Dinner, done sublimely

I suppose it's a good thing I'm not a stay-at-home mom or my family would be the size of the Dallas Cowboys offensive line.

During the workweek, dinner rarely gets more than 30 minutes' attention after we get home from work/school. I've either got a cache of dishes done and stashed in the freezer, or an assembled dinner waiting for us or in the 'fridge ready for the oven, or the Crock-pot is on the job. As a result, I wouldn't say we ever have anything special for dinner during the week.

Cooking a full dinner from start to finish the same day we eat it -- that's a rare treat.

Monday it was a treat on steroids. Dinner was a pot roast cooked in the Dutch oven in the oven. While I'm a Crock-pot disciple, the flavor and texture of the meat and vegetables was radically different in the oven-roasted braise than it is in the slow-cooker. The gravy was fabulous (I usually have to thicken it with something if it's cooked in the Crock-pot), and the vegetables were perfect. I'd put a chopped rutabaga and onion in with the meat, along with some mushrooms, a bay leaf, a little dried mustard, salt, pepper and thyme. (If you've never had a rutabaga, try it cooked this way. They're cheap, filling and tasty when slow-braised with meat.)

To accompany the meat, some whole carrots were slowly pan "roasted" in a covered skillet on top of the stove in a bit of olive oil, some salt, pepper and thyme. Right before dinner, some frozen peas were added and cooked just enough to be done. Naturally, there were mashed potatoes involved. Capped off by a piece of freshly made herb bread (another post).

Good stuff. No leftovers. Tonight we're having a salad.

Cooking with the kids

Spring Break kicked off yesterday in our house. A day off means that the afternoon will be spent cooking in the kitchen.

Anyway.... our experimenting afternoon found us in the land of bread. We're in the midst of an herb kick, and the recipe on hand was a nice, whole wheat bread blended with herbs fresh from the garden and a chunk from a red onion that had been sitting on the counter minding its own business.

Out comes the "big mixer," as it's named by the two younger cooks. It's a professional-grade stand mixer that has made whipping up a batch of yeast bread easier than ever imagined by our foremothers, who kneaded for days. The dough hook makes short work of blending and kneading. Because I "bloom" the yeast in the mixer's bowl, then toss in all the other ingredients, this only dirties up one vessel. Another bowl is oiled for the rising process.

In assembling our herb bread, we used the leaves from a five-inch sprig of rosemary, 2 sage leaves, about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped oregano, two cloves of crushed garlic, and 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion. (Although, I'll point out that the red onion went an unattractive gray during baking, so I'd use a regular white or yellow onion.)

Wonderfully easy, this recipe uses a mix of whole wheat and unbleached flour.

In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) mix 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 packet of instant yeast and 2 cups of really warm water. (The water has to be hot enough to activate the yeast, so shoot for 105 degrees). Let bloom for 10 minutes while you chop any herbs you want to include.

To the mixing bowl, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil. Mix. Add 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup unbleached flour. Start mixing on low. It will form a wet, sticky dough. You'll probably need to add about 1 more cup additional flour during the mixing process to get the dough to a state that's smooth and elastic. (If you've got a dough hook on your mixer, that process comes when it starts to "climb" up the hook.) Allow the dough hook to knead the bread about 5 minutes.
If you're kneading by hand on a floured board, work the dough about 10 minutes.

Put the dough in a large, oiled bowl and turn to coat the dough in oil. This keeps the surface from getting dry and crusty. Cover the bowl with a damp dishtowel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 90 minutes. Punch down the dough, then form it into a loaf. Put in a greased loaf pan, cover with a towel, then let it "proof" for 30 minutes before baking in a 350-degree oven.

Bake about 45 minutes to an hour, then remove to cool completely before slicing. The top will feel hard when you take it out of the oven, but as steam rises through the bread, it softens the crust. Cutting while the bread is still hot will leave you with a goopy mess, so be patient and let it cool.

Chocolate Pudding

This is one of the best comfort foods you can make. It’s easy and it’s delicious.
It’s another fine recipe of my “cookin’ friend” Pat, from my former workplace.

If you like chocolate and comfort, you’re going to love this dish.

I usually layer the vanilla wafers at the bottom of the dish before pouring in the pudding mixture.

2 cups sugar
4 T. Flour
3 T. Cocoa
½ stick butter
4 cups milk
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
1 box vanilla wafers

Stir together sugar, flour and cocoa. Add butter, egg yolks and milk. Mix well. Cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes with wire whisk. Cook until thickened. Remove from microwave, add vanilla and vanilla wafers, cover with meringue and brown in 350° oven (If too thick, add more milk.) To make for larger crowd, substitute with 3 cups sugar and 5 tablespoons flour.

ENJOY!

