It's Secret Recipe Club time and I'm delinquent. We're still frantically working on the transition - which is taking FAR more time that it should have. Then, we had the trip to Kansas City for a conference. And, we're trying to get the house ready for the big party, keep up with details like laundry, and take care of our clients. Needless to say, I'm a couple of weeks behind!
When I got my assignment, I was pretty fired up. This is a blog I've regularly read. These guys like to cook as much as Connie and I do! And, their taste is very similar to ours. They love great food and traveling. First day, I made a long list of things I wanted to try. Scallop and champagne risotto was at the top of the list but I didn't want to narrow it down without another reading. I know, Drool. Gosh, just read their index. That's about the list of things I wanted to try. Then, it was time. November 7th I realized how limited my time would be. The 8th we met a friend for dinner at Marco's. The 9th we were heading to the theatre. Early on the 10th we were heading to Kansas City. Due back on the 14th. The 15th was a wine tasting at Joseph's. The 16th had to be a quck meal because we were off to the theatre again. Saturday the 17th was dinner wtih Donna and Phil at Patrick's. Ok, that left Sunday for my SRC dinner. Oh, and I'm supposed to post my blog on the 19th! Not much leeway. Thank goodness I was dealing with a blog where I was certain anything I tried would be good.
Time to choose my recipe. Tea smoked chicken was the most recent post. Look no further. We've made tea-smoked ribs and loved them. Chicken would be perfect. I did change up the recipe a bit. When we made the tea-smoked ribs the smoking mixture was fairly complex. I can't remember the scientific explanation but the rice helps the smoking process.
What did we think? YUM! The chicken was so moist and tender. The flavors were complex and so very good. We'll absolutely be making this again!
Now, if you'd like to see what the other SRC folks posted, please click here: Secret Recipe Club. To go visit Amy and her hubby at their blog click here: A Couple in the Kitchen.
Tea Smoked Chicken
Ingredients:
for the smoking:
1/2 c jasmine rice
1/2 c brown sugar
4 star anise pods
rind of one orange
1/4 c black peppercorns
8 1/8 thick slices fresh ginger
1/2 c loose black tea (we jused darjeeling)
for the glaze:
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 T sesame oil
2 t crushed garlic
Directions:
Dry brine the chicke for 2-3 hours prior to smoking it. Rub it liberally with kosher salt inside and out. Put in the fridge uncovered. Make SURE no juices can leak onto any fresh food. Combine the smoking ingredients and strew them in the bottom of a large roasting pan.
Place a rack over the smoking ingredients. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Put it on the rack. Cover the whole pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. We smoked ours on the grill because I didn't want the smoke in the house. Even though you can smoke on the stovetop with very little smoke escaping, it makes sense to me to use the grill if you can. Heat your grill to high and put the pan on it. Put the lid down and allow the chicken to smoke for 20-30 minutes. Remove the foil and put the chicken directly on the grill grates. Turn the heat to medium. Drizzle the glaze over the chicken a few times and cook it until it's 170-180 degrees. Remember when you allow it to rest it'll go up by about 10 degrees. Remove from the heat, allow to rest, then slice and serve.
adapted from A Couple in the Kitchen
Tomorrow is the big day. My puttanesca salad is going to be prepared by my wonderful friend, Chef Joseph, for a new public television program called Indiana Cooks. Kim Galeaz, the host of the show, just called to say she'd made the recipe for dinner and LOVED it. Whew!
Originally I was told I'd get to cook on camera. I was totally psyched. I teach a lot of classes related to my real job - financial planning. And, every week I've got a 10 minute spot on a radio show dealing with the same. So, cooking on air would be fun. Then, I found out I'm just interviewed from the audience. Bummer. The good news is that Chef Joseph is one of our dear friends. He's got a fabulous restaurant downtown Indy. HE's doing the cooking. That's almost as good as me getting to cook. Here's a shot of Joseph practicing the recipe at our home a couple of weeks ago.
Tonight, we tried something we keep reading about - breakfast burgers. Hamburgers topped with gruyere, bacon and fried eggs. And, to add a teeny, tiny bit of healthiness - a big handful of arugula. Let me start by saying my burgers almost always have Andria's steak sauce in them. It is SO much better than any other steak sauce I've ever had. They'll ship and it's worth it. Believe me. Worth it - totally. In spite of the howling winds (can you believe Hurricane Sandy made herself felt all the way out here in Indy????) I grilled the burgers. Then, I cracked open a new jar of Dijon from the Mustard Museum. You've never heard of them? They ship too. And, they sell this great mystery box. This is the tail end of last Christmas' present for Connie. Just in time too since he wants the same gift this year!
