Pip's Plate

Roasted potatoes are really easy and this roasted potato recipe is packed with flavor. I used a spice blend that was premixed from Lund’s/Byerly’s grocery store but you could buy one like this or check your local grocery store to see if they have something similar. The key ingredients are sea salt, lemon and herbs. You want to make sure there is salt in the seasoning; if there isn’t, you will probably want to add 1 teaspoon of sea salt to this recipe.

Serve these potatoes with your favorite roasted chicken. I served it with Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce and Green Salad with Olives and it was superbly matched.

Mediterranean Roasted Potatoes
serves: 6

Ingredients
6 medium yukon gold potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Mediterranean seasoning

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degress F.

2. Cut potatoes into 1 1/2 inch chunks (about 6-8 pieces per potato). Mix with olive oil and Mediterranean seasoning then place on a roasting pan.

3. Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes or until crispy brown.

Note: if you’re making this with the Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce recipe, you can add the potatoes at the same time that you start the 45 minute timer at the end of the chicken. The timing will be perfect.

This salad recipe is really simple and quite tasty. It takes less than 5 minutes to make and it packs in the flavor. Serve this alongside Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce and Mediterranean Roasted Potatoes for a complete meal.

Green Salad with Olives
Serves 6

Ingredients
8 oz salad greens
1/2 cup mixed pitted olives
1/2 bulb fennel, sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions
1. In a salad bowl, place salad greens, olives and fennel.

2. To make the dressing, whisk together 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar.

3. Pour dressing over salad and mix to dress.

recipe from epicurious

Here is another recipe included in the baby shower menu for my friend last week. It’s a Pip’s Plate original, and we sort of winged it last Sunday. It turned out incredibly yummy – this recipe is a great way to jazz up plain boring grilled asparagus.

We served this alongside Grilled Turkey, Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwiches.

Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese

makes: 12 servings (6 pieces of asparagus per person)

Grilled Asparagus

3 bundles of asparagus (enough for 6 spears per person)

juice of 1 lemon

3 T olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Garnishes

1 lemon for zesting

3 oz chevre goat cheese

Directions

1. Prepare the asparagus by bending it from each end to determine the ripe part of the asparagus. Snap off the woody ends – you don’t want to eat these.

2. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Dress the asparagus and let marinate in a plastic bag for at least 20 minutes.

3. Heat grill to medium high heat. Put asparagus directly onto the grill. Cook for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally to avoid burning.

4. Remove from grill. You can place them on a platter or you can put them on individual plates for serving. Either way, once the asparagus is on a plate, use a microplane grater to zest the lemon over the asparagus. You should use the entire lemon. Then, take the chevre and crumble it on top of the asparagus.

Here is another recipe included in the menu for my friend’s baby shower last week. It’s refreshing, but make sure you are making this when watermelon is in season – the success of this recipe is heavily dependent upon a great tasting watermelon.

We served this along side the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps as part of the first course.

served in ramekins so the juice wouldn't run into the lettuce wraps

Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad

makes: 12 servings (about 1 cup each)

3 cups 2-inch chunks fresh watermelon

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 T chopped fresh mint

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl then serve. It’s that easy.

recipe adapted from epicurious

I’ve been on a healthy food kick lately – which is a good thing. My boyfriend has lymphoedema, so he has to have an extremely low fat diet. He has challenged me recently to cook very low fat recipes that still have a lot of flavor – as if I couldn’t! Ha! Turns out, we’re eating better than we ever have AND we’re sticking to the low fat diet.

I’ve never cooked pressed chicken before, and I have no idea why because this is a really great way to cook chicken. Often when I cook chicken breasts in a skillet on the stove, it splatters all over the place. This cooking style avoids all of the splatter and it cooks the chicken evenly while adding a nice crust without having skin.

Here’s another healthy and low fat recipe that is full of flavor.

