Tamale Pot Pie

I tend to think of pot pie as something to eat on a cold winter evening. Tasty crust, delicious filling...one of those dishes that warms you from the inside out. However, my plans for the perfect pot pie evening were somewhat dashed because it was absolutely *beautiful* and mild out today. Oh well, my pot pie desires were not dissuaded!

I had seen a cookbook while waiting on line for cold cuts at Wegmans one day, called, surprisingly enough, Potpies, which contains some pretty cool takes on pot pie. I've made the individual shrimp scampi potpie before, which was replete with lemony, garlicy, shrimpy goodness, topped with a panko crust. Tonight, tamale potpie. We were not disappointed.


Tamale Pot Pie
from Potpies, by Elinor Klimans

1 tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground pork
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp chili powder (this is not bland cuisine)
1/4 tsp salt
a 14.5 oz can of whole tomatoes in juice

1 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt (although Steph and I both added salt to the top after cooking. maybe a smidge more would do)
3/4 reduced sodium chicken broth
1 large egg
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat to 375. Have ready a 9x2 round baking/pie dish.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium and cook the onions, pepper and garlic until softened, about 10 minutes. Add ground pork and cook until most of the pink color is gone. Stir in cumin, chili powder and salt. Add tomatoes & juice, using a wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes into small bite-size pieces. Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Spoon the filling into the baking/pie dish and let cool 15 minutes.

After topping is cooled, mix cornmeal and salt together in a bowl, and the broth, egg and oil in another bowl. Add wet to dry and stir until evenly moistened (sorry Laura!) and batter is thin and pourable. Pour topping over the filling on the baking dish, spreading evenly. Bake until topping is lightly browned and filling is bubbly, 35 minutes. Cut with a sharp knife and serve with sour cream and cilantro.

Easy and DELICIOUS. Try it and let me know what you think.

Nicholas must be employing precogs.

I had broached the topic of where Steph wanted to go for her birthday dinner coming up, and I had floated the idea of hitting up Nicholas again, seeing that we loved the first meal we had there and it's obviously a different season, meaning a different menu. She said she wanted to think it over, and rightfully so, as there are more than enough restaurants we have not dined at and would still like to.

However, Nicholas must have hired precogs or oracles or some way of seeing the future, as today she received a birthday card from the restaurant. Talk about a sign. Needless to say, I'm about to call in 5 minutes and make reservations.

The menu may very well change between now and then, but you should check it out. Well worth the $, if you ask me. Oh, we'll be getting the tasting menu with wine pairings. Can't wait.

Mom's Adventures in Gum Paste

So anyone who knows me has heard tales of my mother's talent in the kitchen. Anyone who's been lucky enough to enjoy some of her baking...well, it's beyond compare. She started with buttercream, she moved onto fondant, and now she's broken through to a whole new level by teaching herself how to make gum paste flowers.

More pictures after the jump. Check them out and be duly impressed.
















That's right, be impressed.

Top Chef + Weeknight Dinner

In Top Chef news, I really enjoyed Emeril as a judge. I know he was one of the first 'celebrity chefs' and he seems to have his fingers in many pies (TV, houseware line, magazine articles, etc.) but I can definitely say that the tasting menu at the New Orleans Fish House in Las Vegas was one of the finest meals I've ever eaten. He knows how to run a restaurant and make his customers happy, and I've only heard great things about his other places.

As for the actual challenge, I personally think that KitchenKen should've gotten the win, if only for the cocktail. Both his and CrazyCarla's dishes were spot-on, but I think he should've gotten the nod because his cocktail was more complex and matched better than Carla's (then again, I'm judging this by what I see, not what the judges taste). However, I'm a bit iffy about this season - I feel that the producers have more of a say, as BorkBorkBork is still around, giving the audience a villain to root for in the finale (based on last night's challenge, it should be KitchenKen, CrazyCarla and the Prophet in the final).

Prediction: CrazyCarla completes the Cindarella story and takes out the baldies. Put it on the board.

Life has been busier than most, with just less than 3 months to the end of graduate school. It's kept me busy, and my cooking hasn't been super-interesting. After the jump you'll find an easy recipe for prosciutto-sage chicken breasts with sauteed spinach. Even you could make this one, Eric.


Chicken with Prosciutto and Sage (serves 4)
1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 sage leaves, whole
4 chicken cutlets
4 thin slices prosciutto
4 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp cold butter
4 sage leaves, minced

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.
Place a sage leaf on each chicken cutlet.
Wrap a prosciutto slice around each cutlet, covering the sage.
Dredge the chicken cutlets in the flour, shaking off excess.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high. Cook 2 cutlets until cooked through and golden brown, 3 minutes per side. Put in a warm oven (lowest possible temp) to keep warm.
Repeat with remaining oil and cutlets.
Add wine and broth, reduce to 1/4 original volume over high heat . Remove from heat, cool for 1 minute, then stir in cold butter and melted sage. Spoon sauce over cutlets on serving plates.

Sauteed Spinach with Raisins
1 tbsp oil
1.5 lb spinach leaves
1/4 cup raisins (I use regular, golden is more traditional)
salt and pepper

Warm oil in a skillet. Add 1/3 spinach, stir and wilt, then add another 1/3, stir and wilt, and add remaining spinach, stir and wilt, 3-4 minutes total. Remove from heat, stir in raisins, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Enjoy!

Pizza

If you want to see some awesome blogging, WAY better than anything I could ever write, then you need to check out the incomparable Meghann blogging about one of my favorite foods at In Pursuit of Pizza, an ode to all things cheesy and crusty and saucy and delicious.

