Garlic Croutons

We had a loaf of stale focaccia in our freezer that I just could not bear to part with… voila CROUTONS!

INGREDIENTS:

2 T EVOO
2 garlic cloves (minced)
¼ tsp salt
4 cups (1/2 inch) bread cubes, or a full loaf cut into cubes

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the EVOO and salt together in a LARGE bowl. Add the breadcrumbs and toss until thoroughly coated. Spread the bread onto a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. All the croutons to cool before serving or placing in a storage container in the freezer. Then you can simply pull out a handful each time you make salads or for French Onion Soup!

Cajun Spiced Popcorn

This weekend we decided that since the area in which we reside is very flat… and it has been snowing for the last 3 months, it might be a good time to test out our cross-country skiing skills. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that XC skiing looks a lot easier than it is in reality. I fell down quite a few times and have the bruises to show for my attempts. However, we are not giving up and are planning to try it out once again this weekend. XC skiing is a wonderful full body workout and once I got the hang of it (somewhat) it was enjoyable to just be in my surroundings.

I decided to make a snack for the two of us to enjoy on our hour-long drive home from the state park, which is where this recipe comes into play. Mr. E. and I received an air popcorn maker as a wedding gift and it has been put to very good use. We have tried many different flavors but this has been one of my recent favorites.

1. Pour ½ cup of unpopped kernels into the popcorn maker.
2. While the popcorn is popping melt 2 T butter in the microwave.
3. In a separate bowl, combine:
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp fresh or ½ tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp Tabasco
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika)
¼ tsp onion powder
4. Mix the spices into the melted butter (be sure it is still completely melted otherwise it will not spread throughout the popcorn)
5. Slowly add the spicy butter to the warm popped popcorn and mix around after each spoonful of spice distribution. Enjoy this healthy treat! Beware of the spiciness!

Once a cook... always a cook...

My dad sent me this photo obviously from my younger days. Yes--I have always enjoyed life in the kitchen and anything involving food. And no, I do not like doing the dishes anymore. Childhood fantasy... FULFILLED!

Prosciutto Wrapped Figs and Bleu Cheese

Friday Night after a busy work week--time to kick back and relax! I bought prosciutto a very long time ago and it has been taunting us from the refrigerator for quite a few months now. As Mr. E. and I are trying to make use of the many foods and ingredients stocked in our freezer and cabinet I decided to try to find a recipe that involved 8 dried Mission figs leftover from a holiday appetizer, and the prosciutto. Luckily, I stumbled across this gem below... I wasn't quite sure if the recipe was for dried figs or not... but that was what I had on hand they were delicious. And yes mom... they were high in sodium so I only had a few and left the majority of them for Mr. E.


Ingredients

* 8 Black Mission figs
* 1/2 cup blue cheese, cut into cubes
* 8 prosciutto (thinly sliced, cut in half lengthwise)
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat grill. You will need medium to high heat for grilling. The key is to crisp the prosciutto quickly and leave the blue cheese just melted with the inner part of the fig cool in temperature.

Cut the figs in half and place a piece of blue cheese on each fig half. Wrap the prosciutto around each fig half, covering the cheese. The ends of the prosciutto should overlap.

Grill each piece until the prosciutto begins to color and crisp, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from grill, lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Turkey Dinner... Happy New Year!

For Mr. E.'s Sunday evening meal, I decided that the item that was taking up the most room in our freezer was our 14.4 pound free range, organic turkey that we had reserved and had delivered in the fall. Mr. E seemed game (get it?) for prepping and cooking up the bird at first... he enjoyed perusing my Bon Appetit magazines to find the best Turkey recipe that we could cook based on the size of the bird and the cooking tools in our kitchen. He finally settled on a Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs and a Shallot-Dijon Gravy. Sounds heavenly right? Well, it was... after he got over the fact that we would need to dispose of all of the internal organs and cut off the neck. Needless to say it was a lot of work to cook and A LOT of work to clean up that bird after the two of us enjoyed a delightful dinner with turkey, red-skinned parmesan mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli with crushed red pepper and tarragon.

Ingredients
Herbed salt

* 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
* 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
* 3 small bay leaves, coarsely torn
* 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Turkey

* 1 14- to 16-pound turkey (neck, heart, and gizzard reserved)
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 large celery stalk, chopped
* 1 whole lemon, chopped with peel
* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
* 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
* 1 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 cups (or more) Golden Turkey Stock

Gravy

* 3 1/2 cups (about) Golden Turkey Stock
* 2/3 cup chopped shallots
* 1/2 cup all purpose flour
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

Preparation
Herbed salt

*
Rub first 6 ingredients in small bowl to crush herbs finely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; store at room temperature. Stir in peel before using.

Turkey

*
Rinse turkey inside and out (do not pat dry). Pull any fat pads from main cavity and neck cavity of turkey; wrap, chill, and reserve fat for roasting. Place turkey in roasting bag; sprinkle inside and out with herbed salt. Close bag. Place on baking sheet; refrigerate 18 to 24 hours.
*
Set rack at lowest position in oven and preheat to 325°F. Rinse turkey inside and out; pat very dry. Stir chopped onion and next 5 ingredients in small bowl. Divide onion mixture between main and neck cavities. Fold neck skin under and secure with skewer. Tuck wing tips under. Tie legs together loosely. Place turkey on rack set in large roasting pan. Spread butter all over turkey. Place reserved fat pads and reserved neck, heart, and gizzard in pan; pour in 2 cups Golden Turkey Stock.
*
Roast turkey 45 minutes. Baste with pan juices. Continue to roast until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165°F to 170°F, basting every 45 minutes, adding stock or water to pan if dry, and tenting loosely with foil if browning too quickly, 3 to 3 1/2 hours longer. Transfer turkey to platter; tent very loosely with foil and let rest 30 to 45 minutes. Reserve roasting pan with juices for gravy.

