The Traveling Epicurean

spinach

Chilean Sea Bass with Green Goddess Sauce II

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Chilean Sea Bass with Green Goddess Sauce II

Chilean sea bass is full of flavor and has large meaty flakes. This is an oily fish so you need to have some kind of citrus to balance it out and that’s why my green goddess II is a perfect match!  The lemon and mint in the green goddess II are key flavors in complimenting the sea bass. I am all for cooking fish rare, even sashimi style but you cannot eat this fish under done. Chilean sea bass turns gelatinous and rubber-like when under done while on the other hand when cooked properly, even slightly over, turns it into a buttery, soft fish.

I think presentation is important when friends are over for dinner and you are plating the meal but keeping it fun without a lot of work is even better so you can enjoy being with your friends. That’s why I came up with my baked sweet potato haystacks. Not only are they delicious and good for you but are super easy to add to the garlic-spinach and sea bass layers making for some good eye candy.  Use a kitchen zester to make the potato strings. It’s really quite easy and they only bake for 10 minutes and no more or the strands of potato begin to burn.

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Ingredients for the Chilean Sea Bass:

Directions for the Sea Bass:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350º
  2. Rub olive oil on seabass
  3. Add dash of salt and pepper
  4. Heat up the sauté pan on medium/high heat
  5. Add sea bass to the hot pan and sauté 4 minutes on each side
  6. Put pan into the oven for 8-10 minutes
  7. Layer on a plate a small mound of fresh sautéed spinach with garlic
  8. On top of spinach put a pile of sweet potato haystack
  9. Place a piece of sea bass on the very top and drizzle green goddess sauce II around plate and serve with a lemon wedge

Ingredients for the Baked Sweet Potato Haystack:

  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 2 Tbsp oilve oil
  • 1 Tsp onion granules (do not use garlic …they make the potato strings bitter)
  • 1/2 Tsp salt

Directions for the Baked Sweet Potato Haystack:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375º
  2. Use a potato peeler to peel the skin off of the sweet potato
  3. Then begin to zest strands from the sweet potato
  4. You will get little mounds of pulp like texture from the potato while you are zesting so just keep putting that aside…you don’t want the pulp in with the haystack strands.
  5. Once one side is hallowed out just flip the potato around and zest the arc of the other side
  6. Take the pile of sweet potato strands, place them on a cookie tray and squeeze them with a paper towel to get some of the moisture out.
  7. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil
  8. Add 1 Tsp onion granules and 1/2 Tsp salt and mix stands with your hands
  9. Using your fingers spread strands in an even layer on the cookie tray as best as possible
  10. Bake for exactly 10 minutes
  11. Take out of the oven and scoop mounds of potatoes onto the beds of spinach to make your sweet potato haystacks
  12. Then place your fish on top of the haystack and drizzle green goddess sauce II around the plate



Stuffed Roulades of Chicken

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Stuffed Roulades of Chicken

I serve these stuffed roulades of chicken sliced up on top of a roasted garlic and cannellini bean purée…the flavors are amazing together!  Stuffing meats with vegetables and herbs makes a great presentation and people will think you worked a lot harder than you did.  The stuffing in these chicken roulades is especially wonderful because the ingredients are all raw there isn’t any sautéing, .  If you don’t like one of the ingredients in the stuffing you can easily substitute for something you do like.  For instance, cilantro instead of basil, or diced artichoke hearts instead of olives or maybe swiss cheese instead of feta. 

