A Yucatán Barbecue Feast

      I have resorted to several of my quick and easy standby meals during the past couple of weeks as our family has been extra busy. The weeks leading up to the end of the school year are always hectic.  Finally, we have a weekend with nothing scheduled...and a three-day weekend at that. Tonight, I asked my 13-year-old son to choose a dinner, preferably something we could grill. I therefore suggested that we look at Bobby Flay's recipes on the Food Network website. My son chose Yucatán Chicken Skewers, Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime and Cilantro, and Avocado Salad with Tomatoes, Lime and (Toasted) Cumin Vinaigrette.

     My son has been taking a cooking class in middle school this year (called "Foods") so he wanted to help prepare the meal. We went to a nearby grocery store to purchase our supplies and found almost everything except for ancho chile powder and cumin seeds.
     We began by soaking the skewers and making the marinade. I taught my son how to put pressure on and roll the limes before squeezing them to get out the most juice.

We then added some fresh orange juice, minced garlic and  canola oil. I poured the marinade over 3/4 of the pieces of chicken thighs before I added some chipotle chile powder (in place of the ancho chile powder that I couldn't find) for my husband's portion. (I didn't skewer the chicken until after it had marinated since the skewers needed additional time to soak.)

     Next, we put three sweet potatoes in a tall stockpot to boil.  Our grocery store only had gigantic sweet potatoes, with the exception of one. This created a problem as they cooked: while the outsides of the two large potatoes cooked until they were soft, the inner cores were still rather hard. I couldn't keep cooking them, however, as the outsides would have fallen apart.

As the sweet potatoes cooked, we mixed kosher salt, a little bit of cayenne pepper, and lime zest. My son didn't realize that the outer portion of citrus fruits is sometimes used in cooking - it was fun to give him some cooking instruction as we made our meal.

Once the potatoes cooled, I sliced them into wedges, brushed them with canola oil, and sprinkled kosher salt and pepper on them.
     Lastly, we began working on our salad. We first made the dressing, a whisked mixture of lime juice, olive oil, canola oil, chopped cilantro, rice wine vinegar, honey, and cumin (the recipe called for toasted cumin seeds here but I couldn't find any so I just used some ground cumin).

I then coarsely chopped up avocados and tomatoes, added sliced red onion, fresh chopped cilantro, and arugula.
     My husband fired up the grill and we put the now-skewered chicken thighs on it as well as the sweet potato wedges, plus some whole scallions (green onions) that my son had brushed with olive oil. The chicken recipe called for raw chopped scallions to be served on the chicken when it was done but I thought it would be nicer to grill some instead, Mexican-style.
     Once the sweet potatoes cooked, I sprinkled them with the salt/cayenne/lime zest mixture. I was actually supposed to sprinkle some fresh cilantro on them as well but totally forgot - oops! I tossed the dressing with the salad while my son set the outdoor table. My husband carried over the chicken skewers and we dug into our delicious meal. My son did not eat the salad, as he will never eat salad, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the dishes that we ate. I particularly liked the grilled sweet potatoes as I had never had anything like them before tonight.

     Dirty Dish Count: I kind of lost track since there were so many! I know I used: One large stockpot, two cutting boards, two small bowls, one basting brush, one whisk, three measuring spoons, three measuring cups, one fork, one spoon, one zester, one garlic peeling tube, one garlic mincer, two pairs of tongs, one salad tossing set (fork and spoon), two casserole dishes, 24 skewers, one rectangular tupperware (without lid), three kitchen knives, two serving platters, one serving bowl, barbecue thermometer, and one pair of barbecue tongs. (The photo below shows about 1/3 of the dirty dishes!)

     It was so much fun to cook with my son. And I really enjoyed trying out some Bobby Flay recipes - something I have always intended to do. Next time, I'll have my daughter choose the menu and help me prepare it. Wish me luck!

