Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb, Pickled Radish and Red Onion Salad, and Chanterelle Mushrooms

It's New Years Eve so I pulled out the big guns and knocked out seven more recipes.  I was in Atlanta this week so I swung through Whole Foods and picked up two beautiful racks of lamb.  I have been excited about trying the herb-crusted rack of lamb with honey mustard glaze recipe.  Armed with two racks of lamb, I had to find some mouths to feed so I invited over some friends and neighbors to celebrate New Years with us.  Funny, none of us made it to ring in the New Year...I think we were too full!

I will start with the salad recipe as I actually made the pickled red onions and pickled radishes last week (two more recipes from the book) last weekend to plan for the salad. For the pickled radishes I used the basic pickling liquid (another recipe) which is just champagne vinegar, sugar, and water poured the liquid over the sliced radishes.  The red onions were the same recipe only I used red wine vinegar instead of champagne vinegar.

I peeled and sliced cucumber which marinated for a few hours in champagne vinegar, olive oil, and red pepper flakes.

Baby carrots were cooked for the recipe over the stove in water with a little honey, garlic, and thyme.

I also made the torn croutons recipe for the salad.  Normally in making croutons, I cube bread and let it toast in the oven.  This recipe calls for you to cook garlic in oil to make a garlic oil over the stove.  You then remove the garlic and add torn pieces of bread (I used honey wheat bread from Whole Food) and let the bread cook in the oil.  I like this method as the croutons weren't as crispy as they normally get in the oven.

After tossing mixed greens with a little olive oil, I assembled the salad which was topped with the marinated cucumbers, pickled radishes, pickled red onions, baby carrots, and torn croutons.

The racks of lamb were scored on the fat side and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I then combined dijon mustard and honey in a small bowl for the glaze and made the crust which consisted of panko crumbs, anchovies, butter and garlic.  After brushing the glaze on, I patted the lamb down with the bread crumb mixture. 

The lamb was then roasted in the oven until medium rare and carved into 2 bone chops for serving.

The next recipe of chanterelle mushrooms with pea shoots was a bit of an adaptation.  The recipe calls for chanterelles or other mushrooms in season so I picked up the chefs blend at the Whole Foods.  It also calls for pea shoots but says spinach can be substituted and since I couldn't locate pea shoots, I substituted here as well.  So let's call this "Chefs Blend Mushrooms with Spinach." I cooked diced shallot in butter and added the mushrooms and thyme.  I then glazed the pan with a little chicken stock and added the spinach until it was wilted.  All in all this was a quick and easy side dish.

The rack of lamb was really good, lots of flavor, and our group determined that it is proper etiquette to use the bone as an utensil if the meat is served with the bone.  While there were many pushes from the group to include a picture of this illustrated, I am limiting the finished pictures to the food!  The honey mustard glaze was a great bind for the bread crumbs and complimented the lamb really well.  The pickled red onions and radishes were the hit of the salad.  The pickling liquid from the vegetables actually made the dressing for the salad.  The pickled red onions would be great not only on salads but also as an accompaniment to a meat dish.  I must admit that I don't like mushrooms so I didn't try this one and there weren't a ton of comments so either that means they were ok or not that great!  Maybe everyone was just focused on the lamb!  Also, we had that leftover blueberry cobbler for dessert.


I would like to wish everyone who is reading my little blog a very Happy New Year.  I appreciate the support and great comments.  I was a little skeptical at first to "advertise" as it was a lot easier to write when I thought no one was reading, and I had resigned myself to the fact that people would think I had lost my mind.  Everyone has been so nice that it has definitely given me more confidence in not only my cooking but also my blog.  If you are reading this, you are officially invited over for dinner as a thank you...just let me know when!  I appreciate all of the interest in my little cooking endeavor and I suppose my New Years Resolution is to FINISH THE BOOK!

Pickled Radish and Red Onion Salad...

Mushrooms with Spinach...

And the star...

