A captive audience in the kitchen

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cooking, dogs, kitchen, postaday2015

   
 
Today is pre-Thanksgiving preparations, making as much as you can get away with so that the oven is freer, the schedule is lighter and your sanity stays intact. So far, I got the brioche dough done, it is doing its second rising, it might go in the oven tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning, the pumpkin pies are in the oven as we speak, the dogs were very excited with that one, they love pumpkin so I had a lot of circling and sniffing while I was busy spooning the filling into the pie shells and later I will be making my butternut squash soup. That should clear my time table quite a bit for tomorrow. I will also have more time to pay attention to our attention demanding beasts.lol

  

Jack, Lulu and Stanley are hovering in the background, focused on not missing anything that may fall to the ground. Wait until tomorrow my canine friends, you will be in sheer heaven because the poultry will be in the oven, basting itself with the blanket of white wine and melted butter I will have drenched the cheesecloth in that will be draped over the bird.

Who is going to be begging from under the table I wonder. lol

Busy in the kitchen

Tags

cooking, food, postaday2015

  
I felt culinarily inspired after some food shopping, with the chilly nights coming our way, I felt the need for soup. I had emailed my mother a link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/healthy-fall-recipes_5638fdd5e4b027f9b96a4f43 and among those recipes there was one that had intrigued me, a cauliflower and leek soup. The recipe is extremely easy, however I changed it just a bit, instead of using two leeks, I put in 6 and instead of cutting up one head of cauliflower, I chopped up two heads and roasted them at 375 until nice and toasty brown, I added one potato that wasn’t in the recipe and lastly I added fresh thyme and fresh sage along with chick stock. I pureed it and the all important jury, the kids and the husband, approved the addition to my repertoire of recipes. I would have made it again anyhow because I really like it a lot and it’s so easy to put together.

When  I went into the back to harvest some thyme and sage, I looked over towards my garden surrounding the pond and I saw some beautiful color, a lovely surprise.

  
The next dish I worked on was just as easy; sauteed shrimp and steamed littleneck clams over thin spaghetti with a garlic lemon butter sauce.

  
My father showed me a neat trick, once you’re done sauteeing the shrimp, your pan will have nice browned bits from having sauteed the shrimp, those browned bits have great flavor, so to harness that flavor for a sauce, I deglazed the pan with what I have on hand, usually chicken stock, but if you have white wine, that will work even better, so after putting the shrimp off to the side, I put the littleneck clams in the pan with a cover and steamed them in the shrimp infused stock, once they were open, I took them out and worked a  bit more on the sauce, adding fresh lemon juice and a nice amount of butter.  Meanwhile the pasta was cooked and finally I put everythng together and voila, dinner!

I was happy working in the kitchen, chopping, roasting and sauteeing, smelling and gauging how everything was turning out, I love being quiet in the kitchen, focused on my inner dialogue and getting it as right as I can at that moment.

Today was a day for cooking

Tags

cooking, postaday2015, rain

            

We had a cloudy day with rain off and on, the perfect day to spend one’s time in the kitchen, I looked in on my vegetable garden and 4 days away isn’t enough to see any difference in growth, I shouldn’t be surprised, what was I thinking, getting all excited, I am like a child waiting for Christmas. lol

One of my favorite cookbooks is the Bistro Cookbook by Patricia Wells, the vegetable dish I made today comes from the book, it’s called a Tian de Legumes or a vegetable terrine, with the cool day we had today, it was safe to turn on the oven to 350, I didn’t have to worry about making the kitchen hot, it only got up to 70 degrees here in Blandford. The ingredients are as you see in the picture; onions, tomatoes, leeks and zuchinni, all sliced into thin rounds and layered, each with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, thyme and drizzled with olive oil. I smashed a few cloves of garlic and alternated them in between the layers, I also tore up a few slices of swiss cheese and put them on the bottom layers and crumbled goat cheese on the top layers. This terrine is something that you can make your own, the original recipe didn’t call for leeks, it called for eggplant, my husband picked the leeks up at the store so in they went; the same with the cheeses, that was my husband’s idea, cheese makes everything good.

