Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friday Favorites
Pumpkin Granola via Two Peas & Their Pod
Ok, I've told you guys before it is dangerous for me to have granola in the house. Well, this Pumpkin Granola is no exception. This stuff is DANGEROUS - in the best way possible. I added almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds to the mix before toasting in the oven. I made two packed baking sheets worth and there *might* be about 3/4 of a cup left...in less than two weeks...oops.
Chicken, Corn and Lime Soup via Epicurious
I made this soup a couple of weeks ago when Brian away on a business trip. I made the recipe exactly as is and no joke it fed me for a week. Add a little fresh cilantro, grated cheese and some crushed up tortilla chips and you are livin' the good life.
Red Wine Chocolate Cake via Smitten Kitchen
If there is one thing that you do this weekend - MAKE THIS CAKE. I am not joking. It is hands down one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. A coworker of mine thought it was a bit boozy, and while I probably wouldn't give it to your kids, the red wine definitely kicks it up a notch. The cake is super moist and dense without being too rich, and the red wine gives it a subtle spice that you don't normally find in regular chocolate cake. I didn't even put any frosting or powdered sugar or anything on it and it was still amazing. Deb (from Smitten Kitchen) referred to this as "the real red velvet cake" and I say AMEN to that.
What have you been baking or cooking in the kitchen lately? Have you been craving pumpkin and spices ready for fall or are you still trying to hang on to the last few days of summer? Share with me in the comments! Have a great weekend!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Sometimes...my eyes are bigger than my stomach.
(like, usually all of the time)
Sometimes...I buy way too much food at the grocery store.
(or spend too long at the grocery store, I tend to hang out there like its my favorite bar)
It's really hard not too in the height of summer when everything is so fresh and so ripe and so delicious...
Some people make jam (some day when I have more than 24" of counter space I will too). Some people make bread (how many zucchini/banana/pumpkin breads have you made-slash-been given-slash-given to other people when your bounty is about to go bad but you just can't bear to see it go to waste??
No? Just me?
LIARS
See, I had these tomatoes that were about to go bad. They were getting kind of soft and I could just tell their insides were turning ever so slightly gritty and I couldn't stand the thought of them going to waste. So, I roasted them.
Do you know what happens when you cook something low and slow for a few hours? Something amazing. Something delicious. Something...magical. I don't know exactly how it happens, but the tomatoes turn slightly chewy and their flavor becomes concentrated and slightly smokey, earthy if you will.
Not to mention it's seriously the easiest thing ever. I wouldn't even call it cooking. But you can, I won't tell on you. You can totally tell your friends that you made these from scratch and watch them marvel at how amazing you are (like they do ALL the time, I'm sure). I won't tell them that this recipe only takes 5 minutes to throw together and then you get to WALK AWAY for an hour or so.
(your secret is safe with me)
Roasted Tomatoes
You can use these in a number of fabulous ways - try adding them to a toasted bagel with cream cheese, chop them up and add them to a salad, or do like I do and add them to some pasta. I made this risotto recipe and swapped out the peas and mint for roasted tomatoes and basil. My heart sang, so will yours.
7 small, ripe tomatoes
2 (ish) tblsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
- Preheat your oven to 300* F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper (this makes clean up wicked easy)
- Halve or slice tomatoes (depending on their size), drizzle with olive oil and lay them out on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly season them with salt and pepper (not too much, these suckers don't need a lot of doctoring up).
- Roast in the oven for one to one and a half hours (depending on your oven, how well done you want them and what awesomely horrible reality TV is on at the same time).
*Notes* You can use any kind of tomato for this recipe. Cherry, roma, regular - the world is your oyster tomato. This works best with fresh, ripe tomatoes but feel free to use it year round when you inevitably grab some sad looking tomatoes in the middle of winter from the big box grocery store. This will save their life. The longer you roast them the more concentrated their taste will be.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Risotto with peas
It would start with asparagus. The asparagus bed had its own separate location apart from the rest of the garden, seemingly posher than the humble potatoes and corn. As soon as we saw their little tips peeking up from the soil we knew the season was in full swing. It took many, many years for me to finally like the taste of asparagus (without a pound of melted velveeta cheese slathered on top, oh the horror). The same goes for peas.
One of the most vivid memories I have of growing up in my parents house was picking fresh peas from the garden. As a child I loathed the taste of cooked peas - somehow the only ones that I could remember were dull and brownish from being cooked too long in the microwave (sorry mom). But fresh peas, oh those were something different. My parents would send my sister and I out to the garden with a plastic bag and we were to fill it with peas. They were lucky if they ended up with half of the bounty that was growing, the other half in my belly with a trail of empty pods stretching out behind me. I'd seek out the perfect pea pod - not too big (as that meant the peas were too starchy and slightly bitter), not too small (you wanted to actually be able to eat something out of the pod) but just right - the peas would be sweet and tender, and I would gobble them up like candy.
