Risotto
Let's see... It's hotter 'n hell outside, humidity like you wouldn't believe. Perfect for baking bread and making risotto!
Reality is, the house is closed up, the air conditioning is running, it's nice, cool, and comfortable in here, and I have some veggies that have seen better days.
During the winter, I make clean-out-the-refrigerator soup once a week. But comfortable house or not, soup was not what I was looking for tonight.
Risotto started calling my name.
Into the skillet went half a diced onion, garlic, a chicken breast, broccoli rabe, broccoli, radicchio, a cup of arborio rice, white wine, and chicken broth.
I cooked it fairly traditionally, adding a ladle of broth, stirring it in - for about half of it. I then added the rest of the already hot broth, stirred it well, put on the lid, and baked it for 25 minutes at 350°.
When it came out, I stirred in the cheese, fresh herbs, and a bit of salt and pepper.
The fresh bread finished the meal.
As I've been saying, Mother Nature's Proofing Box has been perfect for bread-baking! All the heat and humidity has been helping to make some stellar breads and rolls.
I may not be able to do anything about the weather, but I can certainly utilize it to my advantage!
Chicken Sandwiches
This right here pretty much sums up why I went from charcoal back to propane. Grilling small things outside in minutes. Trying to do small things with charcoal - without a really small grill - just isn't practical. Or economical. A quick bbq chicken sandwich - and it was quick - was perfect for lunch today.
I used the Gates Kansas City BBQ Sauce on the chicken and on the rolls - and a healthy helping of fried hot peppers.
Simple and delicious. Or... simply delicious, as the case may be.
I still have the charcoal grill. It ain't goin' anywhere any time soon.
But for quick and easy?!? The gas grill, for sure.
Summer Salads
Summertime... and the livin' is easy... Provided the air conditioner keeps running, that is!
It's mid-90's out there. And just a tad humid. I hate it. I grew up 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean. The very cool Pacific Ocean. Where if it happened to hit 70°, we would go to the beach. 70 degrees. Beach.
No one has air conditioning out there. Don't need it but maybe twice a year, and even then, it's not like this. Heck. I bought my truck in San Francisco. It doesn't have air conditioning, either. Now I leave it at home and take the (air conditioned) car.
Okay. Enough whining about the weather...
Summertime. Salads. Yum.
I actually went just a tad overboard with these. I just kept finding fun things to add to them. I almost added beans, too. I'm glad I showed a little bit of restraint!
First thing I did was make a cucumber salad.
Cucumber Salad
- 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut vinegar (I love my coconut vinegar - made in The Philippines - but any white wine-type vinegar will work)
- 2 tbsp assorted herbs, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Mix all ingredients. Chill until ready to serve.
Quick, easy, and refreshing.
Next was the Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing. I had raspberries in the 'fridge that needed using up.
Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1/4 cup coconut vinegar (I'm on a run... any vinegar will work)
- 2 tbsp minced onion
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
Place raspberries, honey, lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, and onion in a blender and puree. With blender running, drizzle in 1 cup of olive oil. Add poppy seeds, and briefly mix.
Chill until ready to serve.
This worked well - and I think any fruit would work well. Peaches.... yum.....
The salad itself was mixed greens, radicchio, hard cooked egg, avocado, broccoli, zucchini, peach, tomato, cucumber salad, and a grilled chicken breast.
It's going to be a while before I think about dessert.
BBQ Chicken
I love bone-in chicken. It is so much more flavorful than its boneless and skinless cousin. Not that the latter doesn't have its place, but for putting on the barbie, bone-in rocks. And that's what we had tonight. With corn-on-the-cob, roasted potatoes, and baked beans. Perfect almost-officially-Summer fare.
I used the Wegmans Memphis BBQ Sauce which, I'm beginning to think after several uses, is merely okay. I like the fact that it has clean ingredients - no high fructose corn syrup and the like - but I'm thinking I want something a bit bolder. Memphis-style (at least out of a bottle) just isn't strong enough for my tastes. It gets lost on the grill. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Memphis in person - other than the airport, that is. I'm sure that I'd be swooning over any number of BBQ joints, in person, but simply coming out of a bottle has me wanting to reach for something to doctor it up a bit.
Which actually leads me to another thought. I am increasingly realizing that I have absolutely no brand-loyalty anymore. Sorry, all you brands out there who are spending bazillions of dollars trying to convince me that your product is better, is for "people like me", or who honestly think I will pay more for the privileged of letting other people see me with your product(s) in my shopping cart. I don't think so!
