Eastern Market Debauchery: Sausage, Mussel and Squid Ink Fettucini

Fall is here! Summer air's soft edges are beginning to harden as winter approaches. Warty gourds and bags of waxy apples offer themselves to ogling Eastern Market go-ers. Young couples circle antiques. They quarrel over where one really could put that ostentatious secretary desk. Teenage girls cram toes into vintage pumps as they hand over eight crumpled, sweaty dollars from knock-off coach purses...and then there's me.

With exactly thirty eight minutes before the doors of Eastern Market closed I touched, sniffed, licked and scrutinized every piece of produce with the (obvious) goal of finding ingredients for THE ULTIMATE Sunday Night Meal. (Did I mention I still managed to find time to wolf down a crab cake sandwich with lemonade while on my quest...I know, I'm impressed too.)

I had called my dad earlier in the day and he told me he was making mussels for dinner. So I, as any good daughter would, of course, decided that I must make mussels as well. How many times have I cooked mussels? Good question. Answer: Zero. I don't think I've ever even had mussels outside of a restaurant let alone figured out poundage and how exactly one might clean/cook them. It turned out to be quite easy and surprisingly cheap, about $ 3.50 a pound for PEI mussels.

With the cornerstone to my meal established and inspiration coming from every market stall, I finally achieved ultimate Sunday night victory: Chorizo and andouille sausage, mussels, lump crab meat and squid ink fettucine served with homemade marinara sauce and shavings of pecorino romano cheese.

I'm not going to lie, I totally high-fived myself on the metro home. Once completed, I served the piping hot bowl of jet-black pasta with crusty french bread and roasted garlic cloves. It was definitely some of my best work.

Unlike normal posts however, a recipe for this indulgent Eastern Market creation will not follow. The reason for this is one of sad truth. The dish's deliciousness was so unparalleled I shall never attempt a dish of equal greatness ever again. Publishing the equation to its awesomeness would be much too painful for my soul. BUT...I do have a great tip if you find yourself with too much garlic on your hands...read on!

Roasted Garlic Buds with Salted Olive Oil:

1 whole garlic bulb
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Keep the husk on the garlic bulb and cut in half, parallel to counter. Place each half on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle the combs of garlic with 1/2 tablespoons per half. Don't over think it, just put olive oil on them. Add salt and pepper to taste (again, don't over think it). Wrap each half by turning the corners of the foil up to the top of each garlic half. Place in oven for about 20 minutes. Garlic should be buttery soft when foil is opened. Place garlic halves on a plate and allow your guests to scoop out the sweet, garlicky cloves with each bite of bread. Divinity!

.0001 Second Hello Dolly/7 Layer Bars

The motivation behind the Hello Dolly was, well...the same motivation for most of my recipes...something was about to go bad and I had to do something FAST!

I had these delectable, crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I surprisingly couldn't eat fast enough. For fear of losing these sweet nuggets of pleasure, I employed my Cuisinart and made the ultimate eezey-peezey dessert bar.

I threw the cookies, about 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs (enough crumbs to cover the bottom of a small glass dish or spring-form pan), and two tablespoons of melted butter into the Cuisinart and pulsed until incorporated. (If you don't have a Cuisinart, don't freak out, either smash the cookies in a Ziploc by hand or simply don't use them at all and just gently mix graham crackers and butter until well mixed instead).

Pack mixture down in the pan. Sprinkle the surface with chopped walnuts (or hazelnuts, or almonds), then chocolate chips (and butterscotch or white chocolate chips), then shredded coconut. Finally, take a can of sweetened condensed milk and drizzle over the top of all the layers. DO NOT MIX.

Place in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. The edges will be golden brown and the sweetened milk will seal all of the delicious layers of the bar. It's not really 7 layers, but it is 7th heaven....

Uncharted Waters: Salmon Wellington

I can't remember remotely how I came up with this one, but I knew it needed to involve frozen puff pastry. Puff pastry is one of the most understated ingredients I can think of. Found in the frozen section with two (2) sheets per box, they are delicious, versatile, elegant, and most importantly easy to incorporate into anything.

