Cooking at the Pad . . .

I haven’t even looked at my food blog in months, no time, but we are planning meals and doing strict grocery runs, so I figured that I would post meal plans. I need about 10 more hours in a day to get everything acomplished and I’m not working. How does anyone get things done?

Sunday - Leftovers
Monday - Herb Roasted Chicken and Spring Vegetables
Tuesday - Nicoise Salad
Wednesday - Hashbrown Casserole
Thursday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Friday - Sloppy Joes
Saturday - ?

Between the kids’ soccer practice, twice a week, and starting my MBA, it seems like I have no time.  But, eventually, it will all work out.  I’m also in the process of organizing my house, and it’s coming along very nicely, it’s just that very little blogging has been done.

Pizza!

Dough
1 c + 2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Select the dough cycle and press start.
Move the oven rack to the lowest position. Heat oven to 400°.  Grease two pizza stones or two cookie sheets, or some combination of the two.  Divide dough in half.  Pat each half into 12-inch circles on cooking surface with floured fingers.  Spread with favorite toppings.  Bake 18 - 20 minutes or until crust is light brown.
Makes 2 crusts

I find that the dough is very sticky and I use a lot of flour to knead it into the shape I want.

Sauce
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
3/4 c warm water
3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic paste
1 Tbsp honey
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp pepper
salt to taste

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix together. Sauce should sit for 30 minutes to blend, spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.

Since we only used red sauce on one pizza I have tons of this left over, I bottled it and stored it in the fridge.

We topped our first pizza (for the kids) with sauce, fresh mozzerella cheese slices, and pepperoni. The second pizza (for the adults) with olive oil, fresh basil, spinach, goat cheese, fresh mozzerella slices, sliced yellow onion, and strawberry tomatoes.

Chicken Curry with Pineapple

We serve this over sticky rice.

1/2 Tbsp green curry paste
1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
2 Tbsp fish sauce*
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 cup chicken stock
4 chicken thighs, skin and bones intact (You can remove them later, but they add such a good flavor) - I say this everytime I use chicken thighs.
1/2 c baby carrots
1 c fresh green beans, ends trimmed
1 (8 oz) can of bamboo shoots in sesame oil*
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water
3/4 c crushed pineapple

In a saute pan braise the chicken in the chicken stock over medium heat for 10 minutes, covered, turning halfway through cooking time. Remove stock and set aside. Place chicken back in pan and cover, again.
In a medium saucepan combine green curry paste with coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in fish sauce, brown sugar, and chicken stock.
Place the carrots, green beans, and bamboo shoots with sesame oil in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-hig heat, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked, but still crisp, about 15 minutes. Shred chicken thighs with two forks and add to the curry mixture.
Whisk together cornstarch and water. Stir into curry. Mix the pineapple into the curry and cook until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
Serves 2

* found in oriental food stores

The one thing that I love about cast iron is that it easily goes from one cooking medium to another. Tonight, it went from the stove top to the oven to the broiler.

Baked Lemon Chicken with Meyer Lemon Sauce
1/4 c unsalted butter
2 Tbsp yellow onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 c Dry White Wine
1 c Low Sodium Chicken Broth
3 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice, freshly squeezed (or substitute regular lemons)
2 tsp Meyer Lemons zest
8 chicken thighs, skin and bones intact (It’s easy to get rid of these later, but it gives the meat such a nice flavor.)
1 lemon, sliced

Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a cast-iron skillet, melt butter. Add onions, garlic, salt and pepper, and cook until transparent, about 5 minutes, over medium-high heat. Add wine, chicken stock, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Place chicken in skillet, top with lemon slices, and and transfer the oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Heat broiler to high and transfer skillet to broiler for 3-5 minutes, until top has browned. Divide chicken among plates. Spoon sauce over.
Serves 8.

Meyer Lemon Risotto adapted from 101 Cookbooks
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 c unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
2 c uncooked rice (I used sushi rice)
1 c dry white wine
3 c chicken stock
3 c water
1/4 c Meyer lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Grated zest of 4 Meyer lemons
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1/2 c sour cream
3 big handfuls of greens, chopped (I used spinach)
Handful of toasted pine nuts, for garnish*

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, then add the onions, shallots, garlic, and salt and saute, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.
Add the rice to the pot and stir until coated with a nice sheen, then add the white wine and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid a bit. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle, active simmer.
In increments, add 3 cups of stock and 3 cups of water, 1 cup at a time, letting the rice absorb most of the liquid between additions; this should take around 40 minutes. Stir regularly so the grains on the bottom of the pan don’t scorch. You will know when the rice is cooked because it won’t offer up much resistance when chewing.
When the rice is tender remove the pot from heat. Stir in the lemon zest, Parmesan, and sour cream. Taste and adjust - add more salt if needed, more lemon zest. Then stir in the greens. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and a dusting of extra Parmesan before serving.
Serves 6 to 8.

