Baked Brie with Candied Walnuts and Caramelized Onions

My mom typically serves various versions of baked brie around the holidays, so I essentially grew up eating it. It's a classic appetizer with limitless variations. Different jams work well for a salty/sweet appetizer, or you could make it more savory with roasted garlic.

I served this during a long-overdue girls' night in this past week. All three of the ladies I spent the evening with are "food people," so just as I expected when I put this together, nobody turned their nose up at baked cheese with onions and sweet nuts. It's a surprisingly perfect combination, and not surprisingly at all, I didn't come home with any of it. Maybe I ate most of it, maybe I didn't...

You will need:

1 wheel Brie cheese (double cream is the meltiest in my experience), rind intact or cut off
1 sheet puff pastry
1 small yellow onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup (1/2 a stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Caramelized onions

To a hot pan, add olive oil and once the oil shimmers, add onions. Season with salt and cook over low heat until the onions are soft and caramelized. Remove onions to a plate, cool.

Candied walnuts

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Once the butter is melted and just barely browned, whisk in the brown sugar. Add a pinch of kosher salt and remove from heat, stirring every so often to keep the butter and sugar from separating. While the butter cools, lay walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet, and toast in a 350 degree oven. Bake for 5-7 minutes, or until you can just smell them - be careful they don't burn (it will happen quickly).

Add hot walnuts to butter/sugar mixture, and, working quickly with a wooden spoon, coat all the walnuts evenly. Still working quickly, spread the coated walnuts back onto your baking sheet. Using a fork, separate the nuts from each other, sprinkle with kosher salt, and allow to cool completely. Note: you may want to line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick mat. I stuck my whole pan in the freezer to cool them quickly.

Baked brie

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the top rind off of the wheel of Brie (optional - your toppings will melt into the brie more if you remove the rind, but it is totally edible).

Lay your puff pastry on a baking sheet and place the Brie on top of it, cut side up. Spoon caramelized onions over the top of the cheese, then layer on cooled candied walnuts.

Wrap the cheese in the puff pastry by lifting each corner of the pastry toward the center of the Brie and pressing gently. Cut off any excess dough. If you'd like, you can make something decorative (like leaves) with the excess and place them on top of the dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. Serve hot with sliced apples, crackers or baguette slices.

Queso Fundido

It doesn't happen often, but tonight I really didn't want to cook. It was the first really cold night (read: cold for Nashville) of the season, this is my busiest time of year at work, and I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible at home.

But when I can't scrape away a little bit of my day to daydream about food, I come home from work and stand in my kitchen uninspired. Nothing sounds good. Then I get cranky and Josh starts calling out the items in our fridge and freezer. Nothing sounds good. I get crankier. Bless that man.

This was actually his suggestion, though it had just happened that it was already on my 30 by 30 list from September (which I still haven't started on, save for this accidental tick off the list, but I have 2 years, right?).

Unfortunately I got a little carried away with the jalapenos, and my lips are still burning as I type this. Next time I'll use a can of green chiles and a different cheese (probably Chihuahua). We are fortunate to live in a melting pot area of Nashville, so I sent Josh to the Latin store up the street for Asadero cheese. He came home with Oaxaca, which was delicious but didn't work well for melting.

If you don't mind doing some chopping on a weeknight, this comes together relatively quickly and is delicious wrapped up in soft flour tortillas; equally so with a fork.

You will need:
3 cups of shredded asadero cheese
1 cup of shredded Monterey Jack
1 can roasted green chiles
1 small onion, cut into rings
1/2 cup of Mexican chorizo

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Break up the chorizo and cook it in a skillet until it’s done, about five minutes. Cook onions in sausage grease until translucent and add chiles until just heated through. Lightly grease a medium-sized cast-iron skillet or a casserole dish and add the cheese. Top with the crumbled, cooked chorizo, cooked onions and diced chiles, and cook for 15 minutes or until bubbling.

Spoon onto tortillas. Serve immediately.

Adapted from Homesick Texan.

Texas-Style Queso

The past few days, I've been quarrantined at home with the worst cold I've had in years - mainly because I actually haven't even gotten sick in almost 2 years. I knew once it happened it would knock me flat.

