Cream of Cauliflower Soup in my Great Grandma's Soup Tureen

This last week, I've been distracted and very busy with my job and a personal family crisis. The dust has settled a bit, so I'm finally able to upload some photos and share recipes. Tomorrow, I'm carrying on my tradition of making a very small (and very intimate) Super Bowl Sunday. Truthfully, I'm not much of a spectator sport person. I can watch a horse doing it's ballet at a dressage competition for hours-- and I can walk the world famous Pebble Beach Golf Course at the AT&T Golf Tournament (I live 30 minutes away) and watch famous golf pros and celebrities hit a golf ball, while the marshals tell us to "hush". But, football? I just don't get it.

However, my husband and son enjoy football, so this is my annual contribution to help them to enjoy the American National obsession of watching the Super Bowl. So far, I have narrowed down a few dishes I will be making. One of them comes from Kevin, at Closet Cooking. He posted a 7-Layer Dip that I found appealing because it's made with fresh ingredients. I'm not a food snob, but I try to make things from scratch as often as possible. I'm blessed to live in the Salinas Valley of California-- where I have year-round access to fresh vegetables and Driscoll berries. I grow my own tomatoes and I have an herb garden because I live in the sun belt. To those of you who live in freezing cold weather-- I'm sorry! I struggle to make living here affordable and it's so worth it. I have all the ingredients for Kevin's recipe. I also found a recipe for Shredded Pork Taquitos, from Pam at "For the Love of Cooking. I also found a recipe for Caramelized Onion Dip from "Dinner with Julie" that looks easy and how can I resist anything with balsamic vinegar? Of course, I will make my own Chili Con Carne recipe, that I've adapted from my Mexican "Nana". I use ground beef, cumin, chili powder, garlic and pinto beans. Mine doesn't use kidney beans. Call me a purist, but my Mexican DNA shudders at the thought of it.

Enough of my weekend plans for cooking and baking... oh, did I mention that it's in the mid-70's right now? It's BBQ time!

Last week, though, we had rain and cold weather. I was so thankful, because our local farmers need rain to supply the brands of produce that you are buying in the East Coast. I live near Earthbound Farms and I buy their products on a weekly basis. Sorry...I'm sound like I'm boasting. I guess I am-- it's just that I love my hometown of Monterey, California!

Ah, the Cauliflower Soup. I decided to make "Pioneer Woman's" recipe for cauliflower soup. I had some frozen homemade chicken stock, from the roasted chicken I had made a couple of weeks ago. I tweaked just a couple of things. It was Ree's photos of her soup tureen that reminded me... I have my Great Grandmother's Soup Tureen in bubble wrap in my garage storage! I decided to start using it. All I know about the tureen is that my grandmother was born in 1902 and it belonged to her mother. My German relatives come from Southern Germany-- "Bavaria". They owned a a very successful hotel & restaurant. I've visited it, but it was finally torn down in the 90's. That's probably where my love of cooking gene came from.

The recipe was delicious-- though, next time, I think I'll use fresh thyme (that is thriving in my backyard) for a little extra flavor. The German side of me loves cream-of-anything soups. My "must have" ingredient is fresh lemon juice. It's what gives soups, in my opinion, that wonderful brightness of flavor. Try it!

Black Bean Stoup - "Stew meets Soup"

I have to give Rachael Ray credit for converting me from using boxed mixes and canned soups to make week night meals for my family. Actually, she was my inspiration to buy quality kitchen knives, and to stock my pantry with staples that helps me to throw a meal together in less than 30 minutes (this does not include the cleanup, thank you very much). I confess, though, that I can hardly stand to listen to her anymore. Her prattling and Rachaelisms have gotten on my last nerve! Whew! I got that off my chest.

However, there are a few of her recipes that are family staples. Her Black Bean Stoup recipe is one of them. I make and freeze my own chicken stock, but I do keep organic unsalted chicken stock in a box as a pantry staple. This recipe comes together really fast, and I did use boxed chicken stock. The only tweaking that I do with Rachael's recipe is that 3 cans of black beans (or you can soak and cook your own...and I do that, when I have time) isn't enough, for me. I prefer to add 4 cans. I have not had Rachael's success in mashing one can of black beans to thicken this recipe. Instead, I make a slurry of flour and water, and this works just fine to thicken the soup.

