Bread & Butter

E's Chili

2012-01-28T19:47:00.002-05:00

I've been making my chili for years... but I've never written it down, just made it over and over from memory. So now it's official and I'm sharing my secret recipe with you!

Time: 15 mins prep, and 6+ hours to stew (Start around noon and it will be perfect by the time you are ready to eat dinner.)

Feeds: Your whole family or a loving couple with days of leftovers.

Slice your steak into small cubes (I tend to leave most of the fat on the steaks. It melts while stewing and gives a good flavor to the chili.)
Brown steak cubes in med-high skillet (with about 1 TB olive oil in your skillet to keep steaks from sticking.) Spoon out any grease/liquids from skillet in mid cook to keep up a good sear and reduce the greasiness of your chili.
Brown sausage. Spoon out any grease/liquids from skillet when finished to reduce the greasiness of your chili.
Drain and rinse kidney beans.
Into the pot mix: kidney beans, browned steak, browned sausage, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and the juices, chili seasoning, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, minced onions, and S&P.
Using the tomato cans pour in about 2 cans of water enough to cover the meat and beans, and stir. (I like my chili soupy, but if you could use 1 can of water if you like your's thicker.)
Recycle your cans!
Stew for at least 6 hours, the longer it stews the better it gets. In a crock pot: cook on high about for 4 hours and then put it down on low for the last 2+ hours. On the stove: bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to med-low (or setting 3) to let simmer for about 3 hours, and then put it down to low (or setting 2) for the remaining 3+ hours.
Stir occasionally while cooking.

I love chili, bowl after bowl of chili. AH, I'm SO FULL now... This chili is really great, although I may be a little bias since it's my own recipe. The sausage adds such great flavor, and the steak is so tender it just melts as you chew.
Give it a try and tell me what you think! :D

Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms & Cream Sauce

2012-01-20T21:51:00.003-05:00

Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons & sauce à la crème

"Most of the famous French Dishes involving filet of sole center around fish poached in white wine and coated with a lovely, creamy sauce made from the poaching liquid." - Julia Child

Say no more Julia... throw it over some pasta and I'm in! Tonights dish was very easy, although when I was reading through the recipe and got to the 'Butter brown paper' part, I was wondering if it was going to more difficult than I first anticipated. But it wasn't... just a few simple steps & in about 15 mins you'll be eating dinner.

Step 1: Preheat oven at 350°, and get a large pot of water started for the angel hair pasta.

Step 2: Toss sliced mushrooms and minced shallots in 1 Tb hot butter over medium heat for a few minutes until browned, then seasoning with S&P.
Step 3a: Cover the bottom of your baking dish with half of the mushrooms/shallots.
Step 3b: Layer your seasoned (S&P) sole filets over the top, and then cover with the remaining mushrooms/shallots.

Step 4: Pour about 1 cup of simmering white wine over the fish (to barely cover your fish) and then cover it all with buttered brown paper to poach.
Step 5: Cook in the oven at 350° for about 10 minutes.
Step 6: After the fish has poached in the oven, remove the brown paper and place a lid over the dish to pour the poaching liquid into a small sauce pan. (Or... have your boyfriend do it so you don't burn yourself. :D Thank you David!) Keep the fish & mushrooms in your baking dish.
- Add your angel hair pasta to your boiling water now... it cooks about 5 minutes so it will be done right about the same time as your fish.

Step 7: Boil to reduce the poaching liquid to about 1 cup & briefly remove from the heat for step 8.

Step 8: Blend 2.5 Tb of flour with 3 Tb of soft butter (and I ended up added about 2 Tb oregano to the blend as well) & beat into the liquid, then mix in 1/2 cup of whipping cream.

Step 9: Place back onto the heat & bring to a boil. Thin out the sauce by slowly pouring about a tablespoon or two of cream. (And I add one more Tb of butter after.)

Step 10: Season to taste with S&P and drops of lemon juice.

Step 11: Spoon the cream sauce over the fish & sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of Swiss cheese. Top with 2 Tb cubed butter and place under the broiler for 3 to 4 minutes to slightly brown the sauce.

And serve... it's yummy! I tend to think of fish as a light dinner but with the pasta and the cream sauce, it was a very hearty meal.