Pressed Chicken Breasts with Squash and Tomatoes

Makes: 6 servings

Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless hormone-free chicken breasts (about 4-6 ounces each)

2 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 package cherry tomatoes, halved

3 medium yellow squash

zest from half a lemon

3 T chopped fresh marjoram or thyme

Directions

1. Cut out a circle of parchment paper that will cover a large skillet.

2. Heat 1 T oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle one side of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add chicken breasts to the pan seasoned side down. Sprinkle the tops of the chicken with salt and pepper. Cover with parchment paper, then top with another heavy skillet (like a cast iron pan), and top with about 2 pounds of weight (broth cans work well).

3. Cook chicken breasts for about 8 minutes on first side, then turn. Place parchment paper, skillet and weights on chicken again. Cook for another 8 minutes or until done.

4. When chicken is fully cooked, remove from the pan and keep warm. You can either put them in a 200 degree F oven, or put them on a plate and cover with foil.

5. Heat the remaining 1 T olive oil in the same pan that you just removed the chicken from. When hot, add garlic, tomatoes, squash, lemon zest, and 2 T marjoram. Saute for about 4 to 5 minutes or until soft. Toss with remaining 1 T marjoram and pour over chicken breasts.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious

One of my favorite foods in the summer time is corn on the cob. I remember as a kid, my mom would give me and my sisters a paper bag and all the corn to sit on the back porch and shuck away.

It might be a bit early for corn on the cob and I spent a little more on it just to have it the other night. But it was totally worth it. The first nice day of 75 degrees in Minneapolis was begging for a grill out. So why not grill corn on the cob? It’s really easy and you can grill it while your burgers cook so you don’t have to go back into the house.

Chili Lime Grilled Corn on the Cob

Makes: 4 servings (easily doubled)

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

4 corn on the cob, shucked

1/2 T adobo chili powder

1 T salt

1/2 T fresh ground pepper

1/2 stick unsalted butter (you may not use all of it)

4 slices lime

Directions

1. Heat grill to medium-high heat (around 375-400 degrees).

2. To make the seasoning, combine the adobo chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. (If you have a shaker, make a lot of this and keep it for use throughout the summer.)

3. Place corn on the cob on the grill. Cook for about 8-10 minutes, turning every few minutes to ensure even cooking. The corn will blacken in some places – this is ok.

4. When the corn is done, remove from the grill and place on a serving plate. Set out the butter, limes, and seasoning. To finish the corn on the cob, butter the corn, then squeeze a lime over the corn, then sprinkle some seasoning over the corn. Now enjoy!

This recipe is a great side dish to serve with Garlicky Green Turkey Burgers and Strawberry Citrus Salad for a complete quick and easy grilling meal.

The latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine has a ton of great recipes in it, and this Strawberry Citrus Salad caught my eye and I just had to try it. It…is…AMAZING.

Talk about simple food being the best: this recipe has only 4 ingredients and it is packed with flavor. I think this would be pretty good over ice cream too…but I’m just sayin. Plus – it’s a super healthy salad.

Strawberry Citrus Salad

from Bon Appetit May 2009

Makes: enough for a small gathering (8-10 servings or so)

Time: 15 minutes prep + 30 minutes to marinade

Ingredients

2 packages strawberries, washed, cored and quartered

3 large navel oranges, segmented and cut into large chunks

3 T fresh chopped mint

1 T brown sugar

Combine everything together in a bowl, and let it sit for about 30 minutes to marinate and get mascerated goodness. I enjoy this salad by itself or as a simple dessert. In fact, it’s really good after a plate of fried eggs and turkey bacon.

This is a perfect side dish to Garlicky Green Turkey Burgers and Chili Lime Grilled Corn on the Cob for a complete quick and easy grilling meal.

I went to my first LAN party a couple weekends ago at a coworker’s house. (Before you skip on to the next post, YES, there is a recipe included here.) It was SO MUCH FUN. Aside from the fact that a group of us play shoot-em-up video games over the lunch hour every day at work, it’s so much more fun to spend at least 8 hours playing on a Saturday. Yes, I officially reached geek status with this event. And I’m OK with that.

