Clearly Mark Bittman is inside my head.
Minus the cheese.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Oh Right
New year, new decade. No doubt most people are making resolutions right about now, most of which involve losing weight or being nicer or working harder or other general goals that will be forgotten by Valentine's Day. My resolution last year was to learn to play the guitar. Well... the year didn't quite turn out the way I planned.
But I'm promising myself that this will be the year of food. I will eat more (weight loss be damned!) and I will cook more. For Christmas I received a set of Pyrex dishes, whisks, cookie sheets, and The Joy of Cooking. I cooked my brother dinner and he both figuratively and literally cleaned his plate (it's nice to be the one cooking and not the one doing the dishes). 2010 is the year of food. And what a beautiful year it will be.
Christopher's White Wine Garlic Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin
Serves 2
2 medium sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste
Thinly slice garlic. Heat the E.V.O.O. in a medium sized skillet (be careful not to overheat - E.V.O.O. has a low smoke point). Add sliced garlic and cook until each slice is lightly browned. Remove garlic from the pan and reserve for later. Add salt-and-peppered chicken breasts to the pan over high heat. Sear chicken breasts on both sides. Reduce heat to medium and cover with a foil tent (steam should be allowed to escape). Cook chicken on each side for around 10 minutes*. Add white wine and raise heat to medium-high and get rid of the foil tent. Let wine cook down until the liquid has reduced by half. Plate the chicken, pour sauce from the pan over the breasts, and top with the reserved garlic slices.
*depending on the size of your chicken breasts, you may require an extra minute or two... no one except my roommate's cat likes pink chicken
Potatoes
Serves 2-3 (or if your brother is like my brother, serves 1 1/2)
3 large baking potatoes
1 cup whole milk (you can use skim but frankly... it just won't taste as good)
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped white onion
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup plus 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/8 cup mascarpone cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 350. Slice potatoes into 1/8" thick slices and create one single, overlapping layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Pour 1/2 cup of whole milk over the potatoes, sprinkle salt and pepper, and send it into the oven. Set the timer at 20 minutes. In the meantime, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the onions and turn the heat up to medium. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Reduce heat to low. Add the flour and stir until the onions are coated. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup of milk until the mixture is thickened. Take saucepan off heat and add 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese until slightly melted. Add parmesan cheese.
When the timer goes off, pour the onion mixture over the potatoes and put back into the oven. Bake for another 15 minutes. Add mascarpone cheese to the top of the dish in dollops (this will melt and cover your potatoes in a smooth, warm, cheesy blanket). Bake for another 5 minutes. And voila. Unbelievably cheesy potatoes that you will want to bathe in. Or eat. Whatever.
But I'm promising myself that this will be the year of food. I will eat more (weight loss be damned!) and I will cook more. For Christmas I received a set of Pyrex dishes, whisks, cookie sheets, and The Joy of Cooking. I cooked my brother dinner and he both figuratively and literally cleaned his plate (it's nice to be the one cooking and not the one doing the dishes). 2010 is the year of food. And what a beautiful year it will be.
Christopher's White Wine Garlic Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin
Serves 2
2 medium sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste
Thinly slice garlic. Heat the E.V.O.O. in a medium sized skillet (be careful not to overheat - E.V.O.O. has a low smoke point). Add sliced garlic and cook until each slice is lightly browned. Remove garlic from the pan and reserve for later. Add salt-and-peppered chicken breasts to the pan over high heat. Sear chicken breasts on both sides. Reduce heat to medium and cover with a foil tent (steam should be allowed to escape). Cook chicken on each side for around 10 minutes*. Add white wine and raise heat to medium-high and get rid of the foil tent. Let wine cook down until the liquid has reduced by half. Plate the chicken, pour sauce from the pan over the breasts, and top with the reserved garlic slices.
