Two for the Price of One!

I can multi-task! I swear! Even though I haven't been doing much blogging lately...but what can I say? I have a job, and a husband, and a town house that seems perpetually messy. Excuses! Anyway, for your enjoyment not one, but TWO summery recipes for your eating enjoyment and as a bonus neither of these will heat up your house. Whoo hoo!

Blue Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes
Adapted from Bon Appetite July 2008

This recipe can be infinitely doubled, tripled, or quartered. Below are (very) approximate measurements for two people. Put them on top of simple grilled steaks and love it.

2 or 3 ripe beefsteak tomatoes
2-3 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp olive oil

Mix the cheese, oil, and bread crumbs in a small bowl to blend. (I have added a splash of balsamic vinegar and a clove of garlic to this with excellent results). Cut about a a half inch off the top of the tomatoes and stuff the tomatoes with the cheese mixture. Put the tomatoes on a hot grill until cheese is melty and delicious looking. (Don't you love my precise grilling directions? Mmm, I thought so.)


Bobby Flay's Green Onion Slaw

A must bring to your next bbq invite, they will think you're a genius. Also, it's ridiculously easy.

1 bunch big green onions
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 serrano chilies
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 cup olive oil
1 small red onion chopped
1 head purple cabbage shredded (this can be done with the disk on your food processor)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Put the first five ingredients in the food processor and blend until emulsified. Put the cabbage and red onion in a bowl. Toss the dressing with cabbage and onion and gently add cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches

Best. Sandwich. Ever. Sweet peppers, spicy mayo, crisp greens. Everything I would want in a sandwich. Why did my husband love it? Easy. Chipotle mayo. Without a doubt his favorite condiment, and without a doubt the easiest yet fanciest-sounding condiment to make. In other words, a win-win situation. They kept really well and I think the flavors came together just about perfectly after sitting in the cooler for a few hours.

I mention the cooler because this sandwich was part of our lunch during our lovely trip to the Northern Neck. We visited wineries and took in some lovely views. As far as wineries we found two that we really liked. Ingleside Winery http://www.ipwine.com/--in the business for 30 years (!) which is practically unheard of in Virginia. Their wine is great, definitely worth the trip. The other winery we liked has only been open a few years but their wine was also great and they have a beautiful property. http://www.thehaguewinery.com/ So nice to find a few options outside of our normal Northern Virginia Routes.

Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches

Adapted from Bon Appétite June 1997

Makes 4 sandwiches

2-3 (or more depending on how much chipotle you like) chipotle chilies in adobo, chopped

1/4 cup of mayo

1/2 pound sliced deli chicken

1/4 pound Montery Jack cheese

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 sliced tomato

1 bunch of your favorite greens

4 whole wheat rolls toasted if you like

Brush the peppers with olive oil. Either in the oven or on the grill roast the peppers until they have black blisters and are soft. Let them cool in a paper bag then peel, seed, and cut into slices. Whisk together the chipotle chilies and mayo until incorporated.

Spread mayo on the bottom of the roll and stack chicken, greens, cheese, tomato, and peppers (or whatever way you want to stack!) Spread mayo on top of the roll, smush together and love it.

Cranberry Almond Granola

What initially drew me to this recipe was: nuts! shredded coconut! dried cranberries! Then I realized: hey there's not an obscene amount of sugar in this, and hey there's no butter in this granola....awesome! Also, Ken kept talking about trying to find granola at one of the "winter" farmer's market and I thought to myself, "Well why don't I just make it!" So, I did and it was pretty good, but next time I think I would add more "stuff".

Cranberry Almond Granola

Adapted from Bon Appetite June 2003

I'm not going to include measurements with this one because it really depends on what you like. Maybe you like less coconut, maybe you want more pecans, or maybe you would rather have dried blueberries instead of cranberries...whatever! However, I will note that I did use 2 cups of oats as a base for this. Anyway without further ado:

2 cups of oats

pecans

almonds

shredded coconut

dried cranberries

cinnamon

all spice

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup frozen cranberry juice concentrate

vegetable oil spray

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the cinnamon, all spice, sugar, and juice in a medium sauce pan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour hot syrup over oats mixtures and stir to coat. Spread mixture onto prepared baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Stir the granola and bake another 12 minutes, until granola begins to dry. Granola will keep up to a week.

Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

OMG you guys! I ended up having a last second dinner party two weekends ago. My dream come true! We had truckloads of appetizers, pizza, and most most importantly: the brown butter raspberry tart.

Yes, I was terrified that I was going to either a.) burn the butter or b.) get scared and not brown it enough and my tart would be a greasy mess. However, this dessert was much easier than I imagined and it turned out beautifully.

Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

From Bon Appétite June 2009

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter diced

2 containers raspberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together sugar, eggs, and salt in a bowl to blend. Add flour and vanilla, whisk until smooth.

Cook butter in a heavy large saucepan (use a light colored pan so you can see the butter brown). When the butter is brown and smells nutty pour immediately into a glass measuring cup. Let cool slightly then slowly whisk it into the flour mixture.

Place the raspberries point side up in a circular pattern in the tart crust and pour the custard mixture over the raspberries. Bake until the tart is puffed and golden, about 40 minutes.

I'm sure at this point you're all, "Wait, where's the crust recipe?" Well, I used the crust method found here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/the-great-unshrinkable-sweet-tart-shell/

It went fairly well for me, however I must have been half out to lunch when I made it because I straight up forgot to make double thick sides! That's like crust making 101! Well, I was kind of upset with myself but it still turned out nicely, which is a testament to how good this method is.

Leek Confit with Herb Goat Cheese

This weekend ended up being a weekend of discovery:

1. We found an excellent excellent winery in Maryland! Black Ankle Vineyards http://www.blackankle.com/

2. I do not hate banana nut bread as I have previously told many many people. I like my mother in law's; probably because she does not use anything resuming a mix for it.

3. After exhaustive research (aka wasting time at work) I have determined that you can confit just about anything. As the all knowing Wikipedia tells us: confit is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavor and preservation. Sealed and stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months. Confit is one of the oldest ways to preserve food and is a speciality of southwestern France. So there you have it! This means it will not take you two days to make this recipe. In fact, it will take about 30 minutes. Epicurious suggests putting this over scrambled eggs in the morning which I could totally picture...but alas we ate it all.

Leek Confit with Goat Cheese

Bon Appetite October 2008

¼ cup (half stick) butter

4 large leeks white and pale green parts only halved lengthwise and cleaned

2 tbsp water

½ tsp salt

4 oz. softened goat cheese

Crackers or toasts

Melt the butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add the leeks and turn to coat. Stir in water and salt. Cover and cook until leeks are very tender, about 20-25 minutes. While leeks are cooking spread soft goat cheese on crackers or toasts. When leeks are done spoon on top of prepared toasts. Serve warm.

White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Dip

This recipe could go a million different ways. I think next time I make it I will add a bit of red wine vinegar and a few fresh chives. Ken and I enjoyed this with "cucumber chips) aka a sliced up cucumber and a glass of Fabbioli wine. The weather in DC has been strangely amazing for the past few weeks and I'm starting to wonder when the backlash will hit...

Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

1 can of cannelini beans or navy beans

3 oz cream cheese, or goat cheese, or boursin, or mascarpone...(I used goat cheese)

1 small jar roasted red peppers

1 garlic clove

lemon juice to taste

salt and pepper to taste

My philosophy with dips is to throw it all into the food processor and let Cuisinart sort it out. Which is exactly what I did here and it was lovely. I will never tell you to mice a garlic clove before putting it in the food processor. How silly!

Marinated Pork Loin with Pineapple Salsa

That collective sigh you heard this weekend was the East Coast basking in the sunshine. All those rumors that we're a hateful bunch of pale people are suddenly no longer true! To celebrate, Ken and I went to some of our favorite Loudon Count wineries and had a picnic. This post is not about that picnic (which was pretty good IMHO) it is about the dinner that evening.

