It’s Been a While & Turkey Cutlets Stuffed with Sundried Tomato and Goat Cheese

Posted on April 28, 2011 by kitchenbelle

I’ve thought about many ways to write this post. Apologies for taking so much time off. Explanations for what I’ve been doing. Reasons for not writing. Details of meals I have prepared and cakes I have baked and not photographed.

Coming back is tough. After you’ve been away a while, what’s one more day? And another? Another and another? That’s what brings us to April. I am rusty. I have a seven month old beauty! I am extraordinarily happy. And sleepy. I’ll leave it at that for now. 

Here is a delicious and simple week night dinner. Lately, our dinners are  the following formula: protein + vegetable + starch (or second vegetable). This recipe is my way of spicing up the protein.

Turkey Cutlets Stuffed with Sundried Tomato and Goat Cheese:

  • 4 turkey cutlets
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup Dijon mustard
  • 4 tablespoons sundried tomato spread*
  • 4 ounces of goat cheese
  • 4 toothpicks

*You could use chopped sundried tomatoes as a substitute

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Pat dry turkey cutlets and season with salt and pepper.

Pour mustard onto a small plate or into a shallow bowl. One at a time, dip cutlets in mustard smearing on both sides. Scoop one tablespoon of sundried tomato spread into the center of the cutlet. Place a one ounce slice of goat cheese on top of the spread. Carefully roll the cutlet and secure with a toothpick. Place in a baking dish.

Bake at 375 F for 20-30 minutes or until turkey juice runs clear.

Here the cutlet has been dipped in mustard and topped with sundried tomato spread and goat cheese

 

I found some fabulous goat cheese at a shop called American Provisions in South Boston

 

A kitchenbelle.com original.

Filed under: Main Dish, tomato, turkey | 7 Comments »

White Bean and Asparagus Salad

Posted on July 30, 2010 by kitchenbelle

I don’t think I am alone when I say that as much as I adore cooking, the heat of the summer can really test that love.  I don’t find myself extremely hungry when it is hot and humid and since it is my hunger and cravings that usually prompt a wild rendezvous in the kitchen I am less and less likely to be inspired to get in there and get busy. That said, however, there are nights when I am really hungry and the physical heat of the kitchen becomes my deterrent.  That is when the grill out back becomes my hero. And what goes better with a grilled protein than a cool fresh summer side? Enter this White Bean and Asparagus Salad.

Not only is this superfood-packed salad a perfect accompaniment to grilled steak tips, lamb kebabs, or burgers, but also it stands up on its own just perfectly.  I really enjoyed eating the leftovers for lunch.  This is one of those salads where the flavors actually improve after a few days. And because asparagus is nice and fibrous it doesn’t get mushy. 

*A Note about Raw Garlic: I am a garlic fiend. I love eating chunks of fresh raw garlic in foods, therefore, in salads like this one, if I am preparing it for myself and my family, I only roughly chop the garlic. However, chunks of raw garlic aren’t pleasant for most people. If you are preparing a dish containing raw garlic for a crowd, I recommend always finely mincing it or passing it through a garlic press.

White Bean and Asparagus Salad:

  • 2 bunches fresh asparagus, trimmed and rough ends snapped off
  • 7 sundried tomatoes (not in oil)
  • 3 cloves of garlic*, roughly chopped or minced
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • a pinch or two of crushed red pepper
  • 1 (19 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 teaspoons capers, drained
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a steamer basket over boiling water, place asparagus and dried tomatoes. Cover and steam until asparagus is crisp and tender–approximately 4 minutes. Remove tomatoes and set aside. Using tongs, remove asparagus from basket and place into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain the water. Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces and set aside.  Roughly chop the tomatoes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together garlic, oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. Add asparagus, tomatoes, beans, and capers. Toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Adapted from recipe found here on MyRecipes.com.

