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Showing posts with label greek yogurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greek yogurt. Show all posts

Broiled Cod with Sweet Onions, Cherry Tomatoes, and Tzatziki Sauce

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 7, 2013 0 comments

With summer winding down, I realized that other than a salmon cake fiasco a couple months ago, I hadn't made a really good fish yet. I wanted to broil something with the gorgeous cherry tomatoes my aunt grew in her garden. Side note: I have to give a shout out and thank you to my Aunt Happel for bringing me a great assortment of some magnificently verdant fresh herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary, and a big bunch of basil--I'm feeling some short ribs with a pesto rub coming to a blog near you very soon) and some glowing, crimson tomatoes. You can't beat home grown! So back to the fish:  when it comes to fish and broiling, you really need something like cod or catfish that will hold up to the high temperature and won't turn into mush like flounder or tilapia would. I also recently saw some very enticing dill fronds at the store, and bought them in bulk, so I needed a dish to utilize them before they weren't fresh anymore. That's where the tzatziki sauce comes in (explanation below). So with the stars aligned, I set out to avail myself of all these fresh ingredients whose powerful flavors go a long way!

The first step is to crank the heat on your oven to broil (or 500 degrees F); you want it very hot when the fish goes in. Then take one large sweet onion, and cut it into about 1/3 inch slices. You want about 9 or 10 altogether. Then line the discs in rows of 3 on a baking sheet drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Lay your cod fillets on top and toss some cherry tomatoes around the sheet. Drizzle with a little more oil, pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper. Squeeze half a lemon all over and toss the half onto the sheet. It will perfume the oven and help the lemon flavor to permeate more. Then take some fresh thyme sprigs, remove the leaves (TayTip: you can easily remove the leaves by pinching one end of the sprig and stripping them off with the index finger and thumb of your other hand. Make sure to go "against the grain." You'll be able to tell if you need to run your fingers the other way.) and sprinkle freely on top of the fish. Thyme has a subtle lemony taste to it, so it compliments the lemon juice very well.  Take some aluminum foil and tent it over the top of your baking sheet. This keeps some of the steam in to keep the fish from drying out and helps the thyme from burning too quickly. Broil for about 10-15 minutes, but keep an eye on it because it goes fast. Your fish should be white and flakey when done.


Now for your tzatziki (pronounced zad-ZEE-kee) sauce.This is a classic Greek dish and is traditionally served with kebobs, inside gyros, or merely as a first course with pita bread. This is literally one of the easiest sauces you will ever make. It only has five ingredients! Let me say that again, FIVE! Excluding salt and pepper, which don't really count because they're in everything. You will be able to make this sauce with time to spare in the time it takes the cod to cook. Tzatziki is traditionally made with fresh mint and parsley along with the dill, but I don't like too many conflicting herbs in mine (because when they're fresh, they have a much stronger flavor as opposed to dried), so I went a little off the beaten path. It also customarily calls for olive oil swirled in (not fully incorporated), but I find that's only really necessary when serving it as a dip with pita bread. 

First start by taking two big handfuls of dill--about 1 cup--and remove the larger stalks at the bottom. Run your knife through the bundle a few times, enough to break it up. Next take one large cucumber and dice it small. Then zest one lemon. In a large mixing bowl add 3 cups of greek yogurt and incorporate your three previous ingredients. Then finely mince 7-8 small or 3 large garlic cloves and mix well. If you like more or less of any ingredient, add or subtract to your desire. You're the one eating it! Salt and pepper to taste and you're done. 


This is probably one of the easiest, yet most flavorful dishes you can make. And let's face it, when it's the middle of the week, you want something filling and scrumptious that you can prepare quickly.


