Stuffed Tomatoes & Risotto with Turnips and Bacon

For this meal, we grilled some beautiful rib eye steaks from Costco (see my Perfect Grilled Steak post on how we do that) along with Stuffed Tomatoes & Risotto with Turnips and Bacon. The tomatoes were leftover from last week and the turnips were in this week's AHO box. For the tomatoes I used Sunny Anderson's recipe found here. I used panko bread crumbs and the last of the basil from our herb garden this year. The Risotto with Turnips and Bacon recipe is from Gourmet magazine. I found the it using the awesome Epicurious iPad app. We really liked the way that the spicy turnip flavor was mellowed out by the creamy risotto. And bacon, well doesn't it make everything better?!

Broiled Salmon with Roasted Tomato and Lemon Vinaigrette and Bok Choy

This week my AHO box had fresh marjoram in it. I have never cooked with marjoram, so as I was looking around the Internet I stumbled upon this recipe from Emeril on the Food Network website. The irony is that tomatoes and bok choy also came in this week's box and we had a salmon fillet in the freezer from my father-in-law's fishing trip to Alaska that we wanted to use. I'm not much of a fish eater and I usually shy away from Emeril's recipes because most of them are involved and time consuming, this one was quick, easy and turned out amazing! I used four regular tomatoes, seeded and chopped, and one full sized bok choy. If you are feeding four, you need would need two full sized bok choy, but for the two of us one was fine. The lemon in this dish cut the richness of the salmon and the marjoram added a subtle, yet elegant freshness to the dish.

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Few things are more comforting that a bowl of chicken and dumplings, but it's tough to find the time to make the traditional version on a week night. This Rachael Ray recipe can be made in 30 minutes and is almost as good as my mom's. I added 2 tsp of fresh thyme to the biscuit mix because I love the flavor of fresh thyme with chicken.

Fig Salsa

This Fig Salsa recipe is courtesy of AHO. We've received several pints of figs over the past few months and this is my favorite way to use them! I used one serrano pepper with seeds instead of two jalapeno without seeds, which gave it a little more heat. We ate much of the salsa with tortilla chips. We also had it on grilled chicken breasts, which was awesome. This salsa's got heat and sweet and the mint really brightens it up.

Rosemary-Garlic Steaks with Potato Salad Fra Diavolo

This meal from Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals Summer Simplicity episode is the perfect farewell to summer. The arugula, tomatoes and Parmigiano-Reggiano salad cut through the richness of the Rosemary-Garlic Steaks. The Potato Salad Fra Diavolo, which is now my husand's favorite potato salad, has a strong smokiness that pairs perfectly with a big, bold Syrah. This is a great meal to have out on the patio or anytime you're craving the smokey, bold flavors of summer.

Pork Tenderloin with Fig Chutney

I had never cooked with fresh figs before this week. AHO definitely keeps me on my culinary toes. After tasting one, I thought I'd like to make a chutney to go over a pork tenderloin. Here's what I came up with.









Pork Tenderloin with Fig Chutney
Serves 4-6

2 pork tenderloins (~1 1/2 pounds each)
2 tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, diced
2 pints fresh Kadota figs, diced
2 tsp honey
zest of half a lemon
3/4 cup port
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1 cinnamon stick
salt
pepper

Rub tenderloins with grill seasoning. Cook on a grill preheated to 425 degrees until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 162 degrees. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Meanwhile, melt butter with olive oil in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Add onions and garlic and sweat until translucent. Raise the temperature to medium high and add figs. Stir often until the figs begin to release the juice (about 1 minute). Add the honey, zest, port, chicken stock, allspice and cinnamon stick. Bring to a heavy simmer and let reduce, stirring occasionally, until the chutney coats the back of a spoon (about 20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove cinnamon stick before serving chutney over pork.

*If you don't have port wine, you can substitute with 3/4 of dry red wine, a splash of brandy and an extra teaspoon of honey.

