Cooking in Pajamas

If you are desiring a light, but filling and nutitious supper, this is the dish for you.  I am always looking for suppers high in fiber, and this one fits the bill with a combination of beans and fresh spinach.  Served with grilled sourdough or garlic bread to sop up the yummy sauce.

Seared Scallops with Sauteed Spinach and Tuscan Beans

2 T. olive oil, divided
1 ½ # sea scallops
1 c. chopped onion
⅛ tsp. crushed red pepper, or more to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ c. dry white wine
1 c. chicken broth
1 (19oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
10 oz. fresh baby spinach
2 T. chopped fresh basil
kosher salt

Heat 1 T. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle scallops evenly with salt. Add scallops to pan, cook on 2-3 minutes per side, or until done. Remove scallops from pan and keep warm.

Add remaining 1 T. oil and onion to the pan. Saute 5 minutes. Add pepper and garlic, cook one more minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, cook 1 minute or until most of the liquid evaporates. Stir in broth and beans. Cook 2 minutes. Add spinach, cook until spinach wilts. Remove from heat and stir in basil. Serve with the scallops.

If you are desiring a light, but filling and nutitious supper, this is the dish for you.  I am always looking for suppers high in fiber, and this one fits the bill with a combination of beans and fresh spinach.  Served with grilled sourdough or garlic bread to sop up the yummy sauce.

Seared Scallops with Sauteed Spinach and Tuscan Beans

2 T. olive oil, divided
1 ½ # sea scallops
1 c. chopped onion
⅛ tsp. crushed red pepper, or more to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ c. dry white wine
1 c. chicken broth
1 (19oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
10 oz. fresh baby spinach
2 T. chopped fresh basil
kosher salt

Heat 1 T. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle scallops evenly with salt. Add scallops to pan, cook on 2-3 minutes per side, or until done. Remove scallops from pan and keep warm.

Add remaining 1 T. oil and onion to the pan. Saute 5 minutes. Add pepper and garlic, cook one more minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, cook 1 minute or until most of the liquid evaporates. Stir in broth and beans. Cook 2 minutes. Add spinach, cook until spinach wilts. Remove from heat and stir in basil. Serve with the scallops.

I apologize that it has been a while since my last blog post.  Phil and I were traveling throughout Europe to celebrate our 20 year anniversary.  I got back a few days ago, and am still a little jet lagged.  We flew to Barcelona, where we stayed for a few days. Then we took a cruise to France, Italy and Mallorca. We ended up back in Barcelona for another two days before flying home.  The trip was amazing, and I came back newly inspired by the cuisines of Barcelona and Rome.  I will be blogging more on my European adventures over the next few weeks, but I have a few recipes that I have already cooked and had to share with you.

This first recipe sounds fancy and exotic, but it is incredibly simple and you can literally make it in 10 minutes.  I cannot even begin to describe how amazing this dish is.  If you are a garlic lover and/or a shrimp lover, this will become a new favorite.  You absolutely MUST serve it with a side of crusty bread to sop up all of the garlicky, paprika-scented sauce.  If you want to make a dramatic presentation of this dish for company, make a large platter of saffron rice, and pour the shrimp and its sauce over the bed of rice.  Garnish with fresh chopped parsley, and you are done.

I made the recipe below exactly as written and it barely served three people, so if you are serving four people or more, make sure to double or triple the recipe.  If there are leftovers (which there probably won't be) plan on serving it the following day over a plate of pasta.

Gambas Al Ajillo Catalonia

Need a super easy appetizer or supper?  Roasted shrimp is the answer.

I never even considered roasting shrimp until I saw Ina Garten do it on Barefoot Contessa a few years ago.  She likes to roast her shrimp.  Ina says that roasting will caramelize the shrimp slightly and concentrate their flavor, making this mild shellfish taste sweeter and more intense.  I started roasting shrimp for shrimp cocktail.  Amazingly delicious! Once you have tasted roasted shrimp, you will never boil or steam them again.  Plus, it couldn't be any easier.

