I love to cook

Here are some of the things I've made, or cooked with.  I was wading through some of my ba-zillion photos on my computer and started to realize that I take lots of photos of food, but don't manage to write bog posts about all the food I photograph.  So this post is designed to catch me up.  One day I'll be a foodie, but for now I'll just enjoy eating!  LOL!

Savor the flavors
-Carmen Rose

TURNIPS? Surely you jest!

Well... I've never cooked with turnips before but it's time to start!  Turnips are in my CSA box this week and so I'm going to see what I can make with them.  (Photo above includes everything but the chicken and quail eggs that came this week.)  And here are those turnips:

I gave some consideration to mashed turnips Ina Garten style.  Seemed a little plain to me.

And considered slicing them like potatoes and making turnip chips with them.  But I'm not a big fan of fried foods, especially as I consider the additional pounds of baby elephant that are hanging out around my middle. 

And let's face it, the first thing I often do when I need a good food idea is google it with the magic words.  So I entered: "turnips bobby flay" in the search engine.  Yeah!  And I landed on a creamy turnip soup, which sounded really good.  Bobby Flay invited onion and garlic to the party (See Ina, that's why I love him) and it just sounds wonderful.

But if one is going to the trouble...  of making some food that one hopes will be delicious... then it might be good to try the main ingredient to see whatcha think.  I suspected that I did NOT like turnips, I don't know why exactly.  I don't like radishes, pushy little overbearing root.  And these LOOK like radishes.  I popped a little slice in my mouth and found them to be similar texture to potatoes, with a bit of a tangy sweet dirt flavor.  Not at all unpleasant.  TA DA!  We have food worth cookin! 

(Oh drat, I should have bought more butter when I was at the grocery!!)  Sorry, ADD digression.

So... I'm going to follow Bobby Flay's recipe, except add some taters and carrots.  And let's face it, two cloves of garlic is not going to be enough, especially these litttle ol things, so I'm using four.  Flavor is GOOD!

I started with the onions and garlic in the pot with the olive oil, per the Bobby Flay recipe.  I threw in the roots as I chopped them.  After about 10 minutes I tossed in what was left of my glass of white wine.  Yummm...  It smelled good in the kitchen but needed something.  So I went out to the herbs on my back deck and cut some sage and rosemary.  Into the pot it went.  Smelled even better after that!

 

After the white wine had cooked out I broke out the quart of chicken stock I had in the fridge from the last chicken.  I poured in enough to cover the roots, added some sea salt (salt early to enhance flavor, salt late to make it salty) and freshly ground pepper and popped on the lid.  I set the timer for 20 minutes and did my best to ignore it.  As much as you can ignore a pot of something that smells that good anyway. 

I opened it once to stir and the steam bit me on the hand, so I figured that meant it was time to turn down the heat a bit.  No problem. 

After 20 minutes I stuck the immersion blender in the pot and did my best to get it ultra smooth.  That didn't work too well so I transferred it to the blender and gave that a whirl.  The Bobby Flay recipe says to "strain it through a fine sieve" and so I did.  I ended up with lots of black pepper in the sieve, looks like I need to adjust my pepper grinder.  I tried the soup at that point and nearly fell over, it was WONDERFUL.

 Bobby Flay's recipe calls for "crème fraîche" which is great for a TV kitchen, but come on people!  I don't keep that on hand.  I tried the soup and really wondered whether or not it needed anything else.  My instinct was no, leave it alone.  But this experiment is about playing (not about the baby elephant growing at my waist line.)  So... I plurped two big dollups of sour cream in and stirred... then tasted.  It was the right choice, mercy!  Big creamy wonderful YUM!  I'm still struggling to put my finger on the flavors, in the end no one wins out over the rest.  It's harmonious, creamy and wonderful!   (I LOVE EATING!)  I garnished it with fresh green onion, sea salt and cracked pepper.  The onion was the perfect crunchy counterpoint to the ultra smooth and creamy soup.

