May 12 Dinner Party

Old dear friends who we hadn't seen all winter came over for dinner last night. This is a tough crowd to cater for..a vegetarian, a gluten free, no fruit eater, a shellfish allergy and apparently 3 olive haters...

I debated and fretted over the menu all week.. and after a week of warm hot days, it was cold and rainy.

Gouda w Fig Jam and 5 seed crackers
Stuffed Grape Leaves

Greek Salad
Roasted Asparagus with Lemon and Dill
Roast fingerling potatoes with Coarse Mustard and Parsley
Sauteed Baby Portabello mushrooms with Rosemary, Garlic and Red Wine
Halibut with Kiwi, Avocado and Tangerine Salsa w Pistacheo Oil
BBQ Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Lemon, Rosemary and Garlic

Salsa Recipe
2 kiwis, diced
1 avocado, diced
3 green onions, finely chopped
Juice of 3 tangerines
2 tangerines, segmented
Salt/Pepper
Pistacheo Oil - 2-3 tbsp
Lime Juice - from one lime

Dessert  - Nigella Lawson's Damp Apple and Almond Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

Easy and delicious Gluten Free Cake - amazing crumb like texture w/o any flour.

1 cup applesauce
8 eggs
3 1/4 cups ground almonds
1 3/4 cups superfine sugar (I used granulated)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 10 inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. Wrap bottom outside edge with foil.

Put all ingredients except sliced almonds in food processor and blitz to a puree. Pour into pan and scatter almonds ontop.  Place pan on baking sheet and bake 45 minutes or longer until set and toothpick comes out clean.

Place on cooling rack and remove side of springform. Serve warm or slightly cool.

Can dust with powdered sugar.

I loved it and think it can be easily transformed into a coffee cake with a bit of cinnamon and a crumb topping - that will be it's next incarnation!

2 new chicken recipes

Zippy Chicken

This recipe was passed along from a friend and has become a weekly request from the kids - who love to help to make it!


40z butter

half cup dijon mustard

quarter cup honey

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 lb chicken ( we have used boneless skinless breasts and skinless thighs with great success!)

• Preheat oven to 350.
• 
  
• Place butter in large pyrex baking dish and place in oven to melt as oven preheats.
• 
  
• Remove dish and carefully stir in mustard, honey and curry into a lovely sauce.
• 
  
• Place chicken in sauce and turn to coat.
• 
  
• Return to oven and bake 15 minutes, turn pieces and bake another 10-15 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.
• 
  
• Serve with rice and green beans and be sure to spoon any extra sauce from the dish over the rice.

Italian Stuffed and Wrapped Chicken Breasts

A good friend served these the other night. So simple and delicious!

4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

4 oz fontina cheese, cut into 4 1 oz pieces

16 slices proscuitto ham

8 large basil leaves

• Preheat oven to 350
• 
  
• Season chicken with salt and pepper
• 
  
• Make a slit in each chicken breast and stuff with 1 piece of the cheese and 2 basil leaves.
• 
  
• Place 4 slices of proscuitto overlapping on board and starting with chicken on one end, roll the chicken breast in the proscuitto. Place seam side down in a baking dish.
• 
  
• Drizzle with olive oil and bake about 30 minutes until proscuitto is crisp and cheese has begun oozing from the chicken.

Our friend served it with Lemon risotto cakes and green salad. It was a memorable meal!

A few good recipes

I have been teaching a class for SOS called "Eating Right" directed at low income families to help them prepare delicious low cost nutritious meals for their families. The recipes have been amazing and I thought I'd share :)

Barley Jambalaya

• 1 cup pearl barley
• 4 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium celery stalks
• 1 med green pepper
• 3 med onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 oz turkey smoked sausage
• 1 tbs canola oil
• 2 14 1/2 oz cans diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp black pepper

Method

Rinse barley in colander.

Bring water, bay leaves, and barley to a boil in medium saucepan over high heat.

