Bacon meets Brussel Sprouts

The other day while at the commissary, I went a bit crazy. I had walked in with a challenge of "buy a vegetable you can't stand" - well these fellows were at the top of my list. I'm still not comprehending how they went from the produce bin into my basket onto the conveyor belt where I actually paid a cashier for these gross bits of green aka Brussel sprouts *shudders* Regardless, I now had Brussel sprouts to cook AND eat! 

Sold on Swansons!!!

As August has started, I find myself LOVING Swanson's Broth & Cooking Stock!!!  I have been able to make many incredibly awesome dinners that are both simple, tasty, and fast!!!

Simply Swansons

Life has been BUSY lately! My day starts out at 0530...and I usually am not home until 2100. Given my busy schedule I'm appreciative of food that's fast..please note I did NOT say "fast food".

One potato, two potato...

This month as an Allrecipes Allstar I teamed up with Ore-Ida, and was given the task to incorporate Ore-Ida products into my menu.  I am a fan of french fries, who isn't, but I decided to stick with my roots.

New recipes

Right now I'm playing catch up w/ my blog so I'm doing a buffet style on my blog again!  I got back from Biloxi, MS on Monday 26 Sept 2011 thus dinner was the furthest thing from my mind after having driven for 7 straight hours!

Tuesday night I was back in the kitchen and all three of the items are new recipes that I tried - two were incredible while one was only so-so.

Most of those who know me, know I cook w/ wine, beer, alcohol, and liqueurs.  Tonights meal was a pop of flavour for the palette. There's one reason why I chose this recipe, and it's b/c a charming lady I met at the Chefs of the coast said she didn't like rosemary...well this pork chop recipe is for you doll ;-)  Trust me if you like Kahlua you'll love the pork chops (consider this a baby step recipe). Kahlua herbed pork chops, Ginger lime asparagus, and Pastetnik potatoes ... okay okay, so I changed the names of the first two b/c it just sounded better...it won't change the taste I promise! 

Thoughts on the pork chops:  Ignore the recipe instructions first off.  Trim the fat from the pork chops! No way!  As a famous TV chef says "Pork fat rules!"  So we're going to leave the fat ON the pork chops!  Next you're going to season the pork chops BEFORE cooking them - b/c you want the seasonings to infuse into the pork.  After that, you're going to make the pork chops pretty w/ slices of lemon and orange, then pour the kahlua and water around the pork chops - you don't want to disturb the pork chops too much.  To make things easier, once the pork chops have cooked, remove them to a plate, and THEN blend the remaining water & cornstarch together, and whisk into the pan. Watch this baby carefully, you don't want it to burn...that would be a waste of alcohol, and we don't do that!

Onto the asparagus.  I love asparagus, but you've got to know how to cook it right.  You don't want it soggy or limp, you want it cooked and to have a slight crispness to it.  The sauce is what really makes the asparagus shine through.  In many ways the sauce makes me think it could be morphed into a ginger lime pesto - if you add in some nuts like pistachios.

Problems w/ the potatoes.  First of all they are not seasoned properly.  Salt & Pepper may be used to accentuate some dishes but they shouldn't be relied on for flavour, b/c face it it's just not gonna happen.

All in all the pork chops were amazing, and the asparagus was very good.

Tonights dinner:

Gateway-to-the-West Stuffed Chicken Breast, wild rice, steamed veggies, and Parmesan pesto bread.

As is this recipe is pretty good. I don't know that I like the egg and shallot used in the shrimp filling. I say this for many reasons but namely b/c the egg is going to run out of the shrimp filling before the egg will cook. I chose to cook this in the oven by cranking my oven to 375° and cooking it for about 35 minutes. I chose to chop up the shrimp to make it easier to close the chicken up. I think I'll make this again, but will tweak it to suit my preferences. 

Catching up

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know I'm an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (non paid) and I love it!  Each month we have various assignments.   This month my cooking has spotlighted on some recipes featuring Hidden Valley Ranch dressing - both the bottled dressings (regular and light) and the dry packets.  While some recipes I've used are directly from Hidden Valley Ranch, other recipes are not. 

