Everyday Dinners | The Humble Onion

Creamy Lemon Cod Piccata

March 4, 2021

I could not be more excited to share this recipe with you all. I can’t believe it took me so long to discover how easy it is to make Piccata (in 15 minutes!) but now that I know I will be making this as often as my cravings hit. And I know they will, because one of our favorite restaurants in the area has halibut piccata on their menu and I have been craving it ever since I tried it on Valentine’s Day. Crispy, buttery fish and lemony sauce with salty capers is such a perfect combination.

As you probably know, Piccata is a sauce that is always a combination of lemon juice and capers, but can be made clear or creamy, and it can be with different proteins. Chicken Piccata is very easy to make, especially if you use thin chicken cutlets which cook quickly. I was craving fish though, and when I saw that my local fish counter carried wild caught cod at half the price of halibut, I decided to make it with cod and it was so good. But any meaty white fish will do.

I wrote this recipe to serve 6 so feel free to scale it back if you are not cooking for an army like I am. But two pounds of cod was the perfect amount to get 6 pieces.

I was seriously so amazed that such a light dredge of flour gave each piece such a perfect golden crust. And even more amazed that once the fish was cooked, the sauce came together so fast. And trust me, you will want to drink this sauce. I made it with white wine too, and the combo of lemon and wine reminded me of one of my favorite recipes on this blog, Chicken Fricassee.

Once the fish are cooked, you just set them aside, and in the pan you add butter and garlic, then the wine, then the chicken broth and cream and capers. To help thicken the sauce, you reserve a little of the broth and whisk in corn starch.

If you are trying to eat less meat for Lent, this dinner is perfect, except for the fact that it is anything but sacrificing to eat this. It tastes like you are at your favorite restaurant (especially when you serve it with perfectly cooked asparagus and mashed potatoes made with a potato ricer for the first time like I did!).

I hope you get to try this dish soon, it is such a classic for a reason. Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Creamy Lemon Cod Piccata

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 lb Cod Fillets cut into 6 pieces

Salt and Pepper, seasoning

1/2 cup Flour of choice

5 tablespoons Butter

2 tablespoon Olive Oil

6 Garlic Cloves, minced

2/3 cup Dry White Wine, optional

2 cup Chicken Broth

4 teaspoons Cornstarch

1/3 cup Lemon Juice

6-8 tablespoons Capers, rinsed and drained

1 cup Heavy Cream

Instructions

Season both sides of the Cod Fillets with salt and pepper. Put flour on a plate and dredge each fillet into the flour, covering both sides.
In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons of the Butter andthe Olive Oil over medium-high heat. Add the cod fillets and sauté for 4 minutes on each side; transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of Butterto the skillet and scrape down the sides. Place the Garlic into the skillet and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute and then pour in the White Wine. Cook until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 3 to 5 more minutes. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the Chicken Broth, all of the Lemon Juice, and Heavy Cream into the skillet, bring to a boil.
Add the Cornstarchto the remaining Chicken Broth and whisk to mix evenly. Pour into the skillet and stir to combine. Once sauce thickens, about 1 more minute of cooking, place the fillets back into the skillet and top with Capers. Garnish with fresh lemon slices.

Recipe adapted from the wonderful one by Aimee Mars

Wild Mushroom Bucatini

June 24, 2020

When I visiting New York City recently, my friends and I ordered a few dishes to share at a very cool eatery called The Smith.

We ordered their Wild Mushroom Bucatini and promptly ordered another one after it came because we wolfed it down, it was so ridiculously good. I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I came up with this recipe. I actually submitted it as one of my recipes for Coastal Design Magazine’s next issue. I was so excited to share it with the world because it might be one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. Sadly, the magazine folded when the quarantine hit. The editor was gracious enough to let me share it here on the blog and the very talented photographer Kindra Clineff sent me this images. So yay you get to have it dear blog readers!

The thing that makes it amazing (besides the butter, garlic and shallots) is the white wine. It is pucker-y and full of umami and makes your mouth sing. It is comfort food yet you feel surprisingly good after eating it.

I love all the salads and grilled meat in the summer but sometimes it’s still nice to fire up your stove and make something that makes you feel like you’re in a restaurant. It comes together surprisingly fast too. If your people like mushrooms, I highly recommend for an at home date night, cooking for one, or – hopefully soon – having dinner guests over.