Julia's recipe called for 2.5 lbs of sole. I ended up using about 2 lbs, and I still thought it was a little bit too much fish. I modified your ingredients list to 1 lbs because I think that would have been then perfect amount. She also said not to brown the mushrooms in the recipe... which I followed, but since the dish doesn't cook very long they were not as soft as I prefer my mushrooms. I modified these steps to brown the mushrooms, I think they would have been much better if they were a little bit softer. But you can make that call depending on how you like your mushrooms. :D

(Recipe courtesy of Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vol. 1)

Bang-Bang Shrimp

2012-01-13T22:57:00.005-05:00

A few weeks back, I found a homemade Bang-Bang Shrimp recipe on Pinterest. And for those of you who've been to Bonefish, probably know exactly what I'm talking about, YUM-MMY! I thought today would be a perfect time to take a little break from Julia's French cooking and go Asian for the night. Courtesy of a fellow foodie, FakeGinger, I made her Bang-Bang Shrimp(click here for the recipe).

The menu:

Bang-Bang shrimp
Zucchini & bell pepper stir-fry
With oven-baked rice

I'm not sure if it was just the long week at work, but I entered the kitchen slightly stressed. I wish I poured myself a glass of wine before I started cooking, cause after all it is Friday night, but I didn't... Even though I know my way around a kitchen, I couldn't get in my groove. Trying to focus on the task at hand, I took all my normal prep steps: reading the recipes, setting out all my ingredients to make sure I don't forget anything, and got to chopping, mixing, & stirring... but I was still feeling out of place.

In a fog, I just kept on going: I had to start with the rice, that would take the longest. I made my rice similar to the risotto-pilaf recipe I made last weekend, but much simpler. Melting butter in my wok, I threw in my raw rice. OOPS, my wok was too hot and I quickly smoked up my kitchen. HAHA, now I was literally in a fog. For a minute I stirred the rice in the buttery wok before pouring in some boiling water. Then into a cover casserole dish adding some S&P before placing it in the oven at 375° until simmering, then reduced to 350° for 15 minutes. Once that was going, I made the bang-bang sauce, and breaded the shrimp.

By the time I got to the bang-bang sauce, I had my mojo back. It was so easy, anyone can do this, really! Some mayo, Sriracha, sugar, and rice vinegar & you've got your sauce. After mixing it together, I covered it with some plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge to keep it thick.
FakeGinger's recipe calls for medium shrimp, but I used large shrimp since it was for our dinner. Doing so, I ended up having to make the panko-breading mixture twice before it was all said and done. (Keep the size of the shrimp in mind if you are going to make this dish.)

Frying your shrimp is quick and easy, just make sure your oil is deep enough for the shrimp to float around, and that it's nice and hot. I fried the shrimp in batches to keep the oil from cooling down to rapidly, but it still didn't stay as hot as it was for the first batch by the time I got to my last few shrimp. (I will now be getting a good oil thermometer next time I am at the store, HAHA!)

While I was frying my shrimp, I was also finishing up my zucchini & orange bell pepper stir-fry. This is an easy side dish: a little butter down in the wok and once it's melted, in go your veggies. Top with a little S&P, and occasionally stir.
Out of the oven came the rice, so I fluffed it and set it aside while I put the on the final Bang-Bang touches. After all my shrimp we fried and drained onto paper towels, I quickly tossed the shrimp in the sauce, piled them onto some large lettuce leaves, and topped them with some chives.

And then we were ready for dinner! BUT...did they live up to the Bonefish reputation of Bang-Bang Shrimp?

They were certainly delicious, but in my opinion, they were slightly spicier than what I remember at the restaurant. Although, YUMMY none the less!

Some of you may be wondering... what are the kids eating when I make these dinners? Honestly, I turn myself into a short-order chef for some meals. I'll make the elaborate dishes for David and myself, (and tonight my Dad joined us too) but then I'll make separate meals for the kiddos at the same time. Tonight, Marley and Ryan ate chicken nuggets and cucumbers. Shame shame! You may say "nope, my kids will eat whatever we are eating." That works at my house sometimes, but if I'm cooking spicy food or anything that isn't very toddler friendly, I'd rather make something I know they will eat instead of fighting through dinner to get food in their bellies.

A good meal for a Friday after a stressful week at work!

(Recipe courtesy of fakeginger.com)

Oeufs pochés ... échec

2012-01-09T20:35:00.004-05:00

The French language is so beautiful! Oeufs pochés ... échec certainly looks a lot better than Poached Eggs... Fail. Late Sunday morning, I finally took on the poached eggs recipe and attempted to make Eggs Benedict with asparagus for brunch. Maybe 'Fail' is too harsh, because it wasn't entirely bad... just not up to my own personal expectations. I often find myself having too high of hopes for my cooking. I let it get to me when something doesn't turn out right. But I'm trying to accept and anticipate that I won't always get it right the first time, but I will always have a second time to try again.

