Pasta with Chicken Breast, Zucchini and Tomatoes

I never knew what I was getting into when I planted 3 tiny zucchini plants last May. As recommended by GardenWeb members I have planted 3 seedlings on top of mound that was around 8” in diameter and 3“ high. Now it occupies area about 3 X 6 feet! And are they ever prolific! I had to find all kinds of uses for this great summer squash and one of our favorite ones is wide pasta noodles with sautéed onions, garlic, zucchini and tomatoes. Very quick and light summer meal.

Ingredients

1 small chicken breast cut into thin strips

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced 1/4” thin

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 Tbs. Olive oil

1 Tbs. Balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs. maple syrup

2 Tbs. chopped fresh basil or parsley

Salt and pepper

Wide noodles, penne or fettuccine
1tbs butter

Directions

Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and toss with butter and keep warm. While the pasta is cooking heat olive oil in frying pan and sauté chicken breast pieces that were seasoned with salt and pepper for about 10 minutes or until light golden brown on all sides. Add onions, garlic, zucchini and tomatoes and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Season with balsamic vinegar, pinch of salt and pepper. Drop cooked pasta into frying pan with sauce and toss till pasta is well coated with the sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley or fresh basil and serve.

San Marzano Tomatoes

San Marzano tomatoes were my biggest discovery and surprise in my garden this year. It is a paste tomato that is considered in foodie circles as the best variety grown for making sauce or paste and it has a fanatical following judging by articles and blogs on the Net. Jason L Morrow even started blog dedicated to this gem called, what else, San Marzano Tomato Blog. What an incredible article! It is worth reading to the end. It even has a recipes for sauces etc.
Anyway, I am hooked and it is one variety that I will grow every year from now on. I have planted only 2 seedlings that I started indoors from seeds bought from Thompson  & Morgan seed company. Problem is/was that packet had 300 seeds! Three Hundred Seeds!!! That’s for a farm and not a hobby gardener like me. It is even too many to give away. Until now I have harvested about 18Lb from both plants and I still have at least 6 weeks of growing season left. My freezer will be full of bags with sauces!

Here is a picture story of San Marzano tomatoes from harvest to freezer.

After quartering  7 pounds of  tomatoes for food processor there was hardly any juice on cutting board, that’s how dry they are, no need for hours of reduction on the stove.

This is straight from Cuisinart, check how thick the sauce is already.

The sauce after 45 minutes of simmer. No rapid boil is needed since tomatoes do not have much water.

After the simmer I used food mill fitted with smallest holes plate to remove skin and seeds.

All done in ONE hour!  I freeze the sauce in large freezer bags and just break apart small piece I need for whatever I cook.

Summer Harvest Soup with Rice

Another delicious soup that is made with fresh local ingredients. Only drawback, as is the case with most soups or stews, is that it requires a lot of slicing and chopping. After more than 30 years of owning original Cuisinart and for the last 3 years its small brother, the Mini-Chopper, I still hesitate in using machines for soup vegetables even though it would make the job of chopping 10 times faster. Still, I do have a certain knife skills and I like the uniformity of knife chopped vegetables so I just keep slicing, dicing and chopping.

In this version I used onions, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, parsley and thyme from my garden and from road-side farm stand I used corn and new small potatoes. Rice, oil and chicken stock came from my pantry.

Use any vegetable combination to suit your taste and have them chopped and ready. Heat oil in Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot. Sauté onions and garlic till garlic is fragrant and onions are translucent. Add rice and cook till lightly brown making sure that onions and garlic do not burn. Do not use more than a 1/4 cup of rice for 4 servings (rice triples in volume when cooked)! Add rest of vegetables and stock, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with freshly ground pepper (I always use white), fresh or dried herbs and salt if needed. Serve and enjoy!

Grilled Skewered Chicken Wings

This is about technique or “how-to” rather than a recipe.

I just love chicken wings, especially whole grilled wings with nice sweet and hot glaze like Char Siu. One problem with grilled wings is that the skin tends to stick to cooking grate no matter how much you oil it before cooking. I cook a bunch the other day but I wanted the skin intact and only sure way to do it is to keep them off the grill, suspended in the air. Easy to do! Just skewer them on flat skewer and rest them on something about 1”-2” high. Why I didn’t think about this technique before, after all I grill whole bunch of foods on skewers, not just meat but veggies and fruits as well and I keep these above the grill. As for the marinade and glaze use whatever you like. To cook them to “fall-off-the-bone” I grill them 15 minutes per side and since my skewers have a flat at the end they stay parallel to the grill. If you don’t have one use 2 bamboo skewers, that were soaked in water for an hour side by side and about 1-1/2” apart.