Recipe Countdown:  55 of 251 recipes

Chicken Soup with Dumplings and Blueberry Cobbler

Christmas is over and while it was a great one, nature decided to leave both of us with a big fat cold under the tree!  With sore throats and and overall feeling of blah, I decided comfort food and soup might be just the ticket for tonight.  I have been drooling over the picture of the chicken soup with dumplings recipe for quite a while and had also picked up some fresh blueberries for the cobbler recipe.

Chicken and dumplings in the South usually consists of a thick mixture with chicken, cream, butter, and dumplings.   This recipe is truly more of a chicken soup with dumplings added as garnish.  The dumplings are made with pate a choux (cream puff dough) so they are light and airy unlike the biscuit dumplings we are used to.  The soup itself is a chicken soup with cooked celery and carrots.  The ticket to the soup is the broth and it is intended to be the star ingredient.

The book says that "having a cobbler in your repertoire gives you great versatility, because cobblers can be made with so many fruits and are easy to prepare."  I agree with this statement and it tends to be my go to throw together dessert rather I have fresh, canned, or frozen fruit on hand.  I have to admit my recipe is the typical cup - a cup - a cup recipe.  You know the one...fruit, then a cup of flour, cup of sugar, and cup of milk.  I anticipated many more steps to this cobbler based on the previous recipes and was pleasantly surprised at how easy this recipe was and it was so much better!

The first step for the soup is to make the broth.  The recipe calls for homemade chicken stock (which is one of the recipes).  However, please forgive me but it's Monday night after a work day so I cheated and used Fresh Market chicken stock (which was really good).  To the stock, I added cooked carrots, onions, celery, and leeks and allowed the stock to simmer over the stove.

Next I started the dumplings by adding flour to melted butter, water, and salt over low heat.  The dough was kind of a like a roux in that I cooked the flour for a few minutes until it smelled nutty.  I added the cooked dough to my mixer with eggs, dijon mustard, and chives.

  I then formed the very sticky dough into dumplings and cooked them in simmering water.  This was the finished dumpling, I know the shapes look funny as I said they were sticky!

To finish the soup, I boiled chopped celery until it was cooked through and also cooked sliced carrots over the stove with a little honey, garlic, and thyme added.  Meanwhile I made the roux recipe from the book which is basically just cooked flour in butter to add to the soup to thicken the stock.

 Before adding the roux, I drained the broth and discarded all of the vegetables used to flavor the soup.  I literally flushed about four cups of perfectly good vegetables down the disposal that were just used to flavor...my grandmother would not be happy with me!

I added the roux to the broth and after letting it cook out, I added the cooked celery, carrots, chicken, and dumplings and stirred in more chives and champagne vinegar. 

To start the cobbler, I creamed butter and sugar together with my mixer, added eggs, and then alternated a flour mixture and buttermilk until mixed.  I then tossed the blueberries with a little sugar, flour, and lemon zest.

After spreading the blueberries in the pan, I put dollops of the crust over the blueberries.  I then sprinkled a mixture of sugar and cinnamon over the batter.

After baking for about forty minutes, it was ready to serve with vanilla ice cream.

The soup and cobbler were both delicious.  The dumplings in the soup were light and airy and the broth was really silky and flavorful.  Next time, I think I will add a little more chicken and vegetables for a heartier soup as the soup was basically all broth with pieces of everything else.  It really was fine though because the broth was so good...those wasted vegetables really did serve a purpose!  As good as the soup was, the star was really the cobbler.  It was so easy and so good!  The cake like topping really made it taste like a blueberry muffin.  I think I have found a new replacement for my cup - a cup - a cup recipe. 

Recipe Countdown:  48 of 251 recipes

Breaded Veal Cutlets

I made a trip to the Fresh Market this week and picked up veal loin chops to make this dish.  I had the butcher cut the bone out and then I pounded the chops into cutlets to be used in this dish.  I have picked up veal scallopine for dishes before but I think I like pounding the loin out better because the pounding really seemed to tenderize the meat.  The veal had a nice color to it which the book says is an indication that it was a humanely raised veal...that makes me feel better.

This dish is a great lunch dish as it calls for a light salad of arugula and fennel on the side.  I started by shaving the fennel into thin strips for the salad.  I haven't worked with fennel lot but it sort of resembles and tastes like celery in my opinion.  This is what it looks like...

After shaving the fennel, I tossed with the arugula, drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil and the salad was ready. 

I then setup a dipping station of first flour, second eggs, and third ground panko crumbs.  I then cooked the cutlets in peanut oil until golden.  This is what the finished dish looked like...

The arugla salad was a little bitter as it normally is but the veal cutlets were really good.  The coating was light and the meat was not tough at all.  This is probably one of the easiest and best veal dishes I have ever tried. 
It was very light and I think this is the first recipe that hasn't called for a stick of butter...I know, I know it was fried in peanut oil but still!  This one is a keeper for the meat but maybe with a different salad next time.

Recipe Countdown:  45 of 251 recipes

Shortbread Cookies, Marinated Feta with Olives, and Pecan Walnut Bars

After taking a hiatus over the past two weeks from cooking, I am back to work for Christmas.  This post is for shortbread cookies made for neighbors, marinated feta with olives taken to a neighborhood Christmas cocktail party, and last but not least pecan walnut bars made just for me!

While these are all small items, it did knock out three more recipes so I have a few pictures and comments on each.

Shortbread cookies:

These finished cookies were a cross between a teacake and a sugar cookie.  I started the recipe by making the cookie dough which consists of butter, sugar, vanilla, and flour.  After letting the dough sit in the fridge,  I rolled the dough and cut into cookies and then baked in the oven and done.  This is the finished cookie after decorating with green sparkles for Christmas of course!

Marinated Feta with Olives:

This was a quick and easy appetizer that made a nice presentation on a cheese tray.  All you do is cut the feta into cubes, marinate it with herbs and olive oil and then stir in red peppers and olives.  I am not a huge olive fan so I didn't sample this one but according to Matt..."It was really good but hard to eat."  I think the olives kept falling off the cracker. 

 Pecan Walnut Bars

This one scared me a little.  It was a similar crust recipe as the lemon meringue bars in my first post which was baked and then later frozen with the filling.   The crust on the lemon bars separated from the filling when I tried to cut into bars and I had quite the mess. 

I started by making a crust of powdered sugar, flour, butter, vanilla, and egg.   I rolled out and baked in the pan in the oven while making the filling.The filling consisted of pecans, walnuts, eggs, molasses, vanilla, brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter (your traditional pecan pie filling with walnuts added). 

After pouring the filling in the finished crust, it went back to the oven until set.  This is what the baked bars looked like...

The bars looked ready to cut after putting in the oven but the recipe had me freeze the bars for a few hours before slicing.  What a mistake.  After pulling them out, the crust was separating and I was having lemon bar deja vu.  I got frustrated and threw the whole pan in the fridge.  Two days later when the pecan walnut bars and I were ready to talk again, I pulled them out and tried to cut again.  This time it worked much better.  While I had a few casualties, I managed to get most of the pan cut into bars.  The bars were good but I kept thinking a pecan pie tastes very similar and it is much easier; although I may try the addition of walnuts next time I make one. 

Recipe Countdown:  44 of 251 recipes

Peppercorn-Crusted Beef Tenderloin, Celery Root with Melted Onions, and Honey-Glazed Cipollini Onions

Someone asked me recently how far I had made it through the book.  After counting, this is the 41st of 251 recipes.  251 sounds like a heck of a lot but it really isn't as bad as it sounds.  For example, cooking eggs is considered a recipe since it is technically listed separately even though it is really just a component of another recipe.  I will start listing a countdown of recipes with each post to keep track of exactly how far to go.  Matt has promised me a trip to California to eat at Thomas Keller's restaurant when I make it all the way through...talk about inspiration!  I hope to finish all of the recipes within a year so we'll see.

Tonight I cooked the peppercorn-crusted beef tenderloin, celery root with melted onion, and honey-glazed cipollini onions.  As you can see I had to tackle the melted onions again which didn't turn out so well in a previous recipe.  Previously, my melted onions burned and were crunchy rather than creamy.  This time I added a lot more onions to the pan and they did melt rather than burn...

 

After completing the melted onions, this was the finished product. 

 

 Next I started working on the peppercorn crust for the tenderloins.  I cooked a handful of peppercorns in canola oil over low heat and then strained the oil for another use and reserved the peppercorns.  The peppercorns were crushed using my mortar and pestle...

I then rubbed the beef tenderloins with the peppercorns and allowed them to come to room temperature.

The tenderloins were seared in oil and then transferred to the oven to cook to medium-rare.

I was excited to see celery root at my local store this week and grabbed them for this recipe.  I wasn't excited about the price.  One celery root costs $6 which is a lot of money for this ugly thing...

 I cut the flesh out of the celery root (which resembles potatoes) and then cooked the pieces over low heat with thyme and smashed garlic. 

After the celery root was cooked, I drained the fat and added the melted onions to the dish along with a little chicken stock.

The cipollini onions were browned in the pan and honey, thyme, and garlic was added. 

I then added chicken stock which made a glaze and transferred the onions to the oven to finish cooking.  The finished dish...

The finished celery root dish...

And last but not least, the beef tenderloin...

The flavors were really nice and the beef was cooked to a perfect medium rare.  I have to admit though the richness of all of this butter and canola oil in these dishes we have been eating is starting to wear on us.  A lot of the recipes have French influence and the French are definitely known for using butter and oil.  I may alter up the recipes a bit going forward to make them slightly healthier.  We aren't used to eating like this and I don't want to get burned out by clogging our arteries. 

This will be my last post for two weeks or so.  We are traveling for the holidays but look for more dishes over Christmas break.  Happy Holidays to All!

Whole Roasted Chicken on a Bed of Root Vegetables and Brioche Bread

I have a notebook in which I have listed every ingredient to every dish needed for the cookbook project.  Occasionally, my local store will stock different types of produce or meat so the book helps me to be ready if I happen to find a rare find.  This week I noticed the store had some new winter vegetables including rutabagas and turnips.  It's exactly what I needed to make a one dish Sunday night meal of whole roasted chicken on a bed of root vegetables. 

Roasted chicken is one of the easiest dishes to make.  The chicken roasts in the oven over vegetables and the juices from the chicken cook the vegetables.  It's a great meal for a cold night.  I have made this dish countless times but usually limit my vegetable additions to carrots, potatoes, and onions so the addition of rutabagas, leeks, and turnips sounded delicious.  The one problem I always have with roasting chicken is carving the bird into legible pieces of chicken.  I have tried cutting up many whole chickens, both raw and cooked and am not very good at it.  I usually have a lot of trouble cutting through the bones of the chicken with my knives no matter how much I sharpen them.  They make it look so easy in the illustrations in the books. 

I started out by peeling the rutabagas and turnips.  Rutabagas are tough to peel and cut through!  I rinsed the leeks and cut them into long slivers and then added them to the turnips, rutabagas, carrots, and onion.  I tossed the vegetables with  a little oil, smashed garlic, and thyme.  This is what the pot of vegetables looked liked before adding to the pan...

I put more smashed garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in the cavity of the chicken and rubbed the chicken in a little oil and seasoned with more salt and pepper.  The chicken rests on the vegetables in the roasting pan and is topped with a few pats of butter.  This is the bird before heading to the oven...

The finished chicken and vegetables had a lot of flavor although I think I overcooked the chicken a little.  The white meat dried out a little in trying to get the dark meat done. Most of the other roast chicken recipes I have tried cook at a lower temperature for a longer period of time and I think this would have made the difference.  The finished plate...

I also made the Brioche recipe this weekend.   This is a bread recipe that takes two days to make.  I started by dissolving the yeast in water and then mixing up the dough which consists of flour, eggs, and lots of butter.  I let the dough rise for a few hours and then put in the fridge overnight.  I then put the dough in two loave pans and let rise again until it overlapped the pan.  Watching dough rise is a neat process to me.  It's a real testament to the ingredients available to us that a small package of active yeast can make nothing into something in a matter of hours.

