Serendipity Pasta Sauce

I made my promised fallish recipe and I photographed the finished product, but I haven't gotten around to posting it yet. I will though, as soon as I'm blogging from the computer where the photograph is saved. :-P

In the meantime, here is a recipe without a photograph, because it wasn't ever intended to appear on this blog and I didn't realize that it was blogworthy until after I had licked my plate clean. Okay, so I didn't actually lick the plate. Close, though. It was that good.

Here's what happened: Last night, Dan wasn't feeling well. He started coming down with a cold. He said that for dinner, he wanted something warm and comforting... he wanted pasta.

I, on the other hand, was feeling uncharacteristically non-queasy last night, which was a small miracle (oh the joys of pregnancy!). My problem was that, like Old Mother Hubbard's, my cupboards (and frig) were bare. I haven't been grocery shopping in nearly three weeks, so coming up with a pasta dish on the fly was going to be a challenge for sure.

I started rummaging through the odds and ends around my kitchen, and here is what I collected:

-A half package of rotini noodles
-1 mostly empty carton of half-n-half
-1 mostly empty carton of whipping cream
-2 slices of (rather dried out) pepper bacon
-A leftover fourth of an onion that I forgot in the frig
-1 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast
-1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

"Aha!" I said to myself. "Chicken carbonara tomato cream sauce something or other!" I wasn't sure how it would all taste, but I figured I could play around with some spices and at least make it passably good.

Disclaimer: This recipe is decidedly NOT low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb, or low anything. Hey, I'm pregnant.

First, I chopped up the dried-out bacon and threw it in a saute pan to render. Then, I diced up the onion (which came to about a 1/4 c.) and three garlic cloves I found in the pantry, and threw those in with the bacon. For extra fatty goodness I tossed in a couple of pats of butter, probably 2 T. worth.

While that was getting the house all nice and smoky-savory smelling, I set the frozen chicken to poach in a small pot of salted water. Then I dumped what was left of the half-n-half and cream into my bacon/onion/garlic mixture. I probably ended up getting about 3/4 of a cup total of white creamy stuff. I let the cream mixture simmer for a minute, and then I remembered that we had a bottle of sherry tucked in the back of our wine bar. I ran out to get it and dumped about a 1/4 of a cup of sherry into the cream sauce. Then I threw in some dried spices from my spice rack: about a 1/2 t. of basil, a 1/2 t. of oregano and 1 t. of parsley. I let it simmer a few minutes more and then tasted it. It needed salt. So I sprinkled in some salt and tasted it again. Better.

Up to this point, I wasn't sold on using the tomato paste. But the sauce needed another element, I decided. So I added just a tad of the paste, probably about 1 T., and tasted again. I kept adding tomato paste gradually until the sauce was a deep pinky-orange color and I had used about half the can. At that point, the sauce was perfect--savory, smoky, creamy, thick and delicious.

My chicken was done poaching so I took it out, diced it, and added it to the cream sauce. Then I boiled the rotini in the chicken stock until it was al dente.

I served the pasta and sauce with a little sprinkle of grated parmesan that I found in the freezer, but it really didn't need the cheese because it was already so rich. I also served some steamed sugar snap peas that had miraculously kept fresh in my vegetable crisper.

Hubby was happy. Very happy. Wife was happy her experiment worked. And we went to bed with happy tummies.

Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

I warned you all awhile back that we had purchased an ice cream maker. I used it a few times over the summer, with fairly successful results. Nothing knocked my socks off, however, until I made this:

I think the secret to its deliciousness lies in the obscene ratio of cream to milk--2:1 as opposed to 1:1 like all my other recipes. But man, it was worth every extra calorie. It was, most definitely, the best ice cream I have ever had.

So now for the recipe. I followed this one from AllRecipes pretty much exactly, except that I halved the recipe because these amounts wouldn't have fit in my ice cream maker. I also made a few additional changes noted in italics below:

Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

BLUEBERRY SWIRL:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice

GRAHAM CRACKER MIXTURE:
2 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

ICE CREAM:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 quart heavy whipping cream
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons PURE vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Mash the blueberries slightly with a fork. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in butter. Pat into an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in.x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, whisk all of the ice cream ingredients until sugar is mostly dissolved and there are no lumps. Add to ice cream maker and churn until soft set. (Mine took about 30 minutes.)

Crumble the graham cracker mixture into bite-size pieces. In a large container, layer the ice cream, graham cracker mixture and blueberry sauce. Repeat twice, then run a broad knife or spatula through the mixture once or twice to swirl. Freeze until set.


There are several amazing things about this ice cream. 1) The vanilla pudding mix really makes it taste like cheesecake. I have no idea how or why it works, but it does. 2) The graham cracker pieces stay crunchy even after swirled into the ice cream and frozen.

Be sure to mash the blueberries all the way, or you will have unpleasant chunks of frozen blueberry in the finished product. Also, if you want to skip making the blueberry filling altogether, several of the commenters on the website said you can substitute canned pie filling. Don't know if I'd do that myself, but it'd probably work in a pinch.

Now, I know it's October and ice cream is probably the last thing you're wanting to make. :) So be on the lookout for a perfectly delicious fall-appropriate recipe to be posted here sometime within the next week or two. :)

The Best Tri Tip You've Ever Had

I have a link for you today. No pictures, unfortunately, because when I was throwing this together for a weekend dinner party I was hurrying a little too much to photograph the process. And really, this recipe is so simple the pictures would have been a little boring. . . "Here's how you chop a shallot" kind of thing. And you readers are smart enough to figure out how to chop shallots. ;)

I've been served tri tip at least two or three times this summer, and it seemed to be a good option for a barbeque... fairly inexpensive, but almost as nice as a steak. I had never actually made it myself prior to this weekend, however. We were having company for dinner on Saturday night--a couple we had only just met--and I thought tri tip would be a good bet. (We had one in the freezer that I'd been saving and I didn't have time to go grocery shopping.)

Not having any idea how a tri tip should be prepped, I did a google search and came up with this:

Marinated Tri Tip Roast

The resulting tri tip was the best I've ever tasted, and I'm not trying to knock all my friends' tri tip recipes. It was just yummy. The secret was in the reduction I made out of the leftover marinade.

I didn't follow this recipe quite exactly. I threw the marinade together on Friday night and the roast only sat in the frig for 24 hours before we grilled it (rather than the 3 days recommended). I thought this was plenty of time, though the meat probably would have tasted even better if it had marinated longer.

Other changes are as follows:

- I didn't have any onions, so I used two medium sized shallots instead. I love shallots, and they are especially appropriate when properly paired with red meat and red wine. This was a fortuitous substitution--80% of the reduction's deliciousness was attributable to the shallots, I think.

- I did take the time to make my own clarified butter. I was worried that if I didn't, the roast would become a flaming ball of spontaneous combustion as soon as it hit the grill. It was surprisingly easy and quick to do this.

- I didn't have enough steak sauce and I wasn't about to make a special trip to buy more. I used the scant 3 T. I managed to pound out of the bottle I had of organic steak sauce from Trader Joe's.

- I used 1 c. "soyaki" sauce from Trader Joe's instead of traditional teriyaki sauce. Hey, that's what I had on hand.

- I used way too much garlic. Forgive me, I am no good at estimating how many cloves will equal three tablespoons minced, apparently. I probably had more like five tablespoons.

- Finally, we had not a drop of Chianti in the house, so I used this 2007 "Alouette" Cab Franc from Three Fox Vineyards. This winery is literally just a jaunt up the hill from my family's home in Delaplane, Virginia. I picked up this bottle on my last trip and I have to say, it tastes just as delightful here in California as it did there in the tasting room. In fact, we had pretty well drunk the whole bottle a few days earlier, so I only had about 3/4 of a cup left... but I threw it in and it worked beautifully.

