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This time of year when the weather gets chilly and we put away our grill , out comes my clay pot.  I swear by this method of cooking as the easiest, most incredibly delicious way to make so many things.  Clay pots have been around in many varieties since at least Roman times and can still be found in Chinese, Moroccan, S. American kitchens and here in the good old USA for those of us who know how to use them.  There is no finer way to roast a chicken or turkey with no fat, or basting.  The natural gravy created in this pot , with the simple use of vegetables, poultry and broth is not to be believed. 

Today I will share my applesauce since I know everyone has been going apple picking on these beautiful fall days.  It is simple and delicious.  I make mine in my smaller clay pot usually with a larger one by its side cooking up a roast chicken or turkey breast.

6-8 Organic Gala or similar apples (whatever you like can be a combo of Mac , McCoun or any traditional recipe you might have)
1 cup of apple cider
a handful of sun dried cranberries
Sprinkle of cinnamon


Soak the clay pot in cold water for 15 minutes in the sink.  Cut the apples in half.

Add the apples to the pot, like in the picture.  Add all the ingredients and cover.

Turn the oven to 400.  Put the pot in the oven.  Cook about 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour until you smell the fragrance of cinnamon and apple.

Carefully open the pot away from your face with 2 big oven mitts and the apples should be tender and sizzling.  You can take the pot , covered out of the oven and place on top of the stove to do this.

Get out a bowl and your potato ricer.  The ricer will do all the work.  It will seed and peel for you after they are cooked so you don't have to bother with this step before.  Just do a little at a time like in the picture.

Enjoy!

Just got back from a weekend in the mountains of NYS.  Weather is cooling off and it looks like the farmers are tending to the last of their harvest.  Get those homegrown tomatoes and corn before it's too late!  Here I am at a local farmstand buying my local organic greens to incorporate into my soups and stew this week. 

This dish is a Freebird chicken stew with whole grains, kale, green beans, mushrooms, herbs.  Braised with white wine and chicken broth and topped with almonds for crunch.

Recipe:

1 pound Freebird or similar no antibiotic , free range boneless chicken thighs
1/2 sweet onion-vidalia or similar
2 cloves crushed chopped garlic
1-2 organic carrots sliced
1/2 box white mushrooms sliced
small bunch of cleaned and trimmed organic kale-chopped small
1/2 pound or so of green beans
1-2 teaspoons  'Herbs du Provence'
A mix of whole grains of your choice cooked separately in a small saucepan
A cup or less of low sodium organic chicken broth
1/2 cup of dry white wine.
Dusting of flour.
Cut up some green and yellow squash and tomato
About a tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar
A handful of slivered almonds

1.  Cut thighs into small pieces, into a paper plate dust them on both sides with a light coating of flour

2.  Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin o.o. to a saute /stew pan (wide , not too deep pot).
To the pan infuse oil with a sprig or 2 of fresh thyme if you have, then take out after a few minutes.  

3.  Saute the chicken with the herbs du provence in the oil until lightly browned on both sides, turning after a few minutes.  When you see it's lightly brown, add the onions, garlic, carrots and slowly add the broth and wine and bring to a simmer.  Cover the pot and turn the heat to medium low.   Add a splash of a great aged balsamic vinegar .  Let this cook gently or 'braise' about 10 minutes.  Add the squash and tomatoes and stir in.  This cooks quickly , like a few minutes.

4.  Add a spring of rosemary to the pot.  Later remove all herb sprigs. The rosemary and thyme are optional.

5.  In separate small saucepan make the grain of choice, this usually takes about 20 minutes, the same amount of time it takes to make this dish approx.  So start this on the stove right before you do the stew.  I cook my grains with either veggie or chicken broth (low salt organic) for flavor.  After simmering for about 10 minutes I throw in the rest of the veggies to this pot. And add the almonds. The kale got stirred in along with the string beans.  Cook another 10 minutes covered on low till grains absorb the liquid and are done.  I don't use butter but I will stir in a bit of evoo.

Serve.  This will feed 2 or more.

Mangia!

It's a cloudy, rainy and cool day in NJ.  Went to the Ramsey Farmers Market and gathered up some great veggies from our local farmers to make soup.  Here's what I got, and here's what I did.

SUNSHINE VEGGIE SOUP

Ingredients:  1-2 tbls organic extra virgin olive oil
                      Chopped fresh thyme
                       Organic carrots, leek, kale, celery,  garlic, green beans, corn, kale, yellow and green squash, plum tomatoes, thyme, basil leaves.

Rinse everything well with cold water.  Split leeks and take off dark green outside layer and tops.   Chop the veggies like above.

Into a soup kettel add 2 tbls organic evoo and 1-2 tbls.  fresh chopped thyme, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Saute in the heated oil  the chopped garlic, leek, celery and carrots.  Cook this about 3 minutes before adding the longer cooking vegetables.  First throw in the butternut squash, the chopped green beans, and the kale.  Add water or vegetable broth (a organic bouillon cube optional).  Add enough water to almost reach the top of the pot but not too much, so it doesn't boil over.
Soup should be simmering, add the rest of the vegetables, and stir in the basil and some parsely.



Let it simmer about 20 minutes, till the green beans and bn squash are tender.

Serve with rice, pasta, farro , barley, white or red beans or anything you like cooked in a separate pot.  Can also add cheese to melt, like on top onion soup, just a little goes a long way.  Great with some gruyere or parmesan reggiano, a splash of some great aged balsamic can be added too.

http://www.laurileeshealthycooking.net/october_2011_recipe_of_the_month\


Check out my lightened up meatless recipe for Italian Wedding soup with farro

Roasted Organic Golden Beets with Sundried Cranberries and Basil Vinagrette

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I love the organic golden beets.  They're relatively simple to make, I roast them like potatoes till soft, then peel off skins and slice. Then I make a simple basil , balsamic vinagrette to drizzle on top. So good and great for you.

Serves Four

• 1 bunch Golden beets
• pinches kosher salt
• pinches black pepper
• 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar, plus extra for drizzling
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons sun dried cranberries
• 1 teaspoon pure honey
• shots fresh orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 375. Split the beets in half and take off stems. Into a deep roasting dish, lay out beets, drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic, salt and pepper. Mix together and add about an inch of water to the bottom of pan. Cover with aluminum foil.
2. Roast till you can stick with a knife and they are tender approximately 30 minutes, turning once half way through cooking time.
3. When they are soft, remove from pan to a dish. With a dishtowel, remove the skins once they cool down a bit. This shouldn't be difficult. Then slice and put on platter.
4. Starting with the 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar in a bowl, drizzle in the 3 tbsp olive oil and whisk in the basil. Add a teaspoon of pure honey.
5. Drizzle the vinagrette over the beets add the cranberries and serve with salt and pepper to taste, can add some extra sprigs of basil and a squeeze of fresh orange juic

People are constantly asking me for my recipes.  The truth is, I don't really cook with recipes.  Everytime I make something, I do it differently as you can probably see from my pictures.  For instance , today I had no idea what to make for dinner.  About 4 pm I headed to my fave fish store to see what looked good.  I wanted those sweet scallops from Cape May, and decided on combining them with some large shrimp (they were nice enough) to clean them for me.  So, when the girl asked me what I was making, I really had no idea.
On the way home I stopped at our local farm for some local strawberrys and basil.  I had already been to one farm and bought about 2 tons of butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash for 59 cents a pound which is so reasonable.  I do this every year and store them in my garage, my daughter loves winter squash and I make tons of soups, stews, and sides with them.  Works for us.  So, I'm at the next farm and i see they have a bucket of lavender long eggplants for 3 bucks, got some yellow and white corn and a combo of their grape and cherry tomatoes.  Ok, still had no idea what i was making.

Come home to hub who reminds me we have a bottle of prosecco if I would make risotto.  Ok, perfect idea, I love making risotto, especially with a glass of wine, my kind of fun.  20 minutes and it's ready.  I knew I had chicken broth leftover from yesterday so perfect.  I decided on a green risotto with seared shrimp and scallops.
I made the fish simply in a cast iron skillet , with just a sprinkle of Old Bay and dusted them lightly in Wondra.  Oiled the pan lightly , made it real hot and seared the scallops on one side till brown and caramalized , then did the same to the other.  Took them off, put in the shrimp , seared them about 2 minutes on each side.  Done.  Squeezed lemon on them.

For the risotto.  Took out my Le Crueset heavy sauce pot and began the process .  You will need a big wooden stirring spoon for this.  I have my fave risotto pot and spoon for stirring.  Also good to have a ladle for adding the broth.

1/2 sweet onion -chopped
Tomatoes-a colorful variety of grape and cherry's cut up
2 cloves garlic smashed and chopped
3 handfuls or so of baby organic spinach combined with parsley  and basil into my mini food processor-whiz till pureed
2 ears of corn-cooked and strip off the kernels

3 cups of chicken broth-I simmered in a small pot on the back of the stove
1 cup of prosecco got added slowly but surely

1 cup arborio rice
1 -2 tbls extra virgin o.o.

1.  Saute onion in evoo along with some chopped fresh thyme for about 3 minutes
2.  Add rice stirring for about 2 minutes
3.  Stir in about 1 cup of broth, stirring gradually until liquid is absorbed, when it gets too dry continue to add broth or prosecco or a bit of both.
After 10 minutes stir in the green stuff, then add the cooked corn that you took off the cobs, and add the chopped tomatoes.  

4.  Keep on stirring , sipping, and adding broth and wine to the rice till liquid is absorbed   Keep this going for 20 minutes, then it should be done.

Note:  I used absolutely no butter or cream.  There was no need for it.  This risotto had so many layers of flavor and it was just wonderful.  A combination of creaminess, sweetness from the herbs, tomatoes and prosecco and crunch from the corn.  A small portion is not really that caloric.  This recipe serves 4.

 

It's harvest time at the local farms and we're seeing lots of nature's beautiful, colorful bounty.  Colorful tomatoes of all shapes and sizes as well as many different kinds of eggplants.  Here's some pictures of what I do with my finds at the farm this time of year.

Rather then making a huge mess, and breading and frying eggplants like so many of us do, in way too much oil, I simply slice them, peel, and cut in pieces about 1/4 inch thick.  Then i make a mixture of ev olive oil, and some dried italian herbs.  Then I brush them on both sides with this, and preheat the oven to high about 375-400.  Let them roast, and watch carefully, eggplants can be tricky to cook just right, and you don't want to brown them too much or too little.  Be patient, practice makes perfect.  When they're lightly brown on both sides remove to use in many recipes as I'll show you here.

The simplist thing to make for dinner is grilled chicken cutlets.  I simply slice them in half if they're too thick.  Then marinate them , just a little evoo, a splash of good balsamic, some spices (italian or herbs du provence) depending on what you like.  Then turn on the grill , spray with a canned spray oil and grill on high for 2-3 minutes first side, then another 2 on the other side.  (after 2 minutes lower the grill to medium).  Now you have it a quick dinner, you can serve so many ways.  I made a grilled chicken dish with some melted part skim mozzarella, some grilled eggplant underneath and topped it with a mixture of beautiful farmer's market tomatoes and basil.
I grilled extra chicken so I'd have some for sandwiches the next day because I am sick of supermarket turkey, I'd rather make a chicken sandwich with my free range, antibiotic free chicken.  So here's what i did.   Took the grilled cutlets, cut them small, added about  1 tablespoons of VEGENAISE (egg free and gluten free), you can use whatever mayo you like.  Chopped up some celery, peaches, crushed walnuts, and added my favorite herb combination of fresh tarragon and dill.   Mixed it all together and served it on top of organic mixed greens.  Wonderful!  Hope you try it and please let me know how you like, the key is getting those wonderful peaches that are still around at the local farms, off peach season I use grapes or you can definitely use apples, since apple season is about here!

Local corn and black bean salad

Just got back from a cooking assignment in the Hamptons.  Spent a lot of time going to farm stands out on the North Shore heading out towards Greenport.  Got such amazing corn from the local farmer in the town of Greenport.  Here's the recipe for a wonderful, light side dish thats so easy because you simply roast the corn.

6 ears of corn -trim the ends by cutting off but do not shuck
1 can of organic black beans-rinsed
1/2 red onion-chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper-split, seeded and chopped (can use a poblano)
Extra virgin olive oil about 1-2 tablespoons
1/2 lime-freshly squeezed
chopped fresh cilantro-about a handful if you like it...if not can substitute basil or parsley
1-2 tablespoons great aged balsamic vinegar , or red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Take all the corn with husks on and put them in there, right on the grate.  Let them cook 10-15 minutes till done.

Let cool.  Then remove the husks.  Get out a big wooden bowl and put the corn in there one by one, with a sharp knife, remove the corn by sliding knife down so the corn falls into the bowl..

Into another bowl and the corn, the beans, onion, cilantro, evoo, vinegar, jalapeno, lime juice, salt and pepper.  Mix all together and taste for seasonings.  Should be perfect if the corn is really sweet and in season.  Added some local just picked cherry tomatoes, sweet like candy!

Serve at room temperature or cold.  Enjoy.

Turkey Meatballs

Today it is hot as hell in NJ.  The best place to be for me is in the kitchen with the A/C on.
Went to Fresh Market and they had freshly ground white meat turkey (free range, antibiotic free).  I also went to the local farm and picked up some just picked white eggplants and their own plum tomatoes and a big bunch of fresh basil.  Easy what I want for dinner.  Turkey meatballs with tomato and basil sauce.

Let me share with you how easy it is.

1 LB white meat turkey breast- ground
1 organic egg
1/3 cup bread crumbs, 1/3 cup of parmagiano reggiano cheese, 1/3 cup of locatelli romano
More or less
JD balsamic or other great aged balsamic-about 1/2 teaspoon
1/2 cup fresh basil pureed in food processor and chopped fresh parsley
3 -4 cloves  fresh garlic -crushed and chopped

Into a metal bowl add ground turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, cheeses, salt, pepper, garlic, splash of balsamic and chopped parsley and basil.   Get it to right meatball consistency adding more bread crumbs if too wet.

Form into little balls.

Into a wok or large frying pan add 1-2 tblspoons extra virgin OO.   Heat pan and add meatballs.  Turn down heat being careful not to burn, just brown on all sides. They cook really fast.  Total cooking time about five minutes.

Take out and drain off oil on paper towels.

My marinara sauce

Tomato and Basil Sauce

It's all about the tomatoes. I get the Muir Glen plum tomatoes, organic and sweet. 1 large can for a sauce for 2-4.  In season I use whole plum tomatoes from the farm.


One 1/2 sweet white onion (vidalia or similar)
4 cloves of fresh garlic, smash and chop
Fresh thyme, kosher or sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 organic carrot -grated for sweetness (optional)
red pepper for heat just a little
2 tbls extra virgin olive oil.
Fresh basil.
Saute evoo with the thyme, infuse for a few minutes add the black and red pepper.
Add the chopped onion and carrot.
Saute 2 more minutes , add garlic being careful not to brown. After transparent a couple of minutes add the can of tomatoes, either crushing them first through your fingers or breaking them up with a masher as they cook.
Add to sauce some salt to taste , and some fresh basil.
I just just a bit of brown sugar to sweeten if it needs it, taste after about 15 minutes it should be done. Or you can add some red wine and or a great balsamic, just stir in.
Then blend with hand blender.
If its not thick enough for you , in the beginning add about a tablelspoon of organic tomato paste to the onion/garlic mixture.
Let it simmer total time 20 minutes. Add more fresh chopped basil and serve.

Grilled marinated chicken and farmers market veggie salad

Last night I wanted a simple dinner.  I had some chicken cutlets (free range, anitbiotic free brand as always).  I sliced and pounded them thin.  I took out the bunch of basil I got at the farm, cleaned it in my salad spinner, threw it in my mini food processor and pureed.  Then made a quick italian style vinagrette in a dijon mustard bottle.  3 parts extra virgin olive oil to 1 part of my fabulous JD farms balsamic.  Added some basil puree and chopped garlic and italian seasoning.  Marinated the cutlets in there for about 1/2 hour.  Then took out my grill pan.  Preheated it to high.  Grilled them about 2 minutes on each side, till done.
Then went into my organic mesclun greens bag (from Ramsey farms on Sunday), rinsed those in the salad spinner, put in a bowl with chopped red onion, yellow plum tomatoes , some chopped organic baby spinach and grilled mushrooms.

Saved some of the vinagrette for the salad with an additional drizzle of balsamic.  Have to say , it was a quick, healthy dinner.  If you're vegan do the same thing with sliced portabella mushrooms

Farm to table cooking

Organic spinach salad with salmon veggie cakes

Went to Ramsey Farmers Market today and walked around before deciding where they had the best stuff.  Picked up beautiful zucchini blossoms, from the organic farmer Blooming Hills Farm along with some herbs, leeks, mesclun greens and first of the year local organic peaches.  Then went to the other farmer who had beautiful local strawberrys, and yellow cherry tomatoes.  Now I have to figure out what I'm going to make.  I refuse to batter and deep fry the zucchini blossoms, I will make them light and yummy.  Sometimes simple is best.

Here's the basket of what I brought home.  I had leftover wild cooked salmon so I decided to make salmon cakes with vidalia onion, bell pepper, garlic, panko, dijon, and spinach.  I blended the veggies and mixed all in a big bowl together and pan fried in just a little neutral oil.  I like grapeseed oil.  Then I made a spinach salad , madolined the cuke, chopped the tomatoes added basil and yellow cherry tomatoes.  Drizzled with my fave JD balsamic vinegar from Ramsey farm.

Zucchini cakes with garlic cucumber sauce *

4 zucchinis...shred by hand or in food processor with shredder blade
1 tablespoon low fat mayo
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 sweet vidalia onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 egg white
2 tablespoons- fresh oregano
salt and pepper
parmegiano reggiano to taste
dash of red pepper
Into a saute pan or wok add 2 tbls or extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil.
After grating the zucchini , squeeze out the water with a hand towel till dry.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Make into flat cakes.
Saute in the oil about 3 minutes till brown. Carefully turn over and brown other side.
Roast in oven at 350 for additional 10 minutes while you make tzatziki sauce.
Into a bowl add drained greek yogurt. Add 1 clove smashed , chopped garlic, shredded cucumber, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and chopped fresh dill.

 

 * This recipe can be changed to use other shredded veggies, along with or without, cooked salmon, like here.