76: Cauliflower Soup

I first made this soup for a Thanksgiving dinner that me and a friend teamed up to cook for a couple years ago. The soup was a hit, just one of 11 courses, and I’ve made this a couple times since then. This is the first time, however, that I have hared it publicly. It’s generally quick for a soup, and it packs an unbelievable flavor. The soup keeps well, too. I also added a large sprig of thyme to the container while it sits in the fridge for each use. I kept some chopped cauliflower to roast as garnish. Give it a try.

Ingredients and Directions:

1 head cauliflower leaves and core removed, coarsely chopped

1 cup shallots, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup dry white wine

3 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup fresh herbs, minced (rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, parsley)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Olive oil

Salt + pepper

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Sauté mixture until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the wine with half the herbs and reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Now add the cauliflower and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add in the remaining herbs, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and, using a hand held blender, puree the soup o desired consistency. Add the cheese and stir until smooth. Season the soup with salt and pepper as necessary. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

73: Osso Bucco / Tomato-Vanilla Broth / Braising Vegetables

It doesn’t get any better than a braised Osso Bucco, which translates into “hole in the middle.” The hole in the middle, of course, is the rich and succulent bone marrow that is the end prize of this fantastic dinner.

It’s somewhat of a traditional set up, plus a touch of vanilla that provides a silky texture. The gremolata looks a bit of overkill, but it actually doesn’t interfere with the flavor profile. In fact, it complements the flavors rather well, if I do so myself. Including the root vegetables the veal was braised in presents a layer of flavor uninterrupted.

Ingredients and Directions:

2 veal shanks, bone in

1 cup onion, diced

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 medium potato, peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup dry white wine, a floral white like pinot grigio works nice

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

1 lemon, zested

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Bouquet garni – fresh sprigs of thyme, rosemary, parsley, basil, and halved garlic clove

Olive oil

Salt + pepper

Osso Bucco—Season shanks with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven. Brown shanks 4-5 minutes. Remove to a plate.

Braising Set Up—In the same dutch oven with the veal juices and bits, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and reduce heat to medium. Add onions, carrots, and celery to the pot, and sauté for 10 minutes with healthy pinches of salt and pepper. Now add the white wine, return heat to high, and reduce wine by half. Add tomato paste and stir to break up, cook for 1-2 minutes. Now place the shanks on top of this mixture.  Add chicken stock, bouquet garni pushed down into stock, tomato paste, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 90 minutes. Remove shanks to plate, and drain vegetables of their liquid. Skim fat off the top of the braising liquid. Plate shanks with a couple spoonfuls of sauce. Serve vegetables on the side.

Gremolata—It’s important to chop this fresh parsley in the beginning of your prep, so the warmth in your kitchen helps dry the parsley out a little bit. Combine parsley and lemon zest in a small bowl. Spoon mixture on top of the veal shanks.

Enjoy!!

70: Rosemary Flat Iron Steak / Tomato Mushroom Risotto

I ended up with about a cup of leftover sauce from the Tuscan Veal Stew the other night, and I didn’t want such a flavorful sauce to go to waste. I had a couple flat iron steaks I needed to use, and found a cup of dry risotto in the cupboard. I also had two cups of chicken broth, so I came up with this dinner. I love nights when all I have to do is look through what I have and can come up with something blog-worthy.

Ingredients and Directions:

2 flat iron steaks

1 cup dry risotto

1/4 cup shallots, diced

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup leftover sauce (you’ll have to improvise here)

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup wild mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Olive oil

Butter

Salt + pepper

Risotto—Bring leftover sauce and stock to a low simmer in a pan. Meanwhile, sauté mushrooms in olive oil with a little butter, salt and pepper. Turn off heat on mushrooms and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and butter in a pot over medium heat for a few minutes. Sweat shallots in this mixture for 3-4 minutes, and then add the risotto to the pot. Sauté for a few more minutes or until risotto is light golden brown. Turn heat to medium high, and add stock a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring continuously. You know you need to add more stock when the mixture in the pot seems dry, meaning the risotto has soaked up all the liquid, usually about 5 minutes. The whole process will take about 30 minutes. You must stir continuously, or your risotto will not come out nice. Stir in mushrooms and cheese for one minute before serving.

