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Adding Posts to Frim Fram Sauce

2009-03-26T19:22:36Z

I just added some old favorites (from home_cookin), to Frim Fram Sauce. I plan to try out some new recipes this week, so hopefully there will be some new updates soon.

For those of you following the Frim Fram LJ syndication, sorry for the random updates all in one big bunch!

Moved over to Blogger

2009-03-19T17:26:18Z

Welcome to the 3 or 4 new Home Cookin’ friends!

You’re just in time, I’ve moved this LJ over to Blogger, and will be posting recipes to Frim Fram Sauce from here on out. Have no fear, my good friend chancelot created an LJ syndication so you can continue to follow posts via LJ, if you so choose!

Enjoy!

Breakin' in Blazin' Blue Bianca

2009-03-12T20:30:23Z

One of my favorite local establishments here in Seattle is Trophy Cupcakes in the Wallingford neighborhood. I used to be a fan of Cupcake Royale in Ballard, and to some extent I still am, but I find Cupcake Royale is more about frosting, while Trophy is more about quality cupcakes.

Anyway, Martha Stewart recently had the owner of Trophy on her show, and she demonstrated how to make Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting. Or, as I like to call them, S’more Cupcakes.

I used a gift certificate to procure a culinary blowtorch this week (Gift certificates should be used to get things you’d never buy for yourself with your own money…right?). I named her Blazin’ Blue Bianca, and I was itching to put her to good use. S’more Cupcakes was the perfect recipe to christen Bianca as a new member of my kitchen appliance family.

Recipe and photos after the jump!

Cupcakes

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• ¼ cup sugar
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Frosting

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Cupcake Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.

2. Sift 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer.

3. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.

4. Place graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined. (My metal ice cream scoop worked best for crushing the graham cracker crumbs!)

5. Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup.

6. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner.

7. Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup. (Rather than chopping up baking chocolate, I placed 5 dark chocolate chips in the bottom of the cup. It worked out well.)

8. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes. Here’s what they look like out of the oven. A little crisp, and a little melty, but not too much of either.

9. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter.

10. Bake until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 15-18 minutes.

11. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Frosting Directions

1. Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water.

2. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.

4. Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag.

5. Pipe frosting in a spiral motion on each cupcake.

6. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting.

7. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, up to 2 days.
Notes:

1. This made a LOT of batter, and I had enough leftover to make a cake in a 8x8 square pan:

I covered it with marshmallows for the last 3-4 minutes of baking, and used the leftover frosting to make a little swirly pattern on it:

(I was too lazy to make a graham cracker crust. But I did serve it with graham crackers on the side if anyone wanted to make little s’more mini-cakes.)

2. The cupcake batter turned out super smooth, most likely due to the cup of boiling water added after mixing – it dissolved the sugar and melted all the other ingredients into a nice silky batter. It was also extremely runny, and I worried it wouldn’t firm up while baking. Not so. The cake itself cooked up perfectly!

3. Using the blowtorch is so much fun! I already have ideas for what to use it on next.

4. Next time, I think I’ll sprinkle some graham cracker on top during the last few minutes of backing, or before piping on the frosting.

5. I will also purchase foil cupcake liners, and the torch managed to light a few of the paper liners I used. Oops! FIRE! :)

Basil Cheese Spread

2008-10-07T17:25:16Z

A co-worker brought this stuff in last week and was kind enough to type out the recipe for us. I grabbed a copy, but I know it'll just get lost in the depths of my purse. Since this is a good placeholder for recipes, I thought I'd post it here for future reference.

This stuff should be called Crack Spread. It's sooo addictive!

Basil Cheese Spread

Ingredients:
6 fresh basil leaves
3 medium cloves garlic
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup olive oil
fresh basil leaves for garnish

In food processor, process basil and garlic until finely chopped.

Add softened cream cheese, Parmesan, walnuts, and olive oil. Process until smooth.

Transfer spread mixture to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

Enjoy!

Oven Baked Stew

2008-10-01T18:47:34Z

This is my mom’s recipe. We ate it a lot when I was growing up, as the ingredients are fairly cheap (aside from the meat), it’s easy, and we all love it. It epitomizes Autumn for me. I’ve already made it twice in the last month, because I love it so much.

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it’s ridiculously easy. Just throw stuff in a pan, pour the ‘sauce’ over it, and let it sit in the oven for 3 ½ hours.

We always had this on Sundays, because our church service lasts 3 hours. Mom would throw it in the oven as we were leaving for church, and when we got home we’d be greeted with the smell of heavenly stew. Mom would have just enough time to throw a salad together and slice up some bread while we set the table. Mmm mmm mm!

This time around, instead of one large onion, I used a medium-sized leek and ½ of a medium onion. I needed to use up the leek, so it worked out fine. I didn’t notice a huge difference in taste.

The photos do not do it justice. I had a hard time getting good shots because the kitchen was pretty dark and the lighting isn’t that great. But believe me when I say that this is a yummy recipe!

Oven Baked Beef Stew

1 pound cubed stew meat or steak
4 potatoes, diced
6 carrots, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 cup catsup
2 cups water
3 tablespoons dry tapioca
2 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Place meat and veggies in a 9x13 pan. Whisk together all remaining ingredients and pour over.

Bake at 325 degrees for 3 ½ hours or until veggies are cooked through. Add more water if needed.

Before:

After:

The trick is to make sure all of your ingredients are pretty much equal in size/proportion. If you use baby carrots, cut up your potatoes, meat, and onion so they're around the same size. If you use regular carrots and want to cut them into larger hunks, just cut up everything else in similar-sized hunks. And, make sure you have equal-ish portions of everything. When you look at the pre-cooked ingredients, you should see equal amounts of potato, meat, carrot, and onion.

Beet Greens & Fried Potatoes topped with Poached Eggs

2008-09-22T17:16:42Z

My latest bin from New Roots Organics contained two items that I’d never cooked with before: beets and leeks.