What did we think? These were a five. We loved them. My friend, Matt, had told me that he got hooked on eggs on his burgers when they lived in Texas. Now, I know why. Yum, yum, yum. Here are some photos along the way:
Saturday was a pretty lousy day. I was up all night Friday with a bad belly. Saturday I not only felt lousy but was exhausted. All I could get down for dinner was a fried egg sandwich. Thanks to Connie who was chef for the night. He toasted the bread just enough to take the smoosh off but not so much as to make it crunch. The egg yolk was still a little runny. And, he grated a bit of swiss cheese onto it. It was pretty darned perfect. And, as soon as I ate I got to curl back up on the couch and go back to sleep. That's how to recuperate!
Needless to say, my week's menus did not get made on Saturday. Sunday we went to the office for the morning and got home just in time for the Colt's game. YAY - we beat Tennessee! Andrew Luck rocks!!! So, at 5:00 Sunday I still had no clue what I was going to fix for dinner. My options from the freezer were not promising. Fine. I picked up the cookbook on top of the stack of cookbooks to mark for recipes to make. Commander's Wild Side. Another find from the bargain bin at the grocery store. I want to make everything from the chapter titled, "Showstopping Dishes to Impress Your Friends." Let's see, there's Truffled Scallps and Crabmeat wtih Caviar Vinaigrette, Creole Lobster Bisque, Crab and Brie Stuffed Flounder, Speckled Trout Napoleons with Morel Cream, Crab and Oyster Mushroom Risotto and Pepper-Crusted Beef Sirloiin with Crispy Oysters and Horseradish Cream. Is your mouth watering like mine is?
I knew Sunday was not the evening for a show-stopping (read long and complicated) recipe, however. You see, Peyton's playing Drew Brees. That we need to see. So, I opened the cookbook to the chapter titled, "Not-So-Wild Game." The first recipe was Coffee-Crusted Pork Loin with Fig-Bourbon Syrup. Not only did it sound fantastic, it also sounded pretty darned quick. Connie said there was a tub of spinach to be used up. I found a recipe from Southern Living called Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette. Sounded perfect together. And, I had a sweet potato I could mash to go along. I was off to the grocery.
What did we think? This was super easy to put together. The flavors were amazing. The crust on the pork was very thin but so packed with flavor. The fig-bourbon syrup was perfect with it. As were the bourbon mashed potatoes. Those were just a large sweet potato mashed with about a teaspoon of bourbon, a quick grate of nutmeg, a couple of tablespoons of butter and a couple of tablespoons of half and half. The salad was a great alternative to your traditional spinach salad. All in all, we gave the whole meal a score of five on a scale of one to five. Connie liked the pork best, while I preferred the salad. But, there were no losers here!
Coffee-Crusted Pork Loin with Fig-Bourbon Syrup
serves 4
Ingredients:
1 cup fig preserves
1/2 c bourbon
1/4 c finely ground chicory or regular coffee
1 T plus 2 t dark brown sugar
1 T Creole seasoning (we use Emeril's)
1 t smoked paprika
2 lb trimmed boneless pork roast, preferably loin
Directions:
Mix the preserves and bourbon in a small saucepan. Let it simmer while you prepare the pork. I needed an immersion blender since there were some pretty big chunks of fig in the preserves.
Make the rub next. In a spice grinder combine the coffee, brown sugar, Creole seasoning and smoked paprika. Process it until it's very finely ground.
The original recipe called for rubbing the pork with vegetable oil prior to rolling it in the rub. I didn't do that and it worked perfectly. Roll the pork in the rub, coating every surface. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
Heat your grill. Grill the pork for about 20 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 130F. Make sure to turn the pork so all sides get a nice crust. Remove the pork from the heat and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before carving it.
Serve the pork drizzled with the fig-bourbon sauce.
adapted from Commander's Wild Side
Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
serves 2
Ingredients:
4 thick slices bacon, diced and browned
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1 T lime juice
1 T honey
2 large handfuls fresh spinach
1 mango, peeled and diced
2 T crumbled queso fresco or mild feta
Directions:
Brown the bacon and drain all but a tablespoon of the fat. Saute the onion until it's very soft. When the onion is done, pour in the red wine vinegar, lime juice and honey. Stir well and keep warm until you're ready to assemble the salads.
To assemble the salads, put a handful of spinach on each plate. Top with half of the mango, then the bacon, dressing and finally the cheese.
adapted from Southern Living
Don't you love watching the changing of the seasons through the food available at the farmer's markets? We were almost out of Burton's Maplewood Farms maple syrup so it was time for a trip to the farmer's market in Broad Ripple. There's one closer to home - and on the way to the office - but Tim doesn't sell his fabulous syrup there. He's the same guy I've told you about who makes the rum maple syrup by putting it in barrels that'd been used for rum. Seriously good stuff. Here's a link to their site: Burton's Maplewood Farm. They've got some great recipes on their website too. Connie and I are going to work our way through the maple mixology. For those of you who aren't lucky enough to get to chat Tim up at a farmer's market, they do ship.
