Shrimp Feta and Fennel

Posted on September 21, 2013 by poulosc

I’m still all blushy and glowy from all the love yesterday from the SITS community! You ladies all rock and I’m looking forward to taking the time to drop by all of your blogs.

After all the gushing about some of my recipes, I got a little nervous today.

Dinner tonight wasn’t just about me and my fiance. Now, it was about all of you, too.

I didn’t want to disappoint.

I opened up some of my favorite cookbooks and riffled through all the pages torn from magazines.

My palms started to sweat. I started twirling my hair. Bad signs.

And then, I went back and looked over some of the comments you all left me. And one really stood out. Mo at Mocadeaux (check out her blog here) wrote that she loves high impact and low effort recipes.

I started to breathe more evenly. High impact. Low effort. The hallmarks of itty bitty city kitchen cooking.

Then I remembered something the Barefoot Contessa made that we had wanted to try. A super simple, one pot meal that’s packed with high impact ingredients.

I have a tendency to discount any recipe that has more than 10 ingredients. I get overwhelmed. It gets expensive. And, o yea, I don’t have the space.

So dishes like this that rely on a few key, really good ingredients, are a standby.

You will need:

1 pound of shrimp, peeled, tails on
1 fennel bulb, chopped
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
olive oil
salt
pepper
feta

Preheat the oven to 400.

In an oven-safe shallowish pot or skillet, drizzle olive oil and add in the garlic and fennel. Cook over medium until softened.

Pour in the diced tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and stir. I added a splash of Pastis to bring out the anise flavor. It’s not necessary. You can add a splash of white wine instead if you want. Totally up to you.

Let the sauce cook and bubble for about 10 minutes so the flavors come together. Next up, the shrimp.

I used one pound for the two of us. I also went with mediums. I noticed that the large have a tendency to come out tough sometimes.

Nest the shrimp, tails up, in with the tomatoes and fennel.

Sprinkle the mixture liberally with Feta. Bake for 15 minutes.

The shrimp will turn pink and be cooked perfectly. The fennel will still be slightly crunchy. The tomatoes will create a broth perfect for dunking the shrimp or the bread. And the feta adds the salty bite the dish needs.

Spoon out into a bowl. Pick up a piece of shrimp, take a bite and then scoop a spoonful of tomato and fennel into your mouth. Grab a piece of crusty bread and soak up all of those anisey tomatoes juices.

This is the perfect one pot meal for a Saturday night in.

Shakshuka – Or peppers and tomatoes and fried eggs, oh my!

Posted on September 19, 2013 by poulosc

This is another dish coming to you from my kitchen courtesy of Cooking Light magazine.

Seriously the latest issue was packed with brilliant ideas and quick fix meals.

We have a fondness of eggs for dinner, so any dish that gives us a new twist on runny yolks on dinner plates is usually a winner in our book.

This one is super simple and super yummy.

You will need

1/2 a white onion, chopped,
2 green peppers, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 large can of diced tomatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
paprika
eggs

Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and toss in the onions, peppers, garlic and celery. If you look up the recipe on Cooking Light you’ll note that celery isn’t listed. Neither is tomatoes. Well, they say to use marinara. I’m making my own marinara as I go rather use store bought. Remember, it’s all about adjusting recipes to suit you.

Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and simmer over medium until the vegetables have softened.

Pour in the can of diced tomatoes and add a few sprinkles of smoked paprika. Stir and let the mixture bubble and the flavors meld for about 10 minutes.

Ladle onto plates and top with fried eggs.

Tomatoey goodness, runny yolk? Screaming for crusty bread to mop it all up.

Eat Your Greens Soup

Posted on September 18, 2013 by poulosc

When the chill creeps into the air I start thinking of squash and apples and pumpkins. All fall colors to enjoy and to eat.

But I don’t want to forget about the greens. Those grassy, fresh, vibrant colors and flavors of spring.

This recipe has all the great Springy tastes and colors, but the warmth of a soup so perfect for curling up on these chilly nights. It also utilizes vegetables that are green and springy but in season in the Fall.

You will need

4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
2 leeks, cleaned and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 pound of green beans, chopped into bite size pieces
1 can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
olive oil
salt
pepper

Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and toss in the celery, leeks and garlic. simmer until the vegetables soften. About 10 minutes.

Pour in the stock and the water and let the soup come to a boil. Lower and let simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

Add in the green beans and the cannelinei beans and let cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

We were so anxious to eat it that I didn’t get a picture of the soup nestled in bowls. But you get the idea. Top with some parmesan or a squeeze of lemon.

Keep this one in your back pocket for when the winter blues get you down.

Lemon Garlic Basil Pasta

Posted on September 17, 2013 by poulosc

It sounds fancier than it is.

Last night we were both supposed to not be home. But we both ended up at home. For dinner.

And I really had no plan for feeding both of us.

So I opened a cabinet.

And then another cabinet.

And then I rummaged around the fridge.

And I came up with angel hair pasta, olive oil, garlic, a lemon and some basil leaves.

If you have pasta and some olive oil, you can always make a meal.