Hope you are all well and staying sane/safe!

Happy Cooking, xoxo Katie

Wild Mushroom Bucatini

1 pound bucatini pasta, cooked according to package

4 Tablespoons of butter (1/2 stick)

½ cup of shallots, diced

2 garlic cloves, diced

1-1.5 pounds of sliced mushrooms, such as porchini, baby bellas, or any foraged variety

½ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper

1 cup white wine

2 cups chicken broth

½ cup cream

1/2 cup parmesan, grated preferably into course bits with a blender or food processor for texture, plus more for serving

¼ cup finely chopped parsley (optional)

Directions:

In a large pot, boil water for pasta, then cook according to package directions. Take care to salt the water and drizzle a bit of oil in it.

Melt butter in large pan over medium heat. Add shallots, stirring frequently while they sautee for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes, until they’ve released their water and browned a bit. When they are cooked, scrape into a bowl. Add the wine to the pan and let it reduce about 10 minutes over med-low heat. Then add the chicken broth and let it reduce for 10-15 minutes, then add cream and stir. Add mushrooms back to the pan and reheat. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan and parsley if desired. Toss with cooked pasta and serve immediately, with more pepper or parmesan if desired.

Pork Posole

August 29, 2019

We are back in the swing of the school year, and I’ve been scouring my cookbooks and the internet to find new dinner ideas. My criteria has been dishes that are easy, delicious and feed a crowd. And I guess I’ve also been looking for things that are a little different, something we’ve never tasted before.

This Pork Posole checks all the boxes. When you find a dish that has SO much flavor, and is so simple and easy, and is a little bit different than anything you’ve had before, you have to share it. The amazing flavor comes from three things: the salsa verde…

the hominy…it was a little hard to find for me so I bought six cans from Amazon and I am very excited to have the makings for more posole in my pantry. Amazon Prime for lyfe. (Seriously, what did moms of little kids do before it existed?)

…and the addition of 3 cups of tortilla chips at the end. It sounds so weird but then you realize that the corn chips dissolve and when they do, they thicken this dish and add salt and fat that makes you crave more. It’s loaded with veggies that help to balance this decadence though, right?

I was a little worried that the fresh poblano pepper would make it too spicy, but my normally picky nine year old loved this dish along with my big kids.

My six year old did not love it though and ate what we always serve the kids who think something is too spicy: a cheese roll up. This is the name we give a tortilla sprinkled with shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese, rolled up and microwaved for 30 seconds with some avocado. (Just looking out for you mommas out there.)

This dish has got to be one of the best bowls of stew/soup I’ve ever had. I’ve seen a lot of posole recipes around using chicken instead, and you could easily swap the pork for the chicken here. But the pork was so flavorful and satisfying I highly recommend trying it. There are a lot of crock pot versions too, but I think sautéing the veggies adds so much flavor and once you’ve done that you might as well just let it simmer on the stove for 30 minutes.

The salsa verde and the lime make this taste so fresh, but at its heart this is comfort food and perfect for fall. I hope you get to try it and fall in love with it like we did.

Happy Eating,

xoxo Katie

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 1/2 pounds lean, boneless pork loin, 1/2-inch diced

2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)

1/3 cup small-diced poblano pepper

2 Holland yellow or orange bell peppers, seeded and 3/4-inch diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

6 cups good chicken stock, preferably homemade, simmering

1 (12-ounce) jar medium salsa verde

2 (15-ounce) cans white hominy, rinsed and drained

1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups yellow corn tortilla chips, plus extra for serving

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lime wedges, sliced or diced avocado, sliced scallions, sliced radishes, grated Cheddar, and sour cream, for serving

Directions

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a medium (11-inch) pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium-high heat. Add the pork and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer the pork and any liquid to a bowl and set aside. (Don’t worry about crowding the pan here). Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the pot, add the onions, and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the poblano and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, chili powder, and oregano and cook for one minute. Return the pork and its juices to the pot.
Add the chicken stock and salsa verde and bring to a simmer. Stir in the hominy, black beans, corn chips, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 teaspoon salt, depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock and the chips.
To serve, ladle the posole into large soup bowls. Garnish with a squeeze of lime and top with avocado, scallions, radishes, tortilla chips, Cheddar, and sour cream. Serve hot.

