I love a good salad, but I’m not a fan of most bottled salad dressings. They’re not very good for you, which kind of defeats the purpose of eating a salad in the first place, and they’re usually too sweet or too creamy to boot, so they’re not even enjoyable to eat. I’ve been making a nice balsamic vinaigrette for a while now, which I won’t bother posting since it’s very basic and I’m sure everybody and their dog knows how to make one (in fact, my dog makes a wonderful vinaigrette). I decided to try something new, though, since I’m trying to get more greens in my life. For your enjoyment, here is my clementine vinaigrette!

Ingredients

1/4 cup clementine juice (mandarin oranges work too)

1/4 cup oil (a neutral oil, like grapeseed or safflower works best)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

sea salt and pepper

Directions

1.     Combine all ingredients in a bowl or blender. Yeah, that simple.

It’s very good on fennel or spinach salads. I have a feeling it would work as a marinade, but I haven’t tried it…yet!

It’s a little hard for me to think about food right now, as I feel I’m about to explode in a firey cloud of butter chicken and naan bread since I just had lunch at an all-I-can-eat-what-a-dangerous-concept Indian restaurant, but I felt like writing another entry before I got down to work on another essay for school.  It’s not that I haven’t been cooking, I just haven’t had any time to write out any of my recipes, what with the papers and marking I have to get done before the end of the semester. I got a little creative last week and came up with a really nice goat cheese and sundried tomato-stuffed chicken breast, which turned out great. If anybody tries it, be sure to let me know how it turned out!

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

½ cup olive oil

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

2 tsps balsamic vinegar

2 or 3 garlic cloves

½ cup goat cheese

¼ cup finely diced sundried tomatoes

salt and pepper

Directions

1.     Marinate the chicken in garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Italian seasoning. I only left it for a few hours, but you can let it go overnight if you have the time.

2.     Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Also, rehydrate your tomatoes unless they’re packed in oil or some other liquid.

3.     Remove the chicken and with a sharp knife cut a pocket in the breast for the stuffing. I do this by placing it on the cutting board and lightly holding it in place with my left hand, then taking a small knife and starting about a centimeter or so from the top, cutting down until you’re about the same distance from the bottom. Cut in a little bit deep so you have a nice big pocket for the stuffing.

4.     Combine the cheese and sundried tomatoes, then push the mixture into the pocket you just cut in the chicken breast.

5.     Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the juices run clear from the thickest part of the breast.

I was going to start this off by saying I don’t really cook very fancy things, but my Macbook punched me in the nose when I started typing the sentence. I love fancy things, and after watching an episode of French Food at Home, I was inspired to try this fancy recipe, tilapia en papilotte. They did it with salmon on the show, but when I went to the fishmonger’s, the tilapia was just too good to pass up. I can be touch and go with fish at times, but this is hands down my favorite fish dish that I’ve ever cooked. The recipe is for two people, but it can be easily doubled, tripled, so on. And don’t forget to clean your leeks! They’re little dirt magnets!

Ingredients

2 tilapia fillets

2 leeks

2 carrots

1 medium zucchini

2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp garlic

2 pinches chinese five spice

salt and pepper

Directions

1.     Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Clean and prepare your leeks. To do this, slice off the tops and about a quarter inch from the bottom. Slice them down the middle and rince under cool water, then leave on a paper towel to dry.

2.     Julienne the vegetables and sauté lightly in a bit of olive oil and the garlic. You don’t want to cook them through, just give them a bit of color.

3.     Get some wax paper and cut out two pieces large enough to have an inch or so border around the edge after you fold it in two over the fish. Martha Stewart recommends making a heart shape, but I found a regular old rectangle easier to fold.

4.     Fold your papers in half. On each piece, spread half of the vegetable mixture. Lay your fish on the veggies and season with the salt, pepper, fennel, and five spice. I recommend grinding the fennel in a mortar and pestle first.

5.     Fold the paper over the fish and veggies, then fold the edges of the paper over as tight as you can.

6.     Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the fish is flaky and cooked through.

7.     You can serve it in the paper (just open a slit in the top, and watch out for the steam!) or open up the packages and move the contents to a plate.

As a side note, the updates for this blog will be a little sparse over November. This is the busiest month for me school wise, so I won’t have as much time.