greek orzo, lemon and chicken soup

After my last post about caramelized shallot mac-and-cheese, one AHB reader reminded me that more new year's resolutions are about eating healthier, not necessarily eating more mac-and-cheese. So, I found a great option in my "New England Soup Factory" cookbook. This broth-based soup is full of protein, and the spinach packs in fiber, iron and vitamins, while the lemon adds flavor without a lot of calories. You can go back for a second (or third) bowl and not feel guilty.

Grocery list: 10 cups chicken stock (will include instructions for making this at home below), 3/4 cup orzo, 4 eggs, 3 lemons, 1 cups chopped cooked chicken, 1 pound fresh spinach. For chicken stock, you'll need a 2-3 each yellow onions, carrots and celery stalks, bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, half a bunch of parsley, 5 garlic cloves, a

handful of whole peppercorns, and 2-3 pounds chicken thighs (bone-in and skin-on).



To make chicken stock, put all the ingredients in a large stock pot and cover with water. (Peel the carrots and slice into 2-3 inch pieces; chop the celery into thirds; peel the garlic cloves and add whole to the pot.) In addition to the 2-3 pounds chicken thighs, you can add a whole chicken breast (skin-on and bone-in too), but instead of leaving it in for the full 3 hours, you can remove it when it's cooked for 30-40 minutes. This is the chicken you can pull off the bone and then cube to use in the soup. If you were to leave it in for the full 3 hours, it would probably be too tough to use in the soup.



Bring the stock to a slow boil over medium high heat, then turn down the heat to a simmer. If you opt to cook the chicken for cubing this way, remove it with tongs from the stock pot and allow to cool a bit, then peel the meat away from the bones. Return the bones and the skin back to the pot, so it can continue adding its flavor to the stock. Add more water over time if the stock cooks down. Simmer for at least 3 hours. Allow to cool, then strain in a mesh strainer. You can freeze extra stock in ziploc bags too.



Now, for the soup. Measure 10 cups of your homemade stock into a large soup pot, and heat over high heat to boiling. While the stock is heating, zest 2 of the 3 lemons. Juice all 3 lemons. When the stock is boiling, add the orzo and stir. Cook for 5 minutes.



Beat 4 eggs together, then slowly pour into the stock pot while stirring constantly.



The egg will cook immediately into little fluffy string shapes.



Add the cooked chicken, lemon zest, lemon juice and fresh spinach to the pot, and bring the soup back to a gentle boil.



When the spinach has wilted, turn the heat off, and season the soup with salt and pepper.

salmon with tarragon mustard glaze

I'm finally back in my own kitchen after 2 weeks in Sri Lanka. Instead of my normal flurry of kitchen activity after a trip, which usually ensues after I've missed cooking for a while, I've been completely laid out with jet lag. It's especially bad since I've had 3 new cooking magazines to look through, and have about 200 recipes tagged to try.

The only thing I've had energy to cook is this roast salmon from Bon Appetit. And if there's anything getting up from a semi-comatose state on the couch for, it would be this salmon. Tangy yet sweet, slightly crispy on the outside, it's just perfect. The recipe calls for a 3 pound side of salmon, but I only cooked a pound (so I only made a half batch of sauce - enough for A to have extra so he could pretend he wasn't eating salmon).

Grocery list: 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup spicy brown mustard, 3 T each finely chopped chives and tarragon, zest of 1 lemon, juice from half a lemon, 1 T brown sugar.



Mix all the ingredients for the sauce.



Place the salmon (skin-side down) on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.



Spoon just enough sauce over the salmon to cover the top of the fish - about one third of the total sauce. Roast at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, or until the inside is opaque and flakes easily. Serve with the extra sauce.

steak with parmesan butter, balsamic glaze & arugula

A lot of food blogs have had posts lately about "the last cookout of the year," but we're fortunate in Atlanta that grilling is not limited to any season. If I've had a bad day and need to feel better, or if I've had a great day and want to celebrate it, a steak is my go-to meal. This recipe from October's Bon Appetit is perfect for any occasion. They describe the steak salad as "simple and sophisticated" - and I can't say it any better.

