Recipe: Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

Mini Chocolate Chip Scones
Sugar Spun Run Blog
5 stars

Inspired by the Great British Baking Show, we decided to make scones, mini ones.  I found this recipe on the Sugar Spun Run blog while Googling for 'scones' in general.

These scones were a-maz-ing!!!  So flaky.  Flavorful.  Great amount of chocolate chips.  The perfect size.  One night I had 2 scones (they were THAT good) and really shouldn't have since I felt stuffed afterwards.

Tips:

• Freeze the butter and instead of using a box grater which takes a long time (and the butter starts to melt), use a food processor.
• Put the grated butter and also the dough in the freezer for a minute or so to ensure the butter doesn't melt.
• The dough will be very shaggy but will eventually come together.  Just make sure not to overwork the dough.

Scone ingredients:  flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract, chocolate chips

Glaze ingredients:  powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract

Recipe: Polenta and Sausage Stuffing

Polenta and Sausage Stuffing
Gourmet Magazine, Nov 2005
4 stars

I found this recipe from a 2005 issue of now defunct Gourmet Magazine that we had saved.  Really delicious dish and quite simple to make -- there were just some steps like cooling the polenta, broiling half of it, and baking it for 35 min which takes a bit of time altogether.

Tip:

• Make sure to broil the polenta until crispy!  We were trying to speed up the process and get dinner on the table and didn't brown it enough.
• Also, we made half the recipe which was more than enough for 2 people with leftovers for a couple of days.

Ingredients:  polenta, sweet Italian sausage, onion, garlic, chicken broth, Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, olive oil, butter, water, salt

Recipe: Bucatini with Tomato, Guanciale and Chile

Bucatini with Tomato, Guanciale and Chile
Bon Appetit Magazine, Sept 2014, p.130
5 stars

This is a restaurant-worthy dish (in fact, it's from the restaurant Tosca in San Francisco) and a quick, weekday meal.  We've made similar dishes before, but the layers of flavor from the salty prosciutto (umami!) to the underlying barely-there rosemary and the heat of the red pepper -- and then the garlic and Pecorino. . . yum!  This is one we'll be serving to guests for sure in the future.

Tips:

• Used prosciutto instead of pancetta
• Added garlic
• Topped with parsley

Ingredients:  guanciale or pancetta, red onion, crushed tomatoes, bucatini, rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt, Pecorino, olive oil

Recipe: Corn Cake Stacks with Aged Cheddar and Arugula

Corn Cake Stacks with Aged Cheddar and Arugula
Country Living, Jun 2014, p.105
4 stars

A nice main or side dish.  The corn cakes didn't get as crispy as I thought they would; they were a bit soft, but the flavor was good especially with the aged Cheddar cheese.  We made refried beans on the side with the extra diced red bell pepper as well as onion, garlic and cumin.

Tip:

• Instead of baking in the oven as the last step, we'll try the broiler next time.

Ingredients:  corn kernels, red bell pepper, aged Cheddar cheese, baby arugula, cornmeal, eggs, olive oil, sugar, kosher salt, baking powder

Recipe: Omelet Souffle

Omelet Souffle: An Experiment
Food and Wine Magazine, July 2010, p.36
4 stars

I love souffles, but sometimes there just isn't enough time to make them especially on a weekday.  This is a quick 'omelet souffle' recipe that works in a pinch, but it doesn't have the depth of flavor as a regular souffle as the ingredients in this recipe are few.  I'd definitely make this again; however, do prefer regular souffles.

Ingredients:  eggs, butter, Gruyere cheese, salt, top with herbs

Recipe: Lamb Larb

We turned this into a salad

Lamb Larb
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2017, p. 97
4.5 stars

This was a fast and healthy dish to make with a lot of complexity in flavor -- and yet with not many complex ingredients to prep.

