Rigatoni with Green Olive-Almond Pesto and Asiago Cheese

Okay, I’m going to ‘fess up. I don’t like olives – never have. So when I saw this recipe, I immediately said to myself – no way. But, I’ve got to grow up sometime and try new things. I tried this and it’s SO delicious! Really! I got some organic green olives stuffed with garlic and this was fabulous. I probably won’t eat olives by themselves quite yet, but I will definitely make this again. Oh, and did I say this is extremely fast and easy? It is.

Rigatoni with Green Olive-Almond Pesto and Asiago Cheese
Servings: 4
Cooking Light

1 pound uncooked rigatoni
1 1/4 cups (6 ounces) pitted manzanilla (or green) olives
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large garlic clove
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Asiago cheese.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta, reserving 6 tablespoons cooking liquid.
Place olives, sliced almonds (toast almonds in a toaster oven for 3-4 minutes or in a skillet over medium heat), flat-leaf parsley leaves, black pepper, and garlic in a food processor; pulse 3 times or until coarsely chopped. With processor on, add 2 tablespoons water and 1 teaspoon vinegar through the food chute, processing until mixture is finely chopped. 

Combine pasta, 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid, and olive mixture in a large bowl; toss well. Add enough of remaining 2 tablespoons cooking liquid to make pasta mixture moist, tossing well to coat. 

Sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.

You can serve this with a spinach salad or even just some grape tomatoes if you are in a hurry. Really good! Enjoy!

Garlic-Rosemary Lamb Pita

Easy peasy, quick and yummy! This goes together in about 20 minutes  or less – faster than take out! Two caveats: I didn’t have any lamb and lamb is so pricey that I used antelope. But you could use any lean cut of beef, or pork or chicken breasts. Any would taste delicious. If you use chicken, cook each side for 3 minutes instead of 2.

And it says to make the sauce while the meat cooks, but I prepared most of the sauce before I put the meat on to cook because the meat cooks so fast.

Garlic-Rosemary Lamb Pita
Cooking Light
Servings: 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound boneless leg of lamb, cut into (3/4-inch) cubes
1 1/2 cups finely chopped seeded cucumber
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 (6-ounce) container plain low-fat yogurt
4 (6-inch) whole wheat pitas

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Combine rosemary, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and lamb, tossing to coat. 

Add lamb mixture to pan; sauté 2 minutes, without stirring. Then turn and sauté another 2 minutes without stirring. This puts a nice crisp glaze on the meat. 

Give it a quick stir before removing from the pan to get up all those crisp little bits of seasoning.
While lamb cooks, combine 1/4 teaspoon salt, cucumber, lemon juice, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and yogurt. 

Oh, I threw some grape tomatoes in too.

Divide lamb mixture evenly among each of 4 pitas, and drizzle with sauce.

I served these with sweet potato fries:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/oven_baked_sweet_potato_fries/

I really like her website too. So take the night off from cooking – mostly – and enjoy!

Superfast Kofte

Superfast is right! It took me longer to assemble the ingredients than to do the actual cooking!

I wasn’t quite sure what Kofte is so I went to Wikipedia and found that it is:

…minced lamb meatballs with herbs, often including parsley and mint, on a stick, grilled.…. The food is popular in Iran, Turkey, where there are hundreds of versions.

This is a great introduction if this is new to you too! I served it with a quinoa/brown rice mix that only took 20 minutes to prepare and cook. Easy peasy.

Superfast Kofte

(Cooking Light)

Now that is lean ground meat, baby!

1/2 cup prechopped white onion – minced fine

1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (found in the produce section)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1 pound lean ground round (I used ground elk/antelope)

1 large egg white, lightly beaten (this helps hold the lean meat together)

Cooking spray

8 (1/4-inch-thick) slices plum tomato (about 2 tomatoes)

4 (6-inch) multi grain pitas, split

1/4 cup plain yogurt

Preheat broiler. You could grill these too, but you don’t want them to dry out because the meat is so lean.

Combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl; stir until just combined. 

Divide mixture into 8 equal portions; shape each portion into a (2-inch) patty. Place patties on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. 

Broil 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 tomato slice and 1 patty in each pita half; top each half with 1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt.

These are supertasty too!

Enjoy!

Seared Mediterranean Tuna Steaks

Yummy! Delicious! So easy! I think I sound like a broken record these days, but this recipe is another winner. Did I mention fast? And fabulous?

I didn’t have any tuna steaks, so I just used some salmon. And I grilled it instead of searing it on the stove, but that’s only because I love grilled food. And it doesn’t get the stove top all splattered. I grilled the salmon at 450 degrees for 4 minutes on each side. The rub with the salt, coriander and pepper makes a nice little glaze on top.

You can serve this with a side of refrigerated potato wedges, roasted according to package instructions. Or make your own oven potato fries:

http://kim-cheyennefood.blogspot.com/2013/01/potato-oven-fries.html

Seared Mediterranean Tuna Steaks

4 (6-ounce) Yellowfin tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Cooking spray

1 1/2 cups chopped seeded tomato

1/4 cup chopped green onions

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon capers, drained

1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

12 chopped pitted kalamata olives

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with 1/4 teaspoon salt, coriander, and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

While fish cooks, combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, tomato, and remaining ingredients. Serve tomato mixture over fish.

Now I want some more. Lots more. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Souvlaki

In our quest to eat healthy, Mediterranean-style meals, I came across this little gem. It’s another that is super-fast, super-easy and super delicious! Our seven-year-old granddaughter thought they were wonderful.

For the chicken meat, and if you are in a hurry, you can use a rotisserie chicken from the store. I grilled a couple of chicken breasts and it was fabulous. Just sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, and grill until nearly done – no pink left, but not completely done. You’ll cook it a bit more later in the recipe.

Chicken Souvlaki

(from Cooking Light)

1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup plain Greek-style yogurt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil, divided

1 1/4 teaspoons bottled minced garlic, divided

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 cups sliced roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast

4 (6-inch) pitas, cut in half

1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

1/2 cup chopped peeled cucumber

1/2 cup chopped plum tomato

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Combine feta cheese, yogurt, dill, 1 teaspoon oil, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic in a small bowl, stirring well.

Heat remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 teaspoon garlic and oregano to pan, and sauté for 20 seconds. 

Add chicken, and cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. 

Place 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each pita half, and top with 2 tablespoons yogurt mixture, 2 tablespoons shredded lettuce, 1 tablespoon cucumber, and 1 tablespoon tomato. Divide onion evenly among pitas.

And, voila! Another great, fast dinner! You can serve it with couscous or baba ghanoush or tabbouleh. 

Enjoy!

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

We really are trying to do some heart-healthy eating. As near as I can tell, heart-healthy consists of lots of veggies, very little red meat, lots of olive oil, fish, tree nuts, whole grains, herbs, spices, not a lot of dairy and unlimited cookies.  Ok, I know not unlimited cookies. But the other things sound pretty yummy and I’ve been doing some research on different recipes. We had this last night and it was so good!

I’m not usually a fan of tilapia because it’s so bland, but this was fast, so easy really good, and about 15 minutes from start to finish!

 Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

 

 

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons paprika (we use a fairly spicy variety from Penzey's Spices)

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

4 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound total)

1 lemon, cut into wedges 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper.

 

I processed the cheese first, then put everything else in the processor. I also added a clove of garlic because I LOVE garlic!

 

Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture.

 

 

Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes.

 

I guess I used a glass baking dish sprayed with cooking spray...

Serve the fish with the lemon wedges.

 

 

See? Wasn’t that quick? Serve with a fresh salad and SO easy and SO delicious!