Friday breakfasts

As some may know, at R's work, the staff take turns bringing in breakfasts on Fridays. Most are extremely lame. We are the king and queen of awesome breakfast, a difficult title to maintain over the few years we've been participating. Our first breakfast featured Paula Deen's Baked French Toast Casserole and this is the dish that led to several more breakfast victories. We decided to return to this old favorite today, along with some other dishes.

The progression of the french toast casserole - slice the bread into a 9 x 13 casserole. Make a lame attempt to layer it decoratively. This won't really matter b/c it will be covered with deliciousness later on.

Pour the egg, cream, and spice custard over top. Allow to soak overnight. It will seem like a ridiculous amount of eggyness. Do not fret.

Top with praline (brown sugar, butter, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg) topping. Bake until crunchy and brown.

We also made blueberry scones with a lemon glaze, a Tyler Florence recipe. These came out really well, except for the fact that I don't see how you can possibly add the blueberrries to the dough without smashing them - ergo, we were forced to add them to the lumpen forms of scones in a haphazard way. Oops, we smashed a blueberry or two. Oh, and even though I doubled the recipe, it makes WAAAAAY too much glaze for my taste. I seriously have approximately 1 1/2 c of glaze leftover in my fridge. I assume you are not supposed to actually dunk the scones in such a lemony glaze, so I have no idea if either I messed up and made 4 times the amount of glaze (unlikely, I hate squeezing lemons) or the recipe has an insane amount of glaze.

Finally, to lighten things up just a tad, a traditional summer fruit salad mix - watermelon, nasty honeydew, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries. Notice its precarious position on the countertop. Notice the balling.

PS - Blogspot is ticking me off. I seriously typed 20 spaces between the FTC and scone discussion, and it is still jamming them together.

Gyros....the pressed meat lives on....

So we finally wrapped up round 2 of the gyros last night - I shook things up a bit by making what basically turned into a gyro salad. I mixed romaine, spinach, red bell pepper, tomatoes, green onion, a bit of feta, and chunks of the leftover gyro meat. I then took some of the remaining tzatziki sauce,* thinned it with a very small amount of red wine vinegar and a teeny drop of olive oil, and then used that as a dressing.

I have to say, not my very favorite meal, but hearty nonetheless and R enjoyed it. Sorry no photos - it wasn't very photogenic.


*I keep changing up the tzatziki. For this one, I used about a cup of nonfat plain yogurt, a big spoonful of sour cream, 3 tsp of red wine vinegar, 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil, a dash of salt, 4 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tsp of dried dill (fresh would be great), some black pepper, and a peeled, diced cucumber. I still contend Greek yogurt is the best - but it isn't a lowfat item necessarily. What I should have done, and what Alton's recipe calls for, is to drain the nonfat yogurt to get a thicker consistency. I'd still want to mix in some sour cream though - to give it a bit of tang.

Gyros, take 2

After our last gyro experience, we knew we'd need a while before we made them again (since you get at least 3 meals out of them). But it was time yet again, so yesterday was a day of grinding meat. We ground beef for chili later in the week, pork for tacos, and the lovely leg of lamb for the gyros. Having tossed my bread pans after the liner started baking into the bread (mmm...metal shards....delicious!) I used a square cake pan to bake the loaf of meat and pressed the other square cake pan on top to smush the meat into a uniformly pressed loaf of meat.

By the way, these are the BEST pitas in the universe. Yeah, you'll pay a little more. And yeah, you'll have to remove your hand from the bag and force yourself to only eat one. But they are delish.

We needed lots of wedding booze to press this bad boy down (notice the world's biggest bottle of Jager):

Peas glorious PEAS!

We're still eating the london broil from earlier in the week, but I also added some sauteed snap peas to the lineup last night. Very simple preparation - put peas in boiling salted water for about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a bit of olive oil, chopped garlic, and some red pepper flakes in a pan. Carefully transfer peas from water to pan after 4 minutes and toss about in the pan with the oil another 3 minutes or so. Put a few squirts of soy sauce on top, toss around another few seconds, and serve.

Southwest Roasted Risotto - mixed results

I suppose I can't kvetch about M's lack of postings when I haven't been doing much myself. Well, actually, I have been doing a lot of posting, but over at my own blog, talking about World Cup soccer and Virginia politics. Needless to say, I have a readership of about two.

Anyhoo. My summer schedule (easy work schedule, busy evenings, and travel nearly every weekend) has kept me out of the kitchen to a certain extent, but not entirely. Two nights ago, I decided to experiment with a wonder substance I'd never used before - arborio rice, the base of risotto. Given that I like things a little spicy, I decided to go all Southwest style with it.

