shrimp fra diavolo

this is such a fantastic, tasty, light meal.  i just love it. and, it takes no time to put it together (at least after the shrimp cleaning is done).  once you have your 1 lb. of shrimp shelled and deveined, toss with a bit of olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes (about a teaspoon).  in a large skillet, over medium-high heat, cook the shrimp in a single layer for 1 -2 minutes per side.  remove the shrimp to a plate.  saute two diced shallots for 4 minutes.  add one 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, one cup of white wine, 3 tablespoons of minced garlic, and cook for 5-6 minutes over medium heat.  add the shrimp back in and simmer for a minutes or so.  add 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley and basil.  salt and pepper.  you can eat this alone or with some whole wheat angel hair pasta. if you are a member of costco, they have fantastic frozen, shelled, deveined shrimp.  it's not always shrimp season!

greek stuffed chicken

i got so many compliments on this meal.  spinach, feta, garlic, panko....seriously.  how bad could that be?.  sad thing is, i never even tasted it.  this stuffing mixture would go great with a pork chop, as well.  start by heating a pan with a little olive oil.  add 1/2 of a onion, diced.  saute for 5 minutes, until soft, then add 3 gloves of minced garlic.  cook for one minute.  transfer to a bowl.  in the same pan, add 4 cups of fresh spinach and saute until wilted, about 3 minutes.  drain and squeeze out the excess water.  add to the bowl with the onions and garlic.  sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh grated nutmeg.  again, using the same pan, add 1 cup of whole wheat panko and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, one small glove of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of dried oregano.  toss and set aside.  now the unpleasant part.  clean the chicken breasts.  ugh.  once clean, and i mean clean - no signs of anything but meat!  split each chicken breast across, but not all the way through, and open it like a book.  pound out  the breast carefully, you don't want to make them too thin, or create any holes in the meat.  sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stuff 1/4 of the mixture in each breast (4 total).  put the chicken breast in a baking dish and top with the panko mixture.  bake in a 425 oven for 23 minutes.  serve this with a salad and you have got a really well balanced meal.

strawberry trifle

happy valentine's everyone! i'm not big on this holiday - i feel bad for the men.  it is such an obligatory holiday.  for a day about love - i bet there are a lot of fights going on out there.  forgotten flowers, cards, chocolates, dinner reservations, etc.  i give brian a pass on this day.  don't get me wrong, we will share a bottle of wine tonight and sit down to a great meal, but there is no need for any special gifts.  however, i did want to make my clients meal a bit more special tonight, so i prepared these individual strawberry trifles.  i rarely, almost never, make a dessert.   i think these will go over well. i bought the glasses yesterday at crate and barrel.  they worked out perfectly.  i took a short cut and bought good ole' sara lee pound cake, layered it with whip cream, and strawberries.  super easy to put together and just enough to not go over board. 

sherry seared salmon

dry sherry is the secret to this delicious salmon.  i don't know what it is with me, but i feel as though salmon needs to take on asian flavors for me to like it.  i have several different marinades i use for salmon, but my favorite is this one.  i hand pour, but it goes something like this:  3 tablespoons of light soy sauce, i actually like reduced sodium tamari that i find at whole foods.  1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of mirin or rice wine vinegar, the juice of a half of an orange, 2 tablespoons of dry sherry, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  i like to marinate the salmon the morning that i am making this.  i find that marinating salmon overnight is just too much.  the texture of the fish changes.  even without the citrus, the fish tends to "harden".  so, about 6 hours of marinating works best in my opinion.  when ready to cook, i pull out a cast iron skillet, add a bit of olive oil, and let the pan get super hot.  once it starts to smoke, add the salmon, cook 3 minutes, flip, and cook another 3 minutes.  i will sometimes have to adjust the heat if i think the flesh is turning too dark.  but truth is, i really like a seared outside and a moist, pink, medium'ish  inside.  sometimes burnt tastes good.

grilled fajita nachos

i made these nachos for sunday nights super bowl.   the photo does not do them justice, they actually looked better in person - and i am not a photographer, so there.  as cheesy and decadent as they look, they really weren't over the top fatty.  seriously.  i bought this 4oz. block of queso melt at whole foods, shredded it and mixed it with some milk and got this fabulous cheese dip.  truth is, i wish i had bought two packages of cheese.  the queso didn't ooze all the way down to the bottom of the pile, like i hoped it would.  i was going to top these babies with avocado, diced tomato, jalapeno, black beans, sour cream, cilantro, etc.  but at the last minute (and because i just didn't want to go through the trouble), i decided to keep it simple.  sometimes simple is best.  (but, not in this case - they would have been over the top with the extras!).  i grilled one onion, one green pepper and at the last minute threw in some frozen corn.  put all that aside and in the smae pan grilled a sirloin, just salt and pepper.  for the chicken, however, i did marinate it overnight in a wonderful marinade.  in a food processor i added two chipotle peppers, 3 gloves of garlic, the juice of one lime and olive oil.  mixed it all together and threw everything in a zip lock bag overnight.  the flavor was outstanding.  i bought blue corn chips and topped one side with chicken and the other with beef.  there wasn't a crumb left over.

from scratch

if you love pizza - homemade pizza, you must have a pizza stone to really make a good one.  i just recently purchased one and my goodness what a difference.  i use to put the pizza on the backside of a baking sheet, and that just doesn't do the trick.  you have to have a pizza stone.  plain and simple. the pizza stone i purchased is from emile henry of france.  it's awesome.  it has handles on two sides for easy transportation from the oven to the counter.  and it looks good enough to serve off.  the pizza stone also came with instructions for homemade pizza dough.  i will never purchase pizza dough from the store again.  the dough i made was out of this world.  i'm gonna go ahead and say it - but, it could be the best pizza i have ever had .  seriously.  making dough is so easy.  3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 envelope of fast rising yeast, 1 1/4 cup of hot water, 4 tablespoons of corn meal, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt.  mix it up, knead for about 5 minutes, cover with a towel for 20 minutes, and viola!   rolling this dough out was so much easier than times past when i have bought dough at the market.  it was soft and subtle.  i was fighting with it.  i topped this pizza with marinara, mozzarella, crumbled sausage, fresh pineapple, mushrooms, fresh spinach, parmesan, and feta cheese.  there is a bit of prep work involved.  you actually need to put the pizza stone in the oven at 500 degrees for 1 hour before you plan to bake your pies.  but, turn on some music, grab a glass of wine and get all your toppings ready to go.  you will never go out for pizza again after you make your own.