Older Bolder Life

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Recipe Update: Thai Inspired Celery Salad

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Like most of you, we love to fiddle around with recipes in the kitchen, and we’re constantly tweaking most of our recipes around the edges, just trying to make them a little bit better.

Here’s a great example, our Thai Inspired Celery Salad that I posted back in November. Our buddy Chef Libby in Austin suggested trying it with another dressing (rice wine vinegar, organic toasted sesame oil, crushed red chile flakes, with good salt and pepper). We whipped that up yesterday to accompany a couple of grass-fed ribeyes, and it was delightful.

Never be afraid of fiddling around with a recipe to suit your (or your family’s) palate, or what happens to be in the fridge or pantry today – you might just craft something magical.

Updated recipe options at the link above.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 22 February: Chicken Etouffee

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I’m not Cajun, though at times I wish I was. Cajun and Creole cooking, anchored in Louisiana, has long held a fascination for me ever since I was a kid, eating fresh seafood with my grandparents at their beach house on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Grandmother Mama (pronounced maw maw) wasn’t Cajun either, but she loved gumbo, etouffee, and fricassees, and still made the best I’ve ever tasted.

Though it’s clearly wide open for debate, and the pedantic foodies among us may certainly argue their position below, MaMa made her etouffee’s with a lighter, blonde roux, before smothering the shrimp, fish, or chicken to cook over time. Given her results loving produced over an ancient gas stove at “the Camp”, we’ve always been on the “etouffee has a roux base” side.

One other thought about cajun cooking and roux – we’re now in our fourth year of eating Primal/Paleo around our house, and for that entire time, I’ve struggled making a great roux with gluten free flour replacements. I know it can be done, and I’ve tried five or six options over the years, but especially when making a darker roux, the flavor just doesn’t come together for us unless using the otherwise verboten standard AP flour (which I frankly never use otherwise). (This is, at this particular point in time, our only deviation using one of the standard grain-based products we normally eschew. Life goes on, and so do our health gains; you make the call for your recipe. )

Finally, this is a simple recipe in practice, and can be spiced up a bit with extra seasoning or hot sauce, and when it’s really chilly out, my wife prefers it with a grass-fed beef or chicken andouille sausage throw in too. And it might even be better the next day…

2 tablespoons avocado oil or EVOO
2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tbsp your favorite cajun seasoning OR
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour or gluten free flour replacement
1 large onion, medium dice
1 large green bell pepper, medium dice
1 large red bell pepper, medium dice
4 stalks celery, sliced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 can diced tomatoes with chiles
2-3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Louisiana hot sauce, your favorite to taste

Optional
Andouille sausage
1 bottle beer of choice
1-2 tbsp additional Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon molasses or maple syrup
Fresh parsley, minced or chiffonade when served
Thinly sliced green onions when served

Heat your oil of choice in your trusty Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the seasoned thighs for 3-4 minutes per side, remove to a plate when done.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, melt the butter, then stir in the flour/flour replacement and cook, stirring frequently, until a blonde roux forms. Be sure to scrape up the browned crusted bits and seasonings from the bottom of the DO.

Now stir in the onion, bell peppers, and celery, and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in the garlic and sausage (if using), cook for another two minutes.

Now stir in the beer, then the tomatoes, chicken stock, Worcestershire, bay leaves, hot sauce, and if using them, the additional Cajun seasoning and molasses or maple syrup. Now nestle the chicken thighs in, bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, then simmer for an hour or so. Keep an eye on the liquid level and add a bit more stock if needed.

Finally, pull the chicken thighs, shred the meat, and return the meat to the pot. Adjust the seasonings to taste, and serve hot with the parsley and sliced green onions.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salad Monday: Naomi B’s Greek Salad

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This salad has been part of our family food lexicon for the better part of three decades now, and is still one of our all time favorites in the rotation.

We first had this salad served to us by friends John and Naomi one summer evening, sitting out on their stone patio with a stream running not 15 feet away, with lamb kabobs roasting on the grill nearby. It was a part of one of those magical meals you remember for a long, long time, and we’ve often recreated it at home.

John was a practice partner, mentor, and fly fishing and woodworking compadre for many years; he and I launched the first practice of its kind in Utah back in the day, and spent many an hour grinding it out and developing our systems. John was a true gentleman; quick to laugh, impressively bright, and a great communicator in a relaxed, folksy sort of way.

Naomi and John lived up a little side canyon off the main Ogden Canyon along the Wasatch Front, on a little level bench with a year-round creek running through it; he had an amazing woodworking shop in the old barn on the property.

This salad is great anytime of the year, though when the freshest produce graces your favorite farmers market – or better yet your own garden – it’s outrageously good. By the way, we almost always add more dill and olives, and using a fresh slab of feta (we used a Bulgarian sheep’s milk feta this week) makes it even better.

And as always, you can fiddle and adjust the recipe to suit your (family’s) palate as you wish.