Start with an oiled cookie sheet. On said sheet, place the following - one large tomato, quartered; half a red onion, cut into thirds; one each of red bell, green bell, poblano, and red chili peppers, halfed and seeded; two ears of corn; four cloves of garlic. Put a touch of olive oil on all of these, as well as some salt and pepper. Place under your broiler for about 12-15 minutes, taking care to turn everything as appropriate to ensure even burning. Peel the peppers and tomatoes (M taught you how), cut the corn off the cobs, and throw everything into your food processor. Work these in the processor until you have a nice, smooth sauce.

Meanwhile, melt three tablespoons of butter with two tbsp of canola oil in a pan, letting it get a little brown, and warm four cups of chicken broth. (Warm, don't boil.) Add two cups of arborio to the butter, and toss around to get it evenly coated in the warm fatty goodness. Why?

-----Alton Brown appears out of nowhere-----

What we are doing is creating an agent that will thicken the sauce as the arborio cooks and create the creamy, gravy-like texture we want. That agent? A hidden roux. Any roux consists of two things - fats, and the starches they coat and dissolve. Here, the butter and oil will bind with the thin layer of starch which coats the outside of the arborio grains to create our roux. Why hidden? Because instead of being a puddle in a pan, the roux will be coated to the rice, which will simply look like it's browned a bit.

-----Alton leaves after tasting the roasted veggie sauce and approving-----

After tossing the arborio in the pan for a minute, add a cup or so of cool broth and stir madly over medium heat. Why cool? Because there needs to be a temperature difference between the roux and the liquid. Why stir? Because once the roux dissolves, we do want that liquid to heat up to, you know, cook the rice. :) Once the arborio has absorbed most of that liquid, add a cup or two of the warmed broth. Lather, rinse, repeat until the arborio, now risotto, has soaked up all of the broth in batches. This will take around 20-25 minutes.

Now to spice it up. First, stir in 1 tbsp of arbol chili powder. If you don't have any around, you can use 1 tsp of cayenne, but I like arbol here - a little more flavorful, a little better record against the Yankees. Next, add in the roasted veggie sauce and stir well. Delicious!

This was DELICIOUS the night of, with the right amount of spice, a good texture and a bright vegetable flavor. There are some things I would change, though:

1) Meat is good. I didn't have any chicken around at the time, but on redo, I would saute chicken in the oil, then use the pan drippings as the base for the hidden roux.
2) I was braindead when making this, and didn't use a cup of cold broth first. (Actually, it was because I realized the roux thing later.) So...yeah, do that, or it won't thicken properly.
3) Finally, about a cup of chopped parsley for color and flavor at the end would have been nice.

So why mixed results? Because this recipe makes an entire pan of risotto, meaning lots of leftovers for a one-man show. And risotto doesn't reheat particularly well. Still tastes good, but the texture is off. So, I would recommend halfing the recipe if you are making it for a small dinner (2-3 people), and don't count on leftovers. Unless someone has some insight as to a better way to reheat the stuff.

Le salade du bouef

So, as promised, I made another salad last night. Having purchased a 2.5 pound london broil at the Fresh Market last weekend, I grilled that bad boy up after marinating it for about a day in a Sara Moulton recipe (a kitchen sink marinade). This was sliced thinly, into bite-sized pieces.

I made a lime vinaigrette to serve with the salad. For this, I used the juice of two limes and one lemon, two cloves of garlic minced, salt, pepper, a tbsp of sugar, and some cumin. To this, I slowly added about 1/2 c of extra virgin olive oil (I will NEVER abbreviate that).

I added the bits of beef to some romaine, spinach, corn, and tomatoes. I seasoned drained, rinsed black beans with salt, pepper, cumin, and a small splash of olive oil, and added a few spoonfuls to the salad. Then all was topped with the lime vinaigrette.

R lurved it. He especially lurved the dressing, which was surpising because it was rather acidic. He proclaimed it to be similar to a Chipotle "bol," which is high praise.

Food I like

R and I are yet again embarking on a healthier lifestyle (hence, the salads) but we still need some treats nor are we looking to starve ourselves. I'm really more about the exercise. But exercise and healthy eating go hand in hand. Anyways, I bought a few reasonably healthy purchases as of late that I really enjoy.

1) Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Nut bars, both peanut and almond. These are certainly not all day indulgences - they have some fat, calories, and carbs - but they are quite filling given all the nuts and nut butters. Definitely a lovely treat with a bit more protein than your typical candy bar.

2) Special K cereal, or its Kroger imitator, "Active Lifestyle" flakes. The imitator does a good job, so I won't complain about cutting costs by going generic.

3) Tribe Hummus - roasted garlic flavor. I enjoy the roasted garlic, but another company makes it with artichokes which I LURVE! Throw in some pita and you have a happy little lunch.

4) Peanut M&Ms. Ok. Not a diet food. BUUUT, since I have a modicum of self-control from time to time, it is a good respite from the diet - I can eat 5 M&Ms and I don't feel bad and the chocolate craving goes away.

