Seared Pimentón -Crusted Tuna with Chickpea Artichoke Salad

Yellow rice goes well with this dish.

Rating: 4
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 5 minutes
Servings: 2

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon good-quality Spanish paprika (pimentón)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (8-ounce) tuna fillets
Chickpea Artichoke Salad

1. Whisk together olive oil and next 3 ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Coat tuna with oil mixture, and sear in hot (slightly smoking) cast-iron skillet for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes* per side or until rare to medium-rare. Serve over Chickpea Artichoke Salad.

*Note: The tuna fillets in the original recipe must have been sliced much thinner than the ones we usually get. We find it takes 3-5 minutes per side, according to your taste.

Chickpea Artichoke Salad

Note: In this photo, we substituted grape tomatoes for the artichokes (either to add color or because we didn’t have any artichokes on hand).

1 (6-ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 (15.5-ounce) can cooked chickpeas, drained
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian or flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; cover mixture, and chill.

These recipes were originally published in the March 2005 issue of Cottage Living magazine.

Shrimp Risotto with Fresh Herb Butter

This tasty dish also looks very pretty plated.

Rating: 4
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4-6

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, room temperature, divided
1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 cup arborio rice (or medium-grain white rice)
3/4 cup Riesling or other white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 pound fresh asparagus
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, divided

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shrimp; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until almost opaque in center, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to bowl.

2. Add 1 tablespoon butter to same pan. Add onion, and cook until nearly translucent. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine. Stir until wine is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat. Simmer until rice is tender and risotto is creamy, stirring often, about 18 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, blend remaining 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon basil, and tarragon in small bowl. Season herb butter to taste with salt and pepper. Snap asparagus stalks to remove bottom portions. Cut remaining upper portions into 1-inch pieces. Steam in microwave 3-4 minutes, or until almost tender. Remove peas from freezer to let thaw.

4. Mix asparagus, peas, shrimp, any accumulated juices, and 1 tablespoon basil into risotto. Simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon risotto into shallow bowls. Swirl some herb butter into top of each. Serve, passing cheese separately.

Farmer's Market Vegetable, Beef, and Brown Rice Salad

This recipe is one of our favorites. Saucy Sally and I make it fairly regularly. Some notes: We often forget to marinate in advance. It's not that much of a problem with this recipe. If you put the rice on to cook when you start prepping the veggies and move on from there, you should have plenty of time to get everything done (including letting the meat stand for 10 minutes) at about the same time.

Also, since we're normally having this as a week night meal and eating the additional two servings for leftovers, we've learned to only assemble half of the salad, so we don't have to heat the tomatoes and chick peas up for lunch the next day.

Rating: 4
Servings: 4
Total time: 40 minutes

Marinade
1/2 cup olive oil
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp honey
4 tsp fresh chopped thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 lb beef top round steak (or flank steak), cut 3/4 inch thick 1 tsp olive oil
2 cups asparagus cut in 2-inch pieces
1 medium yellow squash, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
3 cups hot cooked brown rice
1 cup diced, seeded tomatoes
1 cup canned garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained
1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Combine marinade ingredients in small bowl. Place beef steak and 1/4 cup marinade in food-safe plastic bag; turn steak to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 6 hours or as long as overnight. Reserve remaining marinade in refrigerator for dressing.

2. Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Place steak on rack in broiler pan so surface of beef is 2-3 inches from heat. Broil 12-13 minutes for medium-rare doneness, turning once. Remove; keep warm. (Let beef stand for 10 minutes before slicing or serving to enhance flavor.)

3. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add asparagus and squash; cook and stir 7-8 minutes or until tender. Toss with rice, tomatoes, beans, basil, salt, and reserved marinade in large bowl.

4. Carve steak into thin slices. Serve over rice salad.

Crawfish Etouffee

This étouffée is relatively simple to prepare and, I imagine, pretty hard to mess up.

