Hot Potato

This is one of the secret weapons I have in my kitchen. And I owe it all to Emily's aunt Carol. She makes this fantastic roasted potatoes, which when I had them the first time they literally blew my mind. When I found out how easy they were to make, it blew my mind again (my mind has since recovered). I actually prefer these to regular baked potatoes (unless I am really in the mood for sour cream).

As far as potato variety goes, you can really use whatever you feel like. The last time I made them I used red potatoes, but russet or Yukon gold will work just as well. Just make sure you do not eat the bay leaf. It won't taste very good.

Bay Leaf Roasted Potatoes

6 potatoes, cut in half lengthwise
12 bay leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a glass baking dish, spread olive oil over bottom. Sprinkle half of the salt over the oil. Wash the potatoes, place a bay leaf on each cut side of a potato and place it cut-side down in the dish. Sprinkle remaining salt on top of potatoes. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Let rest for a few minutes before removing bay leaf and eating.

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The Return of the Grill

After 5 long months, my grill has returned. I was forced to relinquish it for a time due to the constraints and "rules" of apartment living. But that is past and now I can thankfully put large quantities of meats and vegetables over an open flame.

I currently have a gas grill, which I enjoy because of its ease of use and enormous surface area. I have cooked on all types of grills (gas, charcoal, and wood), and though I do miss grilling over mesquite, I realize that any of the three will lead you to a good meal. The first thing that went on the grill was chicken. I love grilled chicken, but it can easily taste and feel like rubber. I turn to my friends at Cook's Illustrated for some tips with this, and now grill all of my poultry this way. Not only does it lead to great flavor, but it helps keep the meat moist and avoid most flare-ups.


This recipe uses a similar sauce and marinade, mostly because reusing marinade is NOT safe. I prep the two side by side, cutting down considerably on time.

Lemon-Garlic Grilled Chicken

Marinade
5 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon pepper

In a small bowl, combine ingredients for marinade. If chicken breasts are thick, pound to about 1 inch thickness. Place marinade and chicken in zip-top baggie, combine, and let marinade for about 1 hour. Combine ingredients for sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

If using gas, turn on 2 of the three burners (or just leave about 1/3 of your grill without direct heat) to high (you will want to reduce the heat of the burners to medium-high when you place the chicken on the grill). If using charcoal, place your coals on one side of the grill and heat until ashed over. Remove chicken from marinade and place on hot side of grill. Cover and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the chicken gets browned on one side. Flip chicken over sear on grill for about 1 minute more. Move to side of grill with no direct heat. Cover and cook until interior of chicken registers about 160°F on a thermometer, about 10 minutes. Chicken should spring back and not be mushy when you poke it with a finger. Remove from grill, let rest for about 5 minutes, and cut into slices. Serve with sauce over top or to dip in. Enjoy!

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Romesco Sauce

There is a pub here in Lafayette called the Black Sparrow. They serve a delicious romesco and goat cheese dip that I have had quite a few times. However, during this past weekend the pub was not an option, so I went about making my own. I started with a recent recipe from Bon Apetit magazine that dealt with a good paring sauce for pork. I made the pork (delicious) but the romesco sauce was a little heavy on ingredients that I do not usually have around in the kitchen, such as Spanish salted almonds or fresh marjoram.



This posed a problem, but nevertheless, I was determined to make something (and if that failed, there was always take-out). Thanks to a few substitutions, some alterations, and the labors of my food processor I was soon rewarded with a thick sauce that was really really good. And not only does it keep well, but I have started putting it on all kinds of things. Burgers, crackers, rice (oh yeah, that makes a good lunch), stuffed in pita bread, all kinds of things. This sauce will now probably take a place next to fresh salsa as something I always try to keep on hand.

The sauce itself is a bit non traditional (as I do not live near a supermarket that carries some of the more exotic ingredients). But I find it fully rewarding and pretty easy to make.

Romesco Sauce

15-16oz jar roasted red peppers (about 4 peppers)
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 ripe plum tomato, chopped or 1/2 can diced tomatoes drained
2 T olive oil
2/3 cup roasted almonds (see below)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 T sherry or red wine vinegar
pinch dried oregano
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 425°F. Place red peppers in pie dish, sprinkle garlic and chopped tomato over. Drizzle with olive oil. In a seperate pie dish add the almonds and a bit of salt (you can use peeled or unpeel almonds, it does not really matter). Place both dishes in the oven. Roast the almonds for about 20 minutes, the peppers for about 30-40. Remove and let cool slightly.

