Amalfi Salad

This salad reminds me of the food we ate in Amalfi last summer. I saw Giada make this salad a couple of weeks ago and it screams summertime in Italy.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 small cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 4 ounces fresh mozzarella or burrata cheese, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

Bake the prosciutto on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for about 12-14 minutes, until crispy. Grill the asparagus in a grill pan. While those two items are cooking, dice the melon and mozzarella. Make the vinaigrette by combining the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper with a whisk.

Layer the salad with the grilled asparagus on the bottom, the cheese and melon in the middle, and sprinkle with the prosciutto by crumbling with your hands. Dress the salad with the vinaigrette and enjoy!

Love,

Sam

INMAN'S Pasta Salad

Most of my girlfriends are well aware of this colorful and easy side dish. Inman or her mom would make this for us growing up. It was usually in the fridge for a sleepover or any kind of party. I recently made it for Michael's big 31st birthday. This dish could not be easier and I made a couple of changes to the original recipe to make it healthier. I'm sure you can guess, I added fiber :) I swapped the tri-colored pasta for a whole wheat brand, and added the broccoli to replace some of that lost color.

Recipe:

• 1 pound of whole wheat fusilli pasta (original recipe calls for tri colored fusilli)
• 1 small container cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 small container of feta cheese
• 2 heads of broccoli lightly blanched ( I just threw the broccoli in for the last 2 minutes with the pasta)
• 1 can black olives
• 1/2 to 1 full bottle Family Recipe Italian "Newmans Own" salad dressing

Combine all ingredients and toss with the salad dressing. Make this recipe the night before or a couple days before your party. It gets better the longer it marinades! Double or triple the recipe to easily feed a big crowd.Love,

Sam

Tomato Artichoke Chicken Deliousness

This was a last minute "what do I have in the kitchen" meal that actually turned out great! I also was able to use these bizarre huge beans from our garden that Michael has been asking me to cook with. They kind of look like lima beans, apparently they are called "pole beans." He got the seeds from one of his fellow gardening friends and we never established their official name or how to eat them. Anyway, I added them to this already healthy and fresh dish, and they were great. But, if you don't have a pole bean plant growing in your yard, or you cant find anything at the grocery store that looks the same, or the recipe is perfectly fine without them.

Ingredients:

• 3 Chicken Breasts
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 2 shallots
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/2 can of tomato puree or diced tomatoes or tomato sauce (either will do)
• 1 jar artichoke hearts, cut into quarters
• 8-10 fresh cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 jar marinaded sun dried tomatoes
• 10 pole beans (shells removed)
• 1/2 tablespoon chili flakes
• salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Brown on each side in 1 tablespoon olive oil, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the rest of the olive oil to the same pan along with the diced garlic and shallots. Saute until soft over medium heat. Turn heat to high and add the white wine, de-glaze the pan (meaning scrape the bits of of the chicken off the bottom) for about two minutes. Add the artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, chili flakes and tomato sauce and cook about 3 minutes. Add the chicken breasts back to the pan and cover. Let the dish cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat. The flavors will come together and the chicken will cook all the way through. I added the crazy pole beans last as they only took a few minute to cook. Serve with big green salad or with pasta.


Love,

Sam

Spicy Pesto

This is a pretty non-traditional pesto recipe, but it was so delicious. I saw it of course on Giada's show last week and since I have recently purchased a beautiful new food processor, it was really simple to make. There are so many variations of pestos, and once you see how truly quick and fresh it is, you will have fun experimenting with different ingredients. A traditional pesto usually is garlic, basil, pine nuts, and olive oil. This one uses walnuts instead of pine nuts and adds in the chili and arugula for the kick. If you don't like it spicy, then just leave the chili out. I think an added health benefit is the spinach. It really doesn't add flavor, but its an incredible way to get greens into this pasta dish.

• 1 cup raw walnuts


• 2 cloves of garlic


• 1 (2 inch long) pepper - I used one of Michael's black chilies from the garden but Giada originally used a jalapeno


• 1 cup Parmesan cheese (original recipe calls for 2 cups, but I thought it was delicious with just the 1 and that cut out a lot of calories)


• 2 tsp salt


• 1 tsp black pepper


• 3 cups baby spinach


• 2 cups arugula


• 1/4 cup olive oil

Look how gorgeous that green is! Toss 1 pound of warm pasta (I use whole wheat fusili) with the pesto. If it appears too thick, add a few spoonfuls of pasta water and mix to thin out the sauce. Garnish with a bit more of the Parmesan and serve. I think if you are going to eat pasta, this has to be one of the healthiest ways with the omegas of the olive oil, walnuts, and greens...plus plenty of fiber if you choose a great pasta! I hope you like it.

