Parmesan asparagus

Adding cheese makes everything better. This recipe is for Parmesan asparagus.

What you're gonna need:
-One bunch of asparagus
-Grated Parmesan
-EVOO

Total prep time - 5 minutes; Cook time 15 minutes

Directions

1) Rinse your asparagus and cut off about an inch off each piece from the bottom of the stalk to get rid of the tough part.

2) Arrange your asparagus in a pan and drizzle with olive oil.







3) I used this Kraft grated Parmesan.

 

4) After sprinkling on the parm, into the oven goes the pan at 400 for 15 minutes.










5) Done

Salmon in Parchment Paper with Assorted Veggies

This recipe is an easy, healthy salmon dish that cooks quick and cleans up easy.

6oz Salmon filet (x # of people), deboned, skin-on
Lemon
Dill
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
Asparagus or Green Beans, cleans and cut to desired length
Carrots, julienne or thicker stick
Capers


1) Heat oven to 450F.
2) Fold a square of parchment paper (12" x 12" +/-).
3) Place Salmon filet ~3" from the crease; this will allow greens on side of salmon towards crease and carrots on opposite side of salmon. Place veggies as per above.

4) Salt and Pepper all at your discretion; sprinkle fresh Dill on Salmon. Brush all lightly with EVOO.
5) Sprinkle 4-8 capers on each filet.

6) Place thin slices of lemon on top of salmon like shingles on a roof.

7) Fold Parchment Paper over and crinkle edges/roll edges to seal the pouch.
8) Place pouches on cookie sheet and place in oven for 12-14 minutes, depending on desired doneness and oven performance.

After taking out of oven, put pouch on a plate and cut open (careful of steam...). Enjoy!

When done the whole pouch can be discarded, making this an easy clean up dish.

Zuppa Toscana

What I miss about working at Olive Garden: unlimited warm, extremely buttery salty breadsticks for dinner (yes that's all we got for dinner... child labor in the 90's).. maybe if tips were good, we'd treat ourselves to a cup of some creamy Zuppa Toscana for dipping.

Efforts to recreate at home have been decent.  Although I've tried both cream and skim milk to make healthier, and surprisingly I like the milk version better.

Ingredients (makes about 6 servings):
- 1 lb bulk ground Italian sausage (I like to use half mild or sweet, half spicy)

- 3 slices of bacon  - cut into 1/2 inch pieces

- 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion  - diced

- 2 tsp minced garlic (2-3 garlic cloves)

- 32 oz chicken broth

- 2.5 cups of water

- 2 potatoes (thinly sliced/small chunks)

- 1 cup heavy cream or milk or both

- 2-3 cups of kale - chopped, veins and stem removed (1/2 bunch)

Directions:

1) Brown sausage in Dutch oven until no longer pink (~10 min) - I like to use my Lodge 6qt - drain a little, set aside

2) Cook the bacon in the same pot until crisp, drain and leave about 2 tbsp of drippings inside

3) Add onion and garlic - cook until aromatic and onion is translucent

4) Add in chicken broth and water to the mixture - bring to boil

5) Add potatoes - chopped/sliced, can leave skin on

6) Cook until potatoes are tender

7) Add sausage

8) Add Kale and cream/milk

9) Simmer until Kale is tender

10) Add salt and pepper to taste

Chicken Bucatini

First post for me...

Chicken Bucatini:

- Break down a whole chicken, place in stock pot, cover with water, bring to boil and then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.

- Save 2 cups of stock fluid, remove chicken to cool

- Pull chicken/chop once cool and then add to al dente Bucatini noodles, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 4oz diced pimientos, 1/3 cup green bell pepper (diced), 1 small onion (diced) 

- Season with cayenne, Lawry's, pepper to taste

- Add the stock fluid and then mix well

- Bake at 350F for 40 minutes and it's ready for consumption

- 9 out of 10 in my book

Little Neck Clams with Miso & White Wine Sauce

What you're gonna need:
-Little Neck Clams - For 2 of us, I had just under 2 lbs. of clams.
-White Wine - I used some that had been sitting out for a couple weeks and was no longer in the rotation.
-Rice Wine
-Miso paste
-Garlic
-Onion Powder
-Flake Red Pepper
-Salt & Pepper
-Pasta  - I used a vegetable based bow tie

Total prep time - 15 minutes excluding the time to clean the clams.


