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Merry Christmas (in July)

Posted on July 27, 2010 by amydeline

I love Christmas. I mean, I really, really LOVE Christmas. Not like the way a normal person enjoys the holidays. Much more like an irrational crazy person. I love the lights and the carols, the smell of a fresh Fraser Fir Christmas tree, the warmth and aroma of cookies baking in my oven. I love shopping for the perfect gifts for my loved ones and wrapping beautiful packages with high-quality paper (I spend a lot of time thinking about the paper) and perfectly coordinated organza ribbons. I love the smiles on my kids faces as they see the tree filled with gifts for the first time. I love having a house full of people and cooking a big meal. I love planning the color schemes for our Christmas trees and dining room table; burgandy and gold or a peacock theme of bright blues, greens, and purples, or maybe silver with shades of green. Our storage room is overrun with bins of ornaments, lights, nativity sets, snowmen, and festive jeweled fruits. The entire season puts a skip in my step, a perpetual grin on my face, and an extra pitter-patter in my heart.

Christmas Tree 2009

My anticipation and yearning for the Christmas season is so strong that it physically pains me. I’m aching for it right now as I write this. You’ll never hear me complaining about stores decorating for Christmas in October or radio stations who start playing nonstop Christmas carols as kids are trick-or-treating. You can fully expect this blog to get a little Christmas crazy sometime in early November. I sure hope you won’t hate me for it.

The Boys, Christmas 2009

When I was younger, I took the idea of Christmas in July very seriously. Each December, I’d spend large chunks of my hard-earned babysitting money on Christmas decorations; cardboard cut-outs of wreaths and Santas, tinsel garland, and long strands of blinking, musical lights. I’d bathe my small pink room in Christmas. Then, I’d pack it up after New Years and wait. Until July rolled around. At which point, I’d drag out the bin and decorate every square inch of my room. My parents didn’t mind, as long as I kept the Christmas carols at a low volume and my door closed. I brought the bin with me to college, where I added a 6 foot artificial tree to my collection and had easily the most festive room in the whole dorm. Thank you freshman year roomie, wherever you are, for tolerating my insanity.

Brie with Apricot Preserves, Christmas 2009

I don’t decorate my house for Christmas in July. My husband wouldn’t be nearly as tolerant of it as my parents were. But, I couldn’t let July pass without celebrating just a little. So, I decided I’d cook something that reminds me of Christmas. I went through the mental list of all of the foods that remind me of Christmas. The huge turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy my family makes every year. The pork loin with peanuts, ambrosia, and green bean casserole my grandmother-in-law would make. The roast beef with bordelaise sauce, ham with pilaf, scalloped potatoes and biscuits, or beef bourgignon with potatoes au gratin and quiche lorraine that I’ve made. Or perhaps a dessert, like my Dad’s apple pie or the Friendly’s Jubilee Roll my husband’s family enjoys each year. And then I started thinking about Christmas cookies…

Baked Brie with Homemade Cranberry Orange Relish, Christmas 2008

And that’s when I knew exactly what I wanted to make for our Christmas in July celebration. Something so incredibly simple and so irresistibly delicious. I’m pretty sure the only reason we don’t make them all year round is because they are so utterly addicting. These little treats may seem more appropriate for a Halloween celebration, but they ring Christmas to me. My grammy and mom make them every year as part of the Christmas cookie collection. And every year, they are the first cookies to go. Actually, they’re not really cookies at all.

Chocolate-Covered Spiders

They are Chocolate-Covered Spiders.

I always thought of this recipe as my grammy’s special recipe. After running a search online, I now see that this recipe has been out there for a while. Sometimes called Haystacks and each recipe using slightly varying proportions of chocolate chips to butterscotch or peanut butter chips, the basic concept is the same. And I’ll always think of it as my grammy’s recipe.

Chocolate-Covered Spiders

Ingredients

  • 1 package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • 1 cup Butterscotch Chips
  • 1 container Chow Mein Noodles
  • 1 cup Peanuts

Directions

Line a few baking sheets with wax paper. Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring frequently. Fold in the chow mein noodles and peanuts until they are well coated in chocolate. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the wax paper. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, until the chocolate has hardened.

Merry Christmas (in July)!

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Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

Posted on July 26, 2010 by amydeline

Today’s a very special day! Right now, at this very moment, you are reading my 100th blog post! Wow! One hundred posts! Where in the world did the time go? It seems like just yesterday that I was spending all of my free time tending to my imaginary mafia.

Change a diaper. Beg for untraceable cell phones and illegal transaction records. Play legos. Save up enough Thai Baht to buy a Nguhea Sniper Rifle. Clean up the play-doh that’s been rubbed into the carpet. Try to collect the last faberge egg for my Moscow collection. Console a crying baby. Spend 24 million rubles on a musk ox. All in a day’s work.

