Remember when I said I was using old and new Irish recipes all week? Well, here’s a newbie that quick and tasty.

Usually wine is my drink of choice (for cooking people!) but ah well, I thought since I had the whiskey out I’d might as well cook with it, too. Traditionally this is made with heavy cream and butter but of course I had to make a healthier version. For some added flavor you could also add in sliced mushrooms and sliced shallots when sauteing. Strain everything as directed below.

RECIPE:
Serves 2

2 x 6oz grass-fed NY steaks
1 tbsp olive or grape seed oil
S&P

1/2 cup Irish whiskey (which ever whiskey you have ready to go for Paddy’s Day)
2 cups of half and half
1 tbsp fresh tarragon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 420°F
Preheat skillet on high for 1 minute. Season steaks with 1/4 tsp S&P. Drizzle oil in pan and sear steaks for 2 minutes each side to brown. Once seared remove to a foiled oven tray.

Wipe out excess oil with kitchen towel.

Pop the steaks into the oven and cook for 4 minutes for medium rare or 5 minutes for medium as shown in the photo. (Once steaks are cooked to desired temp, remove from oven and let rest for additional 3-4 minutes.)

While steaks are cooking, reduce pan heat to LOW.
Very Carefully, add whiskey to skillet and stand back. Tilt the pan, again very carefully so the flame ignites the pan. The flame will burn off the alcohol. Cook for 20 seconds and add 1/2 & 1/2 and tarragon. Increase heat to medium and let sauce simmer for 4-5 minutes until reduced by half.
Just before serving pass the sauce through a strainer and serve with steak.

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

Today’s recipe is a quickie as I gear up for the St. Paddy’s Day madness. ‘Nuff said.

RECIPE:
Serves 4

2 lbs Organic/grass fed beef fillet
2 tbsp olive oil
drizzle grape seed or olive oil (for searing beef)

12 oz baby bella mushrooms
2 lg shallots – thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh tarragon
1/2 cup red wine (whatever you’re drinking will work)
2 cups organic beef broth
S&P

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 420°F

Preheat saute pan for 1 minute on medium heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and saute mushrooms & shallots for 4 mins to soften. Add red wine and reduce heat to simmer. Reduce wine by half (2 minutes) and add broth and tarragon. Simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and season with S&P.

Preheat another skillet on high for 1 minute. Season fillet on all sides with S&P. Add drizzle grape seed (excellent for cooking on high temps) or olive oil in hot pan and sear fillet on all sides until browned, 2 minutes each side approx.
Once fillet is seared remove to a foiled oven tray. Pop in oven for 8-10 minutes for medium rare.
Let rest for 10 minutes when cooked to let the juices redistribute back into the meat.

Spoon sauce over sliced steak and Bob’s your uncle!

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

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.

Recently my good lady decided to nominate me for a local pioneer program. I didn’t know anything about it ’til I got the email from them the other day. The sponsor of this program is Topo Ranch, which is a local clothing store specializing in organic cotton merchandise. Anyone who knows me knows I cook and live (as much as possible) in a sustainable way. (As soon as they launch organic Heineken I’ll be all over it!) My missus and I have been supporting these guys since they opened here in Venice so I appreciate their support back to me. The pioneer program is outlined as:

“Topo Ranch is seeking people who are at the forefront of American culture enriching our lives through art, food, music, and the green lifestyle.”

Who knew I was enriching lives but I guess my passion for sustainable healthy food is definitely on the forefront of peoples’ minds these days….which is about time. It feels great to be recognized for doing what you do especially on a local level as these are the people I interact with on a daily basis.
Our community here in Venice is pretty close and very eclectic which is what I love about it. Living 5 minutes from the beach and my local also helps. Now, recognizing that this isn’t exactly a Ted Award and knowing I haven’t reinvented the wheel I’m still pretty chuffed to be included in this diverse group of people.

Here are my fellow Pioneers.

BTW Topo has free ground shipping ’til the end of the month. You should defo go check out their gear. Might as well give them a plug, right?

Cheers

Being in California I’m exposed to an amazing array of fresh organic fruit n veg that I wouldn’t normally get, especially back at home so I’m taking full advantage of it. One of my weekly adventures is heading to our local farmers market and seeing what’s in season and figuring out something to make with it. You might recall a few weeks back I made a Braised Beef Rib recipe using some Poblano peppers, which actually came from my garden. Turns out I really liked their charred smoky flavour so I figured I’d have another go with them. I love roasted peppers (Roast Red pepper Hummus) and funny enough I actually made this pork dish already but my photos weren’t up to par so this is round two. With a few tweaks this turned out even better than the last time.
Lucky for you I’m a shitty photographer!

