16 Thursday Dec 2010
Posted in Beans, Beef, Photos, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipe By: Robin Young, What's For Dinner?
No matter what you do, don’t forget to serve this chili with a Stella!!! But, before you can serve it, you have to have The Recipe. And this is, even if I say so myself, one awesome chili. Not your run of the mill chili. It has some very different ingredients in it. Chocolate for one. It does take some time to prep and to cook. But you can make it ahead of time. Have fun with this one and enjoy!
11 Saturday Dec 2010
Robin comes up with some really awesome dinner ideas. Here is one that, I think, she saw in a photo. (She has this knack of making items from a photo. She did her Prom dress from a photo when we went to the dance in 1960! I had to wait until she finished it. Her Dad just smiled.) I didn’t see the photo of this dish nor a recipe, which leads me to believe that the recipe for the dinner is, at best, an educated guess. And that makes it fun. Here’s the menu and recipe. The recipe looks long and involved. Read through it first – it is really pretty straight forward. Cheers!
Orange Fennel Salad
1999 Mainzer Domherr Spätlese Rheinhessen
2008 Cold Springs Phren/ology Riesling
Source: Robin Young
Serves: 2
Ingredients: (Lobster and Shrimp)
2 med Lobster Tails
12 med Shrimp
Directions:
Pre-Heat Oven to 375°F
Reserve all shells. Remove the lobster meal from the shell. Cut in half lengthwise. Shell and devein the shrimp. Lay the lobster meat from 1 tail on the edge of a 1-2 cup round ramekin. Place 6 shrimp in center of lobster ring. Repeat for a second ramekin. Set aside. Heat a ‘Bane Mare’ – jelly roll pan or baking dish with at least 1/2 inch of water for a hot water cooking bath to set the seafood ramekins in and bake.
Place all shells in a saucepan. Add any orange peel or lemon peel that you may have from making the salad and risotto. Cover with water and simmer until the lobster shells are a deep red and the shrimp shell are pink. Reduce heat and continue to simmer. This is the liquid for the risotto. You may need up to 4 cups for the risotto. Hot pack the remaining into canning jars. I ended up with 1 quart of the lobster stock canned.
Ingredients: (Risotto)
3 c Lobster broth (Above)
2 T Butter
3 T Shallot, minced
1 c Risotto
⅓ c dry White Wine
1 pinch Saffron
Sea Salt to taste
1 t Chives, chopped
1 t Lemon peek
Directions:
While cooking the risotto, bake the lobster and shrimp bowls in the water bath in the oven. It should take about 20 minutes.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the minced shallot and sauté until it is transparent. Add the risotto and stir until coated with the shallot/butter. Add the chives, lemon peel, wine and saffron and stir until the wine is completely absorbed. Add enough of the warm lobster broth to just cover the risotto. Cook over medium heat adding more broth as needed. Continue to cook until the risotto is soft, but not gummy. About 20 minutes.
Ingredients: (Herb Cream)
2 T Basil, chopped
1 t Tarragon, dried
¾ c Heavy Cream
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over med-low heat. Stir until the cream is reduced and thickened.
Ingredients: (Salad)
Fresh Fennel sliced
Fresh Orange sliced and peel removed
Fresh Mixed Greens
Flat Leaf Parsley
Directions:
Place the mixed greens on a plate. Place the orange and fennel on the greens.
Ingredients:
Truffle Oil
Ramekins
Frenched Green Beans, drained of all liquid [* Optional – just because I like to use up leftovers]
Directions:
Risotto
In each ramekin. place a drop or two of the truffle oil. Spread it all around using your finger. Place a ring of green beans along the bottom, leaving the center open. Add the risotto and fill to the top. Press down slightly to pack. Cool slightly. Loosen the edge with a fork.
Turn the ramekin upside down on the plate. The risotto should come out of the ramekin and maintain the round shape. See photo.
Lobster
Remove the lobster from the cooking bowl. Place in a ring on the plate. Place the shrimp in the center.
Drizzle a small amount of the Herb Cream on the lobster and shrimp mixture and on the risotto. Serve with a fine Riesling or German wine. Enjoy!!
Kitchen Notes:
1) The photo does not show the Herb Cream correctly. I did not get this thick enough. The Herb Cream should not be this runny. The original had one small ring of seafood on top of the risotto ring served with Bearnaise sauce,
2) Use the truffle oil sparingly. All you want is the essence of truffle. It does not take much to achieve this.
