The Food Hound

Salmon with Red Wine-Balsamic Sauce

2011-05-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, the Booze Hound and I are in the middle of our Paleo Challenge through our local CrossFit Ktown. What this means is that for 10 weeks we are eschewing all grains and dairy in favor of a diet consisting exclusively of meat, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits and veggies. Oh yes, and lots of tasty fat.

It's supposed to mimic the type of diet our paleolithic ancestors ate, with some modern exceptions that are permitted due to their low insulin promotion, like butter, heavy cream and a little red wine here and there. I firmly believe that if the paleolithic peeps discovered wine, we'd all be running around in loin cloths spearing elk because their would be no need to evolve further once red wine was in the discussion.

All in all, except for the tears I shed watching the pizza commercials in the NHL playoffs, the Challenge is going well. You know I love me some baking and I love love love me some dairy products, and it has been hard to go without, but hey- it's only 10 weeks. And it's supposed to be hard- that's why it's a Challenge.

And really, who wouldn't benefit from a steady stream of fruits and veggies? And nice, healthy fats from nuts and grass-fed animals? We feel great, and our HDL "good" cholesterol has soared and our LDL "bad" cholesterol has dropped even more (wasn't high to begin with but downward movement is always good!). So heed my warning low-fat, high-carb lovers... it's the endless supply of sugar in the American diet that they're finding is the main culprit behind the chronic disease epidemic, and NOT fat.

But lest you think I turn into a paleolithic woman who wears a tiger fur to work and doesn't believe in deodorant, think again... I have a recipe for salted caramel brownies on my fridge, and a day-by-day countdown till I get to make them :) After all, I live to eat, and a life without brownies, croissants, cake and baguette is a cold and empty life, indeed.

But here's something I don't like about the Paleo diet: there's nothing sexy.

Wait, excuse me, there's bacon. OK, so there's nothing sexy aside from bacon. And one cannot live on bacon alone. Can one...??

There are some people who get all kinds of hot and bothered by a nice slab of juicy steak, all sizzly and marbled. I enjoy a nice, grilled steak as much as the next Hound, but I'm looking for something special.

Maybe the paleolithic man would have stuck around longer if he had, actually, used some sugar. Think about it... Paleo Man is courting a Paleo Lady. He wants to impress her, but he has a rival. Paleo Man spears her a wooly mammoth for meat and wooly warmth for the winter. Rival Man makes her creme brulee.

Game, set, match Rival Man. I wouldn't have minded being a little chilly in the Ice Age for a creme brulee.

So it's my job as the Food Hound to find something sexy. After all, the Booze Hound and I need something fabulous for our FIVE-YEAR anniversary this week. I'm fresh out of saber-toothed tiger, and the Booze Hound knows that a wooly mammoth just isn't my style. The Doberhound sheds enough.

Luckily, Food and Wine heard my plight and printed Salmon with Red Wine-Balsamic Sauce. That's not just Paleo sexy. That's all-around sexy. Seared salmon topped with a rich, syrupy sauce of red wine, cream and butter. Yowzah!

I'm not going to lie, I saved the leftover sauce to use on grilled steak next week. If you're trying to impress the love in your life (whether s/he sports a loin cloth or Burberry boxers), make this sauce and serve it with your meat or fish of choice. In fact, you could even pour it over wooly mammoth and it would be good. I licked my plate. Hey, the Ice Age might start tomorrow, gotta savor every drop!

But it better not come before I get to make my salted caramel brownies :)

Salmon with Red-Wine Balsamic Sauce

Adapted from Food and Wine

Printable recipe

Serves 4

2 T good olive oil

1 small shallot, minced

1 thyme sprig

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

2 c dry red wine

1/4 c good balsamic vinegar (great one here from Avanti Savoia!)

2 T heavy cream

4 T cold, unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons (I use pasture butter in everything, FYI)

Salt and freshly-ground pepper

4 6-oz salmon filets

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 T of the olive oil. Add the shallot and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the thyme sprig, black pepper, red wine and balsamic vinegar and boil over high heat until reduced to 2 T, about 12-15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cream, then whisk in the butter, 1 T at a time. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Strain into a bowl and keep warm.

2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 1 T olive oil until shimmering. Season the salmon filets with salt and pepper and add them to the skillet, skin-side up. Cook over moderately high heat until the filets are browned, about 4 minutes. Turn the salmon and cook over moderate heat until the fish is just opaque throughout, about 3 minutes longer. Slide each filet off of its skin and transfer to plates. Spoon the sauce over the fish and garnish with ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup

2011-05-24T08:41:00.003-04:00

The 10-Week Paleo Challenge makes you do some crazy things.

It makes you put pineapple in the "dessert" category, next to mousse, brownies, cheesecake, and all my other currently forbidden favorites. In my normal life, fruit is only considered dessert when (a) dipped in chocolate, (b) soaked in booze, or (c) as a topping for luscious pound cake. Maybe all three. Now that's a hat trick.

It makes you crave almond butter like it's oxygen. I didn't even like almond butter before we started, and now if I had to choose between the Booze Hound and a jar of almond butter on a deserted island, I'd actually pause to consider my options.

And it makes you cook soup in 90-degree weather.

I'm a card-carrying meat-eater, but even sometimes a meat-lover goes on overload. I think the BH and I have consumed an entire Wilbur-worth of bacon, and it's only week 4. Don't you think about taking my bacon away from me, but I needed to illustrate the point.

I need a break from meat for a meal. Otherwise this might show up on my front porch.

But my alternative needed to be fabulous (of course) and it needed to have a decent amount of fat (and fiber, but fat is much more exciting) to fill us up. Where do you go for fabulous (and fattening)?

Barefoot Contessa!!

Last week I went through both of my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks (Back to Basics and How Easy Is That?) and tagged the Challenge-friendly items. To my extreme excitement, they were plentiful, not unlike the supply of bacon in our freezer.

To break the meat monotony, I made Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup. Very filling, very luscious, very easy. BC uses a food mill, but I used a VitaMix to puree all those gorgeous tomato seeds to add body to the soup. Did I just call tomato seeds gorgeous? Must be the Challenge talking. I'm sure if cavemen had a VitaMix, they would have used it, too.

I drew a little crime victim chalk mark on my plate to illustrate where the crusty baguette should be, but I then filled the space with my favorite tuna salad and I almost forgot all about the baguette. Almost. But now I'm thinking about it.

Even though I broke a sweat while sweating the aromatics, this soup is worth it. It's rich, but not heavy. The carrots, fresh tomatoes and cream make it sweet, so I sprinkled the finished product with sea salt. So good! Enjoy! Eat it with baguette and think of me!

Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Printable recipe

Serves 5-6

3 T good olive oil

1 1/2 c chopped red onion (2 onions)

2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped

1 T minced garlic (3 cloves)

4 lbs ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped (approx 6 large)

1 T tomato paste

1/4 c packed chopped fresh basil leaves

3 c chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3/4 c heavy cream

Julienned fresh basil leaves or snipped chives for garnish

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and sweat for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.

2. Add the cream to the soup and process it through a food mill or blend in a blender. Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and garnish with basil or chives.

Challenge Burger #2: Bruschetta Burger with Pesto... and BlogHer Food 2011!

2011-05-19T23:32:00.005-04:00

I'm excited. I'm euphoric. I'm elated.

I'm at BlogHer Food 2011 in Hot-lanta, GA!!!!

My professional nutrition conferences are ok. Lots of talk of vitamins, minerals, bodily fluids and new and fabulous ways our gut cells work. Not uninteresting...

But it's not "Fortify Your Culinary Prose" or "Professional-grade Recipe Development."

And it's certainly not "Charcutepalooza: A Bumpin', Grindin', Sausage-Makin' Demo."

I am here to learn. I am here to think about food. I am here to meet some of my favorite bloggers. And naturally, I'm here for the samples.

But before I embark on the next few days of blogosphere enlightenment, let me share this week's Challenge Burger! Three thumbs up! Enjoy!

Bruschetta Burger with Pesto

1. Cook 4 Classic Beef Burgers

2. Top each with 1-2 T Classic Pesto

3. Top each with about 1/3 c bruschetta topping (I am still perfecting this recipe...)

4. Make everyone jealous.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

2011-05-16T21:33:00.000-04:00

Ah, Brussels. Former home of the Food Hound, current home of NATO, waffles, chocolate...

...and the sprout.

Oh, the dreaded Brussels sprout. The pungent bite. The sulphuric odor. The stories of terror as your mom removed boiled Brussels sprouts from the pot and ordered you to eat them because-there-are-children-starving-in-Africa-and-you-will-finish-them-in-your-room-if-you-have-to-young-lady.

Luckily, my mom never did this to me. She roasted them in balsamic vinegar so they tasted like candy. Smart girl.

Sadly, the aforementioned scenario is the common impression of Brussels sprouts among the population at large. You all know I love Brussels sprouts, and I've blogged about them before. But I have a special request from a special fan whose sister insists she will never, ever like Brussels sprouts.

If I like anything, I like a challenge. I'm not giving up baguette for eight more weeks for nothin'!

And so, let's talk about the Brussels sprout preparation that will turn the most fervent non-believers say Amen!

You just shred, add bacon, and don't overcook.

Don't worry, I didn't get a headache thinking of that one. I know bacon makes everything taste better- it's nature's candy. But it goes particularly well with Brussels sprouts. The shredding part means you have way more surface area to absorb the gorgeous bacon flavor than with whole sprouts. Not overcooking them helps prevent that sulphur-y taste from the sinigrin.

Ooooh, someone's food chemistry professor would be happy...

A little lemon juice at the end to cut any bitterness that might still be lurking, along with a dash of freshly-grated nutmeg to add a certain je ne sais quoi, and you have yourself a tasty sprout dish. You could get crafty and finish it with a splash of cream for an even more sinfully delicious treat, but then it might cause a shift in the vegetable matrix and elevate cruciferous sprouts to dessert-like status.

I don't think the world is ready for that.

But the world is ready for many more delicious, user-friendly Brussels sprout recipes, like this one. It's simple, it's tasty, and it involves bacon. What's not to love?

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Adapted from Jenna's Everything Blog- a place for awesome recipes and witty stories!

Printable recipe

Serves 4

1/2 lb applewood-amoked bacon, minced

1.5 lbs Brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced thinly or shredded (use a food processor)

Salt and pepper

1/4 tsp freshly-ground nutmeg

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Cook bacon over medium-high heat to render the glorious, applewood-smoked drippings. Remove bacon from pan, transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Add the sprouts and cook for about 5 minutes in the drippings, then add salt and pepper to taste, along with the nutmeg. Add the bacon and continue to cook for a few minutes until the sprouts are tender. Add the lemon juice at the end, maybe a little cream if you're feeling frisky.

New Favorite! Smoked Spanish Chicken Salad!

2011-05-14T17:40:00.003-04:00

Oh my, do I have a new chicken salad favorite. Think creamy, crunchy, smoky.

Think hot. Even though it's cold.

I have to thank Laurie Bakke for the inspiration for this salad. I was approached by her publicist to review her latest cookbook, "Laurie Bakke's Cookbook." It's a collection of Laurie's tried-and-true recipes from her years as a Chef in both restaurants and a catering business, as well as her favorites from other colleagues and friends. She generously sent me a copy to peruse, and peruse I did. Right to this chicken salad.

Although there are many, many fabulous recipes in this book through which I will plow ravenously, this one caught my eye for a few reasons. Observe the bulleted list, since lists make my spine tingle:

1. The title is "Spanish Smoked Chicken Salad." I love all things Spanish (chorizo, Javier Bardem) and smoked.

2. There is bacon involved. Ca-ching.

3. Chez Hound is currently on week 2 of our 10-week, meat-and-vegetable-centric Challenge, and I can think of few other meat-and-vegetable-centric dishes I like better than chicken salad. Especially when there's bacon involved. Ca-ching.

I did make some changes, but they were mostly based on my ingredients at hand, like using rotisserie chicken and Penzey's brand spices instead of the recommended McCormick blends. The two biggest changes were that I added smoked Spanish paprika (because really, with a name like that, shouldn't it have a little role?) and I left out the cheese per our Challenge guidelines. Yes, a little tear streamed down my face as I moved past the cheese to the next line item, but truth be told- I can't imagine how cheese could have made this any better.

And that, mes amis, is something I don't say very often.

I am really, really excited to cook many more things from Laurie's book!! There are some classics, some trendies, but all goodies. Check out her blog here if you'd like to order one for yourself, or just thank her for developing this chicken salad. With bacon. Ca-ching!

Smoked Spanish Chicken Salad

Inspired by Laurie Bakke

Printable recipe here

Serves 4-6

1 whole rotisserie chicken, skinned and shredded (about 4-6 cups chicken)

1/2-1 red pepper, diced

1/2-1 yellow pepper, diced

4 green onions, thinly sliced and cut on a bias

4 slices thick-cut, applewood-smoked bacon, cooked and diced

1/4 c Italian parsley, minced

1/2 c blue cheese crumbles (I left this out, but go for broke, blue-cheese lovers!)

1/4 c dried cranberries or cherries (I chose cherries- more unique)

2 T good olive oil

1/2 c homemade or purchased mayonnaise

1/4 Dijon mustard

1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika

1 tsp Penzey's Northwoods Seasoning (or some sort of garlic-paprika-rosemary blend)

1 tsp Penzey's California Pepper Blend (or some sort of pepper blend)

Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl, add the chicken, peppers, onions, bacon, parsley, cheese (if using), cherries/cranberries, and seasonings; mix together. In a small mixing bowl, stir the mayonnaise and Dijon mustard together. Stir mayonnaise mixture into chicken mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill until ready to serve.

Challenge Burger Series: Burgers with Chipotle Mayo and Strawberry-Avocado Salsa

2011-05-10T09:07:00.000-04:00

The burger.

The ultimate carnivore canvas. You can dress it up, you can dress it down. You can serve it naked (gasp). You can vary the bun, you can vary the meat. You can stuff it with cheese, top it with cheese, or eat blocks of cheese while you grill it. You can cook it on a grill or a griddle.

It's also the ultimate crowd-pleaser. No one's face falls when you invite them over for burgers. Your boss could fire you and your cat could get stuck in a tree, but it's still an ok day if burgers are on the menu for dinner.

It is for these reasons that I am starting a burger series. OK, you got me- I really want to do a cupcake series, but the only Challenge-approved cupcake ingredient is the egg. No bueno.

So burgers it is. For now :)

Once a week for ten weeks, I will make a new, outrageously fabulous burger. I will vary the meat, the toppings, the spices, and the cooking method. I will make Bobby Flay wish he lived closer.

To start: Grilled Burgers with Chipotle Mayo and Strawberry-Avocado Salsa.

Food Hound Classic Beef Burger

Printable recipe

Makes (4) 8-oz burgers

2 lbs grass-fed, 85% lean ground beef

Sea salt

Freshly-ground black pepper

Garlic powder

1. Preheat your grill to high for at least 10-15 minutes so it gets nice and hot.

2. Mix the meat and seasonings (to taste) only until just combined. Form them into loose tennis-ball sizes and gently press them to flatten. Remember, the less you handle the meat, the more tender they will be. Make a thumbprint indentation in each burger to prevent "burger bloat."

2. When your grill is hot enough (and clean), grill the burgers over direct high heat for 4-5 minutes on the first side and 3-4 minutes on the second side. This will all depend on your grill, the thickness of your burgers, and how you like them. I like mine medium, and the above times work well for me. Never, ever squeeze the burgers while they are cooking. All the juice runs out, and you are left with a meat puck. Let them rest for about 1-2 minutes once they come off the grill, and I promise juicy, tasty burgers.

Chipotle Mayo

4 T homemade mayonnaise

Ground chipotle OR minced chipotle canned in adobo sauce, either to taste

Mix mayo and chipotle in a small bowl. Slather 1 T over each burger.

Strawberry-Avocado Salsa

Adapted from Cooking Light

Printable recipe

Yields about 4 cups

2 c finely chopped strawberries

2 avocados, finely chopped

1/4 c finely chopped red onion

2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Zest and juice of 1 lime

1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, toss gently. Serve immediately on top, or along side of burgers.

Mayonnaise. The Gloves Are Off.

2011-05-08T21:59:00.000-04:00

So we're one week into our Challenge. It's been quite a week.

For those of you just tuning in, the Booze Hound and I are doing a 10-week diet challenge through our local CrossFit. Our meals will consist of meat, seafood, eggs, fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds.

This means no baguette. A little tear just streamed down my face.

Our effort is not for naught, with a grand prize of three free months of membership for the winning male and female. So if I'm in it, I'm in it to win it.

Before I whine about the low moments of the week, let me instead go through the great points:

1. I've never eaten more fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. For the record, I ate a lot even before the Challenge. I don't care what kind of eating philosophy you espouse, but more fruits and veggies are never bad.

2. I have a minor addiction to nuts and dried fruit all mixed together in a sweet-salty orgy.

3. Although I would get hit by a bus trying to reach a bowl of my homemade granola, I have zero problem with bacon and eggs. Zero. Especially eggs fried in bacon fat. That's nirvana.

4. Almond butter and I are becoming better friends. Still not besties, but it now tastes better than shoe paste.

5. I can't remember the last time I woke up with a flat stomach after a night of Mexican food. That's what tortilla-less fajitas and avocado salad will do to you. Rock on.

Alas, the hardest part of this past week can be summed up in six little words:

It's. Not. French. (and) It's. A. Diet.

You know me- always wanting to be French. I love eating small (French) portions of rich (French) foods whenever I want them (French French French).

It's not like none of the foods we can eat are accepted by the Francophone nations. Au contraire. There is butter, cream, asparagus, salmon- things every chic Parisian includes in her daily life.

But the French way of life is what is missing. At the top of the gym white board is written the following statement: "Eating is not an event, it's survival."

In other words, take away my entire life's happiness and extradite me to a desert island with only a volleyball named Wilson for company.

To the French (and many other cultures, but let's face it- the French are my faves :), food is meant to be savored. Make the foods you love taste as great as they can, indulge when you want (but not too much) and make every meal a celebration. This is my philosophy, and it will never change.

This brings me to the second three words: It's a diet. I'm not a fan of diets, never will be. They are joyless means to a weight loss end, fraught with misery and restriction. And I'm not doing this for weight loss, so it's doubly hard to rationalize restrictions. If I think bolognese tastes better with cheese, tough. Cheese isn't on the diet. Put the grater away. Want a piece of cake on your birthday? Nope, forbidden. Have an egg.

So as I spiraled downward this week, I relied heavily on the Booze Hound and our fabulous neighbors/CrossFit cronies to pick me up and remind me of three things:

1. Everyone has a hard time in the beginning.

2. This is not meant to be a way of life, but rather a challenge. Have you ever met an easy challenge? If so, it's not a challenge.

3. Get creative.

And so, the gloves are off. I have dealt through my week of whining. There might even have been some tears. Hey, you never know you can cry over aged Parmigiano until you see it go back in the fridge without depositing some delightful sprinkles on your salad. I'm not made of stone.

For the next nine weeks I am making the best food known to man on this Challenge. Food that doesn't need cheese. Or bread. Food that makes your mouth water on its own two feet.

Food Hound food.

While doing this, I will bust the aforementioned adage out of the water. Eating is still an event, and it always will be. But can I do the unthinkable?

Can I inject a little France into the Challenge? Where steak wrapped in steak topped with steak is considered desirable?

Oui! How?

Mayonnaise.

Oh, oh, glorious mayonnaise. From scratch. Mesdames et messieurs, you can't get more French than mayonnaise. And I went to Dorie Greenspan, this generation's Julia Child, for the authentic recipe.

If I'm going to kick this Challenge in the ass and compete Food Hound style, it's all going to start with some mayonnaise. It's rich. It's permitted. It goes with about a million things. It's French. It makes me feel like the fearless Food Hound I was a week ago before I melted down about not being able to eat veggie dip.

And so, I'm back. The gloves are off. After all, it's hard to whisk mayonnaise with gloves.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Printable recipe

Yields 2 cups

3 egg yolks, at room temperature

4 tsp fresh lemon juice (my choice) or wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt

2 c oil (I suggest canola since olive yields an undesirably fruity (to me) taste)

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Put the yolks, lemon juice and/or vinegar, and mustard into a blender, food processor or stand mixer (my choice). If you can do this all by hand, you are Wonder Woman. Add some salt and whisk/whir to blend. Drop by drop start adding the oil, whisking/whirring all the while. When you've got about 1/4 oil beaten in and the mix is starting to look like mayonnaise (about 4 minutes or so), you can add the remaining oil more steadily but still slowly. Taste and add pepper and more salt, if you like. If you like it a little more piquant, add a little more mustard or a few more drops of lemon juice or vinegar.

