Sunday's Child

Creamy Orzo

I was looking for an easy pasta dish on foodnetwork.com, and found this from Giada.  (I don't have a picture, but there is one on the recipe site.  Mine came out looking just like that.)  It is quick enough to put together that I tried it tonight after I got home from work.  Easy and tasty!

Here are my notes:

• If you use the whole box of orzo, it makes about six dinner-size servings or an endless number of side dish size servings.  Cutting it in half seems like it would be a good option if you don't want a ton of leftovers.  If you make the whole recipe, this would be perfect for a pot luck or a big family gathering.
• When using the whole box of pasta, the secret is to boil it in your big soup pot, and then pour the pasta back into that pot after you've drained off the water.  Then, add the rest of the ingredients to the big pot, rather than trying to fit everything in your saute pan.  
• I used two huge cloves of garlic because one is just never enough, and that was a good call.
• This is a simple recipe with very few ingredients.  That means the ingredients you use either make or break the dish.  Splurge on a block of real Parmesan from Italy (not the kind that comes already shredded or grated in a plastic tub).
• I think this was from Giada's "cooking with kids" series, so it's very light on spices.  I added more salt and black pepper than was called for, and would consider adding a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes next time.  Don't season it too much before you add the cheese though - Parmesan is very salty.
• To make this a meal, I added some cubed deli chicken breast that I had left over.  Another good option would be little salad shrimp.

Cream of Chicken Soup

Bust out your soup pots, people.  It's time for cream of chicken soup.  Until I saw this recipe on FoodNetwork.com, I thought cream of chicken soup was something that only came in a can, and you only used it for casseroles.  Turns out, it's a smooth and tasty variation on your typical chicken noodle soup.

I followed the recipe pretty closely.  Here are my notes:

I used four carrots instead of three, and a whole celery heart.  I don't know what a Spanish onion is, so I got a regular old yellow one.  I also threw in two cloves of garlic (minced), because I always have it on hand, and it feels wrong to start a recipe without minced garlic.  I only had dried herbs, and that worked out fine.  I used about a teaspoon of dried thyme, and probably a tablespoon and a half of dried parsley.

Sweet corn was on sale in the produce department today, so I used the kernels from three ears.  I added that at the "bring it to a boil while whisking continuously" step.  If anybody knows the secret to slicing corn off the cob without the kernels getting e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e, please leave me a comment. 

The flavor of this soup is lovely and delicate - don't stump your toe on the sherry, or that is all you will taste.  I cheated and used box stock and a chicken from the deli, but I can tell that using homemade stock and a "from scratch" boiled chicken would add another layer of awesomeness to this recipe (I just didn't have time for all that today).

Final verdict: this is really good, and the reviews on the web site indicate that it's great left over and freezes well.  Serve with french bread and a green salad (the soup does have heavy cream and a whole stick of butter in it, after all!)

~~ edit ~~

An Andie update, since I figure some people are wondering:

Andie is doing very well.  She checked out okay at the regular vet when we went for our followup appointment, and we have since finished all the meds.  She has bed privileges now (to preserve my sanity), so she is only confined to the crate in the evenings between the time I get home from work and bedtime.  We will continue with that routine until June 9, and after that she will be crate free, but I will get a ramp for the sofa.  The other furniture will have to be off limits because jumping is now taboo.

Giada's Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini is Giada's top rated recipe on Foodnetwork.com.  Aside from the fact that Giada looks like sex on a stick, I think the secret to success here is the butter.  (The heavy cream can't hurt either.)

I have three things to say after making this recipe this afternoon:

1. Oh my GOSH, this stuff is GOOD!  This is comfort food.
2. Wow, that's a lot of steps. (Not as bad as enchiladas, but it comes close.)
3. And oh my, does it ever make a lot of dirty dishes.

You do keep using the same pan for a lot of the steps, but the ground you gain in clean pans, you lose in dirty bowls and measuring cups.

Here are my notes:

I used bowtie pasta instead of linguine to make serving/eating it easier.  I bought the kind in the blue box, and used the whole thing.  Skip the flat leaf parsley, unless you're like Giada and have a whole bunch of it in a jar of water on your counter all the time.  Use a couple tablespoons of parsley flakes and save yourself the expense, and the extra chopping.  The freshly grated nutmeg is worth it.  As I was filling the casserole dish, I had to make a choice between filling it all the way up with the potential for an overflow during baking, or discarding a little of the mix.  I chose not to risk having to clean the oven again, and I think it was the right decision - just pay attention and don't overfill.  A 450 degree oven seemed a little extreme to me, for a dish that was comprised of cooked ingredients, so I went with 375 degrees for the same amount of time she calls for, and the topping was just starting to brown when I pulled it out - perfect.  Also, for heaven's sake, don't preheat the oven at the beginning of the recipe - wait until you put the noodle water on to boil.

I have previously not had much success with thickened sauces, but this one came out pretty good.  Melt the butter and wait for it to foam up (but not to brown) before you add the flour.  Whisk, even though it will just form a paste.  As the paste is forming, it will brown.  Add your liquids and just keep whisking to distribute the paste.  While you are managing the boiling of the noodles, keep coming back to the sauce and gently whisking the paste up from the bottom of the pan. 

Serve with a green salad to counteract the butter!

Emeril's Tuscan Bean Soup

Last weekend, I tried a new soup.  I had been making the Bronze-ladle chicken noodle at every possible opportunity, and needed a break from that.  A quick search on Foodnetwork.com yielded Emeril's Tuscan Bean Soup, and a chance to try a new vegetable: kale.

This turned out great, and I brought some up to my Mom on Sunday, and she loved it too.  Here are my notes on the recipe:

• If you can't find pancetta or don't want to pay the price for it, bacon or leftover spiral cut ham works fine.  If you use bacon (I did), don't add olive oil to the pan - the rendered bacon fat will be plenty.  If using bacon, increase the cook time so it will get crispy. 
• I used canned beans to save time and effort and was not sorry about that at all.  Dump them all together in a colander to drain and rinse.
• If you can't find kale, baby spinach or another type of greens would work fine.  After seeing/touching the kale at the grocery store, I decided I was only adventurous enough for one head of it, and I felt that was the perfect amount.
• I followed the advice of one reviewer and used half chicken stock / half vegetable stock - it adds more flavor.
• When you bring the soup to a boil after adding all the liquids, skim off any orange foam that rises to the top.
• As you can see from the picture, I went with croutons instead of toast.

I will definitely be making this again.  It tasted great, I didn't mind the kale at all, and it made the whole house smell like bacon.

Ree's Enchiladas

I'm not a huge fan of the Pioneer Woman, but my Mom got her cookbook for Christmas and tried this recipe, and said it was really good.  So here we go.  Ree's Enchiladas:

 

Let's do some expectation setting up front.  It takes about two hours to make these, start to finish.  You just can't rush enchiladas.  It's a process.  Also, the process gets a lot of things dirty.  With some careful planning I managed to keep things from getting too crazy (I won't have to abandon the kitchen and sell the house to get away from the mess, for example), but you should plan to start the process with an empty dishwasher and an open mind about the number of things you'll have to clean enchilada sauce off of.

The amounts called for by the recipe are wrong.  If you want to make enchiladas for an army (two casserole dishes worth), double the amount of tortillas she calls for to about 24 and follow everything else exactly.

If you're like me, and that amount of enchiladas completely intimidates you, plan to make 1 pan of them and use the following ingredient list:

FOR THE SAUCE:
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
2 (10 oz) cans of enchilada sauce
1 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro (I don't like cilantro, so I left it out of the sauce)
_____
FOR THE MEAT:
1 pound Ground Beef
1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
1 can (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
1/2 teaspoon Salt
_____
FOR THE TORTILLAS:
12 Corn Tortillas
1/2 cups Canola Oil
_____
TO ASSEMBLE:
2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 small can black olives, finely chopped
1/2 cup Chopped Green Onions
1/2 cups Chopped Cilantro (again, I'm not fond of cilantro so I cut WAY back on it here)

I followed her directions, except:

Instead of individual bowls of meat, chopped green onion, cilantro, and olives (which stressed me out to think about), I combined those ingredients in the pan after I was finished cooking the meat.  That way your assembly steps are: dip tortilla in sauce, add a spoonful of filling, sprinkle with cheese, roll up.  Much easier, and the green onion and olives and stuff were more evenly distributed.

Assembly line setup is important.  Think ahead about where your enchilada sauce drip zone is going to be after you dip the tortillas, and put a wad of paper towels there to make cleanup easier.

I won't be making these too terribly often because it is a lot of work, but man they are GOOD!

Easy Baked Catfish

I love fried catfish, but I'm never willing to fry anything at home.  In my mind, a grease fire will surely occur.  Thank goodness for an excellent, easy recipe for baked catfish in the cook book I got for Christmas!

Ingredients:

• 4 catfish fillets
• 1 cup buttermilk (low fat or not, whatever you can find)
• Cajun seasoning (I used Tony Chachere's)
• 3 cups Corn Flakes cereal, crushed into crumbs

Other stuff you need:

• Zip-top bag
• Wire rack (I used one of my cookie-cooling racks)
• Roasting pan or cookie sheet to hold the wire rack
• Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Pour the buttermilk into a large zip-top bag and add the fish fillets.  Make sure all the fish pieces are submerged and refrigerate for 20 minutes.  Preheat oven to 425.  Set up the corn flake crumbs in a shallow dish (preferably with sides, but a plate will also work.)  Spray the wire rack with cooking spray and set the rack in your pan.  Pull the fish out of the buttermilk and sprinkle each piece on both sides with Cajun seasoning.  (Discard the buttermilk, we're done with it.) Coat each fillet with corn flake crumbs and position on the rack.  Bake for 30 - 35 minutes.  The fish should flake easily with a fork.

