We Be Jammin'

Satruday was my first time making jam. From all of my mother's Jamming days I can't believe I have never helped. We went out to Lancaster and made friends with a lovely Amish family while buying their lot of berries. We came back to the house set up and jammed. It's quite a quick and easy process. We made thirty jars and kicked off the season with a bang. We fed the leftover jam stems to the girls and they quite enjoyed them.

Catch up time!

Some of the recipes I have recently cooked.

 

Back to the basics

Roasted potato leek soup pg 63-- This is to die for! It was the first time I have ever used creme freche. We were practically licking the bowls and fantasizing and fighting over the leftovers the next day!

Roasted tomato caprese salad pg. 90-- One of our go to favorites. The carmalized juice the tomatoes make as they are slowly roasting make for an irresistable treat and great light dinner potion.

Celery root and apple puree pg 169-- This ended up with the texture and simliar taste as butternush squash soup. We were not prepared for that with the first sip. This was not a winner for us.

 

Zuchinni Pancakes-- I loved these and have been eating the leftovers for breakfast since Brandon wasn't too excited about the idea of zuchinni in his "pancake." Maybe it's because he doesn't like pancakes or that I used all gluten free substitutions or maybe it's because he said he only likes zucchinni prepared two ways and this is not one of them :(

 

Cream of Tomato Soup-- This soup ended up alright but nothing special.

 

Home

Chicken salad Veronique pg 67-- Well I tried tarragon for the first time and will never have it again. I felt like a took a big bite of fennel wrapped in chicken when I ate this chicken salad. I'm not a fan of fennel's licorice taste, therefore not a fan of tarragon's licorice taste.....

 

 

This weekend we were hopefully throughing our first dinner party at the apartment with a seven course sit down meal that I will be serving with the help's of Ina and The Joy of Cooking.

 

Here are some cooking pictures via my lovely photographer husband...

 

After a Long Day

After a long day of work I came home to two recipes from the Barefoot Cookbooks cooked and set out on a candlelit, flower filled table.  Her herb marinated loin of pork that was marinating for two days (Back to the Basics By: Ina Garten pg. 126) and her heirloom tomatoes with blue cheese dressing (Home pg. 64). Grand slam homerun meal!

Soon to come...

Later this week I will post some pictures of my cookings and Brandon's tastings along with a recipe flop!

One Lonely Zucchini

I've had a lonely zucchini floating around my crisper for a while. What do you do when you come down to those few random loeftover vegetables that you don't want to go to waste? I was pondering my whole ride home from church how I could utilize it along with some other half open, half cut things in my refrigerator to clean it out a bit. I decided to saute the zucchini with half of a shriveled onion that has seen a better day. I didn't over sautee the zucchini as to let it keep a little crunch. I then added a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley I have been growing out on the fire escape. Next I few spoonfuls of tomato sauce and I let it simmer as I boiled some pasta. This was such a basic meal but it took care of some of those leftovers. But I have to say that parsely is what did it for me. I was so flavorful and fresh I couldn't get enough of it! I asked Brandon if he could taste it but he said he put so much parmesan cheese on his dish since I had no meet that he couldn't taste anything but cheese. Oops, I forgot about that meat thing again.....

Double Duty

Double Duty

Well today I decided to roast a chicken and then turn the remains into stock. It really seemed like a large feat but it was no big thing. I was a bit unhappy when I went to the store and really investigated how much I was spending on chicken broth when really what it is, at least to me, supped-up chicken water. I knew I could make better tasting and healthier broth than I bought at the store.

 

I bought a five pound chicken in thoughts that I just wanted to experiment a bit. My roasting pan can probably fit three five pound chickens with ease. So for future use, I can do a massive cook job. I used “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook” recipe on page 130 called perfect roast chicken and it sure was perfect. I tweaked the recipe a bit. After cleaning the bird and removing the giblets I seasoned it. I have a bunch of fresh herbs in my planter on my fire escape that I bought at DelVal Aggie day a few weeks ago. I stuffed the herbs under the skin of the chicken with a few slabs of butter to keep the bird moist. After that, I stuffed the bird the same as the recipe called for and then covered the outside with baking soda, salt and pepper to give it some crunch when it finished. The bird only took about 90 minutes as the recipe said. Once I let it rest for about 15 minutes I cut off most of the chicken for lunches this week. Brandon was happy to have some fresh chicken for lunches and as was I for a little change. I rarely eat sandwiches or bread for that matter. Well my quasi bread that I eat doesn’t really account for bread.