I Hit the Replay Button...Again

     Today was one of those days when you feel like you were busy all day long but have nothing to show for it. I wanted to cook dinner but I felt too busy to prepare a complicated, time-consuming meal. Tonight, I went with an already tried and true dinner but, since I first prepared it during my break from blogging, it is new to you.

     This Sunday night dinner was Sautéed Tilapia with Citrus-Soy Marinade from my Keepers cookbook. I think this is the easiest fish dish I have ever prepared and that simplicity must work in its favor because it is my family's new favorite.

     In a large Ziploc bag (I love the large, freezer-size Ziploc bags - love them!) I poured in some soy sauce, orange juice and honey.

I then put the tilapia filets in the bag and let them marinate for about 20 minutes.

The tilapia filets were really nice and firm and fresh today so I knew they would turn out well.

They were also large so I fried them up, in a little bit of heated olive oil, two at a time. One thing that is always a little weird with this dish is that the marinade chars up on the fish during cooking. I have tried patting the filets dry after I remove them from the marinade and before I put them in the frying pan but it made no difference. Fortunately, this doesn't seem to really effect the taste.

I'm also not a fan of the oil-splatter-mess that is left behind when one fries anything. Oh well.

Once I finished cooking both batches, I poured the rest of the marinade into the frying pan and reduced it. I poured the reduction over the cooked filets and served them, along with sides of green beans and rice (brown for me, white for the kids), to my family.

My picky son likes this. My very health conscious husband likes this (minus the rice, of course!). My daughter and I like the dish because we pretty much like everything.

     Dirty Dish Count: One gallon freezer Ziploc bag, one measuring cup, one measuring spoon, one frying pan, and one spatula.

     And that's all. This blog is about as simple as this dish....which was perfect on a busy-but-not-particuarly-productive Sunday! Next time, I will once more try something that is actually new to me. Wish me luck!

Spring Fever-Induced Indecision

     Yesterday and today, the temperature reached 85 degrees. The first warm days of the year always seem exceptionally hot. I suppose it is a matter of relativity. In any event, it felt like a sweltering day today and the heat left me feeling indecisive and slightly cross. I finally determined that I would cook something for dinner tonight, instead of taking the kids out to eat or getting takeout, and began searching through my shelves of cookbooks for something new to try. I considered, and rejected, a stir fry, steak, panko-crusted chicken strips, and pork loin. I then turned to my stacks of cooking magazines and chose, and then subsequently rejected, recipes for grilled pizza, oven fried fish with potato salad, and a vegetable frittata. I moved on to the internet for inspiration and decided against crispy cod with broccoli and parmesan butter, gnocchi, and bacon and egg ramen. I was nearing the time that I had to pick my daughter up from school so I grabbed a Williams-Sonoma cookbook I had been meaning to use (not just read) called Family Meals: Creating Traditions in the Kitchen and brought it in the car with me. This cookbook is absolutely beautiful. It is full of gorgeous, inspiring photos, step by step instructions (with photos), and recipes that the whole family can make together. The paper used in the book is unique and I loved handling the pages.

When my daughter got in the car, I handed the cookbook to her and asked her to find something that looked good to her as I could not decide what to make for dinner. Within minutes, she narrowed down her choices to Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers with Mashed Potatoes and Peas, and Ham and Leek Quiche. I pushed for the quiche as I felt like it was too hot for baked chicken and mashed potatoes and she agreed.

     My daughter and I then stopped off at the grocery store to buy the necessary ingredients. I ended up buying a pre-made pie crust, that came as a rolled up circle of dough, made by Pillsbury. While I knew it would be a far tastier dish if I made the crust from scratch, I simply did not have the energy or time to do so.
     The recipe calls for the pie crust to be partially pre-baked. I put the dough in my pie pan, put a layer of foil on top of the dough, put pie weights on top of the foil, and then put it in the oven to bake. In the meantime, I read that the next step in the recipe was to melt one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan (side note: I had exactly one tablespoon of butter left in a wrapper since I had used the other seven in another recipe - I love when that happens!). Just as the butter began melting, I realized that I had, once again, failed to read my recipe all the way through before I began cooking. I quickly turned off the heat and started to read. It was a good thing that I did because, once the butter melted, I was supposed to add three cups of thinly sliced leeks to it. It is taking me a very long time to break my bad habit of not pre-reading my recipes but I am learning! Slicing the leeks actually took a fair amount of time as they require extra cleaning to get all of the grit and dirt off of them and three cups is a lot of sliced leeks. When I turned the stove back on and finished melting the butter, I added the leeks and thought that there seemed to be an awful lot of leeks. I hoped I had measured them correctly...