I'm not sure how this is going to stand up to refrigeration and reheating, but the piece I had tonight was wonderful!

Christmas, bring it on

This year I was put in charge of desserts for our family Christmas celebration.  This includes a birthday cake for my uncle, who was born on Dec. 25th.  He requested hummingbird cake, which I have eaten before but never made.  New recipe as part of the Christmas baking?  "Sure," I said, "no problem!  If the internet can make it, so can I!"

I immediately called my Mom and enlisted her help with the desserts so we would have more variety, but it turns out that she is sick with a cold this year and won't be able to make it to Christmas, so as not to infect anyone else.  (My sister and my niece are also sick - it's shaping up to a be an unusual holiday.  Get well everybody!)

On Tuesday, I baked and decorated 65 gingerbread men, and made a batch of my old standby, "Sin on a Plate."

Yesterday we decided for sure that my Mom was still too sick to cook anything, so I did a batch of Cyclops cookies.  (I know most people call these peanut blossoms.  That name is much less fun, in my opinion.)

Today, I did the hummingbird cake.  The layers are happily cooling in their pans on wire racks.  I'll ice it this afternoon.  (The holes in the top of that one layer are from my wooden doneness-tester skewers.  Regular toothpicks are for sissies who like to have burned fingers.)  Thank goodness for the Joy of Baking website - she has a recipe for every baked thing you can think of, and if you follow her directions exactly, you come out looking like a hero.

Every kitchen measuring implement I own is either in the dishwasher, or in the sink, dirty.  I'm out of parchment paper.  I just had to wash a whole knife rack's worth of knives.  How did three types of cookies and one cake get ALL my knives dirty?  I really have no explanation for that.  The trash made it out to the curb four minutes before the trash guys came. 

I hope Casa Ole is open on Christmas Eve because I'm not cooking a single other thing today, but Christmas - I'm ready.  Bring it on.

For Dad:

You'll want to bronze the ladle.

Last weekend, I went up to Conroe to help out after my Mom's foot surgery, and one of the things she requested was chicken noodle soup.  I don't know how to make that from a whole chicken, so I did a quick internet search.  I found a Tyler Florence recipe that matched the ingredients we had on hand and figured it would be hard to go wrong with a Tyler recipe.  It turned out AWESOME!  I came home with a quart of it, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to make a whole pot for myself this weekend.

It's this recipe.  I never have a turnip laying around, so I omit that, and I substituted dried thyme and parsley where he calls for fresh.  Do the chicken stock a day ahead and let it chill overnight so you can skim the fat off all at once the next day.  (I know, gross.)

I somehow managed to smash one finger with the silverware drawer, and splash a drop of cold chicken stock in my eye as I was pouring, but I have a whole pot of soup cooling on the stove waiting to be portioned into freezer containers.  (Why can't I ever get the "oops, cut my finger a little bit" normal kind of kitchen injuries??)

Foreign Ambassador Chili

I was in Conroe yesterday visiting my folks, and my Mom gave me a packet of New Mexico chili powder she got while they were on their trip this summer.  Can you believe I've never actually made chili?  It's 61 degrees and rainy today, not really cold enough for chili, but I'm so thankful it's no longer 81 degrees that I decided to go for it anyway. 

I think chili should be like a good foreign ambassador: "Welcome to the Southwest!  Let me show you around," not like a terrorist: "Wha-ha-ha!  Prepare to have your insides seared out!"  Here's the recipe I used today - it's a good basic foreign ambassador.  Because this new chili powder is an unknown, I erred on the side of "not spicy enough" - next time I'll add a little more.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 package ground beef (I used 85% lean ground round)
• 1 medium white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 can (same size as a can of soup) tomato sauce
• 1 can beans (I used a Kroger brand three-bean blend with kidney, pinto and black beans)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown the meat in a large pot over medium-high heat.  While the meat is cooking, mince the onion and garlic and drain and rinse the can of beans in a colander.  Drain the grease from the meat, then put it back over the heat.  Add the onion, garlic and beans.  Stir.  Add the diced tomatoes (with juice) and the tomato sauce.  Stir.  Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and toss in the bay leaves.  Stir.  Taste to get a preliminary idea on the seasonings and add more if needed, but be cautious - the flavors really develop more as it cooks.  Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring about every thirty minutes.

Remove from heat to cool, and while it's cooling, make rice.  1 cup of dry rice and 2 cups of water makes about the right amount to go with this chili.

Serve chili over rice, topped with grated cheddar.  Goes well with Saltine crackers.  Makes about five servings.