Friday, January 22, 2010

Deviled Eggs with a Kick

It's funny. As I entered the title for this post, I remembered a recipe I tried last year called Egg Salad with a Kick that doctored up egg salad with horseradish and bacon to give it a bit of a kick. Can't say that I loved it (at least not in proportion to the amount of work involved).

But this recipe-free attempt at giving my deviled eggs a kick did actually turn out pretty good and it certainly wasn't much work at all.

Of course, I made it with a spoonful of this and a squeeze of that, so it will be hard to replicate, but the basic idea of using a spicy aioli in there was a keeper.


The basic info on the ingredients is below. Forgive any measurement inaccuracies as I'm completely guessing from memory. And forgive also the lack of paprika garnish on these in the photo. They got eaten up so fast, it was hardly worth getting them all dressed up.

Deviled Eggs with a Kick

  • 1 dozen hard boiled eggs
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
  • 1 ½ tablespoons prepared Habanero and Rosemary Aioli
    (I bet you could sprinkle some chipotle powder in there as well and it would be tasty.)


     

  1. Cut eggs in half, placing yolks in a small mixing bowl.
  2. Put whites in a cool Rubbermaid deviled egg container like mine. (Jealous much?)
  3. Mash yolks with a fork until powdery.
  4. Add mayo, mustard, and aioli, stirring between each to test the consistency.
  5. Add more or less of each to taste.
  6. Refrigerate. (But try to let them sit out for a few minutes before serving because the ultra-cold of the fridge tends to kill the flavor.)

I'm kind of sorry that I gave half of them to Leslye and Brian, but figured they might enjoy not having to prepare a snack in between feedings and diapering of their new baby girl.

Served: 1/12/2010 (Same day Eric got two entire wheels stolen off his car. Oops.)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Mashed Potatoes

I know there are tons of awesome recipes out there for super-buttery or super-creamy mashed potatoes, but they typically have loads of fat, not to mention a bunch of ingredients I never have on hand, so when I found this simple, but tasty recipe last year, I knew it would become my go-to spud recipe.

It uses red potatoes, which I really like especially because you don't have to peel 'em, and fresh garlic, which I really like, and milk, Parmesan cheese, and just a little butter, all of which I always have on-hand.



I like to make these guys in advance and throw them in a casserole dish (as it seems I can't get through a meal without something resembling a casserole of late). Then I add a splash of milk and nuke 'em before serving. Too hard to get all the pieces of a meal to come out at the same time otherwise. We've had these as a simple side or under Swedish meatballs with gravy. Tasty. The only thing that could be improved is if they were a little more fluffy/whipped. These guys are pretty dense. Of course, those of you who know me, know that I've never met a potato I didn't like.

Here's the recipe:

Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes

  • 8 medium red potatoes, quartered
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled (I usually throw at least five or six in there.)
  • 2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
  • 1/2 cup fat-free milk, warmed (Since Oliver's on 2%, that's what the spuds get, too.)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  1. Place potatoes and garlic in a large saucepan; cover with water.
  2. Bring to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender. (I usually cut my potatoes into smaller pieces instead of just quartering them, so this step only takes about 10-12 minutes instead of 20.)
  4. Drain well.
  5. Add the butter, milk and salt; mash.
  6. Stir in Parmesan cheese.
Served: 1/8/2010

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hot Stuff

During a recent round of Pantry Patrol, I came across this pre-packaged mix that I must have bought on a trip to Scottsdale once-upon-a-time – in fact, I'm pretty sure the price tag was from this place. When the purchase was made, however, I'm not so sure. Had to be a couple years at least, but since there was no expiration on the package and it sounded pretty tasty, I thought I'd put it into the rotation of something to make sooner than later. (In the meantime, I did manage to throw out some envelopes of hardened taco and chili seasoning since I typically make my own these days – gotta watch the sodium – and since I couldn't imagine they would dissolve as designed) – oh, and they had expiration dates (dates that put them in a pantry three apartments ago).