I said I’d bring something over and decided to make spring rolls (which were mediocre so I’m not even going to include the recipe here) and the recipe I’m about to talk about.

These were quite good, and you can make them gluten free if you want. Just use a gluten free flour. These were great because they were easy to eat in your hand but not greasy. These would be great as a brunch item too.

The recipe calls for a regular size muffin tin. If I were to make these again, I would make them in a mini muffin pan so there were more. In this case, I would cut the zucchini smaller instead of sliced, but keep a few sliced ones for the garnish.

Little Zucchini and Basil Fritattas

Total Time: 35 min

Active Time: 15 min

Makes: 12

Ingredients

2 T dry breadcrumbs*

2 T olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, thickly sliced

2-3 zucchini, sliced into 4mm-thick rounds

8 eggs

8 basil leaves, sliced

3/4 cup grated parmesan

100 g feta (preferrably marinated)

1/2 cup self-rising flour**

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a 12 hole nonstick muffin pan. Dust each hole with crumbs then tap out the excess.

Place the olive oil in a large skillet. Gently head the oil over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes until the garlic starts to sizzle. Remove garlic and discard.

Increase heat to medium-high. Fry zucchini on both sides until golden. Drain on absorbent paper.

In a large bowl, lightly whisk eggs with a fork with the basil, salt and freshly ground pepper (enough to cover the surface of the mixture) until just combined. Stir in the Parmesan and flour until combined.

Divide the fried zucchini and feta throughout the muffin tin. Place 12 pieces of zucchini aside as a garnish.

Pour the egg mixture into each muffin hole (about 1/4 cup) and top with a slice of zucchini.

Gently tap the sides of the muffin tray to ensure the mixture has spread throughout the muffin hole.

Bake for 20-25 minutes – until the the fritattas feel firm when gently pressed and spring back.

Remove from oven and allow them to settle in the pan for about 10 minutes before gently easing them out.

based off of this chow.com recipe

*I typically bake in stoneware, so I don’t need to grease anything. I skipped the breadcrumb step altogether. If you don’t have stoneware, I use rice breadcrumbs as a GF alternative.

**Use gluten free flour here instead if you wish to make these GF.

I’m on a budget. There, I said it. I have been for some time now, but now I’m actually paying attention to it. And it starts with food and cooking. I have so much stuff in my cupboards and refrigerator that I really should cook up things I already have instead of rushing out to the store to buy a whole bag of groceries for one dish that I’m dieing to make.

So last night I was rifling through some CSA veggies and trying to figure out what to do with a lot of stuff I have on hand. The list was fairly random: potatoes, winter squash, parsnips, dried cherries, beets, carrots, garlic, and on and on.

What I found out was I don’t have to sacrifice flavor or quality when making a dinner from what I have on hand. I did end up making a trip to the grocery store but only to pick up 3 items: chicken, onions (which were on sale yay!), and canned tomatoes.

This recipe is fairly easy and dinner can be on the table in under 60 minutes – and it’s all in one pot so clean up is super easy. You can vary the spices if you want, and I might even try adding a little vanilla bean next time since I have some in my pantry, but we’ll see since I rarely make the same dish twice.

I also thought this would only make 2 servings, but it made quite a bit more than I expected and easily serves 4. Round it out with a green salad for a complete meal, but to be honest there’s enough veggies in here that you’ll get plenty of vitamins.

The best thing about this is that you can vary this depending upon what kind of veggies you have around – root veggies would work the best since they can stew for awhile. And the chicken stays nice and tender. Oh, and it’s very healthy! It’s only 3 Weight Watchers points per serving.

