Spring Has Sprung
It must be spring because English Peas are available in my local grocery store. Of course, its hard to believe its spring because it is already Africa hot down here in Ft Lauderdale. Its been in the 90’s for the past few days. However, it did cool down a bit last night… to 75 degrees. What a treat. This time of year is when I feel pangs of envy towards the snowbirds that have the luxury of spending summers up north and winters down here. Best of both worlds, right? Sighhhhhh.
This is a very simple meal with one of my favorite veggies, English Peas. I kept the salmon simple and healthy with a pomegranate and orange juice glaze and the mashed potatoes extra flavorful and fattening with a nice big dollop of goat cheese and roasted garlic. Everything in moderation. The Peas were kept extra simple… shocked and buttered. 
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Easy Peasy Season-y
One of my favorite things about my blog is the opportunity to try items I would probably never try otherwise. I received an email from Urban Accents, a company out of Chicago that specializes in gourmet spices, herbs and assorted seasonings. They asked if I’d like to try some of their products and of course, I said yes.
A few days later, I received a nice box of goodies that included dryglazes, lemon and orange pepper and saffron rice. The first thing I noticed was the packaging is very modern and clean, not something you would see in a grocery store. The second thing was the ingredients… all natural herbs and spices. I have this thing about eating food that has ingredients I can’t pronounce with more than 15 letters. Monosodiumslimslam. OK, I made that word up, but you get the drift. The seasonings were also not loaded with salt, which it seems most prepared seasonings are. So no worries of having a case of hot-dog fingers from the excessive sodium! Whew!
I liked the idea of the dryglazes. All you do is coat the meat with olive oil and then sprinkle on the dry rub and place in the fridge. In half an hour, the rub becomes a luscious glaze. All I did then was simply grill the chicken. It was so moist and tasty you would have thought it marinated for hours. Perfect for those evenings you don’t have much time to cook, and are contemplating boring grilled chicken for the third time this week. Both the Puebla Mole and Vermont Grill were flavorful and will definitely be used again.
Here is Broiled Salmon with Sonoma Pepper. I marinated the salmon in orange juice for 30 minutes, sprinkled with salt and Sonoma Pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and broiled for 7-8 minutes. Great citrus flavor from the orange and lemon zest.
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Steak au Poivre
I took some Filet Mignon out of the freezer yesterday, and was just planning on doing the usual… Which is having Stephan grill them and serve with mashed potatoes. I do this quite often… its easy, quick, and I have someone else to cook the meat. Then I started to feel fancy, and thought what makes a steak fancy? Why fancy-pants multi-colored peppercorns, of course! I just so happened to have some gorgeous peppercorns my mother in law gave me at Christmas. So I detoured at the last minute and decided upon Steak au Poivre. If you don’t like pepper, this is NOT the dish for you. However, if you love the flavor of freshly cracked peppercorns… which I do, this is it!
I served it with mashed potatoes and oven roasted brussel sprouts. Those of you who are wary of the brussel sprout, have clearly not had them oven roasted before. They are beautifully crisp on the outside and tender and sweet inside. Who woulda thought? There is, however, an unfortunate side effect to roasting brussel sprouts. That would be a VERY stinky house. I suggest you light many scented candles before starting the roasting process!
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Fishing Online?
Since I’ve experienced the joys of online shopping, my days at the mall are few and far between. I’ve recently started to buy some food related products online, and it’s just opened up a whole new world!
I received an email from Kona Blue and was quite intrigued. They asked if I’d like a sample of their product, which is Kona Kampachi. After a little research, I found its more common name is Yellowtail, which happens to be my favorite fish when eating Sushi or Sashimi. So I said… bring it on! I was expecting to receive a little fish, you know, maybe a pound or so.
Imagine my surprise when I got a large box that contained a huge fish! I was excited, then terrified, then came full circle back to excited. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. The only time I’ve cleaned a fish was in culinary school, and that was almost 10 years ago! So I sharpened my biggest knife, and decided to cut it into steaks instead of filleting, as it was big enough to do that. In the end, I was successful, but my counter looked like Tony Soprano had whacked someone on it.
I’ll admit, I was a bit wary of having fish sent to me. However… it arrived, surrounded by quite a few ice packs, and was very very cold. I decided to keep my dinner simple since the fish was so fresh, and chose to pan saute the fish steak and serve it with an orange-passionfruit glaze. Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. The quality is out of this world. Next time I’m in the mood for some fabulously fresh fish, I will definitely be ordering from Kona Blue.
I was too scared to try making Sushi or Sashimi this time, but will definitely try another day. Hmmm, maybe even ceviche. Come back to see what else I do with it… as I’ll be able to make several dinners from this one fish!
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Winey Chicken
While flipping through this month’s Gourmet Magazine, this particular recipe caught my eye. Its the Alsatian version of Coq Au Vin, which is one of my favorite braised dishes. Instead of the usual red wine, this recipe calls for a Riesling from the Alsace region of France, and is finished off with a small amount of cream or creme fraiche. This recipe was incredibly quick and had very little prep. It does have a shockingly large amount of leeks, which made me a little dubious of the outcome. When the leeks cooked, however, they lent a delicious flavor to the sauce. Just make sure you have some crusty French Bread to sop up the amazing sauce. Wonderful!
Who You Callin’ Chicken?