While standing at my kitchen counter sipping my coffee, I read through the steps to properly poach the eggs about 100 times. Then reading over the Hollandaise recipe. I made sure to get all my ingredients set out and tried to organize my thoughts. I kept running through the poaching steps in my head as I juiced my lemon and separated my yolks from eggs for the Hollandaise. OK... I was ready.

Julia suggested fresh eggs are important for a good poach. The white clings to the yolk better when they are fresh. She also advised if my eggs were a few days old (which mine were) to simmer them in their shells for 8-10 seconds before poaching to help stiffen up the whites. So I did exactly that, I took my four eggs placed them in the simmering water and counted: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. I pulled them out, cooled them to the touch with water and got to poaching. I cracked one at a time, concentrating on my wooden spoon as I tried to push the egg whites back toward the yolk in a gentle sweeping motion. The more I tried, the more I freaked out.

My simmering water was quickly beginning to look like egg drop soup with strings of egg whites floating EVERYWHERE.

I didn't give up, just as Julia said I moved right on to the next egg and let the prior egg finish cooking the rest of the 3 minutes she had suggested. The time quickly ran out and I pulled the eggs out of the pot and into a bath of cold water they went. Doing so I thought, the cold water will stop the cooking and rinse off the vinegar. Oh no, the vinegar!!! I completely forgot to put the vinegar in the simmering water before I started poaching. The vinegar helps them hold their shape. No wonder my eggs were running everywhere, they are a few days old and I forgot the vinegar. :/ But at least they had somewhat of a poached look with the whites in a little oval, covering most of the yolk when I was done.

Even though I had the poaching catastrophe, I kept on cooking. I already had my asparagus in the oven and toasted my English muffins. So I quickly warmed the thick-sliced ham on a skillet and started the Hollandaise sauce. I felt good about the sauce, after all I had two other sauces this week to practice on (the Béarnaise & the Brown Tarragon sauces).

I plated all the food and poured some mimosas. It was actually starting to looking ok so we sat down to eat.

As soon as I cutting into my Eggs Benedict, found I over poached the eggs. The yolk was not runny at all. It was almost as if I had hard boiled them, but instead with a fluffy white. I'm not sure what happened here. I followed the time structure just as Julia had described. Maybe with all the whites running off, there was less egg left to protect the yolk from cooking through?

But despite it all: the horrible poaching & the hard cooked egg yolk, it wasn't really that bad. The sauce was fantastic, and together with the English muffins and ham finishing up the Benedict and the asparagus, it was a good honest attempt. And David cleared his plate, so that has to be worth something. :)

BUT WATCH OUT EGGS: I'll be back and ready to poach again! Someday...

(Recipes courtesy of Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vol. 1)

Poulet Poêlé Á L'Estragon & Risotto-Pilaf-Plau

2012-01-08T12:00:00.019-05:00

[Casserole-roasted Chicken with Brown Tarragon Sauce]

I was supposed to be bold enough to try two french lessons from Julia for Saturday: poached eggs for lunch and roasted chicken for dinner. Feeling overwhelmed and underzealous, I saved the poaching for Sunday brunch and invited some good friends to join David in the panel of judges for the roast chicken dinner extravaganza. After all, how can you know if your food is good if you only ever get one opinion. :) 7pm was gonna come quick...

The preparations began Friday night. Remembering a brining technique I learned at Thanksgiving and thinking back to how tender and juicy my roasted turkey turned out, thought I'd try it again. I scoured through Mastering the Art of French Cooking for some additional advise from Julia about brining poultry... nothing. Really, is brining not a french technique?! Well, I'm a chef in my own way, and it's my house damn it, I'll brine my chicken whether or not Julia tells me to. LOL! So, Friday night I cleaned the chicken thoroughly and carefully covered it in crushed sea salt to sit in the fridge for the next 18 hours.

At 5 pm Saturday, I rinsed off all the salt brine, dried the chicken and then we were ready. Julia's casserole-roasted chicken starts by rubbing a tarragon and butter concoction all throughout the cavity of the bird. After you truss the chicken...

wait a minute, truss!?! (Recipe indicates: see pg 237 to figure out how to truss.)

OK, I had to tie up the chicken, too bad I forgot to buy white trussing string at the grocery store. Hoping that doubled up white sewing thread works, I trussed my chicken and then gave it a butter massage. Next step, searing the bird on all sides in a hot butter & oil pan.

Brown for 3 minutes on each side. Well, trying to turn a 5 pound bird using two wooden spoons which is cooking in scorching hot butter and oil turns out to be pretty dangerous.

What is cooking without some battle wounds tho, right?

