Salmon over Sauteed Spinach and Tri-Color Bell Pepper with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

So dad took me to lunch today at Sambuca, one of my absolute favorites for lunch, happy hour and/or dinner. When the nice waiter was taking our order, he asked if we would like to try their special for the day - salmon over tri-colored bell pepper and sauteed spinach, topped with a Gorgonzola cream sauce. He nearly compromised my entire intent for choosing to go to lunch there because I get the same thing every time - every, single, time. I was mad at him for 15 seconds as he clouded my mind with another tempting option. Then I realized that I could probably easily create that meal myself at home, therefore, my special salad and soup combo was meant to be, yet again.

Mr. Max's family gave me some cookbooks with various sauce recipes because I had indicated an interest to broaden my culinary horizons in that way. So I found a great little Gorgonzola cream recipe from my "Get Saucy" book, that I slightly adapted with things I've learned about sauce making on my own.

Grocery List:
2 Atlantic Salmon Fillets
3 tablespoons of Butter
1 cup of Gorgonzola crumbles
1/4 cup Green Onion, minced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of shallot
Red Bell Pepper, minced
Orange Bell Pepper, minced
Yellow Bell Pepper, minced
1/2 can of evaporated milk
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

Additional Needs:
Large Skillet
Oven safe baking dish
Non-stick spray
Small sauce pan
Cutting board, knife



Tonight, I put on a play list mix of my favorite mo-town tunes mixed with my guilty pleasure, GLEE! The season finale revision of Journey's "Any Way You Want" kicks off this night in the kitchen, and I deem that song more than appropriate for creating a fabulous meal.

First let's pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and prep the salmon to bake by coating the oven safe dish in a non-stick spray, then brushing the salmon with some olive oil.


Once oven is ready, stick it in and set the timer for 15 minutes.


While your salmon is baking, take your choppables and, well, chop them up. First we have the shallot - if you make your initial cut at the end of it, it will be easiest to peel and get to prime chopping condition. Mince up about 1 tablespoon worth and set aside.



Peeled shallot - there were 2 in the bulb!


This is my favorite knife from my knife block - I do play favorites.

Next, the 6 cloves of garlic - if you have a food processor, use it - if not, mince by hand with your blade of choice.



looks like I need a manicure... Set aside 1 tablespoon worth for the cream sauce, use rest for the spinach.

Take your bell peppers - so pretty...wash and prepare them to be diced.


Cut off the end with the stem...


then carve out the middle (seeds)....


and you can chop it up vertically (top to bottom, creating strips),


Or horizontally (side to side, creating the bell pepper rings).


Dice it up so you have your desired amount of bell pepper - since there are 3 types, I cut up about 1/2 of each bell pepper to use.


Last thing to chop - your green onion. Max Man just started with the last 2 inches of the stems and that gave us the perfect amount once all minced up. Set these aside, they will be used for the Gorgonzola cream sauce.


At this time take your large skillet, add some olive oil then let your garlic and shallot begin to simmer. This is one of my favorite smells - roasting shallot and garlic. That's when it gets real in the kitchen, when those combined aromas start to filter through the air.


Once fragrant, add your bell peppers, so they can start to soften and cook in with the other flavors...


Cook for about 2 minutes, then start adding your fresh spinach leaves. Add more olive oil if needed.


For context, I used an entire box of baby spinach to get just enough for 2 servings. This stuff shrinks like crazy, but that's a large helping of greens you are consuming in the end!

Left side is from the first round, right side is the new couple of handfuls.

Once it is all wilted, you can set it aside and keep warm on the burner.


Last part is to make your Gorgonzola cream sauce. You will first want to take a small sauce pan and melt your butter.


Next add the leftover garlic - about 1 tablespoon worth (3 diced up cloves) and the minced green onions to the sauce pan


At this point, I got side tracked (quite possibly singing along to the Temptations, Aint Too Proud to Beg... "I know you wanna leave me, but I refuuuuse to let you go...") and forgot to add 2 tablespoons of flour, to form a roux, thickening the sauce to prepare for the evaporated milk. You will want to add your flour at this time. Once you have done that, add 1/2 of the can of evaporated milk, slowly. Let it mix together before you add more.


Once that is stirred in, add your Gorgonzola cheese crumbles. I would say, 1/2 a cup of cheese first. Use the rest of this to taste, you do not want it to be too strong and to each palate their own. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the sauce, some salt and pepper to taste, and you have yourself a delicious little Gorgonzola cream sauce done for only 120 calories, and the spinach number is 180 calories. I looked this up on a calorie counter website!


Now, you are ready to serve! Dish out the spinach to create a nice bed for your salmon. Top the spinach with your salmon fillet, then spoon over the Gorgonzola cream sauce to your liking.

The finished product - with a side of butternut squash risotto ...from a box, don't judge me - not everything I do is homemade :-)

Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese

I've searched near and far, high and low for the best mac and cheese recipe. After extensive research and recipe comparison, I finally compiled what I thought would make the perfect concoction of gooey cheesy heaven.