3) If you have questions, look at the photo. Left-Click the photo to enlarge it.
08 Wednesday Dec 2010
This morning, right around noon, Robin was in the kitchen and said, “Brunch is ready.” So I walked out to the kitchen and she has made this awesome Portabello, also know as Cappellone, mushroom dish. This was just great with the poached egg on top. You can adjust this recipe to serve as many as you wish. Just adjust the shallot to the number you are making – 1 shallot for every 4 dishes. Here’s the recipe. Enjoy! I did.
Recipe Source: Robin Young
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
4 Portabello mushrooms – cleaned, stems removed and reserved
1 Shallot
4 eggs
4 T Sour Cream
4 T grated cheese
1 T Herbes de Provence
2 T butter
1 t pepper [black or cayenne]
Directions:
Mince or ‘small chop’ Portabello stems with shallot. Sauté in butter in med pan that can hold 2-4 portabellos and has a glass lid. Add Herbes de Provence when shallot is translucent – about 10 minutes on low heat
Place Portabellos gill side up on a serving plate. Spoon 1T Sour Cream into center where stem was removed. Break an egg into each mushroom over the sour cream.
Sprinkle 1T grated cheese over each egg – I used Pecorino, but grueyere, parmesan, cheddar, feta or bleu would do. Spoon the sauté mix of mushroom stems, shallot and herbs over the cheese.
Fill the sauté pan ½ full of water and bring to a gentle boil. Add about 1 T coarse sea salt to the water
Carefully place each mushroom into the poaching liquid. Cover with a clear glass lid and let poach over medium heat until egg is ‘set’ – test by wiggling the pan.
Lift out with slotted spatula or spoon onto serving plate.
Serve warm with toast, and salad or fruit.
28 Sunday Nov 2010
I can’t say there is a whole lot to do on this very lazy Sunday afternoon. The walks are all shoveled from the snow last night, and now, with the sun on them, they are melting off quite well.
But we had a duck the other night and now we have the carcass left over. So Robin found this recipe for duck soup.
Homemade Duck Soup to be exact. The top photo is the soup after cooking for hours. The photo to the left is the soup plated. By the way. The larger green bowl is one of the bowls we bought at the Empty Bowls event by the Idaho Foodbank. It is fitting that there is a bowl of soup in it.
The other thing we had was Veal Osso Buco the other night. Remember from a previous post? Where Robin said she wanted to make veal stock? The photo to the right is the beginning simmer. This just fills the house with the aroma of roasted veal bones and a fragrance of spices and roasted vegetables.
The photo to the right is the veal stock almost done after some 10 hours on a low simmer. Here is the recipe for the Brown Veal Stock.
I think tomorrow I will can most of these two items. Just one note: Both of these recipes take some time to create the end product. But neither one is very difficult, just time consuming. The soup is very hearty and will go well with a Garlic Bread or Dilly Casserole Bread. But then, you don’t have to wait around while it is cooking. Set your heat to a low simmer, and do the laundry or something. The other thing is that these are both awesome dishes and can be kept for a while. The Brown Veal Stock will be great in soup or Osso Buco or something similar. Do enjoy these recipes. Cheers!
01 Monday Nov 2010
Halloween Day started off very rainy – almost 0.75″ of rain. But then late in the afternoon, it cleared off nicely. And look at the rainbow the storm produced. And a double rainbow, too. Beautiful!! It is supposed to be unseasonably warm this week. A true Indian Summer.
So we started the party. Look at what we had for ourselves for dinner and our guests. We had more people this year than we have had for a while – 9. We were happy that they stopped by. Enjoy!
Oven Roasted Chicken
Brussels Sprouts Sauteed with Pancetta
Our dinner plated.
And then, Robin found this Pumpkin Soup recipe. It’s really good and deserves a try.
Ingredients:
1 7-lb. Cinderella pumpkin, with a 2″ stem
7 T Butter
Salt
1 lg Yellow Onion, peeled and finely chopped
1½ c 1 inch chunks White Bread Baguette slices
½ t ground Nutmeg
½ t ground Sage
Freshly ground Black Pepper
½ C cubed cheddar cheese
4 c Chicken Stock
2 bay leaves
½ c heavy Cream, optional
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Cut a lid about 4″ in diameter out of top of pumpkin and set lid aside. Remove and discard seeds and strings. Rub inside of pumpkin and lid with 1 tbsp. softened butter, season with salt, and place on a baking pan. I used a casserole that the pumpkin just fit – and cooked it with the casserole lid on – in place of the pumpkin lid.
