Wanted: Someone to help me eat all this food

I'm pretty sure I should win a prize for this last weekend. In terms of culinary skill and stamina I definitely put my best food forward and with one exception (the garlic bread was just a litle "crispy") I made a whole lot of really awesome food. And I am not exaggerating about the "whole lot" thing!

Friday night I made more jam....this time it was plum and it is once again damn good. Plus I got all "Martha Stewart" on myself and decorated the jars oh so cutely. But jam making isn't a short process so after hours of cooking, canning, sterilizing and cooling (all while sipping my vino), my writing at the very end was a little "off". That jar went to mom since she will love me no matter what. 21 jars later....and a loaf of zucchini bread.....and chili to freeze for lunch leftovers.

Saturday morning I woke and immediately hit the ground running....marinate the chicken, slow roast the ribs, clean the house for a day with my wonderful friends. Entertained a bunch of awesome adults and a bucket of the cutest darn kids in the afternoon....my friend Catrina made this dessert.....

Which is seriously my new crack. No joke. It is basically ice cream sandwiches, Cool Whip, chocolate sauce and heath bar crunchies. So simple but it really has to be one of the best summer desserts possible. And SO easy!

Leftovers from Sunday include about a whole chicken, a few ribs, a couple cobs of corn and two pieces of ice cream crack. Guess which one I am not willing to share.

And then I found a NEW brand of food crack on Sunday morning while preparing for the last shindig at Clover's house.

I am calling it OMG Macaroni and cheese. Because seriously? Oh my God.

My friend Tiffany tells me this is her favorite recipe...but she only uses the base and then pretty much does whatever she wants to to make it awesome. Including quadrupling the cheese. No typo there friends, that would be 4X the cheese. Hence the OMG factor.

As in the recipe calls for 8oz and she adds 2 POUNDS!!!!

This is what a pound and a half looks like....remember this is all going in one 13x9 pan.

I'm not sure where the noodles fit in to this whole situation, but I made it work,

That would be Goat Cheese, really good melty Gouda and Irish White Cheddar. And the whole pan gets crowned with a heaping portion of Asiago cheese and buttery bread crumbs.

Four servings were had by one attendee (we won't mention his name of course)....and Uncle Pip who rarely praises anything actually grunted and went back for seconds. Grudgingly of course.

I have a small container left here because I over estimated my pan and let me just tell you...I am hoarding this stuff!

And if this over the top crazy gut bomb wasn't enough to send my ass back to the gym I had to go and make dessert too.

Beauteous strawberries from the Channel Islands farmers market were sweetened with a little sugar to be thrown on top of indulgent shortcakes to round out my All American weekend. And as always I had to throw in a frigging monkey wrench and do things different because I can't just be normal like everyone else in the world.

So I created a buttermilk lemon curd with which to offset the uber sweet and rich flavors of the strawberry shortcake. It really worked, tart and tangy-it was a perfect foil to the berries and cream. I was proud to say the least.

Last but not least I am only making mention of the entree that Clover blessed us with on Monday. I am going to wait to share the recipe until I actually make it as I have to give you the whole experience. But I will share with you the title....

Chicken Skewers with.....

Bacon Paste.

I'm telling you, this needs it's own blog post because it is bloody brilliant. More to come. Promise.

I hope you all had as wonderful a weekend as I did celebrating our Independence with your friends and family!

OMG Macaroni & Cheese

Adapted from Food Networks "Super Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese"

8 T Butter, divided

4 T Flour

2 C Whole Milk

8 oz Irish White Cheddar, shredded

8 oz Holland Gouda , shredded

8 oz Goats Cheese

1 C Heavy Cream

Salt & Cayenne Pepper to taste

3/4 Pound Macaroni, cooked and drained

8 oz Asiago Cheese, shredded

1 1/2 C Panko Bread Crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a non-reactive saucepan. When bubbly whisk in flour and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring every now and then. Slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, whisking on occasion for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in first three grated cheeses. Stir vigorously just until cheese has melted. Then whisk in heavy cream to adjust the texture and season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper. In a mixing bowl combine sauce with drained macaroni and adjust seasoning. Transfer mixture to a 13 x 9-inch baking pan and spread it out evenly. Top with the Asiago Cheese. Melt remaining butter in a small saute pan and add bread crumbs and cook until tasty, sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

*Note-If you want the additional flavor, substitute 4 T truffle oil for the butter when sauteing the bread crumbs. I did this with the leftovers and it was DIVINE!

