Green Tea Sangria

People get thirsty at spring parties and not everyone wants to quench with something alcoholic.  Think of all those graduation celebrations, Mothers and Fathers Day brunches and outings when its nice to keep things light.

Here is a great alternative to festive sangria that can be spiked later with wine, Prosecco or brandy. 

Green Tea Sangria
(Pitcher serves 6-8)
Ingredients
5 cups water
5 herbal tea bags like pomegranate- decaf green tea,  chamomile-mango, white tea-tangerine
optional 1-2 Tablespoon honey
ice (1 tray is fine)
12 ounces cranberry juice
1 organic apple or pear, scrubbed and sliced
1 organic orange or lemon, scrubbed and sliced

Method

1. Boil water and pour into a large heat resistant container or pot with cover.  
2. Add herbal tea bags and stir in honey.  Cover and let steep for 5 minutes.  
3. Stir in ice to cool and add juice.  
4. About 2 hours before serving, add in sliced fruit. 

For an alcoholic version: Per serving, pour an ounce or two of sparkling wine, light red wine or a splash of brandy or bourbon to spike this non-alcoholic punch.  Guests can serve themselves and add wine to individual servings. 

Merluza, Spanish Style

In Spanish, this fish is known by the melodic name merluza.

Merluza is part of a big fish family that includes whiting, cod and pollack.  Here we call it hake.   While each fish is different based on its home waters, the various fillets can be prepared in a similar manner. 

Next time you see whiting or hake on sale here, enjoy this simple, pure recipe inspired by Spain’s distinct and balanced ingredients of olives, peppers and oranges.  For very little effort you can create a sophisticated yet approachable fish dish. 

As a bonus round, this cooked fish tastes wonderful in a taco for lunch the next day.  Just pile the hot leftovers into a warmed corn or flour tortillas with its accompanying olives, red peppers and scallions.  Fill in with lettuce and enjoy. 

Iberian Hake
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound hake fillet (cod or pollack may be substituted)
1 orange, scrubbed and quartered
1 lemon, scrubbed and quartered
3-4 scallions, sliced
¼ cup olives (mixed or your favorite)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup fresh parsley (or dill) chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F while you prepare vegetables and fruit. 
2. Coat bottom of a pie plate or small roasting pan with olive oil.  
3. Place fish fillet in pan and scatter orange lemon, scallions and olives over fish.  Finish with a dusting of red pepper flakes.  
4. Roast fish covered at 400˚F for 15 minutes.  Uncover and roast another 5-10 minutes, just until fish firms up and begins to flake.  Do not overcook.  
5. Garnish with parsley just before serving.

Roasted Zucchini Feta Salad

Some occasions like spring birthday parties and wedding showers need a side dish with a little sex appeal.  It should be easy and bridge the seasons since the temperature can really roam at this time of year.

Roasted Zucchini Salas completes the assignment.  It can be served warm or cold, can be prepared in advance or served up straight out of the oven and it holds beautifully.  It looks and tastes pretty special too.


Roasted Zucchini Feta Salad
Serves 4, recipe can be doubled

Ingredients
4 medium sized zucchini
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper
4 heaping tablespoons crumbled feta cheese (low fat is fine)
1/4 cup fresh herbs, roughly chopped (dill, mint, parsley, thyme)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450˚F.  
2. Lightly oil a sheet pan.  Canola oil works well here.  
3. Slice the zucchini on a extreme angle to get nice wide angled strips.  
4. Lay zucchini slices on oiled and and turn to coat lightly with oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides. 
5. Roast Zucchini at 450˚F for 15-20 minutes, turning once.  The zucchini will be crisp if you have sliced it in thin slices and  melting-tender if you have sliced it into thicker (1/2 inch strips).  Both are excellent.  
6. Serve zucchini with crumbed feta cheese and chopped herbs like dill and mint.  Drizzle with a little oil or lemon juice- your choice.

