Grilled Chicken with Spicy Brazilian Tomato and Coconut Sauce

When I was in North Carolina over the weekend, my dad gave me some fresh jalapenos from his garden.  As soon as I got settled yesterday, I started searching the internet for something to make with them!  I knew that I wanted to make salsa, but I also wanted to make something else.  I had some chicken breasts in the refrigerator that I needed to use so I narrowed my search a wee bit more.  I came across this recipe, and it looked like the perfect recipe for me to make for Rick and I for dinner.  Rick didn't come with me to NC because he has some work to do at home, and I was so happy to see him when he came over last night.  I'm hoping that I can talk him into coming up with me at some point this fall so that we can enjoy the cool weather and see the leaves in the mountains.

The recipe kinda reminded me of one of my favorite dishes, Brazilian Shrimp Stew, but when it was all put together, it didn't have that wow factor that the stew did. Rick and I agreed that it wasn't that exciting. I do have to say that I liked it better when I had it as leftovers, though.  We served it with rice. The jalapenos weren't that hot so I think that next time, I'd use more.  Here's what we did...

Grilled Chicken with Spicy Brazilian Tomato and Coconut Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 packages of skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon  salt
• Fresh-ground black pepper
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed, minced
• 1 1/4  cups canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions

In a baking dish, combine 3 tablespoons of oil with 3 cloves minced garlic. Coat the chicken with half of the garlic oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. 

Heat grill to moderately high temperature (we use gas), and cook the chicken for about 20 minutes until it is cooked thoroughly (turning around 4 times while cooking).  Place the chicken on a plate a cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add garlic, jalapenos, and ginger and cook for another 1 minute. Next, add tomatoes, coconut milk, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in cilantro.  Serve the sauce over rice and the chicken.

Enjoy!

Spicy Tartar(heel) Sauce

I decided to have a "cheat" day from my good eating, and Rick and I had some fried flounder last night.  He likes to cut the fish into nuggets so we did that.  I breaded them with the awesome House Autry breading.  It makes for perfect fried seafood whether it be fish or shrimp.  Rick did the frying because he's better at it than I am.  I'm way too impatient to get them all as crispy and golden brown the way that he likes it.  While he was cooking, I made a tartar sauce to go with the flounder.  I used a recipe from epicurious.com for a Cajun tartar sauce, made some changes, and cut it in half.  Sadly, I forgot to put it up when I went to bed last night (our cole slaw met the same fate, too :( ).  The tartar sauce turned out really well!  I'll definitely do it again!  Here's what I did...

Cajun Tartar Sauce

Ingredients 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sweet pickle relish

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tablespoon prepared horseradish

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (I used Emeril's Bayou Blast)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator (covered) before serving.

Enjoy!

Baked Pasta with Meat Sauce

Earlier today, I was browsing the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com in search of something that wouldn't be too bad for me and would utilize something that was on sale at Publix this week.  I came across this recipe, and I decided to give it a go...with some alterations of course!  The tomato sauce that they have got mixed reviews, and it called for wine.  Usually, I'd be all about the wine, but I'm doing a 15 Day Challenge with a friend of mine from work which means no booze for me for 15 days!  Instead, I made my Old School Spaghetti Sauce.  This time around, I added a 1 teaspoon of dried basil (out of fresh) and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper to the sauce.  For my pasta, instead of using rigatoni, I went with whole wheat penne since they didn't have whole wheat rigatoni.  I was good and didn't go all crazy with the cheese either!  I liked that the recipe mixed the cheese in the pasta as well as had some on top of it.  I normally don't do that and overkill it with the cheese on top.  I also made sure to have a 1 cup serving size as to keep the calories under control, too.  It turned out to be the perfect size, too. 

Here's what I did...