5) Zucchini with tomatoes and peppers. Slice some Z and red peppers in chunks, heat a pan with a bit of olive oil, toss in the Z and P over medium heat, toss around a bit until slightly softened, throw in a minced clove of garlic, salt, and pepper, then toss in one 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes (any variety - flavored, unflavored) and let simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Add a light sprinkling of parm and you're good to go.

Salad daze

I've prepared two salads of late that are quite tasty.

Salad #1
Romaine and spinach. Toasted walnuts. Dried cranberries. Crumbled gorgonzola. Raspberry hazelnut dressing.

Salad #1
Romaine and spinach. Red pepper. Roasted grape tomatoes.* Chunks of tequila-lime chicken.**

A new salad is coming tonight. Will reveal more at another time.


* See the BC's caesar salad recipe (limited time availability)
**Everyone loves the BC's TLC. See here and here and here.

Food of the future

Photos of my container garden - our "food of the future!"*



*Well, only 6 weeks or so in the future, but still THE FUTURE!

Sunday dinner

Yesterday was cold and rainy here in the 'bus, so I decided to take advantage of the dreariness to make a traditional Sunday roast. I made roast beef, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and of course, lovely beefy gravy with pan drippings. I won't regale you with the prep on the mashed potatoes or GBC, as everyone knows those.

I will however warn against buying anything other than an eye of round roast or higher cut of beef . The local grocer did not have any eye of round roasts out, so rather than ask, I went for some other cut that looked reasonable and was still a 'round.' Bleck. 1) It took forever to cook and 2) even after about an hour and a half for a 2.5 pound roast, it will still freakishly rare. Now, I'm coming around on not nuking my meat. I'll even go so far as medium rare on a good cut of meat. But not on this thing. I felt like I was eating my own tongue, it was that rare. R liked it, but I will have to broil the heck out of leftovers to get it to the point where I can tolerate it.

We have many options with the leftovers, beyond just repeating the mashed/GBC/beef option. My dad "invented" a way to re-use leftover roast beef - mix it with boxed wild rice and serve with a vegetable. V. tasty. Also, we can make fajitas, steak sandwiches, or a stir fry. We'll see how the meat holds out!

Rejuvenating chicken

As I said to my friend M last night, I had a pair of sad looking chicken breasts in the fridge. I'd poached them, just because they needed to be cooked, then again neglected them for a few days. I hated to let them go to waste, so I decided to attempt to "rejuvenate" them and put them in a salad. I put the chicken breasts in a small saucepan with one can of chicken broth, the juice of one orange and one lemon, and the juiced hulls of said fruit. I then set it on low heat for about 20 minutes, then let it "steep" in the mixture for another 15 or so. I chopped my freshened-up chicken breasts and put them over a half of a Fresh Express "Asian" salad. The orange and lemon from the chicken worked with the Sesame Orange dressing in the salad.

** Salad update **

I'm now on day 2 of this salad. I have to say it is a pretty good bagged salad mix. It has mixed greens (my only complain is that there seems to be a lot of iceberg, which is blah, but whatev), won ton strips, dried cherries, and snap peas. With a sesame orange dressing that's pretty good. Yeah, I could do it better myself, but for $2.50 at the store, and I get two lunch-sized portions out of it. Add some "rejuvenated" chicken breasts and you're all set.

Anyways - if you have sad looking leftover meats, perhaps this can work!

Beef and cheese

Because I so very deeply loved the new Einstein's sandwich, I felt compelled to attempt my own version of the cheesesteak panini at home. R loves cheesesteak and I love paninis, so here goes.




First, I spent a long time carmelizing 2 onions.





Then, I roasted a red pepper. To the left, the innocent red pepper before roasting. To the right, the deliciously blackened and roasted pepper. To accomplish this change, either place the pepper directly on the burner of a gas stove until blackened on all sides OR if you are like me and have electric through no fault of your own, simply put it in a 400 degree oven, rotating every 5-8 minutes, until reasonably blackened. If you do it in the oven, do not let it get all the way black, or else it will be too mushy. Once you have roasted it, place the hot pepper in a brown paper bag or under a bowl (my usual MO) for 10 minutes to allow steam to loosen the skin. Peel back the skin and slice!

I also roasted asparagus to serve on the side. Wash and cut the asparagus, coat lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for about 12-15 minutes depending on the size of the asparagus.



Finally, the paninis. For our luscious sandwiches, we layered deli roast beef, munster, provolone, roasted peppers, onions, and creamy horseradish sauce mixed with some mayo on lovely ciabatta bread. Then we placed said creations onto the panini grill, and grilled them until the meat was heated through and the cheese melted. Then we plated 'em up with the asparagus and devoured them.

Kong-sized Pops

First off, when did CORN Pops become just Pops? The labeling Nazis got to them, right? Not enough corn.

Second of all, who needs this many Pops? Evidently, R does. I placed the Kong-sized box next to a regular sized bottle of water for scale.