Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Small Plates - June 14, 2013

Fathers Day is right around the corner, which means your Dad is probably ready to fire up the BBQ and cook his own meal Sunday. But if you are looking for somewhere to take him on his special day, earn a few paternal bonus points and not spend a fortune, there are a few places giving out free goods.

HOOTERS - Funny, I don't remember Hooters giving away free stuff on Mothers Day. But on this Sunday June 16th if you buy 10 wings, Dad gets 10 wings. Kicks under the table from Mom when Dad ogles the waitress are also free.

SWIMSUIT PAGEANT - And to try to change the subject when Mom is glaring at Dad whose eyes are looking where they probably shouldn't, be sure to bring up that Dad needs to head back to Hooters on June 27th to catch the Hooters 17th Annual International Swimsuit Pageant. You can watch it live only at Hooters that night (or encore airings in July on Fox).

WINGS DAY - Family still speaking to each other? Then be sure to tell Dad that Wednesdays are Wings Days at Hooters* where $6.99 will get you a Wingsday Platter of 10 Boneless Wings and Fries.

MORE FATHERS DAY FREEBIES - If you think that taking Dad to Hooters might not be the best idea, there are many other places that are offering free goodies Sunday. Spaghetti Warehouse will give away free spaghetti or lasagna entrees (with soup and salad) to dads who bring in downloaded coupons from the chain's website. Shoney's is giving Dads Hot Fudge Cakes with entrée purchases. TCBY frozen yogurt is giving away free, six-ounce cups and at some stores, cones. Buca di Beppo will give Dads free cannoli with down-loadable coupons.

*I have no problems with Hooters. I own the Hooters cookbook and love the wings. But the one time I did go to Hooters the difference in treatment given to men and women was pretty funny. At our table (2 men, 2 women) you could still tell that the waitress focused more on the men. Watching the waitresses talk to men who were at tables without women was entertainment in itself. And just as an FYI, as a waitress in my younger days, I learned early on, if there is a woman at a table with men, pay attention to her...the tips were much bigger that way.

Small Plates - June 4, 2013

NATIONAL DONUT DAY - Yep, this Friday June 7th is officially National Donut Day so be on the lookout for national and local donut shops to be giving out free donuts or having special deals.

FREE DUNKIN' DONUTS - Dunkin' Donuts is giving away a free donut with any beverage purchase Friday to celebrate. And it seems to be a world wide offer.

FREE KRISPY KREME DONUTS - Speaking of free donuts, Krispy Kreme is getting in on the National Donut Day festivities by giving away a free donut of any variety, no purchase necessary (not valid in CT and Puerto Rico).

FOIE GRAS DONUTS -And if a regular old donut isn't your cup of tea, how about a Foie Bomb from Psycho Donuts? It's a donut hole "stuffed with foie gras mousse and then pierced with a pipette of honey, fig and balsamic gastrique", then topped with a leaf of crispy fried sage. Psycho Donuts had help coming up with this concoction from local chef Charlie Ayers (he of former executive chef of Google fame). Since the donuts are being given away for National Donut Day instead of being sold, they get around the ban of selling foie gras in California rule.

DONUT BACON SANDWICH - Not quite the Donut Bacon Cheeseburger everyone had a fit about when Paula Deen had one but Dunkin' Donuts is going nationwide with their new offering this week. The new breakfast item comes with fried eggs and bacon served between one of their split glazed doughnuts. Supposedly coming in at only 360 calories, the sandwich is going to be part of Dunkin' Donuts permanent menu this Friday. Will I try one? I'd try one if there was a Dunkin' around, but I have already tried a Donut Bacon Cheeseburger (it was actually quite tasty). Should we all be in an uproar that this unhealthy item is on the menu? Nah, I don't see this as any worse than having a couple of pancakes with your eggs and bacon for breakfast every now and then.

As always with these free promotion give-aways, you need to make sure your local store is participating (you can usually check the companies website), and they can sell out quickly so make sure you get there early!

