The Live-Nimble Way

FOOTBALL FOOD aka chicken wings 0

There are people who buy a rack just to cook bacon. Perfect, beautifully browned and delicious bacon. There are others who buy it to cool cookies, or roast vegetables for a super healthy diet. Then there are the foodies and sports enthusiasts who know that the best way to cook wings is on a rack.

Chicken wings are consistently found on lists of the most unhealthy food to eat, but they get a bad rap. In my cookbook, Fifty Nifty Recipes, I explain why chicken wings, certainly not health food by any means, are not the evil food they are made out to be.  At least half of the fat in chicken skin is considered ‘good’ fat, and when cooked on a rack, a large amount of the fat is cooked off, left behind on your foil-lined baking sheet, leaving a much leaner and healthier treat.  Crisp or sticky it is a trip to Nirvana. Not a license to eat dozens of them, to be sure, but a guilt free treat in moderation-especially if you are watching football!

There are many ways to fix them: crock pot, deep fry, pan fry, a rack on a BBQ,(our favorite) a baking pan, and on a rack in the oven (also my favorite, since we sell racks and eat wings in the winter when we can’t BBQ). The healthiest of them, of course, is baking on a rack. 

 Cooking for a crowd, the Alton Brown way!!!

 Alton Brown has suggested a very healthy way to fix them. Steam the wings for 10 minutes, cool for a few hours in the refrigerator on a rack, and then cook on the rack. That reduces the amount of fat even more, dries out the moisture and gives you a crispy skin, reducing the amount of time needed to cook. Handy when you have a party and need to produce large quantities of wings for hungry guests. Now, you can either bake them on a rack in the oven, or grill on your BBQ!!!

For the Alton Brown chicken wings,

Prepare by steaming for about 10 minutes then refrigerating for a few hours or overnight as explained above. Lightly oil, then lay the oiled wings on the rack. Place rack on foil lined half sheet baking pan and put in oven that has been preheated to 400° F.  Bake for 30 minutes, then remove and coat with sauce if desired.  Place oven on broil, return wings to oven and broil for about5-7 minutes more.The wings will brown and crisp more and the flavor will be amazing.

You can also use a savory sauce to dip the wings in before you roast and then 20 minutes later coat or dip a second time and broil at the end.

Make sauce, and enjoy!

THE SWEET SAUCE!!!

A sweet sauce for a glaze or to dip!  You can use this glaze on chicken, pork, rice, etc.

Add sesame oil,garlic, ginger, and olive oil to small saucepan over medium low and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes, until golden brown.  Add red pepper flakes, orange marmalade and hoisin sauce and cook stirring for about 5 minutes

Use as glaze in the last few minutes of cooking the wings, or as a dip for the super crisp wings.

THE SAVORY ASIAN SAUCE

This is a delicious sauce that can be used on thighs, drummies, or chicken breast, pork, or roasted vegetables.

Whisk ingredients together in sauce pan, bring to boil and cook at a low boil for a few minutes.

Dip wings in sauce before putting on rack, then brush them again if desired half way through.

A MORE SIMPLE WAY TO DRESS YOUR WINGS. Healthier, too.

There are many dry rubs in the market place.  A dry rub for BBQ, lemon pepper,  and a multitude of other flavors. They are all good, depending on your taste.

With your rub of choice, rub chicken wings before cooking.  Roast according to directions, removing when done. There are some rubs that are delicious on their own, such as the lemon pepper, and others that beg to have a sauce baked on them in the last few minutes…BBQ.  If using a BBQ sauce, brush or dip wings in sauce, then return to oven to bake or broil until nicely browned. Use BBQ sauce on the side if desired. OR…..dip in a ranch dressing, blue cheese dip, etc.  How healthy is up to you, but these can be very lean and low sugar yet intensely flavorful if you want.

Enjoy that game, win the appetizer contest, or have an awesome dinner, because clean up is a snap!  Another way to Live-Nimble!!

