Nut-Crusted Chicken Breasts

So during the course of the evening trying to pull together a nice dinner for the guys my always reliable Dacor oven decides to go whacky and the microwave quits working. I guess I was just not meant to do a lot of cooking this weekend. Kevin has his hands full trying to fix things this week!

Simple dinner of almond crusted chicken breasts with asparagus and roasted golden beets. November 2012 Cooks Illustrated All Time Best Recipes talks about how to make a nice nutty crust for the chicken. The answer...half chopped almonds and half Panko, browned in butter. Tasted yummy. Too busy to think through it any further than that. Even this gal knows when to keep it simple! Bon appetit!

Friday night finale

Well, tonight was Mason's final basketball game of his high school career at his school.  Off to the playoffs now. It's been an exciting and long week, and after the game we all looked at one another wondering what was for dinner. As basketball has taken up so much of the week I have not been an attentive mom/wife who has kept the fridge full, but due to a fortuitous misunderstanding I inherited a couple of steamed lobster tails. Even more fortuitous was the fact that THE ONE man who intimidates me in the kitchen (really, he challenges me, but I start to go into shock whenever I have to cook with him) came to the game and we decided to cook dinner together. Lobster and potatoes in cream sauce was amazing! Paired with several nice wines, awesome salad, bread and chocolate croissants for dessert...delicious! Thanks, Hayden, as always, for making me step up to the plate and be accountable to the trade. You truly inspire me and I want to cook just like you when I grow up!!!! Love you, Heidi!

Hump Day Recharge

Evening movie and libations at Local Roots. Delicious Cigar Box, Medoza Malbec from Argentina. Lovely blend. Served with their cheese plate which was the best I've had. Great presentation. Wonderful cheese selection, great rye thins and pickled accompaniments.  Nice night with CJ. Bon appetit.

Peanut Noodle Pasta Salad

Sunday night and I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen.  Saw this easy recipe on Facebook and decided to try it.  Thai noodles with fresh veges all in a peanut, Sriracha, ginger sauce.  Topped with cilantro.  Served at room temperature.  Lovely little change of course.  Used up a lot of veges in the frig and have leftovers for lunch.  The spicy Sriracha peanut sauce is awesome and would go with so many Thai dishes. Monday is right around the corner and it's going to be a wild week.  Sometimes Mom just has to do something simple to keep the troops happy (including herself).  Served with a great local microbrew.  Yup, I'm ready for the week...bring it on.........!!!!!!!!!!

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 T Sriracha
1/4 cup water
1 T fresh chopped ginger
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 T brown sugar

Whisk all ingredients well.  Cook one package pasta.  Drain pasta.  Cut:

1 bunch scallions
1 cup carrot matchsticks
1 cup each red pepper strips and yellow pepper strips
2 thinly sliced cucumbers

Mix veges with pasta.  Pour sauce over all and mix well.  Top with 1/2 cup peanuts and 1/2 cup chopped cilantro.  Serve room temperature or chilled.

Dos Amygos

How much fun can two Amys have when spring teases us a bit after all the snow we've had lately?  NEVER enough fun!!! Beautiful hike through the Bottom Creek Gorge followed by a trip to a quaint little farm to table jaunt called Bent Mountain Bistro. Fabulous Welsh Cheddar and Balsamic Jam Pizza made with fresh homemade mozzarella cheese. Paired with a beautiful Spanish Garnacha. I will be replicating this pizza, for sure. Pizza is one of my favorite things to make. Super yum!!!

Follow it all with another wonderful basketball game where we won the conference tonight. Love these teaser days! Love these awesome kids! Love my girlfriends! And, as always, love the food!!!  Bon appetit!

Snowy Night and Turkey Chili with Arugula Salad

Another snowy day and I whipped up a batch of turkey chili with a delicious side salad of arugula with oranges, feta and sugared pistachios. The chili was quite good, but I often feel that ground turkey can be kind of bland so I did half turkey and half ground chuck.  No recipe particularly here to share as I make soups and chilis on the fly so often, but it had carrots, celery, onions, peppers, garlic, kidney beans, chicken stock, fire roasted tomatoes...finished off with lots of grated cheese and sour cream. Warm and yummy on a freezing cold night.

Peppery and complex, Arugula is one of my favorite greens and I have tried several salad variations from the  2009 Cooks Illustrated Holiday Entertaining issue. Full of phytonutrients and lots of yummy goodness, this is a seriously good salad. There is something about pairing citrus with the bitterness of the greens as well as the warm, rich foods of winter that really appeals to me. Of course, being the olive oil snob that I am, I could only use the very best oil, fresh mint, lemon juice and fresh oranges....topped off with feta and sugar coated pistachios...YUM is all I can say! Neighbors over to enjoy the bounty. Bon appetit!

Valentines Love....French Style Pot Roasted Pork

Well, another snowstorm predicted for tonight so looks like I am going to be staying in and cooking for my Valentines. Not a problem since I have eaten myself silly this week. I've had company in all week and I've been eating out a lot and consuming a lot of rich food. I am a little out of my routine and ready for some home cooked food. No arguments from the guys here....

While trying to find something to make with a pork tenderloin I had in the refrigerator I came across this recipe in the 2014 Cook's Illustrated All Time Best Recipes for French Style Pot Roasted Pork. Warm French food...sounds perfect for a cold, snowy winter night. Christopher Kimball, you inspire me! My dream job is to work in the CI kitchen. For those of you who are not acquainted with Chris or CI I compare it with the Consumer Reports of fine cuisine. Coming from a scientific background, I enjoy Christopher's breakdowns of the problems of making a particular dish and all the attempts to right the wrongs he encounters along the way. If you really want to learn HOW to cook, this is the way to do it, I am convinced.