The package of Habanero Rosemary Aioli said it would be good as a topping for pork, which isn't my favorite (but which I'm trying to learn to like), so having it smothered in an aioli seemed like a really good idea. So after whipping it with mayo and olive oil and letting the flavors meld overnight, I served it at dinner with my in-laws on Oliver's birthday, along with seared and roasted pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and green salad.

Nobody argued with the review of it being HOT! I mean, I should have known that being "southwestern" it would be more habanero than rosemary, but I really liked it actually – in small doses, to be sure. It helped me with my pork aversion and was also pretty tasty on the mashed potatoes. And it's been good on other things, too. Eric liked it on pork sandwiches he made with the leftovers. And I whipped up a batch of deviled eggs, using the leftover aioli to give 'em a nice kick. I can't imagine taking the package's recommendation to serve it as a dip for vegetables, though – you would literally burn your mouth if you scooped a carrot in that stuff as if it was a spinach dip.

We even still have some of the aioli left – it just made so darn much. Do you think it's still good? I kinda figured if I kept it refrigerated, it would be fine for a few weeks at least, but I also don't find myself reaching for it lately either.

Anyway, please let this hot and happy tale inspire all you cooks out there to play a round of Pantry Patrol and allow yourself to succumb to just one ingredient. Let it carry you into a full meal – with leftovers to boot. Next up for me is a jar of chow-chow that my mother brought me from Gatlinburg. Hmm... how to make it into a meal? Or better question: What is it?

Should you be interested in trying this habanero and rosemary spice mix yourself, a little Googling found the original source to be a restaurant (that happens to have an online store): http://www.dineterracotta.com/food_products.php

Served: 1/8/2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Concoctchiladas


I was quite proud of this dish, even as concocted as it was. Basically, the goal was to use up the can of enchilada sauce after first using a ½ cup of it for the Mexican Rice, I made. And also to use up anything else I had around, without going to the store.

To that end, I concocted the Enchilada-ish dish you see here. (Someday I will learn to take a photo before digging in or to plate it nicely before snapping the camera.)

Anyway, here's the recipe (at least as best as I can remember it). I'm learning more and more to just "wing it" and encourage you also to do the same:

Concotchiladas
  • 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
  • 1 can enchilada sauce
  • 1 cup shredded cheese
  • ½ block cream cheese (4 oz), softened
  • 1 large jarred salsa (I used Pace - Medium)
  • 1 can refried beans
  • 1 cup-ish Mexican rice (Mine was homemade, but could use packaged Lipton or something like that)
  • 1 package corn tortillas (any diameter will do; mine were 6", I think.)
  • Sour cream (for serving)
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Mix cubed chicken, cream cheese and a splash of jarred salsa in a bowl.
  3. Pour enchilada sauce in the base of a greased 8x8 baking dish.
  4. Layer in some corn tortillas. Cut them to fit into corners.
  5. Layer the can of refried beans.
  6. Layer in the chicken mixture.
  7. Layer more tortillas.
  8. Pour on a bunch of salsa.
  9. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
  10. Put in oven for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 7-10 minutes before serving. Add dollop of sour cream to taste.
That's it. Only thing I might do differently next time would be to squeeze another layer of tortillas in there somewhere. Otherwise, this is a good new recipe when I'm craving Mexican food – cuz let's face it, most Mexican food is the same 5 ingredients in different shapes and forms anyway, in this case the form of a layered casserole.
Served: 1/7/2010

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Mexican Rice

Oliver loves the Mexican rice I get for $2.99/lb (or something like that) at Harvestime, but last week was brutally cold and I wasn't going anywhere for groceries, so I thought I'd try to whip some up here at home.


It turned out pretty good – a bit on the greasy side, but pretty good. Easy enough to remedy next time by using less oil. It made a good amount and I spruced up the original recipe with peas and corn.