Brazilian Salmon Moqueca 0

My first introduction to authentic Brazilian moqueca was not stellar. I had often prepared salmon moqueca at home and it was a family favorite. However in Brazil, I tried a crab moqueca, thinking it would be the delicious and sweet Dungeness crab we have here in the Northwest. Instead, it was crab, shells and all in the familiar tomatoey coconut base. Not at all soft shell crab, it poked my gums, my mouth, not yielding even a little bit to my attempts to chew it. No meat, just small pieces of bone…..I gave up, and shared the entrees of my son and my husband…delicious! 

This is my moqueca, and although probably not the most authentic, they get their salmon from Chile, it is Brazilian in spirit, and amazingly delicious. 

Originating in Brazil, the Moqueca definition sounds about as delicious as sushi defined as cold dead fish!  “Moqueca, (pronounced  mu ke ka)  is a type of salt water fish stew cooked in coconut milk, cilantro, onions, garlic, and tomatoes.”  However it is pronounced, or it’s origins, I say it is one of my favorite meals. I first found a recipe in Sunset magazine a few years ago not knowing it was Brazilian in origin.  Later, when we went to Brazil for our son’s wedding to an incredible Brazilian woman, I found it was Brazilian.

I hope that you will try this as you are watching the Olympics. Feel free to use your favorite fish, shrimp, salmon, crab, mussels, or whatever you have.

The ingredients including tomatoes, garlic, green onions and cilantro are prepared and set aside.  Beautiful and fresh….use organic roma’s from your farmers market if you can.

Starting with about 2 pounds of wild Coho salmon, (I usually use wild sockeye), I remove the pin bones with a needle nose pliers.

Then, cook the salmon, skin down so that you can remove the skin more easily.

 Remove salmon to  a 9x13 pan, here I have used a pyrex pan.

Put the vegetables in the pan and cook down so most of the liquid is cooked out.

Add coconut milk and some of the cilantro.

Pour over the salmon and put into oven, preheated to 350°F  Cook for about 30 minutes to internal temperature of about 125°F-135°F 

It is done!!!

I would have had a better picture of the plated dinner, but we were so eager to eat, that after prayer, we just dug in…..until I remembered. YUMMMM!!!

Salmon Moqueca

Ingredients:

 Directions:

• Melt coconut oil in pan
• Brown bottom of salmon and flip over so that the skin can be easily removed
• Put the salmon in 9x13 pan
• Add garlic, green onions, tomatoes in pan and reduce
• Add paprika and heat for 10 seconds
• Add coconut milk
• Stir, mixing ingredients evenly,
• Add about 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• Pour over salmon, cook at 350°F for about 30 minutes
• Remove from oven, and stir in sour cream/yogurt if desired
• Serve over or alongside the rice, sprinkle with chopped cilantro to taste

Roasted Nut Bark Candy 0

I couldn’t believe the MSN article I read on the 10 best foods to enhance your love life. On MSN there are lists for just about everything, but I decided to have a look. Yep, some of my favorite foods were there, I noticed, in particular, chocolate, nuts, and ginger. I had just seen a recipe on pinterest about a hazelnut bark that had ginger in it, and so I thought I would give it a try, and change it up a bit, using my cooling/cooking rack to toast the nuts as well as cool the mass down more efficiently.

I started by checking out what kind of nuts I had in the freezer, and saw a small amount of Macadamia nuts, but no hazelnuts, so, decision made, I turned on the oven and got the rack out. Since the grid is smaller than some, the nuts were perfect on it, each nut being cradled in a square wire frame with a nice bit of air circulation around each nut and underneath as well as on top. I am certain that I will try roasting seasoned garbanzo beans as well as almonds.

I popped the Macadamias into the oven at 350°F for 7 minutes, and they came out perfect.

While they cooled, I chopped my add-ins of dried bing cherries and crystallized ginger. 

Ingredients: 

I melted the chocolate in the microwave, thirty seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly between the thirty second intervals. Before all of the chips are melted, let the chocolate sit, stir until everything is melted.

With everything ready, it was time to mix. Super simple!!! Just put all the ingredients into a nice bowl, dump all the melted chocolate in, mix well,

and then………

spread out on a sheet. In this case, I used parchment paper on top of my cooling rack, allowing it to cool more quickly. Then, since I had not tempered the chocolate, I needed to put it in the refrigerator to make it hard. Tempering the chocolate is always the best, but it can be a bit touchy until you have done it a few times. The good news is that the candy isn’t around long enough for it to make much of a difference.



