The Simplest Things in Life...and cooking.

Some days I just don't feel like getting every pot and pan dirty. I don't like grocery shopping, and hate trying to find ingredients I don't have readily available. On days like this (like today), even though I did go to the store, I knew I didn't want to spend the entire day in the kitchen. I've always felt that "less is more," and I catch myself shying away from dishes that require tons of ingredients. Not that it seems daunting--though it probably would be time consuming, not to mention expensive--I just think that too many ingredients can muddle the flavor of dishes. I like to be able to identify and taste everything. I tend to go for recipes with ten items or less. Today, I took a major shortcut. I was digging around in the pantry (ewwwww, dark scary place!) and found some "Peach Jezebel Sauce" I picked up a few years ago from one of our favorite stopping places when we go to the Texas Hill Country--New Canaan Farms. They make jellies, salsas, sauces, marinades--anything you can put in a jar. And yes, a few years ago--so! It wasn't opened yet. Hey, I will admit--on this quest for a marinade, I found a jar of sun-dried tomato and olive relish that said "best if used by April 2003." That one I did throw away. That means we moved that jar here when we moved to this house. And I know inquiring minds want to know, yes, I opened it and smelled. It was kind of dark and very strong with balsamic vinegar. It was time to go. But I digress. I remembered that the Peach Jezebel was a great sauce for chicken and pork, and it just so happens I had some chicken thighs I'd been wanting to get out of the freezer, so this was perfect for that. And only this. I marinated and baked the thighs in it, and it was great. Only a few ingredients in the sauce--and you could use any variation of these, switch some things out, etc. Peaches, pineapple, apple cider vinegar, dry mustard and horseradish are the base. Use apricot preserves, use honey mustard. Just blend it all together to taste. A little chunky is good. I baked the thighs for almost an hour at 350º, basting with the juices halfway through. It was really good. And really simple. We had it with kale that I sautéd with some red onion, oregano and dill. Great for eating in front of the TV (Oscars are on tonight).
I almost forgot to take a picture, so you're seeing the last poor thigh sitting in the Pyrex® dish waiting for it's Tupperware®.

So don't get too caught up, you might miss something SIMPLY wonderful.

Happy eating.

Ice and Bacon Cheddar Scones

Well, my last post was "Snow and food..." so that looks to be the pattern these days-it seems to be all about the weather! We're "iced in" here in north Texas this week and it lends to lots of eating, meaning cooking. This is our third day in a row to work from home, so I have lots of access to the kitchen. It's unfortunate because I think I've gained five pounds since Sunday. And for some reason, there's a big bacon campaign going on here. (Did you just meet me?) Started the day Tuesday with Bacon Cheddar Scones. Tuesday night we had Refried Bean Tostadas, so of course they were made with bacon grease. Last night we had hot dogs wrapped in bacon and put under the broiler--shredded cheese and chili accompanied. Don't worry, I paid later. Then tonight, we're having BLT's with Tomato Bisque soup. What?
Back to the scones. Not to sound haughty, but I'm kind of known for my scones. I usually make a sweet variety--my all time fav are raisin, but I change it up, too. So it made sense to make them savory for a change. I have a great book of scones and biscuits by Elizabeth Alston, and everything I've ever made from that has been great. It's even taught me to step out and try some things on my own, so that's what this was. And I should note--I prefer making my scones "soft." By this I mean that I bake them touching, so the edges are soft when pulled apart, unlike the ones baked separated so that all sides are crusty. Just a preference.

So here's the basic recipe--anyone who makes their own buttermilk biscuits is well on their way:

2 C. All-purpose flour
2 t. Baking powder
1/2 t. Baking soda
1/2 t. Nutmeg
1/2 t. Salt
8 T. (one stick) Cold unsalted butter
Yolk of one large egg
3/4 C. Buttermilk or plain yogurt
White of one large egg
1 C. Crisp bacon, crumbled
1 C. Shredded cheddar cheese
Sugar, salt and pepper for sprinkling

