Category Archives: David Favorite

David Favorite, Emily Favorite, Quick and Delicious, Seafood, Uber Healthy

Spicy Sweet Salmon

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Yay! I cooked lambs! Our Tuesdays typically run pretty late in the kitchen assembling our little Crimps, but before I left for the evening I made the glaze and the hominy mixture for this meal from Bon Appétit,. I got home pretty tired but was so happy that I had to simply glaze the salmon and roast for 10 minutes in the oven. I reheated the hominy with a 1/3 cup of milk to give it a little bit more body and bam! dinner was served.

This took exactly 30 minutes to put together and was DELICIOUS. I served a little bit of fresh cilantro on top of the salmon to give the plate a little more pizazz. We loved this for its flavor, freshness and the unique blend of cumin, red wine vinegar, apricot jam, and chipotles on the glaze! Plus, according to the magazine, you get a good dose of Vitamin D through the salmon – winning. And with that, I might have just killing “winning”…good.

Roast Salmon with Sweet Chipotle Glaze and Hominy Puree

  • 2 servings
  • PREP TIME: 20 minutes
  • TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
  • Recipe by Selma Brown Morrow
  • Bon Appétit, April 2011

Ingredients

  • 3 chipotle chiles (about) from canned chipotle chiles in adobo
  • 2 tablespoons apricot jam or preserves
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray
  • 2 6- to 7-ounce salmon fillets with skin (scant 1 inch thick)
  • 1 15-ounce can hominy, drained, juice reserved
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

  • Preheat oven to 450°F. Using back of spoon, press enough chipotles through fine sieve into small bowl to measure 2 teaspoons puree. Mix puree, jam, vinegar, and cumin in bowl; season glaze to taste with salt.
  • Coat small rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Arrange salmon on sheet; sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Spread half of glaze over each fillet. Roast until just opaque in center, about 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, puree hominy and 3 tablespoons reserved juice in mini processor until almost smooth. Transfer to small skillet. Add butter and cilantro. Stir over medium heat until warmed through, mixing in more reserved juice by teaspoonfuls if too thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Divide hominy between 2 plates, top with salmon, and serve.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/04/roast_salmon_with_sweet_chipotle_glaze_and_hominy_puree#ixzz1I7VOhPjf

Bread, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Eggs, Emily Favorite

Sunny-Side-Up Eggs on Mustard-Creamed Spinach with Crispy Crumbs

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Love. So much love poodles. WOW. First because it was super easy and lickity-split quick in assembly. Second, the flavors were beautiful together on the plate. However when I tasted the breadcrumbs on their own and the spinach, cream, thyme mixture on it’s own, they were OK but I was a little concerned that this wasn’t going to taste as good as it looked. Wrong.

On the plate it’s a one-two punch of flavor from the crumbs/spinach and the lovely olive oil fried egg brings it all together. What I also liked was that the servings were just enough for each of us –  although secretly I could have run back to the kitchen and made one more batch for us to inhale. I typically have a lot of these ingredients on standby which makes me a happy panda because I may have just found my new favorite egg dish.

I’m slightly begging you to try this recipe.  It is so simple, fresh and absolutely delicious.

Sunny-Side-Up Eggs on Mustard-Creamed Spinach with Crispy Crumbs
Bacon is always awesome, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Global Flavor, Includes Alcohol, Pork-a-licious

Honey-Marinated Pork with Gremolata

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To me, you can never go wrong when you combine honey with anything. I mean right? Think about it, what’s one thing honey doesn’t go well with? Bon Appetit explores this idea in their At the Market section focused on the lucious, good for you nectar from our gentle bee friends. I have to give mad props to the Bon Appetit staff for the amazing recipes they have in this section. I’ve done two other rock star recipes from the past two issues (see here and here) and this Honey-Marinated Pork with Gremolata was simply awesome as well.

Honey-Marinated Pork with Gremolata (Photo by Jamie Chung)

I marinated the pork in the morning since we would be out all day on Lake Travis. Let’s let that sink in shall we? Go ahead, I”ll wait………..we had our first day on the lake on January 30th! It was so beautiful here yesterday and sitting on a boat chatting and relaxing with friends was a great way to end the weekend.  I guess we need to celebrate the warm weather since it’s going to be in the low 20s later on this week, with the possibility of snow. An 80 degree day and then a few days later a chance of snow. Whoa-k. I won’t get into how that’s a tad odd, even for the ever changing Texas weather.

Back to the pork people. After searing the two tenderloins and placing in the oven, I made the gremolata and then moved on to the salad I chose as a side dish: Escarole with Bacon, Dates and Warm Walnut Vinaigrette. OUTSTANDING. There I got that out of my system. This is originally an entree salad but I lowered the amount to keep it as a simple side. We loved, loved this salad. It’s super easy to put together and the dates, walnuts and bacon all played quite nicely together.  I didn’t have walnut oil (who does?) and couldn’t find escarole (what gives Austin?) so I just used olive oil and fresh arugula for the greens; still freaking delicious. We loved the pork and you really tasted the full honey flavor in every bite.  Plus the reduced sauce and gremolata on top made the pork sing such a pretty song. We have leftovers today and I can’t wait for lunch time to get here so I can inhale the rest of the pork.

