Braised Leeks

I am sad to say that until last night I had never braised a vegetable. Wow...was I missing out! D grilled salmon filets and I sprinkled them with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese after they came off the grill and then served them on a bed of braised leeks....let's just forget the salmon as it paled in comparison to the leeks...which were, for lack of a better word, divine!
Braising is a slow cooking technique that can be used for meats or vegetables. In the case of vegetables, they are "cooked for short period of time in hot butter or another fat, then simmered partially covered in the cooking liquid until they are soft and the liquid is reduced to a sauce-like consistency." (The Joy of Cooking) This technique yields a deep, creamy and delicious flavor. I seriously could not get enough!
D and I both agreed that this would go wonderfully with filet mignon and mashed potatoes...now that would be a luxurious meal!

The recipe I used was from a cookbook called "Salmon", by Diane Morgan. I halved the recipe as there were only two of us.

Braised Leeks
serves 2

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 medium leeks or 3 large, white and green parts only, halved lengthwise, rinsed, and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
kosher or sea salt
freshly ground pepper

In a 8 or 10-inch saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat and swirl to coat the pan. Add the leeks and saute, stirring frequently, until they just begin to brown, 8-10 minutes. (Reduce the heat to low if the leeks begin to darken and get crisp at the edges.) Add the broth, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer. Adjust the heat so the borth is barely at a simmer, partially cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced and the leeks are very tender, 35-45 minutes. (The leeks should be very moist but not souply at all). Uncover and raise the heat to reuce the liquid, if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm.

Dark Chocolate Bark

This was my first dessert post-cleanse. I wanted to make something relatively healthy but still a bit indulgent. This dark chocolate bark loaded with healthy dried apricots and toasted chopped cashews and a sprinkle of good french sea salt did the trick. I kid you not...6 people ate over a pound of this...not one piece left! I think it was the salt and the sweet combo that really put this over the edge!


Winter Dried Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark
(Adapted from December 2007, Bon Apetit recipe)

1 1lb very good dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips

2/3 cup mixed toasted unsalted nuts (such as cashews,walnuts, pistachios, pecans)

2/3 cup mixed dried fruit (such as raisins, cranberries, cherries, quartered apricots)

6 quarter-size rounds crystallized ginger, thinly sliced ( I omitted this)

1/8 teaspoon fleur de sel or coarse kosher salt ( I doubled this)

Line small baking sheet with foil. Melt chocolate in medium bowl over saucepan of simmering water, stirring until melted and smooth. Pour melted chocolate onto foil, spreading with offset spatula to thickness of scant 1/4 inch. Scatter nuts and dried fruit over chocolate. Sprinkle with ginger. Sprinkle with fleur de sel. Chill until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Peel off foil. Cut chocolate into irregular pieces. Serve bark slightly chilled.

Green Drink

As promised, here is the blended green drink. I also add a splash of freshly squeezed OJ at the end. I like to drink this cold. You can drink half and save the other half for the next day.









Blended High Green- for 2
(from http://www.artofnourishment.blogspot.com/)
Please choose organic and when possible locally grown produce.

2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
4 hearty leaves of Laciento kale, torn
1 c celery, chopped
1/2 apple, sliced (I really like Gala apples. You could also use pears)
1/2 lemon, peeled
knob of ginger, peeled (you control the kick by how much you use!)

Place all ingredients in your blender, add about 2c filtered or spring water. Blend from low to high for about 30 seconds. You can either drink it as is like a smoothie or strain it for a smoother texture.

