Brussels Sprout Salad with Burrata

Paul Kahan is a well known chef in Chicago. He owns Blackbird, Avec, Publican and Big Star. Brady and I have been to a few of these restaurants over the years and our meals have always been outstanding. When I came across his recipe for a Brussels sprout salad I knew I had to give it a try. This salad is refreshing and a nice change from the typical lettuce salad. The fresh burrata gives the salad a bit of richness and makes it "fancy" enough to serve guests.

Brussels Sprout Salad with Burrata
 ** a Paul Kahan recipe

Serves 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes

1 pound brussels sprouts
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, shaved
1 medium red onion, cut into ½ inch slices
2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
burrata cheese
3 Tablespoons (or a bit more) of lemon vinaigrette

Lemon Vinaigrette

3 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Drizzle with olive oil and place the onions on the grill pan. Season the onions with salt, and pepper. Grill the onions until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the onions and put them in a bowl and pour over the balsamic vinegar. Cover the bowl and let sit for half an hour. After the time has passed, cut the onions into little squares and place them back in the bowl. Refrigerate until needed.

Combine all of the ingredients for the lemon vinaigrette in a small mixing bowl and set aside

Shave the brussels sprouts as thin as possible on a mandolin (or you can use a knife to slice them thinly). Place the brussels sprouts in a mixing bowl and add the lemon vinaigrette, parmesan cheese and red onion. Season with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature for at least half an hour.

Just before you serve, cut the burrata into large pieces and place each piece in a bowl. Season it with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Spoon the brussels sprouts over the burrata and serve.

Roasted Cauliflower with Dates, Olives and Rosemary

If you aren't normally a fan of cauliflower or you only like cauliflower when it's covered in cheese, this is a recipe that I guarantee will convert you into a cauliflower lover. This recipe is awesome.  It's so simple yet different from any other cauliflower dish that I've had. I would have never thought to combine dates and olives with cauliflower but it's genius in my opinion. The salty and sweet combo plus the savory rosemary equals pure cauliflower perfection!

** For a picture, see my recipe for Parmesan-sage pork chops.

Roasted Cauliflower with Dates, Olives and Rosemary
** from Running with Tweezers

Serves 4
Prep/Cook Time: 25 minutes

1 medium head cauliflower, tough stems and leaves removed and cut into florets
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
2 T. butter
10 dates, pits removed and roughly chopped
15 green olives, roughly chopped
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a large roasting pan, toss the cauliflower florets with the olive oil and ground black pepper. Roast the cauliflower for 20-25 minutes or until tender and slightly caramelized. 
About 2 minutes before you’re going to pull the cauliflower from the oven, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow to start to bubble and brown slightly. Toss in the chopped rosemary, dates and olives and saute until heated through. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and drizzle with the butter/date/olive. Season with salt and pepper as needed. 

Roasted Cauliflower with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan

Brady made the below roasted cauliflower recipe at Thanksgiving and we made it again the other day. I've made other roasted cauliflower recipes before but this is by far the best I've had. The herbs and touch of Parmesan give the dish such great flavor plus I like the addition of the lemon juice. This recipe could easily be made with whatever herbs you have on hand or find on sale; we used different herbs then those in the original recipe and I think the dish turned out great!

Roasted Cauliflower with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan
** from Cooking Light

Serves 4
Prep/Cook Time: 30 minutes

6 cups cauliflower florets (about 1 head)
1 T. olive oil
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary
1 T. chopped fresh sage
1 T. chopped fresh chives
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. graded fresh Parmesan cheese
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 450.

Place cauliflower in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with oil; toss well to coat. Bake for 20 minutes or until tender and browned, stirring after 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with half the rosemary, half the sage and half the chives. Also sprinkle with the minced garlic. Bake for an additional 5 minutes. In a serving bowl, combine the cauliflower mixture, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and remaining herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

Corn and Tomato Salad with Fresh Basil

Happy belated 4th of July! Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe holiday weekend. Brady and I had a great three day weekend. We cheered on the Cubs at Wrigley, explored the Lincoln Park farmers market and finally found ourselves back in the kitchen doing a little cooking.

This was my first trip to the big farmers market this year and Brady has never been so we had a great time checking out all of the vendors and planning a dinner full of fresh produce and farm raised meat. Our favorite purchase was elk brats from Hawks Hill Elk Ranch in Monticello, Wisconsin. We boiled these in a big pot of water and beer and added a little cider vinegar and chopped onion. We then finished the brats on a grill pan. They turned out awesome! I have never had elk but the meat was so flavorful and didn't have the "game" taste that I was expecting. I would highly recommend checking out the link above and ordering some elk meat or perhaps looking for it at your local farmers market. Not only did the elk taste great but it has less calories and fat then chicken, pork and beef- who knew?! Plus it's always nice to know where your meat is coming from and actually meet the rancher who has raised and prepared the meat.

For our side dish we made the below Corn and Tomato Salad with Fresh Basil. Unfortunately tomatoes aren't in season here yet so we couldn't buy those at the farmers market but we were able to pick up a few of the other ingredients. I loved the freshness of the salad plus it colorful and screams summer! We all have our go-to salad recipes that we make when company comes over to barbeque and I know this is one that I will be throwing into the rotation, it's a sure bet crowd-pleaser!

Corn and Tomato Salad with Fresh Basil
*** from Cooking Light
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Serves: 4
Prep/Cook Time: 25 minutes

8 ounces small yellow or red potatoes
4 ears fresh yellow corn
2 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. minced shallots
3 T. while balsamic vinegar
1 T. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 T. olive oil
6 c. arugula
1/2 c. torn fresh basil
2 ounces mozzarella, cubed

Place potatoes in a small saucepan; cover with water and bring to boil. Cook about 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and run under cold water. Cut potatoes in half lenghwise. Combine potatoes, corn, tomatoes, and red bell pepper in a large bowl.

Combine shallots through black pepper in a small bowl. Slowly pour oil into shallot mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Drizzle the sauce over the corn mixture. Add arugula, basil and cubed mozzarella and toss to combine.

Crusted Veal Chops with Balsamic Reduction

The other night Brady brought over ingredients to make Crusted Veal Chops with Balsamic Reduction along with a Spicy Green Bean side dish. Brady found both recipes on the Crepes of Wrath blog and we thought they both turned out great.

I am not sure if I have ever had veal and I have definitely never cooked with it but it was incredibly easy. In Brady's words "this is a sneaky fancy dinner" because the recipe requires limited ingredients and is quick to prepare but it honestly looks like something you would be served at a restaurant. Brady loved the dish. My cut of veal was a little fatty but the meat I had tasted great and I ended up making up for the lack of meat with large amounts of the spicy green beans which were delicious!

Crusted Veal Chops with Balsamic Reduction
** The Crepes of Wrath
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Serves 2
Prep/Cook Time: 30 minutes

2 veal chops, trimmed of excess fat
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 c. Italian bread crumbs
1 tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Balsamic Reduction
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot or 1/2 a red onion, diced
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with non-stick cooking spray. If you have a baking rack, place that on top of the baking sheet and spray that with non-stick spray-  this will allow chops to have a nice crust on them.

Combine the parsley, thyme, garlic, bread crumbs, salt and cayenne pepper on a large plate. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the mayo and mustard and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Season the veal chops with salt and pepper on both sides, then place in the heated olive oil. Cook on each side for 2-3 minutes, until a nice brown crust forms. Remove to the rack and allow to cool for a few minutes before covering each chop with the mustard and mayonnaise combination, then coating in the breadcrumb mixture. Press the chops down into the bread to make sure that everything sticks.

Place the chops on the prepared baking sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through and a meat thermometer reads 140 degrees F. Cover and allow the chops to rest for 5-8 minutes.


While the chops are resting prepare the balsamic reduction. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Add the shallots or onion and cook for a minute or so, until soft. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, turn the heat to high, and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-high and reduce by half, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. To serve, spoon a bit of the reduction over the chops.

Spicy Green Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound green beans, cleaned
1 or 2 habanero chile peppers, minced (or jalapeno peppers)
pinch salt and pepper
1/4 cup white wine
2 tablespoons water

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add in the diced onion. Saute for 5 minutes, or until softened, then add in the garlic and saute for another minute, until fragrant. Add in the green beans, habanero peppers, salt, pepper, white wine, and water. Stir to combine, cover, and cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, until the beans are tender but still slightly crunchy. **I had to add a bit more water after about 10 minutes because the green beans were still pretty crunchy.

Grilled Halibut with Fennel Puree

During our recent trip to Seattle Brady and I ate at the excellent restaurant Tilth. Chef Maria Hines, a winner of the prestigious James Beard Award, menu focuses on organic sustainable foods. We had the Chefs Tasting Menu and everything that we ate was absolutely delicious.  One of my favorite dishes was grilled halibut served over a fennel puree. I have been wanting to recreate this dish ever since we had it back in September, we finally made the dish on Sunday night and it turned out great!

If you haven't checked out the William-Sonoma site they have a huge collection of recipes. I recently came across a halibut dish on their website and thought that it would be similar to what we had at Tilth. The William-Sonoma recipe included a recipe for fennel puree but I already had a Giada DeLaurentis recipe that  I had been meaning to try.  I mixed the two recipes and while it wasn't quite the same caliber as Maria Hines dish it was definitely a success.

Grilled Halibut with Fennel Puree
** Adapted from Williams-Sonoma and Food Network
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Serves 2
Prep/Cook Time: 30 minutes

Grilled Halibut
2 skinless halibut fillets, each about 6 oz. and 1 inch thick
1 T. olive oil
1 T. chopped fresh chervil, plus more for garnish (or parsley if you can't find chervil)
1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
Grated zest of 1/2 orange
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Fennel Puree
2 large fennel bulbs
1 medium potato
2 garlic cloves
2 cups chicken broth
1 cups milk
2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (you could substitute light cream cheese)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Brush the halibut fillets with the olive oil. In a small bowl, stir together the chervil, fennel seeds, orange zest, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over the halibut fillets, distributing it evenly so that all sides are seasoned. Set aside while you prepare the fennel puree.

Trim the fennel bulbs of their stalks and bottom root. Halve the fennel and slice each half into 1/4-inch thick slices. Peel the potato, halve, and thinly slice. Place the fennel, potatoes, garlic, chicken broth, and milk in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue cooking until the fennel and potatoes are soft, about 20 to 30 minutes.

When the fennel is about cooked heat a grill pan and lightly coat with olive oil. Grill the halibut fillets, turning once, until opaque throughout, about 4 minutes per side.

Once fennel is soft, drain the liquid. Place the fennel mixture in a food processor or use an immersion blender and puree.  Add the mascarpone cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish the fish with chervil and serve immediately with the fennel puree alongside.