30 Before 30: Baked Asparagus and Prawns (Gamberi al Forno con gli Asparagi) (#25)

Well, I had a lot of shrimp. It was Alaskan and from one of my favorite families and it was delicious and now it's all gone.

I'm really liking the necessity of digging through my cookbooks and looking at new ways of cooking cuisines that I normally stay within my comfort zone when I cook them. This recipe is a great example. It's simple, but I'd normally just plop a lot of this stuff over pasta. The inspiration comes from a risotto Marcella Hazen had in Venice. I think if you took out the potatoes and went for a risotto, it would also be quite fantastic.

Also, Aaron cooked bacon and had me add it. It's always a good idea.

Baked Shrimp with Asparagus (Gamberi al Forno con gli Asparagi) via Marcella's Italian Kitchen:

Serves 6

2 lb. asparagus

Salt

2 lb. medium shrimp, in their shells

½ lb. potatoes

2/3 c. onion

5 Tb. butter

1 Tb. vegetable oil

¼ c. heavy cream

½ c. freshly grated Parmesan, plus 2 Tb. for topping

Black pepper in a grinder

Trim the asparagus, cutting off 1 inch or more of the hard root end and peeling away the tough green skin from the lower half of the stalk. I personally ascribe to the snapping asparagus school, so do what you normally do to prep it. Wash asparagus thoroughly in 1 or 2 changes of cold water.

Choose a shallow pan that can accommodate all the asparagus lying flat. Pour in about 2 inches of water and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and, when the water resumes boiling, slip in the asparagus and cover the pan. Cook for just a few minutes – depending on the freshness and thickness of the vegetable – until the asparagus is barely tender, but still firm to the bite. Drain and set aside to cool. When the asparagus has cooled, cut it into pieces 1½ inches long.

Shell the shrimp, remove the dark vein just below the surface of their backs, and wash them in cold water. Pat thoroughly dry with kitchen towels.

Wash the potatoes and boil them, unpeeled, in abundant water. When they are done, drain them, peel them, and pass them through a food mill or potato ricer. Though I'm sure it would drive Hazen crazy, I don't have either of those, so I mashed them with a potato masher. Not a big deal when you see how they are used. Put your potatoes in a bowl large enough to accommodate all the other ingredients later.

Turn the oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium saucepan put the chopped onions, 3 tablespoons of the butter, and the vegetable oil and turn on the heat to medium. Saute the onion until it becomes colored a deep gold of even very lightly brown. Add the asparagus, turn up the heat to high, and saute the asparagus, turning them constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer the asparagus with all the pan juices to the bowl containing the potatoes. Add the cream, ½ cup of grated cheese, salt, liberal grinding of pepper, and the shrimp. Toss thoroughly. Choose a 12-by-9-inch oven-to-table baking dish. Smear the bottom with a little butter. Pour into it all the contents of the bowl, leveling with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with 2 tablespoons of grated cheese, and dot with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.

Bake in the uppermost level of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the shrimp. After removing the dish from the oven, allow it to settle for 5 minutes before serving.

This is an easy recipe to break into smaller steps and comes together relatively quickly. Make sure you have some crusty bread to go with this.

Recipes Complete: 25

Recipes to Go: 5 

Potato Tacos with Avocado and Tomatillo Salsa

Apparently I like tomatillos and recipes that are really easy. Want something mid-week and fast and maybe a little different? Try this. Make mashed potatoes. Fry it up in some tortillas. Make some salsa. Bam bam bam – dinner.

Potato Tacos with Avocado and Tomatillo Salsa via Serious Eats:

Serves 4 (or 2 mega hungry people)

2 avocados

4 medium tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and quartered

1 large garlic clove, quartered

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and chopped

½ c. cilantro leaves, chopped

½ tsp. salt

1 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, chopped into ½-inch pieces

4 oz. queso fresco, divided, crumbled

Salt and black pepper

12 corn tortillas

¼ c. vegetable oil

½ c. Mexican crema, or sour cream

1½ c. iceberg lettuce, shredded (or better lettuce because yeah)

For the avocado salsa, cut avocados in half lengthwise, and remove large seeds. Scoop out flesh and place in blender along with tomatillos, garlic, chiles, cilantro, ¼ cup water, and salt. Process until it is a coarse puree. Set aside. The avocado sauce won’t turn brown because of the tomatillos. You can also eat a bunch of it while you're working on other stuff.

