Chicken Enchiladas

 

This recipe came from our Best Simple Suppers for Two cookbook. The original intention was to make it for Valentine's Day, but we decided to roast a whole chicken instead for our romantic February 14 dinner. Since this recipe called for shredding a prepared rotisserie chicken it made more sense to use the leftover chicken for this one. The recipe says this has a prep time of 10 minutes, which I found wildly inaccurate. It took about twice that long to shred the chicken, chop the onion and garlic, cook it all with the other ingredients, then divide, and assemble. 

Full ingredient list includes:

4 six-inch corn tortillas (next time I will use six tortillas)

2 T olive oil

1 garlic clove (minced)

1 small onion (chopped)

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 can diced tomatoes

juice of one lime

1 cup corn kernals

1 t. cumin

1 c. enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese

While sautéing the onion and garlic in our indispensable cast-iron skillet I charred the tortillas in a dry cast iron pan on the stovetop. I added the chicken and beans to the skillet and seasoned with some salt and pepper. Once the chicken and beans were warmed through I removed half the mixture to a separate bowl and mixed half the corn, half the tomatoes, half the cumin, half the lime juice, and half the enchilada sauce into what was left in the skillet and sprinkled a third of the cheese on top. Two tortillas were placed on top of this, and then the rest of everything (except the cheese) was mixed together in the bowl with the remaining chicken and bean mix, and then put over the tortillas. A third of the cheese was added, and then the other two tortillas followed by the last of the cheese. This was all baked in the skillet (with its lid) at 350 for 14 minutes. We topped our enchiladas with sour cream.

A spicy, flavorful meal with a lot of texture. We both liked this, although it wasn't especially simple. It had a lot of ingredients, a lot of steps, and created a lot of dishes. We will likely have this again, but I will save it for a weekend meal next time.

Pretty Easy Pasta

Sometimes the most important thing I'm looking for in a meal is what I can prepare without buying any additional ingredients. Yesterday was snowy and I had no desire to go out for any reason, but especially not shopping. 365 Ways to Cook Pasta to the rescue! We had a partial box of spaghetti so I flipped through some recipes and found Spaghetti with Walnuts and Parmesan which I was able to prepare in less than 15 minutes.

While the pasta cooked I coated the bottom of my indispensable cast-iron skillet with olive oil and minced and sautéed a garlic clove. After about a minute I added 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and sautéed a few more minutes. Once the pasta was cooked and drained I mixed the contents of the skillet into the pasta and added shredded Parmesan cheese and some dried parsley. Simple, fast, and delicious. James and I were both impressed with the especially nutty flavor.

Pasta and Poppies

We had bought a large bag of spinach leaves at Costco last week in order to make a family favorite: Mashed Potato Casserole (which is detailed on this post) while our adult child was visiting. There was still an awful lot of spinach so we had been looking for ways to use it before it spoiled. I found this super simple recipe in our good ol' 365 Ways to Cook Pasta. 

There are only six ingredients in this one: butter, garlic, spinach, poppy seeds, fettuccini, and shredded Parmesan cheese. 

While the pasta cooked, I crushed a garlic clove and added it to 4 T of melted butter in the indispensable cast-iron skillet and sautéed. The spinach was went in next and cooked until wilted, then 1 T of poppy seeds was added. Once the pasta was cooked it was tossed in a bowl with the spinach mixture, topped with the Parmesan and served with some crusty bread. I imagine this would pair well with a buttery Chardonnay, but we had it with Malbec because...Malbec.

Photo added by James, who did nothing for this meal except shopping
and eating, but who wanted to give this post a bit of color.
Lacking a photo of the meal,   I found this other
poppy reference, with Miss Judy Garland.

Meat Loaf

 It would appear that we have never posted about meat loaf before. I'm a little surprised by this. But, I also know that we rarely have prepared this in our 34 years of marriage. The impetuous for the preparation of this ultimate of comfort foods was a bit of ground beef, a bit of spicy sausage meat, a bit of "bacon ends" and some leftover rice all sitting side by side in our refrigerator. Since I indeed had not made meat loaf in quite some time I turned to Amy Sedaris for some guidance. What I prepared was only loosely based on the recipe in her book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. For instance, I, remarkably, had no garlic or onion, so I used garlic salt and onion powder as substitutes. She called for ketchup (no quantity given). I used a can of tomato sauce. I used one egg instead of two because that was all I had. I also threw in about a cup of the cooked rice. I topped the loaf with some of the bacon ends before baking - a suggestion Amy provides. The loaf baked at 350 for 55 minutes. It wasn't as firm as either James or I remembered our mothers' loaves to be, but it was tasty and made for some good leftovers for lunches this week.