I will definitely make it again because it couldn't be easier really. Well, yes it could. Buying it at Harvestime would be easier, but I do really like to know what's going into my food, so this is one of those dishes that's just as good at home. Some dishes, like ethnic stuff that requires 92 rare spices and hard-to-find ingredients, are typically more trouble than they're worth since Thai or Indian or Ethopian are all just a phone call away here in the city. But Mexican Rice? Homemade is "no problema," especially because I typically have the ingredients on-hand.

This kept well in the fridge for a couple days. Served as leftovers for Oliver and used in a layered casserole for us.

Anyway, here's the recipe (from allrecipes.com**):

Mexican Rice

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I would cut this down to two tablespoons next time.)
  • 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup tomato sauce (I used ½ cup prepared enchilada sauce because I didn't have any plain tomato sauce.)
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • (I added about a ½ cup each of frozen corn and peas)
  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
  2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
**I hesitated giving the link to the actual recipe since the photos on allrecipes.com are always so good looking compared to mine. But, I've decided that I can't perfect my photography AND keep cooking AND keep blogging about cooking all at the same time. So, oh well.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Creamy Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli

The recipe this dish was based on was really named "Creamy Peanut Chicken Fettuccine with Broccoli," but it was absent peanuts because they don't live in our house any more with a peanut-allergic toddler. And I didn't have any Fettuccine, so I used the pasta I had on-hand: Rigatoni. All-in-all, it turned out pretty good – not great, but pretty good.




Mostly I was just excited because it allowed me to bond with a couple of my new 2010 cooking principles:

  1. Substitution is OK, welcome even.
  2. Using up food in the house is encouraged.
  3. Adjusting a recipe to taste is wise, even if feels like it's violating the rules.
The original recipe is from Robin Miller's latest cookbook, Robin Rescues Dinner, which I borrowed from the library, then got for Christmas. (Thanks, Mom!) I soooo love the library for this "try-it-before-you-buy-it"process. I mean, I do definitely want to own cookbooks. They are such a joy to browse. Even though I use the Internet a lot to source recipes and especially like the reviews that come with that medium, I also like to curl up with a cookbook and some paper scraps to mark the recipes I'd like to try. But I've picked up some real duds over the years doing that site unseen thing.

Anyway… Robin Miller's books are some of my favorites. Not only is she the author of my go-to chili recipe (which I'm sure I'll be making soon enough and posting about), she's big on prep-ahead and banking a batch and morphing meals – where you move leftovers from one meal into the next. Thus the peanut-crusted chicken called for in this recipe is leftover from Peanut-Crusted Chicken with Apple-Gorgonzola Relish, which I didn't, in fact, make. Instead, I used the George Foreman to cook up a couple of quick breasts that I chopped from there. Figured the grilling might give it a better texture than my standard poached-and-cubed from the freezer. Anyway, it turned out OK.

What I really liked about this recipe is that even though it creates a cream sauce, it's not really a heavy-cream base. Not that I mind cream AT ALL, it's just that I seldom have it on hand. But flour and milk and parmesan cheese, I almost always have on hand, so that was nice.

It was also nice that I had red bell peppers on-hand that I could throw into Robin's recommended "Quick Side Dish: Sauteed Bell Peppers": Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 sliced bell peppers (preferably 1 red and 1 yellow) and ½ cup sliced red onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. So easy.

And regarding #2 above, I was so proud to polish the remainder of the NYE crudit̩s platter by using up the remaining the broccoli and the red peppers. Don't worry Рthey weren't rotten. I'm just publishing this extremely late.

And regarding #3 above, I reduced the ingredient for "pinch of ground nutmeg" to just "the residue in the lid" because I find nutmeg to overwhelm a dish otherwise.

Anyway, here's the full recipe. Quick, easy, satisfying. I suspect it would have been better with the peanuts from the other chicken recipe, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen here.

