New Kid on the Block

I will happily admit that I am a big nerd sometimes (...ok, most of the time). I mean, we are talking about a girl who gets really excited about research. And on frequent occasion, in the middle of an otherwise innocuous situation, random songs will pop into my head.

Like tonight, preparing dinner, when I had the sudden urge to belt out "Step by Step" by NKOTB.

Step one: We can have lots of fun
Step two: There's so much we can do
Step three: It's just you and me
Step four: I can give you more
Step five: Don't you know that the time has arrived
Huh!!

Don't judge...I grew up in the 80s.

So what's the point? Tonight's dinner was in fact incredibly simple - very few ingredients and ready really quickly. I suppose Step by Step isn't too obscure a choice, all things considered.

Sausage, Tomato and Arugula Pasta (Adapted from Cooking Light, Dec 2010)

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated fresh fettuccine
Olive oil
3 links Italian turkey or chicken sausage
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 pint grape tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
2-3 cups fresh arugula
Shaved Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Step 1!! Start a pot of salted water boiling. While the water heats up, squeeze the sausage out of its casing into a olive oiled skillet over medium high heat.


Step 2!! Brown the sausage, stirring it and breaking it up frequently. Once it is browned, add in the garlic and saute for about a minute for the garlic to soften.


Step 3!! Turn the heat down to medium, toss in the grape tomatoes, cover the pan and wait for two minutes. Now's a good time to season with salt and pepper.


Step 4!! Remove the lid and use a wooden spoon or other utensil to smash the tomatoes. The littlest ones are squirmy and most resistant to smooshing. Give everything a stir and allow it to hang out for the 2-3 minutes it takes your pasta to boil. (Follow the instructions on the package for the pasta. You could definitely save $1 and use dry pasta but it'll take a little longer to cook and the texture of the fresh pasta is totally worth the extra dollar if ya ask me!)


Step 5!! Take the sausage and tomatoes off the heat. Stir in the cooked pasta, 2/3 of a cup of leftover pasta water (save it when you drain the pasta!), the arugula and about 1/3 cup of cheese. Toss well.


Huh!!! (I know, I know, I'm going overboard...) Anyway, dinner is served! As usual, sprinkle with extra cheese for additional enjoyment.


Between the quickness with which the recipe was ready, the absolute simplicity of the ingredient list and the fact that Jon took seconds - this is a welcome addition to our repertoire when we need to get dinner on the table fast!

And because I know you care, Jordan was my favorite.

Ina, the wise

I'm not a huge Food Network person. Although I'm kinda obsessed with food, most of the "celebrities" are not my thing. I'd love to have the Cooking Channel (I think) but our cable bill is already unjustifiably high.

When it comes down to it, there is 1 chef/cook/whatever you wanna call them that I will make the time to watch when on the Food Network. Ina Garten. The Barefoot Contessa. Yes, she of "make sure you use a really good...." and measuring everything down to the salt and pepper lore.

Everything she makes looks delicious. It features the ingredients...it is simple but not elementary (I'm looking at you Sandra, Rachael and others); it is full flavor but not overboard (Paula!). I wish we could be buddies. I'd cruise around the Hamptons all day with her searching out the finest of cheeses and mingling with our fantastic floral designer buddies.

And Ina always says that a perfect roasted chicken is sometimes greater than any other dish. I agree. While I don't use her (or anyone else's) recipe, I do pay tribute to her in this dish. A $4 chicken that makes me lick my lips and reach for more!

Sara's Perfect Roast Chicken

Ingredients

~4 lb whole chicken
Fresh thyme
Fresh rosemary
Fresh parsley
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 lemon
Salt
Pepper
4 cloves garlic
2-3 cups chicken broth


Preparation

The first step I took with this chicken is to create a compound butter. I've made it before with just olive oil or butter (and both are delicious) but I've been inspired to take an extra...and simple...step towards yumminess! Here's what to do: chop approximately 1 tablespoon each of flat leaf parsley, thyme and rosemary. Then grate the zest of 1 lemon. Combine these with 6 tablespoons of room temperature butter.


Scoop the butter mixture onto some plastic wrap, and roll into a log to be put into the refrigerator until it's time to take the chicken out.