Char Siu Spare Ribs – Easy Way

This is basically same recipe as “Chinese Style Sticky Pork Back Ribs“, main difference being that the ribs are cut into individual pieces before marinating and cooking. They come out tender and browned on all sides, just a delicious and messy carnivore delight.

Ingredients

1 side of pork back ribs

1/3 cup Oyster Sauce

1/3 cup Hoisin Sauce

1/3 cup Buckwheat honey or other dark honey

2 tsp. or to taste Sriracha Sauce

2 tsp. crushed garlic

Directions

Remove the membrane from bone side of ribs and separate rib sections into individual ribs. Mix all ingredients and rub the marinade on all sides of ribs. Place in resalable bag, remove as much air as possible and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight. Every now and then massage the ribs in order to redistribute the marinade.

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Bring ribs to room temperature. Remove the ribs from bag and place them on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to make a bag with second sheet of foil on top. Reserve the leftover marinade. Seal the edges by folding them over several times, place on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven for 1-1/2 hours. Remove from oven and cut diagonal slots from corner to corner and fold open so that ribs are completely exposed. Brush on remaining marinade, increase oven temperature to 400 °F and bake until the meat is golden brown.

Serve and enjoy.

Biftek with Mushrooms, Onions and Potatoes

Czech Version of Minute Steak

Biftek is a Czech version of “minute stake” that is cooked in a frying pan. "Biftek" comes from French "le biftek", which is borrowed from the English "beefsteak", while the English "beef" is originally from the French "le bœuf" and Czech cooks adopted French version “Biftek. What a linguistic mess, ne se pas?

This meal is relatively fast and simple; by the time potatoes are cooked the meat, onions and mushrooms are done as well and as a bonus all in just one frying pan.

Ingredients

(Serves 2)
1 large sirloin steak cut in 2 equal pieces
1 medium onion, peeled
Cremini mushrooms, 8 – 12
Salt and Pepper
Hungarian paprika
Flour
4 medium Red potatoes
Oil

Butter

Instruction

Trim the steak of extra fat and membranes, pound the steak with meat mallet or heavy frying pan till about 1/4” thin, season with salt, pepper and paprika. Lightly dredge in flour and set aside. Trim mushrooms leaving only about 1/2” of stem and cut in half. Cut onion in half and cut into thin slices.

Boil potatoes is lightly salted water till tender, about 15 minutes from time they start to boil. While the potatoes are cooking heat large heavy frying pan with 1 Tbs. of oil, add onions and cook while stirring until they start to turn color. Push on side of pan and place mushrooms cut side down in frying pan making sure that there is a coat of oil on bottom.  When nicely golden move mushrooms to the side next to onions. Add more oil if needed and start frying the steak for about 1 - 2 minutes. Turn over and repeat. If the steak is 1/4” thick it takes about 4 - 5 minutes to cook it to medium well done (hey, it is minute steak after all).

Serve on preheated plates with mushrooms and onions on top and potatoes drizzled with butter on side. Spoonful of Dijon mustard on top kicks it up a notch or two.

I am Back - New post on my Photo Blog

Yup, I am back. I have just published new post on my Photography blog so have a look. These days it is hard to tell if picture is real or “fabricated” in Photoshop. My fantasy landscape is far off the normal that it is obvious that it is basically a fake. Still, it is fun to play with.

I know that I haven’t posted any recipes lately but I have so many saved as draft but never got around to finish them and put them up oh my blog. They should be up in next few days.

Transit of Venus, June 5, 2012

The transit of Venus happens in pairs eight years apart - but then with more than a century between cycles. During the pass, Venus appears as a small, dark round spot moving across the face of the sun, like a bug on a dinner plate. Here in South-West Ontario we were blessed with clear skies and relatively low humidity during the whole transit.

I was able to follow and photograph this astronomical spectacle from start at 6:04 PM until the Sun disappeared behind neighbor’s roof around 8:30 PM. It was well worth the time.

The equipment I used was Canon Rebel T1i, 75-300mm lens with 1.4X extender and arc welding filter plate in a place of dedicated Sun filter. Considering that the filter plate is a mass production piece made out of polycarbonate (Plexiglas) and not an optical quality glass, the photos are quite sharp. This particular filter has a gold coating that reflects the sunlight and keeps the filter cool. Simple setup that did what I wanted.