Hockey - Sharks/Kings Game 2

Guinness-Glazed Lamb Chops

This is one of those recipes, that while the execution might not have been exactly what was intended, the results still turned out pretty dang good.

Being that it was near St. Patricks Day (you probably just realized I'm a bit behind on posting...taking a month or so off of blogging means lots of catching up) I wanted to cook with some Guinness. I originally saw this on various Pinterest boards and found that it came from Epicurious.com. I figured lamb with a Guinness glaze would be a prefect dish to serve pre holiday.

We bought a non-frenched small rack of lamb. Mr. L and I like having a little meat on the bone to chew on since that little bit of meat has such great flavor*. We've found we'd rather get the rack and cut it up ourselves than buy individual lamb chops (of course your butcher can do that for you). We usually have to ask the guy behind the counter for the non-frenched rack of lamb as it's not always out on display.

As I mentioned, this ended up having great flavor...but somewhere along the line I had problems. You see my nice "glaze" that was supposed to be brushed on the lamb before cooking and then drizzled on after? Didn't happen. Instead I had nice solid round discs of what seemed like candy. My glaze seized up on me and became a solid mass and I had no idea how to fix it. We microwaved our little solid discs a bit and tried pouring it on the chops but the glaze immediately became hard again. It looked like we had a disc of caramel candy on each chop! The good thing is that once the lamb was cooked, the disc became a sauce and coated the chops nicely. We ended up just cooking the lamb chops with the little discs on top and not worrying about having sauce to drizzle over after cooking.

Really good flavor. This was super simple to put together and gave the lamb a nice finish even if our sauce was a paste (or not even a paste really...caramel disc is what I'd call it). This recipe is also a great way to use up some leftover Guinness (if there is such a thing) or you can be like me...specifically buy Guinness to cook with so you have leftover to drink. And if you think about it, candy discs of Guinness might not be all that bad.

GUINNESS-GLAZED LAMB CHOPS
(Epicurious)

2 cups (16 ounces) Guinness stout
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
16 rib lamb chops (buy separately or buy two 8-rib racks of lamb and cut them yourself into individual chops)

Bring stout, sugar, coriander seeds, peppercorns, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a 2-quart nonreactive saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then continue boiling (keep an eye on it and reduce heat to keep it from boiling over) until glaze is syrupy and reduced to about 1/2 cup, 20 to 30 minutes.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids.

Preheat broiler.

Pat chops dry and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

Divide glaze between 2 small bowls and set aside for use later. Brush both sides of chops with glaze (from remaining bowl) and arrange on rack of a broiler pan.

Broil 5 inches from heat, 4 to 5 minutes on each side for medium rare. (Don't hesitate to cut and peek to check on doneness of the meat.)

Transfer chops to a platter and drizzle with reserved glaze.

Note: We cut the recipe in half.

Note: We ended up having much more glaze since it seized before we got down to th 1/2 a cup syrup it says to reduce to. But we liked having lots of the "candy" on each chop.

Note: Obviously we didn't strain our glaze as it's hard to strain a solid mass of candy-type sauce!

Note: We actually did have a bit of Guinness leftover (no worries, many bottles were opened) and Mr. L heated that up, added some butter and such and sauteed some mushrooms that we ate with the chops. Great combo. Just in case you open too many bottles and accidentally really do have a bit of Guinness left.

*Some of you may think that getting non-frenched racks of lamb means lamb bones for the dogs once dinner is over. But we don't have dogs. So we have to gnaw on the bones ourselves because it would really just be wrong to let those little tidbits go to waste. But if you are so inclined, get the non-frenched version and give the bones to your dogs. They will love you. Trust me.

 

Hockey - Sharks/Canucks Game 4

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Crathie Crunch

Not sure what it is about green food that makes it mandatory to think of St. Patrick's Day. If you look at my St. Patrick's Day Pinterest board, it's full of food that isn't Irish at all...it just happens to be the color green. This is one of those dishes that is far from a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish, but none the less, I feel is perfectly suitable for the occasion.