Then, I abandoned my mafia and entered the blogosphere. Now I alternate between toys, cooking, temper tantrums, food photography, snuggling, recipe writing, laundry, editing, bath time, and menu-planning. I suppose that being The Gourmand Mom is a much more productive role than Mafia Wars Mom.

So, you may be wondering what else has changed during these past 100 posts.

Well…

Writing recipes feels a whole lot easier than the first few posts that I fumbled through. I hope they’ve become easier for you to follow.

I’ve baked more bread products than I ever did in my pre-blog life. In fact, I had to buy a new cover for my dining room table, since the old cover seemed to be harvesting yeast which my three year old so kindly scattered across the table.

I’ve gained back a couple of the pounds I worked so hard to lose. Going to have to fix that. But it’s been for a good cause and I had fun doing it. Perhaps I can file for some sort of blogger’s compensation for my troubles?

My love of cooking has been completely reinvigorated.  Having a forum for sharing recipes and stories about food has been truly fulfilling for me. Thank you for being my audience.

Having an audience has forced me to add even more variety to my cooking. Since I’m guessing you don’t want to read about the same recipes every week.

My children have become the most skilled toddler sous chefs. I think I need to find little aprons and chef’s hats for them.

Through practice, my photography has become more purposeful. Now, rather than taking a hundred pics to get five that are post-worthy, I take about fifty. Though I’m still quite the novice photographer, I’m getting better at judging lighting and approximating camera settings.

It’s been a fun hundred posts. I’m looking forward to writing a hundred more!

In honor of such a momentous occasion, I’ve been saving something special for you. My favorite food in the whole world is macaroni and cheese (or ‘Ronis and Cheese, as my little guy calls it). And I don’t discriminate. I love ALL macaroni and cheese, whether it’s frozen, from a box, or made fresh from the finest cheeses. I like it baked or creamy. I like it smothered with cheese and bread crumbs or not. Just give me any macaroni and some form of cheese and I’m a very happy girl.

Today is a special day though, so a special macaroni and cheese is in order. And I’ve got just the thing to turn something sort of pedestrian into something elegant and worthy of a celebratory meal. That’s right… Lobster!! Lobster makes everything fancy. Now, once we throw lobster into the mix, we need to pay special attention to the cheese selection. Now would NOT be the time for American cheese or Velveeta. They’ve certainly got their place in the world of mac and cheese, but it’s definitely not here. Now’s the time for smooth cheese with grown-up flavor. I’m using three of my all time favorite cheeses; Gruyere, Fontina, and Brie. You can substitute other cheeses, if desired. Try gouda, chevre, provolone, asiago, or sharp cheddar.

Our sauce starts as a basic Bechamel Sauce, which is simply a white sauce, made with milk that is thickened with a roux. (Check out my roux guide by clicking here.) The thickened milk is then seasoned with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Bechamel is one of the five French mother sauces, meaning that many other sauces can be made with a base of bechamel. To our bechamel, we’ll melt in the delicious cheeses. Finally, we’ll toss the macaroni with the sauce and warm lobster meat. If you feel like racing lobsters, go ahead and buy some live lobsters, steam them, and collect the meat. Or, do as I did and buy a container of frozen lobster meat. You grocery store may also sell lobster tails, which can be steamed.

Before we get to the recipe, I want to let you in on a little secret. I made the macaroni and cheese on Saturday when we had people over. And I actually sort of botched it. Not a complete botch, but a definite error of convenience. My prime focus at the time, was on the burgers. My intention was to submit the burger recipe for a contest. So, I wanted to be able to devote all of my attention towards working out the timing and flavor balance of the burger components. Then the storm came, which totally turned the burger plan upside down. Anyway, I prepared the macaroni and cheese earlier in the afternoon and stuck it in a baking dish, figuring that I’d bake it in the oven to reheat with a little extra cheese melted on top. As I should have anticipated, the pasta drank up most of the sauce during the baking. It was still very flavorful, but not the creamy mac and cheese I’d intended.

Never fear though. The recipe I’m writing for you does not include a baking step. So, your macaroni and cheese will be creamy and delicious. If you do want to prepare it ahead of time, I’d recommend tossing the pasta with just a bit of sauce. Then, refrigerate the bulk of the sauce and the pasta separately. You can reheat both and combine, along with the lobster, when you’re ready to eat.

This is good, good stuff. If there were a way to send food through the world wide web, I’d send you each a taste and a glass of celebratory champagne. But since that’s not possible yet, I’ll share my recipe instead. Then you can whip yourself up a batch of fancy ‘Ronis and Cheese.