So when Josh asked for a "savory snack," my comfort food cravings immediately turned to thoughts of cheese. I whipped it up in minutes, but that's not to say it hadn't taken me several attempts over a few years to get it right the first time. I refused to use Velveeta. Heavy cream just made more of a macaroni and cheese-type sauce. One day I spotted the oft-ignored can of evaporated milk that had been hiding in the pantry since who knows when, and thought I'd give it a shot.

The secret all aloig was the evaporated milk. Who'd have guessed?

You will need:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons flour
1 tablespoon (or more, depending on taste) chopped green chiles
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno pepper (seeded if desired)
2 tablespoons chopped white onions
1 small Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
6 ounces evaporated milk
4 ounces cheddar and/or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
Dash ground cumin
Dash cayenne pepper
Hot sauce to taste
Salt to taste

In a small saucepan, heat vegetable oil over medium-low heat. Once oil is shimmering, add chiles, jalapenos, cilantro and onions, and heat until soft but not browned. Whisk in flour to make a light roux, then pour in evaporated milk. Heat until bubbling, then remove from heat and stir in cheese. Add chopped tomatoes, cumin, cayenne pepper, hot sauce and salt. Serve immediately.

Ricotta Bruschetta (with Homemade Ricotta)

It's going to be really, really hard for me to buy a tub of Ricotta cheese at Publix ever again.

Admittedly, I am a snob about buying stuff in the store that I can otherwise make at home. Cheese, in its difficulty and artistry, is not something I deemed practical or probable for this home cook. But this cheese....oh, this cheese. It's so creamy and light that it doesn't even taste like cheese, but by comparison, it's clear that the plasticky glob that comes from a tub was certainly not the way Ricotta was meant to be enjoyed.

Comprised of 3 ingredients and salt, it's versatile enough that we ate it  in the following ways: off a spoon, piled on untoasted bread with homemade blackberry jam (more on that later), and as pictured, slathered on warm bread, drizzled with garlic olive oil and topped with home grown cherry tomatoes and basil.

For the ricotta, you will need:

3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (not bottled)

In a medium sized heavy pot, heat milk and cream over medium-high heat until it reaches 190 degrees. Ideally you would hitch a candy or deep dry thermometer onto the side of the pot, but I dropped the probe of a meat thermometer into the pot and it worked just as well. As soon as the milk reaches 190 degrees, take off of the stove and add lemon juice. Stir it gently a couple of times, then leave the pot alone for 5 minutes.

Set a fine mesh strainer lined with a few layers of cheesecloth over a large bowl, and pour the mixture into the strainer. Let the curds drain for two hours, then either eat it immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until you're ready to serve it.

To make the bruschetta, you will need:

6-8 slices of bread from a loaf of Italian or French bread
2 cloves of garlic, thickly sliced
Small handful fresh basil sprigs, 1 teaspoon reserved and chopped
12-16 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
Pinch salt and pepper

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds in the microwave. Immediately add the garlic, chopped basil, salt and pepper and put back in the microwave for 10 seconds. Let steep for 5-10 minutes, then brush each side of the bread with the garlic oil. Place bread slices under a broiler set on low, watching very closely until the bread turns golden brown, then flip and brown the other side. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. Top each slice of bread with a smear of Ricotta, 3 cherry tomato halves and a sprig of basil. Drizzle with remaining garlic oil if desired.

Ricotta recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs

My neuroses surrounding events and parties and all they entail may officially be getting out of control.

This is why. All this, plus 40 different lists of things to buy/do/bake/cook, is party central. Am I hosting a dinner party? My parents' anniversary? Not quite...it's Alyssa's 9th birthday in a couple of weeks, and judging by everyone's surprise that there will be 1) a theme, 2) homemade paper goods and cake, and 3) a massive spread of party foods, I may have gone a little mental.

But you know what I say? I love the kid. I love her like she was my own. You love your kids too, I know this. But perhaps you didn't get your degree in Event Management, then after being unable to find a job in said field, rely on the occasional kid's party, work luncheon and Christmas dinner to fill up that cavernous space inside you that can only come from not doing for a living what you truly, truly want to do.

I'll tell you...that space hurts a little. So Alyssa's party is not only for her, and for the family and friends that will be joining us, but yes, it's for me too. Just tell me to shut up when I complain that I've run out of room in the fridge to house my spread the night before the party.

