Tag Archives: cooking

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb

herb-crusted rack of lambROASTED RACK OF LAMB WITH CRUSHED HERB AND GARLIC CRUST. SERVED WITH ASSORTED SEASONAL VEGETABLES.

A wise man (not me) once tweeted, “Once you realize that you don’t need a special occasion to buy a cake, the second part of your life begins.” And while I can definitely get behind cake anytime and anywhere, the same can be said about rack of lamb. Often found on Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner tables, or as specialties at your local fancypants restaurant, rack of lamb is a natural centerpiece and can (and should!) be appreciated year-round with it’s mildly gamey, tender, juicy, supremely flavorful meat. Though quite pricey even at our favorite wholesale clubs, rack of lamb is still our perfect go-to as an occasional treat or a date night main course. In our humble opinion, it goes best with bright and fruity flavors, or with savory sauces like red wine reduction or demi-glace! There’s just nothing quite like it. -Boo

Servings: 2-3 (main portions)
Difficulty: 2 star

Oven: 375 F, 20 minutes; 400 F, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 (1.5-2 lb) rack of lamb
  • coarse salt and black pepper
  • 2 tb Dijon mustard
  • Herb crust
    2 tb breadcrumbs
    2 tb fresh parsley
    2 tb fresh rosemary
    2 tb fresh thyme
    3 cloves garlic
    2 tb olive oil

Directions:

  1. Process or finely mince herb crust ingredients, and set aside until use.
  2. Season rack on all sides with coarse salt and pepper.
  3. Sear in olive oil until browned on all sides. Remove to a work surface.
  4. Brush rack completely with Dijon mustard , and press herb crust mixture evenly over the rack.
  5. Roast at 375 F to desired doneness, 20 minutes.
  6. Increase temperature to 400 F, and roast to desired doneness, 14-16 minutes for medium-rare.
  7. Set aside to rest, 10 minutes.
  8. Slice racks into chops, and serve.

Blood Orange Sea Scallops Flambé

blood orange sea scallops flambeSILKY SEARED SCALLOPS WITH A SPICED BLOOD ORANGE REDUCTION. MISO-POACHED RADISHES AND SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS.

There are few better mealtime omens than a good scallop starter. And while scallops are great with the usual butter and white wine sauce, their natural sweetness and creamy texture complement fruity, tangy flavors delightfully! Blood orange may not be in season anymore, but of course regular oranges can be used, even though you won’t get the almost-berrylike tones as you would from the blood orange. For those of you who like playing with fire, there’s an optional step to flambé the sauce with Grand Marnier, too!

The focus of this recipe is definitely the sauce, while the method for the seared scallops is pretty much the same as any classic recipe – some light seasoning followed by a very hot pan and some oil for a minute or two a side. Happy cooking 🙂 – Boo

Servings: 2 (appetizer portions)
Difficulty: 1 star

Ingredients:

  • Blood orange sauce
    2 blood oranges, zested and juiced
    0.75 tb honey
    2 pinches salt
    1 pinch five spice
  • 1 tb Grand Marnier
  • 4 (large) sea scallops
  • Seasoning
    salt and black pepper, medium coarse
    garlic powder
  • Garnish
    pea sprouts
    blood orange zest
  1. In a small saucepan, stir and simmer sauce ingredients on medium heat until slightly thickened.
  2. Add Grand Marnier, and optionally set alight to flambé.
  3. Reduce sauce to 2-3 tb, or to a syrupy consistency. Remove from heat, and keep warm.
  4. Season scallops on both sides, and sear in olive oil over high heat, 1.5-2 minutes per side.
  5. Serve scallops with orange sauce, and garnish as desired.

Brown Butter Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Swiss Chard

brown butter gnocchiCHEWY PORCINI AND TRUFFLE POTATO GNOCCHI BROWNED IN BUTTER AND TOSSED WITH SAUTEED MUSHROOMS AND SWISS CHARD.

Never big fans of Whole Foods, Pea and I were still excited for the recent opening of one just two blocks away from our home. As we strolled through the aisles of fancypants ingredients and munched on the occasional free sample, we were shocked to find Swiss chard, one of my all-time favorite veggies, at a reasonable price! Quickly, before the shock and novelty of a good deal at Whole Foods wore off, we checked out contentedly with our find.

