salad

So…sometimes you’re stuck, it happens

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

There you are in your kitchen staring longingly into the refrigerator half trying to cool off and half wondering what that “science experiment” is still doing in the vegetable drawer.  It is HOT outside, muggy enough that you can see birds swimming from tree to tree instead of flying and you have changed your shirt for the third time because of the heat. You may not be motivated enough to head to the grocery store so, what in the world can you do for dinner?  I always say, “work with what you got!”

I was in this situation a couple of weeks ago  and had to kind of wing it.  Avoiding the “science experiment”, and actually throwing it away (To this day, I cannot figure out what it was.) I saw that I had a half bag of fresh spinach leaves, romaine lettuce leaves, a broccoli crown, two small red/yellow bell peppers, half a green bell pepper, a quarter bag of shredded carrots, 3 Roma tomatoes, and about 4 ounces of fresh mushrooms. From my freezer, 1.05 pounds of chicken tenders and, from the pantry, the magic elixir that pulled everything together, Brianna’s Special Request Lively Lemon Tarragon salad dressing.  The result of this list of ingredients was a good dinner, using up some things that would not have been enough for a different recipe and avoiding another trip into the hot muggy South Carolina summer.

Super B Salad

Lemon Taragon Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb – Chicken tenders

1 bottle – Brianna’s Lemon Tarragon salad dressing

1/2 bag – Fresh spinach leaves

1 – Broccoli crown large, separated into florets

1/4 bag – Shredded carrots

2 – Small red or yellow bell peppers cut into thin rings

3 – Roma tomatoes, cut into thin wedges

4 oz – fresh mushroom slices

Dry aged red wine vinegar (to be used as a dressing in splashes to compliment the chicken)

Construction Instruction:

Take chicken and marinate in a full bottle of the Brianna’s salad dressing for an hour. In a non-stick skillet sprayed with Pam or other non caloric non-stick spray, bring your heat up to just under half way or low medium heat.  Trying to keep as much of the marinade on the chicken, place the tenders in the skillet and begin to cook them. Make sure you are turning the chicken tenders often so that the dressing caramelizes on the outside of the chicken.  This process will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Since the chicken is going to cook fairly slow, arrange the vegetable ingredients on large plates to await the crowning achievement, the chicken.

This was a simple, easy meal that turned out great.

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist

Gary Bechard

 

 

Experimenting with Roasty Toasty Goodness…

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

“Y’all know me, know how I make a livin'” or so said Quint in the movie “Jaws” (at the town meeting before he gets eaten by the shark) but some folks out there reading this may not know that this blog is just my creative outlet and not my livin’. I would not mind doing this for a living but it is a way to express myself through food. If you are a first time reader, welcome! and if you are a returning reader, welcome back! Ah, enough of this sappy talk and on with today’s recipes. Yes, I said recipes, plural!

To give you some background, I was walking through the neighborhood store one day and “eye grazing” (it’s a thing) spices when Roasted Ground Ginger caught my eye. Knowing I had Toasted Sesame seeds at the house it started me thinking that I HAD to get these two together somehow. I was originally at a loss as to which protein I wanted to use for this experiment. The problem was that the Roasty combined with the Toasty were kind of sultry, sexy and deep flavors and I knew that doing something like a steak would muddle them and create palate confusion.  Nobody wants palate confusion because the next thing you know you are scoring a corn dog on some side street and calling it a gourmet meal. I knew I wanted something a bit sweet and light so the first thing that came to mind was crab but not being hyper motivated to make crab burgers or something of the like I decided on some type of fish. A trip to my favorite fish market “Mr. Fish” here in Myrtle Beach helped me decide on what kind.  I used Corvina which is a light sweet flakey fish along the same lines as grouper but a bit more tender. Please note that if you are ever in the Myrtle Beach area Mr. Fish is a tremendous place to buy seafood. Their knowledge of their inventory is expansive and are always willing to help you find exactly what you want.  There is also a Mr. Fish restaurant next door which has some great food and the chef has it “goin’ on” with different types of sauces. Also, their crab cakes are to die for.  So, Corvina was the choice and I decided to serve this with a Daikon radish and zucchini salad (recipe below) and jasmine rice. Without further delay here are the recipes.

Roasty Toasty Corvina

The Well Fed Cyclist – Gary Bechard

Ingredients:

1 lb – Corvina filets (2, 8 ounce servings) (You could substitute Grouper or any other mild, sweet, flakey, fish)

1/2 cup – Panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup – Whole, wheat flour, unbleached (I find that this type of flour brings out the smoky flavors in the seasonings)

2 tbs – Toasted sesame seeds

1 ½ tsps. – Roasted ground ginger

2 tsps – Coarse ground black pepper

1 tbs – Dried parsley

2 tbs – Soy Sauce (I use Kikoman lite soy sauce to cut down on sodium)

Construction Instruction:

In a one gallon sealable plastic bag or medium bowl combine breadcrumbs, wheat flour, sesame seeds, ginger, coarse ground black pepper and parsley. When you have done this either seal (yes that is important) and shake the bag to thoroughly mix the ingredients or whisk them together in the bowl to do the same thing. Next, take the mixture and place on a plate or a shallow dish. Then dip the filets in water and press into the mixture and coat each side evenly. Place the filets in a ceramic or glass baking dish which has been sprayed with some cooking spray and a small amount of water. (Note: the water should not be very deep and should only barely cover the bottom of the dish) Before baking, drizzle 1 tablespoon of soy sauce down the center of each filet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes (time will depend on how thick the filets are) until fish flakes easily.

