Tag: lunch

Salmon Fagioli w/ Sauteed Balsamic Tomatoes

One word: Delicious.

Additional words: Made entirely from ingredients purchased at ALDI, plus tomatoes from neighbor’s garden.

To make the Sauteed Balsamic Tomatoes:

In a large skillet, heat just a little olive oil or spray with a thin coat of olive oil. Cut up tomatoes in large chunks or halve cherry tomatoes, enough to fill the large skillet (about 15 large cherry tomatoes, or 4 regular sized tomatoes, or 2 pecks of grape tomatoes).

Saute tomatoes with a little salt, balsamic vinegar (not a lot) and a very tiny bit of sugar. Do this until tomatoes are wilted and the juice from the tomatoes becomes thick.

To make the Salmon Fagioli, add the following to a soup pot:

1 can salmon, undrained

1/2 of a 32-oz container of chicken broth

1 cup of water

1 white onion, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

2 potatoes, diced into 1-inch bite sized pieces

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 10-oz can of mushrooms (or fresh if you have them)

1 14-oz can of white beans

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp ground sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp ground mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Boil and bring to hard simmer. Add 1 cup of gluten free pasta and cook until the pasta is done.

Take off of the heat and serve with the sauteed tomatoes. My fiance preferred this without the tomatoes but think the tomatoes would be great in a bruschetta application. So, I guess it depends on your taste (which is why I kept the tomatoes separate). My son doesn’t like tomatoes, but loved the addition of nutritional yeast to give this soup more of a Fish Chowder flavor.

Chicken Shepherd’s Pie

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I hope this savory shepherd’s pie, free of the eight common food allergens, is something you find delicious, comforting and satisfying. I want to tell you a secret about the mashed potatoes: keep the colander in the cabinet and don’t pour out all of the potato water. Leave about an inch of the potato water in the bottom of your stockpot as your liquid for mashing. There is a lot of flavor in that water (and also nutrients). Also, it’s easier and less expensive than using a milk substitute. As you know, I’m a fan of spending as little of my money on special ingredients as I can, so I used olive oil instead of earth balance, at least for the potatoes. Many of these ingredients are from ALDI. I shop there for many things so that I can save my money for things like the special ingredients I can’t do without. Okay, enough chit-chat, here is the recipe:

Peel, wash and put your potatoes in a large stock pot with boiling water. You only need about 6-8 potatoes but I make a whole bunch to save for leftovers. Start boiling your potatoes (Idaho potatoes work best for mashing but feel free to use what you have on hand). While those are cooking, prepare your chicken filling.

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In a deep skillet add:

One package of chicken tenders (about 2 pounds) – you can even put them in frozen, they’ll just have to cook longer until done. I do this all the time since I’m not a fan of using the microwave. If you have only chicken thighs or legs, or you’d rather do this with beef, lamb or pork, go for it!

1 yellow or white onion, medium diced

1 green bell pepper, medium diced

8 fresh mushrooms, sliced

4 stalks celery, small diced

10-15 baby carrots

water for simmering (the water will pick up flavor of everything, no need for broth)

1 tsp dried sage

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp onion powder

1-2 tsp salt

fresh cracked pepper to taste

Cover and simmer over medium heat until your chicken is cooked all the way through and your carrots and celery are tender. Watch and add more water if needed as you don’t want it to burn. When done, lower temperature and add:

1/4 cup of earth balance or olive oil

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp yellow or dijon mustard

If you don’t have the earth balance or nutritional yeast, don’t fret, this will still taste good!

Stir and keep warm while you prepare the potatoes as follows:

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Drain the potato water until you are left with about 1 inch of water at the bottom. Keep the water in there. Add 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 Tbsp onion powder, 1-2 tsp salt and cracked pepper to taste. Always taste and be sure you like it.

Set your oven to broil (or 500 degrees Fahrenheit) and then assemble the pie. Add the filling to an 8-inch or 9-inch pie dish, top with enough mashed potatoes to cover and then sprinkle 1/4 cup rice flour or your favorite gluten free flour blend on top. Using a pastry brush, lightly drizzle 1/8 cup of olive or vegetable oil over the the flour, getting as much of the flour oiled up as you can. Dust with paprika, salt, pepper, and ground mustard. I found a spice grinder at ALDI for poultry and I love it for this application (it has all of the spices I just mentioned and no bad additives).

Put your oven rack to the top of your oven, put in your pie and broil for 5-15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Depending on the type of oil and flour you use for your topping, this time can vary so keep a close watch on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Serve with chopped fresh rosemary. If you don’t have fresh rosemary, dried rosemary or dried Italian seasoning would also work.

If you have any questions, let me know. Happy Eating!