Homemade Ricotta Cheese

What's not to love about creamy, airy ricotta cheese? It's diversity makes it one of my favorites as I can stuff ravioli with it, make lasagna, or use it as a simple spread on some toasted bread. Drizzle it with some balsamic vinegar or lavender honey or spread it on some figs. The possibilities are all guaranteed tastiness and I most likely will never use store bought, bland ricotta again! I never realized how easy it was to make until I did a little online research and found a good recipe from Ina Garten. The only difference in my recipe is I did not bring the milk to a boil, but rather followed several other recipe suggestions to bring it to 190 degrees.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbs sea salt
3 tbs white vinegar
Yields about 2 cups once strained

In a stainless steel or ceramic pot, bring the milk and cream to about 190 degrees. This should take about 7 minutes on med-high.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar and let sit for about 5 minutes until it begins to curdle.

Place a mesh sieve lined with two layers of cheesecloth over a deep bowl or pot and pour the mixture in and let it drain for one hour, or two hours for firmer cheese (better for ravioli and lasagna).

This is what it looked like after one hour.

After 1.5 hours I put it in an airtight container. It will last for 4 days in the fridge.

Drizzle with lavender honey (Simply soak lavender leaves in honey overnight, discard leaves and you will have a lovely, fragrant honey)

Jamaican Curried Chicken

After the sweet gluttony of Thanksgiving, I was craving something spicy and savory. I spent each summer in Jamaica while growing up and my favorite dish that our housekeepers made us was curried chicken. It's the ultimate comfort food. I would sit quietly outside the small, steamy kitchen watching these lovely women prepare my family this wholesome, satisfying meal while the sparkling Caribbean sea lapped quietly at the edge of our villa. I have been so blessed to learn some terrific Jamaican food from these hard working, proud and loving women, many of whom were retired and crossed the island to come offer me condolences when I returned after my parents passed away. They lovingly wrapped me in their arms while tears streamed down their faces as they soothed me with their gentle words and showered me with maternal love. This meal offers me a sense of love and peace and is my homage to Ullalee, Beverly and Claire- three of the best people I've ever had the privilege to know and love.

When we returned to Jamaica last year I stocked up on their spices and amazing ketchup, but the internet has now made the products easily available, or I jaunt over to Fiesta in East Austin where they carry Jamaican curry spices.

INGREDIENTS:
1 whole chicken cut into small pieces, but I used three whole bone in breasts today with skin removed.
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 large onion, halved
1 carrot cut into large chunks
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onion sprigs- whole
5 sprigs fresh thyme
3 Tbs Jamaican curry powder (The curry does not actually have curry seasoning, but is mainly tumeric, cumin, thyme, garlic, fenugreek, ginger and cloves).
1 Scotch Bonnet pepper or habanero pepper. Jalapeno could be used as well.

In a dutch oven, heat about 2 tbs oil, brown chicken, set aside on a plate and then brown onions, garlic, carrots and pepper until softened over medium low heat- about 10 minutes. Add chicken back to the pan, curry seasoning, stock, coconut milk and thyme sprigs. A splash of red stripe beer is also nice :-) Cover and lpace in the oven at 250 degrees about 2.5 hours. Serve with beans and rice. Jamaicans usually use pingeon peas, but I had black beans in my pantry, so used those. This is some of the best tasting rice you will ever eat!!

 Ya mon

 After about one hour. I strain the sauce through a mesh strainer and toss away the aromatics.

Rice Broth

1 cup rice

2 cups water

3 minced garlic cloves

1 green onion

1 bay leaf

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 tbs butter or smart balance-

Cook the rice in the broth until done, discard the bay leaf and green onion, stir in beans and serve with curry.

Creamy Kale Soup

 Assessing the contents of my fridge I decided to make a creamy kale soup. I've been on a bit of a kale kick lately because it's not only pretty tasty, but it's terrifically healthy. According to the ANDI system at Whole Foods, Kale is at the top of the charts for healthy eating. There's a nice link here that describes the rating system if you're interested.

So I had some Pacific Organics cream of chicken soup, Tuscan kale, shallots, garlic, onions, carrot  thought they'd make a nice little quick and easy soup. I might add a potato next time to thicken it a bit. Overall it's not near as delicious as say, loaded baked potato soup, but I don't feel the need to go run 5 miles after eating it either.