Ode to Mom & Chocolate Cake

Even though I don't have a recipe for it and I didn't make it, I had to post of picture of the birthday cake that my mom made. If I were to write a recipe for it, it'd have to be called Chocolate Coma Cake. I think she used 8 or 9 different chocolates. It was the richest, heaviest, most fabulously decadent cake I've ever had. We had a party of 10, everyone had a large slice and we were still had more than half of the cake left! Everyone LOVED it. I think it will be a new family tradition, as long as mom can remember how to replicate it!

Butternut Squash

Nothing reminds me more of fall than pumpkin and butternut squash. And since we've gotten a few butternut squash in our AHO box over the last few weeks I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to the ways I've used them. First, I made butternut squash risotto. I was very excited when I found a recipe from Everyday Food that didn't require the squash to be cooked before hand. Here's how it turned out.















Another favorite of ours is butternut squash soup. I used one butternut squash and one acorn squash in this Everyday Food recipe. I also added a little sage and topped it with sour cream.

White Peach Mojitos

Mojitos are always a favorite for us in the summer. They're a refreshing poolside drink that summer fruits only make better. In this case I used white peaches and peach rum.

White Peach Mojitos
Yield: 2 glasses

1 lime, cut into wedges
1 small white peach, cut into wedges
14 mint leaves
1 tbsp sugar
5 oz. peach flavored rum
1 can club soda

Distribute lime wedges, peach wedges, mint and sugar evenly between two highball glasses. Muddle until fruit has released most of its juice and all the mint leaves are bruised. Fill the glasses with ice, add rum and top with club soda. Gently stir and serve.

Curry Chicken Lettuce Wraps

So I've neglected my blog a bit over the summer. As a result, the exact recipe for these wraps has been lost. But the method is simple and they're really made "to taste" and with whatever vegetables you have laying around. The inspiration for lettuce wraps came from the abundance of lettuce that we receive in our abundant harvest box (pun intended). Salads can get a bit boring after a while, so I needed another way to use up all the lettuce.

For these wraps, I sweat onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Then add green and red peppers, tomato, boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces), cumin, curry, salt and pepper. Saute until the chicken is cooked through. Add cooked couscous, adjust the seasoning and serve. This is a meal can be on the table in less than 20 minutes.

Grilled Pizza

We love pizza but I don't often make it from scratch. We usually either bake a frozen pizza or get carry out from one of our local shops. So I decided to be adventurous last weekend and try several "firsts" for me. My first homemade pizza dough, my first pizza sauce and my first time grilling a pizza. I'm happy to say it turned out great so here's how I did it.

Make the dough the day before from this King Arthur Flour recipe. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes then put it in the fridge for the next day. Take the dough out of the fridge about 45 minutes before grilling the pizza, roll it out and place it on a well floured pizza peel. Grill the dough for 4-5 minutes on a 400 degree grill with the lid closed. Flip the dough (this part is little tricky) then add the toppings quickly. I used pizza sauce from the recipe below, sauteed onions and mushrooms, pepperoni, hot sausage and lots of cheese. Close the lid and cook the pizza 5 minutes longer then I put mine under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown the cheese. Top with fresh basil and serve.

Easy Pizza Sauce

1 (4-ounce) can tomato paste
1 cup hot water
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp chili sauce
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Salt and pepper

Mix together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil. Mix well. Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let stand several hours to let flavors blend.

The Perfect Grilled Steak

We love steak and we grill them at least once a week. And since I've gotten several requests for beef recipes, I thought I'd share my classic method for steak.

Take the steaks out of the fridge approximately a half an hour before you want to put them on the grill. This takes the chill off of them and helps them to cook more evenly. Brush the steaks with a neutral, high smoke point oil (like grape seed or vegetable oil) and liberally coat with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Preheat the grill on medium high heat, until it reaches ~450 degrees. Place the steaks on the grill and cook for 5-8 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the steak), rotating the steaks 90 degrees after 2-3 minutes on each side for traditional grill marks. I only flip my steaks one time. Over handled steaks lose more juices. I also never cut into a steak (or pierce it with a thermometer) to determine if it's done. I always gently press the steak with my finger and the texture will tell you how it's cooked. A medium well steak will feel like the firm but slightly squishy part of your palm. A rare steak is more on the squishy side and a well done steak is more firm. After removing the steaks from the grill, let them rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. And if you're really feeling fancy, put a dollop of compound butter on top of the steak before serving.

Compound Butter

4 Tbsp butter, softened
1 Tbsp roasted garlic
1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp green onion or chives, finely chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)

Stir ingredients until well combined.

Grilled Tri tip and Vegetable Salad

I made this salad out of leftover tri tip. I didn't think it was going to amount to much other than a quick midweek meal but I liked it so much I had to snap a quick picture and share it. It only took about 20 minutes to get this dinner together. I used the leftover tri tip we had and some of the AHO vegetables we needed to eat. The hot vegetables and meat slightly wilt the lettuce in the salad, which cuts some of their bitterness. For those in Bakersfield, you can find the Roasted Garlic Juice I used in the dressing at Prime Cut. It's awesome to way to quickly add roasted garlic flavor to a dish. It's great in mashed potatoes, garlic bread, marinades and dressings to name a few.

Grilled Tri tip and Vegetable Salad
Yield: 2 dinner salads

8 oz. left over grilled tri tip, cut into thin slices
1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise
1 small yellow squash, halved lenghwise
1 small onion, sliced in 1/2 inch disks
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp grill seasoning
1/2 cup fresh peas (or 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed)
1 tsp water
1 carrot, sliced
3 cups lettuce, chopped
Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (see recipe below)

Preheat a grill over medium high heat. Wrap tri tip in an aluminum foil pouch. Brush zucchini, squash and onion with olive oil and sprinkle grill seasoning over it. Place tri tip pouch on the grill to reheat as the vegetable cook. Grill
zucchini, squash and onion for 2-3 three minutes per side.

While vegetables are cooking, place peas and water in a gallon size freezer bag. Close the bag leaving a small opening on one edge for steam to escape. Microwave on high for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a large bowl add lettuce and carrots.

Remove the vegetables from the grill and cut into chunks. Add to lettuce with warmed tri tip. Dress salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, toss and serve.

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
Yield: Dressing for 2 dinner salads

1 tablespoon grain mustard
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
8 sprays of Roasted Garlic Juice, optional
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper

Whisk mustard, vinegar, garlic juice, cumin together in a medium bowl until combined. Drizzle in oil while whisking constantly. Whisk until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apricot, Cherry and Blueberry Chutney

Here's a pork dish that I created to use up some of our AHO fruit. I really enjoy pork with fruit based sauces and this is a nice tangy alternative to the typical apple and cranberry versions. I served it with cheddar grits and fresh steamed English peas drizzled with a little lemon olive oil.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apricot, Cherry and Blueberry Chutney
Serves 4

1 pork tenderloin (1 - 1.5 pounds)
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons grill seasoning
7 apricots, peeled and diced
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup cherries, pitted and halved
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons red wine

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Rub pork with oil and sprinkle evenly with grill seasoning. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sear the tenderloin 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the tenderloin to a roasting pan and bake until the meat registers 157 degrees F at the thickest part (approximately 20 minutes). Remove and let rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice and serve with chutney.

For the chutney:

While the pork is cooking, combine apricots, blueberries, cherries, sugar and wine in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the fruit breaks down and the mixture thickens, 20 to 25 minutes.

Chicken Artichoke Pasta

So for Mother's Day I decided to use the baby artichokes from this week's AHO box and make mom homemade pasta with a chicken and artichoke alfredo sauce. Along with the pasta, I made focaccia bread, recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour, and salad with the fresh tomatoes, sugar snap peas and lettuce from AHO.

Chicken and Artichoke Pasta
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound fettuccine pasta, cooked just before serving
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chardonnay (or other dry white wine)
1 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cream
8 baby artichokes, cleaned halved and steamed (or 1 can artichoke hearts in water)
1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon
salt
pepper

Directions

Season chicken with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper and place medium sauce pan with bay leaves and cover with water. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, 10 - 12 minutes. Remove and shred the chicken into small pieces. Set aside.

While the chicken cooks, heat the olive oil and butter in a deep saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper and cook until onions are translucent (5-7 minutes), stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down if the onions and garlic begin to brown. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked onion and garlic and stir for 1 minute, then whisk in the white wine. Add the stock and stir for 1 minute, then stir in the milk, cream and tarragon. Allow the sauce to simmer for a couple of minutes over low heat, then stir in the artichokes and chicken and heat through. Melt the Italian cheese into the sauce and turn off the heat. Serve over freshly cooked pasta.

Fresh Pasta
Yeild ~1.5 pounds of pasta

3 cups of King Arthur Pasta Blend (or all purpose flour)
4 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon water

Place the flour, eggs, salt, oil and 1 teaspoon of water in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides occasionally. If the dough does not stick together when pinched between your fingers, add the remaining water and pulse to combine.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press the dough into a ball and let rest for 30 minutes.

Kneed and roll out the dough using the stand mixer pasta roller attachment to setting 5. Cut into desired shape and cook for 2-3 minutes in boiling water just before serving or let dry for 1-2 hours and freeze for later use.

AHO large box

Since it's Mother's Day weekend and I knew I'd be cooking dinner for my mom, I decided to upgrade to the large box from AHO this week. It's amazing that you get twice the fruits and vegetables for $13 more. This week's box has Mandarin oranges, Valencia oranges, strawberries, baby artichokes, beets, lettuce, sugar snap peas, potatoes, shallots, tomatoes and tarragon. The sugar snap peas are addictive. They're a little work to string and clean, but well worth it. They almost taste like candy. The strawberries are great too. I don't think they're going to make it through the weekend. Can't wait to get blueberries next week!

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to cook for mom, but I'll be sure to post it. Happy Mother's Day weekend to you all.

Beautiful Burger Buns

Again, lots of love and goes out to King Arthur Flour. Their website has some of the BEST bread recipes and this is no exception. I had never made hamburger buns before, but they're really not that much different than making a regular loaf of bread or rolls. Simply mix and kneed the dough, allow it to double in size, gently deflate and form into 3" rounds that are 1" thick (as you can see, I didn't do so well making them evenly sized). Then you let those rise for another hour, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds then bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. The recipe for these buns can be found here. I made spicy hamburgers which were great on these slightly sweet buns and we've used the rest of them as sandwich bread this week.

Pork Chops with Mustard Bourbon Sauce

This is one of my favorite pork dishes and is from one of the old Food Network shows with Tyler Florence called "How to Boil Water". The show was a little irritating for me to watch, but Tyler always has great recipes. You can find this recipe here. The creamy mustard bourbon sauce is really good and takes "mashed potatoes and gravy" to a new level. I served this with some steamed broccoli and my last few fava beans from this week's AHO basket.

Citrus Roasted Chicken

One of my favorite pieces of cookware is the All-Clad Ultimate Chicken Roaster from Williams-Sonoma. This pan has a liquid well in the arm that holds the chicken up that you can fill with beer, wine, stock or anything else you dream up. It also allows your vegetables to brown while still coating them in the wonderful chicken drippings.

For this recipe, marinate the chicken for 24 hours in a dry brine then rinse, pat dry and rub the skin with olive oil. Fill the well on the roasting arm with white wine and place the chicken on the arm, breast side down. (I prefer breast side down for more moist breast, if you prefer crispy skin, place the chicken breast side up.) Then fill the cavity of the chicken with slices from half a lemon and one whole orange. Using kitchen twine, tie the legs together. Toss potatoes, baby turnips, garlic cloves, and onion in olive oil, salt and pepper and place the pan under the chicken. Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and roast in a 425 degree oven until the thermometer reads ~160 degrees. Let the chicken rest 10 minutes before cutting. Top the vegetables with fresh parsley before serving. Any root or sturdy vegetable can be used in this recipe, just make sure the vegetables in ~1" pieces to allow for even cooking.

Chamomile simple syrup

I pondered all week on what to do with the bunch of chamomile that was going to be in my Saturday delivery from Abundant Harvest Organics. I was uninspired after searching the web and asking around so I decided to make a simple syrup out of it. The possibilities are endless for this syrup. It has such a nice floral sweetness and I can't wait to brush it on stone fruits before grilling. It also makes a great sweetener for lemonade so I decided to make a lemon martini out of it. See the recipes below.

Chamomile Simple Syrup

3/4 cup of water
1 1/2 cups of sugar
squeeze of lemon
one bunch of fresh chamomile flowers (approx. 2 tbsp)

To make the syrup, bring water, sugar and lemon to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Once the mixture is clear, remove from the heat and stir in the chamomile flowers and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain, let cool, then store the mixture in refrigerator for up to a month.

Chamomile Lemon Martini
Yield = one 6 oz. martini

3 oz. Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz. Lemoncello
3/4 oz. Chamomile Simple Syrup
1 1/4 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a shaker. Strain into a sugar rimmed martini glass, garnish with lemon rind and serve.

Tri-tip with sauteed greens & mashed potatoes

We love meat and potatoes and there's no meat that says "California" like tri-tip. I, like most people from the east coast, had never heard of it until I moved to California. It's a triangle-shaped cut of beef from the bottom of the sirloin that weighs 1.5 - 3 pounds and cooks great on the grill. For this one, we marinated it for 3 hours in cumin, grill seasoning, onion powder, garlic, red wine vinegar, hot sauce and a little A1, then grilled it until medium rare. I served it with a bunch swiss chard that I sauteed in 2 tbsp of garlic infused olive oil and yukon gold potatoes that I mashed with half and half, horseradish and butter. The plate was garnished with a few spring onion tops.

The best sandwich bread...ever...

I love bread and when it comes to bread, no one does it better than King Arthur Flour. I signed up for their eNewsletter several months ago and one of them referenced Walter Sands bread. Walter Sands was the owner and president of King Arthur Flour from 1943 to 1968. He created the bread recipe and made it every week. I decided to give it a shot a few weeks ago and haven't turned back to store bought bread since. You can find the recipe for a 9" loaf in their baking banter blog. I replace 1/4 cup of the all-purpose flour with 1/4 cup of potato flour to keep the loaf moist and kneed it using my kitchen aid mixer. I highly recommend the bowl scraper mentioned in the blog too!

Abundant Harvest Organics

I've always been intrigued by blogs, but never felt I had anything to blog about until I signed up for Abundant Harvest Organics. AHO is a alliance of small family farmers in Central California that grow organic fruits and vegetables that are boxed and delivered each Saturday morning. The boxes vary from week to week depending on what's in season. I think AHO is fantastic for so many reasons. It's fresh (field to table in 48 hours), it's organic, it's local, it requires the recipients of the boxes to try new foods and eat more fruits and vegetables. For cooks like myself, it provides an inspiration to build meals around. We've signed up for the small box, which feeds 1-2 people for the week.

It's almost like Christmas each Saturday since you never really know what you're going to find when you open the box. This week was our first pick-up and we opened our box to find Red Sails lettuce, Swiss chard, chamomile, spring onions, broccoli, baby turnips, fava beans, potatoes, Valencia oranges and mandarin oranges. Stay tuned to find out what I do with it all. I've never had baby turnips and these sugar snap peas are huge so it should be fun.

The beginning...

I've been cooking as long as I remember. I think it all began with cookies when I was around 8 years old, moved into truffles when I was 12 and all the way to my first turkey and Thanksgiving meal at 14. Not surprising since I grew up in the southwestern part of Virginia, food was always an important part of family gatherings and was one of the ways my family showed love. That's where I developed my love for food and cooking. That love only grew when I got to college in 1999 and discovered the Food Network. I expanded from the traditional dishes of my family to international and modern dishes. Wolfgang Puck was one of the first chefs I watched, hence the blog title. I'm very excited to document my cooking adventures and hope they might inspire others to try something different in the kitchen!