After lamenting my lack of access to some Southern staple foods (namely, The Gumbo and The Crawfish), a cohort mentioned that a crawfish boil was going down at his office. I couldn't attend, but the man, he takes care of me. Right around noon Thursday, he hand-delivered three gallon-sized bags of the little suckers. Never have I been so happy to see the little mudbugs in all their eye-popped glory.

While I do love 'em with a passion, I can't say I was extremely keen on the idea of eating cold, day-old crawdads at the office (or anywhere else, for that matter), which is why I came up with the grand idea of making an étouffée. For anyone who's ever experienced Cajun cooking, you know that nearly every individual who claims to make this dish (much like The Gumbo) also claims to make the best version of this dish. This being my first attempt at the étouffée, I will make no such claim. Yet.

I did a little étouffée research and found some interesting information about the dish. First, there's a wide rift between those who think using tomatoes makes the dish and those who think using tomatoes makes the dish a stew. I decided to leave the tomatoes out this time around and see if the so-called purists know what they're talking about.

Second, that nasty looking orange or greenish stuff usually found at the joint between the head and the tail is actually fat, which is good for the cooking. The orange fat is more flavorful, and the color is determined by the type of crawfish, according to this site. Also of note was the fact that the crawfish fat will become rancid in 2-6 months if frozen. Yikes!

Anyhow, rather than take one recipe and stick to it, I looked at quite a few, first tossing out any that used tomatoes, then canning the ones that used condensed soup*. Any recipes that called for Tabasco were immediately out the window, as I don't like the flavor of that particular brand** and Saucy Sally isn't really into the heat.

Once I'd eliminated all the recipes that didn't fit my criteria, what I had were five or six that looked remarkably similar save a few differences in the preparation and/or ingredients. I took them all to the kitchen and did my best to document what I actually did while I was in there.

I have to say, l was both impressed and amazed by the results. I didn't screw it up! And Saucy Sally gave the dish an ever-elusive FIVE and demanded that we have it again (most likely with shrimp). I'm thrilled.

Note: This recipe is very mild as far as étouffée (or any Cajun dish) goes. Saucy Sally said she probably couldn't eat it if it was hotter, so we'll stick with it, but adjustments to the cayenne and paprika can be made at the discretion of the cook.

1/2 c (1 stick) butter
1 small vidalia, finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tbsp All-purpose flour
10 oz crawfish tails***
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 c water
1 tbsp parsley
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Melt butter over medium heat in large, heavy skillet. Add onion and bell pepper. Sauté until onions look somewhat clear. Add flour, stir constantly for two to three minutes.

2. Add crawfish, garlic, cayenne, and paprika to skillet. Stir in 1 cup water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook down, about15-20 minutes. Add more water**** and reduce to reach gravy-like consistency.

3. Serve over rice.

I used a basmati rice, which seems to be the only kind I can make without screwing up, and which Saucy Sally and I both really like. I packed the rice into a small bowl and dumped it out to make a cute little mound for a prettier presentation -- a trick I'll be using again.

I served asparagus as the side, which I tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper before broiling. The flavor was okay, but they were stringy. (I can't make a meal that's good all-around. Just can't do it.) Saucy Sally told me the trick to the asparagus is to break them before cooking. Apparently they'll naturally snap at the point where they become stringy. (Hmmm... that might've been useful before a recent family reunion for which I made a risotto with asparagus. My mom called it "terrible" and said the asparagus ruined it. Thanks, Mom! Love you, too!)

* I'm no expert, but I'd be willing to bet that anyone who uses Campbell's cream of chicken in an étouffée isn't an authentic Cajun cook and isn't making anything resembling an authentic étouffée.
** You can argue with me about that and perhaps even challenge my status as a true Southerner (which is under scrutiny anyway for saying "soda" instead of "coke" and hating Gone with the Wind, among other things) if you will, but I'm just not a fan of Tabasco. It has a metallic taste that turns me off. Other hot sauces? Bring 'em on!
*** We were working with what we had, which was 10 oz. I think moving up to a pound would work with the same basic ingredients.
**** I added another 1/2 cup of water after the sauce reduced some. Many of the recipes I referenced added up to 2. I think it's up to the cook.

