New Project: PlumpJack at Home

I'm joining the legions of home cooks and cooking my way through a cookbook. I've selected PlumpJack's cookbook which includes recipes from their PlumpJack Cafe and Balboa Cafe. Given my affinity for wine and food this seemd like an obvious choice.

Here's the blog: PlumpJack at Home.

Thomas Keller's Boeuf Bourguignonne

I never thought I'd have the urge to make a meal which consisted of 42 ingredients. Then I saw "1 750ml Bottle of Red Wine" and Thomas Keller so I was like "hell yeah"!

This quest actually started when I received a recent Wine Spectator which had dedicated a large portion of the issue to Julia Child. In it were also several Julia Child inspired recipes and this was one of them. They were standard french recipes that Julia Child made famous then interpreted by now famous chefs (Emeril, Keller, and that Julie chick, barf). I sat there staring at Keller's final dish then flipped back three pages (Yes 3!) to read the ingredient list. Yikes.

French Part 1: Coq Au Vin

There is nothing more I love than a recipe that calls for a full bottle of red wine.

Tonight we mad 'Coq au Vin', aka - Rooster in Wine. This is a traditional French peasant meal using an elder rooster slow cooked in red wine with pearl onions and mushrooms. Given that I don't have a rooster, we used the more a more modern recipe with chicken. Due to the youthfulness of the chicken, the slow cooking time is condensed to 45-60 minutes rather than 1 1/2-2 hours. The tougher elder's meat is much more tough, hence the longer cooking time.

After studying several Coq au Vin recipes, I settled on a straight forward recipe out of a Williams-Sonoma cookbook. I read over Richard Olney and Alice Waters which both called for ingredients I didn't want to hunt for all day. It was Sunday which, after all, means football. I wanted to split my time between cooking and watching a game or two. Thankfully I succeeded in both.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz lean bacon, cut into strips 1/4 inch thick and 1 inch long
• 12 pearl onions
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 chicken, 3 1/2 lbs, cut into serving pieces
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons Brandy
• 1 bottle red Burgandy or other full bodied red wine (Cabernet)
• 3 fresh thyme sprigs
• 3 fresh flat-leaf parsley springs
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 lb fresh white mushrooms

Directions:

• In a suacepan over medium-high heat, combine the bacon strips with cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Drain, then rinse the bacon under cold water, and pat dry.
• Fill a suacepan three-fourths full with water and bring to a boil. Add the pearl onions and boil for 10 minutes. Drain, cut off the root ends, slip off the skins, and trim off the stems.
• In a deep, heavy pan with a lid, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. When it foams, reduce the heat to a medium-low, add the bacon and onions, and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon and onions to a plate. Add the chicken and raise the heat to medium. Cook, turning as needed, until the chicken begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and, turning from time to time, continue to cook until the chicken and the flour are browned, about 5 minutes. Work in batches if needed. Pour the brandy over the chicken, ignite with a long match to burn off the alcohol, and let the flames subside. Return the bacon and onions to the pan. Pour in a little of the wine and deglaze the pan, stirring to dislodge any bits clinging to the bottom. Pour in the remaining wine and add the thyme, parsley, bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 45-60 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a frying pan over medium-high heat, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. When it foams, add the mushrooms and saute until just lightly golden, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the hear and set aside. About 15 minutes before the chicken is done, add the mushrooms to the chicken.
• When the chicken is finished cooking, using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken, onions, mushrooms, herb sprigs, and bacon to a bowl. Skim off and discard the fat from the pan juices. Increase the heat to high and boil until the liquid is reduced by nearly half, about 5 minutes. Return the chicken, onions, and mushrooms to the pan (and the bacon, if you wish). Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 3-4 minutes.
• Transfer to a warmed serving dish and serve.
  

Serves 4.

Next: French Part 2: Boeuf Bourguignonne

Halloween Dinner Party

Rainy Day Beef Stew

Braised Short Ribs - 2 Ways

This past weekend I spent an hour or so at the Dallas Farmer's Market getting all sorts of fresh vegetables and fruits. Everytime I go to the DFM I can't help but think of this and chuckle.

