On Saturday, we attended a food-truck-festival of sorts to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  We love food trucks (just beginning to become a “thing” here in Dallas) and festivals, and the LLS is an important charity.  We didn’t love waiting in line an hour and a half for a couple of tacos (as good as they were.)  It seems that we got to the festival at the exact busiest time of day — all the lines for every truck were very long.  But we’re still glad we went and look forward to sampling food from the other trucks as they cruise throughout our local area.

In addition to the long lines, our visit to the food truck festival was cut short by our need to go home and prepare caprese bites and proscuitto- wrapped melon for the first annual block party on our street.  Our next door neighbors (Hi Craig and Emily!) graciously hosted a giant bounce house on their lawn for all the kids.  While the kids bounced themselves silly, the adults enjoyed good food, drinks and conversation.  We’re a little embarrassed to admit that after nearly 6 years of living in our current home, Saturday was the first time we met many of our neighbors.  It was a fun gathering and we enjoyed meeting everyone.  We feel lucky to live where we do and look forward to getting together with our neighbors more often.  Chili Cook-Off in the Fall!

Although we didn’t get to spend Mother’s Day with either of our wonderful mothers, we celebrated them by treating ourselves to an amazing brunch at an old favorite restaurant, Terilli’s.  (It was the least we could do.  We love you Mom/J and Mom/E!)  Dan had the Sauteed Lemon Veal with poached eggs and hollandaise.  Wow.

Also wow?  The Chihuly exhibit at the Dallas Arboretum, which we attended Wednesday evening.  We’re working on a full post about it and will save our gushing comments for that, but it was a major favorite of our week, and we highly recommend you go see it if you’re in the Dallas area between now and October.

We’re trying to enjoy as much patio time as we can these days, while the temps still cool off a bit in the evenings.  Dan made enough delicious seafood paella for a small army on Sunday, and we made an event out of it by dining poolside.

The first time we made tabouli, we couldn’t find “cracked wheat” and didn’t know to look for bulgur.  So we bought the boxed version and used the wheat from that but discarded the flavor packet that came with it.  Whether you use the box mix, cracked wheat or bulgur (I did a little research and some sources say there actually is a difference between the two — something to do with whether the wheat is parboiled during the processing), we recommend following (or at least consulting) the package directions for how to cook the wheat.  The second time we made it, we used bulgur and cooked it the same way we cooked the stuff from the box, but the tabouli turned out a little more toothsome than it was the first time.  Perhaps we needed to cook it a little longer.

Most recipes call for cooking the bulgur by steaming it.  Heat about 1/2 a cup of water to a boil.

Pour the boiling water over a cup of bulgur in a bowl, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap to allow the bulgur to steam until it is tender and the water is absorbed — about 20-30 minutes.

While the bulgur cooks, finely chop the veggies and fresh herbs:  cucumber (peeled and de-seeded); onion; tomatoes; parsley; mint and oregano.  There are a lot of different recipes out there for tabouli, and you can customize your own with whatever vegetables and herbs you prefer (we might add some black olives next time), but the parsley seems to be the most necessary ingredient (next to the bulgur/cracked wheat.)

Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic and salt & pepper to make the dressing.  (Pro Tip:  attempting to save yourself from having to wash another bowl by whisking the ingredients in the measuring cup only results in more of a mess on your countertop and poorly-mixed dressing.  Go ahead and use the bowl.)

Toss the veggies and herbs with the bulgur, then slowly add dressing and toss until the salad is coated but not saturated.  If you allow the tabouli to chill in the fridge for about half an hour before serving, it will taste even better after the flavors have a little time to blend together.  And save any leftovers — tabouli paired with some crackers is a delicious and filling snack.  Let this be a lesson (to us):  don’t be intimidated to at least research a recipe that you think might be outside your comfort zone — you might end up finding a new favorite.

