Things I've been cooking

While I have been feeling too busy to blog, I have not been too busy to cook.  Every now and then I remembered to take pictures for eventual use. In addition to our nightly dinners, I have also managed to pull off several dinner parties featuring: roast chicken with pan gravy, braised short ribs with garlic and peppers, grilled filets with compound butter and crab pot pies (an original recipe!) and flaming ouzo shrimp.  Mouth watering yet?  Mine is.

Cooking is a real passion of mine.  I have Ina and Gordon on the DVR and dream about going to culinary school and opening a restaurant.  Thomas even asked me one night "how would you feel about opening a restaurant in the Caribbean?" It's fun to talk about, but dream on...

Here are some photos of the food I remembered to photograph and my original crab pot pie recipe!  Enjoy.

Garlic and parsley potatoes

Crab Pot Pie (recipe follows) 

Mushroom bourguignon

Bacon wrapped filets with compound butter (a decadent Saturday dinner)

Lemon Rosemary Greek Potatoes (recipe coming in another post!)

Greek burgers--using tzatziki instead of mayo is awesome! 

And now the promised recipe!  I came up with this one for my dad's birthday and it was amazing!  It's also something you can assemble ahead of time and all you need to do when guests arrive is pop it in the oven. Since this is a recipe I made myself, not all measurements are exact--I go by feeling.  But that's what makes cooking fun!

Crab Pot Pie (6 servings)

1 pound crab meat 

1/4 cup dry Sherry 

1 clove garlic, minced

3 cups Leeks sliced

2-3 cups mushrooms sliced

1 cup Celery sliced

1 cup carrot diced/sliced

1/2 onion, diced 

zest of 1 lemon

2 cups chicken stock

3-5 tbsp of butter 

1/2 cup flour 

A lil cream 

A lil fresh parsley and thyme 

Puff pastry, thawed. (get 4 sheets!)

1 egg lightly beaten with some h2o (this is an egg wash)

1. Saute all veg (with garlic) in butter until tender.  Season with S & P.  Add flour and cook off 
2. Add chicken stock, sherry and cream cook through,
3. In another bowl, mix crab with lemon zest, a bit of paprika and fresh parsley and thyme 
4. Take cream mix off heat and gently stir in crab (keep big lumps) 
5. Butter some ramekins and spoon pie mix in.  Put some egg wash around the outside rim of the ramekin; this will help the pastry stick to it when you pinch it around. 
6. Cover ramekins with puff pastry (making sure pastry is slightly bigger), pinch pastry around and brush on egg wash.  Season crusts with a little S &P
7. Bake in oven at 375 for 25-35 minutes until bubbling and golden brown. 

Hannah Hart: my new best friend

So I've stumbled across this new.. blog?  youTube star? Comedian?  I have no idea what exactly her thing is, but Hannah Hart has been releasing these cooking videos called "My Drunk Kitchen" and I want to know her now.
 I watched her make "apple pie" and it was pretty hilarious.  She and I share the same opinion about baking... some of my favorite quotes from this particular video:

"I use the term 'pie' loosely."  

"That's what American's do.  When we make a mistake, we do the same thing again and hope something different happens this time."

"I think part of the reason I don't like baking so much is that baking...sucks." 

"This whole cooking thing is a matter of opinion.  There is no right and there is no wrong.  There's just food and inedible." 

"The directions for apple pie turned out to be really, really long.  So I skimmed 'em..."

"I'm just an American. I want everything constantly." 

"Step One: Give a f--- about baking."

Here's the video: Her website is here



I also have to include this one on tacos. Not a big fan of using turkey instead of beef--but I also constantly crave Mexican when drinking. What's with that??

Poaching a Chicken

Several months ago, my mom told me that I had to try poaching chicken.  I've been lazy about it until now.  Poaching chicken breasts is perfect for when you have a casserole, soup or stew (or chicken salad) to make.  The chicken is the moistest I've ever had and is infused with all sorts of wonderful flavors.

So now I'm telling you: you have to try poaching chicken.  It makes a huge difference.  Here's how it's done:

Ingredients:

Chicken (duh)
Liquid--enough to cover the chicken  (I used water and bullion.  You can use water, broth, wine or some combo)
Seasonings
Large pan

The ingredients-- I used a smashed garlic clove (no need to chop, it's just flavoring the broth), pepper, cilantro and a chili lime rub from Pampered Chef.  Later I added some lime juice on a whim. This chicken is bound for a Mexican soup I'm making for dinner.  Notice there is no salt--you can add salt but I try to keep my intake low and the bullion already has a lot.

