Brown Rice with Kale, Chicken Sausage and White Beans

I made this recipe today and it not only is very filling it is also full of good things: lean meat, fibers, veggies and whole grains. I just made it up as I was going so sorry if the measurements aren't very precise.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of brown rice ( I used texmati not the instant one, if you use the instant one you will have to adjust your cooking time on your own!)
1 box of low sodium chicken broth
1 bunch of lacinato kale ( but you can use whatever kale you like or even swiss chard or mustard greens)
4 chicken sausages with sundried tomatoes ( I used the Aidell's brand, I found them at Jewel)
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
1 can of white beans (navy or cannellini)
1 cup of white wine (optional)
Sweet Paprika

BEFORE YOU START COOKING

The most boring part: cut the stems off the kale and then chop the leaves into approx one inch squares. To remove the stems run your knife along both sides of it and then remove. Feel free to keep the stem and use it but remember that it is a little more fibrous and if you have a picky eater in your midst ( like I do) he/she might not like the texture.

Cut the onion and peel the garlic.

Slice the sausages into 1/4 inch thick slices or cube them, as you prefer.

Open the white beans and rinse them.

PREPARATION

In a large deep pan put the onion, the garlic and enough olive oil to cook them without burning them.
Once the onion is translucent add the rice and the wine and cook until the wine has evaporated.
Add the broth and the kale and cover until the kale is wilted, then cook uncovered until the rice is ready. If necessary add warm water to cook the rice more.
Once the rice is almost ready, add the sausage, the beans and the tomatoes. Cook another few minutes and stir to let the flavors come together. I like to add some sweet paprika to add color and flavor. I avoid cooking spicy foods, but I think some red pepper flakes or some cayenne pepper would go great in this dish too.
Enjoy!

Quick Tilapia/Swai/Flounder with Cherry Tomatoes and Olives

I find white fish pretty boring, I have to admit. I usually think you should let the flavor of a fish speak for itself, when it does have a flavor of its own, but I find tilapia, swai and flounder to be all pretty bland and overall tasteless. But I do enjoy eating fish and I know it's healthy to eat it often, plus these kind of fish are easy to find even in Illinois and often not very expensive. You can find them often reasonably fresh but I do like to buy them frozen, that way I don't have to worry about cooking them the same day I bought them or else they will spoil. The recipe includes olives, but they are completely optional, some people like them, some ( like me) not so much, unless they are in a martini of course! It is a quick way to make any white fish taste a lot more interesting and flavorful and you will find yourself eating fish a lot more often. I like serving this fish with a side of steamed brown rice.

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 or 2 fish fillets per person
All purpose flour
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
2 anchovy fillets ( optional)
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup of fresh chopped parsley
1/2 cup of finely diced black olives (optional)

Preparation

- Salt the fish fillets then coat them in flour by pouring the flour in a large plate or shallow baking dish and then coating the fillets on both sides
- Cut the cherry tomatoes in half or quarter them depending on the size.
- In a large skillet put 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and turn the heat on medium
- When the oil is hot cook the fillet for about 3 minutes per side working in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan.
- Once the fillets are cooked take them out of the pan and reserve them on a plate.
- In the same pan add some oil ONLY if necessary and add the garlic and the optional anchovy fillets. Cook on medium low for a couple of minutes making sure the garlic doesn't burn and pressing the fillets with a wooden spoon to make them "melt" into the oil.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan, add salt and cook on medium until the tomatoes are soft but not completely liquid, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the olives and the parsley and turn off after 1 minute.
- Put the fish back in the pan allowing the sauce to cover the fillets and serve.

Chicken Sausage with Rhubarb and Onions

This is definitely not an Italian recipe. Almost every ingredient here screams United States, starting from the rhubarb which I had never tasted until moving here. In Italy rhubarb is used to make some kind of hard candy that people used to eat fifty years ago or so, and I know my father still likes to eat it, when he can find it, just out of pure nostalgia. Apart from that it is not used in anything else. I got some rhubarb from the garden of my husband's aunt and I wanted to find a way of using it without making a pie. I just recently finished an enormous and delicious apple pie a friend made for me and I think I need to be off pies for a while. I know there are a lot of other desserts with rhubarb but not many savory dishes. I like the taste of onions with something sweet, and I had some chicken and apple sausages at home that are already slightly on the sweet side so I came up with this recipe. It is surprisingly delicious!