To make the potato tacos, bring large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander. Mash the potato in large bowl, or pass through potato ricer. Mix in half of the queso fresco. Season mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon two tablespoons of potato mixture into each tortilla. Fold each over, and secure each with one tooth pick, weaving in and out to keep each in a “U” shape.

Pour oil into large 10-inch cast iron pan set over medium-high heat. When oil is shimmering, add enough tacos as will fit in a single layer, probably three. Cook until crisp and golden on each side, about 30 seconds for each, flipping with pair of tongs. When done, remove tacos, draining as much oil as you can. Place on paper towels and repeat process until all tacos are cooked.

Serve tacos with salsa, crema, and lettuce.

So good. So fast. Did I mention how good they are?

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht

Soup is crazy perfect right now and by right now I mean all of the time. This recipe, though, is even more perfect than perfect because it uses root veg and fills your house with delicious aromas. If you get a CSA like me, you might also be drowning (or just completely sick of) beets. Here's one more way to try them before you just start using them to play fetch with your dog. I won't judge you either way. I added dill thanks to the comments. Beets + dill = of course. If you use veggie stock and either a sour cream replacement (or omit it entirely), you've got yourself a BA vegan soup.

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht via Serious Eats:

Serves 4

2 lb. red beets (about 5 medium), scrubbed, peeled, and cut into a medium dice (your hands will be bright red. It will be funny for about 2 minutes)
1 lb. russet potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled and cut into a medium dice
2 shallots, coarsely chopped
3 to 5 sprigs fresh dill
2 Tb. olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 c. broth (chicken or richly flavored veg)
1 Tb. red wine vinegar
Sour cream

Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss vegetables in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and tuck sprigs of dill in amongst the vegetables. Roast until tender, about 45 minutes. Set dill aside.

Bring the broth to a simmer in a large saucepot and add the cooked vegetables. Mash roughly with a potato masher or wooden spoon, add the vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper and more vinegar if needed. Serve in bowls topped with a dollop of sour cream and the crushed dill from the baking.

Warm and inviting and really easy. You'll look like you slaved so hard over dinner.

Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables

Not too long ago I managed to get a copy of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home for super cheap at Title Wave. Even though the weather has been warm (and then cold and then warm), chicken recipes, especially Thomas Keller’s chicken recipes, make for great weekend dinners. That’s why this Saturday and next Saturday I will be posting two recipes Aaron and I have made recently from Ad Hoc. They are good meals to share with family and friends and I’m excited to master them in the future.

Today is all about roasted chicken. Try to get one as close to the size listed below to match the roasting time. And nothing is better than a good meat thermometer. We like to get many of our meats from New Seasons because they specialize in ethically and locally raised animals. If it is available and affordable to you, why spend the time making a wonderful family meal based around sad, hormone laden chicken?

The root veggie part is great because you can use whatever it is you have available to you. I’m listing below what is in the recipe itself, but I’ll mention here that we used sweet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, an onion, and carrots. Use what you like because it’s your dinner. This is a long process, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time for prep and cooking.

Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables from Ad Hoc at Home:

One 4-4½ lb. chicken

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

6 thyme sprigs

2 large leeks

2 tennis ball sized rutabagas

2 tennis ball sized turnips

4 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed, and cut in half

1 small yellow onion, trimmed, leaving root end intact, and cut into quarters

8 small red-skinned potatoes

1/3 c. canola oil

4 Tb. unsalted butter, room temperature

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 1½-2 hours, or until it comes to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Remove the neck and innards if they are still in the cavity of the chicken. Using a paring knife, cut out the wishbone from the chicken for easier carving later. Generously season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper, add 3 of the garlic cloves and 5 sprigs of thyme, and massage (yeah, I know) the inside of the bird to infuse it with the flavors. Truss the chicken.

Cut off the dark green leaves from the top of the leeks. Trim off and discard any darkened outer layers. Trim the root ends, cutting around them on a 45-degree angle. Slit the leeks lengthwise almost in half, starting ½” above the root ends. Rinse the leeks well under warm water.

