Record Time

Last night, I cranked out dinner in record time! We had somewhere to go, and we weren't going to eat until late if I didn't get something on the table before we had to go. I had defrosted burgers, but a plain burger on a plain bun wasn't all that appealing to me at the time...so I worked somethin' out!!

I started by throwing some bacon slices into a cast iron pan, allowing them to start cooking while I gathered some other ingredients from around my kitchen! I pulled out a bag of chopped cabbage slaw mix, some very ripe (over-ripe? maybe.) avocados, a shallot, and two rogue slices of provolone cheese that I had left over from the Cubano I made last week. While I was gathering these things, my husband went outside and harvested some arugula from our garden! Okay, that's what I've got. Here's what I made:

I crumbled some of the bacon into the mixture of cabbage slaw and tossed it with a light ranch dressing - instant side dish of flavorful cole slaw! I put the burgers in the pan that I cooked the bacon in, allowing the meat to soak up some of that bacon flavor while it cooked. Meanwhile, I placed the buns under the broiler to toast, and mashed up those "very ripe" avocados with a minced shallot. I used the avocado mixture on each side of the bun, topping it with the burger (topped with melted Provolone), bacon slices and arugula leaves. 

The prep was minimal, the idea was simple, and the outcome was delicious! There's always something to be made with what you've got lying around the house, so put your thinkin' caps on and get cookin'! Dinner was literally on the table in under 15 minutes, and I have to say, I think I even impressed my husband. "Dinner's ready...already???" he yelled from the garden in our backyard. Haha, yup!

Crumbs and Scraps

It's been awhile since last I posted, and I apologize for that. It's been quite hectic around here, both at home and at work. When I finally arrive home at night, I hesitate to look at a computer again - I think I'm starting to show symptoms of internet-glow. I've been working straight through my lunch breaks, and coming home only to find things that need doing around the house. I haven't been food shopping in some time and I'm certainly scraping things together when it comes to dinner, or better yet, calling for takeout!

Last night, I got home late from meeting a friend for drinks and was already starving. I had no patience for a lengthy recipe so I made burgers that I had defrosted from my dwindling collection of meat in the freezer. I used some leftover pita breads, some blue cheese herb mustard, creamy gouda cheese, and some arugula to manage an upscale burger sandwich that I finished on the panini grill for a crispiness that you can't get any other way. Creativity at its finest!

from Flickr - by the_babyladies

Finally, this weekend, I think we have some free time, and I'm going to focus my attentions on a new menu to get us back on track for both cooking, and for health. Takeout isn't the best thing for us, but in a pinch, it is delicious, and always enjoyable. I need to get back in the habits that I had been following so closely though, and the best way to do that is by cooking from scratch.

While it may be snowing outside right now, we are nearing the spring and that means farmers' markets, fresh locally sourced greens and beautiful produce. I can't wait! This is such a strange time of year, it's not winter, it's not spring, it's lighter longer, but we still don't want to hang out with the elements. I can only dream about the days that I can walk down the street and pick out some fresh ingredients that have been recently plucked straight from the ground.

from Flickr - by NatalieMaynor

I'll try and post another chapter of The Professional Chef tomorrow, as we are nearing the part of the book where recipes are incorporated into the lessons, and I'm very much looking forward to that!

Until later, then...there's Indian food on it's way!

Autumn is here!

Well, it's been a busy week. I've worked overtime in the office, rushed around in the evenings, and also celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary last night! There's been little time for cooking and so we've been surviving off of leftovers and of course, my go-to, chicken breasts over arugula with lemon juice. Yummy! Autumn is definitely upon us, with cooler days, much cooler nights, and evenings that become dark much earlier. With Autumn comes different vegetables in season and heartier, heart-warming meals!

from Flicker - by bluebird218

It's time for a new menu...I know, we never got to visit Germany on our little culinary world tour. I couldn't find veal cutlets anywhere, so the Weiner Schnitzel went out the window. Next time I see them at the store, I'll be all over them, and we'll revisit that one. This weekend, I will work on that new menu, as well as hopefully get to the store for a little grocery shopping. I'm looking forward to soups, stews, and the re-appearance of parsnips, turnips and celeriac as stars of the dinner table.

