Cinco de Mayo Celebration

I'm not quite sure of the cultural significance behind the "Cinco de Mayo" holiday, but I celebrated it with a good friend anyway! Brandy (BLLT for you CG folks) and I enjoyed several new dishes, all of which I would repeat - - holiday or not.

We began with  some of Bobby Flay's Red Sangria. I cut the recipe in half since it was just the two of us and I had to drive home after our celebration. I used a bottle of "Simple Life" pinot noir, which is available at HEB. Also, I substituted limes for the lemons and added blackberries to the mix. The end result was delicious. Get the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/red-sangria-recipe/index.html

We're both fans of chips & dips, so we made two versions to accompany tortilla chips. First, we made Paula Deen's Roasted Corn, Pepper and Black Bean Salsa. This time, we followed the recipe exactly. In hindsight, it would have been better to make the salsa ahead of time and let it sit for an hour or two so the flavors had a chance to blend. Click here for the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/roasted-corn-pepper-and-black-bean-salsa-recipe/index.html

Second, we made Boudro's Famous Guacamole, substituting the serrano peppers for jalepeno peppers to lower the heat factor. I've visited the restaurant and enjoyed their tableside guacamole several times and this recipe nails it perfectly! Try it for yourself: http://www.food.com/recipe/boudros-famous-guacamole-riverwalk-san-antonio-406110

After baking some salmon filets, we rounded out the meal with Betty Crocker's Quick Mix Chocolate Cookies, joined by mixed berries and whipped cream on the side. The recipe is SUPER easy and available here: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/quick-mix-chocolate-cookies/b181b72f-4126-4796-b851-e2be6b33a440#?st=6&term=quick mix chocolate cookies&ps=9&pi=9

Attached below are photos of our desert plating skills. Enjoy!
~ Jennifer

 

Meat n' Potatoes

I stayed true to my fellow bloggers and assembled dinner using a couple of their recipes. I started with a creation of my own: spring mix lettuce topped with tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts and mozzarella cheese marinated in red wine vinaigrette. The main course was none other than meat n' potatoes - perfect for a Sunday dinner!

Soy Marinated Flank Steak - This recipe was previously posted by Ceci. I followed her advice and the result was delicious! I've never made flank steak before and I rarely grill, but this recipe is SO worth it.

Roasted Potatoes - I obtained this recipe from Bill during one of my visits to the LBO. He's not posted it to the blog, so I'll do him the favor. Wait, he hasn't posted anything on the blog! I digress...

     1 bag small gold potatoes

     1/2 bunch fresh rosemary

     Olive oil

     Salt & Pepper

Half the potatoes (quarter the larger ones) and place in a gallon sized ziploc bag. Drizzle with olive oil. Chop the rosemary leaves; add to the bag and shake. Line cookie sheet with non-stick foil. Place potatoes on cookie sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle generously with salt & pepper. (I also dotted mine with a little butter - YUM). Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

The meal was super easy to prepare. For once, I spent more time enjoying the meal than preparing it! Until next time...

~ Jennifer

Perfecting Pasta

Thanks to a good friend/co-worker, I've been turned on to cooking classes sponsored by Sur La Table. Last night we made four tasty pasta dishes in the span of 2 hours, but the "Penne with Asparagus, Sage and Peas" was my favorite by far! I was skeptical of the sage, which I typically avoid like the plague, but was pleasantly surprised by the flavor it added to the dish. This will definately be a regular showing in my own kitchen!

Penne with Asparagus, Sage and Peas (Serves 4)

   1/2 pound dried penne pasta

   2 tablespoons olive oil

   3 garlic cloves, minced

   1 pound fresh asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

   2 cups chicken stock

   2 cups frozen baby peas, thawed

   1/4 cup heavy cream

   2 tablespoons butter

   1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

   1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook the penne; drain, toss with a little olive oil so it doesn't stick, and set aside.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil on med/low heat. Add garlic and asparagus; cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally so garlic doesn't brown. Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to medium, and boil for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the peas and cream; boil for 3 minutes. Add the cooked penne; stir and heat through. Stir in the butter, sage, and cheese. Season with salt & pepper. Serve and enjoy!!!

