How to be an effective supermarket checker.
Aw... the video was in Flash - and flash no longer works.
Suffice to say - it was funny.
Cheesey Peppers
Tonight's dinner inspiration started with the pequillo peppers. Earlier during the day I had decided I wanted to stuff them with cheese. I had to figure out a meal to go around them, though. My first thought was a chicken breast, since we had steaks last night, but... those peppers were pretty much sayin' "beef". Beef, it was.
Basic twice-baked potatoes - a bit of sour cream, salt and pepper. Nothing too complicated. The flank steak was marinated in red wine, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and then grilled on the barbie. Mushroom sauce was mushrooms sauteed in a bit of butter, red wine, beef broth, and S&P.
And the peppers...
I put either a piece of abondance or brie in them and popped them into a 350° oven for about 10 minutes. They were awesome!
Cheesey Potatoes
Dinner ideas have to come from someplace... Cook books, magazines, the newspaper, walking through the grocery store, using up what's in the 'fridge or cabinets... Something sparks that idea.
Tonight's dinner started with pulling the steaks out of the freezer before heading off to work. And then cheesey potatoes entered my mind. I didn't have a recipe in mind - I just wanted cheesey potatoes. And steak. Which automatically called for my sister's baked beans. (I made a half-batch.)
The cheesey potatoes were merely boiled potatoes drained and put into a casserole with a splash of heavy cream and about a half-cup of grated cheddar cheese. Baked at the same time with the beans.
Phoebe's Baked Beans
* 1/2 cup minced shallots
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1/2 cup tomato puree (I use tomato paste - I never have puree in the house!)
* 1 tablespoon canola oil
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1/4 cup cider vinegar
* 2 tablespoons molasses
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
* 2 (28-ounce) cans baked beansPreheat oven to 300°.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients (except beans.). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly.
Perfect for the first day of Spring! (Never mind that it snowed this morning (melted right away) and is now about 35° outside. Brrrrr.)
Vaguely Mexican
Last night was going to be Mexican. Tonight was! Chimichangas!
A chimichanga is, essentially, a deep-fried burrito. And since burritos can have any filling one wants to put into them, dinner is only limnited by your imagination and ingredients in the kitchen! Well - and pots and pans... I dirtied FIVE pans for dinner tonight. This may be a record for a school-night meal!
Our kitchen is pretty well stocked in the Mexican-ingredient department. There are chipotles in adobo, several salsas (canned and jarred), diced green chilis, sofrito sauce, chipotle sauce, and a score of ground chili peppers from mild to uncurl you eyelashes hot, refried beans, pinto beans, black beans... You get the picture.
Tonight, I finely diced a chicken breast, sauteed it, and then added sofrito sauce and chipotle sauce and simmered it for a few... I spooned a bit onto a handmade (not by me!) flour tortilla, added a chunk of pepper jack cheese, and rolled them up. I then fried them in oil.
The toppings were the fun part! Besides Spanish rice and refried beans, there was guacamole, sour cream, black olives, green onions, and a killer sauce made from a canned Mexican salsa, chipotle sauce, and a picante sauce.
It was good!
A Basic Burger
Sometimes, there's just nothing better than a burger. Tonight was one of those times!
I actually started out thinking of doing something vaguely Mexican... But the weather was just too nice not to grill a burger. Onions, pickle, tomato, sprouts, ketchup, mustard (Dijon), mayonnaise, and asiago cheese on whole wheat buns.
The potato (large, singular) was waffle-cut on the mandoline, drizzled with olive oil, and put into a 450° oven.
Maybe Mexican tomorrow.....
And Victor made cake. I made frosting.
Lemon Almond Cake with Lemon Amaretto frosting.
Life is good.
Beef Braised in Guinness
I thought I'd invite Ireland over for dinner, tonight. At least it seemed that way when I saw how much I had cooked for dinner tonight. But... food never goes to waste in our house. (Waist, yes. Waste, no.) Victor has lunch...
I like corned beef and cabbage, but Victor's not a huge cabbage fan, and, besides... since half the country is serving corned beef tonight, we have to be different!
This is a recipe I've been making for years. and, while I don't make it often, it really is good. It cooks for a good 90 minutes, so inexpensive cuts of beef work well. I used a London Broil that I cut into small pieces and then pounded with a mallet.
Here's the recipe from the Family and Friends Cookbook:
Beef Braised In Guinness
We came up with this recipe years ago. It's a great dish for parties, because it can be doubled, tripled, or quintupled with ease. It was definitely a huge hit when we had Pop's cousin's from Omaha over for St. Paddy's dinner years ago. They still talk about it! Tim also brought it in to UCSF one year and it became a staple on the Moffitt Cafe menu for St Paddy's Day.
