Baked Chicken with Capers and Olives

Lemon Baked Chicken with Capers and Olives

I've been playing around with cooking with chicken recently since I feel like it's one of those proteins easily and often overcooked, but is so good when done right: moist, tender and full of flavor.  So for my 200th post, I'm excited to share with you one of my new favorite Paleo dishes: lemon baked chicken with capers and olives.  Check it out!

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Paleo Cauliflower "Couscous"

Cauliflower "Couscous"

'Tis the season for cauliflower!  If you go to the Farmer's market now, you'll probably find many farms with lots of cauliflower, colored cauliflower, and even Romanesco.  I've been on a Mediterranean/Spanish/Moroccan/Israeli kick lately.  A couple weeks ago I made a baked chicken dish with lemon, capers, and olives and had it with some couscous (the real deal).  After my first serving, I figured I could do with out the couscous and sub it for the healthier and gluten free cauliflower mock version of it.  I try to cook with ingredients in season as much as possible, so with cauliflower fresh and in abundance, I figured it would be a great time to take a stab at our version of the Paleo "Couscous."  I want to say it has a Mediterranean flair to it, but I don't know the cuisine well enough to claim that.  Regardless, it's still pretty freaking good.

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Roasted Beet & Mâche Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Avocado

Roasted Beet & Mâche Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Avocado

You can say I've been on a Thomas Keller kick recently and I think that's because of our frequent trips up to Napa and dining at ad hoc.  The other reason is because his beets recipes are so tasty and beets are season!   

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Whole Roasted Chicken on a Bed of Root Vegetables

Roasted Chicken on a Bed of Root Vegetables

After dining at ad hoc restaurant multiple times in the past month, I decided to buy the cookbook: ad hoc at home.  I've always loved Thomas Keller restaurants but Ad hoc is truly special.  It's one of my favorite restaurants in the greater Bay Area, and definitely a must every time I go up to Napa.  I love how it's simple foods you can cook at home using equipment you own at home, but done way better than you.

Inspired to go back to basics, I decided to make one recipe per week from the book.  The first recipe I made out of the book was one of Thomas Keller's signature dishes: whole roasted chicken on XYZ, depending on the season, and in this case whole roasted chicken on a bed of root vegetables.  I know root veggies are technically winter veggies, but I saw them at the farmer's market and had to snag a few before summer kicks in.

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Kaddo Bourani

Kaddo Bourani

So you might be wondering, what is Kaddo Bourani?  At a high level, it's an Afghan dish of caramelized pumpkin topped with two sauces: a mint-garlic yogurt sauce and a savory meat sauce.  I like this dish because it's bursting with flavor.  The dish incorporates very contrasting flavors while maintaining balance.  Each of the three components of the dish can be too much on it's own: the pumpkin perhaps too sweet and the yogurt, too sour, tangy, and cold.  However when all combined together: cool, sweet, tangy, savory, minty, the results are quite amazing!

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Roasted Parsnip and Pear Soup

Roasted Parsnip and Pear Soup!

It's been months since I've posted a recipe, and I know a lot of you have been on my case about it!  A large part of this is because of all the traveling I've been doing for work.  Now that things have calmed down a bit and Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I decided it was time to post a Paleo/Primal/clean/gluten-free recipe for a possible Thanksgiving dish.

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Escarole and Pork

Escarole and Pork

I wasn't sure what to call this dish, but the main ingredients are escarole, ground pork, and king trumpet mushrooms.  It's kind of unique in that you can serve it as a side dish or as the main course.  I had this with Stuffed Chicken Breast.  I can also imagine it tasting pretty bomb on top some cast-iron Cauliflower 'rice'.

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Stuffed Chicken Breast

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Cheesy veggies wrapped in meat... it's tough to mess this one up for taste.  You'd be happy to know it's super easy to make and doesn't require much effort :)

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Chicken Zucchini Salad w/ Almond Basil Pesto

Chicken Zucchini Salad with Basil-Almond Pesto

Mmmm pesto.  A versatile sauce, pretty much delicious on anything.  Instead of using the typical pine nuts or walnuts base, I decided to use toasted almonds instead.. just for kicks.

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Asian Steak Tacos

Marinated hanger steak w/ carrots, cabbage, and ginger-scallion sauce

I really like the steak tacos at Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto.  It's a great option for eating out, Paleo style.  Since they didn't look hard to make, I decided to try to make them at home.

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Indian Chicken Curry

Indian Chicken Curry + Indian Cauliflower Rice

The problem with most Paleo/Primal/clean recipes out on the Internet these days is that they're all the same damn thing.  Almost all try too hard to "Paleo-ize" the dish.  This goes from adding that extra cup of veggies to make the carb/protein/fat ratios in the Zone Diet to going to trying very hard to make it look like the real deal for that one food porn shot.  With all that energy and focus devoted to aesthetics and Paleo-izing, so many of these recipes fail to incorporate the essential flavors and methods crucial to what makes the dish, the dish.

Alright, I'm done ranting.  Please don't take offense.  Anyway, here's a unique Indian curry recipe that actually taste like it could be from India.  I was hooked on it for awhile!  Though not a quick dish to make, we took the time to properly create the paste, revisit, and enhance.

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Indian Cauliflower "Rice"

Indian Curry + Indian-style cauliflower "rice"

I used to LOVE Indian food.  In college and for awhile afterwards, I ate Indian food at least three times a week!  I even went to India to pig out.  When I started the whole Primal/Paleo thing, one of the first recipes I tried to make was Paleo butter chicken.  It didn't quite taste like the real deal... especially when served with a side of veggies instead of naan and Indian rice.

