Christmas Eve Traditions
Christmas Eve dinner for as long as I can remember has always been the same meal for my family. No matter where we are, it doesn’t really feel like Christmas unless we are noshing on prime rib for dinner and my sister’s special sugar cookies. Even though when we get together the question is often posed, “what do we have for Christmas Eve dinner?”, it is not really a question. This year my sister, mom and I were going to be all together unlike last year and even more special, we were going to be celebrating in my sister and my new apartment. Furthermore, I was very excited to not only share Christmas with all the most important people in my life, but also to share our Christmas traditions which also include eating homemade loaves of Stollen on Christmas morning with sausages, eggs, fresh squeezed oj and plenty of coffee and eating “stew-p” which is an everything but the kitchen sink type of soup/stew (hence stew-p).
I ordered a really nice roast from Drew’s Brothers and while I was picking it up nabbed some breakfast sausages, hot italian sausages and chicken (for Christmas day). There were a total of 7 of us for Christmas Eve dinner and I wanted everything to be awesome. I fretted a bit over how to cook the prime rib and didn’t settle on a method until I read this post from Serious Eats. It went through the popular methods and figured out how to have the perfect sear plus perfect pink (medium rare). I was sold and with some trepidation proceeded forward.
Secret recipe Mac and Cheese
The menu included Prime rib, Horseradish Sauce (creme fraiche, dijon and horseradish), Green Beans with Garlic and Butter, Salad with AMAZING homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, blue agave, fresh herbs and garlic), my secret recipe Mac and Cheese and fresh bread from The Baker.
I prepared everything in stages, timing out the whole meal and executing it dang near perfectly. Especially impressive since dinner time got pushed back by slightly tardy guests. I was nervous about the meal. I really wanted to provide an amazing dining experience for my guests. Before we dug into the food, we enjoyed a nice spread of crackers, hummus, salsa and plenty of Prosecco.
Empty plates and empty wine glasses? For shame! Dig in people!
With everything ready we sat down at the table, paused for me to take a picture of the table and then dug right in. Once everyone’s plates were full the room fell into a deep, deep silence as everyone savored their food. I hadn’t started digging in to my plate, instead I just watched their reactions and the delight at the tasting of each thing. It was actually pretty funny since they all seemed to look up at once at me and say, “this is really good!”. We drank delicious red wine with dinner and then once we had digested and socialized for a while devoured some of my sister’s Special Sugar Cookies, Peanut Butter Peanut Butter Chip cookies by The Baker and Gluten Free Ginger Molasses cookies by me. It was so much fun enjoying our tradition as a family and sharing it with the people I care about.
Goodbye Year, Hello New Chef in the Family?
Sister sampling her soup.
The other night, my beautiful sister offered to cook for us and boldly go where she doesn’t often go. My sister can cook, she just doesn’t know it yet. She has her staple items that she makes for herself, but a bad experience in the past of being made fun of for something she cooked for someone else has led her to be trepidatious when it comes to cooking for others. I was utterly shocked when she offered to cook for The Baker and I.
And cook she did. A delicious Baked Potato soup with bacon, scallions and cheddar. It had the flavor profile of a good hearty loaded baked potato but was a much lighter meal. She paired it with a salad and we were in business. She did great and I look forward to her next attempt. Who knows maybe one day she’ll be guest posting for me!
While she made soup, I worked on making some gluten free dark chocolate peanut butter and jelly cupcakes for NYE dinner. They are pretty dang tasty. I am stoked to share them. It has been a good year of eating, blogging, writing and living. I look forward to a continuation and growth of that in the new year. Happy New Year everyone!
I am once again about to head out on the road for a bit to San Francisco, DC, San Diego and Belgium, so I decided that last night I wanted to actually spend sometime in the kitchen cooking a nice farewell dinner for my mom. I had to cook a meal to hold her over for a month or two of my cooking. I needed to make something that was not super time intensive, but also didn’t want it to be too easy. I like to exercise my skills in the kitchen just the same as any other skills. I had enough things rattling around in my brain however that I was not able to go strictly original recipes. Instead, I thumbed through the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2009 and selected a few for inspiration. Turned out that I only actually followed one recipe strictly, one similar but using a few exchanges and one using elements from several different dishes from the massive 440 page compendium.
