Day 314: Where is the Undo Button?

I purchased the most beautiful brussels sprouts at the farmers' market today.  Too bad I kind of ruined them!

Everyone knows that brussels sprouts and bacon are a match made in heaven.  I chopped up four strips of applewood smoked bacon and fried it up in a hot pan.  Once they were crisped up, I removed them and set them aside in some paper towel to remove the excess grease.  

After deglazing the pan with some white wine, I tossed in a finely chopped shallot and a few sprigs of fresh thyme and sauteed them for a few minutes.  After throwing in my sprouts, which I had trimmed and sliced in half lengthwise, I made my big mistake.  I shook in some red pepper flakes which wound up providing too much heat, overwhelming the whole dish.  If there was an "undo" button, I would surely have clicked on it!

Just prior to serving, I pulled out the thyme sprigs, added the bacon bits back in, and squeezed the juice of half a lemon over the whole mixture.  Had it not been for the red pepper flakes, this would have been a great side dish.

Our main course was chicken breasts, hammered thin and marinated in the juice of a lemon, olive oil, 3 smashed garlic cloves, fresh thyme, and S&P.  After about 1/2 hour, my hubby took care of grilling them up.

Not a bad meal, but it would have been great had it not been for my hot pepper mistake.  I feel horrible for screwing up such beautiful and fresh brussels sprouts but at least I learned my lesson.  Next time, perfect sprouts!!

Day 262: Playing Hooky

I took the day off of work today and whenever I do that, I feel that I owe my hard working husband a good home cooked dinner.

We hadn't had lamb in ages, so I made mustard crusted chops.  This is an Emeril recipe that I've made many times before and it's also a hit.

To go with the meat, I made parmesan polenta and sauteed brussels sprouts.  

Polenta (for 2 people):

Boil 2 cups of salted water.  Slowly stir in 1/2 cup polenta and 1T butter and stir constantly until thickened, approximately 4-5 minutes.  Transfer polenta to a metal bowl.   Boil a couple of inches of water in a pot, place the bowl over the top of the pot, and cook the polenta in this double boiler for about 20 more minutes, stirring frequently.  If you'd like, just before serving, you can stir in some grated parmesan cheese or soft goat cheese for added richness and flavor.

Brussels Sprouts:

Trim the sprouts, removing the other layer of leaves, and cut in half vertically.

Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a stainless steel pan over medium heat.  Place the sprouts in the pan, cut side down.  Sprinkle with salt and allow to cook for a few minutes until the cut side is browned.

Stir the sprouts and turn the heat up to medium-high.  Add a few splashes of orange juice and stir again.  Allow to cook for a few more minutes until sprouts are to the desired doneness.  s

I didn't work hard at the office today but I put a damn delicious meal together, so I'm not a complete slacker!

Day 181: Have Hangover. Need Beef.

On a hang over scale of 1-10, 10 being death, I woke up at a 6 today and it was a long, slow recovery.  Days like these call for hearty meals.

I had every intention of making a light and healthy meal for my first 2009 dinner entry.  But I got to the butcher and new knew that fish and chicken wouldn't do.  I needed beef!!

My husband took care of grilling up the NY strip steaks I purchased.  He simply seasoned them with S&P and grilled them to medium rare and they were juicy, tender, and so delicious.  Just what the hang over ordered tonight.

The side dish was roasted brussels sprouts and pancetta with garlic.  The recipe came from Epicurious.com and I found them tasty but not spectacular.  They did the trick, though, and went well with the steak.  I feel better already!!

Day 160: A Good Idea is a Stolen Idea

A few weeks ago our friend Sarah had us over for dinner.  The main course was dungeness crabs purchased pre-cooked (steamed or boiled - not sure which) at Whole Foods.  What an awesome and easy dinner idea!  So, I stole it tonight.

My husband picked the crabs up on the way home and had them cracked at the fish counter.  Meanwhile at home, I made a salad with fresh veggies picked up at the farmer's market today:  baby lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a red bell pepper.  Then I sprinkled toasted pine nuts over the top.

I prepared the brussels sprouts as follows.  I heated up a cast iron pan with some olive oil.  Once hot, I tossed in some sliced garlic cloves and added a pound of halved sprouts cut side down.  Once the sprouts are browned, pull them out of the pan and place them in baking dish.  Toss with olive oil, garlic powder, onion salt, S&P and roast for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees and then sprinkled toasted pine nuts over the top.  Delicious.

All in all a healthy, if not original, dinner idea.  Feel free to steal it and pass it on!