Heat oven to 350º F. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt into a large mixing bowl; stir to mix well. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers (I do both), until the mixture looks like fine granules. Add egg yolk to buttermilk (I never have buttermilk--make some with regular milk and lemon juice.), whisk with a fork to blend, then add to flour mixture and stir till a soft dough forms. Add the bacon and cheese, and mix in accordingly, finishing blending it in by turning all the dough out onto a floured surface and kneading it a few times. Cut the dough in half and knead each half briefly into a ball; turn smooth side up and pat into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into 6 wedges, but don't separate the wedges. In a small bowl, beat the egg white with a fork until broken up, and brush the top of each circle of scones, then sprinkle with a little sugar, kosher salt, and a tiny bit of pepper if you want. I didn't do the pepper on the ones in the picture. With a pancake turner, transfer both circles onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. If necessary, reshape the circles to make sure the wedges are touching.
Bake 18-22 minutes, until medium brown. Cool on a wire rack, then after about five minutes, pull the wedges apart and cover loosely with a dish towel.
And what I've found when making any biscuits or scones--get everything to room temp before you begin, except the butter. Keep it cold until you cut it in. It makes the dough so nice.
These were really good served warm with apricot jam.
Happy eating!

Snow and Lobster Bisque

Happy New Year! It's January 9th and we're having our first snowfall of 2011. Kind of exciting, since we seldom get any. And what does a snowy day in North Texas mean? Stay inside and cook--at least to me! Mother and I had the good fortune of having lobster tails last night for dinner, so we decided a bisque was in order for today. I don't have a regular recipe, so I went in search on the web and found Red Lobster's. The reason it won out was because it didn't call for sherry, where most do. And I don't have any. Of course, I made a few changes, but nothing substantial, and I did cut the recipe in half as we didn't have that much lobster left over. I also, unfortunately, didn't have the wherewithall to think to save the stock from boiling the lobsters last night, so I substituted chicken stock where it asks for fish stock. Otherwise, I followed it. Here 'tis:










Lobster Bisque

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 cups Water
• 2 cups Dry white wine
• 2 cups Fish stock
• 2 each 1¼ to 1½ lbs. live lobster
• ½ cup Melted butter, salted
• 1 cup Onions, finely diced
• ½ cup Carrots, finely diced
• ½ cup Celery, finely diced
• 1 tsp. Garlic, minced
• ½ cup All-purpose flour
• ¼ cup Cognac (or Brandy)
• 1½ cups Tomatoes, seeded and diced (fresh or canned)
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• ½ tsp. Thyme
• ¼ tsp. Ground red pepper
• 1 cup Heavy cream

Preparation:

1. Place the water, the white wine and the fish stock into a wide, deep pot (or a Dutch oven), and bring to a boil on high heat.
2. Place lobsters, topside down, in the broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook covered for approximately 6 minutes. With a pair of tongs, turn lobsters and cook covered for another 6 minutes.
3. Remove lobsters from broth and put them to the side. When the lobsters are cool enough to handle, begin removing the meat from the shell, dicing the pieces into ½-inch cubes. Store the lobster meat in the refrigerator until later. Place the lobster shells back into the broth, reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
4. Strain the broth through a sieve into a container and store in the refrigerator until later. Discard the lobster shells.
5. Put your pot (or Dutch oven) back on the stove under medium heat. Pour in the melted butter.
6. Once the butter is heated up, add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Sautee for 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Add the cognac (or brandy) and cook until the alcohol has evaporated.
8. Mix in the flour, stirring with a heavy gauge spatula or spoon until the mixture is blond in color and has a buttery aroma.
9. Mix the diced tomatoes, paprika, thyme and ground pepper with the cold broth from the refrigerator. Then, pour the broth slowly into the butter and vegetable mixture. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes under medium low heat, stirring frequently so not to burn.
10. Remove bisque from heat. Blend small amounts of bisque in blender and then puree. Puree all of the bisque and pour pureed bisque back into pot with remaining amount.
11. Add chopped lobster meat and heavy cream, heat and serve. If the soup is too thick, thin it by adding milk or water prior to serving.

Chef's Tip: Adding a touch of brandy or sherry to the stock can bring a wonderful touch to this classic lobster bisque recipe.

Beverage suggestions: Chardonnay, Cambria Katherine’s Vineyard

I did use a Chardonnay and though it was perfect for the heavier body I was trying for. I will admit, I did not see the Chef's Tip (until it was too late) about adding a touch of the brandy to the stock, I think I would have liked that. Pays to read it all the way through, right!? Oh, forgot to mention, those oyster crackers--great tip from my friend Judy--toss the crackers in a bowl with a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch powdered dressing mix, and it makes them so yummy, without extra calories! Good for just snacking, or using in soups, bisques, etc.

On a personal note--today is David and Lauren's 1st wedding anniversary. So proud--love them!

Hey, I received a raclette party grill for Christmas, so my next post will be about our first attempt at raclette. Don't know what that means?--I'll 'splain it when I post. Thanks!

Brat Beer Bath, Baby!

Another warm, comfort food for Sunday night's dinner. I love sausages and brats, and I really love the ones that are made with things other than just the usual innards. Tonight we had chicken and apple sausages, and I didn't feel like standing around with a pair of tongs out in the cold, so the "brats got a bath."

I used my BIG cast iron skillet, which always makes a nice pot. A stick of butter, and bunch of sliced onions to start (I used yellow and red just because those were leftover from other stuff), and I let that simmer till the onions got somewhat soft, but not translucent. Added two beers (David insisted on his Miller High Life - "it's the champagne of beers, Mom!"), and once hot-added the sausages. Just simmered till they were looking to burst. These were previously fully cooked, by the way. I found some fluffy, over-sized hot dog buns at the bakery, and served them with Texas Caviar (black-eyed pea salad) and some sweet yellow cherry tomatoes.

The Texas Caviar is another recipe to be found in the Strand Family cookbook. An old friend from church, Landa Cartwright, gets credit for this one. I've had other black-eyed pea salads, but this one is the best. Easy to make, too. Just get a large mixing bowl and dump 4-5 cans of black-eyed peas in (drain all but one or two cans), 1 medium red onion-chopped (oh yeah, that's why I had red onion!), 1 green 1 red, and 1 yellow bell peppers-chopped, 1 large bottle of Kraft LITE Zesty Italian Dressing, 1 jar of picante sauce (I use mild), 1 large can pitted black olives-finely chopped, and you can add jalapeño to taste, though I leave it out. That's it. Mix it up, refrigerate in a container, and the saying goes, "the longer it sets, the better it gets!" It is true. Wait at least 24 hours before you serve it. It's great on crackers or big scoop chips; and I like it cold, but you could heat it as well. This will pass for eating black-eyed peas for good luck in the new year.
On another note, I wish I had taken pictures of breakfast this morning. We had my version of Migas, along with fried potatoes and onions (I eat a lot of onions?), and a cast iron skillet of "greasy" refried beans. I would have loved to post a picture of those beans. Usually when I heat up refrieds, I do add a little bacon grease, but this time I wanted them to get really dark and smoky flavored. I learned the term "greasy" the other night when we were at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants "Ojeda's," and I asked our waiter for the "darker" refried beans they serve with the Carne Asada. He said, "Oh, you want the GREASY beans!" And of course I said "Okay!"
So this morning I fried a whole pound of bacon and reserved the grease for the beans; I used about half of it when it was all said and done. And using the iron skillet just added to the flavor. They were perfect if I do say so. The Migas were just scrambled eggs (I use a little sour cream to get them fluffy); all that crunchy, crumbled bacon; shredded monterey jack cheese, and broken corn tortillas chips. Mixed it all together and put it in a casserole dish in the oven for a few minutes with a little extra cheese melted down over the top. I love breakfast. And I really love Mexican breakfast. Don does too, especially when he wakes up on Sunday morning, gets in the hot tub and is served a Tequila Sunrise before his Mexican breakfast. Hey, I like to do it up right, right? We're still coming down from our recent trip to San Antonio. I have foodie pics from that I'll post over the holidays.
Okay, I've rambled on about food--so what's new! Thanks for reading.

Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

Sara (shout out!) is on me about not blogging, especially during the Thanksgiving holiday. It was weird; I didn't cook much. We were invited somewhere else for the actual Thanksgiving Feast, so all I made was a side dish. I cooked a turkey later, but we just went into immediate leftover mode with it and never actually made it as a "meal." Speaking of leftovers, you know how I love them. My favorite leftover from thanksgiving is to cut a dinner roll in half, smear it with mayo, lay several pieces of dark turkey meat, some cornbread stuffing (my favorite) and some cranberry sauce on it, and that's my deal. So it was a little strange this year not to do that--but I made due.
This is a picture of the side dish we have every year now--
Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans. If you know me, you know I have a thing for bacon. And as much as I love it savory, I love a sweet twist on it as well. (Notice, I did get my turkey sandwich in there, but it's on Asiago Cheese bread with just mayo--I lived through it!)
So this is a recipe you can find in the Strand Family Cookbook. (Secretly, behind my mom's back, I gathered recipes from all of her side of the family in order to present a cookbook to her on her 70th birthday. The Strand family/descendants are awesome cooks!)

So this recipe is in there, but here's how it goes:

3 cans of whole greens beans (not cut or French style--use the long "whole" ones), drained
1 lb. bacon, cut strips into thirds
1 C. packed brown sugar
5-6 T. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced

Wrap 5-6 green beans with a piece of the bacon and lay seam side down in a lightly greased, 9x13 Pyrex dish. Continue until all the bacon and/or greens beans are used. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, soy sauce and garlic. Mix well, and pour the mixture over the bundles, making sure to hit all of the bacon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

That bacon becomes a kind of candy--so good!

More to come.

All Hail the Compost!

Gross, huh? Kind of. But not to those of us who reap the rewards of composting. THIS, is a pretty good take for one day. In case you're wondering, that's a regular-sized Rachel Ray garbage bowl. And it's almost full, so that means we had a good day in the kitchen. Lots of fresh ingredients in the recipes. It's amazing what we can add to the compost pile. Oh by no means are we huge composters. Don has a bin out back and it's getting full of leaves and grass as is common for this time of year. There's a few pumpkin remnants in there from last week, too. Talk about something that breaks down fast--any kind of gourdage! Blek. Takes on a whole new life.
Anyway, we do love the idea of getting it back into the soil. The flower beds around our house are full of different kinds of soil, I think from years of previous owners trying out different things, and oh yes, a whole lot of rocks. The compost helps to balance things out. We even had a bunch of Papaya plants come up in the beds this summer from one papaya I used earlier.
So let's break this bowl down a little. There's an apple peel--okay, somebody had a good snack! I see a leaf from a house plant. (I don't do houseplants--that's Mom's baby. I think she ate the apple too.) Brussel sprout leaves. Okay, I have a confession. It's huge. Ready? I've never eaten a brussel sprout till today. Really. Never had them growing up--Mom didn't serve them. Just never had the opportunity or the knowledge about them or how to cook them. And it doesn't help growing up hearing them referred to as "the worst thing you've ever put in your mouth." Admit it--you've heard that. It's like...spinach. Essentially hated by all young people everywhere. Nationwide. So I've been throwing around the idea and asking around about recipes. My boss and I just talked about this a few weeks ago, and I think she gave me the idea that I should roast them. I've seen Ina Garten do it on the Food Network. (Which, by the way, is off the air due to AT&T and Scripps network not getting along--that's another story--and I'm not happy.) So I roasted some. Olive oil, salt and pepper. 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, that's it. I wanted to experience them without a bunch of other flavors masking the true taste. Well, I love them. It's true that I do love a lot of green things that I didn't used to, but these really are good. I don't know about how they'd be boiled, since I'm not crazy about mushy veggies, but this gave them a little crunch and I thought they were great. We're having them again.
Back to the compost. There's an egg shell in there. That was for a great Weight Watchers recipe-Lemon Pasta. Hence also the lemon rinds. Used the zest and the juice in that one. I'll post a picture of dinner below--Lemon Pasta, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes. (Same thing on the taters-just olive oil, salt and pepper--just takes longer--about 45 minutes.)
Down below what you can see in the bowl is also trimmings from some green onions (scallions) and believe it or not, dryer lint. What's sad is, I forgot to get the bowl out early and missed getting to add previous egg shells from breakfast along with the coffee grounds. It's Sunday and a lot of food was flyin' around.
So it doesn't take much to get a compost heap started. You'd be amazed to see what all you would accumulate in no time. And it's amazing to see what it turns into. I'd say it's like "black gold." I can't believe what it used to be, but by spring, it's rich, dark, nutritional goodness for the beds.