The ingredient list as provided in the cookbook is pictured below.

Easy Spicy Chicken

Deciding to continue our recent success with recetas nuevas, on Sunday afternoon I took An Appetite for Passion from the shelf. For the long version of our interest in this book -- which has nothing to do with the author and everything to do with the writer of its forward -- see our 2014 Cooking in the Car post.

I include a photo of the book cover because it is much more attractive than a photo of the dinner would be. Delicious food is not always photogenic. 

Thumbing through the thin volume for dinner ideas, I noticed that many of the recipes are for seafood, but we would not have a chance to get to the fishmonger before Monday. And I no longer buy seafood at the regular grocery store. If there are not boats behind the store, I'm probably not buying fish there. I might be moving this book to the shelf of our ocean-proximate kitchen in Fairhaven.

The book has a lot of desserts and breakfasts, which could serve as a dinner. But I kept turning pages. At least two recipes call for venison, duck, or other meats that I am not set up to bring in, as it were. 

But then I saw a simple recipe for spiced roast chicken. I do often roast chickens, as readers of this blog know. But I decided that this recipe could succeed with the boneless chicken breasts that are part of our weekly dairy delivery. 

Preparation was very simple. In a small bowl, I combined brown sugar, ground cinnamon, cumin, red pepper flakes, fresh-ground black pepper, ground coriander, chili powder and just a little salt. I crunched these together thoroughly with a teaspoon. 

The recipe calls for rubbing this mixture under the skin of the chicken before roasting -- much as I have done with Thanksgiving turkeys in recent years. (In fact, I might just spice up next week's turkey just a little next week.) I knew that these chicken breasts would be delicious and tender, but with no surface fat to work with. So I turned them in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil before rubbing on the sugar-spice mixture.

I then heated a mixture of oil and butter in an indispensable cast-iron skillet, adding the breasts when the pan was hot enough to sear them. After 2-3 minutes, I turned them, searing the other side. I then lowered the heat and began to prepare the side dish -- just leftover brown rice that I fried in another skillet, scrambling in one farm-fresh egg from our friend's chickens.

I served this with some chilled cranberry sauce -- a delicious mix of flavors, temperatures, and textures. We often write that our meal paired well with Malbec from Mendoza, but this time it was an exceptional pairing. Highly recommend. 

Zucchini-Feta Pancakes

 I found this recipe in the classic Moosewood Cookbook. I still had some frozen grated zucchini from my garden harvest and we also had some crumbled feta in the refrigerator. 

The recipe called for 4 cups of grated zucchini and I had considerably less than that so I halved the recipe. I figured it would be fine since the recipe also said that it serves four and there were only two of us. There was no problem halving the recipe, except that it turned out that it only made four smallish pancakes, so had we not supplemented the meal with some leftover dressing and cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving we would have been pretty hungry.

The ingredient list as written is as follows (along with my notes for substitutions)

4 eggs, separated (yolks optional)

4 packed cups coarsely grated zucchini

1 cup finely crumbled feta cheese

1/2 c. finely minced scallions

1 tsp. dried mint - I used some fresh parsley instead

a little salt (to taste)

lots of black pepper

1/3 c. flour

oil for frying

sour cream or yogurt for topping

The eggs whites had to be beaten until stiff and then folded in with the rest of the ingredients. The pancakes were light and fluffy and quite good with the sour cream topping. I liked them better than the Zucchini Fritters from my Dishing Up Maryland cookbook (although I never tried the sour cream topping those).

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I don't think I've ever made tortilla soup from scratch before. James and I have occasionally made it from a kit, but in reviewing our shelf of recipe books while looking for a recipe for some chicken breasts I noticed our seldom used The Daily Soup Cookbook where I discovered the tortilla soup recipe. 

