For the past year or so I’ve been posting weekly recipes on my friend, Doug’s (aka DR) fitness site, HealthHabits. He’s a trainer in Canada that since doing the recipes, has been cyber-training me. He’s all about the Paleo way of eating so I’ve had to tailor his recipes to follow suit. This is one I made a couple weeks ago for his site. Though I’m still new to the Paleo diet (feel free to give ye a few suggestions) I think I’ve a good idea here. What I really try to do with food, besides creating easy healthy recipes is to shop and eat sustainably and seasonally, which sometimes results in using produce not very well known. With all my recipes you are encouraged to use what ever is in season in your area, which might be different than my area especially because I’m planted in sunny Southern California, as I often like to remind DR. (Better not make him too jealous or my next workout session might be brutal!)

Since the Paleo diet does not include potatoes (ouch says the Irishman) I wanted to show you an easy substitute using what I know as Celeriac, often called Celery Root. It is a kind of celery grown as a root vegetable that tastes like celery with a potato-like consistency. Common across the pond, we use as mash, in mash or even raw, grated in salads. Here’s how it stacks up against the potato:
Celery Root*   vs.   Potato*

Calories                 42             118
Carbohydrate        9g            27g
Dietary Fiber         2g              2g

*1 cup celery root (155g) boiled, drained with no salt
*1 potato (136g) boiled in skin with no salt

In California we can get celeriac all year round but the season runs about October through April. As for the tomatoes, I didn’t think it was tomato season yet we received these lovelies in our CSA box. Feel free to substitute any in-season veg for the tomatoes if you can’t get locally grown tomatoes this time of year.

RECIPE:
Serves 2

2 x 4-6 oz organic/grass fed chicken breasts

1 tbsp fresh marjoram
1 tbsp fresh oregano
1 large garlic clove – minced
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 lemon – zested

2 medium celery roots (you’ll probably have some left overs but that’s grand!)
low-sodium chicken broth
S&P to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Begin by mixing all the marinade ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add chicken breasts and coat. To store, either place in a Zilpoc bag or cover in a bowl in the fridge. Turn occasionally to make sure all sides are marinating.
NOTE: This can and should be done ahead of time to get maximum flavor. I would suggest marinating for at least 4 – 24 hours.

To cook celeriac:

Top and tail celery root and using a small kitchen knife carefully peel the outer layer. (Top & tail is common chef lingo, which means trim the top and bottom.)

Once all peeled roughly chop root in equal size pieces and boil in salted water (maybe a couple of teaspoons) until fork tender. Drain and return to same pot. Mash, add broth, taste & season.

I made the little blistered cherry tomato thingy by sauteing some cherry tomatoes on medium heat in olive oil under they begin to break down. Once they soften add a drizzle of red wine vinegar and a pinch of S&P. These will add a nice contrast and burst of flavor with the chicken and celeriac.

Preheat grill pan or outdoor bbq and when hot sear chicken on both sides. Cook to internal temp. 160F, 8-12 minutes approx. Let rest for 3-4 minutes after cooking before cutting.

Tasty and easy! Let me know how you get on with the celeriac. Cheers!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

I don’t think anyone is exempt from the winter weather that’s hitting us all at the moment. Between the snow, the cold and the days upon days of rain we’re having here in LA at the minute, I thought a quick n easy soup would hit the spot. I made chicken for dinner last night and had some left over so I thought the obvious choice was to bust out a soup for lunch today and hey presto here it is. If you don’t have any leftover chicken like I did, buy a roast chicken and just use that. You’ll get a great flavour as well as having the carcass to make your stock. Perfecto! This is one of the simplest ways to make a soup as you basically just put everything in the same pot and simmer it.

Did I mention it’s flu season? A bit of homemade chicken soup and vitamin C are sure to help!

