Cravings 1: Christe 0

I went to pick up Eric from the airport last night and on the way home, we were both hungry and in need of dinner.  He had suggested Cosmo's but I had just eaten it Sunday night.  I thought a little bit about what I wanted and what comes to me....LASAGNA.  UGH.  I felt so good about not eating like crap Monday afternoon and getting salad and then the lasagna craving comes back.  I tell him about how I had been craving it since we went downtown that night and so where do we end up...Maggiano's. I was apparently unaware of the fact that they give you a whole order of pasta with your order of pasta!! WHAT?!? How unnecessarily awesome! So we were gonna get it take out but the free side of pasta only comes with dine in so we decided to eat at the bar.  He ordered the Rigatoni "D" which was this ridiculous creamy delicious marsala cream sauce with chicken and mushrooms and he subbed the rigatoni with angel hair b/c that's his favorite.  I, of course, got the Mama's Lasagna with meat sauce and a baked ziti to take home b/c apparently, I need more pasta in my life.  UGH.  I felt it sitting in my stomach all night while trying to sleep and it was even there this morning.  I also got a glass of their red blend that made solely for them.  It was surprisingly good and I rather enjoyed it! We also had a side salad and bread but pretty standard for picture sake.

This meal, I must say, made me incredibly happy.  It was so much better than my meal at Panzano..maybe b/c I had wanted it for so long.  Regardless of the reason, it hit the spot and was delicious, even it if way 9:00 at night and sat in my stomach all night as I tried to sleep.  It was definitely worth it.

Out on the town

Eric went home for the weekend which meant no cooking for me.  However, it did mean eating a bunch of random places that he doesn't want to go. Since I go alone, I don't have to worry about other people not wanting to spend money or wanting to go somewhere else.  So, I tried my hardest to remember to take pictures of my exploration of random restaurants throughout Denver.  

The first, Panzano.  I started craving lasagna Wednesday night and thought about getting Maggianos since I had never been there but I decided to go somewhere else instead b/c every now and then, Eric is open to Maggianos.  Panzano, however, he always says no to so I figured that would be a good start.  It was between Panzano, Luca D'Italia, and Osteria Marco and for some reason Panzano won. I was pretty happy to find out when I got there that their portions are available in half portions.  I had originally wanted the Chef's Tasting but the majority of the dishes had goat/gorgonzola which I don't like or oranges, which I can't eat.  The night went a little like this:

Ketel Martini, extra dirty

Chianti Classico

Three types of bread: Honey walnut, Garlic focaccia, sourdough with a sun dried tomato, olive, anchovy, and garlic tapenade

Grilled caesar salad

Veal Scaloppini

Pastiche

Hazelnut pot du creme

Marenco 'Pineto' Brachetto d' Acqui 2009

Homemade chocolate gelato

 My overall opinion: I'd go back there.  It was pretty good.  The Pastiche was definitely the best thing I ate.  The grilled Caesar was also pretty good.  Of the three breads, the focaccia was my favorite and to my surprise, I actually liked the tapanade which I usually don't.  The texture of the gelato was a little strange and the pot du creme was way much for one person to eat but the pairing was delicious with it and I usually don't like sweet wines.  I think the carbonation definitely helped.  The veal was good but perhaps a little bland.  The mashed potatoes could have used some more salt, and I'm not a big salt eater so they must've really needed salt.  However, the food was prepared well and parts of the meal were good enough to brag about so I will not pass this place yet.

Place #2 is Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar.  I went there for brunch with my friends Trent and Nancy on Father's day, thinking it would be crowded, but much to our surprise was kind of empty.  This was a first for both Trent and me but Nancy had been there a couple of times so she had some suggestions on what to order.  Much less pictures of this place so don't feel overwhelmed yet!

