French Night

Ooh la la!  This is Take #2 for us on French cooking nights.  We did one awhile back before our days of food blogging began, but finished the evening with a number of ideas still lingering.  So without further ado… 

Brie Pear Crostini

Very similar to the peach and blue cheese crsostini we’ve concocted in the past, this dish highlighted pears and brie cheese instead. The mellow pear flavor added a nice sweetness, while still allowing the brie to shine. This was an elegant, yet simple appetizer. The perfect way to start a French feast!

Ingredients:

·         French baguette (Ciabbata would be a tasty substitute, but that would have been unacceptable on French night!)

·         1 pear of any varietal

·         honey

·         cinnamon

·         clove

·         Dijon mustard (preferably a little spicy)

Directions:

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

2.    Halve and core pears.

3.    Drizzle pear halves with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon and clove.

4.    Preheat grill to medium.

5.    Lightly toast both sides of bread slices (alternatively, you could toast them in the oven; the same goes for the pears, which could be broiled; however, you won’t get the nice charred grill flavor on them doing it this way)

6.    Grill both sides of pear lightly until edges are just starting to brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

7.    Spread a very thin layer of Dijon on each slice of bread.

8.    Top with a thin slice of brie.

9.    Thinly slice pears into crescents. Place a few slices on top of the cheese.

10. Sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon before serving.

Fennel Carrot Slaw

Admittedly, this was an attempt to purge our fridge of leftover fennel from last week’s Easter dinner. However, in researching French cuisine, we did learn that fennel is both a common vegetable and seasoning element common in many traditional regional dishes. This light, crisp salad was a welcome addition to the heavier and creamy flavors that often dominate French dishes.

Ingredients:

·         1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)

·         2 tsp. olive oil

·         1 tsp. Dijon mustard

·         1 clove garlic, minced

·         salt and pepper, to taste

·         fresh parsley, chopped

·         fennel fronds, chopped

·         1/4 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

·         1 cup grated carrots

·         green onion, sliced (for garnish)

Directions:

1.    In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and fennel fronds.

2.    Toss in fennel bulb and carrots.

3.    Place mixture in fridge to marinate for at least a half hour (preferably longer) before serving.

4.    Spoon into bowls and garnish with green onion.

Grilled Ribbon Ratatouille

Thanks (yet again) to Henry’s (our favorite Lincoln restaurant) for inspiring our home cooking adventures. We took the Ruf-rents, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Kathie there for dinner when they came up for Easter weekend, at which time we fell in love with Henry’s’ (not sure where to put the apostrophes!)  rendition of this dish.  It’s a creative and visually appealing spin on a rustic French classic, so we thought we’d try our hand at preparing our own this evening.  This would be an excellent, light summertime side dish or entrée, if served over lentils as Henry’s did.

Ingredients:

VEGGIES

·         2 medium sized vine ripe tomatoes (or 3-4 Romas, depending on size; you could also used canned maters, if you don’t have any fresh ones on hand)

·         1 small red bell pepper, halved

·         1/2 eggplant

·         1 long zucchini

·         1 long yellow squash

MARINADE

·         2 TBSP lemon juice

·         1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

·         1/8 cup olive oil

·         1/8 tsp. kosher salt

·         1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

·         pinch of crushed red pepper

·         1/4 tsp. garlic powder

·         1/4 tsp. dried basil

·         1/4 tsp. dried oregano

TOMATO COULIS

·         1 shallot, minced

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         1/2 cup dry white wine

·         salt and pepper, to taste

·         dash of sugar

·         fresh thyme, minced

·         ground basil

·         ground oregano

·         tomato paste (to thicken) or tomato sauce (to thin)

GARNISH

·         goat cheese crumbles

·         fresh parsley, roughly chopped (optional)

·         cooked lentils and toasted pine nuts (if serving as an entrée)

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees. Roast tomatoes and pepper halves until they start to brown. Alternatively, you could grill them. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2.    Trim the ends of the eggplant, zuke, and yellow squash. Halve veggies lengthwise. Set your mandolin on the second thinnest setting. Carefully guide vegetables through the blade, making sure to get as long of a slice as possible. Set aside.