What that has to do with baked ziti, I don't know. It was a quick weekend meal when the party planning had gotten into full swing and I was looking forward to starting my paper crafts for the party (I made her banner myself).

You will need:

1 pound dried pasta shapes, your choice
28 ounces prepared Marinara sauce, homemade (recipe follows) or store-bought
1 pound shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 14-ounce container of Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
Small handful fresh basil, chopped
Small handful fresh Italian parsley, chopped
2 pounds mini meatballs (recipe follows)

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain, and pour into a casserole dish. Immediately pour Marinara sauce and stir to coat each noodle.

Combine Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, basil and parsley in a bowl with salt and pepper. Dot over the top of the pasta and meatballs, and swirl into the sauce with a spoon.

Nestle prepared meatballs throughout the casserole. Sometimes I do neat rows, other times I just toss them in. You just want to make sure that every spoonful will have a few meatballs when the dish is served.

Top with shredded Mozzarella cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Serves 8-10...or 3, with plenty of freezable leftovers.

Homemade Marinara Sauce

Olive oil
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 medium onion, diced
1 large can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
Water
Chopped fresh basil
Chopped fresh Italian parsley
Dried oregano
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Once oil starts to shimmer, add chopped onion and stir. Cook until the onions are translucent, then add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Pour in the crushed and diced tomatoes. Fill up the 14-ounce tomato can with water and add to the pot. Stir to combine, cover, and allow sauce to heat to bubbling. Once it has started to bubble, reduce heat and add basil, parsley and oregano. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar.

Occasionally I'll add about 4 ounces of red wine at this point, but it's completely optional. Cover the sauce and cook over medium heat for a minimum of 30 minutes - but cook it over very low heat all day if you can!

Mini Meatballs

Olive or vegetable oil for browning
2 lbs ground meat (I like a combination of 80/20 beef and ground turkey)
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Small handful fresh parsley, chopped
Small handful fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Note: start with the given measurements – you can always add more later. Once your mixture is combined and your oil is hot, make a tester meatball and adjust the seasonings to your taste (I usually add more cheese and salt).

In a large bowl, combine ground meats, egg, cheese, herbs and salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the smashed garlic cloves and heat gently, both to brown the garlic and infuse the oil slightly. Once the garlic cloves are browned, remove from oil and chop to add to ground beef. Combine well – it helps to use your hands instead of a spoon. Get them dirty!

Start rolling your meatballs. Of course you can make them whatever size you like, but for this recipe I like them to be about the size of a large gumball – which would equal about a tablespoon of the meat mixture. Roll them into balls and place them on a plate until you’re ready to fry. When you’re ready to go, raise the heat to medium-high and add them to the pan. If you think of your skillet as a clock, I like to start at the 6:00 position and work my way around clockwise so I always know which meatball I started with, and thus needs to be turned first. Keep them about an inch apart so they brown evenly. Do not disturbe them and in about 2 minutes, they will be browned and ready to flip with tongs (they may not be cooked all the way through, which is fine - they'll finish cooking in the oven). Work your way around the pan the same way you put them in - first in, first out.

Drain on paper towels, add to ziti and sauce, top with cheese and bake.

Skinny Lasagna

I wasn't suprised to learn that my favorite go-to lasagna recipe was not Weight Watchers approved. Oozing with melted Mozzarella, whole fat ricotta and bursting with pork sausage, the 30 points per serving calculation seemed about right, if not less than I expected. My mission was clear: make over the lasagna to satisfy my craving and not manage to blow my entire day. This won't be a regular thing, but being that it was my first made-over recipe, I've provided the nutritional data at the bottom of the recipe as well as the total Weight Watchers points (Points Plus) per generous serving.

For the sauce, you will need:

2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb chicken sausage, casings removed (I like Trader Joe's Formaggio & Vino)
Bunch basil, chopped
Small bunch parsley, chopped
1 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon white sugar (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste

For the lasagna:

18 half-sheets lasagna or 6 full sheets
2 cups light Ricotta cheese
4 tablespoons Mascarpone cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced very finely
Small bunch basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ bag of baby spinach (whole)
1 ½ cups reduced fat Italian shredded cheese blend, or equal parts reduced fat Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, shredded

To make the sauce, heat olive oil in a dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. When hot, add onions and carrots and cook until onions are translucent, stirring frequently. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add sausage and cook for 4-5 minutes. Pour in wine and reduce slightly, about 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and simmer gently for 15 minutes before adding the basil and parsley. Season to taste, cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.

