Everyday Dorie: Pasta with Shrimp, Squash, Lemon and Lots of Herbs
January 10, 2020 at 8:25 pm | Posted in everyday dorie, groups, pasta, savory things | 7 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, pasta, savory
Some nights after work I come home and do a throw-together pasta situation for dinner. Not a long-simmered Sunday sauce, but quickly cooked odds and ends from the fridge that will all taste good together mixed up with with some noodles. This Pasta with Shrimp, Squash, Lemon and Lots of Herbs is along those lines. I had to go out and get a zucchini to make it, but I had all the other stuff on hand…some shrimp in the freezer, lemon, herbs and butter in the fridge and cherry tomatoes on the counter. I actually had some homemade pappardelle in the freezer that I was looking to use up, but if I hadn’t, I would have just grabbed a box of dried pasta from the cupboard.
I’m always scheming to save steps and (especially) save cleaning a dish or two. Rather than cooking off the shrimp and zucchini separately as the recipe calls for, I started with the squash and then added the shrimp in with it near the end of cooking, just before finishing the “sauce” (really more of a buttery glaze) with the rest of the ingredients and marrying it with the cooked pasta. This was delicious–fresh and not heavy. It will be great in the summer when the squash, tomatoes and herbs are at their peak but it was a nice, bright winter surprise, too.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Puffed Grain and Miso Cookies
January 7, 2020 at 8:26 am | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 3 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory
I buy rice cakes on the regular and usually use them as a vehicle for hummus, nut butter or smashed avo, but it had never really occurred to me that I could make my own version, with add-ins so tasty I could enjoy them just on their own. To be fair, these are Puffed Grain and Miso Cookies, not merely rice cakes, and they have a lot going on, even though they come together in a snap once you have all the ingredients. I was sort of hemming and hawing about having to buy both a bag of puffed rice and a bag of puffed barley, as the recipe calls for…then I spotted a box of Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs, decided seven grains would be even better than two, and went with that instead. I stirred in sesame seeds, cashews (instead of peanuts) and a mix of dries berries and raisins, along with the miso, brown rice syrup and sesame and olive oils. They bake in muffin cups into light, crispy-chewy, sweet-salty little rounds. No bland or stale rice cakes here!
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Sweet and Smoky Roasted Carrots
December 27, 2019 at 9:12 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, veggies | 4 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables
I’m always looking for easy and tasty side dishes to go along with something simple like roasted chicken thighs. Turn the oven on and I’m basically done with dinner. Haha. These Sweet and Smoky Roasted Carrots fit that bill nicely. Take carrots, toss them in a smoky-spicy cider vin dressing with paprika, cumin, cayenne and a drizzle of honey. Roast ’em up and pile them on a plate with a swoop of Greek yogurt and any extra dressing. Veggies and sauce all set!
These carrots would make a great side dish, but this batch I had for lunch. My greenmarket had some small rainbow carrots and I thought they’d be cute and colorful here. I sprinkled them with some smoked almonds (which I’m kind of addicted to) for a bit of extra toasty oomph. Something I really like about this recipe is that you can take the technique and play around with the dressing ingredients/flavorings to suit your tastes or to suit your particular meal.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here), and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Everyday Dorie: Gingered-Turkey Meatball Soup
December 13, 2019 at 5:09 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, soups | 6 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, soup
Gingered-Turkey Meatball Soup is just right for the cold, grey, rainy stuff that’s going on where I live right now. It’s not quite as speedy as some of these “everyday” recipes we’ve been making, but if you have a bit of extra time, or if you can make the meatballs in advance, you’ll wind up with a pot full of super satisfying soup– healthy, filling and warm.
I had read comments that the recipe calls for more broth than is really needed, but I was only cooking up two portions’ worth, so I just eyeballed what I needed to cook and serve everything up for that smaller amount. I did make the full recipe of the meatballs though, which are cooked right in the broth, and what I didn’t use for soup, I used in a rice and veg bowl with Korean BBQ sauce another night.
