Oh My!

I have let my little blog go silent for over a month.   How rude of me!  Life has been extremely busy - with visits from grandparents, birthdays, and trips.  I suppose the main culprit of my lackadaisical posting is the final push to train and run the Disneyland Half Marathon.

With a bit of help from the hubby, we completed the 13.1 mile race in 2:12.56.  That put us at just under 10 minute pace.  I am very proud of our accomplishment and I am now looking forward to my next big race - the Big Sur International Marathon in 2015.  I think I might just be crazy.  

They did capture some video of us running, which was super cool.  I am going to see if I can get that posted to blog once I edit it.

I did try out a few new recipes during this time so I am going to try to get those recipes posted soon.  I could not go this whole time without trying something new!

Grilled Pizza

After an amazing cooking class at the aquarium back in May, I finally got up the guts to try making Chef John Ash's Grilled Pizza recipe.  It did not disappoint.  I did have a bit of a hesitant assistant - okay, grill master - oh all right, husband who did most of the at the grill work.  But I think even he was surprised that this worked and we didn't have sticky pizza dough all over the grill.

Grilled Pizza

Chef John Ash

Dough Ingredients

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tsp sugar
1 1/1 tsp salt
1/2 cup ground cornmeal or whole wheat flour
3 tbsp olive oil
4 - 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Steps

1.  Using an electric mixer with a dough hook, stir yeast into warm water with sugar.  Then let sit for 5 minutes.
2.  After 5 minutes this mixture should begin to bubble.  Stir in salt, cornmeal, and one tbsp of oil.
3.  Begin slowly adding flour, mixing at a slow speed.  Dough should form a rough ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl after about 4 minutes.  Add additional flour or water if dough is too sticky or dry.
4.  Let dough rest in missing bowl for 15 minutes.  It should be soft.
5.  Remove dough from bowl and divide into 6 equal pieces.  Round each piece into a ball and brush with olive oil.
6.  Place each ball in a ziploc bag, drizzle some additional oil in the bag, and seal the bag.  Let balls sit out for at least 30 minutes.  Refrigerate dough if using next day, or freeze up to 3 months.
7.  Before using and rolling the dough, leave them out for about an hour to come up to room temperature.

Pizza Stuff

olive oil for brushing
Monterey Jack cheese
Pecorino cheese
Mozzarella
Pizza sauce or just some crushed tomatoes in puree
basil
red pepper flakes
or whatever else you would like to top your pizza with

Steps

1.  Set grill to high heat - temperature should read at or above 500 degrees.
2.  Roll dough into 10-inch free form circles about 1/4 in thick.
3.  Brush one side of the dough with olive oil.  Place it oil-side down onto the grill.  Cover the grill.
4.  After a minute or so, check the dough.  It will puff and bubble, the underside should be stiff and there will be some grill marks.
5.  Flip the dough and add toppings to your liking.
6.  Quickly recover the pizza and let cook for another minute or so, until the cheese is melted.
7.  Move pizza to cutting board and cut into wedges.  Enjoy immediately!

The Final Product

I have a convert!  The process turned out to be quite quick and easy.  The dough was just the right amount of crunchy.  I used sliced fresh mozzarella but I think next time I will use shredded - would make it easier to cut when it comes right off the grill.  Try it - I think you will enjoy it.  Lucky us - we have the remaining 3 dough rolls in the freezer to enjoy again at another time.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

I can not hide it.  I am a Williams-Sonoma junkie.  If I want to kitchen tool, pot, pan, etc, I always check there first.  On one of my many trips there, I walked away with a recipe card for Spaghetti Bolognese.  I think I have been holding on to this card for well over a year.  I tend to shy away from doing Italian dishes in the slow cooker because they are just so much fun to make at the oven or stove.  I had been paring down my cookbook menagerie when I saw this recipe card.  I decided to give it a whirl before it met the doom of some other recipes/books.  I am glad I did - this one can definitely be added to the rotation.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

Ingredients

6 oz bacon slices, cut into 1/2-inch slices (I used about had a package of center cut bacon)
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 lb ground beef
6 oz tomato paste
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup shredded Italian six cheese mix
1 lb spaghetti cooked, water reserved

Steps

1.  In the slow cooker insert (or use a large sauté pan/skillet) over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp (about 10 minutes - I like mine crispy so I went a bit longer).
2.  Spoon off the fat but leave about 1 tbs in the pan.  Add onion and cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
3.  Add the garlic - cooking for another minute.
4.  Add the ground beef, stirring until the beef is no longer pink.
5.  Stir in tomato paste, heavy cream, milk, and cheese.  Remove from heat.
6.  Place insert in slow cooker (or transfer contents of pan to slow cooker).  Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours.  When done, you may want to skim any fat from the top of the sauce.
7.  Added the cooked spaghetti to the sauce.  If the sauce is to thick, add some pasta-cooking water to loosen the sauce.
8.  Enjoy immediately!

