Recipe Courtesy of French Master Chef, Chef Bernard Guillas

Flying Pans Two Chefs, One World

If you’d like to listen to the full interview on my Hand to Mouth Podcast where Chef Bernard Guillas of The Marine Room mentions the below recipe, listen here on iTunes or SoundCloud and subscribe so you do’t miss any other great chats I have with fascinating guests who stop in to talk food.

“The careful balance of spices and herbs in Georgian dishes make them a poem,” said Alexander Pushkin.

At the central market in the heart of Tblisi, my friend Koko and I visited the “spice girls.” Stall after stall of smiling women displayed stacks of pungent, colorful spices in small clay vats. With the focus of a chemist, the spice lady blended powdered marigold petals with other herbs and spices gathered from throughout the Middle East for the traditional Khmeli Suneli spices. We grabbed the bag and returned to the house where Koko’s mom Lali roasted a whole piglet, a leg of lamb, and a chicken seasoned with the aromatic blend.  Her stuffed eggplant was Koko’s father’s favorite dish. Bernard

GUEST POST | HILLARY STARBRIGHT

Visit Starbright’s Kitchen for more great posts and recipes.

This long, hot summer needs some cooling off.

Personally, I love to blend frozen fruits and juices for any meal, and any time of year, but these beauties are my five favorite blends – especially fruity and fresh for the southern California summer.

A quick note: I am a big fan of HYV  – Hiding Your Veggies. This is especially helpful if you have trouble getting your kids (or spouses or parents, for that matter) to eat their veggies. I simply toss a handful of fresh kale, spinach, or other greens – baby spring green mixes and the like are perfect. All of these recipes work with an additional handful of fresh veggies – trust me, you won’t even notice it’s there.

All of these require only a few seconds to prepare – no chopping or mixing, just toss all the ingredients in the blender and fire away.

Green Smoothie

• 1 cup fresh kale and/or spinach (baby greens mix also works)
• 1 small green apple, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups apple juice
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

Pitaya Smoothie

• 1/2 cup pitaya fruit (you can also purchase pre-measured “smoothie packs”)
• 1 cup fresh kale and/or spinach
• 1 1/2 cups apple or pineapple juice
• 1 ripe banana

Blue-Cranberry Smoothie

• 1/2 cup frozen cranberries (I use Cape Cod Select)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
• 1 ripe banana

 Peach Ginger Smoothie

• 1 cup frozen or canned peaches
• 1 tsp. minced ginger (careful: a little goes a long way)
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups apple or pineapple juice

Cranberry Fudge Smoothie

• 1/2 cup frozen cranberries (I use Cape Cod Select)
• 2 scoops of fudge-flavored protein shake mix (I use the Orgain chocolate fudge)
• 1 1/2 cups milk (almond, coconut or soy milk is fine)
• 1 tbsp. hemp hearts or chia seeds

Cheesy Polenta, Veggie Saute, Burgundy Tri-Tip

Last night’s fridge inventory revealed that I had a tri-tip awaiting me. YAY! I was happy about this but I also discovered I had 3 plastic baggies of grated and open cheese wedges along with 5 wilting tomatoes of varying types, green beans and bell peppers (originally bought with the idea I would have time to make stuffed peppers). Time was not on my side this week. So here goes…

TRI TIP

Lucky me… it was already seasoned from the butcher. Easy peasy. Heat up the oven to 375 F. I put the tri tip in a heavy bottomed saute pan fat side down which was heated up super HOT to sear. I waited three minutes, picked it up to flip but WAIT.

*Before I put the meat down I let the meat hang above the pan for 20 seconds or so to let it heat back up a little. This also dries up some of the pan juices. I do this because the first searing has cooled the pan down A LOT and that means side number two doesn’t get the nice sear that side one got. 

Sear the second side for three minutes. Decision Time! If you have a pan that can go in the oven, go for it. No? Put it on a tray in a makeshift foil box to make clean up a cinch. Cook for about 20 minutes and check temp. You want to cook until internal temperature is 130 F for medium rare. Once this is done, pull it out, pour a glass of wine and start the veggies. The Meat MUST rest for 20 minutes to keep it moist.

VEGGIE SAUTE

Clean and chop all the veggies. I like mine rough cut and quick. Chopped up three cloves of garlic along with my fridge finds. Heated up the saute pan over medium-high heat, threw in the tomatoes to sear a little. Tossed the garlic in while the juices flowed out of the tomatoes and deepened in color.

The rest of those veggies went in and I seasoned with salt, pepper, and basil, thyme oregano from my herb bowl garden. If you have Italian seasoning in the cupboard, that will do just fine too. TASTE the food to make sure your food is seasoned to your liking. Turn heat to low, cover and check in five minutes. I like my veggies a little crunchy, so it doesn’t take long until this is done. You can cook these to your liking. Simple right?

CHEESY POLENTA

This is our favorite thing to do with cheese that MUST be used. Making cheesy polenta is so easy. Corn meal… Do you have a bag of corn meal in the cupboard that you meant to use a long time ago? I did.

6 cups water – Boil it and add a tsp. of salt (if you wanted, you could use broth)
1.75 cups corn meal – Turn heat to LOW and slowly stir it into water. It will thicken QUICKLY. Keep stirring.
1 cup grated cheeses – Add your left over cheese. I had gruyere and mozzarella in the fridge. You really can add how much you want here. It’s your choice.
1/2 cup milk – IF you like  your polenta super creamy, add milk until it’s the consistency your family prefers.
salt & pepper – To taste. This always depends on the type of cheese that goes in the pot. TASTE your food while cooking it.

The Kitchen Sink Recipe

The Kitchen Sink is a compilation of recipes that have ONE purpose… NOT to waste food. Each week with my busy schedule, I find that I have to get creative with HOW to use food in the fridge before it goes bad. These are what I call Kitchen Sink meals. Here is this week’s frantic meal proposal.

Marie Daniels ~ A gal & her fork