I added lots of veggies to my soup…baby bok choy, choy sum, sweet potatoes and shimeji mushrooms, plus green chili and cilantro. Rather than the rice noodles called for in the recipe, I sliced into noodle-ish strips some egg wonton wrappers I’d had in the freezer for longer than I can remember. I liked a big glug of rice vinegar and sesame oil at the end.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here), and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Smoky, Cheesy Cookies
November 19, 2019 at 8:50 pm | Posted in DC, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie | 2 CommentsTags: baking, cheese, cookies, savory
I’m really enjoying the “cocktail cookies” section of Dorie’s Cookies. Not that I could ever OD on sweets or anything, but it’s also nice to have a salty snack to go with a glass of wine or a green salad. These Smoky, Cheesy Cookies are like cheese and crackers in one. They have sharp cheddar and smoked gouda (or smoked mozzarella, in my case) and some cayenne pepper to give them a little zip. Similar to the Parmesan Galettes we made last month, this dough is made in the food processor. These are roll-out cookies rather than slice-and-bake, though, and they seem a bit sturdier…more crispy and flaky than delicate and sandy.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Lightening-Fast Tahini Chicken (or Pork)
November 10, 2019 at 11:02 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 7 CommentsTags: chicken, everyday dorie, savory
I’m such a dipstick– I totally thought the second Friday of November was next week and I missed the posting date for CBF. But this recipe is called Lightening-Fast Tahini Chicken, so once I realized, I was able to get it together in a flash!
As written in Dorie’s recipe, this dish is “Tahini Pork” and is made with pork tenderloin. I don’t eat pork, but have found that chicken can often make a fine swap for it, so I used boneless, skinless breasts in place of the tenderloin here. Cube the meat and toss it in a spice mix, brown it up a bit and make a quick sauce straight in the pan to finish cooking it through. I didn’t even bother to pre-mix the tahini and lemon juice– I just added them to the skillet at the same time. Lightening-fast, flavorful and delicious!
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one. And P.S., she also has a honey-mustard variation here.
Everyday Dorie: Miso-Glazed Salmon
October 25, 2019 at 11:41 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 9 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, fish, savory
I love fish but I don’t cook it that often at home. I don’t feel like I’m great at it so I usually save it for a nice dinner out, where someone more competent can perfectly prepare it for me. When I do cook fish at home, I’ve found that baking it is the way to go…it’s easier, it’s cleaner, and the delicate (and often expensive!) fish doesn’t fall apart on me as readily as it does on the stovetop. This Miso-Glazed Salmon is a great make-at-home fish dinner, as there’s very little prep to do before it’s ready to be popped into the oven.
I covered my salmon fillets in the miso and soy glaze and let them hang out in a glass pie plate in the fridge for a few hours. When I took the dish out, the whole set up still looked pretty clean, so I just went straight into the oven with the pie plate, rather than transferring the salmon to a lined baking sheet. After the fish was baked, I was able to just lift the flesh right off the skin in one piece and leave it behind. The downside of the glass pie plate is that I was nervous to put it under the broiler once I saw that the marinade hadn’t really taken on any color in the oven. I’ve seen sushi chefs blowtorch raw fish to give it a quick sear, so I pulled out my little kitchen torch to brown things up a bit.
I do wonder if I had removed some of the excess marinade (which I didn’t want to waste since it was more a glaze than a liquid) or used red miso instead of white, would it have gotten more bronzed in the oven? I do think next time I’ll let the salmon marinate for the better part of a day for even more flavor. Well, no matter, it was delicious, and I served it with furikake rice and some cute baby bok choy.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Everyday Dorie: Chicken and Salad Milanese Style
October 11, 2019 at 2:59 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, salads, savory things, veggies | 7 CommentsTags: chicken, everyday dorie, salad, savory
Chicken and Salad Milanese Style was my dinner last night and my lunch today. I can tell you it’s perfect for either meal. I’d probably also eat it for breakfast, not gonna lie. So good.