To me, I cannot skip adding fresh lime juice and fresh cilantro. It's what makes the whole soup come together with just the right flavors. I served this with Sweet Skillet Cornbread and a green salad for a hearty and delicious rainy night meal.

Santa Maria Style Tri-tip

This recipe has been re-done, updated and revised. 

For step-by-step photos and how to make this, please click here:

http://foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/california-tri-tip-santa-maria-style.html

See you in a few seconds!

Pinto Beans - Cowgirl style

I cannot resist checking in on The Pioneer Woman website on a daily basis. Her cookin' is simple, down home and delicious. I've made her onion straws, and loved them. We're experiencing glorious warm weather, in the middle of January, in California. So, we've rolled out the Weber and I plan to grill some Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip (recipe for delicious cornbread is coming soon). You've GOT to serve them with beans!



I'm fifty percent Mexican, so I love beans (and tortillas). I love 'em refried, as chili con carne, red beans & rice-- I just love beans. They're easy to make, inexpensive and good for you. I used Ree's recipe as a guideline, but the truth is... I didn't measure at all.

I am a cowgirl, at heart. Yessiree! I have a horse to prove it. She's almost 25 years old, but she was once a rootin' tootin' reigning cowhorse who won quite a few trophies. Here she is, with me, just yesterday afternoon:


The recipe is very basic, according to Pioneer Woman's recipe:
I adapted it to suit my taste

Roast Chicken with Meyer Lemon and Sage

I just love lemons-- especially Myer lemons. I have a Eureka lemon tree that is full of fruit. Alas, my Myer lemon tree has yet to gift me with that wonderful sweet fruit. I confess, that I made this recipe with Eureka lemons, because I could not bring myself to pay close to $1.00 each for small Meyer lemons at the grocery store. I just couldn't. Selfishly, I used my four Meyer lemons, from Trader Joe's (and a lot less expensive) to make Myer Lemon Sorbet. I don't have a photo of it, because we greedily ate it for dessert. I used the same recipe for my Ruby Red Grapefruit Sorbet.

This is a delicious recipe, that came together really fast. I used fresh sage from my garden.
With the leftover carcass, I made a beautiful chicken stock-- about 4 quarts of it. I simply added a bouquet garni of fresh rosemary, sage, thyme and parsley. I added the roasted carrots and onions (opting not to include it in my pan sauce-- which was delicious, by the way). The stock tastes lovely, and it's in the freezer for future meals.

But back to the roasted chicken dinner... I served it with roasted fingerling potatoes and a simple baby green salad with pears, gorgonzola cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette. So "Bistro" and good! The bonus was that this was a very economical meal.
From the Food Blog: Phoo-D
Serves 4
Recipe adapted from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home

Orange Blueberry Muffins

Monday mornings have become a traditional time for me to call my friend, Donna, who moved from Carmel to Rhode Island. The only reason she and her husband moved to tiny Rhode Island is to take care of her elderly mom. Trust me. I miss her as my Foodie Friend who shares the love of the same foods that I do. Inevitably, we get hooked into describing recipes and meals we've made. Last week, I baked fresh blueberry pie. Since then, we've been enjoying fresh blueberries on our Irish Steel cut oats, and on cold cereal. Right now, they are fresh and a decent price to buy, so I've stocked up on them. Donna, I know that you love blueberries so I baked this new recipe from one of my favorite foodblogs, "Half Baked" . I usually think of blueberries and lemons as a perfect pair, but oranges... I had to make these, instead of blueberry pancakes. I'm sure glad that I did!

I can tell you that the muffins turned out moist and delicious. I enjoyed mine, hot and fresh from the oven with a cup of my Koloa Estate Coffee that I have shipped from Kauai. For $15.00 a month, it's my one indulgence that I'm not willing to give up.

Donna, my coffee and muffin was enjoyed with you in mind. I know that you're freezing in Rhode Island, while I'm enjoying 70 degree weather in Monterey, California. With each sip, I am longing for your return to Carmel-- where we can hang out for coffee together. I'm sending you some California orange sunshine and hugs.