After baking in the oven, this was the finished product. The sliced bread has been a great homemade breakfast treat in the morning.  There is also a grilled cheese sandwich recipe in the book I hope to try before the bread gets too stale...we'll see how the week goes!

Pan-Roasted Duck Breasts, Asparagus Coins, Smashed Roasted Marble Potatoes, and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

As much as I love the holidays, I definitely am better in the kitchen than at decorating.  While I do manage to get my tree up, my "Bella" friends that own Bella Flowers & Gifts in downtown Dublin always come to help me with the finishing touches on the house.  To show my appreciation, I wanted to make sure I had a special meal ready for them when they got here.

I have cooked duck a few times in the past, having made duck a l'orange for a French themed supper club and also a really scary duck Asian pizza that I tried to do with the leftover duck.  It has always been relatively easy to cook which is surprising considering it is a staple on the menu of many fine restaurants.  I suppose with great ingredients like duck you just don't need a lot of cooking technique to make it excellent.  To accompany the duck, I decided to make the asparagus coins and smashed roasted marble potatoes as well as a pineapple upside down cake for dessert.

I started the duck recipe by scoring the fat on the back.  I then grated nutmeg and orange zest on the breasts and drizzled a little balsamic vinegar on each breast and topped it with a sprig of thyme and bay leaf.  Then into the fridge for 6 hours.   It was then cooked over low heat over the stove in a little bit of canola oil (the duck renders a lot of fat) and then in the oven until medium-rare.  I wasn't diligent at taking pictures through the process on this dish but the finished duck is below.

 I started the asparagus coins by making parsley water.  Ok, follow me here...I was skeptical too.  I heated a little canola oil in a pan, added honey and heated until it started to caramelize, and then added bunches of parsley to the pan until they wilted.  I then put the parsley in a bowl of water that was almost frozen from the freezer.

  After pureeing through a blender, and then straining through a sieve, you have about 1/4 cup of parsley water...who knew?  I then steeped some chives in oil to make chive oil (I cheated a bit here, can't really say I did the chive oil recipe from the book) and then sliced the asparagus into "coins."

I then cooked the "coins" in the chive oil for a few minutes and then added some of the parsley water, salt, and pepper. 

 To make the potatoes, I tossed the marble potatoes with oil, salt, and thyme. 

 

After melting a little butter, I added the potatoes to the pan and transferred them to the oven to roast.  After they were finished, I lightly "smashed" them with a little more butter, cloves from the garlic confit in puree of garlic potatoes post, and chives. 

To make the cake, I started by making a schmear for the bottom of the pan of butter, honey, Kahlua, brown sugar, and vanilla and then sprinkled it with a little salt. This is the schmear...

I then overlapped two rings of fresh pineapple around the pan...

The topping was mixed up of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla and spread over the top...

After baking the cake in the oven and inverting it onto a serving platter, I was finally ready to serve.  Here are the finished dishes:

Pan-Roasted Duck Breasts:

Asparagus Coins:

Smashed Roasted Marble Potatoes:

Last, but not least...Pineapple Upside-Down Cake:

The duck turned out pretty great and Matt hailed it as my best duck attempt yet.  My favorite was the asparagus coins.  I wasn't sure about this parsley water thing, it seemed like a lot of sugar for a nickle but the flavor really came through.   I am figuring out that I shouldn't question the expert.  I think it was the best asparagus dish I have ever had.  I liked the coin size as it was easy to eat without having to cut bites from the asparagus spears and the coins were tender on the outside but still a little crunchy on the inside. 

The potatoes turned out to be really good as well and this was a really easy dish.  I am always looking for ways to reinvent the potato and this one was a keeper.  It would be great alongside any meat that you would want to serve and lightly smashing the potatoes really incorporated the flavors.  The pineapple upside down cake was pretty good but was my least favorite.  While it made a gorgeous presentation, I expected it to have a lot more "syrup" in the cake once I inverted it.  While it wasn't bad, it more than anything just wasn't what I expected.

For me the hit of the night was my mantle.  It looks a lot more like something out of a magazine than my cooking does.  It's not food but I have to share how great it turned it out...those girls sure are talented!