Big Ass Mushroom Burger - 5 stars

this looks amazing. and i remember it well - it WAS amazing. i didn't really do anything to the beef - just mixed some seasoning salt and pepper into it and formed it into big patties. buy high quality ground beef or ground sirloin, and that is all you will ever need to do. i put a thumb indentation in the center of the patties and tossed them on the grill, preheated to medium high.

note: when grilling burgers, never, ever press down on them with the spatula. the precious meaty juices run out, leaving a dried out patty behind. yuck. instead, indent the center of the raw patties with your thumb when you form them. this will prevent them from turning into the shape of a baseball when they're on the grill.

while the patties were grilling, i sauteed a bunch of sliced crimini mushrooms in some olive oil with garlic and pepper. i sliced up some fresh tomato and onion, tossed the buns on the grill, and flipped the burgers.

when the burgers were close to done, i threw some soy pepperjack cheese on mine, and some ... gouda? regular jack? i can't remember! some sort of non-soy cheese went on tony's. :-)

i assembled them on their toasted buns, and somehow, we managed to eat them in spite of their height. yum!

Cornish Game Hens + Mashed Baby Reds - 5 stars

it has been many, many years since i've eaten baby chickies, and these tasty little guys were on sale at some point. my mom thought we'd enjoy them, so she purchased a package for us. a couple months after i got them, i pulled them out of the freezer and thawed them in the fridge for a few days.

when i took these little guys out of their bags, there was SO MUCH raw chickie juice - much more so than a regular uncooked chicken. ugh! fortunately, i had opened the bags in the sink, so i didn't make too much of a mess.

i found some fancy baby chickie recipes that i tried to decide among, but in the end i was too lazy on the day i cooked my chickies to buy all the ingredients and put the work into it. instead, after rinsing and drying them thoroughly with papertowels, i made a rub out of lemon zest, minced garlic & shallots, salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil. i stuffed it underneath the skin and in the cavity of the little chickie. this part was easy, but the trussing part? not so easy. i don't normally truss my chickens when i roast them whole, so i've never really done it. i think i ended up figuring it out, but you can be the judge:



so... i roasted them for approximately fifty minutes or so at 425f til they were done. i made a big bowl of mashed baby red potatoes and dug in. YUMMY! i believe baby chickies are fattier than regular chickens, so the flavor was great! the zesty rub was perfect, the skin was crisp, the meat juicy. five stars.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake - 5 stars

this was the first upside-down cake i've ever made, and it was SO good! wow. it had a really unique (but good!) flavor to it, which was primarily from the ground cardamom that went into the batter. mmmmm.

i made my cake in a cast iron pan, starting on the stove top, finishing in the oven. the first step was to melt butter with brown sugar in the cast iron pan, but.... i didn't have any brown sugar! i did some very quick internet research while the butter was melting, and found out that i could mix some molasses with regular sugar to create brown sugar. there are different ratios depending on whether you are trying to get to light or dark brown sugar or somewhere in the middle. i, of course, did the wrong ratio and was terrified that it'd ruin my cake.

after i melted the butter and caramelized the screwed up brown sugar, i removed the pan from the heat and arranged the pineapple slices in the bottom of the pan. i didn't read the recipe correctly here either, because i was supposed to layer them so that the bottom of one slice overlapped the top of another. oops. the only thing this affected was how the finished cake looked.



i let the pan cool while i prepared the batter. it was easy to assemble, recipe is below. it's from gourmet magazine - i found the recipe on their website. it did not include the baking temperature for the cake though! uh, that's an important piece of information! i left a comment for gourmet though, and it looks like they've since updated the recipe to include the temp - 350f. :-)

i used just shy of 3 teaspoons of cardamom in the batter, and i thought it was perfect. and as far as i could tell, the parts of the recipe that i screwed up didn't affect the finished product at all. it appears that this is quite a forgiving recipe. :-)

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Serves 8

• Active time:30 min
• Start to finish:1 1/2 hr

ADAPTED FROM RICK ELLIS

February 2000

For topping

• 1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

For batter

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 to 3 teaspoons ground cardamom (see cooks' notes)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake

• Special equipment:

  a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet

Make topping:

• Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly.

Make batter:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Sift together flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)
• Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.
• Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

Cooks’ notes:

• Some of the food editors found 3 teaspoons of cardamom to be too much, but others loved the intense flavor.
• Cake may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Courtesy of gourmet.com

Hoisin Lamb Stirfry - 5 stars

this fantastic stirfry was also out of The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. seriously, that cookbook is amazing. the recipes are perfectly written, listing accurate prep & cook times, serving sizes, and whether you must serve the dish right away, or if it will make good leftovers, or both. the ingredients for the dishes are listed in the order that they're added to the dish, and the step-by-step instructions are clear without being excessively wordy. there are notes in the margins that give you hints about the most important part(s) of the recipes, or areas that you can cheat in, or info about the ingredients.

however, i'll stop touting the book now, and write about this phenomenal lamb stirfry. i've never been a big lamb fan - it's always been a bit too... gamey? for my tastes. gamey isn't the right word, but it's the best way that i can come up with to describe the aspect of lamb that i've never cared for. so i researched this today, and i discovered that the sharp "gamey" flavor is caused by lanolin, which is a substance that sheep naturally secrete. the lanolin acts as a waterproofing agent and also has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties to protect the sheep. some breeds of sheep (there is one called Katahdin) have such a delicate coat that requires little shearing, and they produce very, very little of this substance called lanolin. if the sheep is raised well, slaughtered before the age of 1 and the fell is properly removed, or if it is a breed with this special low-lanolin coat, it will have a delicate taste and none of this gamey-ness that i've experienced.

after doing this research, my question is - did i finally happen to buy a cut of lamb better than any i've had before when i made this dish, or have i just never had lamb prepared very well? was this the recipe that i needed to find in order to fall in love with lamb? i plan to make lamb again this week, so i'll find out then!

one note about this recipe - i used fresh water chestnuts, and they were nasty! i've never been a fan of water chestnuts, and using fresh ones didn't change that. next time i make this, i'm skipping the water chestnuts altogether.