Once again, I was surprised by the addition of nutmeg in my recipe. It was just a pinch of nutmeg but it was unexpected.

I then layered my ingredients in the now partially-baked pie crust and topped the whole thing off with grated Gruyere cheese. 

I set the timer for 40 minutes and then went out to my side yard to try and plant as many seedling as I could in my planter boxes before the timer went off. I managed to put in several varieties of tomatoes, including Roma, yellow pear, and San Marzano, some basil, Blue Lake pole green beans, and three colors of bell peppers before I had to go back inside and check on the quiche. The quiche needed a little more browning so put it directly under the broiler for a few more minutes. Once I took the quiche out it was supposed to rest for 20 minutes before I served it. That gave me time to put in a zucchini plant, a cucumber seedling, and some lettuces. The cooking and gardening both served to relax me and put me in a much better mood.

My mood was further improved when I served the quiche to my kids and myself and all three of us deemed it delicious. (I waited until later to let my son know that the quiche was chock full of leeks. He agreed that knowing that in advance may have clouded his judgment!) The only criticism, and all three of us had it, was that the pie crust could have been better. I will definitely make this dish again but next time I will make the pie crust myself.

Dirty Dish Count: One frying pan, a spatula, a cutting board, a knife, three measuring cups, one measuring spoon, one plate, one cheese grater, one mixing bowl, a whisk, a pie pan, and a lot of pie weights.

     The next time that I am feeling indecisive about what to make for dinner, I will ask my family to choose a recipe. Wish me luck!

When Will I Ever Learn...?

     I absolutely adore Ina Garten. I love her recipes, her style of teaching on her cooking show, and how she seems both fabulous and approachable. I would be happy to just blog about making recipes from her cookbooks as I know I'd enjoy the food! Tonight, as it is a weeknight, I thought it appropriate to try out Ina's "Weekend Bolognese" recipe from her cookbook Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That?

     My daughter asked to help me cook tonight and I was happy to include her. However, instead of teaching her the wisdom of reading through the entire recipe before doing anything, I had her read the steps to me as we went. Sigh. I seem to have a serious mental block when it comes to previewing my recipes. I think, in part, the problem arises because I am usually rushing to cook my meals in between picking kids up from lessons, sending out PTA emails, cleaning the dishes from the night before when I realize I need them for tonight, and so forth. Tonight, I didn't even re-read the ingredient list. I read it a few days ago and, at that time, I had a small amount of heavy cream in my fridge, leftover from when I made strawberry frosting. Yesterday, however, I made chocolate frosting (I don't usually make so much frosting but I have been baking birthday cupcakes for foster kids) and used up the remaining heavy cream. Fast forward to tonight, when my bolognese was simmering, and I realized that I didn't have any heavy cream left. Thankfully, my sweet Mom came to my rescue and delivered a 1/4 cup of whole milk to me so I didn't have to leave my food cooking on the stove (the whole milk was preferable to no dairy added at all and didn't seem to affect the recipe in any event).

     The entire dish was prepared in a similar, frantic manner. The ground beef was cooking when I realized that I should have peeled and minced my garlic in advance and taken out the oregano. I did skip the red pepper flakes step since I knew my kids would not like them. Immediately after I added the garlic and oregano, breathing a sigh of relief that I managed to include those ingredients in time, I remembered that the recipe also called for some red wine. I grabbed the first bottle I could get my hands on and opened it in record time. I was glad that wine was part of my recipe since, at this point, I needed a glass after all of my crazed cooking.

