Drawer cleaning

Here is my utensil drawer. I hate this drawer because I can never find anything and usually get stabbed by something or other every time I reach in it. After cutting myself on a skewer I decided it was time for a cleaning. Here's some stuff I found.

Here's my flour sprinkler. You use this so you don't get your hands all covered in flour. I've had this for about 3 years and hadn't used it yet. I debated whether or not to keep it. I did and used it the very next day.

Who needs 3 graters? Two of them are almost identical! How did this happen?

Here's my ginger grater and some fake leaves. I bought the leaves to decorate a cheese plate and promptly forgot about them.

2 dough cutters. I didn't know I had 2. But! I found my bamboo tongs! I haven't seen them in a long time. I thought they had been thrown out accidentally. They are very handy for taking small things out of the oven and toast out of the toaster.

Mmmmmmm. Kooky. The one with the face is an egg separator. The other one is an egg cutter. It is very difficult to use and usually shatters the egg shell.

That's my crinkle cutter, for cutting veggies. There's Scott's oyster shucker. And on the end there is my knife sharpener. It was my grandmothers.

It's my tupperware onion keeper! I have not seen this since we moved almost two years ago!

Scott bought these salt and pepper shakers at a garage sale years ago. We have never used them, but he insists we will...someday. I will admit they are pretty cute.
So some stuff stayed, but a lot got the heave-ho. I now know what I have, and it is much easier to find things. 2006 is the year of organization for me, and I receommend a good cleaning for every kitchen drawer.

Hot and Sour Coconut Soup

This soup is light and fresh. I think it would be wonderful with some shredded chicken mixed in as well.

1 500 ml can coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
6 small dried whole red chiles, seeded
3 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 cup sliced mushrooms
zest of 1/2 lime
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
juice of 1 lime

In a pot over medium heat combine the coconut milk, veg stock, chiles, garlic, and lemon zest. Simmer for 10 minutes to infuse. Remove from heat and strain, discarding the solids. Return soup to pot and add the mushrooms and lime zest. Simmer for 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms are soft. Stir in the green onions, bean sprouts and lime juice. Serve immediately.

Chipolte Chicken Quesadillas

The grocery store near our house sells the most wonderful chicken quesadillas on occasion. Not all the time, just whenever they feel like it, I guess. Does that annoy you too, when certain items or brands are not consistently stocked? Happens at our grocery store fairly often. Drives me crazy. Here's what we make when they don't have any in the deli.

In a small bowl, mix one finely minced canned chipolte chile with 2 or 3 tb of mayo. Spread on one side of 4 tortillas.
On two of those sides, layer your chicken, tomatos, peppers and onions. Top with some cheese, and the other tortillas.
Then cook over medium to medium low heat on both sides until the cheese is melted and the tortillas and light brown and crisp. Cut into wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream if desired.
A big P.S. -
This is my favorite brand of chipolte peppers! They have a wonderful smokiness, a very smooth sauce and the peppers are always a good uniform size. Check them out if they are sold where YOU live.

Shrimp simmered with tomatos and feta

This is one amazing dish. Once you've got all the ingredients ready, you'll be eating in 10 minutes. Although I've only ever made this for Scott and myself, I think this would be fantastic served along some tapas.

Shrimp Simmered with Tomatos and Feta
Inspired by the Frugal Gourmet

2 cups Greek style tomato sauce (recipe follows)
thin slices of red onion
shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
tomato slices
feta cheese

In a medium pan, spoon about 3/4 cup of the sauce in the bottom. Add a single layer of shrimp. Top with the red onion and cover with tomato slices.

Yes the picture sucks. Imagine it's a nice picture, ok?
Cover with the rest of the tomato sauce, and crumble the feta cheese over top. Turn the heat on to medium, cover and bring to a gentle simmer.

Simmer for 7 or 8 minutes. Serve with some wonderful crusty bread to mop up the totally delicious sauce.



Tomato Sauce

2 tb olive oil
1/3 of a red onion, chopped **SEE NOTE
3 cloves garlic, chopped
28 oz can tomatos and juice
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried mint
1 tb brown sugar

Heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Raise the heat and bring to a rapid boil. Boil uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender or a potato masher, mash the sauce a bit to smooth it out. Don't make it completely smooth - you just want to get rid of some of the bigger chunks. Return to the heat and simmer over medium low, covered for 10 minutes more.
Makes approximately 4 cups of sauce.

**NOTE - If you are not using an immersion blender to smooth the sauce, make sure you chop the onions fairly small.

I really love this sauce. It's very versatile. I've used it with meatloaf - both in the meatloaf and as a glaze. I've used it as pizza sauce, and with eggs too. It really goes with anything.

