A little bit of fun + a little confetti

Finished using our lemons last night!! There was a sale at Whole Foods for salmon so I picked up some since it was $8 off...pretty exciting I know.  There were some other things in the fridge that needed to be used...like our container of arugula so I threw that into the mix too along with with pesto mashed potatoes, the healthy way.

So to make the salmon, the ingredients were:

salmon

lemon juice

olive oil

salt

pepper

marsala

lemons

rosemary

I took some aluminum foil, largest enough to make a salmon pouch, and drizzled some olive oil on the bottom with salt and pepper.  Then I put the salmon on top then drizzled olive oil with salt and pepper on top.  The rest of the liquid ingredients were poured on top then topped with lemon slices and rosemary. 

Once it was all done, I wrapped up the foil and put it in the fridge for a little bit while the grill heated.  About 10 min later, I threw it on the grill and let it cook for about 20 min.  Once it was done, I took it off the heat and let it sit while finishing the rest of dinner, still wrapped in foil.

To go alone with the salmon, I made a balsamic reduction which is where the balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, and dijon mustard in the ingredients picture come into play.  I figured since we had such a lemon based dinner the night before, it'd be nice to add something different.  To make the reduction, just add all the ingredients into a pot and let it....reduce..hehe. It'll get thick and syrupy and much thicker once it's cools so plan accordingly.

I didn't take pics of the mashed potatoes process just b/c I figure most people know what it looks like to boil water and then throw potatoes in.  However, here are the ingredients I used and the finished product.  I used chicken stock instead of cream/milk to keep it lighter and only added a couple  tablespoons of butter. We went with a more "smashed potatoes" texture, leaving them chunky.

So lastly, I cut up an onion and cooked it for a few minutes then added arugula a bit at a time to wilt.  I didn't add any seasonings or oil b/c I knew there were already so many flavors going on with dinner that I didn't want everything to clash.  Plus, I knew the balsamic would drizzle it's way to the veggies and give them flavor.

So once everything is cooked, it was plated and final dinner went something like...

I'd say it went very well!  It was almost  better to just mix everything together like a hash and meld all the flavors together.  I topped the arugula and potatoes with some shredded parmesan.  The reduction made for a good "gravy" for the potatoes and the sweetness of it was a good compliment to the tart of the lemon.

So in honor of birthday week, Eric and I decided it would be a good idea to incorporate Funfetti into dinner last night.  We started out with making ice cream and then realized we had some mix left decided to make Funfetti cookies...but then had the sudden lightbulb that Funfetti ICE CREAM cookies would be even better!!! I know people who are in pastry don't enjoy cooking cake from a box and I usually agree but there is always something about Funfetti cake that gets me everytime.  The process went a little like this:

For the ice cream:

sugar

milk

cream

cake mix

vanilla

Incredibly easy to make..just throw it all into a bowl and whisk it up!

Then pour it all into the ice cream maker and mix it until it's ice cream!

With the leftover mix, we added some eggs, milk, and veggie oil and mixed it until incorporated.  Then, I poured out 4 "cookies" and made cupcakes with the rest of it.  I think one of the best things about being a pastry chef is that you almost always have baking supplies on hand! 

So after being in the oven for a bit, the cakes came out of the oven.

With the cupcakes, we just left the way they were and flipped them out of the pan.  By the time we were done eating everything from dinner, I don't think Eric had any room left for the cupcakes so I ate one and threw the rest of them in a bag.  For the "cookies," I flipped 2 over and covered it in ice cream. Then sandwiched another one on top.  

OH MY GOSH...Funfetti ice cream cookies are probably one of the best things ever.  As full as we both were form dinner and eating leftover batter, we managed to chow that thing down.  We put the other one in the freezer for later.  Probably the most excited I have ever been about leftovers! 

We go outta town again tomorrow so blogging will be delayed again but we will be eating some good eats while we're gone so hopefully I will remember to take pics and

When life gives you lemons, make chicken picatta!

Eric and I have been outta town and we left this bag of lemons behind at the house.  I figured, why waste them, so these next 2 days will be dinners using these lemons.  I opened a bottle of red wine before we left and thought I'd make something that goes well with red wine so it didn't go bad either but decided to just drink it while cooking instead.

Last night for dinner we had chicken picatta with a mushroom and thyme quinoa risotto.  There are a lot of steps to making picatta but it actually isn't difficult as long as your "mis en place" is organized and you are ready before you start cooking.

The ingredients for the chicken were:

chicken

lemons

flour

butter

olive oil

salt

pepper

capers

chicken stock

parsley

To start, I cut the butter into 3 parts and flattened the chicken to about 1/4 inch thick.  Really, I just made sure they were all close to the same thickness.  Then I squeezed the lemons for juice, measured out the chicken stock and capers and put all three into one cup since they all go in at the same time.  

I put some flour into a baking dish and dredged the chicken pieces on both sides, shaking off any excess.