One of my most recent non HVR recipe was for Slow-cooked buffalo chicken sandwiches OMG can I say that you NEED to make these sandwiches for your next at home football fest!  These were super yummy.  I added some white american cheese to my sandwiches and also topped the buffalo chicken w/ a drizzling of light ranch dressing -served on a toasted hoagie bun this sandwich packed some major grindage and a slow burn.  To the side I've got some roasted purple potatoes.  I seriously couldn't believe the entire potato was purple - come to momma b/c I LOVE purple!  Usually when I roast potatoes, I don't ever use recipes.  I just cut the potatoes into quarters, and then drizzle w/ grapeseed oil, and whatever seasonings I feel like.  This time around I used Lawry's seasoning salt, oregano, basil, granulated garlic, and thyme.  I roasted them at 375° for roughly 30 minutes.  Rounding out the meal I used an HVR recipe for Out-of-this-World Pasta Salad granted I couldn't find the romanesco broccoli, which is aka roman cauliflower.  I did the next best thing and improvised w/ regular broccoli.  Would I make it again?  I might, but think I'll play around w/ the ingredients first.

Side note:  You may have leftover buffalo chicken.  Relax, leftovers are a good thing, and there are SO many different ways to use the remainder buffalo chicken - you can make buffalo chicken pizza, buffalo chicken quesadillas, yeah I'm sort of sounding like a spin off of Bubba from Forrest Gump

Another bonus activity was to find a steak recipe. Well naturally I push the edge w/ my cooking and I made  Tequila Steak

I can just see mouths watering, or eyes squinting w/ wrinkles creasing the forehead.  YES!  I said Tequila Steak.   Granted I changed the recipe up - and having made this recipe twice (first the original way, second my way) I'm going to be a food snob and say mine was better.
You don't have to make it my way, but I'll challenge you and say Do It! The original recipe called for

1/3 cup tequila

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 cloves garlic

8 ounces London broil steak

Okay now that was entirely TOO much cayenne pepper, SO here's the fix.  Reduce the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne.  NEXT add 2 1/2 teaspoons McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning.  Lets talk garlic.  I appreciate that garlic cloves can add depth to many recipes, this is not one of them.  I say that for the factor that you can't regulate the flavour w/ fresh garlic like you can w/ granulated garlic, meaning that 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic will taste the same each time.  You can't control the size of a garlic clove, thus I suggest using 1 teaspoon granulated garlic instead of the 2 cloves of garlic.  At this point, you marinate the steak overnight in a ziploc bag and let it get nice and happy.  Once it's marinated - crank up the grill and cook that bad boy!

Autumn goodness!

Often times I think of the fall, and automatically I think of leaves falling to the ground, watching football, the weather getting nippy, pulling on a sweater, but I also think of those hearty traditional meals whether it be something like Beef Stew, Chili and cornbread, or Chicken & Dumplings. While I am a traditionalist in many ways I also love to push the edge w/ my cooking where I can incorporate unusual items to make extraordinary meals.  Tonights meal is a prime example.

Tonight I made Caramel-apple pork chops along w/ wild rice, and cognac roasted carrots (which happen to be a repeat offender)

Let me tell you that I did make some changes to the recipe.  First off - the pork chops NEED seasoning and it will not happen from the caramel sauce.  I used a chop house seasoning blend that is meant for steaks (oh sue me) and all I can say is that it imparted a subtle smokey flavour that was only enhanced by the caramel sauce.   The caramel sauce is a whole different story.  I usually am pretty spot on w/ cooking and seldom have trouble...but this caramel sauce tested my patience!  After not one but TWO batches, I finally started a third batch before I achieved perfection.  The secret?  I cheated :-)  There I said it *hanging head in shame* I used all the ingredients for the caramel sauce, MINUS the brown sugar...instead what I used in place of the brown sugar was...you guessed it, store bought caramel syrup *gasping* Egads!  I also added about 1 Tbsp milk - result, perfectly creamy caramel sauce...a handful of toasted pecans and voila! Perfection :)

The cognac roasted carrots I've made before b/c they were SO good - so I won't review them again, and well the wild rice was a convenience food that rounded out my meal.