Love,

Sam

Soba Noondles with Shrimp, Vegetables, and dipping sauces

My husband has been out of town a lot recently so my diet has included a lot of spinach & rice, dinners with girlfriends, and my favorite turkey meatballs from Trader Joes. Obviously not much to food-blog about. But tonight, he was home early so after a long walk (insert romance music here) I cooked him a new dinner. I read this recipe earlier this week from a Martha Stewart cooking magazine. I was curious about the soba noodles. They are made with buckwheat and whole grain flour. Very healthy. This dinner is perfect for summer because its light, quick, yet has a lot of different flavors. And I loved both of the dipping sauces!

Start by buying your favorite veggies and protein. I used carrots, snap peas, broccoli, and bok choy, and shrimp. I steamed the veggies plain but a wok would have been perfect as well. I lightly grilled the shrimp with salt, pepper, and a bit of lime juice.

I was very surprised I could not find the soba noodles at Ralphs... so I had to buy them at Trader Joes. Look for them in the Asian section or pasta/rice section. Cook these according to package instructions, mine took 6 minutes in boiling water.

Peanut sauce:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 3 TBS soy sauce
• juice of 2 limes
• 2 TBS sugar
  
  

Chilli-Hoisin Sauce:

• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 3 TBS chilli sauce
• 3 TBS white win vinegar
• 1 TBS hot water

Serve all items on a place and garnish with lime and cilantro. Keep both of the dipping sauces on the table.

Love,

Sam

Spring Pea Soup and New Salad

This week I made a very very spring inspired vegetarian dinner for my husband and myself. We had eaten terribly all weekend and he was about to leave for a 4 day business trip and asked for something healthy.

So I saw this wonderful fresh light soup on Barefoot Contessa this week and thought it would be perfect. The mint really made it refreshing and was a little surprise of flavor. And of course Michael loves when I use the herbs from the yard he so dearly loves. Ina's recipe:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 chopped leeks, white and light green parts
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 (10-ounce) packages frozen peas
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche - but I used 2% Greek yogurt instead

Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks and onion, and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 3 about minutes, until the peas are tender. Off the heat, add the mint, salt, and pepper. You can use a stick blender or regular blender to then puree the soup. I topped each bowl with a big scoop of the Greek yogurt. It adds the substance you need to make this a main course.

Our big green salad was fresh organic mixed greens, thinly slided fennel, toasted walnuts (10 minutes at 400) and blueberries. Instead of making a vinaigrette, I simply tossed it with this amazing orange infused olive oil (thanks mom!) and red white vinegar. I love flavored oils and vinegars. So much better than bottled salad dressing and so many ways to use them. If you have not used fennel before, it looks like this:

I sliced the bulb part, not the green part. Very thin, like you would slice an onion. It has this great fresh anise flavor. We both loved it and I was happy we started off the week right.

Love,

Sam

Beet Salad

Have you noticed beet salad popping up on every restaurant menu?! Remeber when it used to be the blue cheese and caramelized walnuts with cranberry combination? Well now beets are the new trendy salad star. I must say the best I have had was at Marche Moderne in Costa Mesa. It was served with this whipped goat cheese ice cream scoop creation. Sounds bizarre but it was light and delicious. I loved it. I have been ordering beet salad every time I see it on a menu, and finally decided I would try cooking them myself at home. It turned out to be pretty easy and was a Mothers Day brunch hit!

I found the recipe in one of my new cookbooks, Bouchon, by Thomas Keller. Another great wedding gift, thanks to Mr. Cameron Fine. I often read my cookbooks at night before bed. (WHAT?! That's not normal?) Anyway, don't be scared of roasting these delicious iron-rich treats.

Ingredients for the salad:

• Toasted walnuts (10 minutes on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven)


• 8 beets (I used both red and golden beets)


• goat cheese (I buy the log and then crumble myself)


• shallots


• Mache greens (sounds scary, but I am finding this salad green in most grocery stores now, even Trader Joes!)


• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

Cut off the greens of the beets and trim stems to about 1 inch. Toss them in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of water, salt and pepper. Roast in oven at 350, covered with foil, for about 50 minutes or until they can be easily pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and let cool. The recipe said to rub the warm beets with a paper towel to remove the skin but I found this advice confusing. It just didn't work for me. So I simply used a vegetable peeler, or you can use a small sharp knife.

Dice the beets and drizzle with a little olive oil and the red wine vinegar. Add the walnuts, shallots, and mache and toss in the vinaigrette below. Top with crumbled goat cheese.

Walnut Vinaigrette

• 1 tb Dijon mustard


• 1 tbs champagne vinegar


• 1/2 cup walnut oil


• 1tbs lemon juice


• 1 tsp honey (not in original recipe but I added it)


• salt and pepper

I don't have a picture of the final product because it was Mothers Day and I just plain forgot because we were all too excited to dig in. I think your family will love it too!

Love,

Sam