Red Snapper with Kale Puree and Roasted Carrots

This dish is a easy and healthy meal that requires minimal time.  This costs $15, feeds two people and takes under 30 minutes.

Kale Puree
1 bunch organic kale, chopped
1/2 organic white onion, chopped
1/2 organic leek, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

Blanch all items in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes or until onion are tender.  Drain and puree in a blender with olive oil and lemon juice, season to taste.

Roasted Carrots
Julienne one organic carrot.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a foil baking sheet in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Pan Seared Snapper - Shallot Meyer Lemon Sauce
Get a sautee pan hot over medium high heat.  Add a good coating of oil.  Season fish with salt and pepper and pan sear skin side down for 5-7 minutes or until skin is crisp and golden.  Flip the filet for 2 minutes on the other side and then remove from the pan and let rest skin side up.  Remove excess oil from the same pan and add a tablespoon of butter along with some finely diced shallot (or onion).  Let cook 2 to 3 minutes or until golden then add a tablespoon of meyer lemon juice (or regular lemon/lime/citrus).  Stir well and spoon over plated fish.

Buon Apetito!!

Cajun Fried Catfish with Dandelion Greens, Corn & Carrots

Catfish is inexpensive and readily available previously unfrozen which always ensures a better quality dining experience.  This simple dish takes 40 minutes, costs $12 and feeds two people.

Cornmeal Crusted Cajun Catfish
1 whole catfish filet cut into 4 smaller strips
1/4 cup fine cornmeal
1/8 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle powder

Mix all dry ingredients with a fork in a shallow baking pan or bowl.  Toss catfish strips in cornmeal mixture until well coated.  Let the fish sit in the mix while you prepare the remaining items.  This will ensure the fish is dry and well coated before going into the oil.  Fry for about 7 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  Remove and let dry on paper towel.  Serve immediately

Wilted Dandelion Greens
In a medium saute pan start a tablespoon of diced shallot or onion.  Toss in one bunch of fresh washed dandelion greens.  Saute for about 5 minutes or until the greens are wilted.  Season with salt and pepper.

Butter Poached Corn and Carrots
Remove corn from the cob and peel and cut carrots into rounds.  Add to a small saute pan along with 1/2 a stick of butter and a few tablespoons of oil olive.  Turn pan to low heat and let cook about 20 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Meyer Lemon Aioli
1/8 cup olive oil mayo
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1 teaspoon marjoram
juice from 1/2 a meyer lemon

Easy and delicious lunch, Buon Apetito!!

Prime NY Strip with Rainbow Carrots and Balsamic Onions

This quick meat lovers dish is fast and real easy to make. This costs $30, feeds 2 and takes 40 minutes.

Balsamic Onions
2 organic white onions
6 cloves organic garlic
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan and cook on medium low until all liquid is reduced.  Add additional balsamic if onions are not to desired softness but liquid is dried up.

I found a bag a peeled mini rainbow carrots in the veggie section of the grocery store.  I roasted them on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sear the 18oz NY strip steak on medium high heat until golden on each side.  Place in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes for medium rare.  Let rest 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Buon Apetitio!

Lemon Sole En Papillote with Fennel-Apple-Citrus Slaw

This fast and no mess fish recipe takes only 20 minutes and works great every time. Lemon sole is a bit larger and, in my opinion, tastier then dover sole, plus its half the price. This complete dish take 40 minutes, costs $15 and feeds two people.

Lemon Sole En Papillote

2 6oz filets of lemon sole

1 bunch fennel frawns (or dill)

1/2 orange, sliced

1/2 cup chopped fennel stalks

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 shallots, thin sliced

salt and white pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375. Layout a large piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper (dont use wax paper!). Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper. Lay fennel frawns on one side and roll the fish starting at the thick side. Place rlled fish on the foil and mix in chopped fennel, celery, shallot, olive oil and orange. Seal the foil making sure its 100% sealed. Place on a backing sheet in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove and open carefully, there is hot steam inside. Reserve the liquid inside the foil as a sauce.

Fennel Apple Citrus Slaw

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded

1 fennel bulb, shredded

2 gala apples, julienne on a mandolin

2 bartlett pears, julienne on a mandolin

4 celery stalks, peeled and julienne on a mandolin

2 shallots, julienne on a mandolin

2 carrots, shredded

handful of celery leaves, left whole

1/4 cup fresh squeezed navel orange juice

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup guava juice

2 tablespoons truffle honey (or regular honey)

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

3 teaspoons celery salt

3 teaspoons dry dill

4 teaspoons kosher salt

4 teaspoons white pepper

Use a box grater to shred and a mandolin to julienne all the items. Mix together and let stand 30 minutes. Mix again and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Buon Apetito!

