Monday, July 7, 2008

A few new recipes...

One of the things we did all week was eat great food! There are only a few restaurants even remotely close to the condo. We ate one time at the Dog Bar (literally a bar where you can eat outside and bring your dog(s)-huh?) and we cooked at home the rest of the week. I am typically a pretty safe cook/eater. I don't like to try anything too wild i.e. pork with peaches...Jeff's mom on the other hand trys a new recipe every time we get together. I am always just hoping she makes my favorite mashed potatoes. BUT A BREAKTHROUGH HAPPENED (FOR ME)!!! Angie brought a stack full of new recipes and I tried them all (only a few restaurants remember) and I loved them all! I'm becoming such a grown up...trying new thing. Oh, and the pork with peaches was fabulous! Here are my favorites-enjoy!

Love Birds-Chicken in Puff Pastry (Rachel Ray recipe)

4 pieces skinless chicken breast, boned (about 8 ounces each)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 sprigs fresh finely chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 sheet puff pastry (11 by 17-inch),
8 slices Italian fontina cheese, slices should be 2 to 3-inches square and 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick, cut in 1/2
1/2 cup fig preserves
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and rosemary. Cut each piece of chicken in half across the breast giving you 8 equal portions.

Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly brown the chicken on both sides, 5 minutes total. Remove from heat.

Line a
baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut pastry into 8 pieces. Place a piece of cheese on each pastry square and top with spoonfuls of fig preserves and the chicken pieces.

Pinch and seal the dough up and over the meat and cheese, seal with egg wash, flip the pastry packets over and brush the tops with remaining egg wash.

Bake 12 to15 minutes, until golden.

We made entree portions, simply leave chicken breast whole and cut the pastry into quarters. Trim off excess dough and use it to decorate the pastry with small cut outs such as heart shapes. We didn't do the heart shapes, but it was still yummy!



Mexicorn and Grits
(I don't even like grits...ok, so I've never really tried. I think they look gross-but these are good!)

4 c milk
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup butter, divided
1 cup quick cooking grits
2 eggs
1 can mexicorn, drained (11 oz)
1 4oz can chopped green chilis
1 can shredded mexican cheese blend
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper (I don't know if Angie used this...have you ever seen white pepper... I just copied the recipe.)
1 cup shredded parmsian cheese

In a large saucepan, bring milk and 1/2 cup of butter to a boil.

Slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 5-7 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Stir a small amount of hot grits into eggs; return all to the pan, stirring constatly. Melt remaining butter, stir into grits. Add the corn, chilies, cheese, saltand pepper.

Transfer to a greased 2 qt baking dish. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean


Glazed Pork Loin Roast with Peach BBQ Sauce

Sweat Pork in 1 T Olive Oil
add 1/2 cup onion diced
1 T garlic minced
1 T fresh ginger, mince
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups peach juice or nectar

Stir in, simmer:
1 cup frozen sliced peaches
1/2 cup peaches or peach preserves
1/4 cup ketchup
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T honey
2 t lime juice
1 cinnamon stick


Grill and Baste:
1 boneless pork loin roast seasoned with salt and pepper

Sweat onion, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat until soft about 5 min. Add nectar and increase heat to medium-high and simmer until reduced to 1 cup about 10 min.

1. Stir in remaining ingredients (not pork) reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce has thickened slightly; 10 min. discard cinnamon stick. Reserve 1/2 c sauce for basting the roast during cooking then transfer remaining sauce to a bowl, cook and cover with plastic wrap.

2. Grill pork loin first over direct heat to sear top side about 5 min.

3. Baste with 1/2 cup reserved sauce, then transfer to indirect heat. Roast, turning to baste every 10 min., until an instant read thermometer inserted in the center registers 155 degrees 45-1 hour. Move from grill lest rest 5 min. then cut into 1/2 thick slices. Serve with remaining sauce and veggies.

Does that make sense? I copied it, but it seems a little hard to follow...let me know if you any of these.

Oh, and what July 4th celebration would be complete without sometype of flag dessert. Here's ours: A cheesecake decorated with fruit. Ours doesn't look exactly like Martha's, but I think Petunia and I did a pretty good job.




3 comments:

Traci said...

That cake looks so good!

Jodee said...

Great job on the cake! It's perfect for the 4th of July!

3 Peanuts said...

Your cake looks yummy!

Kim