I wondered into Koster Cattle Company's shop to pick up some various meats. I noticed they had short ribs which I've wanted to cook for awhile so I grabbed four standard size ribs for braising. I also got a strip steak and bone-in pork chops for later.

After doing research this week on various braised short rib recipes, I settled on attempting two versions. One is Tom Colicchio's (of Top Chef and Craft fame) and another from Epicurious. They vary based on two things - braising liquid with or without red wine and the use of an oven versus stove top. There's also debate about weather beef stock or chicken stock is better for braising. Suprisingly, chicken stock seemingly won in terms of taste. I'm using chicken stock for both recipes I found.

Another interesting note is whether to use bone-on or not. Both of mine have bone which increases the flavor but also the fat since there is more attached with the bone on. I trimmed some fat off before cooking though.

I've read that braised short ribs are better the NEXT day. So I'm cooking them today and reheating them tomorrow for dinner. This also allows additional fat from the ribs to accumulate at the top which can then easily be removed.

The great thing about braised short ribs is that there's about 30-45 minutes prep time then you just let them cook for 3 hours while you do something else. Short ribs are generally a tough cut of meat due to the tissue so they need this time to tender up. They're also a cheaper meat compared to your steaks and tenderloins; four meaty short ribs were $12.

The set-up:


Tom Colicchio's Braised Short Ribs:



I'm going to store both in the frig overnight for dinner tomorrow. I'll make the final touches and have more photo's and directions then.


The verdict was definately in favor of Tom Colicchio's short ribs. The SR cooked in red wine and on a skillet over low heat seemed to cook the meat more then in the oven. This resulted in a "steak" versus a "brisket" in terms of texture. The TC short ribs just fell apart at the sight of a fork. The final verdict hinged only on the texture of the meat. Both short ribs had great flavor and I personally preferred the flavor of the wine braised ribs.

I was also rather disappointed in Koster's short ribs as those are the ones that turned into a "steak". Right now, I'm nor sure if it was the quality of the meat or how they were cooked. I'll have to try this again to determine if I did something wrong with the skillet short ribs. Anyone want to taste test with me!?

Either way these were a hit and enjoyed by all!

Chicken Provencal

Chicken Provencal is pretty much a standard italian dish. It's named for the use Herbes de Provence which are herbs located in Provence. Duh. For sides we used roasted new potatoes and fresh green beans.

Ingredients (Serves 2):
2 Thinly Sliced Chicken Breasts
1 Garlic Clove, Minced
1/2 Tspn Dried Herbes de Provence
1/2 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1 Tspn Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tspn Unsalted Butter
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Thyme Sprigs (Optional)

6-8 New Potatos, Quartered
3-4 Thyme Sprigs, Leaves Only
2 Tblespns Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

2 Handfuls Green Beans, Trimmed

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

In bowl, mix together potatos, thyme leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out on a lined baking sheet. Cook for for 30 minutes.

In a small pot, place grean beans and cover with water. Bring this to a boil and let cook for 10 or so minutes.

Heat olive oil to medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside; keep warm. Add garlic to pan and cook for 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth and Herbes de Provence. Bring to a boil and loosen any browned bits with a spatula. You want to capture as much chicken flavor as possible. Let this continue to boil until it's reduced to 1/4 cup - about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir lemon juice and butter, until butter melts.

Spoon sauce over plated chicken and serve with the roasted potatos and grean beans.

A Simple Omelette

It was a lazy sunday morning, well, for Erin at least. Her goal was to sleep in but I'm terrible at that. So I arose at 7:30 am as normal for a Sunday. I browsed the internet a bit, watched some SportsCenter, feed the cat, etc. I was getting hungry but I didn't really want to eat cereal or oatmeal again so I raided the fridge. What do we have. Eggs. Ok. Eggs. What else? Herbs? Not bad. Canadian bacon. Getting better. Is that a shallot? I see something coming together. An omelette! But do we have cheese? Found shredded cheddar! Omelette City here I come!

They say eggs are the measurement of a true chef. If that's the case I have a long way to go. I ended up making two omelette's. The first was a charred mess and the second was a decent attempt (Photo). It still tasted pretty good even though it didn't look so hot.

The beauty about omelette's is that you can pretty much put anything in them. A few fresh herbs, cubbed ham, caramelized onions, shredded cheese, sauted veggies, etc. Anything your heart desires.

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 Shallot, diced and caramelized
3 Slices of Canadian Bacon
1 Tspn Finley Chopped Fresh Herbs (Basil, Thyme, chives, flat-leaf parsely, etc)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Tblspn Clarified Butter (See directions below)
Salt and Pepper

For clarified butter, melt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter in a small saucepan over low heat until foamy and milk solids haven fallen to the bottom - about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Carefully skim foam from top and discard. Slowly pour metlted butter through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl, leaving solids behind. It should yield 2/3 cups clarified butter.

Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once ready saute shallots until clear - 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let shallots caramelize, stirring occasionally - 25 minutes. To save time, I cooked the canadian bacon in this pan as well. The canadian bacon should only take 3-4 minutes depending on it's thickness so cook them towards the end. While the onions were cooking down, I chopped the herbs, cracked the eggs, and got the cheese ready.

Once these ingredients are ready, remove and let rest on a plate. Place 1 tablespoon of the clarified butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and heat to just before it begins to smoke. While the butter is heating, whisk the eggs. Make sure to whisk them vigorously, capturing as much air in them as possible. This is what makes an omelette fluffy. Lift skillet from heat in one hand and pour the eggs in with the other. Begin shaking the skillet back and forth. Continual movement is key. Do this for about 1 minute. Return to heat. Using a plastic spatula, stir eggs around letting the runny parts cook. Be sure not to break the omelette at this point as I did on the first one. You can lift the cooked edges to let the uncooked eggs run underneath. Just when the eggs are about to set and there are no more runy parts, sprinkle the ingredients of your choice down the middle. The eggs continue to cook through at this point. You'll need to do this quickly otherwise the eggs might begin to burn. Reduce heat if they begin to burn or pull from heat. With the spatula, work under the cooked eggs to loosen from the skillet.

In the pan, fold over 1/3 of the omelette on the opposite side of your serving splate. Slowly work omelette down and flip over on plate to encase your ingredients. Sprinkle with a bit of herbs and shredded cheese and voila!

A simple omelette!

Chile Chili Chili

Tonight was Erin's night and she wanted to cook chili. Not sure what provoked that but why the hell not. I left it up to Erin to shop, prep and cook while I read ('United States of Arugula', for those that are interested.). It was nice! Here's Erin's shopping list:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, diced,
1 28oz can diced tomatos
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15oz can pinto beans
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 pack chili seasoning mix
2 ears of corn, cut in half
Shredded cheddar

1. Bring medium pot to a boil and cook the ears of corn. Once cooked through (10-12 min or so), remove from pot and cut off the corn kernels.

2. Bring a medium skillet to medium-high heat. Cook ground beef. Once cooked, place on paper towel to pat dry of grease.

3.In a large stock pot, combine all canned ingredients, seasoning, onion, beef and corn. Bring to a medium heat for several minutes then reduce and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

That's it! We served this with a simple cornbread. There's plenty for 6-8 guests or left overs for a week.

Photo Insight:
A you can see I'm still learning this whole food photography thing. This chili photo is technically bad. Here's why:

1. It's back lit. This causes the subject to be way too dark with no appealing detail in the food. Side lighting the subject typically works best. Natural light is also more appealing to the eye. I'm going to start using a flash and maybe light bouncers.

2. The heat melted the cheese which now has a glossy look. It other words: unappetizing

3. The props are distracting. Checkered blue, black and red flower pattern, white and blacks stripes, etc. You get the idea.