I have to say, though, that when I got home from work last night, pounding out and breading chicken breasts was not what I felt like doing at all. I felt like eating cereal in front of the TV. Hahaha. But I’m on my own for a couple of days and only needed to do two cutlets, so I sucked it up. I did the prep dirty work, and then let the breaded cutlets chill (Dorie says some chill time makes them cook up crispier) while I loaded up the dishwasher with my messy stuff, put on my PJs and washed my face. In the end it was a pretty simple and quick process.
The cutlets are sautéed in a combo of butter and oil, and you can taste the butteriness in the finished dish. My favorite dude at the neighborhood greenmarket sells a really interesting salad greens mix, with stuff like super peppery arugula, pea shoots, tatsoi, baby kale and purple mizuna. Dressed in a lemony vinaigrette, the salad gives a bit of fresh sharpness alongside the chicken. I’ll make this again for sure, like probably this weekend.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here), and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Parmesan Galettes
October 1, 2019 at 8:27 am | Posted in DC, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie | 2 CommentsTags: baking, cheese, cookies, savory
Not that there’s anything wrong with Cheez-Its (no, nothing at all, really), but if you’re looking for a cheese cracker that’s a bit more elevated, maybe you should really be looking for a cheese cookie. Parmesan Galettes could be a better answer for your next wine and cheese party.
The dough is just butter, four, salt and parm, and it comes together in a snap in the food processor. Rather than hand-grate the cheese, I broke it down to bits in the Cuisinart before I made the dough–double duty! The dough is slice-and-bake and, although it can be baked freeform, baking it in a muffin tin will make perfect rounds. I sometimes find slice-and-bake cookies to be a bit annoying, tbh. I can almost never slice a cold log of dough nicely…I don’t cut it evenly, it always gets flat on one side and the first and last pieces are always wonky. It was easy enough with this dough to just roll it into a log, cut it while soft and press the pieces into the muffin tin. I flattened the tops down with a little juice glass and put the whole tin into the freezer for an hour before baking. I sprinkled on a bit of extra parmesan when I popped them into the oven.
Without an egg to bind the dough, these are very delicate cookies (although I had no problem getting them out of the tin unbroken). They are salty and cheesy and almost melt away when you bite into them. Delicious with a glass of crisp white wine.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Everyday Dorie: Tomato and Peach Panzanella
September 13, 2019 at 10:58 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, salads, savory things, veggies | 4 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, salad, savory
The days are getting shorter and cooler, but it’s still peak tomato season. This Tomato and Peach Panzanella is the perfect way to keep summer around just a wee bit longer. Use whatever bread you want, use peaches or other stone fruit or even melon, choose your favorite herb, make it as salty or as acidic as you like…it’s a use-what-you-like and taste-as-you-go type of thing.
There is a bit of oven time involved with this salad because you need to make croutons. But chunky homemade croutons are so worth it for any salad, and here they’ll soak up all the beautiful juice from the tomatoes and peaches without decomposing into mush. I used what I guess I’d call “French bread” rolls from the restaurant where I work. We always have a bag of day old rolls left over from the previous night’s dinner service and no one minds if I take a few home. I make croutons with them on the regular, in fact. At the greenmarket, I always get a mix of tomatoes– a variety of sizes, from medium to tiny, and all the colors I can find. I like nectarines more than I do peaches, but the peaches have been exceptional this year, I must say, and I used them here.
This was delicious, and I liked the sweetness from the peaches. I had a big batch of croutons, so I made it a couple of times. A little feta was a good add the second time around. I didn’t have any salad left over either time, but I have in the past made too much panzanella…I’ve found that next-day panzanella, when the croutons are a bit too soggy and the tomatoes have spent the night in the fridge, makes fabulous gazpacho whizzed up in the blender. Pro-tip for ya.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here), and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
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