Month: August 2009

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Herbed Orzo

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I came up with this herbed orzo to act as a simple foil to the flavorful balsamic roasted chicken I made on Saturday night – but it came close to stealing the show, at least if you ask me.  The smooth flavor of extra-virgin olive oil and the green bite of parsley and dill are perfect against orzo, my favorite pastina.  Sometimes it’s the low key side dishes that taste the best.

Herbed Orzo

1/2 cup dried orzo (0r other pastina)
1 1/2 tablespoons (approx.) extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped Italian Parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill
salt and pepper

  • Cook the orzo according to the package directions.
  • Drain the orzo and transfer to a large bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine.  Season to taste and serve alongside roasted meat or chicken.

Source: Covered In Flour

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Anniversary Dinner

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The view from our balcony at the Ocean Club, Paradise Island, on our honeymoon four years ago.

When an occasion is truly special, it calls for a special dinner.  But that doesn’t have to mean going out to a restaurant!  In fact, there are some times – like Valentine’s Day, for instance – when I would much prefer to light some candles, sip some wine and make a wonderful dinner with my favorite sous chef, rather than go out, fight traffic, deal with parking and spend way too much money for a buttery, fattening dinner.  I don’t consider cooking to be a chore even on weeknights, but I find it even more fun to make something special with the hubs and then enjoy it together, quietly, at home.  Next time you have an occasion to celebrate – a birthday, anniversary, or whatnot – try making a special meal at home rather than going out.  Here’s a menu for just such a night…

Appetizer
Herbed Cannellini Bean Crostini

Main Course
Garlic and Citrus Roasted Cornish Hens
Herbed Orzo
Cucumber Salad

Dessert
Lemon and Almond Semifreddo with Raspberry Sauce

Wine Pairing: A special occasion calls for a special bottle.  The hubs surprised me by picking up a bottle of Chardonnay from Cakebread Cellars, one of my all-time favorite wineries!  Tasting notes on the wine are coming soon, so stay tuned!

Side note… I can’t believe it’s been four years since I married my best friend.  It seems like just yesterday that Father Joe was climbing into our limo and interrupting our just-married kiss.  I have had more fun, laughed harder and loved more than I could have ever imagined possible – and I have a good imagination.  Happy Anniversary, honey!

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Vanilla Spiked Plum Galette

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Easy as pie?  No – easier.  Easy as galette.  This dish tastes like summer’s very essence encased in a crisp, sugary shell.  This is the second recipe that I’ve made out of Rustic Fruit Desserts, and so far we are two-for-two, although I like this even better than the Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit I made a few weeks ago.  The plums are sweet and tart; leaving their skin on imparts fantastic color and wonderful flavor.  The vanilla bean seeds spread across the fruit and the crust, giving the entire dessert a delectably speckled appearance.  I don’t know about you, but when I see those little black dots, I just know I’m in for something good.  This galette is no exception…

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Vanilla Spiked Plum Galette

Galette Dough
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, in 1/2 inch cubes
3-5 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Filling
3/4 cup sugar
seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 plums, cut into eighths

  • To make the dough, whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, then chill the whole thing in the freezer for 10 minutes.  After chilling, add the cubed butter, then toss quickly to combine.  Transfer to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir 3 tablespoonse of ice water and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice together, then drizzle through the feed tube of the food processor and pulse a few times to combine.  The pastry should hold together when squeezed in the palm of your hand; if it doesn’t, add more ice water as needed.  (I ended up with about 5 tablespoons of ice water.)  Dump the pastry onto a floured work surface and quickly shape into a disc.  Chill for 1 hour, until ready to roll.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Roll out dough into 1/8-1/4 inch round.
  • Rub vanilla seeds into 3/4 cup sugar until well combined.  Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the vanilla sugar over the center of the pastry round, leaving about a 2-inch border.
  • Stir cornstarch into remaining sugar.  Add plum slices and toss to coat.  Arrange the plum slices in a spiral in the center of the pastry round (over the same area as you previously sprinkled with sugar).  Stir together the plum juice and sugar mixture remaining in the bowl, until goopy.  (That’s a technical term.)  Pour the goopy sugar mixture over the plum slices.  Fold the outer edge of the pastry over the plums, pleating the dough periodically to seal it.
  • Make an egg wash (use your preferred recipe) and brush over the outer crust.  Sprinkle crust with vanilla sugar (either reserve some or use some from your pantry – I like Penzey’s brand).
  • Bake on a rack in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, lower the oven heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake another 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the kitchen smells so good that you have to beat people back with a wooden spoon.  Let the galette cool for 5 minutes or so – or as long as you can keep your family away – then slice and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Source: Adapted from Rustic Fruit Desserts, by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson

Note: The recipe actually only calls for the seeds of half the vanilla pod.  I used the whole thing because I really love vanilla, and I thought the plums could take it.  They could.  But go ahead and omit half if you want – especially if you have something else in mind for the other half of the seeds!  Oh, and don’t waste the vanilla pod, either.  Tuck it into a sugar bowl for homemade vanilla sugar.  Yum!

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Balsamic Roasted Chicken

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Bless Giada.  She always comes through.  This weekend the hubs and I had some family in town and I was asked to cook dinner.  I’m always happy to oblige!  This balsamic roasted chicken was perfect for the type of dinner I had in mind – something casual, yet delicious, which I could throw together in the morning to marinate while I spent the day out and about in DC.  It came together in just a few minutes of morning prep and spent a low-maintenance 45 minutes in the oven, and for that minimal amount of effort I got to serve moist, deeply flavorful chicken legs to our guest, who gave the meal an “A+” – not too bad at all!

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Balsamic Roasted Chicken

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup country grain or Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 drumsticks
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

  • In your baking dish, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper.  Whisk in the oil in a slow drizzle to create an emulsion.  (It won’t last, but just make the offering to the kitchen gods, okay?)  Add the chicken pieces and turn them over a few times to coat with the marinade.  Cover and refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to a day.
  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Roast the chicken uncovered for 45 minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and pour the leftover marinade into a small saucepan.  Spoon off the oil from the top, then boil until the liquid reduces by half and thickens – about 8 minutes.
  • Sauce the chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Source: Adapted from Everyday Italian, by Giada de Laurentiis

Wine Pairing: Try it with an herbal, refreshing Pinot Grigio, or lighten up with Prosecco.

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Hubby’s Grilled Tuna Salad

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When you cook a lot, you learn to work around the ever-present possibility of some sort of fiasco – or at least, I have.  Cuts, burns, ruined rice or a repeat of the Great Pesto-Tastrophe of 2005 (we had pesto on the ceiling – I kid you not) are always a specter looming over my kitchen.  I’m never entirely surprised by misfortune in the kitchen and I’m not really fazed by it at this point.  My husband, however, still comes running whenever I say “ouch” and worries over the possibility of injuries that really just make me feel like a true chef.  Last week I got bitten by my bread knife (again – can’t stand that thing) and the one good thing that came of it is that hubby wouldn’t let me do anything except for sit on the couch and drink the tea that he would make for me.  All in all, it was a pretty relaxing injury!  But that evening I had planned a grilled tuna salad and we had already bought fresh tuna for it; obviously, we had to eat the tuna and we had to eat it right away.  So we did what any seafood-loving couple would do when the cooking half is grievously injured – the hubs cooked dinner while I drank wine and shouted instructions from the living room.  It turned out delicious – rich tuna, creamy avocado and a tart dressing.  What more can you ask for?  Except, of course, for the ability to do the cooking yourself.

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Grilled Tuna Salad

2 fresh tuna steaks
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and fresh black pepper
grated zest of 2 lemons
6 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
10 dashes hot sauce
2 firm but ripe avocados, cubed
1/4 cup minced scallions
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

  • Grill the tuna steaks briefly, until just seared on the outside but still raw inside.  Remove from grill and allow to cool slightly before cutting tuna into large bite-sized cubes.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together extra-virgin olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, soy sauce, hot sauce, kosher salt and pepper to taste.  Toss the avocados in the dressing, then arrange on individual plates.  Top with tuna cubes and sprinkle with scallions and black sesame seeds.

Source: Adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten

Wine Pairing: This is a very summery dish to me, with a lovely richness that is counterbalanced by the tart dressing – so you could choose a wine to complement either characteristic.  A nice Viognier from Virginia would stand up well.  Or you might choose to echo the tart notes from the dressing with a Vinho Verde – that would be my choice.  And, of course, you could always go with a Spanish rose – just be sure to be eating this dinner outside with candles and flowers if you go that route!