Beer Battered Shrimp with Chipolte Honey Sauce

While anything battered and fried is nice, shrimp is probably my favorite. No, my second favorite. My first favorite is calamari with extremely garlicky tatziki. But shrimp is a close second. I found this recipe on cooking.com. We were testing this out to serve at our Christmas brunch, but ultimately decided we had enough food and I really didn't want to be deep frying in the kitchen with a house full of people. But these were really great, and I look forward to making them again. I love chipolte peppers and honey is a wonderful complement in the sauce.
So here's the sauce cooking away:

Sauce:
2 dried chipolte peppers, stemmed and seeded
1 tomato quartered
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
2 tb red wine vinegar
Combine the chiles, tomato, onion, garlic, water and salt in a small pot and simmer over low heat until the chiles are soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and puree. Stir in the honey and vinegar and set aside.

You need to make the batter at least 30 minutes ahead of time.
Batter:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup beer
Combine the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the beer and whisk until smooth. Set aside for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours.

Heat some oil in a pot to about 350'. Take your peeled and deveined shrimp (1 1/4 lbs), lightly flour them, then dunk them in the batter and cook until golden brown. Drain well and serve with the chipolte honey sauce.

What kind of pie are you?

You Are Apple Pie

You're the perfect combo of comforting and traditional Those who like you crave security

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Pita Chips

Great instead of potato chips. Serve with dips and spreads.

From Allrecipes.com

6 pitas
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp basil

Preheat oven to 400'. Cut each pita into 8 triangles. Place on a baking sheet. Mix remaining ingrediants in a bowl. Brush on chips. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until browned and crisp.

Tapenade

Serve with pita chips.

From Allrecipes.com

1 garlic clove, chopped
1 3/4 cups kalamata olives, pitted
2 oz anchovy fillets
2 tb capers
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh rosemary
3 tb lemon juice
4 tb olive oil

Combine all ingrediants except the oil in a food processor. Slowly drizzle in the oil as you are pulsing the ingrediants.

When life hands you lemons and really bitter eggplant, make Lemon Mint Pasta instead!

Last night I was making grilled eggplant stuffed with feta cheese. I was making it until I tried a piece of the grilled eggplant. So.BITTER. And the skin was so tough, I could barely bite through it. I am at the end of my rope, eggplant wise. I love it, but every time I try to make it at home, I just can't get out the bitterness. What am I doing wrong? I have sprinkled them with salt and let them sit in a colander; I have soaked them in salted water; I always make sure I cook them until they are nice and soft. Everyone I ask has recommended one of these methods, but they just don't work for me. So, from this day forward, the iliketocook household is eggplant free. I'll leave it to the professionals at the restaurants to take care of it for me.

So, there I was, eggplant in the garbage, a bowl full of filling and two empty bellies. So we made:

Lemon Mint Pasta


Here's a picture of the original filling for the eggplant - and then my camera died.

1 container feta cheese with oregano (about 7 oz)
1 hot pepper, seeded and minced finely
1 handful fresh mint, minced
juice of a lemon
2 small tomatos, diced
pasta

Mix all ingredients but the pasta. Cook your pasta, and when you drain it, reserve about a cup of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the sauce, and add some pasta water to soften.

Serve!

We used a terrific whole wheat linguine, which went very well with the fabulous sauce. In the end I am glad that the eggplant didn't work out; I think the end result meal was a much better creation and will be seen at our table again soon.

Brokeback Moulton

That makes me laugh so much.
Image from TVGasm.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge -Disappointment in Shades of Orange

This month's WCC challenge was "Food in Shades of Orange". I found a very interesting recipe from a new cookbook I had just picked up.

"All Stirred Up - Over 150 of the Best Recipes From the Women's Culinary Network". I have never heard of the Women's Culinary Network before, have you? I have marked several recipes to try in the future, but for this day I chose Curried Lentil Soup by Kim Rabe. I chose it for 3 reasons:
1. I have never cooked with lentils before.
2. I like curry.
3. It sounded like it might come out an orangy color.

I'm not going to say too much about this soup - it just wasn't for me. While the taste was alright, it wasn't anything to get excited about. Also, it separated into 2 layers - a watery layer and a thicker orange layer. Very strange. Hey, at least it was orange.

Curried Lentil Soup
by Kim Rabe

2 tb olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tb curry powder
1 tb tomato paste
5 cups vegetable stock
5 cups water
2 cups red lentils
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

In an large saucepot, heat oil over medium heat and saute onions, celery, carrot and garlic for 5 minutes, until onion is softened. Stir in the curry powder and cook for one minute. Add all the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, until lentils are softened and creamy. Discard bay leaves before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Don't you forget about me...

Wooooo, people. I am sick. And tired, too. And so, I am going to take a little holiday. There's just too much going on right now, between work and home and trying not to drop dead from this cold that won't leave me alone.