Bonus: these roasted treats can be quickly turned into little hors d'ouevres served on thinly sliced baguettes.  

Simple Lasagnas

I love the section of Italian menus headed by the phrase “al forno” meaning "baked in an oven."  For some that still means a wood-fired oven but even without a rustic touch, a baked pasta meal is pure comfort food. 

This week my husband was picturing an old fashioned meat lasagna while I was dreaming of spinach and mixed vegetables.  You might think a big heaping combo lasagna with ground beef, sausage, mushrooms, zucchini and eggplant would be the answer but for real variety two smaller, more pure lasagnas were just right.  I use 8” X 8” brownie pans or several small loaf pans to build these smaller, more manageable al forno dishes.  

Recipes can look daunting with up to fifteen ingredients but consider that a pure lasagna, meat or vegetable versions, can be broken down into 4 basic elements.  There will be cheese, sauce, wide flat noodles and filling.  Each of these elements can be prepared in advance and assembled and baked up to a day later. 

Formula for Pure Lasagna
Lasagna Noodles
I like the no-bake kind or fresh sheets but have also used regular uncooked noodles and added extra liquid to small lasagnas.  For the uncooked noodle version, you need to bake the dish 10-15 minutes more.  Cooking regular noodles takes a little extra time but if you lay drained noodles onto wax paper, is not too big a production.  Recipes ask for 8-12 noodles.  Cut or break the noodles to fit the pan.

Cheese
Ricotta, grated Parmesan cheese and sliced mozzarella are musts for me.  Cottage cheese makes a great substitute if you don’t have ricotta, especially the small curd type.  I mix a pint of ricotta with an egg, a ½ cup of grated Parmesan and some oregano and basil. I also like black pepper in the mixture and a nice handful of chopped fresh parsley. Sometimes I dice some mozzarella and add that but mostly I leave this mixture light and place the mozzarella as a layer on its own.  I always finish with a layer of mozzarella with some grated Parmesan over that. You will need 1-2 pints of ricotta depending on the size of your project. 

Filling
If it’s meat, my favorite is ground beef and some Italian pork sausage (out of the casing) cooked and drained and moistened with a little marinara sauce.  Use a 2:1 ratio for the meats, about 3 cups of meat is nice.

If its vegetable, either make a cooked mixture from steamed and drained spinach, sautéed mushrooms and assorted chopped vegetables that can be held together with a little ricotta or layer grilled or roasted vegetables over the ricotta layer as you would noodles.  (If you choose vegetable layers, you can skip a layer of noodles.) Sliced and cooked eggplant, zucchini and Portobello mushrooms make nice layers. 
You will want 2-3 cups of filling.

Sauce
Marinara sauce can be your homemade or use a pure brand out of a jar.  Some recipes, especially for vegetable lasagnas, add a béchamel sauce layer but I find this adds extra work and the ricotta layer has already provided a nice creamy contrast.  You will need about ½ cup of marinara sauce to coat the bottom of the baking dish and extra for serving is always nice so I try to have about 4 cups of sauce on hand for assembling and serving. 

Method
With your fillings ready, here is the layering and baking method:

• Lightly oil the sides of your baking dish. This will make removing the noodles later and cleaning the pan a little easier.   
• Spread ½ cup marina sauce on the bottom on the pan and lay noodles down to cover bottom.  
• Cover noodles with filling, a little sauce and a second layer of noodles.  
• Cover second layer of noodles with the ricotta cheese mixture and a little sauce, and any extra filling.  
• Last place the top layer of noodles, a layer of sauce and if you have any little extras like sliced olives and roasted red pepper strips before covering it all with a layer of mozzarella and grated Parmesan. 
• Bake your lasagna covered with tin foil at 350˚F for 35-45 minutes until the center reaches 145˚F. Remove the foil covering during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove form the oven and let the dish least at least 10 minutes to firm up before slicing.

