January Dinner Party!

Good Day everyone! The first month of 2012 is trucking towards an end...already! I mentioned just over a week ago, my goal for 2012. A dinner party each month...and a blog post about it. So here goes.

The January Dinner Party.

Planning: Planning started before Thanksgiving on this one. A friend of ours wanted to introduce us to two friends of hers. They happened to have just moved to our town and were getting settled in and our friend thought it would be nice to introduce us. I jumped, at the time, at the opportunity to host, something I do love to do. But, the problem was, Thanksgiving was in the middle, plus a trip to Italy for the spouse and I!!!! (AH-MAZE-ING!) So the soonest we'd be able to host was January. That gave me plenty of time to think about what to make, even though I didn't get myself all the time.

I like my guests to feel comfortable with the food, so I always ask if there are any major dietary restrictions. If I have vegetarians coming for dinner, I'm not going to make a huge beef roast. No major restrictions this time around, but there was a preference for chicken, which I'm supper cool with.

Menu: Having just come back from 10 days in Italy, I knew I wanted to make something with an Italian spin to it. After flipping through several of my cookbooks, I settled on a chicken saltimbocca. Traditional saltimbocca is veal. I'm not fond of veal, so this chicken variation was perfectly awesome. For side options, I went with basil risotto and roasted green beans. Dessert would be something we had in Italy and it was incredible; Crema di Mascarpone.

I would also put out a few small nibbles to get us started and I made a great focaccia. Plus plenty of wine!

The focaccia was a standard recipe I've made before, but topped with caramelized onions and rosemary. It's awesome. The dough is pretty simple to pull together and it doesn't take a full day to make.

The table set for our guests. Not much will change over the coarse of the year. This is what we have. If we have more than four people, the table needs to be opened up and the tablecloth doesn't really fit. And with one main set of plates, this is it. That being said, I like to have the table ready to go before people arrive. Have as much stuff as you can ready. When your guests arrive, you want to talk with them, not say hello and have to run away.

I mentioned small nibbles. Any small nibble for me will include some cheese, nuts and cracker. These little crackers were awesome. They had black pepper in them, but they were wafers, not crackers. Fun. Also, I love marcona almonds. Also included, but not seen, I sliced a pear to go with it all. The guests brought more cheese! One thing I've learned over the years, don't over do the nibbles. I have been known to make so many nibbles, we don't really need to eat dinner! So, only a little bit of nibble per person, just hold off the stomach rumbling while we wait for dinner.

The main plate. It was pretty darn delicious! Risotto can be found here. Don't miss read the recipe and make twice as much as you intend! SO MUCH RISOTTO. The green beans were washed and dried. Tossed with olive oil and put on a rimmed baking sheet and into a hot oven, I think 400-425. Roast until they are al dente, about 15-20 minutes. Toss them half way through. When they are done, toss with caramelized shallots for more goodness.

The chicken. Super simple. Take a boneless/skinless chicken breast. Make sure it's cleaned up of any excess fat and then kind of manipulate it into a uniform shape, with the other pieces. Season with salt & pepper. Lay 1-2 leaves of fresh sage on the chicken, then wrap with 1-2 slices of prosciutto, tucking the ends under the cutlet. I then put the cutlets back in the fridge, until I was ready to cook. The extra cool allowed them to firm up a bit.

When you are ready to cook, in a large skillet, over medium-high heat, get 2 TB of olive oil nice and hot. Quickly and lightly dust the wrapped cutlets with flour and place in the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes per side, or until cooked thru. This will depend on the thickness of the cutlets. If things start to burn, lower the heat.

When the chicken is done, remove to a clean plate and deglaze the pan with 3/4 cup of dry white wine and 1/4 cup of chicken broth, reduce by half. Season with salt, pepper and a few chopped sage leaves. Swirl in one to two TB of butter. Add any accumulated juice from the cooked chicken, back into the pan. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, when you serve it.

A note on dinner. I prepped everything in advance. 30 minutes before we were ready to eat, I started cooking the risotto, beans and chicken. Everything, miraculously, was done at the same time +/- a minute of two! It was awesome.

Enjoy dinner and your company!

Dessert! Dessert was something special! Here, you're getting the actual recipe:

Creme di Mascarpone
Serves 6
3 eggs, separated
3 TB fine white sugar* (fine texture, not classy ohh la la)
1 1/3 cups mascarpone cheese
1 tsp orange zest
2-3 TB rum
Garnishes

Beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold the mascarpone into the yolks, a little at a time, until fully combined. Stir in the orange zest and rum.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into the yolk mixture. Fold whites into the yolk/cheese mixture. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Garnish with shaved dark chocolate, fresh berries and light, crisp cookies!


