Carnitas

Made the Cooks Illustrated Recipe below for about the 5th time. It is pretty easy to braise in one pot and throw everything in, but doesn't give me the same texture and appeal that my other recipe for Tamarind Glazed Pork Shoulder gives. Also made an un-noteworthy salsa on the side with radish, lime, orange, cilantro. The radishes were bigger than usual and I sliced them early and chilled them in ice water. The tacos would've benefited more from lizano and avocado only.

Just when I was about to give up on this dish, we made some Chipotle (the fast food burrito chain)-style burrito bowls with the leftover rice (jasmine), corn, black beans, and cilantro. Such and easy dish for weekday lunches.

E has rejected the pork this time around and surprisingly has resisted the black beans. He has always loved any form of bean. So he opted instead for mac and cheese with leftover fajita meat mixed in.

Fajita Salad

HEB marinated fajita meat
1 onion
1 avocado
Mexi-cheese or Cotija
Salad bag
Sugar
S&P
tomatoes (for davin)
Ranch
Salsa

The key ingredient is the caramelized onions. Cook the crud out of sliced onions with about a tbsp of sugar and a little salt and pepper. Brilliant.

Mix 1/2C ranch with 1/2 c salsa for dressing.

We used ot eat this with Tostitos Hint-of-lime chips but decided we shouldn't attempt a healthier version. This lead to the creation and addition of the caramelized onions to this salad. They are delightful and flavorful. Plus they are so cooked that they don't give baby W any gas when I eat them.

Blackberry Shortcakes

2 C smushed blackberries
1/2 c whole blackberries
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp sugar

reheated shortcakes in toaster oven

So the ginger was the magic ingredient for this one and I was tempted to add mint but wanted to thoroughly evaluate the effect of the ginger first and not overwhelm the berries. I added about 1 tsp and we were teatering on the edge of overwhelming. Will cut back next time to the 1/2 I suggested above. Reheated shortcakes taste very nice.

With all this shortcake frenzy, I have let dinner go by the wayside and we've been eating some terrible junk. Davin saved the day with some Maudie's fajitas for me after he and E went out for a guy's night.

Note: Freshness of the blackberries matters! Had this again and berries were full of seeds.

Shortcakes

Homemade shortcakes. Strawberies. Fresh whipped cream. The Costco bounty is really making our desserts delicious! I used the Cooks Illustrated Best Recipe for shortcakes. This is mostly the version I found on their website with a few exceptions. Tonight we're on to blackberry shortcakes! But with which liqueur? This deserves more investigation.

Notes: Cointreau--adding a tablespoon to the macerating berries made them taste spectacular with just a hint of orange and no alcohol-y flavor.
Note: Pay attention to the thickness of the dough--mine were too small mini-shorties and the 2 I did after the re-rolling were really tall and gorgeous.
Note: Use about 4 cups berries for 2 people, half crushed with potato masher, half sliced.

Shortcakes
2	cups bleached all-purpose flour , plus more for work surface and biscuit cutter
1/2	teaspoon table salt
1	tablespoon baking powder
3	tablespoons granulated sugar
2	tablespoons granulated sugar for sprinkling
1	stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), frozen
1	egg , beaten
1/2	cup half-and-half
1	tablespoon half-and-half
1	egg white , lightly beaten
Whipped Cream
1	cup heavy cream , chilled (preferably pasteurized or pasteurized organic)
1	tablespoon granulated sugar
1	teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. 1. Mix crushed and quartered berries with sugar in medium bowl; set aside while preparing biscuits (or up to 2 hours).
   

2. 2. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using large holes of box grater, grate butter into dry ingredients, (see illustration 2). Toss butter with flour to coat. Use pastry cutter to finish cutting butter into flour. Or scoop up coated butter with both hands, then quickly rub butter into dry ingredients with fingertips until most of butter pieces are size of split peas.

3. 3. Mix beaten egg with half-and-half; pour into flour mixture. Toss with fork until large clumps form. Turn mixture onto floured work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.
   