So here's a pretty picture of dinner:
And here's a link to that pasta recipe:
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=213931

And finally, here's a shout out to my assistant Sara, who was appalled that I was off all week and didn't post. I'm bringing brussel sprouts in my lunch tomorrow to share with you!

Yummy in your tummy!

Warm Tortillas in a Snow Storm

I was looking back through my posts and I owe a lot of stories that I've promised. So here's the deal on the tortillas. (Really, this is just nervous tension while I watch the Rangers play game number 4 against the Yankees-ALCS.) The mercado on Jefferson, near Marsalis Ave. (yes, near the Dallas Zoo), make the absolute best homemade tortillas on-site, that you have ever put in your mouth. Oh, I've tried to make tortillas before--that was the most rubbery ball of dough once I got through with it--and not fit to eat, I might add. Anyway, I appreciate a good tortilla. Like, 4 at a time, but let me back up a bit. Last Winter, we decided to host the Rehearsal Dinner for our son's wedding (yes, the one who put us all on a diet last week!) as we had 60+ people to entertain from all parts of the US, and decided we'd have Mexican fare. Fajitas and all the fixings; even a Margarita Machine. So we were scoping out places to get bulk amounts of meat, chips, tortillas, etc. And one of our scouting buddies, Bob Cummings, turned us on to the "Super Mercado," and it's been tortilla bliss ever since. So after the wedding in January (and the dinner was awesome, I might add), we had a really big (for north Texas anyway) snow-storm in February. Over 14 inches of snow at my house in about 30 hours. In the course of that time, we went on to work with only an inch or two on the ground, with every intention of leaving in the early afternoon to get home before the "big stuff" got to falling. It was a Thursday as I recall. All good. Kim and I left the office (we carpool, by the way--that was a previous blog) in plenty of time, but I suggested we stop for warm tortillas and a few groceries at the Mercado on the way home. I even took my computer home, knowing we wouldn't make it in the next day. Anyway, we might have stayed a little long at the store. We kept finding things we needed--you know--in case we were snowed in for days. (North Texans always think that!) I think Kim even booked someone (we work for a talent agency) while standing in the middle of the produce aisle. So we left a little later than expected. (we ate a few tortillas in the parking lot...) The snow was really coming down and it was heavy. We decide to go into my neighborhood from a different than usual way, only to find out there's a huge tree down in the street and we can't enter that way. So we go back around to the "normal" way to take me home and there's a school bus trying to make a maneuver that there's no possible way it can, and we have to turn around and take us a little bit of a different way. There's a huge hill at the bottom of my neighborhood and we need to get there before the snow gets any thicker. We didn't make it. After several tries, we landed at the bottom of the hill and my husband had to come down the hill and pull us out of the ditch. And not towards the house. We ended up going to Kim's house and leaving her and her van there. So now we've transferred all my groceries and computer and random work stuff to our Suburban. And we're further from home than before. So we go into the neighborhood from the other direction. The first direction--remember--there's a huge tree down that way. After much waiting, we figure out that an emergency vehicle is stuck near where the tree is down, and someone (an emergency worker) has a broken ankle. Can it get any worse? We're in a huge traffic back-up. I could get out of the car and walk home. (I actually did walk around and got pretty close to home, while checking out the situation--but I had all those tortillas and groceries in the car--not to mention my computer and my husband...I couldn't just leave...them?) So the snow is falling harder and getting deeper, and oh yes, it's getting darker, and we're nowhere near getting home. Kim calls and she's all tucked in at home and her groceries are put away and she's cooking dinner and watching TV. She was appalled that I wasn't home yet. And further appalled that I spotted a guy in a Kilt and was describing him, and then had to let her go because as it turned out--I KNEW HIM! One of the old boy scouts from our troop! Snow falling, getting dark, very surreal...
But soon though, it all turned out fine. Just when I thought we were going to have to hide all the groceries in a snow bank and come back for them later, Don made the daring move of just turning around and going back, yet again, to the treacherous hill he had pulled us from hours before--only to make it up the hill and get us home! Everything survived, and we were safe and sound by the time it was truly dark. And I might mention, no tortillas were harmed in the process. So no recipes or pictures--just a true story of women who won't be deprived of their tortillas.