RECIPE:
Serves 4

1 organic roast chicken or 4 cups leftover chicken – shredded
6 oz shredded carrot (about 2 carrots)
1 cup celery – thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup thin egg noodles (like spaghetti cut into 2″ pieces. I bought a packet in the supermarket)
S&P
freshly chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS:
Add the broth to a soup pot and place on a medium-flamed burner. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Add shredded chicken, bay leaves, carrot and celery and cook for 20 minutes, partially covered.
NOTE: This can all be done ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to eat. When you are ready bring the soup to a boil and add noodles. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add noodles and stir soup. The noodles are small and thin like spaghetti so they’ll cook in about 10 minutes. Once noodles are done taste and season with S&P. Remove bay leaves, top with parsley and freshly ground and serve. Easy!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible

On a recent visit to Austin my brother-in-law gave me a packet of dried morels and asked me to create a dish for them. Though this is a dish I’ve made many many times I thought it would be the perfect recipe for the morels plus it’s fairly fool proof. (Let’s see if Ron will try his hand at cooking this!) Luckily, braising meats is dead easy, eliminates the risk of drying out meat and always adds great flavour. The key with slow cooking, as I’ve mentioned before, is layering flavours. Searing the chicken, sauteing the mushrooms, adding garlic, well you get it. The more flavours you add the more intense and tasty the end result will be. Stands to reason, right?

I recently made this for a drop-off menu (did you know I can make dinner for you and drop it off?) and they said their 2 year old loved the mushrooms (if you’re a parent, this got the tot’s seal of approval) and they said it was even better the next day. Gotta love delicious leftovers!

RECIPE:
Serves 4

1 whole organic or grass fed chicken – portioned (2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings)
6 shallots – peeled
8 oz baby bella mushrooms
1 ounce dried morel mushrooms or 1/2 lb fresh
1 x 8 oz jar baby artichokes
1 bunch fresh tarragon – wrapped like a bouquet garni
2 large bay leaves
4 cloves garlic – minced
1/2 white wine (whatever’s in your fridge)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 380°F.

Begin by seasoning & searing each chicken piece in 2 tbsp olive oil, either on a grill on in a large saute pan (high heat, 3 minutes each side) until browned on all sides. Place in a large over proof casserole dish.

In the same saute pan (if using, otherwise grab one) add 3 tbsp olive oil and saute the fresh bella mushrooms for 3 minutes (3 tbsp might look like a lot of oil but the mushrooms soak it up). Add shallots & garlic and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Add white wine and cook for another minute. After cooking wine add everything to the chicken along with the tarragon, bay leaves, morel mushrooms, artichokes and broth.

Cover with foil and place in the oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the chicken is fork tender. Pretty straightforward, right?

NOTE: You’ll notice in my photo above the skin looks crispy and dark. It was a little experiment that paid off. Here’s what I did:
As soon as the chicken was cooked in the oven, I removed all the pieces, placed them on a foiled oven tray and put them under the broiler. With the chicken having been braised it’s full of moisture so putting it under the broiler won’t dry it out. It simply makes the skin lovely and crispy while keeping the inside moist. Now I’m not advocating eating the skin because it’s just fat but if you just simply can’t say no to it or even if you’re entertaining guests this method looks and tastes great. This, of course is an optional step.

Ron, here’s your chance to show off some skills my man!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients.

Well kids, here we are. Can’t believe it’s Christmas…………again.

The Missus and I just got back from a brilliant weekend back in Austin, Texas, sort of early Christmas if you will along with a big Texas piss up to celebrate my father-in-law’s 66th. All the in-laws were in attendance and I’m not sure there are enough words to describe all the madness. Or maybe there’s too many words…either way, we’ll keep it in the family as they say. Of course while there we had to hit up another famous barbecue joint, Stubb’s BBQ. The food wasn’t as killer as the Salt Lick but the ambiance was cool. It’s a huge live music scene but we only had time for some grub. Let me tell you, it’s true what they say about Austin being the ‘Live Music Capital’ as there’s live music ALL. THE. TIME. What a scene!
We hit up The Continental Club on a Saturday afternoon and the gaff was jointed! Live rockabilly & country music with dancers–great craic. Little known fact (just because it’s Christmas) I used to rock the cowboy boot look back in the day in Dublin–waaay before anyone else was rockin’ that look. (Cool? Debatable. I thought so. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

Anyway, it was another great trip to Austin, family and food-wise. Has anyone eaten at Guero’s on Congress? It’s a fun taco bar where they make their own corn tortillas fresh right there in front of you. On my last visit to Texas I saw fresh flour tortillas being whipped up and this time it was corn. Gotta love those fresh tortillas and now I get why Texans love tortillas. If only I had that recipe!