The Final Product

This was tasty - good enough to satisfy my most severest critic - son number one downed two bowls!  For mom and dad, this was a great starter but needs some herbal/spice additions.  I think next time I will throw in some Penzey's Italian Herb mix (or basil, parsley, and oregano).  For the hubby's part, he said he would want to give it some kick - some red pepper flakes would do the trick.  I might add a little salt in as well next time.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Artichokes

We live about a half an hour away from the Artichoke capital of the world - Castroville, CA.  So I thought it high time I cooked with them.  I am familiar with them - I used to have them all the time as a child.  For some odd reason though, I could never remember how to make them.   This recipe is pretty easy to do - although working with artichokes can be a little time consuming.

Slow Cooker Artichokes

Ingredients

4 large artichokes
2 cups chicken broth
at least a cup of herbed bread crumbs (I used garlic and herb bread crumbs)
olive oil

Steps

1.  Wash artichokes.  Cut off the stem at the base so that the artichoke can sit flat.  Then cut off the top inch of the artichoke.
2.  Use kitchen scissors to cut the tops of the outer leaves as they are still prickly.  Pull the out the very center leaves creating a tiny bowl in the center for the bread crumbs.
3.  In a mixing bowl, drizzle some olive oil into the bread crumbs.  Keep adding and mixing the oil until the crumbs begin to clump together.
4.  Fill each artichoke with the bread crumb mixture and cover the top with crumbs.
5.  Place artichokes in slow cooker, drizzle some additional olive oil on top of each, then fill bottom of slow cooker with chicken broth.
6.  Cook on HIGH for 3 - 4 hours.

The Final Product

These were great!  I have not had them in so long and they just hit the spot.  I plan on making them much more frequently now.

Samosas with Kheema

A few days ago my husband got the urge to cook Indian food.  Lately, we have had the pleasure of enjoying samosas made by some of the international students that my husband goes to graduate school with.  So he gave it a whirl this time with a little twist.

Samosas

from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
oil for frying

Steps

1.  Combine oil and flour.  Rub together.
2.  Add salt and mix.
3.  Slowly add water until you have a firm dough.
4.  Knead for 7 to 10 minutes.
5.  Brush with a little oil, cover with a cloth and set aside until you are ready to use.
6.  Divide dough into 16 - 20 equal balls.
7.  Flatten each ball and roll until it is about 4 inches in diameter.  Cut the round in half.
8.  Wet the edges of the half circles with water, then fill with stuffing.  Press the edges together to seal.
9.  Heat oil for frying.  Fry each samosa for 2 to 3 minutes.  Drain on a paper towel.

Kheema stuffing

Ingredients

2 onions chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
ginger, 2 in long by 1 in wide, chopped
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 stick cinnamon
4 whole cloves
4 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
red pepper flakes to taste
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 large can of tomato
2 lbs ground lamb
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Steps

1.  Blend onions, garlic, ginger in blender with some water until you have a smooth paste.
2.  Heat oil in dutch oven over medium heat.
3.  Add cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and red pepper flakes.
4.  When peppers turn dark (10 seconds), add paste from blender.  Fry for about 10 minutes. (add water if food gets stuck to bottom).
5.  Add coriander, cumin, and turmeric.  Fry for 5 minutes.
6.  Add tomato (chopped) and fry for 2 - 3 minutes.
7.  Add meat and salt.  Break up meat until it is browned.
8.  Add 1/2 cup water and lemon juice.
9.  Bring to a boil and cover.  Let simmer for 1 hour.
10.  Take off cover and cook until there is no liquid remaining.  Discard any fat.  It is now ready to use as stuffing.

The Final Product

Super tasty.  Really yummy.  I could have made a meal out of them alone - but we also had chicken and potatoes and naan.  But where is the twist you say?  We started to get a little antsy at the length of time it took to roll out each samosa and fill them.  You may notice in the picture that the samosa have cute little cut edges to them.  Well, we gave it a bit of an Italian twist.  We busted out my ravioli tray! We rolled out two pieces of dough long enough to cover the ravioli tray.  Next we laid one piece of dough down on the tray.  Then wet along the parts that we knew would be cut.  Added filling to each of the ravioli areas, the covered with the other piece of dough.  Then cut the raviolis.  Soooo much faster.  We will definitely try our hands at it again.  It was so good even JT had 3 of them.