What do you look forward to in the Autumn months? What would you like to see on the next menu? Leave me a comment and let me know - I know my husband has made a request for another batch of delicious Bi Bim Bap this time around, so I'm already on the right track to a full, delicious and hearty menu! I hope you all have a good weekend, and to all....a good night!

Truffle-Scented

La Tourangelle is a wonderful company that makes a line of sophisticated, gourmet oils. I have numerous bottles in my pantry, including walnut and hazelnut oil, both wonderful for making seasonal salad dressings. However, my favorite in their collection has to be the Black Truffle Oil. Even better, our friends at FoodSherpa are going to be offering a special deal on this wonderful oil on September 14th! Keep your eye on their site for the sale!

I decided to get creative again this evening, and yet again, not a cookbook cracked. The second recipe in my would-be cookbook? Hmm...it's all coming together, isn't it? I decided that I liked the idea of concocting some sweet potato gnocchi, and incorporating the truffle oil into the recipe. To make truffle-scented sweet potato gnocchi, I slowly added the oil at different steps of the process to build on the flavor without becoming overbearing. While cooking the potatoes, I added a bit to the water. When I mixed the dough for the gnocchi, I added a bit more oil. I've made gnocchi before, so I won't go into detail, but I had to use more flour than I normally do because the consistency of a sweet potato is a bit less starchy. The dough became a bit goopy until I worked extra flour in, but it all came together. Like any dough, you just keep adding flour if its sticky, and water if its dry until you get the right consistency. If you don't want to make your own gnocchi, I happened to see sweet potato gnocchi for sale in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods the other day!

Once the gnocchi was made, I boiled some water to cook it. While I was waiting for the "watched pot," I  added a stick of butter to a large saute pan, and a few sprigs of sage. I was going to make a sage butter to saute my gnocchi in once they were boiled. After the butter was melted, and had simmered for a few minutes, the aroma became very sage-y. At this point, I added some sliced sausage to the pan and allowed it to fry a bit in the butter. I had pre-cooked the sausages separately, pulled them off the heat before they were fully cooked, and allowed them to rest and cook the rest of the way. That way, they were still really nice and moist when I sliced them and added them back to the heat. I pulled the sage sprigs out at this point.

Once the gnocchi was all boiled, I added it to the sage butter and sausage and allowed all the flavors to meld and heat together. I poured just a dash more truffle oil in the pan and threw a large handful of arugula on top, as well as some chopped sage. After tossing things together, the arugula quickly began to wilt and I seasoned the meal with salt and pepper. Right before serving, toss the dish with a good heaping spoonful of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Plate and add a touch more Parmigiano (because you can never have too much!)

To recap, all you'll need is some salt and pepper, sage sprigs, a stick of butter, a handful of arugula, Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of nice quality sausage links, sweet potato gnocchi (truffle-scented, if you make it from scratch) and of course, TRUFFLE OIL! The oil really took this dish from delicious to decadent. Each ingredient added it's own bit of flavor to the dish and everything melded together really nicely. The sage added an earthiness, the arugula added some peppery bite, the sausage added some heartiness and the oil, well...the oil added decadence. I can't stress this enough...Definitely...try this at home!

Dante!

I had a lovely time with some of my favorite ladies last night! We went out to dinner at a local establishment in the Cambridge area, called Dante. Chef Dante de Magistris's sister restaurant, Il Casale, is in Belmont, and I've been to that one...so I had to try Dante as well. I like them both very much.