Cut off both ends of the rutabagas. Stand them on end and cut away the skin, working from the top to the bottom and removing any tough outer layers. Cut into ¾” wedges. Repeat with the turnips, cutting into wedges to match the size of the rutabagas.

Combine all of the vegetables and the remaining garlic cloves and thyme sprig in a large bowl. Toss with ¼ cup of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables in a large cast iron skillet or a roasting pan.

Rub the remaining oil all over the chicken. Season generously with salt and pepper. Make a nest in the center of the vegetables and nestle the chicken in it. Cut the butter into 4 or 5 pieces and place over the chicken breast. Put the chicken in the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400 and roast for an additional 45 minutes, or until the temperature registers 160 in the meatiest portions of the bird (the thigh and under the breast where the thigh meets the breast) and the juices run clear. If necessary, return the bird to the move for more roasting and check every 5 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 20 minutes. Just before serving, set the pan of vegetables over medium heat and reheat the vegetables, turning them and glazing them with the pan juice. Cut the chicken into serving pieces, arrange over vegetables and serve.

Obviously not a warm weather dish, but it is perfect when the temperature dips. The taste is incredible and it just feels so homey and warm. Give it a shot when putting your oven on doesn’t sound like the worst idea ever.

Pel'meni

It's 2012 y'all! Isn't that amazing? If you are like me, perhaps you indulged a bit on New Years Eve. If you do that and then stay up really late, you'll probably get hungry. And if you're a lucky duck in Juneau, Alaska (or the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle or in Bellingham) you can fill up that need with an order of pel'meni. Unfortunately I don't live in any of those places, so not too long ago, Aaron and I decided it was high time that we made our own. Once you get addicted to that stuff, you just need to have it. And it's the perfect end of the night food. Or whenever, really. Aaron found this recipe (or one very similar. We can't remember.) and we made it ourselves and it was wonderful.

A note of caution, before you start. Remember the photo of my rings I included with this post? That is what I usually do with them when working with doughs so they don't get all messy. This dough was really sticky. Like really, really sticky. I had to yank it out of the stand mixer because it was just not behaving. I took off my rings part way through, rather carelessly, and the entire counter was covered in a ton of flour. See picture above for how messy I and everything else got. Fast forward to the next day and I realize that my rings aren't on. So I check the counter and they are not there. My only thought is that crap, they got swept up into the sink. And we've been using it a lot since then. Aaron takes apart the sink and the garbage disposal. Can't find them. He digs through the garbage and the compost. Still not found. We get really sad. I start to resign myself to the idea that I might have to get a new ring. We go to the store where he bought my engagement ring to see if we can get a replacement (turns it out it's only for the stone, not the whole deal). I am very sad. Later Aaron is rearranging the fridge and he lifts up the carton of eggs and plink, plink, my rings fall off of it. Yeah. They got stuck to the bottom of the egg carton while we were working on the recipe. SO! If you wear rings, PUT THEM SOMEWHERE SAFE!

And now, to the recipe. We also made a potato filling, not included in the recipe, because I love the potato ones. As such, we reduced the meat filling by half. The sauce was from delicious memory.

Pel'Meni modified from Tasterussian.com:

Serves 4 with leftovers

Dough-
210 ml cold water
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
400 gram flour (see note of caution. I used a lot more to unsticky this stuff)

Meat Filling-
¼ lb beef ground
¼ lb pork ground
½ medium onion, chopped
Salt, pepper,and spices to taste

Potato Filling-
1 large potato
Hunk of butter
Dried dill, to taste

Sauce-
Equal parts sriracha and rice vinegar
Melted butter

Toppings-
Curry powder
Cilantro
Sour Cream
Bread slices

To make your dough, sift flour and salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Make a dimple in the top and crack the egg into that. Adding the cold water gradually, knead the dough vigorously 15-20 minutes. Add in enough flour until it stops sticking to absolutely everything. This might take awhile. Set aside while you get your fillings together.

To make the meat filling, mix together all of the ingredients and set aside. To make the potato filling, peel and chop one large potato. Boil in a pot of water until fork tender. Mash with butter until slightly creamy and mix in dried dill to taste. Set aside.