Crab Cakes a la Chef John Ash

I vowed after taking the cooking class with Chef John Ash last month that I would take a chance on making crab cakes at home.  Yesterday evening was the fateful day of reckoning!

Crab Cakes

Chef John Ash

Ingredients

1 egg, beaten
5 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp minced parsley
1 tbsp minced green onion
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, white preferred
salt, white pepper, and hot sauce to taste
1 lb fresh cooked Dungeness crab meat, picked over for shells
1/2 cup coarse dry bread crumbs, panko preferred
clarified butter or olive oil

Steps

1.  Combine egg, mayonnaise, parsley, green onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.
2.  Stir in crab and then half of the bread crumbs.  Do not over mix.  The cakes should just hold together and be delicate in texture.  Mix in additional bread crumbs if too moist.
3.  Form into 8 mini cakes.
4.  Lightly dust both sides with additional bread crumbs.
5.  Saute in clarified butter or oil until lightly browned on both sides - about 3 minutes per side.
6.  Serve with a little dollop of aioli on top.

Smoked Paprika Aioli

Chef John Ash

Ingredients

4 blanched garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp smoked paprika or to taste
Salt, pepper, and drops of lemon juice to taste

Steps

1.  Add all ingredients to a mini food processor and pulse until smooth.
2.  Store refrigerated for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to blend before using.  Makes 3/4 of a cup.

The Final Product

Making crab cakes has always seemed like a daunting task.  The meat is so delicate that I always worry about over working it.   After taking this class with Chef John Ash, I felt more confident and the cakes turned out wonderfully.  I will add that I did not have all of the ingredients listed above.  I traded out the green onions for some Penzey's Minced Onions, used light mayonnaise, and regular Worcestershire sauce.  I kept my mixing of ingredients to a minimum and almost all of my 7 crab cakes (okay I made them bigger) stayed together.  I can't wait to make them again!

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

June Gloom has hit our area.  It has been relatively gloomy for most of the morning to mid-afternoon.  It makes me yearn for hearty soups, even though it is not exactly what one would call "cold" outside. This soup really hit the spot.

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

from Family Fresh Meals

Ingredients

24 oz jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups water
1/4 cup diced onion
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup diced carrots
1lb ground beef, browned
4 cups of loosely packed fresh spinach leaves
4 cups beef broth
8 oz cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cubes
8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
16 oz refrigerated  cheese tortellini (you can also use frozen, just add 30 more minutes to cooking time)

Steps

1. Combine spaghetti sauce, water,  meat, onions, garlic, carrots,  spinach, cream cheese, beef  broth, and mushrooms in a slow-cooker. Cook on LOW for 7 hours, on HIGH  for 5  hours.   

2. Before adding in the tortellini, take a whisk to your soup to break up any chunks of cream cheese. Stir in tortellini.  Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes or until tender and hot.

The Final Product

Wow!  This was totally yummy.  I ate three bowls.  Fantastic - and I don't really like vegetables.  For your reference, I used a 24 oz jar of Bertolli Tomato and Basil sauce.  I used a whole package of baby spinach because I didn't feel like measuring.  My cream cheese was still quite chunky after 7 hours so I had to do a bit of mixing to get the consistency a bit creamier.  I have two ideas for the next time that I throw this in the slow cooker:

1. Cut the spinach in half and add a drained can of kidney beans.
2. Use 8 oz of soft cream cheese and not a block - the soft cream cheese from a container tends to meld better in the slow cooker.

Now go make this soup on those down and dreary days - it will certainly brighten your day.

Slow Cooker Beer Cheese Soup

I am amazed to have landed on two great slow cooker recipes in a row.  I adapted this one slightly from FamilyFreshMeals.com.  I did come up with some ideas for next time as well.

Slow Cooker Beer Cheese Soup

adapted slightly from FamilyFreshMeals.com

Ingredients

28 oz chicken broth
12 oz beer
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup cornstarch

Steps

1.  Mix first 9 ingredients together in your crockpot.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 - 8 hours.
2.  When done cooking, stir in cheese and heavy cream until the cheese is melted.
3.  Whisk in cornstarch.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes on HIGH.
4.  Smooth soup by blending in batches in blender or use an immersion blender.

The Final Product

It must be good when this kid likes it so much that it drips all over his shirt.

