Bottleshock

Dear lovely foodies,

I am so sorry that it has been so long in between posts...all 3 of you must really be torn up about it! But, it has been a really busy couple of weeks in my little world recently. It's been so busy, that I have been (gasp) eating out a lot! Yes, I would say that in the past 10 days I've eaten out more than I would like to say. But, the great thing about eating out, is that it gives me inspiration to try out what I just ate at home. And, it gives my pots and pans (and manicures) a much needed night or nights off.

My favorite restaurant dish of all time has to be the Chicken Bryan at Carrabba's. For those of you that aren't carrabba's addicts like me, Chicken Bryan is a perfectly sauteed chicken breast topped with goat cheese, fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes and a lemon-butter reduction sauce. It is simply divine. I have had it a number of times, and it wasn't until recently, that I even attempted to make it. It seemed so complex and fancy. But really, when you think about it, it's just a few ingredients.

I had a request on Sunday to make a roast, but with the beef roast frozen solid at 11am, I knew that wasn't going to be an option. So, my mind drifted to something that both me and my hubby love...Chicken Bryan.

The menu was going to be similar in style to carrabba's. They serve a lovely sauteed spinach with fresh garlic and really, it is so easy. I also had some asparagus in the fridge that were begging to be roasted, so I got those out as well. I also had some "cavatappi" pasta in the pantry. For those of you not familiar, it is a corkscrew like pasta that I have come to have love, although not all in my household share the same affinity for it. But I think they might be coming around. I also wanted some garlic bread, so I used two sandwich ciabatta rolls and brushed them with olive oil and topped with fresh basil and chopped garlic.

I think I figured out what makes the chicken at carrabba's so great. For one, it's probably swimming in butter, but also, they do such a good job trimming it. And I don't just mean the fat, I mean all the connective tissue as well. I know that's not appetizing to think about, but trimming all that way really leaves you with tender poultry. Basically, all I did for the chicken was get some EVOO up to a medium high heat in a heavy bottom skillet. I seasoned the chicken breasts LIGHTLY with salt and heavily with pepper. I went light on the salt, (for once) because the goat cheese has such a high salt content that if you over-salt the chicken you will end up with something that resembles a salt lick. Once the chicken had browned nicely on both sides, I topped it with goat cheese, (not feta, but chevre) fresh basil and sun-dried tomato. Top it off with a little bit of a lemon-butter sauce and you are looking at one good tastin' chicken dish.

Side note about lemon-butter sauce. This is one finicky sauce. Too high of heat, the sauce separates, too low of heat, the sauce gets cloudy. OY. Still working on perfecting that one. I'm tempted to just walk back in the grill line at carrabba's and ask one of those nice young men if he'll share his lemon-butter sauce recipe with me.....or maybe not.

Let's talk about asparagus for a minute. They are most delicious (to me) when bathed (lightly) in olive and course ground salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes, juice half a lemon over it, and you have the most heavenly, crispy, salty, asparagus-y tasting veggie ever. Even if you say you don't like asparagus, try it like this and let me know what you think.

The spinach....oh I do love sauteed spinach. It's amazing how a whole bag of the stuff cooks down to nothing. I took a picture of the amount of spinach I started with just to give you an idea. This cooked down to enough for 2 people with a little bit left over. All I did with the spinach was heat some olive oil over high heat and throw in some minced fresh garlic. Then, toss in the spinach leaves and mix them around until they are wilted...so easy and so good.

Now, on to the pasta. I took one can of diced tomatoes, added sauteed garlic, a splash of white wine and some red pepper flakes and simmered over low heat. Once the pasta was done, I combined the pasta with the sauce. This kind of pasta begs to be tossed with the sauce because it really has the ability to absorb the sauce. Topped with freshly grated parmigianno reggiano. The only bad thing about this pasta is getting it to stay on your fork-they really are slippery little suckers!

Well, this post wouldn't be complete with out one last thing. I have to tell you what I'm drinking with this! The white wine that I'm drinking at the moment is nothing to write home about. It's a great everyday table white, but nothing note worthy. But...the red that I'm drinking is very note worthy. (Actually not so much the wine itself but rather the winery). It's so note worthy in fact they made a movie about it! Chateau Montelena winery is located in Napa Valley and has been in business since the late 1800's. Chateau Montelena gained the world's attention when their 1973 chardonnay won the 1976 Paris tasting. It ranked above the top white French burgundies and was tasted by the snobbiest of French wine judges. Chateau Montelena put California wines on the map and showed the rest of the world that the hippies in California could make a better wine than the French! The movie is called "Bottleshock" if you are looking for something to add to your netflix list.
I picked up a bottle of their 2006 Zinfandel a few weeks ago, and it's very good. The 2007 got stellar reviews, and was just released this past spring so I will look forward to getting a bottle and seeing if I can taste a difference.