4-5 medium-sized firm-ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges, OR
2 big handfuls of grape tomatoes, various colors
3-5 garden cucumbers, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 green bell peppers, trimmed, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 red bell peppers, trimmed, cut into 1/4-inch slices
6-8 green onions with tops, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
30-40 good Kalamata olives
6 anchovy fillets, drained, rinsed, smashed or chopped
1/2 lb (or more) good feta cheese, crumbled small

The dressing
1/2 cup avocado or EV olive oil
5-6 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup fresh dill, snipped (at least this much, likely more)
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp fresh oregano
1/2 tsp good salt (or more)
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (or more)

This one couldn’t be easier. Prepare and combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl, then toss to combine. Add the crumbled feta last, then toss gently once again.

In a small canning jar (or your favorite shaker) combine the dressing ingredients and shake well until emulsified. Pour over the salad, toss to evenly coat, and taste – you may want more dill or need to adjust the seasonings.

Best served pretty much immediately, though this salad is amazing for 24 hours or more.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salsa Monday: Quick Chipotle Table Salsa

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Friends back home in Montana tease us about having picked up some seemingly bizarre regional food tastes growing up in Texas, but they always enjoy the fresh “table salsas” we often serve with our main meals; in fact, if it’s not on the table, they’re quick to ask about it. (Table salsa is a common term here in Texas, typically referring to a simple, most often tomato or tomatillo-based fresh salsa served at any TexMex joint worth going to.)

We have our favorites, or are otherwise probably serving one of our favorite guacamole recipes, though have been reaching of late for this Quick Chipotle Table Salsa, particularly when serving beef (think braised briskets, chuck roast or chuck roast steaks, and more…).

This one can be finished in 15 minutes while you’re multitasking with other tasks in the kitchen, and you can play with the heat level (more chipotles!) and even add a smidgen of sweet via the molasses (maple syrup or honey would probably work too), though we rarely do.

1-2 tbsp avocado oil
1 medium onion, chopped small
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp good tomato paste
1 can (14.5 ounce) fire-roasted tomatoes, crushed
1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1-2 tsp adobo sauce from the chipotle can
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Optional
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 -3 tsp dark molasses

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; sauté the onion until softened and just beginning to caramelize around the edges. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute or so.

Now add the tomato paste, the chopped chipotle(s), the ancho chile powder if using, and the adobo, stir into the onion mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes until darkened slightly. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, stir to mix well, and simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.

Remove from the heat, let cool for 5 minutes or so, add the vinegar and molasses (if using), then blend until mostly smooth with an immersion blender (or in your trusty blender). Taste for salt and pepper and adjust to your palate.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Sunday: Two Quick Hollandaise Sauce Techniques

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Several friends and clients have been asking lately what method we use to make hollandaise sauce. Hollandaise is not something most of us would eat everyday, though in the Primal, Paleo, and keto worlds, it’s an indulgence that’s packed not only with great flavor but a load of good fats (never forget that good fat are your friend) as well.

For years we’ve been using Kenji L’s method he posted on Serious Eats years ago, and find it just about foolproof. Here’s his video, with his recipe posted here…

Our compadre Chef Libby in Austin shared the following video with me a couple of months ago, and I have to admit, the NO-blender 5 Minute Hollandaise technique has worked wonders for us as well…

There is of course the classic whisk in the butter by hand technique, demonstrated in the first video above, though I can’t imagine ever going back given the consistent and much more simply attained results from these two techniques.

Of note, there’s a fairly wide variance of recommendations as to how many egg yolks one should use per unit of butter (classically one per 2 ounces from most resources that I’ve read lately), though 2 yolks per stick of butter (or even one large) seem to work wonders.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 25 January: Birthday Pot Stickers (Gyoza)

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We’re serving up something a little different for today’s Friday Feast – two links out for Pot Stickers (Gyoza) – and sharing a short story about one of our family’s birthday traditions.

Nearly thirty years ago, as I was finishing up my postdoc medical training, my lovely wife and I interviewed with a team in Albuquerque with our then newborn daughter in tow. The practice opportunity wasn’t a good fit, though we fell in love with the very unique tricultural amalgam that is Albuquerque.

Ironically from a food perspective, one evening our hosts took us to an astoundingly good Japanese restaurant (the name of which for the life of me I can’t recall), where we dined on the uber-specialty of the house – a collection of all the house specialties served on an imposing model ship (6 or 7 feel in length) carried into our dining area by four of the staff.

The ship was endowed with dozens and dozens little nooks and crannies filled with food treasures of all shapes and sizes, including a fascinating and tasty array of gyoza (potstickers). Immediately upon our return to SLC we began a quest to reproduce our favorite pot stickers using a recipe that was tasty, reliable, and efficiently reproducible (as best can be for pot stickers).

It took a few years, and lots of trial, error, and tasting trials, though we finally (in our pre-Primal/Paleo days) settled on this recipe (note the posting date in 2012), which at the insistence of the entire family became our go to birthday meal for most of the past two decades.

