Trying-Out Marsala

A recent shopping trip to the ever-crowded Trader Joe’s in Union Square, proved to be worth it when I found a bottle of Marsala for around 5 dollars. I quickly bought it with the full intention of finally making Chicken Marsala; a dish that I’ve wanted to make for ages.

The fortified Sicilian wine, along with the mushroom sauce adds depth to the bland chicken tenders as does the addition of prosciutto and parsley. While I waited for my friend Sue Ann to send me her recipe (which I plan to make very soon), I decided to go ahead and make Tyler Florence’s (he uses chicken breast and not tenders like I did), which can be found here.

Tyler’s recipe is deliciously full of flavor and depth, please do try it!

Cooling Off With Ruby Rhubarb

As the heat wave hits me in New York City, so does my intense craving for all things cooling, thus the ice cream making obsession.

Since before spring began, the media has been suffused with desserts involving rhubarb. Such recipes delight me, except I’ve never cooked with it. I decided to change that this past weekend and kill the sting of the hot sun all in one go and so I picked up one long, thick stock of the dark pink vegetable along with some strawberries and an orange.

I have a baseline recipe for crème anglaise to work with so that was easy; it was the creation of the fruit syrup that kind of got me. The amount of sugar for the syrup is only a suggestion as I’m not sure how much I used in total. I’m almost certain that what is listed will work, but you might just need a little more.

Rhubarb, Strawberry Ice-Cream Scented with Orange Zest and Rosewater
Makes 1 quart

Crème Anglaise:
1 cup/250ml Heavy Cream
1 cup/250ml Milk
Or 2 cups/500mls Half and Half
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup/75g sugar
A wide strip of the peel of an orange

1. Bring cream, milk and orange peel to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat; let stand 1 to 2 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, whisk eggs and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add a little milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Add mixture to saucepan, whisking constantly, and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats the back of the spoon, then immediately pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set in ice-water bath (once you do this, discard the orange peel). Cover custard with a piece of plastic wrap so it is directly touching the surface and let cool completely. Remove from ice-water bath and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Fruit Base:
1 long, thick stock of rhubarb
1 small package (16oz) of fresh strawberries
Zest of an orange (minus the bit used for the anglaise)
1 teaspoon rosewater
1 ¼ cup/280 grams sugar

1. Wash and cut the stock of rhubarb into small cubes. Then wash and halve the strawberries. 2. Place fruit in a saucepan and then add zest, rosewater and about three tablespoons of water and place over medium heat. Allow to cook until syrupy and fruit has almost completely dissolved. Taste it and if you feel it needs more sugar then go ahead and add it, but allow the mixture to come to a bubble again in order to help it dissolve. 3. Strain and keep the liquid for the ice-cream. The rest can be used to smear on toast the next morning. Allow to cool and place in fridge until ready to use.

Ice-Cream:
Once everything is cooled and you are ready to use your ice-cream machine, combine both mixtures and then follow your machines instructions.

Once the ice-cream is fully frozen, serve and enjoy!

Sometimes only simple will do…

I was taking a walk around 7th Avenue in Park Slope when I decided to walk into the Key Foods grocery store that was lined outside with barrels and barrels of gorgeous early Spring blooms. Inside I was surprised to find an extensive selection of International foods all at great prices. I also found a selection of lamb shoulder priced at just $3.00! I couldn’t believe it so I picked some up. I then quickly walked home and created a very simple dish inspired by something I saw on a cooking show a very long time I go.

As soon as I got home I placed the lamb in a bowl filled with olive oil, cumin, and shallots and allowed it to marinate for an hour.

After the hour passed, I sautéed some spinach and then allowed it to drain in a colander placed over a bowl while I got on with the lamb.

I heated a large sauté pan and then took the lamb out of the bowl and made sure there were no shallots stuck to it. I then seared the lamb on one side and then once I turned it over in order to allow for it to cook and brown on the other side. While then lamb cooked on the second side I got on with the sauce.

For the sauce, I spooned into a bowl about ¼ of a container of hummus and mixed it with some plain Greek Yogurt until it got be very billowy. I then squirted in the juice of half a lemon, sprinkled some cumin, salt and pepper and then grated a clove or garlic into the mixture. Since all hummus brands tend to be made to taste a little different than it’s competition I suggests that you add as much seasoning as you desire and not what I tell you. Once the lamb was done, I placed it on the plate along side a good dollop of sauce, and the spinach that I sprinkled olive oil onto as well as a tad bit more of the hummus sauce. It was all very simple, but packed full of flavor!

