Linguine with Kale Pesto

Every food and wine seems to have its day. This food blogger sure can't keep up with them all. But once in awhile I see one that piques my interest.  When I heard that October 1 is National Kale Day, I had to get involved! Kale is such a nutritional powerhouse, I had to share one of my tasty recipes so that people who haven't come around to enjoying kale might give it a try. There are a lot of ways to enjoy kale, but my kale pesto seemed like perhaps the best way to sway folks to the merits of kale. So to mark #KaleDay2014, I'm sharing my recipe for Linguine with Kale Pesto. 

I have to admit, the first time I heard of kale pesto I was a bit skeptical about how it would taste. But I decided to give it a whirl because of the nutritional benefits. Low and behold, the kale combined with a bit of peppery arugula, garlic and cheese compared pretty favorably with my traditional basil pesto. And it's not just me--I've test this out on others now. I featured this kale pesto as part of a 5 course healthy tasting menu and got rave reviews, including some big fans of my classic pesto.

A few notes on the recipe. The arugula adds nice flavor for the dish, but I've also skipped the arugula and just used an extra cup of kale with good results. And you can make it nut free with toasted pumpkin seeds for a "nutty" flavor. This basic kale recipe can be used for other tasty dishes like the Orzo Salad with Kale Pesto.

So go ahead, enjoy your kale! There are a lot of good soups, salads, and pasta dishes that feature the healthy green. Keep your eyes on this blog for more tasty kale recipes, but this is a good place to start!

Ingredients

3 cups kale, rinsed and thick stems removed
1 cup arugula
3 garlic cloves
1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted*
1 tbsp pine nuts*
generous pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup (or a tad more) grated pecorino romano cheese
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

12 ozs linguine
chopped fresh tomatoes for topping (optional)

*substitute 2 to 3 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds for a nut free recipe.

Begin cooking some pasta before you start making the pesto. Add the kale, arugula and garlic to a food processor, coarsely chopping to create enough room for the other ingredients.

Add the remaining ingredients, from the nuts through the olive oil, and puree until it comes to a nice smooth consistency.

Drain the pasta when it is cooked to your liking. Toss the pasta with the pesto with the hot pasta.

As with other pestos, I gradually stir the pesto into the pasta until fairly well coated, but not too heavy. I then let people serve extra pesto according to taste. Pass extra cheese at the table.

Wine Pairing: Wines that go with classic pesto, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Picpoul-de-Pinet can work with kale pesto too. But this recipe does pack a kick that you might try offsetting with a Riesling with a touch of sweetness or a Gewürztraminer.

Simply Scrumptious Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic Basil Butter

Do you love complicated recipes at the end of a workday? Nope, I didn't think so. I had picked up some bone-in chicken breasts on a recent sale, and thought that would be a nice simple thing to throw on the grill for a midweek supper. I hopped online to try to quickly get an idea of cooking times, but the online recipes for grilled bone-in chicken breasts seemed to make it a complicated process.

Why complicate a simple meal? Well, there is the matter of getting the chicken cooked through, but not too much. And if you want to play the grilling superstar, you probably want those breasts looking golden brown and crispy on the outside.

Fear not. It doesn't need to be that hard. Bone-in chicken breasts are forgiving, a few minutes past optimal timing is OK. I perused, several recipes, found this one to be a good launching off point, and got the process and timing simplified for you.

A barbecue sauce might be your first instinct grilling chicken, but my simple Garlic Basil Butter takes about 5 minutes to whip up, and helps that chicken stay nice and moist as you grill it. Plus it adds enough flavor to make this chicken nice and savory. Scrumptious, you might say! I had a bottle of BBQ sauce on the table, thinking the chicken might need a bit more flavor, but that went unopened. Along with some tasty corn and side of pasta, this grilled chicken had plenty of flavor for a scrumptious yet simple weeknight meal.

For the butter
3 tbsp butter (I used non-dairy, see note)
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 to 8 basil leaves, sliced into thin julienned strips
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
***
2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

Make the butter: Leave the butter out of fridge for 30 minutes, or microwave for 10 seconds to get it soft enough to work with. Add the garlic and basil, stir in vigorously to get it well incorporated into the butter. Stir in a generous pinch of salt. If you have lemon on hand, you might try squeezing in a teaspoon or two of juice. I didn't have any to add, but I bet it would further enhance the flavor.