Our son adores veal, my father used to make it both at home and at his restaurant, so when I make it, I do as my father did, pound the veal as thin as possible, lightly dust them with seasoned flour and saute them in olive oil and butter. Once sauteed, I made the sauce, which by sauce means deglazing the pan with chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, squeezing a half of a lemon and turning up the heat so that the liquid reduces a bit and then I added a tablespoon of butter.

My husband had asked our daughter to make a bunch of Jasmine rice in the rice cooker and after spooning the lemon butter sauce over the veal, I ladled the rest of the sauce over the rice.

I wasn’t alone in the kitchen as I was cooking, I had very interested company alongside my feet.

  
They are pooped right now, they are lounging next to their Papa. 

I enjoyed dinner, the dogs didn’t get any so maybe that’s why they are laying there looking a little dejected or are they really that tired? I’m not sure.

Trying to tame the house

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cooking, housecleaning, postaday2015

  

I spent the day playing catchup with the housecleaning; the laundry, cleaning the toilets and the sinks, dusting and in between walking the dogs several times, making broccoli soup and roasting chickens and potatoes.

I am pooped, so pooped that when my ever not trusty vacuum died as it always does, I said “well if you’re calling it quits, then I am too” I can vacuum the rest of the house tomorrow.

The kitchen and the rest of the house smell really good, a combination of savory, slight caramelization of potatoes and hearty broccoli, it smells like a smorgasbord that keeps on giving.

I think that part of the reason that I love cooking and baking so much is that both give results that don’t go away immediately without any appreciation like housecleaning does, no one ever says “boy are you the best toilet bowl cleaner ever” no; instead everyone just treats the toilet bowl like a toilet bowl and you have to clean it, ick, same goes with vacuuming, dusting and etc, etc.

Revisiting the kitchen

Tags

cooking, postaday2015, roasting

I feel as if I have been on vacation away from cooking for a while. We have been clearing out the freezer because freezers do need to be emptied after some time don’t you think? I admit that it is nice to have instant meals just needing a quick warmup in the microwave; but finally last night I broke out the pots and pans, heated up both stoves, peeled, sliced, chopped, pounded and breaded and I was very happy doing so. I made a ton of breaded chicken cutlets that I spritzed with fresh lemon juice, I made a traditional gratin dauphinois, potatoes au gratin, and roasted cauliflower.

Everyone was very happy because these are some of their favorite comfort foods; I also knew that we were going away for a few days so I wanted to make sure that the kids had things to eat until we got back.





One of the things that I love the most about cooking is the smell that emanates from the kitchen. It brings people into the kitchen so that I have company while I cook, more often than not, it is my daughter and of course Jack and Lulu. The dogs circle around very curious as to what I am doing and where I am doing it, just in case a few morsels fall to the floor and my daughter sits at the counter and tells me stories, about things that are bothering her or things that are going well. It most certainly makes cooking less solitary and more enjoyable.

Soup’s on!

Tags

chicken, cooking, postaday2014, roasting

Food before”

Food after:

The weather outside warrants a hearty soup and roasted chickens. I have already made butternut squash soup this season, but it is one of my favorite soups so it got made again. Roasted chicken does more than just feed us with goodness, but it also envelopes the kitchen with intoxicating roasting aromas that last for the entire hour and a half that it crackles and roasts in the oven.

Best of all, leftovers for tomorrow!

A much better day

Tags

cooking, postaday2014, writing

A good friend of mine wrote me that she hoped that the sun would be shining in my mind today, especially since today happened to be Sunday. It so came to pass; today was a much better day. Yesterday I brought in my plants and my precious Rosemary plant is now in our bedroom where I can nurture it through the long winter; it does look very beautiful where I put it, I hope that it will be happy in its temporary home.

The next best thing after that is cooking and this afternoon, I spent quality time with my oven and cooking utensils and I made chicken pot pie. The kitchen smelled wonderful for quite a few hours.

There is something about peeling, dicing and sautéing vegetables and chicken that soothes the soul; the same thing with gardening and writing. The sun was definitely out today, both outside and in my mind.

