I know, I know its summer….but…

When I woke up yesterday to move the car for alternate side parking, I decided to go get a much needed haircut.  After the haircut I visited my favorite store: The Natural and roamed the aisles trying to plan dinner.  It was cooler that morning than it had been and at the butcher counter the boneless pork loin roasts were calling my name.  Logic said that it wasn’t going to be 90º today so it might not be a bad day to roast some meat and have the leftovers for a few meals.  Along with my new best friend, the tied boneless pork loin, I grabbed some sweet potatoes and some broccoli crowns and shallots.  No exact plan in mind, but I figured it would come together at home utilizing pantry items.

Once home, I was still less than inspired, so I turned to Mastercook, the recipe storage program I use for my business and searched for Roast Loin of Pork.  I got a gazillion recipes for everything pork and roasted.  Narrowed the search and it was a much more manageable list.

Read several interesting recipes and eliminated them as most would require a return trip to the store to procure at least one missing major ingredient.  Then I stumbled on one from The Too Hot Tamales,  AKA Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken from the Food Network TV show of the same name.  The recipe is from 1997 and is below for your perusal.  It requires the pork to be marinated for 8 hours or overnight.  So I instantly scrap the plan for that nights dinner and go "freezer-diving" for some scraps and ended up with 5 Sea Scallops and 1 boneless chicken breast.  I broiled these with lemon butter shallots and a healthy sprinkle of Hungarian Paprika.  Found a small amount of tri-colored Israeli Couscous and made Succotash with Yellow & Shoepeg Corn, Edamame, Onion, Red Pepper, Dill and fresh tomatoes, not a bad slap-dash meal.

So for the Pork I prepped the marinade while cooking dinner. Here’s my twists on the recipe:

*I’m not a big fan of reserving marinades that meat has spent some time in to use for a sauce.  Sometimes I’ll make extra marinade and put it aside before adding the meat to the balance.  Other times I figure out a sauce later.

*The only beer in the house was some old Pumpkin Ale I had purchased to make Pumpkin Chili with and to enjoy while eating that Pumpkin Chili.  So it was anything but new, but I figured since it’s a marinade and possibly a sauce it’ll be cooked enough to not worry about its flatness!
 
*I had a jar of basic organic Dijon Mustard, next time I’ll use something a bit more exciting, even if its only country style.

*I browned the roast in my cast iron frying pan and transferred it to my 12” All Clad skillet for roasting in the oven and I added some water during the cooking time to keep the pan drippings from burning.

* When it was done I pulled the meat out to a sheet pan covered it with a foil tent and put the All Clad Skillet on the stove.  Heated it up and added chopped Shallots. Then I added 1 tablespoon of Mustard, a pinch of Herbes de Provence and reduced the liquid to a nice sauce, which I mounted with butter to finish.  After the usual 10 minute wait I sliced the roast and napped the slices with the sauce making sure that we had a substantial amount of the shallots.
 
*We enjoyed it with Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Dried Chili Flakes and Lemon and Simple Baked Sweet Potatoes.  Delish!
                     
* Exported from MasterCook *

                    Roasted Pork Loin With Beer Sauce

Recipe By     :Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken
Serving Size  : 6     Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dish                       Pork
  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  2        tablespoons  Butter
  1              large  Red onion -- thinly sliced
  2                     Garlic cloves -- minced
  1           teaspoon  Ground cumin
     1/2      teaspoon  Ground cinnamon
     1/4      teaspoon  Ground allspice
  2            bottles  Beer - (12 oz ea), not dark
     1/2           cup  Dijon mustard
     1/4           cup  Honey
  3 1/2         pounds  Boneless pork loin, tied
  2        tablespoons  Vegetable oil
                        Salt -- to taste
                        Freshly-ground black pepper -- to taste
  1         tablespoon  Butter -- room temperature
  1         tablespoon  All-purpose flour
   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Add garlic, cumin, cinnamon and allspice and stir 1 minute.  Add beer, mustard and honey and bring to boil (sauce will foam).  Remove from heat.  Puree in batches in blender until smooth.  Cool to room temperature.  Pour into baking dish.  Add pork loin; turn to coat.  Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
   Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   Remove pork from marinade; pat dry.  Reserve marinade.  Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat.  Season pork with salt and pepper.  Add to skillet and brown on all sides.  Transfer to baking sheet with rim.  Roast in oven for 3/4 to 1 hour or until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 155 degrees.  Transfer pork to work surface; reserve any pan juices.
   Combine pan juices and marinade in saucepan.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Mix butter and flour in small bowl until smooth paste forms.  Add to sauce and simmer until sauce thickens.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Cut pork into slices.  Pour sauce over.
   This recipe yields 6 servings.
   Recipe Source:
TOO HOT TAMALES  with Susan Feigner and Mary Sue Milliken
From the TV FOOD NETWORK - (Show # TH-1E07 broadcast 10-27-1997)
Downloaded from their Web-Site  -  http://www.foodtv.com
  Formatted for MasterCook by Joe Comiskey, aka MR MAD  -  jpmd44a@prodigy.com   -or-   MAD-SQUAD@prodigy.net
     10-27-1997
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Enjoy, we sure did!!

