Burger bash

These photos are a couple weeks old now – my last Fridge Friday post was the ingredients to make these burgers!

We had about 12 people over – so there was a LOT of food.  Megan had an idea to make Juicy Lucys (Lucies?) – burgers with cheese on the inside.

I used a 2 TB scooper so that all the burgers would be the same size.  Then Megan flattened them out with the bottom of a pint glass.

Once they were formed, it was just a matter of adding cheese and then sandwiching it tightly between two burger patties.

This is a blue cheese – we also used an extra-sharp cheddar.   The cheddar was not as successful (it melted completely – we shredded it; next time I think we will cube it so it doesn’t get so soft).

Tiny adorable breads!

The spread – this was about 3/4 of the burgers, we made the rest later that weekend and just ate them all week.  Also grilled sweet corn and a cucumber, tomato, and feta salad with a Greek vinaigrette.

I really wish I had a picture of a plated dish – it was pretty and tasty and just screamed summer BBQ.   I can’t wait to get back in front of the grill this weekend.

Alive

I’m still here! Both of my readers should be very happy.

Work has chewed me up and spit me out. And so we’ve been eating out a lot and picking out of the freezer and having a lot of sandwiches.

I was going to add some photos to this post but my USB ports have decided to die again and I can’t get them off the flash drive. Technology = fail.

Anyway, I’m still here. And I will rise out of this pile of work to cook again! Soon, I swear.

Egg pasta

This was one of my experiments from last weekend.  I think it turned out really well – the pasta needed to be a bit thinner but it had good flavor and the presentation was pretty cool.

Basically, I wanted to make something like this.

I used the pasta recipe in Ratio (a very Ruhlman day in the kitchen…).

Pasta, plus seasoned mascarpone cheese.

Plus egg yolks.  This was kind of tricky – I broke one setting it down (not pictured) and had to rush to get the pasta set around it so it wouldn’t ooze all over the counter.

Sealed them up (carefully, so as not to break another yolk).  I boiled them for about 2.5 minutes – the pasta was a bit thick so it was still overly al dente at that point.  I was really afraid the egg would be scrambling inside the ravioli.

Clearly, an unfounded fear.  Topped with a dollop of pesto from the garden, the mascarpone and egg yolk and fresh pasta were fabulous.  Now if I can just get the pasta right next time, it’ll be a home run.

Once I saw a guy tempura batter and fry an egg yolk on Iron Chef, so I want to try that too.  Oh yes, there will be fried egg yolks.

Fridge Friday 4: Meat edition

I know, it’s Saturday.  I am totally a day late and a dollar short.  Blah blah blah work excuses blah blah blah.

These pictures were taken on Friday morning though, I swear.

Items of note:  10 lbs of ground beef and a Boston butt destined for the smoker.

Ground beef – this became tiny little juicy Lucy burgers, half stuffed with cheddar and half with blue cheese.

Mmmmmm blue cheese.

I can’t wait to get this in the smoker!  Pulled pork is going to be fabulous.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Daring cook’s challenge – July 2010

This is my first month participating in a Daring Kitchen challenge.  I’ve seen the posts on the foodie porn sites about their challenges for months and finally joined recently.  This month’s challenge was to make a fresh nut butter and use it in a savory dish – the challenge gave four recipes and I tried two.

Making nut butter was something I’ve never done, and probably wouldn’t have.  No idea why, because they were pretty easy to make.  They are also incredibly versatile.  I forsee many experiments.

Walnut White Bean Dip with Rosemary & Sage, adapted from this recipe (Cooking Light, August 2007)

Ingredients:

0.5 cup walnuts

1 (15.8 oz/448g) can Great Northern, Cannellini, or other white beans, drained and rinsed (I actually used 447g  of cooked cannelini beans from Rancho Gordo.)

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 TB fresh lemon juice

2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

2 tsp fresh sage, chopped

zest of 1 lemon

0.25 teaspoon black pepper

salt to taste

Directions:

1. Make walnut butter by grinding 0.5 cup walnuts in food processor for about a minute until it forms a nut butter or paste.
2. Add beans, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, sage, lemon zest, and black pepper to the walnut butter in the food processor. Process the mixture to a smooth consistency. Taste and add salt as desired.
3. Garnish dip with chopped walnuts and/or chopped fresh rosemary or sage, if desired. Serve dip with pita wedges, crostini, or assorted vegetables.

This is super-tasty and came together really, really quickly.  I also added some olive oil (probably about 2 TB?), because I vacated my brain and didn’t think about the fact that a 448g can of cannelini beans doesn’t actually contain 448g of beans – there is liquid too.  D’oh.

In conclusion – good dip, I am a bit of an idiot.