Steaks—Heat a dry pan on medium high heat for 3-5 minutes. Dredge steaks through a mixture of salt, pepper, and rosemary. Press the seasoning into the steaks. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan and let warm for 1-2 minutes. Sear steaks on each side for 3 minutes per side for medium rare, depending on thickness. Our steaks were just over half an inch thick, so they didn’t need to cook long. Plate steaks up against risotto mound on plate.

Enjoy!!

69: Tuscan-Style Veal Stew Braised in Red Wine & Herbs

Amber's best friend, Mindy, was in town, and she asked me to cook for them. It’s been on the cooler side lately, so I thought this was another good excuse – not that I really need excuse because I just love it – to do some slow cooking. After a day of doing some sightseeing on The National Mall, including the new MLK Memorial, I headed home to prepare dinner while the ladies continued on to museums.

This dinner is a hybrid of sorts. I’ve cooked this Tuscan-style stew a couple times before, but I wanted to incorporate my Holy Trinity to add to an already flavor-packed stew. Additionally, I substituted veal for the pork. The result was mouthwatering, if I do say so myself.

I’ve been sitting on this 2002 Benotto Monferrato Nebbiolo for over two years. I thought this would be a good occasion to drink it, and it matched up well with the acidity provided by the tomatoes. The wine had nice hints of dark fruit and a balanced dry finish with pleasant tannins.

Ingredients and Directions:

2lbs veal shoulder, cut into 1.5 inch cubes

Will’s Holy Trinity

-1 cup leeks, thinly sliced

-1 cup carrots, diced

-1 cup fennel, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup fresh parsley leaves

1.5 cups hearty red wine

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (chop tomatoes, reserve liquid)

2 branches fresh rosemary

12 fresh sage leaves

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved

Olive Oil

Salt + pepper

Day old baguette cut in half

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for garnish

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a 6 quart dutch oven. Sauté the Holy Trinity with minced garlic and salt and pepper for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add the veal cubes with a little more salt and pepper, stir, and cook until it has taken on a slight golden edge, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in the red wine with parsley next, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. The wine should have reduced by half at this point.

Slowly add the tomatoes and its juices to the pan, and stir well to mix everything together. Then add the rosemary and sage, ensuring you push the herbs down into the tomato juices. Bring to a boil once more, reduce heat as low as you can, cover and cook for 2 hours. The end result should be incredibly tender veal and a somewhat thick sauce. Cook a little longer if need be.

Preheat the broiler. While the stew finishes cooking, rub bread with halved garlic cloves. Toast the bread under the broiler, but be sure to keep a close eye on it as you will only need a couple minutes on each side to crisp it up nice enough. Remove the bread and coarsely chop. Serve the stew over the bread crumbs and garnish with cheese.

Enjoy!!

65: Pan Braised Chicken / Herbed Garlic Cream Sauce / Green Beans

Yum, yum, yum, get in my tum! Ok, so that was really corny, but this dish is not! I must admit I’m not the biggest chicken fan in the world, but the woman enjoys it. Thus, I enjoy cooking it for her. I also had some heavy cream that I was either going to use or throw away, so I opted to use it.

The key to this recipe is using a really good white wine. Some argue that you don’t cook with wine you won’t drink, yet I don’t necessarily agree with that all the time. I did, however, buy Rombauer Chardonnay to make this dinner. The bright and intense floral and tropical fruit flavors as well as the buttery nature of this wine do wonders for this sauce. You shall not be disappointed.