Once upon a time, I only bought Best Foods Mayonnaise. I paid more money for it. It's good. It has decent ingredients. I tasted a few others and realized there wasn't any reason for me to be paying a premium for Best Foods when there were others out there that also had decent ingredients and tasted good. I still buy it, occasionally, but it's no longer the only one in the cabinet. I always bought B&M Baked Beans. Until I read their ingredient label and noticed their "Original" recipe had high fructose corn syrup in it. Funny... I didn't know B&M used high fructose corn syrup when they introduced their baked beans back in 1927. Amazing. And I don't care how many commercials they come out with telling me how good high fructose corn syrup is. I won't buy it. At all. Period.
It really seems that the more I started reading labels, the more I started switching products. And the more I stopped buying national brands. I think at some point I realized that the food manufacturers had no loyalty towards me as a person - if they did, they'd be using quality ingredients in the first place - and it was asinine for me to continue to support companies that are selling garbage as food.
That is not to say that I don't have my favorite products. I definitely do. But the odds of me buying something merely because it is made by (Fill In The Blank) are between slim and none. I think the odds of me not buying something because it's made by (Fill In The Blank) are much better.
As a consumer, there are some serious benefits to not being chained to specific brands and products. First off, you'll probably be eating healthier. And second, it opens up a whole new world of tastes and flavors and fun foods. It's almost amazing how much better ketchup made with sugar tastes compared to ketchup made with high fructose corn syrup. And that's but one little condiment.
And then switch from factory-farmed national-brand chicken to either organic or locally produced. All of a sudden chicken has flavor again!
Which brings me full-circle back to dinner tonight.
Bone-in chicken on the barbie. Gas. Not charcoal. Oh well. Nobody's perfect.
a-MAIZE-ing
Tonight's dinner started with an ear of fresh corn.
Next thing I knew, the whole dinner was about corn. Corn spaghetti noodles came down from the cabinet. Posole came down from the cabinet. Children of the corn right here at our house.
The thought process became chicken and corn over corn noodles.
I sauteed a shallot in a pat of butter and added the fresh corn cut from the cob. Then some diced chicken breast. Into the pan went a teaspoon of cumin, some garlic, and a pinch of chipotle powder. (I just wanted a bit of smokiness, not a lot of heat.)
Next went a couple of tablespoons of flour and a cup and a half of milk. And a can of diced green chilies. And a mini can of sliced black olives.
Then I added some minced basil and oregano from the garden. Just because.
I thought about adding some cheese to the sauce and then decided I didn't need to, tonight. Weigh-in is tomorrow, ya know?!? (I'm eating homemade vanilla ice cream with melted chocolate on top as I type this... You can tell how serious I've taken this week's eating...)
I also made another batch of those sesame rolls from last night. And then I didn't even eat one! (Saving room for ice cream!)
That's okay, though. They'll make great sandwiches.
Or burger buns.
Italian-Style Chicken
Another day, another dinner. Another fun recipe from Lidia. Or, at least, based on a recipe by Lidia. I got it started, and then our Maytag Repairman showed up to fix the dishwasher. I hate people standing over me when I work, so I turned everything off and retired to the office while he did what he needed to do.
I liked the concept of her recipe and if I had been standing in the kitchen the entire time I may have made it more or less exactly how she made it, but after having it sit for 30 minutes unattended, I tweaked it a bit.
Her recipe is direct from her website:
Chicken with Olives & Pinenuts
Pollo con Olive e Pignoli
- 3½ to 4 pounds assorted cut- up chicken pieces
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons extra- virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 plump garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 bay leaves, preferably fresh
- 1 cup brine- cured green Italian olives or oil- cured black Italian olives
- ½ cup white wine
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
Recommended equipment: A 12- inch cast- iron or other heavy skillet or sauté pan, with a cover; an olive pitter
Rinse the chicken pieces, and pat dry with paper towels. Trim off excess skin and all visible fat. Cut drumsticks off the thighs; cut breast halves into two pieces each. Season the chicken all over with the salt.
Put the olive oil and butter in the pan, and set over medium- low heat. When the butter is melted and hot, lay in the chicken pieces, skin side down, in a single layer; drop the garlic cloves and bay leaves in the spaces between them.
Cover the pan, and let the chicken cook over gentle heat, browning slowly and releasing its fat and juices. After about 10 minutes, uncover the pan, turn the pieces, and move them around the pan to cook evenly, then replace the cover. Turn again in 10 minutes or so, and continue cooking covered.