(Photos by Andrew Collins and orthogonalthought.com)

After eating my way through Austin it’s a good thing we booked a catering gig for today, Christmas Day, so I can work off my tortilla belly. I’m lookin’ forward to it actually. Christmas is all about family for me (and everyone else) and since all mine are back in the homeland I’m happy to work (with the Missus in tow of course). I’ve got quite the menu planned for this event–how does this sound: Brined Roast Heritage turkey with homemade gravy & cranberry relish, Balsamic-Agave Glazed Ham, Butternut Squash Soup, Twice Baked Sweet Pots and Smashed Roasted Mini Pots, Sauteed Green Beans with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Roast Seasonal Farmers’ Market Veg, Cornbread Muffins, Mixed Baby Greens with Shaved Fennel, Spiced Pumpkin Seeds, Goat’s Cheese and homemade vinaigrette. Whew. Let’s not forget dessert(s)!!

So that’s my day. We’ll celebrate on Saturday in true LA style by probably heading to the beach. Could be worse right?

I hope you guys all have a very Happy & Healthy Christmas!

As we say,

This is another Christmasish (not a word but who cares) recipe that really only fits in here ’cause of the seasonal colour of the pomegranate sauce and marinade. This all came about really because I had some chicken and a bottle of Pom in my fridge, which has pretty much been there for while (the Pom juice, that is). Sometimes the best recipes are inspired by what you have on hand so I figured I’d give it a go see what happens. Chicken is one of those meats that marinates well but that doesn’t mean everything will taste good so it was a gamble that, in my book, paid off. Besides the great taste, pomegranates are loaded with antioxidants, which might come in handy after all the holiday tipples!

RECIPE:
Serves 4

4 x 6 oz organic chicken breasts
1/2 cup chicken broth

Pomegranate marinade:
24 oz of Pom juice
1 cup Agave
1 tbsp chili flakes
1 tbsp salt

Mix the marinade together in mixing bowl big enough to hold the submerged chicken. Once combined add in the chicken. Cover and refrigerate and let marinate from between 5 hours to over-night.

Remove chicken from fridge about an 1 hour before cooking to let return to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Preheat large saute pan for 1 minute on medium heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil. Lay each filet skin side down, if using with skin on, and sear for 2-3 minutes until golden then flip over.
NOTE: Because of the Agave the chicken will caramelize & brown pretty quickly so keep an eye on it.
Once browned on both sides place on a foiled oven tray along with broth and roast 8-10 minutes approx or to internal temperature 160°F.
Throw some greens on there and you’ve got yourself Christmas on a plate!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Ah, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. By now you’re all probably completely and utterly over turkey. I wouldn’t blame you. With the size of turkeys nowadays there’s enough meat on there to feed a whole African village! We began our gorging with the actual turkey which lead into turkey sandwiches the next day and the next. Finally taking off whatever meat is left in order to make stock with the bones, the next obvious step is to make a delicious easy soup with the stock (and if you have turkey still left over–good luck!!)
Here’s how it’s done:

RECIPE:
Serves 4

2 cups leftover turkey – cubed
1 cup carrot- peeled, cubed
1 leek (white only) – sliced 1/4″, washed, drained
1 cup parsnip – peeled, cubed
1 cup white potatoes – peeled, cubed
2 bay leaves
1 quart (4 cups) turkey broth
1 tbsp parsley – chopped
S&P to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

This soup is as easy as opening a can but so much better.
Preheat soup pot for 30 seconds on medium heat. Add 2 tbsps olive oil. Saute leeks for 2 minutes, stirring so as not to brown. Next add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT chopped parsley. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat to a simmer and partially cover with lid.
Cook for 30 minutes or until veg are soft through but not braking apart.

Taste and season and add chopped parsley to garnish.

Booya!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Fast forward to Friday afternoon or Saturday. Thanksgiving’s over. You can’t fit another turkey sandwich in you and to be honest really don’t want to. The carcass is sitting in the fridge and you’re sick of the sight of it. You’re tinking ‘get this thing outta my fridge and into the bin’ but……. hoooooold up wait a minute. Instead of doing that how ’bout putting it in a pot with some veggies and making your own stock. It really isn’t that big of a deal and will not only save you some cash but you can say you made your own stock. I usually make a batch of veggie or chicken stock, put them in little tupperware containers, let the stock cool and pop them in the freezer. Then when I want to make something I just pull one out. Believe me you’ll be glad you did.

