Taste & Create 12 - Plated Summer

Once again this month I find myself paired with Katie of One Little Corner of the World for Taste & Create XII. (Those of you paying attention will recall Katie's yummy Donut Muffins were my contribution to the April event).

This time I was torn; there were a couple of recipes that caught my eye. In the end I selected her delightful Dill Chicken Salad, to which I added a couple of twists of my own.

I started with two boneless skinless chicken breasts, coating them in the Italian seasoning infused olive oil and baking them off as Katie suggests. Yum... I could have stopped right there. But I didn't, though I took a look around my refrigerator and my pantry and I ad libbed a bit. Chicken's packed with protein, so I left the egg out to save a couple of calories. Not a fan of celery, I substituted half a jicama. I made the salad dressing as directed and substituted scallions for the chives, again because that's what I had on hand.

My thoughts? First of all, Katie's chicken would be excellent all on its own, served with steamed vegetables of sliced over green salad. And you could easily make the chicken salad with leftover bits of roasted chicken. The chicken salad would be sensational sandwiched between two slices of whole wheat bread and grilled panini style. But since I've blogged a bit about panini in the recent past and I've got some luscious tomatoes and avocados from my CSA delivery, I decided to plate it Napoleon-style - a slice of tomato, a slice of avocado, a mound of chicken salad, topped with another slice of tomato. The taste? The crunch of the jicama, the dill-studded salad dressing, a couple of sun-sweetened tomatoes and buttery bits of avocado... this *is* summer on a plate my friends.

Technorati Tags: Food | Taste & Create | Key Ingredient: Chicken

Mushroom Madness

For June's Taste & Create event I've been paired with Ben from What's Cooking. As a result a Mexican meets an Italian in Ireland; I selected his Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms as the recipe I'd attempt to repeat in my kitchen.

I love it when a recipe inspires me to use what I have on hand... There's a leftover chicken breast and a package of cream cheese in the refrigerator, and there's *always* an open bottle of wine on the counter. This week's CSA delivery included an onion and a handful of summer squash, and a quick trip to the farmers' market produced a couple of hearty looking portabellas and two ears of Brentwood corn.

I started simply, poaching the chicken breast in some lightly seasoned leftover turkey stock. While the chicken cooked I chopped the mushroom stems, onion and the summer squash and cleaned the corn.

From there I followed Ben's lead pretty closely, adding the corn and the corn milk to the butter/cream cheese/wine mixture and tossing the summer squash in with the mushroom stems.

The result: a meal that traverses the seasons, using fresh wholesome ingredients, in not much more time than it would take to dish up a plate of takeout. Thanks Ben... I know I'll be making riffs on this one again!

From the archives...
In 2006 Hannigan's failed to deliver a satisfying salad.

Technorati Tags: Food | Key Ingredient: Mushroom

Love is in the air...

Pasta enrobed morels. Another batch lightly battered and fried. Caramelized pineapple & blue cheese tartlettes. Roasted grapes. Her mom's simple but sensational taco dip. A yummy sounding salmon puff. Fifteen minutes browsing her blog for ideas and it was pretty clear to me that my partner for May's Taste & Create event was a young woman after my own heart *and* adventurous taste buds.

The hardest part of being paired with Kelly of Sounding my Barbaric Gulp was going to be settling on a single recipe... I want to try almost every link I followed. After much deliberation I selected a celebration of love that's easily adapted to a one person meal. I changed her Lobster Stuffed Avocado into a scrumptious crab and avocado salad.

I started with a half of a buttery smooth Haas avocado. Scooped out a bit of the center as the recipe instructed, carefully removed the peel and and pared off a bit of the bottom to create a stable and edible bowl. Chopped up the avocado 'scraps' with the other half and tossed them in a bit of meyer lemon juice to prevent browning. I browned a bit of Boccalone Guanciale in place of the bacon; wiped out the pan and toasted my pine nuts in the last bits of tasty salted pig part essence. Whisked together the garlic, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil, tossed it with the avocado, guanciale, pine nuts and other residents of the ingredient list, piled the salad high in the avocado cup, poured a glass of Viognier and grabbed a fork.

Oh. My. Gawd. Yum. With Belgian chocolate dipped strawberries and whipped cream for dessert this is going on a menu a deux in the *very* near future. Use caution people... this salad will hijack your tastebuds and steal your heart.

Thank you Kelly. I'm glad we've met. I'm sure I'll be making more from your menu. And if you ever find yourself in Northern California, you have a standing invitation to join me in the kitchen.

Technorati Tags: Food | Taste & Create | Key Ingredient: Crab | Key Ingredient: Avocado

Donut Muffins. Because Butter makes everything Better

Paired with Katie of One Little Corner of the World for the April Edition of Taste and Create, I chose to replicate her Donut Muffins in my kitchen as an antidote to an hour in commute traffic for me and a tax day treat for my coworkers. Because as a dedicated Dorista, I'm no longer afraid of a pound of butter -- I just make sure the majority of it isn't headed for *my* thighs. The muffins came together quickly and easily; my only modifications to the published recipe were to add a cup and a half of dried blueberries for a little color and to fill the nutritional void, and to nix the cinnamon in the coating in favor of some lavender-vanilla infused sugar. They had a nice dense texture reminiscent of a cake donut and they were a hit among my colleagues: the serving plate was empty in under fifteen minutes.

