2015 begins!!

2015 begins!!

I'm such an inconsistent blogger that I expect my blog to be gone when I check in.  Now that I'm retired maybe I'll be better at it?  I was retired in July (6 months ago) which was my last post so maybe not!  Denis and I have truly been enjoying cooking more than ever and I've missed posting some fabulous meals.  Last night for dinner we had dry-rubbed baby back ribs, Southern-style green beans with ham hock and, because we've had so many potatoes lately, Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce.  I have no idea what Denis did to those ribs but they were wonderful.  i'm also going to do a better job of following him around in the kitchen and documenting his cooking.

An FYI, Fresh Market (http://www.thefreshmarket.com) has some fabulous deals on meat and other items.  Yesterday we bought baby back ribs for $6.99 a a pound and sashimi grade tune was $10 for two seven ounce fillets.  Those ribs were the meatiest best ribs we've had in a very long time.  Sadly no pictures but I wanted to post the recipe for the pasta.  It's worth it to roast the garlic and keep a stash in the refrigerator.  It lasts for up to a month and adds so much flavor.  If you haven't roasted garlic before, try it.  Roasting takes all the harsh flavors away and leaves a creamy nutty yummy paste.

Master Recipe for Roasted Garlic Puree

Recipe By: CooksIllustrated.com

Yield: 1 cup

Summary: 

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

Many roasted garlic recipes recommend drizzling garlic with olive oil, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and tossing it in the oven but we found this method to be unreliable and it also sometimes gave the garlic a bitter taste. One reason garlic can be tricky to roast is that it is relatively dry. To add some moisture to the garlic in our roasted garlic recipe, we poached it in milk, producing a final product that was beautifully golden in color and perfectly tender.

Ingredients:

4 heads garlic

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons olive oil or melted butter

Directions:

1. 1. Loosen papery outside skin by rolling each head of garlic back and forth across a cutting surface; rub away loose skin. Cut off about 1/2 inch from tip end of each garlic head with a sharp knife, so that most clove interiors are exposed and garlic heads sit straight (see illustration 1, below).

2. 2. Place garlic heads, cut side down, in a medium saucepan. Add milk and bring to simmer. Poach garlic over low heat, until softened slightly, about 10 minutes. Drain garlic (reserve milk if making Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce, see related recipe) and rinse under cold running water to remove milk residue.

3. 3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 head of garlic in the center of an 8-inch square of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over the garlic. Gather the corners of the foil over garlic; twist to seal. Repeat with remaining heads of garlic and oil.

4. 4. Roast garlic packets in a small baking dish until garlic is very soft, about 1 hour. Let packets cool. Remove from foil. Squeeze out softened garlic by hand or with the flat edge of a chef’s knife, starting from the root end of the head and working down (see illustrations 2 and 3, below). Transfer garlic puree to a small bowl. Mash garlic with a fork or with the back of a wooden spoon to fully puree, if desired. Continue with one of the following recipes, or store puree in a small jar; top with olive oil. (The puree can be stored at room temperature for 1 week or refrigerated up to 1 month.) 

Notes:

Use this roasted garlic paste as you would use minced raw garlic -- in salad dressings, pasta sauces, and salsa. You can grill the garlic as well -- just cook the packets, covered, over a medium-hot fire about one hour, or two hours over slow coals

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR ROASTED GARLIC

1. Before poaching the garlic, slice off about one-half inch from the top of the head, making sure that the tips of almost all the cloves are exposed.

2. After poaching and roasting, you can easily press the softened cloves out of their skins with the back of a knife.

3. It is equally easy, if slightly messier, to remove the cloves from their skins by pushing up from the root end of the garlic head with your fingers.

