After dinner we  headed over to the ice rink to see the local hockey team play the Albany team. It turns out that Portland is losing their Buffalo sabres farm team- I feel dissapointed now…and that was my only time seeing them! Go Sabres- with or without their awesome Portland team!  And while we didn’t know that info while we ate, we had a pretty happy meal and lots of different dishes came to the table of 7. Check em out below.

This was one of the appetizers- a  vegetable roll wrapped with rice paper. It had very many vegetables…so many it didn’t really taste that good. There was a nice hint of mint though and that seemed kind of odd….

Here was the second appetizer- some vegetable dumplings. I didn’t have one, (trying to save room for dinner) but everyone else liked them very much. There was a second order of these (beef I believe?) and those were more readily received than the vegetable…

Here was my pho! Well KT’s and my pho. Go see this picture she took of me while I split the portion into two bowls! I think this is the second time I have ever had pho- because this was a vietnamese/thai restaurant and Ned said he would be having pho in Baltimore that same night, it made me want to try it again (since the first time was in 2004 in LA??) I was thankful that it turned out to be a good decision. The broth was so tasty and I really liked the scallions and rice noodles. The beef which you can’t really see in my above picture was pretty grey looking but tasted nice and soft and fresh!

Here were some sprouts, thai basil, lime and jalapenos that the waitress brought over for us to add to our pho. Katie and I both loved being able to doctor up our soup. And I added lots of that stuff and sriracha! (which made it pretty hot and when E decided to drink the rest of my broth, knocked him off of his feet! Ha!)

Here was roomate A’s chicken and shrimp pad thai. (who let me take her bed! Thank you sweet A!) This thai restaurant uses alot of peanut in their pad thai and I think that contributed to increasing the sweetness of the dish. Not the best pad thai I’ve ever had (Thai restaurant in Waverly is my standard I guess…) but it wasn’t bad at all. 

The other part of my meal was this chicken salad. It had a lot of nice veggies (cucumber, red onion, carrot) but the chicken mixture was kind of sandy feeling in my mouth. I ate most of it, but couldn’t shake the weird texture of the dish. I would stick to the pho next time!

All in all, this was a nice homey place to gather with a bunch of our friends. The waitress was very attentive and it seemed to be a family run show, so that was nice that we could support a small business like that. I can’t wait to see more of Kate’s thai adventures to see who wins in the end!

The other two tasty things in my granola are the raisins and slivered almonds. The raisins help to keep the digestive track going (sorry Ned, Laurita and Jen… ) and the almonds are a very healthy nut. See the recipe below!

I quadruple this recipe when I make it (and this past Monday night was the third batch I have made this year!) I omit the hazelnuts and cherries though to save a little dough and add more slivered almonds and raisins.

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract ( I also add the contents of one vanilla bean to it!)
1/3 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup whole hazelnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I used my silpats and they worked good too).

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla (+bean). Whisk until completely combined. (Whisking doesn’t really work…stirring with big spatula worked better for me).

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture. (This is the fun part! and then you get to lick your hands! huzzah!)

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins and cherries over the granola…

and use your hands to transfer it to an airtight container.

Now go stuff your face with some health food.

Here is a shot of some of my tamales, they were awesome (and I don’t care one bit how much I am bragging about it!) They took about 3 hours to make from start to finish and I can’t wait until I have another big get together so I can make them for the rest of my friends!! Now go over to our CBC blogsite and see the rest of our great Mexican fare.

We always get the pizza of the year 2008 – the cipolla (red onion confit, mozzerella, pancetta and ricotta) and it is just to die for! We also got some salads and three other pizzas so go for the jump and check it out!

Here is their chalkboard menu- I love chalkboards… can’t wait to have my own kitchen to incorporate one myself! I love the way they word things too, as evinced by the Be Nice and below with the That’s Sea Salt Idiot! Hahahha. And how cool is that? Sea salt on the table, which mysteriously looks like parmesan.

Here’s the first of the pizzas that came to our table of 7- the Anatra- (roasted duck, blue cheese, asparagus, red onion, and mozzerella).  I didn’t actually get to try this, but I recollect that everyone really likes it because of the decadent roasted duck!

And a lovely antipasto also came to the table- totally adorable and tasted as good as it looks! I stole some of the asparagus and that was tasty. I wish Ned and I could have that plate as an appetizer for dinner most days… reminds me of good times in Italy.

Here’s a crazy picture I took while fooling around with my camera settings. Iggie’s has a nice string of lights in their front window (where we were sitting) and it gives such a nice glow to the tables right there!

