Thinly Sliced Lamb with Pomegranate, Yogurt and Mint

This is the perfect weeknight dish, start the marinade in the morning to infuse the meat for a flavor packed meal! Serve over rice with a salad for a complete meal. This dish is even better the next day for lunch.

Ingredients:
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1½ lb boneless leg of lamb, thinly sliced against the grain
1 tso paprika
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
4 TBSP olive oil, divided
Salt and black pepper
½ c plain Greek yogurt
1 medium red onion, sliced thin
¼ c pomegranate seeds
2 TBSP chopped pistachios
Fresh mint, chopped

Combine cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic, vinegar and 2 TBSP olive oil in a bowl or zip lock bag large enough to hold meat. Add meat and marinade at least 15 minutes to overnight.

Whisk yogurt and 1 TBSP water in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Heat remaining 2 TBSP oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Cook lamb, tossing occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes; transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon.

Add onion to skillet and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown and soften, about 3 minutes. Add ½ c water; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender and water is evaporated, about 3 minutes. Return lamb to skillet and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve lamb over rice, topped with yogurt, pomegranate seeds, pistachios, and herbs.

Serves 6.

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Slow Roasted Pork with Mustard and Sage

This is the perfect Sunday meal with lots of yummy leftovers for the week.

Ingredients:
2 lb pork loin
Salt and pepper
1/2 c dijon mustard
1/4 c chopped fresh sage
2 TBSP chopped marjoram
4 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper pork. Combine remaining ingredients and rub over pork.

Cook pork in a slow cooker on low for 4 – 5 hours until easy to pull apart. Shred the pork and serves with salad and bread.

Serves 4 – 6.

Spicy Kimchi Tofu Stew

What could be better on a brisk rainy evening than a hot bowl of spicy kimchi stew? Not much.

Ingredients:
Kosher salt
16-oz firm tofu, cut into 1” pieces
1 TBSP vegetable oil
4 c gently squeezed cabbage kimchi, chopped, plus 1 cup liquid
2 TBSP gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
16 scallions, cut into 1” pieces
2 TBSP reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 TBSP toasted sesame oil
Black pepper
6 large egg yolks
2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds
2 TBSP black sesame seeds

Heat vegetable oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add kimchi and gochujang and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown, 5–8 minutes. Add kimchi liquid and 8 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until kimchi is softened and translucent, 35–40 minutes.

Add scallions, soy sauce, and tofu; simmer gently until tofu has absorbed flavors, 20–25 minutes (tofu will fall apart a little). Add sesame oil; season with salt and pepper.

Ladle stew into bowls; top each with an egg yolk and sesame seeds.

Serves 6.

Pasta with Spinach, mascarpone and hazelnuts

What could be better on Meatless Monday than a big bowl of pasta? The toasted hazelnuts really make this dish so don’t leave them out.

Ingredients:
8 oz pasta
8 oz mascarpone cheese
Juice of one lemon
2 bunches of spinach
1/2 c toasted hazelnuts chopped
Salt
Nutmeg
Red pepper flakes

Cook pasta according to package.

In a 12 inch skillet combine the rest of the ingredients except nuts. Cook over low heat, stir in pasta and cook until cheese is melted and spinach is wilted.

Serve topped with hazelnuts and a couple grinds of red pepper flakes.

Serves 4.

Flakey Bread

This recipe is from Bon Appetite. It results in a buttery flakey skillet bread. I rolled them all out froze 1/2 since it makes about 8 servings.

Ingredients:
1 tsp kosher salt
3 c all-purpose flour
6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted, plus more, room temperature, for brushing
Flaky sea salt

In a stand mixer with a bread hook combine salt and 3 c flour. Drizzle in melted butter; mix well. Gradually mix in ¾ c water. Knead until dough is shiny and very soft, about 5 minutes. Wrap in plastic; let rest in a warm spot at least 4 hours.

Divide dough into 8 – 10 pieces and, using your palm, roll into balls. Place balls on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest 15 minutes.

Working with 1 piece at a time, roll out balls on an unfloured surface with a rolling pin into very thin rounds or ovals about 9” across. (If dough bounces back, cover with plastic and let rest a few minutes.)

Brush tops of rounds with room-temperature butter and sprinkle with sea salt. Roll up each round onto itself to create a long thin rope, then wind each rope around itself to create a tight coil.

Working with 1 coil at a time, roll out on an unfloured surface to 10” rounds no more than ⅛” thick. Stack as you go, separating with sheets of wax paper.

Heat a large cast-iron griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. Working 1 at a time, brush both sides of a dough round with room-temperature butter and cook until lightly blistered and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer bread to a wire rack and sprinkle with sea salt.

Curried Sweat Potato Waffles with Coconut Kale and Poached Eggs

This recipe is adapted from clean eating. If you have gluten issues you can use coconut flour in place of the whole wheat flour. I added coconut milk to the waffles, more flour and used 2 eggs instead of 1 egg and 1 egg white. This was a tasty dinner! Perfect for a weeknight.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, sliced thin
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t red pepper flakes
2 cups lite coconut milk
8 oz of kale, chopped
2 c grated sweat potato
6 eggs
1 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 c flour

In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil over medium heat, add 3/4 of the onion and sauté 4 minutes. Add the garlic and chili pepper, sauté for an additional minute. Add kale and 1 c of the coconut milk. Cover and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until soft.