While the potato mixture is cooling, get your dough ready for assembly. Roll the dough into a long snake. At about one inch intervals, cut the snake into balls. Roll these balls into circles. Then add a teaspoon of filling to the center of the circle, pull over the sides, and pinch the edges down firmly. Curl in the corners of the half circle and pinch together.

Get a large amount of water boiling. When at a vigorous boil, drop them in. They are ready after they float at the top for 3-4 minutes. Pull them out of the water with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Mix together sriracha and rice vinegar, enough to lightly coat four orders. Make it as spicy as you like.If you've had pel'meni before, you'll know when it's right. Melt enough butter in a skillet over medium heat to cook all of the pel'meni in. Cook until they are all buttered up and add into the sriacha and rice vinegar mixture. Spoon into individual bowls. Sprinkle on curry powder and some cilantro. Serve with a slice of bread (rye preferred, but we had challah here) and enough sour cream to have a little with every bite.

These were not exactly the same as what I've had in Juneau, but they were close enough without actually being in styrofoam and without me being surrounded by drunks. Aaron and I are definitely going to make these again. I'll just stick my rings in a box upstairs. And maybe put some caution tape around it.

Zucchini Cakes

Not too long ago I went to the farmers market and the zucchinis were already crazy cheap. I bought a few because why not and then promptly could not figure out what I wanted to do with them. Some ended up in eggs, pasta, nachos (!), but I still had so much. So one night I shredded the remainders up and decided to make a veggie faux latke. It worked out really well. Sometimes the farmers market creates inspiration and sometimes you just buy too many zucchinis.

Zucchini Cakes:

Serves 2

1 potato, shredded

2 medium size zucchinis, shredded

2 medium size carrots, shredded

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ c. matzoh meal

2 eggs, scrambled

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Olive oil

Ricotta (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together shredded veggies and then mix in the matzoh and eggs. Form into patties. Place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with olive oil. Back for 10-15 minutes until cooked through and the tops and edges are crispy. Top with ricotta cheese.

They are tasty and a fun way to do something like latkes without being a slave to the stove. Yum!

Roasted Garlic Soup with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

I know I made garlic soup not that long ago, but this is an even more garlic garlic soup. Seriously. And it tastes amazing. It’s a light-ish soup with a ton of garlic and, if you leave out the optional parmesan and use veggie stock, it’s totally vegan. Roasting veggies is one of my most favorite things ever, so when I saw this recipe, it was like the blog heavens parted and this recipe came down to me.

It’s that good. Make it while it’s still kind of soup weather.

Roasted Garlic  Soup with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes from Joy the Baker:

Makes 2 large or 4 small servings

For the roasted garlic -

26 garlic cloves (unpeeled)

2 Tb. olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the potatoes -

12 small new or purple potatoes or a mixture (which is really pretty)

2 Tb. olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Salt and pepper

For the soup -

2 Tb. olive oil

2 medium yellow onions, sliced into half rings

2 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped

15 to 18 garlic cloves, peeled but kept mostly whole (guess which amount I picked)

4 c. chicken stock (or veggie or turkey, which is what I used)

½ c. milk (or any other creamy option listed in the original)

Salt and pepper to taste

Lemon wedges, Parmesan cheese, and good olive oil for drizzling

Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place 26 unpeeled garlic cloves in a small baking dish.  Toss with olive oil, a few pinches of salt and black pepper.  Cover dish with foil and set aside.

Dice potatoes into large bite-sized pieces and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Toss with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Place the foil-covered garlic cloves and the rosemary potatoes in the oven.  Bake both for 45 minutes.  Remove the potatoes from the oven once or twice to toss around the pan to ensure even baking.  After 40 to 45 minutes, a knife will easily pass through the roasted garlic and roasted potatoes.  Remove both from the oven and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the roasted garlic from their skins and combine with the raw garlic.  Set aside.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the sliced onions and chopped thyme.  Cook until onions are translucent and thyme is super fragrant, about 6 minutes.  Add the two types of garlic and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.  Add the stock, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer the soup until raw garlic is soft and tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove soup from heat and blend, in two or three batches, in a blender until smooth.  Return soup to the pot and add milk or other creamy thing and stir until milk has dissolved.  Salt and pepper to taste.  

