Plated Halibut on Sweet Peppers

I once read never trust a “skinny chef.” Well, you can trust me by about forty extra pounds. Over the last year, I have been working on changing how this family eats.  With focused effort, I have lost 42lbs with about 44lbs to go.  When it comes to weightloss, for me , it’s all about proportion size of the food.  I grew-up with the parental dining rule that  ”there’s kids in other countries starving, so you better clean your plate.”

These days, I am a member of Weight Watchers and I go to my group meetings on Thursdays.  So I thought on Thursdays I would spotlight a meal that is very low in calories and fat, but also really delicious and simple to make. 
I hope you enjoy tonight’s meal: Roasted Halibut on a bed of Sweet Peppers with Avocado Sauce and Steamed Asparagus.

Recipes follow the pictures:

My “Junior Chef” Garrett told me this morning that raviolis should be for dinner tonight.  I told him, “Great! You can make them.” “Make them?” he asked. “Yep, we’ll make them completely from scratch.” 

Adding the filling

Ready for the wter

Ready to eat

Garrett says "num num num num"

Ingredients
The filling
1 lb fresh spinach
1 lb ricotta cheese, thoroughly drained
1 egg
4 oz parmigiano reggiano cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg

The dough
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 

Directions
Boil the spinach in lightly salted water. Place the boiled spinach in a cheese cloth and form a small sack. Squeeze the sack to expel as much water as possible. Chop the spinach finely

Place the spinach in a bowl. Combine the drained ricotta, egg, parmigiano cheese, salt, pepper, and a generous pinch of nutmeg. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and nutmeg if necessary

To prepare the pasta dough: Combine all the ingredients, mix the dough so it is very soft and moist. Use the minimum flour necessary, just enough to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands while working.
Cut the dough in two parts.
Place one of the pieces on the work surface, and flatten it with a rolling pin until it is very thin.
 Repeat the same steps with the other half of the dough, making a pasta sheet of the same size.
Set it aside, covered with a moist towel if necessary to prevent the pasta from drying too much. 

Place about 1 teaspoon of the filling on the dough, spaced 2 inches apart. 

Bring water to a boil in a stockpot. Gently drop the ravioli in the boiling water a few at a time 

Cook until the pasta is al dente (firm but not too soft or overcooked). Drain ravioli, picking them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon

Serve with your favorite sauce.   Cheers!!!

My Ortega Roast Beef Sandwich

This is my home-made version of Carl’s Jr’s, California Roast Beef Star, and I want to say thank you to the late Carl Karcher, (January 16, 1917 – January 11, 2008) for creating one of my favorite sandwiches..

Browning the meat & chile

Ready for the broiler

My Ortega Roast Beef Sandwich

Ingredients

• 1 potato bun split
• 3 ounces thinly sliced deli roast beef
• 1 whole Ortega chile
• 1 slice swiss cheese
• 1 Tbl olive oil

Directions

1. add olive oil to hot pan
2. add roast beef and chile   
3. heat raost beef  and chile till the chile browned
4. toast the bun
5. pile roast beef on one half of the bun
6. place chile on roast beef
7. place slice of swiss cheese on other half of bun
8. place under broiler for 1 minute or till cheese melts

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New Year’s Reality Check

Another year, another chance
To start our lives anew;
This time we’ll leap old barriers
To have a real breakthrough.

We’ll take one little step
And then we’ll take one more,
Our unlimited potential
We’ll totally explore.

We’ll show off all our talents
Everyone will be inspired;
(Whew! While I’m writing this,
I’m getting very tired.)

We’ll give up all bad habits;
We’ll read and learn a lot,
All our goals will be accomplished,
Sigh…or maybe not.

Oh well, Happy New Year anyway!

This sauce is insane on fish, shrimp or anything out of the ocean.  I haven’t had it on fresh water fish, yet.  It is so simple to make and it keeps for several days in the refrigerator, but it is best fresh…. All you need is a knife, cutting board and your food processor or blender.  Cheers!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 2 avocados
• 1 clove of garlic
• small container of sour cream

Directions:

1. Everything goes into your food processor or blender
2. cut onion into chunks
3. 3/4 of cilantro save rest for topping or garnish
4. pit/scoop clean the avocados
5. rough chop the garlic
6. add sour cream
7. blend for 1 minute

Serve on fish or shrimp tacos or drizzle on broiled, grilled or baked fish.

Store in air-tight container  in the refrigerator.

Hello everyone!

I have decided to share some of my training and skills with you that I learned while attending the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School. Each week we will feature a lesson and assignment. All you have to do is print out and the lesson and assignment and then report back via comment on this post to tell me how it went and how you are doing. If you have any questions please contact me here on the blog.