The reduction really was the clincher to the whole deal--do NOT, for any reason, decide to skip that part. I set the marinade to simmer as soon as the tri tip went on the grill and it was thick and syrupy just as the tri tip came off. It also filled our house with an amazing aroma, so that when our guests came inside after observing the grilling process in the backyard, their mouths immediately began to water. ;)

Thanks, Wasabi Bratwurst, for the great recipe! Your website is way cool, and I'm adding you to my link list. :)

***********************************************************************

I've been reminded, I've been meaning to put in a plug here for Virginia wine. According to Wine Spectator, Virginia is the fastest growing wine production region in the country, and its wines are doing very well in competition these days. I visited four wineries while I was last there and I was pretty impressed. The cab franc mentioned above was probably the best one I bought, but I also had some lovely wines at Naked Mountain Winery and Vintage Ridge Vineyards. Vintage Ridge is an especially fun stop. The tasting fees are a little steeper than elsewhere ($8.00) but they serve generous pours alongside lovely plates of petite appetizers and desserts, all of which bring out different flavors in the wine. In addition, their tasting room is sunny and comfortable; a very pleasant place to sit and relax for 45 minutes or so. I came home with a bottle of their aptly-named 2006 Summer Night, which went perfectly with a warm evening in August and a dinner of spicy pad thai. For those of you lucky, lucky people who live in the Northern Virginia area and happen to like wine, I highly recommend an afternoon field trip out to Rectorstown for a visit. :)

Grilled Pizza

Recently I was working out at the gym and saw Paula Deen doing something I previously would have thought impossible. She was making pizza, all the way from the dough stage to the slicing stage, on the grill. (Totally random side note: Why do they play the Food Network at the gym? As if it's not hard enough to be there in the first place. Seriously.)

Intrigued, I decided to try it. I actually decided to try it on a night when we were having company for dinner, which in retrospect was probably a dumb idea. But it worked! It worked so well I never want to cook pizza in the oven again. And it was so easy--no fuss, no mess, just delicious, perfect pizza.

Alrighty. So first things first: Make the dough, or buy some pre-made from the grocery store, or from Sam's Club, or wherever you like to buy it. When I actually plan ahead I make my own, because I have the most wondiferous pizza dough recipe EVER, which I got from this great little cookbook, which was published by my favorite pizza chain EVER, the California Pizza Kitchen.

(Disclaimer: I don't think I'll get in trouble for re-posting the recipe here, since I am giving credit where credit is due and since it's unlikely that all two readers of this blog are going to infringe on the recipe to such an extent as to affect CPK's net profits. And if I do get in trouble, I'm a lawyer so I can handle it. Right? Right.)

Behold ye wondiferous pizza dough recipe:

California Pizza Kitchen's Pizza Crust

1 t. active dry yeast
1/2 c. + 1 T. warm water
1 1/2 c. flour
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
1 T. olive oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside for 5-10 minutes. Combine all other ingredients in mixing bowl and add yeast mixture. (Don't add the salt to the yeast mixture directly.) Mix 2-3 minutes on slow speed with paddle attachment (KitchenAid, Bosch, or similar mixer works great) until smooth and elastic. Use 1 t. of extra olive oil to coat dough and the inside of a medium-sized bowl. Seal loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Two hours before baking, divide dough in half and roll into 3 or 4 separate balls. Place in a large casserole dish and let rise for 2 hours, until doubled.

* You don't HAVE to let it rise overnight in the frig. I have successfully thrown this together in the morning and left it rising on the counter all day before making the pizzas. It's a wonderfully versatile recipe. Just remember, the more times you let it rise, the better the crust. (Thrice, as the recipe suggests, is best.)

** You can substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour and 5 t. of honey for the sugar if you want to make CPK's signature "honey wheat" crust--which is to die for, of course.

