"Fast Food" for us

Sometimes when I come home from work, kiss the baby and Karin, play for a little while, and then start to think about dinner...sometimes I don't have the energy for a more elaborate supper. Sometimes, I just want it to be easier.

This is my "cheating" type dinner.

And I'll be honest with you - it is so easy, I am often embarrassed when it comes out like it did the other night. So good I want somehow get my head in the pan afterwards.

I have a supply of chicken breast fillets in the freezer, just for occasions like this.

For this specific dinner, I took two cloves of elephant garlic, slivered them, and put them in a pan with some olive oil. Right when they started to lightly brown, I squeezed in about a tablespoon of anchovy paste. I stirred it in, and then poured in a large can of Italian tomatoes. While that was starting to warm, I took a couple of handfuls of country-style olives, and rough chopped them, and tossed them in as well. On top of that, I put 6 chicken breast fillets in, and covered it, turned it to low, and left the room.

This is the type of dinner that requires almost no work after that. I try to remember to go in and flip the chicken, move them from the bottom to the top, etc, but even if you don't, it is still going to taste good.

Thursday I didn't have any side to go with it, but usually a cous cous, or rice or even fresh pasta is a great accompaniment.

All we had was a fresh baguette, so I sliced them on the bias to get more surface area, and put three on the plate, with chicken on top, and then juices and olive/tomato mixture on top of that.

I realize that this is just a form of braising, but it is such a life-saver for us - it allows us to eat well when we need "fast food." Instead of a box of "who knows what" we can make dinner while we catching up on our days.

It might not be pretty, but the chicken is juicy, the flavors are bright, and the cleanup is minimal.

first grilling

Last night we christened our 'almost completed deck' with its first grilling.

We are still missing our railings and stair treads, but since the grill is on the deck, that's good enough for us !

After work I went a couple of doors down and bought three swordfish steaks from Yankee Lobster.  I hadn't been before (I don't know why).  Clean shop, nice selection.  I was asked how far I had to travel and when I told him that I only had to go twenty minutes (hoping for no traffic on the Pike), he went in the back and brought out a bag of fresh ice that he placed in the sack with my steaks.  Thoughtful and kind, and definitely the kind of action that will bring me back.

Once home, I simply took the steaks (which smelled of the sea, nothing fishy about them), and with a sprinkling of kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and a drizzling of olive oil.  Into the fridge until grilling time. 

I quickly made up a pot of cous cous and then set it aside until dinner.

Grape tomatoes (sadly not my own) and some fresh Greek Oregano from my garden, kosher salt and pepper with olive oil.  Tossed and then added some kalamata olives, and let that sit until the grill was going.

I created a small pan for the grill, out of non-stick alum foil.  I put it on the grill and the moment I put the tomato olive mixture on to it, it started sizzling.  These were the first thing on the grill, and the last thing off.  I will say, the tomatoes did not burst, which surprised me.  However, they did release some of their liquid and then caramelized into lovely large ruby jewels.  The olives did their best to keep up with the tomatoes, but they just got crunchy bits here and there.   I will definitely do this again.  I could see doing this as a side on its own. 

 

Swordfish went on to the grill, 4 minutes on the first side.  While waiting to flip the fish, I took slivered almonds and started roasting them in a pan.   Just wanted to knock the raw taste and waxy mouth feel off.  Back out to the grill, flipped the fish, and back in to toss the almonds.

Dinner was really spectacular.  We hadn't had swordfish in almost two years, as Karin couldn't eat swordfish while she was pregnant.  Swordfish with the roasted slivered almonds on top, with a squeeze of lemon.  Awesome.  Juicy fish, wonderful texture, great flavor.  When I put the cous cous on the plates, I spooned the tomato/olive mixture on top and let then shaved some parmigiana on top of it.  

Paired it with a chilled bottle of Starwood Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough region NZ) and I don't think we talked at all - we just moaned and smiled our way through dinner.

It was a nice way to start enjoying our deck, grilling, fish, summer.

Long Winter

After spending the winter focusing on work, family, slowly redoing our kitchen (and shovelling snow), we are ready to start blogging again.

Time to get the grills fired up, fresh herbs, fruits and veg into the kitchen and on to our table.  This is going to be new journey - more cooking from Karin and more adventurous cooking from Jamie.

The pictures of these grilled pizzas would be better if I had taken my time instead of quickly taking pictures so that I could eat them!

Making these pizzas couldn't be easier, and the "WOW" factor when you do it in front of people is ego-boosting.

We bought pre-made dough, in bags, from our local store.   I floured my hands, so the dough wouldn't stick so much, took it out and formed it into a ball.  Then I just slowly turned it, letting the weight of it pull the dough thinner and thinner.  When it was at a thinness that I liked, I put it on a baking sheet and put some olive oil on it.  Drizzled it on and rubbed it all over.  Then I flipped the dough over on the sheet and was ready to rock.

I preheated the grill (gas).  I imagine that hardwood charcoal would impart greater flavor, but since these are on the grill for such a short amount of time, and my time right now is tight, so I used the gas grill.  I'm looking forward to doing this with the hardwoods.  I digress.  I got the grill hot, and then flipped the dough (oil side down) on to the grill, on a medium heat, and closed the lid.   Checked on it a couple of times to make sure there were no steam bubbles in the dough.  

Once they had been on a bit, and the sides of the dough looked like they were drying out, I flipped it over.  Right there is "Wow" factor #1.  The dough just looks so cool !   The grill marks, the irregular shape, the crispy and soft areas of the dough...

Once flipped, time is of the essence.  Too many times have I had ideas of pizzas to create, only to get writers block when confronted with two blank canvases (mixing metaphors, I know).  Have a plan and then stick to it.  

And really, that was it.  One pizza got sauce, one didn't.  One got olives, one didn't.   One got fresh rosemary, one didn't.  Etc etc.  Top went down, and then we waited.  And not too long.  We like our veggies fresh, the mozzerella not too melted.

Once we felt they were ready, they came off, rested on a board, and then cut into slices.  They sat on our side table long enough to get photographed (hastily) and then they were devoured.

We've made these several times in the past month, and besides being easy, tasty and impressive to look at, they are also really rather cheap.  A bag of dough is 90 cents.  You already have olive oil in your pantry.  We grow our own herbs, so I just pick some fresh rosemary and do a quick rough chop.  A handful of country olives, rough chopped, thrown on top, is a marginal cost.  The only thing that will cost anything of note is the fresh mozzerella.  

Hungry now.  Must go plan next pizza.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures.

On the left pizza: country olive, DePasquale's hot sausage, caramellized onions, fresh rosemary and fresh mozzerella

On the right pizza: fresh basil, grape tomato, portabello mushroom, sundried tomato and fresh mozzerella

On the left pizza: portabello mushroom, hot sausage, vodka sauce and fresh mozzerella 

On the right pizza: country olive, vodka sauce and fresh mozzerella