Celebratory Dinner

Tonight we had Tiff & Howie over for dinner to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. Seems like yesterday we were in Las Vegas attending their wedding which ended with dinner @Tom Colicchio's CraftSteak in the MGM Grand Hotel. Maybe by next year I'll figure out how to embed the Internet broadcasted video of their ceremony on this blog!!

We started out the day trekking out to Old Brookville to go to Rottkamp's Farm for corn and tomatoes. Of course we never come away from the Farm with only what was on our list! We got Field Tomatoes, Corn, Purple & Red Potatoes, Red Onions, Red Bell Pepper, Cucumber and Yellow Grape Tomatoes all for dinner. And just cause we couldn't leave them there a few peaches and a couple of Heirloom Tomatoes.



On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's for the other ingredients and general grocery shopping.

The menu turned out to be:
Hors d'oeuvres
Guacamole/Chips
Roasted Yellow grape tomatoes & goat cheese tarts
Prosciutto wrapped Bread Sticks
Mixed Nuts
Trader Jose beers with lime


Dinner
Purple & Red Potato Salad
Salad Plate: Field Tomatoes, Yellow Grape Tomatoes, Cucumber, Radishes and Deviled Eggs w/capers
Pickle Plate: Pickled Cauliflower, Green Cherry Tomatoes & Brussels Sprouts
Oven Roasted Corn
Marinated Filet Mignon Roast
Grilled Chicken Breasts w/Barbecue Sauce
Rosado Rioja Wine/Sauvignon Blanc/Iced Tea


Dessert
Glazed Chocolate Cake
        (a Martha Stewart recipe you can find here.)

Pickles

Salad Plate

Potato Salad

Dinner Table

BBQ Chicken/Corn/Filet Mignon

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Cake

Fast, Fast, Fast Fresh Summer Meal

This is a really quick post for a quick light meal.  It's all in the picture! 

Grilled Galena Street rubbed Chicken Breasts
Grilled Romaine halves
Quick Grilled Grape Tomatoes
Grilled White Onion halves
Crumbled Blue Cheese
Blue Cheese Dressing
Drizzle of Balsamic Reduction
Garlic Bread Sticks
Olives for the heck of it!

That's it! So tasty, so easy, somewhat healthy!

A Purely Adult Slushie!

Reading some of my favorite blogs this morning, catching up, and smitten kitchen had this post titled raspberry limeade slushies.  Her entry talks about the famous drinks from 7-11 and her associated memories.  Which of course, just sparked them for me as well, especially brain freeze and the reason I gave up the indulgence long ago.  Then I remembered the frozen drink craze and how I tried to like them, but never really got into that one! Too cold, too sweet, too easy to over indulge!

But, as a lover of all things lime and key lime, I've always enjoyed the combination of raspberry and lime so this recipe sounded perfect to me.  As we were shopping for ingredients needed for some recipe testing I'll be doing tomorrow, I grabbed the limes and raspberries with the intention of making this the first recipe test! 

Once we returned home I pulled the ingredients together remembering that, no, we don't have any soda water, but that's OK, I'll make it without. Then I remembered at the end of Deb's post she commented how good this might would be with some alcohol!  So I came up with Chambord, added a splash and it's officially a very refreshing adult beverage! YUM!  We enjoyed ours with straws in tall glasses (next time I'll definitely use freezer frosted glasses).  Good thing it's a comfortable 76º here in Queens!  If it was hot and steamy one might want to have more than one, and that could be very dangerous!  Here's the recipe:

Raspberry Limeade Slushies

Serving Size : 4

1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup raspberries
1 cup water
4 cups ice
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup soda water
Lime wedges -- for serving
4 chilled glasses -- if you’re feeling fancy (or are interested in your slushie staying slushy longer)

In a blender, blend the lime juice, raspberries, water, ice and sugar until slushy. Pour into glasses. Top off with about 1/4 cup soda water and garnish with a lime wedge. 

Source: "smitten kitchen"
I'm thinking it might make a very interesting adult punch with sparkling white wine, Proseco or even Champagne!  Dangerously smooth! 

Thanx smitten kitchen for the temptation!  It is delish!

Corn finally cooked!