I decided to debut this dish for Book Club tonight. At one point friends and I used to have a Supper Club - monthly dinners where the host would provide the entree, all the guests divy up side dishes, salad, dessert, appetizer and beverages. Supper Club grew and it became too difficult to organize 15+ people, and with everyone's busy schedules, it fizzled. Recently, I was invited into Book Club, and we decided to add the foodie aspect to it as well, so I have my favorite part of Supper Club back and get to make myself start reading again! Except, I didn't read the book for this month. I decided to make up for my inability to contribute to the stimulating literature conversation with a food offering instead.


Grocery List:
1 package of pasta noodles (I got the wheel-like noodles)
1 teaspoon of Salt
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp of all purpose flour
1 can of evaporated milk (40 calories, as opposed to higher calories using heavy whipping cream)
1/4 cup of low fat milk
1 cup of reserved cooking water
1 cup of grated smoked Gouda cheese
1/4 cup of Fontina cheese
1 tbsp of Nutmeg
Tony's Creole Seasoning (my secret weapon ingredient)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Additional Needs:
Large boiling pot
Colander
Cheese grater
Sauce pan
Can-opener (couldn't find mine so I got to know a new neighbor!)
Large mixing bowl


I have both the shredded Monterrey Jack cheese and the heavy whipping cream in this picture because I thought I would be experimenting with it, but then I ended up not needing it at all!


First, turn on some music. I'm a sing and dance-a-long chef. Tonight on the playlist, that country song "Lover Lover (you don't treat me no good no more)" - catchy tune, totally the way I feel about cheese and pasta, my version being "Lover, lover, lover, you make my hips expand too much, ooooo hi-ney, gets huge too." Man, just can't eat this stuff all the time like I could in college, but you know, life is too short to be deprived of really, really good food every now and then!

Take your big boiling pot and dump your pasta in. Fill the water to about 2 inches above the pasta, add 1 tablespoon of salt, then cook on high until noodles are al dente (which is fancy for when the noodles are chewy/bendy/soft). Drain in colander and rinse in cold water once ready, then set aside in large mixing bowl.


While the noodles cook, if you bought blocks of cheese, go ahead and grate it down so you can have all of your cheese at your disposal - I didn't know how much I would end up needing because I thought I would end up doing this to taste, so I grated it all into a bowl. Next, take a sauce pan and prepare a roux by heating 4 Tbs. butter until it foams.




Then add the flour and cook while stirring until light brown, about 1 minute.


Next, begin to add your evaporated milk, a little at a time to allow for the contents of the roux to mix together completely and so that you don't have any lumps.



Once you've added the entire can, add your nutmeg, 3 shakes of salt and 3 shakes of pepper. At this time, add about 1 tablespoon of my secret weapon, Tony's Creole Seasoning.




Mix this all together and you will be ready to start adding your cheese. Measure it out from the bowl into 1 cup and start adding it by the large pinch. By adding the cheese slowly, you are able to incorporate it in a smoother manner, much like the roux, trying to avoid clumps. Taste your cheese sauce as you go so that you can decide if you want more or less. I've decided I have a palate for strong cheese so I added all of the Gouda and probably a few more pinches - I even added a pinch or two of sharp cheddar that I had on hand because as my Wisconsin boy always says "Cheddar makes it Better".



Next, add the low fat milk to the mixture and reserved cooking water to help thin out the sauce.


Taste and make sure you like what your taste buds are telling you, at this time it is up to you to add whatever you feel it needs. I went strong on the sharp cheese tastes and then added more Tony's seasoning to give it a kick. You may prefer to add more salt, pepper, nutmeg or bring a garlic salt into the mix instead.


Once you are happy with your sauce, pour it over your noodles


and mix together!


One the mac has become one with the cheese, I topped with dried basil, the rest of my shredded gouda and the 1/4 cup of shredded fontina cheese. It melts nicely atop your creation. Below are pictures of the final product. If you prefer the taste of breadcrumbs, you can top your mac and cheese with those and bake them at this time - I however feel as though breadcrumbs over mac and cheese is like pouring sand in my pudding. Not my thing.

1 bowl set aside for Mr. Max to enjoy later that evening,


the other the bowl I took with me to Book Club.


As mentioned, I took this to a dinner gathering, so the very creamy consistency that it had at first was lost by the time we served the food, which was 45 min - 1 hour after making. For best results, I would serve immediately. While it does lose that initial gooey, creamy, cheesy aspect to the sauce, the taste is delicious. To re-heat and re-gain that creamy consistency, just add a little milk!

Bell Pepper and Spinach Stuffed Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce

The original recipe was called Chicken Valentino, but I changed up that recipe because I felt like it could be better. The only original part from that one is stuffing the chicken with red bell pepper. The rest, I decided to play with a bit and recreate, so after that, "Valentino" didn't seem right. I decided to add the mozzarella, the spinach, fresh herbs instead of dried Italian seasoning, and create a garlic cream sauce to serve over top. This is a recipe I have been holding onto and found it perfect for my new kitchen debut.