*The sugar...my sugar does have a vanilla bean split and stored in it...so the sugar does have some vanilla essence. If you want, feel free to add a drop or two of vanilla extra for further awesome flavor.


There we go folks. My first proper blog posts in 10+ months. My first proper dinner party of 2012! Cin cin!

Thank you Nigella

I think this came across my Twitter feed, or maybe a blog RSS, regardless, it was fast, filling and tasty. Oh and there is bacon!

Chicken Schnitzel with Bacon and White Wine

Cook up some bacon, in strips or diced. I find it easier to evenly cook bacon when diced. When cooked, remove to a paper towel lined plate.

Season the chicken cutlets with salt & pepper. Cook in the bacon fat until golden brown, a few minutes per side. Remove the chicken to a plate.

In the pan, add 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, saute for only a few seconds. Quickly add 3/4 cup of dry white wine. Stir and scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Allow to reduce by 1/2. Add one TB of chopped parsley. Stir and add the bacon back into the pan.

Serve chicken with egg noodles and spoon the bacon wine sauce over. A squeeze of lemon is nice to cut the fat.

Chicken Schnitzel with Bacon and White Wine
Adapted from Nigella Lawson

8 slices of bacon, diced
4 chicken cutlets, thinly sliced, seasoned w/salt & pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup of white wine
1 TB chopped parsley

Cook diced bacon in a fry pan over medium-high heat. When done, remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

In the bacon fat, cook the chicken, 2-4 minutes per side, until cooked through and golden brown. When done, remove to a plate.

In the remaining fat, add the garlic and cook for just a few seconds. If you cook too long the garlic will burn and get all sorts of nasty. Add the wine, stirring up any bits on the pan. Reduce by half. Add the bacon and parsley to the pan, stir.

Serve chicken with egg noodles or spaetzle, with bacon wine sauce served over the top.

Enjoy.

Old School, Gourmet Substitute Teacher

I'm a Midwestern boy. Born & raised. A standard supper was Tater Tot Casserole. The only variations I knew of were whether there was corn or beans and whether cheese was on top of the tots or under. But I had a moment of Awesomevation (awesome innovation! thanks How I Met Your Mother & Barney Stinson!). What if I changed several variations. We take the old school and give it a little home-spun gourmet twist.

Southwestern Style Tater Tot Casserole

I started with minced chicken. You can use ground chicken or mince it with the food processor like we did with the Thai Basil Chicken. I went with the minced chicken. Saute for a few minutes until the pink is gone. Remove to a bowl.

In the pan, add 2 TB of butter, saute 1 diced onion. When soft, add some spices. Use a Tex-Mex blend if you have it, or mix cumin, coriander, ground chiles, garlic powder, paprika. All the spices to bloom in the hot, melted butter for a minute. Add 2 diced bell peppers, red & green are good. Plus 1 cup of corn kernels.

Saute the vegetables for 3-5 minutes, until soft. Sprinkle with 2 TB of flour, stir for 2 minutes.

Pour in two cups of chicken broth. Simmer until the broth thickens. Stir the chicken back into the mix. Pour into an 8x8 baking pan.

Top with tater tots and bake for 15-18 minutes. This cooks the tots and allows them to crisp up. Top with shredded cheese and bake for another 3-5 minutes until melted.

Serve hot.

I loved this variation! Can't wait to try it again.

Thai Basil Chicken

This recipe came across the rss feed the other day. From Serious Eats. Thai-Style minced chicken with basil and chiles. Let's get started shall we.

If you have access to ground chicken, you can use that. Or, if you have a food processor, you can mince your own. Cube the boneless, skinless chicken breast into 1 inch pieces. Drop them in the bowl of your food processor and pulse the blade 10 times. You have a fairly uniform mince. If you have a large bit or two, just chop them up.

Saute some onions, bell pepper and garlic. Due to an upset tummy in the house, I skipped the chile and added a small pinch of red pepper flake for a little heat. Remove to a bowl and move on to the next step.

In the pan, saute the minced chicken until cooked through, no pink. Stir the veggies back into the chicken.

Add some soy sauce and simmer for a minute. Then add fish sauce and fresh basil. Stir and serve over rice.

Very tasty! Filling, light and easy peasy.

Enjoy.

