Cheever Sauce

Coconut Crusted Tilapia with Vegetable Mint Salsa

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:29:00 -0400

Sometimes it’s fight night inside my head. In one corner is my healthy, fit, skinny (!), self whose already drank her eight servings of water a day, ran 4 miles, and went to Bikram yoga…twice. And putting on her gloves in the other corner is my more lazier, indulgent, woke up at noon but will muster up enough energy to fight for right to eat carbs self. It’s easy to predict which side battles for the healthy meals and which one screams, “It’s Sunday and Westville’s Mac and Cheese is so close and accessible!” And while I would hope that after a couple rounds, my healthy side will win, it’s always good to have a back up plan.

This meal is a perfect compromise. A white flag if you will, that surrenders and satisfies both sides of my subconscious. This fish is light and fluffy and preparing it with a coconut crust is the perfect amount of indulgence that doesn’t put me over the edge. Oh, and did I mention that it tastes absolutely, positively, and incredibly delicious. The coconut crust has that deceptive deep fried feelings to it without all the added fat. This crunchy sweet fish is perfectly complimented by the salsa’s bitter radishes, cool cucumbers, fresh mint, mild scallions and bold garlic. It’s a genius combination of flavors and you can’t get enough.

All in all this an amazing summer dish, that offers a fun mix of ingredients and flavors reminiscent of a tropical island feast. I served it with a side of brown basmati rice which I later mixed with the leftover salsa for my lunch the next day. If you’re looking for something new and different to make for dinner this week that satisfies both your healthy and indulgent sides - this meal is a winner.

Read on for the recipe adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen:

Prepare the Salsa First: (I made extra than original recipe called for)

Dice 1 large cucumber (seeds removed), 4 radishes, and 1 red pepper into 1/4-inch cubes.
Combine with a small handful of chopped mint, a dash of sugar, a couple dashes of red pepper flakes, 2 minced garlic cloves, 3 thinly sliced scallions (white and green parts), a 2 count pour of safflower oil (or olive or whatever oil you have if you don’t want to buy safflower or grapeseed oil), and fresh juice from 1 lime. Mix well and place in refrigerator for an hour or at least while you prepare your fish.

To Prepare Tilapia:

Take out 3 shallow bowls or deep dishes. In one put a handful of flour, a dash of salt, and a dash of pepper. In the second put egg whites (enough to coat your fish). In the third, combine a handful of whole wheat panko crumbs, a handful of unsweetened shredded coconut, and some salt and pepper.
Rinse your tilapia filet and pat dry. Lightly dust both sides with flour, then transfer to the egg whites, flipping to coat. Last, place the filets in the coconut-panko mixture, pressing it onto the filet and flipping to coat both sides. Continue same process with how much fish you need to cook.
In a large saute pan heat a 4 count of safflower oil (good for cooking on a high heat - but olive oil is fine too) until just smoking. Add your fish and cover the pan, letting the fish cook for about 3-4 minutes depending on how thick the filet is. Flip the filet when it easily releases from the bottom and cook on the other side for the same amount of time. The fish is done when the crust is brown and the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
Top the fish with the salsa a serve along side whole wheat basmati rice.
Garnish with fresh mint leaves and enjoy

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Shrimp and Vegetable Curry

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:22:00 -0400

Pushing your boundaries. Some people sky-dive, some rock climb, others will run a marathon. I cook Thai. While this may bring on some eye rolls, it’s actually a big deal for me to cook up a cuisine I’m typically not used to preparing, especially when there are so many pros doing it around the city.

When I need to go Thai, curry always hits the spot. More times than not, I always find that the curry dish I want on the menu doesn’t have enough of the delicious ingredients I’m looking for. I always embarrass whoever I am eating with by pestering the waiter, “Can you add baby corn? And maybe some shrimp too? Oh! and pineapple, yes I’ll have some pineapple too with that.”

This dish is perfect for someone like me who wants pretty much everything, because it’s just a simple curry sauce recipe. All I had to do was steam up my favorite veggies and pour the sauce over them to enjoy my perfectly balanced Thai feast.

Read on for the recipe adapted from Paul Jarvi’s Eat Awesome

Pour 1 can of coconut milk, a few handfuls of cilantro, a 2 count pour of tamari and maple syrup, 2 cloves of garlic, an equal amount of fresh ginger (grated from the root), 2 tbs. of curry (I didn’t really measure this I just kept adding curry spice until it looked the right color and tasted right) and some red pepper flakes in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Transfer to a saucepan and heat on low heat until warm.
Serve sauce over steamed veggies. I included sweet potato, red peppers, onion, eggplant, bamboo shoots, and bean spouts. Add cooked shrimp if desired.
Top with chopped cashews and enjoy!

Super Super Easy: Baked White Fish with Mediterranean Topping

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:52:00 -0400

If I am in a rush and find myself with hardly any time to cook dinner, fish is usually my go-to for a quick and easy meal. Line a baking tray with some tin foil, slab on a nice piece of fresh fish, add a delicious topping, bake, and voila! Dinner. Eating fish always makes me feel super healthy and satisfied without leaving me overly full, which is generally the aim I go for when cooking…. even if that doesn’t always happen.

I’ve been making this dish for myself for some time now, and it’s a classic example of how to make an impressive dish with minimal ingredients. I was inspired to make this after eating a similar plate at Tia Pol in Chelsea a couple years ago. Tia Pol is known for their amazing tapas, and this dish came on a sizzling plate drenched in Mediterranean goodness. I remember being taken aback how delicious such a simple fish could taste and realized the combination of flavorful ingredients like warm olives, capers, shallots, and basil, really brought the dish to a whole new level.

Tia Pol’s dish was also baked in oil and butter which certainly added to its rich flavor, but I decided to lighten up my version by swapping those out for fresh lemon juice. Personally, I love this variation more because the lemon juice ads a sweet tang to the dish, which is a nice contrast to the strong flavors that make up the fish’s topping. This dish is super super easy because it takes just 5 minutes to prep your topping, and only 20 minutes to bake. It’s a great fast solution to a typical “what to make for dinner” dilemma that doesn’t taste like your typical everyday meal.

Read on for the recipe!

Based on the amount of fish you are cooking, chop up an even amount of the following ingredients - enough to cover your fish: green olives, fresh tomatoes, shallots, garlic, basil. Add whole capers.
Line a baking sheet with tin foil and set a piece of white fish on top. I used red snapper but sole, talapia, halibut, or branzino would work great too. Top your fish with fresh squeezed lemon juice.
Add your Mediterranean topping and bake on 400 for 20 minutes or until your fish is cooked through.
Enjoy!

