Recipes

Ingredients
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced about ¹⁄₄-inch thick
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375*F. 

2. Toss the sliced potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Arrange potato slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet or two.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and cooked through.

Comments
This recipe is from the blog Bless Her Heart.  I chose it so I could try out my new mandolin for slicing the potatoes and it worked very well once I got the hang of it.  Some of the potatoes were a bit uneven, which is why they’re not evenly browned in the picture.  These were tasty and I’ll be making them again in the future to try to get them perfect. 

Shown here with Pan Seared Salmon with Crème Fraîche.

Internet - Bless Her Heart

Ingredients
1-2 cups small pasta (I used penne.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¹⁄₄ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¹⁄₄ teaspoon kosher salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¹⁄₄ cup bread crumbs
¹⁄₄ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400*F. 

2. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 minute less than recommended by the package. Drain pasta and place into a large mixing bowl.

3. Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered or greased 8 by 8-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Comments
This recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis and I first made it when I needed simple dishes to make in other people’s kitchens.  This recipe is very basic and simple, but it’s also hearty, warming, and filling.  Any small pasta will work and I recommend using a baking dish with high sides.  You could add more seasoning by using diced tomatoes that have spices added, or adding some Italian seasoning, or anything else that you’d like.

Internet - Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
6 ounces crème fraîche (I used the storebought kind.)
2 tablespoons white wine

Instructions
1. Pat salmon dry with paper towels and season well with salt and pepper.  Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and place salmon skin side down in skillet.  Cook for 3-5 minutes per side, or until salmon flakes easily with a fork and is done.  Remove salmon to a paper towel lined plate, skin side up to keep the skin crisp. 

2. Drain the oil from the pan, add in butter and reduce heat to low.  Once butter is melted, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add parsley, crème fraîche, and wine.  Cook, stirring, until combined. 

3. Serve salmon topped with crème fraîche sauce. 

Comments
For those of you following along at home, this was supposed to be Pan Seared Salmon with Sautéed Spinach and Crème Fraîche following the recipe from Chase Blackwell’s blog.  I had all the ingredients out.  I seared the salmon, removed it from the pan, switched out oil for butter, cooked the garlic until fragrant, and then dumped in my container of spinach. 

And then, once the spinach was all in the skillet, I started noticing that there were ladybug-size bugs on it.  Yuck.  Since the spinach was already wilting, I decided that I couldn’t really take it back out of the skillet and wash it properly, so I opted to get out another skillet and make the sauce shown here. 

The moral of this story is always wash produce! 

Thankfully the salmon with the sauce turned out lovely, but I sure do wish there had been spinach as well.  I guess this just means I’ll have to make the dish again in the future. 

Shown here with Super Simple Oven Potatoes.

Internet - Chase Blackwell

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 2” thick NY strip steak, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
8 ounces mushroom, sliced
1 wedge brie, rind removed (I use the kind that comes without the rind and has herbs.  Yum.)
¹⁄₂ cup white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 sandwich rolls, split and toasted

Instructions
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat.  Add onion and cook, stirring, until browned. 

2. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they have released their liquid and started to brown.  Add the sliced steak and continue to cook until steak is almost done.  Add wine and scrap up any browned bits in the bottom of the skillet.  Reduce heat to low and add brie.  Cook, stirring, until the cheese has melted and the meat and mushrooms are coated.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

3. Spread onions over one side of roll, top with meat mixture and the other side of roll. 

Comments
Once upon a time I was sick of steaks.  I still enjoyed cow, I just got tired of only having it in the form of a slab of meat.  I dreamed this recipe up to use up some steaks in the freezer and it was delicious enough that I hang on to it.  I find that it’s best to eat this with a knife and fork.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
For the mushrooms
2 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons shallot, minced
5 tablespoons leeks, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped
¹⁄₂ teaspoon thyme
5 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps finely chopped
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons fresh chives, minced
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For assembly
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon thyme
4 (6 ounces each) filet mignons
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons milk or half and half

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425*F. 

2. Make the mushrooms: Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 10-inch skillet. Stir in the shallots, leeks, and garlic. Cook over low heat until translucent, 5 minutes.

3. Add the mushrooms and the thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushroom liquid has evaporated and the mixture is just moist, 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.