Directions
1) Clean your clams. We were on the way out to run errands for an hour so I put them in a bowl of cold water while we were gone. I was hoping they might swim around if I was quiet enough but no luck. Clams are a very boring pet.

Voila - your clams are clean.





2) We were fresh out of onions so I used onion powder instead. I also added some flake red pepper, the kind you might put on pizza, and sea salt. In this picture is also the organic miso paste. Not pictured is black pepper.

I sliced up 3 cloves of garlic thinly and added to just enough oil to cover the bottom the wok.





3) Once the oil is hot, in go the seasonings.











4) About the same time I started my pasta. I saw this "Veggie" pasta at the store and decided to give it a try. The pasta is very orange. I boiled it about 10 minutes.









5) Once the garlic is browned, in go the clams. Because cold water in hot oil makes a mess and pops a lot, I tried to shake off the excess water before dropping them in the wok.

6) Here is the rice wine and white whine I used. The white wine bottle was about 25% full and I used all of it and added about a 1/4 cup of rice wine.

7) After pouring in the wine, I put in the miso paste. I used what is probably a heaping tablespoon as you can see in this picture. Just drop it in and give it a stir to break it up and have it dissolve into the rest of the sauce. You don't have to cover it but I did to keep the sauce from making too much of a mess on the black splash. I stirred about once a minute. You should see the clam start to open.

Once the clams are open, it's plating time!

8) Not too pretty but here we have the clams on top of the bow tie. It's hard to see in the picture but the sauce is all over the pasta and in the bottom of the plate. If any of your clams don't open, throw them away. If they're open a little, they should be fine.





A couple other pictures:

Just after adding the wines!

Your clams are open for bidness

Restaurant Review: Date Night at John Tesar's Spoon Bar & Kitchen

Spoon Bar and Kitchen:
8220 Westchester Dr
Dallas, TX 75225
Neighborhood: University Park
(214) 368-8220

www.spoonbarandkitchen.com

My Rating: 5-star overall 

Service: 5-star

Food: 5-star

Atmosphere: 5-star
Bar: 3.5- star

It pains me to write a five-star review. But as I am saving and salivating every bite of this tiny piece of Skate leftover while writing this, I'm afraid Spoon is getting all five stars.

Atmosphere was very nice- very Highland Park.  Perfect for a dressy date night or a nice girls night out.  The bar welcomes you upon entering, with the bartender giving you an ipad listing all the drinks available (cannot order from it).  Not that many interesting cocktails.  Was a little disappointed when I asked the bartender to make me something vodka based, not too sweet and he made me a "vodka soda with lemon"... no comment there.

Sat in the small area behind the main dining with about 6 bar seats lined up to the kitchen where you can watch the chefs (and the real John Tesar) in action.  I think these seats are for prix-fix diners only. we sat awkwardly in the only one-sided 2-seater booth behind the bar seats. I say best seat in the house.

I was nervous before we came- No prices on the menu online.  This is going to be painful... and indeed it was pretty painful. Did not like the prix-fix menu so decided to order separately. 

Amuse Bouche



Food: Amuse bouche was a tuna tar tar in a curry cone. BEST Amuse Bouche Ever! The cone was perfectly seasoned and filled..overflowing with fresh tuna.. (sorry.. no chocolate ending at the end of the cone).

Next, we got 3 each of the Raw Oysters.  Kumamoto and a special from Seattle/Canada. Very fresh. ($2.50/$3 each I think?)





Singaporean Style Chili Lobster & Texas Toast

Appetizers:
1) Singapore Style Chili Lobster & Texas Toast because of all the raves on Yelp.  Same as everyone has said - well cooked. I usually don't like lobster, but this was pretty good. Nothing like the singaporean chili crab if anyone is wondering. soup was good for dipping.
 