Finally, got around to cooking the corn we bought at the farm over the weekend! I wasn't feeling like corn before today and kept wavering back and forth as to what I wanted to do with it.  This morning Mark Bittman was on the Today Show with fresh corn recipes which you can find here. They include Corn Salsa; Guacamole with Corn; Cornbread; Corn and White Bean Salad and Corn Chowder!  That's it, I want Corn Chowder.  He took the corn cobs and boiled them in water for broth and cooked other ingredients adding the broth and half and half. 

Chicken Corn Chowder is another childhood memory of a visit to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania summer fair where the volunteer fire department served the best soup I'd ever had at that point in my young life!  It was Chicken Corn Chowder, my Mother's Uncle was instrumental in making sure we got a good serving.  I've followed bunches of recipes over the years and while nothing was ever inedible nothing was star quality.  Even ones from "authentic" Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks!

Tonight that is all changed.  Yes, I have learned a thing or two over the years about cooking, proper seasoning, how to combine flavors etc.  But, also, I have learned that trying to duplicate taste memories is folly for the most part!  So I've begun focusing on making a good quality, fresh tasting, well seasoned version of whatever I'm creating.  So I read another recipe of Mark Bittman's for Corn Chowder, from August 2008, and went to the kitchen.

Here's what I did:  I stripped the corn from the cobs and put the cobs in 4 cups of water and simmered them with some salt for 20 minutes.  Sauteed a diced yellow onion and 2 diced white potatoes with salt and pepper.  Added the corn kernels and sauteed a bit, added a pinch of sugar and a tablespoon of flour.  Strained the corn broth and added to the pot, stirring to fully mix. Simmered this for awhile to thicken a little. I might suggest a little more flour for a thicker soup, if that is your preference. I added 1 1/2 cups half and half and heated through, did not let it boil. Tasted and adjusted the seasoning, adding salt and white pepper.  Meanwhile I poached two boneless skinless chicken breasts simply in chicken broth with salt, pepper, sprigs of parsley and rosemary. 

For serving I pulled the chicken out of the broth cut into 1 inch cubes and placed in soup bowls, ladled the corn chowder over the chicken and garnished with chopped scallion and chopped roasted red pepper.  The tasty result can be seen here:

It was very good, and made a wonderful meal with a sliced heirloom tomato with Russian Dressing and garlic bread!  Can't beat summer farm fresh ingredients!

Fresh Figs Calling My Name

Can't even begin to think of how many times I've purchased figs at the Natural Food Market in Forest Hills, or Fairway in Red Hook, Brooklyn, or anywhere I stumble across them, and put them in the fridge and forgot about them until they were well past their prime!  It's probably the one ingredient that I've thrown out unused more times than any other!  Though, I must confess that this is one area in which I have improved greatly.  I buy less for "experimentation" just because I saw it!  Or maybe I've just gotten better at follow through in using things quickly after purchased. 

Anyway I purchased a plastic container of figs the other day where they are sitting individually separated, think egg carton!  This promotes freshness as when they are touching each other in those little berry baskets if one decides to over-ripen before you separate them the whole inventory is doomed!

On Saturday I used the first of them to make Fresh Fig and Goat Cheese Naan "Pizza" for a yummy Saturday Lunch.  You can read about it on The Amateur Gourmet's Community Blog here.

So today I set out to use the rest but am bored with the typical: fig and goat cheese on arugula; fig and prosciutto; fig tarts; etc.  This spurned me to search the Internet for some fresh fig recipes that I've never heard of, or much less tried.  I must have found 40 that called for chopping and mixing with goat cheese and stuffing chicken breasts!  Also found 100's using dried figs, even though I put in Fresh Figs for my search!

Then I found one that really piqued my interest.  It is on a blog called Kitchenelly and the specific recipe with detailed prepping pics is here.  My search was looking for fresh fig and chicken breast recipes.  This one came up from October 2009 and intrigued me immediately.  I liked the idea of the combination of ingredients salty and sweet.  I probably would never have thought of using Capers (undrained, no less) with Honey in the same recipe.  Capers, wine, onions, garlic, figs sounded fine. As did Wine, onions, figs, honey.  Now add Stilton and Rosemary to either but to both?  I really needed to try this to see what's up with this combo! 

Only went to The Natural today, after all it is Sunday, and the stores are crazy busy.  They didn't have plain Stilton, only mixed with apricots or cranberries or walnuts.  Standing at the cheese counter mulling over my choices I remember reading a few decent recipes using Blue Cheese so I selected a Buttermilk Blue Cheese from the good ol' USA.  I figured that the other ingredients were an eccentric blend how far off could this cheese be?

At home, a quick taste test of the cheese proved to be an excellent Blue Cheese, the buttermilk tang works so well you find it hard to distinguish from the tang of the blue veins.