The recipe came from the Eating Royally cookbook. This was originally to be made for the London Olympics since it called for two ingredients I had picked up for that occasion...McVities Chocolate Digestives and a Peppermint Chocolate Aero Bar (substitutes for these English goodies are listed). The recipe is considered a cheesecake but there is no cheese whatsoever in this dish so I'm not sure if that designation means something different in England than it does here. The dish was supposedly named after the village next to Balmoral Castle in Scotland where the Royals vacation from August until early October.

I'm not really a mint or peppermint person, but most folks that tried this liked it. My concoction didn't look nearly as nice as the photo in the cookbook...my filling didn't seem to be as fluffy as the authors, but it still looked okay.

CRATHIE CRUNCH
(Eating Royally)

1/2 pound (8 ounces) McVities chocolate digestives or 1 cup ground graham cracker crumbs mixed
      with 1/2 cup grated bittersweet chocolate
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons creme de menthe liqueur
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 peppermint chocolate Aero Bar or 1/3 cup grated chocolate

Grind the cookies in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Place in a large bowl and stir in the melted butter. Firmly pack the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch tart pan and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

Place the egg yolks, creme de menthe, and sugar into a large mixing bowl over a pan of boiling water, and whisk for about 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat, and continue whisking until the mixture is cold.

Soften the gelatin in the 1 tablespoon water in a small pan, and place over low heat to warm and dissolve the gelatin. Whisk the gelatin into the egg mixture.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, and fold into the egg mixture. Spoon this onto the tart crust, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Whip the heavy cream in a large bowl until stiff, and spread onto the top of the now-set egg mix. Chop the mint chocolate bar, and decorate with it or the grated chocolate.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: I found the McVities Chocolate digestive biscuits and the Aero Bar at Cost Plus World Markets. Digestive biscuits is just the British word for thin cookie like crackers. Wonderful things. Buy extra of the McVities. Trust me, more will go in your mouth than in the crust.

Note: I had no idea if packets of unflavored gelatin are the same size in the US as they are in Britain. I just used two of the small ones that come in a Knox Gelatin box. A difference might explain why my filling didn't get as fluffy and set as I'd like. Of course it could just be my cooking technique but I'd like to be able to blame it on someone else.

Note: I slathered the whipped cream on which didn't make for the best presentation. I think next time a piping bag would work out better.

Note: The Aero bar is kind of interesting looking...lots of little holes in the green part of the candy bar (see below).

All in all not a bad dessert, but not sure I'd make it again. Though if I needed something green, this would be kind of cool to show up with. That is if there were actually any McVities Chocolate Digestive Biscuits to actually make the dish since they seem to disappear quite rapidly in my house.

Eating Royally

EATING ROYALLY - Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen by Darren McGrady (Private Chef to Princess Diana)

This cookbook has a copyright of 2007. I bought this cookbook from Amazon (last summer for the Olympics). I have never cooked from this cookbook before.

Though I always "read" my cookbooks from cover to cover, checking out each recipe and what little tidbits might be given, this is actually a cookbook you can read. The author, Darren McGrady, started out as a pastry chef for The Royal Family before becoming Diana's personal chef for the last four years of her life. Yes, I'm one of "those people" who got up at a ridiculous hour to watch the royal wedding (er, all of them actually from Diana to Fergie to Sophie to Camilla to Catherine). I also will admit to a slight fascination as to what Catherine wears. I have a Charles and Diana wedding tea towel (my Grandma W. went to England two weeks after the wedding). I may have a British mug commemorating Andrew and Fergies wedding. I am not a fanatic but I do have a healthy appreciation for the British royal family. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So what I'm trying to say is I loved reading this cookbook.

I found this book quite fascinating actually and easy to read (the chef did have some help writing it). Mr. McGrady explains how he became a chef and how he came to work for The Queen. I found the stories he told to be quite fun and informational. Who knew that The Queen ordered Tea Scones to be served every day...which she never ever ate...they were crumbled on the floor for the Corgis! Or that in Buckingham Palace it's a mile and a quarter from the kitchen to the Queens dining rooms. Loved reading about this kind of information. Most of the book is about feeding the royal family in general, it's only the last chapter that really concentrates on Princess Diana. No scandals here (unless you count the fact that The Princess often had two versions of a dish served...a low cal non fat version for her and a full fat tasty version for her guests).

