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Archive for the ‘Eileen’s Recipes’ Category

Eileen’s Recipes: Ratatouille, Baked

Posted in Eileen's Recipes, Music from the movies, tagged , , , on August 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

Photo by Eileen Goldfinger

Photo by Eileen Goldfinger

By Eileen Goldfinger, Food and Garden Editor @Blogfinger

preheat oven 350 degrees

1  9″ square oven proof casserole dish

1 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced 1/4″ rounds

2 large beef steak tomatoes, sliced  1/4″ rounds

1 zucchini, sliced in 1/4″ rounds

1 large onion, sliced in 1/4″ rounds

4 small sweet peppers, any color, remove seeds and ribs, cut in quarters

4 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced

10-12 basil leaves, ripped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

4 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, no stems

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan reggiano

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Rub the casserole dish with  2 tablespoons olive oil.

Layer half the vegetables in the dish — layer of eggplant, of onion (take rings apart and layer),  of zucchini and of peppers.

Next layer the mozzarella, basil, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic.

Repeat the vegetable layers using the remaining vegetables. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil on top.

Place in oven and bake for 1/2 hour.  After that time, use a spatula to press down on vegetables in dish to flatten.  Sprinkle the vegetables with the grated parmesan reggiano cheese. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil on top. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side dish.

Editor’s Note:  The eggplant and tomatoes came from Lauri’s Market on Atkins Avenue in Neptune Township. The herbs are from Eileen’s garden. All the other ingredients are from Wegmans.

MICHAEL GIACCHINO, soundtrack composer. He’s from New Jersey.

“Special Order” from the  Disney-Pixar film  “Ratatouille”

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Baked Portobello Mushrooms

Posted in Eileen's Recipes, Vegetarian recipes, tagged , , on May 29, 2013| 5 Comments »

PG Photo.

Blogfinger Photo.  Ocean Grove, New Jersey

By Eileen Goldfinger, Food editor   @Blogfinger

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2 large Portobello mushrooms

3  Campari  tomatoes

5 mozzarella balls (size of half a golf ball), halved

basil paste  (produce dept. of Wegmans) or substitute pesto

1 teaspoon shallot thyme finishing butter (dairy dept. of Wegmans)

extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

pinch of salt, per mushroom

4 turns of a pepper mill, per mushroom

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove the stem from each  mushroom. Wipe the top of each mushroom with a paper towel. Rub each one with extra virgin olive oil, and pour a teaspoon of the oil on the inside of each mushroom.

Place the mushrooms, top side down, on the baking sheet. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of butter thyme to the inside of each mushroom.

Remove the two ends of each of the tomatoes and slice the tomatoes so that you end up with 10 slices. Place the slices inside the mushroom with one slice in the center and the other slices surrounding it.

Add pinch of salt and 4 turns of the pepper mill to each mushroom.

Add 1/8 teaspoon of basil paste on top of each slice of tomato.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on each mushroom.

Place each half of mozzarella ball  on top of each tomato slice.

Bake at 450 degrees in oven for 30 minutes or until the mozzarella has melted and the tomatoes have softened.

Serves 2

As a side dish I served half an avocado per mushroom.

Squeeze the juice from a quarter of a lime on each half of the avocado.

Mix a tablespoon of mayonnaise with 1/2 teaspoon of white horseradish (find it in a jar in the refrigerated department) and place the mixture in the center of the avocado where the pit used to be.

LOUIS PRIMA. “Buono Sera:”

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Eileen’s Recipes: Whole Baked Red Snapper

Posted in Blogfinger News, Eileen's Recipes, tagged , , on March 17, 2013|

Eileen's red snapper. PG photo. ©

Eileen’s red snapper. PG photo. ©

By Eileen Goldfinger, Food and Garden Editor @Blogfinger

1 2 pound red snapper (gutted and cleaned)

2 sprigs fresh dill

2 sprigs fresh parsley

1 lemon, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons herbed olive oil (Wegmans basting oil)

4 tablespoons Wegmans shallots & thyme finishing butter (substitute margarine with herbs)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

black pepper, freshly ground to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Fish:

I bought this beautiful red snapper at Wegmans. They cleaned and gutted it for me; all I had to do was bake it.

In the cavity of the fish, place the dill, parsley, three slices of lemon, 1 tablespoon of herbed butter (or margarine,) and 3 tablespoon of herbed olive oil. Use butcher’s twine to tie the fish closed. Rub a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on both sides of the fish. Sprinkle both sides of the fish with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and add the remaining 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil on the foil. Brush the oil on the entire surface of the foil lined sheet.

Place the fish on the sheet and then in the oven. Bake on one side for 10 minutes and then turn fish over and bake for another 20 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should be inserted into the thick muscle behind the gill.

The fish monger/chef Paul at Wegmans suggested removing the fish from the oven when the temperature on the thermometer reads 138 degrees and then to let it rest out of the oven for 10 minutes. The fish will continue to cook and reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees.

Because I prefer my fish to be well done, I baked it to 148 degrees instead of 138 and then I removed it from the oven.