I was a bit intimidated by both vegetables. I’ve had leeks before in various dishes, but I’ve never prepared them myself. And the only beets I’ve ever tried are the icky canned variety – which I am definitely not a fan of. I’ve heard beet greens are quite yummy, and since my 3 medium-sized beets came with the greens still intact, I thought I’d find a beet green recipe to try out.

I found this recipe on the Everybody Likes Sandwiches blog. It turned out great.

Beet Greens & Fried Potatoes topped with Poached Eggs
2 large potatoes
1-2 T olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 slices of prosciutto, diced
1 large bunch of beet greens, rinsed thoroughly & roughly chopped
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 T fresh rosemary
2 T fresh parsley
salt & pepper
4 poached eggs

Boil potatoes until tender. Slice into rounds and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and saute garlic, onions, and proscuitto add in sliced potatoes and fry until golden on both sides.

Boil water in a medium sized pot and start poaching your eggs. Meanwhile, move potatoes to one side of the pan and add in beet greens, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. When beet greens get wilty, about 2 minutes or so, toss with fresh rosemary and parsley and stir around the potatoes into the mix. Divide mixture onto 2 plates and top with poached eggs.

The greens were extremely spicy, which I wasn’t expecting at all. They have a sort of bitter, peppery flavor reminiscent of arugula or other bitter greens. The saltiness of the prosciutto and the starchiness of the potatoes helped balance it out a bit, but they were still nearly mouth-burning spicy. Who knew!

If you want to make this recipe vegetarian, try subbing the prosciutto for tofu or cheese. (The author of Everybody Likes Sandwiches suggests a salty feta cheese.)

I’m excited to use up the leek for something tasty. I think I’ll be safe and prepare a dish I already know I like – Potato Leek Soup. Mmmm. Soup. Autumn is here!

Farfalle with bacon, pesto, & sundried tomato.

2008-09-02T16:58:15Z

I spent some time in Eastern Washington this past weekend visiting family and while I was there, I tried a new recipe. My mom’s husband found the recipe in the newspaper and clipped it in hopes that I would make it when I came home. It turned out pretty good. I left the recipe in Eastern Washington, but I’ll try to remember/recreate it here.

8 slices of bacon
10 oz pesto
1 lb farfalle pasta
¼ cup sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped
1 cup grated romano or other hard Italian cheese

Chop bacon into 1-inch pieces and fry in a skillet over medium-high heat until done. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions. Drain pasta. Mix in pesto and sundried tomatoes. If it looks too dry, use some oil from the tomatoes to moisten it up. Mix in bacon. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and enjoy!

Notes:

+ I made homemade pesto with organic basil from my produce deliver service. Big bunch of basil, about ¼ cup of olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, and a handful of pine nuts mixed up real well in the food processor.

+ The bacon was good, but a bit too overpowering. I think this would be perfect with chicken in lieu of bacon. Or, leave the meat out altogether and just make it vegetarian.

Butterfly Pizza with Roasted Green Beans and Corn on the Cob

2008-08-22T17:08:17Z

I recently signed up to receive produce through New Roots Organics and my first bin came last Tuesday. It was very exciting!

I ordered the smaller “personal” bin and it contained: 1 peach, 4 Santa Rosa plums, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch of basil, 1 bunch of Romaine lettuce, 1 ½ pint of cherry tomatoes, 2 ears of bi-color corn, 1 bunch of spinach, 2 yellow zucchini, a hefty bunch of green beans, and 3 heirloom potatoes.

I was so excited when it arrived that I immediately started cooking with it. I made butterfly pizza with roasted green beans and corn on the cob.

For the green beans, we washed them, snapped off the ends, and tossed them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Threw ‘em on a cookie sheet and baked around 350 or so for about 15 minutes.

The ears of corn were shucked, washed, and boiled in salt water. They turned out so succulent and flavorful that they didn’t even need butter.

The pizza was fairly simple. We just used a pre-made Boboli crust with some red sauce and layered pepperoni, cheese, fresh basil, and cherry tomatoes on top. Basically a margherita with pepperoni.

The basil leaves are nearly the size of my palm and I couldn’t get over how pretty they were. I got the idea to make a butterfly, which you can see below. Basil wings, mozzarella body, peppercorn eyes, and roasted green bean antennae. I took it apart before the pizza went into the oven. Chopped up the wings and dispersed them over the top of the pie.

It was fun. I can’t wait for my next bin to arrive!

Produce prep:

Butterfly Pizza:

Finished Pizza:

Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

2008-08-05T18:47:56Z

Over the weekend I made cookies ‘n’ cream cupcakes. I can’t recall the exact recipe (it’s at home in a cookbook), but it involved a white cake mix plus some oil, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.

Crushed Oreo cookies were added to the batter, and half an Oreo wafer was placed in the bottom of each cupcake tin before the batter was spooned over ‘em.

The finished cakes were topped with a buttercream frosting (3 cups powdered sugar, 1 stick of butter, a couple tablespoons of milk, and a teaspoon of vanilla), and more crushed Oreos were sprinkled on top.

Photos below the cut!

Oreo wafers waiting for batter.

Cookies ‘n’ Cream batter.

Out of the oven.

Finished cakes.

Rigatoni con Crema di Pomodoro e Pancetta Affumicata

2008-08-05T04:56:20Z

Tonight I had a group of 6 people over for dinner. I had a bunch of pasta to cook with, so I made Rigatoni con Crema di Pomodoro e Pancetta Affumicata. Recipes and photos behind the cut!

Rigatoni con Crema di Pomodoro e Pancetta Affumicata
(aka: Rigatoni with Creamy Tomato and Smoked Italian Pancetta)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1/4 pound smoked pancetta, chopped
2 large ( 1 pound) tomatoes, coarsely chopped
8 leaves fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream (may sub half and half)
1 box (16 ounces) Rigatoni
2/3 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Heat pancetta in large skillet over medium heat about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pancetta from skillet and drain fat.