Strawberry Shortcakes with Buttermilk Meyer Lemon Curd

Adapted from Paula Deen's Strawberry Shortcakes

Shortcakes

1 quart strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/4 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons sugar, plus 8 teaspoons

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed

2/3 cup half-and-half, plus 1/4 cup

Sweetened whipped cream

Buttermilk Meyer Lemon Curd

6 Egg Yolks

1/2 Cup Sugar

Zest from 2 lemons

3 T Lemon Juice

1 C Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, toss the strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar together. Set aside until time to serve.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder, salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Then pulse in the cold butter cubes until a coarse meal is formed. Turn the flour mixture out into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in 2/3 cup half-and-half and gently mix it in with a rubber spatula or fork, be careful not to over mix the dough or the biscuits will be tough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself a couple of times until it just holds together. Pat the dough out to 3/4-inch thickness and cut out 8 round 3-inch biscuits.

Transfer the biscuits to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of each biscuit with the remaining half-and-half and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon sugar. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and are a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Beat together eggs, lemon juice, sugar, zest and buttermilk in a stainless steel or copper bowl until blended. Cook over a water bath until frothy and thick, whisking the whole time. Cool over an ice bath and chill until it's time to serve.

Split each biscuit, spoon some strawberries on the bottom piece, then add the buttermilk lemon curd, then whipped cream and top with the other biscuit half.

I seriously thing I should get a medal for this weekend. At least silver. But really....I do need to feed someone with all these dang leftovers!

I be jammin'

I love this time of year. all of a sudden there is an abundance of produce to be had. A few weeks ago I went to my grandpa's house and his Saturn peach tree was heavy with fruit so ripe you had to eat it over the sink so as not to make a mess of yourself. The ones we salvaged and brought home were made in to a peach tart tatin. The plum tree was next and what we didn't eat raw was converted in to a plum crisp by my "I don't bake" Mommy.

Everywhere I turn it seems that someone has an overabundance of something and I just can't bring myself to see it wasted. I used to process and freeze things but last year I invested in some canning equipment and a book on "how to". My first couple experiments were small, but successful. Tomatoes, fig preserves, marinara and blueberry preserves. This year I am attempting to do it in bulk and so far, so good!

From my lovely bestie Clover came about 10# of uber ripe apricots which I decided to make into jam (duh). As usual I get these brainstorms late at night and end up finishing my project after 11:00 at which point I am bleary eyed with sleep and wine. Fortunately for me the cooking goddess likes me and generally blesses my forays in to territory unknown.

This batch was the first I made with pectin, which fortunately for me shortens the cooking time substantially and also results in a shiny beautiful jam. It was extremely easy and only requires a little patience in the canning process. I also bought the pectin that enables you to use less sugar or artificial sugar as my recipe called for an insane amount of sugar in ratio to the apricots, over double what the recipe below calls for. I could feel my teeth rotting just reading it. The fruit was so ripe there was no need to go overboard on the sugar.

Apricot Jam

5# Ripe Apricots, seeded and chopped

4 T Lemon Juice

1 Package (49g) Pectin

3 C Sugar

6-7 Eight oz jars with lids

Sterilize your jars and lids and set aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan, mix your fruit, lemon juice and pectin together well and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugar all at once (best if you measure in to a bowl as opposed to cup by cup) and keep stirring. Bring to a good boil, it should turn shiny and thick. If there is any foam on top, skim that off with a spoon and discard.

Pour in to jars, leaving a 1/4" gap between the jam and the lid. Screw on the lids tight and put in a canner or a large pot of water (covering lids). Boil for 10 minutes and remove.

There is a great canning kit that I got from Bed Bath & Beyond, it is cheap, but has all the essentials for picking up the cans, grabbing lids and pouring your goodies in to the jars without making a total mess of your kitchen. You can find it here . 

Enjoy!

What it takes to get me back......Guilt!

