Bawlmerese for Enjoy Your Meal
The following originally appeared on 10/22/07 at Exit 51
Soup’s On
To celebrate the kitchen finally being functional enough to use, I swept the dust bunnies under the sofa, cleared off the dining room table, and invited a friend over for supper. Make no mistake, the work isn’t done and the house is still all torn apart but after weeks of frozen meals and take out, I was ready to cook. Continue reading “Flashback Friday – Soup’s On”
If you were to poke around in our freezer on any given day, you would most likely find a bag of salmon fillets. We tend to be a little predictable here at BAH. When we like something, we stick with it. Over time that can get a bit mundane so I’m always looking for ways to put new flavor into our favorite dishes. Our latest salmon entree was inspired by The Kitchen Witch and her take on a Men’s Health Magazine recipe. The Mistah used to get Men’s Health. Actually, someone gave him a gift subscription. Honestly, I was a little disappointed that it didn’t come with a free gift like a football phone, but if I had put my disappointment behind me and peeked between the covers, I might have discovered Salmon with Ginger Soy Butter. It may not be a football phone but then again, I bet I could get one of those on eBay along with the complete series of Time Life Home Improvement books, all for about what I spend on a bag of salmon fillets. See, it all works out in the end.
Salmon with Ginger Soy Butter
The Kitchen Witch and Men’s Health Magazine
Place the butter in a ramekin and melt carefully in the microwave. Add the chives, ginger, lemon juice, and soy sauce and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Dry the salmon fillets and season with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan or grill pan until just smoking. Add the salmon (skin side down if using a fillet with skin) and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully turn the fish over and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes.
Serve the salmon with about a tablespoon of butter sauce spooned over the top.
Saturday is when I tend to do my big cooking. By big, I mean recipes that take more time than I have on a weeknight. Monday through Friday, recipes are of the quick and easy variety. Sunday usually involves a little more time. But Saturday, Saturday is when I hunker down and spend an entire day cooking. Sometimes, I’m focused on just one recipe. Other times, there are multiple dishes going.
What kinds of things am I likely to be cooking on a Saturday? Slow roasted beef, short ribs, roast chicken, and oven pulled pork have all come out of my kitchen on a Saturday. Most recently, I dug into the pile of recipes I haven’t made in a while for Cooking Light’s Beef Bourguignon.
This was one of the first recipes I was successful with when I decided to stop eating from cans and boxes. It was a huge confidence builder to create a “fancy” meal from my apartment kitchen. And then, I don’t know why, but I filed it away as a special occasion recipe.
I don’t know about you, but with the exception of birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, I don’t have a ton of special occasions on my calendar. So what sense is there in holding on to a recipe that you don’t make? I find that I have to remind myself that it makes absolutely zero sense. So Beef Bourguignon and I got reacquainted. And we turned an ordinary Saturday into a special occasion.
Beef Bourguignon
Adapted from Cooking Light
BAH Tip: Although pre-cut stew meat is convenient, it’s not always the best value. I bought a boneless chuck roast and cut it down myself. It’s a little messier and a little more work to remove the fat and connective tissue, but I made the beef cubes as big as I wanted and saved a few bucks at the store.
Cook half of the bacon in a dutch oven over medium high heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon to a medium sized bowl. Add half of the cubed beef to the pan with the bacon drippings, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until well browned on all sides. Remove the browned beef from the pan, add it to the bowl with the cooked bacon, and cover to keep warm.
Repeat the process with the remaining bacon and beef cubes, sprinkling two to three teaspoons of flour over the second batch of beef after it is added to the pan. Remove beef from the pan and cover to keep warm.
Add chopped onion and carrot slices to the pan and cook for approximately 7 minutes until the onion just starts to brown. Add the tomato paste and cook for two minutes more. Stir in the red wine and beef broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add bacon, beef, 1 teaspoon salt, mushrooms, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes. Uncover and cook 1 hour or until beef is tender.
If your juices have not cooked down, carefully remove beef and vegetables with a slotted spoon, place in a large bowl, and cover to keep warm. Increase heat to high and cook until the juices reduce. Taste for seasoning and add one to two teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, if desired. Return beef and vegetables to the pan and serve.
Back in January, The Kitchen Witch launched a month of butt shrinking recipes to kick off the year. After all the excesses of the holidays, it’s nice to settle back into more sensible eating habits. As much as I enjoyed the homemade Berger Cookies and the Muddy Buddies, that’s not a winning diet plan. While January (and February) may have come and gone, this butt shrinking recipe is sticking around because the combination of shrimp, mango, chili, and avocado is sublime. Kitchen Witch did hers more like a lettuce wrap while The Mistah and I converted ours into entree salads. Whichever you choose, you really can’t go wrong.
Spicy Shrimp, Avocado, and Mango
Inspired by The Kitchen Witch and Bobby Flay
Combine olive oil, red chili, red pepper flakes, roasted red pepper, mango nectar, and lime juice in a food processor and pulse to thoroughly combine. Let the marinade sit at room temperature for at least one hour. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed. Reserve 1/4 cup marinade. Place remaining marinade in a medium bowl.