2. Melt remaining 6 tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in bread chunks and cook for 2 minutes, then add nutmeg and sage and season generously with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, stir in cheese, then spoon mixture into pumpkin. Pour enough stock into pumpkin to come within ½” of the rim. Lay bay leaves on top, then fit lid onto pumpkin.
3. Bake until pumpkin begins to soften and brown on the outside and the stock bubbles on the inside, about 1½ hours. Carefully remove from oven and transfer to a serving platter. The casserole is a perfect serving dish. With a long-handled spoon, scrape flesh from bottom and sides of pumpkin and, just before serving, stir in heavy cream if desired.
Source: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pumpkin-Soup-in-a-Pumpkin
Tomato Soup going into oven.
Tomato Soup completed.
Robin made these cookies for the Goblins and Witches and Dragons!
BreadBugs being made.
An insect in the spider web!
Ingredients:
To make chocolate witch hats, you will need:
1/2 cup, or about 3.5 oz, chopped chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
12 pointy-tipped ice cream cones
12 thin, round cookies
2 cups, or about 12 oz, chocolate candy coating
1 fruit roll-up (optional)
Directions:
Make the Chocolate Ganache
First we need to make the chocolate filling for our hats. Put the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and gently whisk it until the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes shiny and smooth. This is your “ganache.” Press some cling wrap directly on top of the ganache, and place it in the refrigerator until it is firm enough to pipe, about 1 hour.
Prep the Witch Hat Cone
While you’re waiting for the ganache to chill, get the cones ready. We’re going to cut them in half so we use only the top halves. Use a sharp serrated knife and saw them gently about 2 inches from the base. Don’t press down, just use a gentle back and forth motion so they don’t crack or break. Try to get them fairly even, but don’t worry if they’re not perfectly straight.
Once the cones are cut, unroll the fruit roll-up and slice it into thin strips about 1/4 inch wide. These will be the ribbons for your witch hats.
Fill the Witch Hat Candy
When your ganache is the texture of peanut butter, take it from the refrigerator and place it in a piping bag, or, if you don’t have this, a plastic bag with a hole cut into the corner.
Insert the tip of the bag into a cone and squeeze until it is filled with ganache. Overfill it slightly, so that there is a little extra ganache coming out from the top. Press the cone on top of the cookie–the extra ganache will help “glue” the cone to the cookie. Fill all of the cones, then put the witch hats on a baking sheet and refrigerate it until the ganache is completely firm, about 1 hour more.
Coat the Witch Hat Candy in Chocolate
When you’re ready to dip the hats, melt the candy coating in the microwave and stir until it’s completely smooth. Once the coating is melted and smooth, dip the witch hats completely in the coating, spooning some over the top if necessary to make sure every bit is covered. Tap the fork against the side of the bowl and scrape the bottom of the cookie against the lip to remove excess coating. Once all of the witch hats are dipped, refrigerate them until the coating sets, about 10 minutes.
Decorate and Serve the Halloween Witch Hats
To add the ribbons, wrap one strip of the fruit roll-up around the base of the cone and cross it in front. These adorable chocolate-filled witch hats can be kept in the refrigerator for several days, but they’re best when served at room temperature soon after they’re made.
Source: Be sure to watch the video:
http://video.about.com/candy/Make-Chocolate-Witch-Hats.htm
and other treats on this same site – bread bugs with spiderweb dip, peanut butter eye balls, merengue ghosts, severed fingers.
Koby [Jacoby] Banks, our next door neighbor. A Green Dragon! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
![Koby [Jacoby] Banks](https://boisefoodieguild.blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/31oct2010_halloween_dinner_5b_visitors_ben1.jpg)
Koby’s Dad, Ben!
Sophie, The Cheer Leader!
27 Wednesday Oct 2010
Let’s see. If it’s Blue and Orange it must be Game Day! And, because of the colors, it must be Bronco Game Day! And that it was. Cold. Rain. Sleet. Snow in the mountains. And LaTech was a good opponent. BSU won 49 – 20, but not without some scary moments. Thanks LaTech for a great game! And Kellen Moore – Not only a Quarterback, but also a Punter, a Defenceman (he made a good tackle) and a Wide Receiver for a Touchdown! Sorry to disappoint the BCS people and not play Auburn or Oregon or some school like that, but your time is coming!! Remember Oklahoma? Or TCU? The Bronco Nation does.
