Vitello Tonnato

Vitello Tonnato is a traditional Italian dish consisting of cold, sliced veal and a creamy tuna flavored sauce. The dish is served chilled  and is a perfect summer dish. The dish can be served as a main course, it's a perfect dish if you're serving a lot of people and the dish will work perfectly as a part of a buffet as well. The dish is preferably made well ahead of serving as it is supposed to be served chilled.

Ingredients;

Veal;

1 1/2 cup white wine
2 lb veal roast
1 sprig rosemary
 3 bay leaves
1 garlic clove
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 cup water
1 yellow onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
Salad
capers
olive oil
salt/pepper
lemon

Tuna-sauce;

2 cans white meat tuna in olive oil

2 boiled egg yolks

1/2 cup olive oil

10 capers

4 pieces italian anchovy

salt/pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

veal broth 

Start the night before you are making the veal by putting the roast in the white wine in a casserole with the bay leaves, bruised rosemary sprig, peppers and a smashed garlic clove. Leave in the refrigerator over night. 

Next morning you add the water and chopped vegetables to the brine, bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour or until the thermometer registers a temperature of 145 to 150F. This will take up to 2 hours if you double the size of the roast. 

Remove from heat and let the roast cool in the brine. When the veal is cool remove from brine, wrap tightly and refrigerate. Reduce brine until almost nothing, you can use that to add flavor to the tuna sauce or whip in some cold butter and serve as a sauce on the side. 

To make the tuna sauce blend the tuna, egg yolks, olive oil, capers, anchovy, salt/pepper and lemon juice in a food processor or blender ( I of course use my Vitamix blender!!) to a very smooth texture. If needed add some of the veal broth or water. If needed add more salt/pepper. 

Cut the chilled veal roast in thin slices, arrange on a platter with salad, capers, lemon and the tuna sauce. 

 

Let the fun begin!

Goat cheese and chili zucchini-lasagna

This is a lasagna with no pasta so it's a good alternative  if you are into the low carb diet. Instead of pasta you use zucchini and I have to say, it's really good.

Ingredients;

Meatsauce;

Oil
1 onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
1 pound ground chicken (I use Publix GreenWise)
2 tbsp tomato pure
1 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt/pepper/chili flakes

White Sauce;

2/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 pound goat cheese
pepper


2 zucchinis
oil for the dish


Preheat oven to 400F.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes then add the ground chicken and cook until its cooked all the way through. Add the tomato pure, chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, chili flakes and cream. Bring to a boil and let cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes.

In a sauce pan bring the cream, goat cheese and pepper to a boil and cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes.

Cut the zucchini in thin slices with a mandoline or a knife.

Spray your dish with olive oil then pour half the meat sauce into it and cover with zucchini slices then add the rest of the meat sauce and cover with another layer of zucchini. Add the white sauce and bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until it gets a nice golden color.

Serve with a green salad.

Enjoy your meal!

Bæuf Bourguignon

This might not be  the most obvious dish for a sunny Florida dinner but what can I say, I just felt like it I guess.

Ingredients;

1 celeriac peeled and coarsly chopped
1 onion chopped
2 carrots in small pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cups beef or chicken broth
1 bottle red wine
2 bay leafs
2 twigs of thyme
2 pounds boneless chuck beef in cubes
Salt/pepper
2 tbsp butter
1 pound small onions
1 pound mushroom like champignon
1/2 pound bacon

Cook the celeriac, onion and carrots 5 minutes in the olive oil in a big frying pan. Add garlic, tomato paste and continue cooking 2 minutes. Ad broth, red wine, thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

Add to a slow cooker and set to high (four hours).
Add butter to the frying pan and sear the beef for 3 to 5 minutes and add to the slow cooker.
Cook the mushrooms and bacon in batches and set aside.

Add a little bit of water to the pan and bring to a boil, add to the slow cooker making sure you get all the juices and bits and pieces from the pan. Add salt and pepper.
At the end of the cooking time add the bacon and mushrooms. Taste, add more salt/pepper if needed.

