How many ways can you use asparagus, leeks and chanterelle mushrooms? Well, if you look at the past couple blog posts you may have guessed I haven't gone grocery shopping in awhile [and why would you when you have such great ingredients sitting in the fridge!]. Ahh the trials and tribulations of a studying maniac, cooking for one.
I can guarantee this is my last recipe for awhile with these ingredients, because I used up my vege drawer today on these delicious salad rolls - with roasted tomato and garlic salsa, crispy leeks, sauteed asparagus and mushrooms.
Ingredients:
1) 3 small (but bigger than cherry) sized tomatoes, quartered
2) 1 large clove of garlic, top cut off but not peeled
3) 1/2 leek, thinly sliced
4) 2 tsp olive oil
5) Bunch of asparagus
6) Mushrooms of your choosing
7) 1 tsp butter
8) 1 cup broth (I used beef because it was in my fridge, but vege or chicken works too)
9) 4 - 5 pieces of rice paper
10) Lettuce
11) Salt and pepper
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 380.
2) Roast tomatoes with the piece of garlic on top (I used parchment paper on my pan so I didn't use any extra oil - just a little salt and pepper).
3) Heat olive oil and add leeks on medium-high heat. Saute until crispy and brown.
4) Remove leeks and add butter to pan. Add asparagus and mushrooms.
5) Add beef broth and cook until asparagus and mushrooms are tender.
6) Remove asparagus and mushrooms. Pour remaining beef broth into a small serving bowl.
7) Remove tomatoes and garlic from oven. Peel and mince garlic. Chop tomatoes. Mix garlic and tomatoes together and strain.
8)Fill a bowl with hot water.
9) Dip a piece of rice paper in, remove and place on dry towel. Pat dry.
10) Put rice paper on plate. Place asparagus, tomato salsa, lettuce, mushrooms and crispy leeks along the middle of the rice paper.
11) Fold in tops of the paper and roll.
12) Serve with the beef broth.
I'm in the midst of studying for my bar exams right now. And I've got to say, enough hours of studying civil litigation and family law really makes a girl hungry!
After about 15 aimless trips to the fridge ... opening and closing the fridge door ... I finally pulled out what's left of my vegetable drawer: a leek, garlic, asparagus, chanterelle mushrooms and rosemary (I really lucked out with my left over groceries - not a bad place to start!). And I just started to chop...
...30 minutes later, somehow (because of my studying haze, I still don't exactly know how) this was the result! and it was delicious. Delicious, practical and fast. The beautiful thing about this dish is you can really throw whatever you have on hand into it.
This rich, healthy and creamy quinoa risotto with sauteed leeks, chanterelle mushrooms, rosemary, asparagus and a touch of yogurt to the end to make it extra creamy took away my studying woes [even if just for a few minutes].
Ingredients [this serves 1]:
1) Half a leek, sliced
2) Handful of chanterelle mushrooms
3) 6 pieces of asparagus, cut in half
4) 1 clove garlic, minced
5) 1 tsp rosemary, diced finely
6) 3/4 cup of white wine
7) 3/4 cup of beef stock
8) 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup water
9) 1/2 cup of non-fat plain greek yogurt
10) Salt and pepper to taste.
Directions:
1) Begin sauteing sliced leeks
2) In a separate pot, bring quinoa and water to a boil. When it starts to boil, reduce to a simmer until the quinoa has absorbed all the water.
3) When the leeks start to brown, add the garlic and white wine.
4) When the wine starts bubbling up the sides, add the beef stock.
5) Add rosemary, asparagus and chanterelle mushrooms and simmer sauce down on medium heat, while your vegetables cook.
6) When the sauce is simmered down to about half and the vegetables are tender, add the cooked quinoa.
7) Stir the quinoa in to soak up all the delicious flavors in the sauce. Add the yogurt and taste. Season to taste with S & P.
This beautiful [and tasty!] breakfast is a great way to start your day. It is hearty, filling, pretty to look at and...fast! This is the make for your fancy brunch or throw together on a wednesday morning while you're in the shower miracle breakfast.
It takes under 5 minutes to throw these elegant cups together before you put them in the oven. And the result is pure breakfast joy. Really.
I copied this breakfast idea from my good friends over at shrpknvs with a couple of yogurt sisters' twists. Check out their delicious recipe for "Breakfast Nests" - especially for all you poached egg, sunnyside up lovers out there.
