Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Not a real looker Let's face it this one is not a real looker, but it does taste great. I know potato and parsnips are both root vegetables but they are not something that I would normally think to pair together. They do work quite well. We ate this as a main meal with a salad. I could also see it as a side dish. It comes together pretty quickly if you have a madoline. Potato, Parsnip & Porcini Gratin (Adapted from Nigella Lawson) 1/3 c dried porcini 2/3 c boiling water 4T butter 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 c milk 2 c heavy cream 3 star anise salt/pepper 2lbs potato, sliced 1/8" (skins on) 2lbs parsnips, sliced 1/8" Sort of crush up the porcini with your hands. Soak porcini for 30 minutes in water . In a cast iron skillet (or other oven proof skillet) heat butter and garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add mushrooms (and liquid), milk, and cream to the skillet. Add salt/pepper to taste (more than you think). Add star anise. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and ad...

Funny thing about this recipe - I cut it out of Cooking Light magazine twice - once in 2010 and again in 2012 (Shame on you Cooking Light for re-using recipes). I'm glad that I did cut it out (twice) - it is such a quick-cooking, flavorful soup. Loaded Potato Soup (Adapted from Cooking Light) 4 baking potatoes olive oil 1 onion, chopped 3 slices bacon (or about 3 oz salt pork) chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 c chicken or vegetable broth 3 T flour 2 c milk 1/4 c sour cream or Greek yogurt salt/pepper 1/3 c cheddar cheese, grated sliced green onions (optional) Pierce potatoes all over with a fork. Place in microwave on HIGH for about 13 minutes (or until tender).  Cut in half and set aside. While potatoes are cooking, add oil, onion, and bacon to a dutch oven. Saute until onions start to caramelize. Add broth. Whisk flour into 1/2 c milk, then add the remainder of the milk, and lastly add it to soup. Bring to boil; stirring often. Remove from heat and add sou...

Now this may be a little bit of work but most of the real work happens in the oven. While that's going on, you can clean all the pans you used, which I must admit there are quite a few. It is quite colorful looking - rather than that pale looking regular potato gratin. Two-Potato Gratin (Adapted from Cooking Light ) 2 medium baking potato, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick 2 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick 2 quarts chicken stock 2 T oil 3 green onions, sliced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 T fresh thyme 3 T flour 1 1/2 c milk 1 c chicken stock (reserved from potato liquid) salt/pepper 3 oz Gruyere cheese, grated 1 oz (1/4 c) Parmesan Cheese Place potatoes in a stockpot with chicken stock. Bring to a boil and cook for 4 minutes. Meanwhile in a saucepan heat oil and green onions. Saute until softened, add garlic and thyme. Cook until fragrant. Whisk in flour and cook for about 3 minutes. Gradually add milk; whisking constantly.  Remove potat...

With the horrible weather predicted today and tomorrow, this might be a good soup to make to warm you up after all that shoveling.  It is a fairly quick cooking soup that you can probably make in about 45 minutes. Potato Broccoli Soup 1 medium onion, chopped 1T olive oil 2 leeks or 6 green onions, rough chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 c white wine 3 c chicken stock 1 head broccoli, cut into florets, stem peeled & cut 4 medium potatoes 1T tarragon 2T parsley 1/2 c heavy cream salt/pepper In a dutch oven or stock pot place onion, olive oil and a little salt. Cook on low heat until onions are caramelized (about 20 minutes). Meanwhile prepare remaining ingredients. Add leeks (or green onions) to pot and saute for a few minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add wine and cook until all of the wine has reduced. Add stock, broccoli, potatoes, and tarragon. Cover and cook about 15 minutes until potatoes and broccoli are fork tender. Add parsley and re...

So that wasn't the last of the zucchini. They seem to have made a bit of a comeback. Some of the leaves had that white-powdery mold on them.  The Sous Chef cut those leaves off and they have bounced back. A co-worker sent me this recipe that she spotted on Food 52. It was perfect timing. Zucchini & Potato Pancakes (adapted from Food 52 ) 2 c grated zucchini 1/2 c grated potato salt/pepper 1 egg 2 chopped green onions 1 T chopped parsley approx 1-2 T panko 1 T butter 1 T olive oil Sour cream & chives (Optional) Grate the zucchini and potato. Salt the zucchini & potato. Place in a colander for at least 1/2 hour to drain off the liquid. Squeeze liquid. Try to get out as much liquid as you can. I probably got about 1/2 cup of liquid. In a bowl beat egg.  Add in green onions, parsley, and pepper. Add 1T of  the panko. Add additional panko if needed. It should be moist looking but not sopping wet. When you see this batter, you think that this is a...