Cheeversauce tip: top on a bed of arugala or alongside your favorite green veggie. Follow with a strong piece of minty gum. :)

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Spicy Shredded Chicken Chili

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:56:00 -0400

I’ve kept this chili recipe on the back burner for a while. I was waiting to post it on that unbearably cold day that usually comes around this time of year. You know, to remind us that winter isn’t finished with us yet, usually freezing one into a depression because you begin to believe the cold will engulf you forever. Whelp, it’s now looking like we’re being spared this misery, so I am posting this as an au revoir to Winter: “Thanks! It’s been great. I appreciate the brief visit…I never really got wear my new snow boots but maybe see you in November? If you decide to even show up at all next year.”

Cold weather or warm weather, this recipe is the best chili you will ever cook in your life. My mom made it often for our family growing up. I. Could. Not. Get. Enough. It is incredibly flavorful and delicious, yet also surprisingly light for a hearty chili with not one unhealthy ingredient in the recipe. The chicken and beans give it its sustenance and ingredients like onions, jalapeno peppers, dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce add a lot of kick and zing to the dish.

I was originally motivated to make this chili on my own (typically I ask…or beg for it on visits home to CT) when I couldn’t help but buy one of those “raised on an organic farm, happily fed and taken care of, lays golden eggs every morning” chickens from the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the vendor instructed me to boil this chicken “as long as I could possibly bear to.” Ummm ok….

Nevertheless, I’m a sucker for slow cooking and I knew that I wanted my chili to have that pulled chicken consistency. Boiling the full chicken for 4 hours also allowed me to use homemade chicken stock where it called for it in the recipe, which really amped up the flavor. You could of course just boil your chicken normally and use store bought stock, but if you have the time, I would definitely recommend trying out the slow cooked route….as long as you can possibly bear to.

Read on for the recipe:

I know it seems super lazy that I am inserting the actual original recipe my dad took a picture of and texted me into my post, but in reality I followed this step by step with no other personal changes or additions besides how I prepared the chicken. I couldn’t have written it any better (and against typical CheeverSauce fashion I actually measured this all out because I wanted to make it perfectly) so:

Read
Prepare
and as always - Enjoy!

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Oyster Mushroom, Corn, and Edamame Farro Risotto with Melted Gouda

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:12:00 -0500

This definitely isn’t your classic risotto dish. In fact, there is nothing about this dish that resembles risotto other than the fact that it contains a grain that was slowly cooked in broth to a “creamy” consistency. I use that word lightly because I didn’t use parmesan cheese or butter, which most recipes call for. I did however include the classic risotto method of stirring in hot stock into the uncooked rice, a ladleful at a time, cooking slowly as the stock is absorbed. This is a crucial step because it releases the grain’s starches, giving you a nice creamy, velvety dish.

I recently bought some farro and oysters mushrooms at the farmer’s market, so my original intention was to cook just a mushroom risotto. However, because of time and budget restraints (whomp whomp), I usually need dishes to last me a couple meals. I figured the corn and edamame peas I had in my freezer would add some hearty flavor and diversity to the dish, making it more of a meal and less of a side dish.

I have to say, despite the stockpiling of random ingredients I threw into this dish, it came together very nicely and tasted absolutely delicious. The dish as a whole is packed with energizing nutrients with no skimp on flavor.

Onward to the recipe loosely adapted from Gourmetmix:

Don’t be intimidated by how many steps there are in the cooking process. All were very easy, and it’s well worth the time as the dish will last you for several meals.

To prepare farro:

Soak 1 cup of farro in cold water for 20 minutes, drain in a colander, and rinse well. Then bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium-high heat, add farro, and simmer 20 minutes. When finished, drain farro, then cool it by rinsing under cold water; set aside.

To prepare veggies:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Toss 1 lb of oyster mushrooms with 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper and spread out on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven until edges are slightly brown, about 25 minutes, tossing half way through. Remove from oven and keep warm until serving.
Bring a pot of water (I rinsed out same pot I used for farro) to a boil over high heat.
Add 1 bag of frozen edamame and 1 bag of frozen corn (fresh corn would be great here when it’s in season. If using fresh corn skip boiling it) and cook until both are just tender/lightly undercooked about 3 minutes. Remove veggies from water, drain, and add to a sauté pan. Sauté with a small amount of butter and olive oil and season with salt, and pepper for 5 minutes.

To prepare Risotto:

Heat 2 cups of low-sodium vegetable brothin a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a simmer, then reduce heat to low so it is at a bare simmer while you prepare the risotto.
In a large saucepan heat2-count pour of olive oilover medium-high heat. Add2 minced shallots, andseason with pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened but not browned, about 2 minutes.
Add cooked farro and stir to coat grains in oil; cook farro until outer coating of grain is glossy and a toasty aroma rises from the pot, about 3 minutes.
Add2/3 cup of dry white wineto the farro and stir until it has evaporated. Add a ladleful of warm broth and cook, stirring frequently, until farro has almost completely absorbed it, about 2 minutes.
Add another ladleful of broth and stir until almost all of it is absorbed. (Do not let the pan get dry—there should be a constant veil of stock over the farro at all times.)Continue adding ladlefuls of broth, stirring frequently and tasting regularly, until farro is tender but firm to the bite. The indentation in the farro grain will open and puff when completely cooked, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from heat and gently fold in corn, edamame, lemon zest from 1 lemon, 2 spoons of chopped thyme, 2 spoons of parsley, 1/2 cup of shaved aged Gouda.Season with salt and pepper.
Shave extra Gouda over top if desired.
Enjoy!

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Super Super Easy: Blueberry Balsamic Steak with Kale and Blue Cheese Salad

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:08:00 -0500

My timing is the worst because this would have been a great post for Valentine’s Day. Something about this meal felt incredibly romantic. Is red meat still considered an aphrodisiac? The sweet blueberry sauce was also giving off its own intoxicating, amorous aroma. Everything in this dish came together beautifully, so despite the Super Super Easy tag, it was still Super Super Special.

I totally stole the idea for this dish from the steak meal of all steak meals in Italy…a dish I didn’t even eat firsthand, which can be found at Aqua Al 2 in Florence. As a food blogger it’s pretty embarrassing to admit I have never been to Italy. And I realize going abroad to Florence is like a right of passage for most girls raised in Connecticut, but in college I had shit to do, which didn’t include going abroad. I’ll make up for it when CheeverSauce goes international and I’m cooking pizza out of my own Tuscan wood burning stove.

Nevertheless, I heard this steak was pretty amazing, and a highlight of everyone I know who’s made the trip to Florence, so it’s been on my list of food to cook on my own as the concept sounded easy enough to guess and replicate. Turns out, it was even easier to replicate then planned. The whole thing came together with minimal ingredients in 15 minutes, and I sided it with a raw kale and blue cheese salad because…well…nothing beats the combination of blue cheese and red meat.

