I’ve found a lovely way to cook- well, just about any kind of protein- and its splendid results are something I’d like to share with you. The secret is yogurt, my friends – a yogurt marinade, especially a thick yogurt, will break down the toughness of your protein and leave a soft, pliable, delicious meat/fish. I’ve been doing it with yellowfin tuna and it’s scrumptious. Grill it with some lemon, herbs, and keep on some of the yogurt coating – and it’ll be a light, summery dish.

Yogurt-Herb Yellowfin Tuna

Ingredients:

• 2 yellowfin tuna steaks, sashimi-grade
• 1 heaping cup yogurt (suggestion: greek gods honey greek yogurt, organic)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• 1.5 tblspn herbes de provence
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2 tsp organic canola oil, for grilling
• large-grain sea salt & freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste

Process:

1. Place yogurt, herbs, garam masala, and honey in a medium-sized bowl and gently mix without ruining the thick yogurt texture. Pat down your tuna to keep it as dry as possible, then place in bowl and cover entirely with yogurt marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 2+ hours (up 24 hours)
2. Heat a cast-iron grillpan with the canola oil; once hot enough (test by sprinkling in a little pepper- if it sizzles, it’s ready) and place in the tuna steaks, keeping on a thick coating of the marinade if possible.
3. Grill for about 3-4 minutes per side, until nice grill marks heat onto the fish (the honey should help caramelize into a nice colour)
4. Serve with lemon halves. Pairs well with a starch like a baked sweet potato half or some fresh-roasted corn.

Simple and easy, this is a great way to jazz up some fish and ensure its tenderness. The grilling will allow for a crispier interiour without ruining the soft integrity of the fish’s insides. Cut along the grain and it’ll fall like butter!

I’m a bit disappointed that I had to put the word ‘salad’ in there because the ‘C’ alliteration was going so nicely…

That said, this is a delicious salad! Well, perhaps I should qualify that. It’s not for everyone. H and I made this fascinating twist on the typical chicken salad. It’s got all of the crunch and creaminess usually found in a chicken salad, but the creaminess is from plain yogurt and the very yellow colour is all curry powder. Yum!

The fact that this was a cold salad didn’t appeal to H; and the sister is rather picky about her curries- this one didn’t appeal. I really enjoyed it quite a bit- I love the textures, the crunch, the flavour combinations. I quite enjoyed it cold, but I love cold, crunchy, creamy chicken and tuna salads, so perhaps this will only appeal to those who share that joy.

Crunchy Curried Chicken Salad

Adapted from Curried Chicken Salad from Green Black Red

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (organic, hormone-free, all-natural, grass-fed), cleaned from fat
• 1 medium Red Delicious (or other red) crunchy apple, diced into large 1-inch chunks (skin on, rinsed thoroughly)
• 1/2 cup green grapes, halved
• 1/4 cup black grapes, halved
• 1/4 cup red grapes, halved
• 1 large celery stalk, diced coarsely
• 2 tablespoons mango chutney
• 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
• 1/2 heaping cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with a silpat mat. Brush the chicken with the olive oil on one side, and season with salt and pepper. Then flip on the other side and repeat. Place chicken on the silpat and set to bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked thoroughly and crisp on the outside.
3. Place the chicken aside to cool as you chop the grapes, apple, and celery. Place all vegetables in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add chicken, yogurt, chutney, curry powder, and remaining salt to veggie/fruit mixture. Toss thoroughly; serve immediately with hot, fresh naan (yum).

I brought he leftovers for lunch to work the next day and it keeps very nicely overnight in the fridge- in fact, the yellow and curry taste intensified. It may be a bit more watery at that point- the grapes and apples will sweat out some moisture- but the deliciousness remains. Please do note that people who don’t like cold curry salads won’t care for this one- but those who do should greatly enjoy it :).

I’m putting this one in the accident category because the sister and I were not huge fans- we’re adding ‘white sauces’ to the list of ‘things Odile has trouble cooking’… but the boyfriend rather enjoyed it and H thought that it looked good (did not get to taste), so this may be another white-sauce-that-actually-worked-I-just-didn’t-think-so. Alas, we’ll most likely never know because as I did not like it, I’m not likely to try it again. :) You’ll have to give it a shot and let me know your thoughts!

