Hap-Pie Father's Day

My Papa has wanted the Breville Mini Pie Maker since last Christmahannukwanzika.  But alas, Williams-Sonoma had discontinued it.  Cut to 7 months later and it is back on the shelves so I had to nab one up and Father's Day was the perfect chance to give it to him!!  

Not only did I gift him this nifty contraption but I also prepared the fillings of 4 of his favorite pies (cherry, strawberry, peach and caramel apple) so that we could have a pie party for Father's Day!  I didn't think the strategy out very well, however.  It wasn't in the pie maker giving or in the filling preparing for that matter.  I forgot to take into account that we would be going to Duke's for Father's Day brunch and would already be stuffed to the gills.  As an aside, I have to say that if you are visiting Southern California and you want a fun, seaside, albeit stuffing, experience, the Duke's Sunday brunch buffet is delicious and you sit literally next to the ocean.  We even got to see several dolphins!  


Well, gluttony be damned.  We came home and made the pies!  The pie maker is super fun and if you FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS and maybe pick up the book Mini Pies: Adorable and Delicious Recipes for your Favorite Treats.   I capitalize follow the instructions because alas, my mom is the mischievous kind and tried all sorts of interested strategies that did not turn out well.  That said, the pies were delicious, fun-filled and fun-sized and I can't wait to attempt some savory pies!  

pictures courtesy of williams-sonoma.com

Wellington and Good

I studied abroad in London with a friend who's last name was Wellington.  For his birthday we took him to a pub called the Wellington.  Good times were had by all.  When I make any kind of wellington I am transported back to these fine times and live briefly in what was one of the best years of my life.  


Last night I made Salmon Wellington, I found a wonderful recipe on foodnetwork.com by Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh.  I have made Salmon Wellington before for my family but my husband, who does not like mushrooms, picked it apart, so I set off to find another recipe that was equally tasty but devoid of mushrooms.  This is the perfect recipe.  Instead of a mushroom mixture it calls for leeks and onions.  Quite the successful recipe.  I made a few alterations however.  I did not use the whole 3 pound salmon fillet the recipe calls for but rather 1.5 pounds of salmon.  I think this was a much better fish to filo and onion mixture ratio.  Also, instead of using real whipping cream I used soy whipping cream for the Dijon Whipped Cream accompaniment.  One might be skeptical but it truly was the perfect accoutrement for this recipe.  

Other dishes included another helping of the Orzo from a couple days ago as well as a delicious salad my MIL made, challah and and steamed sugar snap peas.  

New and Improved

Last night I was able to make dinner for my husband and his boss.  I'd never met the man before so I wanted to pull out some tried and true recipes as well as try my hand at one or two new ones (that could easily be replaced last minute if they were a total utter screw up).  It turns out whether I had made microwave pizza or last nights menu our guest would have been gracious about it and was really great company.  He has certainly broken my stereotype of the curmudgeonly boss.  In fact, I'd love for all of us to do it again sometime.  That said, the food turned out great, and had I had to impress I think the menu would have done it.  


Menu:
Pomegranate Chicken
Roasted Garlic String Beans with Mango
Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta and Green Onions
and for dessert, Blueberry-Peach Cobbler


Pomegranate Chicken
I've talked about this dish from Kosher by Design enough, I think its about time I give you the recipe.  I love it because its easy but impressive and most importantly, tasty.


6 chicken breasts, with skin (can also use whole chicken, cut in 1/8ths, with skin)  NOTE: I use 6 thighs or 4 thighs and 4 legs with skin
3 cups pomegranate juice
2 cups pomegranate syrup
8 garlic gloves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint, extra for garnish
1/8 cup freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons margarine


Place the chicken in a zip-lock bag or a shallow plastic container that has a cover. Completely cover with the pomegranate juice, syrup, garlic, mint and pepper.  Marinade at least overnight or up to 2 nights, shaking occasionally. 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove chicken from marinade, placing marinade into a pot.  Set aside.


In a separate pan, heat margarine over high heat.  Add the chicken, skin side down, taking care not to splatter the hot margarine.  Sear the chicken about 4-6 minutes or until the skin is nice and crisp.  As long as your heat is right, the skin may seam like its sticking a little but it will release once its perfectly seared. 


Place the pot of marinade over a medium flame and boil it about 30 minutes or until it reduces by half and is syrupy.  Make sure it doesn't burn.  Skim continuously to remove the chicken impurities that will rise to the surface.


Remove the chicken to a baking pan. Bake chicken, skin side up, for 40 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve with sauce dribbled over it.


