Fiddleheads : An Asian Inspired Dish

A few days ago I posted about my first unsuccessful attempt with Fiddleheads and found out that most of you had not tried them or were put off by their appearance (I was too). But I forged ahead with a plan to try again when I saw that Natasha commented to me that she just purchased some, we decided to do a co-post. We wanted to come up with some type of theme to our recipes and after a bit of brainstorming, came up with Asian cuisine (and ended up with very similar recipes-great minds!). Below I present my version. Please give it a try as I found them quite enjoyable in this recipe and will look forward to their arrival each spring.

Now more about fiddleheads: They are the young coiled leaves of the ostrich fern and are only around for the few weeks of early spring. They are harvested when they are an inch or two above the ground. To clean and prepare them for eating, you need to carefully remove the papery brown scales and thoroughly wash them several times until the wash water appears clean. Then bring a small amount of lightly salted water to a boil, add washed fiddleheads, and cook them at a steady boil for 10 minutes or steam for 20 minutes. Since they are only available for a few weeks, some people freeze them after cleaning, blanch them for 2 minutes, drain and then pack them up for freezing. Then they are thawed and boiled for 10 minutes.

On a nutritional note, fiddleheads are per ounce: 10 calories, 1 g of protein, contains miscellaneous minerals, 20%DV Vitamin A and 12%DV Vitamin C.

Ingredients
1/3 box of whole wheat spaghetti (can always try soba noodles if you want)
½ lb. Fiddleheads
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 cup red peppers, chopped
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
¾ cup scallions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ Kosher salt

Sauce:
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar (or white vinegar or even lemon juice)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)

Directions:

1. Bring two pots of water to a boil (one for fiddleheads and one for spaghetti). Clean the fiddleheads by rinsing very well, and gently removing brown paper skin. Trim off any brown ends. Place into boiling water for 20 minutes and then place into a bowl of ice cold water for a few minutes and drain. Cook half the box of spaghetti according to package directions, then rinse in cold water to keep from sticking and set aside.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pan/wok. Add minced garlic, red peppers, mushrooms and sauté for 4 minutes, then add the fiddleheads, scallions, ginger and red pepper flakes and sauce and sauté for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Prepare sauce by whisking all ingredients until well blended.

4.Add spaghetti to pan/wok and toss gently. Top with shredded carrots.

In conclusion, I did enjoy this dish and think it can be further enhanced with some tofu or shrimp. Also, this would be great as a cold, room temperature or hot dish. Now you have my permission to head over to 5-Star Foodie.

Fast & Frugal Friday: Chicken with Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

Do you have your heart set on a main dish for Cinco de Mayo yet? I hope not as I made something fantastic, seriously. My hubby and I made a tomatillo salsa last spring and we were not crazy about it however, since Tuesday was almost 90, I was in the mood to grill and thought that grilling some ingredients would offer a whole new flavor profile so went for it as I did with my 'Roasted Yellow Tomato Soup'. You will also know by now that my favorite store to find unique food items (unique to this tiny state) is at Sandy's Fine Food Emporium. So, what are tomatillos and how do they relate to Mexico? Tomatillos are a relative of the tomato family and provide that tart flavor in a host of Mexican green sauces. In Mexico the fruit is called tomates verdes, tomates de cascara as well as fresadillas. They have no fat but plenty of Vitamin C so load up and get creative.

Ingredients:

2 Tomatillos
2 thick slices of sweet onion (about 1/2 inch each)
2 cloves of garlic, skin intact

¼ cumin

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
1 tablespoon canned green chili's
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Heat gas grill on medium heat. Remove the husk, rinse and chop tomatillos in half from top to bottom. Cut two thick slices of onion and grab two cloves of garlic but leave the skin on them.

2. Sprinkle cumin on both sides of chicken breasts and place on grill. Also place tomatillos, onion and garlic on grill. Flip everything after 5 minutes. Cook another 3 minutes or so and remove all.

3. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, chilis, lime juice, vinegar and cilantro into food processor and pulse a few times. Serve over chicken. Note: I did not forget to add salt, I did not need it with all these fabulous flavors.