Thai-style Minced Chicken w/Basil and Chiles
1 pound ground chicken, or boneless, skinless meat chopped in a food processor
2 TB peanut oil, divided
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced into crescents
1 red or orange bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch strips and then into diamonds
1 TB minced garlic
1-2 jalapeno or serrano chiles, cut crosswise into rings
1 TB Thai black soy sauce
1 TB Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce
1 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
Ground pepper to taste
2 cups cooked white rice, for serving

In wok or other stir-fry pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over high heat until just smoking, then add the onion. Stir-fry for 1 minute, then add bell pepper and stir-fry for an additional minute. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, then remove the pan from the heat and scrape contents into bowl.

Heat remaining two tablespoons oil over high heat until just smoking, then add chicken all at once. Spread evenly in skillet and cook, without stirring until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir-fry until pink is completely gone and chicken is cooked through, about 2 minutes longer.

Return cooked vegetables to pan and add chiles. Stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the soy sauce and cook for 15 seconds. Follow with fish sauce and basil leaves and cook until just wilted, then season with pepper. Taste for balance, adding soy sauce, fish sauce, or more pepper as needed. Serve immediately with rice.

Grrr....

When you have a newer phone and send photos you take to your email, so you can post them later...make sure the emails arrive and actually have photos attached. As I sent images, I deleted them off the camera. Save space right? Well, the emails arrived, via my phone, to my computer. Attachments and all. Except somewhere along the way, the attachments were stripped off the email. It said there were attachments, but there were no attachments. So many of the images I planned to share were gone! This is the only one that made it. Sadface.

Sweet & Sour Chicken, a light version from Everyday Food. It's pretty easy, straightforward and mighty tasty. Sweet. Sour. Filling. And in generally, not nasty for you. I used less than 2 tsps of oil to cook the chicken and veggies. The place it will get you is the sugar. Ketchup, Brown Sugar and Pineapple Juice. Still good!

Jambolicious!

At our farmer's market over the weekend we picked up a pack of chorizo sausages from our local vendor. So far all of their products have been really good, but I hadn't had the chorizo yet. I wasn't sure what I would make and just tossed them in the freezer for the time being. As I planned out what to make for the next few days I had two things in mind. Use the chorizo and make something I could have leftovers for lunch. As the weather continued to cool down, I was craving something spicy, warm and filling. Jambalaya! Now, traditionally, jambalaya used Andouille sausage, not chorizo. There are also a million ways to direct your jambalaya from there. I wasn't concerned. Chorizo was gonna work for me! Oh, and forgive me Cajun spirits. My trinity didn't include celery--I forgot to get some! I subbed in some ground celery seed, crossed myself and said a prayer instead.

Jambalaya

I sort of made my jambalaya up as I went along. I started by cooking the sausages. I choose to keep them in their casing and cook them whole. I thought about removing the casing and crumbling the meat up, but I wanted bigger chunks of meat. I'm pleased with the direction I went. Cooking the sausages first renders out some of their fat, which I then used to cook the rest of the ingredients.

After remove the sausages from the pot, I sauted chunks of diced chicken. When that was cooked through, I removed it and moved on to the onions and garlic. I had to cross myself again here, as I didn't follow the true trinity! The peppers. I'll tell you more in a minute. While the onions were cooking, I moved on to spices. I used about a TB of cajun seasoning and 1 tsp of ground celery seed, 1/4 tsp of chipotle chile and chimayo chile for some heat. I also added a TB of Beau Monde seasoning. I dropped in a full bay leaf as well. I returned the chicken and sausages to the pot and poured in a 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock. Carefully stir in 1 cup of uncooked rice. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to barely a bubble. At this point I added the peppers-diced green and red. I do this so the peppers don't cook too far and become mushy. I like them to still have some texture and be "just soft." In the past, if I saute them with the onions and celery (when I have it), they almost become too mushy for me.

Cook slowly until the rice is just cooked through. If you want to use shrimp or other seafood in your jambalaya, now is the time to add it. The residual heat will cook the tender morsels, without over cooking them.

Turn the heat off. I let my jambalaya sit for a few minutes before serving. The rice continues to absorb liquid and flavor.

Serve hot, in large bowls with large spoons! Enjoy.

Pumpkin Couscous

I mentioned yesterday the purchase of a pumpkin at our farmer's market this weekend. Well, here's why. I was craving my Roasted Pumpkin Couscous. You need to take a little time to clean the sucker up.

The first thing I did was cut a slice off the bottom of the pumpkin, so I had a flat surface to work with. Then sliced in half, then quarters. From there I scooped the goop, and continued to cut the pumpkin into slices. I was able to easily remove the outer shell at this point and scrap out all the stringy bits from inside.