Tabouli

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bulgur (or cracked wheat)
• ½ cup boiling water
• ⅓ cup minced fresh parsley
• ¼ cup minced fresh mint
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
• ¼ cup finely chopped onion
• 1 cup tomatoes, diced
• 1 cucumber – peeled, seeded and diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Boil the water, then pour it over the bulgur in a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it  to steam until the bulgur becomes tender and the water is absorbed — about 20-30 minutes.  (Depending on whether you are using bulgur or cracked wheat, consult the package directions and consider cooking the wheat as directed on the package.)
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt & pepper for the dressing.
3. Add the chopped veggies and herbs to the bowl with the bulgur and mix all the ingredients together.  Slowly add the dressing until the salad is well-coated but not saturated.  If possible, chill the tabouli in the fridge for about half an hour before serving to allow the flavors to come together.

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Start by preparing the veggies:  slice 2-4 cloves of peeled garlic into thin slivers; mince 1/2 teaspoon worth of fresh thyme; finely chop 1 small red onion; roughly chop 1 (16 ounce) jar of roasted red peppers; and finely chop about 1/2 of a chipotle chile in adobo.  A note about chipotle chilies — in case you’ve never used them — they typically come in cans in the Hispanic foods section of the grocery store.  Most recipes only call for 1 or 2 chilies at a time, since they are very, very spicy.  We usually just use what we need for the recipe we are cooking at the time, then put the rest of the chilies and their adobo sauce in a little tupperware container and store them in the fridge for the next recipe.  Since the chipotle is a smoke-dried jalapeno, it’s preserved and lasts a really long time.

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large sauce pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until melted.  Add the garlic slivers and cook until very lightly browned — 1-2 minutes.  Keep a close eye on the garlic and stir it frequently so that it doesn’t brown too much and become bitter.

Add the onion and a generous pinch of salt and cook until the onion softens and begins to brown — about 4-5 minutes.

Add the flour and stir constantly until the flour mixture is lightly toasted — about 45 seconds.

Add the red peppers, chipotle, 3 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup water and a bundle of about 5 sprigs of fresh thyme tied together with kitchen twine and bring the soup to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the peppers are soft — about 20-30 minutes.

Prepare the croutons while the soup cooks.  Cut the bread into cubes, then toss the cubes with salt and pepper, drizzle with 2 tablespoons melted butter and spread the seasoned bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake the croutons in the oven preheated to 400 degrees, turning once halfway through, until golden brown and crisp — about 8-10 minutes.

Sure, you could use store-bought croutons.  But you’re already saving time by not having to roast your own red peppers, so why not make the extra (minimal) effort to create these buttery, lightly crunchy toppings that take this soup to the next level of flavor country?  Seriously, why not?

Once the peppers are soft, remove the thyme bundle, pour the soup into a blender and puree until smooth and creamy.  And now for the Science Portion of this post — blending hot liquids can be dangerous because the hot liquid expands when it is blended.  To blend safely, work in batches to avoid over-filling the blender (don’t fill it more than halfway each time) and always keep a kitchen towel or pot holder over the top of the blender (between the top and your hand holding down the top.)  Thus concludes the Science Portion.  (Perhaps we should just call this the “safety-without-any-explanation-of-science” portion.  Or the “too-lazy-to-research-science” portion.)

Pour the soup back into the pot or Dutch oven, stir in 3/4 cup of heavy cream, taste and add salt & pepper as needed, then simmer the soup over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

Topped with a generous amount of croutons, a sprinkle of chopped thyme and some crumbled feta cheese, this soup was just rich and hearty enough to make a nice meal for the two of us.  Smaller portions would be an amazing first course at a dinner party, but good luck coming up with additional courses  – this soup is one tough act to follow.

Saturday

• Block Party!

Sunday

• Seafood Paella

Monday  

• Grilled Steak and Arugula

Tuesday

• Chicken Stew with Green Olives

Wednesday

• Dinner and Some Art

Thursday

• Spaghetti with Spinach and Artichoke Carbonara

Friday

• Dinner Out

Chef Rebecca Allinson taught our class.  She was informative — starting off the class by giving all of us a (rather stern) lesson in how to properly hold a knife.  Probably a good idea, considering we were a room full of strangers with varying (and unknown to her) levels of cooking skills.  And not much could ruin a date night more than a trip to the emergency room for stitches from a knife wound.  Chef Allinson was also very entertaining and encouraging — enthusiastically exclaiming “Brava!” every time we completed a task.  Having someone cheer you on for successfully slicing mushrooms makes the cooking experience quite a bit more festive, believe me.

The class was set up with a cooking station for each participant, on tables in groups of four or six (could be a fun outing for several couples to do a class together.)  Sur La Table provides all the equipment (including aprons) and food, and class participants can bring their own wine (they provide openers.)  We brought a bottle (of course we did), and felt kind of bad for the couple at our table who didn’t, especially when they mistakenly reached for ours, thinking it was for everyone at the table.  But we didn’t actually feel bad enough to share ours.  Sorry, we couldn’t spare it.

The first course we prepared was the dessert, since it needed to cook the longest.  Basically all we had to do was mix together the strawberries, pre-cooked rhubarb (cooking it first prevents the final dish from being too soupy, something we learned from the class, since we’ve never cooked with rhubarb before.)  We also learned that Chef Allinson used some of the leftover rhubarb juices in her homemade whipped cream to top the rhubarb strawberry tart.  Yup, it was as good as it sounds.  For those (like us) not familiar with rhubarb, it has a sour flavor that pairs well with sweet strawberries.  The recipe also calls for lemon and orange zest, sugar and brandy — all of which play very well with the rhubarb and strawberry flavors.

Once we prepared the tart fillings, Chef Allinson filled the previously-prepared pie crusts (all the while describing her methods for creating a perfect crust — take-aways from this part of the class were keeping things cold and weighing ingredients for more precise results.  Or something like that.  I was a little too preoccupied with getting a good photo in the overhead demo mirror to really pay attention.)  The tarts baked in the oven preheated to 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.

Next, we prepared the salad course, starting with the dressing:  a mix of Champagne vinegar, minced shallot, Dijon mustard, olive oil, chopped tarragon and salt & pepper.   We all participated by chopping shallots and tarragon, then Dan and our new table stranger/friend whisked and adjusted seasonings together.

Then Dan and I sipped our wine (but didn’t share) while we enjoyed the finished salad of frisee and mixed spring greens, crumbled roquefort cheese and toasted walnuts tossed with the dressing we made.  Yummy.

Next up — roasted potatoes.  We cut the potatoes into chunks, peeled and chopped the garlic and minced up some chives and parsley.  Our biggest take-away from this dish was to preheat the baking sheet in the oven while the oven preheats to 400 degrees.  Preheating the baking sheet means less cooking time for the potatoes.  (And nasty burns on your fingers and hands if you forget that the cookie sheet is hot when you load it up with potatoes and attempt to put it back in the oven — something that Chef Allinson rightfully scared us about pointed out during this portion of the class.)  The potatoes cook until they are browned — about 18-20 minutes — then sprinkle them with minced garlic and cook them for another 10-12 mintues.  Toss the finished potatoes with the chives and parsley as garnish.

As cooking class students, our biggest contribution to the main course steak dish was “trimming” (fancy word for removing the stems) the cremini mushrooms and cutting them into quarters.  Nailed it!  Check me out — I even properly placed the knife blade-side-out on the cutting board when I was finished.  Brava!

Other class participants bore the burden of seasoning the steaks with salt and coarsely ground green peppercorns.  Gunners.

Chef Allinson taught us how to sear the steaks and achieve the requisite bad-ass grill marks on multiple steaks by placing each steak on the grill at the same angle, then turning each one to a separate (but same per steak) angle after a couple of minutes.  This is not news to Dan and any of the rest of you who grill on a regular basis, but I was previously unaware of this technique.  I also suck at geometry and all things math, so it was a bit like magic for me.  (I may not be a cheap date, but I’m a simple one for sure.)

