Sicilian Pasta with Anchovies

Italy to me, is one of those places that will never cease to be imaginatively romantic. I've never been there, but I do intend to at some point within the next five years. One of my 'must-see' spots will definitely be Sicily (and I would fly to Italy if only for that), for their spectacular seafood, the view of the coastline and of course the wines.

I love this dish because it's easy to make and combines the crunchiness of breadcrumbs with the sweetness of raisins and the oh-so-Sicilian taste of Italian anchovies, drizzled with high-grade olive oil and tossed with basil and grape tomatoes. Traditionally, seafood pasta is never served with cheese because it purportedly masks the flavour of the dish. You can grate a small dose of Pecorino-Romano over the dish, but I would suggest just leaving it plain to savour the full extent of the anchovies. Serve with a glass of cataratto bianco or a light pinot noir with some crusty bread, and you've got yourself a pretentious Italian dinner.



Sicilian Pasta with Anchovies
Serves 1 (300 cals per serving)
Prep time = 5 mins
Cook time = 10 mins

3 slices Italian anchovies in olive oil, chopped into 9 pieces.
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup raisins
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp good quality extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
2 sprigs fresh parsley
whole wheat pasta (linguine or spaghetti), about 3 oz.
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, stir in 1 tsp olive oil and toss, leaving it in the pasta pot still.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat on medium 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and stir in breadcrumbs. Gently heat the crumbs until it turns brown and crunchy, about 5 minutes.

Push the crumbs aside in the pan and add in the anchovies and garlic. Gently heat the anchovies until they start melting and garlic turns slightly golden. Turn the heat off. Stir in the basil and combine with the anchovies and breadcrumbs in the skillet until the basil wilts slightly.

Add in the grape tomatoes, raisin and pasta, toss to combine. Drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and chili flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper (anchovies are quite salty, so be careful with the salt!) , toss well and top of with chopped parsley.

Piña Colada Sorbet

A quick fix for a hot summer day: Canned pineapple cubes mixed with 1/2 cup light rum, 1/4 cup light coconut milk and blended in a food processor to yield a Piña Colada Sorbet. Pour blended pineapple mix into a bowl and freeze for at least 3 hours until set. Remove and blend again into a pulpy mix and serve on top of a wheat cracker drizzled with 1 tbsp light coconut milk, top with light whipped cream and a cherry.

To make the shape, I used a cleaned empty tomato paste can. The results were less that stellar, I should have frozen the sorbet in the can.

Easy Grilled Spicy Shrimp Sandwich

As I mentioned in a few previous posts (yawn!), I've been super busy lately and haven't really felt the mood to make anything grand. Most of the time though, we somehow try to have home cooked food for both lunch and dinner because it's cheaper and probably healthier. A grill is great for times when you're extremely tired and busy because all you have to do is turn it on, wait for it to heat up and chuck on some kind of marinated meat and it would be ready in less than half and hour.

I've felt like having shrimp for a long time now, and yesterday we got around to tossing some medium-sized shrimps on a grill for a quick sandwich. This recipe incorporates an easy Thai spice rub that takes less than 30 minutes to fix. We used a rub from Penzeys Spices. They have an incredible selection of spices that you can use for those quick and easy moments. Serve it with some curried potato wedges and a chilled bottle of apricot wheat beer.

Easy Grilled Spicy Shrimp Sandwich
Serves 2 (About 300 cals per serving)

10 medium-sized shrimps, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp Bangkok Blend spice rub from Penzeys Spices
2 tbsp lime juice
Lettuce leaves
2 tsp light mayonnaise
2 tbsp chunky salsa
2 tsp chopped pickled habaneros (if you like it spicy)
2 slices ciabatta bread, halved or any kind of soft bread

Rub shrimp with the spice rub and lime juice. Leave for 15 minutes and then toss it on the grill either on skewers or in a grill basket. About 2 minutes on each side.

Spread 1 tsp light mayo on one side of sandwich, layer with shrimp (5 for each sandwich), add 1 tbsp salsa and 1 tsp habaneros and top with lettuce leaves. Repeat with the other sandwich.

Quick Curried Potato wedges
4 medium sized red potatoes
1.5 tbsp curry powder
2 tsp salt

Scrub, clean and clice potatoes into wedges, one potato should yield 8 wedges. The skin should be left on.

Place potatoes into a large bowl, coat with curry powder and salt. Toss to mix.

Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss in potatoes and coat potatoes with the heat oil. Leave potatoes in the skillet for about 5 minutes until the curry powder coating starts browning. Turn heat to medium, add 1 cup water and cover.

Potatoes should cook in the water for about 10 minutes until soft. Turn heat up, take the cover off and let the water evaporate until dry.

Add one more tablespoon of oil. Coat potatoes and fry until wedges are completely browned on both sides. Scatter 1 tsp dried parsley, turn heat off, toss and serve.

Cinnamon Loaf Cake

We've been having a rough week lately and I felt inclined to make something to offset this doldrummy times. The boyfriend loves cinnamon - cinnamon toast crunch, cinnamon cupcakes, cinnamon latte... this gave me the idea to make a cinnamon loaf cake for breakfast when we can sit together in the mornings with some butter, the Sunday Times and a cup of hazelnut coffee.

Cinnamon Loaf Cake
Recipe from Taste of Home

2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
3 teaspoons baking powder
3-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and salt. In another large bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour half of the batter into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. In a small bowl, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon; stir in butter. Sprinkle with half the cinnamon-sugar mixture; cut through batter with a knife to swirl the topping. Repeat.
Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 1 loaf.

Easy Mini Spinach and Pesto Pizza

Pizza is all kinds of awesome-ness. I love pizza because it combines my favourite ingredients of cheese and basil and more cheese! This is a quick, easy way to get a pizza ready in 20 minutes flat using Greek pita bread. I took a bit longer to make it because I made my own pesto, but you can use any store bought pesto.

Easy Mini Spinach and Pesto Pizza
About 550 cals per serving (i.e. 2 slices of pizza)

1 Greek-sytle pita
2 tbsp pesto (See recipe below for your own pesto)
1 cup chopped spinach
4 medium sized sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp feta cheese
Pinch of chili flakes
Extra virgin olive oil

Soak sun-dried tomatoes until soft. Drain.

Spread top of pita with pesto, scatter spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of pepper. Bake in a 375° oven for 5 minutes. Add feta cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese melts and starts browning, sides of pita will turn crispy. Scatter with chili flakes and grated parmesan.

Easy pesto
Chop half cup basil leaves with 1 tbsp pine nuts. Mixed chopped basil and pine nuts with 1 tbsp parmesan and 1 tbsp olive oil. The secret is to use a sharp heavy knife and chop until pine nuts are all crushed. Using a food processor will make the pesto discoloured.

Mmmozzarella, Tomatoes and Basil

Laziness has a funny way of contributing to interesting ideas. You spend more time finding ideas to offset that laziness than to get around to making something. A quick and easy lunch is to turn a caprese salad into a sandwich. Use fresh mozzarella for full mmmilky goodness.

And here is the rest of it.

2 slices bread (I used dark whole wheat, 7 grain sliced bread)
3 slices mozzarella (1/2 inch each)
4 slices roma tomatoes (fresher, the better)
4 leaves basil
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on both slices of bread.
2. Arrange tomatoes on one slice of bread.
3. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
4. Roll basil leaves tightly and slice into thin strips.
5. Arrange basil leaves on tomatoes and top with mozzarella.
6. Place in a toaster oven or oven at 350° for 5 minutes until mozzarella melts.
7. Serve immediately.

Raspberry and Lime Ice Cream

Bath soak and dessert. The end.
Raspberry and Lime Ice-Cream
Calorie count not needed

2 large scoops double churned French vanilla ice cream
1/4 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp powdered sugar
1/4 cup raspberries
1/4 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp grated lime zest

1. Toss raspberry with 1/4 of lime juice and powdered sugar.
2. Scoop ice cream into bowl and spoon raspberry over ice cream.
3. Drizzle with remaining lime juice and top with lime zest.
4. Serve with whipped cream on the side.

Authentic Kung Pao Chicken

As a Chinese, the flak that our cuisine gets is sometimes quite off-putting. A lot of people equate Chinese food with the grimy grub that you get when you've just been laid off, that comes in a box etched with generic dragons and that you end with a cheesy line ripped from a preserved cookie. The truth is that Chinese food can be healthy... if you made it on your own.


One of my favourite dishes growing up was a hot-off-the-stove, just cooked Kung Pao chicken. It's a classic Szechuanese recipe, and that means a dish both spicy and sweet in flavour. This is a healthy recipe that leaves no oily residue on the sides of your mouth. I served this with some healthy quinoa and a broccoli stirfry.


