Sauteed Lettuces with Salami and Shallots

I get the sense that lettuce is becoming a food trend. Seems that more and more food shows are incorporating plain old salad greens – from iceberg to romaine and arugula – into soups, sautees and other dishes. I believe the Brits are used to having peas with lettuce, which seemed strange to me until the doe-eyed Nigella Lawson demonstrated how delicious the combination can be.

Or maybe I’m just extra alert to green-food trends now that I’m trying to eat more of them. Anyway, I saw an interesting recipe in Bon Appetit for which lettuces are sauteed with spicy salami, garlic and ginger and served over brown rice, with fried shallots up top. It looked quite good and relatively healthy, so I decided to give it a try.

Both Grant and I loved it! He favors anything with a strong ginger element, and I loved the cured meat mixed with the just-wilting lettuces and crispy shallot. My goodness, what can’t be improved with crispy shallots on top?

I adapted this a little, but not too much.

Sauteed Lettuces with Salami and Shallots

Ingredients:

• 2 T canola oil
• 1/2 c. thinly sliced shallots
• 1/2 c. chopped salami slices
• 2 T thinly sliced garlic
• 1 1/2 T minced peeled ginger
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• Half a head of iceberg lettuce, cored and roughly chopped
• 2 c. arugula leaves
• Cooked brown Basmati rice (enough to feed everybody you are serving)

Get the Basmati rice cooking while you prep all your ingredients.

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over low heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring often, until golden brown – 12 min. Remove to paper towels to drain and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Increase heat to medium and add salami, then garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Stir until everything starts to sizzle and add 1/4 c. water. Increase heat to medium-high, add lettuces and saute until just wilted, 1-2 min. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, spoon lettuce mixture over brown rice and top with crispy shallots. I also added some green onions and parsley, just because I had them on hand.

This recipe makes me want to try more with wilting lettuce into dishes – yum! They retain a little bit of crunch, but lose any bitterness. And it filled us up just fine.

Enjoy, friends! xoxo

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Rib-eye steak with blue-cheese butter and fried shallots

I’m usually not a HUGE fan of blue cheese, unless it is somehow mingling with red meat and butter. This adaptation on a Bon Appetit recipe showcases just how well blue cheese and steak marry. Adding fried shallots is just a delicious cherry on top. You may do this with any cut of steak, although many will say rib-eye is the best. Use whatever looks good in the discount meat bin.

Rib-eye steak with blue-cheese butter and fried shallots

Ingredients:

• 2 steaks, seasoned well with salt and pepper
• 3 T unsalted butter, room temp
• 3 T crumbled blue cheese, room temp
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped Italian parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 large shallots, sliced into rings
• EVOO

Prepare your grill with all-wood charcoal.

Using a fork, mix butter, blue cheese, lemon, parsley and pepper. Chill.

Heat 4-5 T EVOO over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add shallots and fry until crisp and golden. Drain and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Grill the steaks to desired doneness. Let rest 5 minutes before serving with a scoop of butter on top. Sprinkle with fried shallots. Ta-da!

The smokiness of the steak pairs with the smoky qualities of the cheese. Really, the butter is just there to bind everything together. Parsley and lemon give it a fresh taste and the shallots make you feel like you’re eating a much-easier onion ring.

We only used a tiny bit of the butter compote, so I twisted it up in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for the next red-meat recipe. Perhaps little beef sliders?

Enjoy, friends! xoxo

Sweet potato ravioli

One evening at the office, I quietly ate leftovers at my desk while finishing up some projects. Not five minutes later, I heard my boss yell from her office, “What smells so good?” and then the girls on the other side of the cube echoed her question.

“It’s just me and my sweet-potato ravioli with browned butter and sage sauce!”

One thing lead to another and I was soon promising to post the recipe for everyone.

I first ate this at the Pretentious Thanksgiving party. I normally hate sweet potatoes, but they are soooo good wrapped inside wanton wrappers and then drizzled with a sauce of nutty butter, earthy sage, a pinch of pepper flakes, pine nuts and fried shallots. What can’t be good with that combination of flavors? One thing everybody says is that the red pepper flakes add a nice balance to the sweetness of the sweet potato, so don’t leave those out. Also, fried shallots and toasted pine nuts are good on about anything.

Every time I make these, they take a bit of a struggle. I recommend making the ravioli the day before and then freezing them. Drop the frozen bundles into boiling water as you would any ravioli and lightly boil until done. Other than that, the sauce and fried shallots are easy.

Also, the ravioli stick together easily, so don’t cry if they tear. It will still taste wonderful. And don’t crowd the boiling water with them or they will most certainly seal together.

Taken from Epicurious, here it is:

Sweet potato ravioli with a browned-butter and sage sauce:

Ravioli

• 2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams)
• 2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, room temperature

• 1 12-ounce package wonton wrappers
• 1 large egg, beaten to blend

Fried shallots and sauce

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large shallots, cut crosswise into thin rounds, separated into rings
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
• 8 large fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

For ravioli:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place foil on a rimmed baking sheet. Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise; place cut side down on baking sheet. Roast until tender, about 35 minutes; cool. Scoop potato pulp out of skins into small bowl. Spoon 11/3 cups pulp into medium bowl. (Reserve any remaining potato pulp for another use.) Add sugar and butter; mash well. Season filling with salt and pepper.

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place wonton wrappers on work surface. Using pastry brush, brush wrappers with beaten egg. Place 1/2 tablespoon sweet-potato filling in center of each. Fold each wrapper diagonally over filling, forming triangle. Seal edges. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Let stand at room temperature while preparing fried shallots and sauce. (Can be made up to 5 days ahead. Freeze, then cover and keep frozen. Do not thaw before cooking.)

For fried shallots and sauce:
Heat vegetable oil in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, fry shallots until crisp and dark brown, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Cook butter in large pot over medium heat until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add sage and red pepper.

Meanwhile, working in batches, cook ravioli in pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well. Add ravioli to pot with butter sauce; toss to coat. Transfer to plates, drizzling any sauce from pot over ravioli. Top with fried shallots and pine nuts; serve immediately.

Enjoy, friends! xoxo