Pancakes

Ok, this was totally from a mix, but doesn't it look good?

The Yard

This post definitely isn't food related, but ah well. One thing I like about the place we're renting in Lubbock, is the spacious back yard. It turns out that the dogs like it too.

Here's Nizhoni trying to scratch her back (or something)

this went on for quite some time

And here Nizhoni and Kodiak are playing with each other. This picture isn't great because it is through the window and there was a big light differential. However, I was really impressed that they were play fighting without one of us watching them directly.

Yes, Nizhoni looks a lot smaller, but she can definitely hold her own

Honey Curry Squash

I remember liking squash as a kid, but haven't had much luck myself making squash that actually enjoyed (not winter squash, at least). So, wanted to instill variety in my vegetable repertoire, I compelled myself to buy an acorn squash last week, and decided to try a few things out. The recipe below is the one that is definitely worth sharing with you, my loyal readers (AKA Z and her mom).

This recipe I got from this month's Cooking Light magazine. It turned out very well, and will definitely be one I put into a regular rotation. I tweaked the recipe based on what I had (and the fact that I was cooking for one), but didn't make any huge modifications.


Honey Curry Squash

Ingredients:
1/2 acorn squash, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
golden raisins (not sure how many I used - I added them until it "looked right")
1-2 tbsp honey
curry powder and cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions

• Toss squash cubes with olive oil, salt, & pepper
• Bake at 500° for 15-20 minutes, or until tender
  
• Toss remaining ingredients and serve

(see, I told you it was simple)

Rice Pilaf

I'd always wanted to try making a rice pilaf. I mean, it seemed so simple - rice, some sort of seasoning, and perhaps a vegetable or two. However, whenever I tried an "impromptu" (i.e., without looking up a recipe) pilaf, I failed miserably. Then, one day while watching Good Eats, I saw Alton Brown make a rice pilaf that seemed remarkably easy. So, last month, when Z was here and I was therefore cooking and blogging more regularly, I thought that it would be a great time to try making a pilaf. Alton's recipe was remarkably easy, although it was not super flavorful. I'm not sure exactly what I'd change (more garlic, perhaps, or some pepper), but it is something I will certainly play around with.


Rice Pilaf
adapted from Good Eats

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
2 pinches kosher salt
2 cups long grain rice (I used jasmine rice)
2-3/4 c chicken broth
1/2 tsp orange zest
Pinch of saffron strands, steeped in 1/4 cup hot water
1 bay leaf
Golden raisins for garnish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• In a heavy, wide, lidded pan, melt butter over medium-low heat
• Add onion, pepper, and salt, sweat until aromatic, stirring constantly
• Add rice and stir to coat and rice begins to smell nutty
• Add chicken broth, orange zest, saffron and water, and bay leaf & bring to boil
• Cover pan with moistened dish towel (or tea towel). Place lid on pan and fold towel corners over lid
• Bake for 15 minutes
• Rest at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes without removing the cover.
• Remove lid from rice and turn out onto a platter
• Fluff with a large fork and add raisins

Lemon Blueberry Frozen Yogurt!

A few months ago we heard that Food and Wine magazine did a profile of Columbus local ice cream maker, Jeni. The recipes that Jeni submitted sounded great, but we did not have any way of making ice cream. Now that we have an ice cream attachment (thanks Jay and Sonja) for our stand mixer (thanks Joyce and Don), however, we decided to try making lemon blueberry frozen yogurt. This yogurt was absolutely delicious! A great combination of rich (from the dairy) tart (from the lemon) and sweet (from the fresh blueberry syrup). We put it in our deep freeze, and might have gotten in too frozen, but it becomes much more scoopable after a minute of two on the counter.

The "batter" in an ice bath

Churning away...

Finished product!

Lemon Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
Recipe from Jeni

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, plus 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/4-ounce package unflavored powdered gelatin
2/3 cup plus 6 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup blueberries
2 teaspoons water

Directions:

• Fill a large bowl with ice water. Pour 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice into a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the lemon juice and let stand for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the remaining 6 tablespoons of lemon juice with 2/3 cup of the sugar and the corn syrup. Bring to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves, 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon gelatin.
• In a medium bowl, mix the yogurt with the zest. Stir in the lemon juice mixture, then whisk in the cream. Set the yogurt base in the ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a saucepan, mix the blueberries with the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar and the water. Simmer over moderate heat, until saucy, 4 minutes. Let cool.
• Pour the lemon yogurt into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Scoop alternating spoonfuls of the yogurt and blueberry sauce into a plastic container. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface and close with an airtight lid. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours.