Here was my friend Megan’s salad- not the greatest picture but she liked it alot! It was the Iggie’s salad (baby spinach, goat cheese, mushrooms and a warm pancetta dressing). I had a bite and the dressing was so good with the spinach and cheese!

Here was my salad that I ordered- the sesamo- field greens, seasonal veggies, pine nuts and a sesame dressing. I loved the pine nuts and chickpeas in it.

So here is that pizza I was raving about. The cipolla- it’s basically a pizza orgasm – if you could imagine such a thing. Although after each two pieces (we were discussing at the table) your tastebuds get overwhelmed and its best to switch to something else! The sweet onion and salty pancetta are just the best combination. The crust is perfectly salted and has the right thickness to hold up the pizza but to not make it a huge thing of bread with toppings!

Luckily we had two other options to go to after our tastebuds got satiated! First was the pizza of the month- the salomino- a combination of sorpressata, tomato ragu, and smoked mozzerella. I loved how the grape tomatoes burst in your mouth and the smoked cheese had great flavor too.

Lastly, was the pizza of the year 2009- the diavola- hot sausage, tomato ragu, 4 cheeses, olives and hot peppers. They were right! This pizza was hot! Really full of spicy flavor and full of meaty things. I would call this the meat lovers pizza of Iggie’s and all the boys loved it. My favorite will always be the cipolla, but my cousin Scotty also really likes the verdura fresca and the pera saporita, so next time we go I’m going to have to revisit those goodies again!

All in all, come to Iggie’s if you want a low key evening with a bunch of your best buddies for wining and dining in a relaxed and cool environment. And they let you bring dogs too! (so keep that in mind!)

He continued cooking the cool stuff cause he loved it and so he would in that teeny kitchen in the Broadview and I would sit on my computer and read Perez Hilton,etc and then I would complain about how this or that tasted weird… But then we went to Paris and my whole vision of good food changed. I realized I should open my eyes and be excited about anything and everything that is presented to me on a plate. When we got back I got several cookbooks (Ina, Tyler Florence, and the new best recipe) and so my cooking started to improve because of being inspired by those recipes.

But then we took a nice long break about two years ago and I realized I could entertain my girlfriends and family by spending endless awesome hours in the kitchen concocting delicious things to bring smiles to their faces. And this is how my blog got started- as a way to document my trials and tribulations with baking and cooking. So now that he’s back and here for good- spending endless hours in the kitchen with him is something I absolutely love. I remember that first year of cooking together we made osso bucco and the marrow freaked me out. I was trying to think of something decadent and complicated to make him for his birthday and came back to that idea- so here we go Round 2 Osso Bucco!

Well I don’t know if you can tell, but the osso bucco got pretty scorched in the oven. I used this recipe from Mario Batali and my new le creuset and then stuck it in the oven with a teeny little crack of the lid uncovering the pot and 2.5 hours later when we came back, poof black pot and some blackened food! grrrrrr. Should have left the lid on tight and probably not slow cooked at 375 deg. Seriously Mario? 375?? Anyways, it was still pretty edible for dinner and Ned said it was even better the next day for leftovers. I did eat the marrow this time too and it still kinda freaked me out. I spread it on sourdough and its just too gamey for my taste! Now on to the two dishes that actually shined on Saturday night.  First off- mushroom risotto made with homemade mushroom stock and maitake mushrooms and shaved truffle pieces!

This mushroom risotto was Ned’s pet project all week. He made the stock from the french laundry recipe and then we froze a nice sized truffle inside the stock. He got three types of mushrooms to cook in it at Whole Foods and then we tried to shave pieces of the truffle to garnish on top, but it was too wet and so we ended up just cutting it thinly. The rest of the remains of the soggy truffle were used to make a flavored butter! And I used some of that to make his breakfast (see below).

And here was my fun project for the afternoon- well actually it only took like 30 minutes to do! Profiteroles using Ina’s recipe. What we realized after making and eating these, is that they are really glorified ice cream sandwiches, and boyyyy do I love ice cream sandwiches. They really are so easy to make and look and taste spectacular. The best part is actually the chocolate sauce- which I made with about 2 oz of bacon chocolate, 2 oz of dark chocolate, 1/4 cup milk (melted together) and then a dash of coffee and a dribble of some honey. Superb!

Lastly, is Ned’s breakfast from yesterday morning- eggs in a hole. We got some nice sourdough from Atwater’s and so I cut a heart shape out of one of the slices and then fried an egg sunny side up and voila! Adorable valentine’s birthday breakfast!