Pulled the dish together easily using 3 very small boneless, skinless chicken breasts and the remaining 6 figs.  The smells were awesome.  I didn't reduce the quantity of sauce makings proportionately to the lesser amount of chicken and thusly did not have to baste more than twice during the 20 minutes in the oven.  Pulled the chicken and other solids from the sauce and reduced to a medium bodied gravy/glaze and served over the chicken breasts, figs, onions, etc.  On the side was Riced Potatoes w/olive oil and parsley and a salad of Baby Arugula, Matchstick Radishes, Sea Salt and a drizzle of Miso Salad Dressing.  A french Baguette and a bottle of King Estate Pinot Gris and we'll call it another fabulous dinner @ the NY Huff's!

More Summer Soup

Can't believe I haven't posted since the weekend!  Where did this week go??  After catching up on my blog reading I decided to try this recipe from the blog 101 Cookbooks for Buttermilk Squash Soup.  It truly wasn't difficult to make at all.  The reward for the easy labor is a wonderfully refreshing soup.  I didn't make the cumin butter that she includes in the recipe, but I did garnish it with lots of chopped chives.  The side was a spring mix with raw veggies, bacon and chunks of blue cheese.

Here's the recipe

Buttermilk Squash Soup Recipe

Recipe By :101 Cookbooks


1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 cup unsalted butter
fine grain sea salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions -- chopped
2 cloves garlic cloves1 pound / 16 oz / 450 g potatoes
1 pound potatoes -- cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 1/2 pounds yellow summer squash -- cut into 1/2 inch slices
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup buttermilk
1 bunch chives -- chopped

In a skillet, over medium heat, toast the cumin seeds until they are fragrant. Just a minute or two. Use a mortar and pestle to pound the seeds into a fine powder. Alternately, you can use an electric spice grinder. Set aside. In the same skillet, melt the butter and cook until it's brown and gives off a deliciously nutty aroma. Remove from heat, stir the cumin into the butter along with a generous couple pinches of salt, then set aside in a warm place. You want the butter to stay liquid until you're ready to use it.

To make the soup, heat the butter in your largest pot or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and a bit of salt. Saute for a few minutes, or until the onions start to get translucent. Stir in the potatoes and squash and cook for another 7-10 minutes, or until the squash starts to soften up. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of the stock (most of it) - the stock should just barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, roughly another 25 minutes. Remove the soup from heat, puree completely with a hand blender, then stir in the buttermilk. If you need to thin the soup out with a bit more stock, you can do so. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve each bowl topped with plenty of the cumin butter, and a sprinkling of chives.

Source:
"http://www.101cookbooks.com/"
S(Internet Address):
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/print/buttermilk-squash-soup-recipe.html

Enjoy!  The second night we enjoyed it with Ratatouille/Bufalo Mozzarella Panini's!  A great summer soup and sandwich combo!

Chicken (under a brick) with Black Pepper Maple Sacue

This is another recipe from Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie that I was inspired by while working on the elliptical!  They used two cast iron skillets and cans for weight.  Since storage is an issue in our NY apartment I've never invested in a second Cast Iron skillet--especially since I'd probably only ever use one at a time anyway! So I decided to finally go buy two bricks from Home Depot.  Bonus: they only cost 65 cents each!  A lot cheaper than another skillet! 

Now wrapped in foil. I didn't have heavy duty so I double wrapped them to in case the foil ripped:

First you Spatchcock the chicken:

If you've never done this along with the description in the recipe this site Cookthink has beautiful step by step photos!

I used a combo of canola oil and butter in place of all butter.

Cooking the chicken this way was awesome, filled the apartment with a delicious aroma.  There are many recipes for this process and many will have you start it on top of the stove and finish in the oven, which I do with lots of recipes, but I followed the recipe and cooked it on top of the stove the whole time.  Didn't need to heat up the kitchen more than it was!  Also listening to the crackling of the chicken was complimentary to the wonderful smells!  I did cook my chicken a little longer based on my instant read thermometer checks.

The sauce is amazing! Nana, who isn't the biggest fan of Chicken on the bone devoured her portion including the wonderful crispy skin!  Enjoy!


Chicken with Black Pepper-Maple Sauce

Recipe By :Paul Grimes and Ruth Cousineau

Serving Size : 4

1 whole chicken -- 3 1/2 lb
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 sprigs rosemary
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 cup dark amber or Grade B maple syrup
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Special equipment:kitchen shears; 2 (10-inch) heavy skillets (one well-seasoned cast-iron or heavy nonstick); a 10-inch round of parchment paper; 5 to 6 lb of weights such as 3 (28-oz) cans of tomatoes

Cut out backbone from chicken with kitchen shears and discard. Pat chicken dry, then spread flat, skin side up, on a cutting board. Cut a 1/2-inch slit on each side of chicken in center of triangle of skin between thighs and breast (near drumstick), then tuck bottom knob of each drumstick through slit. Tuck wing tips under breast. Sprinkle chicken all over with salt and ground pepper.

