Pierogies with Kielbasa and Caramelized Onions

Some people would say that there are two primary food groups in Pittsburgh: meat and potatoes. There's a certain comfort to eating these types of meals, and it makes me feel at home. But there's just something about starch wrapped in starch with tube meat that gets me infinitely more excited than your standard comfort food fare. So last week, I finally cooked the frozen pierogies that I picked up while home in Pittsburgh over the holidays. And these ain't no Mrs. T's. These were large and in charge and made by the Polish ladies of Pierogies Plus in Pittsburgh. Seriously, they are the best. You should order some of these. http://pierogiesplus.com/

Pierogies with Kielbasa and Caramelized Onions (serves 4...but let's be real...more like two hungry people)

Ingredients:

• 3 TB olive oil, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lb frozen potato and cheddar pierogies, do not thaw
• 1 lb kielbasa, sliced, any variety will work
• 2 TB apple cider vinegar
• 2 TB whole grain mustard
• fresh parsley, chopped for garnish (optional)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, heat 2 T olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, stirring occasionally, until they turn a golden color, about 15-20 minutes. Spread pierogies on top of onions in a single layer. Lower heat to medium, cover pan and let cook another 5 minutes, stirring every other minute. Add sausage slices and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until pierogies and sausage are cooked through and starting to turn golden brown.

 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together vinegar, mustard and remaining 1 TB olive oil.

Add dressing to pan with the sausages, pierogies and onions and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper, if needed. I did not add salt because this was plenty salty enough. And I LOVE salt!

 

Garnish with parsley, if you want.

Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad

God Bless America...and the potato!

This holiday weekend, I granted myself a hall pass on healthy eating. Because seriously, with piles and piles of meat, grilled food, cookies, etc., it would be impossible to stick to any sort of diet. However, I tried to do my part when preparing food for a 4th of July bash at my friends' house. I was given an explicit request to not make something with mayo (or suspended in JELL-O). This was an easy request to fulfill since I too am not a fan of either, but I did want to make something fairly traditional for the holiday. I found this great potato salad recipe that did not call for mayo, but mustard, which is one of my favorite condiments of all time. So I present you the red, white and blue potato salad. Great flavor (especially when you let it sit in the fridge for a bit before serving) and quick side dish to make for your next BBQ. I adapted this recipe from one found on my friend Nick's blog: www.macheesmo.com.

 

Red, White and Blue Potato Salad (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes, chopped (I opted for a bag of red, white and blue potatoes)  
• 1/2 cup diced red onions   
• 2 stalks celery, diced   
• 2 TB capers   
• 1/4 cup olive oil   
• 1/4 cup stone ground mustard   
• 2 TB honey  
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop potatoes into about 1/2 inch pieces and boil in salted water until tender, about 8-10 minutes.

Dice up red onion and celery.

In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil with mustard and honey.

When potatoes are done, drain well and add to bowl with other veggies. Pour in dressing and stir well to mix.

Add capers and season salad with salt and pepper.

Chicken with Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Sauce

Every so often, one craves comfort food. Even when the weather gets warmer. My culinary pursuits have changed drastically over the years, and I now take comfort in foods that are hearty, complex, and often involve pork products. However, my tastes didn't always run this way. I grew up on chicken and potatoes. For a while, I didn't eat many things out of the white/yellow color spectrum. Which is sad really, but I fortunately grew out of it. But this week I acquired a large amount of rosemary and lemons. So when life (or your friend Vickie) gives you lemons (and rosemary) you make a roast chicken dish. And so I did.

Chicken with Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Sauce (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pounds small new potatoes such as Red Bliss
• 2 large lemons
• Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing on lemons, plus 1/4 cup Gray salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 boneless chicken breast halves, skin on
• 1 TB minced garlic
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 TB finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 TB unsalted butter (optional)

Directions:

Put the potatoes in a pot of salted cold water and bring to a boil. Cook until just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and let cool, but do not peel. Cut in half and set aside.

