Naked Wellingtons

I took a bit of a blogging break the last quarter of last year because frankly I was uninspired. Not sure why, possibly because my thyroid was out of whack. Also possibly because I was chronically broke of my own doing and so we were cooking and eating on the cheap which while tasty and relatively nourishing, was nothing to write home about. I mean do you really want to hear about my kraft dinner + tuna? I didn't think so.

Yesterday was my husband's birthday so I decided to cook something good for a change and get back into the swing of things. As I am prone to doing, I got overzealous. He asked for steak and lobster. I decided to kick the steak up a notch and try my hand at individual beef wellingtons. I had seen them on Rachael Ray recently and we had some awesome Omaha Steaks  in the freezer. Didn't look too hard. I googled a few recipes and found this one based on a version by Gordon Ramsey that used Parma ham instead of pate. Easy enough.

I had to work all day today and figured I'd pick up the ingredients on the way home. It of course took longer than anticipated and included a last minute stop in the liquor store for Sherry and Triple Sec because not only was I going to cook beef wellington and lobster and asparagus, I just had to make a claret cup cocktail I had read about in my NY Times cookbook. Not having wrote down the recipe I pulled one up on my trusty iphone and went to gathering stuff.

All is going along well, I've got the lobster water on to boil and have seared my beef just so, and am working on the mushroom mixture so I go to grab the puff pastry to pull it out and get it ready to assemble. It had been on the counter at least 25 minutes at this point but was still pretty much frozen. So I read the directions. Thaw for 40 MINUTES. Ugh oh. I had hungry people and was already feeling a bit overwhelmed. What to do? Scratch the wellington from the menu? Then what am I going to eat? I don't eat lobster so had only bought two, one for Jeremy and one for the girls to split.

So I decided to make some "gluten free" wellingtons. I called em Naked :) Slathered on the mushrooms, wrapped them in that gorgeous parma ham and slid em in the oven as if they had their pastry. In go the lobsters and the asparagus and about 12 minutes later all was again well in my world. They turned out great. I'm sure the pastry adds something but this variation suited us just fine. The ham was just smokey/salty goodness melded in with the mushrooms and beef. I had the deli slice it on .5 so it was super thin. Yum. We were too hungry to remember pics!

For dessert there was angel food cake with a mix of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries with whipped cream. Perfect. I did manage to snap a pic of that before devouring it.

Naked Wellington "gluten free"

4 beef tenderloin steaks

8oz crimini mushrooms

2 shallots

2 tbsp butter

Few glugs of Sherry

4 slices super thin Parma ham

Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a saute pan. Dry the steaks and season with salt/pepper. Sear on all sides- you're not cooking here, just sealing them up. Maybe 2 minutes on each side. If your steaks are thick make sure you sear all the edges.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Melt remaining tbsp butter and add the shallots finely chopped. While they are softening, pulse the mushrooms in food processor for a few minutes until finely chopped. Not completely paste but very small pieces. Add to the pan with the shallots. Lower the heat to med and stir occasionally while the mushrooms give off their liquid. Once almost dry add a few glugs of sherry. Stir well and continue to cook until the sherry is absorbed. Taste and season with salt/pepper.  

Remove the mushrooms and allow them to cool a few minutes while you assemble whatever else you're having on the side. Lay out a piece of parma on a cutting board and smear with the mushroom mixture. Top with a steak and wrap up the ham as tight as you can get it. Flip it over seam side down into a baking dish. Repeat with the other steaks.  Roast for 10-12 minutes in 400 degree oven until done to your liking. At 12 minutes ours were perfectly med rare. 

Enjoy. 

PS- the claret cup I just HAD to have? Yuck. 

Fried Flowers!

This week at the farmers market a lovely box of squash blossoms caught my eye. I was feeling adventurous and so I decided to pick them up and have a go. As I was leaving the market I got soaked by a pretty strong downpour, so as I sat in the car waiting for it to pass I used the epicurious app on my iphone to find a recipe for what to do with them. Seems like the popular way to cook them is stuffed with cheese and fried.  Many of the notes said make sure you eat them the same day you buy them because they go bad very quickly. I had all intention of making them last night but by the time I got home the enthusiasm had passed.I went to the kitchn blog for some inspiration and decided to make them tonight as part of an all veggie night. Made some eggplant parmesan and a skillet of sauteed summer squash and tomatoes to go with them.