As far as Top Chef goes, I stopped blogging about this season because I honestly felt that these chefs are nowhere near as talented as the past 2 seasons. I haven't been impressed, and I haven't necessarily agreed with the judges decisions. Homewrecker (aka Leah) should've been gone LONG before last night's episode. However, she is lucky that the producers have a say in this, because BorkBorkBork should have been the one packing his knives last night. A slightly undercooked egg is one thing, because its a personal taste as to how one likes their eggs. A slightly undercooked egg can be frowned upon but forgiven, but overcooking salmon? For everyone? After being so cavalier about how awesome you are at cooking fish? Toast.

Whatever, now we have the good guys of SuperFabioBros (super props for gutting through with a broken finger), CrazyCarla (who has really emerged as the dark horse candidate, and I'm rooting for her) and the Prophet (who started off the season alright, but hasn't been doing anything amazing) against the evil BorkBorkBork for the title. Truth be told, I think the Swedish Chef gets it, because he's been cooking circles around everyone else (save last night).

Snow days mean one thing...

Not much is better than getting a call at 4:55 AM, looking at my phone, seeing its my buddy Joe, picking up the phone, and saying "What up?" to hear the reply "Duuuuuuuuuuude". I love snow days.

So Steph and I are sitting around, enjoying the fact that we can be mellow in the morning, when she says "Why don't you find a good pancake recipe?" which was surprising, coming from Stephanie. You see, she is a Bisquick Aunt Jemima devotee (as I was just informed), and pancakes is one of the few dishes she is willing to prepare for herself. Whereas I was raised in a house where pancakes were prepared at a thickness that allowed for a nice stack, Steph has always liked ONE BIG PANCAKE. I'll admit, the first time she made me a pancake, I was a bit uncomfortable with a giant, battleship-sized pancake on my plate.

It does need to be mentioned now that watching Steph prepare to eat a pancake is both shocking and hysterical all at the same time. Perfect parallel lines, 1" spaced, rotate 90 degrees, more perfectly parallel lines, 1" spaces. This has got to be how engineers eat their pancakes.

So, I hopped onto eGullet forums, which is a happy home for people who want to talk about EVERYTHING when it comes to food. I found a topic where people were talking about pancakes (92 posts all about pancakes!) and found a recipe that looked both easy and delicious.


Pancakes
taken from paulraphael on egullet

1 1/2 c AP flour
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 whole egg
1 egg, separated
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/8 c milk

Mix together your dry ingredients. Set aside.

Whisk together the egg and egg yolk until frothy, then whisk in the melted butter and the milk. Whisk up your egg whites until soft peaks form.


Gently mix together the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold in the egg whites.
Take a ladle full of batter, put it into a heated nonstick pan, and cook until bubbles form in the center and the edges look solid. When you flip, use a spatula and don't try to be fancy, otherwise you'll end up with results like this:


Fortunately, I wised up.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

I know it's been a while since I've posted, and I know I've been slack on Top Chef recaps (sorry Katya!) but with the end of the marking period coming up as well as the beginning of the *last semester of graduate school*, I've been slightly busy.

So as those of you who keep track of this thing know, I made myself a big batch of chicken stock the other day. I had asked for some suggestions, and I only had one (thanks guys :-P) from Rob, who's blog you should all check out for some more food blogging and some awesome pictures.

He suggested risotto, which I'll admit I haven't made since before I met Stephanie. How ridiculous is that? Therefore, it was decided - I was going risotto alla Milanese which is risotto seasoned with saffron. However, with saffron being horrendously expensive ($16 for like a tsp) I decided to switch gears and go with a wild mushroom risotto. I also made a simple braised chicken breast, as Steph was hesitant on not having a protein, and I was glad to use some more of my stock in the braise and in the jus. However, the star of the show was the risotto.

Wild Mushroom Risotto (makes 4 servings, I scaled it down)
29 oz chicken stock (2 cans, but homemade is best)
1/2 dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed
3 tbsp butter, cut into 1 tbsp portions
8 oz fresh mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, chanterelle...whatever you can get your hands on)
salt and pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup Carnaroli or Arborio rice (the ONLY rice you can use!)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

In a medium pot, combine the stock, the porcini and 4 cups of water. Bring it up to a boil, and cook the porcini until they are tender. Take them out with a slotted spoon, chop them and set them aside. Put the mushroom stock on low and cover it.

In a larger pot, heat 1 tbsp of butter over medium-high. Add the porcini and the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook while stirring continuously for 4 minutes or so. Dump them onto a plate and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium low, add another portion of butter, melt it down, dump in the onions, season with salt & pepper, and let it sweat for 3 minutes. Pour in the rice, and stir for like a minute until all the grains are nice and coated with fat (this is called the tostatura). Dump in the wine and stir, stir, stir until the wine is mostly absorbed.

Now comes the tedious part. Ladle in a cup of your warm mushroom stock and stir, stir, stir until your stock is almost absorbed. Ladle in another cup and stir, stir, stir (are you sensing a pattern here?). Keep doing this until your stock is gone and your rice is al dente, and your rice is surrounded by a liquid that is the consistency of heavy cream. Take it off the heat, dump in the last portion of butter, the Parmesan and the mushrooms, stir, and serve. If you did everything right, your risotto will spread across the plate but not be liquidy around the edges. Even if you screwed it up, it's going to be delicious!

I'd have had pictures, but alas, the camera was upstairs. Next time, I swear!