The following video is a recipe and instructions for Grilled Blackened Salmon using a Cedar Plank.
The
cedar plank gives the salmon a wonderful smoky flavor while grilling. After using the cedar plank I will never grill salmon
any other way.
Click here to to learn how to cook Grilled Salmon Steaks using a Cedar Plank...
To know me is to know I love cheese. In fact, my friend Renea sent me this mug a while back and it pretty much sums up my daily life:
So, when I got an email regarding sampling Ile de France cheese, I was all over it. I had my choice between camembert, brie, and goat. Now, even though goat is my favorite of the bunch, I decided to go with the camembert because it's a cheese I don't really eat all that often and, come to think of it, I don't think I have ever bought.
Camembert is a very mild cheese and it has some nuttiness to it. I would say it is similar to brie in taste and texture (though it has some more punch than brie). It's creamy and, while it's probably "better" to just eat it at room temperature and not necessarily cook with it, there are few things I like better than a nice, melty cheese. Mmm. So, I decided to use it in one uncooked application and 2 cooked dishes (and, of course, I ate some on its own).
This Ile de France camembert was delicious! It's got a fabulous texture and just enough flavor that it lends itself to many pairings, but can stand on its own, too. I'm hoping to order some of the goat cheese next!
Now, onto the dishes!
First, I used it in a porcini risotto. I think the slight nutiness of the cheese pairs well with the earthiness of the mushrooms. Plus, I will take any chance I get to make risotto since we don't eat it all that often. This was so good that I think I may make it again next week!
Porcini and Camembert Risotto
Serves 2 as a main dish
1 (1.5 oz.) package dried porcini mushrooms
1.25 cups boiling water
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup arborio rice
2 sprigs thyme
1/3 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth, kept warm on the stove
2 oz. Camembert
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper
Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and then add the boiling water. Allow the porcinis to reconstitute for about 15 minutes. Strain them, reserving the water you used, and chop the mushrooms.
Heat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once shimmering, add the shallot and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds before stirring in the rice, chopped porcini, and thyme. Stir the mixture so that the rice is coated with the oil and begins to toast slightly.
Add the wine and deglaze, allowing nearly all the wine to evaporate. A ladel or so at a time, add the porcini liquid and the broth, alternately, stirring continuously and allowing the rice to absorb most of the liquid before adding the next ladel.
Continue adding the porcini liquid and broth a ladel or so at a time, stirring, until the rice is cooked al dente. It should still be slightly firm to the bite, and it should be a little "loose." You're not looking for a rice type dish that has absorbed ALL its liquid. There should be some liquid still in the pan.
Remove the pan from heat and stir in the camembert and the butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary and serve immediately (as if you could wait!).
Next, I made a simple salad. This is an endive salad with toasted walnuts, room-temp camembert, sliced apples (use your favorite kind) and cider vinaigrette. I like my dressings more acid-y than most, so I do equal parts apple cider vinegar & olive oil. (I also added pressed garlic and salt and pepper, of course.) As you know, I am working on having the love for fruits with savory dishes and this one won me over. Delicious! To let the apples absorb the flavor, and to keep them from browning, add the sliced apples to the dressing as you prep the rest of the salad.
And, finally, I made some camembert and maple bacon cups because the only thing better than cheese is cheese and bacon. For this I just chopped and cooked some bacon. I mixed just a tiny bit of maple syrup into the cooked/drained bacon and filled pre-made phyllo cups with that and the camembert. Easy and delicious!
This is by no means haute cuisine, but boy oh boy, is it delicious. I give all the credit of this ingenius creation to B. If he ever decides to change careers, Taco Bell would be foolish not to bring him aboard as a food conceptor. That boy comes up with some excellent gourmet junkfood. A taco and a burger in one. What's not to love right? Here's how it works... spread some refried beans on both ends of a toasted hamburger bun. My taco "meat" was chopped baby bellas, onions and corn seasoned with cumin and chile powder. Now layer "meat", cheddar cheese, tomatoes, avocado slivers and a fried corn tortilla. Top with your bean slathered bun and serve with plenty of salsa and Tapatio. Spicy, crunchy, creamy, cheesy flavor explosion!