Lamb Chops with Pistachio Sauce and Vegetable Saute

Technically, those tomatoes and artichoke hearts should be mixed together, but Saucy Sally had an inkling that we wouldn't care for the artichokes. (She was right, of course.)

Servings: 4
Total Time: 30-40 minutes
Definitely okay for guests (if we could ever afford it!)
(Note: While the lamb chops get a 4, the vegetable saute gets a 2.)

Saucy Sally and I loved the flavor of this tender meat and the gravy it created. I was definitely a fan of the pistachio sauce. Unfortunately, the vegetables weren't up to par. The tomatoes would've been better roasted, and canned artichoke hearts taste, well, canned. Saucy Sally said she'd forget about the vegetable saute next time and serve the lamb with a baked potato and a green vegetable, which sounds good to me.

1/2 c shelled pistachios
3/4 c coarsely chopped fresh parsley
8 loin lamb chops, each 1 inch thick (about 2 lbs)*
2 pints grape tomatoes
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, rinsed, drained, & quartered

1. Make sauce: In a blender, purée pistachios with ¼ cup water until smooth (add a splash more water if necessary); season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Season lamb with salt and pepper and place in skillet. Cook until medium-rare, about five minutes per side (temperature of 145˚).** Transfer to a plate, and cover loosely with foil. Reserve skillet (and any fat left in it).

3. Add tomatoes, artichokes, and ¼ cup water to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high, stirring frequently, until tomatoes begin to soften, 6-8 minutes. Mix in remaining ½ c parsley. Serve.

* Being that we're not quite there with the dinero and lamb is expensive, we opted for one lamb chop each.
** The original recipe, from the May 2007 issue of Everday Food, didn’t offer temperatures, which led us to finding this handy site.

Spinach-Stuffed Flank Steak

This flank steak didn't do it for us.

Servings: 4
Total Time: About an hour
Presentation: Not for guests


Saucy Sally and I didn't really care for this flank steak, which we pulled from the May 2007 issue of Everyday Food and served with biscuits, steamed broccoli, and small baked potatoes. The meat was tough (perhaps overdone), and the vinegar taste in the spinach mixture turned us off (despite that we both typically like vinegar). We won't be making this dish again.

2 (10 oz) packages frozen leaf spinach, thawed
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 c grated Asiago cheese
2 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
coarse salt & ground pepper
1 small flank steak (1 lb)
1 tsp olive oil

1. Heat broiler, with rack set 4 inches from heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside. Place spinach in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. (Note: Saucy Sally did this in a colander over the sink, which worked fine.)
2. In a medium bowl, combine spinach, parsley, cheese, capers, vinegar, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. (Note: We couldn’t taste the cheese, which was kind of expensive to be wasting in this dish. Also, my thought was that the capers and vinegar together might have been responsible for the unpleasant taste of the spinach concoction.)
3. Butterfly the steak. (Note: When you’re finished, it should be twice as wide, not twice as long, which isn’t exactly how it played out in our kitchen.) Lay the meat on a cutting board with the grain of the steak running horizontally. Using a long sharp knife, cut the meat almost in half horizontally, opening it like a book but stopping before going all the way through.
4. Mix (2 parts) salt and (1 part) pepper in small bowl; set aside.
5. Cut several 9-inch pieces of kitchen twine; space evenly underneath steak. Spread spinach mixture down center of meat. Roll steak over mixture, pressing firmly to compact the filling as much as possible; tie twine to secure roll. Cut roll in half crosswise. Place halves, seam side down, on prepared baking sheet; rub with oil, and season with salt and pepper mixture.
6. Broil until browned, 8 to 10 minutes for medium-rare; let rest, loosely covered with foil, 10 minutes. Remove string, and slice steak into ½-inch rounds.