Braised Lamb Shanks & Asparagus Risotto

This is my husband's recipe, and I wanted to share this amazing dish! So delicious! My risotto was served on the side, a great addition to the lamb.

Ingredients:
2 lamb shanks, 1 lb. a piece, trimmed of fat
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 Bordeaux red wine
1/2 Quart chicken stock
1/2 Quart beef stock
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 fresh rosemary sprig
2 bay leaves


Appliances:
Le Creuset Dutch Oven-Large

Directions:
1. Put dutch oven on med-high heat burner. Add in 2 Tbsp. olive oil, let dutch oven come to temperature. Once at desired heat, heat 1 shank at a time, 3-5 minutes on each side, browning to a golen brown, then remove off heat onto heat safe plate.
2. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. to dutch oven, add in chopped onions, salt and pepper, letting them carmelize, 5-7 minutes, till translucent, but a bit browned from lamb remnants.
3. Next add in garlic, allowing garlic to carmelize with onions, 2-3 minutes.
4. Deglaze dutch oven with wine, stir everything with wooden spoon, scraping up lamb bits on the bottom of the pan to incorporate into liquid.
5. Add beef and chicken stocks, tomatoe paste, stirring all to incorporate paste and broth with wine, onion and garlic bath.
6. Add in rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
7. Bring pot to a boil, add in the lamb, if liquid does not cover the lamb, add more broth/wine/water to bring above lamb shank level, not expsoing the meat.
8. Cover, let simmer on low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
9. Remove cover, cook uncovered for additional 1/2 hour at same temperature to reduce liquid to fall below the shanks. Be sure to taste for proper seasoning level, et voila! You have your braised lamb shanks!

Plate the lamb shanks onto a plate, use broth bath in dutch oven to pour over the lamb as a gravy. If you wish for a thicker gravy, you might need to raise temp of broth to boil, then reduce again, this should help thicken naturally, without adding flour or thickeners, but if desired, I don't see that hurting anything.

Click on the link to see  my risotto recipe.

Bon appetit!

Halibut a la sauce beurre blanc & pureed garlic young potatoes.

Bit of a warning note, this is not friendly on the waist, hips, scale, but every now and then it is ok to indulge into deliciousness, which is better when it comes from your own soul and kitchen, rather than a pricey restaurant.

Now that I've given the warning, I'll go into this dish. Again, it is a crock pot creation. I was inspired by this dish, and still loving our new crock pot, and how it doesn't make the kitchen hot, I dove into this recipe. The smells wafting in our kitchen, and traveling up to the 3rd floor were divine! How can one go wrong with butter, wine, and fish? This recipe is not entirely complicated, letting the crock pot do the slaving while you laze around or do other things in your home, but there are some details, like in creating the sauce, but once you do this, its easy to go back to for other uses.

Easy Coq au Vin

This is a French dish, and I will pronounce it hear for you: "coke o van" (however, you want to anticipate the n in van, like the n is in your throat, but don't pronounce the n.) Coq au vin began as a dish when the country folk of France had their rooster, and when he could no longer crow, this was the end of his life, but a good one, because he was bathed in wine and good vegetables! Here we are 2009, and most of us don't live in the country and/or have a rooster crowing us awake at 4:30 in the morning. So, I have simplified it, and instead of using our new Le Creuset dutch oven, I used our new 6 quart crock pot, that is oval in shape, rather than a narrow cylinder pot. Le Creuset says this can be done in a few hours, crock pot says 8, I say 6 hours, first two on high, last 4 on low...you decide what is best for your schedule.

Ingredients:

8-10 baby new potatoes (yellow in color, not red)

3-5 slices of bacon, chopped (or chopped prosciutto is fine as well)

2-3 boneless chicken breast fillets

2 large carrots, sliced in medallions

1 bushel green onions, chopped

1 carton baby bella mushrooms (found near the salad bags in your grocery store)

1 small bag of frozen pearl onions, found in grocer's freezer department (or you could chop a medium white onion)

1 1/2 cup Burgundy wine (I couldn't find this so I used Mouton Cadet Bordeaux-it has to be red!)

