A Week's Worth of Meals

I can hardly believe that it's Thursday evening, and it is the first evening where we didn't have plans after work! It's nice to sit down and have a relaxing dinner, and catch up on some TV. With all this business of being so busy, I didn't have time to share all the wonderful things I made, so I thought I'd do a little week-in-review type post.

On Sunday, the menu called for Rock Shrimp Tempura and Hayashi Stew, both from Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking. I decided to make the tempura because I found rock shrimp at a local winter market, and it's an ingredient that is very hard to find. When I see things like this, I sieze the opportunity to use them in recipes I may not cook otherwise! This was a very cool play on a buffalo chicken type of thing - the shrimp were fried after being tossed in a tempura batter, but half of them were then coated with a chili sauce, while the other half were tossed with a wasabi sauce. The dish was also served with celery and cucumber, dunked in a handmade ranch dressing, a little something to cool the palate between the spicy sauces. I decided to serve it with a very simple Japanese beef stew, and some white rice. We used the tempura as an appetizer while the stew simmered!

On Monday night, we had friends over for dinner and massages. That's right...my vegetarian friends, who I realized, also eat fish! Hooray! I opted for a chapter out of Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys, called How To Fry Fish. Since this was a whole menu of items, it worked out perfectly for an impromptu dinner party. The main course, of course, was a fish fry with a Piquant Tarragon Mayonnaise. With it, I served Salt-Roasted New Potatoes, as well as a Green Bean Salad with Pickled Shallots. As an appetizer, I put out some melon mixed with lime juice and mint. A refreshing starter for this meal!

On Tuesday night, we had our weekly hydrotherapy session for the puppy, to work on building her muscles and save her from the pain of her hip dysplasia. By the time we get home on these nights, it's pretty late, but I had bought some Caribbean-marinated steak tips at that same Winter Market, and whipped up a batch of Lemon and Caper Mashed Potatoes, as well as a Fennel, Red Onion and Parsley  Salad to go along with them. This picture didn't come out great, but nonetheless, there it is!

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner as well, and I opted to make a risotto this time around. You all know how much I love making risotto! This one is from Jamie's Italy and in Italian, is called Risotto con Cipolle Bianche Dolci, Cotechino, e Timo, or Risotto of Sweet White Onions, Cotechino Sausage, and Thyme. It was a really delicious risotto, with a lot of bold, rich flavors. I served it with a simple dish of greens, cooked Italian-style, in some olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice!

And that leads us to this evening! Since I've been cooking up a storm amidst our busy schedule, I decide to make something a bit simpler today. The menu was entitled Sick Day and comes from Tyler Florence's, Dinner at My Place. I made a really simple chicken soup with carrots, onions and celery, but into that I added some store-bought tortellini, as well as some chicken-apple sausage. The original recipe calls for the uncooked sausage to be made into roasted meatballs...but I bought the pre-cooked kind, so I just sliced 'em up and threw them in the soup. It was really yummy, and soothing on a cold winter's night. With it, I served some baguette slices, toasted in the oven, and baked goat cheese seasoned with some black pepper. It was a totally simple and comforting meal!

Ah, a week in review! I hope that you enjoyed it, and I promise to get back on track this weekend. Tomorrow night, I'm going to try a new restaurant with my dear friend, Heidi. Don't worry, I will report back on Saturday! We've also got another chapter from The Professional Chef on the way, and don't forget to comment on the previous post to enter to win a bottle of MonaVie's (M)Mun. There's lots in store for the coming weeks, and I'm very excited to get started on all of it! We're also going to have people over for the Superbowl, so I have some planning to do!!! 

So much food, so little time!

The Carnivore's Dilemma

The Carnivore's Dilemma: This is the title of Tyler Florence's Vegetarian Night menu, in Dinner at My Place. A dilemma it may be, but Chef Florence made it look quite easy. We had some friends over for dinner...yes, you got that right - our vegetarian friends! I got to experiment, once again, with vegetarian cuisine...and this one was a great meal! Artichoke Fritters, Summer Squash Risotto with Crispy Fried Sage and Parmesan, and for dessert, Beet Cakes with Sweet Greek Yogurt.

