In my efforts to not buy groceries right before I leave my kitchen for a couple weeks, I decided to use what I had to make a pasta dish for dinner. I had french bread from HEB and their bread tastes best when drizzled with the olive oil, salt, pepper and baked. It's so stinkin' good! So I basically had a ton of carbs for dinner...but I didn't have to buy groceries, so I guess that's ok.
So in the fridge, I had most of a wedge of Parmesan cheese, about 1/4 cup cubed pancetta and sun-dried tomatoes and heavy cream. These lead to an amazing alfredo-esque sauce.
1 table spoon olive oil
1/4 cup cubed pancetta
just less than 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, cut into small pieces & with oil
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup white wine
1 1/4 cup fresh, shredded parmesan cheese
1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook for about 5 minutes. Its kinda like bacon, so cook until the fat starts to cook off some.
2. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and their oil and heat mix together.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and let the pan cool some before adding the cream. Add the cream and mix everything together.
4. Add 1/4 cup white wine and mix. Let the alcohol cook off some...about 3 minutes.
5. Add the parmesan cheese a little bit at a time so that the cheese melts and makes a lovely saucey-ness.
Pour over whatever pasta you have on hand and toss it together and you have a fabulous meal! I like that the tomatoes are sweet and just a little tangy! So good!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saucy Pork Chops
The other night when I posted about not forgetting to post, I ended up making pork chops with a creamy and cheesy wine sauce. They were awesome!!!
Here's what I did:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 shallot
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stem and chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
3-4 medium white mushrooms
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 white wine
1/8 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup (about) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon flour
1. In the frying pan, heat the oil at about a medium-high heat. Add the shallots, rosemary and garlic. After about 2 minutes, add the pork chop.
2. After about 5 minutes, flip the chop and add the mushrooms to the pan.
3. Saute the mushrooms and cook the pork chop until it is cooked through. You'll probably need to flip it a couple times to cook it evenly.
For the sauce.
1. Remove the pork chop and most of the mushrooms from the pan. Add the butter and let it melt.
2. Add the chicken stock and swirl it around the pan to pick up the goodness left from cooking the chop.
3. Add the white wine and simmer a minute or two so the alcohol can cook out.
4. Add the cream and mix thoroughly.
5. Grate the cheese into the liquid and add the flour. Stir to encourage the cheese to melt evenly and the flour to not clump up.
6. Add the mushrooms back into the pan and gently mix them in.
7. Simmer and let the liquid reduce so that the sauce thickens.
8. After about 10 minutes of stirring and thickening, you should be ready to serve this on top of your pork chop!
I hope you guys like the sauce! It was pretty good!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Here's what I did:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 shallot
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stem and chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
3-4 medium white mushrooms
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 white wine
1/8 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup (about) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon flour
1. In the frying pan, heat the oil at about a medium-high heat. Add the shallots, rosemary and garlic. After about 2 minutes, add the pork chop.
2. After about 5 minutes, flip the chop and add the mushrooms to the pan.
3. Saute the mushrooms and cook the pork chop until it is cooked through. You'll probably need to flip it a couple times to cook it evenly.
For the sauce.
1. Remove the pork chop and most of the mushrooms from the pan. Add the butter and let it melt.
2. Add the chicken stock and swirl it around the pan to pick up the goodness left from cooking the chop.
3. Add the white wine and simmer a minute or two so the alcohol can cook out.
4. Add the cream and mix thoroughly.
5. Grate the cheese into the liquid and add the flour. Stir to encourage the cheese to melt evenly and the flour to not clump up.
6. Add the mushrooms back into the pan and gently mix them in.
7. Simmer and let the liquid reduce so that the sauce thickens.
8. After about 10 minutes of stirring and thickening, you should be ready to serve this on top of your pork chop!
I hope you guys like the sauce! It was pretty good!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Friday, May 27, 2011
I didn't forget
I've been wanting to blog, I just haven't made anything worth posting...really. I tried to do something with chicken and it started one way and ended completely different. And unfortunately, I'll be heading to east Texas soon and won't be anywhere that I'll be cooking for about 3 weeks. I'll try to make up the lost time when I get back to my place.