I admit, I'm a bit of a (ok a HUGE) slacker when it comes to memes and awards. It's not that I don't appreciate getting tagged or being given awards, because I do! It always makes me smile. Honestly, I don't really have much of an excuse other than general laziness and the lack of creativity/thought when it comes to writing about myself. I mean, really, I think it took me the better part of a day to come up with my "interests" for facebook. ;)
That said, you obviously know I like music quite a bit, being that I started Eat to the Beat and all, so when my friend Ivy at Kopiaste tagged me for this musical meme, I stopped being a lazy bum and decided to fill it out.
The rules for the this particular meme are:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring (or whatever season). Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.
None of these songs are very new, really, because I have been way out of touch with the music scene as of late. I used to be a bit of a music snob (or maybe I still am) and had several jobs/internships dealing with music, but since then I tend to hear about music months after the fact. Still, I love it!
1. "Oh My" by Office. Office is a local band that I've been listening to for the last year or so and they're great. This is the song that ALWAYS gets stuck in my head. And to be honest, I don't even understand half the words. Don't you love singing along to a song when you don't even know what the hell you're saying? Me too.
2. "Merry Happy" by Kate Nash. Kate Nash has a way of singing about some really terrible things she's gone through in a fun, poppy way. Plus, I <3 the Brits! :)
3. "Side with the Seeds" by Wilco. Wilco is one of my co-favorite bands and I've just loved this song since Sky Blue Sky came out. I won't tell you how many times I listened to it in a row last week.
4. "Hollow Man" by REM aka my other co-favorite band.
5. "Better Version of Me" by Fiona Apple. My husband always says that he doesn't understand why I need such a big iPod, because really, the only CD I need on there is Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine. It could be true. I am still listening to this album as much as the day I got it and this has always been one of my favorites.
6. "If" by Janet Jackson. Thanks to last week's America's Best Dance Crew, I've busted out all my old Janet Jackson and this is definitely one of my favorites.
7. "Oxford Comma" by Vampire Weekend. Music and grammar. If this song mentioned food, it would be a trifecta of my true loves.
I'm tagging:
1. Kate
2. Peter G.
3. Julie
4. Erika
5. Holly
6. Jenn
7. Lindsey
I'd love to hear what you guys are all listening to! But considering how terrible I have been with memes, I won't be offended if you don't do this one! :)
Hi guys! We all love Mad Libs, so let's play a little game. Finish this sentence for me:
You know you're a food nerd when ___________________________________!
Here is my answer:
You know you're a food nerd when... you get really, really excited about your order of heirloom beans coming in the mail (insert sheepish grin)!
From my adventures in Indian cooking not too long ago, I have jars upon jars of Indian spices. Good thing for me, I love Indian food. Not too sure how my neighbors feel about all the pungent spices wafting in the air. They tell me that they can smell everything I cook in their bathroom. Bizarre, right? I always tell them that I'm glad that it's not the other way around. :)
For this dish, I ground a spice mix of coriander, ginger, garam masala and mustard seed in my mortar and pestle. After cooking the spices in a little olive oil, I sauteed some mushrooms, zucchini, long beans and red bell pepper. I added a little bit of vegetable stock just to moisten my curry. As always, I was trying to support local farms, so everything except for the mushrooms were from the farmers market. I also found some lovely, large sea scallops to add protein to the meal. These were from Bristol, but I have been seeing small bay scallops in the shell at the FM that I've been meaning to try. I cooked the scallops in the curry for a few minutes just before serving it all along side a steaming bowl of brown jasmine rice. This is definitely my kind of meal. Flavorful, spicy and so satisfying to scarf down.
