When the cook is away....

Shell's has to break out the chef gear and make dinner for herself!  UGH!!!  Tom will begin traveling in a few weeks and to get me in the right state of mind he informed me he had a work outing this evening.  So what does that leave me to do?  Well I seriously considered take out but I then realized he has Chinese takeout on the menu for tomorrow..so takeout was out.    When Tom comes home from work he actually enjoys to cook and be creative.  I on the other hand prefer to relax and have a glass of wine.  So when it comes to my turn to cook let's just say I try to make the quickest meal and as healthy as I can manage in the shortest amount of time.  

I did not prepare fully for this lone adventure as you will see in a few weeks when I'm on my own for weeks at a time.  This week I figured I would wing it with whatever Tom had "leftover" from his week of cooking.  Tonight I went with veggie pasta.  We always have frozen pasta in the freezer and sauce in the cupboard for me to use.  Tom left me asparagus and sugar snap peas to use this week.  So this was the outcome...

Asparagus & Sugar Snap Pea Tortellini Alfredo

This dish is very simple in that I just sauté the vegetables in a lightly oiled skillet for ~8-10 mins while pasta is cooking.  I flavor with crushed red pepper and garlic pepper.  Mix some sauce with pasta and combine on plate.     

While Tom is traveling you will not see as elaborate meals from me but you will see meals that are easily prepared in 20-30mins with out too much effort.

 

Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike...Guess What Day It is?

Marques De Gelida Cava '09

It's Sparkling Wine Wednesday of course!  Tom and I started "celebrating" Sparkling Wine Wednesday back in 2012 more out of necessity as we were preparing for our wedding in the OBX which was a DIY affair.  I needed the champagne tops and corks to make decorations for our dinner table.   Table pictured below.

DIY Wedding table

Fast forward to 2014 and we decided that we should bring Sparkling Wine Wednesday back to the calendar.  We may not remember every week to celebrate we make the effort and enjoy to clink our glasses and celebrate making it through half of the week!  One of our favs is pictured Marques De Gelida Cava.  It is dry, light, and easy to drink.  It is also reasonably priced.  We have found it at our local Whole Food's ranging in price from $19.99 all the way down to $13.99!  

Grab your special someone and pop open a bottle of sparkling wine on any random day and tell me you don't feel a little better after your long day of work!

First day at work after vacation = quick old standby ...

First day back from a two week vacation, yep, work was pretty busy today.  Getting home about 6.45ish and feeling the effects of a day with no nap (man I miss those), I resorted to making an old standby for dinner ... PASTA.

So how does one begin my quick old standby?  Well, you can't see it from the picture, but at the bottom of that is a nice (albeit small since the post-vacation diet is in effect) pile of previously frozen tortellini with a bit of bottled Alfredo sauce.  The trick to turning this dinner from reheated pasta :-( to Yea, Pasta! :-) is the toppings ...

For tonight's pasta I used roasted Brussels sprouts (saw them at the store yesterday and they just yelled out to me) combined with a sautéed veggies and shrimp topping ...  The Brussels sprouts were roasted in the oven with olive oil & truffle salt (20 minutes at 425, turning once half way ... turn again, then 15 minutes at 350).  I used large shitake mushroom caps (quartered), asparagus spears (cut into about 4 pieces each) & kale (about 1/2 bunch, roughly torn) & 12 large shrimp (shelled and de-veined) for the veggie & shrimp topping.  The topping was sautéed in light olive oil over medium heat (add a little salt and pepper to taste as you go) with the veggies going in first, turning often, for about 15 minutes ... followed by the shrimp in for about 10 minutes, turning once in the middle to ensure they are cooked evenly.

Plating towards the top ... place pasta on the plate, put three shrimp on either side, and 4 sprouts on the large plate side ... divide the shrimp and veggie topping onto the top of the pasta.

Optional add ons include shaved parmesan cheese on top of the mix ... and with that you have a 35 minute dinner that tastes awesome, is fairly healthy, and will still leave you time to hit the couch for a bit to unwind before you head to bed in preparation for tomorrow.

Just your average sunday night dinner ...

This week's dinner menu

 While shopping for this week's dinner, I stopped by the fishmonger's counter at Whole Foods and spotted some great looking local oysters (one of the great benefits of living so close to the Chesapeake Bay) that I of course decided to improve in to the menu.  So before tonight's main beef and veg course, we started with a little fun ...

Chesapeake Bay oysters w/ soy, white wine, mustard mignonette

These guys were the perfect starting course with a dry vodka martini (me) & dry white wine (Shells).  After slurping back a few oysters, we moved on to the main course ...

Broiled dry-aged NY Strip w/ Roasted Starches & Vegetables

Tonight I broiled a Whole Foods dry-aged NY Strip (about 12 ounces total) and then sliced it between the two of us.  I did a very basic steak with just a bit of seasoning and some butter while under the broiler.  I served it on top of a variation of roasted starches & vegetables ... something I enjoy using with a lot of different proteins.  Tonight was potato, kale & yellow onion ...

Roasted Starches & Vegetables (serving for 2)

2 Medium Red Potatoes

1 Bunch Kale

1 Small Yellow Onion

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut potatoes into strips (about french fry size) ...  hold the potato in the same position and cut 4 slices (will create four ovals).  Cut each of those slices into four pieces (long ways).  Put the potatoes in a bowl & toss in half of the olive oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper.  Put the potatoes flat on a baking sheet and put in oven ... set timer for 15 minutes.

Trim the kale from the central stalks and tear into manageable pieces (no bigger than 2 inches by 4 inches).  Cut the ends off the onion, cut in half, remove outter skin & cut each half long ways into 5 slices.  Put the kale and onion into the bowl used earlier with the remainder of the oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper, mix well.  Put kale and onions on a second baking sheet (do not put in oven yet).

When 15 minute timer ends, remove potatoes from oven and using a spatula, flip over the potatoes, return to over with a 15 minute timer.  When second timer goes off, put the kale and onions into the oven ... set a timer for 10 minutes.  When 10 minute timer goes off, remove potatoes, flip again and return to oven, remove kale and onions and stir ensuring that any kale on the bottom of the pan moves to the top ... return to oven for no more than 10 minutes (checking at 5) until kale is just crispy.  Remove from oven, toss together & serve.

First(ish) night back from vacation

Brined bone-in pork chop, braised greens & avocado white beans

So while last night was technically our first night home from vacation after 15 hours of travel we did what anyone else would have done and ordered pizza.  Tonight, therefore, was my first night back at the stove after almost two weeks!  While most might be upset over that fact, I was ready to dive right on in.

I settled on an old favorite for the evening (and something very different from what we'd eaten on vacation) and went with brined pork chops, braised greens and avocado white beans (a new invention).

These white beans combine the base creaminess of cannellini beans with the even creamier texture of avocado added in.  Once finished, this dish will be more of a lukewarm to cool consistency ... that's ok, because it will take the heat from hot food or support cold dishes.

Avocado White Beans (this recipe made enough for about 3 servings)
1 can cannellini beans (I used Whole Foods brand tonight)
Approx. 1/2 cup chicken stock (I find that I use stock as needed, so an imperfect measure here)
2 pinches salt
2 pinches garlic pepper
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
1 splash of Sriracha (optional)
1 very ripe avocado
1/2 lime
water

Drain and rinse beans in a colander, put in pot with about 1/4 cup chicken stock, 1/2 salt, 1/2 garlic pepper and put onto medium heat, allow to come to a simmer and liquid to cook down.  Add more stock in small doses as needed to keep from sticking and burning.

While the beans are coming to temperature, create the avocado mix.  Halve the avocado and scoop into a mixing bowl.  Squeeze the juice from the lime over the avocado, add remaining seasoning.  Use a small masher, or a fork, to mash the avocado as well as you can.  Once mashed, begin adding water on tbsp at a time and stirring until a smooth paste consistency ... set aside.

Add the cheese to the beans, remove from heat and stir until melted.  Pour the avocado mixture in to the beans, stirring until blended, and then spoon on to plates.

The night before vacation ... and the in-laws are in town

So with Michelle and I preparing to head off for a well deserved two weeks of vacation after the hectic year end close, we hosted Michelle's parents here for a night.  To help pay them back for agreeing to watch the dog for two weeks, I rolled out a few old favorites.

Brined pork tenderloin, bbq greens, pimento twice baked potato.

The pork was brined similarly to the method shown previously (pickle brine in Clausen's pickle juice) however I then baked it for 25 minutes at 425F before slathering it with BBQ sauce (Stubb's spicy) and throwing it on the ol' grill pan to caramelize a little bit.  The greens were also of a similar type to those featured previously ... so what then you ask, is the point of this post besides showing off your dinner?  Who doesn't like an awesome twice baked potato?

Pimento, bacon twiced baked potatoes:

2 russet baking potatoes

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 cup Pimento cheese

2 tbsp 1% milk

2 slices bacon (I use Whole Foods habanero, green chile bacon)

1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used Giant 6 cheese Italian blend)

Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 425F, coat the potatoes with olive oil, salt & pepper, put in oven uncovered on baking tray.  Cook potatoes until soft (about 1 1/4 hours for medium sized).  Pre-cook the bacon, rough chop it and put it in large mixing bowl with the pimento cheese.  Once potatoes are cooked, scoop out the inside and add to the bowl, leaving the shells intact.  Add milk and stir potato mixture until well blended.  Divide mixture evenly among the potato skins, topping with shredded cheese.  Cook potatoes in 425F oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  Potatoes can be made well ahead, adjust cooking time to ensure middle is heated through.

