Gourmet Meals for Your Unique Tastes
For this tasty side dish or hearty vegetarian main dish, sweet bell peppers are stuffed with creamy Arborio rice risotto flavored with a touch of basil pesto sauce. This dish can also easily be made with hollowed out tomatoes or even zucchini if you wish. A dramatic presentation, and a dramatic delight for your taste buds.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Recipe Courtesy of Dining In, by Alison Roman
I know what you’re thinking. If the title of this recipe is ‘skillet chicken’ then why is the chicken pictured seemingly roasted? Well, I loved the original idea for this skillet chicken from the fabulous cookbook, Dining In, by Alison Roman. Her version is either bone-in chicken thighs or breasts cooked stove top and flavored with ground sumac, pickled red onions, olives and fresh herbs.
The idea here is that bone-in, skin-on chicken is the way to go; the meat is tender, flavorful and never dried out. The ground sumac lends a tart, lemon-like flavor to the chicken, the herbs add freshness, and the crushed olives add brine. And that’s not all folks! She serves this tasty chicken with some quick-pickled red onions. (Yum)
I decided to take this idea and turn it into an entire roast chicken. Mainly because my husband loves dark meat chicken, while I love chicken breasts. This way, we get the flavors of the original recipe but we each get our favorite chicken cuts! For the roasted chicken version, I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and ground sumac before roasting it for about 80 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Just test the chicken either way to make sure its internal temp is 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh.
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Recipe Courtesy of Louisiana Cookin‘ Magazine
Court-bouillon is a French culinary term that translates to ‘short broth’; short meaning quick-cooking, this flavorful broth is used to poach quick-cooking meats like seafood. Popular not only in classic French cooking, but also Cajun and Creole cooking, this specific recipe combines trilogy, scallions, crushed tomatoes, fresh herbs and seasonings with cubes of fish and shrimp if you like.
I found some nice grouper, but red fish or snapper would also work very well here. Serve this ‘Creole Court-Bouillon’ over fluffy white rice with slow-simmered greens on the side, and maybe even a crumbly piece of homemade cornbread. And there you have it…a classic creole dinner is served.
(To view this recipe, click on the following link: https://www.louisianacookin.com/creole-court-bouillon/)
Recipe Courtesy of Donna Hay’s Simple Dinners
A traditional French cassoulet is a slow-cooked white bean casserole flavored not only with sausage, but also a variety of meats which most times include duck, pork, pork skin and sometimes even goose or lamb. For this quick-and-easy version, the white beans have been replaced by a lovely lentil base and the meat consists of pan-seared sausages. Comforting and hearty, this is an everyday take on the French classic that is best served with a simple green salad and some warmed slices of a toasted baguette.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
With a new bag of Anson Mill’s organic, heirloom Sea Island benne seeds on hand, I knew just what cookbook to pull for creative ideas for using them: Sean Brock’s Heritage cookbook. Chef Sean Brock’s name and reputation are synonymous with creative Southern cuisine. Raised in rural Virginia and a proud graduate of Johnson & Wales culinary school, Chef Brock has a plethora of must-go-to restaurants in Nashville and many well-deserved awards attached to his name. Heritage was his first cookbook and the the winner of the 2015 James Beard Award for Southern Cooking.
With many benne seed-based recipe to choose from, including of course, benne seed wafers, benne rice broth, oyster stew with benne, lemony mustard greens with benne, and even pole beans with tomatoes and benne, I settled on these pillowy, slight sweet dinner rolls made with buttermilk and topped with benne seeds. Baked in a cast iron skillet, the rolls are easy to put together and even easier to devour. I served ours with a lemony spring chicken and vegetable soup, and a side salad of marinated yellow squash and zucchini with feta and radicchio.
A note on benne seeds themselves— they are similar in shape to sesame seeds, but are darker in color and have a more pronounced flavor. Their name actually means sesame seed in the West African language of Bantu, and are said to have been originally brought to the South in the late 17th century. I highly encourage you to grab a bag next time you see them, and explore the varied and unique recipes that they can be a part of!
Original Recipe Courtesy of Fine Cooking Magazine
A traditional ragoût is a French stew (of meat and vegetables but also sometimes just vegetables) traditionally served as a main course. I loved the idea in this recipe to turn this mushroom-based, vegetarian ragoût into an Italian ragu of sorts.
The sliced cremini mushrooms stand in for meat in this dish and are stewed along with hearty red wine, broth, herbs, onions, garlic and tomato paste until flavorful and tender; the ragout is then served over cooked cheese-filled ravioli for an unforgettable pasta dish. Simply serve with a mixed greens salad, roasted garlic bread, and a glass (or two) of that same red vino that you popped open to cook with.
The beauty of a baked egg dish like this one is in its possibilities. The add-ins can be any of your favorite cheeses, fresh herbs, veggies or even leftover cooked bacon or cooked root vegetables if you have those on hand. For this colorful frittata I flavored the eggs with grated Pecorino cheese, fresh thyme, halved cherry tomatoes and some wilted spinach.
Baked until fluffy and lightly browned around the edges, I like to finish this sort of egg dish with a drizzle of quality olive oil for added flavor. Perfect for weekend company, this luxurious baked egg dish comes together in no time, and is a perfect accompaniment to a toasted English muffin, fruit salad and a French press filled with your favorite java.
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Recipe Courtesy of Eating Well Magazine
This gorgeous puttanesca sauce recipe would work really well not only with pork chops, but chicken, shrimp, scallops or your favorite fish fillet. Heck, it would even do what it traditionally does best—drape itself effortlessly over al dente pasta. If you aren’t familiar with a classic Italian puttanesca sauce, it is a homemade tomato sauce flavored with garlic and anchovies, that is studded with briny olives and capers as well. This specific recipe calls for cherry tomatoes that melt right into the olive oil, garlic and anchovy fillets, but if you have large heirloom or slicing tomatoes, those would work well, too.
(To view this recipe, click on the following link: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/262749/puttanesca-pork-chops/)
For dinner last night, I decided to stuff a couple of the ripe tomatoes with a yummy saffron rice studded with sweet green peas, fresh tarragon and buttery pine nuts. The tomatoes make for a nice color compliment in the dishes overall presentation and their sweet burst of flavor when baked for a bit is a lovely contrast in texture to the whole dish as well. This rice dish would also be nice served on its own, or even in zucchini boats or halved, baked sweet bell peppers.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Recipe Courtesy of Bon Appetit Magazine
Oh what a delight! Picture this: your favorite pizza crust baked with a fragrant garlic oil until puffed and lightly browned, then topped with a refreshing Bibb lettuce salad. It’s like your pizza and side salad all-in-one! The salad is not only tender leaves of Bibb lettuce, but also thin sliced of prosciutto, quick-pickled red onions, crumbled blue cheese, snipped peppery chives and a red wine vinaigrette. I decided to also add some halved multi-colored cherry tomatoes to the top of the salad pizza, simply for extra color and for their natural burst of sweetness.
(To view this recipe, click on the following link: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/salad-pizza )