I would have had a picture of a plate full of the tasty morsels, unfortunately, my teenage grandchildren were very excited about them, so I barely had enough left to take this picture!!

We Love Shish Kebab!! 0

I love summer in Oregon. All two days of it…..just kidding.  Although the traditional summer can be somewhat elusive here, darting in and out of the weeks like the sun plays tag with the clouds, when it visits for more than a few days it is absolutely perfect!  Mild days with occasional bursts of 90°F plus welcome rain are frequent visitors, and provide ample opportunity to use our gas BBQ.  Although aging a bit, it works beautifully, and is a workhorse for my forays into alternate cooking. Over the years I thought I had cooked about everything I could on a BBQ grill, then in the last few I realized I had not, and now, I discover I can cook most of those foods differently and better!  On a rack!!!

I have purchased many different BBQ fun things, accessories, and books, but have found a simplified way to cook on a BBQ.  I use my cooling/cooking rack!!!  It has a more open cooking surface than the BBQ accessory plates, which in turn allows more delicious and efficient cooking, and you don’t have to deal with the large grates of the actual BBQ.  Instead, small things never get lost, they can be turned more easily, they have maximum exposure to the fire, and they just taste better with no loss!

I can cook vegetables without sticking or falling through the rack, have maximum exposure to the fire, and clean up better and quicker than using the normal accessory pans/trays/racks you can buy for the BBQ.  I know - I have them all….well, almost all of them.  Meatball pans, vegetable baskets, wire fry pans, double skewers, cooking trays, I have tried almost everything out there.

Now, I can do just about everything better with just the simple little rack. Stir fry is still better in a wire basket, but for the majority of recipes?……awesome!!

One of our favorite things to BBQ in the summer is Shish Kebob.  Large chunks of top sirloin marinated in a delicious sweet and sour mixture then skewered with pineapple, onion, and green pepper chunks were tossed on a BBQ grill and seared to perfection.  It worked great! Except for difficulty in turning the skewered meat over evenly, sticking to the grill, and

veggies/pineapple falling through the grill.  Then in exploring new ways to use a cooling rack, I decided to try grilling my shish kebobs on them. 

I was amazed at how much easier/better it was to put the rack on the BBQ and cook the meat on it.  They turned better, cooked better, and clean-up was easier than scraping the grill, or soaking and scrubbing those heavy duty BBQ pans.  There was NO scraping, just a quick soak and the dishwasher, then an unobtrusive storage in my cabinet, instead of fitting on the shelf I used for the heavier/bulkier BBQ accessory pans.  Win/win!!!!!

So here’s my recipe for the yummiest shish kebob every!!!  Thanks to the Weber marinade recipe, they come out extremely moist, tender and delicious.

First, make the marinade.  Boil, then let cool.

 Shish kebob marinade

Place all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to boil and cool.  Tamari can be a bit stronger than regular soy sauce, so you can dilute the marinade a little with an extra 1/2 cup water or less.

Ingredients for the kebab

Meanwhile, assemble the party participants, onion, green pepper, pineapple, meat.

Cut to proper size.  Onions - quarter, separate layers, and slice in half…..usually…. Chunks that go on the shish kebob should be a couple inches square, one layer of onion.  Two layers works as well, as does the thicker center pieces of onion. 

Green Peppers next.  Cut into fourths lengthwise, or sixths if a large pepper,  and be sure to remove ribs and seeds. Then, cut each piece horizontally into thirds or halves, depending upon size of pepper….

I use the pineapple chunks from the can, having used the juice in the marinade, so they are already cut. These little puppies are the most problematic on the grill, as they don’t always hold together when they get soft during the cooking.

Then, I cut the meat.  Although the original recipe called for tenderloin cut into 1 inch cubes, I order top sirloin (at half the cost), cut to 1 1/2 inch thick steaks.  I trim excess fat off, then try, not always successfully, to cut 1 1/2 Inch cubes.  I like my beef medium rare, and 1 inch just wasn’t satisfactory.  Each piece is roughly 2 ounces….give or take, and gives a more satisfying presentation and experience.  Also easier to cook.  Although  1 1/2 inches is a premium size, you won’t be able to get everything cut to that.  So, as I prepare and cut, I make piles of cubes.  Proper size, smaller, and end pieces, or scraps.  The last time I did shish kebobs, I even weighed them, with pile of 2 ounces, 1 ounce, and small chunks. I scrape meat off the fat that was cut off, little pieces and chunks left over, and use the smallest chunks and scraps for Asian stir fry, as they don’t do well on skewers.  

