On Leftovers, Cooking for Two, and a Recipe

This week I have been actively committed to using up the massive amounts of Thanksgiving leftovers that took up residency in our fridge last Thursday evening. Considering we made enough food to feed at least six people, maybe even eight, that has proved quite the task. I've nuked plates of Turkey Day fixins' and gobbled 'em up as is for breakfast and lunch, but we've also remixed the leftovers into new recipes for dinner. I love leftovers, I do, but they are definitely starting to lose their luster.

First, since I had an extra frozen pie crust, I made Giada's Thankful Shepherd's Pie (subbing out whole milk for heavy cream, glazed carrots for fresh, and frozen peas and corn for celery). The recipe helped use up most of our mashed potatoes and gravy. Next, inspired by a Rachael Ray recipe, I winged my own version of a crustless, sweet potato-topped shepherd's pie, with green bean casserole as the base.

Both of these casseroles were good (the first better than the second), but they tasted just like Thanksgiving. In other words: a bit boring.

So the other day I turned to our new favorite cookbook for a recipe that required turkey but didn't mimic the flavors of our recent holiday feast, and found this: Turkey Chili! 

For his birthday two months ago, I ransacked Crate & Barrel and, among other things, got G a hefty (read: manly) 12-inch Lodge cast iron skillet along with "One Pan, Two Plates: More Than 70 Complete Weeknight Meals for Two" by Carla Snyder, and it has quickly become one of our go-to cookbooks. Besides the wonderful and varied gourmet recipes housed within, the beauty of this book is three-fold (and obvious by its title): each recipe is made in one pan/skillet, is the perfect amount for two people and, as such, leaves no (or very little) leftovers.

"One Pan, Two Plates" is perfect for couples and newlyweds, like G and I, but also roommates and empty nesters. No need for mathematics to cut recipes in half or thirds, or to dirty a bunch of pots and pans in the pursuit of dinner.

We absolutely loved (and devoured every last drop of) the turkey chili so I thought I'd share the recipe with you here. We lucked out and had most of the ingredients on hand. If you've succeeded in using up all your leftover turkey, don't fret, just pick up a package of ground turkey at the grocery store as the recipe suggests.

Turkey Chili with Poblano and Queso Fresco

Recipe from One Pan, Two Plates | Cook time: 20 minutes, Total time: 25 minutes | Serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup canned cannellini beans

1 tsp. ground cumin

Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. chili powder, plus more if needed

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Pinch of ground cloves

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 large poblano chile, seeded, deribbed and diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb ground turkey

1 1/4 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed

Kernels from 1 ear corn or about 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed

2 tbsp. sour cream (and more for topping, if you're like me)

1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco or farmer's cheese (shredded Cheddar works, too) *note: we didn't use queso fresco since I'm not a big cheese fan

1 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro (we used parsley since it's what we already had on hand)

Directions

1. Drain the cannellini beans, rinse well and drain again. Put the beans in a bowl and mash lightly with the back of a fork. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine the cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, chili powder, cinnamon, cayenne and cloves and season with black pepper. Set the spice mixture aside.

2. Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and poblano and sauté until they begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, spice mixture and turkey and cook, breaking up the turkey meat with a spoon, until the turkey is no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and mashed cannellini beans and stir to mix thoroughly; the beans will thicken the chili. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the chili for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. If the pan gets dry, add a little more broth or water.

3. Stir in the corn and sour cream. Taste the chili and add more salt, pepper or chili powder if it needs it. If you like corn on the crunchy al dente side, remove the chili from the heat now, but if you like your corn soft, continue to simmer it for another minute or two.

4. Ladle the chili into shallow, warmed bowls and top with the queso fresco and cilantro. (I put an extra large dollop of sour cream on mine.) Serve hot.

Optional, if you're extra hungry: Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. Great crumbled on top or when used to scoop up the chili.

