2 Grilled Tuna Teriyaki

This recipe has been a staple in our house for many years, and it's one of my husband's favorites. It's simple, fast and delicious. I originally used tuna steaks, but you can use any firm white fish, like the swordfish steaks I've used here, or mahi-mahi.

You'll need:

4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (or rice vinegar or white wine)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
4 (6 ounce) tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a shallow dish, combine soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, and ginger. Place tuna in the marinade, and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for about 15 minutes per side.

Preheat grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate. Discard the marinade, (or reserve and boil down in a saucepan for a few minutes to reduce and use as a sauce) and pat tuna steaks dry with paper towels. Brush both sides with oil. Place tuna steaks on the grill.

Cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side, or to your desired doneness. We like them a little pink on the inside. Our grill is out of commission right now, so I'm using my panini press griddle (just one side!)

I like to serve this with steamed asparagus or broccoli, and jasmine rice.

It's great! The fish stays moist and tender, and the ginger and garlic give it that wonderful flavor so popular in Asian cuisine, and the rice wine a nice tang.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (or rice vinegar or white wine)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
4 (6 ounce) tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


Directions:
-In a shallow dish, combine soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, and ginger. Place tuna in the marinade, and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes per side.
-Preheat grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate.
-Discard the marinade, and pat tuna steaks dry with paper towels. Brush both sides with oil.
-Place tuna steaks on the grill. Cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side, or to your desired doneness.

8 Bento #139 - Veggie Rice Salad

The other night I made a batch of jasmine rice for dinner...and then realized I didn't have a major ingredient I needed (don't you hate that?)  I pulled it out of the fridge last night and thought I could make something good with it, and all these wonderful fresh veggies I have.  Maybe a rice salad?  I have to admit, I don't think I've ever tasted a rice salad, let alone made one, but when I get a food idea in my head, I just have to try it.  I started by finely dicing carrots, celery, asparagus, julienned some cucumber and chiffonade some baby spinach.

I tossed it with the rice, along with some freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt, a few dried cranberries, and tossed it all with a pinch of Pecorino Romano cheese, and about 1 tsp of salad cream.  It tasted wonderful!  It's mild enough for a kid, but if I was making it for myself, I'd add some really good brined black olives, diced tomatoes and a hard boiled egg or two and a splash of cider vinegar to give it more body and depth.  The raw veg gives it this fresh, crisp texture, and the cranberries are sweet and give it a nice chewy bite.

Bento #139 - Jasmine rice salad with organic carrots, organic baby spinach, celery, asparagus, cucumbers, and cranberries, mini meat balls and fresh raspberries.

1 Pan-Roasted Asparagus

I really count myself fortunate to be in the ranks of the seemingly few who absolutely adore veggies.  I have always loved them, even as a baby (except for cooked carrots, according to my mother.)  I'm making pan-roasted asparagus today, and this recipe happens to be 100% vegetarian.  I could literally eat the entire 2 pounds all by myself.  I almost did, but figured I'd leave some for my hubby.  In fact, he came to me later and said that they were so good he ate them straight out of the serving dish.  Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?!

Here's what you'll need:

2 lbs asparagus (for my house, anyway, you can always use less!)
2-3 large shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
2 tbs butter
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese

First, wash and trim the asparagus to pretty even lengths.  I trimmed this batch pretty aggressively, since the bottoms seemed woodier than normal, so in actuality, I trimmed off a lot of the 2lb weight.  Set aside in a dish.

Melt the butter and drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat in a sautee pan.

Meanwhile, mince the garlic and shallots up.

When the pan is hot, add the shallots and garlic, and start to sautee, along with a little salt and pepper.

When they get slightly brown, add some red pepper flakes (I just eyeball it and shake straight from the container.  Risky business!)

Give the shallots a good stir, and place the asparagus on top.  Yes, it looks pretty crowded, but you'll be tossing them in a few minutes.  Hit the tops with some fresh cracked salt and pepper.

Cover and roast over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes.  Then, take some tongs and toss well.  If the shallots look in danger of getting too dark, add a few tablespoons of water.  Cover again and cook until fork-tender and the shallots are caramel-y, another 3-4 minutes.

Grab your serving dish and add half the asparagus, and hit them with a little parm.

Top with the other half of the asparagus, and make sure you get ALL those lovely shallots at the bottom of the pan!

Sprinkle with a little more parm and serve.  Delicious!  Sometimes when I make this I used chopped bacon and bacon fat, which is also extra-delish, but just like this it's savory with a slight kick from the red pepper flakes.

5 Bacon Wrapped Asparagus with Sweet Shallot Butter

I love bacon, I love asparagus, and of course, I love butter!  Three of my most favorite things, combined into one amazing side dish.  Actually, I could eat these as my main dish.  Like, ten of them.  Srsly.  They are very easy to make, too.

Oh my gosh, I wish I had a plate full right. now.

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb of fresh asparagus spears (enough for about 3-4 people...or maybe just one Emily)

6-8 strips good bacon, uncooked.  Good stuff, people.
3 tbls butter (the real deal - let's not waste time discussing margarine.)
2 large shallots, sliced thinly
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tbls sugar (or sub - I use xylitol.)
2 tbls red or white wine vinegar (I've used both, and both are delish.)
salt to taste, about 1/2 tsp

Preheat the oven to 400.

First trim the asparagus spears to be even-lengths.  Sometimes I do the traditional snapping one-by-one, but hey, that takes a long time and not all of them turn out the same length.  Coincidentally, I watched "The Age of Asparagus" Good Eats programme a couple days after I made this, and I was nodding my head in agreement the entire time.  Smart man, that Alton Brown (who happens to live in my town...not that I stalk him at Harry's or anything!)

Next, the asparagus need to be steamed for a few minutes before oven roasting, but instead of boiling a whole pot of water, I lay them in a microwave-safe dish with a splash of water, sprinkle them with a little salt and cover with plastic wrap and cook on high for 3 minutes.

When they come out I immediately soak them in an ice bath, making sure to move them around so that each spear gets cooled down.

When they're all cool, drain and pat dry with paper towels. Separate the spears into even piles.

Next, lay out a strip of bacon and wrap on the diagonal, making sure that the bacon doesn't overlap too much.

Isn't that a cute little bundle? 

Arrange the bundles seam-side down on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the bacon crisps (you may need to put them under the broiler at the end for a minute or two to help it along.)

Meanwhile, in a small pot melt the butter and start cooking the garlic and shallots with some salt until they start getting some color.

Then add the wine vinegar and sugar, and simmer over low heat...

...until it reduces and becomes caramelized.

Quick, check your asparagus!

Whoa, that looks good all by itself.  At this point I stuck them under the broiler for a minute to get the top more crispy.  Watch for fire, and have your husband standing by the smoke alarm, which happens to go off every single night.  I think ours has a vendetta against me and tries to make me look bad.

Plate and serve with the shallot butter sauce over the bundles.

Mmmm.  This recipe would also be super excellent with broccolini, green beans or I would guess even tender carrots.  The fish next to it is mahi mahi marinated in a ponzu-cilantro sauce...recipe coming!

3 Bento #81 - Spinach Ravioli & Strawberry Flowers

 

So today I'm using the dosirak for the first time, and E thought it was neat.  The tray is really big!  I was worried I gave her too much food, but she scarfed every bit down.  I used the star flower shaped veggie cutter for the first time with the strawberries, and they turned out very cute, I think.

Bento #81 - Spinach & cheese ravioli, strawberry flowers, organic baby carrots and ranch dip and steamed asparagus.

3 Stuffed Chicken Valentino

Back in 2004, I had been married for a couple years, but enjoying cooking for myself.  You see, my husband is (or was, he's really gotten better) probably one of the world's pickiest eaters.  For instance, he won't eat any kind of pasta.  There was a time when he really only wanted to eat hamburgers, hot dogs, and this extremely disgusting stuff he calls "tuna mash" which was just mushed up canned tuna and a little bit of yellow mustard.  Really?  Really?  Our first major fight was right before a dinner party when he looked askance at the dish I had prepared and says "are you really going to serve that?"  Hoo boy.  Be glad you weren't there.

Now after 8 years he eats a wider range of food, and certainly more green things.  Probably because I'm constantly telling him he'll die of scurvy or Rickets or some other such 17th-century ailment.  To his credit, he always at least tries what I make, and I love him for it.

The point is, I stopped worrying about what he'd like, and started cooking for myself, and if he ended up liking it, I'd add it to the recipe box.  I came up with this simple recipe.  It's really just a method - a roulade - and the filling could be literally anything you wanted.  I submitted it to AllRecipes.com and it was published.  Six years and over 6,500 people later, my recipe has 4.5 stars.

Ladies and gents, I give you my Stuffed Chicken Valentino (slightly altered)

1 chicken breast per person
dried Italian herbs
Parmesan cheese
kosher salt/pepper
roasted peppers
mozzarella or other melty cheese
olive oil
toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350.

I got these nice organic chicken breasts from Costco, they come two to a package, which is very convenient. Pat them dry and butterfly them - while they are laying flat, run a sharp knife across the middle so it opens up widely.  This doesn't have to be perfect, as you can see from my pictures.  Just try your best to make both sides even thickness, and don't cut all the way through!

Wow, my hand looks weird at this angle.

Next you can either place a chicken breast into a large plastic bag, or just use some plastic wrap on top, and pound out to an even thickness.  I used my cast iron small skillet for this job (it's a multi-tasker!)

When they are flat, sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with the Italian herbs.

Sprinkle each breast all over with the Parm, then place some roasted peppers and your melty cheese on the widest end.  I roasted these peppers myself a short while back, then kept them in small zip-lock bags in the freezer until I was ready to use them.

Roll up carefully, and as tightly as you can, but don't worry so much about the filling or gaps, just do the best you can.  Here's where the toothpicks come in handy - sometimes you don't need them, but there's no shame in using them to secure your roulade closed!

In a small oven-safe fry pan, heat a little olive oil over med flame, then place the roulades seam-side down and cook for 1-2 minutes until browned.  Turn the chicken rolls until each side is golden brown.  (See, I had to resort to the toothpicks.)

Pop the whole pan into the pre-heated oven and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

Slice in half, arrange on a plate and serve with your favorite veg.  I sometimes serve this with a homemade alfredo sauce over it, but this time I made a light tomato and roasted red pepper vodka cream sauce (small jar of bruschetta like you can get at Trader Joe's, some chopped roasted peppers, heat through, add a splash of half/half and a splash of vodka, heat until bubbling.)

Oh my.  It's perfection on a plate.  And even your picky husband might like it. :-)

2 Baked Tortelloni with Asparagus & Ham

I got my camera charger back today!  I left it in Maryland a few weeks ago, and my sister was kind enough to mail it to me.  Since then I've been eking out every drop of battery life I could.  It finally quit the other day, just in time for me to miss (for the second time!) snapping pix of boeuf bourguignon a la Julia Child and Dijon-braised fingerling potatoes (though I'll make this again in a day or two since I have a lot of potatoes left.)



Today however, I decided to make E something a little different, and very cheesy.  


Ingredients:
Tortelloni (any kind, I used spinach & ricotta) cooked al dente
2 tbls cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup grated hard, melty cheese (I used a Mexican blend)
few slices of chopped ham
2-3 asparagus stalks, cut into equal bite-sized pieces


Now a note before I begin - I don't usually use recipes unless I'm baking, so I just wing it and add as I see fit.  I didn't add any herbs or spices to this because I wanted to keep it simple, BUT, if I were making this for dinner, I'd add Italian herbs, garlic and probably roasted red peppers or maybe some sun dried tomatoes.  *drool*.  Maybe some red pepper flakes.  Okay, let's not get carried away!  If you want to make this for a crowd, at least double the following recipe!  I only made a small portion today.


Preheat oven to 350, and cook your tortelloni to al dente (if it says cook for 10-11 minutes, cook for 7.)

In a small sauce pot over low heat add the cream cheese and milk, melt down and stir well.

Next, add the parmesan cheese, and whisk in until melted.

Then the other shredded cheese of your choice

At this point I might add a dash or two of nutmeg to give it a more alfredo-y taste.....  So, remove the sauce from the heat.  It should be fairly thick, like this, but if it's too thick, whisk in some more milk.

In a small fry pan over medium heat with a tiny bit of olive oil or butter, throw in the chopped ham and asparagus (and other veg that you want to use.)  Add pepper to taste.  Cook until the ham is a bit browned and the veg gets a little color on them.

Then add the ham mixture to your sauce and fold in gently.

Take your cooked tortelloni and very gently fold that in through the sauce.

At this point you can dump the entire mixture into a small casserole, or break out the ramekins for individual kid-sized portions.

Pop these bad boys into your 350 oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until they are nice and bubbly, and slightly browning on top.  Top with some parsley, and enjoy!

My sister-in-law came over and ate one (or two) of these, and declared it's the first meal she's been able to eat since she had her first bout of morning-sickness several weeks ago.  And now she's napping on my couch,  hehe!