Both big winners in our house, I hope they will be in yours too.

Escarole with Bacon, Dates and Warm Walnut Vinaigrette (Photo by Kiyoshi Togashi)
Bacon is always awesome, Beefy McBeefy, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Includes Alcohol, Lengthy recipe but worth all the whisking, sweat and tears, Potato

The Anniversary Dinner

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January 15, 2010 will be on of my favorite days of all time because it’s the day that David walked into my life. Neither of us were looking for any sort of potential partner, in fact I was against the idea before I met David, but then a mutual friend saw the potential and introduced us immediately. For the next few hours, we sat and talked and talked, something we are still very good at by the way. I owe our dear friend a lot for making the introduction and now one year later here we are. Just goes to show that life can you throw you very amazing curve balls – always embrace them lambs.

Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine Gravy and Swiss Chard (Photo by Craig Cutler)

It has been rainy, cold and just icky here in Austin the past week and on our anniversary day it was, wait for it, cold and rainy. Instead of going out to dinner we decided to stay in and make it ourselves. I chose this Braised Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine Gravy and Swiss Chard, Potato Gratin with Bacon and Thyme and Citrus Pudding with Whipped Topping. Over achiever much? I didn’t care, it was so worth it.

Potato Gratin with Bacon and Thyme (Photo by Mark Thomas)

I’ve made the Beef Short Ribs before so I knew this would be a huge win with David. I still don’t have a food mill but ran the sauce through the food processor and reheated as necessary. The potato gratin was creamy, bacony and so full of delicious flavor; a perfect complement to the ribs. After the ribs, chard and potatoes the pudding was a delightful, bright and not-too-sweet ending to a perfect anniversary meal. Paired with a 2002 Silver Oak Cab? Perfection all around and David loved all of it.

Citrus Pudding with Whipped Cream (Photo by Anna Williams)

Even if it’s not a special occasion this meal would be a great Sunday night supper or something to impress guests at a dinner party. One year down and hopefully many, many more to go right David? :)

David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Soup, Southern, Uber Healthy, Vegetarian

Salute the Captain!

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As I was thumbing through the new Cooking Light, I kept coming back to this Vegetarian Country Captain recipe due to it’s unique combination of ingredients: curry, mango chutney, heavy cream, cauliflower, edamame, and a Granny Smith apple? My brain kept trying to figure out just how these would all taste together and finally intrigue got the best of me. Two cheers for intrigue. We LOVED this. It is an Emily and David favorite hands down.

OK back to what the heck a Country Captain is exactly. According to Cooking Light: Traditionally, Country Captain is a mild chicken stew seasoned with curry powder. Myth has it that a British sea captain working in the spice trade introduced this classic, comforting dish to the southern U.S. in the 19th century. Here, we’ve replaced chicken with edamame and cauliflower for a version loaded with vegetables to help you meet your daily produce goals. For a more in-depth history of this very popular Lowcountry dish (FDR adored it!), read more here. If anyone has favorite Country Captain recipes please share in the comments as I’m dying to make more versions of this.

This was so easy to put together and the layers of flavor were insanely delicious. I loved how all the ingredients played off each other and it is really filling to boot. For the love y’all, make this right now! One note, if you are working off of the magazine do not pay attention to the photo above the recipe.  It’s  the wrong image and I saw on their website that Cooking Light is aware of the error. As I was making this I kept scratching my head and worrying because mine was looking nothing like the beauty shot. Lo and behold I flipped to the page ahead and put two and two together. Whew, that photo DID look like this….

Vegetarian Country Captain (Photo by John Autry)

 

David Favorite, Emily Favorite, Pork-a-licious, Quick and Delicious

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Polenta

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Oh sweet lambs in the morn…this dish was INCREDIBLE. You can tell I really like something when while eating it I repeat about 20 times how good it is and fill in the rest of my review with “mmmmmmmmmmmmomgmmmmmmmm.” Per my menu plan, I had a day o’cooking which was lovely in and of itself. I did make the Egg White and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata and Sweet Potato Biscuits, both were OK but we decided they were not really right for a Cooking Inside the Lines dish. If you want more details just ask me in the comments.

I also made the Braised Chicken with Red Potatoes and Tarragon Broth for our lunches today, and I’ll post my full review after lunch.

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops (Photo by John Autry)

Now, for the big winner here, the Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Polenta from Cooking Light. Let’s highlight why this recipe was perfection on a plate: (a) the rub was the perfect herbacious complement to the very simple balsamic glaze on the pork chops (b) the polenta…oh wow, the polenta with the cream cheese was out of this world delicious (c) this came together in no-time (d) it was also very wallet friendly and is a part of their “budget eating” section (e) this ROCKED.

One ingredient I changed was the whole milk. I only had reduced fat in the house but trust me after you put the cream cheese in the polenta, you won’t notice the absence of whole milk. I highly recommend this recipe and I think this will go on rotation in our house moving forward. Now tonight, one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever tried, Meatballs All’Amerticiana. Will it be as good as I remembered poodles? Will David think so too? Will I still be amazed by bacon paste? Tune in for more details this week.