Peruvian Steak and Sweet Potato Stir-Fry

2011-05-05T10:00:00.001-04:00

We Hounds are generally a very pleasant breed. We are family-friendly, not prone to health problems, and aren't aggressive unless you try to steal our cupcake. Or wine.

But there is something that really riles us: when someone else orders a better meal.

It's easy to handle when it's an intra-Hound issue. If the Booze Hound's meal tastes better than mine, he'll switch with me every time. So sweet. If mine tastes better, I gloat and eat it all. Not quite as sweet, but the Booze Hound says it's part of my charm.

On one particular occasion, we both made a poor meal decision. We were in Santiago, Chile, and I had a single goal of eating Chilean Sea Bass three times per day each day we were there. It's my favorite fish, and we were in the Hall of Fame of sea bass cities.

Except that we weren't.

Turns out, Chileans don't actually like what we know as Chilean Sea Bass. According to all the Chileans I talked to, it's too rich for them. So they put "corvina" on the menu, call it Chilean Sea Bass, and sea bass addicts the world over flock to their shores to eat the impostor.

Not being privy to the aforementioned information yet, we traipsed off to Galindo, one of the restaurants recommended by our hotel concierge, which was known as a local hangout for great seafood. We ordered the corvina disguised as Chilean Sea Bass, and waited, mouths a-waterin'.

Then the people next to us got their food. Everyone got Bistec a lo Pobre and we kind of wanted to ambush them and run outside with their plates.

Bistec a lo Pobre is basically steak and fried onions served over fries, sometimes with gravy, and always with an egg on top. Hearty hangover food, you might say? Yes, and useful since the entire country seems to always stay mildly tipsy from excessive amounts of pisco. Family von Hound was not an exception... after all, when in Rome...

So we spent the evening salivating over someone else's meal, disappointed in our lack-luster fish, experiencing serious bistec envy. Don't worry, though... we went back before the end of our trip and each housed a glorious plate Bistec a lo Pobre.

And the sun shone once again.

(It shone especially nicely on the dormant vineyards, waiting to make me fabulous Chilean vino. Mmmm.)

I had actually forgotten all about that meal until my most recent Food and Wine featured a recipe for Peruvian Steak and Potato Stir-Fry, known locally as "lomo saltado." Not exactly the same thing, but still- when you have steak and fries, you can't go wrong. When you combine them? Magical!

The original recipe calls for frozen French fries, which is not exactly Food Hound style, so I

made it with baked sweet potato fries. Maybe someday when the planets align and there is a small, shiny Fry Daddy in my kitchen I'll serve it with actual French fries, but until then, the baked sweet potato fries are rockin'. The skirt steak is a lusciously rich, inexpensive cut for stir fry or fajitas, and it only needs 10 minutes to marinate in the spices to yield an awesome flavor.

It goes without saying that you have to pair this with Chilean wine. It's a crime if you don't. Unless of course, you get your hands on a bottle of pisco, which is cheaper than water in Chile, but muy expensive in the U. S. Then you have to close your eyes and pretend you're in the Andes. *sigh* Skiing with Prince William... Kate is nowhere in sight...

So put an end to bistec envy. Make this for your friends, neighbors, Doberhound, or whoever brings you a bottle of pisco. Enjoy!!

PS- this is not an attractive dish to photograph (see above... yikes) so please, gaze at the Andes instead and trust me that this is one fabulous meal :)

Peruvian Steak and Sweet Potato Stir-Fry

Adapted from Food and Wine

Printable recipe

Serves 4

2 large sweet potatoes

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 c + 2 T olive oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 lb skirt steak

1 red onion, halved and sliced very thinly

1 jalapeño, deseeded (unless you love it spicy!) and minced

1 T cider vinegar

1 large tomato, chopped

1/4 c cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Peel and slice sweet potatoes into thin fries (like Boardwalk fries). Toss with 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for about 15-20 minutes, or until soft. Time varies based on size of your fries. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, combine 1/4 c olive oil, cumin, coriander, garlic, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Cut the skirt steak into 4" pieces, then slice across the grain 1/2" thick and add to the bowl along with the onion. Let marinate 10 minutes.

4. Heat a large skillet until very hot (don't use a nonstick for this!). Add the steak and onion along with the jalapeno and stir-fry over high heat until the meat and onion are cooked through and lightly charred, about 3-4 minutes. Note: I had to brown everything in two batches to avoid steaming the meat. Add the vinegar to the skillet to help deglaze the gorgeous fond on the bottom, then add the tomato and cook about 1 minute more. Add the sweet potato fries and cilantro and toss to combine. Serve right away.

Out With a Bang! Chocolate Toffee Cookies

2011-04-30T18:30:00.000-04:00

These are loaded cookies for so many reasons.

First, they're loaded in the obvious way: butter, chocolate, toffee... all things bright and beautiful in this world. I get all warm and tingly just looking at the recipe.

Second, they are loaded with importance. They are the British dish I have chosen to make in honor of Kate and Wills. I will gorge on these while watching all 6 glorious, indulgent hours of the Royal Wedding on DVR this afternoon. 'Tis bittersweet since it now means Wills is off the market, but these buttery little biscuits will keep me from dwelling on that detail... as will the excitement of seeing the who's who of the world, and what hats they're wearing.

Clearly they meant to invite the Food Hound. I look good in hats.

These little morsels are chock full of English toffee, and they are from one of my favorite bloggers, Marie at The English Kitchen. Scones seemed to dominate the blogosphere in honor of the royal occasion, but I wanted to keep it interesting. I promise I'll make scones when Harry gets married. In 2025.

OK, that was snarky. I actually like Harry, and I think the years have been kinder to his hairline than Wills'. If either of them asked me out for tea and biscuits, I'd say yes.

Oh, um, only if the Booze Hound could come, too. He could come with me to Kensington Palace as the gardener and we could have a torrid love affair. Then I would demand to keep my title as "Princess," along with all the hats I would have acquired in exchange for being banished from court to a small country cottage in Essex where the Booze Hound and I could live out our days encouraging the grass to grow and making scones with clotted cream.

But that's not realistic because they'd probably never let me keep the hats. *sigh*

There's a third and final reason for the loaded cookies. We needed to gorge on sugar, toffee and chocolate before we start our 10-week diet challenge. Read on, young grasshopper...

About twice a year, CrossFit Ktown hosts a 10-week challenge to eliminate all processed food and sugar from your diet. Now, usually I'm a big critic of "diets." I don't follow one, and I never will. Everything has its place, and if you use your noggin and move your caboose, you'll be fine. But...

It's a competition. With a winner. And a prize. A good prize.

GAME ON.

Really, I'm looking forward to it. We don't eat processed food now, and we eat limited amounts of refined starches and sugars. I'm not saying I wouldn't eat a fat slab of Tarte Tatin in a way that would make a sailor blush, it's just not all the time.

What does this mean for you, Ye Food Hound Faithful? It just means that over the next 10 weeks you'll be on the receiving end of some fabulous meals. Don't think you'll be seeing diet food, like sugarless brownies or cheesecake. GAG. Brownies and cheesecake are gloriously fabulous in their perfectly rich, unaltered state- why mess with perfection? Nope, for the next 10 weeks we'll be focusing on m
eat, fish, veggies, nuts, seeds, and fruit-- what's not to love?? And trust me- we can ALL use more veggies.

What do I want to accomplish? Simply, I want to win. But winning isn't everything (except during the hockey playoffs). It's going to force me to think outside the box, and I love it. Instead of a sugary BBQ glaze, maybe I play around with a raspberry-chipotle sauce. Maybe baguette gets swapped out for a new kale recipe. Maybe I'll try my hand at homemade mayonnaise.

Rest assured that when those 10 weeks are over, I'll be in the mood for something sweet :) But for now, the cookie sheets are on the shelf, and I am enjoying my last few pre-challenge days the way God intended: watching Brits in their pomp and circumstance with a fistful of chocolate toffee cookies and an ice cold glass of milk :)

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Adapted from The English Kitchen (home to all things comforting, decadent, and British!!)

Printable recipe

Yields 2 dozen cookies

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 1/4 c AP flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

6 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped into bits

5 oz chocolate-covered toffee bits, like Heath or Skor

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Sift together flour and baking soda; stir into creamed mixture until just blended. Stir in the chocolate and toffee bits.

3. Drop by the heaped tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between each one. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for several minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

To excess or not to excess?

2011-04-25T22:40:00.001-04:00

Excess: friend or foe?

I've been reading "French Women For All Seasons" by Mireille Guiliano, author of "French Women Don't Get Fat." And of course, it's all about how French women enjoy the finer things of life, but in moderation, which basically means they enjoy a truffle with their wine without ending up on The Biggest Loser or Girls Gone Wild.

And let's talk about every dietitian's eating mantra, "Everything in Moderation." Kind of the same concept. One of the classic illustrations of this is the theory that the first three bites of anything taste the best, so there's no need to finish it.

But... what if I want to finish it?

Is excess always bad?

I've just spent two fabulous weekends with my each of my two best friends. They are Thelma to my Louise. Champagne to my glass. You get the picture. Do you think I had three bites of my Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard while we curled up in our PJs to watch "An American in Paris?" Nope. Cleaned the cup. Kind of wanted another one. Same thing for my luscious piece of key lime pie. It was basically food porn, and I'm not even a little ashamed.

What about a post-race breakfast at Fountain City Diner with my CrossFit gang? I had a date with my French Apple Turnover Pancake, and it got a little dirty. There was apple butter in my hair and a satisfied smile on my face. So maybe I didn't finish it because I'm not Kobayashi, but the three-bite rule was nowhere to be found.

And the other night when the Booze Hound and I opened a particularly lovely bottle of Bordeaux we smuggled back from France and ended up finishing the whole thing while watching one of the amazing Kate and Wills Wedding Specials? The last sip tasted as awesome as the first. And even though I think the BH imbibed to make the show slightly more tolerable, I think he would agree that the bottle was a winner.

I'm here to say that sometimes excess is great. Sometimes you need it. Sometimes it's worth it. Sure, you may need to log a little more time at the gym here and there to support it, but what would life be like if we couldn't indulge once in a while? Sure, maybe you're satisfied with one bite of fudge. There are times when I am. But there are times when I'm not, and I'm ok with that.

Of course, there are other kinds of excess. This weekend I plan to spend all 6 gorgeous hours of Royal Wedding coverage plopped on my couch. Is that excessive? Um, yes. Could I be watching something much more cerebral like CNN? Yes. But will I feel even a little bit bad after indulging in something that makes me supremely happy for six hours? Nope.

Far be it from me to disagree with the French way of life. I totally admit I subscribe to the French concept of small doses of richness to live a fabulously satisfying food life. And 99% of the time it works for me. But then there's that little part of me that wants to indulge in excess that 1% of the time. Maybe I want to eat the whole piece of pie. Maybe not. But let's get rid of feeling guilty about it.

I'm realistic enough to know I can't do it all the time. And I log plenty of blood, sweat and tears at the gym to earn it... although secretly I'm also a little addicted to CrossFit so it's kind of like a conflict of interest to love both pain and pleasure :) But I'm here to admit that I'm a dietitian who totally supports occasional excess. I just hope that when you indulge in excess, it's for

something you LOVE. Something that makes you wake up the next day with a warm fuzzy feeling (think honeymoon) and not regret (think hangover).

After all, everything in moderation... even excess :)

BBQ Bacon Potato Salad and Fresh Orange Sorbet, YAY!

2011-04-17T19:48:00.000-04:00

There are those who give the incredibly thoughtful, creative birthday gift-- the one thing the recipient never knew she always wanted.

Then there are those who give gift cards. That's me. I'm just not a great gift-giver. Ask the Booze Hound- it hasn't gotten better with age. I'd much rather save you the agony of opening a present you don't really want that, indeed, caused me much agony buying for you. It's ok- at least I admit it.

But on the flip side, there are those who stop by the grocery store to pick up a pint of potato salad and a bag of chips on their way to a pot-luck picnic. Now, I may be the queen of the gift card, but when it comes to food, it's a different ball of wax.

I am, after all, a Food Hound.

I use it as an excuse to make something special. Something decadent. Something new. Something with love. Awh.

And so, when one of my favorite foodie friends and I decided to do a potluck picnic, I wanted to try my hand at my very own potato salad... i.e., no recipe.

So for the record, it was something made with love AND a huge leap of faith.

I can't say it was exactly my very own creation because it was inspired by a segment Fine Cooking calls "Cooking Without Recipes." It gives those of us who are terrified of forging ahead recipe-less a vote of confidence with basic guidelines and suggestions to make what can ultimately be called our very own. One particular segment that I saved for such an occasion was the potato salad edition.

Just to remove any chance that this potato salad would be anything less than fabulous, I decided to go the bacon route. When was the last time you had something you didn't like that had bacon in it? Exactly! Never! And to make matters better, I fiddled around with my own little spice mixture to create a BBQ-flavored dressing. I kind of had Andy Nelson's famous (to me) BBQ potato salad in the back of my mind when I set out on my quest, and all I can say is: look out, Andy... the Food Hound is throwing some serious cheese.

My leap of faith worked. It was creamy, smoky and spicy in every bite. A party for your mouth. Match point, Food Hound.

For dessert, I moved out of my comfort zone. I still used a recipe, but I made a dessert without butter.

*crickets chirping*

I know. Major shock-fest. But I've had this recipe for Fresh Orange Sorbet in my binder for eons, and I finally found the instruction booklet for my ice cream maker. And really, if you're going to make a butter-free dessert, it should have something in it like fabulous fresh-squeezed orange juice. You can't help but smile when you eat it. And even though store-bought sorbet is decent, this beats it out every time. Sweet, tart, fabulous.

And before your eyes drift southward toward the fabulous recipes below, I want to announce that the giveaway winner is the lovely Ms. Design, Wine and Dine!! YAY! She is the proud new owner of some Coconut Oolong Tea and Smoked Pepper from The Spice and Tea Exchange. If you have yet to visit her blog, you are really missing out. She has great recipes, great stories, and her photography skills are outstanding. And she's a Penn State fan. Really, what's not to love?

Enjoy!!

BBQ Bacon Potato Salad

Printable recipe

Serves 8

1/4 c vinegar (I used cider)

Kosher salt

3 1/2 lb medium Yukon Gold potatoes

2/3 c mayonnaise

3 T cider vinegar (but also delish with white balsamic or Champagne vinegars)

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp BBQ seasoning, like Penzey's BBQ 3000

1/2 tsp Spanish smoked paprika

1/4 tsp ground chipotle

4 slices thick-cut, Applewood smoked bacon, cooked and diced

1. Combine the vinegar and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl. Let sit to dissolve the salt. Put the potatoes and 2 T salt in a 6-qt pot and add enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Brign to a boil over high heat and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook the potatoes until barely tender when poked with a fork or skewer, 20-25 minutes. If the potatoes aren't all the same size, remove them as they are cooked.

2. While the potatoes are cooking, make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk mayonnaise, 3 T vinegar, 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, BBQ seasoning, smoked paprika and ground chipotle. Set aside.

3. Gently drain the potatoes in a colander and set aside until just cool enough to handle. Cut the potatoes into 3/4" chunks. Add the potatoes to the bowl with the vinegar and gently stir with a spatula to coat. With your fingers, pull apart any pieces that are stuck together.

4. Add bacon to potatoes and mix. Pour the dressing over the potatoes and stir gently. Serve cold or at room temperature. FYI, this gets better the second day!

Fresh Orange Sorbet

From Cooking Light

Printable recipe

Serves 12 (or 8 if you're slightly more sinful)

2 1/2 c water

1 c sugar

Orange rind strips from 2 oranges

2 2/3 c fresh-squeezed orange juice

1/3 c fresh lemon juice

Grated orange rind (optional)

1. Combine water and sugar in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add rind strips to pan. Reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the sugar mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid.; discard solids. Cool sugar mixture completely.

2. Add orange juice and lemon juice to sugar mixture; stir well. Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream maker, and proceed per the manufacturer's instructions. Spoon sorbet into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Garnish with grated rind, if desired.

Superlative Provencal Roasted Lamb

2011-04-14T21:19:00.001-04:00

I like to live in the superlative. I get inappropriately effusive about little things, like how amazingly awesome my new soap smells. My stepdad likes to joke that all the women in my family (who all have this gene) are the most incontinent women he has ever met because we frequently use the phrase "Ohmygosh, I was SO EXCITED I almost wet my pants" about things like a new tapas restaurant, a Harry Potter premiere, or a really good sale on champagne (especially that).

A little too dramatic? Probably. But we just want to be clear about how excited we are, and threatening bladder incontinence seems to do the trick.

When it comes to food, I like to live in the super-superlative. I frequently say things like "the best I've ever had," or "so good it will make a grown man cry," or "unbelievably, fantastically delicious." These are all ways to tell you, in more subdued terms, that "this is really good, and I suggest you make it sometime."

Gosh, that's so vanilla. I prefer mocha-toffee-death-by-chocolate. It's more unbelievably, fantastically delicious-sounding.

Lest you think I'm just a drama queen and bestow undue praise on the food I make, consider this: I only blog about 25% of what I make. Here's the breakdown: 50% of the stuff I make isn't deemed "make again," and the recipe gets tossed, never to be made again. 25% of the stuff is good, but needs tweaking to be great, so it gets tabled for a while till I can figure out what it needs to give it that je ne sais quoi.

Then there's the 25% that makes it to the hallowed e-grounds of the Food Hound. These dishes are, as Viper puts it in Top Gun, the "best of the best." To me, at least. But I'm judge, jury and executioner here at Food Hound, Inc., so I guess that's what matters!! Muahaha!!

But then I made Provencal Roasted Lamb and I decided I needed a new category. A "best of the best of the best." A "so good it will make five grown men cry." A "Babe Ruth of dinners" (for the Sports Hounds). An "unequivocally, unbelievably, fantastically delicious."

For those who need something more vanilla, try this on for size: this might be the best meal I've ever made. It's definitely the best meat I've ever made.

Loquaciousness aside, this lamb is phenomenal for so many reasons. First, my favorite butchers at Earth Fare hooked me up with an incredible leg of lamb. Perfectly tender, perfect lamb flavor. Really, an impeccable cut of meat. And I'm pretty sure it was grass-fed, which makes me and my arteries smile.

Next comes the thick blanket of mustard, rosemary, balsamic vinegar, garlic and salt that I spread all over the leg. When you get those ingredients together, you know you're playing to win.

Then comes the rich mixture of tomatoes, shallots, olive oil, honey, and fresh herbs that you spread around the base of the leg in the pan. What happens to this mixture in the oven is nothing short of miraculous-- the flavors condense, and you're left with is a thick, rich, sweet-savory, jam-like concoction you spoon over the roasted lamb. The roasted lamb ends up with a rich mustard crust that kind of crunches when you slice through it. No need to fight over who gets the crusty outer pieces of lamb- the leg is round and therefore provides countless opportunities for lusty, crusty lamb love.

The added beauty of this dish is that the preparation is easy enough for a weeknight, provided you either (a) get home early enough or (b) enjoy eating late enough to allow for the nearly 2 hours of cooking and resting time. Truth be told, it's probably better for a weekend because it's so good, you'll find yourself in a lamb coma. That's the best kind of coma in my opinion, though followed in hot pursuit by a chocolate coma.

I wish I could say I came up with some fabulous way to use up the leftovers, but I just sliced up the rest of the leg and dumped it all in a freezer bag with the rest of the jammy tomato confit. It was too good to try to make into something else, and I sealed the bag with a kiss and drew little hearts on it to remind myself how much I loved it.

Oh, the day I defrost it will be a good day, indeed. An unequivocally, unbelievably, fantastically delicious day.

Easy Provencal Roasted Lamb

Adapted from Barefoot Contesssa

Printable recipe

Serves 8

1 6- to 7-pound bone-in leg of lamb (I bought a 9-pound one. I don't mess around)

1/2 c Dijon mustard

3 T chopped garlic (9 cloves), divided

1 T chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 T balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes, drained (original recipe calls for 3 lbs diced fresh tomatoes- canned worked GREAT and was sooo much easier- I recommend fire-roasted)

1/2 c good olive oil

1/2 c good honey, divided

3 shallots, sliced (original recipe called for 1 onion, sliced-- I had shallots on hand to use up)

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Place the leg of lamb in a large roasting pan fat side up and pat it dry with paper towels. Combine the mustard, 1 T of garlic, chopped rosemary, balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a mini food processor and pulse until the garlic and rosemary are minced. Spread the mixture on lamb.