Chicken Marsala

This recipe was largely stolen from a Tyler Florence recipe, and was very easy to make. I was generally happy with the outcome, but might do some things differently in the future. In particular, in this recipe, the chicken is only in the sauce for a brief period of time, not allowing much of the Marsala flavor to penetrate the chicken. In the recipe below, instead of removing the chicken, perhaps I'd simply add the bacon and mushrooms when I flip the chicken (I cooked it for about 5-minutes per side), and then continue from there. It would mean that the chicken was in the pan for as long as the Marsala was, and hopefully this would mean deeper flavor distribution.

On another note, this was our new braiser's first run, and I was generally happy with it. At first, when I was cooking the chicken, I was afraid it would burn the chicken too much or be horrible to clean. This ended up being a non-issue. The wine helped to quickly dissolve any cooked on residue (further flavoring the sauce) far better than it has on any other pan I've used.

Our beautiful new braiser (thanks Priscilla & Paul)

The chicken cooking

Looks pretty good, eh?

After cooking the bacon and mushrooms, add in the wine

At the end, the chicken gets added back in

And served over pasta (in our new pasta bowl, thanks to Kim and Evan)

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1/4-1/2 c flour
salt & pepper
1/4 c olive oil
2 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 lb mushrooms, halved
1/2 c dry Marsala wine
1/2 c chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
1/4-1/2 c heavy cream

Directions:

• Pound chicken breasts flat with mallet ("meat hammer")
• On a plate, season flour with salt and peppper
• Heat oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat
  
• Dredge chicken in flour and fry until done, about 5-min per side, depending on size (and flatness) of chicken
• Remove chicken from pan
• Add bacon to pan & saute briefly over medium heat
• Add mushrooms & saute until mostly cooked, about 5 minutes
• Add Marsala wine & bring to boil, add chicken broth. Salt and pepper to taste
  
• Simmer for a minute or more to reduce sauce
• Add butter & cream, return chicken to pan & heat for another minute
• Serve over pasta or mashed potatoes
  

Delicious steak!

So, as many of you know, I got married last weekend. With weddings, comes gifts. Of course, many of the things we registered for were kitchen-related, and probably because everyone knows of my predilection for cooking and Z's predilection for eating, most of the kitchen-related items were purchased. Today, we (yes, WE - as in Z and I were in the same state!) started enjoying these new kitchen items, with a steak dinner. We had pan-seared strip steaks with a red wine reduction (recipe stolen from here), taking advantage of our beautiful, high quality (at least for us), non-stick cookware (thanks Rich). We also had oven-baked seasoned potato cubes and grilled vegetables. This was all served on our beautiful new dinnerware (thanks Jenny & Dominic, Shirley & Joyce, Rick, Betty, and family) and eaten with our sturdy new silverware (thanks mom & dad D). We also had wine served from our new decanter (thanks Katie). Of course, since the place is a total mess (although rapidly improving), this wonderful meal was eaten from our futon on a coffee table. This is what the meal looked like:

the lighting was horrible for this picture

Pan Seared Steak and Red Wine Reduction

Ingredients:
Strip steak, 3/4 inch thick, warmed to room temperature(ish)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp galic powder
1 tbsp herbes de provence
1/4 tsp kosher salt
pinch of cayenne
black pepper to taste

1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp flour
3/4 cup red wine

Directions:

• Mix top ingredients (minus steak) on a large plate
• Place steak onto herb mixture and coat both sides
• Preheat large skillet over medium heat, add steaks
• Cook steaks ~4-minutes per side
• Remove steaks and let rest

• Add shallot and garlic to pan and saute briefly
• Add flour, to form a roux
• Add wine, making sure to loosen any meat/herb remains
• Simmer on medium heat to reduce liquid, until desired consistency is obtained (can add more wine or stock to thin out the reduction, add more flour or cornstarch to thicken)

• Drizzle reduction over meat and enjoy!