Mustard Swordfish Kebabs

Last Year's Post: Prosciutto, Gruyere and Egg Toasts
Two Years Ago:  Cotswold Quiche

I'm surprised I haven't posted this recipe before.  I've had it for at least 20 years and have made it countless times, refining along the way.  The original recipe called for one big swordfish steak, which I modified to individual portions and finally to kebabs, all to get more of the great mustard marinade in every bite.  I also added red onion and zucchini to the kebabs because I'm a vegetable kind of person, but you can change them to any vegetables you like or leave them out entirely.

The kebabs are grilled or broiled so you can make them any time of the year, and they stay moist and juicy on the inside while becoming crusty on the outside with that great mustard flavor.

I knew it was time to make this recipe when I found some beautiful fresh wild swordfish on sale.  If you haven't had swordfish before, it's a mild yet meaty fish that's not oily.  Trim off the skin and the dark red portion before cutting it into chunks.

First you make the spicy mustard sauce, then you make the actual marinade.  The marinade doesn't use all the spicy mustard sauce, but it keeps beautifully and is really good on sandwiches or served with pork or poultry dishes.

The swordfish and vegetables marinate for 20-30 minutes while you preheat the grill or broiler, then you place them on separate skewers because they cook for different times.  I know it's prettier to alternate everything on the same skewer, but then some pieces are either under-cooked or over-cooked.  As a rule of thumb it's always best to put the meat and vegetables on separate skewers whenever you make kebabs.  The Lawyer likes to use two skewers rather than one because it makes the kebabs easier to turn without the individual pieces spinning around.

Served with couscous tossed with parsley and toasted pine nuts, the kebabs make a delicious, fast and healthy meal.

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Mustard Swordfish Kebabs

Serves 4

Note: extra mustard sauce keeps well and is delicious on sandwiches or served with pork or poultry.

For the Spicy Mustard Sauce:

1/3 cup (1 ounce) Coleman’s dry mustard

¼ cup dry sherry

¼ cup Dijon mustard

¼ cup coarse-grained mustard

For the Kebabs

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons Spicy Mustard Sauce (see above)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 pound (1½ – 2” thick) swordfish, trimmed and cut into cubes

1 medium red onion, cut into 1” chunks

1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2” pieces

1 lemon, cut into 4 pieces

Wooden or metal skewers

If using wooden skewers, submerge in water weighted down with a plate for 30-60 minutes prior to assembly.

To prepare the spicy mustard sauce, place the dry mustard in a small bowl and gradually whisk in the sherry to form a smooth thick paste.  Whisk in the Dijon and coarse-grained mustards until well blended.  Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

To prepare the kebabs: in a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of spicy mustard sauce, salt and garlic.  Divide evenly between two quart zip-top bags.  Place the swordfish in one bag and the onion and zucchini in the other.  Seal both bags and toss briefly to coat all ingredients evenly with marinade.  Set aside for 20-30 minutes to marinate.

Meanwhile, heat a grill or broiler on high heat.

After 20-30 minutes, remove the swordfish, onion and zucchini from the bags and place on the skewers.  The swordfish should be placed on skewers by itself and not crowded; the onion and zucchini can be placed on the skewers together.  Sprinkle the skewers with pepper.

Grill or broil the swordfish skewers for 3 minutes per side, turning once.  Grill or broil the vegetable skewers for 4-5 minutes per side, turning once.  

Serve kebabs immediately with lemon on the side.

Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Last Year's Post: Mixed Berry Jalousie
Two Years Ago:  Joanne Chang's Lemon Bars

At one point in my career I reported to a manager who liked to take job applicants to a restaurant for their interview.  Any restaurant would do as long as the food was particularly awkward or messy to eat - spaghetti or tacos, for example.  He claimed he liked to see how the applicants handled a stressful situation and whether they could maintain poise.  I think he just enjoyed watching those fresh young hopefuls struggle not to get spaghetti sauce all over their brand new suits.

Lettuce wraps would have qualified for his list.  They're right up there with tacos in terms of potential for messiness, but they're just as fun as tacos and a whole lot more healthy.  I've been on a major Korean food jag lately so I already had Gochujang paste sitting in my refrigerator for these Korean chicken wraps, but if you aren't familiar with it, you can find it in Asian markets and it looks like this.

