Spinach Chop and Sunshine Stroll

I slept in again today, and needed every minute of it. Woke up ravenous again today, and with only a few things in the fridge I had to be creative. We had two eggs left, a bunch of spinach that needed to be eaten and a few nuts and such in the pantry. I remembered reading a spinach chop recipe in Heidi Swansons book, so I flipped through the pages until I found it. Heidis recipes are good, not always life-changing, but pretty great...though she uses OFFENSIVE amounts of garlic (and this is coming from a garlic-lover). So I tweaked the recipe a bit and came up with an epic breakfast/brunch for myself.

Spinach Chop (P, VG)

Ingredients:

2 hardboiled eggs

2 large handfuls of spinach, cooked down and squeezed (get ALL the liquid out)

1 clove of garlic

1 small handful of chopped, toasted almonds

a touch of salt

sriracha (i like A LOT)

BOOM. delicious.

The whole thing took about 15minutes from start to finish.

Salty, Savory, Crunchy and Delicious.

Heidi Swanson always offers up healthy inspiration.

Strolling the Sea Isle promenade with my Mom.

After my late breakfast, Mom and I decided to cruise to Sea Isle to enjoy the sunshine and take a little stroll. We chit chatted and laughed and planned our winter travels. Good times.

Broccoli Gribiche

Me and Dr.J @ La Medusa in Seattle.

The lovely J-Ngan gifted me two Heidi Swanson cookbooks when I was in Seattle. Dr.J is always cooking up the most epic dishes ever, and she takes a lot of inspiration from Heidi. J cooks like me...never following the recipe line for line, but playing with it and making her own. That's exactly what I did last night. On the menu for my two guests was Steak and Broccoli Gribiche. The (venison) steaks were marinated only with salt and pepper, and then I cooked them Pittsburgh style.....hot pan, high heat, short amount of time. So it's got a crust on the outside and is rare/medium rare inside. It cooked them in a skillet in butter, and put a pat of butter ontop right before serving. The broccoli gribiche was outstanding, I gotta say - I impressed myself! I made it my own and only used the recipe for inspiration, but for all of you recipe followers out there, here is her exact recipe. Also, I did a mixture of broccoli and broccoli rabe. Sooooo tasty!!!

Broccoli Gribiche

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds of fingerling potatoes
• 1/2 cup EVOO
• sea salt
• 12oz broccoli florets
• 4 large eggs, hard cooked and peeled
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dijon-style mustard (i used like 4 times this amount! sooo yummy!)
• 1 tablespoon capers, chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives (I didn't have tarragon or chives, so I used a huge heaping handful of fresh flat leaf parsley and the green tops of scallions)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Use your hands to toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon of EVOO, sprinkle with salt, and turn out onto a baking sheet. Roast until they are cooked through and starting to brown. About 15 min before you think the potatoes are done, toss the broccoli with EVOO, sprinkle with salt, and arrange on the baking sheet with the potatoes. The broccoli is delicious if it has a slight char. To make the dressing, mash just the yolk of one of the eggs in a medium bowl. Very very slowly add 1/2 cup EVOO, beating constantly; the dressing should look smooth and glossy. Whisk in the vinegar, then mustard. Stir in the capers, shallots, herbs and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Coarsely chop the remaining eggs and egg white, and fold them into the dressing. Put the warm potatoes and brocccoli in a large bowl and gently toss with the dressing.

Home, with Herkimer.

I'm home, but I've brought a few things back from Seattle with me. First thing I brought back was "This Guy", compliments of Jer. My Dad finally got his cast off, but he was complaining that he cant bend his pinky finger anymore. I said "No worries Dad, that's how all the cool guys point to themselves...not with their thumbs, but with their pinky fingers." Apparently someone on the show 30 Rock started this, and Jer thought that it was funny - so we pointed to ourselves with pinky fingers the whole time I was in Seattle. Doesn't make much sense? Yeah, I know - you probably had to be there. Anywho - we got Dad pointing to himself with his pinky finger now.

The second thing that I brought home with me was Herkimer coffee....9 pounds of Herkimer coffee to be exact! It is simply the best, (yes I'm sorry, even better that Stumptown). When Julisa was putting in an order for the restaurant, I asked her to order me a bunch as well to last me through these upcoming months. SO delicious. Seattle is known for coffee, but this is the best.

The third thing that I brought home with me were two Heidi Swanson cookbooks, compliments of Dr.J. I love love love Heidis recipes, and found out that several of the epic meals J-Ngan has prepared are from her books. Janice and I had talked about her brilliance and I said that I planned to buy the cookbooks when I got home. Totally unnecessary because Dr.J bought them for me right before I left Seattle!! I can't wait to dive head first into these delicious and nutritious cookbooks -- thanks J!

And last, but CERTAINLY not least -- LISSIE. Big big thanks to Jer who introduced me to Illnois-based musician, Lissie. She is awesome...a big country, a bit folky, a bit rock and roll - and totally awesome. CHECK HER OUT.