The Perfect Fall Meal

Pork Chops with Applesauce, Gruyere Mac & Cheese, Roasted Brussels Sprouts in Truffle Oil

Time for fall! Sweaters, boots, cozy nights by the firepit. Even though it was 80 degrees last Friday night, I was hell bent on making the perfect fall meal. And I had just had the most amazing porkchops at my friend Alex's wedding in the Berkshires. And I had a brand new Cuisinart food processor I wanted to use for everything. And I'd just watched Ina make the most amazing mac & cheese on the food network. It came together pretty nicely; pork with the apples, the apples with the cheese. Bingo.

One of my good friends, Ursula, was in town; rather than spending a ton of money at a fancy downtown dinner with all of our friends, we decided it would be more fun to have dinner at my house. Since I work from home, I usually have more than enough time to grocery shop and prepare everything in advance. If you do not work from home, everything I made can be prepared several days in advance (I had an unexpectedly busy Friday so was glad that I did). If you have a couple of hours after work, make the applesauce in advance (it stays fine for a long time in the fridge), grate the cheese (the most pain in the ass part of the entire meal), marinate the porkchops, and prepare the brussels. By Friday or Saturday or whatever night you decide to make this meal, all you will need to do is quickly assemble and cook. Notes about this dinner: You can make everything without a food processor, I was just desperate to use mine. Unfortunately I got a little trigger happy with the cuisinart on the applesauce and made about 8 cups of baby food. TOO smooth. Remedied by adding 2 extra cooked apples that I just mashed/mixed with a whisk, perfect fix and added just the right amount of texture. I now have applesauce coming out my ears so menus around here might be pork heavy for the next couple of weeks. Everything else was pretty tasty; watch the pork temp because it cooks fast. Our friend Charlotte is an amazing baker so she brought an apple crisp/cobbler which was the perfect dessert for this meal.

I really wanted to set a nice fall table, so I used my friend Kendall's fall tablecloth that was here from a party we had last fall. I went to Crate and Barrel and got 6 napkins, napkin rings, and orange candles for the hurricanes. I sort of hated the flowers that I got from the store but I ended up running out of time and couldn't do a different arrangement. If I could have done it differently, I would have regrouped and done a short arrangement with pumpkins or something else accenting the table. Unfortunately I am not Martha Stewart and had to just let the imperfect table go in favor of my actual job.

Porkchops

Mix Together in a Bowl:
-1/2 cup honey
-1/2 cup apple cider/applejuice (cider was harder to find than I anticipated)
-1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
-1/4 cup olive oil
-2 tbs chopped FRESH oregano (optional)
-1 tbs each salt and pepper

Put in a large ziploc bag with 6 bone-in porkchops (or however many you want- I had one non-pork eater so swapped in a chix breast and just froze the extra chop in some marinade in a ziploc). You can also save any extra marinade to use as salad dressing if you add a touch more olive oil to it (make sure it hasn't been mixed in with the pork). Marinate the chops for a few hours or overnight.

To Cook:
-Oven will be heated to 375 for the macaroni and cheese (which has been baking for about 20 minutes at this point)
-Put a pan on the stove, med/high heat
-Brown each porkchop for about 2 min on each side
-Transfer to a glass, metal, or ceramic baking dish, cover in the rest of the marinade
-Cook for about 15-20 minutes more until pork reaches an internal temp of at least 160-165 or is white when you cut into it

Gruyere Macaroni and Cheese

This is a knockoff of Ina Garten's recipe; I don't put the tomatoes on top and I added/changed a couple of things. If you want to be really fancy, you can put these into individual ramekins for each guest. If you want to serve it as a main dish for a few people, you can buy gratin dishes for about $5 each and serve it in those as well.

Ingredients:
-1 box of cavatappi noodles (you can use elbow mac as well, I think cavatappi are prettier)
-1 quart of milk
-1 stick of butter (save 2 tbs for the top)
-1/2 cup flour
-12 oz gruyere, grated (4 cups)
-8 oz sharp cheddar, grated (2 cups)
-1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
-salt and pepper
-1/4 c grated parmesan

Directions:
-Heat oven to 375
-Cook the macaroni until it is al dente (make sure you salt the water). Put aside.
-Melt 2 tbs of butter and mix into breadcrumbs. Put aside.
-Melt 6 tbs of butter in a saucepan/pot. Add the flour, cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and cook until it is smooth.
-Let milk/butter/flour cool and add the grated cheeses and 1 tsp pepper.
-Mix in the noodles, pour into a large casserole dish and cover with the buttery breadcrumbs. Sprinkle parmesan all over.
-Cook at 375 for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbling on the sides.

Applesauce

Ingredients:
-3-4 apples (any work, I used honeycrisp)
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 tbs cinnamon
-zest of 1 lemon
-pinch of salt

Directions:
-Peel the apples and cut into 1-2 inch cubes. Boil in a pot of water until they are soft and you can break them apart with a fork (about 15 min)
-Drain water from pot and mash with a whisk or fork. Add lemon zest, sugar, cinnamon, and salt (more of anything if needed).
-Cool and serve with the porkchops.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Truffle Oil

I usually make these with regular olive oil and they are delicious. But I found truffle oil at the grocery recently so now I'm trying it out! It gives the vegetables an element of flavor that is subtle but so good.