INGREDIENTS
1 carton Pacific Organics Cream of Chicken
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
5 stalks of kale, stems removed
2 cups spring water
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Gruyere for garnish 

I softened the onions, shallots, garlic, carrots in 1 tbs olive oil about 8 minutes

Picture taken without carrots, but they went in right after

Then I thought, "Wouldn't a little shot of Vermouth make this taste sweet??"

So I added a shot of Vermouth, which ended up being a nice addition. I added the herbs, cream of chicken plus water and simmered about 20 minutes and then added the kale to soften it just a bit- about 2 minutes. I find cooking it too long makes it bitter. 

I threw it all in the Vitamix on high for about 1 minute...

The Vitamix has quite possibly been one of the best investments I've ever made!!

I served it in a soup crock and garnished with some gruyere cheese and shared some with the puppies too. They loved it!

Arroz con Pollo

What's not to love about chicken and rice cooked low and slow in one pot and served steaming hot and family style on a chilly Sunday evening??? I love the flavors of this classic Latin/Caribbean comfort dish. Now I'm a Scottish/Belgian mix, so my recipe may not be entirely authentic, but it is super tasty and freezes well if you cook up a big batch for later consumption.

I typically don't measure out stuff, but the spices listed are a ballpark figure. Always be sure to taste as you go and adjust accordingly. All sorts of chicken pieces would be great in this dish, but here we just used the breast pieces. I also used saffron and annato (achiote) and it was terrific. Plus I threw in turmeric, which is probably not authentic, but turmeric is so good for you and it added a terrific golden hue to the dish.

INGREDIENTS
4 whole chicken breasts, bone in.
1 jar of roasted red bell pepper, cut peppers into strips
1 medium white onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 bottle beer- we used a lager (or use 1.5 cups dry white wine)
1 tsp Better than Bouillon chicken base
1 tbs dried oregano
1tsp dried thyme
1 tsp onion powder
1 thread saffron
1 tbs annato powder
2 tsp sweet paprika
a pinch of smoked paprika
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 dried bayleaf
1 cup long grain brown rice
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. In a large oven proof pan with a lid (set aside for later), heat oil over med-high heat and brown chicken breasts until golden, skin side down- about 7 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and flip the breasts over and add onions, peppers, garlic, herbs and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add beer and bring to a simmer.

 Add stock and cover the pan and place in a 225 preheated oven and cook low and slow 2.5 hours. You could cook it for only an hour, but low and slow makes the meat meltingly tender and juicy. After 2.5 hours, add the brown rice and butter, cover and cook another hour until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Garnish with chopped cilantro or Italian parsley and serve directly at the table. I've added peas to the dish with the rice and that is also pretty tasty, but the hubs hates peas, so I didn't put them in this time.

Icelandic Lamb Chops

It's Icelandic Lamb Season at Whole Foods!!!! The first time I tried lamb from Iceland was last year and I fell in love. These lambs lack the musky, gamey flavor that some lamb can get and instead are very clean tasting and slightly sweet and are only available in the fall.  I've loved lamb since I was a little girl in Australia where we ate it weekly with my dad's home made mint jelly. So I was thrilled to find some chops while shopping for dinner last night. Sadly the lighting when I took the shots wasn't that great as I couldn't wait to dig in, so the pics don't really do them justice. Served with whipped Yukons and roasted Brussels sprouts, these tasted like heaven.

On a side note, Icelandic lambs graze on unpolluted pure pastures which lends to their terrific flavor. They are pretty cute too... but I try  not to think about that :-(

We decided to prepare them in our rotisserie oven, but they would also taste fabulous seared with salt and pepper in Icelandic Butter (Smjor Brand). The fat content in the butter is pretty high, so it doesn't burn easily and therfore is great to sear the lamb. Throw some fresh rosemary sprigs on top and sear each side about 6 minutes for med-rare. We cooked ours in the rotisserie at 450 degrees for about 18 minutes for medium temp. We threw some chicken on there for the hubs as he isn't a huge lamb fan... more for me!!

  

Roasting perfection

INGREDIENTS

- 3 Icelandic Lamb chops

- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

-1 clove chopped garlic

- fresh sea salt and pepper to taste

-1 tbs olive oil

Marinade for 2 hours, throw in the rotisserie and voila! They are great on a grill also for about 5 minutes each side. Let them rest 5 minutes before eating.

For the Brussels sprouts, I rinsed them, cut in half, tossed in olive oil, sea salt and pepper with a squeeze of lemon juice and some lemon zest and roasted in a 420 degree oven for about 15 minutes. We cooked the Yukons in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes and just smashed them with icelandic butter and salt. 

 Bad lighting!! Aargh! Need to get better lights. Any suggestions?

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

On a recent trip to San Francisco I went to the mother ship of all Williams Sonomas in Union Square. It was my version of heaven- six stories of cooking things!! So I bought a Fagor pressure cooker and had it shipped home. Why have I not bought a pressure cooker years before?? They always scared me as I remember my dad unloading the behemoth of an antique pressure cooker when I was a kid and admonishing me, "Allrighty, now step back little lady!! This thing could blow your head clean off your shoulders!!" Luckily, pressure cookers have come a long way and are much, much safer and easier to use. Dad's had all sorts of knobs and screws on the side and generally looked terrifying to operate. I will admit when we made our first meal in the cooker earlier this week, a Tuscan Stew to die for in under an hour, that I hid in the butler's pantry while the hubs opened the lid. And it was no big deal as we both still have our heads, even if we do have a couple of loose screws :-)

So today it was nice and cool and only 70 degrees out-that's almost freezing here! Wrap the pipes! Drip the faucets! What better than chicken pot pie on a cold day in fall? So we decided to make it in the pressure cooker, but you could make it nice and slow in a dutch oven for 2 hours too.

INGREDIENTS
1 whole chicken, cut into parts, skin removed
2 celery ribs, chopped into large chunks
1 large carrot, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 shallots, cut in half
3 cloves garlic, slightly smashed
1 tbs chicken base such as Better than Bouillion or Swanson Flavor Boost
1 bottle of lager beer
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup frozen peas
4 sprigs thyme
1 sprig rosemary
1 tbs flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs butter
1 sheet thawed puff pastry or pie crust (I used Immaculate Baking Company pie crust- tastes just like home made).
1/4 cup cream- or not if you want to keep it light. But the cream makes it waaaaay better. Like a hug from Granny.

DIRECTIONS
Turn stove to med- high and add the oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and in batches, brown chicken until golden- about 5 minutes. Set aside on a plate, add veggies and stir until softened, about 3 minutes. Then add the beer, broth, chicken base and herbs and the chicken.  Cover and set the pressure cooker to high and cook 25 minutes. Release steam and open to find meltingly tender chicken. So good. Or, if you don't have a pressure cooker, stir in the flour with the veggies and some butter before the liquids and herbs, etc, cover and cook on low in a 250 degree oven for two hours.

Remove the chicken and let it cool a bit and in a sauce pan melt butter, add flour and stir in about a cup of the cooking stock to make a roux. Also remove the herb twigs, shallots, garlic cloves and celery from the stock. Leave the carrots. Add the roux, pull the chicken into chunks and put those back in the sauce. Stir in the cream now and the peas.

Then, cut out the puff pastry or pie crust to fit over your ramekins or cocottes, fill them with chicken sauce, cover with crust and brush lightly with a beaten egg. Poke a few small holes in the crust to release steam. Place them in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Serve immediately. Then go take a nap...

I cut out little leaves for my toppings to make the pies look a bit festive. That's a shred of chicken on the crust there at the bottom, not sure how I missed that before taking the shot. Drrrrrrrr....

Ina Garten's Lemon Cake- Gluten Free!!

I have a friend at work who is returning from maternity leave and she loves lemon cake.  I had some nice Meyer lemons in the fridge and googled lemon cake and found a delish recipe from Ina Garten and decided to see if I could make it gluten free as I also am trying to be more GF since it really makes me feel much better. I admit it- I HAD to try a wee bit to make certain the flavors were correct and wow this cake has some ZING to it! You would never know it's GF either. The original recipe calls for 3 cups flour and instead I did 1 cup almond flour, 1 cup coconut flour and 1 cup GF all purpose flour. I also added fresh lavender to the lemon sauce which is poured over the cake after baking and before glazing, and it added a really nice, subtle hint of lavendar to the cake. Very delicate. Reminds me of something women in the Victorian era would have eaten with a cup of tea. The cake also freezes well if sealed tight for 3 months.