Dice the pumpkin. About 1/4 inch pieces.

Toss with dried oregano, ground cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Roast in the oven on a parchment lined sheet.

Meanwhile...make some chicken! I seasoned some chicken thighs with salt, pepper and a mish mash of other herbs and spices. Then dipped the chicken in some flour and into a hot pan with olive oil. Get a good solid sear on the skin, get it nice and crispy. Flip the chicken over and add some onion, dry white wine and some chicken broth. Cover and put in the oven for about 15 minutes.

When the pumpkin is done from the oven, toss with some couscous and serve with the chicken, with the reduced sauce on top! Enjoy.

Filling, Satisfying and Versatile

Last night I made a super-sized batch of my Bazaar Couscous! A fragrant and delicious melange of awesome. I make this with chicken, but it can very easily be made without, to accommodate vegetarians. There is chicken, which has been seasoned with my house blended Baharat Seasoning. Then we have red onions, red & green bell peppers, carrots, golden raisins, dried cherries, tomatoes, pistachios, pine nuts, parsley and Charnushka seeds. A final stir with some Zatar seasoning and you're good to go! Delicious! Fragrant. Savory with sweet. Filling.


Woo hoo, leftovers!

Chicken & Leeks

We had leeks the other night. They were good. We had this recipe the first time many years ago. It is one of the simplest recipes out there. Cook chicken. Cook leeks. Dump wine. Simmer. Done.

Chicken & Leeks

Start with some leeks. I like to cut them into 1/2 moon shapes. Give them a super wash in a bowl of water, then lift them out to drain them. After washing all the sand out of and off of them, you don't want to dump the dirty, sandy water back on them.

Cook your chicken. Usually you can use whatever chicken bits you have. Last night I had chicken tenderloins. Chicken breast are fine. I'm going to say chicken thighs are even better. Give whatever a quick saute to brown and start the cooking. When browned on both sides remove to a plate, don't worry about being cooked through it will finish cooking later.

A pause. What to serve this with? I think rice is the best option. You want something starchy/grainy to give the final sauce a place to go. You could use a pasta. Couscous. A steamed green veggie would be fine too. This time I used a hearty whole grain style rice that had all sorts of crunchy bits in it. It was good. Nutty.

Here we go. After the chicken was browned, I tossed the leeks into the pan and stirred them around for a minute or two. You want them to just start to sweat. Then, dump in a dry white wine. Add the chicken back in. Add wine to just cover the chicken. Bring to a low simmer, cover and walk about for 10-20 minutes. Do something else! But don't forget about it though.

Spoon the chicken and leeks, with sauce over your rice. Garnish with some chopped parsley if you like. Enjoy!

Chicken & Wine

You really can't go wrong here. Chicken thighs, seasoned and seared, then braised in white wine. Add some aromatics if you have them--herbs, carrots, onions, etc. You can skim off some of the fat at the end and make a quick sauce for more succulent deliciousness!

Fried Chicken and Potato Salad

Buttermilk Fried Chicken &
Potato Salad with
Green Beans and Salsa Verde

Dinner the other night. So Good! There were a few changes I didn't anticipate making, but over all, all was good. Good!

The chicken marinates overnight in spiced buttermilk. Dredged in flour. I had very little AP flour, so I used a mix of whole wheat flour, corn meal and AP flour. The WW flour and cornmeal brought a nuttiness and textural change to the traditional party. The flavor very good though.

The Potato Salad was good. I had the wrong type of potatoes for this salad and I didn't have the lemon needed for the dressing. I subbed in some vinegar. Still really good!


Potato Salad with Green Beans & Salsa Verde
Adapted from Food & Wine

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup minced chives
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 large garlic clove, minced
Salt & Pepper
1 1/4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 TB unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed

In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil with the chives, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Let the salsa verde stand at room temperature while the potatoes and green beans cook.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cover the potatoes with cold water, add a large pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cook the potatoes over moderately high heat until just tender, about 8 minutes; drain and return them to the saucepan. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and toss to coat. Season with salt.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and cook until crisp-tender, 4 minutes; drain. Return the beans to the pot and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Season with salt.

Add half of the salsa verde to the potatoes and half to the beans, stirring to coat. Transfer the beans to a serving bowl. Top with the potatoes, and serve right away.

My Chicken Delicious

If I'm craving chicken and don't want to make something, I go to Chicken Delicious.

But I've I'm craving good chicken at home, have some time to think about it and a little time to go it...I make this, my infamous Pollo Verde. I don't follow a recipe. I've made it enough times, I just know when things are going to be all right. Here is a previous version.

