That's My Kind of Dinner

Like I said, I have had a rough time lately.  I've been even sicker than usual (I'm always some level of sick these days), and most of all I've been weak and dizzy.  We had to cancel plans with friends the other day so that I could stay in bed and rest.  I obviously couldn't do any cooking (despite all the changes to our bedroom to accomodate my needs, we still haven't dragged the stove in there.  Maybe someday), so we made a feast out of non-cooked items.  In my world, that means cheese, cheese, bread, fruit, and oh yeah, some more cheese.

I had all the ingredients for caprese salad, but wanted something a little more user-friendly for an in-bed picnic, so Dan helped me quickly throw together some toothpicks with halved cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil.  One nice thing was that the tomatoes I had were a rainbow of colors.  The tray of them was drizzled with a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil.

The rest of our picnic was made up of Cambozola cheese (that's Camembert with a Gorgonzola mold), dilled Havarti, strawberries, berry-serrano jam, macadamia nuts, and bread and crackers.  Since we were suddenly having this fabulous picnic, we decided to bust into a bottle of Michigan cherry apple hard cider.  What the heck, right?.

We ate and watched Dancing With The Stars.  It turned out to be not such a bad night after all.  For once I was not as sad to be so weak that it kept me in bed.

Happy eating!

Wine-Poached Pears With Brandied Cream

I have a recipe for a delicious and elegant dessert that is much easier to make than it appears.  It does take a long time to prepare, but almost all of that time is the food being in the oven.  Actual hands-on preparation time is almost nil.

Step one is to peel the pears.  That can be done the same way as tomatoes: score the skin and then let the pears sit in simmering water for perhaps a minute, and then shock them in ice water.  The skins literally fall off.   

Then you prepare the poaching liquid, which is as easy as heating equal parts wine and water on the stove.  You need enough liquid to just cover the pears, about 6 cups for four pears.  A nice semi-dry red wine works great.  You don't want to use a super cheap wine, but it doesn't have to be expensive.  You want to use something that you'd be willing to drink.  Two tablespoons of honey and a tablespoon of sugar go into the cooking liquid also. 

Once the liquid reaches a simmer, the pears and liquid together go into the oven at 300 degrees for 3 to 4 hours.  The liquid then gets separated from the pears and the pears go into the fridge to cool.  The poaching liquid is reduced (about 15-20 minutes of simmer time) with an additional tablespoon of sugar. 

The pears can be served on their own or with whipped cream.  Creme fraiche is another tasty option.  And, of course, drizzle the whole thing with the nummy reduced syrup.

Here I have a pic of the pears sitting on a bed of brandied cream with just a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side. I made the brandied whipped cream by mixing 1 tablespoon of brandy per half cup of whipping cream, and whipping as usual.  I also used vanilla sugar in place of regular sugar for the whipped cream.

For as little effort these pears take, they are a huge payoff.  So yummy-nummy. 

Happy eating!

Veggie Stock

Sorry for my absence, fellow foodies.  I have had a bit of a rough week, and haven't had a lot to post about.  Today, though, I want to talk about vegetable stock.

Stock simply means a strongly-flavored broth made by boiling whatever in water, sometimes with salt, and then straining.  While I was watching a cooking show a few months ago, the host casually mentioned that she always has veggie stock on hand because she always saves her unusable veggie bits - peels, etc. - and every few days she makes stock.  I had a total 'doh!' moment.  Why hadn't I been doing this?

Since then, I've been saving all my normally thrown-away veggie bits.  Onion peels, carrot peels and tops, trimmed ends of garlic cloves,  the centers from bell peppers, etc.  I just boil them for a while, usually adding just a couple of pinches of salt, and then strain it really well.  It can go into tupperware to save in the fridge if I think I'm going to use it soon, or into zip-top baggies and frozen, to thaw and use later.  It can even be measured out into one or two cup portions so I know exactly what I am thawing.  The stock can also be canned so that it keeps for a long time without taking up space in the freezer.

I seriously have no idea why I wasn't doing this my whole life.  It's the easiest thing ever, and I never have to buy veggie stock again.

Happy eating!

Vaquero Spring Rolls with Chipotle-Citrus Dipping Sauce

The other day as I was trying to decide what to make for dinner, I noticed the spring roll wrappers I had gotten at the Asian market last month in the freezer, and thought I should make something with those.  I also noticed all my lovely Rancho Gordo beans in the pantry, and thought I should make something with those.  It finally hit me that I could make southwest-style spring rolls.  Of course!

My Vaquero-bean spring rolls turned out to be super simple, especially since I even had some leftover Spanish rice that I could use, so I didn't even have to make that.  The beans were soaked and then boiled with some aromatics and a chipotle (canned, in adobo).  I grilled some onions and quickly sauteed julienned carrots, just a little, so they were still crunchy.  Into the spring rolls went a couple scoops of the Vaquero beans, a scoop of rice, a scoop of corn, some grilled onions and a few strips of carrot.  Wrapped and sealed, spring rolls can be fried right away or refrigerated for a little while, so they can easily be done ahead of time.

For a chipotle-citrus dipping sauce, I pureed a couple of the in-adobo chipotles in my food processor with honey, garlic, lime juice, orange puree, and a couple of other things.  Woah, spicy!  But, great with the spring rolls.

Dan and I both love-love-loved my Vaquero-bean spring rolls and the sauce.  I think I'll play around with that concept and make more types of spring rolls. 

Happy eating!