Recipe #37 - Black Bean Quinoa Salad

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This is an award winning recipe I found in the Commercial Appeal created by Megan Murphy, a Tennessee-licensed registered dietitian.

She writes, "Quinoa is a seed that kind of masquerades as a grain. Its consistency is grain-like, but its is noat a grain, and there is no gluten in it. The tiny uncooked quinoa particles swell up when you cook them into small round pellets and give a satisfying chew to dishes, including this one"

Quinoa also contains all 8 essential amino acids (proteins) needed in the human diet. Which makes it very poplar with vegans.

In a small bowl, toss the drained beans with the vinegar, salt and pepper. Let stand for about 30 minutes before draining off any excess liquid.

Meanwhile, in another bowl wash the quinoa in cold water, drain into a coffee filter or fine sieve set over a bowl or pot.

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a medium-sized pot, add quinoa. Lower heat and cover; cook for about 15 minutes until most of the water is absorbed. Set the pot of quinoa off the heat, and let it stand for about 20 minutes to finish absorbing the water.

Once quinoa has absorbed all the cooking water, transfer it to a large plate or bowl and allow to come to room temperature (using a plate spreads it out more so getting to room temperature doesn't take as long).

Once the quinoa is room temperature, put it in a good sized bowl or container. Add the drained beans, red bell pepper, red onions, jalapenos and cilantro; toss gently to combine.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the lime juice, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Add the oil in a stream, whisking continuously. Once the oil is all incorporated, add the dressing to the quinoa/bean mixture and stir gently to combine.

Love, love, LOVE, LoVe this one. Anything with black beans (the healthiest of the the beans) is good in my book. The cilantro, freshly picked from the garden, was of course perfect with the fresh lime juice. The cayenne pepper along with the jalapenos and roasted red pepper gave it a little punch that spiced up the quinoa.

The dressing was definitely my favorite part. I put together a salad the next night and made the exact dressing for the topper. I also made this recipe again about a week later for lunch. Very healthy. Very tasty.

Rating: 9
Time: 40 mins
Serves: 6, about 1 cup each.
Per serving: 260 calories, 13 gm fat, 2 gm saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 29 gm carbohydrates, 6 gm fiber, 7 gm protein, 219 mg sodium.
Ingredients:
For the salad:
1 1/2 cups black beans, canned, drained and rinsed (1 15-oz. can)
1 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 freshly cracked black pepper
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 large red pepper, roasted, seeded, peeled and diced (can be from a jar)
1 small-medium red onion, diced (about 2/3 cup diced)
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno chiles, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

For the dressing:
4 1/2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Recipe #36 - Baked Chicken Meatballs with Peperonata

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I was looking through a Self magazine and stumbled across a couple recipes that were featured on www.epicurious.com. So I headed over to the website to find that it has everything from quick & easy to gourmet type recipes. Unlike many other sites I've found, Epicurious seems to have taken the recipes a step further. Either by adding an extra ingredient for more flavor or by explaining the cooking process more clearly.

I enjoyed looking through the recipes. Inevitably, I found one that I wanted to try out: Baked Chicken Meatballs with Peperonata.

To make the peperonata: 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

Toss bell peppers with 1 tablespoon oil, then roast in a 4-sided sheet pan in lower third of oven, stirring occasionally, until tender and browned, about 35 minutes.

Stir together capers, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil in a medium bowl and set aside.

To make meatballs:
While peppers roast, soak bread in milk in a small bowl until softened, about 4 minutes.

Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic in 1 tablespoon oil with 1/2 tablespoon each of salt and pepper in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 minutes. Cool slightly.

Squeeze bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl, then combine with chicken pancetta mixture, bread and parsley. Form 12 meatballs and arrange in another 4-sided sheet pan.

Stir together tomato paste and remaining tablespoon oil and brush over meatballs, then bake in upper third of oven until meatballs are just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Toss bell peppers with caper mixture.

Serve meatballs with peperonata. A nice accompaniment is garlic bread made from the remainder of Italian loaf.

Though I was discouraged when I had a hard time stomaching the smell of the ground raw chicken (it smelt sooooo different than raw chicken legs or boneless chicken), these really did turn out well. I've never cooked with ground chicken before. Ground beef and turkey, yes, but this was an entirely new experience for me.

I'm slightly shocked that I even pulled this recipe off. It was labeled as a "gourmet recipe" and had a difficulty rating of 4 out of 5 for culinary skills. There is no way I would have been able to do this 4 months ago. It's just proof showcasing how much I've learned with this challenge already.

