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!

Mambo Italiano!

We're jumping off the Asian continent for awhile, and heading over to Europe...to my favorite country, Italy! The best part of Italian cuisine is its rusticness. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely fine Italian cuisine that is very delicate and refined, but I just love the big bowl of pasta, the hearty sauces, and the braised and roasted meats...meals that make for a real meal!

The dish I chose for my representation of Italy's cuisine is appropriately from Jamie's Italy. In Italian, Spiedini di Salsiccia e Manzo, means Sausage and Beef Kebabs. They are roasted in the oven, and I opted to serve them over a rich polenta, which is a cornmeal-based porridge-y side dish.

First things first, the meats needed to be marinaded. I cubed my beef, cut up my thick slices of pancetta and cut the Italian sausages into thirds by twisting them and then snipping in between each section. The marinade consisted of sage leaves, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. Once all of those ingredients are mashed up in a mortar and pestle, pour it over the meats and some more sage leaves. That can marinade for 1-3 hours if you have time, but if not, just go ahead with the next step. I made sure to let it marinate for about 3 hours, though.

If you can find rosemary skewers, they are certainly a special treat, but if you can't, you can also use metal or wooden skewers available in most grocery stores. I happened to find rosemary skewers so I was psyched to use them for the added flavor. After you strip the skewers of all the rosemary except for a few fronds at the top (and save it for another recipe), use a knife to kind of whittle away the bark of the skewer, and form a point on the end of each as well.

While my oven was preheating to the highest temperature, I started building my kabobs: pancetta, sage leaf, sausage, beef, and continue that way until your skewer is full. When you've completed either all your skewers, or finished off the marinated meat (whichever comes first), it's time for them to go in the oven. Right before that, turn the oven down to 400 degrees so that as the oven cools, it continues to roast the kabobs.

After 20 minutes, your kabobs should be juicy, fragrant and best of all, ready to eat! You can squeeze some lemon juice on top before serving. I made a quick polenta, loaded with parmesan and a little bit of butter, as a bed for the kabobs. Each bite, with a bit of meat, a bit of sage and a bit of polenta was hearty and decadent. Rustic Italian cuisine at it's best!

Fennel Bulbs and Artichokes

The plan was to make Fennel Risotto with Ricotta and Dried Chili, from Jamie Oliver's, Jamie's Italy, for dinner. The other night, I had to run to Whole Foods, and as I've been known to do, I wandered over to the artichokes...and had to buy more of them. I'm obsessed, I tell ya, obsessed! But, really, I just figured they'd go so perfectly with this specific risotto...and I was right!

I've talked about risotto many times in the past, so I won't regale you with more instructions on making it, but what I like about Jamie Oliver's books is that he takes a basic recipe, only explains it once, and then elaborates upon it in subsequent recipes. So, the recipe I chose had, as an "ingredient," the plain risotto recipe. Cool, right?

I gathered my mise en place for both the plain risotto, as well as the elaboration, and voila!

While I started the soffrito for the basic risotto recipe, I also sauteed some garlic and fennel until they were both soft and sweet. That took about 20 minutes, but it's great to just throw them in a pan, cover them, and forget about it.

Once the risotto was halfway done, I added the fennel mixture to the pot and continued to cook it until it was perfectly done! At that point, I removed it from the heat, added butter, crushed chili pepper, lemon zest, ricotta and parmesan and allowed it all to meld together for a few minutes. I seasoned the risotto with lemon juice, salt and pepper, tasting a few times to assure the correct flavors, and then it was time to plate!

The artichoke was a perfect pairing for this risotto, because it added a meaty quality that was absent from the risotto. It was also a very healthy side dish to an otherwise heavy meal...it balanced so well. Without each other, I would have been left wanting more...but together, it was the perfect meal!

A Stuffed Leg of Lamb

First, let me apologize for not writing last night! I made a delicious meal for some wonderful friends, but we were enjoying each other's company so much that I lost track of time...and before I knew it, it was bedtime! I took pictures as I cooked, and I'm ready to tell you all about it today!

For the last recipe on the current menu, and the last meal of my journey to Jamie's Italy, I made a leg of lamb, stuffed with olives, bread, pinenuts and herbs. I took my time with this since we were planning on eating a bit later in the evening, and I had an adorable little puppy curled around my ankles! :) I gathered some garlic, mixed fresh herbs (parsley, mint, thyme and oregano) pancetta, anchovy fillets, rustic bread, pinenuts, green olives, salt and pepper, a leg of lamb, rosemary, olive oil, potatoes (and some turnips I had in the fridge as well), a sprig of bay leaves and a bottle of pinot noir.



I put a couple of garlic cloves in a food processor to chop them up and then, as they were whirling around in there, I added my mixed greens. Once that was blended, I added pancetta slices and 3 anchovy fillets to the mix. Once that was all blended, I scraped all that into a bowl.



I added my cubes of rustic bread to the food processor next and chopped them until they were breadcrumbs, with some larger chunks mixed in there. I poured that into a bowl with the herb mixture, sliced green olives, and a handful of pinenuts.



And there we have it folks - the stuffing! Next, I went to preparing the lamb leg. The recipe calls for a cut of lamb that has the H-Bone and thigh bone tunnel-boned removed. I just went to the grocery store and got a boneless leg of lamb instead, and used some kitchen twine to tie the leg together once I stuffed it. I opened up the leg and then rolled it back around the stuffing. I tied it all together and tucked some rosemary sprigs underneath by the stuffing. I rubbed the outside of the lamb with olive oil, and some salt and pepper. I also tossed some quartered potatoes, and turnips with olive oil, salt, pepper, bay leaves and the rest of the garlic cloves. Once the potatoes and turnips were in the roasting pan, I pushed them to the sides to make room in the center for the lamb, and placed it in a 400 degree oven for an hour and a half.



According to Jamie, Italians do not eat their lamb rare or pink in the middle like we do, so this will be cooked through, but I promise it is delicious! About a half an hour into the cooking time, douse the dish with a good couple of glugs of red wine. You'll want to do that about every half hour or so, to baste the lamb and add more cooking liquid to the dish.



Once the timer went off, I pulled my roasting pan out of the oven and lifted the lamb to a cutting board to rest for 15 minutes. When it was time to plate, I cut off the twine, and then thinly sliced the lamb and stuffing. I spooned out some potatoes and turnips and then placed a couple of slices of the lamb on each plate!



Pour yourself a glass of the same Pinot you used to baste the lamb and you've got yourself a meal!

This One Took Awhile!

Today, I decided to conquer the challenge of Jamie's Lasagne alla Cacciatora, or "hunter's lasagne." This was quite an endeavor, I found, but nonetheless probably the BEST lasagna I've ever had, so it was totally worth it. Trust me, during the process, I was cursing all the ingredients and thinking, "This better be the best lasagna ever." It was totally worth every second I spent making it, and even though the recipe mentions that it serves 6...this is going to feed us for awhile!

I took pictures a bit differently this time since there were so many moving parts of this recipe. I have a couple of mise en place pictures, for each of the different steps. So, let's get the show on the road!

This afternoon, I roasted a whole chicken to be used in the sauce for the lasagna. There are a bunch of roasted meat recipes in Jamie's Italy, and the hunter's lasagna calls for one to five of them. I opted for just one my first time, but I could have done rabbit, duck, chicken, squab or quail. You can get a whole chicken relatively cheaply at the grocery store, while the others can be a bit pricier. All I needed to roast the chicken was well, the chicken, as well as some bay leaves, some garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon halves.



I rubbed the chicken with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Then, I stuffed the lemon halves, bay leaves and garlic cloves (whole) inside the bird.



I know that's not a very pretty picture, but I wanted to show you how it's done! :) I put the chicken into a 375 degree oven for an hour and a half, basting half way through!



Once the chicken was done, and cooled, I shredded it with my fingers. This became part of the mise en place for the red sauce. Along with more olive oil, more garlic, some rosemary, more bay leaves, and 3 14-oz cans of plum tomatoes, I was ready to start the next step in the process.



I heated a large saucepan with some olive oil and slowly fried the garlic until it was lightly colored and very fragrant. Once the garlic was ready, I threw in the rosemary sprig, bay leaves, and the three cans of tomatoes. I left this to cook gently for 45 minutes, covered.



While the red sauce was cooking, I made my fresh pasta dough and left it to rest for the requisite 30 minutes.



Once the red sauce was close to the 45 minute mark, I started in on the white sauce for the lasagna. This step called for milk, a sprig of parsley, nutmeg, some sliced onion, black peppercorns, butter, flour, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.



I needed two different pots for this step. The milk, parsley, nutmeg, onion, and peppercorns went into one pot, and I then brought it to a gentle boil.



Meanwhile, in the other pot, I was melting down some butter. Once the butter had liquified, I stirred in the flour to make a roux.



While the milk mixture was heating, the timer went off on the 45 minutes for my red sauce. I added the chicken to the sauce and set the timer for another 20 minutes. I also pulled out the bay leaves and rosemary sprig.



And now back to the white sauce! Once it was gently boiling, I strained all the stuff out of it (because all we really wanted was the flavoring for the milk) and slowly poured the milk into the roux, stirring to blend as I poured. This is a slow process so be patient with it - pour a little and then blend it, pour a little and then blend it - it's a bit like risotto!



At some point during all this commotion, I found time to roll out some lasagna noodles. I quickly blanched them by putting them in boiling water for a minute, and then directly into an ice water bath. Once the noodles were done, my red sauce had simmered, and my white sauce was blended, it was time to build the lasagna!

I want to pause here, and say that lasagna does not need to be this much work. You could very well buy dried lasagna noodles, some jarred marinara sauce, and an already cooked rotisserie chicken to make this same meal, but...have you ever known me to take the simple route!?

Okay - back to the task at hand! I layered two of my lasagna noodles in a greased 13x9" pan.



They aren't exactly square but hey, it's more rustic that way. On top of the noodles, I ladled on my red sauce with the chicken in it.



On top of the red sauce, I poured on some of the white sauce, and then sprinkled it with some of the shredded parmesan.



Then, you start all over again, until you've used all the sauce. I ended up with 2 layers of sauce and three layers of noodles (one layer for the top). The pan was full to the brim, nothing else would fit in there if I had tried! Once the last layer of noodle had been placed on top, I poured the remaining white sauce over it, sprinkled with parmesan and some fresh shredded mozzarella. I sprinkled some sage leaves on top and a few drizzles of olive oil, and it was ready to go into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, until it turns golden on top.



I made some Italian-Style Swiss Chard while the lasagna was cooking, and when the time went off, this is what I pulled out of the oven!



This was the best lasagna I've ever had. I'm not sure whether it was the different layers of sauce, or the fresh lasagna noodles, or the touch of fried sage on top, but this ... was ... de-lish-ous! I can't wait to eat it for lunch tomorrow!



I'll be making my next menu this week, so if you have any requests, don't forget to comment on a post to let me know. You can also contact me here, if you would prefer to email your request directly to me.