Onwards to the recipe:

For Steak:

In a shallow dish, mix together 6 count of balsamic vinegar, 2 count of soy sauce and a 2 count of olive oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder on each side of the steak and marinate in the vinegar mixture for 30 minutes. (I marinated for 15 while I prepped the rest and still tasted amazing)
Grill or broil your steaks to your desired specifications. I broiled mine for 3 minutes on each side, and then turned down to heat to 500 degrees and cooked for 3 more minutes for a medium cook.

For Sauce:

In a small sauce pan, combine 1/2 cup of blueberries, 6 count of balsamic vinegar, a dash of sugar, 2 count of soy sauce and garlic powder.
Simmer until the sauce thickens. Once the blueberries soften, smash a few of them to release the juice. Top on your steak.

Kale and Blue Cheese Salad:

At the bottom of a salad bowl whisk together a spoonful of chopped garlic, a 5-count drizzle of honey, a 6-count pour of red wine vinegar, a 5-count pour of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a pinch pepper.
Add two handfuls of sliced almonds (walnuts would be good too), two handfuls of golden raisins, and crumbled blue cheese.
Add chopped kale from 1 head of raw kale. Toss the salad
Enjoy!

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Scallion Meatballs with Soy-Ginger Glaze

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:48:00 -0500

I don’t always post the food I make in the order I make it, so it’s a little coincidental that I am posting two soy sauce based, glazed dishes, one after another. I love these dishes because accompanying soy sauce with flavors like ginger and honey, really masks its strong flavor, that sometimes tends to be a little too much for me, and I’ll eat something that is “glazed” any day.

Anyway, meatballs are allll the rage right now. The Meatball Shop (yes for all your non-New Yorkers, there is a shop…in Manhattan….that just serves meatballs….) is sprouting up new locations faster than you can say polpetta. And I can’t turn my head without finding a restaurant that serves up this delectable fair.

To tell you the honest truth, I’m not a huge meatball person. I totally dig the whole concept of them, but for some reason they never really stuck with me. I enjoy them at restaurants and when others make them, but not enough to cook up my own. But something really struck me about these scallions meatballs. An asian meatball seamed like such an antithesis of meatballs. Shouldn’t this Italian staple be covered in red sauce and cheese? I was intrigued, which meant only one thing, it was time to roll up my sleeves and cook my very first meatball.

All I can say is that I am now hooked! They were super easy to make - just throw all the ingredients into a bowl, mix, and cook. Each bite was loaded with the flavors of sweet, juicy, and tangy meat. It tasted like an inside of the most perfect dumpling…in the best possible way. The sauce/glaze that accompanied them was beyond restaurant quality, and I ended up jarring some to cook with eggplant later in the week. These are a must try that I can’t recommend enough. :)

Read on for the delicious recipe adapted from Canal House Cooking:

These can be cooked either in a skillet like above or baked (the latter being the healthier option)

Make sauce: Use 1/2 of a cup of all ingredients unless otherwise noted.

Bring dark brown sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar melts completely.
Reduce heat to a medium-low and add soy sauce, mirin (I used white wine/sugar mixture), 1/4 cup of fresh grated ginger, black pepper to taste.
Simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, about 30 minutes.
Keep it on a back burner, stirring it frequently, while browning the meatballs in the next step.

Make meatballs:

Mix 1 lb of ground turkey, 1 head of chopped scallions, 1 handful of shopped cilantro, 1 egg, 3 count pour of sesame oil, 3 count pour of soy sauce and several grindings of black pepper in a bowl. Mix with a fork.
Roll tablespoon-sized knobs of the mixture into balls.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, generously cover bottom of pan with vegetable oil. Working in batches to avoid crowding, place meatballs in pan and cook, turning, until browned all over and cooked inside, about 8 minutes per batch.
Spoon a little sauce over each meatball, and enjoy!

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Super Super Easy: Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon with Bok Choy

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:38:00 -0500

Sometimes I get carried away with what kind of food I can whip up in this little kitchen of mine. I have that mentality that if some of the top chefs in NYC can work out of some of the smallest kitchens in the United States, so can I. But I hear your plea for faster, easier, less ingredient dishes, so I am going to begin posting “Super Super Easy” meals that can be prepped in as little at 5 minutes, and ready to eat in less than 20 (Because I still feel that a lot of my recipes are just Super Easy). I’m not talking about plain baked fish and steamed veggies here…I do have a certain caliber for what’s considered a delicious dinner. Just some basic ingredients that you might not think to put together, that can offer a wonderful, easy to make meal.

So if you’re strapped for time, and looking for a last minute meal, resist the urge to visit your best friend Seamless and cook up a Super Super Easy CheeverSauce dish - you’ll surprise your closeted chef self with how easy it can be. The other week I only had salmon, bok choy, and other limited ingredients in my fridge, but this recipe is a classic case of how a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, goes a long way.

Onto the recipe from Serious Eats:

Preheat oven to broil. Whisk together a cup of soy sauce, juice from one lemon, 5 squirts of honey (about a 1/4 cup), fresh grated ginger, and a spoonful of chopped garlic. Pour half of your marinade in a separate bowl and place your salmon, skin side up in marinade for 10-min (or half hour if you can spare the time).
Place fish skin side down in a baking pan, on the rack closest to the broiler. Do not turn. Broil until top is caramelized and the fish is cooked through, about 7-10 minutes depending on how thick your fish is.
Bring 1/4 cup of water to a boil in saucepan. Add your boy choy (2 heads per person) and let steam for about 4 minutes. Then add the marinade you set aside and toss to combine, cooking for another couple minutes until your sauce reduces. Remove from heat.
Arrange bok choy on plate, top with cooked salmon and enjoy!

Roasted Veggie Sandwich with a Light Arugula and Parsley Aioli

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:32:00 -0500

Everybody loves a great sandwich. A truly outstanding sandwich has just as much emphasis on the bread and a creative sauce, as the fresh and high quality ingredients that go inside. I am a sucker for sauces, especially on a sandwich, it just gives it that extra umph! we’re all looking for when we bite in between two pieces of bread. Big Macs didn’t become a hit for no reason…it’s all about the special sauce. So when I stumbled upon a recipe for an arugala and parsley aioli, I instantly knew I found the perfect companion to the roasted veggie sandwich I’ve been dying to make.

