When I first met Michael, the only pizzas he wanted to eat were plain cheese or pepperoni. I can appreciate keeping it simple if you want to evaluate a real New York pizza…but I like variety. We have come a long way since those days.
Years ago on a trip to Carmel, California, we ordered a pizza without tomato sauce called “Cristina” from Il Fornaio. Michael suggested it because he knows how I love mushrooms and truffle oil. Guess what! It became one of his favorite pizzas and we make it frequently with a few minor modifications.
Prosciutto pizza with arugula and parmesan
Ingredients:
pizza dough (store bought works for us)
grapeseed oil (it won’t smoke at high temperatures like olive oil)
minced garlic
mozzarella
sliced sautéed mushrooms
prosciutto
arugula
shaved parmesan
truffle oil
Yes, our favorite pizzas begin with garlic minced in the food processor with grapeseed oil. No red sauce. The rest of the ingredients go on in stages.
Flour the board when you begin working with the dough so that it doesn’t stick
Michael patiently rolls out the dough until it is perfectly round and thin
Together, we move it to a preheated pizza stone and roll the edges, spreading oil and garlic over the crust
Sprinkle with mozzarella and sautéed mushrooms
Bake for about 10 minutes until golden in 500 degree oven
After removing fat from the edges, place prosciutto on top and…
Add arugula and cook for no more than 60 seconds
Top with shaved parmesan and bake for another 10 seconds to melt cheese slightly
Drizzle finished pizza with truffle oil
It’s worth the wait! Please read Pizza for another of our favorites and ideas on what to do if you don’t have a pizza stone or rolling pin.
Scalloped potatoes and fish are simple meals you can make, cooking without a recipe.
Recently a friend mentioned that you can make boxed scalloped potatoes using a rice cooker. In case you find yourself in an emergency that requires such a thing, there you go. Under any other normal circumstance, why not make them fresh? I haven’t used a box in 20 years because they’re not hard to make and wouldn’t you prefer to be in control of the ingredients? There is so much more freedom in cooking without a recipe.
To decide how much I could make, I first measured my milk. Pouring two cups, I then assessed the potatoes. I decided 8 russets of varying sizes would work well for that amount using this casserole dish.
Preheating my oven, I realized I had a butternut squash that I could cook at the same time. Why not save myself some time and energy later? So I cut the squash in half and placed the oiled, cut side down on a cookie sheet.
I had planned to serve dover sole because that’s what I had defrosted in the refrigerator. While it would have been fine to serve the squash with this dinner, I didn’t think the colors and textures would be very interesting together, so that’s why I served the mushrooms and green beans instead.
Dover sole, scalloped potatoes served with braised green beans and mushrooms
Making Scalloped Potatoes
You will need to grate some cheese and slice some potatoes. I do that while my sauce is simmering. I couldn’t find the thinnest slicing disk for my food processor, so I used the 4 mm. Actually I think I prefer the thicker slices. They just require a little longer to cook.
Also choose some seasonings. Yes, you are in charge of the ingredients! In this case, I decided on some Herbs de Provence, garlic powder, salt and smoked paprika. You can flavor it with just about anything you like. Some years ago, a friend gave me a seasoning blend that contained vanilla and lavender. It was delicious in scalloped potatoes. So, experiment and develop your intuition in the kitchen. Cooking without a recipe is easy.
The Sauce
In a saucepan I melted about a tablespoon of butter and then added roughly twice that much of flour. I just wanted to start cooking a paste to thicken the milk that I would add after a couple minutes of whisking the flour/butter mixture. I added a small amount of milk at first to make sure it incorporated smoothly with the flour. Make sure you don’t leave any clumps of flour around the edge of the pan. Then you can add the rest of the milk and let it come to a simmer while whisking every minute or two. Cook it until it reaches the consistency of a thick gravy: 5-10 minutes. Then take it off the heat and stir in a couple handfuls of grated cheese.
Putting It Together
As I pulled ingredients together, I realized that I had some unused broccoli stems, so I peeled and sliced those too. Yes, broccoli stems are tender and delicious once you peel them. They’re great on their own raw, but I decided to bake them with the potatoes. Zero waste cooking!
So, here’s how I do the potatoes: Grease the bottom and sides of the casserole dish. Scatter about half of the potato slices and then the broccoli slices. Sprinkle a little salt on them and pour about half of the sauce over the potatoes. Sprinkle a handful of cheese on top. Scatter the rest of the potatoes in another layer and pour the rest of the sauce on top. Top with another handful of cheese. In all, I used about four handfuls of grated cheese. I have small hands. 6 ounces? You can use more or less. You are in charge when cooking without a recipe!
I baked both the squash and the potatoes for an hour. I covered the potatoes for the first 40 minutes. You know both vegetables are ready once the middle is tender when pierced with a fork. If your potatoes are thinner or your layers shallower, it will cook faster. If your layers are deeper, it takes longer.
After removing the vegetables from the oven, I put the fish into the oven on a cookie sheet. Dover sole takes under ten minutes to cook as it is so thin and delicate. It will be opaque and flake with a fork when it’s ready. That’s how to prepare fish without overcooking it.
The potatoes need to rest before serving, so it works well to put the fish in at this point. Anything with cheese and sauce needs to set up a bit before plating. During that time, I scooped a bit of the butternut squash into a small food processor and pureed. Then I added some lemon juice and pureed again. I thought it would be a nice foil for the fish. You could serve it on top of the fish, but I decided to put a dollop on the side for dipping instead. A little pop of flavor to accompany fish is always welcome.
Want more ideas on how to prepare fish and cooking without a recipe? Read Fearless About Fish next.
Beet greens are great. I would love to know why so many people throw them away. They are sold per bunch, not by the pound. So when you yank them off and toss them aside at the supermarket, your loss is my gain…an extra bonus when I purchase a bunch of beets and collect your discarded greens. Are you interested in zero waste cooking? Beet greens are indeed edible, just like most leafy tops such as radish greens. They’re just as nutritious as kale, spinach or collard greens.
If you aren’t used to cooking leafy greens, perhaps you think that they might be too bitter for your palate? Beet greens are not bitter like some other hardier greens, but if that’s your concern, try adding something sweet. That’s one way to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them.
Herbed chicken thighs with beet greens and apples
Pictured above, I began by sautéing some sliced onion in olive oil until golden. Then added chopped beet greens and a little beer (because I had a bottle opened that I had used for a batter previously). Just about any liquid would do. Let that simmer for a bit and once they were nearly cooked to my liking, I seasoned with salt and added some sliced apple to warm through and soften a tiny bit. The apple added a sweetness and varied texture to the vegetables. The pinkish color derived from the beet stems also lends a desirable hue to the apples.
Chicken and Rice
Chicken thighs seasoned with garlic powder and Herbs de Provence roasted at 425 for about 30 minutes. Brown rice is cooked with turmeric, garlic powder and chicken stock. Yes, I had accidentally thawed some chicken stock by taking it out of the freezer when I cleaned, reorganized and assessed my freezer/refrigerator situation before grocery shopping. So I used it in preparing the rice. Zero waste cooking! Water works too.
Keeping the rice as a relatively neutral base so that I can repurpose leftovers for another meal over the next couple of days, I decided to sprinkle a few raisins on top to further this sweet meets savory theme. You could certainly cook them along with the rice or with the greens if you desired.
Use your imagination and let me know how you prepare your beet greens. Cooking without a recipe is liberating. Ready for more leafy greens? Please read Keen On Beans and Greens next.
A staple of southern cuisine, shrimp and okra are a delightful combination.
I used to make a game of buying a new vegetable each week at the grocery store. I think it’s fun to try new things and experiment with them. You might be delighted to discover how to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them. You can learn to love them.
Depending where you live, your local grocer may lack a wide variety. But, often they will order something special for you if you ask. I guess okra isn’t super popular where I live because I used to have to request it. These days it’s available in small quantities, but it often doesn’t look fresh. So I have to hunt for a few decent looking pods in the back of the basket if I want to buy some.
Why so few people buying the okra? I have heard some remark that they don’t like it because it’s slimy. My answer to that is, “It wasn’t cooked long enough if that was the case.” Yes, preparation matters and for some vegetables it simply means cooking it less or more in order to make it enjoyable.
Shrimp with okra, bell pepper, celery and tomato over wild rice
For this dish, the wild rice takes about an hour to cook, so that’s the first thing I started. Then the corn because I like to roast it in the husk in the oven for 45 minutes after rinsing it with water.
Into the Skillet
Everything else goes into a skillet with some olive oil, starting with the sliced okra because I want to give it a head start. The seeds need to pop out and the goo inside needs to dry up. Then you can add the chopped onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Tomatoes near the end. I seasoned with French thyme, paprika and smoked paprika. Take it off the heat until everything else is ready to serve because shrimp only take a couple of minutes to cook. I seasoned them with garlic powder and then added to the vegetable mixture to cook quickly. Sprinkled a little gumbo file’ in there just because I had some and thought, why not?
