Fancy food: Poulet Saute au Vinaigre

It’s a lot of fun to play ‘fancy’ every once in a while. I don’t get the chance very often, being on a budget and all. However, that doesn’t keep me from illusions of grand dinner parties, where I feed my guests on fine china and everyone gasps in delight at the feast I put before them.

Last week, I celebrated my birthday. I’m old. To make sure this was properly celebrated, I scoured the internet to find the perfect dish that would make me happy, feel decadent, and leave me smacking my fingers. I found this recipe through Reddit, and I was surprised to find that even my mister loved it. It’ll definitely make for an easy date night meal. I hope you enjoy!

 

Poulet au Vinaigre

4 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces

Salt and pepper

½ cup butter

2 tbsp olive oil

6 very ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 cup best-quality red wine vinegar

1 cup chicken stock

1 heaped tbsp chopped parsley

   ·      Season the pieces of chicken simply, with salt and pepper.

   

   ·      Heat the butter and the olive oil until it begins to turn brown. 

   ·      Slowly add the chicken and allow it to fry until the exterior is golden brown all over.

   ·      Add the tomatoes, and keep cooking everything at the same temperature. You will notice that your tomatoes will become darker, and will lose a significant amount of their moisture.

   ·      Pour in the vinegar and allow the mixture to reduce. Allow it to reduce until nearly disappeared. Add your stock, and simmer once again until the liquid reduces by half. This will take a while!

   ·      Add 1 tbsp chopped parsley, and serve immediately. Serve with a simple starch. We chose an easy white rice.

Salad Season: Effortless Orzo salad

Happy Easter, everyone! 

I hope you all had a lovely time with your families. I know my husband and I have been through a whirlwind of activities this spring break, with trips to Mexico, Santa Monica, and even the beach. Finally, today was the culmination of everything: our family Easter gathering. 

It's a tradition: all of the women in my family make ridiculously delicious foods, and everyone binges for hours. This year, as a newly married woman, I was finally included on the cooking crew. I was excited to finally get to show off my kitchen prowess...

and I was asked to bring a salad. *sigh*

Not to be deterred, I was determined to wow with my side dish. I was going to make the best darn salad my family had found. There wasn't going to be any croutons in my greens! 

I went online for fresh, new salads, and found this great orzo salad recipe.  I tweaked it to my family's preferences, doubled it in size to feed the entire crew, and went to work. 

It was a hit. I got compliments (even when I wasn't begging for them). I figured, why not share this one with the world? There's a chance others will be like me, and yearn to be upgraded to hot dishes for their next family gathering. Who knows; maybe this dish will get me up to the big leagues. 

Effortless Orzo Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 pound orzo

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 to 3 red or yellow bell peppers

½ pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 cups chopped baby arugula leaves

2 cups chopped radicchio 

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

• Place your pine nuts in a rimmed sheet and roast them in the oven. Place them on the middle rack for approximately 8 minutes. 

• As your oven heats, cook your orzo in salted water until it's tender. Do not overcook; it's important for the grain to be al dente. Drain, and set aside.

• Dice your garlic finely.

• In a large bowl, combine the garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and oil. Whisk them together. 

• Add the hot orzo to your dressing and toss the grain. Do not add any of the other ingredients together until the orzo has cooled completely. As the grain comes to room temperature, make sure to toss occasionally.

• As your orzo cools, cut your radicchio into thirds, then cut each fourth into bite sized slivers. Separate with your hands. 

•  Slice your bell peppers, and place the slivers into a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.

• Once your peppers start to blacken and soften, pull them from the heat and dice them into bite sized pieces.

• Finally, add your pine nuts, peppers, mozzarella, arugula and radicchio to your orzo. Toss well. 

• Season salad with salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice, if desired. Enjoy!

15-minute Mexican Breakfast: Cheesy Chilaquiles

I don't remember if I've mentioned this, but I'm a total breakfast person. If I could make breakfast every morning (or have someone make it for me), I'd be the happiest person in the world. I love sweet, salty, and savory breakfasts. I love fancy ones. I love simple home-style breakfasts. I'll eat them all with a smile and a cup of coffee. 

With that said, I don't get to eat a nice, home-cooked breakfast unless I have loads of time and fresh ingredients at hand. So I generally have to make do with something fast, like toast and coffee.

This weekend kicked of my spring break. THANK GOD. I need a week of sleeping in, overeating and going out with my husband, who's also taken off most of the week. We began our relaxation with something delicious, comforting and flavorful: chilaquiles.

If you've never had the pleasure, you don't know what you're missing. Chilaquiles are considered a comfort food to Mexicans. You can spice them up, smother them with cheese, and even cover them with chicken, guacamole, or sour cream for additional decadence. They're crispy, but soft because of the egg. They're spicy, but the cheese adds richness. I love them.

I like these because they're so simple to make, and you don't need to have tons of ingredients to go make them. The main ingredient is stale tortillas. If you're planning on making them, just leave some tortillas out for a night or two. Then you'll be well on your way to a great breakfast. 

Cheesy Chilaquiles 

Ingredients
12 stale corn tortillas (if they're fresh, leave them out overnight. Otherwise, your frying time will be extended)
Cooking oil
1 (7.75 oz) can El Pato, a spicy Mexican tomato sauce (If you have fresh salsa, 1 cup can be substituted)
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
4 eggs
1/4 cup white onion, roughly chopped
Seasoned salt

• Cut your tortillas into fourths. My tortillas were very dry, so I simply broke them into pieces.

•  Generously pour your cooking oil into a large sauté pan. Turn your heat to medium high. Once your oil is hot, add the tortillas. You’ll want to be able to coat the tortillas, but not completely submerge them.

• Fry your tortillas until they are a nice golden brown, which should take about 5 minutes. 

Turn them every minute or so to keep everything from burning.

• Remove tortillas and place them a paper towel-lined plate to soak up any excess oil, then remove the majority of your oil and any excess tortilla pieces left in your pan. There is no need to clean it. 

• Re-add your tortillas and onion in the pan, and pour the tomato sauce onto your tortillas. Toss the tortillas to coat them completely, and set your heat to medium-low. Season your sauce covered tortillas with your seasoned salt.

Your onion will cook as the food is tossed and mixed.

• Add your eggs to the pan, and gently toss the tortillas. Continue to cook and mix your tortillas until the "wetness" from the egg is mostly removed, which should be five minutes. Your eggs will take on the appearance of scrambled eggs. Season once again, if necessary.

• Sprinkle the mixture with cheese, and cover your chilaquiles with the pot lid to allow for the cheese to melt. 

• Serve immediately with additional salsa, refried beans, sour cream or guacamole. Enjoy!

Andrea's Easter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Easter’s coming! It’s a great time for many reasons (one of which being that my birthday is near), and for many, this is a time for gathering with family and reflection of one’s faith.

Afterward, you gather, you celebrate, and you eat. If you’re a kid, there’s a high probability that you’ll get to go on an Easter egg hunt. If you’re an adult, there’s an even higher possibility that you’ll steal all of your kids’ good candy.

I wish that I could make homemade candy, but I’m no confectioner. I wish I could make chocolate covered peanut butter eggs like so many wonderful food bloggers. However, I am terrified of chocolate dipping (mostly because I'd probably eat it all before the dipping commenced).

I am however, a cookie person. So I asked myself: what can I do to marry chocolate peanut butter eggs and cookies? I scoured my go-to recipes, and found a great recipe that was perfect. 

It had everything that I was looking for in a cookie - the crumbliness from peanut butter, with the sweet decadence of chocolate. Enjoy this recipe while your kids are out in the yard. It'll be hard to share them otherwise.

Andrea's Easter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (If you don't want crumbly cookies, omit 1/4 cup)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and prepare your pans by lightly greasing them, or by covering them with parchment paper.

• In a medium-sized bowl, blend your butter, peanut butter and sugars until they are smoothly mixed. 

Guess who was annoyed that she didn't get peanut butter?

• Add the egg and mix until fluffy.

The egg adds a great lightness to your batter.

• In another bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Once they are well mixed, begin to slowly add them to your butter batter.