Before getting to the recipe, which I only used as a suggestion, it is important for me to discuss our history with tortilla soup. We usually only enjoy this when we eat at Mexican restaurants - something we have not done at all since before the pandemic. Each time we have some of this soup we remince about the first and second times we ever ate it. The first time we couldn't believe our good fortune in finding a restaurant that made such an exquisite soup. The second time we couldn't believe how the soup could have been so thoroughly ruined (too much salt and burned tortillas).

Both times were during our first trip to Mexico in 1989. Both were also at the same restaurant about two weeks apart. 

As I said, I used the recipe only as a guide for what I ultimately made. Which was way better than either the first or second tortilla soups I tried.

I started with making a vegetable broth by simmering some whole peppercorns, whole coriander seeds, chopped onion, garlic, chopped celery, and some canned diced tomatoes in water. Once the stock was made and strained I prepared the soup by frying a chopped onion and three cloves of chopped garlic in Chipotle-infused olive oil (from L.O.V.E. Emporium). I added some dried oregano, fresh cilantro leaves, and some salt, some canned diced tomatoes, six cups of stock, and some fresh lime juice and simmered for 30 minutes. Finally I added the poached and diced chicken breasts. Once everything was cooked I placed broken up commercial tortilla chips into soup bowls and added the soup on top. This was served with shredded cheddar cheese topping and fresh cilantro garnish.

We had enough for leftovers so I made a change to the second-day offering by adding some frozen corn kernels before reheating.

Of course this would have been even better had I included avocado slices when serving, but alas we had none.

Greek Spinach Frittata

During our pandemic lockdown we've been buying more eggs than usual and having at least one egg-based dinner each week. Seven weeks in we have not yet used any delivery or curb-side pickup for food. We've only prepared meals at home with food purchased from infrequent trips to the grocery store, and our usual weekly Crescent Ridge Farms delivery.

About two weeks ago I made an old family favorite comfort dinner - mashed potato casserole (baked mashed potatoes and cooked spinach topped with cheddar cheese). I did not use all of the spinach James bought, so I found the frittata recipe in an old family favorite cookbook - Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. Its use of eggs and spinach cinched the dinner plan. In addition to these two ingredients this recipe also calls for one sliced onion, one sliced potato, and feta cheese. I also added some crushed garlic. The onion and potato went into the skillet first, followed by the garlic, and then the spinach, which did not take long to wilt. Eggs went in next and as they started to set the feta to sprinkled on top. I covered the skillet and turned the heat down a bit for a few minutes, then uncovered and placed under the broiler for two minutes to brown the top.

A satisfying meal for two.

Scallops en Casserole

I am starting this post with the lovely cover art of the cookbook involved in this recipe. As with most casseroles, this dinner was many good things, but photogenic was not one of them!

We had picked up Scallops: A New England Coastal Cookbook some while ago in New Bedford, where these things are decided. Elaine Tammi and Karin A. Tammi have written not just a cookbook, but a celebration that honors the work and heritage.

As regular readers of this blog will know, we have taken full advantage of being able to spend our weekends alongside the country's leading fishing port. New Bedford's string of 19 years of leading the nation in fishing revenue has equally to do with the hard work of its mariners and the high value of its scallops. My year-round rowing adventures include keeping a careful eye for the ships that are bringing in that catch or heading out for more, rain or shine, by sunlight or moonlight or lamplight.

We enjoy buying those scallops at Kyler's catch (cars in front, trucks to the side, boats out back), where the seafood is FRESH and the staff incredibly knowledgeable. If we go to Kyler's with a recipe for something that is not available -- because it is not available locally -- they will help us find a local alternative. We have prepared those scallops in a variety of ways, mostly on the stovetop and mostly with few other ingredients, because the delicate flavor and texture of the precious scallops should be primary. So as much as I have enjoyed browsing Scallops, we had not yet found something both novel and simple enough to try.

Until yesterday -- local friends who were raised in coastal Connecticut were coming over for dinner, and I decided to dare trying something new with people who really know their seafood. I have eaten scallop casseroles of various kinds before, but this would be the first one I would prepare myself -- from page 300.

BUT WAIT: Back up a bit. Before doing anything with the scallops, I started roasting potatoes, because this is yummy but takes a long time. I cut small red potatoes (with very thin skins) into quarters and tossed them with olive oil, pepper, Old Bay, and a few other spices. I put these in the oven at 400 so they would have at least a half-hour lead on the seafood.