This allows me to put the smaller chunks on one stick and cook to a consistent level, then easily place on a plate so that people can have easy access to steak that is a bit more done. 

Now we MARINATE!!!   Place steak chunks in ziplock bags with marinade.  Each size in a different bag, the marinade split between them. The meat needs to be coated/covered, but not necessarily swimming, in marinade.  Place in refrigerator, and marinate for at least four and up to 8 hours, turning the bags several times to allow more even marinating.  I find that prepping the meat and vegetables in the morning is perfect, allowing for 8-10 hours of marinating before cooking for dinner.  Overnight is okay, but I find it is a bit too strong of a flavor. 

The traditional way, best individual way, is to alternate meat, onion, pepper, and pineapple on one skewer.  While this is portion controlled, pretty, and theoretically more well seasoned, I prefer to put all the meat of one size on a skewer, and all the veggies on other skewers, and the pineapple on skewers by themselves.  They cook better that way, more evenly, more tasty.  

Then, when I serve, I put meat chunks of one size into a bowl with the cooked veggies and pineapple, mix, and mound onto a serving plate. I do the same with the smaller chunks and more veggies and pineapple. I am accustomed to cooking for a large family, and feel this works best to accommodate everyones likes/dislikes for vegetables, level of doneness on the meat, and quantity.  It does mean that there is usually more eaten as there is no portion control, but since it is family and usually a special event, (the meat having been bought on sale and frozen is needed) I find it works best for us. This recipe is easily scaled up or down.

Individual skewers are pretty awesome, though I love more vegetables with my meat. I always make more veggies than I need for individual skewers as they are incredible and very attractive on a serving platter!!

So, you have your veggies, pineapple, and meat all prepped, the marinade cooked and cooled, now you just need to skewer, and cook, before you devour!  Place skewers on the rack, and transport to the BBQ (I put them on a baking sheet so they don’t drip on the floor). Place rack on the preheated BBQ (watch that the temperature doesn’t go over 550°F and cook to desired doneness. The skewers will turn more easily on the rack, won’t stick, and pieces, if they fall off, are contained on the rack.  It really is a better way to cook them!

YUM!!!

When I prepare this for our family, there is always extra, which disappear when we sit around the table chatting afterwards.  Piece by piece, they are snagged and eaten, so there is rarely ever anything left to put in the fridge. 

Enjoy!!  And as always,

Red Pepper Pasta Salad - Summer Treat For Hot Days 0

Now, to prep them all. I find this to be the most time intensive, especially when I can’t use my food processor, when I have many types of veggies in small amounts that need to be prepped differently.

First, the zucchini, an unlikely but essential part of my pasta salad. I slice it about 1/4 inch thick, then proceed to the carrots. They take longer to cook, so I slice the carrots a bit smaller.

Chopped Carrots and Zucchini

Then I prep the red peppers, slicing them in half, and cleaning out the ribs and seeds, then I smash them flat.

Chopped Peppers

Cut the cauliflower florets to about bite size, and the asparagus as well, although I will be blanching them slightly in the pasta water instead of grilling them. The peas just need a quick size reduction, and we are ALL DONE! Ready for the grill.

The Veggies All Chopped

OOOPS!! forgot the onion


Slice in half, then cut thick slices, about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick, layers not separated. I think we are done now.

You can roast all the veggies on a rack in the oven

or on the BBQ!!!!

Roasted Veggies on BBQ

When they are well roasted, set them aside to be cut later.

Now for the sauce.

Either use almond flour, or pulse raw almonds in a blender. Here I am using the dry blender jar for Vita Mix. Marcona almonds are best, in this recipe but here I am using regular almonds, which I do most of the time.