Hopefully you enjoy these as much as we do ... we're off to vacation tomorrow, maybe we'll share some pictures if the food warrants it ... but if not, we'll be back in two weeks.  Before we go though, a picture of a guilty pleasure of ours ...

Salted pretzel rolls (Whole Foods)

Pre-Theater Dinner at Dinamo

Tom got to have a break in the kitchen on Saturday night as we had previously scheduled plans.  We are subscribers to the Broadway in Richmond series which means we go to dinner with a group of friends (at the early time of 5:30pm) and then enjoy a traveling broadway show at the Landmark Theater.  This Saturday we decided on a small restaurant only .4 miles from the theater to be able to walk from dinner to the show (and avoid parking deck from hell).  This week we chose Dinamo which is in the restaurant family of Edo's Squid, Mamma Zu, and 8 1/2.  We have only had the opportunity to enjoy Edo's Squid but I could definitely feel the similar vibe.

The primarily italian fare made for a rather difficult decision of dinner choices for Tom and I.  Our first challenge was that they currently did not have vodka on their bar menu.  This made for our habitual pre dinner martini a challenge.  Tom ended up with a manhattan while I went with a limoncello and club soda.  I was pleased with my choice however limoncello is really more of a summer time beverage in my mind.  Our group of friends wanted to try most of the menu and Tom and I definitely followed that trend.

We started with a white pizza with half olive and half anchovy.  They actually plated separately and was a bit much for a starter but that wasn't going to stop us!  

White pizza w/olive

Next up we chose the clams and mussels in a unbelievable garlic broth.  Let's just say that I would definitely consider the option to add pasta to this dish.  Most of our friends enjoyed dropping a few pieces of their bread in to sop up the garlicky goodness.  

Clams & Mussels

Tom and I went different directions for our main courses.  Tom chose Beef cheek with polenta and I went with gnocchi bolognese.  Both were very good and more than fairly portioned.   The sauces were rich and balanced well with the gnocchi and the beef cheek.  

Gnocchi Bolognese

Beef Cheek with Polenta

The restaurant is small and by the time we were leaving there were numerous groups that came in to eat and ended up leaving which I assume was because the wait was too long.  As a restaurant so close to the Landmark it is well worth the visit prior to a show.  You might just want to plan to enjoy an espresso to wake you up from the heavier italian fare.

We had a post work happy hour, which left us getting home a little later ... therefore we did some "surf and turf" quesadillas for dinner on Friday night.  I'll admit, it was not the most imaginative dinner, but this type of things is one of our go-to weeknight dinners when we're out and about b/c it's quick, easy and tasty.

Tonight featured corn quesadillas, sauteed veggies, lobster tail & Whole Foods cilantro chicken sausage.

Sauteed Veggies (the non-French basic version):

Bell Pepper, cut in to strips

Red Onion, cut in to strips

Asparagus, cut in to 2 inch pieces

Broccoli, trimmed and halved where larger crowns

Seasonings to taste (1 tsp garlic pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp goya saizon)

In saute pan, heat olive oil at med-high heat until freely moving when pan is tilted.  Add veggies and cook, agitating frequently, for 5 minutes.  Add seasoning and cook between 5 - 10 more minutes depending how cooked you like your veggies.

Flat Iron Steak with greens and avocado ... We should probably make it more

Flat Iron Steak is an underrated cut in my book ... lean like a sirloin steak, albeit a bit thinner, it presents a great opportunity to broil the steak and cook it to a great temperature.  Trying to keep our red meat consumption down, I went with a 2/3 pound cut of flat iron for tonight's dinner.  While the steak was the main protein tonight I'm going to feature the other parts of this dinner because, frankly, avocado and collard greens are the true underused parts of home dinners these days.

BBQ Greens
1 Bunch collard greens
1/2 Red Onion
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 TBSP bbq sauce
1 tsp Garlic Pepper
1 tsp Olive Oil

Half red onion, remove end and skin ... cut in to thin slices.  Strip central stem out of collard greens, loosley chop leaves.  Heat olive oil in sauté pan over medium heat, add red onion and cook for 1 minute ... agitate frequently.  Add collard greens, vinegar & garlic pepper ... cook down.  Cook until wilted, remove from heat, add bbq sauce, stir and serve.

Avocado topping
1 avocado
1 lime
1 tsp garlic pepper

I know you were hoping for some life changing recipe here, but it's pretty simple ... Chop the avocado, put in a bowl, squeeze the lime into it, add the garlic pepper ... stir and that's it.

