Spinach Salad with Steak, Blueberries & Feta

Greetings! I hope my American readers had a lovely 4th of July full of fireworks, fun, and delicious food and drink. Mine, which I spent with family on Cape Cod, involved all of these things. I'm not a hot-dog-eater, but between ribs and kebabs and the obligatory Cape Cod seafood and Cape Cod Beer, this semivegetarian was a bit overwhelmed there for a minute. So you would think that now, being back in Philly, I would be eating nonstop salads and no meat whatsoever, right?

Well, kind of. This is indeed a salad, but I topped it with the only type of animal I did not eat this weekend: Beef, steak-style. I guess I wasn't ready to give up the meatfest yet. And let me tell you, if you think steak and blueberries and feta would be strange together in the same dish, you and I are on just the same wavelength. I thought it could be strange in a refreshing and delicious way, though, and I do believe I was right! Don't you love that? Also I used local blueberries, and I'm feeling a little bit smug about it.

For us, this made plenty for dinner with enough of everything left over for a lunch tomorrow.

Ingredients:

1/2 to 3/4 lb boneless sirloin 

Baby spinach - 2-3 generous handfuls

Feta cheese, or Feta crumbles, to taste

Handful or two of blueberries, washed

Paprika

Garlic powder

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

White wine, red wine, or balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. In a plastic food storage bag or container, drizzle the beef with a little olive oil and vinegar, and sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper. Also add paprika and garlic powder if desired. Turn, shake, or mush around manually to coat meat evenly. Allowed to marinate in the refridgerator for at least one hour.

2. Add a bit of olive oil or cooking spray to a grill pan or frying pan, and heat on a medium setting. Cook your beef according to your preference. (I like to sear mine on high heat for just a couple of minutes per side, to keep it rare at the center.) This will depend on the thickness of your cut of meat.*

3. When meat is done, transfer to a cutting board and allow to partially cool. Slice thinly, against the grain. (If serving at a later time, slice and refrigerate).

4. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, and a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

5. In a large bowl, toss baby spinach in the dressing you just made. Add your blueberries, and toss to coat. You can add the beef now and toss that as well, or add it more as a topping.

6. Transfer the spinach mixture to a serving platter, serving bowl, or individual bowls, and crumble Feta over the top.

*Can you tell I don't know that much about meat? Yes? Fine.

 Of course, this would be a great fix for leftover beef or steak tips. Especially if they're grilled leftovers. Yummy. We had this salad with some fresh french bread, which we dipped in the dressing. Delicious! And nutritionally, this meal gets high points for antioxidants and major iron content. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see if I've become magnetic yet.

Food Facts: Feta is traditionally made of sheep's or goat's milk. The milk, curdled with rennet, is separated and allowed to drain in a special mold or a cloth bag.  It is cut into large slices (feta means 'slice') that are salted and then packed in barrels filled with whey or brine.

... And Food Facts for the Extra Nerdy: It is believed that the sheep's milk cheese that Polyphemus the Cyclops made in his caves in Homer's 'Odyssey' was most likely an early form of feta cheese. Sourced from FoodReference.com.

Vegan Black Bean Burgers on Pretzel Rolls & A Short Rant about Sandra Lee

Some of you may be familiar with the (perhaps lovably) inane television food personality Sandra Lee. Notwithstanding her extremely questionable taste in, well, everything and her complete failure to comprehend the term "home-made," I have to credit her for the base recipe for these yummy, healthy black bean burgers. (I know, this closely parallels a previous rant I posted about Rachael Ray, but this one is way better because of all the evidence. And also funnier. See links).

I can't say they're 100% better than the quinoa burgers I attempted recently, since these are still fairly soft, and a bit squishy. As a pick-it-up-and-put-it-in-your-face burger, they would be a bit disappointing, but this recipe makes a lovely flavorful knife-and-fork-style burger. I also think the flavor is much more appealing than the quinoa burgers were.