Braised Rabbit with Almond Puree and Sauteed Swiss Chard

This somewhat complex dish is a traditional northern Italian preparation of rabbit. I added a few ingredients to customize the dish and add some earthy and delicious flavors. It costs about $30, takes 1.5 hours and fed two very hungry men.

Braised Rabbit

1/2 a farm raised rabbit, cut to three pieces

1/2 organic white onion, chopped,

2 large organic carrots, peeled and chopped

1 organic leek, chopped

1 organic jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped

2 organic celery stalks, chopped

8 cloves organic garlic, chopped

1/2 cup orange juice

2 tangerines, juiced and zested (optional, oranges are a good sub)

1 bunch fresh thyme, whole

1 cup chicken stock

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 cup flour

Remove rabbit from the package and clean. In a small pyrex bowl place the rabbit with 1/8 cup of olive oil, crushed red pepper, one tangerine juiced and zested, salt and 3 cloves of garlic and let sit for at least an hour. Start the oven at 350. Start a large dutch oven or LeCrusset on medium heat and add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Remove rabbit from marinade and pat dry. Dust the rabbit in the flour and shake off excess. Sear the rabbit till golden on each side, about 5 minutes. Remove and let rest on a baking rack. In the same pan add a bit more olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Add onions, carrots, peppers, leeks, celery and garlic and cook for 7 minutes or until onions become translucent. Deglaze the pan with some white wine or clear alcohol, I used cointreau to stick to the orange theme. Now add orange juice, tangerine juice, tangerine zest, chicken stock and thyme. Bring this mixture to a lite booil and then add the rabbit pieces. Cover the pot and place the whole thing in the oven for 45 minutes.

Remove the rabbit pieces and set aside. Strain the remaining liquid and place the strained liquid in a small saucepan. Place on low to reduce, add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon braising liquid sauce over the rabbit.

Almond Puree

1/2 cup blanched and peeled almond (you can buy them like this)

2 organic bartlet pears, halved and cored

2 organic gala apples, halved and cored

1/4 organic leek, thin sliced

1 tablespoon truffle honey

1/8 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons of water

salt and white pepper

Place the almonds and leeks along withe the pears and apples cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 or until pears and apples are soft. Peel skins from apples and pears and place all the cooked items plus the truffle honey in a blender or food processor. Start pureeing and slowly add the olive oil. Then add the water to get a smooth even consistency. Season to taste.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

2 bunches organic swiss chard, stemmed and chopped

6 cloves organic garlic, medium chop

1/2 organic red onion, medium dice

3 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoon olive oil

Start a large saute pan on medium low heat. Add olive oil and butter then onions and garlic. Let cook for 10 to 15 minutes stirring occasionally until the onions and garlic are soft and lightly golden. Add chard and toss, let cook 7 to 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Plate it all up and get to grubbing! Buon Apetito!!

Curried Carrot Soup

I had accidentally bought a new bag a of carrots last time I went to the grocery store when I already had a bunch so I had to do something with them. Carrot soup was what I decided on. I have a lot of spices so I made my own curry style seasoning mix. This easy recipe cost $10, makes 10-12 servings and takes 45 minutes or less.

Organic Curried Carrot Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 organic leek, rough chopped
1 organic white onion, rough chopped
2 lb organic baby carrots
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup water
-Curry Seasoning Mix-
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Start a large (5-8qt) sauce pot on medium and add oil. Add onions and leeks and let cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add curry seasoning mix and toss. Add carrots and toss with onions and leeks. Add broth, cream and water and turn to medium low (3.5 of 10). Let cook about 25 minutes or until the carrots are fork tender. Add to a blender in batches and puree until smooth. Add puree mixture back to the sauce pot. Add water to get desired texture and let cook for 10 minutes. Add some yogurt or heavy cream for garnish. I also threw in some fresh thyme leaves from my garden to add freshness.

This can be done with store bought curry powder or you can skip the curry all together. It turned out very tasty and not too "carroty" tasting with a little heat on the end. Enjoy!