Sage Leaf

Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce, adapted from this recipe found on the Food Network website.
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 TB olive oil
4 (6 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cubed
Salt to taste

Spice Blend:
1.5 TB garam masala
1 tsp ground ginger
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp black pepper

Sauce:
4 TB butter
1 large onion, sliced vertically
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
0.33 C almond butter (made from 0.66 C whole almonds)
0.5 C chicken broth (more as needed)
1 C frozen peas

Hot basmati rice for serving

Directions:

1. Prepare spice blend. Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the butter; a little color is fine.
3. Add chicken to onions and cook until about halfway cooked – the chicken will still be pink on the inside at this point.
4. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Add almond butter until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce.
5. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer.

6.  Stir frozen peas into sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until peas are heated through.  Serve over rice.

I also made a channa saag with beet greens ad chard from the garden.  I was sort of worried about the utter lack of vegetables in the chicken dish, and we have LOADS of greens in the garden.

Channa saag (early stages).

Final plating – it is a bitch to make things that are lumpy and brown look pretty on camera.  Thanks to Curt for trying and for making things look really nice.

The chicken dish was DELICIOUS.  The original recipe called to cook the chicken separately, make the sauce, remove the onions, and then add the chicken and heat it through.  I obviously didn’t do this – I think the dish was still a success.  At least as far as Saturday night dinner was concerned!

Lessons learned – brain is still an important kitchen tool even when you have a recipe and are following it closely.

And don’t be afraid to make something you’ve never made before.  Thanks Daring Kitchen!  Can’t wait for next month.

Caprese Macarons

There seem to be weekends when I have nothing but time to write.  Mostly because I don’t feel like cooking, or because things haven’t gone well in the kitchen, or because the laptop has decided it hates me (again) and the photos are trapped on it (or on the camera, or on the flash drive).

Then there are weekends like this past weekend.  Things came together like magic in the kitchen – and there are some beautiful pictures to prove it.

Like this blood-red meringue.

I am insanely proud of the blood-red meringue.  I decided to attempt a caprese macaron last week one day – Thursday maybe?  I had taken the almond flour out earlier in the week to come to room temperature and left it out for a couple of days.  It eventually came to rest in the fruit bowl, which is also home to a handful of cherry tomatoes right now.

The hamsters in my brain saw the two sitting together and climbed on their little hamster wheels, and I knew I had no choice but to try to make a savory macaron.  It’s not a new idea – for example, there is David Lebovitz’s ketchup macaron.  And apparently the book Macaron, by Pierre Hermes, is full of them.  With recipes in French.

So I decided to experiment.

I added a teaspoon of tomato paste and a couple of drops of red food coloring to this recipe instead of the orange extract in this recipe.  The cookies are beautiful but I want to figure out a way to get more tomato-ness into them.  The taste just isn’t quite there.

I made a filling of mascarpone cheese and basil to go in the center – I think next time I might mix the cheese with basil oil to give it a little more punch.

Mascarpone is so, so delicious it should be criminal.

I piped the filling onto the cookies and finished assembling them.

Turn gently and see…

And we have a first attempt at caprese macarons.  The flavors could be stronger, but I’m going to call it a success regardless.  Because frankly, they are amazingly delicious and I learned from the experience – and really, what else can you expect when you try to combine a French dessert and an Italian salad?

Cocktail time

We finished the patio on Saturday!  I say “we” but I really mean “Curt” because it is amazing how terrible I am at laying bricks.  Thankfully my life rarely requires brick-laying.

I did mow the lawn and go to the hardware store and buy 5 cubic feet of sand.

That night we went to Pitch again – it was yummy and delicious.  We were the table with the (awesomely) smelly anchovy pizza in the back corner.  We were also the table with the amazing cocktails – I am usually a wine or beer person, and so is Curt.  But a couple of drinks on their cocktail list caught our eye.  Curt had a delicious ginger lemonade, I got a cucumber basil sparkler, and Megan had peach sangria.

The cucumber basil sparkler was memorable enough to recreate at home.

Cucumber basil cocktail

Basil leaves, crushed if small or chiffonade if large (a couple tsp. total)

1 TB finely chopped kirby cucumber, plus one slice for garnish

1 tsp simple syrup

1.5 oz. gin (we used Beefeater, once we get rid of some more booze I will use Hendricks – the original used Hendricks)

Soda water

Ice

In a Collins glass, combine basil, cucumber, and simple syrup.  Add ice and gin and stir gently to combine.

Top with soda water and garnish with a cucumber slice.

You have got to try this.  Even if you swear you don’t like gin or cucumbers – it’s so delicious and refreshing.  A brilliant summer cocktail.

Slightly delayed Independence Day sides

I promised Debbie the recipe for the potato salad, so I might as well hook everyone up.  Definitely too late for any actual Independence Day festivities, but the summer BBQ season looms large and these are both really tasty.

Besides, how can you go wrong with a blue-cheese coleslaw?  Or bacon vinaigrette on potato salad?

