Curried Lentils

Several weeks ago, Mark & I spent a decadent weekend at Cannon Beach, compliments of my sister as a thank you for taking care of Tippy, her dog. We had one dinner at EVOO, the cooking school in the middle of downtown Cannon Beach. It was a lot of fun and the dinner was excellent. The chef even gave us his recipes to take home. Oh Boy! However, when I tried to make the curried lentils he served with a nice piece of halibut, crusted with hazelnuts, I realized that there were several main ingredients missing. So, with a little help from the Internet, I came up with the following.


Inspiration: A fabulous weekend at the coast
Time: 15 minutes prep and 45 to cook
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Green lentils (ok, so lentils aren't equipment, but you need these because they don't turn to mush when you cook them)
Servings: 4

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cup Umbrian or green lentils, picked clean and rinsed
3 cups stock (any kind)

Saute the vegetables in a heavy pot with the olive oil until aromatic and golden. Add the garlic and saute for 5 minutes more. Add the curry powder and saute until fragrant. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the lentils are cooked, about 1/2 hour.

Since we had just had halibut several nights earlier, I marinated raw shrimp in oil, mashed garlic and salt for 30 minutes, grilled them and placed them over the lentils, finishing off with chopped cilantro.

Cream of Tomato Soup

I'm embarrassed. No posts in a month. Ridiculous. Especially given that I have been razzing my sister for not posting. I'll try to do better I promise.

So our garden has runnith over with tomatoes. Not particularly surprising given that we raised 70 starts and planted 23 of them. And no amount of tomato sandwiches, caprese salads, or dried tomatoes can make a dent. So on a chilly fall night, I tried (and failed) to make a dent by making a cream of tomato soup, complete with grilled cheese sammiches. Perfect accompany to GLEE night.

Inspiration: Too many tomatoes
Time: 75 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Immersion Blender
Servings: 8

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery ribs, diced
2 tbs olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme and oregano leaves, chopped
1/2 cup red wine
12-15 large heirloom tomatoes, peels removed and quatered (DO NOT REMOVE SEEDS OR DRAIN) (if tomatoes are not in season, use 3-4 cans of unseasoned diced tomatoes)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half (option substitute: Whole milk...or cream if you are decadent)
10 leaves of basil, sliced thin as possible

1. Saute onion, carrots and celery in oil until onions are translucent. Add garlic, herbs, salt and pepper to taste and saute until carrots are tender. Delgaze pan with wine.

2. Add Tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

3. Using immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Add in half and half and return to boil. If you do not have an immersion blender, get one...Just kidding. You can use a standar blender or food processor...just remember boiling liquid is VERY HOT. So please be careful. And remember, I warned you to get an immersion blender.

4. Ladle into bowls to serve, and top with basil.

Note: Goes great with grilled cheese sammiches. Can top with a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar to cut the sweetness of the tomatoes, or a small dollop of creme fraiche

Spanish Tortilla

So. A big change in our lives between my last post on the 4th and this one, which is why I haven't been posting. Jenny and I got a dog. Her name is Izzy, and she's great. However, now instead of starting dinner right when we get home, Iz insists we take her for a walk. By the time we're home and ready to start dinner, it's already after 7 o'clock. Now most of what we make and post on the blog is fairly quick and easy, but it's been hard to pull my attention away from Iz long enough to post a new recipe. I'm really sorry about that, but it's our honeymoon phase. Do you really expect anything different?

So on Tuesday night, post run around Peninsula Park, Iz and I made a Spanish Tortilla. Or more accurately, she ate the sausage and cheese that accidentally hit the floor. It was an accident, honest. I love my dog, but I'm not going to waste cheese and sausage. A Spanish Tortilla is a perfect left over meal, and the ingredients, other than the eggs are free game to play around with.

