3/12/10 - Flexetarian stuffed portabello mushroom caps.....with or without chicken sausage

Last week when I was in the store I saw some beautiful portobello mushroom caps. They were HUGE! and I just couldn't resist especially since my vegetarian friend's boyfriend hates mushrooms... I figured we could have a secret girls only mushroom feast!  In the end the boyfriends joined us and I made three variations of a meal with similar ingredients but customized for each of us. She got a vegetarian version - her stuffing was just peppers, shallots, breadcrumbs, pine-nuts and butter. Jeremy and I added some chicken sausage crumbles to the mix and Stephen skipped the mushroom all together and went with whole sausages for the base. (this picture is of mine....so its sausage stuffing...though it looked the same as a veggie version)

This recipe included some new Bertolli Arrabbiata sauce that I received as part of the Food Buzz Feature Publisher Tastemaker program. While I love to make my own sauce I really like the Bertolli products and try to keep some on hand since I usually make a meat sauce and my vegetarian friends don't like that!  (Though a few have debated it though after smelling it simmering for a whole Sunday afternoon)

3/9/10 - Cider Brined Chicken

Even on work nights, roasting a chicken is do-able as long as you have prepped in advance. I brined this chicken overnight and then stuffed it with citrus, garlic and herbs, then trussed it and rubbed it down with olive oil and herbs de Provence before sticking it into a 400F oven for an hour (and then at 350F for another hour).

This was my first time making this particular wild rice blend ( from Trader Joe's) which was a interesting black grain that had a great taste and texture. Since our guests are not the biggest vegetable fans I stuck with a simple string bean which was better received than the squash I served last visit.

The gravy was made using the dripping from the roasting pan (which I poured into a small sauce pan so it was easier to handle), the juice from the meat when I cut it, about 1 c of apple cider and seasoned with finely diced shallots, sage, herbs de Provance and salt & pepper with a sprinkle of Wondra flour to thicken it up.

3/8/10 - Seared Tuna with Side Salad

The healthy eating continues with today's dinner. I saw the most beautiful tuna steaks in Stew Leonard's the other day and even though they ended up costing me $30 I still feel like I made out on the meal since it was worth much more than $15 each. My favorite part of eating at home is that you can usually afford a much higher quality of food when you are willing to spend the time cooking (and cleaning up!) yourself.

Don't get me wrong I love eating out and get some of my best inspirations come from restaurant meals. But when it comes to a simple seared tuna steak I am glad that this is easily made in my own kitchen.

3/6/10 - Pan Seared Scallops with a side salad

Pan-Seared Scallops are so easy yet many home cooks feel they are out of reach. The true secret is to making sure the food is very dry ( I blotted the scallops on paper towels to absorb any moisture). Other than that all you need is a hot pan and some patience (don't flip prematurely)

3/4/10 - Left Over Chicken Soup...recycling in the kitchen

Since I had a party on Saturday night I wasn't up to roasting my usual Sunday afternoon chicken (in fact I wasn't even up for most of the day!) so I didn't have chicken stock on hand for my usual weekly soup. Soup is one of my favorite meals - honestly I could eat it every day (and I usually do have a bowl at lunch most days) so I had to resort to some boxes of stock that I had been saving up when they go on sale (4 /$10 for the organic chicken at stew leonards). While the broth wasn't its usual flavorful self I did have plenty of left over veggies and appetizers that were perfect for making this soup more than just your average chicken soup.

I started with the left overs from my crudites plate - carrots, celery and red peppers and I added in some onion. Then I went to my hot appetizers and used the mini meatballs (both the chipotle and the moroccan) as well as the cheese wontons as my pasta. While each had its own unique taste when it was served on its own, together they blended together and complemented the dish nicely. I threw in a few more veggies (mushrooms and spinach) and a touch of grated cheese to pull it all together.

3/1/10 - Chicken, Spinach and Mushroom melt

I was really lucky growing up my mom always made all of our dinners every night and we sat down to a big meal at 5pm on the dot. When I was young and over friend's houses for dinner I would always be a little confused by the kids getting chicken fingers or a sandwich for "dinner". I had no idea that not everyone had a big multi-course meal each night!

Somehow in my little head I would be jealous of the friends who ended up with what I consider American food. Why can't we have green beans with the onion ring stuff? This recipe is my sort of twist on the classic Campbell's cream of mushroom soup with chicken casserole.

2/27/10 - Party Planning

I love to throw parties and my apartment is such an enabler! We were so lucky when we found this place as it actually big enough to really have some people over. Since the kitchen is defined by a large granite island, I have the perfect built in buffet. I usually set up hot appetizers on the buffet and all the cheese and dips on my table.

This sometimes means that I spend a bit more time than I would like in the kitchen. I try to avoid this by doing as much of my prep in advance plus I have now learned which dishes serve themselves up easily. Here is the guide that I use when planning a party - notice that the hardest part (in my mind) is all the prep before hand (especially making sure you really have all the groceries you need)! Once things get going it just seems to keep rolling.....click below to see my menu and shopping lists

2/25/10 - Snow Day Chicken Soup

Even though its well past Groundhog's day it seems that winter isn't going away here in New Jersey. We have been luck enough to have most of the storms skip over our area since we are right on the coast... but this one was a different story. It started snowing early on Thursday and went all day and night until Friday late night. We ended up with more than a foot which leads to a messy city (and more than 2 trips to the car to dig it out)! Since I was stuck in the house I was so thankful that I had some fresh broth and got started on this.

2/14/10 - Ad Hoc fried chicken tenders

I know this Valentines day post is a little late and definitely not traditional. We skipped the chocolate and steaks for a fried chicken trial with some friends. We were at Brooklyn Bowl that week and I had to try the Blue Ribbon fried chicken. Last time I stole a bit of a chicken wing and I wasn't really impressed but the fried chicken...loved it! I wanted to do my own take of it and serious eats featured a recipe from the new cookbook Ad Hoc at Home and I was sold.



I am not the biggest fan of eating chicken off the bone and well chicken tenders are just so bite size and easy. I only brined the chicken tenders for about 6 hrs since they are much smaller than full chicken pieces. Even without any skin the crunchy layer of crust was so delicious we all fought over those pieces with crusty little almost burned chunks at the edges. I served the tenders with a few types of sauce (Buffalo, Sweet BBQ, Honey, Chipotle mustard, honey mustard) but they honestly didn't need anything as they were super tasty on their own.

Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc's Fried Chicken

2/24/10 - Baby Lamb Chops

This simple dinner was inspired by the Whole Foods meat case (and my guests dislike of fish cause that was what caught my eye). We had visited the winebar Clo which offers a wine computer that is fun and sometimes seems to have a mind of its own. After tasting a few whites (very nice Sav Blanc and an excellent Riesling) we were ready for home - I didn't have anything ready so we went to the Whole Foods in the "basement" (of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle). We wanted fast, easy and fun and all of a sudden a dozen cute mini lamb chops were packed up and ready for home . I seasoned them with sea salt and rosemary then grilled quickly on each side so they were almost med rare. While the meal wasn't exactly cheap ($40ish) we added a nice wine (Christmas gift) and it was far less than it would have cost in a restaurant for 3 people.