And for the game, Robin put together these wonderful Game Day Handwiches with a great Cabbage Soup and Sliced Tomatoes. Serve these with a good Stella Artois and we’ve got a great game meal. The recipe is below the photos and in the meantime, take a look at this –
The Filling
The Circles
Folding the circles
Oven ready and brushed with melted butter
Game Day Handwiches fresh from the oven
Cabbage Soup
Dinner is presented
And now, the recipe!
Source: Robin Young
Yield: 4 Dozen
Ingredients – Pastry
3 c All-Purpose Flour
1 c Lard
1 c Whole Milk
1 lg Egg
1 t Salt
1 t Baking Powder
1 T Sugar
3 T Butter, melted and for brushing tops
Directions:
Mix by hand all ingredients, except for the melted butter, until the dough comes together. The dough should not be sticky when rolled out. Use a little more flour, if necessary. Set aside to rest.
Ingredients – Filling
2 lbs Ground Beef
1 c Chanterelle mushrooms, chopped
1 c Cremini mushrooms, chopped
½ c Onions, diced
1 c Béchamel
1 lg Egg
4 T Cabbage, large shred
½ c Bread Crumbs, dry and plain
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F
Make a medium thick Béchamel. Set aside. (This can be made 24 hours in advance. Just keep it refrigerated.)
Sauté the mushrooms and the onion until golden brown. Set aside. In the same pan, sauté the ground beef until browned. Add the cabbage until wilted. Add the mushroom mixture. Heat throughout.
Add the Béchamel. Mix thoroughly
Roll out the dough. Cut into about 3” circles. Roll the cut circles again. This makes it easier to work with the filling. Place about 1 Tablespoon of the filling into each circle. Fold over and pinch the edges to seal.
Place on a cookie sheet and brush the top with the melted butter. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm with a good cabbage soup. Enjoy the game!
So there you have it. Enjoy the recipe. If there is any filling left over, just freeze it and use it at a later time mixed with about 1 can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes and some pasta. Cheers!
20 Wednesday Oct 2010
Robin has had several requests for the pasta she made the other night. See the blog post Spinach Pasta and Mushroom Lasagna. So here is her recipe. Good luck and Cheers!
Left – Chantrelle Mushroom and Spinach PastaSpinach Pasta
1 box frozen chopped spinach thawed – and squeeze almost dry.
[or you could steam and chop fresh spinach = a cup]
3 eggs
blend well in food processor
1 1/2 cups semolina [or all purpose flour]
pour in the center of your bread kneading surface – making a hill.
Make a little volcanic indentation and pour in the spinach/egg mixture
1 Tbsp Olive oil
tsp salt
keep a little warm water nearby if needed
Mix the pasta ingredients with a fork – working from the edges in
I also use a pastry scraper to pile dry flour over the wet center.
Work with your fingers until you can form a ball. Then knead as you would knead bread.
When the pasta pastry is smooth and elastic wrap it in plastic wrap or tinfoil and let it rest for 1/2 to 1 hour.
This allows the gluten to relax and will improve the elasticity for noodle making.
Lasagne fillings
Grated cheeses – about 2 cups – your choice – peccorino romano, parmesano.
Mozzarella or provolone and/or ricotta
Meanwhile chop one onion – sweat it in a saute pan with 1 Tbsp melted butter until translucent.
Add 2 cups cleaned and chopped mushroom pieces – chanterelle, white or brown crimini.
cook until mushrooms give off liquid. Set aside to cool, reserving liquid and a few sliced mushrooms. *
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Warm 3 cups of milk with one bay leaf, end of an onion spiked with a whole clove and some grated nutmeg.
Make a white sauce base roux in a good size pot with 4 Tbs butter and 1/3 cup flour.
Cook over medium heat – stirring until it just begins to brown.
Add hot milk all at once and using a whisk, keep cooking until bechamelia / italian flavored white sauce is as thick as heavy cream.
Get out pasta rolling machine or long rolling pin. Flour to coat work surface and roller blades.
Taking 1/4 of pasta dough Roll out to #4 on machine or about 1/8 inch thick in a rectangular shape.
Using glass bread pans – coat the bottom with some bechamelia sauce.
