After a traditional Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to make some aromatic, and spicy ethnic food. I pulled out a “somewhat Paleo” recipe book, written by Dr. Mark Hyman called “The 10-Day Detox Diet Cookbook“, based on his book “The Blood Sugar Solution“. It’s basically a healthy cookbook with a lot of Paleo recipes. This dish called out to me with all of the aromatic spices, like turmeric, cumin, and coriander. I made some slight modifications and spiced it up a bit. Warning: It did take a while to prep, approximately 40 minutes as I like to chop the ingredient a bit smaller than Dr. Hyman recommended, but was well worth it. I did not include the recommended eggplant, as my husband “claims” that he is allergic to it. (What REALLY happened: when he was in college, after a dinner of eggplant parmesan, and bit too much to drink, he threw up, and now claims it was the eggplant he was allergic to). Ha! Anyway, you can always add one chopped eggplant to this dish. Oh, and this dish is also called “Tagine”. Also, if you want to go vegan, substitute the chicken for firm tofu and reduce cooking time by 15 minutes.
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1″ pieces and trimmed of fat (if going vegan use firm Tofu)
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1-inch florets
10 crimini mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch half circles
2 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth is going vegan)
10 grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup sliced green olives
chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Directions:
In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot (I used a cast iron dutch oven), heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger and saute gently until the onions begin to caramelize, 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat to low, and add 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and all of the dried spices. Saute the spices and onions about 2 minutes. Salt the chicken (or tofu) with the remaining salt, and add to the pot. Turn heat up to medium, and saute for 3 minutes, until all of the chicken (or tofu) is well coated with spices. Add the cauliflower and mushrooms and saute about 5 minutes. Then Add the bell peppers and zucchini, and saute until they soften about 5 minutes. Add the chicken (or vegetable) stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer the stew gently, stirring occasionally, until all of the vegetables are tender and the liquid is thickened and reduce approximately 15-20 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in olives. Plate and serve with cilantro garnish. Serves 4
I’m always trying to find new and different flavors to combine with pork chops, other than the traditional apple. So, I reached for my ever trustworthy and inspirational book, “The Flavor Bible“. It had all of these ingredients listed in the “affinities” section. And I actually did get the thumbs up from my hyper-critical-foodie-son to add it to my blog. Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 Pork loin chops
3 organic peaches or 1 bag frozen peaches (thawed), chopped into 1/2″ chunks
12 fresh sage leaves, fried
12 leaves, small slices
2 tbsp of butter (if Paleo and avoiding dairy, use olive oil)
In an iron skillet, on high heat, melt 2 tbsp of butter. Salt pork chops. Add the pork chops and cook 5 minutes on each side until internal temperature reaches 135 degrees. Remove pork chops and let rest. Add in 1 tbsp butter, balsamic vinegar and reduce down, cooking about a minute. Add in the chopped peaches, and sliced sage, stir around to cover and cook until semi-soft, approximately 3 minutes. Remove peaches and place on top of pork chops. Drizzle balsamic reduction over peaches and pork. Add salt and pepper to the dish and place 3 fried sage leaves. Serves 4.
Brussel sprouts are such a great winter treat, as long as they have a little sweetness, and are super easy to prepare. I love them a little crunchy which a touch of garlic. And as we all know, EVERYTHING is better with Bacon!!!
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 slices bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I like to cook the chopped bacon in a small saucepan until crispy, drain them on a paper towel, then reserve the bacon grease. Toss the Brussel sprouts with the bacon grease, olive oil, maple syrup, salt, and garlic. Put the mixture onto the baking dish and spread out evenly. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Add the bacon, toss, and bake for another 2 minutes. Your Brussel sprouts should be tender and should have some crispy leaves.
Here is a great light Thai inspired dish that I have made numerous times! And falls into the Paleo category. I have been trying to find other alternative recipes to red meat (beef), and honestly after watching “CowSpiracy” I have been avoiding red meat about 95% of the time. That movie was such an eye-opener! Surprisingly, Leonardo DiCaprio was the executive producer. Anyway, hope you enjoy this simple light recipe, it was inspired by a recipe I found in Women’s Health Magazine back in 2012.
Ingredients:
⅓ cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp organic canola oil
½ red onion, diced
3 small shallots, diced
1 piece of lemongrass (4″ long) minced
1 Thai or Serrano chili, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 lb of 99% fat-free ground turkey
2 tbsp of sriracha (optional for a bit more “kick”)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1 head of organic butter lettuce
Directions:
In a bowl, whisk lime juice, lemon juice, fish sauce, and honey.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, shallots, lemongrass, and chili. Cook until vegetables begin to soften, approximately 5 minutes.
Add turkey to skillet and Siracha. Season with salt. Cook, stirring frequently and making sure turkey does not stay in large chunks. Cook until meat and vegetables are cooked through, approximately 5 minutes.
Add dressing to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add mint and season with salt and pepper.
Spoon turkey mixture onto lettuce leaves and serve.
With the holiday season quickly sneaking up on us, I thought I would share one of my essential tools and sources of inspiration in my kitchen. The Flavor Bible has changed my life, the way I cook, how I shop for ingredients and has saved my ass when trying to figure out what to make for our friends and family.
The title: The Flavor Bible, The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs, by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg…really says it all! It is such a brilliantly organized resource which I truly think is essential for anyone who loves to cook. You simply look up any ingredient, (listed in alphabetical order), and it gives you the season, taste, weight, volume and recommended techniques, as well as a which flavors have the strongest affinities for one another. The book is peppered with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from the country’s most respected chefs and pastry chefs.
Also a great holiday present for anyone that enjoys spending creative time in the kitchen. (It does not have any recipes, so they should really be comfortable in the kitchen.
Traditional “Pasta Alle Vongole”, spaghetti with clams, is almost impossible to make here is the US, as “vongole” (the small, Mediterranean Wedge Shell, also known as the Tellina or “bean clam”) are hard to come by in Boulder, CO. So, in this dish, I used little neck clams, which are slightly larger and have a thicker shell. My mother-in-law adds ginger to this dish, which makes it a little different than the traditional version. The following recipe serves 4 people.
Ingredients
1pound spaghetti
40littleneck clams in the shell (scrubbed)
6tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp pureed ginger
3/4cup dry white wine
3tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, soak clams in cold water and make sure they are scrubbed clean.
Add spaghetti to boiling water, and cook until slightly underdone; pasta will finish cooking in sauce. Meanwhile, place a large saucepan over medium-low heat, and add olive oil, garlic and ginger. Sauté gently, reducing heat if necessary so garlic does not brown.
Add wine and clams, and cover. Clams should open in about 2 minutes. (If pasta is ready first, drain it and toss with a small amount of olive oil.) Add hot drained pasta, cover, and shake pot gently. Allow to simmer for another 1 or 2 minutes until it is done to taste.
Discard any clams that have not opened. Add half the parsley, and shake pan to distribute evenly. Transfer to bowls, and sprinkle with remaining parsley.
Other versions add peperoncino flakes (1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes for a little kick). Serves 4
I have always been a creative person and passionate about learning new trades. I went to an arts focused school where I studied painting, drawing, sculpting, printmaking and graphic design, and ended up as an entrepreneur in a corporate world running operations for several companies. I traveled the world for 15 years, setting up factories, developing, creating and manufacturing new products. I would oversee all parts of the company from the sales and marketing, to the manufacturing and compliance. It was a fun and crazy ride... and, over time; I had also lost sight of what was most important to me... my family!
