Chick Pea Salad With Olives

 

I just love it when a side dish can double as a main dish!  This chick pea salad with olives is yummy and filling, as well as being incredibly healthy for you.  I have taken what could’ve been an ordinary chick pea salad and bumped it up with healthy ingredients such as broccoli and sun dried tomatoes, making this dish interesting and substantial.  All of these flavors blend wonderfully together. 

You can certainly used dried beans for this recipe and soak them overnight and then cook them for an hour….but I just didn’t have the time.  You can also substitute different beans in this dish, but I really love chick peas.  I think their texture in this dish is perfection.

This salad holds up great in the fridge for a few days.  Add a sprinkle of olive oil before each subsequent serving to freshen it up and add that mouth-watering shine.

Here’s what you will need to serve 6-8 as a side dish…

 

2 cans chick peas, drained & rinsed

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped (can be packed in oil)

1/3 cup chopped scallions, white and light green part

steamed broccoli, 2 large florets (not heads), cut up into very small pieces

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup, plus 1 tbsp  extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp fresh mint, minced

1.5 tbsp fresh basil, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme, minced

1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

1 tsp fresh oregano, minced (can use dried)

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

Rinse and drain chick peas and place in a large bowl.  Add olives, scallions, sun dried tomatoes and broccoli, mix well.  In a small bowl whisk together red wine vinegar, olive oil and all the herbs.  Pour over chick peas and mix until incorporated.  If needed, add a touch more olive oil.  Mixture should be coated with the dressing, not soaked.  Allow to sit for 30 minutes to let the flavors blend.  Serve at room temperature.

Stuffed Cabbage

 

Now that there is a slight chill back in the air I immediately start thinking of comfort food dishes.  This stuffed cabbage recipe certainly fits the bill.  I made it a few times last year and have now arrived at the perfect combination of ingredients for this recipe.  Perfect for me, that is!  Not sure how much weight that carries considering I’m Italian and this is a Polish/Hungarian dish.  On that note, I will mention that my fiance is Ukranian and absolutely loves them!

Rolling up the leaves does require some time.  I happen to love doing it, I find it fun.  As you will see from the recipe below, this makes roughly 20 rolls!  Since it’s just the two of us, we can eat this for dinner twice during the week as well as bring them for lunch almost everyday.  So that’s what we’ve been doing.  And no, we’re not sick of them yet! 

To be honest, they get better as the days go on. 

Here’s what you will need to serve 6-8 people (roughly 20 cabbage rolls)… 

 

1 large dutch oven

Savoy Cabbage – 2 medium or large heads

Meat Mixture:

2 lbs chop meat (sirloin & pork)

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 egg

1/4 cup parsley

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

salt & pepper

 

Sauce

2 28 oz cans whole, peeled tomatoes

2 cans low-sodium tomato juice (soda can size)

2 large spanish onions, sliced

water

salt & pepper

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

The cabbage:  There are 2 ways you can tackle the head of cabbage.  First option is to remove the core (I find this difficult to do) and place the entire head of cabbage in a large pot of boiling water.  As the leaves soften they will start to break away from the head.  With tongs gently remove each leaf, one at a time, as it softens.  Lay on a tray to cool.

The other method is to turn the cabbage upside down and gently cut eat piece off near the core.  Once you slice through the first leaf, gently pull the leaf away from the head of cabbage.  Place each leaf in a large pot of boiling water until softened.  Lay on a tray to cool.

For the sauce, pour the whole, peeled tomatoes into a food processor and pulse until broken up.  Pour into a bowl and add the cans of tomato juice.  Add salt & pepper to taste.

To make the meat mixture, simply add the brown rice, onions, garlic, parsley and 1-2 ladles of the sauce to the chop meat and mix well.  I like to use a combination of sirloin and pork for the filling.  You can always add veal to this as well.