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Ingredients:

  • 2 large boneless chicken breasts (butterflied)
  • 1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup diced kalamata olives
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped basil
  • 1 garlic clove thru garlic press
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil (for stuffing)
  • 1 Tsp rice wine vinegar-“Seasoned” (comes “original” or “seasoned”-I always get the seasoned cause I like the flavor… it has a hint of sweet)
  • fresh spinach leaves (flat leaf is easier to use in stuffing then curly)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil for sautéing roulades
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup white wine (Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc … your favorite white drinking wine)
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 pieces of 20-24″ cotton string

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350º.
  2. In a small bowl mix together diced tomaotes, olives, feta, basil and garlic with 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tsp rice wine vinegar and set aside (this is the stuffing).
  3. Butterfly chicken breasts slicing them open like a book keeping them in 1 piece.
  4. Place the breasts in a large Ziplock Baggie and pound them out to 1/4″ (if they rip no worries because the spinach leaves will cover that and then you’ll be tying them with string).
  5. Put the breasts on a work surface smooth breast side down so the length is going vertically.
  6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put down a layer of spinach leaves on top of the breasts.
  7. Divide the stuffing into 2 and place each 1/2 onto the center of the breasts (right on top of the spinach leaves).
  8. Roll up the breasts tucking in sides as best as possible. Slide two pieces of string under the breast rolls crisscross like in the photo.
  9. Begin to tie off from each end knotting the first wrap so it doesn’t move then keep wrapping around the chicken without tying til you get to the other end. You can slide string under the other rows as you go.
  10. When you get to the other end you should end with a knot.
  11. Don’t need to get fancy or crazy about this …. it’s only to help hold in place until you can get the roulades in a hot pan to sauté where everything will firm up and stay together.
  12. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a medium sauce pan on medium/high heat.
  13. When the pan is hot add the tied up roulades and sauté for 2 minutes on each side total of 8 minutes.
  14. Add the wine, and then the broth to the chicken (be careful of the steam when add the liquids) and place into the oven for 15 minutes.
  15. Take the chicken out of the oven and cover it with foil.
  16. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then simply cut the string with a clean pair of scissors (or kitchen scissors).
  17. Slice up the roulades and serve on top of roasted garlic and cannellini bean purée. 
  18. The great thing about this dish is you can make the roasted garlic and bean purée the day before!

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TIP: I like to buy a giant roll of cotton string from the hardware store and keep it in a Ziplock Baggie on the spice shelf so no one can get to it and dirty it up.

 

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TIP:  It’s a good idea to soak the cotton string in water for 10 minutes before you use it otherwise it will dry out in the oven and become brittle.

Sautéed Chicken Breasts and Spinach

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Ingredients:

  • 4 med. size chicken breast ( washed and pat dry with paper towel)
  • Olive oil and S & P
  • 8 oz. pre-washed fresh spinach leaves
  • 1/2 cup white wine (optional- delicious for another layer of flavor)

Directions:

Chicken: 

  1. Pre-heat to 375º.
  2. Heat pan to med/high heat and add 3 tbsp olive oil.  
  3. After a few minutes when pan is hot add chicken and saute for 5 minutes til golden and flip.  
  4. Continue to cook for another 8 minutes til golden in color.  
  5. Depending how thick your chicken breast are you can either flip again for an additional 2-3 minutes or place into the oven for approx. 8 minutes.  
  6. OR if u have the white wine on hand flip chicken back over for the last 2-3 min. and pour in 1/2 cup of white wine and cover immediately.  
  7. Let steam for 3 minutes then remove cover to let wine evaporate for the next 3-4 min.  
  8. This addition of wine gives you another layer of amazing flavor and you won’t need to put it into the oven again just cover with foil for a few minutes til you are ready to slice and plate.

Spinach:  Place fresh spinach into med. size pan with 2 tbsp water put on med heat and cover for a few minutes.  You’ ll start to hear the steam, lift off the top and begin to toss around with tongs or a fork for approx 1 min. til slightly wilted and remove from heat.  Put into ice bath to shock spinach (or briefly run cold water on it) It helps to keep vibrant green color til you are ready to plate dishes.  Gently squeeze out water and place on paper towel on a dish til u need to plate the dinner.  The easiest way to re-heat spinach is put it in a small pan with 1 tbsp of butter on top and warm thru just for 2-3 minute, add salt & pepper (or put into microwave very briefly ….don’t need to cook it ….heating thru only).  Then place small mound in the middle of the plate and place sliced up chicken right on top.  Drizzle my Green Goddess Sauce recipe around chicken on plate and mangia!