Veal ... the other, other white meat!

I know that veal can be a divisive food, but it is so TASTY that I just don't care.  I went to Whole Foods with my heart set on a steak, but when I saw these beautiful veal rib chops I just had to get them instead.  Veal in hand I went back and grabbed some asparagus and figured I would serve it with some polenta, but it just felt like maybe I needed something more!

Mushroom sauce, that's what I was going to need!  Back to the veggie aisle I went and grabbed a large handful of Shiitake mushrooms and a box of Kitchen Basics veal stock (you know, because why not?).

Mushroom Veal Sauce

1 container Kitchen Basics veal stock

1/2 lb Shiitake mushrooms

Salt & Pepper to taste (you don't need much salt as the stock has a good bit in it)

For this sauce I put about 2 cups of stock into a saute pan and then tossed in all but 1 large mushroom (washed and stems removed of course).  I put the pan on low heat and went to watch TV for about an hour.  Ok, I did check the pan occasionally to ensure the liquid wasn't boiling off.  After the hour was up I transferred the contents to the Vitamix, added the salt and pepper, and blended until smooth.  Back to the pan the sauce went and I returned it to a burner with a "warm" setting to keep it warm while everything else finished cooking.  Take the reserve mushroom and slice thinly, and using either a saute pan or a broiler cook until lightly crispy and then serve on top of the veal to accompany the sauce, eat and enjoy!

Spicy Black Bean Cakes, they go great with BBQ pork

With the winter wrapping up (I hope) it was time to dust off the big grill and put the grill pan back into the cupboard for a few months.  I had a couple of thick cut, bone-in, pork chops to grill, but for this dinner I wanted to do something a little bit different to go along with the bar-b-que pork.

While mashed potatoes are a standard accompaniment for this sort of dish, I decided to try make spicy black bean cakes for this one.

Black Bean Cakes
1 14.5 oz can Black Beans (I prefer Goya)
1 4.5 oz can Diced Green Chilies
1 cup masa (or all purpose flour)
Salt and Pepper to taste

I started a can of black beans in a 3qt pan and added 2 Tbsp of drained diced green chilies (canned) and salt and pepper.  In hindsight I should have drained the black beans first, so if you're going to make this at home please do that.  I cooked the mix down until it had gotten soft and then mashed it.  While the mix was cooling some, I put the flour on a clean plate and started a pan over medium high heat.  Once cool enough to handle I then shaped the bean mixture into patties and then dragged them through the flour to give a light outside coating.  I put a thin layer of oil into the pan, enough so that the patties would fry a bit, and then cooked the patties, flipping after about 5 minutes to allow both sides to get crispy.

Try it and enjoy!

What sort of hash does one serve with fish? Read and see ...

Not everyone finds fish to be as exciting as I do without accompaniments, for my regular readers you will know that Shells falls into this category.  For this dinner I decided to forgo my regular salsa or sauce topper and went with a take on a hash instead.  For this hash I used a potato base with a mix of veggies and, of course, some garlic.  I served it with a piece of broiled red snapper.

Onion & Pepper Hash

2 small yellow potatoes

1 small yellow onion

6 cloves of garlic

20 shishito peppers

1 Tbsp olive oil

Chop all of the veggies into bite sized pieces, keep the potato separate and soak in water for 30 minutes, drain and allow to sit in a colander for 30 minutes.  Slice the garlic cloves.  Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium high heat and once hot add your potatoes.  Use a wooden spoon, or spatula, to keep moving the potatoes around for a few minutes or so to prevent them from sticking, after about 10 minutes add the onion and shishito peppers.  Continue to stir and agitate the mix for another 5 minutes and then add the garlic.  Cook for another 5 - 10 minutes (until everything is as browned and done as you'd like) and then serve and enjoy!

There's a reason that everyone prefers to eat at an Italian Grandmother's house!

There's just something about Italian food that makes you feel all warm and happy inside.  Movies will tell you that for Italian chef's "food is love" or that you should "never trust a skinny Italian chef" ... I don't know about all of that, but I do know that when it was cold outside the other day I knew that only a nice filled pasta dish would do.

I thought about stuffing the pasta with the scallops I served for this meal, as well as the other fillings, but figured that might be over-kill for the simple, and classic, taste that I was going for.  The scallops therefore were relegated to the side!

For the filling I started with the traditional cheese base, ricotta, and then decided to add a non-traditional kale to the garlic and peppers.

Kale & Pepper Stuffed Manicotti
6 pieces dried manicotti pasta (cook in salted, boiling water, for 7 minutes then cool on a rack before stuffing)
2 bunches kale
1 large yellow bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic (feel free to add as much more as you'd like)
2 cups ricotta cheese
2-3 cups of pasta sauce (red sauce or vodka sauce; may not use it all)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Cook your kale however you prefer, I sauteed/steamed in a large saute pan to allow it to cook down (steamed) then ultimately removed most of the liquid via sauteing.  I diced it and then transferred to a large bowl to cool.  I then diced the pepper and the garlic and sauteed them until the pepper was just soft and then added to the kale.

Once the veggies had cooled to room temperature I added the ricotta and stirred until it was well mixed.  I then stuffed the manicotti with the mixture (don't worry if you have a little filling left over, it will be great in an omlette the next morning) and put them in a single layer in a baking dish.  I covered the manicotti with the sauce (I used vodka sauce for this dish), topped with a little shredded parmesan cheese and then popped it into the oven for about 25 minutes.  Once cooked remove and serve with a spatula, enjoy!

Bacon Baklava...Yeah we went there!

I follow the food magazines of Bon Appetit and Food & Wine.  So a few weeks ago I was looking through Facebook and happened upon a post about baklava.  I'm not a huge dessert fan but I LOVE good baklava.  So when I saw the recipe I thought this seems interesting enough for me to try to make it on my own.  I know what goes into baklava..anyone who has ever fought with phyllo dough knows it will not be an easy dessert to prepare yourself.  What really got me was the fact it had bacon in it.  

Here is the link to the recipe.

As usual I followed this recipe pretty much to the letter.  Here are a few helpful hints if you do decide to tackle this.  I was very pleased how this came out especially for this being my attempt. 

Phyllo Dough - Follow the instructions on the packaging for proper thawing time and take it seriously if it says to cover with plastic wrap and a damp towel.  DO IT! It will dry out very quickly.  Good news is that because you layer so much of the dough if you have a few ripped pieces it really won't be noticed.  Having a second set of hands might make the layering part a bit easier.

Bacon - I microwaved my bacon and I honestly don't think you would be able to tell the difference on how you cook it.  Do what is easiest for you.

Nuts - I had some challenges on the processing of the nuts.  It was my first use of the Vitamix without Tom available to help.  Let's just say I had a few larger pieces of nuts in the baklava...and guess what..it still tasted awesome!

Orange Water / Rose Water - I used orange blossom water this time.  I would be tempted to try the rose water if I see at the store.  I honestly don't remember where we got it from buy my guess would be you can find at speciality stores like Whole Foods and Fresh Market.

Timing - It is key that you have the syrup ready to pour over the baklava as it comes out of the oven.  So time your steps accordingly.  The cook time is painless however building the baklava layer by layer will take time.  

Below are a few pictures of the baklava in the pan as it cooled.  Also I suggest serving slightly warmed in the microwave with ice cream!

Fancy Mexican Food ... just the thing for one day home in two weeks!

Knowing that I'd be coming home for basically just long enough to shove the contents of my suitcase into the washing machine and then repack ... I wanted something fun for Saturday night dinner.  I also needed to bribe Shells on the laundry aspect since I hadn't been home to cook for two weeks.

I had just eaten some tasty Mexican food in Houston and it had made me want to experiment with a couple of things.  Shells wasn't going to argue, even though I refused to share the menu ahead of time.

