Move Over Tom Colicchio...

Okay, that was a joke. I actually L-O-V-E Tom Colicchio and his sandwich shop 'Wichcraft. I'm obsessed. That obsession has made me a little cash poor these days. With a new apartment looming over head it's important that I take a better look at the money I spend on eating out. Because of that, I've had to come up with my own version of 'Wichcraft's marinated chick peas. I'm not saying that it's the same-it's not. I don't even know what Tom puts in his garbanzos. This is my recipe for

Three Beans;Marinated (like the name?)

oh, Tom-If you read this by some strange stretch, let me know what you think. And again. I love you.

For this Recipe You Will Need

1 Can of Garbanzo Beans

1/2 Cup of Edamame

1/4 Cup Fava Beans

1-2 tablespoons chopped Cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 Tomato-seeded and chopped

1/2 Hot Pepper (I used the variety from my garden-it's about the size of a ping pong ball)

Cumin

Celery Seed

Salt and Pepper

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

-In a Large bowl mix the beans and vegetables together.

-In a separate bowl whisk the Cumin, Celery Seed, Lemon, and Olive oil until ingredients are incorporated.

-Pour the vinaigrette over the Bean mixture and stir so that all of the ingredients are coated with the vinaigrette.

-Cover the container and put in the refrigerator for at least one hour. (I made mine last night and tasted it today and it was amazing.) Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Here's to Simple Salads!

Enjoy!

Green Bean and Tomato Salad

Green Bean and Tomato Salad.

This salad is incredibly easy and quick to make. I have a feeling it will taste more full of spice after a day in the fridge but it was great tonight. I purchased all of my veggies at the local farmer's market. I blanched the green beans this morning before work and put them in a bowl of cold water in the fridge all day. I made it as a quick dinner for Mirs tonight.

For this Recipe You Will Need

About a half pound of Green Beans with ends Trimmed

2 Vine Ripe Tomatoes-Seeded

1/2 Small-Medium Red Onion

1/2 Medium-Large Green Pepper

Cumin

Salt

Pepper

Juice of half Lemon

After you've Blanched the Green Beans and allowed them to cool place them in a large bowl.

Roughly chop the Tomatoes and put in bowl with Green Beans

Chop Onion and Green Pepper and put in bowl

In Separate Bowl Whisk 1/4 Cup of Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

8 Twists each of Salt and Pepper from a Grinder

About 1/4 Teaspoon of Cumin

Whisk ingredients together while squeezing the juice of one half Lemon.

Pour Vinaigrette over Tomato and Green Bean Mixture and Stir.

Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

My Garden

My girlfriend and I started gardening in our back yard early in the spring. We killed three heirloom tomato plants partially we purchased them too early in the season, partially because we purchased them from growers who didn't care.

We've since found great growers who are knowledgeable and quick to answer questions via e-mail or when we hound them at the Farmer's Market in Union Square. We've learned a lot by reading books like Garden Anywhere and the Urban Homestead. Mirs is an internet maven and I'll often come home to something great she's learned about tomatoes or eggplants.

Last week we welcomed 1000 composting worms into our home and I feel a lot better about feeding kitchen scraps and coffee grounds to our hungry little compost makers than to just throw them out to be put in a landfill.

There are recipes to follow this post, believe me. I made a really yummy broccoli salad with carrots and radishes as well as an amazing orzo caprese salad. For now, I hope you've enjoyed the pictures of our garden.

Fattoush Salad

Fattoush

I love Fattoush. I first had it at a Lebanese Restaurant in Ohio that I can't remember the name of. It was right down the street from the University of Toledo next to a Kinkos. I worked there when I was in high school because it was literally at the end of my block. It was my first experience with Lebanese food and out of all of the wonderful salads, Fattoush is my absolute favorite.

I've been craving Fattoush for a while and since it's officially sticky and hot in NYC Mirs and I have an agreement to not turn on the stove. Instead, we're making Salads-Enjoy!

Fattoush

Ingredients

6-8 small Roma Tomatoes

3 Lebanese Cucumbers (or any variety)

3-4 Small Radishes

2 Green Onions

Handful of Parsley
Mint about 7-12 leaves depending on how large they are

Matzos

1 Lemon

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cumin

Coriander

Celery Seed

Salt and Pepper

Feta Cheese (optional)

Fattoush is traditionally made with Pita Chips but since we've got the no oven rule we substituted Matzo and it worked out wonderfully. I adapted 3 different recipes I found online to come up with this one.

In one Large Bowl

Wash the Cucumber and slice thinly. They should be disk like and firm-don't slice too thin!

Wipe the Tomatoes, de-seed and chop roughly

Peel the Radishes and Slice into thin strips

Thinly cut the Green Onions

Loosely chop the Parsley and Mint

Put all of the vegetables in a large Bowl and set aside

In a smaller bowl squeeze the juice one whole lemon. To the Lemon whisk in an equal amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. ( I just eyeballed it)

To the lemon vinaigrette add 6 twists of a salt grinder and 6 twists of a pepper mill. Add a dash of the three spices and continue to whisk until thoroughly mixed.