Baked Pasta with Old School Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

Old School Spaghetti Sauce

2 1/2 cups uncooked pasta

1 1/2 cup part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

While cooking the Old School Spaghetti Sauce, heat water for the pasta (I season my water with garlic powder and salt).  Add the pasta when the water is boiling and cook it for 7 minutes even thought the box says 9 minutes.  You want to undercook it because it will continue to cook while it is baking.  Combine the sauce, the pasta, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Top with the remaining cheeses. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until it is cooked thoroughly.

Serving size = 1 cup!

Enjoy!

Bacon- Wrapped Shrimp with Basil-Garlic Stuffing

Rain, rain, go away!!!  It's basically rained all weekend.  I've found myself trapped in my car three times as I have oh-so-patiently waited for the rain to slow down a bit so that I could dash to wherever my destination was.  The last time happened this afternoon when I was on my way to Publix.  When I left the house, it was dark, but by the time I made it to Publix, it was pouring!  I sat in the car and then moved it to a closer spot so that I could run inside to get some ingredients for the app that I wanted to do for dinner tonight.  Rick and I were planning to grill out, but it turned into steaks in the oven on a cast iron skillet.  We did some baked potatoes, too.  Publix had their large shrimp on sale which I thought would be a perfect starter that I found on myrecipes.com.  This recipe was originally found in Coastal Living magazine.  I adapted it with one of the suggestions from the reviewers and mixed light cream cheese (my goat cheese had mold :( ) with Parmesan cheese for the stuffing.  I did 10 shrimp since there is just the two of us. The recipe called for a fruit-based BBQ sauce, and when I saw the Sweet Baby Ray's Raspberry Chipotle one, I knew that was the one for us! 

The shrimp turned out to be a perfect appetizer to hold us over while our potatoes baked and before we did the steaks.  We probably could've done just 3 each because the large shrimp were filling.  Definitely a keeper!

Here's what I did...

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Basil-Garlic Stuffing

Ingredients

10 large pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, and butterflied

10 pieces of bacon (cutting 1/4 of each slice off)

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1 tablespoon light cream cheese

1 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese

1 clove of garlic, minced

 Sweet Baby Ray's Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix cheese, basil, and garlic together in a bowl.

Cut slit deeper into the shrimp (but not totally through). Stuff cheese in the slit and press closed.

Cook bacon over medium heat until partially cooked. Drain on paper towels.

Wrap one slice of bacon around the each shrimp.  Place shrimp on a greased baking sheet.  Brush the shrimp with the BBQ sauce.  Bake in the oven for 9 minutes.  

Enjoy!!!

Bay scallops and linguine in a wine sauce

Tonight, I did something that I haven't done in a long time:  I just threw something together and hoped for the best.  Harris Teeter had bay scallops on sale, and I was inspired by the mussel dish that I had a Sette last Friday night to make a wine sauce.  I dug out some of the crab stock that I had in the freezer to use (you can substitute clam juice if you don't have any stock handy).  Last night, Rick had wanted us to cook something, but honestly, I wasn't in the mood.  I was tired and cranky, but it's amazing what a difference a day can make!  I was totally in the mood to cook tonight and actually be somewhat creative.  I warned Rick that I was pulling it out of you-know-where, but luckily, it was a winner!  We enjoyed it with some Texas Toast which was perfect for dipping in the sauce and also topped it with some shaved Parmesan cheese.  YUM!!!!


Here's what I did...



Scallops with a Wine Sauce
Ingredients
1/2 box of whole wheat linguine
1 pound bay scallops
1/3 cup basil, chopped
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can of diced tomatoes (no salt added type, do not drain)
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup crab stock
1 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions

Cook pasta per directions on the box.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and scallops to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and saute for 3 minutes.  Remove scallops with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl.  Cover with aluminum foil to keep it warm.  Add onions, basil, and tomatoes to the skillet.  Season with red crushed pepper as desired.  Increase heat to medium-high and simmer for about 10 minutes until it starts to thicken.  Add stock, wine, and butter, and season with additional salt (I used about 1-2 teaspoons of salt) and pepper.  Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.  

Plate linguine and top with seafood sauce.  (It should serve 4).

Enjoy!

