Archive | January, 2010

Sunday Night Standby: Roast Chicken with Lemon, Potatoes and Green Beans

14 Jan

I found this recipe in a Real Simple magazine years ago and it has become my Sunday Night standby meal. I love it because it is super simple and the leftovers are great the next day after a long Monday at work. I recommend not using any measurements and just throwing the recipe together – kind of like I envision Nigella Lawson cooking. From someone who lacks in spontaneity, it is always a good feeling to throw things together in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 lemons, 1 sliced thin and 1 juiced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3/4 to 1 pound green beans
  • 8 small potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 4 whole chicken breasts, with bone and skin (I’ve used 2 before and cut them in half)
  • 1 large pinch both salt and pepper

Assembly: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (this is great for winter months). In a large roasting pan, spread about 1 tablespoon olive oil on the bottom of the pan. Scatter lemon slices on the bottom of the pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt and pepper. Add the green beans to the mixture to coat and transfer them to the roasting pan. Repeat with the potatoes and add them over the green beans – and then the chicken. Pour all the remaining oil mixture over everything. Roast for about an hour or until the chicken is cooked through and skin is brown.

Back to the Everyday

13 Jan

I’m pleasantly relieved that the holiday season is over.  I inherited my mother’s best and worst quality which will inevitably become mine – the curse of being a perfectionist. So while the holiday season can very well be “the most wonderful time of the year” it can also be the most stressful. It is impossible to keep it all together - perfect holiday decor, perfect holiday food, perfect family dynamics, perfect relationships and a perfectly clean puppy. After attempting to do this, I started the new year off with a failed relationship and a dog that smelled of chicken grease, creole, vomit and lavender. So on January 2nd, in an effort to put the stars back in alignment, I made black eyed peas, roast chicken, okra and tomatoes, bathed the dog and drank a bottle of prosceco. I can’t say that it worked, but I can say getting back into the groove of everyday life has made me feel like a real person again. With all the fesitvities over, I’ll be cooking a little less on Mendenhall and posting more everyday meals. Hopefully they will be just as fitting for your everyday cooking too. Happy 2010!

Mom’s Limequat Pie

12 Jan

As I’ve mentioned before, my mother lives in a mecca of citrus. My favorite thing she grows are these little lemons called Limequats. A limequat is a cross between a lime and a kumquat although it tastes more like a keylime than anything. I brought home a huge bag of them after Christmas and use them like lemons. You can obviously use keylimes if you don’t have access to my mother’s yard.

Mom’s Limequat Pie

Ingredients:

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup limequat juice
  • 1 graham cracker pie crust

 

Assembly: Bake the pie crust per the instructions on the box. Combine the rest of the ingredients and heat just enough to kill off any potential bacteria from the eggs. Pour into the pie crust and chill overnight. Top with whipped cream (we stole some from my sister’s chocolate mousse).

Maggie’s Chocolate Mousse

11 Jan

It is a Thompson family tradition that we have Chocolate Mousse on Christmas Day. After I posted the Chocolate Pie with Cocoa Nib Praline on my Thanksgiving post, my aunt requested we make the pie instead of Chocolate Mousse this year. I told her I thought that might start World War 3. We have used the same plastic Christmas trees and reindeer to top the mousse since we were just tall enough to help out. They are washed and saved in an old parmesan cheese bucket from year to year. Somethings are better kept the same.

The last couple years my sister has taken the lead on making the Chocolate Mousse. I asked her to send me the recipe she uses. She makes it so much that she knows it by heart… I left it in her words.

Maggie’s Chocolate Mousse

1 bag of bitter sweet chocolate chips
6 tbsp strong coffee
4 tbsp cognac or brandy

Melt the above over double boiler and allow to cool. Add 2 tbsp powdered sugar once melted, let cool. Whip 1 quart of whipping cream. Add about 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 tbsp some vanilla.

Fold the room temp chocolate mixture into about 80% of the whipped
cream. Make something fancy on the mousse with the extra whipped
cream! Have fun!

Christmas Day Feast – Shrimp Creole

7 Jan

I find one of the most sentimental things about recipes that are passed down through generations is the effort it takes to interpret them. My grandmother’s recipes are often found on old computer punch cards that were used for billing at Florida Power where my Grandfather worked for many many years. She wrote on the back of them in cursive with a light pencil. Sometimes the recipe is so faint that you can’t see them and sometimes you can’t read her handwriting. Never am I annoyed by it. It allows me to spend some time thinking about her, how she would have made the recipe and sometimes the idea of if she were still around what we would talk about if we could still cook together. If only she were still here to witness the world we are living in… and were able to still make wise cracks at it (the apple never falls far from the tree).

My mother’s recipes are always written on top of with multiple variations of measurements from times when she has doubled or even quintupled the recipe. It took me years to figure out what measurements to use for the Chinese Chicken Salad dressing she gave me. I always ended up making three times as much dressing than salad.

