Category Archives: Main Dish

Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes, Vegetarian

Asparagus, Ricotta & Bacon Cheese Pie Is Versatile

Asparagus is figuring prominently in my recipes at the moment since a friend of mine just brought over about three pounds and left them with me.  So, I need to eat a lot of it over the next week or so!  I whipped up this yummy cheese pie featuring asparagus and bacon, two of my favorite things.   I often add ricotta cheese to my quiches and breakfast omelets, so it goes in great with this crustless pie.  It’s great for brunch, lunch or add a salad and make it dinner.

Incidently, if you missed it, I did a guest post earlier this week for The Chinese Quest with a great recipe for Asparagus Shrimp Stir Fry.  

Just want to mention that the print copy of my cookbook is on sale at Amazon for $5,85 versus $6.50.  Not sure how long this price will last, but it’s a good time to buy it if you haven’t already.  Many recipes in it are not on this website, so you won’t find them here, but you will find the color images of the photos in the book, which are black and white, beginning on this page with links to the rest of the pages.  The link to the book page at Amazon is on the right.

Asparagus Bacon Pie with salad topped with fried pork rinds.

Asparagus, Bacon & Ricotta Cheese Pie

A crustless pie made with ricotta cheese, bacon, asparagus and cheddar jack cheese. It’s garnished with more asparagus and tomatoes.

14 stalks Asparagus, 5″ trimmed
4 Eggs
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Onions, diced
4 slices thick Bacon,
4 large grape tomatoes (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 oz. Heavy Cream
1/2 teaspoon Seasoning Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F.) Spray an 8″ pie dish with baking spray.

Hold back 6 asparagus spears, then slice the rest into 1 inch pieces and distribute evenly over the bottom of the pie pan.

Cook bacon until crisp and let drain and cool on paper towels while you cook the onions. Add a little bacon grease to a small pan and sauté the onions until they are just tender. Sprinkle the onions over the top of the asparagus. Break the bacon into pieces and distribute over the top of the asparagus, then sprinkle 3/4 cup of the shredded cheese over the top.

In a medium bowl, break the eggs and beat until blended, then add the ricotta cheese, heavy cream, and seasonings. Beat to mix the ingredients together. Pour over the asparagus and cheese in the pan, spreading as evenly as possible. It will settle in.

Trim the asparagus to the 4″ lengths and cut the extra trimmed off into two pieces. Position the asparagus spears on the top to form six divisions. Cut grape tomatoes and use to decorate the pie as shown.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out fairly clean, It will firm up more as it cools. Let sit about 10 minutes, then cut and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition info per serving:
Calories: 190.4 Fat: 14.3 g Net Carbs: 3.0 g Protein: 12.9 g

Tip:  This can be made with zucchini or chopped broccoli (par-boil first).  Substitute in turkey bacon if you prefer or to make it vegetarian, use a soy bacon or other vegetarian bacon.  This will affect the carb count by about .5 net carbs more per serving.

A to Z Challenge 2015, Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

Zest for Zucchini

Zucchini is one of the favorite vegetables of the world and it certainly ranks high in my culinary endeavors. It is delicious almost any way you prepare it and there are countless ways to use it in your cooking from salads, to main course to appetizers to desserts and breads. However, zucchini is part of a much larger family that includes other summer squashes, winter squashes, melons and cucumbers. Yep, they are all related, some a little closer than others.

Greenhouses, importers, and various growing locations worldwide have ensured that we can find zucchini in grocery stores at any time of the year. Others in the family, like yellow, crookneck and scallop squashes don’t show up as consistently. They each have their own unique flavor and blend well together when cooked. Zucchini has a delicate flavor, an edible skin, and a creamy off-white flesh. Generally the smaller, 3 to 4-inch vegetables are the best for eating since the seeds are smaller and edible and the flavor is at its best, I think. As they get bigger, they get tougher, seeds are bigger and the flesh isn’t as sweet. If you are stuffing a zucchini, try to look for about 5” and as big around as you can find.