I finished searing the chicken, briefly sautéed the carrots and shallot, layered it all in a heated casserole dish (a trick from Julia to keep it moist, cover it with foil and then put the top on your casserole dish) and into the oven it went: 325° for 1 hr 40 mins. Now I could relax & have a glass of champagne with my friends...

With about 30 minutes left on my timer; I got back in the kitchen to start my risotto. I had never made risotto before. Anyone who has ever watched Hell's Kitchen has learned to fear the dish. According to Chef Gordon Ramsey, no-one can ever cook it right. HA!

But with Julia by my side, I was feeling up to the challenge. Although this technique from France is different than what I've seen in Hell's Kitchen, it wasn't really that hard.

1. Sauté minced onions in butter

2. Blend in the raw rice, heat in the pan until a milky color.

3. Add boiling chicken broth and your herb bouquet. Stir once.

4. Pour into a covered casserole dish and into the oven at 375° until it starts to simmer.

5. Once simmering, reduce the oven temp to 350° and let it cook undisturbed for about 15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.

6. Fluff with a fork. Done.

After the chicken had roasted and was resting in the serving dish, the risotto was done and set aside. I quickly sautéed some green beans, whisked together the super easy Brown Tarragon Sauce from the chicken juices, corn starch mixed with port wine, and a pat of butter... then we were ready to eat! And boy were we hungry!

<-- The dinner!

<-- The judges!

Oh my gosh... it was fantastic! Kathleen - "this is the kind of meal you go out to a fancy restaurant and pay $80+ dollars to eat." Sean - "I thought this brown sauce was going to be like a normal brown gravy, but it was like my taste buds were having an orgy in my mouth." HAHA, thanks guys! This was the best feeling ever, a good meal with good friends!

(Recipes courtesy of Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol.1)

Bifteck Sauté Béarnaise

2012-01-05T21:19:00.003-05:00

Tonight's to do:

Pan sear the filet steaks
Roast red fingerling potatoes
Sauté spinach
AND don't mess up the béarnaise

Oh my... I made sure to read through all the recipes before I started. There's nothing worse than being half-way through, and realize, oh crap, I missed a step.

Pg 79 - figure out how to properly whip your egg yolks for the sauce.

Pg 85 - figure out how to make said sauce.

Pg 293 & 295 - learn to properly sear the steaks...

Julia really does give good instructions, simple things I never thought of, like dry both sides of the steak with a paper towel in order to get the best brown sear. Who knew!? :)

So I started... first prepping all the ingredients.

slice the fingerlings
mince the shallot
separate the egg from the yolk

After getting the potatoes in the oven to roast, I seared the steaks. With a small layer of butter/oil hot in the pan, I threw in the steaks, 3.5 minutes on each side. Don't mess when them, touch them once only to flip.

After the steaks were done and moved to a warm plate, I poured out the grease, and deglazed the pan with a little beef stock. And then... started on the feared béarnaise.

I was nervous about the sauce. I had made hollandaise before, but it had been years and with the help of a professional chef in culinary school.

Could I do it on my own? Well, I'll never know if I don't try.

I reduced the base of the sauce, wine vinegar, white wine, shallots, tarragon, and the steak reduction. Then after draining the reduced liquid from the shallots and herbs, I started whipping the yolks. Using another great tip from Julia, I slowly heated the yolks in a double boiler to keep them from turning into scrambled eggs, adding in the cold butter small pieces at a time to help it thicken. Moving into slowly dripping melted butter into the mixture and whipping in the original base reduction until, voilá!

And any person who has attempted to orchestrate a meal knows, at the same time you are whipping your delicate béarnaise sauce, you must also be finishing up the rest of your meal so it all turns out at the same time. HAHA, easier said than done... but I managed.

I got the roasted potatoes out of the oven, and into a pan of sautéed spinach just as everything was finishing up.

Drumroll please... Dinner is served!

It was delicious, I wish you all could have tasted it. :D I only hope my next attempt at mastering french cooking goes this well! Poaching eggs, apparently not the easiest thing to do...

(Recipes courtesy of Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. 1)

A Simple Start

2012-01-03T21:46:00.001-05:00

My loving and very supported boyfriend, who has always been my meal time guinea-pig, gave me the much desired Mastering the Art of French Cooking books for Christmas. Wow... speechless! Julia Child, I bow to you. So of coarse, I can't just use these masterpiece recipes as a decoration on the shelf...

LETS GET IN THE KITCHEN!

The Menu

Thursday

dinner: Pan Broiled Steak with Bernaise Sauce

Saturday

lunch: Poached Eggs & asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

dinner: Casserole-roasted Tarragon Chicken

Ok, I can do this. Simple start. Riigghht...