I haven't paid as much attention to you as I would like to, or feel I should. And truly, that makes me feel bad. I have so much to say! I still have posts about Christmas I haven't put up yet for heaven's sake! And it's February! (How did it get to be February already?) My computer is full of pictures I haven't written about. My notebook is full of recipes and stuff I want to tell you about. There just doesn't seem to be enough time lately. I need to re-organize, re-prioritize and get back on my feet.

Sooooooo, it's not goodbye. And promise me you'll check in from time to time! Because if you do, I will too.

Cheers,
Sara

Weekend Cookbook Challenge - Boeuf Bourguignon

This months' challenge on Weekend Cookbook Challenge is winter comfort food. I think a perfect winter comfort food is beef stew. When I was little my mom would make beef stew almost every week of winter in her crock pot. This is much fancier than the stew my mom would make. I got Anthony Bourdain's cookbook when it came out in September 2004. I've read it cover to cover, but until now never actually cooked out of it. God bless the WCC.

Boeuf Bourguignon
from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook

I took this picture to show you how truly gorgeous this book is. In addition to lots of wonderful sounding recipes (that I hope to soon try) the pictures are tremendous. Doesn't that make you hungry?

2 lb paleron of beef or "chicken steak" cut into 1 1/2" pieces
salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
4 onions, thinly sliced
2 tb flour
1 cup red wine
6 carrots, cut into 1" pieces
1 garlic clove
1 bouquet garni

(I don't know what either Paleron or Chicken Steak is, we just used a nice quality steak)
Season the meat with salt and pepper. In a dutch oven or heavy pan, heat the oil over high heat until it is almost smoking. Add the meat in batches and sear on all sides until the meat is well browned. When all the meat has been browned and set aside, add the onions and cook, over medium high heat until the onions are soft and golden brown, about 10 minutes.



Sprinkle in the flour, and cook for another 4 minutes. Then add the red wine, bring to the boil, and scrape up all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Return the meat to the pan and add the carrots, garlic and bouquet garni. Add enough water to cover by one third and two spoons of demi glace, if you have it (I added a bouillon cube). Reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so. When done, remove the bouquet garni and serve.

This was a real winner and I'll be making it again very soon. The meat was quite tender and the sauce was very rich and flavorful. I'm not usually one for things like bay leaves and bouquet garni, but you can sure taste the flavor they leave behind. But the best part? It tasted even better the next day.

Links

The Amateur Gourmet went to a taping of Iron Chef America. Who was the challenger? What was the secret ingrediant? What's up with Alton's earring? Adam will tell all! (Kinda.)

It's one of my dreams to one day go to Spain. Monkey Gland at Jam Faced was there. Check out what he has to say about Seville and some very nice pictures.

Congratulations to Tara at Seven Spoons who had a baby boy!

And congratulations to Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess who is expecting!

Check out the round up for Paper Chef #14, with a fantastic picture of Kitty Kaga at Belly Timber.

Alicat at Something So Clever would like to remind you - WCC is this weekend!

Weekend Cookbook Challenge - Winter Comfort Food

Hey everyone, just a reminder that the Weekend Cookbook Challenge is this weekend. Our theme is "Winter Comfort Food". Hope to hear from some new faces, as well as all the wonderful people from last time. The deadline to submit is January 30. See you there!

"ADDRESS TO A HAGGIS"

Today is Robbie Burns Day, a day to celebrate the famous Scottish poet. And to eat the dreaded haggis!

Address To A Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great cheiftan o' the puddin-racel
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdles like a distant hill,
Your pill wad help to mead a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' ther weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent lyke drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owner his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o'thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out thier bills o'fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!


A recipe for traditional haggis, by E. Hlabse

1 sheep's stomach bag
2 lb dry oatmeal
1 lb suet
1 lb lambs liver
2 1/2 cups stock
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Boil the liver and parboil the onion, then mince them finely together. Lightly brown the oatmeal, and mix all ingrediants but the stomach together. Fill the stomach, pressing down to remove any air, and sew up securely. Prick the haggis in several places so it doesn't burst. Place haggis in a large pot of boiling water and simmer slowly for 4-5 hours.
Serves 12.

Canmore

About 2 or 3 times a year I have to go to beautiful Canmore Alberta for my job. They are always Saturday meetings, but my company is nice to me and books me a room for both Friday and Saturday night, and Scott comes along. We went the weekend before Christmas. It was lovely. The weather was clear but cold. There was a cross country skiing competition, I think the last one before Torino, being held that weekend too. Both Friday and Saturday nights the town threw a street party with music and events. It was a real kick to see huge groups of skiers from all over the world dancing and singing. Canmore is so beautiful:






We usually eat at the same restaurants every time we go, but this time we decided to try two new places for dinner. Friday night we went to Luna Blue. It's right on the main street in the older part of town. Big with an open kitchen and very nice staff. We started with some brushetta, the sort that makes me hang my head in shame when I think of the inferior crap that I make. I had a delicious pasta dish with diced chicken, cashews, mangos and a curry broth. Scott has the gooey-est cheesy-est canneloni I've ever seen. We'll be checking them out on future visits for sure.

