|
Tag Archives: Easy Dinner
Easiest spaghetti dish I have ever put together. Simply seasoned with onions, garlic, thyme and spinach, nothing to it really. Easy eating!
Okay, not sure if this is a “great” fall back on dish or a dud. I saw this whole “frozen” spinach write up in the latest Donna Hay magazine and thought to myself, “what a great thing to have on hand, frozen spinach”! I usually keep a bag of frozen sweet peas on hand for last minute risottos, stews or soups or the occasionally bump or bruise, but spinach, never. Donna has this great recipe, well it looks great, with pasta and frozen spinach. I did not have the other ingredients so I just threw together something with what we had. Now, it was edible, it was not terrible, it tasted good but definitely was not the best thing I have tossed together. Lenny had this odd look on his face, the entire time I was cooking, it basically read …. “I cannot believe we have “frozen” spinach in the house”! Okay, let’s say it was temporary insanity; but, I want you to be the judge of this dish!
Recipe: Spaghetti with Spinach
1 bag frozen spinach
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
handful fresh thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
drizzle of white wine
1/2 lb spaghetti, cooked according to instructions
4oz feta
kosher salt, to taste
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
Cook pasta according to instructions on package. While draining pasta, reserve about 1/8 – 1/4 cup of the cooking water. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in frying pan and saute onions until soft. Add a drizzle of white wine and the frozen spinach, cook until warmed through, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook for about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with pasta and reserved cooking water just until moist not over saucy. Add Feta, stir. Serve. Eat.
Pasta is tossed with good olive oil, goat cheese, olives and fresh herbs to make an easy and tasty dinner.
We had some left over olives and goat cheese from our dinner with Stephen. Instead of eating it or tossing it out, I tucked it away in the fridge, to do something with. Last week we had a late evening of work and gym and this hidden treasure came in perfectly.
The olives were seasoned perfectly with fresh herbs and lemon zest, all that was left was a tad bit more seasoning. I love browned garlic over a fresh steamy bowl of pasta, so I decided to thinly slice some garlic and make garlic chips. I gently cooked them with olive oil and few red pepper flakes. While the garlic was cooking I cooked some pasta. One the pasta was finished all I had to do was drain it, toss in the left over olives and goat cheese, sprinkle the garlic chips over and give the dish a light drizzle of good olive oil ~ a quick, easy and incredibly tasty dinner in under 20 minutes! The combination of the tangy but creamy goat cheese went very well with the fresh lemon zest, the salty olives and the spicy red pepper.
Recipe: Pasta with Olives, Goat Cheese and Garlic Chips
2 oz mixed olives
handful of fresh herbs – we used rosemary and thyme
lemon zest
2 cloves of garlic, thinly slices
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
pasta
good olive oil
Cook pasta according to directions, reserve about 1/4 cup of cooking liquid. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and good garlic with red pepper flakes until crispy and golden brown. Toss pasta with reserved cooking liquid, olives, goat cheese, herbs, zest crispy garlic and drizzle over a small amount of good olive oil. Serve. Eat.
This is an easy dinner for a hot summer night or for when you are counting (cutting) calories. Marinated pork is pan grilled and then gently rolled in a bed of fresh herbs and assorted veggies to make these tasty spring rolls.
 
Last night was perfect for dining al fresco, which meant we wanted something simple and light for dinner. Yes, we are actually starting to have some warm *summer* weather out in San Francisco. I decided spring rolls would be a good dish to have as I wanted to use up some veggies we had before they went bad. I marinated some thinly cut pork cutlets with some garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. We then pan grilled the meat and sliced thinly. Now, one is suppose to use lettuce in their spring rolls but we did not have any, so we were heavy on the herbs. We used fresh purple basil, cilantro and mint and we used a lot of it. As well we rolled the meat and herbs with thinly sliced red pepper, cucumber and carrots. The combination of the herbs with the slightly spicy and sweet pork came …. very flavorful!! We served this spring rolls with Nuoc Cham.
