Author: lara

Middle Eastern-Style Flank Steak and Orecchiette with Brussels Sprouts, Gorgonzola, and Brown-Butter Pecans

This dinner tasted a lot better than my stinky photo makes it look.  I overcooked the steak a little bit and I undercooked the brussels sprouts a little bit, but both dishes tasted WONDERFUL.  The pasta was very rich and cheesy and creamy and the steak had just enough spice on it.  Girl, of course, only ate the pasta, and the meat was a tiny bit too spicy for Boy, but he still ate it enthusiastically.  The leftovers would be great tucked into a pita with some tzatziki and lettuce.

I highly recommend d’Arenberg Stump Jump Shiraz with this.  There’s a straight shiraz and there’s a shiraz-mourvedre-grenache blend.  They’re both good, but the straight shiraz is better and the 2008 is better than the 2007, but even the 2007 blend is still pretty good.

These recipes are, again, from Fine Cooking’s website, but I’m including the links…just in case.

Orecchiette recipe here.

Flank steak recipe here.

Curried Chickpea and Summer Vegetable Stew with Quick Tandoori Chicken Thighs

Absolutely wonderful.  We all loved this.  Girl had her stew, obviously, sans chicken.

Flavorful and spicy, but not too hot.  Savory and tangy.  The chicken was moist and meaty. Not too difficult or time-consuming.

Fine Cooking’s website is subscription-only, but I’ve included the recipe links, anyway, because sometimes they will let you look at certain recipes for free or they’ll let you look at two or three before they shut you out and ask you to sign up for a membership.  Good luck; I hope you can see them!  In general, I don’t like paying extra for the website membership if I already subscribe to the magazine, but for Fine Cooking, it’s worth it.

Stew recipe here and chicken recipe here.

Truffle Mashed Potatoes

Steamed broccoli.  Chicken thighs sprinkled with Baby Bam, then grilled and sliced.  Truffle Mashed potatoes.

(I wanted the focus of this meal to be on the potatoes, so I thought the rest of the food should be simple.  I thought using Baby Bam on the chicken would be fitting, since the potato recipe is also from Emeril Lagasse.)     Potato recipe here.

I was thrilled recently a few months ago (cause I’m the most procastinating blogger there is) to find some beautiful black truffles for sale at Whole Foods.  It was the first time that I had ever seen them for sale in Austin, although before having very liberal access to them on our family trip to Italy this summer, I was never quite so passionate about them.  I grabbed them from the produce case without a second thought, knowing that I would be able to come up with something fabulous to use them in.  There were three in the small, clear plastic deli box (I can’t BELIEVE that I forgot to take a photo!) and they were packed in arborio rice, which is typical, but is also controversial.  I cooked some in a roasted chicken (more on that later) and made some into truffle butter (this link will also allow you to read up on the storage-in-rice controversy) and then used what was left to make these mashed potatoes.  They were earthy and buttery and fabulous.  Now that truffle season is over, I know that I will be craving them until next summer, when I plan to order some from d’Artagnan.

Bobby Flay’s Orange-Glazed Grilled Acorn Squash and Mashed Potato Cakes


Acorn squash, with sauteed spinach, chicken-Gruyere sausage and a black-truffle mashed potato pancake.

This yummy squash dish (recipe here) was OUTSTANDING.  It took a while to make, since you have to make the glaze separately and both bake AND grill the squash, but the investment of time is well worth it.  My only other issue with this is that half a squash is just too much, because it’s VERY filling.  I would say that one-fourth of a squash is a more appropriate serving size, so I’d recommend preparing them as in the recipe and just cutting them in half right before serving.  Delicious, though, and a very creative use of an underutilized vegetable.  If you’ve never cooked acorn squash before, this is a great recipe to start off with.

Mashed potato pancake recipe here.  I adapted the recipe by using leftover truffle mashed potatoes.  Fabulous.