Recipe: Zucchini and Gruyere Scones

Zucchini and Gruyere Scones
Bon Appetit Magazine, Sept 2017, p. 18
5 stars

I love, love, love these scones!  This is my new favorite biscuit, I mean scone.  I can say that they're semi-healthy since they have zucchini in them (haha).  They were light and flavorful . . . I heart Gruyere.

As an aside . . . I looked up the difference between a biscuit and a scone.  With all the different sites I looked at, I'm still confused.  One site says that a scone usually has a higher sugar content making them sweeter, and they usually contain baking soda which makes them heavier.  Another site says that scones have eggs while biscuits don't.  With those two definitions, I'd say that this recipe is a biscuit recipe.

Ingredients:  all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, heavy cream, zucchini, Gruyere, flaky sea salt, baking powder, sugar, Kosher salt, black pepper, thyme

Tips

• I used a biscuit/cookie cutter that was smaller than the 3" diameter that was recommended, and these still turned out huge!  Next time, I'll be making them smaller but will need to watch the bake time.
• I also shredded the cheese but need to remember to dice the cheese next time instead per the recipe.

Recipe: 12-Minute Saucy Chicken Breasts with Limes

12-Minute Saucy Chicken Breast with Limes
Bon Appetit Magazine, Dec 2017
4 stars

This is a great weekday recipe that's incredibly flavorful (note that you must like the cumin/turmeric/paprika type of flavor profile) and would go great with the Golden Rice recipe.

Ingredients:  chicken, ground cumin, ground turmeric, paprika, olive oil, Kosher salt, limes

Tips:

• Used boneless chicken breast and sauteed the chicken vs. baking it -- it turned out great!  The chicken was moist and there was delicious sauce to spoon over the chicken.

Recipe: Smashed-Banana Bread

Smashed-Banana Bread
Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2017, p. 118
4 stars

Now I know what to do with bananas that get overripe... freeze the bananas and make Smashed-Banana Bread with them later!  This was an easy recipe but surprisingly took 1.5 hours to bake.  The outcome was good -- I love the outer crispy crust, but it wasn't a blow-my-socks-off amazing recipe.

Ingredients:  pecans, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, fine sea salt, eggs, smashed very ripe banana, sour cream, vanilla extract, banana liqueur or dark rum, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, confectioners' sugar

Notes:

• The recipe calls for banana liqueur or dark rum, though it's so little (3/4 tsp), I'm not sure what it actually does as that flavor doesn't come through at all.  
• 1.5 cups of smashed very ripe banana turned out to be about 5 medium bananas (3 that I froze and thawed + 2 non-frozen ones).

Recipe: Roasted Mushroom and Vermouth Risotto

Roasted Mushroom and Vermouth Risotto
Food and Wine Magazine, Jan 2018, p. 74
4.5 stars

I've made mushroom risotto before but it usually involves cooking the mushrooms in a pan and adding them later to the risotto.  I thought this recipe was interesting in that it calls for roasting the mushrooms in the oven and then adding them later to the risotto.

This is a restaurant-worthy dish.  This confirms that I'm never ordering risotto again from a restaurant -- it's so easy (and inexpensive to make)!

Ingredients:  mixed, wild mushrooms, chicken or vegetable broth, shallots, arborio rice, unsalted butter, dry vermouth, Parmesan cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips

• Made 1/2 the recipe (used 3/4 cup of arborio rice) since arborio rice expands and we usually have too much for leftovers.  Next time, we'll make the full batch since we actually didn't have a ton left over.
• The recipe doesn't call for garlic, but I think it should be added next time for an extra dimension of flavor.

(Find recipe under: Entree - Warm Sausage and Lentil Salad)

Recipe: Stir-Fried Chicken and Green Pepper with Cumin and Cilantro

Stir-Fried Chicken and Green Pepper with Cumin and Cilantro
Food and Wine Magazine, Apr 2018, p. 50
5 stars

A really easy and delicious recipe to make on a weekday (especially when I'm craving Chinese food).

This does not take much time (30 min), but make sure to get the rice going especially if you have a rice cooker.  This stir-fry dish has a lot of my favorite things mixed together -- cumin, cilantro, garlic, heat from the serrano, onion... it almost seems like it would be a Mexican dish!

Ingredients:  chicken, Shaoxing wine or dry sherry, soy sauce, cornstarch, grapeseed or peanut oil, green bell peppers, red onion, serrano chile, garlic, ground cumin seeds, cracked coriander seeds, sugar, Kosher salt, cilantro, black pepper, rice

Recipe: Cheesy Baked Pasta with Cauliflower (Mac and Cheese)

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Cauliflower
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2018, p.38
5 stars

I was skeptical about this recipe.  Cauliflower and tomatoes in a mac and cheese-type of dish?  Turns out the tomatoes added a nice oomph (acidity) to the dish that's not present in regular 'ol mac and cheese, and the cauliflower was there and imparted the health benefits of a vegetable without being noticeable.

This dish was so good that I forgot to take a photo of the dish each time we had leftovers (and this was a dish where we looked forward to the leftovers)!

Ingredients:  medium pasta shells, mozzarella, provolone, sharp cheddar, parmesan, can of lightly crushed cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, heavy cream, salt, pepper

Tips:

• Used can of diced tomatoes (I couldn't find a can of lightly crushed cherry tomatoes)
• Used cauliflower rice
• Didn't need to add any reserved pasta water since the diced tomatoes had a bit of liquid