Swiss chard is great sautéed, stir-fried, or even raw in a salad or as a wrap. Although the recipe below is for a “gnocchi dish”, the swiss chard adds an fantastic dimension of flavor to the plate, which is otherwise just seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon zest. The leaves are like a softer, silkier spinach, and the stems are just a hint sweet. With the mushrooms and chewy potato gnocchi, this vegetarian-friendly recipe makes a great earthy, savory meal for two or a comforting appetizer for three or four! – Boo

Servings: 2 (full courses) or 3-4 (appetizer portions)
Difficulty: 2 star

Ingredients:

  • Vegetables
    0.5 lb mushrooms, sliced
    0.5 onion, diced 1 cm
    2 cloves garlic, grated
    0.5 lb Swiss chard
  • 8 oz gnocchi
  • 2 tb butter
  • 0.25 tb olive oil
  • Seasoning
    0.5 ts salt
    0.25 ts black pepper
    lemon zest

Directions:

  1. In a large pan, sear mushrooms in olive oil over medium-high heat.
  2. Meanwhile, separate chard leaves from stems. Dice stems, and chop leaves.
  3. Add onions, chard stems, and garlic to large pan, and saute over medium-high heat until softened, 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add chard leaves to saute until wilted, 1-2 minutes. Set vegetables aside.
  5. Cook gnocchi per package instructions, and drain.
  6. In a pan, heat and stir butter over medium-high heat until browned. Add olive oil and gnocchi, and sear gnocchi on several sides, 2-3 minutes.
  7. Stir vegetables and seasoning into gnocchi, and serve.

Olive Oil Poached Chicken Breast

olive oil poached chicken close upMOIST, SLOW-POACHED CHICKEN BREAST ENRICHED WITH OLIVE OIL AND DASHED WITH BLACK PEPPER. SIMPLE, FRESH BALSAMIC SALAD. TORCHED BRIE OVER HONEY. LEMON WEDGES AND WHOLE-LEAF BASIL.

In 95% of cooked dishes, “color equals flavor”, meaning that the best flavor comes from the deliciously crispy, golden-brown crust that gives each bite traces of hundreds of different flavors through perhaps the most famous chemical reaction in the culinary world – the Maillard reaction. Other than in meats, the Maillard reaction also gives us fries, caramelized onions, classic caramel, and freshly baked bread.

But there’s much to appreciate in the other 5%, like the simplicity and the clean taste of fresh ingredients. In this dish, the chicken is seasoned with nothing more than salt from the water, pepper, and olive oil. It’s amazingly moist because it’s poached gently and allowed to soak in some of the olive oil as it chills. This recipe is really about the technique for the poached chicken, but we included our choice of sides, too, which are also lightly seasoned to let the flavors of the main ingredients shine and meld with each other. I hope you give this technique a try, and perhaps inspire even more interesting ideas! – Boo

olive oil poached chicken top view

Servings: 2 (small courses)
Difficulty: 1 star

Poached chicken:

  • 2 chicken breast halves (or 1 chicken breast, halved into cutlets)
  • Poaching liquid
    4 c water
    1 tb salt
  • 2-3 tb olive oil
  • Seasoning
    black pepper
    olive oil
  1. In a saucepan, bring water and salt to just under a simmer. Add chicken to poach, keeping water just under a simmer, until cooked through, 9-12 minutes.
  2. Remove chicken onto a plate, and drizzle olive oil over chicken. Wrap plate in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare sides.
  3. Thinly slice chicken, and season to taste.

Sides:

  • Salad
    1 roma tomato, diced
    0.5 c cucumber, diced
    1 tb balsamic vinegar
    0.25 ts salt
  • Torched brie
    2 brie wedges
    2 tb honey
  • Garnish
    4 lemon wedges
    2 basil leaves
    olive oil
  1. Stir salad ingredients together, and set aside.
  2. Bake or torch brie over the honey until softened.
  3. Garnish plate as desired, and serve with poached chicken breast.

Crispy Roasted Cilantro-Lime Chicken Thighs

cilanto-lime chicken thighsEASY, TANGY, FLAVORFUL MARINATED CHICKEN THIGH OVEN-CRISPED AND SERVED OVER ROASTED DICED VEGETABLES.

We’ve all had those long days at work. You want (or need) something delicious and comforting, but the last thing you want to do when you get home is be on your feet another hour prepping and cooking dinner. Even passionate home cooks need a break sometimes, and so this recipe was born with those days in mind.

