Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita

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I was chatting again recently with our chef buddy Libby in Austin a couple of weeks ago and the topic of the migration of her catering menu to her fall rotation came up.

She has a boatload of great ideas (always) and is a magician when it comes to putting together innovative and unique menus; her skills are truly a gift and I stand in awe of her ability to pull things together based on what’s fresh in the market and staying diligently attuned to her clientele in Austin.

Much to my surprise, and her’s as well, one of the most requested menus for her fall events is a Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita, referenced by most clients as “one like they serve at Olive Garden”.

I had to admit to Libby that we haven’t set foot in an Olive Garden in over a decade, and she responded by saying it’d been even longer for her. (We both had plenty of exposure years ago to the food industry scuttle that OG cooked very little fresh in their kitchens, and they’ve reportedly had a long history of “issues” in the kitchen from a health standpoint. Nuff said.)

Her Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita has a couple of interesting twists that are ridiculously easy for the home cook to incorporate; after all, who doesn’t like a tender, juicy grilled chicken breast or thigh topped with melted mozzarella and a great pesto?

Living in Austin Libby has a client base that’s tuned in to, and clamors for spicy foods – that’s in part why she and my family resonate so well.

That said, one of her versions of this dish uses a classic Italian seasoning mix (house made of course) with a healthy dose of fresh red pepper flakes thrown in. She tops that with a classic pesto, though she agrees with us that roasting the garlic and pine nuts is essential for a great pesto, and then uses this same tomato/basil/lemon juice relish or topping, the lemon providing a great burst of acidity to the dish. Now and then if good lemons aren’t handy, she’ll use balsamic vinegar as well for the relish.

Her more TexMex version of this recipe features an ancho chile based rub for the chicken with a cilantro pesto – we’ll have that recipe upcoming before too long, as well as recipes for the ancho rub and a great Italian spice mix too.

This recipe comes together quickly, and happens to be one of my wife’s favorite dishes to take to work for a quick lunch these days.

4 boneless chicken breasts
4 chicken thighs
2 tbsp olive or avocado oil
1 tbsp good Italian seasoning mix
1-3 tsp fresh red pepper flakes (optional)
8 slices mozzarella cheese
1/2 to 1 cup fresh basil pesto (try this one)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup basil leaves, chiffonade prep
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Rub the chicken pieces with your oil of choice and dust with the spice mix and red pepper flakes; set aside at room temperature while you fire the grill and complete your prep.

While the grill is preheating, combine the halved tomatoes, basil leaves in chiffonade, the lemon juice, and salt/pepper; set aside.

Now grill the chicken until done, 6-8 minutes per side, topping with a slice of mozzarella during the last couple of minutes. Covering your grill during the cheese melting window will make speed the process.

Pull the chicken, plate it, spoon on your pesto (up to 2-3 tbsp each), and top with the tomato/basil relish.

Enjoy.

Sauce Monday: Our House Pesto (with a Roasted Twist)

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At the risk of posting one of those recipes that just about every curious home cook already has in their repertoire, and probably a family favorite at that, I’ve had several requests of late for an easy, quick, damned tasty, and storable pesto recipe.

There are a ton of great pesto variations and recipes floating around out there, and we tend to lean on a fairly classic approach using really good ingredients – particularly the freshest basil you can get your hands on and a great parmesan cheese.

Several talented mentors in the kitchen, including our compadre Chef Libby in Austin, have taught us over the years that you can up your pesto game with a couple of simple roasting steps for the pine nuts and garlic.

Toasting (roasting) the pine nuts in particular brings out their umami flavors and we think adds a bit of tooth to the texture as well; you can either do in the oven or a pan on the stove (I do in the oven for 7-8 minutes at 300 to lower the risk of burning them, and typically just throw 3 garlic cloves in the pan as well to roast along with the pine nuts).

You certainly don’t have to do this, but you should try it at least once, and you’ll also find the roasted garlic is much more mellow and rounded after the gentle application of a bit of heat.

We usually scarf down a batch of pesto the day it’s made, but if you’re doing a bigger batch, you’ll preserve the basil’s bright green color longer in the fridge if you blanch the leaves for 15-20 seconds in simmering water followed by a dip in an ice-water bath immediately after. Drain well before blitzing, and your pesto will stay bright green in the fridge for days (though we always store ours with a thin layer of good olive oil on top too).

