by Sam Tackeff | Aug 6, 2009 | Ingredients, Italian, Pantry Staples, Quick and Easy
Farro is an interesting grain with a nice bite, that is well suited to easy summer salads. I use it in recipes that call for wheatberries, green lentils, bulgur or even barley occasionally as a replacement, but I find that I love it best in this salad with tomato, basil, feta, and a balsamic vinaigrette. I’m lucky to find farro at Rainbow Foods in San Francisco, but in some places, farro can be pricey – try shopping for it in stores with bulk bins, at trader joe’s, or even online.
Farro is an Italian word, and when I eat this grain, I find myself transported to Tuscany, sitting in the garden of my imaginary apartment, eating blissfully, drinking a glass of wine, and contemplating nothing but relaxation.
As usual, I use Mark Bittman’s pretty foolproof way of cooking most grains – put one cup of the grain in a small pot, and cover by at least an inch of liquid – bring to a boil, and turn down, cover, and simmer for 30-35 minutes without touching it. Then you can test it – if it’s not done, just add a few more tablespoons of liquid, and leave on the heat for ten more minutes. Unlike rice, don’t worry if there is extra liquid after the cooking time, just drain it.
MASTER RECIPE! Variations: This salad is also a great vehicle for crunchy vegetables – feel free to add fresh corn kernels (you don’t need to cook them!), black beans, bits of chopped red pepper, cucumber, shavings of carrot, chick peas, or even little cubes of summer squash to name just a few! Also, you can punch up the herbs with some fresh parsley or fresh mint (or both) to give it some extra green. No balsamic on hand? Just make a simple lemon vinaigrette with the same proportions of lemon to olive oil.
Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Basil, and Feta
serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side
Ingredients:
– 1 cup farro
– enough salted water or chicken broth to cover farro by one inch in pot (about 2.5 cups)
– 1 large heirloom tomato, chopped (ripe! uglier the better!)
– about ten leaves of basil, rolled into a cigar shape and chopped
– salt and pepper
– 2 ounces feta cheese
– 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
– 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Method:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the farro and enough water (or chicken stock) to cover farro by an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the farro is tender, about 35 minutes. Drain, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add the chopped tomatoes, basil, and feta, and cover with the slightly cooled farro. In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Pour into the farro salad, and toss to coat. You can eat this warm, or it can be made in advance and popped in the refrigerator. Just let it come back to room temperature when you want to eat it, and make sure to re-toss it!
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 12, 2009 | Barefoot Blogging, Poultry, Quick and Easy
This Thursday’s barefoot blogging challenge was chosen by Lindsey of Noodle Nights and Muffin Mornings, and had us all in the kitchen cooking Ina Garten’s Chicken Piccata. Now, to be fair, because there are no capers in this dish, I’m not sure how she gets away calling it a piccata, but nevertheless it’s certainly tasty.
I chose to accompany the dish with some Sautéed Broccolini (for BB extra credit, chosen by Mary, of Meet Me in the Kitchen). I suppose you could pair this chicken with almost any vegetable (green beans, regular broccoli, and swiss chard come to mind), and just sauté them the same way in your pan- it tastes infinitely better if you do it in the pan right after you make your delicious piccata sauce, so it absorbs all of that wonderful lemony flavor.
Other things you could do with this chicken: I think that this would taste equally tasty on a nice bit of ciabatta bread with some arugula as a sandwich, or served over some pasta with freshly grated Parmesan. My mother also makes a similar dish served with a side of sauteed cabbage and onions, over farfalle pasta, that my brother swears by.
Breading Chicken: To bread your chicken, it’s easiest if you have a little lineup set up. You can do it in plates, but I think that bowls make it all a lot cleaner.
Some things about online recipes to keep in mind: Sometimes, the recipe gets translated badly onto the food network, or other recipe posting sites online. Most of Ina’s recipes are for four in her cookbook, and yet somehow the food network versions are for two, with some errors (like enough sauce and breading ingredients for four, but only calling for two pieces of chicken). I find that I tweak many of the recipes posted here online, although the recipes in her book are usually winners.
Crispy Lemony Chicken
serves 4
adapted from Ina Garten
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thick
salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 extra-large egg
3/4 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs (I used plain that I seasoned with my own spices)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup dry white wine
Chopped parsley leaves, for serving
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. To pound your chicken, place the breast between two sheets of parchment paper or saran wrap, and pound flat with a heavy object. *Thin chicken breasts are really important so that the chicken cooks quickly and evenly.* Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
3. Create your breading line: I like using three bowls (see above). In the first bowl, put the flour, with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. In the middle bowl, crack in one extra large egg, and a 1/2 tablespoon of water. In the third bowl, place your breadcrumbs. Now comes the fun part! Dip each chicken breast- first in the flour, to coat lightly, then in the egg mixture, and finally in the breadcrumbs. (You will have enough leftover in the bowls if you want to make extra chicken.)
