Skinny Italian: Eat It and Enjoy It by Teresa Giudice, Heather Maclean
Authors: Teresa Giudice, Heather Maclean
Tags: food.cookbooks
Ads: Link
served with smoked salmon or grilled swordfish.
Fun fact: Capers are thought to help reduce flatulence. (I always add some to my Italian bean soup, just in case.)
S EXY S WORDFISH WITH C APERS AND L EMON
What makes swordfish sexy? I don’t know. It just is. My family loves fish, and we eat it all the time. This is one of our favorites.
2 garlic cloves, crushed under a knife and peeled
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
One 2 ¼-pound swordfish steak, about 1 ¾ inches thick,
cut into 6 portions
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons drained capers
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1. Heat the garlic and oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is hot and the garlic is lightly browned and very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove and discard the garlic.
2. Season the swordfish with the salt and pepper. Add to the skillet and cook until the underside is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, about 3 minutes more.
3. Pour the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water over the swordfish. Sprinkle the capers, parsley, and oregano over the fish. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the fish is just opaque when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 5 minutes more.
4. Transfer the fish to dinner plates. Top with the pan juices and serve hot.
Garlic - AGLIO
Looks like: A small, lumpier onion. This is because, unlike an onion, garlic actually has several different sections inside called cloves. Depending on the size, there can be anywhere from ten to twenty cloves in one bulb of garlic. You have to peel and smash your way down to the cloves, but recipes will tell you how many cloves to use. You can store the extras.
Tastes like: It’s hard to describe because garlic is garlicky. I guess you could say it’s really pungent with a little kick?
Dry or fresh: You can get it fresh, dried, jarred, or powdered, but since you can keep it in a dark cabinet for a real long time, there’s no reason not to always use fresh.
Where to get it: Any grocery store, in the produce section. Look for a solid bulb that isn’t discolored and is really firm. While the stalk part can be soft, the bottom and sides of the bulb shouldn’t be soft at all. You want hard, hard, hard.
How to prep it: Smash the entire bulb (with the palm of your hand or the side of a big kitchen knife) to release the individual sections. Now take each section and smash it again, and the peel will slide right off. Throw away the peel, and you have your clove. You can cut the clove a few times and throw it in your dish, or you can chop it up really fine in your food processor (the fancy word for this is mince ). In sauces and stuff when you want the garlic flavor really smoothed out over everything, you can use a garlic press. It’s a little handheld tool that looks like a nutcracker mixed with a strainer. You put cloves in one side, squeeze, and the garlic spurts out like a juicy paste.
How to eat it: You can eat it raw (sparingly), but most people cook it with their food or put it in dressings and sauces.
How to cook with it: Don’t burn your garlic, or it will turn bitter. To keep this from happening, add olive oil and garlic to your pan at the same time, and heat them up together. As soon as the garlic browns, remove it.
How to store it: A bulb of garlic can last several months if it’s kept in a dark place with plenty of air circulation. I keep mine in a cabinet under the sink. You can put garlic in a basket, or in a mesh bag, but not a plastic bag and not in the refrigerator because it will get moist and moldy. Once you’ve broken the bulbs to remove a clove or two, you can put the rest of the bulb back into storage, but it won’t last as long. And if you’ve minced garlic and have some left over, you can store that in the refrigerator in an airtight container for a few days.
Best in: Sauces,
Fun fact: Capers are thought to help reduce flatulence. (I always add some to my Italian bean soup, just in case.)
S EXY S WORDFISH WITH C APERS AND L EMON
What makes swordfish sexy? I don’t know. It just is. My family loves fish, and we eat it all the time. This is one of our favorites.
2 garlic cloves, crushed under a knife and peeled
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
One 2 ¼-pound swordfish steak, about 1 ¾ inches thick,
cut into 6 portions
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons drained capers
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1. Heat the garlic and oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is hot and the garlic is lightly browned and very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove and discard the garlic.
2. Season the swordfish with the salt and pepper. Add to the skillet and cook until the underside is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, about 3 minutes more.
3. Pour the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water over the swordfish. Sprinkle the capers, parsley, and oregano over the fish. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the fish is just opaque when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 5 minutes more.
4. Transfer the fish to dinner plates. Top with the pan juices and serve hot.
Garlic - AGLIO
Looks like: A small, lumpier onion. This is because, unlike an onion, garlic actually has several different sections inside called cloves. Depending on the size, there can be anywhere from ten to twenty cloves in one bulb of garlic. You have to peel and smash your way down to the cloves, but recipes will tell you how many cloves to use. You can store the extras.
Tastes like: It’s hard to describe because garlic is garlicky. I guess you could say it’s really pungent with a little kick?
Dry or fresh: You can get it fresh, dried, jarred, or powdered, but since you can keep it in a dark cabinet for a real long time, there’s no reason not to always use fresh.
Where to get it: Any grocery store, in the produce section. Look for a solid bulb that isn’t discolored and is really firm. While the stalk part can be soft, the bottom and sides of the bulb shouldn’t be soft at all. You want hard, hard, hard.
How to prep it: Smash the entire bulb (with the palm of your hand or the side of a big kitchen knife) to release the individual sections. Now take each section and smash it again, and the peel will slide right off. Throw away the peel, and you have your clove. You can cut the clove a few times and throw it in your dish, or you can chop it up really fine in your food processor (the fancy word for this is mince ). In sauces and stuff when you want the garlic flavor really smoothed out over everything, you can use a garlic press. It’s a little handheld tool that looks like a nutcracker mixed with a strainer. You put cloves in one side, squeeze, and the garlic spurts out like a juicy paste.
How to eat it: You can eat it raw (sparingly), but most people cook it with their food or put it in dressings and sauces.
How to cook with it: Don’t burn your garlic, or it will turn bitter. To keep this from happening, add olive oil and garlic to your pan at the same time, and heat them up together. As soon as the garlic browns, remove it.
How to store it: A bulb of garlic can last several months if it’s kept in a dark place with plenty of air circulation. I keep mine in a cabinet under the sink. You can put garlic in a basket, or in a mesh bag, but not a plastic bag and not in the refrigerator because it will get moist and moldy. Once you’ve broken the bulbs to remove a clove or two, you can put the rest of the bulb back into storage, but it won’t last as long. And if you’ve minced garlic and have some left over, you can store that in the refrigerator in an airtight container for a few days.
Best in: Sauces,
Similar Books