While the steaks and potatoes finished in the oven, Chef Allinson gave us a lesson on cuts of meat (using the pig drawing on the blackboard instead of a cow — pork or beef, the cuts are basically the same.)  Here she is encouraging us — a room full of adults — to approach the blackboard and teacher more closely for a better lesson.  Does anyone ever outgrow the reluctance to sit in the front during a learning situation?

Time to make the mushroom-cognac sauce.  Who doesn’t like a little heat during a date night — am I right, Ladies?  Chef Allinson made the sauce by cooking the shallots in butter until soft, adding the mushrooms and cooking until browned, then de-glazing the pan with beef stock and stirring in some fresh thyme.  Next, remove the skillet from the heat, add some cognac, return the skillet to the heat (hopefully with a nice flame-up) and cook until the liquid reduces by half.

Dinner is served!  On my apron-covered lap.  Although it was somewhat awkward to eat this decadent meal seated in a plastic chair with the plate balanced on my knees, I felt way more like a “chef” than I do when we cook at home and we eat at the table (in front of the TV, of course.)  We enjoyed the meal very much — it was restaurant-quality food that we helped prepare.  The beef was tender and juicy (Bravas! all around for steaks cooked medium-rare to rare!), the mushrooms were nice and saucy and the potatoes were perfectly crispy outside with creamy insides and fresh flavors from the garlic and herbs.

Don’t forget dessert!  Despite the somewhat sloppy appearance on the plate (Chef Allinson pointed out that the tarts probably should have had a little more time to set before they were cut), the dessert was ridiculously sweet, sour and creamy with a crispy crust — perfect.

Finally, the absolute best part of cooking class date night?  Someone else does the dishes.  Brava!

Saturday

• Fried Game Hen, Zucchini Slaw

Sunday

• Pork Kebabs, Pita Bread, Tabouli

Monday  

• Take-Out

Tuesday

• Homemade Pizzas

Wednesday

• Asian-Glazed Baked Halibut, Snow Peas, Jasmine Rice

Thursday

• Pasta alla Norma

Friday

• Dinner and a Movie

Being The Best doesn’t always come easy.  But the extra steps involved in this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated’s book “Italian Classics” are worthwhile when the finished dish tastes as good as this one does.  Despite the multi-step process, the recipe ingredients are pretty simple:   boneless, skinless chicken breasts; salt and sugar (for the chicken brine); a chunk of good-quality bread, Parmesan cheese, flour and eggs (for the breading); olive oil; mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses (to top the chicken); and garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, basil, oregano, sugar and salt & pepper (for the sauce).

Prepare the chicken breasts by trimming the chicken of any visible fat and cutting out (and discarding) the tough tendon between the breast and tenderloin.  The recipe calls for reserving the tenderloins for another use, but we went ahead and made chicken parmesan out of them along with the breast pieces.  (Anyone else refer to it as “chickie-chickie-parm-parm” after seeing this?  We weren’t worried about using the tenderloins and ending up with too much chicken, since we knew we could make chickie-chickie-parm-parm sammies with the leftovers.)

Next, pound the chicken to an even thickness of about 1/2 inch.  Placing a piece of saran wrap over the chicken on the cutting board helps to contain any flying meat bits (and prevents you from having to sanitize your entire kitchen after you’re done.)

Make the brine for the chicken by stirring 1/2 cup kosher salt and 1/2 cup sugar into 4 cups of cold water until the salt and sugar dissolve completely.

Pour the brine into a resealable bag, add the chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Brining the chicken might seem like an unnecessary extra step, but it helps to season the chicken and keep it juicy — the first step toward becoming The Best.

