i certainly didn't plan on the great lapse between the first and second cooking adventure. i blame the tail end of winter for a food rut. however, now that it is spring and the first official day of baseball in 2010 i feel refreshed and ready to make some food and take some trying-to-be-good pictures. tonight's menu has a lot of green in it. i feel inspired by all the green baseball diamonds i've seen on espn today. play ball!
the ingredients:
asparagus/peas/basil (cooking for two so i halved everything unless noted): recipe found here.
- 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots (about 2) - i didn't have shallots, thus i used 1/2 small onion
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter - i did 1 tbs evoo, 1 tbs unsalted butter
- 2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3/4 pound shelled fresh peas (2 1/2 cups; 1 3/4 pound in pods) or 1 (10-ounce) package thawed frozen peas
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt - i had sea but if it were kosher i'm sure that would be well, just that, kosher
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter - i did 1 tbs evoo, 1 tbs unsalted butter
- 2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3/4 pound shelled fresh peas (2 1/2 cups; 1 3/4 pound in pods) or 1 (10-ounce) package thawed frozen peas
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt - i had sea but if it were kosher i'm sure that would be well, just that, kosher
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Handful of torn basil leaves (about 3/4 cup)
- Handful of torn basil leaves (about 3/4 cup)
lemon parsley chicken:
- chicken breast marinated in freshly chopped parsley, lemon juice from 1/2 lemon, a bit of the lemon rind, a small drizzle of evoo, s/p. i only did one breast for two of us 'cause we have scaled back on our meat portions.
grilled sweet potatoes:
- 2 small sweet potatoes, halved, then cut into 4 wedges per half
- evoo to thinly coat, s/p
the work:
1. preheat the oven to 350 for the chicken.
2. after it has marinated for a bit bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.
meanwhile...
- i'd like to put instructions for the sweet potatoes but they were a total fail. too hard after boiling and grilling. boo. i have yet to find a way to properly make decent sweet potato wedges. onto the veggies...
3. Cook onion in butter in a skillet/pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 4 minutes.
4. Stir in asparagus, peas, sea salt, pepper, then seal skillet with foil.
5. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender but still slightly al dente, about 8 minutes.
6. Stir in basil and add more s/p to taste if necessary.
7. i also added some chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice at the end. i refrained from sprinkling parmigiano reggiano cheese on top...mmm...
8. enjoy with a glass of whatever wine you like (chardonnay for us tonight) and lots of baseball, followed by the duke/butler game.