Inspiration: Growling stomach post Walkies
Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Oven safe frying pan
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
1 potato, diced
1 tbs olive oil
3 chicken apple sausages (pre cooked), diced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, cut into cubes
5 eggs
Salt and pepper

1. In an oven safe fry pan, saute onion and potato in olive oil over medium-low heat until tender. Add sausage and cook until warm.
2. Lightly beat eggs with salt and pepper. Pour over onions, potatoes and sausage. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Let sit until eggs have firmed up. Do not stir (this isn't a scramble...it's a Tortilla!)
3. Once eggs have set up, place pan under broiler in oven to brown the top. Please remember that your pan will be very, very hot when you go to remove it. Sounds simple, but it's easy to forget.
4. Let sit for 5 minutes to cool. (it comes out of the pan better this way)

Banh' Mi' Grilled Vietnamese Sandwich

I'm sure we've all had the experience where we have a meal at a restaurant and think to ourselves, "Shoot. I can do that." Well I finally got off my kiester last night, and recreated a simple Vietnamese sandwich that I get for lunch occasionally. The sandwich I have at lunch has honey glazed pork, pickled carrots, jalapenos and cilantro on a french baguette. What I came up with isn't too different, and just as tasty, especially when served with Sea Salt and Vinegar Kettle chips to help cut the heat.

Inspiration: Friday lunches with the girls
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: A BBQ
Servings: 4

Ingredients
1 cup Spicy Soy Sauce
4 thin cut, off the bone, pork chops
1 long french baguette, cut into quarters, and sliced in half
olive oil
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
1 carrots, cut into strips with a peeler
1 cucumber, slice as thinly as you can
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and cut into circles
butter
garlic chili paste
fresh cilantro
fresh basil

1. Wash and pat dry pork chops. Marinate in spicy soy sauce for 15 minutes.

2. While pork is marinating, slice your baguette segments in half, and brush each side with olive oil. Sprinkle with a little bit of garlic powder and Cayenne pepper.

3. Grill meat on both sides until cooked (about 4 minutes total...if that...thin cut pork cooks quickly). Let rest 5-10 minutes and then slice into bite sized pieces.

4. After you pull your meat off the grill, place your baguettes on the grill inside down so that they grill while absorbing the left over meat juices. Toast until bread is golden brown.

5. To assemble the sandwich, spread butter on one side warm baguette. Spread chili paste to taste on the other. Build each sandwich to taste with carrots, cucumbers, jalapenos, cilantro stems, basil, and pork.

Note: I've also seen Banh'Mi' made with pork pate, lemon grass beef, or teriaki chicken. The beauty of this sandwich is the fresh baguette and the combination of fresh herbs and spicey flavors. Feel free to mix and match. In fact, share what you mix and match in the comment section.

Fish Tacos with Grilled Pineapple Salsa

What to do when you invite your son and his girlfriend over for dinner and he insists on a dish that isn't in your repertoir much less your recipe file? Thank heavens for the Net! Joe requested fish tacos for dinner when invited over for Sunday supper last week. Every time I suggested something else, he had a quick come back that included "fish tacos". So off to Costco I went & found a nice piece of halibut and after finding about 5 different recipes by "googling" fish tacos, and after adding a few ideas of my own, came up with the attached. I list most of the condiments as optional. Needless to say, I served them all. I must say, I was very pleased with the results.

Inspiration: Not able to say "No"
Time: 1 hour to prep, 2 hours to marinade & 30 minutes to cook
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: A BBQ grilling screen (not necessary, but makes life easier)
Servings: 4

For the fish tacos:

1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup tequila
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
3 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 pound halibut, cut into 4 pieces
taco shells (or fresh corn tortillas if you want soft tacos)
Grilled Pineapple Salsa (recipe follows)
Cojita cheese, shredded (can substitute cheddar)
Sliced avocados (or guacamole) - (opt)
Pickled Onions (opt - recipe for another time!)
Pico de Gallo (opt)
Sour cream (opt)
Chipotle Tobascco Sauce (opt)


Mix the first 8 ingredients together and put in a sealable plastic bag along with the fish. Let marinate for 30 minutes or up to two hours. (I let it sit for the two hours). Heat your BBQ & grill the fish until opaque. Place each piece on a plate and serve with the remaining condiments.

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

1/2 whole pineapple, with the skin cut off and cut in eights
1 teaspoon aleppo chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup red onion diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
Lemon (or lime) juice to taste

Mix the chili powder, salt & sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle all sides of the pineapple with this mixture. Place on grilling screen on hot BBQ and grill on all sides until hot & grill marks show, but not soft. Remove from grill & cool. Cut into small pieces and mix with the red onion, cilantro, jalapeno and lemon juice. Let sit for 1 hour to let flavors meld. (Note: I had leftover salsa & served it with grilled pork chops the next night.)

Boysenberry Frozen Yogurt

Monday night, while waiting for Jenny to return from her Trip to Nanimo, I finally did something that I have been wanting to do for months, but never gotten around to it. That's right. I made yogurt. Okay so maybe my life isn't the most exciting in the world, but at least it now comes with home-made yogurt.

While I would love to write up the recipe for yogurt on here, I don't want to infringe on any copyright laws. I mean, as meaningful as it would be to receive a letter from Food Network or Alton Brown, the threat of a lawsuit is really not the way I'd like to go about it. So you'll have to go to here for Alton Brown's yogurt recipe which I am using for the base of my fro-yo.

Inspiration: A Good Eats Episode
Time: Over night for draining, 3o minutes for making, 2 hours for freezing
Difficulty: easy
Special equipment: Cheese cloth, 8 cups of Alton Brown's yogurt, ice cream maker
Servings: 2 quarts fro-yo

Ingredients:
8 cups yogurt
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
rind from half a lemon (yellow part only), minced
1 pint fresh boysenberries, washed and dried.

1. Place a colander in a bowl and line with cheese cloth. Place yogurt into lined colander and drain yogurt in refrigerator overnight.

2. In the morning, discard yogurt juice, and remove yogurt solids into a mixing bowl. Stir in corn syrup, sugar, lemon rind and berries.

3. Freeze in ice cream maker to the manufacturer's directions.

4. Turn out into a container that can be sealed air tight and freeze for at least 2 hours.

Note: you could use any seasonal berry, but if it's a firm berry (like strawberries) you might want to mash the berry before adding to the yogurt.

Spicy Soy Sauce

An interesting sidebar that has come from my moving in with Jenny 6 months ago is discovering our condiment choices. Well...it's interesting to me at the very least. We have a wide range of sweet, tangy, tart and spicy. So if you were to look through the different items located on our refrigerator door (which I pray you never will) you will see everything from Miracle whip, to Garlic and herb hummus to Banana sweet and sour sauce to Cock sauce (garlic chili paste). You'll even find two kinds of Soy Sauce. I mean, why use soy sauce when you can use spicy soy sauce?

Inspiration: Making Soy Sauce Saucier
Time: 10 minutes to throw together
Difficulty: ridiculously easy
Special equipment: 2 cup mason Jar with lid
Servings: Depends how much you use soy sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons chili garlic paste (or to taste. I like mine spicy, so I use 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons sesame oil

1. Place all ingredients in a 2 cup mason jar. Seal with lid, and shake well.

That's it.

Note: This is a great marinade for chicken, flank steak and even salmon. You can put it over grilled or sauteed veggies, steamed rice or anywhere else you might use soy sauce.

Banana Bread

Over-ripe bananas. They smell, they are squishy & they look terrible. Mark always eats bananas for breakfast (I personally can't stand them), but invariably we end up with left over ones that get too ripe. Because I'm not overly fond of banana bread either, Mark always makes it. This recipe came from my grandmother and was found in one of those small town, everyone shares a recipe, cookbook. We have gone way beyond the basic recipe, adding cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and what ever fruit (blueberries, cherries, etc) and nuts we happen to have on hand.

Inspiration: Left-over, over-ripe bananas
Time: 10 minutes to throw together, 1 hour to bake
Difficulty: easy
Special equipment: bread loaf pan
Servings: 1 loaf


2 cups flour -- sifted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts -- chopped
1/4 cup salad oil
1 cup bananas -- mashed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg -- lightly beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sift together the dry ingredients, add the nuts, combine the remaining ingredients and mix all together. Stir only until the flour is moistened.
Use 5 x 9 loaf pan. Sprinkle cinnamon & sugar mixture over the top of loaf.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Pacific Pie Co.

We all have nights when we don't want to cook. That used to mean that I would end up going out to eat, or bringing home take out. While it's convenient, and saves time and energy, it's not good for me, it's expensive and it doesn't taste as good as home made comfort food.

Fortunately, I met Chris and Sarah, who just moved to Portland and started a Aussie Meat Pie company called Pacific Pie Co. They hand make individual meat (or meatless) pies with all natural and organic ingredients that I can just throw in the oven and have a piping hot, home cooked meal in 20 short minutes later.

You have two options for these pies. One, you can visit Chris or Sarah at one of the many farmers markets they sell at and pick up a cooked and ready to eat. Or, pick up frozen pies and take them home. I usually visit their website, pacificpieco.com, to see what pies they are featuring that week, and pre-order them for pick up.

Balsalmic Potato Salad

It's been a tough couple of months for Everyday Chef. I've been working almost nonstop at work on a project that has had me writing specifications and copy, laying out pages and then editing said specs and copy and pages for the most minute of minute details for nearly 4 months. This has drained of almost any energy to think or cook creatively. You may be wondering what I've been eating over this time, and I think you'll find most of your answers in the previous 68 posts. Now that I'm almost done with the project, and after one healthy serving of guilt from the one and only Ashish, the idea of sitting down with my computer to write an entry doesn't make me nearly as nauseous as it did a month ago.

One of the few things that I did come up with over the past couple of months was a new grilled potato salad that is even easier than the one I posted on June 26th, 2008. HOLY COW. That was a year ago. Happy belated birthday Everyday Chef!

Inspiration: Brand new grill
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Requirements: Grill + Veggie pan
Serving Size: 4-6 side dishes

3 large Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 sweet onion cubed
1/4 C olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1. In a large pot of water, par boil potatoes for 8-10 minutes (if using small potatoes, you can reduce the time by 2-3 minutes. You don't want to cook them entirely). If skins are falling off, your potatoes are over cooked. If they are mushy, then make mashed potatoes instead. If the potatoes are still firm, you can cube and grilled...but it may be messy.

2. Cube them into bite sized pieces. Toss with onion, oil and salt and pepper. Using a grilling basket, cook potatoes and onions on a grill over medium-high heat until potatoes are cooked through. Remove into a serving bowl

3. While potatoes are cooking, reduce balsamic vinegar to 1/4 of a cup in a small sauce pan over medium low heat on your stove. The reduction should be syrupy. Toss the grilled potatoes with the veggies and serve.

Guacamole

It's cinco de mayo. A holiday, I have come to learn, that is primarily celebrated in the United States (not Mexico) for a guilt free excuse to enjoy as much guacamole and tequila as the body can handle (presumably not to the point of excess). So when it was announced that my office was having a Cinco potluck, I knew I had to do my best to help my coworkers in their consumption. Sadly, there was no tequila involved.

Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Special Equipment: None
Servings: 4-6 people

Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 habenaro, seeds removed and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lime

1. Mash garlic cloves to a paste with salt and cumin
2. Mash avocados, and mix with the garlic paste
3. Stir in remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Note: the longer you let it sit, the spicier it will get. But it will also want to brown. I recommend keeping the Avocado pit in the guac until you're ready to serve.

Carbonara (aka Bacon Pasta)

It shouldn't have been a big deal. Whoa. That makes it sound way more dramatic than I meant it to. It wasn't a big deal. To me at least. I hope it wasn't a big deal for Jenny either. As far as I had it figured, it was just another Saturday night dinner.

For my mother on the other hand, it was a big deal. Partly because Jenny and I have been dating for a year and a half. Partly because of our new living sintuation. Mostly it was because my dad already met Jenny's folks and she had not...that and the fact that he regularly rubbed it in ("They're such nice people!")

So, after months of subtle hints, heavy sighs and not so subtle hints, we finally made it happen. Jenny and I had my folks and her folks over for dinner so they could meet. Secretly, my mom rejoiced.

Now, most people would probably think this event would be cause for massive planning. But I've been so insanely busy lately that I don't have time to plan dinner for tonight let alone a week ahead. I wanted something that would be easy to cook in case I needed to facilitate conversation. I wanted something that would be tasty because I don't miss opportunities to be showered in praise. And I wanted something baconny, because who doesn't like bacon? So I settled on Carbonara, a creamy, baconny pasta dish. And I am happy to report that it was a success as was the entire evening.

Time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Special Equipment: some really good bacon
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
1 lb of penne pasta
12 slices of really good bacon, cut into thick lardons
3 zuccini, quartered lengthwise and then cut into 1 inch lengths
3 yellow squash, quartered lengthwise and then cut into 1 inch lengths
5-6 springs of thyme, leaves removed from branches
2 cups of heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 C of grated parmesasn

1. In a large pot, cook pasta in salted water.
2. Meanwhile, Saute bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Drain all but 3 tbs of bacon grease.
3. In reserved bacon grease, saute the zuccini, yellow squash and thyme until squash is al-dente. Remove from heat.
4. Stir cream, egg yolks and half of the parmesan into the squash and bacon . Stir until smooth cream sauce is smooth. If sauce is too thick, add 1/4 cup of pasta water.
5. Drain cooked pasta and toss with cream sauce and the rest of the parmesan.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Pancetta Sage Butter Roast Turkey

I have come to discover that life is full of unintended consequences. Take for instance my moving in with Jenny over the weekend. When all was said and done, I had to roast a turkey. Pretty crazy right? It wasn't as if she said, "make me a turkey buster, or you're out of here." That statement came from her refrigerator.

Jenny's fridge was already stuffed to the gills prior to me showing up with my cooler full of frozen meat, including one 14lb frozen turkey complements of my work place. After dutifully rearranging all of the food, and playing freezer Tetrus, I had two options. Put the turkey in the freezer and eat 4lb of pork chops, 2 lbs of ground beer, 2lbs of flank steak, 3.5 lbs of chuck roast, and 1 fryer chicken...or roast the turkey. I thought the decision was obvious. Here's to a thanksgiving dinner on Monday night in March!

Time: 3 hours of active time, 24 hours for brine
Difficulty: moderate
Special Equipment: food processor, roasting pan, 5 gallon and clean/sterile bucket (or other non-reactive pot of equivalent size)
Servings: 8

Ingredients:
1 12-14 lb Turkey, thawed, neck and innards removed, and then rinsed.

Brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
Pancetta-Sage Butter:
4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

1. Prepare panchette-sage butter up to 2 days ahead of time. With food processor running, drop garlic down feed tube of processor and chop. Add pancetta. Pulse to chop finely. Add all remaining ingredients. Pulse blending to coarse paste. Transfer to small bowl. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

2. Brine the Turkey. Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. The the night before cooking combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) overnight. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

3. Prepare turkey for Roasting. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Bring Pancetta Butter to room temperature. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

4. Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine. Pat the bird dry with paper towels and then place on a cutting board. Using your hands, gently separate the skin of the bird from the breast and thighs as much as you can without tearing the skin. Stuff the skin with pancetta butter. Do your best to evenly coat breast and thighs with the pancetta butter.

5.Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil. Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and return bird to oven. Cook until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast or thigh reaches 154 degrees (A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting.) Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Note: This Turkey was derived from Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey, and a Pancetta Sage Butter Roast turkey found on epicurious.com

Sweet and Spicy Bacon

This year's winner for best bacon appetizer was Chris' sweet and spicy bacon. It was very nearly unanimous. It's funny how simple things are often the best, in this case, spicy glazed bacon strips.

Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Special Equipment: some really good bacon
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 lb thick-cut bacon slices

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Stir together brown sugar, cayenne, and black pepper in a small bowl.

3. Arrange bacon slices in 1 layer (not overlapping) on rack of a large broiler pan. Bake 20 minutes. Turn slices over and sprinkle evenly with spiced sugar. Continue baking until bacon is crisp and deep golden, 20 to 35 minutes more (check bacon every 5 minutes). Transfer to paper towels to drain.

NOTE: This recipe came from Gourmet Magazine, November of 2001

Nippy Brussel Sprouts

When my paternal grandmother passed away, I was sent a box of her recipes. In this box, I found a small cut out from some long-forgotten newspaper that had a recipe for Nippy Greenbeans. I tried it out on my family and it quickly became a favorite. Last Saturday night, I was searching the web for something to do with some wonderfully smokey and salty bacon that Shannon had made and given me. I had brussel sprouts in the fridge & was searching the web for something new and exciting. Every time I suggested a recipe, my husband would counter with "Nippy Brussel Sprouts". So I finally gave in and the result is a new twist on an old favorite. Oh, and this works well with green beans too!

Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Special Equipment: some really good bacon
Servings: 2

Ingredients:
1/2 pound brussel sprouts, trimmed & halved
3 slices of thick-cut bacon
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons cidar vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/4 teaspoon savory

1. Cook the brussel sprouts in boiling, salted water until just cooked. Drain and set aside.
2. Cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from grease & drain.
3. Pour off all but 1-2 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Saute the shallot in the bacon fat until golden. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up the brown bits. Add the vinegar, dill, savory and salt & pepper to taste.
4. Re-heat the pan that the brussel sprouts were cooked in. Add the brussel sprouts & shake to make sure they are dried. Add the dressing and toss to coat.

Bacon Avocado Milkshakes

The first of hopefully many bacon recipes that was unleashed at the bacon party is Colin's Bacon Avocado Milkshakes. When pressed as to where he got his inspiration, he calmly responded, "What goes better with avocado than bacon?" Hard to argue with that logic.