Bringing the heat...or an inferno

*Walks in looks around* Whoa time has gotten away from me, and it's not that I haven't been cooking, b/c I have!  I have also been involved w/ an online offline scavenger hunt - some of you that lurk me from the *ahem* other site (insert wicked laughter) know what I mean and I'm still laughing about the episode w/ the sheriff & the orange - psssst  remember the orange...it makes a presentation in this meal :D

So the inferno was a good choice word to use for this meal ... I elected to make a recipe called Orange-Chile Tilapia and I should've paid attention to the reviews. It not only calls for cayenne pepper (a TABLESPOON) but also calls for Chili powder - egads!!!!  That's gonna be like a fiesta on fire!!! Over all I thought the flavours were too complex for a mild fish like Tilapia

Onto the scallops first and foremost - PLEASE, please if you're going to use a wine in your recipe, specify what type huh?!  This called for sherry, well there are three types, dry, medium and sweet and it will impact the flavour.  Having said that I used a medium sherry - left out the green onions (who needs them) and thought the water chestnuts lended little if any value to the taste of the recipe...unless you like the crunch factor.

Next up cheddar bread - so the folks at Hidden Valley were kind enough to send me two bottles of ranch (regular and light) as well as two packets of the dry seasoning blend for use in some off my assignments for this month.  Well I know the definition of GRITS and I love me some ranch dressing.  Granted I've never combined ranch dressing w/ cheddar cheese and broiled it on top of bread, but there's a first time for everything. 
Immediate thoughts...I love cheddar cheese, I love ranch - I just don't like the two mixed together.  The choice of cheddar cheese isn't the best.  What would I use...hmm I'm thinking perhaps parmesan cheese, and crushed black pepper - but the ratio needs to be balanced.  I might even use swiss cheese...but cheddar - no thanks.

Hungary meets Germany

I often like experimenting w/ food from other cultures, and tonight's dinner was no exception.

I made a modified version of  Beef Paprika that I served w/ steamed asparagus,  knödel, and Beer Bread

My modifications are based on experiments.  If you want the beef paprika to turn out yummy, here's how to make it happen! Any time I make it, I make it in the crockpot. It gives the meat so much tenderness, and I don't even have to brown the meat!
Keep in mind that the following is to serve 2-3 people

I use
3/4 cups water
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp EACH paprika & worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves minced
dash of cayenne pepper.

I mix the sauce together and pour over 8 ounces of beef stew meat and cook on high for about 6 hours. Sometimes I will take some of the leftover sauce, and will whisk in some flour to make a gravy, and will serve the meat and gravy on top of boiled egg noodles or spaetzle. This is a great dish for those nippy fall or winter evenings!

The Beer bread is out of this world EASY!  All you have to do is use a quality beer - I've used both Yuengling black & tan, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, Ybor Gold (a local brew), Honey Ale, and most recently used a Pale Winter Abbey Ale which gave a malty toffee taste to the bread.  I have tweaked it to suit my preferences using 1/3 cup of sugar, and given I RARELY (if ever) have self rising flour on hand, I simply use 3 cups of regular flour, and 3 Tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 1 Tbsp salt.   This bread is wicked good!!!

A trip to the South

Cajun meets Key west - imagine what kind of flavour that would have, especially when you add a bit of California fusion to the menu!

Tonight I made a yummy Key west citrus grouper now what gave this meal a cajun kick was the addition of some cajun seasoning instead of the onion powder - why use both garlic powder AND onion powder - they'll only mask the others flavour.  So I kicked the onion powder to the curb and used cajun seasoning instead.  I will certainly repeat this meal again it was THAT good.

Cauliflower, ugh that dreaded WHITE vegetable that's about on the same level as broccoli for some.  Not me tho, I like Cauliflower (esp smothered in cheese sauce...yeah there goes eating healthy, I know) .  If you think you hate cauliflower, give this Culiflower alla parmigiana recipe a try OMG it's SO yummy!!! You may just surprise yourself b/c this stuff isn't how your mother made Cauliflower!