Ingredients:
-1 bag of brussels sprouts
-1 tbs salt
-1tbs pepper
-1/4 cup truffle oil
-1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
-Prepare the brussels sprouts by cutting off the bottoms and then slicing them in half. Place into a large ziploc bag
-Add truffle oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese to the ziploc bag. Toss and set bag aside until ready to roast (I did this days in advance which was fine)
-Spread onto a baking sheet (I line mine with tin foil for easier clean up). Roast in the 375 oven for about 20 minutes (put these in at them same time as you put the pork in, for everything to be ready at about the same time).

Fall Salad

I was pretty ambitious last week and thought that, with the apple theme, I'd do a salad with apples, candied pecans, and blue cheese. This is completely not necessary and I usually just put some arugula on the table tossed with a vinaigrette dressing (recipe somewhere else on this blog). Regardless, it was one of the most delicious salads I have ever made and I would definitely recommend going through the hassle if you have enough time in advance to candy the pecans (they are difficult to find in stores but super easy to candy yourself). Re: Candied Pecans- these are delicious and very easy to make. They are fantastic in a little ramekin on the side of your cheese platter.

Ingredients:
-1 container/box of arugula
-1/2 apple, skin on or off, sliced thinly
-About 1/4 wedge of good blue cheese, chopped or crumbled
-1/4 cup candied pecans
-2 tbs-1/4 cup vinaigrette, or use some of the porkchop marinade which you reserve

Directions:
-To candy pecans- chop pecans. Melt 2 tbs butter and 2 tbs brown sugar in a pan on the stove. Add pecans, toss around and cook for 3-5 mins. Spread on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper, let cool.
-Toss the rest of the ingredients together, add salad dressing last. Do not chop up the apple until you are ready to serve or it will turn brown.

Happy Fall and Happy Hostessing!!

Chicken Parmesan

I KNOW it's been a while since my last post, but I have been a little busy. There have been a few distractions that have kept me away in the last few months but here's to a new year!

In these chilly winter months, I find that all I want is something warm and cheesy and served with pasta...Enter my new go-to, Chicken Parmesan. It is fried and cheesy and served over pasta. How could it not be amazing? In addition, it is easy to make (you can use sauce from a jar or make the quick marinara that I use) and saves well....perfect for tomorrow's lunch! I usually serve it with a very simple green salad (romaine lettuce with a little parmesan cheese grated on top and then tossed with a vinaigrette dressing).

Here is your grocery list:

1 package of chicken breasts
1 onion
garlic
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
flour
bread crumbs (Italian style)
fresh mozzarella cheese (1 ball is fine)
parmesan cheese
eggs
linguine pasta
olive oil
romaine lettuce
vinaigrette dressing (or you can make one using the recipe on here)


Marinara Sauce:
-Dice onion and 3 cloves of garlic, saute in olive oil
-Add can of crushed tomatoes, simmer sauce on low while preparing chicken, salt and pepper to taste

Boil water for pasta at this point and put the noodles in the water when there is 10 minutes left on the chicken

Chicken
-Heat oven to 375
-Heat skillet to medium heat with about 1/3 cup of olive oil in it
-Scramble 1 egg in a casserole dish or plate with a low center
-Dip each chicken breast into the egg to coat
-Dip chicken breast into the flour to coat
-Dip chicken breast back into the egg to coat again
-Dip chicken break into the bread crumbs and press crumbs into the chicken
-Repeat for each breast
-Place the breaded chicken breasts into the hot olive oil in the skillet and cook for 4 minutes (without moving) on each side
-Ladle a few spoonfuls of red sauce into a casserole dish and place the sauteed chicken breasts on top of the layer of sauce
-Layer one or two slices (about 1/3-1/2 inch thick) mozzarella cheese on top of each chicken breast, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of that
-Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the parmesan has browned a little

Place a serving of pasta on each plate and top with red sauce. Place a parmesan/mozzarella chicken breast on top of that, and ladle a spoonful of sauce over the entire thing. Serve with your salad and feel free to heat up some french bread as well to have with it.

Enjoy and Happy Hostessing 2011!!

Oysters Rockefeller and Jambalaya!

Every so often, I get a hankering for some sort of New Orleans cuisine. The food down there is some of the best that I have ever eaten. Last night, my sorority sister from Tulane (Lizzy) and I decided to make jambalaya. I have made red beans and rice (actually, I make it pretty often in the wintertime), and I have made gumbo, but I had never tried jambalaya and we felt like doing it. I rarely use recipes unless I am making something I have never made before, and even then I usually just read through the recipe to get an idea of how I want to make whatever it is I'm making. With the jambalaya, however, since rice was invloved I decided that I ought to follow the recipe pretty closely. I did follow the recipe pretty closely except I added one extra thing...shrimp! Yum.

Lizzy and I did the grocery shopping for the jambalaya the night before we made it. Apparently she is pretty tight with the butcher at Whole Foods so now we get hooked up whenever we go. It's pretty freaking sweet. We also had to spend quite a bit of time in the spice aisle since we had to make a whole jar of cajun spice. Going to the grocery store with Lizzy was significantly less torturous than going by myself, so from now on I might have to drag her whenever I go. If you had a recipe book with you like we did, it is also much easier to have one person say the ingredients and then the other person grabs them. We were also pretty lucky that my sister was home, because we didn't bother to look at this "cajun spice recipe blend" we had to make to determine what we already had in the cabinet at the house. My sister actually brought a ton of spices with her when she moved, but I don't know what they are and I don't even think she knows what they are so we needed to know what they were. Anyway, we had gathered all of the spices the recipe called for in the cart by the time we decided to call Cathryn, who was VERY cooperative. She is very supportive of my new endeavors in the kitchen so it's pretty lucky. In fact, as Lizzy was on the phone with her and I was reading to Lizzy the spices we had in the cart, I thought Cathryn was just guessing which spices we had until I asked Lizzy to ask Cathryn if she was SURE we had chili powder to which Lizzy responded "she says she can f-ing read, Diana." Little did I know that our sous chef had lined up every spice on the counter for us.

