Tomato Basil Sauce

Everyone needs a good tomato sauce recipe—even if you usually just use the stuff from a jar (which we do). Here’s our favorite recipe. And for the record, it’s not just good…it’s awesome (especially on homemade roasted red pepper and goat cheese ravioli).

2 tbsp EVOO

3-4 cloves garlic (or 2 big cloves), minced

40 oz. diced, peeled tomatoes (we use a 28oz. can + a 14.5oz. can)

3 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

3 oz. orange juice (fresh-squeezed or at least high quality stuff)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1. Heat EVOO in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant—do not let it burn! (30 seconds to 2 minutes)

3. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, orange juice, cinnamon and cayenne.

4. Reduce heat to medium low and bring to a slow simmer. Simmer, slowly, for 15 minutes.

5. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 hour. The sauce will reduce.

6. Stir in basil right before serving.

Free Core Day!

On Monday, January 25, 2010 Core Conditioning is FREE! Worried that Core Conditioning will be too hard, or too easy or too early? Come try a class for FREE, Monday Jan 25, 6:30-7:30AM at The Sanctuary in Yarmouth.

Core Conditioning is not an hour of crunches. Yes, we’ll work our abs, but we’ll also strengthen and tone our glutes, hips and lower backs. It’s a fun and empowering way to start your week.

Free Core Day is free (of course), but you must pre-register by emailing Kelsey at healthyish@gmail.com

Trout (or Salmon) in a Pouch

This recipe is quite simple. It's based on a whole bunch of googled brown-sugar-spice-rub recipes that I looked up over the years until I finally just decided to whip something together on my own. As such, the amounts aren't measured with any real degree of accuracy, and if some other ingredient seems like it would make for a good addition (I've seen dijon mustard, onion powder, soy sauce, pepper all make an appearance in other recipes), don't hesitate to toss it in as well.

⅔ pound of Rainbow Trout or Wild-Caught Salmon

1 tbsp EVOO

¼ cup light-brown sugar

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 425º

2. Combine brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon and garlic powder in a bowl.

3. Place the fish fillet skin-side down, lengthwise along a sheet of aluminum foil, making sure the foil extends an inch or two beyond the fillet at either end.

4. Drizzle the fish with EVOO.

5. Spread the brown sugar mixture over the meat of the fish, trying your best to cover it completely. (Feel free to heap it on if you have too much.)

6. Fold the sides of the foil up over the fish, to create a sealed packet/pouch. (I do it by folding the sides down in the middle and rolling the ends up, but that's easier done than described.)

7. Place the foil pouch on a baking pan and place in the oven, cooking for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is opaque and flaky. (It generally takes a few minutes for the heat to penetrate the foil wrapping, and then it's about 10 minutes per inch of thickness.)

Note: This recipe also works on a medium hot grill.

One more note: If you want to find out why wild salmon is better than farmed salmon, read our Mauka to Makai post here.

Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

These cookies are scrumptiously light and chocolaty. Better yet, they’re flourless! In other words, they’re wheat-free (for me)—people who can’t eat gluten should make sure all of their ingredients are gluten-free.

This recipe is from Francois Payard.

2 ½ cups walnut halves

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

½ cup + 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder*

4 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Finely chop walnuts and transfer to an unlined baking sheet. Toast in oven for about 9 minutes, until fragrant.

3. In a large bowl, combine sugar and cocoa.

4. Stir in walnuts.

5. Add egg whites and vanilla. Beat with a fork until batter is just moistened.

6. Drop dollops of batter onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

7. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are lightly cracked and glossy.

*If possible, use organic or Fair Trade cocoa to prevent chocolate extinction.

Veggie-Loaded Pasta

Here’s a speedy weeknight meal that always leaves us with enough leftovers for at least one lunch. This recipe is based on a recipe for “Athenian Pasta Primavera” from Eating Well.

1 package extra-firm tofu, drained, patted dry and cubed

EVOO

1 medium onion, sliced

2 yellow bell peppers, sliced

2 medium zucchinis, halved and cut into thin slices (or 1 zucchini and 1 yellow summer squash)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup dry white wine (either Riesling or Pinot Grigio)

1 package brown rice penne (or your penne of choice)

1 ½ cups frozen peas, thawed

¾ cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

1. Cook penne until it’s al dente.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tsp EVOO in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to brown, 3-5 minutes.

3. Add tofu, peppers and zucchini to the skillet. Cook, stirring until the tofu starts to brown and the vegetables become tender, 3-5 minutes.

4. Add garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute.

5. Add wine and simmer 1-2 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

6. If you’ve timed things perfectly, the pasta will reach al dente perfection while the wine is simmering in the skillet. Drain the pasta (if you’re using brown rice pasta, rinse it with cold water) and then add the pasta to the skillet.

7. Add peas, feta and 1 tbsp EVOO. Toss.

Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina Sage Crostini

I made no-knead spelt bread for three reasons this weekend: 1) because I looove bread dunked in EVOO, 2) to try out the new replacement knob and 3) to make crostini for this fabulous soup.

We’re not really soup people, but a friend made this for us about a month ago and it was good—damn good—and wicked filling. So we made it for ourselves and watched the snow outside as we ate our soup by the fire.

This recipe is adapted from Giada.

For the soup:

2 tbsp butter (at room temperature)

2 tbsp EVOO

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 big butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed

6 cups low-sodium (or unsalted) chicken stock

¼ cup chopped fresh sage

For the crostini:

Sliced baguette (or no-knead spelt bread)

EVOO

Chopped fresh sage

Fontina cheese, grated

1. Add butter and EVOO to an 8-quart stockpot. Melt together over medium-high heat.

2. Add onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until onion is soft.

3. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.

4. Add squash and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Add sage.

5. Continue to boil until the vegetables are tender (poke ‘em with a fork to test), 20-30 minutes.

6. Pour contents of stockpot into a blender (you may have to split it into batches) and blend until smooth.

7. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°. Arrange bread on baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with sage and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted, 6-8 minutes.

Even Better No-Knead Spelt Bread

I’ve got fabulous news: There is a Santa Claus and he reads Healthy-ish! I got a stainless steel replacement knob for my Dutch oven in my stocking…and I put it to work this weekend. I followed the first part of the recipe for No-Knead Spelt Bread, using light spelt flour instead of regular spelt flour because that’s all I could find. After letting the dough rest for about 20 hours, I followed the following instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Heat empty lidded Dutch oven in the 450° oven for 30 minutes.

3. Place dough in a parchment paper sling and move it into the Dutch oven. Return the Dutch oven to the oven and cook for 30 minutes with the lid on.

4. Remove lid and cook for 3 minutes.

This bread tasted like it was straight from a bakery! It was light and moist with a crispy crust. The light spelt flour gave the bread less of an earthy flavor than the regular spelt flour…perfect for dipping in EVOO.