Preparing a veggie sandwich is one of the easiest things you can do and I prefer my veggies over deli meat. I chose some of my favorites to roast: portabella mushrooms, red peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. I put a little olive oil on the mushrooms, olive oil and garlic powder on the eggplant, and olive oil and rosemary on the tomatoes. I put everything on 1 baking sheet with the red peppers at 400 degrees, and watched them until I knew each was roasted properly. The mushrooms came out first, and I stuck my sheet back in to let the tomatoes, eggplant and red peppers cook a little longer. The peppers will be blistered and charred when done (Be sure to remove their skins before serving). Roast everything to your desired taste and remove from the oven.

I spread a little of the Arugula and Parlsey Aioli on one slice of whole grain crusty bread from Balthazar, and goat cheese on the other. I topped off my veggies and added some arugala for added texture. It’s simple and delicious and packs up easy for lunch the next day.

Read on for the recipe for Arugala and Parsley Aioli

For the Aioli:

1. Place a large handful of arugula, a handful of parsley, 2 spoons of chopped garlic, 1/3 cup of light mayonnaise, 1/3 cup of low-fat yogurt, 4 splashes of white wine vinegar, lemon zest, into food processor.

2. Pulse to blend.

3. Remove aioli to medium bowl.

4. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy on your favorite sandwich!

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POST UPDATE:

Had a lot of extra of the aioli so I roasted up some chicken breasts, shredded them, and mixed them in the sauce. Made for a great wrap with some more arugala.

Sour Cream Cornbread with Aleppo and Honeyed Butter

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:42:00 -0500

Nothing encourages a stay at home and cook all day marathon like fresh fallen snow. Seems a bit backwards that during my first winter snowfall, a time when most people are out skiing, sledding, ice skating, and enjoying the fresh powder, I chose to spend the day in my kitchen. I’m not sure whether my pessimistic New Yorker attitude, dreading the thought of trekking through street sludge, only to discover that ongoing traffic won’t even slow down for me when I inevitable slip on ice while crossing the street, was keeping me indoors today. Because even without these homebody thoughts, something about the crisp winter air was telling me it was a day for cooking, and that same voice was telling me it was a day for cornbread.

Like I’ve stated before, baking isn’t my thing. But the chilly air was making me crave something that would compliment the warm and cozy atmosphere of my apartment, and nothing screams soul and comfort like corn bread. I love this particular recipe because it’s different than the cornbread I am used to in restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, I love the taste of a nice, sweet, fluffy, cake-like bread, but I try to keep things on the lighter side here, and this recipe does the trick.

This bread contains no butter, minimal sugar, and the sour cream (I used low-fat and it didn’t affect the flavor a bit) gives it a nice gooey consistency. The best addition is the Aleppo, which is a Turkish bright red pepper flake. This adds a subtle kick to the bread, which is a perfect addition to the corn flavor (If you don’t have aleppo flakes, feel free to use red pepper - but just use a fraction of the amount). The taste feels like less of a dessert and more like a bread with it’s grainy, hearty texture. It’s delicious on it’s own with butter and honey, but also amazing alongside a warm soup or chili. I will most certainly be serving it for breakfast tomorrow with a fried egg or two…

Onward for the recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Generously grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan, or coat it with a nonstick spray.
Mix together 1 cup of all-purose flour, 1 cup of yellow cornmeal, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon dried aleppo flakes, 1/2 teaspoon table salt in a large bowl. (CheeverSauce note: I don’t have measuring spoons so I just used a small dinner spoon and a large dinner spoon for measuring - still came out delicious).
In a seperate bowl whisk together 1 large egg (lightly beaten), 1 cup low-fat sour cream, 1/3 cup buttermilk, and 2 tablespoons olive oil.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones, mixing until just barely combined.
Spread the batter in your prepared and bake for 22 to 25 minutes. A toothpick, or knife, inserted into the center should come out clean.
Slice and serve toasted with honey and butter.
Enjoy!

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Fresh & Light Crab Cakes with Jalapeño Tarter Sauce

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:43:00 -0500

Nothing is better than fresh shellfish…except when it’s free. When I say fresh, I mean the shellfish was still moving before I cooked it. When I say free, I mean I paid $2.50 for the subway ride from Matt’s studio, where I received it, to my kitchen. That’s right, another post about getting free ingredients from the chef series the photographer I work for is shooting…

This week, we had an amazing shoot with Sam Talbot, the Executive Chef at Surf Lodge (and a final contestant on Top Chef!). Not only is he an excellent chef, very down to earth, and dangerously handsome…he also is extremely generous. Post shoot, he left me with three extremely large Dungeness crabs to cook up for CheeverSauce.

I have to admit, I had my reservations - I never cooked a live crab before. Boiling them seemed easy enough, but for how long? Did I have a pot big enough? Would it scream like a lobster? Would I be found on my kitchen floor afterward…pinched to death? I was used to someone handing me crabs already cooked to a bright red perfection and I had never participated in actually taking the life away from something I was about to eat. Especially when it was sort of cute and looked like this:

(meet Moe, Larry, and Curly. So silly)

I decided it was time to behave like a serious chef and boil the damn crabs. And what better dish to whip up then an ultimate personal favorite -crab cakes.

During the cooking process, I just had to keep repeating Chef Talbot’s words, “crabs don’t have feelings,” over and over in my head. This was especially difficult when one tried to climb out (!) while half its body was being boiled alive. Thankfully, the rubber bands around its large pinchers made it impossible and this only lasted a second.

This crab cake recipe is my own combination of several recipes I found online. One suggested serving it with a jalapeño tarter sauce, which couldn’t sounds more delicious - I love a subtle spicy kick of flavor to any meal. The dish was surprisingly easy to make, and not expensive, as a lot of the same ingredients that went into the crab mixture also was included in the sauce. I wanted the main focus of the crab cake to be the crab meat, so I included lighter ingredients and avoided frying it in a lot of oil. Nothing is worse than eating a crab cake with too much filling and too much grease.

This was hands down one of the most delicious meals I have ever made (Is anyone counting on how many times I’ve said this so far?). The freshness of the crab was so apparent, and the light, fluffy texture of the cakes was complimented perfectly by the zing and sweetness of the jalapeño tarter sauce. I can’t wait to make this dish again…even if I decide to go the quicker route and buy crabmeat vs. cooking up my Crustacean Three Stooges.

Onto the recipe!

I can’t recommend enough purchasing live crabs for this dish. The fresh flavor was worth the hassle of boiling, cleaning, and cracking them. I have to admit, the process as a whole was kind of fun and a great learning experience. Here’s a great how-to: http://santarosa.about.com/od/foodandwine/a/crab.htm . I didn’t follow this, I sort of just cracked and clawed (wink, wink) my way through getting the meat out, but this sounds like less of a mess.

