Time: 10-15 minutes

Serves: 8-12 as an appetizer

Inspired by: One of women in my book club, Nancy Beth Garrett, made something very similar to this recently with a pesto sauce from Trader Joes. I couldn’t stop eating it and stuffed myself before dinner!

Ingredients

• 2, 14 oz cans cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained
• Juice from about ½ a lemon
• 1 garlic clove – crushed
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 bunch basil
• 2-4 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Pesto – Wash and dry basil leaves; put into food processor and chop a bit first. Add olive oil, crushed garlic, grated fresh Parmesan and salt. Chop/blend well. Pour the pesto into a bowl or jar to store (you will only use some of it).

Dip – Without cleaning the food processor, add the beans and 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice and pulse chop to your desired consistency OR instead, you can just hand mash this in a bowl. Unlike when I make hummus, for this dip I like the beans to keep some texture and lumps, but you can also make this very smooth and creamy. If you want it to be smooth and creamy, continue the rest of this with the processor. Otherwise, put the mixture so far in a bowl, add 2-3 tablespoons of pesto and mix by hand. Add a little at a time and taste to get it to desired intensity. Add additional pesto oil, salt or lemon juice as desired. Garnish with drops of basil oil, basil leaves or flowers.

Notes: Serve with crackers, pita bread or raw veggies such as celery and carrots.  You can skip a step and purchase your favorite pesto sauce instead of making your own pesto oil.

Wine Suggestions: Yummy with light, crisp whites and aromatic whites such as Grüner Veltliner, Sancerre, Albarino, Verdejo, Chablis or other lightly oaked White Burgundy. Although I’ve heard that Cabernet Sauvignon is a good pairing with Pesto, and I can see how that could be the case, I think the whites are much better matches flavor and weight-wise for this fairly light dip.

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 8

Inspired by: I started making my fiesta couscous with quinoa occasionally because it’s healthier and started thinking that it would be nice to have a savory version of the quinoa as well. I add the below ingredients and loved it! I’ve decided that I prefer quinoa in a savory dish than a sweet one.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quinoa (any color, but I prefer white to red or black)
• 2 ½ cups water (I always use 1 1/4 cup water for 1 cup quinoa)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2-4 teaspoons olive oil
• freshly zested or grated lemon peel from 2 lemons
• juice of those 2 lemons (or more if you love lemon)
• 1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 bunch finely chopped kale or spinach or both (optional – when using kale I usually remove any tough veins)
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)

Preparation:

• Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh sieve – run under cold water until water runs clear.
• Transfer to medium saucepan, add 2 ½ cups water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon olive oil.
• Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer; cook until water is completely absorbed – about 20 minutes.
• While it is cooking, zest and juice two lemons (I like meyer lemons). Add to that 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and the black, white and cayenne peppers.
• Remove from heat and add the above lemon juice/zest/oil/salt and pepper mixture and combine well.
• Add parsley and any other greens, toss well and put the lid back on for another 5 minutes so the greens can wilt.
• Toss again until well combined.
• Season further to taste.

Notes: This is good hot or at room temperature so it’s easy to make ahead for dinner parties. It’s great as a leftover and heated up the next day too.

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4 as side dish

Inspired by: My Armenian grandmother and my mom always made this when I was growing up. The family loved it. We still love it. I believe the only things that have changed in the recipe is that the amount of butter used has probably decreased a bit and I’ve begun using Basmati rice because it’s more flavorful and aromatic than the long grain white rice I grew up with.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup vermicelli noodles broken into 1 inch pieces
• ¾ cup uncooked Basmati rice
• 1 small can organic chicken broth (get regular – not the low salt stuff)
• ¼-1/2 teaspoon salt (optional – depends how salty you like it)

Preparation:

• Melt butter in skillet over medium heat and lightly brown vermicelli noodles (about 5 minutes).
• Combine with all other ingredients and bring to a boil.
• Then remove from heat or keep on a very low simmer for about 20 minutes or until moisture is absorbed and rice is consistency you like.
• Just before serving, you can add just a bit of very hot water or additional chicken broth to make it juicier.

Notes: For making larger quantities and for easier prep for parties, check out my baked rice pilaf recipe. This is great with any meal, but nice to incorporate into a Mediterranean-themed meal such as hummus or baba ganoush as a starter, and served with lemon-herb chicken kabobs and Greek salad.

