Odds and Ends

Scrolling through some pictures on the memory card, I discovered that my sous chef/master photographer, Nana, has a few pics I'd forgotten about. 

So here's quick descriptions of what you are seeing:

Lamb Cubes with Eggplant and Tomatoes served with Herbed Couscous with Raisins.  This is one of those dishes that I make for clients and never got around to making it at home.  It was well received here as it is with clients.  Works very well in the pressure cooker!

Another Naan Pizza for lunch, Chopped Ham, Provolone Cheese, Trader Joe's Garlic Mustard, Fresh Figs and a drizzle of Balsamic Reduction.  Simply delish!

New Orleans inspired Shrimp and Rice dish:

Rice/Broken Spaghetti/Red Onion/Red Pepper/Corn/Garlic/Capers/Cilantro/Saffron tossed with Shrimp w/Cajun Spices, Sauteed with Cherry Tomatoes and splash of Vermouth.

Impromptu Dessert:  Toasted Pound Cake, Sliced Strawberries, Vanilla Ice Cream and uncooperative Nutella!

Enjoy!

 

Friday Roundup

Had a very busy week cooking, all clients were in town, had a full schedule!

New to me recipes included:
Asian Turkey Loaf
Red Wine Braised Lamb Chops
Asian Beef/Turkey/Rice Meatballs
Pork Tenderloin a l'Orange

Reworked dishes:
Eggplant/Feta/Sun-dried Tomatoes
Glazed Carrots w/Honey & Ginger
Lemon Couscous w/Summer Squash & Red Peppers
Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash w/Tomatoes & Herbs

The Asian Turkey Loaf is chock full of veggies, scallions, carrot, celery, shiitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic. Flavored with soy sauce, dry mustard and cilantro and bound with eggs and panko.
The glaze is ketchup, honey, soy sauce, ginger and dry mustard!
Excellent recipe, flavor packed to boost the fairly bland ground turkey!

Red Wine Braised Lamb Chops, tasty but probably not really worth the effort compared to seared chops with a great sauce.

Combining Beef & Turkey & Rice in meatballs really makes them a tasty lower fat version.  The meatballs combined scallions, ginger, water chestnuts and flavored with dry sherry, soy sauce, bound with eggs and rice.  The sauce was simple sauteed ginger, chili flakes & garlic in sesame oil, reduced with white wine, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, dash of splenda.  Very tasty results.

Will do a separate post for the Pork a l'Orange, as we just had it for dinner and it was awesome!

Most of the reworking was minor to accommodate dietary issues, so nothing earth shattering.

At home the highlights of the week were grilled & barbecued chicken breasts over tossed salad w/creamy peppercorn dressing and grilled french bread; beef tenderloin tips w/onions and peppers; arugula salad with blue cheese, toasted Marcona almonds, dried cranberries w/sherry vinaigrette; baby potato, green bean and pesto salad.  And tonight's dinner which will be the next post!

Here's a picture of the chicken over salad dish:

Friday Roundup

This week went by too quickly!  Cooking highlights were a new Rabbit recipe.  Used an English recipe for Rabbit and Leek Pie, but only made the stewed Rabbit with Leeks and added lemon zest & juice for the sauce.  It was very yummy! The rabbit was boneless, the first time I've dealt with boneless rabbit!  Most of the other dishes were repeats. 

At home we had the Veal Rolls! Double Yum and Nana asked for a Mario Batali dish she saw him produce on Rachel Ray's Show: Stuffed Manicotti with Beef.  I made a basic tomato sauce for it then prepared the beef ragu.  We cooled these and stored them overnight. Nana finished the recipe the next day for our dinner.  It was really good, I can't wait to make the Ragu again, so tasty.
I'm posting the cleaned up version of the recipe here.  There were a few issues with the recipe on the site, some typos and one major issue was that it told you to make the stuffing while you were heating the water for the pasta, meanwhile the stuffing needs to cook for 1 1 /2 hours!  So I rearranged the directions just a bit! Here's two pics of the process and plated:

On Friday we lunched in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with our Daughter @Dumont Burger we sat outside as it was a gloriously beautiful day, a tad warm but not scorching.  It was a great meal, Nana had the Mini Burger w/Fries; Tiff had the Chickpea Burger with Onion Rings and I had the Turkey Burger with Salad.  All were delicious. But the real star was the Fried Pickles we enjoyed for an appetizer:

After a walk of the neighborhood and a bit of shopping, we found our way to the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck!  Diets beware!  We tried three flavors-Mint Chip--Chocolate--Pistachio. All were perfect and refreshing! We had them in cups and no one spilled any on their clothes, therefore enjoying every last drop! Triple YUM!  It's just a good thing the truck doesn't come to our neighborhood, we'd embarrassingly be chasing it down the block!!