My version of the black bean burgers uses whole wheat bread crumbs, plenty of cilantro and fresh, yummy bakery rolls instead of burger buns. I've basically halved Sandra's recipe, except for the egg. I skipped the egg, since I realized rather late in the game that we were out. (I know, what kind of weirdo had ground flax on hand, but not eggs? Apparently, this kind.) I learned, though, that you can use 1 tbsp of ground flax seed simmered in 3 tbsp of water as an egg substitute. Brilliant!

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained, divided into 2 equal portions

1/4 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 

1 tbsp ground flax simmered in 3 tbsp water, or 1 egg

Directions:

1. Place garlic and onion in food processor, and blend until finely chopped.

2. Add cilantro, onion, pepper flakes, egg or egg replacement, and about half of the beans, and blend.

3. Dump mixture into a large bowl. Add the rest of the beans and the bread crumbs, and mix thoroughly. Form into two patties.

4. Cook burgers on oiled grill pan or George Foreman Grill until slightly charred outside and heated throughout. 

Serve on a lightly toasted bun with your favorite burger toppings. I recommend chipotle mayonnaise.  True, it is another step to mix the whole beans in separately, but I think it does great things for the texture.

I served these on something new to me, pretzel bread rolls. AMAZING. How did I not know that these existed? They were deliciously moist and, well, pretzeley. I whipped up a chipotle mayonnaise (one chipotle pepper canned in adobo sauce sent for a spin with some mayo) which went fabulously with the burgers. We had ours with a little baby spinach on top, and a tomato-cucumber salad on the size.

If you're looking for a meaty texture, these are not the thing. Or do us both a favor and improve my recipe! As long as you don't mind using a fork, these are fabulous.

Spinach Salad with Chickpeas, Pineapple, Almonds & Green Onions

I hope that many of you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend at the beach or with family. Personally I'm stuck in the city for another week before I head home to Cape Cod (YAY) for a visit, and it is very much school finals week for those of us on the inexplicable quarter system, so quick & fresh warm-weather dinners are the name of the game lately.

And of course, when it comes to quick and warm-weather-friendly, salads are the way to go.

Ingredients:

Baby spinach - I used about 2/3 of a bag

Pineapple chunks, canned in juice. You could also use canned mandarin oranges.

Slivered or sliced almonds

about 1 cup cooked or canned chickpeas. If using canned, rinse thoroughly in a strainer.

1 green onion, sliced

Asian or Italian vinaigrette salad dressing

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine spinach, chickpeas, green onion, and pineapple

2. Gradually drizzle with dressing and mix (with your hands, if you're willing), until everything is just coated.

3. Plate salad, sprinkle with almonds, and serve.

The contrast of the bright, tart green onion with the sweet, mellow pineapple is super tasty. You could use sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts instead of the almonds, if you want. I did plan this salad, so it's not exactly an "Odds and Ends" salad, but you can definitely experiment with different fruit and nut combos to find one you love. Of course, feel free to use fresh pineapple, if you're up for the challenge of hacking into one. I'm especially fond of spinach as a salad base because it's one of the most nutritionally-dense greens out there.

For lunch on this warm, lazy Sunday, Brady and I shared a Jewish Hoagie from possibly the best deli in all of Philadelphia, Koch's at 43rd and Locust. They use absolutely the best meats and cheeses and boy, do they know how to use them. I was planning on making this salad tonight anyway, but after having even half of one of their specialty subs for lunch, a lighter dinner was very necessary. Try it!

Quinoa with Sauteed Spinach & A Fried Egg on Top

Tomorrow is a 5:00 alarm day, so tonight's post is kind of a short one, but that's fitting for this recipe. It's simple, easy, and one of the quickest dinners I've come up with so far.

I'm not really sure where the idea for this dish came from, which might be obvious by the seemingly random nature of it. But I promise - it's tasty! And as a bonus, it's vegetarian and super nutritious, with lots of iron, protein, and fiber.

...But photogenic, it is not.