What I am about to say may cause a stir, but hear me out.  I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer.  Yup....I use frozen shrimp all the time.  First of all, it is convenient.  It only takes an hour or so to defrost, so it is always ready for a quick meal.  It is inexpensive.  I have purchased two pound bags of the large frozen shrimp for about $12.  When I see it is on sale, I stock up.  You won't find that price for "fresh" shrimp, especially the large size.   That brings me to my next point.  The shrimp you but at the seafood counter is almost always "previously frozen".  If it doesn't say "fresh", ask the fish monger if it has been frozen.  Finally, the frozen shrimp tastes delicious.  I try to buy the wild shrimp, rather than the farm-raised shrimp, because it is sweeter and has more flavor. Frozen wild shrimp is readily available.  It has usually been flash frozen right after being caught, so it is often fresher than the shrimp at the seafood counter.

Spicy Roasted Shrimp

Need a super easy appetizer or supper?  Roasted shrimp is the answer.

I never even considered roasting shrimp until I saw Ina Garten do it on Barefoot Contessa a few years ago.  She likes to roast her shrimp.  Ina says that roasting will caramelize the shrimp slightly and concentrate their flavor, making this mild shellfish taste sweeter and more intense.  I started roasting shrimp for shrimp cocktail.  Amazingly delicious! Once you have tasted roasted shrimp, you will never boil or steam them again.  Plus, it couldn't be any easier.

What I am about to say may cause a stir, but hear me out.  I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer.  Yup....I use frozen shrimp all the time.  First of all, it is convenient.  It only takes an hour or so to defrost, so it is always ready for a quick meal.  It is inexpensive.  I have purchased two pound bags of the large frozen shrimp for about $12.  When I see it is on sale, I stock up.  You won't find that price for "fresh" shrimp, especially the large size.   That brings me to my next point.  The shrimp you but at the seafood counter is almost always "previously frozen".  If it doesn't say "fresh", ask the fish monger if it has been frozen.  Finally, the frozen shrimp tastes delicious.  I try to buy the wild shrimp, rather than the farm-raised shrimp, because it is sweeter and has more flavor. Frozen wild shrimp is readily available.  It has usually been flash frozen right after being caught, so it is often fresher than the shrimp at the seafood counter.

Spicy Roasted Shrimp

Sorry for the crazy photo.  My laptop is at the Apple Hospital for a few days, so I took a photo with Phil's phone and downloaded it directly to the blog.  Somehow the photo got turned on to its' side and I have no idea how to fix it.  Also, the color looks neon!  It actually looked more like this:

That is a photo I copied from Food Network's website.

This paella delivers a ton of flavor and it is much healthier than a traditional paella.  We used low calorie shrimp and chicken sausage in place of the more calorie rich chicken and sausage in a traditional paella.  If you are not a shrimp fan, you could certainly use chicken or any other shellfish in place of the shrimp.  There is only 3 T. added oil in the entire dish and we use pearl barley in place of the white rice in regular paella.  One cup of pearl barley has 6 grams of fiber as opposed to white rice which only contains 2 grams.  Adding more fiber to your diet is one of the easiest things you can do to eat healthy in 2012 and beyond.

Full disclosure:  I did not make this recipe, Phil did.  I wasn't even in the kitchen while he prepared it.

You see, this weekend we had planned a relaxing "Stay-cation", which for us means making NO plans.  We went out on Friday night to tapas and a movie with some friends (Girl With the Dragon Tatoo...worth seeing) when I began to sneeze. By the time I got home, my head and nose were completely stuffed and, long story short, I woke up Saturday morning to a nasty cold.  So much for a relaxing "Stay-cation".

Luckly for me, Phil's idea of relaxing is spending the day in the kitchen cooking complicated, time consuming  recipes that I would never take the time or effort to make.  Since we had no dinner plans, and he was going to be in the kitchen any way, I showed him this recipe, which I was going to try next week, and asked if he would make it.   He said he would and off to the grocery store he went.