Layer a piece of pasta cut to fit the bottom of bread pan over the sauce, slotted spoon 1/3 mushroom mix, a layer of grated cheese to cover.
another layer of pasta, ricotta, mozzerella or provolone.
A third layer of pasta, bechamelia, musrooms, grated cheese.
fourth layer of pasta cover with one of the filling cheeses
Fifth layer of pasta, bechamalia, mushrooms
Sixth layer of pasta, bechamelia and grated cheese on the top.
Bake for 45 minutes – let cool a little – slice and serve with a green salad.
* Add reserved mushroom/onion juice to remainder of bechamelia for a wonderful ‘gravy’ over toast
16 Saturday Oct 2010
Robin is cooking one side of the Crêpe. Roll the pan to cover the bottom with the batter, about one-third of a cup.
After the first side lightly browns, turn the Crêpe over and cook until lightly brown. Notice the pan of sauteed filling. (Recipe below) Remove from heat and place the Crêpe on a working surface and fill with the filling. Fold in half and then half again. See the photos below.
The filling is placed on the Crêpe.
The finished Crêpe and plated
Crêpes, Autumn-style
Recipe source: Robin Young
Prep time: ~30 minutes
Ingredients (yields ~8 filled Crêpes):
Chanterelle Filling:(the filling can be adapted to your taste and pantry, you can also use bacon, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, different mushrooms, etc.)
1 tsp butter
1 small shallot, finely diced
6 slices of Pancetta, finely chopped
1 cup of baby Chanterelles
2 tbsp of fresh parsley, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
optional: ~ 50g Parmesan or Pecorino, grated
Thin Herbed Pancakes = Crêpes
1 cup all-purpose flour
three large eggs
a pinch of salt
1 cup milk
4 tbsp of chopped parsley – flat and curly
1 Tbsp chopped chives and tarragon (or more to your liking)
2 cloves garlic minced
clarified butter for the pan
16 Saturday Oct 2010
Yes, homemade pasta! Such a treat. Easy to do and you can add whatever you want. Herbs, spices, vegetables. You name it … you can add it to your pasta. Or you can just take the noodles, cook them and smother in browned butter and that’s dinner!
Here is Robin making the semolina pasta, fettucini to be exact. After it gets mixed, let it rest for an hour or so and then run it through a pasta mill.
Rolling the semolina dough thinner and thinner!
Cutting the fettucini from the sheet of dough.
The fettucini on a plate and dusted with flour.
And the finality ….
Artichoke and Chicken Fettucini in Alfredo Sauce
Fresh Steamed String Beans
Fresh Homemade Herbed French Sourdough Bread
1971 Weingut Dr Burklin-Wolf Riesling Auslese
——————–
Alfredo Sauce
5 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pecorino romano
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
12 ounces fresh fettucini
2 chicken breasts grilled or poached and cut into bite size
8 marinated artichoke hearts or a small jar
Directions:
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 25 mins
1). Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Add the garlic, cream, white pepper and bring mixture to a simmer. Stir often.
2). Add the Parmesan and Romano cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened and is smooth. Add chicken and artichoke hearts
3). When sauce has thickened add the Mozzarella cheese and stir until smooth. STIR FREQUENTLY.
4). While the sauce cooks, boil noodles for 3-5 minutes. Place pasta on serving plates and spoon sauce over pasta
So there you go! Have fun with this. Think of all the pasta varieties you can make. Cheers!
23 Thursday Sep 2010
Robin is on Dr Weil’s email list and she receives these recipes quite often. She worked with Dr Weil in San Francisco. This recipe for Red Quinoa looks interesting, easy to make and good. Give it a try.
Source: Dr Andrew Weil, U of AZ at Tuscon, Director of Integrative Medicine
Food as Medicine: Not only is quinoa a nutritional powerhouse, but it has a delightful nutty flavor that is delicious on its own, or with mild seasoning and simple vegetables, such as this recipe. Be sure to wash your quinoa well, as its natural saponin coating is quite bitter, and is not always fully removed during processing. Quinoa is high in protein, and the protein it contains is complete, which means it includes all nine essential amino acids.
Ingredients:
4 c Red Quinoa
1 c Yellow Onion, diced
1 c Celery, diced
8 c Water
2 T Sea Salt (or to taste)
3 sprigs fresh Oregano
Directions:
Sauté onions and celery. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Add quinoa and water. Cover and boil on medium heat for about 25 minutes until cooked and fluffy.
Boise Foodie Guild 