Preheat the broiler. Cut a small slice off both ends of each lemon, then cut in half crosswise. Arrange the lemons, flesh side up, in a flameproof non-reactive baking dish, brush with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Broil 6 inches or more from the heat until browned and soft, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Squeeze the lemon halves over a sieve suspended over a bowl. Push and stir the pulp through the sieve with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Discard the lemon shells.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a large ovenproof saute
 pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the chicken, lower the heat to medium, and cook, turning once, until brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove to a platter.

Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring and tossing, until brown all over, about 5 minutes. Drain off the excess oil. Arrange the chicken breasts on top of the potatoes and place in the oven to reheat and cook through, about 10 minutes.

When done, remove the chicken to a platter and put the pan with the potatoes over medium-high heat. Toss well so the pan juices are absorbed into the potatoes. Scrape the potatoes out of the pan onto the platter around the chicken.

Return the pan to medium-high heat and add the garlic. Sauté briefly until light brown. Immediately add the reserved roasted lemon juice (this final flash of heat will cook off any residual acid flavor), stock, rosemary, and parsley. Stir and scrape up all the browned bits that cling to the bottom and sides of the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If the sauce tastes too lemony, stir in the optional butter. Pour the sauce over the chicken and potatoes and serve immediately.

You'll notice that the sauce is pretty much invisible in this dish. I found it very flavorful, but runny. Perhaps less chicken stock, or adding cornstarch would have done the trick.

Scalloped New Potatoes

I spent a week in Pittsburgh for the holidays. My initial intent was to cook for the family several times during the course of the week, but I only ended up cooking a full meal twice. I did assist my mother in the kitchen on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, contributing to the making of this potato dish.

It should come as no surprise to my readers from the burgh that we like our potatoes in this state. I think I had potatoes 3 ways over the course of the week. This recipe, that my mother has had cut out from a magazine from December 1999 takes a different approach to regular scallop potatoes, making them lighter, and adding a bunch of vegetables.

Scalloped New Potatoes (serves 8)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. tiny new potatoes, sliced
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 TB margarine or butter
• 3 TB all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 3/4 cups milk (we used 1%)
• 6 cups torn spinach, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 small red sweet pepper, cut into matchstick strips
• 3/4 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 2 quart oval or rectangular baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. 

In a large saucepan cook potatoes, covered, in a moderate amount of boiling salted water for 5 minutes or until just tender. Drain and transfer to an extra large mixing bowl. In the same saucepan cook onion and garlic in 2 TB of margarine over medium heat for 5 minutes or until just tender. Stir in flour, rosemary, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir in milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

**Note that my mom has said that every time she makes this, she doesn't feel this is enough sauce. So we did 1 1/2 times as much of this milk sauce, but if you want to keep the calories/fat down slightly, you may want to follow the recipe.  Just know that the sauce won't cover as much as you expect.

Add spinach and red pepper to potatoes. Toss gently to combine. Pour sauce over potato mixture. Stir gently until evenly coated. Transfer potato mixture to prepared baking dish. The dish will be very full.

Sprinkle cheese evenly over top. Melt the remaining 1 TB margarine. Add bread crumbs, tossing to coat. Sprinkle over cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and crumbs are golden. Serve.
 

German-style Potato Salad

In a few days, we'll be celebrating our nation's birthday. In addition to blatant displays of patriotism and fireworks in the air, a large amount of tube meat, desserts and side salads will be on display across the country. I plan to spend the ridiculous heat at a few cookouts and at a Nationals game. I'll be making dishes for those events later this week, but for now, here is a lighter version of a traditional German-style potato salad which you might like to make for your festivities this week. There are all sorts of potato salads out there, but I tend to like the vinegar-based types. Plus with the heat (we're expecting 97 degrees in DC for the 4th) I feel a bit more comfortable avoiding mayo.

Now, this is a Cooking Light recipe and it uses minimal fat to cook, keeping the calories and fat levels down. However, this recipe says it serves 6. And I call bullshit on that. I think what they say is 6 people, is more like 3-4 friends of mine. So adjust accordingly.

German-style Potato Salad (serves 6...toddlers)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb fingerling potatoes (I used red potatoes)
• 2 slices center-cut bacon
• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 TB cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1/3 cup sliced green onions

Directions:

Place a saucepan filled two-thirds with water over high heat. Cut potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Add potatoes to pan; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high; cook 5 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Cook bacon over medium-high until crisp; crumble. Add olive oil to drippings in pan. ­Return pan to medium-high. Add brown sugar, minced garlic, and Dijon; cook 1 minute. Add vinegar; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in pepper and salt. Combine sugar mixture, potatoes, and green onions. Top with bacon and mix.

