Bummin' around the house

From the starter I made a couple weeks ago: ciabatta bread!

With the big, beautiful holes I was looking for last time and a nice crusty crust :)

I've also been re-potting some of my new plants. My orchid bloomed again, which I was told would NOT happen.
I chalk it up to good light in the 'greenhouse'

They're everywhere..

Rustic Italian Loaf

My first attempt at bread using a starter - not bad, but room for improvement!

Butcher shop

My grandma's Italian sausage recipe all mixed up and ready to be broken down into one-pound packages and frozen for later use. I would share the ingredients, but then I'd have to kill you.
I've used this in pizzas most often, but it's also great in lasanga and stuffed pastas. Last night's dinner (and today's lunch) was this sausage, onion and garlic, pesto, a little leftover garden tomato sauce from the freezer, and cream all cooked together until the flavors blend. Add a little spaghetti and you're in business!

Goat Cheese, etc.

In getting my backyard vegetable garden together, I knew I wanted to mulch the area between the rows with something to keep the weeds down, but also something that would give me something to stand on so I wasn’t wallowing in the mud back there. I’ve seen lots of people do crushed stone or mulch, but I was hesitant to do that because 1. A lot of work, 2. A lot of money, 3. Seems like a pain to undo if I don’t want a garden in the future..or if my seedlings crap out and I’m stuck with nothing this year.

So I started contacting some of our local farmers looking for straw. Our area is really lucky to have a pretty vibrant artisan farm population. Many of these farms are operated by families and are either organic or at least less reliant on chemicals than the larger agribusiness operations. One such farmer is my friend Lois. Lois raises goats, feeds and milks each of them by hand, and turns their milk into nationally recognized, award-winning cheeses that she sells to restaurants and vendors around the country. It’s hard work, but she loves it..and the cheese is ridiculously good.

Anyway, Lois hooked me up with a few (too many) bales of oat straw which will work for my mulch and hopefully not drop a bunch of seed into the plots. As much as I’d like to sew my own oats…I’d actually rather not.

Greeeeeen Acres!

While I was there, I bought a couple ounces of chevre from her and planned to make a recipe I’d seen a year or more ago that I’ve always wanted to try: goat cheese and caramelized onion pizza.

I was not disappointed.

I had a leftover hunk of pizza dough in the freezer from earlier in the week, so I rolled that out after my onions had browned and become super tender and sweet. I added a little garlic, salt, and pepper to the onions for more flavor. I spread a basic béchamel (butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper, parmesan) over the crust, spread my onions over that, and crumbled the goat cheese over top of everything. I baked it at 420F until the toppings were melted and slightly brown and the crust sounded hollow when tapped.

The picture is a little blurry because I was in a hurry to eat the rest :)

So freaking good. My white sauce probably could’ve used more flavor, but otherwise this was way good. I thought later about adding a few leaves of thyme to the mix for next time. And there will be a next time! (If nothing else, I'll make the onions again. While the pizza baked, I was standing over the pan eating them by the spoonful. They were like candy!)

Last night was unproductive on the home front as I was called out to meet with a local guy about a fundraising project we’re working on. But I did have time to make a big batch of fettuccine for dinner (and lunch and dinner and lunch and dinner) with some asparagus I picked up at the grocery store. Not a bad day!

The pasta needed more Parmesan...but that's always the case :)

Chicken Update

Oh my God, you guys..

This chicken was the best f-ing chicken I’ve ever had. No exaggeration.

I had stored her in the freezer after buying her because I didn’t know when I’d have time to make a full-on chicken dinner. I pulled it out and stuck it in the fridge to defrost Friday..and it didn’t thaw. At all. So, I made my brine and figured I’d let her thaw in the brine. When she’s ready, I’ll roast. Fast forward two days…

Chicken taking a brine bath.

The brine solution was really simple. I sautéed a chopped white onion in a pot with a few carrots and whole peppercorns – the heat makes the pepper flavor a little more intense. Once the onions and carrots had a chance to brown just a bit, add a clove or two of garlic and heat. I then added maybe ½ a cup of dry white wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot and add more flavor.

I let the wine cook down a bit until it was more concentrated in color and flavor, then I added ¼ cup of sugar, and maybe 1/3 – ½ cup of salt and a bay leaf. Pour in a few cups of water – just enough that it will cover (or mostly cover) the chicken when you put the chicken in the pot. Boil this mixture until the sugar and salt have dissolved and the flavors have been distributed throughout the solution. Let cool to room temperature, add your chicken to the pot, and cover. Let the chicken soak in this solution for a couple hours, overnight, or for two days because you’re painting baseboard in the garage and shopping for kitchen cabinets.

Monday night, I pulled the chicken out of its brine to make sure it wasn’t still freaking frozen. Not only was it not frozen, but the little bird smelled awesome! Always a good sign. A note here: don’t be discouraged or freaked out when your brine smells awful as you’re making it. It smells better when it’s not cooking, and it will make your bird taste great.

Pat the skin dry with a paper towel, drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper the chicken inside and out. I then roasted the little gal at 375F for just under an hour – the skin was crispy and brown, and the juices at the leg joint ran clear when pierced with a knife.

In the activity of preparing the chicken, I had totally forgotten to make anything else to go with it. You know..to balance the meal. Vegetables and shit.



Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Then I remembered I had more wine. Problem solved!

Leftover ham makes me happy :)

A few days ago I celebrated my 24th birthday - yay me! On the heels of said birthday, I decided to make the two hour trek to my alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa, to see friends and partake in copious amounts of birthday libations.

Mission: Accomplished.

On my return home, I found the house to be thoroughly cleaned and organized and with a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a cherry coffee cake sitting proudly on the kitchen counter. The jury’s still out, but mom was either A) bored and lonesome without my companionship, or B) so overjoyed at her newfound freedom that she felt compelled to twirl about the kitchen, singing and baking while birds chirped and woodland critters scampered at her feet. She claims boredom..

Also in the fridge was a leftover bone-in ham. When I saw this, I knew the jury was no longer deliberating, this woman was deliriously happy that I skipped town for the weekend.

That said, I find the most delicious way to enjoy leftover ham short of simply gnawing on the bone like a stray dog is the Croque Monsieur; the French make a mean ham and cheese. This particular ham and cheese happens to be drenched in a saucy, Swissy goodness with just the right amount of heat from the cracked black pepper and warmth from the nutmeg. My only regret is that I didn’t have more Parmesan to sprinkle over top. Yes, I know it’s blasphemous to cook Parmesan – thank you Mario Batali. Yes, I realize I’m putting an Italian cheese on a decidedly French entrée. But I don’t care…it’s glorious, and I will not apologize. J

Anyway, the sandwich is also quite easy to make. Toasted bread, Dijon mustard, leftover (or deli-fresh) ham, Gruyere (Swiss) cheese, and a cheese sauce from a simple béchamel (white sauce) base. Broil until brownish and bubbly on top and drool all over yourself. A nice side bonus is that this sandwich actually reheats well – so, make it the night before and have it for lunch the next day at work. Granted, it’s not as crisply company-ready, but it’s absolutely delicious as the cheese sauce soaks deeper into the bread and oozes out the sides of the sandwich as you eat it.

And, now I’m hungry again..