Month: April 2015

ASPARAGUS & BOK CHOY QUICHE

Recipes

Delicious!

Quiche

adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

Ingredients:
9-inch pie shell
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 cups grated Gruyere
About 10 roasted asparagus cut into small pieces
2 bok choy cut into small pieces
1/2 Vadalic Onion, thinly sliced
2 cups cream, half and half or milk, gently heated until warm
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Prick the crust all over with a fork.  Line it with foil and weight the bottom with a pile of dried beans or other weights that will sit flat on the surface.  Bake 12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and carefully remove the weight and foil.  Turn the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Sauté onions till translucent. Add bok choy and asparagus and thyme.
3.  Combine eggs, cheese, liquid and seasonings and beat until well blended.
4.  Place the baked crust on a baking sheet.  Pour the egg mixture into the crust, right to the top.  Carefully transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until the mixture is set but still moist; it should jiggle just a little in the middle.  Cool on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

Seared Coriander Scallops with Baby Bok Choy, Radish, and Hoisin

Recipes

 

Another great scallop dish!

Coriander Scallops

Ingredients (serves 2)

3/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
8 large sea scallops
2-3 tablespoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons oriental sesame oil
3 baby bok choy, cored and quartered
3 radish sliced thin
2 tablespoons water

Preparation

Whisk orange juice, hoisin sauce, and ginger in small soup pan simmer until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Pat scallops dry on paper towels. Roll scallops over ground coriander–as if you were making chicken cutlets. Heat sesame oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add scallops and cook just until opaque in center, turning once, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer scallops to plate. Add bok choy and radish and 2 tablespoons water to skillet; sauté until wilted, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, divide bok choy between 2 plates, then top with scallops. Drizzle sauce over scallops and bok choy. I served with turmeric brown rice.

Earth Day

Bible Verses, Birds, Black & White Photography, Color Photography, Documentary Photography, Gardens, Inspiration, Nature, Portraits, Recipes, Weddings

Today is Earth Day:

Earth Day

Most of my photos of this past week have been not of the earth but of food, which I suppose is in essence of the earth. Last night I grilled hamburgers for the first time this year:

Burger

The night before I grilled a steak for the first time this year:

Steak

I made Chicken Parmigiana, too:

Chicken Parm

I photographed a Cardinal in my garden:

Cardinal

I baked cod with lemon, garlic and red pepper flakes and served it over lentils:

Cod and Lentils

Freddy played in his pool for the first time this year:

Freddy

I made a mushroom, pepper and onion pizza:

Pizza

I watched my garlic grow:

garlic

I made a simple but delicious pasta dish with green beans and tomatoes one night:

Pasta

I photographed a feather in the backyard:

Feather

I roasted a chicken with fennel:

Roast Chicken

I made turkey cutlets:

Turkey Cutlet

One morning the clouds were quite dramatic:

Clouds

I made orange scallops; amazing!

Orange Scallops

I posted an inspirational photo and Bible verse on Facebook:

Isaiah

I ran a new advertisement on Facebook:

Book Bruce

I photographed plants inside our home:

plants

If you are looking for beautiful portrait, wedding, nature, or documentary photography, or someone you know is looking for photography that helps to create a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me.  Photography and Prints meant to last a lifetime! For more details about having an amazing and fun photo experience, please contact me.

 

Portrait of Heather Green

Black & White Photography, Portraits

 

 

An artist I greatly admire. Love her vision.

Heather Green

If you are looking for beautiful portrait, wedding, nature, or documentary photography, or someone you know is looking for photography that helps to create a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me.  Photography and Prints meant to last a lifetime! For more details about having an amazing and fun photo experience, please contact me.

Best Scallops; Scallops with Blood Orange Gastrique

Recipes

Amazing!!!

