The Kitchen Minions

Little Duck Organics

2012-05-23T13:37:00.001-04:00

I found these treats while we were on the Outer Banks. The package is so funny I had to buy them (for my niece).

I wonder how many zombies are inherently in dried fruit?

A little history

To learn more:

Soft Shell Crabs

2012-05-21T10:20:00.001-04:00

Last summer was the first time we had rented a house for vacation. It made a lot of sense since we were meeting up with my mom, my sisters and their spouses. There were some frustrations with the rental (Lots of extra bags to pack, remembering stuff like garbage bags, cleaning up after yourself) but it was great to not have to eat out for every meal. In addition to saving both calories and money, it is rewarding to be in the kitchen with your family, trading recipes and techniques.

They’re Alive! Just kidding, they’re already dead

The good memories that came out of those family dinners encouraged Dan and me to rent a house for our vacation this year. I was looking forward to going to the roadside seafood shops to find the freshest local seafood and turning it into a fresh meal. The other benefit, every meal at our rental house had an ocean view.

Ocean front dining at its best

For our first cooking project we decided to tackle soft shell crabs. I saw an accessible recipe on The Food Network and was excited to try to make Dan’s favorite shellfish dish.

Crispy deliciousness

Soft Shell Crabs

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Notes: We bought the crabs already dead and had to make it the same night we bought them, so don’t buy them ahead of time. I was always hesitant to make soft shell crabs because I thought they would be deep fried, but this recipe called for the crabs to be sautéed and except for a small spitting episode the crabs behaved like perfect gentlemen.

Protective gear just in case the crabs act out

Ingredients

4 soft-shell crabs, cleaned and patted dry
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup flour
2 Tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon butter
Few chive blades, chopped

Directions

1. Season crabs with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour(I cracked some additional pepper into the flour to help it stick). Shake off the excess flour and set them aside.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium high and add 2 T olive oil and sauté the crabs for about 2 minutes on each side (or until soft but this was hard for me to judge).

3. Remove the crabs and set aside. Add the 3 cloves garlic and 1/2 c white wine. Cook until wine has reduced in half. Add the butter and stir until melted.

4. Pour a little sauce over the crabs and sprinkle with chives.

Awful Arthurs

2012-05-18T07:40:00.000-04:00

I love going to the beach in the off season. The weather is cooler, the crowds aren’t quite as dense, and houses are far more affordable, even when they are only steps from the beach. (After repeated and highly scientific measurements, we determined that our house was between twenty and a hundred steps from the ocean, depending on the tide). Our timing for our most recent trip was perfect. It was just us and the pelicans (and the dolphins!) enjoying the sun and the surf. The weather was comfortable enough to spend the days on the beach catching some rays and the nights with the windows open listening to the waves. Now that school and triathlons are no longer setting our schedule, I think more off season trips are in our future.

You can barely see them but there are about 30 pelicans flying over the waves in this pic

Of course, we had to eat somewhere, and we both wanted to get some crabs. A friend told me about this place called Awful Arthurs but warned me in the same breath that it was always packed. Enter our senior citizen vacation schedule, riding to the rescue! (Our senior citizen eating schedule – dinner at 5:30 – probably didn’t hurt either). Though the place was still almost packed owing to some sort of biker convention, we got a table almost immediately.

The restaurant itself is in a long and skinny building across the street from the beach. There weren’t many windows or much of a view in the main dining room but there is a second floor bar that offers ocean views. The people watching was one of the best parts of it all.

We were entertained by our neighbors while we were enjoying steamed oysters, clams, shrimp and snow crab legs. It seems like biking conventions are much like other conventions, scheduled events and tons of gossip. Our neighbors were enjoying the gossip part of the schedule are were going on about how the biking culture is being coopted by rich doctors and lawyers who shipped their bikes instead of driving all the way to the beach. Those posers!

We had such a good time that we decided to go again on our last night, unfortunately we didn’t follow our senior citizen rule and ended up taking the food to go.

Duck Donuts

2012-05-14T16:33:00.001-04:00

If I’ve learned anything from watching hours and hours of The Soup (aside from how much crap gets put on TV), it’s that semi-mythical mammals like Bigfoot (and probably ghosts, too), can be lured out of hiding by the same types of foods that would attract, say, Homer Simpson. Enter Duck Donuts, a delicious purveyor of sweet and tasty treats.

One of my goals on our vacation in the Outer Banks was to have a close encounter of the dolphin kind. I have always felt a kinship with these magical beasts since my sister wished upon a star that I would be born with a bottlenose of my own. She didn’t get her wish, but I have always had a bit of dolphin spirit in me.

Another valuable lesson from The Soup is that no creature will trust something if it doesn’t see a human eating it too (If only Snow White was as smart). Therefore we took it upon ourselves to taste a few donuts to show them that they are ok to eat. So we got down to it.

I demonstrated the safety of a maple bacon donuts and glazed donuts. Dan took it upon himself to be the guinea pig for the Chocolate with Chocolate Sprinkles and Vanilla and shredded coconut.

Our first stakeout was a moderate success, after a few hours of intense watching we saw the first block fin pop out of the water. Score!

One sighting was amazing but not enough. I needed to go out again and get more proof. On our second venture we got more of the same donuts and prepared to wait all day for them to come out.

We sat and sat and then…pay dirt. We got incontrovertible truth, dolphins exist in the wild!

I tried to join them, I have no idea how they swim that fast with all of those donuts in their bellies, sure did slow me down!

Friday!

2012-05-11T17:04:00.001-04:00

Since we can all use a little beach vacation now and then. Here are some pictures from ours. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Who You Gonna Call? ( and the OXO Winner!)