Ingredients:  ground lamb, white rice, Bibb lettuce leaves, cucumber, mint, shallot, cilantro, garlic, red Thai chiles, lime juice, fish sauce, demerara sugar or dark brown sugar, lemongrass stalk, salted roasted peanuts, vegetable oil

Tips:

• Add red pepper to the lemongrass mix
• I'm not a huge fan of peanuts in dishes so didn't top mine with peanuts
• Add basil
• Make extra fish sauce to top the dish
• Add sriracha on top
• Didn't have large enough leaves to make lettuce cups, so turned this into a salad!

Recipe: Chocolate Torta Soffice

Right out of the oven without the powdered
sugar and mascarpone whipped topping

Chocolate Torta Soffice
Food and Wine Magazine, May 2017, p. 107
3 stars as a regular chocolate cake;  4 stars as a chocolate tea cake

This is a chocolate tea cake, not very sweet and not suitable for a celebratory dessert.  However, as a tea cake or a non-so-sweet chocolate cake, it's good.

We had some ganache from another recipe I made;  topping the cake with the ganache, mascarpone whipped topping and a little ice cream was delicious.  We did not top it with the pistachios.

Ingredients:  flour, unsweetened cocoa, salted butter, baking powder, eggs, granulated sugar, whole milk, mascarpone, heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, chopped roasted unsalted pistachios

Recipe: Toasted Orecchiette with Veal Meatballs

Toasted Orecchiette with Veal Meatballs
Bon Appetit Magazine, Jan 2016, p. 11
4 stars

This recipe would be GREAT with some changes.

Tips/Changes:

• Definitely need to cook the bacon first to render off the fat!
• The meatballs were not done after 20 min of cooking in the broth.  We ended up sauteing them in a pan.
• Double the amount of kale next time.
• There wasn't a need to fry the orecchiette -- I mean, it might have been good, but it wasn't necessary (saved the calories here).
• Used ground beef instead of ground veal.
• Used baby bellas instad of maitake mushrooms.
• The recipe called for 8 garlic cloves.  We used 6 (afraid that it would be too garlicky which it wasn't), so will use all 8 next time.  

Ingredients:  smoked bacon, ground veal, ground pork, garlic cloves, onion, breadcrumbs, milk, broth, orecchiette, olive oil, maitake mushrooms, kale, Parmesan, ground coriander, red pepper flakes, allspice, hot smoked Spanish paprika, kosher salt, black pepper

Recipe: Crusty Baked Shells & Cauliflower

Crusty Baked Shells & Cauliflower
Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2016, p. 80
5 stars

This is my new favorite cauliflower dish!  TASTY, and I can't wait to eat the leftovers today.  I love the cheesiness of the dish along with the 'crunch' of the panko and cauliflower.

Ingredients:  cauliflower, medium shells, fresh sage, capers, olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, crushed red pepper, grated Fontina cheese, fresh ricotta, panko, Italian Pecorino cheese, parsley, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips:

• Instead of capers, used peppadew peppers instead -- we like the flavor better
• Used a little extra Fontina since we had more than was called for

Recipe: Farro-and-Sausage Parmigiano

Farro-and-Sausage Parmigiano

Food and Wine Magazine, Jan 2017, p. 48

4 stars

I was looking for a hearty dish that uses farro, and I found this recipe that I had saved from a few months ago.  What sold me on the dish was the addition of the Italian sausage and the fresh mozzarella on top.  You can't see the mozz in the image above (I topped it with a lot of panko), but it really 'made' the dish.  

This recipe isn't hard to make and didn't take long (we didn't cook the farro for 2.5 hours;  we have 30-min farro) so this is good for a healthy, weekday meal where you'll definitely have leftovers!

Ingredients:  farro, crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, hot or sweet Italian sausage, scallions, yellow onion, garlic, panko, Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh mozzarella, parsley, lemon zest, fresh oregano, dried oregano, crushed red pepper, fennel seeds, white wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, black pepper

Tips:

• Make half of the topping
• Use quick cook farro
• Use mini balls of mozzarella

Recipe: Lentil and Egg Stew

Lentil and Egg Stew
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2017, p. 79
4 Stars

I thought we'd give this recipe a whirl as we had almost all of the ingredients listed -- plus the recipe photo in the magazine looked delicious!  However, this was one where I was skeptical of the recipe based on the ingredient listing and the name of the dish;  I was thinking this might turn out very bland (it's basically lentils and vegetables and no herbs), but it wasn't.  It was a nice, flavorful, healthy stew.  Just make sure to add enough salt and to cook it with the umami-laden Parmesan rind.

Ingredients:  lentils, onion, fennel bulb, carrots, garlic, tomato paste, Parmesan rind, spinach, eggs, red wine vinegar, grated Pecorino, olive oil, Kosher salt, bread for serving

Tips:

• Used grated Parmesan instead
• Added celery since we had that in the fridge
• Didn't fry the bread
• Next time: Mixing in Andouille sausage would be a nice addition

Recipe: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Lots of Kale

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Lots of Kale
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2017, p. 34
4.5 stars

For such a simple recipe, this was flavorful and is now a go-to weekday meal.  Nine ingredients and about 20 minutes is all you need.  I was a little skeptical (kale with spaghetti???), but it works!

Ingredients:  kale, garlic, spaghetti or bucatini, olive oil, Parmesan, red pepper flakes, Kosher salt, black pepper, flaky sea salt

Tips:

• Used bucatini -- I consider it a "fun" pasta(!) since it's tubular/hollow
• Make sure to use all the kale the recipe calls for;  like spinach, it shrinks down to nothing as it cooks

Recipe: Rise No.1 Souffles

Rise No.1 Souffles

A souffle = my favorite dish.  They're generally light, delicate and full of flavor -- and because of the multiple steps to make them (and the myth that they're hard to make), are special . . . kind of like French macarons.  Souffles are actually not hard to make; however, the recipes I've made have not cracked the code on how to keep the souffles from "falling" so fast.

Rise No.1 in Dallas, TX makes amazing souffles that are beautiful (perfect!) and don't fall.  They offer a souffle cookbook that I was going to purchase, but the reviews were, well, not great.  However, I searched online to see if I could find one of their recipes to test, and I found one:

Rise No.1's Jambon & Gruyere Souffle

The recipe was significantly different from others I've followed (the ratio of egg whites to eggs and the mixing process), but I decided to give it a try.  The recipe turned out wonderfully!  As you can see from the photos, the souffles rose, and they didn't fall right away!  I overfilled the ramekins a bit too much which is why the top of the souffle looks like it has shifted to the right.  The recipe from here on out is my go-to.  Give it a try along with the following accompaniments for the perfect dinner:

• bread
• salad made up of mixed greens, Granny Smith apple, bleu cheese, candied pecans and a light vinaigrette
• glass of Pinot Noir 

Recipe: Grits Aligot

Shrimp and grits and salad

Look how thick and cheesy these grits are!

Grits Aligot
Bon Appetit Magazine, Sept 2016, p. 144
5 stars

The recipe is from Buxton Hall Barbecue, one of Bon Appetit's 10 Best New Restaurants of 2016.

This recipe should be called Cheese with Grits.  These are the richest, cheesiest grits we've made. . .  and we WILL make these again!  It's perfect with shrimp and a simple side salad.  Note:  This dish is not for those on a diet.  As blog contributor (or non-contributor now) the grandcruman said to me, "They're over the top!"

Ingredients:  coarse-grind grits, butter, heavy cream, mozzarella, Gruyere, extra-sharp cheddar, Kosher salt

Recipe: Pappardelle with Summer Squash and Arugula-Walnut Pesto

Pappardelle with Summer Squash and Arugula-Walnut Pesto
Food and Wine Magazine, Aug 2015 p. 122
4 stars

I love when I find recipes that use up ingredients that we have on hand.  We had a bunch of basil leftover from another pesto dish that we made; and while this dish doesn't call for basil, we added it to the arugula pesto -- it was great!  This is a restaurant-worthy dish that we'll serve to guests in the future.  Great presentation (lovely ribbons of pappardelle and also zucchini) and a pasta/veggie dish all in one.  Plus, it's super simple to make.