Anyway, we went home that night and made some steak and scallops for dinner (that recipe another time) and I chopped up all the vegetables for the jambalaya. Almost every New Orleans recipe (gumbos, jambalayas, red beans, etouffees, etc) starts with a trio of vegetables referred to as "The Trinity." So, pretty much anytime you make a New Orleans anything you can rest assured it will probably start with a medley of chopped onion, celery, and green pepper. One of the reasons why I love making these dishes is because they are incredibly low maintenance to cook- usually chopping the vegetables is the most work intensive part of the whole thing and then from there everything just goes into one big pot where the flavors all absorb and melt into each other to form a little slice of Heaven.

If you have read some of my previous posts, you might notice that we rarely make just one dish for a meal...We almost always have a salad of some sort at the very least, and usually there is some type of side dish or appetizer (usually pretty basic...cheese). Well, with jambalaya you don't really need a side dish because it sort of is a big, giant side dish with enough stuff added to it to make it a main dish, and I couldn't think of any New Orleans appetizers. So I decided we just needed some french bread. Everything in New Orleans comes with french bread to scoop up whatever meal you're eating, and there is so much of it produced down there that there are even recipes to get rid of the stale french bread (see: bread pudding). Then I got really ambitious and decided that I was going to go out in search of french bread DOUGH. I almost tried making it myself but you have to let it rise, etc. which takes hours. Anyway, I figured Whole Foods would have french bread dough so I made the trek up. Unfortunately, french bread dough does not exist at Whole Foods, BUT while I was on my way up there my brilliance kicked in and I remembered that there WAS a great New Orleans appetizer- oysters on the half shell.

Fortunately, for some strange reason my dad taught me how to shuck an oyster when I was a sophomore in college. So, much like changing a flat tire on the car (he taught me that as well), it is something I had always kept in the back of my mind as knowing how to do should there ever be a dire need, but never tried since there was never a dire need. Well, now we had a dire need because once I got into my head that I was going to buy (and shuck) a dozen oysters there was no turning back. I briefly thought about going over to Blacksalt to get some really good oysters, but lost the drive once I got to Whole Foods and saw that they even sold oyster shucking knives (they call it a "clam knife" but I know what it's really for). Here is a small oyster disclaimer: apparently you're only supposed to eat oysters in months that end in R. In the summer months, when the water is warmer, they spawn or something and for whatever reason aren't as good to eat. Well, I know plenty of people that eat oysters in the summer and have lived to talk about it and I think if they were going to kill someone then stores probably wouldn't sell them. So, it took me about 10 seconds to get over that hangup. Actually, not quite because the more I thought about it, I thought to myself wow, it would really be unfortunate if someone got sick so let me go back to googling on my blackberry "New Orleans Appetizers." Lo and behold, what comes up??!!? OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER. Oh my goodness gracious it was like a sign from God. And guess what else? I already had ALL of the ingredients for it at the house. It was just meant to be. Crazy. I ordered my dozen oysters, grabbed a loaf of french bread and headed home with a little spring in my step.

Note: Oysters Rockefeller was invented at Antoine's Restauant in the French Quarter in New Orleans. It is named "Oysters Rockefeller" because it is SO rich.

Once home, I began the process of shucking the oysters. Cathryn has a Hilton Worldwide Top Chef apron at the house which came in handy because I didn't want to get oyster juice all over me. So there I was, apron on, oyster shucking knife in hand, bag of oysters on the counter. I grabbed one, wrapped it in a towel, stuck the knife in the corner, hoped and hoped it wouldn't slip and go through my hand removing my thumb or something, and ta-da! The oyster opened. It really wasn't that hard and I ate a couple raw since they looked SO good and were really cold and our fish friend had thrown in a couple extras. I will spare you the entire process of shucking an oyster, it really is something that you need to see to know how to do.

As I was washing off the oyster shells, Lizzy walked in and gave me the "ohhhhh man wtf are you doing now" look. I explained calmly that I was making Oysters Rockefeller and she was going to need to stir the ingredients in the pan since I was elbow deep in oyster goo and could she please open a corona for me. Ever the good sport, she did it and then we finished the sauce for the Oysters Rockefeller. I used some of the ingredients from the recipe I found online, but changed around the amounts and added a few things (my recipe below).

Then we started the jambalaya. I had not chopped the chicken breast into bite size pieces yet so I pulled it out of the fridge to do that. Unfortunately in the ONE night it was in the fridge it had managed to go bad, so Lizzy had to make an emergency run up to Whole Foods to get a new one (this is why we usually keep chicken breasts in the freezer). Anyway, she came back with a brand new package 15 minutes later and we threw the oysters into the oven to eat while the jambalaya was finishing (recipe below). Crisis averted.

If I were to serve this for a dinner party, I would serve the oysters first as (and on) a small plate, followed by a plate of jambalaya with salad on the side and a piece of warm french bread. That's exactly how we ate the meal, but the oysters were eaten straight out of the pan, in the kitchen, and then we made up the plates of salad, bread, and jambalaya and ate those in the sunroom. We're pretty low key in the summer! I was also pretty low key about photographing this meal so all you can see is the Oysters Rockefeller and Greg's plate that he had already started. But you get an idea.