Recipe for the crab cakes:

I made this mixture in a separate bowl and added the mixture to the crab vs. the other way around. This allowed me to control how much filling I added to my crabmeat, since I wanted its consistency to be mostly crab.

In a large bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of light mayonnaise, 1/2 cup of low fat sour cream, chopped scallions from 1 head of scallion, a large handful of chopped parsley, lemon juice from 1 lemon, lemon rind from the same lemon, two eggs, two handfuls of whole wheat panko crumbs, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper.
Add your mixture into a bowl of your crabmeat a little at a time, mixing in between adding so you don’t add too much (I had mixture leftover). It looked like this:
Let the mixture chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
In a large skillet, add about 3 tbs. of canola or sunflower oil (these are good for cooking at high heat which is what you need for these) over medium/high heat.
Once your oil is slightly smoking, spoon out your crab mixture and flatten/shape into a 3/4 inch patty.
Add crab cakes to your pan, cook for 4 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Carefully flip cakes and repeat until the crab cakes are throughly heated.

Recipe for the sauce:

Combine 1/3 cup light mayonaise, 1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream, 2 spoonfuls of relish, lime rind from 1 lime, 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced, and a pinch of salt.
Serve along side your crab cakes and enjoy!

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Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:46:00 -0500

Cooking comes pretty natural to me. Am I coming off too arrogant? I should pat myself on the back a couple more times and submit my blog to the James Beard Foundationwith a statement like that. But what I mean by that is, cooking just makes sense to me. I get it. Chess? No. Cooking? Yes. So it came as a surprise to me that while I was surfing other food blogs for recipe ideas, a pretty basic Italian dish…sort of stumped me. I can’t put a finger on exactly what was so confusing to me about the idea of a rollatini, it seamed simple enough, but I nevertheless felt uncomfortable with the idea of rolling up some ingredients, in a breaded additional ingredient, topped with some more ingredients, and then baking it. Would this even work? Even the name of it -rollatini - sounded so foreign and uncertain to me. #foodbloggerproblems

I guess because I never ate rollatinis growing up, and wasn’t familiar with the dish, (I’m guessing I spent my whole life scanning over it at Italian restaurants, in between the veal parmesean and pasta bolognese) I was sort of stumped out of pure jealousy. As a huge fan of stacking, why hadn’t I ever thought to roll up my ingredients and bake them all together? It’s genius. All of the sudden everywhere I looked I found a rollatini On menus, my interns leftover lunch, even a friend posted it to her food blog (Jewtalian - check her out!). So I decided it was time to buckle down and make some rollatini. With a protein craving paving the way, I decided to go the chicken route.

Apparently, you can roll anything inside a chicken. Chicken rollatini with zucchini and mozaarella, chicken rollatini Alfredo, Chicken rollatini with asparagus and pancetta…the sky’s the limits with this poultry, and while the options are endless, I decided to go basic. I found this recipe on Skinny Taste and boy does that Gina know how to lighten up a dish without sacrificing flavor. The whole process was extremely easy and painless and the end result was a perfect winter dish. The best part is that you’re getting all your flavors in one bite, and everything comes together in a simple and elegant way. I can’t wait to try a different version next time I cook it - and now that I am no longer a rollatini virgin, it’s time to get down and dirty - eggplant I’m looking at you.

Read on for the recipe adapted from Skinny Taste!

Wash and dry thin chicken breast cutlets depending on how many people you’re serving, and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 450°. Lightlyspray a baking dish with non-stick spray.
Combine 2 handfuls of whole wheat breadcrumbs and a bunch of your favorite spices you have on hand (I used dried thyme, and parsley) and 4 large pinches of grated parmesan cheese in one bowl and 5 egg whites in another.
Combine your 1 pack of frozen spinach (defrosted- make sure you squeeze it dry) with 1/4 cup of more parmesan cheese, and 2 egg whites. Stir until it’s all one consistency.
Lay chicken cutlets down on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of spinach-cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one and keep seam side down.
Dip chicken in egg mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down in a baking dish (no toothpicks needed). Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray with olive oil. **(Cheeversauce note: I dipped my chicken in the egg then breadcrumbs before I added the spinach so it was breaded on each side before rolled. I found that there was too much breading so I suggest doing it the above way).
Bake 25 minutes.
Remove from oven, top each rollatini with marinara sauce and 1 slice of mozzarella cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 5 more minutes.
Serve with additional sauce on the side and grated cheese.
Enjoy!

Pappardelle with a Light Mixed Mushroom Truffle Cream Sauce

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:30:00 -0500

The holiday season has been in my rear view mirror for about a week now, and while most Americans are looking to ring in 2012 with their soup fasts, juice fasts, slim fasts, or raw food fasts, I welcomed the New Year with carbs, carbs, carbs. Whoops. Now I’m all about healthy eating, but certain circumstances led this dish to fall into my lap whether I liked it or not (I liked it).

The photographer I represent is in the middle of shooting an amazing portrait series of the top chefs in America, a.k.a a food bloggers paradise. Being on set with these people is probably how CW actors feel at the Academy Awards. When it’s brought up that I write a food blog, I nervously laugh it off “Ha, oh that? ha..oh it’s silly really…nothing compared to what you do…hah…(eye wander around the room during an awkward moment of silence)…Oh but if you want to check it out, link it to your website, or give me a shout out in your next Food and Wine interview, its C as in cat-H as in Harry-E-E-V…yes that’s V as in Victory-E-R-S-A-U-C-E.com.”

As luck would have it, last week, chef Missy Robbins brought over some of her favorite ingredients for the photo shoot, and before I knew it, I had $200 of shaved truffles on my hands. This is what I know about truffles: 1. they are very rare and thus very expensive, and 2. I absolutely love how they taste. Cooking with truffle salt or truffle oil is always an added treat to any dish, but I had an inkling this would be the first, and possibly last time I would cook with fresh truffles. And when life gives you truffles…you make pasta. Starchy foods and liquid fats perfectly compliment this fancy ‘shroom, and you typically want to keep your ingredients simple so that no strong flavor overthrows the truffle, which typically infuses its flavor and smell to everything around it.

So how convenient it was that Chef Robbins also left me with some wonderful homemade pappardelle. This wasn’t any ordinary pasta. Her famed Italian dishes are known to be some of President Obama’s favorites, so when she offered me pappardelle made fresh that morning in the A Voce kitchen, it was something I just couldn’t turn down…I don’t care how many articles I’ve read telling me how bad white carbs were for me.

I had the perfect recipe to compliment my ingredients - another Bethenny Frankel “healthier” spin on a classic Italian dish. I prepared my version a little different than hers, by melting the small amount of butter she called for in a separate pan, allowing it to brown so I could add the nutty flavor and aroma of browned butter to the sauce. I also let it reduce for about 15 minutes longer than she called for and added some sage to the mix. Overall the recipe was extremely easy to make, and bursted with flavor, tasting ten times more indulgent and decadent than it was. The dish can be made with just truffle oil, which is sold in most supermarkets these days, and I would recommend using whole wheat fettuccine when you make this at home, that is unless you have some of your own homemade pappardelle on hand :) .

Onto the recipe adapted from Low Fat Creamy Mushroom Pasta:

Bring pasta water to a boil, season with a large pinch of salt
Lightly coat a large saute pan with olive oil over medium heat, spread 1 1/2 cups of your favorite mixed mushrooms (I used cremini and portabella) and 1 sliced shallot in your pan. Sauté for approximately 5 minutes without touching or moving the mushrooms. Then flip them over and leave them sautéing for another 5 minutes (Tip from Bethenny: Don’t overcrowd the mushrooms in the pan; you don’t want them to get watery. The idea is to brown them. Do not add salt – add nothing. Salt makes them soggy and watery).
Add a 4 count of vegetable broth to the mushrooms, and let simmer for 4 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of low fat sour cream, 2 tsp. of truffle oil, a large pinch of salt and pepper to taste.
In a small saucepan, melt 1/4 stick of butter until browned. Add a small handful of fresh sage and let simmer for a minute. Then pour the butter and sage into the mushroom sauce. Let simmer for another 15 minutes until reduced.
Once your pasta water boils, add 16 oz. box of pasta and follow cooking directions. With tongs, remove cooked pasta (I prefer it al dente) from water and add to pan and toss thoroughly.
Top with parmesan, and shaved truffles.
Enjoy!

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Healthy Mexican Salad

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:44:00 -0500

¿Te gusta la comida Mexicana? Same here. After recently getting back from a work trip in LA, I find the city’s culinary triumphs usually stick with me upon my return. Yes, NYC is home to some of the best pizza, bagels, and pasta in the country, but I have to say, Los Angeles has got its Mexican food down to la perfección. Even the Manhattan favorite La Esquina pales in comparison to the mom and pop restaurants that line the Hollywood hills.

Still in a full craving mode this week, I wanted to cook a delicious Mexican meal, but still keep it CheeverSauce friendly. Also, Mexican food is great to make for dinner because it still tastes delicious (if not better) the next day for lunch. And we all know how I feel about lunch. I decided going the salad route was the safest bet, but because I sacrificed tortillas and cheese in this recipe, I had to make sure all the other ingredients popped with flavor. This meant sautéing shredded chicken with chili powder and spices, and adding other hearty yet healthy ingredients, like a black bean and yellow corn salsa. I also swapped sour cream for Fage 0% Greek yogurt and I swear (trust me, my roommate was originally skeptical at first, only to completely take back her original doubts once she ate it) you can hardly taste the difference. While completely eliminating the fat, yet still offering a creamy texture and sweetly sour taste, Greek yogurt is the best healthy replacement to sour cream.

I know a lot of you die hard Mexican fans may think this salad isn’t true Mexican fair and I can’t agree with you more. Trust me, I wanted to melt cheese all over this. But I can promise you it is an amazing healthy alternative packed with authentic flavors, and it completely satisfied my Mexican food cravings until I get to fly back to LA - or even Mexico - for the real thing. :)

Onward to the recipe:

Boil 4-5 lb. whole chicken until cooked through. The meat should be white not pink once it’s cooked. (This took up to an hour because I used a full chicken with all the fat and skin because it leaves a better broth after the chicken boils, and it ultimately tastes better than the prepackaged chicken breast strips. However, if you don’t have time to boil it - use the strips and cut the time in half).
While your meat is cooking prepare your salsa by combining 1 can of black beans and 1 package of organic frozen corn (boil the corn for 5 min before using). Add to your corn and beans lime juice from 1 lime and 3 splashes of white wine vinegar. Mix.
Chop half a bunch of cilantro and add to your black bean/corn mixture. Mix and let sit.
Once your chicken is done, remove from the water onto a cutting board and remove any fat or skin. **Keep the water as it should have created a nice chicken broth at this point** Shred the meat from your chicken both white and dark meat.
Place your shredded meat in a sauté pan on medium heat. Add 10 dashes of chili pepper, 7 dashes of garlic powder, 7 dashes of onion powder, 3 dashes of salt, and 4 dashes of pepper to the meat (add more spices to your preferred taste). Add 1 cup of your chicken broth sauté for 7 minutes, allowing the meat combine with the spices and broth.
To plate, place the shredded chicken on top of a handful of romaine lettuce. Add your bean and corn mixture. On the side, add a spoonful of guacamole, a spoonful of Greek yogurt, and a spoonful of salsa and garnish with the remainder of your cilantro. CheeverSauce tip: break up a couple blue corn tortilla chips and sprinkle on the top for some added crunch.
Disfrutar!

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Brussel Sprouts Sautéed in White Wine with Cranberries and Toasted Almonds

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:25:00 -0500

Brussel Sprouts have a bad rap in my opinion. They tend to stick out as one of those dreaded vegetables you hid under your napkin or fed to your dog as a kid…right next to the broccoli. I can’t pinpoint when exactly my relationship changed with them, but it’s safe to say that New York City restaurants, with their unwavering ability to offer delicious side dishes played an important role. It feels like one day (or at least as of 4 years ago) this once discarded vegetable came in vogue, and all of the sudden brussel sprouts with lemon and pancetta, brussel sprouts with bacon and shallots, brussel sprouts with garlic and parmesan, were offered on the menus of every restaurant north of China Town. I do love my side dishes so I was on board, I didn’t even care if they were charging me $10 for fancy miniature cabbages on top of my already $35 meal. I was hooked.

The best of the best (in my opinion) are served at Tartine, and since the restaurant is conveniently located down the street, I found myself falling into an addictive trap. So I decided to whip up my own batch that was heavily inspired by my West Village favorite, and the results were nothing short of perfection.

Now brussel spouts are delicious just tossed with olive oil, some salt and pepper, and then roasted in the oven until tender, but a tiny bit more effort and a little more ingredients can give you some amazing results. I made these at our Thanksgiving dinner, and nothing is more satisfying for a food blogger than people “Oooh”ing and “Ahhh”ing what you brought to the table. Did you just make a yummy noise?

The recipe is super easy and very CheeverSauce friendly since it’s the perfect dish for my no measuring philosophy. The sweetness of the dried cranberries offsets the bitterness from the spouts and the almonds offer a nice texture and crunch to the dish. Cooking them in white wine adds a punch of flavor that pulls together all of the ingredients perfectly.