4. The leading lines of the place mat take you out of the picture and not to the subject.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

There is nothing like a fresh homemade cinnamon roll - especially a Paula Deen cinnamon roll. The name Paula Deen just oozes butter and makes people melt.

This dish was part of our Sunday Funday of cooking. Erin wanted to make something and that was Puala's cinnamon rolls. She'd seen the "easy" way on TV and was sold. However, the easy way was nowhere to be found online. Convinced you could buy the dough that's what she hunted down. With no luck, she decided to make it completely from scratch. Everything from scratch. Everything! Yeast and flour. Eggs and scalded milk. "Oh, it'll take 30 minutes". Um, no. That's the prep time. 1 HOUR TO RISE!! This is when hell broke loose. I've never seen someone so pissed about cinnamon rolls. This was supposed to be ready for brunch. At this rate we're talking a an appetizer for dinner. At this point she was committed. At this point Erin rolled up her sleeves and dove in.

Click Here for Paula's recipe. The photos below provide the visual odyssey of creating heaven on earth.


Step 1: Make and knead dough. You'll place this in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled, 1 - 1 1/2 hour. (I think Erin punched the fridge when she read this part.)


Step 2: Once the dough has risen, punch down and roll out to 15x9 inch rectangle. No, those are not Erin's hands. Those are Dustin's. This is not an episode of Seinfeld! (Although it could be.)




Step 4 (Above): Lather on a gallon of butter. Not really but that's what it felt like.

Step 5 (Below): Sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on the butter glaze. Follow this with a combination of walnuts, pecans, or raisans. Or more sugar and butter. Who cares - it's cinnamon rolls. They're supposed to be bad for you!


This is making me hungry!!


Step 6: Carefully roll up whatever cinnamon roll concoction you've made. Slice off the ugly ends. Cut the roll into 12-15 slices and place evenly in a buttered and sugared pan (Really Paula!?). Once in, let these rise covered for about 45 minutes (Erin screams in the background.)

Finally, bake these at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and drench in the homemade glaze.

...and on the 8th day God created the cinnamon roll!

Tarts: Tomato and Feta & Pear and Gorgonzola

Tarts are a quick and easy appetizer to make when you don't have too much time. Here are two samples I pulled from W&S's Cooking for Friends (which I highly recommend).


The first tart is a tomato and feta tart. I love tomatos so this was a favorite for me.

1 sheet pff pastry, thawed
1 cup cherry tomatos, halved
6-8 heirloom tomatos, thinly sliced (the brighter the better)
6 oz crumbled feta
1 tblespoon fresh oregano
4-6 springs fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry sheet into a 9x13 rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Cut in half into 2 rectangles. Transfer these to a rimmed baking sheet. With a fork prick each rectangle evenly over the entire length to assure even cooking. Fold in 1/2 inch of each pastry along edge to create a border.

Arrange cherry tomato halves, heirloom slices and feta on top. Sprinkle with oregano, season with S&P and top with thyme sprigs. Bake until puffed and golden brown, approx. 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cut each into 4 pieces.


The next was a pear, gorganzola and walnut tart which was pretty effin good I might say.

1 sheet pff pastry
2 pears, halved, cored and thinly sliced
6 oz crumbled gorgonzola
2 tbspn chopped walnuts
1 tbspn chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbspn honey

Repeat instructions above.

On the second go 'round we metled some butter and brushed it on the edges which we cooked it a tad too long so you'll notice a slight burn on the middle edges. Don't use the butter!

Anyways, these were quick, easy and wonderful. You can mix and match your favorite ingredeints for a quick tart. The possibilities are endless!

Phyllo Triangles

We pulled this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. It easily an appetizer favorite for all parties and get togethers. It's quite an involved process but makes delish little apps.

Right now I'm too lazy to write the full details but I will get to it!

Disappearing Marshmallow Bars

Herbed Stuffed Tomatos

Biscuts and Hatch Pepper Gravy

Tomato Basil Eggs Benedict

Today was an all day affair of cooking with our good friends Dustin and Jason. We started with brunch and mimosas then carried that on to various appetizers and desserts. You'll find these dishes and recipes later in the blog.

First up was brunch. I made a round of eggs benedict that was ok, nothing special. It was a basic EB with canadian bacon. Dustin suggested basil and tomatos instead of CB. Perfect! I had some left over from the night before. So BOOM that's what we did.

Ingredients (Serves 4):
4 Egges
10-12 Fresh Basil Leaves
1 Tomato, Sliced
2-4 English muffins

Hollandaise:
1 Package Mix
Milk
Butter

Prep hollandaise according to package. Toast english muffins. Poach eggs. Once these are ready, plate english muffin, 1 slice of tomato, 2-3 basil leaves, and 1 poached egg. Top with hollandaise sauce and a tiny basil leaf for garnish and serve.

I personally LOVE fresh basil so this was easily a hit with me. Mmmmmmm.

Thyme Roasted Trout

After a recent fishing trip to Rockbridge, MO, a Moise family tradition, we had plenty of beautiful fresh caught rainbow trout. So much that our entire freezer was full! But it's worth it because these guys are incredibly delicious.

We had the family over for a casual dinner and the trout was the center piece. I wanted to spend more time hanging out and less time time cooking so I did a simple grill roasted trout.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

2 Whole Rainbow Trout
1 Bunch Fresh Thyme
4-5 Lemons, Sliced
Salt and Pepper

Heat grill to 400 degrees.

Clean trout thouroughly with cold water. Set out a sheet of foil large enough to encase the whole trout. Place cleaned trout on foil. Lightly salt and pepper the cavity. Stuff in 3 lemon slices and 1/2 bunch of thyme. Wrap the tout like you'd fold a letter. Fold in sides until you reach the trout. Secure all edges so no flavors escapes. Repeat as necessary with the remaining trout.

Place trout packages evenly spaced over grill and cover. These will cook for roughly 10-15 minutes. Begin checking the fish about 10 minutes in. If the skin comes off easily pull it back and if the fish is white you're done.

When serving, the meat should easily pull off the bone. Pull back the skin and discard. Use a fork to find the backbone. Gently pull the meat down and towards the tail. It should slide right off the ribs. For the meat above the backbone, use a fork to work the meat away from the backbone. There are no other bones in this part so you should have a nice long peice of meat (roughly an inch and half tall by 6-8 inches depending on the size of the trout). Once the rib bones are exposed, grab the tail and slowly pull upwards. The entire backbone should come with it - head and all. Dispose of this or throw it at your sister - you decide! You'll end up with a whole filet on the bottom. Carefully remove the remaining skin and dispose. Repeat with the remaining fish. You can do this entire process quickly after some practice.

We served the trout with garlic and thyme mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. For the wine paring, my dad brought a lovely bottle of Cakebread Chardonnay. It was quit a treat!

Caprese Salad

Here's a painfully easy appetizer light and delicious. It contains very few ingredients and can be put together in a snap.

Ingredients:
1 Ball fresh mozzarella
2 Tomatos
1 Bunch fresh Basil Leaves
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Salt and Pepper

Slice mozzarella and tomatos roughly 1/4 inch thick. Pull off the largest basil leaves you can. In order, place tomato, mozzarella and basil leaf together and plate. Continue until all slices are used up. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinaigarette. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sloppy Joes with Mango Jicama Slaw

What the hell is a jicama? I kept seeing these at New Flower and always wondered what they were. If you see these you'll know what I mean. They're not the most attractive things. They have a fun name to say so I always ended up walking around the store repeating in my head: "Jicama! Jiiiicama! Jicammmma!". I later found out it's pronounced "Hicama" and is a spanish root vegtable similar to a turnip. These a very popular in fruit salads and such in Mexico. Thanks Wiki! I found a recipe that used these ugly beasts so I had to try it. Erin wanted some sloppy joes so I figured these would work well together.

Mango Jicama Slaw:
1 Mango, sliced
1 Jicama, sliced
1/2 jalapeno, finely sliced
1 Lime, juice only
Sugar to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredient in a bowl and refrigerate until serving. I cut the mango and Hicama (!) into 2 inch strips for better serving and visual appeal.

