geek

Hard peaches for hard times

chicken with peaches

In the food section of the NYT’s last week Mellisa Clark had an intriguing recipe for chicken thighs roasted with hard peaches. You know, the kind that you buy at the grocery store and are obviously not local, not tree ripened, and not good for anything but cooking. But that’s the point. Those somewhat odious peaches do cook up quite nicely and because they are not tree-ripened they aren’t as loaded with sugar so that they do actually make the perfect accompaniment to the beloved chicken thigh.

No actual recipe is necessary since it’s so very simple and quick. Take a pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and slice them into strip about 1 inch wide. Peel a pound of hard peaches and slice them into comparable slices. Mince a few cloves of garlic, an inch of fresh ginger and toss the whole mess together with just a squeeze of lemon juice and some olive oil. Arrange it all on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes (or until the chicken is golden brown) at at 375 degree oven. Take from the oven, toss in a handful of freshly chiffonaded basil and serve with some rice.

The flavors are delicate and light. The addition of the basil at the end provides a vibrant note and the ginger and garlic play so nicely with the peaches. For those of you that prefer chicken breasts over thighs I think you too will be happy with this preparation. I can’t help but imagine this with mangoes…I think that could be stunning.

July 26, 2009 | Filed Under beef, fish, poultry, pork, food, fruit and nuts, geek fast food, ginger, quick and easy, recipe | 2 Comments 

Cod with salsa and feta

baked cod with salsa

I usually have little or no luck cooking fish. I’m good with bivalves and crustaceans, even cephlapods…but anything with scales and gills totally eludes any culinary excellence in my hands. However, in my pursuit to improve my nutrition I continue to try. My most common mistake with fish is to overcook it into a mush. Trial and error has taught me that frozen cod filets have a texture, when cooked, that I find acceptable. Plus they’re cost effective, easy to find, and nutritionally excellent.

Really this isn’t a recipe at all…this is me just showing off a picture of my most perfect fish dish ever. It’s cod with salsa and feta cheese, baked for about 20 minutes and then served. I hesitate to offer any cooking advice on how to create this fine meal because it seems like it may have been a fluke…I mean really, good fish…from my own kitchen…no way!

The cod was purchased at Costco and is each portion is individually wrapped and sealed in plastic. I ran cool water over the frozen, wrapped portions while I assembled the other ingredients. That may have taken all of 10 minutes and I probably turned them over half way through. Once they were less frozen I arranged them in a shallow baking dish with some olive oil rubbed over them. I then spooned on a large amount of fresh salsa, also purchased at Costco. Then I crumbled on some locally produced goat’s milk feta, shoved it into a 350° oven and baked it until the internal temperature of the fish reached 140°.

I attribute the success of this dish to several things…the salsa from Costco is excellent, almost better than my own in late August, the cheese from my friend Diana is superb, I like cod, and I used my trusty thermometer to gauge when the fish was cooked and therefore I didn’t screw it up.

The best part about this dish is the flavor. The cod is firm and almost sweet, the salsa adds a fabulous mouthful of zestiness and the cheese is fabulous…the little crusty brown bits have a savory flavor that compliments the other components. Plus it’s low fat, low cal, quick and easy. I love it!

June 24, 2009 | Filed Under beef, fish, poultry, pork, favorite products, food, geek fast food, low carb, low cal, lowfat, quick and easy, recipe | 7 Comments 

Not actually vegetarian

apple_mustard_pizza_2

I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be vegetarian, not so much because I want to be a vegetarian but mostly because I’m personally trying to eat less meat, more plants. I find that the flavor of a dish needs a boost either from spices or from fats, usually both. Because I’m also counting calories I just can’t add butter and cream to increase flavor and that certainly creates a situation that requires more thought than I’m ready to give it. Luckily there is always the pizza solution.

Pizza is easy because it requires little work and can be thrown together and baked up usually in a half hour. Remember to make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator, actually the longer it sits in there the better it gets…I’ve used some that was in the frig for 2.5 weeks and it was excellent. This lovely pizza is adorned with slices of a peeled green apple, red onion, mustard greens, a scant toss of cheese and a link of AmyLu’s Smoked Chicken, Apple, Gouda sausage. According to the nutrition data one link is 110 calories and 5 grams of fat with 460 grams of sodium and since this pizza serves 2 with leftovers it falls within my range of low fat, low cal, low meat.

Yes, I know it’s not actually vegetarian, but then I’m not either. Note: for my local readers, the AmyLu sausage is available at the Middleton Costco.

June 14, 2009 | Filed Under baking, beef, fish, poultry, pork, food, lowfat, pizza, quick and easy, recipe | 5 Comments 

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