Avocado and Artichoke Eggs Benedict

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Lea Ann

Just a quick post to talk about a version of Eggs Benedict that found it’s way to our breakfast table this past Sunday. Meteorologists had predicted a blizzard which was to bring a foot of snow to Denver. The storm was to begin early Sunday morning and not clear out until Monday morning. Correct in their forecast, we were snowed in all day Sunday. Armed with groceries and recorded episodes of Downton Abbey, we loved every minute of it.

I had planned ahead for food and made my trip to the grocery store on Saturday. Breakfast was an English Muffin topped with two slices of avocado, about three artichoke hearts (canned packed in water, drained), my Blender Hollandaise Sauce and of course a poached egg. Sided with some colorful kiwi and blueberries it was a very special breakfast. The lemony sauce was a nice compliment to the tart artichoke and the creamy avocado.

A runny egg story wouldn’t be complete without an action shot. I must say the orange of the egg yolks and the juice brought sunshine to the snowy scenery outside our kitchen window.

Poor wittle Weber.

Avocado and Artichoke Eggs Benedict…It’s What’s for Breakfast.

Spicy Lamb Meatballs and Amarone for February Wine Time

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Lea Ann

Our February Wine Time party fell on Valentine’s Day and I was very happy to be celebrating at home with good friends, an incredible selection of wine and a table full of small bites. Beats fighting crowds at a restaurant any day.

The usual suspects were there, Tom, Kathy, Dan, Teri, Bob, myself, the dogs and the Cheetos.

Self-appointed sommelier, Bob chose an incredible wine, an Italian Amarone. Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2006. It was luscious and decadent with aromas of black licorice and blueberry and juicy round tannins.

Wine Spectator tells us: From the region known as the Veneto, stretching from the shores of Lake Garda in the west to near Venice in the east. Its best terroirs lie among the valleys and rolling hills, with many of its more distinctive vineyards cultivated in the traditional pergola canopy style.

Select bunches of the local Corvina, Corvignone, Rondinella and Molinara grapes are dried in a fruttaio, a room designed to maintain the proper humidity and temperature levels to remove moisture from the grapes without allowing mold or fungus to spread. The drying period begins immediately after harvest and lasts until late December or January, after which the dried grape bunches are fermented into wine. The higher sugar content of the dried grapes increases the wine’s overall alcohol level. This process is used for Amarone production across the board, but may also be utilized for other of the region’s reds.

It was perfect for a Valentine’s Day Celebration.

As usual we were spoiled with a great line up of appetizers to compliment the wine that we sipped.

Tom and Kathy brought an impressive cheese and salumi plate from a cheese restaurant they recently discovered. Bin 1884 Cheese Bar is located at 1884 S. Pearl St. in Denver. We enjoyed a sampling of Pecorino Sardo Medora, an Italian semi-firm and a Compo de Monteban, a Spanish three milk cheese and Nepolitana sausage. The plate was garnished with a baguette, some flatbread and crackers. Impressive and unique flavors.

A simple bowl of some not so simple in flavor pickles. These are the cumin-lime pickles that I made for the Chicken Chorizo burgers a few days before wine night. Stand alone, these pickles were a really nice snack.

And look at these chocolate cupcakes Teri brought. And no, she didn’t pick them up at the local bakery. She made and decorated them herself. Beautiful treat for Valentine’s Day. She even made those little sugared hearts that decorate the top, and yes they were very edible.

Bob suggested I make a lamb meatball recipe that he found in Wine Spectator Magazine. As I’ve mentioned before, every recipe I’ve tried from that magazine has been impressive. These were easy, tender in texture and spiced just enough to be interesting.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Spicy Lamb Meatballs

Author: www.highlandsranchfoodie.com

Ingredients

1 pound ground lamb
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced thyme leaves
½ C. panko bread crumbs
½ C. Italian bread crumbs
¾ C. milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add a little more milk if needed for consistency. Mix well. Shape the mixture into 1-inch balls, and place them on a greased baking sheet 1 inch apart. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake the meatballs for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are no longer pink in the center. Remove, and serve immediately. Makes 30 meatballs.

Spicy Lamb Meatballs…It’s What’s for an Appetizer.

Jacques Pepin’s Beef Stew In Red Wine Sauce

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Lea Ann

The latest issue of Food and Wine Magazine arrived on my coffee table last Saturday and the meal on the front cover, Jacques Pepin’s Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce was on our dinner table the next night.

This meal brings a whole new meaning to the clever quote “I love cooking with wine and sometimes I even put it in the food“. One full 750ml bottle of a full-bodied red wine is the only liquid used to slow braise the beef for this stew.

The recipe calls for two pounds of flatiron or chuck roast. I used this round roast that was on sale. Jaques instructs to cut the meat into eight pieces.

The meat is browned, then dusted with flour and seasoned simply with sauteed chopped onion, garlic, fresh thyme and salt and pepper. Add the bottle of red wine and it’s ready for a braise in the oven. We used Henry’s Drive 2009 Pillar Box Red, an Australian Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot blend.

Incredible dish. The end result is tender fall apart chunks of beef and a wine reduction sauce that is a thick, opulent and rich treat.

Wisely cooking the vegetables separately with some pancetta, and adding them at the end, keeps the carrots sweet, the mushrooms earthy and the pearl onions crunchy.

The lead in paragraph to this recipe reads:

This is the quintessential beef stew. Jacques Pépin’s mother served it at her restaurant, Le Pélican, where she made it with tougher cuts of meat. Jacques likes the flatiron—a long, narrow cut that’s extremely lean but becomes tender and stays moist. He doesn’t use stock, demiglace or even water in his stew, relying on robust red wine for the deep-flavored sauce.

5.0 from 3 reviews

Jacques Pepin’s Beef Stew In Red Wine Sauce

Author: www.highlandsranchfoodie.com

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds trimmed beef flatiron steak or chuck, cut into 8 pieces
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
One 750-milliliter bottle dry red wine
2 bay leaves
1 thyme sprig
One 5-ounce piece of pancetta
15 pearl or small cipollini onions, peeled
15 cremini mushrooms
15 baby carrots, peeled
Sugar
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, melt the butter in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the meat in the casserole in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, 8 minutes.
Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat the meat with it. Add the wine, bay leaves and thyme, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Cover the casserole and transfer it to the oven. Cook the stew for 1½ hours, until the meat is very tender and the sauce is flavorful.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, cover the pancetta with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain the pancetta and slice it ½ inch thick, then cut the slices into 1-inch-wide lardons.
In a large skillet, combine the pancetta, pearl onions, mushrooms and carrots. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, ¼ cup of water and a large pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until almost all of the water has evaporated, 15 minutes. Uncover and cook over high heat, tossing, until the vegetables are tender and nicely browned, about 4 minutes.
To serve, stir some of the vegetables and lardons into the stew and scatter the rest on top as a garnish. Top with a little chopped parsley and serve.

Jacques Pepin’s Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce…It’s What’s for Dinner.

Chicken Chorizo Burgers with Cumin-Lime Quick Pickles, SRC Reveal

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Lea Ann

This month’s Secret Recipe Club assignment found me over at Sarah’s blog, Everything In The Kitchen Sink.

Sarah is a 20-something engineering undergrad student at UMD who is “eating and cooking her way through life in DC”. She’s admirably ambitious. Besides writing a food blog, in any given week she’s taking and teaching classes, playing in sport leagues and spending whatever time is left with friends and family. When she cooks, all pots, pans and utensils end up in the kitchen sink. Hence the name of her blog.

Scrolling through her blog posts, I came to a screeching halt at Chicken Chorizo Burgers with Cumin-Lime Quick Pickles. When I read “this recipe is for the chicken burger doubters” (which would be me) I knew I had to give it a try.

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Asian Sloppy Joes Sliders

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Lea Ann

Asian Sloppy Joes

One Saturday afternoon last Fall, we were browsing PBS and came across a quite curious scene. An Oriental chef was working furiously over a stove packed full of woks, pressure cookers and sauce pans, all of them steaming, sizzling, smoking or hissing at full speed. Standing alongside the chef were mom and dad smiling proudly and admidst the chaos the three were cheerfully reminiscing over family cooking memories as chef furiously stirred, shook and shifting pans from burner to burner. During this juggling act, chef even took the time to tudor us about the safety of modern day pressure cookers.

The Chef was Ming Tsai, owner of Blue Ginger Restaurant. Ming was raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he spent hours cooking alongside his mother and father at Mandarin Kitchen, the family-owned restaurant. In 1998, Ming opened Blue Ginger in Wellesley, MA and introduced his innovative East-West cuisine.

I don’t remember what he was cooking that day on television, but I did know I wanted to research the Pressure Cooker he was using on the show. But that search saga in it’s self is for another blog post.

In mid-January, when SuperBowl recipes were filling up my email, I spotted this one that came over from Food and Wine Magazine. I subscribe to their “daily recipe” feature. The recipe caught my eye and then I noticed it was the same Ming from the simmering, steaming, smoking, hissing stove top show I had watched last fall. I had to give these Asian Sloppy Joes a try. Here’s the lead-in description for the recipe.

Star chef Ming Tsai’s Asian-accented sliders are based on a recipe his mother made for him when he was young. “Everyone at school wanted them, so I’d usually trade a little slider for a complete lunch,” says Tsai.

These didn’t end up on my Superbowl menu, but the weekend before we enjoyed these wonderful little treats. It’s a really good recipe and a change up from our traditional American version of Sloppy Joes. Don’t forget the pickle, it really adds to the experience.

Asian Sloppy Joe Sliders

Author: Ming Tsai

Recipe type: Entree

Cuisine: American/Asian

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 medium red onions, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
3 tablespoons sambal oelek or other Asian chile sauce (I used chile sauce)
2½ tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 pound ground chicken thighs
1 pound ground pork
1 cup hoisin sauce
1 cup drained canned diced tomatoes
¼ cup fresh lime juice
20 brioche dinner rolls, split and toasted
Shredded iceberg lettuce and spicy pickles (optional), for serving

Instructions

In a large, deep skillet, heat the canola oil until shimmering. Add the onions, celery, chile sauce, garlic, ginger and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes.
Add the ground chicken and pork and cook, stirring occasionally to break up the meat, until no pink remains, about 5 minutes. Stir in the hoisin, tomatoes and lime juice and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon about ¼ cup of the sloppy joe filling on the bottom half of each roll. Top with shredded lettuce and pickles and serve.
MAKE AHEAD The sloppy joe filling can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat gently before serving.

Ming Tsai’s Asian Sloppy Joe Sliders…It’s What’s For Dinner

Lamb Tagine with Preserved Lemons and Green Olives

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Lea Ann

I had a $30 gift certificate from Williams and Sonoma burning a hole in my pocket, so Hubs and I loaded up last Saturday and ran over to nearby Aspen Grove Shopping Center. I had my doubts that I’d find any sort of kitchen item I didn’t already own, but when we walked into the store we were greeted by a display of Moroccan themed cookware. Exotic in color, hand painted tagines were surrounded by a set of vibrant dinnerware, flatware and linens, accented with with jars of earthy colored simmering sauces…$30??? I could have spent ten times that amount.

A tagine is a type of ceramic or clay cookware from North Africa. The bottom is a wide, circular shallow dish used for both cooking and serving. The lid of the tagine is shaped like a dome or cone. There’s a little hole in the top of the dome to allow for steam to escape during the a long slow cook.

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