While the chicken is browning, pit the olives (if they still have pits in them). If you’re using small olives like Castelvetrano, use a pitter and keep them whole. If you have larger olives (such as Ascolane or Cerignola), smash them with the blade of a chef’s knife to remove the pits, and break them into coarse chunks.
After the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes, scatter the olives onto the pan bottom, around the chicken, and pour in the wine. Raise the heat so the liquid is bubbling, cover, and cook, gradually concentrating the juices, for about 5 minutes.
Remove the lid, and cook uncovered, evaporating the pan juices, occasionally turning the chicken pieces and olives. If there is a lot of fat in the bottom of the pan, tilt the skillet and spoon off the fat from one side.Scatter the pine nuts around the chicken, and continue cooking uncovered, turning the chicken over gently until the pan juices thicken and coat the meat like a glaze.
Turn off the heat, and serve the chicken right from the skillet, or heap the pieces on a platter or in a shallow serving bowl. Spoon out any sauce and pine nuts left in the pan, and drizzle over the chicken.
What I didn't get was a browned chicken. It was more steamed. Not a bad thing, per se, but it looked a little pale. So... I had a few baby roma tomatoes that I tossed in, along with a shot of tomato paste. I used kalamata olives instead of the green Italian olives Lidia suggested and since the pine nuts on the shelf had seen better days, I tossed in some walnuts.
Worked great.
I added a bit of shredded cheese to the rice for just a bit of creaminess and a splash of balsamic vinegar on the green beans to pretend they were Italian.
Later on, I'll see about having a small scoop of ice cream.
Chicken and Ham
It's the ham that keeps on giving!
Armed with my trusty FoodSaver, I finally dealt with that monstrosity of a ham in the refrigerator today. Two packages of sliced ham for future meals and the bone and lots of ham for a future soup went into the freezer. Another packet is sitting in the fridge to become fried ham on Sunday. And several slices for tonight's dinner...
Tonight's dinner. Yum.
I lightly browned two chicken breasts and placed them in an oven-proof pan. I then covered them with slices of ham. Then a layer of San Joaquin cheese, and then sliced tomatoes. I put them into a 350° oven for about 25 minutes.
Prior to starting that, though, I started the side dish - a multi-grain melange of mixed brown rices, black barley, spelt, French lentils, leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes and arugula. Oh yum.
Multi-Grain Melange
- 1/4 cup minced leek
- 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup assorted brown rice
- 1/4 cup black barley
- 1/4 cup spelt
- 1/4 cup French lentils
- 1 can diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 good handfuls arugula
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- S&P to taste
Saute leeks, mushrooms, and garlic until wilted and lightly browned.
Add grains, tomatoes, and broth bring to boil. Add arugula and stir in. Add spices.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45-55 minutes.
It came out great and would make a great base for a lot of other dishes. It could also be easily made vegetarian by using vegetable broth or water.
All-in-all, a successful use of just a little more ham.
Life is good.
No-Brainer Chicken
I've been a little busy. I have two websites that are migrating to a new hosting company, email addresses that need to be reconfigured, the real-live-job, and, a life. I have spent a bit more time in front of this machine the past two days than I care to admit. But, in a few hours if the computer-gods are on my side, all will be well with the world.
In doing all of this, I need to keep up my strength. What I haven't made is time to be in the kitchen.
Tonight's throw-it-in-a-pot-and-put-it-in-the-oven dinner was perfect for the occasion.
We have a great earthenware casserole dish with a lid that I just love. It can go anywhere.
Tonight, I started it in the microwave with 2 small potatoes, sliced. I cooked them for about 5 minutes just to get them started.
While they were cooking, I played clean-out-the-refrigerator. Broccoli, yellow squash, 4 assorted cheese, some mushrooms, 2 chicken breasts, and some sour cream.
I cubed and then browned the chicken in a splash of olive oil, and then added it to the potatoes. I then browned the mushrooms and added a splash of white wine. Added them to the potatoes and chicken.
Next went the rest of the veggies and then the cheese.
I mixed it all up with about a cup of sour cream, salt and pepper, put the lid on it and baked at 350° for about 45 minutes while I adjusted DNS servers and configured email addresses.
For a totally throw-together meal, it was pretty good.
One site done, one to go.
Vaguely Chinese
The once cuisine I don't often cook from scratch is Chinese. It's not as if I don't have the necessary ingredients - I'm just not that good at it. It doesn't lend itself to my usual devil-may-care style of cooking.
And that's okay. A doctored up bag of orange chicken will work in a pinch. And tonight, I didn't even have to do that!
I was up to my ankles trying to find a problem with a website and next thing I know, Victor's calling me to dinner! I love it!
He took the orange chicken and added red peppers, carrots, zucchini, and spiced up the sauce with sambal oelek. Yum.
So the website still isn't 100%, but it's better.
And my stomach is smiling!
Birthday Weekend Part Deux
What a fun day today has been! Victor spent the day outside - at the garden store, planting tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and all those bulbs he got from Holland... General fun yard stuff. I spent the day being Cinderella, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen floor, cooking dinner...
It was a bit of role reversal. Usually I work Saturday and Victor does the laundry, cleans the house... does the basic chores. It's not that I don't do housework, but, for example, we had our vacuum cleaner for two years and one day I decided to do a bit of cleaning. I had to ask him how to turn it on! What can I say?!?
So... laundry properly sorted, washed, dried, and put away (I actually do know how to do all of these things. Really.) I started on dinner. Chicken Cannelloni.
Back in the Dark Ages when I worked at Pirro's in San Francisco, we had a great cannelloni on the menu. I decided to take that old concept and update it a bit.
Chicken Cannelloni
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over moderately low heat. Whisk in flour and cook about 2 minutes.Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat then whisk in salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese.
Filling
- 2 chicken breasts, minced in a food processor
- 10 sun-dried tomatoes, minced
- 1 1/2 cups finely grated parmesan cheese
- 1 lb ricotta
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 6 "no-cook" lasagne sheets
Cook lasagne noodles in a wide pan a few at a time. Place in a bowl of ice water to cool and stop cooking.
Cook minced chicken breasts in a pat of butter, breaking it up as much as possible. Cool.
Mix chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, ricotta, egg, sage, and pepper. Set aside.
To assemble
Cut lasagne sheets in half to make 2 squares from each.
Butter 9x13 casserole dish and cover bottom with 1/3 of the cream sauce.
Place filling in a row along top side of square and roll. Place seam-side down in dish. Repeat with remaining pasta.
Cover with remaining 2/3 sauce. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for about an hour.
I served them with a side of arugula sauteed in a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper.
The cannelloni we made at Pirro's had a much finer-consistency filling. It really was all ground together and served in our all-purpose red sauce. This had a bit more texture, a few less ingredients, and served with a classic white cheese sauce. While I have some fond memories of that cannelloni, I liked this one better. We both cleaned our plates.
And then I made fresh Blackberry Ice Cream.
It's in the freezer right now.....
Panko Chicken
This was going to be a salad night. Alas, it is dreary-wet outside. Not really conducive to grilling and salad-making. Panko sounded so much better.
It was an easy one... I mixed a bit of mayonnaise and dijon mustard and dipped the chicken in it, and then coated them in panko bread crumbs. I browned them in a skillet with a bit of olive oil and then finished them in the oven.
The potatoes were quartered, drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with garlic, paprika, salt & pepper. Into a 425° oven for about 25 minutes.
Zucchini was sliced and sauteed with a pinch of butter, salt and pepper.
30 minutes start-to-finish with most of the time waiting for the oven to do its magic.
I need to check tomorrow's weather.....
BBQ and Broadway
Last night was BBQ and Broadway in Berwyn. Okay... slightly off-Broadway, but a Broadway show with as much heart as you'll ever see.
We were at the Footlighter's Theatre in Berwyn, PA. It is a Community Theatre now in its 81st season. 81 years of entertainment. That, in itself, is impressive.
The show was Gypsy, based on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. (Just to show ya how old I am, I actually remember the Gypsy Rose Lee Show on TV.) Ah... the good ol' days.
It was a great performance by some really fun and talented folks. There's something extremely fulfilling about seeing local community theatre. Footlighters probably only seats 150 people. There just isn't more intimate theatre out there.
Let Me Entertain You, indeed!
If you're in the neighborhood of Berwyn, PA, the show is running through May 1st and tickets are only $15.00. Less than a movie and a lot more entertaining!
For sustenance before the show, we grilled chicken. Bone-in breasts with the Strawberry BBQ Sauce I made a while back. Mashed yellow sweet potatoes and broccoli.
And seeded rolls.
I used the no-knead dough and rolled the rolls in sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and flax seeds.
Great dinner. Great show.