Don’t miss out on making lasagna for a small family.  Leftover lasagna cut into individual portions is a freezer treat that can be reheated either as is --frozen-- or defrosted.  

Scallop Soup

This is a model for almost any seafood you want to make into a soup.  The recipe has very few required ingredients and is darn fast to pull together.  Yes, it is a cream soup.  Your body likes dairy so don’t fret.  You can use a low fat version of milk here.  Also, the amount of butter used is minimal but if you are cutting back on that sort of thing, you can thicken the soup without a butter and flour-based roux.  I’ll show you how. 

Scallop Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients
Scant amount of butter or olive oil (enough to coat bottom of medium soup pot)
1 celery stalk, diced
½ medium onion, about ¼ cup diced
2 small baking (russet) potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 14-ounce can low sodium chicken broth
1 8-oz bottle clam juice
1 cup bay scallops, frozen is fine
¾-1 cup low fat milk
salt and pepper to taste, chopped parsley, dill or chives
Optional: ½ cup frozen or drained canned corn (cooked fresh corn is nice in season)

Roux
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour

Or substitute 1 tablespoon corn starch stirred into an ounce of cold liquid (water is fine).   Remember, the starch in the potato also helps thicken the soup.

Method

1. In a medium-large lidded pot, sauté celery and onion until limp in a little olive oil or butter.   
2. If you are using the roux method to thicken, add the tablespoon of butter and melt.  Once melted, stir in the flour so that it coats the vegetables.   
3. Stir in potatoes, broth and clam juice. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer covered until potatoes are cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.  
4. Add scallops or other uncooked fish.  It is OK to add the scallops frozen.  Bring to a simmer again, then add milk.  
5. If using cornstarch to thicken your soup, stir a tablespoon of cornstarch into the milk- be sure it is dissolved, before adding to the soup.  (If you forget this step, just dissolve the cornstarch into a small amount of cold liquid and add to soup).  Cornstarch needs a few minutes to simmer in liquid to do its job as a thickener.  
6. Stir occasionally while the soup simmers for another 3-5 minutes and seafood gently cooks.  
7. At this point you can add any extra cooked vegetables (corn, asparagus, peas, etc) and/or additional fish (see below).  
8. Taste your soup and add salt and pepper.  Be aware that clam juice adds some salty flavor. 

Variations
Just about any seafood can be used in this soup base instead of scallops.  Try chunks of cod or other white fish, bi-valves like mussels or clams, leftover cooked fish, like the broiled salmon in my fridge from last night, or canned fish like tuna or salmon. If the protein you are adding is already cooked, stir it in last and heat gently just before serving.  Adjust the seasoning to bring out the best of what you have on hand.  For whitefish, dill is nice.  Canned tuna can get perk-up form a little tarragon or thyme and mussels will flourish with some paprika (or a pinch of saffron).

Beef Vegetable Soup, Sort of Instant

This month’s soup celebration marches on with Beef Vegetable Soup you can make tonight.  Why? Because, this soup takes no longer to make than any other dinner.

If you already have tonight’s meal planned, consider making this tonight too.  Soup tastes even better the next day, so if you have some energy it’s a good idea to make soup while you are making tonight’s dinner.   Tomorrow, give yourself a night off. 

To make enough soup for four, count on about 8 cups of liquid.  Liquid includes broth, water, tomato or carrot juice, wine, pasta water and more.  A great base for beef soups is half chicken broth and half beef broth with some flavorings like a bay leaf, a smidge of thyme, basil or marjoram and a wink of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce.   That’s where we’ll being our story….

