February 8, 2010
Patience is a funny thing. Apparently, if you let me remove something tasty (especially something that smells like cinnamon-y heaven) from the oven and tell me to “wait,” I think patience is overrated. This was supposed to resemble what most people call “Monkey Bread.” You know… that bundt-shaped mound of cinnamon roll-y cake that you pull apart with your hands?
See – I did everything right… I made the little balls of dough, dipped them in melted butter, and rolled them in cinnamon sugar. Then, I piled them into a bundt pan. See?
Such good intentions...
And then…. The oven went beep beep beep. I cracked the door and the most satisfying smell ever filled my nostrils. I was suddenly overcome with happiness, excitement, and hunger. And I completed ignored the recipe I’d been following. Patience IS a funny thing.
It’s a good thing that sometimes, when you ignore instructions, everything still turns out perfectly.
Recipe: Cinnamon Dough Bites
February 5, 2010
Sorry for the brief lapse in posting… after the “big” snow hit us, it seemed like all we could do was trudge to work, trudge home, snuggle up, and sleep. We did fit in a few good meals, though. This couscous was created on a day when it was just too darn cold to go to the store. So, we gathered a few things from the fridge/imaginary pantry (no pantry..just a bunch of crowded cabinets) and made this little gem of a meal. We’ve had it twice since that night…because it’s just so dang good.
Since we usually try to make hearty, meat-y meals when it’s cold (see braised squab, rack of lamb, and gumbo, ETC) on cold days, this meal seemed a little bit boring when we first conceived of it, but it certainly surprised us. It’s pretty healthy, it’s vegetarian, and it’s quick to make (those 3 things don’t often define our cooking), but it’s also exceptionally tasty.
Recipe: Mediterranean Couscous
February 2, 2010
Quiche is a brunch staple. At least it is in our house. This recipe is very basic and can be altered to include almost any filling. We happened to have sausage, spinach, cheese and onion, but you could easily substitute different types of cheese, and add other fillings (even making it vegetarian).
This pie crust is from Nick Malgieri’s Modern Baker cookbook, and is super easy. And…homemade pie crust makes ALL the difference, so try it.
Recipe: Sausage, Spinach, and Onion Quiche/Basic Quiche
January 31, 2010
Mangoes were 2 for $1 at Fresh Market this week… and
Sandy and Kate’s story about the mangoes in Malawi made me crave mangoes like you wouldn’t believe. So..over to Fresh Market we went, bought some mangoes, and then decided that they would be super tasty with pork… but with what kind of pork? AH HA moment: leftover bbq.
It’s not too often, unfortunately, that we make things like burritos… because, truth be told, this was a serious comfort-food meal. And perfectly appropriate for
a snowy weekend.
before wrapping
January 30, 2010
This weekend, we’re celebrating two momentous occasions from last weekend. We’ll go in chronological order. First – on Saturday (January 23rd), it was National Pie Day. We’re a whole week late in getting this post up and running, but we promise that this pie was officially made on Pie Day itself. (We have our friend Kevin to thank for the inspiration and the heads-up about the holiday!)
We thought about making our Chocolate Chess Pie for the holiday, but we just posted that in January. Then, we thought about a variation on our Summer Berry Pie, but it is January and we weren’t sure we could pull that off in a non-frozen kind of way. So – our choice took us back to our New Orleans roots (we’ve talked about these before…)
Which leads us to the second momentous occasion last weekend. THE SAINTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!! We’re not excited. Clearly.
Recipe: Pecan Pie
January 28, 2010
As it turns out, I have a pretty serious love/hate relationship with the word casserole.
- “Casserole” … a piece of cookware. No problem with that..
- “Casserole”… a way to serve 10 people an “easy” dinner (aka chunk of slop next to a side salad). Wince. Puke.
- “Casserole”… a clever way to conceal the fact that 6 sticks of butter is what makes that squash so delicious. I have a huge problem with that.
- “Casserole”… the piece of cookware that works well to hold lots of healthy, yummy ingredients together…Getting better.