Man, I sure do love this boy. I love how much fun it is to be goofy and cook with him in the kitchen and I love how well we eat together! Now if this snow would just get melted, we can start going outside to do our other favorite activity- hikes by the Gunpowder river!

We bought some nice free range chicken breasts (it felt weird not getting the ones with skin- cause I feel like skinless boneless breasts are just a little too easy for TK!) and paired them with our standard sauteed spinach with a roasted garlic head. We have been eating that side now for about 3 weeks straight and have not tired from it! Healthy – fast – and delicious– what more could you ask? Go for the jump and see the recipe for the chicken.

Ingredients:
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp yellow curry powder
6 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt
canola oil
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp minced shallot
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp coarsely chopped tarragon, plus one tbsp tarragon leaves
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Mix the paprika and curry powder in a small bowl. Season the breasts on both sides with the mixture. Cover and refridgerate for 2 hours (or 30 minutes, 1 day and 2 days like we did last week!)

Lay 2 pieces of chicken on a large piece of plastic wrap, cover with a second piece and, using a meat pounder, pound to about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg F. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet.

Season the chicken on both sides with salt. Heat some canola oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Working in batches, without crowding, add the chicken to the pan (smooth side down) and cook, adjusting the heat if necessary, until the bottom is golden brown, 1 – 1.5 minutes. Turn to the second side and cook until golden, another 1 to 1.5 minutes. Transfer to the rack and keep warm in the oven. Add oil to the pan as needed as you cook the remaining chicken.

Pour any remaining oil from the pan and wipe out burned bits. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter over medium high heat. Add the shallot to the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 30 seconds, swirling the pan to coat the shallow with the butter. Pour in the wine, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the wine has reduced by half, about 1 minute. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and cook until slightly reduced and thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped tarragon, the remaining 2 tbsp butter and any juices that have accumulated on the baking sheet and swirl to melt the butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange the chicken on a platter, pour the sauce over it, and garnish with the tarragon leaves.

I really loved making the sauce for this meal, felt very Julia Child esque and very simple and satisfying.  The paprika and curry powder brought suuuuuuch good flavor. I love the way curry powder smells when you are heating it up. Amazing. We will definitely make this chicken again- it is so nice to finally have a simple skinless boneless chicken breast recipe that actually has flavor!

And whattdyaaaa know? He very much enjoyed them! And Ned had a couple of them too over the weekend and he liked them also! (and Ned is not the one to search out sweets at all!) I think this Baked cookbook is finding the way to their hearts via sugar!  The decision to make these was made before we discovered that we only had 1.75 cups of oats left in the cupboard!? I used the whole lot making Baked granola (that recipe to come soon!) So us nerdy math/science geeks figured out how to divide the recipe in 3 which can certainly be risky when it comes to baking, but hallelujah- they turned out great! And to up the ante a bit, we got Reese’s Pieces to give some extra peanut butter deliciousness.

Monster Cookies
adapted from Baked and when we did it, we cut the recipe in 3 and used 2 eggs!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
5 ¾ cups rolled oats
¾ cups (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
¼ tsp light corn syrup
¼ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chunky peanut butter
1 cup (6 ounces) milk or semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup (6 ounces) M&M’s (Reese’s Pieces instead!)

Directions:
In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add the oats and stir until combined.

In the bowl of electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and pale in color. Add the sugars and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

Scrape down bowl and add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth (about 20 seconds) and scraping down bowl after each edition. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Scrape down bowl and add peanut butter. Mix on low speed until just combined, add the oat mixture in three additions, mixing on low speed until just incorporated. (You don’t have to do all this bowl scraping if you use the new Beater Blade that scrapes the bowl while it mixes and works like a charm!)

Use a spatula or wooden spoon and fold in the chocolate chips and M&M’s. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate for 5 hours. (I did it for and 1 ½ and they were still delicious)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use ice cream scoop to scoop out dough into 2- tablespoon size balls on two baking sheets – 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes (mine took about 15-17), rotating pans halfway through baking time. Let cool on pans for 8-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!

This soup is very tasty and very satisfying, and makes a ton! Wonder if it would work for freezing and reheating when needed?!? The chiles in adobo give it really good deep flavor, the red cabbage (added right before you eat it) gives a nice texture contrast, and the tons of vegetables and lean proteins make it uber healthy! God I love Mexican flavors! Can’t wait for this Saturday when I am hosting cookbook club and we are cooking Diana Kennedy’s food! Tamales here we come! Well cookbook club did not happen today, but a lot of other tasty things are being made in the kitchen during the snowpocalypse II! Hope everyone has something nice and warm like this soup to chow on today.