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Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas

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This is a great weeknight summer dinner – sweet shrimp, slightly caramelized zucchini, and the mild bite of ancho chili powder served over tortillas.  Using pre-cooked shrimp helps when you are pressed for time, but if you’d like to cook your shrimp from raw, by all means do.  The heat from the chili powder and the cool of the light sour cream are a wonderful dichotomy on a summer evening.

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Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas

4 burrito-sized flour tortillas
1 zucchini, cut into medium dice
1 pound shrimp, already cooked and chilled
pinch of salt and pepper
pinch of ancho chili powder
light sour cream and scallions for garnish

  • In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast tortillas until lightly golden; set aside.
  • Add canola oil and zucchini to the skillet; season with salt and pepper.  Saute zucchini until they are golden brown and crisp-tender.
  • Roughly chop shrimp (or, if you prefer, leave them whole).  Add them to the zucchini once the zucchini has finished cooking and saute just long enough to warm them through.
  • Season with a good pinch of ancho chili powder (which is NOT balancing for pitta, but everyone needs to live a little!).
  • Spoon shrimp and zucchini onto prepared tortillas.  Top with a dollop of sour cream and some chopped scallions.

Source: Adapted from Everyday Food, May 2009

Zucchini on Foodista

Wine pairing: This would go well with a young, grassy white wine such as New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or Gruner Veltliner.

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Cranberry Almond Cake

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I’ve been taking Wilton classes for the last eight weeks – I finished Wilton 1 in June and just finished Wilton 2 recently.  It’s been a blast and I wish I could continue to Wilton 3, but my schedule has just gotten impossible to juggle.  I definitely plan to take Wilton 3 in the future, but for now any cake decorating will be done with the many techniques I learned from my fabulous instructor (who reads this blog – hi, Gabriella!) in Wilton 1 and 2.  I couldn’t have even learned those techniques, though, if it weren’t for a gaggle of people who promised to eat my cakes every week, because I’m certainly not up to all those sweets.  So thanks to my hubs and our pals Gorka, Stephen, Susanna, Eliina, Sindy, Kevin and Tequila and their wonderful spouses and significant others for their endless sugar tolerance and iron stomachs!  (Wow, it’s turning into shout-out central around here.)  I let them vote for the cake they wanted to eat as my final Wilton 1 cake, and they voted for chocolate – out-voting me and one other lone member of the group.  So, I promised my fellow non-chocolate-lover a cherry almond cake next.  Well, fate ordained that we spent all of Wilton 2 making sugar flowers – mmmmm, sugar flowers! – and this was the first opportunity I had to make another cake, and then I switched grocery stores, couldn’t find the dried cherries, and had to make do with cranberries.  The long anticipated cherry cranberry almond cake was well-received all the same!

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Cranberry (or Cherry) Almond Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare two eight-inch round or oval cake pans (either grease and flour, or spray with Pam for Baking).
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Transfer 1 1/2 tablespoons of the flour mixture to a separate bowl, add the cranberries, and toss to coat.
  • In another separate bowl, combine the milk with the almond and vanilla extracts and set aside.
  • In an electric stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, beat together the butter (which should be softened) until creamy.  Add the sugar and beat together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the mixer bowl as necessary.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture, and mix only until all ingredients are just combined.  Gently fold in the cranberries.
  • Pour half the batter into each of the prepared cake pans.  Bake about 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Fill the cake with your choice of filling (I used almond cream) and decorate as you desire.

Source: Adapted from Williams-Sonoma.

Cake Design: Wilton II Grand Finale Cake

Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the inside of the cake!  Take my word for it; it looks like cake.

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Pasta with Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomatoes

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Another weeknight wonder!  As much as I love to cook elaborate dinners and put together exciting menus, or learn new skills and try out new recipes… weeknights just don’t allow for that.  I get home at 7:00 and I’m starving, and I need something quick and easy.  Most nights, I’ve forgotten to take whatever I had planned on serving out of the freezer to defrost, too, so it helps to have a few vegetarian dishes or pantry stand-bys on the weekly menu.  This is one of the easiest, and one of the most flavorful.

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Pasta with Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomatoes

8 ounces pasta (in the shape of your choice)
4 ounces goat cheese
4 ounces sundried tomatoes
extra-virgin olive oil
splash of red wine (optional)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon chopped chives

  • Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water, according to the directions on the package.
  • Meanwhile, roughly chop approximately 4 ounces of sundried tomatoes.
  • When the pasta reaches al dente, drain it and put it back in the pot.  Add the sundried tomatoes.  Crumble in goat cheese and moisten with a little olive oil, add a splash of red wine (if desired), and season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with chives and serve.