It's one of those Korean food staples so if you like Korean food you'll find plenty of uses for it,  like these Korean sliders.  If you really don't want to buy it, you could substitute some other type of hot sauce to approximate the taste.  The overall flavor profile of the marinade should be slightly sweet, moderately spicy, somewhat salty from the soy sauce, and garlicky - classic bold Korean flavors.  The marinade will taste strong on its own but will be diluted somewhat when it's cooked on the chicken and then again when the other ingredients are added to the wraps.

Other than the marinated and cooked chicken, the wraps contain high-fiber brown rice and veggies so they're really good for you.  If you marinate the chicken and cook the rice in advance, they'll take all of ten minutes to make - just slice up the veggies while the chicken cooks.  They're equally good when the rice and chicken are hot, room temperature, or cold and make a great lunch for work the next day.  And they'll provide your co-workers with amusement at the lunch table as they watch you eat.

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Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce plus more for thinning

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 ½ tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic (about 3 large cloves)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

12 Bibb lettuce leaves

24 English cucumber slices

4 radishes, sliced

4 green onions, diagonally sliced

Whisk the first six ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.  Reserve 3 tablespoons of the mixture in a small bowl; thin with a little additional soy sauce (if desired) and set aside.  Pour the remaining mixture into a large zip-top plastic bag and add the chicken slices; seal and toss around to coat.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Cook rice according to package directions.

Remove chicken from bag and discard marinade.  Heat a large skillet over medium heat; add oil to pan and swirl to coat.  Add chicken and coat approximately 2 minutes per side until golden and fully cooked. Sprinkle sesame seeds over chicken. 

To assemble, place 2-3 tablespoons of rice in each lettuce leaf; top with chicken, cucumber, radishes, and green onions.  Serve with reserved soy sauce mix on the side for drizzling.

Prosciutto, Mozzarella and Radicchio Panini

Last Year's Post: Classic Potato Gratin
Two Years Ago:  French Chicken Salad

We went to an outdoor concert the other day and wanted to bring a picnic dinner.  I was inspired to make these Italian sandwiches because they have a most interesting combinations of flavors - definitely a big people kind of sandwich - and it's always good to get out of a sandwich rut.  The prosciutto is salty, the radicchio and arugula are bitter, the balsamic vinegar is sweet, the mozzarella is creamy, and the artichokes are, well, artichokes.  Trust me, it all works together.  The original recipe called it a panini although it wasn't grilled, just served fresh.  In my book paninis are grilled, which has the advantage of sort of gluing the whole sandwich together with cheese.  Otherwise there are a lot of little pieces in the sandwich which could easily fall out.  But, if you don't want to grill the sandwich you certainly don't have to.

Radicchio is that little round red guy in the produce department that sort of looks like a small cabbage.  Marinating it in balsamic vinegar for a few minutes while you assemble the sandwiches takes away some of the bitterness.

After prepping the artichokes and mozzarella, it's just simple assembly and grilling the sandwiches.

Paninis are always delicious hot off the press, but these sandwiches were equally good wrapped up and enjoyed at the concert.  Picnic food!

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Prosciutto, Mozzarella and Radicchio Panini

Makes 6 sandwiches

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ head radicchio

4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto

Two 6-ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced

¼ cup fresh Italian parsley leaves

8 ounces baby arugula

12 slices from a loaf of ciabatta bread

Olive oil spray

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive and balsamic vinegar.  Season with a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Slice the radicchio into thin ribbons.  Add to the vinaigrette and toss together.  Set aside to marinate.

Lay the bread out on a work surface and spray lightly with olive oil spray.  Turn the slices over and layer half the slices in the following order:  prosciutto, artichokes, and mozzarella slices.  Add the parsley leaves to the radicchio mixture, toss to combine, and place on top of the mozzarella.  Finish with the arugula and top with the remaining bread slices, olive oil side up.

Heat a Panini press and grill until the cheese melts and the bread is toasty and golden, about 3-5 minutes.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Labneh

Last Year's Post: Lentil Salad with Bacon and Walnuts
Two Years Ago:  Asian Roast Pork with Broccoli Slaw and Pasta

I have to thank my friend Rita as the inspiration for this particular post.  She brought some appetizers to our house a while back that used Greek yogurt cream cheese, which I hadn't heard of previously.  It was very good and I liked the idea of the product (healthier than cream cheese) so I looked for it in the store.  There are at least two different brands out there and both seem to be a blend of Greek yogurt with cream cheese.  They have the texture of cream cheese but not quite the richness, plus an added tang from the yogurt.