Every recipe in "One Pan, Two Plates" includes a wine pairing, which may be the other reason I love the cookbook so much. Here's the recommendation for the turkey chili:

There are a few directions you could go when pairing wine with this dish. There's Joseph Drouhin Beaujolais-Villages if you want to go red, and for the white lovers, a Chablis from the same producer would do just as well. Then there's always the classic beer and chili one-two.

Personally, we had an open bottle of Pinot Grigio in the fridge so we made do. The chili is spicy (but not overwhelmingly hot) so something light and refreshing, whether it be wine or beer, seems like a good choice to me.

The hubs and I look forward to cooking many more "One Pan" meals. This white chili was our fifth foray. Previously we had made the cover dish (above), Flank Steak with Chimichurri and Summer Squash Hash (the chimichurri was divine; I wished there was more!), Jambalaya with Chicken, Shrimp and Andouille Sausage (below), and Flash-Roasted Tilapia with New Potatoes, Peas and Pesto Mayonnaise. Also, G took inspiration from the cookbook's three frittata recipes one morning and whipped up a one-pan breakfast.

If you're part of a twosome and looking for a new cookbook, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy. Available online now at Barnes & Noble and Crate & Barrel (temporarily out of stock at Amazon).

Next, I'm thinking we should try the Prosciutto-Wrapped Salmon with Corn and Poblano Succotash (pictured below). Yum.

(Top image via The Kitchn, bottom image via Cleveland)

Cool Kitchen Gadgets : Risotto Made Easy

If you’ve been reading this blog or following me on Instagram, then you already know the hubby and I love to cook.

The kitchen in our one-bedroom apartment is practically bursting at the seams; we don’t have enough room for all our cooking stuff. We don’t have too many fancy gadgets, but the one that we do have we use all the time. It was an investment (at $130), but it has paid for itself many times over.

It’s our Breville Risotto Plus.

I purchased the multi-talented gadget for GT as a Christmas gift in 2012 and we have used it countless times since then. It’s a rice cooker—which is how we most often utilize it, to whip up fluffy white and brown rice—and it also functions as a veggie steamer and slow cooker. But, as the name suggests, the highlight of this versatile machine’s capabilities is that it makes perfect risotto in a flash—no stirring required!

The hubs loves risotto (who doesn’t?) and with this machine it’s so easy to make, any night of the week. There’s almost no effort involved; with a rich and creamy base guaranteed we are free to think up new, creative flavor combinations. Usually we just toss in whatever fresh vegetables sound good at the moment. That’s what we did the other night when we made a lemony arugula and sweet pea risotto with sun-dried tomatoes, as well as a few slices of baby red peppers we had on hand. Sometimes we stir in some pesto, too, or add chicken. You can sauté meat and veggies in the machine beforehand, to include in the risotto. It’s a one-pot wonder, I tell ya.

A warm and filling plate of risotto is an ideal comfort food in the fall, don’t you think? Butternut squash risotto would be amazing. This one with saffron and pancetta sounds wonderfully savory. But a Food Network episode I saw the other day has got me thinking of something new to try: a sweet risotto. Doesn’t Giada’s white chocolate risotto with blackberries look incredibly decadent and delicious? I think we’ll have to make that soon. Real soon.

Have you ever made risotto at home? Do you have any fancy kitchen gadgets that you love (or hate)? I’d love to hear :)

(Breville Risotto Plus images via Breville, Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma; White Chocolate Risotto image via Giada De Laurentiis; other images my own)

Next-Level Avocado Toast

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard of avocado toast. It's all over social media, blogs, foodie websites and magazines. The combo is the "It" way to liven up a piece of toast.

In its simplest form, avocado toast is exactly what it sounds like: fresh avocado spread on crusty bread. And that's all well and good but I'm here today to tell you that, with a few simple additions, you can take avocado toast from great to ah-mazing. Something worthy of being called "dinner," as I did the other night.

Here's my quick and easy recipe, if you can even call it that, for "next-level" avocado toast:

1. Toast up some bread. A good quality loaf that's crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside is preferable, but almost anything will do in a pinch. An oat- and nut-laden whole grain bread from my supermarket bakery was my vehicle of choice the other day. I use the oven or a toaster depending on how many slices I'm making, and if I have the patience for the oven to preheat.