We started our evening with a round of cocktails. I had checked out the menu ahead of time, as I always do, and knew exactly which one I wanted. It was called Zecca, and it had lemongrass, apple, vodka and mint. It was a lovely, smooth drink and it wasn't at all too sweet, as you'd think it might be with the apple. The bite of the vodka and the savoriness of the lemongrass flavor really balanced everything out perfectly. (apologies for the pictures - I didn't want to use my flash and disturb the diners around us, so we'll work with what we've got here)

Zecca

We started off with a few sfizi, an Italian version of tapas, or small plates for sharing. At only $5 each, we were able to order a bunch of them without feeling as though we were driving up the bill! We opted for four of them. The Cotechino is a rich sausage, cooked under ash, served with charred fennel. What was so interesting about this dish is that you could smell the ash as soon as the plate was placed on the table, but you didn't get the ashy taste when you took a bite. It was a very interesting use of the senses, to be smelling one thing, and tasting quite another.  The Arancini is a porcini risotto, scamorza, and truffle honey ball that is then fried to perfection. Upon seeing them, I thought they looked a bit over-fried, but I was wrong...they were perfect! The risotto was wonderful and creamy and the middle just oozed with the scamorza, a cheese similar to mozzarella. The Burrata is a buttery "mozzerella" from Apulia, Sicilian oregano and pistacios. If you've never had burrata, you should...because comparing it to mozzarella does it NO justice...it's an incredibly creamy, buttery, deliciousness that just cannot be compared to. :) Lastly, we got the Mascarpone, which is a whipped, roasted hot pepper and mascarpone dip, with baby carrots, fennel and crostini. I think this one was my favorite. It was so delicious, and the baby carrots and radishes were crunchy and amazing. But the fennel...the fennel went so well with the flavors of the dip...I had a hard time when that plate was empty!

Cotechino

Arancini

Burrata

Mascarpone

We ordered two salads, to share between the three of us. The Rughetta is made up of baby arugula, endive, pear mostarda, Pecorino Romano, olio nuovo, and lemon. It was extremely simple, but very flavorful and my favorite of the two salads. The other one is not on the menu online, and I can't remember the exact name of it, but it was heirloom tomatoes, with mozzarella and zucchini blossoms, drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It was extremely tasty, especially since now is the perfect season for those heirloom tomatoes. I just have a soft spot for anything with arugula.

Rughetta

Heirloom Tomatoes

For my entree, I had a small portion of the Gnocchi, made in-house, and tossed with gorgonzola dolce and roasted peaches. (This isn't the one that is on the online menu.) This is an incredible dish! I was so intrigued by the combination of gorgonzola, peaches, and the potato dumplings that I just had to try it and I am so glad that I did. It was the perfect size too! It was a very rich dish so I was happy not to have a ton of it in front of me. I was so satisfied when the plate was cleared.

Gnocchi

We opted for one dessert because we all just needed to finish the meal off with a bite of something sweet. It was very difficult to decide but we finally came to the conclusion that the Fritelle sounded the best. It is Venetian-style fried dough served with four sauces: caramel, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla-ginger. The Vanilla-Ginger sauce made this dish what it was ... I actually could have done without the other three. It was the most unique of the sauces, and went so well with the gooey richness of the hot dough. 

This was...Fritelle.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Dante, and I will certainly go back! It wasn't overly expensive, it has a lovely atmosphere, and the servers are super-friendly and fun to interact with! It's casual in a fine-dining setting, and I loved every second of it!

Farm Fresh Produce in the House!

The CSA share from Harvest Delivery arrived this evening! I thoroughly enjoyed unpacking the box full of goodies, since I had no idea what would be arriving in the delivery! The gentleman who delivered this wonderful package was named Ed, and he was very friendly and sunny! He told me a bit more about the CSA shares and how their deliveries work. They have a very cool (no pun intended - ha!) system that involves an insulated cool box that stores your deliveries until you arrive home from work and unlock the box to retrieve your fresh produce.

Look at all that beautiful fresh produce that I was lucky enough to receive! So, let's take a short inventory, shall we? We have two bunches of crispy, bright radishes and a giant bunch of fresh beets, with the greens attached! Radish greens and beet greens can be used in recipes separate from their root counterparts too, so I'm going to try and make the most of these bunches! We've also got some summer squashes, and some cute little cucumbers. The bunch of scallions are enormous - I've never seen scallions that big! We have a carton of deliciously sweet blueberries, and a half-dozen farm fresh eggs as well!