Combine the now roasted almonds and the breadcrumbs in a food processor, chop until fine. Add the contents of the pie plate with peppers, the vinegar, the oregano, and some salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, season with salt and pepper.

Alternatively, if you make this dish with roasted meat, put the pan you roasted the meat in over a burner over medium heat. Add 1 cup sherry to the pan and reduce down to 2 tablespoons, scraping up the bottom bits. This will replace the vinegar.

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Increase Your Kitchen Carbonara Emissions

I am usually good at planning out my meals before I head to the store. However, from time to time I manage to screw something up, forget that I need to make dinner on a certain night, or I am just plain lazy. In these instances I turn to my pasta carbonara. Or the phone for pizza. But this is not about pizza, this is about pasta.

This recipe has a thousand variations. I started with Rachel Ray's because it literally helped to start the relationship with her husband. I mean, it must be good, right? And it is. Garlic, bacon, cheese and eggs not only make a great breakfast, they make a good pasta dish as well. And you can more than likely make the sauce in the time it takes to boil the pasta.

I prepare my carbonara in a pretty simple manor. Chop ingredients, cook bacon, mix remaining ingredients in bowl, toss pasta with bacon, add bowl ingredients to pasta, toss, and eat. More or less that is the recipe you will find below. I like mine pretty spicy, so I held back on the included red pepper flake. Same goes for the garlic. Adjust as you see fit. I also include a tempering step (adding a small amount of liquid to the eggs before adding to the rest of the ingredients). This will prevent the eggs from scrambling and giving you a nice, thick sauce.

Carbonara

1 pound spaghetti pasta

1/3-1/2 pound bacon, chopped
3 T olive oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1 t red pepper flake
1/2 c white wine
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 c Romano or Parmesan cheese, shredded + extra for topping
1/4 c chopped parsley
salt and pepper

In a large pot, bring water to boil with copiuous amounts of salt and about 1 T oil. Boil pasta until slightly al dente. In the meantime, heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the oil. When hot, add the bacon and cook until slighlty crispy, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flake and cook for one more minute. Add white wine to pan to deglaze and let evaporate almost all the way down. Reduce heat to medium.

While bacon is cooking, in a medium bowl whisk the eggs, cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Add 1 ladleful of pasta water while stirring to temper the eggs. When the pasta is done, drain (don't rinse!) and add to skillet, tossing with the bacon until coated. Add the contents of the bowl to the skillet, stirring and tossing the pasta quickly until the eggs start to thicken and a sauce forms that will coat the pasta. Serve, using extra cheese to sprinkle on top.

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Eat Your Vegetables

Parents, trying to get your kids to eat their greens? Failing? Then, try my new, improved, tested-on-my-girlfriend method that is guaranteed to make them eat vegetables like no tomorrow!*

Well, while I do not enjoy the sales pitch, that is pretty much what this is, a tasty way to get picky people to eat their vegetables. Picked this inspiration up from girlfriend's dad, who picked it up from Joyce Chen. Quick tangent- I need to come up with a name for the gf on this instead of using her name all the time and skewing her Google results away from her scientific awesomeness. Give me a few posts.

Back to the subject at hand. Stir frying vegetables is simple, quick, and mostly healthy. I say this because you do have to add a little bit of oil to the pan to start the process, but this is no worse than most of you who add butter to your steamed veggies. Now, what makes this method that much more awesome? Two things, crispness and the sauce. The veggies are cooked with a small (read: SMALL) amount of water after being toasted slightly, which lets them retain their crispness and not become soggy. The sauce is just good, especially if you are using good soy sauce.

There are very few tricks to this recipe. Do it in a wok if possible (better heat dispersion which leads to more even cooking), and if the sauce is a bit thick for you, add just a bit more water to the pan. One safety note is to make sure to dry your vegetables before you add them to the wok. Adding veggies that are full of water to hot oil can lead to splattering like you would not believe (or would like to clean up). In terms of vegetables, broccoli is my favorite for this, but green beans, snap peas, and asparagus work great, among others. Make florets from the broccoli and peel the stems, use green beans and snap peas as is, and cut the asparagus down to smaller pieces (but don't peel unless you like mushy asparagus or they are super woody).