2012-05-09T12:16:00.001-04:00

Hello, again! Sorry the blog has been quiet. Dan and I just got back from a week at the beach and I’m getting back into the swing of things. More on the vacation later. I am planning on reviewing some delicious restaurants and easy seafood meals but that was all put on hold by the imminent death of my computer.

The house we stayed in last week. It was so heavenly it glowed, or my lens was oily…either way.

My computer needs to be put out to pasture. It has lived a good life, but it is showing its age and no amount of metaphorical botox can make this computer right again.

Since my old computer couldn’t keep up with my current needs, I decided to check out some younger models. Thus began the saga of the computer upgrade. Three days and two different new computers later I still don’t have a working new computer. Looks like the first computer has had the last laugh and I have learned the valuable lesson not to cheat on my faithful old computer!

It is so quiet without the sound of the waves in the background…the sound machine just doesn’t cut it!

Despite all of this I haven’t given up. I’ve called in some experts to fix the new computer. My working theory is that goblins may in fact be the source of the problem and while I ain’t afraid of no ghost, I haven’t saved up enough for my very own proton pack.

Now onto the OXO winner. Thanks to everyone for submitting your comments, the winner was decided by random.org and is #4 Jessica F! Jessica, email me at kitchenminions@gmail.com with your address and I’ll get the salad spinner right out to you!

*just a note, some comments aren’t showing up on the website (damn goblins!) but are in my blogger account so they were included in the drawing.

OXO Salad Spinner Giveaway

2012-05-03T11:31:00.001-04:00

Whenever I make a salad, I always find that prepping the lettuce and making the dressing are the two biggest pains. Prepping the lettuce just takes forever. Back when Dan was doing the cooking, he would often hand me lettuce to rip up while he was doing everything else, and usually he would finish first. But doing it ahead of time was no good, because invariably it would all just wilt in the fridge.

Still crispy, 4 days after I bought it!

Now that I’m in charge of the food, I really want to have more veggies in our dinners, but I don’t want to spend twenty minutes every night just tearing up the lettuce. Enter the salad spinner. When OXO approached me about testing out their Good Grips Salad Spinner* and hosting a giveaway, I jumped at the chance. It definitely makes washing and drying the lettuce a lot easier, but I also discovered that I can store extra lettuce in the spinner – after emptying out all of the excess water, of course – and it will stay fresh for the whole week. All I did was lock the handle down and put it in the fridge. Of course, it does take up about 1/4 of one shelf, but now I only have to prep the lettuce once a week, so I figure that’s a fair trade. And it frees up space in the crisper drawer for other veggies.

weeeeeeee!!!!! Weeeeeeeeee!!!

Now on to the dressing. I used to whisk together the dressing in the bottom of the salad bowl, but as I adjusted everything to taste I would end up with way too much salad dressing. Then I’d add more lettuce, but invariably this would result in leftover, waterlogged salad the next day, which was usually eaten by the trash can.

locked and loaded…to be stored in the fridge

Then someone gave me the brilliant idea to mix together the dressing in a Mason jar. It’s the perfect lazy way out. Just like with the salad spinner, now I only have to prep everything once a week, and I can store it in the fridge until I need it. I still do have to remember to take it out of the fridge early enough so that the olive oil returns to liquid state before I add it to the salad, though, so it’s not a perfect solution. Ah, first world problems.

Lemon Garlic Salad Dressing

Inspired by The Kitchn

Note: I was so proud of my easy weeknight salad, and then Dan started asking me to change up the dressing. So I reduced the mustard, changed the brand of balsamic and added some garlic. For some reason, he still wasn’t satisfied. This is when I had my first inkling that Dan doesn’t like balsamic vinegar. Back to the drawing board. I found a good entry on the Kitchn (my go to for so much stuff) for a garlic confit vinaigrette. Of course, I wasn’t ready to do that much work for my salad dressing, so I used it as a jumping-off point for a slightly easier recipe. Just a note: According to my food safety class, oil and garlic mixed are a potentially hazardous food so store this dressing in the fridge.

Ingredients

4 cloves garlic
Juice of a lemon
1/2 cup olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Instructions

Pour the 1/2 c olive oil into a mason jar, chop of the 4 cloves garlic and transfer into the 1/2 c olive oil. Let it sit for a minute while you juice the lemon. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Adjust all ingredients until it tastes good to you!

Giveaway

Now onto the giveaway. In order to enter you have to have a US address, and leave a comment on this blog of your favorite easy salad dressing.

For an additional chance to win this giveaway, tweet about this giveaway and mention @OXO, @kitchenminions and link to this blog post in your tweet and leave an additional comment letting me know you've done so.

I will announce the winner on Wednesday, May 9, 2012

*I was given two OXO salad spinners, one to keep and one to give away. I was not compensated in any other way and as always, all thoughts are my own.

Worcestershire Sauce

2012-04-30T07:34:00.000-04:00

I’m addicted to cookbooks. I see a few great recipes on blogs or hear some reviews on NPR and I’m itching to go out and buy it. Unfortunately, this addiction can get expensive…and heavy (for moving). I kept hearing about Make the Bread, Buy the Butter last fall. Dan and I were getting ready to move to Maryland where I would have much more time on my hands. I had been toying with the idea of making everything from scratch (oh how little I understood about maintaining a house back then!)
Since we were about to move I placed a moratorium on buying stuff. Who needs one more thing to pack/unpack. After we got settled into our new place, the pain from the unpacking was still fresh in my mind and so instead of running out to buy the book I decided to test it out at the library. I ambitiously picked up three different cookbooks with high hopes. The first two books I looked at missed the mark, I saw one or two recipes that I would like to replicate but that was it. I opened Make the Bread, Buy the Butter last and loved the book immediately. I’ve been reading Tipsy Baker since I first heard about the book and I really enjoy Jennifer Reese’s voice. Her friendly tone translates nicely through the book. I appreciate the leg work she did to see if it makes budgetary and/or culinary sense to embark on the cooking project.

