Tuscan Lamb and White Bean Skillet

You might notice that this post and my previous post on clafouti share the same pans - my stainless steel tapas pans, which are great for so many things. Individual casseroles, single-serve desserts served straight from a warm pan, small skillet dinners - these are so versatile. You might also think my husband and I don't like to share, but we do - we share a great love for these pans! Tonight's dinner of skillet lamb chops with white beans presented beautifully and tasted delicious in in these little skillets. Simple seared lamb chops on top of a white bean and tomato saute seasoned with rosemary and balsamic vinegar - simple and elegant. I served this alongside mixed greens in a lemon vinaigrette with shaved asiago cheese.

Tuscan Lamb Chop Skillet
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book
4 small lamb chops, seasoned with salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup drained, rinsed white beans
2 plum tomatoes, diced
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water
2 tsp minced fresh rosemary

Heat a skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat; cook lamb chops for about 10 minutes, turning once. Remove from skillet and cover with foil to keep warm. Reduce heat and add garlic to pan; saute 30 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes to thicken. Serve lamb chops over bean mixture.

Tutti Frutti Clafouti

First of all, let me bet that I am not the first one to blog about clafouti with a post titled "Tutti Frutti Clafouti" - It's a no-brainer, I'm not that creative! I might also bet, however, that this is one of the healthier clafouti you'll find out there in blog land. Interestingly, I cannot really compare it to the full-calorie-and-fat version, because I've never had clafouti before. This was pretty good though - maybe I will stick with it so that I don't become disappointed. Clafouti reminds me of cobbler, but with a lighter batter for the topping which bakes up more like a pancake. My husband, who get his foodiness from me, also compared it to a crepe. It certainly tasted like a crepe, but thicker, like, well, a pancake of course! This recipe comes from the "Pink Plaid" Edition of Better Homes and Garden. It's quick to put together, adaptable to whatever fruit you have on hand, and just about guilt-free. Enjoy!
Berry Clafouti
Makes 6 servings
2 egg whites, slightly beaten
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp raspberry liqueur
1/2 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup AP flour
3 cups fresh berries (I used sliced strawberries)
2 tsp powdered sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, combine egg whites, egg, sugar, honey, liqueur, vanilla, and salt; beat on low speed until light and frothy. Stir in yogurt until smooth, then mix in flour.

Arrange berries in 6 individual quiche dishes, mini skillets, or ramekins. Spoon batter over berries (it may not cover entirely). Bake for 20 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

Passover Rolls

When people unfamiliar with Passover first hear that observing Jews avoid all flour-containing products for eight whole days, they are often shocked! We can't eat bread, pasta, cereal, cookies, crackers ... and there are other restrictions, besides flour, so that's just the beginning. Luckily, there are many recipes I look forward to enjoying year after year. When I was a kid, my mom always made special rolls for Passover - they were slightly sweet, and very moist. For some reason, I always enjoyed them (and still do!) with peanut butter and jelly. My mom prefers to eat them for breakfast during Passover with cottage cheese. This year, I took the recipe one notch up and beat the mixture with my KA mixture to make a light, fluffy batter that produced a roll with an airy, popover-like texture. I enjoyed one after dinner with some pumpkin butter - yum!

Passover Rolls
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 T sugar
dash of salt
1 cup of matzoh meal
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375F. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Bring water, oil, sugar and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in matzoh meal, until the mixture is smooth and forms a ball. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer (or, a hand mixer is ok too). Add eggs one a time, beating on a medium-high speed to incorporate each one. Use an ice cream scoop or large cookie scoop to spoon the batter onto the baking sheet. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Black Bean, Mango, and Quinoa Salad

The warm weather is finally here (though being New England, we can't say for sure if it will stay) and I was craving something fresh, cool, and colorful. Mangos looked beautifully ripe and they were on sale, so I decided to pair them with black beans in a Southwestern-inspired quinoa-based salad. I chose quinoa because it is a grain that is kosher for Passover. Now, my really critical and informed readers might be wondering why, if I am keeping Passover, I'm eating legumes. Well, I urge to do some googling and reading about kitniot - personally, I just don't really feel those rules apply in modern times, so my husband and I have decided to forego our Ashkenazic roots adopt a more Sephardic style of eating in our household. Fortunately, I do have some Sephardic heritage as well.
This salad is quick and easy to put together. I made a large enough batch to have dinner for myself tonight, lunch for both of us tomorrow, and another dinner for me. While preparing the salad, I rubbed some chicken breasts with a southwest seasoning blend and threw them on the grill. I have a feeling the salad will taste even better tomorrow after a night in the fridge!
Black Bean, Mango, and Quinoa Salad
2 mangos, peeled and diced
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup dry quinoa, cooked according to package directions
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
juice from 1 lime
salt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine mangos, black beans, onion, quinoa, and tomato in a medium bowl. Whisk together remaining ingredients except for cilantro; pour over salad and mix to combine. Gently mix in chopped cilantro and serve.

Spicy Honey Glazed Grilled Eggplant

When the nice weather hits, there are very few things better than veggies roasted on the grill. The smoky, indistinguishable flavor of your favorite vegetables can be enhanced by a whatever flavorings you choose. Tonight, I had planned to make grilled lamb chops and eggplant. Typically, I go with a Mediterranean feel for this - seasoning the lamb with garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, and lemon juice; and marinating the eggplant in some balsamic vinegar and seasonings. Tonight I decided to go with a Moroccan-inspired feel: I used a Moroccan seasoning blend on the lamb, and prepared Spicy Honey Grilled Eggplant to go with it. For glaze which I brushed on the eggplant, I drew upon the sweet and spicy flavors I love in one of my favorite dishes, Mario Batali's Eggplant Caponata. We really enjoyed this variation, and the eggplant was probably some of the most delicious I've ever made.
Spicy Honey-Grilled Eggplant
1 eggplant, sliced into rounds
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp each paprika and cumin
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of cocoa powder
salt & pepper to taste
minced fresh cilantro

Place the eggplant slices on a few sheets of paper towels and sprinkle with salt on both sides; let sit for about 30 minutes and press on them to remove excess moisture. Whisk together remaining ingredients. Grill eggplant over medium heat, turning as necessary and brushing with the honey mixture. Garnish with cilantro.

Platinum Chef Challenge: Round 6!

Parmesan-Rosemary Scallops with Creamy Lemon-Leek "Linguine" and Tomato-Caper Relish. My one problem with a five-ingredient challenge is fitting it all into one title! But it was my idea, so I'll live with it. The concept was born on my blog, but for this round I passed the torch to Kate, a good friend and Platinum Chef enthusiast. I knew she would come up with some fabulous ingredients and she did not disappoint! Her selection of Lemon, Capers, Leeks, Rosemary, and Cream for round 6 was both intriguing and delicious. I have recently grown to like capers, but have never actually bought them and cooked with them, so I was quite excited to do so. I thought these ingredients would pair quite well with seafood, and I decided on scallops. This was an interesting choice for me because I don't normally enjoy scallops enough to make a meal out of them, but I wanted something meatier and more flavorful than say, tilapia. I thought a mild fish would get lost with some of the strong flavors, and I quite enjoyed my choice.
For this dish, I chose to bread my scallops in a mixture of parmesan, rosemary, and panko breadcrumbs, then broil them. I think they might have come out a bit better had I used an eggwash and pan-fried them, but I was going for health and simplicity. I plated these atop thinly sliced leeks which I had caramelized and braised in a white-wine and lemon broth, then finished with some cream, and topped everything with a fresh bruschetta-like tomato and caper relish. I think my favorite part of this meal was enjoying the leeks like a "linguine". The texture and flavor were so delicious and I even wish I had used more leeks! The lemon cream was very tasty. I could have eaten a bigger plate of just the leek "linguine!" The scallops were cooked perfectly and I really the contrast with the fresh tomato relish as opposed to a cooked sauce. Of course, the capers and lemons complimented each other beautifully. Thanks, Kate, for choosing such great ingredients!
Caper-Tomato Relish
1/2 of a large tomato, seeded and diced
1 tbsp capers
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt, pepper, oregano

Combine ingredients and season to taste; let stand at room temperature while the rest of the meal is prepared.

Rosemary-Parmesan Scallops
3 tbsp each parmesan cheese and panko
leaves from one sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper
1lb sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry

Pulse together cheese, breadcrumbs, and rosemary in food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the scallops in the crumb mixture and arrange on a broiler pan; spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray. Broil for about 7-10 minutes, turning halfway through, until lightly browned on each side.

Creamy Lemon-Leek "Linguine"
2 medium leeks, trimmed of outer leaves and cut about 1/2 " from the bottom
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup each chicken broth and dry white wine
juice from half of a lemon
salt and pepper
1/4 cup half and half or cream

Slice the leeks thinly lengthwise and rinse to remove any grit. Melt the butter in a saute pan and add leeks. Cook for a few minutes, stirring around, until they begin to caramelize. Add broth, wine, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add cream; cook for a few minutes or until thickened.

Scoopin' Scones

I know this may come as a shocking revelation to many, but here goes: I am not perfect, and neither are my recipes. Sometimes when I get an idea in my head, I mull over it for days trying figure out the most perfect way to make something (and sometimes I still fail). Other times, I just jump right in without much thought and get cookin'. But to me that doesn't mean I can't still share my thoughts with you. In fact, perhaps with this post, I will just discuss what I was thinking and what I did, and if you are so inspired, maybe you can pull it off better than me. This is a food blog, of course, but food is not only about recipes. If I shared a recipe here and you ran off to make it, following it exactly, you might have the same disappointments I did, and that's not fair. I could, if I really wanted to, make these again and try to perfect them - but I don't really feel like it at the moment, nor do I have a reason to. Also, I'm out of gorgonzola.
By now you might be thinking, "Why am I still reading? Whatever she made sounds like an utter flop". Well I assure it wasn't a total failure, I just needed to throw some disclaimers out there. My inspiration for Gorgonzola, Apple and Pecan Scones was born from an almost-full wedge of gorgonzola left in my fridge. I wanted to use it up fast, rather than pick at it slowly, because to be honest, I really don't care for gorgonzola much besides in salads and a select few other dishes I've had in restaurants. I also have a boatload of pecans right now, and couple of granny smith apples in the fridge. The other night we had a salad with these ingredients (a delicious combination, and probably my favorite use of gorgonzola). I had read some recipes recently for typically sweet foods turned savory - such as savory tarts, bread puddings, and scones. I decided a scone studded with gorgonzola, apples, and pecans would be coming out of my kitchen shortly. I needed something to base my idea on, and took this recipe for Apple Cheddar Scones (go ahead, click on it). I decided to:
-double the recipe
-substitute gorgonzola for cheddar
-add some chopped pecans
-make mini scones so that my husband and I could both take them to work
-use 6oz gorgonzola cheese. I didn't measure what that equated to in cups of crumbled cheese, though I think it was less than 2 cups. I think that's fine, since gorgonzola is stronger than cheddar.

Here is the main issue I did not consider: gorgonzola is a softer, "wetter" cheese compared to shredded cheddar. Hence, I ended up with a mixture that was too wet and gooey for the typical scone preparation: patting it into a circle and cutting into wedges to bake. I tried adding my flour, but I think if I were to make these again, I would make a different change - either reducing the butter or buttermilk. Instead of the cutting-into-triangles route, I took the drop-biscuit approach and pulled out my medium size cookie scoop. The perk? All of a sudden I had a shoo-in recipe for Joelen's Tasty Tools blogging event. The challenge this month is for scoops. Score!Are you dying to hear the end result of the too-wet-gorgonzola-apple-pecan-scone? Well, relax. They were delicious. We (and our coworkers) really enjoyed this not-too-sweet breakfast pastry as a nice change from the norm, and the pecans and apples really complimented the cheese very well. One question my husband asked me as he took his first few bites was if there was honey in there - no, but what a great idea! I could definitely have substituted honey for the sugar, or just left the sweetener out all together and enjoyed them with some honey drizzled on.
So, I leave you with these thoughts. Food is not about perfection, and certainly developing an almost-perfect recipe can take a few rounds of experimenting. Surely I could come up with a true recipe for this scone if I tried another time, and maybe I will in a few weeks. For now, I hope you've enjoyed some food-for-thought.

