Category Archives: Cooking

This week features Bobby Flay.  Now I used to really dislike him, back in the early days of the food network.  I remember watching Ready, Set, Cook in the mid 90’s and rooting for whoever was against him. (This dates me, I know! ;))  I found him obnoxious and arrogant.  One of us has mellowed with age, I guess, because I don’t mind him anymore.  I still don’t watch him much, but I do like Throwdown (where he challenges a cook to whatever they do best and tries to beat them at it).  This is where I first saw the recipe I chose.

So, for the Challenge, hosted by I Blame My Mother, I prepared Bobby Flay’s Shrimp and Grits, which I saw him prepare on a Throwndown show.

Bar Americain’s Gulf Shrimp and Grits

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

Grits:

4 to 5 cups shrimp stock

Salt

1 cup yellow stone ground cornmeal

1 cup grated white Cheddar

Freshly ground black pepper

3 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish

Sauteed Shrimp:

1/2 pound thick double-smoked cut bacon, cut into lardons

2 tablespoons pure olive oil

20 large (21 to 24 count) shrimp, shelled and deveined

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the grits: Bring 4 cups of the water and 2 teaspoons of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Slowly whisk in the grits and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until the grits are soft and have lost their gritty texture, whisking every few minutes, 15 to 20 minutes. If the mixture becomes too thick, add remaining water and continue cooking until absorbed. Add the cheese and whisk until smooth; season with salt and pepper.  [I had no choice but to use quick cooking grits, so I followed the package directions.] For the shrimp: Place bacon in a medium pan over medium heat and cook until golden brown and crisp and the fat has rendered. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan and place back on the heat. Add the olive oil and increase the heat to high Season the shrimp with salt and pepper, and add to the pan with the garlic. Sauté until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove shrimp to a plate. Reserve the garlic oil to drizzle over the finished dish. Divide the grits among 4 bowls and top each with 5 shrimp. Drizzle the top with some of the bacon-garlic oil (that the shrimp were sautéed in) and sprinkle with some of the green onion.

Posted by Kristen in Cooking

Check out the 100 Menu’s giveaway over at Dinner’s on Me.  She posts her weekly menus (and they usually sound delicious!) along with recipes.  It’s a great site for dinner time inspiration — and goodness knows, I often need it!

Posted by Kristen in Cooking

This week features Anne Burrell, who apparently has her own show on food network.  I had no idea — I only knew her as Mario Batali’s sous chef on Iron Chef America.  I guess her show is one they only show on weekends, and I don’t get to watch FoodTV on weekends, only during the weekdays when the kidlet and DH aren’t around.

So, for the Challenge, hosted by I Blame My Mother, I wanted to prepare “Asparagus, Pecorino and Red Onion Salad”.  I could NOT find pecorino cheese.  I tried three different places, and aside from travelling across the city with a 4 month old to find a gourmet shop (not happening), I ran out of places to look.  So a quick check of the internet said that any of the semi-hard to hard salty cheeses could be substituted – parmasan, asiago, romano.  Well, pecorino is a sheep’s milk cheese, and the potential substitutes are all cow’s milk cheese, so I’m guessing that none are ideal for getting the original flavor the recipe is going for.  I ended up picking asiago.  It USED to be made of sheep milk, so maybe it will be the closest (I’ve never had pecorino, so I wouldn’t know the difference ;)).  [I’m having some trouble with my site, pictures aren’t uploading properly, and when they do, I can’t re-size them.  They are either gigantic or smaller than a postage stamp.  I’ll try and fix it later, until then, sorry for the weirdness!]

Asparagus, Pecorino and Red Onion Salad

 

Recipe courtesy Anne Burrell

 

1 bunch pencil asparagus, tough bottom stems removed

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 cup coarsely grated aged pecorino

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

 

 

Cut the asparagus, including the tips into very thin slices, crosswise and place in a medium bowl. Add the red onion and pecorino and toss to combine.

  

 

Dress with the vinegar, olive oil and salt and toss again. This salad should be fairly heavily dressed. The vinegar will sort of “cook” or tenderize the asparagus. It is best to do this about an hour or so in advance to let the flavors “marry”. Semplice!

 

 

I thought the asparagus would be too crunchy for my taste, but after an hour+ of marinating, it was perfect. It would make a really refreshing summer salad as an alternative to a heavier potato salad.  I didn’t love the texture of the asiago.  Possibly I grated it too coarsely, or else pecorino is different in texture.  However, the flavors are good – I’d make this again; but I’d grate the cheese smaller. I’d wait until Spring though.  This is a very expensive recipe with asparagus out of season and the spendy cheese.  Not budget conscious!

Posted by Kristen in Cooking

Recipe review and cost breakdown

Chicken Paprikash

1 pound shredded chicken  (I used leftover chicken (about 1/3 5lb bird) from roast chicken earlier in week  1.66)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (pantry)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (pantry)

1 tablespoon canola oil (pantry)

2 large green bell peppers, thinly sliced (4/1$ at Farmers Market – .50)

1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced (.37)

2 teaspoons hot or sweet paprika (pantry)

1/2 cup dry white wine (1.00)

1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes (1.39)

1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (free, from roast chicken carcass and leftover veggie bits from my freezer bag of stock veggies)

1 tablespoon lemon juice (half a lemon, used other half earlier in the week .25)

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream (.38)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (.06)

 

Add bell peppers and onion to a sauté pan with oil and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add paprika and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine; increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, until mostly evaporated, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Add shredded chicken to the pan; reduce heat to a lively simmer. Spoon some sauce over the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally (don’t stir vigorously, just kinda turn it over, like you were folding in egg whites, otherwise the chicken will shred to nothingness and you’ll lose the good texture of the chicken), until the sauce is reduced and the chicken is warmed through, several minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream. Sprinkle with parsley.