The first project that I decided to undertake was that of Worcestershire sauce. We ran out of it in Denver and I was planning to make some Caesar's Salad and needed pick some up. I was heading to the store and couldn’t forget how Reese described the Worcestershire:

I'm aware that it sounds obsessive to make your own Worcestershire, a condiment you probably use only occasionally, in minute quantities. But wait until you taste this stuff. It's black and shiny, almost iridescent, with so much umami you'll want to eat it with a spoon. Credit goes to Emeril Lagasse for this knockout recipe.

She begins each recipe with an assessment of whether or not you should make or buy the dish, how much hassle it is to make it and a cost comparison.

Make it or buy it? Make it.

Hassle: You babysit the sauce all day, but it's not a needy baby.

Cost comparison: A pint of homemade costs about $8. Lea & Perrins: $9.50

Some of her assessments surprised me, but once I thought through her arguments I realized that she makes sense. I have since had to return the book to the library but I am planning to go out and buy it the next chance I have.

Worcestershire Sauce

barely adapted from Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

Note: Pick a nice day to make this, open the windows and turn on your exhaust fan. The vinegar is quite potent! While it was cooking I was trying to figure out what to store it in and I decided to return the final product in the empty/clean vinegar bottle and a small mason jar. Also, the horseradish will make your entire fridge smell once it is open so either buy an exact amount or have another recipe ready to make right away. Also, I have typed Worcestershire 8 times in this post and only misspelled it once!

Ingredients
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped, with seeds
2 Tablespoons, garlic minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Two 2-ounce cans anchovies, drained
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 Tablespoon salt
1 lemon, peeled with white pith removed and discarded
2 cups corn syrup
1 cup molasses
1 quart distilled white vinegar
1/4 pound fresh horseradish, peeled and grated

Instructions

1. Heat the 2 onions, 3 T olive oil, and 2 jalapenos in your largest heavy pot over high heat. Stir the veggies for 3 minutes or until soft. Add the 2 T garlic, 2 cans anchovies, 1/4 t cloves, 1 T salt, 1 lemon, 2 c corn syrup, 1c molasses, 1 quart vinegar, 2 cups water and the 1/4 pound horseradish. Bring the mixture to a boil.

2. Once the mixture comes to a boil reduce the heat and simmer. Stir the mixture occasionally (every half hour or so) for about 6 hours. It is ready when the mixture lightly coats a spatula.

3. Strain the Worcestershire , stirring occasionally, until the mixture barely coats a wooden spoon, about 6 hours. Keep refrigerated, keeps indefinitely.

Pork Sage Meatballs

2012-04-27T09:59:00.001-04:00

Every year my college friends and I have a mini reunion. One friend lives out of the country and so we plan our visit around her visit to the states. Our visits are filled with hours on the couch/pedicure chair/restaurant booth/kitchen table reminiscing about college and catching up on our lives.

This time our trip coincided with Jessie’s ninth month of pregnancy. We were hoping to be able to meet the new addition to their family. Alas, it was not meant to be. Baby or not, we had a great weekend together.

I was really mesmerized by Jessie’s ability whip up so many delicious meals while juggling two kids and a pregnancy. On our first night she made us meatball subs (or hoagies or grinders depending on where you’re from). They came together so fast and were so delicious that I decided to take inspiration from her.

When I got home I searched through my own kitchen and found the perfect ingredients for these pork and sage meatballs from The Kitchn. I added some frozen peas and had a balanced meal for us to enjoy.

Pork and Sage Meatballs
(Adapted from The Kitchn)

Notes: This is another great make ahead dish. I put the balls together in the morning, covered them and cooked them that night. This recipe also doesn’t require many dishes and tossed together in a matter of minutes.

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
1 pound pork, ground in the food processor
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 Tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

zest of one lemon

1. Put the 1/2 c milk and 1/4 c breadcrumbs in a small bowl and mix with a fork. When the crumbs have softened squeeze out the milk and discard it.

2. Heat a little oil in a large pan over medium heat and sauté the onion until it has turned translucent. Crack some salt over the onion, stir to combine and set aside off the heat.

3. In a food processor pulse the pork until it is broken down. Transfer to a medium bowl and hand combine the breadcrumbs, onion, 1 egg, 4 T sage, 1/4 t thyme, 1/4 c parmesan, 1/8 t cayenne,1 t salt, black pepper.

4. When the pork is thoroughly mixed shape it into small balls. (this is where you can stop and store the meat balls.

5. When you are ready to cook heat a little oil in a large skillet. Add all of the meatballs into the pan in one uncrowded layer. Cook in shifts if the pan isn’t large enough. Shake the pan occasionally to keep the meatballs from sticking, turn occasionally with some tongs. Serve warm and top with lemon zest.

Nutritionals (Serves 4): Cals: 375, Fat: 20, Carb: 7, Fiber: 3, Protein: 39

Shrimp and Breadcrumb Pasta

2012-04-25T13:53:00.001-04:00

I love going grocery shopping, I have the luxury to go early on a weekday morning and wander the almost empty aisles to find fun new ingredients and make sure I’m getting the best deal. I just can’t stomach paying an extra dollar for milk or eggs when a short drive can get me the same item for less. I now have three stores that I go to regularly. Trader Joes for the smoked salmon, nuts and frozen food. Aldi for milk, eggs, produce, flour and sugar. And Wegman’s for almost every thing else.