Onto the recipe!

You’re going to be sautéing the spouts halved and faced down on your sauté pan so depending on how many people you are cooking for you want to make sure there is enough room in the pan for the brussel spouts to lay flat without overlapping.

After washing your brussel spouts, cut off the bottom stem and then halve.
Lightly coat the bottom of your pan with cooking spray or olive oil and place the spouts face down, and turn on your heat to medium/high.
Let the spouts cook for about 3 minutes.
Add a dry white wine to the pan until it covers about 3/4 of the sprouts.
Let the wine reduce (about 15-20 minutes) until it is almost gone from the pan.
Add vegetable stock to the pan until it covers about 1/4 of the spouts and let simmer and reduce down as well.
Meanwhile soak a two handfuls of dried cranberries in white wine and microwave for two minutes. Spread another two handfuls of sliced almonds on a cookie sheet and toast in your oven at 350 until golden or in a toaster oven.
Once your vegetable stock reduced let the sprouts cook until the bottoms have become browned. Once browned, pour the cranberries into the pan (include any leftover wine from their bowl) and mix into your sprouts. At this point the liquid allows you to stir up your spouts and scrape the browed bits from the bottom of the pan (add a couple slashes of white wine or vegetable stock if you need more liquid to do this)
Add your toasted almonds and toss. Allow your cooking liquids to reduce again and then turn off your heat.
Now this next step is a little controversial because it offers every healthy eaters dreaded ingredient - butter. You can avoid this step and still get an amazing dish, but I think it’s well worth it. Take a tiny bit of butter (about a tablespoon or two) and melt it over medium/low heat until it browns…not melted…browned. Click here for a how-to. Poor your browned butter of the sprouts and enjoy!
CheeverSauce side note: On Thanksgiving I added shallots to the mix (add them after you add your spouts to the pan) and it tasted great. According to these pictures - I cooked them sans shallots on the first batch. They are good either way.

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Lemon Yogurt Cake with Mixed Berry Sauce

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:08:00 -0400

It was dark by 5:30 last night and according to the new notification screen on my iPhone, (time to upgrade to iOS5 people) it’s going to snow tomorrow. Since it looks like we are getting dangerously close to winter, what better way to hold onto these fleeting fall days than to bake a light, delicious, and a little summery? cake.

Apparently yogurt cakes are a French thing. And we allllll know the only other acceptable alternative to a girl from Connecticut pretending to be a New Yorker, is a CT girl pretending to be a New Yorker pretending to be a Parisian ;) . Yogurt cakes are my kind of thing because they’re one of those rare baking gems that don’t require complicated measuring. The math is based on the volume of your yogurt cups, to which you add an equal amount of sugar, a double amount of flour, a little less than one of oil, two eggs, and some leavener and flavors like a little vanilla, citrus zest, or rum (Thanks Smitten Kitchen for the fun fact). I decided to go the lemon route and top it off with the blueberries and raspberries I had in the fridge.

The best thing about this cake is it’s flavorful and fluffy yet not too sweet. I also found that the more days that went by, the better it tasted. However it was gone sooner than I hoped since I gave half a way to a friend and the leftovers regrettably served as my breakfast for the next couple days.

Onward for the recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Lime Yogurt Cake with Blackberry Sauce

Make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan with oil or butter.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1 cup of yogurt, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 cup of sugar, zest from one lemon, 1/4 cup of lemon juice. (I just used the same measuring cup to roughly measure out all of this).
Add 2 eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition.
Sift 2 cups flour (I used a little less than 2), 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 2 pinches of salt together, right over your yogurt batter. CheeverSauce note: I don’t have measuring spoons since Jess moved out and took them with her so I just used a regular small spoon and flattened the ingredients with a knife, and took out half of the spoonful when needed…. the cake it still came out great).
Stir with a spoon until just combined and pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes.
Run a knife around the pan to loosen. Flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack.
Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Make sauce:

Combine 1 small pack (6 oz.) of fresh blueberries and 1 small pack of fresh rasberries, 1/4 cup of water, 3 spoonfuls of sugar (3 tbs. if you want to be exact about it) and 1 tbs. of fresh lemon juice.
Purée in blender until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds (I just left them).
Cover and refrigerate until cold.

Sprinkle the top of cake with powdered sugar, drizzle with sauce, and enjoy!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:57:00 -0400

I finally did it. The Union Square Farmer’s Market and I met last Saturday. My sister and parents came in for the day to check out my other sister’s new apartment, grab some dinner, and drop off my winter coats (got to love NYC’s apartment storage situation). And because New Yorkers for some reason have the need to feel guilty if they don’t go outside on a nice day, we found ourselves walking around my sister’s new neighborhood. So my arrival at the market was more of a let’s wander around USFM because we have nothing else to do before our reservation, and less than an I need to visit the market to pick up fresh produce, cheese, and meats for all my dinners this week and support the local community. Not surprisingly, I fell in love with everything fresh and delicious the market had to offer, but I was lucky enough to stumble across Squash Blossoms!

Squash Blossoms are SO SO DELICIOUS and I was shocked to see them available for sale. Apparently squash blossoms are generally unavailable to all but home gardeners and habitués of farmers markets. Because they parish so fast, few supermarkets bother to keep them in stock.

I had my first stuffed squash blossoms at Aurora Cafe in Williamsburg. I went three years ago specifically for the squash blossoms. They were a featured dish on one of those video restaurant reviews they used to play in the back of the cabs. This restaurant was serving an edible flower, stuffed with creamy mozzarella and goat cheese, lightly fried than drizzled with sweet honey sauce? At first I was like Whhaaaat and then I was like…Waiiiit - driver please head to 70 Grand St…Yes. In Brooklyn. Go.

So when I saw these squash blossoms not only for sale, but accompanied with a convienent recipe - I knew they were begging to be made. The result? They were the perfect fall midday treat. Light yet decadent. Salty yet savory. Earthy yet milky.

This recipe can easily be adapted with other types of cheese (I recommend any kind of goat, ricotta, or mozzarella. Also try using tempura batter (flour, egg, and water) rather than the cornmeal for a lighter taste.

Click here for the recipe adapted from Windfall Farms.

The blossoms pre and post rolled in cornmeal

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup of mixed cheese (I did goats milk ricotta, lightly salted goat, garlic and red pepper goat cheese)

15 large squash blossoms, washed

Canola or sunflower oil for frying

Salt and pepper

Gently open the end of the squash blossom and fill approximately one and a half teaspoon with cheese in center.
Twist top of flower closed and dust with white flour (At first I was rolling them in the flour and the resulting coated batter was too much. I looked over at Olivia who made these with me and she was more lightly dusting…hers looked better).
Dip in egg and then roll in cornmeal.
Fry at medium/high heat. (I just filled pan with 1/2” oil and flipped sides if necessary)
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Enjoy immediately.