Raw Surf & Turf (Scallop + Kobe)



2) Raw Surf & Turf: Nantucket scallop tar tar, Texas Kobe, caviar, served with pomme souflee things.  -- was totally wowed by this dish.  I've had steak tar tar at many places and this was the first time I've seen it paired with scallop. Delicious!! The freshness of the scallops lightened up the steak, and I couldn't taste the "raw meaty-ness" at all 



And my sweet sweet Janitor says: "Babe, I saved this piece for you"

  

Sea Urchin: Coffee Infused Potato Puree, Sea Urchin, Tobiko, Some Kind of Foam



3) Sea Urchin: Coffee Infused Potato Puree, Sea Urchin, Tobiko, plus some kind of foam. I usually LOVE love love uni.  I dream about Tei Tei's Flounder wrapped Uni. Sadly, here I was extremely UNDER-whelmed. This was indeed very inventive and had great presentation, but the fancy coffee-flavored mashed potatoes = too overpowering and took away from the delicate uni. What's more, the uni was watery!

Faux Cuttlefish Pasta

Entrees:

1) Faux Cuttlefish Pasta, Iberico Pork, Caviar: Not sure what I was expecting, but after the waiter's heavy pitch on this dish, we ordered the $36 crunchy fake squid pasta. Tasted a bit like the Zero Calorie Noodles that I buy from the Asian market for $0.99:  slimy, sorta crunchy, and fishy. The pork was just fancy bacon and the teaspoon of black caviar didn't add much but presentation. Flavor was ok, but definitely would not get again. 

Sauteed Skate

2) Sauteed Skate, pineapple, lemon, tomatoes, capers & brown butter - great fish dish.  2 Thin fillets of white fish, pan seared to perfection-  Crunchy outer layer with a soft tender inside.  I only wish I could do this at home. Topped with pineapple salsa over a bed of polenta or mashed potatoes (something mushy can't remember). Goodness my mouth is watering.. 

By the end of our indulgent dinner, we were stuffed to say the least, so did not order dessert.  But they did bring out a couple tiny tiny macarons and a peppermint thing with the Spoon logo. Good ending to the meal.  But I have to say My best ending was taking a picture with sweaty John Tesar! And of course-- with his glasses sitting on his forehead (we tried that at home.. and impossible I say). Here's a picture of him in action.

All-in-all a great time. Glad I've found one of my new favorite restaurants in Dallas. Janitor- I say we have a win!

Kohlrabi Salad

So a few weeks ago, we got a very bizarre fruit-vegetable looking thing in our Urban Acres (Produce Co-op) bin: Kohrabi (see below).  I've never even heard of such a thing... must be what those 1%-ers eat! After some googling, turns out it's a relative of the cabbage. I think it also comes in a light greenish brussel sprouts color. The name is a German word meaning "cabbage turnip".  It tasted like a juicier sweeter version of a broccoli stem or a less spicy version of radish/daikon- can be eaten raw or cooked once you peel the skin off.  I decided to try making a Kohrabi Salad since I love the freshness and healthy taste of raw pickled radish. Turned out very yummy: the juicy crunch freshened up the entire salad and was ridiculously refreshing!
Recipe (makes enough for a small salad see below):
Ingredients:
- 2 medium sized Kohlrabi - greens chopped off (some say you can cook the greens like turnip greens or kale)
- 1 tbsp capers (no juice)
- a few spears of mandarin/clementine oranges
- 1/2 small onion
-  2 tbsp olive oil (can add more if desired)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (can add a little vinegar if prefer more pickled flavor - I did)
- lettuce to coat the bottom of bowl
- 1/3-1/2 tsp sugar
- salt/pepper to taste
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- 1 tbsp parsely
Directions:
1) Peel kohlrabi with peeler until all red skin is gone and slice thin - place into bowl
2) Chop/slice onion and add to the bowl
3) In a separate bowl, stir together capers, olive oil, lemon juice (and vinegar if added), sugar, garlic powder, salt/pepper until all dissolved
4) Pour over kohlrabi/onion - mix, then toss with lettuce
5) Add parsely and toss a bit more
6) Taste and season with more salt/pepper if needed
7) Add orange spears to top

Red Kohlrabi with stems attached



Finished! Not very pretty.. I know, but tasted good! Next time I will try improving the presentation.