Authentic Kung Pao Chicken
Makes 2 servings (about 300 cals each serving)
Prep time = 5 mins
Cook time = 10 mins
2 cups diced chicken breast or thighs
4 dried red chilis
1/2 tbsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tsp minced ginger
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts (or cashews)
1 tbsp honey

Marinade
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Tsiao Shing wine

Sauce
1 tsp corn flour
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/4 cup water

1 tbsp green onions, sliced
2 tbsp roughly chopped cilantro

1. Marinade chicken cubes in the marinade ingredients for 1/2 hour, or if you're in a rush, marinade for 10 minutes and massage chicken cubes with hands for about 5 minutes. Make sure you get the marinade into the chicken well.
2. Heat up 1.5 tbsp oil (you can use light olive oil) in a wok. As soon as it starts to smoke, toss in dried chilis and move the chilis around in the oil until it turns a little black. This should take about 1 -2 mins.
3. Toss in garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for 30 seconds and add chicken along with marinade.
4. The trick is to turn the heat down to somewhere between high and medium such that the chicken will smoke but not burn.
5. After about 3 minutes, add nuts and honey.
5. Stir-fry chicken until it is done (when flesh is no longer pink).
6. In a small bowl, combine ingredients for the sauce and stir until corn flour is dissolved.
7. Pour in sauce, turn off the heat and swish the chicken around in the sauce.
8. Add in the green onions and cilantro, give the wok another swish (Iron Chef style) to coat all the ingredients in sauce, add white pepper and dish out.

Arugula with Crispy Prosciutto

I've noticed that there's a tendency for me to buy tons of vegetables and fruits that never get consumed before its wilting point. My weekly trips to Trader Joe's would involve a few bags of different pre-washed leaves, but I would never get around to using them and would be forced to throw them out after two weeks when they start getting all squashed and discoloured beneath bags and bags of apples. It's not that I'm lazy to cook them, I just need variety. Arugula or spinach three days in a row is overkill.


But today I stumbled on this interesting Arugula with Crispy Prosciutto recipe from SeattlePI. It looked really simple to make and combined my two of my favourite things - prosciutto and eggs. It seemed like bacon and eggs but with a generous helping of healthy greens. I threw in some grape tomatoes to round out a colourful entreé salad. Just scale the entire recipe by half, except the eggs, add some crusty Italian bread and a glass of wine and that's a full dinner for two.


Arugula with Crispy Prosciutto
Adapted from SeattlePI

4-6 thin slices prosciutto
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
6 cups arugula, loosely packed
2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place prosciutto slices on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until prosciutto is crispy. Be sure to keep an eye on it so the prosciutto doesn't burn. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
3. Meanwhile, combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk until blended. Set aside.
4. Place arugula in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the leaves. Gently toss. Add the eggs and toss gently again. Divide among 4 salad plates. Top each with a piece of crispy prosciutto. (You can gently break each prosciutto slice into smaller pieces to sprinkle over the salad.)

Rigatoni with Sweet Tomatoes, Eggplant and Mozzarella

There's nothing more heartbreaking than having an eggplant sit in your refrigerator waiting to grow dry and wrinkly. A royal treatment to bestow upon your last remaining eggplant is to give it a little Jamie Oliver touch.


I don't care what anyone says about the lisp or about the pretentious over-the-top "International Flair" or the arrogance, I like Jamie Oliver. I think he's really talented and good at making simple meals seem so interesting. Given, he does sound a little off when he's speaking, but so does half of the British people who get confused if they appear more threatening to sound Northern or Mid-Western or act like an old-school Scouser. And only old people or giggly new housewives like Jamie Oliver.

Anyway, here's a really good simple recipe to get rid of ye ol' purple fat fruit in the fridge with some yummy mozzarella and fresh basil (Yes, I have an out of control dying basil plant that I need to get rid of too!). It's good for a quick meal and you can whip it up with any kind of tubular pasta you have in the house, really. I used penne instead of rigatoni, which is actually just a shorter stouter version of penne. This goes well with a light Italian table wine like Chianti, a Chilean Pinot Noir or a fruit Spanish varietal.