1 cup chicken broth (Kitchen Classics is best)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sage

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

*note: season to taste, you might want to add more spices as you cook

Directions: The cooking can be done many ways, I used 4 recipes to create this one, and it worked fine for me! In a skillet on medium-high heat, brown bacon with green onions. You want the onions to sweat, so if med-high heat is too much, and you find your onions are burning, not browning because of bacon, lower it immediately! Once bacon is well cooked and onions are translucent and soft, discard into a bowl lined with paper towel, however KEEPING the bacon grease in the pan-this is what you brown the chicken with. Season the breast filets with the spices, mix the spices in a bowl if you wish, and sprinkle/rub over both sides of the breast. Add in the breast filets to the still hot skillet, maybe a splash of olive oil if needed, however, you don't want to cook them thoroughly, just make them goldeny brown on outside, they are absorbing the bacon drippings and onion flavoring at this point-a few flips per minute might do the trick. You might want to bring the heat a tad up doing this, make the pan sizzle a bit to really make the chicken have a crust and look a beautiful golden color.

Turn your crock pot on, add in carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, pearl onions, add in the chicken, top everything with the bacon and green onion mixture, and add in the chicken broth, stir it all up. Set your crock pot to high for 2 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure all ingredients are coated with the broth, like once per 1/2 hour. After 2 hours, add in the wine, mix all ingredients again, and now you will put your crock pot on low for 4 hours, again stirring every 1/2 hour. Mixing the wine now and the bacon scented broth, this is when you are where you want to be, it smells divine! Do not worry if your mushrooms look black, by the way, they are not burnt, this is how they look when cooked and absorbed with wine.

About 2 hours before the last hour, taste the broth. Should be really savory. This is when, per your palette, you decide if needs more salt, pepper, a dash of this and that. If taste is a bit bitter, add in a table spoon of dijon mustard, and a splash more of the wine in the last hour-this is what I did, as I always have dijon on hand (psst, I suggest you do the same).

In the end you should have a really hearty stew type of dish. Chicken will be so tender you can shred it with forks, and maybe do this the last 1/2 hour to let the juices mingle with the chicken that has been soaking for about 5 1/2 hours, it will be totally tender and juicy!

Serve up in a bowl, if you wish to have more of a stew, and have some bread on the side to help soak up the juices-we had a whole grain sliced artisan loaf from our grocer's baker, which we will use for sandwiches this week. Baby ciabatta rolls work fine as well if you have them available in singles, or a pack for the whole family.

This is simple. Other recipes call to flambé the chicken in cognac before adding to crock pot: I will not temp this until I have a stainless steel kitchen! It is a beautiful dish, although a crock pot, and should be watched every 1/2 hour, it is simple. I would not leave this to cook and leave your house for 8 hours, like other crock pot recipes suggest, but is very manageable and is very cheap, in my opinion. You can research and find recipes if you're serving to 6 or more guests, but this for even 2 people, made enough for us both to have left dinner tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy this. Bon appetit!!

Easy Hollandaise Sauce

As I build my culinary skills, Hollandaise requires as such, so for the time being, this recipe is that of Knorr, but I add some twists to make it not taste like it came from a pouch. I am an eggs benedict fiend, and want to create my own dish, and this sauce is on par to many restaurants. Someday my sauce will be perfected, and Knorr will become a thing of my past!

1 pkg. Knorr Hollandaise Sauce

1/4 cup. butter

1 cup milk (I use skim)

1-2 tsp. yellow mustard

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

dash of dried dill

dash of cayenne pepper

splash of Tabasco sauce

Follow directions on Knorr package. Once finished, should be nice and creamy with some weight, add in mustard, lemon juice, dill and if desired the stuff that gives it some kick! One thing to note with the mustard, start out with 1 tsp, if you feel it needs more add it. You don't want sauce to taste like mustard, though, it gives the sauce depth and adds a bit to the texture, making it velvety, and will leave your guests wondering what your secret ingredient is, plus it makes the color richer, as in egg yolk richer-that is why its my little tip! In my opinion, in the real Hollandaise sauce there is egg yolk, and using the package eliminates that aspect. If you're making eggs benny, you've got the yolk there already, so less cholesterol worries, but who's counting anyway??