Inspiration: Bacon Party
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: Blender

Ingredients
3 avocados, peeled and pitted.
1/2 cup of ice
2 tbs sugar
1 cup milk (plus or minus, depending on the consistency you prefer)
Crispy bacon strips for garnish

1. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree.
2. Serve with a sprig bacon (Or you may blend bacon directly into shake)
3. Drink near AED or with phone pre-dialed to 911.

Note: I think I must prefer milk shakes a little more milky and a little sweeter than Colin. So I would add more milk and more sugar.

Sausage Cabbage Soup

The other day when I was at Gartner's (my most favorite meat store in all of Portland), I noticed they had some specialty beer brats made up for the super bowl. While I had no immediate use for them, I couldn't pass up the chance to buy special brats for consumption down the road. So I bought a four banger, and threw them in my freezer for future use.

Flash forward to Tuesday night. I had a hankering for those brats, but I didn't feel like the same old-same old (as much as I love brats, mustard and kraut!). While I was digging in my freezer for the brats, I came across the turkey stock my sister made this past year. Then it hit me. Sausage-cabbage soup would be a perfect alternative way to enjoy the brats. Besides which, special brats and special turkey stock would make one hell of a special soup. And darn if it wasn't one of the tastier ways to eat a brat.

Inspiration: Special brats and special broth
Time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: very large soup pot + a super nice sister that shares her turkey stock with you.

Ingredients:

4 bratwurst sausages (poked with fork or knife a couple of times on all sides)
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 small carrots, diced
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 cup white wine
3 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed into bite sized pieces
8 cups turkey stock (chick broth can substitute)

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add in whole bratwurst and brown on all sides. Remove and let cool. Once cool, cut into 1/2 rounds, and then again in half.
2. In remaining oil and sausage fat, saute onions and carrots and cabbage. After a couple of minutes add herbs and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent.
3. When onions are cooked, deglaze the pan with the white wine. Make sure to do your best to scrape up all of the sausagey goodness on the bottom.
4. Add in potatoes and stock. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve with crusty french baguette

Bacon Party Review

Every year, I co-host a bacon party. It all started when a friend of mine and I thought that given how much people love bacon, we should create a party dedicated to it. So we devised a potluck where everything had to have bacon in it (in some form or another). And because we were naturally competitive people, we felt a competition to see who could make the best bacon dish was in order (complete with bacon prizes).

The first year people were just getting their feet wet. We had mainstays like bacon twice baked potatoes and devils-on-horseback, and we had some creative leaning dishes like bacon apple crisp and bacon bloody marys.

Last year, people were a little more adventuresome. Maple bacon creme brulee, Bacon Baklava and Bacon Pistachio Brittle were all winners. We had nearly 25 bacon dishes in all, and as a result I had a week long bacon hangover. (Coincidentally, this is when the national bacon trend/craze started gaining popularity. I'm sure we started it)

This year, in an effort to direct people's creativity, we provided 5 categories (each with a 5 dish cap) for people to enter. It was amazing what people came up with, and how well the dishes were executed. We even had a couple that are remodeling their kitchen compete (and all they had to make their Bacon Cheddar Soup was a hot plate!). I'm going to see if I can get some of the recipes and I'll import them onto the blog. Until then, I'm happy to take a little hiatus on the bacon (at least until tomorrow night).

Bacon Appetizers:
-Nut filled, bacon topped dried apricots
-Sweet and Spicy Glazed Bacon (WINNER)
-Buffalo Bacon
-Bacon Pierogi
-Bacon Guacamole (two entries)

Bacon Side Dish
-Bacon Dinner Rolls (WINNER)
-Bacon Cheddar Soup
-Bacon Mac and Cheese

Bacon Veggie
-Bacon and Grilled Asparagus Salad (WINNER)
-Bacon Ratatouille
-Bacon Jalapeno Poppers

Bacon Main Dish
-Bacon Wrapped Grilled Shrimp
-Bacon Braised Beef Wellies (WINNER)
-Bacon Explosion

Bacon Desserts:
-Bacon Ice Cream Sandwiches
-Bacon, Chocolate Bread Pudding with a Bacon Creme Anglaise
-Bacon Caramels (WINNER)
-Bacon Sugar Cookies
-Bacon Avocado Milk Shake
-Bacon Caramel Corn

Canadian Bacon, Leek and Gouda Quiche

Real mean don't eat quiche. At least that's what I hear. I don't understand where that came from. As far as I see it, quiche is basically pie. Breakfast pie to be exact. And what real man doesn't like pie for breakfast? Frankly, I might have to personally revoke man cards for men who don't like pie, especially eggy pie with bacon in it. Oh well. More for the rest of us, I guess.