This is sort of a taste thing. Don't over do it on the Cumin, Coriander, and Celery seed, though. More liberal on the Salt and Pepper.

Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables and mix so that all of the vegetables are coated. At this point you can add more lemon juice or Oil to taste. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the ingredients set.

at the 15 minute mark roughly crumble 2 Matzos in the salad and toss again.

Let rest for remaining 15 minutes and serve with a sprinkle of Feta Cheese

Citrus Marinated White Fish with Israeli Cous Cous and Micro Green Salad

Citrus Marinated White Fish

Micro Green Salad with Israeli Cous Cous

For This Recipe You Will Need

1lb White Fish (We used Cod)

2 Lemons

1 Lime

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic Chives

Cilantro

Micro Greens

Chicken Stock

Tonight's Dinner was so easy, so yummy, so fresh, and wonderfully summery. The ingredients are VERY simple, the salad was simply dressed, the fish was amazing and the cous-cous added the perfect amount of grain to finish it off. I hope you love it as much as we did tonight!

Start by marinating the fish. In a large Ziplock bag put fish, drizzle about 2-4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add about 1/4 cups of chopped cilantro and 1/4 cups of chopped garlic chives. I also added the juice of one Lemon and one lime, 4 turns of the pepper grinder and seal the bag and set aside to marinate.

Cook the Cous-Cous in Chicken Stock according to package instructions.

For the Micro Greens, we used some growing in our back yard! It was probably the best salad I've had in my life because we felt wonderful and proud of our Urban bounty! The salad dressing is VERY simple; just olive oil, lemon and salt and pepper. Because the greens have such wonderful flavor you can completely omit the lemon and just enjoy it with a really good olive oil and salt and pepper.

In a small bowl put the juice of a half lemon, 4 grinds of salt and 4 grinds of pepper into the bowl. Drizzle about 1 cup of Extra Virgin Oil oil into the bowl while whisking briskly. Dress the salad and add more salt or pepper to taste. Reserve a small amount for the fish at the end of grilling-yummy extra virgin olive oil!!

After the Cous Cous is cooked and your salad is dressed turn a grill pan on to Medium-High heat.

I removed the Fish from the bag and added a bit of the juices to the pan as well. Cook for about 3-5 Minutes on the first side and an additional 3-5 minutes on the other depending on how you like your fish done. Drizzle with remaining Salad Dressing

Plate and Enjoy!

Tonight's Dinner

Tri-Colored Pepper and Tomato Penne

You Will Need

Fresh Rosemary (I took my herbs from my garden so the measurements are a bit fuzzy for me.)

Fresh Oregano

Fresh Thyme

Salt and Pepper

3 cloves of Garlic

1/2 of Medium Red Pepper

1/2 of Medium Green Pepper

1/2 of Yellow Pepper

1/2 lb of penne pasta

5-6 Large Button Mushrooms (The ones I used were larger than a silver dollar)

3 Chicken Breasts

1 can Stewed Tomatoes

Peppered Goat Cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

***In Total for the Entire Recipe I'd say you'd need about 1-2 Tablespoons of the Herb Mixture. I took mine from my garden and used a mezzaluna to finely chop them. Keep a little extra at hand to add to taste. Our Basil isn't doing well but I think this would be amazing with a little fresh basil and fresh mozzarella instead of the goat cheese as a substitution-it would completely change the taste but it would be really yummy***

In Grand Erika Cooking Style I like to try to cook everything in one Pan-Which is what I did, with the exception of the Pasta.

Drizzle enough Extra Virgin Olive Oil to coat a Large Frying Pan and turn heat to Medium-High.

The Pan should be hot-but not smoking.

Season Chicken with Salt and Pepper on both sides as well as sprinkling with Herbs. I like to stab the chicken with a fork a bit too to tenderize and to insure that it's cooked through.

Cook the Chicken to just done-It can be a teeny bit pink on the inside because we'll continue to cook it later.

While the chicken is cooking, julienne your peppers

Put the Peppers Aside and Slice your Mushrooms so they are the same width as your Peppers.

Crush 3 cloves of Garlic with your knife and dice them very small.

After your chicken is done cooking, remove from the pan and set aside on a wooden chopping block to rest.

Put the Peppers and the Mushrooms into the remaining oil-Add more if necessary and cook until just done.

While Your Peppers and Mushrooms are cooking, cook pasta to package instructions and drain

***You'll have to play with the timing here-you want to pretty much start the pasta when your peppers have been cooking for about 3-5 minutes depending on your stove heat. My peppers smoked a lot before I added more Olive Oil and they got a little golden on some of the sides. You want to cook them-but not over cook them. I'd keep the temperature at Medium for the entire time, maybe start them at Medium-High to get a nice golden color before stirring them a bit. It's important to let them rest in the hot oil for a bit before you go at 'em with a wooden spoon or spatula-or the pan flip-my favorite***

So your pepper/mushroom mixture should be pretty well cooked at this point. Add the Chopped Garlic to the Mixture and Open your can of Stewed Tomatoes and add the contents of the can to the pan. Bring heat back up to Medium-High and let the mixture come to a simmer.

Mean while, cut your resting chicken into strips and add the chicken to the Pepper/Tomato/Mushroom Mixture.

Add about 2-4 Table spoons of Olive Oil to the entire mixture as well as the well Drained Pasta.

(The Point of this dish isn't a heavy tomato or cream sauce-it should taste fresh-you should get a lot of smoked peppers and tomatoes taste-the Extra Virgin Olive Oil will serve as your "Sauce" so use as much or as little as you like. It's important to also note that all of the wonderful properties of Extra Virgin Olive Oil are lost if the temperature is too high-so in this case, at the end of the recipe, you want your temperature to be at Medium-Low. You want to eat the oil to the temperature of the dish-but it shouldn't be piping hot)

Sprinkle a bit more of the Herb Mixture and Salt and Pepper to taste and Stir the Chicken and Pasta into the Pepper Mixture. Keeping the heat on Medium-Low allow the dish to cook for about 5-7 Minutes for the Ingredients to set.

(I'm a big Olive Oil Fan So I used a lot in the dish-you can choose to go easy on it, but you'll need to give the dish a bit more time to simmer so that all of the ingredients set.)

Add about a teaspoon of the Goat Cheese to the dish when it's served. The texture of the goat cheese is great against the vegetables and the tang is out of this world. Top with a bit of Fresh Ground Pepper and Enjoy!

Fire Roasted Tomato and Orange Pepper Seafood Alfredo

Fire Roasted Tomato Alfredo Seafood Linguine

I love this recipe. I made it last week for Mirs and decided to make it again last night. I've decided to give up on dairy for the summer to see if it has any positive effect on my eczema, so we shall see. In honor of all things dairy, I've decided to make some Alfredo.

For this Recipe you will need

1 lb package of linguine

1 Orange Bell Pepper

16 oz container of half and half

1 12 oz can of Spicy Diced tomatoes

mushrooms

garlic pepper

Parmesan cheese

butter

extra olive oil

frozen seafood (scallops, shrimp, and bay scallops)

I like to make this recipe all in one frying pan. It's easy to do, and it creates less mess. If your frozen Seafood Blend is in the Freezer, take it out and place it on the stove top to start the thawing process.

Cook your Pasta according to package directions, drain them but do not rinse, instead drizzle with a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking and return to the pan.

Start by cutting your pepper julienne style.

Drizzle about a table spoon (or so) into your frying pan. Turn your flame to Medium-High Temperature

Let the oil get warm but not smoking hot and then add your Peppers.

Let the peppers cook without disturbing them for about 3-5 minutes before adding about a half a package of sliced Baby Portebella Mushrooms to the peppers. You may need to add a bit more Oil to keep the pan with a slight sheen to it. You don't want too much oil but you don't want to have the peppers or mushrooms get burnt either.

When the mushrooms are cooked slightly and the Peppers are soft open your package of Frozen Seafood and Add it to the mixture.

Turn the Heat up to High to Cook the Seafood. After about 5 minutes or so you should get some water from the Seafood in your pan. Drain off as much of it as possible and continue to cook your seafood. The squid and scallop pieces should turn bright white as they cook and the shrimp will turn bright pink.

As your Seafood is cooking, open the can of Diced Tomatoes. Add the Tomatoes to the mixture and bring to a simmer.

As you can see in this picture, you'll still have a decent amount of water which you'll need to drain as much as possible. Water doesn't help with the alfredo cooking step, which is next. Try to drain off as much liquid as possible so that your tomatoes look sort of dry. Add Garlic Pepper to taste.

Making the alfredo is the next step. Alfredo is a really simple sauce to make. You can make it in a separate pan but I love to make it right in the same pot. You'll need about a quarter of cream-I prefer half and half but you can use heavy cream. You'll need about 2 table spoons of butter and Parmesan cheese. I'm not one to measure, you'll have to sort of pour a little, stir a little, taste a little.

Turn your burner to low heat and pour about 3/4 cups of cream into the pan and about 1/2 cups of cheese as well as the butter. Using a wooden spatula stir until you have a pinkish cream. If you turn the heat up just slightly you'll notice the mixture will get thicker. Continue this process of adding the CREAM and CHEESE-take a bit of time to taste as well, you may need to add more Garlic Pepper to taste. You shouldn't need more butter-Continue this process until you get your desired amount of Sauce. See the Video Below.

When you have the desired amount of sauce, mix the sauce mixture with your pasta and serve! I hope you like it! Mirs and I do! Pair with this wine and some crusty bread and simple salad for a complete meal. Enjoy!