Mongolian Tofu

Of all the fake-out take-out meals I have made, Mongolian Beef is my favorite. It is sweet and savory and I love the sauce over rice. I had some tofu to use last week when Jon was away, and I thought the flavors and sauce from the Mongolian Beef recipe would work well with tofu. I was right -this was delicious!

Here is my recipe -

Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 block firm or extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into thirds three ways (from the top, from the side, and from the ends) to get 2 inch rectangular pieces (or just cubed!)
• Cornstarch, approximately 2-3 tbsp
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger (I grated it through the microplane)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 c water
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 green onion, chopped

Directions

• Toss tofu with cornstarch to coat
• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat
• Add the tofu and cook until browned on all sides, about 6-8 minutes
• In the meantime, mix the soy sauce, water and brown sugar in a bowl
• Once the tofu has browned, add the garlic and ginger; saute 1 minute
• Add the soy sauce mixture and stir; bring to a steady simmer and then reduce to low. Let simmer for several minutes to thicken the sauce.
• Add half of the green onions
• Serve over rice and garnish with green onions

I love tofu, and am so glad I have found so many different ways to prepare it. When I first started to eat it, I only made a tofu and vegetable stir fry...and I made it at least once a week! Having options is much, much more delicious!

Creamy Artichoke Soup with Spinach Pesto

I bookmarked a recipe for Artichoke Soup with Pesto several months ago. This weekend I looked at the recipe when I was making my shopping list for the week, and decided to give it a try. The recipe calls for pesto, and since I'm not a big fan of basil pesto, I decided to make some changes.

One of my favorite appetizers to make is Spinach and Artichoke Dip (you have to try my recipe if you love this dip!), so why not do a spinach pesto with this soup?

Below is my adaptation of the original recipe; the original can be found here on the Epicurious site.

This soup is a very quick soup, and couldn't be easier. From prep to table, it took 25 minutes, including my time to make the pesto!

Spinach Pesto

• Handful of fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Approximately 2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Pinch of Kosher salt

Blend all ingredients in a food processor.

Soup Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 cans artichoke hearts, drained
• 3 c low sodium chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken as it was what I had in)
• 1/2 c light cream
• Salt and white pepper, to taste. I used just a pinch of Kosher salt and 3 shakes of white pepper.

Directions

• Heat olive oil in a soup pot
• Add onion and garlic; saute 3-4 minutes
• Add artichokes and broth; bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer about 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and puree using a handheld immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender.
• Return to low heat, add cream, and season with salt and white pepper.
• Serve with spinach pesto.
  

This is by far the easiest soup I ever made, and it tastes like spinach artichoke dip!

Red Wine Poached Pears with Blue Cheese

Jon and I spent our honeymoon in St. John, the best island in the Caribbean, in our opinion. We loved it so much and were lucky to visit for 2 days while in St. Thomas for Jon's work trip a few years ago. Those 2 days gave us the itch to go back, so we returned for a belated 5th anniversary trip last year. Everything about the island is amazing - the laid back atmosphere, the crazy roads, the protected national parks, the beaches, the views you catch when driving in your rental jeep - absolutely breathtaking, the waterfront bars and restaurants, and the feeling you get when you are on the island - I could honestly go back every year and would never be bored.

While there we enjoyed dinner at Chloe and Bernard's, the Westin's restaurant. I ordered the red wine poached pears with double cream brie, and loved it so much that I have been wanting to make the pears ever since. So last week when I had a few pears that needed to be eaten, I decided to give them a try. I wasn't sure what else was used as the poaching liquid besides red wine, so I turned to this recipe for help.

Coring the pears was easier than I thought, especially since I don't have a corer. I took a potato peeler and inserted it into the bottom of the pear, went around the core, and pulled it out. The core came out easily and I cleaned it up a bit with a small measuring spoon - 1/4 teaspoon to be exact. Once cored, I put them in a bowl of water with a touch of lemon juice while I prepped the poaching liquid.