Add in some wild rice, and dinner is done!  All in less than 45 minutes time!  You can't beat that!

Recipe Creation

This post is a touch behind, but better later than never right?

Last Thursday night I created a recipe - I guess I'll call it Peach Sage Sausage stuffed pork chops, and then I also made some Honey Curry roasted red potatoes, and some pearl barley w/ sugar snap peas and carrots (I'm needing to find recipes for my food ring molds).

Okay so how to make the Pork chops:

1 1/4" thick cut pork chops - cut a pocket into the pork chops

Stuffing:
3 oz cooked mild italian sausage
2 oz rice pilaf (Uncle Bens 90 second rice)
2 oz chopped peaches (fresh)
3 sage leaves, chopped
2 Tbsp Riesling wine
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Brown sausage breaking up pieces. Once browned, drain the grease.  Add 2 ounces rice pilaf, cook until softened. Add the chopped peaches, the sage leaves, minced garlic and Riesling wine.  Allow to cool slightly and stuff pork chops.

On the outside of the pork chops rub each side w/ granulated garlic and italian seasoning. I used
1/2 tsp granulated garlic and 3/4 tsp italian seasoning to coat BOTH sides of two pork chops.  I cooked them at 375° for about 30 minutes.

For the Honey Curry roasted potatoes, I used about 2 Tbsp of grapeseed oil, 1/2 tsp curry powder, and 1 Tbsp of honey.  Chopped up one medium red potato and baked at 375° for 30 minutes.

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Washing it down...

I chanced making a spin off of a lemonade using a recipe for Mediterranean lemonade spritzers and doubt I'll make it again. It had way TOO much honey in it, and minus the menthol flavour, I thought I was drinking a liquid honey cough drop - blech!  I dunno, I guess if it's your thing go for it. 

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Dinner tonight: 

I'm gonna retitle a couple recipes b/c of some subtle tweaks - so don't mind the name, just follow my changes if you want it to be quality food.  Cajun panko crusted chicken,  Asparagus w/ Mandarin Cream Sauce, wild rice, and parmesan pesto foccacia bread

First up - don't use the flour the cajun chicken calls for. Use Panko breading.  Second, add an egg to the milk wash - these two changes make all the difference. 

Asparagus - follow the recipe, except swap the orange for a little cup of mandarin oranges.  Perfection :) 

Spice is the flavour of life

Tonight I took a break from Allrecipes, and used MY recipe for spice rubbed salmon - this will be the ONLY recipe I will not share.  I've had a local restaurant manager who tasted my spice rub and he said I need to market it.  Talk about a boost to my self confidence!

I am in love w/ my food ring molds - I made garlic herb rice pilaf to go along w/ my salmon and it was yummy
Please note this rice pilaf uses a traditional rice, not a "quick cook" type.
1 Tbsp grapeseed or Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp EACH thyme, savory, basil, and salt
1 cup rice (Instructions are NOT for instant rice!)
1/2 cup orzo
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Warm the olive oil and butter in a saucepan, covered, with the heat on high.
2. Add the herbs, and toast lightly in the olive oil and butter.
3. Add the rice, orzo, and salt, and stir up a bit to coat the rice with the spices.
4. Pour in the chicken broth and water and bring all to a boil.
5. Turn the heat down, cover the saucepan, and cook until done (about 20 minutes for white rice, about 50 for brown rice).

Maryland crab cakes

1 pound lump crabmeat

1 1/2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs

2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg
1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp ground dry mustard

1 tsp Old bay seasoning


Mix together crabmeat, bread crumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Beat together egg, mayonnaise, Old bay seasoning and mustard. Combine with other ingredients and mix well. Form into patties Refrigerate for at least 1 hour Pan fry in 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil OR place on a lightly greased broiler pan or baking sheet. Broil for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly brown.

The veggies were one of the Green Giant steamers - it rounded out my meal quite nicely!