Heat oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 to 7 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Add pancetta, tomatoes, basil and seasoning. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in cream and continue cooking 2 additional minutes. Pour tomato cream mixture into blender or food processor; blend until creamy.

Cook Rigatoni according to package directions; drain and return to pot. Add tomato cream sauce; toss.

Sprinkle with cheese; transfer to serving platter. Garnish with additional basil, if desired.

Notes: Now, I really didn't follow the recipe to a 'T'. First off, I increased the recipe by about half. I browned the onion in the pancetta drippings, used less oil, and chopped up about 5 or 6 medium-sized tomatoes for the sauce. It didn't quite look like enough, and it was sorta runny, so I threw in one can of Italian-style stewed tomatoes, along with about half a can of tomato paste. Well, that made it too thick. So I thinned it with about a 1/4 cup of water, and then finally added the cream (I used half 'n' half). I only put about 3/4 of the sauce in the blender, and kept the rest chunky to keep the sauce meaty and robust. For the cheese, I got lazy and used a pre-shredded Italian 3 cheese mix.

Here's how the finished product looked:

Since it was such a lovely night, we dined alfresco. Here's what our table looked like before we dug in. Not pictured is the garlic bread (it had a few minutes left in the oven), and the nectarine cheesecake we had for dessert.

Death Cakes!

2008-07-30T16:50:57Z

My friend Aaron had a birthday yesterday, and held a little gathering at a local bar here in Seattle. I hadn’t seen him in several months, so I was looking forward to wishing him a happy birthday.

We met a couple years ago at our mutual friends’ wedding. He was the best man and I was the maid of honor and therefore, we got to know each other through wedding planning, rehearsals, and whatnot.

Now, Aaron and I are about as opposite as they come. He’s a hardcore metal musician, and I’m a church-going goody 2 shoes. But for some reason we really hit it off. Our friends call it odd and unexpected. I call it friendship. He’s a great guy and I’m glad to know him.

Anyway, I was thinking about his birthday and decided I wanted to make something to bring to his gathering. I figured there would be a good crowd and although drinks and bar food have their time and place, birthdays require homemade treats.

“What would be a good treat for Aaron?” I asked myself. “Oh I know,” I thought, “Black Metal Cupcakes!! There’s got to be something like that out there!”

Thanks to Google, I found an awesome recipe over at The Black Oven Blog. The owner of the blog, Meg, is a black metal enthusiast who also has a passion for cooking. Check out her blog. It’s pretty sweet. Erm...I mean...it’s full of wrath and eternal gloom! Or something.

These cakes are known all over the web by various names, but I just want to call them ‘Death Cakes’. I really like the way it rolls off the tongue. Try it: “Death Cakes”. See? Hey Aaron, is there a difference between Black Metal and Death Metal? Hopefully it’s okay with you that I’m leaning toward the death side on these.

Anyway, less talky, more cakey! Here’s Meg’s recipe, along with some of my own additional notes and a few photos.

In a perfect world everything would be as stark and void of color as these cupcakes. They are baneful in their absolute disdain for your tastelessness, and are true misanthropes as far as baked goods go.

Cake:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 cups cold water
6 Tbsp. goat’s blood (optional)

Cream cheese sea of woe:
8 oz. cream cheese(softened)
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
chocolate chips
1 splash of vehemence

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large bowl sift together: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt. Add: Oil, vanilla, vinegar, cold water. Stir gently until just combined. Too much friction annihilates the bubbles!

And believe me, there are bubbles. Feast your eyes on this boiling vat of fury!

In a small bowl stir together until creamy: Softened cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Add as many chocolate chips as you can stand. Fill cupcake tins about half full of cake batter, and drop cream cheese mixture by the spoonful into each one. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cakey part comes out clean.

Let cool, and decorate with an angry splattering of melted chocolate.

Here’s how my batch of Death Cakes turned out:

Look at how cute they are on my awesome aquamarine blue melamine plate! Aren’t they simply adorable?

...

Wait, what am I thinking?! These are DEATH CAKES. Hello! No no no. This will never do. They must be placed in a cold, hard, metal container on a bed of blood red tissue paper. Yeah, that sounds right. Yar! Death Cakes!

Notes:
• The original recipe didn’t indicate how many Death Cakes the recipe yields, so I doubled the batch. That was INSANITY. It ended up making 3-dozen-plus-6 regular-sized cupcakes, and five jumbo cupcakes. I had to use every cupcake tin in the house, and cook them in two batches.

• If you double the batch, be careful while mixing the dry ingredients. I accidentally turned the mixer on high, instead of moving the lever the opposite direction to turn it off. Cocoa-infused flour EVERYWHERE. I think I might still have some behind my ears.

• I experimented with the cream cheese sea of woe. It’s best if you use small dollops rather than large ones, so the cakey part cooks up and around the cream cheese part. Next time I think I’ll shove the cream cheese down a bit into the cake, so it’s only partially sticking out.

• I wasn’t sure where I could go to buy goat’s blood, so I left that ingredient out. Or did I? ;)

Spicy Turkey Burgers

2008-07-28T16:30:41Z

I have a new summer favorite. This recipe was quick, ridiculously easy, and soooo incredibly yummy! I am definitely going to make this again before the summer is over. Mmmm-mm!

Spicy Turkey Burgers

canola oil
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 pound ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Buns, lettuce, salsa, tomato, cheese, etc.

Sauté jalapeño pepper and onion with a little canola oil in a medium-sized nonstick skillet over medium flame, stirring often, for 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, gently mix turkey, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, salt and cooled pepper/onion mixture with your hands until just combined. Form into 3 or 4 patties.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over a medium-high flame. Add a healthy glug of canola oil and sauté turkey patties for 3 minutes on each side; they should be nicely browned. Reduce heat to medium and cook until just cooked through, about an additional 4 minutes.

Serve on buns with lettuce and any other condiments, as desired.

Notes:
• I couldn’t find jalapeños at my local Safeway, so I settled for Serrano peppers instead. We removed the seeds and whitish ribs inside (which is the source of most of the pepper’s heat), so it didn’t add a lot of unbearable spiciness to the meat. If you like your food spicy, just adjust the heat by adding some seeds or ribs in with the pepper.

• The ground turkey was sold in packages of 1 ¼ lbs, so we had a bit extra. It ended up making 4 regular-sized patties…which was just perfect!

• We added lettuce, tomato, and sliced aged Australian cheddar to our burgers. Salsa would be good on these, too.

• You could easily make these on the grill. We sautéed them on the stove because it was more convenient.

• I do NOT recommend making these burgers with beef. The turkey meat has such a mild flavor that all the other ingredients combined to make it taste really, really good. Beef of any kind would be too overpowering and wouldn’t turn out as good, in my opinion.

• The boy had two burgers and I had one, so that left us with one patty leftover. Later on in the weekend we used it for tacos. We sautéed a little onion and garlic in a pan with olive oil, along with some red pepper flakes. Then we added the pre-cooked patty, chopped up, with a can of corn and a can of black beans. We seasoned the whole mess with a couple teaspoons cumin, a dash or two of cayenne pepper, some chili powder, and a splash of lime juice. We threw in about ½ of a diced tomato and let it simmer until the tomatoes had absorbed. When it was done, we spooned the mixture into flour tortillas and garnished with Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, and sour cream. Yum, yum!

Free Recipes from Gourmet

2008-07-24T15:56:17Z

Free download of Gourmet magazine recipes.

Rosemary-Brie Mac 'n' Cheese

2008-07-21T19:41:30Z

We made mac ‘n’ cheese over the weekend. It didn’t turn out as great as I’d hoped. It had kind of a bitter taste to it, and I couldn’t figure out if it was due to too much rosemary in the mix, or perhaps the fact that the breadcrumbs got slightly burned. It was fun to try this recipe, though, and now I want to do more cooking with figs, just because!

Rosemary-Brie Mac 'n Cheese

2 cups small elbow macaroni, or similar pasta as desired
1/2 cup panko flakes or other breadcrumbs
4 tablespoons butter
1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole milk (be prepared to add more as necessary)
7 oz. Brie, rind removed
5 oz. gruyere, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
5 oz. fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in 1 teaspoon butter
1 cup diced fresh figs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook macaroni in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain.

Melt 3T butter in large saucepan; melt remaining tablespoon in small saucepan. Mix panko or other breadcrumbs into small saucepan; remove from heat and set aside.

Add flour to large saucepan; whisk over medium-low heat 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Add rosemary and bring to boil, whisking constantly. Whisk 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Add cheese, mushrooms and figs; stir until melted. Add more milk if necessary for thick, creamy consistency.

Preheat broiler. Mix macaroni into sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into Pyrex (or, for more crunchy surface area, spoon into 9-inch pie plate); sprinkle crumbs over. Broil until crumbs brown, about 2 minutes, and serve hot.

We roasted some broccoli with olive oil and salt/pepper on the side.

Cherry-Almond Bread with "Amaretto" Glaze

2008-07-17T17:08:42Z

My boss is having a birthday next week, and the office celebrated today at our staff meeting. Yesterday afternoon I found myself wondering what I could make to contribute to the party. The meeting was to take place in the morning, so standard chips, dips, cheese & cracker snacks were out.

Thinking about my pantry, I remembered I had a large bag of dried cherries needing to be put to good use. I wondered if I could make some sort of fruity sweet bread using the dried cherries in lieu of raisins, blueberries, or other fruit. Then I thought about how well cherry and almonds go together, and voila! Cherry-Almond Bread was born.

I searched the internet and cobbled together a recipe based on a few separate sites. I liked the idea of using an Amaretto glaze, but since I don’t drink alcohol and really didn’t want to go buy a bottle for just one recipe, I chose to improvise.

Results are below!

Cherry-Almond Bread with “Amaretto” Glaze

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups dried cherries
1 cup chopped almonds

Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp. almond extract
2 tbsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Grease 2 loaf pans.

2. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add milk, sour cream, and vanilla; mix until blended.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture, cherries, and almonds to wet ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are absorbed.

4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers of breads comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes for large loaves and 60 minutes for mini loaves.

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar with almond and vanilla extract. Glaze should have consistency of thick maple syrup or corn syrup.

6. Let loaves cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack. Drizzle with “amaretto” glaze so that it coats the top and runs down the sides.

Notes:

• I found an amaretto glaze recipe that called for 2 cups powdered sugar and 6-7 tablespoons amaretto. I used almond extract instead, but because it’s kinda potent, I toned it down a bit with vanilla extract.

• Make sure to have your dry ingredients mixed ahead of time. Once the eggs, milk, vanilla and sour cream go into the mixture, the batter starts to get lumpy and weird. I worried that I’d somehow curdled it. I had to move fast and start adding the dry stuff right away to keep it from wigging out more.

• The cherries regained their moisture during the cooking process and rather than hard chewy cherry bits in the bread, I ended up with nice succulent fruit with tons of flavor.

• I chopped half of the almonds up real fine, and the other half I left chopped coarsely. I liked the way it turned out – a bit of crunch, but not too much.

• This recipe made a LOT. Two full regular-sized loaves and one mini loaf!

My only complaint is that I burned my right forearm on the oven element while reaching in to check on the bread. Darn my clumsiness. Ouch!

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Mushrooms and Roasted Garlic in a Light Lemon Butter Sauce

2008-07-14T22:01:39Z

A couple months ago, Andy and I went out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant, just up the street from my house. I ordered Orecchiette (pronounced oh-RAY-KEE-et-ay), and was delighted to read on the menu that orecchiette means “little ears” in Italian. How fitting! They totally look like tiny little ears! I decided I would have to find a fun recipe and try my hand at cooking up a dish that contained orecchiette.

Well, I forgot all about it until last week when I found a recipe in the For the Love of Cooking blog. It looked so tasty that I was determined to try it myself!

Sadly, my photos did not turn out as lovely and as beautiful as the photos in the blog mentioned above. Poor lighting, frozen broccoli instead of fresh, and utter laziness on my part resulted in not the most gorgeous shots. Oh well – the food was delicious anyway!

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Mushrooms and Roasted Garlic in a Light Lemon Butter Sauce

Orecchiette, prepared per instructions
1 bulb of roasted garlic (click here for recipe), chopped
1 tsp olive oil, divided
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced into big chunks
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1 cup of broccoli florets, steamed
1 tsp lemon zest
Juice of one lemon
1-2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp basil, chopped
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast pine nuts for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.

Heat 1/2 tsp of olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until caramelized, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the same skillet add the remaining 1/2 tsp of olive oil. Add mushrooms once the pan is really hot. Cook until golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.

Cook the pasta per instructions; meanwhile steam broccoli florets until tender, remove from heat and set aside.

Once the pasta is cooked, strain then return to pot. Add the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, broccoli, caramelized onion, roasted garlic, mushrooms, toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste; stir until mixed thoroughly and serve. Enjoy.

Notes:
• We already had some leftover semi-caramelized onion, so we didn’t need the full 20-25 minutes for those.
• We increased the recipe to about 1 ½, because we had extra ingredients and I’m a fan of leftovers for my lunches at work.
• We added asparagus with the broccoli, because we both love it so.

Here is a photo of all the ingredients, sans pasta, before mixed it all up. Lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, pine nuts and chopped basil, mushrooms and caramelized onion, and garlic.

The final product. Not the most appetizing shots, but you get the idea.

Baked Eggs & Mushrooms in Ham Crisps

2008-07-09T16:18:17Z

I found this recipe online. It was originally published in Gourmet Magazine, February 2002. I couldn’t wait to try it out, though I was a bit nervous what the final product would be like. Fortunately, it turned out really good. Mmm-mm!

BAKED EGGS AND MUSHROOMS IN HAM CRISPS
Gourmet Magazine February 2002

3/4 lb mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
12 slices Black Forest or Virginia ham
12 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Prepare mushrooms:
Cook mushrooms and shallot in butter with salt and pepper in a large heavy skillet over moderately high heat, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and liquid they give off is evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and thyme.

Assemble and bake:
Fit 1 slice of ham into each of 12 lightly oiled muffin cups (ends will stick up and hang over edges of cups).

Divide mushrooms among cups and crack 1 egg into each. Bake in middle of oven until whites are cooked but yolks are still runny, about 15 minutes. Season eggs with salt and pepper and remove (with ham) from muffin cups carefully, using 2 spoons or small spatulas.

Notes:

+ I thought it would be a good idea to add some cheese to the mushroom mix, so we included a tiny bit of shredded aged Australian cheddar before adding the egg.

+ We had asparagus on the side, grilled with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

+ We also had roasted garlic bread toasted with a bit of the afore-mentioned sharp cheddar. It was perfect. Unfortunately it is not pictured here.

+ The yolks turned out pretty well-done, though they look runny in the photos. Next time we'll bake for about 10 minutes and check for done-ness.

+ We halved the recipe since it was only two of us. Basically just eyeballed the mushrooms and cooked up 6 cups instead of 12.

Orzo with Chickpeas, Goat Cheese and Oregano

2008-07-01T03:13:09Z

Tonight I looked to a recent issue of Bon Appetit for dinner inspiration. This recipe is from the June 2008 issue. It turned out quite yummy!

Orzo with Chickpeas, Goat Cheese and Oregano

1 1/2 cups orzo (about 9 ounces)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5-ounce log goat cheese, crumbled

Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the orzo and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Add the chickpeas, orzo and oregano. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Gently stir in the goat cheese.

Olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic:

Fresh oregano mixed into the olive oil mixture:

The finished product:

Dessert! Organic dark sweet premium cherries from a local orchard here in Washington:

Notes:

• I got lazy with chopping the oregano, and it probably could've used more. I did fudge a bit and added about a teaspoon of dried oregano in the final mixing.

• All I could find was a 4 oz. container of goat cheese, so I used that instead of a full 5 ounces. I thought it was plenty cheesy.

• I obviously mixed the olive oil in a small bowl (oops!). When it was time to add the orzo and beans, I transferred everything to a larger bowl.

Caramelized Onion, Spinach, & Ham Quiche

2008-06-27T16:22:03Z

So, we had some leftover caramelized onion and deli ham from the quesadillas we made on Wednesday. And, we had a ton of eggs. Like, three cartons worth. Why? Because I’m a space cadet and keep thinking I need to get a full dozen for every recipe that calls for eggs, forgetting that we already have some sitting in the fridge.

Any-hoo-diddly, we used up some of those leftovers in quiche!

Andy has recently discovered the magic that is quiche. A basic recipe is really simple, and you can make variations to your heart’s content, so it never gets old!

Here’s how he made last night’s yummies:

1 pie crust (we used frozen)
3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
About 1 onion, caramelized
¾ cup chopped deli ham
About 2 cups spinach
½ cup shredded Jack cheese
2 tsp dried chives
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix eggs and cream together. Add cheese, ham, and onion and stir gently to combine. Season with salt, pepper, and chives. Lay the spinach leaves in the bottom of the pie crust. Evenly cover with egg mixture. Bake at 350° (right, Andy?) for 1 hour. Devour.

I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookiee win.

2008-06-17T19:42:55Z

Last night I made Wookiee Cookies.

Let me preface this post by saying I am not really a Star Wars fan. Growing up, my only exposure to Star Wars was a small collection of action figures that belonged to my friend Jared. Jared was about 6 or 7 years my senior, was the son of my mom’s friend, and I thought he was too cool for school. He had a thick mop of blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and he listened to Bon Jovi. I was completely enamored.

In an effort to get Jared to notice me, I tried to feign interest in his little collection, which rested on his bedside table on top of a mat of silky white faux fur. One afternoon we were both in his bedroom. Looking back, he was probably babysitting me, but deep in my heart I knew he had actually done everything in his power to get out of going dirt-biking with his friends, just so he could stay home and spend time with me. With tremendous effort, I pulled my starry eyes away from Jared’s dimples and tousled hair and focused my attention on the small plastic figures beside me.

“Hey Jared,” I said as casually as a 7 year old could, “who’s this green guy?”

“That,” Jared said, rolling his eyes at me, “is Yoda. He’s only the most wise and powerful Jedi Master in the entire universe, duh!”

“Oh,” I replied.

I had no idea what a Jedi Master was, and I knew I was in over my head, but I couldn’t stop. The future of my life with Jared was on the line! I had to continue this conversation for the sake of the children we would eventually have together.

“Hey…so um…why is this girl wearing earmuffs?”

“Those aren’t earmuffs, that’s her hair.” Jared ripped the figurine from my hands and looked at me in disbelief.

“This is Princess Leia,” he said. “Don’t you know who Princess Leia is?”

“Sure,” I lied. “She’s...a princess.”

“Right, and she’s also Luke Skywalker’s sister!”

“Oh. Right, right. I forgot about that. Heh, heh.”

My cover was nearly blown. I had to redeem myself if I ever wanted Jared to invite me to eat Pop Rocks and throw dirt bombs with him and his buddies down by Oak Creek. I could tell he was already disinterested. His back was to me and he was rooting around in his closet for his favorite t-shirt. I picked up another action figure and asked, “So, this is the Princess’s bodyguard, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied, his head buried in a mound of clothes, “kinda. Chewbacca is pretty much everyone’s bodygua...”

I looked up. Jared had emerged from the closet, t-shirt in hand and gorgeous hair even more disheveled than normal. He was staring down at my hands, which were gripping the hard, plastic statuette as if my life depended on it. Slowly, his eyes made their way to my face, and he stared at me with what I imagined was unbridled captivation.

“Aimee,” he said, trying to control himself, “that is nobody’s bodyguard. That is Darth Vader. And you just broke his light saber!!”

I looked down and saw a thin pink bit of plastic on the floor, with a black gloved hand attached to it. And then I started to cry.

Needless to say, our love story never panned out, and I carried a permanent disdain for all things Star Wars-related into early adulthood.

That is, until I met my dear friend Wren in college. Wren and I lived together one summer when I was in transition from one apartment to another. There was an opening in her house, and I gratefully took it.

I soon learned that Wren is a hardcore Star Wars fan. My response to this, naturally, was “Great. Just what I need – another Star Wars nutso.” Wren tried in vain to explain the Star Wars story to me, and I adamantly fought her tooth and nail. Not only did I not care a lick about Star Wars, I also found it too complicated and confusing. So many people that may or may not be related, so many weird names to keep track of, so many solar systems and planets and spacecrafts...it was just too much!

Wren persisted though, and one evening in the midst of finals, I became weak. Wren had made popcorn, and I emerged from my bedroom, my nose following the smell of buttered goodness. My eyes were weary from staring at and proofreading an essay on global systems, and I was oblivious to the videos sitting out next to the TV. Wren offered me some popcorn, and I gladly accepted. I sat there munching for a minute or two, then Wren piped up and said, “So...want to watch a movie?”

“Sure,” I said, barely noticing the glimmer in her eyes, “anything to get my mind of this paper.”

“Okay!” she responded gleefully, “I’m going to show you Star Wars!”

I didn’t even have time to protest as she zoomed to the TV with lightning-quick speed and turned on the VCR. I sat there in a stupor as she disappeared upstairs, then came rushing back down with a Star Wars bucket. She began to unload its contents on the table: the entire cast of every Star Wars film ever made, in the form of Pez dispensers.

That’s right, kids. I was schooled in all things Star Wars with the help of Pez and an over-zealous Star Wars fanatic who was wise enough to recognize that I needed solid representation of what I was learning. I think we used a Nerf ball to represent the Death Star.

That night we had a Star Wars marathon. We watched the original trilogy, staying up until around 2am and pausing as necessary if I had questions or became confused. The next night, we watched episodes 1 & 2. (Revenge of the Sith hadn’t come out yet.) Wren was very patient with me, sometimes explaining a particular sequence two or three times so I could get it.

In the end, I enjoyed the films. I certainly didn’t LOVE them like so many other people did, but I could at least carry on a conversation about Star Wars at a party (if I absolutely had to).

A year or two later, Wren showed me a menu she’d made for a Star Wars party. It included items such as Princess Leia cinnamon buns, Yoda soda, and Wookiee cookies. I was blown away. The detail and creativity that had gone into making the menu was so clever and fun. I’ve since begged Wren to send me a copy of her menu, just so I can pull it out every once and awhile and chuckle at it. But she continues to keep it secret.

I can, however, recreate the Wookiee cookies, because Wren made them about a dozen times during the years we lived together in college. The recipe is pretty easy and a lot of fun...

Wookiee Cookies

1. Find your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe for the dough. If you don’t like peanut butter cookies, use a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Here’s the recipe I used:

1 1/4 cups flour, sift or stir before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars; beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour mixture, blending well.

2. Get a bag of Snickers Minis, unwrap a few, and cut them in half. Like so:

3. Smoosh a bit of Mini into a ball of cookie dough, then roll the dough around to completely cover the Mini, so it’s in the center of the cookie.

