Tag: baby spinach
Spinach Dal- Pink Lentils Cooked With Spinach
This is my easy, quick ‘go to’ meal. I use the pink lentils which cook up in a matter of minutes and it is ready to eat. I made this for a friend who requested Indian food. She said she was satisfying her craving by going to Trader Joes and buying the boxed Indian meals- what??? I couldn’t let that one go- I think she knew I would be very disturbed by that comment and she was right. Even though I had no plans on making Indian food for our dinner together- I couldn’t help myself. I decided to make a chicken dish and these lentils.
I needed to serve a vegetable and to make it easy I decided to use baby spinach- that I had in my fridge- yet another great thing to keep in there all the time. It is handy for a quick salad or even a stir fry.
The lentils were done in about 15 minutes, I added the spinach and then heated some mustard and cumin seeds in oil and was done! The result was a delicious, healthy side dish that can be served with rice or bread.
I gave it to my daughter the next day and she didn’t even notice the spinach in it- I am not sure how that happened. The bright colored greens were quite apparent to me but I think because the dal was so delicious, she didn’t even care about the spinach.
Make the spinach dal next time you are short on time…
Shrimp and Spinach Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce
I am always looking for new recipes to make with shrimp. It is such a favorite in our house that I know what ever I make, it will be a hit- well almost everything.
I remembered a dish we have at a local Chinese restaurant- Hunan Spring. It is a black bean and shrimp dish.
I decided to replicate it and went looking for black bean sauce. I actually wanted the dried black beans to make it from scratch but since I didn’t give myself ample time, I had to make do with the prepared black bean sauce. I also bought fresh Florida pink shrimp from Freeman’s fish market.
I decided to buy a bag of baby spinach to add to the dish- it is so much easier to have a dish with protein and a vegetable together. All I had to do was make some delicious brown rice. My secret to brown rice is sauteing it with a mixture of butter and olive oil and then cooking it with chicken broth. It gives the rice tons of flavor and makes it scrumptious.
As I predicted, the dish was a hit. Everyone loved it. Sia had it with a glass of milk and Anil and I had it with a red- I know a white would have gone a lot better- but I really felt like drinking a red. My rule about pairing wine and food is that you should drink what you feel like with you have cooked. It will definitely taste good!
- 1 pound large shrimp, cleaned and deveined
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon extra light olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- 2 medium white onions, sliced thin
- ¼ black bean sauce
- 2 tablespoons garlic chili sauce
- Salt
- 3 tablespoons extra light olive oil
Place the shrimp in a large ziplock bag. Add the garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 teaspoons salt. Mix well and marinate for 2-3 hours.
In a wok like pan, heat the 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add the sliced onions and sauté on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the marinated shrimp and sauté for a minute. Add the black bean sauce and garlic chili sauce. Mix well and add the spinach. Saute till the spinach wilts down. Taste for seasonings and add salt if necessary. Serve hot with brown rice.
Rosemary Roasted Chicken on top of Ciabatta Bread served with a Warm Chickpea and Spinach Salad
Once again, I got my inspiration from my favorite good looking chef, Jamie Oliver. I was watching his show about salads and he made a fabulous caesar salad with homemade roasted chicken and croutons. The chicken legs attached to thighs were roasted with rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. He tore a baguette into pieces and added them with the chicken and roasted the whole thing. His idea was to flavor the bread pieces with the chicken juices and use them as croutons in the salad- how brilliant it that? I decided to make a similar dish but used a ciabatta bread- sliced it and placed it at the bottom of the roast pan. I then placed the chicken pieces and rubbed a mixture of rosemary, salt, olive oil and pepper. I wanted to serve the chicken and bread as the main dish. I loved the idea of using full chicken legs- they are so much more flavorful than chicken breast; they are more forgiving in terms of cooking time; and most of all, they are a lot more reasonable than chicken breast. I am a big fan of dark meat chicken- my husband on the other hand, is a big skeptic. He enjoyed this dish but I could tell, he would have preferred white meat chicken. If you feel the same, go ahead and switch it for the breast pieces- I would get the bone-in pieces and would keep a good eye on the oven careful not to over cook. The roasted chicken pieces were juicy, flavorful and tender. The bread was amazingly delicious. We spread the sweet, soft, gooey roasted garlic cloves on top of the bread slices- it was out of this world. It had absorbed all the chicken goodness. We ate it with a warm chickpea salad and yes- my favorite- Malbec Rose.
I was itching to use anchovies in something. My husband thinks he doesn’t like them, but like a lot of people, he doesn’t realize that anchovies take on a very nutty and salty flavor when used in either a salad or a sauce. It adds an underlying flavor to the dish that is quite complex and hard to decipher. I decided to make a chickpea salad. I had a bag of baby spinach sitting in my fridge screaming to be used, so I paired it with the chickpeas. I sliced some shallots and melted 2 anchovy fillets with olive oil. I then added the canned chickpeas and baby spinach. Somehow using raw cumin didn’t seem right- I used roasted cumin instead. I always have it in my spice cabinet. It’s as simple as roasting nuts- either in a heavy frying pan or in the oven, till it is aromatic and dark brown. The roasted cumin has a very aromatic flavor- milder than raw cumin- almost more sophisticated. Well, all the flavors went really well together- it was a successful try and I will definitely make it again!
Coconut Lemongrass Rice with Spinach
Everyone has rice in their pantry. I have a few different ones in mine. I have the Indian basmati which is my ‘go to’ rice. I also have Jasmine– to use when I am making Asian dishes- it isn’t as aromatic as the previous but has a very nice sticky texture that goes very well with stir-fries, etc. I also keep brown rice– I have started using more of it now. It is so healthy and I personally love the nutty flavor of it. It is not as quick to cook as the others so it requires a little more planning. Lastly I have Arborio rice- for risottos. I love making risottos- all kinds- with shrimp, mushrooms, peas, asparagus- the sky is the limit (I just realized I have not posted any risotto recipes on this blog!- will have to do it very soon!). Anyway, a few other things I always have to make all the different kinds of rice I mentioned, are chicken broth and coconut milk. I used to cook my rice with water but realized a few years ago how much flavor these liquids impart.
I was thinking about the lemongrass rice I had at Ming Tsai’s restaurant, Blue Ginger. It was creamy and buttery with a subtle citrus flavor. I decided to use coconut to cook this rice since it is always on my mind and I thought the mango shrimp would go really well with the creamy rice. If you cannot find lemongrass, lime zest can be easily substituted. I also needed to make a vegetable with the dinner- so I decided to add baby spinach in the rice. It worked well with all the flavors and best of all with the cilantro I added, my daughter didn’t even notice she was having a vegetable!
So, my question to you is- what is your ‘go to’ rice?? Also, what is your family’s favorite rice dish?
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup lemongrass, chopped (just the white part in the center)
- Zest of one lime (If not using lemongrass, add zest of 2 limes)
- Juice of ½ lime (If not using lemongrass, add juice of 1 lime)
- 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
In a wide shallow pan, heat the olive oil. Add the jasmine rice and sauté for a minute on medium heat. Add the coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat once bubbles begin to form on the surface. Once the liquid has evaporated from the top, lower the heat and place the lid on the pan. Cook for 20 minutes. Take the lid off and add the lemongrass, salt, lime zest and baby spinach. Place the lid back and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat off and mix the spinach into the rice well. Add the limejuice and taste for seasonings. Garnish with cilantro.