Culinary Journey

It's Peach Season!

2006-07-14T16:04:00.000-04:00

So have I gotten your attention yet? Yes, this cake is as good as it looks.

We decided to make the husband's grandmother a special cake for her 83rd birthday. After all, we baked the grandfather two types of cookies for his birthday last month. And as I also mentioned in that post, I am totally anal-retentive when it comes to preparing a new dish for guests or for a gift. If it's not a tried-and-true, well then it needs to become one before I'm comfortable with it. As a result, we spent last Saturday baking cakes much like the Saturday in June that we spent baking cookies. (Did I mention it's summertime and we shouldn't even be using the oven much??) We will not even discuss the Great Brownie Bake-Off of 2006 in which we attempted to find the perfect Brownies to give my brother for his birthday. Oh, brother! But I digress.

Back to the cake - I really wanted to try this one which I found while surfing the net...I think I saw it on About.com. We wanted to make something with fresh peaches, and this recipe sounded like a winner with a plus being that it wasn't complicated to make and we had all of the ingredients on hand. I have a really cool bundt pan which had never been used, but I didn't know if it would quite work for this recipe because of the layers of peaches. It did. And the powdered sugar sprinkled on top made a lovely presentation.

It turned out absolutely fabulously...both times. Yes, we made two of them. The first was to try out the pan and sample the cake for approval and any necessary tweaking, thus making it a tried-and-true. The second became the grandmother's birthday cake, and we gave her the entire thing. Lest you think we completely devoured the sample cake by ourselves - we didn't. I put half in the freezer and we will enjoy it on another occasion if it is as good after being frozen as it was fresh.

Because it's inverted, the bottom of the cake was actually the top of the cake while baking. It reminds me of my grandmother's delicious Sour Cream Pound Cake in that it gets a crunchy top but then has that moist, slightly gooey layer just below that. Mmmmm. I could have just eaten that part of the cake and been perfectly happy. However, unlike plain pound cake, this cake ~ in-between the lovely poundcake-like layers ~ has two layers of fresh peaches baked with cinnamon, sugar, and chopped pecans. In fact, this could easily be called Peach Streusel Pound Cake as that is exactly what it was like...moist and delicious but not overly sweet. Great with coffee, milk, ice cream, whatever! And if you don't have fresh peaches on hand, you can always use frozen. This one is definitely worth a try.

Fresh Peach Cake

4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour (I sifted mine)
1 tsp. salt
1 T. baking powder
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups sliced fresh or frozen peaches
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat eggs well; add 2 cups sugar and the oil, beating until well blended. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; beat into egg and oil mixture alternating with orange juice. Blend in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, toss the sliced peaches and pecans with 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Pour about one-third of the batter into a greased and floured tube pan. Layer one-half of the peach mixture over it. Cover with another one-third of batter and the remaining peach mixture. Spread remaining batter over the last layer to cover.

Bake at 350F for 60 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.* Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes; turn out onto a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

*After the test cake, I decided the perfect length of time for our oven is 65 minutes even though the wooden pick was never totally clean. I think a totally clean pic might indicate the cake would be drier than I prefer. Mine was perfectly cooked and very moist.

Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad

2006-07-13T22:16:00.000-04:00

In the words of Rachael Ray, Yum-O!! This was a good one. We found this recipe in one of our new subscription magazines, Cuisine at home. I've mentioned this magazine before - it's one of our favorites. Practically every recipe in there looks worthy of trying out. Their recipe for Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad with Honey-Mustard Dressing is certainly a winner - crunchy, toasty pecans, creamy goat cheese, and tangy-sweet honey mustard on mixed salad greens. The only thing we would do differently is cut the cayenne pepper down or leave it out. We aren't huge fans of spicy food, and I found it to be a bit distracting from the other yummy flavors in this dish. If you go here, you can see the entire current issue. Thumb through the pages until you see the recipe if you want to check it out (hint: it's the 12th slide). This recipe has quite a few steps, and since I'm still unsure about what is legal on blogs as far as posting recipes, I'm going to pass on typing out one this detailed.

I say Frittata, You say...Frittata?

