Reel Chow Blog

Culinary Postings from the Original Gourmet Craft Service Industry Insider

Tag Archives: shallot

Green Summer Marinade for Chicken

May 3rd, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!Always on the lookout for something new and healthy, I do a lot of recipe reading, get tips from friends, and find interesting new dishes at restaurants. Call me a relentless seeker of healthy dishes which are new to me, I just love learning about all things culinary, and try to stay away from making staples for Ron and I and our guests to enjoy.

Here’s a new creation of mine, influenced by a Haitian dish I’ve only read about. Once I read about the Haitian marinade, it got my mind racing, and I wanted to create my own. Here’s my Green Summer Marinade for Chicken!

This delicious vegetable combination of green bell pepper, shallot, and parsley was pureed to use as a thick marinade. I took four organic chicken breasts and covered them in this fresh marinade then chilled them for four hours in the refrigerator before cooking them. Not only did our loft smell beautiful, but the chicken came out juicy and to die for.

Served with a side of brown rice and green salad, I honestly think you need to try this recipe for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed, and this comes from a person (me) who is not a fan of green bell pepper. If I see a green bell pepper sliced up in salad, I pick them out and ask my husband if he would like my peppers, or I toss them—which I hate to admit—but that’s the truth. Not so in the case of my Green Summer Marinade for Chicken.

Organic chicken breasts in the Summer Marinade, served with a side of salad.

Organic chicken breasts in the Summer Marinade, served with a side of salad. ©Reel Chow

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Herbed Gratin with Roasted Tomatoes

August 17th, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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I hosted Sunday brunch last week and tried an appetizing dairy-free gratin recipe in Food and Wine. It was a hit, of course. Anything out of Food and Wine is tasty.

I was craving this dish a few days later and made some slight changes the second time around. Since there is absolutely no cheese, butter, or cream, I thought I could add some pancetta to introduce a flavor it was previously missing. Additionally, topping it with roasted tomatoes added a slight sharpness which contrasted wonderfully with the potatoes.

Herb Gratin with Roasted Tomatoes.

Herbed Gratin with Roasted Tomatoes. ©Reel Chow

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Turkey Tostada with Peach Ginger Salsa

July 27th, 2012
   
Ron Egatz
         
1 comment

Reel Chow Original Recipe!I love when Jenn lets loose and gets as creative as she wants to. Witness her turkey tostada with peach ginger salsa. There’s a familiarity about it, but it’s wholly original.

There’s nothing insanely exotic about this recipe, so even fussy eaters could give it a thumbs-up, and food lovers of all things new and delicious won’t be disappointed. As with the ongoing trend of covering many bases of the palate, Jenn doesn’t disappoint with this favorite of our gourmet craft service table. The turkey is slightly robust, but not overpoweringly taco-like or spicy. The peach ginger salsa itself has a lot going on between the peach, ginger, and shallot, but the balance was there, and nothing overpowered. It was the perfect cooling compliment to the turkey.

Turkey Tostada with Peach Ginger Salsa.

Turkey Tostada with Peach Ginger Salsa. ©Reel Chow

I’ve eaten this dish both with and without the feta. It works either way, so lactose intolerant readers have nothing to fear. If you’re looking to go ultra-healthy, you can skip pan frying the corn tortillas. Steam or bake them, if you wish instead. If you don’t want to have to do anything with the tortillas, you can buy wheat or whole wheat ones, but it won’t be as healthy as corn tortillas.

Here’s how to make one of Jenn’s most original and most delicious dishes. I hope you like it as much as I do.

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Yellow Snap Beans with Ginger and Shallots

July 9th, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!I have been craving only vegetables and fruit lately, probably because we are in the middle of a humid heatwave. I saw these beautiful yellow snap beans at the Farmer’s Market so I decided to buy some. It inspired me to create Yellow Snap Beans with Ginger and Shallots.

Yellow Snap Beans with Ginger and Shallots has a bit of Asian flair, mostly because I love fresh ginger. It’s also because the beans were steamed in low-sodium soy sauce. The dish is topped with fresh basil. This helps make the dish beautiful to look at and yummy to eat!

Yellow Snap Beans with fresh ginger and shallots.