It's been a while....two and a half months to be precise, but who's counting? Apparently  you as I have gotten comments from all 5 of my faithful readers in regard to my lack of posts in the past couple months and for that I am sorry.

My only "excuse" is that I truly have not cooked much over the last month and before that very little....along with that have had little time to post anything due to crazy work schedule and social schedule.

A quick photo montage with bits and pieces to fill you in since you've last heard from me. Please know that I took these photos thinking that I was going to share with you way sooner than this. :)

First bite of summer.

My Addy chomping on her watermelon at Joey & Charlies Birthday Party.

 

Cooking lesson with Nate.

Teaching my cousins buddy how to bone and cook a chicken. Comedy.

My Moms 2nd Surprise 60th Birthday Party

Complete with a whole roasted pig in Baja. We dressed the pig up, not the caterers.

Camp meat baby!

Dorado courtesy of yours truly. Ceviche only an hour later.

Yes, that is guacamole served with chicharrones. At a restaurant know affectionately as the "Pork Palace"

Holy crap. My own personal heaven. Could have made a meal or twelve out of this but powered up and realized that a new wardrobe would be in order.

Wine tasting Vay Cay with the bestie in Paso Robles

Wine, Cheese, Meat and other goodies for lunch, our favorite!

A week and dinner with my ladies, we always eat sooooooo well together!

"Blue" Salad

Blueberries from Clovers Family (biggest & best!), Blue Cheese, Almonds, Greens, Balsamic & EVOO

Clams and Bacon (you knew it was coming)

A little onion, tomato and white wine....perfect dippin' sauce!

Pacific Oysters on the half shell

Cocktail Sauce & Meyer Lemons

It feels good to be back...more to come, I am going to go make something else for you now.

Much love and happy cooking!

Success story

Forty years ago today my parents were married. It was a Tuesday and they did it in the Catholic church with my Grandma and Grandpa Kenton as their only witnesses. Mom's dress was a brown and white mini dress (very mini) and Dad wore a blue shirt, and tie with a brown coat. There was a small family party at my Grandparents house, no one remembers what they ate and my Aunt Joanie made a wedding cake.

Forty years later they have one (fabulous) kid, awesome friends and family and an amazing life together. Not bad for a couple who met on a blind date in the 70's.

They aren't much for celebrating this date, preferring to celebrate the date of their first date which surprisingly enough they both remember with better clarity than their wedding day. But I am not one to let an event like this pass without at least a little bit of celebration,

I only went overboard a little bit. Like the custom printed menus that I thought of today. Or the toast in the glass their best friends gave them as a wedding gift.

I told them they had a date tonight and that was it. Then as the week progressed, I finalized my menu and details and had way too much fun planning tonight's dinner.

Oysters on the Halfshell
Tomato, Meyer Lemon, Horseradish Sorbet

Nicholas Feuillate Brut Champagne

Seared Bay Scallops
Pea Puree, Pea Tendrils, Caviar

Baby Greens
Duck Confit, Gala Apples, Goat Cheese
Balsamic Vinegar & EVOO

Foley Winery Bar S Ranch Chardonnay

Rack of Lamb
Wild Mushroom Demi
Roasted Garlic Risotto Cake

Foxen "Toasted Rope" Syrah

For dessert I enlisted the help of a dear friend, lovely lady and talented pastry chef who, in her spare time, whipped up a gorgeous cake that my Dad couldn't get enough of.  

 

Wedding/Anniversary Cake

Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Crunch Cake

Made with love by La Starr Heiliger from La Starr & Co

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Pretty food

So sorry for the prolonged absence and lack of sharing.....between work and life I have been a bit too busy to sit down and share my latest and greatest feasts and food adventures. Not to mention the recipes that go along with them.

Tonight is a short, but I couldn't resist sharing with you what mama is making for dinner.

As I sit at the counter recovering from a crazy week at work (translation: drinking wine and NOT standing up all the while singing in my head the song by Dolly Parton "Workin' 9-5" except in my case it was more like 5-9. As in 5am-9pm. Urgh), I was summoned by Mommy Dearest over to the window with a "Jen you gotta get a picture of this!"

So I got up and tiptoes over to the window to find this....

Which in turn got wrapped up so nicely to become this....