3. Place the drained tomatoes, olive oil, 1/4 c of honey, shallots (or onion), the remaining 2 T garlic, 1 tsp salt, and 2 tsp pepper in a bowl and toss well. Pour the tomato mixture around the lamb and tuck in the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Drizzle the lamb with the remaining 1/4 c honey.

4. Roast for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 350 degrees and roast for another 1 to 1 1/4 hours**, until a meat thermometer registers 130-135 degrees F for medium-rare. Place the lamb on a cutting board, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Discard the herb stems and return the tomatoes to the oven to keep warm. Slice the lamb, arrange on a platter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve with the tomatoes and pan juice spooned on top.

**Since I had a 9-lb leg of lamb, I increased the cooking time to 1 hr 40 mins and it turned out great. I wasn't able to use a meat thermometer b/c the Booze Hound had submerged ours in water overnight the night before and it no longer functioned. I tell ya, the things I put up with around here... :)

Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto and a GIVEAWAY!!!

2011-04-11T20:44:00.003-04:00

Like baseball, grilling season has begun.

And like the Red Sox, I came out of the box with an epic failure. However, unlike the Red Sox I managed to not have six failures in a row. I call those short ribs a win.

Looks like the entire Red Sox lineup finally got it together, and I'm guessing it's because they are all avid Food Hound fans and went right home to make those ribs. They have a tendency to bring out the best in people. But back to my epic failure...

I put some nice, juicy, grass-fed (always!) burgers on the grill. Oh, my did they look good when I flipped them. Perfect grill marks, nice and plump shape... we were in for a treat.

Except that we weren't because upon shutting the lid to the grill, they literally combusted into flames. What I ended up with were two nearly inedible black hockey pucks. I'm not even sure the Doberhound would have eaten them. You could have put them on her black fur and been unable to tell they were there. Dinner was charred, not unlike the Red Sox pitchers.

Luckily I hit a walk-off home run with my side dish :)

I wanted something equally as summery to usher in Opening Day. When you want something summery, the answer is always pesto! I chose to make Pesto-Roasted Tomatoes. All of the sudden, we really didn't miss the burgers.

I know it's not really tomato season yet, but you roast these babies and can therefore use the pale, crap-tastic winter tomatoes that are still in the grocery store. Hey, I like to eat as seasonally as the next Hound, but sometimes a girl has to have a juicy tomato. Roasting them concentrates the flavors and makes them delicious. And the pesto? I have a huge bag of frozen pesto cubes from my pesto festo last summer. If you weren't quite as judicious with your pesto provisions over the winter, I'm sure store-bought would suffice. But do yourself a favor and make and freeze extra next year. Once you take one bites of these luscious tomatoes, you'll be soooo glad you did.

And now, to further celebrate Opening Day for Grilling Season, I am announcing my first giveaway!!

I picked up a bag of Smoked Peppercorns and Coconut Oolong Tea at The Spice and Tea Exchange in Asheville for one lucky Food Hound lover. This store rivals Penzey's in their selection and quality of spices and blends, and they have a lovely selection of teas. If you live near one, get there! If not, let me send you some treats! The Smoked Peppercorns? Perfect for grilling meat. The tea? Perfect for chilling while your cabana boy (or girl) rubs sunscreen on your back.

There are three ways to enter: leave a comment below, follow me on Twitter @thefoodhound, or like The Food Hound on Facebook. Leave a separate comment for each for a total of three chances to win! If you're not a food blogger or have your contact information in your profile, please leave me your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win! If you win and I don't have your contact info, I'll have to pick another winner, booo. This contest will close at 11:59 pm (EST) on Thursday, April 14th, so get in while you can!!

Go Sox!!

Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Printable recipe

Serves 6

2-2 1/2 lbs large red tomatoes (best NOT to use heirlooms here- they'll get mushy)

3 T good olive oil

2 tsp dried oregano

Kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

1/2 c pesto, store-bought or homemade

1/2 c freshly-grated Parmesan cheese (the good stuff :)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Core the tomatoes, then slice them across in 1/2" slices. Arrange the slices in a single layer on a sheet pan. Drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil and sprinkle with oregano, 1 tsp salt, and pepper.

3. Bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven, spread each slice with pesto, and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Return the tomatoes to the oven and continue baking for 7-10 minutes, until the Parmesan is melted and begins to brown. Using a flat metal spatula, put the tomatoes on a serving platter, sprinkle with extra salt (to taste) and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Wine-Braised Beef Short Ribs. O.M.G.

2011-04-06T19:06:00.000-04:00

"It's not you, it's me."

Ouch. It's never good to be on the receiving end of that one. Because really, we all know what it usually means: "it is you, but it's not your fault... it's because I don't like you."

Unless, of course, we're talking about short ribs. Then it's definitely me.

My first attempt at short ribs yielded disastrous results, made even more disastrous by the fact that I served them to company. Why would I do something like that? Because even though Martha Stewart's foreboding voice rings loud and clear in my ear, I always use honored guests as excuses to make something new and fabulous.

Except sometimes it's not so fabulous.

To use the culinary term, the short ribs were gross. Tough, flavorless-- they did not a happy Food Hound make. I do think their level of quality might have been questionable since we were living in HI at the time and these short ribs came from the mainland...and you never know exactly what quality of meat you'll get if you don't buy local stuff (which is delicious, by the way, thanks to the salty grass used for grazing). But I was still a novice Food Hound and was the likely cause of their unfortunate taste and texture.

At the end of the day, it wasn't them. It was me.

As luck would have it, there has been an influx of short rib recipes orbiting the blogosphere of late. Everyone seemed to have resounding success with them, and I had mixed emotions. I was ready to give it another go, but I was also hesitant... what if I mess up again and I'm labeled as the person who can't make short ribs? That's like being labeled as the girl who tries too desperately to procure a man. No one wants to be that girl!

Ultimately I decided that enough time had passed and I was ready to commit to rekindling my relationship with short ribs. It's not like I was chasing after a cute guy named Adam-- just his rib. And so began my quest to find a fabulous recipe, one that would resurrect me from my fallen rib angel status.

When one needs to make something fabulous, where does one turn? Barefoot Contessa, of course. Not that I haven't bookmarked oodles of recipes from my fabulous fellow bloggers-- I'm sure they are all mouth-wateringly amazing, but I needed to make BC's version for my own peace of mind. She doesn't make bad stuff- I've never made anything of hers that didn't go immediately on the Food Hound Make Again list (known locally as "The A-list). If it turned out badly, then maybe it was, indeed, the ribs' fault.

Lucky for me and short ribs everywhere, BC didn't let me down. Oh, the flavor. Oh, the texture. Oh, the relative ease. These ribs, roasted in the oven then braised low-and-slow in a whole bottle of wine over a bed of aromatic vegetables, could make a grown man cry. Although I didn't see any actual tears streaming down the Booze Hound's face, I'm pretty sure he was crying with joy on the inside.

There are endless serving suggestions for these bad boys. As I recall, we started that day with a cinnamon roll, so we decided to serve the ribs "neat," ie, sans accompanying starch. A tough decision, I know, but I'm only human and I don't want a muffin top. With the size of these ribs and excess of wine-braised root vegetable, trust me- we wanted for nothing. But next time there will either be a crusty baguette or mound of creamy garlic mashed potatoes with which to sop up the glorious, plentiful, original sin-fully delicious sauce.

Wine-Braised Beef Short Ribs

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Printable recipe

Serves 6

6 beef short ribs

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 c good olive oil

1 small fennel, fronds, stems, and core removed, large-diced

1 leek, cleaned and large-diced, white part only

1 1/2 c chopped onion (2 onions)

4 c large-diced celery (6 large stalks)

2 carrots, peeled and large-diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 T tomato paste

1 750-ml bottle Cotes du Rhone or other dry red wine

Fresh rosemary sprigs

Fresh thyme sprigs

1 T brown sugar

6 c beef stock

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place the short ribs on a sheet pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven and add the fennel, leek, onion, celery and carrots and sweat them over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and wine, bring to a boil and cook over high heat until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add 1 T salt and 1 tsp pepper. Tie the rosemary and thyme together with kitchen twine and add to the pot.

3. Place the roasted ribs on top of the vegetables in the Dutch oven and add the brown sugar and beef stock. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Cover the Dutch oven and bake for 2 hours or until the meat is very tender.

4. Carefully remove the short ribs from the pot and set aside. Discard the herbs and skim the excess fat. Cook the vegetables and sauce over medium heat for 20 minutes, until reduced. Put the ribs back into the pot and heat through. Serve with the vegetables and sauce.

Lemon-Blueberry-White Chocolate Blondies

2011-04-04T17:57:00.005-04:00

Blondie vs. Brownie. It's an age-old conflict.

I have noticed, in my extensive research, that more men prefer blondies. Maybe it stems from the fact that more men prefer blondes. I'm not saying blondes are better than brunettes, but we are mighty spicy and sassy.

In the same highly controlled, double-blind research, I have noticed that more women prefer brownies. Probably that whole mystical attraction between women and chocolate. Other relationships may come and go, but that one is iron-clad. Or maybe dark-haired Neaderthals were more likely to slaughter us a meaty wooly mammoth than their sandy-haired counterparts. The world may never know.

Chez Hound follows suit with tradition: the Booze Hound will give the edge to a blondie, and I'll give the edge to a brownie. I guess it makes sense since I'm a spicy, sassy blonde and he's a tall, dark drink of water. The Doberhound? She's a mix of her parents (with a little extra dose of spicy and sassy).

Does anyone else feel the need to do a Punnett square right now?? No, just me? Well, I guess I'm just putting those dumb blonde rumors to shame.

Wait, the light bulb just blew. Where's the Booze Hound when I need him?

The point of all this highly technical genetic-speak is that I just blew my own research out of the water. I found a blondie that can rival a brownie.

I know!!!

Sommer, the brains and beauty behind A Spicy Perspective, posted her recipe for Blueberry White Chocolate Blondies a while ago, and my heart skipped a beat. Read the recipe and you'll see there's lemon zest mixed in, which is totally what puts these over the edge. They are chewy, buttery, and taste like summer in bar cookie form.

Whatever color your hair, or side of the brownie-blondie divide you sit, these bars are for you. I promise they'll make the temps rise and the sun peek from behind the clouds. And since they are, indeed, blondies, I guarantee they'll make you feel a little spicier and a little sassier ;)

Lemon-Scented Blueberry White Chocolate Blondies

Adapted from A Spicy Perspective (Great blog! Check it out!!)

Printable recipe

Yield: 13x9 pan of blondies... however many servings that makes is up to you :)

2 c brown sugar, packed

1 c granulated white sugar

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3 eggs, room temperature

1 T vanilla extract

3 c AP flour + 1 T for blueberries if using frozen berries

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Zest of 1-2 lemons, depending on your taste

1 c white chocolate chips

1 c blueberries (can be frozen (unthawed) or fresh)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Melt both sugars and butter until all butter is melted; stir well. (You can do this in the microwave or on the stove)

3. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add the butter-sugar mixture and stir. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well.

4. Press the mixture into a greased 9x13" baking pan. (I use parchment paper to totally prevent sticking) Sprinkle white chocolate chips over the top. Toss the blueberries with 1 T flour (if using frozen berries), and sprinkle them on top of the chips. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. if the edges start to get dark, loosely tent a piece of foil over the pan.

Cheesesteaks, Brownie Pudding... and Grass?

2011-03-31T07:48:00.003-04:00

Meet Micah. Smiling, mid-bite. Must have been a good meal :)

Micah is a doctor. The Booze Hound is also a doctor. But you don't want either of them coming near you with a scalpel.

They are doctors of turfgrass. Yes, that is a legitimate career. They have their PhD in all the trials and tribulations of how to grow, maintain, and keep weeds out of your plush, green lawn, athletic field or golf course.

They are both highly intelligent, highly detail-oriented, and highly interested in things like Bermudagrass dormancy. But there is one fundamental difference between the two of them.

Micah can't remember the last time he had a home-cooked meal.

*pause for gasp*

While the Booze Hound comes home at night to a crazy, cozy, sometimes burned homemade concoction, Micah spends most of his life on the road. You see, he's a consultant in Asia- always traveling, always eating in a restaurant. He's just never home, and never gets a home-cooked meal.

So when he comes to visit, the Food Hound comes to the rescue.

Since Micah lives in Bangkok and has his fill of exotic food on a daily basis, I put my exotic skills on the shelf (just for one night... don't worry :) and made something that is 100% Americana.

Only Micah can get me to cook something 100% Americana. You just can't say no to someone who rocks a seersucker suit and bow tie.

We started with spinach salad. Nothing sexy about that (though walnuts and dried cranberries certainly help matters), but the dressing was the one-two punch. I topped the luscious leaves with Creamy Maple Mustard Dressing from Tupelo Honey Cafe. Oh my, was that a good decision! It's kind of sweet, kind of tangy, and all kinds of creamy and fabulous. It would go particularly well with a salad involving egg and bacon, too, and that is some salad sexiness!

The main course is something I hold near and dear to my heart: cheesesteaks. I've spent a fair amount of time in Philadelphia, and let me tell you: Philly knows cheesesteaks. While the Booze Hound grew up eating Steak-ums (gag!), I grew up pondering the subtle differences between Pat's and Geno's. I've always preferred Geno's, but really, I wouldn't kick a Pat's cheesesteak out of bed. It's just a fact that you have to pick Pat's or Geno's and stick with it for life. But in the city of brotherly love, why can't we all just get along?

I went into this dinner knowing I can't compete on their level. I didn't have their rolls, their griddle, or their "tell me your order, then get out of my face" kind of attitude. But since trips to Philly come few and far between in my newly-adopted Southern life, I needed to forge ahead and try. And really, when you mix meat, cheese and onions on toasty bread, is it ever bad? No. And these were not bad, not bad at all! The steak was nicely browned and seasoned, the onions perfectly caramelized, and the cheese got all melty and the rolls all toasty in the oven.

And no, I did not use Cheez Whiz-- or, as I like to say, "American pasteurized cheesefood product." I used provolone-- "provie" to those in the cheesesteak know. Micah asked this insulting question, and I think if he hadn't been in his bow tie, I would have kicked him out of the house. Or served him a Steak-Um... that might be worse.

Dessert was the piece de resistance. Although feeling quite carbo-licious from the cheesesteaks, you can't delete the dessert course from a home-cooked meal. When you want to knock someone's bow tie off, you go to Barefoot Contessa's Brownie Pudding.

The molten innards of this pudding cake are like a silky brownie batter. It really needs no further endorsement, but I shall continue. Its simplicity belies is sinfulness (like the Doberhound). Incredibly rich, sweet, and beyond easy to make, no one can resist it. Not even an esteemed turf doctor.

'Twas with full stomachs and wine-heavy eyelids that we bade Micah adieu until his next stop in Knoxville. No doubt there are many turf emergencies awaiting his return to Asia. But hopefully we provided a little respite from his restaurant life, with a side of sugar coma from the Brownie Pudding.

Until next time, this is the Food Hound. Good night, good luck, and make sure you start thinking about putting out your pre-emergent crabgrass treatments when the forsythia starts to bloom.

Creamy Maple-Mustard Dressing

Adapted from the Tupelo Honey Cafe

Printable recipe

Yield: 2 cups

1 1/2 c good quality mayonnaise

1/4 c pure maple syrup

2 T cider vinegar

2 T Dijon mustard

2 T whole-grain mustard

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients with a whisk in a large bowl. Alternatively, I dumped everything in my Vita-Mix and flipped to "on." Much lazier :) Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Store refrigerated for up to 7 days.

Philly Cheesesteaks

Adapted from Rachael Ray

Printable recipe

Yield: 4 sandwiches

Onions:

1 T olive oil

2 large yellow onions, sliced very thin

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sandwiches:

2 tsp olive oil

1 1/4 lb lean beef tenderloin or sirloin, very thinly sliced, like carpaccio (ask your butcher to do this- mine was not able, so I just sliced it as thinly as possible with my uber-sharp knife)

1 tsp garlic salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8 slices provolone cheese

4 soft Italian sandwich hoagie rolls, each 6-8" long, split lengthwise

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, onions, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until onions are soft and caramel in color.

3. While onions are cooking, heat 2 tsp olive oil a heavy griddle pan (I used a large non-stick skillet) over medium-high to high heat. Add meat, and sear and cook until brown but not crisp, about 2 minutes on each side. Cook in single layers in two batches to avoid steaming the meat. When browned, just before you remove from heat, sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper.

4. When all the meat is cooked and your onions are finished, line each of the split rolls with 2 slices of provolone. Pile 1/4 of the meat and 1/4 of the onions on top of the cheese in each roll. Try to close sandwich as much as possible, and wrap each sandwich in foil. Pop each sandwich into the oven for a few minutes to allow the cheese to fully melt and the roll to become toasty. Remove and serve!

Brownie Pudding

Adapted from Ina Garten

Printable recipe

Serves 6

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the dish

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 c sugar

3/4 c good cocoa powder

1/2 c AP flour

Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 T framboise liquor (optional)

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter a 2-qt oval baking dish (I used a 1.5-qt and it didn't overflow). Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5-10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow. Meanwhile, combine the flour and cocoa powder and set aside.

3. When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, lower the speed to low and add the vanilla seeds, framboise (if using), and the cocoa-flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With the mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again until just combined.

4. Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly one hour (I added about 10-15 minutes since I used a smaller dish). A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out three-quarters clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is a cross between a brownie and a pudding. Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Cheating on France with Pot d'Espagne

2011-03-25T19:31:00.002-04:00

I have cheated on France with Spain.

Technically speaking, I have one free pass since Spain was my first love. Isn't there a Sex and the City episode about that?

Before I became enamored with all things French, I was enamored with all things Spanish. Starting in middle school, I took Spanish for nine years, and I think I even wanted to become a bullfighter. Instead, I became a dietitian. Oh, well. Much less exciting, but fewer occupational hazards. And I don't have to wear red and gold every day... they're not really my colors.

Spain and I never really had a falling out, we just naturally parted ways. I moved to Belgium and found a much more pressing need to speak French on a daily basis. I ate more French food. Paris was a short drive away, while Madrid was a long train ride. I soon turned my bullfighter fantasy into a boulangerie-owner fantasy.

But Spain never really lost its allure. France may have Louis Vuitton, but Spain offers Zara, with its couture geared toward the income level of bullfighters and dietitians, alike. France may have the Cote d'Azure, but Spain offers the oft-overlooked Costa del Sol, which served as a honeymoon spot for the Booze Hound and me. Spain has Manchego cheese, for which France will never be able to answer.

Although I hands-down prefer French cuisine to the often too-heavy, too-cured foods the Spanish tend to enjoy, I do love a Spanish meal every once in a while. Especially when it involves chorizo... I'll abandon France's bed every time for chorizo.

So when I perused the lovely Ms. Design, Wine and Dine's site, her White Beans with Creamy Red Sauce, Chorizo, Onions, and Peppers struck a chord with my parotid gland (as do many of her other fabulous ideas- you need to check her out :).

Peppers. Tomatoes. Onions. Chorizo. Doesn't get more Spanish than that.

But I had to change the name. This dish is so much better than the name (and photo... sorry) belie. It's a gorgeous peasant dish you could totally serve to company. My idea? Pot d'Espagne. Literally, Spanish Pot. In French. Now I'm just playing jealous lover.

I left out her original plan to serve over greens (too runny), and instead opted for some crusty bread. Always a good choice, no matter your side of the Pyrenees. And to truly invoke your inner Spaniard, serve topped with nutty Manchego instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano. That way, you avoid bringing Italy into the torrid love triangle.

France will always be my #1. You just can't compete with baguette, Tarte Tatin, L'Occitane, and Taittinger. But when I want to steal away for a night with Spain (and Spanish hottie, Javier Bardem), I'll make this dish. It encompasses some of my favorite flavors in one hot, sizzling bowl. And man :)

Pot d'Espagne (Spanish Stew)

Adapted from Design, Wine and Dine

Printable recipe

Serves 6

2 cans small white beans, drained and rinsed

2 sweet peppers, chopped (I used red and yellow as a shout-out to Spain)

2 onions, chopped

4 large cloves of garlic, diced

9 oz dry-cured chorizo, cut into bite-sized pieces (I use Palacios brand from EarthFare)

4 c tomato sauce

1 T anchovy paste (optional)

1/4-1/2 c heavy cream

Lots of freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Manchego cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chorizo and saute a few minutes to brown slightly and release the gorgeous oil. Remove chorizo and set aside.