Inspiration: Feeding 15 people for breakfast at the PUFF board retreat
Time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: Pie plate

Ingredients:

1 store bought, uncooked pie shell (If you have time to make your own, then feel free. But this everyday chef picks his battles)
3 large eggs (If you like an eggier custard, then use 4 eggs)
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 leek, cut in half length wise, and then into 1/2" rounds
3-4 slices of thick cut Canadian bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tbs of butter
1 cup Gouda, grated

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper together until frothy.

3. Oven medium heat, saute leeks and Canadian bacon until the leeks are tender.

3. Layer fillings in crust. Veggies and meat on bottom. Cheese on top.

4. Pour custard into pie shell. Bake in center of oven for 45-60 minutes until the crust is golden brown, the custard has set and the cheese is browned on top.

Note: You can change up the fillings anyway you like it. I always recommend a cheese on top though. You can also make ahead of time, freeze the cooled quiche and then reheat in oven just before serving.

Curry Chicken Noodle Soup

My last year in college, I had a hard time finding anyone to live with. I was only going to school October through March and could not find anyone to live with that was willing to let me off the hook for the last 3 months of rent during the school year. So I ended up finding a studio apartment about a mile from campus where I lived alone for 6 months.

It seemed like a great idea at the time, but in hindsight, I am too social a person to live alone. It drove me crazy. At least a couple nights a week, I would find myself at home, around supper time, too tired to be social, too poor to go out and yet needing to find something to do with my time that wouldn't lead to reclusive behavior. Given that I was always hungry, the answer seemed obvious.

On these nights, I would go through my pantry and fuse together pieces of care packages I had received from my mother (pasta, canned tomatoes, curry), my sister (sake, wasabi peas, dried wild mushrooms) and my aunt (chocolate, creole spices, and pecans). I started to learn what flavors heightened others, what techniques produced what results and, very often what didn't work.

One of the few things that I make now that dates back to that time is a curried chicken noodle soup which I developed on a cold, fall night during midterms. It was actually my first success in the kitchen.

Inspiration: Cold, windy winter night
Time: 90 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: Soup pot

Ingredients

2 large Chicken breasts or 8 thighs, washed dried, cubed and seasoned with salt and pepper
Olive Oil
3 large carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 Tbs curry powder
1/2 tsp. Thyme
1/2 tsp. oregano
6 cups chicken broth/stock
2 yukon gold potatoes, cubed
1/2 lb egg noodles
1 cup spinach, chiffonaded

1. In 2 tbs olive oil, brown chicken pieces until cooked. Remove chicken from pot leaving chicken juices in pot. Cook down until it is thick

2. Sauté carrots, celery, onion, garlic, herbs and curry powder in the chicken remains. (add a little olive oil if necessary). Cook until onions are translucent.

3. Slowly add 4 cups of stock while scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze pan. Add potatoes and simmer uncovered until potatoes are cooked.

4. Add remaining stock, chicken and egg noodles.Cook noodles until they are al dente.

To serve, place small handful of spinach at bottom of bowl and pour soup over to wilt spinach. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Beet Salad

My mom doesn't like beets. I don't know why. I find them to be sweet, earthy and go great with a pleasantly smooth texture. My mom thinks they taste like dirt. So I was a little surprised when she agreed to my request to make a roasted beet salad to go with Christmas Eve paella.

Given that I wanted to convert her to the wiser way of eating, I thought I would make a similar dish to the first first beet dish I always enjoyed: oven roasted tossed with goat cheese and drizzled with olive oil. The difference in my dish is that I add fennel to my roasting pan which adds a subtle licorice flavor, and toasted pecans for a bit of texture. While I don't think I've changed her opinion of beets, she did at least finish her plate and feigned the enjoyment of eating them.

Inspiration: Christmas Paella
Time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: flat baking sheet with sides

Ingredients:
4-5 medium sized beets, washed, peeled and cubed into bite sized pieces
2 heads of fennel, tops removed and cubed into bite sized pieces
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp. brown mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
2 oz chevre
1/2 cup, toasted pecans
1/2 cup spinach, sliced thinly

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place baking sheet into oven to warm up with the oven.
2. Mash garlic to a paste with salt, stir in mustard. With a whisk, slowly beat in oil to incorporate.
3. Toss beets and fennel with the garlic-mustard-olive oil mixture and spread on the baking pan that was preheating in the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, tossing once or twice, until beets and fennel is tender. (note, this might take longer depending on your oven)
4. Place the thinly sliced spinach into serving bowl. Remove the beets and fennel onto the spinach, and let cool slightly. Drop in almond sized bits of chevre and the toasted pecans. Toss and serve.

Banana Cream Shanny Face Pie

My what a holiday season. 9 days off from work, 8 inches of snow, 6 cases of beer, 3 cases of wine, 2 relatives in town from over seas and one banana cream Shanny face pie. Whew. No wonder my blog suffered.

I'm going to do my best to make up for my slacking by updating the blog with some of the fantastic things we ate last month. I'm going to start with a dessert that inspired what was one of my favorite moments of holidays and changed the way I will forever look at banana cream pie.

It all started when my sister insisted that I make a banana cream pie to go along with our traditional mince meat pie for Christmas Eve Dessert. I was thinking more in the line of a pecan pie, but she insisted because it is her favorite.

Being the nice brother that I am, I made what she wanted. After a fantastic Paella dinner, I brought out the two beautiful pies and began serving everyone. When it came time to serve my sister, I began to cut a healthy slice. She stopped me and said she only wanted the smallest of slices. Needless to say I was stunned and hurt by this drastic change in events.

My aunt vaulted to my defense, telling me, you know what I would do with that pie if someone said that to me after making such a fuss . On this cue, I pick up the pie and mocked like I was going to shove it into my sister's face. My aunt jumped up and said, "No, WAIT! Let me get my camera first," and dashed out of the room. Seconds later, camera in hand and ready to fire. "Okay. Go ahead," she said.

In hindsight, it wasn't a very nice thing to do, and ultimately it led to the pie being unceremoniously tossed into the trash, but clearly I had no choice. My aunt had thrust me into a precarious corner. I had the pie in my hand, inches away from my sister's face, and a camera poised to capture the event for posterity. I could either put it back on the table and be seen as the nice, albeit cowardly brother, or I could follow through with my promise be recognized as a man of my word. In the end, I buckled under pressure. While I didn't smash the pie into her face, I did gently ease it nose deep onto her shocked face. It wasn't a nice thing to do, but I do feel better about myself having done it.


Inspiration: My ("Everything is about ME") sister
Time: 20 minutes or so to make, 1 hour to chill custard, and overnight for pie to set up
Difficulty: Easy, once you get the hang of making custard
Special Equipment: Medium sized, heavy sauce pan

Ingredients:

Prepared Pie Crust: Either a graham cracker crust or a traditional butter crust
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled, cut crosswise in half

1. Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy medium sauce pan to blend. Gradually whisk in whipping cream and whole milk, then egg yolks. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add vanilla bean.
2. Whisk over medium-high heat until custard thickens and boils, about 6 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Whisk in unsalted butter and vanilla extract. Discard vanilla bean.
4. Transfer custard to large bowl; cool completely, whisking occasionally, about 1 hour.
5. Stir custard to loosen, if necessary. Spread 1 cup custard over bottom of prepared crust. Top with half of sliced bananas, then 1 cup custard, covering bananas completely. Repeat layering with remaining bananas and remaining custard. Chill banana cream pie until filling is set and crust softens slightly, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. Cut pie into wedges and serve.

Winter Spiced Coffee

Amy says she loves every little thing about me with the possible exception of my willingness to tolerate bad coffee. I can live with that. This is about a coffee that even Amy likes and she is p-i-c-k-y. Trader Joe's has a coffee called Wintery Blend. After sampling it at the store, I loved it and I bought a can of it. When I went back to stock up on more, it wasn't on the shelves, so I set about trying to figure out how to make it myself. To be honest, I found the recipe online. So what. It's delicious.

Inspiration: Knocking off TJ Wintery Blend coffee
Time: While the pie heats up
Difficulty: Super Easy
Special Equipment: Bean Grinder

Ingredients:
Whole bean coffee
whole cloves
ground cinnamon
red and/or white peppercorns


The exact amount of spice you’ll need depends not only on your personal tastes, but on how much coffee you brew at a time. I suggest starting with about 3 cloves, 3 or 4 peppercorns and a good sized pinch of cinnamon for 1/2 cup of beans, grinding it all in your coffee grinder and adjusting as necessary. You can make it by the pot or by the pound.