Beef Vegetable Soup
Serves 8
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pounds cubed stew meat (beef chuck), lightly salted and peppered
8 ounces water (or 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup wine or tomato juice)
2 14-oz cans beef low-sodium broth
2 14-oz cans chicken low-sodium broth
Optional: 1 14-oz can whole tomatoes in juice (low-sodium)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
¾ teaspoons dried herbs: any combination of thyme, basil, dill
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
½ cup green beans, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup green peas, frozen
Up to 1 cup of additional vegetables, any combination, like cauliflower, corn, cubed winter squash, lima beans, sweet potatoes, etc
Up to one cup cooed rice, pasta or beans
Salt, pepper
Optional: fresh herbs for garnish: basil, dill, parley or thyme

Method

1. In a large pot with cover or Dutch oven heat oil over medium heat.  Add beef cubes and brown 3-4 minutes on two sides. While browning, leave meat undisturbed so it can form a nice crust.  This will add flavor to your soup.  You may need to brown the meat in several batches to avoid crowding the pieces and steaming rather than browning them.  
2. When all the meat has been browned, slowly stir in wine if using or juice and water.  Use the back of a spoon or spatula to scrape up any caramelized bits that the liquid has loosened.  
3. Add broth, bay leaf and dried herbs.  
4. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cover.  Simmer meat for 15 minutes.  
5. Add all remaining ingredients except frozen peas and salt.  Cook, partially covered, over low heat until vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes more.  
6. Add peas and cook another 5 minutes.  If you are adding any already cooked vegetables, stir them in now too.  
7. Stir in cooked rice, pasta and beans if using. (You may also cook small pasta like ditalini while the vegetables cook-- allow 10 minutes for pasta to cook.)
8. Taste and add salt as needed- usually you will add about ½ teaspoon but start with half that.  Hold back on salt if you are not using low sodium broths.  You can also add any fresh herbs at this stage.  Chopped basil, dill, rubbed thyme are all nice or can be used as a fresh garnish at the table. 

Borscht, Sort of Instant
Not enough of us have had the pleasure of eating real homemade borscht.  It shows up at the supermarket during key seasons packaged in glass jars that look more like cranberry juice than hearty soup.  In truth, there are many recipes from the thin broths to chunky stews.  

My favorite is an enhanced beef vegetable soup tricked out with the signature ingredient- beets- plus extra potatoes, cabbage, dill, lemon juice and sour cream.  For borscht, you can build on the recipe above or take a canned beef vegetable soup as your base.  Instead of adding peas and extra cooked vegetables, add cooked beets and potatoes.  Cabbage can be added raw, very thinly sliced.  It will wilt down as the soup heats.  Squeeze lemon juice into the mixture before serving and top each serving with sour cream and dill.  Fresh dill tastes wonderful but dried is a fine option. 

A few little tricks to know
Give canned broth a fresher taste by adding some herbs—fresh or dried.  A pinch of thyme, oregano or dill can liven up a canned soup.  Add leftover cooked vegetables, beans or leftover chopped meat too. With cooked rice or noodles, you have a lovely soup. 

In fact, with few fresh ingredients like fresh herbs, more chopped, steamed vegetables or a touch of spice and you can enhance almost any prepared soup.  Experiment by adding one fresh ingredient to your favorite soup and see where it takes you.  

Irish Flag Bean Soup

This is a pretty soup that will drive off the chilly winds of March’s cool parade routes.  The orange, white and green comes from carrots, white beans, celery and green split peas.  Skip the ham and use vegetable broth if you are aiming for a vegetarian meal. 


Irish Flag Bean Soup
Makes 2 quarts of soup

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 stalks celery, with leaves, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
½ white onion, peeled and diced
½ cup white wine
8 cups broth (chicken, turkey, vegetable)
2 cups water
ham bone (if available)
½ pound dried white beans (soaked)*
½ pound split green peas
½ teaspoon each thyme and marjoram
2 bay leaves
1 ½ cups cubed, cooked ham
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat.  Add celery, carrots and onion and cook 4-5 minutes until tender and just beginning to brown.  
2. Lower heat and deglaze with white wine, using a spoon to scrape up any caramelized bits from the bottom of the pot.  If you are not using wine, deglaze with a few ounces of water or broth. 
3. Add broth, water, ham bone, herbs and soaked white beans.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes.  
4. Add split peas and simmer another 20-30 minutes.  Taste beans.  It may be necessary to cook the beans another 15-20 minutes to obtain a soft texture.  The beans should be just breaking down and thickening the soup.  
5. Remove the bay leaves.  Add cube ham and taste.  Add salt to taste (depending on saltiness of ham) and a good grind of black pepper. 