I did venture three modifications to the recipe: I added a shallot and I used sea scallops instead of the tiny bay scallops. I am loathe to part ways with the expert authors, but bay scallops overcook so easily that I did not want to risk baking them into little balls of rubber. The third modification is the topping -- I bought thinly sliced almonds and further chopped them before toasting them with butter in a cast-iron skillet. This was to avoid the buttered breadcrumbs in the recipe, which I enjoy but my sweetheart does not -- especially when I overdo them, which I always do.

I started with melting butter to saute portobello mushrooms, scallions, and shallots. When they were all softened, I thoroughly stirred in two tablespoons flour and then slowly added a cup of white wine a dash of lemon juice, two pounds of trimmed scallops and a bit of fresh parsley. I melted butter in a casserole dish and spread this mixture into it, after just a minute or so of simmering. I then topped them with the toasted almond crumbs.

I baked this for 20 minutes, and the result was disappointing at first: it looked like soup. I gave it an additional 15 -- which seemed way too long, but necessary. I then realized that although a bit soupy (perhaps because of the shallot), the "soup" was thickened, and a few minutes of rest would allow it to rethicken. This turned out to be correct, and the result was unanimously declared delicious. It paired well with the roasted potatoes and of course with some local white wines.

Thank the mariners!
Photo: (The incomparable) Peter Pereira, N.B. Standard-Times

New Zealand Sweet Potato Chowder

This one comes from The Daily Soup Cookbook which I don't believe we've blogged about, although it does appear that we used it at least once before, judging from the cracked spine and the crumbs on the page for New England Clam Chowder. However, this time I chose a Sweet Potato Chowder recipe. This was relatively simple and I made a few substitutions on the ingredient list. The recipe called for sweet potatoes (natch) and yams. I skipped the yams and put in some carrots instead because I already had some on hand. I also used frozen corn kernels rather than corn cut from the cob.

Otherwise I followed the recipe which called for caramelizing onions with a bit of sugar, adding a bay leaf, thyme, and salt and pepper, followed by vegetable stock, and the sweet potatoes, corn, and carrots. This simmered for 20 minutes. Then I added heavy cream and removed the bay leaf before I used my immersion blender to pureé part of the chowder.

I used my trusty 22-year old bread machine to make french bread to serve with this.

A filling and tasty meal for a December night. Also made for great leftovers.

Med-School Turkish Chicken

During the fall 2018 semester, I had the heaviest teaching load of my semester, and though I continued to cook a lot, I did not take much time for innovation. I apparently took even less for blogging about it -- not only did I fall off my share of the once-per-week blogging, but I even did cook a new recipe and forgot what it was before I could get it into this space. Sorry, dear readers.

With grades (though not grade-haggling) from that semester behind me, I am happily embarking on a very different sort of semester: a sabbatical! I will still teach an online course (the chance to do extra work is my university's approach to equitable pay), but will have no in-person classes. I have plenty of academic work to do, but at my own pace. Which means more blogging, including food blogging.

It is perhaps appropriate that my comeback recipe is from fellow academics. Some time in the early 2000s (no publication date is given), the International Club of the University of Massachusetts  Medical School self-published Mélange (An International Cookbook). The publisher -- Fundcraft -- is still very much in business, but its on-line ordering is not working at the moment, so it is not clear whether the book is still available. I have no idea how or when we acquired it.

These are not professional cooks, but rather professional students sharing their favorite recipes and, by extension, their cultures from throughout the world. It is a wonderful little volume we should consult more often! As far as I can tell, its only previous appearance here was Pam's 2013 Syrian Rice post.

So, what did I cook? Contributors Fiorenza and Erdem Orberk call it Cerkez Chicken, in reference to the Caucasian people who were displaced to Turkey by the Russian invasion of the 1830s. Herewith, the recipe as they wrote it:

Click to enlarge

I was looking for this because we had several boneless chicken breasts that I needed to prepare; I used these instead of a whole chicken, and assumed that "simmer" in this case is equivalent to poach. I simmered them until cooked through. Because this did not yield a genuine stock, I substituted a vegetable stock. I should probably have used less than the 2 cups called for.

We had chopped walnuts onhand, which I further minced, along with half a red bell pepper. (The other half went into our dinner salad.) With no old bread on hand, I used a couple handfuls of Triscuits.

