Category: Entrees

Stuffed peppers take me back to my early gardening and cooking days. Photographs in the seed catalogs of the early eighties would often feature a photo of a large casserole dish filled with bright green peppers stuffed to the brim with a mixture of ground beef, white rice and tomato sauce or tomato soup topped with copious amounts of cheddar cheese. An easy inexpensive way to use up the end of the season bounty.
But wait, those green peppers although fully developed, were stopped on their way to full maturity. Allowed to continue ripening on the vine, peppers will turn red, yellow, orange, purple and occasionally white. Bell peppers, named so for their bell-like shape are a member of the nightshade family along with potatoes, eggplants and tomatoes. Red,yellow and orange peppers have three times as much vitamin C as citrus fruit.  It’s that next step after peppers turn green that becomes risky. Peppers that continue to ripen on the vine don’t just change color but they become sweeter, not just for us, but also for the pests that attack them. One of the reasons red, yellow and orange peppers cost so much more than green ones.
Full disclosure, I never did care much for those stuffed green peppers. My recipe for stuffed peppers has evolved over the years. An abundance of beautiful yellow peppers, the Admiral variety to be exact, inspired this recipe. We are half way through a South Beach phase one eating plan so the recipe was adapted to reflect this. I would normally add a healthy grain like whole wheat couscous or barley, but since grains aren’t part of South Beach diet phase one, I adjusted the recipe accordingly. Chopped chard and chickpeas were added to low fat ground turkey with my homemade tomato sauce to make a substantial and delicious filling. I like to keep my peppers whole but they could be split down the middle and stuffed if your peppers are an irregular shape. Black beans could take the place of the garbanzos, and frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained, could take the place of the chard. Leftovers? Joe said the peppers were even better the next day.

Stuffed Yellow Peppers

Ingredients

• 6 medium yellow peppers (any color is fine) tops cut off and reserved, seeds and ribs removed
• 2-3T olive oil
• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 1-2t chopped garlic
• 1lb lean ground turkey
• 2c tomato sauce (I use my homemade sauce
• 1 15.5 oz can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4lb chard leaves, stems removed, reserved for another use
• 1/4c chopped parsley
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2c low fat mozzarella or Italian blend cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Finely chop the flesh from the reserved tops of the peppers to measure about 1/2 cup.
3. In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and peppers and cook over medium heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook one minute more.
4. Add ground turkey and cook, breaking up with the back of a spoon, until lightly browned.  Add tomato sauce and cook until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
5. Cook chard leaves in light salted boiling water for three minutes. Drain chard in a colander and let cool, then squeeze dry and chop coarsely. Chopped chard should measure about one cup.
6. Stir chopped chard and garbanzos into the meat mixture. Taste mixture to adjust flavors. Add chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.
7. Stand peppers up in a baking dish just large enough to hold them. If your peppers won’t stand up on their own cut a thin slice from the bottom to help them stand.
8. Add 1/2c water to the baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake until peppers are tender, 35-40 minutes.
9. Remove foil and sprinkle cheese over peppers. Return peppers to the oven and bake uncovered until cheese has melted and peppers are tender, 10-15 minutes more.

 Peppers are stuffed and ready to go!

Callinectus sapidus, from both the Greek and Latin translates into English as “savory beautiful swimmers”. What a descriptive name for a delectable spring and summer treat, soft shell crabs. Soft shell season begins with the first full moon in May and ends in September. During these months, blue crabs begin the molting process. Crabs shed their hard outer shell as they grow. This may occur as many as 23 times in their three year life cycle. When the crab backs out of it’s shell, it is only soft for a few hours. Crabbers need to remove their catch from the water at this point or the shell will become hard again. Although available frozen year round, we prefer them fresh and in season. When selecting soft shells rely on your nose, they should smell fresh, like the sea.  Have your fishmonger prepare them for cooking. Pack a cooler with ice to transport them home and plan on eating them the same day.
Although soft shell crabs can be baked, grilled, sauteed or deep fried, the method of cooking we like was demonstrated by David Rosengarten. In the early days of the TV Food Network, Mr. Rosengarten was the enthusiastic host of one of our favorite programs, Taste. Each episode focused on one dish that he had thoroughly researched. He would then demonstrate how to prepare the dish in what he thought was the best method possible.

His approach is first to soak the soft shells in buttermilk for an hour. This helps plump up the crabs during the cooking process. The next trick is to cook the crabs under a brick. The brick helps to squeeze out excess water, condenses the meat and makes the soft shell crabs extra crispy. A garlicky tart mojo is a great for dipping sauce for the crab.