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

  • 1 box Pasta, such as Campanelle
  • 1/2 cup Gruyere
  • 1 cup Fontina
  • 1/2 cup Brie
  • 3 cups Milk
  • 3 Tbsp Butter
  • 3 Tbsp Flour
  • 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp Cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 pound Lobster Meat

Directions

Cook the pasta al dente, according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside. In the same pot that you cooked the pasta, whisk the butter and flour together over medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. This is your roux for thickening the milk. It should have a pasty consistency. Remove the roux with a spatula and set aside. Add the milk to the pot. Bring the milk to a simmer. Then, begin to whisk in the roux, whisking until smooth. Allow the milk to simmer with the roux for a few minutes until it begins to thicken. Whisk constantly. Add the nutmeg, cayenne, and salt. Turn down the heat to low. Add the cheese and stir until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if desired. Add the lobster meat and the cooked pasta to the hot sauce. Stir for a minute or so until it’s well combined and hot.

I hope you’ve been enjoying this blog during these first one hundred posts. Let me know how you’ve liked it so far and if there’s any way I can serve you better! Thanks for reading!

12 Comments

Posted in Cheese, Food, General Rambling and Such, Main Course, Sauces, Seafood, Things I Love and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Irresistible Spinach Dip and (Possibly) Pasta Chips

Posted on July 25, 2010 by amydeline

My little brother was in town this weekend! He’s the only one of my siblings who doesn’t live nearby and we miss him terribly. It’s always a good time when he drives up for a visit. And it’s always a good excuse for a soiree of sorts. So, yesterday, some family and friends gathered at my house for some good food and great company. There’s nothing better than being with a group of people, who can have a blast just sitting around a room, after a filling meal, telling stories and laughing together. Excellent people.

There are a handful of recipes I make over and over again when I entertain; the items that people have come to expect when they visit. One of those things is spinach dip, typically served in a hollowed-out bread bowl with chunks of bread scattered all around for dipping. People frequently comment on how much they love my spinach dip, but I can’t really call it mine at all. The recipe is printed on the back of every packet of Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix. My mom used to make it for parties when I was a kid. At that time, it was her recipe. I make it now and it’s mine. You can make it tomorrow, and call it yours. But the true credit goes to Knorr.

Every single time I’ve ever made this dip, I’ve served it in a bread bowl (usually pumpernickel) with doughy chunks of sourdough and pumpernickel all around. Except yesterday, when I didn’t serve it with bread at all. I was inspired to try something new after a recent night out with my sister and a friend. We’d eaten at a restaurant which has several dishes on their menu featuring something called pasta chips. I’d had pasta chip nachos on a previous visit. And last week, we ordered a spinach and artichoke dip that was served with these crispy pasta chips. Following the initial nacho experience, my sister and I pondered how the pasta chips were made. When we had them again last week, an idea occurred to me. Perhaps they were made with wonton wrappers, like the wonton wrappers I used in the Shrimp and Sweet Corn Ravioli. I decided I’d give it a try.

Well, after frying up a batch, I can’t say for certain that the restaurant uses wonton wrappers for their pasta chips. The end result was quite similar, but not quite their pasta chips. But you’ll never guess what they did turn out to be. Drum roll please…. Fried Wonton Chips! And they are good; addictively good. So, I fried the whole batch and served my Wonton/Pasta Chips with the dip.

My Spinach Dip Recipe

(I mean Knorr’s Spinach Dip Recipe.)

Ingredients

  • 1 10-ounce package Frozen Chopped Spinach
  • 1 packet Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix
  • 1 16-ounce container sour cream
  • 1/2 cup Mayonnaise*
  • 1 can Water Chestnuts, drained and chopped
  • 1 bunch of Green Onions, sliced*

*The original Knorr’s recipe calls for 1 cup of Mayonnaise and 3 green onions.

Directions

Defrost the spinach and squeeze dry. (This would be a good time to use a piece of cheesecloth, but your hands will suffice.) Combine the spinach with the other ingredients. Mix to combine and refrigerate. The dip is best after it’s been refrigerated for a few hours. Serve with bread or chips.

Fried Wonton Pasta Chips

Ingredients

  • 1 package Wonton Wrappers
  • Oil (Use a neutral flavored oil, such as canola.)

Directions

Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut the wonton wrappers, if desired. Pour about 1/4 inch oil into a pan. Heat over medium/medium-high until it’s good and hot. In small batches of about 5-6, place the wonton wrappers in the oil in a single layer. They will begin to cook quickly. Use tongs to flip the wrappers after a few seconds, when they begin to look a light toasty brown. Cook a few more seconds on the other side. Then, use your tongs to remove the fried wontons and place them on a paper towel to drain. Repeat for all wonton wrappers, stacking layers of paper towels, as necessary.

Great visit with my brother, friends, and family. I took full advantage of my group of eager taste-testers to work on a burger recipe I’m planning to submit for a contest. Torrential rain foiled my initial grill plans, but we worked it out inside. Thank you cast-iron grill pan.