Spoon over poached eggs, asparagus, whatever! I'm horrible with poached eggs, by the way, I never get them right, am tempted to purchase egg poacher type pan from William Sonoma. Time being I do over easy eggs, atop whole wheat English Muffin, a slice of cheese, if any lying around (adds cheesyness to the whole dish) and canadian bacon! Totally sinful, I know, but on occasion, its marvelous, and cheaper than any brunchy place! I'd love to host a brunch, and of course offer mimosas to my guests, but that is another blog on cocktails served!

Bon appetit!

Sauce Béchamel

Super easy! Anyone can do this, and come out smelling like...err...a chef! This is a great base, to make into any sort of white sauce you desire. Here's what it is and how to do it:

Ingredients:

1 Cup milk (I use skim/fat free to cut corners)

2 Tbsp cold butter (I don't want to cut corners here, shouldn't use margarine for this!)

2 Tbsp flour (measured and placed in container)

S&P to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan, heat butter on medium heat. I like to put my whisk on top of the pat of butter, and swirl the pat around pan until melted. Once butter is melted, gently whisk in flour. As I mentioned in the ingredients, when flour is already measured and placed in a container, i.e. small bowl, cup, etc, you'll need your one hand to pour the flour into the pan, and your other to whisk, you don't want to take your attention away from pan as you don't want anything to burn! This is called making the "roux". You'll see a smooth creamy consistency of the flour and butter. At this point remove pan from heat, and again, pour in milk with one hand and continue to whisk with other hand. Once all is well incorporated return to heat, and slowly let it come to a simmer, all the while continuing to whisk, as you don't want the milk to scald. Once simmering, nearly boiling, remove from heat, and stir, sauce should thicken now.

And there you have it, your sauce béchamel!

Here is where you begin to have fun!

So, that sauce has three ingredients, butter, flour and milk, can be pretty boring. To make your sauce cheesey and garlicy, add in desired amount of garlic (3-4 cloves) and 1/4 cup packed shredded cheese (parmesan works great, acts as an alfredo). Don't forget to salt and pepper, this shouldn't be bland.

Where else could you go with this? You could add in some salsa and pepper jack cheese for a Mexican queso dip, add in spinach to that for an "espinaca con queso" dip.

Have some left over pesto that you thought about tossing? Add it in for a creamy pesto sauce to pour over grilled chicken and penne!

Anything is possible. The white sauce is your starter, and you can really get creative. Have fun with it!

Bon appetit!

Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

Grocery List:

Ingredients:

1 28 oz. can tomato sauce

1 15 oz. can crushed tomato

1 14.5 oz can diced tomato

1 8 oz. jar clam juice

2 6.5 oz can minced/diced clams

1 pkg whole grain/wheat pasta

1 small onion, chopped

2 cup sliced mushrooms (baby bellas are my fave)

1 cup. red wine

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp. capers

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. italian seasonings

1 tsp. ground pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

lemon zest to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot for the pasta on medium-high heat. I sprinkle a bit of salt, and splash a bit of olive oil into the water, flavoring the water, and the oil will also add a desired texture to pasta.

2. Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat, add in olive oil. Once oil heated, toss in onions and garlic, sauteing evenly, not to burn the garlic (lower heat if needed). Once onions translucent, add in mushrooms, continue stirring watching out that garlic does not brown. Once mushrooms tender and well incorporated with onions and garlic, add tomato paste to evenly distribute throughout the pan.

3. Add wine to the skillet, bring to simmer. Continue to add in clams and juice, blending all ingredients together, letting juice and wine mingle, and clams to bask in the onion, garlic and mushroom mixture.