I think next time I would add either hot sauce or a chili of some sort to the salsa. Not that it wasn't flavorful but I usually prefer hotter salsas. (Yes, that lovely looking citrus salad you see in the background? All in good time my friends...)

From Self April 2008

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp hot chili powder

1/2 cup orange juice

3 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pork loin, trimmed

1 small pineapple cut into small cubes

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 red bell pepper, seeded sliced thin

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Cooking spray

Whisk the first five ingredients together and pour over pork into a bowl. Allow the pork to marinate for at least 3 hours.

Combine the pineapple, juice, pepper, onion, and basil and let stand at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to mingle.

Lite a grill. Remove the pork from marinade and pat dry. Grill turning only once about 18-20 minutes or until internal temperature is 160. Let stand at room temperature about 10 minutes then slice and serve with salsa.

Piselli con Asparagi e Basilico

The Italian name for this dish sounds so pretty for something so stupid easy. The title is literally what it is: peas, asparagus, and basil. Sauteed with a few shallots in olive oil and you're in for one of the more refreshing dishes I've made in a long time. And if you can find farm fresh peas I bet this will be even better. Sadly, I had to use frozen...alas only 4 more weeks until the farmer's market is mine again!

From Gourmet April 2008

2 shallots chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch asparagus cut into half inch dice

2 cups fresh or frozen peas

Handful fresh torn basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook shallots in oil until just tender; about 4 minutes. Stir in peas, asparagus, salt, and pepper and cover. Cook until vegetables are just al dente about 8 minutes. Add basil, a little salt, and serve.

Fennel and Celery Salad

The other name for this salad is Dama Bianca. When translated properly means: the best thing you've had in a long long time. Or "woman in white"...either way, the light color is truly striking.

I was unsure of this because believe it or not I have never had fennel raw. Seriously! And oh how delicious it was. I recommend tossing the celery and fennel with the dressing ahead of time to let the flavors mingle. It was well worth it. Important note: now 100% confirmed...even better the next day!

Adapted slightly from Gourmet April 2008

2 fennel bulbs sliced thin

4 inner stalks of celery sliced thinly on the diagonal

1 ball fresh mozzarella shredded

½ tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

6 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch torn basil

salt and pepper to taste

Wisk together the zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and toss with the celery, fennel, and basil. Let stand up to one hour to allow the flavors to mingle. Add the cheese when ready to serve.

Sauteed Apples: A Rare Breakfast

It is a very rare thing when I make breakfast in this house. Breakfast is Ken's domain, filled with lots of omlettes and even more breakfast sandwiches. I actually had to request that I be allowed to make this breakfast dish and luckily we both liked it. This recipe goes with the lemon ricotta pancakes but I served them with regular old pancakes and it was great way to jazz them up. Throw in a slice of turkey bacon and mmm mmm mmmmmmmmmm.

Sauteed Apples

Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

3-4 peeled, cored, and sliced Granny Smith apples

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

A squeeze or two of lemon

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the apples. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the apples and add the lemon. Stir it up and keep the mixture warm until ready to serve.

Easy peasy! And delicious.

A Salad Story

For a long time my philosophy with salad was to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, make some dressing, and ta-da! Salad! These days I am trying to pare down the amount of ingredients and make more simplified, dare I say "elegant" salad. Enter, spiced pecans. They are so simple and if you serve them to guests they will say, "Where on Earth did you buy these." And you can smile and say, "Oh, why I made them." Little does your guest know that you can make these almost a week ahead of time and snack on them all you want.

Though I could have eaten all of them straight from the pan, instead I put them in a salad. Along with sliced pears, blue cheese crumbles, and few thinly sliced shallots. YUM. However this salad could have easily been apples and goat cheese or any other combo of fruit and cheese, or leave out one or the other, go nuts! I'm not here to judge you.