It was truly a beautiful spring day yesterday. Like most years, Seattle went from the dark murky depths of winter to a bright brilliant spring, practically overnight. I swear it was snowing last week (ok maybe two weeks ago) and now the sun is shining, the birds are chirping happily outside my window in the morning and the sun comes up early, early, early. Spring makes me carve light and fresh ingredients. Spring makes you lighten up, I always can tell when spring is coming as I stop craving winter veggies and heartier preparations. The roast vegetables of yesterday become the steamed crisp veggies of today. For my salad course, I decided to make Food and Wine’s Green Bean and Tomato Salad with Tarragon Dressing. I halved the recipe actually, though I found it entertaining that that still made a supposed 6 servings. I guess I forget that I eat about 10x more vegetables than the general population. 1 serving under that auspice would have amounted to about 3 green beans, 4 cherry tomatoes and a 1/2 tsp dressing. Ok maybe I am exaggerating but still. I made the 6 servings and that was the perfect amount of food for two people with the rest of the items I prepared. To accompany the salad I also made a Broccoli Soup with Cheddar Crisps, which is a vegan soup (without the cheddar crisps of course) and is incredibly light. The creaminess comes from pureeing instead of cream, so the soup itself is very healthy and light. Even the Cheddar Crisps are surprisingly light and pack a huge amount of flavor in a small package, so you get an intense (and crunchy) cheddar flavor in the soup, without infinitely decreasingly the health value. I made the Broccoli Soup recipe very much my own, but kept the Cheddar Crisps as Food and Wine suggested. Though admittedly, it is hard to change a recipe that has 1 ingredient! Finally, I made a Dijon & Horseradish encrusted Salmon, which was tangy and moist. The soup was definitely the favorite item of the meal and I am looking forward to the leftovers today.
All in all, it felt so great to be in the kitchen. I miss it, I miss my kitchen, my tools. I love spending a good 4 hours a day in the kitchen, thoughtfully making each of my meals, but it is just not a reality right now for my day to day life. Someday, when my job is to cook, write, eat, share and enjoy (and run, of course) then perhaps I will have that opportunity. I hope that happens, I plan on making it so somehow! In the meantime, enjoy these recipes and happy Spring!
Dijon-Horseradish Encrusted Salmon
Dijon-Horseradish Encrusted Salmon
Ingredients
- 2 6-ounce Salmon Filets.
- 1/2 cup prepared horseradish
- 1 tablespoons kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon dried italian herbs
- 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Directions
- Preheat the broiler and line a baking sheet with foil. Place the oven rack 4-5 inches from the broiler.
- In a small bowl, blend the horseradish with the salt, Dijon mustard, italian herbs, ground pepper, sugar and sherry vinegar to form a paste. Slather the paste all over the top of the salmon filets and place skin side down on the foil covered baking sheet.
- Broil salmon for 6-8 minutes, until the top starts to get golden. Turn the oven down to 375 and bake for an additional 6-8 minutes until the salmon is opaque.
Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large leek, chopped
- 3 small celery ribs, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic clove, minced
- 1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into florets
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- Cheddar Crisps, for serving
Directions
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the leeks, celery and garlic and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes.
- Add the broccoli and stock to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat until the broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer the contents of the saucepan to a blender and puree until smooth. Season the soup with paprika, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper and serve with the Cheddar Crisps.
Cheddar Crisps
Ingredients
- 2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded (1/2 cup)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle the cheese on the sheet in four 2-inch rounds. Bake for 18 minutes, until darkened slightly. Blot the crisps with paper towels and let cool on a paper towel. The majority of the oil from the cheese will be completely removed through the blotting and drying, leaving an incredible crisp “cracker”. Makes 4 crisps. Crisps courtesy Food and Wine Magazine.
Green Bean–and–Tomato Salad with Tarragon Dressing
- TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN
- SERVINGS: 12
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green and yellow string beans
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium shallots, minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Directions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the beans until just tender, about 4 minutes. Drain the beans and spread them on a large baking sheet to cool. Pat dry.
- In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil with the shallots and tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Place the beans and tomatoes in a large bowl, add the dressing and toss well. Transfer to a platter and serve.
- The cooked beans and dressing can be refrigerated separately overnight. Bring to room temperature before tossing. Recipe from Food and Wine.
Sunny days and good food with Family
Sunday was damn near a perfect day for me. I spent the early morning running through the quiet sunny streets of Seattle and the rest of the day hanging out, talking, enjoying some of my favorite people and also some damn good food. Spring finally peeked its little head out and the sun was shining, it is so refreshing and unexpected considering when I flew in on Thursday night it was still snowing here.
Clean plates, happy bellies
Sunny days and springtime make you feel a rebirth in your soul, well it makes me feel that way. I have been suffering from a serious case of being uninspired. Being busy precipitates that yes, but I think the doldrums of winter just hung on a little too long for my soul to bear this year. Brussel Sprouts left the building (at least the in season, organic) a while ago and I stopped desiring them and I had been anticipating the spring crop of food and with it new and exciting ideas, inspiration and lots of delicious eating. But somewhere along the line, I got stuck knee-deep in the muck (or maybe it was snow/shoe sucking mud) and have not felt like my Fast Foodie self in a very long time. As I was running yesterday morning, trying to shake off an early morning pity party for one, I realized that I needed to snap out of it. I love food! Food and cooking and all things culinary are my inspiration, my passion, it is what keeps me going! So by denying myself that or not jump starting myself in it during this very busy, stressful time is a serious detriment to my psycho/emotional/spiritual life! Sometimes, like yesterday getting out for my run, you just have to force yourself out the door (or when it comes to food, into the kitchen) and within a few minutes you will be utterly blissed out, wondering how you ever doubted that this was a good idea. I am the same way about socializing, I am filled with hesitation and then when I just get out there and do it, I can’t believe I almost missed out. Maybe I am just like that in everything!