3.    Slice red bell pepper into 1 inch squares.

4.    In an 8X8 Pyrex baking dish, whisk together marinade ingredients (lemon juice through oregano). Taste and adjust to your preferences.

5.    Place eggplant, zucchini, squash, and bell pepper in marinate. Toss to coat evenly. Allow veggies to marinate for about an hour, stirring occasionally. This will ensure flavor infuses before grilling and soften the veggies to make stringing the kebabs easier.

6.    Meanwhile, prepare the coulis. Start by peeling the cooled tomatoes that you roasted earlier.

7.    Lightly sauté shallot and garlic in olive oil over medium heat, until translucent and softened.

8.    Add the wine and simmer to reduce to a syrupy sauce.

9.    Begin to add your seasonings now.

10. Add tomato to pan and mash with potato masher. Continue to season.

11. Bring to a gentle boil and then reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened, but is not dry. Adjust thickness of sauce using tomato paste and sauce, as appropriate.

12. For a rustic sauce, leave your mixture chunky. For a cleaner, smooth presentation, puree in food processor. Transfer mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until cool. To speed this process along, you could stick it in the freezer for awhile.

13. Prepare kebabs. Start by stringing a bell pepper chunk onto the skewer to serve as a “cap.” Next, skewer one end of a veggie ribbon, then loop the piece back over itself and skewer it again. Place a different vegetable ribbon on top of the first and repeat the looping process. Loop the first vegetable ribbon again and alternate back and forth until you reach the other side of your 2 veggie ribbons. It is easiest to loop the veggies close to the sharp end of the skewer and then slide them down before you start working with another pair of veggies. Repeat with different veggie combinations until you reach the other side of the skewer. “Cap” with another red pepper chunk.

14. String remaining kebabs.

15. Preheat grill to medium heat. Spray lightly with olive oil.

16. Place kebabs on grill perpendicular to the grates. Turn occasionally so all sides are exposed to the heat and grill until slightly charred and veggies are tender.

17. Transfer to plates and serve. Garnish with goat cheese and parsley, if using.

Chicken Liver Pâté

If there is one overtly decadent, snobby type of food that I like, it’s Pâté served on a white cracker with caviar.  I realize this might not be a favorite that everyone might make, but the creamy smooth bitterness of the livers with the briny pop of the caviar and the crunch of the cracker make for a very enjoyable dish.  Michelle gamely tried the dish and didn’t hate it as much as she thought, but, needless to say, I will be finishing the remaining leftovers on this one!

Ingredients:

·         8-10 chicken livers

·         1 shallot, minced

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         1-2 bay leaves

·         ½ tsp dried thyme or ¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves

·         Kosher salt to taste

·         Water

·         1/2 to 1 stick unsalted butter—at room temperature

·         1-2 tsp Cognac

·         1 tsp dry Porter

·         1 tbl heavy cream (or whole milk)

·         Pepper to taste

·         Unsalted cracked pepper white crackers

·         Caviar (or capers, anchovies, anything briny)

Directions:

1.    In a medium sauce pan combine chicken livers, shallot, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and ½ teaspoon of salt.  Cover with water and bring to a simmer.

2.    Cover the sauté pan, reduce the heat and cook for about 3-5 minutes—depends on the size of the chicken livers, but they should be lightly pink inside.  Err or overcooking your first time making this.

3.    Remove from the heat and let stand, covered for 5 minutes

4.    Discard the bay leave and transfer to a food processor, straining the water

5.    Add the butter, cognac, porter, salt, pepper and process until smooth.  All of these ingredients can be increased or decreased based on your own personal taste.

