Grilled Sirloin with Lemon-Chive Pesto

If you love steak, this one’s for you.

And even if you don’t love steak, this one may still be for you.

Because I definitely don’t love steak, and I do enjoy this dish.

Here’s where steak ranks in my Likes vs. Dislikes Life List:

1) would prefer eating a plate of overcooked brussels sprouts (that aren’t even seasoned) to eating a steak

2) would prefer eating a few bites of steak to vacuuming the living room

3) would eat an entire three-ounce serving of steak if it could somehow buy my way out of a routine dental cleaning.

So, no, steak does not rank as one of the big loves in my life.

But I will say, this particular steak dish is one I enjoy.  I think the accompanying Lemon-Chive Pesto, with all its bright, light, fresh notes, is the perfect complement to the hearty, buttery grilled steak.

And my husband, always game for any dish meat-and-potatoes-related, says this recipe ranks high on his list of favorite steak dishes.

Here is everything you need to create your Lemon-Chive Pesto Grilled Sirloin.

Only six key ingredients (including the steak), and this dish is ready in 20 minutes!

Begin by squeezing all of the juice from one lemon.

Next, hold your knife (so it’s parallel to the cutting board, as shown) over a clove of garlic and press down hard to smash it, breaking the clove free from the skin.

Grab a food processor and add all of the following: lots of fresh chives, some fresh parsley, the freshly squeezed lemon juice, the clove of garlic, and some toasted pine nuts.

Season with salt and pepper.

Pulse until a thick paste is formed.

Add just a bit of extra virgin olive oil and pulse again, until well combined.

Next up: the steak.

If you’re wondering whether steak could actually be considered healthy, the answer is maybe.

Steak tends to be fairly high in saturated fat and cholesterol, but it can be a healthy choice for dinner, once in a while.

There are a couple of things to consider in selecting a healthier steak.

First, consider the cut of beef. Here’s a helpful guide to leaner cuts of beef.  To sum it up, ask your butcher for any of the following cuts:

  • Eye of round roast or steak
  • Sirloin tip side steak
  • Top round roast and steak
  • Bottom round roast and steak
  • Top sirloin steak

These are the leanest options and lowest in saturated fat (under 2 grams of saturated fat per serving).

Second, grass-fed beef is a good choice if you can find it.  Grass is what cattle were designed by nature to eat, so grazing on their most natural diet of grass is better for the animals and for the environment.

Grass-fed beef is better for us too, not just because it’s the more natural choice but also because it has a higher proportion of omega-3 fats (healthy, disease-preventing fats most of us need more of in our diets).

These selections can add up to a mild case of Sticker-Shock-Induced-Panic at the checkout register (quality beef is pretty pricey!).

So my solution is to make steak a once-in-a-great-while dinner option in our household.

Prepare the grill for medium heat.

Season the steaks well with salt and pepper.  Seasoning well makes a world of difference in the final flavor of your steak.

Place the steak on the grill and allow them to cook, untouched, for about seven minutes.

During this time, resist the urge to flip, move, or press down on the steak.  Allowing the steaks to cook, untouched, is key to getting a nice crust on the outside while the inside remains moist and tender.

Flip the steaks and allow them to cook for about seven minutes more.

The easiest way to tell when the meat is ready: insert a meat thermometer into the very center of the steak and look for an internal temperature of 145 degrees F for a medium-rare steak.

One more tip: allow the steaks rest for about seven minutes before cutting them.  This resting period is key to making your steak as tender, moist, and juicy as possible.

Top the steaks with plenty of the Lemon-Chive Pesto, and serve.

I love something fresh, bright, and citrusy to balance out the rich, buttery flavor of steak.

And all of the healthy citrus and herbs transform plain old steak to a dish that’s loaded with healthy nutrients.

This grilled steak is the perfect combination of flavors: a light, delicate onion flavor from the chives, lots of contrasting tart citrus, and a little nuttiness from the olive oil and pine nuts.

I actually finished my serving of steak when I made this dish, which says a lot.

If you ask me, I’d say this recipe is most certainly … okay.

If you ask my Meat-and-Potatoes-Guy (and I did) he’d say “this is a really delicious steak. This one definitely needs to go on your blog.”

