VALENTINE’S DINNER FOR TWO: SECOND ACT

Posted in Poultry, Salads by sallybr

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am doing a series of collaborative Valentine’s Day posts with Jamie, from Cooking in Red Socks. Go check her site for a great recipe this morning: Cherry and Pecan Stuffed Endive… She pointed out that in cocktail parties the food served is not always user-friendly. So true! I often find myself in serious trouble, trying to negotiate a glass of wine with a meatball that definitely needs to be cut in half or else… Her stuffed endive is classy, elegant, and perfect to enjoy while having a great conversation with your friends. No fear of that chicken wing flying off and landing on the guest of honor. 😉

And now, it is time to share my choice of main dish, a recipe that I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. It was featured in one of my favorite food blogs, Elra’s Cooking. Her recipes have that aura that put me into a dreamy mode, they always bring together exotic spices, long-simmered, complex sauces, and her photography is simply superb! Cornish hens turn any meal into a festive occasion, so they seem perfect for a romantic meal.

FRAGRANT BAKED CORNISH HENS WITH APRICOT SAUCE
(adapted from Elra’s Cooking)
.
2 (3 lbs) cornish hens
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1 small garlic, minced
24 dried apricot
¼ cup golden raisins
2 cinnamon sticks
1 whole star anise
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cumin
1-2 tbsp orange flower water (I omitted, could not find it)
¼-½ tsp saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsp hot water
½ cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley
a handful of slivered almonds
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Heat oven to 375 F.

Saute shallot over medium heat until translucent, add minced garlic, dried apricot, raisins, cinnamon sticks, star anise, ground ginger, ground cumin, saffron water, and the chicken. Stir to mix the ingredients, season with salt and pepper. As soon as it starts to boil, turn the stove off, add the parsley, mix, and let this mixture cool completely.
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Clean, and cut the hens into quarters. Pat dry with paper towels. Arrange them neatly on an oven proof ceramic dish. Pour the apricot-spice mixture directly on the hens, turning to coat each of the pieces with this mixture, then arrange them back with the skin side up. Transfer to the oven, and bake for 1 hour. About 10 minutes before the hens are done, scatter slivered almonds on top, and continue to roast until the skin is brown and the meat cooked thoroughly. If you want, increase the heat slightly at the end to brown the skin, but make sure the liquid won’t dry too much.

Serve hot, with steamed rice or couscous.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

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The apricot sauce is luscious, smells absolutely amazing!

Dinner is served! Tender pieces of cornish hen, a sweet and spicy sauce, plain couscous to soak it all up…

And, to brighten up the palate, a simple salad with fresh spinach, grape tomatoes, and black walnuts, with a delicate dressing of creme fraiche…

SPINACH SALAD WITH GRAPE TOMATOES AND BLACK WALNUTS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the dressing:
2 tbsp champagne vinegar
1 medium shallot, very finely minced
1 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

for the salad:
fresh baby spinach leaves
grape tomatoes, cut in half
black walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl whisk together the shallots, vinegar, creme fraiche, Dijon mustard and salt. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to make a creamy dressing. Reserve.

Toast the black walnuts lightly. Assemble the salad, and drizzle the prepared vinaigrette on top. Adjust seasoning with more salt if needed, and freshly ground pepper.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

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Comments: This was a super-delicious meal, the apricots soak the sauce and develop a hint of spice to marry their natural sweetness. Make sure you remove the star anise and the cinnamon stick before serving the dish, you don’t want to have the favorite person in your universe to break a tooth right in the middle of a romantic dinner. That would pretty much spoil the mood. 😉

A double thank you is in order: Elra, thanks for bringing this recipe to my attention, and Jamie, thanks for playing with me on this Valentine’s week…

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Stay tuned for the final act of our romantic meal… dessert coming up tomorrow!

10Feb2014

VALENTINE’S DINNER FOR TWO: OPENING ACT

Posted in Appetizers, Breads by sallybr

I am absolutely thrilled about this post! I usually don’t publish blogs linked to special celebrations such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or 4th of July. However, this Valentine’s Day will receive special attention from the Bewitching Kitchen. I was invited by Jamie (who hosts the great blog “Cooking in Red Socks“) to write a collaborative series of posts to celebrate it. So here is the deal: we will both be blogging three days in a row to cover the appetizer course, dinner, and dessert. My posts will center on a romantic meal for two. Jamie will blog on the same courses, but her posts will be about Valentine’s Dinner for Friends. Her posts are made super special as one of her best friends, Allie, celebrates her Birthday on V-day. How cool is that? 😉 Make sure to stop by her blog and marvel at her choice for the appetizer course: Sun-Dried Tomato Palmiers… WOW!