2006-07-06T12:35:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm still here...and cooking. Both literally and figuratively in this miserable July heat and humidity. Blah! I don't tolerate the heat well. I'm a hot-blooded person by nature and I swear it's getting worse the older I get. And it's not even from hot flashes yet! Oh, so much to look forward to I'm sure. Oh well, on to a better kind of cooking....

One of our favorite quick-and-easy throw-together meals with whatever we happen to have on hand is a Frittata. If you've never had one, I would describe it as somewhat similar to a crustless Quiche, but it's cooked in a skillet so it's much quicker to make. Once you have the ingredients prepped, the cooking part is a snap. For this one, we used leftover ham, onion, and yellow peppers. It was delicious. A side salad, if desired, is the perfect accompaniment. And a glass of French Rose wine doesn't hurt either. Note the golden brown color of the top - the Frittata is placed under the broiler for the last few minutes of cooking.

Here is the recipe we tossed together for this particular one. You can swap out the meats and veggies any way you like- and use more or less, etc., as well as the cheese and the herbs. We used fresh herbs but dried would be okay if that's all you have, just use half the amount.

CJ's Ham and Veggie Frittata

2 T. olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 large eggs
1/3 c. Gruyere cheese, grated
2/3 c. chopped ham
2 T. herbs (we used flat-leaf parsley and a tiny bit of sage)
Herbs for garnish if desired (we used parsley and chives)

In a 10" diameter nonstick ovenproof skillet -
heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, salt, and black pepper, and saute for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Preheat the broiler. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, cheese, ham and herbs. Add this mixture to the skillet . Cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes - it should be almost set but with the top still runny.

Place the skillet under the preheated broiler and broil for about 4 minutes - until the top is golden brown.

Loosen edges, remove onto plate, slice into wedges, garnish, and serve.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Squares

2006-07-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had a little bit of a sweet tooth, so we decided to try these Peanut Butter-Chocolate Squares. I found the recipe online at Chocolatier magazine - it is this month's feature recipe.

The front of the current issue had me subscribing to this magazine in no time! I'm a total sucker for chocolate chip cookies and if you add to that the caption of "Recipes from New York's Best Bakeries," I am soooo there. I haven't received my first issue yet, but I can't wait!

Back to the topic at hand - we whipped up this fabulous no-bake treat in record time yesterday. It is as simple as melting chocolate and mixing a few ingredients. If you want to have an idea what it is like: think Reese's cups BUT think of a new and improved Reese's cup with a mixture of dark and milk chocolate and a natural peanut butter filling sweetened with honey and confectioner's sugar. Mmmm good! Yes, they are sweet and also addictive, so try to make them when you will have some help devouring them - otherwise you may well end up ruining your appetite for dinner as I did yesterday.

I will definitely make these again, but I may cut down on the amount of honey and see how that goes. I could taste it a little too much for my liking....and they could stand to be slightly less sweet to me. Oh, and we used creamy natural peanut butter rather than crunchy, just because that is all we had on hand. But they were good regardless. I will not make them again for just the two of us however as we end up eating too much! You know how you aren't really hungry, but they are just sitting there, staring at you and calling your name??? Ack! Temptation is hell!

As with anything like this - use the best ingredients you can find and you will be happiest with the end result. If you decide to try them, let me know what you think!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Squares
Recipe from Chocolatier Magazine

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60 to 70%), finely chopped
5 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
5 T. unsalted butter, softened and divided
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup plus 2 T. natural chunky peanut butter
1 1/3 cups confectioner's suger, sifted

~Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with butter and set aside.
~In a double boiler or bowl fitted over a pot of simmering water, melt chocolates and 1 T. of butter. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool until tepid.
~In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream remaining 4 T. butter, honey, and peanut butter on medium speed until well combined and no lumps (other than peanut chunks) remain. On low speed, add confectioner's sugar.*
~Press peanut butter mixture evenly into bottom of baking pan. Pour melted chocolate over. Transfer pan to refrigerator to chill for 30 to 45 minutes, until set. Let come to room temperature before serving. To serve, cut into 9 squares using a sharp knife.**

*we used the hand-held electric mixer for all of this step and it worked fine
**we cut smaller squares and had much more than just 9 pieces