One day I was at Wegman’s with Dan and saw shrimp for sale for $10 a pound. I realized that the days of shrimp stocked in our freezer were probably over and it would be reserved for more special occasions. However, on a whim I stopped by Aldi and noticed that shrimp was on sale for $4 a pound. I snapped up 3 bags! Shrimp defrosts so fast that it makes a perfect last minute dinner ingredient.

Shrimp and Breadcrumb Pasta

adapted from Real Simple

Notes: This is a really versatile recipe. The original included artichoke hearts but I didn’t have any on hand so I eliminated it. I think that some roasted asparagus could be good or that the spaghetti could be replaced by Israeli cous cous or another pasta. Dish usage is small and mise en place is so easy.

Ingredients:

3/4 pound spaghetti

2 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 pound peeled shrimp

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. cook the 3/4 pound pasta according to the box directions. Reserve at least a 1/2 c pasta water. Move the pasta into a large bowl.

2. In a large skillet, heat 2 T olive oil over medium. Add the bread crumbs, 1/4 t salt and 1/4 t black pepper. Stir the breadcrumb mixture until it turns golden brown. This should take 2-4 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

3. Clean the skillet and heat 1 T olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and the 1/4 t salt and 1/4 t pepper. Cook for a few minutes until the shrimp are opaque.

4. Toss the spaghetti with the pasta water to loosen it up. Add the cooked shrimp and breadcrumbs and toss to combine.

Grill Fish

2012-04-20T07:14:00.000-04:00

As I said, April is an interesting month. We host our first party in the new apartment. I’m about to reunite with my college roommates and I finally got together with some old friends. I’ve lived here for four months and haven’t had a chance to see them. It’s crazy how far away everything is here since the traffic is so bad. In Denver, everything was far away mileage wise but not too bad.

Well last night we met up for drinks at Hudson's lounge. After a few drinks and a long discussion if we could sneak into the catered party in the private room we decided not to party crash and find dinner elsewhere.

For some reason Wednesday night was hopping! We hit it big at our second stop, Grill Fish (which I kept thinking was Go Fish).

The restaurant was dark and packed and had a Romanesque feel to it, complete with melty candles. We were having so much fun that our neighboring table was totally jealous of us. We were also having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of my meal.

I did take a picture of my apple and pear salad with frizzled parsnips salad. I was so curious about frizzled parsnips that I had to try it out, basically it was grated parsnips that were fried. Great flavor. I could have done with more pears though.

We all got seafood entrees (two shrimp pastas, one grilled salmon and a crab cake…guess who ordered the crab cake?!) All of the plates were cleaned at the end of the night and we were all happy with our choices.

All together it was a great meal and great friends. Let’s not wait 4 more months to get back together!

Maryland Crabcakes

2012-04-18T07:37:00.000-04:00

Maryland is a lot closer to the beach than Denver, but it is not always close enough. A few years ago I wanted to go to the beach for my birthday. Unfortunately, the beach is a bit further away than would be doable in a day.

Dan stepped up to the plate and found a little park/beach on this side of the Bay Bridge and made reservations for us at a local crab joint called the Quarterdeck. It’s not quite the same as overlooking the ocean but the outdoor seating has a similar feel. We aren’t going out to eat much these days since there aren’t many good restaurants in our neighborhood so when I want a good crab cake I should just make it myself.

I won’t lie, I started with canned crab cake. Now that I’ve given it a try, I’ll get the good crabmeat from my local fishmonger.

Maryland-Style Crab Cakes

adapted from Chicken of the Sea Can

Notes: Aside from the crab, all of the ingredients are always in my cupboard. Additionally, the crab that comes in the can lasts for awhile so this could be thrown together on a whim. These were also super easy to make and only required one bowl.

16 ounce can crabmeat
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons mayo

1 Tablespoon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground mustard seed
1/2 Tablespoon Old Bay
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the 16 ounces of crabmeat and 3/4 c bread crumbs.

2. Once the ingredients are combined gently fold in the crabmeat. Then fold in the bread crumbs.

3. Divide the crabmeat mixture into your desired cake size, mine were palm sized and this made about 8 crab cakes

4. Heat a little bit of oil on the bottom of the saucepan and cook about 4 minutes per side.

Nutritionals (Serves 8): Cals 110, Fat: 4, Carb: 8, Fiber: 1, Protein: 9

Party Recap

2012-04-16T07:36:00.000-04:00

I want to be the Barefoot Contessa. She is so effortless with her parties while I spend half the time in the kitchen with my face turning redder by the minute. It’s one thing to cook one elaborate dish without a firm deadline but when it comes to having a hot meal ready for my guests I always make an error in timing and end up with cold food or a late meal.

I was determined that Dan’s party would be low stress. Since Dan’s favorite foods are pizza and chocolate I decided it would be make your own pizza night. That way I wouldn’t be slaving over the stove all night. I also asked the guests to bring a favorite chocolate dish. Before the party started I rolled out the pizza dough and set them aside on a individual pieces of parchment paper and chopped the toppings and put them in separate bowls.

It took a bit of time to get the mise en place all together but it was worth it when during the party all I had to do was direct people and set the timer on the oven.

There were a few things I would change for next time. Everyone brought enough dessert to feed the entire party and so we have chocolate for the next few months. Instead I should have suggested that people either bring a drink, a pizza topping or a chocolate dessert. That way there would have been more selection. The other thing that I would have done was test run of baking the dough without the pizza stone. I found out a little late that it didn’t cook as fast as it usually did.

It was such a fun night and was great to have our friends over to our new place for the first time. Now that Dan is an “old man” too maybe he’ll stop teasing me for my age?

