Roasted Marinated Peppers

I saw this colorful side dish in my Cuisine Lite magazine and decided it was one that I wanted to try. Now. So I picked a poached halibut recipe to pair it with and went to work in my kitchen on Tuesday night. This is an authentic Greek specialty, according to this magazine. I personally love bell peppers, especially the orange and yellow because they are sweeter - these peppers mixed with the red wine vinegar and oil drizzle then finishing off with garlic, it was a perfect side that got both the female and male stamp of approval.

Nutritional facts include 37 calories, 2g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 4g carbs, 1g protein, 4mg iron and 8mg calcium.

Grocery List:

• 2 bell peppers (I did 1 red and 1 orange, they were out of yellow or would have had that as a third)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• Garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place peppers on a baking sheet or oven safe dish and roast in the oven for one hour or until skins turn brown, peppers soften. Remove from oven and let cool until they can be handled.

Rmove and discard the pepper stems and gently peel the roasted skins, being careful not to tear the pepper. Cut peppers in half, discard the seeds and membranes. I then halved each half because I wanted to.

Arrange the peppers on a platter - alternating colors to make it aesthetically pleasing - then drizzle the oil and vinegar combo over your beautiful peppers, sprinkling with garlic powder.

Let the peppers marinate for at least 30 minutes and you are ready to serve!

with poached halibut and wilted spinach

Gnocchi Mac 'n Cheese

I gave you all a little sneak peek of our girl's night last week where we made homemade gnocchi and tossed it in a three-cheese sauce. Let me again introduce my favorite little chefs, the ladies that helped create this meal:

(Meredith, myself, Amy, Greer)
Such a fun time and a privilege, love these gals!

I've left you waiting long enough, this post will show you how to make the little potato dumplings and give the recipe for the cheese sauce. The main need you have is attaining a potato ricer - this is what gets the potatoes in dough-making form to create the dumplings. I went to amazon.com and purchased this OXO Potato Ricer, then threw in this gnocchi board too!

Grocery List:

• 3 large baking potatoes (Idaho, as much as I don't like them, best for gnocchi making), scrubbed
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg 
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (splurge version: Parmagiano-Reggiano; good taste bargain version: Pecorino Romano Parmesan)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed

You are going to start by peeling the skins off the potatoes and boil water in a large pot. Add the potatoes to the water and cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are soft and easy to pierce with a fork. If you boil on high heat, this will take about 30 - 35 minutes.

Once softened, drain the potatoes and let stand until they are cool enough to handle. The cooking school said the hotter the potatoes are when they are peeled and riced, the lighter the gnocchi will be. Press the potatoes through your potato ricer - we cut our potatoes in half so they would fit better into the ricer. We discovered that this takes some solid arm muscle, so skip the weights, here is your workout folks.

 

It looks like cheese... but it's potato.

Spread the riced potatoes into a thin, even layer on the work surface without compacting and let them cool completely. We put them in the fridge at this point to help them cool for about 5 minutes to help speed up this process - we were hungry.

While your riced potatoes are cooking, beat the egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Once cooled, spread out and form a mound of the potatoes and create a hole in the center.

Pour the egg mixture into the center and begin to knead the potato and egg mixtures together with both hands, gradually adding the grated cheese and enough of the flour (about 1 1/2 cups) to form a smooth but ever so slightly sticky dough.

 

If it feels wet, add more flour. The longer you knead the dough, the more flour it will require, and the heavier your gnocchi will be. So all hands on deck, knead it swiftly and well so that all flour, dough, cheese and egg mixture are well combined. When you are comfortable with the feel, roll it into a ball.

As you knead, it is normal for the dough to stick to your hands - the cooking class said to just rub your hands together to loosen the dough back in with the rest. Your hands are clean because we all just know to wash them before cooking, so that is perfectly fine to do!

When your dough is all combined and doesn't feel wet anymore, lightly dust the counter surface, dough and your hands with some flour. You are going to form the big ball into a more oblong ball, then cut into 6 equal pieces and set each one off to the side, working on them one at a time (unless you have extra hands to help, then you can each take one if your work space is large enough).

Using both hands in a smooth back-and-forth motion and exerting light pressure downward, roll the dough into a rope about 1/2 inch thick, flouring as needed to keep from sticking. The rope can end up being a couple feet long! Slice the rope into 1/2 inch-thick rounds.

Roll each of the rounds into a rough ball. Using either the tines of a fork, or a gnocchi board, lightly press the ball down with your thumb as your roll it down at an angle to create grooves and the perfect dumpling shape. It took a while to get the hang of this so don't get discouraged, it is all about the thumb placement though. You want your thumb at the top of the ball so you can gently roll it down naturally. The good news is that it is still dough, so if you mess up, roll it into a ball again and start over!

 

 

Set the finished dough aside as you finish the rest. At this point, we either cook it immediately or you can freeze it for future use. Tonight, we cook.