Wine Suggestions: This is a fabulous enhancement to a meal if you are serving a high acid white wine or a red wine with some tannins because of the salt and butter. For those who enjoy a rich, buttery, California chardonnay – that could be a very complimentary pairing as well.

Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 8

Inspired by: I’ve always loved the ingredients in a Greek salad – in any way, shape or form as long as there is not raw onion (which is fairly common). I especially love it with a lot of crunch (romaine, cucumber, bell peppers),  large chunks of tomato, feta. I also often simplify the dressing to just olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Salad Ingredients:

• Romaine lettuce chopped into easier to eat strips (6-8 large handfuls)
• 1/2 bunch Italian flat leafed parsley – de-stemmed – just keep the leaves
• Additional greens (optional – I prefer to add more green)
• Organic on the vine or cherry tomatoes – chopped into chunks and lightly salted and peppered
• 1/2 English cucumber, or Persian cucumber, sliced lengthwise and then sliced and lightly salted
• A few slices of petite bell peppers (optional)
• 4 oz of feta cheese in 1/2 inch chunks

Dressing Ingredients:

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon tarragon (optional)

Preparation:

• Mix the salad dressing ingredients in a shaker.
• Toss the romaine and parsley in a large salad bowl with about half of the dressing – enough to coat the leaves well.
• Add the rest of the salad ingredients and toss lightly/carefully – adding additional dressing if needed.

Notes: I love this with curry chicken kabobs or with grilled or blackened salmon, blackened chicken, or spicy grilled shrimp.

Wine Suggestions: the vinegar in the dressing often makes wine pairing difficult for salads. Champagne is a great way to go as a first course with a salad, or go with another high-acid white wine such as a White Burgundy. If you serve this as a side dish with spicy chicken or fish, check out those recipes for additional pairing suggestions.

Time: 20-25 minutes

Serves: 6-8 as side dish

Inspiration: Amazing musician and artist in the kitchen, Tony Khalife, exposed me to a few super healthy foods I’d never cooked before, such as kale. He whipped this up one day and I loved it so much I’ve been making it ever since.

Ingredients:

• 1 small white or red onion
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch kale
• 2-4 portabella mushrooms (shitakes work well too)
• 1 small Japanese eggplant (optional – I love the sweetness and texture that this brings to the dish)
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Wash kale and mushrooms.
• Cut the onion in half, and then slice thin.
• In a large skillet or wok, sauté the onion with olive oil until it is caramelized (about 10 minutes).
• Slice the mushrooms and add them to the onions.
• Cut the tough ends off the kale, hold all the leaves together on a cutting board and begin slicing thin strips.
• Add the kale to the skillet once the mushrooms have softened, and cover for about 5 minutes.
• Add salt and pepper to taste – continue cooking – covered or uncovered until done.

Time: 20-25 minutes

Serves: As many as you’d like

Inspiration: Tony Khalife taught me so much about the basic cooking of beautiful foods. He also taught me that sautéing an onion to start off a dish makes the house smell beautiful and rounds out the flavor and texture of many pan-fried vegetable dishes like this one. I love all kinds of mushrooms. I typically do this dish with Shitake mushrooms, per the recipe below, but last night I couldn’t find them and bought Cremini’s instead (photo above).

Ingredients:

• 1 small white or red onion
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• Green beans
• Shitake mushrooms (can do equal parts beans/mushrooms or vary it by your taste)
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Wash mushrooms and green beans and snip off the ends of the beans.
• Cut the onion in half, and then slice thin.
• In a skillet or wok, sauté the onion with olive oil until it is caramelized (about 10 minutes).
• Cook shitakes until they begin to soften.
• Add green beans, salt and pepper to taste, and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes or until the veggies are at your desired firmness. You can also cover them for the first 5 minutes or so to speed up cooking as they will steam a bit.

Notes: If you use Cremini’s or other fast cooking mushrooms instead, add the green beans before the mushrooms. Cook until they are about 5 minutes away from being finished, and then add the mushrooms for the last five minutes or so.

Wine Suggestions: You’ll probably select a wine that goes best with your main course, but if you are considering wines that are most complimentary to green beans, good pairings are Sancerre or Gruner Veltliner. A light, earthy red such as a Red Burgundy is a fabulous pairing with the mushrooms – you might consider that if you go very heavy on the mushrooms and light on the green beans.