Foie Gras Mousse 

Prince Edward Oysters

Duck Confit Hash

The foie gras was pretty delicious.  It was incredibly smooth and the port gastrique added the perfect amount of sweetness.  The grilled baguettes were also a nice touch instead of a crostini.  The oysters were ok.  They were out of the Kumomoto, which are generally my favorite.  The cocktail sauce could have been hotter, along with the grated raw horseradish that came along with them.  The duck confit hash was quite delicious.  At this point, I wasn't hungry enough to eat it all but I did what I could.  You can't tell from the picture, but there were 2 sunny side up eggs on top.  They were a little over cooked for me, as I like mine runny, but no big deal.  The mix of purple, yukon, and sweet potatoes was a nice touch and the duck was cooked very well.  It wasn't at all dry, which seems to happen more often than not to duck confit.  I took the rest home and ate it later in the day.  The atmosphere was cute, the bloody mary bar was great, and they had bottomless mimosas of 3 different flavors for $9.  I would visit this place again, maybe for dinner instead.  

Lastly, was lunch today at Hillstone.  I have definitely been here before and blogged about it but today, after this weekend's madness, I really just wanted a salad.  When I was younger and living in Memphis, I would order the Thai Steak and Noodle salad frequently since we went to Houston's all the time.  Seeing as how Hillstone and Houston's have the same menu, I decided it was time for a flashback.  

Thai Steak and Noodle Salad (after I mixed it together, it was prettier) 

Chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, walnut cookie

There was a huge plate of cookies by the door of the restaurant.  No one took one and I didn't want to be the first.  There wasn't a cookie option for dessert on the menu, but since no one was eating them, I didn't want to take one to find out they weren't for free.  Lucky for me, as I was walking out of the restaurant, a rather large man reached over and grabbed one.  I felt like this was my cue so I very stealthily grabbed one on my way out.  I am incredibly happy that I did b/c they may honestly be in the top 5 best cookies I have ever had.  I don't know if they make it in house or get them from a bakery but the chocolate was still melted and the cookie so perfectly buttery it was the perfect kick to my sweet touch without going overboard.  The Hillstone chain of restaurants, including Houston's and Cherry Creek Grill, I think I can easily say are some of my favorite chain restaurants.  They have become my "go to" places when I can't decide on lunch or dinner when I'm alone.  

Eric comes home tonight so cooking will begin again tomorrow :) 

"Eric's" Pad Thai

Eric has been talking about this amazing pad thai that he made a year ago...well for about a year now and so we finally went to the store and bought stuff to make it.  We realized that we started getting Asian food almost every Sunday since football season ended (which is when we have "Chicago day" and watch the Bears and eat deep dish from Wyman's) so on Sunday we went to H Mart and got ingredients.  It wasn't until last night that we actually made it though.  Since Eric has become my amazing lawn-man, he mowed instead of cooking and I made dinner, which is completely fine with me! I've never made it before so it was a new experience.

So here we go...LOTS of ingredients in this one!! We made it a little easier by buying a rotisserie chicken on chicken sale wednesday from Whole Foods.  Here's the list:

Rice noodles

Eggs

Chicken

Fish sauce

White wine vinegar

Green onions

Peanuts

Olive Oil

Shredded carrots

Onion

Mushrooms

Thai chilis

Sugar

Peanut butter

Bean sprouts

Lime

Before making this dish, soak the noodles in lukewarm water for about 30-40 minutes.  This will soften them but not cook them.  

Once you have everything, it's pretty easy to make.  I took this opportunity to whip out the wok...that I don't think I've ever used before but it seemed appropriate since I was making Asian food.  To start, I heated up the chicken in some olive oil and browned it a bit. Since it was already cooked, I didn't really have to do much to it.  I then removed the chicken and put it in a bowl and set it aside.  Adding more olive oil to the wok, I let it heat up until it got pretty hot and steamy and added the eggs and cooked them through until almost stiff. When they were done, I took them out and put them in the chicken bowl.  

At this point, I added more olive oil and once again let it heat up to a pretty good temperature.  The peppers went in and cooked for about 3 minutes to release the flavors.  Be careful with these because they definitely will make you cough a bit and the pop so beware of oil splatter.  

When the peppers begin to look a little "roasted" and brown, throw in the veggies.  I put the carrots, onions, and mushrooms in one bowl and dumped them in at this point.  Leave the bean sprouts until later.  Cook everything until the onions look like they're close to transparent and the mushrooms are soft.