The End of The Cleanse

It is Saturday morning and my cleanse is officially over! While it was a great experience, I am happy for it to be over! I am ready to start chewing again :)
I lost just over 4 lbs, discovered a new appreciation for green juice and am recomitted to my healthy lifestyle. I plan to continue the daily salad and green juice.
Here was the menu for the last couple of days:

Day #3
High Green Juice
Pear Nectar-pear, filtered water, star anise, ginger, raw honey, Himalayan crystal salt
Spinach Salad with Pumpkin seeds
Orange Gingerade- orange, ginger, filtered water, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, Himalayan crystal salt
Beet Ginger Soup-beets, filtered water, almonds, celery, ginger, cumin, coriander, sea salt
Brazil Nut Cacao Milk-Brazil nuts, filtered water, raw cacao, lecithin, raw buckwheat honey, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, sea salt

Day #4
High Green Juice
Strawberry Goji Tonic- strawberries, filtered water, pau darco, goji tea, goji berrie, vanilla, raw honey, sea salt
Spinach Salad
Grapefruit Pomegranate- grapefruit, filtered water, pomegranate seeds, aloe leaf, lime, raw honey, himalayan salt
Vanilla Almond Milk

Day #5
High Green Juice
Papaya Nectar-papaya, filtered water, lime ginger
Spinach Salad
Lemon Goji Gingerade- lemons, goji berries, filtered water, ginger, flax oil, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, himalayan salt
Cashew Milk

Juicing with your Blender

During this cleanse, I've been kicking myself that I sold my champion juicer when I moved....granted it was about 9,000lbs and a real pain to clean but still! The thought of going out now and buying a $5 juice aggravates me!

Fortunately, I found out yesterday that you can make great juice in your blender...a regular blender at that! You don't have to own an expensive high-powered Vita-mix. The woman who is running the cleanse realized at the last minute that her juicer wasn't working properly so was forced to use this method for our juices. She actually said she preferred this method as a bit of fiber from the fruits and vegetables are retained and it imparts a nice texture in the juice.

You need:

Blender

fine mesh strainer/nut bag /paint strainer bag ( available at home depot)

Method:

1. Take your fruits and vegetables and remove all large pits or seeds and chop up. Remove peel if necessary as well.

2. Put all into blender with a small amount of filtered water (just enough to get the fruits and veggies to blend)

3. Turn on the blender and let it whirl!

4. Once fully blended, pour juice through strainer or bag into a container and voila! Fresh juice!

5 day Cleanse

Well I am back after a couple weeks away...was in Mexico for a week then hurt my back and it was too painful to sit at my computer. I am back now and on day 2 of a 5 day cleanse. All is going well so far. The first day I had a bit of fatigue and nausea in the afternoon but felt fine yesterday and woke up feeling good today.

Primarily, I'm doing this cleanse to boost my health and also to reduce my out of control cravings for chocolate. I've also noticed that my taste buds have been craving more salt and sugar so hopefully this cleanse will re-set things a bit and get me back on track.

An added bonus is that I've lost 3 lbs so far :)

This cleanse consists of juices, a salad, a raw soup and a nut milk every day. Everything is made fresh daily, is raw and organic!

MENU: Day 1

#1 High Green Juice: Romaine lettuce, celery, kale, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger, E3 Live
#2 Strawberry-Goji Tonic:strawberries, filtered water, pan darco, goji tea, goji berries, vanilla, raw honey, Himalayan crystal salt
#3 Spinach Salad with mixed herbs, sunflower sprouts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
#4 Orange Goji Gingerade: Orange, ginger, filtered water, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, Himalayan crystal salt
#5 Creamy Carrot Soup: carrots, filtered water, cashew, cilantro, cumin, coriander, cardamom, Himalayan crystal salt
#6 Cashew Milk: cashews, filtered water, vanilla, lecithin, cardamom, Himalayan crystal salt

MENU: Day 2

#1 High Green: Romaine lettuce, celery, kale, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger, E3 Live
#2 Papaya Nectar: Papaya, filtered water, lime, ginger
#3 Spinach Salad with mixed herbs, sunflower greens, mung bean sprouts, pumpkin
and sunflower seeds
#4 Lemon Goji Gingerade:lemon, goji berries, filtered water, flax oil, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, Himalayan crystal salt
#5 Zucchini Bisque: Zucchini, spinach, filtered water, pumpkin seeds, chives, parsley, Himalayan crystal salt
#6 Vanilla Almond Milk: sprouted almond, filtered water, lecithin, vanilla, Himalayan crystal salt

Chicken for a Crowd

Chicken Marbella
(adapted from The Silver Palate cookbook)

serves 8-10 people

Chicken Marbella is one of those legendary recipes that you always seem to come across...I think it was very popular in the 90's for entertaining as it serves a large crowd and can be prepared the day before. I first had this dish at a high school graduation party.