Soft Shell Crabs with Mojo Sauce

Ingredients

Mojo sauce

• 1T olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/3 c freshly squeezed lime juice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2T minced fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Place olive oil in a small heavy saucepan over moderately low heat.  Add garlic and cook slowly for about 5 minutes. The garlic should be golden, not brown.
2. Add lime juice, stir and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and add the cilantro. Let sauce cool to room temperature.

Soft Shell Crabs

• 6 small to medium soft shell crabs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Wondra flour
• 1-2 T unsalted butter

1. Season the crabs with salt and pepper. Pour 1 cup buttermilk in a shallow bowl and soak crabs for one hour. Remove crabs from buttermilk and pat dry.
2. Place crabs on a plate and sprinkle Wondra flour on both sides of the crabs. Melt butter over medium high heat in a saute pan large enough to hold the crabs in a slngle layer. When the butter is melted and the foam subsides, add the crabs. Place a second pan large enough to cover the crabs over the first pan and place a heavy weight in this pan. I use my special “cooking bricks”.  Cook for three minutes, turn the crabs over, top with the pan and weights again, and cook for three minutes more. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Sweet, succulent strawberries, who doesn’t enjoy them in seasonal fare like shortcake, ice cream, jam and salsa. Strawberry salsa, you say? Well if mangoes, papayas and pineapples have all been popular fruits for this spicy treat, why not strawberries? After all, salsa means sauce in Spanish, though in North America we usually think of it as any variation of the spicy tomato based sauces of Mexico.
This very simple salsa appeared 15 years ago in Gourmet magazine. The original presentation in the article “Spotlight on the Strawberry” served the salsa in an avocado half with crispy tortilla strips. I thought I would serve it  with the swordfish steak we were having for dinner. The sweet and spicy flavors in the salsa paired nicely with the richness of the swordfish.
You can vary the type and amount of the pepper according to your tastes. I would consider making it a bit hotter if I were just serving it with chips. A little heat goes a long way as a topping for fish. The strawberries would be good in combination with any of the aforementioned salsa fruits. It would also be a good topping for grilled chicken or fish tacos. Enhance the sweetness of the salsa and serve with baked tortilla chips dusted with cinnamon sugar as a snack or dessert.

 Swordfish Steaks with Strawberry Salsa 

Serves two with extra salsa

Strawberry Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 fresh Serrano or jalapeno chili
• 1 cup of finely chopped strawberries
• 1/4 finely chopped white onion
• 2T finely chopped cilantro
• 1/2t fresh lime juice
• 1/4t salt
• 1/2t sugar (if desired, will depend on your berries)

Directions

1. Wearing rubber gloves, remove stems, seeds and ribs from chili and chop fine.
2. In a bowl stir together chili and remaining salsa ingredients. Salsa may be made several hours ahead and chilled, covered.

 Swordfish Steak

Ingredients

• 2- 6 oz swordfish steaks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• Wondra flour
• 1T each olive oil and unsalted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Measure steaks using the Canadian method to calculate total cooking time.
3. Season swordfish steaks with salt and pepper. Dust with Wondra flour.
4. Heat an oven-proof saute pan over medium high heat.
5. Melt butter and oil in a saute pan large enough to hold the fish without crowding and small enough to fit in your oven.
6. Brown swordfish for two minutes on each side.
7. Move saute pan to oven. Finish in oven, subtracting four minutes from your total cooking time. For example 1″ fish=10 minutes cooking time minus four minutes equals six minutes in the oven.
8. Using oven mitts, remove from pan from oven, transfer fish to serving plate with spatula. Top with salsa and serve immediately.

Considered trendy in the 80’s, arugula is still popular with chefs and home cooks alike thirty years later. The peppery green is known by many names, arugula, roquette, rocket, rugula or rucola. It may be the herb known as oroth in the Bible (2Kings 4:39-40). Even though it looks like dandelion greens or oak leaf lettuce, it is a member of the brassica family like broccoli and cauliflower, and is low in calories and rich in vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. We have been making succession plantings this spring so there is always more than enough arugula to add to our salads. In this recipe from Fine Cooking magazine the sharp peppery flavor of the arugula is a pleasant contrast to rich fattiness of the salmon. This recipe calls for arugula and basil, if your arugula is on the mild side and not “hot”, all arugula could be used. Different nuts such as pistachios, pecans or pine nuts could be interesting. Arugula pesto would also be good tossed with pasta or potatoes, added to soft goat cheese as a spread or even as a pizza topping. We use the Canadian fisheries method of cooking fish which equates 1 inch of the thickest part of the fish to 10 minutes of cooking time. We use a tool, a little fish-shaped ruler with a slide called “perfect fish”. After some research, the only source I could find was Fante’s, a gourmet cookware store in Philadelphia, but they are currently out of stock. Lacking the “perfect fish” use a ruler to measure the thickness of your fish. 

