We’ve made orecchiette with broccoli rabe before, and enjoyed it as a quick and healthy vegetarian meal. Broccoli rabe (also known as “rapini”) is a leafy green packed with nutrients, including calcium, vitamins A, C and K, potassium and folate, just to name a few. It’s known as one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. So why not negate all that nutrition by adding sausage to your rapini dish? The Italians do it, so that is good enough for us. Of course — even with the sausage — you still receive all the health benefits of broccoli rabe, and the method of roasting the sausages according to Ina Garten’s recipe in her book “Foolproof” makes them seem at least a little less unhealthy. Adding the sausage and a tomato sauce elevates this pasta dish in terms of both flavor and texture, and makes it a lot more appealing (to us anyway) than the vegetarian version. We still appreciate the meat-less meal, but really like the addition of sweet tomato to counter the somewhat bitter rapini flavor. We’re also curious to try a version using turkey sausage sometime, to keep the dish a bit more on the healthy side, without sacrificing the meaty component. But when in the mood for a hearty, comfort-food meal that we would imagine an Italian grandmother making, this recipe is the way to go.
Category: Main Courses
Skillet Strata
And now for something completely different — breakfast for dinner! “Strata” typically refers to a layered brunch casserole made with day-old bread, eggs, cheese and milk, put together hours in advance and resulting in a final dish that resembles a savory bread pudding. We’ve never made strata before and thought it sounded pretty complicated, especially for a weeknight dinner. But we found a recipe from one of our old favorite cookbooks, “The Best 30-Minute Recipe” that simplifies the process without sacrificing any of the flavor or the delicate-yet-hearty structure. The ingredients are simple — bacon, onion, eggs, milk, cheese and bread — and can vary depending on what kind of strata you want to make, which is another reason to love this recipe. Once you have the technique for building and cooking a successful strata, you can modify the flavors and ingredients to suit your preferences and pantry. For example, you could use sausage instead of bacon. Or use leftover steak and add green chiles for a migas-style strata. Leave out the meat altogether and add mushrooms and spinach for a hearty vegetarian strata. There are tons of possibilities for this versatile meal, not just in terms of ingredients, but also timing — served as breakfast, lunch or dinner, it’s a tasty, filling and satisfying dish that is easy to make, easy on the eyes and pleasing to the palate.
Braised Short Ribs
Rather than brave what many consider to be “amateur night” in terms of responsible drinking on New Year’s Eve, Dan and I prefer to stay in, cook a nice meal and watch an old classic movie. There is comfort in our little New Year’s Eve ritual, in that it has become our annual tradition and it involves our shared loves of good food and movies. Every year we look forward to planning the menu (we try to cook something new and maybe a bit more extravagant than our usual cooking) and selecting the movie (which can be difficult, as classic movies aren’t really our thing, aside from this one night each year.) Our choices aren’t always successful — beef wellington several years ago was a colossal failure (way too much effort for a mediocre – at best – result), but we always enjoy the process and our evening together. This year was no exception, and we succeeded with our food and movie choices as well. We found the short ribs recipe in the cookbook “Restaurant Favorites at Home” and were surprised by how easy it was to make with simple ingredients and several hours of braising time. We chose the movie “To Have and Have Not” because it stars the legendary onscreen (and off!) couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and because it is based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway. The fork-tender ribs literally fell off the bone when we dished them out of the rich (but not too rich!), flavorful sauce. The movie was quite entertaining, with a nice mix of charm, humor, romance and intrigue. We love our New Year’s Eve tradition, especially as a reminder that a good meal and quiet evening together can be cause for celebration any time of the year.
Smoked Turkey & Lentil Soup
If you have any leftover Christmas turkey — especially if it happens to be smoked turkey, and especially if you have the carcass and bones — we highly recommend that you make stock, then use the stock to make soup. The smoky (almost ham-like) flavor of the turkey pairs particularly well with the earthy flavor of lentils in this soup. Although they are not difficult to make, the stock and soup do take some time. But a pot of stock simmering on your stove for several hours is definitely not a bad thing. It makes your whole kitchen smell delicious, and there is no better base for soup than homemade stock. Plus, you have the added satisfaction of knowing you squeezed every bit of smoky goodness out of your turkey, rather than just throwing the bones away. And if you don’t feel like making soup, you can portion out the stock into 1 and/or 2 cup quantities to freeze for later use. Homemade stock makes a surprisingly huge difference in the final flavor of almost any recipe calling for at least a cup of stock. (Just keep in mind that stock made from smoked turkey (as opposed to chicken or regular turkey) has a pretty pronounced smoky flavor that might not be welcome in certain dishes requiring chicken stock.) If you have the bird and the time, make homemade stock, is what we are saying.