In a medium bowl, combine Ricotta, Mascarpone, egg, garlic, basil, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

To assemble lasagna, spoon enough sauce to line the bottom of a ceramic or glass baking dish. On top of the sauce, fill with one layer of pasta sheets (you may need to break some pasta sheets to completely line the bottom of the pan). Make sure that all the pasta is touching sauce – since the pasta is not pre-cooked, it will need to soak up the sauce to soften. Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the pasta sheets. Add a layer of spinach. Add tablespoon-size drops of Ricotta cheese blend over the spinach, about 9, and spread to cover spinach. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the shredded cheese mixture over the top and repeat with a new layer – adding in order sauce, pasta, sauce, spinach, Ricotta blend and cheese. Complete three layers and top the lasagna with remaining sauce and shredded cheese.

Cover with foil and bake immediately in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes, until the sauce bubbles. Remove foil for the last 10 minutes to brown the cheese. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Lasagna can also be made ahead of time and stored either in the refrigerator or in the freezer until ready to bake. If baking from frozen, add another 10 minutes to the cooking time. Serves 10.


Nutritional data

Per serving: 403 calories, 42 carbs, 14 grams fat, 24 grams protein

Weight Watchers points plus: 12.6

Savory Bread Pudding

Man. Is it just me, or is it really hard to go back to eating normally after Thanksgiving? All I want are cookies.

Alas, I refuse to undo the work I've done all year and nullify my thrice weekly workouts by eating cookies morning, noon and night. Add to that the fact that I've become a part of my company's Wellness Committee, and therefore I. must. resist.

My carb cravings hit full tilt this time of year also, and they eventually become unignorable to the point that I have to give in from time to time, despite my best efforts to ingest main-dish salads every night leading up to Christmas (as the buffalo wings digesting from dinner laugh at that best effort).

Enter bread pudding...but not the sort that would quell my cookie craving. This is a savory bread pudding, which I'd like to think is fairly original and imaginative, but I'm sure I'm not the first to give it a shot. I had leftover Italian bread from my parents' visit over Thanksgiving, as well as half and half and a smattering of good cheeses from the same visit (my Italian father is a Grana Padano snob, while I'm generally content with Parmesan in a tub). Josh had just dried the final sprigs of a hearty sage plant that had survived at least two overnight frosts, so you see, I had no choice.

How do I know when a new dish is a hit? Josh tells me he loves me with his mouth full.

You will need:

2-3 slices bacon (peppered bacon would be sooo goooood)
1 shallot, sliced thinly into rings
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 or 4 leaves of chopped sage/2 teaspoons dried sage
4 1/2 cups of French or Italian bread cubes, cut from a loaf and loosely packed into a measuring cup
1 cup mixed grated cheeses (I used Grana Padano, white cheddar and muenster)
4 tablespoons heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove, crumble, and set aside. In the same pan, cook the shallot until beginning to brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sage and cook just until fragrant, about one minute (don't burn the garlic).

In a medium bowl, combine the shallot mixture, bread cubes, cheeses, and bacon. Pour in the cream and stir until everything is moistened. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

Transfer to a greased casserole dish and cook for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

November Daring Cook's Challenge - Crab Souffle

I have a hazy memory from my childhood involving the '80s cartoon version of Alvin and the Chipmunks and souffles. One of the Chipettes - the chubby one - was some sort of master chipmunk cook who one day took on the task of whipping up a gorgeous souffle. Details are sparse in my memory, but I do remember she was very upset when a loud noise caused her souffle to fall and puddle around itself.

Way to turn a budding cook off from ever bothering.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

Seriously, y'all - I can't believe this came out of my oven. I made this. It was all things a souffle should be: light, fluffy, decadent. I didn't dare open the oven door or make a sound as they rose perfectly, but I did squeal inwardly with delight.

Even though in the 45 seconds it took me to retrieve my camera, turn it on and set the focus to macro, all of the souffles had deflated, the deflation was not as extreme as the Chipette's. It stayed intact and was incredibly tasty. I am so excited to try this base with a number of different fillings sweet and savory, but this Gruyere-crab combination is the stuff a home cook's dreams are made of.