4. Place the cookies an inch or so apart on a cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes.

5. Wren suggested drizzling a bit of melted chocolate over the top of the cookies, to give them a bit more character. The ghetto Safeway chocolate chips I got didn’t melt very well, so drizzling really wasn’t an option. It was more like “splattering”. Hmm. Let’s just say the chocolate was applied with plasma-converting, laser-firing, “blaster” rayguns. Yeah. That sounds about right.

The best part is when you get a cookie that has melted a bit and spilled out the Snickers center onto the baking sheet, like this:

So tasty!

Now, you’re probably wondering why these are called Wookiee Cookies. The answer is clear to anyone who knows anything about Star Wars. The reason they’re called Wookiee Cookies is because there’s a Chewie inside, of course! :)

And believe it or not, I still have not seen Revenge of the Sith. So sue me!

Homemade Cracker Jack

2008-06-03T16:49:22Z

A friend of mine recently had a birthday and invited a group of about 15 people out to a ball game. I wanted to make some snacks for everyone and after some thought on how I could stay in line with the baseball theme, I decided to make homemade Cracker Jack.

I used this recipe and doubled it. For the “prizes”, I headed over to Archie McPhee and pawed through their ‘small toys’ section. I had a lot of fun with this project!!

Deluxe Caramel Corn

Pop 4-6 quarts of your favorite popcorn and place in a large buttered roaster. Preheat oven to 200 degrees, put the popcorn in the oven while you make the syrup.

In a deep pot, stir together constantly while heating, then boil together at a full boil for 5 minutes without stirring:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey OR corn syrup

Remove syrup from heat, stir in:

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 cups toasted pecans, almond slices or other choice nuts

Syrup will foam high when you add the soda. Stir down and as it cools slightly, pour in a thin stream all over the popcorn. Stir in well with two large spoons or gloved hands. Put the well mixed popcorn in its roaster into the oven uncovered, increase temperature to 250 degrees. Stir thoroughly every 15 minutes for 1 hour 15 minutes. Break apart and cool before eating or storing.

The toys:

Slide whistles, spy glasses, warbling bird whistles, siren whistles, “sports fan” (get it?), and hamburger yo-yo’s. Anything that wasn’t already wrapped in plastic I put into small snack-size Ziploc bags.

The popcorn:

The recipe says to make enough to fill a roasting pan. Since I wanted to double the recipe, I made a full roasting pan plus two large-ish bowls. If you look closely, you can see that I buttered the pans.

In the oven:

Of course, I checked to make sure all three containers could fit comfortably in the oven. I let the popcorn sit in there at 200° while I worked on the caramel sauce.

The syrup:

One full cup of butter – melting, melting, melting.

Plus two full cups of brown sugar:

At this point, things started to get a little hairy. I had hot, sugary butter cooking on the stove and slow-moving honey that I was trying to measure out and I just didn’t have enough hands to handle the camera on top of that. But I did get a shot of everything all mixed up and bubbling away:

Now the recipe says to let the mixture sit and bubble without stirring for a full 5 minutes. This was probably the hardest part of the entire recipe for me. I’m an overzealous stirrer. If something is on the stove, I can’t just leave it alone. I must stir! For this reason I am the world’s worst omelet maker, and whenever I make fajitas the meat and veggies end up battered and torn from all the stir treatment they got. Knowing I had to follow the recipe, I gave the syrup a final quick stirs, set the timer for 5 minutes, and forced myself to walk away. I busied myself with dishes and cleaning up while the syrup bubbled.

After 5 minutes, it looked like this:

You can’t really tell from the photo, but it nearly doubled its size in the pot.

Next, a full teaspoon of baking soda:

I was a little nervous about this step, because the recipe warns that the syrup will omgfoamhigh when the soda is added.

I was a bit disappointed, as it didn’t really do anything:

But then I added the vanilla and holy cow WHOOSH:

It even started to smoke/steam a bit, as you can see from the steamy haze in the picture.
I had 12 oz of peanuts in the cupboard, as well as a partial package of chopped pecans. I roughly chopped all the nuts and mixed them in with the syrup, took the popcorn out of the oven, and started to mix the syrup over the corn.

Again, time was crucial at this point because I didn’t want to ruin the syrup. Once I took it off the heat, it immediately started to thicken up. Since I had 3 large containers to drizzle and mix hot syrup into, I really didn’t have a chance to take photos.

But once everything was mixed together, I stuck it all back in the oven and increased the temperature to 250°:

I stirred the popcorn every 15 minutes like the recipe said. However, at about 40ish minutes I did a little taste test with some popcorn that had fallen from my stirring spoon. It had just the slightest taste of char to it, so at 45 minutes I took all the popcorn out. (It’s a good thing I did, because later I asked a few other people if they thought it tasted burned. At first they said ‘no’, but after a moment they said, ‘Yeah. But only just a little!’ Can you imagine what would’ve happened had I left it in for the full 75 minutes??). Next time, I’ll leave it in the oven for 30 minutes and call it good. Or maybe keep the temp at 200 instead of 250 and cook for 45.

I took it all out of the oven and set it out on wax paper to cool. As you can see, the popcorn darkened up in true Cracker Jack form:

While that was cooling, I set out to create the containers. I had looked high and low for some sort of box to put my Cracker Jack in, reminiscent of actual Cracker Jack boxes. But later that afternoon I was at my local QFC picking up popcorn kernels and I noticed some Cracker Jack in the aisle. Did you know Cracker Jack comes in ONE OUNCE boxes?? One ounce, people! Entirely unacceptable! Anyway, QFC just happened to have Cracker Jack on sale. Three (one ounce!) boxes are normally $1.79 (the boxes were taped together and packaged in three). They were on sale at 10/$10. So I bought three boxes of CJ for a buck with my trusty QFC rewards card, and thought I’d somehow use the boxes for inspiration.