I'm thinking some vegetable biryani for my next Indian dish. Purple, I bet you have a killer recipe. Are you dying to share it? Anybody?
One of my favorite side dishes to cook during the summer is grilled corn on the cob. It is quite easy to prepare and is usually ready in under 30 minutes. I like to use fresh sweet corn thats in season. There are a number of ways to prepare this delicious side dish. The following method is how I like cook corn on the grill. I hope you enjoy....
Click here to read the rest of this post on cooking corn on the grill...
Sometimes, you don't really know what lurks in the depths of your freezer. I admit I'm a bit of a list-maker (read: crazy person) so I have a list of all the meats and quantities magentized to my freezer door. But, I don't write down the random things in there, like pesto "cubes," walnuts, tortillas, phyllo cups, or in this case...artichoke hearts.
Tom and I have been out of town a decent amount, and we're going out of town again Saturday through Wednesday (which, as you may have guessed, translates to no blogging for me). So, rather than buying tons of groceries like I usually do, I've been trying to use up what's in the freezer and my cabinets, buying some fresh produce when necessary. When I saw the artichokes, I knew they needed to be used up soon.
This Greek dish is most commonly made with lamb. And, of course it's better with lamb because lamb is better than chicken. Duh. But "lamb" was not on my magnetized freezer list, so chicken it had to be. But no worries--this is a really tasty meal with chicken, too. It's sort of like eating an avgolemono stew, rather than a soup, with artichokes in it. I personally prefer using a dark meat chicken for this because 1) it tastes better and 2) it holds up better to poaching/braising/etc. without drying out. We had this with a salad, and some rice to soak up all the egg-lemony goodness.
Have a great weekend and early week, all!
Chicken with Artichokes and Egg Lemon Sauce (Kota Me Aginares Kai Avgolemono)
Serves 2
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 pieces bone-in chicken (thighs, leg quarters, etc. I skin them because to me, skin is worthless if it's not crispy from roasting!)
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1.5 cups chicken broth
Dill, to taste
1 cup artichoke hearts
1 egg
1 lemon, juiced
a little cornstarch
salt and pepper
Heat a pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and then brown in the hot oil. Remove the chicken, and add the diced onions to the pan, cooking until translucent. Stir in the garlic until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, being sure to scrape up all the browned bits as you deglaze, and bring to a boil. Add the dill, chicken, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Add the artichoke hearts and continue to cook, this time uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the artichokes are tender. Season to taste if necessary.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, lemon juice and a little cornstarch. Slowly add a couple ladels full of the broth from the pan (I find it easier to plate the chicken first, so you don't have to maneuver around that) to the egg-lemon mixture, whisking constantly so your eggs don't scramble. Then, slowly add that mixture back into the pan, again whisking constantly. Stir until thickened. Pour the avgolemono sauce over the chicken and artichokes (and rice!)
Last week I was in a ravioli-making frenzy. I ate raviolis five nights in a row. Five. Count them. I'm on what they call the anti-South Beach diet. :) This carb loving girl never says no to fresh pasta. What brought on this carb loading you ask? Well it all started with a simple tiny little unassuming bag of flour. 00 flour (super duper finely milled) to be exact. Most pasta recipes I've seen ask for 00 flour, but since it's not easily or readily available, I normally substitute with all purpose flour. Since I was all stocked up on the good stuff, now was time to see what all the hype was about.
It was love at first knead. The flour is baby powder soft and absorbs the liquid in a flash. I used the proportion of one cup of flour to one egg. A few teaspoons of water helped bring it all together. I gave the dough about 30 minutes for the glutens to relax and rolled it out as thin as possible. I cut out rounds using a large biscuit cutter and then I set everything up assembly line style.
Wrappers, filling and egg wash to seal it all up. Hungry tummys want food fast.
00 flour is awesome. It yields the tenderest most delectably delicious dough.
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