* You can toast the pine nuts in a 350° oven for 5 minutes.

A while ago my local Giant Eagle had a seafood sale. There were tons of BOGO specials, including lump crabmeat, 2 lb bags of EZ-peel shrimp, tuna steaks, etc. Needless to say that I stocked up.

Succulent Crab Salad
1 1/2 Tbsp Salted butter
2 Tbsp Shallots, minced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 c Lump crabmeat, pick through
pinch Cayenne
Salt and pepper
1 oz Goat cheese, crumbled
1 tsp Truffle oil or Truffle infused olive oil
Spinach

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a skillet. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the crabmeat, salt, pepper and cayenne and cook for one minute. Place crab mixture on a bed of spinach leaves, top with goat cheese and drizzle with truffle oil.

We made chicken wings for dinner tonight. I prepared them two ways to compare which way I liked better. The most time consuming method was the first one, but it was the tastiest. The second method was easy and to the point. We served 4 types of dipping sauces: Thai R Cracker (from Quaker Steak and Lube), Ranch Dressing, Honey BBQ sauce, and ketchup. Thai R Cracker is nummy!

Fried/Baked Chicken Wings
These Chicken wings are egged and fried in butter, then baked.

Serves 4

3 lbs. chicken wings
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour for coating
1 cup butter
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Combine flour, slat and pepper. Dip the wings in egg and coat with flour. (I put the flour in a gallon sized storage bag and add the egged chicken, then seal and shake. It gives a nice, even coating.)
Heat butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Fry wings until deep brown. Place on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce.

Simple Baked Wings
A nice clean way to prepare wings, and much healthier that frying.

Serves 4

3 lbs. chicken wings

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place wings on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Serve with your favorite sauce.

Sunday - Leftover Chinese
Monday - Turkey Burgers (following Andrea’s recipe for Turkey meatballs from Born to Entertain, Cheesy Hash-browns, and peas
Tuesday - Thai Chili Wings, Potato skins, spinach salad
Wednesday - Lamb Curry, Palak Paneer, Jasmine Rice (The kids are having City Chicken, broccoli, and Jasmine rice.)
Thursday - Dinner with the Shriner’s Circus
Friday - Cheese ravioli with Italian sausage and marinara sauce
Saturday - Crab cakes, corn on the cob, and buttered pasta

In college I lived on egg salad sandwiches.  I ate them so much that I swore them off for a while.  Well, it’s been a long time since college and I’ve been interested in trying different egg salads, here are two that top the list.

Deviled Egg Salad

6 eggs
1 Tbsp prepared mustard
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sweet pickle relish
4 strips of bacon
Paprika
Salt and pepper

Put eggs into a small pot of water, just covering the eggs. Bring water just to a boil, then shut off heat. Let cool on stove. Fry the bacon. Place cooked bacon on a paper towel to remove excess grease, crumble when cool. When the eggs are cool enough to handle peel and chop. Put eggs, in a bowl, add bacon and remaining ingredients and mix well.
Serve on your favorite bread.

Shrimp & Egg Salad

1/4 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 eggs
2 Tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
1 medium scallion, minced
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add shrimp and cook until pink, about 2 minutes. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon, set aside. Add eggs to the pot, adding water, if necessary, to cover. Bring water just to a boil, then shut off heat. Let cool on stove. Chop the shrimp. When the eggs are cool enough to handle peel and chop. Put eggs, in a bowl, add chopped shrimp and remaining ingredients and mix well.
Serve on your favorite bread.

I know that I said the Split Pea Soup was on the menu for dinner, and it was, for my daughter. My son, who is not a big fan, opted for PB&J. (He’s going to turn into a PB&J, one day, you wait and see.) And, as the husband is out tonight with his friends, I decided to indulge in a meal that I don’t get to prepare too often because I’m the only one in the house who likes it.

Roasted Marrow Bones
Adapted from Jennifer McLagan’s “Bones: Recipes, History, & Lore”

Original recipes serves 4 as an appetizer, but I pared the recipe down . . .
Serves 1

It’s best to give yourself plenty of time to prepare the bones, they must be soaked 12-24 hours to remove any traces of blood. I started soaking mine last night around eleven, when inspiration struck.