Mini Bacon and Potato Frittatas

This weekend I had eight of my girlfriends over for a housewarming brunch at my new condo. At this point I've been in the condo 8 months, yet few of my friends have seen it. A large part of that is because it's a pretty small condo. That and over the years this set of girlfriends have spread out to various parts of Virginia and DC making it harder sometimes to get everyone together. But I'm so glad I did...the food and company were great. I made three different dishes which will serve as my posts for this week so that I can eat boring things like salads to jumpstart my healthier eating this week. Speaking of healthy, this recipe for mini bacon and potato frittatas is a Cooking Light recipe and turned out really tasty. We dolloped a little sour cream on top and these went FAST.

Mini Bacon and Potato Frittatas (makes 36)

Ingredients

2 cups finely chopped peeled baking potato (about 12 ounces)

5 bacon slices (uncooked)

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 tsp salt, divided

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/2 cup chopped fresh chives, divided

2 TB grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

7 large egg whites, lightly beaten

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Cooking spray

6 TB light sour cream

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place potato in a medium saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 4 minutes or until almost tender. Drain.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add potato, onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and thyme to drippings in pan; cook 8 minutes or until potato is lightly brown over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; cool.

Combine the potato mixture, bacon, remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons chives, cheese, pepper, egg whites, and eggs, stirring well with a whisk. Coat 36 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon about 1 tablespoon egg mixture into each muffin cup. Bake at 375° for 16 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool 5 minutes on a wire rack. Remove frittatas from muffin cups. Top each with 1/2 teaspoon sour cream and 1/2 teaspoon chives.

Smoked Paprika Roasted Salmon with Chive Pesto Fingerling Potatoes

So this meal came about in a roundabout way as I wouldn't normally put these two items together. Long story short, I found myself near a Whole Foods and like a moth to the flame, I was drawn in to Whole Paycheck (as I affectionately call it) for some divine foodie inspiration chock full of fresh herbs and produce I would never find in my neighborhood Giant.

The fish at Whole Foods is always stellar, so I picked up a sockeye salmon fillet. I also saw a small bag of fingerling potatoes and remembered a recipe that my friend Nick had on his blog. Seeing as it would be a long time before I could afford another trip back to Whole Foods, I decided to make this dish as well. The one really awesome (and somewhat cost effective) item at Whole Foods is the raw nut bar where you can buy by the ounce. This comes particularly in handy when buying an expensive item that I would need very little of for this recipe...pine nuts. So I took my overpriced but highly tasty groceries home and made this great meal for myself.

Smoked Paprika Roasted Salmon  (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 TB olive oil
• 2 TB thyme
• 1 pound of salmon fillets
• 1 TB brown sugar
• 1TB smoked paprika
• 1tsp saigon cinnamon
• 1 tsp grated orange peel
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions:

Mix orange juice, 2 TB oil and 1 tsp of thyme in small bowl. Place salmon in large glass dish. Add marinade, turn to coat well. Cover, refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.

Mix sugar, smoked paprika, cinnamon, orange peel, remaining 1 tsp of thyme and sea salt in small bowl. remove salmon from marinade. Place salmon in greased foil lined baking pan. Discard any remaining marinade. Rub top of salmon evenly with smoked paprika mixture.

Roast salmon in preheated 400 degree oven 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.


Chive Pesto Fingerling Potatoes (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes
3 TB olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 Cup fresh chives, chopped
1/2 Cup fresh flat leaf parsley
2 TB pine nuts
1 large garlic clove
1/2 Cup olive oil
1 TB lemon juice

Instructions:

To prep potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and toss with 1 TB olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay potatoes on baking sheet at 425 degrees for 35 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes to allow for even cooking.

To make pesto, combine chives, parsley, pine nuts, garlic clove, and 2 TB olive oil in a food processor to blend until its a coarse paste. Once processed, add lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste.

Once potatoes are done, toss with the pesto and serve.