Of course I always boil up some stock using the shrimp shells. I put that into the freezer if I don’t use it right away. Meanwhile that would give you a bit of liquid if you needed to add a touch of it to this dish.
Alternatively, you could make this with frozen okra and corn and canned tomatoes. It’s a quick and easy, healthy meal that’s also delicious…as long as you cook the okra long enough! I can help you learn how to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them. Which vegetables are you struggling with?
For a dish with similar ingredients, but with the addition of a roux, please read Creole Shrimp next.
Poaching fish couldn’t be simpler and won’t heat up your kitchen.
Looking for ideas on how to prepare fish? A simple and healthy idea that’s great for summer is to poach it. No need to turn on the oven and create more heat. We especially enjoy fillets, as the orange roughy pictured below.
First you want to put some flavorful liquid into a deep skillet and bring it to a boil. White wine and water work well. Sliced onions and lemons are always welcome. Garlic and dried herbs too. Here I used some shrimp stock that I had in the freezer. A bay leaf and some rosemary.
Once your liquid starts to boil, reduce to the lowest heat setting, add your seasoned fish and cover until it’s done. That should take 10 minutes or less depending on the thickness of the fish. Add sliced or chopped tomatoes along the way and maybe even some vegetables to cook along with it. Leafy greens, cauliflower or broccoli are some suggestions.
Below is some rockfish that I cooked similarly. Instead of bay leaf and rosemary, I used coriander and lots of fresh lemon juice. Served this in a bowl in order to spoon up all the wonderful broth. You can experiment with all kinds of herbs and spices for a different flavor.
What about leftovers? Put them into a salad, mix with cream cheese for your morning bagel or whatever strikes your fancy.
For more about preparing fish that is delicious, please read Fearless About Fish next.
Let your vegetables suggest how to prepare fish tonight.
I made the mistake of putting a fennel bulb in an opaque container in my refrigerator…which means it lost its crisp outer beauty because without having it in clear view, I forgot about it. But I can still cook with it after removing anything undesirable. Zero waste cooking steered me in the direction of a Mediterranean themed dinner and suggested how to prepare the fish I had selected.
Once I decided I didn’t need to add a grain or starch to this meal, I decided to slice half a turnip into about the same sized pieces as the fennel. I had enough sweetness going on with the fennel and tomatoes, so why not add a little radishy something for an interesting counterpart to beef up my veggie dish? Roasted radishes are a fantastic side served with fish too, by the way…but I digress…
Breaded, seared tuna with roasted fennel, turnip and tomatoes
Tossed the sliced fennel and turnip with some olive oil and salt. Put into a casserole dish and topped with some grated parmesan. Added tomatoes about halfway through cooking time.
I had defrosted some albacore tuna steaks in the refrigerator overnight, so I coated them with panko bread crumbs and cooked for about a minute on each side in a preheated skillet with grapeseed oil. I wanted them to remain medium rare inside because cooking them further would dry them out. Don’t be afraid of undercooking these. Overcooking is the bigger crime. You can always put them back into the skillet if needed, but you can’t undo overcooking.
After removing from the skillet, I let the fish rest and made a quick sauce in the same skillet with olive oil from a jar of anchovies (hello, umami), sauteed garlic and kalamata olives. Very simple, but it added a delicate finishing touch. An important element in learning how to prepare fish.
Here’s What I Needed To Use
albacore
fennel
tomatoes
turnip
Fennel, tomatoes and garlic
What would you do with these ingredients?
For another suggestion on searing tuna, please read Ahi Tataki next.
Let simple meals like hummus and parsley salad bring us together.
With as many issues as there are causing division in the world, I believe that food should not be one of them. I learned to make hummus from a Middle Eastern friend when I was a teenager. Not until many years later did I realize that hummus could be such a hot topic with everyone claiming theirs is the best and the only way to do it. Certainly there are regional preferences across the Middle East and Mediterranean as well as variety among families from the same culture. So, if you already make hummus that your family enjoys, stick with it because delicious, simple meals bring us together.
