And let the gutter-defying healthier eating options commence with this combo recipe. I pulled a little from 30-minute meals and a little from Weight Watchers and voila! we have a tasty meal that's figure friendly.
Baked Chicken Parmesan Ingredients
Marinara Sauce
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
A handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil (or 2 teaspoons fresh if you have it handy)
1 (28 ounces) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14 ounces) can chunky style crushed tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chicken
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 1/4 lb chicken cutlets
Pasta
6 oz. angel hair pastaa
Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Start a pan on the stove over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and allow to heat up. Once the pan is hot, add the onion and then, about a minute later, the garlic. Cook until onion begins to soften, about 4 minutes (be careful not to let the garlic burn). Add the red pepper flakes, oregano and basil. Allow the spices to toast in the hot pan for about a minute. Add the parsley and tomatoes. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. After the 10 minutes have elapsed, give the sauce a zap with an immersion blender to create an even consistency. If you don't have an immersion blender fear not, just put the sauce in a regular blender but remember to only fill the blender about half way and to leave the lid partway off or the hole in the top open to allow the steam to escape. Only filling the blender halfway you may have to do multiple batches. Allow the blended sauce to continue simmering over the flame while you make the chicken.
Spray a 13" x 9" pan with non-stick spray. Whisk the egg and milk together in a bowl. In a pie pan, mix the panko, parsley, cheese, salt and pepper. Again, both of the salt and pepper are to taste. My advice? Go easy on the salt since the Parmesan adds a nice salty kick. Be generous with the pepper. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and allow extra to drip off. Dredge the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture shaking off the excess. Lay flat in sprayed pan. Repeat for remaining three chicken cutlets. Bake for 17 minutes or until chicken is done.
While the chicken is baking, bring your pasta water to a boil, salt liberally and with 4 minutes to go on the chicken drop 6 oz of angel hair pasta into the boiling water. Drain the pasta after three minutes, replace in the pan it was boiled in and mix in several ladles of sauce. Divide the pasta evenly among the four plates. Top with more sauce, then baked chicken, then more sauce. Enjoy!
P.S. I served asparagus with this for a veggie and it was tasty. Broccoli would also be good!
WW Points: 10
04 January 2010
01 January 2010
Clawing My Way out of the Gutter
To steal a funny statement from a friend, this January (and beyond) is all about crawling out of the gutter I've been comfortably resting in ever since I fell off the wagon and getting my less than shapely arse back on said wagon. With that in mind, this weekend is about cooking up all the too rich food options we have laying about and restocking the fridge with their lower calorie counterparts. So ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the last of the rich food recipes because starting on Monday you're going to see the resurgence of many of our Cooking Light and Weight Watchers favorites.
New Year's Day dinner was a perfect example of a recipe that is mostly healthy with a side of fat that makes it explosively good. I'm not actually talking about the brisket since, as you can see from the recipe below, a first cut, trimmed brisket is pretty low on the fat content scale and the cooking liquid is pretty lean too (assuming you buy into the "red wine is good for your heart" argument which, as a convenient theory for me, I do). No, I'm talking about the potato latkes, fried up in vegetable oil. Enjoy!
Brisket Ingredients
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, needles striped from the stem and chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 (4 pound) beef brisket, first-cut (I used just under a three pound brisket since I was hoping to only get about 4 servings out of this, rather than 6)
Coarsely ground black pepper
4 large carrots, cut in 3-inch chunks
3 celery stalks, cut in 3-inch chunks
4 large red onions, halved
2 cups dry red wine
1 (16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, hand-crushed
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (optional)
Potato Pancakes, recipe follows
Directions
New Year's Day dinner was a perfect example of a recipe that is mostly healthy with a side of fat that makes it explosively good. I'm not actually talking about the brisket since, as you can see from the recipe below, a first cut, trimmed brisket is pretty low on the fat content scale and the cooking liquid is pretty lean too (assuming you buy into the "red wine is good for your heart" argument which, as a convenient theory for me, I do). No, I'm talking about the potato latkes, fried up in vegetable oil. Enjoy!
Brisket Ingredients
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, needles striped from the stem and chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 (4 pound) beef brisket, first-cut (I used just under a three pound brisket since I was hoping to only get about 4 servings out of this, rather than 6)
Coarsely ground black pepper
4 large carrots, cut in 3-inch chunks
3 celery stalks, cut in 3-inch chunks
4 large red onions, halved
2 cups dry red wine
1 (16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, hand-crushed
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (optional)
Potato Pancakes, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
On a cutting board, mash the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt together with the flat-side of a knife into a paste. Add the rosemary and continue to mash until incorporated. Put the garlic-rosemary paste in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil; stir to combine.
Season both sides of the brisket with a fair amount of kosher salt and ground black pepper. Place a large roasting pan or Dutch oven over medium-high flame and coat with the remaining olive oil. Put the brisket in the roasting pan and sear to form a nice brown crust on both sides. Lay the vegetables all around the brisket and pour the rosemary paste over the whole thing. Add the wine and tomatoes; toss in the parsley and bay leaves. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for about 3 to 4 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.