RECIPE:
Serves 4

1 1/2 lbs organic / grass fed pork tenderloin – trimmed, 1″ cubes
1 cup, small, diced white onion
3 Poblano* peppers – roasted, seeded,  peeled & diced
1 red bell pepper – seeded, small dice
3 cloves garlic – minced
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1 tbsp fresh marjoram – chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme – chopped
1 cup white wine (whatever you’re drinking will work)
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp lemon pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
S&P

*NOTE: If you can’t find Poblano peppers you can substitute Anaheim peppers, green bell peppers or for more heat go for Serrano peppers.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

To Roast Peppers:
Place peppers on a foiled oven tray and coat all sides with drizzle olive oil. Pop in top shelf of oven until skin is charred on all sides. As soon as one side is charred turn. When completely charred place peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 20 minutes. This will steam the pepper so the skin comes right off.
To remove Skins: They should easily peel off in your hands with a gentle tug here and there. DO NOT run the peppers under the tap to take the skins off. This will remove all the beautiful charred flavour from the pepper.

Preheat large saute pan on medium heat for 1 minute. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and saute onions, red pepper, poblano pepper and garlic for 5 -7 minutes, until softened, stirring occasionally.

While veg are cooking add all the diced pork into a large bowl and sprinkle the paprika and lemon pepper and coat pork evenly.

When the veg are beginning to soften add the chili flakes and herbs and mix for 1 minute. Remove the veg mix to a plate and drizzle 1 tbsp in that same pan increasing heat to high. Sear the diced pork in 2 batches for 3-4 minutes, stirring. You want to get a nice golden brown colour on all sides. Once the first batch is browned remove to the same plate as the veg and repeat process with additional pork, adding another tbsp of olive oil for each batch.

Return both the veg and meat to the saute pan and add the wine. Combine all ingredients together and cook for 2 minutes or until wine has reduced by half. Place everything in an oven proof casserole dish along with 4 cups low sodium chicken broth. Cover with foil.

Pop in the oven for about 1 1/2hours, approx. When ready the pork will be fork tender, super juicy and muy delicioso!

From my garden to my dinner plate — pretty cool!

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

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras, Carnival and Pancake Tuesday. It’s a BIG party day down in the Big Easy and you bet everyone there is going to be eating and drinking like kings. Though I’ve never been to New Orleans I can only imagine what typical Mardi Gras food consists of. I imagine it contains lots of seafood from the Gulf with French influences such as gumbo, bouillabaisse, bisque, crawfish, you get the picture. (My stomach is growling as we speak.) This is my simplified version of a bouillabaisse. Typically, and according to tradition, there should be at least five different kinds of fish (not including shellfish) in a proper bouillabaisse. That can get pretty pricey so I thought I’d use some key seafood ingredients saving money yet without compromising flavour (which I may have used for a six-pack). This version is light, fresh and brothy just the way I roll.

RECIPE:
Serves 4

20 mussels – rinsed
20 Manila clams – rinsed
1/2 lb large locally caught wild shrimp – P&D’d (peeled & de-veined)
1 lb white fish (Pacific cod, Tilapia, Pacific halibut) – 1″ cubes
3 cups leeks (whites only) thinly sliced, washed
1 red bell pepper – small dice
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 x 15 oz can diced tomatoes – drained
1 cup white wine (whatever’s in your glass will work) OR an 8 fluid oz bottle of clam juice*
3 cups water
about a handful of fresh basil – chiffonade
2 sprigs fresh thyme (for steaming mussels & clams)
2 tbsp olive oil

*TIP: Bottled clam juice is easily found in the States though it might be hard enough to find across the pond. Steaming the shellfish in the white wine is a great alternative for making your own clam juice.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat large soup pot on medium heat for 1 minute. Add olive oil along with leeks, red pepper and chili flakes. Saute, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Cover with lid while they’re sauteing. This will keep in the moisture and help prevent them from going brown. You don’t want any colour on the leeks, just softened.
As leeks and pepper are cooking, preheat a large saute pan on high heat for 1 minute. Very carefully add mussels and clams to pan along with the wine and thyme or bottled clam juice and thyme. (Be careful of splashing the liquid.) Cover with lid and cook until all the shells are open. Give the pan a shake after 30 seconds or so to move them around. Cook for 2 minutes approx or until all the shells have opened.
NOTE: If there are any unopened or cracked shells when the majority are cooked, discard them.

Holding a colander over the soup pot drain the shellfish into the colander. This steaming liquid will be the base of your soup and it’s delicious. Add the water, bay leaves and chopped tomatoes to the soup pot and bring to a boil.
Next remove all the mussels & clams from their shells. Set the meat aside and throw away the shells or even better you could use them with your saved veg and the shrimp shells to make a seafood stock.

Add the white fish and shrimp to the soup and stir. (They’ll cook in the broth.) Once soup comes to a boil reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes on medium low heat.
Just before serving add all mussels, clams and fresh basil. Stir and taste. Season with S&P.

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

Valentine’s Day, The day of Love or something like that. I’m not a fan of this hallmark holiday to be honest but I get it. On the one hand I get that it’s the one special day to show the person you love just how much you love them but on the other hand, why does it have to happen every year? Only kiddin’, kinda. Kudos to the shops who capitalize on this day but that’s yet another reason why this holiday bugs me. What’s a Irishman to do? Suck it up is right! I may not buy into the gift giving but I’d better do something special or I’ll be in the dog house! You guys out there feel my pain don’t you?