Reduce heat to low and simmer until tender and water is absorbed (about 45 minutes). Drain excess liquid and set aside. May be prepared ahead and stored in refrigerator.

Dice onions, celery, green pepper and garlic into 1 cm dice.

Slice turkey sausage into 1/2 cm slices.

Heat oil in large soup pot and add vegetable. Saute until soft. Add tomatoes (with juice) and meat. Bring to a boil.

Add spices, cover and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add barley and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Add more water if needed. Cook an additional 5-10 minutes on low simmer to blend flavors.

Serve!

Confetti Pepper Cornbread

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

2/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 (7oz) can chopped green chilies

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup non-fat plain yogurt

1 large egg

non stick spray

Preheat oven to 400F

Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Drain liquid from chilies

Beat egg in medium bowl with fork

Add buttermilk, chiles, and yogurt to egg and mix until smooth

Add liquid to dry ingredients and blend with a mixing spoon until just moist. Small lumps are ok.

Do not overmix.

Coat 9 inch square baking dish with cooking spray and pour in batter.

Place on middle rack of oven and bake for 25 minutes. Cornbread is down when lightly browned on edges and toothpick comes out clean when placed in bread. Cool in pan 10 minutes before serving.

And now for a few of my own!

White Bean Chili

1 lb chicken tenders/boneless breasts.
1 tsp each cayenne pepper, ground coriander, garlic salt, chili powder.
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix spices and oil in a zip lock bag, add chicken to marinate.
Grill or sauté chicken. Slice when cool.

Beans
2 cans white beans
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
1 16oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 tsp Chili powder
2 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Ground coriander
2 cartons chicken stock
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro.


Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent.
Add red pepper and sauté until softened.
Add beans, spices, tomatoes and chicken stock.
Simmer on low heat 15-20 minutes.
Stir in sliced cooked chicken and chopped cilantro.


Cherry Crème Brulee

1 container tofutti cream cheese
½ cup plain soy creamer
2 tsp powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1 can dark cherries in syrup
½ cup red wine

Mix cream cheese, soy creamer, sugar and almond extract with hand mixer until smooth. Place in fridge.

Place cherries with half of syrup in saucepan with red wine. Boil and reduce liquid by half. Cool.

Place a ¼ of cherry mixture in bottom of ramekin.

Top with crème. Sprinkle with brown sugar and use torch to brulee.
Can also use broiler on high – it will take longer

Spinach Strudel - Great for lunch with a salad!

Spinach Filling

1 shallot, finely diced
1 apple diced
½ cup raisins
2 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in pan and sautee shallot until soft.
Add spinach and soften.
Add apple, raisin and seasoning.
Cool.

4 sheets Phyllo
2 tbsp butter, melted
(or for lowest fat, use non stick cooking spray)

Preheat oven to 400.
Place Phyllo sheet on baking sheet and brush with butter, layer all four sheets.
Place spinach filling down the middle. Fold up short ends and roll lengthways. Flip on baking sheet so seam is facing down. Use knife to score 10 servings, at an angle down the strudel.
Brush with butter (or cooking spray) and bake 20 minutes until phyllo is brown.

Adventures in Brining (November 2009)

This Thanksgiving we ordered a scrumptious turkey from spinellis, Red Bird, not frozen...the question was to brine or not. I was a little skeptical and afraid....where does one put a 18lb turkey soaking in a salty mess to keep cold. The weather gods smiled and gave us a night time high of 35 so Tom turkey sat in his saline and cider bath out in the garage. I fished him out early the next morning and buttered him up and popped him in the oven. OOOOhhhh he browned beautifully...ooohhhh he smelled outrageously good. He came out and rested for a good 45 minutes and as I began to carve, he simply gave way, the meat falling of the bones (in a good succulent way, not dry nasty way..) Rather than carve, it became a pull apart mission as I arranged the meat on the platter. The first bite was subline. Turkey taste, moist and succulent meat that literally melted in your mouth.

