Saucy Balls

I made spaghetti with whole wheat penne for dinner. These balls were a little on the creative side (trying to clean out the fridge before our vacation on Wednesday), but they came out pretty good.

Start with ground beef, bread crumbs and ricotta with fennel, honey and orange. (Thanks Lauren for the yummy ricotta - I re-purposed it!) They ended up sweet, savory and tangy!

My balls. They chilled in the fridge for 2 hours.

Then I deep fried them in duck fat. Yup.

Golden brown delicious. Added some high quality tomato sauce and baked off in the oven to finish for 30 minutes. (Covered in foil at 350).

Vamos!

Huevos Rancheros.

Eggs Benedict with potato hash

The food here was ok at best. The best part was the fresh made guacamole and the warm chips they serve with it. AND the unlimited frozen margaritas for only $6.

Greek Yogurt Chicken

Ingredients

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1- 8oz Container plain fat free Greek yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Cumin
1 C. Whole wheat bread crumbs
Extra virgin olive oil for cooking (about 2 tbsp. total) and one lemon (used right before serving)











Directions





Pepper both sides of the chicken and set aside. In a bowl whisk together the yogurt, salt and pepper, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp cumin. Place the chicken in a re-sealable bag and pour the Greek yogurt mixture on it. Then massage the yogurt into the chicken and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for a half an hour to an hour. Meanwhile in a pie dish add the whole wheat bread crumbs and remaining garlic powder, cumin, more salt and pepper. Stir the mixture with a fork to combine. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. When chicken is done marinating coat one piece at a time into the bread crumb mixture and coat both sides; repeat until all pieces of chicken are coated in bread crumbs. Pre-heat a skillet with extra virgin olive oil to medium high and sauté chicken breast on one side, flip after two minutes or until golden brown crust has formed. Place pan with chicken in the oven to finish the cooking process, 5-10 minutes depending on how thick your piece of chicken is. When thoroughly cooked remove from oven and squeeze lemon on top of the warm chicken to serve.

Penne with Red Cabbage

I found this recipe online but decided to modify a few of the ingredients. It's healthy and it's vegetarian!

1. 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2. 1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
3. 4 garlic cloves, minced
4. 1 small red cabbage, thinly sliced
5. 1/2 pound whole wheat penne
6. Salt and freshly ground pepper
7. 1 cup low fat cottage cheese (this sounds gross, but the original recipe calls for feta - cottage cheese can be savory! It's salty and mixes well - it works - I promise!)
   
8. 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
9. 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes
   

1. In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the sliced onions, cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft, about 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the sliced red cabbage and vinegar, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the penne until it is al dente. Drain the pasta well. Return the pasta to the pot.
3. Scrape the cabbage over the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cottage cheese and mix well. Serve.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Salmon

Wrapping prosciutto around salmon is the best way to make a dish that makes you want to slap somebody. The prosciutto is very easy to work with. It actually “shrink wraps” as it cooks, tightly sealing itself to the fish. I made mine with half a small potato and roasted brussel spouts.

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets (skin off)
4 slices of prosciutto
1/4 cup of grainy mustard
a sprinkle or two of sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).

Meanwhile, season the salmon fillets with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Evenly spread the mustard on the top surface of each fillet. Tightly roll each fillet in a slice of prosciutto so that the end is weighed down beneath the salmon. The ends of the salmon will protrude beyond the prosciutto.
Place wrapped fillets on a baking pan, seam sides down. Bake until done - I like mine cripsy, about 25 minutes.

Quick Tuna Steak

Ingredients

	2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
	1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
	2 tsp olive oil
	1/4 tsp table salt
	1/2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
	1/4 cup(s) white wine
	3/4 pound(s) Fish, tuna, raw

Instructions

Combine wine, soy sauce and lime juice in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Set aside. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper; add steaks to pan. Cook 4 minutes on each side until steaks are medium-rare or desired degree of doneness. Transfer steaks to a serving dish, and keep warm. Pour mixture into pan. Cook 1 to 11⁄2 minutes or until reduced to 2 tablespoons, stirring to deglaze pan; pour over steaks.

Rye

Our dear friend Patrick had a birthday dinner a little while ago and we ventured out to Rye in Brooklyn to celebrate with a little surprise dinner. Dinner was so much fun (it always is when you have good company)!


We had a pre-fixe and many folks ordered the Beet Ravioli as their first course: roasted beets, goat cheese, baby arugula, roasted tomatoes, toasted pine nuts & fresh basil. I opted for the House Smoked Sturgeon.

The smoked fish came with boulanger potatoes, bacon, frisee & quail egg. This photo I found of the dish shows it with caviar. I didn't get any caviar. Also - I've never been a fan of frisee but I rather enjoyed it this time. (It looks like it should be living in a fish tank - or in a bed of coral in the ocean.)

For dinner, Curtis had the Meatloaf sandwich made of: duck, veal and pork, topped with crispy buttermilk onions. Curtis loved it. I didn't order this because it sounded really heavy. I took a bite - it was darn good.

Joe and Haney had the Roasted Chicken with sage butternut squash & pancetta risotto. The chicken was cooked perfectly. Very delish! A bunch of the girls ordered the Grilled Berkshire pork belly served with white beans and brussel sprouts. I admit - I'm a big fan of pork belly BUT it has to be cooked properly. I don't like eating fat - I trim it off of everything! (The texture grosses me out!) But proper pork belly can melt in your mouth like a BBQ cloud. Rye's pork belly was really meaty and the fatty part could have been cooked longer. I didn't eat all of it because it was too chewy.

For dessert - we had two choices: Chocolate Cake with pistachio ice cream or warm donuts & ice cream. Whenever I see warm donuts I usually order them. These donuts were dense, cake-like donuts. (I prefer the fried airy kind). They were good - but I took a bite of someone's chocolate cake and that was better. I was so tired and full after dinner - we took cabs out of Brooklyn back to the city (ha ha - LAZY!). Again, the food was okay (not sure if I left feeling there was something I'd definitely be back for), but the dinner itself was super fun. I love this group of people. They rule.