Fennel root & onion (Serves 2)

Above is what a fennel root looks like, available at almost all grocery stores in the U.S. Picture of the dish shows serving size for one person.

The other day while I was on the phone, I was watching chef Lidia Matticchio Bastianich on television with the sound on mute. She is one of my favorite chefs.

She had almost finished preparing a crab dish, after which she made a quick side dish with fennel root and white onion in the same pan in which the crab was cooking. It was pretty simple and basic with olive oil or butter, I don't clearly remember. Then she added the cut fennel root and white onion and sauteed them until they were golden brown. It looked very delicious.

So I went ahead and tried the same dish, but with some modifications. I used a clean pan to start with as I had no crabs cooking, used olive oil, and instead of white onions used red onions as I didn't have white onions at home. Then I thought that if I added some toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley, it would add to the taste. It actually came out great. Here is the recipe.

1 fennel root diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 onion diced into 1/2 inch pieces
11/2 tbsp roasted pine nuts
2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped fine
Salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

Add 2 tbsp olive oil to a hot pan, add the fennel root and onions, salt to taste, and cook them on medium to high heat making sure they don't get burnt and until they are caramelized and golden brown.

Take pan off the fire at this point, add freshly toasted pine nuts and chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

Outstanding and simple dish, very aromatic, and anyone can prepare, no kidding!

Health Rating: High

Ingredient Substitute/s: You can add butter instead of olive oil if you aren't vegan. Where fennel isn't available you can always prepare this with just onions and a couple of tablespoons of fresh fennel seeds from the fennel plant.

If you can't find fresh fennel seeds, red bell pepper would be a great companion to the onions based on their sweetness, according to me.

Grilled Cowboy cut New York strip steaks (Serves 4)

- recipe courtesy Andy Silfen

Hi Friends, sorry for the sudden lack of posting on the blog for over a month now. Had a lot of things going on, and was in the midst of taking care of them. I do have managed during this time, to try some new dishes. Its just that it took a while for me to put it all together.

I am working on new creations as well, still in the experimentation stage that I hope to share as soon as I can, if they turn out well ;-).

In the meanwhile here is a recipe sent to me by my friend Andy. He has been all over me for the last month or so to post this on the blog, else he would be mad!! He was my broker when we purchased our house. I have known him for the last 4 years now. Andy is an avid fan of eating and cooking food. His dish is Grilled Cowboy cut New York strip steaks.

I haven't tried out his recipe as I don't consume beef anymore. I am sure that although health wise its heart attack material (just kidding :-)), taste wise it has the ingredients in it to be a possible winner. Here is the recipe.

2 New York Strips - approximately 3 fingers thick (about 1.5 lbs each)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Teriyaki sauce

Mix the salt, pepper, and garlic powder together and sprinkle them on each of the strips, on both sides. Let the steaks sit for a while and marinate. Line up the steaks and pour on each steak 1/2 tbsp each of olive oil, soy sauce, and Teriyaki sauce and let them soak in the ingredients a bit.

Grill the steaks for about 8 minutes per side over a hot grill. When you take the steaks off the grill, allow a few moments to rest before slicing.

Andy's note: "The texture and flavor of this meal is one to inspire the soul and should not be eaten too often lest it becomes taken for granted. Serve the above with an excellent salad and garlic bread. Spaghetti also makes a heavenly match with either a nice marinara or clam sauce".

Health Rating: Low (sorry, Andy :-))

Bio on Andrew Silfen:

Andy was born in Westchester NY and lived there all his life. Bottom line, he loves to eat and cook! Often when he eats out, he finds a dish that he likes so much, he comes back home and tries to create his own version of it. Andy is a real estate broker by profession, and here is his website http://www.andrewsilfen.com

Ginger Chili Chicken (Serves 2)

2 pieces of low fat chicken breasts cut into small cubes
1 large onion cut into small pieces
10 black peppercorns ground
1 large piece of ginger root (about 3 inches in length), half of it cut into fine 1/2 inch slices, and the other half crushed into a paste
4 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed once with knife
6 medium sized chillies chopped long after retaining seeds only from 4 of them
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste
1 bunch of coriander leaves chopped fine

One of my favorite dishes, as I love ginger. In a medium sized bowl add the cut chicken breast pieces, a little bit of salt, crushed ginger paste, crushed garlic broken down, 1 tbsp of olive oil, ground black pepper and green chillies, and mix them all together. Let it stay for a couple of hours (again the longer you marinade it, the longer the time all the ingredients get to bind together, and the dish is tastier).

Pour 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet or pan. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and the remaining cut ginger, and saute them on medium high heat. You don't want the onions to caramelize or get burnt either. Saute this until the onions turn golden brown and the ginger pieces get cooked.

At this point, add all the contents of the bowl along with all the chicken, and add salt to taste. Saute the whole mix on medium to high flame making sure nothing gets burnt. When the chicken is done fully, add chopped coriander to garnish and add great aroma to the dish.

Serve hot with rice, bread, or tortilla and an ice cold beer. This dish is somewhat dry and can also be a great o'dourve to go along with a good single malt whiskey :-)

Health Rating: High

Ingredient Substitute/s: Can also be prepared using tofu instead of chicken for vegetarians. I will add recipe for the veggie version in the near future.

Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken (Serves 2)

4 - 5 thinly sliced low fat chicken breasts
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and crushed pepper to taste
Lemon juice from 1 whole lemon
1/2 tsp lemon zest
Bunch of fresh finely chopped rosemary leaves (around 1 tbsp) or 1 tsp if using dried rosemary leaves

This is a very simple and extremely tasty dish to prepare. The first step is to prepare the marinade. In a medium size bowl add 3 tbsp of olive oil. Chop the 4 crushed garlic cloves very fine and add to the oil. Add the rosemary leaves, salt and pepper, lemon juice and the lemon zest. Whisk everything together. Add the chicken to this and mix the chicken breasts well with the marinade. Let it sit for a few hours (longer the better).

Using a heavy pan or a grill, cook the chicken until done on medium heat. You can also use a traditional outdoor grill if you want the fancy grill marks :-) Given the thin size of the slices the chicken cooks pretty fast. Serve immediately with fried rice, as part of a salad (cut it into strips once the chicken is cooked), or make yourself a quick sandwich with lettuce, tomato and other desired condiments.

Health Rating: High

Ingredient Substitute/s: The same dish can be prepared using tofu, if you are vegetarian. I will add that recipe in the near future.

Baked Brussels Sprouts (Serves 2)

- (A little twist to this wonderful Italian preparation)

1 10oz (284g) pack of brussels sprouts from the grocery store
4 cloves garlic smashed and cut into medium sized pieces
Salt and pepper as per taste
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder

Clean the brussels sprouts, drain the water and cut into 4 pieces from the top ( or 2 if the sprouts are small in size). Place them in a baking pan/tray. Crush the garlic cloves and cut them into medium sized pieces. Add the cut garlic to the sprouts. Add salt, crushed black pepper, coriander powder, red chilli powder, and extra virgin olive oil to the sprouts and garlic, and mix everything lightly. Let it stay for 5 minutes as you pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the pan in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes by which time the brussel sprouts are completely cooked, and nicely roasted and crisp. Serve hot.

Although I love the way this dish is prepared just with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, I just wanted to twist it around a bit and see what the result was. I have to tell you that the coriander adds nice flavor to the dish and there is a nice spicy kick to it from the chilli powder. You can find coriander powder and red chilli powder at the local grocery store.

Health Rating: High

Ingredient Substitute/s: You can substitute the red chilli powder with cayenne pepper if you prefer.