dinner

Eggplant Parmesan

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen?  Eggplant Parmesan!  This incredible dish is the perfect substitute for lasagna.  It is hearty and filling without all the pasta.  If you’ve never cooked with eggplant before, pay attention to a little hint. This healthy vegetable can absorb moisture and oil like a sponge, so it requires advance preparation before baking. Slice the raw eggplant (skin on), place on several layers of paper towels, and salt it. The salt will draw moisture out. This takes about 2 hours. First problem solved. The second, instead of frying it in oil, bake the slices in a single layer before assembling into a casserole. 

EGGPLANT PARMESAN 

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 pound Fresh Mozzarella 

1/4 cup shaved Parmesan Cheese

Breading:

3/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, diced and reserve juices

1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

1/2 teaspoon oregano 

1/2 teaspoon marjoram 

1/4 cup fresh basil

Instructions:

While eggplant is “resting”, make the sauce. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil on medium heat. Add the minced garlic and gently cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and their juices, sugar, marjoram, and oregano. Increase heat to simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered. Add the minced basil and remove from heat. 

Combine the breading dry ingredients. Set aside. In a shallow bowl, mix the beaten eggs and milk.  Preheat the oven to 400°. Spray the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet pan with non-stick oil. Pat dry each eggplant slice. Dip in egg mixture, then dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place on prepared sheet pan, single layer. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top of each eggplant round. Place the breaded eggplant slices in oven. Bake 10 minutes per side. They should be lightly browned. Let cool slightly. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350°. In a casserole dish spread 1/2 the tomato sauce over the bottom. Divide the eggplant in order to layer the rounds with mozzarella on top of each layer.  Top with remaining sauce and shaved Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before cutting to serve. 

Eating My Way Through the Alphabet

What’s cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Stay tuned and you’re about to find out. It’s as simple as A-B-C. One of my passions is being at home in my own country kitchen. I love to cook, and my husband loves that I do it often. Now more than ever, since I am retired, I relish the thought of creating something delicious from scratch. I adore time-honored traditions using tried-and-true recipes. Yet, I often never think twice about tweaking old favorites or modifying others to suit the inner craving of the moment. Most of the recipes serve 2-4 people, but can be altered in any direction. The leftovers are golden morsels to be eaten again later or shared with others. And I love to share. To me, seeing a smile in gratitude is thanks enough. The recipes you will find here in the next several weeks can be prepared very easily. Feel free to contact me with questions. Now take a deep breath, inhale the aromas, and join me on a tasteful journey entitled, “EATING MY WAY THROUGH THE ALPHABET”.

Korean Pork Tacos

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Uplifting Aromas: Korean Pork Tacos! Chile paste is a unique condiment that gives food a fiery kick of flavor whether you’re spicing up soups and dips, or veggies and meat. Keep in mind, Gochujang has a pungent flavor a notch hotter than sriracha, without the sweetness. Personally, I like the feel of the lingering heat on the roof of my mouth. Slow cooking makes it taste marvelous when mixed with the other ingredients. Gochujang is usually found near the barbecue sauces in the grocery aisle. In case you need to find a substitute, Sriracha gets my vote. Friendly Footnote: remember to use sriracha IN the sauce rather than splashing it on top afterwards. 

KOREAN PORK TACOS 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 cup gochujang 

3 tablespoons garlic, minced

3 tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced

2 tablespoons red pepper flakes 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 

3 tablespoons sugar

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 yellow onion, chopped 

2 pounds pork loin

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, gochujang, minced garlic, minced ginger, red pepper flakes, black pepper, sugar, green onions, and yellow onions. In a slow cooker, place pork loin. Pour prepared sauce over meat. Cover. Heat on High setting for 4 hours; reduce to Low setting and cook 4 hours longer. Using two forks, shred the pork loin to mix well with the sauce. (Don’t let that yummy sauce go to waste.) Keep warm until ready to serve. Use your favorite taco shells, cheese, and fillings to make a meal. 

Radish Dinner Salad

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Fabulous Fixings: Radish Dinner Salad! Baby lettuces and greens not only add color to a dinner salad, they also add crunchiness, vitamins, and variety. That’s one of the reasons I like radishes, too. I bet you thought it was the spicy, peppery taste of this root vegetable, didn’t you? Well, you’re half right. I find radishes refreshing and I’m not going to stop eating them anytime soon. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find me standing barefoot in my kitchen nibbling on sliced radishes sprinkled with sea salt. I hear the French actually slather radishes with sea salt butter for a truly gourmet experience. Now that’s an idea worth exploring, especially since I buy my butter from France. 

RADISH DINNER SALAD

Ingredients:

1 Roma tomato, chopped

1 cup organic mixed greens

3 large radishes, sliced 

1/4 cup herbed feta cheese, crumbled

4-ounce sirloin steak; cooked, warm, and sliced thin

Oil & Vinegar, to taste

Instructions:

Using a salad plate, arrange food vertically when placing. Begin with chopped tomatoes followed by the organic mixed greens, sliced radishes, crumbled feta cheese, and sirloin steak. Serve with oil and vinegar dressing on the side. 

Vermouth Chicken Breasts

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Graze or Gobble: Vermouth Chicken Breasts! Have you ever cooked with vermouth? It almost comes across as a magic potion transforming the ordinary into the sublime. As a deglazing tool, vermouth lifts the sweetness that builds up during the cooking process of meats and vegetables while enhancing the earthy wine flavor. You’ve heard of people using wine in cooking. Well, it’s basically the same principle. Go ahead, check the back of the liquor cabinet. More than likely you probably already have a bottle of vermouth just waiting to be used. 