Otherwise, I followed the directions above and added one step that I assume was intended: I put this in a small casserole dish, with the pepper-butter mixture drizzled on top, and baked at 350 for 25 minutes. Honestly, it could have used a bit more heat and a bit less liquid. Still, this was a lean, delicious meal that we will be repeating.

I will also be browsing Mélange in some of my upcoming spare time!

Lagniappe: This geographer could not resist providing a bit more information about the Cerkez (also known as Circassian) expulsion. The map below is from The Politics of Genocide Claims and the Circassian Diaspora, published by Martin W. Lewis in GeoCurrents, January 24, 2012.

Map by Martin W. Lewis; Click to enlarge

Braised Salmon

Last Christmas our wonderful child gave us this cookbook as a gift.

We've used it once before with good success and last weekend we pulled it out again in an effort to get back to the original purpose of this blog. We had already bought some salmon from our local fishmonger so we selected the recipe based on the type of fish we had.

We immediately noticed that the recipe called for salmon steaks, and we'd bought a fillet, but just decided to go for it anyway. The braising actually worked to our advantage as it served as a quick way to remove the skin. 

I was pleased that the recipe called for moving the fish to a platter once it was braised because it provided me with the opportunity to make good use of this special "fish dish" which we got at a yard sale when we bought our beach house. The fish was seasoned with salt and pepper while it "waited."

Once the fish was removed from the pan the aromatics (rosemary, thyme, garlic, and lemon peel) were cooked and simmered with a bit of butter, olive oil, soup stock and white wine (we used a dry Riesling).

Then the fish was placed back into the pan and covered to finish cooking.

 An eye-pleasing as well as palate-pleasing meal!

Pumpkin Scones

Each fall I feel compelled try at least one thing from The Pumpkin Cookbook.This year's recipe was pumpkin scones. It is important to note that none of the recipes in this book are created with canned pumpkin, each recipe calls for an actual pumpkin. The ingredient list for this one says to use 1/3 of a small pumpkin, "about six ounces". I did not weigh the pumpkin I bought. Rather I guesstimated.

Once I took out the seeds and fibers, I cut the pumpkin into wedges, removed the skin, and grated the flesh. Next I blended together 2 cups of flour, a pinch of salt, 1 t. baking powder, and 1/4 c. of butter. I did actually use my electric blender because the recipe said to use a food processor (and such an apparatus I do not own). I won't be trying that again. What a mess, and so unevenly mixed. Next time I will simply use a pastry cutter.

3 T. sugar was added to the mix and then 1/2 c. chopped candied ginger, along with the grated pumpkin. I added 1/3 cup of evaporated milk, but the mix was too sticky, so I had to add some more flour until the dough was a better texture for rolling. I rolled out the dough and used a the edge of a glass in lieu of a cookie cutter to cut out rounds, and then brushed the top of each scone with milk. The scones baked for 10 minutes at 425.

Not much flavor from the "essence of pumpkin" but a seasonal ginger spiciness came through nicely.

Kickin' It Old School

When I started this blog lo these seven and a half years ago my intention was to make good use of my cookbook collection. Too many of my gems were being underused. Over the years I have found myself using the cookbooks less often, as I find more recipes online. This post pays homage to the original intent of my project. I got out one of my oldest cookbooks New Recipes for Pasta, Rice, and Beans - one of those flimsy magazine-quality numbers you can find at the grocery store checkout line, which I am sure is where I picked this one up, sometime in the '90s. We use it often for its stuffed pepper recipe, but I decided to find a "nueva receta" this time and selected "South-of-the-Border Bean and Bacon Pizza". I frankly don't believe that this is a Mexican dish by any stretch, but I didn't come up with the name. The little cookbook is from Pillsbury, and therefore every recipe includes some name-brand ingredients. I ignored this, and certainly wasn't about to use pre-prepared pizza crust in any case. I made the dough in my bread machine. Nor did I use Joan of Arc Spicy Chili beans. I did used canned kidney beans, and then added some chili powder and other spices. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. It was a tasty and filling meal.

Turkey Burger Flavor Symphony

Simple Suppers

I am not quite sure how this book leapt from the shelf into my hands recently. As readers of this space know, we already have plenty of cookbooks, and the whole point of this blog is to tackle some of the thousands of untapped treasures already on our shelves. Besides, we are not afraid of complicated recipes.