Before you cook your chicken, you'll want to take it out about an hour before preparing. Let it come to about room temperature, rinse it under cool water (important note to people like my dad - there is absolutely no need to rinse other meat under water...in fact, you're just watering it down!)...sorry, tangent....then pat it dry with a kitchen towel or paper towel. Make sure you've got the neck or any other insides out of the chicken's cavity. You'll want to cook it so that the breasts are facing up, then tuck the wings back as though it is putting its "hands" behind its head. For the chicken's cavity you'll need....


The lemon you've zested, cut into quarters. 4 cloves of peeled garlic. 1 sprig of fresh rosemary. And 1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme.


Place the above into the chicken's center cavity. Then use your hands to get between the meat and skin of the breasts. Scoop up some compound butter and spread it between the meat and skin. Then spread some butter over the top of the exposed skin. After washing your hands thoroughly, make sure to top it all with a good coat of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

As you'll probably notice, we are not cool enough to own a roasting pan. Instead, we use a makeshift roaster with a rack sitting atop a deep-ish cookie sheet. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Anyway...no matter what your equipment, fill the bottom of your "roaster" with a few cups of chicken broth to ensure that everything stays juicy (and give your gravy a headstart).

Put your chicken into a 425 degree oven.


Our 4 pound bird cooked for 45 minutes. The important thing is that the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees and that the juices run clear after you poke it. Look at all that golden crispy skin.....yummmm.

I decided to make gravy from the drippings to go with my chicken and potatoes. I removed the rack and chicken to let it rest and allow the juices to settle and put the tray over a low burner. I added about 1/3 to 1/2 cup water combined with a few tablespoons of flour to the mixture of broth and drippings, whisking well.

See! That Ina, she's a smart cookie!

Worth the wait

As has been previously documented here, I am not a baker. While cooking generally calms me and excites me, baking usually stresses me out! Of course, there are occasions where I come across a recipe that so piques my interest that I throw caution to the wind and bake anyway!

This is one such recipe.

I assumed that making this cake would be the hard part - but as it turns out, the toughest task was getting my **** (censored for the kiddos) together to actually make it!

My first mistake was one I make too often - I was lazy in reading the ingredient list and didn't get enough almonds.

A week later when I got the time and courage up to give it another go, I realized that I had used up my fresh lemons during the week.

Then, my poor food processor got put onto injured reserve.

Thankfully for all of us, my handy husband was able to salvage the food processor and I finally had everything together to make the recipe. About a month or more after I had originally tried. Turns out it wasn't that difficult to put together and it was sooooo worth the wait!

Olive Oil and Grape Cake (adapted from Martha Stewart, November 2010)

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 to 3/4 cup almonds
1/4 quick cooking polenta
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon (approximately 2 tsp)
1/3 cup whole milk
2 cups red seedless grapes

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. This cake calls for an 8" x 8" square baking pan. To prep the pan, brush with olive oil and dust lightly with flour.

While you are assembling other ingredients, toast the almonds on a baking sheet for around 5 minutes. When they start to smell really almond-y they're ready to come out!


And because of the aforementioned food processor issue, I decided to give my almonds a head start with a rough chop...


*Cross your fingers*


Isn't my husband the best? Look at these beautiful finely ground toasted almonds!


Mix 1/2 cup of ground almonds with the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt.


In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, eggs and zest.


Beat on high until the mixture becomes pale in color and somewhat fluffy. If you don't have a stand mixer, a hand mixer would be perfectly fine!


Now, reduce the speed to low and slowly stream in the olive oil.


Now alternate small portions of the flour mixture and milk, keeping the mixer on low.


Ultimately you want to do 4 additions of flour mixture and 3 additions of milk, starting and ending with the flour.


Pour the cake mixture into your pan and spread half of the grapes across the top.


Bake for 15 minutes and it will look like this.


Take the partially baked cake out of the oven, and spread the rest of the grapes over the top.


Bake for an additional 25 to 27 minutes. The cake should be golden brown and allow a toothpick to come out cleanly. After allowing it to cool for 15 or 20 minutes, flip it out of the pan onto a plate.


I cut mine into squares but after trying a bite, I would have gladly taken this entire cake as my serving!

What autumn tastes like

For the sake of full disclosure, I must admit that we actually made this recipe months ago. You will notice this by the gorgeous fresh carrots from the farmer's market. But alas, I am terrible at updating this poor blog and as I sifted through prior recipes to finally post an update, I decided that this delicious recipe is the perfect choice given the cold front rolling into town tonight!