Spiced Pecans

Adapted from Fine Cooking December 2009 and smittenkitchen.com

1 cup pecan pieces or any other nuts

3 tbsp light corn syrup

1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

salt

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a large baking sheet with vegetable oil. Stir together the corn syrup and the spices. Fold in the nuts. Spread the nut mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown and sizzling.

For Salad:

1 bunch leafy greens (I used spinach)

3 medium sized bosc pears chopped

1 cup spiced pecans

1/2 cup (or more) blue cheese crumbles

2 thinly sliced shallots (I soaked mine in vinegar to make them soft and hell, I like 'em that way.)

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl with your favorite salad dressing.

Broiled Ricotta with Olives and Sun-Dried Tomato Relish

Oh Internet, what a weekend for this home cook! Everything turned out fabulous and I have days of posts to share with you! I had hoped that the pizza would be the first one to follow the ricotta recipe but that one is so involved and I am still working on it. So, instead for your eating pleasure, please enjoy this delightful and easy little appetizer.

I made this on Saturday night and it ended up being a great way to use up some of my fresh ricotta. My only minor regret is that I could have left the cheese under the broiler just a little longer. Important to note: your cheese WILL start to bubble like crazy but be not afraid! Let the cheese become golden before pulling it out of the oven.

Adapted slightly from Food & Wine November 2008 (I halved this recipe but it could be easily doubled, tripled, quartered, etc. Below are the original proportions)

1/2 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes

2 tsp minced shallot

2 tsp minced flat leaf parsley

1 tsp chopped oregano

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp lemon zest

Sprinkle of crushed red pepper

2 tbsp olive oil (which I strongly disagree with, the oil from the tomatoes is more than enough. I ended up using a little less than 1 tbsp), plus more for brushing

1/4 cup brine cured pitted olives, coarsely chopped

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 garlic clove, split

1 baguette or other country style bread

salt

Preheat the oven to 400°, and combine the first 9 ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Slice the baguette and brush each side with olive oil and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Toast bread in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden and crusty. Remove baking sheet from oven and rub the bread with the split garlic clove.

Preheat the broiler. Spread the ricotta in a shallow glass dish and drizzle with oil. Place under the broiler for about 10 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Spread ricotta on toasts and spoon relish on top.

Back in the Saddle with Fresh Ricotta!

It's true I made cheese! Something I thought I would never ever do until I realized how freaking easy it was to make ricotta. I used Barbara Lynch's recipe from her FABULOUS FABULOUS cookbook Stir. There are so many recipes I am dying to try from her book. Now that winter seems to be finally over hopefully family will be willing to visit us so I can stuff them full with delicious Italian food.

The only two non-everyday things you will need are cheesecloth and a cooking thermometer. So, go forth! And make cheese.

Taken from Stir

1 gallon whole milk

3/4 cup white distilled vinegar

1 tbsp kosher salt

Fit a large footed colander with a double layer of cheesecloth and place in a clean sink.

Pour all ingredients into a large stock pot fitted with a cooking thermometer and turn on low heat. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it reaches 140 degrees. Barb claims this will take 10 minutes but for me it took much longer--probably 20 minutes. Once the mixture reaches 140 stop stirring and let the liquid come to 175 degrees. As soon as it hits 180 remove the pot from the heat. Don't let the mixture get past 180 otherwise it will turn grainy.

Ladle out the curds into the colander with cheesecloth and let drain 1 hour. If not using right away chill in a container in the fridge, up to one week. And that's it! Easy as cheese. Use it on anything.

Note: the other option for draining your cheese is to tie up the cheesecloth with string and secure the bundle on a cabinet nob with a bowl underneath. As much as I wanted to do this I figured my cats would be far too excited by easily accessible cheese-water.

Look for this cheese appearing in a pizza in the very near future!

Winter Blahs

I promise I'm working very hard on my post all about our Charlottesville wine experience. Really! It's just taking much more time than I expected, plus I haven't even uploaded the pictures yet, plus I'm totally drained and need another day off. I am officially sick of winter. I yearn for the days when I don't even think about coats and sandals are standard footwear. I am dying to get back to the farmer's market and have a really fresh caprese salad when I get home. I am determined to go fruit picking this coming season as often as possible and I will be canning!

Until then I am beyond pleased to watch the snow melt and count the days until March (8!).

Virginia wine post tomorrow (hopefully).

Virginia Wine-Charlottesville Edition

For Valentine's Day Ken and I decided to treat ourselves to a trip to Charlottesville. Usually on Valentine's we stay home, one of us cooks dinner and the other makes dessert (feel free to gag at any time). However, to celebrate our first Valentine's as a married couple we decided some sort of trip was in order. And one of our favorite Charlottesville wineries just happened to be having a wine dinner so it made the decision easy.

Here is a sampling of some of the best places we visited, in no particular order:

Keswick- This was one of our first stops on our way to Charlottesville. Keswick won the Virginia Governor's Cup last year for their 2007 Cabernet Savigion , so we were hopeful that it would be worth the stop. Thankfully, it was. They have a lovely tasting room with something I don't think I've ever seen before: bar stools. What an excellent idea! Though I will say they should add a few more. The wines were solid throughout the tasting. I personally enjoyed the unoaked and oaked Viogniers and the reds were also very tasty. I'm please to see that winemakers are really playing with Norton to take away some of the over-riding jaminess and making it more approachable. It's becoming one of my favorite wines.

Blenheim- This is one of the newer wineries in the Charlottesville area-and they have a female wine maker! Not something you see very often in the industry. Their tasting room is beautiful and I wished it was spring so we could have had our picnic on their lovely balcony. Overall: the wines were good. You can tell they have a young winemaker but their wines showed lots of promise. We actually bought a Merlot which is pretty rare for us so kudos to them. If you visit: they are sort of on Kluge's property. Kluge is a huge winery and IMHO is overpriced and too snobby for their own good. But, if you really like champagne it might be worth your time.

Del Fosse- I probably can't say enough about this winery. First of all, it's beautiful. Second, the wines are amazing. Third, repeat. We had our Valentine's Day dinner here and it was lovely, though we didn't do a standard tasting. However, I did try the new Petite Verdot and it was fab. Claude (the owner) is always there and you always have an opportunity to chat with him. Their most "famous" wine is the Reserve D'Oriane (when Claude hired his wine maker he gave him the task of making three blended wines to be named after his three children) It's a white blend that is so unique it's almost no wonder why it has received so much attention.

King Family: OK, I'll be the first to admit when I saw the sign saying "Wine and Polo Matches" I almost turned around. I've been to enough wineries to spot a snobby one a mile away. However, much to my surprise (and relief) they were not as snobby as the sign would indicate. You can bring your own food! You can sit on their grounds! Surprisingly, these are The lovely thing about visiting wineries in the winter is that they are less busy. We were able to enjoy their fireplace, a glass of wine, three games of checkers, oh and of course the views. King family is nestled in a cute little valley surrounded by mountains. They have expanded their wine selection since we last visited and I was pleasantly surprised by their Chardonnay/Viognier blend.

Jefferson: Thomas Jefferson was an avid believer in Virginia Wine. He was convinced that Virginia could produce wines that rivaled France's. He never saw that come true but someone did see the advantage in putting a winery right by Monticello (which is great fun to visit) so lo and behold Jefferson Winery. This winery has also expanded its wine selection and they now have a fair extensive tasting. Surprisingly enough, we enjoyed the whites here more than the reds. Look for the Pinot Gris it's a great food friendly wine. While Jefferson may be on one of Thomas Jefferson's original vineyard sites its not much to look at. From the outside it looks a bit like a trailer. So, I would suggest checking out their website to get excited about visiting.

White Hall: Another beautiful property, with some fairly unique wines. First, the one we were most excited for: Touriga. A Portuguese varietal most commonly found in ports in the US. A few Virginia wineries use it in red blends with fairly good results. This single varietal is very ambitious and I was concerned it would be too "dirty" but this was well cleaned up and had a great berry quality. Probably would go best with lamb or venison. They also have a Syrah which is also very ambitious, especially for Virginia where Syrah and Pinot Noir are almost guaranteed to fail. However, the Syrah here was not bad, definitely much much lighter than anything to come out of Australia. Would probably need to sit for a few years to really develop.

So that concludes the quickest round up ever of Charlottesville wineries. Sorry for not using all of my own pictures but the camera was dying and I forgot the cord. I wish I could have finished this post sooner but its been an interesting 4 weeks to say the least. But, I missed hauling the camera into the kitchen with me the past few weeks so I'll get back into this blogging thing. I do have a few iphone photos but Ill have to upload them to see how well they turned out. So stay tuned! I do have more coming!

WANT

Why I don't have one yet, I'm not quite sure. *Looks disapprovingly at husband*. But, I want it; in this color only.

Pear Bread, It Keeps Getting Better

An important note before we dive into the loveliness that is this pear bread: due to the extreme weather conditions here in the DC area I have LOADS and LOADS of time on my hands to cook, blog, take pictures, repeat. I can only hope I make the time to blog once reality returns (maybe on Friday?). Until then, make this recipe to keep your house smelling delicious if you are snowed in. This bread is lovely warm with just a touch of butter on top. Special bonus: this got better on the second day so I can only imagine it will be super delicious tomorrow and the day after that!

From smittenkitchen.com

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional- I used pecans instead and lightning did not strike me down)
3/4 cup butter, softened, or 3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
2 to 4 pears firm, ripe pears, depending on size (I used 2 fairly large bosc pears with good results)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. If you’re using nuts, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and combine it in a small bowl with the chopped walnuts, stirring and tossing to coat the nuts with the flour.

In a medium bowl, combine the butter or oil, eggs, sugar, grated pear, nuts (if using), and vanilla, and stir to mix everything well. Peel and core pears, then grate them. You’ll want two grated cups total. Scrape the pear mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the flour disappears and the batter is evenly moistened.

Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the bread is handsomely browned and firm on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Roasted Chicken with Mustard Sauce! Roasted Chicken with Mustard Sauce!

This post was going to be about my pear bread but the roasted chicken blew it so far out of the water that I just had to write about it first.

First let me point out I have never roasted a whole chicken before. Prime rib, yes. Beef tenderloin, yes. Pork roast, yes. Pork tenderloin, yes. But never a chicken. Maybe it was beginner's luck, maybe it was the spice rub or the use of fennel. But, no. I assure you, the success of this recipe was directly related to one thing. Brining. I have brined once before (a turkey for Thanksgiving) and I have learned that there are two keys to a successful brine. 1. Kosher salt and lots of it. 2. Making sure the brine covers the entire piece of meat.



Even though brining is stupid easy it takes forever which is probably why most people don't do it, however I am now believer; a big believer. My chicken was delicious and juicy (as I hope yours is). The mustard sauce was just tangy enough that you could drink red wine with this meal (as we did since the office is closed YET AGAIN.) I could go on forever and ever because it is just THAT GOOD.

Adapted from Bon Appetit September 2007 and Bon Appetit October 2003

Brine:
10 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup Kosher salt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon/orange zest
3 sprigs fresh thyme plus 3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
a brining bag or oven bag
3/12 to 4 pound chicken

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a large stock pot, long enough so the salt has completely dissolved. (I let mine boil about 10-15 minutes). Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool about 1 hour.



Remove the giblets from the chicken and reserve for another use or toss them. Put the chicken in your brining/oven bag and pour the brine over the bird (it's fine for the herbs and zest to get in there too). Seal the bag and put it in the fridge (or a cooler with ice!) at least 6 hours or over night.



When you're ready to take your chicken out drain the brine and all the herbs/zest. Pat the chicken dry and let it stand uncovered for 2 hours.

Stuffing, Herb Rub, and Mustard Sauce
2 large fennel bulbs tough outer layer removed, chopped
1 large onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp of your favorite fresh herb mix (I used rosemary, thyme, and parsley)
2 tbsp crushed fennel seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups of dry white wine/chicken broth/water or a combination (which is what I did)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp of smooth Dijon mustard
1 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Place the chopped fennel and onion in a large bowl, add the garlic, half of the oil and herbs, and toss lightly.