Enjoyed a bit of cool, crisp Riesling, my favorite summer wine.

There were warm Cheddar and Garlic Biscuits. Click here for the biscuit recipe.

Cheddar and Garlic Biscuits

I made one more really yummy dish, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that one.

Trust me, it’s worth the wait!

7 Comments

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PB&J French Toast

Posted on July 23, 2010 by amydeline

In the three years and some odd months that we’ve been parents, we’ve been fortunate that our children have been mostly happy and mostly healthy. But during these past few weeks, our littlest guy has been sick. What started as a typical ear infection, treated with amoxicillin, led to an allergic reaction and two weeks worth of running back and forth between our doctor’s office, multiple emergency rooms, and specialists. As this week progressed, we thought we were through it. No more swelling. Very mild, occasional hives. No fever. No pain. Happy baby. Happy parents.

Until yesterday, when my momentarily healthy baby woke up from his nap with a scalding fever and complaining of pain in his leg; the opposite leg from the one which led us to last week’s all-nighter at the ER. Another visit to the doc revealed an angry red throat, seemingly unrelated to everything else. The poor little guy can’t seem to catch a break. A call to the orthopedist reassured us that the additional leg pain was a normal part of the reaction, if anything about these past few weeks can be called normal.

As I’ve learned during these past few weeks, there is nothing more nerve wracking for a parent than having a sick child. Watching our baby deal with all of the symptoms and the resulting medical tests and treatments has been so heartbreaking. The weight of trying to stay informed and make the best decisions for our baby has been emotionally draining. I wish I could just take the sickness away from him; put it on me instead. I’d do it in a heartbeat if I could.

With everything that’s been going on, I have to admit that I’ve been spoiling both of the kids a bit; a couple extra treats after dinner, little presents from the store, endless hours of snuggles. They need a little extra spoiling and I’m equally compelled to give it.

So, when it came time to make dinner this evening, I wanted to make something a little special for the kids;  a little treat at the end of a long week.  My first thought was breakfast for dinner, which is always a treat in my book. Perhaps some banana-nut pancakes or maybe chocolate chip waffles. Then, I started thinking about my comment yesterday, about my picky eater’s love for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And that is how we ended up eating Peanut Butter and Jelly French Toast for dinner.

PB&J French Toast

Ingredients

  • 8 Slice of Thick-Cut Bread (like Texas Toast)
  • 6-8 Tbsp Peanut Butter
  • 4-6 Tbsp Jelly or Preserves
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1/4 cup Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 2-3 Tbsp Butter, for the pan
  • Syrup and/or Powdered Sugar, if desired

Directions

Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on 4 slices of bread. Spread jelly on the other 4 slices. Put the slices together into 4 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In a small baking dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt. In a pan, melt some of the butter. Dip both sides of each sandwich in the egg mixture. Cook for a few minutes on each side until lightly browned and the eggs are fully cooked.

*If you’re making a large quantity and want to serve them all at once, heat your oven to about 250 degrees. As you finish cooking each batch, place them on a piece of foil or a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm until you’re ready to serve.

If desired, sprinkle with a bit of powdered sugar. You can serve the French Toast with syrup on the side, though it’s honestly sweet enough as is!

6 Comments

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Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese in a Citrus-Honey Vinaigrette

Posted on July 22, 2010 by amydeline

In general, I like to alternate heavier meals (like last night’s Chicken Cordon Bleu) with something a bit lighter. A fresh salad of spinach in a citrus vinaigrette with beets and a bit of herbed goat cheese seemed perfect tonight. Since my hubby always likes to have some sort of meat or fish protein with dinner, I’m also roasting up a few Sweet Apple Chicken sausages. But the real star of tonight’s dinner is the salad.

I’ve made beet salads a few different ways, sometimes slicing and stacking the beets, other times cutting them into little cubes. Today it occurred to me that I could have a little fun with the stacked beets. So, I pulled out my bin of cookie cutters to find one which would be the right size for my beets. Apparently, my cookie cutter bin has a magnetic pull on my three-year-old. He was content in the living room playing with his cars and motorcycles, but the moment the bin came out, he was magically by my side asking to help. How can I say no to my little sous chef?

Little chef, making teddy bear and gingerbread man shaped beets.

This particular little sous chef happens to be quite the picky eater, albeit a very eager and creative chef. He was the mastermind behind Ice Cream Pizza, the artist behind teddy bear beets, and has recently been suggesting I make Vanilla Soup. (I’m still working on that one.) He’d eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and popcorn for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every single day, if I let him. Which, much to his dismay, I do not. I just keep plugging along, exposing him to a variety of foods and hoping that if he’s hungry, he’ll eat. But it’s also my hope that by involving him in so much of the cooking process, he’ll be more likely to try new things. We’ll get there eventually.

