Last week I spoke about a favorite holiday ingredient, egg nog. Today is ingredient number 2. Panettone! This holiday bread was introduced to me a few years ago and I expect it will be a part of many holiday menues. This week I toasted cubes of the bread for a salad. In the next days it will be part of a Panetonne egg nog bread pudding and finally the last slices will be an amazing french toast!
The menu for this week is:
Arugula with a roasted fruit salad and Panettone croutons
Roasted Cornish Hen with smashed potoates and feta
The salad is one I have made during the holiday's for several years. It is a favorite, colorful and full of flavor. The fruits are cranberries, grapes, pears, and plums tossed with sugar, butter and lemon juice, then roasted until softened. Slightly cooled and tossed with the arugula and a lite dressing. Topped with the Pnaetonne croutons; makes an excellent salad.
The Cornish hen is halved and a rub of garlic, mustard, rosemary salt and pepper is put under the skin and roasted. The juice is reduced with red wine and chicken broth. The juice is poured over the hen and the potatoes.
A nice pre-holiday dinner. Next week I expect to highlight Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. Spectacular as always!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Weather Outside Was Frightful!
Snow...Wind...Cold, we had it all this week. I also spent most of the week feeling poorly. What better way to survive both than to make chicken soup. However, most chicken soup recipes are quite labor intensive; poach a chicken, cool it, cut it up, discard bones and skin and process the broth. Since I was not feeling very well, I took some short cuts that worked out well. This weekend my eats were:
Roasted-Chicken Noodle Soup
Egg Nog Egg Custard
Aside from the long chicken cooking process, I also object to the wide long egg noodles in most soups. When trying to eat them, they splash broth all over the table. your clothes, and runs down your face. I found a nice simple recipe in a Cooking Light cookbook. Carrot, celery, onion and garlic sauteed in oil. A box of good chicken stock and 2 medium diced baking potatoes with skins. I purchased from the deli a garlic roasted rosemary chicken and shredded the meat from one side (the other side will fill in for sandwiches and salads this week) A lot of good flavor in the meat stirred in with a cup of low fat evaporated milk, after the vegetables are cooked. I really like real egg noodles, but was unable to find them at the store (usually in the freezer case) so I used my second favorite; Kluski's European Style No Yolks egg noodles. A nice flavorful satisfying soup which I enjoyed all weekend. I had with it with toasted whole grain bread from the bakery.
For a simple sweet, an egg custard. I have egg nog in the refrigerator from Thanksgiving until New Years and use it in coffee and oatmeal. I substituted one of the cups of milk in the custard with the egg nog. Great flavor with a dusting of nutmeg. And it went well with endless cups of tea.
Hopefully next week I will begin putting together plans for holiday food. Stop by...
Roasted-Chicken Noodle Soup
Egg Nog Egg Custard
Aside from the long chicken cooking process, I also object to the wide long egg noodles in most soups. When trying to eat them, they splash broth all over the table. your clothes, and runs down your face. I found a nice simple recipe in a Cooking Light cookbook. Carrot, celery, onion and garlic sauteed in oil. A box of good chicken stock and 2 medium diced baking potatoes with skins. I purchased from the deli a garlic roasted rosemary chicken and shredded the meat from one side (the other side will fill in for sandwiches and salads this week) A lot of good flavor in the meat stirred in with a cup of low fat evaporated milk, after the vegetables are cooked. I really like real egg noodles, but was unable to find them at the store (usually in the freezer case) so I used my second favorite; Kluski's European Style No Yolks egg noodles. A nice flavorful satisfying soup which I enjoyed all weekend. I had with it with toasted whole grain bread from the bakery.
For a simple sweet, an egg custard. I have egg nog in the refrigerator from Thanksgiving until New Years and use it in coffee and oatmeal. I substituted one of the cups of milk in the custard with the egg nog. Great flavor with a dusting of nutmeg. And it went well with endless cups of tea.
Hopefully next week I will begin putting together plans for holiday food. Stop by...
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Seafood Weekend
This was a very seafood weekend. On Saturday I took a 'Feast of the Seven Fishes' class at Viking Cooking School. As always Steve conductuted an exceptional fish class. He has taught all the fish classes I have attended there. The highlights of this one were the first course; Insalata Frutti de Mare, a Seafood salad. Scallops, shrimp and calamari lightly grilled with a lemon dressing. A spinach-crab rolled stuffed flounder with a Prosecco saffron butter sauce, both were outstanding dishes. The clam linguine was OK, but I like the one I do better.
At home I did:
Pistachio-Crusted Tuna Steak
Warm Pecan Cabbage Slaw
The tuna dish is very good. The tuna is crusted with pistachio/Panko crumbs with dill. The grilled fish is served with a lemon-dill sauce. Nice flavor and texture. Would work with other fish 'steaks'. Will use this concept again with other fish.
The slaw was a nice side for the fish. Lightly steamed cabbage, carrots, and green onions with a butter mustard sauce and toasted pecans was a good accompaniment. Seafood, aside from being good for you, has a lot of possibilities in their preparation. I plan to do more seafood dishes in the new year.
Next week is still a mystery?
At home I did:
Pistachio-Crusted Tuna Steak
Warm Pecan Cabbage Slaw
The tuna dish is very good. The tuna is crusted with pistachio/Panko crumbs with dill. The grilled fish is served with a lemon-dill sauce. Nice flavor and texture. Would work with other fish 'steaks'. Will use this concept again with other fish.
The slaw was a nice side for the fish. Lightly steamed cabbage, carrots, and green onions with a butter mustard sauce and toasted pecans was a good accompaniment. Seafood, aside from being good for you, has a lot of possibilities in their preparation. I plan to do more seafood dishes in the new year.
Next week is still a mystery?
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