Chicken Breast on Sweet Potato Rosti

2 skin-on chicken breast (if the breasts are huge, cut them in half to facilitate cooking)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
italian parsley for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Using a vegetable peeler or mandoline, slice into the sweet potato lengthwise to create thin strips and place into bowl.
3. Add garlic cloves, and toss with olive oil, salt & pepper.
4. Spread sweet potatoes in the bottom of a baking dish, making sure to fan out the slices so you have a lot of edges showing which will make them crispier.
5. Place into oven for 15 minutes.
6. While potatoes are in the oven, sprinkle a COLD non-stick pan with salt and pepper.
7. Lay chicken breasts skin-side down and heat pan to medium. Going from cold will render a lot of the fat off the skin.
8. After 10 minutes, take a peak and see if the skin is browning. When nicely browned, flip it over, sprinkle with rest of garlic into pan, and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
9. Place the chicken on top of the sweet potato layers and finish cooking in the oven.
10. Sprinkle with parsley when cooked.

Meat Cubes in Tomato Sauce

Instead of spheres, making cubes is much faster. The shape gives the traditional meatballs a twist. Since they don't roll in the pan, it's easier to sear all sides.

1 jar of basic tomato sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/4 c chopped italian parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg
1/4 c grated pecorino romano (not paleo)
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 c full bodied red

1. Mix all the ingredients except the wine and tomato sauce into a bowl. Knead until well mixed.
2. Dump contents to a cutting board and shape into a rectangle that is 1" deep.
3. Using a knife, cut vertically and horizontally to form 1" squares
4. Heat olive oil in a pot.
5. In batches, sear cubes in pot. Don't overcrowd so it gives it a chance to brown on all sides.
6. When the last batch is finally seared, add the wine. Let sizzle for a little bit.
7. Add your tomato sauce and simmer for 20 minutes.

A break from leftovers...

Baked Bread-Crumb Free Crab Lumps
Serves 2

3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic, minced
1/2 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive oil mayo
1/2 tsp Old Bay
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 egg
cayenne to taste (start with 1/4 tsp)
lump crab meat picked from 1 whole dungeness crab (If you really love someone, you'll pick the crab meat yourself for them)
salt
pepper

1. Preheat toaster oven to 400
2. Combine onions, garlic, celery, olive oil mayo, Old Bay seasoning, mustard, egg and cayenne in a bowl.
3. Fold in crab meat into mixture.
4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. If the mixture seems dry, add a little more mayo (you want just enough get the ingredients to stick). At this stage, also adjust any other seasonings to your liking.
5. In your greased toaster oven pan, make 2-3 mini-mountains (lumps) of your crab mixture.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until crusty and golden.
7. Serve with arugula salad and aioli (recipes below).

Simple Aioli
1/2 cup olive oil mayo
1 small garlic clove
olive oil

1. Pound the garlic with a mortar and pestle.
2. Pour a little olive oil to moisten and grind until smooth.
3. Add your mayo and keep on mixing until well incorporated.

Arugula Salad
baby arugula
2 tsp good olive oil
1 tsp sherry vinegar
salt
pepper

1. Right before serving, toss arugula with olive oil, and sherry.
2. Season with salt and pepper.

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Part 1 - greens and roasted meat.

Turkey in Lettuce Cups with Sauteed Greens in a Spicy Vinaigrette
1.5 cup leftover sauteed greens
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp sriracha sauce (to taste)
sliced roasted meat (turkey, pork loin roast, roast beef)
bib lettuce (leaves torn whole from head to serve as green leaf tacos)

1. combine oil, vinegar, sriracha and toss with leftover sauteed greens.
2. put sliced meat over a lettuce leaf.
3. top meat with your greens in spicy vinaigrette
4. fold gently into a taco shape and bring towards mouth.
5. repeat steps 2-4.

Leftovers courtesy of Food & Wine Dec. 2008.