Making Hummus
You can start with cooking dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) that you have soaked overnight. That’s a good idea if you want to make a lot of it. For a smaller portion, I think a drained can works just as well. Into the food processor goes:
a clove of garlic
about 2 Tablespoons of Tahini (sesame seed paste)
juice of one lemon
drained can of garbanzo beans
olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of cumin
splash of water
Starting with the garlic, put each ingredient in one at a time before running the food processor to incorporate ingredients. Do you like it thick or thin? Adjust the amount of liquid. Maybe you like a bit more tahini or lemon or garlic? Sometimes I add a little coriander or cardamom. Taste along the way (using a clean spoon each time) and create your own masterpiece. You will soon be cooking without a recipe.
You can even experiment with different beans. Surprisingly enough, I tried an edamame (soybean) hummus once that was fantastic. I watched a friend use lime juice instead of lemon and I even used a touch of rice vinegar once when I was out of fresh lemons. Yes, use what you have to create simple meals, my friends. Gain more confidence in cooking as you develop your intuition in the kitchen.
Tabouleh (Parsley Salad)
Tabouleh, or parsley salad also can be made with many variations…just as you will find it spelled differently, depending whom you are asking. Is it tabouleh, tabbouleh or tabouli? Let’s just call it parsley salad…Here’s how I learned, growing up among many Armenian families:
First, simmer the bulgur wheat and let it cool. Drain if necessary. Fluff with a fork and put it into the refrigerator. You might also use quinoa or barley or some other grain that you have in your pantry.
Pulse the food processor to chop the parsley a little at a time. You don’t want it to turn into mush. I would personally rather underchop than overchop.
Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing
To make the dressing, crush a clove of garlic with salt using your mortar and pestle. Whisk in lemon juice and olive oil. In this case I decided to add a little dried coriander as well and a lot of dried mint because I didn’t have any fresh. If you have fresh mint, I would use about a third as much compared to the parsley. This is the basis for many healthy, homemade salad dressings.
Chop some tomatoes and green onion and cucumber if you have them. Toss everything together and enjoy a delicious, vegan, no-cook meal. Experiment with the ratio of vegetables to grain. This looks like the ratio that I grew up with and that my husband enjoys best. But I also like it with very little grain and without the mint. Sometimes I throw some feta cheese in there. Simple meals like this are so versatile.
Some may disagree, but I think tabouleh tastes even better the next day…
Ingredients:
bulgur
chopped parsley
chopped mint
chopped tomatoes
chopped green onions
chopped Persian cucumbers
crushed garlic
lemon juice
olive oil
salt
By the way, if you make it in the food processor and you wanted to do hummus the same day, start with the tabouleh first so that all you have to do is rinse the food processor before making the hummus. If you start with the hummus, you will have to wash and dry the work bowl before moving on to the parsley. Just a common sense tip…Let’s work smarter not harder.
Here’s what to cook for dinner tonight that’s easy and delicious.
When considering what to cook for dinner tonight, it’s easy to roast a chicken and there are so many ways to serve it.
Roasted chicken, cauliflower and carrots with lemony soy sauce
Michael loves mashed potatoes and gravy, but I often prefer a lighter preparation…ESPECIALLY when my chicken comes without giblets, which I hate! If it doesn’t say so on the package, I feel ripped of when there aren’t any giblets because if I wanted to make gravy, it’s more challenging. And because I buy organic chicken, I expect to find an organic chicken liver in there. I put that in the freezer if I don’t use it immediately. That’s a little umami gem for my flavor treasure chest. Yes, I am absolutely serious. It’s one of those things where using a little bit goes a long way in adding a subtle savory component in the background of a finished dish.
Preparing the Chicken
My friend, Debra, used to marinate chicken pieces in soy sauce, garlic and lemon juice before barbecuing. I always loved that combination and it’s another idea on what to cook for dinner tonight that’s easy. I decided make a sauce with those ingredients instead.
First I stuffed the cavity with quartered onions and half a lemon. Then I put some whole peeled cloves of garlic under the skin of the breast and seasoned with salt. You could butter the skin if you wanted to serve it crispy, but I didn’t because I didn’t intend on serving it with the skin. For a 5 pound bird, 2 hours at 350 typically works in my oven. Because I stuffed the cavity in this case, I cooked it an additional 15 minutes.
About half an hour before the chicken was to be done, I tossed some carrots and cauliflower florets into the roasting pan to cook with the pan drippings.
While letting the chicken rest before carving, I began a quick sauce by sautéing minced garlic in olive oil. Whisked in some soy sauce and lemon juice just before serving because I didn’t wish to thicken it. You can cook the sauce down to reduce, but be advised that anything with soy get syrupy fast, so watch it and take it off the heat before it turns into goo. Cooking without a recipe requires paying attention.
