Roedspaette og Spinat

...Or, more intelligibly/less authentically, Danish flounder and spinach casserole!  Courtesy of gramma's Scandinavian cookbook.  (Although, Google Translate confirms that they mistakenly swapped the labels with "roedspaette med loegsovs," flounder with onion sauce.)

Recipe

1 lb flounder fillets
1 9 oz package frozen creamed spinach
3 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c bread crumbs
butter
salt & pepper

Dust the fillets with flour and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Dip in the beaten egg and dredge through the flour; brown on both sides in a couple tbsps of butter.  Meanwhile cook the spinach as per directions.  Make it the first layer in a casserole dish, followed by the fish, then the shrooms on top.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Notes

Authentic Danish cuisine meets the modern 1950's kitchen!  Really, this could be a super easy dish, using nothing but fish sticks, frozen creamed spinach, and canned mushrooms...  Thought about going that route, but King Soopers is apparently too classy for frozen creamed spinach.  Found a simple enough preparation here, bought some fresh sole in place (plaice, heh) of flounder.  Took a bit more effort and cooking utensils, but turned out very tasty!

Two pics: I like the fresh out of the oven one, but you can't see the delicious creamy (and oniony/garlicky) spinach!

Pork & Tomatillo Stew

I'd had this recipe saved for a while.  Seriously, it's been number 2 in my Gmail draft (I need a better system) for years (long enough for the host of number 1 to go out of business?).  Why did it take so long?  There's nothing too out there about it, but it takes the right combination of ingredients (tomatillos may not be easy to find), equipment (dutch oven), time (2+ hours), and appetite (doesn't scale down too well).

What are tomatillos, you may ask?  I kind of assumed the full name was "tomatillo pepper," but apparently it's a Mexican tomato wrapped in a cool husk.  Easy to find at your local Colorado Whole Foods.  Onward!

Recipe

2 lbs pork shoulder (or loin if it's way cheaper...), chopped into big-ish chunks
1 lb tomatillos, de-husked and quartered
1 bottle dark beer
12 oz orange juice
28 oz diced tomatoes
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
1 can black beans
oil, salt & pepper
sour cream, lime (optional)

Boil your tomatillos and tomatoes in the beer and OJ, then simmer while other stuff goes on.  Season your pork chunks with salt & pepper.  Heat about a quarter cup of oil in a sturdy dutch oven, toss in your garlic, and brown the pork in batches.  Once that's out, in go the onions, cilantro, and jalapeno, then the pork and tomatillo mixture.  Simmer for 2 hours (or pop in the oven at 300).  Last, add in your black beans until heated (and mash up your garlic cloves if you can find them).  Serve with your fixings of choice.

Notes

Really interesting combination of flavors!  To be honest, I was not hopeful smelling the initial tomatillo mixture - all OJ, didn't seem to get much other than foam from the beer.  Meanwhile, I didn't handle the pork quite right - probably should have been bigger chunks, and gotten the oil much, much hotter and crowded the pan less to really let it brown.  (Also added a can of corn with the beans, why not?)  In the end it came together nicely!  Thanks to King Sooper's almost suspiciously-good pork deal, I got like 4 meals-worth of meat- and veggie-rich food for like $10!

Turkey Pumpkin Chili

New apartment, plus reunited with the big ol' dutch oven - time for chili.  I was originally looking up bison recipes, but the Whole Foods website had another intriguing recommendation (notwithstanding the nearest location's limited meat selection lacking a pretty key ingredient...):

Recipe

1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb ground turkey
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 c water
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 can (14 oz) kidney beans
corn (optional)
olive oil, salt & pepper

Heat some oil medium-high, and add the onion, green pepper, jalapeno, and garlic.  Once that's soft, brown your turkey.  Then add the tomatoes, pumpkin, water, and spices.  Bring to a boil, lower heat, and add the beans (and corn if you want).  Simmer 30 minutes or so.

Notes

Solid chili option, feels like it could plausibly be healthy...  The pumpkin really didn't come through much, which was a little disappointing when I was hoping for a nice hearty fall meal.  Overall a nice mix of sweet and spicy though!

