Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Asparagus

Okay you are probably thinking that the title of this post is pretty boring.  Well let me tell you dinner tonight was anything but boning.  My husband had errands to run today so I asked him to do me a favor.  I asked him if he would go to the grocery store while he was out and pick up some ingredients for dinner.  I told him to pick up a protein and then whatever else he wanted.  I would then do my own version of the show Chopped in my kitchen.  If you have never seen this show, it is where they give you a basket with some crazy ingredients and you have to make something from it.

Here is what he brought home:
Chicken Breasts
Leeks
New Potatoes
Sliced Baby Portabella Mushrooms
Asparagus
Limes
Ginger
Blueberries
Figs
As you can see it was a lot of different things.  When it was time to make dinner he said okay it is time, pulled the ingredients from the refrigerator, laid them on the counter and said okay here you go.  I stood back and took each ingredient in and thought, What in the world am I going to do with this?  After thinking for a little bit I started to do some things.  I decided I was going to mash the potatoes and cook the asparagus in water.  Other than that I had no idea.  It took me a little bit of time to finally come up with my game plan as I was thinking and as I had started to cook.  Everything came into place.  As I give the recipes for tonight's dinner I will highlight in bold where the purchased ingredient was used.
Here is what I did:

Sauteed Chicken Breasts
2 split chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/2 inch
bread crumbs
Lime Juice 
Spice Mixture (I used a spice mix called One Spice, it contains: Parsley flakes, pepper, lemon seasoning, garlic, onion powder, spices, sage, thyme, salt, cornstarch, paprika, sugar and canola oil)
Butter
Olive oil
Squeeze lime juice over chicken and make sure that each side of the chicken is coated with lime juice. In a small bowl add some bread crumbs and spice together (add just enough to add flavor, don't over do it).
Dredge the chicken breasts in bread crumb mixture and place on a platter.  In a skillet over medium high heat, heat butter and olive oil. Add chicken, cook on both sides until done.

Mashed New Potatoes
2 New potatoes, cut into small chunks
1 Leek
1 package Portabella mushrooms
Coconut milk
2 Tablespoons butter
Salt and Pepper
Cut the root end off of a leek as well as the top.  Cut the leak in half longways and rinse under water.  The leek has many layers and you want to make sure that all the dirt is gone from each little section.  Dice the leek into small bite sized pieces.  In a skillet heat some butter over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cook until soft and browned.  Transfer to a bowl to keep warm.  Add a teaspoon of butter to the same pan as the mushrooms and add leeks.  Cook leeks until just soft.  Remove from heat and set aside to keep warm.  In a saucepan add potatoes and water.   Place over high heat and cook until tender.  Remove from heat, drain cooked potatoes.  Add cooked potatoes back into pan and set over low heat to remove any excess moisture.  Add butter and mash, add cooked leeks and a small amount of coconut milk.  Continue to mash until smooth and the consistency you want.  Remove to a bowl and stir in cooked mushrooms.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cooked Asparagus
Asparagus, washed and snapped
Butter
Sea Salt (I used a bamboo scented sea salt)
Add asparagus to a pan of water and cook over high heat until asparagus is tender, about 5 minutes.  Remove from water to a dish, add a tablespoon of butter and some sea salt.

Roasted Blueberries and Figs
Blueberries
Figs
Sugar
Ginger, very small piece peeled
Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Rinse and sort blueberries, add to a small roasting pan. Rinse figs.  Remove stem, cut in half and then in half again, add to roasting pan.  Grate ginger over fruit, only add enough to give some flavor, add a small amount of sugar (maybe 1 teaspoon) Stir fruit lightly with a spoon to incorporate everything.  Place pan in oven.  Cook for 5 minutes, stir and cook for 5 minutes more.  It won't take very long to get everything nice and soft.  Remove from pan to a serving dish.  Serve warm.

Grilled Tuna

Tonight we had tuna that we bought yesterday from our local fish market.  It is sushi grade tuna which is great because we like our tuna cooked rare.

I put a Thai sweet red pepper sauce on the tuna before grilling and then brushed it on while it was cooking.

I made a corn relish (or whatever you might like to call it).  It consisted of fresh corn cut off the cob, onion, tomato, cilantro, salt, pepper, and a little white wine vinegar.  This was put on the top of the tuna when it was finished.

I sliced some carrots that I steamed, after they were steamed I added a little butter and a little honey.  The honey adds a nice little sweetness.

I also took red potatoes, sliced them and put them in a foil pouch with butter which was cooked on the grill.  It was a hot day and the more stuff we could cook outside on the grill the cooler the house would remain.

Grilled Swordfish

For this evenings dinner I have chosen swordfish as the main part of the meal.  I knew I wanted to grill it but was trying to figure out what to do with it, so I decided that marinating the fish would be a good start. 

For the marinade:

juice of fresh lime (I may have used a lemon if I had one)

extra virgin olive oil

fresh ground pepper

I also used some Thai basil (I had some that a friend gave me) chopped

Just combine everything and put over fish

Swordfish cooking on the grill

The rest of dinner:

Grilled red new potatoes.  Just wash, slice and place in a foil packet with butter.  Cook on grill for about 20 minutes.  

Foil packet of potatoes

Grilled asparagus.  We use a flat cast iron skillet which we place on the grill to heat up.  Add a little oil and then cool slightly.  We have a lemon pepper oil that we like to use.  We like our asparagus crunchy, so we don't cook it very long.

Asparagus almost ready

 Everything cooking on the grill

The potatoes all done

The finished dinner

One thing I have failed to mention in my previous posts is that we compost all of our vegetable scraps.  We have a NatureMill composter.  It is great because it fits in a small space (we keep ours in the garage and have a compost pail in the kitchen).  What also makes it nice is that you don't have to have a compost pile outside.  The machine is nice because it keeps it warm and makes great dirt, which we then use in the yard.