4. Stir in the diced tomatoes, blending with all ingredients. Let cook down for a few minutes, then add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Next, add in the spices and the capers. Now we're in the flavor zone! At this point turn heat to medium low, and let sauce simmer, stirring occasionally. I let this "steep" for 45 mins to an hour, you might not want to wait that long, as it will be done sooner, but I like to really let the flavors mingle. Taste to see if flavored to your liking and add more if needed. Flavor will not be "clammy", but when you find the clam, you'll taste it and the wonderful sauce accompanying , its quite savory!

5. Keep an eye on the water for the pasta, if boiling go ahead and add it in. If pasta is done before the sauce is ready, shock the pasta by immersing drained pasta into iced water! This will stop the cooking, and maintain the first al dente texture. Trust me, the pasta finished early, my husband helped by offering this advise, and it worked! I feared the pasta would be mush, and he assured me this tip would be effective, and it was!

Once pasta and sauce are done, plate it up and enjoy! Sprinkle lemon zest on top of serving, and some shredded parmesan. Serve along side a simple salad with dijon vinaigrette dressing, recipe at beginning of blog.

Bon appetit!

Chicken Dijon

This a constant staple in our kitchen, and with the ingredients involved, it may become yours! I learned this from a dear French friend, over 10 years ago, and its been a winner every time.

Ingredients:

2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts

2-3 cups broccoli florets

1 small yellow onion, slightly chopped

1 large zucchini (2 small if you can't find a large one) sliced into medallions

2 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms

1/2 cup white wine (whatever wine you are going to serve)

1/2 cup chicken broth

(if you don't prefer to use wine, 1 cup chicken broth)

2-3 Tbsp. dijon mustard (depending upon your desired intensity, I prefer more, and I prefer Maille, available at most supermarkets.)

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Herbes de Provence (if you don't have this handy: sage, rosemary, thyme)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

One skillet is all you need! Pick a rather large non-stick skillet. Heat Olive Oil on medium heat. Once throughly heated, add onions, and saute until translucent. Before cutting chicken, massage the spices onto both sides of chicken breasts (1 Tbsp of Herbes de Provence and S&P), a light dusting, or to your preference. Cut the chicken into 1 inch thick cubes, and add to skillet. Immerse the seasoned chicken cubes with the onions, let the flavors play together, this takes about 10 to 15 mins. When you notice the chicken cubes are a lot of white on the outside and bit pinkish on the inside, add the wine and chicken stock, gently stirring so that flavors gather. Let simmer for 5 mins. Add in Dijon mustard, I do this with a spoon, and really concentrate on making sure the mustard is distributed with the broth and wine, coating the chicken and onions. Once all well coated, add in the broccoli, zucchini and mushrooms. If you feel more liquid is needed, add in more stock and maybe more wine, as I would do! Its a happy party, why not? If you feel you need to add more Dijon, go ahead, you want the Dijon flavor to be noticed. Stir occasionally, making sure all veggies are reducing, allowing the "dijon broth" to be absorbed, which these guys are good sponges, hence why they are apart of this dish! Once all veggies tender, chicken is done, you are set!

Sides:

The best sides are rice or potato, whether in the form of wild rice, risotto, or garlic mashed potatoes, you'll want something starchy on the side to soak up the remaining juices, or just a baguette! Also, if you add a spinach salad with the vinaigrette dressing I have on this blog, you have a menu to serve guests! I don't do desserts, by the way (btw), I'll try that in the fall/winter when it isn't terrible to turn on the oven! Bon appetit!

My famous Dijon Vinaigrette

My husband loves loves loves this, I make it a lot! There are different variations to share, but once you get into the grove of making this very easy dressing, you'll find your own twists to make it unique.

I learned this simple recipe from a Parisian woman, when I lived in France. I thank her to teaching this to me.

I don't go by measurements for this one, as I do for other recipes, because its all up to taste and consistency. The status quo for oil to vinegar is 3 to 1, (i.e. 3 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp). Here's the ingredients and then I'll discuss the process:

Olive Oil

Red Wine Vinegar

Dijon mustard

Salt & Pepper to taste

Easy ingredients, easy to prepare. What I do is start with the mustard and place about 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp into a small mixing bowl. I then pour in enough olive out to cover the mustard up. Then I add in the vinegar, keeping its ratio small to the olive oil. Add in the Salt and Pepper, and with a small wisk or fork, wisk all ingredients together, until the mixture is emulsified, the consistency should look creamy, no signs of separation, if you see this, continue to work with it until you get the smoothness, it will get there, trust me! If you get tired get your spouse to help you, its rare for me that it takes a while. Et voila, you have your vinaigrette basics.