OK, fast forward a few weeks when I stumbled across an article on ways to use yogurt, including making labneh.  Labneh?  Labneh is a cheese made from straining the liquid out of yogurt, popular in the Middle East and Central Asia.  It sounded like the yogurt cream cheese except even better because it doesn't contain cream cheese, so of course I had to try it.

We all know how healthy yogurt is, but what I didn't know is that strained yogurt has a higher protein content and lower sugar/carbohydrate content than regular yogurt. In addition to Labneh, Greek yogurt is also a strained yogurt  unless the label reads "Greek-style" in which case it may be thickened with thickening agents rather than by straining.

The process for making Labneh couldn't be simpler - combine yogurt with a tiny bit of salt, enclose in cheesecloth, and suspend over a bowl in the refrigerator for 24 hours to allow the liquid to drip out and the cheese to thicken.  How thick you want it is entirely up to you - the longer it sits, the thicker it gets.  (If you have a fine mesh strain that hooks over a bowl, you could line it with cheesecloth and use it instead of the wooden spoon trick to suspend the yogurt.)

The result is wonderful - a cream cheese substitute that's actually good for you and delicious at the same time - a total win/win in my book. If you put it in cute little glass jars it makes a great hostess gift.  Here are some ideas for how to use Labneh that you could print on a card to go with the jar:

• Open-faced sandwich with thin toasted bread, labneh, sliced radishes, sea salt.
• Add a bit of brown sugar and some chopped walnuts to labneh, and use to fill pitted dates.
• Stuff peppadews or hollowed-out cherry tomatoes with labneh, garnish with small basil leaf. 
• Place labneh in a shallow bowl, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with za’atar seasoning, serve with toasted pita wedges.
• Serve a dollop on top of quiche or frittata.
• Bagels!
• Slice of rye toast, layer of labneh, layer of fig jam.
• Spoon a dollop on stew, chili or lentil soup.
• Breakfast granola bowl with labneh, granola, fruit, a drizzle of honey.

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Labneh

Makes about 2 cups

Note:  Full-fat yogurt really is better to give the cheese richness.  Don’t substitute low-fat or non-fat.

  

32 ounces plain full-fat yogurt

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

 Line a deep bowl with a triple layer of cheesecloth.  Stir the salt into the yogurt and spoon into the cheesecloth.  Gather the top of the cloth together and tie with a string.  Tie the neck of the bundle to a wooden spoon that’s long enough to set across the top of the bowl. Use the spoon to hang the bundle over the bowl making sure the bottom of the cheesecloth is suspended a couple of inches above the bottom of the bowl.  Cover the whole thing with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.  Check to see if you like the consistency of the cheese – if you want it even thicker you can refrigerate it longer,  it’s all a matter of preference.

Remove the cheese from the cloth and store in glass or plastic containers in the refrigerator.

Citizen Public House Chopped Salad

Last Year's Post:  Filipino Chicken Adobo
Two Years Ago:   Egg Gratin

Citizen Public House is a very popular Phoenix restaurant, and this is by far the most popular dish on their menu.  It's so popular that when they opened a second restaurant concept they had to offer it at there as well.  The salad even has its own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheOriginalChoppedSalad .  And the owner has been interviewed on television while making the salad.  So, that was enough for me!  We made it for a recent girls' getaway weekend and all four of us loved it, even Michelle who claims she's never had salmon before. (I mean, really.)

I was slightly skeptical because the combination of ingredients is pretty unusual, especially the "trail mix" of aged Asiago cheese, toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and currants.  Not to mention the freeze-dried corn, which turns out to be very light and crunchy sort of like popcorn. You'll find it in bags in the produce section of upscale grocery stores, and I think Whole Foods carries it as well.  Don't be tempted to leave it out because it's important to the overall mix of flavors and textures.