Here's the link to the original challenge post.
And here's the recipe I used from The Kitchn (adding a generous handful of crab meat and chives to the bechamel).

Turnips Au Gratin

On a low-carb diet, even with the vast number of delicious "legal" dishes one can create, there are certainly things one misses, with only the memory of purposely-removed comfort foods remaining. For me, those often-craved bites include cheeseburgers with a bun (preferably a buttery brioche bun), chicken fried steak with cream gravy, Wavy Lay's with onion dip, and French Toast.

The fact that not one of those foods would be welcome on any realistic diet notwithstanding, with a little creativity, the low-carb foodie can find suitable replacements for some of the dearly departed foods. For example: boiled and pureed cauliflower to replace mashed potatoes, Splenda to replace sugar, baked parmesan chips (more on that another time) to replace crackers...but sliced turnips in place of sliced potatoes remains my favorite.

This is a variation of a Pioneer Woman recipe I stumbled upon when I first started reading her site. I never would have come up with it myself, nor would I have considered turnips in any way, shape, or form - simply because I had never tried one (even though they are a bit purple, and in my opinion, adorable).

After a few attempts at this dish, my biggest tip to a turnip first-timer would be to find the smallest turnips possible when selecting. I was all set to turn my family's notions on turnips upside down with this dish during a recent trip to New York, so I ventured across town to the one place I knew I'd find them: the giant Union Square Whole Foods, where I picked up 3 softball-size turnips and didn't give them a second thought as I hauled them back on the 7 train. When all was said and done and covered in thank-you-very-much-New-York-City-$17 Gruyere cheese, they tasted sharp and bit back like a raw radish would. The smaller ones here in Tennessee have proven to be much more tender and sweet, and much closer in taste to a potato. Plus, one cup of cooked turnips has 4.77 net carbs, while one cup of cooked potatoes has 15.7 carbs!

You will need:

5-6 small turnips, rinsed
2 cups Gruyere cheese (or whatever you want - Gruyere is just fantastic)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or half and half
2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter (optional)
Salt and pepper

Start by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil. I will also add sugar or simple syrup to the water - I'm not really sure if it does anything, but I like to think that it sweetens the turnips just a tad to take the edge off.

Thinly slice the turnips. I leave the skins on, but you can take them off.

Add turnips to the boiling water and cook while you obsess over getting the perfect photo of yourself chopping scallions, which you won't even wind up including in your silly blog. By that point, the water will be boiling over and the turnips should be fork-tender. Drain immediately but do not rinse.

Allow the turnips to cool for easy handling, then remove one by one to a glass baking dish. Layer the turnip slices, slightly overlapping each other across the bottom of the baking dish.

Sprinkle on a little salt and pepper, a little garlic, a little scallion, and a few blobs of butter. Then...go for the cream.

Just do it.

Then, layer on some cheese.

Repeat until you've run out of turnips and/or room in your baking dish. Cook the turnips at 250 degrees for at least an hour - sometimes I go for two hours. Remove when the cream and cheese have reduced and the top is brown and bubbly.

Find yourself so transfixed by the gooey, cheesy plate that Dr. Atkins would bless as diet food in front of you that you forget to take a picture of the final product.

White Polenta

Polenta is a smoother variation on the southern corn-based favorite, grits. In researching the dish, I learned that it was and still is considered a peasant dish, which explains nothing of why the polenta tube my grocery store sells is close to $5. Don't buy the polenta tube when it's so easy to make at home, and not at all difficult!

My version of my Northern Italian grandmother's favorite is made with white cornmeal instead of the traditional yellow. Don't think I'm super creative and knowledgeable about various types and colors of cornmeal - I just had white cornmeal on hand from an experimental dish a while back, and figured it needed to be used up.

I did, however, put a twist on this polenta from the traditional recipe, using both Parmigiano Reggiano and a healthy dollop of Chevre (goat cheese), which makes for a velvety smooth dish to sit alongside chicken, veal, beef or fish. I also happen to like green onions in just about anything, polenta included, but I think Grandma may have turned up her nose at their appearance in her beloved polenta.