I went the frittata route because I like a little scramble in my eggs, but you can really do anything to make this recipe your own. Bake the egg whole, or add any other ingredients you like in your omelettes. I went the simple route with fresh basil, fresh ground pepper and a dollop of greek non-fat yogurt on top.
Ingredients (for 2 breakfast cups):
1) 2 slices of prosciutto
2) 2 medium size eggs
3) 1 tbsp fresh basil (shred with your hands into small pieces)
4) Fresh ground pepper
5) 2 1/2 tsp dollops of greek plain yogurt
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375. In a muffin tin, place prosciutto down to form cups (you might have to cut the prosciutto in half and double layer it - just play around with it!)
2) Whisk together eggs, fresh basil and pepper. The harder you whisk the better - get it as frothy as possible!
3) Pour egg mixture into the prosciutto cups (I poured too much in this time - you don't want to fill them completely to the top, especially if you add cheese to this recipe because they are going to grow!)
4) Put the muffin tin in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out at ten minutes, and put two small yogurt dollops on top of each prosciutto cup.
5) Put back in the oven for 10 minutes.
I love the boys over at shrpknvs' idea to add cheese on the top and broil these at the end. I'm definitely going to try that next time!
I took an italian cooking class last week with my family and loved it! We were celebrating my cousin's 17th birthday and we all had a blast. We also made some amazing food.
The highlight for me was a chanterelle wine sauce we made with the main course. We mixed in some heavy cream and parmesan and it was to die for. Definitely not an every night of the week kind of thing.
But it was so delicious I immediately started thinking of substitutes for the cream. This is going directly against everything the teacher in the cooking class told us about not substituting milk for cream [because it doesn't have the milk fats to keep the sauce together]. I don't think I can argue that the bacterial cultures in yogurt will work any better to keep the sauce from separating!
So I decided to try mixing the yogurt with 1 part yogurt and 1 part water. And add it at the very end so it didn't reduce enough to separate. It worked perfectly - just to add a bit of creamy probiotics and turn this dish into one that you can justify enjoying on a nightly basis.
And voila: easy, healthy and delicious roast chicken with a chanterelle red-wine-yogurt sauce. Buon Appetito!
Ingredients:
For the Chicken (I got this delicious marinade from the cooking class as well!):
1) Two chicken breasts
2) 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
3) 1/2 tsp rosemary
4) Zest of half a lemon
5) 1 tbsp olive oil
6) Black pepper
7) 2 garlic cloves, minced
For the Sauce:
1) 1 large garlic clove, minced
2) 2 small shallots, chopped
3) Handful of chanterelle mushrooms
4) 2/3 cup of red wine
5) 2/3 cup low sodium beef broth
6) 2 tsp corn starch and 2 tsp cold water, whisked together
7) 1/4 cup yogurt and 1/4 cup warm water, whisked together
8) Olive oil
9) Salt and pepper
10) Asparagus spears, cut in half
11) Gnocchi (I just used store bought - this was a weeknight meal after all!)
Directions:
1) Mix together chicken marinade ingredients. Marinade chicken for an hour or two in the fridge.
2) Preheat oven to 400.
3) Add chicken breasts and cook for 20-25 minutes, depending on how thick they are. Let the chicken breasts rest for 5 minutes before slicing them.
4) Boil water for gnocchi. Add gnocchi and cook until gnocchi rises to the top of the pot. Strain and add some olive oil to keep them from sticking.
5) In the meantime, heat up olive oil in a pan. Add shallots and garlic on medium-high heat. Add chanterelle mushrooms.
6) Add red wine. When the red wine starts bubbling along the sides of the pan, add beef broth.
7) Add asparagus spears and begin reducing.
8) Stir in your corn starch
*Make sure the corn starch is mixed with equal part cold water, and the
sauce is hot when you add it to avoid clumping.
9) Add yogurt mixture and gnocchi and turn heat down.
10) Season with S & P to taste.
Garnish with rosemary sprigs, serve with a nice bottle of chianti and enjoy your italian evening!
I think I've mentioned that I can't bake to save my life. That's the other sisters' area of expertise (not her only area of expertise. She never ceases to amaze in the kitchen!). The thought of making the pastry for a quiche horrifies me. Easy solution? Mini phyllo cups. Even I, the most incompetent baker I've ever met, can handle this.
The result? Mini quiches with sauteed leeks, goat cheese, and ...you guessed it... yogurt!