Fresh breadcrumbs are another step that elevate the finished chicken to the level of Best — they certainly aren’t necessary, but we think they make a big difference.  So if you’ve got a little extra time and bread lying around, we definitely recommend making your own crumbs.  White bread works best, even better if it’s already stale.  Just cut it into large pieces…

…then throw the bread pieces into the food processor and pulse them until they are crumb-sized.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can cut the bread into tiny pieces by hand.

If the bread isn’t stale, toast the crumbs in a dry skillet over medium heat until they are golden brown — about 8-10 minutes.  Set the breadcrumbs aside.

Since you’ve already got the food processor out, use it to “grate” the Parmesan cheese by cutting the parm into chunks and pulsing the chunks in the processor until they are finely grated.  You’ll need 1/4 cup for the breading and another 1/4 cup for the cheesy topping.

Time to make the sauce.  Heat 2 minced cloves of garlic in 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until the garlic starts to sizzle (don’t let the garlic brown, or it will become bitter.)

The recipe calls for 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes.  We only had canned whole tomatoes, so we crushed them by hand into a bowl to add to the sauce.

When the garlic is sizzling, add the tomatoes (with juices), 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, a pinch of salt and 2 grinds of pepper to the saucepan and stir it all together.

Bring the sauce to a simmer and continue simmering until it thickens and the flavors come together — about 10-15 minutes.  Taste the sauce and add more salt if needed, then cover and keep it warm.

After the chicken has brined for 30  minutes, lay it out to dry.  The recipe suggests lining a cooking sheet with 3 layers of paper towels, placing the chicken on the towels, then covering them with another triple layer of paper towels and pressing the towels down on top of the chicken to help absorb the moisture.  Allow the chicken to dry in the towels for 10 minutes, then remove the chicken to a plate and season both sides with salt and pepper.  Drying the chicken might seem like a “why-bother” kind of step, but the folks at Cook’s Illustrated point out that if the chicken is even slightly moist before breading it, then the breading will peel off the finished chicken (which would prevent it from being The Best.)

Assemble the breading station:  3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour in one shallow dish, 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon olive oil beaten together in another dish and 1 & 1/4 cups homemade breadcrumbs mixed with 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese in the third shallow dish.  (Use paper plates and tupperware as “shallow dishes” if you’re fancy like us.)

Working one-by-one, dredge each piece of chicken through the flour and shake off the excess, next dip the chicken in the egg until thinly coated all over, then dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs and press the crumbs onto the chicken to form an even and cohesive coat on both sides.  Place the breaded chicken on a wire rack over a cookie sheet to dry for another 5 minutes.

Heat about 6 tablespoons of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering — about 2-3 minutes.

Working in batches, use tongs to gently place the breaded chicken in the hot oil and cook until golden brown on the first side — about 2-3 minutes.  Use the tongs or a spatula to gently press down on the chicken while it cooks to ensure that it browns evenly.

Flip the chicken and continue to cook until the second side is also golden brown — about 2-3 more minutes.  Keep a close eye on the chicken and turn down the heat a bit if necessary so that the chicken doesn’t brown too fast.  (If you are cooking a lot of chicken and the oil in the skillet gets too depleted, you may want to discard any remaining oil and heat up several tablespoons of fresh oil before beginning to cook a new batch of chicken.  We cooked all our chicken in 2 batches and did not feel the need to swap out the oil.)

Transfer the chicken to a clean wire rack (wash the one you used before if you don’t have more than one — it had raw chicken on it) over a cookie sheet and top the chicken with grated mozzarella (about 3/4 cup total) and Parmesan (about 1/4 cup total.)

Place the chicken under the broiler until the cheeses melt and start to brown — about 3-5 minutes.

Serve the chicken topped with the sauce and side of cooked spaghetti (or similar pasta.)  Then curse any other Chicken Parmesan you’ve ever had.

P.S.  Sadly, we didn’t actually have any chickie parm leftover for sammies.  There was a little half of a tenderloin left, which Dan ate for breakfast the next morning and reported that it was still crispy.  Still crispy, straight out of the fridge — whaaaat?  Truly The Best Chicken Parmesan Ever, and worth Every Single Step.  No exaggeration.

Saturday

• Grilled Pork Chops w/ Pineapple Salsa, Grill Veggie

Sunday

• Smoked Turkey, Mac-n-Cheese, Broccolini

Monday  

• Shrimp Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday

• Spaghetti w/ Leeks, Pancetta & Eggs, Salad

Wednesday

• Take-Out

Wash the potatoes (or you can peel them if you prefer them that way) and cut them into 1 inch pieces.  Also chop up the fresh mint — you’ll use about a tablespoon of it when boiling the potatoes and the rest for garnish.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add the potatoes and mint and cook them until the potatoes are fork-tender — about 10 minutes.

Drain the potatoes, then transfer them back to the pot, add the butter and a drizzle of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and gently toss it all together.

Spread the potatoes out on a cookie sheet and roast them in the oven preheated to 400 degrees until the potatoes are golden brown — about 45-60 minutes.  Turn the potatoes a couple of times while they roast so that they will brown on all sides.

During the final 20 minutes of cooking time, add the chopped olives and feta to the potatoes so that the olives get warm and the feta softens.

Sprinkle the rest of the chopped mint over the potatoes and serve.  While these potatoes paired perfectly with the Greek-spiced shrimp to round out a nice little Mediterranean meal, they would also complement main dishes from other types of cuisines equally well — Tuscan-style steak, kielbasa sausages, or Coq Au Vin (braised chicken, French-style)  – just to name a few.  This might just be the side-dish-equivalent of “We Are the World” (without all the amazing artists singing and fantastic proceeds going to worthy charities, of course.)

Greek-Style Roasted Red Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3-4 medium-sized red potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
• ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a pot of salted water to a boil, add the potatoes and 1 tablespoon chopped mint and boil until the potatoes are fork-tender — about 8-10 minutes.  Drain the potatoes, transfer them back to the pot, add the butter, olive oil and salt and pepper and gently toss everything together.
3. Place the potatoes on a cookie sheet and roast them in the oven, turning several times, until they are golden brown on all sides — about 45-60 minutes.  During the final 20 minutes of cooking time, add the olives and feta to the potatoes so that the olives get warm and the feta softens.
4. Garnish with the rest of the chopped mint and serve.

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As we often do, we used frozen shrimp, thawed in cold water (look for the “tail-on” “EZ peel” variety — they are the easiest to thaw and quickly peel since they are already de-veined.)

Chop up an onion and saute it with a dash of salt in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil heated over medium-high heat until the onion softens — about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice to the onions and cook until fragrant — about 30 seconds.  The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, but we used less for a more subtle flavor.

The original recipe calls for chopping the tomatoes, but we just added the whole tomatoes (with juices) to the pan with the onions and broke them up while they simmered and the sauce thickened — about 10 minutes.  We omitted the pinch of sugar from the original recipe, since we were using good quality tomatoes (San Marzano really are the best canned tomatoes around) that would provide enough sweetness on their own.

Season the shrimp with salt & pepper, remove the pan from the heat and stir the shrimp into the sauce.

Transfer the shrimp and sauce to a shallow baking dish and sprinkle about 2/3 cup of crumbled feta cheese over the top.

Bake the shrimp in the oven preheated to 375 degrees until the shrimp are cooked through and the sauce gets bubbly — about 18-20 minutes.

We served the shrimp with roasted potatoes and good bread for dipping in the yummy sauce.  The original recipe suggests garnishing the shrimp with chopped dill, but we didn’t have any at the time so we omitted it.  Since then, we’ve planted some fresh dill in our garden, so we’ll be better prepared next time.  A gardening tip we recently discovered from a local nursery — plant your herbs in cinder blocks placed beside your garden box — see below.  Frees up more room in the box for veggies, especially since some herbs tend to take over any and all available space (looking at you, Oregano and Sage.)