Dinner for 2

We aren't huge Valentines Day people, yet we do acknowledge the day. It is a great excuse for me to cook up a special meal for the hubs. I made a three course meal and paired it with two different Italian wines. I've been volunteering as a chef's assistant at the Cook's Warehouse, and I have been learning so much! I most recently assisted Gino Noci, an Italian chef who owns a restaurant in Florence, Italy. He made the most delicious Tuscan style meal with very simple ingredients. I recreated a similar meal for Ben. The sausage gravy and broccoli are compliments of Chef Gino, but the entire meal is inspired by him and his team. They were fantastic to work with and taught me a lot! Buon appetite!

Appetizer- Sweet Potatoes with Sausage Gravy

Need

1 Large sweet potato sliced
1 lb. mild Italian Sausage
1 rip celery finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
2 gloves garlic finely chopped
1/4 t. fennel seed
3/4 c. white wine
T. Fresh chopped parsley
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Prepare

1. Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauce pot
2. Saute garlic, carrot, fennel seed, and celery until almost translucent. Salt and Pepper.


3. Add the sausage and cook until brown on medium heat.



4. While the sausage is cooking, saute the slice sweet potatoes in olive oil in a different pan. Salt and pepper and cook the sweet potatoes until soft. Mix in fresh parsley just before serving.

5. When the sausage is fully brown, add the white wine and cook the mixtures until the wine evaporates.
6. Serve the sausage gravy over the cooked sweet potatoes. Add fresh Parmesan if desired. Gino served his sausage gravy over homemade potato ravioli.



Vegetarians
Prepare the gravy just the same. Omit the sausage and substitute mushrooms instead.

Entree- Filet Mignon with Sauteed Broccoli

Need

1 large crown broccoli cleaned and chopped
1 large glove of garlic chopped
3/4 c. white wine
2 pinches red pepper flakes
2 small grass fed steak filets
Salt & Pepper

Prepare

1. Saute the garlic and red pepper flakes on medium heat in 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Add the broccoli to the pan and coat with the olive oil. Salt and Pepper.
3. Turn heat to high and add the white wine.
4. Cook broccoli until soft, about 7-8 minutes. By this time, the wine should have evaporated.
5. Salt and peppered each side of the steak.
6. Using an indoor grill pan, cook each side of the steak roughly 7-8 minutes each. Because we had such a thick cut of meat, I covered the grill pan with foil for 4 minutes to better cook the inside. I served the steak at about 140 which is medium-rare. It was a great temperature to serve such a tender piece of meat.


Dessert- Chocolate Fondue

Dessert was a dark chocolate fondue sauce. I melted dark chocolate, a few pours of cream, and a dash of red wine over a double broiler. We dipped berries, clementines, biscotti, and other treats in the sauce. It was the perfect dessert to a delicious and simple meal. (Exact recipe and pictures to come later)

This meal is a lot of fun to eat and to make! Although it is not a perfectly healthy meal, it is also not too terribly unhealthy. Pair it with your favorite Italian wines and you'll have the perfect night in.

Pork Lovers Cabbage

Yes, I said cabbage! I had a lot of cabbage left over, and I hate wasting food. It was begging me to use it. I pondered for a few days. How can I turn this cabbage into something that Ben will eat? I know! I'll add bacon! Well, I added pancetta instead because they had some from Pine Street Market at the Oakhurst Market and I just had to try it. Pancetta is simply Italian bacon. It is still pork belly meat that is salt cured. I served this as a side dish to a pork loin. I was not disappointed and neither will you.

Need

2 slices of thick cut bacon or pancetta
1 small red or green cabbage (I used both)
1 tbpn ghee or butter
1 tspn bacon grease (only if you use pancetta)
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 cap full apple cider vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Prepare

1. Heat the ghee in a large saute pan.
2. Cut the slices of pancetta into small pieces.
3. When the ghee is melted, add the pancetta and cook for 4 minutes on medium heat.


4. Core the cabbage and cut the cabbage into strips as if you were making a coleslaw.
5. Add the cabbage to the pan with pancetta.
6. Pour the chicken broth into the pan and cover for 2 minutes. This will steam the cabbage to help it cook down.


7. Take the lid off and toss in the bacon grease. If you do not have any, skip this step.
8. Stir occasionally allowing the cabbage to cook down until it is soft and wilted.
9. Liberally salt and pepper to your taste. The more pepper the better in my opinion!
10. Lastly, add the two cap fulls of vinegar.
11. Mix and serve.



