Zucchini Frittata

Good morning! 

I woke up with a killer cramp in my calf this morning, so I'm slowly limping around the house.  As time passes, it seems to be getting better... but it doesn't look like I'll be getting my run in today.  I figure I better let it rest up and I'll get back at it Saturday.

I'm pretty stoked today because I get to take a little roadtrip to Danville, KY to meet up with a few other Kentucky Food Bloggers.  We're doing a tasting of a few restaurants tonight and I'm really excited to actually meet these awesome bloggers in person.  I'll definitely post pictures and a review of the experience next week!

I made this frittata when we had tons of zucchini from our CSA.  It was quick, easy, and my only complaint... I used too big of a pan, so it looks rather thin (and more like an omelette) than an actual frittata.  Oh well, it still tasted mighty good!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 zucchini, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
6 eggs
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup milk

In a medium skillet under medium high heat, add about 1 & 1/2 teaspoons olive oil.  Add zucchini and saute until starting to brown, about 5-7 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove zucchini and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and milk together.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat a non-stick skillet under medium low heat and add remaining 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil.  Coat pan with oil.

Pour the egg mixture into the pan and let cook until the egg starts to solidify, about 2-3 minutes.  Spread the zucchini over top of the eggs and top with cheddar cheese.  Cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until egg is cooked through and cheese is melted.

Slice and serve right away.

This was simple, delicious, and easy.  You could have it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  It's perfect for any time of day!  Feel free to swap out the ingredients for what you have, and add whatever you like!  Frittatas are versatile like that =)

Have a great Thursday guys!

The Marketplace Restaurant: Recreated

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Remember a couple weeks ago when I said I wanted to go out and recreate restaurant meals as well as review them?  I'm a little late on delivering on that, aren't I?

Instead of making excuses, I'm going to get right into it.  I had a lot of fun with this one, and can't wait to do many, many more!

The Review

Source

 Marketplace Restaurant is in downtown Louisville, in Theater Square.  It's a cozy little place that had a fun little jazz band playing on a Friday night.  It wasn't too busy, maybe only 4 or 5 parties in the whole place, but you could tell everyone was having a good time.

The service was very friendly and the server was very informative on many of the dishes.  It was definitely hard to choose, because everything sounded so delicious.

We tend to judge a place by their calamari, so of course, we had to order theirs.  It was a buttermilk fried calamari and it was crispy and delicious.  The calamari itself was perfectly cooked, just the right texture.  The sauce they paired with it was a Sweet Chili-Lime sauce.  While I love sweet chili sauce with calamari, I wasn't too too crazy about the lime, but then again, it was a different twist and I like that.

For our mains, Andy chose to go with a Curry Seared Scallop.  He enjoyed it for the most part, but said that it didn't offer much contrast in the dish as a whole.  After a few bites, it just got boring.  I thought it was a good idea in concept, but execution was just so-so.

I'm still not used to the whole, "taking pictures in restaurants" kind of thing =)

 I chose to go with the Market Fish of the Day, which was a Swordfish steak w/ risotto cakes and braised vegetables with a cherry reduction.  Now this was pretty tasty.  I don't normally like swordfish, but this was great.  Perfectly cooked and the risotto cakes were absolutely delicious.  The dish as a whole was beautiful in presentation and taste.

Of course, we always have to go for dessert.  In this case, it was a brownie with some fresh vanilla bean ice cream.  Sometimes the simple things are just right.  This was a perfect end to the meal.

All in all, I'd say our experience here was great.  Lovely atmosphere, attentive service, and pretty good food!

And now... what did I recreate?

Well, I decided to do my dish, but instead of hunting around for some swordfish, I would use the bounty of salmon that we had just acquired.

At first, I was hesitant with choosing the salmon, because the Flavor Bible had no record of salmon and cherries going together, and because I trust the Flavor Bible almost more than I trust the actual Bible, I was a little scared.  But I said "to hell with it" and pressed on anyway.  And boy, am I glad I did.

So without further ado... my recreation of The Marketplace Restaurant's Market Fish of the Day (with the use of salmon instead of swordfish)


Ingredients:

Risotto Cakes:

salt and pepper, to taste
1 box Risotto mix (yeah, I took a shortcut here - I used a Parmesan/Garlic blend)
2 large eggs
small handful of chives, minced    

3/4 to 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
olive oil

Make risotto according to package directions.  Let cool to room temperature.

Mix risotto with eggs and chives.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover mixture with plastic wrap and let sit in fridge for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 250 F.

Spread the panko in a shallow dish. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. 

Form patties out of the cooled risotto mixture. 

Place patties in panko and turn to coat.

Working in batches, add patties to skillet and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until the risotto cakes are crisp and nicely browned.  Place finished cakes on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Continue cooking in batches, adding oil as necessary, until all the cakes are fried. Serve hot.