Sautéed Rainbow Chard with Garlic and Lemon

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 pounds rainbow or ruby chard—thick stems discarded, inner ribs removed and cut into 2-inch lengths, leaves cut into 2-inch ribbons
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, heat 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Stir in the garlic and cook over moderately high heat until lightly golden, about 1 minute. Add the chard leaves in large handfuls, allowing each batch to wilt slightly before adding more. Season the chard with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the leaves are softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Transfer the chard to a bowl. Wipe out the pot.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot. Add the chard ribs and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the wilted chard leaves and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with the lemon zest and serve right away.

Citrus-Marinated Pork Rib Roast

INGREDIENTS
Two 5-bone pork rib roasts, about 4 pounds each
6 garlic cloves
6 whole cloves
3 lemons, zest removed in strips with a vegetable peeler and lemons juiced
3 oranges, zest removed in strips with a vegetable peeler and oranges juiced
20 fresh bay leaves
8 rosemary sprigs
2 tablespoons fennel seeds, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon juniper berries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Roasted small apples and pears (see Note), for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Using a paring knife, make three 1-inch-deep slits on the fatty side of each pork rib roast closest to the bones. Stud the garlic cloves with the whole cloves and stuff them into the slits.
In a baking dish, combine the lemon and orange zests and juices with the bay leaves, rosemary sprigs, fennel seeds, juniper berries and 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Add the pork and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally. Bring the pork rib roasts to room temperature before roasting.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Scrape off the marinade and generously season the pork with salt and pepper. In a very large skillet, heat the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the pork and brown over moderate heat, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes.
Transfer the pork rib roasts to a large roasting pan. Roast for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, rotating the pan once or twice, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 140°. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let rest for 20 minutes. Cut the pork between the rib bones into 10 chops. Transfer to plates, garnish with the roasted apples and pears and serve.

Eggs poached in tomato sauce

This is super convenient when you have extra tomato sauce hanging around in the fridge. It's also easily scalable into a brunch dish. The below ratios are for 1 serving so multiply as needed.

2 cups of basic chunky tomato sauce (chunky makes it more filling)
2-3 omega-3 eggs (+ egg whites if desired)
1 tsp chopped herbs (optional), whatever is in the fridge, will easily dress this up

1. Depending on how much your are making, pick a cooking vessel so that you will have at least an inch of tamato sauce on the bottom. If you're making this for just yourself, a small sauce pan. 3-4 people-- and you'll need a skillet.
2. Pour tomato sauce into cooking vessel. Heat until bubbling, then bring heat to low.
3. Break your eggs on top of the tomato sauce.
4. Cover, and cook until opaque but eggs still jiggly (Usually about 3-4 minutes).
5. Spoon into bowls. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle your herbs.

Variation: Morroccan Kefta (essentially a spicier version of the basic)
In step 2, add 1/4 tsp ground cumin, pinch of cayenne.
In step 5, use cilantro.

Mystery Veggie Box

I have to say, I'm addicted to Mariquita Farm's mystery box. Going to their pick-up spot to pick your veggies is like, ahem, a drug run except you're getting veggies. They also have a 2 hour pickup window of 5-7pm. Yeah, I know sounds weird already. You'll see a flock of folks with a glaze in their eyes pickup their veggies from the back of a truck parked in front of the one of the restaurants they deliver to (This week it's at Piccino in DogPatch though they rotate through the city).

$25 cash will get you organic veggies for 2 people that will last well over a week. How much vegetables do you get for $25? A huge bag that can easily fill up 2 veggie crispers in the fridge. Don't have that much room in the fridge, then split it with a friend!

http://www.mariquita.com/Farmers Market/ThursdayNight.html

It's called a mystery box because you don't know what will be in the package. What will be are fresh seasonal vegetables. Plus you're forced to try new vegetables. If you want other stuff, they have posted items that are ready to buy.