You will need:

4½ cups whole milk

1 cup (scant) white cornmeal

2 ounces goat cheese (chevre)

2 ounces finely grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons butter

1 stalk green onion, white and green parts chopped

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Salt and black pepper to taste

Over medium heat, bring the milk to a soft boil, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Reduce temperature to medium-low and slowly add cornmeal. Whisk constantly until thickened. Add salt and pepper and continue to whisk.

When mixture has thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes, add butter, cheeses and green onion and whisk until combined/melted. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Reduce temperature to low/warm until ready to serve.

Leftovers can be refrigerated and when set, cut into chunks, grilled or sauteed in olive oil until crisp on the outside.

Ranch Chicken

I start out a lot of posts with "I never liked (insert food here) in the past, but..."

Aside from the fact that it's the God-honest truth, it's also an easy way for me to convey the promise of the dish itself - not to tout that my palate is more refined now than it ever has been in the past. That a dish could turn me from a hater to a convert speaks pretty highly of it, in my opinion.

That said, without ever trying it, I had a severe prejudice against honey mustard up until Sunday. A few years back, when I lived in Virginia, I had a friend that requested a side of honey mustard to accompany every one of his orders of chicken tenders or french fries, and the sight of the gloppy flourescent yellow liquid always turned my stomach. It just sounded and looked awful, but clearly I had no idea why I thought that...it really is a perfect compliment for grilled or broiled chicken!

This chicken, courtesy Ree at The Pioneer Woman, could be the simplest of country foods: pan-fried chicken covered in bacon and yellow cheese. However, the marinade in grainy mustard, honey and paprika changes the whole scope of the chicken from simple to sassy.
You will need (adapted slightly from The Pioneer Woman Cooks):

½ cup grainy mustard or dijon mustard
½ cup honey
1 whole lemon, juice only
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
Crushed red pepper (optional; to taste)
4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 slices thick cut (preferably peppered) bacon, cooked
Shredded colby or cheddar cheese, to taste

To begin, make the marinade. In a large bowl mix together ½ cup dijon or country/grainy mustard with ½ cup honey, juice of 1 lemon, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if desired. Set aside.

Next, rinse the chicken breasts, place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound to around ½ to ¾ inch thick with a mallet. Next, add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours (1 hour was sufficient).

Grill the chicken on an outdoor grill over medium flame until cooked through.

Remove chicken to a large baking sheet. Lay a few pieces of bacon over each chicken breast. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the top of the chicken as generously as you like. Set pan under your oven's broiler set to low for an additional five minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Smoky-Spicy Beer-Cheese-Sausage Soup

Josh and I spent 21 hours in Chattanooga last Friday/Saturday. It was a whirlwind trip of good people, great sightseeing, and suffice it to say, phenomenal food. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that Chattanooga was such a foodie destination, but the numerous local/organic/sustainable restaurants and grocery stores prove otherwise. I’ll have a list of recommendations at the end of this post if you ever find yourself in Chattanooga.

My first and most heartily-recommended spot would be the Terminal Brewhouse, on 14th street (next to the Choo-Choo Hotel), the inspiration from which today’s recipe comes. When we find ourselves out of town, we generally try to order whatever appears to be the most special item on the menu, judging by clues in the item’s description or title (look for words such as “house-made” or “best-seller” in the description). Josh landed on a mind-blowing soup entitled simply, “The Soup.”

“The Soup” is your traditional beer-cheese soup, kicked up with the addition of smoked Polish sausage, chipotles and jalapenos. It was creamy, smoky and too spicy, but otherwise perfect. I had to know the secret…I had to have it in my kitchen. I’d say we got pretty darn close, if not dead-on aside from a significant decrease in spice.

You will need:

1 pound smoked sausage, preferably Kielbasa, chopped
1 large onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, diced finely
1 medium jalapeno, diced finely
2 small chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce (I rinsed the sauce off to control the heat), chopped
2 12-ounce bottles dark beer (I used a combination of Porter and Bock - both Michelob)
2 ½ cups chicken broth
1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream, divided
1 8-ounce block sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon corn starch

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot and add chopped sausage. Cook until sausage starts to brown and remove to a plate; reserve grease.

Add onions, garlic, jalapeno, chipotle and celery to pot and cook in sausage grease until soft. Add the sausage back to the pot, and stir to combine over medium heat.