Yield: 6 servings (or less, depending on your guests)


While I'm at it, here's the green beans recipe from Kosher by Design as well:

Roasted Garlic String Beans with Mango

2lbs green beans, trimmed

5-6 scallions, halved and ends trimmed

7-8 garlic cloves

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I recommend using the good stuff)

3 tablespoons water

1/2 cup olive oil

1 packet roasted garlic dry salad dressing mix

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons honey

1-2 fresh mango, peeled and diced; or 1/3 pound dried mango, soaked in warm water for 5 minutes then cut into very small pieces

2 handfuls sunflower seeds

2 handfulls chopped walnuts

In a large pot of salted water, cook green beans about 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; run beans under cold water and drain again.  

In the container of a food processor fitted with a metal blade process the scallions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, water, oil, dressing packet, mustard and honey.  Pulse until emulsified and smooth. May be done in advance. Can keep in refrigerator 4-5 days.  Remove from refrigerator at least 1/2 hour before using and shake very well. 

Pour the dressing over the green beans.  Right before serving add the mango, sunflower seeds and walnuts.  Mix Well.  

Yield: 12 servings

The Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta and Green Onions was absolutely delicious, definitely a must make again.  


Finally, the dessert, Blueberry-Peach Cobbler turned out better than I thought it would. Dear me its difficult to peel peaches. I was given a trick from the MIL to boil them for a minute or two then douse them in a cold water bath but I don't think I boiled them for long enough because they just didn't want to peel.  Otherwise everything was delicious.  The recipe was from Cooking Light magazine, but you find the recipe here.

Homemade Ginger Ale

Ginger is a wonder spice.  I am particularly in love with it, not only for its flavor which is at once sweet and spicy but more so for its medicinal properties.  I was not blessed with a particularly great stomach, in fact I have had a love-hate relationship with it my entire life from lactose-intolerance to colitis.  But ginger is one of the few natural remedies that I find soothing, digestible and tasty all at once.  I am a big fan of ginger ale because its fizzy and gingerific.  Soda, however, is in that big no-no category.  The corn syrup and calories are shunned in every nutritional and dietary circle.  Also, the all natural stuff is quite expensive.  So how do I get my ginger fix without the unnecessaries?  Answer: Candle 79's homemade ginger ale.  

A year or two ago I went with my husband to visit my brother in-law (who got married this weekend!! YAY J & E!!).  He was very sweet and sensitive to my dietary restrictions and took us to a delightful vegan restaurant called Candle 79.  The food was so delicious, even my husband couldn't remember recently if he'd had a steak there (I had to tell him its an entirely vegan restaurant and he was remembering a seitan* dish he'd ordered! While I was there I ordered their homemade ginger ale and was blown away, as was the hubby.  It was strong but delicious.  I had to order the Candle Cafe (a less expensive and less formal version of Candle 79 also in New York) Cookbook** at once. But to my chagrin no ginger ale recipe!  


I am not devoid of chutzpah, however, and emailed Candle 79 expressing my deep love and appreciation for the recipe and wondered if they might share it with me.  Well it paid off.  They wrote me a very sweet email and, drum roll, the RECIPE!!  So dear readers, here it is, the recipe: (They noted that they don't have a precise recipe, but that they could give me approximate amounts)

Ingredients:

Fresh ginger juice (you need to juice fresh ginger root- leftovers are great for cooking or to jazz up other juices)

Fresh Lemon or lime juice

Agave nectar

Sparkling water

Fresh mint leaves

 

Below is a starting point- please adjust ingredient proportions to taste. We make ours fairly strong but experiment a little!

 

Start with 2 tablespoons of ginger juice, 2 tablespoons of agave nectar, 1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice, and 3 or 4 torn mint leaves over ice in a shaker glass. Top with a small splash of sparkling water and shake mixture vigorously. Pour into a tall highball or iced tea glass, add more ice, and fill the rest of the way with sparkling water. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf and wedge of lime.

Okay, so, if you're like me you probably have no idea how to juice ginger, or if you do you know how work intensive it is.  But I found an excellent solution to this problem.  You can buy ginger juice.  I had to order it online but it was definitely worth it.  Go to:  http://www.gingerpeople.com/ to order it (you can also get it at amazon.com.  


*For those of you who are unaware, Seitan is a meat substitute made of wheat gluten and a great protien alternative to soy.  Besides Gardein, I've found it is the most meat-like meat substitute out there. 


**The Candle Cafe Cookbook is an excellent Vegan cookbook that I highly recommend, even if you aren't vegan or even vegetarian.  My favorite recipe so far has been their Seitan Piccata. 

ahhh...Vacation

I just took a vacation with my mom to a wonderful place called Miraval.  Its a resort in northern Tucson, Arizona.  Its an absolutely beautiful oasis in the middle of the Arizona landscape.
  

Image courtesy of Miraval.com

It was a chance to spend time with my mom, detox, exercise, eat healthy and learn and thing or two.  While I was there I not only encountered an Indian shaman, family of owls, and get attacked by a hawk (which I must say was a little traumatic) but got to eat incredibly good, organic, good for you food.  I'm bragging about this awesome vacay because I wanted to share with you the healthy and delicious recipes I've been privy to.  One of the things Miraval offers is called "Cooking with the Chef.  You get to watch the Executive Chef make and teach you how to make a few of their wonderful dishes and ask loads of at the same time. After he makes each dish you get to eat it!  It was almost like being in the audience of a Food TV show.  I also got to take home several of the recipes.  Finally after some digging around I discovered that they post a number of the their recipes on their website!!  So here you go, ladies and gentlemen, the food of a five star resort ready for the making:


http://www.miravalresorts.com/The-Place/Dining/Miraval-Recipes

Image courtesy of Miraval.com

Sweets for my Sweet

My husband and I celebrated 6 months of marriage yesterday (yes, I'm still counting in months, give me a few years). Time really flies when you're having fun.  To celebrate we went to Sweet Lady Jane, a bakery that just opened up the street from us. They specialize in delicious and beautiful cakes but also offer a large assortment of baked goods, pies, along with lunch fare like sandwiches and soup.  While I have historically loved their cake I was not all that impressed with their pie or cupcakes.  I think there are better cupcake shops out there like Yummy Cupcakes for example.  One suggestion I would have for Sweet Lady Jane is to offer some vegan options for us uppity LA folk.  I do have to give the Sweet Lady props for atmosphere.  While the days of the ice-cream shop where one would sip a smoothie through a straw with their sweetheart are long gone, the bakery evokes old fashioned romance.  Many of the customers were just that, young couples, hand in hand looking for a sweet treat.  The ambiance may well be what keeps me coming back (along with their raspberry marzipan cake).  

Pictures of Apple Pie and Baby Cupcake from Sweet Lady Jane

Fresh and Fabulous

There's something about the freshest ingredients that add so much depth and flavor to any recipe.  My Aunt and Uncle in Connecticut have a beautiful and plentiful (knock on wood) vegetable garden and frequently cook with what crops up. I have been fortunate enough to try a few of their dishes and there's nothing like it.  The closest I can get living in an apartment in Los Angeles is the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.  I have written of its splendor before but I am continually amazed at how much buying food from a local farmers' market improves my dishes!!  Last night was no exception.  I bought asparagus, new potatoes, freshly cut herbs and strawberries (even though its not quite strawberry season).  First of all, if you ever happen to be able to shop at a Los Angeles Farmers' Market and want the sweetest, best, (albeit expensive) strawberries buy them from Harry's Berry's.  They are so sweet, they almost taste like they're coated in sugar.


For last night's dinner I tried two new interesting recipes along with one old reliable.  The menu was:


Sweet Tomato Barbeque Chicken (for the hubby) and Sweet Tomato BBQ Salmon for me
Panko-Crusted Asparagus Spears
Herb New Potatoes
Crispy Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips


The Grilled BBQ Chicken/Salmon recipe I got from a magazine called Clean Eating, a magazine I'm tempted to subscribe to. The recipe has you make your own BBQ sauce, which I think really makes the dish special. I think I might use the bbq sauce recipe for other dishes in the future.  The recipe is as follows:


Sauce: 
1/4 cup no-salt-added tomato paste
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar (again I recommend Bistro Blends Heirloom Balsamic Vinegar)
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil


In a med. saucepan, whisk together 1/2 cup water, tomato paste, vinegar, maple syrup, Worcestershire, garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper flakes.  Bring sauce to a boil on med-high; continue boiling for 3 to 4 minutes or until mixture reduces to 1/2 cup.  Remove from heat, stir in oil, divide sauce between 2 small bowls and let cool completely.


Chicken:
Sprinkle black pepper on both sides of boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Place chicken on grill or grill pan and cook for 3 minutes on med-high.  Flip chicken over, brush 2 tbsp sauce over top and cook for 3 minutes. Again flip chicken over, brush with 2 tbsp sauce and cook for 1 minute.  Finally, flip chicken over and spoon remaining 1/4 cup sauce over top.  Cook for 1 more minute or until no longer pink in center. 

Image Courtesy of Clean Eating Magazine. 

The Panko-Crusted Asparagus Spears recipe came from another magazine called Eating Well.  Another mag I might subscribe to.  Here's the recipe.  A big hit.  The one wonky ingredient you might have to go out an buy (besides the Panko) would be the white miso, but it lasts a long time and is used in a number of healthy recipes.  Also, make sure you buy thick large asparagus spears.  I bought the think ones and the tips burnt a little bit.  

Image Courtesy of Eating Well

In an effort to eat cleaner and healthier I look to two books as excellent resources: Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet and The Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook.  While both books call for the reader to try to eliminate all meat, dairy and fish from their diets, its not that realistic in my household with a carnivorous husband.  That said I still pull a number of great recipes from the books.  The Crispy Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips recipe is originally from The Kind Diet and repeated again in the Skinny Bitch.  It is a healthier way of making rice crispy treats and I think tastier too.  I found the recipe on Rachel Ray's website, here.  

image courtesy of Rachel Ray Show