After you pick up you veggies, you go back to their site to download the pdf containing item list in the package, cooking suggestions, and tips on what to eat sooner than later.

Just a tip. Although it's called a mystery box, what you get is a mystery bag. The box, which they keep, is used to keep the veggies from smashing each other.

rack of lamb with herbed balsamic honey glaze on mashed sweet potatoes
bib lettuce with vinaigrette

1 rack of lamb
2 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh minced rosemary
1 minced garlic cloves
2 pre-roasted smallish sweet potatoes, or 1 ginormous
olive oil
red wine vinegar.
salt
pepper
lettuce for your salad

1. Preheat toaster oven 350
2. Preheat cast iron skillet over medium high.
3. Mix honey, balsamic vinegar, 1/2 of the rosemary and 1/2 of garlic cloves into microwave safe container. Microwave at 60% for 2 minutes at a time, stirring in between until the mixture has reduced and you don't get an overpowering acid vapor in your face, or you can use a spoon and check to see that the back gets coated well.
4. During those 2 minute runs, prep your rack of lamb by rubbing with olive oil, salt, pepper, and the rest of the rosemary and garlic.
5. Sear on both sides then put a probe thermometer, place on pie plate or toaster oven pan. Brush half of the glaze on top, and finish cooking in toaster oven. Pull out at 118 for medium. And let rest.
6. While waiting for the lamb to rest before slicing, peel your pre-roasted potatoes into a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 4 minutes.
7. Add salt, pepper, and tasty olive oil. Mash and stir.
8. Prep your salad. Olive oil + vinegar + salt + pepper and toss with tongs.
9. Plate by spooning mashed sweet potatoes, surround with sliced lamb chops, drizzle remaining glaze. Side of salad.

Serves 2

fast tuesday... so exciting.

Super Basic Low Sodium Chicken Stock

It's flu season, it's cold out, and it's great to have soup for dinner. If you have a dog, having basic stock is great to have on hand, and served with rice for when they get "intestinal distress". After roasting the chicken until nicely browned, I simmer my stock afterwards for up to 48 hours so the bones crumble to touch -- so guess who gets the leftover meat, cooked to death veggies, and crumbled bones.

The results from roasting the chicken and veggies yields a deep hearty golden stock, unlike store bought stocks that use tumeric to get that bright yellow color. Also when you cook it for this long, the gelatin from the cartilage will have dissolved for a silky texture.

1 small fryer of a chicken
light olive oil to drizzle chicken
kosher salt
2-4 carrots (this depends on how big your pot is. I have a 9 qt pot so I use 4)
2-4 celery stalks
1 onion (i leave this out intentionally because onion is not good for dogs. I add it in when I use the stock for people food)
cold water to fill pot

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Put your chicken in an large oven safe pot or dutch oven. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle chicken with kosher salt.
3. Add carrots, celery, and optional onion.
4. Place pot into oven and roast until golden brown (45 minutes)
5. Pull pot out, add cold tap water to cover chicken. (Cold water helps the fat render and stick to other fat molecules as it gets to cooking temperature. If you use hot water by mistake, you'll notice that you'll have tiny fat bubbles distributed in your stock after chilling in the fridge)
6. Bring to boil, reduce to super low simmer for at least 24 hours. I go as far as 48 hours.
7. With a slotted spoon, scoop out chicken and veggies into bowl. Hand shred when cool enough to handle for your pup picking out any bones that did not crumble.
8. When the stock is cool enough to handle safely, strain stock into your storage containers. Cool on the counter top before placing in refrigerator (for food safety).
9. After a day, you can scoop out the hardened fat layer at the top before storing in the freezer.

*Yes it's normal for your stock to look like jello after being chilled.

Nothing like being sick all weekend. I made lobster mac & cheese to make both of us feel better.