Heat 3 tablespoons butter in 10-inch cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Add chicken, skin side down, and arrange larger rosemary sprigs over chicken. Cover with parchment round and second skillet, then top with weights. Cook chicken until skin is browned, about 15 minutes. Remove and reserve weights, top skillet, parchment, and rosemary, then carefully loosen chicken from skillet with a spatula. Turn chicken over and re-place rosemary sprigs, then re-cover with parchment, skillet, and weights. Cook until chicken is just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes more.

Make sauce while chicken cooks:

Toast peppercorns in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, shaking pan occasionally, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a clean cutting board and coarsely crush with a rolling pin. Return peppercorns to saucepan and bring to a simmer with syrup, 1/2 cup broth, and small rosemary sprig, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a platter and loosely cover with foil. Add vinegar to skillet and deglaze, boiling and scraping up brown bits with a wooden spoon until liquid is reduced by half. Stir in maple mixture and remaining 1/4 cup broth and boil until slightly syrupy, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and swirl in remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Season sauce with salt and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Serve chicken with sauce.

Source:
"Diary of a Foodie: Season Three: Montreal: Cooking on the Wild Side"
S(Internet Address):
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/diaryofafoodie/2009/04/chicken-with-black-pepper-maple-sauce

Beet Gazpacho

One of the DVR'd shows I enjoy while I'm working out on the elliptical is Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie.  I'm always trying to make a mental note to go grab certain recipes from thier site on the Internet but then forget after the workout and a shower.  Last week I finally sat down and reviewed the recipes online for two seasons worth of shows.  Grabbing some I didn't even remember seeing!

This one for Beet Gazpacho was one of those that I only have a vague memory of seeing on the show.  But as I read it I imagined the glorious color it would be and thinking the mouthfeel would be awesome so I decided it would be worth the effort.

On Sunday I hit the kitchen to make a few things, Beet Gazpacho, Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia, English Muffin Bread, and Chicken en Papillote.  My theory being that if you're gonna be hot, might as well cook a bunch of stuff and get it over with!

The plan was for the soup to be Monday's dinner with a Chef's Salad after cooking in Manhattan.  It's a very simple preparation here's a picture of the sauteing of the ingredients:

Two adjustments to the recipe that I made: 1 cup of vegetable broth and 3 cups of water in place of 4 cups of water. And the garnish--remembering the many gazpachos we've enjoyed over the years one of our outstanding favorite things to do is add some cut up veggies at the table.  So I chopped some cucumber tossed it with sea salt, white balsamic vinegar and lots of dill, after 10 minutes I combined this with Greek Yogurt and placed dollops in the center of the bowls. YUM!!!

Here's the original recipe:

Beet Gazpacho

Recipe By :ADAPTED FROM CHEF JAIR TÉLLEZ, RESTAURANT LAJA, VALLE DE GUADALUPE


Serving Size : 6 
1 medium leek (white and pale-green parts only) -- halved lengthwise and coarsely chopped
2 beets (3/4 lb without greens) -- peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 medium onion -- sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 Granny Smith apple -- peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar -- or to taste
1 bouquet garni (2 large sprigs fresh parsley and 2 large sprigs fresh thyme tied together with kitchen string)
2 tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped dill

Wash leek in a large bowl of water, agitating it, then lift out and drain well.
Cook leek, beets, onion, and apple in oil in a heavy medium pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 10 to 12 minutes. Add water, vinegar, bouquet garni, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, until vegetables and apple are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Discard bouquet garni.
Puree soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), then chill, covered once cool, until cold.
Just before serving, season soup with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Serve cold, drizzled with yogurt and sprinkled with dill.
Cooks' note: Soup can be chilled up to 3 days.

Source:
"Diary of a Foodie: Season Two: Baja: The New Provence"
(Internet Address):
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/diaryofafoodie/2008/02/beetgazpacho

Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia

As promised here's the story:  I don't bake great bread, but I will put the ingredients into the breadmaker and enjoy whatever comes out!  A year or two ago I discovered this recipe for Sun-dried Tomato Foccacia and I  attempted it and it (surprisingly) came out great.  So I've made it a few times since.  It uses only the dough cycle on the machine, plus 1 minute of hand kneading, a short time in an oiled bowl, then rolled out onto the baking pan for another rise and finally baked after brushing with olive oil and adding cheese and seasoning.  I did something different this time, I used Napastyle Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt on top with the cheese, in place of garlic salt and rosemary and it is amazing!

Sun Dried Tomato Foccacia

1 cup water -- plus 1 tablespoon water
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons powdered milk
3 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
Olive oil
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Place water, flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, butter or margarine, tomatoes, and yeast into bread machine in the order suggested by the machine's manufacturer. Set to Dough cycle, and start the machine.