Creamy Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli

  • 12 ounces spinach or regular fettuccine (I used Rigatoni.)
  • 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
  • Pinch of ground nutmeg
  • 4 reserved cooked peanut-crusted chicken breast halves, cubed (or 4 cups cubed cooked chicken)
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I skipped this.)
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1. Cook the fettuccine according to the package directions, adding the broccoli for the last 30 seconds of cooking. Drain and set aside. (I just steam-nuked the broccoli on its own.)
  2. In a large saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Whisk in the Parmesan cheese and nutmeg and cook until the cheese melts. Add the fettuccine, broccoli, and chicken and cook for 1 minute to heat through.
  3. Remove from the heat, fold in the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with extra Parmesan cheese on the side.
SERVED: 1/5/10 (and for several lunches thereafter)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Lady Nails

Not directly related to my cooking, but I couldn't resist sharing this. Shopping at Harvestime this morning, the endcap at checkout tried to woo me to purchase this impulse buy:




-- Post From My iPhone

Monday, January 11, 2010

Revenge of the Multi-Tasked

Per Eric's request, I'm planning a chicken, broccoli, rice casserole for dinner tonight. And, as you know, one of my mantras to successful cheffing is to prep as much as possible in advance. To that end, I thought I'd tackle the 50-minute brown rice while I was reading my morning work email.
  • All was well. Bring to boil, simmer on low for 50 min.
  • The timer went off.
  • I obeyed with a quick check and assessed that it needed another five minutes.
  • Reset timer and returned to email.
  • The timer went off again.
  • I obeyed with a quick check and assessed that it was done, turned the stove knob and back to work -- an shining example of successful multi-tasking.
Except -- about 5 minutes later, I smell something burning. Turns out I had turned the knob to high instead of off. Duh. Thank goodness I'm only 10 feet away working at the kitchen table. I salvaged the top, unadhered portion of the rice. But we'll have to see if those scorched flavors make their way into my casserole. We'll also have to see if I am ever able to get that rice unstuck from my pan. Maybe it's karma for me subbing brown rice in where the recipe calls for wild rice. Whatever -- I am in pantry patrol mode this month, wherein I found a bag of perfectly good brown rice, so I'm using it dammit. Anyway, I sure hope the rest of this cooking adventure turns out OK.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Denise Made What?

So I'm, like, on a roll with the blogging -- knocking out two posts in one night, but post-dating to keep things from piling up (I'm sly like that). But already I'm stumped. I'm telling you, this is why the blog is going to be so handy. I seriously cannot remember the things that I cook and why we liked or didn't like them or what I did right or wrong. And now, even less than a week in, I'm like "Denise Made What?"

Let's see... if Sunday was Super Bowl Casserole and Monday was leftover casserole with green salad, what the hell was Tuesday? It's been kind of a week of on-hand concoctions, so it couldn't have been too exciting.

Insert long, temple-rubbing pause here.

Oh yeah, I remember now. I was so proud of myself because I made it another day without a trip to the grocery, was able to try a new recipe, and used up the final bits of the broccoli leftover from New Years Eve. Well, one has to question if it's really "leftover" if it was never even served. I kind of loss sight of vegetable trays when the keg of Half Acre's Daisy Cutter was finally tapped and consequently the broccoli never made it out of the fridge.

Daisy Cutter, you ask? What can I say? It's a new favorite. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

In any case, I'll leave you in suspense for now. More on the broccoli-finishing concoction later...

Super Bowl Casserole


I like to make a casserole or soup or some-such large-portioned, good-leftover meal on Sundays to make sure we have something to get us through the start of the week until I'm able to do full-fledged grocery shopping (which I prefer to do on Monday or Tuesday because I figure they're getting new, fresh stuff delivered then). So this past Sunday, I found this recipe in The Big Book of Chicken that used everything I already had on-hand. Love that. Eric classically calls these types of dishes "concoctions," but devours them nonetheless. I mean, what could be bad about cheese and noodles and chicken – oh, and more cheese? This was a tasty casserole that fit the bill perfectly for leftovers.

I was especially proud to use up leftover ingredients from our New Years Eve party, like red bell pepper and cream cheese and sour cream. I'll have to recap that menu later, as I cheffed it up for days and found some good new go-to appetizer recipes.