Overall, the jambalaya took about an hour to prepare and cook, making it a pretty doable weeknight meal. It also makes enough to feed a small army, so everyone was able to take leftovers for lunch today. It is also pretty inexpensive for how much it makes and therefore perfect for our little budgets. The Oysters Rockefeller were the big hit of the night- I realized they had to be pretty good as I walked downstairs and Cathryn said they were so tasty that she was literally licking the shell. Everyone did. All around it was a wonderful night of great food and as always, great company.


Oysters Rockefeller

12 oysters (if you don't know how to shuck them, ask the fish person to do it, reserving the juice)
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup minced white onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup white wine
Grated parmesan cheese
salt and white pepper, to taste
4 cups of rock salt (to cover the bottom of a pan so you can rest the oysters in it when you put them in the oven)

-Shuck the oysters, saving the juice. Put them in a bowl with the juice. Throw away the tops of the shells, scrape the muscle out of the bottoms, scrub them a little, rinse and dry.
-In a small frying pan, melt the butter. Add the minced onion and garlic, saute for 2 minutes or until the onion is clear.
-Add the chopped spinach and parsley, saute for another minute.
-Add the white wine, salt and white pepper.
-Add the bread crumbs.
-Pour rock salt about 3/4 inch high in the bottom of a baking pan. Arrange shells so they are resting in the salt bed.
-Put a little bit of oyster juice in each shell. Put one oyster in each shell.
-Spead a spoonful of the spinach/onion mixture on top of each oyster.
-Sprinkle each with parmesan cheese.
-Bake for about 12 minutes at 450 degrees.


Cajun Spice Mix

Mix together the following in a jar:
-5 tbs paprika
-1 tbs black pepper
-1 tbs white pepper
-1 tbs cayenne pepper
-1 tbs dried thyme
-2 tbs garlic powder
-1 tbs dried oregano
-1 tbs salt
-1 tbs chile powder
-1 tbs onion powder


Jambalaya

1 Stick butter
3 cups chopped celery
3 cups chopped green pepper
3 cups chopped white onion
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
1 pound andouille sausage, thinly sliced
1/2 pound shrimp (cooked or uncooked)
1 tbs cajun spice mix
1 tbs black pepper
3 tbs hot sauce
3 bay leaves
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
8 cups chicken stock
4 cups uncooked long grain white rice

-Melt the butter in a big pot. Add celery, green pepper, and onion, saute for 10 mins.
-Stir in chicken, sausage, and shrimp, cook until the chicken is done (and shrimp if you used raw).
-Add spice mix, pepper, hot sauce, bay leaves, tomatoes, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil.
-Add the rice, return to a boil.
-Cover the pot with a lid, turn off the heat. Let sit for about 20 minutes until the rice absorbs the liquid. Stir and serve with a piece of hot french bread.


Laissez les bons temps rouler and Happy Hostessing!

Seafood Redeemed: Penthouse Pasta

After Monday night's epic fail re: seafood attempt #1, I couldn't even bear to look at my kitchen any more so I went over to Nick's. By the time I arrived, he and his roommate were engrossed in a very heated game of NHL. Although most girls would probably watch and feign interest as a guy dukes it out with their roommate on a video game, I'm not one for pretending so I grabbed a magazine sitting on their coffee table. Jackpot! Turns out it was a Penthouse from 1999. Although checking out late 90s you-know-whats doesn't really do it for me, I do think some of the articles in those magazines are OCCASIONALLY entertaining and the jokes are alright. And I might have even read a Forbes at that point. Anyway, fast forward to about a third of the way through the magazine, and I find a recipe. No joke. Penthouse from 1999 was giving men recipes. As I read it, I thought, wow, not only does this look really tasty, it looks remarkably easy. And, since it was from 1999 (pre Atkins) it was a pasta recipe! I didn't want to be a weirdo and interrupt their video game to ask for something to write with, so I did my best to remember the ingredients and instructions (which wasn't hard, I suppose Penthouse can't make any recipe too complicated given their audience).

Anyway, fast forward to work the next day: After getting chapped by the dadboss for weeks for not finishing my spreadsheets/analyses, you can imagine how pumped I was to type in those last little numbers and print them all out. Coincidentally, since it was 630pm I was also getting pretty hungry and decided that I wanted to make that Penthouse recipe for dinner. I knew I had some of the ingredients at home, but I thought it would be a really delicious meal with a nice piece of fish atop the spagetti and sauce. I also knew we had (what I thought was) a ton of marjoram growing in the backyard, which I researched and found out was often used as a substitue for oregano (which the pasta recipe called for). I also noticed when googling that my marjoram didn't look anything like the marjoram in the pictures.

I went up to Whole Foods, paranoid per usual that someone I know will be there and attempt to wave or have a conversation when I am desperately trying to keep my focus. Usually I am pretty organized at the grocery store so it's a quick trip, but this was one of those back and forth to the produce, and back to the dairy, and then back to the canned goods, etc kind of trips. BECAUSE when I got there, I had my pasta and my piece of fish planned out, but then I got very ambitious in the olive aisle and decided to make a whole Mediterranean themed salad (I love themes...possibly leftover from my days in Chi Omega). I then went one step further and decided to get pita bread to serve with the pasta/salad.