Once the veggies are done, add the chicken and eggs back to the pile.

Mix everything through and then add the noodles and the sauce, which is made up of white wine vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar.  Give everything a good mix.  At this point, my wok was pretty dang full so it got a little messy but it all gets smaller once the noodles cook more and soften.  

When there are about 3 minutes left, add the bean sprouts and give them a quick mix and the pad thai is basically done! 

The peanuts and green onions go on top at the end with lime juice from 1 lime.  I gave it a quick mix before serving.  

Mine came out really salty so I added some water to it to tone it down.  I added the water on high heat so it would cook out quickly, to not make the noodles soggy.  I would highly suggest tasting the fish sauce before using it, which I did not do.  Just don't smell it b/c it smells really bad.  

It didn't have the dark color that a lot of pad thais have but it just so happens that Throwdown with Bobby Flay was doing pad thai this morning and he added soy sauce for color...which does not belong in pad thai anyway so I think it's ok not being as brown.  Minus the saltiness, it tasted like pad thai so I'd say it was pretty successful. 

Happy Father's Day to me :)

Yesterday, Whole Foods had a 1 day sale on rib eyes for Father's Day, which turned out to a great dinner for Eric and me! Houston's makes a great Hawaiian ribeye but takes 2 days to marinate which I clearly did not have the time for so instead, I got a teriyaki marinade that I marinaded the steaks in for about an hour.  The butcher behind the counter suggested it and was nice enough to give me the whole bottle for free as a sample which I thought was very nice of him! I don't usually put anything on my steaks besides salt, pepper, and garlic powder but I was really craving that Houston's ribeye.  For sides, we had grilled pineapple rings and green beans.  I started with 2 boneless rib eyes at about 8 oz each.  I put them in a plastic bag and poured the marinade on them and put them in the fridge for about an hour.  

While waiting for this to marinade, I decided to clean the green bean beans and chopped some onions.  I had some minced garlic leftover from the pork chop marinade so I didn't have to worry about chopping garlic which was nice b/c I always hate having that smell lingering on my fingers.  

I thought it would be nice to make them "Asian" inspired so I decided to make a sauce for them too.  I had saved about 1/4 cup of the marinade from the pork chops the night before and to it I added the following:

Soy sauce

Sriracha

Sesame oil

Honey

Just added the liquids to the previous marinade to taste.  I ended up having to add a lot more sriracha than I had thought but it turned out to be a good amount of heat.  We bought this HUGE bag of peanuts  from Costco so I thought it would be a good touch to add them to the green beans.  It took me a while but I finally deshelled them and gave them a rough chop. 

Now comes the cooking.  I took the rib eyes out of the fridge so they could rest to room temperature before going on the grill.  Cooking started by heating up some olive oil in a pan.  Once the oil was hot, the garlic and onions went in and they were cooked for about 5 minutes until fragrant and the onions were getting soft.  At this point, I turned on the grill to begin heating.  The green beans were added to the pan and sautéed for about 20 minutes on medium heat.  

At some point between green beans and heating the grill, I cut the pineapple rings just so they'd be ready to go. 

Finally, the ribeye went on the grill.  I usually cook them at about medium-high heat.  I let them cook for about 8 minutes per side since they were pretty thick, only flipping them once so they cook evenly.  For the last 8 minutes, the pineapple went on the grill for about 4 minutes per side.  

When the steaks and pineapple came off the grill, after 16 minutes, I let them sit in the plate for about 5-10 minutes so the juices could flow back through and they could finish cooking.  The steaks turned out about medium rare-medium.  Since the last few steaks had been so medium rare-rare, I figured I'd give Eric a break and cook them a little longer than usual.  While the steaks were resting, I added the sauce to the green beans and Eric tossed them for me until the sauce became more of a glaze over the green beans and finally, the peanuts were added.  Since the nuts were already cooked, you don't really want to do more than just heat them through with the dish. 