Dry the shrimp with a paper towel. Add the shrimp to the marinade in the medium bowl. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the rice noodles according to the directions on the package. Rinse in cold water, toss with sesame oil, and set aside.
Divide the lettuce leaves between two plates. Drape the rice noodles over the lettuce. Arrange mango and avocado slices on top of lettuce and noodles.
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and cook five to seven minutes, until they turn opaque and are just done.
Place shrimp on top of the mango and avocado. Drizzle with reserved marinade and enjoy.
I’ve cooked many a boneless chicken breast in my day. If I’m being honest, I’ve ruined more than I’ve gotten right. It all started in college, in a tiny campus housing apartment with an electric stovetop. Neither UMBC nor the Office of Residential Life trusted us enough to put ovens in the apartments. And for whatever reason, it never occurred to me to cook the chicken in the toaster oven before it eventually went up in flames. Continue reading “Asparagus Chicken With Creamy Dijon Sauce”
In preparation for my trip to see the parents, I’m working on a list of recipes to make while I’m there, getting the car checked out, digging out the shorts and flip flops, and figuring how many Diet Cokes it will take me to drive from Maryland to Florida. I’m also loading up the iPod with new music because every road trip deserves a soundtrack. So here’s my question, what songs should be on this mix? Old songs, new songs, whatever. I’d love to get your recommendations for my Sunshine State Playlist.
The following originally appeared on 10/18/07 at Exit 51
One, Two, Cha, Cha, Cha
I’m trying to keep a positive spin on the renovation experience. Most days it feels like two steps forward, one step back. I suppose if I were a different person, I could embrace the notion of each day being a surprise when I get home and not be so disappointed by the disruptions in progress. But I’m not. And I don’t.
I’d say the work is about 75 to 80 percent complete. So why is it that this last bit is so difficult to get through? I’ve spent weeks surrounded by destruction, construction, dust and debris. At the height of all the chaos, when the kitchen and bath were merely shells of their former selves, I had far more patience. As work progressed and the pieces started coming together in the form of floors and cabinets and appliances, the idea of being done seemed to become more elusive and out of reach…which of course, makes me want it even more.
While The Mistah and I don’t exclusively eat South Beach cookbook recipes anymore, I still keep my eyes open for SB Friendly recipes on the Interwebs. What can I say, the SB approach really has worked for us. I still have people tell me that the weight loss is noticeable, and this is almost two years later. I may not have reached that elusive Driver’s License weight, but I’m more comfortable in my own skin that I have been in quite some time. And it doesn’t hurt that the SB Friendly dishes we eat taste good or that The Mistah says my skinny jeans look freaking awesome.
Cottage Cheese and Cheddar Muffins
From Alexandra’s Kitchen (who also references Kalyn’s Kitchen and 101 Cookbooks)
BAH Note: You don’t have to be on South Beach to enjoy this savory muffin. It makes a great light snack or quick breakfast if you make them in advance. Don’t be like me and neglect to spray the paper liners with cooking spray. Because scraping savory muffin out of the paper liner is not a good start to a day. And be prepared to pay a pretty penny for the almond flour. Luckily, there’s a French Macaron recipe in The Sweet Life in Paris that uses almond flour. While definitely not a SB Friendly recipe, I think there’s room for French cookies once in a while...at least until the skinny jeans tell me otherwise.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the cottage cheese, Parmesan, wheat and almond flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the eggs and water together and add to the bowl. Mix well to combine. Add the canadian bacon and grated cheddar to the bowl and fold to combine.
Place 8 paper liners in a muffin pan and coat the liners lightly with a nonstick cooking spray. Divide the batter among the liners and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and the egg has set.
Leftover muffins can be cooled completely and stored in the refrigerator.
One weekend a month, The Mistah goes off and does his Army thing. And as bad as this might sound, I enjoy it. I enjoy having the house to myself. I enjoy staying in my pajamas until all hours of the afternoon. I enjoy hunkering down on the sofa with a book or movie, ignoring all the things that I should be doing. What I enjoy most is feeling like I don’t have to cook. Continue reading “Table For One”
So my first attempt at a Cook Wise recipe didn’t go so well. While I haven’t retaken the Raised Waffles exam, I have aced the Salmon Fillet with Mustard quiz. It’s quite similar to the Honey Mustard Chicken Breast that we like so much here at BAH. But quicker. And who doesn’t love a quick recipe? While I could use that extra time to study up on the Raised Waffles, my assigned reading this week is The Sweet Life In Paris. And I think there’s going to be a pop quiz coming up so I need to be ready.
Salmon Fillet with Mustard
Cook Wise
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
Bring the apple juice to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat until reduced to approximately 1/4 cup. Whisk in the mustard and dill and remove from the heat.
Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place (skin side down if applicable) on the baking sheet and season with salt. Spoon the apple juice mixture over the fish and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Serve immediately.
Bon Appetit Hon by Wendi Mosteiko is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Bon Appetit Hon 