Summer Summer Summer Tiiiiiiiime: Pasta with Asparagus, Chicken and Orange Gremolata

Heeeey, gremolata face. How you doin?

Three is a magic number. Or at least that's what Schoolhouse Rock told me. Because I like to make magic, here comes post number 3 for today.

This is one of my absolute favorite summertime recipes. I found it over at Yeah, That Vegan Shit and couldn't resist trying it after reading about what fun you can have saying GRRRRREMOLAAAAATA. And hey, turns out making it and eating it is as fun as saying it. I made a few changes to the original recipe, most notably adding some meat, but either way is a guaranteed good time. Try out both, you'll be glad you did... because if nothing else, then you can join the Gremolata Gang, too!

Pasta with Asparagus, Chicken and Orange Gremolata

1 bunch thin asparagus, cut diagonally into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 lb. pasta, penne or some other festive shape
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Grated zest of 2 oranges
Juice of 2 oranges
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Asiago cheese, to taste

Over medium high heat, sauté asparagus and chicken in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Sauteed so hard the camera blurred.

Meanwhile, back at the hall of justice, cook the penne in salted boiling water for about 10 minutes.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and save 1 cup of the pasta water. Add the asparagus, pine nuts, remaining olive oil, reserved pasta water, garlic, parsley, orange zest and orange juice to the pasta. Mix it all up!

It's just... so very... ZESTY!

Top with cheese and nom!

Tweet

Summer Summer Summer Tiiiiiiiiime: Tutti-Fruity Chicky-Chocolatey Waffles

A summery meal is nothing without a yummy dessert. And this dessert is top shelf, A+ would eat again, type stuff. It's wonderful. It's fresh fruity, creamy, minty and chocolatey, need I say more?

I love waffles. I've loved them ever since I was a kid. I've been mega in love with them ever since I went to Iceland and learned to eat them as a dessert. Since I don't have access to a super rad heart shaped shallow Scandinavian style waffle iron to be able to recreate the fantastic Icelandic dessert waffles with jam and whipped cream, I decided I needed to come up with something even better. And that's exactly what I did.

Tutti-Fruity Chicky-Chocolatey Waffles

1/2 pint heavy cream
3/4 bar of white chocolate
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup hot fudge sauce
several sprigs of fresh mint
1 tub of strawberries
frozen waffles

Cut your strawberries into pretty little slices. Egg slicers make super pretty, evenly sliced strawberries, but if you don't have one you can rock it old skool and do it with a knife.



Cook waffles according to package directions. Make whipped cream, by placing 3/4 cup heavy cream and 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract in a mixer and beating until it looks like whipped cream.

Place white chocolate, remaining vanilla extract, butter and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream in a double boiler. If you're like me and don't actually have a double boiler, fear not! You can redneck rig one by stacking two similarly sized pots on top of each other.



Fill the bottom part with about an inch of water. Keep it just under a boil. Stir pretty much constantly until everything melts together and is creamy and wonderful.

Ladle some of the white chocolate sauce over the waffle. Top with strawberries and sprigs of mint. Drizzle some more white chocolate sauce over. Drizzle hot fudge sauce over that. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and another sprig of mint. Bea-utiful!

Tweet

Summer Summer Summer Tiiiiiime: Black Beans and Rice with Cilantro Pesto and Jalepeño Johnny Cakes

Oh happy day! There are at least 3 updates coming today. And they're all part of my hooray it's kinda-sorta summery outside series! Put on your flippy floppys and get excited!

First up, a bastardized food network creation. One day I was watching that dude that comes to peoples houses and tells them how much better than them he cooks, I don't know his name, make some shrimp with cilantro pesto. I tucked the cilantro pesto idea away in my head and carried on about my business.

Another day entirely, another dude entirely was making some burgers on grilled jalepeño cornmeal buns. This made me think of fried cornbread / johnny cakes / hoecakes. My mother loves them. My hubby loves them. I think they taste like a pancake gone wrong. But, on this day, I decided that if you added some jalepeño, they'd probably be pretty good. Somewhere along the way, I decided they'd be a good side dish to have with black beans and rice. And then I decided to Jamacainize the black beans and rice because eating cornbread with black beans and rice reminds me of the Atomic Cafe, which has a clear Jamacian slant. Sooooo, I pulled the cilantro pesto recipe that I had so neatly stored away in my head out. And, the following creation was born:

Black Beans and Rice with Cilantro Pesto and Jalepeño Johnny Cakes

For the black beans and rice:
Black beans and rice mix in a box or bag (just not cajun flavored)
Spicy Sausage

For the pesto:

1 cup chopped up fresh cilantro leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Asiago
1/2 cup olive oil
1 /4 cup lime juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Johnny Cakes:

1 c. cornmeal
1 egg
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 c. buttermilk
1 jalepeño, chopped

Okay, first things first, start the black beans and rice cooking according to the directions on their package. Be responsible and manage your time wisely after this because I don't know how long your black beans and rice cooks so I can't tell you when to do what.