Needlesstosay, I was proud of myself yesterday because I not only got myself out on a nice run when I was feeling hesitant, I spent a few hours with my good friend Britt and was able to enjoy some of her delicious food. She fed me well (and as she is a Celiac and on the SCD & Body Ecology Diets, she fed me only things that my digestive system was happy with!!). I love simple thoughtful food, it seriously rocks my world. After hanging with Britt, I headed to the store to pick up ingredients to make dinner for my cousin Erika whom in recent months I have become super close with and absolutely adore, her husband and her step-daughter. I spend many a Sunday night at their house and love being able to share my cooking with them (when I am not being lazy and uninspired). It was a fun challenge since 3 out of the 4 of us eat (some) meat (and wanted meat included) and one is a vegetarian. I decided to take a Vegetarian Times recipe that I had been mulling over and throw in my own twist as well as a Food Everyday Recipe for Chicken Paillards. I finished off the meal by introducing my family to Coconut Bliss and boy were they satisfied! While these recipes were distinctly original, stay tuned because as I write this I am slow cooking an amazing Whiskey Spiked Beef Chili with a ton of great vegetables which is completely and totally my own. I have been salivating all day smelling it cook!
Chicken Paillards with Slow Cooked Onion, Arugula and Chickpea Salad
Modified from Food Everyday, Emeril’s Chicken Paillards with Chickpeas and Arugula.
This recipe was super easy and we were able to do a tofu version as well. For the Arugula Chickpea Salad that went over the chicken, we decided to slow cook the red onion since none of us is particularly fond of raw red onion. Turned out to be a brilliant call.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each)
- (optional: 3 1/2 inch slice of extra-firm tofu)
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for pan
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced crosswise
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 bunch fresh arugula (5-6 cups), tough stems removed
Directions
- In a cast iron skillet, over medium high heat cook red onions in olive oil until soft and tender, about 20 minutes.
- Lay chicken flat; holding a sharp knife parallel to work surface and pressing down on the chicken with your palm to hold it flat, split chicken in half horizontally. Cover with plastic wrap; pound each cutlet with the flat side of a meat mallet or the bottom of a small pan until inch thick.
- In a shallow dish, combine 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Add chicken; turn to coat. Heat a large skillet over medium-high; lightly brush with oil. Cook chicken until opaque throughout, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
- In a bowl, toss together basil, 2 tablespoons oil, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.
- In a salad bowl toss together chickpeas, cooked onions, arugula and dressing.
- Top chicken (or tofu) with salad, salt and pepper to taste
Indian Inspired Root Vegetable Stew
Modified from Vegetarian Times Issue: March 1, 2009
This recipe came from Vegetarian Times this month, I was looking to try something new and different and this recipe had me intrigued due to the combination of Indian spices and dried fruits. The chicken from the previous recipe definitely made its way into the broth once it was plated and I could easily see adding chicken or lamb or beef to this recipe and slow simmering it for a while. I was really impressed with the way the spices and dried fruit played off one another. The dates and dried apricots go in whole and become super soft and sweet. The recipe orginally called for sweet potatoes and turnips, but I swapped those out for butternut squash (less starch), parsnips and carrots. I think the sweet potatoes could have possibly made the recipe unbalanced to the sweet side, so I think my substitutions were a brilliant call. I also increased the amount of vegetables without increasing the liquid making it not super brothy and quite substantial.
Ingredients
Serves 6
- 1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped (11/2 cups)
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 31/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 Tbs. red miso
- 3 medium parsnips, diced (2 cups)
- 3 medium carrots, diced (1.5 cups)
- 1 large butternut squash, diced (about 2 cups)
- 8 pitted whole Medjool dates
- 8 pitted whole dried apricots
- 1/3 cup pitted, oil-cured black olives
- 11/2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Directions
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté 7 to 9 minutes, or until golden and soft. Stir in garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, and cinnamon, and cook 2 minutes, stirring often, or until spices are fragrant. Stir in broth and 11/2 cups water, scraping up any brown bits stuck to bottom of pan.
2. Whisk in miso until smooth, then add turnips, sweet potato, dates, apricots, olives, and ginger. Bring mixture to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Garnish each serving with 1 Tbs. chopped cilantro.
