Getting warm in the kitchen

As the weather gets warmer, I am starting to make more salads. With no bacon at my disposal, what could I possibly do to make all these vegetables tasty??? Here's what I've been making for some clients...

I'm trying to add at least one seasonal ingredient into most dishes I make.
For this dish, I paired asparagus, which is tender and sweet in the Spring,
with shrimp (also sweet!).  I added some sliced hearts of palm, and served
it with a lemon parsley vinaigrette on the side.

Tuna niçoise salad (although with green garlic olives instead of small
French black niçoise). A tuna steak was seared, and arranged artfully
with the rest of the salad. The dressing, served on the side, was a dijon
shallot vinaigrette. Secret ingredient? A brined anchovy filet that was
blended into the dressing, adding a salty oomph.

I brined this chicken breast for about an hour before pan searing, and
the end result was definitely juicier and tastier than usual. This was
served on top of oven-roasted mushrooms and radishes. Radishes are
in season now, and its peppery bite is mellowed when roasted.

Another frittata (the client keeps asking for them... she must love eggs).
This one was made with chicken, spinach, and oven-roasted tomatoes.

Brussel sprouts are really a winter crop, but I couldn't resist making them
into an untraditional salad. The sprouts are thinly cut and mixed with a
mustard-vinegar dressing, so they almost resemble a slaw. Sliced red
onion and radishes add some more crunch, and I topped it off with sliced
almonds (not shown here) for some nutty flavor. Because brussel sprouts
can come off slightly bitter, I thought seared shrimp would go well with it.

More cooking

Wow, I am tired. Having worked in an office for over a decade, I am well aware of the exhaustion that happens when you've been mind-numbingly working in front of a computer for 10 hours nonstop. But this is different. I was on my feet for 6 hours straight today running errands and oh boy, do they hurt. Remind me again why I'm doing this now, instead of when I was young and spry?

I successfully framed and hung some artwork today, but neglected to take pictures. So here are photos of food again! Today's menu of three items:

'Greek' salad with chicken. Client is still going non-dairy, so I sadly
could not put any feta cheese in this. So it's just tomatoes, cucumber,
onions, and kalamata olives in a bright lemony balsamic dressing.

Turkey chili. The turkey turned out well; I pan fried it first, and it had
a toothsome bounce. Kidney beans, fire roasted diced tomatoes,
onions, corn, and some diced green chiles round out the dish. I love
how chili tastes better after a day or two in the fridge, so this is perfect.

Shrimp stir fry with quinoa. Maybe it's the Chinese in me, but it's hard
for me to fathom a meal without a starch. So since the client isn't
eating rice, I made some quinoa to mix in. It looks a little funny, but
tastes pretty good; the quinoa has an appealing firm bite to it.

Of course, as I shopped at Whole Foods today, a lady was passing out samples of locally-produced, nitrate-free bacon. It was so tasty that it made me sad to not be able to cook with it. Booo.

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!