For the first course I made a style of "Taco Shop" guacamole which is a mix of tomatillos and avocados with jalapenos, lime juice and cilantro.  I served it with a quesadilla for dipping, but I kept the bowl of guacamole full for each of us all night.

For the next tasting component I served blistered shishito peppers with corse sea salt.  These peppers are a great tasting, mild pepper (I've heard 1 in 10 is hit, but I think it's less than that).

For this next course sauteed a U-10 sea scallop that had been sliced into three even slices.  In between the first two slices I served a thin slice of avocado, in between the second and third was a slice of Cotija cheese that had been lightly grilled.  A splash of "Taco Shop" guac finished off the plate.

For this course I used some extra scallops I had from the prior course and some shrimp that I would be using for the next course to make a quesadilla filling.  I used Oaxaca melting quesadilla cheese as the filler and plated with some thin tomatillo and jalapeno slices.

For the shrimp course (and second to last course in the dinner) I made a slow cooked poblano cream sauce that I served over sauteed shrimp and then topped with queso fresco.

Poblano Cream Sauce
3 poblano peppers
1 cup cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp Oaxaca cheese

Roast the Poblano peppers at 375F until soft and the edges are well browned.  Chop the poblanos into thin strips that are about 1/4" in width and 3/4" in length.  Add them to the cream and whole milk and cook in a heavy pan on the lowest temperature setting.  Allow the mixture to cook for at least 30 minutes (preferably more), whisking occasionally to help it thicken.  Immediately before serving add the cheese and whisk well to mix.

The final course was a take on a dish I have made many times, arrachera.  For this rendition I used a USDA Prime New York strip and marinated it for a short 3 hours in the black pepper and Jugo Magi mix before grilling it.  I cooked it to a nice rare and served it sliced, family style, on a single platter.  Hope this dish brings you some inspiration to try something fun and enjoy!

She Can Finally Make a Lasagna!

So a few weeks back when Tom was not feeling well I made my 3rd attempt at making lasagna.  I can make bread from scratch, build dumplings, and make a mean multilayer cake but you put some noodles, sauce and cheese in front of me I find ways to mess it up!  Don't believe me ask Tom!!!  I was anticipating Tom would be out of the kitchen for a few days and figured a lasagna would be a great meal for us to have for lunches and additional dinners.

I'm happy to say that this time it was a success.  I used a recipe from Bon Appetit.  Click here for recipe.  

Here are a few things I changed and would change in the future for this recipe.

Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage - Whole Foods did not have spicy so I just got the mild.  I added a few flakes of red pepper when sautéing to give a little more spice!  Worked just fine.

Whole Milk Ricotta cheese - I did purchase the whole milk but if I make again I do plan to buy the lower fat version.  I don't think this would change the texture or taste! 

Grated Whole Milk Mozzarella - I went with part skim mozzarella and it worked fine!  Honestly think that in most cases (unless baking) you can substitute a lower fat item when whole is listed.  I tested that concept by only doing one change here.  

Warning: I used my largest non stick skillet which I believe is a 12 inch.  Once I added the tomatoes it was quiet full!  It still worked great but take the request for a large skillet seriously!

Hint:  I suggest preparing your ingredients ahead of time as much as you can.  The timing moves quick and you want to make it as efficient as possible.  Also if you forget to split the parmesan cheese  it still tastes ok :-).

Overall this recipe was relatively easy...the no boil lasagna noodles worked great...just remember to leave time for them to sit in water.  

I definitely plan to try this recipe again.  I will update the blog if I find any new tricks!

Random inspiration strikes again!

So Tom walks into Whole Foods, gets some inspiration and walks out with a bunch of random stuff, sound like a story you've heard on this blog before?  Yeah, I know, but honestly that really is what happens most of the time!  When I don't have something planned I always start by going to the seafood counter to look for inspiration there first, then I head to the meat counter ... once I have finished these two stops I know what I need to go back for in the veggie section.