Sloppy Joes:
Olive Oil
1 lb ground beef
1/2 C Onion, chopped
1/2 C Celery, sliced
1/2 C Red Pepper, chopped
1/2 can tomato soup
1/2 C ketchup
1/2 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Burger Buns

Heat large skillet to medium-high heat and cook ground beef. Once cooked through, set on paper toweled plate to remove any unwanted grease. Meanwhile in the same skillet, heat olive oil at medium-high heat and saute onions, peppers, and celery until tender crisp. Stir back in cooked beef, tomato soup and ketchup. Heat to a slow simmer. For the brown sugar, salt and pepper, mix these in according to your tastes.

You can toast the buns in your oven set on high broil for about 2 minutes on each side. Just make sure they don't burn.

Serve the Joes with the mango and Hicama (!) slaw. Enjoy!

Italian Breaded Chicken with Linguine and Peppers

Tonight's dinner was completely impromptu. We hadn't really planned what we wanted but we had a few ingredients we needed to eat before they went bad.

Ingredients (2 Servings):
1 chicken breast half, butterflied into 2 portions
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 egg
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced, 3 inches long
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced, 3 inches long
linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and Pepper

Bring pot of water to a boil and begin cooking linguine. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium to high heat. Take butterflied chicken, wrap in clingwrap and pound to 1/2 inch thick. In a shallow plate, mix breadcrumbs and italian seasoning together. Place egg in a bowl and lightly beat (Add water if desired). Season the chicken with salt and pepper then dredge in egg and coat with the bread crumbs. Place in skillet. Repeat with additional chicken portions. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat and saute the bell peppers, 4-5 minutes. Chicken will cook for roughly 3-4 minutes on each side depending on the temp level. Once chicken is cooked, set on plate and cover with tinfoil to keep warm. Drain pasta and mix in bell peppers and 1 tablespoon of butter. Plate pasta with a serving of chicken and you're done. Simple!

When I started making this I thought I might need a simple butter/wine sauce of some sort due to the dryness of the bread crumbs. Thankfully that wasn't the case because the moistness of the chicken made up for it. This was another fast and easy meal that was just thrown together with whatever we had. It had nice flavor from the italian seasoning and little bite from the bell peppers. I would definitely cook this again!

Salmon with a Brown Sugar Marinade

Here's another mid-week meal that couldn't be more straight forward and delish. It's salmon fillets marinated in brown sugar, wine (adults only), and a splash of lemon. Simple! This gives the salmon a nice sweet taste with a bit of bite and the wine mellows everything out. For sides we had roasted asparagus and a sweet potato.

Main Ingredients (2 Servings):
1/2 Cup white wine
1/4 cup brown sugar
Juice from half a lemon
2 6-8oz salmon fillets

Side Ingredients:
1 Bunch of asparagus, trimmed
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tablespoon peanut oil
kosher salt
1 sweet potato

Mix first 3 Main ingredeints in a bowl. Wash salmon fillets and pat dry then season with salt and pepper. Place fillets gently in marinade. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Once salmon is ready, heat medium skillet with peanut oil to medium heat. Put oven on high broil. Place salmon fillets on a foil lined baking sheet and put in oven. You can spinkle more brown sugar on the fillets to give them a nice crisp top layer and a bit more sweetness.

For potato, take fork and pierce several times. Toss in microwave for 10 minutes. Place asparagus in skillet and sprinkle with kosher salt. Asparagus shouldn't pop. You should hear nice sizzle. Make sure to continually turn the asparagus so they don't char or burn. Once the skillet begins to dry, toss in the butter and thyme. More turning to cook evenly. Burnt asparagus is NOT delish. Cook until tender crisp, roughly 8-10 minutes.