4. Add the remaining 1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons butter to the skillet, and stir in the shiitake mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until they have released their moisture, 5 minutes.

5. Pour off any juices that have accumulated in the bowl, and add the shiitakes to the mushroom mixture. Stir well, and season with the chives, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

6. Assemble the wellingtons: Toss the pepper, salt, and thyme in a small bowl. Rub the filet on all sides with the mustard, and then sprinkle the spice mixture over them.

7. Melt the butter in a small skillet, and sear the filet on all sides, about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

8. Arrange the filet on a baking sheet, and cover them with the mushrooms.

9. Cut out four 4- to 5-inch circles of pastry. Drape each over one of the filets, and pinch the edges in four or five places to enclose the filets. Blend the egg and milk, and brush this glaze over the pastry. Decorate the tops with cutouts made from pastry trimmings, if desired.

10. Bake 15 minutes for medium-rare. Serve immediately. 

Comments
I’m not sure how I managed to screw up the focus in this picture, but I did.  Oops. 

This recipe is from The New Basics Cookbook.  I’ve been interested in making Beef Wellington for forever and finally decided to try it.  Sadly, this method is not the right one for me.  The meat in the wellington pictured is rare and the pastry wasn’t fully cooked, so I let the other three bake for longer.  After cooking for 5 minutes longer the meat was finished, but the pastry was still not fully cooked.  So tweak number one will probably involve only searing the meat on one side before baking so I can give it more time in the oven. 

The second thing I realized is that I really dislike shiitake mushrooms.  I guess this ruins my foodie cred, but I prefer regular domestic button mushrooms.  I feel like shiitake leave a weird taste in my mouth for hours after eating them and I’m not a fan.  Next time, I’ll use all button mushrooms instead of a mix. 

All of that said, I would like to try these again.  Someday.

New Basics Cookbook

Ingredients
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup flour
Olive oil
2 tablespoons kosher salt or 1 tablespoon table salt
1 can (12 ounces) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (I used Minute Maid No Pulp, use something that isn’t very pulpy.)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (I used some exotic honey vinegar balsamic, but any would work well.)
6 tablespoons ketchup

Instructions
1. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.  Dredge the chicken in flour and shake off the excess.  Heat olive oil in large skillet and brown the chicken on all sides.  (The chicken does not need to be fully cooked, that will happen in the slow cooker.)

2. Place the chicken in slow cooker.  In a small bowl, mix together kosher salt, orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, and ketchup.  Pour sauce over chicken and toss gently to coat. 

3. Cover and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or HIGH for 3-4.  Serve with rice. 

Comments
This recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking and I was worried, as I was putting it together, that it was going to end up being entirely too sweet.  Thankfully, it wasn’t at all!  The flavor was nice and I’d say this is one of the better slow cooker recipes I’ve made in the recent past.  I served it with rice and some sautéed broccoli. 

I did find that the recipe generated quite a lot of sauce.  Maybe next time I should use more chicken?  Or reduce the sauce ingredients?  There was way too much sauce.  I also felt that a few of the chicken pieces were overcooked.  I think this might be resolved by stirring during the cooking or by cooking for less time.

Internet - A Year of Slow Cooking

Ingredients
For the croutons
4 tablespoons olive oil (Garlic olive oil if you’ve got it!  Consider adding minced or pressed garlic if you don’t.)
3 cups Italian or French bread, cut in ³⁄₄-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
_
For the dressing_
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dry mustard
¹⁄₂ cup olive oil

3-4 heads romaine lettuce, cut or torn into bite-sized pieces
Parmesan cheese, shredded, grated or shaved

Instructions
1. Make the croutons: Preheat the oven to 350°F.  In a large bowl toss the bread cubes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.   Spread them on a baking sheet, and bake them in the middle of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden. The croutons may be made 1 day in advance and kept in an airtight container.

2. Make the dressing: Place all dressing ingredients in a container and blend with an immersion blender until thick and emulsified.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  (You could mince everything and whisk it while slowly adding the olive oil as well, but immersion blenders are so much fun.) 

3. In a large bowl, toss the romaine with the croutons and dressing until the salad is well combined.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and extra pepper to taste. 