Combine the remaining herbs and oil in another small bowl (it will be fairly thick)

Take lemon halves and rub your chicken down, squeeze a bit of juice in the cavity. Loosely stuff the chicken with the fennel and onion mixture. Place remaining mixture around the chicken. Rub the chicken with the oil and herbs and place in the oven.

Roast for about 20 minutes then pour some of the broth/wine/water mix over the chicken. Roast another 20 minutes and repeat. After the second basting, flip your bird and roast another 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear when pricked with a fork. Transfer the chicken to a plate and let stand for about 10 minutes. While chicken is standing put your roasting pan across two burners. Add any remaining wine/broth/water mix and scrape p the brown bits. Add the butter and flour. Whisk until the butter is melted and the sauce is smooth. Add mustard, whisk until smooth again. Add extra thyme, salt, and pepper.

Spoon sauce over carved chicken and love it. As Ken said to me after his first bite, "This rocks."

Guacamole and Rose

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, and as a just reward for digging out my car, I made one of Ken's favorite things: Guacamole. This is not the first, last, or most authentic recipe for Guacamole but in my humble opinion it is one of the best.


Modified from a family classic:

2 ripe avocados (or more if you are feeding a crowd)

Half a tomato, diced

1/4 red onion, diced

About 2 tbs cilantro finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbs olive oil

Few shakes of cumin

Splash of lime or lemon juice

Few shakes of hot sauce (optional)

Peel and de-pit the avocados using a large chef's knife. Cut the avocados in half and throw them in a medium sized bowl with the tomato, red onion, and cilantro.

Heat the tablespoon of olive oil* in a small pan until hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and let it simmer for about a minute or two until it turns a pale golden color. Add it to the bowl with the avocados.

Add the cumin, lime/lemon juice, and hot sauce if using. Smash it all up with a potato masher (don't believe the fools who claim a fork works...pssh). Add a bit of salt and love it.

As a super extra bonus we just happened to have my favorite bottle of rose in the house and it was just dying to be drank. Allow me to introduce you to Virginia's very own Chateau O'Brien's rose of Cabernet Franc.

It is delicious, it goes with anything (except maybe steak), it has a delightful minerality, essence of strawberries....in short it is the best. It was so tasty with the slightly spicy Guacamole that it made me desperate for warmer weather...*sigh*

If you are ever touring Virginia's wine country Chateau O'Brien should be near the top of your list. http://www.chateauobrien.com/

They have a million dollar view, especially when fall's colors are peaking.

*Note about olive oil. As Marcella so abruptly puts it: "There is no olive oil but extra virgin olive oil." I tend to agree with her and usually for this guacamole I use plain ol' extra virgin. But, I happen to have a bottle of Fustini's roasted onion and cilantro olive oil, so I used that instead. I can't say enough good things about Fustini's oils and vinegars. The lemon balsamic is truly to die for and I would put it on my oatmeal if I could. http://www.fustinis.com/

Special thanks to mom for my first bottle from them--yes this Kitchen Love thing is definitely genetic.

Just Do It

Sure, it may be Nike's slogan but for right now it is my motivator to start this blog and (*gasp*) keep up with it! Therefore, I have decided to blog about my food and wine adventures because it's something I do almost every day and if I don't do it then Ken (husband) does and he's pretty darn good at it too. Plus, we live in a great city so we've been able to experience some awesome restaurants/wine bars/diners/dives/holes in the wall.

I make no claims that all the recipes on this blog are my own. I have modified plenty, invented a few, and follow the rules occasionally--especially when it comes to the greats: Marcella, Julia, Alice, Jacques, etc.

That being said I am going back to ordering heirloom beans from Napa because I have it on good authority that they are delicious. Check them out: http://www.ranchogordo.com/

And of course I will post whatever recipe comes out of them.