Remember to check your salmon cause this could happen:

Don't worry though, it's just the brown sugar begining to burn. Oops! Make sure the oven fan is on! Cook the salmon until the flesh flakes with a fork, usually about 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness. The key is to get the salmon and sweet potato started at the same time since they're low maintenance. You'll want most of your attention on the asparagus.

If you've timed it right, you should be able to plate the salmon, asparagus and sweet potato at the same time. You can serve the SP in the skin or scoop out the good stuff (I did).

Here's the end result:

Oh, and this home cooked meal was cheap! $6 for the wine, $6 for the salmon. $2 for the asparagus, and $.99 for the sweet potato. We're talkin $15 for two people with drinks! I had the other ingredients which helped. Fresh thyme will run you $1.70 for a handful of sprigs. Buy in bulk with the remaining ingredients and it wil help save money with these mid-week dinners. You can use any cheap white wine. We used a $6 Barefoot Chard. A $12 Mondavi magnum would work too (More wine for the adults!). However, I typically have a philisophy of Crap In-Crap Out. Meaning the quality level of ingredients you use determines the level of flavor you get. Not with this dish though. Tonight's goal with quick, easy and flavorful. I think that was accomplished!

Simple Bruschetta and Spaghetti

We figured we needed a quick and simple dish to make after a long weekend. I wanted to make something italian and something easy; boom - spaghetti. We were hungry so I made a brushetta as an appetizer. Here's the quick and easy:

For the Brushetta (Makes 6):
1 tomato, diced
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
3-4 leaves of italian flat leave parsley, finely chopped
Fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 Mini baguette, cut into 1/2 inch slices
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place baguette slices on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic. Place baking sheet in oven and cook until crisp - 5-7 minutes. In small bowl, mix first 4 ingredients. Remove baguette slices. Top each with mozzarella slice and tablespoon of the tomato mix. Heat for 6-8 minutes or until mozzarella is melting and serve! You can splash on a bit more balsamic if you want as well.

Spaghetti:
1/4 package spaghetti
1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 onion, diced
1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 jar marinara (if needed to thicken sauce)
5 leaves of italian flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 tblespoon Olive Oil
Packaged garlic bread (No time for fresh tonight. Cook as indicated on package)

Bring water in a large suace pan to a boil. Stir in pinch of kosher salt and then spaghetti.

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Saute onions until lightly browned. Stir in ground beef and cook through. In a plate with paper towels, pour the ground beef mix and pat dry to rid of grease. Place peeled tomoatoes in the pan then slowly mash with spatula to break them apart and bring out the juices. Bring this to a simmer. Stir in galric, parsley, and italian seasoning. Stir back in ground beef mixture. The sauce was too thin for me so I stir in 1/2 cup marinara pizza sauce.

To plate, place desired portion of spaghetti and meat sauce. Garnish with parsely leaves and serve with garlic bread. Finito!

Tonight's dinner was made on a whim so I played a bit with the ingredient portions. This overall preparation was straightfoward with little to no fuss. I underestimated the tomatoes and made the sauce too thin - hence the marinara. The strength of fresh parsley overwhelmed the other flavors in the brushetta so I toned down the portions in the recipe here. I suggest opening a chilled pinot grigio while you cook cause why not? Hope you enjoy!

Beef Wellington

Tonight we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday by making a fantastic Beef Wellington. I won't lie - this dinner is a chore to make but it is easily worth every effort. We paired it with a 1999 Opus One that was longing to be consumed. The wine easily highlighted an already great meal.

We started the meal off with a few appetizers including these steamed asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. This app is a cinch. Simply steam jumbo asparagus, drop in an ice bath to stop the cooking, dry, and wrap each with 1 prosciutto sheet. Use chopped chives as a garnish then chill for 20-30 minutes before you serve. It's easy to make ahead of time. Our other app was crackers with brie, havarti, and slices apples. Simple and delicious. We served these with a 2007 Coppola chardonnay which I found for $10 - a bargain!

Now it's time for the beef wellington. Use only the best ingredients you can and that includes top quality center cut tenderloin. The tenderloin is your star so treat him like one and don't even think about skimping on ingredeints here. I used Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Wellingon. The recipe is a bit over the top hence the "ultimate" moniker but it's great none the less.