When the bread machine has finished the Dough cycle, take the dough out. Knead for 1 minute by hand. Place in an oiled bowl, and turn a few times to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for 15 minutes in a warm place.

Dust a 10- by 15-inch baking tray with cornmeal. Roll out dough to fit the pan. Make indentations in the dough with your finger tips. Brush top surface with oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with Parmesan, rosemary, garlic salt, and mozzarella. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned. Cool slightly, and cut into squares for serving. 

 Source:
"Bread Recipe.Com (ABM recipe collection) at http://www.breadrecipe.com"

As in Life: you need to Try It so I can say---He Likes It--Hey Mikey!!

Pork Tenderloin a l'Orange

Inspired by the recipe I made for a client, I duplicated it at home for our dinner tonite.  I knew it would be good, but wow, it's really great and not terribly difficult.

It uses sliced pork tenderloin pounded to about 1/4 inch thickness and quickly sauteed, the sauce ingredients get combined and added to the pan and simmered, dinner is done!

I added ground ginger to the sauce ingredients, deglazed the pan with 1/3 cup white wine then added the sauce and after reaching a boil added back the meat and simmered for 4 minutes.  Sprinkled the finished dish with chopped parsley, chives would also be great!

Here's the original recipe, which by the way if from a fellow Personal Chef:

Pork Tenderloin à l’Orange
Recipe By :Christopher Macartney
Serving Size : 4 
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 1/2 pounds Pork Tenderloin
1 teaspoon Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/4 cup Orange Marmalade
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Prepared Horseradish
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 jar Mandarin Orange segments -- (10 oz) drained

Slice Pork Tenderloin into 8 pieces. Using a meat mallet, flatten each piece slightly.
Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add Pork slices and brown quickly for 1 minute on each side.
In a small bowl, thoroughly mix remaining ingredients, except Mandarin Oranges. Add to pan and cook over medium heat.
Stir constantly until sauce thickens. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Transfer to warm serving platter and garnish with Mandarin Orange segments.

I served this with Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley which has Black Barley and Daikon Radish Seeds, very fibrous good nutty flavor.
And a just created recipe: Not Your Mother's Peas & Carrots:

Not your Mother's Peas and Carrots
Recipe By :Chef Jim
Serving Size : 4
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 large Shallot -- peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
10 ounces frozen peas
1 large pinch kosher salt
4 grindings black pepper
1/3 cup water

Melt butter in oil in med sauce pan over medium heat; add shallots and salt and pepper; caramelize shallots.
When shallots are nice and brown toss in shredded carrots and toss to coat. About 30 seconds.
Add frozen peas and water, toss and cover, simmer for 2 minutes or until water is boiling, turn off and steam 5 minutes.
Taste for seasoning, add salt and/or pepper; Reheat over high heat and serve immediately with additional butter if desired.

Stuffed Veal Rolls

Such a yummy meal tonight.  Couldn't decide what to have and finally decided on Veal Picatta at the store.  Bought the Veal, Green Beans, Roma Grape Tomatoes and Shallots. But by the time I got home I'd decided to try something else.  So I started with the veal, pounded it out for easier rolling.  Sauteed a few chopped Portabello Mushroom caps, Shallots, Sun-dried Tomatoes in 2 teaspoons of oil from the sun-dried tomato jar. After that cooled I combined it with chopped Basil and Goat Cheese.  Seasoned the Veal pieces with Kosher Salt and Black Pepper, placed a piece of Prosciutto on each and a dollop of the Goat Cheese mixture, rolled and secured with toothpicks.

Next, I browned the rolls in olive oil, probably a total of 5-6 minutes. 

Then I placed them in the oven while I prepped the sauce.  I used a jar of Acetum Cipolline Onions in Aceto Balsamic di Modena that we had purchased on our Italian Market trek in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. So my process was to add the drained onions to the pan, along with a squirt of Tomato Paste from a tube of double concentrated tomato paste. Deglazed with 1 cup white wine and reduced by 1/2 then added in the reserved balsamic vinegar liquid from the Cipolline. 

Added rolls back to pan with additional shreds of basil and simmered for a few minutes.

Meanwhile I sauteed another sliced shallot and a minced clove of garlic, tossed in blanched green beans, until the shallots are lightly caramelized.  Add halved cherry tomatoes and season to taste. Serve immediately or dress with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve room temp over a blend of baby lettuces for a great salad.

Here's our plated meal:

Very tender veal, lots of depth of flavor, the stuffing was permeated throughout the veal roll and the sauce was just acidic enough to complement the veal and the goat cheese.  Think I might leave out the Prosciutto and add chopped Pancetta to the saute of stuffing vegetables.  You could easily sub olives for the sun-dried tomatoes.

