I haven't stopped cooking...

The last month-6 weeks have been anything but normal, but I think things are finally calming down.

Maybe.  I hope.

We are having a date night tonight.  I know it's Monday, but sometimes that's the way it has to be.

So I am making  Pasta with Fried Eggs, Caramelized Onions, and Bacon. 

Basically it's a pasta carbonara dish.  I'm not sure whether I'll put the spinach in the dish (as the recipe prescribes) or whether I'll serve the spinach as a salad.  At first I thought salad (hubby claims he doesn't like cooked spinach), but all of the ingredients for a classic spinach salad (bacon, eggs) are IN the pasta dish.  Josh will just have to broaden his spinach horizons.

I will be making a small pizza for our appetizer.  Italian cheeses, garlic and tomato and basil from my "jungle."  Josh will be making the cocktails.

Dessert is still up in the air. I'll take suggestions.

That's all I have for now.  I do have other meals (okay, all of them) planned for this week.  Maybe I'll share them.  :-)

For now, though, I'm done.

happy cooking

Crazy in the Head

I must be.  At least a little.

It's been roughly 227 million degrees outside, and what do I do?  I entertain.

Monday I had some very old friends over.  Not that they are old, just long time friends.

I made burgers.  One of my guests asked me if this was my secret recipe.  Some secret...salt, pepper and ground sirloin.  I will say that you should buy the best ground beef you can.  That doesn't always have to mean the most expensive.  There's a brew pub near us that offers burgers from ground filet mignon.  That seems a little excessive, not to mention expensive, for a home cook.

On Sunday we are having the speaker and his wife for lunch.  Fajita salads are the menu.  I like this because I can make my salsa and guac on Saturday as well as prep the veggies.  In fact, now that I am writing this out, I can make the marinade on Saturday too.  Woohoo!  First thing Sunday morning I need to get the veggies and the chicken in the marinade. (Not together, mind you, as that would be cross contaminating the veggies with the raw chicken.  I like these people, I don't want to make them ill!)  I love it when a plan comes together.

Here is the fajita recipe.  I will use chicken instead of skirt steak, because even my beef lovin' husband prefers chicken.  Also, as previously mentioned, we'll be eating these as salads.

 Ingredients

• 2 skirt steaks (about 1 1/2 pounds each)
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons minced jalapeño pepper
• 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Cut the steak crosswise into 2 to 4 pieces and place in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; pour over the steak, turning it to coat well. Marinate overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, turning once or twice. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.

2. Preheat the broiler. Remove the steak from the marinade, scrape off any bits and place on a baking sheet. Broil 4 inches from heat source for 3 minutes per side for medium-rare meat. Let rest 10 to 15 minutes. Slice the meat thinly. (For easy eating, the steak strips should be 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick.) To assemble fajitas, click here .

So I mentioned making my salsa and guac.  It's been a long time since I've made salsa.  Here's my plan.  Notice that I'm not sharing a recipe because, well, I don't exactly have one.  My plan is to halve or quarter my grape tomatoes and spin them in my salad spinner.  I've heard that this pulls out the seeds and any excess juice.  I'll let you know how this turns out.

I have Vidalia (sweet) and Spanish onions.  I'll use a combo of the two in my salsa along with jalapeno, cilantro, cumin and chili powder.  I mix salsa into my mashed avocados with a little bit of sour cream.

For desserts for both occasions, I made (will make) Martha Stewart's Key Lime Tart.

Ingredients

• 9 to 10 graham crackers (each 2 1/2 by 5 inches)
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 4 to 6 limes), or fresh or bottled key-lime juice
• 4 large egg yolks
• Pinch salt
• Slivered lime zest, for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process graham crackers and 2 tablespoons sugar in a food processor until fine crumbs form; add butter. Process until combined. Transfer mixture to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom; pat into bottom and up sides. Place pan on a baking sheet, and bake until crust is fragrant and slightly colored, about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, lime juice, egg yolks, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and salt; whisk until smooth. Pour mixture into crust (warm or cool is fine), leaving 1/8 inch at the top; return to oven. Bake until filling is set around edge but still slightly loose in center, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Cool completely at room temperature; then refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. Serve, garnished with zest, if desired.

Only change that I make is that I add the zest of 2 limes.  Really, the zest is where all the flavor in any citrus fruit lives.

This concludes my cooking for the week.  Date nights have been sparse.  Crazy work schedule for hubby.

Tonight we'll be having either sammies (roast chicken) or hot dogs.  How 'bout you?

happy cooking! 

The past weekend's cooking....