1 pound vegetables
2 T peanut oil
1 T soy sauce
1 ½ T dry sherry
3 T water
1 t sugar
1 t salt
1 t Cornstarch dissolved in 2 T water

In a wok, heat the peanut oil over medium heat. Add vegetables in one batch and cook for about 2 minutes, tossing often. In a small bowl combine the soy sauce, sugar, salt, sherry, and water. Add directly to the vegetables, cover with a lid and cook for 2-3 minutes until vegetables are bright in color and just starting to soften. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir constantly until the sauce thickens. Thin with more water if desired.


* Not guaranteed, but it's worth a shot.

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Southwestern Creamy Corn

I need a better name for this. It's not creamed corn, but its not just corn either. So creamy it is. Whatever the name, its darn tasty. This was one of my leftover experiments I am willing to write about (some, such as paprika chicken with garlic chips, I will just leave as a not-so-fond memory). I enjoy looking in the fridge, milling around for some leftovers, and seeing what I can come up with. It's a great way to get rid of leftovers and maybe try something new. This one came from a few ears of corn left over from the weekend's barbecue. I love fresh sweet corn in the summer, and I was not going to let it go to waste. So off the cob it came, into a pan it went, and voila, out came creamy corn that was way better than my non-food-experimental girlfriend thought it would be. Mainly because she ate most of it.

Southwestern Creamy Corn

4 ears of corn, cooked, or a 1 pound bag of frozen corn (about 2 cups)
¼ c Cilantro, chopped fine
½ c Sour cream
1 T lime juice
1 T Paprika
1 can diced green chiles (or ½ cup salsa verde, whatever you have on hand)
1 Jalapeno, seeded and diced (roasted and peeled if at all possible, or you can use ½ a can of diced ones)
½ T Butter
Salt and pepper

In a medium sauté pan over medium heat add butter to melt. Add corn and cook until warm and almost starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add jalapeno and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chiles, sour cream, paprika, salt, and pepper, mix to combine and cook for about 1 minute. Add the cilantro and lime juice, stir to combine, remove from heat and serve.

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The Trials and Tribulations of Pinto Beans

This recipe came about from my stubbornness in buying canned pinto beans. Nothing wrong with it (heck, I buy canned black and white beans all the time), but it was always something my family did, making pinto beans from the dried version. However, I have failed at this quite a few times. My first attempt was mushy, the second pithy, and the third had no bacon. Yep, utter failure. However, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, I wanted to try them again. I had tried the stove before, but this time I was going to take the super slow cooking method, the crock-pot. Sweet.

First thing is first, buy a pound of dried pinto beans. If they come with "ham flavoring packets", THROW IT OUT. If I want that kind of flavor, I will buy ramen. Sort through the beans to make sure there are no stones, then place in a big pot and cover with water at least 3 inches above the beans. Soak overnight. This was the first mistake I had; I did not soak them the first time I made them. Do not skip this step; the beans need to take on a lot of water. In the morning, drain the beans and place in a crock-pot. Next comes the best part, throwing everything in and walking away. You will need:

1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 jalapeno cut in half
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 smoked ham hock (or a few slices of bacon)
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Cayenne
Water

Add the first four ingredients to the pot, and then add water. And ahem, the ham hock or bacon is not optional; you need the smoky flavor to round out the beans. Trust me. Add enough water to cover the beans by about 4 inches. Season heavily, stir, cover, and turn the crock-pot on low. Walk away for about 8 hours. That easy. Taste your beans after about 8 hours, they should be tender but still have a little firmness, and they should not be pithy, but moist on the inside. Fish out the onion, jalapeno, and bacon, discard. Serve the beans with steak, chicken, tortillas, rice, or whatever you feel like. If you enjoy chiles as much as I do, add a can of diced green chiles after the beans are done cooking.

So there you have it. After my mistakes, you benefit by knowing it is really hard to screw these up (because I have not done it yet). Not only are these tasty, but really good for you and quite economical. I have not gone back to canned beans since; hopefully you can do the same.

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Three Way Chicken Part 3: Chicken and Dumplings

I have enjoyed doing this multiple tiered post over the past week or so, and thanks for the positive feedback. Today's post will focus on the second recipe to come out of this prep, chicken and dumplings. I came about this recipe after I made my mom's, which are tasty but needed just a bit of help in the full on flavor department. Most chicken and dumplings are prepared the same way, making a stock while cooking (or poaching) the chicken, making a sauce from the stock, and cooking the dumplings in that sauce. I really do not deviate much from that basic premise, mostly because it's darn good.