The first thing I noticed about the flavor of the fish was that the sweetness of the onions and tomatoes really pops in the forefront, which is surprising since this is a savory dish. Top it with the tzatziki and it's exceptional. Cod really has the springy texture of lobster or crab claw meat when cooked. It gives a tiny bit of resistance when you bite down, which is what I meant when I said it doesn't turn to mush. The thyme is just subtle enough to boost the lemon flavor that is prevalent throughout. The tzatziki has a little zing from the fresh garlic, and isn't heavy at all because of the brightness that the lemon zest and juice bring. The slightly sour dill tastes like a mix of parsley and fennel, and adds a great depth of flavor. Plus, you can't beat the crunch of a fresh cucumber! I'm not kidding when I say this is a very easy and fast dish to make. If you want a perfect summer fish dinner, this is the way to go. Fresh, light, and satisfying. Buon appetito!


It's So Hot...Drunken Roasted Peach Froyo Was a GOOD Choice

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, July 31, 2013 0 comments

If you get the reference in that title, good job. If not, it's a quote from the movie Anchorman.



Basically July in Richmond is hotter'n the brass hinges of hell, so I decided to make something cool and refreshing. Plus, there's alcohol in it, so win-win! And not just any alcohol, my favorite kind: red wine. It's also peach season right now, and those little firey globes are aflush with yellow, orange, and red skins, just waiting for you to pick 'em and make this creamy froyo loaded with roasted deliciousness. 

First start by slicing your peaches lengthwise and pitting them. I use the opposite end of my melon baller. This side is used to do melon decorations, but it works perfectly for sliding under the pit and slicing it out.


Then drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on a cookie sheet and place the peaches flesh side down. Put a little dollop of raw honey on each half and drizzle with some Chianti wine. Place the sheet in a 400 degree F oven and roast for 20-25 minutes. 



They will look like this when done. The golden, velvet skins will have shriveled a bit and pulled away from the flesh, which is soft and charred on the edges. Let them cool for at least 20 minutes (explanation later).


Peach heaven.


Now for the additional drunken part of these drunken peaches. You'll want to make a Chianti caramel. I KNOW, RIGHT? No more words are necessary about how great that is. 


Start by melting 1.5T butter in a pan with 4oz. of the Chianti (TayTip: 4oz is the liquid equivalent of 1/2c). Add 2T brown sugar and 2tsp of pure vanilla extract. 


 Then grate some fresh whole nutmeg into the pan. About 1tsp. 


 Cook over medium-high to high heat until boiling then remove from the heat immediately as the sugar can burn very quickly. 


Now back to the cooled peaches. Toss them skins and charred parts and all into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. 


 Will look like this when finished. (TayTip: at this point you could use the peach puree as a marinade or sauce for pork, chicken, or fish)


 Then add your gorgeous, tawny caramel and blend until incorporated. 



 Now for the "yo" part, and the reason why the peaches had to cool. If you mix piping hot peaches with cold yogurt, it is going to separate. As in curds and whey, and I don't see Little Miss Muffet anywhere, so it's best to take your time with this one. Add 2.5 cups to the peach mixture and blend. 


 Pale and sunny. 


The last thing to do is put it in a container in the freezer for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best. (TayTip: use the old yogurt container to store some of the froyo in the freezer)



The peaches are no longer sour because the roasting process eliminates most of the initial acidity, but they have this incredible depth of flavor. The Chianti is a dry red wine, but still very fruity, and melded with the molten brown sugar to create a caramel, it's just insane. The nutmeg doesn't really have a flavor comparable to anything else; it's incredibly nutty. If you've ever had eggnog or a béchamel, you know how great nutmeg is with cream. Top with strawberries, shaved dark chocolate or just enjoy this froyo on it's own. Cool down with this perfect treat for the sweltering later summer months! Buon Appetito!

Lemon Infused, Brie-and-Tomato-Stuffed Pork Chops; Sauteed Broccoli with Spicy Citrus Yogurt Sauce

Posted by Unknown Friday, July 26, 2013 0 comments

The idea for this recipe came from a conversation I had with a friend (shout out to FP) about how hard it is to find that sweet spot in cooking lean meats where they're perfectly cooked, but not a dry piece of shoe leather. We were particularly talking about turkey burgers with a 97/3 fat count. I had the thought of stuffing the burger with some cheese and maybe a grape tomato or two. The idea being that as the burger cooked, the tomato would slowly almost poach inside the meat and break, the juices permeating the meat and keeping it from drying out. Well I decided to take it a step further and get some thick-cut pork chops from the butcher at the grocery store. About a 2-inch cut, (TayTip: you are not limited to whatever fresh meat is already packaged at the store; just ask for the butcher to cut your meat however you want! You're paying for it, aren't you? I've found that they are typically more than happy to oblige.) and I would apply the same principle. So, here's what I created!

