Polenta Puttanesca

This turned out really great, but the polenta made it quite heavy. After one serving I was feeling quite fat and happy.

Polenta
2 Anchovy Fillets
3 cloves garlic
3 TB Olive Oil
1/2 cup pitted olives (I used kalamata, but wanted to use black)
2 TB capers, drained
1 28oz can whole tomatoes, drained, seeded (at least somewhat)
1/2 Cup Red Wine
red pepper flakes
1 can tuna

I went straight from How to Cook Everything for the polenta, but a recipe isn't hard to come by. This one is pretty close to Bittman's, except that I cooked it soft, so really only about 20-25 minutes, and spooned it into bowls.

The sauce was an amalgam of Bittman and a similar one in Cooks Illustrated. I heated up the oil, medium low (I didn't really have a good size skillet for this, so I actually used our stir-fry pan...), crushed the garlic, and cooked it and the anchovies until the anchovies were entirely broken up and the garlic was golden (3-4 minutes, maybe). Add the wine and reduce it about half. Crush the tomatoes, and add with the remaining ingredients. Increase heat to medium-high, cook until saucy, add a touch of oil.

We spooned the sauce over the polenta. We used the remaining polenta for breakfast the next morning (just topped it with a fried egg). Then we tossed the remaining sauce with pasta for a quick dinner.

Chicken Salad

For Debbie:

2 Chicken Breasts
Salt, Thyme, Lemon Peel
Mixed Greens (in this case, Boston Lettuce and Spinach)
1 Cucumber
2 Tomatoes
Dressing (in this case, Green Goddess)

The interesting stuff here is primarily in the dressing. We used the Penzey's Spices Green Goddess dressing base and mixed it up ourselves. I also used homemade mayonnaise (from How to Cook Everything, but recipes are pretty easy to find. Basically just egg, lemon juice, oil, and some spices). Any good herby dressing or vinagarette would work well, though. Then I put a little salt, thyme, and grated lemon peel on a cutting board and chopped it finely. Rub that on the chicken and let it stand for 10 minutes or so. Preheat the broiler and set the rack close to the heat. Brush the chicken with olive oil, and broil for about 4-5 minutes/side, or however long it takes to get done. Cut it into strips. The rub can be varied however you like, and can be omitted (at least salt and pepper the chicken, though).

Toss the greens and vegetables, serve in bowls with dressing and chicken strips on top.

Italian Tofu Curry

My attempt at "fusion" cuisine, I guess. I started with the idea of seared tofu, and when I was done brainstorming I had spinach, tomato, and basil. My measurements here are approximate.

1 Pkg Firm Tofu
1 Onion
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk
1 Can Diced Tomatos
2 Tsp Minced Ginger
2 Cloves Garlic
1 TB Lime Juice
2 Cup Spinach
1/4 Cup Chopped Basil
1 TB Sweet Curry Powder
2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Press the tofu and cut into triangles or strips. Dice the onion. Sear the tofu in a pan with a little oil and set aside. Sautee the onion, garlic, and ginger for about 3 minutes, add tomato, coconut milk, lime, basil, curry powder, and red pepper flakes. Simmer for a few minutes, then wilt in the spinach. Serve tofu on pasta or rice and top with sauce. Grate some parmesan on top.

I messed this up slightly, as I tried to do it all at once in a single pan, and ended up wrecking the tofu. It tasted just as good, but I imagine having crisped up the tofu it would be even better. There is something, though to simmering the sauce in a pot that the tofu is also in, so I need to figure out how to perfect this. We served it all over a spinach linguini. I forgot the parmesan, but it would be delicious, I'm sure.

Tuna Cabbage Rolls

This goes down as one of my more spectacular failures. We had about half a cabbage head left from some potstickers A made over the weekend, and I thought trying to come up with a cabbage roll recipe would be fun. I hold that, conceptually, this was a good idea, but there was one fundamental flaw: Napa Cabbage.

Long, narrow cabbage leaves do not rolls make. You need a wide-leaf cabbage instead. It quickly became apparent that the size simply did not allow for rolling anything. That, and I think I over-boiled the leaves, so it wouldn't really roll without tearing anyway. What we were ultimately reduced to was a plate of a tuna/rice mixture with bland, boiled cabbage on the side. All in all, a depressing dinner.

But... the theoretical recipe, that I still believe can work...

1 head Cabbage
1 can Tuna
about 2 c cooked Rice
Lime
1 Onion
Ginger
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes

Boil the cabbage for 5 minutes or so - get it tender and rollable, but not overcooked. Steaming might work as well.

Drain the tuna, dice the onion. Mix tuna, minced ginger, salt, pepper, red pepper, and any other spices that might marry well with the flavors. Squeeze a lime wedge or two over it. Sautee the onion over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, increase the heat, add the tuna and sear for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat, mix in rice.

Heat oven to 375.

(I didn't get to this part, so I'm just speculating here, extrapolating from some recipes I consulted) Put a little tuna rice mixture on a cabbage leaf, roll tightly and place in a baking dish. Add liquid about an inch deep to the baking dish and cook for 30 minutes. Water would work as well as anything, but I bet white wine with some vinegar, maybe, would work great, too.

I also had plans for a sauce that was kind of like a mayonnaise. I had reserved some of the onion, and had a couple of egg yolks I needed to use. I was going to whisk the yolks with some champagne vinegar and salt, then slowly add in a little oil (maybe sesame). Then I was going to flavor it with onion, some minced garlic, maybe a touch of soy sauce and some lime. It was going to be delicious... A is suspicious of anything that involves uncooked egg yolks, maybe moreso egg yolks that have been sitting in the refrigerator for 3 days, and the whole thing had collapsed by this point, anyway, so we went without the sauce.

It could work, though.