Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Red Beet Chips and Banana Bread Pudding

It's been a while since my last post, don't worry I am not giving up.  It's been really cold so I decided to try to make a dent in the soup recipes and tackle the cream of cauliflower soup with red beet chips and the banana bread pudding.

To start the soup base, I sauteed the chopped cauliflower with leeks, onions, and curry.  The book calls for the use of a "parchment lid" in quite a few recipes.  You basically make a steamer lid with a hole in the center to cover the pot while the vegetables cook.  It allows the steam to escape through the hole in the center and since the rest of the dish is covered, prevents the liquid from evaporating and the vegetables from caramelizing.  I have been a little wary of the parchment lid because I can just see it coming off the pot and catching on fire on my gas stove, but I decided to give it a try.  It did work, the cauliflower and other vegetables cooked evenly and did not brown.  After the vegetables were ready, I added milk, heavy cream, and water to the soup and pureed it with an immersion blender.

The next step for the soup was the red beet chips to garnish.  I have never cooked with a beet before and boy are they messy.  My hands looked like I had soaked them in red wine after I had finished.  I peeled and sliced the beet and fried the chips in peanut oil until they were crispy...well I was shooting for crispy, mine were soggy.

 I then sauteed cauliflower florets in butter and white vinegar for the finishing garnish.  This is the finished soup...

The soup was a thicker, creamy soup and it was very flavorful.  The dish was pretty filling even though there was no protein.  The red beet chips were not that great.  I may should have sliced the beet chips a little thinner to allow for them to crisp up during the frying process.  The soup wasn't that difficult to make and the recipe could be adapted to use different types of vegetables.  I mean let's face it, if you put enough heavy cream in anything, it's going to be good.

 The banana bread pudding was a strange recipe.  I'm still not convinced that I didn't mess something up.  I started out by making a custard over the stove of milk, cream, and sugar.  I toasted bread slices in the oven and submerged them into the custard in a pan.  The way the recipe read you basically have one layer in the middle and the custard all the way around the pan.  It called for a 9 x 13 baking pan but only a layer of two slices.  The bread pudding recipes in the past that I have tried called for cubed bread that filled the whole pan.  I basically ended up with two banana sandwiches submerged in a baking dish of custard.  It looked odd.  Nonetheless, I baked the dish in the oven for about an hour and fifteen minutes until it looked like the custard was set.  Into the fridge it went for six hours.  After refrigeration, I had to cut the dish into squares and then reheated the squares in butter over the stove...kind of like french toast.

I was very skeptical of this dish.  It was messy and the pan of bread pudding looked awful.  However, after cutting out two squares to actually warm in the butter, it didn't look half bad.  The dessert was pretty tasty as well, kind of a cross between bread pudding, banana pudding, and french toast.  I think I just totally misunderstood something in the process.  It was so unappealing looking that I will just post a picture of the finished dish!

I know I cheated a bit this week.  I promise a protein next weekend!

Recipe Countdown:  62 of 251 recipes

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Sweet Sausages and Peppers

Snow Day...or rather Ice Day!  Middle Georgia doesn't get much snow or ice so when we do, the whole town literally shuts down.  A one dish meal sounded pretty good after a day of no power and board games. 

This recipe sounded easy but once I started looking at the components including peperonata rustica..soffrito (which takes six hours to make)....I figured I better start early.  I made the soffrito and roasted the peppers which were used in the peperonata rustica on Sunday to assemble the components needed.  The chicken also calls for a twelve hour brine and since I started late on Sunday, I decided to assemble everything I needed that night for the next night's dinner after a work day.  Mother nature had different plans and I ended up having all of Monday at home.  I can't say it still wasn't nice to have everything I needed for dinner despite being home all day.  Lately most of my free time has gone to assembling dishes from Ad Hoc so it was nice to have everything already prepared.

The first step was making the soffrito.  I diced Spanish onions and cooked them very slowly in oil for about two and half hours.  The onions caramelized and started to separate from the oil.  I then added a puree of plum tomatoes and cooked for two and half more hours.  The finished dish after draining the oil off, which separates, is soffrito.


I roasted a combo of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers in the oven for the peperonata rustica, peeled them, and cut them into strips.

The next step was to make the Ad Hoc chicken brine of honey, salt, herbs, and lemons.  I then cut my whole chicken into eight pieces.  Let me just say here that I have always had a horrific time trying to butcher a whole chicken.   Well, I am so happy to report that I wasn't the problem at all...it was my poor, cheap, dull knives!  My in-laws gave me an awesome Christmas present which was a new Chef's knife and two ceramic knives.  I pulled that chef's knife out and cutting up that chicken was a breeze.  I am so glad it's not me! 

I brined the chicken for twelve hours and was ready to get to work on dinner.  The peperonata rustica is assembled by combining the roasted peppers, the soffrito, chicken broth, and piment d'Espelette which is ground dried Chile peppers from Spain that had to be ordered over the Internet.  The mixture is simmered over the stove for thirty minutes and is ready for serving.  

I browned the chicken in canola oil with sweet Italian sausages.  The browned chicken and sausages are added to the peperonata rustica and finished off in the oven.  The finished dish was topped with parsley and chives.

For so many steps, I was a little disappointed in my presentation.  The 1/2 cup of soffrito which was used in the pepper dish, which then became a component of the chicken and sausage dish took six hours so I guess I had higher expectations.  Despite the presentation, the flavors were really nice.  I love roasted peppers and the combo of the sweet peppers with the chicken and sausage really accentuated one another.  The chicken was delicious and I am definitely learning the benefit of using the brine in the chicken dishes.  Even the white breast meat is juicy after using the brine and it is usually the most prone to be dry.  While the exact steps of these recipes may not be something I would repeat for time's sake, I think the same dish could be assembled fairly quickly with similar results as long as you used the brine. 

Quail with Lemon and Herbs and Glazed Sweet Potatoes

This was a quick weeknight dish and while I didn't take many pictures of the process, it's two recipes so it does count!  I marinated the quail for about six hours in a marinade of scallions, rosemary, thyme, parsley, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.  I then cooked the quail in a skillet until brown and finished off in the oven.
The sweet potatoes were cut into wedges and cooked in butter in the oven.  I then sprinkled brown sugar on top and caramelized them under the broiler.

This was probably the shortest menu time-wise yet.  Start to finish (not including the marinade time), dinner was ready in thirty minutes.  Thomas Keller isn't exactly one to publish a thirty minute meal book but if he did, this for sure would be in it!  The quail were juicy and lemony like roast chicken.  This recipe is a keeper for all of those birds Matt brings back from his annual hunting trip.  The sweet potatoes (missed getting a good picture) were also really good.  The wedges were tasty and had a crispy topping from being caramelized.   

Recipe Countdown:  57 of 251 recipes

Blowtorch Prime Rib Roast, Potato Pave, and Braised Artichokes

Tonight we cooked the blowtorch prime rib roast with horseradish cream along with the potato pave and braised artichokes for my mother-in-law's birthday.  The roast recipe calls for a 2-bone center cut rib roast.  This one was fun to prep as you actually sear the meat with a blowtorch before roasting in the oven.  This starts the fat rendering process and caramelizes the surface before roasting.  I then roasted in the oven until medium rare.

I also made the potato pave dish.  I sliced the potatoes into thin rounds, dunked them in whipping cream, and layered in a baking dish to bake in the oven.  The finished dish looked like scalloped potatoes.  I then refrigerated the dish for a day, inverted the dish, and cut into squares which were browned in oil with garlic and thyme.  The layers of the potatoes become crisp and it's almost like a potato pancake. 

The braised artichokes...where to begin.  Trimming an artichoke is not easy.  You have to pull the leaves (which are prickly), trim the stem and the dark green leaves, and then try to get the fuzzy choke out.  It is a major pain.  Not to mention an artichoke turns brown quickly so trying to do all of this before ruining the artichoke is a challenge.  After finally getting six artichokes trimmed, well five...one was butchered so bad it went in the trash, I sauteed chopped carrots, fennel, and onions in a little butter and steamed the artichokes on the bed of vegetables.

I then added the braising liquid which consisted of white wine, stock, olive oil, and water and cooked until the artichokes were finished. 

To serve with the beef, I made the horseradish cream which is basically whipping cream whipped with horseradish.  The finished beef sat in the oven and was slightly more done than medium rare which I would have preferred but nonetheless, the flavors were spot on.  The fat rendering process seemed to make the beef really juicy.  The potato pave was my favorite.  Even though I had to start a few days ahead of time to get it ready, the steps were fairly simple and it was an excellent potato dish.  The artichokes were also really good but I don't know if they were worth all of the work!  Here are the finished dishes...

Blowtorch Prime Rib Roast...

Potato Pave...

Braised Artichokes...

 

Recipe Countdown:  59 of 251 recipes

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