 And that was my lovely lunch!  Now... what's for dinner?  I guess it's time to take another look at the loot from the CSA!  Hmm... 2 doz quail eggs...

Food is an art if the chef is an artist!

Savor the flavors,

-Carmen Rose   

Cooking with Ina Garten

I was hungry today for curried chicken salad and I looked up Ina Garten's recipe and tried it again. The recipe can be found here and it's very simple (and VERY good!)

 Roast the chicken with salt and pepper.  That's easy, I roasted it at 350 and left it in until my meat thermometer comes out at 150 degrees.  I saw that Emeril Lagasse cooks chicken until 140 and most places say 165 (just a liability issue) but Emeril said he liked his chicken moist.  I can't stand underdone chicken but 150 was perfect for this and the meat really did retain it's moisture.  No more over-cooked chicken for me! 

Then let it cool and chunk it up.  It crumbles some as it gets stirred up so there is no point in going overboard on this step. 

Then ya throw in the good stuff:  Mayo, Major Grey Chutney, curry powder, and celery for crunch.  Oh, and don't forget the salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I had red wine but no white wine, so instead I just included the rest of the broth from the pan I baked the chicken in.  A good vinegar would work here also.  Ina puts this all in the food processor and makes it all smooth before adding it to the chicken.  And that is ideal.... however...  Life is short, and I just threw it all right in and gave it a gedge.  (That's a Rachel Ray term for stirring, can you tell I had Food Network on in the house yesterday?) 

Ina Garten's recipe called for scallion, raisins and cashews... I garnish it with grapes (instead of raisins) and spring onions (close enough.)  I sprinkle those on top mostly because they look lovely, but also because these ingredients don't hold up so well if there is some left for the next day so I prefer to have them separate.  I ate all the cashews in the house, so sadly I could not pile those on top yet.  They really are wonderful in this recipe.  If you want to know how much of something to throw in, consult Ina Garten's recipe.  I tend to dump till it looks right and then make adjustments as needed.  Which reminds me, I should add curry powder and cashews to the grocery list.

This would make a lovely main dish for a picnic, then add veggies, crisps and other fun picnic foods.  This time I just served it as a one dish wonder.  (With iced tea made from garden mint and lily of the valley from the poison ivy patch on the table.)  The only comment from the peanut gallery was that it "needs bread or something."  (G, think he's spoiled?!)  It would be good in a wrap or as a chicken salad sandwich, no doubt about that.  I love the combination of the sweet Major Grey Chutney against the curry flavors... YUM!  And yeah, I meant to make fresh biscuits to go with it and just didn't get it done.  But I have leftovers, so there is still time for that.

Best Dishes, (with a nod to Paula Dean)
-Carmen Rose

Dinner Time

A friend of mine mentioned Chicken Chipotle Bacon Chimichangas this morning... and suddenly I was hungry.  So I found and printed out a recipe and stopped by the store on my way home and picked up some chicken.  I popped six large chicken breasts in the slow cooker and turned it up on high.  By afternoon the house was starting to smell good and I sauteed up some onion, garlic and some beautiful long skinny red peppers I found at Martins on Sunday.  I threw in some seasonings and shredded the chicken and threw that in.  I rehydrated two ancho chilies and chopped them up and threw them in.  

I stuffed eight big tortillas with the chicken mixture and some monterey jack cheese, brushed them with canola oil and popped them in the oven.  While that was baking I made some Spanish Rice, some guacamole and some pepper gravy from the leftover chicken broth.  The house really smelled good at that point.  I broke my garlic press, so I'll be keeping my eye out for one that isn't so difficult to clean. 
I'm not a big fan of food in general, just good food.  Simple, honest ingredients and simple techniques, sometimes it takes longer to make but it's always worth it.  It seems that good food that is hot and fresh and full of great flavors is far more satisfying.  And then one doesn't need as much, isn't that interesting? 

The Chimichangas were ready, the rice was nice and hot and the gravy and turned out nicely.  The guacamole was fresh and I pulled the sour cream out of the fridge and popped some of that on top. 

And it was gooood.  I couldn't even eat the whole thing though I gave it my best shot.  I like cooking these days.  Far more than I did when I was young, I cooked for my family and later on I cooked professionally and never liked it much.  But these days I really enjoy it.  It's like I've discovered food all over again.

As Paula Deen would say: "From my kitchen to yours, Best Dishes!"
-Carmen Rose

While Waiting for the Paint to Dry

I decided to try something a little different for dinner. I pulled a pork tenderloin out of the freezer and put it straight on the grill, seasoning it with garlic olive oil and lemon. I turned it very slowly so that each side got nice and brown.

As that was cooking we sliced up some potatoes thin, set them to rest in balsamic vinegar for a bit and then put them on the grill. I turned them once, brought them out and dusted them with sea salt and a little more balsamic vinegar. We ate those rather quickly while waiting for the pork to finish cooking. They were Good!

I cut into a pineapple and it was a good one. The first two slices were devoured on the spot before I realized that it might be good on the grill. I love serving fresh pineapple with a strawberry lime yogurt sauce, I love that. I cook with canned pineapple some, on pizza, in quiche and sweet and sour dishes, but I’ve never grilled fresh pineapple before. So I got some ideas from friends on Facebook and couldn’t make up my mind between sweet or savory, so I did both. First was a lime, jalapeño oil and fresh basil combination. The second was vanilla bean paste, brown sugar and fresh mint combo. A soon as we took the pork loin off the grill I popped the pineapple on. While the cheddar garlic bread was toasting the pineapple cooked, a few minutes per side.

I cut into that pork roast and sliced it up. Hubby wandered by and helped himself. “Da-Yum!” LOL! I think THAT is a compliment! =) The pineapple came off the grill and the toast came off at about the same time and we started in. Hubby liked the sweet one with the vanilla and brown sugar, I think I liked the one with the jalapeno kick a little better. I was really surprised how good it was. I would do the sweet version again with a desert, maybe served with something creamy plus something crispy. And I would do the spicy one again and figure out a way to ratchet up the heat a little more, it was a bit on the mild side for me but still lovely. Both were wonderful paired with the pork. And the crispy edges to the bread were nice also.

I looked at my plate and had to laugh, it was all kind of beigy yellow, which is totally not my thing. A meal should have color, but what this one lacked in color it more than made up in flavor. That was fun!

Tasty Treats

This was dinner last night. And yeah, it tasted good. Maybe even better than it looks even. To start out I sautéed up yellow squash, green beans, red onions, and zucchini in the jalapeño flavored oil that I made the other day. So they were spicy and cooked so they still had their color and were still crunchy. I did potatoes with some salt and balsamic vinegar and they had a little crunch to them. Then the steak was sautéed up quickly with mesquite smoked pepper. The spaghetti was left over and I opened a can of mandarin oranges for a little sweetness. I layered everything up with lime juice and fresh basil over the top.

This was so fun to experiment with the creative process when it comes to food, I enjoyed it very much.

It was an interesting combination of the spicy kick from the jalapeño oil, the sweet/tang of the citrus and the flavor of a great Omaha steak. Mercy it was good. I was a little concerned about what hubby would say because he likes his food to be pretty conventional but he really liked it.

I love the Food Network, it makes me consider cooking with things like texture, spicy heat, sweet , tart, fresh herbs and… of course… COLOR!

Yum.

Then hubby felt inspired to pull an old cake out of the freezer, saw off a hunk and set it to thaw on the kitchen counter. We both ate a piece before we went to bed last night.

And Hope had her piece this morning. Leaving her whisker and tooth marks for us. I walked into the kitchen this morning and looked at the cake and she looked at me and started to growl. So I guess we know it was her and not Misde. What an opportunistic brat-dog!

Yeah, go ahead, look innocent. We all know better!