Chipotle Quinoa Pilaf

The trouble with vegetarian recipes is that everything tastes like a side dish to me.  This one may actually be best used as a side...  From America's Test Kitchen:

Recipe

1 1/2 c quinoa

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped fine

1 tsp chipotle chile powder (I assume this is different from normal chile powder but went with the one I've got handy)

1/4 tsp cumin

13/4 c water

2 oz queso fresco

1/2 c roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped coarse

2 scallions, sliced

4 tsp lime juice

Toast the quinoa in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, about 5 minutes (until popping and smells nice).  Set aside.

Melt your butter in the saucepan (medium-low now), and add the onion, chile powder, cumin, and a sprinkle of salt, until onion is soft and golden.

Heat back to medium high, add the water and quinoa, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes.

Garnish with cheese, peanuts, scallions, and lime juice.

Sesame Night: Sesame-Crusted Salmon with Green Beans

If tonight were a super-amateur, no-time-limit episode of Chopped, the subtitle would be "Open Sesame"...  and that pretty much gives away what the not-so-secret ingredient was.  I gave myself a pass through the appetizer round, and never made it to dessert - does that mean I chopped myself?!  In any case, here's tonight's main course:

Sesame-Crusted Salmon (via ATK)

2 salmon fillets - skinless (didn't notice until now :/ )
1/4 c sesame seeds (or more...)
2 scallions
1/2 lemon, zest & juice
2 tsp tahini
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
cayenne pepper
oil, salt & pepper

Make a brine: 1 quart of water, 2 tbsp salt.  Soak your sesame seeds in just enough brine, salmon in the rest.  After 5 minutes, drain and toast your sesame seeds in a skillet until golden brown.

Mince the scallion whites, combine with lemon zest, and mix in with the lemon juice, tahini, ginger, and a sprinkle of cayenne and salt.  Coat the bottom of your salmon in the paste, then coat in seeds, then do the same with the other side.  Heat some oil in your (wiped) skillet and cook your salmon skinned side up until seeds start to brown, then turn off heat, flip salmon, and pop in the oven at 325 for 10-15 minutes.  Sprinkle with scallion greens before eating.

Sesame Green Beans (via Reddit)

1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon?)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sriracha
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
oil

Toss your green beans with some (neutral?) oil and roast at 450 for 10-15 minutes - should see some carmelization.  Mix the sauces, then toss in the beans.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Blackberry Glazed Pork Chops

These taste a lot fancier than the amount of effort required to make them! That and a short ingredients list makes these a great dish to impress on the fly...the recipe calls for blackberries, but raspberries work too! (You get a deeper sweeter taste with blackberries. With raspberries, the dish is tangier, more tart.)

(from PaleOMG)

INGREDIENTS:
(2-4 servings)

1-2 lbs. pork chops
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
12 ounce fresh blackberries (OR RASPBERRIES!)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn grill on.

2. Place pork chops on a plate and cover both sides with cinnamon, thyme, salt, and pepper. Press the spices into the chops.

3. While the grill heats up, place a small saucepan over medium heat and add blackberries, balsamic vinegar, water, and a pinch of salt.

4. Stir sauce frequently to avoid burning on the bottom as it mixes and heats up.

5. Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 3-5 minutes.

6. Pour half the sauce into a bowl for glazing purposes. (You can leave the blackberries in the pot, since those look best on top of the chops later.)

7. Use a glazing brush to glaze one side of your chops then place that glazed side down onto your grill.

8. Then glaze the other side, cover grill and let cook for 5-7 minutes per side. Glaze as much as you want...3-4 times preferably.

9. Plate chops and top with the leftover blackberry sauce that has been simmering and thickening up.

Buddha Bowls

This looked like a worthwhile vegetarian recipe to try!  Why Buddha?  Supposedly it's a heaping, bulging bowl that fills you up, also no animals were harmed in the making of the meal...