Recipe: Nuoc Cham
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/8 cup lime juice
1 clove garlic minced
2 small red chillies, sliced thinly
Place the fish sauce, sugar, water, lime juice, garlic and chili in a non-metallic bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved. keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Vietnamese salad (Gỏi ) is a great addition to your diet, not only are they light and refreshing but they are fairly easy and full of flavor. This particular salad is made with cool cucumbers, spicy chilies, pork and fresh shrimp, prefect for an easy summer dinner.
I love the site Holy Basil, even though, Christine, is not publishing any longer. I go back there weekly, to see if by some chance, she is back to cooking and blogging. Christine, if you are reading this, please COME BACK!! She enticed us with her weekly salads for a better part of 2008 and we were always so excited to see what was coming next … would it be French or Vietnamese, regardless of her choice, they were full of flavor and interesting.
Christine, claims this is a great salad for dieting and that she was able to take some extra poundage off by eating this weekly for 6 weeks. Well, I can definitely drop a few of thoese extra Daring Bakers & Tuesday with Dorie pounds, so we are hitting the weekly, if not daily salads!
Recipe: Goi Du’a Leo – Vietnamese Cucumber Salad with Shrimp – AKA The Salad that Shaved Serious Poundage Off My Bum
* adapted from Holy Basil – she includes pork, I left it out
2 large cucumbers, cut into very thin half moons
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 lb shrimp, poached with their shells on and then peeled once cooked
1 large carrot, finely grated
large handful of red skinned peanuts, roasted and crushed
1 tablespoon freshly toasted black white sesame seeds
large handful of Vietnamese coriander or cilantro, roughly chopped
SAUCE/DRESSING FOR SALAD:
2 red chilies
1 garlic clove
juice of 1 large lime
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tabelspoon fish sauce
1/4 cup water
STEPS:
Make your dressing by smashing the chilies and garlic in a mortar and pestle. Add the sugar, lime, fish sauce and water. Mix thoroughly to dissolve all the sugar. Taste and add more sugar/fish sauce/lime according to your preference. Set aside.
Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise and slice into thin half moons. Add them to a large bowl and toss with the salt and sugar. Allow to sit for at least 1/2 an hour. The salt will cause the cucumbers to weep their water.
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients – the shrimp, carrot and garnishes (peanuts, sesame seeds and herbs). Drain the cucumbers and rinse well with water. Next, take a handful of the cucumbers and squeeze and ring out as much liquid as you can. (A potato ricer will also do a nice job of this step.) Mix all the drained and squeezed cucumbers with carrot, shrimp and herbs. Right before serving, toss with the dressing and garnish with the sesame seeds and peanuts. (Preparing the cucumbers this way wilts them but I find them a nice textural contrast to the crisp carrots and tender pork and shrimp and crunchy peanuts.)
A cool and refreshing summer salad made with bean thread noodles, crisp green beans, mouth tingly mint and cilantro all dressed with a very flavorful dressing of lime and fish sauce. This salad is easy to make and you will have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes.
Priya picked summer salads for the HHDD #27 kickoff. I love summer salads and Donna Hay has an outstanding collection of them. In order to narrow the choice down Priya found a wonderful lime and noodle salad for HHDD # 27. After reading the recipe, I could not wait to try it as there were so many ingredients that I love in salads: mint, cilantro, chilies and nuts. Now this event and the fact it is all about salads excited me, but I was even more excited when Laudalino (aka .. Lenny) told me he wanted to make the salad!
Laudalino is tossing around the idea of learning to cook. I have told him time and time again, that I thought Donna Hay recipes would be a great place to begin. He was eager, hungry and took this recipe by the horns and created a fantastic dinner for us. The salad has loads of texture, from silky bean thread noodles to spicy chilies. He did add a bit of red pepper to give it a little more color. The sweetness of the red pepper went very well with the crisp green beans and the cool cucumbers took the fire away from the spicy chilies. The salad came together with a sweet but tart dressing made of limes and fish sauce, in which he grated some lime zest as well as some fresh chili, this gave it a nice spicy bite. This salad is prefect for a hot summer evening as it is very light and refreshing.