I pan seared a small pork loin to go with the cabbage. I marinated the loin in a variety of dry herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil. While the cabbage was cooking, I browned the pork in olive oil on high heat with a whole glove of garlic added to the pot. Next, I set the burner to medium heat and put the lid on the meat for about 15 minutes. Using a meat thermometer, I checked the temperate of the meat at 147 Fahrenheit.

USDA food preparation guidelines advise 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fresh and Light Coleslaw

I have been making this coleslaw for a while. I just cannot bring myself to add tons of mayo and sour cream to cabbage. It just seems too heavy. Instead, I add olive oil and other light ingredients. I made this coleslaw to accompany the pulled pork and collard greens. It made it feel like a good old country BBQ at the Thoele household!

Need

1/4 head of red cabbage
1/4 head of green cabbage
1/2 bag of baby carrots
1 red pepper
1/2 jar of dill pickles chopped
1.5 tbspn honey
2 tbspon olive oil
1 tspn apple cider vinegar
2 tspn salt
2 tspn fresh black pepper
Food processor
Prepare

1. Using the shredding attachment on your food processor, shred the cabbage, carrots, and red pepper. Empty into a large bowl. (You can also buy the bagged coleslaw at the store and julienne the red pepper.)


2, Chop half the jar of dill pickles. You can buy any brand you like. I try to buy pickles that do not have any added sugar.
3. Add the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to the cabbage mix and toss.
4. Next, add the honey and chopped pickles.
5. Toss the entire mix together and taste test. You may want to add more salt and pepper according to your taste.

Salty Collard Greens

There is a good reason that I call these collard greens salty. As I was preparing the greens, I was quite excited about the potential of them. Knowing I wanted to cook some southern BBQ, I saved the bacon fat from the morning's breakfast. The onions and garlic were giving off the most succulent scent. I was gathering my ingredients and I was seriously giddy when I added the ham hock to the pot. I went to add some sea salt and the container was being a bit stubborn. I tried to measure the salt using a teaspoon, but it was not going fast enough. I decided to just add a few "shakes" to the pot. Big mistake! As I was shaking the sea salt container, the top fell in the pot, and the ENTIRE container of salt fell into the collards. The entire container. Of course I screamed! Ben ran out of the bathroom panicking, shaving cream around his face and all. His solution was to simply "add more collard greens." Really Ben?

I ended up salvaging the batch by rinsing the entire pot through a colander. I got rid of the salt, but was worried about the flavor. I started a new batch from scratch using the old collard greens. In the end, they turned out to be quite alright.

I have lived in Georgia for just about 6 years now and I have grown to love collards. For a girl who grew up in the Midwest, I think that they would be approved by any southerner.

Need
1 lb bag of collard greens
3 tbspn bacon grease
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 smoked ham hock
1/2 can of tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
1 tbspn honey
1 tbspn apple cider vinegar
1 tspn salt
1 tspn black pepper

Prepare

Using a large pot, melt down the congealed bacon grease on medium heat. Add the chopped onion, garlic, ham hock, and red pepper flakes. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add half of the chicken stock to the pot and turn to high heat to boil. Once the liquid is boiling, add half of the bag of collard greens. Allow the greens to cook down and add the remainder of the chicken
stock and collard greens.










Once all of the collard greens are cooked down add the half can of diced tomatoes. The tomatoes really do not add too much to the flavor. I just like the color. Finally add the honey, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Make sure your salt cap is on!

Allow the collard greens to simmer for about 4 hours. The longer they simmer, the better!

Purple Kale

Ben hates kale. Jill loves kale. Therefore, kale is a frequent side dish at our dinner table. This recipe is very easy and I could eat the entire bowl of kale myself!

Need

1 bunch organic purple kale
1 large head of minced garlic
2 tbspn cooking sherry
1 tspn ghee or butter
1 tbspn olive oil
2 tbspn water
Salt
Pepper

Prepare

Wash the kale and discard the kale stems. (You can actually eat the stems, but they take a lot longer to cook and can be bitter.) Saute the garlic, butter, and olive oil on medium heat for 3 minutes. Add half of the kale bunch and 1 tablespoon of sherry and 1 tablespoon of water to saute pan. Place the lid on the pan for about 2 minutes or until the kale becomes wilted. Add the remaining kale, sherry, water and repeat. Allow the kale to wilt down until it is soft, but not soggy. Salt and pepper to your taste!