These days I have a better appreciation for the taste of cooked peas, but even now I find it hard to get them cooked just right when we are dining out. And of course now in my life there is the British staple of mushed peas served with fish and chips. But even that is a tricky dish to get right. I don't have the luxury now of picking fresh peas from my parents garden, so the farmers market is my next best option. When I saw a bag of fresh peas last week I knew I had to do something remarkable with them.
I have (slowly) been reading through The Silver Spoon (the holy grail of Italian cooking) and noticed a recipe for Risotto with Asparagus. And that's when the lightbulb went off - Risotto with Peas and Mint. It was my first time cooking risotto and I am hooked. These something so methodical and hypnotizing about stirring a pot for 25 minutes, slowly adding stock, stirring, stirring, stirring. This dish requires very few ingredients so it is critical to use the freshest, best quality ingredients that you can get your hands on.
Risotto with Peas and Mint
Inspired by a risotto recipe by The Silver Spoon cookbook
1.5 litres (2 1/2 pints) of vegetable or chicken stock (homemade or low sodium from the store)
40 grams (1 1/2 oz) butter
3 tblsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
350 grams (12 oz) risotto rice
1 cup fresh peas
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
Fresh mint, chopped, to taste (I used 10 leaves, about 1 1/5 tblsp chopped)
Fresh mint, chopped, to taste (I used 10 leaves, about 1 1/5 tblsp chopped)
- Bring the stock to a boil. In a large sauce pan melt the butter and olive oil, add the onion and cook over low heat until the onion is slightly soft and starting to turn translucent. Tip in the rice and stir until the grains are well coated.
- Add a ladleful of the hot stock and cook until the liquid has been absorbed, stirring constantly. Continue to add the stock, one ladleful at a time, making sure that all liquid is absorbed before adding more, stirring constantly. This should take around 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes. After the last ladle of stock is added tip in the peas. Once all of the liquid is absorbed add the fresh grated parmesan cheese and chopped mint and stir just to incorporate.
- Add a few fresh mint leafs and grated parmesan cheese to serve. Makes four generous servings.
- Add a ladleful of the hot stock and cook until the liquid has been absorbed, stirring constantly. Continue to add the stock, one ladleful at a time, making sure that all liquid is absorbed before adding more, stirring constantly. This should take around 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes. After the last ladle of stock is added tip in the peas. Once all of the liquid is absorbed add the fresh grated parmesan cheese and chopped mint and stir just to incorporate.
- Add a few fresh mint leafs and grated parmesan cheese to serve. Makes four generous servings.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Bone Marrow
Yeahhh...me too....that was nice...
Anywho
When we were in Tuscany the first vineyard that we visited was one of the best Brunello producers in Montalcino - Biondi Santi. When we were there we were very fortunate to meet Mr. Franco Biondi Santi. Not only did we get a chance to meet him but when he found out that we were newlyweds (through a very broken Italian conversation) he gifts us with a bottle of 1983 Brunello. Score one for playing the newlyweds card!
We decided to pop open this vintage over the weekend with some friends. What would go best with this excellent wine? Steak you say? Alrighty then, steak it is!
Before we moved on to the main course though, our friends made some amazing appetizers.
 |
| Tucker trying to get his hands on some proscuitto wrapped cheese stuffed dates! |
Sean ordered steaks from our FAVORITE butcher in London...a website. Yes, we order our meat from the internet. No we are not ashamed. Because the meat that we get from East London Steak Co is some of the best meat that we have had...EVER. Tony Beef (the guy from ELSC who delivers your order - at 5AM!) deserves his own post, I could go on for years about how much we love this place. But I won't. I have something more exciting to tell you about.
When Sean ordered steaks he decided to be bone marrow as well. Bone marrow? Bone Marrow?!
The first time I ever really read, or heard about people eating bone marrow was when I read Anthony Bourdains book, Kitchen Confidential, last year. He sited roasted bone marrow (specifically from St. JOHN Bar and Restaurant in London) as what he would have as his last meal. Once you get past the part of what bone marrow actually is (I won't go into the deets, if you want a science lesson check it out here) you might actually like it.
Scratch that.
First - don't actually think about what you're eating. It's not going to help you at all.
Second - you aren't going to like it, you're going to LOVE it.
All you have to do to enjoy this beauty? Roast in the oven and toast up some bread. Serve with truffle salt if you want to jazz it up a little, and voila.
Sure, the texture is a little weird...but really only if you eat it with a spoon (which I did not...although...)
Just trust me - you need to try it. Talk to you butcher next time you pay him (or her) a visit.
Good wine, good food, good company.
Sounds like a pretty good Saturday night if you ask me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)