Ingredients:
 |
| "No Yolks" my new egg (white) noodle discovery! |
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/3 cup chopped carrot
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I actually didn't have flour, so I used corn starch as a thickening agent instead. It seemed to work just fine.)
2 3/4 cups fat free/skim milk
1/2 cup (4 oz) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (This plus the onions is where the heart of deliciousness of this particular recipe comes from.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or, if you're me, you just grind pepper over the top until it looks right)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup (2 oz) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided (I used parmesan, romano and asiago because it was what I had. I figure anything that you find delicious can work.) :)
2 (5 oz) cans albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked
Cooking Spray
2 quart baking dish
Side note: I also considered calling this post "Never Stop Stirring" and you'll see why...
Directions:
- Preheat broiler. (If you have an electric oven. If you have a gas oven, you can probably wait on this because a gas oven is significantly more efficient.)
- Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
- Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat, coating pan with the oil. When the pan is hot, add the onions and carrots, cook until carrot is almost tender, approximately 6 mins. (Now begins the "stirring constantly" section of the our program... Get ready!)
- Sprinkle the pan with flour, (or corn starch, as it were) cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in milk, cook for 5 mins, stirring constantly with a whisk until slightly thick. (If you use a metal whisk on a non-stick pan, you're asking for trouble. I used a spatula because I have yet to invest in one of these bad boys, but I really should. Silicone coated wire whisks are your friends, ladies and gentlemen.)
- Stir in cream cheese, mustard, salt and pepper, cook 2 minutes... yup! stirring constantly!
- Remove pan from heat. Stir in noodles, peas, 1/4 cup shredded cheese and tuna.
- Spoon mixture into a shallow broiler-safe 2 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with last 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.
- Broil until golden and bubbly. This may take 3 minutes, it may take 5. It will really depend on your oven and how close you have the rack set to the top.
- Before serving, let stand for at least 5 minutes. If you used a glass pan you may want to wait a little longer. A metal pan will cool quickly, however.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Done with dish numero uno! Now, for an even lighter, quicker dish! Straight from the Stark-Siegel household comes The Salmon Recipe. That's what we call it, so that's what I'm calling it here. This is a great mid-week dish because it is very fast and, if your fridge and cabinet are stocked as mine are, only requires you to buy salmon!
 |
| The world's simplest ingredients list! |
Ingredients: (Scale up and down with the appropriate amount of salmon)
6 oz salmon filet
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon coarse ground mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet or pan with aluminum foil. Place salmon (skin side down, if it has skin) on the foil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (I'd suggest a metal baking pan, because a glass one will hold heat longer and make it easier to accidentally over cook the fish.)
- In a bowl, make a sauce by combining all the other ingredients.
- Top the salmon with the sauce, trying to coat evenly. You may have to spoon some of the sauce over more than once in order to get the delicious mustard grains to stay.
- Bake the salmon in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, but watch it carefully as the time this takes is highly dependent upon the thickness of the fish. Thicker pieces may need more time, thinner pieces may only need about 12 mins.
- Remove from oven, let cool for about 5 mins and enjoy!
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Now, last and definitely not least... dessert! Coming back to our "stir continuously" theme, we will complete this hat trick with a surprisingly easy Chocolate Raspberry Tart. Yum! We ate healthily, now it's time to reward ourselves!
Note: If you have the option of cooking this on a gas range, please do so. Electric stoves, especially the crappy old school exposed coil ones, are horrible at rapid exact temperature control, which can be extremely necessary when heating heavy cream. I have taught myself this lesson many times... this time the upshot was that I got to learn how my oven comes completely apart so that I may clean every little nook and cranny of its filling of exploded heavy cream... So, don't say I didn't warn you.
Anywhoo...
Ingredients:
32 chocolate wafer cookies (about 8 oz) (They didn't sell these at my grocery store, so I substituted chocolate graham crackers instead. It worked fine. Use about 6-8 graham crackers. I used 6, but the crust never really dried. I'd probably do 7 next time.)
2 tablespoons sugar
coarse salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (buy extra, you may have boil-over issues)
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (6 oz)
9 inch flutted tart pan with removable bottom (Yeah, I didn't have this either, so I just used a disposable 9 inch pie tin so that I could bend the outside edges to reach the pie server down to the crust when serving. It worked just fine.) :)
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a food processor, combine cookies, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process until very fine crumbs form. Add butter and pulse until the mixture comes together.
- Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan, use the flat bottom of a 1-cup measuring cup or a flat bottomed drinking glass to press the cookie mixture firmly into the pan. (Just like with the cheesecake recipe.)
- Place pan on a baking sheet and bake until crust is dry and set, about 20 minutes. Turn off oven and let cool.
- In a large bowl, combine chocolate and a pinch of salt.
- In a small saucepan, bring cream to a bare simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. (Watch it here, with this very small quantity of cream, the simmer can very quickly turn into an overflowing boiling mess... trust me.)
- Immediately pour the cram over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute, allowing the chocolate to melt a bit.
- Stir gently until chocolate melts and mixture is completely smooth. Pour chocolate into cooled tart shell and refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes. (I let it set over night.)
- If you have the springform pan, remove the tart from the pan and then top with raspberries as you please. If you don't have a springform pan, leave that bad boy in there. :)
- Enjoy!