   

4. 4. Pat dough into 9- by 6-inch rectangle, 3/4 inch thick. Flour 2 3/4-inch biscuit cutter; cut 6 dough rounds. Place 1 inch apart on small baking sheet; brush dough tops with egg white and sprinkle with remaining sugar. (Can be covered and refrigerated up to 2 hours before baking.) Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Place baking sheet on wire rack; cool cakes until warm, about 10 minutes.
   

5. 5. Chill nonreactive, deep, 1- to 1 1/2-quart bowl and beaters for a handheld mixer in freezer for at least 20 minutes. Add cream, sugar, and vanilla to chilled bowl; beat on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave a trail, about 30 seconds more. Increase speed to high; continue beating until cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume, about 20 seconds for soft peaks or about 30 seconds for stiff peaks. If necessary, finish beating by hand to adjust consistency. (Can be transferred to fine sieve or strainer set over measuring cup and refrigerated up to 8 hours).

6. 6. Split each cake crosswise (see illustration 3); spoon a portion of berries and then a dollop of whipped cream over each cake bottom. Cap with cake top; serve immediately.

mini Frittata

I just discovered that my 6 in nonstick pan fits in the toaster oven! While my first attempt at a makeshift mini-frittata leaves something to be desired, there is great potential there. Today I tried

leftover creamed spinach (1/2 C)
2 eggs
parmesan

Next time I will probably still mix in some milk or half & half with the egg to make it more tender. Spread the spinach more evenly along the bottom of the pan. Possible addition of leeks, red peppers, bacon, ham. I would probably also advise that the toaster oven preheat beforehand so you don't get as much browning on the edges (it makes them tough). 375 should do the trick.

Blue Cupcakes and Pigs in a Blanket

E was the little chef this weekend and made both of these for his daddy. He insisted that we bring Daddy a cupcake in bed with the paper off (because he may not know how to do it and your definitely not supposed to eat it). The cupcakes were Barefoot Contessa mix (Vanilla with cream cheese frosting) and got some blue sprinkles on top. We forgot the candles that E thought we should have. Next time.

He rolled and pinched all the delicious little piggies in their blankets and even tasted the nasty biscuit dough. He will not, however have mustard anywhere near the piggies. Very strong aversion to mustard apparently.

Note: Ina Garten is a rich genius. The mix was seriously just the dry ingredients with some complicated instructions. Then she had the nerve to package some confectioner's sugar and call it icing. Well, I guess we bought it. But who else would ever buy it again? How does she get away with these shenanigans? Sorry Ina, I still love you and your Hamptons-chic recipes.

E's Stirfry with Special Sauce

Special Sauce
goes on everything
honey
splash of soy sauce

Stir Fry
pre-cooked chow mein noodles
sesame oil
1 clove garlic
matchstick carrots
edamame or spinach
crunchy rice noodles

These noodles have been such a huge hit that E doesn't even notice the vegetables!

Broiled Lobster, Corn, Lettuce Soup

4 lobster tails (not prev frozen)
garlic butter

Heat broiler. Split tails completely in half and line up on foil-lined shallow backing sheet. Broil on High for 5 min or until opaque. It seems our lobsters this time were prev. frozen and we had a hard time getting them out of the shells.

Lettuce Soup
When I studied abroad in Spain, our senora made this for us. It was probably a cheap way to feed 3 students but it's also green and refreshing for summer.

1 head lettuce (any kind will do)
1/2 russet potato, diced
3 C chicken broth
2 leeks
thyme, mint, parsley or other fresh herbs

Wash and tear up lettuce (E helped with this). Clean and chop leeks.

Heat olive oil in medium pot. Add leeks and sweat. Add potato and broth, bring to a simmer for about 10-15 min until potato is soft. Add lettuce and herbs, cover. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes until lettuce is cooked down. Turn off heat. Puree with an emersion blender until smooth. Add more broth if it's too thick.

Steak house dinner

Happy Father's Day!

Caprese salad with heirloom tomato
Ribeye to share
Sauteed Mushrooms
Creamed spinach
2004 Sinskey Marcien (yum!)