To serve the fish, gently remove the skin on one side. Use a fish spatula or butter knife to lift the fish off the skeleton and onto a serving plate. When the fish is removed from the first side, lift the bone out of the fish and discard. Use your spatula as above to remove the remainder of the fish without having to turn it over. There might be some small remaining bones.

Sauce:

While the fish is baking, place the remaining herbed butter in a small sauce pan with the juice of the remaining lemon (approximately four slices), salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low heat until the butter melts. Stir.

Ohh Noooo

Ohh Noooo

Drizzle sauce on fish and serve.

Serves 2-3 people.

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MEDICAL: Low levels of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils) associated with lower brain volume.

Posted in Eileen's Recipes, Heart healthy cooking, Medical topics, Preventive medicine, tagged , , , , on March 6, 2012|

NBC Nightly News (2/27, story 8, 1:45, Williams) reported a study suggesting that “people with low levels of Omega 3 fatty acids had brains with less volume compared with people who had higher levels of the same fatty acids.”

HealthDay (2/28, Storrs) cautions that the research “did not prove that omega-3 fatty acids prevent mental decline, merely that there may be an association between consumption of fatty acids and brain health.

WebMD (2/28) reports, “Previous studies have already shown that people who eat a diet high in fatty fish like salmon and tuna have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia. Researchers say these results may help explain why.”

Blogfinger Medical Commentary  by Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC:

My mother often told me that fish was “brain food” as she fed me, my brother and my father tuna fish sandwiches and frozen fish sticks.  I actually believed her, although in med school they never made that claim. Now, according to the Neurology Department at UCLA, she may have been right. They should put her name on that paper in the Feb 28 issue of the journal Neurology.

Many doctors are advocating fish oil capsules to achieve some anticipated health results having to do with protecting arteries from damage. But the bulk of fish oil clinical studies were done showing benefits from eating fish.  Presumably taking fish oil capsules will be just as helpful as eating fish, but fish has many nutritional advantages beyond merely swallowing a two pound fish oil capsule each day.

In our book “Prevention Does Work: A Guide to a Healthy Heart” we recount the fish oil story. In addition, in Eileen’s heart healthy cookbook section, we purposely stress sea food preparation. Out of her 34 original and easy-to-prepare recipes, 15 are for seafood. Below is her clam chowder (the red kind) recipe which is a variation on the “Seafood Chowder with Red Potatoes” which is in the book.

In addition, here are two Blogfinger seafood recipes: One is Vivian Huang’s Steamed Fish and the other is Eileen’s Italian Fish soup with Swiss chard.

Link for steamed fish recipe

Italian fish soup

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Eileen’s Recipes: Potato and Spinach Soup with Chicken Sausage

Posted in Eileen's Recipes, Heart healthy recipe, tagged , on February 26, 2012|

EG Photo

Potato and Spinach Soup with Chicken Sausage

By Eileen Goldfinger, Food and Garden Editor  @Blogfinger

3 mild Italian chicken sausages cut in ½ inch slices

1 large russet potato, peeled and diced into 1 inch  pieces

3 small onions, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pinch red pepper flakes

32 ounce non-sodium chicken broth (Kitchen Basics)

3 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Heat oil in a 5 quart Dutch oven. Add sausage slices to oil and brown on all sides, then remove from pot and set aside. Add onion and sauté until wilted. Add ¼ cup of chicken broth to the pot to help onions soften. This should take about 10 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the remainder of the broth and the diced potatoes to the  pot. Bring broth to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer.  Add the black pepper and red pepper flakes, cover the pot, and cook for 30 minutes. Remove cover, add sausage and simmer for 15 minutes. Add spinach and stir all the ingredients. When the spinach wilts, the soup is ready to serve.

Serves 2

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Eileen Goldfinger recipe: potato latkes.

Posted in Eileen's Recipes, tagged on December 22, 2011| 5 Comments »

Latkes for Hanukkah. Photo from http://www.heartburn.com

Potato latkes (pancakes) are a traditional treat for Hanukkah. The custom goes back several centuries to eastern Europe. The oil is a symbol of the miracle of the lights. In our family, our oldest son Stephen grinds the potatoes and onions. His work is considered a success if his knuckles don’t bleed into the mixture.

By Eileen Goldfinger, Food Editor  @Blogfinger

6 medium peeled Idaho potatoes

2 medium cooking onions

2 large eggs

vegetable oil

1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper

2-3 tbsp. flour  (to hold the latkes together)

Line a large bowl with cheese cloth. Using a hand grater, alternate grating potatoes and onions into the lined bowl.  The onions keep the potatoes from darkening. Grate the  potatoes on small holes; grate the onions on large holes.

Gather the mixture in the cheese cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible into the bowl.  Set the mixture in the cheese cloth aside.  Allow the liquid to stand for 15 minutes.   A starchy sediment will settle to the bottom of the bowl. Discard the liquid, leaving the sediment .

Now place the potato/onion mixture into the bowl and discard the cheese cloth.  Stir the mixture and the starchy sediment together.  Blend into the mixture two lightly beaten eggs, pepper, salt and flour.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a large non-stick fry pan until oil sizzles. Form latkes and flatten with hands.  Brown on both sides until crisp.  Drain on paper towels.

Serve with apple sauce.

Serves 4 people. And you can eat latkes  in any season.

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