Garlic Basil Shrimp

I used to spend most of Saturday morning and afternoon watching Food Network shows and getting ideas. Unfortunately, the range of hosts on that channel is barely tolerable so I find myself tuning in less and less. Sometimes though, I still like to catch up on repeat episodes of Ellie Krieger's show. I find her personality to be a little dry and boring, but her recipes are very good and she is certainly not as annoying as some of the current "talent" on the network. In a repeat episode, I saw this recipe and immediately set out to make it. The tomatoes are definitely dwindling at the farmers market, but a small basket of organic cherry tomatoes was a pretty good bargain as was a little bundle of basil. I had all the rest except for the wine. I briefly considered subbing chicken stock and lemon juice for the wine, but was happy to purchase an inexpensive bottle couple of days later. I suppose if you don't drink wine (the horror!), you can do the chicken stock/lemon juice sub. Served on top of my favorite harvest grains mix, this was a really simple meal. Unfortunately my coworkers don't like it so much when I have shrimpy leftovers for lunch, but whatever...they sure aren't complaining when I bring those baked goods in!



I hope you all have a good weekend. I'm heading up to San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Festival and I could not be more excited. It's going to be a great weekend of eating and drinking. I'm sure I will have plenty to Twitter about and I promise to take lots of pictures and share stories when I return.



Garlic Basil Shrimp
(Adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Makes 2-3 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pounds large shrimp (20 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch dried hot red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
6 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup grape tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute shrimp, turning over once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.

Add garlic and red pepper flakes to the oil remaining in skillet and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add wine and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Stir in basil and tomatoes and season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Return the shrimp to pan and cook just until heated through.

Printable Recipe

Saffron Chicken, Boiled Lemon and Green Bean Salad

After all my naughtiness this weekend, I needed some food to bring me back to the right side of things. Actually, in terms of food, we weren't that bad at our barbecue. I discovered that I do enjoy grilled corn on the cob (especially if it is basted with Ponzu) and grassfed bison burgers are my new favorite food. However, tequila should not be consumed straight as if sipping on water. Before we headed out for all the merriment, I caught a repeat episode of Ellie Krieger's show. I tell ya, watching Food Net is almost painful these days so watching this show was like a breath of fresh air. Ellie may not have the most exciting personality, but she does have fantastic recipes. Once again the green beans were looking mighty fine at the farmers market today and since Raul is no longer able to gift me with lemons, I picked a bunch up at the market. The idea of boiling a lemon was a little strange to me, but I like how this recipe turned out although, I would have preferred a stronger punch from the saffron...maybe two pinches next time. The chicken marinade is very flavorful and it pairs well with the sweet dressing. The boiled lemon rind adds a nice tang with just a slight hint of bitterness that isn't at all unpleasant. I could have scarfed all of this down myself in one sitting, but I am giving half to my friend to prove that it IS possible for me to share the things I make.



Saffron Chicken, Boiled Lemon and Green Bean Salad
(Adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Makes 2 servings

1 lemon, preferably unwaxed
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste, divided
Pinch saffron
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice, divided
Extra virgin olive oil
8 ounces boneless chicken thighs, pounded to 1/2-inch thick
8 ounces green beans, washed and trimmed
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon honey
Freshly ground black pepper

Prick the lemon in 3 or 4 places with a fork and place in a small pot with 1 teaspoon of salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 50 minutes or until the lemon is very tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, mix the saffron, mint, garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a small bowl. Pour the marinade into a sealable plastic bag, add the chicken and let it marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.

Steam the green beans for 4 minutes and set aside to cool. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces.

Preheat a large skillet or grill pan which has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cook the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Set aside to cool. Cut into bite-sized chunks.

Slice the ends off of the lemon and slice it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp. Slice the peel thinly and then again into 1/4-inch pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, lemon, green beans and thyme. In a small bowl combine the rest of the lemon juice and the honey, whisk in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Printable Recipe

Egg, Ham, and Spinach Pizza

So guess what I did a few days ago? Made more balls of pizza dough!! This time I used the whole wheat dough recipe from 101 Cookbooks and I added a couple tablespoons of chopped rosemary to the mix. I mostly made the dough because I knew I was going to be making this pizza. I'm really glad I made it because it's really, really, really delicious. It's an Ellie Krieger recipe and it definitely doesn't taste like you are eating lighter. Some of the spinach got a little crispy and it reminded me of the spinach chips I recently saw on Andrea's Cooking Books (I haven't actually tried the recipe yet, but they look so good!). I only cracked one egg onto this for two reasons, one I was just making it to have right away and didn't feel like having more than one egg and secondly, the one egg I cracked was a semi-fail! Oh yeah, it looks good in the picture, but you don't see my baking sheet with egg white dripping down it. I think next time I will do the eggs either in the center or cook them separately and place them on the pizza. The dough was really good too. Kind of like a crisp cracker which is exactly how I like my pizza dough. I loved the herbs in it too.