Baked Bass with Romano Cheese

2006-07-01T15:23:00.000-04:00

I think this may be the first Paula Deen recipe we've tried so far. Even though I'm a Southern gal, and besides the fact that my mom was born and raised in Savannah, GA...well, let's just say most of Paula's cooking is a little over the top for me. But to be fair, I probably would have loved it when I was about 10 years old. At this point in time however, my tastes are a little more refined, and just piling on tons of butter, sour cream and cheese do not make a dish delectable to me anymore. Not to say that many of Paula's dishes are not great or that Paula isn't a fabulous cook - I have no idea - but not too many that I've seen appeal to me personally as something I would want to cook or eat. That said, this fish recipe was a good one, and I'm sure I'll try a few more of her recipes in the future. Maybe I'll come to eat my words. I doubt it, but let's face it, anything is possible. Either way, I love Paula. She's a good old Southern gal who loves her food - very likeable and fun. She was on with Emeril last night, and I laughed out loud. I especially loved that they were wearing matching aprons that said "Country Cookin' Makes Ya Good Lookin'." And she boiled over her oyster stew because she got busy running her mouth about how she and her brother are opening a new restaurant called "Uncle Bubba's Oyster House" or something like that. Too funny. But the "salad" in which she put tons of mayonnaise and I'm-not-sure-what-all into a bowl filled with rice and chicken.....yuck.

This dish actually was simple and good. In lieu of regular bread crumbs, we used Panko (Japanese) bread crumbs, which I have come to adore. They are light with a wonderful texture, and while they can be purchased ready-to-go in the store (if you can find them), they do not contain tons of chemical garbage that typical store-bought bread crumbs contain. (In fact, if anyone has found Italian seasoned bread crumbs without junk in them, let me know the brand - otherwise I'll keep making my own or using Panko.) For the fish, we used Striped Bass that we had in the freezer. Yes, fresh would have been better but frozen was all we had on hand and this recipe did spiff them up quite a bit. The father-in-law is a hobby fisherman, so we are fortunate to usually have some type of fish on hand. We also buy fresh seafood from Alaska on occasion and keep a small supply of it in the freezer, but that's another topic. As far as this dish, the lemon juice and parsley give it a fresh, light taste, the bread crumbs (and cheese) give it a nice coating with a bit of a crunch for texture, and the garlic powder and Romano cheese add to the flavor.

In short, I would recommend this recipe, and several different types of fish could be used. The recipe is called Baked Bass with Romano Cheese, but it calls for Trout fillets. Paula?? What's up with that?? The point is - I think you could use either and probably several other kinds too if you wanted.

Baked Bass with Romano Cheese
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

1 cup bread crumbs
1 T. garlic powder
1/2 cup grated Romano
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
4 (8 oz) trout fillets
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine the bread crumbs, garlic powder, cheese, and parsley in a medium non-reactive bowl. Rub each fillet with lemon juice, and then dredge in the crumb mixture to evenly coat. Place fillets on a baking pan lined with waxed or parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil over the fillets. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish fillets are cooked through.*

*Our note - next time, we will bake for slightly less time and then put them under the broiler to brown them a touch.

Grilled Banana Sundaes

2006-06-29T22:59:00.000-04:00

Yum, this dessert was a hit with both of us. Grilled bananas topped with all-natural vanilla ice cream, homemade rum caramel sauce, and toasted pecans. We adapted this one from 2 different recipes we saw Emeril prepare on Emeril Live. It was fairly simple to put together and oh-so-good. The most time-consuming part was making the caramel sauce, but even that didn't take very long. There are many variations that could be used with this recipe so if you try it, just use what you like - chocolate sauce, whipped cream, walnuts, etc.

For the grilled bananas -
Preheat the grill to high and lightly oil the grates. Leave the bananas unpeeled and halve them lengthwise. Place the halves cut side up on a baking sheet and drizzle with honey. Sprinkle them with brown sugar and transfer to the grill. Close the grill and cook for 5 minutes or a bit less, just until the edges begin to caramelize and the banana starts to pull away from it's peel. Remove from the grill and carefully remove the peel, then place the banana slices on a serving dish. At this point, you can add the toppings of your choice.