My latest infatuation, brined pork

Brining meats is a great way to add some fun flavor, and while it is better with a little forethought, it can even be done in a pinch.  Tonight's dinner featured a brined bone in pork chop (grilled with bbq sauce), mashed potatoes and braised collard greens.  There are many ways to brine meat, but my current favorite (and a great way to brine quickly) is using pickle juice.  Outside of the brining, this dinner took probably an hour total from start to finish:

Pork Chops:
2 Bone in pork loin chops (I get mine at the butcher counter at Whole Foods and they're about 1" thick)
1/4 cup Clausen's pickle juice (when I finish a jar of pickles I keep the juice in the fridge just for this purpose)
Bar-b-que Sauce (I used Stubb's Spicy here, but any sauce will do)
1 large, shallow, ziploc tupperware container

Put the pork end to end in the ziploc (or whatever other container allows them both to be fully touching the bottom.  Add the pickle juice, and shake lightly to ensure the chops move and allow juice under them.  Brine the pork overnight, flipping about half way through (before I go to work in the morning is when I do it).
Heat grill to medium-high temperature and begin cooking pork (about 5 minutes for the one's I use, but adjust time as you see fit)
Once you flip, apply sauce ... cook another five minutes (or your adjusted time) and flip again, applying sauce to this side as well.  I'll probably flip 2 or so more times in the next 4 minutes to get a little more sauce on both sides.  Pull pork off and prepare to enjoy with your favorite sides (even when you know you've cooked it through, the brining can leave pork looking a little pink, always error on the side of caution, but you're likely good).

Welcome to our blog: Corporate by Day, Foodie by Night

Who are we?

We are a husband (Tom) and wife (Shells) who forged a relationship around a love of cooking (his), a love of baking (hers), and a love of wine and eating (theirs).  Both of us work in corporate jobs that we love; however, they are demanding jobs ... which brings me to the next point ...

Why are we doing this?

We love to do many things, but chief among them (besides work of course) are cooking and traveling to eat.  Cooking & eating provides a bit of release from the corporate worlds we spend our days in and we think we've gotten kinda good at it ... leading to point 3 ...

What gives us the authority to write this?

We'll be honest, not much.  Tom trained in restaurant kitchens during his formative years (ok, that's a glamourous way to say he worked in kitchens for a few years in college).  Shells has been baking & doing all things dough since her early childhood, starting with simple things (cupcakes and cookies) before graduating to the big leagues with pasta, dumplings & any dessert that Bon Appetit can put on the cover.

We both studied (that's code for drinking) wine at the feet of some awesome sommeliers who specialize in old world wine (and who now work for one of the most awesome wine importers in the US).  They taught us how to appreciate old wine and new wine, from old world and new world.  Once, one of them even tried to convince us that orange wine was awesome, jury's still out.

We started eating at young ages, almost immediately actually, and quickly progressed from the days of apple sauce and mushed peas.  Shell's childhood culinary development consisted largely of oyster crackers, horseradish & raw clams ... and this was just age 6.  In her teenage years Shell's enjoyed numerous perfectly grilled (medium rare) steaks and baked potatoes perfected by her parents, swimming fish were not an option in her household, only the kind that have shells (no pun intended).  While in college Shell's red meat access decreased and in turn limited her culinary spark.  Meeting Tom reintroduced the meats and fish she avoided for so long (except Salmon that is still off the table).  Tom learned to eat a bit of everything from his mother, who has had a subscription to Bon Appetit for as long as he can remember ... well, everything except Mole sauce.  After college, and his kitchen experiences, Tom got the opportunity to start traveling for work ... 6 years with extended stays both domestically and abroad gave him the opportunity to eat all over the place, and all types of food, (but I'm jumping ahead a little bit here).

Two years into Tom's traveling, we started dating and the love affair with food grew quickly from there.  We started with a tasting menu together in Prague ... tasting menus together on 3 other continents ... a few times with Tom cheating on Shells (while traveling with friends) ... and a time or two with Shells cheating on Tom (while traveling herself).

So here we are now ... more fun food travel, cooking and eating ahead of us ...

So what's the point of this blog?

Like so many other blogs, we're going to continue to travel and post pictures of the awesome restaurants we eat in.  We'll probably have some big blowout dinners that take way too much time to prepare and you, our reader, won't want to make them.  But please, hang with us through those, so that we can get to the real meat and potatoes of this blog ...

We're going to take pictures and post recipes of the fun stuff that we cook on week nights after we come home for work ... it won't all be crazy or complicated ... and some things will seem that way at first, but we promise they won't be.  Please feel free to ask questions, we'll answer as we can ... but just work with us if Tom's answer is: some, a lot, a good sized bowl worth of ... Shells is good at the measuring stuff ... why not join us for the ride?