Pasta Alla Norma and Strawberry Snack Cake

In post Atkins diet era I find myself craving carbs guiltlessly, but even so, I do not wish that heavy, almost rigamortis like stuffed feeling that one gets after having ingested just 1/4 of the De Cecco box of pasta upon anyone. So, I decided to make a healthier version of Pasta Alla Norma with my addition of zucchini- recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray (yes, another non chef, but hey!, the woman does have some good ideas). I accompanied it with a roasted chicken and to top off the not so unhealthy, but not healthy either scale, I made my version of strawberry snack cake. I was attracted to make the cake after seeing a picture of it on Tastespotting.com, which led me to me this great blog- http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

I changed it in accordance to the ingredients that I could find and I also added the lemon juice to the strawberries instead of the cake by accident. Though, I can see how some juice and even zest in the cake batter could help liven it up even more. If by some chance you have rosewater in your food cupboard then add a little splash of that, but if you don’t then don’t even worry about it.

Below, my version of these recipes: (thought the chicken you can roast to your liking)

Not the most beautiful looking dish, but delishes none the less.

Pasta Alla Norma

1 medium eggplant
1 whole head of garlic
1 container of cherry tomatoes
2 baby zucchini or one medium sized one
Ricotta Salata or just Ricotta
1/2lbs Dried pasta such as Penne, Orchiotte or Cavatappi
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil or dried Herbs de Provence

Heat oven 450 F

Cut slits on the eggplant and then stick it on a baking sheet lined with foil.

Get the garlic and slash the top of the head, cover it in olive oil and then wrap in foil and stick it in the oven along side the eggplant.

Cut the zucchini into desired shape (I first cut them in half horizontally and then into half moons from there). Season them with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and place in another sheet pan or the same sheet pan as the rest of the vegetables. Do this after the eggplant has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, get a large pot of water heating.

When you notice that the eggplant is either getting flat or simply getting softer, place the tomatoes seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil and allow to cook for at least 15 minutes or until the skins are wrinkly and they are easily pressed. Check the zucchini, as it tends to cook quickly
I tend to wait until all the vegetables are out of the oven and cooling, until I start to cook the pasta in hard boiling, salted water. (Remember to save some of the pasta cooking water)

Once you can handle the eggplant, remove the meat from inside and place into a large bowl. Squeeze out the now pulpy garlic from its head and place the tomatoes in the bowl. Smooch everything until well combined. Add the zucchini then grate in the cheese and then add as much water as you think is needed in order to make the mixture a little more sauce like. Add the herbs, seasonings and combine and then add the pasta.

Serve alone or along chicken as I did.

Serves 4 and even a little more

An incredibly tender cake made even better with the addition of the fresh strawberry sauce.

Strawberry Snack Cake

Cake
3/4 cups AP flour (minus 2 Tlbs & 1tsp and replace with same amount of cornstarch)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup soy strawberry yogurt
1 ½ Tbls Canola Oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vanilla milk (Nesquik)

Topping
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 pound strawberries, stemmed and sliced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Splash rose water if you have it

Heat oven 350 F
Grease an 8×8 inch pan to

In a large bowl, sift in the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

To that add the soy yogurt, vanilla, water and milk. Mix together until well combined.

Pour into the pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean. (The original recipe states that it should bake in 30 minutes, but my oven is strong so after 15 minutes it was ready. Remove and allow to cool completely.)

Meanwhile

 combine the strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until sauce boils and thickens. Add splash of rose water if you wish.

Allow for it to cool for a few minutes then spread on top of the cake.

The cake with topping may be served warm or chilled.

Serves 9

New Look

I just wanted to say thank you to Emily, The Blog Fairy, for helping with the design of this blog. She is very creative, intuitive and quite patient. Thank you Emily for everything!

Citrus Whole Roasted Chicken

The ability to roast a chicken is something viewed as almost holy by those unfamiliar with its simpleness. But even those that don’t dare cook a whole chicken know that one of just 3 pounds can feed a good amount of people and thus the idea of a single person willing to cook a whole one for themselves is blasphemy. However, I bet they are not considering all you can do with it.

Rather than buying various types of cuts- some ground, some skinless or just various parts of the chicken served in a pretty package with an unjust price- why not buy a whole one and do with it what you will?

This simple reality came to me while shopping at the Trader Joe’s in Cobble Hill whilst trying to figure out what to buy for a few days worth of dinners and maybe even lunches for just myself. See for me, the protein is the most critical part and everything else is an after thought unless it was the side that helped dictate how I was going to season and cook the meat. So, I bought myself a chicken, a whole five pounder, with the intentions of roasting it and seeing all that I could do with it.

When I got home I made a quick seasoning mix consisting of Goya Adobo, cumin, dried oregano, freshly ground pepper and the tiniest bit of Kosher salt.