Here's the Recipe:

 INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons- I used Meyer Lemons)
• 3 cups flour (I used 1 cup coconut flour, 1 cup almond flour and 1 cup GF all purpose flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I like vanilla, so I used 1.5 tablespoons- way yum!)

GLAZE

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 (8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch) loaf pans. You may also line the bottom with parchment paper, if desired.

Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the lemon zest.

Here's what the butter cream looks like after about 5 minutes...

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Our sweet pug puppy Snorty McSnuffles decided to take a nap in the dishwasher while she waited for the cakes to bake :-) 

While cakes are baking, Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

 Here I added some fresh lavender leaves from our garden to slightly perfume the sauce. It's very subtle but lovely.

When the cakes are done, allow to cool for 10 minutes. I left them in the pans to really absorb the sauce after I spooned it on them.  This really adds some zingy spark to the cakes and makes them super moist! Allow the cakes to cool completely. Then remove from the pans and prepare to glaze.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

 I would have doubled the glaze recipe as I didn't think there was quite enough to truly douse the cakes. This is definitely NOT South Beach diet friendly and I hope my friend Monica likes it!! I froze the other cake for later, when I am through with the torture :-)

Braised Chicken Scallopini with Mushroom Wine Sauce and Spinach

I find it actually relaxing to make dinner after a long day at work and always like making two servings so I can freeze some for nights when I don't feel like heating up the stove. This recipe is super easy and inspired by a dish my mom used to make in the fall. The weather is still pretty warm here, but the lighting outside looks like fall and so I thought it would be nice to make a comforting dinner slowly cooked in the oven. This dish can be made in 30 minutes, but I find popping the covered braising pot in the oven on low heat (240 degrees) for an hour and a half really makes the flavors sing. Any sort of dutch oven or heavy lidded pan will work for this. We use a Le Creuset braising pan we picked up for 40% off at the outlets in San Marcos. It is just as good as the full priced one at Sur La Table! Worth the trip to the outlets in my opinion...

What's easy about this is you can just roughly chop the veggies as you want it kind of rustic. Makes 4 servings. And it's Gluten Free!!

INGREDIENTS
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts- sliced through in half (butterfiled) to make two thin scallops for a total of 8 scallops. Ask your butcher to do this if you want to save time of if your store carries "milanese" style cutlets, then get those.
- 2 shallots, diced or 1 medium onion chopped.
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed with side of knife and roughly chopped
- 10 cremini or baby bella mushrooms, washed, thoroughly dried and quartered.
- 2 cups spinach, chopped
- 2 cups beef stock (or chicken stock for a lighter colored sauce- but I suggest adding a bit of beef bouillon on Swansons beef flavor boost if you go the chicken stock route)
- 1 cup red wine (I used Sangiovese)
- 2 tbs dried oregano
- 1 tbs garlic powder
- 1 tbs paprika
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 sprig dried bayleaf, 1 sprig fresh rosemary- or whatever fresh herbs you like!
- 1/4 cup corn starch for dredging
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs butter

Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a pan on med-high until slightly shimmering. Season chicken cutlets with salt and fresh cracked pepper, dredge in corn flower, shaking off excess and place in the pan about 4 minutes each side until golden brown. You may have to do this in two batches so as to not crowd the pan and reserve the browned chicken on a plate.

Once chicken is browned, lower heat to medium, add butter, remaining oil, shallots, mushrooms and bay leaf, oregano, garlic powder and cook about 3 minutes until the shallots are softened. Add the wine and cook about 2 more minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen the yummy brown bits then add the stock, turn up the heat to med hi- and simmer until reduced by half, about 4-5 minutes more. Add the chicken breasts, sprinkle with paprika, cover with herbs and place the lid on top. To make a quick meal, lower the heat to med-low, leave the lid slightly uncovered and cook another 20 minutes adding spinach in the last 2 minutes of cooking, then serve with fresh chopped parsley and mashed potatoes or polenta.

 Here's what it looks like just before popping in the oven. I sprinkled paprika on top before covering.

For a slow simmer, place the covered braising pan in the oven at 240 degrees for an hour and a half. Remove from oven, discard herb twigs, stir in spinach and garnish with fresh thyme leaves and chopped parsley, bring the whole pan to the table to serve family style in warmed bowls. Crusty bread goes great to sop up the savory sauce. Serve with Gluten Free Penne or Mashed Potatoes. Leftovers freeze well for three months.