Recipe

Veggies
1 sweet potato, halved (or pre-chopped, not sure why not...)
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 bundle broccolini, stemmed and chopped
1-2 handfuls kale, chopped

Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed & patted dry
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
Optional: oregano, turmeric

Sauce
1/4 c tahini
1 tbsp maple syrup
juice of 1/2 lemon

Start roasting your sweets (skin side down) and onions at 400 degrees, drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper.  After 10 minutes, flip your sweets and add the broccolini, drizzling again...  After another 10, add the kale and drizzle again...  Bake 5 more minutes until ready to go!

Meanwhile, toss the chickpeas with the seasonings and saute in some oil, turning up the heat to brown as needed.  Also mix together the sauce, adding hot water to make it thinner and easier to spread.  Combine and eat!

Notes

Lots of great ingredients in there!  If anything, I over-drizzled and that kind of took over.  It's easy enough to do and adjust as your ingredients dictate, just keep an eye on the roast timing!

One-Pot Pasta Primavera

That one pot is pulling its weight these days...  Here's the next episode of one-pot preparations, plus the latest Meatless Monday.  Original recipe here.

Recipe

4 c vegetable broth
1/2 lb linguine
1 onion, sliced
1 lb broccoli florets
1 1/2 lbs asparagus, tough ends snapped off, cut into 1-2" pieces
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 c frozen peas
1/4 c heavy cream
parsley, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest
olive oil, crushed red pepper, salt & pepper

Add the broth, pasta, onion, broccoli, asparagus, shrooms, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper to your (one) pot, and drizzle over some olive oil.  Bring to a boil; once it's there, cook 7 or so minutes, tossing with tongs.  Add the peas, cream, parsley, Parm, and lemon zest, and cook another couple minutes, until everything is basically done.  Let cool and thicken, then serve!

Notes

That's a long list of ingredients, but it probably works as a choose-your-own-vegetarian-adventure - however much you feel like chopping and tossing in a pot of whatever plants and fungi you have lying around.  Really good!  I about two-thirded things, which left me with more liquid than I expected.  The broth was delicious, though!  I didn't bother with cream, just added a splash of milk (and tons of cheese) for that dairy goodness.  Almost as good as porky ramen broth...

One-Pot Chicken & Rice

Kicking off something of a one-pot cooking theme...  I don't usually think of the New York Times' Cooking section first for easy recipes, but this one hits a nice balance.

Recipe

1 onion, sliced
1+ lbs chicken (skinless)
3/4 c white rice
olive oil, salt & pepper
extras: saffron, parsley, cilantro, lemon/lime
optional: chicken sausage!

Start to boil 1 1/2 c water, and heat some olive oil medium-high in a skillet.  Cook your onions with some salt & pepper until soft and translucent.  Add the rice and stir until coated in oil.  (Stir in saffron if you're fancy like that.)  Nestle in your chicken, add the boiling water, and cover.  Simmer about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (very important), rice is soft (somewhat important), and the water has been absorbed/boiled away (not very important).  Garnish and serve!

Notes

Aside from saffron, it's got super simple, straightforward ingredients - and not many!  Not a lot of prep either - just slicing the onion.  I used boneless, skinless thighs, just plopped in whole.  I also added a sprinkle of frozen veggies to round out the food groups.  Fast, easy, not Halal Guys but still tasty!

I didn't get the ratio of liquids quite right so it didn't come out as picturesque as NYT's, but will definitely try again and update with visuals if I do better!

Spanish-Style Lentils & Chorizo

Bacon AND chorizo?  And with enough veggies to plausibly be healthy?  Another worthwhile one crowdsourced from here...

Recipe

4 slices bacon, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 oz chorizo
1 c rice
1 c lentils
4 c water
1 c tomato sauce
cumin, paprika
oil, salt & pepper

Start with your bacon in some oil and crisp it up; you can take it out or not and add the onion, carrot, garlic, and spices, then green pepper, then the chorizo.  Once the meat is cooked through, add the rice, lentils, and water and simmer until soft.  Stir in the tomato sauce and let the flavors meld.

Notes

Don't know how necessary the bacon really was, but can't complain.  I used the end of my packages of lentils and rice - more like 3/4 c - and a whole pack of chorizo - 4x the recommended amount?!  So mine was much meatier than the original version.  Very tasty, and awesome left over!

Roast Chicken with Garlic & Shallot Marinade

Having trouble coming up with a less generic name for this recipe; the original was simply Easy Roast Chicken...

Recipe

~8 pieces of chicken, one whole bird broken down or your choice, skin-on/bone-in

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp red wine vinegar (or my standby apple cider vinegar)

1 tbsp brown sugar

4 shallots, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

Mix everything into the marinade, and toss in the chicken.  Place chicken in a baking dish skin side up (spooning over extra sauce) and bake at 425 for 30 minutes.  Baste the chicken and flip, and cook another 10 minutes or more until done.

Notes

That sauce is pretty awesome.  I turned up the garlic (to the above amount) and probably the shallot too (what actually counts as one shallot?), and kept spooning sauce over and scooping it up with every bite.  Yeah, pretty awesome.

Slow Cooker Peach Salsa Pork

New job, so time to experiment with crockpot options for meals ready to eat back at home.  I was hesitant to try this one, since pre-made peach salsa seems like a bit of a shortcut.  But it does make it so simple and easy - just three ingredients!  To wit:

Recipe

2+ lb boneless pork roast
1+ lbs sweet potatoes
2 c peach salsa
vegetable oil, salt & pepper

Chop your sweet potato into 1" chunks - no need to go too small! - and place in the bottom of the crockpot.  Heat a tbsp oil in a heavy skillet.  Season your roast with salt & pepper.  Brown on all sides, then place on top of sweet potatoes.  Pour over the salsa.  Heat on high 4-5 hours, or low 7-9.

Serve with rice, spicy sesame oil, cilantro, parsley, chopped green onion, anything else.

Notes

It took a while to get to this since it's not quite as simple as putting everything in the crockpot and setting it to go for a while.  But it came out well in the end!  The original recipe tells you to neatly slice your pork into chops, but as soon as I tried to do that it shredded.  Not a problem though!  The way my day went, it cooked on the higher end of the time range so maybe dried out a little; a little extra salsa can address that.  The sweet potatoes came out amazing...

Lentil Bolognese

A cheap, healthy, and plentiful Meatless Monday (plus a few extra days) recipe courtesy of reddit...

Recipe

1 onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
2 cans (15 oz each) diced tomatoes
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 c red lentils
2 c water
olive oil, salt & pepper

Chop everything.  Start some oil in a large skillet and cook the vegetables until tender.  Next stir in the garlic, then the tomato paste, then the rest of the tomatoes and the herbs, baking soda, and some salt and pepper.  Then add the lentils and water, and simmer 20-30 minutes.  Serve over pasta.

Notes

I've struggled with this in a few recent recipes, and realized that you need plenty of liquid to cook through things like lentils (or sweet potatoes).  I let everything simmer longer than a half hour, and the lentils were still a bit underdone.

Overall, though, a tasty recipe to make in a big batch and have for leftovers (good with some sausage for non-veggie days)!

Honey Coconut Salmon

A combination of a free evening, a packet of frozen salmon, and a recently-purchased bag of shredded coconut (a possibility for an upcoming CS-ORS bake-off) led me to this recipe:

Recipe

1 1/2 c butter
3/4 c honey
1/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c flaked coconut
4 salmon fillets (~4 oz each)

Melt your butter, then stir in the honey, brown sugar, and coconut.  Pour over your salmon and turn to coat, then marinate in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 375, spread some marinade over the bottom of your baking dish, place your salmon in there, and coat with more marinade.  Bake about 25 minutes, basting with marinade a few times.

Notes

A good recipe for a lot of flavor from not a lot of ingredients.  I was worried it would be overly sweet what with the honey and brown sugar etc., but the butter and (unsweetened!) coconut balances it out a bit.  It worked well for some freezer salmon fillets - if you have a high-quality piece you're probably better off doing something more discreet...  It's also a pretty large amount of marinade - you're fine scaling it back significantly.

Quinoa & Broccoli Casserole

I survived another Meatless Monday thanks to this cheesy concoction...