Fill a boiling pot with about six quarts of salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Gently drop the gnocchi in the pot, a large spoonful at a time, stirring gently and continuously. The gnocchi is cooked when they rise up to the top, taking only about 1 minute. As soon as they float, you will need to scoop them out. It is important to not add in too many dumplings at once so that you can scoop them out as they cook - if they over cook, boil too long, they will become mushy and loose shape.

 

Once all of the gnocchi is done, proceed with your sauce recipe to complete it!

Ours is a mac and cheese version so here is what you need for that....

Grocery List, part 2:

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup reduced fat milk
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Fontina cheese
• salt and white pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan (again, either the expensive stuff Parmagiano-Reggiano, or the cheaper nice Parm, Pecorino Romano - use either of those for the great Parm flavor)
• Basil leaves, minced, for garnish if you prefer

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and place the gnocchi inside.

Here are our pretty fresh shredded cheeses!

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat then stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Whisk in the flour until it thickens and bubbles, followed by the milk and Dijon. Continue to whisk well and cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Combine the Gruyere and fontina cheese, adding by the handful to the sauce pan, and stirring until well melted before adding the next. We then added 1/2 of our shredded Parmesan cheese to the sauce, saving the other half.

We then added the basil into our sauce - you can either do that or use it as garnish. Once all the cheese is melted, season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over the gnocchi, sprinkle with the rest of your Parm. If I would have thought about it, I would have brought my Tony's Creole, my favorite addition to any kind of cheese sauce!

Bake the gnocchi until they puff and the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 25 minutes. You will have an incredible tasting, cheesy masterpiece when you take it out.

We enjoyed our meal on the patio with wine for a perfect April evening, "mmm-ing" and "ahhh-ing" after almost every bite. I promise this recipe will not disappoint!

Simple Chicken, slightly dressed up

I had some fresh ingredients on hand that needed to be used, so I came up with this very simple chicken dish, just dressed up a bit. I love mixing sweet balsamic vinegar and the punchy taste of feta! This took less than 30 minutes and it is very health conscious.

Grocery List:

• 2 chicken cutlets
• Olive oil
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• Balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup feta cheese 
• Fresh basil, about 5-6 leaves, julienned

In a skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat and add the onions. Let soften and become translucent, then add the tomatoes to the pan to cook and begin to pucker.

Add about a tablespoon worth of balsamic vinegar and let the onions and tomatoes simmer, then turn down to low heat and keep warm.

 

Heat up another skillet or use a griddle to cook your chicken cutlets. I added a few shakes of Italian seasoning. Flip when ready and repeat until cooked through.

When chicken is cooked, top with the balsamic onion and tomato mix, then add fresh basil and feta. Served with a Italian herb risotto and mixed greens salad.

Meal Planning

This next week, I want to get back into the swing of things with healthier eating, last week went a little awry. I'm going to be cooking through some of my dog-eared pages of must-try's in the Cuisine Light Fresh-Flavorful-Healthy magazine.

Monday: Family Dinner, Tapas theme - Mr. Max is anxious to make a "fried" goat cheese, and I still really want to make "fried" zucchini sticks so I think those will be our contributions.

Tuesday: I have a Roasted Marinated Peppers recipe that I would like to try for 37 calories per serving and serve with a poached halibut and wilted spinach for 305 calories per serving.

Wednesday: Dinner at home is up in the air on this night but in the event it's needed, I will plan to make Squash and Chard Enchiladas - the original recipe is a manicotti, but I'm using tortillas rather than pasta shells. I wanted to get in another butternut squash recipe before spring was fully underway and this one uses chopped swiss chard which we've never tried, the delicious gruyere, and calls for minced sage but I'd like to "fry it" up like we did in the gnocchi cooking school and create an amazing little crisp leaf. We'll serve with a simple salad for a 294 calorie meal.

Throwback Thursday: Chicken Lettuce Wraps, after making these last year, I swore I didn't need Pei Wei anymore and that has held true.

Sneak Peek: Gnocchi Mac 'n Cheese Girls Night!

I'm going to get real with you for a second, this whole "no pasta" thing that I inflicted on myself for Lent is really started to get to me. I've been around pizza several times and can manage - okay, I slipped once at the bachelorette weekend when that is what we had at the house for dinner Friday night. I mean really, I had no choice, a girl's gotta eat! I took the rule that I think I once heard about being able to indulge in what you give up and have it on Sundays, and just applied it to that particular Friday night. That works - right?!? Let's just all agree, "yes".

Pasta, however.... ooooo I am missing you, my stomach yearns for you, mainly macaroni and cheese. I didn't realize how much it tempts me until now when I can't have it. Well, I found a loop hole.

My friend Meredith sent me a recipe for a mac and cheese gnocchi, and she instantly became my favorite person on the planet. Gnocchi is not pasta, it is a potato dumpling. Since Greer and I just took the gnocchi class at Central Market, what had started as a girl's happy hour turned into a full blown fun night in the kitchen sipping some wine, snacking on some "hummi" (we decided we needed to make a distinction between singular and plural use since we had 3 different kinds), and making dinner together. I give you three awesome fellow foodie guest bloggers with me tonight as we make gnocchi from scratch and into a non-pasta macaroni and cheese. Welcome to the ladies! Say (gnocchi mac and...) CHEESE!

