Category Archives: Gluten-Free

Easy Mushroom Ragu

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

This easy vegetarian mushroom ragu has plenty of meaty main-dish heft. It’s also an incredibly versatile little number. Toss it with pasta, serve it over polenta, or spoon it onto crostini smeared with goat cheese. The optional mascarpone lends extra richness to this mushroom ragu, but skip it to make it a vegan dish.

easy-mushroom-ragu-recipe2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced shallot
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1-1/2 pounds wild mushrooms (or cremini), cut into thick slices
2 teaspoons minced thyme
¼ cup dry marsala
2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add shallot. Cook for 5 minutes, until shallot is a deep golden brown. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes, until softened. Add mushrooms and thyme to pan, and saute for 8-10 minutes, until mushrooms are golden brown.

Pour in marsala and scrape up any bits stuck to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until most of the liquid is evaporated. Swirl in mascarpone, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 4.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 17 minutes

Melone e Limone (Melon and Lemon)

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

I fell in love with this simple, stunning Melone e Limone (Melon and Lemon) appetizer at our friends’ wedding recently. The peeps behind the awesome SCOPA restaurant here in Healdsburg, CA, had cut fragrant, peak-of-season melone (that’s Italian for melon) into tiny (perfect) cubes, tossed them with lemon juice and served them mini skewers with a sprinkle of sea salt as an hors d’oeuvre. I’ve made several more rustic versions since; this is my favorite. It also makes me smile because my daughter, Noemi, still mixes up the words ‘lemon’ and ‘melon’ … so this easy side dish spares her the riddle. So, pick up some fresh melone, and enjoy!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:58]

 

Grilled Wild Salmon with Smoked Paprika

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

This wild salmon recipe has become one of my weeknight faves. Wild salmon is an ingredient that doesn’t need a lot of “help.” It has rich texture and full flavor, so your best bet is to keep it simple. This super-easy rub calls on smoked paprika to complement the richness of the fish. We love it on tortillas, topped with our Fiery-Sweet Peach Salsa, Quick-Pickled Red Onions and sliced avocado.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:125]

“Melted” Summer Squash

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

This is one of my favorite ways to serve summer squash. You can use any type of squash, but I prefer the denser, green-fleshed varieties, such as zucchini. It’s a great summer squash recipe to use up a bumper crop. I also like to add a dash of Guatemalan smoked chile pepper a friend of mine gave to me; this is a great dish to be adventurous with anything special you want to play with too.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:60]

 

Smoky-Sweet Tri Tip

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

True barbecue involves indirect heat and smoke, and dedicated barbecue aficionados invest in a smoker. But you can set up a standard charcoal or gas grill for smoking, which works fine for tender cuts like tri tip, seafood or poultry. Tri tip (also called triangle roast) is a lean, quick-cooking cut of beef sirloin that’s an ideal introduction to smoking. It’s the cut used in Santa Maria-style barbecue in California’s Central Coast. I’ve added a touch of brown sugar to the spice rub for a little flavor of the Deep South. The result is smoky, spicy, subtly sweet, incredibly tender and, as my husband says, very “more-ish.” Serve this with our Santa Maria-Style Beans, corn or flour tortillas and your favorite salsa. Sometimes I’ll serve it with our Roasted Red Pepper Romesco Sauce (only I’ll put the veggies on the grill to smoke with the meat). Leftovers make divine sandwiches for lunch!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:61]

Nigel Slater’s Parmesan Tomatoes

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

English cookbook author Nigel Slater reminds me a bit of Marcella Hazan. Like Hazan, Slater is adamant that he’s a cook, not a chef, and he’s a champion of simple, straightforward home cooking. The American edition of his book, Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch (Ten Speed Press) came out recently, and it deserves a place in your cookbook collection. His signature unfussy approach lets the flavor of seasonal produce really shine. Roasting summer-fresh tomatoes heightens their sweetness and deepens their flavor. Slater recommends serving these as a side dish with fresh mozzarella or basmati rice. They’re equally delightful served over sliced baguette as an appetizer or light lunch.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:62]

Homemade Gravlax with Wild Alaskan Salmon

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Gravlax is a wonderfully simple way to showcase the the rich, buttery quality of wild salmon from the Copper River. Gravlax is a Swedish specialty that cures the salmon with a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. It’s a simple, no-cook technique requiring nothing more than a little prep work and time. There many of variations of gravlax. Our version uses a basic combination of granulated and brown sugars, coarse sea salt and black pepper that lets the luscious flavor and texture of the wild salmon really shine. You could customize this in any number of ways – swap black pepper for earthy white pepper, add lemon or orange rind, etc. Serve thinly sliced on multigrain crackers, garnished with chopped fresh dill and grated lemon zest. Or you could go old school and serve it with fresh bagels, cream cheese, capers and thinly sliced red onion.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:64]

Santa Maria-Style Beans

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

The barbecue of Santa Maria, Calif., is famous for delicious smoked tri-tip, and it’s always accompanied by a pot of pinquito beans. This legume, a cross between white and pinto beans, is grown only in the Santa Maria Valley. You can order them online, use standard pintos or experiment with other varieties of heirloom beans, such as Eye of Goat (which I used here) or Yellow Indian Woman. Using a pressure cooker yields tender beans that hold their shape in about a third of the usual cooking time. If you don’t have one, soak the legumes overnight and cook them in simmering water for 2 hours or until tender. Cooking time will vary, depending on the size and age of the beans. Use any leftovers to make kick-ass burritos the next day.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:148]

Basil-Mint Pesto

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

This emerald pesto is ideal when the weather  starts to warm up – the  mint adds a springy note while the basil offers a hint of summer to come. Stir it into Maria Speck’s Speedy Chickpea Couscous with Pesto, serve a dollop atop fish or poultry, spread it on crostini or add it to hot pasta. This pesto recipe yields a generous amount. Use whatever you need now, and freeze the leftovers in an ice-cube tray. Once it’s frozen, pop the pesto cubes out of the tray and transfer them to a heavy-duty zip-top bag and freeze up to 1 month.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:161]

Carla Hall’s Spicy Carrot and Ginger Soup

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

This carrot and ginger soup recipe demonstrates “Top Chef” contestant and cohost of “The Chew” Carla Hall’s deft touch with nourishing ingredients. It’s also the type of healthy everyday food she favors that leaves room for some well-chosen indulgences. She uses herbal tea bags as bouquet garni to infuse flavor and silken tofu instead of heavy cream to give this carrot soup body. Unsweetened carrot juice underscores the flavor of the fresh carrots while coconut water adds a subtle tropical note. “Using vegetable and fruit juices in addition to or in place of stock is another way to add layers of flavor,” says Hall.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:149]