First challenge, removing the stamens. Not easy without damaging the petals. After ripping the first few I went and found some nail scissors and used them to reach down in the blossom and clip them off. I imagine it's a little easier to get to them when they are first picked, it would be super cool if the farmer would just de-stamen at harvest. I'd pay extra for that as this was not fun.  I stuffed them with a mixture of ricotta and asiago cheese seasoned with fresh basil, lemon zest and a few other things.

Aren't they pretty? This is stuffed waiting to be battered and fried. The batter called for 1 cup flour and 1 cup seltzer water. I had bought some seltzer water but somehow it disappeared between the store and home. I'm sure I'll find it in the back of some cupboard in a few days. I used ginger ale because that's all I had that was carbonated. I figured it'd do. I didn't notice any off taste so I guess it was ok.

Fried Flowers
1 bunch male squash blossoms (10-12)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated asiago or parm
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
handful fresh basil chopped fine
salt/pepper to taste

for the batter
1 cup flour
tsp salt
1 cup carbonated water, beer or ginger ale!

oil for frying

Remove the stamens and outer pointed parts of stem on squash blossoms. Rinse gently to remove any debris. Allow to dry on paper towels.

Mix up cheese mixture and put it into a plastic bag, cut off a corner for easier filling.
Fill up the centers and twist the tops of the flowers.

Heat oil for frying - about 1 inch thick in a deep skillet or in your fryer if you have one.

Mix up batter, dip and fry until lightly colored on both sides (it goes quick)  in batches until all are done. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with a little kosher salt and serve with lemon wedges. They were pretty good but not sure worth all that effort. I could have just as easily put that same cheese mixture into some peppers and broiled them and would have been just as good. While I was googling for these I saw some squash blossom enchiladas and quesadillas that sounded good. Maybe I'll try them again someday.

Here's how the plate looked. The eggplant was actually not bad. I followed a cooksillustrated.com recipe. Sauteed zucchini and yellow squash with tomatos is a no brainer.  Decent veggie dinner.

Spicy Garlicky Greens

It's been a long hot summer and the last few weeks have been a bit crazy with school starting again and a huge project at work taking up much of my time. I've been cooking here and there but nothing really remarkable. I had missed a couple of weeks of my CSA and finally renewed this week. Today I went to pick up my box even though we are leaving tomorrow for a weekend vacation.

Oh my! Bok Choy is back!! And arugula. Details of what's in the box here. I have come to really love bok choy and we haven't had fresh greens in awhile due to it being 100+ most of the last month. My daughter has become the resident family spaghetti cook and wanted to make that for dinner, it's become our Wed ritual. Usually I have the stuff on hand and she starts dinner after school and it's ready when I get home from the market. Tonight she was at the market with me. We decided to just get the ingredients there rather than stop at the grocery on the way home.

In our box we had onions and some tomatos and fresh basil so that was covered. We needed pasta and sauce and meat. Picked up some grass fed ground beef from Richardson Farms stand and then headed over to Mandola's Italian Market for pasta, sauce and fresh mozzarella. Brooke decided she wanted caprese salad but mini instead of in layers like I usually do it. We considered putting them on skewers but discovered we were fresh out of sticks when we got home. A bowl works just as well.

So I looked at all this bounty from the market and stressed a little about how to use up the stuff that would go bad before we got back on Tuesday. Then I thought, lets just use as much as we can tonight and decided to serve the greens as a side to the spaghetti and caprese. Good idea!! Google brought me a basic recipe by Jamie Oliver and I made a few tweaks to fit what I had on hand and our tastes. A little crushed red pepper is a must as we like our greens with a little kick. I had no fresh oregano so I subbed in some dried. I also added in the arugula from our box and a few garlic scapes or scallions, I'm not really sure which they were. I just chopped and dropped. Turned out delish and eating greens always makes me feel a little healthier :)

Spicy Garlicky Greens
- adapted from Jamie Oliver

A large glug of olive oil, 4-5 tbsp
1 tbsp butter
3-4 cloves garlic chopped fine
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste (a couple of shakes for me)
2-3 chopped scallions or garlic scapes (optional)
1 sm red onion chopped fine
1 large bok choy
2 big handfulls arugula
large handful fresh basil
dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter into the olive oil and add the garlic, scapes/scallions and onion. After 2-3 minutes when the onions are getting softened add in the crushed red pepper. Add in half the basil chopped. While these are working chop the bok choy, dice the stems and cut the leaves into ribbons. Stem and chop the arugula. Add the bok choy stems and allow them to cook down a bit. Add the leaves and arugula and stir well to coat in the oil/juices. Continue to saute about 5-7 minutes until the greens are as soft as you like them. Add the rest of the basil, some oregano and salt and pepper to taste.