Speaking of the overall mix, there's a lot going on in this salad but magically it somehow all comes together really well.  Creamy, crunchy, sweet, smoky, bitter, herbal - it's got it all.  If you're not a fan of salmon, try it anyway - it doesn't overwhelm the other ingredients and it does add a nice smokiness.  The chef who created it said he doesn't even usually like salmon but does like it in this salad.  Use hot-smoked salmon, not cold-smoked.  What's the difference?  Hot-smoked salmon is darker on top from the smoke, and is flaky.  Cold-smoked salmon is light in color, soft in texture, and typically sliced into very thin slices much like lox.

Although there are a number of ingredients, you only have to cook the couscous and make the dressing in the blender.  After that, it's just shredding cheese, chopping veggies, and assembling everything.  It's actually very easy.

My suggestion is to cook the couscous in advance so it has time to cool.  It keeps well in the refrigerator covered.  I don't suggest making the dressing in advance because I discovered it thickens when stored in the refrigerator.  If you really need to make it an hour or so early, be sure to stir it well after removing it from the refrigerator and thin if necessary with a little water or additional lemon juice.

This is definitely a company-worthy salad both in terms of presentation and taste, but easy enough to make for your family.  And healthy!

Note:  I slightly adapted the original recipe because it didn't state the number of servings, and to make it a little more clear.  Otherwise it's identical.  Because it's a restaurant recipe, the servings are quite generous.  If desired, you could cut down the amounts of each ingredient a little to make smaller servings.

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Citizen Public House Chopped Salad

Serves 4 generously

Dressing:
1 ½ cups mayo
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 ½ Tbsp. Pecorino Romano cheese
Juice of 1 large lemon
18 basil leaves
1 ½ tsp. minced garlic

Trail mix:

1 cup black currants
1 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
¾ cup ground aged Asiago cheese

Tomato mix:

2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

 2 tablespoons olive oil

Four large basil leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups smoked salmon, flaked
2 ½ cups freeze-dried corn
2 ½ cups chopped arugula
2 ½ cups cooked Israeli (pearl) couscous

 Combine all dressing ingredients thoroughly in blender and set aside. Toss all trail mix ingredients together in one bowl, and all tomato mix ingredients in a second bowl.  To assemble the salads, divide ingredients evenly between four plates and assemble in strips in the following order: salmon, couscous, arugula, trail mix, corn, and tomato mix.  Serve with dressing on the side or drizzled over the top.

Lemon Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl

Last Year's Post: Sausage Rolls with Mustard Cheese Dipping Sauce
Two Years Ago:  Hibachi Shrimp, Chicken or Beef

Chinese takeout has the benefits of being fast, easy and good-tasting.  It also has the downsides of fat, calories, high sodium and potential additives such as MSG.  Making your own takeout has the benefit of being healthy at the same time as delicious, and you can control exactly what does or doesn't go into it.

This recipe tastes much like a popular dish from a chain restaurant, but it uses lower-sodium soy sauce, high-fiber brown rice, a light hand with the sauce and lots of veggies to amp up the healthy quotient.  Starting from scratch it takes a little under an hour to prepare, mostly because brown rice needs to cook for 45 minutes.  If you're going to be pressed for time, cook the rice in advance and just reheat it - then it will take 15-20 minutes to prepare the remaining ingredients.

As always, feel free to substitute any vegetable or combination of vegetables that you like for the broccolini - green beans, asparagus, carrots, edamame, pea pods or kale would all work well and add good nutrition.  Just throw them in boiling water briefly until crisp-tender (well, edamame never get crisp-tender but you get the idea).

  

Another secret is to use chicken cutlets instead of chicken breasts in this or any other recipe that calls for them.  Like everything else, chickens have grown in size to the point that it's very difficult to find anything other than very large chicken breasts which are too big for a reasonable individual serving.  Cutting them in half horizontally to make two thinner chicken cutlets does several good things - it cuts the calories in half, it shortens cooking time, and it stretches your shopping dollar.  Best of all, no one will know and they'll still be completely satisfied.  I used one chicken breast and cut it in half to serve two people; you can't tell from the pictures or the serving size, can you?  P.S. Chicken cutlets can be purchased at the store, but they're more expensive per pound than chicken breasts.  Buy the chicken breasts and cut them yourself.

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Lemon Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl

Serves 4

1 cup brown rice, uncooked

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

½ teaspoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

4 teaspoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon canola oil

12 ounces broccolini, cut into 2” pieces

4 lemon wedges, for garnish

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Extra soy sauce

Preheat the oven to 400d.