Later that night, when we sat down to the paella, we were all thrilled that it turned out delicious (you never know with healthy recipes...)  Joey didn't like the olives, so he picked them out, and I added the chicken sausage.  You can do whatever you want to make this recipe your own.

I asked Phil how time consuming this recipe was, and he said the biggest task was prepping all of the ingredients.  Looking at the recipe, I noticed that everything could be prepared in advance.  It comes together pretty quickly, so depending on how many pockets of time in the day you have to get some of the prep work done, this could be a quick, weeknight meal.

NOTE: I purchased the chicken sausage from Costco. They have several flavors and I think I used the Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Chicken Sausage.  Each big link has only 120 calories and 15 grams of protein. It comes fully cooked, all you have to do is slice it and brown it in a pan.  This would be great to use in a lighter version of a traditional Sausage and Peppers recipe.

The biggest comment I hear from people in my cooking classes is that they are afraid to cook at home.  They never really learned how, and they are afraid of "messing up".  Often, they think that they do not have the right kitchen equipment or ingredients, or they simply do not know what recipe to try.  I always tell them that there is no reason for them not to give it a try.  What is the worst thing that could happen?  Your meal doesn't come out as expected, and you end up having eggs and cereal for dinner.

I believe there are more than enough reasons for you to make the decision to prepare most of your meals at home.  Let's begin with the biggest reason....saving money.

When my kids were little, we lived a mile away from a Chili's Grill and Bar.  It was a five minute drive from the house, there was rarely a wait, and we could be in and out in under an hour.  Sometimes the food was good, sometimes average and sometimes it was BAD. Sound like a "no-brainer?  Not really.  Let's do some math.

To begin with, dinner for the four of us would cost about $50 a meal.  Assuming we went once a week, that is $2600 a year on one meal of a 21 meal week.

I could easliy prepare a meal for $15 (usually less, but let's go with $15 for now) that would feed the four of us, plus have leftovers for two more meals.  That is $780 for three meals a week over the course of a year, which is $260 a year for one meal. That breaks down to $5 a meal which would save $2340 a year....a nice chunk of change.  If we had replaced all 52 of those restaurant meals for a home cooked meal, we could have saved up to $7000 a year!  Do you know what we could have done with that money?!?!?!  We could have padded the kids college funds; or gone on a luxury safari in Africa; or we could have donated the money to a worthy charity; or I could have remodeled my kitchen.

This is the primary purpose for my cooking classes....to show people that homecooking is easy (check out my 11/16 class on the Lost Art of Home Cooking - the recipes are sure to become regulars in your rotation).  Over the next few weeks, I will be going over the benefits of cooking at home.  The reasons are quite compelling.

1 - Home cooking is healthier than restaurant meals.  Ever wonder why restaurant food tastes so good?  It is because of the large quantity of butter, starch and salt added to their food.

2 - You have more control over your ingredients and portions.

3 -  It is faster to prepare a meal at home than it is to get in the car, drive, find a parking spot, get seated, wait for your server, order, wait some more for your food, eat, pay and drive home.  It's all about keeping it simple, but scrumptous.

4 - You can eat seasonal produce that is at its peak flavor, and be assured that you are using high quality ingredients.

5 - Cooking is fun.

6 - You get much better "quality" time with your family by bringing everyone together in your kitchen than you would in a crowded, loud restaurant.

7 - Cooking with your kids teaches them the lifelong skill of cooking.

8 -  Saving money. A steak that costs $11 at Whole Foods would cost you $30 in a restaurant.  See above.

This does not mean you should feel guilty about dining out.  Dining out is an experience that I personally would never give up completely.  The difference between my days of running out to Chili's and now, is that now when we go out to dinner, we make sure to go to fabulous restaurants, with highly talented chefs.  I am a pretty good cook, and usually not intimidated by a new recipe, but these chefs make dishes that would take me days to recreate at home.

