Getting paid to cook

So besides eating... and eating... what have I been doing all these months since returning to New York? Well, I've been freelancing as a personal assistant, helping out a handful of clients with errands and tasks that they are too busy to deal with. It's interesting work, and gives me an opportunity to do a wide variety of things. Some of it is very boring, like taking bags of clothing to consignment shops. Other times, it's slightly nerve-wracking (I had to transport over $25,000 in jewelry once). The most fun I have though, is when I get to cook.

A couple of my clients are, like many New Yorkers, too busy to cook themselves. Instead of eating out every night, I've been making healthy home-cooked meals for them. The challenge though, is that they are all on diets, and I have to stay away from a lot of ingredients that I like to use (butter, bacon, cream, etc) to flavor my food. Low-fat, low-dairy, low-carb! Also, I have to keep in mind that the client may not eat a particular dish for 2-3 days, so I have to make things that will re-heat/keep well. With these guidelines in mind, here is what I made today.

First up is a salad, dressed lightly with just lemon juice, salt, dill, and olive
oil. This is a picture of the salad before I added some shredded chicken;
artichoke hearts, tomatoes, chickpeas, and radishes add textural depth.

Soups are great; they keep well in the fridge and taste even better after
a day or two. This one starts off with lots of veggies. I first simmered
some asparagus stems (the woody part that you usually throw away) in
chicken stock. I strained that out, and then added collard greens, onions,
diced asparagus, and the leftover chickpeas from the salad. The chickpeas
may seem like an odd addition, but there's a method to the madness!

I puréed the soup! What looked like an odd veggie assortment becomes
a beautiful bright green soup. Normally, I would put a splash of cream
(or some cheese) to make this a richer dish. This is where the chickpeas
come in, to keep it healthy. It helps add a... heavier mouth-feel to the soup,
keeping it from tasting thin and watery. To finish it off, I spiced this up with
a dash of paprika and some curry powder, giving the soup some warmth.

Finally, I made an asparagus, portabello, and chicken fritatta. I'm
actually not sure how well eggs re-heat, but the client liked it the last
time I made this, and requested it again. I lightly sautéed the ingredients,
added an egg mixture (I did use milk here, to lighten up the heavy eggs),
and put the whole pan in the oven for about 8 minutes to set up.

Close-up of the finished products. I lightly seared the asparagus tips and
added it to the finished soup; makes it look pretty!

All the dishes, nicely proportioned and ready to eat!