So here we go, pasta sauce on the fly.

Pour some olive oil into a pan and add two cloves of garlic chopped. Remember, the oil is going to be the sauce, so don’t skimp out here.

When the garlic starts to brown a bit, add in the juice of one lemon and tear a few basil leaves into the sauce. Give a few grinds to the pepper mill. If you want to add a touch of richness, add in a tablespoon of butter.

Toss some angel hair pasta in the sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

A few key ingredients and you won’t panic when you need to whip up a last minute dish.

Chicken Pot Pie – Sunday Night Football

Posted on September 16, 2013 by poulosc

So this was last night’s dinner, but with the Giants poor performance and the rain delay for the ’49ers game, I was in no shape to post this recipe.

Having recovered, I want to share it with you.

Fall Sundays in our house mean laundry and reading and football and meals that simmer in a pot on the stove all day filling the apartment with heavenly aromas.

During the week, it’s all about getting a healthy meal on the table with as little effort as possible. But on Sundays, I like to take my time, to savor the scents and flavors that can occur only when you’re cooking low and slow.

And these kinds of foods lend themselves perfectly to Sunday Night Football.

If you’re team’s losing, you’ll likely want some comfort food. And if you’re watching the game with friends, you’ll want a recipe that feeds a crowd.

Luckily, a one pot meal, itty bitty kitchen friendly, satisfies both.

This recipe is a little more involved than my usual, but like I said, it’s Sunday, a day to relax. And cooking relaxes me.

I love Chicken Pot Pie but it’s usually fatty and calorie heavy. Having just tried on my wedding dress, I really don’t want to eat a full-fat, buttery crust pot pie. But I don’t want some wimpy low fat option either.

Enter Cooking Light’s recipe! I was so excited when I saw this in the magazine. It replaces the crust with some buttermilk biscuits, so you still get that flaky breadyness that we associate with pot pie, but in smaller doses. And biscuits just make everything good.

I was just cooking for the two of us, so my measurements are for 2 + lunch leftovers.

You will need:

half an onion chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
4 cups chicken broth
olive oil
salt
pepper
herbs de provence
1/4 cup flour

Drizzle olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot – whatever you usually make soup in. Add in the carrots, celery, onion and garlic and let them soften.

Season with salt and pepper and add in the flour. Stir the vegetables constantly until the flour is incorporated and cooked down.

Pour in the chicken broth. Let the mixture come to a boil, the lower to medium.

cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add in the peas and the chicken breast. I just drizzled 2 chicken breasts with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked them at 400 for about 20 minutes. Let them cool and then shred them for the pot pie. Let the mixture simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

While it simmers, prepare your biscuit dough topping. I have a basic recipe I use:

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, cold and diced

Mix together the butter, flour and baking soda with a pastry cutter until the mixture forms pea sized clumps. Then pour in the buttermilk and stir.

I dropped heaping tablespoonful sized dough balls on top of the pot pie filling.

This whole pot goes into the oven at 425 for about 30 minutes. If your soup pot isn’t oven-proof, pour the filling into a baking dish and then add the biscuit topping.

Bake until the biscuits are golden brown (about 30 minutes)

Dish up into bowls and wallow as Eli throws another interception.

Veggie Chili

Posted on September 12, 2013 by poulosc

The best friend of the itty bitty city kitchen is the one pot meal.

Chop everything up, throw it in a pot and let it cook away while you take a hot shower or hit the treadmill or throw things in frustration.

Hey, I don’t judge.

Soups and chilis are great, because you can throw together any old ingredients and usually come out with a pretty good meal.

That’s what I did.

I used 2 green bell peppers, 3 roma tomatoes, 1/2 a white onion, one can black beans and one can red kidney beans rinsed and drained, 1 pablano pepper, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika.

Chop all the ingredients up so they are relatively similar in size. Drizzle olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot and toss in the peppers and onion. I wanted these to have some time to cook and soften before everything else went in.

When the onions start to brown, toss in the tomatoes and stir. Season with salt and pepper.

Last, dump in the beans and sprinkle with smoked paprika. Let this bubble away on the stove on low for twenty minutes or so.

Dish up into bowls and top with grated cheddar cheese.

A big hearty bowl of veggies to make up for the candy bar you ate earlier.

Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

Posted on September 11, 2013 by poulosc

Mama said there’d be days like this, there’d be days like this mama said.

That’s definitely the song for the day.

It’s just one of those days where everything irritates you, and everyone should just stand back.

It’s, in other words, a pasta day.

After a day like this, a steaming bowl of pasta is really the only thing on my mind. Yes, more so than a cookie. (I may have eaten an apple and a bag of cookies for lunch. I told you, it was a day. And the apple made the cookies healthy. For real.)

This is a standby in our house.

You will need sausage (either sweet or hot, or both if you want to mix things up) broccoli rabe and pasta. All the flavoring in this dish will come from the suasage.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the broccoli rabe. When it’s tender but still crisp, remove from the water using tongs or a strainer and palce in a large bowl. Reserve the water. We’re going to cook the pasta in it. 1. Why make more pots? and 2. Why throw that flavor down the drain?