To serve, stack roasted potatoes in the center of a shallow bowl.  Pour soup around the potatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil, a dash of fresh lemon juice and a generous shaving of Parmesan cheese.

This is an intense soup without being overly intense. The roasted garlic flavor is really mellow and the time the fresh garlic spends simmering takes out a lot of its bite. I think a few more potatoes would have improved this already stellar dish, but it was fine the way it was. I just love potatoes and garlic (have you read my bio?). I highly recommend this soup!

Lemony Chicken Pot Pie with Parsley Biscuit Crust

I'm falling behind on the whole blogging thing again. I have been cooking and baking and doing all of that fun stuff quite a lot lately, but can never seem to remember to actually post about it, which is sad because I'm making some good stuff. Like this awesome pot pie casserole. There are two parts that will bother Aaron and Renai respectively. Part one, to bother Aaron, is that I loved chopping the parsley for the biscuits. It smells so good and I think I just like chopping parsley in general.

Part two, to bother Renai, is my removal of the fennel from the original recipe. I am just not a huge licorice fan and though I do like a little bit of fennel in my Italian sausages, that's usually about as far as it goes. Yeah, I don't like star anise either. My palate has grown quite a lot, but I'm just not into it.

Anyway, my version of this recipe is tasty because I'm sure the original was tasty too. I followed the suggestions on the original pages and added in spinach and carrots and, of course, upped the garlic a bit. Either way, this is sure to keep you warm inside.

Oh, I also call BS on the 40 minute time frame. This sucker took a long time because there's a lot of prep involved. I might not be the fastest prep cook in the world, but this would take anyone a bit of time to get together. Plus, the baking time alone is 40 minutes. So there.

Lemony Chicken Pot Pie with Parsley Biscuit Crust modified from Serious Eats:

Serves 6

For the biscuit topping:
1¼ c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ c. fresh flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped
¼ c. unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
½ c. milk

For the chicken:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ c. all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1½ lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½” chunks
2 c. carrots, cut into chunks
3 c. fresh spinach
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 c. dry white wine
2 c. veggie broth
2/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease the baking dish with olive oil.

Prepare the biscuit dough. Mix the flour in a medium bowl with the baking powder, salt, and parsley. Cut in the cold butter and work it in with your fingers or a pastry blender until the flour mixture resembles soft bread crumbs. Add the milk, stirring just until the dough comes together. Set aside.

Cut the chicken breasts into large bite-size pieces. Toss the pieces in a bowl with the flour and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat a generous drizzle of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough to sizzle when a drop of water is flicked in, add the chicken and brown for about 6 minutes, turning halfway through. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, carrots, spinach, and garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until they start to turn tender and fragrant. Add the potatoes and turn the heat up a little. Sauté the potatoes for a few minutes with the onion, then add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and wine and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the broth and chicken, and season the stew with about 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper.

 Spread the stew in the prepared baking dish. Drop the biscuit dough on top in 6 to 8 evenly spaced mounds and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake, uncovered, for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the biscuit topping is golden. Serve hot.

I really, really loved this. I wasn't sure my Le Creuset could handle the volume, but it worked beautifully. The only other thing I'd change would be to double the biscuit topping to cover the whole stew. They are really awesome biscuits and deserve more attention.

Kale and Potato Soup with Sausage

Soup is wonderful. It satisfies and usually doesn’t take too much time or effort. Though the weather has been all over the place here in Portland, Aaron and I are both still craving soup. I think the Le Creuset has something to do with it. Can I just take another moment and talk about how wonderful it is? While making this soup, some of the onions did that thing they do and made some black crusted on stuff on the bottom of the pot. I freaked out a bit because when I made this soup in another pot, the same thing happened. Only with that one, I spent the better part of a week soaking it and trying to get that stuff off. Not with the Le Creuset. It came right off in the wash. I call that a win.

And so is this soup. It’s hearty without leaving your stuffed and is the perfect vehicle for a crunchy, crusty bread. It was also really easy to throw together because I had basically everything already in the house. I substituted veggie broth for the chicken broth, chicken sausage for the pork sausage, and a very large russet potato for the Yukon Gold, but I think my version is probably similar to the original and very, very good.