Braised Short Ribs (adapted from Cooking Light, August 2002)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
~4 pounds of beef short ribs
Sea salt
Black pepper
1 large red onion, finely chopped
10-12 cloves minced garlic
2 cups beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 cups chopped tomatoes

Preparation:

We served the short ribs with pan-roasted carrots and horseradish mashed potatoes.

Here are the carrots in all of their glory. Mmmmm.



Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large oven-safe dish (we used our enamaled cast iron dutch oven), heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Coat the short ribs in salt and pepper, adding around half of the ribs at a time to the pan to brown. Cook 2 or so minutes on each side until browned, removing from the pan and repeating with remaining ribs until all are browned.

They won't be cooked at this point, just nicely browned so that the meat has a good sear and the pan has beefy goodness stuck to the bottom.

Add the onion to the pan (with a little more olive oil if needed) and cook until they are softened and lightly browned.

Add the garlic and cook for another minute - not too long so that the garlic doesn't burn and turn bitter. While you're stirring the onions and garlic use your spoon to scrape up some of the brown bits at the bottom.

Add the ribs back into the pan, then add the broth, wine, vinegar, sugar and tomato.

Bring the ingredients to a simmer on the stovetop. Cover the pot and bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours at 300 degrees.

Allow the ribs to cool slightly and then re-cover, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. I know I know, it smells delicious and you want to eat it now - but trust me. You will be glad you refrigerate when you see the next picture.

The refrigeration process allows all the fat to float to the top and harden. When you take it back out of the refrigerator, be prepared for this. Use a spoon to break this top layer, skimming the fat from the broth below.

Reheat the short ribs over medium heat for approximately 30 minutes, add additional salt and pepper to taste.

The potatoes are easy to put together - mash your potatoes with milk, sour cream, a tablespoon or two of prepared horseradish (depending on your heat tolerance), salt and pepper.

The memories of this dish are coming rushing back...I'll have to get it back on the menu ASAP!

I stole Ed's Pea Puree

Disclaimer: if you're not sure what I'm referencing, rest assured it is both timely and hilarious

So it was just by accident that I made a dish with salmon and pea puree the night after the now infamous episode of Top Chef aired, with Alex's winning dish of similar fare. Lately when we've made salmon it has been roasted like I prepared in the earlier blog, with onions and grape tomatoes. Not being one to do the same thing over and over, it was time to find a new preparation, and so I flagged a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis.

I feel like purees are showing up in so many places now as the foundation of many savory dishes, and while I love peas, we don't eat them much. I figured this (if successful) would be a way to reintroduce the lovely little veggies into our rotation.

What I did not plan for, though, is my husband. Apparently it is 100% fantastic for chefs and TV personalities to prepare pea purees but it is an entirely different monster when I finish climbing into my tallest cabinet to abstract the food processor. I looked up from the counter to see a look of horror on his face. Surely I, his wife, wasn't going to attempt what I had seen others do?

The puree was actually incredibly simple to create (leading me to believe I somehow did it wrong since the accusations flying on TC were that Alex didn't have time to make his!?) and guess what - it was delicious!!!

Seared Salmon with Pea Puree, Whole Wheat Rotini, Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Brodetto (adapted from Giada De Laurentiis)
Serves 2

Ingredients:

Roasted Tomatoes:
1 cup grape, cherry or yellow pear tomatoes
1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Pasta:
1/2 lb whole wheat rotini

Pea Puree:
2 cups thawed frozen peas
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp torn mint leaves
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup shaved parmesan (grated or shredded is fine too!)

Lemon Brodetto:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 diced shallot
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves, julienned

Salmon:
2 5-6 oz fillets of salmon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, cracked
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Take a deep breath. I realize that looks like a lot of ingredients. It will all be ok! The beauty of this dish is that you can focus on one thing at a time and none of the individual components is remotely difficult.

Start with the tomatoes - spread them on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, throw on the thyme sprigs and send them into a 325 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.


Now is also a good time to start the water for the pasta. Then turn your attention to the pea puree. Add the peas (thawed but un-cooked) to the food processor...


Along with the mint and garlic.