*** This recipe makes enough for 2 standard size pizzas or 4 personal size (6-8 in.) ones.

**** If you're having company, preheat your oven to 200-250 degrees and pop the pizzas in as they finish grilling. That way they stay warm without getting soggy and they'll be ready to serve all at once.

*****I could keep doing this asterisk thing all day if I wanted to. But I won't. ;)

So once the dough has been mixed up and has risen thrice (I like that word--can you tell?), then comes the fun part.

Heat an outdoor grill to high heat (I let mine get to about 500 degrees). Spray grate with non-stick cooking spray or rub lightly with oil before heating. Take one of the lumps of dough and stretch it out into a pizza crust with your hands. (The personal size pizza lumps work best.) Start flattening at the edge of the dough ball and work your way inward--this will prevent the pizza from being too thin in the middle and too thick on the edges. When you have the right size, drop the crust onto the oiled grate.

After a few minutes, it should look like this:

As it cooks up, prick the air bubbles with a fork, like this:

Then, when the bottom is nicely browned and crisp, flip the whole crust over with a spatula. Now, quickly add the toppings. I say "quickly" because you won't have much time before the other side of the crust gets pretty crispy. I add sauce, pepperoni . . .

. . . sauteed onions, green peppers and cheese to mine:

Then I close the lid of the grill and let it cook for about 3-5 minutes, until all the cheese is melted.

Now, if I were a good food blogger, I would have a picture of the finished product. But I'm afraid I gobbled this up before remembering to take a picture. My bad. But take my word for it--it was scrumptious!

So, now you will not fear grilled pizza any longer, right? Good. Glad I can make some small difference in the world. ;)

Warning . . .

This is a public service announcement.

Lean muscle and trim waistline, beware. Your days are numbered.

The Thompsons have acquired an ice cream maker.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Sage Butter Sauce

Yes, this dish is every bit as good as it sounds. And a lot better than it looks in the picture above, because I am just not a good food photographer. ;)

(Give yourself some time for preparing this dish . . . the sage butter sauce takes a bit of tweaking to come out just right.)

You'll need:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 egg whites
2 t. cornstarch
1 lemon
3 T. olive oil
1 c. panko bread crumbs (or other coarse crumb)
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1 shallot
1/2 c. dry white wine (Use a good Chardonnay with just enough oak to have a hint of butteryness... and I think I might have just made up that word. Oh well.)
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
5 T. butter
1-2 t. minced fresh sage
salt, white pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Prepare the chicken breasts by trimming off any visible skin or fat. Slice each half lengthwise down the center. Lightly pound each piece to an even thickness. Zest the lemon and set the zest aside for later use.

In a shallow dish, whisk together the egg whites, cornstarch and the juice from half of the lemon. In a second shallow dish, stir together the bread crumbs, parsley, kosher salt, ground black pepper, parmesan and reserved lemon zest.

Coat the chicken breasts in the egg mixture and then coat with the crumbs. Set aside to rest on a rack at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to allow crumbs to adhere.

Meanwhile, prepare the sage butter sauce. Mince the shallot and saute in 1 T. butter until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, cream, broth and 1 t. lemon juice. Simmer until reduced by half, approximately 8-10 minutes. Then, whisk in 4 T. butter, one tablespoon at a time, stirring between each addition until the butter is completely melted. Finish with the fresh sage and add salt, white pepper and cayenne powder to taste. The sauce should have a little kick, but not so much so that it loses its slight sweetness.

Keep the sauce warm over the lowest possible heat so that it doesn't scorch. Preheat the oven to 450 F. In a cast iron skillet, heat the 3 T. olive oil and saute the chicken breasts on both sides, until golden brown and crisp. Carefully transfer skillet to the oven and roast the chicken until done, about 8 minutes.

When chicken is done, transfer to a serving platter and ladle the sauce over top. Garnish with fresh sage leaves. Serves 4.