Prep the chicken: Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. Gently pull back the skin just enough so you can slip your fingers in between the skin and the breast meat. Grab a dollop of the butter, and work it under the skin. Gently rub it onto the breast meat. Try to get about halfway down the breast with your fingers. This is enough to spread the flavor without making the skin too loose. Grab another dollop of the butter and rub that over the outside of the skin, forming a thin coating of butter all over the breast. Repeat the process with the butter on the other chicken breast.

Grill the chicken: Here's the part a lot of other recipes seem to make complicated. Let's try to keep it simple. I'll explain what I did using my gas grill, you can do a similar process with charcoal by just filling half of it with the coals.

Pre-heat the grill to about 400. Turn off the back burner(s) so that you have an area available for indirect heat cooking. Place the chicken on direct heat for 5 minutes, then turn the chicken over to grill on direct heat for another 5 minutes. Using your tongs, carefully move the chicken and place it breast meat side down on the back of the grill. Cook on indirect heat with the grill covered for 15 to 20 minutes. Check the chicken for doneness (chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees), taking care not to overcook.

Our chicken was a nice golden brown at the end of the indirect cooking time. But if you want a bit more coloring for crisper skins or presentation purposes, place the chicken meat side down on the direct heat for another minute or two.

Sides and Wine: Some good local corn on the cob went nicely with this dish. We also had some pasta with pesto on hand from this other recent Cooking Chat project. If I was focused mostly on the grilled chicken, I might have opted for a rose or Chardonnay. To go with the lively flavors of the pesto and corn, as well as the grilled chicken, I served it with a Viogner and was pleased with that pairing.

Note: I typically use Earth Balance Natural Butter Spread when cooking, as our son is allergic to dairy among other things. It's softer to start with, making it easier to cook with. Along with being lower in saturated fat, it tastes great, too!

Tasty Indian Restaurant Near Chicago's O'Hare Airport

If you happen to find yourself looking for a meal near Chicago's O'Hare Airport, as we did this week, Maharaja is a tasty Indian restaurant in Rosemont that is worth trying. We were at the end of a week of travel, staying near the airport to catch a morning plane. We weren't too motivated by the end of the day to head back into downtown in search of a restaurant. Jodi and I have always loved Indian food, and our lad is developing a taste for it as well--OK, mostly mango juice and the breads, but he likes those enough to happily join us for Indian!

We started with vegetable samosas. That's another item B will now eat. In fact, he watched carefully to make sure he got his fair share of the 2 large samosas that came with that appetizer order. For entrees, we shared the chicken curry and a palak paneer, Indian cheese cubes cooked in spinach, tomatoes, onion and spices. Everything was very flavorful, and the palak paneer dish was especially fresh tasting, and not as heavy as this item can sometimes be.

Indian also tends to be a good option among ethnic cuisines for B's food allergies (egg, nut, dairy). Other Asian food like Thai and Chinese features peanuts so frequently, we tend to avoid them when dining as a family. Like the Indian restaurants we frequent around home, the staff at Maharaja were attentive to helping us identify which dishes aren't prepared with dairy or could be adjusted to meet our needs.

Wine pairing: I had to try one of the Indian wines featured on their menu, as I don't think I'd had it before. The Sula Vineyards Chenin Blanc was rather oaky when first tasting it. Surprisingly, the oak character seemed less noticeable when having it with the food--the wine tasted better with the samosas then when sipping on its own. It was fun to try, but I did opt for the Chateau St. Michelle Riesling for a second glass. Not exciting, but a solid pairing for the Indian food spices.  I asked to get a photo of the bottle, but they brought out the Sauvignon Blanc by the same producer as the Chenin Blanc.

Try it yourself: Maharaja is in Rosemont at 9765 W. Higgins Rd, a bit over a mile from the O'Hare Hyatt where we stayed. A short drive or cab ride from the airport hotels, or walkable if you want some exercise. The restaurant is also a friendly on the budget; our entire meal for three including wine wasn't much more than the cost of one steak at some other eateries in the area. Another good reason to go for a taste of India when you are staying near O'Hare! I'm recommending the restaurant to fellow travelers, but should also note there seemed to be plenty of locals there enjoying it, too.