Day 144: Saving My Energy

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away and I have an enormous menu planned, so rather than cook dinner tonight we ordered in.  That freed me up to make my cranberry sauce - one dish down, only 7 or 8 to go!!

We ordered pork larb and chicken panang curry Gatip Thai.  As you can see, we also had some brussels sprouts, which I had purchased at the farmer's market over the weekend.  My favorite sprouts recipe comes from Tyler Florence of the Food Network.  Click here for his delicious recipe.

Speaking of recipes and back to the cranberry sauce I made tonight...  I used a recipe from Fine Cooking, one of my favorite food magazines.

Ingredients:

12 oz fresh cranberries, picked through and rinsed

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

2 tsp minced fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest

Take the zest off the orange before you juice it.  I recommend using a Microplane for this job, but you could use an ordinary box grater as well.

Combine the cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and rosemary in a large saucepan or pot.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute.

Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the zest, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.  Let the sauce cool to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate.  

I don't know about you, but I always try to prepare as much as possible in advance of a big meal like this.  It helps to reduce the pressure the day of.  Cranberry sauce is one of those things that you can prepare several days ahead so I took full advantage of that and got it out the way.  Two days and counting!

Day 129: The Great Dinner Experiment

Down with recipes!  Down with cookbooks!  Tonight I made things up as I went along and it was pretty damn good!

We recently discovered this jarred salsa verde, made from tomatillos and limes and some other ingredients.  It's just a little bit spicy with a great fresh taste and was the basis of our chicken dish tonight.

I heated the oven to 400 degrees.  I sliced a couple of chicken breasts in half so that I had four thin slices of breast rather than two fat breasts to ensure quicker cooking.  Then, I spooned a thin layer of salsa into a glass baking dish and then placed the chicken over it in a single layer and set the dish in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes, turning the chicken slices over about half way through.

I also improvised a delicious brussels sprout recipe tonight:

Coat a saute pan with olive oil and heat.  If you like some spice in your food, infuse your oil by throwing in a couple of shakes of red pepper at the start.

Once the oil is hot, add a pound of brussels sprouts, sliced vertically in half.  Turn the sprouts cut side down, sprinkle them with salt,  and leave them alone for a couple of minutes.  Check them from time to time and once they are beginning to brown, stir them up.

Pour in some apple juice or cider so that it's about 1/4 inch deep in the pan.  Add 1 T of butter and 3 smashed cloves of garlic, turn the temperature down to low, cover, and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.  You want the sprouts to be soft, but not mushy.

The sprouts will absorb the sweetness of the apple juice and the red pepper flakes add just the right amount of heat.  This is a great, low fat, healthy recipe - at least compared to some of the bacon heavy sprouts recipes I've been cooking lately.  You could probably leave out the butter - but we all know - butter makes everything taste better.  For that matter, so does bacon!

Day 111: This One is For All the Haters

My heart goes out to Brussels sprouts. Never was a vegetable so misunderstood and so hated. I myself am a recovering sprout hater. Growing up, the bowl of Brussels sprouts couldn’t even be placed near me at the dinner table. The smell alone was enough to drive me from the kitchen.

For some unknown reason, a few years ago, I decided to give them a try again. Much to my surprise, I loved them and I have loved them ever since.

The trick is in the preparation and of course, in the level of freshness. If you throw some 2 week old sprouts in a pot of boiling water and leave them there for too long, you are going to wind up with a heinous, tasteless bowl of mush.

A couple of weeks ago I prepared a Tyler Florence Brussels sprouts recipe that used bacon. Tonight I was craving that dish, but wanted to try to create a healthier version. My creation wasn’t as good as the original, but it was pretty damn tasty and easy to make!

Brussels Sprouts with Chicken/Turkey Sausage (serves 2):
2 links of pre-cooked chicken and/or turkey sausage
1 lb fresh Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved vertically
1 small shallot, sliced thin
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (more or less, depending on how spicy your sausage is)
Olive oil

Coat a stainless steel pan with olive oil and heat on medium-high.

Slice sausage in half lengthwise and then cut across into ½ inch slices. Toss sausage and shallot into the heated oil.

Cook sausage until it’s browned all over. At that point, remove and set aside.

Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth. Add sprouts, cover pan, and leave on a high simmer for 10-12 minutes or under sprouts are cooked through.

Add sausage/shallots back to pan, mix with sprouts, and cook over low heat for a couple of minutes until sausage is reheated.

If you’d like, after you’ve served the sprouts up, you can grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the top.

If this recipe – or Tyler Florence’s original one – does not change your mind about Brussels sprouts, then you truly are a hater. But give them a try before you decide! It may just change your life forever!