This holiday season my mother fed most of North Florida shrimp creole. She made enough to feed at least 30 people and froze parts of it for different occasions. All we had to do was heat up the creole sauce, add the shrimp and make some rice on Christmas morning. It was a nice break this year and gave everyone time to visit rather than squeeze multiple butts in the kitchen. We made a grapefruit and avocado salad to serve with the shrimp creole along with some rolls. I thought my story would be most credible if I included the actual printed recipe my mother used. I highly recommend this recipe for feeding a crowd… use caution in reading the varied measurements!

Tangerine Sweet Rolls

6 Jan

This recipe makes two of these!

This recipe is rather fitting for a Christmas morning in Florida. While my mother doesn’t grow tangerines, she does grow a variety of lemons, oranges and grapefruit in the yard that I enjoy while I’m home. This is the second year that I’ve made this recipe for Tangerine-Glazed Cinnamon Rolls. I found the recipe several years ago in the late Cottage Living Magazine (which I miss dearly) and I’ll saved it in an email since then (those folks at Google seem to save Christmas every year). This year we added chopped pecans which I highly recommend.

Tangerine-Glazed Cinnamon Rolls from Cottage Living Magazine

This recipe can be mixed by hand, but using a stand mixer makes the
job easier. These are best eaten within hours of baking, so if you
want them in the morning, roll and cut the dough before you go to bed,
cover it well, and allow it to rise overnight in the fridge. Prep: 30
minutes; Stand: 2 hours; Bake: 20 minutes.

Ingredients
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Zest and juice of 3 tangerines, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water (egg wash)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons tangerine juice

Preparation
1. Combine yeast, 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup warm
water in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes, and set aside. Place
flour, 5 tablespoons granulated sugar, zest of 2 tangerines (about 2
teaspoons), and salt in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle.
Mix to combine.
2. Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium-low 1 to 2 minutes or
until warm to touch. Add 6 tablespoons butter, and allow to melt.
Remove from heat.

3. Add 2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, dissolved yeast, and milk mixture to flour
mixture. Mix on low speed 6 to 8 minutes or until a soft, tacky dough
forms, stopping once or twice to push dough off paddle and sides of
bowl. (Dough should just start to clear sides of bowl and feel
satiny.) Add a few sprinkles of flour, if necessary. Transfer dough to
a large greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm
place about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

4. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans. Mix remaining granulated sugar
(about 1/2 cup) and cinnamon in a small bowl. Turn dough out onto a
lightly floured surface, and press to deflate. Roll into a 17- x
11-inch rectangle with longer edge toward you. Brush with melted
butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Roll up dough lengthwise,
pinching seam to seal.

5. Cut dough into 12 equal slices with a large sharp knife, and place
slices in prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until
almost doubled in bulk, about 30 to 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°.

6. Brush surface of buns with egg wash. Bake at 350° for 20 to 22
minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans, and let cool 5
minutes.

7. Whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, tangerine juice, and
remaining 1 teaspoon zest, and drizzle over warm rolls. Serve warm or
at room temperature.

Yield
Makes 12 large rolls

Christmas Eve Pizzas

5 Jan

Cousin Alina shows her loot.

 It has become a family tradition that each Christmas Eve my family gathers to make homemade pizza, drink wine and exchange the worst gifts we can find Dirty Santa style. The competition has grown year by year and many of us spend the entire year looking for the best/worse gift to exchange. My sister Maggie always brings home the most blush-worthy (see “Humphrey the Humping Dog” below).   

This year we grilled the pizzas outside instead of waiting in line to stuff our pizza in the oven. Everyone was able to make their pizza the way they wanted it. We set up a pizza bar with sausages, pepperoni, sautéed mushrooms, onions, peppers, olives, spinach, tomatoes, feta, parmesan and mozzarella. My mom always makes a simple pizza with olives, feta, spinach and tomatoes – I have no self-control and I load mine up with everything. The point is, this is a great casual way to make everyone happy!  

Holidays in the Sunshine State

4 Jan

My entire family gathered in Florida to celebrate the holidays. Christmas is about the only time that my generation gets to see each other as we travel from Texas, Colorado and North Carolina. This year we were glad to welcome some new family to the celebration – Eli, my cousin Callie’s girlfriend, their dog Bodhi and of course my pup Winston. 

Merry Dogmas

 

Everyone celebrated Christmas Eve on my parents backyard  patio, grilled pizza and exchanged crappy Christmas gifts (a Thompson tradition). I’ll post some of the best and worst gifts tomorrow.  We came together again on Christmas Day for a more traditional meal (by traditional I mean formal not turkey and fixings). I’ll post the festivities and the recipes in the next weeks.

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