"This" is a 3 1/2 pound trout from Lake Casitas that my Dad brought home. I think it might have been as big as my bass.....but I'm pretty sure not. They are a great team, Dad brings home the food, mom makes it pretty and delicious.

Anyhoo....brain is not working so well so I am just going to share with you, eat my dinner and pass out for at least 12 hours.

Whole Fish Wrapped in Grape Leaves

Adapted from recipewizard.com

One 8-ounce jar grape leaves, drained and rinsed

1 small lemon, sliced into paper-thin rings, preferably with a mandoline

One 2 1 ⁄ 2- to 3-pound snapper of any variety: black, striped, or spotted bass; whole large-mouth bass or freshwater bass; any variety of whole drum; or whole parrotfish, orange roughy, ocean perch, tilapia, or trout, scaled and cleaned

1 tablespoon olive oil

Suzi Q Santa Maria Style Seasoning (or Garlic Salt & Pepper)

8 parsley sprigs

8 thyme sprigs

Lay three quarters of the grape leaves on your work surface, overlapping them to form a compact bed that you will later fold up onto the fish; reserve the other leaves to lay over the fish. Lay 4 lemon slices down the center of the leaves.

Score the fish skin three times in parallel, diagonal cuts on each side of the body, cutting down only about 1⁄2 inch, not through to the bones. Oil the fish on both sides with 1 tablespoon olive oil; season each side and the cavity with the Suzi Q. Place the parsley sprigs and another 3 or 4 lemon slices inside the fish's body cavity. Set the stuffed fish over the lemon slices on the grape leaves.

Arrange the remaining lemon slices over the top of the fish, then lay the reserved grape leaves over the body. Fold the bottom leaves up to cover the sides of the fish, tucking them under the top leaves to seal the fish in a grape-leaf packet. Pat to adhere, then tie in several places with butcher's twine to close the fish and the leaves in one packet.

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 F. Place a metal rack in a large baking sheet or roasting pan. Set the wrapped fish on the rack. Roast until the leaves are crispy and a metal skewer inserted through the leaves and into the flesh comes out hot, about 25 minutes. Untie the fish; discard the grape leaves and lemon slices before serving.

Waiting With Bated Breath

Valentine’s Dinner Off the Hook

Okay, I figured I’d better wait a few days so no one feels guilty or under the gun to try and compete with this on short notice… (BTW this is Jen's Mom writing this one) :)

For the last several years our husbands make up for any shenanigans they may have foisted upon us by planning some sort of Valentine surprise for us. We look forward to it with eager anticipation as it’s the one time of the year we’re totally pampered and waited on hand and foot by our men. The content of the event is a total mystery until the last minute.

It started with one of the guys making dinner for his sweetie and expanded to three couples. We’ve been wined and dined in the finest style, whisked away to the Awahnee Hotel in Yosemite, spa’ed at Ojai Valley Inn. One year they “stole” our cars while working out and had a limo waiting to drive us back home (a 10 minute limo ride) to a gourmet meal they’d prepared. And let’s not forget the Cajun Extravaganza that had enough delectable’s to feed a small zip code. We actually had to have a “day after” party to eat it all.

I should note that while we do love to travel and do the out of town thing, what really gets us giddy is for them to cook us a nice dinner. Did I mention that they won’t let us in the kitchen, they wait on us AND clean up the kitchen? I know I’m a lucky lady and I’ll re-up his contract based on this one special day a year.

This year we were told the day before to be out of our respective homes by 1:30 PM. Hmmm, 3 houses? Perhaps a progressive dinner? I’m the nosiest of the girls so I drive everyone nuts trying to figure it our each year. One day I’ll grow up. Maybe.

They instructed us to go have a drink someplace. As we didn’t want to be “on our lips” by dinner time we chose to do what any red blooded American woman would do. We shopped. At 4 PM we were summoned while resting our feet in the Macy’s shoe department. We were to proceed to Mary Jane’s home where the guys had been slaving away all day.

Oh yes… A five course feast with matched wines awaited. They made it all themselves (nary a Bristol Farm or TJ product on the table) outsourcing only the Crème Brule from Jen (Yes, the one who usually posts in this blog.) We’re still collectively sighing.