2. While the bread toasts, prepare the avocado. I scoop the flesh out of the skin and gently mash it in a bowl with a little lemon or lime juice for extra flavor and to keep my avo looking beautifully green. (Note: If making for a crowd—and this is a killer party appetizer—you can class it up by cutting thin slices of avocado to then fan out on the toast. But the texture of mashed avocado on crusty bread is an unbeatable and comforting combo that I highly recommend.)

3. Once the toast is ready, immediately rub a clove of peeled garlic over the warm bread's crisp and craggy surface. This is the first step in creating layers of flavor that take this toast over the top.

4. Spread your avocado (mashed, sliced, chunked, you choose) on the garlicky toast.

5. Sprinkle generously with sea salt (avocado loves salt!), fresh-cracked pepper and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for a little heat. Finish with a glistening drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

6. Enjoy!

This avocado toast is wonderful as a snack, quick lunch or light dinner. It is also absolutely fabulous for breakfast with a poached or fried egg on top. Basically, you are going to want to eat it all the time. The hubs was still underway when I posted about my avocado toast dinner on Monday and when he saw the photo he was green with envy (ridiculous pun intended).

Do you love avocado toast? How do you make yours? If you've never tried it, I'm begging you: give it a go! It won't disappoint.

Last Night's Dinner : Southwestern Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

In an act of redemption following the large slices of super spicy sausage and pepperoni pizza the hubby and I consumed while watching football on Sunday, I decided to put together a yummy salad brimming with colorful vegetables for dinner last night. And since it got the seal of approval from the GT (and myself!), I thought I'd share the "recipe."

It's a "recipe" because, like I usually do, I just winged it last night. Throwing together a salad isn't an exact science. The dressing, well, that's a little more so. But science was never my best subject so when I make a vinaigrette it's a lot of guesswork, eyeballing, tasting and adjusting. That's the fun! I love whisking something together, giving it a try, bringing a spoon over to my husband to get his opinion, and then adding a little more of this or that to make it perfect.

Nevertheless, I realize that isn't so helpful to anyone trying to recreate the dish, so I've done my best to formulate an actual recipe. But I'll still encourage you: Have fun! Play with your food! Make it your own! It will taste that much better.

Southwestern Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

Prep time: 15 minutes

Makes 2 generous servings

INGREDIENTS

For the salad:

Romaine lettuce, chopped into chunks (I used a pre-washed package to make life easy)

2 cups grape tomatoes (red and yellow), sliced in half

1 ear of corn, husk and silky threads removed, kernels cut off the cob; reserve cob for vinaigrette

Half a can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup of red quinoa, cooked according to package directions

1/4 cup of pepitas (mine were roasted and salted)

1 avocado

For the vinaigrette:

Handful cilantro, leaves picked from stems and finely minced

Juice of half of a large lime

Sherry vinegar (can sub red wine vinegar, or even balsamic vinegar if necessary)

Extra virgin olive oil

Honey

Sriracha (or your favorite hot sauce)

Corn cob milk

Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

While quinoa cooks, prep the vegetables. Once the quinoa is ready, assemble the salad ingredients. Place romaine in a large bowl and lay tomatoes, corn, beans, pepitas and quinoa over the top, in rows or a pinwheel design. Finish with slices (or chunks, if you prefer) of avocado.

To make the vinaigrette, in a small bowl, whisk together about 1 tablespoon of vinegar and the juice of half a lime with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 1-2 teaspoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of Sriracha and the "milk" from the reserved corn cob. (Using the back of a knife, scrape the corn cob to release the corn milk. It is best to do this over the bowl in which you are preparing the vinaigrette.) Whisk to combine, then add cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. 

Try the vinaigrette; it should be tangy, slightly sweet from the honey and the corn milk, with a hint of spice from the Sriracha. Adjust seasonings if necessary to balance the flavors. Add more olive oil or honey if it is too bitter, add more hot sauce if you would like more heat, etc. Don't underestimate the power of salt—a good pinch can bring out all the flavors in the dressing!