Grocery list (for 2 entree salad): 1 or 2 rib-eye steaks, 1 package arugula, grated parmesan + parmesan shavings, 1.5 T butter, olive oil, 1/4 c balsamic vinegar, 1/4 c chopped shallots, pinch dark brown sugar, 1 lemon.



Soften the butter to room temperature, then mix in 2 T grated parmesan, and salt & pepper to taste.



Season steak with salt and pepper, then grill over medium high heat. (Note, the recipe calls for sauteing steak, and then finishing off the glaze in the same pan - I opted for the outdoor grill.) Cook to medium rare, transfer to plate, and allow to rest under foil.



Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small saucepan (or the same pan you cooked the steaks in, if you go that route), then add vinegar, shallots and sugar.



Boil until reduced to glaze - I found it took about 5 minutes. Divide arugula and parmesan shavings between 2 plates, squeeze lemon juice over the top.



Slice the steak and top with the butter, then serve the steak over the arugula. Drizzle the glaze over top.

lamb cacciatore

Ah, one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco is SPQR. I originally read about it in Food & Wine magazine, and took my little brother there for his birthday. We were fortunate enough to get seats at the "chef's counter" - basically a bar setup over the kitchen, where you can watch the meals being prepared. The best part was hearing the lead chef talk to the line cooks. He would taste some of the dishes under way and tell the line cooks what was missing. My favorite overheard quote was "more salt, more salt! If it's not over-salted it's under-seasoned!" So I was justifiably excited - practically giddy - when I saw the September 2008 Bon Appetit, the "Restaurant Issue": recipes from SPQR! I did not have this lamb cacciatore at the restaurant, but I will try it when I'm back in the bay area to see how it compared to my own version.

Grocery list: 3 pounds boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch chunks [note, ask your butcher, but I substituted shoulder and it was only $5 a pound - you have to trim it anyway, so it was perfect in my opinion]; 1/4 cup white wine, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil, 2T chopped fresh rosemary, 1 T chopped fresh oregano, 1 T chopped fresh mint, 4 anchovy fillets chopped (or 1-2 T anchovy paste), 1 bag fresh arugula, lemon wedges.

Drizzle wine over lamb pieces and season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, make the marinade by mashing garlic with 4T olive oil, then mixing in all the herbs and anchovies.



Stir into lamb, cover with saran wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours.



The recipe says you can cook the lamb either over a grill (using metal skewers to make kabobs), or by sauteing - I used the latter method.



Heat 1 T oil in large pan, then saute lamb in batches over high heat, about 5-6 minutes for medium-rare. Toss the arugula with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Serve the lamb over the arugula with lemon wedges on the side.

cookbook review: raising the salad bar

I heard about this cookbook on NPR, where they were reviewing their favorite 10 new cookbooks, and had to order it. Here's a little background: I already cook what I believe to be "healthy." This doesn't mean dieting or counting calories at all; my definition of healthy involves eating organic fruits and vegetables, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats, seafood harvested in a sustainable way, whole grains, and above all, no processed foods (i.e. "made from scratch" whenever possible). Because A has a ridiculous daily requirement for protein, I've found myself cooking a less-than-ideal ratio of meats to everything else. This has been bothering me lately, and I won't get into all the reasons here (some related to consuming more than my fair share of natural resources, some purely health related). So I'm going to make an effort to make more creative salads and vegetables as the focus, with smaller portions of meat, and fish in lieu of red meat more often. That's why this book really caught my attention.

I started by making the cover recipe, an arugula and avocado salad, with a light lemon and olive oil dressing with a little shaved parmesan. (I took half a leftover chicken breast, combined it with walnuts and grapes, mayo & dijon, to make a small portion of chicken salad, stuffed into a small pita pocket - a great "side" to the salad!) The recipe makes 4 servings; I halved it for 2 salads. The half recipe is below.



The dressing was simple: one garlic clove, minced, plus the juice of half a lemon and a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil. Toss this with 2 cups of arugula, and divide onto 2 plates. Slice half an avocado and arrange the slices over the salad. Add a few strips of shaved parmesan, a pinch of sea salt and fresh cracked pepper on top.



Here's the result - looks pretty similar to the photo on the cover, right? The fact that the recipe turned out like the picture is one of my criteria for a positive cookbook review; the other is the actual recipe tasting delicious. So far so good! I'll post another salad later and see if the trend continues...

is it summer in atlanta or winter in northern italy?

This is what I made for dinner last night: roast beef braised in red wine and artichoke risotto. Makes perfect sense for a 93 degree day in Atlanta...?? Let me explain. Last week I was in Sri Lanka (yes, I sandbag my blog posts sometimes), and although the food was delicious, I missed red meat, my beloved Italian food, and most of all, COOKING. So I figured I would make a few favorites for dinner last night, not caring if I heated up the oven (and the rest of the loft) for 3 hours roasting meat, or having to stand over a boiling pot stirring chicken broth constantly for 45 minutes. And I'm so glad I did.

Grocery list: (for the roast) 2-4 pounds roast (I used a 2 pound local eye of round roast), 1-2 vidalia onions, handful peeled garlic cloves, some carrots, rosemary, sage or bay leaves, beef stock, 1 bottle red wine; (for the risotto) 2 cups arborio rice, 1 quart chicken stock, 1/2 to 1 jar marinated artichokes, parmesan cheese, butter, olive oil, white wine (1/2 - 1 cup), 2 cloves garlic, 1 small white onion finely chopped, 1 lemon.



This whole dinner started with an incident at the meat counter at WF. I was standing there waiting for another cut of meat I ordered, when I noticed this pile of different types of roasts from a local butcher. One of them, an eye of round roast, seemed to be looking at me directly, saying "cook me, cook me!". True story. So I asked the butcher to tie him up, although I've never cooked this cut of meat before. After a little googling, I found this great recipe from Lidia's Italy on Epicurious. I actually had a bottle of Barolo in my wine cellar (AKA bathroom closet), but it was too expensive to cook with so I went with a Shiraz. Making this Italian-Australian roast beef. Anyway, start by seasoning the meat on all sides with salt and pepper, then sear it in a dutch oven over med-high heat in olive oil.



Once the meat has been seared on all sides (about 1 minute per side), remove it from the pan, add a little more olive oil, then cook the vegetables. I used 2 small vidalia onions, quartered, and half a bag of baby carrots, plus 6-8 whole garlic cloves. The original recipe calls for celery too, but I skipped it. After a few minutes, add a whole sprig of rosemary and a couple of sage or bay leaves. Make a little space for the roast and return it to the pan.



Pour in a bottle of wine, and then add beef stock (1-2 cups), enough to go up the sides of the roast about halfway. Heat on the stove until the liquid is steaming but not boiling, then move to an oven and roast at 250 degrees. Every 30 minutes, flip the roast over. For a 2 pound roast, you could cook this for 2-2 1/2 hours; for a larger 4-6 pound roast, the recipe says you can cook for 4 - 4 1/2 hours. A meat thermometer would really help here (I don't have one and ended up overcooking the meat a bit).



During the last 30 minute rotation for the roasting meat, I made the risotto. I make these fairly often actually and have never followed a recipe. Last night I wanted something with a salty kick to go with the meat - something with olives or lemons maybe. When I saw the recipe for lemon and artichoke risotto from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, I knew it would be perfect. As with all risottos, you start by sauteing the onion and garlic in olive oil until softened.



Next, add 2 cups arborio rice and stir to coat the rice with the olive oil. Turn the heat up to med-high and keep stirring. The rice will start to fry and turn slightly translucent - that's when you add about a glass of white wine (1/2 - 1 cup). While this is absorbing, heat the chicken stock so it's hot but not boiling. Add a ladle of the stock at a time to the rice, stirring frequently. Allow the stock to absorb before adding the next ladleful. When you've added it all, the rice should be a smooth creamy texture (takes 15-20 minutes). Turn off the heat and add 2-4 T butter and about 1/2 cup of grated parmesan. Cover and let stand for a couple of minutes. Then stir, season with salt and pepper, and add the zest and juice of 1 lemon and some chopped artichokes. Jamie's recipe calls for cooking fresh artichokes during the rice-cooking phase, but I didn't miss cooking *that* much - I went with a nice jar of marinated artichokes from the farmers market.



When the roast is as done as you like it, remove it from the oven and set to rest on a cutting board. Scoop out the vegetables and place on a long serving dish. Move the pan on the stove and heat the braising liquid till boiling - keep cooking it till it is reduced to a syrupy consistency. Slice the roast beef on the diagonal and lay on top of the vegetables; spoon the sauce over top.

lemon and herb crusted halibut over arugula salad

Pacific halibut is now available at WF here in Atlanta, and I can't stop thinking about new ways to try it. I found this Emeril recipe and when I saw that it involves painting the fillet with dijon mustard (before pressing with lemon zest and herbs), it reminded me of this delicious vinaigrette concoction featured on Orangette a few weeks ago. I decided to make my own version of the lemon-herb mixture, sear the fillet, then serve over a simple arugula salad - summery, light, but tangy enough to it complements this delicate whitefish. A perfect weeknight meal for hot Atlanta weather (at least while halibut is available).

Grocery list: 1 pound halibut fillet, cream, dijon mustard (roland extra strong is what Orangette recommends - it's my favorite as well), white or red wine vinegar, 1 garlic clove, zest of 1 lemon, thyme, parsley, heavy cream, olive oil.



To make the vinaigrette, mix 4 T olive oil, 3 T heavy cream, 2 T wine vinegar, 1 mashed garlic clove, 1 tsp dijon (note - I started with just the oil, garlic and dijon base, adding more like 1 T of dijon, in order to use part of it to coat the halibut, which I'll get to below). Whisk and season with salt and pepper.



For the halibut, zest the lemon and mince the thyme and parsley - about 1 T of each. Mix with 1-2 tsp sea salt and lots of black pepper. The original recipe also calls for dill and chevril, but I was just using what I had in the fridge.



On the skinless side of the fillet, coat with the dijon mixture, then coat with the lemon zest / herbs, pressing to stick as much as possible to the dijon. Heat the oven to 450 degrees, and heat an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. Place the fish herb side down (in 1-2 T of olive oil), cook for 3 minutes, then flip so the skin side is down. Cook another 3 minutes, then place in the oven and roast until the fish is opaque and flakes easily. The roasting time will depend on how thick the fillet is - mine was about 1.5 inches, and it took 10 minutes of oven time before it was done. I like finishing this way because you get the crispy outside from searing, without worrying about burning the fish. Plus, when you remove it from the pan, the skin falls right off, staying behind in the hot pan.



Toss the dressing with fresh arugula, and serve the fish on top of the salad.

lemon ricotta pasta with pine nuts and roast chicken

This recipe meets several requirements for the "weekday rotation" in my house: fast (literally 30 minutes start to finish, less if you buy a rotisserie chicken), and lots of protein. If I'm making pasta, I've got to sneak in as much as possible -- did you know part-skim ricotta is a very lean form of protein? Combined with the chicken, this dish has at least 30 grams of protein per serving, meaning it passes my meat-head boyfriend's standards. This is much tastier than a chalky protein powder drink too.

Grocery list: chicken (either 1 pound of boneless skin-on chicken breast, or 1 rotisserie chicken), 1 pound of farfalle (bowtie) pasta, lemons, basil, pine nuts, 1 15-oz container of ricotta, plus garlic & thyme if you're roasting your own chicken.

I've covered roast chicken breast before (here's the full post), but to show how to prep all of this together in 30 minutes, I'll touch on a few points. While you preheat the oven to 400 degrees, mince a few garlic cloves and thyme leaves, pour some salt and a tsp of olive oil on it, and mash together with the flat side of your knife or with tines of a fork. Spread the paste under the skin of the chicken breast, slip a couple of thin slices of lemon under there too, and drizzle olive oil all over the chicken. Season with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes.



While the chicken roasts, bring your pasta water to boil and prep the other ingredients. Zest a couple of lemons, and chop 1-2 handfuls of basil leaves. Toast a handful of pine nuts in a small fry pan. Cook the pasta (usually 12 minutes for farfalle), drain quickly and return to the pot. When the chicken is done roasting, turn the oven off and let the chicken rest in the oven for another 5 minutes.