Stir-Fry of Hoisin Lamb with Cashews and Snow Peas
Serves 3 to 4
20 minutes prep time, 6 minutes stove time
Serve and eat immediately

The Lamb:
1 to 1 1/4 lb tender lamb (lamb steaks are ideal), trimmed of fat and connective tissue, and cut into 1/2-inch by 1-inch chucks.
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dry red or white wine

Vegetables:
One 1-inch piece fresh peeled ginger, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium red onion, cut into 1-inch dice
1/2 cup water chestnuts, quartered or sliced
1 handful snow pea pods, trimmed

Sauce:
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine or dry white wine

Stir-fry:
3 tablespoons cold-pressed vegetable oil
1/2 cup salted cashews, roughly broken

1. Measure out, cut and group together each section's ingredients: In a bowl, toss the lamb with its seasonings, including the cornstarch and wine, so it is thoroughly coated. Have the ginger and garlic ready to go into the wok, and have the onion, water chestnuts and snow peas piled on a piece of paper towel, ready to go. In a small bowl, blend the sauce ingredients together. With this lineup, the stir-fry will easily come together in a few minutes.
2. Set a 14- to 16-inch wok or a straight-sided 12-inch saute pan over high heat. When it is hot, swirl in 1 1/2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Add the lamb and stir-fry for 90 seconds. Spread the lamb out as you cook it, so all its sides sear. Immediately remove the lamb to a clean bowl. Wipe out the wok with paper towels.
3. Heat the wok again over high heat. Swirl in the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Stir in the ginger and garlic, and stir until fragrant (maybe 5 seconds), sprinkling with the salt. Immediately add the vegetables. Stir-fry for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add the sauce mixture, and continue stir-frying for another 90 seconds.
4. Turn the lamb into the wok, and stir-fry for about 10 seconds to heat it through. Stir in the cashews, and turn the mixture into a serving bowl. Serve immediately.

Tamarind Pork Chops - 5 stars

after eating these pork chops, i literally licked the plate. i NEVER do that. never ever. fortunately, i was home alone, with no one to witness my bad manners except the kittens. :-) these pork chops were, without a doubt, the best i'd ever had at this point. wow! the recipe is pulled from one of my new favorite cookbooks (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper). recipe is below, reprinted without permission.

it was an easy dish - i created a glaze for the pork chops out of tamarind concentrate, garlic, and other things which i can't recall at the moment. :-) i preheated my grill pan over medium high, seasoned the pork chops with salt and pepper, and grilled them for a few minutes on each side, until they were almost done. i then brushed the tamarind glaze on both sides, grilled for a couple more minutes, and... that was it!

i made mashed baby red potatoes and a green salad to serve with it. perfect!

Tamarind-Glazed Pork Chops
serves 2-4
10 minutes prep time; 5-10 minutes grill time
Best eaten hot off the grill

Glaze:
3 generous tablespoons tamarind concentrate
2 tablespoons ground Aleppo pepper (or other sweet dried chile like ancho)
6 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons Asian fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc nam)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons dry white wine
3 tablespoons water, or more as needed

Pork Chops:
4 thin-cut, bone-in pork chops
Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil

1. If you are grilling, prepare the grill.
2. In a food processor, puree the tamarind, Aleppo pepper, garlic, fish sauce, sugar and wine. Thin the paste with water as needed to get to the consistency of thick maple syrup. Set it aside.
3. Grill the chops over a medium fire until nicely browned, or alternatively film a large saute pan with olive oil and sear the pork over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes.
4. In the last few minutes of grilling (or searing), baste the chops with the marinade, turning them once to coat on both sides. You want it to bubble and caramelize. Serve the chops with the extra marinade along side.

Shrimp Scampi - 5 stars

i've had quite the run of 5 star meals lately! lucky, lucky me. :) i did have a cataclysmic culinary failure last weekend that involved nearly burning the porch down, so that stopped my parade of fantastic meals. but, we'll not talk about that right now though.

this was the best shrimp scampi i've made to date. i stopped buying frozen shrimp (a.k.a flavorless, tough, shriveled shrimp) awhile ago, and i now buy large, fresh, peeled prawns from the fish counter at uwajimaya. they run around $11/lb, so they're an indulgence, but well worth the price. i bought ~ 1 lb for this dish, rinsed them, patted them dry and tossed them with 1 1/2 tsp Emeril's Essence, which can be found at the bottom of this post.

i put the prawns in the fridge while i prepared the rest of the meal: chopped a couple cloves of garlic, set out four tbsp of cubed unsalted butter, measured out a half cup of dry white wine and a quarter cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice. i also chopped up one tbsp fresh parsley, made a green salad and boiled the linguine.

to assemble the dish, i first preheated one tbsp olive oil + one tbsp of the unsalted butter in a large (12"), heavy duty flat skillet over medium high heat. i added the shrimp and sauteed for a couple minutes. then the garlic went into the pan, which i sauteed for 30 seconds, and then i added the white wine and lemon juice and let it simmer and reduce, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes. i added the remaining 3 tbsp of butter, stirred until it was melted, tossed in the fresh parsley and seasoned with salt and pepper.

i used 8 oz of dried barilla linguine to serve with this - boiled to al dente, which takes around 6 minutes, i believe. it was the perfect amount of linguine for this particular scampi recipe. yummy!

Cedar Planked Filet Mignon & Scallops with Smoky Compound Butter - 5 stars

i stole this recipe from one of my newer favorite blogs, www.food-fire.com. every recipe i have made so far from that blog has been a full mind-blowing five star meal. this one was no different! the only issue i had was with the smoky compound butter - i ate too much of it, and it made me feel really sick. so... yea - nothing wrong with the recipe at all, just me, over-consuming. :-)

i put the cedar plank on a large jelly roll pan, poured water over the top, and placed a heavy bowl on top of the plank to keep it fully submerged in the water. i then marinated the scallops and popped them in the fridge. the smoky compound butter came next. this was the first time i've ever used spanish paprika - i *almost* cheated and used regular paprika, because the spanish version was pricey. but i didn't - and i'm so glad that i didn't! it's a completely different spice than regular paprika. it is earthy and smoky in flavor - mild, not spicy at all, whereas regular paprika just doesn't really have much flavor at all, in my opinion.

(i actually made two separate smoky compound butters - one with real butter for tony, and one with saffola unsalted margarine, for myself.)

while the scallops were marinating and the butter was chilling, i prepared the steaks and asparagus. i had some filet mignon tenderloin leftover from christmas, so i cut it into thick steaks, wrapped a piece of bacon around the outside of the steaks & secured with a toothpick. i topped them off with a generous dose of freshly ground sea salt & black pepper. i let them sit at room temp while i prepared the asparagus (chop off the ends, toss them in a baking dish with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper) and turned on the BBQ.

i won't regurgitate the cook portion of the preparation of this meal, because i think dave does a great job of it in the recipe below. however, my steaks must have been a bit thicker than his, or my bbq not as hot as his, because they required a few minutes longer to get to medium rare than dave's recipe suggests. tony likes his steak to be a true rare - bloody, almost raw in the center, so his was fine, but mine did need a few more minutes to get to medium rare.

definitely five stars, just don't eat too much butter!

For the Steaks:

2 beef tenderloin steaks, 1 1/2 inches thick or better
2 slices bacon
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Tightly wrap one slice of bacon around each steak, securing with with a toothpick. Season both sides with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

For the Compound Butter:

1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature, divided in half
1 tablespoon Smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder or cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Melt half of the butter and pour into a mixing bowl. Add the spices and mix until until well-combined. Let cool until mostly solid. Add the remaining butter and whisk to combine. Spoon mixture onto a large ramekin, cover with a sheet of waxed paper, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chili Lime Scallops

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon chipotle chili powder or cayenne pepper
1 lb sea scallops

Whisk lime juice, oil, garlic, chili powder, salt, and cayenne together in small bowl. Add scallops and toss to cover with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate, basting once with marinade, for about 30 minutes.

Asparagus

1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Please the spears on a plate and drizzle with a little oil and vinegar. Turn to coat then sprinkle with salt.

The Cook

The goal is to put everything on the grill at the right time so that it’s all done at once. It’s important to work quickly, so have your mis en place, some warmed plates stacked nearby, and an oven set on low as a backup in case you need to stash a dish that finishes early.

Use a food grade plank that’s been soaked in water for at least an hour. Set your grill up for direct cooking at high heat (about 500°F).

When the grill is up to temperature, put the plank on by itself for about 5 minutes, or until you see the first wisps of smoke coming from the board. Flip the plank over and set it beside the grill with the warm side up.

Sear the steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side. Put the plank back on the grill with the warm side up and move the steaks and the scallops to the plank. Close the lid and cook until the steaks and scallops are right around 120°F internal, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the asparagus to the grill. Leave the lid open and grill for about 5 minutes, turning frequently, until the spears begin to brown and caramelize.

Ideally, the asparagus should be done at the same time the steaks have reached 135°F internal (medium-rare) and the scallops are opaque and have just started to flake a bit. Remove everything to warm plates, top the steaks with a pat of the compound butter, and serve.

Fat Tuesday: Shrimp, Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya - 5 stars

yes, you read the subject of this post correctly: i used shrimp AND chicken AND andouille sausage in my jambalaya! :) hey, it was fat tuesday that week, what can i say!? i spent longer than i care to admit researching jambalaya recipes in order to find one that seemed authentic, used seafood, poultry and pig. and boy, did that research pay off! it was my first time making jambalaya, and this was AMAZING.

the most obnoxious part of the recipe was peeling the shrimp. poor tony has had to listen to many, many rants about my dislike of peeling shrimp. i absolutely hate it! pre-peeled prawns are a bit more expensive, but i've decided my time is much more valuable than the few dollars i save when purchasing unpeeled prawns. additionally, shells are between 5-15% of the total weight when you purchase unpeeled prawns, so i'm not even saving as much money as thought. :-)

i needed shrimp stock for this recipe though, which requires shrimp shells to make. the recipe called for one lb of shrimp, but you really only need the shells from five or six shrimps to make the stock. in the future, i'd buy the 5 or 6 shrimps unpeeled, and the rest pre-peeled. :-)

the recipe was easy, and took maybe an hour and a half (post prawn peeling). i made it in my big dutch oven - starting on the stovetop, finishing in the oven. it was PERFECT. i am sure i've had jambalaya before, but it's never been memorable. this jambalaya had the perfect level of smoky spiciness; it was rich and moist and, well, intense! the flavors of it made my eyes roll back in my head when i took my first bite. in a good way. :-) i found the recipe in this blog.

i didn't make my own worcestershire sauce, and i did double the recipe so that we'd have lots of leftovers.

New Orleans Cuisine Recipe - Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya

Seasoning Mix (1/4 tsp Cayenne, 3/4 tsp White Pepper, 1 tsp Kosher Salt, 1/4 tsp Thyme, 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage, 1/4 tsp Dried Basil, 1/2 tsp Black Pepper)

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Diced Andoullie
1/2 Cup Diced Onion
1/2 Cup Diced Bell Pepper
1/2 Cup Diced Celery
1/2 Cup Diced Fresh Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce
3/4 Cup Enriched Long Grain Rice
1 1/4 Cup Chicken Stock with a Shrimp shell infusion (see above)
1 Tbsp Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Garlic
1/2 Cup Diced Chicken (Cooked or raw)
1 1/2 Cup Medium Shrimp (I use Louisiana)
1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Italian Parsley
3 Tbsp Finely Sliced Green Onions

Since I'm using Chicken and Shrimp I want my stock to have those flavors, real simple. I heat up the right amount of Chicken Stock and add some raw Shrimp shells to it and simmer for about 15-20 minutes! It gives it a quick little infusion.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the Holy Trinity (Onion, Celery, Bell Pepper).

In a Cast Iron Dutch Oven, melt the butter over medium heat, add the Andouille and cook until it just starts to brown. Add 1/2 of the Holy Trinity, cook until the vegetables are tender (nothing smells better than rendering Andouille with the Holy Trinity). Add the diced Tomatoes and cook for 1 minute. Add the Tomato Sauce and cook for another minute. Add the Rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the Stock, the remaining Holy Trinity, Seasoning Mix, Worcestershire, and the Garlic. Taste the broth for seasoning, particularly salt. Add the Chicken, stir well and put the pot in the preheated oven. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. After the twenty-five minutes stir in the raw Shrimp, Parsley, and Green Onions, place back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the Shrimp are cooked through. Serve with French Bread and your favorite Beer.

Sourdough Tomato & Basil Bruschetta - 5 stars

this is actually from valentine's day as well! this was my contribution as an afternoon snack to the food for the day. :-)

normally, i take a loaf of french bread and slice it crosswise into 1/2-3/4" thick slices for bruschetta. i saw a picture of a bruschetta that took a loaf of sourdough and cut it lengthwise (as i did in the picture above). it looked so tasty that i decided to try it out. and it was very good! the huge hunks of bread did make it much more difficult to eat, so if you're making bruschetta for a crowd, it's better to slice it crosswise into 1/2" thick slices.

however, if i made this for tony and myself again, i'd still slice it lengthwise as i did for the picture here. just brush a bit of olive oil on it, rub it with a garlic clove, and sprinkle sea salt on the cut side of the bread. i toasted it in the oven this time, but next time, i'd throw it on the grill face down for a few minutes instead. yum!

for the topping, i used approximately 8 roma tomatoes. i sliced the tops off the tomatoes and cut them in half lengthwise. i scooped out the flesh, and then chopped them into 3/8" hunks. i then diced half of a sweet white onion and who knows how many garlic cloves. probably 5 or 6. :-) for the basil, i picked all the leaves off the stems and stacked them in a couple piles. i had ~15 basil leaves. once they were stacked in piles, i rolled them up like a sleeping bag, and thin sliced the rolls, cutting parallel to the center stem of the basil leaf. that's how to get the pretty slivers of basil throughout the bruschetta topping.

i combined the tomatoes, diced onion, garlic and basil in a large bowl. i drizzled a healthy amount (healthy being a good few tablespoons, not healthy as in a very small amount) of olive oil over the mixture, and then added fresh ground sea salt and black pepper. i piled the mixture on top of the toasted bread, and voila! a fantastic afternoon snack.

Valentine's Day - 5 stars! :-)

for valentine's day this year, tony made ME dinner. what a treat! :-) panko-crusted pork chops, loaded baked potato, and framboise lambic. it was SO good, and quite filling! thank you, my valentine!

Chicken with Snake Beans and Thai Basil - 5 stars

this is one of my most favorite thai dishes to make. it always tastes incredibly fresh and healthy, and it's really quite simple to make.

i may have talked about this before, but i'm going to say it again anyway. :-) one of the most important things to do that will make your stir-fry a tasty success is to prep all your ingredients before you even begin cooking. if you look at the recipe below, there's only a minute or two between each addition of ingredients, which means you wouldn't have time to chop them up as you go. i normally read through the recipe as i prep all the ingredients, and combine the ones that are added at the same time into a bowl. i line up all my ingredient bowls by the stove in the order that they're going to be added to the dish. then when i'm actually stir-frying, i just dump the right bowl of stuff into the wok at the right time and toss the empty bowls into the sink.

here is a picture from a couple years ago when my friend suraj and i made an incredible thai feast. as you can see, our prep bowls are all lined up and ready to be stir-fried together. :)



i doubled this chicken recipe so that we'd have lots of leftovers. to make it, i chopped up a couple pounds of chicken breast, stir-fried it in batches until lightly browned, and removed it from the wok. i then stir-fried together crushed garlic, sliced green onion, sliced snake beans and red chili pepper for a minute. then came some fresh basil and mint, and a mixture of fish sauce, oyster sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and water, cooked for another minute or two, and voila! all done. i served it with steamed rice. here it is in the wok. mmmmmmm. so fresh and tasty!




Chicken with Thai Basil
(Gai paht bai graproa)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Total cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

(I doubled these quantities below to make what you see in the above picture.)

1/4 c peanut oil
1 lb chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
5 oz snake beans, trimmed and cut into 5 cm lengths
2 small fresh red chillies, thinly sliced
3/4 c tightly packed fresh thai basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon grated palm sugar
fresh thai basil, extra, to garnish

1. heat a wok over high heat, add 1 tbsp of the oil and swirl to coat. cook the chicken in batches for 3-5 minutes each batch, or until lightly browned and almost cooked - add more oil if needed. remove from the wok.

2. heat the remaining oil. add the garlic, onion, snake beans and chilli, and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until onion is tender. return the chicken to the work.

3. toss in the basil and mint, then add the combined fish sauce, oyster sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and 2 tablespoons of water and cook for 1 minute. garnish with the extra basil and serve with jasmine rice.

Deep Dish Pizza - 5 stars

this was the most exciting meal i've made in a while. i came up with the idea to make deep dish pizza on a monday, planned it for that saturday, and then waited anxiously all week long for saturday to arrive. :-) i was just as excited for this as i was for making my thanksgiving and christmas meals!

i didn't own any deep dish pizza pans, so i decided to take the plunge and buy some cast iron pans. i bought a 12" skillet and a 10 1/2" skillet. (amazon had a special going on, so i also ended up with 5 qt cast iron pot and lid, and a bamboo steamer :) ) the brand of the cast iron is lodge logic - they're really affordable, so honestly, i was worried about the quality of them. they are awesome though! i don't cook with cast iron every day, so i'm hoping they'll last for a long time too. they also come pre-seasoned, which is fantastic.

i built these pizzas from scratch. i had to make two - one for tony with his regular cheese, and one for me and my soy cheese. the first step was to make the dough. this was fairly easy, once i figured out that kneading this dough does not require me to mash it into the countertop, but rather to gently knead it until it was elastic and smooth. i think i've kneaded dough a total of three times in my entire life. this time it ended up being a success, and it was quite satisfying to create this ball of pizza dough from some flour, yeast, water and salt.

i let it rise in the oven for a couple hours - it more than doubled in size!

while the dough was rising, i made the sauce. i sauteed one diced red onion, a few minced cloves of garlic, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, fresh oregano, dried basil, salt, and black pepper together for a few minutes, then dumped a 28 oz can of diced tomato into the pan. i let this simmer uncovered for about a half hour, stirring occasionally. i also mushed up the diced tomato chunks so that the sauce would be a bit smoother.

i split the dough in half, brushed my cast iron skillets with a bit of vegetable oil, and pressed each dough half into them.



then came the toppings, in the following order:

mozzarella cheese
red onion slivers
pepperoni
crisp hunks of italian sausage
a bit of crumbly bacon
sliced button mushrooms
roasted red bell pepper
the pizza sauce
parmesan

yes... you read that correctly - the sauce goes on TOP of all of the other toppings in a deep dish pizza. mmmmm. tony also added capers to his.



i didn't feel like we had enough sauce though. i like a really saucy pizza, and the amount i made just didn't allow for that. i'd double the sauce recipe next time.

i baked these for ~ 30 minutes at 450f. WOW! they were absolutely amazing! i've only had deep dish once, when i was in chicago for work, and this tasted so similar. the crust was soft and flaky, and the whole pizza slice actually stayed together, which i didn't expect! making this was such a pleasant way to spend my saturday afternoon / evening!

Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza Dough:

• 11/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)
• 1 (1/4-ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup semolina flour
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus 2 teaspoons to grease bowl
• 1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, and sugar and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the semolina, 1/2 cup of the oil, and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough is still slightly sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes. Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil.

Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Divide into 2 equal portions and use as directed.

Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza Sauce & Pizza Baking Instructions:

· 2 tablespoons olive oil

· 1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

· 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

· 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano

· 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

· 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

· 1 (28-ounce) can plum tomatoes, coarsely crushed

· 1 tablespoon dry red wine

· 1 teaspoon sugar

· Pizza toppings of your choice: mozzarella, parmesan, pepperoni, mushroom, bell pepper, red onion, sun-dried tomato, olives, etc.

Directions

While the dough is rising, make the tomato sauce. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the herbs, seeds, salt, and black and red peppers, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, wine and sugar, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely before using.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

Oil 2 seasoned 12-inch round deep-dish pizza pans with the extra-virgin olive oil. Press 1 piece of dough into each pan, pressing to the edge and stretching about 1 1/2 inches up the sides. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Layer the mozzarella cheese all over the bottom of the pies. Top each with half of the pepperoni, mushrooms, bell pepper rings, onions, black olives and sausage. Ladle the sauce evenly over each pizza and top with Parmesan.

Bake until the top is golden and the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, slice and serve hot.

Chicken Enchiladas - 5 stars

these were by far the best enchiladas i have ever made! and there is no dairy in the dish above! :) (i made a separate dish for tony with real dairy though.)

the only thing that was bad was that it took longer than i expected to assemble and bake the enchiladas. this was meal # 2 from the stressful week of time consuming meals.

i used the leftover shredded chicken from the taco soup meal to make these. i sauteed some red onion and garlic, then added a can of stewed tomatoes, a cup of frozen corn kernels (thawed), a can of chopped green chiles, a couple chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, and some cumin and sea salt. once that was all simmered together, i added the chicken to the pan.

i tried something new when assembling these enchiladas. i like to use corn tortillas in my enchiladas, if possible, because flour have so many more calories and grams o' fat - and they're so much more processed than corn. in the past, however, the corn tortillas always cracked, and they tasted dry. when i made these enchiladas, i warmed the tortillas up first, dipped them in the enchilada sauce, put the shredded chicken filling in them, and rolled them up. warming the tortillas up and dipping them in the sauce completely changed the dish for the better! and only one or two of the tortillas cracked out of the 20 or so that i rolled.

to finish it off, i dumped a can of green enchilada sauce over the top, covered that with shredded cheese and popped them in the oven until they were gooey and bubbling.

instead of making guacamole or pico de gallo to serve with them, i made a combo of the two - hunks of avocado, red onion, fresh tomato and fresh cilantro tossed with some sea salt and fresh lime juice. i shredded some iceberg lettuce and had that on the side as well. soooo good!

the recipe that i based this off of is below, just in case you would like to make something similar. :)

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
• Salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Mexican Spice Blend
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 5 canned whole green chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 16 corn tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar and Jack cheeses
• Garnish: chopped cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes

Directions

Coat large saute pan with oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices before turning. Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.

Saute onion and garlic in chicken drippings until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine. Add canned tomatoes, saute 1 minute.

Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded chicken to saute pan, combine with vegetables. Dust the mixture with flour to help set.

Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce. Using a large shallow bowl, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold over filling, place 8 enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts. Garnish with cilantro, scallion, sour cream and chopped tomatoes before serving. Serve with Spanish rice and beans.

(Courtesy of Tyler Florence)

Roasted Chicken Legs with Potatoes and Kale - 5 stars

i was so excited about this dish that i forgot to take a picture of the finished product. hahaha. oops. the picture above is from before it went in the oven.

i do wish i had a higher rating than 5 stars though. this is the BEST dish i've made recently, and there have been a lot of good ones. when i compare the effort involved to the flavor produced, it makes it even better!

the recipe also made a HUGE meal. i told tony that someday when we have game day again, i'll have to make this. it can feed a lot of people. i *could* double the recipe for game day since we do tend to eat a lot, but i don't think i'd have anything to cook it in if i did. the skillet in the left of the picture is a 14" wide 4" high skillet - originally, i thought everything would fit fine in there. it did, until i added the kale. 1 1/2 lbs (3 large bunches) of kale is a LOT.

i tossed the kale together with 1 1/2 lbs sliced yukon gold potatoes, 1 sliced yellow onion and a bit of olive oil. i didn't have whole chicken legs, just a mixture of thighs and drumsticks. i put them on top of the kale mixture, sprinkled paprika, salt and fresh ground pepper on top, covered the pans with foil and put them in the oven for 20 minutes. i removed the foil and cooked for another 35 to 40 minutes.

about the cooking temp and time... the recipe called for roasting in the top third of the oven at 450 degrees for the entire time (20 min covered, 30 min uncovered). about 10 minutes into the uncovered cooking time, the kale started burning. no one likes burnt kale! i moved the pans to the center of the oven and reduced the temp to 425. it took ~ 7 minutes longer this way, but it came out perfectly.

the kale had this crispy, but melt-in-your-mouth texture. the closest thing i can think of that it reminded me of is phyllo dough, the way it's so light and flaky and a bit crispy, but still melts in your mouth? ooooh. oh yum. the juices from the chicken dripped down over vegetables and gave them such a rich, decadent flavor. i was in heaven. i ate two servings. i couldn't stop. it was so good! i'll be enjoying a nice long run after work today to make up for it. :-)

please, try this dish sometime. even the crappiest cook is guaranteed to be successful with it. :-)

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 pounds tender, young kale, stems and inner ribs removed
2. 1 1/2 pounds medium Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3. 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5. Salt and freshly ground pepper
6. 8 whole chicken legs (about 10 ounces each)
7. 1 teaspoon paprika
8. Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°. In a very large roasting pan, toss the kale, potatoes and onion with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and spread in an even layer.
2. Set the chicken on a cutting board, skin side down. Slice halfway through the joint between the drumsticks and thighs. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the paprika and set on top of the vegetables.
3. Cover the pan with foil. Roast the chicken in the upper third of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for 30 minutes longer, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Transfer the chicken to plates and spoon the vegetables alongside. Serve with lemon wedges.