*You may substitute 2 14-oz cans white beans aka, navy beans, if you do not have dried white beans.  Drain the beans and add after the split green peas have cooked 20-30 minutes and are just softening.

Add-ins and variations: My husband will add hot sauce and if there is some leftover cooked rice, a scoop of that.  Or, stir in some curry powder to create Flag of India Bean Soup. 

Avgolemeno kicks off March

March promises to be full of rain and sleet around here.  These are soup days.  It feels like it should be spring but instead, the weather leaves us chilled.  Soups have the appeal of stews with a light touch.  They are satisfying on these days when many of us step out for a run or hike and the promise of warmer, more active days ahead.

We are planning a number of soup and salad dinners this month.  Happily, there are better and better choices for canned, frozen and shelf-stable soups with more attention paid to lower sodium and better ingredients.  Still, nothing beats homemade and even the most fast-food tainted among us can taste the difference.  Throughout March, we’ll show off some fast soups and “short cut” soups to get more soup ladled out into bowls everywhere.

The Broth Question
The first short cut is to find your favorite low sodium broth that you can go to as a base.  We prefer broth over bouillon cubes and low-sodium whether canned or in aseptic packages.  You can always add more salt later (and herbs and spices) but you cannot take it out so start with a broth that tastes of vegetables, poultry, beef or whatever is on the label—not just salty water.  Buy a few different brands and have a little taste test to find your house brand.
(To make your own broth from scratch, see the simple method from November 27, 2009’s post at http://purefoodsproject.blogspot.com/2009/11/whats-next.html)

This recipe for Avgolemeno Soup, the famous Greek soup using only broth, rice and lemon thickened with eggs, is a great example of an easy yet impressive “homemade” soup.  It is nothing short of amazing with your own homemade broth, but you will be happy with what can be done at the end of a work day using a canned low sodium versions. 

Sometimes, just before serving, we add spinach to extend the meal or cooked chicken leftovers which help to deepen the broth's flavor.  For a vegetarian version, vegetable broth can be used in place of chicken broth.  Now, no matter how it sleets outside, a bowl of Avgolemeno and a salad will make you feel better. 

Avgolemeno
Serves 2, may be doubled and tripled

Ingredients
1 14-oz can low sodium chicken broth
2-3 ounces water
½ cup cooked rice*
2 eggs
juice of half a lemon
salt, black pepper, dill (dried or fresh)

*orzo, the tiny pasta that is shaped like rice can substituted.  Cook it in the simmering broth for about 8 minutes before adding egg-lemon mixture.

Method

1. Heat broth and water in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add rice and stir to break up any clumps.  
2. While broth heats place the eggs in a small bowl and add lemon juice.  Whisk to combine as you would with scrambled eggs.  
3. Ladle a ¼ cup of hot broth into the eggs.  This will “temper” the eggs so that they will not curdle when poured into the hot broth.  
4. Remove broth from heat and using a fork or wide spoon stir the broth and rice while pouring the egg mixture into the broth.  The soup will thicken and each rice kernel will don a coating of lemon0infused eggs.  
5. Taste the soup and add salt, cracked black pepper and dill to your taste.  

Serve immediately.  Promptly cover and chill any leftovers.
Bonus: this is good reheated for breakfast!

Steak Sauce Marinade for Beef

Both inexpensive and leaner cuts of beef need a little tough love in the form of a bold marinade to help them come to the table in a tender state.  That and a light touch at the grill or stove timed to rare or medium rare will keep the meat juicy and far off the tough end of the scale.  And don’t forget to let the steak rest a few minutes once off the heat.  This final step seals the deal and you will slice into evenly cooked, tender and juicy steak. 