Lenny, thanks for making a fantastic dinner!!! Priya, thank you for being a great hostess for HHDD #27!
Recipe: Lime and Mint Noodle Salad
*adapted from Donna Hay
serves 8
250g bean thread noodles
500g green beans, trimmed and halved
1 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced
¾ cup mint leaves, chopped
¼ cup coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
¼ cup roasted unsalted peanuts
1 1/2 large red chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
1/4 red pepper, cut in thin strips
Dressing
⅓ cup (80ml) lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 red chili, grated
Place noodles in a bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to stand for 5-6 minutes or until soft. Cook the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes or until bright green. Drain, cool under cold water and drain again. Combine with the noodles, cucumber, mint, coriander, peanuts and chili. To make the dressing, combine the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and pour over the salad. Serve. Eat.
Juicy free range/organic chicken tenders are coated with panko and coconut breading. Then lightly pan fried in peanut oil to make a flavorful kid friendly meal that even the adults will love. Served with a cool cucumber salad and a curry peanut sauce.
After drooling all over the computer screen a couple weeks ago, when I saw what Alice did with some chicken tenders, I knew I had to make them! She made this slightly sweetened tenders for her daughters’ birthday party, if a bunch of giggly 8 year olds love them, I knew we would, too. I loved that she used coconut in the breading; why, had I never thought of that? I decided to take her basic concept and spice it up a bit by adding red chilies and fresh basil to the seasoning as well I left out the orange juice. It was slightly spicy but not over the top, your kids will still like it. The peanut sauce was a great compliment to the sweet coconut and hot chilies. Serve with a cucumber salad and you have a perfect meal.
Recipe: Coconut Chicken Tenders
*recipe idea from Savory Sweet Life
1 lb chicken tenders, free range/organic
1 cup panko
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 red chilies, minced
fresh basil, handful, minced
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
kosher salt, to taste
fresh cracked black pepper
peanut oil, for frying
Peanut Sauce
Wash the chicken and pat dry. Mix the egg and milk in a dish. Combine, the panko, coconut, chilies, basil, salt and pepper, mix well. Heat the peanut oil in a shallow frying pan, about 1/2 inch up the side. Dip a tender in the egg mixture, coat with panko mixture and gently pan fry in the peanut oil. Continue with all the tenders. When you remove the tender from the hot oil, lay the tenders on a paper towel, in a warm oven. Serve. Eat.
Recipe: Peanut Sauce
1 can of coconut milk
4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 teaspoons curry paste
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Mix everything in a bowl until smooth.
Recipe: Cucumber Salad
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
Place the sugar, lime juice and vinegar in a non-metallic bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the cucumber, carrot, red onion and toss well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Makes 2 cups.
We are huge taco fans ever since we had the “real” tacos of Sayulita. When ever I have a little extra fish or veggies and tortillas laying around, I opt for the simplicity of delicious tacos. This week has been all about cleaning out the fridge and freezer so this is exactly what I decided to do, when I found tortillas, snapper and some chipotle in the freezer. With the addition of one small cabbage, a little red onion and sour cream in the fridge, I knew we had something good brewing.
I seasoned the snapper with some cumin seeds (loving cumin these days), sea salt and black pepper, very simple and very flavorful. Then we quickly grilled them until charred and crispy on the outside but still moist inside. When the fish was marinating and grilling, I created a chiptole creme sauce and a slaw out of cabbage, red onion and a little rice vinegar. I find rice vinegar so clean and not complex, it really complimented the other flavors. Last minute I wanted some black beans but could not find any, so I substituted chick peas and made a re-fried mash with them. I used my basic re-fried bean recipe but with chick peas – equally delicious. The flavors of the snapper, chick peas, cabbage and chipotle all came together really well – slightly spicy but cooling with the cabbage. A great little taco!
