With Spring quickly turning into Summer I wanted to share another asparagus recipe while its still at its best. With trying to eat a healthier diet it helps to have some quick and light recipes in the rotation. Shrimp is a great lean protein source, its quick cooking and full of fat free protein, which is a great alternative to beef, pork, and chicken. Continue reading “Quick Shrimp + Asparagus”
Roasted asparagus and beet panzanella
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The best cooks in the world know how to get the most bang for their buck. Italian panzanella is a prime example of repurposing ingredients. Panzanella utilizes leftover, even stale bread and makes it a showstopping salad.
Continue reading “Roasted asparagus and beet panzanella”
Cauliflower “Steak” Oscar
Lately I’ve been obsessed with Farm to table chef Dan Barber’s Cauliflower steak recipe, Food 52 is the site I found it on, so basically I adapted his recipe but put the “Oscar style” spin on it. I was thinking to myself….what is my favorite steak house order? The answer is Oscar (steak, usually sirloin or tenderloin, topped with crab, asparagus, and hollandaise). I figured if I was going to replace beef with cauliflower I better make it just as decedent as a steak house meal is. His recipe calls for one head of cauliflower/seared till golden/salt & pepper/finished in a 350 oven for 10 or 15 minutes. I cut the sides off the cauliflower and used the middle to make two 1 1/2 inch slices to be consistent with a prime cut of steak. I also used a orange cauliflower, my store carries this, but you can always use regular, white cauliflower. So with the side florets you boil those in 2 cups water, 1 cup milk (you can use whatever you like, easily made vegan) for 10 minutes until very tender, in Dan’s recipe he puts the florets with one cup of cooking water and blends to make a puree, I did this as well but I added in butter, 2T (sub smart balance to make vegan hollandaise), and lemon, 1/2 juiced to make it faux hollandaise, because my cauliflower was orange it made the perfect color to be hollandaise, if using white cauliflower add 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric to get that yellow “egg yolk” shade. Blanch asparagus/prepare crab, remove shells etc. For assembly I put my “hollandaise” at the bottom, topped with the “Steak” added asparagus topped with crab (omit for vegan or use a vegan product), a lil more sauce a bit of cayenne (typical in hollandaise), and topped with some micro greens. It was AMAZING!!! Originally I was planning on a traditional egg based hollandaise but as I was cooking I realized I could use cauliflower in place of eggs and make a totally vegan hollandaise sauce! Dan Barber’s philosophy was a wonderful muse for my own creation, using veg cooked in methods usually used for meat is an awesome way to bring out the satisfying side of our veggie friends, and I think making it “Oscar style” really elevated it to a whole new level! Seriously try this, even the biggest carnivore will be begging for more and this is a healthy alternative!
Farmer’s Market to Table
Finally! Our farmer’s market is open! Surprisingly there were a few booths I didn’t see last season…I found some really nice stuff. Asparagus….fresh, beautiful, local, asparagus! I made a flat bread the other day with some asparagus I had gotten from out of state….it was good and all, but I can’t really explain the difference in the two varieties…the one today…eons better. It felt supple and kinda fuzzy, I kept telling the lady that they felt velvety, and she was like yeah dorko they were picked this morning…not her actual words but you get the gist. Anyway the market never fails to inspire my faith in the world…I know it’s a little weird. With temps being in the 80’s round here, everyone was out today..and unfortunately tamale lady was sold out, but we found some other things to try, and it seemed that summer had stopped by for a surprise visit! I just blanched the asparagus in sea salt, boiling water, for maybe 3 minutes and then put them in an ice bath so they retain their bright green color. I then placed them on a plate and added some walnut pesto I had made earlier (any Genovese variety would work)..seriously so good! I am always amazed by how a vegetable could taste so much better when it’s not been on a truck for a month before sold…picked before its ready so it will have a longer shelf life, ugh…some things aren’t meant to have a long shelf life, you just enjoy them why they are there and in their prime. I also found some spring onions that I used in some ramen, and I bought some gorgeous rainbow chard!