Light Turkey Pot Pie (w/ leftover turkey)
With Christmas a week away, many folks may be planning on turkey for their big holiday meal. And with our entire nation in need of a little comfort food, a dish that is both comforting and incorporates leftover turkey hits the spot. Bonus — this version is much lower in calories and fat than the traditional pot pie, without sacrificing any of the flavor. We adapted the original recipe (found in Cook’s Illustrated’s magazine “Light & Healthy 2012“) by using leftover cooked turkey rather than poached chicken breasts. Calling this dish “pot pie” is a bit of a misnomer, considering that the recipe calls for a crumble topping — made with flour, Parmesan cheese, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, cayenne, buttermilk and butter — instead of the usual pie crust. Rather than “turkey pot pie,” think of it more as “turkey cobbler,” in terms of the consistency of the finished dish. The filling is similar to the traditional version — with turkey, mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery (no peas – I hate them) in a rich and creamy (but butter-free!) sauce. It doesn’t get much better than savory comfort food that warms your soul, without increasing your waistline.
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Baltimore Pit Beef Sandwiches
If revenge is a dish best served cold, then redemption must be best served warm, on a kaiser roll with onions and “tiger sauce.” The Steelers played the Baltimore Ravens a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately did not win, but the crab cakes we made for the Steeler Opponent-City Challenge were winners to us. Although Maryland is most known for its crab, we couldn’t let the Steeler/Ravens rivalry continue into a second game this season without trying another Baltimore food specialty — the “pit beef” sandwich. Pit beef is Baltimore’s version of barbeque, but without any sauce or rub typical of Texas or southern BBQ. Pit beef is delicious in its simplicity — top round seasoned with salt & pepper, then grilled over charcoal using a technique that makes the beef rare in the middle and seared on the outside, sliced thin and served on a bun with white onion and a sauce made with mayo, horseradish, sour cream, lemon juice and garlic. This week’s S.O.C.C. was win-win — we loved the pit beef, and the Steelers redeemed themselves by SWI-zing out a win against the Ravens with a field goal by their kicker Shaun Suisham (pronounced “swi-zem”) — which brings the current S.O.C.C. record to: Steelers 7-5, Foodie Lawyer 11-1.
Chicken Tikka Masala
We typically don’t eat Indian food. Dan has a love/hate relationship with the curry powder used in a lot of Indian dishes (he loves it but it hates him, gastronomically-speaking), and I haven’t ever been all that intrigued by trying much Indian cuisine, so it’s never really been on our radar. Until now. Several months ago, we had dinner at Samar, a tapas (small plates) restaurant that serves food inspired by the cuisine in Spain, India and the Eastern Mediterranean. It was the perfect opportunity to try little portions of new-to-us dishes without having to commit to an entire meal that we may or may not like (and may or may not like us back.) One of the small plates we tried that night was “tandoori chicken butter masala.” We liked it a lot (it liked us just fine too), and it inspired us to try making something similar at home. We’re not really sure what the difference is between tandoori chicken and chicken tikka (some sources say tandoori involves a whole chicken or chicken parts, while tikka refers to smaller bits of chicken), but we found a recipe for chicken tikka masala that sounded good, and we adapted it into a dish that we love even better than the one we had at Samar. It’s easy to make, although it takes some time since the chicken needs to marinate in the yogurt-based marinade for about an hour, then the chicken simmers for about half an hour in the tomato-based sauce. But the final dish is worth the effort, with complex spices and flavors that you can easily adjust to suit your own preferences (add more cayenne and/or another serrano pepper if you like it more spicy, or increase the amount of cinnamon, sugar and/or garam masala if you prefer a more warm/sweet flavor.) We’re happy to report a love/love relationship with this Indian dish and we’re so glad we tried it.