A fall of Colorado Bounty....(written in January)

There has been alot of cooking chez Rogers and very little writing, ahem...so without further ado...

In September we acquired a 1/4 of a very Happy Cow from Rusk Ranches. It was quite a scene on a friend's lawn, a group of men in business suits and their wives, slinging around frozen packages of beef marked roast, stew, rump and the most coveted..ribeye, sirloin, tenderloin into the assortment of coolers hauled out from cars and basements to relay the precious cargo in pristine condition. Even frozen, I could tell we were in for a treat.

The kids who seem to subsist on hamburgers and tacos these days were particularly happy to see the mountains of ground beef....and I was happy knowing there was no scary stuff mixed in.

Beef was for dinner at our house....



top Sirloin, grilled and sliced



ribeye steaks seasoned with salt and seared on the grill



Stew Meat transformed to ethereal melting bliss in the form of Julia Child's Boeuf Bourgignon



But, too much meat makes Jack a dull boy so it was time to bring in the birds....



Trey has been shooting birds..dove and pheasant and the freezer was bursting full of their sweet, tiny shrink wrapped bodies....Dove Fest (or how many was to cook a Dove) was born



Dove Kebabs - breast meat skewered with onions, peppers and pickled jalepenos wrapped in bacon, marinated in Italian dressing and grilled.



Dove Casserole - Cream of mushroom soup, lots of sherry, green beans and fried onions - oh yeah and big chunks of dove.... so utterly american/Betty Crocker esque and so delicious... did I mention lots of sherry???



Fried Dove with Garlic Aioli - breadcrumb coated dove breast fried until crispy and served with a garlicky slick of aioli. bliss..



Neighbors and friends joind the festivities, each had their favorite preparation but to a t, each said they never knew dove could be so good!



New years eve day had Trey out shooting pheasants...between 5 guns they brought home 46 birds...you guessed it, Pheasant Fest



Above kebab with Pheasant



Pheasant Casserole this time with reising, orange juice, china tea, pecans and white grapes. Sounds weird but is absolutely divine...



Pheasant in Cream Sauce (puns about Creamed Pheasants abound!)



Rotisserie smoked pheasant wrapped in bacon. yup, it was delish!



Side dishes..

Potato, sweet potato bake

Blue cheese stuffed mushrooms

Mushroom Risotto

Green salad



Sherry Cherry Trifle for dessert... it was definitely a fest!!!



Happy cows and birds from Colorado have filled our bellies and our hearts. We are so grateful... it really does taste better when it comes from somewhere close to home. The Beef Bourgingnon was made with local garlic, onions, mushrooms and parsley. Can't beat it!



So, I have been cooking up a storm but not writing about it....can you hear the resolutions ringing in my ears?

Satisfying Summer Salad

2 grilled chicken breasts, diced
2 cups grilled zucchini, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 pt roasted cherry tomatoes
4 tbs fresh dill, chopped
1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
2 tbs Olive oil
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese


Toss all ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper. Place on top of fresh greens.

Julia's awesome chutney

So, I am moonlighting at Occasions by Sandy Catering as a back captain. Julia is the amazing chef running lots of their events and last night headed up a kosher buffet for 300. Great food and I was blown away by this particular chutney. Here is a guesstimation of the recipe??? How technical is that? At Occasions, the chutney is a garnish atop a tandoori chicken popadom. As a good British condiment, I think it would pair beautifully with grilled chicken or pork or a meaty fish....

Coconut Mango Chutney

4 ripe mangos, peeled and pitted
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup red onion
1 jalapeno
1 cup craisins/dried cranberries
salt and pepper
2 tbsps white wine vinegar
lime juice


Whizz mango flesh, onion, jalapeno, salt and pepper and vinegar. Fold in coconut and craisins. Hit with a squeeze of fresh lime juice if the mood strikes you.