Garden Chopped Salad with Hatch Chile Vinaigrette

Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside. 

Blister the corn on a grill or gas range until lightly charred on all sides. Hold the corn upright in a large salad bowl and use downward cuts with a paring knife to cut the kernels off the cob into the bowl.

Fill your salad bowl with chopped romaine, then add the remaining salad ingredients. 

Top salad with Hatch chile vinaigrette and enjoy! 

350 calories; 23g total fat (4g saturated); 550 mg sodium; 36g carbohydrates; 14g dietary fiber; 8g sugar (0g added sugar); 10g protein 

Perfect Barbeque Chicken Pizza  

  1. Place pizza stone in oven on middle rack and preheat to 500° or as hot as your oven will go.  
  1. Allow pizza dough to rest out at room temperature for about an hour before attempting to roll out. Gluten will relax and become much easier to manage. 
  1. Dust your pizza peel with semolina flour to help with sticking and start building your pizza. 
  1. Less is more here, so top with a good (thin) layer of pizza sauce to the edges. Then a good layer of the shredded mozzarella and the rest of the toppings.  
  1. Bake for 5-7 minutes on the pizza stone, turning once to get the even browning on all sides of the crust. Enjoy!  

Arancini

Mushroom Risotto: Arancini Base

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the porcini mushrooms, lower the heat and let sit until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the porcini mushrooms to a cutting board. Finely chop the mushrooms and set aside. Keep the broth warm over very low heat.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and then add the olive oil. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the white mushrooms, reserved porcinis and garlic. Sauté until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and let it toast for a few minutes.
Add the wine, and cook until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 3 minutes.
Continue to cook until the rice is just tender, and the mixture is creamy, adding more broth a cup at a time and stirring often, about 28 minutes. The rice will absorb 6 to 8 cups of broth.
Mix in the parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Arancini

Pour enough oil in a heavy large saucepan to reach a depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat to 350°
Stir together the eggs, mushroom risotto, parmesan, and 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs in a large bowl to combine. Place the remaining breadcrumbs in a medium bowl. Using about 2 tablespoons of the mixture, form the risotto into 1 inch diameter balls. Flatten slightly using your thumb and insert 1 cube of mozzarella into the center of each, pinching and rolling to enclose the cheese. Roll each ball in the breadcrumbs to coat.
Working in batches, add the rice balls to the hot oil and cook until golden brown and heated through, about 4 minutes, turning them as necessary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the rice balls to paper towels to drain. Season with salt immediately. Let rest for 2 minutes. Serve hot with Pomodoro Sauce for dipping.

Pomodoro

In sauté pan over medium heat, add olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add puréed tomatoes to the pan and stir over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Finish by adding sugar, salt and garnish with chopped basil leaves.

Sheet Pan Piccata Chicken Dinner 

Preheat oven to 450°. Line a sheet-pan with foil and place a baking rack over half of the sheet pan. Set it aside. In a bowl, season chicken with parsley, 1 Tbsp garlic, oil, lemon zest and salt to taste.

In a medium size bowl, toss shallots, broccolini, grape tomatoes and fingerling potatoes with oil. Set it aside.

Place the potatoes scattered on the side of the prepared sheet pan without the roasting rack. Roast for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven, quickly place the chicken over the rack, return to oven and roast for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, in a small bowl, combine butter, lemon juice, wine, capers, parsley, the remaining 1Tbsp garlic, and season with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Set it aside.

Remove sheet pan from oven and scatter the broccolini rabe, tomatoes, and shallots in the pan, if needed move the potatoes a bit under the chicken, rotate the pan and roast for 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven, remove the baking rack, placing the chicken over everything; then pour the butter mixture over everything and roast for 5 more minutes.

Remove from oven and plate your Piccata Chicken with its sides; garnish with Parmigiano-Reggiano, extra parsley, and drizzle the pan juices over, thin slices of lemon.

Lean Grilled Al Pastor Skewers

Directions:
To begin preparing, add the dry chilies in a sauce pan with the ½ cup of chicken stock. Bring to a
boil and reserve. Once it cools down enough to touch, remove seeds and stems from chilies.
In a blender, add the vegetable oil, spices, salt, vinegar, garlic, chipotle paste, sugar, ½ cup of
sliced pineapples, lime juice and chilies with the chicken stock. Blend until well incorporated.
Taste and adjust flavors as needed. Reserve marinates.
Meanwhile, pork is in the freezer for about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and slice into
1/8-inch-thick strips.
Combine pork strips with marinate, tossing well so every slice is marinated. You should
refrigerate for at least 3 hours for more flavor; or it can be refrigerated overnight.
Once ready, thread the piece of pork onto skewer, piercing a couple of times to make sure meat is secure. Next, pierce the pineapple piece; repeat until you have about two inches left of skewer.
Make sure everything is tight.
Grill skewers on your grill until pineapple pieces are lightly charred and pork is cooked through.
It should take about 5 to 8 minutes.
Transfer skewers to a platter, add lime and cilantro. Serve with tortillas and Salsa Verde and
enjoy!

