Twice Baked Potatoes

Another weekend  another birthday party dinner, and of course I overdid it again.  Three appetizers, main course including two salads, two desserts.  It was worth it all though as we had a great time and the food was great.  I was looking for an alternative to my usual mashed potatoes and decided to take the extra steps to make the potatoes special.  Twice baked potatoes have always been a big favorite around here and just placing them on the table gets “ahs” all around.

Baking the potatoes instead of peeling and boiling them adds flavor and texture.  You can buy these pre-made at the grocery but come-on, a few minutes more and your kids will thank you for your effort.  Make a ton because they will disappear fast, and they also freeze nicely.

Sunday Roasted Chicken

We found some New (red) potatoes at the local farmers’ market on Saturday and my wife said she would like to have some new potatoes with butter and parsley, just like her mom used to make.  After a couple of weeks of high “intensity” food feasts it made sense to get back to basics.  For me there is nothing like a great, roasted chicken to bring it back down to the ah!!!! refreshing dinnertime we all need once in a while.

Moist chicken, crisp skin and smooth, tasty gravy; there is nothing better to renew your belief in simple is good cooking.  Homemade bread, some fresh tomatoes and capers rounded out a quick and easy panzanella salad.  We even skipped dessert.

Sunday Roasted Chicken

Rinse and dry chicken thoroughly. Cover outside with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over skin. Cut one lemon in half; cut garlic head in half, and place both inside cavity of chicken. Place in an over-proof roaster pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, roast chicken for 15-17 minutes per pound or until juices run clear. Place broth and lemon, cut in half, in a saucepan on stove, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove chicken from pan, place pan on top of stove. Remove lemon from broth, add chicken broth, reserving 1/2 cup, to roasting pan and stir. Add cornstarch to reserved chicken broth, stir broth into roasting pan, and cook on low until thickened. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove garlic, discard garlic skin, and add cloves to gravy. Remove and discard lemon halves inside of the chicken.
Serve with gravy on side.

Oven-roasted Shrimp

We made our quarterly trek to New Jersey last week to see family and friends.  The trip was great but a lot of driving as the side trips were a little more involved then usual.  We ate too much food, some at restaurants and most at my mother-in-law’s house.  Traditionally we do Porterhouse steaks on the grill on our last night there, this time we did them on the next to last.  With family, friends and friends of family present we had a wonderful time and I got to go to my favorite grocery store, Wegman’s, for the 2″ thick steaks.

I took along a carrot cake, some angel food cakes and those wonderful chocolate cookies/cakes that are used for ice cream sandwiches.  I also made, at my mother-in-law’s request, the largest pot of hot fudge sauce I have ever made.  Appetizers consisted of blue cheese stuffed mushroom caps, tapenade on toast points and the shrimp; which brings me to the reason for this post.

First a quick primer on shrimp.  I get questions all the time about how to determine which shrimp to use and why. so here we go.  The number on the bag is the number per pound, 15 -21 means that you can expect to find 15 to 21 shrimp per pound.  31-36 means 31 or so to the pound.  So basically the less per pound, lower number, the larger the shrimp.  The second fact is wild caught verses everything else.  Don’t worry about fresh verses frozen or frozen thawed as most of the shrimp is frozen as soon as it is caught to keep it fresh.  Unless you live on the coast and can buy your shrimp from the boat that caught them, and by all means do this if possible, buy the frozen.  If you can get the wild caught, this means they are not from a “shrimp farm” where they are raised on specific foods, usually in fresh water ponds;  spend the extra buck or two and see how good the wild caught really are.  A quick note on prawns, those huge 6 or so per pound giants in the seafood case, they are almost always farm raised and while impressive to see lack any real flavor.

Every time I make a shrimp dish using the wild caught I get tons of compliments on not only the taste but also on the texture.  Please don’t overcook shrimp, they cook very quickly, which makes them the ideal easy appetizer.  With cocktail sauce or sautéed or baked get a little wild in your life and give these a try.

Grilled Strip Steak

Yesterday, being the 4th of July, it was predicable that at some point I would find myself standing in front of a grill doing the caveman thing and cooking over an open fire.  Our neighbor invited us over for a cookout, she planned steak, salmon and shrimp cooked on her Weber grill, along with all the accompaniments.  She is a, grilling means charcoal, person as many of my neighbors are.  I am the impatient type, turn a knob, push a button and viola, the perfect fire.  I like controlling the temperature, up and down, depending on what I am cooking.  Weber type people tend to have all the time in the world to build the fire, and just when you are ready to cook the fire is just about dead.