Comments
I admit, my normal method of Caesar salad making involves a jar of salad dressing, a package of croutons, and a bag of lettuce.  However, with my HFCS intolerance, it becomes hard to find salad dressings and bread products that are HFCS free so I just haven’t made Caesar salad in quite a while.  Since I also like reducing the processed foods in our lives when I’m able to I to find a recipe on Epicurious.com instead of resorting to my normal methods. 

This is an eggless recipe which is nice for the people who avoid raw eggs.  I don’t avoid raw eggs, but I also don’t avoid recipes that sound tasty!  This was a really nice salad.  The amount of dressing was great for the 3 heads of romaine I had, each piece of lettuce was perfectly dressed.  The croutons were garlicky and crisp.  The dressing itself was extremely flavorful and peppery.  This is definitely a good salad to serve for company when you don’t have a stockpile of different salad dressings.  (This is the reason I used to always make Caesar salads for company, since I never had a good selection of salad dressings so it was better to serve a salad that I could dress myself!)

Internet - Epicurious

Ingredients
12 ounces pre-cooked sausage, chopped (I used Aidell’s Garlic and Artichoke Sausages.)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (15 ounces each) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6-8 sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced (I used the sort that are packed in oil with Italian herbs.)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and garlic is fragrant.  Stir in sausage and cook until heated through. 

2. Pour sausage mixture into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.  Stir well and serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled. 

Comments
I love chickpeas.  I love a lot of things, but chickpeas are close to the top of the list.  When I saw this recipe on the blog Dishing Up Delights I figured it would be just the sort of dish that would make a great lunch since it’s full of many flavors and proteins. 

This was extremely quick and easy to bring together, especially using pre-cooked sausages.  It took less than 15 minutes from start to finish.  The original recipe says to serve this warm, but I think it’s pretty scrumptious when it’s cold.  This makes a great, light, and flavor-packed meal.

Internet - Dishing Up Delights

Ingredients
2 ¹⁄₂ cups pecan halves
¹⁄₂ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and place near the stovetop. 

2. Using a rubber spatula, stir together sugar, oil, and vinegar in a medium-sized saucepan set over medium heat. Continue stirring until sugar melts and mixture begins to bubble. 

3. Add pecans and stir to coat.  Continue cooking and stirring 5-6 minutes until pecans are toasted and evenly coated with syrup. 

4. Turn pecan mixture onto prepared baking sheet and use forks to separate and spread pecans into a single layer.  Allow to cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container.

Comments
This recipe is from the blog Cook Like a Champion.  I always find nuts to be a lovely and relatively light dessert when company is over and I’m always looking for new ways to use my beloved balsamic vinegar.  Of course, I had intended to make this with some dark chocolate balsamic vinegar when I read the recipe but I managed to complete forget this while actually cooking.  This just means that I’ll be forced to make this recipe again.  I have such a hard life. 

These were super flavorful and just the right amount of sweet.  The only downside is that they’re pretty sticky even when fully cooled and not at all braces friendly!  I do believe that this would work equally well with different nuts such as almonds or walnuts.

Internet - Cook Like a Champion

Ingredients
For béarnaise butter:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons shallot, minced
¹⁄₂ teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
¹⁄₈ teaspoon salt

4 (1-inch-thick) steaks (The original recipe calls for rib-eye, but this would work well for any good cut of meat.)
Vegetable oil for steaks

Instructions
1. In a small bowl, mix together butter, tarragon, shallot, lemon juice, and salt.  Transfer to a sheet of wax paper.  Using wax paper as an aid, shape butter into a 4-inch-long log and wrap.  Chill butter for at least 1 hour and up to 5 days. 

2. Prepare grill.

3. Bring steaks to room temperature and rub lightly with oil. Season steaks with salt and pepper and grill 3-4 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness are achieved.

4. Serve steaks topped with slices of bèarnaise butter.

Comments
When we found out we’d be having company over for dinner, Art suggested that we grill.  Remembering that my butcher now carries rib-eyes, I found this recipe for rib-eye steaks, Art’s favorite cut, at Epicurious.com.  Sadly, even though I ordered rib-eyes, I believe that I got strip steaks instead.  Sad. 

However all was not lost!  This recipe worked fantastically for strip steaks and the butter was fantastic.  While a good steak truly needs nothing, a little butter never did any harm.  (And Béarnaise butter is a whole lot easier to make than Béarnaise Sauce!)

Shown here with Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Internet - Epicurious