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad in a Citrus-Honey Vinaigrette

Ingredients

  • 4 Beets
  • 4 ounces Goat Cheese
  • 4 cups Baby Spinach
  • 1/4 cup Walnuts, chopped

For the Dressing

  • Juice of 1 Lemon
  • Juice of 1 Orange
  • Juice of 1 Lime
  • 1 Tbsp Honey
  • 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
  • 1 Shallot, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Zest from the fruits, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off the top and bottom of the beets. Wrap the beets in foil. Make sure they are thoroughly wrapped. Place the foil packet of beets in a baking dish on the middle oven rack. Cook for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the beets, until the tip of a knife inserts easily. Cool. Using a knife, remove the skin. Slice or cut as desired.

For the dressing, combine all ingredients. (You should have about 1/2 cup combined juice from the orange, lemon, and lime.) Whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Add additional olive oil, if desired.

Toss the spinach in a little dressing. Create a tower of alternating layers of roasted beet slices and goat cheese. Drizzle a little extra dressing on top. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and citrus zest.

1 Comment

Posted in Cheese, Cooking with Kids, Dressings and Condiments, Food, Recipes, Salads and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Chicken Cordon Bleu and Green Beans Almondine

Posted on July 21, 2010 by amydeline

Chicken Cordon Bleu has been on my mind recently. I just love the crispy breaded chicken breast combined with salty prosciutto and cheese. Yum… Cheese. Lately, I’ve been acutely aware that if you don’t like cheese, you probably hate my blog. I’ve kind of got a little thing for cheese. I sure hope you like cheese too.

Chicken Cordon Bleu can be made a number of different ways. The most common procedure involves stuffing or rolling a chicken breast with ham or prosciutto and some type of swiss cheese, then breading and cooking. That approach will work, but I’ve had issues with the cheese oozing out during cooking. I hate to lose even a bit of cheese. So, I’ve come up with a different way of making chicken cordon bleu. I roll prosciutto in chicken breast, bread it, brown it in olive oil until golden brown, and finish the cooking in the oven. While the chicken is baking, I make a basic white sauce, or bechamel sauce, and then melt in some tasty Gruyere swiss cheese. No cheese is lost in the cooking and you get a nice creamy sauce to drizzle over the chicken. And who doesn’t like having a sauce to dip in??

On the side, we’re having green beans prepared my favorite way; sauteed in a bit of olive oil with sliced almonds and a sprinkle of salt. To make things just a smidgen easier, I buy the cleaned and cut fresh green beans, which can be microwaved right in the bag. I typically cook them for less than the recommend time, so they do not become mushy.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients

  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • 4-6 slices Prosciutto or Ham
  • 1/2 cup Flour
  • 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs
  • 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper

For the Gruyere Sauce:

  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 1 Tbsp Flour
  • 1 cup Milk
  • Dash of Nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1/2 cup Gruyere (or other swiss cheese), shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pound the chicken breast between plastic wrap until about 1/4 inch thick.

Lay slices of prosciutto or ham on top of the flattened chicken breast. Roll the chicken and tuck in the ends. Season with salt and pepper. Roll each chicken roll in flour. Dip into the lightly beaten eggs. Then, roll in the bread crumbs until well-coated. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Place the chicken rolls in the pan and cook for a minute or two on each side, until lightly browned.

Place the browned chicken into a baking dish. Place the baking dish into the oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Combine butter and flour in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for a couple minutes while stirring. It should have a paste-like consistency. This is your roux (roo) which will thicken your white sauce. Scrape the roux from the pan and set aside. Add milk to the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Using a whisk, incorporate the roux into the milk until smooth. Simmer for a few minutes until the milk begins to thicken. Season with the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Turn down the heat and add the shredded Gruyere cheese. Stir until melted and smooth.

When the chicken has finished cooking, spoon some sauce over each chicken roll and serve.

Green Beans Almondine

Ingredients

  • 1 package Cleaned and Cut, Fresh Green Beans, steamed
  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1/2 cup Sliced Almonds
  • 1/4 tsp Salt

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the almonds and salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until almonds just begin to toast. Add the steamed green beans. Use tongs to toss the beans in the oil and almonds.

Cook for a minute or two. Taste and adjsut seasonings if desired.

Chicken Cordon Bleu with Green Beans Almondine

If you have any leftover chicken and sauce, it makes an amazing sandwich! Spread the leftover sauce on a ciabatta roll. Slice the chicken. Place the slices onto the roll. Sprinkle a little extra swiss cheese on top, if desired. Wrap it in foil and bake in the oven until heat through. Excellent!

5 Comments

Posted in Cheese, Dressings and Condiments, Food, Main Course, Poultry, Recipes, Sauces, Side Dishes, Vegetable and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Posted on July 21, 2010 by amydeline

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and stuff in my kitchen

Shiny steel All-Clad pans, sharp Wusthof knives

These are the things which make cooking so nice.