Leftover liquids like wine and tomato juice make great marinades if you know some basics about which items in your refrigerator and pantry can help break down muscle fiber and add complimentary flavor to the cooked meat.  For lean cuts, acids are your best friend. They include vinegars, wine, citrus, vinegar-based mustards, like Dijon, and even dairy (yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream).  You can encourage meat to caramelize and boost flavor with sugars, but keep this element in the background providing a little mystery.  A little fat, like olive oil, will protect leaner cuts from drying out as they cook.

Herbs, spices and other flavors should be added with the flavors of the whole meal in mind.  For a steak that will be accompanied by green beans and baked potato, a little parsley and tarragon might be nice. A southwest or Tex-Mex dinner might call for dried chilies and cilantro.  Garlic, oregano or perhaps some curry powder can find their way into a Greek or Middle Eastern kebab meal. 

Tonight, some leftover pinot noir and prunes were the inspiration for a steak marinade.  This is a subtly sweet-tart marinade that relaxed a lean top round steak into medium rare submission.  I was happy to find there is a New Zealand steak recipe using the light red wine, Merlot, and prune jam. I was not far into undiscovered territory when I put this together.  When the steak came off the stove, it had a subtle yet distinct flavor of some well known steak sauces. 

Speaking of putting your own marinades together, as long as there is no uncooked meat mixed in yet, you can taste your marinade as you create it.  You are going for a fairly sharp taste but palatable to you.  The top note sharpness will cook away and you will be left with a tender steak redolent of the marinade's dominant flavors.  While developing this marinade, I found the red wine was not adding enough tartness and added a little red wine vinegar to bring that characteristic up.  Lemon juice would have also been appropriate. 

Steak Sauce Marinade for Beef
Ingredients (enough for 2-3 pounds of meat)
½ cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
4 prunes, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon salt and black pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Method

1. In a 2-cup measuring cup or deep bowl, combine all ingredients except parsley.  Use the back of a fork or an immersion blender to pulverize the prunes.   The mixture will be somewhat thick (like steak sauce)  Add parsley to mixture.  
2. With a sharp knife, lightly score a 2-3 pound lean steak (like top round) and place it in a sturdy re-sealable plastic bag or a deep vessel that can be covered.  Turn the steak over several times so that the marinade makes contact with all areas.  Try to marinate steak at least 5 hours, turning a few times in the bag or covered vessel.  
3. Wipe the steaks before cooking.  Cook steak on a grill or in a cast iron pan on the stove on medium-high heat about 2-3 minutes per side for a thick  steak, 1-2 minutes per side for a steak less than 1 inch thick.  
4. Use a thermometer to check for that your steak is properly done..  A medium-rare steak should be removed from the heat when it reaches 130˚F and covered so that it will come to 135˚F once it has rested 5-7 minutes.  A thicker steak will need to rest 8-10 minutes before slicing. 

This recipe makes a good quantity of steak.  You can halve the recipe but since you are taking the time to marinate, consider making the full recipe.  Leftovers, sliced extra thin, make wonderful roast beef sandwiches and fajitas.  

Chicken Marbella

My grandmother often expressed concern about the number of children at my parent’s dinner table every night.  OK, we were numerous by today’s standards, but no more than many other families in the neighborhood back then.  Let’s just say, my parents threw a dinner party for eight every night at 7pm. 

The way my grandmother expressed her concern was practical and effective. She took advantage of supermarkets on Long Island that were in the midst of price wars to shop whole chicken sales.  Sometimes she found them for as little as 17¢ a pound. (Granted, it was the 1970s.)

She froze the chickens and presented my mother with cardboard boxes of them whenever we saw her.  Thee gifts resulted in us eating chicken at least three, maybe four times a week for many years.