Yield: Serves 4.

Wine Pairing: Because the flavors of sundried tomatoes and goat cheese are quite robust, a somewhat fuller-bodied red wine can stand up to this dish.  Go for a Bordeaux blend or – if the budget allows – a Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Source: Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

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Capery Salad

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I don’t know how many times I have flipped over this recipe in Nigella Lawson’s Feast and not thought anything of it.  The reason, probably, is that it’s in the chapter on kids’ food – as something for Mom to eat while her children gobble slime soup and blood ‘n guts potatoes.  (You have to applaud Nigella, she’s creative; she’d be one handy lady to have around on Hallowe’en.)  At any rate, I don’t have kids and that chapter scares me a bit, for multiple reasons, so I’m usually flipping the pages pretty speedily and I never give this salad a second thought.  That all changed yesterday.  I was watching my usual weekend Food Network programming and Nigella happened to be making her Capery Salad.  Capers, pickles, crisp lettuce and a “vinagerette” made with pickle brine.  Oh, my goodness.  Suddenly I was starving, and I couldn’t stop thinking about this salad.  I didn’t have any gherkins on hand, but I did have my favorite garlic dill pickles.  Good enough for Sunday lunch!

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Capery Salad

Romaine hearts (or butter lettuce), torn roughly
1 garlic dill pickle, chopped
1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon pickle brine
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

  • Fill a dinner-sized bowl with torn Romaine hearts.  Add the chopped pickles and capers.
  • Mix together pickle brine and mustard in a small bowl.  Whisking constantly, add the olive oil in a slow stream to create an emulsion.  Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
  • Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

That’s it!  This is the perfect lunch for one, maybe with a small wedge of cheddar alongside.  If you’re married to someone who doesn’t make gagging noises at the sight of your garlic dill pickles, just double the recipe.  Sharing is good.

Source: Adapted from Feast, by Nigella Lawson

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Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

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Hiking is one of my favorite pastimes.  Growing up, my family did a fair bit of hiking, but we didn’t consider it a hobby, per se.  Hiking was more of a way to get where we wanted to go.  You see, we often wanted to go to places that were a bit out of the way.  Like mountaintops in the Adirondacks.  Hiking is really the best way to get around the Adirondacks in the summer.  When I started dating my hubby, naturally, I needed to know that he was outdoorsy – otherwise, it would never work.  On our third date, we went hiking at Buttermilk Falls, and I knew then that we saw eye-to-eye.  Since we’ve moved to the Mid-Atlantic region, we have done a great deal of hiking – it’s a truly beautiful part of the country, my home, and I love to trek up and down the Potomac river experiencing it.  If you haven’t hiked along the Potomac, trust me, you’re missing out.

Of course, if you spend as much time in the fresh air as the hubs and I do, you’re going to get hungry eventually.  If you take my advice, you’ll have these sandwiches on hand.  They travel well and keep in a backpack.  Add an apple and you’ll be able to fuel a six-mile hike.

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Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

2 large red bell peppers
1 loaf ciabatta bread
4 ounces goat cheese
1 scallion

  • Preheat your broiler on high.  On a baking sheet lined with foil, arrange bell peppers.  Roast directly under the broiler until blistered and black, turning once.
  • Transfer peppers to a plastic zip-loc bag and tightly seal.  Let stand for 10-15 minutes.
  • Run peppers under water and peel off skins.  Pull out core and tear – as neatly as possible – in half.  Wash off as much of the ribs and seeds as possible, but don’t get too precious about it.
  • Slice the ciabatta in half lengthwise and rip out the soft core.  (Go ahead and eat that part; I won’t tell on you.)  Slather the bottom half with goat cheese.
  • Lay the peppers as neatly and evenly as you can atop the goat cheese.  Try to cover as much area as possible.  Using kitchen shears, snip the scallion over the peppers – white, light green, and dark green all.  If you have any leftover goat cheese, spread it over the top half – that will prevent the bread from becoming soggy.  But don’t freak out if you don’t have any left.  Ciabatta’s pretty crusty.  ‘S all good.
  • Top the peppers with the crust and slice into 4 equal pieces.  Devour immediately… or wrap the sandwiches up for the trail.

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Yield: Serves 4 hikers.

Source: Adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten

Bonus pic: A shot from our hike at Great Falls – powered by a picnic of these sandwiches.  Yum.

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