Hoisin Stir fry

I had half a head of cabbage leftover from my last Shabbat meal, so I searched on epicurious for something I could do with it and found this recipe, which I pretty much followed.  I altered some ingredients and added in some of Ron's home grown peppers.  I ate a lot of this, but it did not feel heavy.  It made enough for 5 large portions so we'll be having lots of leftovers.  

olive oil

1 sweet potato, cut into small cubes

1 medium-size onion, cut into slices

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 a head of thick sliced red cabbage 

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

baby portobello mushrooms, chopped

bell pepper, chopped

sriracha

ground ginger

salt, pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato and onion; stir-fry until yams are just tender, adjusting heat if browning too quickly and adding water by tablespoonfuls if mixture is dry, about 12 minutes. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add chicken and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute. Add mushrooms, and bell peppers.  Add a little more oil and water if necessary.  Stir fry a couple minutes.  Add cabbage; stirfry until cabbage is wilted but still slightly crunchy, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in hoisin sauce and a squirt of sriracha. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in 1/2 cup cilantro. Transfer stir-fry to serving bowl; sprinkle with remaining cilantro.  Serve with rice.  

Lemon Ricotta Baked Penne

I recently saw this recipe through foodgawker and decided to try to make it a little lighter.  I used reduced fat cheeses and added some artichoke hearts which I thought went really well with it.  I boiled some frozen broccoli in the pasta water after I took the past out, and while the pasta was baking, I cleaned out the pan and sauteed the cooked broccoli with some olive oil with red pepper flakes.  I threw some pine nuts on it to serve.


1/2 box of penne
½ onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
about 1/4 container low fat ricotta
about 3/4 a container reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled
finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
½ tablespoon dried thyme leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive breadcrumbs:
breadcrumbs
about 10 black and green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
finely grated zest of ½ lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Combine olive oil, onion, and garlic in a pan over medium-high heat and sauté until very tender and starting to caramelize. Remove from the heat to cool slightly. Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted water until al dente.  Add the ricotta, feta, olives, lemon zest and juice and thyme to the onion and mix. Season to taste.  Drain the pasta, reserving the water.  Add the pasta to the cheese mixture and mix well. Add reserved water as needed so it does not dry out.  Transfer to a lightly oiled baking dish.  Make the olive breadcrumbs: combine the breadcrumbs, the olives, the olive oil and the lemon zest in a small bowl. Season to taste. Spread evenly over the pasta mixture and bake until bubbling and golden (15-20 minutes). Serve hot.

Cinnamon Crunch Chicken

This recipe was on French Fridays with Dorie a few weeks ago.  I saw a million pictures of it and it looked delicious.  I also read that it only had 3 ingredients and was super easy to make, so I had to try it.  You cannot use heavy cream or sour cream as a substitute for the creme fraiche in this recipe because they will break over the heat.  We could not find creme fraiche at Whole Foods for several weeks though, but I finally got to make this last night.  I thought it was worth the wait.  Somehow the sauce turns out like a caramel.  I served it with some cous cous and steamed green beans.

Ingredients:
Chicken tenders
1 container creme fraiche
ginger snap cookies
salt, pepper, olive oil

Directions:
Season the chicken tenders with salt and pepper.  Heat oil over medium heat and sautee chicken until golden brown on each side.  Meanwhile, roughly chop about 6 small gingersnap cookies and mix into the creme fraiche.  When chicken is browned, add creme fraiche mixture to the pan and mix it with the chicken.  Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer until the chicken is cooked through.  Serve immediately with some more cookies crumbled on top for some more crunch.

Wienerschnitzel with pickled cabbage and roasted potatoes

I wanted to make veal for Shabbat dinner tonight.  I guess I was looking at some pictures from our Switzerland trip and had a craving.  I had to make a separate trip to Whole Foods to find veal but the whole meal turned out very well.  I served it with simple roasted red potatoes and pickled cabbage, which I thought was too strong.

Also, this picture is taken with my new iphone 4s camera.  Hopefully it's better than previous pictures, since I don't take this blogging thing seriously enough to go get my nice camera.