From the archives...
In 2006 I found my comfort zone in my little corner of the Internets.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Dessert | Taste & Create

A rose by any other name...

When Nicole paired me with Steph over at the Cupcake Project for Taste & Create VI, it took no time at all to decide which of her recipes I would try.

Those of you who've been reading for a while are already aware of my slightly incestuous love affair with Nutella. If Nutella represents a smooth and rich older cousin of sorts, the Ferrero Rocher is my sweet and sassy niece. Born in 1982 she grew up one of the most popular kids in her class.

And Steph makes a divine cupcake inspired by the chocolate hazelnut goodness of the Ferrero Rocher. I made a couple of modifications to her recipe -- some worked really well and others came back to bite me in the (_]_). I started by substituting half of the white flour for hazelnut flour, which gave my cupcakes a bit more hazelnut punch and a nice hearty texture. Then, since the European version of this chocolate delight carries a bit of an alcoholic punch, I spiked my gooey filling with a splash of Frangelico... enough to cause my tasters to take notice without impairing their ability to drive.

The one place where I wish I'd followed the recipe more carefully was in filling the cupcake foils. Steph is very clear... fill them half way as the cakes will rise. But since she said the recipe makes twelve cupcakes and I thought perhaps the hazelnut flour would calm them down a bit (yeah, and because I was too lazy to reach up into the cupboard for a second cupcake tin), I got a bit overzealous in the filling... and my cupcakes runneth over. Fortunately the deep rich chocolate ganache hides a world of sins. So while they may not be as pretty as Steph's, they taste quite nice.

Next time I make these (and there *will* be a next time), I'm going to try them in mini-muffin tins, so they more closely resemble their confectionery cousin.

Oh, and Steph? That's pronounced feh-REH-roh roh-CHAY...

Technorati Tags: Food | Food Blog Event | Cupcake | Key Ingredient: Hazelnut

Taste & Create - Other People's Food

Welcome to the first 2008 edition of Taste & Create, where my directive was to:

• Browse through my partner’s yummy blog entries, and pick out one dish that looks really interesting.
• Create the dish I've chosen.
• Taste it and tell you what I think (aka - blog about it)!
• Include a photograph.

My partner this month is Katie of Other People's Food. I love the premise behind Katie's blog. She takes published recipes (family favorites, features from magazines and cookbooks, the best of the web) and recreates them in her Virginia kitchen, making "Other People's Food" something entirely her own. If you're not familiar with Katie, I'd strongly suggest you go check her out. Go ahead. Really. We'll wait...

I spent the better part of a week combing through Katie's archives, discovering we share a lot of common culinary likes and dislikes. I've bookmarked more that a dozen recipes "to try".

I found myself salivating over a recent series of "brown butter" features, wondering which buttered up recipe I would choose? Goat Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Bell Peppers and Brown Butter? Buternut Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage? Roasted Fish Fillets with Brown Butter Corn Sauce?

In the end I bagged the butter (for now...) selecting her Miso-Glazed Sea Bass with Asparagus.

Asparagus? In January? It looks pretty emaciated in my grocery store, so I substituted leeks and parsnips from my CSA box.

And Whole Foods didn't have any sea bass, so a succulent slice of Alaskan halibut took the lead role in my version.

The fish was excellent. And I knew I'd love the buttery parsnips and crispy leeks. But the standout here was the miso glaze. A brilliant balance of sweet and salty, with a clean tart finish from the lemon, caramelized to perfection under a broiler. MUCH less fussy and far less time consuming than Martha's version or Nobu's, this is going to be my go-to miso glaze.


Miso Glazed Halibut with Roasted Winter Vegetables
(adapted from Katie of Other People's Food)

3 leeks, white and light green parts only
5 medium parsnips
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of salt
fresh cracked black pepper

1 pound halibut fillet
2 tablespoons white miso paste
1 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
juice of one small meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 450.

Slice leeks in half lengthwise; submerge in cold water, "swishing" to remove dirt and grit. Rinse under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Cut parsnips into 2-3 inch cubes.

Toss leeks and parsnips in olive oil. Spread on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast at 450 for 40 minutes, stirring at the 20 minute mark.

Combine the miso, sugar, lemon juice and a couple of twists of fresh ground pepper in a small bowl. Whisk well with a fork to combine.

Put fish in 8x8 broiler-proof pyrex baker. Top with miso glaze.

Broil fish 5-6 inches from heating element under low broiler for 6-8 minutes. Turn off oven and close oven door for additional 6 minutes to ensure thick fillet is cooked through but not dry.

Thanks to Nicole for introducing me to Taste and Create, and to Katie for providing such wonderful recipes to choose from!

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