Roasted Curried Fennel

I have had fennel many times in salad but have never roasted it and this was so much better. Next time I will add a bit more curry for a bigger kick.

Ingredients:
2 bulbs of fennel, sliced thin.
1-2 teaspoons of curry powder (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
Cooking Spray

Preheat your oven to 425. I have been doing all my roasting, veggie and otherwise in my Breville Smart Oven. Highly Recommend it. If you are interested, link here.

Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQIt comes in several sizes. I have the big one which is perfect for my family of 4. If you don’t have one, regular oven is perfectly fine.

Spray oil onto your baking sheet. Combine spices and oil in a bowl. Toss with the fennel.

Roast about 15 minutes, flip over and roast another 10-15 minutes till golden.

Adapted from http://www.sonisfood.com/2013/04/roasted-curried-fennel.html

I served with a Balsamic Maple Bone In Loin Pork Chops, recipe here : http://www.saladgirlnat.com/2013/05/balsamic-maple-bone-in-loin-pork-chops.html

Arugula salad w Orange Segments, Shaved Parmesan and Sunflower Seeds. Healthy and Tasty!

It seems like all summer long we eat salads for dinner and the minute it gets colder, I start eating way less salad. Not good. This is one my favorites regardless of season though.

INGREDIENTS:

These are all pretty flexible--but I love to play around with this and I find these all go together very well.

1. 3 cups of arugula (makes about 2 servings)
2. 2 oranges, 1 1/2 for salad, 1/2 for dressing
3. 1/4 cups sunflower seeds (can substitute pine nuts)
4. 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
5. 1/2 cup of thinly sliced fennel
6. 1 ounce or so of aged parmesan cheese
7. 1-2 tablespoons OJ
8. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
9. 1/4 teaspoon of dijon mustard
10. 1/4 of a shallot

DIRECTIONS

1)  Wash and spin dry arugula. I am very anal about this as I loathe a soggy salad.

2)  Wash and dry cherry tomatoes.

3) Wash and dry fennel. Slice thinly.

4)  Peel orange, cut into circles, remove the white. Reserve 1/2 orange for dressing.

5) Heat small skillet, add sunflower seeds and toast them till light brown.

6) Shave your parmesan. I like to use a veggie peeler for this, it works very well. 

For dressing, squeeze juice from the reserved 1/2 of orange. If you have lemon, squeeze a bit of juice as well. Add the oil and mustard. If you are using shallot, finely chop and add in. Mix well.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except orange segments, cheese and seeds. Dress salad, top w orange, cheese and seeds.

Enjoy!

Finished Product!!!

Orange Ginger Cod w Brown Rice, Chanterelles and Roasted Brussel Spouts

This is what I made for our wedding anniversary!




COD:

1. 3 Cod (same as sable fish) fillets 
2. The above recipe says to remove the skin but I did not bother.
3. 2 tbsp honey
4. 1 tsp of good balsamic vinegar
5. 1 tablespoon soy sauce, I used low sodium
6. 1-2 tablespoons of orange juice ( I used fresh squeezed)
7. 1 tablespoon orange zest (used same orange that I used for juice above)
8. 2 tablespoons ginger (fresh if you have, that's what I used)
9. 2 tsp oil (I used grape)
10. Salt and pepper to taste
11. Pam or another cooking spray ( I used canola oil by Spectrum)

1) Preheat broiler. Cover pan w foil, makes clean up much easier.

2)  Spray foil/pan with a bit of cooking spray. 

3) Wash and pat dry fish. Season w salt and pepper to taste.

4) Combine ingredients #3 through #9 in a small bowl. Lighly coat the fish--don't put too much or the fish will burn under the broiler.

5) Broil fish about 4 inches from flame till browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour remaining sauce on top of the fish and bake the fish at 425F till fish is flakes in the thickest part.  Don't flip the fish over, this allows the glaze to caramelize on top. 

CHANTERELLES:

Chanterelles are such delicious little mushrooms, if you can get your hands on them, I highly recommend them. They are tasty over rice or potatoes --you really need another side w them since they shrink so much.

1 to 2 pack of chanterelles
2 shallots
1 tablespoon grape oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

Remove the dirty part from the stem of the chanterelles. Wash and dry them.

Peel and chop shallots. 

Preheat pan, cook shallots in oil till they begin to brown a bit, add mushrooms, cook till they shrink a lot. Salt and pepper to taste. Ground ginger (if you wish).

BRUSSEL SPROUTS

Brussel sprouts (as much as you think you will eat), I always make extra and reheat the leftovers the next day.
Grape oil--1 to 2 tablespoons depending on how many brussel sprouts you plan to roast.

Preheat oven to 425 F. In the meantime, peel outer layer from sprouts. Half or quarter them depending on size. In a bowl, toss w oil of choice.
Stick in the oven and turn every 15 minutes or so. Once they are brown, you can turn the oven off and I sometimes leave the sprouts there another ten minutes, this gets them even more brown and crispy which I like.

BROWN RICE

Cook to package direction, I won't bore you with this. 

I was sneaky and used microwavable rice from Fresh Direct (my savior as a busy working mom). If you are lucky and they deliver to you, check them out... 

http://www.freshdirect.com/cg_meal_item_detail.jsp?recipeId=rec_wk_wldrice_lentil_sp&variantId=rec_wk_wldrice_lentil_sp_default&productId=clig_rice_brown_ckd_12oz&skuCode=HMR0073623

Assemble all your ingredients. Enjoy with lovely company and a nice glass of rose wine.


RECIPE FOR COD IS ADAPTED FROM:

http://www.culinate.com/recipes/collections/Contributors/Helen+Rennie/Sablefish+with+Balsamic+Orange+Ginger+Glaze

Peach and Goat Cheese Salad

Had lots of peaches due to miscommunication w husband. He bought some and so did I.

Decided to use them  in salad. Google to the rescue and I came across this awesome recipe from the Farm House Table which I promptly added to my Pinterest of course :)

Here is the original recipe http://farmhousetable.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/grilled-peach-salad-with-buffalo-mozzarella-and-arugula/ which I followed somewhat loosely.

Here is what my final product looked like. I must say it was very good.

I used romaine instead of arugula--no arugula available at the moment.
Had sliced fennel so I added that.
Had wheatberries which I love and cooked a few days before--added a bit of those.
Had no chives, heavy cream or creme fraiche.
Used goat cheese (my fave) instead of mozarella.

My ingredients that I used:

1. Romaine lettuce (about 2 cups per person). Washed and dried in salad spinner.
2. 3 peaches (enough to serve 2)
3. 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
4. 1/2 container of goat cheese
5. 3 table spoons of toasted pine nuts
6. 1 table spoon honey
7. 1 table spoon extra virgin olive oil
8. 2 table spoons of red wine vinegar

Wash and dry peaches, cut into quarters or half. Spray pan w Pam or the like. I use canola oil spray by Spectrum. Roast at about 400 till soft. I used my toaster oven as it was too hot outside to run the oven.

Wash lettuce, dry, set aside. Add thinly sliced fennel (wash first) and thinly sliced red onions.

Add to lettuce. Add wheat berries (if you have). I cooked them according to package direction.

Whisk ingredients 6 to 8 in small bowl to  make dressing.

Toast pine nuts on skillet.

Once peaches are cooked, toss salad w dressing. Top w peaches, pine nuts and goat cheese.

Enjoy!