I will share this with you: If you haven't read "My Life in France" by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, you should. It covers the life of Julia Child and her continuing pursuit and research and curiosity of the French middle-class cuisine. She tested and tasted and explored so many ways to give us the perfect, fool proof ways to cook as the French bourgeois do. I hope to acquire some of her books this summer, because quite honestly, I was inspired by her. Outstanding book, extraordinary love, and unending curiosity. Read it.
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
I will share this with you: If you haven't read "My Life in France" by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, you should. It covers the life of Julia Child and her continuing pursuit and research and curiosity of the French middle-class cuisine. She tested and tasted and explored so many ways to give us the perfect, fool proof ways to cook as the French bourgeois do. I hope to acquire some of her books this summer, because quite honestly, I was inspired by her. Outstanding book, extraordinary love, and unending curiosity. Read it.
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Sunday, May 22, 2011
French Onion Soup- A variation
I made French onion soup for dinner tonight, but I remembered I had some Herbs de Provence in the cabinet and I figured, what the hell....its French soup, right? Why not add some French herbs? Herbs de Provence has oregano, lavender (the American version), rosemary, thyme and a bunch of other stuff in it. This definitely took my soup to the next level!
I added 1 tablespoon of Herbs de Provence to the onions as they cooked in the oil and then cooked the rest of the soup as usual. I usually use a smoky gouda with the soup, and it worked fine in this case, but I think the smoky-ness didn't really mesh well with the rest of the flavors. Maybe a plain gouda or even traditional Gruyère cheese. I'll try that next time. For now, get ya some herbs de provence...its just the right combo for the onions and olive oil. Hope y'all enjoy!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Doesn't this look pretty?!
I added 1 tablespoon of Herbs de Provence to the onions as they cooked in the oil and then cooked the rest of the soup as usual. I usually use a smoky gouda with the soup, and it worked fine in this case, but I think the smoky-ness didn't really mesh well with the rest of the flavors. Maybe a plain gouda or even traditional Gruyère cheese. I'll try that next time. For now, get ya some herbs de provence...its just the right combo for the onions and olive oil. Hope y'all enjoy!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Doesn't this look pretty?!
Baked Brie with Strawberry Compote
I had never had brie until....today. And it was really great! I've wanted to use puff pastry for a while, and this is really a great way to get started with it.
Strawberry Compote
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons water
1 cup strawberries, sliced and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1. Over medium heat, combine sugar, lemon juice and water in a large frying pan and let the sugar begin to dissolve.
2. Add the vanilla and strawberries and let everything cook together for about 10 minutes, stirring often so that the liquid doesn't burn.
3. Pull out about 1/8 cup of the liquid from the strawberry mixture and add the cornstarch. Mix it well so it isn't clumpy. Feel free to add more strawberry liquid to this to help dissolve the cornstarch.
4. Mix the cornstarch mixture back into the strawberry pan and keep stirring. Turn the heat up just enough for the mixture to bubble a bit and cook for about 3 minutes. Then turn the heat off, keep stirring but let it cool.
Baked Brie
1/2 frozen puff pastry sheet
flour for dusting
1 wedge of baby brie
slivered almonds
1. Thaw the puff pastry according to the box directions. Mine was folded in 3 parts and I basically cut one third of it off. Preheat oven to 400 and lightly grease a small baking dish.
2. Cut the wedge of brie in half, horizontally, as if you were slicing a bagel into halves...but with a wedge shape....make sense?
3. Layer the almonds onto the bottom piece of brie and then add the top piece back so you have like a brie and almond sandwich.
4. Place the brie on the puff pastry and fold the edges up around the cheese in a kind of pretty-ish way so that the cheese is covered.
5. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is a pretty brown color.
Top with the strawberry compote and enjoy! The Brie is kind of buttery and the pastry makes a flaky crusty awesomeness. The strawberries add just the right amount of sweetness and the cheese is melty and perfect. I'm now a fan of brie forever!