As you can imagine, my family has a number of great chicken recipes, but most often, two small chickens were roasted side by side.  Simple and good. 

When Silver Palate’s Chicken Marbella recipe was published in 1982, it was a big success largely because it, too, was simple and good.  Albeit with many more ingredients, Chicken Marbella arrived just as American palates were ready for a more multi-cultural taste experience.  A little Middle Eastern, sometimes described as Spanish-derived (which bases much of its food heritage in the Middle East), Chicken Marbella took ingredients common to the American pantry and combined them in an exotic way.  All of a sudden, salty and bitter flavors like olives and capers were added to our Sweet and Sour Chicken appetites.  We had a new idea about what balance in a recipe could be. 

Twenty-plus years later, home cooks and chefs write that they are adjusting the Silver Palate’s classic Chicken Marbella recipe to reduce the sweetness and add a bit of spicy heat. 

The result is balanced flavors on the tongue, in just the right proportion for you.  Complexity is intriguing to the palate but too much can get muddy.  What made Chicken Marbella popular was that the flavors were kept pure and the flavors balanced. 

To be honest, I made Chicken Marbella for the first time this week.  I just never got around to this particular recipe until some dried prunes, capers and green olives called from the same shelf of my pantry.  Having enjoyed chicken in Spain around the time the recipe was first published in the U.S., I had a pretty good idea of how the dish tasted and saw its popular appeal.  Each of my Spanish cookbooks has a regional dish combining briny olives with oranges as in Andulusia's Pollo con Aceitunas y Naranjas Agrias  (Chicken with Olives and Bitter Orange) or olives and prunes with in the classic duck dish (Anec) from Cataluna. Even meatless tapas that combine salty anchovies with olives and sun dried tomatoes (salty, sour, sweet) speak to our love of complex yet pure flavor.  

As a guide to how you might build your own recipe with simple balance, here is a breakdown of what the major ingredients of Chicken Marbella bring to the palate, silver or otherwise:

• sweet: prunes, brown sugar
• salty: capers
• sour (acidity): white wine, red wine vinegar
• bitter: green olives
• savory (umami): the chicken, garlic, herbs, olive oil

Note: sour is to bitter as lemon juice is to lemon peel

So that’s my homage to Silver Palate Chicken Marbella and to my grandmother’s frugal shopping habits that have instilled in our family an enduring love of poultry.  For a copy of the original Sliver Palate recipe click here or check out a copy of the classic cookbook.  It’s still in print.

I will admit to one or two changes to the original recipe that makes it even simpler than the original.  I put all the ingredients into the marinade at once—I do not hold back the brown sugar or white wine.  After marinating for about 8 hours, I dump the whole thing in a shallow baking dish so the skin peaks above the juice for cooking.  I also use only chicken thighs.  Even the most ardent white meat lovers enjoy it, provided it is cooked to 165˚F.  I remove the chicken and place it under the broiler for the skin to brown a bit more.  Meanwhile, I skim the fat off the juices.  These are minor bits of work considering I did next to nothing to prep the meal.  Added time, about 2 minutes.

Could be a simple mid-week Valentine's Dinner......

Mashed Rutabaga

Potatoes, rice and noodles are not the only comforting side dishes to nestle next to roasts and baked chicken.  Mashed rutabaga is a nice mid-winter change up.

You'll find rutabagas next to the potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash in the produce area.  They are the cantaloupe-sized turnip cousins with a heavy wax coating on them.  Also known as the Yellow Turnip, the outside is yellow with a purplish bottom.  Inside they are sunny yellow.

The wax actually makes the large round easier to handle.  To peel, place the rutabaga on a cutting board on its flattest side. Using a large chef's knife, cut a slice off one end and make this cut end your new stable base.  The wax and skin of the rutabega yield easily to a knife (not dangerously hard like an acorn squash).  Cut away the waxed skin then slice in slabs about 3/4" think.  Cut the slabs into strips and then cubes of roughly the same size. 