When I’m chopping…

And sauteeing…

And I’m browning meat,

I simply make use of my favorite things…

And then we sit down to eat!

I have been collecting kitchen gear for as long as I can remember. I’d already begun a decent collection before I left for college. For years afterward, my birthday wishlist involved pots and pans. I got a knife one year for Mother’s Day. I asked Santa for a stainless steel colander. My collection has been built slowly over time. I’ve spent months collecting gift certificates at holidays and saving up for a prized item. I love diamonds and pearls as much as the next girl, but as far as shiny things go, I’d rather have a good knife or a pan. There are always more items on my wishlist, but at this point, I’ve got a pretty functional cooking collection. I love it all, but there are certainly some items which get more regular use; the items I couldn’t cook without. If you’re looking to build your cooking equipment collection, perhaps you’ll find some useful tips here.

These are a few of my favorite things…

Knives

A couple good knives will change your culinary world. Sharp, high quality knives are safer to use than any dull knife. Most of my knives are Wusthof or Henkels, because I like the way they feel, but Shun and Global make excellent knives too. It’s a personal preference thing. You have to get your hands on the knives and see what feels good to you. Look for forged knives (not stamped) made of high-carbon stainless steel, with a full tang (that piece of metal that runs from the blade all the way through the handle. I like a knife with a good amount of heft. Of all the knives in my knife block, my Santoku knives (Japanese chef’s knives) and my long, serrated bread knife get the most use. If I could only have two knives, those would definitely be my keepers.

Pots and Pans

Oh, my darling pots and pans! Don’t ask me about my pots and pans, unless you have a lot of time on your hands. I could talk for hours about them. All-Clad should pay me for the time I’ve put into raving about their cookware. My pots and pans are the prized gems of my collection. I’m an All-Clad girl through and through; copper-core, given my druthers. I’d rather save my money for one good All-Clad pot than fill up my cupboard with a collection of something else. In my opinion, this cookware is as good as it gets. Truth be told, these pots and pans are not cheap. But, they will last you forever. You’ll pass these pots and pans onto your grandchildren. Seriously. Don’t worry about trying to buy a whole collection at once. You’re better off buying a pot or pan at a time based on your needs. Whatever you choose, look for cookware that’s sturdy with solid construction. Avoid pots and pans with a disk base, which will be more likely to warp if overheated. I’ve had that happen more than once in my pre-All-Clad days. I’d recommend that most of your pots and pans are a high quality stainless steel, which is most durable and won’t interact with foods. Look for cookware that is oven safe, since it’s a really convenient thing to be able to move a pan from stove top to the oven. I’m leery of non-stick surfaces due to health concerns, though I do keep at least one non-stick pan on hand for omelets. My favorite cookware, the All-Clad Copper-Core line, features a five layer construction with the durability of stainless steel on the interior and exterior sandwiching layers of highly conductive, even-heating aluminum and copper. It’s also handy to have a good cast-iron skillet, grill pan, and dutch oven on hand. Le Creuset makes excellent and beautiful enameled cast-iron cookware.

Instant-read Meat Thermometer

This is one of those items that I think belongs in every kitchen. I use mine almost every night. It takes the guesswork out of determining if your meat is cooked, helping to ensure that things are cooked safely, without overcooking. To use an instant-read meat thermometer, first remove the meat from the heat. If you’re measuring something large, like a roast, remove the pan from the oven. If you’re measuring something smaller, like a chicken breast, lift it slightly from the pan with a spatula or tongs, before inserting the thermometer. You want to be sure you’re measuring the temperature of the meat, not the heat in the pan, oven, or grill. Insert the thermometer into the center of the meat. Make sure that it doesn’t poke out the other side or make contact with the hot pan. Read the temperature, then remove the thermometer and continue cooking, if necessary.

Assortment of Bowls

Sort of an obvious one, but I love my bowls! I’m partial to the bright ceramic ones, but the stainless steel bowls are definitely most versatile. I especially LOVE my huge stainless bowl, which is invaluable when I’m making big batches of salads for parties or mixing up cookie dough.

Colanders and Strainers

I love pretty enameled colanders, though admittedly the stainless steel ones are more durable. There’s really no reason for anyone to have as many colanders as I do, but I love them. The conical shaped strainer is called a chinois (pronounced shin-WAH). It’s a very fine mesh strainer, great for straining sauces or stocks.

Baking Sheets

Nothing too exciting about these. Just a couple of sturdy aluminum baking sheets, which get a tremendous amount of use.

