This is for Karen G and Jenny G: Quick Recipe

The other day at work, I was chastised, scrutinized...almost ostracized for posting recipes that were said to be too "time consuming".  I mean, I am busy.  I have a full-time job, and as my mother always would say, "I don't sit at home, eating chocolates and smoking cigarettes" and planning dinner menus.  (Okay, to be honest, I do sit at home, eating chocolates and sometimes planning extravagant dinner menus.)  That's besides the point...I do work a lot, have two needy dogs and a neurotic cat, so there are many times I have less than an hour to plan and make dinner, and here is a fool-proof, go-to recipe!

Goat cheese and basil roasted chicken breast

4 Split chicken breast, skin-on, bone-in
6 oz Herberd goat cheese (or around 6 oz)
8 nice-sized basil leaves
Olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place chicken on a baking sheet covered with foil.  Loosen skin from meat of chicken, leaving one side intact.  Divide goat cheese into 4 pieces and smear on top of meat, under chicken skin.  Place basil leaves on top of goat cheese and replace skin.  Rub olive oil over each piece of chicken and sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper.  Cook for 35-30 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!



A YUMMY way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!!

Here's a fun, yummy way to celebrate St. Patty!  Bo and I rented a movie set in Ireland Saturday night, so we decided to make an Irish-themed meal to go with it.  I modified the Beef and Guinness Pie recipe originally published in Gourmet (October 2004) and found on epicurious.com.

Beef and Guinness Pot Pie

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, sliced into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup beef broth
1 cup Guinness
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons drained brined green peppercorns, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
Pie Crust (I use Pillsbury)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water

Directions:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Pat beef dry.  Put flour, salt and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag.  Add beef, shake to coat, then transfer to a plate.  Heat oil in a wide 5- to 6-quart ovenproof heavy pot over moderately high heat until just smoking, then brown meat in 3 batches, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch, transferring to a bowl.
 Add onion, carrots, garlic and water to pot and cook, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pot and stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  Stir in beef with any juices accumulated in bowl, broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns, and thyme and bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven.  Braise until beef is very tender and sauce is thickened, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.  Cool stew completely, uncovered, about 30 minutes.  If stew is warm while assembling pies, it will melt uncooked pastry top.  (To speed up this process, I let the soup cool for 8-10 minutes and then filled my sink with ice water and placed pot in it.  It reduced the cooling time substantially.)
Put a cookie sheet on middle rack of oven and increase oven temperature to 425°F.
Divide cooled stew among bowls.  (You can use ramekins or any oven-safe dish.  I used a Le Creuset oval gratin dish and a bread pan).  Roll out pie crust dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into shape(s) of your chosen dish, adding an extra inch around for trim.  Stir together egg and water and brush a 1-inch border of egg wash around baking dishes.  Drape dough over dishes, pressing sides lightly to help adhere.  Roll edges of dough up to make a pretty border.  (At this point, I put one of them in the freezer for a quick meal down the road ;).  Brush pastry tops with some of remaining egg wash, sprinkle with Kosher salt and pepper and freeze 15 minutes to thoroughly chill dough. 
Bake pies in preheated cookie sheet until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 400°F and bake 5 minutes more to fully cook dough.

Chocolate Guinness Goodness (Pudding)

from epicurious.com

Ingredients:
8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
One 14.9-ounce can Guinness Draught
3 cups heavy cream
7 ounces high-quality bittersweet (70 to 72% cacao) chocolate, finely chopped
Special equipment: Six 8-ounce old-fashioned glasses

Directions:
In large nonreactive mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
Open can of Guinness and slowly pour into 4-cup measuring cup, pouring down side of cup to reduce foaming.  Pour half of Guinness (about 7/8 cup) into heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan.  Add 2 1/4 cups cream and whisk to combine.  Set over medium heat and heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbles just begin to form at edges.  Remove from heat, add chocolate, and whisk until smooth.
Slowly pour hot chocolate mixture into eggs, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.  Return mixture to saucepan and set over moderately low heat.  Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and coats back of spoon, about 15 minutes.  (Pudding will look separated.)  Pour into blender and blend on high for 1 minute.  Divide pudding among glasses, leaving at least 1 inch of space at top of each.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and set.
Meanwhile, pour remaining Guinness into small saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 20 minutes.  Pour syrup into small bowl and let cool.
Beat remaining cream until soft peaks form.  Add Guinness syrup and beat until combined.  Divide cream among 6 glasses of pudding and serve.

