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 with Tomatoes, Parsnips, Spinach, and Chickpeas

This is one of those "clean out the pantry because I don't want to go to the store" kind of recipes, but it's pretty good, easy, and made almost entirely of stuff that I typically have on hand. A. was initially suspicious of this, but seemed to like it.

2 cans Tuna
2 cans diced Tomatoes
2 cans Chickpeas
2 Parsnips
Spinach
Onion
Garlic
Rice

Steam parsnips. Sautee onion and garlic for about4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, parsnips, and chickpeas and bring just to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes and a couple handfuls of spinach and simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes or so. Serve over rice.

We had 3 good-sized servings leftover; could probably have stretched it into four. The parsnips were the one thing that I added that weren't standard on-hand ingredients, and I didn't actually steam them beforehand. I would steam them the next time, though, as they didn't get as tender as I would have hoped.

Southwest Fritatta

Cleaning out the pantry to avoid going to the grocery store on a really cold day...

5 Eggs
1 Can Diced Tomatoes, strained
1 Can Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
1 Red Pepper, diced.
1 Shallot
1 clove Garlic
2 TB Butter
2 small Chipotle peppers
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Seasoning (used Ancho chile powder, herbes de provence, salt & pepper)

Sautee the shallot and garlic, set aside. Preheat oven to 350, heat butter in medium skillet, beat eggs with seasoning and Chipotle, stir in the cheese and other ingredients. Pour into skillet, cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, then put in oven and cook until top is no longer runny (15-20 minutes).

We had 2 servings for leftovers (will make a good breakfast), but could easily have eaten a little less and had 3 or 4 leftover servings. Infinitely variable as a fritatta. Also, I toyed with the idea of making this a risotto instead of a fritatta, and that would work just as well with these ingredients... just rice and chicken stock instead of the eggs.

Chili with Chipotle and Chocolate

Last night's dinner was this recipe from the December issue of Cooking Light... Makes tons of leftovers; we probably have four good portions left. There's a good half-hour of ingredient prep here, but, the actual cooking is pretty easy. Variations that might work are Green Peppers instead of red, fresh tomatoes rather than canned, and other meat than turkey. Also to try: replace the chicken stock with a bottle of beer.

Lentil Soup

Followed a recipe today, from 101 Cookbooks: Lentil Soup. Instead of a can of crushed tomatoes I just smashed up three tomatoes (and broke a wooden spoon in the process). Instead of larger leafy greens, I used spinach. Finally, we stirred in some pepper, cumin, coriander, and paprika, along with more salt. We used regular yogurt instead of greek for the saffron yogurt topping, and it was delicious.

Notes: Don't crush tomatoes with a wooden spoon. This soup needed more tomato to it, though I would like to try it with red peppers instead sometime (or also). Things to try: wilted cabbage, peppers, carrots, garlic, bacon, bay leaf.