Potato & kohlrabi salad with bacon-mustard vinaigrette

1.5 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 0.5 inch cube-type chunks

1.5 lb. kohlrabi, peeled and cut into 0.5 inch cube-type chunks

0.25 C white wine vinegar

0.25 C water or chicken stock

0.5 C red onion, vertically sliced

4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

2 TB reserved bacon fat from cooking bacon

1 TB Dijon mustard

Kosher salt

Freshly-ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.  Add potatoes & kohlrabi and boil for 7 to 10 minutes, or until fork-tender but not falling apart.

In the meantime, heat the bacon fat in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and saute until slightly softened – do not brown.  Add mustard, vinegar, bacon, and stock or water and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain potatoes & kohlrabi and place in a large bowl.  While still warm, pour the dressing over the potatoes and kohlrabi and stir well to combine.  Enjoy warm or chilled – if you chill it, stir again in 30 or 40 minutes to make sure all the bacony goodness gets absorbed into the veg.

Mmmmm, bacony goodness.

Blue cheese coleslaw, modified from this recipe by Ina Garden, copyright 2005

0.5 small head green cabbage, finely sliced or shredded

0.5 small head red cabbage, finely sliced or shredded

1 C mayonnaise

0.25 C Dijon mustard

2 TB whole grain mustard

2 TB rice wine vinegar

1 tsp celery salt

0.5 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 C crumbled Maytag blue cheese

Place cabbages in a large bowl and toss to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, both mustards, vinegar, celery salt, kosher salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the grated cabbage and toss to moisten well. Add crumbled blue cheese and toss together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

Also yummy.  Although I have to say – I really do think the original recipe has WAY too much dressing.  I halved the amount of mayo in the above and there was more than enough.

Curt contends there could have been more blue cheese.  Perhaps, perhaps – but I don’t know that there is ever enough blue cheese for Curt.  In anything.

The grand plan

I need to stop saying that I’m cooking ahead because I’m going to have a busy week. That phrase seems to imply that at some point, there will be a week where I look around and say, “Boy howdy, what am I going to do with all this free time?”

There are no un-busy weeks.  Also, I would never say “boy howdy.”  Ever.

So this week, we’ll eat:

Tonight we are grilling out with some friends – we’re bringing Italian sausage and a couple of sides, they are doing whatever meat and a dessert.  I made a blue-cheese coleslaw (I swear Ina Garten is trying to kill us all – I halved the mayo in the dressing recipe and there was still plenty of dressing…) and a potato salad with a bacon/mustard vinaigrette.

The rest of the week:

Steak & green chile enchiladas (frozen, made a few weeks ago)

Curried chicken + rice

Tortilla Espanola + sauteed kale (some from the garden and some from the co-op)

Saag tofu (made with half beet greens and half chard, both from the garden) + rice

Roasted garden veggie quiche, whatever is calling out later in the week.  Hopefully there will be some tomatoes to have with it!  I cannot wait for the tomatoes.

Also, I found a new fascination – Ethiopian food.  Need to find some reliable recipes, so if you have any please email me or leave me a comment.

Hot pink risotto

Beets are one of those vegetables that people think of as a joke.  Every relish tray we had before Thanksgiving as a kid contained gherkins, carrots, radishes, canned black olives, and pickled beets.  I loved the olives – I used to put them on my fingers and walk around the house waggling my weird olive hands at everyone.  But I hated the beets.

It’s been a really long time since I had a pickled beet now.  (Thankfully).  Curt grows beets that we pick when they are still small and sweet and fresh – they don’t need to be pickled to take away any of that musty, basement flavor you get when they are overgrown and stored for a long time.

To prepare, I wash the beets well in a couple changes of water.  Then roast, skins still on and stems intact, in a foil packet for an hour to an hour and a half.  Let the beets cool until they can be handled, grab some gloves and a knife, and cut off the stems.  The peels should slip right off.

Then you can turn them into hot pink risotto!  I love pink food – it’s so illogical and pretty.

Beet Risotto with Greens, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts – from Cooking Light, December 2002

Yield:  4 servings

2 tsp olive oil

1 C chopped onion

1 C Arborio rice

1 TB minced peeled fresh ginger

1 sprig fresh rosemary

0.5 C dry white wine

3 C finely chopped peeled beets

0.5 C water

Fine sea salt

14 oz vegetable broth

6 C finely sliced Swiss chard

2 oz crumbled goat cheese

0.25 C chopped walnuts, toasted

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 3 minutes. Add rice, ginger, and rosemary; saute 1 minute. Add wine; cook 3 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.

Add beets, water, salt, and broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until beets are tender, stirring occasionally.

Stir in chard; cook 5 minutes. Add cheese, stirring until blended. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon walnuts.

Annnnnnd maybe sprinkle it with a little more goat cheese?  Goat cheese is good… we like goat cheese.  And hot pink risotto with beets from the garden.