*depending on the size of your chicken breasts, you may require an extra minute or two... no one except my roommate's cat likes pink chicken
Potatoes
Serves 2-3 (or if your brother is like my brother, serves 1 1/2)
3 large baking potatoes
1 cup whole milk (you can use skim but frankly... it just won't taste as good)
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped white onion
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup plus 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/8 cup mascarpone cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 350. Slice potatoes into 1/8" thick slices and create one single, overlapping layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Pour 1/2 cup of whole milk over the potatoes, sprinkle salt and pepper, and send it into the oven. Set the timer at 20 minutes. In the meantime, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the onions and turn the heat up to medium. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Reduce heat to low. Add the flour and stir until the onions are coated. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup of milk until the mixture is thickened. Take saucepan off heat and add 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese until slightly melted. Add parmesan cheese.
When the timer goes off, pour the onion mixture over the potatoes and put back into the oven. Bake for another 15 minutes. Add mascarpone cheese to the top of the dish in dollops (this will melt and cover your potatoes in a smooth, warm, cheesy blanket). Bake for another 5 minutes. And voila. Unbelievably cheesy potatoes that you will want to bathe in. Or eat. Whatever.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Go Fig Yourself
All you hear this time of year is seasonal foods. Cook seasonally. So I pondered this, gazing out of my bedroom window in Queens, New York (not exactly rife with plentiful soil and luscious crops) and it hit me: figs. My best friend and neighbor has two beautiful fig trees in her backyard and immediately my mouth began to water and my brain began to reel. Figs. Fresh figs. FREE figs. Corn. Summer corn.And thus I set out to make grilled chicken over corn puree with fig relish.
Step 1: Picking the figs
Kerri and I snuck into Becca's backyard (just because she's in Holland doesn't mean her fig trees should go unplucked... thanks, Becca), initially deterred when faced with green figs.
Step 2: Nursing mosquito bites incurred by Step 1
Step 3: Wrestle away what is left of your chicken breast from Devil Cat...
Step 4: Buy new chicken.
Step 5: Cooking the meal! After many bumps in the road (how that cat is still alive after eating a giant, raw chicken breast is beyond me) Kerri and I buckled down to create the meal.
Fig Relish
Serves 2-3
1 cup chopped figs (as small or large as you like them)
1 minced shallot
2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp minced rosemary
1 tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine vinegar, shallot, and rosemary in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Add figs and honey to vinegar mixture, fold in, set aside.
Corn Puree
Serves 2-3
1/2 cup corn (frozen or a drained can will work but nothing beats
fresh summer corn from the cob)
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 cup heavy cream
Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat, add garlic and sautee until garlic is browned. Add corn and sautee for 4-5 minutes. Add heavy cream and increase heat. Stir and cook until the liquid has reduced and the cream coats the corn. Let this mixture cool, and then blend until smooth.
We cooked chicken cutlets in a frying pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper for about 3 minutes on each side over medium heat.
And ta-da! From brain to plate, through bug attacks, and protein-stealing felines, dinner was served. And for Karb-Kerri, we toasted up some ciabatta rolls with garlic and butter.
Until next time...
Deliciously yours,
Lauren E.
In the beginning...
Hi there! I'm Lauren and this is my foray into food writing. I'm hoping by this time next year I'll be writing to you from the sunny West Coast, possibly from a dorm room at the Culinary Institute of America. I'm going to chronicle my journey from home cook to chef extraordinaire.
First on the agenda is tomorrow's open interview session with The Capital Grille. They're opening up a new restaurant in the Financial District and I'm hoping against all hope that the head chef will be willing to take on a green girl with high hopes of a life in food. I will chop garlic. I will mix salad dressing. I will literally peel individual strings from the celery if it's what they need. I have zero culinary experience outside of my own kitchen but I have this burning desire to work with food... we'll see what happens.
Deliciously yours,
Lauren E.
First on the agenda is tomorrow's open interview session with The Capital Grille. They're opening up a new restaurant in the Financial District and I'm hoping against all hope that the head chef will be willing to take on a green girl with high hopes of a life in food. I will chop garlic. I will mix salad dressing. I will literally peel individual strings from the celery if it's what they need. I have zero culinary experience outside of my own kitchen but I have this burning desire to work with food... we'll see what happens.
Deliciously yours,
Lauren E.
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