Ingredients and Directions:

2 chix breast filets, 6 oz each

1/2 pound fresh green beans

1 large shallot, sliced lengthwise

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 large cremini mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup white wine

3 tablespoons total of minced rosemary and thyme

Flour

Olive oil

Butter

Salt + pepper

Chicken and sauce—Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil with 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat. Cook until butter stops foaming, about 3 minutes. Sweat shallots until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Remove shallots and set aside. Now brown the chicken in the same pan, about 4 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Remove chicken and set aside. Add white wine and reduce by half. Now add shallots back as well as mushrooms, cook for a couple minutes. Lower heat to medium and add cream, simmer for a few minutes. Add herbs with salt and pepper, and simmer this for another couple minutes. Add chicken breasts back to this pan, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside when finished. Add a tablespoon of flour to the sauce and simmer on low for 5 minutes to create thickness and creaminess, stirring occasionally. Serve sauce over chicken using a slotted spoon. You don’t want a ton of sauce because of its demi glace like nature – highly concentrated.

Green Beans—Pretty standard set up here. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Sauté green beans for 5 minutes with salt and pepper.

Plate, serve, and enjoy!

40: Chicken & Prosciutto Risotto / Leeks / Collard Greens

Yum, yum ,yum. Here is another recipe from the Cooking for Two book by Jessica Strand. Her tag line: Fresh, salty, creamy, rich; what else is there to say? Yup, I couldn’t have aid it better myself. I forgot to add the mascarpone cheese, so I don’t think it’s quite as creamy, and, honestly, it’s really not that salty. It is, however, incredibly tasty and takes comfort food to another level.

The trick to a good risotto is of course the way you stir it. Don’t be lazy and just push it around in the pot. If your arm doesn’t hurt, you’re not stirring enough. Put some love into it!

(You may notice I busted out some different plates for this dinner. This is also the 40th recipe I have shared with you.)

Ingredients and Directions:

1/2 pound chicken, diced

1/2 cup prosciutto, sliced into small strips

2 large collard greens, stemmed and chopped

3 cups chicken broth

1 leek, thinly sliced

1 cup Arborio rice

1/4 cup dry white wine

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Parsley and mint, minced for garnish

Blanch collard greens in a pot of boiling salted water for about 90 seconds – helps reduce the bitterness. Drain in a colander and then push the water out with the back of a spoon until dry. Set aside.

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to very low and keep warm.

Meanwhile, sauté chicken in a small pan with salt and pepper until just about cooked. Turn off heat, and set aside. Don’t worry, it will finish cooking as the pan cools off. Plus, you’re going to add it to hot risotto for a bit at the end.

Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir 2 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the hot chicken broth. Reduce heat and simmer on medium-low heat until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add 1/4 cup of broth at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, about 28 to 30 minutes. You may need to adjust heat to medium for last 10 minutes if your risotto doesn't seem to getting creamy by this point.

Add the collard greens, chicken, and prosciutto for final 1-2 minutes of stirring. Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish.

Enjoy!

22: Lamb Stuffed Cabbage Rolls / Green Pepper-Tomato Sauce

I’ve realized a lot of the food I cook is predominantly new American with heavy French/Italian influence, so I’ve decided to do some different things. I reached deep into my Irish blood for this stuffed cabbage recipe. It’s a nice change of pace, and it goes well with a lighter style beer. We enjoyed it Troeg’s Pale Ale from Pennsylvania.

I didn’t measure out the spices on this one, so please feel free to play around with the amounts.  The prep is quick, and I had half of this left over to serve as post workout snacks. Be careful not to tweek the spices too much, or it won’t be Irish anymore.

Ingredients and Directions:

Cabbage Rolls

1 lb ground lamb (make not sure it’s not too fatty)
1/4 cup cooked instant rice
1 egg, beaten
2 cloves minced garlic
mustard seeds
minced sage
coriander
allspice (nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon for the most part)
8 large cabbage leaves, blanched
salt and pepper

Sauce
2 cups diced tomatoes
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Blanch your cabbage in hot water, drain, and set aside. Combine all the cabbage roll ingredients in a bowl. Get liberal with the seasoning because what and how you flavor the meat with will stand out in the dish. I made 8 meat rolls, about 3 inches long, each out of the meat. You could easily do less with larger pieces.  Place a roll in the center of each leaf, and roll them up. Arrange the rolls in a baking dish.

Combine all the sauce parts together in a bowl. Be sure to taste for adding salt and pepper to this. Pour the mixture over the cabbage rolls. Cover and bake for 60 minutes.

Enoy!