Filed under: asparagus, beans, cannellini beans, Main Dish, salad, tomato, VEGETARIAN | 7 Comments »

Chicken Picadillo

Posted on June 9, 2010 by kitchenbelle

I’ve been slacking a bit in the dinner department lately and I haven’t liked it one bit!  A combination of plans filling the last couple of Sundays, very hot weather that makes me a bit lethargic and less than eager to hang out behind the stove, and a myriad of other excuses have prevented me from doing my usual weekly shopping and meal planning.  Therefore, weeknight dinners have been pulled together by combining a little of this and a little of that.  

This weekend I decided enough was enough and we did our shopping on Saturday.  I filled the cart with all sorts of fresh fruits and veggies and outlined some meal ideas so that we could eat well for both lunch and dinner all week.  Man do I find that gratifying!

The thing about meal planning that I find tricky is I don’t love setting a strict schedule. Tuesday:  chicken Marsala, Wednesday: rice and bean burritos, Thursday: baked fish etc. makes me feel restricted and who likes that? I don’t like being pigeon-holed that way. Every time I have tried to do something along those lines I end up coming home from work not feeling like whatever it was that I had planned. I much prefer to set up some loose ideas at the start of the week and then just kind of “go with it” during the week. So that’s what I did!

I found this Chicken Picadillo recipe in Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook. While the methods and actual recipe instructions in this book aren’t exactly perfect, her ideas for fresh clean meals composed of wonderful flavors and ingredients are very inspirational.  And even more exciting is the fact that the photos in the book are stellar.

While I am sure this recipe is not a traditional picadillo (I wasn’t even sure what a picadillo was until I Googled it), it is a wonderful, hearty, delicious, and flavorful dinner. I made a few adaptations and I have included them in the recipe below. 

The garlic, peppers, cumin, and cilantro pack lots of fresh flavor punch. And the combination of fresh and canned tomatoes really boosted the texture freshness factor.

I served this over brown rice the first time we ate it and over baked potatoes the second time. (With the baked potato I added a small scoop of sour cream and a few extra tablepoons of fresh cilantro–wow was that a delicious dinner!)

Tip: I think grilled tofu would be a great vegetarian substitution for the chicken in this recipe!

Chicken Picadillo:

  • a few glugs of olive oil
  • 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts (If you have time marinate the chicken in some olive oil, a splash of vinegar and some salt and pepper before cooking. If not, rinse the breasts, pat dry and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a few dashes of ground cumin before cooking.)
  • 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 large red pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 large yellow pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 large orange pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1.5 Tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes, each one sliced in half
  • 1 14.5 ounce can of chopped tomatoes with jalepenos (I like Delmonte brand)
  • 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Cook chicken using your preferred method. Poaching or grilling both work well in this recipe. Once it is done cooking, cut into cubes.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add onion and peppers. Cook until soft.

Add chili powder, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until veggies reach desired texture (we like them a bit soft but still with a little crunch).

Stir in chicken cubes and stir until mixture is heated through. Stir in fresh cilantro.

Peppers, tomatoes and spices simmering

I love using my grill pan to cook chicken breast

Adapted from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook.

Filed under: chicken, Main Dish, peppers, rice, tomato | 5 Comments »

Italian Style Baked White Fish with Flavorful Rice

Posted on May 12, 2010 by kitchenbelle

My husband requested some white fish for dinner and as always, I am happy to oblige his cravings! Baked white fish is one of my favorite meals so I looked forward to making this delicious weeknight dinner.

The basis of this fish recipe is something my mom has been making for years. It’s a favorite dinner of hers and mine and whenever dinner ended up just being the two of us, this is what she would make. I believe it is something my grandmother used to “throw” together when my mom was young. It is almost too simple to call a recipe, but I think it is definitely worth sharing. This is actually the first time I have made it and it came out almost as good as when my mom makes it! 

I decided to serve the fish with rice and roasted broccoli for a satisfying, colorful, healthy and complete meal.  Rather than plain old rice, I pumped up the flavor and nutrients by caramelizing some shallots and onions along with some fresh garlic and then fluffed it in to the cooked rice. (This is explained below.)   