Later at home I got a brilliant idea:

Lunch sacks! I cut off the front of the Cracker Jack box and scanned it to my printer, then printed up the image and glued it to the front of lunch sacks. I liked the end result. Gave it more of an authentic feel, somehow.

Plus, I was able to fit much more than one measly ounce of snack into each bag:

The final touch was a sticker on the back of the bag to keep it shut:

Everybody seemed to enjoy it and I had tons of fun, too. Here are some photos from the game:

Center Field:

He couldn’t get over the fact that I actually put prizes in with the popcorn:

Pass me some of that!

And me, later in the game, trying to get warm. Dude. It’s June! Where’s the sun already?

Taco Salad with Lime Dressing

2008-05-30T19:59:17Z

I received this recipe via email from America’s Test Kitchen.

Fast-food restaurant versions of this salad often use poor-quality ingredients. We wanted a healthier recipe that we could prepare quickly at home. To start, we used very lean (90 percent) ground beef to cut down on grease and omitted the tortilla "bowl" by simply adding tortilla chips instead. For a spicier taco salad, add a pinch of cayenne to the meat mixture. If you like, top this salad with diced avocados, shredded pepper Jack or cheddar cheese, minced red onion, or sour cream.

Serves 4 to 6

• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Table salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound 90 percent lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 hearts romaine lettuce, shredded
• 2 tomatoes, cored, seeded, and chopped
• 4 cups corn tortilla chips, broken into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine lime juice, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/3 cup olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste in small bowl.

2. Heat remaining teaspoon oil in large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add beef and cook, breaking up clumps with wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add remaining garlic, remaining teaspoon cumin, and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato paste and water and simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and cover to keep warm.

3. Toss lettuce, tomatoes, and chips with lime juice dressing in large bowl. Divide salad among individual plates and top each portion with some meat mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro and any additional toppings (see suggestions above). Serve.

We added corn to the meat mixture to bulk it up a bit, we used baby greens instead of romaine hearts, and I can’t recall if we remembered to sprinkle cilantro or not. Andy whipped up a batch of his famous guacamole on the side and we pretty much had the best taco salad ever. The lime dressing really added an extra kick.

In attempting to take photos of this meal, I accidentally took a video. Observe:

Me: Aww crap!
Him: Movie?
Me: SIGH. Yeah.

I was pretty peeved at the time, but now I just find it funny. :)

Here are some actual photos.

Pear, Asparagus, & Walnut Risotto

2008-05-12T16:40:06Z

My hun had some pears he needed to use up, and I had a ton of asparagus that I needed to use up, so he googled and lo and behold, Sunday dinner risotto!

(He found the recipe online, but it was vague in some areas, so we ended up modifying it quite a bit.)

Pear, Asparagus, and Walnut Risotto

One ripe pear
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup Arborio rice
Asparagus (10-12 stalks, cut into bite-sized chunks)
Sage
Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus zest
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Add olive oil to pan and sauté walnuts, asparagus, and pear in olive oil until tender.

Toast the Arborio in a little olive oil. Add vegetable broth, about a cup at a time, until rice has fully absorbed the liquid, stirring constantly (about 20 minutes).

Add the walnut/asparagus/pear mixture to the rice, along with the lemon juice and zest. Sprinkle with a bit of sage. Stir in Asiago. Enjoy!

This turned out tastier than I expected. Next time, we decided it would be better to sauté the pear mixture in butter instead of olive oil. We had already partially steamed the asparagus (it was leftover from another meal), but that didn’t seem to be a problem – the asparagus didn’t get mushy or limp in the cooking process.

Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-06T17:04:58Z

Chipotle Pork Posole

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound) halved crosswise
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo
2 14.5-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 15.5-ounces cans hominy, rinsed and drained
1 14.5-ounces can diced tomatoes in juice
2 cups water
1/2 cup cilantro
Lime wedges for serving (optional)

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Cook until browned on all sides, 6-7 minutes. Transfer pork to a plate and set aside (reserve pan). Place onion and garlic in pan; season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally until onion begins to soften, about 4-5 minutes.

Add chiles and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth, hominy, tomatoes, pork and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in center of pork registers 145 degrees, 3-4 minutes.

Transfer pork to a work surface and shred with 2 forks; return to pan. Top soup with cilantro and, if desired, serve with lime wedges.

-- Recipe from the April issue of Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food", as seen in the Seattle PI.

The smallest pork tenderloin we could get was a 2 pounder, so we seared the other half, cut it up into smaller hunks, marinated it with lime juice, honey, red pepper flakes, cumin, and garlic powder, and cooked it up in the frying pan. Yum yum yum.

The chips and salsa we had on the side are really doing a number on me today, though. I have some serious dragon breath. I brushed twice, mouthwashed the heck out of my mouth, ate breakfast, and popped some breathmints and I still feel oniony and gross.

Bacon Asparagus Pizza

2008-04-28T16:19:00Z

Last night we made bacon asparagus pizza. It was to die for.

Ingredients

• 5 thick slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 unbaked pizza crust
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup chopped fresh asparagus
• 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 (11 ounce) log fresh chevre (goat cheese)
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. Place bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for a few minutes to release most of the grease, but do not cook until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain.

3. Spread the pizza crust out on a pizza pan or large baking sheet. Top with mozzarella cheese, bacon pieces, asparagus, and tomatoes. Dot with goat cheese, then season with red pepper flakes and black pepper.

4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown underneath when you lift it up to take a peek. Let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes:

• We used a thin Italian-style Boboli crust.
• We didn’t need near as much cheese as the recipe called for.
• I think we may have forgotten the red pepper flakes by accident.
• I'm surprised we didn't need any sauce. The cheese and bacon drippings gave it enough moisture so it wasn't too dry.