Friday I’m posting a great grilled chicken recipe featuring this pesto….

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, see note above about optional blanching
1/4 cup fresh pine nuts, roasted
2-3 cloves garlic, roasted
1/3 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup good EVOO
1/2 to 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (or to taste)
1/2 tsp good salt (or to taste)
1/4-1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

Roast the pine nuts and garlic if desired; see discussion above.

Blanch the fresh basil leaves if desired, see discussion above.

Combine the basil leaves, roasted garlic (minced if using raw, start with one clove), cheese, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil in your trusty food processor and pulse until the desired smoothness is achieved (we like our pesto with a bit of tooth or texture).

Store in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil on top.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Zucchini Jalapeño Salad

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Now that summer is in full swing for most of the country, or soon will be, it won’t be long before we’ll all be seeing oodles of zucchini at our favorite farmer’s market or grocer.

We’ve been seeing the really good fresh, younger zucchini here in North Texas for several weeks now, and while I’d probably rather slice it thin length-wise and grill it quickly over high heat, my lovely wife is a huge fan of spiralized zucchini salads.

This past week I started fiddling around with several of our favorite salad preps and dressings, and cobbled together this Zucchini Jalapeño Salad with an Asian-inspired dressing featuring the gently sharp acidity of rice vinegar with a healthy splash of toasted sesame oil.

Throw in one or two finely diced red jalapeño or Fresno chiles and some of that delicious chile crisp from last week, and you’ve got a nifty, bright tasting, unique, and healthy as can be side or salad for your next feast with the family.

There’s not much to this one, though note in the recipe below that a little resting time is called for to let these flavors mature. And as always, given the Asian inspiration here on flavors we’ve played with adding a bit of sweetness, though at least around our table, we prefer it without.

No spiralizer? No sweat, just chop into matchsticks and go to it.

2 medium zucchini, trimmed, spiralized or cut into 3-inch matchsticks
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1-2 red jalapeño or Fresno chiles, seeded, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 and 1/2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Optional
1-2 tsp chile crisp (homemade is far better)
Up to 1 tbsp sweetener of choice (see note above)
Toasted sesame seeds as garnish

Prep the zucchini using your method of choice, place in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the 1/2 tsp of kosher salt. Note if spiralizing your zucchini, consider cutting the longer strands into roughly 3-inch long pieces. Let rest 30 minutes or so, drain, and return to the bowl.

In the meantime, combine the prepped chiles and garlic, the rice vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and sweetener of choice if using in a small bowl, whisk to combine. Set aside to let the flavors develop.

After draining the zucchini, stir in the dressing to combine well. Let it rest in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so before serving (could probably go up to 5 or 6 hours), cover if resting longer than 30 minutes.

Stir in the chile crisp right at service and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds if using.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes and More 10 June 2020

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If You Only Read One Article This Week…

If you only read one article out of this list this week, read Training for “The COVID-19” by Dr. Ronesh Sinha.

Other Health (and Other) News You Can Use This Week

Kudos to the Nutrition Coalition for this one…

Single exercise session alters 9,815 blood molecules.

High levels of circulating ketones reduce cardiac inflammation and slow the progression of heart failure.

An unlikely response to the reducing saturated fats argument in an unlikely place.

Interesting thoughts on invoking Hippocrates.

Nice collection of dumbbell workouts.

Friendships matter.

On the road to a seasickness cure.

Ultra-running story: The Porta-Potty Cheat.

Podcast of the Week

Dr. Ron Sinha on the Covesity Pandemic.

Food, Glorious Food

Beer can improve cardiovascular markers?

Butter trumps margarine yet again. One of the “paradoxes” they just won’t let go peacefully away.

Curried roasted sweet potato and cauliflower salad.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Curried Roasted Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Salad

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Like many (if not most) of you, we’ve been looking forward to a turn toward the summer season for a host of reasons this year, given the bizarre journey we’ve all been on for the past three months. Not to mention the simple fact that we all love the fun the summer season brings.