Prime Filet Mignon with Roasted Root Vegetables

This is a fairly simple meal to make and takes less then an hour in total. Plus it has some great impact on whoever you are making for so it is a great "date night" meal. I found some nice prime filet mignon at the grocery store this time and paired it with various root vegetables like carrots, garlic, sweet potato, fennel and shallots. I made an easy sauce of reduced chicken stock, fennel and garlic. All together it makes a great meal. It cost about $20 feeds one and takes about 1 hour.

Roasted Root Vegetables
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced into 3/4 inch rounds
1 medium sweet potato, sliced into 3/4 inch rounds
6 medium baby carrots
6 cloves of garlic
3 shallots, peeled
1 teaspoon brown sugar dissolved in 3 teaspoons of water

Preheat the oven to 400 degree. Place all the vegetables on a foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a little vegetable oil. Roast the veggies, minus the garlic for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and baste with the sugar water mixture. Add garlic to the baking sheet and let it cook for 20 more minutes. Remove and salt and pepper the veggies, serve immediately.

Filet Mignon
1 6oz filet mignon
salt and pepper
1 oz vegetable oil

Start a medium sautee pan on medium high heat and add the oil. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Once the pan is screaming hot sear the filet for 2 minutes on each side then roll it in the pan to sear the sides. Place it in the oven for 10 minutes. remove at let rest at least 7 minutes. Slice in half and top with some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Fennel Garlic Sauce
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fennel
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon of butter

In a small sauce pan start chicken stock and vinegar on medium and reduce to half. Add fennel and garlic and continue reducing until about 1 tablespoon of liquid is left. Take off the heat and remove the fennel and garlic. Once cooled a bit whisk in the butter and add salt & pepper. Serve over steak and vegetables. This will take about 350 to 40 minutes.



I made a little arugula salad with cucumber, tomatoes and onions in a balsamic vinaigrette as an appetizer. I used the fennel frawns as a garnish for the dish because I had them from the fennel bulb. This quick and easy steak dinner is a great way to impress without much work or clean up. Buon Appetito!

Tuna Tataki

This is a classic Japanese style tuna dish that has a lot of flavor. My boy Ty was in town so we decided that Tuna would be a great appetizer for the heavy steaks that were to follow (check back in a day or so for the entree). It is important to get a really fresh piece of tuna and preferably the bottom end of the tuna loin rather then a tuna steak. This take 10 minutes, cost $25 and feeds 4 people.

Tuna Takai
1 oz vegetable oil
12oz Tuna loin end, halved into two long strips
4 teaspoons, black sesame seeds
1/8 cup Ponzu Sauce
1/2 cup carrots, shredded on a box grater
1 jalapeño, razor thin sliced

Start a medium frying on high heat and add the oil. Roll the two pieces of tuna in the black sesame seeds until coated well. Sear the tuna in the pan for about 30 seconds on each side. Remove and let stand on a baking rack. Place the shredded carrots on the plate and fill the bottom with the ponzu sauce. Slice the tuna loins into 1/4 inch piece and fan out over the carrots. Top the slices with the thin cut jalapeño and serve.

This very easy to do dish is a great snack or appetizer for any meal. The balance of the sour ponzu sauce, with the sweetness of the carrots, spice from the jalapeños and richness of the tuna makes a great flavor combination. Enjoy!

Turkey Meatloaf with Roasted Fall Veggies

I haven't made a meatloaf in years, maybe ever, because they are always dry, never quite that tasty and defiantly not very healthy. Then I had this idea to use ground turkey instead of ground meat to lighten the dish and increase the protein to fat ratio in my favor. This turned out soft, supple and very tasty meatloaf. Its very easy to prepare feeds 4 plus leftovers, takes 1.5 hours and is under $20 with the roasted veggies.

Turkey Meatloaf
1.5 lbs of ground turkey (1 package, not breast meat only)
1/2 cup onions, diced
1/4 cup carrots, diced
1 Anaheim chili, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup ketchup (they have ketchup without HFCS now!)
2 tables spoons BBQ sauce
1 table spoon Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Sautee the onions, carrots, garlic and chili in a small pan on medium low until it softens, about 7 minutes. Set the mixture aside to cool. Mix the milk and the 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs in a separate bowl and let stand. Now mix all of the remaining ingredients including the milk soaked breadcrumbs and cooked vegetables with the turkey. I use a large fork and large glass bowl then kind of whip it all together. Scoop the mix into a loaf pan (9x4x4 high glass or metal pan). Spread the mixture even and top it with a bit more breadcrumbs. Place it in the oven on the middle rack and let it cook for 45 minutes. Remove and let stand for 5 minutes, slice and serve.