 

While the bird cooked I prepared my stock so it was instantly ready to go. I used Ina Garten’s recipe for homemade stock that she has in a few cookbooks. I leaned off of “Back to the Basics.” This is my first time making stock and I could not be more pleased in the ease of process. I filled my dutch oven with various vegetables and stuck the chicken carcass in it and let it sit and cook while I was out. When I returned I skimmed the fat and bagged the stock in freezer zip lock bags. There was aboutith two cups of stock in each bag and it made three bags. I laid the stock flat on a baking pan to freeze flat overnight. The next morning I labeled the bags with the date and how much stock was in each bag. They should last up to six months in the freezer according to Ina.

 

This was easy clean-up and easy cooking!!

Inspiration: Ode to Ina

Since my cooking is always a bit inventive and mysterious, I seem to always have B on edge even when we were dating. He ate dinner over often but not often enough to know how I ate day to day for meals. It has been a tough adjustment to cook with him in mind in adding enough food and protein for him to be full when he finishes. So I have decided to wean  him to my cooking ways within my measures. I will be cooking through the Barefoot Contessa cookbook recipes of his choice. I have all the cookbooks but Foolproof and How easy is that? So, he has a choice of an ample amount of cookbooks to choose from with tasteful and common recipes that won’t scare him. Ina is my all time favorite cook! And I am excited to bring her on this journey with me! She has inspired me with more than cooking. She has introductions to all of her books that excite me to entertain and how to prepare the home for entertaining. Currently, I have been in dream land as I have meditated on her introduction of Home in how to make our apartment to feel like home.

 

 

Some Ina Love..... I love her scarfs

 

 

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/

The hairy eyeball before the meal.

With much skepticism, from B,  I cooked parmesan crusted polenta with a vegetable marinara for dinner. After our workout after work we have gotten into the routine of cooking dinner right away in mind of the goal of watching jeopardy to start the night. We die the nights Jeopardy isn’t on! Back to the food at hand. I made a gluten free bread crumb, parmesan and black pepper mix. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten a pepper grinder for fresh pepper. This is something I am wanting to invest a little money into. I worked off of a pampered chef recipe from a cookbook I received for the wedding. (Thanks Mrs. Breitnauer!) I obviously tweeked it to my liking but used it as an outline. I sautéed two zucchinis and a package of mushrooms. I would have loved to use a bulk mix of creminis and shitake but all Trader Joes had was baby bella’s. They worked, but don’t have as much flavor to them. The zucchini also didn’t have a pow of flavor, but it’s not in season, so it will do. Once cooked to crisp I added some marinara to sit and simmer for flavor. In the mean time I boiled some chicken to add for Brandon. I would take the vegetable version any day but B needs the meat and I am working on cooking for a manly man. I then crusted and fried the polenta at about ½ inch thick slices. When the chicken was done I shredded it and put it with the sauce and saved the chicken water to make stock to freeze. I know that Ina has a recipe for stock but I couldn’t find it in the heat of the moment as my polenta started to burn.

 

When done we had a wonderful flavorful meal. I knew he would love it but kept my mouth shut. Within the first bite I got praise! With the second bite, even more praise! With my first bite I loved it! Next time I think I will do shrimp instead of chicken. It would be a good flavor combination!

Soup Rut.

I don’t know what it is with soup and awful weather but it seems that I make it on those days. The idea of warmth and comfort after a long dreary day just lets my brain and body relax. I got home late after many meetings and all I wanted was some hot soup while wrapped in a cozy blanket. I decided to pull out my new Bella cast iron pot I got for the wedding and put it to its first use! On the menu was a tortilla soup by Alice Waters. I started to cook it for Brandon with a disclaimer that it may not taste like the tortilla soup that he would think of. Brandon has a palate specific with Midwest tastes and differing spice and seasoning combinations. This recipe was extremely basic, as assumed with Alice behind the helms. It was a slow cooking soup that developed a lot of flavor. With a hint of lime juice that I squeezed in at the end, the dimensions of flavor flourished! Brandon loved it despise the un Midwestern ways of it.

It's been a while

It has been a long while. Life got busy and now it has finally settled a bit after the wedding. I have been blogging but have not posted anything. So here is a post to get you all back on track with my cooking and food thoughts!! This is a recipe I made for Brandon before we got married in the dreary cold winter months.

I decided to make a cold cucumber soup on a cold afternoon. The thought of making this soup had been in the works and I wanted to time it for the perfect warm days as the crocuses were peeking through the soil. That did not happen, as the time came I made it on a cold rainy ugly, miserable day. I followed Ina’s simple recipe including cold shrimp. The subtle hint of dill is what did it for me. I was a bit nervous as I was serving it for Brandon. I have been experimenting with many recipes for when he has come over for dinner. I knew that this meal would be way too light for him so I poured it over some brown rice which did the trick. I was sitting on the edge of my seat as he took his first sip from the spoon. He cocked his head to the right a bit and let out a “hmm.” He took another and expressed his love for this soup. It is perfect for a hot day with a picnic in the park or a starter to a dinner party. We love this soup and can not wait to make it again!