Prepare kale: add 1st five ingredients to a pot, bring to a boil. Add kale and cover, reduce heat and set timer for 20-30 minutes, or until kale is tender.

Combine remaining onion, sweat potato, 1 c of coconut milk, curry, ginger, and flour, stir to combine. Cook on waffle iron about 12-15 minutes per batch, until crispy on the outside.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, add 1 tsp of vinegar. Crack each egg into a small bowl and slip into water. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes.

Serves waffles with kale and poached eggs.

Serves 4.

Coconut Chicken with Pickled Pepper Chard

This one is from the great Marcus Samuelsson published in F&W. I made a couple minor tweets. If you start your chicken in the buttermilk bath in the morning it is a great weeknight dinner.

Ingredients:
2 c buttermilk
3/4 c unsweetened coconut milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 thin chicken cutlets
3 c panko
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
Salt & pepper
Canola oil, for frying
3 TBSP olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs chard, stems and inner ribs removed, leaves thinly sliced
1/2 c water
Salt & pepper
1/2 c pickled jalapeños

In a 1 gallon zip lock bag, combine the buttermilk, coconut milk and garlic. Add the chicken and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours.

In a shallow bowl, combine the panko and coconut; season with salt and pepper.

Drain the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Dip the cutlets into the panko, pressing to help it adhere. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and cook over moderate heat until golden, 2 minutes. Add the collards and cook, stirring, until wilted, 
2 minutes. Add the water and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the liquid is nearly evaporated and the collards are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the sliced jalapeños; keep warm.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat ½ inch of canola oil until shimmering. Working in batches, fry the chicken over moderately high heat, turning once, until crispy, 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt. Serve with the collards.

Serves 4 – 6.

Cauliflower Pizza

For meatless Monday this week, I whipped up this mock pizza. The recipe is adapted from Eating Well. Hubby was a little reluctant about it, but ended up loving it. It does taste like pizza but you will need a fork. If you have issues with gluten this is a great substitute for the real thing.

Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower, broken into small florets
1 TBSP olive oil, divided
1/4 tsp salt
3 Meyer lemons, peeled, seeded and segmented
6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1/3 c green olives, sliced
1/3 c black olives, sliced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 c shredded mixed cheese
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a pizza pan or rimless baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until reduced to rice-size crumbles. Transfer to a large nonstick skillet and add 1 TBSP oil and salt. Heat over medium-high, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower begins to soften slightly (but don’t let it brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl to cool for at least 10 minutes.

Toss together tomatoes, lemon segments and olives in a bowl.

Add egg, cheese, basil and oregano to the cooled cauliflower; stir to combine.

Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, shaping into an even 10-inch round. Drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon oil over the top.

Bake the pizza until the top begins to brown, 10 to 14 minutes. Scatter the lemon-olive mixture over the top, season with pepper, and continue to bake until nicely browned all over, 8 to 14 minutes more. Scatter basil over the top.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 4.

Poached Tuna with Kumquats and Jalapeno

Another winner from Food & Wine! I would make a few changes next time. First cook it a little less – once this rested it came out almost well done. Second, I would use ghee instead of butter – the butter burned pretty bad, it tasted yummy, but did not look pretty. Finally I would add the kumquats and jalapeños when I turned the fish over. Here is my version.

Two 6-ounce tuna steaks, cut 1 1/4 inches thick
Salt
4 TBSP ghee
1/4 c olive oil
2 TBSP lime juice
1 small jalapeño, minced
4 kumquats, thinly sliced
1/4 c mint leaves, torn

Season the tuna steaks with salt.

In a medium saucepan, melt the ghee in the olive oil and lime juice. Add the tuna steaks and cook them over moderate heat, turning once, until they’re rare, about 3 minutes. Half way through Stir in the minced jalapeño and sliced kumquats.

Transfer the tuna steaks to a carving board and slice them 1/3 inch thick, then arrange them on plates. Stir the torn mint into the sauce, spoon over the tuna and serve.

Serves 2.

Arugula, Avocado & Clementine Salad

This is adapted from Bon Appetite and is packed full of flavor – the mint really makes it so be sure not to skip it.

1/2 c orange juice
1 jalapeño
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 TBSP champagne vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 TBSP olive oil
1 avocados, sliced
4 clementines, peeled, and segmented
3 c arugula
1/2 c fresh mint leaves, torn
2 ozs feta, crumbled

Simmer juice in a small saucepan until syrupy and reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 5-8 minutes. Let cool.

Heat a small heavy skillet over mediumhigh heat. Cook jalapeño, turning occasionally, until blistered and charred all over, about 8 minutes. Let cool; remove stem, skin, and seeds, then finely chop.

Whisk shallot, vinegar, reduced juice, and half of jalapeño in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Whisk in vegetable oil, then olive oil.

Toss avocados, tangerines, purslane, mint, and vinaigrette in a large bowl; top with feta.

Serves 2 – 4.