2.27.2012

Chicken Mac and Cheese


The root recipe for this came from the family recipe box of one of the boys in my fiance's wing. Family recipes are always the best; I always feel blessed and privileged when they are shared with me. But I can't help but adjust a bit and add some things to make it my own; I hope that you do the same too!




Serving size: one 9x13 pan + a little pan for the overflow. (ie, 8 girls.....or 4 men...) This recipe can be easily halved if you want to make a smaller portion.



- 4 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 2 large chicken breasts, cubed
- 6 Tbls butter
- 6 Tbls flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 6 cups milk
- 4 cups cheese (any mixture of various cheeses will do. Don't use pre-shredded if possible; the starch used to prevent caking will make your mac and cheese sauce weird-ish. It's best if you grate blocks of cheese yourself. I like sharp cheddar, Gouda, Monterrey jack etc.)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil the macaroni according to instructions on box; strain and rinse. Boil chicken breast until cooked; strain and rinse. Toss together, and pour into pans. Set aside.

2. Melt butter in a medium sized pot on medium-high heat. Stir in flour and salt.
    Add milk, one cup at a time. Bring to a slight boil after adding each cup of milk.

3. Reduce heat, add in cheeses, and stir till all is melted. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni, and gently stir in the pan (while trying not to spill over the sides) to combine. Top with a bit more shredded cheese.

4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve with sauteed spinach and a cold ginger beer. Enjoy!!


2.21.2012

Bacon-Wrapped Sirloin with Whiskey Peppercorn Cream Sauce

This beautiful grass-fed, organic beef from Wegman's was totally worth the money. I don't normally splurge on food, but my advice is if you do, spend it on beef. And for fresh scallops as a garnish too.


Sprinkle beef with cracked pepper and course sea salt on both sides, and let sit. Don't over-season; let the beef speak for itself. Wrap around the sides with a piece of bacon and secure with two or three toothpicks in the sides. Set out on the counter at room temperature about half an hour before grilling to let it come to room temp to provide for even cooking. 
Meanwhile, preheat your grill on high. Then start the whiskey peppercorn cream sauce; it will take about an hour from start to finish, but it just needs to be watched and stirred occasionally. 

  • - 1 1/4 cups beef broth
  • - 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
  • - 2 fluid ounces (4 Tbls.) whiskey
  • - 1 cup heavy cream
  • - 1 Tbls very finely chopped onions
  • - 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine beef broth and cracked black pepper. Simmer until reduced to 1 cup, stirring frequently. Add 1 ounce (2 Tbls) whiskey and 1 cup cream. Continue simmering until reduced to 1 cup. Remove from heat and set aside.
Saute onions in a frying pan with olive oil. Add second 1 ounce (2Tbls) whiskey. Reduce heat, stir in peppercorn sauce and Dijon mustard, and reduce sauce until thickened. 

About 15 minutes before meal time, place the steaks on the grill. DO NOT TOUCH for 2 minutes; then with tongs, pick up the steaks and rotate 90 degrees to get the nice criss-cross grill marks. Grill for another 3 minutes. Flip steaks ONCE, and repeat for grill-marks. Cook on that side until desired doneness, using a meat thermometer to measure internal heat. 

When done, remove from grill and let rest on a plate or cutting board for 5-7 minutes to let the juices redistribute inside.

Sprinkle scallops with chili powder; sear in a frying pan on all sides, about 1-2  minutes on each side. Slice most of the way through, and fan out.

Spoon sauce onto plate and place steak on top.
 Serve with mashed potatoes and a parsley garnish, and a scallop layered on top. 

Voila!

2.17.2012

Magic Mashed Potatoes and Spinach Salad

This is the second installment of our valentines day dinner; our side, and our salad. I typically gravitate towards spinach salad because I love spinach, and it's just so darn easy. You can quite literally put whatever you want on it. The mashed potatoes were also a sort of experiment. I've never made them where I actually LOVED eating them; it's always been kind of 'meh.' But I found some tips to making them well, and that has all changed...