Gravy

*
Remove turkey neck, heart, and gizzard from roasting pan. Pull meat off neck; chop neck meat, heart, and gizzard and reserve for gravy, if desired. Pour pan juices into 8-cup measuring cup. Spoon off fat from surface, reserving 1/2 cup fat. Add enough turkey stock to degreased pan juices to measure 5 1/2 cups total.
*
Place roasting pan over 2 burners on medium heat. Add 1/2 cup reserved fat and shallots; sauté 1 minute. Whisk in flour. Cook until roux is light brown, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes. Whisk in wine, stock mixture, mustard, and fresh rosemary. Bring to boil, whisking to blend. Boil until gravy coats spoon, about 3 minutes. Add neck, heart, and gizzard, if desired. Season with salt and pepper.
*
Serve turkey with gravy.

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine, November 2008

Sundried Tomato, Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Port Chops

Mr. E and I have been trying to eat all the food in our freezer before we begin to stock up again. As I have mentioned in previous posts we order our meat from our local farm her in town. Luckily we had two pork chops in the freezer that I was able to use as my blank slate on which to create a meal that incorporated my favorite food accompaniments... sundried tomatoes, steamed spinach and creamy goat cheese.

Ingredients

2 pork chops
2 oz goat cheese
1 8 oz box of frozen spinach
1/4 chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 onion
2 T butter
1 T chopped garlic
EVOO
twine

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chop the onion and place in a saute pan with 2 T butter and 1 T chopped garlic. Saute until the onions are soft and translucent.

Cook the frozen spinach in a bowl in the microwave with a few tablespoons of water. After it has finished cooking and cooled a bit.... pour the spinach onto a cheesecloth and wrap the cloth around the spinach and squeeze until all the excess water is removed. Add the onions, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese to the spinach and mix.

Set the spinach mixture aside and place the two pork chops on a clean cutting board. With a long knife cut horizontally through the two chops so that you create a pocket inside the chop. Once the pocket is as big as you can make it without cutting open teh sides of the chop, stuff the spinach mixture into the pork chop. Take a long piece of twine and wrap it around each chop and tie it off so that it keeps the stuffing inside the chop.

Heat a skillet on medium heat on the stovetop with 1 T of EVOO. Brown the pork chops in the EVOO for about 8 minutes total (4 minutes on each side). Transfer the pork chops to a clear glass pan side-by-side and place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 135 degrees with a meat thermometer. Once you have reached that temperature, remove the pork from the oven and tent the chops with a aluminum foil and continue to let them cook until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees (or less if you like your chops more on the pink side). If there is any additional spinach stuffing serve on top of the chop. SO yummy!

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine, January 2009

Risotto with Leeks and a Melange of Mushrooms

My mother-in-law's birthday falls over the holidays break each year... this year she requested that for her birthday dinner she would like everyone to plan a menu, prepare dinner and then clean up afterwards. Cooking for a large group can be challenging so we decided to go an Italian dish that everyone loves... risotto! This one is from the September 2007 issue of Bon Appetit and was so easy to prepare. I actually made the dish a bit healthier by substituting 1% milk in the leek mixture rather than heavy whipping cream and no one was the wiser! We had 10 adults and 3 children in attendance for the party and so I doubled the recipe as it said it would make 6-8 side dishes. Doubling the recipe was actually not necessary and you could feed 10 adults with the recipe below as long as you serve it with a side salad and perhaps some bread. Finally, we did not have any truffle oil readily available but the dish was wonderful without this pricey addition. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of this meal so instead I included a photo of D train watching in awe as Mr. E's mom opened her RED kitchenaid mixer!

Risotto with Leeks and a Melange of Mushrooms
Leeks:

* 2 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), halved, thinly sliced crosswise (about 2 cups)
* 3/4 cup whipping cream (sub 1% milk for a healthier version)

Mushrooms:

* 1 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, cut into 1/4- to 1/3-inch-thick slices (or a mix of different mushrooms)
* 1 large onion, halved, thinly sliced lengthwise
* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
* 1 tablespoon white truffle oil
* 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

Risotto:

* 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, divided
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 5 cups (or more) hot vegetable broth
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 2 teaspoons shaved or chopped black truffle (optional)
* Chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

For leeks:
Bring leeks and cream to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until leeks are tender and cream is thick, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm before continuing.

For mushrooms:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss all ingredients on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until mushrooms are tender and light brown around edges, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

For risotto:
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and stir until almost all liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 1 cup hot broth. Simmer until broth is almost absorbed, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Add more broth, 1 cup at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding next and stirring often, until rice is tender and mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes longer. Stir in leek mixture, mushroom mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons butter, cheese, and truffle. Transfer to large bowl, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.

Market Tip White truffle oil is sold at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets. Black truffles are available at specialty foods stores and from igourmet.com. A flavorful substitute for the shaved truffles is the Truffle Gatherers Sauce ($19), which can be ordered from fungusamongus.com.