INGREDIENTS

1 large onion
4 stalks of rhubarb
4 chicken and apple sausages (precooked)
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of olive oil

PREPARATION

Chop the onion and the rhubarb and cook them in a skillet with the olive oil until the onion is soft and translucent and the rhubarb is mushy.
Add the balsamic vinegar and the sugar and cook another 5 minutes.
Slice the sausages and add them to the onion-rhubarb mix, stirring until warmed up.
Serve with a side of brown rice if needed.

Miller Sole fish - Sogliole alla Mugnaia

I like the delicate taste of Sole fish and in Italy it is often recommended to get kids used to eating fish. This recipe is called miller Sole fish because of the presence of flour in it and it is a very common way of preparing not only Sole but any kind of white salt water fish. It is very easy and quick to make, it involves ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. I am not indicating specific quantities because it depends on how many fillets you are making. Sole fillets are pretty small so you will need at least 2 per person.

INGREDIENTS

Sole fish fillets
Milk
Flour
Fresh lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt

PREPARATION

Let the fish fillets soak in milk for 15 minutes to half hour.
Coat the fish fillets in flour.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan ( not a lot of oil, just enough to coat the pan).
Cook the sole fish in the oil turning it once. About 2-3 minutes per side.
Plate the fish and generously sprinkle with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add salt to taste.

Pasta with Tuna

This is a dish I could make with my eyes closed. It is a sort of comfort food in my family, and it is made with ingredients that are always available in an Italian pantry, so you could make it when there is "nothing" in the fridge. The same maybe is not true of an American pantry, since anchovies have a very bad reputation around here and I don't think many people has even ever tasted capers. You can use any kind of canned tuna, or, if you want to have an Italian experience, go to an Italian supermarket and find Mediterranean Tuna in a jar, like Callipo, but at about 10$ a can I don't know that I would recommend it for such a simple recipe. As for the tomato sauce, I like the sauce that comes in a glass bottle, when I find it, and that is just tomatoes, no onions, no herbs, no other aromas. Otherwise I just buy a tomato puree, like Defratelli or any other regular brand. I did not indicate the exact amount of tomato sauce because it depends on your taste: some people like it more "white" others like it swimming in sauce, I am for something in between. As for the pasta, the rule in Italy is about 3.5 oz per person. I like using spaghetti grossi from Barilla, which is a kind of spaghetti that are slightly thicker than the average, but of course any spaghetti would work.

INGREDIENTS

(for 4 people)

14 oz of Tuna packed in water

Tomato Puree

1 big head of garlic

2 anchovies

2 teaspoons of small capers

1 tablespoon of fresh Italian parsley

salt

red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon of paprika 

about 1 lb of spaghetti grossi

1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil

PREPARATION

Fill a large pot with water and start boiling.

While the water is warming up, in a medium skillet heat up the olive oil and the peeled garlic clove.

Add the anchovies and smash them with a wooden spoon while cooking so that a sort of anchovy paste is created.

Add the drained tuna and keep stirring with the spoon for about 3 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce, the paprika, the red pepper flakes ( to taste) and a pinch of salt.

Bring to boil then reduce the heat to medium and let simmer until the sauce is thickened ( about 10 minutes, it depends on the amount of sauce you added).

Add the capers, stir to warm up about 1 minute. Turn off the heat. Discard the garlic clove.

When the water is boiling add a fistful ( yes a fistful is the right technical italian measurement for salt when it comes to pasta!) of salt then stir and wait for the water to boil again.

Add the pasta and cook until al dente (follow instructions on the package).

Drain the pasta, shake the excess water away then immediately toss the pasta in the sauce.

