Italian Cannellini Beans

Savory Italian Bean Recipe and it is low carb and high fiber, too! 

The secret to this recipe are to buy the best canned beans that you can. I have two favorites: AnnaLise's Cannellini (navy beans) and Truitt's Navy Beans (found at food co-op stores). Of course, dried beans work, but this is an Easy Peasy recipe after all.

Ingredients

• One twelve ounce can for 3 servings.
• Minced garlic: 2 -3 cloves (sections) per can
• Dried crushed oregano
• Dried crushed parsley
• Dried red pepper flakes
• Olive Oil
• Dry white wine

You will need a flat frying pan. This recipe takes less than 20 minutes.

Method

1. Have your garlic and herbs ready to go
2. Open the cans of beans
3. Heat your skillet. Heat should be medium.  Be prepared to stir constantly.
4. Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil to the pan
5. Then saute your minced garlic for a couple of minutes 
6. Before the garlic turns brown, add the beans to the skillet
7. Stir
8. Add the oregano by sprinkling a little more than a half a teaspoon across the mixture.
9. Stir, then add the same amount of parsley.
10. Next add about third of a cup of white wine.
11. Stir and then let the liquid to begin reducing
12. Add red pepper flakes to your taste.
13. Stir and simmer for about five minute to let the flavors meld.
14. Enjoy! 

Steak---Pierre's Way

Pierre's Marinade for Grilled Beef

This is a classic French grillade marinade for just about any cut of beef.

If you are planning on grilling a top sirloin, New York strip, or rib-eye steak, the meat will only need to marinate for a few hours. If you are using a more economical cut such as London Broil, tri-tip, or hangar steak, 24 hours works best.  
However, do not marinate the meat for more than 24 hours because it will become mushy.

Ingredient List

• Your beef selection, at least 6 ounces for each serving.
• Minced garlic, two cloves for each serving (if you are on a boat, or in a hurry a good tube of garlic paste will work) 
• Herbs de Provence, at least a tablespoon for each serving
• Olive Oil
• Red wine (Pierre would say French red wine, but of course)
• Fleur de Sel coarse  (the better the sea salt, the better the taste) -- a quarter teaspoon at least for each serving.
• You will need a flat bottom casserole or glass container to marinate and refrigerate your beef.

Method
1. Assemble all your ingredients in one place---ready to go.
2. The order of the marinade is most important.
3. Pat dry your beef.
4. Then rub with the Fleur de Sel on both sides of the beef cut.
5. Next rub in the minced garlic on both sides.
6. Pour enough olive oil to coat both sides of your cuts of beef.
7. Apply the Herbs de Provence on the both sides. The olive oil should help the herbs stick to the meat.
8. Finally, delicately pour the red wine over the beef so that you don't wash away the herbs.
9. Cover and refrigerate.
10. Don't forget to gently flip over the meat.  I tend to take any of the herbs and garlic that accumulate in the dish and rub back onto the meat.

Grilling the Beef

Andy says only a hickory fire will do, but you can make do with a gas grill or charcoal grill---just try not to use grill starter fluid.

Take the meat out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before grilling. Grill to your temperature on one side and then flip your beef. Flip it only once and don't poke any holes in it--we advise using tongs.

Remove steaks and place on a warm platter so that the juices will accumulate. Enjoy!

Chicken Piccata

A nice Italian Pinot Grigio goes well with this Chicken Piccata.  It makes for a lovely, but economical  dinner presentation.

Ingredient List
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, one per two servings because you are going to cut them in half to make two cutlets per breasts.  
Minced garlic, about 3 or 4 cloves
Lemons, one lemon per two cutlets, sliced thinly
Lemon juice, about 2 Tablespoons
Capers, about 1 Tablespoon
White wine, Pinot Grigio or an Orvieto Classico
Chicken broth, (unsalted is best) a half a cup per two cutlets
Butter, 2 Tablespoons per two cutlets
Flour, a quarter cup
Salt & Pepper (the flour for dredging)
Grapeseed Oil or Safflower Oil

You will need a saute pan, the heavier the better.


1. Assemble all the ingredients.
2. Mince the garlic, slice the lemons, drain the capers.
3. Pound the divided chicken breasts into thin cutlets. (Pounding them into thin cutlets makes this dish cook quickly and evenly while allowing the lemony flavor to permeate each bite.
Tip:  Place the chicken cutlets in plastic baggies when you are pounding them to keep raw chicken juices from spattering all around the kitchen.  Be sure and use the smooth side of the mallet.  You are not tenderizing the chicken; you are flattening it.
4. Spread the flour onto a plate or sheet of wax paper. Salt and pepper the flour to taste.
5. Heat up the saute to fry the cutlets.  When the pan is hot, then add the oil.
6. Dredge (coat with flour) the cutlets in the flour and then place in hot pan to fry.  Cook for 2 -3 minutes on each side.
7. Remove cutlets from pan and place on a plate.
8. Add the minced garlic while deglazing* the pan with the wine.
9. Once wine has almost evaporated, then add the broth. Turn heat down so the sauce is simmering.
10. Now add the lemon juice. Next add the capers.  Stir to incorporate all the ingredients and continue to deglaze the pan.
11. Return cutlets with any juice from the plate into the pan to finish cooking.
12. Place lemon slices on top of cutlets.  Work in small pieces of butter in the sauce around the cutlets.
13. Remove cutlets with lemon slices. Stir sauce a little more to make sure butter has been incorporated.
14. Pour sauce of cutlets and lemon slices. Enjoy.

