (serves 3)
1 package of whole wheat pasta, such as spaghetti
1 cup of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
2 pieces of Calabresa Brazilian sausage (or any sausage you have on hand), chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
2 big handfuls of basil
1 large garlic clove
Pine nuts or pumpkin seeds
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook pasta according to directions on the box.
Sautee onion in a large non-stick skillet with olive oil, until softened. Add mushrooms and sausage, season lightly with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, or until slightly browned. Add the tomatoes at the very end, until slightly softened.
In the meantime, make the pesto. Place the basil and the garlic clove in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add olive oil and the nuts or pumpkin seeds, until the mixture has a creamy consistency.
Combine the pasta with the cooked veggies and add the pesto. Feel free to add a ½ cup of pasta water to form a sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste and top with a fresh basil sprig.
After a long, hard day, with feeling under the weather to boot, I needed something warm and comforting for dinner. I wanted it to be healthy too, as I've been eating out a lot and last night's feast at Koliba didn't do much good for the waistline.
I decided to go for a simple, but quite delicious (and nutrient rich) dish with chicken sausage, mushrooms, fresh spinach and quinoa. Even though the recipe called for farro instead, I opted for the quinoa, as it was cheaper and provided some nice texture from the crunch of the light and dark kernels.
Getting big praises about this from Dan, he thought it was very flavorful and tasted healthful too. It did a nice job of filling us up and because I made a generous amount, we'll have it for tomorrow's lunch as well. Let the goodness continue...
Sausage, Mushrooms and Spinach over quinoa - adapted from a Whole Food Market recipe
Even though I have a wok (and have had it forever), I haven’t been too forthcoming about using it, and experimenting with stir-fry dishes. This past weekend changed all that, as I spotted a fun little recipe in Bon Appetit’s March issue for Brussels sprouts and steak stir-fry. It looked gorgeous – all colorful and vibrant – so I thought, “why not?!”
I liked that the prep was minimal, just some slicing of veggies such as carrots, fresh ginger, scallions, Brussels Sprouts and the like, but the rest of the magic happened in the wok. Amazed by how quickly it all went down and was literally prepared in no more than 7-10 minutes, we had dinner on the table real quick and plenty of food to go back for seconds and thirds.
Since you’re making your own sauce coating for the stir-fry, make sure to use low sodium soy sauce to control the salt content and use a good quality rice vinegar such as Kikkoman.
I hope you enjoy this dish, and please let me know about any fun variations you come up with!
Brussels sprouts and steak stir fry recipe, courtesy of Bon Appetit
With a lot of leftover zucchini in my fridge, which was a gift from my parents before they left for Slovakia, I had to get inventive about what to do with it. The zucchini was on the large side, which meant it had a lot of yummy flesh and plenty of surface area to stuff it, which is exactly what I decided to do with it.
Using a melon baller to take the inside flesh out, I then chopped it up and mixed it with other healthful ingredients such as as tomatoes, celery and onion, and then restuffed it back into the zucchini. The end result was a gorgeously vibrant gourd stuffed with lots of flavorful ingredients, which we enjoyed as the main part of our dinner. Even Dan who's not a huge fan of zucchini enjoyed this one.
Fooditka's Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients (serves 2)
2 large zucchinis, cut in half and the flesh scooped out with a spoon or a mellon baller
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
2-3 large pieces of sopressata, chopped
2-3 tbs of breadcrumbs (you can eyeball it)
2 tbs of fontina cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Combine the zucchini, tomatoes, onion, celery, sopressata and breadcrumbs in a medium sized bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stuffed inside the zucchini and drizzle with olive oil and then top with cheese.
Bake for about 25-30 mins or until the top gets brown and the cheese melts. Let cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy!
Still trying to maintain healthy eating, especially when cooking at home, I made the above pictured easy salmon dish this week that was tasty, healthful and satisfying. Buying the salmon fillets ahead of time, there is some pre-planning required, but all else I managed to put together from the ingredients we had on hand.
Fully stocked with a big bag of salted pistachios, I decided to make them the star of the show by chopping them up, combining them with Italian breadcrumbs and a little bit of olive oil to form the crust. Although the middle layer was supposed to be made up of stone ground mustard and lemon juice, I didn't have this and used 2% Greek yogurt instead, which worked just fine. Serving the whole thing on a bed of whole wheat cous-cous, studded with raisins, chopped onions and green peppers, Dan and I loved chomping down on it and felt really good and fulfilled after - and not overly stuffed.