I have big plans for my pastry sheets but they first started as Salmon Wellington With Tarragon Beurre Blanc. If you recall, the more common Beef Wellington is tender meat tucked away in the a flaky puff pastry with various herbs and spices. Though I'm confident I didn't invent it, I decided to replace the meat with Pacific Northwestern Coho Salmon that I just happened to have in my freezer, (true story). Puff Pastry sounds intimidating but the recipe is quite easy:

Salmon Wellington

4 4oz salmon fillets

1 pastry sheet, thawed

3 shallots, sliced

tarragon

dill

1 egg, room temperature

Pre-heat over to 425. Flick some flour down on flat surface and gently roll out pastry sheet until fold marks are gone. Work quickly because you want the pastry sheet to stay as cold as possible before reaching the oven. Cut into pieces and place 1 salmon fillet in each square. Use your best judgement here. If the fillet looks too large, get the other pastry sheet. Be mindful though to use as little pastry as possible since it puffs up so grandiosely.

Salt and pepper each fillet generously. Place several shallot slices on top of salmon, then stack a frond of dill and a frowd on tarragon. Press down lightly. Drizzle with olive oil.

To package the salmon in the pastry, pull the pastry up along the longer side of the salmon. Line each side up above the fillet and fold into each other until taught. (Like how they wrap a sandwich at the deli). Curl the edges of the pastry on the short corners in towards the salmon. Secure by pressing with fork.

Lightly beat egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush each salmon package with egg wash and place in 425 oven for 2o minutes or until the pastry if puffed and golden brown.

Tarragon Beurre Blanc

I'm sure there's a great recipe online for Beurre Blanc but this is roughly what I did:

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup white vinegar

several dill fronds, chopped

several tarragon fronds, chopped

2 shallots, minced

1/2 stick butter

Reduce wine and vinegar with shallots and herbs for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Slice cold butter and add to saucepan. Stir constantly until butter is completely melted and sauce thickens. The object is for the acids of the wine and vinegar to breakdown the milkfat in the butter. Take off heat and drizzle on fillets when they come out of the oven.

We had ours with sautéed mushrooms and basmati rice and it was a slam dunk!

Ode to Charcuterie Plates!...and Rubin Morales

Meet the newest member of our family, Rubin Morales! The photos were taken after I looked high and low for him. I must have not looked high enough because I found him in the closet on top of a stack of Ray's hats. Anyways, I digress...

We recently had the great pleasure of having another equally as food saavy couple join us for dinner. I have to admit it was just as refreshing as the Torrentes they brought.

G and F came to check out our new pad and were sweet enough to bring Torrentes, (my FAVORITE wine in the entire world) some olives, this deliciously nutty Dutch hard cheese whose name escapes me, AND a good buck bamboo plant as a housewarming gift. Best dinner guests ever!

Funnily enough I happened to be working on a cheese plate to serve them when they arrived; with our powers combined we made an ultimate one.

***Quick tip...if you are in a bind like I was with a totally stale baguette in the final hour before my guests arrived...run the baguette under water really quickly and toss in the oven at 350 until the outside is crusty and golden brown, roughly 7 minutes depending on how much baguette was left. The inside will be soft and chewy and no one will know your dirty little secret!

Shown clockwise in this photo: some french baguette toasts I drizzled in olive oil, olives marinated with roasted red peppers, that deliciously nutty hard cheese previously mentioned, pork and chicken pâté, smoked gouda, Humbolt Fog (an out- of-this-world goat cheese punctuated with a hyphen of divine vegetable ash), turkey pepperoni (less greasy than the regular), and finally a ramekin of this cheese marketed as "Farmer's Cheese." That name means absolutely nothing to me; however, to give it some context: it has the texture of ricotta, with the tang of a goat cheese and a final low note reminiscent of cottage cheese.

It was all a perfect prelude to a simple dinner of baked salmon with grilled leeks, basmati rice, and a spring mix salad with homemade vinaigrette. For dessert we had apple pie a la mode with some green tea to wash it all down.

Thanks, friends for a lovely dinner...à la prochaine!

Rosh Hashana Sformato with Amaretto Whipped Cream

Shana Tova, to my fellow Jews! What better way to greet the new year than with chocolate, liqueur, and fresh whipped cream??

I had the good fortune of being invited to Rosh Hashana dinner out in Maryland at friend's family's home. As to avoid looking gauche I, of course, brought a new dessert that I had tried out. Little did I know there would be 10,000 people there, so lucky for me the dessert didn't last very long. So by default it was a seemingly huge hit. Sformato is sort of like a cakey-pudding/brownie-mix-without-salmonella sprinkled with sliced almonds served with a sweet, almond liqueur whipped cream. I have to admit it was out of control delicious. I will definitely be making this recipe again.

2 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

16 oz good semisweet chocolate

vanilla

1 packet of gelatin

4 large eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup sliced almonds

For the Whipped Cream:

1 small carton of heaving whipping cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

splash of almond liqueur

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 2 quart casserole dish that can fit into a roasting pan. I will explain why in a moment. Begin melting chocolate in double boiler. Do this by putting a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water. Make sure bottom of the glass bowl does not touch the hot water directly. Turn off heat once chocolate is melted. Keep over steaming water.

In the meantime, simmer 1 1/2 cups whole milk, sugar and splash of vanilla in saucepan. Once simmering and sugar dissolved, turn off heat. In a small bow, mix packet of gelatin and remaining 1/2 cup of cold whole milk for about 2 minutes. Add milk and gelatin to hot milk and sugar mixture stirring constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Add this mixture to glass bowl of melted chocolate stirring until all contents are fully combined.

Lightly beat the four eggs in separate bowl. Ladle 3 tablespoons or so of the hot chocolate and milk mixture into the eggs and whisk until mixed well. This will temper the eggs to avoid scrambling them once they are added back into the chocolate. Add eggs to the hot chocolate and milk mixture; whisk CONSTANTLY to avoid egg scramble. If you find the mixture has become lumpy, run it through a strainer before pouring into casserole dish.

Once in the casserole gently sprinkle the top with almonds until the top is lightly covered. To create steam bath for the casserole pour boiling water in the roasting pan to halfway up the casserole dish. Place in oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The reason for the steam bath is cook the ingredients gently. This will create the soft souffle-esque texture. The sformato will still be a little giggly when it is taken out, that is fine. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

For the Whipped Cream:

Begin whipping the cream on low with an electric mixer. Increase speed as the cream begins to stiffen to avoid Mrs. Doubtfire Whipped Cream Facial. Begin adding amaretto liqueur and powdered sugar; mix until soft peaks are achieved. Soft peaks are when you pull the whisk out and the cream holds its shape; the tip will curl down.

Use a large serving spoon to serve sformato since it is quite soft; add a dollop of whipped cream and enjoy.

Happy New Year!

Look Mom, No Hands! Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

So I've been on this dessert baking rampage recently with deplorable results. I made a chalky, crumbly chocolate ganache cake and a goopey peach cobbler. Defeated, war-torn I was. But I stood up, wiped the flour from my cheeks and licked the ganache from my whisk and, well...called my mother. Ray's favorite dessert/the only sweet thing he will eat is Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. So I employed Mom to recite to me her ultimate Carrot Cake recipe. My hand cramped up while writing the seemingly extensive ingredient list but it was all worth it. I followed the recipe as religiously as I could (I have this physical inability to follow a recipe) and let's just say my tummy was happy and my ego restored.

I had two critiques of my cake: (1) there was not enough cinnamon and I perhaps could have added nutmeg to make it more fragrant and extra divine. (2) I foolishly forgot to WAIT to put my second cake on after frosting the first. Since it's a two layered cake make sure they are completely cooled. I would also refrigerate the bottom layer after it's frosted before adding the second. I, like usual, was too over zealous and stacked my cakes prematurely and the frosting ended up squishing out the sides making the differentiation between the layers unnoticeable. Overall though it was a hit. Check out the recipe:

Cake:

3 cups flour

3 cups granulated sugar

1tsp salt

1T baking soda

1 T cinnamon

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten lightly

1T vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups walnuts chopped

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

¾ drained crushed pineapple

1 1/3 cup pureed carrot

Preheat over to 350

sift dry ingredients together,

add oil, eggs, vanilla,

fold in walnuts, coconut and crushed pineapple

Pour into two greased 9 inch cake rounds

Place in the middle rack and bake for 30-45 minutes

The cake will be golden brown and the corners will pull from the sides

Cool completely before frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese at room temp

1 stick butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth

add vanilla

slowly add in sugar

Make Your Man Love You Steak Dinner

This was one of the last meals we had in our old apartment. My man was craving meat and I think I delivered! It's filet mignon, boursin mashed potatoes (see earlier Father's Day post for recipe), garlic broccollini and for a personal and feminine flair, a simple caprese salad.

I seared the filet mignon seasoned with only salt and pepper in a cast iron pan and finished them in the oven until perfectly medium rare. I pulled them off and set them aside. It's always key to let meat sit for 10-15 minutes before serving, especially red (and expensive!) meat for the juices to reincorporate.

The sauce pictured is the inspiration for the "Make Your Man Love You Forever" title. A food critic/best friend of mine told me that after she pulls the meat off of the stove she adds a container of creme fraiche to deglaze the pan. The creme fraiche mixes with all of the delicious fatty bits of meat and melts in to pure divinity. I added thyme to mine to add more flavor and woodiness and it was spectacular. Thanks, Mullete!

In case you are wondering what creme fraiche is, it's a tangy soft french cream most comparable to sour cream, but much more delicate. You can find it in the specialty cheese section for about $6. It's worth trying out! I add it to pasta dishes to make an instant cream sauce and it's fabulous. Its tanginess adds another dimension of flavor to whatever you add it to!

As for the caprese salad, it is the quintessential salad at my house at home and I can never get enough. For this one I put down a bed of spring greens, diced red onions and of course the sliced mozzarella and tomatoes. I salted and peppered them generously but I didn't pour the balsamic vinegar and olive oil until we sat down. If you do it too early, as with ANY salad dressing, it makes the lettuce leaves soggy.

The broccoloni I did super simple with a splash of olive oil and two garlic cloves. I detest floppy veggies so with this method they soften only slightly on the outside and they keep their color. Broccolini tastes and looks very similar to broccoli with longer stems and less florets. They're an attractive alternative although apparently not related.

The way to his heart is through his stomach, right? Enjoy!

"Corn on the Cob"

This is by far my most amazing food feat: cupcakes in the guise of corn on the cob. Too cute for words, I know. I found the idea in this cupcake book I stumbled upon at a specialty bookstore. It was as if the gods had heard my prayers and gifted me with this totally useless but equally precious cupcake decorating book. I was saved and it only took me $ 16.95.

I made the cupcakes from a box of cornbread muffin mix, jazzed up with a can of creamed corn, a half cup of sour cream and one cup of cheddar cheese baked according to the box. The frosting was two packs if cream cheese and powdered sugar and a teaspoon of lemon juice. For the kernels I used yellow, white and butter flavored jelly beans. The "pad of butter" is actually a yellow saltwater taffy candy and the "parsley flakes" are green sugar crystals. I put three each in corn trays and pierced the ends with corncob handles.

My only advice if you decide to do this is to make sure you do it in an air-conditioned house. I did in my Cape Cod kitchen with no air and everything was sliding of the frosting. I almost lost my marbles over that one. Oh, and don't drink coffee that day either because I finally finished them, my hand flinched and I dropped them face down on the table. I died. Cute though, eh?

What NOT to Do NY-style Cheesecake

This is entitled What NOT to do because my experience was sort of a comedy of errors minus me being amused by my inadequacies. I'm not unfamiliar with the ways of cheesecake making but it IS a pretty complicated dessert. Some tips before you even get started:

1) it takes a WICKED long time as in 30 minutes to prep, 1.5 hours to cook, 1 to cool and 6 to refrigerate...so make it when you have time. I obviously make it 2 hours before I need it and then turbo freeze the damn thing, but try to allow enough time for it to set properly.

2)experiment with what you put in it as in: biscotti instead of graham crackers (aHMAZing), ricotta instead of only cream cheese, goat cheese instead of ricotta, add honey, liquors, anything everything can go instead cheesecake EXCEPT some Italian-style have you spice it up with toasted almonds. I actually don't recommend this as decadent as it might sound. It gives a weirdly chewey texture to the crust and can make it too nutty to the point where people might ask if there's peanut butter in it. ew. Using biscotti is the best compromise because there are almonds in it and usually almond flavor/paste.

3) USE A HAND MIXER!!! you might ask "well..what else would I use?" I tried to get fancy and use my new Cuisinart (thanks mom!) but the cream cheese gets caught and doesn't mix evenly...hence where my comedy of errors started. A hand mixer you can tackle the cream cheese knots more effectively.

OK the recipe I used today:

Crust:

preheat oven to 350

1 tablespoon melted butter

3 T. sugar

1 2/3 graham cracker crumbs or 2 packages of biscotti cookies crushed

-Blend cookies/crumbs and sugar until mixed, add butter

-add mixture to a spring form pan that is DOUBLE wrapped in foil...stay tuned to find out why

-pack crumbs down into the pan and bake until golden brown at 350, should be roughly 12-15 minutes. Reduce baking temperature to 325 for the filling

While that's baking/cooling...

2 8oz things of cream cheese

1 15 oz container of ricotta..if you are standing confused at the dairy section hint: it's the small one..I always forget this then I feel obligated to make lasagna with the extras.

1 tsp vanilla extract..do NOT pour extract when you are hungry or caffeinated..(my hand shook and I dropped a new bottle in..shh!)

1 1/4 C sugar

4 large eggs room temperature

-Beat the two cheeses together, add sugar and extract and liqueur if you are a drunk. Then one at a time beat in eggs.

-Transfer to the cooled crust. Make sure the foil it tight before adding the filling.

-Put the spring form pan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan 3/4 the way up with warm/hot water. The steam and boiling water will cook the cake.

-Bake at 325 for roughly and 1 hour and 15 minutes. The filling will still be jiggly, but should have darkened in color slightly. Cool for one hour before placing in the frig for 6 hours.

Simple Strawberry Sauce:

-package of frozen strawberries

-splash of water or liqueur

-2 T sugar or 1 T strawberry jam

let everything simmer until liquid dissolves. Let sit several minutes before serving to thicken

Fine Investment Father's Day Rockfish

Ok first, forgive the lack of blogging!! But anyhoo, for Father's Day I took him to St. Michael's MD (GO THERE!) I set him up with a fishing guide through the Chesapeake and sent him on his merry way. Lucky for me he caught three HUGE Rockfish (Striped Bass, where I'm from). He couldn't take them back on the plane so I invited some of my girlfriends over and made a super simple Parmesan Rockfish AND to celebrate summer, a feta and watermelon salad.

Parmesan & Parsley Fish:

Start marinating it ASAP. Don't stress if these only means like, 30 minutes...just get on it!

-preheat over to 350

-2 large garlic cloves crushed-2 filets of rockfish (or any other white fish)

-the juice of 2 lemons

-2 tsp salt and pepper

-3 tsp olive oil

- 2 shakes of chili flake if you want to KrAZy

-put in ziplock and stick in frig

after it's chilled again, place in oiled glass dish and sprinkle with grated parmesa

n cheese and fresh chopped parsley.

Fish doesn't take long so I put in last minute: depending on thickness bake for 11-13 minutes

**WiLd SiDe:turn on the broiler at the end for 2 minutes to brown the top

They will love you Forever Boursin Mashed Pots:

Depending on guests a lot 1 large potato per 2 people

-quarter and boil potatoes, drain

add:

-salt/pepper

-1 garlic clove

-3/4 foil of Boursin herbed cheese

-2 T butter

-2 T sour cream

-splash of milk or cream

-mix with mixer/masher..not excessively though, that will make them too glossy

I-Am-A-Sex-MaH-Cheen Watermelon and Feta Salad:

Vinaigrette:

-1 part lemon juice

-2 parts Extra Virgin olive oil

- 1 tsp salt/pepper

-1 tsp sugar

-the leaves of 4 thyme sprigs

-5 raspberries, optional

-splash of any good quality fruit juice in the frig (lemonade, limeade,raspberry juice)

Mix all together in blender until smooth. If it's too sweet, add one more lemon and/or pepper. Too tart, more olive oil, then more sugar. Add to a package of Spring mix lettuce, then serve with a slice of watermelon and a feta cube. (Don't do an herbed feta..too many guests at the flavor party..)

Marina Spoils us Pancake Brunch!

Because Marina has been sick as a dog the past several weeks, our friends and I decided to put that lazy bitch to work and make us breakfast! Kidding. She made us the most fabulous and decadent "OMG, I swear I don't know how to cook" oatmeal pancakes. Half with blueberries the others with sliced almonds. She even put out powdered sugar and raspberry sauce AND Vermont Maple Syrup. My fabulous token photographer/artsy friend Nicole Aguirre took this scrumptious photo that almost does the pancakes justice.

Rainy Afternoon Orzo

Being unemployed and all, you can imagine I have lots of time on my hands...like...oodles of time...But it's great because I was craving an orzo salad, so I made one! I love orzo salads because they're a little more sophisticated than a regular pasta salad, and you can make them a million ways.  Normally my favorite kind is the Greek-style with red onion, feta cheese cubes, spinach, and kalamata olives.  Isis HATES olives  and I find the feta over powering and salty, so instead I whipped up an Eva-style orza salad with peas, fontina cheese, roasted tomatoes, and spinach. It's easy: I boiled a box of orzo (it was too much, don't do that.).  I threw in a bag of frozen peas too. In the mean time I chopped the spinach to bite size pieces, diced a quarter of a red onion, and cubed the fontina.  I added salt, pepper, fresh thyme, chili flakes and italian seasoning and mixed it up.  I drained one can of garlic roasted tomatoes (the juice is too much, get rid of it) and threw it in to add some more flavor and some red.  I drained the orzo and peas and cooled them a bit so they weren't flaming hot, then doused them in olive oil, salt and pepper. (Three splashes should be good, it should be glossy since it will mix in with the other ingredients later.) I decided there was no need to let the pasta cool allll the way, the heat melted the fontina and made the pasta salad deliciously creamy! I mixed the pasta with the spinach, cheese and tomatoes and dished myself some while I watched the rain (lies, I watched the Food Network).  You substitute arugula for the spinach, feta for the fontina, throw in olives, whatever's going to be delicious! It can be served hot or cold, too. Just balance color and sweet and savory and it will be epic. Thank God I made the whole box, I'm going to eat some right now. *nom* nom*

Road Tripp!!!

            So... 

I've finally graduated from GW, and in all my four years I've well...NEVER taken the road trip back to Boston.  The stars aligned and my best friend B happened to be in Bmore for a wedding with his girlfriend.  I took it upon myself to pack up and hop in the back seat and join them for the 8 hour (ew) trek.  Because I was the 3rd wheel,I thought I'd contribute by being the calorie supplier for the long ride.  I hopped to Whole Foods and grabbed a pain de campange, salami, D'affinois (because I missed my Jilly Bean...), peaches, stuffed grape leaves, and big thing of Orangina.  No need for Roy Rogers and Cinnabon happy meals with this road tripper! (ok fine... I caved and in the 7th hour I ordered a big nasty fried bacon, chicken, ranch monster from BK when we stopped for a pee break)

All in all it was a great with great friends..my next food challenge will be a less smelly assemblage of road trip treats....

Dinner for One Sir?

Hello all, unfortunately my girlfriend is back in her hometown so in the meantime I've had to excite my taste buds all on my own for the past several days. This is not such a horrible predicament primarily because if the food turns out on the less satisfactory side of things I am the only one in on the secret. With that being said I whipped up a dish the other night which was both fast and simple to prepare. Now I will preface breaking down this dish by stating a couple of things, first of all as much as I love making everything fresh and from scratch I think that in this day and age the grocery store is filled with products that can make your life easier. Also, I am all about using leftovers especially sauces because the can easily be tweaked to finish up a future dish.

Okay so two nights ago I decided to do lamb, I love lamb and my local Harris Teeter had a pretty good deal which I simply could not pass up. I purchased about a pound of chops three in total. They were some very decent cuts a few inches thick with considerable meatiness. I decided to accompany them with some steamed veggies and for a little flair I whipped up some Moroccan curry whole grain pilaf.

The veggies were pretty simple just some okra, snow peas and carrots. I used them just as much for color as I did for their nutritional content.

I think when it comes to lamb chops they often times need nothing more in the seasoning department then salt and pepper but I am a sucker for McCormick's Montreal Steak which is a tasty assortment of spices and herbs specifically for red meats. I try not to over do it on the seasoning because I have noticed with red meats that you can always give it more salt or pepper after you have finished cooking. I used a medium sized skillet with about a table spoon worth of olive oil to do the honors, I think it is important that the pan is nice and hot before placing the meat, you can always tell by flicking a little water onto the surface of the pan if it crackles or reacts with the oil you're good to go. I prefer my chops in between medium and mid rare so I let them cook on both sides for about 4-5 mins.

Now to address what I had brought up in my preface I don't think that there is anything wrong with giving your dish a little bit of complementary aide with prepared products. They can save you headache and time and in my experience they can make you look more skilled in the kitchen then you actually are (it just takes a real solid poker face and bluff which I cannot teach). As I mentioned earlier I did a pilaf thanks to the hard work of the people over at Kashi. It served as the cultural flair on my plate which in addition to subtle flavors it boasts 8g of protein and 7g of fiber per serving which ain't bad at all. It also only takes about 5 mins to heat up because of its NASA like packaging so even if you didn't grow up to be an astronaut in some ways you can still eat like one.

I used a leftover spicy Szechuan based sauce that I had used to make some chicken wings while I was watching the NBA playoffs the night before. To make it a little lamb friendly I added some A1 steak sauce and sesame seeds and heated it up in a small sauce pan with a touch of white wine. I used the sauce sparingly on the chops while I was plating the dish, I'm a sauce guy and like a little moisture on my plate.

And that's that, put it all together and eat either with your girlfriend or by yourself it tastes the same promise. Can't wait till you get home babydoll.

Becky Basics: Ina's Perfect Roasted Chicken

Ok, this one is for me and B.  We're always struggling to remember how long you cook what at what temperature so let's start archiving this ASAP.  I don't have photos, but I think this recipe is important.

Last night I made a roasted chicken with sauteed fiddle-heads, mashed potatoes, and italian-style blistered cherry tomatoes.  The chicken recipe is from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa and I can attest that it's just as perfect and delicious...and easy! as she suggested. Check it:

In a large casserole or roasting pan add 1 large chopped onion (not a vidalia!) and chunky chopped carrots (approx 4).  Drizzle with olive oil and toss in fresh chopped thyme and rosemary, salt, pepper.  Roll it all around in the bottom of the pan.  It should cover the entire bottom.  This will keep the chicken from burning and all the juices will cook the veggies!

Rinse and pat dry a medium size chicken.  Perch it on its head and stuff it with a quartered lemon, 2 sprigs of rosemary, 4 of thyme, 4 garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush it on the outside of the bird, then salt and pepper it.  If you've got twine, hog-tie the legs together (I make things sound so delicious...).  I learned that if your rosemary is fresh and floppy keep a stalk and wrap the legs with that instead.  

Nestle the chicken in the carrots and onions.  Cook at 425 for about 1.5 hours.  I would cover with foil after 45 min. The instant-read thermometer should read 190 when it's ready. If you don't have the thermometer (buy one!) then slice into the thigh and the juice should run clear.  Shake hands with the chicken by wriggling a leg.  If he shakes firm like a boss then you're good, if he shakes like a snake...put back in oven!

Take out the chicken and let it sit under foil on a plate FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES (ahem..B...) and put the veggies back in the oven while you set the table, putter etc. Carve, serve, smile!

Here's the link to Ina's video:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/chefs/channel/0,1000011,FOOD_32077_11106,00.html

Bahama-mania!

After a tumultuous battle of the books in the GW library, R treated me to a four-day weekend in the beautiful, sunny Bahamas! Our first day we sat and ate snapper, rice and peas, washed down with some Sands, the local Bahamanian brew. 

Much to R's dismay, the table next to us had ordered (and not eaten!) the last of his beloved conch fritters.  Our  4 days entailed a long and conch-less quest for those damn things; we were either too early for them to be made, or too late.  

Frustrated and fritterless, we opted to make our own delicious meal.  We picked up 2 lbs of fresh shrimp and 4 grouper filets down at the dock and headed to the kitchen.  I made stuffed poblano peppers with garlic shrimp, rice and cheese cubes (my secret ingredient?...spicy nacho cheese!). R made a sweet and (uber) spicy red pepper sauce with cinnamon, onions and we flash fried the filets.  With a bottle of 3.99 Procescco, and the moonlight above, conch fritters were

 a distant memory! (at least for me...)