So now I need your help! I have five more balls of rosemary pizza dough. What other combinations would you like to see?


Egg, Ham and Spinach Pizza
(Slightly adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Serves 4

1 unbaked, whole wheat pizza crust (recipe below)
4 cups baby spinach leaves
Olive oil for drizzling
Kosher salt (optional)
3 slices prosciutto, roughly torn
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 eggs (if making for four people)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place the pizza dough on the back of a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Scatter spinach all over crust. Drizzle with oil and lightly sprinkle with salt if desired (a little will go a long way since the prosciutto and Parmesan are already salty). Evenly distribute prosciutto, Parmesan and garlic on top of spinach. Crack eggs onto pizza, roughly positioning 1 yolk on each pizza quarter. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until spinach is wilted and egg whites are just fully cooked. Cut into 4 large slices.

White Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
(From 101 Cookbooks)

4 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped (optional, but recommended!)
Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. By hand stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Add the herbs if using. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl (to me it looks like a tornado). Add a touch of water or flour to reach the desired effect. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky.

Transfer the dough to a floured counter top. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerator overnight.

When you are ready to make pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before making the pizza. Keep them covered so they don't dry out.

At the same time place a baking stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.

Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and get ready to shape your pizza dough. Uncover or unwrap the dough balls and dust them with flour. Working one at a time, gently press a dough round into a disk wide enough that you can bring it up onto your knuckles to thin out - you should be able to pull each round out to 12-inches or so. If the dough is being fussy and keeps springing back, let it rest for another 15-20 minutes. Place the pulled-out dough on the prepared sheet pan, and jerk the pan to make sure the dough will move around on the cornmeal ball-bearings (you don't want it to stick to the pan).

Top with a few toppings of your choice.

Oven Baked Garlic Fries

The other part of my "healthy greasy spoon" lunch were french fries. Of course since this was a healthier meal, they were baked instead of fried. This was the first time I had ever bought a potato. What the WHAT?! I know. I pretty much only like potatoes if they are chips or French fries. Since I had never made either myself, I never had the need to buy one. That's what is so cool about food blogging. I am trying tons of new things and techniques that I never thought to do before. These "fries" were very flavorful, the only change I would make is to turn the fries over halfway through cooking to make sure they brown on all sides.

Oven Baked Garlic Fries
(Adapted from Ellie Krieger)

1 big baking potato
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Heat the oil and garlic in a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes. Strain the oil through a mesh sieve and set both the garlic and oil aside.

Cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch sticks. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the salt and 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and crispy.

Remove the fries from the tray with a metal spatula and sprinkle with more salt if desired. Top fries with parsley and reserved garlic and serve immediately.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Saturday + the birthday celebration of my dear friends = One hungover girl on Sunday. I got up just long enough to crawl to the farmer's market and then came back home and got back into bed. I finally managed to get my butt into gear and get cooking. I was really in the mood for some greasy spoon, but I didn't want to go anywhere and I thought I should be kinder to my waistline and do a healthy twist on a burger and fries. Enjoyed with a prickly pear mimosa and The Breakfast Club, it was a great end to the weekend.





Stuffed Turkey Burger
(Adapted from Ellie Krieger)

1/2 lb lean, ground turkey
4 sundried tomatoes, drained and sliced
2 tablespoons shredded, part skim mozzarella, divided
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium bowl mix together turkey, salt and pepper until well combined. Divided the meat into four equal rounds. Form each round into equal sized patties. Sprinkle two patties with sundried tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of cheese. Top with the other patties and work the edges to seal.

Grill each burger for 5 minutes on each side until cooked through.

Asian-Style 3 Bean Salad

It's hot. According to our (crazy, drunken) meterologist you can't call it "very hot" until it is over 105 degrees and since I don't in the valley (thank god), I can't call it a "very hot", but it is still pretty freaking hot in Los Angeles and looks to be this way for at least the rest of the week. Last weekend I was watching a repeat of Ellie Krieger and she made this awesome salad. As I said a few days ago, I have received more requests for vegetarian and warm weather foods and this fits both of those bills. Be sure that when you do this, you get pre-shelled edamame. I didn't and it wasn't too much fun standing over the trash with this (I need to look in to composting) I'm not such a huge fan of ginger so I cut down on the canola oil and added a little toasted sesame oil instead. This would be excellent with some toasted sesame seeds if you go the same route!

Asian-Style 3 Bean Salad
(adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Makes 2 servings

8 oz frozen organic string beans
6 oz edamame, shelled
1/2 15 oz can organic black beans
1 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp organic apricot orange preserves (I used the Trader Joe's brand)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 tsp salt

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Add frozen string beans and boil for about 2 minutes. Drain and place in an ice bath or in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, remove edamame from their shells and drain and rinse black beans.

In a separate bowl whisk together canola oil, vinegar, apricot preserves, sesame oil and salt. Add the beans and the scallions and combine until well coated. Serve chilled.