Linguine with Garlic Cream Sauce

Recipe By: CooksIllustrated.com

Yield: Serves 4-6

Summary: 

Why this recipe works:

Many roasted garlic recipes recommend drizzling garlic with olive oil, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and tossing it in the oven but we found this method to be unreliable and it also sometimes gave the garlic a bitter taste. One reason garlic can be tricky to roast is that it is relatively dry. To add some moisture to the garlic in our roasted garlic recipe, we poached it in milk—producing a final product that was beautifully golden in color and perfectly tender.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (reserved from garlic poaching)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

1/4 cup roasted garlic puree

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and ground black pepper

1 lb. linguine

Directions:

1. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large soup kettle.

2. Bring milk, cream, red pepper, and oregano to boil in a medium saucepan; simmer, whisking constantly, until milk mixture reduces by half. Lower heat; whisk in garlic puree until sauce emulsifies slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste; cover and keep warm.

3. Meanwhile add 1 tablespoon salt and the linguine to the boiling water; boil until linguine is just tender, 7 to 9 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking water. Toss linguine with sauce. If the sauce is too thick to coat pasta evenly, add the cooking water 1 tablespoon at a time. Serve with additional finely grated Parmesan and ground black pepper. 

Notes:

Although this pasta dish is not totally cream-free, the garlic puree (see related recipe) and poaching milk make appealing and tasty substitutes for the amounts of cream and butter usually found in standard Alfredo-style sauces.

Hutton's (late) birthday!

Charlotte & Ben were in North Carolina on the actual date so we celebrated after they got back to Rochester.  It was a beautiful night so we got to dine al fresco! 

One of our family favorites is a Low Country Boil".  It's a one pot meal that pleases everybody and is wonderful when we have company at the beach.  For this party, the pool was enough to make us feel "coastal".  Denis never uses a recipe but I'll attempt to give you some guidelines with his help.

Denis' Low Country Boil

(Denis' notes about his recipe will be posted soon)

 As for the birthday cake, this year it's Coconut Cream Pie.  Tracy wanted a pie and requested coconut.  It's one of a limited list of desserts that I actually love.  I've never attempted one so I counted on Cooks to help me out.  They are my go to and rarely fail me.  This time was no exception.  Tracy and I read the recipe and were a little uncertain about the animal cracker crust but decided it sounded good and so why not?  

Coconut Cream Pie

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated

Crust:

6 ounces animal crackers

2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Filling:

1 (13 1/2-ounce) can coconut milk

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

3/8 teaspoon table salt

5 large egg yolks

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped Cream and Garnish:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (cold)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted in a small dry skillet until golden brown

Directions:

1. 1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. In food processor, pulse animal crackers, coconut, and sugar to fine crumbs, eighteen to twenty 1-second pulses; then process until powdery, about 5 seconds. Transfer crumbs to medium bowl and add butter; stir to combine until crumbs are evenly moistened. Empty crumbs into 9-inch glass pie plate; using bottom of ramekin or 1/2 cup dry measuring cup, press crumbs evenly into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake until fragrant and medium brown, about 15 minutes, rotating pie shell halfway through baking time. Set on wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

2. 2. For the filling: Bring coconut milk, whole milk, shredded coconut, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Following illustrations 1 through 6, whisk yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisking constantly, gradually ladle about 1 cup hot milk mixture over yolk mixture; whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add remaining milk mixture to yolk mixture in 3 or 4 additions; whisk well to combine. Return mixture to saucepan and cook until thickened and mixture reaches boil, whisking constantly, about 1 minute; filling must boil in order to fully thicken. (To determine whether filling has reached boil, stop whisking; large bubbles should quickly burst on surface.) Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla until butter is fully incorporated. Pour hot filling into cooled pie shell and smooth surface with rubber spatula; press plastic wrap directly against surface of filling and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours.

3. 3. For the whipped cream: Just before serving, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer until soft peaks form, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Top pie with whipped cream and then sprinkle with coconut. Cut pie into wedges and serve.