Here's the easy recipe, courtesy of the Food Network, but you can feel free to change it around as you wish.
Pistachio Crusted Salmon Recipe
I was so tired from the week and getting back in the swing of things, that I wanted to cook something good without it being too elaborate. And since I haven't really had seafood in a while (there's not much in the way of shellfish in Slovakia), I thought shrimp would be perfect.
Being a bit of a hit or miss for me, I don't always succeed in making shrimp, but this time around was different. I followed the cooking directions of this recipe to a t, which produced really delicious and not overdone shrimp. The simple pairing of cherry tomatoes and a spicy paprika rub gave the shrimp a lot of flavor, which then further rested on a bed of whole wheat cous-cous. Dressed with sliced apricots, pistachios and dill, all the flavors were fresh and vibrant and didn't weigh you down. As you'll see in the recipe, it says you can do it in about 20 minutes and I can personally vouch this is true. Hope you love it as much as we did.
Broiled shrimp with whole wheat cous-cous and a side of yogurt-hummus sauce, as seen on foodnetwork.com
It's been a while since I've made a multi-course Sunday night dinner, but tonight I had the opportunity so I went all out. Wanting to cook something special but also not too caloric, I was inspired by a recipe that came from September's Everyday Food magazine. While I altered some of the ingredients such as substituting beef for chicken sausage and using just one kind of squash, I followed the general directions, which resulted in something really delicious.
While I don't think this dish will satiate you on its own, I'd suggest making a fresh veggie salad or an easy side dish to go along with it. My side dish came in the form of stuffed tomatoes, which I filled with leftover squash that I sauteed with garlic and onions...but more on that later. Hope you enjoy this recipe and wash it down with a crisp glass of white wine.
Summer Chicken Sausage and Rice Casserole
Ingredients (serves 4)
1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan (I omitted this)
2 tbs of olive oil, divided
5 cups reserved quick meat sauce (I sauteed chicken sausage and combined it with tomato sauce)
1/2 cup long-grain white rice (I substituted with brown rice. Please note that the recipe tells you to not pre-cook the rice before mixing it with the other ingredients, but please do cook it or else it will remain extremely al-dente)
1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 zucchini or summer squash, very thinly sliced (I only used one of these, the yellow squash, and found that I only needed about a half of it)
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan and 1 tbs of olive oil. In a large cast iron skillet, bring meat sauce to a rapid simmer over high. Stir in rice and remove from heat. *Once again, please pre-cook your rice instead of putting it in raw.*
Top with onion, then carefully arrange zucchini in a single, slightly overlapping layer. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with remaining olive oil and top with breadcrumb mixture.
Return to heat and bring to a simmer. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake until rice is cooked through and breadcrumbs are golden, about 10 minutes more. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe adapted from September 2012 issue of Everyday Food
A few weeks ago, Dan and I had my brother Peter and my future sister-in-law, Fiana over for a special steak dinner. In the mood to break out the nice china and some fancy grub, we made it look a lot more complicated than it really was, preparing a broiled steak with chimichurri sauce and tapas-style roasted potatoes with a spicy mayo sauce. The salad you see above was the preamble to this meal, and by using really good quality ingredients, we were able to make something spectacular out of just three simple items. Ready in just about an hour, the dinner was fun to make and I can comfortably say that our guests really enjoyed it. Here's how you can recreate it at home.
Spinach Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Burrata Cheese:
Ingredients (serves 4)
8 handfuls of fresh baby spinach or arugula
Fresh burrata cheese (or you can also use regular mozzarella if you have it on hand)
2 cups of cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper to taste
Good quality olive oil
Directions:
Place the greens in an individual salad bowl and top with tomatoes and burrata (about 3-4 medium chunks). Top with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Broiled Steak with Chimichurri Sauce
For steak:
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 medium - large pieces of filet mignon or ribeye steaks
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
For chimichurri sauce:
I followed this easy recipe
Directions (for steak):
Brush steak with olive oil and season properly with salt and pepper. Let it rest for about an hour, until it reaches room temperature.
In the meantime, set the oven to broil.
Pop the steaks in when ready and broil for about 5-6 minutes for a medium consistency, or to the way you like it. Let it rest for about 10 minutes and then top with chimichurri sauce.