I believe its taste may have been altered by the fact that I used a very sweet wine for the sauce (the boyfriend gave the sister a bottle of Muscat Canneli for her 21st and she opted to choose that night for its opening… it had a lovely flavour, but very, very sweet) whereas something a bit more dry might have been a better choice. Should you experiment with it and experience different results, please do let me know- it’d be nice to hear someone else’s thoughts on this one!

Sherry-Glazed Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, and Whole Wheat Penne in White Wine Yogurt Sauce

Adapted from Chicken in White Wine and Yogurt Sauce from Cooks.com (for the sauce)

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, skinned, cleaned (no fat! preferably organic!)
• 1/2 cup dry dessert cream sherry
• 2 large stalks fresh broccoli
• 1/2 box whole wheat penne pasta
• 3 tblspn soy butter (1 for chicken, 2 for sauce)
• 3 tblspn AP organic flour
• 1 cup low-fat organic plain yogurt (I used Stonyfield- mom gave some to me :) )
• 1/4 cup white wine (I used Muscat Canneli)
• Sea salt & freshly-cracked black pepper
• Olive oil, for tossing pasta + pasta water

Process:

1. Boil water for pasta as directed on pasta box. Add a bit of soy butter or olive oil + salt to the water when putting it on the heat to avoid sticking. Cook as directed (I like it just slightly al dente), drain (but save about 1/3 cup pasta water for later), and place in a large bowl. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and set aside with a warm towel on top to keep in the heat.
2. Rinse broccoli stalks, then cut into small chunks and place on a plate. Take a very damp paper towel, place on top of the place so it is fully covered (no problem if it’s hanging off the sides!) and place in microwave for 2-3 minutes, until the broccoli turns very bright green. Leave outside with the paper towel on for an additional minute, then discard the towel and toss the broccoli in with the pasta.
3. Place 1 tblspn soy butter in a small sautee pan with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Once it begins to bubble, put in the chicken breasts and sear on all sides, until a nice brown colour emerges. Then add in the sherry and let sit, keeping the chicken on medium heat and turning it over every 2-3 minutes to even the glaze. It should begin to caramelize and bubble. Once the chicken is fully cooked (press down on it gently with your tongs to check. If there’s any squishyness or give, it’s not done; if it feels firm, take it off the heat!) and place on a cutting board. Keep reducing the sauce until it’s a thick, bubbling glaze, and pour slowly over the chicken. Let sit for a minute or two so it can absorb the glaze. Then, cut the chicken into 3/4-inch cubes and add to pasta and toss.
4. For the sauce, melt the remaining 2 tblspns of soy butter in another pan (a larger saucier this time). Once it begins to bubble a bit, add the flour, and slowly mix it, then add the broth in a slow and steady stream, and continue to mix all the while pouring. Then add the yogurt, wine, salt, and pepper, turn off the heat, and stir until it’s a thick, smooth sauce. Pour onto the pasta and toss lightly so that everything is evenly coated. Serve with fresh herbs on top for garnish, and keep that pasta water handy in case the sauce continues to thicken while on the pasta.

And there you have it! Give it a go and let me know how it works out for you- I’m sure you’ll do a better job of it than I did :). And as for the chicken, there’s no specific need for the glaze (especially if you go with a more dry wine, you could match it with something less sweet on the chicken) but it’s a bit of a tradition at my house. And you can switch around the broccoli for some other vegetable, switch the chicken for another meat… really, a rather fluid dish. Oh, and mushrooms are a classic with this one, but mushrooms scare me, hence their absence… feel free to add them back in for your variations!

They’re not too sweet, so beware, sweets lovers, this one’s a light-yet-cake-y muffin that’s incredibly healthy and yummy! They would have been sweeter- and tastier- with the raisins I had planned to put in… but forgot. Oops! That said, even without them, they’re a delicious snack to have in your bag, for breakfast, or at I’ve often used them, concert food!

Most muffin recipes use a ton of sour cream and butter, and I’ve found that to be downright silly. Why make an unhealthy muffin when it could be far healthier? I mixed and matched flours here to experiment with texture, but feel free to simplify by using all whole-wheat regular flour (not a mix of pastry and regular). You can also completely remove the sour cream in favour of applesauce only- I’ve done this many times before and the result is great. I was just curious to see if I could get a heartier muffin, since mine tend to be very light and fluffy. If you’re opting for a vegan and virtually fat-free muffin, replace the eggs with pumpkin puree (thanks, Sasha, for the tip!)- I’d suggest 1/4 cup per egg- and replace all the sour cream for applesauce. This recipe started as one from Emeril but I found it to not be quite healthy enough and am always changing things anyway (I have a few variations already up on fruippe: 1 & 2)

Whole Wheat Low-Fat Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ingredients- makes approx. 12 large muffins and 8-10 mini muffins:

• 2 large apples (golden delicious or granny smith are best), peeled, cored, cut into about 3/4-inch chunks (sizes and shapes can vary)
• 1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour
• 1.5 slightly-heaping teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream (or applesauce)
• 3 large eggs (or 3/4 cup pumpkin puree)
• 3/4 cup all-natural applesauce
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup black sweet raisins or sultanas (optional)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 370 degrees farenheit and butter a large muffin tin. Set cupcake liners into a mini muffin tin (or butter- your preference). Use soy butter for a healthier alternative!
2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, salt, spices, baking powder and soda) in a small mixing bowl and set aside. You can sift this if you’d like to introduce more air into the mixture but the applesauce substitution will usually do that work for you!
3. Whisk together the eggs, sour cream (if you opted to use any), apple sauce, and vanilla in a second bowl until just combined. Then whisk in the sugar very lightly- again, less is more here (take a Charmin approach)
4. Add the dry mixture in 3 batches each time mixing in until just combined.
5. Then fold in the apples, raisins, and nuts, until fairly evenly distributed, but again being careful not to overmix.
6. Pour the batter into the tins and muffin cups and put into the oven.
7. The large muffins take about 20 minutes to bake; the small muffins take closer to 15 minutes.
8. Remove the muffins from the oven, let sit inside the tins for 5 minutes or until slightly cooled, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

 These guys are perfect for gifts, snacks, and more. They’re very simple to make, and you can make countless variations. The boyfriend loves when I substitute the apple for banana and add in almond and walnut chunks, and substitute almond extract for vanilla extract. You can switch around to a variety of fruit and nut combinations. A fun version for fall could be cranberry and pecan! Try out whatever you like best :)

The last time I had been making chicken tikka masala, a magical thing happened: prior to adding the chicken to the tikka sauce, my sister announced that she enjoyed the chicken- spices, yogurt, and all. This was, naturally, a rare and exciting phenomenon, and so when we had company over recently, I sought to recreate the magic from that former recipe attempt.

I used the same recipe for chicken tikka as a base- but, naturally, made changes. For the  spice rub on the chicken, I used the following:

• heaping tsp salt
• heapting tsp pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground corriander
• heaping tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 tsp cinnamon
• large pinch of garam masala

I cleaned, rinsed, dried the chicken, then rubbed it thoroughly on both sides with the spice mix and refrigerated it for about 30 minutes.

While it was refrigerating, I prepared the sauce, which consisted of:

• 1.5 cups low-fat european-style vanilla yogurt
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• dash of turmeric

I mixed the sauce together in a pyrex, then also refrigerated (again, this is mostly following the recipe linked above, thus far only minor changes).

I then dunked the chicken thoroughly in the yogurt mixture on both sides and placed on the aluminum-covered-baking-sheet-with-rack, and added some extra yogurt sauce to the top of the chicken pieces. I then broiled it at 525 degrees for 14 minutes, removed the chicken from the oven, flipped it, spooned on another layer of yogurt sauce, and broiled for another 12 minutes.

Once out of the oven, I suggest a) cleaning your rack immediately so it won’t be a miserable event doing so later, and b) serving with some cool vanilla or plain yogurt on the side, I think it would have been a terrific addition.

I opted to make this iteration with something not remotely Indian: broiled parmesan broccoli. To do this:

• Cut crowns of broccoli into small chunks and haphazardly arrange in small baking pyrex
• Drizzle heavily with olive oil, salt, pepper, and grated parmesan
• Broil (in bottom-most rack of oven) in pyrex at 525 for approximately 10 minutes
• Sprinkle on a tiny bit more parm after removing from the oven to add some final nuttiness
• Serve warm! :)

This dinner was incredibly flavourful (the spices were perhaps a tad bit too strong, but the health benefits are worth it) yet nicely healthy (the yogurt is low-fat, the chicken well-cleaned… the oil’s the worst of it, really) and really yummy. It’s quite simple, I’m just slow and indecisive, but try it out!

