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!

An Impatient Evening

Let me tell you a story about what happens when a girl takes on too much on a Tuesday night! I came home from work yesterday and immediately left again for the local Whole Foods. With my list in hand, I entered the store and began to collect my items. Along the way, I ran into a friend, had trouble finding an ingredient, and got side-tracked by the Ben and Jerry's in the freezer aisle. Needless to say, I got home later than expected.

I knew the lamb was going to take awhile to cook...but I took the time to read all three recipes listed for this meal anyway. This meal comes from Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys. The "appetizer" of Savory Baked Eggs in Filo dish looks amazing, but unfortunately, my filo dough was fresh from the freezer section of the grocery store, so there was no way it would thaw in time to use it appropriately! Maybe I can make it for breakfast this weekend or something!

Moving on to the main course of Fragrant Lamb with Prunes and Almonds, I prepped my lamb according to the instructions. I added some thickly sliced onion to a pan with some butter and saffron, and allowed it to stew for the next five minutes. While that was cooking, I gathered the spices that would be added to the pan next! A cinnamon stick, some coriander and cumin seeds, chopped garlic, slivered fresh ginger, some powdered ginger, and a bunch of cayenne pepper! After all of that was incorporated into the onions, I threw some golden raisins and pitted prunes into the mix. I placed the lamb in an oven-safe dish and covered it with the onion mixture. I finally added a cup of tomato puree and poured a bunch of chicken broth on top, covering everything in the pan with the liquid. 

Into the oven it went. Covered with foil...but for how long? I used half the amount of meat so I cut the time in half, assuming that an hour would be long enough. Nope, it wasn't! I upped the temperature from 325 to 350 and gave it another 15 minutes. Was it done yet? Nope...my husband and I were both getting impatient! It was now 8pm, and we were hungry! I raised the temperature by another 25 degrees and gave it another 15 minutes, leaving it uncovered this time, to get a nice browning on the meat. Ok, now we're getting somewhere.

I could have probably let this dish cook for another 1/2 hour, allowing it to reach the fork-tender consistency that the recipe boasts, but the lamb was cooked through, and it already tasted really good (or was I just THAT hungry?). Instead, I removed it from the oven and distributed it to plates for serving. It was a spicy, homey, rustic stew and it was delicious! We may have had to use a knife to cut our lamb, but the heartiness of this dish shone through. I definitely got a feel for the Moroccan cuisine that this recipe was styled after! (I forgot the almond garnish too...eek!)

While we were waiting impatiently for our meal to be completed, I could have focused my energy on the dessert: Blood Oranges and Pomegranate in Orange Flower Water, but the store had no blood oranges. I contemplated replacing the ingredient with regular oranges but the flavor profiles of these two fruits are different, and I didn't think it would make the same impact using plain, old navel oranges. Instead, we finished our meal with ice cream, and that was just fine by us!

Steak and Potatoes...of a sort!

This menu, from Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys by David Tanis, is entitled "Dead-of-Winter Dinner from the Supermarket." Now, wait a minute...it's not winter! I know, I know, but I was intrigued by this menu because of something the author says in the introduction to this group of recipes. David Tanis was upset by the amount of pre-packaged foods and pre-made condiments on the shelves at his local supermarket. "The companies that make all these prepared sauces prey on our fear of cooking, and on the notion that we somehow inherently believe we do not have time to cook." This sentence really struck a chord with me, because that's essentially what I'm trying to counteract with this blog! Anybody can cook from scratch, any night of the week, and this menu is a perfect example of fresh, easy-to-find ingredients being pulled together to make a delicious, well-balanced meal in the span of an hour. I thought this would take me much longer, but it really came together quickly and easily...a weeknight meal that anybody could put together!

First up on the menu, we have Romaine Hearts with Shaved Parmigiano and Lemon Dressing. This was a really simple one to pull together. You can buy romaine hearts in a package of three, at the grocery store. I only used two since there were two of us, chopped off the ends and cut them into large pieces. The dressing consists of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, dijon mustard, a garlic clove smashed to a paste with a bit of salt, and some olive oil. Once everything is whisked together, it can be seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. After tossing the lettuce with the dressing, I added some Parmigiano flakes to the salad and tossed again. This was a really delicious salad, along the lines of a Caeser, but not. It's simple, it uses ingredients that you most likely have lying around the house, and pulls together quickly and easily!

The main course is a Pan-Fried Steak with Steak Sauce. The steaks you buy should be about an inch thick, but the recipe gives a lot of leeway for the reader to decide which kind of steak to purchase. After seasoning them with a bit of salt and pepper, I placed some sliced garlic on top of each steak, coated them with olive oil, rubbed everything into the meat and then allowed everything to sit at room temperature for a little bit. When it was time to cook, I heated a cast iron pan until it was really hot, and then placed the steaks in the pan, after removing the garlic slices. After 3 minutes, I flipped the steaks to find a beautiful sear on the first side. After two more minutes, I transferred the meat to a platter, and poured some beef stock into the pan, de-glazing with a wooden spoon. As the stock thickened, I threw in a few pats of butter and some parsley. This made a really delicious, and HOME-MADE, steak sauce that beats any pre-packaged sauce at the store. And what's even better - you can pronounce everything in it!