We are, however, only two diners most of the time, with our child now a grown-up a thousand miles from home. And some evenings, we are not prepared to go full-crêpe just for dinner. So pick it up I did, and we were very pleased with the first result, entitled Turkey Burger Sliders with Spicy Lime Mayonnaise.

I use the word "entitled" to signify the author's intent to create sliders, even though I simply made regular-sized burgers. Either way, this is a delicious variation on turkey burgers, with three parts: the burger, the toppings, and the mayo.

The burger itself includes grated ginger, garlic, salt and pepper. I used a lot of ginger, which added a very nice note to the symphony of flavors here. The mayo included fresh lime juice and sriracha sauce. I used the proportions called for, and ended up with mayo that was both too thin and way too abundant. I could have made a soup with it. Next time I will just add a dash of lime and bit of sriracha to a much smaller dollop of mayo than the 1/2 cup in the recipe.

Finally -- the toppings are brilliant. I used a potato peeler to make very thin slices of cucumber, which went on top of the burger, along with a small pile of cilantro leaves. I think this is the first time I have ever used cilantro without chopping it -- just cut a big handful of it away from the stalks. The recipe calls for chopped red onion as well, but sliced up some scallions we had on hand.

This went very well with a fresh fruit salad Pam made, using an infused blackberry ginger vinegar from our friends at Lebherz and a chilled Sauvignon Blanc.

Note: Laura Arnold includes plenty of vegetarian and seafood meals in this thin volume -- stay tuned to see which of these we try.

Snow Day...Pi Day!

I recently learned about something called our "aspirational selves". These are our selves who put foreign films and documentaries on our Netflix list, but never feel like watching them; or buy nicer clothes than we would normally ever really hope to wear; or perhaps save that rather complicated recipe intending to make it when you have more time. Your aspirational self really wants to believe that you will watch those cerebral films, and that you will be the sort of person who gets invited to some shin dig where you can don your fancy duds, and just knows that someday you will make that souffle.

Stella (the snowstorm, not character in the famous Tennessee Williams play) hit New England on Pi Day, so we got a day off of work, and I took the time to assess my culinary aspirations. One of the things I notice is that James and I like the idea of fresh fruits and vegetables more than we actually like to eat them. Sometimes I pick recipes based on ingredients we have so that I can use what we bought but didn't eat, and sometimes I pick the recipe and then buy only the ingredients I need so that we don't end up with a lot of stuff we really don't intend to eat. Recently we fell victims to my sister's aspirations. When she arrived for a much anticipated visit we went to the store to buy food she would like -this included carrots and celery. I am no stranger to the carrots and celery aspiration. I have bought both on several occasions with the full intention of cutting them into smaller sticks and then snacking on them, rather than Doritos, when I wanted something crunchy. I have learned my lesson, many times over, that I really just want salty chips when I come home from work. However, these were for my sister and they were purchased and put in the refrigerator where they stayed for the duration of her visit. I ended up using some (but not all) of the celery in the Succotash Chowder and so when I found myself with a "bonus" day off I decided that I would try to make something out of all of the produce I had sitting around. 

First up was carrot/raisin salad: shredded carrots, mayonnaise, raisins, and lemon juice. Prepared on Tuesday and eaten on Wednesday for lunch. I did not use all of the carrots, however. I actually did cut some into sticks to feed my dog who, my sister discovered, would eat them! Who knew? Maybe she won't be so fat now!

I made a Waldorf Salad with the celery and apples that had been waiting too long to be eaten. I used essentially the same recipe from several years ago but with raisins instead of grapes. We had this as a side dish for Wednesday's pizza dinner.

Our Pi Day creation "Pear and Goat Cheese Tart" came from Teeny's Tour of Pie: A Cookbook. We already had some goat cheese and bought some pears the day before especially for the recipe. For good measure I included one of the apples as well. As one can tell from the name of this dish this is not so much a pie as a tart. However it is round, and pie-like (see photo above), so we give it a pass for Pi day. The sliced apples and pears (mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and corn starch) were placed on top of the crust and the crumbled cheese was added, then the edges of the crust were folded up around the fruit and chėvre and baked for about half an hour. Sweet and savory Teeny says this "is one of the easiest recipes in the book". We bought Teeny's book on Pi day a few years ago, but I think this may be only the second time we've used it. My aspirational self will try to use it again before next Pi Day. 