Rigatoni with Sweet Tomatoes, Eggplant and Mozzarella
by Jamie Oliver, from Jamie's Dinners(Hyperion, 2004)
Serves 4

1 firm ripe pink, black, or white eggplant
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Two 14-ounce cans good-quality plum tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 fresh or dried chillies, chopped or crumbled, optional
Bunch fresh basil, leaves ripped and stalks sliced
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 pound rigatoni or penne
7 ounces cow's-milk mozzarella
1 piece Parmesan cheese, for grating

1. Remove both ends of the eggplant and slice it into 1/2 inch slices, then slice these across and finely dice into 1/2 inch cubes. Some people prefer to season their eggplant with salt and let it sit for a while in a colander to draw out the bitterness, but I don't really do this unless I'm dealing with a seedy, bitter eggplant. This dish is really best made using a firm silky one.

2. Now, put a large saucepan on the heat and drizzle in 4 to 5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. When it's hot, add the cubes of eggplant, and as soon as they hit the pan stir them around with a spoon so they are delicately coated with the oil and not soaked on one side only. Cook for about 7 or 8 minutes on a medium heat.

3. Then add the garlic and onion. When they have a little color, add the canned tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Stir around and season carefully with salt and pepper. At this point, if you wanted to give the dish a little heat you could add some chopped fresh or crumbled dried chilli, but that's up to you. Add the basil stalks, and simmer the sauce nice and gently for around 15 minutes, then add the cream.

4. While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta, cook according to the package instructions until it is soft but still holding its shape, then drain it, saving a little of the cooking water. I like to put the pasta back into the pot it was cooked in with a tiny bit of the cooking water and a drizzle of olive oil and move it around so it becomes almost dressed with the water and oil.

5. At this point add the lovely tomato sauce to the pasta. By now the eggplant will have cooked into a creamy tomatoey pulp, which is just yum yum yum! Season carefully to taste with salt and pepper. When all my guests are sitting round the table, I take the pan to the table, tear up the mozzarella and the fresh basil, and fold these in nicely for 30 seconds. Then very quickly serve into bowls. By the time your guests start to eat, the mozzarella will have started to melt and will be stringy and gorgeous and really milky-tasting. Just lovely with the tomatoes and eggplant. Serve at the table with a block of Parmesan cheese and a grater so that everyone can help themselves.

Peach and Watercress Salad with Pan-Seared Turkey and Lime Vinaigrette

Some days I get too tired to post, especially if it's been a long unproductive day working and cleaning or if it's just one of those days. There's nothing better to offset those dreary days than to have a great big salad and lots and lots of leftover cake with fresh berries. Do something special today and have a blonde ale with your meal. It brings out the flavour of the peaches. Here, have some recipes and enjoy!

By the way, having an arugula salad does NOT make you an elitist. Arugula salads are change to dietary habits we can believe in. Yes, Barack!


Peach and Watercress Salad with Pan-Seared Turkey and Lime Vinaigrette
Makes 2 entrée serving, about 300cals per serving
Prep time = 15 mins
Cook time = 15 mins

For the turkey
4 oz. turkey tenderloin, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp finely chopped Italian parsley
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the salad
2 cups baby watercress
2 peaches, each halved with stone removed
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh Mozzarella slices, about 3 slices per person (optional)

For the dressing
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp lime rind (optional)

1. Marinade turkey fillets in parsley, lemon juice, pepper and salt for an hour.
2. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Turn heat up high and place turkey fillets in a single layer. Sear until one side turns a little black, about 3 minutes. Do the same for the other side.
3. Turn heat off and leave seared turkey to cool down.
4. Turn on broiler and place peach halves under broiler for about 1 minute each side.
5. Wash baby watercress with twice cold water, lay on paper towels and pat dry.
6. Toss watercress and tomatoes in a large bowl. Spoon out tossed salad leaves onto a plate.
7. Slice broiled peach halves into 1/2-inch slices, arrange on the side of plate - about 4 -6 slices per person.
8. Add in pan-seared turkey and mozzarella slices.
9. Drizzle lime vinaigrette and serve.

Ginger-Orange Cake

Note: I'm procrastinating with work by baking, cooking and shopping for baking and cooking.

This recipe is from the Pillsbury Fast and Healthy Cookbook which surprisingly makes no mention of any Pillsbury products, marshmallow man or otherwise.