Serve with mashed potatoes!!
Recipe here!

Mandarin glazed roasted Thanksgiving turkey

This turkey recipe has been "The turkey recipe" for me and my friend Lise since The Thanksgiving of 2000. We have not always had it for Thanksgiving but almost once a year our families have spent either Thanksgiving or New Years with this over the top, shut the front door, heavenly turkey. The recipe we learnt at a cooking demonstration at the Boca Raton Resort November 7, 2000 and it has since been refined to the following;

Ingredients;

1 whole turkey, rinsed and patted dry
Salt and pepper
Apples and prunes
1 onion

For the glaze;

2 cups maple syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple juice
1 cup cranberry juice
Zest from 1 mandarin (or orange)
Juice from 1 mandarin (or orange)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Equipment;

Tin foil
Roasting pan
Brush
Small sauce pan
Spoon

Procedure;

Glaze;

Add all the ingredients to a small pan, heat and reduce ingredients until syrup. This may take a while and you have to keep an eye on the process as the syrup easily boils over...

Turkey;

Preheat oven to 325F.
Prepare the turkey by removing whatever's inside. Depending on the turkey you buy they have a bag in the cavity of the turkey with the giblets and the liver. We start off by adding this to a pot of water and simmer while the turkey is cooking. Later we use both the broth and the giblets in the sauce if needed.

Add peeled apple slices and prunes to the now empty cavity of the bird. Gently loosen the turkeys skin and add butter in the pockets between the skin and the meat to get extra juicy meat. Also add apple slices, prunes and 1 cut onion to the roasting pan before placing the bird on the rack. Cover breast with a few layers of foil and place in oven.

Oops....

 An hour before finished remove foil and glaze the whole bird. With an 18 pound bird we had a total oven time of 4 1/4 hours. We removed it from the oven after 3 hours, let it rest for 1/2 hour and glazed it twice the last hour.
At that time we also emptied the pan of its juices to make gravy adding some water to the pan to make sure the bird didn't dry up the last hour. This way you also avoids a gravy that is to sweet because of the glaze you now add to the bird.
When done remove turkey from oven and let rest at least 20 minutes before you start carving.

Gravy;

Start with the juice from the pan, if its good enough fine, if not add the broth from the giblets to enhance the taste. You can also add small pieces of giblet for added taste and texture, use a hand blender to smooth it. Heat and boil, if you want a thick gravy add water and arrowroot (whisk the arrowroot into the water) as a thickening agent. Add salt and pepper to taste. Boil until desired consistency. 

Happy thanksgiving!

Easy Duck

Yeah, I know most of my friends here in Florida they don't like duck..... or rabbit, or moose or deer. Personally I love it all and this recipe is so easy and so good I just have to include it. Perfect for a day when you crave something fancy but really don't have the time or energy to do it. I always make sure I have duck breast in my freezer, that way I don't even need to go shopping. 

Ingredients;

Duck breast (1 per person is what I use but it really depends on the size)
Balsamic vinegar
Salt/pepper

Take the duck breast out of the freezer and put it in a bowl of water to defrost. This should only take 30 minutes. Meanwhile open the read wine, read a book or a magazine.
When the duck is ready put it meat side down in a dish and add a good amount of balsamic vinegar. It should almost cover the meat part. Please don't use expensive vinegar for this exercise, that would be a waste. Leave on the counter for 30 minutes. Take out and pat dry. If you buy frozen duck breast the skin will most likely already be scored (To make shallow cuts,usually in a diamond pattern, in the surface of certain foods, such as meat or fish. This is done for several reasons: as a decoration on some foods (breads and meats); as a means of assisting flavor absorption (as with marinated foods); to tenderize less tender cuts of meat; and to allow excess fat to drain during cooking). so the only thing you need to do is season with salt and pepper. 