     The pasta in tonight's dish was orecchiette pasta ("little ears"). I have always had a thing for orecchiette. I guess I like how well it holds sauce. That is also it's downfall, however, since it is always harder to properly drain orecchiette than other pastas - they are like little bowls that hold all of the water.
     The recipe calls for a large can of crushed tomatoes and Ina recommends that those tomatoes be San Marzano. I have to agree with her as I have always enjoyed their flavor. I also purchased San Marzano tomato paste. The paste was "double concentrated" but I used the amount stated in the recipe (2 Tablespoons) anyway, hoping that it didn't matter.
     This is a pretty straightforward bolognese recipe but I was surprised by one ingredient in Ina's version: nutmeg. I love nutmeg but I never knew it to be included in bolognese. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever cooked bolognese...I've just consumed a lot of it.

     One of the highlights of this dish for me, oddly enough, is that it asked for a "large serving bowl". I got to break out one of my favorite serving pieces which is something that usually only happens when we have company over for a meal.

     The kids and I loved the pasta and they both agreed this was their favorite of my Cookbook Addict recipes so far. My husband was working late tonight (again, poor guy!) so this was the perfect night to have some pasta since he is not a fan of it. The dish was also a perfect comfort-food-dish for a chilly spring evening.

Dirty Dish Count: A saucepan, a colander, a frying pan, a spatula, four measuring spoons, two measuring cups, the daisy shaped silicone cover that prevents boil-over, a serving fork, a serving spoon, and one large serving bowl.
     Now, if only I could remember to pre-read my recipe! Wish me luck!

When Curry Equals Bravery

I have a huge drawer filled entirely with spices. I have spices that range from the standard (rosemary, sage and thyme) to the more unusual (juniper berries, cardamom and whole nutmeg). What I didn't have, until I went to the grocery store today, was curry. I am not a huge spicy food fan and curry does tend to make its way into spicy dishes. However, when I am served a mild curry dish, I generally like it. My husband enjoys curried food in a range of spiciness but my kids turn their noses up at the strong smell and won't even taste food that has curry in it. When I told my husband that I was cooking a curry chicken dish for dinner his response was "Wow, you're brave." I'm pretty sure that what I'm attempting does not constitute bravery but I am most definitely setting myself up for an epic fail with the kids.

I'm not sure what came over me. My Mom had picked up a rotisserie chicken at Costco for me (so cheap and so tasty!) but then I thought to myself that I was bored with always serving the chicken with a side of mashed potatoes and a side of broccoli. Instead, I wanted a recipe that used rotisserie chicken in it. I did a quick Google search and found an easy recipe on RealSimple.com called Chicken Curry in a Hurry. http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chicken-curry-hurry-10000001586856/print-index.html

I thinly sliced some yellow onion and began sautéing it in olive oil. Right then, my 10-year-old daughter came over and asked if she could help me cook (absolutely!). She helped me prepare the next set of ingredients (in furtherance of my pledge to read my recipes thoroughly and to be ready for each step in advance) by pouring out the correct amount of heavy cream, salt and pepper. I then asked her to chop the fresh cilantro. She was excited to try out her knife skills. However, shortly after she began chopping, when the cilantro scent became stronger, she asked if she could be excused and informed me that she would not be having cilantro on her dish (Order #1: no cilantro). With my sous chef on the run, I continued cooking alone. I added curry to the onions but only used half of the recommended amount as I was already nervous about how my kids would react to the flavor. About one minute later I added some plain greek yogurt and the heavy cream, salt and pepper.

The recipe calls for rice but my husband generally does not eat rice and I have been trying to eat more brown rice. I have been buying Minute Rice cups so that my kids can each have a serving of jasmine rice or long grain white rice and I can have a serving of brown rice and that is what I used for this meal.