Over the past few years as our nutrition plan has become Primally-aligned, we’ve taken to forming the filling mixture (swapping the soy sauce out for tamari and dropping the corn starch) into oblong patties and sautéing, grilling, or roasting them, and wrapping in lettuce leaves (with a great dipping sauce or two of course), which in all honesty, we now find more tasty than the original.

For those who can’t imagine life without a pan-fried or steamed pot sticker or gyoza in a crispy wrapping, try this one (Paleo Potstickers from Nom Nom Paleo). They’re beautiful, though the dough from scratch endeavor is an impressive undertaking – I agree the tortilla press is an absolute game changer here. And I have to admit, Michelle’s wrap dough recipe is the best gluten free alternative we come across.

So today, in honor of our now young adult offspring’s birthday today – yep, they were born on the same day – it’s pot sticker day!

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Green Chile Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

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Having spent a fair amount of our respective childhoods and later married life wandering around the Southwest, particularly New Mexico and Colorado early on, my wife and I developed a genuine love for green chiles, particularly those grown in abundance in New Mexico.

We’ve accumulated a host of recipes over the years featuring those chiles, and often work them into other recipes where you might not expect to find them, like this Green Chile Cauliflower Mac and Cheese inspired casserole.

There are host of similar recipes floating around, and we’ve come to appreciate this one in particular for several reasons. Roasting the cauliflower (instead of microwaving as is commonly done) adds a layer of caramelized flavor (we opt for shorter roasting times to give the cauliflower a bit more tooth), the coconut milk adds just a hint of tropical undertones and a load of healthy fats, and the green chiles bring their magic to the dish.

You can of course vary the cheese to suit you, add bacon (we almost always do), and we’ll even caramelize onions to throw on top too. Try a batch with the chopped pickled jalapenos sprinkled on as well…

8 cups cauliflower, chopped to uniform size (mid-sized head)
2 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

1 cup full-fat coconut milk
6 ounces full fat cream cheese, room temp
1-2 tbsp hot sauce of choice
1-2 tsp Dijon or Creole mustard
1 tsp salt
4-5 ounces mozzarella, grated/shredded
4-5 ounces Monterrey jack, pepper jack, or cheddar cheese, grated/shredded
4-ounce can chopped green chiles, drained
1-2 ounces cheese of choice, grated/shredded, for topping

Optional
Caramelized onions
2-4 slices crispy bacon, crumbled
1-2 tbsp finely chopped chives
Chopped pickled jalapenos

Fire the oven to 425.

Prep the cauliflower, sprinkle with the oil, salt, and pepper, and roast for 15-25 minutes (see above, we like ours with a bit more tooth). Set aside to cool and turn the oven down to 350.

Meanwhile, combine the coconut milk, cream cheese, hot sauce, mustard, and tsp of salt in a medium saucepan; heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat, stir in the green chiles, and set aside.

Once the components have cooled sufficiently to not melt the cheese immediately, combine the roasted cauliflower, the coconut milk mixture, and the 2 larger piles of cheese. Add the bacon if using, and stir to combine.

Spoon the mixture into a glass baking dish (we use and 8×8), cover with foil, and bake for 45-50 minutes until bubbling. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 2 ounces of cheese and the caramelized onions if using, then back into the oven for 10-15 minutes more. You can certainly fire the broiler to melt and brown the additional cheese as well (4-5 minutes).

Let rest for a few minutes before topping with the chives and chopped pickled jalapenos just before serving.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Sunday: Quick Meatza-Pizza Sauce No. 1

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At the risk of sounding a little behind the Primal/Paleo food curve, during the cooler winter weather of late we’ve been enjoying several versions of our favorite meatza creations, leaning toward a nifty Southwestern meatza in fact.

There are a host of nifty meatza – pizza sauces floating around out there, ranging from the no-cook, just stir it together camp to the highbrow, build it from scratch and cook it half the day versions.

Most of the time when I’m sharing meatza – pizza sauce recipes with friends and clients, they want one that tastes good AND doesn’t take a degree in culinary science and hours to prepare.

And most of the time we in our own kitchen lean to the tasty and efficient approach to building great meals, and would argue that when putting together a masterpiece of a meatza, the sauce isn’t the star of the show, but needs to be good enough to win the best supporting actor nomination.

That said, here’s the base recipe for the Quick Meatza-Pizza Sauce No. 1 recipe we’ve been using lately, always with the red pepper flakes mixed in, and using the upper end of the spice ranges indicated.

Finally, note the base recipe description above; you can customize this to your heart’s (and family’s) content – consider adding chopped onion to replace the onion flakes and powder, diced mushrooms (even a bit of crumbled dried mushrooms), chopped olives, tomato pieces, and so on and so forth. Make it your own.

6 ounces tomato paste
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 t salt
1/2-1 tsp dried oregano
1/2-1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp onion powder

Optional: 1/4-1 tsp red pepper flakes

This is another one of those recipes that couldn’t be easier. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stir well to combine, and simmer gently for 30 minutes to meld the flavors. Let cool on the stovetop, then either use immediately, throw in the fridge to hold for up to 5 days, or freeze.

Enjoy.