Besides the delicious vegetables — oh, wait, that isn’t really a vegetable, but a fruit! It is formed in the same manner as fruits, so technically it is one of them. But I will continue to count it in the vegetable column. The zucchini also produces an edible golden flower. I admit, I have never cooked one of the flowers, although they are popular fried. I did have a couple of plants one summer that did not cross-pollinate because the flowers were all I got. The male flower blooms first to attract bees and the female blossom, which has the bud of a tiny fruit under it, needs to be pollinated by the bee. If this doesn’t happen, no zucchini will form. I was once told that you need at least two plants, but that apparently, isn’t necessary so long as the plant produces a female blossom. If no bees are in the area, you can transfer some of the pollen using a Q-Tip to dip into the male flower and put it in the center of the female bloom. Doesn’t that sound romantic?

All squashes have their ancestry in the Americas, but they have spread around the world. They are easy to grow and mature quickly. It’s one of the few plants that I can actually get a decent crop from in the micro-climate of South Reno. Native Americans called squashes one of the “three sisters” in their culture. The other two were corn and beans, which are also native to the Americas. The squash blossom is a popular design motif in Native American art and jewelry.

The squash we now call zucchini was developed in Italy from the root squashes brought back from America. It was cultivated,  in the late 19th century and likely near Milan. The name came from zucca, which is the Italian word for pumpkin or squash and the suffix “ino” or “ina”, meaning little and becoming zucchini in the plural form. The French called it “Courgette” and it is known that way in much of Europe, so if you see that in a recipe, you know it is zucchini or vice versa. They are known as baby marrow in South Africa.

As little as 30 years ago, the zucchini was barely known in the United States and it was referred to as the Italian squash. It was likely brought to the country of its ancestors by Italian immigrants. But it took hold and has become  popular to eat and grow.

Going back to its roots, zucchini, like all summer squash, is delicious with its other two sisters, corn and beans, and popular in Native American and Mexican foods. While beans and corn are used sparingly in a low carb lifestyle, summer squashes are very low in carbohydrates, which makes them awesome!

Nutrition information 1 medium (196 g)
Calories: 33 Fat: 0.5g Net Carbs: 4.0 g Protein: 2.4 g

Recipes

There are several recipes on this site that feature zucchini:

Bacon & Zucchini Stuffed Sole
Zucchini Fritters
Chicken with Tomatoes & Zucchini
Zucchini and Sausages Bake

Featured Recipe

Since Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner and the squash is a Native American, which includes Mexico and South America, crop, it seems apropos that the recipe should honor that heritage. The Mexican name for squash is calabacitas and the Mexican zucchini is similar to the Italian one but more rounded and tear drop shaped. This is an original recipe I’ve developed over the years.

Calabacitas y Carne Con Queso

Mexican Squash with Meat and Cheese
Recipe by Rene Averett

3 cups Mexican Zucchini (or regular zucchini)
1 lb Beef, ground
1 can Chiles, mild or medium to your preference
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Mexican Cheese, Queso Fresco or similar
1/2 cup diced Onions
1 cup canned Diced Tomatoes, with juice
2 Low Carb Tortillas
1 cup Jicama, shredded or cubed or Daikon Radish, chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon dried Mexican Oregano
2 tablespoon fresh Cilantro
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.)

Slice zucchini into 1/4″thick rounds.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and heat a minute or so, then add garlic, jicama and onions. Stir cook the onions until they are fragrant and shiny. Add ground beef and lightly brown, then add seasonings, chiles and diced tomatoes. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes until hot and bubbly. Stir in the fresh cilantro.

Spray a round 2 qt. casserole dish with baking spray. Layer 1/3 of the zucchini on the bottom of the dish. Pour 1/3 of the meat mixture over the top, then sprinkle 1/3 cup of cheddar jack cheese over that. Put a tortilla on top and repeat with another layer of zucchini followed by the meat and cheese. Put the second tortilla on top and use the rest of the zucchini, meat and cheese on top of that.

Bake for 25 minutes until the casserole is hot and bubbly. Sprinkle the Mexican cheese over the top and return to the oven for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving :
Calories: 260 Fat:17.0 g Net Carbs: 8.7 g Protein: 16.3 g

And it’s Z-end of the the A to Z blog challenge! I will resume my usual Tuesday post schedule next week, but I thank everyone who stopped by to visit and comment during the A to Z Challenge. I hope you will continue to visit now and then.

 

Input for this article came from World’s Healthiest Foods,  Nutrition and You, Wikipedia, and The History of Zucchini.

All photos taken by R. Averett for Skinny Girl Bistro.