Recipe

3/4 c quinoa
2 green onions
1 c vegetable stock
1 tbsp pesto
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 c spinach
8 oz mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
8 oz broccoli florets
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  Whisk together your stock, pesto, cornstarch, and some salt, and bring to a boil.  Combine the quinoa, green onion, liquids, spinach, and most of the cheese in a baking dish and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.  Toward the end, steam (or microwave) your broccoli, then mix it into the casserole and sprinkle the last of the cheese on top.  Cook another 5 minutes, and pop under the broiler for a couple if you want to brown it up.

Notes

As with most recipes, I went in expecting to halve everything, but as I was measuring out the quinoa that looked like an awful lot so I about quartered it instead.  You don't have to balance things too closely - I added lots of spinach and definitely went heavy on the cheese.  The cheese did kind of take things over - deliciously melty, especially in comparison to the crisper grains - but you can dial it down to make it healthier or whatever.  Very tasty but not quite as filling as I hoped... so pretty good for your typical vegetarian dish...

Caldo Verde

It wasn't pretty, apparently - not even a shot on goal until extra time ?! - but Portugal beat Croatia to move on in Euro 2016.  My sympathies may have been more with the Croats, but it still felt like an appropriate occasion to try out a new Portuguese recipe from ATK:

Recipe

1/2 lb chorizo, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4" pieces
2 c broth
2 c water
1/2 lb collard greens, chopped
1 tsp vinegar
olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper

Lightly brown the chorizo in some olive oil, then set aside.  Next, cook the onion, garlic, red pepper, salt & pepper for a few minutes, then add the potatoes, broth, and water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Blend about 1/2 c solids and 1/2 c broth.  In your pot, add the collard greens and simmer about 10 minutes; re0add the chorizo and give it another 10.

Add a couple tbsp olive oil to the blender and process until smooth.  Stir into the soup with vinegar, and serve!

Notes

This actually turned out pretty similar to an old favorite: stewed collards and chorizo.  In a large part, it was because of my lack of a blender - I just mashed the potatoes at about that point of the recipe.  I also used ground chorizo instead of hard sausage - wonder how much of a difference that might make...  Texture aside, caldo verde adds potatoes for a bit more heartiness, but doesn't help the broth quite as much.  It made a couple solid dinners, but writing this, it's pretty clear I need to try again closer to the authentic recipe...

Pancakes Part III: Cornmeal

After a kitchen mishap (mostly my own fault but a little on a poorly-designed cornmeal container too), I have a Ziploc bag of cornmeal to kill.  Google furnished an array of pancake recipes, varying in cornmeal-flour ratio and other ingredients.  Tough to choose on a sleepy and hungry weekend morning!  I went with this.

Recipe

1/3 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/8 c cornmeal
1 egg
1 1/8 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
sugar, cinnamon (optional)

Whisk together your dry ingredients, then your wet ingredients, then together.  Cook scoops of up to about 1/4 c in a hot pan.

Notes

What's with the 1/8 c increments?  Sadly, it seemed to be a feature of all of the recipes I found.  This one included some extra flavors like vanilla and cinnamon.  The key takeaway seems to be that the breakdown of ingredients is not set in stone, and you can vary as you like.  As for the cornmeal pancake concept overall?  The big difference is definitely texture, with more crunch than the other options.  Mine were a bit bland on their own, really needed some syrup.  Good one to keep in mind though!

Pesto Salmon Foil Bake

Fresh seafood may not be as accessible here in the heart of the US of A, but there are still some ways to get your fix.  With a few salmon fillets thawing in the fridge and the end of a package of pesto, the internet turned up this intriguing concept, from Jamie Oliver via here...

Recipe

2 salmon fillets
two handfuls green beans
grape tomatoes
pesto
a lemon
olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 400.  Boil your green beans about 3 minutes, then drain and toss with some olive oil and salt & pepper.  Make nice little piles on two sheets of tin foil.  Salmon goes on top, spread on your pesto, and squeeze some lemon juice over.  Slice some grape tomatoes in half, toss with more olive oil, and they go on top.  Wrap up your foil and bake 20-25 minutes.

Notes

I'm not entirely sold on the difference the tin foil makes.  Other recipes basically just said put pesto on salmon and bake.  With the foil, it's hard to tell how done your salmon is, and then you have to unwrap everything while it's still hot and you're hungry...  But everything came out very tasty, with the flavors melding nicely.  So kind of fun, worth doing again!

