#fatkidgoespaleo

[fatkidgoespaleo]

Truffle Honey Glazed Chicken

Found a jar of Truffle Honey at home and decided to use it instead of Maple Syrup for my pork chops...it didn't come out as good as I wanted it to be, so I decided to try it on chicken instead. 

I started making a brine solution for the chicken...I flattened by chicken by splitting it on the breast side and place it on a dish pan to soak. 

For the brining liquid, I just used a 2 cups of water (you may use chicken stock), 3 tablespoons of salt, 3 tablespoons of truffle or regular honey, a couple of cloves of garlic, grated and zest and juice of half a lemon. I let it marinate for about 2-3 hours, I think it would be best not to over brine the chicken, so no more than 12 hours I'm guessing. 

Preheat your oven to 350C and lay the chicken skin side up on a rack placed on top of a baking tray. Salt and pepper the backside, then brush the skin with a mixture of honey and olive oil before seasoning it. Roast for about 45minutes to an hour. 

I also roasted some potatoes, with garlic cloves and shallots. I tossed them in some duck fat, salt and pepper and thyme. You need to roast them a little longer than the chicken so once the chicken is done, take it out of the pan to rest, and put the potatoes back in the oven and crank up the heat to 400C until golden brown.

[fatkidgoespaleo]

Shepherds Pie

The recipe calls for Worcestershire sauce, if you're not comfortable with using commercially available Worcestershire sauce, you can find some recipes online. Personally the amount is very little so I really just charge it to the 20%. I'm not sure if you can take it out or replace it...but feel free to experiment. Something tells me balsamic vinegar with some anchovy fillets may do the trick. 

Please forgive the photos...I was preparing for a dinner party and didn't have enough time to organize a proper shoot. 

Filling:

Olive Oil

1 large onion, chopped or grated

1 whole garlic, chopped or grated

2 carrots, finely chopped or grated

1 Kg ground lamb (or beef or a mix)

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

250ml chicken stock or water

few glugs of red wine

rosemary and thyme

Sauté the onions, garlic and carrots in a pan for about 5 minutes, followed by the ground lamb and the rosemary and thyme. Since it was rather oily I decided to strain the meat before adding the red wine. Once reduced add the tomato puree, worcestershire sauce and the chicken stock. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the mixture has thickened then transfer to an ovenproof pan.

Topping:

1 large head of cauliflower, cut into pieces

1 medium size sweet potato, peeled and diced

2 egg yolks

1 stick of butter

100g of grated parmesan cheese (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil the cauliflower and sweet potato until they are soft, like with making mashed potatoes return them into the dry pot to reduce any excess moisture. Begin mashing them to incorporate the cauliflower and sweet potato, add the butter and egg yolks then the parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper before spooning over the filling. Top with cheese or a few knobs of butter.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C, until the topping turns golden brown. 

[fatkidgoespaleo]

Bacon and Egg Cups

Who doesn't love bacon??? Well if you don't love bacon, I'm guessing you won't be here anyway. ;-)

It's fairly easy all you need are strips bacon, eggs, black pepper and a little olive oil.

The photo above is when I tried it for the very first time...it was okay but the bacon could be better, so I decided to pan fry the bacon a bit. No need to add oil there. Just cook it for a few minutes 

I sprayed the muffin pan with some olive oil, although honestly the eggs may still sticks to the sides but the trick is to make sure the entire opening on the muffin pan is covered with bacon. 

Once you have the pan lined with bacon you can start putting the eggs, the way I do it is by separating the whites with the yolks placing the yolks in the center before pouring the whites. You might need less egg whites depending on the side of your pan or eggs. Season with black pepper then bake in a pre-heated 200C oven for 11-13 minutes for runny yolks. Personally I'd check after 10 minutes just to make sure. Cook it longer if you want hard boiled eggs. 

[fatkidgoespaleo]

So I tried making almond flour pasta again...I tried modifying the starch with a mix of potato and tapioca. Not that good...I think I should just stick with tapioca starch in the future. I used smaller eggs (organic) so the dough was a bit dry...had to add a tiny amount of beaten eggs while working on it. For the filling I used some fresh pork sausage (I used ground chicken the last time), spinach and goat's milk ricotta with a little parmesan cheese. 