Tapas-Style Potatoes:
Ingredients (serves 4):
3 potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 tsp of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper or paprika (depends on your preference of spiciness)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Toss potatoes with oil, salt and pepper until well incorporated. Place into a lined baking sheet and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown. You may have to turn them halfway into the process.
In the meantime, mix the mayo with the lemon juice, cayenne or paprika until smooth. Place directly on top of the potatoes.
I had quite the culinary dilemma today, as I got home late from work, had to do more work at home and eat somewhere in between too. Another issue was that I had absolutely nothing good in the house, and had no time to grab my favorite take-out. On the verge of being extremely grumpy (no doubt influenced by my hunger), I started to really rack my brain for what we had in the fridge and whether I really could create something out of nothing. "Tomatoes, blue cheese, garlic, parsley...Hmmm...," it was definitely enough to work with. I also remembered I had some store bought gnocchi in my pantry that could certainly go well with those ingredients.
I first started to chop my tomatoes, then some red onion I found in the fridge too. Next came the garlic and wha la, I was on my way to making a homemade tomato sauce. Getting another idea to further reduce this sauce with good quality red wine that we also had on hand, I created a rich, earthy reduction that tasted like it took hours to prepare (but actually only too about 10 minutes).
Finishing the dish off with crumbled blue cheese, fresh parsley and toasted pepitas, it was really an exceptional surprise. I was pretty proud of myself to create it on the fly like that, and after the long day I had, I guess I needed some unabashed self-encouragement. Here's the recipe:
Fooditka's Last Minute Emergency Gnocchi:
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 package of store bought gnocchi (frozen or dry)
2 1/2 medium roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 sweet red onion, diced
2 small garlic cloves, diced
Small handful of fresh parsley, chopped
Handful of crumbled blue cheese
Generous handful of toasted pepitas
1/4 cup of red wine or two generous glugs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook gnocchi according to the directions on the packaging.
Pre-heat a non-stick medium skillet and coat it with olive oil (about 1 1/2 tbs or eyeball it). Let the oil get really hot and then drop in your onions and garlic. Let cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes and keep stirring it so it doesn't burn.
Lower the heat and add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Keep stirring occasionally. Lower the heat and add your wine, letting it reduce for a few minutes (about 5 minutes).
Combine the cooked gnocchi with a little pasta water, if needed to thin it out. Garnish with fresh parsley, cheese and pepitas, and freshly ground black pepper.
What on earth are fasirky, you might ask? Although the name and its spelling might be unfamiliar to you, the actual food is quite complimentary with our culture, as it's essentially mini burgers that are prepared a bit differently.
Fasirky are a Slovak dish and they refer to ground meat patties that are combined with egg, breadcrumbs, sometimes scallions and anything else you can think of. It's usually a quick, stand-by dish that a lot of Slovak people turn to when they want a home cooked meal that doesn't take long to prepare. I grew up eating it at home and Dan quickly came to love them, to the point where he asks my mom if she can make them all the time.
I decided to try my own version last night - just by process of improvisation and from watching my mom, grandmother and uncle make them over the years. Mine incorporate turkey meat, but you can also use ground beef, chicken, lamb or a mix of them.
Foodista's Turkey Fasirky:
Ingredients (serves 2):
1 lb of ground turkey meat
1 - 1 1/2 chopped scallions
1 egg1/2 garlic clove, minced (optional)
Handful of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable or canola oil
Directions:
Combine the meat with the scallions, egg, garlic, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Fully incorporate with your hands until you get a consistency that's firm enough to form a patty. If you need to add more breadcrumbs, then do until you get the right consistency.
Form meat mixture into 3 inch oval patties and flatten them out a little. Not as much as you'd flatten a burger but just so they don't resemble large meatballs.
Then prepare your sautee pan with a generous glug of oil on medium heat. Give it some time to get super hot and then drop in your meat patties. Turn over after about 4 minutes or until golden brown on the outside. Repeat with the other side and make sure the sides are cooked too. If you need more time for the sides, lower the heat and just leave the patties to cook several minutes longer. If you're unsure about the doneness of your meat, cut one patty in half to make sure you're in the clear.
Enjoy with some cous-cous, mashed potatoes, a veggie salad - whatever you please. For my side dish, I used round cous-cous and added chopped scallions and really tiny pieces of radish. It was good!