Pork Chop Spice Blend

Mix all dry ingredients together. Store in an airtight container.  

Preheat the oven to 450°.

Pat the pork chops dry and sprinkle ½ tsp of the seasoning mixture on each pork chop, making sure to season both sides.

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, warm 2 tsp of canola or avocado oil.

Add the pork chops to the skillet and press them to ensure full contact. Sear for 2-4 minutes per side.

Transfer the pork chops to a baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork chop reaches 145°.

Let the pork chops rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

Nutrition information per pork chop210 calories; 12.6g total fat (3g saturated); 0g carbohydrates; 22.8g protein; 393mg sodium  

Moonstruck Macaron

Preheat oven to 325º

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, and powdered sugar. Have 62 grams of egg whites ready sitting next to the bowl.

Place the remaining 69 grams of egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.

In a small pan combine the sugar and water and heat to 235º. Use a candy thermometer to watch the temperature. Once the sugar reaches a temp of 220º start whipping the egg whites.

Once the egg whites reach a soft peak and sugar is at 235º, pour the sugar syrup into the whipped whites slowly down the side of the mixing bowl with the motor running at a medium speed. Try not to get the syrup on the whisk.

Continue whipping at medium to medium-high speed until the meringue is medium stiff. While this is going add, the set aside egg whites, to the almond flour mixture. Once the meringue is ready add 1/3 to the almond flour mixture. This is referred to as performing the macaronage. You can be rougher at this step to make sure everything is combined.

Add another 1/3 of the meringue folding gently to combine. Now you do not want to deflate the meringue. Also, if adding color to the macarons, now is the time. Add the remaining 1/3 of the meringue folding carefully to avoid over mixing. The batter should flow from the spatula without hesitation.

Pipe macarons onto a sheet tray with parchment paper or a silpat. Use a template to pipe so that all the shells end up the same size. While piping, keep the bag straight up and down, use even pressure, and keep the tip close to the surface without moving. All you are doing is filling the circle from the center. Not making circle motions with the tip.

For this recipe, there is no need to let the macarons sit and dry to form a skin. It will actually affect the sheen of the end result. Bake macarons for approximately 12 to 14 minutes, rotating at about 8 minutes. To test for doneness, gently wiggle a macaron, there should be no movement. Allow to cool, and then fill with Lemon Buttercream recipe from below.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

With a hand mixer or stand mixer, blend together room temp butter, powdered sugar and lemon extract until all ingredients are combined.

Soul Mate New York Strip Steak with Black Garlic Compound Butter  

  1. Mix your softened butter, thyme, garlic, and shallot with a pinch of salt in a bowl. Turn out on a sheet of plastic and roll into a log, place in freezer to firm.  
  1. Remove the steaks from the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes prior to grilling to bring to room temperature.  
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°. 
  1. Heat a large cast iron pan (or heavy bottom sauté pan) over medium high heat until you start to see wisps of smoke. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  
  1. Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel, and season both sides liberally with salt and pepper  
  1. Press the steaks onto the surface of the cast iron, ensuring full contact. Cook the steaks until seared a deep golden brown on the first side about 2-3 minutes. Flip the steak and place about a tablespoon of black garlic butter on each steak, and place into a hot oven. Cook until medium rare or until desire doneness.   
  1. Remove the steaks from the pan; if desired, top each with a ¼-inch thick round of the compound butter and loosely tent to rest for 5 minutes.  

Suggested Sides: Arugula and Parmesan Salad with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes  

Labneh with Mediterranean Herb Oil

Wrap the yogurt in a cheesecloth and let strain over a bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the yogurt from the cheesecloth and place it in a shallow bowl. Stir in the salt and set aside. 

Heat the olive oil in a small pot on the stove over medium-low heat. Remove the oregano leaves from the woody stem and add to the oil, along with the minced garlic, sumac, and Aleppo pepper. 

Heat the spices in the oil for 5 minutes, then spoon the mixture over the labneh. 

Serve with carrots, whole wheat pita, and enjoy! 

Nutrition per serving: 100 calories; 8g fat (1.5g saturated); 170mg sodium; 3g carbohydrates; 0g dietary fiber; 2g sugar (0g added sugar); 6g protein

Peanut Butter Protein Popcorn

Melt the butter in a saucepan or microwave.

Pour butter over popcorn and gently mix to coat the popcorn.  Sprinkle half of the peanut butter powder over the popcorn and mix.  After mixing, add the rest and mix again.  Add powdered sugar and salt and mix. 

Nutrition per serving: 190 calories; 8g total fat (3.5g saturated); 390mg sodium; 25g carbohydrates; 4g dietary fiber; 8g sugar (7g added sugar); 7g protein