Ingredients:  papparedelle, zucchini, arugula, walnuts, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, lemon juice, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips:

• Added basil to the pesto

Recipe: Pocho Taco

Pocho Taco
Bon Appetit Magazine, Mar 2017, p.77
5 stars

Amazing tacos with so much flavor!!!  Definitely restaurant-worthy;  however, this is not a quick weekday meal as preparation of all the ingredients takes a bit of time.

Picadillo Ingredients:  ground beef chuck, russet potato, yellow onion, shallot, pine nuts, Kosher salt, ground pepper, vegetable oil, dried pequin chile or crushed red pepper flakes, ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, chicken broth

Salsa and Assembly Ingredients:  tomatoes, red onion, garlic, serrano, jalapeno, white wine vinegar, Kosher salt, shallot, creme fraiche or sour cream, chives, lemon zest, lemon juice, hard taco shells and grated cheddar for serving

Tips:

• Added avocado and lettuce
• Add cilantro next time
• The salsa was quite strong so would recommend cooking it a bit on the stove to cook off some of the garlic and chile compounds

Recipe: Coffee-Flavored Belgian Waffles

Coffee-Flavored Belgian Waffles
Bon Appetit Magazine, Mar 2017, p. 14
2 stars for waffles, 4 stars for pancakes

This was a 'r.s.v.p' recipe that someone requested from Kapnos in Washington, D.C.  The flavor of the waffle was good, but it was SOGGY coming out of our waffle iron.  I'll try making it again, but the batter actually was perfect for pancakes.

Note:  We used a regular waffle iron.  Be careful not to overfill it as the batter is light and fluffy and will overflow and seep out of the sides and all over your counter!

Ingredients:  flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, whole-milk ricotta, buttermilk, espresso powder, butter, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt;  maple syrup and whipped cream for serving

Recipe: Weeknight Mapo Dofu with Ground Pork

Weeknight Mapo Dofu with Ground Pork
Bon Appetit Magazine, Nov 2016, p. 52
5 Stars

My new favorite Asian dish!  I love Mapo Dofu (tofu), but it's generally not the healthiest dish to make or eat.  Lots of oil and few to no vegetables.  For this recipe, we added vegetables to "healthy-it-up" (and to use ingredients we had in the fridge!), and the entire dish used only 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil.  My mouth is watering now just thinking about this.

This is an easy weeknight dish -- the recipe notes it at 25 min total time which is about right.

Ingredients:  ground pork, jalapeno, tofu, garlic, ginger, scallions, tomato paste, Sichuan peppercorns, chicken broth, Chinese black bean garlic sauce, cornstarch, vegetable oil, basil, white rice

Tips:

• Used medium firm tofu as we like them in chunks and didn't want the tofu to fall apart
• Added broccoli and kale (cooked/wilted kale in a separate pan and added to the dish near the end)
• The key to this dish is the Chinese black bean garlic sauce which I've found at many regular/standard grocery stores

Recipe: Black Bean and Chorizo Soup

Black Bean and Chorizo Soup
Food and Wine Magazine, Dec 2016, p.74
5 stars

This soup recipe, from Kathy Gunst's cookbook Soup Swap, rivals (in a different way) the America's Test Kitchen Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe which we love.  The soup offers a punch of flavors in every bite and is SUPER easy to make!

Ingredients:  black beans, onions, Spanish-style dried chorizo, garlic, chicken stock, cumin, bay leaf, thyme sprig, parsley sprig, Mexican crema, avocado, radishes, cilantro, lime wedges, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper, tortillas

Tips

• Used 2 cans of black beans instead of dried beans (next time, use 3 cans of black beans)
• Used 1 onion instead of 3
• Used fresh chorizo instead of dried
• Used creme fraiche (instead of Mexican crema) since we had it in the house
• Reduced cooking time by a lot since we used canned beans

Recipe: Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2016, p. 128
5 stars

This Anthony Bourdain recipe has just 6 ingredients!  As the recipe notes at the top, 'Forget a salad . . . this is the only green thing you need on the table!'

Ingredients:  bacon, brussels sprouts, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Tips:

• We didn't follow the directions exactly. . .  so will need to report back the next time we make this.  We cooked the bacon in a skillet (without water) and roasted the brussels sprouts in the oven.