Mashed Potatoes
I compiled some tips from multiple different websites, and got some pretty fantastic results. Read the directions carefully before you start, just to make sure you get everything in order. It may seem tedious, but once you get the concept, it all makes sense.  



First, boil the potatoes while still in their skins. The skins help keep the potatoes from absorbing too much of the water, and without skins, the potatoes become very waterlogged which results in runny mashed potatoes. Also, the skin of a potato helps it hold onto that hearty potato flavor, and it will also retain a lot more protein.
Secondly, the type of dairy used makes a difference. Milk is not quite rich enough, and waters down your potatoes. To get a perfect creamy consistency, use half and half or cream.
Also, the order in which you add ingredients actually matters. If you add cream or half and half first, you will end up with very sticky, heavy potatoes, but if it is added after the butter your potatoes will be much creamier. Half and half has water in it. When water interacts with the starch of the potatoes, it becomes like glue. But if you coat the starch with butter first, it protects it from the water, and your half and half will work much better to make a creamy mix.
Ingredients:
- about 20-24 small to medium sized garlic cloves (about 2/3 cup) still in their skins. 
- 4-5 whole large russet potatoes, still in their skins
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 3/4 to 1 cup half and half or cream 
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- Ground black pepper, to taste
Toast the garlic. Place garlic cloves (still in their skins) in a covered skillet (no oil) over lowest heat setting. Turn the cloves frequently by giving the skillet a shake. Toast until all cloves have dark brown spots all around and are slightly soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, still covered, until fully softened (about 20 minutes). Meanwhile:
- Boil potatoes. Scrub the potatoes but leave them in their skins. Place them in a large boiling pot, and cover with water an inch over them. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let cook about twenty to 30 minutes, until tender. They are done when you can easily stick a fork into their centers. Drain.
Peel. The garlic and potato skins should come off fairly easily, using a knife or the back of a knife. Cut the potatoes into chunks and return them to the (now dry) large boiling pot, along with garlic cloves.
Mash the potatoes and garlic with a potato masher or a fork. This will produce somewhat chunky mashed potatoes, but you still want them mashed well enough that you'll be able to stir them with a wire whisk later. Alternately, for smoother, silkier mashed potatoes, you can run the potatoes and garlic through a food mill or potato ricer.
Melt the butter and warm the half and half or cream. This step is important for consistency. (Remember that you need 3/4 cup half and half or cream if you have made chunky mashed potatoes, but 1 full cup of half and half or cream for smooth mashed potatoes that have been run through a mill or ricer.)
Drizzle the melted butter over the potatoes and thoroughly mix it in. You want it to coat all of the potatoes so that the half and half will not react with the starch and become sticky and glue-like.
- Using a wire whisk or a whisk attachment on a mixer, mix in the warmed half and half, coating the potatoes thoroughly and bringing them to a creamy consistency. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste, mixing well.
Serve immediately.

Spinach Salad


There is something to be said for eating meals in courses. It makes you slow down, eat bite by bite, and gives you space to spend quality time with the people you are eating with. 
Our valentines dinner started with rosemary olive oil bread from Wegman's and a Parmesan cheese/olive oil/chili flake/garlic dip (sorry, no picture), and a fresh spinach salad.

- Baby spinach
- Your favorite/homemade balsamic salad dressing
- Blanched almond slivers
- Dried cranberries
- Crumbled fresh goat cheese
- Sunflower seeds

Toast the almond slivers in a pan on medium heat till lightly browned and fragrant. Mix together with cranberries and sunflower seeds. In a large mixing bowl, use tongs to mix spinach with salad dressing. Place in bowls or plates and sprinkle toppings and goat cheese on top.

Enjoy!