After a lovely day of doing nothing (except for Daddy and E going to costco), we had a delicious steakhouse feast.

Notes: heirloom tomato was not all it was cracked up to be. Dry and somewhat tasteless despite its weirdo shape.

Mushrooms
2 containers sliced baby bellas
1/4 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
thyme
s&p

Sautee onion in butter and olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and mushrooms and toss them to distribute fat. If using thyme, add it now. I left them cooking until they gave off their juices and then took them back. Stirring occasionally until they built a nice fond in the pan. Deglace with a splash of whatever you're drinking. Salt and pepper.

Creamed Spinach
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1.5-2 C milk or half and half
nutmeg
parmesan
1 package Cascadian Farms organic spinach (thawed and squeezed)

Make roux. Add milk off heat and wisk in. Add salt and pepper and dash nutmeg. Remove some sauce from pot. Add parmesan, stir. Add spinach and stir. Add milk or more sauce to get desired consistency.

Orzo with Spinach and Red Pepper

4 chicken breasts
1 bottle lemon pepper marinade (Newman's Own)

1/2 box orzo
1-2 red bell peppers
1-2 bags baby spinach
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 c olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 package feta cheese
pine nuts

1/4 c basil
2 tbsp parsley

Marinate chicken 1 hour.

Boil water for orzo. Start grill. Zest lemon. Juice lemon into a large bowl. Press garlic into bowl and add salt, pepper, and olive oil to lemon juice. Put chicken on grill and cook pasta. While pasta is cooking, cut red peppers. Toss spinach with dressing.

When orzo is done, drain and pour hot orzo onto spinach to wilt it. Toss in red peppers.

When chicken is done, dice into bitesize pieces and add to orzo. Add remaining ingredients and toss.

Worth the gravy

I've finally conquered roast chicken. Tonight marks my second successful roasting of 2 chickens where they didn't come out of the oven pink and clucking. The secret seems to be to brine (1 C sugar/1 C salt/ 1 gal water/ 30-60 min) and then cook the crap out of them.

2 3-4 lb chickens
1 tbsp tarragon (mexican mint marigold)
1 tbsp rosemary
parsley
6 tbsp butter

Make herb butter and slather it under and over skin.

1/2 lemon
more tarragon
more rosemary
more parsley
3+ garlic cloves

Stuff cavity with the above. Pour a cup of water in roasting pan.

Roast at 375 for an hour. Add water if necessary. Bump it to 400 and roast 40 more minutes or until skin is brown and crispy.

Sauteed fresh corn and brown rice mix on the side.

Gravy (so the reason to skip rotisserie and roast your own)
2 tbsp flour
1-2 c chicken broth
pepper

More than one way to peel a peach

Peach Crisp

Best Recipe recipe with a few changes:

Blanching peaches for 30 seconds to remove the peel does not work. Nor does blanching them for 10 minutes. I have no idea what was wrong with my peaches, but the skin wasn't coming off. So we had a rustic peach raspberry crisp with the skins on. Adding a 1/4 cup oats to the topping. I would toss them in at the end next time because they disappeared in the food processing. I'd also like the topping to be more like a struesel than just granular. I may experiment with that someday.

Oh, and the reason I had time to make a peach crisp was that we had fajita salad for dinner

CM Chipotle Lime beef fajita
avocado
lettuce
squeeze of lime
mexi-cheese
pace salsa/ranch dressing
and the piece de resistance--carmelized onions
can't have fajita salad without them. very critical.

Friday Night Special

T-bone steak, Montreal Seasoning

Mustard Greens
onions
bacon

Mashed Red Potatoes
2% milk

Steak was excellent. Greens excellent and easy. Potatoes bleh.

This is our Friday night standby but we usually have creamed spinach and mashed potatoes--all made with half and half. Trying to be light on the potatoes was a mistake but tolerable. It's not too bad when you use bacon as an ingredient rather than the star of the show, right?

leftovers

Salmon and Couscous make an excellent salad!