Pecorino Pasta

2012-04-13T07:05:00.000-04:00

I’m on the quest to find the best easy weeknight meals. What I don’t get is how do people have enough meats and vegetables in the house to throw stuff together? I have some frozen veggies in the freezer but the meat I buy usually has a specific purpose. Pasta is really easy to have around and so I’m coming up with different ways to serve it. Since I’ve found a perfect pasta sauce recipe, I wanted to mix it up and try an alfredo sauce.

The original recipe called for a radicchio salad but I realized that I don’t really like radicchio, I’ll try it with cabbage and post it if it works!

Pecorino Pasta

Notes: This is a super easy dish, easier than my easy pasta sauce. I’ve made this with heavy cream and 2% milk. The cream is obviously thicker but I got enough of a hint of the creaminess in the 2% version too. This is also good the next day for a decadent lunch.

Ingredients:

12 ounces spaghetti

salt and pepper

1 cup 2% milk (or heavy cream)

2.5 ounces pecorino, grated, separated

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook pasta according to directions. Once done move aside and return the the pot.

2. Add the 1 c heavy cream to the spaghetti and bring to a simmer. Add 2 ounces of pecorino, the 1/2 t cracked black pepper, 1/2 t salt and cook for about two minutes stirring constantly. Take the pasta off the heat and transfer to a large bowl top the pasta with the rest of the pecorino.

April!

2012-04-11T09:19:00.001-04:00

I love Spring and specifically, April. What can I say, it’s my birthday month! It’s getting warm but not too warm. This month is especially awesome. It started with a nice day in the city with an old friend.

I spent all day Monday in a small classroom training to become a Food Safety Manager. I haven’t taken that many notes in years! I’m excited to say that I passed the test! I now have an official looking card. Of course I’m seeing cross contamination every where I look.

We’re celebrating Dan’s birthday this weekend. I’m hoping that our house is big enough for our friends to fit!

Next weekend I’m going to see see my old college friends. We’re spending the weekend in Philly, my friend Jess, who is hosting us, is like 9 months pregnant. Maybe we’ll get to meet her third kid while we’re there!

Then it’s my birthday! I am looking forward to being pampered by Dan for the day, and of course the cake.

Oyamel

2012-04-09T07:37:00.000-04:00

My friend Meko and I met again last weekend for lunch. After the hour wait we encountered at Ted’s Bulletin we made a reservation at Oyamel.

We showed up a noon for our reservation to a half full restaurant. By the time we left most tables turned over twice. We were never rushed to leave (our waiter did try to encourage us to order a few times before we settled on what we wanted) and my water glass remained full. It’s the little things that make a good experience and all too often those courtesies are lost in the rush to get more patrons in.

Oyamel, like its sister restaurant, Jaleo, focuses on small plates for the table to share. We got down to picking our a few items to share. We decided to start with the tacos.

Pancita de puerco al pastor.

Seared house cured pork belly in a sauce of tomatoes and guajillo chiles, served with pineapple, onions and cilantro

We were most excited about the pork belly tacos. Unfortunately, the pork belly was dry. The dish was saved by the surprisingly complex combination of the pineapple and cilantro. I’m usually indifferent to cilantro but I gathered up all of the leaves that fell onto my plate and piled them into the taco.

Taco de Birria estilo Guadalajara

Guadalajara style goat, veal and lamb taco in a cascabel, ancho and guajillo chile
sauce with onions and cilantro

I was looking forward to the distinct earthy flavor of the lamb and the complexity that would come from the combination of three meats. Unfortunately, the chile sauce was so strong. It was a pleasing dish and I’m interested in trying some of the other offerings.

After the meat from the two tacos we decided to get two vegetable dishes. We started off with a salad.

Ensalada de chayote

Mexican squash salad with crumbled queso fresco cheese and crushed peanuts, in a hibiscus dressing.

My first comment was “it tastes green” I was delightfully surprised by both the taste and texture of the Mexican squash. It was very fresh but firm enough to not be slimy. Meko thought it tasted like a Chinese squash. I enjoyed the cheese and peanuts, they complimented the squash by adding a creamy flavor and crunchy texture. The hibiscus dressing didn’t add much in my opinion, or maybe I couldn’t tell the squash flavor apart from the hibiscus flavor? It was a good dish and was very fresh.

The second vegetable dish was ordered as more of a novelty.

Nopal asado con salsa molcajete.

Grilled fresh cactus paddles served with a salsa molcajete of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chiles.

We saw the words “cactus paddle” and had to try it. Our waiter warned us that cactus tasted like cooked Okra but I didn’t see the comparison.We were excited to see a whole paddle on the plate. It was Meko’s turn to say that this dish smelled green. I took one bite and decided that cactus tasted like green beans. Does anyone else think this?

We ended our lunch with the classic Mexican Churros. They came with a bitter chocolate sauce that I ignored after one bite. The churros were crunchy and slightly sweet. It’s really hard to go wrong with fried dough.

After our long lunch we decided to brave the tourists at the Mall and the Tidal Basin. I’ve been missing Denver a lot lately but that homesickness was lessened by enjoying some of the finer parts of DC.

Belga Cafe

2012-04-06T13:23:00.001-04:00

I have been on a brunch kick lately. It seems like an ideal time to meet friends for some girl talk. A few weeks ago my old roommate and I met at Belga Café in the Eastern Market area. The Dining room was compact but even though there wasn’t much space to move around it did not feel cramped. The wait staff was efficient and we were out of there in less than an hour.

Becca knew what she wanted immediately, the liege waffles with caramelized apples and cinnamon. This was light but decadent and the right amount of food for a mid morning meal.

I did not make the same good decision. My dish was an example of how there is sometimes too much of a good thing. I ordered the wafel met eend a l’orange. In english, that is the crispy sage waffle with duck confit, orange, carrots, ginger and a poached egg.