Add the duck breast to a in a non stick skillet, over medium heat with the meat side up and sear until skin is golden brown, turn and sear the other side for about 3 minutes. Place the seared duck breasts in a baking dish skin side up and put in the oven. Bake until desired doneness about 10-12 minutes on 400F.Remove from oven and let rest for 5 - 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile add the balsamic vinegar from the dish to the skillet with the duck fat (from the searing) and place it back on the stovetop over medium heat. Heat, simmer, season and serve with the duck breast. (you can also add orange juice, port wine, orange zest etc. to the sauce for flavor, make sure to use whatever liquids you get from slicing the duck breasts for serving).

Slice the breasts into 1/4-inch slices on a diagonal. Pour the sauce on top. Serve with green salad, green beans, root vegetable puree or whatever you fancy. 

So something happened to my picture. I'll promise to fix that soon. 

Baked pork with pesto, mozzarella and prosciutto

This dish you can either bake in the oven or on the grill (in a baking dish as there will be a lot of liquids).
You can serve it with baked potato boats, rice or as we do most of the time, with a green salad.

Ingredients;


2 pork fillets
Pesto
2 buffalo mozzarella rounds
Basil
Prosciutto (I use Boar's Head Prosciutto but you can of course do it more luxurious and use Prosciutto di Parma!)
Salt/pepper


Trim the fillets and butterfly it. You can take a look at how to do that here (This is a pork loin so it is a little bit thicker than the fillet). Add pieces of mozzarella and spoonfuls of pesto along the middle and top with fresh basil, salt and pepper.

Roll the sides together over the filling and put the prosciutto on top and tuck under to lock the dish. Add to a baking pan for the oven or a grill pan for the grill.
Bake in the oven on 425F for at least 15-20 minutes, until the fillets are cooked all through or on the grill on high heat. The fillets will not become dry due to the filling, at least mine don't!!!

Grrrrrrr!

Scampi salad with Lemon Dressing

In my last post I used my lemon dressing in a skirt steak salad but as you will see it works perfectly with seafood as well. This time I'm using Costco's Cilantro marinaded scampi (If you don't live near Costco you can just marinade fresh scampi in olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro, red chili, garlic, salt and pepper or just use plain scampi. Heat a wok and add the scampi, when they turn pink they're done.)
Note that I have not specified how much you will need of each ingredient. If you like something more than the other then use more. It's all a matter of taste. Some like a lot of dressing some not. Also when it comes to salad I always try to use what I have.

Ingredients;

Scampi
Arugula
Baby spinach
Spring mix, baby greens or some other salad mix
Scallions
Cherry tomatoes
Mango
Avocado
Aspargus
Lemon dressing

Bake the tomatoes in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil, some salt and pepper on 400F until shrunken.

Heat a pan with some olive oil, add the asparagus divided in 3 and cook until just tender. Remove from heat. Add salt and pepper.
Cut the scallions, avocado and mango in pieces.
Add all the ingredients (except for the lemon dressing) to a salad bowl making sure you get all the juices from the scampi and the baked tomatoes. Blend well then add the dressing and toss one more time.

Enjoy your meal!

Mixed salad with skirt steak!

At least once or twice a week I serve salad. Often when I do it's to clean out the vegetable drawers in the refrigerator. If I have corn I use that and if I have asparagus I use that so have that in mind when you read the recipe. If you don't have green beans use some other beans or perhaps asparagus if that's what you have. The ingredients list is sort of a blend of what was in my drawers that day but it turned out good I must say!!!

Ingredients;

Skirt steak
Mojo marinade
Spring mix salad blend
Arugula
Exotic mushroom blend
Cherry tomatoes
Green beans
Cheddar cheese in small cubes
Salt and pepper
Lemondressing

First put the skirt steak in a ziplock with some mojo marinade and put aside. Then add the tomatoes to a shallow oven-safe dish, sprinkle with a good olive oil, salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven at 400F until the tomatoes are soft and a shrunken.

While the tomatoes are in the oven add the mushrooms to a frying pan and cook on high heat in a little olive oil. When done add some salt and pepper.