All you have to do is toss the marinade together the previous night or the morning of, and let the refrigerator do the rest of the work for you! You can come back home, move the chicken from the fridge to the oven, and relax for 45-55 minutes until you have a juicy, succulent, tangy chicken with a crispy skin waiting for you. If you want to round out the meal with some vegetables and starch, Pea and I found that roasting up a couple diced bell peppers and potatoes (2-3 extra minutes!) worked amazingly with this. So with simple, comforting dinner that you can look forward to through a tough day, hopefully you can turn your frown upside down 😀 – Boo

Yield: 4 chicken thighs
Difficulty: 1 star

Oven: 400 F, 45-55 minutes

Marinade:

  • 0.25 c cilantro, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 0.25 tb cumin
  • 0.25 tb coriander
  • 1 ts salt
  • 3 limes, zested and juiced
  • 3 tb olive oil

Directions:

  1. Thoroughly coat chicken thighs with marinade. Seal/cover and refrigerate, at least 8 hours.
  2. Shake off excess marinade, and place chicken thighs skin-side up on baking tray. Bake on upper-middle rack until cooked through, 45-55 minutes. Serve.
  3. Optionally, boil excess marinade in a saucepan for 2 minutes, and spoon over chicken or side dishes.

Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Blueberry-Lemon Reduction

pork tenderloin medallions with blueberry lemon reductionROSEMARY-RUBBED PORK TENDERLOIN MEDALLIONS FINISHED WITH A REDUCTION OF BLUEBERRIES, LEMON JUICE, AND RED WINE. OVER GARLIC SAUTEED GREENS.

When we hear “filet mignon”, most of us think of the fork-tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef steak without a match. But interestingly, in France, “filet mignon” generally refers to the steak cut off the pork tenderloin. And though I love a good beef steak, using pork gave this a different steak-eating experience. A little more neutral in taste than beef, a pork steak pairs well with sweet and tart ingredients such as apples, grapes, berries, and honey. It might sound odd, but I think this recipe has an almost-dessert-like quality to it – in the best possible way! I even added a dash of cinnamon to the sauce to help bring out the sweetness even more. With a lean serving of protein, almost a whole serving of fruit, and a red wine-based sauce, this recipe was our fun experiment and turned out to be a healthy and exciting way to use pork tenderloin. – Boo

pork tenderloin medallions blueberry reduction

Servings: 3 (main portions)
Difficulty: 2 star

Pork medallions:

  • 1 pork tenderloin
  • Seasoning
    salt and black pepper, coarse
    2 ts dried rosemary
  1. Cut tenderloin into 6 medallions. Flatten medallions to a thickness of 1-1.5 inches.
  2. Rub seasoning over pork.
  3. In a large pan, sear pork medallions in olive oil on both sides until browned. Remove from pan, and prepare sauce.

Blueberry sauce:

  • Liquids
    0.25 c red wine
    0.25 c chicken stock
    1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 1 c blueberries
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • Seasoning
    0.25 ts salt
    0.25 ts cinnamon
  1. In the same pan, add all sauce ingredients. Bring to a gentle simmer.
  2. Mash several blueberries, and add tenderloin medallions back into sauce to finish cooking, ~5-7 minutes for medium.
  3. Remove pork, and reduce sauce to desired consistency.
  4. Serve pork medallions with sauce, and optionally garnish with blueberries and lemon zest.

Asian Honey-Glazed Salmon

honey glazed salmonCRISPY FILLET OF SALMON GLAZED WITH HONEY AND SEASONED WITH FRESH MINCED AROMATICS. BOK CHOY STIR-FRIED WITH GARLIC AND SESAME OIL. CINNAMON-ANISE STEAMED RICE.

As much as we love our comforting, spicy stews and hearty broths through the winter, we felt it was time to bring in the light, fresh, and crisp flavors to hit off the start of spring. And so we bring you our very quick and easy honey-glazed salmon, where the natural tanginess of the fresh green onion and the just-barely-cooked ginger and garlic mince were the life of the dish, maybe even more so than the salmon itself! Since this worked so well with the lightly salted bok choy dashed with sesame oil and the fragrant rice, we’re including the sides in the recipe, too. If you’re just feeling the salmon, though, feel free to go straight down to that part of the recipe. Hope you give this a try! – Boo

P.S. If you want some curly green onions for garnish, slice them into thin strips about 4 inches long, then put them in ice water for several minutes.

honey glazed salmon top-downServings: 2 (full courses)
Difficulty: 1 star

Anise rice:

  • 1.2 c water
  • Spices
    3 star anise
    4 cloves
    0.25 ts salt
    0.25 ts cinnamon
  • 1 c white rice, washed
  1. In a small saucepan, bring water with spices to a boil.
  2. Add rice to boiling water. Cover and steam over low heat until cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare bok choy and salmon.