Grilled Salmon with a Mustard-Horseradish Sauce

Back in June, the cover of Food and Wine had this yummy looking grilled salmon, and ever since then, I've wanted to make it.  Harris Teeter had salmon on sale earlier this week so I picked up a pound fillet and decided to give it a whirl.  I've never done any glazes on the grill, and in the end, I did overcook it a bit (but you know me, if it isn't twitching, it's overcooked).  Rick stayed at home tonight so that he could pack for his weekend at his parents' house which left me, the salmon, the grill, and some Project Runway.  The recipe for the salmon is on the Food and Wine website. 

For the side, I decided to make a simple cucumber salad (which was one cucumber peeled and deseeded with my trusty melon baller; 1/4 of a sweet onion thinly, thinly, thinly sliced; dill; cider vinegar; salt; pepper; and a little sugar) to go with the salmon.  For something that I just threw together, it turned out really well! I love it when that happens.  

I did have one panic moment during my meal prep. I was getting everything together, and I realized that I didn't have any prepared horseradish!  The bottle that I thought that I had was a Rick's place.  Luckily, the new Harris Teeter is so close!  I was able to grab some (and a bottle of wine happened to jump in my hands on the way to the seafood counter where I found the horseradish) and be home before dark!

The final result was really good even though the glaze didn't turn out as well for me as it did for magazine cover, but it was still delicious.  I added a little dill to the salmon when I was adding the salt and pepper prior to grilling.  I definitely want to make the sandwich that was in the magazine for Rick and I, too!  I had a realization about this meal just now...I think that this is first thing that I've made without garlic in forever!

Here's what I did.

Grilled Salmon with a Mustard-Horseradish Sauce

Ingredients

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 

1/4 cup prepared horseradish, drained 

2 tablespoons honey 

1 pound salmon fillet, cut into 3 pieces

Salt and fresh ground pepper

Dill (either dried or fresh)

Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

In bowl, mix mustard, horseradish, and honey together.  

Rub extra virgin olive oil on both sides of the salmon.  Season the top of the salmon with salt, pepper, and dill.  

Grill the salmon over moderate heat, skinned side down, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and grill for 3 minutes longer, until the salmon is almost cooked through.  Flip salmon and spread some of the mustard sauce over the fish.  Turn and grill until glazed (about 30 seconds).  Remove from grill and serve with remaining mustard sauce on the side.

Enjoy!

Pasta with a Corn Pesto

I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm taking my desire to try all kinds of cool things with corn a little too far.  Up until now, things have turned out pretty dern, yummy, but this week, I've hit a so-so dish.  I'm not sure what I could do to make it better (maybe less pine nuts?), but we weren't thrilled with this dish.  Really makes you wonder why I'm sharing it, huh?  I guess the need to blog or something.  It wasn't that bad, but then again, it wasn't great either.  I think that the work-of-making-your-own-pesto to results ratio is just not in this dish's favor.  Oh well!  We did serve it with grilled chicken that I coated with dijon mustard which turned out pretty good (minus the small piece that I overcooked).  Anyway, here's the recipe from epicurious.com, and here's what I did!

Pasta with a Corn Pesto

Ingredients

8 oz whole grain pasta (we used linguine)

4 cups corn (either fresh or canned...I used 2 cans of no salt added sweet corn)

5 slices of low sodium bacon

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 cup fresh basil, coarsely torn

1/3 extra virgin olive oil

1/3 toasted pine nuts

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 sweet onion, chopped

Directions

Cool bacon in a non-stick skillet.  Place on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain grease.  Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and saute the onions in it.  Remove the onions and add them to the plate with the bacon.   

Add corn, garlic, salt, and  pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup fresh basil and pine nuts.  Add olive oil and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency (I used about 1/2 cup).  Mix in onions, bacon and remaining basil and corn.  Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy!

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine

3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Fresh-Corn-Pesto-360209#ixzz0vZEvRD73

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine

3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Fresh-Corn-Pesto-360209#ixzz0vZEvRD73