Berman bash draws near

Luscious cuisine, fine wine, fun-raising bidding? Sounds like a night at the museum.

Friday, April 18, 6-8 p.m., at the Berman Museum of World History grounds will be the annual wine tasting event and auction. Food will be from David & Cathy Mashburn’s Classic on Noble, with wines from The Wine Cellar.

Tickets: $65 per person or $125 per couple

Reserved Table for 8: $500
Not a member? Include additional $25 to join & deduct $5 per non-reserved ticket
Call David Ford by Tuesday (April 15), 237-6261.

Proceeds from admission tickets, wine sales, and auction will benefit The Working White House,
a Smithsonian Institute exhibit at Berman Museum beginning March 2009.

Dressing the divide: creamy vs. tangy

Each week we gather for a cobbled together version of potluck lunch. Today was Salad Day, and there was a spread.

Among the favorite toppings: blue cheese crumbles, toasty-sweetened pecans, mandarin oranges and chickpeas. Traditional: bacon, other cheeses, red bell peppers, cucumbers, red onion and tomatoes.

Everyone was pretty egalitarian when it came to the toppings. The beauty of Salad Day is that you can go back more than once and not feel too guilty -- assuming you lay off some of the heftier toppings.

Our lettuce selection was as diverse as could be found in Anniston on an April morn: Romaine, both red and green leaf lettuce, a butterhead/Bibb (photo). There was also one head of (ashamed to say) iceberg for "filler," in case a crowd showed up. All the leaf/Romaine varieties were nice and crisp and -- unlike iceberg on its best day -- were as great tasting without dressing as with. That's the mark of a nice lettuce, folks. Deep, rich green. Good crunch.

There was an interesting note on the dressing choices, however. The new line of Kraft naturals was presented, ranging from Toasted Asian Sesame to the classic Ranch, which was the only creamy style offered. The result: We are by far vinaigrette people. The Balsamic Vinaigrette was a clear favorite, followed by the Asian, then the Honey Dijon and Italian. The Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette was used by one or two people, and the Catalina was untouched.

However, the suprise was that, other than the ignored Catalina, the least-used was plain ol' Ranch -- that dressing that maintains its wild popularity despite its lack of character and distinction. Or perhaps it's popular because it has no character or distinction? The only professed Rancher we had has consistently eschewed any vinaigrette for as long as I can remember. His favorite, blue cheese, wasn't on the table.

Good stuff all around.

A guide to growing your own kitchen garden

Garden centers are fair to popping with seedlings for vegetable gardens, and, this weekend’s predicted cold snap notwithstanding, it’s a perfect time to plan what will go in the ground for summertime goodness.

All of us can’t have an acre garden. (Those of us who actually grew up with garden plots that large can actually do without vast rows and rows of produce and the labor that went with them.) But even if you aren’t set up to have your own garden, it’s cool to have some new recipes to apply to fresh, seasonal produce.

Just out this month is “Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes,” (Running Press Books/April 2008/$35.00) by Jeanne Kelley. (And there’s a farmer in Randolph County who has chickens that produce blue eggs, so don’t laugh.

A longtime Bon Appetit contributor, Kelley has made the idea of urban sustainability a culinary goal. Despite her Los Angeles zip code, Kelley’s backyard kitchen garden allows her to indulge her desire for fresh, organic produce year ’round. It’s also home to her pet goat and Araucana chickens, which provide her plentiful milk and the gorgeous sky blue eggs that are the namesake of her cookbook.

On the surface, this doesn’t appear to be a book for “novice” cooks or those who don’t have the income or time to seek out fresh produce. Don’t be fooled by it’s cover, though. The recipes aren’t run-of-the mill dishes you’d find at the local “meat-n’-three,” but they don’t appear to be hard, either.

There are 150 recipes designed to take advantage of local and seasonal foods while incorporating exotic flavors into the everyday diet. They’re elegant, but not hard. Among them:
Hummus with Jalapeno-Cilantro Pesto
Mexican Fruit Gazpacho Salad
Whole Grain Tartines with Ricotta, Walnuts, Cherries, Honey, and Mint

Kelley points out that ease of preparation is an emphasis. In addition, she shares stories on how she created her urban oasis: a kitchen-garden primer that celebrates the simple joy of growing your own produce, plus brief guides on container and community gardens, raising and keeping backyard chickens, composting, and growing your own exotic ingredients.

Kelley attended La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. For the past 20 years she has been affiliated with Bon Appetit magazine and has been a contributing editor for the magazine since 1999. She has developed recipes for more than 60 features ranging from easy desserts to elaborate holiday menus. Kelley is a frequent contributor to Cooking Light magazine, and many of her recipes and articles have appeared in the Los Angeles imes Magazine, Natural Health, Islands, and Spa magazines.