The preparation is time consuming so I started a few hours before the guests arrived. I followed Tyler's prep so I'm not going to type it here. Here's the final procuct after the first stage. We made two Wellington's since we had 8 people. Last time I made this we barely had enough to serve everyone. It's better to have more than not enough. Duh.

About an hour and a half before we ate I removed Wellington from the fridge to allow the meat to come to room temp. I then being stage 2 of the preparation. Remeber this takes time so give yourself plenty of it. See what I said about time consuming? While the Wellington cooks you can make the green peppercorn sauce and your sides. We had rosemary garlic mashed potatoes and a simple spinach arugula salad with diced radishes.

After 4 hours of cooking the meal finally came to fruition - here's the final product!

Happy birthday Mom! I love you!

Grilled Chicken with Watemelon Salsa

Tonight we tried something I've been waiting for the right summer night to make - a perfectly grilled marinated chicken breast with a watermelon-jalapeno salsa. It was the great night for such a simple dish. The air was clean and crisp. The summer heat had set for the evening. Pefect in all aspects.

The dish itself was very straightforward. Marinate. Grill. Cut. Serve. The salsa was made with nothing but fresh ingredients - watermelon, mango, red onion, cilantro and some spicey spices. Here's the quick and easy:

Chicken:

1 tblpsn chopped oregano
1 tblspn EVOO
1 tspn chili powder
3/4 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 - 6oz S/B-less Chicken breast halves

Places the six ingredients in a large ziplock bag. Once they're in, throw in the CB halves and shake to coat evenly. Let these marinate in the fridge for up to 4 hours. Rotate occasionally so you can spread the flavors evenly over the chicken. Don't want too much garlic on one end and too much chili powder on the other!

Salsa:
Mix the following ingredients in a bowl and chill. You can easily play with the portions and add more heat or soften with more sweetness. It's entirely up to your tastes.

2 cups cubed seeded watermelon
1 cup cubed peeled ripe mango
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tblespn chopped cilantro
2 tblespn chopped jalapeno pepper
Juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn sugar

Grill chicken then slice and top with the watermelon salsa.

Serve on a bed of rice with your favorite summer white wine. Tonight we had a chenin blanc. Yum!

King Ranch Casserole

King Ranch has always been a staple in my family's household and it brings back tons of memories. My mom perfected it and it was easily the most recommended dinner when everyone was home. It's a dish my brothers and I would get thirds and fourths on and we're talking big portions. My mom's was a very basic version and was made in its most simplest form. I've had other versions with tons more ingredients but this is a dish you keep simple. The main ingredients are:

Shredded meat from 1 rotisserie chicken (yields 2 cups)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1 4oz can diced green chillies
1 3.8oz can sliced black olives
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 package of 12 corn tortilla's
1 bag of shredded mild cheddar

Optional Ingredients:
1 chopped red pepper
1 chopped white onion
1 chopped tomato (to replace rotel for less spice)
Homemade chicken stock

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large saucepan, heat the chicken stock over medium high heat. Once heated through, stir in the cream of mushroom and cream of chicken. Stir the three ingredients until they form a smooth consistency then stir in green chillies and the rotel. Rreduce to medium and let simmer. Note: If you want the peppers and onion, saute them with 1 tablespoon of butter for 3-4 minutes. Cut the corn torillas into quarters and place one layer on the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish. Next layer about half of the chicken, onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Spoon half the stock mixture evenly. Repeat the layers once more. Top evenly with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese and olives. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

Serves 6.

I also made a simple guacamole with:

5 avocados
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup tomato, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
Juice from 1/2 lime
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve as an appetizer while the King Ranch bakes. I like small chunks of avocado so I don't mix it together too much but just enough to make it smooth and chunky at the same time. The measurements for the ingredients aren't exact so use as much or as little as you want of each. Tip: If you want to a bit of sweetness, add the juice from 1/2 an orange.

Enjoy!