Wild Salmon with Pearl Couscous, Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, and Lemon Oregano Oil

Recipe from Gourmet. It's also on Epicurious.com. I tried it years ago and it's still our favorite salmon recipe. It's Copper River salmon season so I got 2lbs+ because it's on sale. It's a bit much even for leftovers but the leftovers are the best part because the lemon and oregano further infuse the couscous. Mmm the tomatoes are the best!

Note: I used some jarred Mezzenetta black olives that have "cabernet" in them. Would rather have some straight up calamata olives that are more briney.

Note2: I really really prefer the plum tomatoes from Holland that we have at CM to the ones from Mexico. You can tell by looking at them that they are more flavorful and a better texture and it's true! Worth the $4.99/lb

For tomatoes and lemon oregano oil

• 6 plum tomatoes (1 lb), halved lengthwise
• 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 10 fresh basil leaves (Totally dry)
  
• 12 whole fresh oregano leaves plus
  
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
  
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest,
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For couscous

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 1/4 cups pearl (Israeli) couscous (12 oz)
• 1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (14 fl oz)
• 1 cup water (omit!)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For salmon

• 6 (6-oz) pieces wild salmon fillet with skin (preferably center cut)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil (just use lemon oregano oil)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives (3 oz), pitted and quartered lengthwise

Preparation

Roast tomatoes and prepare oil:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 250°F.

Toss tomatoes with sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and arrange, cut sides down, in a small shallow baking pan. Heat oil in a 9- to 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook garlic, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in basil and whole oregano leaves, then pour oil over tomatoes. Roast tomatoes until very tender but not falling apart, 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours.

Transfer tomatoes with a spatula to a large plate, then pour oil through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl or measuring cup, discarding solids. Stir in chopped oregano, zest, juice, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Cook couscous:
Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then toast couscous, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and pale golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Add broth, water, and salt and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed and couscous is al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes, then stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon oregano oil. Season with salt.

Roast salmon while couscous stands:
Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 500°F. Line a 17- by 12-inch shallow baking pan with foil.

Arrange salmon, skin sides down, in baking pan, then drizzle with olive oil, rubbing it over tops of fillets, and sprinkle with salt. Roast salmon until just cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes.

Divide couscous among 6 plates. Lift salmon flesh from skin with a slotted spatula and transfer a fillet to each bed of couscous. Put 2 tomato halves on each plate, then sprinkle salmon with olives and drizzle with some lemon oregano oil.

No shopping dinner

Frozen shrimp w/ Tom Douglass Salmon Rub
broiled for 4 min, flip, 4 min more

Yellow Squash
onions

leftover couscous

Nice to have a quick healthy meal without going to the store!

I share a brain with the Ameteur Gormet

First of all, that would have been my title if I'd started this 5 years ago. But alas, I am not already famous and do not live in cool NYC in a tiny apartment. Nor do I have an iPhone or some other instantaneous way to photograph the food I cook. Nevertheless, it's nice that he has the time to post all my thoughts and recipes online in a clever blog. Thanks AG!

Apricot and Nutella

Always reminds me of Italy.

EP's Teriyaki

Tried some fully cooked refrigerated chow mein noodles (organic) and they were a hit with EP!

sesame oil
matchstick carrots
edamame (frzn)
noodles
honey
soy
1/2 clove garlic

Anything with "special sauce" goes down well with this boy!

Lemon Caper Chicken

Salad:
5 lettuce mix
craisins
feta
pine nuts
carrot matchsticks
sunflower seeds
Annie's balsamic

Lemon Caper Chicken (Best Recipe)

• next time use a bigger pan; not worth the grease burn
• need more sauce

Roasted Asparagus
high broiler, 8 min
kosher salt

Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa
mango
red pepper
red onion
lime
cilantro

Black Drum

• first time to use this fish and love its texture--firm but flaky and more flavorful than boring tilapia
• breadcrumbs were boring. think I'll use cornmeal next time
• would make good fish tacos
  

Gallo Pinto

• Goya Black Beans

Babbich Savignon blanc

Strawberries for dessert

• Babbich was yummy with these too!