Taco night (Rochester)

There aren't any recipes because I'm not following Denis around but ..... the meal was good and too pretty not to document!  The soup had a slightly savory, slightly spicy base from chicken stock.  One left over grilled ear of corn some black beans and some toasted tortilla strips.  I do know that we didn't have corn tortillas so he experimented with corn chips as a thickener.

The tacos were equally good.  Grilled steak, radishes, lettuce and a mango, tomato, onion, jalapeño, poblano, salsa that was relish!  I truly am going to start documenting some of this great food.

4th of July in Rochester

Happy 4th from Rochester, MN! 

Denis and I have the house to ourselves this weekend. Charlotte and Ben are spending some time in NC with family and friends and Hutton is watching fireworks with Darin and Spencer. We hung out by the pool and then Denis got busy on the grill. His ribs were fabulous - there's rarely a recipe! One of my retirement goals was to follow him around with pen in hand and record the details but sometimes it's more fun just to be in the moment. This was one of those times. My recipes, sources and notes are posted below.

Minnesota pool boy!

The pool is 76 degrees - COLD!

Perfection!

Rotini Pasta with Summer Vegetables and Red Wine Vinaigrette

Recipe By: The Family Flavor (cookbook)by Whitney Ingram 

Serving Size: 8

Summary:

A fresh pasta salad recipe loaded with summer vegetables and tossed with a flavorful red wine vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

1 lb. rotini pasta, cooked according to package directions

1 seedless cucumber, quartered lengthwise and chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 bunch green onions, diced

8 ounces grape tomatoes, halved

1 15 ounce can black olives, drained

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 4 ounce package crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta, drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Drain very well and pour pasta into a large bowl. Stir in cucumbers, red bell peppers, green onions, grape tomatoes and black olives. Set aside. 2. In a medium bowl, combine red wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. Whisk well. While whisking, slowly pour in olive oil. Whisk in parsley. Pour vinaigrette over pasta and vegetables. Stir well. Fold in feta cheese. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve chilled.

Notes:

I will make this over and over again. I didn't add the feta or parsley - had both but decided against the feta and then forget the parsley!  Doesn't need either but they would be good if you're in the mood or have on hand.

Classic Apple and Blue Cheese Salad

Recipe By: MyRecipes.com

Serving Size: 6

Cooking Light

JANUARY 2003

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 cups torn Bibb lettuce leaves (about 2 heads)

1 cup chopped Granny Smith apple

2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

1 tablespoon chopped toasted walnuts

Directions:

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add lettuce and remaining ingredients, tossing gently to coat.

Notes:

Nice, easy and a very good  accompaniment for a BBQ.  Things I would do differently - we had apples on hand so I used a sweet apple that I decided to grate rather than chop.   It was good but I'd definitely use a Granny Smith and chop or use small slices next time. I dressed the salad before serving and wished I hadn't.  Next time I'll double the dressing, dress everything but the apples, walnuts and blue cheese and then add them to the salad and serve extra dressing on the side.  I used a little too much blue cheese and a little too many walnuts - more is not always better.  Having said all that it really was delicious and will be even better next time.  A salad that Denis likes is always a winner in our house (or wherever we happen to be!).

Things change

I'm up early - probably anxious about our appointments at Mayo today. We're meeting with almost every specialist that will be part of our battle against Hutton's breast cancer. This morning I glanced at my blog and realized I haven't cooked in almost two weeks. Hutton's neighbors, friends, and colleagues have brought us meals almost every day. When we don't have something new waiting, there are fabulous leftovers in the fridge or freezer. Our lives have been made so much easier by this outpouring of love.

There are some things we've learned about giving in times like this that I want to mention for all of us to refer back to when we have friends of family facing challenges.

1. All giving is good. It doesn't matter what it is, the fact that you cared enough to realize how important small or large gestures are mean everything to families during difficult times.

2. People in Rochester seem to know that when you take food to a family, take a little bit extra and provide a whole meal. Our meals have almost always included a salad, bread, main course, dessert and even drinks. A bottle of wine or special soft drinks are a really nice touch.