Emeril's Rum Caramel Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup plus 1 T. heavy cream
2 T. dark rum (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cold unsalted butter

Combine the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan over high heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Continue to cook, swirling occasionally but never stirring the mixture. Mixture will thicken and turn a deep amber color in 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add the cream (mixture will splatter). Return the pan to medium heat. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy, stirring occasionally to help incorporate the cream. Remove from heat again and stir in rum (if using), vanilla, and butter. Should be served slightly warm. Enjoy!

Beignets for Beginners

2006-06-27T17:03:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday morning the husband tried his hand at making beignets for the first time ever. He had a little help from this place which is - as far as I know - THE place to go in the United States for beignets. We would love to go there sometime and try theirs, but we were both pretty happy with the ones he made here. Black coffee was the perfect pairing with these sweet treats. This will definitely be a nice change of pace for a weekend breakfast now and then.

BBQ Chicken

2006-06-26T16:48:00.000-04:00

I have to say - my husband makes the best barbecued foods - bar none. I don't know his sauce recipe - I only know that he has adapted it from several different ones that he has experimented with over the years. But he has really gotten it down pat in my opinion. His grilled BBQ chicken and ribs are out of this world - really a treat. Messy? Absolutely. But delicious and well worth it. The other night we had BBQ chicken, along with small new potatoes which were also cooked on the grill. They are coated with butter, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. The outside gets slightly crispy and the inside is melt-in-your-mouth tender. We top them with sour cream and fresh chopped chives from the garden - YUM! They are one of my favorites. Plain old steamed broccoli was a nice accompaniment to balance out this flavorful and fabulous summer weekend meal.

Favorite Scalloped Potatoes

2006-06-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

I prepared 2 dishes for the Father's Day cookout at my parent's house last weekend - in addition to the aforementioned platter of cookies.

I made a traditional Southern favorite - fresh Black Eyed Peas - but with an Italian twist in that I used pancetta for seasoning. I chopped up the pancetta and fried it in the pan until crispy. I removed it and added the peas with water to cover, salt and pepper...then let it simmer until the peas were done. I then added the pancetta back in, checked the seasonings by tasting, and it was ready to go.

I also made Scalloped Potatoes from a recipe I found somewhere on the internet sometime last year (that's the only credit I'm able to give for this one). I made them for Christmas and then again last week, and they are my favorite recipe for Scalloped Potatoes so far. Fairly simple to prepare and really good - comfort food at it's best. I'm posting the recipe here so I will always have it handy - and of course for others to try too. This is one I will be repeating many times in the future.

Scalloped Potatoes

2 lbs. Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (I used Yukon Golds this time and they worked very well)
3 T. Butter
1/4 cup chopped Onion
3 T. all-purpose Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground Black Pepper
1 1/4 cup heavy Cream
1 1/4 c. whole Milk
1/3 to 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 11 x 7 inch baking dish - or a dish similar in size.

Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat butter in the same saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 to 2 minutes until onion is tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in milk and cream. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat.

Arrange potatoes in prepared baking dish; pour milk mixture over potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and cheese is light golden brown.

Enjoy!

A Tale of Two Cookies

2006-06-22T21:52:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we spent the entire Saturday afternoon baking cookies. The husband's grandfather turned 91 the week before, and we wanted to take him a special birthday treat. I decided to make 2 different types of cookies - both were new recipes for me so it was dual purpose...variety if they both turned out and a back-up if one of them didn't. Oh, who am I kidding? It was a great excuse to try 2 new cookie recipes! I also used the excuse that Sunday was Father's Day so I could take a platter of cookies to the cookout that my side of the family was having. See? Just tons of reasons to spend 4 hours in the kitchen baking on a beautiful Saturday.

The first selection was a Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe found on another food blog - see the recipe for Flat-and-Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies at Laura Rebecca's Kitchen. These were really good. I used the Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips and I added toasted walnuts, but I think next time I will try toasted pecans. I may like them a bit better. But these cookies were yummy - everyone seemed to enjoy them and they do indeed give Tollhouse a run for the money. Definitely one I will make again and I'm thrilled to have found the recipe by perusing the web!