Learning the essential foods

Food as fuel – and a component of health – gets another advocate next month with a new cookbook from Rodale Books, the folks who do Prevention and a host of other published products geared toward healthy eating and living.

Foods rich in micronutrients, essential protein, fiber, the right carbohydrates, easy preparations, and more ─ these are the essentials in Dana Jacobi’s new book "The Essential Best Foods Cookbook" (May 2008; Rodale Books; Paperback; $23.95; 32 full-color potos). Jacobi has written six cookbooks and written for Food & Wine, Cooking Light, and the New York Times. Her work has won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award and has been twice nominated for a James Beard Foundation Book Award. She teaches cooking classes in New York City, where she lives.

Building on the repertoire she presented in “12 Best Foods Cookbook,” which presented the spinach and fruit salad (right), Jacobi expands her list to 61 superfoods and creates 225 easy recipes that incorporate those ingredients.

One element to this book: Jacobi explains the science and theory behind why these foods are “essentials” to daily living. The recipes – from tomato soup to Waldorf salad – appear to be fairly mainstream, with healthier variations giving them a twist. Many “health” food cookbooks can’t say that.

The recipes feature tips, including basic techniques for grilling, baking, pan-searing, and poaching, and serving alternatives. And since lack of time frequently challenges those who want to eat more healthfully, many recipes are ready in 30 minutes or less.

Herb-Stuffed Flank Steak
4 to 6 servings
For the marinade
1/4 cup red wine
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
For the meat and stuffing
1 (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pound) flank steak
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese

For the marinade: In a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag, combine the wine, lemon juice, soy sauce and pepper and shake to combine. Add the 2 tablespoons oil and set aside.

For the meat and stuffing: Place the meat on a work surface with a short end facing you. Using a long, thin knife, cut the meat in half horizontally from side to side, stopping about 1/2 inch short of the second side so that you can open the cut steak like a book. Place the opened steak in the bag with the marinade, seal and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning once.

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium. If using charcoal, mound the briquettes toward one side of the grill.

Place the garlic on a cutting board. With a heavy knife, chop and smear it to a paste. Place the garlic paste in a small bowl and add the parsley, thyme, lemon zest, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil.

Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry. Discard the marinade. Lay the meat on a work surface so what was the seam lies horizontally and the grain of the meat runs from left to right. Cover the meat with the filling, leaving a 1-inch border at the top. Sprinkle on the goat cheese. Working from the bottom, roll the steak up like a jelly roll. Thread toothpicks along the edge to seal the roll closed.

Grill the meat over direct heat, turning it every 3 minutes to brown it on all sides, for 9 minutes in all. If using a gas grill, turn off the center row burners. If using charcoal, move the meat to the cooler side of the grill. Cover and grill the meat over indirect heat, starting to check at 8 minutes and removing the steak when a thermometer inserted in the center registers 130 degrees for medium-rare or 140 degrees for medium. Let the steak stand for 10 minutes, then cut crosswise into slices.

NUTRITION Per serving (based on 6): 269 calories, 29 g protein, 1 g carbohydrates, 16 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 59 mg cholesterol, 348 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber
AP-NY-04-09-08 1329EDT

Kids in the kitchen

It’s always a good day to have recipes that help get children involved – and interested – in what comes out of the kitchen. Don't try to pull this off when you've got a dinner party scheduled, or when work's running late.

Instead, pull out child-friendly recipes on nights when not much is going on (yes, I know how busy parents are, but look for opportunities where you can). Have patience and be prepared for dinner to take much longer to cook than if you just slapped it together yourself. Your patience will be rewarded.

The key with children’s dishes is to have things that can be assembled and under way in about 10 minutes. To a child, that’s an eternity. Even bread dishes and elaborate desserts need to be broken into stages so little ones can have what I call “progress points” along the way.
Some simple tips for cooking with the kids:

• Always wash your hands
• Be sure activities are age appropriate. Consider the child’s attention span as well as dexterity.
• Demonstrate proper techniques for common cooking terms such as beating, stirring, chopping, dicing, etc.
• Show them how to crack an egg in a small bowl or saucer instead of directly into the dish. That way, any shell fragments can be picked out easily. And there will be shell fragments until they get the knack of the egg crack.
• Make sure you get them started on “clean as you go.” Establish a time-saving (and counter space saving) habit of cleaning up the dishes and ingredients as the recipe progresses. No use having the kitchen look like a bomb was detonated in it….

The folks at French’s passed along some easy, child-friendly recipes suitable for spring and summer. Great for a spring break dinner or lunch. And the children love to snack on the crunchy onions while they're crushing them -- another cooking activity my children excel in.