Btw...I had my ratatouille leftovers and put it with a little bit of the really easy chicken bouillon rice that I love so much. IT was totally delectable. The flavor of the ratatouille was still really good and the rice was just salty enough to add to the sweetness of the veggies. AWESOME!
Happy cooking, once again, y'all!
Amy
Strawberry Compote
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons water
1 cup strawberries, sliced and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1. Over medium heat, combine sugar, lemon juice and water in a large frying pan and let the sugar begin to dissolve.
2. Add the vanilla and strawberries and let everything cook together for about 10 minutes, stirring often so that the liquid doesn't burn.
3. Pull out about 1/8 cup of the liquid from the strawberry mixture and add the cornstarch. Mix it well so it isn't clumpy. Feel free to add more strawberry liquid to this to help dissolve the cornstarch.
4. Mix the cornstarch mixture back into the strawberry pan and keep stirring. Turn the heat up just enough for the mixture to bubble a bit and cook for about 3 minutes. Then turn the heat off, keep stirring but let it cool.
Baked Brie
1/2 frozen puff pastry sheet
flour for dusting
1 wedge of baby brie
slivered almonds
1. Thaw the puff pastry according to the box directions. Mine was folded in 3 parts and I basically cut one third of it off. Preheat oven to 400 and lightly grease a small baking dish.
2. Cut the wedge of brie in half, horizontally, as if you were slicing a bagel into halves...but with a wedge shape....make sense?
3. Layer the almonds onto the bottom piece of brie and then add the top piece back so you have like a brie and almond sandwich.
4. Place the brie on the puff pastry and fold the edges up around the cheese in a kind of pretty-ish way so that the cheese is covered.
5. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is a pretty brown color.
Top with the strawberry compote and enjoy! The Brie is kind of buttery and the pastry makes a flaky crusty awesomeness. The strawberries add just the right amount of sweetness and the cheese is melty and perfect. I'm now a fan of brie forever!
Btw...I had my ratatouille leftovers and put it with a little bit of the really easy chicken bouillon rice that I love so much. IT was totally delectable. The flavor of the ratatouille was still really good and the rice was just salty enough to add to the sweetness of the veggies. AWESOME!
Happy cooking, once again, y'all!
Amy
Poached Egg on Asparagus
I've been wanting to try cooking asparagus and I saw a picture in the masterchef cookbook with asparagus covered with a poached egg. Seemed like a good idea, so I thought I'd try my own version! And, really, we all know I love breakfast!
Poached Egg
Water
2 table spoons vinegar
1 egg
1. Fill a small frying pan with water, to about the 3/4 level. Add the vinegar and mix it just a little bit. Heat on medium-high and let the water begin to simmer but not boil...that's just gonna make a mess.
2. When the water is simmering, place the egg in a small bowl. Pour the egg from the bowl into the pan. By using the bowl, the egg will hopefully be more contained and not spread out a ton.
3. Let the egg cook until the albumen (clear stuff) turns white. If your eggs are cold, it'll be around 3 minutes. If they're room temperature, it'll be less.
**Note**I usually have to gently detach mine from the bottom of the pan...I don't know why, but I do. Just slip a spatula or slotted spoon under the edges and work it loose. Also, you may need to gently flip the egg over so that both sides cook evenly.
Asparagus
6-8 asparagus spears, washed, dried and with the ends trimmed
2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
Pinch of Kosher Salt
Fresh ground pepper
1. Heat the oil at medium-high in a large frying pan.
2. Put the asparagus in the pan and turn to coat them with oil. Add salt and pepper and shake the pan so that they 'stir' or rotate more.
3. Cook until the asparagus is slightly tender. Shaking the pan occasionally to help them cook evenly. You'll want to cook them about 5 minutes, I think.
Place the asparagus on your plate and set the egg on top. Crack some fresh pepper over top and salt them just a bit. When you break the yolk of the egg, it'll spread all over the asparagus and be an amazing yellow goodness!