Yellow Snap Beans with fresh ginger and shallots. ©Reel Chow

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Shrimp and Mango Salad

June 1st, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!I hardly ever make shrimp anymore. I think it’s because after Ron and I started dating we probably ate shrimp twice a week. We just enjoyed eating it. Shrimp is one of those foods with which you can have fun switching up the flavor. I went through a period of no shrimp after a while for a few years, but all things culinary come in cycles. The other day at the fish market, I saw fresh jumbo shrimp, and it gave me the craving for my old shrimp salad.

This is a recipe I have been making for years, way back while Ron and I were still dating. The shrimp is marinated in turmeric, fresh ginger, dried dill and sliced shallots with light extra virgin olive oil. It’s a spicy shrimp dish without the intense heat.

Shrimp and Mango Salad.

Shrimp and Mango Salad. ©Reel Chow

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Vegetable Pizza with Fennel Sauce

April 11th, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
2 comments

Reel Chow Original Recipe!This recipe was inspired by my leftover fennel from the previous post, French Breakfast Radish Crostini. I decided to make a homemade pizza with fennel sauce as the base. By braising it in red wine and vegetable broth, along with a spanish onion and shallot, the flavors really popped. This is now my favorite pizza sauce. It’s perfect for healthy eaters, the lactose intolerant, and folks allergic to nightshades. Oh, yes—how good it is!

After I puréed the braised fennel, I spread it on the pizza dough with a spatula. I topped it with fresh, thin slices of yellow and green zucchini, spinach, eggplant and garlic. After cooking the pizza, I added fresh chopped parsley. The pizza came out delicious and colorful.

Vegetable Pizza with Fennel Sauce.

Vegetable Pizza with Fennel Sauce. ©Reel Chow

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Springtime Mandu

March 26th, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
1 comment

Reel Chow Original Recipe!Now that Spring is officially here, I was inspired to make my Springtime Mandu. Mandu is a Korean dumpling filled with a mixture of either seafood or meats mixed with vegetables. They are either fried, boiled or steamed and can be eaten solo or in a soup.

I chose to make the my vegetarian mandu filling with light and organic ingredients such as pears, ginger, sweet pea shoots, radicchio, shallots, and tofu.

Tree in bloom outside our home.

Tree in bloom outside our home. ©Reel Chow

This dish is easy to make. The only thing that takes a bit of time is filling the mandu wraps and sealing them up. If you have children, this is a fun food project to work on together. I used to love helping my mom make mandu when I was young. More importantly, I loved eating them!

Springtime Mandu.

Springtime Mandu. ©Reel Chow

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St. Patty’s Spicy Potato Soup with Radicchio

March 16th, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
1 comment

In honor of St. Patricks Day, I took an old Irish recipe for potato soup and came up with something you would probably find in the American Southwest, not Ireland or at any local Irish pub. It’s called St. Patty’s Spicy Potato Soup.

Spicy Potato Soup with Radicchio.

Spicy Potato Soup with Radicchio. ©Reel Chow

Traditionally, Irish Potato Soup is made with Irish butter, milk, russet potatoes, celery, dried parsley, onion, garlic, chicken bouillon and grated cheese. This all sounds very creamy and comforting, however I try my best to stay away from dairy with my original recipes and even in my choices in dining out.

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Very Oniony Onion Soup

January 24th, 2012
   
Jenn Egatz
         
1 comment

Reel Chow Original Recipe!Don’t be afraid of the title. This onion soup is not my eye watering, kick-ass spicy version. It’s also not the traditional French onion soup loaded with melted cheese and carbs. I consider this a healthy alternative to a classic French onion soup, primarily because it omits the dairy.

As a child, my first experience with onion soup was that of fright. On a sunny Saturday in California, my mom was busy in the kitchen and my father was home ill with pneumonia. Somewhere—either on television or in the book of home remedies—my mom got the idea to make no-cook onion soup so my father could sweat out the pneumonia, ultimately killing the infection. In hind sight, the idea seemed great. It was the execution that almost killed my father by eating potent raw onions.

Very Oniony Onion Soup

Very Oniony Onion Soup. ©Reel Chow

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