Chicken Satay Skewers

I'm making my way back from San Francisco. Hope you all had a nice weekend. The race went well and our team met and exceeded our goal of raising $10,000 for MMRF so thanks to all who supported our effort!! I didn't want to leave you guys starving so here's a little tasty something I cooked up last week. This is fabulously simple and perfect for any night of the week. Chicken satay is one of my favorite things to order when I get Thai food, but I have not tried making it myself. This isn't the most authentic recipe, but it's really good and perfect for when you want something quick and light for a weeknight. I let the chicken marinate for about 15 minutes which only enhanced the flavor and since I still haven't dusted off my outdoor grill, I did these inside on my grill pan. I personally didn't like the peanut sauce with just peanut butter and vinegar, so I added agave nectar until I got something I was happy with. It's all about adding and re-tasting for that one. This was perfect for me as a light dinner since I had a heavy lunch that day, but it would be just as great as an appetizer to your own takeout inspired menu.

Chicken Satay Skewers
(From Everyday Food as found on bloom.acious)

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
Agave nectar to taste

Toss chicken with sesame oil, soy sauce, cilantro, garlic, and red pepper flakes in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and thread each chunk onto skewers.

Heat grill to medium-high heat and spray with oil if needed, cook chicken for about 2-3 minutes per side.

For sauce blend peanut butter and vinegar, add agave nectar and water if necessary for desired flavor and consistency.

Pasta with Olive Tapenade

Here's another quick recipe if you don't have a lot of time on the weeknights. I saw it recently on Serious Eats. I have had a jar of kalamata olives in my refrigerator for longer than I care to admit. This dish basically takes as long as it takes to bring the water to a boil and cook the pasta. I decided to add a little more Mediterranean flair to it with some of the unbelievable feta I picked up at the farmers market. I wish you could all have some of this feta. It is so creamy. I have never had anything like it. The tapenade is really good. I wish I had made a little more of it to go on the pasta. It's kind of hard to tell, but it really did a go throughout the whole dish, but I wanted more for spreading on bread or crackers. You really want to go light on the salt in this dish and perhaps only use salt in the water for the pasta. Also, since I used the red pepper flakes (just a small pinch, I am still recovering from the chipotle shrimp), I left out the ground black pepper. I love my mini food processor for small jobs like this...well, really any jobs that require a food processor since I don't have a full sized one, but anyway, I think I am going to be making some more tapenade this weekend...





Pasta with Olive Tapenade
(Adapted from Real Fast Food: 350 Recipes Ready-to-Eat in 30 Minutes as found on Serious Eats)

2 tablespoons pitted kalamata olives
1/2 teaspoon capers
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Olive oil as needed
Red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 pound long pasta, like spaghetti
Small pat of butter
Salt
Ground pepper (optional)
Crumbled feta (optional)

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, and cook the pasta until al dente.

In the meantime, combine the olives, capes, oregano, and a little olive oil in a mini food processor or mortar and pestle. Blend or smash until well-combined into a paste. Add more olive oil if needed, aiming for a loose paste. (If you'd like to add a little chili, cook chili flakes over low heat in the olive oil, then add to the rest of the ingredients).

Drain the pasta, reserving some cooking water, and toss in a serving bowl with the olive paste and chopped parsley. Add the butter and toss until melted. If the pasta is dry, use a little pasta water or more olive oil to loosen it. Top with crumbled feta if desired and serve immediately.

Chipotle-Lime Glazed Shrimp

I recently added this recipe to my lighter recipes file (in my mind) and I knew it was only a matter of time before I tried it. With all the citrus at the farmers market, it was easy to get some limes and I had everything else on hand (the best kind of recipes are made with things I have on hand). Last night when I got home, I was absolutely starving and this came together in no time. I had it prepped, cooked, and photographed in a half hour. Of course it was a super quick photo "shoot" since I was so hungry. As usual, I upped the amount of spice and used two whole chipotles as well as 2 teaspoons of the adobo sauce. If you don't have as high tolerance for spice as I seem to have, feel free to reduce the amount. My shrimp were pretty wet so my sauce came out kind of thin. I ended up transferring the shrimp to my dish and then reducing the sauce a bit and then pouring it over the shrimp. This is really similar to a recipe I made pre-food blogging that I found on Kevin's site. It's perfect for when you want something really delicious and don't have a lot of time.

Chipotle-Lime Glazed Shrimp
(Adapted from Ezra Pound Cake)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound large shrimp
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Small pinch of sugar
2 chipotles in adobo, minced (feel free to reduce this amount if you want it way less spicy)
2 teaspoons adobo sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

To make the glaze: Stir together chipotle chile, adobo sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, and cilantro in small bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat until smoking, Meanwhile, toss shrimp, salt, pepper, and sugar in medium bowl. Add the shrimp to the pan in single layer and cook until spotty brown and edges turn pink, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; using tongs, flip each shrimp and let stand until all but very center is opaque, about 30 seconds. Transfer shrimp to large plate. Add chipotle mixture, and toss to combine. Cover skillet and let stand until shrimp are cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Orzo with Bacon and a Fried Egg

Do you ever have those days when you get home from work and are starving and have absolutely nothing in your refrigerator? No? Well, I do. Well a while back I found this recipe on Mango & Tomato (two of the best fruits ever!) and saved it for one of those days. I had just enough bacon, just a few eggs, and a box of orzo that I needed to finish. It came together quickly and was really satisfying. The original recipe calls for a poached egg, but wouldn't you know, I have never poached an egg in my life! I forgot to add capers. Lately my mind has been off. I forget to add things in recipes, completely ignore steps, and yet they still somehow turn out okay. Can I just say I am really looking forward to my two week break after next week? After I get back from tanning myself in Hawaii, I plan on spending some time in the kitchen (not like I don't do that enough already), and really reading through recipes and preparing things with more love instead of just the quickness of getting through it. For now, I just have to get through this week which has been the longest. Week. Ever!