A good time was had by all...

Sherrie, I wish you lived closer!  Jennifer, Bill, Michelle and I had dinner at my house the other night and had a great time.  Here is a "threefer" highlighting all the evening's dishes.

As promised in my last flank-straveganza post, here is my mom's famous flank steak recipe.  She didn't make it up (she used to say all her recipes were stolen), but this is closely associated with her because she made it for so many lucky people over 40 years.  If I had to guess, I think the original could have come from Sunset magazine.

First, savor the picture, then I'll tell you how to make it:

Sue's Stolen Marinated Flank Steak

• 1 flank steak
• 4 Tb soy sauce
• 4 Tb fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp celery seed (not celery salt!)
• 1/2 c green onions, sliced green and white parts
• 1/4 c salad oil (not olive, it'll burn)

Mix all ingredients in a Ziploc bag, press the air out when sealing, and marinate in the refrigerator overnight flipping the bag a few times. Barbecue on medium heat 8-10 minutes a side. Slice thinly on the diagonal.  You can easily double the marinade for two steaks.

This stuff tastes like family to me. Hope you enjoy it too!

For the side, we had Ina Garten's Provencal Potato Salad.  I make a couple of modifications to the original (for example, I don't use the chicken stock, because quite honestly, what are you going to do with opened chicken stock after you've only used 2 TBS?  So I upped the vinegar and wine to get the same amount of dressing.  And I think it calls for too much salt and olive oil, so I cut that slightly.)  So here goes:

Ina Garten's Provencal Potato Salad with a few minor changes because when have I ever left well enough alone?:

• • 1 pound small white boiling potatoes
  • 1 pound small red boiling potatoes
  • 3 tablespoons dry white wine
  • 4 tablespoons champagne (or white wine) vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 7 tablespoons good olive oil
  • 1 bunch sliced green onions (white and green parts)
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill
  • 3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 tablespoons chiffonade of fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 pound haricots verts (French green beans), stems removed
  • 1/2 cup capers, drained
  • 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup small-diced red onion
  • 1/2 cup good black olives (like kalamata), pitted

1. Drop the white and red potatoes into a large pot of boiling salted water and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until they are just cooked through.
2. In a large bowl, mix wine, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and whisk in the olive oil. Drain potatoes in a colander.  As soon as you can handle them, but while they are still quite warm, cut in half (quarters if the potatoes are larger) and toss in the bowl with the vinaigrette. Allow the liquids to soak into the warm potatoes for 20-30 minutes before proceeding. Stir it a few times.
3. In a pot of boiling salted water, blanch the haricots verts for 3 to 5 minutes, until barely tender.  I've started using the potato water when it's still hot for this.  Less time waiting for water to boil and I'm lazy. Drain and immerse into ice water for 5 minutes. Drain again. Cut in half.
4. To the potatoes, add the green onions, dill, parsley, basil, haricots verts, capers, tomatoes, red onion, olives and mix together. Serve at room temperature. It doesn’t taste as great the next day, so make day of.
5. Her recipe calls for adding Italian canned tuna (6 oz), halved hard boiled eggs, and anchovy filets. I think that would be good with all that for a lunch main dish, but I thought it was too much for a side dish.

For dessert, I went with Giada De Laurentiis's Lemon Pavlovas with Berries.  I did change the filling a bit, why I'm not sure, but I did.  I followed her recipe to the letter for the meringues and berries.  Meringues were surprisingly easy!  I did keep them in a slightly still warm oven until they were ready to serve so they didn't get soft.  They had already been in there for 4 hours, so I figured what is another hour?  For the filling, I whipped about 1/4 cup of whipping cream with 4 oz of mascarpone cheese and a few TBS of powdered sugar.

