Monday, January 28, 2013

Pan Seared Asian Steak Rolls

I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest, and just had to share it. I love finding new ways to cook healthier Asian dishes, and this recipe is perfect for a family dinner, or a fun dish to make for a night of entertaining guests.

Ingredients:
8 ounces flank steak (4 inch x 6 inch piece) or 8 thin sliced sirloin (found at Publix)

Marinade:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grapeseed1 oil
freshly ground pepper

Sauce:
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
¼ cup canned chicken broth

Filling:
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 carrot, cut into 2 inch matchsticks
½ red bell pepper, cut into 2 inch matchsticks
2 ribs celery, sliced thin on diagonal
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
12 chives, cut into 3 inches long
4 ounces enoki mushrooms (optional)
2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
2 teaspoons butter
¼ teaspoon sesame seeds

Directions:
Freeze steak for 30 minutes until partially frozen. Slice steak against the grain, on the diagonal, into 8 equally thin pieces. Use a meat mallet to pound each piece of meat to 1/8 inch thick. If using thin sliced sirloin, skip this step.

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl and add meat slices. Let stand 15 minutes to 2 hours.
In a separate bowl, combine sauce ingredients.
To prepare filling, heat a wok or skillet over high heat. When hot, add grapeseed oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add garlic and ginger and fry for 20 seconds. Add carrot, bell pepper, celery and stir fry for 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sesame oil and stir. Transfer to bowl and let cool.
To make the beef rolls, lay beef slices out with short side facing you. Equally divide chives, enoki mushrooms and vegetable mixture among the pieces of meat. Roll the beef up, over the filling and secure with toothpick.
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the grapeseed oil and butter, swirling to coat bottom. When hot, add beef rolls, seam side down, not touching and pan fry for 1 minute, turn roll. Add sauce to the pan. Cover and simmer over medium heat until beef is just cooked through, 1-2 minutes. Remove toothpick, sprinkle with sesame seeds to serve.
Yields 4 servings

* I served this dish with sliced cucumbers marinated in seasoned rice vinegar, and would be delicious served over cauliflower rice.

Turkey Tomato Sauce

This sauce was made on a whim, so my seasonings were not measured from the start. I find that seasoning this sauce can be eyeballed as long as the combination of spices are used. I like my sauce spicier, so I add more chili flakes, and I love the taste of fennel, so I add extra seeds. I taste and add seasonings as I go, so feel free to tweak this recipe to your own personal palate.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey ( I use darker meat)
-Season turkey meat with salt and pepper, 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. dried oregano, sprinkle of red chili flakes, and 2 tsp. fennel seeds. Mix seasoning into raw turkey meat.
1 onion chopped (not too small)
8 oz. white mushrooms sliced
2 garlic cloves crushed
1  29 oz. can tomato sauce ( I use Hunt's brand)
1  14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with celery, peppers, and onion ( any brand is fine)
Celtic salt
Ground pepper
Red chili flaked
Fennel seeds
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Olive oil

Directions:

In a large sauce pot heat 1-2 Tb. olive oil on medium /high heat, and saute onions until almost transparent. Season with salt. Add crushed garlic to onions, and then add seasoned turkey meat to onions, and keep breaking up until turkey is 90% cooked through..While the onions and turkey meat are browning, in a separate pan, brown mushrooms and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add mushrooms to turkey and onions. Pour in can of tomato sauce, and can of diced tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste, 1 1/2 Tb. dried basil, 1/2 Tb. dried oregano, 2-3 tsp. fennel, hot chili flakes for added spiciness (optional). Stir, cover and cook on medium/low heat. Occasionally stir, so sauce does not burn. This sauce does not need to cook long. I let it simmer for the amount of time it takes to cook brown rice pasta which is around 15-17 minutes. This sauce,however, can be left on low simmer until ready to use.

* This sauce is delicious over any type of pasta, but being gluten free, I choose to eat over brown rice pasta, or spaghetti squash. This sauce is also extra tasty over baked veggies.



Sunday, January 13, 2013

Paleo Pancakes

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour
3/4 tsp. Stevia powder ( or  1 Tbl. Coconut sugar.)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. Celtic salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cap full of vanilla extract
6 eggs or ( 4 eggs and 2/3  cup egg whites)
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk ( I like my pancakes thinner, so I start with 1/4 cup and keep adding until I have a thinner consistency) 

Directions:
Heat a pan on medium with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin coconut oil (or butter/ghee).Whisk your eggs and (and whites), and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add your dry ingredients. Combine well and add milk as needed. Add your batter to the pan 1/4 cup at a time. Cook until bubbles form well on the top (about 2-3 minutes) and then flip when sturdy. Fry for another 1-2 minutes and then plate. Add more coconut oil between batches as needed. Yield 16 small pancakes. Top as desired, however I love mine with bananas, fresh strawberries, and organic maple syrup.