There are two huge heads of different lettuces that will make us salads for a week and a half! We've got a gorgeous bouquet of swiss chard, as well as a giant bunch of basil!  Since basil goes bad fairly quickly, I think I might use that first and make some pesto sauce for a pasta dish for tomorrow night's dinner. There's also a bag of delicious, peppery arugula which I can't wait to eat! I had to try a leaf, just to TASTE it ... and OH...so good! Lastly, I got two little heads of a strongly flavored green, but I'm not completely sure what it is - I think it's baby bok choy.

So, let's see, so far, I'm thinkin' pesto sauce...which isn't exactly the most creative use of basil, but when you have a lot of it, and want to use it all before it goes bad, it's the best way to go! I'm also thinking of some sort of curry, using those summer squash, since I also took a little trip to Penzey's Spices today. I picked up quite a few Indian spices, even though they weren't on my list of refills. Sometimes you see things, and you just think..."yes, I will be able to use that for something in the very near future." We'll be having lots of salads to use those two giant heads of lettuce, and I love the crunch of crispy radishes sliced in salads as well! I think I'll stop by the farmer's market booth that sells locally-made goat cheese, for a nice big salad full of greens, feta and some roasted beets as well! And I think...maybe a pasta carbonara with the addition of some wilted swiss chard. Sound good!?

Join me as I work my way through this CSA share...I love a new adventure and this one is exciting! Next up: I'll teach you how to make pesto sauce!

Bina Osteria

Restaurant Week here in Boston is quickly coming to a close, so I'm going to take full advantage over the next few days! Today for lunch, two of my friends/co-workers and I are going to try Bina Osteria. None of us have been there before today, and we all found the menu to be very inspired.

There were quite a few choices for our first courses...decisions, decisions! My top choices were probably the Little Lamb Meatballs with Goat Cheese Fondue, the Sea Urchin Warmed in Olive Oil, Preserved Lemon and Lardo, or the Warm Mushroom Confit. How do you even begin to decide between such tempting options!?!? Turns out, I didn't have to! We all shared! The sea urchin toasts with lardo were decadent, and I'm glad we shared! The hint of ocean that I got from each bite was very refreshing. As for the lamb meatballs, they came in a delicious tomato sauce which blended so nicely with the bite that the goat cheese flavor offers. Both the meatballs and the mushrooms came in these adorable little warming pots. The mushrooms were very comforting and warm, with a lovely forest-y flavor to them.

For the entree, we had our choice of four different options. Again, we all ordered different things so we got to try almost everything there. The Grilled Shrimp Salad with arugula, citrus, green olives and shaved red onion was very tasty. The shrimp were grilled to perfection and the little pieces of pink grapefruit made my day. I love when unexpected ingredients show up in a dish that would otherwise seem mundane.

As for the Shaved Porchetta Sandwich with grilled red onion, provolone and hot peppers, it was kind of like a different take on a Cubano. There was arugula on the sandwich as well and it offered a great peppery flavor for the pork and mild provolone. The hot peppers were an added bonus! The bread was crispy but not crumbly and was easy to eat. I have a pet peeve about sandwiches that you can't bite into easily. This one was great!

Finally, the Spaghetti with Tomato, Basil and Parmigiano Reggiano - FRESH PASTA! Need I say more!? We asked before ordering and the waitress assured us that all their pasta is made in-house, and was it ever! It was very flavorful and deliciously al dente. It was a nice helping as well, and topped with some fresh Parmigiano. It was an excellent bowl of comfort food on this cold and rainy day.

We had a lovely lunch at Bina Osteria today.We decided to go with the 2-course for our lunch since we had to get back to work. I also had dinner plans this evening, so I didn't want to go overboard on the desserts at all, and I knew I'd be getting one at Radius. This was a lovely break to an otherwise stressful day!

