Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! It's been a long hiatus for me, I've been travelling quite a bit for my work; last week I broke 5 weeks of being on the road. Since it's my first post of the year, I want to share not only a yummy recipe but also some thoughts on side benefits of paleo.

I find it quite interesting that since I started cooking paleo, I feel a need to continuous need switch up recipes and come up with new interesting food. If I look back at my non paleo cooking days,  there was a definite trend in my diet: rice! I love rice and practically grew up eating chinese food. White rice and then later brown rice had become a daily staple of my diet. It was easy to prepare 2 cups of rice in my rice cooker and then prepare veggies and meat to go along. I cooked a tremendous amount of asian inspired dishes: thai curries, indian curries, korean stews... On the other hand, my mom grew up in the italian part of Switzerland and thought me italian cooking. I love fresh pasta, ravioli, tortellini, and lasagna. 

Wheat and rice ... two of my previous daily staples are not part of paleo. I always tried to cook at least one vegetable along with meat or several vegetables on their own but it was rare for me to only make meat and veggies or just veggies except on nights I made a salad or potatoes. 

So back to my original thought, since going paleo, I switched from a diet consisting of staple meals with a little variation here and there, to a much more balanced and varied meal plan. Somehow not being able to use the same ingredients pushed me to reinvent my cooking style. Now I could have chosen some new staples and then continued cooking the same recipes over and over again: turkey salad for lunch, and fish and vegetables (both from the frozen section) for dinner. Now instead, to make it more fun or I guess more exciting to switch lifestyles, I have realized that I have been cooking with a lot more varied ingredients and following seasonal availability more closely. Although I would love to go fully locavore and seasonal, I believe it would be quite tough at the moment combining it with paleo.

Another benefit from paleo has been that my increased time cooking has helped me increase my knife skills, mise en place and refine my cooking techniques. Wait a second? Am I saying that spending more time in the kitchen has been a benefit?  Absolutely. I have always prided myself in being able to put together some very tasty meals in little time, a skill that my mom has always stressed upon as being critical when you have hungry children crying for food (or a hungry spouse). My switch to paleo has pushed me to consistently cook breakfast, lunch and dinner (or enough dinner for the next day lunch).  When you spend a lot more time in the kitchen, it pushes you to pay more attention to important details like mise en place. Do 3 trips to the refrigerator increase your prep time? Yes. Does having all your ingredients laid out and cut properly reduce your cooking time? Yes. Do better knife skills help? Yes. These are all logical answers, but it's not until one has to that one usually pays full attention to detail.

So back to the recipe: Leftover roast with seasonal vegetables. 

Ingredients

1/2 lb cleaned brussel sprouts

1/2 butternut squash cleaned and sliced

1/4 cup roasted pine nuts

a handful of raisins

Leftover meat (turkey, roast, etc.)

1 diced tomato

1/2 diced onion

1 diced garlic

a dash pepper

1/4 cup fresh parsley

Instructions

Start to make the salsa for the roast by cooking the onions until translucent in a pot with a little oil. Add the garlic and after a minute the diced tomato. Allow the salsa to boil then reduce to a simmer. Add the pepper and the parsley. You can add any other ingredients to flavor the salsa: red peppers, cumin, oregano. Put a pot of water to boil for the squash. Add the sliced squash and cook until squash is tender. 

Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp of oil (I like to use a flaxseed/olive oil blend or coconut oil) in a pan. Add the brussel sprouts and let them roast for about 5 mins. Once they are slightly browned, add about 2 tbsp of water and cover to allow the brussel sprouts to steam. This process takes about 10 extra minutes. I like to determine readiness by tasting or frequently checking tenderness. Brussel sprouts also release a very distinct aroma once they are done. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the raisins to allow them to soak up some of the juices. To serve, toss the pine nuts with the brussel sprouts. 

Finally heat up the roast slices in a preheated cooking pan. You can use a little oil or use the cooking juices instead. Remember you are just reheating the meat, do not overcook it and do not allow it to dry out.

Grass-fed beef sirloin tip roast

  I got this roast at the Dickinson's Farmstand in Chelsea Market. The meat they sell are from local farms. The butcher shop is filled with great looking meat cuts, homemade sausages and condiments. When I walked in, the first thing that struck me was the delicious smell of smoked meat and the sound of meat being butchered. The whole space is open and the butchers were working on beef ribs.

I decided to buy a roast that I could cook in the oven and then enjoy for a couple of days. Grass-fed beef is leaner than regular beef.

Ingredients:

3 lb roast

1 onion, cut in 6 

1 sliced carrot

2 turnips, cut in cubes

1/3 cup red wine

1 cup water

olive oil

rosemary

herbes de provence

chopped parsley

Instructions:

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Rub the roast with olive oil and the dried herbs.  Combine the ingredients in the baking pan. Bake in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half, until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees. Baste the meat every 20 min to make sure it does not dry out.This delicious roast will last for a couple of days and is a great snack or lunch option.

