avgolemano!

I am eating this soup RIGHT NOW and did not want to waste another second before posting it.  It is delicious and can be ready in about 30 minutes with some convenient subs like rotisserie chicken.  This is the recipe that I made, which is a riff on a fantastic Cooking Light recipe they featured in their most recent issue.

This soup is purportedly a fantastic hangover cure as well as a delicious, warming meal at any time of day.

Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Egg soup)

2 cups of cooked chicken, diced or pulled (I used a garlic rotisserie chicken)
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup of shallots or onions, sliced and diced (whatever you have around works, I prefer shallots)
7 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of quinoa (red looks best!)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of dried dill or 2 tablespoons fresh
1 tablespoon of dried tarragon (optional, but i looove the flavor)
2 tablespoons fresh italian flat leaf parsley
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
2 eggs
4 - 6 basil leaves, torn
salt and mixed color peppercorns in large grinds, to taste (I used McCormick's garlic pepper grinder)
1 tablespoon of EVOO

Add EVOO to deep sauce pan on high heat.  After it heats for 60 sec, add shallots and sautee for three minutes. Add garlic, dill and tarragon (if using) and sautee for one minute more.  Add quinoa, tossing in oil, and shallot mixture, sauteeing for two minutes.  Add chicken broth and reduce heat to medium, stirring frequently as it simmers.  Meanwhile, add eggs and lemon juice in a small bowl.  Combine and whisk in two teaspoons of cornstarch, and salt and pepper to your liking.

After the broth, quinoa etc have been simmering for 15 minutes, or when quinoa is tender and about to be done, add egg/lemon mixture in three sections, whisking nonstop so that the eggs do not cook in clumps when they hit the broth.  If you'd prefer you can remove the soup from the heat for this portion.  When egg mixture is completely added, put it back on the heat and whisk for 60 seconds.

When the mixture reaches a solid simmer, add cooked chicken, stirring well.  Cook mixture together for 2 - 3 minutes or until chicken is heated through and quinoa is cooked to your liking.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4!  Great with a salad for dinner, on its own for lunch. You can also sub long grain white rice, basmati brown rice or arborio rice for the quinoa if you'd prefer.

Queen of Dips has returned from her holy hiatus.

Someone bestowed the above title on me on New Years Eve when I proudly displayed four variations of dips for my party guests.  I shrugged.  Mostly because I've only transcribed one dip recipe and generally just wing it and taste, taste, taste until it goes somewhere I like.  Here are the four I made for NYE that are perfect for football playoffs, awards show parties and a bevy of other occasions that will be coming up in the next few months.

To lighten up the below, use lower fat cream cheese or tofutti soy cream cheese in place of full fat cream cheese or creme fraiche and consider 0% greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  Keep the ratios the same.  Daiya's super stretchy cheeses are great in the black bean dip in particular, to keep it vegan friendly.


Black Bean Dip

2 cans of black beans with their liquid
3 green onions, thinly sliced from root to tip
1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
8 oz extra sharp cheddar
8 oz creme fraiche
1/2 cup of salsa verde

Preheat oven to 350.

Reserve a small handful of sliced green onion, a pinch of cilantro and about an ounce of cheddar for the top of the dip.

Add black beans + liquid, salsa verde, creme fraiche and remaining cilantro, onions and cheese to an 8x8 baking dish. Mix until combined.  If you have an immersion blender, puree mixture in baking dish until at least half of the beans are creamy.  If you'd prefer a creamier dip, you can certainly continue. I like to leave some beans whole for texture and presentation. Otherwise, you can use a potato masher for a rougher consistency or use a blender. Before baking, top with reserved ingredients.

Bake for 20 minutes or until top is browned and dip is heated well throughout.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

9 oz box of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry of water
9 oz frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, or 2/3 jar of marinated artichokes, chopped
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
8 oz sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until dip is browned and bubbling.

Carmelized Onion and Shallot Dip


2 medium to large onions, thinly sliced into long pieces
2 shallots,  thinly sliced
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon hot hungarian paprika (or 1/4 tsp cayenne and a tablespoon of reg paprika)
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons of butter
1/8 cup vegetable oil

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet.  Add onions and seasonings and sautee for 10 minutes over medium heat.  Lower heat to low or medium low and cook until the onions are browned and caramelized (about 20 minutes).  While the onions cool, place cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in the bowl of a mixer and beat until all three are one cohesive mixture.  Add onions and mix well.  Optional: bake for 15 minutes at 350 to combine flavors.

Garlic Shrimp Dip

16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups of shrimp
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 green onions (or 1 yellow onion), chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Add shrimp and sautee.  After first turn of the shrimp (once one side is pink), add in yellow onion (if using), red pepper flakes and garlic.  Sautee until shrimp is cooked and then roughly chop. Add chopped shrimp mixture (scrape the skillet for extra flavor!) to a baking dish with room temperature cream cheese, herbs and parmesan cheese.  Stir well to combine.  Bake for 20 minutes at 350 and serve hot.

All of these can be served with your favorite veggies, chips or crackers. I love Mary's Gone Crackers black pepper crackers in particular with dip. I also love using left over black bean dip as a spread for sandwiches or on toast as a snack.

Hope you'll all enjoy them as much as my guests do.  My boyfriend is salivating just watching me write this post, if that is any indicate of what is in store.  Cheers to your next gathering!

thank you, foodnetworkhumor.com

Field Trip: Goya

I almost forgot about you Meatless Monday, pledge.  But today is the 31st.  Still October.  Still made it.

I keep going back to Mexican recipes for my Meatless Monday round up.  But its for good reason.  I really never miss meat in Mexican food. And these enchiladas are no exception.  I like to throw mushrooms in with this combo, but the original is so perfect no rewriting is really fair.  I have a standby enchilada sauce recipe that I will share at some point (if I haven't already... Did I already post it? No idea. Lolz.) but wanted to try something different so I <gasp> actually followed the directions rather than substituting my most comfortable standby sauce.  Except for my sub of dried oregano because unfortunately my name is not Ina Garten so I do not have herb bushes in my backyard in the Hamptons.  BOO.

Okay.  Field trip time. You do need to go out and head for the "ethnic foods" aisle near the Goya section to find some dried chiles. It will be worth the extra two minutes it will take to find them, randomly squeezed in hanging on the side of the shelf between lentils and recaito, where it definitely does not belong.  Go forth and get thee some ranchero sauce. Don't substitute.  Get the damn dried chiles.  Mine were "New Mexico" chiles and perrrrrrrfection.

This is another fabulous Cooking Light recipe. Seriously the best 13 bucks I spent so far this year.  I get an average of 5 meal ideas per issue.  Their new Thanksgiving double issue is also aweeeesome. You've been warned.

~ *Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce* ~


Ingredients

2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 cups water
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups organic vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups (8 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican-blend cheese, divided
3 thinly sliced green onions, divided
Cooking spray
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
6 tablespoons light sour cream
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine chiles and 2 cups water in a saucepan; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Drain chiles in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
3. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add onion; saute 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium; add garlic and salt. Cook 5 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally. Add broth and next 3 ingredients (through cumin); cook 8 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
4. Pour onion mixture into a blender; add chiles and reserved liquid. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in lid. Blend until smooth; stir in lime juice and red pepper.
5. Combine the beans, 1 cup cheese, and half the green onions in a bowl. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon 3 tablespoons bean mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam-side down, in prepared dish. Pour remaining sauce over filled tortillas. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with remaining green onions; serve with sour cream.

This has nothing to do with being gluten free.

Tomato Gratin with Arugula Walnut Pesto

The wonderful Karina (one of my absolute favorite gluten free bloggers) inspired this recipe with her Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin, which I have made and LOOOVED.  Perfect use for those amazing waffle bread crumbs and for your favorite pesto.  Recently I've also experimented with a roasted red pepper pesto over salmon. This was my first attempt at a straight up arugula pesto and it was pretty darn tasty.  And after my last pesto obsession ended in a case of pine nut mouth, I went with walnuts for this one.  Omit the parmesan for vegan/casein free pesto.