Remove the brisket to a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes. Scoop the vegetables out of the roasting pan and onto a platter, cover to keep warm. Pour out some of the excess fat, and put the roasting pan with the pan juices on the stove over medium-high heat. Boil and stir for 5 minutes until the sauce is reduced by 1/2. (If you want a thicker sauce, mix 1 tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of wine or water and blend into the gravy).
Slice the brisket across the grain (the muscle lines) at a slight diagonal. Serve with potato pancakes.
Crispy Potato Pancakes (Latkes) Ingredients:
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled
2 medium onions
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
Vegetable oil, for frying
Using a box grater or food processor, coarsely grate the potatoes and onions. Put the grated potatoes and onions together in cheesecloth or a tea towel and twist it to squeeze out the excess liquid. Put the dry potatoes and onions in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the egg whites and chives to bind the mixture together.
Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and coat with 1/4-inch of oil. For each pancake, take about 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture and drop into the hot oil; gently flatten with a spatula so they fry up thin and crispy. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden. Remove to paper towels to drain; season with salt while the potato pancakes are still hot. Continue frying, adding more oil as needed, until all of the mixture is used up.
New Year's Germy Eve
Since we wouldn't be able to spend NYE in Boston as we'd originally hoped, we'd decided weeks ago that we wanted to find a fun "DC" activity to liven up the ride into 2010. As we're both jazz fans, that came in the form of the Kennedy Center's NYE Jazz Concert, "Dear Mr. Sinatra" with John Pizzarelli. We managed to snag the last of the remaining tickets in the concert hall, made dinner reservations at Bazin's on Chuch, a local gourmet favorite and I even found a gorgeous beaded dress on clearance at Macy's. NYE was shaping up to be a great night. And then I got sick. Don't know whether it was being out in the wind in Charleston or just sharing other people's germs on planes over the holiday. But by Wednesday of this week I had a monster head cold and next to no energy.
Determined to get our money out of the tickets, I slept all day (truth be told I was feeling gross enough I would have done this anyway) and rested between getting ready activities to make sure I had enough juice in my batteries to make it through the night. We started off on the right foot. I don't even look too sick (ignoring the red knows and sleepy eyes) in the picture we took before leaving!
We made our reservation and enjoyed our favorite bottle of Pinot Noir (Talbot Sleepy Hollow 2006) and a delicious three-course meal. Ben's dinner began with Lobster Chowder, followed by a Surf and Turf that included venison, lamb, shrimp and in the end some of my crab I couldn't finish. He enjoyed a fantastic hot chocolate cake with coconut and passion fruit sorbet for dessert. My first course was a butternut squash risotto with braised duck and just a touch of cool cilantro to make everything balance perfectly. For my main it was their famous crab cakes, a favorite of mine always and white chocolate mouse with raspberries for dessert. About halfway through the last course Ben looked at me and said, "you're starting to feel badly again, aren't you? I can see it." He was right, of course. The man who can usually tell how I feel just by looking at me and sometimes before I even realize. The energy I'd stored was totally depleted and my sinuses were beginning to throb.
So our grand plan to ring in the new year at the Kennedy Center went out the window. Instead, I was asleep by 1030. But if the old addage, "what you're doing new year's eve, you'll be doing all year", is true, I can console myself easily about our failed plans. Instead of a concert, we spent our after dinner hours in our tremendously comfortable bed laughing and being silly, despite my growing sinus headache, and enjoyed the kind of sleep that comes with true contentment.
Determined to get our money out of the tickets, I slept all day (truth be told I was feeling gross enough I would have done this anyway) and rested between getting ready activities to make sure I had enough juice in my batteries to make it through the night. We started off on the right foot. I don't even look too sick (ignoring the red knows and sleepy eyes) in the picture we took before leaving!
We made our reservation and enjoyed our favorite bottle of Pinot Noir (Talbot Sleepy Hollow 2006) and a delicious three-course meal. Ben's dinner began with Lobster Chowder, followed by a Surf and Turf that included venison, lamb, shrimp and in the end some of my crab I couldn't finish. He enjoyed a fantastic hot chocolate cake with coconut and passion fruit sorbet for dessert. My first course was a butternut squash risotto with braised duck and just a touch of cool cilantro to make everything balance perfectly. For my main it was their famous crab cakes, a favorite of mine always and white chocolate mouse with raspberries for dessert. About halfway through the last course Ben looked at me and said, "you're starting to feel badly again, aren't you? I can see it." He was right, of course. The man who can usually tell how I feel just by looking at me and sometimes before I even realize. The energy I'd stored was totally depleted and my sinuses were beginning to throb.
So our grand plan to ring in the new year at the Kennedy Center went out the window. Instead, I was asleep by 1030. But if the old addage, "what you're doing new year's eve, you'll be doing all year", is true, I can console myself easily about our failed plans. Instead of a concert, we spent our after dinner hours in our tremendously comfortable bed laughing and being silly, despite my growing sinus headache, and enjoyed the kind of sleep that comes with true contentment.
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