Astrological summer of course doesn’t being for another three weeks, though count me among those who sort of spiritually look at Memorial Day as the advent of summer. During all the time we lived and worked in Montana, as often as not it snowed sometime the last week of May, often in town but almost always in the high country. We’d chuckle at relatives down in Texas complaining of the early advent of summer’s heat, though now that we’re down in North Texas as I write this, with a forecast week of temps pushing 90 or better on the docket, the arrival of summer seems all the more real.

We love the summer (year round really) grilling season around our camp, and are almost always looking for great salads to accompany our favorite proteins off the grill.

I’ve been playing off and on with a roasted sweet potato and cauliflower salad for a few years now; we’ve found several flavor combinations that we resonate with, but I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of roasted and cooled cauliflower from a texture perspective. (Texture matters.)

We have a couple of raw cauliflower salads we often reach for, including this long time family favorite, so recently I stole a page from that recipe and left the cauliflower raw but roasted the sweet potatoes in this Curried Roasted Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Salad, adding in a healthy handful of roasted red peppers, crunchy celery, and red onion, along with a Southwestern themed spice array + good curry.

Leaving the cauliflower raw adds a delightful crunch, as does the celery, and crisp roasting (in a pan) the sweet potatoes adds a bit of caramelization to the equation too. This salad, like any and all you make at home, can be customized to suit your family’s tastes – for instance, in making this batch, my lovely wife had forgotten to grab a red onion on her last shopping excursion, so I just added a sweet onion (Vidalia’s are in!) instead. Next time around, I’ll probably add a tablespoon or two of capers as well….

If your schedule allows, make this an hour or more ahead of time to let the flavors meld, and my clan thinks it’s even better the next day.

1 and 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp good curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne powder

4 cups cauliflower florets, cut into 3/4-inch pieces if needed
2 medium sweet potatoes, trimmed, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 cup roasted red peppers, well-drained, diced
3/4 cup celery, including tender leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, trimmed, julienned
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup avocado oil mayo
1/3 cup full fat Greek yogurt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Garnishes: 2-3 green onions thinly sliced, more chopped cilantro, more diced red pepper

Trim and cut the sweet potatoes to size, then sauté over medium-high in avocado oil until browned and beginning to caramelize around the edges. Set aside to cool.

In a clean, dry small skillet over medium heat, toast the three seeds until fragrant (keep them moving in the pan). Transfer carefully to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Transfer to a small dish with the curry and cayenne powders.

Into a large bowl go the toasted spices, diced peppers, celery, onion, cilantro, lemon zest and juice, mayo, yogurt, salt, and pepper; stir to combine well, then add the potatoes and cauliflower and stir until evenly coated. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper, and curry.

Transfer to a serving bowl if desired and garnish using any and/or all of the garnishes.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes and More 27 May 2020

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Coronavirus and the sun: A Lesson from the 1918 influenza pandemic.

An oldie but a goodie covering the open-air treatment of pandemic influenza.

More on vitamin D and COVID-19 mortality rates.

Other Interesting Non-COVID Reads This Week

The “optimal” oral health diet is low carb they say…

The internal, external, and extended microbiomes of hominins.

Been saying this for months now – video calls won’t cut it forever.

A Podcast Bonanza This Week

Results of Chris Smith’s 90 day farmer’s carry challenge on Mark Bovair’s podcast.

Sisson talks the Ketogenic Diet on Mark Harmon’s podcast.

Dr. Anna Cabeca, DO on keto and women’s health.

Gary Foresman, MD on COVID-19 via the Primal Blueprint podcast.

Dr. Mariza Snyder and Mark Sisson on metabolic makeovers.

Animal Proteins in the News: Good News and a a Couple to Laugh At

During the UK lockdown, meat free product sales dropped.

A swing and a miss from Wired on “rebuilding the meat industry without animals”.

Despite being proven wrong, the anti-meat gang won’t let this go.

Food, Glorious Food

25 keto coffee recipes.

Our take on Tex Mex Migas.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Gochujang Skirt Steak

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As the world begins to wake back up and we move onward toward summer (at least here in the northern hemisphere), perhaps like many of you we’re looking forward to gatherings around the grill with friends and family. Hell bells, we’re only two weeks away from Memorial Day, the more or less official kick-off of the summer season (at least up until this alternative universe year we’ve been living in of late).