While it wasn't as fabulous as I remembered, it was still very good! However, next time I make it, I would adjust a few things...

1. cut down on the amount of oregano

2. Use a mix of green and black olives and double the quantity

3. Double the quantity of prunes

I served this with steamed broccoli, and Israeli couscous that I made with half water, and half chicken stock. I then add sauteed shallots and garlic, fresh parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper and Herbamare seasoning. Delicious!!









See below for the original recipe-

Ingredients:

5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
1 bulb garlic, finely puréed
1/4 cup dried oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cups pitted dried plums
1/2 cup pitted green olives, or a mix of olives such as Greek, Moroccan, or French
1/2 cup capers with about a tablespoon of their juice
6 bay leaves
1/2 cup brown sugar (I cut this back from 1 cup)
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Method:
1. Place the chicken in a large bowl. Cover it with the garlic, oregano, coarse salt and pepper, vinegar, olive oil, dried plums, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Rub the chicken well with the marinade and refrigerate, covered, ideally overnight, but at least for 2 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

3. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in 1 or 2 large, shallow baking pans and spoon the marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around but not on them.

4. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with the pan juices.

5. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken, dried plums, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with the parsley. Serve the remaining pan juices in a separate bowl.

Vegetable Chili and Spoon Bread

I remember eating this dish when I was in elementary school and high school. To be honest, I was never a big fan as the tomatoes grossed me out and I was a tad fearful of the zucchini chunks. Fortunately, my taste buds have gown up slightly...I still pick out oversized tomato pieces but I now enjoy the zucchini and the spoon bread is as divine as it gets. Spoon bread is similar to corn bread but much softer with more of a pudding like texture. I figure that the chili is so healthly that a little spoon bread on the side is a acceptable indulgence.











Vegetable Chili
serves 6

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil (very uncessary, I use less than 1/4 cup)
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 red peppers, cored, seeded and cut into squares
2 zucchini, cut into cubes
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 14oz cans peeled whole tomatoes ( save yourself the trouble and use 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
1 15oz can kidney beans, drained
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped coriander
2 Tbsp lemon juice

-Heat the oil in a deep casserole over moderate heat and add onion, garlic, and red pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini and continue to saute for 3 more minutes. Stir in chili powder and cumin and stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes, roughly chopped, with their juice. Season with salt and pepper and stir in chickpeas and kidney beans.
-Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until vegetable are tender. Lastly stir in parsley, coriander and lemon juice to give the dish a fresh taste.
- Serve with spoon bread.

Spoon Bread

Ingredients

3 cups milk
4 oz butter
1 cup corn meal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 eggs, separated

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the corn meal, salt and sugar and whisk. Cook for 5 minutes. Cool slightly, then beat in egg yolks. Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold until the mixture. Bake in a buttered dish for about 45 minutes, until risen, golden and crusty. Serve immediately.

Cherry Squares

I got this recipe a long time ago from a friend's Polish grandmother. These are a cinch to make and are delicious...well honestly, they should be considering the rude amount of butter and sugar in them. Sorry P, I know this doesn't fall into the "clean eating" category but I made them for a Superbowl party so it doesn't count right?










Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1 14-15oz can sour pitted cherries

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Drain the cherries and set aside.
-Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and sifted flour.
-Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.
-Press cherries into the top ( makes sure to use the whole can!).
-Bake for 45 minutes until done.
-Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Ground Beef Wellington

This is my 2nd recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, "Jamie's Food Revolution". All I can say is YUM!! Basically sauteed veggies and rosemary, a little egg and ground beef wrapped in delectable puff pastry. I have such a weakness for pastry. I got lazy and didn't make anything else to go with it, but a salad and some boiled or mashed potatoes would go nicely.