The second choice was Emeril Lagasse's Kicked Up Oatmeal Cookies. These were okay, but not a wow for me or anyone else who tried them. If I make them again, I will cut out the white "chocolate" chips and maybe cut back on the sugar - they were a bit too sweet and the white chips were nauseating to me.

So here is how it went down, along with my feeble attempts at improving my culinary picture-taking skills.

First, the chocolate chip cookies - aren't they lovely? I can almost smell them all over again...

And then the oatmeal cookies. I swear they look better than they tasted. Shhh...don't tell Emeril.

And after a long day in the kitchen, we had...................a whole lot of cookies!!!

I put together a nice little gift package for his grandfather with stuff I had on hand, nothing too fancy.

And voila! I sure hope he enjoyed them....at least one of the choices anyway. Let's just say, even though the oatmeal cookies were not a complete disaster by any means - at the end of the day I felt quite justified with having a back-up. Yes, it was a great reinforcement for my already anal personality. (Oops, did that flowery language just kill the mood?!)

Crusted Goat Cheese with Spinach and Salsa

2006-06-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

This week has been so crazy busy that I'm behind in my postings. I have nearly a week's worth of cooking and foodie activities that I haven't even gotten around to talking about yet. That's one thing about food blogging - we eat every day so there is always something to say!

We recently subscribed to a great little magazine called Cuisine at Home. It is published every other month and is similar to Cook's Illustrated. I haven't looked at a Cook's Illustrated in awhile (even though I will soon because the mother-in-law just bought us a gift subscription -yay!), but from what I can remember about it, the recipes in Cuisine at Home may be a bit simpler and more do-able for every day. I'll find out soon and can report back. Click on the link above to check out their site which includes info. on the publication, how to subscribe, and even - free recipes! It is a wonderfully illustrated, real food cooking guide with the instructions spelled out in clear language with accompanying step by step photographs. The magazine also includes great informative pieces, for example the current issue has an article reviewing various kitchen scales and an article on the different types of onions. They have tips and techniques - lots of helpful advice for making one's way around the kitchen with ease.

The recipe we decided to try first is called Crusted Goat Cheese with Spinach and Fresh Tomato Salsa, found in the current issue, June 2006, pg. 10. The husband actually prepared this one for us so I cannot comment too much on the prep involved. I know there were quite a few steps, but the instructions are clear and simple, and it didn't take too long to prepare. The most time consuming thing was probably washing the spinach! And that of course could be done ahead of time. We enjoyed this dish even though we both agreed we would probably try a different green next time in place of the spinach. Something about cooked spinach and that strange feeling it leaves on the teeth just turns me off. Do you know what I mean? That really distracted from the dish for me and I didn't even finish my spinach portion because of it. I'm not sure what to try. Any suggestions? Arugula maybe? I may have to experiment because it's a great dish otherwise. We used fresh ingredients for the salsa and it was yummy. The crusty goat cheese medallions, pan-fried with a coating of crushed almonds and panko bread crumbs, were divine. Just that darned spinach! Anyway, this recipe could be an appetizer or a light supper - which is the way we had it along with a glass of red wine.

French Bread Pizza

2006-06-17T11:23:00.000-04:00

This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe I saw somewhere and I have no idea where. I took the original idea and made it my own. The results were quite delicious, if I do say so myself. It is a quick and easy lunch or dinner, and each portion can be personalized and made to individual taste. In fact, it would probably be fun to have a little pizza party using this idea. Just provide 6" horizontally sliced halves of French bread (or something very similar) along with a variety of toppings, and each person can make it to his or her own liking. Then just place them all in the oven together to bake and voila - dinner is served! Great with a glass of red wine and maybe a salad on the side.

French Bread Pizza
These amounts make 2 - 6" halves - easy to increase, alter, etc.

6" piece of French or similar type Bread, cut in half horizontally
2 T. Butter (I use unsalted)
1 Garlic clove, minced
Garlic salt
fresh ground Pepper
Herbs, fresh or dried (I used fresh basil and oregano)
Toppings such as onion, bell pepper, mushrooms (I used chopped onion, red bell pepper and tomatoes)
Mozzarella cheese, grated - about a Cup
Romano cheese, grated - about a Tablespoon

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray or brush lightly with olive oil to prevent sticking. Place bread on foil, cut side up.

