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Young & HungryIf you can't take the heat, get outta the kitchen! |
| 5 April |
I think Atlanta forgot about Spring and went straight to summer, but, hey, this girl is NOT complaining. I’m perfectly content to skip cardigans and capris and jump right in to sundresses and shorts! This dish is a nice alternative to your classic roast chicken (and roasting in the sun if you’re not there yet) . Thyme is substituted for rosemary, fingerling potatoes for the usual Idaho, and grapes just for fun! Personally, I loved the addition of the grapes and thought they kept everything nice and moist through what can be a long baking process. I also found that the leftovers, mixed with a touch of vinaigrette, made for a delicious chicken salad sandwich. You could even throw in some chopped walnuts for extra crunch! So if it’s not quite 80 and sunny where you live, but you’re tiring of winter roasts just the same, try this one dish wonder on for size while you anxiously await pool season.
| 3 March |
I actually made these while I was experimenting for the Master Chef casting call. They seemed a unique combination of sauces and flavors and they are! Alas, my taste test panel concluded that they are better warm so they didn’t make the cut. Speaking of making the cut, I’m pretty sure I, like the mushrooms, did not make the cut. While I haven’t gotten the “we didn’t choose you for Master Chef, but come try out for our new Biggest Loser Bride” rejection email I also haven’t received any positive feedback or inquiries into the cavernous depths of my past which is rumored to be part of the background check. Wasn’t a 12 page application enough?!
I’m going to chalk it up to just not meant to be, this year anyway. I at least got to try some good recipes and meet some interesting people! With the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, this recipe would make a great pre-show nibble and it’s just as fancy as all the glowing movie stars that will be in attendance. We don’t all end up on the big (or small) screen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy those who do. Life outside of the spotlight can be just as fabulous and that’s just how I intend mine to be!
| 3 February |
Just when I had come to terms with the fact that I was not getting a callback, there it came! A call from an unknown number in LA mid-wine tasting. On a side note, I would like to give kudos to the Tasting Room in Sandy Springs for hosting one of the best and most informative wine tastings I’ve ever attended. Back to the phone call. Not having yet realized the importance of the mysterious number in my call log, I thoughtlessly dialed voice mail while perusing the isles of the wine shop next door with my girl friends. Stop. Drop. Squeal! They called and are wondering if I’m still interested! Duh, of course I am. Roll camera!
It all started with leftover nuts. Hazelnuts, to be exact. I have quite an assortment of nuts lingering in my pantry from Christmas just begging to live up to their full potential. Who am I to deny a lonely hazelnut their proper fate? And so I thought, hazelnuts and…..orange….and….fish! Yes it sounds like a bizarre combination, but upon my required due diligence I found that many a chef has gone there before. And so I had my main course, orange scented hazelnut encrusted halibut or err…salmon. With sides still TBD, I kept thinking until I came up with a more complimentary rendition on a braised fennel I learned in a cooking class in Italy and, last but not least, the curious potato risotto from this month’s Bon Appétit!
| 2 February |
Hey guess what – January’s over! Time to focus on chocolate, fondue, and something delicious to make for that special someone so they’ll still be yours after Valentine’s Day. What’s more romantic than a dinner in? Let me rephrase, what’s more romantic than a dinner in when you’re used to dining out? I might, for once, prefer not to slave the day away, but I’ve no doubt put in more than my fair share of kitchen duty. So what to make for that special someone who will, for this one day at least, be your culinary inspiration? Well, if you’re a lady cooking for your mister, you cannot go wrong with this pork roast. It’s juicy and tender and doesn’t require constant attention so you can focus your first course elsewhere. If you’re a mister cooking for your miss, perhaps this is a selfish choice of meat, but she’ll never question your machismo.
Since I did first whip this up back in 2009 when I was stuffed from an indulgent December, I left the meal at meat and veggies. You surely have recuperated by now and are ready for some starch. Try a mashed parsnip or simple risotto. The gym lines are finally clearing, so you should have more than enough time to give this roast the extra hours of TLC it deserves. I promise you’ll be paid back one hundred kisses over.
| 18 January |
Fry Fry Baby – not this year. Before you know it Spring’s going to be here (I can only hope…) and you’ll still be donning your winter “coat.” So in keeping with this month’s theme, here’s another easy & light meal that even allows you to utilize those Clementine and tangerines that they’re practically giving away at your local grocer. You don’t even have to peel the little suckers! Citrus that’s not sans skin you say? That’s right; this dish requires peels, pulp, and all so be grateful they’re seedless and leave your segmenting skills at home. I too was baffled by this skin and all phenomenon, but quickly remembered my cooking class in Shanghai where they left the bones in the chicken pre chop. Kind of the same right? If it worked then, it can work now. So in they went, skins and all. It’s quite a time saver to boot, not having to peel…baby oranges. I’ll take it!