I like to serve this alongside my rosemary roasted potatoes (recipe coming soon). In the photo above, I used purple potatoes because I like their smooth, buttery flavor and texture. Yukon golds and red potatoes also work well, and if you don't like 'em roasted you can bake 'em, mash 'em, fry 'em, or omit them entirely in favor of a healthier vegetable. ;)

If you're into wine, serve this with the same slightly oaky, slightly buttery Chardonnay you used in the sage butter sauce.

*** Recipe courtesy of Williamson Wines, Healdsburg, California.

Lobster and King Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Here's a classy and delicious appetizer that is sure to be a hit at any dinner party. It combines the finest of the ocean with the earthiness of the mushrooms for a fantastic surf & turf combo.

What you'll need:

3/4 cup melted butter, divided

1 lb. of fresh mushrooms w/ stems removed.

1 cup crushed italian bread crumbs

1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

1 large king crab leg (6-8 oz of meat)

1 pound lobster tail, cleaned and chopped

3 tablespoons minced garlic

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush a large baking sheet with 1/4 of melted butter. Arrange mushroom caps in a single layer over the baking sheet.

2) Cook the king crab leg on a cookie sheet in shallow water (steams the meat) in the preheated oven for approximately 5 minutes, or as needed to warm. Use a pair of heavy kitchen shears to cut the meat from the shell.

2) In a medium bowl, mix together the crushed croutons, remaining 1/2 cup butter, shredded cheese, crabmeat, lobster and garlic. Spoon into mushroom caps.

3) Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned on top. Sprinkle with additional cheese if desired and serve hot!!

Apple Dumplings to Die For

Sooo . . . as you can see, we haven't exactly been too speedy about getting this thing off the ground. Dan has been working an obscene amount lately and hasn't cooked anything more challenging than boxed mac-n-cheese and frozen pizza. I have been busy shopping my favorite boutiques, getting pedicures and eating bon bons. Okay, not really, but I just thought I'd see how gullible you all were. You passed. ;)

Still, in an effort to keep this blog from dying out before it even gets going, I'm going to point you all over to a delightful, amazing recipe posted by my very favorite blogger, The Pioneer Woman, on her cooking blog. I made these apple dumplings last weekend. It was harder than I thought it would be. Using all that butter required some serious mental and emotional exertion on my part. I don't think I've used so much butter in one recipe since like, 1997. That would be why I was chubbier in 1997 than I am now. But I digress.

ANYWAY. These dumplings are amazing. Even if I did only let myself have one teensy little taste of a half of one. Dan ate two of them and I took the rest to my office, where they were instantly proclaimed the best apple dumplings anyone else has tasted, ever. And trust me, my coworkers are seldom wrong when it comes to food. What they may lack in secretarial skills, they make up for in epicureanism (is that even a word?). And I'm going to be in so much trouble if any of them actually read this blog.

Back to the dumplings. Go bake these today for that person in your life who you secretly wish would get fat.

Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon
1 small can Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Mexican Brownies

In observance of Cinco de Mayo, my office had a Mexican-themed luncheon on Monday. Everyone brought a different dish to share.

One of my favorite things to order at a coffeeshop on a cold, foggy day is Mexican hot chocolate: a spicy, cinnamonny concoction with just a hint of hot pepper amidst the creamy sweetness. This was my inspiration for my Cinco de Mayo contribution: Mexican brownies!

But I was away for the whole weekend at a women's retreat, so they had to be quick and easy. Thus, the recipe could not be simpler.

Mexican Brownies

1 box store-bought brownie mix
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cayenne pepper
oil & eggs per box directions

Empty the brownie mix into a mixing bowl. Add the cinnamon and the cayenne pepper to the dry mix. Add the oil and the eggs and stir until moistened. Bake according to package directions.


They are delicious. But if serving them to guests, do warn them first in case they don't care for spice. ;)