Also, I toasted some french bread to have with this. I just split a chunk of french bread and drizzled olive oil over it. Then added a little bit of salt and pepper and toasted it at 400 degrees for about 6 minutes. I used regular olive oil on one slice and blood-orange infused olive oil on the other. Both were amazing!! I 'borrowed' the blood orange infused oil from my mom...I don't think she's getting it back. Its SOOOO good!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Poached Egg
Water
2 table spoons vinegar
1 egg
1. Fill a small frying pan with water, to about the 3/4 level. Add the vinegar and mix it just a little bit. Heat on medium-high and let the water begin to simmer but not boil...that's just gonna make a mess.
2. When the water is simmering, place the egg in a small bowl. Pour the egg from the bowl into the pan. By using the bowl, the egg will hopefully be more contained and not spread out a ton.
3. Let the egg cook until the albumen (clear stuff) turns white. If your eggs are cold, it'll be around 3 minutes. If they're room temperature, it'll be less.
**Note**I usually have to gently detach mine from the bottom of the pan...I don't know why, but I do. Just slip a spatula or slotted spoon under the edges and work it loose. Also, you may need to gently flip the egg over so that both sides cook evenly.
Asparagus
6-8 asparagus spears, washed, dried and with the ends trimmed
2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
Pinch of Kosher Salt
Fresh ground pepper
1. Heat the oil at medium-high in a large frying pan.
2. Put the asparagus in the pan and turn to coat them with oil. Add salt and pepper and shake the pan so that they 'stir' or rotate more.
3. Cook until the asparagus is slightly tender. Shaking the pan occasionally to help them cook evenly. You'll want to cook them about 5 minutes, I think.
Place the asparagus on your plate and set the egg on top. Crack some fresh pepper over top and salt them just a bit. When you break the yolk of the egg, it'll spread all over the asparagus and be an amazing yellow goodness!
Also, I toasted some french bread to have with this. I just split a chunk of french bread and drizzled olive oil over it. Then added a little bit of salt and pepper and toasted it at 400 degrees for about 6 minutes. I used regular olive oil on one slice and blood-orange infused olive oil on the other. Both were amazing!! I 'borrowed' the blood orange infused oil from my mom...I don't think she's getting it back. Its SOOOO good!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Momma's Alfredo Sauce
This is really delicious and really, really easy. I used to buy jar alfredo sauce, but then my mom gave me this recipe and it is so much better! And what's really cool is you can add your favorite flavors, like sun-dried tomatoes or sauteed mushrooms, and give it even better flavor.
Here's the recipe!
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/8 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add the garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the cream and let it warm up. (If you want to add mushrooms or sun-dried tomatoes, do it at this point.)
3. Add the cheese 1/4 cup at a time, letting it melt before adding the next 1/4 cup. (You may not need all of the cheese!) If the sauce starts looking really thick, stop adding cheese, and taste the sauce. If it tastes good to you, go to the next step.)
4. Fold in the parsley and serve.
I think I added two table spoons of white wine to the melted butter...I can't remember. Go ahead and try it! It would be really good, I think. Or, if you're adding sauteed mushrooms, add the wine to them then add them to the cream. It'll get a little bit of the wine flavor in there. If you don't want to add any wine whatsoever, no worries. It's still going to be awesome sauce.
Hope you like this easy alfredo sauce! Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
Here's the recipe!
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/8 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add the garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the cream and let it warm up. (If you want to add mushrooms or sun-dried tomatoes, do it at this point.)
3. Add the cheese 1/4 cup at a time, letting it melt before adding the next 1/4 cup. (You may not need all of the cheese!) If the sauce starts looking really thick, stop adding cheese, and taste the sauce. If it tastes good to you, go to the next step.)
4. Fold in the parsley and serve.
I think I added two table spoons of white wine to the melted butter...I can't remember. Go ahead and try it! It would be really good, I think. Or, if you're adding sauteed mushrooms, add the wine to them then add them to the cream. It'll get a little bit of the wine flavor in there. If you don't want to add any wine whatsoever, no worries. It's still going to be awesome sauce.
Hope you like this easy alfredo sauce! Happy cooking, y'all!
Amy
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