To my surprise and delight, Michael raved about this preparation and even suggested that he would enjoy the sauce as a gravy on mashed potatoes. What??? It would absolutely never have occurred to me to serve it that way…but I’m game to try it if he thinks he would like it!
Leftovers can be repurposed in a variety of ways. The next day I decided to put them into a delicious salad along with dandelion greens, cucumber and avocado.
For an all time favorite chicken dish that never fails to please, please read Jump For Joy next.
Find your umami inspiration and learn how to eat more vegetables even if you don’t like them.
Pasta fits the bill whenever I’m short on time and inspiration for dinner. I often try to amp up the veggie ratio though, and julienned zucchini works great for that. A julienne peeler makes easy work of creating zucchini noodles, which is a great trick for how to eat more vegetables even when you don’t like them. I salt the zucchini noodles and let them drain in a colander for half an hour or so before adding them to the finished pasta dish. As the zucchini releases some liquid, it softens and slumps up like a noodle. Then it requires no cooking.
Thin spaghetti with julienned zucchini and ground turkey umami sauce
I had some sliced crimini mushrooms that I wanted to use, so that was the jumping off point for this dish. I had some ground turkey and an opened can of tomatoes and I didn’t want to devote the amount of time necessary to make a proper ragu, but I wanted to add some depth to the sauce. So what’s a girl to do?
Add anchovies, of course! If you think not, please keep reading. I am talking about a flavor gem from my treasure chest that does wonderful, unexpected things in very small amounts. So, my ground turkey was super lean here, but I can add tons of flavor without adding fat by using just one or two anchovy fillets. That’s your answer to what to cook for dinner tonight that’s easy.
Ingredients I used:
olive oil
mushrooms
minced garlic
ground turkey
canned tomatoes
anchovies
zucchini
pasta
allspice
Is it necessary to run you through the steps to make this fantastic dish? Cooking without a recipe is so simple. I would start with browning either the meat or the mushrooms first. In this case, because I was using such a lean ground turkey, I did that first and then set it aside on a plate while I worked on the other ingredients so as not to toughen it up by overcooking. Then sautéed mushrooms. Next the garlic goes into the skillet and then the anchovies. Yes, one or two fillets from a jar make a huge difference here. I smash them up with a spoon or fork as I incorporate them into the sauce that I’ve started. Then added the tomatoes and I decided on a little allspice too. Again, you can experiment with all kinds of herbs and spices. I would be interested to know what you use as you develop your intuition in the kitchen!
Making vegetable stock from ends is one element of zero waste cooking.
I enjoy a challenge and zero waste cooking. When it comes to food, I consider it a triumph to find a new way to use something I might have otherwise discarded. I love all kinds of vegetables, but one thing I cannot stand is overcooked asparagus. I have always tossed out the woody ends of asparagus because I imagined the length of time cooking them would fill the kitchen with an unpleasant odor.
So I am finally experimenting with that…I saved some in a freezer bag along with all of my other vegetable ends: onions, carrots, celery, kale stems etc.
Why? Because my husband has a problem with a tooth right now and it’s difficult to chew, so pureed soups have become a thing around here. He was supposed to go to the dentist today to get it fixed, but his dentist unexpectedly had to leave early and postponed the appointment. So that means it’s time for more soup!
Pureed Soup to the Rescue
Fortunately, I had a couple of cans of cannellini beans (white Italian beans) in the pantry and I can puree them for a simple meal in this situation. I thought I could use some chicken broth to thin it out into a soup, but my freezer bag of vegetable ends was full, so I put them into a pot full of water to boil for zero waste cooking. Guess what! I have so many other veggies in that pot that after an hour of cooking, the asparagus does not smell offensive.
Happy with the stock yielded from all vegetable ends including asparagus. After sautéing some garlic in olive oil, I carefully poured in the stock away from myself. Hot oil and liquid do not mix well. So be sure not to splatter yourself. Added some ground sage and French thyme. Salt, of course.
Pureed the beans with some olive oil and whisked into the pot. Simmered for a few minutes and dinner was served.
I know it doesn’t look like much, but it tasted good and served its purpose. Why? Because there is no chewing involved…and who knew that the asparagus would lend such a pleasant nuance reminiscent of a cream of asparagus soup? I think I might be onto something…Cooking without a recipe is so much fun.
Here are the previous two soups we had that required minimal chewing, in case you need to soothe a tooth:
Cold pickled pureed beet soup with feta and mint
Spicy miso soup with ramen, tofu, wakame and carrots
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