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Category: Main Dish
Today I made a simplified beef barley soup – something satisfying without a huge amount of effort. I adopted some of the tricks from both America’s Test Kitchen and this Serious Eats recipe to help this dish not become an all day cooking event. This recipe makes a two healthy portions – perfect for sharing with a friend or saving for delicious leftovers. Since the cooking is done in a covered dutch oven or stock pot in the oven, the likelihood of drying out is minimized. I paired this soup with a few slices of whole wheat baguette toasted with melted gouda – another simple add-on that makes this simple meal just a bit more. With this crazy Spring weather, it is a perfect time…
Tonight’s dish was created to support the side dish I wanted to make. Sounds backward, right? Well, it is but let me explain. Recently I had a friend extol the spice blend known as Berbere. This spice blend is a key ingredient in Ethiopian cuisine and I was thoroughly intrigued. Recently, I bought some to taste and use in new recipes. Berbere is spicy and robust… and wonderful! Now my mind was in overdrive as I contemplated ways to use this unique combination of flavors. I settled on tonight’s side dish – Sauteed Broccoli with Berbere – and knew that I would need a robust main dish to pair with it. So as you can see… the side dish drove the main…
Ok, ok… I know it is a lame name for a homemade knock-off of that box meal Hamburger Helper™, but I thought it was appropriate to describe my twist. Packed with vegetables and balanced with meat, pasta and cheese, this meal is as hearty as it is simple to make. This recipe is for a one pan casserole with Italian flavors, but I can see many variations possible. So skip the box and cook with fresh ingredients to enjoy that same simple and hearty meal with no preservatives, artificial colors or flavorings. Are you up for the change? Then give this one a try! Save Print Hamburger Henchman Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 45 mins Serves: 2…
Tonight I decided to perform a different type of mash-up. This one is doing a Creole flavored fried rice cooked like an Asian fried rice. As many of you know, gumbo is served over rice, jambalaya is everything cooked together, etc so I thought “Why not do an Asian fried rice with Creole seasonings and such?’. Hot country sausage, the trinity (onion, bell pepper, celery), long grain rice, Tabasco, and Creole seasoning replace chicken, broccoli, soy sauce, etc. The results were, if I say so myself, fabulous. If you enjoy Cajun and Creole cooking, this is a recipe I suggest you try. It’s easy and it’s a whole lot of flavor. Can you hear the zydeco playing already? Save Print Creole…
Pasta. Tonight I wanted pasta and fresh (ok, store bought ‘fresh’) tortellini just fit the bill. This recipe is one of my go-to recipes when I don’t really feel like cooking. And with this cold/flu/lingering death making me miserable, I can say I honestly did not feel like cooking tonight. But I needed to eat, so here we are. I hope you feel like cooking tonight… and perhaps you will make this easy and tasty pasta dish! Save Print Tortellini with Prosciutto and Asparagus Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 1½ oz sliced prosciutto, cut into strips 8 oz asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into…
Winter is still gripping the Pacific Northwest and this means perfect weather for using the oven for a lengthy roast like a beef roast. I am sure many of us remember growing up with the weekly beef roast dinner. Perhaps is was a beef chuck roast cooked in a liquid paired with potatoes and a green salad. It sounds very boring compared to the meals we enjoy now, but there is beauty in this simplicity. But let’s face it… the typical beef roast is way too much for one person. And given that one of the driving factors for this blog is to show you how to make meals without having to ‘enjoy’ it for seven days straight, this meal was just begging…
Today I made something new. Something I found online that piqued my curiosity. Something based on a friend’s request for dishes with lentils. This recipe is all about happy coincidences. Recently, I received an update from Suzy’s The Mediterranean Dish blog which included her Koshari recipe. I was very intrigued by her description of this Egyptian street food dish and wanted to try it. I had the added incentive of helping my friend out with his request for dishes with lentils. So I dove in. Well, I will not lie, this dish is involved. There is nothing very complicated, just many elements cooked simultaneously. That is always a fun challenge and I understand why since we are building layers of flavors and textures. Of…
Here we are, one month after good old Punxsutawney Phil poked his head out of his burrow and saw his shadow. And as superstition/tradition would have it, we have ‘enjoyed’ four more weeks of winter with two more to go. So I decided why not ‘enjoy’ a soup made with a forgotten and ignored root vegetable – the parsnip. I recently cooked with parsnips in the Bableves Kolbasszal recipe and I thought, why not make some other dishes with this reliable and flavorful vegetable. First up, a roasted parsnip soup. To be exact, it is a roasted parsnip and carrot soup. When roasted, both of these vegetables become sweeter – which is good – and that sweetness allows us to pair it with…
Tonight I went old school… very old school. This throwback meal is from my childhood and I will readily admit it was not a favorite – until I was able to enjoy mine with rice instead of toast (shingles). I never was a fan of ‘wet bread’ (and still am not) so the proverbial S.O.S. was a stomach churner until rice entered the picture. Once I paired it with rice… well, the game changed and this dish became one I make on a moment’s notice when I can’t think of anything else. This version of the recipe is augmented with sauteed chopped mushrooms and ground lamb. It is slightly involved, but you will see it comes together quickly…
Tonight I decided to prepare seared ahi, a dish I regularly enjoyed ‘back in the day’. But as you all should be used to by now, I wanted to try something different and preparing it using sous vide sounded like a wonderful way to go. So after doing some research, I opted to use the information provided by the Serious Eats crew for preparing ahi using sous vide. The beauty of this dish is it’s simplicity, it’s richness, and it’s versatility. And for this preparation, I opted to cook the ahi with no seasoning or oils until time to sear. This decision allows me full latitude to enjoy the tuna as well as indulge whatever flavors that pique my tastebuds…