After cutting the wing tips, “machoneing” the legs and removing the wish bone, I seasoned the inside and then I stuffed it with a bay leaf, a few cloves of garlic, a sprig of time and whole lemon and lime. I trussed the chicken in order to help get an even cooking time as well as helping the chicken keep a uniform shape and afterward I seasoned it and covered it in a thin layer of olive oil.

In the apartment which I am renting a room in, I don’t have access to a roasting pan or even a large rondeau so I had to search high and low for anything that didn’t have plastic handles because my fear of having the chicken collapse while being moved in one of those flimsy, cheap aluminum roasters is just too great. Eventually, I finally found a deep pot that could be used and so I inadvertently was on my way to making “poulet en cocotte.” And so in it went into a 375F degree oven while I hoped for the best.

Chook ready to go into the oven

Meanwhile, I took inspiration from Nigella Lawson’s “Double Potato and Halloumi Bake,” and started cutting half a large onion into thick slices, I did the same with a large red bell pepper, I then cut large cubes of both a sweet potato and two medium sized russets potatoes and then I crushed some garlic. I drizzled it all with olive oil and let it cook in the oven until I could easily stick a cake tester into the potatoes.

By the time the chicken was ready, the vegetables were almost cooked, so I allowed the chicken to rest while I thinly sliced Halloumi seasoned with bits of mint bought inexpensively at the Damascus Bakery also in Cobble Hill. I layered the vegetables with the cheese and let the cheese char a bit a top. As that cooled, I took the chicken apart leaving a few pieces to be eaten with the veggie dish and the rest I decided to freeze and save for when making chicken tetrazzini later in the week. 

The bake in the only roasting pan available

Mustard Pork Chops

 

Pork, yes… the other white meat, and one choice that I don’t often crave. It was predominantly present at the kitchen table of my youth, as well as commercials that clogged the airwaves for it while growing up, but yet I just don’t think of it come dinner time. However, what I do crave is something good and simple to put together that will give me a true bang for my buck.

I wasn’t really in the mood to follow a fussy recipe plus I was in no position to be creative either, so I picked up my copy of Nigella Express. The first recipe that appeared were her Mustard Pork Chops, so off I went to the market and got what I needed which wasn’t much.

Once you’ve got the goods, you boil some water for the gnocchi, heat a pan up for the chops, cook the chops, remove them from the pan then add the cider, mustard and cream in that order while allowing each ingredient to absorb itself into the lovely sucs (brown bits) at the bottom of the pan. While it bubbles away for around two to three minutes you cook the gnocchi in the boiling water and then toss them in the sauce. Serve and eat up!

Satisfying my cravings

For me, dessert means cake. I just love cake and I love chocolate just as much, so the combination of the two should be a fantastic one, but most often I find that I’m easily disappointed.

There is a word in Spanish that I’m certain has no direct translation to English. The word is “empalaga.” One says this special word when describing a dessert that coats your throat with its cloying sweetness taking away from its enjoyment. That is what I find that most chocolate cakes do. However, this Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake by Nigella is a true masterpiece (can you tell that I love her?).

Though the batter is meant to be spread equally into two pans, the cake still remains modest in size. Both the cake and frosting contain sour cream, which adds a diminutive tang while also helping cut the fatty mouth feel that the butter gives in the frosting. There isn’t much sugar in either component of the cake, which is another reason I love this cake so much. It doesn’t make it diet worthy, sadly, but it will definitely satisfy those with unwavering palates; even those who long for sugary treats.

Some of the ingredients necessary

 

The cake ready to go in the oven

The cake frosted and ready to be devoured. I topped it with sugar paste pansies, an idea also taken from the great Nigella herself. I love this cake and I urge all to try it.

Changes

I’ve decided that from now on forward this will be a food blog. I can channel other cultures this way anyway. It’s not like I eat strictly Puerto Rican food. How boring would that be?! 

Since, my last post I’ve began and graduated from the Classic Culinary Arts program at The French Culinary Institute in New York City. It was an experience of a lifetime and one I’ll never forget. I hope that I can take all I learned there and all I learned while studying Communications at Sagrado Corazón and make a lasting career out of it all. Here’s to hoping! And here’s to cooking fantastic food was well… cheers! 

I’ve been tagged by the lovely Vickie over at http://ahealthyappetite.blogspot.com/ This particular tag has me describe myself in 6 words then I must tagged 5 or more bloggers.

My words:

1) Loyal
2) Loving
3) Passionate
4) Fiery
5) Opinionated
6) Giving

Who I’m tagging:

http://www.hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com/

http://shoppingmakesyoupoor.blogspot.com

http://www.whateverradio.com/website/blogs.php (both Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt from Whateverradio.com)

http://www.tinanealis.blogspot.com/