 This recipe serves two:

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed in a mesh strainer

1/2 onion, chopped

1 bunch spinach, washed

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Grated Parmesan cheese

Pat of butter

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. In a small pan, boil about 2 cups of water, and add quinoa. Bring back to a boil, then simmer until water is gone.

2. In a large skillet, saute onions in olive oil (about 1 1/2 turns of the pan) until they start to become translucent. Add the garlic and saute another two or three minutes.

3. Start heating up a frying pan, melting a small pat of butter.

4. Add spinach to the garlic and onion, add about a tablespoon of water, and cover. Cook until spinach is fully wilted. Add cooked quinoa and salt and pepper, and saute with spinach for one or two minutes, or until combined.

5. In the frying pan, crack and fry an egg - one per serving, up to 3 - and cook them according to your preference. To serve, just plate the quinoa, place an egg on top, and sprinkle it with a little Parmesan.

Since I have half of a bunch of asparagus left from last night's dinner, I was tempted to add that. I didn't but you definitely could add some, chopped up, with your spinach. Sliced yellow squash would also be good, and would add another pop of color to the plate. This dish is tasty with hot sauce on the egg, if you're into that.

Brined Dijon Pork Chops, Crock Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes & Baby Spinach Salad

Yeah, that title is a bit of a mouthful. (Get it?)

I love terrible puns. The worse, the better. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.

Okay, but on the serious: I find pork chops very frustrating. My dad and his partner Kathy will insist - and I am sure rightfully so - that the pork available in stores today pales in comparison to the fatty, moist, flavorful pork of their youth. They may even tell you not to bother with it at all. (If you've tried my dad's crown roast, though, you would strongly disagree). But personally, I see it as a challenge to marinate, brown, and perfectly cook (generally braise) it into a tender and moist cut of meat. So far, I wouldn't say that I have succeeded, exactly.

I've cooked a few that were pretty tasty, but none that have been outstanding, and tonight's was no exception. What was different this time, though, is that I brined the two boneless chops for over 36 hours. Still, a tiny bit dry. (What's a girl gotta do?!) I lightly browned both sides over medium-low heat in a grill pan, then covered and let them cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. The meat retained the tiniest bit of sweetness from the brine, which was great with the dijon mustard that I marinated it in post-brining. I'm only partially clear on the science behind brining, so perhaps it was the combo of salt&sugar brine and mustard that inhibited its juiciness. It was a flavorful but still slightly dry result.

I can't really explain the odd pattern of the grill-marks...

The LIFE CHANGING part of tonight's dinner is the concept of baking potatoes in a crock pot. Who knew you could do that? Not me. At least, not until I read this. I skipped the limes and rubbed the spuds with seasoned salt, cumin and garlic powder. I also forgot to stab them with a fork before wrapping them up in aluminum, but they didn't explode, so all's well that ends well. Ours cooked on high for about 7 hours, but that's just as much because of my schedule as their actual required cooking time. They may have been done at 5 hours, but if they were, they surely didn't suffer for it.

These sweet potatoes came out PERFECTLY. The skin was crispy and the flesh was buttery soft with a slightly oozy sugary goop-glaze. This might have happened differently if I had stabbed them, but I'm not totally sure. Either way, I am very happy with both the result and the process, and when the craving strikes, you too can have a fully-loaded baked potato in the middle of summer without having to evacuate your overheated kitchen. My two-quart crock pot (the "baby" to the 5-quarter) snugly held two medium-large tubers. I was surprised how subdued the cumin flavor became though. Next time I will probably try a more varied blend of spices. Naturally, I served them with a little butter.

For color and "balance," I tossed some baby spinach greens with oil and my new favorite salad vinegar, the apple cider variety. This is such a simple thing, but the three components of this meal worked so well together that I think I will make sweet potatoes and spinach salad a more frequent combination. We were pretty happy!