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

This was one of the more straightforward recipes to pop up from America's Test Kitchen recently, but still different, and educational I guess...

Recipe

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved
1 tbsp baking soda
7 tbsp sugar
1/4 c fish sauce
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp cornstarch

1. Mix the baking soda with 1 1/4 c water, and coat the chicken.  Let sit for 15 minutes, then rinse and drain.

2. Mix the sugar with 3 tbsp water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Once it's golden, reduce the heat to medium low and swirl until it's dark (and 400 degrees or close to it, if you're equipped to measure it).  Add (carefully) 3/4 c hot water, and dissolve over medium heat.

3. Add your caramel, fish sauce, ginger, and chicken to a skillet, cover, and simmer 30-40 minutes.  Flip the chicken halfway through.

4. Remove the chicken and boil the sauce to reduce it down.  Mix the cornstarch with a tbsp of water, and mix into the sauce to thicken it.  Season with pepper and serve over the chicken and sides.

Notes

Despite the baking soda rigmarole (apparently to protect the juiciness and tenderness), this is actually a pretty simple dish.  Very little prep required - a couple slices of the chicken, some grating of ginger, and I think that's it!  So it leaves you plenty of time for sides - ATK recommends serving with steamed broccoli and white rice.

The recipe promises that the dish is "intensely seasoned."  I was a little underwhelmed, though.  To be fair, I was trying to halve the recipe and kind of eyeballed the fish sauce and ginger.  Not that it wasn't tasty, in an interesting way!  Not nearly as sweet as I expected - I guess I did the caramel pretty well.  I'd probably add some crushed red pepper next time for a little more kick - yes, definitely worth doing again.  (Got lots of sugar & cornstarch to use!)

Pancakes Part II: Oatmeal

Next pancakes endeavor: oatmeal-based batter.  Recipe courtesy of MyFitnessPal.

Recipe

1/4 c flour
1 c quick-cooking oats
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg

Whisk together dries in a bowl, wets in another bowl, then together.  Get your skillet to medium heat, and add small scoops of batter (three per batch for me).  Cook until tops are bubbly, then flip and finish until bottoms are golden brown.  Repeat as necessary with the rest of the batter.

Notes

This one took a few attempts on my part, so you have the benefit of my trial and error.  The batter comes out pretty moist, watery even.  So I had to be patient and not try to cram too much batter into the skillet to speed up the cooking process.  Make your pancakes small!  Don't let them pool by the edges of the skillet - they won't cook through evenly.  And flip decisively, since they'll still be a little gooey even when the bottom is well done.

Follow these guidelines and you get some tasty pancakes, interesting texture, and the glow of a fitness app-approved healthy breakfast.

Pancakes Part I: Whole Wheat

Who doesn't like pancakes?  Or have fond memories of pancake day some weekend morning?  Sure, maybe they're not the healthiest breakfast option (especially not by paleo standards) but still a good option to have in your repertoire.  Plus, I happened across a few ways that at least appear to step up the health factor.  Here's the first, courtesy of America's Test Kitchen:

Recipe

2 c whole wheat flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 c buttermilk *substitution below
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a big bowl, then hollow out a space in the center.  Whisk the wets in another bowl, then pour into the hollow and, yes, whisk everything all together.

Heat a nonstick (or well-seasoned cast-iron) skillet to medium.  Take small scoops of batter with a 1/4 c measuring cup, about three per batch.  Things to watch for: edges set, bottoms golden brown, bubbles beginning to break (a couple minutes).  Then flip, another minute or two, remove, and do another batch.

Notes

According to ATK, the point of the whole wheat flour isn't so much health as chemistry.  You can whisk as much as you want/feel compelled to, and you'll still get light, fluffy pancakes.  Less gluten bonding, obviously.  Can't speak to what went on at the molecular level in my batter, but my pancakes were appropriately light and fluffy!  Need to get the timing down (thus no picture), but worth coming back to.

* To sub one cup buttermilk: One tbsp vinegar, then the remainder of 1 c with regular milk.  Stir and let sit a few minutes.