Since Valentine’s Day has landed on a Sunday this year I thought I’d give you some brunch ideas (think brekkie in bed) and dinner ideas that will make anyone happy and feel special.

BRUNCH:

Spinach & Mushroom Frittata with Crispy Potatoes
Spinach is available all year round in SoCal but if you can’t find locally grown spinach in your area right now a great substitute would be kale  or Swiss chard.
Pair with a mimosa and you’ll be in business!

Valentine’s Beet Soup
Beetroot is in full swing over here. This soup can be served warm or at room temp and it’s presentation is stunning.

Easy Peasy Oysters
Oysters in bed on Valentine’s Day, might be a bit messy but you catch my drift!

DINNER:

The key to dinner is to make delicious food that won’t be too filling. You don’t want your lady (or yourself) to be bloated after a heavy meal if you planning on gettin’ some. Am I right?

Wild Scallops with Saffron Butternut Squash Risotto

One word: Delicious! (Remember my advice–Don’t eat too much risotto!)

Here’s (one of my first) a video I did making a Seafood Provencal. Remember, you can substitute the veg for what’s in season and use tinned tomatoes if you can’t get cherry tomatoes this time of year.

DESSERT:

Prosecco Poached Pears

Boxed chocolates ain’t got nuthin’ on these! Plus you have all day since it’s Sunday so go that extra mile. (How am I doing ladies?)

Of course I didn’t forget about the good stuff aka CHOCOLATE. I’m working in my kitchen today whipping up a healthy flourless chocolate cake recipe just for this special occasion so keep checking back all this week for that!

Cheers & Happy Hallmark!

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

Right now I have gorgeous poblano peppers growing in my garden so I decided to play around with them since they’re a relatively new ingredient to me. You’ll be most familiar with these peppers in Mexican food so what I came up with here was channeled through my inner “Irecan.” That’s Irish-Mexican, sort of like Rick Bayless affectionately known as Richie MacBayless. Unlike some other chillies these do not require a fire extinguisher (thank f*%k for that!)

RECIPE:
Serves 4

4 lbs organic / grass fed beef ribs
6 shallots – peeled
5 cloves garlic – peeled
4 poblano peppers
1 cup red wine (whatever’s open will do)
2 whole carrots – washed & halved
1 x 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (I prefer to use the Italian San Marzano’s, which are tad more expensive but the quality is better = tons of flavour)
6 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 bouquet garni – marjoram & oregano
10 black peppercorns

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Begin by searing the peppers directly on a gas flame, medium heat, of your stove. You want to char the skin not burn the flesh so as soon as one side of the skin is black and charred turn it until all sides are done. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. By doing this the steam created by the heat from the peppers will loosen the skins. After 30 minutes remove the skins from the peppers and clean out seeds. Slice the peppers into 1/4″ strips.

NOTE: Do Not rinse the charred peppers under the tap to remove the skins. This is a no no. All you’re doing is washing away all the lovely charred flavour.

Next seasoning & searing the ribs either in a hot pan with olive oil or, as I did, on the grill. Sear to a nice golden brown colour.

Place ribs in a large oven proof casserole dish when seared and let be until needed. Meanwhile saute the shallots & garlic in a medium hot saute pan in 2 tbsp olive oil. Saute for 4 minutes or until onions begin to brown. Add sliced poblanos and saute for another minute. Add wine and simmer for 2 minutes.

Next add tomatoes, carrots, peppercorns & herbs. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add sauce to ribs and enough broth to cover. Cover dish with foil and pop in oven for up to 3 hours or until ribs are fork tender and falling off the bone. Not only are the ribs fantastic but those San Marzano tomatoes will knock your socks off!

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

Following on my Vegetarianism post yesterday I thought I’d go all the way and go with a good ol’ fashioned meat recipe today. Pork tenderloin is the King Don Juan of pork cuts in terms of leanness and protein. It’s also one of the easiest meats to cook but unfortunately it’s also easy to over-cook. My method of adding broth to the meat whilst cooking is a technique I use a lot for the leaner proteins like poultry and pork. It just helps in not having to serve boot leather!

RECIPE:
Serves 4

1 1/2 lb organic/grass-fed pork tenderloin

2 tsp cumin seeds
1 lemon – zested
1 tbsp rosemary
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

Put everything (except the pork, funnily enough) in a food processor and blend. Coat all sides of pork in the marinade, place in a covered dish along with the remaining marinade and refrigerate from 4 to 24 hours.

Remove pork from fridge 1 hour before cooking to let return to room temperature.
Preheat oven 420°F.

Preheat skillet on high heat for 1 minute. Take the pork from the marinade and season both sides with 1/2 tsp salt, rub in. Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil in hot pan and sear pork on all sides for 2 minutes, until golden brown.

Once browned remove to a foiled oven tray. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes until internal temp 125°F. You want to cook the meat medium rare and as with any other meat, let it rest for 10 minutes.

TIP: After cooking for 10 minutes add chicken broth to the tray so it surrounds the loins. This will help create moisture in the pork and will help eliminate being over-cooked.

Eating healthy charges on in 2010.

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