If I make these again, I may serve the berries and cream with smaller meringue cookies or make the meringue bowls thinner or make a giant meringue and crumble it over the berries and cream. It was a lot to crack and chew through while people were watching you. But tasty and we were amongst friends! They turned out like this:

So, a good time was (hopefully) had by all!  Drink a toast to my mom, Sue, if you make her flank steak.  She'd love that!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love flank steak (I'm making you one on Thursday, Bill and Jennifer.  Not this one, another one.  I'm mixing it up.  I'm versatile that way.).

It's one of the most consistent cuts of meat in my opinion, so I find that it's hard to screw up.  I marinate the heck out of it and grill it most of the time.  In the future I'll share my mom's famous flank steak recipe, but this time, I'm sharing a new recipe I just tried from Martha Stewart.

Soy Marinated Flank Steak

BEHOLD THE BEEF!!!

Now if you are watching your sodium intake this likely isn't for you, but holy cow (heh) this business is delicious.

Because I can't leave well enough alone, here is what I changed:

1) Martha marinates for 1-2 hours.  Is she high? No self-respecting person marinates less than overnight.

2) She uses cider vinegar.  I didn't have any so I used white wine vinegar.  Vinegar, for the most part is vinegar.  So mix it up and use what you have.  Still tastes fantastic.

3) She reduces the marinade on the stove and brushes it on the meat while grilling.  It's so unnecessary to dirty another pan to do this when you marinate overnight.  Did I mention no self-respecting... Oh yeah.  I did.

4) The second time I made it, I only had a 1/2 cup of soy sauce on hand.  It worked just fine.  I just cut back a bit on the other ingredients.  I didn't exactly cut the recipe in half, because that would be too easy and I'm a rebellious cook.   I did about 2/3 of the other ingredients and 1/2 the soy sauce.  Just be sure to turn the meat while its marinating if you do this because it might not be enough liquid to cover.

Please excuse me, while I raid the leftovers...

Cheesy Chicken Rotini

Okay, this is kind of a "cheating" recipe but knowing how bloggers on this site just LOVE cheese, thought it was still work sharing. The recipe came from VelveetaRotel.com and the resulting dish was devoured by my family in one sitting, I barely had enough to photograph for this blog! 


Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 c. water
13 oz. box rotini pasta (I like Dreamfields, it tastes great but is lower in carbs)
16 oz. frozen Normandy mix (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
1 can (10 oz.) RO*TEL, undrained
1 lb. Velveeta, cut into 1/2" cubes


Directions:

1. Cook and stir chicken in large skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Stir in water. Bring to boil. Add pasta; stir. Cover, simmer on medium-low heat10 mins or until pasta is tender. 
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Cook covered, 5 to 7 minutes, making sure Velveeta is melted and vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring frequently. 

Steve adds salt before eating, but as he's fond of saying, "don't add the salt while cooking, you can always add after but you can't take it out." Don't ask how he found that out :-)

Corn and Pepper Chowder

This is a hearty soup which goes down well on a damp, rainy day. Served with warm brie and Honey Crisp apple slices, makes a well balanced, heavenly meal which can be prepared in advance. Variations are available on allrecipes.com. Helpful hint when using allrecipes.com - read the user comments, they're frequently creative and can add a twist to make the dish more interesting.


Ingredients:


2 T. butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional if you're allergic)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 c. chicken broth
1 lb. red potatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
3 c. whole kernel corn
14 oz. kielbasa, halved and sliced (can substitute turkey sausage for a "lighter" option)
1 c. fat-free half and half


Directions:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion, garlic, and bell peppers in butter until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in broth, potatoes, pepper and cumin and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender. 
2. Stir in corn, kielbasa, and half & half into soup. Simmer 20 minutes more. 

Steve found this dish, although hearty, lacking "bite" and added red pepper flakes to pump it up a bit, so this is another option. Also, the original recipe calls for pureeing half the corn and adding it that way, we chose not to. In any event, it's a good base with many possible variations. Be creative and enjoy!