Here is a super easy and delicious meal for you to try.  I use frozen shrimp which works beautifully in the dish. It costs about $4 a pound when it is on sale at Publix, so when I see it on sale, I buy two (2 #) bags.  you can have the ingredients needed to make this dish in your kitchen at all times.  Serve over a bed of rice, couscous, quinoa or pasta, and you have a yummy and complete meal.

PS - I am hoping to launch the CIP YouTube Channel by the first of the year.  Look for the links soon!

Greek Shrimp from Santorini

from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

2 pints grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 (750 milliliter) bottle dry white wine

2 pounds peeled and deveined medium

shrimp

1 (4 ounce) container crumbled feta

cheese

2 lemons, halved

2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, chopped parsley, tomatoes, and wine. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has slightly thickened.

2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).

3. Stir the shrimp into the tomato sauce, and cook for 2 minutes; remove from the heat. Pour the shrimp mixture into a shallow baking dish, and sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese. Bake in the preheated oven until the feta has softened and the shrimp are no longer translucent, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Squeeze the lemon halves over the shrimp and garnish with the parsley sprigs to serve.

This is one of my favorite all time recipes ever!  First of all, the taste is almost indescribable.  The delicate and invigorating flavors positively melts in your mouth.  Also, it is super easy to make.  Four ingredients, plus the fish.  Finally, it can be prepped up to three days in advance.  That's right!  You can marinate this dish, in your refrigerator, for up to three days (overnight at minimum).

Phil and I first had this dish at Nobu in Los Angeles.  We were blown away.  Not only by how tasty is was, but also by the price.  $24 for just the piece of fish!  We immediately agreed that when we got home, we would try to recreate this dish.  As it turns out, the recipe isn't exactly a secret.  There is a Nobu cookbook out there, with the recipe in it!

As for what type of fish to use, I highly recommend sea bass or black cod.  Black cod is otherwise known as Sablefish.  It is NOT the same as regular cod.  It is also hard to find.  Sea bass is perfect.  I have tried the recipe with a lighter, more sweet fish, and it did not come out the same.  If you absolutely cannot find sea bass or black cod, a wild Alaskan salmon would be the next best substitute.

Here is the segment I taped for 11 Alive Weekend Mornings where I made this amazing dish.  You will find a copy of the recipe by clicking on the link to the video.

Video

You can't get much easier or quicker than Summer Basil Shrimp.  Serve over a bed of quinoa or couscous, and this simple dish becomes a hearty meal.

Summer Basil Shrimp

2 ½ # shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 T. dijon mustard

¼ c. butter, melted

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. EVOO

¼ c. fresh basil, stems removed, chopped

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper, to taste

1 - Melt butter in a medium size bowl.

2 - Add mustard, garlic and EVOO.  Whisk well.

3 - Stir in basil and lemon juice.

4 - Add in shrimp and toss well to coat.  Let marinate for one hour.

5 - Heat a large, nonstick saute pan over medium high heat.  Add shrimp and cook, stirring constantly, until shrimp is cooked, about 3 minutes.

******REMINDER:

We have two September cooking classes coming up:

#1 - We are all trying to eat healthy, but don't you hate it when healthy doesn't taste good?  Me too!

Back by popular demand, our "Skinny Supper" cooking class.

Tuesday, September 13 at 7:00pm,  $40 a person

Skinny Sangria

Miso-Glazed Black Cod

Fresh Quinoa Salad

Mocha Meringue Bark

AND

#2 - "Sexy Steak Dinner for Two"

Thursday, September 22 at 6:30pm  $50 per person

Perfect romantic meal for a night IN!

Acai Berry Mojitos

Mini Beef Wellingtons

Creamy Spinach

Loaded Stuffed Potatoes

Nutella Mousse with Cherry Whip

Bring a friend  to this class and you each get $10 off.

RSVP to : gwenn.weiss4@gmail.com