Category Archives: Main Courses

Three-Pepper Stir-Fry

Posted in Leftover Ideas, Vegetables by

I found this recipe when I was looking for ways to use up a bunch of bell peppers that were starting to go soft in the fridge. It was perfect and very easy. Don’t be put off by the strange inclusion of couscous in what is otherwise an Asian dish. Trust me, it works!

Makes 3-4 servings

250g (about 9 oz.) dried couscous
1 14.5-oz. can chicken broth
1 Tbsp. grated ginger root
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 bell peppers of different colors, julienned and strips cut in half
1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
Soy sauce to taste

Cook couscous by placing it in a pot with an equal amount of water. Bring to a boil, and as soon as the water starts to boil, turn the heat off and let it sit.

Heat half of the chicken broth to boiling in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add bell peppers and remaining broth. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until bell peppers are tender. Stir in hoisin sauce. Mix in cooked couscous.

Asparagus Risotto

Posted in Leftover Ideas, Pasta & Rice Dishes by

This is an easy and tasty risotto dish that’s also a great way to use up fresh asparagus, if you have some left over — just scale the recipe accordingly.

1 kilo (2 lbs, 3 oz.) asparagus
300g (10.5 oz.) risotto rice
50g (3 Tbsp.) butter
1 medium red onion, chopped
60 ml (1/4 cup) white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste

Cut off the extreme tips of the asparagus (about 3 cm or 1 inch) and set aside. Chop the remaining sections into 1-inch pieces and cook in 1 liter (4 cups) boiling, salted water. When tender, remove the stalks from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon and reserve the cooking liquid. Puree the tender stalks until mushy, then stir the puree back into the cooking water to make an asparagus stock.

Melt the butter in a large stockpot and cook the onion until soft. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until it absorbs the flavor of the butter. Add the wine and let evaporate, then ladle on a bit of the stock. When the rice has absorbed the liquid, add another ladle of stock. Continue in this way until the rice is cooked, stirring constantly.

If your stock runs out before the rice is tender, you’ll need to have some other vegetable stock ready. Just make sure whatever liquid you add is simmering when you ladle it into the rice.

Add the asparagus tips about 15 minutes after the first addition of stock. Test the rice toward the end of cooking and turn off the heat when the rice is al dente. Check the seasonings, add desired cheese, and serve immediately.

Skinny Parmesan Turkey Burgers

Posted in Poultry by

This recipe won my turkey burger cookoff in the summer of 2008. They can be grilled or broiled — the directions below are for the oven.

Makes 4 burgers

1 lb. ground turkey (mince)
1 egg white
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the broiler.

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Shape into four patties and flatten between your palms.

When the broiler is hot enough, place the burgers on a greased cookie sheet and broil. Test for doneness before removing from oven; mine took about 10 minutes. You can flip the burgers halfway through cooking if desired.

Butternut Squash, Two Ways

Posted in Vegetables by

Here are two easy ways to use one butternut squash. They’re a great introduction to this vegetable if you’ve never used it before. It’s one of my favorite vegetarian foods during the winter — warm in taste and color, comforting, and very adaptable.

Cut off the top, more slender half (the part without the seeds) and use it for the first recipe. Use the bottom, rounder half for the second.

Butternut Squash with Wild Mushrooms
Top half of butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 Tbsp. butter, divided
Half of a leek, chopped
4 cups sliced mushrooms (shiitakes, oysters, or portobellos work best, but regular ones work fine, too)
2 shallots, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
4 oz. green beans, chopped into bite-size sections
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable stock
Dried oregano
Salt and pepper

Toss diced squash with olive oil and roast at 400F/200C until tender.

Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in a large skillet over high heat, then add leeks, mushrooms, and shallots. Saute until mushrooms begin to soften. Add squash, garlic, tomatoes, and green beans. Saute until heated through. Deglaze with wine, and when wine has almost disappeared, add vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Add the remaining butter and season with oregano, salt, and pepper.

This dish serves four as a side dish, and it also could make a nice topping for fish. It also works really well on its own as a sort of vegetable stew, in which case it would serve two or three.

Baked Butternut Squash
Using a spoon, scrape the seeds from the bottom half. Place in a baking dish, bottom side up, in about 1 inch of water. Bake at 350F/175C for 40 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and fill cavity with 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tsp. butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to bake for 10 minutes. Serves one.

These recipes also work well with acorn squash.

Five-Spice Jasmine Rice with Mushrooms

Posted in Pasta & Rice Dishes by
A great side dish to an Asian main course. Easy to make and delicious.

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
2 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
12 oz. mushrooms (white or portobello are good, but use any kind you like), cut in 3/4-inch dice
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice
2 1/2 cups well-seasoned chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. (or more) chopped cilantro/coriander leaves

Heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Add onion and cook over medium heat, stirring until tender but not brown. Stir in the garlic and ginger, cook briefly, then stir in the five-spice powder.

Add remaining oil and mushrooms. Stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then stir in the rice.

Add stock, bring to a boil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover, reduce heat to very low, and cook about 15 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes.

Fold in the cilantro/coriander and serve.

Serves 6.

Red Pepper Puree

Posted in Appetizers & Snacks, Pasta & Rice Dishes by

This is a miracle recipe. It’s simple to make, and you can use it for so many things — atop crackers or toasted French bread for an appetizer (ooh — try it with goats cheese!), as a topping for chicken or fish, or mixed with chopped tomatoes for a pasta sauce. All you need are four red bell peppers.