 

I served it over noodles (.75)

 

Total: 6.36 for 4 generous servings (about 1.5 cups per person).  Here, that makes more like two meals, and I’d half the recipe next time.

Post is linked to:   5$ Dinner Challenge at 5dollardinners.com and Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed with Grace.

Posted by Kristen in Cooking

I stumbled upon this challenge last week, but not in time to fit it in. It’s a year of trying a new recipe weekly, a recipe from the featured chef of the week.  Last week was Alex G-no-one-can-spell-my-last-name from the Cooking Loft and she had almost no side dish recipes available, and my main courses were already set.  In a way I am boxed in for this week as well.  I already had my menu plan mostly done, so I went looking for a dish that would go with my meal, rather than something I was really dying to try.  I do like Alton Brown though.  He’s probably my favorite TV chef, after Mario Batali (whose food I don’t make, but I just think he is adorable and fun to watch).

So, for the Challenge, hosted by I Blame My Mother, I prepared Vlad’s very garlicky greens.  My family did not approve, but they don’t like any dark leafy greens.  I’ve been trying to fit them in on a regular basis though, wearing them down with different preparations because they are so good for us!

Vlad’s Very Garlicky Greens

 

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

 

5 to 7 cloves garlic, peeled, plus 2 cloves garlic, one sliced, one minced

Enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a wide sauté pan

4 big handfuls greens (baby mustard, turnip, chard), picked and roughly shredded

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

 

Place sauté pan over medium heat and then lightly crush 5 to 6 garlic cloves. [Next time I would grate or use a garlic press.  I used a little salt and the side of my knife to mash and they were JUST this side of too salty in the end] When the pan is hot, add just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and add the garlic. Cook, stirring frequently until golden brown (3 to 5 minutes). Remove from the oil.  [It was hard to get all the garlic out; I ended up using a fine mesh strainer.]

 

 

At this point, the greens can be quickly Sautéed for a mild garlic flavor.  If you’re looking for something a little stronger, thinly sliver 1 clove and add it to the pan stirring constantly (burned garlic is not Good Eats, nor is anything that touches it). Once the slivers turn golden, add the greens and toss to coat with the hot oil.  [It seems like a lot, but really isn’t once it wilts down.  I’d barely call this two decent servings.]

 

 

Season with salt and pepper as soon as the greens start to wilt and plate immediately. 

 

 

If you’re looking for even more garlic flavor, finely mince a clove of garlic and toss it into the greens during the last 30 seconds of cooking and toss the greens to distribute. Keep the pan and the greens moving constantly, if you can.  Serve as a side dish or toss with pasta and serve as a main course.

 

I used a red swiss chard and I did all the extra garlic steps. You can see the red chard turned my garlic pink, hehe.  I love garlic, and the boys would complain about greens with or without garlic ;)  I thought it was yummy.

Edited to add pictures and commentary -K

Posted by Kristen in Cooking

 

 

Recipe review and cost breakdown

Creamy Spicy Corn Chowder with Chicken

 

2 slices bacon, sliced in 1-inch strips (2 pkg. for 5$, .18)

1 medium yellow onion, diced (.37)

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (.20)

1 russet potato, diced (.34)

1 small red pepper, diced (from farmers market 3/1$ .34)

3 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed (.84)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (pantry)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (used dried from pantry)

2 cups milk (.38)

3 cups chicken broth (free, from roast chicken carcass and leftover veggie bits from my freezer bag of stock veggies)

2 cups shredded rotisserie cooked chicken (I used leftover chicken (about 1/3 5lb bird) from roast chicken earlier in week  1.66)

Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish (.06)

1 lime, cut into wedges (omitted)

 

In a large saucepot over medium heat cook bacon until crispy and all fat has rendered out. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon fat, add onion, jalapeno, potato, red pepper, corn, salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes. Add thyme.  In a blender, puree half the mixture and add back to the pan. Add milk, chicken broth, and chicken and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  Transfer to serving bowls. Garnish each bowl with cooked bacon, fresh cilantro and a lime wedge.

Total for soup: 4.38 for 6 servings.

 

This really wasn’t much of a “chowder”.  It wasn’t thick and creamy at all, but much more soupy.  You could probably thicken with cornstarch or add another potato in the beginning for more starchiness in the puree.  I like soupy “chowders” so I was fine with that. Hubby thought it was too much onion.  I like onion, and I thought it was fine, but it did seem like there was a lot of onion in there compared to the other ingredients.  Maybe my onion was just too big.  It also took longer than 5 minutes for the potato, corn, etc to soften enough that I felt it was pureeable; I probably cooked it at least ten.  The kidlet refused to eat it like a soup, but would eat the chicken pieces or corn when I fished it out solo on a spoon.

 

Post is linked to:   5$ Dinner Challenge at 5dollardinners.com

 

Posted by Kristen in Cooking