Weekly Wrap- Up 3/11-3/17

Wednesday 3/14/12: Corn Chowder

One of my favorite restaurants is a place in North Liberty called Red's. They have amazing food (including a burger that my father claims is the "best he has ever had"!), an incredible beer selection, and the most glorious patio. But, the greatest thing about Red's, at least according to Tim and me, is their amazing bacon and corn chowder. It is sweet from the corn, salty from the bacon, creamy (from what I assume to be cream), and has just enough bite in the form of fresh scallions. I have been promising Tim that I would try to recreate the chowder at home, and on Wednesday I decided to give it a shot. I also decided that I would try to make a healthy version (i.e., less bacon, and milk instead of cream). I started by crisping the bacon, and sauteeing garlic, scallion, and a chopped poblano pepper in the rendered fat. Then I added in some yukon gold taters, and covered it with chicken stock and brought to a boil, then reduced to a simmer. Once the taters were soft, I threw in a bag of frozen corn (this would be SO MUCH MORE AMAZING with fresh corn), enough 2% milk to make it creamy, and then I added a few tablespoons of polenta (b/c I don't have any corn meal) to thicken and bump up the corn goodness. I served it with scallions, cheddar cheese, and greek yogurt to garnish. 

At least it looks pretty! 

This would have been pretty good (not as good as Red's, but pretty good), but I was an idiot and walked away from the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came back the chowder was boiling, the milk was scalded, and the bottom of the pot was burned. I was so mad I couldn't even enjoy it... but Tim liked it, so that's good!

*Note, this is gluten free, and if the bacon was omitted entirely, it would be vegetarian and honestly it would still taste good! 

Thursday 3/15/12: Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu with Kale and Red Peppers

Last week for "vampire club" I decided to make a recipe that I had been eyeing on Pinterest for awhile. I followed the recipe pretty closely, except I doubled the "sauce", and I used this amazing marinated tofu that I get at the Coop. Also, I'm not sure what type of kale they used in the original recipe, but I used red kale which is just a bit more delicate than the other varieties, and it is super gorgeous (it should be called "purple" kale, but whatever). I only slightly wilted it, so it still had a ton of texture which is visible in the photo. I served the stir-fry with some rice noodles, but it would be amazing on its own too. 

This recipe was so amazing that I'm actually going to make it again this week, and I think I actually might succeed at getting (tricking) Tim to eat tofu! He is officially not afraid of kale anymore, and he likes red peppers, so I'm hoping if I jut call this "Stir Fry" and put it in front of him that he will be a happy camper. 

* Note,  I used chicken stock, but if I had used veggie this would be completely vegan, also it is gluten free! 

Friday 3/16/12: Fettucini with Shrimp and Bell Pepper

Friday evening, I threw together a quick dinner that turned out pretty great. I had a red bell pepper leftover from the stir fry, and some frozen shrimp leftover from last week's scampi, so I sauteed them up with some garlic and spring onion, and then tossed them with fresh fettucini noodles, some lemon infused olive oil, and fresh parm. It doesn't look that special in this photo, but it was pretty delish.

Bruschetta three ways

***First off, I need to be better about blogging because this post is a good two weeks late.

Sometimes I am overly proud of myself for creating meal ideas out of thin air. This was one of those days. I had a produce drawer with a half a tomato and a verrrry overripe red pepper, and one of those baguette portions that Panera gives you as a side dish on my counter. And it just came to me!

Tomato: I diced up the tomato and threw it in a dish with a little EVOO and the juice of half a lemon. I added fresh basil (which I always have on hand, but dry would be fine), garlic powder (because I didn't have fresh on hand... embarrassing), a few red pepper flakes and some S&P to taste.

Red Pepper: I sprayed the pepper with cooking spray and then broiled the crap out of it (about 10 minutes a side) until it was almost entirely black. I put it in a baggie to cool, and then used a paper towel to wipe off all of the charred skin and get the seeds out. Then I roughly chopped the flesh and added probably 1/4 tsp of olive oil and some sea salt.

Goat Cheese: this one was tough. I opened a package of goat cheese and dumped it into a ramekin. Whew!

The bread: I sliced it as thin as I could, sprayed lightly with cooking spray, threw on a baking sheet and put it under the broiler after the peppers were done (probably 2-3 minutes?) just until crisp

Goat Cheese + Red Pepper on the left, and Tomato Basil on the right.

"it's a good one to remember"

Today was a gorgeous spring day. I spent much of it outside walking or gardening, and the beautiful freshness of spring just made me crave a healthy meal.

So, I checked the content of my fridge and was inspired. I served pan seared tilapia with a roasted red pepper sauce, roasted curried cauliflower, and a fennel orange and mint salad.



Tilapia
- four small tilapia fillets
- salt, pepper
- 2 tsp lemon oil
Pat the fillets dry and salt and pepper both sides. Heat oil in fry pan on Med-High heat making sure entire surface is coated. Add fish and cook for 8-10 minutes, turning once.
Tilapia could not be easier to prepare; however, it is very bland and requires either a very flavorful sauce or some intense seasoning to be good. Tonight, I opted for the former.


Roasted Red Pepper sauce
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- salt/pepper
- 1 TBSP butter
- 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- rough chopped basil (in sauce and for garnish, to taste)

First, roast the red peppers: Put them under the broiler or over  a burner (turning when necessary) until skin is charred and blistered. Put in a plastic bag and allow to cool for 45 minutes. The skin will separate from the flesh very easily at this point. Discard seeds and blackened skin and put the softened flesh into a food processor or blender.
Next, roast the garlic (these two steps actually overlapped for me). Cut the roots off of a garlic head, and put the head on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and then wrap it up and roast it for around 30 minutes. Cutting the roots off instead of cutting the top off allows for very easy removal of the garlic cloves once they are roasted-- you can literally just squeeze them out! Once pieces are roasted, squeeze them into the food processor with the red pepper.
Add the olive oil and pulse til smooth. Optional-- you can add basil at this point and puree. I rough chopped and saved it til later.
In a small sauce pan, melt the butter, and then add the puree to the pan. Add yogurt (milk would also work) and basil if you have not yet. Salt and pepper to taste.
This sauce was AMAZING. It is sweet and flavorful, and Tim has already come up with many more uses for it (veggie dip, on crackers, etc). I will DEFINITELY be making this again. I think I would like to try other bell peppers too 

Roasted Curried Cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- curry powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Chop up cauliflower to even sized florets. Put in a 9 x 13 pan. Drizzle with alive oil, and sprinkle with desired seasonings (I think I used about a TBSP of curry and a 5 "twists" each of cracked pepper and sea salt). Toss til all pieces are evenly coated. Put in a 425 oven for 40 minutes. Take out and re-toss half way. I always forget about cauliflower, but I saw a recipe similar to this last week and thought it sounded good. The curry gave it some good flavor without being over powering, and roasting it allowed some of the florets to caramelize and brown on top which was pretty fantastic. Tim liked it too, especially doused in the red pepper sauce.


Fennel, Orange, and Mint Salad
I was inspired by this recipe. I followed the recipe in terms of ingredients (fennel, orange, almond, and mint; EVOO, OJ, and mustard for the dressing) but not at all for the proportions. I don't really know how much of each ingredient I used other than oranges (1.5) and fennel (1 bulb). Anyway, it was a DELISH. Tim was less excited about this than the rest of the meal, though he did say he liked the fennel. It tasted springy and fresh to me, and I hope to have it again soon. I might try keeping the fennel raw for some variety.