2 beef marrow bones, about 3 inches long
kosher salt
vegetable oil
Crunchy Salad (recipe follows)
2 slices of bread, toasted
fleur de sel (Giant Eagle’s District Market brand is quite good.)

Place the bones in a bowl of ice water to cover, adding 2 Tbsp salt, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, changing the water 4 to 6 times and adding 2 more Tbsp salt to the water each time.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Drain the bones and pat dry, Stand them up in a lightly oiled roasting pan for 15-25 minutes, or until the marrow has puffed slightly and is warm in the center. To test, insert a metal skewer into the center of marrow, then touch it to your wrist to see if it is warm. There should be no resistance when the skewer is inserted, and a little of the marrow should have melted and started to leak from the bones.

While the bones are roasting, prepare the salad, and toast the bread.

Serve hot, with salad, toast, and fleur de sel. Scoop out the marrow and spread it on toast, sprinkling it with the salt.

Crunchy Salad

The traditional thing to serve with roasted marrow is parsley salad, but I didn’t have any in the house, so I improvised.

1 cup spinach
1/4 cup Hot House cucumber, chopped (also known as an English or seedless cucumber)
1 scallion, chopped
2 tsp capers, rinsed
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of one lemon, freshly squeezed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Tear the spinach into smaller pieces. Place the spinach, cucumber, scallion, and capers in a bowl. Whisk together the oil and lemon juice in a glass measuring cup, then season very lightly with salt (remember the fleur de sel will top the marrow) and generously with pepper. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve.

My daughter LOVES split pea soup. She knew that Easter was near and we’d have a large chunk of ham sent home from Grammy’s house, so she started asking for this soup to be made about a week before the actual holiday. Yeah, my 5-year old twins are strange. My daughter adores this soup, and my son prefers salads over french fries.

This will be dinner tomorrow night:

The package of dried peas that I bought had this packet of “ham flavor” in it. We ignored it.

Split Pea Soup with Ham
Adapted from Mark Bittman’s, “How to Cook Everything”

Makes 8 servings
Time: about 4 1/2 hours (1 1/2 hours, if not making stock)

3 cups green split peas, washed and picked over
10 cups ham stock, or water
1 cup minced ham (We picked the ham bone clean after we made the stock, and then added more from the leftovers that were sent home.)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Prepare Stock.

Cook minced ham in a large, deep pot with 1/2 cup stock or water, adding 1/2 cup stock or water every 5 minutes as it cooks down. Cook until crisp, about 20 minutes on medium-high heat. Remove the meat and set aside.

Combine the peas and the stock and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn the heat to low, cover partially, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are very, very soft, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Mash the mixture with a fork, or potato masher, or put through a food mill or strainer, or puree it carefully in a blender. We used our KitchenAid Hand Blender. (You may prepare the soup in advance up to this point. Cover, refrigerate for up to 2 days, and reheat before proceeding.) Reheat, adding more stock or water if necessary to achieve the consistency you like. Season to taste and garnish with ham.

With Easter came colorful eggs, foil wrapped chocolate, and tons of leftovers.  We brought home containers filled with ham, deviled eggs, potato casserole, coleslaw, shrimp pasta salad, oven-roasted parsnips and turnips, oven-roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, lemonade pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie with oatmeal topping, Oreo cheesecake, and a big ham bone.  Some recipes I still have to get from my mother, like the shrimp salad and the lemonade pie, yummy!  Others, I cook on a regular basis.  And, I really should ask my aunt for her potato casserole recipe, since my husband promptly consumed what we brought home.

This week’s menu is leftovers.  
Sunday: Easter dinner at my parents’ house
Monday: ham, deviled eggs, pasta salad, coleslaw, and potato casserole
Tuesday: ham, parsnips/turnips, sprouts/cauliflower, and pasta salad
Wednesday: spinach salad with ham, eggs, scallions, Trader Joe’s wasabi almonds, anchovies, black olives, goat cheese, McCormick salad topper, cucumber, oil, and pomegranate vinegar.
Thursday: split peas soup (I made ham stock with the bone today following this recipe from 80 Breakfasts.
Friday: I really don’t know yet. I have more hard boiled eggs, so maybe I’ll just whip up a bacon and egg salad sandwich.
Saturday: Veal Parmigiana with fresh mozzarella (We’ll be out of leftovers by then, I think hope!)

And, the kids had sugar eggs for desert, tonight. Too cute not to share: (My husband gets to peel them off the ceiling later.)