For this dinner I had my first stroke of inspiration when I saw Stone Crab claws in the seafood section ... yes please!  I grabbed a pound of those and then headed to the meat counter to see what else I could find.  I was preparing myself for disappointment when I saw there was no Dry-Aged beef out, until I noted the certified USDA Prime filet!  I grabbed a nice thick one and with the start of a plan I headed back to the veggies to figure out what else I was going to serve with dinner.

I had originally been thinking of either stuffing the filet with the crab, or making a crab sauce of sort, but once I got home I decided it might be more fun to play with a "crab cake" of sorts so I went that route.  I de-shelled the crab and decided that rather than traditional crab cakes I would blend a combination of crab and diced avocado into a Johnny Cake mix and see how that worked.  I won't be posting the full recipe here because it really didn't work out as planned.  The Johnny Cake batter was fine (yellow grits, boiling water, sugar, salt and pepper) but I tried to blend too much crab and avocado mix into it and made the cakes too thick.  The centers ended up a little gritty!  If you'd like to try and see if you can do better I would try aiming more for pancake thickness and cooking them until crispy on both sides.  I served them with a sour cream and pimento cheese sauce.

While wandering the vegetable section I had been struck with a couple of points of inspiration ... steak is best served simply with asparagus, and I really wanted to make a sweet onion crepe with truffle sauce.  For those that may not remember, this is a Marc Vetri inspiration that we have loved and made a few times (Sweet Onion Crepe in the New Year's dinner).  The filet I cooked in my prefered winter style (cast iron pan and broiler to finish) and combined with the sweet onion crepe and truffle sauce to offset the need for another protein ... it was divine and exactly what I hadn't known I was looking for when I walked into Whole Foods that day!

Having a little fun with king crab

This post is a bit delayed (it was Shells' birthday dinner in early February), but I figured better late then never.  Some of you may have seen the pictures on Shells' facebook right afterwards, now you can see what all the fun was actually about!

I was walking through Whole Foods trying to figure out what I was going to do for the dinner and was forced to stop in my tracks when I saw the display at the seafood counter that read ... Alaskan King Crab.  Yup, sounds good to me!  I picked up two legs (about 1 lb of crab) and started thinking about the fun things I could do with it.  I had always planned on beef for dinner so I went and grabbed a bit of that as well and then grabbed some veggies and headed off to the kitchen to start getting creative.

Crab bites with avocado cream 

For the first course I decided to do something simple ... I deshelled one of the leg keeping the meat completely intact and then cut it into round slices about 3/4" thick.  I made an avocado puree (using the Vitamix of course!) that was very simple mix of water and a ripe avocado with a little salt and then whipped the puree into a bit of sour cream with a whisk to complete the creamy texture I was looking for.  The actual dish was simple from that point as I sauteed the crab on both flat sides in butter until cooked just through and then served with a bit of the sauce on the plate.

King Crab "confit"

For the second course I decided to combine the remaining solid pieces I had cut off of the crab as well as some of the stringy pieces I had removed from the smaller parts of the shells.  I called this dish King Crab "confit" because it had a similar texture to the chunks and little pieces you would expect to find when eating something like a duck confit leg.  I cooked it up in a saute pan with a little bit of butter and garlic and then added a bit of wine to create a sauce and then I served in a small shallow bowl with a small spoon.

Steak and Crab w/ Baked Potato and Baby Artichoke

For the final savory course of the evening I decided to pair the remaining crab (I only had used about 1/2 of the crab by this point) with the beef and serve it with two of Shells' favorites ... a baked potato and baby artichokes.  I bought baby filets and cooked them in a cast iron skillet before topping them with a mix of chipped king crab and sliced garlic that had been sauteed in butter.  I served the artichokes with drawn butter and the baked potatoes with sour cream and parmesan cheese.

The final course of this dinner was a homemade ice-cream sandwich, we were so full of crab though that we only needed a half.  Hope something here has inspired you, try it and enjoy!