6.    Cover and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours.  It is best served chilled.

7.    Serve on a cracker with caviar (or your briny choice of food).

Steak Frites with Tarragon Cream Sauce

Michelle and I have come to love tarragon—especially in sauces.  This cream sauce is a take on the first sauce that brought us around to tarragon.  In fact, we love it so much that it made the exclusive cut to be in our herb garden this year (the small deck means that real estate is expensive there!).  Steak frites is just a fancy way of saying steak and fries.  This is a very delicious and accessible dish that any non-vegetarian will likely enjoy.  Plus, did I mention it has tarragon?

Ingredients:

·         Butter

·         Steak (NY Strip, Ribeye, Filet, a fancier and slightly thicker cut works best for this recipe.  If you are not in a steak mood, you can make this with chicken breasts and it is delicious…but then you would have Chicken Frites..)

·         Salt and pepper

·         1-2 shallots, finely chopped

·         3-4 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 tbl flour

·         1 cup dry white wine

·         2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon (please get fresh for this recipe!)

·         1/4 cup heavy cream (or whole milk, if desired)

Directions:

1.    Pre-heat oven to 200-225 degrees (heat depends on how well done you like your steak and the thickness of the steak.  If cooking with chicken, you may want to have the oven a little higher to ensure doneness).

2.    In a cast iron skillet, heat and melt 1-2 tbl. butter over moderate heat.  Season your steak with salt and pepper.

3.    Sear the steak on both sides about 3-4 minutes.  Remove the steak from the pan, wrap in aluminum foil and place in the oven.  The steak will continue to cook in the oven, so make sure it is under your desired level of doneness at this time.

4.    Reduce the heat to low and stir in the shallot and after about 1 minute, the garlic.  Add a pinch of salt and extra pepper at both stages

5.    After browning occurs on the shallot and garlic, sprinkle the flour over the mixture. 

6.    Add the dry white wine. 

7.    Increase the heat to moderate, whisk in the tarragon, and allow the mixture to reduce and thicken. 

8.    Once the sauce starts to thicken, stir in the cream and reduce the heat—stir constantly.

9.    If the sauce isn’t reaching your desired thickness, you can incrementally add more flour at this time, but remember that the sauce will continue to thicken slightly once it is removed from the heat.

10. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.

Apricot Crème Brulee

FIRE!!  If you love playing with fire in the kitchen, this is your dish!  I’ve always thought crème brulee was an overrated dish.  Pudding with some burned sugar on top…what’s the big deal?  To a certain extent, that is all it is…sugar with burned sugar on top.  That being said, if made well and if you add a little fruit, crème brulee can be an excellent dessert that is super fun to make and, given how easy it is to prepare, will disproportionately impress your guests.  It’s also a perfect ending to a lovely night of French food!

Ingredients:

·         1 1/3 cup heavy cream (or whole milk)Butter

·         1-2 tsp vanilla

·         2 large egg yolks

·         1/3 cup sugar

·         Hot water

·         1-2 apricots depending on preference/size of the fruit.  You can also use peaches, raspberries, blackberries, or many other fruits for this recipe.

Directions:

1.    Preheat over to 325 degrees.

2.    Add vanilla to cream in a medium saucepan set to a medium-high heat.  Bring to a simmer, remove from the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

3.    In a separate bowl, whisk 1/6 cup (half of the sugar) and the egg yolks until well-blended and the mixture starts to lighten in color.

4.    Slowly add the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture until well blended—do this slowly so that the hot cream mixture does not cook any of the egg.

5.    Add the roughly chopped apricot (or other fruit) to the bottom of ramekins.

6.    Pour the egg/cream mixture into ramekins over the fruit and place those ramekins into a casserole dish or cake pan.  Pour water in the pan such that it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

7.    Bake for 40-45 minutes or just when the brulee sets and the mixture is still shaking in the center.

8.    Remove from the pan and cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (these can be made a couple days ahead of time if you prefer).

