And now, how to cut a pineapple in 3 mins or less...

Whew! Time flies when you have a job ;) This week was the first event I was in charge of organizing. It took quite a bit of prep and LOTS of running around, but we pulled it off and people were pleased. This was the first time our resident kitchen savant has done a live cooking demo for a crowd, so we experienced some glitches, but there were no major catastrophes. We did, however, manage to forget a pineapple...luckily it wasn't required for any of the recipes, but he did want to demonstrate how to cut a pineapple in 3 minutes or less.

Of course, anytime we talked about what the chef would be doing during the demo over the last 2 weeks, we always said something about how he'd cut the pineapple. We made special plans for someone to bring his serrated knife and a plate to place it on when it was done. When it came time to cut the pineapple during the show...there was no pineapple. Oh well - lesson learned: triple check lists, even if you checked it twice yourself.

Here are the recipes we used during the demo. They're meant to be heart-healthy so your heart and your sweetheart can have a joyous Valentine's Day.

Enjoy!

Chicken crepes with savory shallot-basil pesto
Ingredients for two:
1 large boneless/skinless chicken breast, sliced very thin
4 shallots, sliced thin
¼ container pesto sauce
½ bunch fresh basil
2 tsp. pine nuts
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ cup nonfat plain yogurt
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté shallots until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside. Sauté sliced chicken breast over high heat until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth to deglaze skillet. Re-introduce cooked shallots and reduce heat to low. Stir in pesto sauce. Keep stirring until the chicken is well-coated. Remove the pan from heat; remove chicken from pan and set aside. Put pine nuts and yogurt in skillet; stir in remaining pesto sauce mixture, still away from direct heat. Place chicken and shallot mixture in crepes; roll crepes. Top with yogurt pesto sauce. Garnish with pine nuts and finely-sliced basil.

Seafood piccata crepes
Ingredients for two:
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. capers, drained and patted dry
1 ½ cups Italian (flat leaf) parsley, divided as follows:
1 cup, finely chopped
½ cup nicely trimmed but not chopped, for garnish
6 ounces baby bay scallops
6 ounces medium raw shrimp
½ cup dry white wine
juice of ½ lemon, plus 2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp. whole grain flour (barley or brown rice flour is a good gluten-free choice)
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large saucepan. Add capers and cook for about 1 ½ minutes, until capers start to crisp. Add shrimp and scallops. After they’ve cooked about 2-3 minutes, add the wine. Turn heat up to high to begin reduction of the wine. After another minute, add the chopped parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture, stirring constantly to avoid any lumps. This will thicken the sauce – only about 15 seconds. Remove from heat. Fill the crepes with the seafood mixture and plate them. Spoon some of the sauce over the crepes. Garnish with some chopped parsley and a few parsley sprigs.

Buckwheat crepes
Ingredients (makes 12 crepes)
1 cup buckwheat flour
2 tbsp. barley flour
1 ¾ cup cold water
2 large eggs
¼ tsp. sea salt

Directions: Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together water and egg. Stir one half of the water-egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until no longer lumpy. Stir in remaining liquid. Set aside for 15 minutes. (You can do the prep to this point ahead of time if you like.) Pour ¼ cup of batter into the center of a crepe pan. Rotate the pan so that the batter creates a thin, even coat on the pan’s surface. Return the pan to medium heat. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until top appears dry. You’ll know when they’re done because they are easy to turn over. Turn and cook until the bottom browns lightly – just another minute or so. Place crepes on a plate, using parchment paper to keep them separate.

Blueberry balsamic reduction with vanilla gelato
Ingredients for two:
½ cup blueberry or black currant balsamic vinegar
½ cup fresh blueberries
a generous scoop of vanilla gelato

Directions: Put the berries and vinegar into a saucepan, over medium heat. Bring it to a slow simmer; let reduce for only about a minute. The reduction will continue from residual heat, so don’t let it get too thick over direct heat. Pour the reduction directly over the vanilla bean gelato and serve.