Ingredients:
2 pieces of Veal scallopini
flour
panko bread crumbs, crushed
2 eggs, with 1 tbsp water
oil

Directions:
Season the veal with salt and pepper.  Dredge in the flour, then in the egg and then in the crushed panko bread crumbs.  Add enough oil to the pan to make sure it will go about half way up the veal when added to the pan.  Heat over medium high heat.  Add the veal to the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown.  Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels.

Cabbage:
I found this recipe on foodgawker, but had to change it a little based on the ingredients I had.

Shred half a head of red cabbage.  Mix with 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 cup apple juice.  Add about 1 tsp of ground cloves and mix well.  Refrigerate for an hour or longer and serve.

Roasted Garlic and Onion Soup

Also for Shabbat dinner, I made this soup with 2 red onions and 1/2 heads of garlic.  I just cut those up and tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted them in the oven on 400 for about 30 minutes until they were pretty well browned.  Next, I added them to a sauce pan with a box of vegetable stock, brought it to a boil and pureed it with my immersion blender.  Season again with salt and pepper.

This soup was very tasty and thick, without adding any cream.  It was even better the next day.

Chicken with Apples and Onions

I have been seeing a lot of recipes for pork with apples and they always sound really good except for the pork.  I decided to try to cook some sweet onions and apples and serve them with chicken so we could enjoy a nice fall dish.  This would have been great with a little goat cheese if I had had some on hand.  I served it with leftover sauteed spinach and potatoes au gratin from Capital Grille where we had "date night" yesterday.

Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts, sliced in half
salt, pepper, oil, herbs de provence, cayenne
2 honey crisp apples, chopped
1 onion, sliced

Directions:
Sautee the onions on medium heat until translucent.  Add the apples and sautee with the onions until all are softened.  Season with salt, pepper, herbs de provence and a pinch of cayenne.  Keep over low heat.    Meanwhile, season the chicken and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes each side or until cooked through.  Serve atop the apples and onions.

Sour Cream Chicken with veggies

I had a tub of sour cream that I'd gotten for a recipe I didn't end up making.  After searching for some other recipe where I could us the sour cream, I came across a recipe similar to this one.  I don't usually like a lot of sour cream on my foods, so I was not sure I would like this at all.  It turned out to be very tasty and the chicken was extremely moist.  I would make it again and marinate the chicken for longer in the sour cream to increase the flavor.  I served this with the leftover potatoes and artichokes and some veggies.

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts
1 cup sour cream
seasoned bread crumbs
salt, pepper, olive oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Add the sour cream and coat the chicken.  Press the chicken into the bread crumbs until coated.  Bake for about 40 minutes or until cooked through.

Vegetables:  Sautee some onion in oil over medium low heat.  When translucent, add frozen peas and carrots.  Add some white wine and season with herbs de provence.   Cook until vegetables are tender and moisture is absorbed.

Blackened Tilapia with Potatoes and Artichoke Hearts

I saw a photo of a catfish seasoned with paprika that came out pretty red and crispy so I thought I could make a version of that.  I used mostly paprika and some chili powder, and then just a little bit of some other seasonings I had on hand.  It came out pretty and crispy, so Blake approved of this fish dinner.  

Ingredients:

Tilapia fillets

paprika

chili powder

garlic powder

onion powder

cayenne

curry powder

cumin

salt, pepper, oil

lemon

Directions:

Mix the seasonings together in a small dish.  Press the fish into the seasonings to coat.  Heat oil over medium heat and sautee the fish about 3 minutes per side.  Remove from the heat and serve immediately with some lemon.  

For the artichokes and potatoes, I decided to try to cook baby artichokes for the first time.  I trimmed the stem and outer leaves, and cut a portion off the top and dropped them in lemon water until I was ready to cook them.  I boiled some fingerling potatoes and added the artichoke hearts towards the end of the boiling time.  I only wanted to cook the potatoes until just barely tender because I was going to fry them afterwards.  After draining the vegetables, I sauteed some shallots and garlic in a pan over medium heat and sliced the potatoes and artichokes.  I added them to the shallots and cooked them until they were browned.