One of my family's favorites.   Perfect dessert or breakfast treat during blueberry season in NJ. 

Ingredients:
For the Pastry: 
1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour      
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tbsp milk
 
For the Filling:
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
½ cup sour cream
1 ½ tsps. Vanilla
1 pint blueberries
Confectioners’ sugar
 
Directions:
Pastry Dough:

1.  In a medium bowl, stir flour, salt and sugar with a fork.  Cut butter into the flour mixture(you can use food processor pulse setting or pastry blender) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  In a separate cup/bowl, beat egg and milk until well blended; add flour mixture and mix lightly until the dough holds together.   Shape dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. 
2. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll out dough into a round about 1 inch larger than the 12 inch quiche dish.  Ease dough into the dish.  Line evenly and trim the edge.  Prick the tard shell in a bunch of places to avoid puffing during baking.  Place tart in freezer for 15 minutes.  
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line tart shell with foil and evenly spread dry beans or pie weights over the foil. 
4. Bake tart shell for 20 minutes or so.  Remove beans or weights and foil.  Bake 3 to 4 minutes without the cover until lightly browned and no longer raw and soft. 

Filling:

1. In a large bowl using a mixer on high speed, beat eggs and sugar until very thick.  Gradually beat in milk, sour cream and vanilla until well blended
2. Sprinkle 1.2 pint of blueberries into the warm tart shell. Pour egg mixture over blueberries. 
3. Bake 35 minutes or until filling is set and edge of crust is golden brown.  Cover with foil after 20 minutes to prevent over browning.
4. Cool tart on a wire rack.

 
To serve, top tart with remaining blueberries and lightly dust with confectioners’ sugar
 

My family loves Paneer... me not so much.  This dish works for the whole family, greens for me and paneer for them.  Easy to make and full of flavor. 

This recipe yields 3 to 4 servings. 
​ 

Some days are soup days.  I wanted to jazz up the soup with some fresh herbs from my garden and add some anti inflammatory qualities.   

​Ingredients -
2 tbsp                    Oil, I use grapeseed oil
1 ¼ Cup                Celery, peeled and diced
1 ¼ Cup                Carrots, peeled and diced            
1 ¼ Cup                Sweet Onion, diced
3 cloves                Garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp                   Fresh minced Rosemary leaves
1 tbsp                   Fresh Thyme leaves
1 tsp                     Dried Oregano
1/2 to 1 tsp          Turmeric
1/4 tsp                  Cayenne
1                            Chicken breast
4                            Chicken thighs  
8 cups                   Chicken Stock
2 cups                   Water     
1 1/2 Cup             Pearl Couscous
3 Cups                  Baby spinach leaves
2 tbsp                   Lemon  juice
Salt and pepper to taste
 
 
Directions –
On medium heat, add oil, celery, carrots and onions to a large pot.  Sauté until unions are translucent.  Add 1 tsp of salt, minced garlic, cook for a couple of minutes. Stir the vegetables around every so often to keep them from burning.  Add herbs, stir until incorporated.   Add Chicken to the pot,  cook for 5 minutes flipping the chicken after a couple of minutes.  Add the liquid to the pot.  Cover and cook until it comes to a simmer.  At this point you can add the pearl couscous to the pot.  Once chicken is cooked, remove from pot, shred it and put it back in the pot along with spinach.  This is good time  to add salt and pepper to taste.   Cover the pot, lower the heat and simmer until couscous is done.  Add lemon and serve.     

    What started as clean out fridge soup, has become our family favorite. It's healthy, hearty and full of flavor.  Serve it with some crusty sour dough and enjoy!  

​Sevings: 8














​Ingredients:
3 tbsp grape seed oil or any other light oil
5 large potatoes
1 medium size cauliflower
5 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
2 serrano peppers, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 packet of frozen baby peas
3 or 4 tbsp pav bhaji spice(see below)
1 tsp of cumin powder
2 tsp of coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp or more of cayenne pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Butter
 For Garnish:
Lime or lemon slices
Finely chopped red onions
Chopped cilantro
 
Directions:
Boil potatoes in salted water, cut cauliflower into large florets and steam using salted water. 
Once the potatoes are cooked thru, peel and cut in large chucks and set aside.  Remove steamed cauliflower and roughly chop and add to potatoes.  Heat a large wide pot on medium heat. Add oil, butter,  onions, bell pepper, serrano peppers and garlic.  Stir to keep the veggies from burning.  Season with a little salt. Once the onions and peppers are soft, add the paste and the tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes break down.  At this point stir in turmeric, cumin, coriander and cayenne. Add the potatoes and cauliflower to the pot and stir until all the veggies have the spice coating.  Lower heat and sprinkle 2 tbsp of the Pav Bhaji spice over the veggies. Using a potato masher, start mashing everything in the pot. Make sure the veggies don’t burn.  Take a break from mashing and stir.  Taste and if needed add more pav bhaji spice.   Mash until everything is well blended.  Add the juice of one lemon, peas and chopped cilantro.  Mix it all in.  Make ahead a few hours and reheat before serving.
 
Serve on a plate topped with some of the chopped red onion, cilantro, wedge of lime and bread that has been toasted in a pan with butter. 
Note – Pav Baji spice mix, instead of making your own, combine equal parts Badshah brand and MDH brand of spices.  Pics of the spice boxes below

 Sometimes winging it and making something your own works out.   My son wanted asked me to make Chicken Marsala, I had most of the ingredients, so I winged it.  Turned out well.  He loved it.  