Now the cooking begins!  To start, put one of the thirds of butter and some olive oil into a pan and let them  melt together and heat up.  Once it starts to sizzle, add half of the chicken and let it brown on one side.  Once it's brown, flip it over and let it brown on the other side then remove it to a plate.   When the first batch is done, add another third of butter and some more olive oil and repeat the process of browning the chicken on both sides. 

Once your chicken is browned, remove it from the pan and turn off the heat.  At this point, I added the cup of stock, lemon juice, and capers to the pan and put the pan back on the heat.  Once all the liquid came to a boil, I put the chicken back in the pan and let it simmer for about 4 minutes per side in the pan of sauces.  Then, I removed the chicken from the pan and set it on a plate.

Once the chicken has been removed, add your last third of butter (I know I probably seem like Paula Deen right now but I promise it's not as thick or rich as you think b/c of all the lemon...and it's really not THAT much butter for how much liquid and chicken there is) and let the sauce thicken.

The tough part of making this meal is the multitasking os making the chicken while making the risotto at the same time.  Before I started making the chicken, I started with the quinoa.  The ingredients were:

quinoa

chicken stock

mushrooms

onion

garlic

thyme

To start, I put chicken stock into a pot and let it come to a boil.  Then I placed the quinoa in the pot and let it cook until it was done and liquid was absorbed.  Then, I chopped the garlic, onion, and thyme and then stemmed and sliced the mushrooms.  I used crimini but I'm sure you can use whatever you like.  

While the quinoa was cooking, I began cooking the veggies.  To start, I heated up some olive oil and cooked the garlic for a couple of minutes to release flavor.  Before the garlic browned, I dumped the bowl of the remaining ingredients and cooked them until the onions were transparent and the mushrooms were softer.  

Once they were cooked, I added some chicken stock and let it reduce down a bit so it was thicker and not as viscous.

Lastly, the quinoa was added into the mix and just cooked until the liquid was absorbed. 

OK...so the meal is done!  To top everything off, I added a little fresh parsley to the chicken and some parmesan to the risotto.

This meal was pretty dang good.  I made it months ago but I don't think it was after the blog started so I figured I could make this again and not make a repeat blog post.  The risotto was a good balance to the tartness of the lemon in the picatta.  The best thing, I think, about quinoa risotto is that it's not full of the butter that regular risotto can be so it's not as heavy.  That way, if your main is heavier with ingredients, the quinoa can lighten it up and be a good pair.  Definitely make sure you have a good sized stove for this meal b/c it takes up a lot of space with all the pans and pots being used.

Tonight will be another meal with lemons.  Hopefully tonight will be the end of the lemons though and tomorrow night can be something more "savory"..as if chicken cooked in butter wasn't savory enough!

Reminds me of being a kid again

When I was a kid, about 2nd grade or so, I think I had my first sloppy joe.  It was at school during lunch and I really had no idea what it was at the time.  I just knew it wasn't bologna.  I don't know what it was about it but I loved it.  Every time it was a lunch option, it's what I'd order.  As I got older, the sloppy joes in my life decreased.  For a good while, I'm pretty sure I forgot about them completely.   Well, for some reason, the past week or so I've been craving one and didn't know if Eric actually liked them b/c they're not for everybody.  Once I found out he did, I decided it was time to fulfill that craving.

Most people decide to just buy a can of Manwich but that stuff is soooo bad for you and I was pretty sure that I could make it better anyway so I did.  To make homemade sloppy joes you need:

ground beef

onions

peppers

brown sugar

ketchup

garlic powder

salt

pepper

mustard

This is possibly one of the easiest things to make b/c you can also put it in a crockpot if you want.  All you do is brown the beef with onions and peppers until mostly cooked through.  There can still be a little pink b/c you will continue to cook.  Once that's done, add the rest of the ingredients and give it a mix.  Taste it for flavor then put a lid on it and let it cook for about 30 minutes on low. 

While this was cooking, I worked on a side.  We had a TON of German coleslaw leftover from the weekend BBQ so I decided to do something with it.  

I "braised" it with some spinach, balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic, and dijon mustard.  I added salt and pepper accordingly.  I decided to leave out the bacon just for caloric intake.  I then topped it with some feta instead of parmesan and didn't use the lemon.  I let this cook for about 20 minutes on low, just allowing everything to wilt and come together. 

Whole dinner probably took about 45 minutes to make with prep and cooking time.  I put the joes on a bun with some shredded cheese (I used pepper jack, monterey jack, and mild cheddar). 

Incredibly easy, fast meal and it was delicious! I think I can say these were definitely better than Manwich sauce and a lot less calories.

This past saturday Eric and I both woke up with hangovers and decided that bloody mary's would be delicious.  In this process, we also decided to make our own bloody mary mix.  I just thought I'd share a picture with y'all of all the ingredients we felt were necessary for this "secrete ingredient mix"

They tasted great but REALLY filling.  It was like drinking soup.  We could hardly finish one...actually I don't think we did.  We made 2 big batches and the 2nd one was definitely better than the first.  It was a fun day of experimenting.