In the meantime, I had gone to the fish guy and gotten a couple of pieces of Chilean Sea Bass (I know, slap on the wrist it's endangered but I wanted it). While I was there I also saw the pile of littlenecks/cherrystones that are always on the ice and decided to get a dozen of those as well, for an appetizer (I am sure you can tell what kind of grocery store trip this was shaping up to be by now). I needed some butter to melt for the clams (I love butter so we go through a lot of it...sometimes I have to lie to Cathryn about how much I put into stuff I'm cooking). While I was in the butter aisle, guess what else I saw that fit into my Mediterranean theme? HUMMUS!!! I mean, I already had the pitas so I figured why not? I briefly thought about trying to take the clams back to the fish guy because now I had a different pre-dinner snack but I don't think you can return things like that.

After I swung by the olive bar and got some pitted olives for the salad and pasta, I finally was checking out around the time I had told Lizzy to come over for dinner. Thankfully she still runs on New Orleans time so we can always count on her to be about an hour behind.

I got home and wasn't quite sure where to start, so I decided to start with preparing the salad. Our housekeeepers had just been there so I didn't want to mess anything up so it was kind of hard, but once I got over that small issue things went a little more smoothly. I prepared the lettuce and put it in a bowl (on top of a paper towel- I like to do this so nothing gets soggy and also it makes the salad easy to toss when you pull it out). I threw in some tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, and half a cucumber that my parents had grown in their garden (living in Georgetown it's difficult to have a big vegetable garden so they have a garden plot at Landon, my brother's school). I put the artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, and feta cheese aside by the salad to put in when I was ready to toss it and then made a dressing. The dressing consisted of lemon juice and olive oil (half of each), a sprinkle of sugar and some salt (you just have to taste it as you go along). I like making salad dressings in jars I have saved (and washed, obviously) because they are easy to mix (shake shake) and you can save what you don't use in the fridge.

I wasn't quite sure how to go about doing the pasta, since I wanted to doctor up the recipe a little bit (sorry, Penthouse). I decided to start it how I would start a regular tomato sauce, by sauteing a diced yellow onion and about 4 cloves of chopped garlic in 3 tbs of olive oil. To that I gave a hefty sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes for some spice. Once the onion and garlic were sauteed, I added 2 chopped roma tomatoes (roma tomatoes are more meaty/less juicy than regular tomatoes and thus used in most sauces). I also added half of a container of grape tomatoes (which I had sliced in half) since I had seen them in the Penthouse picture (even though they weren't mentioned in the recipe). I added about 3 tbs of chopped oregano (good thing I didn't use the "marjoram," it turned out to be a weed). The last thing I threw in was about 1/2 cup of pitted kalamata olives which I had given a rough chop. I let that all cook at a low temp for about 20 minutes with the lid on, stirring so that it didn't burn. In the meantime I had put the water on for the spagetti so got that ready.

I pulled out the fish filets and set the oven to 400. I placed them on tin foil, drizzled olive oil, sprinkled salt and pepper, and then laid 4 sprigs of fresh oregano on top. I wrapped up the little pouch and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

While all of this was going on, Lizzy and Cathryn were enjoying their glasses of wine (I don't really like red so I wouldn't say I was "enjoying" mine, per se, but I threw an ice cube in and tried to get it down). I kept asking them what I should do with the GD bag of clams I had gotten, and both of them immediately said no when I asked should I steam them to dip in butter. I think they are over the butter use since they both DO like to exercise. After quite a bit of deliberating, we all decided the clams would be good in the sauce, sort of like a linguine with clam sauce but different. Anyway, I said what the hell, rinsed them off and dropped them into the pot of sauce. I put the lid on (they need to steam open) and let that cook, stirring every couple of minutes for about 12 minutes until all of the clams were open.

We ate salads while waiting for the clams to open and the fish to cook and the pasta to boil. If you time everything perfectly (which I did not, but probably could next time), then it can all be ready at the same time which is ideal.

If you are serving this meal for a dinner party , it is nice to have the several different courses. The salad, pasta, and fish course can all be served separately or at once (probably salad before or after). If you wanted to serve the fish separately, I would set it on a plate, put a slice of tomato and a sprig of oregano next to it to dress it up and then serve that as a small plate. Of course, you can serve the pasta with the clams as a small plate as well, but pasta is inexpensive and makes more so I think it is the more reasonable large plate choice for people in their 20s who don't have the last name Rockefeller. Either or.

When I served it to Lizzy and Cathryn, I put a little bed of pasta in the pasta bowl (a regular plate would be fine, but since I have pasta bowls I figure I should use them when I can). I topped the bed of pasta with a ladle of the sauce and about 4 clams (I had purchased a dozen which was a fine amount for 3 people). On the side of the pasta bowl I placed a little filet of the sea bass with the sprig of oregano still on it. At the last minute I grabbed a couple slices of the toasted pita bread we had used with the hummus and put those on the side so that we could scoop up our sauce with them. I handed everyone a fork and large spoon, Lizzy reminded me to get a bowl for the clam shells, and we sat down at the coffee table and ate. Both Lizzy and Cathryn said it was the best creation I have ever come up with and they can't wait to have it again. Ahhhhhh, seafood: SUCCESS!!! Recipes Below.


