Mustardy Goodness

Hello again  – so Summer came and went, didn’t it? And wow, so did Autumn! Now it’s just cold. Brrrr.. 😦 I’m on to thicker, richer flavors – as long as the food is hot!! As Thanksgiving looms in a land far away from me I keep finding excuses to make turkey breast, stuffing-like side dishes, and harvest veggies like squash and hard greens.

Panzanella is defined as “bread salad” but that is a rather colorless description of this Italian concept. The version I made of this classic can be found in August’s Bon Appetit and is traditional and still oh so simple. Panzanella is an ingenious way of using stale bread, which I end up with often enough these days for this be very useful 🙂 I thought the massive amount of savory, briny flavors added another dimension of flavor to this dish, resulting in what should be called “Italian stuffing” – and good enough to substitute for the thick stuff at the Thanksgiving table. As for the mustard, the recipes are pretty consistent: mustard seeds + vinegar = mustard, or something like that. When I made my first batch, one taste just about burned my tongue off so I ended up diluting here and seasoning there considerably. Be warned, mustard means business 😉 I decided to combine all my favorite types of mustard into one honey-beer mustard recipe that is sweet and spicy to boot. I think the result is much more fun than the standard recipe and worth the effort. After all, mustard goes in everything (and anything) you can think of, so spice it up! Add a dollop to vinaigrettes, pasta sauce, cheese platters, or scrambled eggs..

So yes, the star ingredient here is mustard. Its uses are endless and it adds ample taste in small amounts; oh, and did I mention it lasts 7 months (at least) in the fridge?! No there’s something useful. Mustard is also a host to health benefits based on the fact that mustard is mostly made up of mustard seeds and those seeds are full of potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorous, among other things.. Have you seen a mustard tree? It’s huge. And a mustard seed? So small, itsy bitsy. It’s crazy that one turns into the other in a matter of years. So my motto this month is – eat more mustard! And you’d be surprised how easy that is 😀

Warm Tomato Panzanella with Capers, Olives, and Roasted Peppers

Ingredients

(for the mix)

1 whole-wheat baguette (can sub with any bread), slightly stale & broken into chunks

5 tomatoes

2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced

2 bell peppers, any color

10 kalamata olives, pitted & coarsely chopped

2 Tbs. capers, coarsely chopped

(for the dressing)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbs. sherry vinegar

3 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. white wine

1 lemon, juiced

1 Tbs. spicy or whole-grain mustard

1 Tsp. chili flakes

1 Tbs. dried (or 3 Tbs. fresh) oregano

sea salt & cracked pepper

(1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil on high heat. Line a baking pan with foil and spray with oil, add the peppers and season with salt and pepper, mixing to coat. (2) When the oven is hot, put the baking pan on the highest rack. Roast until peppers are soft and the outside skin is blackened and blistered, 30-40 minutes. (3) Cut an ‘x’ into the skin on the bottom of each tomato with a paring knife. When the water is boiling, add the tomatoes and boil for 1 minute or so until the skin starts to peel back. Immediately transfer tomatoes to a bowl of cold water. When cool, peel the skin and coarsely chop. (4) When the peppers are done roasting, seal in a plastic bag and let sit 15 minutes. Peel and discard the blackened skins and coarse chop peppers; set aside. (5) In a large bowl, add the bread, tomatoes, roasted peppers, olives, celery, and capers. (6) Make the dressing by whisking together the mustard, olive oil, oregano, garlic, lemon juice, chili flakes, white wine, and vinegar. (7) When ready to serve, add dressing to the bread and vegetable mix, tossing to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 4

Honey Whole-Grain Beer Mustard

Ingredients

1/2 bag/jar of yellow mustard seeds

1/2 bag/jar of brown mustard seeds

1/2 bag/jar of mustard powder

1 Ceres classic beer (sub any amber beer)

1/2 cup malt vinegar

1/2 cup tepid water

1/4 cup yogurt

5 Tbs. honey

salt & cracked pepper

(1) Combine mustard seeds, powder, and beer in a large container. Mix, cover, and refrigerate overnight. (2) Add vinegar & water to the mustard seed mixture and blend until most (but not all) of the seeds are pureed. (3) Add remaining ingredients, mix well, and taste. Season with salt, cracked pepper, and more honey 🙂 (3) Chill in the fridge 1-2 hours before using. Keeps in the fridge 7 months. Goes well with crackers, meat, and on rolls with pickled veggies or cheese.

So.. while being a bit time-consuming, it is possible to make your own condiments and once you’ve done so, you can use heaping spoonfuls of it in other dishes. As the sun begins to set earlier, the frost starts to cling to the corners of the windows – I’ll have to come up with even warmer, more comforting food to subsist upon 😛 Ah, it’s wintertime again!

My question:

what is your favorite type of mustard?

There are quite a few variations. My favorite is a toss up between french mustard (always a classic) and honey mustard.