First lesson we will start with some history and the “basics” of French cuisine. The recipes and activities provided are planned and organized to reinforce and teach the basic skills an aspiring French chef should know. No online, textbook etc can truly give the experience that actual kitchen practice does, but this will be a good start!

Lesson 1:

French cuisine was codified in the 20th century by Georges Auguste Escoffier to become the modern version of haute cuisine. Ingredients and dishes vary by region. There are many significant regional dishes that have become both national and regional.

The key is to learn the techniques and tricks that make french cooking so wonderful. It is a style that has been built up for years upon years.

What are the Basic Methods of French Cooking?

Flambéing is a somewhat dangerous technique used to add flavor to food at the end of cooking.

Sautéing is a low-fat method of range-top cooking.

Poaching is a gentle way to simmer food and bring out a tender texture.

Broiling and grilling are nearly identical because they both cook an oiled piece of food over direct, moderately high heat.

Braising uses a small amount of flavorful liquid to cook food.

Baking is a dry heat method using an oven to slowly cook food.

Sanitation: Wash hands and wrists thoroughly with soap after using the toilet, eating, smoking, coughing, blowing your nose, combing your hair, handling waste food, rubbish or cleaning chemicals. Dry them on a clean towel before handling food again.

Cross-contamination in food preparation is a serious concern, particularly in restaurants and other commercial kitchens. Many foods (uncooked meats, poultry, fish, etc) may be contaminated by microorganisms, bacteria, etc. Cross-contamination is when these contaminants transfer from that food item to another object (your hands, cutting board, knife, etc). It can also refer to when contaminants on an object or person are transferred to food items (ie, someone who is ill doesn’t wash their hands before preparing food). Cross-contamination can result in food-borne illnesses which can be quite serious.

Mise en Place: “putting in place” is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America as “everything in place”, as in set up. It is used in professional kitchens to refer to the ingredients, such as cuts of meat, relishes, sauces, par-cooked items, spices, freshly chopped vegetables, and other components that a cook requires for the menu items that they expect to prepare during their shift.

Quiz #1:

Who was Escoffier?

Why is sanitation so important?

What are the 6 main cooking methods used in French cookery?

What does Mise En Place mean?
For this weeks assignment lesson please visit http://www.thechefscookbook.com and for the very best in cooking and recipes & more!

Have you ever wanted to learn to cook like Julie & Julia? Well, now is your chance!  I am so excited to have a Chef from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School as a regular guest blogger.  It gives me great pleasure to introduce the The Salty Chef. The Salty Chef is the Chef, author, and creator of the www.thechefscookbook.com. And, she is also a mom and a wife!

Each month she is going to share with us the delicious recipes she learned while at the Le Cordon Bleu. So, keep an eye out for her first post and enjoy… or as the

French like to say: BON APPETIT!!!

Well, my official Christmas season is underway today.  We have started rolling out and punching out sugar cookies, one of our most favorite Christmas eatable items.  I like to get everyone involved in the making of my sugar cookies, and I do mean everyone.  Of course Garrett is ready to help, and with a little and I do mean very little persuading Chelsea is happy to help too.

What looks like flour on the counter top, is actully powdered sugar.  Powdered sugar is really great to use when rolling out a sweet dough–it helps from drying out the dough as you roll it out over and over.

Remember to turn your cookie sheet 180° about half through the bake.  These were finishing at about 8 minutes, so I turned them at the 4 minute mark. Remove them from the oven just as the edges begin to brown.  Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then place them on the cooling rack.

As I mentioned above, I like to get everyone involved in making my Christmas sugar cookies.  The tradition at my house is in order to get your Christmas dinner you must first paint at least 3 cookies. I choose 3 so you can take two of them home to leave out for Santa, and one to stay at my house to fill my cookie platter. These cookies won’t get painted till Christmas Eve.  So, I will post the pictures of these cookies probably  on Christmas day.  Till then, please enjoy a few shots of Christmas past…

Christmas 2004

Christmas 2004

The kids all got out of school at noon today for the start of Christmas break.  So, not having to run around after school till it’s time for dinner, I had time to make a meal a little more than just baked chicken or chili.  Trying to not think about all the food I have to cook next week, smoked turkey, baked ham, smoked salmon, ect., it all of a sudden came to me that I couldn’t remember the last time I had beef stroganoff.  Can you?

Off to my rack of cookbooks to find a classic beef stroganoff recipe.  Here’s what I ended up with….

Cook mushrooms, onions and garlic in butter in 10-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender; remove from skillet.

Cooked mushrooms & onion

Cut beef across grain into about 1 1/2×1/2-inch strips.
Cook beef in same skillet until brown. Stir in 1 cup of the broth, the salt and Worcestershire sauce. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Browning the beef

Beef broth and flour mixture

Adding the sour cream

Classic Beef Stroganoff