I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings, because I certainly enjoy writing all of this.

Cheers and happy cooking,
Rosie

For the love of Garlic

Good morning fellow foodies,

I really love re-creating a restaurant dish at home. There is such an accomplished feeling that I get when I can whip up (almost) the exact same thing that I normally would pay good money for at a fraction of the cost. As a side note, I also have a hard time paying $10 a glass for a mediocre chardonnay when I can buy a whole bottle of the same darn thing for less. Oh, the shameless markup of wine in restaurants, but I feel that is a topic for another blog entirely.

I had this dish once a while ago in a buca di beppo. I think it was called shrimp Diablo (shrimp of the devil) or something along those lines. It basically is just a few things, crushed tomatoes, lots-o-garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, a touch of white wine, ( hey, look folks,we’re cooking with wine!) all sautéed up with big shrimp and tossed with al dente spaghetti. It was really good and while I was eating it, I was thinking, ‘I could so make this…’

Speaking of lots-o-garlic, I’m fairly certain that garlic comes out my pores at times. I once worked with a guy who definitely like his cocktails, and when he would sweat, tequila would permeate out of his pores. Mmmm….sweaty tequila. (Not). I much prefer sweating garlic if I had to choose, but I digress. I purchased the mother load of peeled fresh garlic during one of my latest trips to the famed warehouse costco. It’s 3 pounds of pure garlic goodness. Yes, I really did buy 3 pounds of garlic and yes, I only cook for 2 people. So, as you can imagine, I have been handing out Ziploc baggies of garlic cloves to people like a drug dealer. But, when you buy enough garlic to feed the entire state of Florida, you have to share the wealth. On the bright side, our condo is free from vampires.

Well, since this dish’s main ingredient was shrimp, I set out to find the perfect ones. I am plagued with what I like to call “shrimp apprehension.” It all stems from a very bad experience I had about a year ago with sour shrimp in a shrimp curry. It took me a good while to get over that and to work up the courage to put another shrimp in my mouth. It’s not unusual for me to ask the person behind the seafood counter if I can smell the shrimp before I buy it. I don’t care if he thinks I’m one grape short a fruit salad, I refuse to relive that dreaded sour shrimp night again. My nose does not lie, so take that Mr. Seafood man.

I have made this dish once before at home a few weeks ago, and loved the simplicity of it. It’s just a few simple steps. First, finely chop the garlic gloves. I recommend chopping over putting them through a garlic press to really keep the garlic flavor/texture in tact because there aren’t a lot of ingredients in this so every flavor is at the front. Sauté up the garlic in olive oil for about 3 minutes. Add 2 cans diced tomatoes, a touch of red pepper flakes, salt, and about ½ cup white wine. Let this all cook down while your spaghetti is cooking to al dente. Once your spaghetti has cooked, drain it and give it a cold shock of water to stop the cooking process. To the tomato sauce, add your shrimp. I had previously cooked shrimp, so placing the shrimp in the sauce was essentially just warming them up, not cooking them. I also added a touch of cream to the sauce, although it’s not in the buca di beppo version. It just sweetens up the sauce a little bit and makes a nice soft pink color. Add your pasta and toss to incorporate all of the ingredients in the pan. I served with chopped fresh basil and freshly grated parmigianno regiano. Everything is better with cheese.

Side note about shrimp….I was disappointed last night with them. It’s hard to find good shrimp in this town, which you wouldn’t think would be the case since we live on the COAST but whatever. The best shrimp that I have found are sold at Costco on the weekends. They are mammoth shrimp that were fed steroids; I think one shrimp is about ½ pound! If I saw one of those things in the water I would run away. But they are good and fresh. Fresh is KEY when it comes to seafood.

Something I would like to briefly mention before I close is how thankful I am for my fellow food enthusiast husband. He understands and appreciates good food. He is always game to try one of my new concoctions and always gives me honest feedback. Thanks hubby for being such an appreciative guinea pig. You rock.

Well foodies, it’s time I leave you. But I did take some pictures so I do hope you enjoy.

Cheers and happy cooking,

Crispy chicken skin, my personal fav.

Good morning dear cooking enthusiasts,
I realize that is is probably a bad decision to start my first real post about cooking and have it be about chicken, but you know what, oh well. It was a really good dish that I made up on the fly. Sometimes I cook straight from recipes, sometimes I cook a variation of that same recipe. I think I have the most fun in the kitchen when I make something that doesn't come right out of a book. Which is exactly what I did on Sunday night.
I love when I can use what is in my freezer ( granted, it's not a huge freezer, I do live in a condo) but you would be amazed at the stuff that I squirrel away in it. Anyway, I had some skin on chicken thighs left over from a chicken picatta gratin recipe that I had made a few weeks ago, and I stumbled on 5 lonely chicken thighs in a ziploc and decided I needed to do something with them.
Since it was a Sunday night, I felt the need for something a little "roast-y" if you know what I mean. But, for me, my deal breaker about chicken is that if the skin is left on, it must be crispy and browned. It's the only way to go.
I heated about 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Let me explain why I used vegetable oil. As a life long lover/believer in extra virgin olive oil (first cold press from Greece is just about the only thing I will use), it is sometimes hard to bring out that unromantic wesson oil bottle. But, my dears, every thing has it's place in the kitchen. Vegetable oil allows you to come to a very high heat with out scorching the oil, where olive oil does not. Yes, you could do the chicken in olive oil, but this is one of the rare occasions that I will say reach for the wesson.
I seasoned the skin side of my chicken breasts with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and a touch of poultry seasoning. Once the oil began to ripple and slightly smoke, I put the chicken skin side down in the pan and let the magic happen. It's a good idea to put a splatter screen over the pan to avoid a mess (and 2nd degree burns) because this chicken is going to POP like a son of a gun. Once the skin has browned nicely, ( about 4 minutes) flip it over for an additional 2 minutes.
I mentioned earlier that I wanted a "roast-y" feel since it was Sunday, so here is my variation on that.
I took some carrots, celery, onion, and whole fresh cloves of garlic and scattered them around the bottom of my baking dish. I cut the carrots, celery and onion into julienne strips so they would cook faster. ( Since my chicken had a head start on cooking in the skillet). Then I added about a cup of chicken stock to the veggies and placed the chicken, skin side up on top of the veggies, covered with foil, and baked for 35 minutes. I took the foil off after 35 minutes and let it cook for an additional 10 minutes to absorb some of the moisture. I wish I had taken a picture, because this is such a pretty dish. The brown chicken skin standing on top of a bed of celery, onions, carrots and garlic was really nice to look at it. And it tasted even better.
All of that chicken-y goodness got sealed in when I browned the chicken. Then, by cooking it over the veggies and chicken stock, it sealed in a lot of flavor.
I served with some mashed potatoes, ( another Sunday night comfort food) steamed broccoli with fresh lemon and pepper, and a simple tomato salad.
It was a simple meal, but sometimes, simple meals are the best.

Well, there won't be much cooking going on in my house tonight due to scheduling conflicts, but I already have an idea for Wednesday night and I think you are going to like it.

Cheers and happy cooking,
Rosie

Here we go...

I love to cook. In this day and age, it seems like the number of people who say that are becoming less and less. Our world is go-go-go all the time, and more often than not that translates into our cooking and eating habits. Don't get me wrong, I love a quick-fix meal just as much as the next working gal trying to keep her head above water.(Thank the good Lord for my cuisinart panini press and costco rotisserie chickens for you have saved me many nights). But, when I have the time, ( which seems to be more now than ever with my husband buried in a graduate program that requires about 28 hours of studying a day), I find myself with plenty of spare time. So, what better do with that time than pour a glass of wine and get in the kitchen and cook something delicious and sometimes even healthy! Please take note of the word "sometimes" in the previous sentence. I say this because I have a public love affair with butter.

I'm not saying that I am a classically trained chef. In fact I'm far from it. What I am is a person that simply loves food and loves a good glass of wine with it. I love the experience of cooking, the smells, the sounds, and most of all the joy that comes from feeding your loved ones something that they actually like. Hearing a yum or a groan of appreciation goes a long way with me after I've been spattered with hot oil or had to climb on top of the dining room table to fan the blaring smoke detector with a dish towel.

So, here we go people. I would like to take you on my journeys in the kitchen and see how this whole things turns out. Who knows, maybe by the time you read about how much I like being in the kitchen, you might just put down that take out menu and pick up a spatula!

Cheers and happy cooking,
Rosie