If you look very carefully you will see 5 Sun spots in 2 groups: at center left are 3 spots on top of each other and second group in center right has 2 spots.

My Photo Got Published – Again :)

I have sent the Geese-on-Roof photo to our newspaper and it was published in Local News section. This is my 6^th or so time that my submission was published. It is fun to see your picture in newspaper, even if it is just a local one!

Unusual Wake-up Call

This morning Marjo alerted me to our new, one-time-only alarm clock: Pair of Canada Geese standing on adjacent roof tops, calling. They stayed there for about 10 – 15 minutes and then took off. Few minutes later they were back on another neighbor’s roof but this time they stayed together. What a sight! I have never seen Canada Geese on regular roof. I have seen them nesting on a flat roof but not on a fairly steep one. Morning to remember J.

The view from living room. What a sight to wake up to!

Few minutes later…

Now, that's a shot!!!

Raw Salmon, Avocado and Cucumber Salad

This is another version of Hawaiian Poke but without seaweed. I have omitted the Furikake and coriander but added mayonnaise into the dressing. The dressing I used is wasabi-mayonnaise sauce that I use very often with my grilled or pan-fried salmon. Since you will be using raw salmon the freshness of the salmon is paramount.

 Ingredients

1 salmon filet portion, 140 gram (5 oz.), skinless and boneless
1 avocado
English cucumber, 6”, seeded but not peeled
1 green onion

Dressing

1 Tbs. Soy Kikkoman sauce
Lime juice from 1/2 lime
1 Tbs. Maple syrup
1 tsp. wasabi paste
2 Tbs. Mayonnaise

Directions
Cut salmon, avocado, green onion and cucumber into 3/8” uniform size pieces. Blanch green onions in hot water for 5 minutes to remove the harshness of raw onion then cool and pat dry.
Prepare dressing by mixing all ingredients together till well combined and mix everything together.
Serve on cucumber slices or crackers.

Garden Update – Seedlings

It is hard for me to believe that I have only 29 posts so far this year! Last year in the same time period I had 118, in March alone I blogged 45 times! I think it was way too much… J.

Anyway, last Fall we have decided that we will cut down drastically on flower containers that took so much time to take care of. Also, visually it was a bit crowded. Last year I started so many flowers from seed that it filled our sunroom once transplanted from plug trays. This Spring I have planted only Nasturtium, Lobelia and Red Millet, that’s it. Happy to report all the seedlings are doing great.

When it comes to vegetables I had some unexpected failures (no germination). I planted 2 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of Asian eggplants, cucumbers (1 variety) and 5 kinds of tomatoes. Peppers and eggplants didn’t germinate at all and 1 tomato variety (Sweet Baby Girl, hybrid F1) didn’t germinate as well. Mind you, I have seeded only 2 cells with 1 seed per cell. However, cucumbers have done well despite the fact that last year they didn’t (same seed packet). New this year are Saint Marzano Italian paste tomatoes that I bought from Thomson Morgan. The seeds are imported from Italy and come 500 seeds to a packet. Five Hundred seeds!!! Nuts! I need only a dozen or so…Anyway, I had 100% germination success with these seeds and they grow so fast! Another new for me this year are 2 heritage tomato varieties whose seeds I have collected from tomatoes we have bought from a roadside stand. We were absolutely blown away by the incredible tomato taste of these timeless varieties. I have no idea what they are, just that one is yellow in color and the other one has green and yellow stripes and is sort of flat in shape. Name is not important, the taste is. Still, I would like to know if they are determinate or indeterminate. Either way is fine with me but since I grow them for a paste determinate will work much better for me.

Four weeks till outdoor planting! By then tomatoes will have small fruits and cucumbers will be one foot high J 

Lobelia. The seeds are size of a dust particle!

Nasturtium. I love to munch on flowers and leaves and to collect seeds for "capers".

On left are tomato seedlings from 10 days ago.

And this is what they look like today. What a difference 10 days makes! Stacked pots in front center are Red Millet seedlings.

Taste of Summer

Up to now, we had an incredible March weather, it was more like Summer then a Spring – temperature in upper 20’s every day and the food I served reflected that very much.

 Grilled Lamb, Potatoes and Red Peppers. The lamb shoulder chops were marinated overnight in olive oil, garlic, rosemary and crushed white peppercorns and then grilled for 10 minutes on each side for medium done.

Braised Lamb with Rice and Vegetables. The lamb shoulder chops were marinated same way (and at the same time) as grilled chops, seared on both sides and then braised in white wine for 1-1/2 hours. Red pepper and celery were added and cooked for another 15 minutes. Incredibly tender and tasty.

 

 Strawberry Dumplings with Ricotta Cheese and Butter. Recipe is posted here.

Pork Tenderloin Kebab. In this version I used what I had in refrigerator: pork tenderloin, smoked thick sliced bacon, onions, zucchini and red pepper. Hot peppers and grilled King Oyster mushrooms were served on side.

Grilled Rib Eye Steak, Potato and King Oyster Mushrooms. The potatoes were pre-cooked in microwave oven and finished on a grill.

First Garden Post - 2012

As the saying goes, “Spring has sprung”, early and with a punch. All the garden birds are back about 2 weeks earlier than usual and we can’t look out the window without seeing at least 2 or 3 flying by. As soon as I filled the bird bath with water there were customers waiting to have a drink or to take a bath. Here are some pictures from out Japanese garden where the bath is located underneath Japanese maple.

American Robin

Northern Cardinal

House Finch

Coq au Vin – My Way

I was hesitating what to call this meal that I have made with skinless-boneless chicken thighs, root vegetables and served over pasta. I had to come up with a meal whose main ingredient was chicken thighs. It was a case of checking what else is in pantry and vegie drawer in refrigerator. I didn’t want potatoes as a side and I didn’t feel for tomato based sauce either but wine based sauce sounded great. For vegetables, I picked carrot, celery, parsnip, shallots and garlic and as a side I wanted some dry pasta shapes. Coq au vin usually starts with rendering salted pork. I didn’t have any but I had bacon which I did use. The idea was to render the bacon, remove the crispy bits and use them as a garnish at the end. That was a plan, anyway. The problem was that this beautiful, crispy bacon was sitting next to the stove and every time I went by the stove, which was often, I had a nibble. Half way through cooking there were no bacon bits left for garnish. Next time I will hide the bacon in toaster oven. Even though only seasoning I used was salt and pepper the sauce has incredible depth from the vegetables and wine. I used Chardonnay.

This recipe is for 2 people using only 2 chicken thighs.

Ingredients

2 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, fat removed and seasoned with pepper and salt.
3 slices smoke bacon, roughly chopped
3 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped parsnip
Salt and pepper
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 cups white wine

Directions

In sauce pan, render the bacon until crisp, remove the bits to paper towel and pour off bacon fat leaving only 1 tsp. Save the extra bacon fat for other use.
Brown the chicken thighs on all sides, remove and keep warm while you cook the vegetables. In the same pan cook onions and mushrooms until they start to brown and then add all the vegetables and sauté until they start to caramelize. Pour in a cup of wine and scrape all fond (food that browned and stuck to pan) from the bottom. Put the chicken back in pan and simmer until almost all the wine has reduced. Add remaining 1 cup of wine and keep simmering until sauce is thick, about 30 minutes. Just before serving add ice cold butter to the sauce, stir till all the butter is absorbed by the sauce, then cook for 3 minutes. Serve over cooked pasta and garnish with reserved bacon bits.

Oriental Chicken and Noodle Salad

Oriental noodle salad is my favorite food that I go for at any food court in a mall that has a Chinese fast food joint. It is so simple to make! The regular noodle salad has only chow mein noodles and julienned carrots, celery, red pepper and sprouts but I wanted something a wee bit more substantial so I have added cooked chicken thighs but I have also omitted sprouts for a simple reason – I didn’t have any.  And yes, it is fast food, 20 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients

2 bundles of dry chow-mein noodles
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
Salt and pepper
1 Tbs. peanut oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 carrot, julienned
1 celery stick, julienned
2 green onions, julienned
1/2 red pepper, julienned

Dressing
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. Hoisin sauce
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. Sesame oil

Coriander for garnish

Directions

Cook noodles till al dente, plunge in cold water to stop cooking, drain, cut into shorter pieces and set aside.
Cook the seasoned chicken pieces in hot frying pan with peanut and sesame oil for about 5 minutes or until done and set aside.
Mix all dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl then add vegetables, chicken and noodles and toss until everything is well combined.
Serve at room temperature garnished with chopped coriander.

Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil (al Limone)

This is one of my favorite get-to meals when I don’t feel like spending a lot of time in front of a stove. It can be prepared in under half-an-hour.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

Table salt

1 pound spaghetti

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil , plus more for serving

1 medium shallot , minced (about 3 tablespoons)

1/4 cup heavy cream

2teaspoons finely grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from 3 lemons

1 ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus more for serving

Ground black pepper

2 Tbs. shredded fresh basil leaves

Directions

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water; cook, stirring frequently, until al dente. Reserve 1¾ cups cooking water, drain pasta into colander, and set aside.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add shallot and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until shallot is softened, about 2 minutes. Whisk 1 1/2 cups of reserved pasta cooking water and cream into pot; bring to simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove pot from heat, return pasta, and stir until coated. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

3. Cover and let pasta stand 2 minutes, tossing frequently and adjusting consistency with remaining 1/4 cup reserved pasta water if necessary. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, drizzling individual portions with oil and sprinkling with cheese.

Let the dish rest briefly before serving so the flavors develop and the sauce thickens.

From Cook's Illustrated

Baked Pasta with Eggs, Ham and Cheese

This is my take on traditional Schinkenfleckerln that is so popular in Bohemia (Czech Republic) and Austria. In original Schinkenfleckerln, pasta being used are short and flat flakes, sort of like broken wide noodles, or Fleckern. I used spaghettini instead because I had leftovers from my Salmon and Pasta dish that I cooked previous day. Also, instead of traditional baking pan or casserole I used large 8oz. non-stick muffin pan. The reason for this change was that it gave me 4 times more surface area that had a nice crunch, the best part of this meal, as far as I am concerned. My brother and I were always fighting for the corner portions because they were the crunchiest, we have shunned the middle, soft parts.

Another very easy meal to make, especially if you have leftover pasta on hand.

Ingredients

4 shallots or 1/2 medium onion
4 cups cooked pasta, room temperature
4 eggs
1 cup chopped ham
1/2 cup grated cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 °F and place rack on middle shelf.
Sauté the shallots in little bit of butter until soft, about 5 minutes and let cool.
Chop the cooked pasta into 1/2 inch pieces.
In a mixing bowl beat the eggs until whites and yolks are well combined, add pinch of salt and pepper, cooked shallots, ham, cheese and pasta and mix so that all the pasta pieces are well coated with eggs and all ingredients are well combined. Pour into buttered muffin cups or casserole, cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake additional 15 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove pasta from pan by turning it over on a baking sheet and serve with pickles or/and lettuce. It can be served as a light lunch at room temperature.

Pasta with Salmon and Caper Sauce

This is another perfect mid-week meal because it is so easy to make and can be done in under half-an-hour. Since the salmon will be medium rare when served use only very fresh salmon. Of course, if you prefer, you can cook the salmon in the sauce before serving. However, I like my salmon rare (read “raw”). The salmon is so creamy that it completely changes texture of this dish.

Ingredients

1/2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 Tbs. butter
4 shallots, peeled and finally chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 Tbs. capers, roughly chopped; do not rinse
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup 35% cream

Spaghettini

Directions

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions in a pan of salted boiling water, then drain and keep warm.
Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add the garlic and shallots and sauté   until the shallots have softened. Pour in the wine and reduce until less than 1 Tbs. remains.
Add the capers, parsley and cream and continue to cook over moderate heat until the sauce have thickened, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the drained pasta and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in the salmon and serve immediately.

Sauerkraut, Root Vegetables and Ham Soup

Depending on quantity of ham and vegetables, this soup can be complete meal. I personally prefer 2 to 1 ratio of stock to solids. I will not give quantity of each ingredient since everybody has a different preferences or availability. I am using my own home cured sauerkraut. Recipe is here. There is vast difference between homemade and store bought sauerkraut. Commercial kraut just doesn’t have enough crunch; they tend to be mushy.

Ingredients (all chopped)

Shallots or onion

Garlic

Carrots

Parsnip

Celeriac
Potatoes
Sauerkraut, divided into 2 equal portions
Cabbage (optional if using store bought sauerkraut)
Ham
Chicken stock
Caraway seeds
Pepper
Butter
Olive oil

Directions

If you are using store bought kraut, wash under cold running water and drain.
Sauté shallots and garlic in little bit of butter and olive oil until soft. Add all the vegetables, 1 part of sauerkraut, ham and stock and bring to boil. Season with caraway seeds and pepper and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove cover, add remaining sauerkraut and simmer additional 15 minutes. Serve hot with dollop of sour cream on top.