Chive Risotto Cakes

For Christmas, I treated myself to Ina Garten's newest cookbook "Back to Basics". There are quite a few recipes that I plan to make. They are simple, and not too time-consuming. A few days ago, I made seared scallops, and I decided to make her Chive Risotto cakes to serve as a side-dish. I love the crunch of panko crumbs, and I like to keep Greek yogurt on hand for lots of recipes. I grow my own chives, so this is the first recipe from my new cookbok that I wanted to try. This side dish is a nice change from mashed potatoes or a basic rice. It reheats very well. I think that you could take some liberties with this recipe, quite easily. You could use green onion for a little more "kick". You could switch to gruyere cheese, and you could even add a little red pepper flake if you really like some heat.

Blueberry Pie

While shopping for groceries, on Sunday, I spotted a display of fresh blueberries that were on "special" at $6.00 for 18 ounces. I had just recorded an episode from America's Test kitchen on making perfect pie crust (using vodka) and blueberry pie. I was intrigued at the technique of mashing and cooking half the fresh blueberries, to release the pectin. Clever! The remaining blueberries are added "whole". The secret ingredient is to grate a Granny Smith apple, squeeze out the excess juice and adding that to the blueberries. The pectin from the apples would require less tapioca (or cornstarch) to be added-- thus, less risk of ending up with "concrete pie".

Gorgeous Fresh Blueberries

I followed the recipe to a "T"...well, I took one shortcut. I like making my own pie crusts, but I had a box of prepared pie crusts from Trader Joe's waiting to be used. It's a pretty darned good prepared pie crust, for times when you want to take short cuts.
I served the pie with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. As promised, the pie filling was firm, and not soupy. Overall, we liked the pie-- BUT, my family unanimously decided that we'd love this recipe even more with our beloved Olallieberries. It seems that the East Coast natives love blueberries the way that West Coast folks love Olallieberries (that are only native to us). Fortunately, I have some frozen olallies in our deep freeze. It looks like I'll have to plan another weekend to make my own pie crust and to repeat this successful recipe!





Blueberry Pie
from the Episode: The Best Blueberry Pie, America's Test Kitchen

This recipe was developed using fresh blueberries, but unthawed frozen blueberries (our favorite brands are Wyman’s and Cascadian Farm) will work as well. In step 4, cook half the frozen berries over medium-high heat, without mashing, until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 12 to 15 minutes. Grind the tapioca to a powder in a spice grinder or mini food processor. If using pearl tapioca, reduce the amount to 5 teaspoons. Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor; do not substitute.


Step-by-Step: Looks Can Be Deceiving

Pretty But Pasty Too much tapioca (or the wrong thickener, such as flour or cornstarch) results in a filling that holds its shape but tastes gluey and dull.

Fresh But Soupy With no thickener at all, there is plenty of fresh berry flavor, but the filling is loose and runny.

Step-by-Step: No-Fuss Top Crust
We used a 1 1/4-inch biscuit cutter to cut holes in the dough, but a spice-jar lid will also do the trick.

I love to shop at Trader Joe's. That's where I purchased a bag of Wild Japanese Sea Scallops. They were reasonably priced, though rather small. I love scallops, and my favorite way to eat them is to sear them. These were cooked in less than 3 minutes, and I made a quick herb butter sauce.

With that, I served Ina Garten's Ricotta cakes (cooked to a golden brown with panko crumbs) and steamed green beans with an herb butter (that I keep in my freezer for convenience). I'll post that recipe later on in the week.





I followed the recipe (really, it's more of a technique) from Fine Cooking.

Perfectly Seared Scallops

Dry thoroughly, cook briefly, and sauce simply to enjoy their subtly sweet richness

by Molly Stevens There are few main courses as elegant and yet as simple as a dish of seared sea scallops. Sweet, tender, mild, and delectable—the less you fuss with scallops, the better they taste. The best way I’ve found to cook plump, meaty scallops is to sear them quickly in a hot pan so that the outsides get a lovely crisp, brown crust and the insides remains tender and creamy. Then, to dress them up, I whip up a speedy pan sauce in the same pan.

Getting a great sear isn’t hard if you keep these points in mind.

