Roasted Cauliflower & Pear Soup

Michelle couldn’t pass by the 99 cent cauliflower at Aldi’s. And in combination with a pear that was starting to get mushy in the fridge, here’s what we came up with. Worth making again for sure!

Ingredients:

1 large pear, peeled and diced 

·         1 small russet potato, peeled and diced 

·         2/3 head cauliflower, cut in florets

·         salt

·         pepper

·         dried sage

·         dried thyme

·         1 large leek, white and light green parts sliced

·         1 small shallot, minced

·         celery leaves, chopped

·         dry white wine

·         3 cups chicken or turkey stock stock, or as needed

·         2 bay leaves

·         5-10 fresh sage leaves, chopped

·         white wine vinegar (optional)

OPTIONAL GARNISHES

·         chives/green onions

·         Greek yogurt/sour cream

·         walnuts, chopped and 

lightly toasted

·         fresh cracked pepper

·         crumbled bacon

·         additional roasted cauliflower pieces

·         croutons or toast (we’d recommend sourdough)

Directions:

1.    Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.    Lightly drizzle the chunks of pear, potato, and cauliflower with olive oil. Season with a bit of salt, pepper, dried sage, and dried thyme. Toss to coat evenly. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, or until edges of veggies are starting to brown and caramelize.

3.    Prepare your “roux.” Saute the leek and shallot with a splash of olive oil over medium heat until cooked through and just starting to stick to the bottom of the pan.

4.    Deglaze with white wine (about a 1/4 cup) and reduce until most of the liquid evaporates.

5.    Add your stock to the pan along with bay leaves and some additional pepper and dried herbs.

6.    Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add fresh sage.

7.    Transfer veggies and pear from oven to stock pot. Allow to simmer in the pan for about 10 minutes (or longer).

8.    Place entire mixture in the blender and process until smooth (alternatively, you could use an immersion blender).

9.    Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Add more stock or wine, as needed to thin. If mixture is too thick, bring to a rapid simmer to allow some of the excess liquid to evaporate. At this point, you might want to add a tablespoon or so of white wine vinegar for extra tanginess.

10. Serve with garnishes of your choice. Our favorite bites included chives, Greek yogurt, and walnuts.

**consider adding diced fennel bulb to roasted veggies and possibly garnish with some of the fronds

Italian Grilled Chicken Sammie ala First Watch

Italian Grilled Chicken Sammie ala First Watch

Oops! Looks like this post was never published and saved as a "draft" for far too long...

Like usual, we couldn’t pass by the breakfast menu items at First Watch during our most recent St. Louis visit.  Nonetheless, we were intrigued and tempted enough by the Italian Chicken Sandwich that we decided to make our own version for dinner upon return to Lincoln.  A quick picture of the First Watch menu items in combination with the idea of balsamic mayo from Honest Abe’s (a gourmet hamburger joint in Lincoln) resulted in a tasty and fairly simple meal.  This is a perfect light summertime menu item when fresh basil and maters from the garden are in peak season. 

 Ingredients:

·         mayonnaise

·         balsamic vinegar

·         pesto (preferably homemade!)

·         chicken breast

·         Provel cheese (okay…mozzarella will do, if you don’t have access to this STL delicacy)

·         pepperoncinis, sliced

·         tomato, sliced

·         red onion, thinly sliced

·         fresh spinach leaves, optional

·         Ciabatta bread, halved (if you have a really thick loaf, you may want to hollow out the inside, or serve open-faced; unless you have a big mouth like Dennis as evidenced by the picture shown above)

SEASONINGS:

·         ground basil

·         ground oregano

·         garlic powder

·         onion powder

·         pepper

·         salt

Directions:

1.    Prepare a balsamic mayo schmear by combining approximately 3 parts mayo to 1 part vinegar.  You can adjust the ratios to your liking, but keep in mind that adding too much vinegar will be really runny.  Store in the fridge until serving.

