Kale in Lemon Garlic Sauce

Kale is an amazing vegetable. It's one of the healthiest out there, and somehow the most delicious. This is a relatively simple recipe created entirely from improvisation, but it's a lot of fun and could easily be the centerpiece of a meal.

Ingredients:

• Kale
• 1/4th of a red pepper
• 1/4th cup White wine (or cooking wine)
• 1/4th a tablespoon Chili Powder
• Lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt & pepper

Wash the Kale and remove the stalk-heavy parts, then chop it into 3/4th inch wide strips.

 

Mince the garlic and finely chop the pepper. Sautée it with olive oil until the garlic is slightly browned.

Add butter and white wine to the concoction

Throw the Kale in with lemon juice, a little more wine, and salt and pepper. After it's reduced somewhat, sprinkle in the chili powder. This will give it a bit of a kick, but it's definitely worth it.

Enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts in Mustard Sauce

I love Brussels sprouts. Their strange "miniature-cabbage" appearance unique flavor makes them one of my favorite vegetables. This recipe is so simple I considered not even posting it, but then I remembered the name of this blog.

Ingredients:

• 1 dozen or so brussels sprouts
• 1/3rd cup dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Clean the sprouts, removing any wilted or shriveling leaves and cutting off the stump if necessary. Steam (or boil, if you don't have a steaming rack) them for 5-10 minutes, or until tender, but not tender enough to fall apart.

As the sprouts steam, add the olive oil, mustard, sugar and paprika to a skillet and warm on low heat.

When the sprouts are done, half them, add a little salt, and add them into the mustard sauce skillet. Raise the heat to medium-high and stir aggressively for 2-3 minutes.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Swordfish Tomato Medley

Swordfish has always been a bit of a challenge to me. The steaks on their own can be absolutely delicious in their own right, but with this concoction I feel I have finally brought it to it's full potential.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz swordfish steak
• 4 fresh Roma tomatoes
• 1/4th cup pine nuts
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 1 1/8 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons red wine (optional) 
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• olive oil
• salt

Mince the garlic, chop the parsley into roughly 1 centimeter segments and toast the pine nuts with olive oil until brown.

Clean the swordfish of any skin and bones, and cut it into 3 centimeter squares. Add three tablespoons of olive oil and one of white wine to a skillet and cook the swordfish until firm and completely cooked.

Don't fret if the chunks begin to flake apart.

When the meat begins to brown, turn off the heat and put it aside. Sautée the garlic with 1 tablespoon olive oil until brown, then add the tomatoes, parsley, and pine nuts into the skillet with 1 cup of white wine and 1 tablespoon salt.

This will begin to look almost like a soup. Don't worry.

Cook for a minute or two, and add two teaspoons paprika and one teaspoon cayanne pepper. When the tomatoes are nearly fully deconstituted and the white wine has mostly boiled off, add the swordfish back in.

Optionally add a small amount of red wine to taste. Cook on medium heat until the swordfish has adequately browned and the tomatoes are reduced to a paste.

Serve hot, and enjoy!

Bleu Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

This is a relatively simple recipe, but with a fantastic payoff. This was my first real attempt at stuffed mushrooms, but I was very happy with it.

Ingredients:

• 24 large stuffing mushrooms
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1/2 cup of parsley
• 1 cup creme cheese
• 3/4 cup bleu cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 1/8th teaspoon pepper (optional)

 
Wash the mushrooms, then remove the stalks. Set the heads aside and chop the stalks into small 1/2 centimeter squares. Chop the onion into slightly smaller chunks and mince the garlic.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. We'll get back to that in a minute.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan (we used a wok) on medium heat, then sauteé the onion, chopped mushroom stalks and garlic until the onion becomes transparent, then add in the parsley.

It should start to look like this

Add the cream cheese and mix until the sauce evens out. Add the bleu cheese and mix until it melts in evenly, then add lemon juice and pepper to taste.

This is when it starts to look slightly, err, less than appetizing. It'll be delicious. I promise.

Let the filling simmer on low heat for a couple minutes, then lay out all all your mushroom heads on a aluminum-foil lined baking pan and spoon portions of filling into them.

Put the pan in the oven and leave it for 10 minutes. Start checking on them periodically until the mushrooms have slightly shriveled and released a lot of their water and the filling has slightly browned.

Let chill for 3-5 minutes and enjoy!

Best enjoyed with a fine glass of $5 Trader Joes wine