2.15.2012

Cappuccino Rum Cheesecake

Hello! Yes, it's been a while. Wedding planning, house hunting, Christmas break, and life in general just kind of got in the way of me and my kitchen. But this valentine's day definitely called for something a little special. My fiance and I celebrated on Saturday instead of Tuesday, since we wouldn't have eaten till midnight if I had to come home and cook after work. This way, I was able to take the whole day to JUST PREP AND COOK. It was so relaxing and wonderful!

Here was the table setting...

My housemate's china and silver flatware which she very generously lent to us...

Dried flowers that he got me from last year cause I'm sentimental like that



I think the whole meal was a bit too awesome to fit into one post; each thing I made kind of deserves it's own space. So, let's start with the dessert, since even the Bible says that the last shall be first...


This beauty is a cappuccino rum cheesecake with strawberries and cream. I know the pictures aren't the best, but the last thing I wanted to do while this was just sitting in front of me was try over and over again to get a good picture in a poorly lighted kitchen. Pretty much to die for.





I got the original recipe from THIS site and followed it pretty much word for word. I didn't have espresso powder, so I just used two tablespoons of espresso. The coffee flavor wasn't very strong, so I'd recommend going with what the recipe calls for. I also sprinkled cocoa powder on the top for some added bitter contrast. 


A couple important tips:
- Make sure the cream cheese is room temperature. If it's too cold, it won't blend easily and you might get lumps.
- Mix on low-medium speed. The more air you get into the cream, the more likely you are to get spaces and bubbles in the final product.
- Scrape the edges frequently to help get a good consistent batter.
- Mix thoroughly after and in between each addition (ie each egg, liquid, etc)
- Cut a circle of parchment paper to line the bottom of the springform pan for easy cleanup and removal.
- Don't overcook it; it should still be jiggly in the center when you take it out; it will set when it cools.
- If you are trying to lose weight, eat one piece, save a second, and give the rest of the cheesecake away; that's the only reason I didn't eat the whole thing.

  • 1
    ounce package (about 41 cookies) chocolate wafer cookies
  • 1
    cup semisweet chocolate pieces
  • 1/2
    cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/8
    teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 7
    tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1
    cup whipping cream
  • 15
    ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 2
    tablespoons coffee liqueur
  • 4
    ounces packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 1/3
    cups granulated sugar
  • 2
    tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 2
    tablespoons instant espresso coffee powder
  • 3
    tablespoons dark rum
  • 1
    tablespoon vanilla
  • 2
    teaspoons molasses
  • 4
    eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2
    cups dairy sour cream
  • 1/3
    cup granulated sugar
  • 2
    teaspoons vanilla




1.For crust: In a food processor, combine chocolate cookies, semisweet chocolate pieces, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cover and process until finely ground. Add melted butter; cover and process until combined. Press mixture onto the bottom and 2-1/2 inches up the side of an ungreased 10x3-inch springform pan. Set aside.
2.For ganache: In a medium saucepan, bring whipping cream just to boiling over medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add bittersweet chocolate; do not stir. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in coffee liqueur. Pour 2 cups of the ganache into crust, spreading evenly. Cover and freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer the remaining ganache to a small bowl; cover and chill until ready to serve.
3.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a very large bowl, combine cream cheese, the 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar, and the flour. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. In a small bowl, combine coffee powder, rum, the 1 tablespoon vanilla, and the molasses; stir to dissolve coffee powder. Add to cream cheese mixture; beat until combined. Stir in eggs. Pour over ganache layer in pan, spreading evenly.
4.Place cheesecake on a foil-lined large baking sheet. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a 3-inch area around the outside edge appears set and the center appears nearly set when gently shaken.
5.For topping: Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together sour cream, the 1/3 cup granulated sugar, and the 2 teaspoons vanilla. Pour over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover filling. Bake about 10 minutes more or until topping is set. Cool cheesecake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, loosen the crust from side of pan. Cool completely (about 1-3/4 hours). Remove side of pan. Cover and chill overnight.
6.Let cheesecake stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Heat the remaining ganache. Spoon ganache over each serving of cheesecake. Makes 12 to 16 servings.





Enjoy!

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