Seriously, who needs ketchup? 😉

11.21.12

Thanksgiving in a Danish Kitchen

So, I’m thinking ‘Danish’ can be closely compared to ‘European’ but I’d rather not generalize in this case, the fact of the matter is that I am most definitely in Europe, where stuffing mix is hard to come by and nobody tends to remember this food-loving American holiday. I did, however, in the interest of socializing with good people and cooking good food, make it a point to celebrate Thanksgiving and wouldn’t allow my location (or my very cramped kitchen) to affect the occurrence of that. My challenge: to make Thanksgiving dinner–the turkey, the stuffing, the gravy, the veggies–all of it without an oven (ha!) and using only the 2 burners on my very little hotplate. Impossible? I think not!

I have included here the entire menu I served to our company; we were five in all (oh yes, technically six:-) and I wanted to stay pretty traditional with the recipes. To just state the hardest thing about all this right off, ’twas the stuffing. Couldn’t find any sort of stuffing mix, breadcrumbs, or even croutons (I don’t think they have a Danish word for that) so I had to get 2 loaves of bread, toast them on the stove (yeah, ’cause who needs a toaster?), cut them up into little cubes, and hope for the best when I threw them all together with broth and veggies. Luckily for me, all the effort was worth it as the stuffing turned out splendidly. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the results of my toiling in the kitchen this last Thanksgiving, I know the meal was memorable and above all things, delicious!

Just on a side note, the veggie recipe I got from Cooking Light but the rest of it, including the stuffing, turkey “medallions” as I like to call them, and the gravy was basically improvised. I got to say that while having an oven would have made this all go a lot quicker (not to mention easier), not having one and being forced to innovation and creativity was an enjoyable experience with equally satisfying results. Don’t have an oven? No fear, anything is possible as long as you have some crockery and access to heat }:-)

Before I go on to the details, I have to say that the star ingredient in all this (because every menu has one), would be fresh Thyme which, thanks to my friend and ‘sous chef’ for the evening, we had plenty of since she spent an hour at least painstakingly pulling Thyme leaves from their stems; yes, SO happy I had help with that! It was an awesome, if not time-consuming task, although it ended up turning her fingers black :p, hopefully that washed off, eventually…

Peppered Sage Turkey Medallions with Red Wine Gravy

Ingredients

(for the turkey)

2 lbs. fresh turkey breast, trimmed

3 Tbs. dried sage

salt & cracked pepper

butter, for frying

(for the gravy)

1/2 cup red wine

3 Tbs. butter

3 cups chicken broth

2 Tbs. fresh Thyme leaves

1 Tbs. dried Sage

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbs. flour

1 cup low-fat cream

salt & cracked pepper

(1) For turkey medallions, take each breast and cut in half; put a piece at a time in a plastic bag and, over a thick cutting board, beat with a can (or meat mallet) until turkey is thin and tender. Repeat with all breast pieces. Season both sides of all turkey pieces generously with salt, cracked pepper, and dried sage. (2) Next, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat in a frying pan until melted, then add the first turkey piece. Fry for about 5 minutes, browning both sides and checking that the meat is cooked through before transferring to a separate plate and covering with foil. Repeat the frying process for all turkey pieces, adding more butter when necessary to prevent sticking. When done, cover and set cooked turkey aside until ready to serve. (3) For the gravy, use the same pan with turkey drippings and deglaze with a little red wine then add 2 Tablespoons of flour, stirring with a whisk until flour begins to brown slightly. Add the chicken broth, butter, and remaining red wine; let the entire mixture simmer over medium heat until thickened, 8-10 minutes. (4) Stir in the dried sage, fresh thyme, and milk, whisking often for another 5 minutes. Just before serving, stir in the cream and season gravy with salt & pepper. Ladle over the turkey pieces (and anything else in dire need of gravy goodness 🙂

Serves 6

Traditional Sourdough Bread Stuffing with Garlic, Celery, and Onions

Ingredients

2 loaves of sourdough (or wholewheat) bread, sliced

olive oil

1 head of celery, coarsely chopped

4 medium onions, coarsely chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

4 Tbs. fresh Thyme leaves

4 cups chicken broth (or 2 bullion cubes with water)

3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

butter

salt & cracked pepper

(1) Toast all bread by brushing each side of the pieces lightly with olive oil and placing in a frying pan or skillet over medium heat until nicely browned, turning once to toast both sides, about 3-4 minutes total per slice (if you have the luxury of owning a toaster, just use that to toast all the pieces until well-browned). (2) Cut/tear all the toasted bread slices into small cubes or chunks and let sit uncovered for a couple hours until crumbs have hardened slightly. (3) In a large pot, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat and add all of the celery, garlic, and onions, stirring occasionally and cooking until tender, about 10-15 minutes. (4) When close to serving, add all of the breadcrumbs and fresh Thyme to the pot and stir, before pouring in chicken broth and apple cider vinegar. Mix the stuffing together until well-blended, adding more broth if too dry; season to taste with salt & cracked pepper. Turn the heat to its lowest setting and cover the pot, keeping warm until ready to dish up onto plates.

