Tim & Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

Cookin’ up a storm!

Okay.  Not really.  We called for pizza (Peace-A-Pizza...  pretty good stuff!) and I made root beer floats for dessert.  We have friends staying with us for the holiday and…  well…  It’s more fun to sit around and talk and stuff than cook dinner.  Especially since we’re getting ready for tomorrow’s festivities.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

I did a quick stirfry last night…

…and then a lemon cake with fresh nectarines, homemade fig jam, and whipped cream, foir dessert.

Stay tuned for lots of pictures, tomorrow!

Pork Scallops with LOTS of Mushrooms

When I pulled two thick pork chops out of the freezer, this morning, I didn’t have much of a plan, but I did kinda figure they would go on the grill.  I still have BBQ sauce as well as a bazillion different things to marinade with.

When I got home from work and opened the fridge, I knew something else was going to become of them – and it was going to involve mushrooms!

I had lots of mushrooms in the ol’ vegetable bin, and mushrooms don’t usually like to stick around that long.  Those nice, thick pork chops were about to get sliced in half, pounded, floured, and sauteed – with a big ol’ sliced leek, white wine, a splash of chicken broth, and a pinch of French herbs.

It was a good call, if I do say so m’self!  And… it was a lot quicker than firing up the grill!

Lumpy, unpeeled mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli finished the plate.

And since it’s hot and muggy outside, we’ll have ice cream for dessert later on.

And we’re going to have guests starting tomorrow!

Oh boy!

Burgers on the Barbie

Those peppers from yesterday?!?  Boy, did they ever make a great burger!  As did a bit of the strawberry BBQ sauce, cheese, bacon, tomato, red onion, catsup, mayo, and mustard.

I mixed a bit of the BBQ sauce in with the meat before forming the patties for a bit of added flavor.   Not a lot – just enough to add that extra flavor.  I normally add just a bit of S&P to the meat – nothing else.  This was a good call.

The burgers were huge, of course.  Impossible to properly eat.  They made a huge mess and required lots and lots of napkins.

Dessert is definitely going to wait awhile, tonight…..

Chicken Salad Salad

Tonight’s dinner started with my weekly trek to Gentile’s this morning.  Sunshine, blue skies, minimal traffic… It was the perfect drive down.  I had the wiondows open, the radio blaring.  What’s that expression… “Dance like no one is looking”?  Well… that was me singing in the car.  It was rather fun.  Wendy Wadsworth and I belting out “I’m Guilty” and me, Dolly Parton and Vince Gill doing a great rendition of “I Will Always Love You”.  (Eat your heart out, Whitney!)  Who knew 8 miles could be so much fun?!?

My timing was perfect, too!  The store wasn’t crowded and I had time to actually browse around a bit.  The very first thing I saw was my oblong watermelon – with seeds!  I’m psyched!  I have to figure out how to carve it into a Hawai’ian outrigger or something for Saturday!  I picked up a lot of fruit that should be perfect on Saturday to chop and fill it up.

One thing I picked up for today was a bunch of long hot peppers for Victor to fry.  I like having them in the ‘fridge to add to things.  And these guys have been pretty hot.

Victor said he would actually grill them this time around, so I got the fire going and cooked off a couple of chicken breasts for salads.  Victor was still working, so i charred them nicely, placed ‘em in a bag to sweat, and then peeled and seeded them.  They smelled fantastic and tasted fantastic. At that point, all I really wanted was a chicken sandwich with peppers, but I also wanted a salad.  The salad won – but with a twist.

I made a quick chicken salad with the cubed grilled chicken, a couple of the peppers, diced, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, juice of a lime, salt and pepper.  Tart, creamy, spicy.  Perfect.

I also had an avocado that needed eating tonight.  It was r-i-p-e.  It was actually a little too ripe to just slice into the salad, and as I stood at the island, I saw those deep red, vine-ripened tomatoes and thought “Stuffed Tomatoes”!  I made a quick guacamole with the avocado and a couple of tablespoons of picante sauce, hollowed out the tomatoes and filled.

Foe the dressing, I added 2 tbsp of mayonnaise to the bowl I had made the guacamole in (there was a tiny-tad left in there), juice of a lime, a tablespoon of picante sauce, and a bit of S&P.  Instant Mexican Thousand Island!

Diced green onions, grapes, and apricots finished the plate.

And tonight’s dessert will be ice cream.

Salmon and Mango

I can tell it’s time to go shopping – the plates are getting a bit disjointed.  But that’s okay – everything tasted pretty good!

Tonight was salmon on the barbie.  Marinated with a bit of garlic and soy sauce, grilled to perfection over hot coals, and served atop a mango and sambal oelek coulis.  Grilled lemons and limes topped the salmon, while grill-basket potatoes and frozen corn rounded out the plate.

Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a busy shopping day…  I need to head down to Gentile’s for lots of produce – plus a nice long shopping list for Victor’s mom – and then trek out to Wegman’s for all of our July 4th party needs.  Plus we’re going to have house guests, so we need 10 times more stuff in the house than we normally have. (I’m neurotic, remember?!?)  Busy shopping day, indeed.

We’re going for a modified Hawai’ian theme for the party.  That means we can have pork tenderloins with pineapple and still have hot dogs and potato salad.

We make the rules!

Time to start creating menus and writing out shopping lists…..

Strawberry Pineapple Pork Tenderloin

After grilling all day long, I thought I would come home and – grill.  What can I say?  I’m a glutton for punishment.

Actually, it’s pretty much the easiest way to get dinner on the table – and the least amount of mess. (Not that I clean, mind you, but I do like to think of others from time to time…)

Pork tenderloin grilled with strawberry bbq sauce sitting atop grilled pineapple – straight from the Dole can – and a drizzle of more bbq sauce on top.  Yes, I could have bought a fresh pineapple – and it really would have been excellent – but I bought 5 cans of pineapple on sale a while back and do need to use them up.  It sorta defeats the purpose of getting a  deal on something if ya don’t use it, right?!?

The rice was cooked in the pineapple juice from the can, a bit of water, and a pinch each of allspice and ginger, salt and pepper.  I toyed with the idea of adding some coconut, and then changed my mind. – I thought it might end up being too dessert-like.  And green beans fresh from the freezer because my fresh produce is dwindling.  I have to go shopping Monday.

It was a 20 minute meal that took forever because the charcoal chimney just wasn’t cooperating today.  It took three attempts to finally get it going. Oh well…  I still like it better than the gas grill.

And…  we have slices of Leslie’s wedding cake for dessert, tonight.

Life is good.

Friday Fish

As a kid growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, fish on Friday was an automatic.  But…  since my mom wasn’t really crazy about most fish – and she did the cooking – our Friday Fish was usually relegated to her iceberg lettuce tuna salad in the summer, or tuna casserole in the winter.  Fish sticks never entered our home.

I’ve always liked fish, but, not having had it regularly as a kid, I just don’t think about it that much as a dinner item.  And if I do, it’s usually a nice, classic recipe such as a Sole Meuniére – sole dredged in flour and fried in half a pound of butter.  Or a nice, meaty fish steak with a Beurre Blanc – more heavy cream and butter.

Adding a few hundred grams of saturated fat to a product that is supposed to be lean and reasonably healthy is pretty much defeating the purpose of eating it in the first place.  Of course, I have never been accused of being logical or rational, either.

I’ve made a few strides in trying to lighten the classic French-style cooking I learned so many years ago…  I make lots of salsas and other sweet/savory combinations and make broth sauces and gravies where I once would have made a bordelaise.   But my first instinct is always to go with a classic.  And did you know that a hollandaise sauce can go on just about anything?!?  It’s frightening.

So…  the challenge is always how to get the flavor and texture I want without resorting to “lite” versions of what was once real food.  (I do have my standards – low as they may be!)

I have to say that I hit a homer with this one, tonight!  It had all the necessary ingredients:  quick and easy to do, tons of flavor, and reasonably healthy, to boot!

Morue Sur un Croûton

• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 5 anchovy fillets, minced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cod fillets
• olive oil
• 2 thick slices good bread
• a dozen or so fresh basil leaves
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Mix first 4 ingredients and set aside.

Place fish on baking sheet. Brush both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until just done, about 6-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a splash of olive oil in a skillet. Add tomato mixture. Cook until tomatoes soften and sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.  Season with S&P to taste.

Lightly toast bread. Place on plate and top with tomato sauce, basil leaves, fish, and then a final spoon of sauce.  A bit of fresh basil on top, and dinner is served!

I did some mixed squash on the side – olive oil, garlic, and oregano.

This was so easy to do and got rave reviews from Victor.

And there’s still angel food cake with fresh strawberries for dessert.

Strawberry BBQ Sauce

I knew at 7:30 this morning I was making a Strawberry BBQ Sauce tonight.  What I didn’t know was how I was going to make it.

I was looking at 2 full pallets of absolutely beautiful strawberries… “The possibilities are endless”,  thought I…  I must have had a dozen or more ideas going through my head simultaneously – such is the curse of a cook.  Of course, half the fun of being surrounded by food all day long is figuring out fun things to do with it, and being presented with “an ingredient” really is fun.

The barbecue sauce came together really easily, and was perfect atop grilled pork chops.

Strawberry BBQ Sauce

• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and roughly sliced
• 1 small bell pepper, diced
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup lingonberry vinegar
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper

Add strawberries and bell pepper to saucepan and cook until strawberries release theiur juices and peppers soften.

Add  brown sugar and then lingonberry vinegar.  Add tomato sauce and remaining ingredients.

Bring to boil and then simmer.

Blend everything with an immersion blender until smooth.

Continue simmering until thickened.

I used the smooth sauce to grill the chops, and then added some sliced strawberries to about a half-cup of the sauce to serve over the chops after they were cooked.

And a whole fanned strawberry on top because, well…  it’s all about the picture, right?!?

And the cooking continues…  We’re having a Salad Throwdown at work tomorrow, so I decided a Whole Wheat Salad was in order.

Whole Wheat Salad

• 1 pound whole wheat grains
• 1/2 yellow squash, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 2 large radishes, diced
• 6 green onions, diced
• 1/2 small bell pepper, diced
• 8oz dried mixed berries, plumped with sour apple schnapps
• 1/4 cup lingonberry vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped assorted fresh herbs
• salt and pepper

Cook wheat in salted water about 45 minutes, or until chewy-tender.  Drain and cool.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

And right now, there’s an angel food cake in the over awating more strawberries and some whipped cream.

Angel Food Cake

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups egg whites (about 11 large)
• 2 teaspoons warm water
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt into medium bowl.  Beat egg whites in large bowl until foamy. Add 2 teaspoons warm water and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff but not dry. Sift sugar-flour mixture over whites 1/4 cup at a time and gently fold in.

Place batter in an ungreased 12-cup angel food cake pan with removable bottom (do not use nonstick pan).

Bake until cake is light golden, top springs back when touched lightly and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 45 minutes.

Remove cake from oven. Turn cake pan upside down; place center tube of pan over a funnel and cool completely.

I think I’m going to split the cake into three layers and add a bit of whipped cream and a lot of strawberries…

We shall see…..

I split individual slices…  I also made strawberry whipped cream. It was yum.

Fresh Fruit Salsa

I am lovin’ the produce market, right now!  All my favorite fruits are arriving – fresh and ripe!  Peaches and plums have been really good, thus far, although a decent apricot still alludes me.  Don’t know what happened to the apricots, but they have been disappointing me for years, now.  Oh well…

Tonight I made an Asian-inspired salsa (Asian, because I used sambal oelek instead of jalapeños to spice it up) and grilled a plantain that had been sitting around for a while.  I probably could have left the plantain for a few more days – it was a bit starchier than I would have preferred, but a bit of honey and allspice helped cure that.

The salsa went atop a chicken breast I had marinated in Moore’s Teriyaki Marinade and then grilled.  Rice on the side and dinner was served.

Fresh Fruit Salsa

• 3 cups diced fruit (I used 3 peaches and 2 plums)
• 1 cup diced onion
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp sambal oelec (or diced hot peppers of your choice)
• pinch of salt

Mix and enjoy.

Amounts are approximate.  You can make salsa with one peach if you like – just adjust the other ingredients to your liking.

And ANY ripe fruit will work.  Use your imagination and have fun with it!

More Clean-Out and Repurposing

Tonight’s dinner is brought to you courtesy of last night’s taco filling and the night before’s macaroni and cheese.  I made too much meat filling (what a shock!) and had more cheese sauce than I needed for the mac and cheese (another “you’ve got to be kidding!” moment).

It made for a delectable Sloppy Joe with Cheese Fries!

It was an 18 minute dinner – the length of time needed to cook the fries.  They went into the oven, I sauteed a bit of red onion (also left over from last night) and a green pepper (just something that needed using up) in a drizzle of olive oil.  When it was pretty well cooked, I added the taco filling and a can of tomato sauce.  Made it hot.  It didn’t need any other spices or seasonings.  And I finished off an open bag of fries and used a couple more frozen buns.  I’m beginning to see into the freezer!!!

Fries came out of the oven and they were topped with cheese sauce and some green onions.

I was actually a little bit bummed.  I was talking at work with one of my coworkers and he mentioned cheese fries with bacon and green onions – which is how the cheese fries came about in the first place.

I forgot to cook the bacon!

Oh well…

On a fun note, I just received a big box from Oriental Trading Company.  For those who don’t know OTC, they are the king of the tacky, cheap, plastic, made-in-China party favors, and such.  I love the place.

We’re hosting a neighbor July 4th party and decided to do a Hawai’ian Theme.  I bought hibiscus everything, plastic sippy cups with lids and straws for the little kids, pink flamingo  tooth picks, a whole gross of little drink umbrellas, silk flower picks… dinner plates, dessert plates…  Tacky as tacky can be.

It should be fun!