Spiced Squash Salad with Lentils, Goat Cheese and Mint

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:16:00 -0400

Figuring out what to make for lunch is…the…worst. Lunch to me is that awkward middle child that isn’t getting enough love because its older and younger siblings are getting all my attention. Living in New York doesn’t make this neglected relationship any easier. Whether you’re a slave to the boardroom, working long hours on Wall Street, or salvaging the days of old Madison Ave, “homemade lunch?” doesn’t fall off the tongue in a 9 to 5 as easily as “take-out?” does.

I know, I know - what do I know? I might not have experience living a life that entails the jobs above, but I certainly have experience living with people who do (and plus, I would still rather eat a yogurt, crackers, eggs, canned soup..basically anything that’s already in my fridge then whip up a meal in the middle of the day). Despite all this, when in the past I have taken the time to cook lunch, all the magic happens the night before. That’s the key people, because no one is going to prepare themselves lunch in the morning before running out the door - see New Yorker Scramble. Cook ahead and you’ll find a little bit of planning and some Tupperware goes a long way for your waistline and your wallet.

This dish was another gem from Smitten Kitchen. You could easily serve it with dinner, but this batch went straight to the lunch containers. I was dishing it out generously to my roommate and a friend who were instructed to report back. The findings turned out to be fabulous. This is a perfect salad for this time of year because it utilizes one of the many delicious ways to eat squash. Lentils are very cheap, so the big splurge here is the cheese. The goat cheese is the perfect counterbalance to the spiced squash, and brings all the combined flavors of the salad together when you reheat it the next day. (CheeverSauce note: allow the cheese to generously melt around your veggies and lentils.)

Continue for the recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss cubed squash (from 1 full butternut squash) with a 3 count of olive oil, 4 dashes of cumin, 4 dashes of paprika and 2 dashes of course salt. Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet and roast 20 minutes. Flip pieces and roast for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Cool.

Meanwhile, soak 1/2 bag of lentils for 10 minutes in a small bowl, then drain. Cook lentils in boiling salted water until tender but firm, about 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and cool.

Finely chop a small handful of fresh mint.

Combine lentils, pumpkin, with arugula, half a log of goat cheese (depending on your tastes), mint, spoonful of red wine vinegar, and 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper and extra vinegar, if desired. Sprinkle with remaining goat cheese leftover from the log.

Sprinkle with toasted seeds of your choice (I recommend squash or pumpkin seeds for this dish but I ended up toasting sunflower seeds because that’s what I already had in my…cupboard (I long for the day I have a pantry).

Enjoy!

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Roasted Portabella and Goat Cheese Sandwich

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:59:55 -0400

Nothing like a quick lunch post to kickstart the weekend. This recipe came together in the snap of the fingers and is a great vegetable alternative to typical deli meat sandwiches. I also like to classify it in one of those trendy “5 ingredients or less” challenges that seem to cover every cooking magazine these days.

I love portabella mushrooms. They’re plump, juicy, smooth in texture, and cook up perfectly when roasted with a little bit of olive oil and sea salt in a mere 10-15 minutes. Add some goat cheese and greens to the mix and you got yourself a class A midday meal.

Continue for the super easy how to:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with a piece of aluminum foil.
Wash your mushroom cap, twist off its stem and scrape out its “gills” with a spoon.
Rub each mushroom with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle generously with salt. Place gill side up on the baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, turning mushroom caps over midway through cooking.
Toast a whole wheat hamburger bun (or stick in the oven for the last few minutes of roasting).
Spread dijon mustard on each bun and top with spinach. When mushrooms are done roasting, spread each liberally with goat cheese and place in sandwich.
Enjoy!

Served with a side of pickles because…why not? :)

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Chard and White Bean Stew

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:56:00 -0400

Stepping outside the past couple days, I am finally getting those wonderful hints of cool and crisp, yet still wonderfully warm air that NYC fall brings. Everyone around seems to have a little extra pep in their step, because us New Yorkers know that our sweltering concrete heat, and hot, humid subway days are finally behind us. So store away those bathing suits and summer shorts, and bring out your cable knits and cashmere, because I am welcoming fall with wide open arms.

What better way to ring in October then a cozy, hearty, vegetable and bean stew. For those of you who are thinking “gross!” - shame on you - stews are fantastic! And this particular one, topped with a toasted whole grain roll, fresh grated parmesan, and a fried egg, is so delicious you’ll be making a triple recipe and freezing the rest for when gasp!…the snow starts to fall and you’re hibernating in your apartment until late March.

When I first started writing this blog I conducted a bit of research on other popular food blogs. One of my (and more then 10,000 others) favorites is Smitten Kitchen, which is actually run by a fellow New Yorker. So for the next couple posts, get ready for CheeverSauce’s Smitten Kitchen dump - because I cooked up about 3 recipes I bookmarked of hers, and was dying to try this weekend.

I have to admit I cheated a little on this recipe. I took full advantage of NYC grocery store’s tendencies to have a full display case of pre-chopped vegetables. So this recipe took fraction of the time for me because my carrots, celery, onions, and garlic were all conveniently prepped for me, and all I had to do was throw them into a pot. Hey, when you’re in the center of the produce aisle and on your right side you have perfectly chopped veggies and on your left you have full vegetables that come with a vision of a cutting board, sharp knife, food scraps, extra garbage, too much time, and a future arthritis bill, who could blame me?

Onward to the recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Chard and White Bean Stew:

Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook 1 bunch (however your grocer sells it) of swiss chard (or kale works great for this recipe as well) for one minute. Drain and squeeze out as much extra water as possible. Careful to not burn yourself here - I used several paper towels for this. Roughly chop your green.
In the same pot (without water) heat a 5 count pour of olive oil over medium. Add 1 cup (or 2 handfuls) of chopped carrots, 1 cup of chopped celery, 1 cup of chopped shallots, and 3 finely chopped garlic cloves. Saute for 15 minutes.
Add 1 cup of dry white wine, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pot, and cook until the wine reduces by 3/4.
Add 2 15-ounce cans of white beans, two cups of low-sodium vegetable broth, 1 small can of pureed tomatoes, 5 fresh thyme sprigs, 2 bay leafs, and a couple dashes of salt.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chard and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove thyme and bay leaf. Add more broth if you’d like a thinner stew and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Fry or poach one egg per dish.
Serve on top of a toasted whole grain roll or a whole grain baguette, sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

The dish made great leftovers for dinner the next day and lunch!

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