Brainy Scaloppini with Capellini 'Angel Hair' Pasta ~

 

For this absolutely delicious dish, you will need either a tender veal or pork loin, a jar of roasted red peppers and capers. The angel hair pasta should already be in your pantry. To begin, cut the loin in medallion size chunks/medals and pound them with a meat hammer. Lay them in a glass dish and sprinkle each one with meat tenderizer and garlic powder. Let the pounded meat medallions rest like this for 30 min.

Once you are ready to cook, take a skillet and lightly drizzle in olive oil covering the skillet bottom. Turn on the heat to med. and add one dollop of fresh creamy butter. As the meat rests, top each piece with bread crumbs and dried herbs... both sides. Once the butter and oil begin to bubble, lay in your veal/pork.

Brown on both sides. Next, take two roasted red peppers from the jar and slice, laying the pieces in the skillet with the breaded meat. Add to that 1/4 cup of capers. If you think you need a bit of liquid, pour in a bit from the jarred red peppers. 

Cover and let simmer on low heat while you prepare the angel hair pasta which is often known as Italian Capellini. This pasta is a very thin variety of Italian pasta often referred to as Angel Hair pasta as it is in the form of long golden strands.

 Serve with Parmesan cheese....

~ Tutti a Tavola!

 

Brainy Parmesan Encrusted Round Steak or any Steak...

 

If you have been wondering, what can I do with inexpensive steak or how can I 'do up' an already impressive pound of meat, then wonder no further. Parmesan encrusted steak is the way to go. Serve with french fries, baked potato, or rice and a green salad. 

To begin: buy/use as many palm sized cuts of beef (your choice, see list below) to serve per guest. Either grill or broil until blood pink inside. Remove from the grill or broiler, and top with the following: garlic powder, salt and pepper, ranch dressing (thick coating per cut), Parmesan cheese (thin sliced), bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese grated, and dried Italian herbs. Return the steaks to the grill/oven/broiler until the cheese is puffing and browned. Serve!

~ Tutti a Tavola!

• Steak (NY strip steak, rib eye, top sirloin or eye of round steak)
• Ranch Dressing
• Parmesan Cheese
• Bread Crumbs
• Garlic Powder
• Salt & Black Pepper
  

Hawaiian Pork, Pineapple and Tuna with Rice...

 

With winter over, its time to start celebrating with sunshine... if you can't go to Hawaii then bring it home...

The easy part is putting it together, the relaxing part is waiting for it cook in the broiler while you set the table. For this simple and delicious dinner, you will need these essential ingredients: pork loin, tuna steaks, fresh pineapple and rice.

In a glass baking dish, combine chunk pieces of pork loin with chunks of fresh cut ripe pineapple. Drizzle with olive oil and teriyaki sauce (optional), then sprinkle with garlic powder, a pinch of sea salt, red pepper flakes, and dried herbs and mix it around.

Its better to cook the tuna separate from the pork either on skewers or on the grill or in a skillet on the stove or in another glass dish in the oven along side the dish of pork and pineapple; but certainly, they can be combined and baked or broiled together. Prepare the rice and plate it! 

*serve with hot mango sauce...

~ Tutti a Tavola!
 

 

Going 'Brainy' Asian at Home...

Go Asian at home...the Brainy Gourmet way!

You will need to buy one pound packaged pork tenderloin, one box of rice noodles, one red and one green fresh crisp bell pepper and red chili paste. 

Grab a covered skillet and on medium heat melt in 3 tbs of coconut or peanut oil.  Slice up the red and green pepper tossing them up into the skillet. To this, add a seasoning mix of: sea salt, ground coriander powder, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of ground ginger.

GO easy on these  seasoning as this dish also calls for teriyaki sauce which has plenty of flavor of its own (use rice vinegar and brown sugar to substitute the teriyaki).