It came a little thicker than usual - probably could've used more liquid I mentioned my mothers beef stew in my first post regarding the pressure cooker (or my fear of pressure cookers).  I thought for Mother's Day this would be an appropriate posting. I know every time I see a recipe with "Mom" in the title I find that it is either really a good one or it's not.  I think for the "not so good" ones sometimes it is just nostalgia that makes it taste good. But I think this is the best tasting stew in less than a half hour and that's not nostalgia talking.  I've tried to make a stew by the traditional method of cooking it for several hours, but it just doesn't come out the same.  The vegetables become too mushy and flavorless, even if you add them later.  In the pressure cooker, the vegetables stay slightly firm and very flavorful. Beef Stew 1 medium onion, chopped oil 1lb stew meat, cut into 1" cubes 2 clove garlic, chopped 3/4 ...

I've made this a few different ways - using fresh tomatoes, using canned fire-roasted tomatoes, or just plain canned tomatoes. Well and this time it turned out I used crushed fire-roasted tomatoes.  After I opened the can, I realized that they were crushed tomatoes.  I let the tomatoes strain through a sieve for about 10 minutes to get some of the extra liquid out. It's a nice side dish but you could use it as a main course also. I've made it a few times for the Easter Buffet. Potato Torta (adapted from Cooking Light ) 2lbs of potatoes cubed 3 T olive oil 1t basil 1t oregano salt/pepper 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese 1 egg 1/2 c flour 14.5 oz canned tomatoes, drained 2 clove garlic, chopped fresh basil 1 c mozzarella, shredded Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain. Add seasonings and Parmesan cheese. Mash potatoes adding olive oil as needed to keep potatoes moist.  Add egg and flour. Mix.  Spread in greased 9" pan.  Add garlic an...

When I was a kid, pierogies were something that we always made for a special occasion-at least the homemade kind. We usually made them for Christmas Eve.  I remember it always being such a project with perhaps a little bit of yelling involved. But now I don't think they are such a project (hey I make my own cheese right?). They are well worth the work. I can usually knock them out in less than an hour, as long as the mashed potatoes are cool. Potato/Cheese Pierogi For the dough: 2 c flour 1 egg 2 T sour cream 1 T butter 1/4 t salt approx 1/2 c water 1/2 c cold mashed potatoes Potato/Cheese Filling: 1 T grated onion (or shallot) 2 T butter 2 c cold mashed potato 1 c cottage cheese salt/pepper Mix the ingredients for the filling and set aside. Mix the dough ingredients and knead - do not knead too much or dough will become tough.  Divide dough in half. Cover and set aside 1/2 of dough.  Roll dough thin on a floured surface.  Cut into 2" circles ...

I was watching A Moveable Feast on PBS a few weeks ago and Jonathan Waxman was on.  He made these potato gnocchi and said that he sometimes doesn't boil them.  He just throws them frozen into browned butter and cooks them that way.  He made them with fava beans, peas, and asparagus . I'm not too into the asparagus thing but I did like the idea of not boiling them. Sometimes they are such a pain to boil. I thought he might be onto a real good thing here for the summer.  You know how it is, the kitchen is about 190 degrees, you're dying for some sort of pasta dish (yeah I know gnocchi is not really pasta but OK you're dying for a real starch dish), and the thought of boiling water just makes you want to keel over right there on the spot.  What if you could just throw on some butter and cook them in that? So off I went experimenting. Potato Gnocchi 2lbs russet potato 1-2 eggs 1/2 c flour salt/pepper nutmeg Bake the potatoes. Do not boil them because ...

Since I've already offended a bunch of people with my entry on Irish Soda Bread, I figured why not offend some people from Cornwall too. Be careful how you pronounce Pasty-it's Pahs-TEE not pastey - that's another blog not mine. Cornish Pasties were supposedly created as lunches for miners.  They needed something that would fit in their lunch boxes and be easy to eat - guess they got tired of sandwiches. The first Cornish Pasty I ate was a few years ago at the West Cornwall Pasty Co in Covent Gardens in London. I know it's a chain and I generally don't like chain restaurants (if you can even call chain restaurants-restaurants) but in Europe they seem to have some good chain restaurants. After I came home, I was craving Cornish Pasties. I tried to find a recipe and could not find one that got the pastry right. I finally found one in Nigella Lawson's book . She doesn't call it a pasty, but that's what it tasted like to me. Here is where the off...