You know, nothing pisses me off more than spending good money on a shitty dinner. That's what happened to us the next night at Chef's Studio Japan. The food was pretty good, some things we ordered were better than others, but on the whole it was pretty decent. The service was so bad it was laughable. We ordered a multi-course dinner and some sushi.


This was vegetable tempura. It only had one type of vegetable in it; I think it was potato. It was alright. The tempura batter was light and crisp, but the vegetable had no flavor.

I had sake for the first time ever. I didn't really care for it, it wasn't what I had imagined sake would taste like. We didn't get our drinks until after we'd had 2 of our courses. After we had the tempura we had a seaweed salad (yuck) and a beautiful miso soup.

Soft Shell Crab! I've always wanted to try this. We tried to have it a couple of times in San Francisco but had no luck. This was good. I'd have it again.

Our sushi plate. It looked beautiful. Tasted pretty good too.

In the end, we weren't even served all the food we had ordered. At one point we watched a waiter carry a dish of food to every table in the place before finally bringing it to us. Bad service drives me crazy. I used to be a waitress and nothing annoys me more than a fully staffed dining room that still can't function. Studio Japan is pretty small - MAYBE 20 tables. They weren't full and had 4 servers. How can you provide shitty service with those numbers?
Maybe we caught them on a bad day, I don't know, but we didn't enjoy ourselves at all. We won't be going back again.
How about you? Any really wonderful or terrible meals recently?

Southwest Salad

I love Southwestern food. On a gloomy day a salad like this can brighten you right up with it's smooth crisp flavors.

Southwest Salad
adapted from Martha Stewart

for 2 hungry people

1 cup canned white kidney or cannellini beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/4 cup salsa
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 small avocado chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 chicken breast
romaine lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
handful of tortilla chips
1/3 cup cheddar cheese

Cook the chicken breast. I poach it, but do what you like. Slice into strips.
Place the beans corn and salsa in a bowl and microwave until warm about 2 minutes.
Add the chicken, onions, avocado and tomato and mix. Season with salt pepper and tabasco if you like it.
Plate your lettuce and crumble a couple of chips over top. Top with the bean mixture and some cheese. Serve immediately.

White Bean Pizza

This may well be the best pizza I've ever tasted. You won't recognize the beans, they are transformed into a wonderful creamy garlicy spread. This is a beautiful looking and tasty pizza not loaded down with fatty meats and greasy cheese. It is absolutly amazing, and good for you too, not that that should ALWAYS matter.

White Bean Pizza
1/2 can of any sort of white bean, rinsed and drained
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 1/2 tb water
1 tb olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tsp rosemary crushed fine
2 or 3 tomatos
thinly sliced red onion, separated into rings
1 tube of goat cheese
pizza dough

I have made this with both homemade dough and store bought. Both are good. I usually parbake the crust for 6 or 7 minutes first. The last time I made it I used a Pillsbury dough and followed the instructions for baking. If you make your own dough, Cook at 450' or so.

Preheat oven.
Put beans, garlic, water and oil in a food processor. Blitz until fairly smooth and season with salt and pepper.

Place the dough on your baking sheet and spread the bean mixture on as you would pizza sauce. Sprinkle with the rosemary and top with the tomatos, onion and cheese.


Bake for 10 or 12 minutes, until crust is brown and crisp and the top is hot and the cheese has melted (goat cheese doesn't always melt and spread out).

A new way to cook chicken!

Here's an email I received this morning. Gullible me, I thought it was a real recipe at first!

__________________________________________________
Good Morning Ladies,

I was thinking I might try this with the turkey next Christmas, XXXX you may want to try this too. I think it may ease some of the Christmas cooking stress and also give everyone something else to talk about!!!!



XXXX :)



>Subject: BAKED STUFFED CHICKEN

>Here is a chicken recipe that also includes the use of popcorn as a
>stuffing - imagine that! When I found this recipe, I thought it was
>perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when
>poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.
>
>BAKED STUFFED CHICKEN
>6-7 lb. baking chicken
>1 cup melted butter
>1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good.)
>1 cup uncooked popcorn (ORVILLE REDENBACHERS LOW FAT)
>Salt/pepper to taste
> ______________________________
>Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush chicken well with melted butter,
>salt,
>and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking
pan
>with
>the neck end toward the back of the oven. Listen for the popping
>sounds.
>When the chicken's ass blows the oven door open and the chicken flies
>across the room, it is done.
>
>And you thought I couldn't cook. HA!!!!!!