I started with dessert because I could make the batter, prep it for baking, and throw it in the oven when we sat down to our meal. While the recipe called for diced, red beets, I wasn't quite sure whether I was meant to use cooked, or raw. I bought both, and after some thought, I opted for the already cooked variety, because the 25 minutes that the cake was meant to bake was not time enough to cook raw beets. I'm glad I made that choice! The batter also included flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, allspice, cinnamon, nutmet, pomegranate molasses (I finally found it at the store!), eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and some dark brown sugar. I also mixed up the Greek Yogurt topping, that just included plain, unsweetened yogurt, honey and some vanilla extract. I put the yogurt in the fridge, and while we enjoyed our dinner, the beet cakes rose to the occasion! I really loved this cake! For the small amount of sugar involved in this recipe, the cake was so sweet, and very moist. I loved the small pieces of beet that I got in each bite too. This was a really interesting way to end a meal...and start a post! :)

Once dessert was prepped, I moved on to the main course. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, in order to cook a baking sheet full of zucchini and summer squash, as well as some sliced onion. The list of ingredients also calls for pattypan squash, my favorite kind of squash, but there weren't any at the store this evening. It's not yet the season for pattypans, but don't worry, I'll be using them quite a bit once they show up in stores! I sprinkled thyme leaves over the squash and onions, drizzled all of it with olive oil, and seasoned everything with salt and pepper. Into the oven for 20 minutes they go!

Meanwhile, I fried some sage leaves in a dutch oven with some olive oil until they were cracklin'! While they drained on a paper towel, I added a diced onion to the sage-scented olive oil, and allowed it to cook to translucency. I added the Arborio rice, and allowed it to fry for 2-3 minutes before adding half a bottle of wine. Once the wine had been absorbed, I added vegetable broth, a little at a time, until the rice was cooked through. We've done this before, we know how to cook risotto! :) I finished the risotto off with some butter and parmesan, and then seasoned it to taste with salt and pepper.

While the risotto cooked, I cleaned some artichokes down to the heart, and sliced them. I made a fritter batter, similar to a tempura, with soda water, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, egg yolks, and salt. I dipped each slice of artichoke heart in the batter, and then added it to a pot of hot oil, allowing them to fry until crispy. Now, these were delicious! Next time around, I think I'll leave them in the oil a little longer, allowing them to brown more. The recipe calls for serving them with some malt vinegar, and some Meyer Lemon salt. I did neither of these things because I served them as a side to the risotto, rather than an appetizer course. But, they were delicious. My friend asked me a valid question: can you buy fresh artichoke hearts? I did feel like I was wasting something as I peeled the meaty outer leaves away and put them in the garbage...but, what else could I have done? Does anyone know if there's a place to buy fresh artichoke hearts?

The risotto was extremely flavorful with the use of the vegetable broth. It even lended a richer color to the meal, and I found that the vegetable broth was thicker and richer in texture than other stocks. It was a really hearty meal, and the beet cakes were a wonderful addition to the meal. Another successful vegetarian meal!

A History of Chili

Prime Rib chili, corn pudding with poblanos, and spicy sweet potato chips with blue cheese dip leftovers have overrun my fridge, so we had it again for dinner tonight...and it was just as good as the first time! I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything tasted just as delicious! It's so often that you make something amazing, look forward to leftovers for the next 24 hours and then are stunningly disappointed by the lack of taste and substance left over in your tupperware. I'm so glad this one worked out because I plan on it being lunches for the rest of the week as well! In honor of "chili week" here at my house, I thought I would give a little background on chili as a dish, and where it has come from, as well as what it once was.

In the epilogue to this chapter in Tyler Florence's cookbook, Dinner at My Place, he mentions that this Prime Rib Chili is a Texas-style chili, and Texas-style chili has no beans. He also goes on to explain that Texas-style chili got its start in prisons, where the cooks wanted to try serving something different than bread and water, and so took some cheap cuts of meat, cooked it down until tender with lots of spices, and chili was born. Inmates would rate jails on the quality of their chili, and freed prisoners would even write for the recipe, saying that what they missed most about prison was a great bowl of chili.