A to Z Challenge 2015, Vegetables & Salads, Vegetarian

Victorious Vidalia Onions

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I say victorious because the Vidalia onion has an unusual history that results from the vegetable’s birth related to the location of its planting and gaining surprising success in spite of its differences. Intrigued? Of course, you are, so read on.

Back in 1931, Mose Coleman, a Georgia farmer in Vidalia, planted a field of onions. When he tasted the onions, he discovered they were sweet, not hot as he had expected. Coleman struggled a little sell his crop, but after some convincing, he sold his first crops for $3.50 for a 50-pound bag, which was actually a very good price for the times. Other farmers weren’t doing nearly so well with their crops. With successful sales came more plantings of the “sweet” onions and the production began to flourish.

In the 1940’s, the state opened a farmers’ market in Vidalia, which was then the crossroads of some major highways. People began to refer to the onions as “those Vidalia onions” and the name was bestowed on this new sweet onion.

With time and research, Georgia agriculture realized that the soil, rain and weather conditions in the southeast of the state were perfect for producing sweet onions. The area has low sulfur soils, which prevents the bulbs from producing the pungent or hot taste that regular onions have. They like a lot of water and this also contributes to their sweetness. Having established that they have a true Georgia treasure, the state legislature declared the onions Vidalia onions and set strict regulations on their production and development. The legislation, passed in 1986, defined a 20-county region of Georgia as the growing area. The Georgia Department of Agriculture trademarked and still owns the name “Vidalia” so the only Vidalia onions come from Georgia.

Since the onions are harvested in spring and summer, that is the only times you are likely to see them in the market. I believe I have seen them now and then at the grocery store, but they are not always available. There are other sweet onions that you can use to make your batter fried onions, but they will have different characteristics. You can substitute Walla Walla onions from Washington state, Texas 1015 onions, Pecos Onions, or Sunbrero from Texas, Imperial Valley Sweet onions from California, Carzalia Sweet from New Mexico, Sweetie Sweet from Nevada, Maui Onion from Hawaii and the Bermuda onion from Bermuda.

Sweet onions are delicious on sandwiches or in a salad, but they also cook up well. They work well with many condiments, such as butter, cardamom, celery, cloves, and curry. They pair easily with mushrooms, asparagus, chiles, broccoli and any other place you might add an onion. The Vidalias bring a sweeter taste than regular onions, but still blend well with most food choices.

Nutrition information for 1 medium onion (148 grams)
Calories: 60 Fat: 0.0 g Net Carbs: 13.0 g Protein: 1.0 g

Recipes:

Almost any recipe on this site that uses onions in curry or a salad could easily benefit from a Vidalia or other sweet onion. But if you would like to try to make your own “Bloomin’ Onion” similar to the Outback’s, you can try this recipe from Alton Brown at Food Network. I tend to stay away from this because it is so delicious and the carbs are not low. You can make it using a low carb flour, but I haven’t tried it. I may see what I can do about creating “Onion Petals” that are a lower carb’d version, if I can find a Vidalia or even a Nevada Sweetie Sweet onion at the market.

Almost-Famous Bloomin’ Onion, by Alton Brown

Featured Recipe:

Vidalia Onion with Bacon Pie

Don’t have Vidalia onions?  You can make these with any of the sweet onions mentioned above.  Or with yellow onions with a little bit of sugar substitute added for sweetness, if you like.

2 Vidalia onions
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 pinch paprika
2 tablespoons chopped mini-peppers
1 hot dried chile crushed
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Bacon pieces

Pie Crust
1/2 cup Low Carb Flour
2 tablespoons Flax Meal
2 tablespoons Lard or Shortening
1 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese, grated

Prepare pie crust by putting the flour and flax meal in a small bowl and mix, then cut in the lard or shortening to make a crumbly mixture. Add the cold water and mix to pull the flour into a ball. Chill for about 30 minutes. Put a sheet of waxed paper on a board and sprinkle a little low carb flour over it. Pat the dough into a circle in the flour on the board, then flip it over. Put another sheet of wax paper over the top and roll out into a circle to make the pie crust. While you are rolling out the crust, preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F.)

Peel off the top paper carefully, then put the crust top down into a  deep -sided 7″ or 8″ pie tin or plate and peel off the bottom paper carefully. If it breaks or sticks to the paper, ease as much in as you can, then make repairs. Crimp the edges of the crust if they come to the top. Pierce with a fork and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Slice onions thinly. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a large, deep skillet and sauté the onions over medium high heat until tender, about 15 minutes.

