mediterranean chicken

If you've never tried "packet" cooking, I highly recommend it. (This is where you seal a bunch of stuff in parchment or foil, and bake it)

Here, I put together a bunch of stuff that I like:
-chicken breast (seasoned with salt, pepper & oregano)
-tomato
-kalamata olives
-capers
-artichokes
-roasted red peppers
-feta cheese

Pile it all on a piece of foil (12" x 12" should do), give it a splash of olive oil and white wine, seal the edges of the foil (make sure the seal is tight, but tent the foil a little so it has some breathing room), and bake at 375 for about 22 minutes.

Cooking it this way, the chicken stayed unbelievably moist. You could use whatever ingredients you like, and it's a good way to use things up (the sad little remnants of jars of capers, artichokes, and roasted red peppers I had cluttering up my fridge turned into a great meal!)

open-face shrimp tortillas with guac

On the bottom: flour tortillas with melted cheese (brush tortillas with a little olive oil, top with shredded cheese, and stick in a 450 degree oven for a few minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and the tortillas are crisp).

Add a layer of tomatillo guacamole (click here for that recipe).

Top with shrimp, however you like to cook them (here, I tossed them with a crushed garlic clove, and stuck them under the broiler—just a couple of minutes per side)

Garnish with cilantro and sour cream, and some mango on the side.

balsamic-basil strawberries

It looks like chocolate sauce, but it's actually balsamic vinegar reduced down into a syrup, which pairs beautifully with strawberries.

Balsamic syrup: about 1/2c balsamic vinegar + 1 TBSP sugar. Heat to boiling, and let simmer until it has a syrupy consistency. Drizzle over strawberries and top with fresh basil. And because hey—it's dessert— how about a little squeeze of honey and dusting of cinnamon.

And, because I love edible containers (this blog was born with bacon cups, as you may recall), this mountain of strawberry deliciousness is served in a crêpe cup.

Take a crêpe (see my previous crêpe post for recipe) and form it into a cup in a muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, and the shape will set and it will get nicely crispy on the top edges. The above photo doesn't quite do justice to the dainty crêpe cup, as I completely overflowed it with strawberries.

beignets

I made these myself, using the Café Du Monde beignet mix that a friend brought back from a recent trip down to New Orleans (thanks, Larry!) It wasn't quite the same as eating them at the famous open-air French Market stand, but still pretty good.

If you can't make it to NOLA, you can also order the mix from Café Du Monde's website.

salmon with pesto on puff pastry

This dish looks much fancier than it actually is. There are only 5 ingredients: puff pastry, pesto, tomato, salmon, and sliced almonds. It takes about 15 minutes to make, and if you line your baking sheet with foil, there's no cleanup. And since it's just a simple layering of ingredients, it's just as easy to make for 1 person as it is for 8.

Click here for the full recipe.

happy birthday to me

And Happy St. Patrick's day to everyone else!

This is my favorite birthday cake—one that my mom has made for me many times over the years. It's a chocolate layer cake split into 4 layers, with mint chocolate chip ice cream between the layers, and Cool Whip on top. It's divine.




And this is my second favorite birthday cake—the red velvet cake from the Buttercup Bake Shop in NYC—973 2nd Avenue, betw. 51st-52nd Streets (they also have an Upper West Side location on 72nd St. betw. Amsterdam & Columbus)



As you can see from the plate, the cake was consumed at Veselka, a wonderful Ukrainian diner in the East Village (2nd Ave & 9th St.)

(The brunch which preceded the cake, a hearty pre-pub-crawl meal):



And it wouldn't be St. Paddy's without Guinness, now would it?

tomatillo guacamole

1 avocado
1 tomatillo
1 jalapeño pepper
1/2 a small red onion
1 minced garlic clove
juice of 1 lime
cilantro
coarse salt

rice krispy treat

(I'm all about the comfort food treats these days, aren't I?)

milk & cookies

(made from the Tollhouse recipe, of course)

bloody mary brunch

happy valentine's day

My version of the Valentine's day rose... one of the stinking variety.
To roast garlic: cut the top off, set in a piece of foil, douse with olive oil, wrap it up and bake at 400 degrees for an hour. It gets nice and sweet, and is so tender, it's perfect for spreading on bread.


Smoked salmon pasta.
I used the recipe here, but doubled the amounts for the sauce, because I like mine to be a bit saucier.


Mint-chocolate cake, with a slightly molten center.
This recipe is also from Simply Recipes, which I'm finding to be a fantastic resource. It's organized really nicely, and has gorgeous photography.

tomato soup & cheesy bread

steak with mango & scallions

Based on this recipe from Everyday Food, but if you're too lazy to click the link, here's what you need to know:

-Flatiron steak, seasoned with salt & pepper, cooked medium-rare under the broiler (10 minutes, flipped halfway through). After cooking let it rest for 10 min., then slice thin, against the grain (you'll have more tender steak that way).

-Arrange the steak on a leaf of boston lettuce, with some sliced mango and scallion.

-Vinaigrette for the top: 1/4 cup lime juice, 1 TBSP oil, 1 minced garlic clove, and chopped cilantro.

On the side is just some cooked Chinese noodles, tossed with sliced scallions, a bit of oil, salt & pepper.

homemade pizza

I started out by making this whole wheat pizza dough, and then topped the pizzas with some of my favorite things...

pizza #1: Mix ricotta cheese + generous amount of dried basil + 1 minced garlic clove, and spread on the pizza. Top with sliced prosciutto and shallots (the prosciutto gets nice & crispy in the oven, like bacon).

pizza #2: Jarred pizza sauce + sliced fresh mozzarella + sliced olives and marinated mushrooms.

The pizza bakes for 18-20 minutes on 450º, and if you follow the recipe's instructions to make the dough and freeze pre-made pizza shells ahead of time, it makes for a very quick weeknight meal. You can pull them right out of the freezer, top them, and bake them. No need to even thaw them.

eggs for dinner

Who doesn't love eating breakfast foods for dinner?
This was a little experiment, which happily turned out deliciously.
You'll need:

1 egg
vinegar (for poaching the egg)
olive oil
butter
1/2 c dry white wine
shallot
lemon (zest + juice)
lime
parsley
salad greens
dried apricots
whatever kind of bread you like (toast for on the side)

Start with a poached egg: Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle boil (there should be bubbles on the bottom of the pan, but the surface should not be rolling). Add 1 tsp vinegar per cup of water that you're using (the acidity helps the egg hold together in the water). Drop the egg in, and cook for about 4 minutes (this will give you a runny yolk—if you prefer a more solid yolk, give it a couple more minutes).

The sauce (amounts are approximate—it depends on your taste):
Mince a shallot and sauteé in a small amount of oil with a dash of salt for a couple minutes on medium heat, until it's softened but not brown. Add the white wine, some lemon zest (about 1 tsp), and a squeeze of lemon juice (not quite half a lemon's worth). Bring to a boil, and boil until reduced by half. Melt in a few pats of butter, and turn heat off. Add some chopped parsley, and finish off with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice (just a few drops).

The salad: mixed greens + thinly sliced shallot + sliced dried apricots.

The dressing: roughly equal parts fresh lime juice + olive oil, seasoned to taste with salt & pepper.