Salad March Madness

March is almost over and spring is nowhere in sight in New Jersey. I bought these lovely tulips to brighten up the cloudy day.

And, since we all know that those extra pounds I put on over the winter are not coming off by magic, I want to share with you the salads I've started making for lunch. What I love about salads is that you can put in anything you have in the fridge. In this colorful one you see here, I cut up a cup of lettuce for the base, half an avocado, a cup of ripe papaya, half a red beet, some sugar snaps and baby carrots and walnuts. I added a chiffonade of basil and, of course, extra virgin Greek olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I also always like to add some freshly ground pepper on top.

Remember that you can add in your salad anything that's sitting in your fridge. I've added cooked pasta, rice, leftover sweet potatoes, fish, chicken, apples, celery. These are just some ideas for your own, personalized March Madness salad!

The next salad I made this week was a chickpea salad. I usually try to include at least some protein in my lunch salad because the protein will keep me from getting hungry until dinnertime.

 My friend Joanne came by that day and we shared this tasty and healthy salad.

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. Chop half an onion, add half a cup of chopped fresh parsley, a 1/4 cup sliced pitted black olives and dress with lemon and extra virgin Greek olive oil. Invite a friend and share!

I served my chickpea salad with, of course, Stelios' multigrain bread and some Greek brined anchovies.

Enjoy!

First Day of Spring - Shakshuka Chicken and More Snow

The first day of Spring, so eagerly awaited by us Northerners who've been buried in snow and suffered below freezing temps this winter, came in like a lion.

While the snow piled up outside, I wanted to cook us a dish that would warm our stomachs and souls. Shakshuka is colorful and the heat in it really hits the spot!

Shakshuka, a popular Jerusalem dish usually served with eggs for breakfast, will be the base for my adaption for chicken with Shakshuka sauce. I've shared my sauce recipe with you on this blog before, but this time we're actually going to serve it with the chicken.

I'd been having a hankering for the spicy, succulent, red pepper- tomato sauce that I discovered last year in the pages of Ottolenghi's cookbook, Jerusalem. The ingredients, including the can of Harissa sauce(spicy pepper sauce) had been sitting in my pantry for a while and the red peppers were in the fridge, bottom drawer. All I needed was a can of diced tomatoes and I could enjoy this delicious meal for dinner on this snowy day.

Even though we've seen a lot of the white stuff and are tired of shoveling, I couldn't help but see the beauty of softly falling snowflakes.

Here's how to make your own dinner of Chicken poached in Shakshuka Sauce:

Shakshuka
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp harissa
2 tsp tomato paste
2 large red peppers diced into 1/4 inch
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
5 cups chopped tomatoes(or 1 32oz can of diced tomatoes)800gr.
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tspdried  oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
6 boneless. skinless chicken thighs

Heat the oil in a large, shallow saucepan over medium heat. Add the harissa, tomato paste, peppers, garlic, cumin and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until the peppers become soft.

Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining olive oil and the oregano. Simmer 5 more minutes. You should have a thick, chunky sauce. Now is the time to gently slip in your chicken thighs by making indentations in the sauce and placing the chicken inside. Ladle some sauce over the chicken, cover the saucepan, and place it in a 350F preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Check for doneness. Your dinner is ready! Serves 4-6 people.

I would recommend this for a dinner party for people who like a little spice in their food. It's a tasty, colorful, dish with a kick to it that is sure to satisfy your guests.
Enjoy!

Maria

Glenmere Mansion - Chester, New York

Glenmere Mansion is an opulent, turn-of-the-century, country estate built by the industrialist Robert Goelet. It sits on top of a hill overlooking Glenmere lake in the lower Hudson Valley.

Today, the mansion is a small luxury hotel with a spa and four restaurants, surrounded by the restored formal gardens of the original estate.

On a snowy winter's day my friends and I shared a delicious lunch at the Frog's End Tavern. First, we sampled this cauliflower flatbread to accompany our drinks.

 Scallops with black lentils and broccoli.

 Seared Salmon

Pastrami sandwich

The awesome hamburger!

The Frog's End Tavern is a warm, cozy room with beautiful furnishings and a nice marbletop bar.

The surroundings are beautiful and worth a visit, but I would also definitely go back for the delicious food!

Enjoy!

Maria

Omelets

Yes, it has been a cold and snowy winter! It doesn't look like the end is in sight yet. Today, it's been snowing all day. So, what's a girl to do but cook!

Omelets are such a versatile meal. You can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Today, I wanted to make us a hearty lunch since we are cooped up in the house all day with our only break shoveling the snow as it piles up.

I made small side salads of mixed greens. a diced orange(such a lovely winter fruit), some walnuts and a few pickled anchovies. I sliced some bread and then I readied my omelet pan by drizzling some vegetable oil and setting it over a medium fire.

In the meantime, I cracked 2 eggs in a small bowl, added some oregano flakes and some red pepper flakes and beat them until well mixed.

My oil was hot by then and I poured the eggs into the pan swirling it to spread the egg along the bottom. With a fork, I broke any bubbles and made sure the egg got to the bottom and cooked. When almost cooked(the middle still moist) I added a dollop of ricotta cheese and folded the omelet over.

I served it with half a whole wheat roll for a satisfying lunch.

You can't find an easier meal idea that tastes so good.

Enjoy!


Maria

Stuffed Squash with Avgolemono(egg-lemon sauce)Greek Style

 Stuffed squash with egg/lemon sauce has recently become one of our favorite meals.

It's a flavorful, healthy, comfort meal great for a snowy winter day. The egg/lemon sauce is like a hollandaise but without butter.

This past fall, cousin Anna, a talented cook, made this dish for her husband Yianni and my husband Stelios to enjoy while we were ladies out for a day in downtown Athens.

When we all returned later in the day, we were able to enjoy it for dinner as well. The flavors stuck in my mind and when I came back to the US I had to reproduce them.

Remove the inside of about 10 gray squash with a spoon or other implement and reserve. You can substitute the squash with zucchini.

 Add some of the inside, chopped, to a pound of ground beef.

 Puree an onion.

Add the pureed onion, a handful of chopped parsley, a tablespoon of dried mint, 3-4 tablespoons rice, and salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

Stuff your squash with the mixture. I had 10 squash and I had leftover mixture. My favorite thing to do is blanch a couple of large onions, peel back the layers and stuff them, placing them in the pot with the seam up.
Add enough warm water to almost cover the food and bring to a soft boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour.

For the lemon sauce: Mix 3 eggs with the juice of 1 or 1 and a half lemons. Gradually add 2 cups of the broth from the pot to the egg/lemon mixture while beating with a whisk over a low fire. Place in a saucepan over low fire. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of corn flour in some of the broth and gradually add to the sauce while continuing to beat with the whisk until the sauce thickens enough to cover the back of the spoon. salt and pepper to taste. Serve the stuffed vegetables with a generous serving of the sauce. Grind some fresh pepper over and accompany with a salad and good bread!

Enjoy!

Maria