Poached Eggs with Veggies for Breakfast & Dinner

I've been really into cooking with eggs lately since I've found some great local eggs from Vital farms. One of my all time ways to enjoy an egg is poached, yet I used to be nervous about the whole process of simmering water and vinegar, swirling the water, poaching the egg.  I did own one of those pots with the poaching cups, but they just didn't turn out like the ones I ordered for brunch in restaurants.  I had some hit and misses my first few times. The water was too hot, or there was too much water, or not enough. Anyway, practice makes perfect and now I enjoy poached eggs for breakfast AND dinner. They taste great over a salad for example.

I've been trying to eat a lower carb diet after my bagel fest last week, so today I was craving eggs Benedict but without the carbs or fattening (yet divine) sauce. so I improvised and substituted the English muffin with a broiled heirloom tomato and a light sprinkle of grated gruyere cheese we had, a slice of Niman Ranch applewood smoked ham, spinach and a crack of sea salt and fresh pepper. It was superb! Easy to make too. While the water is simmering, turn on the broiler, slice the tomatoes and place them on a plate with a light sprinkle of cheese (parm, swiss, gruyere, white cheddar all good options).  Pop those in the broiler and crack your eggs into little ramekins and prepare to poach them. The tomatoes take about 3 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Remove from the oven, place ham and spinach on top and set aside, poach your eggs in the gently simmering water about 4 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon, drain them on a napkin and gently place on your tomato stack.

There's a really great video from Alton Brown HERE that shows how to easily learn poach eggs and store them for later use which is great for entertaining. Here's what mine looks like...

 Crack the eggs into individual ramekins

 Then in a pan with 1.5 inches of simmering water, add 1 tbs white vinegar. The vinegar helps hold the egg together. Gently slide the egg into the water. Don't be alarmed if some of the whites spread out. You can trim the edges with scissors before serving to make them pretty.

 One minute in...

 Two minutes in...

 Three minutes in and ready to serve. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and then...

Trim the edges to make them pretty!

Each stack has roughly 158 calories, 4 grams carbs, 7 grams fat and 18 grams protein

And one evening while assessing what we had in the fridge, I found some fresh radishes, asparagus and goat cheese and decided to make a poached egg to along with the veggies and it was terrific! Just drizzled with a little olive oil, lemon for the asparagus and fresh salt and pepper and sprinke with whatever herbs you have in the herb garden. Here I used basil, chives, tarragon, thyme and parsley. Fresh herbs really brighten a dish and are fun and easy to take care of in a sunny spot by the window all year round.

Homemade New York Style Bagels- Pete Reinhart Recipe

I recently bought Pete Reinhart's book The Baker's Apprentice and while flipping through it found a recipe for New York style bagels. And the instructions were over three pages long!!! I was up for a challenge, so went on the hunt for Barley Malt Syrup which I did not find at our HEB, but did find at our Whole Foods. Apparently barley malt is the key to making authentic tasting bagels, but honey could be used as a substitute.  I think the hunt was worth it though as the bagels had a delicious "malty" flavor that I don't think honey could have accomplished.

I found the recipe also on Epicurious HERE, so you can refer to that. The only difference is I made a "sponge" first. The book calls for about two hours and I found my sponge took 3.5 hours. I didn't get started till 8:30 at night, so this was a late night for me, but waking up and making the bagels was a really fun thing to do and the hubs loved them. I halved the recipe since it's just two of us this weekend, but I'm thinking these could be a fun surprise to make for the office.

The sponge I made using the following (keep in mind I halved the ingredients):

Sponge
  1/2 teaspoon yeast
  2 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour (see note below)
  1 1/4  cups water, room temperature

This is what the sponge should look like. This took 3.5 hours... I was pretty tired.

I did the hand wrap method as I think they make better, larger holes.

 Boiling the bagels. The one in the back dried out a bit overnight so was a wee bit knobby looking, but still tasted great. I boiled them two minutes then flipped and boiled two more minutes.

Sprinkled poppy seeds and Cypress salt and ready to bake!

Crispy outside, chewy inside and so good! The hardest part was waiting 30 minutes to dig in while they cooled. These definitely take some major planning and time, but were all worth it! I can't wait to experiment with other flavor like jalapeno cheddar or garlic.