Stir in enough olive oil to coat the pasta -- 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Drop the ricotta in spoonfuls, and stir in the lemon zest and pine nuts. Shred the chicken (discard the skin and lemon slices, but keep all the good bits of garlic and thyme) and stir into the pasta. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

walnut-crusted tilapia with lemon cream sauce

This is a new recipe for me, and although there are a few technicalities I'll address next time I make it (not chopping the walnuts as fine, for one), it was absolutely delicious. Tilapia is my new favorite fish -- only $9 a pound, from WF, where they promise it is farmed in an eco-friendly and sustainable way, plus tender and incredibly mild and full of protein... So any dish I run across these days that calls for a mild white fish is getting swapped out for tilapia. The lemon cream sauce adds a tangy richness to the salty crispy fish; it's just perfect.

Grocery list: 4 tilapia filets, 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup breadcrumbs, parsley, 1 sprig rosemary, butter, 1.5 cups half-and-half, sour cream, 2 lemons.



First, make the lemon cream sauce. A little note about zesting lemons: if you don't have a microplane grater, you are missing out (about $12, one of the best kitchen tools ever). I went years thinking I had one but didn't -- turns out it was a paddle grater -- and zesting a lemon used to take about 20 minutes and a lot of swearing. Now it takes less than 1 minute. Anyway, continuing with the sauce: bring the half-and-half to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and reduce by about half. Add the zest of 2 lemons, and the juice of one of them, plus a few T of sour cream. Stir well, and remove from heat. Stir every now and then while cooking the fish.



Next, toast the walnuts over medium heat in a frying pan. When they start to glisten and make a tiny hissing sound, it's time to turn off the heat. Stir them several times; let them cool.



Making the crust in the food processor was very easy, but I'm going to describe it in the order I'll follow next time, not the order I went in last night. Last night, the crust ended up being too finely chopped, since I started with the walnuts and every time I added other ingredients they kept getting pulverized. Chop a handful of parsley leaves and the leaves of the rosemary (remove the stem). Add the walnuts. Remove the blade from the processor, then stir in salt, pepper, and 1 cup of breadcrumbs.



To prepare the fish, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Melt half a stick of butter. Coat each filet with butter, then press the walnut crumb mixture onto the outside. Don't shake off the excess -- in fact, do the opposite. Press as much of the walnut mix as you can onto the fish.



When all 4 filets are on the baking sheet, take any remaining walnut mix and press a little extra onto the tops of each. If there's any remaining melted butter, you can drizzle that on top as well.



Bake for 12 minutes, until the tilapia is flaky and white inside. Serve with a few spoonfuls of the lemon cream sauce. I also served this with the watercress apple salad and sweet potato fries.

roasted halibut with citrus olive tapenade

In my quest to eat fish once per week (our previous trend of steak 3 times a night was probably more fun for me than my arteries), I've discovered the simple pleasure of this combination: olives and fish. Yes, really. This unique tapenade would work well on top of any white fish, either pan fried or roasted. If you have a very thin, skinless piece of fish, like tilapia, I would recommend just dusting it with flour and then pan frying it. Halibut is finally back in season, so I had to go with that, and since this is typically a much thicker cut of fish, roasting is my favorite method. It keeps the fish so tender and succulent, but still a little crispy outside.

Grocery list: handful of green olives, 1 navel orange, 1 lemon, a few sprigs of parsley, 2 garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, olive oil, fish (about 1 pound for 2 people).



Start by prepping the tapenade (it will only get better as the flavors steep later, when you're cooking the fish). Mince the garlic, zest the orange and lemon -- about 1 tsp of each. Finely chop the parsley. Over a bowl, so you can catch all the juice, start peeling the orange. You want to remove all the white pith, even the stuff inside in between pieces. Little bite size pieces of orange go in with the other ingredients. Add a splash of the reserved orange juice, a squeeze of 1/2 lemon (save the other half of the zested lemon for the asparagus, if you serve that on the side), and a little (1 T?) of red wine vinegar. Stir and set aside.

To roast the halibut, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, then heat a heavy skillet over med-high heat. Add a T olive oil and 1 T butter. Salt and pepper the fish, then dredge in just enough flour to coat. Cook skin side up for 4-5 minutes, until brown, then flip the fish over. Place in the oven and cook for about 10-12 minutes more.

When you remove the skillet from the oven, the fish should easily separate from the skin (if, like me, you don't like that part). Top with the tapenade to serve.