I modified the recipe to the Ginger-Orange bars by cutting down on sugar, omitting the molasses and using soy milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice instead of buttermilk. I would recommend using buttermilk if you can, it gives the bars its softer, crumblier texture. I also used a little less margarine and substituted that with applesauce. The result was NOTHING like that of the book, it turned out a little dry due to the lack of butter, but I think it made a pretty darn good dessert after the eggplant salad. Instead of using a thick frosting to spread over the cake, I added a bit more orange juice to make a runnier sauce and drizzled it over the cake and raspberries on the side.

Included is a picture of the jerk chicken panini that the boyfriend had from dinner which he made from scratch by marinading a chicken fillet in chives, onion powder, allspice, nutmeg, lime juice, oil and red pepper flakes. Hurrah Brian! Your disdain for eggplants has paid off in panini wages.


Ginger-Orange Cake (Adapted from Pillsbury Fast and Healthy Cookbook)
Makes about 15 bars (each bar is 2x2 inch square, 130 cals)
Prep time = 25 mins
Cook time = 2o mins

Bars
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1 egg
2 tbsp applesauce
1.25 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 cup soy milk & 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (or use 1/2 cup buttermilk instead)
1/8 tsp minced ginger
1.5 tsp grated orange peel

Frosting
1.25 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp margarine or butter, softened
1/4 tsp grated orange peel
2 tbsp orange juice

Arugula and Eggplant Salad with Goat's Cheese and Herbs

Two of the vegetable/fruits I hated with a passion when growing up were eggplants and bitter gourd. I would almost throw up and start a hissy-fit every time my mother whipped some up. Those were some of the most awful eating moments because I would be sobbing and putting the eggplant/rice mixture in my mouth cheeks for a half-hour because I was too disgusted to swallow it. But it must have been around puberty, the time when people do stupid things and start getting smarter than they really are, that I began liking tons and tons of stir-fried eggplants with dried shrimp, a traditional South-East Asian delicacy.


The boyfriend however, has a strange dislike of all things mushy, and when eggplant is cooked perfectly, it's soft and stringy and hence I suppose, a tad bit squishy looking in a gross way. I decided I was just going to make him a jerk chicken panini instead and treat myself to a spicy eggplant salad for dinner.

This is an original recipe that comes from my yearning for eggplant and my love for goat's cheese. I recently bought a 4 pepper flavoured goat's cheese log, but you can use any kind of goat's cheese for this recipe. The wild arugula is complemented by the basil and cheese while the eggplant, chili and cilantro add a zingy Asian twist to a classy salad.

Arugula and Eggplant Salad with Goat's Cheese
Makes 2 entreè servings (About 270 cals per serving)
Prep time = 20 mins
Cook time = 20 mins

1 small eggplant, about 2 cups chopped
2 cups wild arugula
1.5 cup cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1 small serrano chili, sliced into 1/4 inch strips
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup green onions, sliced thinly
1/4 cup jarred roasted yellow or red peppers, sliced thinly
2 oz. goat's cheese at room temperature

1.5 tsp minced garlic, about 3 cloves
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup vegetable broth

1. Cut small eggplant into 2-inch cubes, yielding about 1 cup per person.
2. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet, and gently saute garlic for 1 minute.
3. Turn heat up and add in eggplant, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce and low-sodium soy sauce.
4. Stir-fry for about 5 to 7 mins, coating eggplants with sauce.
5. Pour in vegetable broth, cover and simmer on medium heat until eggplants are perectly tender but not mushy. It should take about 10 minutes, be careful not to let the sauce dry out. If it starts getting a little too thick, add more broth.
6. Mix arugula, basil, tomatoes and onions together in a large bowl.
7. Crumble goat's cheese into salad mix and toss.
8. Spoon salad mix out onto a plate, add eggplant on the side with a little soy sauce mix from the pan. Drizzle salad with a little good quality extra virgin olive oil, garnish with cilantro, green onions and serrano pepper strips and serve.

Ramblings: Of Rachael Ray, beer and bands

Trying to finish my thesis is officially like running with a rake infront of me, pushing the finishing line further and further away. I've been irritable and tired all week, and if you haven't noticed, felt like baking all the time. I decided to take it easy today and hang out for a couple of minutes in the gym, painfully gliding my feet over the elliptical machine and watching Food Network. I usually try to catch MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews while I pretend to work out, but I felt today that I needed some sort of fluffy celluloid pallette satisfaction.