Hanger Steak & Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Baby Spinach

Also known as hanging tenderloin, this meat is dark, grainy, and deep in flavor like skirt steaks. It's shape is long and tubular much like a tenderloin. I had to butcher my own (because I got it from a restaurant supply) which involves taking the rubbery membrane off, and cutting off the sheathing that bisects the 2 muscles, and thus ending up with 2 pieces. It took me 15 minutes doing this while my dog was behind me salivating. If you get this at a store, it's unlikely you'll have to do this step.

I also had my pre-roasted butternut squash waiting in my fridge for me from the weekend veggie roast. To simply roast it, cut in half, season with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Throw in oven at 400 for about an hour until soft like a baked potato when poked with a knife.

This soup recipe has the squash beaten to a pulp, but the other veggies are left diced for contrast.

Prep The Steak
1 hanger steak (about 1 lb)
olive oil
salt
pepper

Rub your steak with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

The Soup
1 roasted butternut squash, pealed and cut into rough chunks
4-6 cups of veggie or chicken stock
1 onion, finely diced
1 celery, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
olive oil
salt
pepper
baby spinach

1. Preheat iron skillet. In a saucepan on medium-high heat, saute onion, celery, carrots in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. While the veggies are sauteing, in a blender, add pre-roasted squash and stock. Puree (smooth or chunky depending on taste). You'll have to do this in batches and even smaller batches if the squash is still hot. Also you can go thicker in the puree and add liquid later to your taste.
3. Once the veggies in the saucepan are cooked and slightly browned, start pouring in your pureed squash and processing subsequent batches.
4. Bring to boil. You can add a pantry herb at this stage (sage?), but without it tastes fine also. Reduce to simmer for 10 minutes, adjust seasoning.
7. While you're waiting for your soup to get to a boil, put your hanger steaks on the skillet about 3.5-4 minutes on each of the 3-4 sides of the steak (It's a tube-shape remember).
8. When steak is ready, rest on cutting board.
8. In individual bowls, put a small handful of baby spinach.
9. Pour hot soup right on top of spinach to wilt them.
10. Slice your hanger steak medallions and serve next to soup. You can get even fancier and pour soup in a shallow bowl and stacking the steak bits into an island in the middle.

Seared Chicken Livers on Arugula Greens with a side of Cucumber Salad

Warm night, so I decided to pair seared chicken livers with a balsamic-tomato sauce over arugula, and finishing up with a cucumber salad to cleanse and cool the pallet.

Cucumber Salad
2 English cucumbers (because it has less seeds and has a thinner skin)
rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
salt

1. Cut the English cucumbers lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape the seeds off.
2. Chop at an angle into 1/4" slices and place into bowl
3. Sprinkle your vinegar on top (about 1 Tbsp) to get it to just coat and not pickel.
4. Season with salt.

Balsamic-glazed chicken livers over Arugula
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. chicken livers (if they are attached to another lobe, use kitchen scissors to cut into 2 pieces)
arugula greens
1 onion, sliced into half-rounds
1 garlic, minced
1 c. red wine
1-2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. anchovy paste
red chili flakes to taste
salt
pepper

1. Heat your non-stick skillet to med-high with olive oil.
2. Season your livers with salt, and lay carefully into pan. (This will splatter a bit as it cooks depending on how much oil you poured in the pan).
3. In another bowl, put your arugula greens, drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt, pepper, and toss. Then plate.
4. After about 1-2 minutes searing, flip the livers over and cook another 1-2 minutes. Don't over cook it, or you'll end up with livers and a funky after-taste. When cooked, put on standby on a plate, and place in toaster oven on low to keep warm (or tent a piece of foil).
5. Add onions and garlic to pan, and saute until cooked.
6. Add wine, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, anchovy paste, salt and pepper. Reduce until thick.
7. Add livers, and any juices in the plate back to the pan. Toss to coat.
8. Pour liver mixture over arugula.
9. Serve with cucumber salad. I recommend eating the cucumber salad last.