Roasted Salmon with Arugula Pesto

adapted from Fine Cooking magazine

Serves four

Ingredients

• 1/3c walnut pieces
• 2c loosely packed fresh arugula
• 1c loosely packed fresh basil
• 1/4c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4c extra virgin olive oil
• 4 6-8 oz skinless salmon filets

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Toast walnut pieces in a small dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant and a bit darker, about 4-5 minutes. Let cool slightly and transfer to a food processor.
3. Add arugula, basil, Parmesan, and garlic and process until the mixture is finely chopped, this should take less than a minute.
4. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream until well combined.
5. Transfer pesto to a bowl and season to taste with salt.
6. Cut salmon into individual servings and salt lightly (kosher or sea salt)
7. Measure thickest part of steak with the Perfect Fish tool. (every 10th of an inch  equals 1 minute of cooking time at 450 degrees F)
8. At 1 minute prior to calculated time of completion, remove from oven and coat with thin layer of pesto and return to oven for 1 minute.
9. Serve immediately or be sure to remove from baking pan immediately (so that the fish does not continue to cook.)
10. For a more translucent preparation decrease cooking time by 1-2 minutes
11. Serve on warmed plates 

  An abundance of “mature” spinach in the garden and some shrimp in the freezer led me to this recipe, Shrimp, Chickpeas and Spinach with Ginger and Cumin. Since the advent of bagged salads within the last 20 years or so, baby spinach has been very common in supermarkets and the larger leafed spinach has been the spinach of choice for cooked preparations. I missed the baby stage for the first planting of our spinach. We have had wonderful salad greens from the cold frames and even with the staggered plantings Joe is doing, it is still a challenge to keep up with the greens.  I always have some frozen shrimp on hand for a quick dinner. Though Heller’s has the occasional fresh Florida shrimp, frozen shrimp, for this area of the country (mid-Atlantic) is not a bad thing. The shrimp we see in our supermarket seafood case, is thawed out.  Convenient, yes but you can’t be sure how long they have been thawed. I prefer to buy frozen in the 2lb bag to have on hand  and thaw what I need. It doesn’t take long at all. Either thaw overnight in the refrigerator or what I usually do, in a colander under cool running water.  Shrimp is sized anywhere from extra small, 61-70 lb to U10, which simply means under 10 shrimp a pound. Easy peel, meaning the shell is split down the back and deveined is the quickest way to go. Deveining isn’t that hard to do, either use a small paring knife or the tool that is specifically made for that purpose. The “sand vein” is actually the digestive tract, and although removal is not essential, it makes for a more attractive preparation. I made some changes to the recipe. I chose larger shrimp, making it less likely to overcook them. I substituted leeks from the garden, increased the amount of spinach because it cooks down so quickly, and used chicken stock instead of water to make a more flavorful broth.  A little bread on the side would be nice to sop up the juices. It’s even better the next day, if you are lucky enough to have any leftover.

 Shrimp, Chickpeas & Spinach with Ginger and Cumin

Adapted from Fine Cooking magazine

Ingredients

• 1 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Kosher salt
• 2T olive oil
• 1/2 lemon cut into four wedges
• 1 small onion or 2 leeks, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 T finely chopped ginger
• 1t ground cumin
• 1t ground coriander
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 14-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 c low sodium chicken broth or stock
• 1 lb mature spinach, well washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Toss shrimp with 1/2t salt in a small bowl. Heat 1T oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp and cook until one side  is pink, about 2 minutes. Turn shrimp over and continue to cook until shrimp is pink all over but still a bit translucent in the center, about 2 minutes more, do not overcook! Transfer the shrimp to a bowl squeeze one of the the lemon wedges over it and keep warm. I do this under the heat lamp of my cook top.
2. Return the skillet to the stove and heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil into the skillet and add the chopped leek or onion. Sprinkle generously with salt and cook until the edges are starting to turn brown, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic, cook until fragrant, one minute. Add the cumin and cayenne, cook stirring until fragrant, about 20 seconds.  Add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth, the chickpeas and 1/2t salt. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes to reduce stock a little and develop flavors.
3. Using a potato masher, mash about 1/2 of the chickpeas right in the pan. Add spinach and cilantro. Using tongs, carefully toss the greens to wilt and help them cook evenly, about 2 minutes.
4. Add reserved shrimp and any juices that have accumulated in the bowl. Cook for another minute or so to reheat and finish cooking the shrimp. Season to taste with salt .  Serve in warmed bowls with lemon wedges on the side.