Polish Boy Sandwiches
The Steelers took on the Cleveland Browns this week. And by “took on,” I mean that they handed the game to the Browns in the form of a very generous 8 turnovers (including a fumble at the very last second of the game, for good measure.) Needless to say, the Steelers lost and it wasn’t pretty. So let’s just move on to the food, shall we? Cleveland isn’t exactly the first place we think of as a fine-dining mecca, but it has been garnering more respect from food critics in recent years (all the while proudly maintaining its notoriety as a blue-collar, burgers and dogs kind of town.) Cleveland native Chef Michael Symon is credited with helping to revitalize the dining scene in the city and has 3 restaurants there. He is possibly Cleveland’s most famous celebrity chef, so it seemed even more fitting that the recipe we chose for the Steeler Opponent-City Challenge this week is Chef Symon’s recipe for the “Polish Boy” sandwich. We didn’t find much information about the origin of the Polish Boy, but this kielbasa sandwich, topped with cole slaw and french fries, is definitely a Cleveland favorite, sold at BBQ joints and by street vendors all over the city. Chef Symon likes them so much that he featured the Polish Boy on an episode of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” (“Between Bread” edition), and he put the sandwich on the menu at his Bar Symon restaurant in the Pittsburgh airport. We’re fans of the Polish Boy as well (what’s not to like about a sandwich incorporating both grilled sausage and homemade french fries?!), which brings the current S.O.C.C. record to Steelers: 6-5, Foodie Laywer 10-1.
Turkey Mushroom Risotto (w/ leftover turkey)
It’s almost Thanksgiving, so here is another recipe transforming leftover turkey into a new dish. In the original recipe, the turkey flavor comes from turkey stock. We didn’t have any stock (nor any turkey bones to make it), so we used chicken stock and added leftover turkey meat for turkey flavor and a variance in texture in the creamy risotto. This isn’t exactly a quick dish (risotto requires a lot of stirring and patience), but it’s pretty easy to make with a few, simple ingredients: butter; a shallot; mushrooms; garlic; fresh sage; Arborio or other “risotto rice;” chicken stock; leftover turkey; pecorino cheese (Parmesan would also work) and salt & pepper. If you’re tired of turkey sandwiches (but not tired of spending some time in the kitchen), this dish is a richly decadent way to use your leftover turkey. And if you’ve got a lot leftover, here are some other recipe options: turkey barley soup, tex-mex turkey soup, turkey tetrazzini, king ranch, enchiladas, paella and stuffed shells. We hope you and yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving, with an abundance of good food, cheer and counted blessings!
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Baltimore Crab Cakes
The Steelers played the Baltimore Ravens this week, and I’m told that there is a huge rivalry between these two teams, although no one seems to articulate precisely why they are rivals. Dan gave me a few reasons — they’re in the same division and have knocked each other out of playoffs in previous seasons, each team plays a really physical defense, blah blah blah. I guess I was looking for a more juicy, soap opera-esque, “you killed my father, prepare to die” reason. But alas, apparently it is just a plain old football rivalry. I suppose there are some aspects of football I’ll just never quite understand. Like ugly throw-back uniforms. Or why Mike Wallace can’t seem to hold on to the football. Or the onside kick (I actually had to look up whether it was “onside, ” or “onsite” — the latter of which kind of makes sense to me, since the person kicking is there, on the field or “site.” But what do I know? Clearly, very little about football.)
I may lack knowledge of football, but I do know what I like in a crab cake (and a good segue): just the right crab-to-breading ratio; crispy outer layer; nice crab flavor (no fishy taste); and seasoning reminiscent of a crab or crawfish boil. The most perfect crab cake I’ve ever had can be found, strangely enough, at a little family-owned Italian restaurant in Altoona, PA called Lena’s. Our prior attempts to recreate the Lena’s crab cake at home have been largely unsuccessful. We decided to give it another shot for the Steeler Opponent-City Challenge this week, since Baltimore and the entire state of Maryland are known for crab, especially blue crab. We weren’t able to find blue crab, but we bought the best (most expensive) fresh crab we could find, adapted this recipe, and ended up with crab cakes almost as good as the perfect ones we get from Lena’s. Using panko instead of traditional breadcrumbs helps keep the breading light, while the flavor combination of Dijon mustard, Old Bay Seasoning, lemon juice, parsley, jalapeno and chives complements the crab flavor really well. Crab cakes so good that you don’t even need cocktail sauce equals a win in our book. Unfortunately, the Steelers weren’t so lucky against the Ravens, which brings the current S.O.C.C. record to: Steelers 6-4, Foodie Lawyer 9-1. And watch out Ravens — you beat us once this season, prepare to lose when we play you again in two weeks.