Shredded Kale Salad

There is such wonderful looking kale in the markets right now but what to do with it? This recipe from Marie Simmons is the business. It's so good, so fast  and so delicious you'll be amazed.

1 small bunch (about 10 ounces) of kale, the dark, leafy, Tuscan variety is the nicest for this washed and dried

2 tablespoons fresh lime or lime juice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon coarse salt

1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and diced (¼ inch)

1 ripe tomato, diced (¼ inch), with seeds and juice (about 1 cup)

½ cup diced (¼ inch) red onion

1 teaspoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper, plus more to taste

1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon coarse salt

and if you like - ¼ cup unsalted roasted  pumpkin seeds

1. To prepare the kale, cut along both sides of the stem of each leaf with a sharp knife or pull the ruffled leaves away from the stems with your hands. Discard the stems. Gather a bunch of the long kale leaves together on the cutting board and slice into thin (¹⁄8-inch) crosswise slices. You should have 4 to 6 cups lightly packed.

2. Combine the kale, lemon or lime juice, oil and salt in a large bowl. Rub the ingredients together with your hands (as though giving the kale a massage) until the leaves wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside.

3. Add the avocado, tomato, red onion, jalapeño, garlic, citrus juice, oil and salt.

 4, Toss to combine. Serve at room temperature.

Mexican Green Soup

Here's another one from the Dock Kitchen Cookbook. It's full of green goodness. To turn your soup into a meal, add some diced skinless chicken breast in with the other ingredients to be fried.

2 red onions, roughly chopped (white ones are also OK)
3 sticks of celery roughly chopped including leaves if still on the stalks
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 large green or red chillies sliced thick
1 large pinch of oregano
1 tsp ground allspice
olive oil
chicken stock
Lots of greens (chard, spinach, kale whatever you have) approx. 1 kg
1 avocado sliced
bunch of cilantro chopped
lime wedges

Fry the onions, celery, garlic, oregano, allspice and sliced chillies in olive oil for about 10 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, then add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Once the broth is boiling, add all the shredded greens. Boil for five minutes. Serve in bowls with the sliced avocado and cilantro on top and lime wedges on the side.

Chicken (or duck) Livers with Six Spices and Pomegrnate Molasses

The Paleo diet is big on organ meats - but it can be hard to fit them into your cooking routine. Here is a recipe for chicken or duck livers which is so good and so easy, you can eat it every day. This recipe is a variation on one taken from Stevie Parle's Dock Kitchen Cookbook. n.b. The pomegrante molasses are essential to this dish. It should be available at ethnic markets, Whole Foods and yes, Buy-Rite Market. Everything else you can substitute such as corianger powder for coriander seeds if that is what you have on the shelf.

250 g chicken or duck liver
olive oil
1 1/2  tablespoons pomegranate molasses
coriander seeds
cumin seeds
ground all spice
ground cinnamon
ground cloves
nutmeg
salt and pepper

Heat a wide pan, season the chicken livers with salt then put a large splash of olive oil in the pan followed by the livers. Fry without touching them for a minute until browned on one side, then turn them all over and sprinkle with the six spices. Add the pomegranate moalsses, shake the pan, turn the livers again cook for another minute or two. Et voia! The livers should be medium firm and pink in the middle.

Twice-Cooked Mushrooms

This recipe comes from the Pre-Catelan restaurant in Paris. It is super easy and very delicious.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb mushrooms - any type. Regular button mushrooms are fine - cleaned and sliced
Salt and pepper
Garlic sliced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper and saute just until they begin to give up their juices. About 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Drain in a colander and set aside. With a paper towel, wipe out the frying pan and add more olive oil over moderate heat.

3. Add the sliced garlic and stir for 1 minute. Return the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 2 minutes more.

4. Off the heat, sprinkle the mushrooms with the parsley. Season with fresh pepper and serve.

Guacamole

Ingredients

½ small onion, very finely chopped

1 fresh chile, stemmed, seeded and very finely chopped

1 ripe tomato, cored and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

fresh coriander chopped

3 ripe avocados

½ teaspoon salt

½ lime juiced

1)   put chopped onion, garlic and lime juice in a bowl or mortar if you have one and leave for a minimum of 15 minutes – this makes the onions less aggressive

2)   Add everything else to the bowl and mash with a fork

3)   If you are not ready to eat immediately, add the pits from the avocado to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Zucchini, Pine Nut and Raisin Salad

This is a wonderful zucchini dish that can be served hot, warm or cold. It is super easy to make, inexpensive and healthy but it tastes indulgent.  Jeff loves it.

Ingredients

3 zucchini

olive oil

large handful of raisins

large handful of pine nuts

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

lemon juice

pepper

1) Slice the zucchini into pieces that look like silver dollars and throw them into a skillet with pre-heated olive oil.

2) Cook for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

3) Add the raisins, pine nuts, garlic and pepper.

4) Let the pine nuts brown slightly, then add the lemon juice to taste – at least one whole lemon

5) Cook everything together briefly to mix the flavors

6) You’re done

Thai Crumbled Beef in Lettuce Wraps or Ground Beef Never Tasted So Good

Here is a super-fast, super-delicious, super-healthy recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson’s “Forever Summer” that is guaranteed to please.

Ingredients

2 red birdeye chillies, finely chopped

pound of lean ground beed

1 tablespoon Thai Fish sauce

1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste

2 pieces of bok choy – chopped but not too fine

4 spring onions finely chopped

lime juice

chopped coriander and chopped mint

1-2 heads of your favorite lettuce

Put the ground meat in a heated non-stick frying pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on highish heat until no trace of pink remains.