I would like to say that while I did not enjoy the dish as a whole, the execution of the sage waffles demonstrated the skill of the chef. They were crispy and had enough sage flavor that I knew I was eating something delicious and different, but not overwhelming. When I ordered the dish, I expected a small piece of duck, I did not expect a skillet filled with orange sauce or that much duck. The orange sauce was too sweet and not only did it make the carrots inedible, I lost most of the egg. The duck was cooked perfectly but the skin had to be discarded. II’d like to end this review on a high note and say that the sage waffles need to become a thing. They will probably shine in a near future baking experiment!

Ted’s Bulletin

2012-04-04T10:20:00.001-04:00

One of the bonuses of moving is that now we can try a whole new set of restaurants. Unfortunately they are no longer a short walk away, and thanks to excessive metro track work it can take almost an hour to get downtown DC. However, it is worth it to meet up with old friends and eat delicious food.

After a long metro ride that included long waits and at one point, the slamming of the breaks and horn (who knew that the metro train drivers got road rage, track rage?) my friend and I were ready to chow down on a big brunch at the acclaimed Ted’s Bulletin. We made the best of an hour long wait and took a walk in the Eastern Market neighborhood.

Ted’s Bulletin’s entices customers with the pastry chef making homemade poptarts in the front window. We were seated in the back room and the centerpiece is a really big skylight that brightens up the entire place. We were seated in a small booth on the side with a good view of the comings and goings.

The upscale diner food all seemed tempting and we debated between breakfast and lunch. My friend ended up splitting the difference and getting the 7:00 AM Breakfast Burger. I’m glad I took a picture when I did because it quickly looked like a hot mess. The English muffin was great but barely held its own with all of the goopiness from the fried egg. This definitely turned into a knife and fork burger.

I was definitely in the breakfast camp for this meal. Some days a basic breakfast is all I want and so I ordered Mark on an off Day (his normal day was way too much food for me). With it I got two over medium eggs, bacon, hash browns and I ordered a blueberry pop tart. I couldn’t resist the famous pop tarts that I have been hearing about.

The breakfast was delicious. The eggs were perfect runniness, bacon and hash browns picked up all of the runny yolk. The pop tart was quite delicious, although I’m not sure that I need to order it again, it was tasty, but more of a novelty purchase.

Ted’s Bulletin was a great way to spend a sunny Saturday morning and I’ll definitely go back, I think I need to try one of their burgers!

Garlic and Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin

2012-04-02T07:15:00.000-04:00

I was on a roll there for awhile. I planned menus and made complete dinners every night of the week. My plan was to make everything from scratch. I felt guilty even looking at bread at the grocery store when I knew I could make it at home. Then I started some projects and took a week away and next thing I knew I was facing down dinner time with no plan and no ingredients. There were times that there wasn’t even pasta or bread in the house so I couldn’t even whip up a quick sandwich or spaghetti dinner.

I am realizing that while I still want to make a lot from scratch, it is nice to have a few quick and easy meals up my sleeve. This recipe saved a pound of pork tenderloin that was defrosting in the fridge.

Garlic and Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Adapted from The Kitchn

Notes: This was so incredibly easy and flavorful. After a month of being anxious about cooking meat I remembered that we have a meat thermometer and it made all the difference. The pork came out juicy and flavorful. It was just as good the next day as leftovers.

1 pound Pork Tenderloin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 t dried rosemary
1 t dried thyme

3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 lemon, zested
1/4 cup olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 475.

2. Crack some salt and pepper over the pork and pat it in. Move the pork to a baking sheet.

3. In a food processor, combine 1 t rosemary, 1 t thyme, 3 cloves garlic and lemon zest. Pulse the combination a few times and then turn it on and pour the 1/4 c olive oil through the opening. Keep processing until it turns into a paste.

4. Take the garlic paste and pat it over the tenderloin making sure to get some on the sides and top and bottom.

5. Roast the pork for 10 minutes. Flip with tongs and roast for another 8-10 minutes until the pork reaches 155 degrees.

6. Take the pork out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes covered in foil.

Nutritionals (4 servings): Cals: 353, Fat: 23, Carb: 1, Fiber: 3, Protein: 34

Blueberry Muffins

2012-03-30T07:04:00.000-04:00

My niece and sister came to visit recently. Since I am not an expert at feeding two year olds I decided to make some blueberry muffins. Why not combine her favorite food (blueberries) with her favorite food delivery device (cake). I also made her some chocolate green monster muffins but they never stood a chance.

It wasn’t all blueberries and cake, our first morning together I took her around Capitol Hill. Who knew that there was nothing fun for a two year old on The Hill? Thankfully our second day together was filled with three separate playgrounds and one extremely happy Keira.

Easy Blueberry Muffins

adapted from the Screaming Sardine

Notes: These were easy and fast. Aside from the oven preheating time these take about 30 minutes (including the cooking time). The dish usage was minimal and the cleanup was basically done before the muffins came out of the oven. They stored nicely for almost a week and probably would have frozen nicely but we gobbled them up too fast.

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup blueberries
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 425 and coat a muffin tin with nonstick spray.

2. In a large bowl stir together the 1 1/2 c flour, 3/4 c sugar, and 1 1/2 t baking powder and set aside.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the 1 egg, 1/2 c yogurt, 1 stick butter and 1 t vanilla.

3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Then add the blueberries and fold them in gently.

4. Divide the batter into the prepared muffin tin.

5. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 400 and cook for 5-10 minutes longer or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Nutritionals (12 muffins) Cals: 187, Fat: 8, Carb: 25, Fiber: 1, Protein: 3

Spring in Maryland

2012-03-28T15:54:00.001-04:00

There is so much that I’m currently missing about Denver, but one thing I love about Maryland is springtime. We live far enough outside of DC to not experience the crowds but close enough to enjoy the spring flowers.