Once you have perfected the vinaigrette to your tastes, dress the salad, toss and serve immediately.

The reason I love this salad is that, even though it is admirably healthy with fresh veggies, good fats and a light vinaigrette, it is also extremely filling thanks to the beans and quinoa, which coats the romaine once mixed. The creamy avocado and satisfyingly crunchy pepitas upped the yum-factor. You definitely don't feel like you are sacrificing flavor for fewer calories, and you can have a large helping guilt-free. On top of that, it is quick and easy to prepare. And no need to turn on the oven—perfect for those warm, Indian summer evenings.

If you decide to try out this recipe, I'd love to hear how you like it—and how you made it your own! Roast the corn? Red beans instead of black? Baby greens mixed with romaine? Toss in grilled chicken? A sprinkle of shredded cheese? The options are truly endless. Happy cooking :)

Blue Apron : It's What's for Dinner

Some might call (and some have) my husband and I “foodies.” One of our favorite pastimes is going out for a nice meal and, especially, exploring new restaurants. But we also eat at home often because GT loves to cook. (I know, I’m a lucky woman.) And while he is the one typically in the kitchen making dinner, I actually enjoy cooking, too—though, my college roommates might beg to differ.

See, back then, oh, about eight years ago, I didn’t have much to brag about in the cooking department. Even with the luxury of an apartment kitchen, my go-to for lunch or dinner was pasta (boil water, check) or nuking a Lean Cuisine. My reasoning: Why go through the trouble and expense, the time and effort, of making a meal for just one person? Especially when a perfectly portioned (if not very appetizing) one was just a microwave away? Plus, if I’m honest, I was nervous about cooking a chicken breast from scratch. How do I know when it’s done? So, I relied on the supermarket’s frozen aisle… and store-bought pesto.

While I always looked forward to helping my mom in the kitchen on Thanksgiving and Christmas, it wasn’t until a handful of years ago that I started to venture past just playing the part of a holiday sous chef and finally put into practice all those tidbits I picked up watching too many episodes of, well, anything on the Food Network.

Today, I love whipping up new creations in the kitchen and even relish the challenge of throwing something together last-minute with whatever random ingredients we happen to have in the fridge and pantry. But, like I mentioned, my hubby loves to cook, too. It’s his creative outlet. So he usually has reign of the stovetop and almost always politely declines my offers to assist.

So, when I read about Blue Apron a few weeks ago on one of my favorite blogs, I decided it would be a fun surprise for GT and signed up immediately.

Blue Apron is a meal delivery service that sends step-by-step recipes (with photos!) with the exact premium, fresh ingredients to cook each one right to your doorstep. Check out the contents of our first box:

Our plan delivers three meals (based on our dietary preferences) for two people each week at a cost of about $60, or $9.99 per person per meal. Whether that is reasonable or expensive depends on your perspective and normal cooking routine, I think. If you eat out almost every day, you probably would save money! For us, we do a lot of cooking at home but we also enjoy trying new restaurants, and when we do the bill tends to skyrocket. So, for us, Blue Apron isn’t necessarily a cheap choice, but it also isn’t a serious splurge. While there is a definite convenience factor to having groceries delivered to your home, I signed us up for the experience of cooking new things together, not to save time or money. Fortunately, there’s no long-term commitment—you can skip any week without penalty. For us, Blue Apron will likely become a once-in-a-while culinary treat rather than a weekly constant.

Until then, the menus have looked so good that we haven’t skipped yet. Everything we have cooked thus far has been beautiful and delicious, a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds.

The interesting spices, dressings, sauces; the building of textures and complex flavor combinations—sweet and savory, creamy and tangy—are what really make the dishes pop.

We’ve received two weeks of deliveries so far (our third comes tomorrow) and it’s been a blast cooking in the kitchen together, tasting new ingredients and discovering food preparations we hadn’t heard of or tried before.