Indonesian Beef Curry with Coconut Rice - 5 stars

before i start talking about this fabulous dish, i'd like to mention that i'm making progress with improving my pictures. :-) perhaps not the layout of the pictures, because, well, i'm just not talented at photography. at all. i've really struggled with the quality of the pictures though, and i believe i've discovered why. going forward, *hopefully* the pictures will be of higher quality. :)

this is a lovely bowl of indonesian beef curry over coconut rice, with a salad to the right. my salads this week contain lots of kiwi - yum!

i was a little intimidated by this recipe because the curry is made from scratch, and when i've done that in the past, it's turned into a project on occasion. i'm not a fan of big projects on weekday evenings. but... it was really easy! i also don't like that some curries are really heavy because of all the coconut milk - this is a broth based one.

despite the fact that i missed a couple steps and forgot to buy an ingredient, this dish came out to be quite fantastic. to make it, i thin sliced and browned the beef in batches (london broil top round steak) in a large heavy duty skillet. i removed the beef from the skillet, and sauteed together fresh sliced shallots, garlic, and serrano chilies with some jarred ginger. i was supposed to use fresh, but ... i forgot to buy it! oops. after cooking for a bit, i added the indonesian spice mixture, which was a combo of cumin, cloves, cardamom pods, and a couple other things. i put the beef back into the pan, added some chicken broth, and let it simmer, covered, for about a half hour, then uncovered for another 10 minutes til it thickened. i was supposed to put a cinnamon stick in while it simmered, but i forgot. i found it sitting on the counter when i was done with the meal. :) ooops! i was also supposed to stir in fresh lime juice before serving... forgot that as well! i squeezed fresh lime juice over the top instead.

i had this over basmati rice steamed in coconut milk & water. the dish had a decent spice to it - not overpowering in the slightest, and the coconut milk in the rice tamed it well. i'm not very familiar with indonesian cuisine, so i'm not sure how authentic the recipe is. i'd like to experiment with indonesian food a bit, because if other dishes are as good as this one... it could become a favorite type of cuisine for me.

Indonesian Beef Curry with Coconut Rice


Coconut milk in the rice helps tame the heat from the serrano chiles. For milder curry, seed the serranos.

Curry:
Cooking spray
1 1/2 pounds lean top round, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cardamom pods, crushed
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 cup organic vegetable broth (such as Swanson Certified Organic)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Rice:
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup uncooked basmati rice
1 cup light coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt

To prepare curry, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with cooking spray. Place half of the beef in skillet; cook 1 minute on each side or until browned. Remove the beef from pan. Keep warm. Repeat process with the remaining beef.

Lower heat to medium; add oil to pan. Add shallots, ginger, garlic, and chiles; cook 4 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in coriander and next 6 ingredients (through cinnamon); cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Return beef to pan. Add broth; bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until beef is tender. Uncover and cook 10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Discard cinnamon stick; stir in juice.

To prepare rice, bring 1 1/4 cups water and remaining ingredients to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 18 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Place 2/3 cup rice onto each of 6 plates; top each serving with 1/2 cup curry.

Yield: 6 servings

CALORIES 280 (30% from fat); FAT 9.4g (sat 3.4g,mono 3.4g,poly 1.2g); IRON 3.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 64mg; CALCIUM 26mg; CARBOHYDRATE 18.6g; SODIUM 536mg; PROTEIN 27.9g; FIBER 1g

Cooking Light, MAY 2007

Bagels with Smoked Steelhead + Dill + Cream Cheese - 5 stars

this is one of my all time favorite breakfasts! SO easy to make, but it always feels really indulgent and satisfying.

for this batch, i bought some fresh smoked steelhead from the town & country grocery store on bainbridge island by my work. i have to be honest - i just researched on wikipedia to figure out exactly what steelhead is! when i bought it, i thought it might be some type of salmon. it was pink, you know, like salmon. :)

anyway, come to found out, it's the ocean-dwelling version of rainbow trout! i had no idea. i ate lots of trout when i was a kid, but i haven't really had much as an adult. steelhead is pinker than trout - like salmon - and tends to be more flavorful (according to wikipedia, at least - i can't personally attest to this, since it's been too long since i've had rainbow trout). compared to salmon, i thought it had a sweeter taste - though that could be attributed to the way it was smoked. whatever it was that made it so good, however, made this the best "smoked salmon" bagel breakfast i've made.

i used thomas' NY style everything bagels - toasted them, smothered cream cheese on each half (soy "it's better than cream cheese!" for me, regular plain cream cheese for tony), put a bunch of fresh dill on them, and topped them with the smoked steelhead. YUMMY! we had awesome bloody mary's with them as well - if you can ever get your hands on Stirrings Bloody Mary Mix, buy it. spend the money on it. it's super, super expensive, but was better than any mix i've ever had or made. YUM!