We had a Bethel speaker over the weekend and thus we had congregation hospitality.  I was asked to bring a dessert, and after much deliberation, I decided to make my Flourless Chocolate Cake.  Okay, it's not MY flourless chocolate cake...it's America's Test Kitchen's recipe.  It is however becoming "MY" FCC--at least at the congregation level.  I've stopped sharing the recipe. And for that reason, I'm not sharing it here, either.  (That's not really the reason...ATK makes it incredibly difficult to cut and paste their recipes and I don't really feel like tying it.)

I will share the ingredients, though.  It is truly a decadent  cake:

1 pound chocolate--bittersweet to semisweet (I use Ghiradelli and I go half and half)
2 sticks of unsalted butter
8 eggs (beaten in a stand mixer for 5 minutes)
1/4 cup strong coffee (I use decaf...the first time I made it I used leftover from my morning coffee and was awake for half the night)

Now I know that if you do any baking you will be able to recreate this cake.  I'll give you one more hint (okay 2 really)--you make it in a spring form pan, bake it at 325  for 20-25 minutes (the center will still look wet but the edges will look more like a brownie) and in a water bath.  That was really three hints. Your welcome.

So I made the cake on Friday to serve on Saturday, and there were a few friends who didn't get to have a piece.  (There were many friends who didn't get any...it was cut into 16 slices...). I knew that these particular friends really wanted to try it, so I brought the serving piece to them so they could taste the crumbs.  The brother informed me that I "have" to bring that cake to all congregation gatherings.

 We have a going away soiree at the end of the month.  I think I'll bake 2.

The other thing that I made this weekend was a Ham and Cheese Puff Tart.  Martha Stewart was gracious enough to post her recipe on this great webbernet that we have, thus it is very easy for me to share.

 Ham and Cheese Puff Tart

• Prep Time 15 minutes
• Total Time 35 minutes plus cooling
• Yield Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup whole milk
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Ground nutmeg
• 6 ounces thinly sliced deli ham
• 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. On a floured work surface, roll each sheet puff pastry to a 10-by-13-inch rectangle. Transfer to two parchment-lined baking sheets and refrigerate. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add flour; cook, stirring, until golden, 1 minute. Whisking constantly, add milk and simmer. Stir until thickened, 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and pinch of nutmeg. Pour sauce into a bowl and let cool 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in lower third. Arrange ham evenly on 1 pastry sheet, leaving a 3/4-inch border; top with cheese and sauce. Brush pastry border with egg; top with second pastry sheet. Fold bottom edges over top and press to seal. Brush top with egg and cut vents in tart. Bake until browned and puffed, 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I made this for a book club meeting I was hosting.  When the ladies were packing up to leave, one of them asked for the recipe.  She was astounded when I was able to hand the print out that I had used to make the very puff tart she had just enjoyed..

I've made this many times. In the process I  have tweaked the directions a little.  I take the sliced ham and cut it into ribbons.  Then I add the ham and cheese to the bechamel sauce.  It makes the final assembly a little easier and a lot less messy.

That's the cooing I did this weekend.  Date this week is going to be a doozy.  Stay tuned.

happy cooking

Date Night May 2, 21012 or "No one can take a picture of candle smoke"

Well, I think that answers that question.

As for dinner, which was eaten before the candles were blown out,  we had my old standby--Filet Mignon.  Yum!

Cocktail was a version (and not a great one in my mind, though Josh liked it well enough) of this:

• 1 oz Basil Hayden’s Bourbon
• .5 oz DeKuyper Triple Sec
• Splash orange juice
• Splash cranberry juice
• Splash simple syrup (one part sugar, one part water)

Garnish: Orange slice

Glass: Rocks

So I don't really like drinks on "rocks" so I fiddled with quantities but kept the ratios the same (although quantifying a "splash" is a lot harder than you might think.) and served them up.  Our "house bourbon" is Maker's Mark, which is fine, and we just don't keep Triple Sec at all.  Cointreau was my choice of orange liquer.  In the end, I thought it was a little "mediciney" tasting.  Too much orange Triaminic in my youth I suppose.

Appetizer was  the yummy cheesy jammy thing I get at my at my local market (local as opposed to my kick-butt market that's 25 mins away).

The green beans are haricot verte--these beautifully thin green beans that come to us from the French.  I tossed them in a few tsp of olive oil, added a few handfuls of grape tomatoes and one thinly sliced shallot.  I added about a .5 inch of water to my saute pan.  This combination allowed them to steam and then to caramelize.  I love green beans prepared this way.

The potatoes were skillet cooked and they were PINK fleshed.  I saw that they were called Pacific Rose, but thought that merely referred to their skin.  They were pan fried in olive oil.  Yum.

Dessert  was lemon souffle pudding.  I topped this with a lemon scented whipped cream (added a little lemon extract to the cream as I whipped it) and served it with a strawberry.