Melt butter with garlic clove in a saucepan over low heat. Spread on top of bread (using a pastry brush works well for this). Next sprinkle garlic salt, fresh pepper, and herbs to taste.

Sprinkle a thin layer of mozzarella over the bread, then add the other toppings. Top with additional mozzarella, a sprinkle of romano, and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly - about 15 mins. If desired, you can place it under the broiler for the last couple of minutes to make the top a nice golden color.

Enjoy!

A Teapot Full of Roses

2006-06-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

Here are two pictures of roses from our small rose garden. The husband cut them and arranged them in a little teapot. They are so fragrant and pretty to look at - a delight to have sitting around. In the second picture, you can see my African Violet blooming in the background.

Chocolate and Berries and Cream - Oh my!

2006-06-15T22:24:00.000-04:00

Last night we had leftover Broiled Salmon, Peas and Prosciutto made with fresh May peas, and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes. All delicious and definitely ones we'll be having again.

I thought I would post a picture of a dessert which the husband is quite proud of. It's his own little creation, or so he believes. He melts a square or two of dark chocolate (in this case, Valrhona 71%), tops that with sliced fresh strawberries, and then mounds freshly whipped cream which has been sweetened with a touch of vanilla on top. It is lovely - and yummy too!

Onion Soup Gratinee

2006-06-14T10:38:00.000-04:00

Three words for this dish: Yum, Yum, Yum!!! In a word: Yum!!! I used the recipe from our Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home cookbook, pg. 50. It was surprisingly simple to make, didn't take too long and was simply delicious - comfort food at it's best. Even though this isn't quite the season for such a hot (and baked!) soup, it sounded good and hit the spot. We just turned the A/C down a few degrees to compensate!

To make it extra simple, I used a high-quality, store-bought chicken stock rather than making homemade - and couldn't tell the difference so I'll certainly go that route again at least sometimes. I used Gruyere cheese for the top, and added red wine to the stock which the book says was Julia Child's favorite way to prepare it - the other options being white wine or no wine added (which wasn't really an option for us!). And of course I used a French baguette for the croutons. I sliced them a little too thick, completely missing the fact that the recipe says 1/4" thick. Because the thicker slices soaked up a bit too much of the broth, I'll definitely correct that next time.

All in all, a fabulous recipe which we'll be repeating time and again for sure. I'm not thrilled with my current cookware and was thinking the entire time how fabulous it would be to have a nice Le Creuset pot for preparing this dish!

Broiled Salmon with Garlic, Mustard, and Herbs

2006-06-13T11:55:00.000-04:00

Last night we planned to have fresh salmon (wild Kalgin Island King salmon to be exact) but since it was rainy and not a good night for grilling out, we decided to try....yes, you guessed it...another recipe from our new cookbook - Giada's Family Dinners. We are certainly wearing this one out, but everything has just been so darned good! The Broiled Salmon with Garlic, Mustard, and Herbs recipe, found on pg. 76, was no exception. Two types of mustard are used for both flavor and to provide a nice crust on the top of the fish.

Broiled Salmon with Garlic, Mustard, and Herbs
from Giada's Family Dinners by Giada De Laurentiis
6 servings

2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T. dijon mustard
2 T. whole-grain mustard
3/4 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
1 T. dry white wine
1 T. olive oil
nonstick olive oil cooking spray
6 (6 to 8 oz.) salmon fillets
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 lemon wedges

In a small bowl, mix the garlic, both mustards, rosemary, and thyme. Mix in the wine and oil. Set the mustard sauce aside.

Preheat the broiler. Line a heavy rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with non-stick spray. Arrange the salmon fillets on the baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Broil for 2 minutes. Spoon the mustard sauce over the fillets. Continue broiling until the fillets are just cooked through and golden brown, about 5 minutes longer.