The book is divided into sections per the house (or should I say gigantic castle) that the royal family is in at various times of the year. There is a certain tradition as to where the family might be (Windsor Castle from March to Mid-May; Balmoral Castle from August until early October) and certain foods are only cooked at certain times. There is even a chapter about food served aboard the Britannia (the royal ship that has now been retired). The book explains what might be happening at each residence during that time, the foods that were served and then gives recipes for the foods mentioned. The Chef does give little morsels of information about the royals, which foods they prefer, what happens while the family is there. He includes photos of himself and photos of the foods that would be considered personal snapshots. Not all recipes have photos.

Most of the recipes have information as to maybe how the recipe came about, which royal it was a favorite of or when it was served. Recipes seem pretty straightforward. Measurements are in English equivalents. Most of the ingredients would be easy to find at most well stocked grocery stores, though I found Marmite at Cost Plus.

The one interesting item is that on the front of the cookbook there is a note that says "Featuring Prince William and Catherine Middleton's Wedding Cake Recipe". But nowhere inside does it state which cake that is! You would have to know that the cake in question is a fruit cake (and the recipe really isn't anything close to the kind of fruit cakes that one gets at Christmas here in the states). They also make a big deal about the fact that he was the private chef of Princess Diana but most of the book is of the royal family in general.

When I first got this cookbook and did a cursory glance, there really weren't a lot of recipes I wanted to try. But after reading about each recipe and the traditions and stories behind them, I found quite a few that I want to try: Royal Tea Scones (the ones that get fed to the dogs); Croques Monsieur; Sausage Rolls; Gaelic Steaks (the one with the Marmite); Battenburg Cake; Chocolate Biscuit Cake; Earl Grey Tea Cake; Spring Asparagus Soup with Dill; Beef Wellington; Choux A La Cherbourg (Cabbage in a Creamy Garlic and Bacon Sauce); Brandy Snaps; Chocolate Perfection Pie; Framboises St. George; Lemon Refresher (English lemonade with, get this, Epsom salts); Yogurt Brulee with Mango and Papaya; Cottage Pie; Steak Diane; Tenderloin Steaks Stuffed with Boursin with a Rosemary, Bell Pepper Sauce; Glenfiddich Chocolate Mousse; Summer Pudding; Crathie Crunch; Bread and Butter Pudding (it has Amaretto in it!); Peach Princess; Treacle Tart; Traditional Irish Soda Bread; Christmas Cake (think fruitcake); Traditional English Trifle; Avocado and Hearts of Palm Salad; Peach Panna Cotta; Iced Praline and Amaretto Souffle with Poached Pear.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, the recipes included were just the icing on the cake. Really made me want to go visit England!

Mint Oreos Dipped In White Chocolate

Currently that thing called work is still kicking my butt. I'd also like to point out that Murphy's Law has taken up residence at my job as we've had some of the busiest days on record. So though I'm cooking a bit (or at least providing Mr. L and I with food to eat when it's my turn), I'm still not finding time to try out all the great recipes I seem to be coming across. Or maybe it's just by the time I get home from work it takes all my energy just to push the on button for the television. Huge props go out to Mr. L who has taken up the daunting task of not only cooking every other week, but doing all the meal planning (and that's breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks), shopping and cooking for that week.

For St. Patrick's Day this year, Mr. L cooked our traditional Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage. He also scored some wonderful Irish Soda Bread from the caterer at his work. With this wonderful holiday meal, I figured I needed to come up with a dessert...something that was quick and easy. These White Chocolate Dipped Oreos fit the bill.