Quote of the Day: “It is a solemn thought: Dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork” ~ Mark Twain

Last Night's Dinner: Mexican-ish Frittata & HotHot Salsa

Last night I got home from class around 8:45 feeling the way I often do after class: Exhausted, starving, and very tempted to order a pizza. But thankfully I had lined up an easy (though admittedly not as quick as I would like) dinner. I could lament that I was too tired to remember to add the can of diced tomato with green chilies to the frittata, but there would be no point. I think it turned out better the "mistake" way. And anyway, I'm not sure there would have been room!

As much as I am irked by the task of defrosting and (endlessly) straining frozen spinach, I do think it makes a great addition to frittatas. Last night, the concoction included:

1/2 a yellow onion, chopped

1/2 of a green bell pepper, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

About a 1/3 cup of zucchini, chopped (it had to be used for something)

10 oz package chopped frozen spinach, thawed and strained. Endlessly.

6 eggs, beaten, with a little water added for fluff and beaten some more

3.5 oz package (two small sausages) of chorizo

Small handful of shredded "Mexican" cheese

In a 10 inch round cast iron pan (or you can use any oven-proof pan) over low heat, I lightly caramelized the onion in olive oil, about two or three turns of the pan worth. Then I added green pepper, zucchini and garlic, and cooked the veggies until they were just barely tender.

Then I added the chorizo to the pan, to cook for another two or three minutes. This is probably around the time that I preheated the oven to 400 degrees.

I find it is easiest to mix the spinach with the egg before adding the egg to the pan. I'm not sure if this is "right," but it works! You just have to work kind of quickly here: Add the egg to the pan, sprinkle in the cheese, and combine to be sure that the cheese, vegetables and spinach are distributed evenly throughout the frittata. 

                          

                                           Before:

This is around the time I realized I forgot about the tomato and chilies.

Then I thought, it's basically salsa already, why not heat it up and reduce it a bit, and have it be a spicyhot-temperaturehot* sauce. Obviously I couldn't resist adding some Sriracha, also. Honestly I wasn't sure, but it turned out to be a good idea! A nice balance of tomato and spicyness brought out the slight heat of the chorizo in the frittata but didn't overwhelm the other flavors. I might actually do this on purpose next time.

The actual cooking of the frittata remains somewhat of a mystery to me, in that I seem to do it differently every time. Generally, though, I leave it on the stove over low heat (so the bottom doesn't burn) for about 5 to 10 minutes, then stick it in the oven until it passes the "run" test. That is, it is done when tipping the pan does not cause an avalanche of goop and runny egg matter. (Sounds delicious, right!?). This usually takes about 10 minutes. Personally I find there to be something remarkably disgusting about even slightly overcooked eggs, so I watch it pretty closely.

  

                                           After:

A nifty thing about many dutch ovens, like the Lodge one that I have, is that the lid can be used as a shallow pan, which is what I used for this dish. It is also great for baking, although my one brush with Pineapple Upside Down Cake was a sticky-sweet disaster. Still, it's a useful thing to have on hand, and I find that I use it much more than I expected I would. Just note that the first few times you cook eggs in it, they will stick no matter what you do, even if it claims to be "seasoned" already. No pain no gain!

A note about cast iron in general: If you own it, don't make yourself crazy reading every article you can find about how to "season" your pans, like I did. The rules are simple. Remove crusty stuff with a metal spatula, DO NOT use dish soap, wipe clean with a lightly-oiled cloth (vegetable oil or, disgustingly, lard is best), and set it over medium/low heat for a few minutes after use. Sometimes a little oil in the pain over medium heat is necessary to dislodge all the crusty bits. If you ABSOLUTELY MUST use dish soap for some reason, stick it on the stove over low heat for 10 minutes to make sure it is completely dry. If you put cast iron in a dishwasher... Just don't do it. The Gods will cry, and so will I.

*My Italian grandmother was famous for the funny way she said "spicyhot!," which my mercilessly hilarious brother used to get her to say at every opportunity. A holiday meal wasn't complete without it.

Quote of the Day: "Love and eggs are best when they are fresh." ~ Russian proverb