Feeling a lot better than the last time. Which only means that the mozzarella was the culprit. 

[fatkidgoespaleo]

Last Night's Grain Free Lasagna

(Photo courtesy of http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1160069)

HHHmmm...I'm not feeling good this morning. I'm thinking it may have to do with the cheese/s I used last night. Since going on paleo last October, I've taken some cheese on few occasions (mostly parmesan) so when I discovered the almond flour pasta recipe last week, I was quite excited to give it a try. 

About almond flour pasta, since it doesn't have any gluten to hold it together, (even after a few hours of resting in the refrigerator) will not survive a trip through your pasta roller...use any approved starch (my recipe was a mix of almond flour and tapioca starch) and a rolling pin to flatten them out. Work in small batches, and roll them as thin as possible. I didn't bother cutting them into neat strips but you can trim them and rework the excess pasta.

Anyway I decided to replace the béchamel sauce with cottage and ricotta cheese. Then I used parmesan and mozzarella for the top...since I've had parmesan before, I could strike that out...so that leaves me with 3 culprits...I can't say which one but I suppose I should just avoid them all to be safe. 

[fatkidgoespaleo]

Japanese Cauliflower Fried Rice

This was probably the first recipe that I learned to cook, one summer my mom sent me to a relatives' house for a cooking workshop, I couldn't remember what else we cooked that day but I recall going back home and giving my mom a list of things I need to cook it. 

Since starting Paleo, I make this during times when I have a craving for rice. It's pretty easy and you can add whatever you want to the mix. 

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower (approx. 500 grams)

3 eggs, whisked

1/2 cup carrots, chopped

1/4 cup asparagus, chopped

1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup chopped shrimp, squid or meats

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce

I used asparagus instead of peas, they pretty much are the same, I just sliced them thinly so it would cook with the bell pepper. Depending on how small your carrot cubes are, you might not need to boil them, I chop them a little bigger, about the side of a pea, so I parboil them till tender.

From experience I learned that by cutting the cauliflower into smaller florets and buzzing them in a food processor a few times, you will end up with bigger grains, if you add the stalk you need to process it a little longer and hence you will get a finer "rice" (perfect substitute for couscous).

Microwave them for about 4-6 minutes, stopping every two minutes to toss the grains around, this would keep them from burning. After that season with salt and pepper, if adding aminos (I don't) reduce your salt. 

Normally cooked in a flat griddle, you can use a wok for this recipe, have everything ready by the stove since you need to set your wok on high heat and you don't want to risk burning anything. 

Start by melting your butter with coconut oil, once bubbly add your onions and garlic. Continue till cooked, add your meats and toss for a few moments. Once cooked add all your vegetables and sauté for a bit, next add your cauliflower to the mix, making sure to incorporate them well. 

When adding your egg, create a well in the center, by pushing everything to the sides, make sure the pan is very hot at this stage before putting in your eggs. Stir the middle and allow to cook for a few minutes. Once it is forming a little, toss the rice into the center, add your coconut aminos or sauce and continually mix until everything is evenly incorporated. 

[fatkidgoespaleo]

Food For The Gods

Often wrapped in multi-colored cellophane this walnut and date bar is one of my favorite holiday treats. Unfortunately I was not able to find a paleo solution until last weekend. I tried following this recipe for Paleo Blondies I found on the internet. I wasn't sure what happened but I ended up with 2 inch thick squares, so I decided to read the recipe again and found that the author based it from an Almond Butter Blondies recipe from Elena's Pantry. 

Just follow the recipe, I learned that I could switch agave and honey or I could use both. To make it into Food For The Gods, I added about a cup each of Walnuts and chopped dates. A technique I learned from making conventional Food For The Gods, is to coat the chopped dates with flour so they won't stick to each other. For this recipe I did something similar only with almond flour, just a tablespoon or so. 

Oh and make sure you use the right size for your pan, I have a feeling that was the the problem with my first recipe, the 8X8 might have been too small for the mixture since I essentially added 2 more cups on ingredients.

Instead of greasing the pan, line it with parchment paper, this way you avoid adding unnecessary fats into your bars. Bake at about 325C for 30-35 minutues and cute into squares while hot.