This was really yummy. I made it a long time ago, but am just now getting around to posting it. Would be sophisticated enough for a “company” meal, but isn’t difficult to make.
Recipe here.
Category: Side Dishes – Starch
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.
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.
Pioneer Woman’s Crash Hot Potatoes
Gougeres
Absolutely delightful little bites of cheesy heaven. Filled with butter and cheese, they are decadently sinful. These things are both ridiculous and sublime. Ridiculously sublime. Virtue and vice together. Seriously. Just make them.
The recipe that I used is from the September 2009 issue of Wine Spectator magazine, but their website is subscription-only (how rude!,) so I can’t link to it directly. This recipe is the closest that I’ve seen. If you cut the amount of gruyere by a couple of tablespoons and substitute a couple of pinches of cayenne for the black pepper, you’re pretty much there. When I made mine, I added a little freshly minced sage, which was good, but maybe just a TINY bit too much. I will cut back a little next time. Parsley or thyme would also be delicious, but tread lightly. It’s easy too overdo it.
These are fabulous as an appetizer with a good glass of red wine, or, with dinner, in place of bread or rolls. The recipe is from Chef Terrance Brennan, of New York’s Artisanal, where Girl and I were lucky enough to have brunch with my mother last month. We had some of the gougeres there and they were fabulous, but this recipe is simple enough to recreate that they were just as good at home. The secret is really good quality cheese and eating them immediately fresh and warm out of the oven.
Girl at Artisanal, with a GIGANTIC cup of hot chocolate.
Butternut Squash and Cheddar Bread Pudding
This hearty vegetarian main dish from November 2009 Bon Appetit magazine was filling and delicious. Vegetarian Girl ate it as a main dish and the rest of us had it as a side to some chicken. Very good, but the recipe (really being intended for a large, holiday gathering) makes a HUGE pan of the bread pudding, so if you’re only serving 4 to 6 people, I would STRONGLY suggest halving the recipe, lest you be condemned to eat the leftovers for 3 days.
Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts
From January 2009 Cooking Light magazine. Recipe here.
Meh.
Needed more brown butter than the 2 Tbsp specified to give it enough flavor. Pre-packaged gnocchi definitely leave a LOT to be desired. I would make this again, with homemade gnocchi (don’t get scared off by the recipe, gnocchi are EASY), adding a little extra browned butter.
A good vegetarian meal for Girl, though, and a good, easy and quick side dish to accompany Chicken al mattone for the rest of us.
Polenta Triangles Stuffed with Spicy Greens and Cheese
Polenta, served with some pesto-grilled chicken thighs for the carnivores…
This meatless recipe from Serious Eats was tasty and not too difficult (although it does require some advance prep and a few hours of chilling time,) but the wine flavor (I used a light Pinot Noir) in the greens layer was a little too strong for the little people that live at my house. I like this preparation of polenta, but may experiment with sandwiching different things in the polenta layers, like possibly a sun-dried tomato concoction or sauteed mushrooms or maybe spinach (or another green without the wine.)
The greens looked gorgeous as they were cooking (beautiful color!)
Onions and garlic with beet and chard stems.
Adding the greens.
The greens, pretty much fully cooked. I continued to cook them until the liquid was pretty much dry, because I wanted to be sure the alcohol cooked out and because I didn’t want the greens layer to be soupy and risk it separating when I cut the polenta.
Layering the polenta, greens and cheese. I used smoked mozzarella, because I had no idea what Caciocavallo was and didn’t want to go on a search.
Polenta, after being chilled and cut (before baking.) They are not kidding when they say that this recipe feeds a crowd. This dish would be GREAT for a buffet or potluck or for a light first course (instead of pasta) before the main/meat course.
Jamaican Jerk Chicken (two versions) Gallo Pinto (Congri)
Jamaican Jerk Chicken, from Food & Wine magazine
click here for recipe
I recently bought Food & Wine’s new “Quick from Scratch Chicken” magazine/cookbook (there are lots of versions of this cookbook available from different years, some are hardback and some are magazine-style, but this is BRAND NEW and can be found at a magazine stand – it has an olive green cover with chicken and corn-on-the-cob on the front….I can’t find an online photo) and have been making all sorts of yummy things from it (Chicken with Avgolemono, Pad Thai and I’m planning to make Fusilli with Chicken Sausage and Rustic Garlic Chicken soon).