Thumbs-up, Dairy-free Grilled "Cheese"

I tend to focus here on some of the fancier or at least creative dishes I cook. But for seven years now, we've been figuring out how to get our son with multiple food allergies safe, healthy and tasty food. Food allergies can be a bit overwhelming to those unfamiliar or recently diagnosed with them. So I will make a point to do more sharing about some of the recipes, tips and techniques that we've learned over the years. Our son B is allergic to eggs, all nuts, dairy and sesame seeds. See disclaimer at bottom of post.

A grilled cheese is far from fancy, but it is a comfort food that many of us have enjoyed. However, we've found it to be a challenging item to replicate with the products we've tried previously. Well, sure, I've stuck a some tasteless soy cheese between bread and tried to make a grilled cheese, but until this latest attempt, was never tasty enough to lure B away from his daily soynut butter sandwich. So let me describe each ingredient that combined to work for a tasty grilled "cheese" for our lad, followed by instructions just in case you haven't made one successfully before!

The "cheese":  When I mentioned B is allergic to dairy, Ellie in the Whole Foods Woburn cheese department suggested the Daiya cheddar style shreds specifically for making grilled cheese. This product is also soy free, with tapioca and/or arrowroot flours, some vegetable oils and pea protein listed among its main ingredients. The product is vegan-friendly. Unlike some other dairy-free cheeses we've tried, this melts quite nicely. Given the ingredients, this doesn't have the protein or calcium of a dairy cheese. Our son eats meat so we're not worried about getting enough protein.

two of the key ingredients for dairy free grilled cheese!

The bread: Those that haven't contended with food allergies would probably be surprised at how hard it can be to find bread that doesn't contain milk and/or eggs. Oh, and of course, other breads that don't have those items may contain nuts, or have potential traces of them. Lately we have been choosing Whole Food Organic 100% Whole Wheat Bread. It's free of milk, eggs, and nuts, with wheat being the only listed allergen. It does contain the stipulation that it is "produced in a facility where various types of nuts...are used." We've been comfortable choosing Whole Foods products with this label, as long as it doesn't indicate potential for traces of nuts or that it was made using shared equipment that also uses the allergens we avoid.

The "butter": A generous amount on butter on the bread is key to getting a grilled cheese to cook up with that nice golden brown color. We have long been fans of the Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread. In fact, unlike some other dairy substitutes that I eschew, given that I can eat dairy, I like this about the same as cow's milk butter for many things. In fact, for spreading on something like grilled cheese, I'd rate in better because it's a bit softer and easier to spread. This is also vegan-friendly, made with a natural oil blend.

OK, that's the ingredient recap, typically the biggest challenge with find a food allergy friendly solution! Here's the simple method:

1) Start heating a no-stick frying pan on medium. Get your two slices of bread ready, and spread the Earth Balance spread on one side of each of the pieces of bread.

2) Turn the bread so the buttery side is down. Sprinkle the Daiya cheddar slices on one of the pieces of bread. My son likes a modest amount, as shown below, just enough to make the pieces of bread stick together. I got a thumbs down when I piled on more than this!

3) Put the other slice of bread on top of the cheese to close up the sandwich. I spray a bit of canola oil on the pan before putting the sandwich on to cook. Hold the sandwich carefully as you transfer it to the pan, to keep the shreds from slipping out. Let the sandwich cook on one side until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Press down with a spatula on top of the sandwich once or twice during the cooking. Slide the spatula underneath the bottom of the sandwich to turn, using your other hand on top of the bread to keep it together. Carefully turn it over to cook the other side, takes about 3 to 4 more minutes. Look at the side to see the cheese is melting to know it's about done. If the top hasn't browned to your liking, turn it over to cook for another minute or two. When the bread is nicely browned on both sides and the cheese is melted, you are ready to put the grilled cheese on a plate and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Food allergies can be life threatening and must be taken very seriously. In posts such as this where I discuss things we've used and made to work around our son's allergies, the intent is to share our experiences, including products and techniques that have worked for us. Hopefully you might come up with some new ideas from this blog. Every case is unique, however, so you should be certain to read labels carefully, consult your own doctor, and always have an Epi-pen handy, if prescribed. Keep in mind we are just one family doing our best to manage food allergies; I'm not a medical professional and don't purport to offer medical advice.