Recipe: Snapper Tacos with Refried Chick Peas
1/2 lb snapper, cleaned and patted dry
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
sea salt, to taste
fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 can chick peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red chili, minced
1 glove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 small cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
sprinkle of rice vinegar
sprinkle of canola oil
sea salt to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
1 chipotle pepper, minced
tortillas
Heat the grill. While the grill is heating, season the fish with cumin, salt and pepper, set aside until ready to grill. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, add the chick peas with liquid, chili and garlic, bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Stirring occasionally and gently mashing when doing so. Once the chick peas are soft and liquid is almost gone, about 15 minutes, turn off the heat and mash to the consistency that you prefer. I like to have a few whole beans just left, on the rather rough side. Then add the butter and bring up the heat to medium and heat through while stirring. While the beans are cooking you can make chipotle cream by combining the sour cream with chipotles, set aside. To make the slaw combine the cabbage, red onion, rice vinegar, canola oil and salt, set aside. After you have grilled the fish, you are ready to put together your taco. Warm a tortilla on the stove top, lay on a plate, put a small layer of the chick peas, top with the fish, the slaw and then the chipotle creme. Serve. Eat.
A creamy pungent Gorgonzola sauce lightly coats linguine, prosciutto and spinach in this easy pasta dish.
We just celebrated our anniversary. It has been 7 years since Laudalino and I met. I guess it is true, time flies when you are having fun as well as it stands still when you are with the one that you love. I still remember the first time I saw him; his boyish good looks, dark thick wavy hair, he had blue jeans on with brown shoes (yes, I am a shoe girl) and a brown and cream checked shirt; I instantly thought he was cute but thought, “brown?” He took me to dinner which I normally never did on a first date, I broke all rules of coffee or a drink, only on the first date. I knew, just from conversations and emails, that this would be different and half way through dinner, my heart felt the same!
This year for dinner I wanted to recreate the evening where I first cooked for him but creating the same meal. My friend, Evelyn, makes this outstanding linguine dish, that I made 7 years ago. I knew it would be the perfect meal, as I wanted to make something that would be simple and where I would be able to talk to him while cooking. He arrived with flowers and a bottle of wine. I started the evening with some Roquefort cheese, a baguette and a bottle of wine, while I prepared dinner. I remember us talking and laughing and just enjoying each other’s company. When it came time to sit down to eat, I reached around, to grab the remainder of the baguette to have with dinner. I reached and I reached ….. nothing! I could not believe this man had eaten an entire baguette, not even a crumb was left. We still laugh about it and how he can not stop, he has to finish everything, hence one reason you will very rarely find a leftover in our house!
Tonight we started with a nice french wine, Roquefort with truffle honey drizzled over and a baguette, well, half of a baguette. After 7 years I know better and I always hide the other half for dinner! Happy Anniversary to you Baby and to another glorious food filled 7 years! xx oo
Recipe: Linguine with Gorgonzola, Prosciutto & Spinach
1lb dried linguine- I used pappardella pasta
1lb fresh spinach
1/2 lb thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 tablespoons garlic
2 tablespoons fresh basil
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
3/4 olive oil
1/2 lb crumbled gorgonzola
kosher salt, to taste
fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
parmesan
Boil linguine, until al dente. In a large skillet, cook prosciutto, garlic, basil and oregano in 1/2 cup oil over moderately high heat, stirring until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta in colander. Return pasta to a kettle and toss with remaining 1/4 cup oil, prosciutto mixture, 1/2 of the spinach and gorgonzola. Season pasta with salt and pepper. Arrange the reserved spinach leaves on 4 plates. Mound pasta on spinach and sprinkle with pine nuts. Garnish with basil leaves and parmesan. Serve. Eat.
« Older posts
Newer posts »
|