Recipe from Ina Garten can be found here on Foodnetwork.com

Sheet Pan Lemon & Herb Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce

August 20, 2019

Hello00 food friends! If you are still reading this blog after the super silent summer here, thank you! I spent the summer being the general manager for a kitchen remodel and general move out due to floors being redone, as well as focusing on my super cute offspring up at our lakehouse (that doubles as a ski house in the winter). I spent a lot of time researching recipes and dreaming about all the food I’ll make this fall in our new kitchen, so I hope there are a lot of good things to come here on The Humble Onion. I want to make all the delicious but easy dinners with new flavors, so if you’re looking for that sort of thing, keep checking back.

If you don’t follow me on Instagram, here’s a picture of our kitchen – we are waiting on new counters and backsplash so I’ll wait until they are done to do a blog post about it but here is a sneak peak:

My first meal in our new kitchen was grass-fed burgers, and it was SUCH a thrill to hear the smoke alarm go off, then turn on our new blower in our hood…and hear the alarm shut right off. Any of you who have lived through this knows how stressful it is to set off your alarm all the time when you’re cooking. (Pro tip: we lived with a shower cap over our smoke alarm for almost a year and it kept it from going off when I cooked.) Also, here is where I remind you you don’t need a gourmet kitchen to make good food. I cooked at our camp kitchen all summer and was just as inspired.

Ok, my second meal was this Sheet Pan Lemon & Herb Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce. I wanted something easy, healthy, but full of flavor and I had been craving salmon. I love Ina Garten’s Roast Salmon with Herbs and had made it before, so I thought I’d make the fish in a similar way, but loaded with the fingerling potatoes, cherry tomatoes on the vine, and asparagus all on the same sheet pans. I was also craving something creamy – and this lemon dill cream sauce couldn’t be easier.

This sauce soaked into all the lemon, olive oil, and tomatoes juices and mashed into the potatoes nicely. Every bite was delicious and kept having to remind myself how easy this dinner was. The best part was it kept well on the stove so my husband and son could load up when they got home from football. Yup, conditioning has started, so goodbye lazy summer dinners and hello taking turns to eat, coordinating rides, and making big dinners for a hungry teenager.

This meal starts with salt and peppering your salmon, then adding lemon juice and olive oil and letting it marinate on the counter while you prep the rest of the food. Then you add herbs…you can add others that you like like parsley or chives.

I made two sheet pans to give the veggies room to cook. I tossed the veggies in olive oil, salt and pepper and then nestled in the filets.

One Note: If you prefer your potatoes crispy, you can cook them on a separate sheet pan, and place in the oven 5-8 minutes before the fish and veggies. I poured the lemon and olive oil marinade over everything which made them soft and able to mash with your fork to pick up all the juices on your plate, which I loved.

Then they roasted for…wait for it…12 minutes. It was super fast, just enough time to pull together the cream sauce. For my littles who don’t like salmon, I did cook a turkey kielbasa and they were thrilled.

The result was a super fast, super yummy dinner. It was seriously easy and restaurant level delicious. The tart acid from the tomato juices mix with the meaty salmon, fresh herbs, and creamy lemon dill sauce, so every bit is fresh and light and full of flavor. The potatoes help make this a stick the ribs comfort food dish.

I can’t wait to make this again, and neither can my husband and big kids. We loved it I hope you do too.

Happy Eating, Katie xoxo

Sheet Pan Lemon & Herb Salmon with Dill Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1 (2- to 2 1/2-pound) skinless salmon fillet

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup good olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (4 scallions)

1/2 cup minced fresh dill

1 pound asparagus spears, trimmed

1 pound fingerling potatoes, cut in half lengthwise

1 quart cherry tomatoes

For the sauce:

1/2 cup creme fraiche

1/2 sour cream

juice of 1 lemon (about 3-4 T)

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the salmon fillet in a non-reactive dish and season it generously with salt and pepper. Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice and drizzle the mixture evenly over the salmon. Let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together the scallions and dill. Scatter the herb mixture over the salmon fillet.

Divid vegetables on two sheet pans, and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper (about 2 T. of olive oil for each sheet pan). Nestle salmon in the middle of the veggies and then place in the oven.

Roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until salmon is almost cooked in the center at the thickest part and the potatoes are soft when you insert a knife and the center of the salmon is firm. Cook 1-2 more minutes if needed.

While it cooks, mix together the dill cream sauce by combining the creme fraiche, sour cream, lemon juice and fresh dill with salt and pepper to taste. Stir and set aside until serving.

Cheeseburger Soup

February 7, 2019

What good is having a food blog if you can’t share the strangest – and yummy and easy – dinner your kids started to love?

I mean, the soup itself has been circulating through the interwebs but the toppings are very strange and VERY satisfying.

Chopped pickles? Shredded lettuce? And YELLOW MUSTARD? And yet, it has all the comfort and flavors of a McDonald’s cheeseburger. I have no idea why I decided to use these toppings, since none of the pics of this soup anywhere do, but the textures and the familiar flavors all combine to make something so fun and delicious.

My oldest son and husband are meat lovers, so I used a whole pound of ground beef in this soup (I actually used two since I doubled the recipe – leftovers are always a good idea.) And my 9-year old loves potatoes so she loved it. And everyone loves Velveta – it’s actually why I used this recipe since it was the only one that called for it. It is amazing but if you’re a hater you can swap other kinds of cheese.

So if you feel like fast food one night but you know you need to make a home cooked meal – try this one! And definitely make some leftovers because it gets better the second day.

Happy Eating!

xoxo Katie

Cheeseburger Soup (printer version here):

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1-3/4 pounds (about 4 cups) cubed peeled potatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 to 4 cups shredded Velveeta processed cheese
1-1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
Toppings: shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, or mustard

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook and crumble beef until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In same saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, ground beef and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly, 3-5 minutes. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook until cheese melts. Remove from heat; blend in sour cream.
Serve with desired toppings

Adapted from Taste of Home

Slow Cooker Sauce Bolognese

November 16, 2018

A few weeks ago, right before I went to meet our farmer in Vermont and pick up our grass fed beef, I was running a 5k and thinking about all the different cuts we were going to get. I was like a kid in a candy store, and I thought to myself what should I make first??

This sauce popped into my head. It is so good, and one I used to make a lot at our ski condo since it is from the very aptly named Ski House Cookbook. I love that it cooks all day in the crock pot and then when you go to make dinner, you just boil a box of pasta.

They even recommend freezing half so it is always ready for you at your condo. I might be at home but I still took their advice, and I’m going to cook it this weekend when my sister comes over for her birthday so we can just catch up and relax.

This dish is a classic for a reason – the wine and the milk do some special alchemy to make this an elevated pasta sauce, and it it sticks to your ribs with not one but two kinds of beef – ground and cubed that are super tender from cooking all day. (If you’re in a pinch you can just used ground beef). And kids love this dish (don’t worry about the wine, all the alcohol evaporates) so it makes for great family dinners.

Definitely taste it for seasoning and add more salt if it needs it! Or just heaping piles of parm like I do.

Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Slow Cooker Sauce Bolognese (printer version here):

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 pound chuck stew meat, cut into ¾ inch pieces

2 small carrots, finely chopped

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 pound ground beef

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ cups dry white wine

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (28-ounce) can crushed or pureed tomatoes

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the cubed meat to the pan in one layer (you will most likely need to do this in batches) and brown it on all sides, about 6 minutes. Transfer the browned beef to the slow cooker. Repeat until all the cubes are browned.
Return to the skillet to medium heat, add the carrots, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the onion and continue cooking until the vegetables are softened, about 4 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook , breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. When the meat is nearly cooked through (but not brown), about 5 minutes, add the garlic and continue cooking for 2 more minutes.
Add the wine and simmer until nearly all of the liquid is evaporated, about 6 minutes. Add the milk and simmer until nearly all of the liquid evaporates, about 4 minutes.
Transfer the ground beef mixture to the cooker and add the salt. Stir in the diced and crushed tomatoes. Cover the slow cooker and set it to low heat for 6 hours.
Stir the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, and serve immediately, or cool, cover and freeze in small containers for up to 1 month. Reheat over medium-low heat until simmering, adding a little water if needed to prevent scorching.

Adapted from The Ski House Cookbook by Tina Anderson and Sarah Pinneo

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