A Little Birdie Told Me...

Tonight, my quails are defrosted and ready to go, so it's time to make Quail with a Spiced Honey Dressing, from Gordon Ramsay's In The Heat of the Kitchen. We're going to use an interesting poached-grilled technique in this recipe, which I've never tried before! The quails will be served on a bed of sauteed potatoes and arugula leaves. I'm looking forward to this!

First thing to do is our mise en place:

The quails are trussed with toothpicks through their legs, to secure them for cooking...ya know, so they don't flail around in there! :) Now, my first step is to get 4 cups of chicken broth boiling with a few thyme sprigs thrown in. I seem to have used all of my fresh thyme, so I threw in some dried stuff instead...it's not ideal, but it works in this case.

It'd look prettier if I had those fresh thyme sprigs!

While I was waiting for the broth to boil, I put some sliced potatoes in a cast iron pan, with some olive oil as well as some salt and pepper. It takes some time to saute potatoes until browned so it's best to start them right away. This recipe doesn't take very long, so putting the potatoes on was one of my first priorities.

Once the broth was boiling, I added the trussed quails to the pot. You only want to cook them for a couple of minutes once the broth is simmering again. After that couple of minutes was up, I pulled them out of the pot with some tongs and patted them dry with some paper towels.

Now that the poaching part of the process is done, it's time to grill them! I put some cooking spray all over a grill pan and placed it on the heat to get warm. While it was heating up, I stuffed each quail with a rosemary sprig and some strips of sliced lime zest. I seasoned each quail with salt and pepper and brushed them with some olive oil.

Now, that's a compromising position!

Meanwhile, I've whisked together a sauce of honey, soy sauce, coarse grain mustard, dijon mustard (I replaced the Dijon mustard with a delicious Champagne Shallot Mustard from Stonewall Kitchen) and roasted sesame oil. I placed the stuffed, poached quails in the grill pan and proceeded to turn them quite often for the next 10 minutes (I think I could have done with a minute or two less, to be honest).

Once the quails were done grilling, I transferred them to a dish. I poured my sauce over and tossed them in the dressing until they were nicely coated. At this point, I let them marinate for about 5 minutes.

After that 5 minutes was up, I plated the potatoes and sprinkled some arugula leaves on top. They started to wilt with the heat of the potatoes, and I used a pair of tongs to place the quails on top. I then drizzled some of the extra sauce on top! Check that out!

All in all, that's about 20 minute of hands-on cooking time. Not bad for a weeknight meal!

Simple and Quick

Here I am, spending some quality time in Vermont with my dear friends Sarah and Matt, and their adorable daughter Finn. At the same time, I didn't want to leave you guys for two whole days with no posts, so I thought I would leave you with something very simple and quick. A meal that can feed one...or two...or six! And it's even great for a last minute entertaining option! It's tasty, it's healthy, and the best part, it only calls for six ingredients! Crazy, right!?

From Flickr - by helloimwes

So, take a chicken breast. You want to pound that chicken breast out until it's about 1/4 inch in thickness. If you don't have a meat tenderizer at home, that's okay. You can also use the bottom of a heavy pan, or a rolling pin to do the job. Make sure that the chicken breast is evenly tenderized though...otherwise it won't cook evenly.

Once it's pounded down to a 1/4 inch thick, it's going to take up a good amount of space, so I usually cook one at a time. Season both sides of the flattened chicken breast with generous sprinkles of salt and pepper. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet and add one chicken breast. Cook them for about 4 minutes on either side...you will most likely not need any longer than that since the meat is fairly thin and will cook through quite quickly.

From Flickr - by nataliecreates

While the chicken is cooking, start assembling your plates. Place generous handfuls of arugula (a peppery type of lettuce) on each plate and sprinkle the leaves with lemon juice. Place a chicken breast on top of each plate of arugula and sprinkle with a bit more lemon juice. Voila - a healthy, beautifully-plated meal that is perfectly acceptable for company. Serve your friends a lovely glass of white wine to accompany this delicious meal!