9.    Add a dash of vanilla to the remaining 1/6 cup of sugar and stir in completely.

10. Lightly spread the sugar mixture over each of the crème brulees.

11. Using a torch, melt the sugar and until just brown.  You can easily burn the sugar here, so be careful!

12. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and serve.

 

 

Italian Night

A bottle of red….A bottle of white….We were in the mood for Italian tonight.  A special thanks to Mom Judy for the cheese making kit she gave us for Christmas!  We tried it for the first time today and were pleasantly surprised with how easy it was.  Time consuming, but easy. We literally followed the 3 fool-proof directions on the side of the box and then took a nap while the cheesecloth worked its magic.  The ricotta tasted great straight up, on bread, and in our cannelloni.  It was the inspiration and focal point of our Italian meal this evening.

Italian Antipasto Salad

With all the salty, briny goodness of these ingredients, you won’t need to be told twice to eat your veggies. This salad echoes the traditional Italian appetizer of antipasto in a bowl with a few leafy greens tossed in to boot. We’d recommend cutting the ingredients on the smaller side, almost as if you were making a slaw.

 

oops!  no picture.

Ingredients:

·         romaine/spinach

·         radicchio

·         olives, quartered

·         artichoke hearts, chopped

·         pepperoni, cut into slivers

·         cherry tomatoes, quartered

·         red onion, finely sliced

·         celery rib, diced

·         Provel cheese (or for those who don’t have access to this STL favorite, parmesan will do)

For the dressing:

·         red wine vinegar

·         lemon juice

·         salt

·         freshly ground black pepper

·         Dijon mustard

·         honey

·         oregano

·         Marjoram (optional)

·         olive oil

Directions:

1.    Combine first 8 dressing ingredients in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Finally, whisk in the olive oil a little at a time. (I didn’t precisely measure these ingredients, but you’ll want to have the vinegar and olive oil as your primary components followed by lemon juice).  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to blend. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

2.    For the salad, combine all ingredients besides cheese in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and top with cheese.

Cannelloni

When going out to eat, both Michelle and I always seem to revisit cannelloni.  The hearty, creamy meat, with the more acidic marinara, all stuffed inside a pasta noodle are just too good to resist.  The “real” top to Cannelloni is a béchamel sauce.  These are easy enough to make (you can google it!), but given our love for Imo’s Provel cheese and it’s excellent melting qualities, we prefer this as our “béchamel” sauce.  Here is our rendition!

Ingredients:

·         manicotti noodles

·         1 tbl. butter

·         1/2 pound ground meat

o   2 parts veal to 1 part pork

·         Imo’s cheese

·         2 tbl. flour—estimated amount

·         1/8 cup parmesan cheese

·         1/8-1/4 cup ricotta cheese

·         Marinara sauce (for the recipe, look back to our post from December 2013)

·         1 cup milk

·         salt, pepper

·         1/2 to 1 tsp. nutmeg, amount can vary based on taste preference.

·         dried oregano and basil

·         1 egg (beaten)

·         1/3 cup+ frozen spinach—chopped, amount can vary based on taste preference.

Directions:

1.    Cook the manicotti noodles per the directions—but err on the side of slightly undercooking.

2.    Melt butter over medium heat in a sauté pan on the stove.

3.    Add the meat and cook/chop until meat is about 50% cooked (2-3 minutes if finely chopped).

4.    Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, oregano basil, and milk—turn heat down a bit.

5.    Let simmer for a couple minutes and add the parmesan cheese and flour to thicken to your desired consistency.

6.    Remove meat from the heat and add ricotta cheese by the tablespoon until the final result is creamy—almost like a burger patty, but a bit more crumbly.

7.    Add more salt/pepper/nutmeg/oregano/basil based on personal taste preference.  I generally feel the mix needs more salt, nutmeg and oregano at this time.