It would have been even better with a little parmesan or romano cheese grated in but I actually forgot that at the market (cardinal sin, I know!!) Dinner was served.

Eat some greens! It'll make you feel better.

Cube steaks can make a good burger!

I picked up some cube steaks at the market last week as my hubby likes them as an alternative to a standard burger. I've never been fond as they always seemed too tough. I finally got smart and looked up a few recipes online and thought about the process a bit. All the recipes I found stated they needed to be poached to keep them tender. So I thought hmmm, I bet they'd be great poached in Beer! Beer is tenderizing right? And I had a bottle of Rio Blanco Pale Ale on hand to do the job and a few red onions lingering from the CSA. Red onions make most things better.

Here's my take on it. They turned out excellent!

Cube Steak Burgers poached in onions & beer

4 cube steaks
1 large or two small red onions
1 bottle beer
4 slices provolone cheese
salt and pepper
Worcestershire sauce

Add a little olive oil to a large skillet and get it heated on med-high.
Season the cube steaks with salt and pepper, add to the pan and brown on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove to a plate for a bit.
Use 1/2 the beer to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the good little brown bits
Add the onions, thinly sliced to the pan and saute a few minutes until they start to soften.
Add some more beer so that the pan has a good 1/2 inch or so in it. If you have some left, drink it!
Add a few shakes of Worcestershire and put the cube steaks back in the pan, covering them with onions.
Cover and lower heat to med-low and allow to poach/steam for 12-15 minutes.
Uncover and add a slice of provolone to each steak so that there are some onions smothered under the cheese. Recover and allow to cook a few more minutes until the cheese is nice and melty.

Serve on buns with your favorite fixings. I used mayo and dijon and some extra onions from the pan. Add beans and chips and you've got an easy meal.

Creative Curry

 This week I had one of those throw it together and hope it works nights. I had some butternut squash to use up from my csa and was looking for a way to make it a main dish. The freezer was low on meat and the bank account low on funds to replenish. I went to my trusty Mark Bittman and found a recipe for Winter Squash Curry. This is based on his but with some extras thrown in to a. use them up and b. make it a full meal without everyone missing the meat.

Squash curry with okra and paneer

2 butternut squash, peeled seeded and cut into bite size chunks
4-5 ounces paneer (indian cheese) cubed
2 red onions sliced
1-2 cups okra tops removed and quartered lengthwise
1 recipe make your own coconut milk (from Mark Bittman) or a can if thats what you have
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp fresh ginger grated

In a large skillet melt a tablespoon of butter along with a few glugs of olive oil. Fry the okra in this mixture until crispy on the edges and well cooked, about 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from pan and keep aside for later.

Wipe out the pan, removing all the excess okra seeds. Add more oil and another tablespoon of butter and allow it to melt again. Add the onions and watch the heat, you want the onions to soften but not to get too brown.

While the onions are cooking, melt another tablespoon or two in a separate skillet and pan fry the paneer cubes until toasty on all sides. Set aside.

Once the onions are nice and soft add the curry, ginger and garam masala and stir, cooking a few more minutes. Add the squash and coconut milk. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or so until the squash is almost done. You want it soft but not falling apart. Add the paneer and okra. Cook a few more minutes to get everything coated in sauce and then serve over rice. I kept the hot out for the kids sake but served some hot mango chutney on the side for the adults.

If you don't have okra, leave it out- you won't miss it. Add something else green, green beans perhaps?

Yellow jasmine rice

To make some leftover rice better I sauteed a finely minced onion in some butter, added turmeric and fresh ginger and a little chicken broth. Added some cold leftover jasmine rice and stirred well until all was evenly colored and heated through.


Enjoy

Soul soothing squash pasta

I love a good bowl of pasta. It just soothes my soul like no other food group can. Once you know the basics you can create so many awesome flavors using what is on hand. Sometimes a substitution ends up making the dish better than the last time!

I was craving some pasta tonight and needing to use an acorn squash I had on hand. My usual go to when I  need a pasta fix and don't want to fuss much is carbonara. I use a version based on the one from Rachael Ray and it is delicious. Usually I don't mess with it. Tonight I decided to get creative.

It starts with a bit of olive oil and some bacon cut into small pieces. I use kitchen scissors to cut the bacon as I find it's quicker and less messy than trying to chop it. To the cooking bacon I throw in chopped onion and a dash of red pepper flakes.  Usually once that cooks down I add white wine as the base for the sause, using it to wisk up all the browned bits in the skillet from the bacon. I looked in my fridge tonight - No wine to be found! So instead of subbing in chicken broth which is the norm- I thought, bacon, squash, hmmm apple juice!!

Sloshed it in and wisked it up and then added the squash and some egg yolks, lots of parm and pepper and DONE!

Wow. I love it. The apple lends just a touch of sweetness and melds with the squash just perfectly. I could eat the whole pan but I guess I should feed the rest of the family.


Soul Soothing Squash Pasta


1/2 lb your favorite pasta. I use Barilla Plus multi-grain Penne
1-2 TBSP Olive Oil (2 turns of the pan)
1/2 package center cut bacon chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes ( I don't measure- this is a guesstimate, two shakes is what it was for me)
1/2  c apple juice (again- just a glug or two, enough to be able to scrape the pan and create a light sauce)
1 acorn squash
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Start the pasta in boiling water according to package directions. You're going to need a ladle full of pasta water so remember to pull that out before you drain it.

Poke a few holes in the squash with a sharp knife and microwave whole for 5 minutes on high

In a large skillet, add the olive oil and the chopped bacon. Stir to break up the bacon into pieces. Allow the bacon to cook for a few minutes and then add the onion and red pepper flakes. Allow this to cook on medium until the bacon is just starting to crisp in spots. You don't want it all totally crispy

Add the apple juice and wisk up all the nice browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat just a tad and allow this to cook and reduce a bit more.

Remove the squash from the microwave, allow it to cool a tad and then cut it in half and remove the seeds. Use a knife to score the flesh like you would a mango, 3 to four cuts lengthwise and then also widthwise. Scoop the flesh out with a big spoon and it'll come out nicely in small chunks. Add it to the bacon/onion in the pan and stir. If needed add another splash of juice or some pasta cooking water if the sauce needs more volume.

By now your pasta should be done. Separate out the three egg yolks into a bowl and add a ladle full of hot pasta water to the eggs.  Drain the pasta and add to the pan followed by the egg mixture. Turn off the heat and toss it all together. Add the cheese, lots of fresh ground black pepper and a bit of salt to your taste.

Serve topped with more cheese. Enjoy!

Eggplant Lasagna

Tonight we had three eggplants to use and so we decided to make a lasagna with eggplant slices in place of the noodles. It's chock full of veggies with a nice meaty sauce and the traditional ricotta cheese layer, yumm!

2 large or 3 small eggplants, cut into thin slices lengthwise
1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
8-10 mushrooms sliced thin
EVOO
1 lb ground beef

1 jar your favorite marinara sauce

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

dried oregano, basil and pizza seasoning blend to taste

8 oz ricotta cheese

8 oz cottage cheese

handful of shredded parmesan

1 egg

additional dried spices

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350

Slice the eggplants thin (1/4 inch or less) and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Brush lightly with olive oil and season with salt/pepper. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

To a large skillet add olive oil about three turns around the pan and heat on medium. Add chopped garlic, onions, green pepper and mushrooms. Stir to coat in the oil and cook until starting to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Push all the veggies to one side of the pan and to the other side add ground beef, cook until no longer pink using a wooden spoon to break it up as much as possible.  When the beef is close to done stir the veggies into it to finish cooking. Drain if you need too at this point. Add the jarred sauce and fire roasted diced tomatoes and allow to simmer. Season with dried spices tasting as you go. Turn off the heat and finish prepping your assembly line. 

Mix the ricotta, cottage cheese, parmesan and the egg in a bowl. Add some oregano and basil and black pepper to the cheese mixture. 

Assemble the lasagna: in a rectangular baking dish layer sauce, eggplant slices, cheese, more sauce, eggplant, cheese and then the remaining sauce. Top with mozzarella to cover and a sprinkling of more parmesan if you like. 

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes until bubbly and the cheese has formed a nice browned crust. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting for easier slicing. It's a one dish meal for us, we just had some garlic toasts on the side as we were too tired to chop salad!