Eating Well Wednesday - Mexican Casserole

As soon as your friend says 'Do you want to get some Mexican food for dinner tonight?', you think cheese, heat and a heavy belly right? OK, yes, after you think about margaritas. Well, let's lower the fat (and save room in your belly for the second margarita) by following this recipe from Eating Well called 'Chilaquiles Casserole'. We can celebrate Cinco de Mayo without increasing the dose on your cholesterol meds. as this version is loaded with beans and vegetables and uses reduced fat cheese.


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 corn tortillas, quartered
1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce
1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.

3. Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the pan. Top with half the vegetable mixture, half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Repeat with one more layer of tortillas, vegetables, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil.

4. Bake the casserole for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

Meyer Lemon Butter & Almond Green Beans; Meyer Lemon Round-up I

Welcome to a week full of fun recipes featuring a seasonal cutie called the 'Meyer Lemon'. But first, a little education: The Meyer Lemon is originally from China (discovered by Frank N. Meyer, who was on assignment from the USDA as an agricultural explorer) and is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. The fruit has a thin skin with a bright yellow rind that darkens to orange-yellow as it ripens and is much sweeter than a conventional lemon. It is favored for its mild, sweet, juicy flesh and, although still too tart to eat out-of-hand, they are useful for flavoring both savory and sweet dishes alike. On fish, poultry, vegetables and desserts, use the juice as a low calorie seasoning and even as a delicious, fresh alternative to high fat salad dressings and sauces.

TIP: For those of you that can not find the lemons, simply combine fresh lemon juice and fresh orange juice at a 3:1 ratio and you will do pretty good job in the flavor department. So go ahead and create some dishes with that formula.

Let's start with an easy way to add flavors to dishes. For all you moms & dads that want to way to brighten things up, make a simply compound butter with freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice and some rind. Make this butter just before bed so you have once step is all done when you start supper the next day.

Meyer Lemon Butter & Almond Green Beans
2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon meyer lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon meyer lemon rind, minced
Mix well, spread into log form on wax paper, roll and let sit in fridge until ready to use. When ready, begin below.

12 oz. green beans
¼ cup toasted sliced almonds (I toast them myself)
Simply steam the beans, top with a few thin slices of the butter, mix well and top with the almonds.

Now onto the Round-Up Part I!

Lovely Natasha of 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures, submitted two of her delicious recipes for me to share (she shares so well doesn't she?). The first dish is a savory creation: Buckwheat Crusted Flounder with Meyer Lemon Beurre Blanc.

and the second, a sweet creation of Crepes with Meyer Lemon and Sweet Strawberry Coulis.

Wow, I need to go get some more lemons and try these out!

Feel free to continue to submit to me all week.

One last thing: here are the other recipes I plan on sharing this week: meyer lemon dressing, meyer lemon-blueberry muffins, meyer lemon quinoa with peas and asparagus, meyer lemon meringues, meyer lemon tartar sauce with shrimp cakes and meyer lemon red snapper. Do you think that is enough? So does my family.

Tasty for Valentine's Day

UPDATE: Youngest sick, I am exhausted. Will do extra posts tomorrow.

I will be featuring some some tasty ideas this week that will stir up your romantic side and get you ready to celebrate Valentine's Day. Keep checking in.

Turkey with Apple-Pear Chutney

This chutney is great in the winter when some wonderful pear varieties come into season. If you find wish to reduce the gentle sweetness of this dish, use yellow onion or different varieties of apple or pears. This a quite the healthy dish-enjoy!

1 apple, chopped (I used Granny Smith)
½ pear, chopped (I used Anjou)
1 can diced tomato, no salt added, juice drained and reserved
½ medium sweet onion, sliced (I used Vidalia)
4 tablespoons reserved tomato juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
4 turkey cutlets
Salt & pepper
½ teaspoon oil
Cooking Spray

Place first 9 ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low/gentle simmer for 35 minutes. Place chutney in a bowl and once cooled, cover and chill (you can refrigerate up to 2 weeks) *. Spray skillet with a light coating of cooking spray and 1 teaspoon oil and heat the pan over medium-high heat. Season the cutlets with salt and pepper and sauté on each side about 3 minutes on each side or until done (try not to overcook as dry easily).

*You can enjoy warm, room temperature or chilled over the turkey