Pan Gravy
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon wondra flour or AP flour, mixed into 1 tablespoon of hot water
The pan juices from the meatloaf

Start a small sautee pan on low and melt the butter. Mix the hot water and flour until it forms a paste. Add the paste to the butter and let it cook for 10 minutes or until it gets lightly golden brown. Once meatloaf is done, carefully pour out all the juices from the pan and add them to the pan. Whisk this together and let it cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat until its gets to the desired thickness. Spoon over sliced meatloaf.

Roasted Fall Vegetables
2 cups okra, chopped
2 medium beets, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 large sweet potato, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup of dried figs, halved

Chop all the vegetables to roughly the same size. Put in a large baking dish and toss with some EV olive oil and salt & pepper. Let it cook in the same 350 degree oven as the meatloaf for 45 minutes to an hour or until the beets are soft. Scoop and serve.



The meatloaf should be super tender but stay together. Slice it and serve it over some of the veggies. Top it with the sauce and you have a pretty easy meal in about an hour. Plus those veggies and super healthy and the turkey is low in saturated fat. This may be a new dish in the rotation because both times I made it, it was delicious and mysteriously was gone the next day. Enjoy!

Shrimp and Vegetable Risotto

Risotto is my favorite dish to make when I have a lot of company but don't want to spend too much money. I had 7 people to feed and a bag of Arborio rice in my pantry. I picked up a pound and a half of peeled and deveined shrimp (u30) for $9, so it would be a big meal for under $20 out of pocket. I also bought a box of Kitchen Basics brand vegetable stock (way better than canned stuff), a red bell pepper, parsley, a vidallia onion, a leek, baby carrots and a loaf of Italian bread.

When cooking risotto you have to dedicate yourself to the kitchen. It is not possible to multi task and cook a good risotto, so don't even try. Next you need to have all your food chopped and cookware in place. Start by getting these things ready; a large Cast Iron pot (LeCruset)or high sided frying pan for cooking the risotto, a large stock pot (6 or 8 qt), a medium sauté pan, a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon and a ladle. Then chop all of the vegetables to a fine dice and season the shrimp with salt pepper and olive oil. Get out 3/4 of a stick of butter, 1 cup of white wine and 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

Start by pouring the box of stock into the large stock pot and adding 6 cups of water, put the pot on medium low heat. Start the large pot for risotto on medium low heat (4 of 10) and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Add the chopped onion and leek and stir, let cook until the onion is translucent. Now add the bag of risotto, about 3 cups. Stir the rice until it begins to toast a bit, about 4 minutes. Turn the heat down to low (2 of 10) then add the wine and stir, let all of the wine cook off. Then add three ladles of warmed stock. Stir the rice well until all of the liquid is almost all absorbed. Add three more ladles of stock and stir it in again. Stir the pot every 2 minutes or so, don't walk away. Keep adding the three ladles of stock every time the liquid is almost gone. It should take about 30 to 40 minutes for the rice to stop absorbing the liquid rapidly and begin to get tender. Once the rice is tender but still has some firmness it is ready for the next step. Turn off the heat and add the butter and Parmesan cheese. Fold it in and start the medium sauté pan on medium high. Quickly sauté the remaining vegetables in olive oil for about 3 minutes then add the shrimp. Cook for about 3 more minutes or until the shrimp are light pink, DO NOT over cook the shrimp, they will cook through in the rice. Now add the cooked shrimp and veggies to the risotto and fold it all together, being gentle not to beat up the rice in the risotto. Finish it off with some parsley, fresh Parmesan cheese and hot garlic bread.


This fed 8 people all having seconds and I ate the rest for lunch today. You can do thousand of variations of ingredients which is why risotto is an important dish to learn how to cook. Once you get the skill you can literally have a different risotto every day if you don't die of heart disease first. Boun Appetito

Orange Apple Carrot Smoothie

Blending fruits and veggies together is a way to get good flavor and all of your needed vitamins and minerals in one glass. This blended concoction has frozen apple, pear, banana, papaya, a bit of fresh ginger, a handful of baby carrots and some orange juice. It is much tastier then it sounds and is packed with all kinds of good stuff. To your health.

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