Also while the tomatoes are in the oven put a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add salt and the green beans and cook for a few minutes until almost tender. When done put in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.

When the tomatoes are done take them out of the oven and set aside.

Now its time for the meat. (Make sure the grill is ready, if it needs five minutes to heat you turn it on five minutes ahead)
Take the meat out of the bag and remove the marinade. Grill according to your grills instructions and your preference. If you like your meat well done thats the way you make it but if you like it rare make sure you don't forget the meat on the grill.

When the meat is done leave it to rest on a cutting board while you assemble the salad.
Mix the salads, mushrooms, green beans, tomatoes and cheese in a big bowl. Make sure you get all the juices from the mushrooms and tomatoes as it will blend nicely with the salad dressing.

Cut the meat in strips and add any meat juices to the salad. You can either put the meat into the salad or serve it on the side, same goes with the dressing.

Enjoy your salad!

Mussels in Tomato Broth

Today they had Mussels on sale at my local Publix so I decided on a Mussel bowl for dinner.
A couple of weeks ago we went to a restaurant and my husband had Mussels as his main course and of course I had to taste. They were so good I have wanted to try and make something similar ever since.
So today is the day it seems.

The broth the Mussels came with had a rich smoky taste and small pieces of bacon and chorizo in as far as I could taste. I have put together a mix of ingredients that I hope will make my broth as good as the other one.....

Ingredients;


1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chile, chopped
6 oz bacon cut in small pieces
4 oz chorizo cut in small pieces
Olive oil
1 big can of tomatoes
3 pounds mussels
Salt, pepper and smoked paprika

First wash the mussels and discard the ones that are broken or don't close when handled. Set aside.
Heat a big pot and add some olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and chile and fry on medium heat until shiny, add the bacon and continue frying while stirring until the bacon is cooked. Add the chorizo and continue stirring for another minute then add the tomatoes.  Bring to a boil then season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.

Simmer for another five to ten of minutes on low heat until it smells yummy. Taste and season some more if necessary but remember the mussels will make the dish more salty so go easy on the salt, you can always add that later.

Add the mussels.

Boil until all the shells have opened. Discard the ones that don't.

Eat with bread for dipping to get the most out of the broth.

Bon Appétit!

Tomato Soup

I have to admit that soup is really not one of my favorites, I often find it to creamy or heavy. This one though I love and so does my kids. It's a Tomato Soup made with no milk or cream which is why I like it I guess. To me it tastes like summer but on the other hand it's sort of like a comfort dish so you might as well serve it during the cold winter months if you live up north.

Ingredients;


2 1/2 pound ripe cherry tomatoes on the vine
4 -5 large tomatoes
1 fresh red chile
5 cloves garlic
2 small or 1 big red onion
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
A handful of fresh basil
Olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Pull the tomatoes of the vine. Quarter the big tomatoes and put it all on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Seed the chile and divide it in 4 then add to the pan with the garlic crushed and peeled. Toss everything then put into the oven for around 30 minutes on 425F. The tomatoes are done when they look soft and shrunken and has gotten a little bit of coloring.

While the tomatoes are in the oven peel and roughly chop the onions then put them in a medium hot pan with some olive oil and salt.

Leave to soften, stirring occasionally. When they are soft add the balsamic vinegar and let it cook until the balsamic is reduced. Pay attention when doing this so it don't burn. The balsamic vinegar tends to reduce fast at the end.

When the tomatoes are done in the oven add everything to the pan of onions and blend.

In as many batches as necessary add the tomato mix to a blender with the basil and blend to soup consistency. I use my Vitamix blender on it's soup setting.  Once finished mix well, season to taste and serve with a drizzle of good olive oil,  a few basil leaves and perhaps a chunk of good bread.

Ot perhaps put it in containers and freeze for later use!

Either way, Enjoy!!

Almost Jamie's Tray BakedChicken

This recipe iI found in a new cook-book of mine Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes. I omitted the slices of bacon and the butter in the recipe but except for that it's pretty much the same.