Here is the complete printable recipe:

Grilled Sirloin with Lemon-Chive Pesto
Author: 
Recipe type: Healthy Beef Dish
 

Total Time: 20 minutes
Prep: 6 minutes
Cook: 14 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 16 ounces top sirloin steak
  • ½ cup fresh parsley
  • ¾ cup fresh chives
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 1 small clove garlic
  • ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Arrange the pine nuts on a parchment-lined baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until they become light golden. Watch carefully, they burn quickly!
  3. To a food processor, add the parsley, chives, toasted pine nuts, garlic, and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper. Pulse until a thick paste is formed.  Add the olive oil and pulse until well combined.
  4. Prepare the grill for medium heat.
  5. Season the sirloin steaks well with salt and pepper.  Place the steaks on the grill and cook, untouched, for about 7 minutes.  Flip the steaks and grill the second side for about 7 minutes more, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the very center of the steak reads 145 degrees F (for a medium rare steak).  Place the steaks on a platter, cover, and allow them to sit for five minutes.
  6. Top each steak with a generous portion of the Lemon-Chive Pesto, and serve.


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Lemon-Sage Shrimp with Asparagus and Artichokes

After a few weeks of mostly cold, dreary, nonstop rainy weather, the sun has finally decided to make an appearance.

And temps should be in the 70′s this week.

Looks like we might just be getting a spring season in New England after all!

When the weather gets warmer, I always think about cooking more seafood.

Seafood is generally light, low in calories, and quick and easy to prepare (who wants to leave the oven on in 80 percent humidity?) so it makes sense for warm weather (and for fitting into warm weather clothes!).

So this week I made a richly flavorful lemon and sage shrimp dish.

I added a bit of garlic, some white wine, and lots of asparagus and artichokes.  It’s light, simple, and perfect for warmer weather.

This is the first dinner of the season my husband and I were able to enjoy outside, on our porch.

Here are all the ingredients you need to get started.

If you’ve never actually prepared shrimp on your own and feel a little intimidated by the whole process, I’m here to tell you: I was too, but it’s actually pretty easy.

Other great things about shrimp:

It’s very low in calories and fat.

And it’s packed full of healthy nutrients like iron and omega-3′s (helps prevent cancer, arthritis, and heart disease).

Shrimp is also a healthy seafood choice because it’s low in contaminants and mercury (the NRDC has a good guide to mercury levels in seafood) and many types of shrimp (such as US farmed shrimp or wild Northern US/Canada shrimp) are environmentally safe too (the Blue Ocean Institute has a good guide to environmentally friendly types of shrimp).

To prepare, begin by placing some frozen shrimp in a bowl of cold water for about 20 minutes to allow it to thaw.

Another Option: you can also buy fresh shrimp and skip this step.

When the shrimp have thawed, fill a bowl with ice and place out on the counter beside the bowl of shrimp.

Grab your first shrimp and begin peeling off the hard outer shell.

Locate the legs and use them as a starting point for pulling apart and then peeling off the shell.

If the shrimp are fully thawed, you should find the shell comes off quite easily.

Two Choices:

1) You can leave just the tail on, as I did here, if you’d like your final dish to have a nice presentation.

2) Or, if you’d rather not deal with cutting off the tails while eating the dish later,  you can pull off the tail, along with the rest of the shell, now.

Place the shrimp so its back (the side of the shrimp opposite from the side where the legs were) is facing up.

Now grab a pairing knife and cut into its back, about halfway into the body of the shrimp.

You may or may not see a thin black strip in the shrimp: it’s the shrimp’s digestive tract and it can sometimes taste a little gritty, so it should be removed.

If you don’t find one, you’re done!

If you do see one, use your knife or your fingers to peel it out and discard.

Your shrimp is now peeled and deveined. Look at you, you kitchen pro!

Place the shrimp immediately in the bowl of ice you set out earlier (shrimp should be kept cold at all times).

Another Option: If you don’t want to spend the time preparing shrimp (or if you’re feeling a little squeamish about the whole process) here’s the quick and easy way out:  when you’re at the fish counter buying your shrimp, just ask the fish monger to peel and devein the shrimp for you.

After you’ve peeled and deveined all the shrimp and placed them on ice, prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Mince up some garlic.

Use a fine grater to zest a lemon.

Then squeeze the juice from it too (we’re getting all the use out of this lemon that we possibly can!)

Grab some fresh sage leaves.  They taste delicious with lemon and garlic …

… and chop them up.

Next, prepare the asparagus.

Hold one end on an asparagus spear in each hand and pull down until the spear snaps.

The end that breaks off is the tough part of the stalk that should be discarded.

Big Time Saver: When you’ve snapped a few spears and have a good idea of how much of the stalk should be removed, you can grab a small bunch of asparagus spears and just chop off the ends all at once.

Lastly, chop the asparagus into bite-sized pieces.