Italian Meat Sauce

I may not have had an Italian grandmother, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a thick, hearty, meaty pasta sauce.  It may not be just like my imaginary nonna made, but it's got America's Test Kitchen's best time-saving and flavor-enhancing tips:

Recipe

4 oz white mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 onion, finely chopped
1 slice white bread, torn into quarters
2 tbsp whole milk
1 lb ground beef (85% lean)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 medium can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, drained reserving 1/4 c of juice
1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1/4 c-plus grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper

Process the mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped; transfer to a bowl.  Next pop the bread, milk, and some salt and pepper into the processor and combine into a paste.  Add the beef and mix well.

Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium high, and brown the mushroom and onion.  Add in the garlic, tomato paste, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for a minute or so, then add the tomato juice and oregano, scraping/deglazing the pan.  The meat mixture is next; cook until the pink is gone but don't let it brown.  Stir in your cans of tomatoes and simmer about a half hour.

Prepare some pasta toward the end.  Stir in the cheese, and serve with more sprinkled on top!

Notes

This is pretty good.  I'm sure it could be simplified, but altogether kind of a fun cooking project.  In true grandma-fashion, its a ton of food, so be prepared to refrigerate or freeze leftovers!

Paleo Broiled Sole

Living within walking distance of Whole Foods has led me to step up my game as I get back into the cooking groove.  Dover sole on sale?  Into the cart, figure out the plan later.  Here's what the internet turned up:

Recipe

3 to 6 sole fillets
1/4 c olive oil
zest of one Meyer's lemon
3 whole cardamom pods (or a sprinkle of cardamom powder)
fresh cilantro leaves
salt & pepper

Mix together the olive oil, lemon zest, cardamom, and cilantro.  Spread half in the bottom of an oven-safe dish.  Put the sole on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover with the rest of the sauce.  Put under the broiler for 7-8 minutes.  Feel free to squeeze some lemon juice on top, what else are you going to do with a skinned lemon?

Notes

Simple enough...  Although of course I didn't do things exactly as prescribed.  Rather than acquire cardamom in some form, I used a few cloves of minced garlic.  Also, the original recipe calls for Celtic sea salt?!  That's a thing?  Heritage aside, I used the kosher salt on hand.

This was also a fortuitous recipe since I had plenty of cilantro left over from (coincidentally) another paleo seafood dish.  The distinctive cilantro flavor didn't hold up under the broiler, but there was maybe a hint of burn - the cilantro? Garlic?  I barely let it sit the minimum 7 minutes they recommend, it got so noisy (and aromatic, as promised).  Anyway, here's the final product, a good simple way to get some paleo-approved fish in you.

Paleo Marinated Tuna Steaks

It's been a while since I've put up a new recipe, but now with a fully-functional kitchen out west, time to get back into it with King Sooper's/Whole Foods' finest ingredients.  Starting with a couple frozen tuna steaks, the internet turned up this recipe:

Recipe

tuna steak(s)
3 tbsp fat (coconut oil recommended)
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
juice & zest of 1 lime
salt & pepper

Mix together your fat, ginger, garlic, cilantro, lime, salt, and pepper.  Slather it on the tuna and let sit for a few hours.

Scrape off the excess marinade - saving it for later!  Heat your grill or skillet medium high, and cook about 4 minutes per side.  Heat up the leftover marinade briefly to make a thick paste.  Serve with avocado, spinach, whatever you want...

Notes

The tuna steaks came frozen solid; it took the better part of a week in the fridge before they were anything other than hockey pucks.  This made me a little cautious, so after searing both sides of the steaks, I popped the skillet in the oven for some extra time to cook through.  The steaks were just slightly on the overdone side...

Some people are strongly anti-cilantro.  While I'm no irrational hater, there always seems to be something strange about a strong cilantro flavor.  In this dish, it seemed to come mainly from the paste rather than the marinade process.  Garlic, ginger, and cilantro make an interesting combination...

Here's the somewhat colorful result, helped on by roasted orange cauliflower - toss florets with a sliced onion, garlic cloves, olive oil, and spices, and roast at 425 until soft (to be honest, the caramelized onions were maybe the best part of the meal).