I must say, my grill marks are looking pretty good.  A little pat on the back for that one :) That's the biggest difference about grilling and cooking in a pan.  You can tell how many times things have been turned on the grill due to the grill marks.  It took a couple of tries before I got it right because I used to be so nervous about the heat and even cooking but I'm finally getting there! 

Overall, our dinner turned out really well! We ate almost all of it...with a little bit of green beans leftover.  I think next time, I may even marinade the steaks a little longer or even go with the Houston's Hawaiian ribeye marinade and go with a full 2 days.  Either way, this is definitely something I'd make again.  I was pretty pleased at how the green beans turned out since I basically just added random things to a marinade that had nothing to do with being Asian inspired.  Plus, you really can't go wrong with grilled pineapple! 

Movin to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches

I recently bought this month's copy of Bon Appetit magazine and while flipping through, found a lot of good recipes to try this summer! Last night's dinner was taken from that and due to the sale on pork chops at Whole Foods, we made grilled pork chops with grilled peaches, German coleslaw, and potato salad.  Since I was successful at the pork tenderloin, I believe I have conquered my fear of pork and am now willing to make it in all sorts of ways.

Generally, I really don't like coleslaw, but German coleslaw is a different story. It's this great mix of sweet and tangy with no mayo or anything creamy.  The ingredients are so simple and as follows

Shredded cabbage

Sugar

White vinegar

oil

salt

pepper

Some people put celery salt and green onions but I find that I never have these things on hand so I just leave them out and it's just as good! It's so easy to make since the sugar, oil, and vinegar are all equal parts.  Just put them in a pot and bring to a boil.  

Once the mixture is boiling, make sure the sugar is fully dissolved and pour on top of the cabbage and mix.

At this point, I add the salt and pepper to taste and continue to mix.  Put the bowl in the fridge and let it cool and let it come together for a couple of hours.  You can make this in the morning and eat it for dinner or even the next day! It doesn't take much planning at all which I love. 

As you can tell, it will condense quite a bit once the cabbage actually soaks up the liquid.  I had about 1 lb of cabbage. 

The pork can be made up to 24 hours in advance since it sits in a marinade.  Once again, another easy dish to make as long as you remember to marinade the pork ahead of time and have the ingredients ready.  I marinaded mine for about 7 hours.  The marinade is as follows:

Canola oil

White wine vinegar

Olive oil

Pepper

Dijon mustard

Fresh Marjoram

Garlic

The only time I had ever used marjoram is dried on my Thanksgiving turkey.  I was a little surprised by the smell of it but at the same time didn't really know what to expect.  The garlic and marjoram are both chopped and placed in a bowl with dijon mustard and vinegar.  Mix them together until combined.  There are equal parts of canola and olive oil mixed into a container, about 1/2 cup of each depending on how many chops you have.  I had about 2.5 lbs of thick cut bone in pork chops.  The recipe called for about 4 lbs so I definitely had extra.  You slowly pour the oil into the mustard/vinegar mixture, whisking the entire time until the mixture is creamy and the oil is completely blended in.  Put the chops into a ziplock bag and cover them with the marinade.  Make sure that they are completely covered.  

 I decided to give mine a couple of turns throughout the process, about 3 times over 7 hours.  When time came, put the chops on the grill at about medium high and turned them every 5 minutes for 20 minutes.  

While the chops began cooking, I cut the peaches in half and pitted them.  They were put in a bowl with some olive oil and salt and tossed.  

When there were about 6 minutes left on the chops, the peaches went on the grill until they were charred and softened.  I had some leftover marinade from the pork chops so I brushed them on both sides before turning the 2nd time. 

After removed from the grill, the chops and peaches sat for about 10 minutes so the juices could flow and cook a little further.  

They turned out a little more than medium..maybe closer to medium well depending on the chop.  However, I do believe they were pretty good.  We went through all the peaches, I bought 4.  

I would definitely make this recipe again.  Next time, I will marinade the pork for longer though, probably overnight.  It wasn't bland, but at the same time could have been more flavorful.  Overall, it was a success!! I think my pork skills are slowly but surely improving!