- 2 pounds beef steak, cut in pieces
- 3 medium onions, sliced
- 1 pound carrots, sliced into sticks
- all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic powder
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp fresh basil, minced
- 1 bottle Guinness
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 cup beef broth
Cut the meat into serving sizes. Pound them to tenderize and for a uniform thickness. Peel the onions and slice. Peel the carrots and slice them into sticks. Place the flour in a dish and mix in 1 tsp of salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. Heat the butter in a sautè pan, add the onions and cook until soft. Transfer them to a large, shallow, greased ovenproof dish.
Dredge the pieces of meat in the seasoned flour and brown. Remove as they are cooked and place on top of the onions in a single layer. Arrange the carrots around them. Add a little more butter to the pan and stir in the seasoned flour to make a roux.
Cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly and scraping up all the browned bits then add the Guinness. Allow to boil for a minute or two, then add the basil, honey and the broth. Return to a boil and pour over the meat. Cover the dish and bake at 325° for 90 minutes.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
Grilled Duck Salad with Blackberry Port Sauce
Salad. I love salad.
From fall through winter, we don't eat a lot of them. I know that most of the ingredients are availablr year-round, but my body thinks seasonal. When it starts turning cold, I want soups, stews, and casseroles. But at the first sign of warmer weather, my body starts screaming for greens. And then through September, those luscious leaves are a regular part of the meal - and the cycle begins anew...
I picked up a duck breast with the thought that it would make a great salad. What I didn't know was just how great it was going to be!
I found a recipe in Bon Appetit that looked promising, and with a few tweaks, it came out fantastic!
The salad consisted of grilled duck breast, mixed greens, a simple vinaigrette of sherry vinegar and olive oil, toasted walnuts, fresh peaches, blackberry port sauce, and little sun-dried tomato bread toasts with a triple cream brie ever so slightly melted on top.
Dinner for Two:
Grilled Duck Salad with Blackberry Port Sauce
- 1 duck breast
- 1 bag mixed greens
- 1 fresh peach
- 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
- artisan bread
- triple cream brie
- 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Make blackberry port sauce first.
Season duck breast with a bit of salt and pepper and grill until medium rare - about 6-8 minutes over moderate heat. Set aside.
Toast small slices of bread. Place slices of brie on top. Set aside.
Make a simple vinaigrette with sherry vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
Toss mixed greens with vinaigrette and place on plates.
Slice peaches and place on salad.
Slice duck breast and place on salad.
Spoon blackberry port sauce over duck.
Sprinkle with walnuts.
Place cheese toasts briefly under broiler to slightly melt. Place on salad.
Enjoy!
Blackberry Port Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled, cored, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 750-ml bottle Port
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup fresh blackberries
- 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water
Saute onion, apple and garlic in olive oil until onion is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add Port; reduce heat to medium. Simmer until mixture is reduced to 2 cups, about 30 minutes. Strain mixture; return liquid to saucepan. Discard solids in strainer. Add stock to saucepan; simmer until liquid is reduced to 3/4 cup, about 15 minutes. Stir in cornstarch and cook until thickened. Add blackberries. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve over grilled duck.
It was actually really simple to pull together, and easy enough for a "school night" but awesome enough for company! The sauce was totally excellent! I used a $4.99 bottle of port because I wasn't about to boil down an expensive bottle. (I figured it was like doing a balsamic reduction. I don't use the expensive stuff for those, either!) It rocked.
And... Since we had peaches and blackberries...
Life is good.
Chicken on the Grill and Cookies in the Oven
Bone-in chicken just tastes better. Especially on the grill. The skin gets all charred and crispy, the meat is moist and smoky... It is definitely the way to go.
I had marinated and frozen some chicken breasts a while back. These were in a bit of white wine and herbs d'Provence.
The potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers were drizzled with olive oil, lots of garlic, and quarte epices - a mixture of black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Yummy! They went into a 375° oven while the chicken cooked.
And Victor made Peanut Butter Cookies.
It's the basic recipe out of our old and dogeared (and stained) Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1. In a large mixing bowl beat peanut butter and butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Cover and refrigerate dough about 1 hour or until easy to handle.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Shape dough in 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies by making crisscross marks with fork tines, dipping fork in sugar between flattening each cookie. Bake about 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks. Cool. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
They're really basic, and really good. He thought about adding white chocolate chips, more nuts, etc., and then decided a classic cookie was in order, tonight. (He did use chunky peanut butter, though.)
My stomach is smiling!
Chicken, Ham, and BusyBusyBusy!
Damn, it's been a busy past few days! (or is that daze?!?)
The roofers are roofing, the masons are masing, and my eyes are crossing from website-making. Of course, we still take time to eat!
