Smokey Pasta Sauce

I make simple pasta sauce pretty often. My go-to is this:

Sautee a small shallot (chopped, of course) in 1 Tbsp olive oil until it's translucent.
Add 4 cloves of garlic, chopped. Sautee until fragrant (30 seconds or so).
Add a package of sliced mushrooms, preferably baby bellas
Sautee those until a little over half cooked
1 tsp-2 tsp with garlic salt
Add can of fire-roasted tomatoes

I made one small switch tonight and I'm happy about it.
I cut back on the garlic salt and added 1 tsp Salish
and added a pinch of crushed red pepper

Add pasta.

The fire-roasted tomatoes and Salish made it smokey. I really like it.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I adapted this from Delish.com. Delish is amazing.

You need
1/2 C. fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp sundried tomatoes in oil
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp kosher salt or Salish
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Heat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.

About 1/2 C. fresh basil, 1 tsp Salish, 2 cloves garlic, 2 Tbsp sundried tomatoes (in oil, but drained), fresh ground pepper. Chop all of this together.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts: use a paring knife to make a slit in the middle of the breast, being careful not to go through the sides. Again, being careful not push through too far, using your finger, make that pocket bigger, trying to get as close to the sides without going through. Fill each breast with the mixture and about 1.5 oz of fresh mozz. Rub the breasts with a bit of olive oil and add a bit more salt (just a touch) and pepper. Close the pockets with 4-5 toothpicks.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Might want to broil for a few seconds to try to brown the tops, too. Let them sit for 4-5 minutes before eating.

Trout with Chili Sauce recipe

This is from the blog Living Lou. We've made it once before we made it again tonight. Last time, I wanted to double the sauce; this time I multiplied it by 8, in part because I had a 2 lb fillet of trout and in part because the sauce is so very good. Beej forgot to oil the grill grate, so we lost some of the sauce, so I was glad I had reserved some to brush on at the end, but we ended up using that on the grill. Next time, I think I'll reserve some and brush it on after the grilling. I'll let you know how it goes.

Trout with Chili Sauce

Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 lbs piece of trout
1 tsp chili sauce
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed

The recipe from Lou has this as baked trout, but we grill a lot. So we did grilled trout with chili sauce: oil the grill grate with olive oil and heat to medium.  Slather the fish, put it on the grill (ours is gas) for about 4-5 minutes a side. It was a 2lb fillet, so a decent hunk of steelhead, so it's possible you'd want to adjust the time for a smaller fillet. So so so good. I'm including the Lou's directions for baking it, though, too.

Baking Directions

Begin by preheating your oven to 325 degrees and greasing a baking dish with a little olive oil.

Next, mix together all the ingredients and brush over trout. Place trout in the dish and bake for 18-20 minutes.

For a filling and healthy meal, serve with a spinach salad and some brown rice.

Garlic Truffle Mashed Potatoes

This is not healthier eating, but it's the mashed potatoes I made tonight. It's all a bit estimated in terms of quantities, but close enough.

Wash, peel, and cut into cubes about 3 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes. Boil the potatoes and 8 peeled cloves of garlic in salted water for 30 minutes or so (or until very tender). Reserve 1/2 C. of potato-boiling water before straining. Drain potatoes and garlic, return to pot, and add 1/2 stick of butter (salted or not, whatever turns your crank), about 1/3 C. room temp half-and-half, 1/4 C. of reserved water, and mash the crap out of them. Then add about tsp. truffle oil, bit of fresh ground smoked peppercorn, and a pinch of salt. Add more half and half and reserve water as necessary.

If in season, add 1 C. chopped fresh oyster mushrooms.

enjoy.

Also, the Peruvian chicken recipe (via Cook's Illustrated) is one of THE best things we eat. We made it for Christmas dinner tonight (with the above mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli) and I was swearing it was so good. So frakking good.

Healthier Eating?

Okay, I'm trying to start eating a little healthier. I'm probably not going to post any new recipes until after Thanksgiving as I'm trying not to go grocery shopping until after we get back from WI. But be prepared for quinoa and bulgur. Or something.

Two new recipes soon

I don't have them in front of me so I'll post them soon, but a few nights ago we made trout with chili sauce and tonight we made Nigerian fiery stick meat. BOTH were very good. So I'll post those recipes soon. Summer or no summer.

Ahh, summer

Now that summer is over and I'm back in the swing of the semester (actually, we're past midterm), it's hard for me to be cooking anything new or exciting or, if I am, to be posting about it. I made gnocchi a few times, but haven't quite gotten them to turn out how I want (they're good, but not great), so no posting on that. I'm obsessed with potstickers lately, but they're from a bag. Not post-worthy. Right now I'm eating chili, but chili is easy, so nothing to see here. I made this mushroom spaghetti sauce from Cook's Illustrated, but it was pretty much as good -- maybe not even as good -- as the mushroom and sundried tomato recipe on here, and it was WAY more time and work.

SO. If I make something good and interesting, I'll post it. But don't hold your breath.