Every morning I take a walk around a four mile loop in my neighborhood and I love walking under the pink blooms.

There is something whimsical about a pink canopy.

Unfortunately this time is fleeting and the blooms have already fallen.

Maybe I will get my head out of the clouds now and get back to cooking!

Fluffy Hamburger Buns

2012-03-26T10:09:00.001-04:00

I made brioche last year for valentine’s day and realized quickly that the two sticks of butter put it firmly into the “sometimes” food category. Recently I’ve been looking for sandwich roll recipes and not finding anything that worked just right. It may have been that I was trying to make too many alterations on a recipe that I’m not familiar enough with. All I know is that each time I tried, I ended up with hockey pucks and not buns.

All of this changed when I decided to try Smitten Kitchen’s Light Brioche Rolls. Instead of 2 sticks of butter it calls for 2.5 T of butter. They came out light and airy and worked nicely with burgers and smoked salmon and everything in between.

Light Brioche Rolls

Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Note: This is ridiculously simple. You have to allow for about 3-5 hours because of the rising time but it doesn’t need much hands work so you can multitask. As far as the kneading goes, it is really important to knead the dough for the full 8 minutes. Let it stay a little tacky but add flour as needed, it shouldn’t be messy on your hands just a little sticky to the touch. As for the rising-we keep our house cold so I was having a hard time getting them to puff but I started to put them in the oven (with it off) to rise and that helped tremendously. These save really nicely in an airtight container, the fridge, or the freezer. I’m trying to keep some on hand for whenever we want some bread.

3 Tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
2 large egg (used at separate times)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp or warmer but not melted)

(opt: sesame seeds)

1. In a glass measuring cup, combine 1 c warm water, 3 T milk, 2 t yeast and 2 1/2 T sugar stir quickly with a fork. Let the mixture rest for about 5 minutes. It should get really foamy.

2. Beat 1 egg with a fork.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the 1 1/2 c AP flour, 2 c white whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 t salt.

4. Add the softened butter to the flour and mix with your hands until the butter is incorporated and the flour resembles loose crumbs.

5. Stir in the yeast mixture and egg start by mixing with a spatula and then move onto mixing with your hands. Move the dough to a clean and lightly floured surface. Knead for 8 minutes.

6. Make the dough into a ball, return it to the bowl and sprinkle it with a little flour. Cover the bowl and let it rise until it doubles in size. This could take an hour or two.

7. Once the dough is done rising, prep the baking sheet with parchment or silpat. I made the dough ball into a tube shape and cut it into 8-10 pieces. Roll the dough into small balls and transfer to the baking sheet, cover and let rise until they double in size (1-2 hours) Beat the other egg and 1 T water. Set aside until the dough is done rising.

8. When the dough is finished rising preheat the oven to 400 degrees (or earlier if you can get dough to rise outside the oven). Set a large shallow pan of water on a rack moved to the bottom of the oven. Move the other rack to the center of the oven.

9. Brush the egg wash on the buns and bake for 7 minutes, turn the sheet and bake for an additional 8 minutes for a total of 15 minutes. The buns are done when they have browned slightly. Let the buns cool on a wire rack.

Nutritionals (8 buns) Cals: 257, Fat: 6, Carb 44, Fiber: 4, Protein: 9

Two Ingredient Fresh Pasta

2012-03-21T11:33:00.001-04:00

While we were in the craziness of moving I started to write down all of the projects that I wanted to tackle with all of my future free time. The project that topped the list was making fresh pasta.

We registered for a pasta maker with great hopes of making delicious pasta. Since I was low carbing at the time I really wanted to make pastas that I could eat. Not one to shy away from a challenge I wanted to make oat flour tortellini. While I’m willing to face a challenge, I’m also willing to admit defeat. Part way through the pasta I gave up and ordered a pizza.

I am a little ashamed to say that I didn’t open the pasta maker once between then and when we moved back to Maryland. Since I’m a fan of Jaime Oliver I decided to look to him for a simple recipe. We own many of his cookbooks and I realized that each cookbook got increasingly more complicated and so I decided to start at the beginning and try his original pasta recipe. Boy was it easy. Plus it’s a great way to impress guests. I had my sister and niece stay with me and enjoyed seeing them enjoy something made completely from scratch.

The face of a happy customer

Fresh Pasta

adapted from The Naked Chef

Note: I made this recipe a few times, the first was to make pasta napkins (wide noodles). and they seemed to be dry enough so I stacked them on top of each other. HUGE mistake. instead of pieces of pasta I had a giant chunk of pasta that I couldn’t really salvage.

The second time I used hangers for the pasta and that worked really well, I recommend putting them somewhere out of the way and make sure the area under them is cleaned, I lined the washer and dryer with silpats so that as they dried if any of the noodles fell they would fall on something clean.

If you are drying them for later use (which I recommend since these can take awhile and you may not want the pressure of making dinner with them too) make sure they are REALLY dry before you put them in a container. I let mine sit out over night for almost 24 hours.

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1 pound All Purpose flour (I mixed in whole wheat flour-maybe 1/3 of recipe)

Instructions

1. Add the 5 eggs and 1 pound of flour in a large food processor and pulse until the mixture becomes large balls of dough.