Grab a large sauté pan and add about 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

You can use less if you’re really watching calories, but the oil really adds to the flavor of the dish.  And since all the other ingredients are so healthy, the dish is still very light even with the olive oil.

When the oil heats up over medium heat, add the minced garlic to the pan.

Allow it to cook and soften for a couple of minutes.

Add the shrimp and season well with salt and pepper.

After just a minute, add the asparagus.

Allow the shrimp and asparagus to cook for a few minutes, and then add the artichokes.

Just be sure to drain and rinse the artichokes before adding them in.  They’ll add an overpowering vinegar-like flavor to the dish if they’re not rinsed well.

Add the lemon zest and the sage.

Season everything well with salt and pepper.

Next, add some white wine and allow that to cook down and reduce for a couple of minutes.

Finally, add some lemon juice.

Optional:  I love to add about 3 ounces of cooked whole wheat farfalle (bow-tie pasta) to this dish.  I think the fresh, citrus and white wine sauce tastes amazing with pasta.

But, with or without pasta, the dish tastes delicious either way.

There are so many bright, fresh flavors in this dish.

The white wine and garlic give the shrimp such rich flavor.

And the citrus and fresh sage really brighten up the asparagus and artichokes.

Perfect with a nice glass of white wine, outside, on a warm evening.

Here is the complete printable recipe:

Lemon-Sage Shrimp with Asparagus and Artichokes
Author: 
Recipe type: Healthy Seafood Dish
 

Total Time:  30 minutes
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound fresh or frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 pound asparagus, chopped
  • 1 10-ounce jar quartered artichoke hearts, drained and thoroughly rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest grated from 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons sage, chopped
  • ½ cup white wine
  • ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice, squeezed from 1 lemon
  • 3 ounces whole wheat farfalle pasta (optional)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
  1. Boil a large pot of water and season with salt.  Add the farfalle and cook the pasta until it’s al dente.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until softened, about 2-3 minutes. Add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook a few minutes more, then add the asparagus. Cook about 3 minutes more and add the artichokes, lemon zest, and sage. Season well with salt and pepper.
  3. Add the white wine and allow the wine to cook and reduce for about 3 minutes. Stir in the cooked farfalle and serve.


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Crispy Lemon and Parmesan Fish Sticks

Today, for fun: a modern makeover for the much-loved, retro, American favorite: fish sticks!

The 1950′s/60′s version: fried, heavily breaded, and highly processed fish sticks.

My 2012 Scrumptious Pumpkin version: wild-caught whitefish fillets, whole wheat panko breading, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and bright, fresh oregano.

The outside is crispy. The inside is soft and tender. It’s light, flavorful, and something different for dinner.

So what inspired this retro makeover?

The return of my current favorite TV show: Mad Men!

I’ve wanted to do a post in honor of this show because…How can I put into words how much I love this show?… I can’t get enough of Mad Men. I. cannot. get. enough.

If you haven’t seen it: the show is about the lives and families of several advertising executives living in New York in the 1960′s.

Endlessly fascinating to me:

Checking out the fashion and interior design choices of the characters (all clothing and props are vintage!), and observing how much has changed.

Watching political and social issues unfold in plots (i.e sexism in the workplace, chain-smoking and all-day-drinking in the office), and realizing how much has changed.

Glimpsing the characters’ deepest frustrations and fears, and seeing how nothing has changed at all.

I think character ‘Betty’ definitely made frozen fish sticks for her kids in the 60′s.

And I think you’ll like serving Crispy Lemon and Parmesan Fish Sticks to your family or friends today!

Here’s the lineup of far-out ingredients (warning: many more cheesy 60′s slang words to come).

Begin by preparing your own, hip, homemade buttermilk.

Here’s how: squeeze some fresh lemon juice from half of a lemon.

Pour it into a large bowl and add some lowfat milk.

Allow it to sit for about 15 minutes on the counter, and you’ll see it start to curdle.

Are you jazzed? You just made your own buttermilk.

Next cut some whitefish into equally sized portions.  And then cut the fish into about-equally-sized strips.

Add the fish to the buttermilk and let that sit for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

Grate some fresh Parmigiano Reggiano.

If you’ve read a few of my recipes, you’ve probably guessed I’m a huge fan of this stuff.

But I have to say, using real parmesan makes a big difference in the flavor of the fish sticks.

Next, zest a lemon.

Here’s the tool I use to make this job easy: a fine grater/zester (found one just like mine on Amazon).

Once you have one of these groovy tools, you’ll find yourself wanting to add lemon or orange or lime zest to all your recipes.