I recently moved from my "chateau" at The Villas (of Katy Trail) to a new, rather spacious 1 bedroom abode. My new kitchen was the selling point of this apartment - okay, and the price, and the space of a onesie that actually fits all of my furniture, and how close I am to work.... but kitchen, DEFINITELY up there on the list. Little story for you friends - so I see this fabulous model apartment, the leasing lady comments on how beautiful it is, I comment how it matches my colors and wood furniture perfectly and ask if this is my exact model? She tells me how much I will love to come home to this every day, that this is exactly what my new home would look like, sell, sell, sell. Me? Paid deposit, signed the dotted line, ready to go.

A month and 1/2 later, it's moving day, I go to pick up my new keys to my beautiful new apartment. I get up to my new door and when I walk inside, I burst into tears. This was NOT the beautiful apartment I was shown. Same floor plan, yes, but the faux dark wood floors and beautiful kitchen cabinets of fake-mahogany wood were instead a gray linoleum floor and light blond wood cabinet. Now, this wouldn't have been an issue if that is what they had shown me in the first place and I took it because it's what I needed at the time. No, they showed and promised me something very different and that's what I expected. I'm going to use the premise of an analogy from Julia the Great in one of my top 5 all time favorite movies, it's as though I ordered Creme Brulee and got Jello for dessert (My Best Friend's Wedding, at Kimmy's parents house for the bridal brunch, after Micheal had called off the wedding...not the quote, but using food, this works well!)

So fighting back tears and trying to stay calm, I went back down to the office and said "I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused....this is not what I signed a lease for, nor the apartment I was promised" and then the flood gates opened - it was a stressful moving experience already and I just had to get a good cry out, the leasing manager just so happened to be on the receiving end of it, lucky man he was. So, to make a long story shorter than I've started into, the apartment I was promised will be available Aug 1 and I will get to move into it at that time. Until then, I am living out of boxes to avoid the unpack-only-to-repack-then-unpack-again process. BUT, I will still use my kitchen. So this is my first night to use a kitchen again since last Wednesday when the old one was packed up.

I will have another debut recipe for when I get into the right home, but gotta make-do for now. A girl's gotta eat... and in my case, that means cook!

Grocery Needs:
for chicken
2 Chicken breasts
1 box of baby spinach leaves
Olive oil
1 6 oz jar of red bell peppers
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh chives
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh basil

for cream sauce
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chicken stock
Mozzarella cheese

Additional Needs:
Cutting board, knife
Colander
Skillet
Oven safe dish
Small sauce pan



Let's start by pre-heating your oven to 375 degrees. Drain the bell peppers out of the jar into a colander to remove the oil.



Take your fresh basil, parsley, oregano and chives and get to chopping. Max Man has taken a liking to the new knives as well and he began chopping - make a "1 inch" measurement with your thumb and pointer finger and then grab that much from the fresh bunches to chop, then you should have your desired amount. At this time, take your drained bell peppers and cut them into long strips.



Next, cut your chicken from left to right, lengthwise, so that you have butterflied the bird.




Take your skillet, add a dash of olive oil and begin to cook 1 handful of fresh spinach. Once it is cooked, meaning nice and wilted, remove from the pan and repeat process with another handful of spinach. Each chicken will hold approximately 1 handful of spinach.


Now you see it (all)


Now you don't - The incredible shrinking greens...

Once your spinach is cooked, go ahead and sprinkle the parmesan across the chicken,


followed by the bell pepper


...spinach


... then a bit of mozzarella to make it nice and "melty" inside



You will carefully fold your chicken together lengthwise while keeping the stuffed contents in place with a fork or your hand. Next, top each chicken with your fresh Italian herbs - basil, oregano, chives and parsley.



Stick in the oven and set the timer to 15 minutes (may take longer, but 15 is good to start, then cut into to check and see the progress, another 5 minutes, maybe). To speed up cook time, you can pound the chicken to make it thinner before your cook preparation.

While your chicken bakes, mince 3 cloves of garlic and put them in a sauce pan on medium heat to begin roasting.


Add 1/2 of the white wine called for at this time and the rest as you feel you need it. I tried to place a measurement for it but really just do a splash here or there, I think all in all, I ended up using 1/4 cup.



Bring this to a simmer, cooking until garlic is slightly browned, then add your heavy cream - I decided not to take the low-cal alternatives this time, I'm making a cream sauce, bring on the heavy cream! To increase the amount of sauce in the pan, I added a bit more of the white wine amount. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then I decided to add a pinch of each of my left over Italian herbs from my chicken - pinch of oregano, parsley, chives, and... okay, 2 big pinches of basil! Finally, I decided to add 1/4 cup-ish of mozzarella cheese.


Once the chicken is cooked, I set it on a bed of whole wheat angel hair pasta, then topped with the garlic cream sauce concoction and Mr. Max and I had ourselves an incredibly flavorful, filling, satisfying dinner!


Hot and fresh out of the oven!


Oh yeah, look at that... I got some new dishes :-)


Close-up! Slice the chicken into sections for a more colorful display.