Kale and Potato Soup with Sausage slightly modified from Serious Eats:

Serves 4-6

¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
½ lb. chicken sausage, casings removed
2 medium onions, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, chopped (1 more than the original)
1 large bunch kale, stems removed and cut into ½” ribbons
1 lb. potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 c. veggie broth
Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add sausage and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until crumbled and beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.

Add onion and cook until soft and beginning to brown, 10-12 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes more. Add kale, potatoes, and reserved sausage, along with a couple pinches of salt. Cook about three minutes longer, then add veggie stock and bring to a boil. Simmer until the kale and potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide into bowls and top with fresh black pepper and grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.

This soup is so good! I really like the way the caramelized onions add some depth to the soup. The only thing I would change about it would be slightly more garlic. I only went one above the original and though I used fairly large cloves of garlic, it really could have used a bit more of that garlic flavor. Still, this is a very good and easy soup and I will be trying it out again soon.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Look what Aaron got me for Christmas!

He is so awesome! And, as it turns out, really into getting me stuff for cooking. Even before I had made this post, he had already purchased me my very first Le Creuset. So there it was, beautiful and blue, and I needed to come up with something to cook in it. Soup, obviously, because it's a soup pot and you shouldn't cook something non-soup the first time. Not in this pretty French baby, oh no.

Anyway, last week it was very cold and we were very hungry. Based on what we had in the house and the very low temperature outside, I decided that instead of just having roasted veggies, which I love, we should have roasted vegetable soup. It's delicious, pretty quick, and you will be so happy and warm.

Roasted Vegetable Soup:

Serves 6

½ onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves
1 ridiculously large potato, chopped
2 small sweet potatoes, chopped
3 c. broccoli
1 c. corn
½ c. peas
2 Tb. butter (optional)
3-4 c. veggie stock
Large pinch herbs de provence
Olive oil
Grated parmesan (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Take chopped potato, sweet potato, and broccoli and spread on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes. You don’t want these to be all the way cooked through, but getting soft and the broccoli should be looking slightly browned and crispy. Set aside.

In your amazing Le Creuset or other heavy bottomed soup pot, heat butter and a little bit of olive oil over medium-low heat. I like the flavor combination of butter and oil, but you can make totally vegan without it and it will taste fine. Add onion and cook, 3-4 minutes or until softened and slightly brown. Add in garlic, corn, and peas. Add in roasted vegetables and herbs de provence (French herbs for my French pot!) and cook for another couple of minutes. Add in veggie stock, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes. It’s done when you can get a fork easily into the potato pieces.

Serve immediately with bread and a little grated parmesan.

I love vegetable soup and I think roasting the veggies first makes it just that much more delicious. A good veggie stock is key to a good soup and I think my veggie stock is awesome. Make a bunch and freeze it. It's not hard and making your own is just that much better. I had two large bowls that day and then two more the next day. It’s perfect for these cold winter nights and is flexible enough to match the produce you have in your house.

Plus, it’s a great way to break in your soup pot. Clearly I am very happy about this!

Shepherd's Pie

Normally I frown upon the use of Rachael Ray recipes because, well, it’s her, but Aaron made this delicious thing and I loved it so much, I was able to deal with it. Plus, he heavily modified the original, so that’s even better. And, credit where credit is due, the mashed potatoes on top rock. We’ve had this three times now and I can’t believe Aaron found a way to get me to eat lamb. He picked it up from a vendor at the farmer’s market and it is so incredible. I have decided that the sheep must have been very well treated, but ugly, so it’s okay for me to eat it. Plus, it tastes really, really good. There’s a bit of prep involved in making this, but comes together rather quickly. It’s also amazing as lunch the next day.

Shepherd’s Pie heavily modified from 30 Minute Meals:

Serves 4

1 lb. potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
Spoonful sour cream
1 large egg yolk
½ c. milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for pan
1 lb. ground lamb
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
½ onion, chopped
TJ’s gravy
Green beans (fresh or canned)
Paprika
Cheddar cheese, grated

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg yolk and milk and add mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Mix in gravy until warm. Mix in cooked green beans and remove from heat.








Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with cheddar cheese and paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned.

Serve and enjoy.

It’s such a warm and homey recipe. Seriously. It’s especially good since it’s been pouring in Portland and even though it’s June, the idea of summer seems so far away. There’s a bit in the fridge still and I might have to go sneak some bites of it right now.

Potato Ricotta Galette

This is just a quick one. Galettes are great because you can modify them in so many ways. This was really delicious. If you haven’t made one yet, based on this one or this one, do it now.

Potato Ricotta Galette:

Makes a super tasty galette

½ recipe galette dough
2 red potatoes, thinly sliced
Ricotta cheese
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Dried oregano
Sea salt
Olive oil

Bake potatoes, mixed in olive oil and oregano, in a 375 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Roll out galette dough. Spread the ricotta cheese over the dough, sprinkle with chopped garlic and oregano, and cover with potato slices. Fold in the dough and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven. My potatoes cooked a little longer in the first step than I would have liked and as a result were a bit crispier than intended at the end of baking. It still rocked though. I will definitely do this one again and keep on experimenting with galettes. How can crispy dough and garlic ever be anything but amazing?

Alaskan King Crab Legs and Bacon Wrapped Scallops

Aaron and I aren’t all that big into Valentine’s Day anymore. This has a lot to do with the fact that our anniversary is February 2 and his birthday is the week following V-Day (February 21). So we celebrate love an awful lot in such a short month. Well, we do every month. Not the point.

ANYWAY, Alaskan king crab legs were on sale and we had to get them. It’s ALASKAN KING CRAB. I don’t feel like I need to say much more than that. We decided to get a pound and a half and then pick up some sea scallops from Sheridan’s (which has an amazing meat and seafood counter. You should check it out if you’re in the Portland area). When we were in Juneau this past winter, Aaron made bacon wrapped scallops and his mom’s place and they were fantastic, especially since he had never done them before. For a fancy V-Day dinner, they seemed like a good idea. And they were!

Steamed King Crab Legs and Bacon Wrapped Scallops by Becca and Aaron:

1½ lb. Alaskan king crab legs
6 large size sea scallops, gently rinsed
6 pieces of bacon (turkey bacon can work, but it crisps faster, so it’d be a bit more difficult)
Thyme
Rosemary
2-3 garlic cloves, cut in half
¼ c. butter, melted
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Mashed potatoes

Place bacon in a medium skillet and cook until slightly crispy. It should be mostly cooked, but still flexible. Reserve the bacon fat in the skillet.


Wrap the scallops with the bacon and skewer with toothpicks to hold in place. Set aside.

Boil water in a large pot with thyme, rosemary and garlic. If you have a steamer tray, this next part is easy. I had to rig on up, so it was a little harder, but still worked even though I had to cut the legs in half. Add legs to steamer tray or rigged up steamer tray and cover. Steam for about seven minutes, or until you can smell the delicious crab aroma. Crab legs are generally already cooked once when you get them. They do this on the fishing vessel to preserve the supreme freshness and delciousness that is Alaskan king crab. So don’t overcook!

While the crab legs are steaming, reheat the bacon skillet. Place the scallops in the skillet and cook until translucent, flipping a couple of times. Scallops cook really quickly and get tough, so watch it.


Serve crab legs and scallops with melted butter mixed with the minced garlic, mashed potatoes, and lemon wedges.

This was a ridiculously fantastic dinner. The only issue we had was that we don’t have crab crackers, so we had to cut all of our legs open with kitchen scissors, which takes a bit of time. Still, though, worth it. Alaskan king crab is so good and I wish it were always available and not super expensive.

I recommend topping off your evening with a viewing of Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride.

Wings and French Fries

When I mentioned that Aaron has been cooking a lot, he’s also been cooking from Alton Brown’s recipes a lot. I’m a huge Alton Brown fan (I think I’ve mentioned that before) and I’m glad Aaron is too. This dinner Aaron made was fantastic. I’m not normally into wings, but these were some of the best I’ve ever had. Thanks Aaron (and Alton, whose original recipe is here.)

