The summer veggies are still
looking good so tonight's dinner
was soup and salad.
The Salad consisted of beautiful
yellow heirloom tomatoes,
Avocado slices & Chives.
The Soup was a potato-leek
soup garnished with
tomato and green onion.
Ham & Mushroom Frittata
The Frittata is the Italian cousin to the French Omlette. Learning how to make a good one takes the right equipment and a little practice.
The first trick is to make sure all your ingredients are cut very small and that they are the same size. Just hacking that onion or shallot where some are the size of a dime while others are tiny slithers won't get the job done. You'll end up with some burnt and some raw pieces.
The second trick, get a good non-stick pan. I bought this one specifically to cook eggs. Thick metal=good and you want that surface as slick as can of oil. Go for one at the restaurant supply store (or Sam's); these are much better and cheaper than those high priced "brand names".
Third trick, beat the eggs. I mean really beat them. The more air you whisk into them, the fluffier the Frittata will be.
Last, Practice the flip. Frittata's are far more rewarding than an omlette. Anybody can flip an egg over onto itself. I really enjoy Frittata's because you can really cook your eggs how you want them. Like your eggs easy? Just flip it when things are still runny. Want it like a hockey puck? Let it cook until it gets brown on the bottom.
With a little practice, you can easily flip everything in one swift motion. Just be ready to clean your stovetop the first few attempts.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
My Nephew Ryan was in town visiting and we decided to
whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for everyone.
Ryan is a budding chef as well; he's taking cooking classes
in Tampa.
We had a lot of fun and the cookies turned out great. We
decided next time we'll have to try something a little more
difficult, maybe a Beef Bourguignon.
Broiled Orange Roughy
I've gotten into Broiling fish lately; it's a nice alternative to grilling. Honestly, who wants to go sweat over a grill when it's 90+ degrees outside.
I use a sheet pan lined with foil and I place a rack on top to keep the fish elevated. (similar to this)
I've really been into Orange Roughy lately; if you haven't tried it you need to get in on this. It has white flesh and doesn't have a fishy flavor that can be a turn-off for some.
I created a White Wine/Tomato Cream Sauce on top. This one was a modification of a classic french sauce. Yeah I'm still reading this.
The side dishes included Cream Potatoes as well as Braised Celery and Squash.
Toast Français
I'll admit, I constantly forget to take out the trash or put the clothes in the washer, but I manage to redeem myself by occasionally making my wife breakfast during the week.
French Toast w/ Raspberries
Summer Vegetable Pizza
Being married to a Dietitian means I was dragged kicking and screaming to the land of veggies, but I admit now that I'm here, I've taken to the little guys.
It makes sense why most people hate vegetables if all you've ever had is steamed asparagus or broccoli covered in cheese "product". The more I learn the art of cooking veggies the more I learn to like them (and you can never go wrong putting anything on pizza)
Veggie Pizza w/ Mushrooms, Yellow Squash, Cherry Tomatoes, Shallots, Mozzarella & Parmesan
Sick Day
Colleen's been feeling under the
weather the last few days so I
decided to make a big pot of
chicken and dumplings.
Field Trip
Last night we made the trip downtown to the Viking Cooking School. I've been by the store before, but I've been hesitant to sign-up for a class. Colleen and I finally took the plunge and went for a somewhat entry level course on Knife Skills.
Most of the cuts I was already familiar with but the instruction on deboning a chicken was worth the price of admission. Me, being a born and bred suburbs brat, has never messed with raw chicken outside of the nice neat little packages of breast or tenders. I'll admit when the full breast with skin on the bone was put in front of me, I was a little intimidated. I made my way through it; admittedly, with a little help from Colleen.
Though I don't plan to turn my kitchen into a slaughterhouse anytime soon; I will start trying this at home instead of buying the "chicken packets" every time.
Colleen with Chef Anne
Smothered Chicken and Roasted Asparagus
Everybody has their staple meals and one of ours is smothered chicken. It taste like it took all day to cook but I can easily crank it out on a weeknight.
The trick is to use jar tomato sauce, yeah i know, it sounds like a Rachel Ray trick or worse yet a trick of the devil. But, the trick is not the sauce, it's making it your own.
Whenever I know I'm going to make it, I roast a head of garlic. It's easy, garlic with the top cut off, put on some salt and olive oil, onto a pan at 200 for 1.5 hours.
The roasted garlic goes into sauce (I like Newman's Own) along with some sauteed shallots, veggie broth and tomato paste (use the stuff in a tube; the can taste like crap). Just leave it on low and let it simmer. Add some fresh basil at the end.
Pan saute some chicken breast and then add (smother) them in the tomato sauce.
I let it cook as long as I have time and then serve with pasta. Tonight it was accompanied by roasted asparagus.
Stuffed Mushroons
Stuffed Mushrooms were on the agenda tonight. And I have to say they tasted even better than that gratuitous shot of food porn looks.
I tried coming up with my own recipe. Here's my best guess of what it was:
Carton of Mushrooms (Button)
Stems of Mushrooms (fine dice)
3 tbs. Poblano Pepper (fine dice)
1 tbs. butter
1/8-1/4 cup breadcrumbs (panko)
1/8 cup of finely shredded parmesan
1/2 egg
1 tsp parsley
Just saute the mushroom stems & poblano in the butter until slightly colored. Stir in the breadcrumbs & parmesan and remove from the heat. Once cooled, stir in half of a beaten egg to bind the mixture. Stuff into Mushroom caps and bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. Broil for 1 minute to add color to the top.
BBQ Chicken Pizza
I decided to make one of my favorite's this afternoon, BBQ Chicken pizza.
A couple of shortcuts makes the
process much quicker:
-Picking up a pre-made dough and fresh Roasted Chicken from Publix shortens the time considerbly and both the dough
and chicken are surprisingly high quality.
-For the Sauce I used a combination of Sticky Fingers and Dreamland BBQ sauce.
-The rest of the toppings included:
Shallots, poblano peppers & ColbyJack Cheese. Garnish with Cilantro and Green Onions.
Saturday AM Muffins
Made a quick batch of Muffins this morning. Typical blueberry muffin recipe with raspberries thrown in as well.
Independence Day Inventions
No work today means a full day in the kitchen.
The main meal of the day was Swiss Chard and Sweet Pea Manicotti and wow, it was excellent. It was so good that it disappeared before I could get some action shots.
To give credit, it was a Giada recipe, and a very good one.
But the real star of the day was the carrot soup. I've begun reading Mastering the Art of French Cooking and I decided to put Chapter 1: Soups to the test.
With my new found knowledge and newly purchased stick blender I gave this classic french soup a shot. I went sans-recipe and simply augmented the technique for Potato-Leek soup to create my own Carrot-Shallot soup.
It turned out quite well and I have to say I'm loving this new Immersion Blender.
My New Toys
If you know me well, you probably know I have a serious fetish for kitchen hardware. Let's just say I'm on a first name basis with the gals at Williams Sonoma. After a year of buying the perfect pots, pans and other gadgets I decided to curtail the spending a bit.
But, this week I broke down and purchased two new toys that I'm really excited about.
Meet the new Cuisinart Classic Food Processor and the Cuisinart Immersion Hand Blender.
It's hard to believe I'm just now getting around to purchasing these but I plan to make up for lost time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)