I’ve made CTM a few times using a variety of recipes, and it’s never quite right- right being by my standard of this fabulous Indian restaurant in Cincinnati on the UC campus. It was amoung the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten, and since then I’ve been on a fervent search to re-create (or re-find at some local eatery) the equivalent! Despite claims by my Indian friends that it lacks some authenticity, Clay Pit is the yummiest replacement I’ve yet to find. This recipe, though, was certainly closer than my previous attempts.

The boyfriend’s best friend- let’s call him Ogir from here on in- was recently telling me of how he and his girlfriend made CTM last week. Naturally, after hearing him casually (he says most things casually, this was no exception) say that it was rather enjoyable, I asked for the recipe. This was a fun one!

Over came H bearing two packages of whole wheat naan, bless her, and so we began. I’m usually prepared with the mise en place, but was a bit scrambled today, as I had just literally seconds before arrived home from an after-work info-session-thing at which I was presenting and thus didn’t have my thoughts all arranged. Poor H had to constantly be bopping about the kitchen asking where I had placed the bag of sugar or the can opener. Note to self, in future, lay out all ingredients- or at least the non-refrigerated ones- beforehand.

The recipe we used is from the PBS Test Kitchens, and can be found here if you sign up for a free 14-day trial of the website (do remember to deactive your trial should you not wish to continue their service after cooking this one!). Note that you’ll need a wire rack (like those used for cooling cakes/cookies, or for grilling), a cookie/baking sheet, and tongs (metal or something that won’t melt, as your chicken will be coming out of a 525 degree oven!) in addition to the usual accoutrements.

We followed the recipe as written, except for the following changes: no onion, cayenne, or serrano (we didn’t have them handy and aren’t crazy about spice, though H is more tolerant of it than I); a bit extra on the coriander, cumin, and ginger; the yogurt we used was yoplait pro-health vanilla low-fat yogurt: and it had a very thick consistency, so really, no need to go using whole-fat milk yogurt if you can find a thick low-fat one!; olive oil in place of ghee- H and I both lean towards mediterranean cuisine and thus are great advocates of EVOO; no cilantro; cooked the chicken for about 12 minutes per side to make sure it was well cooked; added two extra cloves to garlic to each of the sauces.

Out came the most buttery and smooth chicken I’ve ever cooked, and a very yummy, spiced- but not spicy- tikka masala sauce. Mmmh! And the rice- a combination of jasmine and basmati (first toasted in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then boiled in low-sodium chicken stock) which I thought I had botched, came out as a textured yet delicate mix (the jasmine mushed a bit but the basmati remained a bit crispy… it was an interesting duo between the two of them).

It’s a recipe that H and I agreed we would both make again in the future, perhaps adding some cayenne and onion on the next try. Try it out and see what changes you make- it’s fairly alterable! :)

 Backpost: Today H came to visit. As per usual we had plans for cooking dinner then continuing the sewing of our dresses- which we have now been in progress on for about 6 months- and naturally didn’t get around to sewing. But when you’ve got excellent company and fun Greek food to be playing with, how can you be thinking of dress patterns?

I had picked up a Greek recipe book at Half-Price Books recently (their coupons are terrific)  and as I had seen Ina Garten skew some meat a few days prior, suggested chicken skewers with a Greek sauce. H brought over the cucumber, zucchini, and bell pepper, I got out the chicken, lemon, and yogurt, and thus began Greek Night.

A few interesting things I learned in the process: a little garam masala + olive oil coating kept the chicken nicely moist and flavourful during the grilling process; half a lemon is plenty for the yogurt sauce; my grater and the cucumber were not friends by the end of their evening date; perhaps a thicker yogurt would have yielded a better consistency (I skipped on the Greek yogurt and went with European-style in its stead).

I had recently visited Sago in the Triangle (very nice place, if you enjoy cilantro as much as I and the boyfriend do) and they sport some very yummy honey rice. Deciding that this could surely be recreated, rather than let the rice fluff on its own, I tossed the jasmine rice with honey every 3-5 minutes (H took over this after the first few times and is now a honey expert) and it was a delicious result. I highly recommend adding honey to jasmine rice. Mmmh.

That said, it was a wonderful evening and a lovely first Greek experience. H and I try to cook sew once a week (or every other week, if it’s a busy time) and will surely be continuing the Greek trend in the future, as we’re both avid Mediterranean cuisine enthusiasts. For now, some pictures from the evening: