More Memorial Day Fare

OK, So I didn't post last night - and I really meant to. I would like to record my dinners for 30 days straight. Anyway, I made a German potato salad, with bacon so its always a hit...I firmly believe that bacon makes everything better. Some simple steamed brocolli and of course the smoked chicken. I had brined the chicken overnight, so I rinsed off the brine and patted the chicken halves dry, then made a simple dry rub and rubbed them, under the skin as well - then smoked them for about 4 hours, really good...Then for dessert I did a red, white and blue mix of berries and puff pastry stars with real whipped cream ...which my daughter loved!

Berries with puff pastry stars

• 2 cups strawberries, cut up
• 2 cups blueberries, cut up
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 2 Tbs sugar crystals (or plain sugar)

Combine berries and sugar, stir and let sit 15 mins.

Whip chilled cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters add 2 Tbs sugar and vanilla.

Cut out stars from puff pastry rolled to about 1/8" thick. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake about 10 mins, remove from sheet to wire rack brush lightly with water and sprinkle with sugar. Place berries in pretty serving bowls, add a dollop of whipped cream and a star or two.

German Potato Salad

• 2.5 lbs red skinned potatoes
• 1/2 lb bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 6 Tbs white vinegar
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 1 Tbs paprika
• salt and pepper

Cook potatoes with skins on in boiling salted water to cover until tender but not mushy. Drain, cool a little and chop into 1" chunks. Peel first if you want. Saute bacon, drain on paper towels and crumble into small pieces. Pour off all but 2 Tbs bacon fat, in remaining hot fat saute onion, celery and bell pepper until onion is soft. Add vinegar, sugar, paprika and salt and pepper - cook and stir briefly, return bacon to pan. Pour dressing over potatoes in a pretty bowl and toss gently to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Memorial Day Weekend...cooking and a resolution

OK, I am back, and this time I am going to seriously try to a least record what I cook daily for the next 30 days.

Today is Saturday, so I'll start here (and not mention much the timpano I just made the other day, the wonderful panna cottas with a raspberry sauce, and so much more...)

Today I made dinner with a spring theme. I did a classic white risotto and it was fabulous, making me and my family wonder why I don't make this simple dish more often. I paired it with a salad of watermelon, feta and baby arugula dressed with a citrus ginger dressing and also some green beans with almonds toasted in butter. For dessert I made a blueberry pie with a twist! I covered it with butter cookie stars in 2 different sizes...

It was a lovely meal and not all that hard to put together. Then I made a quick brine for a chicken which I will smoke tomorrow and serve with some caprese skewers and corn on the cob and a simple salad. Oh, I also made a fruit salad encased in jello - but with unflavored gelatin and juice, I used strawberries and blueberries and attempted to layer it in a pretty mold. I'll see if I can actually unmold it tomorrow.

Recipes:

Basic White Risotto

(this is a great dish on its on and the basis for so many other risotto's)

• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 1 finely chopped shallot if you have one, or not
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 stalk celery finely chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup carnaroli rice
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 Tbs additional butter

Heat olive oil and butter in a cast iron skillet. Saute onion, shallot and garlic over low heat for about 10 mins until soft but not at all browned. Stir in rice and coat each grain with oil. Add wine and stir until mostly evaporated. Add 1/2 cup hot stock and stir until almost all incorporated, continue until all stock is used and rice is creamy, stir firm but not hard. remove from heat and stir in parsley, cheese and additional butter. Serve immediately (risotto does not hold well)

Blueberry Pie with Star cut outs

• Pie crust
• 4 cups blueberries
• 1/4 cup instant (minute) tapioca
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter
• 
  
• 1/4 cup very cold butter cut in small pieces
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1-2 Tbs ice cold water

Preheat over to 400 F. Mix berries with tapioca, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Let sit 15 mins. Pour into crust and dot top with butter. Bake in 400 over for about 1 hour, use foil to cover edges if they start to brown too much. Let pie cool completely on wire rack.

Combine flour, sugar and a touch of salt in food processor. Cut in butter. Add water and process until dough forms a ball. Shape into a flattened circle and refrigerate 1 hour. Roll out on lightly floured surface and cut out stars in two sizes, 2 inches and 1 inch. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for about 1o mins or until edges start to turn golden. Cool on wire rack. Randomly arrange stars on top of cooled pie.

Watermelon, feta and Arugula Salad

Cut 1/8 of a seedless watermelon into 1 inch chunks. Combine with 8-12 oz of crumbled feta and about 6 cups of baby arugula. Mix 1/2 cup orange juice with 1 Tbs lemon juice and 1 tsp ginger juice. add 1 tbs honey. Using a whisk or shaking in a jar with a lid add 1/2 cup olive oil. Pour about half dressing over salad. Serve remainder on the side.

Valentine's Dinner

OK - So busy getting dinner together, for an impatient husband and child I had no time to take any pictures, but here is the menu I made:

Valentines Day Dinner

February 14th, 2011

Starter: Veggies (cut up in heart shapes where possible, including red pepper, green pepper, cucumber, carrots, celery) with roasted red pepper dip

First Course: Oyster Pan Roast
(fabulously decadent dish - easy too, but you really should shuck the oysters yourself)

Main and Sides:

Grilled Filet Mignon with green peppercorn sauce

Steamed Asparagus

Heart Shaped mashed potatoes

Dessert:

Red Jello Hearts with whipped cream

Fun, and not that hard at all...

I printed out the menu on some fancy template you can download for free if you use word, and my daughter really liked that

I really would like to post each night (with pictures if possible) what I make for dinner, because other than the very rare occasion where I go out I pretty much cook a full dinner every night - I resolve to try and actually post each night

Pasta and Meat Sauce

Last night I made a quick meat sauce and some bow-tie pasta. Side dishes included brocolli and

leeks. I really liked the leeks, sauted in a a little butter and olive oil with some fresh parm on top.

Leeks with Parmesan Cheese

• 3 leeks, cut in half lengthwise and cleaned then cut into half moons (white and pale green parts only)
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 Tbs butter
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

Heat oil and butter in a cast iron skillet, add leeks and stir fry to cook for about 2 mins, add broth and cover - cook for 2 mins, uncover and cook until liquid is evaporated. Sprinkle with parmesan and broil briefly to brown cheese

Duck Fried Rice

This was quite lovely and so very easy...used the leftover duck meat from last night (but you could use leftover duck from Chinese take-out or a restaurant)

Duck Fried Rice

• 1- 2 cups cut up or shredded duck from crispy fragrant duck or Peking duck
• 2 Tbs oil
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 Tbs soy sauce, divided
• 1 Tbs ginger, peeled and finely diced
• 1 Tbs garlic finely chopped
• 2 Tbs scallions chopped into 1/4" pieces
• 1/2 cup carrot finely julienned
• 1/2 cup frozen petite peas
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 3 cups cooked rice (cook early in the day or the day before or use leftover rice)

Add 1 Tbs canola oil to wok and heat over medium flame, beat eggs with 1 Tbs soy sauce swirl oil around wok to coat sides. Pour in egg and cook stirring gently to cook through, turn egg out onto a plate and slice into thin strips. Add 1 Tbs oil to wok, add duck and ginger and garlic, stir fry for 1-2 mins add carrots and stir fry another min add rice, making sure to break u any clumps add remaining soy sauce, peas and white pepper and stir fry 1 more min, serve with scallions on top

Crispy Fragrant Duck

This is what I made for dinner, and I forgot to take a picture!! Sorry - this duck is fabulous but very very labor intensive ... next time i make it I will take the picture! Anyway, I served it with chinese pancakes and scallion brushes and broccollini...last night we had leftovers and the night before that was beef and bok choy stir fry with rice and before that homemade mac-n-cheese with broccoli

The duck takes at least 2 days to make:

Crispy Fragrant Duck

1 duck

2 Tbs five spice powder

2 Tbs chinese peppercorns

1 Tbs sea salt

2 Tbs rice wine

1" piece of fresh ginger

3 green onions

2 Tbs soy sauce

1/2 cup flour

6 cups of oil for frying

Marinate duck:

Wash and rinse duck, remove any giblets

press down hard on breastbone to flatten duck

heat five spice powder and cracked peppercorns and salt in a dry cast iron skillet until fragrant and cool briefly. Rub mixture all over duck

place on a plate and cover with plastic wrap and let marinate in fridge for 8 hours (or up to 48) turn duck over occasionally

Steam duck:

Pour rice wine over duck and slice ginger into rounds, slice green onions roughly. Place 1/2 of green onions and ginger in duck cavity and half on top of duck. Place duck in a glass pie plate and use a rack to put duck in plate in a wok with space below it for water. Add water (not touching plate, about 1/2" below) bring to a boil and cover - steam duck for 3 hours, draining fat from pie plate every 20 mins or so and replenishing water as necessary.

Air-dry duck:

Remove duck from plate carefully and place on a rack in a drafty spot (or direct a fan on low on it) let dry for at least 2 hours and up to 8. Turn every hour or so and blot dry with a paper towel.

Fry duck:

Run soy sauce on duck and sprinkle with flour. Heat oil in clean wok to 350 F. Fry duck breastside down for 3 mins, turn and fry for 1 min. remove and drain on paper towel lined tray. Increase oil temp to 400 and fry duck a second time for 30 secs a side. Drain and place on a pretty platter. Serve with hoisen sauce, green onion brushes and mandarin pancakes.