Sauce in the Sauce; Fish on the Fish

A few years ago, my university created an office to coordinate our science outreach programs, and of course we needed a catchy name. As a coordinator of our EarthView program, I was actually part of the committee that settled on an acronym within an acronym -- CASE is short for the Center for the Advancement of STEM Education, and STEM in turn is short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. So CASE is an acronym that is built not just of words, but of words plus another acronym.

I was reminded of this kind of word-building when I made a teriyaki sauce described by Blue Jean Chef Meredith Laurence, for a grilled salmon recipe on page 182 of Comfortable in the Kitchen -- the source of a chicken recipe I posted just yesterday.

As instructed, I started the coals in our Big Green Egg and then prepared the glaze while they heated. The glaze ingredients are:

4T soy sauce (See? Sauce within a sauce.)

1/4 C orange juice

3T honey

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t fresh ginger root, minced

pinch hot red pepper flakes

I brought this to a boil, whisked, and simmered until thickened. That easy.

We actually had all of these ingredients on hand in our weekend kitchen -- that is how much we are all about the well-prepared pantry -- so my shopping had been only at the fishmonger. Still, I made one substitution. I used Worcestershire instead of soy sauce,  Hence the fish-on-the-fish: Worcestershire includes anchovies.

I coated both sides of the salmon filet with a bit of vegetable oil, but rather than place it directly on the grill, I put it on a grilling stone (mentioned in previous posts). I put it skin-side-up at first, and then turned it, and drizzled the above sauce on it.  Near the end of cooking, I drizzled the rest of the sauce on it.

I believe I should have put the stone on earlier in the cooking process. Because it had been cold before I brought it inside to scrub, it was still slow to heat. The results were still good -- the fish was almost succulent. But a few more minutes of heating before I put the fish on would have given it a better sear.

We enjoyed this with some simple buttered noodles and a Fat Bastard 2014 Syrah -- perfect pairing all around.

Comfortable Crusty Chicken

Some while ago, my mother gave us a copy of Comfortable in the Kitchen (which we are) by Meredith Laurence, also known as the Blue Jean Chef. When I noticed it on our shelf I did not remember having used it, so in the spirit of this blog, The author is known as an educator both of real chefs on both coasts and of ordinary home cooks in various venues, especially television.

I decided to look through it first in choosing a Thursday--night dinner. (Careful readers of this blog might know that Thursday night usually features seafood from Kyler's Catch, but my Thursday-night rowing is on hiatus, so I needed to find landlubber fare.

As I flipped through the pages, the title Parmesan Crusted Chicken with White Wine Cream Sauce jumped off the page. I quickly compared a couple other titles and this seemed to be the strike the right balance between how hungry we were (somewhat) and how hard I was willing to work (somewhat).

Being in that lazy mood, I did not really plan side dishes. Pam had noticed some peas in the freezer, which I steamed just as the main dish was nearly complete.

And in the grocery I noticed fresh cranberries, so I got about a pound of them. I put them in a cast-iron saucepan with about a half cup each of whiskey, water, and brown sugar -- I boiled and stirred this throughout the preparation of the chicken, taking it off the heat just near the end so it could cool slightly.

Since I had to go "foraging" for most of these ingredients anyway, I did not make any substitutions. Also, per usual practice, I did not trouble myself too much with measurements.

1/4 cup flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a dash more in the sauce
freshly ground black pepper (I did not notice the "freshly" part until just now)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used three, and cut each in half)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 shallot, finely chopped (I used one small one)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped (but they are already tiny!)
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used light)

This recipe is basically a slightly up-scale version of my usual fried chicken. I began by heating the oil in the pan. Then I coated the chicken lightly with flour, dunked it in the egg, dredged it in a blend of Parm and Panko, and placed it directly into the pan to cook -- about six minutes per side. I had put a wire cookie rack onto a cookie sheet so that the chicken could rest on the rack in a 200F oven while I prepared the sauce. I like this idea -- it prevents the coating from coming off entirely as it would if resting on a platter.

To make the sauce, I drained most of the oil from the pan and then used the remainder to sautee the shallot, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf for just a minute or two. I then added the wine, cooked for another couple of minutes to reduce, and then simmered with the cream for 2-3 minutes more. I added pepper and removed the bay leaf.