You can really prepare this recipe in one of two ways. You can dice your chicken and make a saucier dish to go under the dumplings, or you can leave the chicken in whole pieces and serve it with the sauce. Since I load my sauce with all kinds of fun stuff, I usually stick to the first application, which allows more integration of chicken and sauce.

Chicken and Dumplings

Sauce

1 onion, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 bay leaves
3 T butter
3 T olive oil
6 T flour
1/4 C heavy cream (or milk)
Chicken, shredded
5 C chicken stock
3/4 C frozen peas
1 t dried thyme
salt and pepper

Add oil and butter to pot until hot, add veggies, sauté until translucent, add the bay leaves. Mix in the flour and make a roux. Add chicken and let warm, then add stock. Cook until sauce starts to thicken. If sauce is too thick add more stock (you will have some leftover). You will want it a bit thin, as the dumplings will help thicken the sauce. Add cream and seasonings, adjust to taste. Bring to a lively simmer. Add peas immediately before you add dumplings.

Dumplings

1 1/2 C Flour
3 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
3 T Butter
3/4 cup buttermilk.

Mix butter into dry ingredients until flaky, add buttermilk and stir until
combined. If you have any fresh herbs lying around, add those in here (chives or parsley are particularly tasty).

Drop in dumplings by the spoonful into the hot liquid and cover, occasionally basting with the liquid. When the dumplings cook through, about 10 minutes, spoon up and serve.

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Three-Way Chicken

This is the first of a series post I have planned, all tied together to yield three separate dishes. I stumbled upon this method while I was trying to make chicken soup; I figured there was great potential if I could design ONE starting method for three dishes. So in no specific order this method will lead to chicken noodle soup, chicken and dumplings, or chicken pot pie. The goal here is to make life easier for people in the kitchen. If you can adapt the singular method, you will also have the skills to make the other dishes. Cool, huh?

The first part is making a stock. I use chicken stock in a lot of my dishes, and while the boxed stuff is convenient and albeit somewhat tasty, homemade stock works as both the cooking vessel and a flavor enhancer. Plus it is pretty easy to set up and walk away from for a while. The first step in this is to assemble and prep your ingredients. For soup and chicken pot pie, I tend to shred my chicken, and for chicken and dumplings I can leave it in pieces or shred it depending on my mood. So prep your chicken accordingly, but I recommend at least quartering your chicken for an easier fit in the pot and easier removal later.

This recipe calls for chicken stock or chicken bullion, which is an oddity to most. But starting with a little bit of flavor base will add a lot to your stock, as I have found most good chicken stocks are made this way. I would probably skip this step if just making homemade chicken stock and not using the meat (if you simmer the stock long enough you really end up not wanting to use the meat). So this will offset the shorter cooking time. If you would rather start with another batch of your homemade stock, all the better. Also, I cannot stress the importance of a decent stock pot. I have one I got at TJ Max that was a steal, so it's not like you have to go drop 100 bucks. But make sure it has a heavy bottom so nothing burns, holds at least 6-8 quarts, and is pretty sturdy. Now that we are set with pots and chicken, we need to get this party started.

Three Way Chicken Step 1- Stock

1 chicken, livers and giblets removed, quartered or chopped into 8 pieces
1 onion, ends removed, quartered
1 carrot, roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped in half
1 T olive oil
Water
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
4 stalks fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
4 cups chicken stock or 1 cube chicken bullion

Wash the chicken and vegetables. Tie the herbs up with string or put them in a tea ball (if using, the only one that is a must right now is the bay leaf). Heat the oil in the bottom of a stock pot over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and place skin down in pot, browning slightly on both sides, about 7 minutes. Add vegetables and stir, scraping up any bits that might have stuck. Add the herbs and stock or bullion. Add enough water to cover the chicken by about 2 inches (probably about 2 quarts, but it might be more). Bring to a boil and reduce heat so the stock is simmering. Cook for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until the chicken is starting to fall off the bone. If the water level decreases to below the chicken, add a bit more to bring the level back up. When finished, remove chicken and set aside to cool. Drain stock into a clean pot and skim off fat. Stock and chicken can be made ahead of time and keep for about 5 days (chicken is the limiting factor here) in the fridge.

That is step one, the same method for all dishes. If you want to add a bit more color and well rounded flavor, add about 2 T of tomato paste. Next time, soups on!

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