Salt and Pepper

So, maybe salt and pepper doesn’t seem to go along with the other items on this list, but somehow they belong here. I keep my little canister of kosher salt sitting next to the stove. It gets used in almost every single thing I cook or bake. Salt is a flavor magnifier. A touch of salt can make a dramatic difference in the flavor of a dish; turning something bland into something spectacular. Don’t neglect your salt. Keep it handy and use it often.

Immersion Blender

I hardly use my small kitchen appliances; partly because they’re out of the way and I don’t have a more convenient place to store them and partly because I like be hands-on when I cook. I honestly love chopping, slicing, kneading and whisking until my arms are sore. I have just about every small kitchen appliance in the book; large and small food processors, hand-mixers, stand mixers, ice cream makers, coffee grinders, espresso machines, and blenders. But they are all lonely and neglected. Out of all of the small appliances I own, the one that gets the most use is my immersion blender. It’s a relatively inexpensive addition to any cooking collection. It doesn’t take up a lot of space and it’s easy to clean. I use mine for smoothies, blended soups, pureeing vegetables and fruits, making sauces, and lots of other things.

Good cookware doesn’t make the cook, but it sure helps!

I love talking about cooking equipment, so if you ever have a question, just ask!

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Roast Beef, Bleu Cheese and Caramelized Onion Panini

Posted on July 19, 2010 by amydeline

I owe you an apology. I have no idea how I’ve gone through almost a hundred posts without making caramelized onions. I’m so sorry. It was neglectful, thoughtless, and downright irresponsible of me! I’m going to make it up to you today with a caramelized onion photo guide and an easy panini sandwich recipe featuring the sweet oniony goodness.

Yesterday, after baking the first two loaves of peasant bread with rosemary, I decided to bake two more loaves, using honey instead of sugar, olive oil instead of butter, and a bit of sea salt instead of rosemary. Just because I like to play with food. Now we’ve got more bread than any family could need. This leaves me with a few options. I could freeze the bread, but that would take up space, which is at a premium in my freezer. I could try to find a poor wandering cathedral builder and his family to donate it to, but I haven’t seen one of those in years. Lastly, I could make sandwiches for dinner. Sandwiches it is!

The large flat loaves of peasant bread scream panini to me. A panini is essentially a pressed sandwich, often grilled or toasted until hot and melty. You do not need any special equipment to make panini. A heavy pan or foil-wrapped brick will do the trick. You can toast the sandwich in a skillet or grill pan with the foil-wrapped brick on top to ‘press’ the sandwich. Flip the sandwich after a few minutes to toast the other side. Another alternative is to cook the sandwich on an actual grill with a heavy pan or foil-wrapped brick on top. Today, I’ll be wrapping my sandwich in foil, placing a cast iron skillet on top, and baking it in the oven until it’s hot and melty.

You can use any type of bread for panini sandwiches, but something flat and dense will work best. Popular panini breads are ciabatta or focaccia. If you have the time, bake a couple loaves of my peasant bread recipe. It’s easy and delicious! You can fill your panini with any combination of meats, cheeses, spreads, and vegetables. My sandwich fillings were inspired by the leftover bleu cheese I had in the fridge. Bleu cheese got me thinking of roast beef, which led me to the caramelized onions. I’m also adding a bit of shredded mozzarella for flavor balance and extra meltiness.

To see my photo guide on How to Caramelize Onions, click here.

Roast Beef, Bleu Cheese, and Caramelized Onion Panini

Ingredients

  • Roast Beef, thinly sliced
  • Caramelized Onions
  • Bleu Cheese, crumbled
  • Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
  • Loaf of flat, dense bread

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice the loaf of bread in half.

Place the roast beef in an even layer on the bottom half of the bread.

Sprinkle caramelized onions on top of the beef.

Sprinkle with bleu cheese crumbles.

Sprinkle with some shredded mozzarella.

Place the top half of bread on top.

Tightly wrap the sandwich in foil.

Place the sandwich on the middle rack of the oven. Place a heavy skillet or foil-wrapped brick on top.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Then, unwrap and enjoy.


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How to Caramelize Onions

Posted on July 19, 2010 by amydeline

Caramelized onions are onions which have been cooked slowly to develop and caramelize the onion’s sugars. They have a very sweet, mild onion flavor, which tastes delicious on burgers, tarts, sandwiches, pizzas, salads, and steak, amongst other things. They make the best base for French Onion Soup. Heck, I’d even put them on ice cream! You can caramelize any type of onion or even shallots. Here’s a step by step guide for making caramelized onions.

Start with a couple onions.

Cut off both ends of the onion.

Stand the onion on one of the cut sides and cut it in half.

Lay the onion cut side down.

Cut the onion into slices from root to the opposite end.

Do NOT cut the onion into half-rings. Onion cut in this manner will fall apart during cooking.

Put a couple tablespoons of oil or butter into a pan. Heat over medium heat.

Add the onions to the pan.