Ingredients;

Dried oregano
Sweet paprika (I use Hungarian)
4x6 ounce chicken breast (the recipe called for skinless but since I'm not using bacon on the top I used chicken breast with skin and that was perfectly fine...)
1 lemon
2 ounce cherry tomatoes
a couple of sprigs of rosemary

Turn the heat on under an empty frying pan to high and add some olive oil. Sprinkle a good pinch of dried oregano, salt&pepper and paprika and drizzle over some olive oil on a large piece of parchment paper. Lay the chicken breasts on the parchment paper and roll them making sure they are covered with the spices.

Add to the hot pan and fry for 4 to 5 minutes until golden on both sides.

In a roasting pan add lemon in quarters along with the tomatoes. Tip in the chicken breasts and any juices from the pan. Arrange nicely. Put the rosemary sprigs in the frying pan on medium heat and move them around until they are covered in the remaining juices. Pop them into the roasting pan with the chickens and bake in the oven under the broiler on medium setting (use your ovens setting chart since different ovens seems to differ a lot) for 25 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked but not dry.
Eat with a salad or my Vegetable Gratin, rice or pasta.

Enjoy!

Spicy Clam and Tomato Broth

Christmas is over and the need for a change of hearts when it comes to the menu is in order. I have had a more than busy last two weeks with family coming in from Norway and no time for blogging but that doesn't mean that I have not been cooking. For my birthday on the 18th of december I got a new cook-book (actually I got far more than one...) from Donna Hay, Donna Hay Seasons and thats where I found this recipe. The original recipe also calls for couscous which I didn't use, not because I don't like it, I just wanted to taste it without first. If you want to use couscous just sprinkle 1/2 cup of couscous over the dish when its done, cover and let stand for 5 minutes or until the couscous i s ready.

Ingredients;


2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp chili flakes (dry)
6 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups fish stock
4 cups water
1kg or ca. 2 pounds clams
Chopped cilantro to serve

Heat a large saucepan over high heat and add oil, garlic, chili and tomatoes. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes are tender. Pour over the wine, fish stock and water and bring to a boil. Add the clams (you should rinse them well to make sure all the sand is gone..), cover with a tight fitting lid and cook until all the clams are open. If some do not open at all discard them. Top with chopped coriander and serve with bread in bowls. Use the bread to get all the broth, it's really yummy.

Bon Apetit!

Lemongrass Coconut Chicken

This recipe is from my favorite cook-book, Barbecue by Eric Treuille & Birgit Erath. As you can see the book has been put to good use over the years.

 

Ingredients;


2 lemon grass stalks
3 fresh green chillies, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves
3 spring onions, chopped
1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
Grated zest of one lime
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
salt, pepper

Remove and discard the outer tough skin on the lemon grass stalks, roughly chop. Put it in a food processor with chillies, garlic, spring onion, cilantro, spices, grated ginger, fish sauce and coconut milk.

Pulse until smooth. Toss the chicken with the lemongrass mixture then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Grill until chicken is cooked though. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve hot with fresh papaya sambal (optional) and rice if you prefer that, I tend to stick to the chicken and sambal only.

Baked Sea Bass with Tomato Tapenade and Stir Fry Cabbage

This Friday I'm making Sea Bass using the two last recipes on my blog as well.
The Sea Bass is baked with a Tomato Tapenade Topping and served with a side of Stir-fried Cabbage.

Ingredients;


Sea bass (1/2 pound per person for a strong eater)
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for the baking sheet
Tomato Tapenade for the topping
Stir Fried Cabbage for the side

Pat dry the fish, cut in portions and rub with salt and pepper. Put the pieces on an oiled baking sheet or in an oven proof dish.

Add 2 tbs of the Tomato Tapenade on the top and spread it out. Bake the fish in the oven (375F) for 25 minutes or until done (depending on your oven). Serve with the Stir-Fried Cabbage.

I did take a picture of the Sea Bass on a plate with the Cabbage but it didn't turn out that good.....Sorry!