Garlic bok choy:

  • 4-6 heads bok choy, halved lengthwise
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 0.5 tb sesame oil
  • 0.5 tb cooking wine
  • 1 ts vinegar
  • salt and black pepper
  1. In a pan/wok, saute bok choy with garlic in vegetable oil over medium-high heat until slightly softened, ~3 minutes.
  2. Add sesame oil, and toss to coat vegetables.
  3. Add remaining ingredients, and cook to desired doneness, 3-5 minutes.
  4. Cover to keep warm, and set aside. Meanwhile, prepare salmon.

Glazed salmon:

  • 2 (6-8 oz) salmon fillets
  • Seasonings
    salt
    white pepper
  • 1.5 tb corn starch
  • Toppings
    2 green onions, minced
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tb grated ginger
  • 2-3 tb honey
  • Garnish
    green onions
    roasted salted peanuts
  1. Salt and pepper salmon on both sides, and sift a thin layer of corn starch onto both sides.
  2. Sear salmon in olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked pink halfway up, ~4 minutes, and flip over. Spread toppings on seared side, and drizzle honey over fillets.
  3. Continue searing second side until crisped and cooked to desired doneness, 3-5 minutes.
  4. Remove salmon from heat to rest, 3 minutes.
  5. Serve, optionally with green onions and roasted salted peanuts.

Curried Lamb Shanks

curried lamb shanksLAMB SHANK BRAISED WITH CURRY SPICES AND HERBS. SERVED OVER WILTED SPINACH AND SAFFRON BASMATI RICE.

Braising has to be one of the greatest cooking methods ever invented, letting you turn the cheapest cut of meat into something juicy and fall-off-the-bone succulent. And not only does the broth flavor the meat as it simmers, the meat gives the broth a velvety, intensely savory texture as the gelatin melts into it. For this dish, I decided to take caramelized onions past the standard golden-brown stage and into deeply sweet and smoky dark brown territory. Together with the natural sweetness of the onions and the caramelization of the lamb shanks in the oven, this gave the dish a complex sweetness (maybe even sophisticated!) without a grain of added sugar. And it was also the perfect complement to the earthy spices we threw in with the lamb. You could just as easily use beef chuck or pork shoulder and belly. Hope you give this braised dish a try! – Boo

Oven: 475 F, 30-40 minutes
Difficulty: 2 star

Ingredients:

  • 4 lamb shanks
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • Spices
    1.5 ts smoked paprika
    0.75 ts curry powder
    0.5 ts turmeric
    0.5 ts cumin seeds
    0.5 ts fennel seeds
    0.25 ts ginger powder
    0.25 ts cardamom
    0.25 ts dried mint
    pinch cinnamon
  • 2 tb butter
  • 2 tb flour
  • Herbs
    1 bay leaf
    1 sprig rosemary
    1 sprig thyme
  • Braising liquid
    1.5 c chicken broth
    0.33 c red wine
    2 tb balsamic vinegar
    1.25 ts salt
    0.5 ts black pepper
  • (optional) Garnish
    cilantro, chopped
    sumac

Directions:

  1. In a roasting pan, drizzle olive oil over shanks. Roast on top rack until browned, 15-20 minutes per side. Meanwhile, prepare onions. Set aside lamb shanks after browning on both sides.
  2. In a large pot, stir onions in vegetable oil over medium-low heat until dark golden-brown, 40-45 minutes.
  3. Add spices into pot. Toast, 2 minutes.
  4. Stir butter into pot until melted. Stir in flour to coat evenly.
  5. Stir herbs and braising liquid into pot.
  6. Add lamb shanks, and simmer over medium-low heat until tender, 2.5-3 hours, basting occasionally.
  7. Serve, and garnish as desired.

Turkey Apple Meatballs and Pico de Gallo Salad

turkey apple meatballs pico de gallo saladHOT, TENDER TURKEY AND FUJI APPLE MEATBALLS TOSSED WITH A ZESTY APPLE PICO DE GALLO AND SHREDDED PURPLE CABBAGE.

More than a month ago, I found Pea a couple huge Fuji apples (her favorite!) from the farmer’s market. But after bringing them home and putting them in the back of the crisper, we forgot about them. Fortunately, fresh apples can last up to months if properly kept, and we decided to finally dig into the juicy, sugary-sweet goodness – by incorporating them into some turkey meatballs. Not only did the turkey and apple work deliciously well together, but the apple and breadcrumbs helped keep the meatballs super tender while developing a crispy exterior in the oven! For some temperature and texture contrast, we tossed the hot meatballs with a chilled apple pico de gallo and some shredded cabbage so we could call it a salad. And while we ate this happily as a meal, it would make a perfectly good appetizer, too! – Boo

Servings: 4-5 (main portions) or 8-10 (appetizer portions)
Difficulty: 1 star

Oven: 400 F, 20-25 minutes

Meatballs:

  • 1 lb turkey
  • 1 c grated apple
  • 1 c breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 0.5 tb grated ginger
  • 1.5 ts salt
  • 2 sprigs thyme, de-stemmed
  1. Mix all ingredients until homogenized.
  2. Form into small meatballs (diameter 2 cm), and place onto greased baking sheet.
  3. Bake on upper-middle rack until browned, 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare salad.