Baby Artichokes

Stumbled across them at the grocery store the other day and couldn't remember the recipe we had wanted to make with them but figured I'd find it somewhere in my collection of to be tried!

Turns out it was a Rachel Ray Recipe, we had seen her make on her daytime TV talk show.  It contained pancetta, so my ears perked up immediately!  The title to the recipe is: Springtime Spaghetti with Baby Artichokes and Herbs and can be found here.

I followed the recipe perfectly, I know, I know, highly unusual, but here's what I will do differently next time:  A little more wine and braise the chokes a little longer; peel them better left a few tough petals; saute some crushed red peppers along with the garlic.  And maybe a generous squeeze of lemon for brightness just when plating.  Otherwise it was a great meal!  Similar to a stir-fry, have all your ingredients prepped ahead lined up and ready to go. 

We enjoyed a few slices of thinly sliced whole wheat Ciabatta bread toasted, just like we had at lunch.  Nice meal for two with enough leftover for a lunch.

Sauteing the ingredients:

Plated:

A Summery Sunday Lunch

Just like in the winter when I make the refrigerator frittata, in the summer I make refrigerator chunky salsa.  The chunks are really too big for dipping chips, so I like to use it over grilled meats or on top of greens for a salad. 

Today's produce on hand yielded Avocado, Mini Plum Tomatoes (larger than grape and cherry) Red Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Celery, Parsley and Lime Juice. Added ingredients Kosher Salt, freshly Ground Black Pepper, splash of olive oil; pinch of sugar and a wee dash of Dried Ancho Chili Powder. Tossed everything together and let sit @ room temperature for 10 minutes.   Check taste for seasonings add as desired.  Served over mixed baby lettuces with two Melba Toast sized slices of Toasted Whole Wheat Ciabatta Bread. So refreshing!

Lots of great possibilities to add including Cucumbers, Jalapenos, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Fennel, Mango, Peaches, Pineapple, Papaya, Jicama, Tomatillos, whatever you like or have on hand!

Cilantro and Mint are also good herbs for this and it can be as hot as you like, smoked paprika gives a nice smokiness to it, use sparingly or go all hot and add a chopped Chipotle in Adobo with a small amount of the adobo sauce!

To make this a dinner meal add a piece of grilled chicken breast, sliced leftover grilled steak or even a piece of grilled fish, salmon, swordfish or shrimp!  When ever I'm in Rhode Island visiting family I'm always told that I don't make enough of this!  Last time I used 5 avocados and generous amounts of the rest of the ingredients!  Some are known for just taking the bowl out of the fridge and eating it with a fork, no accompaniments!  Tasty and healthy at the same time, in moderation of course!  Here's the pic:

Fridge Salsa Salad

Spice & Easy

Food Network has a new show called SPICE & EASY.  I keep missing it and forgot to set the DVR for it for several weeks now! Finally, today I made sure I watched it.  It is a pretty good show, the hostess is Janet Johnston, who with her husband are the owners of three spice shops in Colorado called Savory Spice Shops.  Actually, a friend from Cookstalk forum has visited the shops in Denver, and told us about the show!  You can also order from their website.

Janet has a passion for herbs, spices and cooking so she's a natural for explaining how to "spice" things up!  Today's show was about a barbecue blend that they make from a recipe submitted by a customer during a contest held in the stores.  She made Ribs with Peanut Barbecue Sauce made with Chinese five spice; Chile Glazed Shrimp with Pineapple Ginger Salsa; Celery Root Slaw with wasabi and honey. And her dessert was Grilled Spiced Sugar Bananas with Spiced Nuts.

She used a brine to prep racks of ribs and then after slow baking them she basted them with the Peanut Barbecue Sauce. This got me thinking, I had boneless chicken breasts that needed to be cooked today in the fridge, why not use this brine and sauce for them? I had all the other ingredients as well and love Chinese five spice!  I also had broccoli/carrot slaw mix, so I'd make the dressing from her slaw too!  Yeah, two new recipes to test out today, admittedly tweaked, but still new! 

Brined the chicken breasts for 1 hour then baked @375º for 10 minutes; basted with Peanut Barbecue Sauce and baked for another 20 minutes until done!  Very moist and delicious!  I cut back on the wasabi as Nana is not a fan, and probably will go full on next time, it was so mild she didn't even notice it was there!  Also looking forward to trying the Celery Root version!  I used the broccoli, carrot slaw mix and added scallions, we finished it all! 

I think I'll make the shrimp in Rhode Island next time we visit, they would love it!  And maybe the bananas too!

Check out the show and definitely try the recipes!