One Pot Moroccan Chicken

Serves 4

Time: under 60 minutes

1 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, cut in half then sliced

1/2 pound organic skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into strips

1 t chopped fresh thyme

1 t ground cumin

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 large potato, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)- I used purple Peruvian potatoes and the color was just amazing

1 small (bordering on teeny) winter squash, peeled, seeded and diced (about 1 cup) – I used Delicata and left the skin on

1/4 cup dried cherries

14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth

2 cardamom pods

2 whole cloves

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 1 T oil over medium heat in large deep skillet. TIP: if you use stainless cookware, remember “hot pan, cold oil” to keep food from sticking to the pan – heat your pan and when you’re ready to start cooking, add the oil then immediately add the food. It works really well.

2. Combine 1 t fresh thyme, 1 t cumin, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t pepper. Coat the chicken with this mixture.

3. Add 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 small sliced onion to the oil in the pan. Saute for 1 – 2 minutes or until starting to soften. Move the onion and garlic mixture to the side of the pan and add the chicken to brown it, turning once and cooking about 2 minutes on each side.

4. Add the squash, cherries, potatoes, tomatoes, broth, cardamom and cloves to the pot, combine. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until veggies are tender and chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice. A new thing I tried for cooking rice and really like was instead of using water, I made African Rooibus tea and cooked my basmati rice in that. It added a lot of flavor and was quite delicious. Just heat 2 cups of water, add 2 teabags and let steep for 3-5 minutes. Then add 1 cup basmati rice and cook like normal.

Last night I just couldn’t decide what to make. I didn’t have much in the fridge, so I knew I’d have to go to the store regardless. Then I found this little ditty in the Jimtown Store Cookbook (my FAVORITE cookbook). And I knew right away it was a “make-again” recipe. It’s perfect for a chilly night – comforting, easy to make, a tad spicy. And this is a one-pot dish, making clean up a breeze.

It calls for 6 cups of Jimtown All-Purpose Shredded Roast Chicken (another recipe in the book) but instead I bought a ready to eat rotisserie chicken. Saved lots of time and it was still delicious. I also cut the recipe in half since I was just feeding myself. But leftovers are great!

The cookbook suggests serving this with rustic, crusty bread and a green salad tossed with vinaigrette and Basque smoked sheep’s milk cheese called Idiazabal. I bought a sheep’s milk cheese that is similar to manchego and it was quite good. Also, suggested to have this with chilled hard cider (it’s gooood). Instead of crusty bread, I served this with rice.

Basque Chicken Ragout with Sausages & Sweet Peppers

serves 8

total time: about 35-40 minutes

1/4 cup fruity, good-quality Spanish olive oil

1 pound cooked spicy sausage, such as Spanish chorizo or andouille (cut on the diagonal into 1/4 inch slices or if ground, simply left ground)

1 medium-large yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, chopped

2 1/2 pounds (6 to 8 ) large sweet peppers, mix of red and yellow, stemmed, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips

1 cup dry white wine (or substitute chicken broth)

1 (28-oz) can plum tomatoes with their juices

Kosher salt

2 t hot Spanish pimenton or Hungarian paprika

1 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 t sugar

6 cups Jimtown All-Purpose Shredded Roast Chicken (or 1 ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken)

2 T finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.

Directions

1. In a large deep skillet, over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the sausage and cook, stirring once or twice, until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove and reserve. Do not discard the oil or clean the skillet. While the sausage browns, cut up the onions, garlic and peppers.

2. Set the skillet over low heat. Add the oinon and garlic and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened and are beginning to brown, about 10 minutes – make sure to watch them so they don’t burn (if your heat is too high, they will start to burn).

3. Add the peppers, raise the heat to high, and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the peppers begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Start shredding the chicken as the onions, garlic and peppers cook. Just pull off the bone and pull it apart with your fingers.

4. Stir in the wine and bring to a simmer, scraping the browned deposits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the tomatoes and their juice, thoroughly breaking the tomatoes up with the side of a metal spoon. Stir in 2 t salt, the pimenton, black pepper, and sugar, then the chicken and chorizo, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Adjust the seasoning.

*The ragout can be prepared up to one day ahead. Cool, cover, and refridgerate, rewarming it over low heat until steaming.