Well, last night was my brother and sister-in-law’s anniversary and since, due to 2.5 week old Baby Jack Henry, they’re still not back into full-fledged “going out” mode, I offered to make them a nice dinner over here (with the stipulation that they MUST bring the baby, of course!) It wasn’t really 100% intentional (Boy had already seen the recipe in the book and had requested that I make it, so it was already in my “make soon” folder,) but I decided to make this, because Little Brother and his wife went on a cruise to Jamaica (and other destinations) for their honeymoon, so I thought this was fitting for their anniversary.
Boy, was that ever a great idea. This stuff was lip-tinglingly DELICIOUS. It was saucy and moist and flavorful without being butt-kicking spicy. I didn’t do the leg quarters, but instead did some whole, boneless, skinless breasts and some boneless, skinless thighs. I wasn’t sure what the baking time should be, so I just used a thermometer and pulled them out when the temperature registered 175 degrees. Man, oh, man… I sliced the breasts up so that we could all taste a little bit of everything. The thighs absorbed more of the sauce and were a little spicier than the breasts. The allspice flavor was very strong, but not overpowering. If it’s not a spice that you really love, you might want to dial that down just a tiny bit. Boy, this was easy, too. Just blend it all up and then pour it over the chicken and bake. Simple and definitely do-ahead. Perfect if you’re having adventuresome dinner guests. I marinated for 24 hours for maximum flavor and I doubled the sauce, because I was cooking extra chicken pieces. If you don’t want it to be extra saucy and spicy, then I would pour off any excess marinade before baking, or simply remove the chicken pieces to another pan, and then I think the sauce would be more like a glaze, as is in the Food & Wine photo.
For the Congri/Gallo Pinto, I basically followed this recipe, but cooked the beans myself, and added a little epazote and, if you ask Little Brother (although he was polite about it), a bit too much cilantro (to me, there is no such thing as too much cilantro…)
All in all, a delicious and fairly simple dinner. Will definitely be a repeat, although I’ll need to tone down the cayenne for the little people that live with me…
For another kid-friendly Jerk Chicken variation, try this.
Chicken Breasts with Orzo, Carrots, Dill, and Avgolemono Sauce
Chicken Breasts with Orzo, Carrots, Dill and Avgolemono Sauce from Food & Wine magazine
(click here for recipe)
Another dinner that I brought to my brother and sister-in-law, who have a brand new cutie patootie baby.
I actually tripled the recipe that night and also brought dinner to my friend, S., and her family, as S. has been ill. We also had it for dinner at our house. I was looking for something that would be kid-friendly and fairly universally appealing (nothing too strange, unfamiliar or exotic), since I was making it for so many different people. It was a big job (cooking for 12 people!), but this recipe was actually simpler than it seems.
The only modification that I made was to toast the orzo (in a large skillet, over medium-high heat with a TINY bit of olive oil, just until golden-toasty brown, stirring frequently so that it browns evenly) before cooking it. Doing this adds a wonderful, nutty flavor to the finished dish. I really can’t imagine why the instructions skipped this step, because I always do that when I cook orzo. In my mind, it’s not optional. Oh, and I also cut the carrots into “coins,” rather than matchsticks. Here’s a photo of the orzo, pre and post-toasting:
This dinner was quite yummy and definitely something that I will make again. It was a hit for all of the recipients, as well. The avgolemono (basically, just Greek lemon sauce, thickened with egg) sauce was delicious and would be good over asparagus, too. My only issue with the recipe is that because the chicken is simmered for a while in a covered pot, it was a bit difficult to judge when it was done. I have a digital thermometer with a probe that can be attached that will beep to alert you when your food has reached the desired pre-set temperature and it was very helpful in cooking the chicken. When I make this again, however, I might brown the chicken in the pan and then finish it in the oven (again, with the assistance of the thermometer,) just to be sure that the chicken doesn’t overcook and get tough or stringy.