4. In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chicken breasts, and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until the crust is nicely browned. Place them on the sheet pan, and then bake in the oven for about 5 minutes while you make the sauce.
5. In the same saute pan that you have cooked the chicken, add a tablespoon of melted butter, then add the lemon juice, the wine, some salt and pepper. Boil for a few minutes over high heat, until it reduces by half, and then take off the stove and swirl in the extra two tablespoons of butter. Set aside in a bowl, and use the pan to make whatever vegetable you are serving it with.
6. Plate the chicken, pour on some sauce, add the fresh parsley, and serve with a wedge of lemon. It’s a surprisingly light and refreshing dish!
Sauteed Broccolini
serves 2
Ingredients
1 small bunch broccolini
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small clove of garlic, minced
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
Juice of half a lemon
Method
Steam the broccolini with a few tablespoons of water in the microwave for three minutes, and drain. In the pan that was used for the lemon sauce, add a the butter, garlic and lemon juice, salt and pepper, and heat as the broccolini steams. Add the drained broccolini to the pan and sauté for a minute or two, turn off the heat, and plate.
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 4, 2009 | Quick and Easy, Soups
I like warm, comforting, delicious stews. I think they are particularly perfect for when it is raining and cold (apparently most of the time here in San Francisco) and you just want something really easy and hearty to tuck into. I’m always looking for good recipes, and so when I saw Nigella Lawson make this chicken cacciatore for her children on ‘Nigella Express’, I went directly to the store to purchase the ingredients to start cooking. Nigella is truly one of my favorite chefs, and cooks really beautiful, easy and well.. sexy food. Her book “How to be a Domestic Goddess” is one I frequently cook from, with much success, and I just can’t get enough of her. She also has a very pretty product line with really cute stuff that I would love to fill my kitchen with.
Bay leaves: These ones that I used for the stew were part of my reserve collection that I smuggled back from Istanbul, where they grow copiously on trees on the island of Büyükada. One afternoon, my mom and I picked about a hundred of them and laid them out all over a table to dry so we could take them home with us. They are an invaluable part of my spice collection! Bay leaves can be expensive, but they are wonderfully fragrant, and shouldn’t be left out of dishes that call for them. I used three for this stew, and it was well worth it.
The smells from this stew are really heavenly, and is the perfect dish to cook for guests, yet not so finicky that you couldn’t just cook it for yourself to eat while watching the television with a beer. It took me a little less than half an hour from start to finish, and would have tasted equally good the next day for lunch (although we definitely didn’t have any left, so that is just an assumption on my part).
A Hearty Chicken Cacciatore
Adapted from Nigella Lawson
serves 2-3
Ingredients
– 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– 1 whole clove of garlic
– 1/2 white onion
– 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
– 2 thick strips of smoked applewood bacon
– 1 pound of boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
– 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
– 1/2 cup white wine
– 1 (14 ounce) can of chopped tomatoes
– 3 bay leaves
– 1/2 teaspoon sugar
– 1 (14 ounce) can cannellini beans
Method
1. Pour some olive oil in a large saute pan on low heat, add a whole clove of garlic, the onion, and the rosemary and stir until the onion is slightly translucent, but not browned, about ten minutes.
2. Add the thick cut bacon, and fry for a few minutes. Increase the heat to medium, add the chicken and celery salt and stir for a couple of minutes, until the outside of the chicken is white.
3. Pour in the white wine, and cook for a few minutes until just simmering, then add tomatoes, bay leaves and sugar. When it comes to a bubble, properly, turn it down slightly, simmer for 20 minutes, and then turn in a can of canellini beans, until they warm up, and it’s done!
Serve with a nice hunk of bread, and a little green salad. Delicious!
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 17, 2009 | Challenge, Cheese, Quick and Easy, Seafood
In an effort to diversify my kitchen productions, I’ve been looking for new food blogger challenges to have fun with. One of my favorite challenges I have found so far is the “Cheese of the Month” challenge from Adventures in Gluttony, which provides a monthly cheese suggestion to create something delicious with.
This month’s featured cheese is feta, which coincidentally happens to be one of my favorite cheeses. I use feta and it’s cousin white cheese (Turkish ‘beyaz peynir’) almost interchangably, the latter being slightly less salty. I usually have a block of feta stored in some fresh water in my fridge, and eat it often plain, for breakfast, with a little slice of tomato and cucumber and a slice of toast with jam. Or, I crumble it on salads, into soups, or even on burgers.