Cook for a few minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes until the onions reduce in size and take on a caramel-brown color. Stir often and adjust the heat, as necessary, to prevent burning.

Enjoy your sweet, delicious caramelized onions!

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Peasant Bread and Ale

Posted on July 18, 2010 by amydeline

I have a bad habit of immediately dismissing things that are over-hyped or forced upon me. If you tell me a hundred times that I have to read Twilight, it’s going to end up at the end of my reading cue. Insist that I plan a trip to the South Pole and you’ll find me at the North. Try to convince me to watch your favorite tv show and I already don’t like it. I’m stubborn. I’m sure I miss out on some great stuff due to this personality flaw, but it’s just the way that I am. I don’t like people telling me what I should do.

So, I had mixed feelings when Oprah chose Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth for her book club selection a few years ago. I panicked, worried that people would skip this book due to the hype. (I sometimes forget that not everyone is as willfully stubborn as I am.) You see, by the point that Oprah announced this book as her book club selection, I’d already read it three times. It’s one of the very few books I’ve ever read more than once. That’s how much I love Pillars of the Earth. It is the book I recommend to anybody asking for book recommendations. I lend my copy to friends and buy new copies once the old ones are too worn.

Set in 12th century England, Pillars of the Earth follows its characters and their descendants through conflicts of good versus evil, lust, love, greed and power struggles between family, church, and politics. It’s epic. It’s gripping. It’s the kind of book where as you reach the last hundred pages, you’re torn between reading faster to find out what happens or slowing down so that you can delay the end. It’s the kind of book that leaves you wondering about the characters for weeks afterward, as if they are family members you haven’t heard from in a while.

But, I don’t want to insist you read it, lest you’re like me and rebel against people telling you what you should do.

Oh, never mind. I can’t help it! You just have to read Pillars of the Earth! Trust me. You won’t be disappointed. It’s worth the hype. Do it!

Some of the best advice my dad ever gave me was to always read the book before you see the movie. Once you’ve seen the movie, your image of the book will be colored by the director’s interpretation. I have never been steered wrong by this advice. I’ve always wanted someone to make Pillars into a movie, but worried that it would be impossible to capture the grand nature of the book in just a few hours. Well, that’s exactly why you need to hurry up and read the book. This Friday, Starz is premiering their mini-series of Pillars of the Earth. My sister, who writes for an entertainment website, has previewed the mini-series. She’ll be posting her review later this week, but has been very enthusiastic so far. From a fan of the book, that’s a really good sign! You can read her preview of the series by clicking here and keep your eyes out for her review later this week.

So, now you’re probably wondering what all of this chatter has to do with food. And I promise, this does have to do with food. You see, some of the main characters in the book are exceptionally poor. They travel from village to village seeking work and begging for meals. When they’re lucky, they find charity at the castle or priory. Otherwise they’ll beg food from a passing monk, trade their limited possessions, or even steal. Each time, they are often presented with the same meager meal; a chunk of bread, cup of ale and maybe a piece of dried venison or cold bacon, if they’re lucky. Now maybe I’m crazy, but I can’t help but salivate every time I read about these impoverished people eating their simple meal. I wish someone would give me a chunk of bread and jug of ale. I’ll even skip the dried venison.

So, in honor of the upcoming premiere, today we’re having peasant bread and ale.

Bake the bread. Take a swig from a jug of ale. Then, head out to the bookstore to buy Pillars of the Earth. Start reading now, because it’s long and it’s going to take you awhile. In fact, you may need to call in sick a couple days this week. Then, subscribe to Starz, if you don’t already have it and clear your Friday evenings for the next several weeks!

Trust me. Have I ever led you astray?

Peasant Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 packet Active Dry Yeast
  • 2 cups Warm Water (about 115 degrees)
  • 1 Tbsp Sugar
  • 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup Rye Flour
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 3 Tbsp Salted Butter, melted
  • 1 Tbsp Fresh Rosemary, chopped
  • Olive Oil and Cornmeal, for the baking sheet

Directions

Combine yeast and sugar in a bowl. Pour in the warm water and stir until dissolved. Add the flour and salt. Stir to combine. Cover the bowl with a moist towel and allow it to rise for one hour.

Now would be a good time to run out to the book store to buy Pillars of the Earth.

Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil. Sprinkle some corn meal over the oil. Divide the dough in half and form two rounds. Place the dough rounds onto the baking sheet. Allow the dough to rise for one more hour.

Read a bit while you wait. Just wait until you meet William Hamleigh!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the melted butter over the dough rounds and sprinkle with the chopped rosemary. If desired, use a knife to cut a crosshatch in the dough. Bake the bread for about 25-30 minutes.

This would be a good time to call Starz about your subscription.

Once your bread is baked, pour yourself a cold glass of hoppy ale. Break off a piece of that warm bread and keep reading.


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