2. Add onion and garlic to chorizo oil, saute 3-4 minutes. Add peppers and continue cooking until vegetables have softened. Add tomato sauce, anchovy paste (if using) and heavy cream and stir well until sauce lightens. Stir in chorizo and beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a generous coating of desired cheese and crusty bread.

Lamb Sausage Pizza with Caramelized Onion and Feta

2011-03-21T20:54:00.009-04:00

There is a part of "Eat, Pray, Love" in which Elizabeth Gilbert says she eats the world's best pizza in Naples.

That's funny, because I don't live in Naples. And if she didn't have pizza at my house, then she clearly didn't have the best :)

Too bad Elizabeth Gilbert didn't know about it, or she could have bypassed all that time in Naples and spent more time canoodling with Javier Bardem in Bali. I forget his character name, but I enjoy the thought of canoodling with Javier Bardem in Bali.

You may recall back when the Food Hound was just a wee speck in the blogosphere that the Booze Hound and I took a very food-and-baseball-centric trip to Boston. 'Twas during this trip that I had The Best Pizza Ever, which inspired me to copycat it this weekend and make The Best Pizza Ever At Home.

The secret ingredient is the same now as it was then: lamb sausage. I don't have enough time to tell you all the wonderful things about lamb sausage, but know this: it is the ultimate pizza condiment. It's a little exotic, it's a little spicy, and a lot awesome. Nestled among its best friends, caramelized onions and feta cheese, it creates the ultimate Greco-Roman feast :)

Lamb Sausage Pizza With Caramelized Onion and Feta

Printable recipe

Serves 4

1/2 recipe Homemade Pizza Dough

1 lb lamb sausage

1 onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

Good quality olive oil

1 8-oz package Italian Blend cheese

4 oz crumbled feta cheese

1 tsp Greek seasoning (optional, but I love Penzey's Greek Seasoning!)

1. Preheat the grill at high heat.

2. Brown sausage over medium-high heat until cooked all the way through. Transfer sausage to a small bowl, leaving the gorgeous drippings in the pan.

3. Caramelize the onion in the gorgeous drippings (you know it's gonna be a good night!) until golden. Transfer onion to a small bowl.

4. Roll pizza dough out on a well-floured surface to about a 12"x 16" rectangle (this dough rolls out best when it's cold). Drizzle one side of dough with a generous amount of olive oil and spread with a pastry brush to coat.

5. Turn the heat on the grill down to low, and place the dough oiled-side down on the grill. There is no attractive way to accomplish this task- you will get a "rustic" looking product, which is fun :) Let the dough cook for a few minutes (about 5) while you bring all the other ingredients outside to the grill station.

6. Oil the top of the crust and flip when it's cooked on the first side.

7. Spread the onions, sausage, cheeses and Greek seasoning on the first grilled side of the pizza. Close the lid and let it cook long enough for the bottom of the crust to cook and the cheeses to melt, about 5-7 minutes. It's on low heat, so burning is not a huge concern. When everything is the perfect melty consistency, slide the pizza onto a cutting board. Cut, serve, love.

Homemade Pizza Dough

Adapted from Cooking Light

This is the pizza dough for the lazy hound! No rising! Nearly the whole thing is made with the stand mixer, and the process takes about 25 minutes, including mixing time. I always keep some in the freezer, and then you look like Ina Garten when you can just whip up homemade pizza any old time you like.

Printable recipe

Yield: 2 pizzas or 8 calzones

1 package active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)

1 c warm water (100-110 degrees F)

1 1/4 c cold water

2 T olive oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

5 1/2 c unbleached bread flour, divided

Cooking spray

1. Dissolve yeast in 1 c warm water in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Combine 1 1/4 c cold water, oil, sugar, and salt in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.

2. Combine flour, yeast mixture, and cold water mixture in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low 8 minutes or until dough begins to form. Let rest 2 minutes. Mix on low 6 minutes, or until dough is smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. Add enough of the remaining 1/4 c flour, 1 T at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

3. Divide the dough in half, and place each portion in a large zip-top bag coated with cooking spray. Seal and chill overnight or up to 2 days. Let stand at room temperature for one hour before using.

Note: You can freeze the dough in heavy-duty, freezer-safe zip-top plastic bags for up to 2 months; thaw dough overnight in the refrigerator. (This is my preferred method! Easy for weeknight meals!)

Bailey's Buttercream For the Birthday Hound!

2011-03-17T09:34:00.001-04:00

Birthdays are fabulous.

Birthdays on holidays are even more fabulous.

Birthdays on St. Patrick's Day are as fabulous as it gets. If I do say so, myself :)

Yes, I was blessed as a wee bairn with a St. Patty's Day birthday!! The reason for the superlative fabulosity? It's not that I'm narcissistic-- I just love reasons to celebrate, and the whole world celebrates my special day right along with me! It's perfect!

I'm one of those in-your-face birthday girls who will write it on your calendar for you, complete with little shamrocks all over the place. Sorry if it's annoying, I just can't get enough of March 17th. I don't need presents, and I'll even bring in my own cupcakes. I just want to eat, drink and be merry! If birthdays were a sport, I would get fined for excessive celebration every time.

The upside is that I'm just as happy to celebrate others' birthdays, but most people let them pass without the pomp and circumstance. I'll bake you your favorite cake. I'll go to your birthday dinner. I'll dance with you on the bar. I'll hold your hair back while you puke up your one-too-many celebratory margaritas. I'll even decorate your birthday on your calendar, complete with day-appropriate symbols, like little French flags and guillotines if you were born on Bastille Day.

But few people take me up on this because they say "it's just another day," which sounds like nails screeching down a chalkboard. If you can't be a prince or princess on your birthday, when else can you do it? Spoil sports.

I start a countdown on February 17th, which is right around the time I start thinking about what I'll make for my birthday meals. That's right, meals plural. There's the day-of meal, the meal out, and the meal the Booze Hound cooks for me. And of course, there is the cake to consider.

I never make Irish food on St. Patty's Day simply because it's not my favorite. Not that I don't find corned beef and cabbage delightful, but it's my birthday- I want my rich, buttery, reason-I--do-squats-at-the-gym favorites.

But this year is a little different.

I was perusing my favorite blogs yesterday, when I happened upon Chocolate Chip Irish Cream Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting from Recipe Girl.

Hello, lover!

I made a rare last-minute addendum to my dessert plans and oh, am I glad I did. Those cupcakes. That buttercream. It's like the Food Hound and the Booze Hound collided and made the ultimate food child: a boozy cupcake!

And so it's time to make merry :) Wear green, drink Guinness, and dress your wee Doberhound like a leprechaun. Make these unbelievable cupcakes and give them to everyone wearing green (and try not to get drunk off the batter :). Draw little shamrocks on your calendar in my honor. And to close, I give you an Irish blessing:

Wishing you always...

Walls for the wind,

A roof for the rain,

And tea beside the fire.

Laughter to cheer you,

Friends you love near you,

And all that your heart may desire.

Happy St. Patty's Day! This year is going to be the best ever!!!

Chocolate Chip Irish Cream Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream

Adapted from Recipe Girl (such a great source of recipes!)

Printable recipe

Serves 24, or 17 if you're an Irish piggy like me!

Cupcakes:

3/4 mini chocolate chips (I used normal size- why go mini on your birthday?)

1/2 T cake flour

2 3/4 c cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

10 T butter, at room temperature

1 c granulated white sugar

1 c light brown sugar, packed

1 tsp vanilla

3 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 c Bailey's Irish Cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.

2. In a small bowl, toss together chocolate chips and 1/2 T flour. Set aside.

3. Sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

4. In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment (or electric mixer- your pick), beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add sugars and vanilla; beat until blended. Add eggs and beat until blended. With mixer on low, add flour mixture and liquor alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Gently stir in chocolate chips.

5. Spoon batter into cupcake liners, filling them almost to the top (they shouldn't rise much). Bake 16-22 minutes, or until centers of cupcakes are set. Cool completely before frosting, but feel free to eat a hot one fresh out of the oven while you wait :)

Buttercream:

1 c butter (2 sticks), at room temperature

3 c powdered sugar

4 T Bailey's Irish Cream

2 tsp vanilla

1. Place all ingredients in a large stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or electric mixer). Blend on low to incorporate ingredients (use your splash guard! Powdered sugar likes to go everywhere!), then increase speed to medium-high for about a minute to get really fluffy buttercream! If you elect to use this buttercream in a cake, this recipe makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or 1 cake.

Mother, Daughter, and Good Eats

2011-03-14T22:41:00.000-04:00

"Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee

Calls back the lovely April of her prime." ~William Shakespeare

It is a known fact that daughters don't think they are like their mothers. It is another known fact that mothers know their daughters are just like them, and just wait patiently for their daughters to figure that out.

Mothers are so smart. Must be that eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head thing.

But the writing is on the wall in my case. I am sliding down the slope toward "You-Have-Become-Your-Mother-Ville," population: all daughters.

I feel like I need to rebel against this. I mean, I never ever thought ankle-length Mom Jeans were flattering in any capacity, and my mom had a strong streak in the 80s (and 90s... and I'm not going to lie, the first part of the millennium) where they were her go-to pant of choice. I don't like stewed prunes, no matter how much fiber they contain. I wear high heels, no matter how badly they hurt my feet. And I don't think Johnny Mathis is attractive. At all.

(To be fair, Mama Hound finally ditched her Mom Jeans and now wears the very attractive boot-cut variety. And she has entered the wonderful world of fashion-meets-comfort Dansko shoes. But she still loves stewed prunes and thinks Johnny is fine lookin'. Ouch.)

Still, the similarities far outweigh the differences. We keep Hallmark in business. We get excited about wool socks. We have a voice for our dogs and talk it in ad nauseam. We both have writing that is simultaneously legible and illegible. We both talk a mile a minute and wonder why you can't keep up. We both think there is no problem that can't be solved with a hot cup of tea.

Ultimately, though, our strongest bond is food: making it, buying it, thinking about it, talking about it (at a mile a minute), preserving it and eating it. And if there were something else you could do with food, we'd do that, too.

Naturally, when we get to see each other for our painfully brief visits throughout the year, it's basically a food orgy! And I'm not even embarrassed to say that! We start thinking about what we want to make and eat weeks in advance. Who am I kidding... months in advance!

This visit was no different :) Mama Hound just came for a lovely long weekend, and we packed it with about as much food as we could. Knoxville restaurants never cease to deliver delicious food, but this time we decided to take a day trip to groove-tastic Asheville, NC, about 2 hours away.

I always describe Asheville as the Woodstock of the South. Am I right?? Very groovy, very funky, very natural, and there's a high likelihood you'll find someone who disagrees with female armpit shaving. Hey, whatever floats your boat, ladies. We're just here for the food. And it's good.

Asheville has an enormously large number of amazing restaurants, with the added bonus that many of them source their ingredients locally. This time, Mama Hound and I chose the Tupelo Honey Cafe. Why? Mama Hound wanted southern cookin' and I needed a napkin to catch my saliva while I perused their menu online.

We had a small wait, which was fine, because they have a lovely waiting area in the back with their cookbook on display. This cookbook is unreal, and yes, Mama Hound treated us to a copy! Look for Tupelo favorites on the Food Hound soon...

I swear this is not the reason I chose to eat there, but I figured out quickly that your server delivers fresh biscuits and blueberry jam to your table while you wait for your food. Even though I still can't get the word "y'all" to pass my lips, I love two things about biscuits: eating them, and getting to say "well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!" whenever I eat one. The jam and Tupelo honey at every table were the butter on the biscuit. Or the icing on the cake.

We started out in true southern fashion with fried green tomatoes over cheese grits. Just fabulous. Everything was fresh, fried to perfection, and beautifully plated. I don't know who first decided to take an unripe tomato and fry it, but way to go, man. It's awesome!

Mama Hound was bent on getting fried okra. I despise okra. I find it mucous-y, slimy, and utterly vile. But you know what? Even I liked their fried okra. Damn, they're good!

If I'm getting southern cookin', I'm going for broke: I'm getting fried chicken. But this fried chicken is different: it's skinless and it's coated in a Panko-ground nut mixture. I know that sounds like a dietitian's idea of fried chicken, but please note that I have enjoyed BoJangle's fried chicken, which makes KFC look like health food, so I'm not afraid of real fried chicken. I just wanted to try it, all smothered in gravy goodness.

Oh my. Was it good. Crunchy, juicy, tasty, not greasy. And those sweet potatoes? I'm not sure how they are able to cram as much butter and brown sugar into them as they do, but they were about the best sweet potatoes I've ever had. I'm now ruined for life- I can only eat them the Tupelo way!

Mama Hound decided to be a little holy and order the grilled vegetable melt. I was smug and

thought she'd regret it and wish she had ordered my lovely gravy-smothered chicken, but 'twas I who had my tail between my legs because her melt was amazing. Did she know something I didn't? Must be that eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head thing...

As if fried okra, gravy, and biscuits weren't enough, we needed chocolate as a finale. And we never need an excuse for chocolate :) When you're in Asheville, I'm of the firm impression you can't do any better than the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

The FBCL has comfy chairs, a large display case of truffles and other sinful confections, and the richest hot chocolate you ever want to taste. They call it "Liquid Truffle," and it's no joke- it's like a melted truffle. It's very different from Belgian chocolat chaud because it's thicker and much less sweet, so really, one can't compare the two. My recommendation? Drink both regularly :)

Thus concluded the food portion of our trip to Asheville. We waddled around from store to store, perfectly content with our meal choices, excited for the rest of the weekend's plans.

And did those plans include more food? Why, yes! How did you know?

My favorite meal the rest of the weekend came from one of my favorite Knoxville haunts that, surprisingly, I have yet to write about: The Crown and Goose.

I've eaten at the Crown and Goose many, many times but never for Sunday brunch. I learned that they have $3 champagne at said brunch, and I can guarantee it will become a Hound family favorite with that golden nugget of information :) The extra bonus is that there is outside patio seating, and we were in the mood to sit in the warmth and watch the tired, sagging eyelids of last night's merry-makers file past us, bloody mary in one hand, sunglasses in the other.

And what is the best food to eat whilst you are basking in the sun, drinking champagne and people-watching? Bread and cheese, of course!

Deciding to eschew the traditional brunch fare, we ordered one each of the fabulous cheeseboards, the Ploughman (English cheeses) and the Frenchman (French cheeses). Nothing elaborate, just nips of gorgeous cheese, a hunk of hunky baguette, and a little melange of fruit, nuts and preserves as the crowning jewel of the board.

We felt so en vogue.

And although there is a nip of sadness in the air now that she has vacated Chez Hound and is back at the Mother Ship in PA, it was a fabulous weekend of fabulous food and fabulous time spent together. And of course, I always come away knowing more about her. I learned that she can clean a plate of fried okra faster than the Doberhound. She loves consignment shopping. She eats an apple every single day. I'm pretty sure she didn't learn anything about me because she knows it all already... must be the eyes-in-the-back-of-the-head thing :)

If you're worried you will turn into your mother, don't worry. You will. And it doesn't mean you'll have to wear Mom Jeans or forever swear off your 4" heels. But it does mean that you'll take after the fabulous woman who raised you (with enough forethought to avoid fashion pitfalls and a high-fiber food obsession). And maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to handle life's ups and downs with as much poise and grace as she did. For me? That's a fine prospect, indeed :)

Chicken and Sweet Potato Hash

2011-03-12T08:05:00.000-05:00

Yet again, my roast chicken is a sacrificial lamb for another dish. I just can't nail down a good roast chicken recipe. Sure, I roast it and it smells delicious, and the skin gets all crispy and fabulous... but then I have to eat the meat and I'm just not impressed. I finally perfected the art of roasting a turkey with the brilliant concept of brining, but who wants to brine for a weeknight meal? Not I!

And so, my attempts at roasting chicken have only yielded pitiful poultry. As much fun as it is to stuff things up Monsieur Poulet's rump (you have to admit it's the best part of roasting a chicken, non??), nothing seems to permeate the banality of the flesh. Wow, that sounds like porn for literary nerds! Can you imagine all the English Lit professors in tweed jackets lining up for a Saturday night showing of "The Banality of the Flesh??"

OK, so I'm using the concept of literary porn as a distraction from the fact that I, the Food Hound, have yet to make a tasty roast chicken, no matter how I massage herbed butter under his skin or stuff aromatics up his rump. *sigh*

But there are two silver linings to come out of this situation:
1. I get to make a rich homemade stock with Monsieur Poulet's carcass every time, and
2. I've gotten really good at making recipes involving cooked chicken!!

And so, the subject matter today is a fabulous recipe involving pre-cooked chicken. We all need more of those, regardless of your chicken-roasting skills. We all have leftover chicken from time to time, and we need a way to use it. Am I right, or am I right?

You could make soup. You could make enchiladas. Both valiant choices that produce excellent results, and I'll blog about each one as I continue to procure boring roast chicken. But you could make something involving all things good and holy in this world: bacon, sweet potatoes, butter and maple syrup.

I choose the latter. This hash is so good that I almost want to make a boring roast chicken just so I can justify making it. Again. It's both sweet and savory, has a great mix of textures, and has a stick-to-your-ribs quality that make it a fabulous comfort dish when the weather is cold and crap-tastic. You could even try it with diced peppers or celery if you needed to use those up, too. However you do it, Monsieur Poulet is just happy he is being enjoyed post roast!

Chicken and Sweet Potato Hash

Adapted from Fine Cooking

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

3 slices bacon, sliced lardon (matchstick) style

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 c chicken broth

2 T unsalted butter

2 c chopped cooked chicken or turkey

1 T chopped fresh parsley

1 T maple syrup

2 tsp chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Dash of Tobasco, hot sauce, or red chili flakes

Kosher salt

1. Cook bacon in a 10" skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a medium bowl. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the sweet potato, broth and butter to the onions. Simmer, uncovered, until the sweet potatoes are barely tender, about 6 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, mix the chicken or turkey, parsley, maple syrup, rosemary, pepper and Tobasco with the bacon.

3. When the potatoes are barely tender, add the meat mixture to the skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, firmly patting the hash down and then occasionally flipping, scraping the bottom of the pan with a metal spatula and patting down again, until the broth has completely evaporated and the hash is nicely browned, about 8 minutes (reduce heat if the hash is browning too quickly). Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Champagne, Cheese and Chocolate: 3 C's of a Baby Shower!

2011-03-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

Forget the diaper genie. Forget the burp cloths.

What does a new mom need? Chocolate and cheese.

Yes, our fabulous 'hood is expanding with its first progeny! My fabulous neighbor is due to pop with our newest member in about 10 weeks, and we needed to send her off to the wonderful (and sleepless) world of new motherhood well-fed. I would say "fat and happy," but you don't say that to a pregnant woman. Especially this pregnant woman, who is still doing unassisted pull-ups at 30 weeks pregnant. I can't even do unassisted pull-ups at 0 weeks pregnant. She may be happy, people, but fat she ain't.

Since it was a couples shower, I decided against things that screamed pink, blue, and those God-awful baby shower games. Whoever came up with that melted-candy-bar-in-diaper game should have a mouth full of root canals with no novocaine. Why am I assuming a man developed this heinous game? Because I just am. No self-respecting woman would think of that. It even grosses the Doberhound out, and she licked yogurt off the side of the garbage can this morning.

So in lieu of crustless sandwiches and ginger ale-spiked fruit punch, we did it Food Hound style: cheese, chocolate, champagne. My three favorite C's.

To start everything off on the right foot, we toasted with some rosé champagne. Barefoot is my favorite brand for entertaining- it's really, really tasty for an unbeatable price. PLUS, you get the little footie print on the label. It's like it was made for showers. The rosé color was in honor of the baby-girl-to-be. So cute. We also had a fabulous non-alcoholic Fresca-cranberry cocktail. Still pink, still lovely.

After salad and hummus from our other fabulous neighbors, it was time to move on to the main event: cheese. More specifically, fondue. When is fondue NOT fun? Um, never! Perfect for entertaining, and even if you have someone with defective DNA who doesn't care for cheese, he or she can still go hog wild on the dippers. There should be more fondue in this world. I think there would be more peace and happiness. It disappeared so quickly that I didn't even get a picture of it, but I used Classic Cheese Fondue from Food and Wine and love love loved it. I served it with cubes of bread, apples, and this slap-your-grandma-good peppered salami. I finally had to put someone in charge of the salami because the men were on the fast track to empty the bowl before the fondue pot was even plugged in. Meat and cheese, ladies- works every time! Even sometimes when you don't want it to!