Shrimp (and Steak!) Caesar Salad - 5 stars!

note to reader: beware. this is a very long post. it also exposes my OCD compulsions that i occasionally have with cooking. :-)

i absolutely love caesar salad. i consider it to be an indulgence, because there's nothing overly nutritional about it. specially since i normally like to put a lot of bacon and croutons in my caesar salad.

it took me a long time to figure out the right way to make caesar dressing. i have never found a store bought caesar dressing that doesn't have dairy in it. this surprises me because a truly authentic caesar dressing doesn't require parmesan cheese to thicken it; it's thickened by egg yolk, primarily. many recipes will call for mayonnaise instead of egg yolk for health safety reasons, but it just doesn't taste the same if you use mayo. i have finally mastered a caesar dressing recipe that rivals high end restaurant caesar salads. sounds a bit egotistical, but it's been years, like eight years, in the making to perfect my caesar dressing. :-)

my first visit to el gaucho in belltown enlightened me on how to make a real caesar dressing. they offer table-side caesar salad there, meaning they make the dressing from scratch at your table. there's a particular set of ingredients that you add in a very particular way, grinding the ingredients into a paste as you add each one. after you make the dressing, you toss it with the romaine lettuce and parmesan in a large bowl. this meant that i was able to have our server pull my portion of the salad out of his mixing bowl after he tossed it with the dressing, but before adding the parmesan cheese for the person i was dining with.

after this visit, i knew what ingredients to look for in a recipe, and i found the recipe below. connoisseurs claim that you must use a wooden salad bowl to grind the dressing ingredients in. i love my wooden salad bowl, and i have no desire to mutilate the bottom of it by grinding a dressing into it. it's also an awkward shape to use, so i just use a medium glass bowl. metal would be a no no, because it will react with the lemon juice in the recipe.

the best caesar dressing requires serious attention to minute details. if you pay attention to these details, you will have fancy steakhouse worthy caesar salad, rather than ok homemade caesar dressing.

the trickiest part of the dressing is creating the garlic paste, which is the base of your dressing. i have found the best way to do this is to chop up the garlic cloves (use four large cloves per batch), and then grind a healthy amount of sea salt and pepper over the chopped pile of garlic on your cutting board. i let the garlic sit for a couple minutes after grinding the sea salt over it, because the salt will cause the garlic to begin to release its garlicky juices, making it easier to create a paste out of it. using the side of my large chopping knife, i mush the garlic across the cutting board, gather it up on the other side of the cutting board, and mush it back across the cutting board. kind of hard to describe, so the next time i make caesar, i'll take a video if i remember to. once you have the technique down, it's fairly easy. do this over and over and over until the garlic is more of a paste consistency, less of a chunky consistency.

scoop your garlic paste up and put it in your medium glass bowl. add the following ingredients, one at a time, making sure to grind them thoroughly into the previous ingredients.

2 anchovies (or 1 teaspoon anchovy paste - i ALWAYS just use the paste. whole anchovies make me gag; i just can't help it)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (the real stuff, not the dried stuff)
1 egg yolk, coddled
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

whisk approximately a quarter cup of high quality olive oil into the paste. i taste it at this point to see if it needs more lemon juice, or more olive oil. adjust accordingly.

this amount of dressing works well for one head of romaine. for caesar salad, i always chop my romaine leaves into 1/2" strips, rather than tearing them. the dressing clings to the evenly sized lettuce pieces much better.

toss the dressing with the lettuce in a large bowl, then add fresh grated parmesan or parmigiano-reggiano or whatever kind of cheese you think would be best. i can't help you there. :-)

the best croutons to add are marcy's slightly spiced calabrese croutons. they're hard to find, and can be a bit more expensive than regular croutons, but they're worth every penny. here's what the bag looks like:



i had steak left from the ranch bruschetta salad, so i grilled it and added to this caesar. i also had some jumbo cooked prawns. next time, i'd leave the steak out and just have the shrimp, or vice versa. using both steak and shrimp was a bit too much and overpowered the salad.

Special notes:

- my parents gave me a high end extra virgin olive oil for christmas, which i used to make this particular caesar batch. it made a HUGE difference to use a very high quality olive oil. there are a lot of dishes that a basic extra virgin olive oil works just as well in, but i would recommend splurging on a small, expensive olive oil if you are going to make this dressing.

- if you're not having the caesar as your main course but are instead having it as a starter salad, add bacon. high quality, thick sliced pepper bacon compliments this dressing the best. i also find that it is best to fry the bacon in whole strips, and to cut it into small pieces after it is cooked and cooled (rather than cutting into small pieces and then frying it). it seems to have a better crisp, crumbly texture to it this way.

Ranch Steak Bruschetta Salad - 5 stars

i LOVED this meal. i was really excited when i came across the recipe, because i love bruschetta, i love salad, i love steak, and i love when i get to indulge in my non-dairy ranch dressing (it's kind of fatty - 80 of the 90 calories per serving are from fat! i try not to buy it too much because if i have it in the house, i can't resist it).

the only issue i had with this recipe is that i was still starving afterward. i was surprised by that because it's a heavier salad, and it includes carbs. i think it just needed more fiber - either in the form of different vegetables or some garbanzo beans or something.

it was really easy to make, and as i ate it, the flavors of it continually surprised me.

i used some of the leftover beef tenderloin from christmas in this dish. i cut it into thick steaks, and rubbed the steaks with a mixture of ground cumin, ground coffee, ancho chili powder and ground black pepper. i grilled them in a grill pan on the stove (the bbq has been acting up, and i didn't want to take the time to see if it was working, or if i could fix it :) ).

while they were grilling, i made a mixture of sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped shallots, fresh basil, roasted bell peppers and fresh lemon juice. i also mixed the ranch dressing (in separate bowls, soy in one, regular ranch in the other :) ) with some horseradish.

after the steaks were done, i grilled slices of baguette in the grill pan. to assemble the salads, i made a bed of baby romaine, put the baguette slices on top of the lettuce, added the steak (sliced across the grain after resting for five minutes or so), and put the tomato basil mixture on top of that. i poured the ranch over it, and added some freshly ground black pepper.

YUM!

Note: the recipe did call for arugula, but the grocery store i was at didn't carry it. i hope it's available next time i make this - it would hold up in the salad better than baby romaine.

Ranch Steak Bruschetta Salad

Salad dressing:
6 tablespoons ranch dressing
1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Steaks:
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground coffee
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
4 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed (1 inch thick)
Cooking spray

Remaining ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
6 cups loosely packed arugula
12 (1-ounce) slices French bread, toasted

1. To prepare salad dressing, combine ranch dressing and horseradish in a small bowl; cover and chill.

2. To prepare steaks, combine black pepper, ground coffee, ground cumin, and ancho chile powder. Rub both sides of steaks with pepper mixture, and let stand 10 minutes.

