Category Archives: Fail

Seduced by the Slow Cooker & Christmas 2013

Cooking Light hit my sweet, er savory spot with not one, not two, but a whole section devoted to the sultry workhorse of the kitchen – The Slow Cooker.  In their Slow Cooker Recipes to Feed a Crowd feature I made four of the recipes including the Classic Slow Cooker Beef Stew; Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine; Tangy Italian Beef Sandwiches and Sweet & Tangy Short Ribs.  Most of these were knock your socks off good, but the hands down winner has to be the Chicken Tagine. Nom, nom, nom. This is a new go-to when I don’t feel like doing much in the kitchen but want something spectacular when I get home.

1312p120-chicken-chickpea-tagine-l

David and I made the short ribs together, followed it to the letter and boy, we were not fans. The Sambal Oeelek (which usually we can both handle) was HOT. I mean on fire, I was choking a bit hot. Not sure what happened, but we are going to try again and see if it was user error. David and I are still both scratching our heads on what went wrong. Regardless, give the the other three a try. They are simply delightful and easy to prep. I just love coming home to the smells of something in the slow cooker don’t you?

Now on to the BIG DAY – CHRISTMAS! I am one of the biggest nerds on the planet for Christmas and last night, David and I were talking about why. On the surface, I love all the smells, colors and flavors of the season – it’s all up my alley. But more importantly I feel this time of year is when things are a little slower and people are just a bit kinder towards one another. Goodness, I sound just like the opening to Love Actually don’t I? But I truly do believe it!

Enough of this gushy stuff, let’s get to the food. So I had to make this perfect roast chicken again and yes, once again, it turned out perfect. So, so, so perfect. I don’t think I will ever follow another roast chicken recipe again. I also made this Stupid Simple Roast Beef with Horseradish Cream from Food & Wine magazine – jeez, this was outrageously delicious. It was perfectly medium rare and juicy to boot. Was it stupid simple? You bet! We smeared and smothered the spicy, creamy horseradish sauce all over the meat and ate with abandon. I also roasted some red potatoes along with meat and then tossed them in the pan drippings when done. These were cracktastic. At one point, Lila had eaten all of her potatoes and when David asked the table if there were any more, one of guests was trying to hide his – he didn’t want to share, hahahaha. I also served a simple side salad of roasted beets, kale, shaved parmesan and roasted hazelnuts with a lemon infused creme fraiche sauce.  Easy, breezy and mostly healthy – it has kale and beets, come on!

Stupid Simple

The only misstep for us was the Dark Chocolate Pudding with Pretzels from Bon Appetit. I followed this to the “T” (as I always do duh, but especially so since it’s a pudding and those can be tricky) and it was waaaay too rich for the table; even with the salty pretzels. People took a few bites and then kindly set it to the side. Good thing we had cheesecake as a backup! Overall, Christmas 2013 dinner was a success but more importantly, we were so grateful to be with amazing family and friends. Hope you and yours had happy holidays and who is ready for 2014?

A Delicious Failure

It’s rare that I review a dish that doesn’t work out perfectly, since (obviously) I test recipes that work to ensure you have a great experience at home. Alas, last night we had a real conundrum on our hands. I made this Crabless Cakes with Hearts of Palm & Corn from Food & Wine and while they maintained their shape when formed, boy did they fall apart once they hit the pan. It was so bad it looked like I was making a hash instead of crabcakes. I kept reviewing all of the steps and ingredients to make sure I hadn’t missed something glaring, but I didn’t. At first I thought it was my pan, so I moved to another non-stick pan and the same thing happened with the remaining cakes. Oooh, I was not happy lambs. I was about to scrap it but then decided to give it a taste. It was GREAT! So great in fact that I had seconds, which I rarely ever do. Granted,  I was eating a veggie/breadcrumb hash instead of crabcakes, but the flavors were outstanding.

Photo by Con Poulos
How the Crabless Cakes are Supposed to Look…Photo by Con Poulos

I am somewhat comforted that another fellow cooker tried this recipe and had the same outcome. Her idea was to add a bit of mashed sweet potato as binder, and it worked. Or, if you are OK with it, you could use two slightly beaten eggs. I would also suggest placing them in the fridge once formed to let them set up. I’m going to go back and try a few of these steps and report back to you on what works. These were awesome in flavor and pretty easy in assembly, so I definitely want to give them another try to make them perfect. I’ll keep you posted!