Orzo with Bacon and a Fried Egg
(Slightly Adapted from Mang0 & Tomato)

Orzo
3 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg
Cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large pan, cook the bacon until almost crispy. Add the onions and garlic to the pan with bacon and cook until the onion and garlic are tender. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Add the cooked orzo to the bacon mixture and toss until everything is combined. While the orzo mixture is combining, lightly fry and egg until the whites have set and the yolk is slightly runny.

Serve with the egg on top of a bed of the orzo mixture and garnish with cilantro.

Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles with a Fried Egg

Sometimes when I get home from work I am not hungry at all. Other times, I am so hungry I can eat the entire contents of my fridge in one sitting (or an entire cheesecake). In order to prevent me gaining a hundred pounds in one sitting, I like to look for quick meals to prepare for a weeknight. I recently saw this recipe on The Kitchn and new I had to try it immediately. I am not the hugest fan of ginger, but I recently decided not to completely rule it out of recipes so I bought a little hunk at the farmers market. I cooked my egg a lot less done than I normally like, but the yolk actually ended up being really good with the soba and created kind of a sauce. In fact, this was so good that I wanted to make more right after I finished the plate, but I consoled myself with some cheesecake instead. I am definitely going to try this again with either more vegetables or some chicken.

Sesame-Garlic Soba Noodles
(From The Kitchn)

1 cup soba noodles - about 1.5 ounces dry
1 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
2 green onions, thinly sliced (reserve some for garnish)
1 egg
Extra salt

Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the soba noodles. Cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to serving dish. Meanwhile, in a small pan over medium heat and add the sesame oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes, and sauté until fragrant, about thirty seconds to one minute. Remove from heat and stir in the soy sauce. Pour this sauce over the noodles, add the green onion, and toss until the noodles are evenly coated. Set the same small pan you just used back over medium-high heat. Crack an egg into the pan, being careful not to break the yolk. When the whites have set, use a spatula to gently but swiftly flip the egg over. Cook for a minute or two until the whites are completely cooked but the yolk is still liquid. Slide the egg on top of the noodles, garnish with green onion. Serve immediately

Grilled Chicken and Aspargus with Arugula Pesto

Not wanting to be a wasteful person, I decided to use my pesto in a quick dinner. I'm so glad I did. It was so tasty and the whole thing came together in less than 20 minutes (take THAT Rachael Ray!!). I decided to add some asparagus to the grill even though I was less than thrilled with my last attempt at grilled asparagus. The spritz of lemon added a great freshness to the smokiness of the asparagus. I am now in love with grilled asparagus and trying to think of other ways I can use it.

Grilled Chicken with Asparagus and Arugula Pesto

3 organic, free-range chicken tenders
8 or so asparagus stalks, trimmed
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
approx 2 tbsp organic extra-virgin olive oil
1 spoonful arugula pesto
spritz of lemon juice

Preheat a grill to medium high heat. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Toss asparagus with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place chicken on a grill and cook for about 4 minutes on one side. When you are ready to flip the chicken, add the asparagus to the grill. Cook the chicken for another 3-4 minutes on the other side. Cook the asparagus for about 2 minutes on each side, tossing with tongs. Serve the asparagus alongside the chicken and top the chicken with the pesto. Spritz the asparagus with lemon and serve immediately.


I also decided to use the pesto for a fun take on breakfast. I have always seen recipes for "green eggs" so why not try it with my green? Even though the picture doesn't look like the most appetizing food stuff, it tasted really good. Since the pesto had so much salt, I decided to omit salt from the eggs.

Scrambled Eggs with Arugula Pesto

2 organic, free-range eggs
1 spoonful arugula pesto

Scramble the eggs over medium heat in a small saucepan. Top with a spoonful of pesto.

Chickpeas with Greens

Many thanks to Candice and Rich of Mmm, Tasty! for this recipe. I had some leftover chickpeas and arugula and had no clue what I was going to do with them this week and then this recipe fell into my radar. It took about 5 minutes to cook and was light and delicious.

Chickpeas with Greens
(adapted from Mmm, Tasty!)

1 c organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 organic, free-range egg
1 heaping handful arugula
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp organic extra virgin olive oil
dash of ground cumin
dash of cayenne
1 or 2 splashes white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)

In a small pan, fry egg to desired done-ness. Season with salt and pepper. You can also hard boil or poach the egg if you prefer. In another pan, heat olive oil and add chickpeas, salt, cayenne, and cumin. Cook until peas are warmed through. Add arugula and wine and cook until the arugula is slightly wilted. Serve chickpea mixture in a dish and top with the egg.