Buffalo Wings modified from Good Eats:

Serves 2 for dinner

12 chicken wings
3 oz. unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and julienned
Olive oil
Paprika
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Hot sauce
Apricot BBQ sauce
Chopped garlic (a few cloves)

Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Aaron said that because we don’t have a steamer basket, he used a mini colander over the pot.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the fries. In a large bowl, add julienned potatoes and coat with olive oil. Add paprika, salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine. Place these on a baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown. Bake fries along with the wings. Aaron said they took about the same amount of time.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold half of the chicken and stir to combine. Mix the apricot BBQ sauce (which tastes only like apricot and not like BBQ so I liked it) with the chopped garlic.





Remove the wings from the oven and transfer half to each of the bowls and toss with the sauces. Serve warm with the fries.

The fries were crisp and warm and delicious. I love when a fry is both crispy and potato-y soft on the inside. The wings were super crisp and yummy. I was sad when we ran out. Like I said, I’m not normally much of a wings person, so that should tell you how good these are.

Potato Onion Broccoli Pie

For starters I will say that this is definitely a work in progress, but it will be something great in the future.

I got the idea to make a pie because I really wanted to make pastry dough now that I have a food processor. The recipe I have, first seen here, is designed for a food processor and having now done it, I can see why you’d want to use one. It’s so much faster. I’ll be posting the food processor directions for it because they are different than the by hand ones from last year. Still very tasty though.

I wanted to do a savory pie, for whatever reason, and was inspired by some of the pies in The New Moosewood Cookbook, like this one and this one. And because I have a food processor now (let me know if I’m getting too annoying with all my talk about it. I am in love though, what can I say?), slicing potatoes is a cinch. I love it.

Also, remember how just after I got my fancy new machine, Aaron and I pureed an onion? That inspired this too. Again, work in progress. There is too much onion in this pie by far. Anyway, this is what I did.

Potato Onion Broccoli Pie:

Serves 4-6, depending on if served as entrée or appetizer

1½ c, flour
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder
8 Tb. unsalted butter, cut in ½" pieces and kept well chilled
2 Tb. vegetable shortening , well chilled
2- 4 Tb. ice water
One large potato
Three heads of broccoli
Puree of one onion
1-2 c. grated white cheddar cheese
½ c. grated Parmesan
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

Make the pastry dough first. Insert the metal blade. Process the flour, salt, and baking powder to sift, 10 seconds. Add the well chilled butter and vegetable shortening. Use short rapid pulses (15-20) until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal and no pieces of butter are larger than a pea remain visible. Sprinkle half the maximum ice water on the flour and butter mixture, then pulse 5-6 times. The dough will be crumbly, but should begin to hold together when a small amount is picked up and pressed together. Sprinkle on more water, a teaspoon at a time, with 2-3 quick pulses after each addition, adding enough water for the dough to hold together easily when pressed into a ball. Add the liquid sparingly so the dough is not sticky. Do not overprocess or the pastry will be tough, not tender and flaky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press together into a ball, then flatten into a disc about 6 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before continuing to allow the gluten in the flour to rest. Thaw at room temperature for an hour before using.



While waiting for your dough to thaw, slice a potato super thin (go food processor!) and dice up three heads of broccoli. Make them into as small of pieces as possible. Guess what I used.







Heat oven to 350. This is what I did, not what I should have done. Roll out your dough and press into a pie pan. Spread half of the onion puree on the bottom. Place the potato slices into a pretty pattern or just layer them until they cover the bottom of the crust. Add about half of the broccoli and then sprinkle with a bunch of cheese. I mixed my cheeses together, but it got a little clumpy, so I wouldn’t do that in the future. Repeat pattern. Top pie with remaining potato slices, chopped garlic, and a bit more cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes at 350. I then took it out and it was not done yet. So I turned the oven up to 375 and baked it for about 5-7 minutes more. It was much better.





Let it cool a bit before serving. Add more parmesan if desired.

This was a pretty good idea and didn’t taste terrible, but it had way, way, way too much onion. I also think, surprise, surprise, not enough cheese was involved. Next time I would still mix in some cheese, but also cover the top to give it a crispy, cheesy crust. And yeah, less onion. It was overpowering. And more garlic.

This pie has a lot of potential in it. I’ll be updating when I make the next version.