Reel Chow Blog

Culinary Postings from the Original Gourmet Craft Service Industry Insider

Bella Mushrooms with Toasted Pecans

Reel Chow Original Recipe!As the days get warmer, there seems something natural in us demanding we no longer need heavy, winter comfort food. More vegetables become available in stores, and outdoor grills get uncovered and cleaned in preparation for good times with friends and family. More on that after today’s recipe.

Here’s a great creation that just cries out, “Spring!” Made with simple ingredients, this is a light and healthy side dish which goes best with steak and chicken. When toasted, the raw pecans add a hint of nutty sweetness to the earthy mushroom flavor. Adding one-half of a tablespoon of honey brings all the flavors out and joins them, creating a light and tasty addition to a spring meal.

Baby Bella Mushrooms with Toasted Pecans.

Baby Bella Mushrooms with Toasted Pecans. ©Reel Chow

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Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta

I had this lentil dish at my cousin in-law’s house and loved it so much I had to re-create it. Sharyn added gorgonzola cheese to her dish, which was really delicious. For my re-creation, I added feta instead, along with some fresh home-grown chives from our loft.

Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta.

Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta. ©Reel Chow

This dish is healthy and super easy to make. I roasted the tomatoes with sea salt and black pepper, plus a little light olive oil. The lentils were cooked with plain water and no added salt.

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Sapporo-Roasted Chicken

My mother-in-law recently gave me a beautiful pottery to roast chicken. At the center of the dish is a cup-like structure to set the chicken on vertically, with a hollow center for liquid of your choice. For this recipe I chose Sapporo beer to place in the center of the dish, then stuffed an herb mixture under the chicken’s skin. I also sprinkled sea salt and black pepper on the outside of the chicken. My 4.5 pound organic bird roasted for two and a half hours. It came out juicy and flavorful, just as I hoped and hungered for.

On one of our trips to Napa, Ron and I ate at The Wine Bounty Hunter, where we thought it would be funny to get a similarly-cooked chicken roasted with a beer can inside it. With the gift from my mother-in-law, it dawned on us we could now recreate this Southern classic, but not have any aluminum contamination from cans. It’s a double-win!

Sapporo Roasted Organic Chicken with a side of organic beet and dill salad tossed in an orange vinaigrette.

Sapporo Roasted Organic Chicken with a side of organic beet and dill salad tossed in an orange vinaigrette. ©Reel Chow

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Honey Roasted Vegetables

I first fell in love with this dish one year ago at Easter. In 2012, Ron and I went to Montclair, New Jersey to have dinner at his cousin Sharyn’s home. Sharyn was also featured in this post. She made the most delicious meal, which I’ve been dreaming about ever since.

For Easter of this year, I was so happy to see what she was making for dinner: my favorite honey roasted veggies, which she made the previous year! Huge chunks of vegetables tossed with sea salt, black pepper, olive oil, and honey, then roasted for 40 minutes until browned, sweet, and juicy. Below is my attempt at recreating Sharyn Taylor’s dish.

Honey Roasted Veggies.

Honey Roasted Veggies. ©Reel Chow

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Herb Salsa!

Reel Chow Original Recipe!I love growing herbs year-round in our loft. I use heirloom, or at least non-GMO seeds, which always seem to taste better. Even if they didn’t, I’d still feel better about eating them than something patented by a laboratory. Here’s a great original dish of mine which utilizes healthy, fresh herbs. It’s incredibly easy to make, I hope you’ll enjoy whipping some up yourself.

Herb salsa is possibly the healthiest side to any protein dish. It’s a blend of parsley, thyme, rosemary, dill, shallots, garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add it to steak, chicken, fish, or pork. It’s even tasty on top of a sunny side up egg at a Sunday brunch.

Herb salsa served with beans and egg on a crispy blue corn tortilla.

Herb salsa served with beans and egg on a crispy blue corn tortilla. ©Reel Chow

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Carrot Beet Bisque

Reel Chow Original Recipe!I enjoy making and eating classic carrot-ginger soup. This recipe loosely follows the classic, but adds a punch. It’s not a true bisque because it contains no cream or crustaceans. More accurately, it’s a mock-bisque, but that just sounds wrong as the title of the dish, so welcome to my Carrot Beet Bisque!

I added one beet, green apple, whole cloves, one garlic clove, fresh-pressed ginger root, along with fresh thyme and dill. As I often do with my original recipes, this contains no butter and no dairy—just pure vegetables and herbs cooked in part-broth and part-water. Afterwards, it is pureed and topped with crispy roasted kale. I think this is my favorite soup of all time, and that says a lot, as I’m a serious soup-lover.

Carrot Beet Bisque.

Carrot Beet Bisque. ©Reel Chow

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Jenn Egatz on Living Arts

Jenn recently appeared on Living Arts, hosted by Jackie Suarez. Jackie questioned her about Reel Chow and Stitched Tailors. Thanks to the producers of the show, we’re able to embed the episode below.

We’re currently working on our own video projects. Keep checking back for future Reel Chow videos covering recipes, food prep, and kitchen gear reviews. Until then, eat well.

Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Purée

Reel Chow Original Recipe!I love scallops and definitely don’t eat it often because wild caught anything is pricey. However, I couldn’t resist my craving so I bought and seared scallops yesterday. Being me, I wanted to make it my own, so I served it with beet ginger purée.

This dish is very delicate and savory, but also light. The beet ginger purée was simple to make. I first boiled one beet. Once it was cooked, I let it cool, then removed the skin and placed it in my smallest food processor, adding a drizzle of light olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, and fresh squeezed/crushed ginger. It came out extremely succulent, and not bitter at all!

My husband does not like beets very much. He smirked at the plate I served him until he took a bite. He was pleasantly surprised, just as your lunch or dinner guests will be when you serve them this quick and easy dish. Ron said it was the best-tasting beet he’s ever eaten. He’s now a convert to my Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Purée. You will be, too.

Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Puree

Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Puree. ©Reel Chow

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Quinoa Pasta with Baby Bok Choy and Sweet Red Onion

Reel Chow Original Recipe!While recovering from my recent surgery, I had a stronger than usual desire for healthy dishes. This is because I’ve been unable to get to the gym every day, as I usually do. Here’s something of mine I’m sure you’ll enjoy if you feel like eating in a healthy way, no matter how you’re feeling. One of my favorite pasta dishes, Quinoa Pasta with Baby Bok Choy and Sweet Red Onion is light, healthy, and takes very little time to make.

I sautéed the red onion, baby bok choy, and garlic in red wine (I used Malbec). Once the wine reduced and the vegetables soaked up the flavor, I added a dollop of unsalted butter and then tossed the cooked quinoa into the pan to coat the noodles with the savory sauce. This dish is topped with fresh sliced cherry tomatoes Yum!

Quinoa Pasta with Baby Bok Choy and Sweet Red Onion.

Quinoa Pasta with Baby Bok Choy and Sweet Red Onion. ©Reel Chow

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Roasted Broccoli and Garlic Pizza with Ancho Chili Oil

Reel Chow Original Recipe!My apologies for lately not posting as often as I usually do. I recently had surgery and have been resting at home not cooking… until Super Bowl Sunday. Although I was on painkillers and enjoying my time on the couch, I just had to make something easy and quick for the game.

We love making pizza, as regular readers know. This recipe utilizes our standard dough, which is easy and fairly fast to make.

Roasted Broccoli and Garlic Pizza with Ancho Chili Oil

Roasted Broccoli and Garlic Pizza with Ancho Chili Oil. ©Reel Chow

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