Panko Crusted Mustard Chicken Revisited

This is, has been, and always will be my go to meal. Perfect for nights where I can't think of making anything. Perfect for nights when I just need something comforting. Perfect for nights when I need that no brainer meal for someone, or many someones, special (it is after all a great dinner party meal). And while I love it with chicken legs when I'm feeling indulgent, it's also great with chicken breasts, salmon filets, duck legs, or pork chops. Roast up a veggie or two, a quick side of rice, or quinoa or both and there you have it. My favorite easy meal.

Roasted Broccoli and Potatoes

Snooze right? Just another boring side. Another weeknight spent trying to use up what's in the fridge before it goes bad. But no. No! This simple side was so delicious I had to take pictures of it before it was even plated. Before the rest of my dinner was even done. Because if I hadn't, I would've eaten the whole thing. It's just that good. Oh, and did I mention simple? Seriously, take some broccoli florets and quartered creamer potatoes, maybe a few garlic cloves and then liberally drizzle olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Throw it in the oven. Take it out when it's all nice and browned and then zest a little lemon over and grate a nice, hard, nutty cheese over. Voila.

Roasted Sunchoke and Garlic Soup with Spanish Chorizo

Ok, so this is really more like a stew but who's really keeping track. Which is actually pretty incredible, considering that I started with basically no recipe laid out, just some great winter-y vegetables I wanted to roast and then puree. My first foray into making soups with my food processor... and what I'd been dying to do all last winter as I was coaxing my former food processor to work and manually mashing vegetables when it inevitably didn't. But I digress.

On a whim (which is what 85% of my food shopping is) I picked up some lovely plump sunchokes, otherwise known as Jerusalem artichokes, which when roasted give off this earthy, almost smokey flavor and taste amazing, think roasted potatoes with more depth. Lightly tossed in some olive oil and a few cloves of garlic, a sprinkling of salt and pepper then roasting away. Pureed with a touch of cream and a ton of low sodium chicken stock, threw it all in a giant pot where I had just sauteed up some Spanish chorizo, threw in a healthy splash of bourbon and finally added in the pre-cooked black eyed peas. Let it simmer for a few and voila... soup. Well, hearty soup. Like a stew, but not quite.

Green Goddess Smoothie

I've always been pretty good about not drinking soda, not drinking sugar filled juices, packaged ice teas, any of those sports drinks. I had a brief affair with Kombucha but didn't notice any major health benefits that really offset what was essentially like drinking moldy flavored soda water. But the one thing I absolutely cannot resist when it comes to drinks outside of water (alright... and coffee) is Naked's Green Machine. I don't know why but it's just delicious. But it's also pricey and juice of any kind just means more sugar. So why not make my own.

I'm not a big proponent of diets, or cleanses, or anything that causes me to change up my body's status quo for a short amount of time in the hopes of maintaining once it's done. For me, it doesn't work and just messes up my system even more. But working something into my diet that I can maintain on a mostly daily basis, and is something that I already love to begin with and if sugar and/or money were no object would consume on a daily basis... well bring it on. And the beauty is that for smoothies you really don't need to follow a formula. Need some protein- throw in some nuts or peanut butter. Need potassium, how about a banana. My big thing though is calcium. I loath milk, usually going the soy route, and am not the biggest fan of yogurt so this is a great way to hide it in a smoothie, a la Jessica Seinfeld style. As for veggies, bring it on. I love every kind of green, so that's not a problem, but if it is for you, just add more fruits to help balance it out. The beauty is you can make it your own and make it different every day.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I don't eat breakfast much (I know, I know), and when I brunch I usually tend to the savory, but there's something about lemon ricotta silver dollar pancakes that always gets me. They're rich and thick, the way a good pancake should be. But light and lemon-y, the perfect way to start a day. A great use for leftover ricotta and a wonderful way to add some brightness into your morning (or afternoon). Sometimes served with stewed apples, lemon curd or even some berries and cream, but I personally don't think they need any extras, they're pretty darn good just as they are. 

The Monterey in SA

I don't do restaurant reviews. Here is why. But I also don't always play by the rules, including my own and The Monterey in San Antonio is the perfect exception. Inventive, unique, and maybe a little bit crazy but this place is serving food that I'm hard-pressed to find even in New York. Maybe this is why I've only reviewed San Antonio places, to keep reminding people that my hometown is not just chips and salsa Tex-Mex and your usual suspect of chains. Heck they even have a CIA down here now. Great food lives here too, executed by creative chefs who know their stuff and could hold their own and then some against some of the guys up in NYC.

So last night we went for the New Years Eve tasting menu, the menu you can find here. I also included a few pictures of the food we had from just a regular Thursday night right after I got in to SA. And a few recommendations. Go hungry- the plates are small but filling. Go on a nice night- they have a great outdoor patio we haven't had the chance to sit out on because it was very chilly the first night (though they do have heat lamps). Order as much as possible. Come on people, this is probably the only place in the radius of the city that you can get a menu full of inventive food. And at SA prices! Ok, I'll let the pictures do the talking now.

BBQ Brisket, pickle and white bread. I thought this would be dry but the brisket was so moist

Baklava

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember my Mom has made Baklava. She's not Greek, or from any of the Mediterranean areas surrounding there, though she has visited, and she has virtually no Greek friends. But she got the recipe (and a rather challenging one at that) from a McCalls cookbook and it has always been our Christmas treat. Hers is different, in my personal opinion better, than the sticky drippy soaked in honey confections you'll find at most Greek restaurants. It's crispy and flaky, each element from the paper thin phyllo to the ground pecans and almonds to the cinnamon and orange flavors contributing their part, nothing overwhelming and all combining into the perfectly sweet, but not too sweet, bite.