And that’s a really good thing, because citrus zest is incredibly healthy.  With no fat and virtually no calories, citrus zest adds tons of delicious flavor.  And it’s full of vitamin C, fiber, and even calcium.  Citrus peel also has extremely high levels of antioxidants that protect against cancer (studies have shown a link between consuming citrus peels and skin cancer prevention).

Chop some fresh oregano.

Substitute: if you’re having trouble finding fresh, dried oregano works just as well.

Pour some whole wheat panko on one side of a large plate or dish.

Substitute: whole wheat bread crumbs will work if you’re having trouble finding panko.

Add the parmesan, lemon zest, and oregano.

Add some garlic powder and mix everything together.

Grab your first fish stick and allow any excess buttermilk to drain off into the bowl.

Now place the fish stick on the empty side of the breading plate and spoon the breading over the fish (it helps to keep the breading as dry as possible so it’s easier to get it to stick to the fish).

Use your hands to press the panko mixture all over the fish.

Place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Season each fish stick with salt and pepper.

Measure out a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and use the tablespoon to drizzle some oil over each fish stick.

Bake the sticks in the oven until they’re crisp and golden.

And your healthy, homemade fish sticks are ready to serve.  Right on!

These look so golden, crispy and delicious, your family will be stoked to eat them.

The crisp parmesan and fresh lemon and oregano is such a far-out combination of flavors.

All blast-from-the-past-slang jokes aside: enjoy these modern, delicious, baked, and healthy fish sticks!

Here is the complete recipe:

Crispy Lemon and Parmesan Fish Sticks

Total Time:  1 hour
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Inactive: 35 minutes

 

Yield: 3 servings 

Ingredients

2 cups 1 percent milk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pound whitefish fillets (such as cod, haddock, halibut)
1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly grated pepper

 

Directions

 

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

 

Combine the milk and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Let stand for about 15 minutes, or until it begins to curdle. Cut the fish into equal portions and then strips that are all approximately the same size. Add the fish to the bowl and let stand for about 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, place the panko on one side of a large plate or dish. Add the parmesan, lemon zest, oregano, and garlic powder.  Stir to combine. Grab a fish strip, allow excess liquid to drain off, and place on the other side of the large plate. Spoon breading all over the fish. Use hands to press breading onto fish. Place breaded fish sticks on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Season each fish stick with salt and pepper. Lightly drizzle olive oil over each fish stick. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the sticks turn golden brown.  Serve.

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Salmon, Spinach, and Potatoes with Lemon-Caper Sauce

It seems like everyone is talking about omega-3′s these days.

I knew it had really gone mainstream when I saw a commercial the other day for Flintstone’s Vitamins ‘now with omega-3.’

There are good reasons for the sudden popularity.  Research has shown omega-3 fatty acids have anti-cancer properties, protect against heart disease, and support the immune system.

A lot of my friends have expressed interest recently in cooking salmon because they know it’s one of the best sources of omega-3.  But their questions are: What’s a fast, simple preparation that makes sense for a weeknight meal? And also: What flavors work well with salmon?

My best solution is something I learned in a cooking class, ‘fish en papillote.’ Meaning: fish combined with vegetables, herbs, and braising liquid, sealed up in a packet, and baked in the oven. You end up with deliciously flavored fish, complete and individually-portioned meals in each packet, and virtually no clean-up.

Yes, that’s right.  No pile of dishes to deal with after a delicious home-cooked meal.  What could be better?

And the following recipe is a combination of flavors I love that work perfectly with salmon – white wine, capers, spinach, potatoes, and lemon.  When you remove these packets steaming from the oven, the aroma is wonderful.  It’s a delicious and flavorful dish.

Here are the key ingredients.

Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees F.

Next, mince some garlic.  If you’ve been frustrated dealing with garlic in the past, don’t give up.  It’s really good for you. Here are my best tips.

Hold the knife horizontally over a clove of garlic and smash down on the knife with your fist.  Now the skin should easily separate from the garlic clove.

Next, hold the knife so that the very end of the knife, or tip, never leaves the cutting board. The knife will slide forward and back as you chop, but that end should never leave the cutting board. Now cut the clove in strips lengthwise.  Then, running your knife back through, cutting in the opposite direction this time, mince up the clove.

Next chop up an onion.

Then cube the potatoes.  Cut a potato in half.  Lay one half flat-side-down for a stability and cut small strips lengthwise.  Then go back in the other direction, chopping cubes.

The key for this recipe is to get the potato cubes into very small, bite-sized pieces. Otherwise the fish may cook faster than the potatoes.