Heat the oven to 475F/245C.

Arrange the whole peppers in a roasting tray and roast for 35-40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes as the peppers blacken. Remove when peppers have collapsed.

Cover the tray with foil and let the peppers cool.

Working over a bowl to catch the liquid, remove the peppers’ skin, core, and seeds. Put the pulp in a food processor, add a large pinch of salt, and puree.

You can easily adjust the flavors by adding cumin, grated ginger, minced garlic, chili pepper, fennel… or whatever you like.

Yield: About 1 cup.

Green Rice

Posted in Pasta & Rice Dishes by

This little side dish, taken from The New York Times ages ago, isn’t just delicious — it’s also an easy way to sneak vegetables into your meal. Great for mothers to make for kids, or for reluctant vegetarians to make for themselves.

8 servings

2 cups loosely packed trimmed spinach, rinsed and dried
1/2 bunch parsley, stemmed, washed, and dried
1/2 bunch cilantro (coriander), stemmed, washed, and dried
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups long-grain rice, like American
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Tear the spinach, parsley, and cilantro into rough bits and put in a food processor with salt and 1/2 cup water, then puree.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and add the rice. Stir to coat and cook 2 minutes. Stir in the pureed spinach mixture and 2 1/2 cups water. Heat to boiling, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook 14 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve topped with toasted pine nuts.

Pasta with Gorgonzola and Arugula

Posted in Pasta & Rice Dishes by

“Arugula. It’s a vegetable.” So said Steve Martin’s character in the movie My Blue Heaven. My brother and I used to love to repeat that line. Arugula — known as rocket in Britain — is actually more of a salad leaf with a distinctive flavor. Here, it balances the cheese wonderfully.

2 Tbsp. butter
8 oz./225g Gorgonzola
6 oz. arugula (rocket), washed and dried
1 lb. cut pasta (shell shapes work best)

Bring a large pot of water to boil for pasta.

Meanwhile, melt butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Add Gorgonzola and cook, stirring frequently, until cheese melts. Keep warm while you cook the pasta.

While the sauce keeps warm and the pasta cooks, tear the arugula apart (pieces should not be too small).

When pasta is al dente, remove, drain, and toss with arugula and cheese mixture. Add plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper and serve.

Stuffed Peppers, Two Ways

Posted in Beef, Poultry, Vegetables by

In doing a cook-off a while back with stuffed peppers, I came up with two winners, each with a different taste. One has more of a Mexican flavor and the other one is more Italian. I couldn’t decide which to keep, so I kept them both.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Adjust the hot seasonings as you like — you could even add chopped green chilis for an extra kick.

Serves 6

6 large bell peppers
1 lb. ground (minced) beef or turkey
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 8-oz. jar mild Mexican salsa
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (cheddar or hard mozzarella are good substitutes)
Fresh cilantro/coriander leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Cut the tops off the peppers and reserve. Remove the membrane and seeds from inside the peppers.

Put the oil in a pan and heat over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent. Add turkey, crumble and brown. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Spoon mixture into peppers and cap with pepper tops. Place in a baking pan filled with 1/2 inch of water and bake for 35-40 minutes or until peppers are tender.

Italian Stuffed Peppers

If you prefer, you could replace the sausage with another half-pound of ground beef or turkey.

Makes 4 servings

4 large green bell peppers
2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 lb. ground (minced) beef or turkey
1/2 lb. Italian sausage meat
1 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 generous tsp. butter

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Cut off the tops of the peppers but keep them to one side. Remove all membrane and seeds from inside the peppers.

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic. Add the ground beef and sausage and cook through. Remove from heat and stir in herbs, salt, and pepper.

Stuff peppers with meat mixture and cover with tops. Place in ovenproof dish and bake for about 1 hour.

Just before the peppers finish baking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes. When peppers are done, pour the sauce over the insides of the peppers and serve.

Turkey Stuffing

Posted in Holiday, Leftover Ideas, Poultry by

It’s way too early to think about Thanksgiving or Christmas, I know. But this, a recipe for the stuffing inside your holiday bird, really is delicious at any time of year — and it’s a great way to use that bit of French baguette you didn’t eat the other day. Frugal cooks, here’s one for you.

You can use it either as stuffing or dressing — the term for stuffing that you cook and serve on its own. And as a dressing, it works great alongside many types of meat, from turkey cutlets to pork sausages.

1 chicken bouillon cube
2 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 short *stale* French baguettes (in America, you can use 1 bag Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing) — or use the equivalent in stale bread
1 tsp. each sage, oregano, ginger, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, white pepper, and celery seed
2 eggs

If making this as a dressing, preheat oven to 350F/175C.
Dissolve bouillon cube in 1 1/2 cups water and set aside.

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Saute onion and celery until onion is transparent. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Put celery mixture in large bowl and add bread and herbs. Combine with wooden spoon. Add eggs.

Add the chicken broth a small amount at a time. Make sure the mixture doesn’t “glop” together; rather, make sure the stuffing still separates when mixed. (You may not need to use all of the broth.)

To serve as turkey dressing, place mixture in casserole dish and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. To serve as stuffing, place inside bird.