First I took the chops, stood them in their sides lengthwise with the fat side down, and using my paring knife, I made an pocket incision, leaving the fatty edge, and two sides intact. It should look like a pita when you're done. Make sure to move in one direction when making this incision. You're not sawing away here, that's why the paring knife isn't serrated. Don't attack the chop! 

Next, I wanted more surface area inside the pocket's width. More surface area, more room for cheese and tomatoes! This next step is also important in tenderizing the pork, and in ultimately reaching our goal of a juicy chop. So I laid them down on my cutting board (TayTip: ALWAYS use a plastic or marble cutting board when dealing with raw meat or fish of any kind. Never wood! The bacteria from the raw meat penetrates the wood, and no matter how much you wash, stays in there. Impermeable cutting board means impermeable to everything, especially the things you don't want to be eating.) covered them in plastic wrap, and wacked away. No making fun of my makeshift meat mallet, it works just as well as the traditional kind. I've even used a sturdy coffee cup or my glass measuring cup when my pasta strainer escaped me. Pound the chops until you've gained a couple centimeters in all directions. You shouldn't, however, be making it thin enough to see holes in the meat; you want it in tact. The fatty side won't thin out, that's ok. 

So once you've taken out all your anger and frustration on these poor little chops, it's time to get to the citrus infusion part. Everyone loves that crispy edge you get from searing meat in a pan, but I decided to take it a step further and add a little extra flavor. I took 2 T of salted butter and 1T of extra virgin olive oil and melted them in my pan over med-high heat. (TayTip: if you are using butter and not ghee, always put a little bit of olive oil in the pan. The oil keeps the milk solids in the butter from burning by raising the flashpoint, or temperature at which the butter burns.) Then, I added 1T of fresh minced dill and the used my microplane to get the zest of one lemon. Make sure it's organic since you're using the zest. If you only needed the juice, I'd say go for the cheaper non-organic kind; the thick rind on most citrus keeps any chemicals out. But any time you use the peel, skin, or zest of any fruit or vegetable, you have to go green. No need for added toxins and wax! Add it to the butter/oil mixture so it infuses all throughout. You want to cook this at the high heat for about 3 minutes, then take the pan off the burner completely, but leave the heat on. You'll be busy for a couple minutes, and don't want the zest and dill to burn. 

Now it's time to get stuffing! For my cheese I chose this great mushroom brie that I found at the store.When I saw it staring up at me from the cheese cooler, studded with little brown bits of mushroom, I just had to take it home with me. Plus, brie is such a great melting cheese, that I figured it'd be perfect. If you don't like brie, you can use fontina (milder flavor, and not as salty), which is an Italian cow's milk cheese that originated in the Alps. It's semi-firm, unlike the soft brie, but it's also pretty much, in my opinion, the king of Italian melting cheeses. So next time you're making a homemade pizza, set aside the mozz for some fresh fontina.  

I cut the rind off the brie because I wanted it to be as smooth as possible. Normally I eat the rind and all, but in keeping with the smooth factor, I nixed it off (and munched on it while I was cooking). I know it doesn't look like much, but you'll fix that in the next step.


I rarely cook anything savory without adding garlic. Unless I'm going for a very mild flavor, two or three cloves are usually in there somewhere. But I knew putting the cloves inside the chops whole would be too overpowering when you're eating it, so I decided to finely mince two medium cloves and mix them into the cheese. Do it right there on your cutting board--no need to dirty another bowl--and use your two best instruments in the kitchen: your hands! Make sure there are no rogue pieces of garlic floating out of the mixture. It should look like this when you're done.

Next is assembling your chops. Lie them open so that you can stuff all the cheesy tomato-y (?) goodness inside their nice little pork beds. Add the cheese and garlic mixture first. 