2.    Prepare pesto, if making from scratch.

3.    Season chicken (w/ingredients basil through salt)

4.    GRILLING instructions for chicken and buns

5.    Assemble sandwiches.  Spread mayo and pesto on bread and add meat and remaining toppings.

6.    Eat!!

Apple-tizers (Apple Brie Prosciutto Crostini)

Invented as an appetizer for a recent cards and food night with John and Polly, we deem these small bites a success. When preparing the Crostini, we weren’t sure whether green or red apples would be better, and even after eating, the jury is still out. While the green apple’s tartness provided a nice bite and flavor contrast to the other ingredients, the red apple’s sweetness was mellow, which allowed the Brie cheese to come through more fully. We’d recommend making some of each to capitalize on each of these strengths and to set the holiday mood with traditional Christmas colors.(As it turns our, we took our own advice and brought along round 2 to Holly's Christmas dinner)

Ingredients:

·         Ciabatta (or other form of good-quality, white crusty bread; we used Costco Torta buns)

·         Dijon mustard

·         Brie cheese

·         apples, thinly sliced and cut into Crescent moon shapes

·         Proscuitto, cut into ribbony-slivers

Directions:

1.    Slice bread on the diagonal to create oblong slices. Lightly spray both sides with nonstick cooking spray.

2.    Toast bread (flipping halfway through) until just golden. Don’t go too crazy because the bread will be returning to the oven once topped with apples and other ingredients. (This step can be done in advance; set bread aside until ready to assemble and serve).

3.    Spread a generous dollop of Dijon onto each bread slice.

4.    Layer on Brie, then apple, and finally Proscuitto.

5.    Place on a baking sheet and toast at 375 until the cheese starts to melt, the apples are softened and the Prosciutto is slightly crispy. This should take about 5-8 minutes, depending on your oven.

Thansgiving #3 (2014)

We're not dead!  Sorry for the long delay since our last post. The whole moving back to STL and getting settled sort of distracted us for a bit.  Perhaps we should add posting on our blog more regularly to our list of new year's resolutions. On the morning we had planned for our third Thanksgiving feast of the year, we received a sad phone call from our special guest and fellow chef Aldene saying she was sick. You can’t stop a brining turkey in process, so we made an impromptu visit to the Ruf house and treated them to yet another turkey dinner. They didn’t complain too much and were willing to put up with our non-traditional (i.e., “weird”) spins on favorite dishes. Here’s what we invented.

Faux Shrimp Crostini (Charred Tomato, Artichoke, & Olive Crostini)

Even though he is well aware of Michelle’s feelings on shellfish, particularly shrimp, Rick was fooled by the succulent, meatiness of the orange tomatoes and mistook them for delicately cooked shrimp.

 Ingredients:

·         Ciabatta (or other form of good-quality, white crusty bread; we used Costco Torta buns like usual)

·         cherry/grape tomatoes (preferably orange, if you want to trick your guests into thinking they are eating fancy schmancy shrimp!)

·         canned artichokes, drained and diced

·         Kalamata olives, quartered

·         fresh basil, roughly chopped

·         goat cheese

·         Balsamic, Hendrickson’s dressing, or olive oil (if needed, to moisten)

·         pepper, to taste (you are likely not to need any salt due to the inherent brininess of the artichokes and olives)

Directions:

1.    Slice bread on the diagonal to create oblong slices. Lightly spray both sides with nonstick cooking spray. Toast bread (flipping halfway through) until just golden. (This step can be done in advance; set bread aside until ready to use. Just be sure to keep it out of Rick’s reach or you might not actually have any toasts left for dinner!)

2.    Increase temperature of oven by turning on the broil. Place tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet and roast until charred. You will want to shake the pan a few times mid-cooking for even roasting.

3.    Remove tomatoes from oven and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, remove tough skins and discard.

4.    In a medium-sized bowl, combine roasted maters, artichokes, and olives. Stir in basil and season with pepper, to taste. You might also need a splash of balsamic, Hendrickson’s dressing or olive oil, if mixture is to dry. Allow flavors to marinate for at least 15 minutes prior to serving.

5.    Spread a thin, even layer of goat cheese onto each toast slice.

6.    Top with veggie and olive mixture and serve at room temperature.

Balsamic-ollinis

Taken to a tee from Rachael Ray magazine’s Italian Christmas dinner feature. These onions popped right into your mouth and were good on their own or eaten with bites of turkey.