3. Receiving a fresh salad whether it's a fruit salad or a traditional salad taste amazing when you've been running to doctors or spend the day at the hospital. It's peak strawberry time in Rochester and we have had strawberries at almost every meal. A simple salad of strawberries, cantaloupes and grapes are perfect. We had a Greek salad one night and it lasted for a couple of days and tasted delicious. Just feta, cucumbers, tomatoes and kalamata olives tossed with a vinaigrette - perfect because it's still good the next day.

4. Some of our favorites have been chicken salad, vegetable soup, and bbq - which we turned into bbq nachos for two additional meals.

5. Desserts are wonderful, especially if you can freeze the leftovers. Brownies are just about the perfect treat.

So the lesson is give something you would love to receive. If you don't have time to cook, buy some bbq or fresh fruit and know that it will be appreciated.

Fast food at home!

This meal came together really fast because Charlotte helped me get it all prepped and ready to go. I roasted some cauliflower and broccoli earlier in the day. We had great plans to cook healthy all week but doctor appointments kept getting in the way!

To roast the broccoli and cauliflower, I just used the florets from a head of each. I did 3 batches one at a time but could have done 2 at a time without a problem. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put the florets in a bowl and drizzle oil over, tossing as you work with salt and pepper. Do this until all florets have a little oil on them. Scatter on a baking sheet but don't crowd the pan or they won't get toasted. Roast for 10 minutes and then turn florets over and roast for 10 minutes more. Serve it up!

Creamy Orzo with Asparagus & Parmesan
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Recipe By: Sugar & Spice by Celeste

Summary:

5.2014 - Dinner in Rochester. Served with Chicken Piccata

Ingredients:

1 cup orzo
1 cup asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/4 to 1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large sauce pan of water (filled about halfway) to a boil over medium heat. Cook the orzo until tender, about 10 minutes.

2. After the orzo has been cooking for about 5 minutes, add the asparagus to the same pot (this will allow the orzo and asparagus to cook in the same pot and keep the clean-up to a minimum!).

3. Once the orzo and asaparagus are cooked and tender, drain and return to the pot.

4. Quickly add the parmesan cheese and butter. Stir thoroughly, allowing both the cheese and butter to melt. Slowly add the cream to the mixture, while stirring. Continue to stir and add cream until you reach your desired consistency.

5. Season with salt and pepper.

Chicken Piccata
Recipe By: Giada De Laurentiis
Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
1/3 cup fresh parsley (I don't think this adds anything), chopped

Directions:

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate. Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.

3. Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

Back on the blog

It's hard to believe that I haven't looked at this blog in over a year and that I'm finally retired and will spend a little time spiffing the site up so my children and grandchildren will enjoy it more. That will happen later. I'm in Rochester to be with Tracy and the kids while we wait for the results of her biopsy and find out what we need to do to rid her body of cancer. I'm sure the recipes will change some as we learn what foods are the best for her to have and what tastes good as she goes through her treatments. Tonight was all about comfort food. Tracy has made this recipe before and really want4ed to have it while I was here. I honestly don't know if I've ever had a roast chicken this delicious and moist. This is one of Jamie Oliver's recipes and I can't wait to make it for Denis and the rest of the family.

Recipe By: Jamie Oliver

Serving Size: 4

Summary: 5 Stars A slightly odd but really fantastic combination that must be tried

Ingredients: 1 (3 pound/ 1.5 kilogram) organic chicken Salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 ounces (115 grams) or 1 stick butter 1/2 cinnamon stick 1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked 2 lemons, zested 6 garlic cloves, skin left on 1 pint (565 milliliters) milk

Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C/gas 5), and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over with salt and pepper, and fry it in the butter, turning the chicken to get an even color all over, until golden. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the butter left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan, which will give you a lovely caramel flavor later on. 2. Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce, which is absolutely fantastic. 3. To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it on to your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato