The Best Remedy

So I mentioned yesterday that there was one recipe that made me have the urge to turn on the stove in 90 degree heat last weekend. That recipe was for Asian Pork and Mushroom Burger Wraps that I found in bon appetit’s burger round-up. I have to admit, it’s not something that I would usually go for (mushrooms?!), but I think the heat was getting to me and all that fresh goodness sounded really refreshing.

The recipe calls for lots of asian staples like sesame oil, rice vinegar and hot chili sauce; things that would be kind of a hassle to go out and get, but somehow I had just about every ingredient in my cupboard. I split the recipe in half and still made 8 smallish burgers, so it’s definitely a great recipe for freezing some of it. The prep work wasn’t too bad, you can even make the burgers up to 6 hours ahead of time. Once I had everything ready, I let Aaron tend the stove while I whipped up the dipping sauce. About 10 minutes later, we had a delicious and refreshing dinner waiting to be devoured. And oh did we. The burgers were spectacular! I really enjoyed the lettuce as a bun thing, and the dipping sauce really enhanced the flavor of the burger.

I’m glad I got a little ambitious and tried something out of the ordinary. It was totally worth it! You can find the recipe in this month’s issue of bon appetit. I would type it for you, but I’m a little lazy right now and it’s a little long.

Green beans were one of the only vegetables I would eat growing up, sad, I know. They’re still my favorite vegetable, so when I saw this recipe for haricot verts I couldn’t resist making them. Of course I messed up and bought green onions instead of shallots, but I didn’t think it was a big whoop, so I went ahead and made them anyway.

There’s something so pretty about fresh vegetables. It makes me really happy to see the vibrant colors next to one another. Once I’d prepped and admired them, I tossed the beans in boiling water. I’ve had a little trouble in the past getting my green beans the perfect amount of done, usually they’re either too done or not done enough; so I was happy to see the recipe gave a very precise cook time of 3.5 minutes. The result was delicious! I really liked the little pizazz that the lemon added and the butter and onions gave them a little extra umph. I’ll definitely be using this recipe again.

Biscuits are one of those comfort foods that I will never tire of. I have a trusty recipe that I almost always use, but I had some leftover buttermilk in the fridge so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try something new. I found this recipe on epicurious and cut it in half, which still made too many, but the great thing about biscuits is that you can freeze them and then pop them in the oven the next time you want them. The recipe was pretty simple, just a little mixing and a quick drop on the baking sheet and they were ready to bake.

Can I just say that these blew the socks of my usual recipe? They were so awesomely fantastic! They were super moist and held together just long enough to get to your mouth and then they crumbled into a buttery tumble of goodness. Add a little honey on top and you just might have the perfect biscuit. Yum yum yum.

Shrimp cakes! So yummy! It’s hard to speak in complete sentences after eating such goodness. I bought a pound of shrimp the other day at the market and didn’t quite comprehend how many shrimp that would be until the meat man handed my what seemed like bucket. I used some of them for a pasta dinner the other night, but I still had half the container left. I did a quick search on epicurious and found this recipe for shrimp cakes with a chili lime cream sauce that I just couldn’t resist.

I’ll start by saying that it’s not the simplest recipe, but boy oh boy is it deeeelicious. I read through some of the comments and decided to chop everything by hand rather than use the food processor. Basically you just chop all the ingredients, form them into a ball and roll them in panko flakes (japanese bread crumbs) then chill them for a few minutes. While the cakes were chilling I whipped up the cream sauce, which to my happy surprise included ginger, one of my favorite ingredients. By the time I was done with the sauce, the cakes had chilled long enough to start frying them.

The result was a batch of crispy golden shrimp cakes full of flavor and a really nice texture. The sauce was equally as good, with a nice hint of spice and a lovely ginger undertone. All throughout dinner Aaron kept saying, “This is so good…” as he gobbled up the crunchy bits. If you want to mix things up a bit and you have a little extra time on your hands, you won’t be disappointed with these tasty treats.

Click here to get the recipe shrimp cakes with a chili lime cream sauc. Yum!

Oh boy! I’m so excited about the dinner I made last night. Not to brag, but it was awesome! I found this recipe for Chicken with Black-pepper Maple Sauce and it sounded so delicious that I had to make it. I was in an ambitious mood, so I decided to pair the chicken with cornbread, potatoes and corn on the cob. Something a little magical happened… I read the directions all the way through and managed to time everything so it was all ready at the same time.