Rating: 7
Time: 2 hours
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For the peperonata:
3 red bell peppers, cut into strips
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers
1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

For the meatballs:
3 slices Italian bread, torn into pieces (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1 small onion,  finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
3 tablespoons finely shopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Recipe #35 - Blackened Salmon

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This is a very simple and extremely flavorful recipe. It's one of my mom's personal creations. She watched a friends make it once a few years back. She changed up a few of the technics and used different seasoning. I've had it quite a few times over the years, so I thought it was my turn to give it a go!

Start by rinsing the salmon off. Remove as many scales as possible from the side with the skin. Pat salmon dry with a paper towel. Leaving the skin on, rub all sides of the salmon with the olive oil. Then sprinkle salmon with the creole seasoning, pat in well.

This part can get really messy! 

(I recommend doing this next step outdoors because the skillet puts off a lot of smoke.)

Melt the butter on a heavy skillet. Place the salmon in the skillet and cook on one side until dark brown, about 7 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side until dark brown and cooked through.

And you're finished!

I know it looks burnt, but it's really not. It turned out very well. The salmon fell apart perfectly in my mouth, accompanied by the little crunch of the skin.

I served the Blackened Salmon with long grain wild rice and a mixed green salad with sun dried tomato dressing.

Rating: 9
Time: 45 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds salmon (I used Alasken King Salmon)
6 tablespoons butter
Olive oil - as much as necessary
Creole seasoning - as much as necessary (I used Tony's Creole Seasoning - it's the best!!!)

Recipe #34 - Braised Short Ribs

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This recipe came from Geoff Garrett, a copilot my father recently flew with on his trip to Calgary, Canada. At some point during the flight, the conversation turned toward cooking (it must have been a long flight) and Dad told him about My Year of 25 challenge. Geoff told Dad about his favorite Braised Short Ribs recipe. Immediately, Dad came home and began begging me to make this recipe every day for over a week! Which was a nice break from him begging me to cook crawfish (yuck!) for the last month. So I compromised, short ribs it was!

I had initially planned to make this for Easter dinner. However, on Easter Sunday, I went over to the Pina family's cookout with the intension of only eating a few nibbles. Epic fail. I could barely walk out of there, let alone cook short ribs for dinner. So, I made them the following Monday.

Preheat oven to 325. Heat oil in a dutch oven or large, heavy covered pot over high heat. Season ribs with Creole seasoning (I used Tony's Creole), patting it in well with your hands.

When pot is nearly smoking add ribs without crowding them and sear on all sides until they form a brown crust. Do this in batches, if necessary. When all ribs have browned set aside.

In the same pan used to sear the ribs, odd onions, celery and carrots; saute 1 minute to brown slightly or until onions are transparent. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, Worcestershire, bay leaves, and pepper.

Now I tried to use a Pyrex dish, but it wasn't deep enough. So I transferred it to the dutch oven. Place ribs in the Dutch oven and add vegetable mixture. Add enough broth to just cover the ribs and bring to boil. Place the dutch over on a cookie sheet and then put it into the oven. Cover and let simmer until very tender, about 2 1/2 hours. About an hour and 1/2 in, the broth had boiled down and I added the rest of the 2 quarts that was called for.

Remove ribs from sauce and set aside. In a separate cup, mix together 8 tablespoons flour and 2 cups water. Slowly pour the flour mixture, while constantly stirring, into the sauce creating a gravy. (Add more flour mixture for thicker gravy.)

To serve, mound ribs in center of 3 plates, spoon sauce over and garnish with chopped scallions. Serve with egg noodles (which you can add the gravy too as well).

Sticking to the FedEx theme, my father was on a layover with another co-pilot, Dave Brown, in Panama City, Panama. Dad had bought dinner and drinks for him the night before. To return the favor, Dave showed up  to the flight the next day with a bottle of Argentinian red wine. He had learned a thing or two about South American wines when he did a foreign exchange tour with the Air Force before he worked at FedEx. Dad, again, shared with him my cooking challenge and told Dave that he'd find the perfect meal to pair it with. Red meat with red wine. Two FedEx stories. It was a no brainer to drink it with this recipe. It paired very well.

This recipe said it served 4, and I guess it depends on the cut of the short ribs, but I only had 6 ribs. That was only enough for 2 per person. I think that you could almost double the amount of ribs while keeping the other ingredients the same. I had a lot of left over gravy, that just went bad after a while.

The 2 1/2 in the oven was perfect! The original recipe said to do it over the stove, but Geoff suggested transferring it to the oven to help maintain a constant temperature. It worked beautifully. The meat was just falling off the bones and perfectly tender.

Rating: 10
Time: 3 hours
Serves: 3
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 pounds short ribs, cut into individual ribs
2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 cup peeled, seeded and chopped fresh or canned tomatoes (I used fresh)
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 quarts beef broth
1/2 cup chopped scallions (green part only) for garnishing