I was in the mood for some comfort food, and decided to make a whole roasted chicken. The Purdue All Natural Roasters were on sale too, so that made my decision even easier. I always keep it very simple… stuffed with aromatics and roasted on a bed of veggies. The veggies under the chicken make a wonderfully flavored pan sauce after the chicken is cooked. I would like to have brined it, as I always do my turkeys, but this was a spur of the moment roasting. Well, as spur of the moment roasting can be! Even without the brining, it was quite tasty!
One thing however, neither my husband nor I care for the dark meat. The pooches love it though, and were very happy to eat it! Next time, I think I’ll try roasting whole chicken breasts with the rib bones and see how that goes. I served it with mashed potatoes and sauteed asparagus.
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Wok This Way!
Yeah, I know, cheesy title! I really did use my wok, though. :) This is an easy recipe, because it uses basic ingredients, things I usually have on hand, other than a few extra veggies. Its also very quick cooking. Start your rice when you start chopping veggies. By the time you’re finished stir-frying, the rice is cooked and ready to go. You’re eating in 20 minutes!
I have to tell you… I’m uber excited about my weekend because its the South Beach Wine and Food Festival… and yours truly is going to the Grand Tasting!!!! The Forge, Touch, and Blue Door in the Delano (where my hubby proposed) are among some of the amazing South Florida restaurants who will be offering samples of their wares. There will also be many chefs including Bobby Flay and Tyler Florence from the Food Network that will be there for seminars and book signings. I am just beside myself with excitement! Thank goodness I have my own personal paparazzi with me (isn’t it great to marry a photographer?) so I’ll have photos to post next week.
I would love to go to all the events, especially the Interactive Cooking Lunch with Ming Tsai (big sigh…) but everything sold out quickly. I have been a huge fan of his for many years. When I was in Culinary School, we had to write about who we looked up to in the industry. I chose him because at the time, he had a show called East meets West. What a coincidence, that’s what I am… Japanese and American… get it? Anyway, in writing this story, I decided to send Ming an email and ask a few questions. Honestly, I never expected to hear back from him. One day… maybe a month after I had written him the email, I came home to a message on my voice mail. It was MING TSAI! Not his assistant, not the assistant to his assistant, but the real deal. He left me a very long message thanking me for the email and answering my questions. Embarrassing confession: I kept that voice mail for at least 2 years, and played it back often. I’m such a dork, I know.
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Lobster’s in the Air…..
On Valentines Day, I have recently started to prefer staying at home and cooking Stephan a nice dinner instead of battling the crowds in restaurants. I went all out this year, and made uber-fancy lobster risotto. Can we say decadent? I’ve had lobster risotto in restaurants many times, but since I was making this at home, it was more like lobster with a bit of risotto mixed in. In the end, I probably spent more moolah than had we just gone out, but it was totally and completely worth it! We also opened up a fabulous bottle of German Ice Wine that we’ve been holding onto for quite a while.
To be honest, this is the first time I’ve cooked lobster at home. The last time I did cook lobster was in culinary school. I had this chef instructor who insisted we kill the lobsters before boiling them. This really bothered me, and that is the main reason I’ve been lobster shy for the past 8 years! This time, I tried not to look the lobster in the eye, and simply placed them into the boiling water. Not sure if that is humane either, but its better than a knife through the noggin, right? :)
I made it just like I always make my risotto, but omitted the Parmesan cheese at the end. As usual, I like to eat with my eyes first, so I added a small handful of diced red and orange bell pepper more for color than flavor. I also painstakingly cracked the claws and kept the claw meat intact for garnishing. In addition, I made a lobster stock with the shells, but you can always use chicken stock. I ended up using half lobster stock and half chicken stock so the final product wouldn’t be overly lobstery (yes, that is a word!)
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Bone with a Hole
Apparently that is the direct translation of one of my favorite dishes… Osso Buco.
My Mother and Father in Law gave me a fabulous Le Creuset Dutch Oven for Christmas this year, and I’ve been absolutely itching to use it. We finally had a “cold front” come through and the temperature has been chilly… all they way down in the low 70’s at night! (Yeah, if you’re in Ohio, please don’t hate me!) I figured this was as good a time as any to break out the Le Creuset.
The recipe is adapted from The Joy of Cooking, which I love for its basic recipes. It was a very good recipe, but the only think I think it needed was a tablespoon or so of tomato paste to give the sauce more color and acidity. So I’ve taken the liberty to add it to the recipe, although I didn’t use it in my dish. You will thank me for it! :) I served the Osso Buco over soft polenta with a little Parmesan cheese stirred in.
Thank you Rolanda and Adrian (Mom and Dad) for the beautiful Le Creuset Dutch Oven! I wish you two were here to enjoy the Osso Buco with us. We toasted to you and your lovely gift!
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Saucy
I don’t usually make sauces as they tend to add excess calories to whatever they are covering. However… today I had an open bottle of red wine and wanted to use it up before it turned on me. Even more, I have brand new appliances (just delivered today!) and needed to break in my beautiful, shiny new stove. My old stove was uneven, and I basically gave up sautéing at home because of it. We’re in the process of updating the entire kitchen in the next month or so, and I’m beside myself with excitement! Stay tuned for before and after pics!
Anyway, I made sautéed chicken with a red wine pan sauce. Its quite simple, but you need to make sure all your ingredients are ready, as it cooks quickly. Always keep in mind that your sauce will only be as good as the wine… so if you have a bad wine, expect a bad sauce!
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