At this point in the preparations, the recipe states that you can add the optional can of drained, chopped tomatoes. My son dislikes tomatoes so, before I added them to the dish, I served his curry sauce over rice, added some shredded rotisserie chicken, and put some chopped cilantro on top (Order #2: no tomatoes). I wanted to use fresh tomatoes instead of the canned but I only had a half of a Roma tomato. I chopped it up and added it to the remaining sauce and then began serving everyone else. My husband did not have rice so he got extra sauce on his chicken (Order #3: extra sauce, no rice). This recipe had appealed to me so I opted for all of the ingredients (Order #4: Chicken Curry in a Hurry with everything, use brown rice instead of white).

As my daughter began eating she stated that this was her favorite of all of my "blog" dinners. However, by the end of dinner she informed me that she would like it without the curry (Order #1: no cilantro, no curry). My husband chimed in that he loved the dish but he would have liked me to add the full amount if curry (Order #3: extra sauce, no rice, extra curry). My son liked the dish well enough although he said later that he could have done without the onions...and that "leafy green stuff" (Order #2: no tomatoes, no onions, no cilantro).  I really liked it but wished I had put in more tomatoes (Order #4: use brown rice instead of white, add extra tomatoes).

Dirty Dish Count: A frying pan, a cutting board, a knife, two measuring spoons, two measuring cups, a spoon, a fork, and a spatula.

Next time I'll have to take pre-orders so I get all of the preferences correct (yeah, right!). Wish me luck!

This One is a Keeper

I purchased the cookbook Keepers by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion for myself for Christmas (actually, Santa left it for me under our tree). I had read about it in People Magazine and, despite knowing full well that I have enough cookbooks to last me several lifetimes, I was attracted to Kathy and Caroline's realistic-busy-mom approach to cooking and had to own their book. To date, I have made one recipe from their cookbook but I have made it three times as it was a huge hit with my husband and both kids (it's a miracle!!): Sautéed Tilapia with Citrus-Soy Marinade. The dish I chose to make tonight, Chicken Pot Pie, was featured on the cover so it has been tempting me since I first laid eyes on the book.

As promised, I dutifully began reading through the recipe's directions before getting started. I had olive oil in my frying pan, a clove of garlic peeled and ready to go in the mincer, and six slices of raw bacon chopped into small pieces...and then I got distracted. I turned on the burner and began heating the oil before reading any further and then realized that I would only have six minutes, while the bacon crisped, to cut 1-1/2 pounds of chicken thighs into small pieces. (Side note: I can hardly believe it but, until tonight, I have never cooked chicken thighs!) I chopped that chicken up so rapidly I was pretty sure I was going to end up in the ER less half a finger. Fortunately, the worst that happened was that my bacon was slightly crispier than I would have liked (an "issue" that ultimately turned out to have no effect on the taste or texture of the dish).

The recipe called for a 16-ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Out of habit, I bought the carrot-peas-corn mixture. As I was cooking, it occurred to me that just peas and carrots would have been more traditional and, perhaps, tastier. My son actually preferred having the corn in the pot pie but my daughter said she would have liked the dish better without corn. (Side note: I love a recipe that has a few convenience ingredients such as frozen veggies and pre-made puff pastry sheets!) I added two teaspoons of dried thyme to the filling, per the recipe, and was worried that my kids would not like the taste. Happily, that was not the case.

The dish was relatively easy to prepare and put together. I made a small error at the end of the prep portion when I put the puff pastry on top of the filling, I set it down so one end had too much pastry and the opposite end didn't have quite enough. As such, the filling bubbled out the one end a tiny bit. In good news, my audience (my kids) couldn't have cared less.

All in all, we all enjoyed the pot pie, particularly my son (who asked me if I would make it again soon) and myself. I will definitely add this dish to the "rotation".

Dirty Dish Count: A large frying pan, a spatula, a large cutting board, a knife, two measuring cups, two measuring spoons, a small bowl, a fork, a pastry brush, and a casserole dish.

While I was far more successful today than yesterday in terms of reading my recipe up front and preparing all of my ingredients before I begin to cook with any of them, I still need to improve in that area. Wish me luck!