Valentine’s Dinner February 13, 2011
1st Course

Assorted Cheese and Fruit Platter
Kiwis, apples, pears, blackberries, yellow and red raspberries
Brie, smoked gouda, gorgonzola and crackers
Wente Chardonnay

2nd Course

Seared Sea Scallops w/ lemon mustard crust
Beringer Chardonnay


3rd Course
Marinated Shrimp and Avocado Salad
Recipe Can be found at: Marinated Shrimp and Avocado Salad
It’s a keeper!
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

4th Course Grilled Salmon with Lobster Hollandaise, Roasted Baby Potatoes, Asparagus
Paraiso Pinot Noir 2008
Napa Cellars Zinfandel 2008

5th Course

The Best Crème Brule in the World (You’ll have to ask Jen for the recipe)

Tobin James Zinfandel 2008

Wow, huh?!!??! And there’s only 361 days until the next one.

Lake Yes

For those of you that are local to the Ventura County are, you should be aware of a large body of water that lies within the Ventura/Ojai area and is famous for a few things.

Lake Casitas was the site for the rowing competitions in the 1984 Olympics, the rings are still visible on the docks.

Johnny Cash used to fish and drink there....and is known for the drinking more than the fishing as he was known to pass out on the boat and get "lost". Law enforcement may have been involved once or twice.

Big mouth bass fishing, some of the largest bass in the state, are recorded at this lake.

By people who know how to fish for the darn things, of course.

For people like me and most of my friends, the lake is better known as Lake "No" or Lake "No Fish" because seriously??? For 30 something years I have fished at that lake and only recently have I been successful at catching anything other than a buzz.

Yay for besties & buzzes!

But in the last couple of years there are fewer and fewer boats on the lake due to the quarantine of boats based upon the possibility of importing the rather destructive Quagga Mussel from another body of water. Quarantining your boat is quite frankly a pain in the butt to say the least but it has one very nice advantage.

Whereas on a beautiful day four years ago there would be dozens of boats on the lake all trying to hook the big one, nowadays you are likely to find 10 or less boats on the lake on any given day. Less boats = less people on them to fish = more fish willing to jump on to the end of my worm laden hook.

So far this year I've been out twice and have cruised around the lake with my bestie and fishing buddy, picnicked in sheltered coves and caught 3 large mouth bass and one bluegill. My friends did pretty darn good too, catching 2 fish each, all of very respectable size.

Large Mouth Bass!



So Proud!

 

But fishing is very hard work....so you have to come outfitted with provisions with which to keep your energy up and your morale high (in case the fish happen not to be biting). So our standard is to hit the lake with a cooler full of beverages of an alcoholic nature (morale boosters), bottles of water (to keep hydrated) and various forms of what I consider to be picnic food (ballast).

(Because one beverage might not be enought we always bring a variety)

One day it is cheese, crackers, prosciutto and fruit, the next day it might be pita chips with assorted dips, olives and spreads. Whatever the selections it needs to fit a few criteria to be considered for a boat picnic as the space is limited, cooler space is reserved primarily for beverages and damn it, I am not eating crap food just because I am on a boat doing something outdoorsy.

This last trip I went with the pita chips and dip, but also wanted some protein in the mix. A quick inventory of the fridge and a consult online and I had a perfect "entree" for us on the boat. Light and tasty, it was perfect as a munchie on my pita chips, but would also be pretty awesome as a sandwich in between some good chewy bread.

Chicken Salad with Red Grapes and a Bleu Cheese Sherry Vinaigrette

2 Chicken Breasts, skinned & deboned

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup Red Grapes, Quartered

3 Stalks Celery, diced 1/4"

3 Green Onions, chopped

1 Egg Yolk

1 T Dijon Mustard

1/2 cup Crumbled Bleu Cheese

1 T Sherry Vinegar

2 T Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Olive Oil

Poach the chicken breasts gently in the broth (not boiling), remove and cool before chopping in to 1/4-1/2 inch chunks. Mix in with the grapes, celery & onions.

In a food processor, blend the yolks, mustard, bleu cheese & vinegar. Drizzle in the olive oil bit by bit until it is blended completely. Season with Salt & Pepper to taste.

Mix in with chicken and chill. This gets even better as it sits and thinks about itself.

Salt & Pepper to Taste.