The cubed cooked chicken was even on-hand for this recipe. It is a freezer staple here. You see, even though I really like to cook, I don't always like to do it every single day and don't always like to tackle every step start-to-finish on the day-of. I'm a big fan of pre-prepping and am constantly experimenting with which things can be done in advance without impacting the final product negatively. So I frequently pre-poach chicken breasts, chop them, and store them in the freezer for just such "concoction" recipes. So easy.

I think I'll put together a post of freezer staples that I can use to keep a running list of good things to keep in the freezer. Good to remind me of when I am going to have a busy week and can do some pre-planning, pre-prepping. Also good to remind me to experiment with my freezer, even as small as it is. I'm definitely looking forward to the new house and the possibility of having a bonus freezer in the basement. How very Martha Stewart of me, eh?

One thing I've already learned about this food blogging – and I haven't even really begun, have I? – is that food photography is definitely an art and I am woefully unartistic in that arena. I'll have to read some other folks' blogs on how to take appetizing photos of food, since so far mine have looked pretty icky. I'm going to post them anyway, so that when I become a master of the lens, we'll all have a point of comparison. I probably should put some effort into learning a bit about plating as well, which would, in turn be aided by the revival of my window herb garden, no doubt. When we moved outside for summer, I let my indoor plants die off. Bummer. This casserole really could have used a smattering of chopped parsley to spruce it up. I should also really try to remember to take photos BEFORE we dig in. You'll see in many posts soon that I frequently forget that crucial sequencing. I could definitely benefit from this book on Digital Food Photography. Hint, hint, Eric.

Anyway, here's the recipe if you wanna try it:

Super Bowl Casserole

  • 6 ounces egg noodles -- (about 4 cups), cooked according to package directions, drained
  • 1 can tomato sauce -- 15 oz
  • 1/2 cup red bell pepper – chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup cottage cheese
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
  • 8 green onions -- including some tender green tops, sliced
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese -- shredded
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Put the cooked noodles in a lightly sprayed or oiled 2-quart casserole.
  3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the tomato sauce, bell pepper, salt, basil, thyme, and pepper to taste, and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. In a food processor, puree the cottage cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream until smooth. Add the cheese mixture and the tomato mixture to the noodles and mix well.
  5. Fold in the chicken and onions.
  6. Sprinkle the Cheddar cheese on top.
  7. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.

SERVED: 1/3/10 (and 1/4/2010 as leftovers, but I made a nice green salad for a side)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Freezer Staples

This post is a list of different items that I put in the freezer for future use or long-term storage. I will build this page as I build Denise Made This.

Cooked Cubed Chicken
Description:
Called for in many casserole recipes, cooked cubed chicken can be batched up easily. If I'm cooking 2 breasts for a recipe, I'll most definitely cook up 4, if not 6. I typically just poach them (boil for about 12-15 minutes). It doesn't make for the most attractive chicken, but it holds the moisture well since it's typically re-cooked in the casserole. I chop up the breasts and pack in 2-cup portions in tupperware or freezer ziplocks. I used to do large batches of pre-cooked chicken in the crockpot because it shreds so easily, but the texture in casseroles was grossing me out. It was almost tuna-like. I think I was cooking it too long. Will have to experiment more with that in the future because it sure was easy, but the experiment requires quite a large quantity of chicken. I was on a kick for awhile to use it in some of these shredded chicken recipes from Recipe Zaar.

Recipes:
Super Bowl Casserole
Concoctchiladas

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Denise Made This

I'm starting a blog here in 2010 to chronicle my cooking. Far from an official "food blog," where folks might come to find new recipes, I'm planning to use this just to kind of log stuff we tried and whether or not we liked it.

You see, I seem to have this tendency to gravitate to the same recipes, forgetting what I liked about them or what I'd change on the second go-round. I take notes in cookbook margins sometimes and I try to keep comments on my digital recipes as well, but it's not as much fun as a blog.

I really don't even care if anybody reads this. It's just for me. Creates a sense of accomplishment that I'm actually pursuing my interests -- food and writing. Will help me do my weekly food plan like I should, too.

Well, without further comment, here we go...