Now, let's talk sausage. There are several options. My favorite is the following:



- Spicy Mango and Jalepeno Chicken Sausage. But, chorizo would also work nicely. Andouille, while fantastic, is probably not the best bet given the carribean slant of this meal. Anyway, assuming you've picked a good sausage, heat it up. If you bought raw sausage, you'll need to do more than heat it up. But that's obvious.

While your sausage cooks work on your pesto. Basically, dump everything into a food processor. Process. Hard. Tada, you have pesto.




Then when stuff is getting close to done start the johnny cakes. First you need to sauté the jalepeño to take away some of its bite. Go until it's slightly browned.






Mix all ingredients together. Put a dollop of butter in a skillet. When the butter is melted spoon some batter into the skillet and cook just like you would a pancake (i.e. get it golden on each side).



When all your individual pieces parts are done, it's time to bring it all together. Cut the sausage into 1/2 slices. Mix in with the black beans and rice. Then, stir the cilantro pesto in with the sausage, beans and rice. Stir it up real good so the cilantro-y goodness gets on every last grain of rice.

Now you're ready to eat. Serve a big scoop of the beans and rice with a couple of johnny cakes.

Tweet

Fancy Schmancy Balsamic Chicken Breasts

Once upon a time I saw a recipe on food network for a Balsamic Chicken appetizer. It seemed pretty awesome, but I wasn't throwing a party. I didn't want to wait until my next party to rock it out, so I decided I needed to turn it into a real dinner. Easy enough. Substitute chicken breasts for wings. I did a little more tweaking and tada, it was heaven in my mouth. Observe.

Fancy Schmancy Balsamic Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
5 sprigs of rosemary
handful of dried garlic
3 large skin-on chicken breasts
4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

First, before you go to work in the morning, get a giant ziploc bag and dump in the balsamic vinegar, honey syrup, brown sugar, soy sauce, rosemary sprigs, and dried garlic. Now, let's talk about honey syrup. Honey syrup is something used by bartenders and coffee shops. It's this or this. I used this instead of honey because it's just as sweet, maybe even a little sweeter, has a yummy honey flavor, but is more liquidy and easier to work with than honey. Because it was more liquidy it mixed better with the vinegar and soy sauce and coated the chicken more easily. Annnd because its a smidge sweeter than actual honey, I was able to use less brown sugar. So, subbing honey syrup for honey was a win all the way around if you ask me. Anyway, shake the bag to mix everything up and dissolve brown sugar. Add the chicken and shake again to make sure the chicken is really covered in the marinade. Put in the refrigerator and leave it there until you get home from work... or at least 2 hours.

Later, back at the hall of justice, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put your chicken in a baking dish, but make sure you save your marinade. I used a stoneware brownie pan. You should rock out something similar. Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes. The skin should be a little crispy and kind of blackened in some spots.

When the chicken is close to being done, bring your marinade to a boil (in order to kill Salmonella and his Evil Flagella of Doom). Simmer it and let it thicken up a little bit. It won't get super thick since we used honey syrup, so don't leave it on there forever thinking that it's going to get molasses gooey. As you can see from the picture, it should look pretty disgusting when it's done.

After it's thickened up, take out the rosemary sprigs and brush some of the sauce / marinade on the cooked chicken. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and the chopped parsley. Tada!

Ps. The original recipe can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/balsamic-chicken-drumettes-recipe/index.html

Tweet

Takin' It Back to the Old School: And God said "Let there be Shrimp -n- Grits"

... and there was Shrimp -n- Grits. And God saw the Shrimp -n- Grits; that it was good.

Tonight I was planning on making some fancy schmancy balsamic chicken breasts, but it turns out my chicken didn't thaw. I was in a conundrum. So I fell back on the most delectable and perhaps one of the easiest of old favorites - Shrimp -n- Grits. And since there hasn't been a Takin' It Back to the Old School post in 6-8 months, I decided I should share tonight's Old School Favorite. So here we go.

Shrimp -n- Grits

4 cups water
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup quick cook grits
3 tablespoons butter
Lots and lots of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pound shrimp
6 slices bacon
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
Dried minced garlic

First, scrub in and perform a skinectomy and coloectomy on your shrimp.... i.e. peel it and remove the poo string.