Baked chicken with root vegetables

I like to multi-task and use the oven for multiple dishes when possible. So at the same time I cooked my salmon, I cooked my chicken breasts with root vegetables. This lasted us for 3 meals 1/2. I had a family pack of skinless chicken breasts. I used a recipe that I love for shredded chicken and added the vegetables to create a complete meal. 

Ingredients: 

Chicken breasts (as many as you like)

2 tsp pepper

3 tbsp chopped parlsey

2 tbsp olive oil (or canola, flaxseed oil)

2 parsnips, cut in cubes

2 turnips, cut in cubes

1 onion, cut in 4

5 whole cloves garlic

1 carrot sliced

optional: chili flakes

Instructions:

Rub the chicken with olive oil and pepper. Place it in the oven pan and sprinkle with parsley. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and place in 350 degree preheated oven. After 30 min, add the vegetables and allow to cook for one more hour.

Your chicken should come out easily shreddable and juicy. This is a very low maintenance recipe with great results. Cooking many chicken breasts at a time allows for easy take to work lunches. You could swap the chicken for turkey breasts and add vegetables or your choice.

Walnut dill crusted salmon

Some people get sweet cravings, I get fish cravings. It started at lunch when I was thinking of what to cook for dinner. Luckily I remembered that I had bought a frozen salmon fillet from Trader Joe's a couple of weeks ago. Since the age of 12, I've had a shellfish allergy. It was quite a plague as I loved lobster, crab and shrimp. Growing up in the South of France, near the Mediterranean Sea, my family ate a lot of fish and shellfish. When my allergy developed and worsened, my dad made it a point to buy me salmon when he'd buy shrimp for the rest of the family. I've loved it ever since.

Fish is usually fast and easy to cook. It's easy to overcook so one has to pay attention during the cooking process. I took my unfrozen salmon, laid it on a baking sheet lined by aluminium foil. Sprinkled it some olive oil, crushed walnuts and chopped dill. I had a family recipe that I had been using for years for my salmon but it called for bread crumbs and butter. I wanted a nice crust for my fish so thought of using nuts. Walnuts are very nutritious and they have one of the best omega 6 to omega 3 ratios. Dill pairs great with fish. I baked the salmon for about 20 min in a 350 degree oven. 

I wanted to keep the side dishes simple to keep the salmon as the center of the dish. I tossed arugula salad with flaxseed oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder and some pine nuts and I roasted some brussel sprouts for about 15 min. After the first 8 min of roasting the brussel sprouts, I added some water to the pan, and cover it to let the brussel sprouts steam. The complete dinner took about 30 min: 10 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. You can serve this dish hot or cold. It makes a very good brown bad next day lunch. 

Pork belly with Bak choy

So I am not entirely sure how 100% paleo my last two dinners were. In both, I used fattier meat. The lamb was farm raised and grassfed, which usually ensures a lesser fat content. However ground meat is higher in fat unless specified otherwise. I am still reading Cordain's book to check certain facts about allowed foods.

Thai clam chowder and lamb burger

Sometimes I get into a bit of a "Top Chef" mood and I think of hyper-complicated menus. I worked with the ingredients I had in my kitchen and worked backwards to create our dinner:
 - 6 clams
- coconut milk
- lamb ground meat
- spaghetti squash
I think it is very important to be able to think backwards and think of a dish from the ingredients available instead of thinking of a specific recipe and then getting all the ingredients. Or maybe I just watch "Chopped" too much...

Thai clam chowder

Ingredients
6 clams
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
1 carrot, cut in slices
2 turnips, cut in cubes
1/2 cup onion, chopped thinely
a bunch cilantro
3 tbsp yellow thai red curry sauce
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp olive oil
chili flakes to taste

Directions
Heat the oil and then add onions, carrots and turnips. After about 5-10 min, add the coconut milk, chicken stock, thai sauce and chili flakes. Let the soup base cook for about 10 min then add the white wine. Cook over low heat until vegetables are soft.
When you are ready to add the clams, add chopped cilantro to the soup base and increase the heat to bring it to a boil. Add the clams to the soup, cover and let cook until the clams open. Remove all the open clams until they are all cooked. This will prevent from overcooking some of the clams and under-cooking others. I like to remove the clams from the shell before serving.
In the end, we also added the zucchini chips that were supposed to go with the burger in the soup. The turnips were a great alternative to potatoes. You could adapt this recipe and make a traditional clam chowder instead.

Lamb burger with zucchini chips

Ingredients Lamb patty: Ground lamb meat 1 thinly chopped onion 1 thinly chopped mushroom 1 egg yolk pepper Zucchini chips: 1 zucchini thinly sliced a dash lemon juice 1/2 tbsp olive oil pepper chopped dill Spaghetti Squash patty: 2 cups cooked spaghetti squash 1 tbsp coconut flour 1 egg yolk

Directions

For the burgers, mix the ingredients together, then make equal sized patties. Cook over medium-high heat until cooked.
For the patty, use the same directions: mix all the ingredients together then create patties and cook in a medium-high pan with some olive oil. It shouldn't take more than 3-5 min on each side.
Finally for the zucchini chips, toss the sliced zucchini with the olive oil, lemon, dill and seasoning. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dispose the chips in an oven pan evenly so that they overlay minimally. Bake in the oven for about 14 min.

Beef liver with caramelized onions and apples, radish/parsnip/carrots puree and mustard greens

Grass-fed beef liver is loaded with healthy Omega 3, iron, B vitamins and CLA. I love liver. My mom and dad have cooked liver for us as long as I can remember, mostly veal and chicken liver. I couldn't find any chicken liver at the Farmer's market yesterday and the rabbit guys are only there on Fridays. According to them, rabbit liver is delicious. In the meantime, I got beef liver from Grazin' Acres Angus farm. I have been buying their meat regularly and the quality has never failed to impress me. Liver is easy and fast to cook which makes it a perfect protein to cook for people who have limited time in the kitchen or kitchen novices. This whole recipe is extremely easy to cook and yields a great tasty dinner.

Ingredients: 

Beef liver
Grass-fed beef liver, 1 or 2 thinly cut slices per person
coconut flour
dried thyme

Caramelized onions and apples
2 large onions
2 small gala apples
a couple of pepper corns
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup stock (chicken or vegetable)

Puree
2 turnips
2 parsnips
2 carrots


Mustard greens
Bunch mustard greens cut coarsely
1/3 cup bacon
olive oil
3 garlic gloves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable according to taste)

Instructions: 

I had leftover root vegetable puree which I reheated. The recipe couldn't be simpler. Wash, peel and cut the vegetables (carrots, turnips, parsnips) into cubes. Add them to a pot of boiling water and boil until soft (I know this is vague but I always time by checking if a fork goes through the veggies easily instead of precise time). Use a colander to drain the vegetables then put them in a mixing bowl. I use a little bit of almond milk but you could save a little bit of the cooking water to soften the mixture when blending the vegetables into a puree. I have been using a stick hand blender for years.

Dice the onions, and cut the apples in thin wedges. Heat the olive oil in a stainless steel wok or skillet. Add the onions and let them caramelize over medium heat. Add the apples and the pepper corns to the mixture. When the apples' texture changes to a soft texture, add the stock and reduce the heat to let the mixture simmer. You can let this simmer until the dish is ready to serve.

In a heavy pot, heat the oil and then add the bacon. I use a Canadian low fat bacon. If you were using traditional bacon, do not use oil but use the bacon oil instead. With the Canadian bacon, saute the bacon for about a minute before adding the mustard greens and stirring them until they wilt. Add the seasoning and chicken broth. Reduce over medium heat, cover and stir occasionally. I cook my greens for about 20-30 mins but you could let them cook until all the liquid is evaporated.

The liver is easy to cook. Mix the coconut flour and the dried thyme in a plate. Dredge the liver in the flour mix and then transfer in a preheated skillet (with either coconut or olive oil). Liver cooks fast. Brown on both sides. It should take about 3 mins a side to cook the liver through.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Clams with chestnut gnocchi

I love chestnuts. They remind me of my grandmother. She lives in Switzerland, in the beautiful region of Ticino. She has a beautiful stone house in the mountains overlooking the Lago Maggiore.
When we visited when I was young, I would run around and gather chestnuts, which my grandmother would use to bake cakes or simply roast.

Chestnut trees are beautiful. And chestnuts are fun to collect. We would use some to make little toys with matches: chestnuts pigs, chestnut sheep and goats. I took this picture last September when I visited. The tree to the right is the same tree I used to collect chestnuts from and to the left is the pumpkin patch.

When we started to eat paleo, I thought of chestnuts and how they are used in multiple recipes in the Ticino region: chestnut cakes, roasted chestnuts, boiled chestnuts, etc.
I was lucky to find chestnuts at Fairway market and used them to bake a chocolate chestnut cake. It took a long time to put together but it was very satisfying. It is not easy to find raw chestnuts but a number of places carry either canned or steamed chestnuts, like Trader Joe's.
I found chestnut flour after a bit of research at Buon Italia, in Chelsea market in NYC. Amazon sells it too.

Now back to the recipe: Clams with chestnut gnocchis.

The chestnut gnocchis are easy to cook:
100g of chestnut flour
1 large egg
1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
1 teaspoon of dried herbs

Mix everything in a bowl, then coat your hands with flour and roll spoonfuls into equal size rolls. Once all the dough is used up, cut the rolls to form little gnocchis. Boil in hot water for two minutes.
The gnocchi come out a little sweet, it is a good combination for a salty dish.

For the clams, I adapted the following recipe from Food Network. I bought the clams at the Farmer's market in Union Square, they were delicious! The recipe called for 6 mins only in the broth. I let my clams cook a little longer, some of them needed at least 10-12 mins to open up. 

And here is the end result: