Category Archives: Cooking

October 7, 2010 · 2:00 am

Ahhhh Autumn

Oh friends. It’s fall. The season of sweaters, roast chicken, and snuggling up with blankets and mugs of apple cider. It is my FAVORITE season of all! And to celebrate the first few weeks of deliciously cool weather, I made risotto. Here tis.

On the menu:
Butternut squash, rosemary, and blue cheese risotto with chicken and pancetta
Adapted from Epicurious
Serves 3

3 1/2 – 4 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp rosemary, diced
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups baby spinach leaves, packed
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled
2 chicken breasts, diced into 1 inch cubes
4 oz pancetta, diced
1/4 cup mushrooms

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Cover and reduce heat to low.

Melt butter in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion and saute for 3-4 minutes, until pieces are tender. Add squash and rosemary; saute for 8 minutes. Add rice and stir for 2 minutes. Add wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until rice is tender and risotto is creamy and slightly soupy, adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls as needed to maintain consistency and stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Heat a small frying pan with the mushrooms in it. Once mushrooms have cooked down, around 5 minutes, add pancetta. Cook for 5 minutes. Add chicken. Cook until chicken is browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the spinach, cream, and both cheeses into the risotto. Plate and top with chicken/pancetta mixture.

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September 23, 2010 · 7:24 am

Mmm salty

You know how sometimes you just need something chocolatey? You crave it? It consumes every thought in your head until you race home from work and scrape together the ingredients from your kitchen to produce something to satisfy that itch? No? Just me? Here’s the recipe, friends.

On the menu:
Chocolate pretzel cookies

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2/3 cup cocoa powder
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pretzels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, blend together flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, blend together oil, sugar, and cocoa powder. Add eggs, blending one at a time. Add apple sauce and vanilla. Add flour mixture. Fold in pretzel pieces.

Roll dough into walnut-sized rounds and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until firm to touch.

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September 15, 2010 · 2:30 am

Hello, Autumn. Lovely to see you again.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that it legitimately feels like fall, that I have a brand spanking new stove (I think I will name her Bertha?), and that I feel a crazy intense desire to be back in the kitchen. All is right with the world! Okay, so I could use a tiny bit more money. Details.

On the menu:
Mom’s tomato soup

1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 medium sized carrots, grated
1/2 large green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup butter
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 quart tomatoes, peeled* and chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup flour

Saute celery, onion, carrots, and green pepper in butter in a large, heavy pan until they are slightly softened. Add 4 cups of the chicken broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and sugar. Bring heat up to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Blend flour with the remaining 1/4 cup of chicken broth. Gradually add flour mixture to soup. Simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the soup thickens and the vegetables are tender. I like to serve this soup with tiny grilled cheese sandwiches, cause frankly, everything is cuter in miniature.

Note: the key to this soup is making sure all of the vegetables are chopped to relatively the same size.

*To peel a tomato: boil a pot of water. Make a small X in the top of the tomato, barely piercing the skin. Drop the tomato into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove it and immediately drop it in icy water. The skin will peel right off.

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September 9, 2010 · 2:00 am

Mid-Week Comfort Food

Sometimes when things are stressful in life, in work, whatever, I come home and I want to cook but then I see the loaf of potato bread, the jar of peanut butter, and the ripe banana and I think, “Mom would totally let me have this for dinner right now.” This sandwich is a glorified and indulgent take on your standard PB&B (that’s peanut butter and banana for those of you not so quick on the uptake) and is more dessert than dinner but why the heck not?

The recipe is simple and the results are faaaantastic. Just make your standard peanut butter and banana sandwich to start.
Next, melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a frying pan and fry the sandwich on both sides for around 4 minutes, or until the bread browns.
In a shallow plate, mix together 2 Tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of ground cinnamon. Once your sandwich is fried, dip it in the cinnamon sugar so both sides are coated.

And voila. Now… isn’t that better?

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September 8, 2010 · 2:00 am

Do Gooder

I’ve posted about my not-so-exciting-but-maybe-inspiring dinners before, but this time I have an ulterior motive. This post is a dedication! To the woman who could look into the fridge and whip up something that looked restaurant quality; the woman who taught me to trust my eye and write my own instructions down in the cookbook next to the typed ones; the woman who showed me that roasting a chicken with lemon and herbs is easy as pie; and most importantly, the woman who introduced me to popcorn with Sno-caps. My lovely friend, Joelle.

Joelle is currently traveling through Mozambique and South Africa, working with charities along the way, and chronicling her amazing adventures here at Afternoon Tea Comes Early. She’s one of the most inspiring people I know, and when I look into my fridge and pull out something like this, I always think of her. Safe returns, J!

Fried eggs over romaine hearts and sauteed mushrooms and grape tomatoes, with parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper

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September 2, 2010 · 7:34 am

Long Week

Happy Thursday! This has been the longest, slowest week ever and I’ve been a terrible food blogger. Last night I made a pasta dish that I can HIGHLY recommend, seeing as the person who joined me in eating it cleaned his plate and asked, “Is there more of this?” Sold.

If you’ve never read The Pioneer Woman Cooking, go now! The pictures are incredible and the recipes are even better.

Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks

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August 17, 2010 · 2:00 am

Crunch

I’m a texture girl myself. If a dish is somehow simultaneously soft, crunchy, and smooth, I will probably love it. So when a craving for sweet corn entered my psyche, I found myself immediately drawn to this salad. And truth be told, I will eat anything with onions in it. It’s my weakness. Who knew.

On the menu:
Sweet corn, tomato, onion, and basil salad

3 ears of corn
1/2 large white onion, chopped
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, washed and quartered
1/4 cup basil, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of salted water. Once water is boiling, add corn and boil for 5 minutes. Drain, let corn cool, and slice kernels off with sharp knife. Break up large chunks of kernels with a spoon until most kernels have separated.

Mix together onion, tomatoes, basil, vinegar, and olive oil until incorporated. Add the corn. Add plenty salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve this salad immediately or let refrigerate overnight to serve the next day. The oil and vinegar dressing will soak into the salad and marinate it nicely. It pairs really nicely with a simply grilled steak, or as a bed for grilled fish.

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