It’s difficult to choose but I’d say my favorite meals so far were the Pan-Seared Salmon with Fennel & Heirloom Potato Salad (pictured above) and Rice & Beef-Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Lime-Crema Sauce (below).

The hubs loved the Chicken Sate with Peanut Sauce & Marinated Green Tomatoes and the Spice-Rubbed Pork Medallions with Peach Salsa & Cilantro-Green Bean Rice. 

We had Pan-Seared Cod with Parmesan-Crusted Squash & Roasted Red Potatoes last night (that gave the salmon a run for its money, with its luscious-yet-crisp crust) and we will be making Pan-Seared Chicken Thighs with Roasted Baby Zebra Eggplants & Fennel Salad, a recipe from award-winning New York chef Michael Anthony, tonight.

Have you heard of Blue Apron? (I never had before but I am seeing ads all over social media and the blogosphere now.) Would you sign up for a meal subscription service? My experience with the company has been positive thus far—packages delivered on time, in good condition, and the meals have tasted great—so I would recommend giving Blue Apron a try if you’re considering it.

Or, Blue Apron posts its recipes on its website so even if you don’t want to sign up, you can always find some dinnertime inspiration online. Happy cooking!

Disclaimer: No one paid me to write this. This is simply my honest review of my experience with Blue Apron.

Last Night's Dinner : Go Fish : Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce

I have never eaten so much fish in my life than since I started dating my now-hubby almost three years ago. As a kid, I wouldn’t touch the stuff. No fish (unless you count fish sticks, which I don’t), no shrimp, no crab… But, oddly enough, I went gaga for lobster. I think it was the lemon butter. Yum. But I digress.

It wasn’t until I got into my college years that I started giving white fish a try. I wasn’t offended by the nice, light and delicate flavor of sea bass or halibut. And I finally warmed up to shrimp (and it’s off-putting-to-some texture) after trying a bite (and liking it!) at a teppanyaki restaurant.

Nevertheless, seafood was more of a rarity than a staple in my diet. Enter GT, my husband. He loves to cook, and he especially loves to cook fish. I’d say we eat something from the sea at least once a week. And more often than not, it’s salmon.

Thanks to my hubs, I’m a total salmon convert. Before him, I would never get excited about seeing salmon on a menu, but now I do. (We even served it at our wedding!) It’s such a versatile fish, there are so many delicious ways to prepare it. Grilled. Baked. Pistachio-crusted. But our absolute favorite way is this Asian-style preparation that I pinned to my Foodie Fixations board two years ago, and we’ve made countless times since (thanks Pinterest!).

I found the recipe for Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce on Damn Delicious, and it truly lives up to the food blog’s name. Not only that, it is a beautiful and impressive dish that is deceptively simple to make—perfect for an at-home date night or a dinner party with friends. (Since the fish bakes in the oven, it's super easy to make multiple fillets if you have company over.)

(Last night we paired the salmon with stir-fried sugar snap peas and sliced red and orange bell peppers.)

One of the reasons the recipe is so good is the homemade teriyaki sauce. But the pièce de résistance is, without a doubt, the Sriracha cream sauce. It is so good, you just want to swim in it. GT and I are both guilty of adding an extra generous drizzle or two (or three). Heavenly.

Inevitably, despite the copious amount of sauce we use at dinner, we always have lots of leftovers. Fortunately, the three-ingredient mixture—made with mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk and Sriracha—keeps well in the fridge and is excellent as a spread for sandwiches and wraps.

That’s just what I did for lunch. Playing on the spiciness of the sauce, I made a chipotle chicken breast wrap with grape tomatoes, spinach and arugula, all rolled up (just barely!) in a spinach wrap. Yum!

(Yep. That's two drizzles of Sriracha cream sauce you see. I'm telling you. It's that good!) 

Make sure to check out Damn Delicious for the full step-by-step salmon recipe (with photos!).

Are you a seafood lover? What is your favorite fish dish? I love discovering new recipes. And if you try out this teriyaki salmon, let me know what you think!

(All photos by me except top image, via Damn Delicious.)