Enjoy!

Italian Style Baked White Fish with Flavorful Rice:

  • 2 white fish filets, approx. 3/4 lb. each
  • 2.5 cups of water, chicken broth, or vegetable broth
  • 1 cup long grain brown rice, rinsed under running water
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
  • 1  (14.5) ounce can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, oregano (I like using Del Monte brand)
  • 2 fresh scallions (green onions), chopped

Bring the water or broth to a rolling boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in rice. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes (or according to package directions).

Meanwhile, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small saute pan over low heat. Add the onion, shallot, and garlic and cook over very low heat.  (You can leave this mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally, the entire time the rice is cooking. Doing so will really sweeten the onions and shallots bringing out their wonderful flavors.)

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

In a small mixing bowl combine Italian breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of olive oil, and fresh chives. Stir well. Rinse fish with cold water and pat until completely dry. Place fish in a glass baking dish.  Spread a thick layer of crumbs over the fish and pat them down.  Spoon the diced tomatoes over the fish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake fish uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until fish is done.  (How long you cook the fish will depend upon the thickness of the filet.) 

When the rice is done, fluff with a fork and use a wooden spoon to stir the onion mixture into the rice.  Stir in chopped scallions. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve fish with rice.

Here I spread a thick layer of breadcrumbs over the fish.

Here I spooned the diced tomatoes over the breadcrumbs.

A Kitchenbelle.com original!

Filed under: chives, fish, Main Dish, rice, Side, tomato | 11 Comments »

Wild Rice Salad

Posted on April 22, 2010 by kitchenbelle

When I made the Mushroom and Wild Rice Casserole I wasn’t thinking straight! The recipe called for about 2 cups of cooked wild rice but I didn’t account for the fact that rice nearly triples its size when cooked. I ended up with quite a bit of extra cooked wild rice in my fridge. Not a problem, though, because I LOVE WILD RICE!

There was no way I was going to waste the extra so I did some online searching for a quick and easy wild rice salad recipe and I was immediately drawn to this recipe on Simply Recipes.

Until Kelly mentioned it, I had no idea that Wild Rice is a “Minnesota thing.” When I served this salad to my family, my brother-in-law, who is also from Minnesota, was quite vocal about how much he loved this salad! He had no idea about my infatuation with wild rice and said if he had known, he would have asked his dad to bring some out with him this weekend. Unfortunately, his dad had already departed Minnesota so I won’t be tasting any authentic Minnesota wild rice any time soon!  Next time Ed! 🙂

In my opinion, the quality that makes this salad so great is the texture. There is quite a bit of satisfying crunch.

Remember to chop each component to uniform size so that each bite includes a little bit of each ingredient. You don’t want one bite to contain nothing but a giant chunk of celery and the next bite to contain a giant piece of green onion. (I talk more about the importance of chopping uniformly here.)

Each bite should contain a little bit of everything. Doing so allows for each bite to be a little dance party in your mouth!  The peas pop, the pine nuts snap, the celery crunches (and so on) and they are all united by the chewy grains of wild rice. Oh the fun! 🙂

Wild Rice Salad:

  • 2-3 cups cooked wild rice
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 4 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 4-6 green onions (scallions), finely chopped
  • 1 cup frozen peas*
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/4 -1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1-2 teaspoons sugar

In a medium bowl combine rice, dried cranberries, celery, green onions, frozen peas, and pine nuts. Use a wooden spoon to gently combine.

In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper. Pour over salad and toss gently to evenly distribute dressing. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

*If you plan to serve this dish immediately, use thawed peas. If you are storing overnight in the fridge, frozen peas will defrost by the time you serve.

Adapted from this recipe found on Simply Recipes.

Filed under: Appetizer, gluten free, Main Dish, pine nuts, salad, Side, VEGETARIAN | 10 Comments »

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