Add chicken to the pan in one single layer.  Do not let pieces sit on top of each other--they won't cook evenly if you do that.

Cover the  chicken completely in liquid.  It took me about 6 cups (2 cups bullion and then water to supplement)

Add all your seasonings-- you don't need to bother with stirring. 

Bring the mixture to a boil.  Stay in the kitchen during this step.  As soon as it starts boiling turn it down and simmer for 2 minutes.  Poached chicken = yummy, tender, flavorful.  Boiled chicken = stringy, tough, gross mess

After 2 minutes, remove from heat (transfer to a different burner) and let sit for about 30 minutes.

And that's it!  Store the chicken in fridge with some of the liquid until you are ready to use it, then discard the liquid and cube or shred the chicken.  The chicken will be infused through with the flavors and make your dish seem more gourmet.

Note that these instructions are for boneless chicken breasts.  Bone-in or dark meat takes slightly longer during the simmer step.

Easy Sunday Pasta

Dinner time on Sunday I am usually wanting comfort food--but am also exhausted from a busy weekend and don't feel like spending hours in the kitchen.

Here are 2 of my favorite pasta dishes that take 20 minutes or less to make and very few ingredients. And, boy, are they delicious.

Remember, I don't usually follow measurements but I will do my best to figure it out for you.  Both of these recipes make about 2 servings.

Recipe One: Mushroom and Lemon Pasta
 I adapted this recipe from on of my favorite TV chefs--Nigella Lawson.  Her version used all raw ingredients (except, obviously, the pasta) mine doesn't.  I didn't exactly relish the idea of eating raw garlic. 


1/2 package (I think it's a pint...) of baby bella mushrooms, sliced 
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons 
Zest of 1 lemon 
Glug of olive oil (A glug is a measurement I think I made up.  It's probably about 1.5-2 tablespoons) 
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced 
Thyme (about 1/2 teaspoon) 
Thin Spaghetti, a little less than 1/2 package 


Cook pasta according to box directions.  Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Set pasta aside. 


Heat the olive oil in a saute pan with the garlic. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until soft.  Add lemon juice, thyme, and a little salt and pepper.  if I have a little white wine, I'll reduce the amount of lemon juice and throw in a bit of wine.   

Mushroom mixture--doesn't look the best.  But trust me.

 Put the pasta in a large bowl and stir in mushroom mixture and pasta water.  Top with lemon zest and parsley (if you have it.) 

Final result--yum!

 Recipe Two: Zucchini with Creamy Goat Cheese Linguine 
 This is an amazing recipe adapted from Real Simple magazine.  I cut most of the proportions in half (except the garlic) to make it 2 servings.

Little less than 1/2 box linguine
2 zucchini, thinly sliced into half moon shapes
1 clove garlic, minced
zest of about 1 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
2.5 ounces goat cheese (a little over half the usual sized package)

Cook pasta and transfer to large bowl.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil.  Add zucchini (with a little S &P) and cook, stirring often, until tender.  About 4-5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for a minute more.  Remove from heat

Returning to the pasta, crumble most of the goat cheese in (leave a little to top the pasta with later), add pasta water and a little S&P.  Stir to a state of creamy goodness.

Before stiring.

After.  The smell is amazing!

 Top with the zucchini and lemon zest.  Enjoy!

Excellent with chardonnay!

Anne Burrell

Anne Burrell is a chef and stars in the Food Network show aptly named "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef."
Okay, so her hair is a little crazy. And she's a tad too orange.  And occasionally channels Kermit the Frog ( "BIG meat!") but I absolutely adore her.  She has a great sense of humor and her Twitter page (tweets? I dunno, I haven't really gotten into that particular technology) is pretty funny.  She also goes back and forth with Jillian Madison about her blog, FoodNetworkHumor.com, which is one of my favorites. So she has a sense of humor about herself as well--which scores major points in my book.
And did I mention that the woman seriously knows how to cook?
But the reason I secretly love her is that she is a little like me in the kitchen.  I am embarrassed to admit but I do occasionally narrate what I'm doing, sing about ingredients, say "hello" to things, or make exclamations like "oh yeah" or "wooo! Eggplant!"  My sister can attest to this as she has (for better or worse) been exposed to some of my odder mannerisms.  Yeah, I'm a little weird. 
Enjoy this remix from the foodnetworkhumor blog and try not to get "pappa al pomodoro" stuck in your head.