Here’s our beautiful organic roasted chicken. God there is nothing better than roasted chicken.

Here are the delicious and nutritious ingredients!

Ingredients:

See above list at the top!

Directions:

1) Rinse chicken and pat reallllly dry. Season with salt and pepper. Roast chicken at 425-450 (depending on how smokey your oven will get when very hot) for 45 minutes or until the liquid between the thigh meat and the body of the chicken goes clear when you cut into it.  Once chicken is cooked and cooled a bit, pull the meat off of it and pull the meat into little pieces.

2) Peel carrots, dice them up and cut up celery, onion and peppers (removing seeds).  Save the top/ greenery of the celery! Heat up a couple tablespoons of oil and saute all of those veggies for about 10 minutes until soft. Add minced garlic and saute that for 30 seconds until fragrant.

3)Pour in big chicken stock, big can of black beans, big can of diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup of chiles in adobo (also cut up), the chicken meat, and a lot of minced cilantro! Now I’ve been using Kitchen Basics no sodium chicken stock, so I added probably two tablespoons of salt at the end. Let the whole thing simmer for 2 hours and then I put it in the fridge (after cooling) and let the flavors meld all night.

4) To serve, cut up some red cabbage and add that to the soup. Also spoon in a dollop of light sour cream and top with some fresh cilantro! This soup made enough serving for 3 people for about 4 nights! Although you might get sick of it after eating it for 4 days, it has a really great flavor and so many really nutritious ingredients.

Thank you auntie for inspiring me to make this soup and hope you are coping with weather insanity!

Here is our Company Pot Roast stewing on the stovetop and getting ready to go into the oven! We used Ina’s recipe and it was pretty good. We also had some caramelized onion toasts, a nice salad with blue cheese, pears, and walnuts, and finished it off with the nanaimo bars + some Breyer’s vanilla with reduced sugared Guinness!

Here is one of our beef chuck roasts, grass fed, all tied up beautifully. I was really happy we could find an organic kind of this cut of beef so we jumped on it, even though it was almost twice the price of the non-organic. I then seared each of these and got them nice and brown. Here’s Jesica with our whole pot stewing! We used carrots, onions, garlic, celery, parnsips and fingerling potatoes in addition to the meat. Such tasty vegetables and they are perfect for stewing!

Here was our appetizer- a Tyler Florence recipe. I made these once before for my Mom’s birthday meal last fall and they went over well. So I figured they would be great for this gathering. The caramelized onions are awesome and the nicoise olives and shaved parmesan are just icing on the cake! Basically a cross between a pissaladiere and french onion soup!

Next is our yellowy looking salad! I made my classic french dressing (dijon, red wine vinegar, evoo, s&p and truffle oil) and paired that with spring mix, pears, toasted walnuts and gorgonzola cheese! Those ingredients are always a great combination and that truth was still evident!

Here is the beef and vegetables with that nice silky sauce. The sauce comes from pulverizing half of the vegetables/stock in a blender and then adding it back into the mix. Very nice way to have two good textures with good flavor. It’s interesting because I usually think Ina’s recipes are foolproof, awesome and full of flavor, but I thought this sauce needed something else. I’m guessing that it needed some heat, some red pepper flakes or something! I guess I’m used to the sauce from this braised beef short ribs recipe which uses spicy Wegman’s Asian barbecue sauce. So the next time this recipe comes up in my kitchen I’m going to play around with the heat factor!

Lastly, dessert! My daring baker’s challenge was paired with Breyer’s vanilla bean ice cream and some Guinness stout that Jes reduced with some sugar! I think the Guinness needed more sugar, because it tasted pretty bitter still, but then again the nanaimo bar was really freaking sweet so it basically all balanced out!

Ingredients:
1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour
Good olive oil
2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 chicken bouillon cube
3 branches fresh thyme
2 branches fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.
Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.

All in all, it was a very fun night! I love cooking with Jesica and I love making delicious food for my friends and seeing their mouths go mmmmmm when they take  a bite!

Here is a shot of one of the mocktails that we made for our evening. Since I am trying to lose weight and two other ladies can’t drink for health reasons- going alcohol free was a welcome change to our cookbook club evening. Alayne’s creative drink used these dried hibiscus flowers! They were so creepy/awesome looking! Now go over to the Cookbook club blog and check out some pictures and a recipe!