Chicken with Olives and Pine Nuts

I am doing an honorary post for Mommy.  She made this for dinner last night and came into my room and was like "come take a picture of this chicken so we can show it to Shauna and put it on the blog".  So I did,  and now I am posting the recipe as well.  This recipe is from Lidia Bastianich and it involves really simple ingredients but it is so tasty, and literally finger-lickin' good!  With so few ingredients I'm sure that this dish is super easy to prepare, and I'm sure Mom will attest to that in a comment very soon.

Mom served it up with some creamy polenta and sauteed green beans. Yummy!!!!

Three-Greens Soup with Spinach Gremolata

The other night I was looking for something warm and nutritious to cook that included some of the beautiful greens that are still at the farmer's market. I found this recipe in the latest issue of bon appétit, and it was so lovely! Perfect on a cold winter night! The flavor is earthy and lemony; anytime there's gremolata or pine nuts involved I'll probably be happy. And it's super easy to make!

The beautiful greens (and reds) all rinsed

Here is the recipe, copied from the January 2012 issue of bon appétit:

Three-Greens Soup with Spinach Gremolata
4 servings; 40 minutes total

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 sm onion thinly sliced
s & p
4 garlic cloves, 3 thinly sliced, 1 finely grated
4 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 bunch collard greens (8 oz.), center ribs and stems removed, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 bunch Swiss chard (12 oz.), center ribs and stems removed, chopped (about 8 cups)
1 5-oz bag packaged spinach (not baby; I used fresh), stems removed (about 4 cups), divided
2 tsp. (or more) fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. finely grated lemon juice
1 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onion and season with s&p. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add thinly sliced garlic to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 minute. Add broth, potatoes, collards, and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer soup until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 10 minutes.

Add Swiss chard to pot and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in 3 cups spinach and 2 tsp. lemon juice until spinach is wilted.

Meanwhile, chop the remaining 1 cup spinach; place in a small bowl. Add lemon zest, finely grated garlic clove, and the remaining 1 Tbsp. oil to chopped spinach; toss to coat. Season spinach gremolata to taste with s&p and more lemon juice if desired.

Season soup with s&p. Divide among bowls. Mound spinach gremolata on top of soup in bowls. Garnish with pine nuts.

Enjoy! :)

Tilapia with Olives, Pine Nuts, Artichoke Hearts & Basil

This dish is definitely one that you will want to make again and again...at least I do!  It is super easy and so fresh tasting. Here is what the mise en place looks like.

To start, preheat the oven to 350.  Spread 1/4 cup of pine nuts out on a baking sheet and bake until fragrant and toasted, about 5 minutes or so.  Then raise the heat to 400.  Season 4 tilapia filets with olive oil and S&P, and place then in a baking dish.  Pour 1/3 of a cup of dry white wine over the fish, as well as 1 large chopped garlic clove, and about 3 TBS of chopped fresh basil.  Nestle in among the fish 1/2 cup of pitted Kalamata olives and 4 artichoke hearts (cut in half).  Cover the dish with tin foil and bake until the fish is opaque and cooked through, about 10-15minutes.

I used a dutch oven in order to minimize the number of pans I had to wash

Once the fish is cooked, remove the filets from the baking dish and transfer all the juices to a small pan.  Set the pan over medium heat and stir in another large chopped garlic clove, 2 TBS of chopped fresh basil and the toasted pine nuts.  You can also add a little more olive oil if needed.  Once it is nice and fragrant, spoon the sauce over the filets and serve.

I served mine up with some roasted potatoes. I tossed them in olive oil, S&P and put them in the oven just before the fish went in .  Oh boy! it was SO good!!!  All the different flavors come together perfectly in each bite.

Shauna:  I'm curious if this will trump the other tilapia that's in your permanent rotation. Let me know!

Pasta with Radiccio

Another beautiful ingredient at the farmers market right now: radiccio. Searching for something new to try with it, I found this great fall recipe for Pasta with Roasted Radiccio. You gotta try this it's so good! The roasted radiccio is SO yummy, it's bitterness perfectly complimented by the kalamata olives and pine nuts. The only thing I left out were the sun-dried tomatoes, which I'm not a huge fan of. I used fresh cherry tomatoes instead, and I thought they were perfect. We served it up with a little lean steak. Yum!