To start the day on a great note, I offer a perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast bread: Chocolate Currant Sourdough. A slice, slightly toasted, and a cup of hot cappuccino: heavenly!

CHOCOLATE CURRANT SOURDOUGH BREAD
(from Farine’s blog, original recipe from How to Make Bread)

Recipe overview: This bread takes a regular sourdough starter, at 100% hydration. The starter is incorporated into a final dough containing white flour, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and currants. After a series of foldings, the dough is shaped, either as two small loaves (as shown in Farine’s blog), or as a large round boule (as I did). My shaped loaf fermented for 4 hours in our bread proofing box, temperature set to 78 F. I baked it inside a covered clay pot for 30 minutes at 435 F, then removed the lid, and baked for 15 more minutes.

For the detailed recipe, visit Farine’s site or get your copy of Emmanuel Hadjiandreou’s book. Both links are included underneath the recipe’s title.

Comments: Even though this bread contains a good amount of chocolate and currants, it is not overly sweet. The cocoa powder and the sourdough starter act together to counteract excessive sweetness. We loved it, in fact I did not expect to like it as much as I did. If you have a starter going on in your kitchen, add this bread to your “to bake soon” list. And don’t keep it there for too long…

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Now, let’s move on to the appetizer course of our romantic meal for two… I wanted something light, and red. Hummus is a favorite in our home, so I went with a twist on this classic, turning it into a shockingly red dip. Food coloring? No way! This is a Roasted Beet Hummus, and it was absolutely wonderful…

ROASTED BEET HUMMUS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

1 medium beet
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) of chickpeas, drained, rinsed, peeled
1 lemon, zest and juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup tahini
2 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
cold water to desired consistency
sesame seeds and lemon zest for decoration

Peel the beet, cut it in quarters, coat with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting dish covered with foil, and roast at 400 F for 30 minutes or until fully cooked through.

Place the roasted pieces in the bowl of a food processor, and process it for a few seconds. Add all other ingredients, up to olive oil. Process until completely smooth. Season with salt and pepper, and adjust consistency with water if necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Depending on the acidity of your lemon and your personal taste, a little more lemon juice right before serving might be a good idea. Sprinkle sesame seeds and lemon zest on top, and…

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Phil is not too fond of beets, so I took a risk by choosing it for a Valentine’s Day menu. But the flavor of this spread is very complex, and the beets stay mildly sitting in the background, their presence big in color but mellow in flavor. Perfect for those who don’t jump up and down with joy when such bright red beings are found in the middle of the groceries. Serve this spread with crackers, or for a lighter appetizer course, celery or carrot sticks.

Make sure to visit Jamie’s site for her appetizer course on a Valentine’s Day Party for Friends! Stay tuned for the dinner course tomorrow…

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ONE YEAR AGO: Sesame and Flax Seed Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Spanakopita Meatballs

THREE YEARS AGO: Saturday Morning Scones

FOUR YEARS AGO: Pain de Mie au Levain

9Sep2013

SEA SCALLOPS WITH PEA PUREE & CILANTRO GREMOLATA

Posted in Seafood, Side dishes by sallybr

Preparing this dinner was not easy. It was probably not very wise to make it during the kitchen hellnovation, but I was craving a nicer meal to make our Sunday evening feel special. It can be very stressful to be in a house undergoing renovation, so having a slightly fancier meal seemed like a good idea. However, what used to be a kitchen is now an almost empty space with no finished floors or appliances. We are lucky to be able to keep the fridge turned on in our garage, and to have improvised two cooking areas: one in the laundry room, another in our enclosed patio. Still, pantry items are in boxes, a few dishes are piled in the dining room for our daily use, a few pans at close reach, but not that many. I wish you could see a video of me preparing this meal. Actually, I am very glad there is no video documenting the process. It involved me dashing a few times across rooms, forgetting that some passages are blocked by heavy plastic. It involved a mildly twisted ankle while balancing scallops on a baking dish and “almost” losing them all to a floor covered in rough concrete bits. It also involved a scorched pan, but the pea puree, even after subjected to torture tasted absolutely awesome! So, allow me to share with you one of the toughest meals I prepared in the past year, a recipe that I first saw on a favorite food blog of mine, Taste Food. Yes, I cooked from Lynda’s blog before… 😉