VERMOUTH CHICKEN BREASTS

Ingredients for Chicken:

4 tablespoons butter

4 boneless chicken breasts, skin removed

1/2 cup dry vermouth

Ingredients for Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, chopped 

4 ounces canned mushrooms, drained

1/4 cup dry vermouth 

1 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

Instructions:

Warm 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken breasts until golden brown, approximately 4 minutes per side. Pour in 1/2 cup dry vermouth. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. To make the sauce, warm 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Sauté chopped onions until soft and translucent. Add mushrooms; heat through, stirring occasionally. Add 1/4 cup dry vermouth and sour cream. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Warm through, but do not boil. Remove pan from heat. When chicken is done, pour sauce over all. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the sides and bottom of the skillet to release any browned bits into the sauce. Serve with angel hair pasta. 

Alex’s Porgy Fish Favorite

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Graze or Gobble: Alex’s Porgy Fish Favorite! Just because a fish species is plentiful and easy to catch by local fishermen is no reason to ignore its flaky sweet flavor when cooked. In fact, you can herald porgy’s role in sustainable seafood. The more porgy that is caught, the better chance other wild-caught fish can multiply. Porgy is smaller, too, so one person can often eat an entire serving. Leave the fillet method to the skilled cutters. They can clean, skin, and fillet porgy to eliminate all those tiny bones. Alex is a member of a crew of local fishermen who work together to make each their fresh catch affordable and ready-to-cook when purchased. What more could anyone ask?

ALEX’S PORGY FISH FAVORITE 

Ingredients:

2-6 ounce porgy fillets, skinned and deboned

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

Melted butter, for garnish

Fresh Lemon, for garnish

Instructions:

Spray an enameled cast iron grill pan with nonstick oil. Warm olive oil and butter in the grill pan over medium high heat. Add porgy fillets to prepared cookware. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Cook two minutes; flip over and cook two minutes longer. Transfer to a platter. Serve with grilled asparagus and fresh tomatoes. Drizzle melted butter over all. Garnish with lemon slices. 

Zucchini Meatball Bateaux

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Palatable Possibilities: Zucchini Meatball Bateaux! Call me “Fancy Shmancy” today since the title of this recipe makes it gourmet all-the-way. Bateaux means Boat. And in the world of food, nothing looks more like a boat than zucchini, especially when it’s sliced horizontally and scooped out. Amirite? Actually, I like this recipe because I always seem to have a bag of frozen Italian meatballs on hand in my freezer. Most days I make my own homemade marinara sauce because I like to stock my pantry with a variety of Italian Roma tomatoes that are imported from Italy. Obviously you can do the same. Recipes are designed to modify in ways that bring accolades to you for the extra effort. If time is of the essence, follow the instructions below. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

ZUCCHINI MEATBALL BATEAUX

Ingredients:

2 medium zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise

16 precooked frozen Italian meatballs, thawed

15-ounce jar prepared marinara sauce

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

8 ounces fresh burrata cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon Italian herb blend

Fresh basil, for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Arrange sliced zucchini halves on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick oil. Scoop out the center of each zucchini, using a spoon, to remove seeds and create a well to hold the fillings. Spread a little marinara in each zucchini. Place 4 Italian meatballs in each. Divide the remaining marinara between them. Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Bake 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Transfer zucchini boats to a platter. Place fresh basil leaves on each end. Divide the burrata into four sections and arrange dollops as desired. Drizzle each dollop with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian herbs. Serve immediately.

Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Palatable Possibilities: Teriyaki Chicken Bowl! Do-ahead meals take a little bit of planning, but the “devil is in the details”, they say. In this case it means, make sure the chicken breasts are thawed AND marinated 24 hours before you plan on serving them. I realize that requires the cook to be somewhat organized. Pantries don’t stock themselves. There’s nothing worse than trying to make a dish without all the ingredients. Take sesame oil, for example. I find it absolutely delicious because it adds an earthy nuttiness to Asian food. Vegetable oil tastes meh, in my opinion. Not only does it alter the taste, the texture will be different. When I can find it, I buy toasted sesame seeds so I don’t have to worry about toasting them on the stove or in the oven. That’s 10 minutes I could be planning tomorrow’s meal. Idiosyncratic, but true.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN BOWL

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Green onion snips, for garnish

Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions:

Place chicken breasts, teriyaki sauce, lemon juice, minced garlic, and sesame oil in a shallow dish. Baste chicken completely. Cover dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 hours. When ready to cook, preheat grill to 450°. Lightly oil grill grate. Remove chicken breasts from marinade, place directly on grill, close lid, and cook for 5 minutes. Discard marinade. After 5 minutes, open lid, flip over chicken breasts, close lid, and cook 5 minutes longer, or until cooked through and no longer pink. Remove teriyaki chicken from grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with green onion snips and toasted sesame seeds. Serve with sticky rice and mixed vegetables.

Wagyu Filet Mignon

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Time To Eat: Wagyu Filet Mignon! The secret to grilling medium-rare gourmet steaks is high heat, room temperature filets, and “resting” before serving. The buttery rich flavor and tenderness of Wagyu steak comes naturally with its marble-like fat content. As Wagyu grills, the smoky flavor is absorbed while the outer edges get crusty to hold all those fabulous juices. Avoid overcooking. It’s always easier to place them back on the grill for less rare results.

WAGYU FILET MIGNON

Ingredients:

4 Wagyu filet mignon steaks

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 dabs of butter

Instructions:

Remove Wagyu filet mignon steaks from the refrigerator one hour before cooking. Preheat a lightly-oiled gas grill to 500°. Season the steaks on each side with kosher salt and black pepper. Place steaks on the grill; close lid. Cook for 5 minutes, then flip over and cook 5 minutes longer. An instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the steak should register 125° for medium-rare. Remove steaks and transfer to a cutting board. Allow them to rest for 5 minutes. Top each Wagyu filet mignon with one dab of butter. Serve.