Spring Asparagus flatbread with Marcona Almonds
Asparagus season is full bloom! Aside from all the nutritional value, asparagus is beautiful and the perfect way to celebrate the blooming of spring and end of winter (I’m over it). My go to way to serve asparagus is to just use a lil olive oil, salt, pep, and roast them, sometimes, though you may just want to make something a little more special without a bunch of time consuming prep work…here in Portland, when the sun shines you get out in it as much as you can! Well yesterday was “meatless” Monday so totally inspired by a flat bread that I had at New Seasons market, I decided to make my own version. I usually don’t drive during the week so I walked down to the Wholefoods and picked up some ingredients. I love the fresh made whole wheat pizza crust at Wholefoods, it has five ingredients, and it’s delicious and a bargain at $3! Honestly, it’s made in house and knowing that it’s made with good ingredients makes it a great short cut and saves me a load of mess and time, some pizza joints will sell you dough, or of course you can make your own…but avoid anything that pops in tube….full o’ nasties. I got some asparagus from Cali at the grocery outlet for 99cents on Sunday (that place is a goldmine!) and I had some Spanish Marcona almonds, pecorino, olive oil, and red pepper flakes at home.
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out your dough into a rectangle, or the shape you like, you can even make individual flatbread if you so choose. Brush the dough with some olive oil, add asparagus (raw), almonds (press them into the dough), sprinkle with pecorino or parm (I like the tang and saltiness of the sheep milk pecorino, it’s a romano cheese and I think you can use a lot less and get a lot more flavor, add fresh ground pepper and throw it in the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden. When it done use some citrus zest to add a punch of freshness! Seriously who knew almonds and asparagus were so delicious together? Easily made vegan friendly without the cheese and still delicious! It will look like you slaved away in the kitchen, does anyone remember that rice crispy treat commercial from the nineties, where the mom put a bunch of flour on her face so it looked like she had been slaving over the no bake treat? Kinda like that but way better! Enjoy!
My Award winning Beef souvlaki recipe, 2008 Utah State fair blue ribbon winner!
My family history includes a lot of souvlaki, one of my first memories is sitting on the prep table at my parents restaurant/lounge in Ogden, UT watching my Mom season huge tubs of cubed pork or turkey. My mom isn’t actually Greek, she married one, so her recipe was perhaps a bit unorthodox for most traditional recipes. My Mom never made souvlaki with beef, she made it with elk, deer, what have you for all our Utah hunter bar patrons who would bring in their recent kill and have my Mom fix it in her special way. When I told my Mom that I was going to enter the 2008 beef cook off with a souvlaki recipe, she thought I was nuts…but in true competitive spirit I did anyway…and you know what? I won…a $300 prize, my largest prize to date.
This recipe is really easy and I noticed today at Costco I found prime yes “PRIME” grade cap sirloin, which whenever they have it is my favorite thing! $7.99 a pound this sirloin is a bargain, keep in mind it usually requires a bit of trimming and they are usually not a consistent size…which is perfect cuz I will be cubing it! So let’s get this party starrted shall we?
2 lbs cubed sirloin
1/4 cup good quality soy sauce
juice of one lemon or lime…I had a lime
a few drizzles olive oil
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon each sea salt, black pepper, granulated garlic (use two fresh cloves if you prefer)
2 Tablespoons flat leaf parsley
Mix in with the meat and marinate overnight or at least 30 minutes and skewer on bamboo skewers. I broiled mine in the oven for about five minutes, it was perfectly mid rare….you should never eat a prime cut more cooked then that…or don’t bother have a hamburger. HAHA! But seriously this is a very easy and delicious recipe, you can use this marinade on other meat as well, and I served my souvlaki with cous cous (seriously the easiest and tastiest starch out there) and some roasted asparagus since it is peak of asparagus season. If you use good ingredients you don’t need to be too fussy, just be straight forward and use good technique. Yassou!