Now for the fun part.  Assembling!  Ok, lay one cabbage leaf down and cut the end portion of the core out.  Place a small palmful of meat onto the leaf and roll.  I like to fold the sides in first and then roll up.  It’s best to use all the large leaves from the cabbage, it gets difficult to roll the smaller ones.  That’s why I suggest to buy 2 heads of cabbage.

In the bottom of a large dutch oven place one layer of flat cabbage leaves, overlapping slightly.  Spread some sliced onions over the cabbage leaves.  Lay each stuffed cabbage roll, seam side down, in a single layer, on top of the onions.  Pour a few ladles of sauce over the cabbages.  Place another layer of sliced onions.  Now for the 2nd layer, go ahead and place the rolled up cabbages in another single layer, pour a few ladles of sauce over the cabbages, now some more onions.  You get the picture.  Continue until all your stuffed cabbages are in the pot.  I usually get 3 layers in my big pot.  This is what my 2nd layer looked like…

 

 

 

Let me take a moment here to state how much I love this red Le Creuset pot (above).  Love.  Cooks soups, stews and stuffed cabbage like a dream.  Cleans beautifully.  Love.  Ok, moving on…

Pour any and all remaining sauce over the top of the last layer.  If all cabbages are not submerged in liquid, add water to the pot until they are submerged.  If you have any leftover cabbage, you can thinly slice (shred) some leaves and place on top of the rolls.  Place a lid on the pot and put in the oven.  Bake for roughly 2.5 to 3 hours. 

Low.  And.  Slow.   Then, you will be rewarded with this… 

 

Tuna Salad Roll

 

I have been making this delicious fresh tuna salad for a few years now and it just occured to me to put it into a hot dog bun.  I got the idea from lobster rolls, abundant during the summer months.  Both lobster and tuna are somewhat pricey but the tuna is easier and quicker to cook.  You don’t have to concern yourself with taking the lobster meat out of the shells.

This tuna roll is terrific as a light dinner on a hot summer evening.  You only need to stand over a flame for 2 minutes, the rest comes together quite easily.  It is also great for lunch.  If you don’t want to put it in a hot dog bun it is wonderful placed on a bed of greens. 

 

1 pound sushi grade tuna steak, cut one inch thick

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing

1 large lime, zested and juiced

1 tsp wasabi powder

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp toasted seasame oil

5 dashes tobasco sauce

1 ripe Haas avocado

1/4 cup minced scallions

2 tbsp red onion, finely chopped

Salt & pepper

Spinach leaves

Hot dog buns (top slit), lightly toasted

 

Brush steaks with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Place tuna steak in a very hot saute pan (or grill pan) and cook for only one minute on each side.  The center of the steaks should still be raw.  Set aside on a platter to cool.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lime zest, wasabi, lime juice, soy sauce and hot sauce along with a dash of salt & pepper.  Add the avocados to the vinaigrette and toss to combine. 

Cut the tuna into chunks and add to the vinaigrette.  Finally, add the scallions and red onions to the mixture.  Mix well.

Lightly toast the hot dog buns.  Place a layer of spinach leaves in the buns.  Pile the tuna mixture on top of the leaves.

This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten.

 

Herbed Basmati Rice

 

 

As promised in my previous chicken piccata post, this is my favorite herbed basmati rice recipe.  Yes, it does require a few additional steps, but it’s worth it.  I usually make a big batch, it reheats wonderfully.  Trust me, this rice is very flavorful.  And doesn’t it look terrific?!

My chicken piccata recipe can be found here http://feastsandfotos.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/chicken-piccata/

Here’s what you will need to serve 4 people…

 

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, chopped fine

1 cup basmati rice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 large bay leaf

1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Salt & pepper, to taste.

 

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Cook onion with salt and pepper until just softened, about 3 minutes.  Add rice and cook, stirring frequently, until edges begin to turn translucent, roughly 2 minutes.  Add garlic, thyme and bay leaf and cook, stirring constantly, until frangrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in broth and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat to low and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand, covered for 10 minutes. 

Discard bay leaf and fluff with a fork.  Stir in almonds and parsley.