2. Take the dough out and kneed for a few minutes on a floured counter to make sure all of the eggs are incorporated in the flour. Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside in the fridge for about an hour (or until you have a lot of free time on your hands)

3. Once the dough has rested for at least an hour take it out and divide it into 3 balls. Take your pasta maker and attach it to your counter with the most space to the left of it (I gave it a few feet since the pasta gets really long)

4. Squish the dough with your palm and run it through your pasta maker on the largest setting. Fold the dough in half and repeat three more times. After you have run the pasta through the largest setting continue running the pasta through increasingly smaller settings but don’t fold the dough between passes.

5. If you are making linguini or spaghetti stop at the second to last setting, divide the pasta sheet into 3 or 4 pieces and run each piece through the spaghetti portion of the machine. Hang the noodles up on hangers and let dry until you are ready to cook.

Roasting a Chicken

2012-03-19T09:20:00.001-04:00

Meat intimidates me. I’ve always focused on baking and let Dan take care of all of the entrees. Since our role switch I’ve been making a lot of excuses about why I’ve been cooking mostly vegetarian dishes but the real reason is that I don’t like dealing with raw meat. I make croissants and caramels without thinking twice, but a whole roast chicken intimidates me so much that I spend most of the week staring at it making up excuses as to why I’m not cooking it. My favorite stalling technique is to tell myself that it is still a bit frozen.

I’m ready for my close up!

However, I can only wait so long, today was the day that I needed to cook the chicken or call it a loss. Since I’m not one to waste food, I put on my big girl pants and got to making a chicken. I pulled up an old blog post and for good measure opened up Jamie Oliver’s recipe. Let’s just say that I need a remedial lesson in roasting chicken… Poor Dan kept having to come in and correct my technique. In order to make the next time easier I decided to write it all out step by step. (with pictures for some steps)

Check out my trussing skillz

Roast Chicken Step by Step

Note: All in all it takes about two hours but most of it is hands off. There may be 17 steps but that is just because I broke it down to simple levels. There are very few dishes but the roasting pan is a pain in the butt to clean.

1. Take the chicken out of the packaging and remove the bag from the cavity and any other packaging (including the pop-up timer). Preheat the oven to 425 and place the roasting pan in the oven to get hot.

2. Wash the chicken with water (not soap-like Adrian from RHOBH).

3. Face the feet of the chicken away from you and take one hand to grab the skin and take a finger and slowly and gently push your finger under the skin and open up a small tunnel all the way down to the drumstick. Repeat on the other side. (man that sounds dirty)

4. Pour some olive oil and sprinkle some salt down each of the tunnels.

5. Divide the basil into 3 equal portions and put one in each of the tunnels and save the third for later.

6. Flip the bird over so the breasts are down and the legs and thighs facing you. Take a knife and cut a small slit over the thigh and push half of the remaining basil over the thigh. Repeat on the other side of the bird.

7. Flip the bird back so it is breast side up. Now it is time to truss it. I did a bit of googling to realize that there are a few different kinds of ways to truss a chicken. This is the one that we learned at a cooking class a few years ago. Let’s call this method the Wonderbra method (sort of shown here) since this method accentuated the assets of the bird.

8. Cut a lot of twine and put the center of the twine under the bird near the wings.

Bring the twine between the wing and the body and then back around through the wing at the joint

Bring the twine around the outside of the wing

and cross both sides of the twine in the middle of the breast and again under the body

Take the twine and pull it around and under the chicken thigh

bring the twine up and around the feet and pull them together.

Wrap the twine around the feet so that they are pulled tight and tie the twine securely

And now your chicken is trussed!

9. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken and then coat with olive oil. Flip the bird and do it again on the other side.

10. Move the chicken, breast side up and put it in the roasting pan. For a 5 lbs chicken we cooked for 1:16.

11. Take the chicken out of the oven and move it to a cutting board but let it sit for 10 minutes.

12. Once the 10 minutes are up it’s time to start carving! Here is a great video if you are more of a visual person.

13. To start cut the bird with the breast side up and cut down along the leg. slice the skin where the leg meets the breast. Pull the leg away from the body until you hear a pop, sometimes you will need to get in there and cut more to fully detach the leg. Repeat on the other leg.

14. There is a bone running down the middle of the breast, find it with your hand and put the knife to one side and start cutting until the breast and wing detach from the body.

15. We leave the thigh and drumstick attached but you and flip the leg so that it is skin side down and look for the joint and cut there to detach them.

16. To cut the wing off of the breast find the joint and break it off of the breast, cutting where needed.

17. Make sure that each piece still has the skin attached. It is the best part!

Easy Weeknight Meal Roundup

2012-03-15T07:43:00.000-04:00

I’m in Pittsburgh this week with my mom. She broke her arm and needed surgery. Needless to say there hasn’t been much cooking in my kitchen! At least not by me.

So in no particular order are five of our favorite easy weeknight meals for weeks when life gets in the way.

1. Garlic Roasted Shrimp. If you have shrimp in the freezer like we do this can be made without any pre-planning. Serve with veggies you have around and a yummy baguette. I don’t like leftover shrimp so this is not a good leftover lunch for us.

2. Chicken with Leeks and Apples. These ingredients are not quite cupboard staples but it can be made with chicken breasts or chicken thighs and maybe use onion instead of leek. This is ok for leftover lunch.

3. Whole Wheat Pizza Dough. Make the dough ahead, and then it is a super easy meal. The pizza is still a great leftover lunch.

4. Brie and Pear Preserve Sandwich. This is perfect for a cold or rainy day. Forgo the tomato soup and just eat these tasty creations. These do not save well so enjoy them right away!

5. Mexican Tortilla Thingies. This is a little work if you use dried beans and make tortillas. But if you use canned beans and put them over a grain(rice, bulgur, barley) this can be done in the time it takes the grain to cook. My favorite topping for these is the Pico de Gallo and Guac from Pioneer Woman. These are good for leftover lunches too.