St. Patty's Day is almost here

I LIKE St. Patrick's day.  Notice I didn't say love.  It seems to me that some people are just obsessed with March 17th, and they look forward to it for months.  I just haven't ever been into the whole green clothes, green beer, green teeth thing.  There have been many times I haven't even known it was St. Patty's day until I was pinched.  So, today at work, we got to talking about the 17th and our plans, etc.  I asked if anyone knew why we acknowledge the day.  No one could really give a good answer other than celebrating Irish heritage.  So, curiosity got the best of me and I did a little research.  Here it is in brief: St. Patrick (b. 387) was among the first Christian missionaries in Ireland.  After escaping slavery in Ireland, St. Patrick studied the priesthood in Britain.  Following his ordination as a bishop, he returned to Ireland to share the gospel.  In his message, St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the trinity.  He devoted his entire life to preaching the gospel while having to live in poverty and endure much suffering. He died in Ireland on March 17, 461. 
So, there you have it.  March 17th is not about green beer, silly clothing or getting drunk.  What has become one of the most popular drunken days of the year was originally meant to be a celebration of the life of a pious man and his love for Christ.  (Not to get on my soapbox, but with all these people trying to make the Christmas season into Happy Holidays...let's hope the day we are supposed to celebrate the birth of Christ does not take this turn.)
If you are going to celebrate this Saint, make it be only a beer or two, and send a toast and prayer of thanks up to those missionaries who have gone before us and lead the way so that we may be able to know the love and goodness of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Morning's Pleasures

Saturday mornings are for eating.  They are for kissing and eating.  They are for sleeping, kissing and eating.  I can't wait to spend tomorrow's morning with Bo.
As everyone is probably tired of hearing, Bo and I rarely get to wake up together.  And as he is about to start a month of nights, it is going to be a long time until I get to snuggle with my bunny again.  I am going to take full advantage of tomorrow and sleep, kiss and eat as much as I can.  Last weekend I tried a new scone recipe and thought it turned out rather well.  It was a merging of a couple recipes I found, one from Bon Appetit and one from Ina Garten.  I loved the idea of a salty and sweet pastry from the original recipe, but didn't have the two hours that it called for.  So, this is what I came up with.

QUICK BACON AND DATE SCONES
4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1/2 cup small-diced dates
1/2 cup small-diced bacon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In the meantime, fry bacon on a griddle or skillet until still tender and not crisp.  Once cooked, place bacon on papertowels to drain excess grease.  Reserve bacon grease in a heatproof container.  You will use it later in the recipe.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 4 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour and butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss the dates and bacon with 1 tablespoon of flour, add them to the dough, and mix quickly. The dough may be a bit sticky.
Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into squares with a 4-inch plain or fluted cutter, and then cut them in half diagonally to make triangles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops with reserved bacon grease. Sprinkle with demetra sugar (or any sugar) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and the insides are fully baked.

Italian Hamburgers

I am trying to branch out a little as far as my cooking goes.  I am a bit embarrassed to admit it...and I am assuming the people who read my blog are my non-judging friends, but...I FOLLOW RECIPES!!!  Oh the shame, the horror!  As much as I like to think of myself as a creative force in not only the kitchen but life in general, I sometimes find it hard to stray outside of the lines when it comes to cooking.  Now, don't get me wrong, you must closely follow BAKING recipes.  However, when it comes to cooking, one must be gently pushed out of the recipe nest and make their own mark on dishes.  What can I say?  I have always been a late bloomer.
Let me get to my point...this weekend, I tried to create a Shelby-ized burger recipe.  I found inspiration from a picture in my Bon Appetit magazine (March 2011) and then researched a bit on the web for things I thought would compliment my thoughts.  I found recipes from Food Network, Ina Garten and Bobby Flay.  After all this, I came up with a delicious (at least in my opinion) Italian Hamburger.  There are several steps and different recipes, but all are very easy and quick. 

Hamburger patti, patty, pattie
1 lb ground chuck (my butcher said it is a sin to use anything leaner)
Worcester sauce to taste
1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Season the meat with all the remaining ingredients. Gently mix (fluff) with fork.  (When working with ground meat, it is very important to not over mix, which can make it tough.)  Divide meat into four portions.  Gently form the meat into patties and make a thumbprint in the middle of each.  (This helps the meat to keep its shape while cooking.  If you didn't do this, the middle of the burger ends up much thicker than the outside).  Grill the burgers to desired doneness.  For the best texture and taste, I recommend medium, which will be pink in the center.

Parmesan Chips
1 C shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tsp flour

Mix cheese and flour in bowl.  Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add a 1/4 C of cheese mixture to skillet and let cook until light brown on bottom.  With a spatula, flip cheese and cook on other side for 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Transfer to plate to cool.

Roasted Tomatoes (from Ina Garten)
6 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, cores and seeds removed

2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper over the tomatoes. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are concentrated and beginning to caramelize. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Fra Diavolo Ketchup (adapted from recipe of Bobby Flay)
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp red chile flakes
3/4 C ketchup
2 tsp finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil leaves

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the ketchup, heat the oil in a small nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and chile flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add the ketchup and oregano and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar and basil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Basil Mayonnaise (adapted from Ina Garten)
1 C mayonnaise

10 to 15 basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp good olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic

Whisk together the mayonnaise, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic.


ASSEMBLY OF BURGER!!!! 
Now for the moment of truth:
Take hamburger bun (I used a very soft one with no sesame seeds) and spread Fra Diavolo sauce on top bun and Basil Mayo on bottom bun.  Place hamburger pattie on bottom bun, Parmesan crisp on top of that, then roasted tomato, and top with arugula.  Put top bun on...and EAT!!!!!!!  So delish!