Mediterranean Salad:

-Romaine lettuce, chopped
-Half a cucumber, diced
-1/2 container grape tomatoes
-1 handful of very thinly sliced red onion
-1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts
-1/4 cup hearts of palm (sliced for salad)
-1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
-1/4 cup roughly chopped pitted kalamata olives
-Dressing: one part each lemon juice and olive oil, salt and sugar to taste.
-Mix everything together, dress immediately before serving


Oven Roasted Fish:

-2 filets of white fish (like sea bass), totalling 1/2 lb
-Olive Oil
-Salt and pepper
-Fresh oregano
-Place fish on tin foil, drizzle with olive oil, S&P, lay oregano on top. Wrap up and bake at 400 degrees for 15 mins or until flaky and white.


Penthouse Pasta with Littlenecks

-1 box of Spagetti
-2 tbs olive oil
-1 white or yellow onion, diced
-3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
-crushed red pepper flakes (to taste...about 2 tbs)
-2 roma tomatoes, diced
-1/2 container grape tomatoes, each sliced in half
-3 tbs chopped fresh oregano
-1/2 cup roughly chopped pitted kalamata olives
-1 dozen littleneck clams (optional)
-Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil, add red pepper flakes. Add tomatoes, oregano, and olives, cook for 20 mins at low/medium with lid on. Add rinsed clams, steam with lid on until all clams are open fully (about 15 minutes). Serve over spagetti.


Love and Happy Hostessing!

Haha Dinner FAIL!!!!

After I decided this weekend that I wanted to add more deliciousness to my repetoire, I thought I should start "experimenting." I have made (and "blogged" about making) my fair share of chicken and flank steak, so I thought it was time for some fish. Usually shrimp would be my go-to seafood since I KNOW those and know them pretty well, but unfortunately BP has crushed that hope and dream, at least for the summer (dear BP: get my beloved gulf coast cleaned up ASAP before I get to NOLA this fall...side note Marcie and Rachel yall should come with- Columbus Day weekend check your calendars!).

When I realized I didn't want to mess around with Chinese shrimp (where they are coming from now) or attempt to explain crawfish (freshwater) yet, I thought I could get in the mood for some salmon. Now, I don't even really like salmon (I thought) but I have had it a couple of times in the past year and enjoyed it. So, since it had been on my mind I decided to do a test run. I got myself all sorts of pumped up about it, especially since work has been crazy for me lately and I have essentially been chained to my desk populating excel spreadsheets (the enemy) until our investors meeting this Thursday. Needless to say, I like to take little breaks throughout the day and think about what I am going to do when I leave the office, like make dinner.

Coincidentally Cathryn (my sister/roommate/bff 99% of the time) also had a hankering to try something new, so we made the trek up to Whole Foods (she tried to make us walk, but we "compromised" and drove since I hate exercising). Once at Whole Foods, I got a 1lb salmon filet (Alaskan wild), a bunch of Swiss Chard (leafy vegetable), a bunch of scallions, some ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and some rice. The marinade I wanted to do consisted of ginger, honey, lemon zest, sesame oil, scallions, soy sauce and garlic. It is actually an awesome marinade that I usually use for shrimp and thought would transfer over to salmon nicely. I got the swiss chard as a vegetable because it is a little crunchier than spinach (my fave...seriously) so I thought would be a nice accompaniment to the somewhat asian tasting salmon. After that the rice was an obvious choice.

Cathryn was making a porkchop recipe from her new Top Chef cookbook, so as soon as she had all of her ingredients we checked out and went home to start our marinades.

Obviously the first thing I did was make a batch of nachos (I know, I know, but we were starving and her bf wasn't going to be there for another hour to do the grill) so we needed a snack. Next, I put the salmon in a ziploc bag (or you can put it in a dish/bowl) and added about: (I don't usually measure unless I'm baking so these are estimates) 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 1/4 cup of sesame oil, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 3 scallions (chopped), 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 3 tbs of honey, 2 tbs grated fresh ginger, and zest of one lemon (zest=grated rind...has more flavor than the juice). I reserved about 1 tbs each of the ginger and the lemon zest to use with the swiss chard. Then I put it in the fridge to sit until grill time when we (Greg) put that and CM's porkchops on.

Next, I rinsed and chopped the swiss chard, put it in a big pan with 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs sesame oil, and the reserved lemon zest and ginger.

Then I put the rice on the stove to cook.


While all of this was going on, Cathryn realized that the risotto she was trying to revive after being in the freezer was NOT coming back to life. We both tasted it and agreed that our mom had been right, it would NOT freeze and reheat well. As we were throwing that out, talking about how lucky it was that I had made enough rice for everyone, the smoke detector started going off. We couldn't figure out what was burning so badly until I took the lid off of the rice (which I still don't know how I screwed up...talk about having too many things going on at once). It was literally a block of blackened rice that was smoking and completely stuck to the bottom of the pan. We both just started laughing so hard we were practically crying at the fact we had both just totally mangled our side dishes, but decided to just throw some uncle Ben's rice in the microwave. At this point, both Teddy (my dog) and Greg (Cathryn's bf) had escaped to the man kitchen outside to get out of the way and put the meat and fish on the grill. The next thing I know, while Cathryn and I are inside cooking the spinach and swiss chard (sautee just like you would spinach until it is wilted), Greg shouts inside asking if we have a fire extinguisher. No, we don't, and I have been saying we needed to move the grill AWAY from the house for about two months now.

As I walk outside towards the (literally) 8 ft high flames, it is apparent that Greg didn't know Cathryn's marinade consisted of mainly olive oil (her's was different than mine), and in his sweet, kind, thoughtful wish not to waste any of it, he drizzled it over her porkchops and directly onto the open flame. It caught everything inside the grill on fire and once I stopped laughing at the situation, I tried to explain to Cathryn that it would all burn off, just had to give it a minute. Greg looked at me with that "ahhhhhh what do I do now??" look, and Cathryn was jumping up and down and fixing to grab the cooler top to "smother" it (note, that would NOT have worked as oil fires catch onto anything they touch and she would have then been running around the yard with a flaming cooler top). Right after I pulled the grill away from the house (that house is the love of my life and I was not about to have it smoke stained, or, even worse burned to the ground), the bottom of it fell out and that's when I started to get a tiny bit worried. Cathryn ran inside to get some baking soda (the next best thing to a fire extinguisher for an oil fire). Once she came back out, the fire had pretty much burned itself out so we decided to just close the grill lid and leave it be for a while.

Interestingly enough, her porckhops had gotten fully cooked in the process, but Teddy got to eat them all since they tasted like smoke. Fortunately, the salmon had not been put on the grill yet so I put it in the broiler for about 15 mins (if I were to do it again I would have put it in the oven on 350 for about 20 mins, wrapped in a tin foil pouch. Regardless the marinade and fish were very good. The swiss chard and Cathryn's spinach were fine (didn't taste her spinach but the chard was tasty) and thankfully the rice was OK. So, instead of having two completely separate meals, we ended up all having some salmon, some greens, and some rice. I would definitely make the salmon and the swiss chard again and serve it with rice. I bet Cathryn will try the porkchop recipe again if she's not too mad at it and I will definitely post that recipe because it looked awesome.

Aside from almost burning the house down, we all had a good long laugh about how badly each one of us screwed some part of this dinner up and that made it all completely worth it. At the end of the day, we could have called Pizza Movers and we would have still had a great time just being together! I do think Teddy really appreciated the porkchops as well.

Moral of this story: It's just a meal, and what do you have left if you can't laugh about the mishaps?? I am so fortunate to have a life and a kitchen full of friends and family that can find humor in all of the crazy things that make life interesting. As my friend Thalia pointed out after I emailed the picture above to our email chain: "I enjoy blackened salmon dm. Sell it as a new culinary technique!"


Love and Happy Hostessing!

BBQ Chicken

After having a dream yesterday afternoon (post work) about BBQ chicken, I decided I should go to the grocery store and pick up something to make for dinner. I really don't like going to the grocery store, so usually when I go I try to have a list of what I need planned out so that I don't have to go back and forth from section to section because I've forgotten something. I also like to get in and get out lest I run into someone at 7pm on a Wednesday night when I'm wearing a bathing suit coverup and have pillow lines on my face.

Since I had that dream about BBQ chicken, I decided to get all of the ingredients for that (drumsticks and bbq sauce, easy enough) and the ingredients to make this fusilli with corn and chives pasta salad that my mom makes all the time on the Cape. Like the rice salad, it is good with everything and makes a ton. It also requires very few ingredients so can be done in a short amount of time. Unfortunately it has about zero nutritional value aside from filling you with carbohydrates, but you're not making an entire meal out of it so I think it's fine. I wanted to have some sort of vegetable/salad on the plate so I grabbed stuff for tomatoes and mozzarella (see recipe for that under previous post about summer meal). For some reason while I was there I decided I was in the mood for some chocolate bread pudding so I got the ingredients to make a half batch of it.

By the time I got back to the house around 8pm, I was a little cranky from not having eaten anything since lunch, so I decided a corona/lime might help. It did. Amazing how a cold beer can fix anything.

This is an easy meal to shop for and prepare, since it requires very few ingredients and very little effort. I love bbq chicken and this particular pasta salad so I was happy to make it. When I went to the grocery store, I grabbed tomatoes and mozzarella cheese for the salad (I had basil in the garden which surprisingly didn't die after I brought it to within an inch of its life this June). For the pasta salad I picked up a box of fusilli pasta, chives, butter, and 2 ears of fresh corn (canned works fine too but the fresh was right there). For the chicken, I got a package of 16 drumsticks which was only $8 (I froze the rest for another time....breasts also work if you want white meat). If I was feeling particularly ambitious I would have made my own bbq sauce, alas I was not so I grabbed a thing of Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ and a thing of Chubbs Original. I had heard both were good so I though I'd try them out. If you want to go the extra step and make the chocolate bread pudding, you'll need a loaf of french bread, milk, eggs, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. Also a container of vanilla ice cream to serve it with. Thankfully we had some beers in the fridge at home so this time when I left the grocery store my bags weren't making that bottles clinking sound per usual.

I made the bread pudding first since it goes into the oven for about 45 minutes, but I will put that recipe last since it is not a main component of the meal. Next I boiled the water for the pasta/corn, while that was boiling I prepared the tomatoes and mozzarella. After those were all prepared I did the chicken since it takes about 10 seconds of prep time.


For the Fusilli with Corn and Chives:

-Boil the pasta as it says on the box, add the ears of corn (shucked) into the water with the pasta so they cook as well (if you are using canned corn just drain and rinse).
-Put 1.5 sticks of butter into a large bowl, when the pasta is ready put it in the bowl hot and stir everything so that the butter melts.
-Cut the corn off the cob, add to bowl.
-Chop up about a 1/2 cup of chives, add those to the bowl.
-Add salt and pepper. Note: you will need to add quite a bit of pepper but taste it along the way so that you get the right amounts.
-Serve at room temperature.
-Note: I halved this recipe and it turned out fine.


For the Chicken:

-Brush each drumstick with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper.
-Put drumsticks on the grill (I budgeted 2 pp), cook for a few mins.
-Brush BBQ sauce onto each drumstick, turn over and brush the other side.
-Repeat for the next 12 minutes or so until they are cooked. You might want to cut into one to make sure they're cooked through.
-Serve with extra bbq sauce on the side.
-Note: Don't marinate the chicken in the bbq sauce, apparently it turns bitter. I have no idea if this is true but my friend Kendall told me this and since she is from Memphis aka the bbq capital of the country, I believe her. The chicken was very flavorful with just the brushing on of the sauce anyway.


For the Chocolate Bread Pudding:
-Cut up french bread into 1 inch cubes, place in a large baking dish or brownie pan, sprinkle with 1/2 cup of choc chips.
-In a bowl, mix together 4 cups of milk, 4 eggs, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup of sugar, and a tablespoon of vanilla.
-Pour chocolate milk mixture over bread cubes and bake in a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.
-Note: I also halved this recipe and put it in a smaller 9x9 dish. It turned out fine. Bread pudding is incredibly hard to mess up, and the leftovers can be kept in the fridge and microwaved to be served again. In fact, this is how many restaurants in New Orleans do it (someone who worked in a kitchen told me).
-Serve with vanilla ice cream. I also bought some raspberries at the store and sprinkled those on the dessert plates and it really jazzed it up. Any fruit is fine if you want a little extra color on the plate.

This meal was/is probably one of the easiest and least time consuming to prepare as everything but the chicken can be done in advance. My two guests loved both flavors of the bbq sauces and went back for seconds. Although I halved everything to make it for 3 people, it is an easy and inexpensive meal to make for a large group, and perfect for the hot weather here.


Love and Happy Hostessing!

3rd of July Cookout

After an aggressive week of celebrating our Nation's birthday, a few of my friends and I decided that it might be nice to spend Saturday night doing something low key and fun. After our friends spent all day at various pools (including the VERY nice above ground pool at my house), I wanted to serve a pretty easy and effortless dinner. Besides, what is more American than hot dogs, chips, and macaroni salad? You don't need to have a grill or even a backyard to invite people over and have a fun summer meal of hot dogs and mac salad, and everyone does enjoy a couple of dogs in the summer months. We went one step further since we were celebrating 4th of July and had an angel food cake with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream (red white and blue, get it?) but it is an easy dessert you can serve any time.

When you shop for groceries, grab a pack of hot dogs (I got ball park bun size) and a pack of hot dog buns. Make sure to buy ketchup, mustard, and relish if you don't have them at home. Get a couple bags of potato chips- I like Cape Cod potato chips and the salt and vinegar ones are especially tasty with the dogs. For the macaroni salad, buy a box of elbow macaroni noodles, carrots, celery, a red onion, 2 bottles of Kraft Zesty Italian dressing, and eggs (you will need one if you don't have any at home). If you want to serve an angel food cake then pick up one of those as well as some fresh berries and some whipped cream. Colleen was over so she helped me with everything, including whipping the cream (which we did with a whisk) but Reddi-Whip is far easier to use. DO NOT forget to get a lot of Bud Light. Cans don't go bad and running out of beer is way worse than having some left over.

Total preparation of the entire meal takes less than an hour, and it took us even less time since I had Colleen and Nick helping. And by helping I mean that Colleen actually helped chop vegetables and Nick helped drink the bud lights (just kidding, he was a trooper at the grocery store and then did all of the grilling...my least favorite part). Bottom line, everything is easier, faster, and more fun when you get your friends to help out and mine are always more than happy to do so!

The first thing you should prepare is the macaroni salad, since it takes a few minutes to cook the noodles and then you want to put it in the fridge to cool down before you serve it. After that, wash the berries/fruit, cut it up if it needs to be, and then stick it in a serving dish in the fridge with the whipped cream.


Macaroni Salad:
-While waiting for the pot of water to boil, chop finely 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, and half of a red onion. Save the other half of the red onion to chop and serve with the dogs.
-Boil a pot of water, put an egg in to hard boil it. It takes 10 min for an egg to hard boil so time it so that the egg goes in about 3-4 minutes before the pasta and then finished hard boiling while the pasta is in there.
-Cook the entire box of noodles according to the directions (usually 7-8 min).
-After draining the noodles, take the egg out and set it aside. Transfer noodles to a big serving or salad bowl, and add one bottle of the Italian dressing. Toss. The warm noodles will absorb the flavors of the dressing and after the salad has been in the fridge for 30-60 min, you will want to add the other bottle and re-toss.
-Chop the hard boiled egg and add that along with the vegetables.

Hot Dogs:
-If you don't have a grill, you can microwave the hot dogs (which I do all the time when I am in the mood for one) and they will be pretty good. However, I like mine a little crispy from the grill so that is ideal.
-Put them on the grill, cook until they are heated through. They are VERY easy to make, obviously. Don't forget to put the buns on the grill at the last minute so those are toasty too.
-Serve with ketchup, mustard, relish, chopped red onion, and a cold Bud Light.

This is definitely a paper plates, plastic forks kind of meal so don't feel like it needs to be elaborate in ANY way. Like I have said before, it is not necessary to always have a fancy or work intensive dinner party in order for it to be fun!


Love and Happy Hostessing!