Mashed Rutabaga
Serves 4
1 peeled and cubed rutabaga
1/4 -1/3 cup hot milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Extra butter or vegetable oil to butter baking dish

Method

1. Place the cubed rutabaga in a large pot and cover with water.  Allow at least one inch of water over the vegetable.  
2. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a medium boil and cook until rutabaga are very tender.  The cubes should be soft enough to crush easily with the back of a fork.  This will take 20-30 minutes.  You may need to add some extra boiling water to keep the level over the cubes.  
3. When tender, remove from heat and drain well.  Using a hand-held masher, mash the turnips allowing as much steam to escape as possible.  (Where long sleeves to prevent steam contact with skin.)  The drier you can get the rutabaga the more milk and butter they will absorb.  
4. Once mashed, stir in most of the hot milk and the butter.  Mash these ingredients together.  Add more milk if mixture will absorb it.  Finally add salt and pepper and taste.

Mashed rutabaga can be served from the pot as is.  If you would like to hold them while your roast rests, they do very well in a buttered deep casserole in the oven at 350-400˚F for up to 20-30 minutes. They puff up slightly while in the oven during this final bake so if you have the time, this is a pleasant option that saves the cook from last minute rushing while meat is resting and carved.

Super Bowl Taquitoes

After the holidays we made a stellar chili from the leftover meat at the edges of a standing rib roast.  The next day we gilded that lily by rolling the remains of the chili with cheese in corn tortillas for taquitoes worthy of an occasion like the Super Bowl. 

Actually, many fillings are Super Bowl worthy from secret recipe house chilis and shredded leftover chicken to the simple ground meat mixture below.  Try some vegetarian options like bean and cheese or cooked potato and cheese. 

Years ago, while visiting the Oaxacan province in Mexico, I fell in love with a chopped potato and chorizo taco filling that is so tasty it defies its simplicity.  You just heard the recipe—just cook the potatoes and chorizo before rolling the taquitoes. (Mexican chorizo sausage requires cooking.   If you are using Spanish style cured chorizo just dice it and toss with cooked potatoes.)

Our home taquitoes are baked rather than fried so they are a lot less greasy than what you order out.  The secret is to lightly coat them with cooking oil and then to bake at high heat to get the desired crispness.  The filling should be tender to contrast with the crisp exterior. 

Super Bowl Tacquitos
Makes 24, recipe may be halved

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, turkey, pork or a mixture
1 cup salsa (something natural please)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
24 corn tortillas
cooking oil spray or vegetable oil

To dip/garnish tacquitos:
Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
Guacamole (a ripe avocado chopped up with a few tablespoons of that all-natural salsa above makes a really easy guacamole)
squeeze of lime

Method

1. Brown meat in a skillet until cooked through.  If using ground turley, you may need to add a little vegetable oil to the pan to prevent sticking.  When cooked, drain the meat.    Let meat cool a bit.  
2. Stir in salsa and shredded cheese.  Filling may be made a day ahead.
3. Line a baking pan with foil and lightly brush or spray with cooking oil.  Preheat oven to 450˚.
4. Loosely wrap half the tortillas in paper towel and microwave on medium 30 seconds+ until pliable.  (This step prevents them from breaking when you roll them.) 
5. Put 2 tablespoons of filling onto each tortilla in a strip– don’t over fill.  Roll tortilla and secure with a toothpick.  Don’t worry if they are not perfect.  
6. Place rolls on prepared baking pan and brush or spray lightly with oil.  Repeat with second half of tortillas.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, uncovered, until taquitos are crisp.  
8. Remove the toothpicks before placing on a serving platter! Serve with a squeeze of lime, greek yogurt, guacamole or extra salsa as dips. 

You can make extra and reheat these.  They even freeze well.  Reheat at 350˚ 12-15 minutes.