Recipe: Three-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Peach-Cucumber Salad

We've been on a roll with testing new recipes -- another great dish!  This one is the Three-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Peach-Cucumber Salad recipe from Food & Wine Magazine's September 2013 issue (p.90).

It's a quick and easy dish to make during the weekday after work.  It took about 30 minutes max.

Tips:

• The pork was very peppery, so just beware!  
• Cut the salt in half.
• Used white peaches (my favorite).
• Take a look at the recipe link above to see the photo from Food & Wine Magazine.  The magazine didn't picture a photo, so I didn't think to dice up the cucumbers and peaches (I sliced them instead).  The dice looks nice.
• We had rice leftover from another meal, so I had that instead of naan, though, we'll try yogurt and naan next time.

Recipe: Shrimp, Chorizo and Corn Salad

This Shrimp, Chorizo and Corn Salad recipe from Cooking Light (July 2013, p.134) is a keeper.  We don't receive the Cooking Light Magazine, and I'm usually not a huge fan because their recipes often don't have enough flavor, but this one is GREAT, and we'll definitely be making it again as a quick weeknight meal.  Instead of having this as a salad, we had this for dinner as our main entrée over rice.

Few tips:

• We love garlic and so added extra
• We doubled the amount of red and yellow tomatoes
• Instead of Spanish chorizo, we used Andouille sausage
• Next time, we're not going to add as much lemon juice -- didn't think it was needed
• Added the basil at the very end

Recipe: Hanger Steak with Mushrooms and Red Wine Sauce

I don't have a photo for this Hanger Steak with Mushrooms and Red Wine Sauce recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine (Oct 2011, p. 54), but oh my gosh, it was DELICIOUS and so easy.  We made this for dinner with a side of mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts and had a nice Cab to go along with it. . .  I think the meal turned out better than many fine dining restaurant meals we've had.

When I say that the recipe was easy to make -- it was easy.  The ingredients include just olive oil, assorted mushrooms, salt & pepper, hanger steak, garlic, rosemary, dry red wine, chicken stock (we used beef stock) and fresh tarragon.

Recipe: La Bete Noire

I forgot to take a photo of the entire torte,
and now there's only one piece left and I can't seem to
take a great photo of it.  So, here's a close-up.

Need a flourless chocolate torte recipe (that just so happens to be gluten-free since there's, well, no flour in it)? 

Look no farther than La Bete Noir (meaning "The Black Beast") from Bon Appetit Magazine (Sept 2006) that one of my interns recommended to me.  This dessert is for chocolate lovers.  Take a bite, and the chocolate literally melts in your mouth in an instant and yet the dessert isn't too sweet -- it has a perfect balance of richness and sweetness. 

I craved a piece this morning and had a sliver with my morning coffee (after yoga!). 

Recipe: Garlicky Rice

We don't subscribe to Cooking Light;  however, my mother-in-law gets the magazine and passed the July 2013 issue to us.  We made the Spiced Chicken Thighs with Garlicky Rice recipe (p.58), and while the chicken was a bit bland, the rice was quite good!  

I usually make rice in a rice cooker, but here's their recipe for making it on the stove.

• Melt 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat
• Add 1 tbsp minced fresh garlic; saute for 1 minute.
• Add 1 cup of uncooked basmati rice;  cook 30 seconds stirring constantly.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of water and 3/8 teaspoon of salt;  bring to a boil.
• Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes or until the rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.
• Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Fluff rice.
• Stir in parsley and black pepper.

Creative Cupcakes for the Shoe Lover

Aren't these cupcakes so cute?  My co-worker is an amazing baker and made these for another colleague's birthday. 

The shoe is a cupcake and Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookie, and the heel is a Pepperidge Farm Pirouette.  For the bows, she rolled out some Starburst candy, cut them into thin strips and formed them into bows.  So creative!

Recipe: Thai Chicken Curry

I love Thai food and had been wanting to make Thai Chicken Curry ever since I saw the recipe in Bon Appetit's January 2013 issue (see the photo on p.29 or the link to the recipe above -- it looks mouthwatering; recipe is on p.30 in the magazine).

What a disappointment.  I should've known from reading the reviews on epicurious.com that it wouldn't taste as expected.  While it does have curry paste and coconut milk, there isn't any oomph to the dish, if you know what I mean.  The flavors weren't bold at all, and there was almost no hint of spice.  I'm not keeping this recipe around.  It just didn't fit my expectations of a Thai dish.

Champagne Cork: Mytik Diam

Last night, we opened a bottle of Champagne -- the cork had Mytik Diam on it as you can see in the photo.  I thought, "How cool.  Maybe it's a Latin phrase like carpe diem or something that represents what the brand is about."

Yeah, never mind.  I just looked it up, and it's the name of the cork brand.

Pop-Tarts Ice Cream

 

Why didn't anyone think of this before? 

Carl's Jr. is rolling out a new Hand-Scooped Strawberry Pop-Tarts Ice Cream Sandwich to all of its 1,391 restaurants as a limited time offer starting today.

For a limited time, the dessert will be FREE with the purchase of a Super Bacon Cheeseburger combination meal at participating restaurants. The ice cream sandwich will be sold for a recommended $1.49 if purchased separately.  (That sounds like a 3,000 calorie meal.)

I'm not a huge fan of Strawberry Pop-Tarts, but I can imagine Frosted Blueberry or S'mores being pretty good.

What would Gordon Ramsey say?

I was going through the photos on my phone and came across this one that I'd taken last month. 

An example of REALLY awful food photography and marketing at Twisted Root.  What would Gordon Ramsey say?

Recipe: Slice-and-Bake Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Want dessert but don't have anything in the house?  If you cook and bake pretty frequently, you probably have all of the ingredients below to make these Slice-and-Bake Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Bon Appetit (April 2013 issue, p. 32). 

Ingredients needed:  flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, nutmeg, unsalted butter, sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, old-fashioned oats, raisins.

Things I did differently:

• Halved the amount of raisins -- substituted one cup for a cup of chocolate chips to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!
• Didn't have whole wheat flour on-hand, so I used all-purpose flour.
• Didn't want to wait to freeze the dough, so I baked them right away.
• It's probably obvious from the photo, but I made very LARGE cookies.

Recipe: Popovers with Gruyere

I made popovers for the first time this past weekend for a party we attended. 

Who knew they were so easy to make? 

This Popovers with Gruyere recipe from Bon Appetit (Sept 2004) requires just 5 ingredients:  flour, salt, milk, eggs and gruyere.  Impress your guests!

2 tips:

• Baking time was only 35 min (not the 40 min noted in the recipe) so watch them so they don't overbrown or burn.
• Make a slit in them as people have noted in the reviews so that they don't deflate completely.
• Think about adding dry mustard and/or mustard seeds like the XXL Gougeres.

What Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor Says About You

First of all, did you know that this month is National Ice Cream Month? 
Also, National Ice Cream Day is Sunday, July 21st.

From Baskin-Robbins' press release:

Baskin-Robbins recently partnered with Dr. Alan Hirsch, a nationally recognized smell and taste expert and founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, to identify what some of the most popular ice cream flavors suggest about someone's personality.

If you favorite flavor is. . .

• Vanilla, you're more likely to be impulsive, easily suggestible and an idealist.
• Chocolate, you're more likely to be dramatic, lively, charming, flirtatious, seductive and gullible.
• Very Berry Strawberry, you're more likely to be a tolerant, devoted and an introvert.
• Mint Chocolate Chip, you're more likely to be argumentative, frugal and cautious.
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, you're more likely to be ambitious, competitive and a visionary.
• Pralines 'n Cream, you're more likely to be loving, supportive and prefer to avoid the spotlight.
• Jamoca (i.e. coffee), you're more likely to be scrupulous, conscientious and a moral perfectionist.
• Chocolate Chip, you're more likely to be generous, competent and a go getter.
• Rainbow Sherbet, you're more likely to be analytic, decisive and a pessimistic.
• Rocky Road, you're more likely to be aggressive, engaging and a good listener.

So, what's YOUR favorite flavor?

Definition: Jam, Jelly, Marmalade

Jams, jellies and marmalades are all different styles of fruit preserves.