Ingredients

• 2 cups dry red wine (I used an entire 750 ml bottle of Zinfandel - I think it was Robert Mondavi, just something cheap)
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 c sugar
• 2-inch stick of cinnamon OR 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used ground)
• 3 large pears; I used 4 medium Bartlett pears
• Optional: blue cheese

Directions

• In a large pot over medium heat, bring with wine, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon to a boil (make sure you use a pot that is deep enough for the liquid to cover the pears once you add them).
• Add the pears to the poaching liquid, making sure they are covered.
• Slowly simmer the pears, loosely covered, until they are soft, but not mushy, when poked with a sharp knife.
• Remove from the heat and allow to cool in the syrup to lukewarm.

I stored the pears in the fridge for a few hours. Once ready to serve, I put them on the stove over low heat to bring them back to lukewarm.

I served them with crumbled blue cheese. I see this dish a lot as a salad or starter, but I decided to serve them as dessert. I loved them, and they were so easy to make, but looked impressive on the plate.

Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Root Vegetables

Last Sunday I felt like trying something new. Our grocery store had pork tenderloin on sale, and since we don't cook them that often, I decided to pick one up and invited my parents for dinner.

I love marinated and grilled pork tenderloin, and I also love pork with mashed potatoes and my grandmother's secret family recipe for sauerkraut. But since Jon can't even take the smell of sauerkraut in the house (how can you not like it?? Especially the way my family makes it...), I looked for some other ideas. I liked this Paula Deen recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Root Vegetables. Surprisingly, it didn't call for any butter! How very un-Paula!

The root vegetables in this recipe were carrots, turnips, parsnips, and rutabaga. I have cooked with every one except rutabaga, the large, round vegetable in this picture -

Cooked, a rutabaga looked like mango, but had a very firm consistency. I couldn't really place the flavor though. A turnip tastes like a potato to me, and a parsnip tastes like a carrot, but a rutabaga has a flavor all its own. I would definitely use this vegetable again.

The Recipe...

Ingredients

• 1-1.5 lb pork tenderloin

The marinade:

• 1/4 c soy sauce (I used low sodium)
• 2 tbsp dry read wine
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (omitted this)
• 2 green onions, green parts only, chopped

The veggies...

• 5 carrots
• 5 parsnips
• 2 rutabagas
• 5 turnips, roots only
• Olive oil
• House seasoning (This is a seasoning you can make and keep for up to 6 months - 1 c salt, 1/4 c black pepper, 1/4 c garlic powder. Instead of making the entire amount, I just seasoned my veggies with the seasoning ingredients of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.)

Directions

• Combine marinade ingredients in a measuring cup and whisk to combine. Pour over pork tenderloin in a plastic bag, and marinate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (I ended up turning the oven to 375 halfway through, and then 400 to finish the veggies after the pork was done).
• Bake the pork for 45 minutes, or until temperature reads 145 degrees (I like my pork cooked a touch more, so we let it go to 160 - perfect). Allow meat to rest 10 minutes before slicing. I transferred it to a large dish and surrounded the pork with the roasted vegetables. (I normally sear a tenderloin before roasting it, but didn't this time)
• Peel and cut the vegetables into bite-sized chunks. Toss with olive oil and the seasoning, and roast alongside the pork (in a separate dish), until tender. The directions say to check them at 25 minutes, and then every 10 minutes thereafter, but doesn't give the total cooking time. Our veggies took close to an hour.

Jon and I both thought the marinade would make the meat too sweet, but it didn't. It had the perfect balance of sweet and savory, and paired perfectly with the veggies. The only thing I added was a green salad and a nice loaf of crusty bread. Perfect Sunday dinner!

Chive Risotto with White Truffle Oil

To all of my readers, I'm sorry it has been so slow in here lately. But I have a good reason for not feeling like cooking - we're expecting our first little one in July! The first couple of months were full of exhaustion and Jon did all of the cooking, and when he wasn't home, I got takeout. But thankfully my energy came back along with my urge to get into the kitchen. And now that I'm cooking again, I'm also wanting to try some new recipes, so I promise I'll have more posts over the next few months!

Last Saturday we stayed in and cooked together. And what does Jon always request when he's grilling steaks? Risotto, of course.

I have a bunch of risotto recipes in my blog already - feel free to browse through the risotto tag over there on the right. And here is a new one to add to the list, Chive Risotto with White Truffle Oil. If I can't have real truffles, the flavor of them will have to do - I love truffles!

I used this recipe as my inspiration, but used my standard risotto preparation method. My adaptation is below.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c arborio rice
• 1/4 c dry white wine
• 4 c chicken broth, warmed
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bunch fresh chives, chopped
• Approximately 1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I don't measure, I just grate it over the pan)
• 2 tbsp white truffle oil

Directions

• In a large saute pan, melt butter and heat oil over medium heat
• Add shallots and garlic; saute until soft, about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the rice, and toss until coated
• Add the wine, stir until absorbed
• Add 1 ladle full of broth, stir until absorbed. Continue adding broth, 1 ladle at a time, stirring and letting it absorb before adding more. The process of adding the broth will take about 18 minutes or so. When you are getting close to this time, start to taste the rice so you don't overcook it. You want it to have a very slight bite to it.
• Season with salt and pepper during this process, to taste. Adjust as needed.
• When you add your final ladle-full of broth, mix in the cheese.
• Remove from the heat and mix in the chives and half of the truffle oil. Use the rest of the truffle oil when serving.

We both loved this, and the white truffle oil added a nice earthiness. The next day, I turned the leftovers into risotto balls, my favorite way to use up leftover risotto.

To anyone out there scared of making risotto, don't be! I know that if you have watched any show featuring Gordon Ramsey yelling at his cooks, you must be scared as he makes it seem like an almost impossible art. But believe me, it is not difficult. Yes, it takes some time and attention, but you do not have to stand over the stove and stir the entire time. Also, it's not as time consuming as you may think. From the time you start the shallots to finish, it's about 35-40 minutes. And there are endless ingredient possibilities, so experiment and have fun!

Baked Snapper in a Lemon-Garlic Sauce

Last week, on my drive home from a client meeting, I stopped in at a fish market to pick something up for Jon. I had never been in this market, but had always heard such great things about it, including that the owner drives to Philadelphia early every morning to personally pick out his items that he will sell that day.

When I went in, they had such a wide variety of products - oysters, clams, Maine lobster, Chilean sea bass, halibut, and seafood salad, just to name a few. I brought home a nice red snapper filet for Jon, and he decided to use this recipe for Baked Snapper in a Lemon-Garlic Sauce as his inspiration. Below is the original recipe with one change noted.

Ingredients (he cut this in half for just one filet)

• 2 large red snapper filets
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced (he used what we had on hand, a yellow onion)
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley (we only had dried)
• 1 large tomato, cored and chopped (Jon doesn't like tomatoes so he omitted this, but I would have kept it)
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Lightly oil a baking dish; pat dry the fish.
• Mix together the onion, garlic, lemon, olive oil, parsley, tomato, salt, and pepper in the baking dish.
• Set the filet into the mixture, and spoon the sauce over the fish.
• Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake until the fish is just cooked through, about 20-30 minutes (Jon's took 22-23 minutes and was 0.9 lbs)

I am not a huge fan of fish, but was very surprised at the mild flavor of the snapper. The sauce added a light and refreshing flavor without overpowering the fish. I think using the tomatoes would be a great addition.

Soup Sunday: Creamy Cabbage Soup with Gruyere

So far this winter has been giving us a lot of good soup and stew days! So last Sunday when it was in the 20s and windy, I went in search of a hearty soup recipe. I found this one on the New York Times web site for Creamy Cabbage Soup and instantly decided to give it a try.

I made a few changes, noted in italics in the recipe below.



Ingredients

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 russet potato, peeled and grated (don't do this until you are ready to use it as the potato will become discolored if grated too early)
• 3/4 lb cabbage (about 1/2 medium head), cored and grated (Grating it was annoying me, so I sliced it and then chopped it. I liked the consistency, and it took less time than grating would have)
• Salt to taste
• 5 cups water, chicken stock, or vegetable stock (I used vegetable stock)
• 1 Parmesan rind
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2 c low-fat milk (ok, so I know they were trying to make it healthy, but using low-fat milk in a soup doesn't do anything for me. I used heavy cream instead. Normally I'd use light cream, but heavy was what I had in.)
• 1 c grated Gruyere cheese
• For garnish: homemade croutons, minced chives

Directions

• Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot.
• Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add the potato, cabbage, and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir together for a minute, taking care that the potatoes don't stick to the pot.
• Add the stock, Parmesan rind, and salt/pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
• Add the milk (cream) to the soup. Stir to combine well and heat through without boiling.
• A handful at a time, stir the Gruyere into the soup and continue to stir until the cheese has melted.
• Taste, adjust seasonings. Remove the Parmesan rind.
• Serve, garnishing each bowl with some croutons and minced chives.

Croutons: I took sourdough bread leftover from the previous night's dinner, cut into cubes, and tossed it with some olive oil and a few pinches of thyme. I put them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until golden and toasted.

This soup was so creamy, delicious, and full of flavor. On top of that, it was ridiculously easy to make, even with chopping the cabbage. I loved the addition of the thyme to the breadcrumbs, and felt that the flavor mixed perfectly with the soup. I ate this one for lunches all week!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

A few weeks ago, my dad, the baker in the family, brought me some muffins - Banana Chocolate Chip. They were delicious! Good enough for breakfast, but sweet enough to feel like a treat. So when I was craving them this week, I decided to make them on my own.

I know, I don't bake, but these were really easy and well worth all the measuring that I hate!

The recipe can be found on the All Recipes web site - Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c all purpose flour
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1/2 c plain yogurt - I used sour cream instead
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c mashed ripe bananas - this was 3 bananas
• 3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips - I used Ghiardelli chocolate chips

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
• In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients - egg, oil, yogurt (sour cream), and vanilla
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened
• Fold in the bananas and chocolate chips
• Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full
• Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes (mine cooked exactly 22 minutes) or until a toothpick comes out clean
• Cool for 5 minutes before removing from tins to a cooling rack

This recipe made 16 muffins that were great for breakfast all week. Jon asked me to make them every week!

Baked Pinwheels - Bacon Onion Pinwheels and Herbed Cheese Pinwheels

Happy New Year!

On New Year's Day my parents made one of my favorite meals - roasted pork loin, mashed potatoes, and my grandmother's secret family recipe for sauerkraut. I decided to make something we could munch on while everything was cooking.

I have seen these Crescent Roll appetizers around, so decided to make up a few of my own.

The first version was inspired by this appetizer, Bacon-Onion-Cheese Tart, a pizza crust topped with caramelized onions, cheeses, and bacon and then baked and cut into squares. I took the Crescent Roll dough and rolled it out flat. I spread a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese onto it, layered on some crumbled bacon, and then topped it with some shredded Parmesan cheese. I rolled it up, sliced it into one inch pieces, and baked on 375 for 10 minutes.

The second version was so easy, and my favorite of the two. I simply spread Alouette garlic and herb cheese onto the dough, rolled, sliced, and baked.

I loved these and imagine they could be made (rolled) a few hours in advance of a party, and then just sliced and baked.

When photographing, my mom asked me to take a picture of her mother's favorite Christmas ball, the Skier. This ball has been in our family for at least 80 years -

I hope everyone has a happy, successful, and delicious 2010!

Spiked Cranberry Sauce

Well hello there! It has been quite some time since I said hello. I have been crazy busy and feeling a bit under the weather, so while I have been doing some cooking, I haven't created anything new or blog-worthy in a while. Even my upcoming holiday menu is full of things I made before! Delicious things, but nothing new. Sometimes the old standbys are the best!

But, I do have this one new post. Yes, it is from Thanksgiving, and yes, my sister made it, not me, but if you are cooking a turkey for Christmas, you might want to try this cranberry sauce.

My sister found the recipe for Simple but Amazing Cranberry Sauce on the blog Savory Sweet Life. This recipe is the blog author's original recipe.

Ingredients

• 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
• 3/4 c orange juice
• 2/3 c brown sugar
• 1/3 c white sugar
• 2 oz gold rum

Directions

• Place all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on high for 15-20 minutes or until most of the liquid has reduced, stirring occasionally.
• Note, the author notes that you will hear the cranberries popping and not to worry, this is what you want them to do.
• Remove from heat and serve. This recipe can be made days ahead of time and brought to room temperature or slightly heated before serving (author doesn't note how far in advance is ok, but I would guess a day or two).

I'm usually not the biggest cranberry sauce fan, but I LOVED this one! I even had seconds. So if you are looking for something different to add to your turkey dinner, try this one.

Happy Holidays!!