Sprinkle on about a half teaspoon each of salt and pepper, then put the lid on, set the food processor on puree and stream in the olive oil while you're pureeing. Once it is finished doing its thing, transfer it into a bowl and stir in the parmesan. Now this can hang out while you finish the rest of the meal.



In a small sauce pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and throw in the shallots. Allow these to cook for 5-7 minutes to soften.


Then add the lemon zest, juice, and chicken broth. Cover and simmer until the salmon is finished cooking.


Sprinkle the salmon fillets with salt and pepper while heating a non-stick skillet with olive oil. Throw in a clove of cracked garlic to flavor the oil and then place the salmon fillets skin side up in the pan. Leave them to get a great sear and golden crust (approximately 4 or 5 minutes) before you even think about flipping them. I'm serious. Then, depending on your desired done-ness (as well as the thickness of the fish), cook for another 2-5 minutes on the other side.


By now your lovely tomatoes should be ready to emerge from the oven.


To assemble this dish, I put a few ladles of the lemon brodetto down first. Then, I placed a large spoonful of the pea puree in the center. I place the pasta and tomatoes off to the side (still in the sauce) and the salmon fillet on top of it all.


I was somewhat concerned as the pea puree is never heated, but I was beyond pleasantly suprised at how well the heat of the fish and lovely sauce combined with the puree to create something magical in my mouth! And in my mind, I just edged out Alex for the win...

Just call me Miss Cleo

I'm seeing my own future - and I like what I see!

Ever since moving to Birmingham, Jon & I have been dying to go to Hot & Hot Fish Club, a local restaurant that features all local and seasonal ingredients, including those from the Jones Valley urban farm which occupies several acres of abandoned land downtown.

Marking our first date since before Delaney was born, we are finally going to celebrate my birthday next month! I've been pointlessly drooling over the menu (it changes quite regularly) but saying my prayers that they'll still have their renowned Tomato Salad. So famous, in fact, that it was featured in the August issue of Cooking Light.

As we've had a bounty of heirloom tomatoes from our own garden, we decided to make our own attempt at the Hot & Hot Tomato Salad...and not the light version ;)

Heirloom Tomato Salad (adapted from the Hot and Hot Tomato Salad - Chef Chris Hastings)
serves 2

Ingredients:

3 heirloom tomatoes (we used black brandywine, green zebra and Mr. Stripey)
4 thin slices, prosciutto
8 pieces baby okra
1/3 cup pink field peas (can substitute black eyed peas)
1/2 cup flour
6 oz beer
2-3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons chopped chives

Preparation:

The key is to start with delicious summer produce. The variety of heirloom tomato doesn't matter and in fact, beefsteak tomatoes would be just fine.


These are topped with prosciutto chips. What are those you ask? Oh, just heaven! Put the thinly sliced prosciutto into a cast iron (or other heavy) skillet on medium high heat until it reaches the consistency of bacon. You can thank me later.

(Oh, the other stuff on the plate is chunks of salt pork for the pot'o'beans we made!)

You'll want to cook the field peas for just a few minutes in boiling water or broth.

To prepare the okra (this makes the most glorious fried okra EVER), combine half a beer with 1/2 to 2/3 cup flour, dip the okra in the batter, and fry for just a few minutes in peanut oil (until golden brown).

The "dressing" for this is a chive aioli that could not be more simple. Whisk together the mayo and vinegar to get a consistency slightly thinner than your average ranch dressing. Then toss in the chopped chives. That's it!

As previously mentioned, we cooked the remainder of the field peas like we would black eyed peas. Jon is in charge of this task but I'm fairly certain it includes: onion, chicken broth, hot pickled okra, jalapeno, garlic and of course the salt pork. In full disclosure - we've made this with thick cut bacon or ham hock before as well...I like the salt pork but it is salty so do not add any extra!

To assemble the tomato salad, layer 2 slices of each tomato per stack, sprinkle the field peas and okra around, dress liberally with the chive aioli and top with the prosciutto chips.



Yeah. Amazing right? Look, there's a reason a James Beard Award nominated restaurant is most famous for this dish. There are no real words (and ours is just the amateur rip-off version!)

We ate ours with steak. While we are die-hard ribeye people, we discovered a cut at our local supermarket that delivers similar texture and flavor for a much smaller price tag. They're labeled "chuck eye" steaks. Less expensive + still delicious is always a winner in my book.