Pollo Verde

To start with my green chicken, we start with what will become the marinade. 1 bunch of cilantro, leaves and most of the stems. Well washed. Several times. You don't want any sand in the leaves. Discard any brown or black leaves, those are nasty! Then you need some peppers. Please, no bell peppers. And you want mostly green peppers. I used Ancho, Sweet Banana and Jalapeno. Usually I only use one jalapeno, but I taste it to see how the spice level is. If it's mild, I'll go with two. With the other peppers, I usually try to have 3-4 each. Roughly chopped, with the seeds removed. Plenty of salt and ground black pepper. The rest of the green comes from lime juice. Usually I go with two limes. And for something fun, add about 1/2 a teaspoon of whole coriander seeds. **Note, I added whole, I should have smashed them a little. Crunching of those seeds--little brown seeds towards the top of the picture--is an experience; I'm talking flavor. Anyway. Drop in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil as well. Whiz it all together in the food processor or blender until smooth and sauce-like. Oh, if you like, you can add some garlic. I prefer to skip the garlic.


Reserve about 1/3 of the sauce for serving later with your chicken and for brushing on while the chicken grills. **See, there are more coriander seeds that didn't chop up in the processor. When you bite into them, they have a highly floral flavor. Very interesting. Not awful. But very interesting. Pour the rest of the green sauce over chicken thighs. I only use chicken thighs with this recipe. It's just that good. Boneless/Skinless is good, but you want the dark meat. If you're going to make this, use chicken thighs, you'll thank yourself later! Make sure the chicken is fully coated, seal in a bowl or zip bag and set in the ice box over night.


To accompany the chicken, we have some tasty morsels. Heirloom tomato, diced, salted and peppered.


Avocado, diced, salted, peppered, lime juice.


Grilled corn, little olive oil, salt and pepper, cut off the cob after cooking.


Pollo Verde can work on a grill pan or in the broiler, but the best--flavor and technique is on the grill. I like to have a pile of hot coals to one side of the grill. Get the chicken nice and seared and starting to char, then I'll move it to a cooler side of the grill and let it finish cooking with the cover on the grill. The corn, I just move it around a few times until charred. When the chicken is almost done, I spoon some of the extra verde sauce on and allow that to get one final sear over the hot coals.


I like to serve Pollo Verde with a tortilla of some sort. I happened to have these sun-dried tomato wraps. They worked well. I tossed them on the grill for a few seconds on each side when the chicken was done.


I pile all the ingredients on my plate and make little 'tacos' with all the goodies. Corn, tomato, avocado, chicken and some sauce. Wrap it up and chow down.


And towards the end, I get bored with the tortilla and just start mashing everything together. Amazing! This particular time, the tomato and corn were fresh from the farms. Both were supremely sweet and the tomato was particularly juicy. The only thing missing from this amazing line-up was some diced jicama that I wanted to add for crunch. I grabbed one from the grocery store, but I realized when I was in the check out, that half of it was rotten. If I get jicama, I make a quick orange/cumin vinaigrette that I dress the jicama with. Add that to the pile and you're in heaven!


This is one of my signature dishes. It's amazing. Great flavors, great spice levels, fresh, satisfying. All just right.

Next time though, I'm going to try gilding the lily...and adding a splash or two of a dry, crisp white wine to the verde sauce and see how that goes. Something tells me I'll slip into a food coma if it works out, never to be heard of again. Beautiful flavors.

Wrap for Dinner

We were craving a quick, light dinner the other evening, but also something with a high, zesty flavor profile. Oh, and totally satisfying. I think we did pretty good by going back to a previous recipe.

Greek Chicken Wraps

Start with a quality wrap or tortilla that you like. These were sun-dried tomato and basil. Good flavor components with what we were looking to accomplish. Add some mixed greens of your choice.

Here's the one area I really wanted to play around. I used some shredded mozzarella. I did the same the last time I made these. I really want to try some feta, but I'm a little gun-shy with feta. For me, there is a fine line between enough to taste and too much that I can't eat it. Oh, and I don't really want to buy feta from my cheap-0 grocery store. I just don't trust it. Well, one of these days I'll get up the nerve and try..

Previously & Meanwhile, marinate some chicken with olive oil, lemon, oregano, garlic, salt & pepper. Saute or grill until cooked through. Dice. You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for ease. I used some chicken thighs for flavor. Very tasty. Saute or grill some peppers, shallots and tomatoes as well. Toss with chicken and some reserved marinade. If you have some toasted pine nuts, add those. Pile on the mixed greens and wrap up.

Enjoy!