For the challenge I decided to incorporate it into my lunch, baked with shrimp. This is a very loose adaptation of a broiled recipe my mother uses that I love and really should get a hold of, but nevertheless it was quick, easy and very very tasty. The feta I used was Mt. Vikos, which I picked up at Cowgirl Creamery in the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco. I only used an ounce of feta (all I had left), but the flavor still comes out wonderfully!
A Quick lunch: Baked Shrimp with Feta
serves 1
Ingredients:
4 or 5 shrimp (I used frozen)
A few small canned San Marzano tomatoes, with juice
1/4 cup frozen peas
1 ounce feta
a pinch salt,
a pinch pepper
a couple of good pinches oregano
Method:
1. Couldn’t be simpler: In a baking dish lined with foil, put all the ingredients, stirring gently to allow the tomato juice to coat everything. Whack it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until shrimp are pink and cooked.
To serve: I served this over a bed of steamed rice, usually I use brown, but I’ve run out and need to pick up some more. I use frozen single servings of rice that I cook and wrap while still warm, which traps the moisture and allows you to easily pop one into the microwave and eat for lunch as if it was freshly made.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 17, 2009 | Meat, Quick and Easy
I buy a lot of ground turkey from Drewes these days, mainly because it is cheap, but also because it is incredibly versatile and fulfills the MEAT! craving without compromising my attempts at a healthier diet. I find that most recipes I use can easily substitute ground turkey for beef or lamb without losing flavor, and you can easily get worldly tastes by changing up the spices that you use to flavor the meat.
Here are a few things you can do with a pound of lean ground turkey, or lean ground beef, with a little bit of creativity and most of them take no more than half an hour from start to finish.
1. Make meatballs: put ground meat in a bowl, and add a cup of minced onion or leek, some minced garlic, parsley, some grated parmesan cheese, and about a half cup of bread crumbs. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili (themore seasoning the better), add an egg to bind the mixture and knead with your hands. Form into small little balls, and pan grill, moving the balls around until they are fully browned, about 10 minutes.
2. Make turkey burgers: use the same recipe as above, except form into patties.
3. Make chili: Brown the meat in a big pot with some onion. Add a can of pinto beans with it’s juice, a can of kidney beans, and a can of tomatoes (I like using San Marzano tomatoes). Season with some garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano. Add a half bottle of dark beer, drink the rest. Simmer for a while. Done!
4. Make Turkish spinach and meat: saute an onion in some olive oil. Add ground meat, and cook until meat is browned. Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Add about two pounds of spinach, and some stock. Stir until the spinach cooks down. Finally, add a half a cup or so of rice, and a couple of cups of stock or water. Cover, and cook until the rice is tender, about half an hour to forty minutes. Serve with some plain yogurt, or an egg on top.
5. Make burritos: season the meat with salt, pepper, cumin and chili. Heat up a can of refried beans with a chopped tomato. Goes well with pepperjack cheese. Serve in a tortilla or over some rice.
6. Make Indian keema mutter: saute an onion, and add the meat. season with salt, pepper, a few cloves of garlic, a teaspoon each of ginger, garam masala, and chili. Cook until the meat cooks, and then add a few cups of frozen peas. Cook for a few more minutes and finish with a few good squeezes of lemon, and some fresh cilantro.
7. Kapuska, a turkish cabbage stew: Brown the meat, add a few chopped onions, and cook until soft. Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, and some red pepper flakes, and cook for a few minutes. Add a can of tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and a chopped small cabbage. Add a few cups of broth, and simmer for a half an hour until the cabbage is tender. Add some more spice if you would like, and serve plain, or with yogurt.
8. Make a cold thai salad called Larb: Cook your ground meat, and set aside to cool. When cooled, add about a quarter cup of sliced shallot, and some spring onions. Add a small handful of fresh chopped mint leaves, some thai ground chili, a few drops of fish sauce, and several tablespoons of fresh lime juice. Serve at room temperature, perhaps with some sticky rice, or as the filling for lettuce wraps.
9. Stuffed vegetables: Mix cooked ground meat with a few cups of cooked rice, season with basil, parsley, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stuff some hollowed tomatoes (add the inside to the stuffing mix), cored zucchini, and peppers with the mixture, and bake in the oven, tightly packed together for about half an hour at 350.
10. Finally, although I cook from scratch most nights, and strongly favor organic and wholesome foods, sometimes, when I’m tired and hungry, Hamburger Helper Lasagna does the trick. Add a can of chopped tomatoes and some steamed broccoli for some semblance of health.