I turned on the individual exercise TV thingo just in time to catch 30 Minute Meals with Rachel (oops, forgive me, Rachael) Ray. I must admit I have probably only seen 1/2 an episode of some random Rachael Ray cooking show before this and felt it was sort of "meh". But anyway, for some reason, this 30 Minute Meals thing struck me as severely awful. Now I'm not a chef, I can cook average meals, but as mere audience, I didn't even feel appetized by the meal she was preparing (some soupy shrimp scampi and tomato onion salad thing).

The shrimp scampi looked severely gross. I'm sure if the ingredients were dressed up a bit, and placed in bowls that didn't look cheesy and trashy it would have been delicious. It's just the whole presentation of the show was really off-putting. After the scampi was done, she dumped hunks of bread into a bowl and toss the soup over it, saying that the bread will soak up the shrimp sauce and that it was "Mmm mm mm mmm mmmm". Well, whatever. I don't know how I feel about clam infested soggy bread. The show was a combination of one of the ugliest kitchens EVER on television with just really bad food aesthetics. I have no idea why she is as big as she is. Whenever I think of how a REAL kitchen should be, it's always Nigella Lawson's kitchen - clean, white, gleaming and tempting to sit in and relax with a big bowl of sopping lard.

Since I decided to take it easy today, I have no recipes to share; the boyfriend made his signature Phad Thai for dinner. Just a heads up though, that Pike Street Beer and Wine at 518 E. Pike St. has beer tasting every Friday from 5 - 7pm. This place is awesomeness, it has at least a billion varieties of lagers, belgians and ales and a pretty decent stash of wine too. Today's tasting was three different beers from Lazy Boy Brewing Co. - the IPA, Belgian-style golden ale and a very smoky Porter. I try to support this place because it's (a) made of all kinds of hops awesomeness (b) it's local. So hurrah for good beers.

On a side note, one of my local Seattle bands, Siberian is breaking up. I think the guitarist lives up the street from me. I have half a mind to stalk and offer him some home made chocolate-cherry muffins just so they wouldn't disband.

Spicy Moroccan Chicken with Cous Cous Salad and Mint Yogurt Sauce

Today I got a salmon burger for lunch at Pike Place Brewery in downtown Seattle with my friend Joey. We wanted to get a sampler right before we left since Joey is from the land o' Fosters and needed to try some local ales. Unfortunately we were accosted by some strange man asking us to join him and a friend for a road trip down to California. This was in broad daylight, at a family restaurant! Creepy! And as Biff Tannen would put it, "so we left like a tree and got the hell out of there".


Anyhoo, I came back all bloated and hot with swollen feet and felt that I needed a light dinner with some sort of ingredient to do away with water retention. A guaranteed treat for those cranky warm summer days is cucumbers and yogurt - cucumbers are saturated with water, and has purported water retention relief strengths. The best way to combine these satisfying ingredients into a substantial dinner dish is to make a light salad using cous cous. This Mediterranean style dish is complemented well with spicy Moroccan chicken for those carnivores at heart.

We complemented the dish with a new raspberry wheat beer from Maine-based Sea Dog Brewing Company. I think raspberry wheat is the new "in" thing. If I ever made my own brew, I would make a raspberry-apricot wheat and call it the Ridgeback Raspricot Wheat.

Spicy Moroccan chicken
(Serves 2, about 200 cals per serving)

Moroccan Spice Rub
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp dried ground ginger
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp fennel
1 tsp sesame seed
1/4 tsp freshly ground cardamom pods
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in an airtight container and it should keep for about 3 months.

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (halved)
5 tbsp Moroccan Spice Rub
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey

Marinate chicken breasts in lemon juice and honey for at least an hour. Bake in a shallow baking-pan covered with foil for at least 45 minutes at 350°.
Cous cous salad
(Serves 2, about 300 cals per serving)

2/3 cups dried whole wheat cous cous
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 cup diced Persian cucumbers
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp crumbled feta cheese (optional)

1. Cook cous cous according to package directions. Set aside to cool and flake with a fork.
2. Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, cous cous, fresh mint, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together olive oil and lemon juice.
4. Pour olive-lemon mixture into cous cous salad, toss to combine. Throw in feta cheese and combine if desired.

Mint Yogurt Sauce
(serves 2, about 70 cals per serving)

1/4 cup fresh mint
3/4 cup unsweetened soy yogurt (or low-fat yogurt that is not sweetened)
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp lemon juice

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.