These little guys are delicious. Easy to make and packed with a ton of flavor. Make them for brunch, lunch or appetizers: these will impress any crowd!
Ingredients:
1) 8 sheets of defrosted phyllo pastry
2) Olive oil or olive oil spray
3) 6 eggs
4) 1 leek, thinly sliced
5) 1 tbsp goat cheese
6) 1/3 cup non-fat yogurt
7) S & P
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Place one sheet of phyllo pastry on a cutting board. Lightly brush with olive oil/olive oil spray.
3) Place another sheet on top. Repeat step on until you have stacked 4 pieces of phyllo.
4) Cut into squares (12 per sheet).
5) Repeat with remaining 4 slices of phyllo pastry.
6) Place each small square into a muffin tin you have prepared lightly with olive oil.
7) Bake for 5 - 7 minutes until tops are JUST starting to turn brown.
8) In a pan, sautee the leeks in olive oil until golden brown. Let cool.
9) Whisk together goat cheese, eggs, yogurt, leeks and salt and pepper.
*You don't want to add too much yogurt here because the tanginess may
overtake the other delicious ingredients. Just enough to make it creamy!
10) Pour mixture into phyllo cups. Bake at 375 - 400 for 15 minutes until tops are lightly golden.
Serve with crispy baked proscuitto, a fruit salad and these Mini-Hashbrown Stacks and you have a delicious sunday morning ahead of you!
I hosted brunch on Sunday and these were a huge hit. They were crispy on the top and edges and moist on inside. Top them off with a dollop of lemon chive and yogurt sauce.
I served these with Mini Leek and Goat Cheese Quiches, my [healthier] alternative to bacon: crispy baked proscuitto (laid flat and baked at 400 for 10 minutes) and fruit salad. What a delicious way to end the weekend!
Ingredients:
1) 2 potatoes, sliced very thin
2) Olive oil for brushing the muffin tin and each layer of tomatoe
3) Salt and Pepper
Sauce:
1) 1/2 cup of yogurt
2) 1 tbs chopped chives
3) Zest of half a lemon
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) Put olive oil in a bowl. Brush the muffin tin with olive oil.
3) Put a slice of potato in each muffin tin. Brush top of potato with oil.
4) Repeat, until you have put down 6-7 potatoes slices.
5) Brush top potato slices with oil. S& P each potato stack.
6) Bake for 40-45 minutes.
7) Let cool for a few minutes. Remove potato stacks from tin and top with a dollop of yogurt lemon chive sauce.
This was enough for 8 stacks. Make lots, because everyone will be asking for seconds!
I know you don't believe me. Healthy crab cakes? It seems impossible with all the mayo, bread crumbs and deep frying. But it is soo possible - and soo delicious!!
Lesson learned: cut the @#$% and let the delicious fresh crab speak for itself. These crunchy golden cakes are just made with good wholesome ingredients - and broiled, not fried!
There isn't one ingredient in these that isn't good for you. I substituted the mayo for non-fat greek yogurt. I substituted the bread crumbs for a mix of gluten-free breadcrumbs and quinoa flakes. Finally, instead of frying them, I discovered you can get the same crispiness without all the oil by broiling them.
Ingredients:
For the crab cakes:
1) 1/2 pound of fresh crab
2) 1 tbsp non-fat greek yogurt
3) 1/2 jalapeno, diced
4) 1 tsp lemon zest
5) 1 tsp dijon mustard
6) 1 egg, with yolk and white whisked together
7) 1/2 cup glutten-free bread crumbs
8) 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
9) S & P
10) Drizzle of olive oil
For the sauce:
1) 1 cup non-fat greek yogurt
2) 2 tbsp chipotle seasoning
Directions:
1) Mix together first 6 ingredients for the crab cakes. Add S & P, 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of the quinoa flakes.
2) Roll the crab cake mixture into small balls (I used tbsp per ball). Place on a baking tray.
3) Refrigerate crab cakes for an hour or more.
4) When refrigerated, remove crab cakes and prepare a bowl with the remaining quinoa flakes and bread crumbs mixed together.
5) Roll crab cakes in the bread crumb mixture. If it is not sticking, you can whisk together another egg, roll in the egg and then the bread crumb mixture.
6) Drizzle crab cakes with olive oil.
7) Broil on high for no more than 5 minutes (this depends on the strength of your broiler and be very careful not to burn them - check constantly!)
8) Mix together sauce ingredients and serve.
Enjoy eating these delicious crab cakes with no guilt!