Cherry Reduction:

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 large shallot, minced

1/2 cup red wine
1 & 1/2 cups frozen cherries

1 tablespoon honey
salt, to taste
pinch of sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter 

In a medium saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter.  Add shallot and saute for about 2-3 minutes, or until starting to soften.  Season with a pinch of salt and sugar.

Add cherries, wine, and honey.  Simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until mixture is thickened.

Whisk in remaining tablespoon of butter until incorporated.  Set sauce aside, until needed.

Sauteed Zucchini & Spinach

1 large zucchini, sliced
1 cup spinach
salt and pepper
splash or two of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
squeeze of half a lemon

Heat a large skillet until medium high heat.  Add olive oil.  

Once oil is shimmering, add zucchini and saute for about 2-3 minutes.  Then add spinach and cook until just wilted.  

Season with salt and pepper.  Add a splash of balsamic, if you'd like.  Finish off by squeezing some fresh lemon juice on top.

Salmon:


2 6 oz. salmon fillets
salt and pepper, to taste

Season both sides of salmon with salt and pepper.


Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add salmon, skin side down.  Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.  Flip over and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until opaque throughout.

Phew.  That was one long winded post.  What's my verdict?  Well, there were pros and cons to both dishes, mine and the actual restaurant's.  

I definitely now believe I can add the pairing of salmon and cherries in my Flavor Bible notes.  I loved the salmon a tad bit more than the swordfish.  However, my little addition of the balsamic to my veggies, it sort of overpowered or "felt out of place" in the whole composition of the dish.  I would have been great as a side all by itself, but along with the salmon and cakes, it just didn't quite "fit".  

I definitely feel that if your looking for a restaurant quality meal (I know it's sort of late to do it for Valentine's Day), this would be it.  Who knows... maybe it'll be on my restaurant menu one day? =) 

Hope you all have a great rest of your day, and I promise tomorrow's post will be much much shorter!

Pan Seared Salmon With Zucchini Relish

It's been an eventful week.  Of course, my birthday, work, and school kept me busy as a bee.  Nonetheless, I'm ready for the weekend. 

I'm majorly excited because, just like last year, we're going to be taking our own Christmas card pictures again.  I know what you're thinking, it's not even Halloween and I'm already thinking about Christmas cards!  But I've got a great theme this year and the weather is just right for taking the pictures!  So what is my fabulous idea you ask?  Well... perusing in Target the other day, we found some cheap "ugly" dog sweaters!  And so we bought them, of course!  Well... I bought them, Andy just went along with it.  So me and Andy are going to find some "ugly" Christmas sweaters and take some shots with us and the dogs!  Genius, huh?  Maybe not as cool to you, but trust me... when you see the finished product in a month or two, you'll be impressed.  Or at least laugh at us for being so dorky!

What about you guys?  Do you ever make your own Christmas cards?  What crazy themes do you all come up with?

Anyway, I figured to end the week, I'd do a really elegant salmon dish that I prepared last Sunday.  Enjoy the weekend guys!

Ingredients:

Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe

For Relish:


1 zucchini, peeled and diced
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon dried parsley
6 tablespoons olive oil
juice from 1 lemon
zest from 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

For Salmon:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets, skin on
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

To put together relish, in a medium bowl, combine the zucchini, feta, onion, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Mix well, and season with salt and pepper, if needed.  Set mixture aside.

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper on both sides. 

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet under high heat.  Place salmon, skin side down, in skillet and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until skin is nicely browned.  Carefully turn salmon over and cook for 1-2 more minutes, or until flesh is opaque in the center.

To plate, mound a nice scoop of the relish and top with salmon fillet.  We also made the jalapeno goat cheese hush puppies to have with our meal, also! 

Andy definitely made the comment that the salmon wouldn't have been as good without the relish underneath.  It kind of made itself into it's own "tartar sauce," if you will.  It was quick and easy to prepare and definitely a beautiful site to look at!  Enjoy guys!

Poblano Meatball Soup

I was once again snowed in this week. Still sick. Still cold. Still cleaning instead of catching up on homework. What's perfect for a situation like that? Soup, of course! And this soup was great! The meatballs really added a depth of smokey, delicious flavor!

Wedding planning has sort of come to a stand still. I'm in the process of brainstorming theme ideas. I picked out bridesmaid dresses. One of my sisters gave me her approval and the color is just great... it's Pewter... not Pewtrid. For some reason, when I was explaining these bridesmaid dress colors at work, I said Pewtrid, instead of Pewter... and they all got a quick laugh out of that. Of course, I didn't get it at first, and then realized I didn't memorize my Crayola colors before I came in and Pewtrid definitely was NOT the color I wanted.

Anywho... onto the soup...


Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's Jan 2010 issue - "Poblano Albondigas w/ Ancho Chile Soup"

2 large poblano chiles
1 lb. ground beef
2 zucchini, 1 grated and 1 roughly chopped
1 onion, 1/2 grated and 1/2 diced
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
4 garlic cloves, 2 pressed and 2 minced
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons chili powder
5 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice from 1 lime
4 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips

To make the meatballs, line a baking sheet with some wax or parchment paper. Take the poblanos and put them under the broiler in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or as long as they have some good charring on all sides. Place the pepper in a paper bag and let steam for about 10 minutes. This allows the skin to separate from the flesh of the pepper, and makes it easier to peel. Stem, seed, and peel the poblanos once cooled. Chop them up real good and place in a large bowl.

Add in beef, grated zucchini, grated onion, panko breadcrumbs, egg, pressed garlic, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 teaspoon oregano, and a big pinch of salt. Form into 1-inch diameter meatballs and place on baking sheet.

In a dutch oven, heat oil under medium heat. Add diced onion and minced garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Add chili powder and remaining cumin and stir for about 1 minute. Add the beef broth, water, and remaining oregano. Bring to a rolling boil and them reduce the heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 10 minutes.

Mix in the chopped zucchini and rice. Increase the heat to medium high and drop the meatballs in one at a time. Then lower heat to a simmer again and cook for about 20 minutes, covered, until meatballs are cooked through. Stir in cilantro and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

To make tortilla strip topping, heat a 1/2 inch layer of vegetable oil in a heavy pan. Fry the strips for about 1 minute, until starting to turn golden brown. Ladle soup into bowls and top with fried tortilla strips.

This was definitely a great way to warm up and truly it made me feel a little bit better considering my cold! Enjoy!

Yellow Squash & Zucchini Bowties

Well, after an uneventful lamb dinner on Tuesday night, I knew I had to make up for it yesterday. I mean, I've only cooked with lamb about 3 times, and each time it just seems like I flop. I can't get rid of that game-y taste and it just doesn't end up being a winner, so I think I'm going to retire the lamb cooking, for now at least. So sticking to what I'm good at, I decided on a pasta dish. I've never really been let down by pasta, and this was no exception either.


Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, cut into 1 & 1/2 inch sticks
3 small yellow squash, sliced and quartered
12 basil leaves, chopped
handful of pine nuts
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and fresh black pepper to taste
1 box bowtie pasta
1 cup parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup white wine, like a chardonnay

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

While waiting for the water, you can start on the rest of the components of the dish. In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium-high heat. Stir constantly so the nuts do not burn, and they should be good in about 2-3 minutes.

I really liked the pine nuts, they gave a nice added crunch and texture to the dish!

Then in a large fry pan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and olive oil. Melt butter and then add your veggies. I had so much that I did it in 2 batches, 5 minutes each batch.

You want the veggies to start to get soft and slightly browned. Season with salt to taste, transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

When water comes to a boil, add a large pinch of salt and pasta to water. Cook until tender. Drain the pasta and reserve in the pot.

In the same fry pan you used for the veggies, melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and add garlic. Stir until fragrant. Add white wine and then add back in the zucchini, squash, and pine nuts. Mix together.

Add the zucchini/squash mixture, along with the chopped basil, to the bowties. Make sure everything is mixed well and then add in your parmesan cheese. This will melt and kind of make a light sauce.

Plate the pasta and top with additional parmesan cheese, if desired, and freshly ground black pepper.

This was a great meal. We both cleaned our plates in a matter of minutes. Definitely a meal that didn't leave you bloated either. I'm pretty sure it's pretty healthy too. So there's pluses all around with this one! Enjoy!

Thai Red Curry W/ Zucchini & Tomatoes

Curry is one of my favorite things to eat. I've never tried cooking it, so when I saw this recipe, I had to give it a go. I love the heat that enters my mouth when tasting a delicious curry. It never fails to clear my sinuses, and always pleases.


Ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 lb chicken breasts cut into strips
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, sliced thin
2 zucchini cut into strips
1 cup cherry tomatoes, or roma tomatoes quartered
1 tablespoon thai red curry paste (or more if you want it more spicy)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons water
zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

I couldn't believe how easy and versatile this recipe was. Any of the ingredients could easily be substituted out. You can vary your proteins, the vegetables, and even the curry paste comes in red, yellow, and green varieties. Definitely something you can play with to find your perfect curry match!

In a large wok, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the chicken. Season with desired amount of salt and pepper and cook until white throughout. Then take chicken out and set aside on a plate.


Add remaining oil to wok and stir in onion until just soft. Then add zucchini and tomatoes and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Stir in curry paste, coconut milk, water, lime zest, lime juice, and bring to a simmer.


Add chicken back in and stir in cilantro. I must say, cilantro is definitely a powerful flavor, but this is one dish where it did not overpower anything. It was more of a subtle taste, and I'm glad it was, because Andy doesn't really like cilantro, and I like how I was able to sneak it in there.


And you're done! Serve over rice and enjoy!