Pour in one bottle of beer (I started with the Bock, but I can’t imagine it makes much of a difference what goes in first). Allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes, until the liquid reduces slightly as the alcohol cooks out. Stir and add chicken broth and salt. Simmer again for 10 minutes until the liquid reduces a little more. Reduce heat and add another bottle of beer (in my case it was the Porter). Simmer for a few moments and adjust seasonings again before turning heat to low and adding 1½ cups heavy cream. Simmer the soup for a good 20 minutes after adding the cream.

In a small bowl, add 3 tablespoons cream to one tablespoon of corn starch, and mix until a smooth slurry forms. Pour into soup and stir.

Once the vegetables are softened, the broth thickened, the alcohol cooked out and the soup is a uniform creaminess (you will know when there’s very little orange grease floating on top of the soup), turn off the heat and move the pot to a cool burner. Add the cheese and stir until melted (do not add cheese over a hot burner; cheddar gets gritty). Serve immediately.

Chattanooga Recommendations:

The Terminal Brewhouse
Aretha Frankenstein's - home to one of the best biscuits I've ever had.
Rembrandt's Coffee Shop - try the chocolate cappuccino cup, Italian soda and sweet tea.
Bluff View Bakery - I couldn't help but deviate from Atkins for this one. Asiago Cheese Boule. Oy.

Creamy Parmesan Chicken

 

This is a standby. I’ve made it for my parents, my grandparents, college roommates, my brother, Italian-food-hating friends, and picky children. I have yet to feed it to a person whose eyes haven’t rolled back in their head while asking for more sauce, and one ex-boyfriend went so far as to pour some leftover sauce over his popcorn. I don't recommend that, by the way, but it is a testimony to its decadence. It’s unexpected, and it’s so easy I could do it blindfolded.

My parents moved to Wisconsin in 2004. They stumbled upon a darling Italian restaurant in a nearby town called the Mississippi Belle, owned by Chef Frank Amendola, and brought us there one year for Christmas Eve dinner. My life as a home cook changed forever when I ordered the Chicken Bianco...I had to have that chicken in my life, but I would soon be far away from Wisconsin come the end of Christmas break. So I went back to school, and in my tiny dorm room kitchen practiced and perfected my own version of Chef Amendola’s recipe. And it’s a good thing, too – the restaurant is since under new ownership, and Chicken Bianco was removed from the menu. In fact, it's not even an Italian restaurant anymore.

I usually serve this with some broccoli sautéed in olive oil and garlic, and with a big loaf of toasted Italian bread. The sauce goes far, but it doesn’t reheat very well. If you must reheat it, do it in a saucepan over low heat, and add a little extra cream to keep the liquids from separating.

You will need:

4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 slices deli ham
4 slices Mozzarella cheese (sandwich sliced)
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 pint heavy whipping cream, or a combination of heavy cream and half-and-half, equal parts of each
½ cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or any bagged/jarred/container of Parmesan will do)
1 teaspoon chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a skillet.

Pound the chicken breasts to flatten just slightly. Salt and pepper liberally on both sides.

Add the chicken to the hot oil and brown on both sides, until cooked most of the way through (you will later finish the chicken in the oven). It should bounce back a bit when pressed with a finger. Remove chicken from the pan and drain off oil on paper towels.

To make the sauce:

While the chicken is cooking, melt butter in a separate skillet over low heat. Once butter is melted, add minced garlic and raise heat slightly. Cook until soft (do not allow garlic to brown).

Pour in heavy cream and reduce heat. Once the cream starts to bubble/froth, add in Parmesan cheese and stir quickly to prevent it from sticking to the pan. Add chopped parsley and stir. Allow mixture to thicken, coating the back of a spoon; it should be slightly thinner than an Alfredo sauce. Add salt depending on the saltiness of your Parmesan cheese. Add cheese until sauce is sufficiently thick, and drop heat as low as possible to keep warm.

To assemble the chicken:

Cut 2 slices of ham in half, or into whatever size will cover your chicken breasts. Place one slice of ham and one slice of mozzarella on top of each breast and place into a glass baking dish. Top chicken breasts with the entire pan of sauce and place in a 400-degree oven. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the cheese browns slightly and the sauce bubbles.