Cod with White Beans and Chorizo

People are supposed to get wiser as they get older, but I just did a dumb thing. I signed up to run a 10K race with my daughters on April 2. I have never ran more than 2 miles until a couple of weeks ago. Wish me luck or at least send me a card when I am in the hospital.

Cod with White Beans and Chorizo
4 oz Chorizo sausage, crumbled
1 shallot, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 15 oz can white beans, I used Great White
1/2 pound cod fillets
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Preheat a grill to medium heat. Heat oil in pan.
To the pan add the chorizo and the shallot. Cook until shallots are soft, then add the tomatoes and wine. Cook until tomatoes start to shrivel and pop and wine is reduced. Add the beans and thyme. Cook until beans are heated through.
While the chorizo is cooking put the cod on the grill, but first sprinkle the smoked paprika on it. Cook for about 3 minutes per side.
Plate the bean mixture and place cod fillet on top of it.

Ravioli on a Bed of Spinach

I saw a recipe for Ravioli Florentine somewhere a while back and it has been rattling around in my brain every since. Now my head is pretty empty so when something is rattling around I have have to do something about it. I had my plan all formulated, when my wife decided to make cookies. This kept me out of the kitchen for the next hour. Now I had to come up with some short cuts to get dinner on the table on time, because the person who was hogging the kitchen was now hungry. I won't mention any names though, but my wife knows who she is. I know a lady that makes and sells pastas including raviolis, so usually keep some in the freezer. I used frozen for this, but feel free to use home made.

Ravioli on a Bed of Spinach (Ravioli Florentine)
Sauce
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 5 oz can evaporated milk
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

Spinach
10 oz spinach, I used frozen and let it thaw in the pan
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp olive oil

Ravioli
1 package of frozen or your own home made ravioli

Put a pot of water on to boil, for the ravioli.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Put the oil in a pan and heat over medium heat. Add the tomato and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms start getting color, then add the spinach. When the spinach is cooked, keep warm until ready to plate. If you like you can add some of the sauce to the spinach.

While the spinach is cooking add the ravioli and cook until it is done.

Plate the spinach, drizzle with some sauce. Add the ravioli and drizzle a little more sauce over the ravioli.



The reason I made this recipe.

Breakfast for Dinner

During the remodel we never knew if we were going to get into the kitchen to cook at 5:00, 8:00 or even if we were going to be able to cook anything at all. As result we never had meals planned and usually a meal was whatever we could throw together quickly. Breakfast became a popular choice as frittatas, pancakes, etc were quick and easy. For Christmas Annette bought me a ton of cookbooks, one of which was the Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. Ree dedicates a whole chapter to breakfast. When I saw the hash browns, I knew I had to have some. While I did not use her recipe, I was inspired by her photography. Fellow bloggers I recommend this book for the photography as much as the recipes. I wasn't going to publish this a just made hash browns and topped with a slice of ham and a fried egg and anybody can make that, but I liked my photograph of the results.

Hash Browns with Ham and a Fried Egg
2 baked potatoes, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 red pepper, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 onion, cut into a small dice
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil to medium in a heavy pan, cast iron is good if you have one. Add the onion and peppers and cook until translucent. Add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Let the potatoes sit until they start to brown and then flip them. Don't stir them a lot or they won't brown up and they will fall apart. When they are golden brown they are done.
While the potatoes are finishing warm up a few slices of ham and fry the eggs.