Turn the heat back on and toss the pasta for about 3 minutes.

Add the parsley and toss the pasta, reserving some parsley as a garnish.

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT SERVE WITH PARMESAN CHEESE.

IN ITALY IT IS CONSIDERED A CAPITAL OFFENSE.

Honey-Orange Pork Chops

I created this recipe today on a whim. I had some oranges that were getting old and that were not very good to eat like a fruit, they were juicy but very small, so basically to get a glass of juice I had to squeeze at least four of them and found myself too lazy to do all that work for a glass of juice. Plus, I like pork chops and I think that if they are good pork chops, like the organic ones I buy in the summer at the Woodstock Farmers Market, they don't need much fancy addition to it: just grill them or pan fry them with salt and pepper and maybe some rosemary. The problem is that the store bought pork chops instead have almost no flavor at all, I can't even imagine the miserable life those porks live and the amount of antibiotics and hormones they go through. That being said, in the winter there is no Farmers' Market, I live too far from a Whole Foods, I can't purchase a whole or half organic hog because I wouldn't know where to put it, so I have to buy regular meat. And pork chops are usually pretty inexpensive too, plus, if you don't eat the fat ( which, alas, I always do) they are quite lean and can even fit into a diet.

If you want to sound fancy you could call this a "honey marinated pork chop with orange gremolata". Gremolata is a word adapted from Italian ( I never heard it in Italy, but I think it's from the Milan region) and it means a condiment that traditionally include lemon zest, garlic and parsley. In America they use it to refer to any mixture of herbs and fruit zest though. I think the reason they use it is that is sounds fancier than saying with "grated orange zest and rosemary" for example, plus it is shorter, but that's really what it is.

INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)

2 small oranges or 1 regular one

2 pork chops

2 teaspoons of honey

1 teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary

1/4 cup of white wine

salt

pepper

olive oil

PREPARATION

Grate the zest of one of the oranges and reserve.

In a bowl combine the juice of the oranges and the honey. Immerse the pork chops in the liquid and let marinate for 1 to 2 hours covered in the fridge.

Heat up in a pan enough olive oil to coat the pan (about 1 teaspoon).

Take the pork chops out of the marinade ( do not discard the marinade) and season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pork chops about 5 minutes on one side, then turn and cover and cook at medium heat until cooked through ( you can use a meat thermometer to see if they reach the temperature of 160 degrees), about 8 minutes.

Remove the pork chops from the pan and keep them covered.

Add the reserved marinade and the wine to the pan, scraping any browned bits. 

Cook for about 3-5 minutes, until the sauce becomes thick and brown, like a syrup.

In a little bowl combine the grated zest with the finely chopped rosemary.

Plate the pork chops, cover with the syrup and then sprinkle with the gremolata.

Chicken with Green Olives

I found this recipe very fresh and easy to make, but at the same time different from the usual. chicken can be very boring and bland so I welcome any creative way of serving it to make it more interesting, especially if it doesn't involve ours and ours of slow cooking or roasting. I am not usually a fan of cooking with olives, but in this recipe the slight bitterness of the olives is nicely contrasted by the freshness of the lemon peel and the sweetness of the raisins all perfectly brought together by the sweet acidity of the balsamic vinegar. This recipe is perfect accompanied by an Olive bread or a brown rice pilaf.

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts
15 pitted green olives
3 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
1 tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 lemon ( for peeling )
1/3 cup of golden raisins
salt
pepper

PREPARATION
Cut the chicken breasts into long strips about 1/2 inch thick.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
In a large pan warm up the olive oil then cook the chicken strips until browned and cooked through ( about 3-4 minutes per side).
Put the chicken on a platter covered with tinfoil.
In the same pan add the shallots and garlic and cook until the shallots are translucent and soft, about 8 minutes  (time varies).
Add the olive and stir until warm for about 1 minute, then turn off the heat.
Add the raisins, the vinegar and the lemon peel.
Pour sauce over chicken and serve.