Lemon Souffle Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, for the baking cups
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• Whipped cream, for garnishing

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using the teaspoon of butter, butter six 2-ounce baking cups or one 12-ounce (8 x 10-inch) oval baking dish. Place the cups or dish in a roasting pan. Bring a tea kettle or medium pot of water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. In another clean bowl, beat the egg yolks until frothy and light in color, 3 to 4 minutes. Slowly add the sugar to the yolks while still beating. Mix in the lemon zest and juice.
3. Gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk-lemon mixture. Pour the batter into each souffle cup (filling each three-quarters full) or the baking dish. Put the roasting pan on the oven rack with the oven door open. Carefully and quickly pour the boiling water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the baking cups or dish. Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Don't overcook.
4. Remove the pan from the oven. Set the cups or dish on a wire rack to cool. To serve, set the cups on serving plates or scoop from the baking dish into individual dishes. Dust with confectioners' sugar, then top with a dollop of whipped cream.

Dinner tonight is ravioli.

happy cooking

Date Night, April 18, 2012

So I fell back on my "never fails to please" date night menu:  Manhattans, filet mignon, mashed potatoes (for Josh, I had a baked sweet potato--more on that later).  Of course, I also roasted asparagus which makes Josh "gag."  It was okay though because I smothered the asparagus in lemon aoli. Yum!

Appetizer was seed crackers, light Havarti cheese with a smidge of peach coriander jam.  Josh wasn't impressed by the multi-seed crackers, but then again, I didn't expect him to like them.  I did.

The mashed potatoes were made from these tiny (ping pong balled sized) Yukon gold potatoes.  Easy to mash.

My sweet potato was topped with a trans fat free butter flavored spread and a splenda brown sugar blend.  It tasted as awful as it sounds.

Filet was cooked perfectly.

The piece de resistance, however was the aoli for the asparagus:

.25 c mayo
2 cloves garlic, minced

That's where I stopped measuring.  I used the zest from 2 lemons and the juice from one (it was a juicy lemon) and a little salt and pepper.

Tonight, being Thursday, is pizza.

happy cooking

What I have been eating

I don't want to bore you with the details of my current eating regimen, but I will share 2 tasty things (of my own creation...basically) that I've been enjoying.

Breakfast sandwich
   I toast a multi-grain sandwich thin (a number of different "bread makers" make these, but they are pretty consistently called "sandwich thins") and fill it with 1 fried egg, a slice of Canadian bacon, 1-2 slices of roasted red pepper and a slice of reduced fat cheese.  It tastes great and keeps me full till lunch time.

Jicama Slaw
   This one kills m--I love it so!  Peel one medium jicama and cut it into matchsticks.  Mix it with some shredded carrot, thinly sliced celery, some radishes and some green onion.  Toss all of these veggies with the following dressing:

.5 c non fat unsweetened plain yoghurt
.25 c minced cilantro (if you really don't like cilantro you could use parsley)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T lime juice
salt and pepper to taste--you don't need much

I never thought in a million years that I would like this dressing so much, but I do.

And the slaw is a nice accompaniment to burgers, bar-b-cue, hot dogs, pulled chicken.  And yes, I've been eating those things, too.

Josh, however, finds the raw veggies a little "too al dente.)  His words.  Turns out, I think he just wants it in the form of chopped slaw.

Chinese delivery for dinner tonight as I just had some dental work done.  (Again, I can make good choices here, too.)

happy cooking

I haven't really been hiding...

I started the South Beach diet again about a month ago, and while we've been eating really yummy food, I just haven't been inspired to post about them.

But then I had my in-laws for dinner last night.  And MIL extraordinaire noted that 1) I haven't been blogging of late and b) that last night's dinner was blog worthy.

 So here goes.

Appetizers:  Bruschetta with a tomato topping that I read about in one of the Trib's  magazines on Sunday.  It had halved cherry/grape tomatoes mixed with minced herbs (basil and chives), capers and olive oil.  I also had fresh guacamole and salsa.  (I made toast points and chips for myself from multi-grain flat bread and tortillas.)

Dinner:  The flank steak with the mushrooms and shallots that Josh loves so much.  I did use a Splenda/Sugar blend in the marinade.  I didn't have any of the mushrooms because they were made with butter and real sugar.  I did not feel deprived in the least.  I like the flavor in the beef without the mushroom ragu.

I also made a barley risotto.  It's just what it sounds like.  You use barley instead of arborio rice.

For green things we had roasted broccoli and a cucumber salad.

Dessert:  Fresh fruit.  Pineapple, mango, kiwi and strawberries.  We ate the fruit a with few dark chocolate morsels.

Tonight's dinner is spaghetti squash with my gravy   Also sausage (Turkey) peppers and onions.  Oh...and the rest of the cucumber salad.

happy cooking