While I let the steaks sit with their olive oil and garlic slices, I prepared a Classic Potato Gratin, and put it in the oven. Here's where a mandoline comes in really handy. I quickly, and thinly, sliced 4 russet potatoes, and layered them in a baking pan that I had thickly slatered with some butter. As I completed a layer, I seasoned it with salt and pepper, before starting the next layer. Once all the potatoes were in the baking dish, I poured some heavy cream on top, tilting the pan to and fro a bit to distribute everything evenly. Finely, I dotted the surface with small pieces of butter before placing it in a 375 degree oven. I forgot to cover the pan with foil for the first half hour it was in the oven, but I think it's okay. The potatoes came out creamy, well-seasoned and delicious!

Last but not least, of course, is the dessert! This was a really simple Broiled Pineapple with Rum. All I had to do was cut my pineapple, sprinkle the slices with some brown sugar, and broil them for about 10 minutes. Once the slices were slightly browned, I removed them from the oven and poured some rum on top. With a lighter, I gently lit the rum in order to flambe the pineapple slices. ready to serve! This was a really tropical dessert that was totally simple to make, and it only took 10 minutes! 

This was a really simple meal to put together for a weeknight. I loved the simplicity of the ingredients, and the complexity of the finished flavors. And on top of all that, this menu proves, without a doubt, that we can make home-cooked meals without the use of pre-packaged, pre-made ingredients! Buy fresh, and make your own, because there really is no substitute for homemade!

A Sicilian Dinner : Parts 1 and 2

Tonight, I decided to go with the Sicilan option from the current menu: Sicilian Salad and Pasta "Timballo" with Fresh Ricotta. You may notice that there was a dessert included in the menu, but we were so full after dinner that I decided to save dessert for tomorrow night, and serve it after the leftovers from tonight's meal! Siciliy is a part of Italy, but it might as well be it's own country! Sicily was ruled by many different groups, including the Normans, Arabs, Spanish and French, so their cuisine has influences from many of these conquerors.

The Sicilian Salad is actually something most Sicilians would not think to eat, as they prefer eating their vegetables cooked, but the author of Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys
felt that the mixture of ingredients tasted to him like Sicily itself, and thus, the name of this salad. Thinly sliced fennel and radish, along with scallions, lettuce and arugula is dressed with some lemon juice, smashed garlic and olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Before serving, the salad is tossed with orange rounds and torn mint leaves. It is a very refreshing salad, and even my 4-year old niece was asking for more salad with oranges in it! I'm glad we've got leftovers for tomorrow night!

A "timballo" is a classic Sicilian dish, usually made on special occasions. The recipe I used is a very simplified version, as the original is covered with breadcrumbs or pastry and has the image of a birthday cake after it is unmolded. This was a much looser take on the traditional "timballo" but it was delicious. I made some homemade tomato sauce with garlic cloves, yellow onion and fresh tomatoes that I peeled, seeded and chopped. That's a time consuming task but it's worth it for the taste of tomatoes in their prime. To peel a tomato, you want to boil it in water for 2-3 minutes, and then dunk it in ice water, allowing it to cool. The skin will peel away easily from the meat of the tomato. This hint was not included in the recipe, so I'm glad I had that little trick up my sleeve. It makes things much easier!

I decided to add some proscuitto ribbons to my sauce, for a bit more substance. This is a vegetarian dish, as it is written in the book, but I wanted to alter it a little bit to include meat, and proscuitto seemed like a logical solution. Once my sauce was done, I boiled some "calamari rings." The recipe calls for anelli pasta, which are rings but much thinner. The "calamari rings" pasta that I used were thicker, and multi-colored (and flavored - red being tomato, I think, and green being spinach). Once the pasta was cooked, it was to be tossed with some olive oil, salt, pepper and red chili flakes. Half of the tomato sauce is spooned on to the bottom of a baking pan and mixed gently with half a pound of ricotta. I used part-skim ricotta since I was using a large amount of it. The pasta is poured on top and then topped with the rest of the tomato sauce. Spoonfuls of ricotta blot the top of the baking pan, and then Pecorino cheese is sprinkled on top. After 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven, it's ready to serve, so I sprinkled some basil on top and plated each dish. The "timballo" is very hearty and really tasty! Even though five of us were eating dinner, there's still enough left over for dinner tomorrow night, including the Fried Puffs with Honey (Sfince).

So stay tuned for Part 3 of this menu, which will conclude tomorrow evening. It sounds pretty incredible and I'm looking forward to trying them after what I already know is a delicious meal!