I have several "holiday" recipes that are basically the same, it's the color that changes. Cookie Bark and M&M Topped Brownies are two of the ones I've already posted here. Dipping Oreos in white chocolate and topping them with holiday coordinated sprinkles is another quick idea that makes for a festive (easy, quick) dessert. You only need three ingredients....Oreos, white chocolate, and sprinkles. The easy part is that Oreoss usually come out in coordinating colors around the appropriate holidays. Orange for Halloween, Peppermint for Christmas etc. In fact, I've taken the Peppermint Oreos, dipped them in white chocolate and then, instead of sprinkles, topped them with bits of crushed peppermints (you can get bags of the stuff at Trader Joes during the Christmas holidays).

I've had this link from Dandelions and Dust Bunnies pinned for a while. You can find lots of "recipes" out there for dipped Oreos if you look.

Note: You don't need specialty Oreo's, plain old white ones will do. You could even tint the white chocolate to the appropriate holiday color.

Note: To make these look more professional pay attention to the location of the logo on the cookie. I just dunked them in the white chocolate without even looking (or honestly, caring).

Note: You can find holiday sprinkles at Michaels. If you are local, Lunardis bakery area always has tubs of the stuff during holidays. Your local grocery store may do the same thing. I've already picked up Lunardis "Easter" version just in case. I think they'd go well on the Berry Oreos.

Note: I used a couple of mini muffin tins to stand up the dipped Oreos in so that both sides looked good.

Note: You can use sprinkles, colored sugar, Nonpareils, sparkle dust, edible paints, and sugar pearls as toppings on these.

 

Brown Ale-Braised Chicken

I'm a fan of Guinness...some people aren't. I like the flavor it gives to food be it this Brown-Ale Braised Chicken or a Guinness cake. This surprises some people because I don't like beer. I just like Guinness. More specific, I like Black and Tans. Guinness and Bass Ale. With very salty potato chips. I have no clue why. So yeah, pretty much anything cooked with Guinness works for me.

Mr. L and I both really liked this recipe and the flavor the stout gave this dish. I realize they called for "brown-ale" and gave many local beer examples. That's fine for you. I'm using Guinness. The whole thing is pretty simple to put together but took me about 30 minutes or so to prep and then you just have to wait the 40 minute baking time. Which gives you time to sit back and have a Guinness (because you of course bought a full six pack because the grocery store no longer sells the single bottles and you'd hate for Guinness to sit around and go bad). With St. Patrick's Day coming up this weekend, this would be a great dish to serve for dinner.

The recipe for this Brown Ale-Braised Chicken came out of the October 2012 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. As usual the photo of my recipe doesn't look a whole lot like theirs, but at least it tastes really good.

BROWN ALE-BRAISED CHICKEN
(Better Homes and Garden October 2012)

1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
8 skin-on chicken thighs
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
8 small whole carrots with tops, peeled and tops trimmed to 1 inch
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 12-oz. bottle brown ale
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, peeled
Coarsely chopped celery leaves
Fresh Thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, chili powder, salt, ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper; rub into chicken thighs. Let stand 10 minutes.

In an extra-large ovenproof skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until well browned on both sides and skin is crispy. Remove chicken from skillet. Drain fat, reserving 1 Tbsp.

In the same skillet cook and stir the onion, celery, and carrots in the reserved fat about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in beer and broth. Bring to a simmer. Return chicken to skillet. Add garlic. Cover and bake 40 minutes. Sprinkle with celery leaves and thyme.

Makes 4 servings. (Each serving 552 cal, 23 g carbs, 4 g fiber)

Note: I couldn't find any small carrots but I did find some smallish organic carrots of different colors. I used them but cut them into half and thirds. Messes a bit with the presentation but still tasted good.

Note: I used Guinness Stout in bottles

Note: I of course had the thyme and stuff to garnish the dish and then completely forgot to put them on. Sometimes cooking when you're really hungry isn't the best for food blogging.

Note: We seemed to have way more "sauce" than pictured in the recipe article. It's pretty good sauce so I kept it and used it to pour over some brown rice and quinoa.

All in all a great dish that we would definitely make again and perfect to serve to company.