Easy Peasy Appetizers

These appetizers look gorgeous and taste delicious, but take only minutes to make.  Enjoy at them at your next gathering.

An Elegant Brie Cheese Presentation that is Accented with Fig Spread 

This is perfect for wine tasting gatherings and those times when you asked to bring an appetizer to share.

The beauty of is that it looks so elegant,  but it takes less than five minutes to assemble.  I confess that I have assembled it sitting in my car right outside of the event the dish was destined for.

Two or Three Ingredients

This region grows sumptuous figs. 

1. A wedge of Brie cheese.
2. Jar of Dalmatia Imports Fig Spread or Dalmatia Orange Fig Spread 
3. If you wish, you may add a cluster or two of washed seedless grapes.   

Assembly Instructions

Unwrap the wedge of brie and place on serving platter that has a bit of a rim on it.  I have a round ceramic flan dish that I use.  

Next, spoon about half of the jar of the fig spread over the end of the wedge almost to the tip. I like keeping the tip of the wedge uncovered for presentation's sake.  

Add crackers around the inside perimeter. If you want to be adventuresome, buy peppered water crackers to add more savory to the sweet. If you wish to add grapes, plop them down between the wedge and the crackers.

You are done. Go and enjoy the party.

The Kitchen: My Happy Place

Cooking is my solace. When life’s demands are about to overwhelm me, that is when I escape to my happy place – the kitchen. And today, I really needed to go to my happy place. As soon as I entered it, I instinctively pulled out my chef’s knife, a chopping board and a bulb of garlic. Chopping vegetables is always a relaxing, almost Zen-like, activity for me. And, minced garlic is always a useful ingredient to have at the ready. Let the chopping begin. I feel better; I feel in control (at least of the garlic). I am Chef of my Domain.

Easy-Peasy Appetizers

These appetizers look gorgeous and taste delicious, but take only minutes to make.  Enjoy at them at your next gathering.

Sweet and Savory Feta Cheese with Figs Mediterranean Appetizer 

This appetizer reminds one of warm summer breezes.  The ingredients are somewhat flexible, but the combination of flavors are not.

Five Ingredients

1. Feta Cheese : crumbled or from a brick
2. Extra Virgin Olive Oil: the one that you save for salads and drizzling. 
3. Figs: fresh figs when they are in season are awesome. If they are not, then use a fig compote or jam that you can purchase from your grocer.
4. Mint Leaves: Use fresh leaves only. If you don't have your own kitchen herbs growing, then you can find them in small packets in the produce section of your grocery store. If you can't get fresh leaves, then I would advise you to wait on making this recipe.  Not to worry---there are other easy-peasy recipes available.   
5. Ground Black Pepper: pepper, freshly ground is the best. 

Instructions in Five Easy-Peasy Steps 


First Step - Feta Cheese
Drain the feta cheese. It should be moist, but not wet. You shouldn't see any liquid when you place the feta  on your serving platter.


On a serving platter (oblong or rectangular are the best shapes), crumble the feta cheese or mound the feta cheese crumbles into an oblong shape. The mound should be no higher than an inch and a half tall and no more than four inches wide by nine inches long. You can make the mound proportionately smaller, but I think that this is as large as it should be made because the flavors will not be distributed evenly.


Second Step - Olive Oil
Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil all over the mound of feta.

Third Step - Figs
Wash and de-stem the figs and nip off their bases. Next cut them into quarters. If they are larger, cut them into bite size pieces. Then sprinkle on top of the feta. If you are using a fig compote or jam, then pour it over the feta covering most of it with a thin layer.

Fourth Step - Black Pepper
Grind a smidgen of black pepper lightly over the entire concoction. Add pepper to your taste or better yet, leave the grinder nearby for those who might prefer more of it.

Fifth Step - Olive Oil
Now ever so lightly, drizzle olive oil over the whole mound.

Last Step - Mint Leaves
Wash and pat dry about eight mint leaves for every half a pound of feta cheese used. Then ribbon the leaves (cut the leaves into thin bite size slivers no more than a quarter of an inch wide by a half an inch long). Sprinkle these ribboned mint leaves on top of the fig layer.  That's it. You and your masterpiece is done. Easy Peasey

Voila!    Enjoy this delicious combination of flavors with wedges of pita bread or  your favorite plain crackers. If you are doing the low-carb lifestyle, just spread it over a .

This can be made several hours ahead of time as long as you keep it covered. I'd add the mint leaves just before serving.

Welcome to Poesy Living!