Organic Chicken Stock recipe.

Organic Veggie Stock recipe.

RECIPE:

1 leftover turkey carcass
2 carrots – chopped
1 leek – chopped, washed
2 large onion – peeled, chopped
3 bay leaves
thyme – whatever you have
parsley – one bunch (or whatever you have)
10 peppercorns
5/6 celery stalks – chopped, washed

DIRECTIONS:

Pop everything in a large soup pot or if you have one of those turkeys that’s as big a baby horse, cut it up and use two pots. Fill the pot with lots of veggies. When I’m cooking throughout the week I keep all the stalks and bits of leftover veg from my prep. Then when it’s time to make stock I have lots of bits n pieces to go in there. The more veggies you add the better flavour you’ll get.
Note: Rule of thumb. Don’t add anything into your stock that you wouldn’t eat so no rotten veggies.

Bring stock to a boil and once boiling reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours. If the liquid is reducing to quickly turn the heat down more.

HAPPY TANKSGIVING!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Gobble Gobble (as the actress said to the bishop). It’s Turkey time! If you saw my turkey post recently you’ll now know what type of turkey you should be getting as we know there’s going to be lots eaten over the next month or so. There will be soups, sandwiches, stews, stocks, casseroles and God knows what else we can think to make with Mr. Turkey. Salting, roasting, brining–each American family has their own style to cook the bird. But what if your family is small and you’d rather not cook an entire turkey? I’ve got you covered!

I’ve made stuffed turkey breasts before (here and here) but for this recipe I wanted to give you the idea of stuffing the breast with something a bit more out of the ordinary yet still in keeping with Thanksgiving flavours. Guess you could say it’s a modern twist on the classic turkey & stuffing. I came across Persimmons in my CSA box and though I don’t have much experience with them after one bite I knew I had to use them.  In November and December persimmons are at their peak. I kept expecting the fruit to soften like a peach but as it turns out this type of persimmon, the Fuyu, is eaten like an apple. The taste of the flesh inside reminded me of a sweeter cantaloupe with the texture of a firm pear. The persimmon’s delightful flavour and texture turned out to be lovely addition to this dish.

RECIPE:
Serves 6

1 1/2 lb Organic, Grass fed, or Sustainable boneless turkey breast
1 cup organic chicken broth

1 cup couscous – dry
2 cups organic chicken broth
1/2 lemon – zested
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup celery – fine dice
1/2 white onion – fine dice
2 Fuyu persimmons – sliced and small diced
1 tbsp fresh thyme – chopped
1 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Begin by bringing 1 cup of the chicken broth, lemon zest and salt to a boil. Once boiling turn off heat and add couscous. Cover with lid.

Preheat saute pan on medium heat for 30 seconds and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Add celery and onion and saute for 5 mins, stirring, until softened. Once soft add diced persimmons and thyme.
Saute together for 4-5 additional minutes until persimmons are soft. Taste and season with S&P.

Add the cooked couscous to the persimmon mixture along with a drizzle of olive oil. Taste and season. Let cool before adding to turkey.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

To Assemble the Turkey: Lay the turkey on a clean cutting board. Using a sharp knife butterfly the breast by slicing along the side creating a book effect. Do not slice all the way through. Open the ‘book’. Place some plastic wrap on your work surface and lay the open turkey skin side down. Lay another layer of plastic wrap on top. Using a kitchen mallet or in my case a heavy bottomed saucepan, give the breast a few poundings to flatten. Don’t beat the living daylights out of it but you just want to thin it a little.

Lay 5 pieces of kitchen twine, about 12″ in length parallel to each other 2″ apart (If you’re saying, huh?….look at the photo). Lay the open turkey breast on top of the string, skin side down and season with S&P. Spoon enough of the couscous in the center to fill. You may have extra so don’t worry. Pat down the filling.

Fold over the top half and stuff any of the filling that falls out back in. Tie the strings tightly but not where the stuffing falls out too much.

Place turkey on a foiled oven tray. Drizzle olive oil over skin and season with S&P. Rub seasoned oil into flesh.
Add broth to oven tray and pop in the oven for up to 1 hour or until internal temperature of 155F.

Remove and let rest for 5-6 minutes to let juices redistribute back into meat.