While at the farmer's market, we picked up some kale. I'd seen a recipe in FoodNetwork magazine for an antipasto salad. It had a base of kale topped with gardineria, cubed and cooked potatoes, hard cooked egg quarters, capers and salami with an oil and vinegar dressing. Sounded like a perfect lunch. It was. I subbed tuna for the salami and added kalamata olives. I wish I'd added just a few little cubes of provolone but that was at home...
We also got a great new cheese from Traders Point Creamery. It's washed with Sun King Wee Mac beer. YUM! And, we picked up a gorgeous bunch of beets with fabulous greens. Last but not least, we got two pie pumpkins. Then, it was off to Kincaid's to get duck legs for confit. Finally, the Binford market to get ground lamb patties from our friends at Viking Lamb.
Next stop. The office. We got oodles done but not nearly as much as we needed to get done. So, back again on Sunday... Now, I will confess that while at the office I looked at some recipes for baking casseroles inside pumpkins. Nothing particularly struck my fancy. I kept going back to the idea I'd had.
Connie cut the top of the pumpkin off and scooped out all the seeds. We roasted those then tossed them in a mixture of Penzey's Northwoods BBQ seasoning and Five Spice powder. I put together the casserole.
What did we think? Seriously good. Now, I didn't write down measurements as I went so you'll need to gauge what's right for you.
Lamb and Rice Casserole
Ingredients:
1 2-3 lb pie pumpkin, top removed and seeds scraped
1 pound ground lamb
1 package Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild rice
1 bunch kale, chopped
white wine
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 c milk
1 c shredded Jarlsberg cheese
panko bread crumbs
1/4 c shredded Jarlsberg cheese
1 T butter
thyme
Directions:
Brown and drain the lamb. Remove the lamb to a bowl. In the same skillet, lightly brown the rice. Reserve the spice package for another use. Toss the chopped kale in with the rice. Let it cook until the kale softens. Deglaze the pan with a good splash of white wine. In a medium saucepan, make the mornay sauce. Melt the butter. Stir in the flour and allow it to cook on medium for about five minutes. It'll be lightly browned. Slowly stir in the milk. Keep stirring until the sauce has thickened. Add the shredded cheese and just a smidge of grated nutmeg. Now it's time to mix it all together
and stuff it in your cleaned out pumpkin.
Toast the panko crumbs in the butter. Remove them from the heat and toss in the 1/4 c shredded cheese and the thyme. Put the cheese crumbs on top of the stuffed pumpkin.
Bake for about 75 minutes or until the pumpkin is very soft. It's best to bake this in a baking dish with about an inch of water in the bottom. Bake at about 350 degrees. You can serve this either cut into wedges or scooped out with generous portions of the pumpkin.
Many years ago I worked at a bank branch in a very industrial area of the city. There weren't too many good places to have lunch. And, I was a newly-wed who was working full time and going to school in the evenings to finish my degree. Needless to say, money was scarce. So, I usually brought my lunch to work. On the rare occasion when I would go out to eat it was usually up the street to a place called Greiner's Sub Shop. They had a pizza sub that I craved. Still do.
So, imagine my delight when I found a recipe on The Freshman Cook that sounded kind of like that pizza sub. Turns out Teri's from the midwest and she'd had these sandwiches when she was a kid. I had to give them a try. She calls them Pizza Steak Hoagies.
Before I do though, let me tell you a bit about Teri. She now lives out west in Las Vegas. She's worked in professional kitchens. And, she is a whiz at cookie decorating. Now, my idea of cookie decorating is sprinkling the colored sugar on or painting them with green or red colored egg yolks. Teri's? She can turn any cookie into a work of art. I kept reading and reading just to look at the photos. That's the other thing.. She does a fabulous job of documenting her steps.
I was visiting her site because of the Secret Recipe Club. Once a month we're assigned another blog to visit and choose a recipe to make. Then, our group all posts on the same day. It's loads of fun to see what everyone's chosen to make. As is typical, there's a preponderance of desserts. Those, I pretty much ignore. It's the entrees and side dishes I love to follow. And, I've gotten some great appetizer ideas.
What did we think? These were good. I'd go back to the shaved beef like Greiner's had. But, I loved the mix of the melted provolone and mozzarella with the pizza sauce. And, the addition of Italian seasoning and oil and vinegar dressing made it VERY similar to Greiners.
Pizza Steak Hoagies
Ingredients:
2 soft sub rolls
2 cube steaks (they may be called minute steaks where you live)
sliced provolone cheese (I grated mine)
shredded mozzarella
pizza sauce
Italian seasoning
pepperocini or banana peppers
oil and vinegar for drizzling
Directions:
Pound the cube steaks until they're very thin and are at least the size of the buns. I marinated mine with a bit of Andria's Steak Sauce at this point.