Warning: This does not reheat well....the meat isn't nearly as nice and the pastry gets a big soggy. It does make a huge amount so unless you are cooking for 4-6 people, I would make individual ones and freeze whatever you don't need. Also, cut back a bit on the rosemary unless you love it! Derry loved it...gave it 5 stars out of 5, but did say you would have to be in the mood for a hearty meal.

Ingredients:

(serves 4-6)

1 medium onion
1 large carrot

1 stalk of celery
1 potato
2 garlic cloves
2 portabella mushrooms
4 sprigs fresh rosemary removed from the stem and chopped fine

olive oil

very large handful of frozen peas

1 lb of ground beef, organic if possible

1 large egg (preferably organic/free range), beaten
flour, for dusting

2 sheets of puff pastry, defrosted if frozen

Sea salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and chop the onion, carrot, celery, and potato into 1/4 inch-sized-dice. Finely grate the garlic. Clean and rough;y chop the mushrooms so they are about the same size as the other veggies. Place all the veggies into a large frying pan on a medium heat with 2 lugs of olive oil. Pick the rosemary leaves off the woody stalks, finely chop them and add them to the pan. Saute for 8 minutes or until the vegetables soften an color slightly. Put vegetables in a large bowl and add peas. Mix well and allow to cool completely. Crack the egg into a cup and beat it up. Add the ground beef to the bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper and half the beaten egg. With clean hands, mix well.

Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and lay the puff pastry sheets one on top of the other. Roll out the pastry so its roughly a rectangle 12x16 inches. Dust with flour as you go. Turn the pastry do the long edge is in front of you and place the ground beef mixture along this edge.









Mold it into an even, long sausage shape. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little of the beaten egg. Roll the beef up in the pastry until completely covered. Squeeze the ends together. Dust a cookie sheet with flour and place your Wellington on top. Brush all over with the beaten egg.









Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour until golden.

Roast Chicken Dinner

I love a roast chicken dinner. It has to be one of my all-time favorite meals. Which is why its so silly that I have a fear about cooking it. I think my expectations are so high that it paralyzes me!
I have tried a number of different methods and I think I have finally found the one I'm going to stick with. I used Jamie Oliver's method from his new cookbook "Jamie's Food Revolution". I made roast chicken, roasted veggies and a damn good gravy! What was so great is that it came out perfectly and was relatively simple. I rinsed, dried and seasoned my chicken that morning...apparently improves the flavor.

Roast Chicken
serves 4-6

Ingredients:
4 1/4 lb chicken, preferably free-range, organic
2 medium onions
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 head of garlic
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
a small bunch of rosemary









Directions:
Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven
• Preheat your oven to 475°F
• There’s no need to peel the vegetables – just give them a wash and roughly chop them
• Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled
• Pile all the veg and garlic into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil
• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird
• Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavor)
• Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the rosemary










To cook your chicken
• Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put it into the preheated oven
• Turn the heat down immediately to 400°F and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 30 minutes
• If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking
• Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning
• When cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board and cover with foil to rest for 15 minutes or so
• Now is the time to make your gravy

Gravy

Ingredients:
As well as your roasted veg from the roast chicken recipe, you’ll need:
1 heaped dessert spoon plain flour
a wine glass of white wine
1 liter chicken broth preferably organic

Directions:

• When you come to make your gravy, your chicken will be covered and resting and you’ll have your tray of chicken juices and vegetable trivet in front of you
• Using a spoon, carefully remove 90 per cent of the hot fat from the tray by angling it away from yourself and scooping off the fatty layer that settles on top
• Put the pan back on the stove over a high heat
• Add the flour, stir it around and, holding the tray steady with a tea towel in one hand, use a potato masher to mash all the veg to a pulp – don’t worry if it’s lumpy
• You can rip the wings off the chicken and break them up into the tray to add more flavor at this point
• When everything is mixed and mashed up, add the alcohol to give a little fragrance before you add your stock (the alcohol will cook away)
• Keep it over the heat and let it boil for a few minutes
• Pour the stock into the tray, or add 1 liter of hot water • Bring everything in the pan to the boil, scraping all the goodness from the bottom of the pan as you go
• Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until you’ve achieved the gravy consistency you’re looking for