Notice those glazed pearl onions? Recipe here. Cheers!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

What a dynamite weekend we had! On Friday night we were invited to our friends, Van & Kelly’s house for some homemade pizza from their brand new wood burning pizza oven. Two years ago we spent Thanksgiving with them–you may remember the spread they put on for nearly 30 of us! They love to entertain so they built an amazing outdoor kitchen (my dream!) which we were excited to check out. One word: MUSTARD!

The deal was they’d make the dough, sauce and provide the cheese, salad & wine. (Did I mention they just got back from a wine trip to France & Italy? Result!) We were to bring the toppings and the beers. It was a lot fun getting creative with the toppings. We brought over grilled veg, roast chicken, broiled balsamic radicchio, Prosciutto, homemade peanut sauce, fresh herbs and shredded carrots. Sounds crazy right? We made a veggie pizza, a chicken & veggie pizza, a hot pepper (straight from their garden) & Prosciutto pizza, a Thai pizza (using the fresh peanut sauce, shredded carrots, Thai basil & cilantro), a radicchio pizza (using the shredded carrots to balance out the bitterness from the radicchio) and well, a mix of everything really for the others.

What a perfect idea for a dinner party even if you don’t have your own wood burning oven. Everyone gets to take a turn making a pizza which is great craic really.

Here’s the standard recipe for homemade pizza:

RECIPE:
Makes 4 pizza crusts

1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups flour + additional for dusting

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the yeast and warm water in a mixing bowl. Let stand for 5-10 minutes approx, or until the yeast becomes active (it’ll start to bubble). Once it’s ready, add it to an electric mixer and gradually add in the olive oil, flour & salt. Mix with the dough hook until the dough comes together. Remove from mixer and on a floured surface (to prevent sticking) roll into a large ball. Divide the dough into 4 equally sized balls and place on an oiled oven tray. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and put the tray in a warm dry place until it rises, 45 minutes approx.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

When ready to make your pizzas, sprinkle flour on a clean work surface and roll out the dough to a thin crust using a rolling pin. Be sure to dust your rolling pin with flour to also prevent from sticking. NOTE: The dough rises when baking which is why you want roll it into a thin crust prior.
Place the pizza base on a floured oven tray and add your toppings.

As for how long your pizzas take to bake, just keep an eye on it. I like the bottom of mine to be crispy but not burned.
TIP: The key here is to have your meat and vegetable toppings already cooked. You’re basically baking the dough and warming up the rest so there’s no worry if the meats are cooked through or not.

We had such an amazing time as always. Thinking about asking Santa for a pizza oven—I say I have two hopes: No hope and Bob Hope. Good thing Van & Kelly live close by!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Now I know it’s coming up to turkey season with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner (where’d the year go?) but I get asked a lot of how to spice up boring old chicken.
Previously I made a pecan crusted turkey dish and had some great feedback from that so I decided to do something with it’s step-cousin, chicken. I know you can’t beat a perfectly roasted chicken but here’s a great alternative if you fancy some nuts ‘n’ spice (as the actress said to the bishop).

RECIPE:
1 1/4 cups sliced almonds
1 cup Ener-G breadcrumbs (gluten free)
4 tsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tsp black pepper
3 large egg whites
1 5 lb organic chicken – portioned (2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 wings, 2 thighs)
1/4 tsp salt
Olive oil spray

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Begin by placing cumin seeds and almonds in a dry skillet on medium heat for 2 minutes to toast. Toss pan frequently. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled place in a spice grinder along with thyme, pepper and salt. Pulse to get coarse chop, about 20 seconds. Add to breadcrumbs after pulsing.
Set up a production line with beaten egg whites in a bowl along side breadcrumb/crust mixture.
Dip chicken portions in egg mixture and drain excess back into same bowl. Next dredge chicken in seasoned breadcrumbs, coating all sides. Lay on foiled oven tray ready for baking.

Spray all sides of chicken liberally with olive oil spray and pop in oven for 20 minutes.
To check to see if they’re done, pierce a drumstick with a sharp knife into the thickest part of meat and once removed touch your lip to see if it’s hot. If you burned your lip you’re set to eat it (if of course you can taste anything having just burned your lip!)

I served the chicken with grilled veg which I tossed with fresh tomatoes then quickly sauteed with freshly chopped oregano, thyme and olive oil. Tasty!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.