Broil the cube steaks - about three minutes per side. Toast the buns. Slather the buns with pizza sauce - both sides - don't skimp.
Then put the shredded cheeses (or sliced - whatever you're using) on both sides.
Broil until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle on a bit of Italian seasoning and some of the peppers. Drizzle with oil and vinegar. Add the cooked cube steaks and dig in!
Thank you Teri for this fun trip down memory lane!
adapted from The Freshman Cook
Now, if you'd like to see what the other bloggers chose:
Clam Pizza. One of those dishes I keep reading about but haven't ever taken the time to really research. I'd gone to the office for a few hours and Connie was home cleaning out the garage. The Colts had a game at 1:00. Well, it wasn't quite so much a game as a thrashing. Ugh! At any rate, one of the items I needed to clean out of my pantry was alfredo sauce. And, I'd bought a Boboli wheat crust. I figured I'd come up with my own version of clam pizza.
My biggest inspiration was the linguine with clam sauce at Some Guys Pizza. It's a pizza and pasta joint about a mile away. They have killer flatbread and salads and tomato soup and are on our speed dial when we need lunch. When we eat dinner there I'm hard pressed to order anything but the linguine with clam sauce. Fantastic stuff.
What did we think Fabulous. This is one I'll make again. And, it's SO easy!
How did it come together?
I took a Boboli wheat crust and sprinkled it with shredded mozzarella. Then, I spooned on some Alfredo sauce and smeared it to the edges. While I was doing all of that, I had a small red onion that I'd thinly sliced sauteeing in some olive oil. Once the sauce was on, I drained a small can of minced clams and sprinkled them over the sauce. Then, I strewed the onions on top and added about three VERY finely slice garlic cloves. The whole deal was topped with shredded five Italian cheese blend and baked at 450 for 20 minutes.
Secret Recipe Club is fast approaching. We made my recipe Friday night. No, I'm not going to jump the gun and show you! But, I will tell you about the lovely salad we had alongside our entree...
I don't know about your grocery store, but ours tend to have bargain book bins. After a great deal of hunting, I sometimes find a cookbook or two that I just can't live without. My family room is littered with cookbooks I just couldn't live without. I have to live to at least 550 to even make a dent in all the recipes I'd like to try. Off the top of my head I can't tell you which recipe triggered my picking up Jamie's America. It's Jamie Oliver's twists on American favorites. Like a NY cheesecake with a meringue topping. I know. Go figure. Then, I got to Waldorf Salad My Way. Now, I've never been much of a fan of Waldorf Salad. It's just too cloying for my taste. Individually, I love apples and grapes and celery and nuts. But, not gummed up with sweetened mayo. Bleech.
Thursday evening, we went to a retirement party for one of my favorite attorneys. He's a great guy and truly exceptional at his specialty. I was honored to be among those invited to wish him a wonderful retirement. After the cocktail party we headed to the store to get everything we needed to make my Secret Recipe Club recipe. In addition I bought a bunch of asparagus and a rotisserie chicken. I figured that'd take care of us until Saturday when I'd had an opportunity to make out a menu.
Friday, I had a massage. Margi worked her fingers to the bone trying to get me to a semi-normal range of motion. Normally, after a massage I just want to curl up in a chair and chill. Not
Friday. I was raring to go. And, the Waldorf Salad had been on my mind all day.
I'd had a crispy, sweet, tart Gala apple earlier in the week and it had totally
hit the spot. Fine, I'd go ahead and make the menu for the week and head to the
store Friday evening. Best part about that? Connie vacuumed the house while I went to the grocery. I'll take that trade-off any day.
Another 9pm dinner. But, I've finally found a Waldorf salad that I LOVE! And the fabulous dressing will go with SO many salads. BTW - when you read the ingredients I've copied them mostly verbatim from Jamie's recipe. I love how he phrases the list. Here's how you put it together:
Waldorf Salad My Way
Ingredients:
4 large handfuls of interesting green salad leaves, washed and spun dry
2 seedless red or green grapes, halved
3 medium celery stalks, trimmed and sliced
2 large handfuls walnuts, roughly crumbled
a small bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
1 red apple (I used Gala,) diced
6 oz blue cheese (I used about 2 oz)
for the dressing:
1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon natural yogurt (I used Greek)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Toast the walnuts.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients.
Toss the grapes, celery, walnuts, parsley and apple with the dressing.
You can either toss the greens with the other ingredients or mound the apple mixture on top of the greens. Crumble the blue cheese over the salad and drizzle with a bit more extra virgin olive oil.
adapted from Jamie's America