Obviously, that's not the first time chili was ever made, but it's where it got it's start in Texas, in the 1860's. Another form of chili that American frontier settlers used was a mixture of dried beef, suet, chili peppers and salt that was formed into large blocks left to dry, that could then be boiled in pots along the trail. I found some really interesting terms in the Wikipedia entry on chili. Apparently, there were women called "chili queens," during the 1880s. These brightly dressed Hispanic women operated around large gathering areas, appearing at dusk to light fires and reheat pre-cooked chili for sale by the bowl to passersby. The first version of a food truck? Maybe! Unfortunately, when the San Antonio health department imposed new sanitation laws that made the "chili queens" adhere to the same laws as indoor restaurants, they disappeared virtually overnight.

from Flickr - by *mewot*

Before World War II, you could find "chili parlors" all over the state, run by families who each claimed to have their own "secret recipe." Dating all the way back to 1904, "chili parlors" were opening outside of Texas, and in fact, as recently as 2005, one of these "chili parlors" is still known to exist on Pine Street in downtown St. Louis.

from Flickr - by armadilo60

The arguments about what ingredients do and don't belong in chili are long and drawn-out but whatever way you like it, it's a hearty meal that warms you on a cold day, fills you up when you are feeling hungry, and makes for great leftovers!

Game Day!

I decided to start this "menu of menus" theme with Tyler Florence's menu, entitled Guys' Game Night, from his cookbook full of menus, Dinner at my Place. It's fitting, since we're watching the Patriots game this afternoon, and then my husband will go play in his hockey league before he comes home to a much needed hearty meal. And hearty this meal will be, with Prime Rib Chili, Corn Pudding with Poblano, and Spicy Sweet Potato Chips with Blue Cheese and Chive Dip. It all sounds so delicous, as I sit here with my tangerine iced tea, contemplating the game plan for this menu, and watching Bill Belichick's game plan put into action on the television!

The key to making an entire menu full of recipes is timing...it's all about timing. It's not complicated, but it's important. Before starting anything in the kitchen, you'll want to sit down, read over all of your recipes and make, what I like to call, a gameplan. We'll talk about this a lot over the next few weeks as we work our way through the current menu posted on this blog. I'm pretty sure this chili is going to last us a few meals so I'm okay with the amount of time it's going to take, for sure (besides, it sounds amazingly delicious!). As I look at all the recipes, it looks as though the chili itself will take about 2.5 - 3 hours. There's a chili powder I need to make for both the chili and the potato chips, so that's something I should do first. The corn pudding looks like it will take about an hour, including prep time, and the potato chips will take 25 minutes. The dip can be made in advance so I'll do that at the beginning as well. I find it best to make the things you can put aside first, because the sense of accomplishment can catapult you into the next step of the process. Taking on a menu is a daunting task if you don't have a gameplan. While the chili cooks, I will work on the rest of the pieces and pull everything together in time for my husband's arrival back at home! Let's get to it, shall we!?

I started prepping for the chili since that was going to take the longest, and by the time I got into the kitchen, I realized I needed to get a move on! I removed the fat from the prime rib and cut it into cubes. After prepping all the other ingredients, I got a pot on the flame with some oil in it, and started searing the beef cubes. Once they were browned nicely, I added diced onion, halved garlic cloves, chopped chipotle, and minced jalapeno to the mix and mixed it all together before stirring in the chili powder mix that I made from a bunch of different spices. The tomato paste goes in next, along with a can of whole tomatoes in their juices. After crushing the tomatoes with the back of my wooden spoon, I added some grated unsweetened chocolate to the mix and the chili is set to cook for the next 2 hours! That leaves my hands, knife and counter space open for the next step - Corn Pudding with Poblano. After the 2 hours were up, it cooked for another 30 minutes after shredding the meat and seasoning with salt and pepper, as well as some corn meal to thicken the chili.

The corn pudding is a very interesting recipe, and after tasting all parts, my favorite part of this menu, actually. I removed the husks from all of the ears of corn and placed them in a pan with some smashed garlic cloves, thyme sprigs and a pint each of whole milk and heavy cream. After bringing it all to a simmer over a low flame, I shut off the heat and covered the mixture, allowing the corn to steep for 15 minutes. At that time, I removed the cobs and cut the kernels off, reserving them for the next step. The mixture gets strained and then placed over a high heat, and the cornmeal gets whisked in until a porridge consistency forms. Again, I removed it from the heat, and folded in the corn kernels, chives, chopped poblano peppers, salt and pepper. One blended, I mixed in 3 egg yolks, one at a time, until I had a batter consistency, and then folded in 3 egg whites that had been beaten until stiff peaks formed. I poured the batter into an 8x8 baking dish and put it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. I put it in when the chili had 30 minute left to cook, and everything was ready together!