Break the eggs into large bowl and beat well. Add sour cream, seasonings, peppers and bacon bits and stir together. Add onions with butter sauce and mix together.

Pour the onion filling into the cooked pie crust and spread it around evenly. Sprinkle the shredded Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees (F.) and cook another 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition info per slice:
     Calories:223 Fat: 18.0 g Net Carbs: 4.4 g Protein: 9.6 g

Resources for the information in this article include  Vidalia Onion,  Food Reference, Specialty Produce, New Georgia Encyclopedia  and Wikipedia

Top photo from Wikimedia Commons, used with permission – By ryan griffis (originally posted to Flickr as Vidalia Onions) [CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons]

A to Z Challenge 2015, Recipes, Vegetarian

Tart and Tangy Tomatillos

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When is a tomato not a tomato? When it’s a tomatillo, of course. Adding to the confusion, you have this fruit/vegetable that looks like a small green tomato, tastes a bit like one, but isn’t really one, yet is called “little tomato” in Spanish. It actually does come from the same family as the tomato, but is a completely separate genus. Its closest relative may be the cape gooseberry. Isn’t the family of fruits and vegetables amazing? So many are related but not the same. Kind of like people, huh?

Tomatillos are also known as a husk tomato,  Mexican husk tomato or tomates verdes and are a part of the nightshade family. The flowers of the plant form a calyx, or paper husk, that surrounds the fruit while it is growing. When you buy them at the grocery, this husk is usually still on the fruit. While we generally see them when they are green, they may turn colors to yellow, red or even purple when fully ripened, depending on the variety of the plant.

Hailing from Mexico, the tomatillo is used quite often in Mexican cuisine and most of the recipes I’ve found that use it are in that category. It is a prime ingredient in one of my favorite Mexican dishes, Chile Verde, a spicy pork and chile stew. It is also used in Green Chile Salsa and in several other dishes. It has a tart taste as opposed to the sweet taste of tomatoes.

Nutrition information for 1 medium fruit (34 grams)
Calories: 11, Fat: 0 g, Net Carbs: 1 g, Protein: 0 g

Featured Recipe:

Being the adventurous sort in the kitchen, I wondered if tomatillos would be as tasty as green tomatoes in Fried Green Tomatoes, so I tried them. First, I will say that they get more tart as they cook, so there is a definite acidity to them. They benefit from a dipping sauce like Chipotle Ranch dressing or just some mayonnaise or Miracle Whip.  If you give them a try, let me know what you think.

While they are not too high in carbohydrates, keep the servings small, only two per serving.

fried-tomatillos-03950

Fried Tomatillos

Although not a tomato, a tomatillo is similar but smaller and does not turn red. This uses a basic batter recipe to cook the tomatillo as you would a green tomato.

1 Egg, beaten
1/4 cup Buttermilk
2 tablespoons Low Carb Flour (Almond flour)
2 tablespoons Cornmeal or Golden Flax
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour or Carbquick
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
2 Tomatillos, cleaned and cut into 1/3 inch slices
Vegetable oil

Mix the egg and buttermilk together in a small bowl. Mix the 2 tablespoons of the low carb flour, corn or flax meal and seasonings together in a shallow pan or bowl. Put the Coconut flour in a small bowl. Pull a slice of tomatillo though the coconut flour to lightly coat, then dip in the egg mixture and shake off excess egg. Put in the cornmeal or flax mixture and gently press to coat the slice on both sides. Repeat with the rest of the tomatillo slices.

In a small skillet, pour enough oil to come about 1/4 inch up the pan and heat until about 375 degrees (F.) or very hot, reduce to medium high heat to prevent overheating. Drop just a tiny bit of the batter in to see how quickly it cooks. Carefully put in the tomatillo slices, two or three at a time and cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with a little seasoning salt, if you wish. A little tart, but delicious just as they are or dip in low carb Chipotle Ranch dressing.

Makes three servings

Nutrition Info per serving made with cornmeal
   Calories: 133.4 Fat: 6.8 g Net Carbs: 7.8 g Protein: 7.0 g

Made with flax meal and Almond Flour
   Calories: 122.5 Fat: 8.1 g Net Carbs: 3.4 g Protein: 7.4 g

Information for this article was pulled from Specialty Produce, Nature’s Pride and Wikipedia

All photos by Rene Averett for Skinny Girl Bistro. Copyright 2015.