It's winter, that means soup!

Soup is one of my favorite things to make on a nice cold day.  The longer you let it sit and simmer, the better all the tastes come together and the better it will make your whole house smell.  Soup is also great because you can really make it to be anything you want by adding whatever catches your fancy.

My favorite winter time soup starts with a bean base.  I just grab whatever 12, 14, 15 (or whatever number the packaging calls out) bean soup mix I can find to start the soup.  When I cook this, I use my 12 qt stock pot, but you could easily use something smaller if you choose to.

Hearty Bean Soup w/ Sausage, Shrimp and Kale
1 pkg 15 bean soup mix (discard flavor package)
1 - 1.5 lbs sausage (cut into chunks)
3/4 lb 30-40 ct shrimp (shells removed)
1 bunch kale (roughly chopped to about 2 inch pieces)
1 box (26oz) Pomi chopped tomatoes
2 pkgs Goya Sazon
1 tsp salt
Additional Salt and Pepper to taste
Crusty bread and shredded parm for garnish

Before beginning you'll want to put the bean mix into a strainer and check carefully for any stones that may have made it into the packaging with the beans, and then rinse the beans.  To start I put the beans into my stock pot and then fill the pot about 1/4 full with water.  Some people like to soak the beans overnight to get them tender ... I find that this means you can't let them cook as long then and so you can't build up all of the flavor.  I add the tsp of salt and then bring the beans and water to a boil for about 5 minutes (stirring frequently) before turning down to a low simmer.

While waiting for the beans to return to a simmer, you have another choice to make in regards to the shrimp and sausage.  You can put both directly into the pot (uncooked) and they will cook throughout the process, but I find that this can sometimes make them feel a little water logged.  I like to cook both the shrimp and the sausage in a saute pan first, getting a bit of a crust on the outsides and keeping them from absorbing as much water.

Once the beans are simmering, add the pomi tomatoes, kale, shrimp, sausage and the seasonings.  Stir everything well.  Now this is the most important part ... partially cover the pot so that some liquid can evaporate, ensure the temperature is low enough that it will lightly simmer but not boil or burn, and WALK AWAY!

Feel free to check back every hour or so to make sure you're not losing too much liquid and give it a little stir.  This is also when you may want to take a little sample to make sure the sausage still tastes ok :-)  After about an hour of simmering the soup is technically ready to be served, but I like to let it simmer for at least 4-5 hours to make sure all of the tastes merge together perfectly.

When you are ready to serve, sprinkle a little bit of parm on top of the soup in a bowl, serve with crusty bread and enjoy!

Failing to make proper style chips, but I made a tasty sauce!

There is a difference between french fries and chips ... and yes, beyond the obvious that Ore-Ida makes the former and Lays the latter.  When the British, the Aussies or anyone else says chips, they mean a fried potato that has a bit more substance than your standard french fry.  I am not always a fan of chips because they tend not to be toward the soggy side, but in Australia earlier this year my thoughts on chips were taken to a different place!

While eating at our hotel restaurant I bit into a chip that was the perfect combination of fried, crispy, exterior and creamy perfection inside.  For this dinner I attempted to recreate them.  While I was able to get the outside nice and crispy with the traditional double fry approach used in Belgian frittes, I was unable to get the smooth, creamy inside I was looking for.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about, in traditional Belgian style frittes, you will actually cut the fries into evenly sized strips and then fry them for about five minutes.  You then remove them and allow them to rest on a rack (or some paper towel) and sweat out the additional moisture before frying them a second time until crispy.

I served these chips up with a garlic, rosemary and sriracha sour cream sauce along with broccoli and broiled snapper.

Garlic, rosemary and sriracha sour cream sauce
3 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp cream (or whole milk)
2 cloves roasted garlic (minced)
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary (minced)
1/2 tsp sriracha

Mix all ingredients well, spoon over whatever and enjoy!