                   
Almond Flour                                                       Red Peppers 

Peel the skin off the red peppers, cut to smaller size and place in blender jar. Puree, adding oil, garlic, almond meal, and parmesan. Blend smooth.

Cook Pasta either on stove or on the side burner of your BBQ, adding the asparagus and peas a minute or two before it is done. When al dente, remove and drain. If vegetables are not done yet, rinse with cold water to stop cooking, otherwise, assemble all ingredients together.

Cut vegetables to proper size, and assemble mis en place.

One essential ingredient is the corn. Not just any corn, but pan roasted corn kernals, cooked on a very hot pan very quickly to brown them but not dry them out. I use this method on the side burner of my BBQ, but stove top works as well.

mis en place with roasted veggies, corn, pasta, red pepper sauce

Add sauce, whatever amount you want, then shred parmesan on it, again, whatever amount you want. I am a bit too generous with the parmesan, but do it to taste. I might also add, that it tastes great without the cheese.


Adding Parmesan Cheese 


Mix well, and scoop into serving bowl.


YUM!!  Our Finished Pasta Salad


Enjoy by itself, or with a piece of grilled meat.

Live-Nimble!!!!



For the sauce—

5 roasted red peppers
1/4 cu ground almonds or to taste
1 clove, minced garlic
parmesan in sauce and/or on the salad
1/4 cups,more if needed, olive oil

puree all of the ingredients until smooth, set aside.


Vegetables to consider in your salad. Feel free to use what you have on hand, or your favorites.

snow peas very briefly roasted to maintain crispness, blanch in pasta, or use raw.
carrots
onions
zucchini
corn absolutely spectacular roasted, on or off the cob, pan fried to a light brown.
asparagus
savory, a herb remove from stem and add as desired.
Prepare as in the blog directions. Grill or roast in oven, cut to bite size pieces

Prepare pasta, cooking asparagus and snow peas with the pasta water as well.
when al dente, drain and set aside. If not preparing immediately, rinse with cold water to prevent over cooking.

Toss sauce with pasta, then add vegetables as you desire. Adding roasted chicken, shrimp or tofu is great, by itself is great, or use a quinoa pasta and don’t worry about any protein!

Live Nimble and Enjoy!!

Appetizers on the Grill!! 0

Appetizers On The Grill!!

Appetizers are such a great way to ease the pangs of hunger while those ribs slowly cook and tempt you with that tantalizing smell. I haven’t used the rack on the BBQ very often, but decided this would be a fun thing to do. Since we were having salmon (ribs another day) and guests, I decided something a bit more, well, sophisticated would be in order. So, I bought prosciutto, asparagus, medjool dates, goat cheese, almonds and bacon. Bacon wrapped stuffed dates and prosciutto (or bacon) wrapped asparagus are one of our favorite casual but elegant appetizers.

When we put the wrapped dates on the table, you have to move quickly because they disappear almost instantly.

First, prepare the ingredients. Trim the asparagus, precook the bacon just a bit, and put everything on the silicone mat to assemble. Since I had some red pepper from the night before, I decided to cut into strips on my cutting board (not the silicone mat) and use that, too.

Then roll the asparagus and roasted red pepper up in a strip of prosciutto.



Secure with a toothpick if needed



Place on the rack, and go for the dates. Using a a needle nose pliers dig into the date to grab the seed. They come out very easily.



Then, take a chunk of goat cheese, any flavor (I usually use plain, but chive and herb is good as well) and stuff into the date. I might mention that brie is delicious, as any soft cheese would be good. Bleu or gorgonzola might be a bit strong, but it could be delicious.



Then, take an almond, I used raw and unsalted, but roasted Marcona almonds are awesome, as are toasted almonds. Insert the almond into the date, if possible, put two in, as it is delicious.



Take the bacon and wrap around the date, overlapping enough to allow a double layer of bacon where you will secure bacon to the date.



With a toothpick, poke through the double layer of bacon in two places.



Place on a rack with the asparagus, and put on BBQ grill.



Place rack on grill, and be certain the temperature does not go over 350°F. BBQ’s heat up very quickly and the bacon and prosciutto can burn very quickly. If the tips of the asparagus get a bit crispy, consider yourself lucky, as it tastes amazing!!!

Live Nimble!!