Serves 6

Buttered Green Beans and Mushrooms with Fresh Thyme

Ingredients

1 lb. green beans, trimmed

1 lb. cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

3 Tbs. butter

3 Tbs. fresh Thyme leaves

salt & cracked pepper

(1) In a large wok, fill the bottom 2 inches deep with salted water, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. When bubbling, throw in the green beans and steam until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Immediately rinse green beans in cold water to stop the cooking process, pat dry, and set aside. (2) Next, drain salted water from the wok and melt 2 Tablespoons of butter, lowering the heat to medium. Add sliced mushrooms and Thyme leaves, stirring well and cooking, uncovered, until all the moisture evaporates from the bottom of the wok and the mushrooms are tender, about 10-12 minutes. (3) When ready to serve, throw in the steamed green beans and remaining 1 Tbs. of butter, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook another 3 minutes, until vegetables are warmed through and steaming. Serve immediately beside turkey and stuffing 🙂

Serves 6

So there you have it: Thanksgiving dinner for six, traditionally tasty, pleasantly affordable, and immensely satisfying. The hardest part was actually making it all (in a timely fashion, of course) but if you have as wonderful company/accomplices as I did, then that turns out to be funnest part too :] Must I really wait another YEAR to have Thanksgiving again?!

My question: what is your favorite twist on the traditional gravy recipe?

I used red wine, but I bet there are some amazingly interesting things you can do to spice up this delicious thickened sauce…

11.26.11

It’s All About the Stuffing…

As a little kid, stuffing was my favorite food of all time. It’s like bread, but softer, tastier, and served in itty bitty pieces. Personally, anything that can be eaten ravenously with a big spoon is my kind of meal 🙂

The stuffing I am referring to here is of a slightly different nature, but what is stuffing for anyway, other than eating? That’s right, it’s for stuffing. And since the ‘stuffee’ in most recipes is some sort of delicious meat, I have decided to post a recipe I made involving stuffed chicken. I modeled this version off a recipe on Mushroom Stuffed Chicken from last year’s Cooking Light. In light of my current available ingredients, I made a different version involving goat cheese, golden raisins, roasted pine nuts, and shitake mushrooms.

It’s true I’ve already tried similar recipes involving stuffed chicken, but this recipe is a little more intensive then others. What I mean is, not only do you stuff the chicken, you bread it too, crisp the outside on a frying pan, and cook it in the oven until the stuffing inside melts. A lot of work? Maybe, but I definitely enjoyed it, even the messy process getting there. Good food takes time, I always say }:)

I even made my own breadcrumbs, using some leftover slices of herbed focaccia. I just want to tell everyone that if you indeed have a blender, you can make absolutely ANYTHING, including your own breadcrumbs; it takes like forty five seconds. Now that’s awesome.

Breaded Chicken Breasts stuffed with Goat Cheese, Pine Nuts, and Shitakes

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, trimmed

(for stuffing)

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 lb. shitake mushrooms, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup goat cheese, crumbled

(for breading)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup flour

3 slices white bread

sea salt & cracked pepper

olive oil

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees; put the pieces of white bread into a blender and pulse until you have coarse breadcrumbs; put in a bowl and set aside. (2) Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat; add the mushrooms, garlic, pine nuts, and green onions, cooking about 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly. (3) Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool another 10 minutes. Stir in the goat cheese and golden raisins and season the mixture with salt & pepper. (4) Using a paring knife, cut a slit through the thickest portion of each of the chicken breasts. Making sure the blade doesn’t cut through to the other side, make the opening large enough to hold about 1/4 cup of the stuffing mixture. Stuff all of the chicken breasts until you’ve used the entire mixture; firmly press the edges of the opening to seal it closed. Salt & pepper each side of the chicken breasts. (5) In 3 separate bowls, put the beaten eggs, flour, and breadcrumbs. One at a time, dredge the chicken breasts in the flour, then dip in the eggs, and lastly dredge in the bowl with breadcrumbs until evenly covered. (6) Coat the frying pan with a thin coat of olive oil and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Fry the chicken breasts on the pan, turning once, until both sides are crispy and brown, about 5-6 minutes. (8) Transfer the chicken breasts to an ovenproof glass dish and position them close together. Cook in the oven 15-20 minutes until chicken is tender and cooked throughout. This dinner dish can be accompanied by a tossed salad and cold beer 🙂

Serves 4

After writing it all out, it certainly seems like a bit more work to make this meal but I wish reemphasize–it’s tasted wonderful (and makes even better leftover). Plus, how cool do you look when you serve chicken that’s breaded AND stuffed?! Super cool, like me. I think I ought to be cooking chicken more often 😉

My question, what was the best-tasting chicken you ever had? Was it the sauce or the way it was cooked? I wonder…

02.24.11