How to mix it up?

Have you been to the grocery stores lately, and walked down the aisle with the oils and vinegars? There are so many choices! Let's play with the palettes. If you're having an Italian dinner, instead of red wine vinegar, maybe opt for the white wine balsamic vinegar. If you're serving steak, with bold flavors, use red wine balsamic for that bold flavor to carry through in your salad. For something light, red wine vinegar is perfect. I've even used the basis of my vinaigrette for an asian twist, using rice wine vinegar, half olive oil half sesame oil (sesame oil can be really over powering, so I cut it with olive oil), still dijon as that is what makes the creamy texture, and some soy sauce and pepper, eliminating need for salt use. Yum!

Also, some extra add-ins that are great:

Chopped shallots

Crushed fresh garlic

Lemon juice ( if you have a lemon a little squeeze is all you need, if you have juice a lemon shaped bottled, about 10 drops-this is generous, if want less then go with that)

Any of these do amazing things to the vinaigrette.

How to serve:

I usually opt for baby spinach, or any really green earthy leaves. First I pour vinaigrette to bottom of bowl, and then add spinach on top, and then toss the salad lightly to evenly coat all the pretty leaves with the vinaigrette. Action is kind of like "folding" egg whites. Then plate it, and you're all set!

Happy experimenting and Bon Appetit!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I attempted for the first time in my life to make spaghetti sauce from scratch, last night! It turned out amazing. I do not have pics of this blessed recipe, I will have them down the road.

Since its just my husband and I, amounts are on the small side, yet we still manage to have leftovers!

1/2 pound ground turkey

1/2 pound ground italian mild sausage (I wanted turkey italian sausage, but they were out)

1 whole onion chopped

1 green pepper chopped

1 can 14 oz petite diced tomatoes (drained)

1 can 14 oz tomato sauce

2 Tbsp tomato paste (I used tomato paste in a tube, rather than the canned kind)

1 cup red wine (whatever wine you'll be serving with pasta is fine) (optional!)

5 cloves garlic (minced/chopped/pressed)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Shredded parmesan cheese (optional)

Spices: (all to taste, no measurement here, start small and add gradually to fit your taste)

Italian Spice Blend

Sea Salt

Crushed Pepper

Directions:

In large non-stick skillet, begin browning ground turkey and ground italian sausage over medium heat. Generously salt and pepper meat, ground turkey is easy to be bland.

On separate burner, start heating up dutch oven, or whatever large pot is handy, with olive oil on medium heat. Once pot heated thoroughly, add in chopped onion, green pepper and garlic mixture, stirring all to get evenly coated with oil, until onions translucent and peppers soft, do not let them brown, especially the garlic. Next add in tomato paste, stirring to make sure onion mixture is coated with the paste, and let absorb for a couple minutes.

Once meat is browned, turn off heat, and add meat mixture to the large pot with onion mixture. Stir everything completely so that all meat and all onion mixture incorporated. Turn heat down to lower temperature, and let simmer for a few minutes, allowing the meat juices to coat the onion mixture, and visa versa, you want the flavors to mingle and get to know one another.

Add the wine and let pot simmer again, stirring to make sure evenly absorbed. Once wine incorporated, add the diced tomatoes, again stirring to evenly distribute throughout pot. Stir occasionally and let flavors meld for about 5 minutes. Then add tomato sauce and spices, I was really generous with the spices, mostly with salt and pepper, as all of these ingredients can be bland, this is why to taste.

Let pot sit for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally, on a low heat.

And that is it! Use for spaghetti, tortellini, ravioli, as your lasagna sauce, whatever Italian dish you desire, you have this wonderful sauce, and it freezes beautifully to reuse later, as it makes a lot!

Bon appetit!