3. Heat a nonstick grill pan over medium heat. Coat steaks with cooking spray. Add steaks to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steaks from pan; let stand 7 minutes.

4. Combine shallots, fresh basil, bell peppers, juice, and tomatoes in a small bowl; toss well.

5. Arrange 1 cup arugula on each of 6 serving plates, and top each serving with 2 toast slices. Cut each steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Divide steak slices evenly among the toast slices; top each serving with about 2 tablespoons tomato mixture. Drizzle each serving with about 1 tablespoon of the salad dressing. Serve immediately.

Yield: 6 servings

(Courtesy of Cooking Light)

Christmas Day - 5 stars

i'd like to start this post out by saying that i can't believe i didn't take pictures of our christmas dinner! what on earth?? i think the lemon drops that tony made must have been too strong. :-)

tony and i stayed home for christmas, and my parents came over to spend christmas day with us. we opened presents, and then proceeded to eat and drink. a lot. it was a blast. we also played a game called ticket to ride, the card game. it's fairly easy to pick up, but requires you to grasp a decent amount of strategy in order to win. my dad, who had never played before and grumbled about how poorly he was doing throughout the game, won. of course. he always wins. :)

my parents gave tony & i a new dish set for christmas. you may have noticed that the foul pastel-toned striped plates are no longer in the photographs, and we're using more rustic, ceramic square plates instead. we LOVE them. anyway, i did take pictures of the table setting, below. this was the first christmas dinner that i've hosted.





i made an antipasto platter for the appetizer. tony and i went to delaurenti's (at the pike place market) on christmas eve and basically ordered one of everything from their deli. it was FANTASTIC (and easy). tony made us lemon drop martinis to have with our antipasto platter. YUM!



for dinner, i made a large caesar salad (with bacon!) to start. for the main course, i made pancetta and gruyere stuffed potatoes (soy cheese in mine) and lobster stuffed beef tenderloin. i purchased this gigantic 8 lb tenderloin from costco for it - i have never purchased that much meat (or spent that amount of money on one cut of meat!) before. we only used 3 lbs of it - the other five went in the freezer. i did have intentions to serve roasted asparagus with it, but we decided that there would be more than enough food without it. i also was supposed to make a bearnaise sauce to go with the tenderloin, but in the interest of time (it was close to nine o'clock, i believe, before we ate christmas dinner!), i ended up skipping it.

everything was wonderful. the food, the company, the drinks... thank goodness my mom was there when i butterflied (for the first time) the tenderloin, stuffed it and tied it with twine. she did the majority of it for me, so now when i attempt it again, i'll know how to do it. i would have just sliced the tenderloin in half lengthwise (not cutting all the way through to other side though), but to butterfly it, she cut it into thirds (sort of) lengthwise. i won't bore you with too many details of this - mostly because i can't regurgitate them well yet. :-)

for dessert, my mom brought a chocolate torte with a blackberry coulis. mmmmmm, it was wonderful, rich, decadent, everything a chocolate torte is supposed to be.

what a wonderful, special christmas. :-)

(p.s. - if you would like the stuffed tenderloin recipe, please email me. it's really long, so i decided to leave it out. i'm posting the caesar dressing recipe in a later post, and i didn't have a recipe for the stuffed potatoes.)

Beef Leaf (Thai Beef Salad - Yam Neau) - 5 stars!

tony claims that i've made this dish for him more than any other of my favorite recipes since we started dating a couple years ago. i'm sure it's because it's my favorite meal! :-)

the correct name for this recipe is Yam Neau, or thai beef salad. there are so many different ways you can make thai beef salad - i make mine using grilled top sirloin, sliced cucumber, shallots, jalapeno or thai chile, and garlic, fresh lime juice, fish sauce, fresh mint & cilantro, and a dash of palm sugar. i serve it with steamed jasmine rice and romaine or butter lettuce leaves. i put a bit of the jasmine rice in the center of the lettuce leaf, top it with the beef mixture, and i thoroughly enjoy every last bite of it!

one note about the recipe (i've included it below) - i always have a hard time putting the correct amount of sliced jalapeno or thai pepper in - and i tend to err on the side of too spicy, which is never good! the recipe calls for TEN THAI PEPPERS! i can tolerate an extremely high amount of spice - at the most, i think i used three whole jalapenos (or maybe it was serranos that time) for one batch of this, and it made me cry tears of pain. never, ever use that many peppers. i now resist the urge to put a lot of pepper in, and just start with a single jalapeno. it's normally plenty. :) if i'm feeling wimpy on a certain day, or sharing the dish with people outside of our household, i'll scrape the pith and seeds out of the inside of a pepper, since the pith contains the majority of the capsaicin (what gives peppers their heat).

Ingredients

• 1-lb decent quality steak, sirloin or other
• 10 (or more) 'prik kee noo' (fresh hot Thai chili peppers), slice crosswise very thin (or substitute jalapenos or serrano chilies, minced)
• 2 large cloves garlic, sliced crosswise very thin
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• 5 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
  
• 1 head Bibb or Boston; or 1 heart of Romaine lettuce.
• 12 sprigs fresh mint (optional), remove the leaves and discard the stems
• 1/2 hot house cucumber or 1 small cucumber (seeds removed), peeled and sliced thin
• 2 to 3 shallots, sliced crosswise very thin or 1 small red onion, sliced very thin
• 3 or 4 sprigs cilantro, stems removed

Preparation

Grill or broil the steak until medium-rare. Trim off any fat. Cool and slice thin, into pieces approx. 2 inches across and 1/8 inch thick.

Mix garlic, chiles, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar in a small bowl. Add the sliced meat and toss with the cucumbers and shallots. Taste and add more fish sauce if desired.

Make a bed of the lettuce on a serving plate. Place the beef on top. Garnish with cilantro. Serves 2 to 3 as an appetizer or as part of a meal.

(Courtesy of templeofthai.com)

Copyright © 1999 Temple of Thai

there's a silly story about the name of this dish - tony began calling it "beef leaf," because you wrap beef up in a leaf and eat it. we have a little kitty (below) named belili (pronounced beh-lee-lee). when tony said "beef leaf" loudly, belili came running over because "veef leaf" sounded similar enough to her real name, belili. poor little belili is now called beef leaf, or the lazy version - beefy - more often than not. :-)