To serve your gravy
• Get yourself a large jug, bowl or pan and put a coarse sieve over it
• Pour your gravy through the sieve, using a ladle to really push all the goodness through
• Discard any veg or meat left behind
• At this point you’ve got a really cracking gravy, and you can either serve it straight away or put it back on the heat to simmer and thicken up
• Depending on which meat I’m serving it with, I’ll add a teaspoonful of horseradish, mustard, redcurrant jelly, cranberry, mint or apple sauce – you certainly don’t have to, but I think the little edge of complementary flavor you get from doing this is brilliant

Roasted Potatoes, Carrot and Parsnips
Serves 4-6
2.5 lbs potatoes
6 parsnips
6 carrots
1 bulb of garlic
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

Directions:
• If you’re cooking these separately and not as with my perfect roast chicken, preheat your oven to 400°F
• Peel the vegetables and halve any larger ones lengthways
• Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled, and bash them slightly with the palm of your hand
• Pick the rosemary leaves from the woody stalks
• Put the potatoes and carrots into a large pan – you may need to use two – of salted, boiling water on a high heat and bring back to the boil
• Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then add the parsnips and cook for another 4 minutes
• Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry
• Take out the carrots and parsnips and put to one side
• Fluff up the potatoes in the colander by shaking it around a little – it’s important to ‘chuff them up’ like this if you want them to have all those lovely crispy bits when they’re cooked
• Put a large roasting tray over a medium heat and either add a few generous lugs of olive oil or carefully spoon a little of the fat from the meat you’re cooking
• Add the garlic and rosemary leaves
• Put the vegetables into the tray with a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir them around to coat them in the flavors
• Spread them out evenly into one layer – this is important, as you want them to roast, not steam as they will if you have them all on top of each other
-Put them in the oven 45 minutes before the roast chicken is done. After you take the chicken out, move the veggies to the top shelf to finish cooking for the last 15 minutes.

Moroccan Chicken Potpie

I came upon this recipe when I was searching for a recipe for B'stilla. A Moroccan dish that I first had at Marrakesh, a fantastic restaurant in Philadelphia. B'stilla is traditionally made with pigeon, however chicken is often substituted. It is a savory pie with a subtle sweetness from the spices and layers of phyllo-like pastry. Seriously...what's not to love?

B'stilla is a tad time-consuming so I chose to make this recipe instead as the flavors and concept were similar.

D and I both loved this dish...I believe he gave it 5 starts ( out of 5!). It's great the next day even though the pie crust isn't as crispy. I doubled the spices as some reviewers suggested and thought it was perfect. I also used regular raisins as I couldn't find golden raisins. Obviously from the picture, I don't quite have the hang of making pastry look nice yet...all things in time.

Moroccan Chicken Potpie

Adapted from Bon Apetit-December 2007

1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon paprika ( I used 2 tsp)
1 teaspoon ground cumin (i used 2 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon ( I used 1/2 tsp)
1 lemon
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup imported green olives, pitted, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup golden raisins ( i used regular raisins)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1 refrigerated pie crust (half of 15-ounce package)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix chicken cubes with paprika, cumin, and cinnamon in large bowl to coat. Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and pepper. Cut lemon in half; remove seeds. Using small spoon, scoop out enough pulp and juice from between membranes to measure 2 tablespoons. Add to chicken mixture; stir to blend.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, olives, and raisins. Sauté until onion is almost tender, about 4 minutes. Add chicken mixture and stir 1 minute. Sprinkle flour over; stir 1 minute. Add broth and bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Transfer filling to 9-inch-diameter deep-dish glass pie dish.

Place pie crust over dish and seal dough edges to rim of dish. Using small paring knife, cut several slits in pie crust. Bake pot pie until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling thickly, about 20 minutes.