Dry scallops are essential — At the store, ask for dry sea scallops, which means that they haven’t been soaked in a sodium solution. The solution whitens and plumps the scallops, but when you cook them, all that liquid leaches out, making it impossible to achieve a good sear.

Get the pan and cooking fat hot — Heat a nonstick pan over medium-high heat for a minute or so; then add the fat and let it heat up. If you’re using oil, it’s ready when a drop of liquid sizzles as it hits the hot oil. If you’re using oil and butter, wait until the butter stops foaming.

Don’t crowd the pan — There should be enough room between the scallops so that they sizzle rather than steam—that’s the only way you’ll get a good crust. If your pan isn’t big enough to hold the scallops without crowding, sear them in batches.

Scallops only need a few minutes per side to get nicely browned. They’re done when they feel barely firm to the touch, and when you cut into one, it should be faintly opalescent. Don’t overcook them or they’ll be dry and rubbery.

After transferring the seared scallops to a platter, make a quick pan sauce. The idea is to choose just a handful of ingredients that complement one another to make a lively sauce for your perfectly seared scallops.

Photo: Scott Phillips

From Fine Cooking 72, pp. 48

Classic Herb Butter Sauce for Seared Scallops

by Molly Stevens

This French pan sauce works well with parsley and chives, but other good candidates are tarragon, chervil, dill, and basil.Yields enough for 1 lb. seared scallops.

ingredients

3 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into six pieces
2 Tbs. finely diced shallot (1 medium shallot)
1/4 cup dry white vermouth or dry white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as flat-leaf parsley and chives
1/4 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 lemon wedges for serving

how to make

using 1 Tbs. each extra-virgin olive oil and unsalted butter to sear the scallops.

When the scallops have been transferred to a plate and the pan has cooled somewhat, return the pan to medium heat. Add a piece of the butter (1/2 Tbs.) and the shallots and sauté until the shallots begin to soften, about 1 minute. Add the vermouth or wine and simmer until reduced by about half, another 1 to 2 min. Add the herbs and lemon zest. Reduce the heat to low, add the remaining butter, and whisk constantly until the butter melts into the sauce. Return the scallops and any accumulated juices to the pan. Gently roll the scallops in the sauce to warm them through. Taste for salt and pepper and serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side to squeeze over the scallops.

From Fine Cooking 72, pp. 49

July 1, 2005

Click here for printable recipe

No-Fuss Focaccia Bread

It seems that, since New Year's Day, we have been invited to Open Houses and dining out. I was ready to resume some home cooking! Plus, tomorrow, my three week vacation ends and I return to working full-time. My meal plans will go back to include fast work week recipes, and a lot less sweets and holiday gourmet meals.

Today, I made Lasagna (will post later in the week) and focaccia bread. I love dipping my focaccia bread in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In the summer, when my basil is flourishing, infusing my olive oil with that delicious herb-- and some garlic-- takes my bread dipping sauce to a new level.

I'm just learning how to bake different types of bread-- and this recipe was as easy as King Arthur promised it would ne. From prep to baking time, my bread was ready in less than two hours! It was super easy to make-- I used my trusty Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. I did take some photos of my bread, but it was late in the day and the lighting just wasn't quite right. So, I decided to use the photo from the King Arthur website.

For the rest of the week, I made Sloppy Joe's (from scratch and not from a Mannwich can) by request of my son. I'm all set for the next three nights-- where my husband and son can easily reheat everything while I'm taking my night classes.

I won't be posting as often, but I'll still be around. Back to work... no matter what, I always make time to cook dinner. I just can't resort to "take out". My idea of fast food is to have the ingredients on hand and have it on the table in 30 minutes, or less. Simple, good and I control what goes in it!

No Fuss-Focaccia Bread
From King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional
• 1/4 cup Vermont cheese powder, optional
• Pizza Seasoning, optional

• 12 ounces warm water
• 1 1/4 ounces olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 14 3/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional
• 1 ounce Vermont cheese powder, optional
• Pizza Seasoning, optional

Directions

1) Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, and drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom.

2) Combine all of the ingredients, and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.

3) Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it's become puffy.

4) While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

5) Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger.

6) Drizzle it lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with pizza seasoning, and/or the dried herbs of your choice, if desired.

7) Bake the bread till it's golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

8) Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Click here for printable recipe