Your batter will be crumbly. That's good. 

• Add the chocolate chips, then cover your dough and stick it in your fridge for at least 30 minutes.

• Drop cookie dough onto your baking sheets in rounded teaspoons. Bake for 10-12 minutes. (Note: please don't overcook these cookies. Since they're light, they WILL taste like char.)

• Enjoy!

An Easy Tomato Cream Pasta with only 10 Ingredients

Creamy tomato sauces are a weakness of mine. I love the silkiness that comes from the cheese and cream, and indulge in the slight acidity that comes from the tomatoes. As I’ve already admitted, my husband loves himself some great saucy noodles, so when I found this recipe, I had to give it a shot.

There’s no way a recipe for something so good should be so easy, right?

Wrong.

I have to say: this is a simple, fast, delicious recipe that can be made in the middle of the week, and leave you plenty of time for relaxing and patting your full belly. My adaptation allows for large pieces of tomato to mix in with the sauce, allowing for extra bursts of flavor throughout the meal. I hope you like it as much as we did.

Easy Tomato Cream Pasta

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil of your choice

2 tablespoons butter

½ medium onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (15 ounce each) crushed or cubed tomatoes

 Salt and pepper, to taste

 Dash of sugar

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1-1/2 pound pasta of your choice

Instructions

• Cook the pasta of your choice according to package directions. Drain the noodles, but make sure that you reserve 1 cup of the pasta water for later. 

• In a large pan, heat your butter and oil over a medium heat.

• Once the butter has begun to melt, add the diced onions and garlic. Sautee them for a minute or so, letting them become translucent they will be very aromatic.

 

Watch to keep your garlic from overcooking and burning.

• Pour in the tomatoes and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir the ingredients every few minutes or so to keep them from sticking.

 

I chose diced tomatoes.

• Lower the heat to lowest setting and stir in cream.

• Add the Parmesan cheese, and check the seasonings to make sure the flavor is still where you want it. If you feel the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved water.

 

If you don't like too much cheese, you can always hold off. I couldn't. 

• Stir in pasta and and serve immediately. We chose to serve ours with a piece of grilled chicken breast and my garlic knots. It was a feast. 

Garlic knots in under 30 minutes

My husband is a pasta fiend. He is perfectly happy eating spaghetti, lasagna, and ravioli every meal of every day. With that said, I happily indulge him. I’m all for a good plate of carbs.

Of course, nothing completes a plate of pasta like a delicious garlic bread on the side. Normally I just run to the grocery store to buy bread and throw it in the oven to toast it, but this time, I tried to make my own garlic butter knots.

The recipe, which I adapted to my own tastes, makes a batch of delicious rolls that pairs with pastas in red, white and blush sauces. If you’re like me, and are only just starting to make bread with yeast, this is the way to start. Enjoy!

Garlic knots

1/4 cups butter

1 cup milk

2 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

3 – 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• Preheat your oven to 400 F, then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

• In a small saucepan, melt your butter. 

• When the butter is nearly melted, stir in the milk. You’ll want to stir the mixture until it reaches just above body temperature.

• Add yeast and honey to a large mixing bowl. 

• Once the milk mixture is at the right temperature, add it to the yeast and honey. Stir the mixture completely, and allow the mixture to stand for 10 minutes until it becomes foamy.

• Add the salt and egg to your batter, and stir until combined.

• Start adding your flour by adding an initial 2 ½ cups of flour to the mix.

• Slowly add your remaining flour until dough cleans the sides of the bowl.

• Knead your dough for about 5 minutes.

• Lay out your dough, and shape your dough into a long rectangle, slicing the dough into 12 strips.

Try to keep the strips as even as possible for uniformity.

• With lightly floured hands, shape each dough strip into a knot, and place the dough on prepared baking sheet.

• Cover the knots and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

• Bake for about 9-12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

As you wait for your knots to bake, it’s time to make your garlic butter.

Garlic Butter for topping

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

3-4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

• Stir together your ingredients for garlic butter.

• After removing the rolls from the oven, brush each knot with your garlic butter, and enjoy.