In conclusion, I don’t think you’re necessarily supposed to eat the tangerines post wok (Bon Appetit disagrees), but if you accidentally catch one or two with your not so impressive chop stick skills I know firsthand that they won’t kill you. That said, it could be like leaving the skins on your shrimp for the extra flavor; obviously you’re not going to toss the meat because of a shell or two. I think I’ll take the extra flavor blast and leave sucking on soggy little citrus wedges to the birds.
| 5 January |
In need of something warm, rich, and creamy that won’t break the theoretical calorie or actual bank? This risotto just screams comfort food! Perhaps that’s why it’s one of my favorite things… I find it ironic that New Years, with all its resolutions and whatnot, falls right when you feel like wrapping yourself up in the Snuggie you got for Christmas and not coming out until Spring. Speaking of Snuggies, I am now the proud owner of a hot chocolate brown Dreamie. Snuggie’s O.U.T. Especially after they failed to send me my free sample… What is a Dreamie you ask? It’s a fleece blanket with a sizeable pocket at one end for your pillow! I am about one day away from bringing my shiny new Dreamie into work to stop the shivering during these cold winter months. Seriously though, I’m cold inside and out. Day and night. Layers or bare. Get the point? So before you end up like me, fired after being caught purple-handed with my pillow-laden Dreamie and space heater, try this risotto to keep those cozy feelings coming even when it’s 8 degrees outside.
| 30 December |
It’s that time of year again. The holidays have come and will soon be gone leaving us with new memories, toys, and a lot of cold days to resolve everything that got lost in the shuffle. There will be resolutions to eat right, save money, and work out, among other things. But, in response to these three that frequent everybody’s To Do list, I bring you this soup! It’s hearty, healthy, and will keep you toasty and warm during the chilly days to come.
| 18 December |
It’s finally pear season! The peachy peaches of summer are long gone to be replaced with gifts of citrus and pomaceous fruits from Harry & David. I recall the much anticipated day when the big box of pears would arrive individually wrapped in gold foil and sitting atop a bed of green foam in their assigned cubbies. And then the wait. Oh, the dreaded and forever long wait for the pears to ripen so that you could scoop out the fruit with just your spoon. Of course, almost immediately after the pears reached the perfect ripeness, they just could not be eaten quickly enough and, god forbid, became waste. If only I had known then what I know now. Had I been in possession of this delightful crumble recipe those pears would have made it to their proper resting place, in some pudgy girl or boys belly. Alas, I know better now and will never let a pear fall short of its proper destiny on my watch.
This crumble could also be used atop apples, peaches, or whatever fruit might happen to be in season. If you have leftovers, it makes a delicious topping for your morning oatmeal or yogurt. And, as usual, serve a la mode.
| 8 October |
What’s not to love about the fluffy doughy deliciousness that is focaccia bread. Even in its purest state, seasoned simply with herbs and a drizzle of olive oil it leaves nothing to be desired. Kicked up a notch, baked with sun-dried tomatoes or olives for example, leaves even less to be desired and enables one to take a little creative spin on this classic Italian bread. There’s nothing I like more than a twist on a classic, so when I found this recipe for “focaccia” that’s not merely topped but stuffed I just about had a conniption. I was, in fact, so excited that I made it the very next night.
Now for the disclaimer. I’m not sure if I failed at this recipe as there was no picture to validate my results, but it does not result in the aforementioned fluffy doughy bread to which you and I have become accustomed. It is not dimpled with oil wells and charred herbs. It is more dense than airy and thus not quite suitable for soaking and dipping. Disclaimer aside, this so called “focaccia” is quite delicious! It makes for a great appetizer, is a clean cut finger food, and complimented my Cuban Chicken Fricase quite nicely. Yes I mixed genres, but the two recipes shared just enough ingredients to make it work.
| 10 September |
If you don’t like scallops, I don’t like you. I mean not really, but you do lose major cool points in my book of judgment and ridicule. Scallops, although still bottom feeders, are superior to their friends The Oyster and Mr. Muscle. Yes, they consist mostly of an abductor muscle, which is the delicious part you eat, but I was surprised and slightly disgusted to learn that scallops also have eyes to help detect light and motion and can be hermaphrodites, consisting of both sexes at the same time or switching sexes mid-life. Now that sounds like a crisis. Luckily for the scallop, they are notably one of the prettier of the species, having very symmetrical shells that are musical as well as functional when on a daily swim or escaping predators on the prowl.
Outside of the physical realm, scallops are associated with Saint James and fertility. Going forward one might take special consideration of the occasion for which they are making scallops, being the apparent symbol of fruitfulness that they are. Perhaps had I paid more attention to mythology or art in my time abroad I would have remembered that in The Birth of Venus, the Roman Goddess of fertility and love, was in fact on a lovely half-shell or scallop shell. Upon further investigation one learns that the Greek Goddess Aphrodite was also carried to Earth in the shell of a scallop thus earning the scallop its reputation as an aphrodisiac.
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