While I was at the Queens Health Food Emporium on Thursday, shopping for ingredients for my client, I saw the most gorgeous English Peas.  So on Friday Nana and I went back and bought a bunch along with Ricotta Cheese.  Came home and made Farfalle with Pea/Ricotta/Mint puree tossed with sauteed shallots and extra peas.  Served this as a side dish along side of grilled boneless chicken breast.  Here's the yummy picture:

Not a bad week for Foodies eh?

Friday Roundup

Decided to post quickly before our trip to RI.

  Will post a weekend roundup on Monday!  Looking forward to a great time in RI, tonite we're having Italian Grandma's Spaghetti and Meatballs!  Haven't planned the rest of the weekend's menu as of yet, will be feverishly catching up on Food Magazine reading in the car on the way to RI and hopefully get inspired!! (Like that's ever a problem!)

Here's two pics of meals we made this week at home.

First is the Roast Chicken with Tapenade from Alex's Day Off on the Food Network.  It's from Chef Alex Guarnaschelli who says it's from her fond childhood memories of the food she ate at home.  You can get the recipe here, the only things I did differently was to add a clove of garlic in the cavity of the chicken and I started it by roasting breast side down for 15 minutes then turned it over.  The tapenade was plentiful and we ate it later in the week with little baguette toasts.  The side dish was steamed baby carrots and asparagus with ramp pesto!  Awesome way to use ramps!

Yummy, yummy!

Second Picture is of my own version of Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup. Simple ingredients list:
Roasted yellow peppers, peeled
White onion chopped and sauteed
Chicken broth
Heat all then puree
Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt and chopped chives.

The inspiration came from the soup I had at Motorinos earlier in the week!  Delish, and soooooo easy!  Really just try it!

This was Nana's plate with a slice of her leftover

Brussels Sprout Pizza!

FRIDAY ROUNDUP

Just the quick list of this week’s recipes, culinary adventures, etc.


Top Cooking Faves from this week:

Pork Loin with Fennel and Mashed Potatoes & Celeric from our Mother’s Day Cooking Project.
Chicken Breast Marbella the updated version of the now classic Silver Palate recipe.

Eggplant Relish with Sliced Roasted Pork Tenderloin—the relish is going to become a new condiment in the repertoire.

Braised Rabbit with Carrots and Leeks a wonderful stew and yes, it did taste like chicken! LOL!!

Pan Roasted Split Chicken Breasts in Cast Iron Skillet—Simple? Yes! Tasty? Double Yes!

This week’s Leftover Winner: Sliced Loin of Pork with Fennel


Things I learned:

Out of necessity I learned how to butcher rabbits! Not necessarily the most fun I’ve had. The butcher didn’t cut them up as ordered but sent whole skinless (thankfully) rabbits complete with heads and some internal organs still attached! Gives new meaning to minimally processed!



Glitches and/or disasters:

One of the wheels on my Rolling Contractor’s Tool Kit broke off!! Of course this was on the way into a clients’apartment! Required me to carry it from the kitchen to the elevator, then out of the building and down the block to the parked car! UGH! Guess I’m going shopping!



All the other Ingredients:

Looks like we’re finally getting to the end of the Aero Garden’s harvest of Basil, Thyme and Chives. Time to start thinking about the next project for the 3 pod herb garden. The basil was great the thyme a little milder than expected and the chives a complete waste of time! Used a good amount of the basil in a pasta dish this week, just sautéed garlic and heirloom cherry tomatoes mixed with basil and Parmigiano Reggiano! Honestly the basil and cheese were awesome, the tomatoes not so much!