Meanwhile, cut the sausage into pieces. I used 4 links for the 2 of us. I cooked enough for dinner and for lunches the next day. Brown in a frying pan until cooked through. Cue the sizzling sound.

Cook the pasta in the broccoli rabe water. Then toss everything into the bowl with the broccoli rabe and toss it all together.

Spoon out into bowls and top with parmesan cheese. The extra goes in Tupperware for easy grab and go in the morning. You know. In case it’s one of those days again.

Butternut Squash Soup

Posted on September 10, 2013 by poulosc

See that. That right there is Fall.

Corn on the cob roasting on a grill, the smell wafting down 3rd avenue as you stroll down the street, checking out the jewelry, food and weird stuff on display at a street fair.

I love New York Street Fairs. Great people watching, great fun finds, and, of course, great food smells. Sausage and peppers, kettle corn, gyros, and that tinge of fall in the air. Here’s a schedule of street fairs.

Walking the street fair on Saturday and feeling that tinge of a chill when the sun started to set had me thinking fall.

And when I think fall, I think butternut squash.

This time, in soup form.

Soup itself is such a fall food. Making a soup out of such a great fall vegetable just has me ready for scarves and sweaters and tights! I’m a sucker for tights and boots.

This is a ridiculously easy recipe and it’s a great make ahead too.

You will need 1 butternut squash, 1/2 a white onion, 2 cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and vegetable stock.

Start by roasting the squash like we did when we made the pasta sauce.

Let the squash cool completely, then scoop out the flesh into a large pot. Add the onion, chopped roughly, and two cloves of garlic peeled and halved. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring so that the onions and garlic brown a bit.

Add enough vegetable broth to cover the vegetables and simmer covered until everything has softened. You can use chicken broth, too, but I wanted to keep this vegetarian.

Puree the soup with a blender or immersion blender. For a little bit of that je ne sais quoi that will have people wondering what you could have possibly put in this soup, add a sprinkle of all spice. It adds a nice complexity of flavors and a touch of warmth that is perfect for cooler fall nights.

Ladle up big bowls and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

This has me wanting pumpkin spice candles and cinnamon cookies.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad

Posted on September 9, 2013 by poulosc

Whenever my fiance is away for the night, I take advantage of his absence and cook the things he can’t stand. Usually it’s zucchini. Tonight it’s Brussels Sprouts!

I love brussels sprouts. I always have actually. I was that weird child who enjoyed vegetables.

So I decided to roast some up, toss them with some baby greens and top it off with two fried eggs.

A yummy, light salad, so I could snack without guilt during the Giants game.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Trim the bottoms of the brussels sprouts and remove any yellowed leaves. Toss them in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast them for about 45 minutes until the leaves are crispy and the centers and tender.

Plate up some baby greens and top with the brussels sprouts.

Add two fried eggs, yolks still runny, to the top. The olive oil and the fatty yolk will act like a dressing for the salad.

He happened to come home while I was eating. I made him try a brussels sprout. And guess what? Not bad, he said!!

So if you have any picky eaters who aren’ts fans of certain vegetables, try roasting them. It brings out the sweetness in some and gives a smokiness to others.

Posted on September 5, 2013 by poulosc

Eggplant, Tomatoes, peppers, chickpeas.

I cook with these ingredients a lot.

Sometimes all together. Sometimes in different combinations with some other vegetables thrown in. But they’re pretty standard occupiers of my fridge.

We all go to the market and we all find ourselves coming back with the same things over and over again.

There’s not an infinite number of vegetables in the world. And there’s not an infinite number of foods to be tried.

BUT!

There are infinite possibilities when it comes to flavors.

Recently I’ve been exploring an aisle in the store I usually shied away from. Instead of picking up the usual salt, pepper and dried basil, I’ve been venturing out with things like coriander and ground ginger.

Mixing spices lets you transform your vegetables. Spices can take eggplant from Italy to Morocco and to your dinner table.

And that’s what I did with this dish. I took my usual suspects of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and chickpeas and tossed them with some new spices. The result? The smoky and complex flavors of the dishes I’ve had in Moroccan restaurants.

For this dish you will need

1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander

Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and toss in the eggplant, seasoning with salt and pepper. Let the eggplant cook on its own for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Eggplant is like a sponge, so add more oil if it soak it all up.

Add the peppers and stir, letting them soften a bit.

Next add in the tomatoes. This is a one pot dinner that’s all about layering the flavors. The vegetables cook at different times, so by adding them in throughout the cooking process, each gets the chance to cook through without turning to mush.

Last, add in the chickpeas and the spices. Give the pot a big stir, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. This is a great dish if your significant other is going to be late because it can just hang on the stove over low heat until everyone is home.

Dish up heaping bowls and top with a scoop of tzatziki.

The noise of the city fades as the spices transport you to a far off village…

Itty Bitty City Kitchen

tiny kitchen, BIG CULINARY ASPIRATIONS

Category Archives: Weeknight, One or 2 Pot Wonders