Grilling to me is all about grill marks, grill marks are all about flavor.  Slow “baking”  food, even on a Weber is slow baking, not burn the hair off your arm grilling.  Bottom line is the food came out just fine, maybe not as flavorful as a flame kissed steak but pretty good anyway.

BTW – Salt, pepper and olive oil is all you need to make a good piece of meat or fish great.  Save the marinade for salads.

Stuffed Pork Roast

We were planning a Sunday night dinner party for a friend and his family, as his parents were visiting, but the weather required a change to Saturday instead.  As we arrived at the grocery a cloudburst was taking place.  We ran into the store only to remember the shopping list for the party was still on the printer at home.  Under the heading, practice what you preach, I was able to use my BlackBerry Curve to access my meal plan and the shopping list while in the grocery.

I made a minor change to the menu as I planned Artisan bread and due to moving the dinner up a day settled on French bread, which could be made in hours with no over-night rising process.  The sign of a good meal plan is one that you can adapt quickly; ‘course it does make it easier if you are nimble on your feet and able to juggle all the tasks required.  I think my best helper in the kitchen was the ability to prioritize what to prepare in what order; finishing everything just in time to sit down and converse with our guests over appetizers.

The menu was assorted crustini and dipping sauces, stuffed pork roast (recipe below) with gingered carrots and  mashed potatoes, the above mentioned bread and carrot cake and a corn meal cake for dessert.  I substituted oven roasted tomatoes for the sun-dried tomatoes in the recipe.   Throw a little currant jam into the gravy to give it an interesting taste.

Stuffed Pork Roast

Butterfly the pork roast. This is easier than you think. Start at the top make a cut down one side about 1/3 of the thickness of the roast. Cut down stopping the same thickness from the bottom; repeat on the other side. (think of an envelope with two flaps) Cover with plastic wrap and pound with a rolling pin to flatten the roast. Salt and pepper both the inside and outside of the roast.

Sauté spinach, onions, sun-dried tomatoes (chopped) and garlic in a pan until spinach is wilted. Salt and pepper to taste. Add hazelnuts and cool.

Spread the cooled spinach mixture on the pork roast. Roll the roast back to its original shape. Tie with cotton string in several places to hold it together. (see picture)

Brown in an oven-proof pan. Place pan in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160 degrees. Remove from oven, remove meat to a platter to “rest”. Place mushrooms in the pork pan on medium, cook for 2 minutes. Add consommé and red wine. Cook for 3 minutes. Shirl in butter and pour over pork.

Hot Roast Beef Sandwich

Pot Roast when the weather outside is in the 80′s?  Sure, why not.  I originally posted about pot roast in November of 2008.  (Recipe of the Week – Pot Roast )  I know, a winter month, but why do we relegate some of our favorite foods to certain times of the year.  Pot roast falls under that comfort food category in my mind.  Should we only seek out comfort foods when the weather is cold?  Doesn’t it taste just as good in May as it does in November?

I made pot roast Saturday, just because I felt like it.  One of the benefits of making a pot roast is having leftovers to make another meal of a few days later.  I was working hard on a “home project”, temperature 86, humidity 86 when I found myself faced at 6 PM with a decision on dinner.  Then I remembered the leftover pot roast.  Bingo!  Simple, deluxe diner food.  I added some fries and a fresh salad from our garden.  A meal Guy Fieri would be happy with.  The only thing lacking from a great diner meal was the rice pudding.  Ummm, maybe tomorrow.

Pot Roast

Spread salt and pepper over entire roast. Heat oil in a large, oven-roof pot. Brown roast on all sides. Add onion and onion browning slightly; add garlic and immediately add beer, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and consommé. Cover and cook on low on stove top or place in a 300 degree oven for at least 3 hours, until meat is fork tender. When done remove meat to a platter and cover. Mix water and cornstarch to make a slurry. Add to pan juices, bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened. Reduce heat, Cut meat cross grain and pour gravy over. Serve extra gravy on side.
Shown here with oven-roasted veggies.