Note: This recipe says nothing about being a casserole. You see, even though some of you might call this dish a “casserole,” I refuse. Yes, it was baked in a casserole dish…it’s some pasta, some sausage, some cheese, some healthy greens, and some fresh tomato…all baked to perfection together. It is not slop. It is not hiding 6 sticks of butter…in fact, it’s quite healthy. So, in my life, it is NOT a casserole.
Recipe: Rigatoni with Sausage and Kale
January 27, 2010
We’ve been meaning to share this recipe with you for a long time. I grew up calling this “Mom’s Fudge,” but maybe it’s an older family recipe? Mom, please weigh in on this….
We made a ton of this fudge around Christmas time, and enjoyed giving it to friends…and keeping it in the fridge for munching all season, too! This fudge makes a great “thinking of you” gift, or a fun thing to bring to a party.
The original recipe is for Peanut Butter Fudge and uses 1 cup of crunchy peanut butter…but Mom usually spices things up a bit and makes a few different batches – some with Heath Bar pieces, some with peppermint, etc etc. This is a versatile recipe that you can really have fun with.
Thanks, Mom!
Recipe: Mom’s Peanut Butter Fudge
January 25, 2010
You know I like cheesecake… you also know that I suddenly love phyllo dough. What you may not know is that when the two are combined, it fills you (me) to the brim with love and happiness.
So, we had some phyllo dough laying around… and you’re not really supposed to keep it for long as it will dry out. We had to think of a way to use it up – and this is what we came up with…little phyllo cups filled with pecan pieces and honey and a cheesecake-y mixture. I feel sure that this is one of the most fabulous ideas we’ve ever had. The not-so-fabulous part of the whole ordeal is that we each ate WAY too many of these over a two day period. Darn.
Recipe: Honey Pecan Cheesecake Bites
January 23, 2010
Happy Saturday morning!
We woke up hungry. (We shouldn’t have, after our Moroccan Lamb Chop dinner last night – more on that later..but, it happened, so we baked.) We made biscuits this morning. Not just any biscuits, either. These are Mrs. Robert Oliver Maquire’s biscuits. You’ll understand that once you click on the recipe…
Once these were out of the oven and piping hot, we lined up the most ridiculous row of jams, jellies, and honey you’ve ever seen. We prefer these with honey drizzled over top (which was especially good since Ginny brought us honey from Prague!) or topped with Macallan Orange Marmalade (yes, that jelly has scotch in it – I don’t know, ask Gardner).
Maybe you’ve seen this post a little too late to make these today…but try them tomorrow, maybe. How will you eat them? What will you put on top/inside?? Let us know!
Baking Powder Biscuits
Recipe: Baking Powder Biscuits
January 22, 2010
We just passed several important culinary milestones. First – we cooked our first squab (yes, basically, that’s a pigeon, but a delicious one at that). Second, we had to start from scratch on preparing this bird – at $10 per pound, they’re kind enough to include the head, feet, and guts all still intact. It wasn’t a pretty picture, and we recommend having this done for you. Third, we managed to make use of our herb garden in January, but that’s only because rosemary is a rock star and will live no matter what temperature it is outside or how much you ignore it.
To cook this squab, our first source of inspiration was the Cooks Illustrated Poultry collection book, which we checked out at the local library. They recommend braising it with sage and pancetta, but since our sage died, we changed it up a little bit. The rosemary flavor was great going along with this rich meat.
Also – we’ve talked about this before – sometimes we cook things that aren’t frugal. Rack of lamb, squab, filet mignon, and other delicacies are rarely cheap, but we try to find ways to make the dollar go a little bit further with these recipes. So, you’ll see on this recipe that we’ve priced the items and it comes to an amount that is decidedly not frugal for two servings. It’s much cheaper than you’ll find at a restaurant (with admittedly smaller portions), but it’s still not incredibly frugal, especially considering the impossibility of avoiding a nice pinot noir to go along with this dinner. So, when you’ve got a few extra bucks, buy some squab, braise it, and live it up.
Recipe: Braised Squab