Put some water on to boil. While that's going on fry the six slices of bacon until it's super crisp. Unless you're one of those weird people who prefers floppy bacon. If so, stop reading this and punch yourself in the ear. You may now continue. Take the bacon out of the skillet, but save the grease. Chop the bacon, scallions and parsley.

When the water boils, add grits. Whisk them around for a bit, throw in about 1 Tbsp. garlic, then turn the heat down, put a lid on your pot and let 'em simmer for about 5-8 minutes.

In the leftover bacon grease, cook the shrimp until they turn pretty pink. Now, dump in lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and about 1 Tbsp of the minced garlic. Saute for 5 minutes or so.

Uncover the grits and whisk in butter and cheese. When you think you've added too much cheese add some more. Then you're ready to eat. Spoon grits into a bowl. Top with the shrimp mixture and a little freshly ground pepper. Nom.

Tweet

Jesus Christ, It's Pac Man! Get in the Car!

The latest in my cake decorating adventures. Yet another nerd masterpiece for yet another Joey birthday.

Tweet

Super Schmexy Spicy Chipotle Chicken Ravioli

So, Thursday night I was having a little dinner party. Thursday morning in court I realized I had no idea what I was going to make. Luckily, it was a light conferencing day, so while I waited for the judge to take the bench I pulled out ye olde iPhone to browse Slashfood for ideas. I stumbled upon a "redneck-rig your fast food" feature that suggested cobbling a burrito from chipotle into little tortilla wads and calling it ravioli. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mean to go all snark-vark on Slashfood because, really, I love it, but this sounded like a pretty lame idea to me. However, the concept of Mexican-y ravioli did not. Thus, I decided to make up my own.

I first decided on chicken instead of beef. I thought using beef sounded too pedestrian. Too much like normal ravioli. So, chicken it was. Base of the stuffing figured out, I set to work on scheming a sauce. I worked up some elaborate ideas in my head but I realized the perfect sauce was the easy obvious choice - enchilada sauce. The result? A fabulous smoky, spicy, chicken in wonton wrapper swimming in spicy tomato-y sauce success. And as an added bonus, it was totally fun to make.

Super Schmexy Spicy Chipotle Chicken Ravioli

1 package round wonton / pasta wrappers (these can usually be found in the ethnic or hippie food section of the grocery store)
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can Embasa Salsa Mexicana
1/2 package taco seasoning
Quesadilla Cheese, to taste
1 packet enchilada sauce
1 80z can tomato sauce
Chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (you can use either 1 Tbsp. of the goop in the can with the peppers if you don't want your dish to be too spicy, or you can use an actual pepper if you want more zip)

First things, first, wage war on the evil Salmonella and his Flagella of Doom, by placing the chicken and taco seasoning in a skillet. Brown it until the Fagella of Doom have been exterminated. Drain off the extra fat (there won't be much) and dump the chicken in a bowl. Add the Salsa Mexicana. Now at this point, it's time for a little lesson. Salsa Mexicana is this stuff


It is not this:

Or this:

Or even this:

This is important because if you get salsa that has a different consistency you may mess up the texture of your filling. And / or if you try to make ravioli out of a salsa dancer you may end up on death row. I assume you've got your salsa issues all sorted out now, so let's move on. Add sour cream, chipotle pepper (or goop from the can) and shredded quesadilla cheese. Stir until just blended. If the mixture looks disgusting, you've done it correctly.

Dump into your food processor and process it. You don't want to turn it all into total mush but you also don't want there to be big chunks. When you've got it at the right consistency, it's business time. Flour a cutting board and get yourself a little cup or bowl of water.



Lay one wonton wrapper on the cutting board. Spoon a dollop of the chicken mixture onto the wrapper. Dip your finger in your water bowl. Drag your wet finger around the perimeter of the wrapper. Top with another wrapper. Press together. Crimp with a fork to make sure it stays together. Set aside. Keep going until you run out of wrappers or filling.

You're done with all the hard work at this point. Breathe a sigh of relief. Then, put a pot of water on and bring it to a weak-ass boil. Take note: The weak-ass part is important. If you attempt to cook homemade ravioli at a hard rolling boil it will fall apart and a troupe of gnomes will burst out of your pantry and ridicule you. I promise. So bring your water to a weak-ass boil. While you're waiting on your water to come to a weak-ass boil, cook the enchilada sauce according to the directions on the package.

When the water comes to a weak-ass boil, drop a few ravioli in. Don't overcrowd them. They're paranoid little creatures and will totally spaz out and stick together. Put in three or four at a time. Keep an eye on them as they boil. When they float to the top they're done. Pull them out with a slotted spoon. Plate them up, top with sauce and some extra quesadilla cheese if you like. And you're done. Tada!

Tweet