Acorn Squash Risotto

It’s rainy and cool in Cincy today so my mind turns to comfort food. Acorn squash used to be available only in the fall; but now with the year-round availability of vegetables,  it’s not just  seasonal veggie.  For some reason I have been thinking about risotto lately.  There is something about the creaminess of the rice along with the sweetness of the acorn squash and the tangy Romano cheese that makes it perfect for a mid-week dinner.  I will serve it with a fresh lettuce salad, from my garden I might add, and some crunchy bread.

So here’s to rainy days, warm risotto and a glass of red wine, enjoy!

Acorn Squash Risotto

Cut, peel and seed the acorn squash, dice into ¾” pieces. Heat ½ of the olive oil in a pot with 2/3rds of the butter; add squash and sauté until brown on all sides; add allspice and stir. Remove from pot and allow to cool. Add remaining oil to pot, heat pot to medium. Add onions; sauté until softened, add rice and stir constantly until rice is light brown. Transfer squash to food processor and process until just smooth. (add a little of the broth to loosen if needed). Lower heat; add broth ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly, until rice is just tender but not mushy. (15-20 minutes) Add white wine. Add squash, stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Add remaining butter; peel and cut pear into small dice; add to risotto. Plate and top off with grated Romano cheese.

This serves 4 as an entrée but will serve 6-8 as a side.

Ravioli in Fresh Ginger Sauce

Trying to come up with something different for lunch reminded me that ravioli are not just for tomato sauce.  It was time to put together a meal that was unexpected.  I wanted something that was substantial yet easy to prepare.   I remembered I had a some fresh ginger and decided to make the Fresh Ginger Sauce and serve it over some ravioli. Checking on the other ingredients on hand it was a go.

We serve pasta with many meals and ravioli is one of the easiest as it freezes well and is fairly inexpensive.  Simply take a handful or a bag out of the freezer, heat it in boiling water for a few minutes and plate with any number of sauces or toppings.  Add some sliced mushrooms or fresh spinach at the last minute to enhance the meal.  Your family will think they are at an expensive restaurant, your budget will like you and the smiles you receive will brighten your day.

Morrocan Pinini

My son is in town, the one who lives in NY and is a sound designer, to work on a musical at the Playhouse in the Park.  This is great because we get to see him for an extended time and he gets to visit and still make some money.   Matt keeps me appraised of the foods of NY and usually has had something in the city that he would like to have the recipe. (See Chocolate Macaroon Tarts) Seems he worked a high-powered meeting on Wall Street the other day and the lunch was a Moroccan Burger served as a panini.

Now most people would not relish the idea of trying to re-create a food they have not tasted, but I kind of like the challenge.  Matt is very good at describing the flavors and I have a good imagination of what things will taste like by looking at the ingredients.   To create the panini  I use nan, a mid-eastern flat bread.  Break the cooked burger up into pieces, add a roasted slice of tomato and some feta cheese.  Fold the nan in half and place in a pinini press, I use a grill pan with my heavy cast iron frying pan placed on top.  Grill until toasted on both sides and serve with dill pickles.   I guess I will find out how well I did when he gets back tonight from setting the sound at the Playhouse or as we said growing up near Philly, “film at 11.”

Tomato Crostini

Coming off an extended period of cooking for company I thought it would be the ideal time to suggest scaling back on the food and saving money at the same time.  In our house the term “small plates” refers to any number of small, colorful dishes (think tapas) that provide an interesting alternative to dinners, both large and small.  My wife prefers several small options to one big meal, usually on Friday night.

Small plates are ideal for using up all the small containers of leftovers you find after a week of meals.  Usually too little to provide a meal but when taken as a group will  provide “ahs”  from the  crowd.  For the cost of a baguette ($2.79 at Panara Bread) you can feed a large group when pairing the toasted bread with the leftovers in your frig.  A basic salad, cut into smaller pieces, provides a wonderful and surprising addition.  Yesterday I took the leftover pork chops from a dinner party and shredded them,  added  chopped onions, celery and garlic and  wrapped them in flour tortillas.  Cut them on the diagonal and you have another quick and “cheap” small plate.  Plus you get the added smile of using those annoying plastic baggies and containers in the frig.

The bottom line here is to use your imagination.  Leftover frozen ham becomes wonderful finger food when placed on refrigerator biscuits with a little pepper jelly added for zing.  A container of olives become a great tapenade to spread on toasted slices of the baguette.  The secret here is put a few on a serving platter, add a few more of another, bring out small dessert plates or even paper plates and you have an instant party or maybe an intimate dinner.