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts 
• All-purpose flour
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 
• 1/4 cup grape seed oil 
• 3 Sun dried tomatoes, chopped 
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced, reserve some green parts for garnish 
• 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, stemmed and sliced 
• 1/2 cup light white wine (Pinot Grigio) 
• 2 tbsp brandy 
• 1/2 cup veggie  stock
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp  dry parsley 
  

Directions:
Line cutting board with plastic wrap, put the chicken breasts on the cutting board.  Lay a piece of plastic wrap over them.  Pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin until they are 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick. Take the top layer of plastic wrap off, season the chicken with a little salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. 
Put flour in a shallow dish, season salt, pepper and a little bit of the parsley. Stir with a fork to distribute evenly.

• Heat the oil over medium-high flame in a large skillet. When the oil is nice and hot, place the chicken seasoned side down in the flour, season the 2nd side before turning over.  Dredge the chicken in the flour, shake off excess before placing them in the pan.  Fry for 5 minutes on each side until golden, turning once.(I did this in batches, as to not over crowd the pan.  Once done, place them in a tray in a single layer and kept them in a 200 degree oven to keep warm while I finished the rest)
  Once all the chicken pieces are done, lower the heat to medium,  add the green onions and sun dried tomatoes to the pan. Add 1 tbsp of butter, saute for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until nicely browned, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper and dried parsley. Add the wine and brandy the pan and boil down for a min to cook off the alcohol. Add vegetable stock, simmer for a couple of minutes to reduce the sauce slightly. Stir in the rest of the butter, return the chicken back to the pan and simmer gently for 1 or 2 minutes.   Garnish with the rest of the sliced green onions before serving.
  
  
  

​This is a variation of Chole - a north Indian chickpea dish that is available in most restaurants.  
This recipe serves 8. 

​Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 Cups  cooked chickpeas (if using canned chickpeas - approx 3 cans drained and rinsed)
• 2 Tbsp light cooking oil (I use grapeseed oil)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 large onion, diced small
• ½ cup  crushed tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp ginger, minced
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• ½ to 1 tsp cayenne powder
• ½ cup cilantro chopped
• Salt to taste

 
Directions:
Heat oil in a pan on medium heat.  Add onions, cumin seeds and a pinch of salt.  Stir until onions start to soften and cumin seeds start to slightly darken.  Add garlic, ground, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala and cayenne.  Stir until fragrant.  Add chickpeas, a little water and salt.  Mix well to ensure that the chickpeas are coated with the spices.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes and a little more water to ensure that the spices aren’t sticking to the bottom.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Add the coconut milk, stir and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.  Taste, if more salt needed, this is a good time to add it.   Stir in ½ the cilantro and simmer for 2 more minutes.   Add the rest of the cilantro right before serving. 
I served it on top of Jasmine rice.
 
Enjoy!   

This was a big hit with my family and friends.  
It is sweet, smoky, spicy and tangy.  
This recipe makes 4 servings.   

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 ears fresh corn, shucked, kernels removed (approx. 3 cups fresh corn kernels)
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise or vegan mayo
• 1/3 cup cotija cheese, finely crumbled
• 1/2 cup finely sliced scallion greens
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and stemmed, finely chopped
• 1 to 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced 
• 1 tablespoon fresh juice from 1 lime
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika 
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper   
• salt to taste

Directions: 
Heat oil in a large cast iron pan or non stick pan on high heat. Add corn kernels, season to taste with salt, let corn lightly char on one side before tossing to heat the other side.   Toss corn, stir, and repeat on second side. Continue tossing until you have the desired results. Place corn in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix together mayonnaise, cheese, scallions, garlic cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice and cayenne.  Taste, adjust seasoning with salt and more cayenne pepper, if needed.  Gently fold the dressing in the corn until well combined, transfer to serving dish, top with a little cheese and paprika.  Serve immediately. 
Note: You can grill the corn instead of cooking on stove top.

Modified recipe from bon appetit. 
Makes 4 servings

​Ingredients:
½ cup finely chopped cilantro, reserve a few leaves for plating
1 Jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon honey
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, plus more for drizzling
2 pounds skin-on Halibut
1 ½ pints of cherry and grape tomatoes (yellow and red)  
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300°.
Mix the first 10 ingredients in a small bowl, salt to taste.  
Place the fish in a baking tray (such as cookie sheet) lined with foil for easy cleanup. 
Cut the larger tomatoes in half and leave the small ones whole and scatter around the fish(not on the fish).
Salt and pepper the fish and tomatoes.  Spread 2/3 of the paste along the surface of the fish and on the tomatoes.   
Bake the fish until cooked and tomatoes are soft. About 30 minutes, could be less. (depends on your oven).
To serve, spoon the rest of the paste on to the tray, drizzle a little vinegar  and gently mix it in with the tomatoes and juices. To plate the fish, break off a large piece, place it on the pate, spoon the tomatoes and roasting juices over and around the fish.  Top with cilantro leaves

Made these for my husband on the day before his Knee surgery.  They were a big hit, light and fluffy.  
Will be making them again. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour, sifted
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• ½ tsp. Vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt

 
 
Directions:In a large bowl, whisk together the ricotta, milk, egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and juice until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and gently stir it in to the ricotta mixture with a wooden spoon until just combined. 

In another large bowl, using a whisk, beat the egg whites until  soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the egg whites into the ricotta mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites. 

Preheat a griddle over medium heat. Spray the griddle with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until bubbles form on top and the pancakes are golden underneath, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook for 1 minute more. Repeat with the remaining batter. Makes 12 to 14 pancakes.