Let this mixture cook for about 8 min. Then, add to the skillet, 3-4 tbs of teriyaki sauce and one tsp of roasted red chili paste. Next, turn up the heat to high and let this mixture start to sizzle and bubble. Take the pre-cut pork (1 inch thick medallions), add a drop more of oil if needed, to sear on both sides, having pushed aside the peppers.

Cover and let cook for 12 min, on low flame/heat.  In the meantime, boil water, adding a pinch of salt, to cook the rice noodles. Keep an eye on the pork medallions and peppers, occasionally stirring.

Once the noodles are tender, drain and ladle onto a low lipped white serving dish. Then, pour out the medallions and peppers. You can garnish as you like using fresh parsley.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Orchestrate your Plate with Color...

 

 

The un-color has its place too on the color 'palette' ... plate ;-)

Aside of knowing your taste preferences, you need to make use of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Especially, smell and sight... it seems that the best taste starts there.

I rely on all my senses but when it comes to cooking sight and smell are my go to. In the context of using 'sight', color plays into my brainy cooking style. You can try and should experiment with color; because, practice makes perfect. The simplest color enhancers provide flavor as well. They tend to be the brightest colors: red, green, purple, yellow and orange.

Give color a try using: green or red pepper, green beans or asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, spinach or carrots. Also, add zing by adding colorful fruits either fresh, dried or cooked. Use a little or a lot. Scroll down to view some brainy dishes so that you too will get some brainy ideas of your own.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Brainy Mongolian Beef Stir Fry with Wild Rice...

 

Mongolian beef, why not with pork... being brainy!

For this dish, you will need:beef stew meat or inexpensive steak cut or pork loin (1lb), garlic, onion, green or red pepper, ginger and garlic paste, one young zucchini or green beans, sun dried tomatoes, wild rice and homemade Mongolian Beef sauce which is like teriyaki only with a small amount of natural ground peanut butter (softened with sesame oil) in the mix.  

Homemade Mongolian Beef sauce can be a basic recipe is: 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup of beef broth or stock, along with tablespoon cornstarch mixed in, 1 tbs of ginger paste and 2 tbs of peanut butter, 4-5 tablespoons honey or brown sugar, and red pepper flakes to taste. To that mixture, you can add garlic paste to taste. For an extra zing, you can use a dash or two of either Rice or Marsala wine.

To begin, cube the beef, chop the onion, zucchini or green beans, sun dried tomatoes and green/red pepper; for a quick stir fry in olive oil or coconut oil. Once this stir fry is singed on the edges, remove from heat and place in a warm oven while you prepare the wild rice.  

When the rice (s) is/are tender, drain and ladle onto a serving plate, top with beef and vegetables from the oven and pour over any additional sauce left over in the skillet.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Brainy Shish Kebab in the oven...

 

A Shish Kebab typically consists of meat and vegetables on a skewer and is usually grilled. It can contain lamb, beef, fish, or chicken as well as vegetables like green peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Also, you can try pineapple in the mix. 

The term shish kebab comes from the Turkish words şiş kebap that mean "skewer" and "roast meat," and shish kebab is a signature Turkish meal. Kebabs were a natural dietary solution for nomadic tribes in what's now Turkey. Unusual meats were marinated not only to tenderize them but also to get rid of some of the gamey flavor.

For this dish, you will need: your choice of meat, vegetables, onion, peppers and or mushrooms. Instead of using skewers, you can actually get the same effect cooking in the oven. Its quick and easy. Cut up your meat, veggies etc. into bit size chunks, place in a glass baking dish coated with olive oil.  

Add your seasonings/spices: garlic powder, salt, ground pepper, paprika, (using amounts you prefer) and dried herbs. Pour additional olive oil over the top and mix with hands to get all meat/veggies coated well with oil and seasonings. Roast in your oven (375f) or grill in your broiler (broiler/grill option will be hotter depending option settings).

Serve in a pita pocket or plated with rice or couscous... 

~ Tutti a Tavola!