Cook the brown rice according to package directions.  While the rice is cooking, prepare the sauce and cook the chicken and broccolini.  To prepare the sauce, combine the soy sauce and cornstarch in a small saucepan, stirring with a whisk.  Add the dark brown sugar, mirin and lemon juice; bring to a boil.  Cook 1 minute or until thickened.  Set aside.

Cut each chicken breast into two thin cutlets to make four total.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Heat a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat, then add the canola oil to the pan and swirl to coat.  Add the chicken to the pan and cook 4 minutes, until golden on the bottom.  Flip the chicken and drizzle 1 tablespoon of the sauce mixture on top.  Place the pan in the oven and bake for 4-5 minutes until done.  Place the chicken on a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes.  Cut chicken into slices.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil; add the broccolini and cook for 3 minutes.  Drain.

To assemble, divide the rice between four bowls, top with the broccolini and chicken pieces.  Drizzle with the remaining sauce.  Garnish with lemon wedges and toasted sesame seeds.

Serve, passing soy sauce on the side for those who might want extra.

Mushroom & Pea Risotto

Last Year's Post: Chicken Parmesan with Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce
Two Years Ago:  Orange Pecan Salmon with Three Pea Salad

As a former food company marketer, I have a pet peeve about recipes looking the way they should if you followed the recipe exactly - not prettied up just for publication.  I was attracted to the picture of this recipe, which looked much like the one above but it didn't match the recipe.  As written, the mushrooms were supposed to be cooked in the risotto and the peas stirred in at the end, which would definitely not showcase either ingredient on top of the rice.  So I re-wrote the recipe to match the image and was happy with the results - particularly with the nutty, caramelized cremini mushrooms.  This is a very satisfying dish although it's vegetarian, but you could always add cooked chicken or Italian sausage if you prefer.  It has a light, springtime feel with the peas and chives that could be accented even further if you wanted to add some asparagus.  And it's a one-pot meal, even better.

Stirring risotto does take some time, but I find it oddly soothing especially if you've had a hard day.  And it only takes about 30 minutes to stir, which isn't bad.  Start by cleaning and trimming the mushrooms, then cut them into wedges through the stem - four, six or eight wedges, depending on the size of the mushroom, to end up with pieces that are roughly even in size.

The mushrooms are cooked first to achieve the nutty brown caramelization - they give up their water and shrink considerably during the process.  Don't be tempted to stir continuously, just let them brown before turning over to brown on the other side.

After the mushrooms are browned, they're removed and you start adding layers of flavor to the risotto with shallot, garlic, wine, rice, chicken broth and Gruyere cheese.  Some of the peas get stirred in at the end, and some go on top with the mushrooms and chives.  Easy, light and delicious for (almost) spring.

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Mushroom & Pea Risotto

Serves 2

8 oz cremini mushrooms, cleaned and stems trimmed

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if necessary

1 large shallot, minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 qt chicken stock

¾ cup Arborio rice

¼ cup white wine

¾ cup frozen peas, thawed

½ cup grated Gruyere cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons chopped chives, for garnish

Cutting the mushrooms into wedges through the stem (like a pie), cut small ones into four pieces, medium into six pieces, and large mushrooms into 8 pieces so all pieces are roughly the same size. At the same time, heat the chicken stock in a saucepan to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to maintain a simmer.

In a large sauté pan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the mushrooms and sauté on the first side without stirring until browned, about 4-5 minutes, then turn and sauté on a second side until browned, another 4 minutes or so.  Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.  Turn the heat down to medium and add shallots and garlic to the same pan, adding a small amount of more olive oil if the pan seems dry, and sauté for 3 minutes.  Add the rice and let toast for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the wine and stir well. Cook until the wine is absorbed and the pan is almost dry, about 2 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low.  Add one large ladle (about 1 cup) of the simmering chicken stock to the rice and stir continuously until the broth is absorbed and the pan is almost dry.  Add another ladle of stock and continue stirring until almost dry once more.  Continue the process until all the stock is absorbed and the risotto is creamy, about 25-35 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Add half of the peas and the grated Gruyere to the risotto and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on two individual plates or in shallow bowls, then top with the remaining peas, the mushrooms, and chives for garnish.  Serve immediately.