With this recipe Christopher points out the concerns of a typically lean cut of meat emerging dried out and tasteless.  By his own account Christopher acknowledges that French cuisine is known for its many dishes that feature "a lackluster cut of meat turned sumptuous and flavorful by surprisingly simple cooking methods." This recipe for enchaud Perigourdine is so simple and consists of seasoning a pork tenderloin with salt and pepper, searing it in a Dutch oven, slow cooking it in the oven and finally making an au jus from the drippings. To address the issues associated with the leaner American cut of meat Christopher suggests searing all sides of the meat except the bottom, which is then laid in the Dutch oven bottom side down. This keeps the meat from drying out as it cooks from the bottom. Double butterflying the meat and rubbing it with salt, pepper, sugar and carmelized garlic impart a lot of flavor throughout the meat as it slowly cooks. Finally, sprinkling the roast with herbs de Provence adds a depth of flavors that pulls it all together. Adding a bit of butter, white wine, a diced Granny Smith apple and onion to the au jus are the proverbial icing on the cake.

Thanks, as always, Christopher, for doing all the hard work for me and making my job so easy! Bon appetit to all my friends and family who love the food as much as I do. Happy Valentines Day to all those I love.  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Wonderful weekend, wonderful friends

What happens when friends come to town? Whatever it is surely involves food. When it's fellow foodie friends you must ramp it up a notch or two. This weekend was no exception. These guys know their food inside and out so there was only one place that could fill the bill...Luckys. Thanks, Luckys, for being consistently awesome!

Duck Liver Pate with house pickles, sweet onion chutney and pickled red onions.  Very good!

Roasted marrow bones with fava bean humus.  Served with my favorite artisan bread from Breadcraft.

Absolutely awesome!  Rich and garlicky and such awesome comfort food on a cold winter night.

Buttermilk fried chicken over smashed garlic potatoes and kale.  Kevin's favorite!

Mushroom and gnocchi with Gooseberries and Pecorino Toscano...so light and delicious...like no gnocchi I have ever tasted.  Not the heavy, starchy, pasty gnocchi I have usually had in other restaurants...all in a rich, flavorful mushroom broth.

New York Strip with marrow butter and smoked blue cheese and Pomme Frites with French Curry Ketchup.

Lunch today at my other favorite local spot, Breadcraft, and their Truffle Bacon Salad served with their awesome baguette and pate.  A truly special salad that I am trying to replicate. Are we really eating again?

Day out with my sisters-in-law in the country. These girls are die hards! It was a mere 17 degrees midday! No doubt warm food awaits tonight....!

Good food, great friends and family...all we live for...so very blessed!

Crawfish Etouffee courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Well, a very good foodie friend of mine has been bragging about this recipe for ages and since I had several friends and family in tonight for Mason's pre game dinner I needed something quick and easy.  Yum!  Bragging rights reserved, my friend!  What a great Cajun meal for Fat Tuesday! Just spicy enough and super rich and yummy!  Adding this one to my company repertoire!  Only drawback...had to go to seven places before I could find the crawfish!!!! Bon appetit!

Thanks, Ronnie, for the yummy cupcakes!  Thanks, Matthew, for bringing my grand dog!  Thanks, Mason, for another great game!  Thanks everyone for coming to cheer Mason on tonight!

Penne with sausage, artichoke and sun-dried tomatoes

Why do I do this blog?  Frankly, it all started when my boys got me a digital camera in an effort to bring me into the 21st century.  I have an old Canon that I always loved to take pictures with and I did a lot of picture taking.  The boys thought that if I could practice using the new camera every day I would quickly relinquish the old camera for the new one, and since I cook so much they decided a food blog was the perfect answer.  Now I just use my phone all the time, but I keep up the blog so that when I die one day and someone asks what I did with all my time (since most folks know I work a lot) they can have a little snapshot into my daily life and passion.  While this blog is public, I don't share it with many people so if you are reading this you are probably one of my very favorite friends and a fellow foodie.  I'm a very private person so these are some of my few personal declarations.  Hope you enjoy the beauty of food as much as I do!  I can't think of a better way to share with the ones we love!  Bon appetit!

Tonight's dinner was a simple penne with spicy Italian sausage, sun-dried tomato and artichoke hearts dish.  The spicy sausage paired with fresh mozzarella was delicious. I really don't do pasta often and I forget how comforting all that warm tomato and cheese goodness can make you feel. That is true comfort food. Nothing hard about this recipe which follows. Enjoy!  Oh yes, and the wine is a must!

The Three "Amygos"

So my day starts off with some of my favorite treats from Breadcraft.  I should have known this would be a good day. Nobody does it as well as Alex Eliades does and I am reminded of the short time I was privileged to spend with him in the kitchen during my baking class in culinary school. He is truly a master of the art of baking.  Just look at the flakiness in that croissant. I could never replicate that no matter how long I tried to master the skill. And the chocolate is so decadant, but not overpowering, just giving you enough of a sweet hint to complement all that buttery goodness and flakiness.  Alex then dusts the pastry with just a touch of powdered sugar to make a wonderfully beautiful mess as you eat this amazing work of art.

Follow a great morning with a fabulous evening with the girls at one of my favorite Friday night spots, Luckys. Two great ladies both named Amy make for an interesting trio when we are together.  There's just something about slowly enjoying one of their signature drinks called The Cube and their cheese platter which is always served with an assortment of yummy surprises. Nothing gets me recharged for playing in the kitchen like a day of great food from Master Chefs to inspire me.  Here's to whatever transpires in the kitchen this weekend. I'm feeling playful....Bon appetit!