Then add the tomatoes. You'll also want to return your pan to the burner and get it screaming hot. It's really important for the pan to be hot for you to get that nice sear on the meat.



Close the pockets and season the top side with fleur de sel (I use this one) and  freshly ground black pepper.


Then place them in the pan (TayTip: put them in the pan seasoned side down so you can season the other side.) and listen for the sizzle. Let me tell you, it's quite the glorious sound. Sear on one side for 4 minutes. I know all you'll want to do at this point is look at the beautiful crust being formed on the pork, but resist the urge to touch the meat at all. If you move it at all, you'll lost the contact with the pan and won't have as good a crust.


AAAAAAAAAND flip.


Cook for another 4 minutes. Some of the brie will melt out, but that's fine, you won't waste it. I'm a BIG proponent of not wasting anything. It drives me crazy when TV chefs pour things out of a bowl or pan and leave a bunch in there. Grab a spatula and scrape that out! Anyway, getting back to the pork. At this point, it won't be cooked all the way through, just on the edges. So, take out a baking dish (I used my oval le creuset) and nestle those little piggies into sleep. Cover them up with some aluminum foil, and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes at 375F, or until a meat thermometer inserted reaches 145F. This might seem like a low temperature for pork, but actually the USDA has recently approved this as an acceptable  internal temperature  for medium rare pork. 


Now onto the broccoli! First I made the sauce that I would drizzle over top so it could chill (haha see what I did there?) in the fridge while I cooked the actual broccoli. Start by taking the lemon from earlier and juicing it. (TayTip: if you're like me and don't use a lemon juicer or press, to get the most juice out of your lemon, place your hands one on top of the other on the lemon and roll it on your cutting board a couple of times before you slice it in half. This will release the juices from the flesh before you even start squeezing it!) I put my small mesh strainer over my container to catch the seeds. Depending on the size of your lemon, you'll get 2-3T of juice.


The remaining ingredients are 2T of extra thick greek strained yogurt. NOT "greek style." It's not the same. In "greek style" yogurt they add thickening agents, and no one wants any unnecessary chemicals, right? Then add 2tsp of sriracha (hot chili sauce with vinegar and garlic). The last is a great seasoning that I bought a couple of months ago. It's this great paprika, lemon, and lime spice blend from The Gourmet Collection. In addition to those three ingredients, it has some really flavorful herbs and spices like coriander, parsley, and celery seed to name a few. (full ingredient list in the link above). A good buy, and a little goes a long way! Add about 3/4tsp. Combine all ingredients and pop it in the fridge until you're ready to serve.


Next, take your washed broccoli, cut the florets from the large stem, and put them in the same pan that you cooked the pork in. Add 1T of butter, a little drizzle of olive oil, and pinch of salt and pepper, respectively. Cook over med-high heat until the broccoli gets brown in parts. It will soften, but still have a great crunch to it. No mushy baby food-like greens here!


It should look like this when you're done.


At this point, you're pork should be done. You'll see a lot of rendered juices that have formed in the bottom of the pan. DON'T throw those away. I freeze them and use them as bases for soups, stir fries, chili, just about anything. You don't, however, want the pork to sit in them and get soggy, so check it with a thermometer, and if you're good to go, plate it up!



The majority of the cheese will be left inside because you put it in first, and the second you cut into this little meat pita, the brie will start to ooze out. The garlic is cooked, not so that it melts in your mouth, but to the equivalent of al dente pasta. Just with a little bit of bite left to it. The tomatoes are gleaming rubies roasted in their own skin, incredibly sweet, and pop open with just the weight of your fork put on them. The broccoli is charred a bit and still has some crunch. The tangy and spicy citrus yogurt sauce is packed full of protein, good bacteria, vitamin-C, and plenty of delicious flavor. So put aside your hot pocket, and make this meat pocked instead! Lean meat, incredibly low on carbs, creamy brie, and a green leafy vegetable topped with a non-mayo based, high protein sauce. Buon appetito!



Location: Richmond, VA, USA

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