Maple-Chipotle Turkey Tenderloin

Peas and carrots. Chocolate and peanut butter. Maple and chipotle. Some foods are just such natural pairings, you really can't go wrong. I love sweet and spicy flavors together, and when I came across this recipe for Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Maple Chipotle Sauce in the March issue of Cooking Light, I thought it sounded delicious. I just had one little problem that made me a bit sad - I don't eat pork, so I couldn't make this. (Well, that's kind of a lie - I do eat things that contain pork when I am out of the house, but I never bring things like bacon, pork chops, etc into the house and cook them. I have absolutely no clue how to cook a pork chop!) Then I recalled the turkey tenderloins in my freezer, and knew this would be a great way to prepare them.
I suppose there's not much need for me to copy and paste the recipe since it's linked above. I pretty much followed it exactly, just replacing the pork with turkey and cutting the amounts in half because I used just one 1-lb tenderloin. This was a fairly simple but tasty dinner, and turkey is a wonderfully healthy lean meat so we felt great about it. Roasted buttercup squash was a delicious accompaniment.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Raisin Pecan Bread

A few weeks ago, I needed to buy some more yeast. I decided to buy a jar of yeast, rather than the packets, which I usually buy. Seeing that the label said it was good in the fridge for 6 months after opening, I knew I was making a commitment to make more bread! So this past weekend I made my first cinnamon-raisin-swirl bread. The recipe I was used was top-notch - easy to follow, and delicious. I love the sweet brown sugar and spicy cinnamon. The recipe called for both golden raisins and dark ones; I had only golden so I also added pecans to the dough. WOW - so good! According to my husband, this makes great toast! The recipe made two loaves, so I gave one to friends and we froze half of the remaining one to enjoy later. What a treat!
Brown Sugar Raisin Bread
Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. active dry yeast
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (105° to 115°F)
1 cup warm milk (105° to 115°F)
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbs. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 to 6 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup dark raisins
For the filling:
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with 4 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the granulated sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining granulated sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely. Makes two 9-by-5-inch loaves.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection Series, Bread, by Beth Hensperger (Simon & Schuster, 2002 ).

(Almost) Perfectly-Iced Cupcakes

Birthdays can be so self-serving. And I'm not talking about when you are the birthday gal (or guy), I'm talking about when you decide to make someone a birthday treat. I look forward to my friends' and family members' birthdays probably just as much as they do, because it's an excuse to make a cake. Sure, it tastes yummy to them and they appreciate the treat (after all, what's a birthday without cake or cupcakes?) but for me it's a perfect excuse to flex my baking muscles. I often put a lot of thought into what I, as the baker, want out of the cake. Hopefully that is in line with what the birthday person wants too :)

This past weekend was my brother Jared's big birthday - he's 21! In my book, turning 21 calls for boozy cupcakes. I wanted something that was deliciously unique that he would love, but I also decided it was time to invest in some decorating tips and practice my cupcake icing. Because to me, food is almost as much about looks as it is about taste. I turned to one of my most trustworthy blogs, BakingBites, and selected her recipe for Bailey's Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. I adore mint chocolate chip ice cream and I'm pretty sure my brother does too, so I counted on this being a winner. Instead the icing Nicole made, I went with a classic chocolate buttercream to which I also added a touch of Bailey's and peppermint extract.

This recipe was fantastic - I was truly impressed by the taste and texture of the cupcakes. The mini chocolate chips in the cupcakes make it a total winner! I was equally delighted by my frosting capabilities, after a few rounds of practice. I learned that it's really not that difficult, with a little effort and a tiny investment you can easily upgrade your cupcakes from the slathered-on-with-a-knife type icing to a bakery-worthy beauty. I know they're not perfect, but for a first try, I was psyched!


Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened (I used a 1/2 cup - it just seemed to me like I needed a little more)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Chocolate Mint Bailey’s Irish Cream(or regular Bailey’s + 1/2 tsp peppermint extract) - I did the latter
1/4 cup milk (I omitted and used extra liquor)
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking tin of your choice - mini muffin pan or regular cupcake pan - with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Mix in half of the flour mixture, followed by the Irish cream and milk, then mix in the remaining flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups (each will be roughly 2/3 or 3/4 full).Bake regular-sized cupcakes for 18-21 minutes.Bake mini cupcakes for 10-12 minutes.A tester inserted into the center will come out clean when the cupcakes are done. Tops should be domed and very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.