Though we’ve lived in the Northern Rockies for most of our married lives, my lovely wife and I both grew up in Texas and have enjoyed the Texas food scene for years, not only its classic roots in barbecue and classic Tex Mex, but also the various fusion variations that have arisen (i.e. the Vietnamese fusion cuisine in Houston and beyond).

That said, we’ve also over the past few years become huge fans of gochujang, the spicy, fermented Korean red pepper paste that’s packed with a peppery, funky umami that’s not blisteringly spicy-hot.

I’ve written about using gochujang here with chicken and we’ve been fiddling with a Gochujang Skirt Steak off and on for a couple of years now, finally settling more or less on this version.

Many would argue skirt steak’s truest, and most delicious, destiny is to be marinated lightly, rubbed with fresh garlic, then quickly grilled to medium-rare, rested, and thinly sliced across the grain to be placed in a taco, along with a spicy salsa, avocado in some form, and any of the dozens and dozens of options that make tacos sing for you.

For most of us in the Primal and Paleo worlds, tacos made from traditional corn and wheat flour aren’t often on the menu (or at all), and I’ve yet to shake hands with an “alternative” tortilla product that didn’t make me longingly wish (or even beg) for the traditional version.

The traditional skirt steak position in culinary history duly noted, sliced skirt makes a powerfully tasty salad topper or as the protein component of your favorite bowl over a nifty cauliflower rice (or whatever).

This one is best with 12-hours or more in the marinade and the ginger grated in, though even a couple of hours in the marinade imparts flavor you’ve probably not enjoyed in your grilled skirt steak (or flank, or London broil) before.

2 pounds skirt steak, trimmed, cut into 4 to 5-inch pieces
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp gochujang
5 tbsp avocado oil (olive oil works as well)
5 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 medium red onion
2 gloves garlic, grated
1 tsp kosher salt
Optional: 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated

Prep and trim the skirt steak, lightly sprinkle with salt.

Combine the gochujang, oil, rice vinegar, grated garlic, and ginger if using in a large resealable bag. Grate the onion using the largest holes on your trusty box grater and add to the mixture. Now add the skirt steak pieces and mash around until well coated. Seal and throw in the fridge overnight.

When ready to cook, fire the grill, and drain the excess marinade from the skirt steak (don’t wipe off the clinging marinade). When the grill is ready, grill for 5-8 minutes (pending your skirt thickness and fire) until lightly charred and cooked to medium-rare. Rest the meat for 10 minutes before slicing thinly against the grain.

When we have an irresistible urge for a taco (hey, we are in Texas) these are unbeatable wrapped in a hot tortilla with some quick-pickled onion, a dollop of additional gochujang, and maybe a slice of firm avocado.

See you at the grill this weekend.

Enjoy.

Quick Monday Read: Low Ketone Readings while in Nutritional Ketosis

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Over the weekend a couple of questions popped up from two former clients who have both successfully been enjoying a ketogenic diet for several months now – the questions had to do with seeing progressively lower ketone readings on their surveillance testing (one serum, one breath).

In the midst of an all hands on deck family issue this weekend limiting my ability to expand in detail today, somewhat fortuitously Mark Sisson’s team, over on Mark’s Daily Apple, had reposted an article addressing the issue they’d written several years back – Why Am I Getting Low Ketone Readings on a Ketogenic Diet?

Sisson’s team covered most of the bases quite adequately, and in most cases where this question arises, from where I sit these days, most often what we’re seeing ketone/fat adaptation and/or the free fatty acid adaptation initially described by Volek and Phinney. And the discussion of whether or not physicians may or may not understand the keto phenomenon in the comments is fairly entertaining as well.

Most importantly, it’s imperative to look at the big picture – how does one feel and perform in day to day function and during workouts, are you where you want to be with regard to body composition, are you still dropping body fat if that’s your intent, are you symptomatic at all with anything resembling the “keto flu”, and how are you performing in aerobic level (vs anaerobic) exercise and activities?

Successfully implementing a nutritional ketosis program has very little is anything to do with readings on your serum or breath analyzer at home, don’t fall for anyone telling you otherwise.