Last night was a pseudo-chicken parmesan (sans parmesan). It really was a quickie - but quite good. I made a quick sauce of onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes (a splash of marsala, a bit of Greek oregano, salt and pepper...) Meanwhile, I breaded chicken breasts and browned them lightly in a skillet and then popped 'em into a 350° oven for about 15 minutes while I cooked of the pasta.
I topped the chicken with a bit of sauce, added asiago cheese, and placed the pan back in the oven for a few minutes for the cheese to melt.
Pasta on the side. Dinner was served.
Tonight was even easier - Victor cooked!
Ham. peas, and scalloped potatoes. It doesn't get much better.
Tomorrow should be blissfully quiet - no contractors and actual time to work on the websites.
One of the sites is for the son of a dear friend who just had a book published on Amazon! It's called Dungeon Crawl and is a Kindle/iPhone download. Another friend did the cover art. It's fun to keep things in the family, so to speak, ya know?!?
It's a really fun read.
Burger, Fries, and Pie
What a day. I get home to half of our roof torn off, scaffolding in the front yard by the chimney, and pounding nails. And pounding nails. And pounding nails. Noisy just doesn't do it justice.
I want to grill some burgers but these guys just keep going. They're working where I need to cook. It's 5pm. 5:30... 6... Finally, about 6:30, everything is quiet. I head to the kitchen to start dinner. I turn on the gas grill, get the fries in the oven, and start to get ready to saute some onions and peppers for these bad-boy burgers I've been dreaming about. I turn on the stove and - nothing. Just the click-click-click of the electronic ignition.
I am not amused. This is now the third time in 8 years we have run out of propane - and we're on an auto fill. I'm tired, cranky, haven't eaten my dinner, and there's no gas to COOK my dinner. Not amused, indeed.
I call. ("Are you sure you're out of gas? You should smell something if you're out of gas." "Uh... if there's no gas in the tank, there's nothing to smell..." "Maybe your stove isn't working." "My stove isn't working because there's no gas going to it." "What does the gauge read?" "There is no gauge." "How do you know you're out of gas?" "My stove won't light.") Sometimes it's really difficult to be civil.
So the potatoes are in the oven with the bacon, and the burgers are on the grill outside. No sauteed peppers and onions. Slices of raw onion will have to suffice.
Mid-way through dinner, the gas-man arrives. Would you believe?!? We're out of gas!!! I'm shocked!
He was a really nice guy, ran a pressure test, checked for leaks, couldn't find anything wrong, filled the tank and away he went.
Burgers and fries were great. Asiago cheese, pickles, onions, mayo, catsup, bacon... LOTS of garlic on the fires.
And Victor made pumpkin pie for dessert.
The day had a happy ending.
Baked Chicken - and more potatoes...
I knew tonight was a chicken night. It was just a matter of how...
'How' turned out to be a simple chicken breast, spread with a bit of champagne garlic mustard, topped with panko btradcrumbs, and baked in the oven for 20 minutes. I added a little salt and pepper, but that was it. It was perfectly moist and tender, a nice crunch from the panko topping, and juuuuust enough mustard to know it was there - without overpowering everything.
Tonight's variation on a potato theme was 2 potatoes thinly sliced - on the mandoline - and placed into a hot skillet with a drop of olive oil and a dab of butter. (Yes, precise measurements, here!)
I browned them just a bit, put a lid on the pan, and put them into the oven with the chicken - for 20 minutes. A little bit of salt and pepper with them... I flipped them over to serve. They were crispy-crunchy on the top and oh, so soft underneath.
And steamed broccoli.
There's still more than 5 lbs of potatoes in the basket... I wonder what tomorrow might bring?!?
++++++++++++++++++++++
On a totally unrelated note... My sister-in-law's sister, Pauline, went in for a very difficult surgery today because of a particularly disgusting cancer. She's a really special person to us and she - and her family - could definitely use all of the positive vibes and good thoughts y'all can send their way.
Thanks!
Steak Sandwiches
Last night's steak was calling to me at work today. I knew it was going to be dinner tonight, but I just wasn't sure what form it was going to take... I finally decided sandwiches. And then I had to decide hot or cold? Use the panini press? What kind of bread? Rolls? Dinner sandwiches have to be more substantial than lunch sandwiches. It's dinner. It's a rule.
So I decided cold sandwiches, with some cooked ingredients.
Tomato and Leek Focaccia was the bread of choice. Spread with a mixture of mayonnaise, sour cream, worcestershire, tabasco, and horseradish. I then sauteed onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms and piled them atop the pile of thin-sliced beef. Slices of provolone cheese went atop it, and the top of the focaccia finished it off.
And remember all those potatoes?!? Thick slices on the mandoline, and then drizzled in olive oil and garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. Into the oven at 425° for about 15 minutes.
Leftovers are my friend.
(And there's still cake!!!)