The chicken was really the star of the show and fairly easy to make. The recipe works well because you don’t really have to keep watch over the chicken, so you can concentrate on making the sauce and whatever else you’d like to make or watch on tv. The sauce needed a little up-front attention, but even that just needs to simmer for 20 minutes. While the sauce has maple syrup in it, it’s not overly sweet at all. The combination of black pepper, rosemary and syrup creates a really nice flavor that compliments the crisp, juicy chicken. I’ll admit, there are definitely some nights when this would be a little too much effort, but it’s not terribly hard and totally worth it.

Sometimes I see a recipe and I’m so enamored by the way it looks that I feel like I have to make it. That’s what happened when I saw this recipe for Beet & Beet Greens Risotto on Design Sponge. I’ve never had risotto or beets before, but I’ve wanted to try risotto for awhile now and the beets just looked so dang pretty that I felt compelled. I gathered all the ingredients and set out to make this dish for lunch last weekend. Overall the recipe was pretty easy to make, although I did get a little caught up chopping ingredients when I should have been stirring. But besides that minor issue, I pulled it off with only a few glitches. I didn’t have parsley, but I did have cilantro, so I added that instead. I know they’re different tastes, but i figured since I like cilantro so much it wouldn’t hurt. I don’t think it did. Also, the thought of adding horseradish to anything makes me shiver so I just added some ricotta instead.

I think the end result was ok. I was hoping there would be more flavor or something. I think I’d make it again, but I’d use it as a side dish to something else. It just didn’t do it as a whole meal. But hey, I tried two new things with one recipe. Pretty good.

Everytime I roast a chicken I always think “I should do this more often”, unfortunately I rarely follow through on that. I use a recipe from Jamie Oliver that’s pretty easy and so, so tasty. I guess my issue is timing… it takes longer than I’m usually willing to spend on dinner during the week. I find the best time for me is on Sunday because I can stick it in the oven while my favorite PBS cooking shows are on and by the time they’re done, we’re hungry from watching so much tasty food on tv.

Not only is the chicken deliciously crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, but the potatoes that I cook alongside the are awesome! They soak up some of the goodness from the chicken and get nice and toasty…mmmm. And if you’re cooking for two, you’ll most likely have leftovers which I like to use for things like enchiladas during the week. I think it’s a win/win situation, a nice Sunday dinner and easy and delicious leftovers during the week.

Roast Chicken with Lemon & Rosemary Potatoes
from Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie’s Dinners”

4 1/2 free range organic chicken
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled
1 large, preferably unwaxed lemon
1 whole bulb garlic, broken into cloves
a handful of fresh thyme
olive oil

(I’m slightly lazy and am going to paraphrase the recipe, but you’ll get the gist)
1
Rub chicken inside and out with salt pepper. Cover chicken and leave in fridge until you’re ready to cook, it’s best to do it in the morning and let the chicken sit all day.
2
Preheat oven 375˚. Bring large pan of salted water to boil.
3
Cut potatoes into golf sized pieces. Toss them in the boiling water along with the lemon and garlic cloves. Cook for 12 minutes. Drain & allow to steam dry for 1 minute, then remove lemon and garlic.
Toss the potatoes around in a pan so rough them up a bit, this allows them to get crispy when they roast.
4
While the lemon is still hot, stab it about 10 times.
5
Take the chicken out and pat dry with paper towel. Rub with olive oil. Push the garlic cloves, whole lemon and thyme into cavity and put in oven for 45 minutes.
6
Remove chicken and place on a plate. Put potatoes in roasting pan with juices and toss around. Make a space for the chicken and place chicken back in pan. Put it all back in the oven for 45 more minutes or until chicken is nice and golden.
7
Eat up!

Ummmm, I like pizza. And anything that resembles pizza, like calzones. As I was browsing through the Kitchn, I saw a recipe for calzones that sounded pretty tasty. So, I thought, what the heck, I’ll try it out. I like to make pizza at home because you can make it exactly the way you want it. Sometimes I make my own crust and other times I use store bought whole wheat dough. This recipe calls for you to make your own dough and it was way easier than other pizza doughs I’ve made. There were no rising times to wait for, so once you mix it together it’s ready to go. The recipe says you can make 8 small calzones, but we’re not small calzone people, so I made a batch of 4 and froze 2.

I must admit I didn’t like the texture of this dough recipe as much as my other recipe, but since it takes so much less time (10 minutes vs 2 hours) I’m not complaining. It was still tasty, don’t get me wrong. I stuffed them with tomato sauce, hot italian sausage, pepper flakes and garlic. About five minutes before the calzones were done, I put a little olive oil on the crust and sprinkled some garlic powder over them. Yum, it was delicious.

You can follow the recipe here.