Orange Scallops

Ingredients

Servings: 4

Blood Orange Gastrique

  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Sherry wine vinegar
  • 1 cup fresh blood orange juice (from about 6 oranges)
  • 1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth

Scallops and Brussels Sprouts

  • 2 blood oranges, peeled, separated into segments
  • 1/4 cup each (lightly packed) fresh parsley leaves, fresh mint leaves, and fresh tarragon leaves
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • Coarse kosher salt
  • 8 ounces Brussels sprouts, leaves removed from core, core discarded
  • 20 large sea scallops, side muscles removed

Preparation

Blood Orange Gastrique

  • Place sugar in heavy medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until sugar begins to melt. Stir until sugar dissolves, then cook without stirring until deep golden, about 5 minutes. Gradually add vinegar (mixture will harden). Stir until caramel melts, about 1 minute. Add orange juice; boil until mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Add broth; boil until gastrique coats spoon and is reduced to generous 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over medium heat.

Scallops and Brussels Sprouts

  • Mix orange segments, parsley, mint, and tarragon in medium bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil; toss to coat. Season salad with coarse salt and pepper.
  • Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add brussels sprouts and toss until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer brussels sprouts to bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to same skillet. Sprinkle scallops with salt and pepper. Add scallops to skillet and cook until browned and just opaque in center, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
  • Arrange scallops and brussels sprouts on plates. Drizzle gastrique over scallops. Garnish with salad. I served this over salad with roasted green beans and pecans, and Turmeric brown rice.
  • Recipe by Paley s Place Portland OR. Found in Bon AppetitB February 2011

 

Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese

Recipes

 

Easy to make. And so delicious!

Pasta with Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked tube-shaped pasta (I used Campanelle.)
12 asparagus spears, cut into 1/4 pieces
12 cherry tomatoes, halved 
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided $
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
2 cups baby arugula
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain and set aside. (I cooked in homemade chicken stock.)

3. Place asparagus and tomatoes on a jelly-roll pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Toss gently to coat; arrange asparagus and tomato mixture in a single layer. Bake at 400° for 6-10 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender. 

4. Combine shallots and the next 4 ingredients (through honey) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons oil, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

5. Place pasta, asparagus, tomato, olives, and arugula in a large bowl; toss. Drizzle juice mixture over pasta mixture; toss. Sprinkle with cheese.

Based on a recipe from Cooking Light, May 2011.

 

Portrait of My Niece

Black & White Photography, Color Photography, Portraits

Thanksgiving. Christmas. Easter. Holidays when I get to see my niece, Lauren, and photograph her. I have portraits of her through the years. Here, from this past Easter Sunday. Yes, light snow was falling.

Lauren in Color

 

 Lauren in black & white

If you are looking for beautiful portrait, wedding, nature, or documentary photography, or someone you know is looking for photography that helps to create a more artful and beautiful life, please contact me.  Photography and Prints meant to last a lifetime! For more details about having an amazing and fun photo experience, please contact me.

The Crucifixion

Bible Verses, Black & White Photography, Documentary Photography

crucifixion

The Crucifixion of Jesus

26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
    and to the hills, “Cover us!”’[a]

31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[b] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[c]”

43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[d] When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Veal Scallops Chasseur

Recipes

One of the tastiest meals I have ever made!

Veal Chasseur

Ingredients

  • 6 veal scallopini
  • 1⁄4 cup flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 large shallot, chopped
  • 1⁄2 lb Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1⁄2 cup chicken broth
  • 1⁄4 cup white wine
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Directions

  1. Pound the scaloppine a bit to tenderize the meat.
  2. Heat oil and butter medium high.
  3. Mix together flour salt and pepper.
  4. Lightly flour the meat.
  5. Add the scaloppine; sauté until a bit brown on both sides and almost cooked.
  6. Remove from pan; set aside.
  7. Add shallots and garlic and cook 2 minutes.
  8. Add mushrooms; cook another 3 minutes.
  9. Deglaze by slowly whisking in white wine; add chicken broth, and finally tomato paste.
  10. Taste to adjust salt and pepper.
  11. When ready to serve; heat sauce and add the veal scaloppine.
  12. Serve with rice pilaf or a bed of noodle.
  13. This dish can be prepared ahead and finished off just before serving.

Based on a recipe from The New York Times International Cookbook.

Chasseur. sha-sur; French sha–sœr. noun. A hunter’s sauce. French Cookery. a brown sauce, usually containing mushrooms, tomatoes, shallots, white wine, etc.