Bacon is always awesome, Chicken, David Favorite, Emily Favorite, French, Includes Alcohol

Coq Fight!

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(Insert your best ring announcer voice here) In the blue corner we have the Quick Coq Au Vin  AKA “Quick Talons” from Bon Appetit weighing in at 371 calories per serving and a nine ingredient list, and in the red corner we have Easy Coq Au Vin  AKA “The Easy Breezy” from Cooking Light weighing in at 319 calories per serving with an 18 ingredient list.

Quick Coq Au Vin (Photograph by Jose Picayo)

The Easy Breezy comes out swinging with succulent chicken thighs that knocks Quick Talons’ use of chicken breast to the ropes but Quick Talons throws a powerful jab with its better use of bacon and less ingredients. Easy Breezy does a right hook with less calories and more veggie power. Quick Talons stumbles for just a moment and then comes roaring back with its great depth of flavor in the sauce. The jabs keep coming and it looks like folks we are going to a judges decision…who will win?

The judges take a look at both dishes flavor profiles and wish the fighters could combine The Easy Breezy’s chicken thighs with Quick Talons’ sauce but finally decide that…

The Easy Breezy is the winner in this highly contested fight! The crowd goes wild!

Check out Apron Adventure’s review of the same two dishes and see what she thought…great minds huh? http://apronadventures.blogspot.com/2010/11/coq-au-vin-off.html

Beefy McBeefy, David Favorite, Global Flavor, Includes Alcohol, Soup

Beef and Guinness Stew

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Beef and Guinness Stew (Photo by Jonny Valiant)

Every month Cooking Light does their staff favorites of recipes from each issue, and while reviewing their choices I came across this Beef and Guinness Stew recipe. How I managed to miss this in the March 2010 issue is beyond me since I love a traditional Irish stew and come on, it’s a staff favorite. Shame on me and three whacks with a shillelagh.

It’s been a little chilly here so I thought a stew would be a nice belly warmer and since I was just coming back from one of the most Irish cities in the U.S. – Boston – I thought my timing was perfect.

You know a recipe is good when your signficant other mentions that this is one of their favorite stews they’ve had in a while – thank you Cooking Light, thank you! David liked this better than I did but I have to say it was a deliciously-perfect Irish stew that was uber savory and the layers of flavors were marvelous. Plus, I was just informed by David that leftovers of this were awesome and even better the next day. 

I followed this exactly except I didn’t include parsnips because our local HEB hates me and didn’t have any. There were also a little less onions than called for – oh not because I didn’t chop enough. I did in fact chop the right amount and then tripped, almost fell and knocked the bowl over with some of my precious chopped onions falling to the floor. Yeah, clumsytastic I know. Anyhoodles, give this a try on a cold wintry night, it is soooo super gentle!

David Favorite, Emily Favorite, Global Flavor, Italian, Pork-a-licious, Potato

Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce

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I think Agrodolce sauce might be the new chimichurri of 2010. I’ve seen this sauce three times in three separate magazines and when I saw Cooking Light had a Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce I was like, “FINE I WILL TRY IT.” Well, good for us that I gave in because this rocked.

Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce (Photo by Johnny Valiant)

I did some light digging and Agrodolce is a traditional sour and sweet (agro and dolce) Italian sauce. This one uses the salty bite of green olives, mixed with balsamic vinegar, dried sweet cherries, thyme, chicken broth, garlic, and one of my all-time favorites, the sweet-tasting cippolini onion.

Wow lambs, wow. This recipe was easy – besides the waiting time because your house smells insane while the sauce cooks – and very elegant when served. This recipe is in their holiday cookbook section and I could see this being a super hit and something quite different to bring to the table.

I served with these Italian Smashed Potatoes from Every Day with Rachael Ray and voila! an Italian-inspired meal that had us saying “molto buona!”

Asian, Beefy McBeefy, David Favorite, Fruit, Global Flavor, Quick and Delicious, Salad, This may contain fish sauce or anchovies, Uber Healthy

Thai Beef Salad

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A flavorful salad that’s done in about 20 minutes max? Sold to the Thai Beef Salad from Cooking Light! In a section all about shortcuts and fast recipes this one stood out to me. One, I heart fish sauce. Lambs, I know that’s a crazy thing to swoon over but I love the salty bite and unique flavor it lends to dishes. Maybe I should produce an “I Heart Fish Sauce” t-shirt? Anyone with me?

Thai Beef Salad (Photo by John Autry)

Two, the flavor combinations looked to die for with cilantro, cabbage, soy sauce, lime juice, honey, orange zest, serrano chile and mandarin oranges. Three, it’s a simple, hardly no-cook recipe that worked around our current kitchen status. We simply broiled the steaks in our Wolf microwave/convection oven to medium rare and made the rest of the salad while it cooked. The one thing that really stood out to me was the dressing. After making it in the food processor I gave it a taste and then did a little jig in our kitchen. Emily jig = really, really good.

Give this one a try for a super fast, delicious and healthy salad, and don’t skimp on the fish sauce.