Spiralize This! (Daikon Radish and Zucchini Salad)

The Well Fed Cyclist – Gary Bechard

Ingredients:

1 – Medium zucchini, either run through a “spiralizer” or very finely sliced (julienned)

1 – Small Daikon radish, either run through a “spiralizer” or very finely sliced (julienned)

1/4 – Medium sweet onion, very thinly sliced

1/2 cup – Shredded carrots

1/2 – Red bell pepper, very thinly sliced

1/2 – Yellow bell pepper, very thinly sliced

1/3 cup – White mushrooms, diced (You could also use a mixture of mushrooms like shitake, or others which may give it a bit more flavor)

10 to 15 – Small grape tomatoes, halved

Ginger salad dressing

Construction Instruction:

I will tell you that the easiest way to go here is to get a “Spiralizer”, which is not too expensive, and run the daikon radish and zucchini through it and put in a medium bowl. After slicing the onion and peppers, add these along with the shredded carrots into the same bowl. Note: I used shredded carrots because although I could have run large carrots through the “Spiralizer”, this saved some preparation time. Once all the long ingredients and the mushrooms are in the bowl, lightly toss to get all of these items evenly distributed. When this is done add the tomatoes and lightly season the salad with the ginger dressing or you can serve and allow your guests to season their own salads.

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist

Getting something to come out of the closet…

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

Did you ever look at things in your pantry and wonder, “what in the world was I thinking when I bought that?” I know that I have and that is what happened before this recipe was created. You see, there was a time when I was thoroughly enamored of the “South Beach Diet”. I decided to do that diet after gaining about 10 pounds eating from recipes that came out of Paula Dean’s cookbooks (she has gotten better, however, because I think her sons are making her). There I was kitchen cruising one Saturday looking for something different to have with grilled fare and ran across a box of couscous tucked way in the back behind some random cat treats. Thinking that cat treats really would not go with grilled anything, I decided on the couscous. I remembered couscous from my South Beach phase and also remembered that it was something the South Beach diet was in love with because of its being whole grain and such. The box was leftover because we rapidly found out that eating the South Beach way costs an extra couple hundred dollars a week, if you are doing it correctly and that is all I have to say about that.

Couscous on its own is pretty nondescript and has a sort of nutty taste to it. It is very easy to prepare and most of the times will only take about five minutes. I figured a good way to dress it up would be to add some roasted or grilled vegetables to it. I like this recipe warm or cold so the decision would be up to you depending on what you are having. If you are having burgers and such, cold is most likely the way to go. You can even prepare it a day ahead so the flavors REALLY get to know each other (a veritable vegetable orgy, if you will). I like it warm when I am serving chicken or roasted pork. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Revved up Roasted Vegetable Couscous
(makes 4 to 5 servings)

1 – Red bell pepper
1 – Green bell pepper
2 – Sweet onion slices (kid of on the hefty side)
5 – Large Portobello mushroom slices
15 to 20 – Asparagus stalks
Kosher salt – to taste
Coarse ground black pepper – to taste
Rosemary – to taste
Basil – to taste
Garlic powder – to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 – Box of couscous (normally the box will have a bit more than a cup of stuff in it and a serving is ¼ cup dry)

There are a couple of ways you can go here with the vegetables. I normally do them inside on a cookie sheet but if you are feeling froggy and want to do them outside on the grill that is okay too.

Oven instructions:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees (you can do 400 but sometimes the vegetables roast too fast) and take out two regular sized cookie sheets. Slice the peppers (I normally cut mine into 8 pieces to do the roasting) and place on a cookie sheet (or baking pan) with the onions and Portobello mushrooms. For the other cookie sheet, prepare the asparagus spears by taking one spear and gently bending it while holding the ends until it breaks. Where it breaks is the length you will cut the remaining spears to. Doing this gets rid of the hardened and bitter ends. (Think the curmudgeonly old man parts of the asparagus.) Place the spears in a single level on the cookie sheet. Over each set of vegetables drizzle (don’t drown) with olive oil and toss to make sure they are all coated (you going to sort of tan them), season with your desired amount of herbal goodness and place in the oven until done. If you are like my daughter, you will want to know what “done” looks like. So to that end, the peppers will soften and blacken around the edges, the mushrooms will become soft shrink and darken, the onions will become translucent and soft and the asparagus spears will shrink, become softer and blacken at the ends. After the vegetables are done, set aside to cool.

Grill instructions:
I have a perforated stainless steel cooking sheet that I use for vegetables on the grill. The difference between the oven and the grill is that I brush them with olive oil and season as I am grilling them but they will look the same when they are done. The grill I normally try for between 350 and 400 degrees and do all the vegetables at the same time and take them off as they get done.

Next, prepare the couscous per the package instructions and while that is happening medium chop the vegetables. When the couscous is done add vegetables and mix until all vegetables are evenly distributed.

If you want this can be served warm (you will most likely need to heat the vegetables up after chopping them while the couscous is cooking) or you can cool everything in the refrigerator for about a half hour and serve tossed with a couple splashes of white balsamic vinegar (or your favorite Italian oil and vinegar dressing).

Enjoy!