Long Fusilli with Roasted Tomatoes

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of big, bold flavors and recipes with a long list of ingredients to accomplish that boldness!  But, honestly, I am also a practitioner of simple flavorful cuisine. Today's dinner was a perfect example of that method. 

I started out by receiving a request for Pasta for dinner from Nana.  So I headed to the kitchen to see what pasta would inspire me.  I found plenty of choices in the pantry: Farfalle, Penne, Spaghetti, Orzo, Faro Linguine and Long Fusilli.  We bought the fusilli in Philly's Italian Market at Claudio Specialty Food.  From the kitchen I headed to one of the many cookbook shelves and selected all three of my Lidia Basitanich tomes. Quickly scanned the indices for Fusilli and came up with: LONG FUSILLI WITH ROASTED TOMATOES in Lidia's Italy.  I posted the recipe on facebook here. 
It was delicious and fairly simple.  Only a few tweaks (I know you're not surprised) I used more basil than called for, adding some chopped to the olive oil that is infused with garlic slices and I also heated the oil to just below the bubbling point before tossing it with the pasta!  Also, used Sapore Sweet Cocktail Tomatoes as the plum tomatoes weren't that good at the store today! The Sapore are packaged on the vine and smaller than the Campari but bigger than grape or cherry tomatoes. Cooked them just a little bit less time wise and didn't slice up the halves, tossed the whole halves onto the pasta!  Next time I'll add shavings of cheese to the finished dish rather than grated, I love a bite of cheese with my pasta! 

This is a light appearing dish, but we both felt is was just right for a summery supper!  Enjoy! Here's the pics: before, during and after!

Do It Your Way recipe!

Dinner Tuesday night was a creation that could be tweaked many ways!

We had Barbecue Pork Tenderloin Strips with Onions and Peppers on Ciabatta Rolls; Broccoli Slaw with Cider Vinegar & Sugar dressing; Salt and Pepper Potato Chips.

Was kinda craving pulled pork sandwiches but didn’t have the time for nice slow cooked pork shredded and sauced on a roll!



Brought home a Pork Tenderloin, trimmed it up and cut it into strips, the size I’d use for beef tips. Then I seasoned with Roasted Garlic Gray Salt, Aleppo Pepper and Black Pepper; vertically sliced ½ yellow onion and julienned one red pepper. Sauteed pork for 2-3 minutes set aside; added onion and peppers to the pan when lightly caramelized added one tablespoon tomato paste sauté for 1 minute longer; deglazed with 1/3 cup white wine; added back the meat and ½ jar of Bone Sucking Barbecue sauce. Simmered for 10 minutes; served over toasted Ciabatta Rolls.


Options: Red Onion, Leeks, Green Pepper or a combo of the colored bell peppers, Jalapeno, Minced Garlic, Kosher Salt, Paprika, Smoked Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne, even Taco Seasoning could be good, Red Wine, Beer, Broth or just Water, Any Barbecue Sauce and Your Favorite sandwich rolls.


My plan for the slaw was to add apples and use a Champagne/Pear Vinaigrette, but the apples weren’t up to par. Any version of coleslaw would have been appropriate, Red Cabbage and Fennel is one of my loved versions. And of course any of the millions of flavored potato chips would be perfect.


Love the adjustability of this meal. Will prepare this again, varying different elements each time. It’s one of those recipes that Nana will say: Didn’t you write down what you did last time??  Enjoy!

Fridge to Table Fritatta

For a delicious lazy Sunday morning Breakfast the first step is to go stand in front of your refrigerator with the door(s) wide open for a full assessment!  Then you pick out your ingredients at least some leftovers (potatoes, veggies, meats whatever), fresh eggs, butter, cheese, and maybe the ends of jars of condiments like artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, etc.  Don't forget to check the Deli drawer, there's often some wonderful bits in there!

Today's version had cubed leftover roasted sliced Japanese Yams; a few slices of prosciutto; 1 shallot; 1/2 yellow pepper; 2 jarred roasted red peppers, pepper jack cheese and parsley.

Started by melting some butter and olive oil in cast iron skillet and adding potatoes, shallot and yellow pepper all sprinkled with paprika and kosher salt.

Next I added chopped prosciutto and roasted red pepper; tossed a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley into the 6 eggs (I prefer to use 6 eggs and 2 extra egg whites for more fluff, but only had 6 eggs total) and a splash of ice water, then poured this mixture over the lightly browned veggies:

As the eggs were setting on the bottom, I tossed the cheese on top

Once the bottom was set and the center was starting to bubble I placed the pan in the preheated oven under the broiler, cooked until puffed and browned, let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving, good time to put down the toaster!

And finally plated with a dollop of ketchup, and fruit drawer bounty: orange wedges, blackberries & blueberries

Now there's leftover for lunch tomorrow!

YUM!