SEA SCALLOPS WITH GINGERED PEA PUREE AND CILANTRO GREMOLATA
(adapted from Taste Food)

for the scallops:
12 sea scallops
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of Mycryo

for the pea puree:
2 cups shelled English peas
salt
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne

for the gremolata:
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Make the gremolata by combining the cilantro, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons salt and the peas. Cook until peas are tender. Remove from heat and drain peas, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

Combine peas, ginger, olive oil, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and cayenne in bowl of food processor. Purée until smooth. Add some of the reserved water (approximately 1/4 cup) to thin to desired consistency; the purée should not be too thin. Discard remaining water. Transfer purée to a bowl and keep warm. Pat scallops dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. Add a sprinkle of Mycryo right before cooking. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the scallops, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Cook, turning once, until brown on both sides and just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate and keep warm. Repeat with remaining scallops. No need to add any oil to the pan, just the sprinkle of Mycryo will be enough.

To assemble, spoon pea purée on serving plates. Top with scallops. Sprinkle scallops and purée with gremolata. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Mycryo is a great product with a poorly chosen name, if you ask me. The word – Mycryo – makes me think of tears, sadness, despair. But that could not be farther from the truth: they gave sea scallops THE most perfect brown ever, even though they were prepared in THE most rudimentary cooking conditions available to a cook (the Drama Queen says hello). I even conducted a small experiment by preparing two batches of sea scallops. One cost a small fortune, they were the ultra-special, huge dry sea scallops. The other was a frozen type that while thawing released a gallon of white milky liquid. No bueno. With a light sprinkle of Mycryo (and no oil added to the non-stick pan), all scallops browned like a Brazilian under the tropical sun! We could not tell the difference in texture or taste between the two types, which was quite amazing to me. Great product! You can order here, they shipped very quickly, contrary to what I heard from customers who got it through amazon.com.

The pea puree competed heavily with the scallops to win the spotlight of this meal. Bright flavor with the ginger and just a slight heat from the cayenne. Lynda really came up with a perfectly balanced side dish.

I close this post with a little snapshot of our laundry room. In one side we installed the induction cooktop + microwave. On the other side, where we do have a large sink, we stuffed together the coffee machine, coffee grinder, and our beloved Penguin Sodastream. It’s cozy in there, folks. Cozy.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mediterranean Skewers with Balsamic Dressing

TWO YEARS AGO: Five Grain Sourdough Bread

THREE YEARS AGO: The Nano-Kitchen

FOUR YEARS AGO: Kaiser Rolls

14Jan2013

SALMON WELLINGTON

Posted in Seafood by sallybr

I have the great pleasure of introducing another guest post by my beloved husband!

Although I’d like to say that Beef Wellington is everyone’s festive delicacy, that’s surely a falsehood, because for many, many people filet of beef is a profanity, and its accoutrement, foie gras, is an atrocity. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Sally and I don’t share those sentiments. We love the Wellingon! We love it so much that we sought other variants. The one that we found, or in this case it’s even fair to say “invented,” is Salmon Wellington. Concocting a salmon Wellington is a bit like making an exquisite ham sandwich: you can garnish it with cheese or mustard or lettuce, or all three and more. So, we created our own variation of the dish, that includes Alaskan snow crab and a phyllo dough shell. It’s a light, …(OK, lighter) and a fresh experience that’s still rich with flavor.
SALMON WELLINGTON
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

2 pieces of center-cut filet of salmon, skin removed
1/2 cup of Alaskan crab meat, cooked and shredded
1 Tbsp grape seed oil
1 celery stalk, finely minced
1 shallot, finely minced
1 lemon, zest and juice
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp fresh dill, minced
salt and pepper to taste
6 sheets of phyllo dough, thawed
melted butter

Heat the oil in a small skillet and saute the shallots and celery in medium-low heat until translucent and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add the lemon zest and turn the heat off. Transfer to a small bowl and allow it to cool to lukewarm or room temperature. Mix the veggies with cooked crab meat, add the ginger and dill, mix well and season with salt and pepper.

To prepare the fish, buy a thick piece of fresh atlantic or wild salmon and cut it into 3″ by 4″ pieces, or a bit larger if you desire. Remove the skin with a sharp knife (I prefer a ceramic knife for this) and carefully scrape away the central vein of dark, oily meat. Rinse the filet under running water and dry it on paper towels.