The Blog Reboot: Mistakes Were Made*

After I wrote my first four blogs, it seemed to me that the only person reading them was my Mom. And even she hadn't read all of them. I decided to write them less frequently...which turned into never. Somehow a year-and-a-half flew by before I was recently inspired to take up my blog again - readers or no readers - and write blog #5.

For my latest meal, I looked to Real Simple. I have always been a huge fan of Real Simple and have made several successful recipes from the pages of the magazine. Although I had purchased the Real Simple "meals made easy" cookbook a few years ago, until tonight I had not made anything out of it. The book is divided up into sections such as "no-shop meals" and "one-pot meals". I chose a recipe from the "30-minute meals" section entitled "Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage".

The picture makes the dish look delicious and my kids like both pasta and broccolini (which I mistakenly thought was interchangeable with broccoli rabe: mistake #1).

I chose rigatoni for our pasta as I love the size and chewy texture of it.

The recipe called for either "chicken or pork sausage, casings removed" so I wasn't sure exactly what type of sausage to buy. When I was at the butcher counter I had to choose between Italian sausage (hot or sweet), bratwurst, chicken apple, and so forth. I ended up choosing a simple pork "breakfast sausage" as it had a little bit of red pepper flake in it. The recipe called for me to add red pepper flakes but, since I knew my kids would not like very much of it, having a tiny bit of the spice in the sausage added some flavor without turning my kids off to the entire dish. When I was cooking tonight, the first step was to remove the casings from the sausages. There were seven of them and the process is always messy and somewhat time consuming. I don't think this was counted in the "30-minutes." I should have started cooking dinner a bit sooner: mistake #2.

While the recipe called for "2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced," I decided to mince the garlic instead since my kids would push aside any sliced garlic on their plate.

Now to the broccoli rabe. I went into a Whole Foods market intending to purchase some broccolini (again, I mistakenly believed this was the same as broccoli rabe) but found that they were out of it. I next went into our local produce market which did not have broccolini but did have broccoli rabe. I noticed that the bunches of broccoli rabe seemed to be mostly leaves with a few florets. I was in a hurry at that point so I just bought two huge bunches of the stuff, thinking that I could pick out all of the florets. In reality, there were very few florets and the ones I picked out were very small and quickly disintegrated into small green particles upon cooking. I did add some of the leaves but those were, as I expected, not a hit with the kids.

I never seem to learn my lesson about reading an entire recipe before I start cooking so I missed that I was adding 4 Tablespoons of butter to the recipe. I saw butter in the ingredient list but skimmed over the amount. Since my husband avoids foods with added butter or oils, I knew that he was not going to eat the meal I was preparing (and, honestly, he's not a fan of pasta either so his consumption of the dish was already in question): mistake #3. In good news (for my cooking - otherwise it was not good news!), my husband got home super late from work tonight, thereby avoiding the issue of whether or not he would be joining us for dinner.

I served the pasta in large, shallow, white, pasta bowls. I love these bowls and rarely take them off the shelf so I was happy to be using them.  My daughter was fairly quiet as she began to eat the pasta so I knew she didn't particularly care for it. My son, on the other hand, had a second helping and asked that the remainder be included in his school lunch tomorrow. I personally enjoyed the dish although it was a little bit on the bland side (adding the suggested red pepper flakes would no doubt have added the needed punch). Unfortunately, as my broccoli rabe disintegrated upon cooking, my dish did not look pretty, or even particularly appetizing: mistake #4.

Dirty Dish Count: a large saucepan, a large frying pan with lid, a curved spatula, a small bowl, a cutting board, a knife, a large measuring cup, a colander, a garlic tube (that helps peel the garlic), a garlic press, and one of those silicone daisy-shaped things that prevent the pasta from boiling over.

Next time I will carefully read my recipe before I purchase ingredients (making sure I actually know what said ingredients are!). Wish me luck!

*I borrowed this title from Stephan Pastis' (Pearls Before Swine cartoonist) first Timmy Failure book.