Reunited with our son and Jack

Tags

cooking, postaday2014, salmon, sauce

I am so happy to be back home. We stopped off on route to grab some groceries and my husband roasted salmon and sautéed green beans while I made the SAUCE. The dill sour cream sauce is something that I found a while ago on the Internet when I wasn’t sure what to do with salmon. Personally I prefer smoked salmon, but my husband and our children love salmon, so I wanted to find something to give it a little something special and what a find did I luck into.

The SAUCE is so popular that they ask for the SAUCE before asking for the salmon. The best thing about the SAUCE is that it takes little time or work in preparing it. I used about three quarters of a container of sour cream, I added two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, I chopped, a healthy bunch of dill very finely and added that to the bowl, I also smashed and chopped four cloves of garlic very finely and lastly I squeezed a large slice of lemon into the mixture. I stirred everything together, a pinch of salt and a few turns of the pepper mill and voila all done.

I love cooking and I usually never mind the prep work necessary, but when I can find something scrumptious and it just happens to be so easy to put together, I don’t turn my nose up at it, au contraire I embrace it and count my lucky stars that I found something that great to put in my cooking repertoire.

Daily prompt: Ring of fire

Tags

cooking, paella, postaday2014, spice

Do you love hot and spicy foods or do you avoid them for fear of what tomorrow might bring?

I love spicy foods, albeit not necessarily hot, spicy should not have to mean feeling as if your mouth is on fire or that the skin inside your mouth is peeling off. I love spice such as how nutmeg spikes up the flavor profile of spinach or the way it gives added depth to béchamel sauce. Cinnamon is another spice that perks up a variety of dishes, it is a secret ingredient in my husband’s chili; I can spill this little secret because there are a few more secrets to his chili, one slip won’t be the end of the world.

Saffron is another lovely spice that brings so much to the plate and the table; it is one of the key ingredients in my paella and I love adding it to my sautéed cauliflower.

One of the most exciting discoveries that I have made about spices is how beneficial they are to our overall health. Turmeric has been shown to have great effects on brain health, cinnamon has excellent antioxidant properties and nutmeg just has to have medicinal properties, just think of how wonderful you feel after eating pumpkin pie, it must be the nutmeg, I’m sure of it.

Just the thought of cooking without pepper, salt, cayenne, oregano, paprika or any other spice, leaves me bereft of joy and anticipation; where would all of the fun be without spices and the experimentation and individuality of spicing something up?

Spices have been in our culinary history for eons and we are so very lucky for it.

Part two in the brioche saga

Tags

baking, bread, brioche, cooking, postaday2014

Today was the day to see if all of my work in preparing and kneading the brioche dough was successful. After going out food shopping with my hubby for the lasagna ingredients and the rest of the bread pudding ingredients, I came home to start the tomato sauce and to bake the brioche. I had taken the dough out of the refrigerator before leaving and put it in a warm place to get a second rising and then I had gotten home, I had punched down the dough and shaped it into the loaf pan, brushed it with egg wash and off into a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.

At this point, I couldn’t tell if it was going to turn out well or not. I was still nervous at this point and so I had 35 minutes to wait before I knew if my work was going to pan out. I was so happy to see a golden brown brioche when I opened the oven door. Here is the picture of the brioche just out of the oven.

Hooray, it looks pretty good and it is cooked all the way through, the knife came out clean. I called my hubby into the kitchen to look at it, he said that it looked a little weird, he was imagining something more grand I think, but no matter, I was impressed with it. Now my hubby asked me to turn it out of the pan, so that he could taste it.

He really, really liked it, I tasted it and it tastes light and buttery, perfect for the breakfast bread pudding tomorrow. All in all it isn’t too much work, it is more a question of timing than actual work, the resting time is the “tricky” part. It’s also a much stickier dough to work with than what I am accustomed to, what with the eggs and all of the butter. I will definitely make it again, now that I know what to look for and what it feels like as a dough. That is what I love about baking and cooking, always something to learn and it involves all of the senses, it isn’t a static or boring past time, it keeps me constantly engaged and interested.

Here is a picture of my tomato sauce, it’s about ready so I will be putting my lasagna together and tomorrow we will have lasagna to eat, always better the next day.