I divided the chicken between our two plates, adding some peas and cranberries to each. A good, lazy meal. Since white wine was in the sauce, we enjoyed a nice oaky Chardonnay with this meal, a break from our usual winter warmer of Malbec.

Verdict: A delicious meal we will be repeating.

A Special Birthday Dinner

or: Dinner from the Dairy Section

The whole recipe is here --
Click to enlarge

For today's post, we include a photo of the entire recipe, because instructions provided by Mr. Price are succinct to the point of being, well, cryptic. (Get it?) Describing the directions would require more words from me than are in the original. That said, I invite the reader to click the image to enlarge it, and to consider my caveats.

I understand the importance of taking care not to overcook seafood, but two minutes was not nearly enough time to cook 1.5 pounds of scallops in a half cup of Vermouth. I covered the pan and cooked for about six minutes.

I followed the rest of the instructions before realizing that I had failed to notice the "very hot oven" comment at the end. So I turned it to 350 and put everything in an oven-safe dish for about 10 minutes. In retrospect, I would shorten the boiling slightly and have that oven at something like 400 for 5 minutes.

Details aside, the important thing to know is that this was delicious! Careful readers of this blog will know that we have are hugely devoted to the New Bedford scallop harvest -- doing our part to support sustainable fisheries and the local economy. Scallops in this sauce are even more delicious -- and decadent -- than scallops wrapped in bacon.

Even better the second day, heated for about 30 minutes at 375.

For technical reasons that only iPad-using bloggers would care about, Pam put the title on this post because it was indeed a special dinner and it was indeed her birthday. The Vincent Price cookbook was my weeks-early birthday present to her, and it was good to use it again on her actual birthday. Even better, our daughter was able to join us. Since she is a vegetarian, I made fettucine alfredo with peas as an entree for her and a side dish for us.

For the dessert was one of Pam's favorites: key-lime pie. Specifically, it was Paula Dean's Frozen Key-Lime pie, which Pam made to celebrate Florida day back in 2010. It was at least as delicious as we remembered it.

Pam gave us both a birthday present by choosing not only the main course, but also the dessert. Cooking is usually no work at all for me, but I sometimes struggle to choose a menu. With the dessert and main course chosen, I chose alfredo as a compatible, but in fact it might be better described as redundant. Hence the subtitle I placed at the top of this post. I thought of it because I found myself buying one each of just about everything in the dairy case to make this meal. Good thing we have plenty of biking, walking, and rowing this weekend!

Rice Pizza

Rice Pizza? What could that be?

Following some nice tortillas Sunday and Asian carry-out on Monday, we found ourselves with a bit of a surplus of rice at Casa Hayes-Boh, and took to the cookbook shelf to see how we might use it. My first inclination was to reprise the Tabasco-enhanced Country Captain Chicken we had enjoyed a couple of weeks ago, but since chicken had been featured in both the Asian dinners and the leftover Asian lunches, Pam suggested pulling the essential Jane Brody's Good Food Book from the shelf.

I found a lot of entries under "rice" in the index, including all kinds of items about rice -- its preparation, nutrition, measurement, and so on. But I also found the intriguing "Rice-Crust Pizza" on page 480 and decided to give it a try, modifying the quantities, mainly by sheer guesswork.

I began by beating one egg and combining it with the cooked rice (we had just a bit more than a cup and a generous pile of shredded mozzarella). I applied olive oil to a glass pie pan and pressed this mixture into it. I then placed the pan in a 450F oven for 30 minutes.

Then I combined tomato sauce (after opening the wrong can, I pureed one can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste to get a thick sauce), dried oregano and basil, and freshly minced garlic. When the crust was somewhat browned, I spread this sauce on generously (having once worked at a pizza place where sauce was rationed, I do not like to skimp!). I then added some sliced mushrooms (and favorite topping would do) and freshly shredded parmesan.

Crisis averted! While it baked a further ten minutes, I set about to open the inevitable Malbec, breaking a corkscrew in the process. We have been cursed with poorly-made corkscrews and can-openers of late, but we are not to let a simple failure get between us and a nice wine pairing. After a miserable attempt with channel lock pliers, I retrieved our spare cork  jack from the car and wrested the cork from the bottle.

Victory is ours!

We then removed the small pizza pie from the oven. Having the cheese IN the crust made for a nice extra bit of crunchity goodness. We'll be doing this again, I'm sure!