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Thanksgiving Scalloped Root Vegetables

Scalloped Thanksgiving Root Vegetables.  Clean/Primal/Paleo.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I decided it was time to post a Paleo/Primal recipe for a possible Thanksgiving dish.  For the clean eaters, the problem is that traditional Thanksgiving dishes tend to be full of carbs, except for the turkey.  Look we have mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, dinner rolls, sweet roasted root veggies, green beans, cranberry sauce, and a whole lot of pies.

Last year, I posted a Paleo Thanksgiving sausage stuffing recipe.  While it was still good, it was a different dish.  It lacked the essential texture and rich bread flavors crucial to making it taste like the real deal stuffing.  Since Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, instead of ruining one of those delicious carby Thanksgiving dishes by trying to make it "Paleo," I decided to create something totally new.  We used a variety of in-season vegetables (which for the most part are root vegetables) and Thanksgiving flavors to create Scalloped Root Vegetables!  This is clean, gluten-free, Primal, and "Paleo," depending on your definition.

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Steak au Poivre

Steak au Poivre -- Peppered Steak in a Brandy Sauce

I am currently really into French-style cooking.  So much that I bought Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking book to really learn how to make delicious French dishes.  The first dish I decided to make from this book was Steak au Poivre, or peppered steak in a brandy sauce.  This was one of my favorite dishes I had in France.  There are only a small handful of sauces that can accompany a filet without spoiling the natural flavor of the cut and this is one of them, if done right.  Julia's recipe did not disappoint!  The flavor was absolutely marvelous.  The sauce, simply outstanding.

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Paleo Spaghetti

Best as leftovers.

Paleo Spaghetti was my lunch staple for a very long time.  The sauce (the base of the dish) is super easy to make and does not require a lot of time or tools.  Like the Italian meatballs, this dish tastes even better as leftovers and is addictive!

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Crispy Caramelized Grilled Kale

The tastiest way to eat kale.

I'm not a huge fan of making a recipe post for just a side dish, but this one stands out and is too good not to share.  Seriously, every time I make it, I have to make at least double the amount because I will eat one bag of kale myself!

I came up with this recipe out of drunk and laziness.  Normally, I would cook kale on the stove top or in the oven but since I was too lazy to wash dishes and since we were going to be grilling anyway, I decided to throw it on the grill too.  Why not right?  Also while drunk, I tend add way more garlic than intended and grate cheese over everything.  This time the dish turned out well, and is probably now, one of the more desirable side dishes I make.

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Roasted Chicken with Black Truffles and Porcini Mushrooms

The best homemade Primal chicken dish ever.

I absolutely love mushrooms, especially wild exotic ones and I have been meaning to make a Primal dish that can really showcase the flavors.  The problem with wild mushrooms is that they are hard to get a hold of, let alone fresh.

Last week, while in Santa Rosa, I stumbled upon some dried Porcini and Morel mushrooms for a reasonable price at Savory Spice Shop (btw, best spice shop ever).  An ounce of dried Porcini mushrooms costed me about $8 and $16 for Morels.  This would have probably costed me much more at Whole Foods, if they even had any.  I also had some canned whole black truffles from my trip to Italy.  With Truffles, Morels, and Porcini mushrooms all in stock, I was prepared to create some glorious wild mushroom dishes.

This is, hands down, the most awesome homemade chicken dish I have ever made.  Thanks to a combined effort with Colin, another foodie.  The entire chicken alone (including the breast), was so soft, tender, juicy, and full of flavor!  Even better than the gourmet Rotisserie chicken at Calafia or RoliRoti.  Covered with the awesome truffle and Porcini sauce, it was no joke, super mouth-watering!

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Garam Masala Meatballs

Garam Masala Meatballs

I reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy like meatballs.  In fact, I like them so much, I make them every week.  I eat them as a meal, snack, breakfast, whatever.  They are convenient and the biggest bonus of all: they taste even better as leftovers.


After eating Marvelous Meatballs from Everyday Paleo almost every week for maybe the past eight months, I decided to search Sarah's site for another meatball recipe.  I am also a huge fan of her Curried Meatballs, except I like to make them crock pot style with a lot more sauce.  I came across "Meatballs too tasty for Super Bowl Sunday" recipe and decided to try it.  This is currently my favorite meatball recipe!

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White Truffle and Steak

My truffle.

Last week, I was lucky enough to get a hold of the king of all fungi, a fresh White Truffle from Italy!  Truffles, the mushroom, are one of my favorite foods ever.  They are pretty hard to find, even at restaurants, so I was extra excited to get this one.  Truffles are pricey since they are difficult to cultivate, rare, and are absolutely delicious.

I had a few days to play with my fresh white truffle, before having to freeze it.  So I basically made it king and put it on everything.  The first thing I did was eat it raw.  Then I made eggs with only fresh shavings of the truffle (no added salt or pepper) and it was absolutely delicious.  I then decided to combine my two favorite foods, truffles and steak, into one dish for an extra delicious, orgasmic, mouth-watering meal.  yea yea

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Chicken Cilantro Pesto Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Cilantro Pesto Lettuce Wraps

With the start of the new year, new years resolutions and such, and participating in the Paleo/Primal Fuel Challenge, I have been extremely domesticated.  Most of my (sparse) free time is spent on cooking, experimenting with different recipes, and coming up with new ones... more specifically recipes that don't take more than 45 minutes to cook, including prep time.
My chicken cilantro-pesto lettuce wraps is a twist on the popular beefy lettuce tacos recipe.  I haven't shared a recipe in awhile, so I hope you enjoy this one!

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