Jam = a preparation of fruits, vegetables and sugar, often canned or sealed for long-term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves today often involves adding commercial or natural pectin as a gelling agent, although sugar or honey may be used as well.

Jelly = an American term for clear or translucent fruit spread made from sweetened fruit (or vegetable) juice and set using naturally occurring pectin.  Additional pectin may be added where the original fruit does not supply enough, for example with grapes. Jelly can be made from sweet, savory or hot ingredients. It is made by a process similar to that used for making jam, with the additional step of filtering out the fruit pulp after the initial heating. 

Marmalade = a type of fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. It can be produced from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamots and other citrus fruits, or any combination.

Source:  Wikipedia.com

Friday Night Dinner

Beef Wellington
Mashed Potatoes
Mozzarella, tomato, basil salad
Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages

 

Life is good.

Definitions: Puree, Paste, Coulis, Compote, Chutney

Purée = a general term for cooked food, usually vegetables or legumes, that have been ground, pressed, blended, and/or sieved to the consistency of a soft creamy paste or thick liquid.

Paste = often used for purees intended to be used as an ingredient, rather than eaten.

Coulis =  most commonly used term for fruit purees.  A form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits. A vegetable coulis is commonly used on meat and vegetable dishes, and it can also be used as a base for soups or other sauces. Fruit coulis are most often used on desserts.

Compote = a dessert originating from 17th century France made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are cooked in water with sugar and spices. The syrup may be seasoned with vanilla, lemon or orange peel, cinnamon sticks or powder, cloves, ground almonds, grated coconut, candied fruit, or raisins. The compote is served either warm or cold.

Chutney = a  pungent relish of Indian origin made of fruit, spices and herbs.

Source:  Wikipedia.com

Cherry Bourbon Cocktail

I've been into bourbon for a little while now and was craving a bourbon-cherry type drink the other night.  I really wanted to use some of the all natural Chukar maraschino cherries (they're amazing) our friends gave us, so I searched for "bourbon cherry" online and scanned through some recipes.  Here's the concoction that I created that is my new go-to drink:

• 1.5 oz of bourbon (we use Bulleit brand)
• 4 or 5 Chukar maraschino cherries
• 2.5 tbsp. of Chukar maraschino cherry syrup/juice
• Splash of tonic
• Splash of club soda (so the drink isn't super sweet)
• Squeeze of lime

I've seen some other recipes that mix cherry/bourbon/lime/ginger and cherry/bourbon/triple sec/cream, so I'll be experimenting some new recipes tonight. 

Happy 4th!

Downton Abbey Wines to Be Released

For all Downton Abbey fans, it was announced this past week that a collection of Downton Abbey wines -- Bordeaux clarets and blancs will be introduced in time for season 4.

According to Fox News:  The range of Bordeaux clarets and whites are the type of clarets imported by the British aristocracy from France in the early 1900s. The recreated wines are from grapes grown on the same vines and from the same soil as the era depicted in Downton Abbey.

I wonder if Carson would approve of the wine.

Sources:  HuffingtonPost.com and FoxNews.com

Tableware affects how food tastes

I thought this was fascinating. . . see the full story (super short article). 

The size, weight, shape and color of your cutlery can affect how food tastes, a new study suggests. In the research, participants thought white yogurt tasted sweeter than pink-colored yogurt when eaten from a white spoon, but the reverse was true when a black spoon was used, reported usnews.com. Full Story

Drink Recipe: Strawberry Ginger Basil Cocktail

I needed a refreshing drink during pool time this afternoon and made this cocktail inspired by the recipe in this week's US Weekly.  It's simply:  muddled strawberries and basil, strawberry vodka, and topped with Fever Tree Ginger Beer.  It was a little sweet for my taste, so next time, I'll use less ginger beer and top it off with club soda.

The recipe in US Weekly is called Grey Goose Paradise Presse -- the cocktail was served at the L.A. Dance Project Gala held earlier this month and uses orange juice, strawberry juice, Grey Goose Le Citron vodka, sugar, club soda, strawberries and basil.  (No ginger beer.)  The headline touts that Rashida Jones and Natalie Portman "toss back this berry refreshing aperitif." 

Yes, berry refreshing!