While the pudding cooked and the chili simmered, I sliced my sweet potatoes and began to fry them in small, single-layer batches. Once pulled from the hot oil, they drained on some paper towels and while they fried, I mixed up my blue cheese dip. My favorite part of the blue cheese dip was the tablespoon of honey that was added to the mayo, sour cream, blue cheese crumbles and chives. It added an amazing "something" to the taste of the dip, and set it miles apart from others I've tried in the past. Before serving, I dusted the chips with more of the chili powder that I made earlier, as well as some salt and pepper.

Everything in this menu went together so well, and it was a really hearty meal for Sunday Game Day. I have tons of leftovers for dinner tomorrow night, and then a few lunches throughout the week as well. I really enjoyed the corn pudding, and while not all of my sweet potato chips were as crisp as I would have liked, they paired so nicely with the blue cheese dip! The chili had the perfect amount of kick to it and the meat was so tender and rich. I'd say we're off to a good start with this "menu of menus," no? :)

Dinner At My Place

I've finally gone grocery shopping (thank goodness!) and tonight, I made a full menu from my new Tyler Florence cookbook, Dinner At My Place. This book is separated into full 3-course menus for all sorts of occasions. The one I chose this time around is called Workin' Late.

Penne with spicy Italian sausage, cream, tomatoes, and peas

Bibb lettuce with tarragon vinaigrette

Sweet lemon ricotta with mixed berries and biscotti

Yes, I know...that sounds DELICIOUS! This menu had a lot of moving parts but as a whole, it was pretty easy to pull together, and while I chose to do it on a weekend, this could totally work for a weeknight meal! 

The first thing I did was get the salad components together since that was probably the easiest part. Whole Foods had NO tarragon today, but luckily, I had purchased a delicious lemon tarragon dressing the other day, which happened to include all the ingredients that the recipe asked for : dijon mustard, honey, lemon, olive oil, and tarragon. I added some shallots to the dressing and set it aside, so that I could dress my Bibb lettuce right before plating!

Once that was completed, I prepared my mise en place for the main course. I grabbed spicy Italian sausage links, dried penne, extra virgin olive oil, an onion, garlic cloves, a can of crushed tomatoes, basil, kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, heavy whipping cream, blanched peas, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

First things first, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees, and put the sausage links in to cook for 15 minutes. I turned them about half way through, even though the recipe didn't specifically mention it, because I wanted them to be nice and evenly browned. Once those were finished, I sliced them on a diagonal so that each piece had a nice surface area for the sauce to grab on to.

I added two glugs of olive oil to a heavy pot, and heated it. Once warm, I threw in my chopped onions and garlic and allowed them to cook until translucent and fragrant. I added the tomatoes and basil, and allowed that mixture to simmer for 15 minutes. During that time, I was also boiling water for my dried penne.

When the 15 minutes was up, I poured the heavy cream into the sauce and stirred, allowing it to cook until it was rich and creamy. Look how the color changes too! (At this point, I also poured my penne into the boiling water I had going...timing is everything, people!)

I added the sausage, blanched peas, and Parmigiano-Reggiano to my sauce, and stirred, letting it cook a few more minutes to warm everything through evenly. I then set the stove to low, so that it would stay warm while I finished everything up (and waited for Matt to get home from his hockey game!) 

Finally, I put some ricotta, lemon zest and powdered sugar in the food processor and blended it together until fluffy. I hulled and sliced some strawberries, and put them in a pot with some raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. I squeezed the juice of one lemon over the mixed berries, and added a bit of powdered sugar. The acid of the lemon helps to macerate the berries over a low heat, for about 10 minutes.

For plating, I tossed the Bibb lettuce with the dressing and put it on the plates first. I then served a healthy portion of the pasta alongside it, garnished with a few basil leaves and a showering of parmesan. For dessert, I added a few spoonfuls of the lemon ricotta fluffiness to a ramekin and topped it with the macerated berries that I had cooked earlier, and allowed to cool. I stuck an almond biscotti into each ramekin and voila...YUM!