This soup tasted fantastic.  I used a bottle of Kona Brewing Co's Big Wave Golden Ale.  It was so cheese-y and beer-y (can I just make that a word?) that I wish that I had some hard pretzels to dip in the soup.  Everyone loved it, so clearly there were no leftovers, which incidentally left me with the only option of getting pizza for dinner tonight.  There was only one note for the next time we make it - and yes, there will be lots of next times.  The soup did thicken up but not as much as I had anticipated.  So next time, I might only use 1 can or 1.5 cans of chicken broth to get a thicker soup.  I also learned that I need an immersion blender - using the blender was fine but it allowed the soup to cool a bit much for my taste.  Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary!

In just a few short days the hubby and I will be celebrating our six year wedding anniversary.  We decided to indulge a a week early by going out to dinner and attending some fun events at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

We started off by enjoying dinner at the Chart House restaurant.  It was delicious!  I ordered the crab cakes, which were superb.  Not to mention the Molten Lava cake.  Really no anniversary meal is complete without a chocolate lava cake.  Fantastic!

We spent the remainder of our evening at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions - Party with Alton Brown.  With a little prodding, I convinced the hubby to come take a picture with me and Alton.

 

More like I said - I'll wait in the line and you get some drinks!  So very cool!  We spent the rest of the evening tasting different organic sustainable foods and drinks.  An even bigger plus was that there were only about 700 people there, so we could wander around the aquarium looking at the fish and not worrying about the 40 other people trying to look at the same tank as you.  Sadly, the new tentacles exhibit was closed off - I guess once they get those cephalopods on a schedule you don't want to mess them up.

The next day we wrangled the kiddos up for yet another trip to the aquarium.  This time for some cooking/drink classes.  I had an absolutely fabulous class with James Beard award winning chef John Ash.  There were just under 30 people in the class.  He showed us how to make a grilled pizza.  He told us that it is probably the best way at home to imitate those huge wood burning ovens because the surface of the grill does in fact reach the 700 degrees that is obtained in those ovens.  And yes, we did cook the dough right on the surface of the grill.  Yummy grill marks.  I am set to put this on my meal plan calendar for next month (then I'll share the recipe!).  

Chef Ash then mentioned that we had extra time - so why don't we make some crab cakes?!?!  I thought - major score.  I just had the great crab cake last night at dinner, now I'll know how to make them myself.  Holy macaroni, I was so surprised at how simple the process was and how few ingredients created a super tasty cake.  I actually think the crab cake I made was even tastier then the one I had the evening prior.  Yet another recipe I plan on trying next month.

Creepily, there was a photographer there for the aquarium - so I am a little weirded out there may be photos of me cooking/enjoying wine at the this class.  I might try to do some searches to see if I find them.  I can't imagine they look great.

We passed off the kiddos and the hubby attended a class on pairing beer (Sierra Nevada) with food.  He said it was pretty good.  They let you sample food and beer.

I didn't take many pictures of my experience but I did walk away with these:

 

Given this army lifestyle, I am now a believer in if you can take advantage of an experience - do it.  You may not get another chance too.

Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

It has been a while since my last update.  I have been trying out a few new recipes and unfortunately, they have been a little lackluster -- until last night.  I have been scouring the web for ethnic slow cooker recipes - specifically, Chinese food.  If you have not been paying attention, I have been really disappointed about the lack of good Chinese takeout.  So I somewhat reluctantly threw together this recipe after having looked at several online.  It is a combination of a couple of recipes - so I have no idea to whom I should give credit.  But thanks to everyone for all the ideas - because this one pretty much nailed it on the head.

Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

Ingredients

1 lb stew beef
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 pkg frozen steamer broccoli florets
rice

Steps

1.  I had big chunks of stew beef.  I took a minute to cut them into smaller strips.
2.  Mix together the broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and garlic.
3.  Place beef pieces in slow cooker and cover with mixture.
4.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.
5.  When done, create a slurry by mixing the cornstarch and some of the slow cooker liquid together.
6.  Stir the slurry back into the slow cooker and add the package of broccoli florets.  Cook on low for another 30 minutes.
7.  Serve over rice.

The Final Product
I wish I had taken a picture.  The flavors melded wonderfully.  It reminded me so much of good east coast Chinese takeout.  The only thing that I was disappointed with was that my sauce did not thicken up as much as I would have liked after having added the cornstarch.  I suspect it is because the slow cooker didn't bring the sauce up to a boil in the last half hour.  I think I will wait until the very end to make the slurry.  I will remove the beef and broccoli to another dish and pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan.  Add the slurry and bring the sauce up to a boil to get it to thicken.  Then pour the sauce back over the beef and broccoli once it is the right consistency.  Give this one a try!