Now begin creating the packets. In class, we learned to create packets by carefully cutting out heart-shaped pieces of parchment paper.  It makes for a beautiful presentation.

But do friends and family care about the presentation? My husband, for one, couldn’t possibly care less. So I just use aluminum foil, which just makes everything quick and easy.

To create your first packet, tear off a piece about 1 1/2 feet in length. Make creases in the foil to create a square shape in the center.

Fold up each of the four sides of the foil to create a square ‘bowl’ that will contain the vegetables and fish.

Place the potatoes, onion, and garlic in the square.

To each individual packet add: 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon of herbes de provence, 1/2 tablespoon of oregano, and 1 tablespoon of capers.  Season well with salt and pepper.

Use your hands to mix and ensure everything is well coated with oil and herbs.

Top with fresh spinach.  Go ahead and pile it high!  This will wilt down to a fraction of the size when cooked, so feel free to add heaps of the stuff.  Season spinach with a bit more salt and pepper.

Top with 1 tablespoon of white wine and the juice from 1/2 of a lemon.

Squeezing the juice into a small bowl, rather than directly onto the vegetables, is helpful here.  That way, if any seeds make their way into the bowl, you can easily get them out instead of digging through the spinach to find them.

Next up: the salmon.  When you’re buying the salmon, you’ll have a few questions to answer.  1) Skin or no skin? 2) wild or farm raised? 3) stop quickly by the bakery section after this for just one cookie or be good and stick to the grocery list?…

In terms of the skin – You can leave the skin on or ask the fishmonger to remove the skin for you.  I asked to have the skin removed because I don’t like the taste and I place the fish on top of the vegetables, so it makes sense to just remove it.  Leaving the skin on helps keep the fish tender and moist though.  So the choice is yours.

Next, you’ll probably have the choice of either farmed or wild salmon.  Farmed salmon is almost always the more economical choice. However, wild salmon has been shown to have less contaminates, such as PCBs.  I’ve noticed a difference in the taste, and you can just see the difference, looking at the salmon.  The beautiful, bright pink color is something you’ll only find in wild salmon (the color comes from the tiny shellfish salmon eat in the wild; farm raised fish obviously don’t get this in their prepared diet).

Whatever you choose, know that all the experts say you’re making a very healthy choice for yourself either way.

Cut the fish into two equally sized portions and place on top of the spinach.  Season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle just a teaspoon of olive oil over the fish.

Cut about three slices of lemon and arrange them over the fish.  Top with a few capers if you’d like.

Now seal up the packets.  Making sure the two shorter sides are tucked in, match the two long ends together and fold them up, creating a sealed packet.

Once the packets are carefully sealed from all sides, place them on a baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

After you remove the packets from the oven, allow them to cool for a few minutes before opening.  Not only is the foil hot, the steam that is released when you open them is also very hot.

The cooking time will vary depending upon the quantity of vegetables you use and the thickness of your fish, so if you open the packets and find that the fish isn’t cooked through, just seal them back up and pop back in the oven for another 7 minutes or so.

When they’re fully cooked, transfer the vegetables to a plate and place the salmon on top.

The dish has a beautiful combination of colors, so it just looks delicious.

And all of the flavors from the herbs and wine and lemon and capers combine for one really tasty and savory dish.

So there you have it.  A salmon dish that is basic and easy, with just  a few key ingredients.

And can I just say this again: virtually no clean-up!  Can you tell I hate washing dishes? Enjoy!

Here is the complete recipe:

Salmon, Spinach, and Potatoes with Lemon-Caper Sauce

Total Time:  40 minutes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon herbes de provence
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons capers
1 7-ounce package fresh spinach
2 lemons
2 tablespoons white wine
3/4 pound wild salmon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Tear off two squares of aluminum foil, each about 16 inches in length.  Place equal amounts of the potatoes, onions, and garlic in the center of each piece of foil.  Fold up the sides of the foil to create a square ’bowl’ containing the vegetables.  To each packet add: 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon of herbes de provence, 1/2 tablespoon of oregano, and 1 tablespoon of capers. Season with salt and pepper.  Using hands, mix to combine ingredients. Place the spinach on top of potatoes and season with a bit more salt and pepper. To each packet add: 1 tablespoon of white wine and the juice of 1/2 of a lemon.  Cut the fish into two individual portions and place on top of the spinach.  Season fish with salt and pepper and drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over fish. Place lemon slices over fish and top with a few capers.  Match up the ends of the foil and fold over to create an air-tight packet.  Place the packets on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until fish is cooked through.
Transfer fish and vegetables to dinner plates, and serve.

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