The finished dish, topped with gremolata and accompanied by risotto Milanese.

The last time I made osso buco was before the freak snowstorm we had last October. Osso buco, a hearty slow-cooked dish, is translated from the Italian, “bone with a hole”. The bone in this case is a cross cut veal shank. Veal shank is cut from the leg and benefits from slow cooking and gives the meat it’s melt in your mouth texture. Veal shanks are pricey. In October the shanks were 10.99 a pound at Wegmans. This time they told me they would have to order them and I wouldn’t be able to get them until next week.  Next stop, Costco where Plume de Veau veal shanks were 7.99 a pound, expensive still, but a relative bargain after Wegmans. With the veal shank you are paying for bone as well as the meat but the bone holds part of the treat, the marrow from the bone that melts into the sauce.

The first time I made osso buco was for a catering job. A gourmet club, a group of doctors wives hired me for their Christmas party.  They were so pleased with my dish that the hostess sent me a note months later saying she had the same dish in a fine restaurant with her son, and she thought mine was better. I chose the recipe because most of the work can be completed ahead of time, leaving more time to complete any side dishes, or as on this day, do a little plant thinning in the garden.

My experience in October 2011 was a bit different. We were without power for twelve hours, Saturday afternoon to very late that evening. The only part of the recipe I had completed were the aromatics, chopped onion, celery and carrots. I just resumed cooking Sunday morning, fearing more blackouts. There were a few, none lasting more than ten minutes, just enough time to reset all the clocks. My version of the recipe is different because of the last step, I take all the diced vegetables and in my case, home roasted tomatoes and peeled Juliet tomatoes and make a smooth sauce to cover the shanks. I also browned my shanks in bacon fat to add another interesting element of flavor. I like to accompany this dish with the customary topping of gremolata and serve it with risotto Milanese.

And “what is gremolata?” you ask. It is a mixture of chopped parsley, garlic and lemon peel, and in Milan, anchovies.

The first step is to brown the veal shanks. Those bones hold a lot of marrow.

The onion, celery and carrots are sauteed in the same pan the shanks were browned in.

The next addition, tomatoes, white wine and a bay leaf.

After 1.5 hours, the shanks are ready to come out.

Osso Buco – my own interpretation

Ingredients:

• 8 pieces of veal shank, 2 inches thick
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• All purpose flour to dust the veal shanks
• 3-4T bacon fat or olive oil
• 4c finely diced yellow onion
• 1 1/2c finely diced celery
• 1 1/2c finely diced carrot
• 1t each of dried thyme, oregano and marjoram
• 1c dry white wine
• 3T tomato paste
• 2 28-oz cans Italian plum tomatoes, drain and chopped or I used 2 quart bags of frozen peeled Juliet tomatoes and 1 quart bag of roasted tomatoes
• 2 fresh bay leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F or 325F convection. Season shanks generously with salt and pepper. Place flour in a small bowl.  Dredge the shanks in flour and shake off excess.
2. Heat fat or oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, add shanks to the pan, do not overcrowd and brown shanks on all surfaces, about six minutes per side. Set aside and repeat with remaining shanks.
3. Add the onion, celery and carrot to the empty pan, cook this mixture until the onion is translucent, about 8-10 minutes or so. Add the dried herbs, wine, tomato paste,  tomatoes, a teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes.
4. Place shanks in a dutch oven, pour the chunky sauce over shanks-it should come up halfway up the sides, if not, add a little chicken broth and cover with lid. Cook the meat until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove as much of the tomato-vegetable mixture from the pan as possible, it is okay if some clings to the shanks, keep the shanks  in a warm oven. Put the mixture through the medium disk of a food mill to make a rich tomato sauce. Warm sauce over low heat. Spoon the sauce over the shanks.
5. Garnish the shanks with gremolata and serve with risotto Milanese.