Transfer the fillets to plates and serve with the lemon wedges.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

2006-06-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

The other night we tried the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella from Giada's Family Dinners cookbook, pg. 109. They were pretty good! We made the mistake of adding a little too much fresh garlic instead of sticking to the 1/2 tsp. called for in the recipe. Usually adding a bit more garlic is perfectly fine, but since this garlic is eaten raw in the tomato/basil/mozzarella topping rather than being cooked - the addition was a bit too much. Who are we to question Giada anyway?! But they were good regardless of our blunder - a nice light, fresh-tasting summer supper. We'll definitely do them again, hopefully with fresh tomatoes from our own garden. And of course we're already using our own fresh basil. We put a couple of pieces of leftover polenta on the grill along with the portobellos for a simple side dish.

Speaking of our garden, my husband noticed aphids on one of our tomato plants (yes, the failing one), so he sprayed with our organic remedy and we're keeping an eye on that.

Italian Caesar Salad

2006-06-11T14:45:00.000-04:00

So last night we tried another recipe from Giada's Family Dinners cookbook - Italian Caesar Salad, pg. 47. You can see the recipe here. It was a wow for both of us. Very flavorful and yummy. We have heard that grilling lettuce is popular in Italy and we found out why: it's delicious!! We'll definitely be doing more of that in the future. The addition of toasted pine-nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and parmagiano-reggiano cheese shavings made the dish explode with wonderful flavors. The croutons are made from polenta. They were supposed to be fried, but the exploding grease from the pan was enough to kill that idea for me, so we baked them in the oven. Probably not quite as good, but still okay, and much, much safer. Despite my Southern heritage, I'm just not a deep-fry kind of a gal, never have been.

One thing I will say about Giada's recipes - all we've tried have been so flavorful and satisfying. She is so good at combining different flavors and textures. Next on our list is Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella, from this same book, pg. 109. I'll be reporting on that one soon and hopefully will have a nice picture to post.

Penne with Sausage, Artichokes and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

2006-06-10T22:55:00.000-04:00

I prepared this recipe last night for dinner and it was a big hit with both of us. It can be found on page 147 of Giada's Family Dinners by Giada De Laurentiis. I own both of Giada's cookbooks and love every recipe that I have tried so far. Really good stuff - real food, Italian style, made simple. We also enjoy watching her show on the Food Network when we have a chance. Actually there are several programs on there that we enjoy - great for finding new recipes and picking up some great cooking tips. It's inspiring in a culinary way, and as someone who is just beginning to rediscover the joy of cooking - I need that!

Anyway, this is a delicious keeper recipe and we will definitely make it again. The only "problem" is it makes a HUGE pot of food which we will be eating on for days. Next time, it might be a good idea to cut the recipe in half. Other things to note: I couldn't find frozen artichoke hearts so I had to use canned. I was afraid they might fall apart too much in cooking, so I added them later than the recipe called for. That worked out fine. I also used whole wheat Penne Rigate pasta and that was really good as well. The pasta held up well with the strong flavors from the other ingredients.

A Breakfast Favorite

2006-06-08T23:59:00.000-04:00

Since early to mid-May, we've had strawberries in season here. They have been delicious this year. One of my favorite breakfasts is to have yogurt with fruit and topped with granola. Yum!

My current favorite yogurt is the Plain Whole Milk Organic yogurt with Cream on Top from Stonyfield Farms. There is a nice layer of cream on the top that is stirred in before serving. The cream makes it extra rich and satisfying. The granola I'm currently enjoying is Bear Naked. I do not add any sweeteners or anything extra usually. The fruit makes it plenty sweet for my taste.

Humble Beginnings

2006-06-07T23:33:00.000-04:00

It's the beginning of the growing season here in the eastern United States, and we've planted a small herb garden and a small vegetable garden.

In the herb garden, we have cilantro, thyme, sage, lavender, flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, sweet basil, chives, and oregano.

In the vegetable garden, 2 varieties of peppers - both red but one will turn purple before it turns red, Early-Girl tomatoes, a Beefsteak tomato plant which isn't going to make it for some unknown reason, Italian or Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, another rosemary bush, and more basil because we LOVE homemade pesto!!

It's small, but we expect to have plenty for just the two of us and hopefully a little to share as well. We aren't using any chemical pesticides on our gardens - we are organic gardening.

Both of these pics were taken late May/early June - shortly after planting the vegetable garden and a few weeks after planting the herbs.