Add the bok choy and stir

Add the fish sauce and curry paste and still stirring, cook until the liquid evaporates.

Off the heat, stir in the spring onions, lime juice  and ½ the coriander and mint.

Turn into a bowl and sprinkle the remaining coriander and mint on top just before serving.

Arrange the lettuce leaves on another plate and place both on the table. You, and your friends can now fill the lettuce leaf like a wrap with the crumbled leaf.

Enjoy!

Creamy Mushroom Soup without the cream

My favorite mushroom soup recipe comes from Julia Child. There's only one problem with it - too many calories. Here’s a modified version of Julia’s creamy mushroom soup, this time without the cream but loaded with flavor.  For this soup, and all great, creamy soups, you need a hand blender so if you don’t have one, buy one, preferably with a strong motor. Here is a picture of mine.

Ingredients

4 Tbs olive oil

1 cup of minced onions or shallots

¼ cup of ground almonds

8 cups of chicken stock

Mushrooms – at least 2 quarts – sliced. The plain white button variety are fine

¼ tsp dried or fresh tarragon

1)   Set the pan over moderate heat, add the olive oil and stir in the onions/shallots. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly for about 8 minutes.

2)   Stir in the ground almonds. Stir slowly for 3 minutes to cook the almonds but don’t let them brown

3)   Pour in one cup of the chicken stock (heated up) and whisk to blend. Slowly pour in the rest and simmer for 15 minutes

4)   Put all the mushrooms sliced in to the pan saving a small handful of the sliced mushroom for later and a pinch of tarragon

5)   Simmer for 20 minutes stirring frequently

6)   Blend using a hand blender (shown above)

7)   Simmer back in the pot for 5 more minutes, season with lots of pepper and garnish with the sliced mushrooms and tarragon you held back

Chicken with Lemon and Anchovy

We had this last night and it was easy and delicious. If you are tired of chicken, this would also work well with pork or veal chops - not too thick


Ingredients


8 chicken thighs
Olive oil
2 onions, finely sliced
4 cloved of garlic shopped
10 anchovy fillets
1 lemon, finely sliced
100 ml white wine
100 ml chicken stock
large sprig of rosemary

Heat the oven to 450F. Take a pan that can go on top of the stove and in the oven. Put it on the stove with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Throw in the chicken pieces and brown on both sides, then put on a plate. Add the onions, garlic and anchovies to the pan, adding a small amount of oil if things looks too dry. Turn down the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent and the anchovies have dissolved.

Add the wine and let it cook until the sauce is syrupy and then add the chicken, lemon, rosemary and stock and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan with foil and put it in the over for 20 minutes. Remove foil and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve with a green salad.

Mom's Meatballs

Ingredients

For the meatballs:
2 pounds ground veal (beef is OK but veal is nicer)
1 egg
Lots of ground nutmeg
Lots of fresh rosemary chopped fine
Large pinch of thyme
Pinch of paprika

For the sauce:
Bunch of leeks
Olive oil
Wine
Garlic
Chopped tomatoes -  I use Pomi brand chopped tomatoes in Tetrapak, glass jars or fresh
and any other vegetables you have in stock that need to be eaten such as celery, peppers, parsley

1) In a bowl, mic all the meatballs ingredients together, make into balls about the size of golf balls or a bit larger.
2) Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large pot, heat it up but not so high that it smokes and brown the meatballs on all sides in the oil
3) When meatballs are done, take them out carefully and leave aside
4) Put all the igredients for the sauce in the pot right after you take the meatballs out and stir fry. If all the olive oil has been absorbed by the meatballs, add some more
3) Add a cup of wine and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pot
4) Add the tomatoes, turn down the heat to simmer, cover and cook as long as you can afford to wait because the longer you cook tomatoes the nicer they taste but at least for 20 minutes
5) Add the meatballs and cook for at least another 20 minutes

Grilled Meat with Mushrooms and Peppers

Here's an easy way to eat well after a long day. Ready in less than 30 minutes, last night I used veal chops but you can use just about any thing - beef, pork or chicken - as long as it is organic and grass fed.

2 filets or chops of grass fed meat
Olive oil
1 chile pepper chopped
bunch of cilantro chopped
2 red peppers sliced
1 large onion sliced
fresh mushrooms sliced
baby spinach (Its OK to buy this washed in a bag)

In a pan, heat the olive oil and saute the onion and pepper slices until limp.
Begin grilling the meat in a grill pan or under the broiler. Unless very thick, 2 - 3 minutes each side should do it.
Add the sliced mushrooms, chile and cilantro to the sauteing vegetables
When the meat is ready, put it on a bed of uncooked baby spinach and then cover with the sauted vegetables
Add salt and pepper and you are good to go.

Roast Crispy Cauliflower

Here is the recipe for the cauliflower we ate (happily all together) in Australia. It is something you can prepare simply and quickly. It is delicious, super healthy and affordable. Doesn't get much better than that.

1 cauliflower
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon black mustard seed (if you don't have this - don't worry but they do taste great)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 400F/200C
2) Cut cauliflower into smallish florets, discarding the stalk and put into a roasting tray
3) Add the oil, turmeric, curry powder, mustard seeds, salt and pepper and toss
4) Spread out evenly in the tray
5) Put into the over for 30 minutes, shuffling the tray once after 15 minutes