Antidote Salad
Today’s post isn’t so much about any particular dish (although this salad was really good) as it is a reminder to myself of why I choose to eat clean, healthy nourishing food.
Earlier today I ate a cheeseburger & fries with the guys at a local joint. While the food tasted OK at the time, I knew I was in trouble less than an hour later when the industrial CAFO burger & potatoes fried in God-knows-what kind of unnatural hydrogenated oil together felt like a greasy, soggy bowling ball in my gut. Back at work, I resisted the urge to crawl under my desk & sleep it off.
It is readily apparent why America is so sick.
At home this evening, I knew I needed to make up for the nutritionally empty & otherwise damaging lunch, so I gathered up what I could from the garden, pantry and fridge and made this Antidote Dinner Salad..
Antidote Salad
Kamut pasta, raw virgin olive oil, raw and pickled peppers, olives, scallions, Lupini beans, avocado, anchovies, fresh basil and oregano, tomatoes, watercress, pea shoots, prosciutto, white balsamic and lots of coarse sea salt and freshly-ground pepper.
I swear I felt completely restored almost immediately!
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- Antidote Salad
Be a Food Renegade – Fight back against the Standard American Diet (SAD) !
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops with Mint Peas and Wild Rice
Local, pastured lamb loin chops with rosemary garlic demi-glace, fresh peas with fried shallots and mint, and mushroom wild rice.
C’est si bon!
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops with Mint Peas and Wild Rice
lamb loin chops from premiumlamb.com via greenling.com
Marinate lamb chops in olive oil, chopped garlic, fresh rosemary, freshly-ground pepper and a three-fingered pinch of coarse sea salt for 4 or more hours (refrigerated). Allow to come up to room temperature before cooking.
Rinse and prepare true wild rice according to package directions, about 1 hour. Add sautéed wild mushrooms, a teaspoon of pastured butter and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.
Lightly steam fresh peas until about 2/3 done, then transfer to a skillet with pastured butter and chopped shallots. Fry until browned, then season with chopped fresh mint, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.
Quickly sear lamb chops in a very hot skillet with butter and a little of the marinade until well browned but still rare. Transfer to a side plate.
De-glaze the pan with burgundy then scrape up all the brown bits with the side of a wooden spoon. Add a little brown stock, reduce and finish with demi-glace and fresh rosemary.
Set the rare lamb chops in the pan with the demi-glace until warmed through, about 2-3 minutes.
To serve, heap wild rice in the center of a dinner plate and arrange lamb chops around the perimeter. Spoon demi-glace over the top, then spoon peas in between the chops and garnish with additional mint and parsley.
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Salsa de Tomate Verde Asado
Time was when I’d come home at the end of the work week and just pull out a frozen pizza or microwave dinner and plop down in front of the TV.
Not anymore. Even when I don’t much feel like cooking or fiddling around with the camera or the blog (i.e., tonight), a simple, comforting meal is within reach because I only keep fresh, whole foods on hand. The TV? Gave it away years ago.
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa..
Salsa de Tomate Verde Asado
Husk, rinse and halve fresh tomatillos. Place cut side down in a heavy skillet along with a few cloves of garlic, a jalapeño and a poblano chile. Brown well on both sides.
Seal the peppers inside a paper bag and allow the steam 15 minutes. Peel away most of the skin (leaving a few charred bits), split and remove stems and seeds.
Transfer peppers to the bowl of a food processor along with tomatillos, garlic and a handful of cilantro. Moisten with 1/4 cup or so of filtered water and pulse into a coarse puree.
Stir minced onion into the salsa and season to taste with sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Leftover salsa will keep 2-3 days in the fridge.
Bacon & Eggs
Fry uncured streaky bacon or pork belly with yellow onions until the onions are brown and the bacon is crisp.
Pour off all but a teaspoon of fat, then crack eggs directly into the pan and allow to set for just a moment.
Spoon roasted tomatillo salsa over the eggs and toss in some chopped cilantro. Stir and scramble to your preferred degree of doneness and serve with frijoles and fresh tortillas.
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- Huevos con Tocino y Salsa Verde
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Salade Nicoise Americaine
While the term SAD very appropriately describes the unhealthy Standard American Diet of nutrient-depleted, heavily-processed foods (so-called), there is abundant goodness to be had for little extra effort or expense.
Here’s a primal, seasonal all-American version of the venerable French Salade Niçoise..
Salade Niçoise Américaine
Prepare hard-cooked pastured eggs. Cool and set aside.
Take a thin slice off the North and South poles of a large, ripe heirloom tomato. Scoop out a little of the flesh from the center and place the tomato in a heavy skillet. Chop the remaining flesh, tops and bottoms and set aside.
Lightly drizzle the tomato with virgin olive oil, season with sea salt and freshly-cracked pepper and roast in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes to intensify the flavor. Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine US Pacific pole-caught albacore tuna in a bowl with plenty of raw olive oil, organic pitted black olives, sliced scallions, diced roasted red peppers and flat-leaf parsley. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
Prepare a salad of mixed field greens and herbs and toss with a little white balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
To assemble, place tomato in center of dinner plate and mound over with tuna mixture. Arrange salad around the perimeter and garnish with quartered eggs and a variety of made-at-home sprouts.
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Frijoles Rojas, Chayote, Crema Fresca
(This is part 2 of a 2-part post- part 1 is here)
Dinner-on-the-cheap.. red beans, fried bacon, onions and tomatoes simmered in a homemade chili base, with shaved raw chayote squash, crèma fresca and fresh tortillas..
Frijoles Rojas, Chayote, Crèma Fresca
click to enlarge; take a look at the pool of thick, mahogany-colored juices on the left side
Fry diced, uncured bacon in a heavy skillet until well browned. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat.
Add chopped onions and cook until browned.
Add tomatoes and cook until the water is released but not yet evaporated.
Add 1 tablespoon homemade chili base (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it) and stir to combine.
Add red beans (dried and cooked or from a BPA-free can) and some of the bean cooking liquid and a teaspoon of epazote, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning with sea salt and cracked pepper if needed.
Garnish with a little salad of shaved raw chayote squash (crispy & tastes rather like a cucumber with no bitterness), chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice and dress with crèma fresca dusted with smoked chili powder. Serve with Spanish rice or fresh tortillas.
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- Frijoles Rojas, Chayote Crema Fresca
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Tamatem Ma’Amrine
Tamatem Ma’Amrine is a Moroccan dish of roasted tomatoes stuffed with albacore, capers, olives and preserved lemon..
Tamatem Ma'Amrine (click to enlarge)
Adapted from a recipe by Claudia Roden
Carve a lid out of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides as you would a jack-o’-lantern. Don’t let the walls get too thin, or the tomatoes will split while roasting. Turn the tomatoes upside down and let the water drain.
Meanwhile, flake apart US Pacific troll or line-caught albacore and toss gently in extra virgin olive oil with bits of roasted red pepper, coarsely chopped capers and black olives, thinly slivered preserved lemon and chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Season tuna mixture with cracked coriander, fennel and white sesame seeds and stuff into the tomatoes.
Drizzle with a little more olive oil and season with sea salt and cracked pepper. Roast in a 375 degree oven until slightly blackened, perhaps 30 minutes.
Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold; a crisp salad goes well in either case.
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
© Monterey Bay Aquarium