(Meredith, Myself, Amy, Greer)

This was attempt 6/6 on self-timer with the camera that was set on a shelf. I debated adding the whole

"photo shoot" but realized only the 4 of us would find it truly humorous.

This was a pretty big cooking spree so it will take me a little bit to sort through the step-by-step photos and type out both recipes, but I wanted to leave a little teaser for what is to come!

   

Greer's Garlic, Regular and Roasted Red Pepper "Hummi"

Meredith's delicious roasted asparagus with Gruyere

Starting the potato-ricing process



Combining the egg mixture with the riced potatoes

Kneading the dough

Cut the dough, rolling them out to then cut off the individual gnocchi

Rolling the gnocchi on the board to create grooves

Making the cheese sauce with fontina, Parm and gruyere

Fresh baked Gnocchi Mac and Cheese!



Texas Tenderloin

Well, not to get all personal and sentimental with you people but Monday, March 28 marked Mr. Max and my three year anniversary. With our busy spring work schedules, we observed the special occasion in full over the weekend but then of course, I had to come up with something to cook him on the actual day. We decided to recreate the Texas Surf and Turf meal from our Texas Tastes cooking class, but only the turf part of it - beef tenderloin filets topped with grilled tomatillo, grilled jalapeno and pepper jack cheese. I know what you are thinking, that's a lot of spice. I thought the same thing in cooking school but surprised to find out otherwise. Though I'm a Texan, I don't have a big tolerance for spicy things, contrary to my queso blanco post. My little Wisconsinite has a much higher tolerance than I do when it comes to hot 'n spicy and puts me to shame. These peppers just helped to add incredible flavor, not so much hot flavor to the steaks once said and done. I highly recommend this as a change up for any kind of steak you may prepare and, "don't be scared by it" - a direct quote from self-proclaimed, picky-ish eater and not-much-of-a-spicy-spice lover, me.

First, I have to give the boy credit, he came walking in with some beautiful flowers.

Grocery List:
*coming soon



Start by pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees.

Look at this fun little guy, hello tomatillo! Slice it up into thin pieces, then cut that jalapeno in half, removing seeds.

Place them in a skillet with a little bit of oil and let them simmer and cook until softened and browning.

Take those out and set aside - season your meat with salt and pepper, then add the chunk of beef to the skillet with a little more oil and brown it on all sides.

Once browned, top the tenderloin with the "grilled" tomatillos slices, followed by the jalapenos.

And finally, we top with the pepper jack cheese. In cooking class, we each had individual fillets and this was a bit easier. Max Man wanted to prepare it like our NYE bacon wrapped tenderloins so instead of getting individual, he got a chunk of meat and we prepared it like so. This is 2 and 1/2 slices of cheese.

Also, at this point in the cooking class, we used a grill to cook it but we decided to pan sear and roast in the oven instead. Had we thought that through a little more, we wouldn't have added the cheese before it went in, instead we would have added it when there was about 5 minutes left to cook.

So now, the meat is in the oven for 25-30 minutes. You have a wine reduction demi-glace to prepare. I don't want to hear it, "eh, fancy blah, blah, blah" - this is easy peasy and you will surprise yourself with how simple you can create just a little bit of saucy elegance. This is a compilation of the madiera we made for the NYE dinner and a peppercorn wine reduction we created in the class. I forgot to add all of the grocery needs to my list when shopping so I had to work with what I had and it was a wonderful result!

Remember that skillet you used to brown the meat? - grab it. Add more oil and roast your onions. Sidenote: these were supposed to be shallots but I ruined them because the burner was too hot and I wasn't paying attention, so we emprovised with onions and it worked out beautifully. Once softened, pour in the madiera and red wine. Bring to a boil and then let simmer to reduce by about half.

Once it reduces, add the beef consumme or packet of demi-glace (either will work, I had demi-glace packet on hand). Stir well until it is all melted in. At this point, I wanted to thicken the sauce up just a little more so I added 1/2 tsp. of cornstarch.

For the heck of it, I also decided I didn't want the lumps in the sauce, so I drained it and discarded the onions and other chunks that didn't mix in, like some of the cornstarch. You know have a delicious wine reduction demi-glace! Set aside until ready to serve - I set mine in the microwave to keep warm until the beef was finished.

After about 25 minutes, take your beef out to test using our little "rule of thumb" that we've discussed - without cutting into it, find out how your meat is cooked by pressing on the fleshy part of your palm where your thumb sprouts out, with the following finger to thumb indications: tip of thumb to tip of pointer finger - rare; tip of thumb to tip of middle finger - medium; tip of thumb to tip of ring finger - medium well; tip of thumb to tip of pinky - well done. We thought ours felt a little too rare, so we put it back in for another 10 minutes, topping with the rest of the cheese since the cheese we had already places was a little melted off.

After 10 more minutes, it was perfect - medium, just the way we like it.

To serve, slice it up and top with the wine reduction demi-glace. Also served with roasted asparagus and cauliflower mashed potatoes.