Cookbooks

So far, my go-to cookbook authors are:

Mark Bittman
Donna Hay

I think these are the powerhouses of simple and tasty cooking, aka weeknight cooking.

Mark Bittman has the cooking bible of the 21st century, "How to Cook Everything", and "The Minimalist Cooks Dinner". Whereas Donna Hay, based in Australia, has titles like "New Food Fast" and "The Instant Cook". The majority of their recipes involve easy techniques, and recipes that are easily implemented into a Paleo diet. Just flip through a Donna Hay book and you'll be going, I'm making that... and that... and that...

If you want to borrow my cook books, just ask. More than happy to share the knowledge!

Simple Roast Turkey Breast

Bone-in, skin-on turkey breast is readily available at your market all year round so you shouldn't have to wait until Thanksgiving to have turkey. Being a small roast, they will cook fast and can be thoroughly seasoned without a brine, and you won't have a week's worth of Turkey leftover overkill. Definitely get it with the skin, and the bone as it will help keep the meat moist.

Also toaster ovens are underutilized in the kitchen. I use mine all the time on the weekdays as they heat up fast.

1 skin on, bone in turkey breast half
1 lemon, thinly sliced
2 lemongrass stalks, butterflied where it's almost cut in half (optional)
olive oil
1 light beer (not paleo) or stock
salt
pepper
favorite herb (herbes de provence anyone?)

Preheat toaster oven (or regular oven) to 450.

In your toaster oven roasting pan (or alternatively a pie dish), lay your lemongrass stalks cut side up. (this helps to prop up the meat from the drippings)

On top of the lemongrass, lay your lemon slices.

Rub olive oil all over turkey breast, season with salt, pepper, and favorite herbs (make sure to season the underside more so than the top as the lemon will compensate)

Lay turkey breast on top of lemon slices.

Pop into toaster oven.

After 20 minutes, add your beer, return to oven.

Baste every 10 minutes until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. (this is when a remote food thermometer helps so you can set your temp, and let it alarm when it reaches temperature). I know most recipes say cook to 160, but after you take it out, the breast will continue to cook and reach a temperature of at least 160 as it rests.

In total this should take about 45 minutes in the oven.

When done, pull out. Let rest.

With any juices, you can reduce to make an au jus sauce.

Slice and serve.

Veal Piccata & Broccoli

I don't eat veal that often, but get cutlets when I want to treat myself, and not make a big fuss in the kitchen. They cook fast which is great for a week night's dinner. Alternatively, I do this recipe with chicken breast which I butterfly to form a heart, and then pound out.

4 veal cutlets (.75lb = 12oz total. 2 servings @ 6 oz. each)
2 broccoli crowns
2 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
panko crumbs -definitely not paleo
1/2 tsp flour (a big dash) -definitely not paleo
1 cup chicken stock (or a can)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp capers


1. In a saucepan add 1/2 your chick stock and heat on high. Add broccoli crowns, salt, pepper, drizzle with olive oil. Close the lid.

2. Lay the veal (or butterflied chicken breast) between two pieces of plastic wrap and flatten the cutlet with a meat mallet. Since I couldn't find my mallet, I used a small sauce pan and pounded my end-of-day stress away. You don't have to over abuse it and make to make it paper thin, just thinner and wider than you how it came.

3. Heat olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet until hot. While the oil is heating, season the veal with salt and pepper, and sprinkle some panko and press onto meat on both sides. It's for a little texture not a coating. (this won't be like a katsu).

4. Sauté the veal over high heat, about 1 minute on each side. Split into 2 plates for serving.

5. Add your flour, stir around until it's coated by the olive oil and bubbles.

6. Splash in rest of your chicken stock, lemon juice. Let reduce until a thickened some more.

7. Add capers and stir until coated. Pour on top of cutlets.

8. Lift the lid of your broccoli, stir it around with what ever liquid is left. Plate your broccoli, you're done.