Open the sheets of phyllo dough, 2 at a time, and brush them lightly with melted butter (you can also use olive oil if you prefer). Lay 6 sheets on top of each other and place half of the crab mixture over the center, leaving a large border all around. Try to spread the crab mixture to cover more or less the same area that the salmon will occupy. Lay the salmon filet on top, season with salt and pepper, and squeeze a small amount of lemon juice over it. Wrap the phyllo dough around the filet. Invert the package, so that the crab is on top, and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut away any excess dough. Brush a little melted butter on top of the phyllo, and bake at 375 F for 25 minutes, until golden brown.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: As Phil said, we LOVE the Wellington, it is probably our “signature dish”, the one we turn to when we want to make a special meal. In fact, it was the first recipe we cooked together when we started dating, we even made the puff pastry from scratch. Fun times… 😉 This variation is quickly becoming my favorite, though. Salmon and phyllo dough make a winning combination, and the crab meat doesn’t hurt either. Over the years, we’ve made Salmon Wellington with many different toppings. Once, while living in Paris we made it for our Valentine’s dinner. Phil came up with a topping using a citric fruit similar to clementines, that was in season at the time. It was outstanding! Come to think of it, Valentine’s Day is not far away, and this would be a great meal for the occasion!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Green Chip Alternative

TWO YEARS AGO: Weekend Pita Project

THREE YEARS AGO: Let it snow, let it snow, eggs in snow

26Mar2012

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: ORANGE AND ROSEMARY PORK TENDERLOIN

Posted in Pork, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

The time has come again, for the much awaited Reveal Day of The Secret Recipe Club! I felt a shiver up and down my spine when I got my assignment, and it is easy to see why: my assigned blog, A Taste of Home Cooking, has been around since 2006! She is a veteran food blogger by definition!

I struggled to choose a recipe, because too many appealed to me, and to make my life even harder, she kept publishing new posts with more enticing stuff, like a recent Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Mushrooms and Cream. At some point, I had to quit going back, and settled on two possibilities, the first you’ll see today, of course, but I will be making the other one soon, independent of the SRC.

ORANGE AND ROSEMARY PORK TENDERLOIN
(slightly modified from A Taste of Home Cooking)

2 pork tenderloins
4 oranges, juiced
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons agave nectar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
chopped parsley leaves

Cut the tenderloins in 3 or 4 equal portions and place them in a plastic bag. Whisk together the marinade ingredients and pour them over the meat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, massaging the meat when you have a chance, or moving the pieces around).

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees. Remove the pork from the fridge and pour the marinade into a small saucepan.

Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Place the pork pieces into the skillet and sear on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Put the skillet in the oven and roast for 20 minutes, until cooked through (the meat should be pale pink in the center; if using a meat thermometer, the recommended safe internal temperature is 160°F), flipping the meat a couple of times during the roasting.

While the meat is roasting, put the saucepan with the remaining marinade over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Keep boiling, uncovered, stirring regularly, until the marinade has reduced halfway. Add in the cream, salt and parsley. Stir, and keep warm over low heat.

When the meat is ready, remove the skillet from the oven, and transfer the meat to a cutting board. If there are any juices in the skillet add them to the sauce and bring back to a boil. Cut the meat pieces into thick slices and serve with the sauce,sprinkling more fresh parsley on top.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This recipe was originally from Clotilde, of Chocolate and Zucchini, another ultra-veteran blog, but I followed all the modifications from “A Taste of Home”, like browning the meat before, and increasing baking time. Departing from both versions, I opted for an amount of cream halfway between them. You can get by with less, maybe a couple of tablespoons, or splurge, but I felt the meat had just the right amount of naughtiness the way I made it… 😉

After making this recipe, I am convinced we should all use oranges more often in sauces, marinades, salad dressings. They bring the citric component, but a lot more natural sweetness.

I loved this month’s adventure at The Secret Recipe Club! If you want to see what my fellow bloggers came up with, simply click on the links brought to you by the cute blue frog below.

Note added after publication: curious to see who got the Bewitching? Jump to “The Double Dipped Life”, and see the recipe she chose (a favorite of ours, by the way).

ONE YEAR AGO: Pistachio-Walnut Sourdough Bread (we loved this one!)

TWO YEARS AGO: Pork Tenderloin and Blue Cheese