And you should know that both my boyfriend and I are not the biggest tomato fans.  We both have serious texture issues with the gushy inside and tend not to feature them like this in a recipe.  So this preparation style for them is just THAT good. Another meatless monday, easy peasy. This probably takes a total of 30 minutes once ingredients are gathered, since the prep work is quick and pretty effortless with the help of your food processor.

Tomato Gratin with Arugula Walnut Pesto

Tomato Gratin
4 cups sliced roma tomatoes (1/2 inch thick slices)
1 cup gluten free bread crumbs mixed with a 1/2 tsp of parsley and oregano and 1 tsp of thyme and basil

balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
EVOO, for drizzling
parmesan cheese (thin slices of fresh mozz would be great here too)



Pesto
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup of walnuts
4 cups of arugula, stems removed
1/2 to 3/4 cup EVOO

Preheat oven to 375.

Begin my making pesto, using a food processor.  Add garlic.  If adding whole cloves, process until minced.  Or add minced garlic.  Add arugula, parmesan (if using) and walnuts and process on high, slowly pouring EVOO until mixture reaches desired texture, adding at least 1/2 a cup.  Set aside.

Spread a thin, even layer of pesto in the bottom of a 11x9 baking dish.  Press half of tomato slices into pesto. Drizzle with balsamic and EVOO.  Sprinkle with parmesan.  Top with 1/2 of the bread crumb/herb mixture.  Press other half of tomatoes on top, layering. Spread another thin pesto on top of tomatoes. Drizzle with balsamic and EVOO.  Sprinkle with parmesan and top with bread crumb/herb mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly and tomatoes are cooked through.

Delicious over pasta with half the remaining pesto and a big splash of lowfat milk or fat free half and half , or simply prepared risotto rice again mixed with half the remaining pesto.  Also lovely as a side to grilled fish or chicken.

Stuffed Peppers

I adapted this recipe from October's Cooking Light.  Theirs is for poblanos, which I am sure would be amazing, but I couldn't find any big enough to do the stuffing justice.  I also killed the bulgur for quinoa, which I have not used nearly enough lately.  

I don't know if you all have gotten the memo but stuffed peppers are totally trending.  And by totally I mean that one of my friends made them this week and another one verbalized a desire to after hearing about both of our delicious dinners. So hop on board.  This recipe should leave you with plenty of leftovers to get you meatless way beyond Monday.

I'm not sure that prior to making this I had ever made or eaten stuffed peppers.  But I will be eating them again, probably soon, thanks to the yum you will find below.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

8 bell peppers, kept intact, tops cut off, deseeded

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of vegetable broth

2 15oz cans of pinto beans

1 4oz can of green chilis, undrained

1 cup of chopped onion

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 oz goat cheese

2 tablespoons cumin

2 roma tomatoes, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Add two cups of vegetable broth to a medium saucepan.  When it begins to boil, add quinoa.  Cover and reduce to medium until quinoa is cooked, adding water if needed to soften further.

2. While quinoa cooks, prep peppers, chop onions, mince garlic etc.

3. Add oil to a large skillet.  Sautee onion for 3 minutes.  Add garlic.  Brown for 1 minute.  Add beans, chilis, cumin, tomatoes and lime juice and cook for at least 5 minutes, up to 10 until tomatoes and chilis are browning/blistering slightly.  Stir in cooked quinoa.

4. Divide quinoa/bean mixture among peppers evenly, layering with a few crumbles of goat cheese throughout.

5. Bake for 20 minutes or until peppers are cooked through and blistering.

6.  Top with salsa, if desired.  Or two more chopped tomatoes, 1/2 cup of red onion, cilantro and a dash or two of lime juice, salt and pepper.