Ingredients:

·         1 lb. cipollini or pearl onions 

·         1 TBSP EVOO

·         1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

·         Kosher salt

Directions:

1.    Place the unpeeled onions in a small saucepan. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch and bring to a boil over high. Boil until the onions are tender when pierced with a knife (7-10 minutes).

2.    Drain water and let onions cool. Peel and trim the onions, keeping the root end intact.

3.    In a large skillet, heat the EVOO over medium, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to brown and sizzle, about 3 minutes.

4.    Add the vinegar and simmer, stirring often, until the onions are glazed, about 2 minutes.

5.    Season with sea salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sprouts n’ Berries (Pan Seared Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries & Blue Cheese)

Thanks to the STL Post Dispatch for this recipe, a finalist in the newspaper’s “Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes” contest this year. We really enjoyed the odd yet complimentary flavors of the ingredients and plan to make this dish again soon. However, don’t expect to see it at family Christmas parties because it would be a challenge to prepare last minute and serve hot to a large crowd. That, along with adding some slivered onions and Dijon (and a little more pepper, of course!), were our only critiques of this recipe during our trial run. Come to our place (or Judy Ruf’s house) for dinner, if you’re wanting to try it for yourself. 

Ingredients:

·         1/2 cup barley

·         1/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped

·         olive oil

·         1/2 medium-sized onion, slivered

·         1 lb. Brussels sprouts, sliced in half (or quarters, if you have really big ones)

·         1 cup fresh cranberries

·         pepper, to taste (we found salt was not needed thanks to the inherent saltiness of the blue cheese)

·         1 TBSP balsamic vinegar

·         1 TBSP maple syrup

·         1 TBSP Dijon mustard

·         1/3 cup blue or gorgonzola cheese

Directions:

1.    Cook barley according to package directions and set aside. (Alton Brown has a great oven baked version: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-barley-recipe.html)

2.    Lightly toast pecans and set aside to cool.

3.    Heat olive oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-heat. When hot, add onions and sauté lightly for 2-3 minutes, until translucent and just starting to soften.

4.    Add barley and cranberries and continue to pan sear for 8-10 minutes.  During this process, begin seasoning with pepper and stirring in vinegar and syrup (about a tsp. of each).

5.    Stir in barley, remaining vinegar and syrup, and mustard until evenly distributed. Remove from heat.

6.    Top with pecans and cheese, just before serving to ensure the nuts remain crunchy and so the cheese does not melt.

Marbled Mashed Potatoes

We snagged this recipe from the Food Network magazine Thanksgiving edition. Per Aldene’s recommendation, we substituted cottage cheese in place of the sour cream called for in the original version. Thanks for the great tip! Our biggest critique of this dish was the consistency. We will make a conscious effort to make it less runny/creamy next time, so that it pairs better with gravy.

Ingredients:

·         1 lb. Yukon gold potatoes

·         1 lb. sweet potatoes

·         1/4 cup milk

·         1/4 cup cottage cheese

·         cayenne pepper

·         salt and pepper

Directions:

1.    Put the potatoes and sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water by an inch or 2. Add salt and bring to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork (about 35-45 minutes).

2.    Drain, but be sure to reserve some of the cooking liquid.

3.    When cool enough to handle, peel both types of potatoes and place in separate bowls (segregation!)

4.    Add milk and cottage cheese to the Yukon gold bowl. Mash well, adding additional cooking liquid as needed to thin to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

5.    Add a pinch of cayenne and some of the cooking liquid to the sweet potato bowl. Mash and adjust seasonings and consistency to your liking with additional cayenne, black pepper, salt, and/or cooking liquid.

6.    Dollop potatoes into a warmed serving dish and swirl together with a large spoon.

** this dish can be prepared up to 2 hours in advance; set aside in a baking dish and reheat in a 350 degree oven (covered) for 15-20 minutes

And you’ll have to get on Dennis’ case, if you want to find out his turkey and gravy secrets.  Both were delicious, but I am done bugging him about preparing them for this post.  ; )