Quick Crispy Mac and Cheese
Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes
1 1/3 cups Cheddar or original French fried onions
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 1/4 cups milk
3 cups cooked elbow pasta (2 cups uncooked)
2 cups shredded Cheddar or cubed American cheese
1 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup frozen peas

Heat oven to 350. Crush French fried onions in plastic bag.
Combine soup and milk in 2-quart baking dish. Stir in pasta, cheese, ham and peas. Top with crushed onions.

Bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

Crunchy Onion Chicken
Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 5 min.

Cook Time: 20 min.
1 1/3 cups original or Cheddar French fried onions
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 egg, beaten
CRUSH French fried onions in plastic bag.
DIP chicken into egg. Coat in onion crumbs.
BAKE at 400 for 20 min. until no longer pink in center.

Onion Veggies
Makes 6 servings

Prep Time: 10 min.

Cook Time: 10 min.
1 1/3 cups French fried onions
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 to 2 medium zucchini cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices
1 egg, beaten
CRUSH French fried onions in plastic bag using hands or rolling pin.
PLACE flour into separate bag. Toss zucchini in flour; shake off excess.
DIP zucchini pieces into beaten egg; then toss in crushed onions, a few pieces at a
time.
ARRANGE zucchini on greased rack set over rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400°F
for 10 min. or until tender.
Crispy Onion Mushrooms: Substitute one 10 oz. pkg. whole button mushrooms. Proceed as
above.
Crunchy Double Onion Rings: Crush 2 cups French fried onions in plastic bag and toss with 2 Tbsp. flour; set aside. Slice 2 large onions into 1/2 inch thick rings. Coat onion rings in 1/4 cup flour. Dip into 2 beaten egg whites, then into crushed French fried onion mixture. Bake according to recipe above.
Photos courtesy of French’s

Stealing the glory of restaurant 'crust'

One of the hottest trends in restaurants right now is "crusting" on meat. Outback Steakhouse was probably the first national chain to employ the element of a hearty layer of seasoning on steaks; there wasn't breading, but there was a distinct layer of seasoning. Others have followed suit with fish, pork and chicken dishes, adding bread crumbs to the mix.

However, some home cooks realize there's a fine line between crusty and scorched. A little practice can bring about mastering this technique, but until then, there are some "cheats" on the market.

Among them: Crusting Blends from McCormick.

"Crusting is one of the hottest trends in restaurants, and people may be intimidated about replicating this technique at home,” says Kevan Vetter, executive chef at McCormick. “Now, with our Crusting Blends, home cooks can easily bring restaurant pizzazz to their family meals in just three simple steps.”

Vetter offers a video demonstration and tips for using these blends. As with mixtures you'd make yourself, crusting is as easy as brush, coat and cook. Pop them in the oven or toss them on the stove and 15 minutes later, you're set.

McCormick has three flavors: French onion, pepper and herb, Italian herb and cheese, garlic, lemon and rosemary. The one thing McCormick does add is panko breadcrumbs -- a coarse Japanese bread crumb that turns beautifully crisp when cooked. Panko breadcrumbs are lighter and less dense than traditional breadcrumbs; they're also not readily available by themselves locally, so in this instance, the pre-fab seasoning from McCormick may end up being a true convenience item.

The suggested retail price is $3.88. The package is pretty small, though, so don't count on one bottle being enough for multiple meals.

Deals: real and imagined

Monday night, or maybe it was Tuesday. I took my wife Rachel to O'Charleys for dinner.

They offer a similar Monday and Tuesday night special to Logan's Roadhouse. Logan's is a two entrees for $13. O'Charleys has a two meal deal plus drinks for $20.

A little more pricey but if you want a different spot to check out early in the week and not pay an arm and a leg I suggest you give it a try.

I had a sirloin, not my favorite cut of meat, but usually cheaper that others, which is why it's on the special. Overall not bad depending on your expectations, and mine are low for a non-steak-specific restaraunt.

Now last night was a different story altogether.

We went to Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon for dinner.

They also have an entree deal a three-course affair for $13 definitely more expensive, but it was Wednesday so the Monday-Tuesday enticements were off.

I chose a Caesar's salad, grilled shrimp and a 6 oz. sirloin and the hot fudge sundae for desert.

Well I ended up with the short end of the stick. Rachel had an 8 oz sirloin with side and salad for $2 less.

And trust me the desert wasn't worth writing home about. Basically a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and whip cream.

And they drowned both our salads in dressing.

Taste and diet tip, ask for your dressings on the side, you can choose how much you want and since many of the dressings are full of fat you can trim down the calories by using just enough for flavor.

Not a terrible experience, but could have been better. I didn't finish the salad or the sundae.

I had a vegetable side, covered in butter which made the broccoli, carrots and cauliflower tasty, but not all that healthy I'm certain.

Of the three restaraunts I still recommend Logan's as the early week dining option.