Pico de gallo salad:

  • 1 apple, diced 0.25 inch
  • Diced vegetables, 0.25 inch
    4 c tomatoes
    1.5 c onions
    1.5 c cucumbers
    0.75 c serrano (or poblano) peppers
  • Seasoning
    0.33 c cilantro, minced
    1 lime, zested and juiced
    0.5 ts garlic powder
    0.5 ts salt
    0.5 ts black pepper
  • 1.5-2 c shredded purple cabbage
  1. Place diced apple into ice water to prevent browning while preparing other ingredients.
  2. Toss all ingredients together.
  3. Toss with baked meatballs, and serve.

Black Forest Cake

black forest cakeRICH COCOA ESPRESSO SPONGE CAKE BRUSHED WITH CHERRY SYRUP. KIRSCHWASSER WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING AND SWEET DARK CHERRIES. GARNISHED WITH DARK CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS AND MARASCHINO CHERRIES.

When Pea and Boo first moved in together, Pea not-so-subtly hinted at making a Black Forest Cake. As cherry season came that year, Pea and Boo found piles upon piles of fresh, dark red cherries on display at the local farmer’s market, and they decided the time had come. It was one of the first cake projects they took on together, and it was time to revisit the old recipe to give it a few delectable tweaks in time for our friends’ birthday surprises!

One of the greatest things about sponge cakes is their ability to soak up delicious syrups and juices, intensifying the flavor of the cake. The Black Forest Cake, layered with a rich cocoa sponge soaked in cherry and liqueur syrup, is a brilliant example. Kirschwasser (cherry liqueur) is signature, and (fun fact) required by law in Germany, but you can put as much or as little as you want. This recipe uses about one shot for the entire cake, but no one’s stopping you! – Boo

Servings: 8-12 (dessert portions)

Difficulty: 3 star

Oven: 350 F, 25-35 minutes

NOTES:

  • May use fresh and/or canned cherries. If using canned cherries, reserve syrup as a soak for the sponge cake.

Preparation:

  • Line a 8.5-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the interior.

Cocoa genoise:

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 0.66 c sugar
  • 1 ts vanilla
  • Dry ingredients, sifted
    0.5 c flour
    0.33 c cocoa powder
    2 tb instant espresso powder
    0.5 ts salt
  • 3 tb butter, melted
  1. Over a bain-marie, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to a firm, glossy meringue, ~4-6 minutes.
  2. Beat egg yolks and vanilla into meringue until just combined.
  3. Fold dry ingredients into egg mixture by thirds.
  4. Stir a large spoonful of batter into melted butter to lighten. Fold butter gently into remaining batter.
  5. Bake in prepared springform pan until cooked through, 25-35 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven, and invert springform pan over a cooling rack until cooled to room temperature.
  7. Remove cake from pan. Set aside until assembly.

Macerated cherries:

  • 1.5 lb cherries, pitted (including 1 can of cherries with syrup)
  • 2 tb kirschwasser
  1. In a bowl, toss cherries with kirschwasser. Cover and refrigerate until assembly.
  2. Stir remaining ingredients together until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate to cool.

Whipped cream frosting:

  • 3 c heavy cream
  • 1.5 ts vanilla
  • 1.5 ts kirschwasser
  • 0.25 c sugar
  1. Beat cream to soft peaks. Add remaining ingredients, and beat to stiff peaks.

Assembly:

  • Garnish
    dark chocolate curls, shavings, or bark
    cherries
    whipped cream
  1. Reserve several cherries for garnish.
  2. Divide the cake into three disks.
    Small pea tip: Use the disk with the flattest surface as the top layer.
  3. Place the bottom cake layer on assembly surface. Soak with one-third of the cherry syrup, and top with one-quarter of the whipped cream and half of the cherries.
  4. Place the middle cake layer on the cherries, and repeat with cherry syrup soak, whipped cream frosting, and cherries.
  5. Place the top cake layer. Spread frosting evenly over entire cake, and reserve ~0.5 c frosting for garnish.
  6. Decorate cake with chocolate, whipped cream, and cherries.
  7. Refrigerate until chilled, and serve.

black forest cake 2