8.    Add the beaten egg to the mixture and stir. 

9.    Stuff the cooked manicotti noodles with the meat mixture.

10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

11. Spread the marinara sauce across the bottom of a pan (9x9” or approximate)

12. Place the stuffed noodles on top of the sauce

13. Add more sauce on top of the noodles.

14. Add shredded Imo’s cheese (or provelone/mozzarella, or any creamy white cheese for those without access to Imo’s) over the top, as desired.

15. Cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Broil for the final 3-4 minutes to brown the cheese on top.

16. Serve.

Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta

I love milky, egg-y desserts.  Ice cream and pudding are the best!  Panna Cotta is an Italian riff on these desserts—made with gelatin as a thickening agent.  It is important (i.e. delicious) to have some sort of texture with these types of desserts so a crunchy topping or even some type of fresh fruit can always be added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

·         1 tsp. powdered gelatin

·         1 3/8 cups whole milk

·         1/8 tsp. salt

·         3 ounces dark chocolate—chopped (or chips)

·         0 to 1/4 cup sugar**

·         1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp. nutmeg—both optional

·         vegetable oil

·         Crunchy topping

o   pepitas

o   thick cut oats

o   any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice

o   brown sugar

 

**We both like this fairly unsweetened—thus, we use no sugar or only a small amount.  The “normal” recipe calls for much more.  I’d suggest starting using a bit less than you normally would be inclined (remembering that the chocolate adds quite a bit of sugar unless you are using unsweetened).

Directions:

1.    In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over only 1/4 cup of the mile and let stand while you prep the rest of the dish.

2.    In a medium sauce pan, combine the remaining milk with your desired level of sugar, and the salt.

3.    Bring the milk mixture to just a simmer over moderate heat.  Once it hits a simmer, remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin/milk mixture.

4.    In a microwaveable safe bowl, melt the chocolate at high power in 10-15 second intervals until it is soft and “pourable”

5.    Whisk in the chocolate into the milk mixture.

6.    Strain the panna cotta mixture into a bowl (while this seems unnecessary—I’ll admit I didn’t do it the first time we made this—you will have some unpleasant graininess at the bottom of the bowl if you don’t do this).  If you don’t have a strainer, just leave a little bit in the bottom of the original pan when you are pouring into the serving containers.

7.    Lightly brush/rub the vegetable oil on 3-4 ramekins and fill them with the mixture. 

8.    Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm.

9.    Prepare crunch topping. In a dry pan, lightly toast pepitas, oats, spices, and sugar until nuts and oats are lightly browned.  Allow to cool before serving, so they don’t melt the panna cotta.  To speed this process along, you can refrigerate or freeze. (This can be made and stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days in advance)

10. Top with the crunchy pepita topping.  Fresh raspberries and/or strawberries are recommended too!

 

Campari Blood Orange Cocktail

This was inspired by a cocktail we saw Bobby Flay on his “Brunch at Bobby’s” show.  I love blood orange in drinks more than most any other varietal of orange.  It seems to have a deeper citrus flavor without some of the acidity that can some drinks seem too one note. 

Ingredients:

·         Blood oranges

·         Campari  

·         Gin (optional)

·         Orange juice (optional)

·         Basil, sugar, water

·         Bitters

Directions:

1.    This drink is relatively simple as you can just add blood orange juice to campari in about a 4 to 1 ratio (the 4 is the blood orange juice you alcoholics!).  This is a delicious rendition, but I will also include an alternative.

2.    Add 1 part sugar to 2 parts water in a sauce/sauté pan and heat until the sugar dissolves.

3.    Add basil leaves (as many as you desire) to the simple syrup and let steep for at least 15 minutes—an hour is ideal.

4.    Add the ingredients at the following ratio:

a.   Blood orange (4 parts)

b.   Campari (2 parts)

c.    Gin (1 part)

d.   Basil simple syrup (1 or 2 parts—depending on how sweet you like your drinks)

e.   Orange juice (completely optional, I only used a splash)

f.     Bitters/Orange zest (only to taste after the first ingredients are mixed)

5.    Serve with a blood orange slice and basil leaf