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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Baked Beets

Baked Beets!

I've never been a huge fan of beets, probably because I was fed the terrible kinds, such as canned beets.  After dining at L'Arpège in Paris and ad hoc a handful of times this spring, I grew to really like beets.  They're sweet, juicy, bursting in flavor and so in season now!  So the next step of course is to cook them.  Baking them is my favorite style to eat them.  I've been getting them every week at the farmer's market!  SO GOOD!!

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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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Roasted Brussels Sprout Chips - 2 ways!

Roasted Brussels Sprout Chips - 2 ways!

I feel like everyone has some kind of brussels sprouts story.  Some go crazy over them and some seriously try to avoid them.  I used to hate them.  Smelling them from a distance would already throw me off.  Then one day, drunk at a fancy bar, I had brussels sprouts chips and thought they were amazing.  Afterwards, I was on a mission to make Paleo/Primal brussels sprouts chips!

This recipe is for Roasted Brussels Sprout Chips with:

• Lemon Salt and Italian Basil
• Lemon Salt and Bacon

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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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Morels with Madeira

Morels with Madeira

I loooove mushrooms.  Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to take home some fresh wild Morel mushrooms!!!  The Morel season is typically from early to mid April to mid-June, so small window.  You have no idea how excited I was. 

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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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Primal Snacks for the Super Bowl

A few Super Bowl paleo/primal friendly snacks

It's Super Bowl time again!  This year we decided to deep fry pretty much everything... even guacamole, while still keeping it "Paleo", hah.

Check it out.  A ton of time was put into developing these recipes!  Enjoy.

Deep Fried Guacamole | Spicy Buffalo Wings + Blue Cheese Sauce | Sweet Potato Fries | Stuffed Mushrooms | Mozzarella-Basil-Tomato Bites

and from last year:
Guacamole | Plantain Chips | Bacon and Guacamole Sammies | Deviled Eggs | Kale Chips | Cran-Ginger Cookies | Marvelous Meatballs 

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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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Truffle Omelette

Black Summer Truffle Omelette

Truffles.  I can't even begin to explain how much I love truffles.  Their my dish of choice to order and I absolutely love eating and cooking with them. 

Although I definitely prefer fresh truffles, unfortunately, they are rare and expensive.  In addition, a freshly picked truffle must be consumed within 10 days and if you got it in the US, it's already a few days old.  An alternative is to cook with canned truffles.

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Sautéed Mushrooms & Variations

Sauteed black trumpets and chanterelles.

How to saute mushrooms... seriously!?  Yes!  Mushrooms and most of their flavor compounds are fat soluble.  This means they taste extra yums when paired with butter, oil, or a combination of both... and they really don't need much more than simple seasoning to make a great side dish.  Serve them with a nice cut of steak, chicken, whatevers.  The other cool thing about mushrooms is the variety, not just in species but also in taste and smell.  They are so unique and delicate.  Some mushrooms can't even be cultivated and hence making some types a delicacy. 

It's super simple to maximize mushroom flavor output.  With the exception of truffles, you can pretty much use this recipe for any type of edible mushroom, fresh or dried, wild or non, and get the most out of the natural flavor without going too crazy.

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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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