Category: Main Dish

Now on to the Main Course

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As we mentioned yesterday, Mr. N got to pick his whole meal for his birthday dinner. Despite his adventurous nature with food, he asked for one of his long-running favorites – chicken nuggets. This seemed a little lackluster to me, so I asked him if he wanted to try some real, authentic fried chicken. He was definitely game.

So since we’re cooking around the world and throughout different regions of the U.S., we thought we’d add some Southern soul to the night and go with Buttermilk Fried Chicken. For the recipe we turned to Kay over at Pure Complex. While Kay is  a New Yorker now, she comes from a long line of Southern soul food cooking women, including her mom and grandmother from which this recipe was inspired. While we provide a list of suggested ingredients, as Kay said – soul food is about cooking from what you feel, not from what you see; so listen to your heart and adapt the spices to fit your family and tastes. And what a better way to make our first soul food dish – than by cooking it for my little guy’s birthday. It can’t help but come from the heart! Continue reading →

Ladies and Gentlemen: We Have a Winner

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This week we’re dishing up a few recipes from the Rocky Mountain State courtesy of Miss A. Colorado is a special place for me, not only due to its unbelievable beauty, but also because it was where I vacationed several times with my mom, dad and sister (sometimes even aunts, uncles and cousins) when I was growing up. As a mom, I have had the opportunity to share many of these places, memories and experiences with my own little guys in Colorado; and it’s been amazing to see familiar sights as new through their eyes. So when Miss A picked Colorado tonight I knew it was going to be fun, but little did I know it would be an absolute winner.

For our meal we found a plethora of fabulous options at Agriculture-Colorado. The site is host to recipes from numerous chefs throughout the state that cook with locally grown produce and meats. Tonight we settled on Peach Teriyaki Buffalo Steak and Balsamic Glazed Fingerlings. Now we’re not new to buffalo – last summer dad and I tried buffalo brisket in South Dakota – but I have to admit I was leery of the steaks. I mean the brisket was lathered in BBQ sauce, so really it just tasted like BBQ. This, however, was going to be unadulterated Buffalo. We started with the marinade – ripe peaches, teriyaki sauce and honey. Continue reading →

Libyan Night Done Right

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After a wonderful weekend spent with the kids in the backyard, we made our last foray into the culinary delights of Libya. Mr. N was excited about our next meal since he’s a big fan of fish, and Miss A was mostly concerned about dessert. Our dinner menu featured a white fish, veggie side dish, couscous and of course a sweet treat.

These recipes again incorporated olive oil, garlic, cilantro and other fresh herbs and spices. Tonight we’ll share with you the recipe for Haraimi, or spicy fish. We started by marinating the white fish, we used orange roughy, in a variety of spices including cumin, garlic, chili pepper, mint, salt, olive oil and lemon juice.

Continue reading →

Libya Offers Double the Pleasure

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Mr. N is at the helm again and for the next couple weeks he’s taking us to Libya. He wanted to pick somewhere in Africa, and after looking at the globe he settled on Libya because he’s heard it on the news. Apparently he listens to the news more than we thought. (I wonder if that means he listens more than we think too!)

When we began our search for recipes we found quite a few that were appealing at Celtnet Recipes. Some of the most common ingredients we found in Libyan recipes were olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs including cilantro. Tonight’s recipe uses these ingredients and provided us with a great option for a healthy weeknight meal. It’s called Dolma Mshakla, or stuffed vegetables. And as an added bonus, we get two meals in one as this recipe made enough for another new meal tomorrow night!

For our stuffing vegetables we chose potatoes for Miss A and Mr. N, and green peppers for me and dad. If you select potatoes you’ll need to bake them first – or if you’re running short on time like we were – use the baked potato setting on your microwave. Next stand the potatoes on end and cut the tops off. Scoop about half of the inside out of the potato. Continue reading →

Seafood Pasta with Cloves? You Bet!

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This weekend we are wrapping up our Egyptian adventure with another winning recipe. When dad first picked Egypt a few weeks ago, we knew little about the local cuisine. We figured we would come across some traditional Middle Eastern dishes such as falafel or babaganoush – and we did. But we also discovered that Egyptian cuisine has influences from the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and offers a lot of healthy, flavorful cooking options.

Tonight’s recipe is one of the first that we came across for the region and we instantly knew we had to try it. This recipe for Egyptian Seafood Pasta is very similar to an Italian dish that dad and I used to eat a ton of when we were dating. So going in it already had a lot to live up to.

We began our pasta dish by sauteing a chopped onion with some olive oil. Once the onion was softened we added bacon, garlic and ground cloves – yes cloves! This was new to me. Continue reading →

Much Better than Ribbie and Roobarb

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Many thanks to ChefMom for giving me a second turn at the controls.  She was a tough sell, but since she’s off schmoozing for work I’m in for the night.  I may not be as practiced a writer/blogger as mom, but I am an economist, which means I know a bit about the misuse of statistics. Note the steady uptick in blog traffic following my one and only post. (Mom is lovingly rolling her eyes. 😉 )

Ribbie and Roobarb

Today’s recipe is Strawberry and Rhubarb Risotto, adapted from Cooking Light, May 2010; and I’m happy to report it was much better than the ex-White Sox Mascots Ribbie and Roobarb. Wikipedia notes: “Fans openly mocked Ribbie and Roobarb, with even children gleefully attacking them.” Readers should feel free to mock the White Sox, but I don’t think anyone will be mocking this rhubarb recipe.

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