A to Z Challenge 2015, Breakfast & Brunch, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Nurture with Nopal

I have a fairly good-sized prickly pear cactus growing in my yard that arrived there by bird farmers or some other means and it has yielded a few pears over the past two years. Our neighbor’s desert tortoise is particularly fond of the pads and she often snacks on them. The Mexican name for this cactus is nopal or nopales and it is a source of food, nutrition and, possibly, medicines for humans.

Nopales are native to Mexico and spread over the Southwest in general. The root species is the Opuntia cacti. There are actually 114 known species of this cactus family and the leaves of all of them are edible. In Mexico, the cactus pads are popular in many foods dishes, using both raw and cooked pads. In the spring, the cacti produce beautiful, colorful flowers that mature into prickly pears or tunas, a seedy fruit that can be made into jam, jellies and juices or eaten fresh. The taste is described as a blend of watermelon and strawberry, but I haven’t noticed it so much. I tasted the uncooked pad and found a similar taste to watermelon with just a touch of sweetness.

Using Cacti

When dealing with this cactus, you need to take care to avoid the many little spines that inspire the name prickly pear. Gloves or tongs are very useful in handling these items. In order to use the pads or the pears in cooking, you need to carefully remove the spines. Here’s a video from Rivenrock Gardens, a company that sells Nopales, on how to clean the pads.   Cleaning Pads

The pears are equally as tricky to work with, but there is a quick trick to peeling them and using them without stabbing yourself. Using tongs or forks to handle the pear, you follow the basic directions in this video from The Produce Guy for cutting the pear, just being careful not to touch them with your hands. It helps to wear gloves. If you buy them at the grocery, they are probably already cleaned of the spines so they are safe to handle.

Here’s a tip: If you do get one of the spines in your hand, use white glue to remove it. Simply spread the glue over the sore spot, let it dry and pull it out. It will grab the hair fine spine with it.

Health Benefits

At this time, many of the possible health benefits are being researched, but it is believed to be of use in treating type 2 diabetes. It is high in fiber and pectin, which can reduce sugar absorption in the digestive tract. It is also rumored to be good for treating colitis, obesity and high cholesterol. As more research is done, it will be interesting to see if this is an effective food.

Nutrition information for 149 g (about 1 cup)
Calories:22 Fat:0 g Net Carbs:2.0 g Protein:2 g

I have only used Nopal a few times in the past couple of years, but here is a recipe from this site:

Prickly Pear and Orange Marmalade

Here’s a new recipe that uses the pads:

Nopalitos with Chorizo and Eggs

1 young Nopales Pad, cleaned trimmed, and cut into strips
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 Serrano Pepper, chopped
4 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Mexican Oregano
1 teaspoon Chile Powder
1/2 cup Chorizo sausage
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Queso Fresco
4 Low Carb Tortillas, 7 inch

Cook strips of nopalitos in water with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. Drain when they are tender.

In a skillet, heat one tablespoon oil, then add the nopalitos for a few minutes. Add the Pico de Gallo, Mexican oregano and Serrano peppers and continue to cook until the onions are almost done. Remove to a bowl.

Add a little olive oil to the pan, then add chorizo sausage and stir fry until it is lightly cooked. Add the vegetables back to the pan and add chile powder.

Beat eggs in a bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper and a little more oregano. Add eggs into the mixture, continuing to stir as they cook. Sprinkle cheddar jack cheese over the top and remove from the heat.

Warm up tortillas over the burner or in the oven. Serve eggs and sprinkle a little Queso Fresco over the top.

Serve with tortillas. Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Info per serving
   Calories: 339 Fat: 24.1 g Net Carbs: 6.9 g Protein: 23.3 g

* If you can’t find tortillas, you can eat them with a low carb flat bread or pita bread or without bread. Low Carb tortillas are 3 nc per tortillas, so that would be 3.9 nc for the meat and vegetables.

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not. If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted

Information for this article came from Wikipedia, Web M.D., Nopal Export, Nutrition and You.com and Rivenrock Gardens

All photos taken by R. Averett and copyright Skinny Girl Bistro