I initially wanted to do two kinds of fondue, but then I remembered a coworker's recipe for baked Brie that I've been hoarding for TWO YEARS, and decided to make that instead of the second fondue. If you're about to be voted off an island, any island, you need to make this Brie, and not only will you get to stay, but someone will even crack your coconuts and spear your fish for life. I'm not kidding. It's that good. A sweet mixture of cinnamon-scented dried fruit and nuts sandwiched between the buttery slabs of Brie... there is nothing not to love about that picture. I can't believe I wasted two years of my life before I made this. I already think I need to make it again to make up for lost time.

And now it's my favorite time. It's time to share dessert. Food Hound faithful, I've been holding out on you. I have waited nearly a year to share with you my secret to all happiness. This cake touches the lives of all who eat it, including the cardiologists' lives of those who eat it regularly.

You. Will. Never. Find. A. Better. Chocolate. Cake. Than. This. Period.

It's the kind of cake that makes you look around to make sure no one's watching because, surely, there must be some sort of illegality in its consumption. It's the cake you make when you want to pull out all the stops. It's the cake you make when the Red Sox lose the World Series and you want the Booze Hound to take you to the ballet the next day and like it. I'm not saying I've ever done it, but I'm not saying I wouldn't.

This is Killer Chocolate Cake.

It's a brownie-meets-torte-meets-fudge kind of cake. Decadent. Debaucherous. Deadly. Ooo, my three favorite D's! Sure, it's not pink and sparkly like your traditional baby shower desserts, but the Baby Mama likes chocolate, and I'm going to give the woman what she likes. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but someone actually said it was the best dessert he's ever eaten. He, of course, is right. Don't be turned off by the unattractive picture-- I am still trying to adjust to my NEW SLR CAMERA. Oh, my, that tasted sweet!

I know it might seem counterintuitive to frost this Cake of the Gods with humble Hershey's buttercream, but it totally works. The delicate flavor of the cocoa (as opposed to melted chocolate) and the grittiness of the powdered sugar make the cake shine even more. A rich ganache would just be overkill. Trust the Food Hound.

And so, sweet little Baby Girl, we await your arrival in the 'hood. We all want to hold and squeeze and love you.
We all can't wait to see what your hair color is. We all want to know whether you'll like milk or dark chocolate. Wait, maybe that's just me... :) 10 weeks and counting!

Baked Brie with Apples and Cranberries

Printable recipe

Serves 8 as an appetizer (or 2 if no one is watching, ha!)

1/2 c chopped apple

1/4 c sliced almonds

1/4 c dried cranberries

1 T packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 T butter, melted

1 8-oz round of Brie cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Coarsely chop apple. Combine apple, almonds, cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; mix gently. Stir in butter just until ingredients are moistened.

3. Cut Brie in half horizontally. Place one half of Brie rind-side down on a foil-lined baking pan. Spoon half of apple mixture onto bottom half of Brie and spread evenly. Top with other half of Brie, rind side up. Spoon remaining apple mixture over top.

4. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is soft and just begins to melt. It will probably start to ooze, which is no problem because you lined the pan with foil. Otherwise, happy scrubbing :)

Killer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Printable recipe

Serves 16

Cake:

6 oz unsalted butter

6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

6 eggs

3 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 T vanilla extract

1 1/2 c flour

1 1/2 c chocolate chips

Frosting:

9 T butter, softened

3/4 c good quality cocoa

4 c powdered sugar

1/2 c milk

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9" cake pans and line bottoms with parchment or wax paper (do not skip this step! You will regret it!).

2. Melt the butter and chocolate together over simmering water. Cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, whisk (by hand) for 1 minute the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Whisk in the butter-chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 3-35 minutes. (Do not overbake. Cake tested should not come out clean.) Cool on racks and remove from pans as soon as cooled. Wrap the layers well if not using that day.

3. Beat butter in a small bowl. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk; beat to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Blend in vanilla.

4. When ready to frost, place one layer upside down on a platter. Spread 2/3 c frosting over layer. Top with remaining layer, and frost top and sides with remaining frosting. The edges of this cake can get VERY crumbly, and the amount of frosting listed below (which is 1.5 x a normal recipe) will allow you to make any necessary repairs and fill-ins!

Cabbage with Bacon and Roasted Sunchokes

2011-03-06T21:56:00.000-05:00

The Hounds are in a rut.

Let me clarify that this has no similarity to the phrase "the bucks are in a rut," which is what hunters use to describe the buck mating season. When the bucks are in a rut, it means they're horny and looking for some fine lookin' does. It also increases the risk of having a buck v. car accident because all the buck is thinking is "I have to get across the road to that fine lookin' doe," and not "wow, I bet those headlights are going to lead to my demise."

Besides, it's not even buck-rutting season. And yes, I totally had to look that up.

No, the kind of rut I'm talking about is not the rut that sends chills down the spine of the dude who wears full cammo to the grocery store on Saturday morning (is he trying to blend in with the bulk nut section?). It's a food rut. More specifically, a vegetable rut.

I am involved in a three-way with broccoli, asparagus, and spinach salad. Always beautiful, always readily available, they pretty much round out every meal we have. Not that they aren't delightful in their own right, but I'm ready to move on. Not unlike the horny buck, I want to cross the road to a sexy new side vegetable.

My strategy was to resurrect an oldie but goodie to bring into the rotation, as well as try a new and exciting recipe using a new (to me) ingredient. The oldie but goodie was embarrassingly easy to find. Front and center in my cookbinder was my recipe for Red Cabbage with Apple. So fabulous- can't believe I haven't made it all season. All you do is cook red cabbage with apple in bacon fat (yay!). Very little effort required, and there's bacon involved. What's not to love? I know that cabbage is not often something one wants to put one's face in but trust me, you'll want to.

My new and exciting recipe proved a little more challenging. I may be in a rut now, but I've made pretty much every vegetable under the sun at one point or another.

Except sunchokes.

Honestly, I always thought sunchokes looked like mutant, overgrown ginger (admit it, they totally do), and therefore always walked past them, making the sign of the cross and tossing salt over my shoulder because I just thought they were weird, sinister-looking creatures.

Then I found a recipe on one of my favorite blogs, The English Kitchen, for Lemon Roasted Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes. Ooooh, Jerusalem Artichokes! Sounds like fun! Makes me think of my mom encouraging me to meet (ie, marry and have many children with) a nice, Jewish boy because they make such good husbands. Then I married an Irish guy from Boston. Same thing, right?

After recovering from a mini-stroke at the grocery store upon discovering that Jerusalem Artichokes are, indeed, sunchokes, I bucked up (Eh? Catch the reference? Such a witty hound!) and brought home a very large bag of them. Really, I was just hoping the recipe didn't say to peel them because they are knobbier and rounder than ginger. And I think ginger is a pain in the arse to peel! Luckily, you eat the skin. Point #1 for sunchokes.

The recipe calls for roasting them with potatoes in loads of olive oil and lemon juice till they become tender and caramelized. Then you just can't keep your face out of the pan. Seriously, this must be how a horny buck feels when he's on the opposite side of I-95 from his beloved doe. I knew I was going to burn my mouth, but I kept eating them right out of the 425-degree pan. They were kind of crunchy, kind of starchy, and all kinds of awesome. The lemon juice really complemented the slight hint of artichoke flavor I detected, and the caramelized edges made them even sweeter. This is totally a new member of the rotation.

So I'm out of my vegetable rut! The Booze Hound might be a little disappointed, though, because he's always in the buck type of rut, if you know what I mean (and what man isn't?), but now he'll have a wider variety of vegetables on his plate :)

Red Cabbage with Apple and Bacon

Adapted from Taste of Home

Printable recipe

Serves 6

3 bacon strips, diced (Applewood smoked bacon yields the best flavor here)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium apple, peeled and chopped (or live dangerously and leave the peel on)

1 small head of red cabbage, chopped

1 c water

1/4 c white wine vinegar

1 T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1. In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels and drain.

2. In the drippings, saute onion and apple until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Stir in the reserved bacon. Put face in bowl.

Lemon Roasted Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes

Adapted from The English Kitchen/Nigel Slater

Printable recipe

Serves 4

1 lb 10 oz (750 g) Jerusalem Artichokes (aka sunchokes)

1/2 lb (250 g) yukon gold potatoes

2 lemons, halved

1/3 c olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Pour olive oil into a roasting pan and place in oven to get nice and hot while you prep the vegetables.

2. Scrub the vegetables well, and then cut in halves or quarters, depending on their size. Remove pan of oil from oven and toss vegetables into the pan, shaking well to coat. Squeeze 3 of the lemon halves over the vegetables, then dust generously with some sea salt and freshly-ground pepper. Place in oven and roast for about 35 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the oven, stir the vegetables well, and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Return the pan to the oven and roast for another 10-15 minutes, until golden brown and beginning to crisp and caramelize around the edges. Remove from the oven. Squeeze the juice from the remaining half lemon over the vegetables, dust with grated Parmesan, and serve. Out of this world!

Sweet Memories: Tarte Tatin

2011-03-03T14:32:00.007-05:00

There are two universal truths.

1. Some things in life will not turn out how you hoped or expected.

2. You are responsible for making the best out of things when they don't.

I did have a third universal truth, but the half-eaten piece of grapefruit at my foot proves that a Doberhound will not, in fact, eat whatever you put in front of her. She's eaten wall plaster, but I guess citrus really puts her over the edge.

In life you get to have some amazing experiences, and some not-so-amazing experiences. I think the amazing experiences help you get through the not-so-amazing ones, and the not-so-amazing experiences make you appreciate the amazing ones.

When a not-so-amazing experience presents at your doorstep, do what you must to get through it. Cry about it. Grieve about it. Feel it. But the time comes for you to muscle up and move past it. That's the hard part.

My solution is to call upon one of those amazing experiences and re-create it on whatever scale you can. Make yourself happy.

As you can imagine, many amazing life experiences in the world of the Hounds (thus far) involve... food. Didn't see that one coming, did you? Food makes me happy, and I'm totally not ashamed to admit it :)

Recently, I found the need to call upon an amazing experience. The one I chose involves France (shocker!) and one of my all-time favorite foods: tarte tatin.

As I have shared on numerous occasions (but will share again because it was SO STINKIN' AMAZING), the Booze Hound and I got stuck for an extra week in Paris when that Icelandic volcano that no one can pronounce erupted last spring. While stranded families clogged the phone/internet/airport lines, the Booze Hound and I decided that being stuck in Paris is something that most people only dream of, and by golly, we would take full advantage of it.

I love volcanoes!!

Using "Edible Adventures in Paris" by Chocolate and Zucchini blogger Clotilde Dusoulier, the ultimate guide to eating in Paris, we ate the best Paris had to offer in our price range. A birthday gift from my fabulous British friend, it is indispensable (to be said for effect in French, not English) for the traveler who wants to indulge in fabulous food from sun-up to sun-down. And I am such a personne.

But before she entrusted the book to my care, she told me that there was one thing she recommended I do that was not in the book. She wanted me to go Les Deux Magots for a cup of chocolat a l'ancienne. She said it was hands-down the best chocolat chaud in Paris.

And you just can't argue when someone tells you that.

So when we found ourselves with time to kill in the City of Lights, we headed to Les Deux Magots. On a posh street in a posh district, it's the place to people-watch to the highest level. It's know for being stuffy and overpriced, which is accurate on both accounts, but I have to say that the praise for the chocolat a l'ancienne was not at all undeserved. It was thicker, richer, and more decadent than I thought possible. If there's a better version anywhere, I'd like to taste it!

But one cannot live off chocolat alone, oui? So knowing full well that nothing could top my chocolat, I took and chance and ordered my favorite French dessert: le tarte tatin.

Tarte tatin was born as a culinary mistake back in the 19th century, sort of an apple-pie-gone-

wrong situation. One caramelizes firm, tart apples in butter and sugar, then the crust is placed on top of the pan and the whole thing is baked in the oven. Then the pan is inverted to be served as an apple tart, best accompanied by creme fraiche.

What arrived at my place was nothing short of a masterpiece. The sweet, buttery caramel completely permeated the apples, under which sat a tender, buttery, savory crust. One of the top five best things I've ever eaten. Ever.

So there we sat: drinking liquid chocolate, eating tarte tatin, listening to all the fabulous French, and watching all the families dressed head-to-toe in Chanel (including kids and dogs) walk by. Oh, and we were outside because it was 70 degrees. In Paris. In April. And we couldn't leave because we were stuck.

Life just doesn't get better than that!

And so while skipping off to Paris just wasn't in the cards, I decided to recreate the moment by making my first tarte tatin. Even if I destroyed it, it's still mostly butter, sugar and apples- it was bound to be good any way it looked. And who doesn't feel immediately better simply by eating something buttery??

When it comes to tarte tatin, you pull out the big guns- you use Dorie's recipe. Dorie Greenspan, this generation's Julia Child, is the authority (in my book) on rustic French cuisine. Although I was incredibly disappointed not to see a tarte tatin recipe in her latest book, "Around My French Table," Fine Cooking featured her recipe in a recent issue, and that's the one I used.

Although it wouldn't have won any beauty contests, what I made could go head to head with Les Deux Magots and make it interesting. And not only is the finished product incredible, but I find it incredibly soothing to just watch the apples cook in the caramel. You really do have to watch them, so why not enjoy it? And stick your fork in every once in a while to make sure it's "browning appropriately?"

You can never control what happens in life, no matter how hard you try (believe me! I've tried!). But if a volcano can erupt and strand us in Paris during a week-long stretch of gorgeous weather so we could eat the best tarte tatin et chocolat a l'ancienne we've ever tasted while watching the Paris glitterati pass before our eyes... isn't anything possible?

Classic Tarte Tatin

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan, featured in Fine Cooking

Printable recipe

Serves 6

Dough:

1 1/4 c AP flour

1 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp fine sea salt

6 T cold, unsalted butter, cut into half-inch pieces

1 large egg beaten with 1 T cold water

Tart:

5-7 firm Granny Smith apples

1/2 (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 c sugar

Creme fraiche for serving, if desired

Make the dough:

1. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and pulse until coarsely mixed into the flour. Add the egg mixture in three additions, pulsing after each. Continue pulsing until you have a soft, shaggy dough that holds together when pinched.

2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gather it into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

3. Between two pieces of waxed paper or parchment, roll the dough into a circle that's about 1/8" thick and 11 inches wide. Prick the dough all over with a fork, then cover and refrigerate. (The dough can be refrigerated overnight or frozen up to 2 months).

Prepare the apples:

1. Peel, core and quarter 4 of the apples.

2. Put the butter in a 10" heavy-duty, oven-proof skillet over medium heat. When melted, use a pastry brush to coat the sides of the skillet with butter. Cover the butter with the sugar and cook just until the sugar is evenly moistened, about a minute. Remove pan from the heat.

3. Lay the apple wedges in the skillet with their rounded sides down or against the side of the skillet. Build concentric circles, packing the apples in a snug, single layer- it's fine if there are gaps. Peel, core and quarter as many of the remaining apples as you need to fill in any gaps. If necessary, cut the pieces smaller to make it easier to wedge them in. The gap-filling pieces of apple will form a hap-hazard second layer, but they'll shrink as they cook, and you'll be able to nudge the pieces into the newly widening gaps.

4. Put the pan over medium heat and cook until beginning to bubble, about two minutes. Continue cooking until the apple juices are mostly boiled away and the caramel is a deep golden color, about 15-20 minutes. Adjust the heat and reposition the skillet as needed for even cooking. The heat shouldn't be too low (the apples will get mushy) or too high (you'll burn the caramel). As the apples shrink, gently nudge the top layer of apples into the gaps.

5. While the apples cook, position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

6. When the apples are done, remove pan from heat and let it sit for a few minutes to let the caramel settle down. Meanwhile, let the dough sit at room temperature until pliable.

Bake the tarte:

1. Place the dough on top of the fruit and tuck in the overhang. Bake until the pastry is golden, 25-30 minutes. Let the tarte rest in the skillet until the bubbling caramel quiets down, 3-5 minutes. Gently run a table knife around the edges of the pan to loosen any apples stuck to the sides.

2. Cover the skillet with a large serving platter-preferably one with a rim-and cover your hands with oven mitts. Carefully invert the tarte onto the platter and remove the skillet. If some apples have stuck to the pan, use the table knife to lift them out and gently press them back into the tarte.

3. Let the tarte cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges. Serve with creme fraiche on the side. While the tarte is best warm, it can be served at room temperature.

Chicken Cutlet Night!

2011-02-23T16:37:00.000-05:00

How do you know when it's true love?

Is it when you can share each other's toothbrush if one of you forgets it on a trip? Is it when you sacrifice the last bite of flourless chocolate torte? Is it being ok with watching House Hunters International instead of the NFL draft? Is it holding your wife's hair back after she drank a pitcher of margarita in an hour?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The Booze Hound has done all of the above. And I might also add that he did a 4am Gatorade run after #4. And emptied the bucket. And cleaned the bathroom. That is true love.

But no act completely solidified my faith in our union until this week. I came home from work and the Booze Hound was in the kitchen. Cooking in the kitchen.

He announced that it was Chicken Cutlet Night, and I was invited.

For those of you who still have functioning gray matter and have avoided the entertainment black hole that is Jersey Shore, let me fill you in on the significance of Chicken Cutlet Night. If you invite a girl to Chicken Cutlet Night, you want to "wife her up." It's the last stage of commitment. You might as well start picking out a wedding dress. And if you are dis-invited from Chicken Cutlet Night, you're out. For good. The Situation doesn't mess around.

I'm not sure I know the significance of the actual chicken cutlets. I tend to think it's all the Jersey Shore guys can make. Well, that and any alcoholic beverage involving Sobe Life Water, vodka, and/or protein powder. But they're all Italian with Italian mothers who taught them how to cook Italian food, so I'm actually inclined to believe they do a bang-up job on chicken cutlets.

Bang-up job. Interesting choice of words to describe something about Jersey Shore, since they all seem every intent on banging something/someone every night.

I told you it was an entertainment black hole! I'm already infected, but run! Save yourselves!

But before you run, you need to have this recipe for chicken cutlets in case the right guy/girl ever comes along. I'm not sure if it's what Pauly D uses, but it would make any Italian Stallion proud. Grilled chicken served over homemade sauce (or gravy, as they say in the Old Country), topped with 2 cheeses that melt and ooze everywhere after a stint in rehab, er, the broiler.

So I guess the Booze Hound wants to "wife me up." Or rather, keep me "wifed up." Rings and vow exchanges are no match for Chicken Cutlet Night! Booze Hound + Food Hound 4 Life!!

Grilled Chicken Cutlet Parmigiana

Adapted from Rachael Ray

Printable recipe

Serves 4

2 lbs chicken thighs (my preference) or breasts, pounded thin

Salt and pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

28-oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 c (20 leaves) fresh basil, shredded

1/2 c grated parmesan

1/2 lb smoked mozzarella, thinly sliced

1. Heat outdoor grill or indoor grill pan to high. Season chicken with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil to keep it from sticking to grill. Cook 3 minutes on each side and transfer to a foil-covered platter to hold. If you are using a grill pan, cook the chicken in 2 batches, if necessary. While chicken cooks, make sauce.

2. Place a medium pot on the stove over medium heat. Add 2 T olive oil. Add garlic, crushed red pepper flakes and chopped onion. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often. Add tomatoes and heat through, 2 minutes. Wilt in the basil and season the sauce with salt and pepper.

3. Preheat broiler to high.

4. Layer the chicken with sauce in a casserole dish. Top the casserole with parmesan and mozzarella. Brown the casserole under the broiler 3 minutes, or until lightly brown and melty.

Belgian Chocolat Chaud

2011-02-21T08:09:00.000-05:00

Belgium may not know what language it's going to speak or whether to love or hate the British, but it sure knows one thing: chocolate. Not that I haven't had excellent French or Venezuelan chocolate, but it's not the same. Kind of like fake Chanel. Nothing matches chocolat Belge. Or real Chanel.

After a highly unfortunate white hot chocolate-making incident last weekend, I wanted to pull out all the stops and make an authentic chocolat chaud to regain my confidence in (non-alcoholic) beverage making. Cocoa powder and sugar-- you can both stay on the shelf. Not that hot cocoa isn't good, but when you've lived in the capital of the Kingdom of Chocolat, you need thick, rich chocolat chaud. Really, it doesn't matter if you've lived in the Kingdom or not-- if

more people drank authentic chocolat chaud, there would be more smiles and hugs in the

world. Not to mention a higher birthrate because everyone would be just a little more in the mood. Chocolate has a way of doing that, and liquid chocolate takes it to another level. Just sayin'!

Chocolat chaud is nothing more than good quality melted chocolate incorporated into hot milk. No added sugar, but maybe a dash of salt and cinnamon. What you end up with is thick, insanely rich, intensely chocolate liquid. And when you take a sip, you should expect the world to come crashing down around you because surely, life can't get any better than this!

Wittamer's Belgian Hot Chocolate

Adapted from David Lebowitz

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

1 quart (1 litre) half and half or whole milk (I used whole milk)

8 oz (230 g) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped (use a really good chocolate, my favorite Belgian brand is Callebaut)

4 oz (115 g) milk chocolate, finely chopped (ditto for the brand... drop some $ for the good stuff! You'll be glad you did!)

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Warm about 1/3 of the half-and-half or milk, with the chopped chocolates and salt, stirring until the chocolate is melted.

2. Whisk in the remaining half-and-half or milk, heating until the mixture is warmed through. Add the cinnamon.

3. Use a hand-held blender or a whisk, and mix the hot chocolate vigorously until it's completely smooth. Serve very warm. Perhaps with freshly whipped cream and chocolate shavings if you are feeling particularly indulgent!!

Meat Mecca in Knoxville: Brazeiros

2011-02-18T22:26:00.012-05:00

If you prefer birthday steak to birthday cake... if your idea of a vegetarian meal is a steak salad... if you were slightly turned on by Lady Gaga's meat dress at last year's VMAs...

You might be a meat-aholic. Or a Doberhound. But likely a meat-aholic.

And there's probably no place you'd rather be than a Brazilian steakhouse.

I've heard stories of these steakhouses, these meccas of meat. Found mostly in large cities, they usually employ the red-light, green-light method of meat-ordering: flip your token to the green side, and it means "load me up." Then the traditionally-dressed waiters flock to you with prolific offerings of various sizzling meats on a stick. They carve or slide the pieces onto your plate and move on, leaving you to pillage your glorious bounty. Flip your token to red, and it means either (a) "I have enough on my plate for now, thank you," or (b) "my wife might leave me if I eat any more."

Alas, the Brazillian steakhouse was something that had eluded me all these years. A pipe dream. A figment of my carnivorous imagination. I wanted to flip that token. I wanted to hear that sizzle.

And last night, at Brazeiros, I did.

Heaven hath bestowed a Brazilian steakhouse in Knoxville. Be still, my meat-loving, beating heart. The sizzle, the token-- in Knoxville!

What I ate last night was the stuff of dreams. Juicy, meaty dreams. No menu-- if you're there, you're getting the salad bar and meat on a stick. And although they're usually passed over in discussion, Brazilian steakhouses are known for having phenomenal salad bars. Brazeiros is no exception. Gorgeous vegetables, some raw and some steamed and chilled, plus a selection of delicious cheeses, olive oils and vinegars. Just beware-- it's easy to fill up on the salad bar, and you're really there for part 2, which is the MEAT: picanha (prime sirloin), filet wrapped in bacon, alcatra (top sirloin), fraldinha (bottom sirloin), cordeiro (lamb: leg or chops), costela de porco (pork ribs), frango (chicken), linguica (pork sausages), and costela de boi (beef ribs).

I'm not even sure where to begin with the meat. All I know is that my experience last night was one of the top 5 meat experiences of my life-- and I ate the better part of a whole cow while on a South American trip two years ago, so I've eaten some good meat. In true Food Hound fashion, I tried (at least) one of everything. And everything was amazing. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked. Even the chicken, which I thought would be the least impressive, was fabulous. The tricky part for me was to eat it all while it was hot-- it's carved sizzling hot at your plate, but I eat like a snail, so some of it had cooled off by the time I worked my way around to it. No matter-- it could have fallen on the floor and I would have eaten it.

Although I don't quite understand why there are side dishes at a place where you have 9 types of meat at your disposal, I did try one bite of each: the caramelized banana, crispy polenta sticks, mashed potatoes and warm cheese muffins (kind of like gougeres). They were all delicious, but will forever remain buried in the shadow of the glorious meat.

But we did get dessert. I am only human. They have an amazing-looking dessert menu, and we elected to get one that was made in-house. I know we should have gone native and ordered the Brazilian flan, but I am NOT a flan lover so we decided on the ever-classic, ever-delicious creme brulee. Of course, it was amazing. If you're going to save room for something other than vegetables or meat, save room for that.

One thing we'll do differently the next time we go back is that we'll definitely get caipirinhas. We hate getting wine when we go out because of the ridiculous mark-up, so we didn't even look at the bar menu and therefore totally forgot about Brazil's national cocktail. I'm sure they make a stellar one, and I'll be sure to report back. The Booze Hound won't let me forget, I promise!

The verdict? We will definitely be back. The food was outstanding, the service was great, and the price was very reasonable ($32.50 per person for unlimited salad bar and meat). I usually poo-poo the concept of unlimited anything in a restaurant because it conjures up images of the dreaded buffet, but the Brazilian steakhouse is in a category on its own. And it's a fabulous, meaty category :) It's great for a girls' night, a romantic date, a business lunch, a national carnivores' convention... anything, really. Just make sure you make reservations-- the place is hoppin' (yay! We want it to stay!) and you won't get in till much, much later without one. We

made ours 5 days in advance, which means we had 5 days to salivate over the idea of conquering all the succulent meat we could handle, carved onto our plate with the flip of a token.

And conquer it, we did!

Le Sandwich Croque Madame

2011-02-17T07:15:00.000-05:00

One of my earliest memories of living in Belgium was the concept of the "snack bar." Up until then, my idea of a snack bar was the stand at the pool that sold frozen Snickers and hot dogs. It was usually manned by an exceptionally cute lifeguard.

Fast forward a few years, and it's the day we arrive in Belgium as a family. I hadn't yet mastered the art of sleeping upright in an uncomfortable coach airplane seat, my parents instituted a no-nap policy to help my body adjust to the time warp, and I didn't speak French. I was hoping for a 5 pm dinner and an early turn-in to bed, but no such luck.

There is no 5 pm early-bird dinner special in Belgium. This was one of the most important discoveries during my first week, as well as the legitimate acceptance of skimpy swimsuits (aka "banana hammocks") in the older male population.

Now that I have blazed that impression into your minds, let's get to the food, shall we?

So my stepdad, having lived in Belgium before, suggested we hit a snack bar for an early dinner. Really?... frozen Snickers bars and hot dogs? Could we not find something more appetizing in the country that gave us waffles and frites?

Oh, but was I in store for a treat. Turns out, snack shops in Europe bear little resemblance to their American counterparts. Sure, they have chips, candy bars, and various and sundry ice cream novelties, but they have a sitting area where you can order quick plates of things like spaghetti bolognese, croquette, omelets.... and croque madame.

Oh, la la... le croque madame!

Not understanding much on the menu, I said oui to a humble grilled ham and cheese. What arrived was nothing short of beauty. Sure, it was a grilled ham and cheese... but it was smothered in bechamel sauce with a glorious fried egg resting atop the entire masterpiece. The more decadent version of the croque monsieur, the croque madame is classic French fast food. Leave it to the French to say, "I do not haff time to eat a large meal, but I insist of haffing somezing zat eenvolves butter, cream and cheese. Merci."

I believe this is the day the Food Hound was born.

Strangely enough, that was my one and only croque madame. I've had many croque monsieur since then, but none smothered in bechamel and fried egg goodness to elevate it to madame status. No one knows how these sandwiches got their names, but I tend to believe that the madame got its gender-specific name because it looks like a croque monsieur with a breast on top. Some say it's supposed to be a woman's hat.

I'm going with the breast theory. It's so French.

My salivary glands danced a jig when I saw Fine Cooking's rendition of this risque French classic in one of their recent issues. I knew I must make it. It's easy, it's fabulous, and it's exactly the kind of thing you make on a weeknight, glass of wine in tow, when you want to relax and pretend you're in a French snack shop. Which, if you know me, is all the time :) Bon appetit!

Croque Madame Sandwiches

Adapted from Fine Cooking

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

3 T unsalted butter, plus more for buttering sandwiches

2 1/2 T AP flour

2 T brandy

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp fresh thyme

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 slices country-style white sandwich bread

4 tsp Dijon mustard

4 oz Gruyere, grated (1 cup)

12 oz deli ham, sliced

1/2 oz Parmesan, finely grated (1/2 cup)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1. Melt 2 T butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and continue whisking just until it turns beige, about 20 seconds. Whisk in the milk in a slow, steady stream; continue whisking until smooth, thickened, and slightly bubbling, 2-3 minutes. Whisk in the brandy, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Whisk for 30 seconds; then remove from heat and set aside, whisking occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.

2. Position a rack 4 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler on high.

3. Spread butter on one side of each of the 8 pieces of bread. Spread four of the bread slices on the other side with 1 tsp of Dijon mustard each. Layer the Gruyere and ham on the bread in this pattern: cheese, ham, cheese. Top with the remaining bread.

4. Cook 2 of the sandwiches in a 12" skillet over medium heat, or in a panini press, until brown and crisp on each side (about 4 minutes total). Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining two sandwiches.

5. Ladle the bechamel sauce over the sandwiches (it will run down the sides), and then top with the Parmesan. Broil until bubbling and lightly browned, 3-4 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1 T butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Crack the eggs into the skillet and fry them sunny side up until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny, 3-4 minutes.

7. Use a large, flat spatula to transfer the sandwiches to serving plates. Place a fried egg on each. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

A Stylish Cocktail For a Stylish Food Hound!

2011-02-13T18:52:00.000-05:00

Eliz, the brains and beauty behind Roast Duck and a Big Gooey Cake bestowed the Stylish Blogger award upon the Food Hound!! So excited!! My first award!! If you haven't looked at her blog, you really must. If for no other reason, than to drool over the pictures of her, indeed, drool-worthy kitchen. Her recipes are lovely, and her writing is brilliant. Go there! You'll love it!!

As a humble (yet immensely glamorous) recipient, I now have to share 7 random things about my life with you, the Food Hound faithful. You all know I love food, Belgium, cinnamon rolls and Javier Bardem, but here are some things you never knew you always wanted to know about me! Here goes..

1. Despite what my blog name suggests, I thoroughly disliked dogs until my family got Ted, our beloved chocolate lab. I told Mama Hound I didn't even want to pet him, then I came home from college to meet him and fell in love. I now spoon with the Doberhound every night.

2. I am obsessed with Gien dishes. I have a setting for 12 in 3 patterns (Alice- pictured, Raphael and Oiseau Bleu) and I am hungry for more! They are hand-made and hand-painted in Gien, France, and they are divinely gorgeous! We were able to hit the museum and factory when we were in France last year, and it was a major life highlight for me! Especially the "seconds" shop, where I needed the Booze Hound's sound reason and logic to avoid buying one of everything.

3. You all know I'm a chocolate snob to the nth degree. I dig my heels in that Belgian chocolate is superior to all others... when it comes to dark, bittersweet or semi-sweet. When it comes to milk, I prefer Hershey's. I'll wait till you pick yourselves off the floor. I grew up 30 minutes from Hershey, PA, and there's something about that Hershey's milk chocolate. Maybe it's the fond memories I have of Chocolate World with the singing cows. Swiss and Belgian milk chocolates are too smooth, rich, and sweet. Hershey's milk 4 life! Of course, I may change my mind now that much of it is made in Mexico... :(

4. Both of my parents are fluent in German and they elected not to raise me bilingually. I think of this every day when I wake up and every day when I go to sleep! Curse them!

5. I'll spend $70 on my moisturizer, but I won't pay more than $5.99 for a workout shirt. I hate name brand gym gear. If you're going to be outside, then yes, you need to shell out for some good keep-yourself-warm threads. But if you exercise indoors, I see no need to spend $35 on something I am going to sweat in. I have workout gear with pit stains and holes-- the BH says it's gross, I just think it shows I'm dedicated to fitness. And when I eventually do an unassisted pull-up, I bet you'll be looking at my sculpted delts instead of my old, frayed tank top.

6. I have floated in the Dead Sea. It's actually impossible to swim because you can't keep your limbs from popping up on the surface. The area of the sea that I visited had a thick layer of mud on the bottom. In an attempt to extract all the mineral benefits, I coated my hair in this mud, road back to Tel Aviv, and proceed to clog my host family's drain as I rinsed it all out. And because of the sulphur content, I smelled terrrible for days. But I still got to float in the Dead Sea, so it was worth it.

7. We lived just up the street from Da Kine Bail Bonds (aka Dog the Bounty Hunter) in Honolulu. I never had a Dog sighting, but my friend did in Bank of Hawaii. The BH and I think we may have seen Leland once, but couldn't get close enough to confirm. We love watching his show and picking out all our favorite spots as he drives around to catch all the meth-heads :)

My next task is to pass this along to 15 other deserving bloggers. Oh, the stress of a decision! I wish I could pass this along to all my my cyber food friends, but alas, I must choose. I'm going with a mix of bloggers whose comments and encouragement helped me in my early days, bloggers who have particularly witty writing, and newbie bloggers (like me!). After much gut-wrenching deliberating, the winners are...

Beyond the Peel

Floptimism

Jenna's Everything Blog

Lardon My French

Heather's Dish

Les Reves d'une Boulangere

Good Cook Doris

Eats Well With Others

Cook Like a Champion

La Tartine Gourmande

Design, Wine and Dine

Oops, I picked 16. Oh well!! You all deserve it. Of course, if I could give this to everyone, I would. Doesn't that sound like a classic Academy Award speech? "Everyone deserves this award... but I'm so glad I'm the one who won! Just kidding... I think every blog I follow is incredibly stylish and fabulous, and you all inspire me on a daily basis!!

And now? A recipe. And keeping with the theme, I picked a stylish recipe. Oh, Food Hound, you are soooo witty!! And what is more stylish than a cocktail?? Ask Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha-- they'll back me up. The fabulous cocktail I am going to share is the Ruby Red Rocket.

This is an incredibly delicious libation. It's also very festive-looking, so it's great for the holidays. We had these over Thanksgiving and they are more than mildly addictive. They made dealing with the Booze Hound through a very tense Thanksgiving Day Patriots football game soooo much more bearable! Fun, even, once you've had the better part of a pitcher :) The grapefruit's sweet-sour flavor cuts through what would otherwise be an incredibly sweet drink, so it's the perfect mixer. Bottoms up!!

Ruby Red Rocket Cocktail

Adapted from Emeril

Printable recipe here

Makes 1 cocktail (but what fun is that?)

1 1/2 oz citrus-flavored or regular vodka

1/2 oz triple sec (I used Cointreau, bien sur)

3 oz ruby red grapefruit juice

2 tsp creme de cassis or raspberry-flavored liquor

Coarse brown sugar crystals to garnish rim of glass (optional)

Candied orange slices for garnish (optional)

If desired, wet rim of tall martini glass and dip in sugar crystals. In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, triple sec and juice with crushed ice. Shake well for 30 seconds, then pour into prepared martini glass. Gently add creme de cassis and allow it to settle in the bottom of the glass. Garnish with orange slice (if using) and serve.

**You can tell I did not do any of the garnishes. And the creme de cassis was all mixed in. And I had it over ice. I know there are mixologists throwing their computers out the window in protest right now, but sometimes you have to do such things when you are making them for a crowd. It was still fabulous :) Next time I make them I'll do it right and switch out the photo. Yay, an excuse to make them again!!

Potage Saint-Germain: A Reason For a Bruins Fan to Like Quebec

2011-02-09T20:48:00.000-05:00

I want to make an official apology to the entire province of Quebec. More specifically, to the residents of Montreal. Even more specifically, to those who are fans of the Montreal Canadiens, also known as the Habs (short for les habitants).

And even though he says he doesn't mean it, the Booze Hound is sorry, too.

You see, we are Boston Bruins fans. We've spent years hurling insults at the TV when we see your team take the ice. We've wished horrific, incurable diseases on every member of your coaching staff (except Claude Julien-- we kind of like him now that he's on our side). Once or twice we've wished the Bell Centre would come crashing to the ground. With all of you in it.

But before you send the Mounties down to Knoxville to avenge your good name, please note two things:

#1: The Booze Hound and I dated and married during the single year that the NHL was on strike. I did not know what I was getting into. By the time the conflict was settled and the players took to the ice again, I was already legally bound to what can only be described as rabid Boston hockey insanity personified (the Booze Hound).

#2: It's not like we're the only members of Bruins nation who despise you. Look at this commercial.

OK, so although the Booze Hound may continue to mildly dislike residents of the fine city of Montreal, I have decided that I love you. And your food.

Truth be told, I've always felt a little awkward hating on the citizens of Quebec because really, you're pretty French. And if I love anything, I love things that are French. The BH and I went to Montreal a few years ago and it was like a mini-Paris. Great architecture, great cultural scene... and everyone proudly spoke French. Except the BH, who managed to take 7 years of French and only remember the French slurs. That he hurls toward the TV when the Bruins play the Habs.

He's classy, that one.

The food was great, too, but we didn't eat classic Quebecoise food. We ate Ethiopian and Lebanese food the two nights we were there. It was still amazing, but it left me with a total knowledge deficit of the local eats. I've read about some of the classic dishes in travel and food magazines, but I've never attempted to make it myself. I kind of figured it was no different than French food.

Last week I was schooled otherwise.

I attended the "Vive le Quebec!" cooking class at Avanti Savoia. It was the highlight of my week. 2 hours of learning about Quebecoise food taught by Vancouver-born, Montreal-trained, Chef Arnold Bondi. And, bien sur, we gpt to taste everything. And I just love being at Avanti Savoia, where I am surrounded by good food and fabulous foodies. The Booze Hound accompanied me because, well, good food is good food, even if it's prepared by a potential Habs fan.

And just so we're clear, the first thing the BH asked Chef was "So, you're a [Vancouver] Canucks fan, right?" "No," said Chef (with a smile, I might add). "I love the Habs."

There was a heavy silence. I'm sure no one else noticed, but I did.

Please, God... please don't let him embarrass me! This menu is awesome, and I will just die if I can't taste it. Or if the Booze Hound gets punched in the face. But really, it's about the food...

But my Booze Hound won some grown-up points that night. He just smiled and said, "Oh, well I'm a Bruins fan. But I'm excited to be here." Maybe he's maturing, or maybe he was just so happy to be in the presence of a fellow rabid hockey fan in Knoxville, TN, that he set aside their fatal (yes, fatal) difference and had an enjoyable evening. The world may never know, but I was proud of him!

The food? A-mazing. Turns out, traditional Quebecoise food is very similar to French food, but it's a bit more rustic. I like rustic. I knew we were in for a hot night of food porn when Chef displayed a POT of melted butter that he used as the base for many of his recipes. Habs fan or not, I love the man! Not only for his liberal use of butter, but he was such an awesome instructor. He kept the environment totally fun, relaxed, and I even got to take pics of the final dishes! Here are some photo memories (not the best quality... mostly due to my skills, but I hope a new camera is in my future soon :)...

Pommes de Terre Ancien

Betteraves Grille avec Chevre

(Oven-roasted beets with goat cheese)

Crepes d'erable et des Pommes

(Crepes with maple syrup and apples... also ricotta)

Everything was phenomenal. Scratch that. Beyond phenomenal. But the dish that stood out to me the most was the Potage Saint-Germain (split pea soup). Not because split pea soup, in all its green thickness, is all that sexy (well, I think it is :). But because it's such warm, comfort food for winter, AND I've been wanting to make it, AND it's because it's such a national food that you'll be hard-pressed to find a Quebecoise menu without it. The term Saint-Germain is used in other recipes to indicate they are made with split peas or fresh peas. The origin of the name is unclear... I think it just adds to the allure :)

The other reason I was so hot to make this soup has to do with the recommended condiment: creme fraiche. Really, we don't use enough creme fraiche in life. It's kind of like sour cream, but thinner and tangier. And French-er. It doesn't curdle, so it's good to stir into hot things. Or eat straight from the container.

Although Chef didn't provide creme fraiche for the soup in his cooking class (I had to choke back the tears), he gave us a recipe to make it at home. Ohhhh, so exciting!! Creme fraiche is not cheap because you usually have to get it from a specialty store, but now I can make it at home!! Life is good!! More money for shoes!!

And so I give you Potage Saint-Germain, my new favorite name for split pea soup, in all it's hearty, bacon-y goodness. This is my family recipe-- it's a little thicker than Chef's, and it's my personal favorite-- but the premise is the same, with the added Quebecoise twist of creme fraiche at the end. Magnifique.

So in the end, do we now love Quebec? For all but about 6 nights per year (excluding post-season), oui. The Booze Hound can live with that. Just don't arrive Chez Hound in a Canadiens jersey. Your face might meet a piping hot bowl of Potage Saint-Germain. But not the creme fraiche-- we woudn't waste that on a Habs fan :) GO BRUINS!!

Potage Saint-Germain (Split Pea Soup) with Creme Fraiche

Printable recipe here

Serves 6-8

1 lb dried split peas, rinsed

4 slices bacon, chopped "lardon" style (matchstick slices)

2 carrots, diced (I used 3 today, hence the orange hue of the soup :)

2 celery stalks, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

8 cups chicken broth

Salt and black pepper to taste

Creme fraiche (recipe below)

Saute bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until bacon is beautiful (aka light brown and crispy). Remove bacon from pan and set aside. Sweat onion and garlic in pot for about 5 minutes, or until soft. Add carrots and celery, cook about 5 minutes more. Add peas, bay leaves and stock. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer, stir well, and cook for 45 mins-1 hour, or until peas are fully cooked. Remove bay leaves. Puree in a blender or with a hand blender until pureed to the desired consistency (I like mine pureed fully so I use my VitaMix). Return soup to pot, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with a dollop of creme fraiche and bacon crumbles. YUM!

Homemade Creme Fraiche

Adapted from Chef Arnold Bondi

Printable recipe here

Makes about 1 cup

1 c heavy whipping cream

1 T buttermilk

Warm cream over low heat to 105 degrees F. Remove from heat and stir in buttermilk. Transfer the cream to a large bowl and allow mixture to stand in a warm place, loosely covered in plastic wrap, until thickened but still of pouring consistency. Stir and taste every 6-8 hours. This process takes anywhere from 24-36 hours, depending on the room temperature. The creme fraiche is ready when it is thick with a slightly nutty, sour taste. Chill cream in the refrigerator for several hours before using. Creme fraiche may be made and stored in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

Nachos+Cocktails+New Design+Tweeting!

2011-02-07T08:58:00.000-05:00

The concept of making Mexican food for the Super Bowl is not new.

But the Food Hound's blog design is!! It's amazing what the Booze Hound can accomplish on a day when his team isn't in the big game!! And I'm now tweeting... and no closer to being a hipster because of it :) But now you have so, so many opportunities to follow all the Food Hound fabulosity. And that's what the world needs... a little more Food Hound fabulosity :)

So let's talk turkey. Or, more accurately, flank steak. I've never successfully made fajitas, but something about the Pioneer Woman's Beef Fajita Nachos caught my eye. Her pictures were drool-worthy (waaaaay better than mine), and she marinated the flank steak is such a sumptuously flavorful paste that I knew I couldn't go wrong. It's the first PW recipe I've ever tried, and I'm totally a convert now! Look for more in the future!

I love the chunks of steak in these nachos instead of seasoned ground beef or refried beans. The only change I made was to season the veggies a little with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder, which really woke them up and complemented the steak nicely. I'm glad I used a nice, sturdy tortilla chip-- you need a manly chip for the chunks of steak. I grilled a little extra to freeze for some steak fajita salads in the future. Or just to eat with my hands. It's that good.

And of course... the Super Bowl isn't complete without the requisite adult beverage. Although it

would be perfect with my famous margaritas, I made a game-time decision to make something different. OK, it also had to do with the fact that I neglected to pick up tequila at the liquor store. But no matter-- a great cocktail was had by all. Remember those delicious little sugared cranberries I made for my Gluhwein party back in December? Well, I saved the vanilla-orange syrup from the cranberries per the recommendation of the lovely Laura at The Spiced Life, and made her killer cocktail. Citrusy with a hint of vanilla. Very unique. Very fabulous. True, it is not the manliest of colors (pink), but I think the manliness of the beef nachos more than tipped the gender scale for the whole meal, non? The Booze Hound enjoyed it-- he likes anything with a proof. And of course, the fact that the Steelers lost made it an enjoyable evening for all members of the Hound family. Congratulations, Cheese Heads! We will like you for the rest of the day, then it's back to business as usual as Boston sports fans.

Red Sox pitchers and catchers report to Ft. Myers in 7 days....just saying :)

Beef Fajita Nachos

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Printable recipe here

Serves 12 as a party food, or 6 as a main course

For the steak:

1 large flank steak (I used 2 steaks for a total of 3 pounds- gave me leftovers to freeze)

1/3 c olive oil

2 limes, juiced

4 canned chipotle peppers + a little sauce

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1 whole handful cilantro

For the nachos:

2 onions, sliced into thin rings

2 bell peppers, sliced into thin rings

2 T canola oil

Sturdy tortilla chips (I used 2 bags of Garden of Eatin' Black Bean Corn Tortilla Chips)

16 oz grated cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and jack)

Guacamole

Salsa

Sour cream

1. To prepare the steak, combine olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chipotle peppers and cilantro in the bowl of a food processor or a blender. Blend until combined into a thick paste. Place flank steak(s) in a large baking dish, pour marinade on top, and turn to coat each side thoroughly. Cover and stick in fridge for at least 24 hours. Trust me, this is the key step!

2. When you're ready to make the nachos, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan on high heat. Grill steak 4 minutes per side (though mine needed a little more than this... I think my propane is low). Remove steak from grill and set aside to rest.

3. In a large skillet, heat 2 T canola oil over medium-high heat till it's shimmering hot. Add onions and peppers and let cook 3-5 minutes or until they start to get a little charred. You don't want to overcrowd the pan (like I did :) so you may need to cook them separately. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste as veggies are cooking. Once all veggies have cooked, remove from heat and set aside.

4. Slice flank steak into strips against the grain, then chop slices into smaller bites. Place sauteed veggies on a cutting board and roughly chop them into smaller pieces.

5. Arrange tortilla chips on a large cookie sheet or sheet pan (I needed 2). Sprinkle plenty of cheese on top. Place pan(s) into oven for about 3 minutes, or until cheese melts. Remove from oven, then top evenly with veggies and chopped steak. Return to oven and leave in just long enough to reheat everything but not cook the meat all the way through. Remove from oven and serve with lots of guacamole, salsa and sour cream. You WILL be full after this meal, and you WILL be happy!!

Cranberry-Citrus Twist with a Hint of Vanilla

Adapted from The Spiced Life

Printable recipe here

Serves 2 (+ a leeetle extra for those who are feeling extra felicitous)

1/2 c good vodka (I wouldn't use vanilla vodka, it would make it too "vanilla-y")

1/3 c cranberry syrup (leftover from candying my cranberries)

1/4 c freshly squeezed orange juice

1/4 c freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 c (to taste) club soda

Twisted orange peel (if you possess this bar skill... I do not!)

Mix all ingredients over ice, then strain into glasses. Rub orange peel over the rim of each glass, then twist to release more flavor and add as a garnish. Alternatively, you can rub an orange slice around each glass before you fill it, then dip the rim into a mixture of sugar and a little orange zest. Either way, it's lovely!

Hound v. Berry... HOUND WON!

2011-02-02T17:03:00.000-05:00

Winter berries are like wolves in sheep's clothing. You see them in the grocery store, next to the "$6.99 per half pint" sign. They call to you...

"Come on, you know you want me. I'm one of those super-foods. You haven't had me since August. Think of all those antioxidants you're not getting. Try me. I promise I won't disappoint you."

So you donate a pint of blood, buy them, take them home... and they taste like nothing.

Winter berries: 1. Food Hound: 0.

Being a crafty Food Hound, I usually come up with some way to salvage my loss. I freeze them for smoothies, or add gobs of sugar and boil away to make a halfway decent compote. I could have saved that pint of blood and headed to the frozen fruit section, but what fun is that? I like to live dangerously and take a risk that maybe, someday, I'll win the berry battle.

Guess what? I finally won :)

My friendly neighborhood Kroger had a pristine display of gorgeous Florida (not too bad, eh locavores??) blueberries this week. And they were on sale. Be still, my beating heart. True to form, I bought them and expected to be let down, per usual. But I wasn't. They were fabulous. Their texture, their scent... it was like being in the middle of summer, except I was walking around in wool socks and sweatpants.

So of course, I went back and exercised my right to buy as many berries as could appropriately fit in a carrying basket. Now that I have successfully displaced all the beer in the fridge with blueberries, I need to decide what to do with my loot. Eating them on cereal is my preferred use, followed closely by blueberry pancakes using my favorite pancake recipe. Then of course, there is the hallowed blueberry muffin.

The sad irony about blueberry muffins is that blueberries are in season during the absolute worst months in Tennessee to bake anything. So it looks like now I'm in luck! I get to make my kitchen warm as toast and bake some sinfully fabulous blueberry muffins. I have a tried-and-true family recipe, but I feel like I really need to rub it in the face of Lady Luck and take it to the next level. And when I need to take it to the next level, I turn to my beloved Barefoot Contessa.

Only my BC would find a way to make blueberry muffins even more fabulous by adding a streusel topping. Sweet, a little crunchy, and loaded with juicy berries surrounded by a light-as-air, lemon-scented muffin flesh. Ooooo, muffin flesh... how carnal.

Winter berries: 0. Food Hound: 1. Enjoy!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Printable recipe here

Yields 20 muffins

For the muffins:

3 1/2 c AP flour

1 1/2 c granulated sugar

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 c buttermilk, shaken

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tsp grated lemon zest

2 extra large eggs

2 c fresh blueberries

For the streusel topping:

3/4 c AP flour

1/2 c light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

4 T (1/2 stick) cold, unsalted butter, diced

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and blend. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest and eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a fork, mixing until just blended. Fold the blueberries into the batter. Don't overmix! Scoop a mounded 1/3 c of batter into each prepared cups.

3. For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small, pea-like pieces. Alternatively, you can use your fingers or a pastry blender. Spoon about 1 T of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Totally Hipster Olive Oil

2011-01-30T18:22:00.000-05:00

I was under the impression I was a hipster. I'm hip, right? But then I had to actually look up the term "hipster," and I realized that, alone, makes me not a hipster.

Turns out, a hipster is someone who is young (check), typically urban (it's a stretch... but I'll give myself a check), and rejects mainstream culture, fashion, and music.

I like Hawaii 5-0, mini-skirts, and Ke$ha, so I guess I'm not a hipster. *sigh*

But this totally does not mean I can't hang out with other hipsters and assimilate into their sub-culture once in a while! Especially when it involves something as chic as tasting olive oil. Wine tasting is awesome, but I guess it's too passe. Now, one talks about the fruitiness, fullness, and bouquet of artisan olive oil rather than pinot noir. I can totally get behind this trend.

Thus, my neighbors and I took our hipster-for-the-night selves to a new bar in Knoxville, The Public House, for an olive oil tasting. With its concrete bar, minimalist decor, bare-but-funky essentials bar nibbles, and dread-sporting bartenders, it's the new hipster place to hang out. And the perfect place to host an olive oil tasting.

One bonus reason for going is that two of the three featured olive oils were from my favorite Knoxville import company, Avanti Savoia. To the left is a photo of the tasting platter, which was the special offering of the evening. The one in the middle is Avanti's Cassini Gran Cru Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which was my favorite. Gorgeous taste, very fruity. It's also most people's favorite per the owner, so I guess that seals my fate as a non-hipster. The one on the far right is their Marcinase Fruttato Intenso Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which will put some hair on your chest for sure. Very pungent, very peppery, very delicious! I learned that the color of olive oil does not correlate to taste-- I was shocked! My whole olive oil world came crashing down around me! These are both so light in color, but have such a deep flavor. I washed everything down with a nice tempranillo wine, which was one of the recommended pairings. Such a lovely evening, and I will totally go back with the Booze Hound and try out their little bar bites. Maybe I'll wear white denim and a banana clip-- neither of which are popular, and would catapult me to hipster status for sure.

Now, I love olive oil as much as the next hound, but I need mass quantities for my everyday kitchen adventures. I need the 3-litre jug o' oil because it goes in everything. And getting either of the oils above in mass quantity would not exactly be cost-effective. Besides, the intense, fruity flavors of these babies would be lost in a soup, stew, or saute dish. They need to be used in a dish that truly highlights their flavors, as a finisher, or as a simple appetizer with bread and olives, as above.

In honor of these two fabulous olive oils, I made two recipes this past week that let the flavor of good olive oil shine through and complement the rest of the dish. First, a salad dressing-- perhaps the easiest way to showcase a killer olive oil (or vinegar, for that matter). I have not bought salad dressing in years because making your own is just sooo much better. I vary the vinegar based on the mood I'm in, but the basic recipe is the same. The salad that is currently rocking my world is: baby spinach, toasted walnuts, dried cherries and feta. SO GOOD!

The second dish comes courtesy of one of my favorite people, Nigella Lawson. She takes
canned beans, warms them in copious amounts of lemon-and-garlic-infused oil, then smashes them. It's really just that simple, and it's tres tres fabulous. I added the feta on top, which makes them even richer and more fabulous. I usually serve these with salmon or steak, or you could insert them into any meal where you would usually serve mashed potatoes.

Hipster or not, treat yourself to a bottle of really good olive oil, and make these dishes. And if you live in Knoxville, check out The Public House. When you see someone in white denim and a banana clip discussing character development in film noir, come on over and say hello- that will be hipster moi!

Food Hound's All-Purpose Vinaigrette

Equal parts good olive oil (also good with avocado oil) and vinegar (I use sherry, balsamic and white balsamic the most)
Blob of good Dijon mustard
1-2 tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste (sometimes I add Penzey's Country French Vinaigrette seasoning)

Shake all ingredients in a salad dressing shaker. You know you have the right consistency when it starts to coat the inside of the bottle. Delish!

Lemon-Garlic Smashed White Beans with Feta

Adapted from Nigella Lawson

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

1/4 c olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

Zest of 1 lemon

3 14-oz cans of Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

Salt

4 T feta cheese

Heat olive oil, garlic, and lemon zest over medium-low heat, until warm (the garlic will probably start to make a hissing sound-- it's not mad, it just means it's perfect). Add the beans, and squish with a potato masher until they are roughly smashed, but not completely pureed. Season with salt to taste. You can either stir the feta into the pot, or top each serving with feta. Your choice-- either way is fabulous.

Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies: Always En Vogue

2011-01-26T23:07:00.000-05:00

I must be fashionable. I must be en vogue. I must be de moda.

I must make Tate's Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ever since these fine nibbles of confectionary heaven created a tidal wave in the blogosphere, I have felt like the last kid picked for kickball in gym. I felt left out. Everyone was making them, and I wanted to be a part of it. And Tate's is located in the Hamptons, which any Cosmo girl knows is the place to see and be seen.

And as if I didn't need more reasons to make these buttery discs of perfection, Barefoot Contessa uses them as the base for her Mocha Icebox Cake in her How Easy Is That? cookbook. Tate's cookies surrounded by mascarpone cheese, whipped cream, and Kahlua. Be still, my beating heart!

So I enjoyed a nice, lazy afternoon with my paws caked in Tate's batter. Don't get me wrong, good old Tollhouse is a reliable recipe with a certain whisper of nostalgia in every bite. But Tate's has 'em beat. And there's nothing really overly special about the recipe... although 2 sticks of butter always means something special Chez Hound. It makes a very thin cookie that you must cool completely before trying to transfer off your baking sheet. Trust me, otherwise you'll end up with some, er, creatively-shaped cookies. And unlike Tollhouse, these babies need to get nice and golden brown. I don't think I left mine in long enough, so they lacked the signature crispy texture.

The flavor is outta sight, and the copious chocolate chip provisions ensures a good time is had by all. It makes about 3 dozen (or 3 dozen minus 3 cookies for batter testing purposes), which is not enough for BC's cake, but all it means is that I get to make them again :)

So invite your BFFs over, eat these cookies in your skinny jeans with heels, make a pitcher of cosmos, and try not to tweet about how you saw Sarah Jessica Parker *gasp* eating dessert the other day. Catty? Yes. But it's totally what you do in the Hamptons. That... and eat Tate's :) Enjoy!

Tate's Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Printable recipe here

Yields 3 dozen cookies

2 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c salted butter (2 sticks)-- I accidentally used unsalted and they still turned out GREAT

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp water

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper (this is an important step because the baked cookies are quite thin and break easily!)

2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. In another large bowl, cream and butter and sugars, then add the water and vanilla. Mix until just combined. Add eggs to the butter mixture and mix lightly.

3. Stir in the flour mixture. When flour is mixed in, fold in the chocolate chips. Drop 2 T of the cookie dough at least 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until the edges and centers of the cookies are golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Sexy Five-Spice-Glazed Salmon

2011-01-24T23:07:00.000-05:00

There is something luxurious about eating salmon. It's rich, it's buttery, and its built for bold flavors. There's also something sexy about a glaze. It's the sauce's more risque cousin. Put them together and you get glazed salmon.

Seriously, this is food porn if I've ever seen it. It's like an episode of "The Tudors" on your plate.

I pretty much tear out any recipe for glazed salmon I can find. It's always easy, it's always good for you (unless you wrap it around a Twinkie), and it's always delicious. Think about all the times you see "maple glazed" or "soy glazed" or "honey glazed" salmon in a magazine. It's everywhere for good reason-- it's a food marriage made in heaven.

I think it's because the sweet glaze perfectly balances the richness of the salmon, and the public at large finds that any recipe with the word "glaze" in it instantly earns 5 extra sexy points. Whatever the reason, I like the results!

This is a particularly fabulous recipe for glazed salmon from Fine Cooking this past summer. Not only is it delish, but it's way too easy to be legal. Salmon + green beans, all roasted on one pan with a sweet-savory five spice sauce? Yes, please! The original recipe calls for only a little oil, S&P and sesame seeds on the green beans, but I wanted to share the wealth of the five spice sauce, so I doubled it and saved half of the sauce to drizzle over the roasted green beans before serving. Simplicity and fabulosity at once.

Five-Spice-Glazed Salmon with Sesame Green Beans

Adapted from Fine Cooking

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

1/4 c honey

4 tsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp five-spice powder

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

4 6-oz salmon filets

Nonstick cooking spray

1 lb haricots verts (slender green beans), trimmed

2 tsp canola oil

1 tsp Asian sesame oil

2 T toasted sesame seeds

2 tsp lemon juice

1. In a small bowl, whisk together honey, soy sauce, five-spice powder and garlic. Place salmon skin-side down on a large plate and pour most of the honey mixture over it (reserving 2T for later use on the beans). Flip the filets so they are skin-side up, and let them marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.

2. Position a rack 6" from the broiler, and heat the broiler on high. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

3. In a large bowl, toss the green beans with canola and sesame oils. Arrange the beans on one half of the baking sheet. Arrange the salmon, skin side down, on the other end of the baking sheet. Brush the salmon with any remaining marinade on the plate.

4. Broil the salmon and green beans for 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, toss the green beans with tongs, and reposition salmon filets as needed so they cook evenly. Continue to broil until the salmon is just cooked through and the beans are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes more. Toss the green beans with the lemon juice and reserved 2T of marinade, and serve.

Viva Knox-Vegas: Food Hound Favorites

2011-01-22T18:18:00.000-05:00

A little shout-out to my diehard Food Hound fans living with me in the glorious city of Knoxville, or, as I like to call it, Knox-Vegas. Although I have not adopted the "y'all" or
acclimated to the tidal wave of orange-colored clothing and accessories come football season (or just a random Tuesday afternoon), I can say whole-heartedly that I enjoy it here!

I didn't expect the move from the food scene in Honolulu to the food scene in Knoxville to be a lateral one, but it was. Knoxville has some great finds, and I'm here to tell you about them. In fact, there are so many great finds, that I want to make this a recurring post theme as I gather more favorites! Here are a few things that have rocked my world lately:

1. Mike's Smokehouse: Best BBQ

Believe me when I tell you this: the Booze Hound and I are total BBQ snobs. Up until I tried Mike's a few weeks ago, I had yet to be impressed with Knoxville's BBQ provisions. There are a lot of good places (Dead End, Sweet Pea's), but no fabulous places.

Until now!! Lucky for us, Mike's opened up a short distance away in Halls. We received rave reviews from some friends who know good food (one of them in from TX, so a nose for good BBQ is in her DNA). The Booze Hound and I showed up after a particularly grueling workout, hungry for meat. We saw Mike, himself, perched at their smoker right out front, checking on the ribs that would be in our bellies within 30 minutes. It doesn't get fresher than that!

I'm a side-lover, but we went in with one goal: eat all meat. Sides are great, but a smokehouse isn't worth a repeat visit if the meat isn't good. We ordered the pulled pork, a half rack of ribs, and two forks. Everything is dry-rubbed and served with the most delicious assortment of sauces: one sweet, one hot, and one sweet-hot for those of us who remain forever on the fence (like moi).

The ribs are, hands-down, the best I have ever had. They were incredibly tender, fell right off the bone, and were infused with the perfect amount of smokey flavor. They simultaneously tasted like smoke, pork, and rub. They beat out Andy Nelson's BBQ in Baltimore, which previously held the spot of "Best Ribs" in my life. They are still in the same category, though, so if you find yourself in Baltimore, stop by Andy's and get ya some ribs.

The pulled pork was another winner. Tender, juicy, and it goes perfectly with all of the sauces. But those ribs... they were life-altering. Go there and eat some pig-- no one in town does it better than Mike's!! The iPhone pics don't do it justice... guess I'll just have to go back with my camera and fall into another rib coma.

2. Sapphire: Best Cocktails

Totally switching gears from rootin' tootin' BBQ to total Sex and the City. Sapphire is my favorite place for cocktails for many reasons. First, it's in a downtown building that used to be a jewelry store, and the cases contain bottles of liquor, wine, and art from local artists. Very cool ambience, with lots of unique seating options for eating or just drinking. Second, they have great appetizers, which go exceedingly well with their cocktails. I particularly love their BBQ pork nachos and local cheese plate. Third, and most importantly: they make fabulous cocktails. They have some signature items,

plus a lovely selection of wine by the glass and all kinds of upscale liquor. I recently enjoyed one of their holiday cocktails, the Peppermint Bark Martini, and was very pleased... and

shnockered :) There's live music during the week (really good live music) and a DJ on the weekends. If you were there on St. Patty's Day last year and saw a girl drinking her third lemon drop dancing to Shakira by herself in the middle of the room... that wasn't me :)

3. Tea at the Gallery: Best Tea/Fun Girly Thing to Do

My favorite thing to do in London is to go somewhere for high tea. Such a fabulous experience. Sadly, the tradition doesn't cross the Atlantic too well-- many places that serve "traditional British tea" just don't deliver. The food is bland and not authentic. Not so with Tea at the Gallery! I was skeptical when I first went there for a girlfriend's baby shower luncheon. I left so impressed! They have an amazing selection of tea, but let's face it: I'm a tea lover through and through, but it comes in second to the food. They serve a tiered platter of nicely stuffed tea sandwiches and traditional sweets like scones with cream and jam, shortbread, pound cake-- the works! Nothing is bland, everything is fabulous. They also just added a variety of soups and salads in case you're not in the mood for traditional tea fare-- but that's never the case with me :) And yes, for those of you who truly go for the tea, it's a tea-lover's paradise. You can get anything hot or iced, and they have a lovely area where you can smell various teas, and then purchase what you'd like. They also have every tea-making accoutrement in the book, making it perfect for when you need a birthday present for that tea-lover in your office. The owners are incredibly nice, and you can tell they love what they do and take pride in their work!

4. The Brasserie: Favorite Restaurant

This is a biggie. I had to really, really think about this one. Someone asked me the other day what my favorite restaurant is in Knoxville. I waited for the rest of the question: favorite restaurant for.... sushi? Favorite restaurant for... tapas? Nope, just plain old favorite.

You mean, narrow it down to one??

But I realized I needed to take a stand and name a favorite. If I want to establish my presence as a Knoxville foodie, I have to have a favorite.

The Northshore Brasserie.

You totally knew it was going to be someplace French :) Actually, it's French-Belgian, which makes it even more appealing. But that's just the reason why I tried it in the first place, not the reason I keep going back.

I keep going back because I love the ambience, food, drinks, and service. I crave everything on their menu because they do a phenomenal job with everything on their menu. I've had short ribs, steak frites, lamb shank, charcuterie plate, frisee Lyonnaise salad, braised chicken en

croute, le best hamburger in Knoxville... and just about everything on their dessert menu (mais, oui!). The last time I went with my fabulous co-workers, I made a meal out of their French Onion soup and Brussels sprouts with bacon. I've you've ever wanted to have a hot dream about Brussels sprouts, you need to get them at the Brasserie. If my last meal on earth had to include a vegetable, I would order their Brussels sprouts with bacon (see right).

Maybe, just peut-etre, they'll give me the recipe someday :)

So I've established that the food is amazing. But what fun is it if you feel like you're in a stuffy, intimidating haute cuisine restaurant where you're afraid to ask questions about the menu? Not here. It mimics the classic bistro in France, in which I have eaten many meals :) And the bonus is that the waitstaff is delightful... unlike in France, where that's not quite a guarantee! Sorry, France-- you know I love ya-- but sometimes the waiters take laissez faire to a new level ;)

I am personally quite fond of the little paper bag of hot baguette that shows up at your table shortly after you take your seat, and I am even more fond of the fabulous herbed butter that accompanies said baguette. And they will bring you more bread without making you feel bad... not that I've ever made such a request...

The wine list is great, and they have a nice selections of wine by the glass, including champagne by the glass, which I find is the perfect excuse to have a little bubbly every time I go. They also make a mean cosmopolitan if you want to feel like Carrie Bradshaw (which, of course, is one of my goals in life... minus Berger-- but including Aiden and her shoe collection :).

Aside from being delicious, the food is also authentically French/Belgian. As a former resident of lovely little Belgium, I am a frites snob, and their frites score high marks with me. Not sure if they cook them in duck fat, but they are delicious nonetheless. Hmmm, might have to go back soon to find out :)

Cherry, Date and Lemon Muffins: I Stand Corrected

2011-01-19T15:28:00.001-05:00

I was wrong.

Yes, that did taste like vinegar in my mouth. And if you're reading this, Booze Hound, don't get any ideas-- this is a unique circumstance. Otherwise, we continue along the path of "The Food Hound is always right. And always looks skinny."

My error in judgement was thinking that one could not procure a stellar flour-free baked good. And why even try? I knew I would just end up with some sort of hockey puck-like creature reminiscent of my culinary science class on "what happens when you accidentally leave out the flour." But again, I have been humbled and now stand corrected and enlightened before you, my trusty Food Hound Faithful.

It all started with the CrossFit Paleo Challenge. Our fabulous neighbors (and fellow CrossFitters) participated at our affiliate, CrossFit Ktown, and at the end of the 12-week challenge, they looked great, felt great, and gained tons of strength. What is the Paleo diet? It's an eating lifestyle based on the foods that our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate: meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds. No dairy, grains, legumes, or processed foods. There are, of course, many variations of this way of eating, but those are the basic principles.

As a Food Hound, what made me go run and hide under my bed?

No baked goods for 12 weeks??!!! That's torturous! It's unethical! It's inhumane!

I've heard urban legends of those almond flour goodies that are "just as delicious as the wheat flour version," but I lumped those in the same category as those people who say you can bake with Splenda and not tell the difference. They are either wrong, or their taste buds have ceased to function. I'm going with the former.

But my neighbor was wise to my prejudiced ways, and presented on my doorstep with piping hot, fresh-from-the-oven Cherry, Date and Lemon muffins made with 100% ground almonds. She knows I can't resist something with a name like that.

Now I've made some fabulous muffins in my day, but these are off the charts. T
he natural oil in almonds makes these muffins super rich and delicious. Lots of dried fruit, with a delicate lemon flavor, too. The original recipe calls for agave nectar, but I used honey and they turned out great. There's nothing special about agave nectar anyway-- it's a highly-processed form of fructose. Either sweetener makes these muffins non-strict Paleo, but these are much better options than those jumbotron muffins you find at the grocery store.

So am I ready to shun my beloved baguette and be a strict Paleo convert? Not necessarily. In my opinion, life is too short to live without moderate amounts of my favorite refined carbolicious goodies. But there's a lot of legit science behind the Paleo lifestyle, and the Booze Hound and I are incorporating some of the basic concepts into our daily lives. Who wouldn't benefit from more nuts, fruits, veggies, fish and grass-fed meat?

Whether you're Paleo perfect, or just trying to watch your white flour intake, everyone can agree that these muffins are delicious. Would the Food Hound, lover of all things French, fattening, and fabulous, steer you wrong?? Happy baking!

Cherry, Date and Lemon Muffins

Recipe from my fabulous neighbor!

Printable recipe here

Makes 12 muffins

2 c blanched almond flour (I grind my own in my food processor-- super easy!)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 c dried cherries

1/4 c dates

Zest of one lemon

1/2 c canola oil

3 eggs

1/2 c honey or agave nectar

2 tsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cherries, dates and lemon zest.

3. In a smaller bowl, stir together oil, eggs, honey/agave, and lemon juice. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

4. Spoon batter into lined muffin tins (muffin papers are essential!! Major stick-fest otherwise!). Bake 25-30 minutes.

Come Home to Corn con Carne

2011-01-16T21:31:00.005-05:00

We all eat with wild abandon on vacation, am I right or am I right? I mean, life is too short to go someplace fun and not indulge in every sense of the word. Especially when I visit the Mother Ship in PA, home of all sorts of culinary delights. Dessert after lunch and dinner? Champagne and wine with dinner? Yes and yes!

But then we come back, and it's time to reign it in. But far be it from me to eat something torturous like Slim Fast or Lean Cuisine. I just want something on the lighter side, not the nasty side.

Enter Corn con Carne, a recipe I've been hoarding from Kevin Weeks at Seriously Good. When I read it, three things appealed to me:

1. Lots of veggies to mitigate a multitude of eating sins (though I've decided such sins to do not exist)

2. Easy to make after a long flight or long drive

3. An ingredient list compatible with the Booze Hound's grocery shopping ability since 'twas I who abandoned him for a change!

This dish was a resounding success! The veggie component says "it's time to transition back to reality," while the cheese component says "but not too quickly" :) It's also incredibly versatile: you can adjust the heat/seasonings to taste, and you could even add beans or substitute them for the meat. But then it turns into Corn con Frijoles, and that just doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely. Enjoy!

Corn con Carne

Adapted from Seriously Good

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

1/2 lb ground beef

1/4 tsp salt (use less if using a salt-containing seasoning below)

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 T ground cumin

1 T Penzey's Southwest Seasoning (or taco seasoning or more chili powder)

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 T olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 1/2 c fresh corn kernels (I used frozen because it's January!)

2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 4-oz can chopped green chiles

1 can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained

1/4 c pitted black olives, chopped

2 c shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Add ground meat and season with salt (if using) and the rest of the seasonings (through oregano). Cook until browned all over. Transfer meat to a separate bowl, set aside.

3. Reduce heat to medium and heat olive oil in skillet. Add onion, pepper and corn. Saute until onions are translucent (and until corn is thawed, if using frozen corn). Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add tomatoes, chiles and olives and cook until most of the juice has evaporated.

4. Add vegetable mixture and 1 c cheese to meat mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste.

5. Spread mixture in an 8x8" baking dish coated with cooking spray and top with remaining 1 c cheese. Bake 30 minutes until bubbly-- extra delicious when served with guacamole! YUM!

Booze Hound's Pick: Italian Wedding Soup

2011-01-11T19:04:00.000-05:00

I asked the Booze Hound, as I do every week, if he had any special requests for meals before I made my final weekly menu and grocery shopping list. Those of you who know me personally know that my menu-planning and list-making are sacred rituals, not to be toyed with. I think I am so militant about my menu plan, which the BH calls "the dockett," because I saw poor Mama Hound schlep to the grocery store multiple times per week, and I felt the process could be streamlined. Therefore, I make a master menu plan every week and do the requisite shopping. My friends know that if they want to get together, I need to be notified a week in advance so I don't plan a meal for that night. If I don't end up making a meal as planned, it affects the leftover allotments for lunches.

I think this is a lovely process. Most others think I need medication. It's probably somewhere in between. But I digress...

When asked his input, he responded with "Italian Wedding Soup."

Where is the Booze Hound, and who did you send in his place?

If you know the Booze Hound personally, you will understand my shock. His food repertoire before we met consisted of frozen Walmart burritos and beer. Pizza was his idea of ethnic food. He has made major, major strides since then and likes trying all kinds of new food now. But when I ask him what he wants to eat, he responds with things like "that chicken thing," or "that dish where you saute the onion." Or if he does manage to remember a specific food, it's totally off season, like requesting Caprese salad in December or beef stew in July.

So the request for Italian Wedding Soup came totally out of left field.

I do admit, I had some fun with him and asked him if he knew what it was. He said, "yeah, it's soup they serve at Italian weddings. I think it might have meatballs in it."

Bless his heart :)

Naturally, I was THRILLED to have a season-appropriate food request (and it happened to be cold and snowy!), so I bookmarked Barefoot Contessa's recipe. And I will clarify that the term "wedding soup" is actually a mistranslation. In Italian, it's minestra maritata, which literally means "married soup." It allegedly refers to the fact that meat and vegetables "marry"well together in this soup. But in the Booze Hound's mind, he's eating the soup that Don Corleone might eat at his daughter's wedding in the opening scene of "The Godfather."

I don't want to crush his dreams. Until, of course, he reads this...

I wanted to do a bang-up job on this soup, and since the broth plays such a huge role, I made a homemade stock from the leftover rotisserie chicken carcass I used to make Food Hound Chicken Salad. After you make homemade stock, it's hard to imagine a world where anyone would use the boxed stuff! I do rely on it for convenience, but this soup needed the real mccoy.

What I ended up with was a soup that could move mountains, cure the common cold, and warm you up faster than a Doberhound on your lap. And that's all before noon. It's now on my list of must-makes every winter.

So turn on the Godfather and have a bowl. Don't forget to leave the gun... but take the cannoli.

Italian Wedding Soup

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Printable recipe here

Serves 8

Meatballs:

3/4 lb ground chicken

1/2 lb chicken sausage, casing removed

2/3 c fresh white bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T chopped fresh parsley

1/4 c freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1/4 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 T milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Soup:

2 T good olive oil

1 c minced yellow onion

1 c 1/4" diced carrots (3 carrots)

3/4 c 1/4" diced celery (2 stalks)

10 cups homemade chicken stock

1/2 c dry white wine

1 c small pasta, like tubetini or stars

2 T minced fresh dill

12 oz baby spinach, washed and trimmed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. For the meatballs, place ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, eggs, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in a bowl, and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1"-1 1/4" meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs, and they don't have to be perfectly round, yay!). Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

3. For the soup, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottom soup pot. Add the onion, carrots and celery and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6-8 minutes, until pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and meatballs to soup, simmer for 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan cheese.

Butternut-Jalapeno Bisque with Bacon Crumbles

2011-01-08T16:17:00.000-05:00

Someone restrain me. I need to be stopped.

It started as a little craving for something rich, so I made the Chicken with Lemon-Shallot Cream Sauce. Oooh la la. Next came Steak au Poivre with Cognac Sauce-- it was New Year's! Had to splurge, right? Then I decided to keep the trend going, and indulge in making the butter-laden Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe I've admired from afar for over a year. Then the Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwiches, that managed to squeeze not only bacon, but a mayonnaise-Parmesan spread between those two pieces of bread.

And now here I am, sitting in front of a bowl of Butternut-Jalapeno Bisque (ie, based on heavy cream, not broth) topped with bacon.

I think I have a case of "you know the foods you like are rich, but until you make them yourself, you actually have no idea how rich they are." Seriously, it's a real condition. Look it up.

I can confirm this diagnosis because I watch my favorite chefs, including my beloved Barefoot Contessa, throw butter and oil around like they're warming up the outfield. Heavy cream is a normal ingredient, like garlic, and it's used just as liberally. I think to myself, "wow, that looks so good, but I'd never make that!"

Holy mother of chocolate, I'm making all of those dishes! What to do?

There's a saying that goes something like "when you're going through hell, keep on going- you might get out before the devil even knows you're there." In this case, hell (or heaven?) is the glistening high-fat dairy aisle, and the devil is the Tennessee Department of Dietetic Licensure.

My interpretation of this saying is that I'm going to keep right on making what I want to make. In fact, what can be wrong with eating like Julia Child? She all but added butter to her breakfast cereal, and she lived a very long, happy life. I think if more people added a little butter to their lives, the world would be a happier place, indeed.

Soon I'll snap back into a phase where I want things like roasted salmon and vegetable soup. Until then, I'm going to sit here and enjoy this very silky, lovely bisque. Devil be damned. Besides, he lives in Georgia :)

Butternut-Jalapeno Bisque with Bacon Crumbles

This recipe is my version of my uncle's fabulous Pumpkin-Jalapeno Soup with Duck Confit. He made it at Thanksgiving, and I will feature his recipe when I post about the 2010 Hound family Thanksgiving. I wanted to wait till the holidays had passed to prolong the excitement :) This version is a little more weeknight-friendly (still probably best-suited for a weekend), but I do have aspirations of one day making my own duck confit! The mix of butternut and acorn squash gives it a lovely texture, and the jalapeno adds flavor and heat-- and I'm not usually a jalapeno fan. You also must make the bacon crumbles-- it helps add a savory note. This recipe is everything you want in a soup, plus a little extra... je ne sais quoi :)

Serves 6 as main course, or about 10-12 as a first course

Printable recipe here

1 butternut and 1 acorn squash (about 4-5 pounds of squash, total)

4 T butter, melted

4 T brown sugar

2 T good olive oil

1 shallot

2 cloves of garlic

2 carrots, peeled

2 celery stalks

1 large onion, peeled

1-2 jalapenos, seeded

4 oz good quality rum (I used 10 Cane brand, the Hound favorite)

1 pint heavy cream

1 pint 2% milk

4 slices thick-cut, applewood smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Split squash and scoops out seeds. Combine melted butter and brown sugar, and brush cut sides of each squash liberally with butter-sugar mixture using a pastry brush. Roast squash, cut side up, for about 40 minutes, or until soft. Set aside to cool.

3. Rough chop shallot, garlic, carrot, celery, onion and jalapeno. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Saute the vegetables in the oil until soft. Add rum (watch out for steam burns as you add it!), and stir pot contents until the rum has almost completely evaporated. Add heavy cream and milk; bring to a simmer, then turn off heat.

4. Scoop the squash flesh (oooh, so carnal!) out of the skins-- this requires the patience of a saint-- and place in a large, heavy-duty blender.** Add vegetable/cream mixture and blend until very smooth. Pour back into pot to re-heat (if necessary), then ladle into soup bowl and top with a spoonful of bacon crumbles.

**THIS is the day I debuted my new VITA-MIX!!! I blew out my KitchenAid blender this fall, and have been eagerly awaiting Mama Hound's gift of my very own Vita-Mix. You will never, ever want or need another blender once you have a Vita-Mix. Totally recommended for food lovers everywhere!

Spice Cake and a Baking Revolution, er, Resolution!

2011-01-05T17:52:00.000-05:00

The New Year! A fresh slate! A clean plate! And most of all... New Year's resolutions!!

The gyms will be crowded for a month. The Lean Cuisine selection will be bare for a few weeks. Cigarette sales will go down for a few days. Which begs the question: have you ever met someone who successfully stuck to their New Year's resolution?

Therefore, I am pioneering a new fad: pick something you love to do, and do more of it. It will make the world a happier place. Obviously, if what you love to do is make meth in your basement or steal little kids' candy, this fad is not for you. But the majority of us have something we love to do and just don't permit enough time to do it. I have loads of things in this category... reading, doing yoga, looking for my apartment on the Seine, etc. But what kind of Food Hound would I be if my #1 resolution didn't revolve around food?

While many are trading in their wine for bottled water and their ice cream for carrot sticks, I am going boldly where no Hound has gone before. My New Year's resolution for 2011 is to....

bake more.

Since the Booze Hound and I are science nerds, and success must be measurable, I will further refine my resolution to say...

bake something twice a month.

This stems from two things. First of all, I love baking. I love to look at the ingredients in front of me and see all my old friends: butter, sugar, eggs, maybe some molasses, maybe some melted chocolate. Like the Mama Hound, I am a baker first, cook second. True, Hounds cannot live on cake alone, so I'll still be churning out savory nibbles, but I am going to make a conscious effort to indulge in my love of baking.

How will I do this without ballooning to an elephant-like weight? I have 2 strategies. First, I will be sprinkling my baked goods around my neighborhood, office, Junior League meetings, etc. So even if I wanted to, the stuff won't be sitting on the counter, waiting for me to throw in the towel and eat out of the pan with a fork. Not that I've ever done that...

The second strategy is beyond brilliant, if I do say so myself. I have made two more resolutions, both related to fitness. The first one is that I will do all push ups for 2011 on my toes-- no knees, no mercy. The second is that I will be able to do an unassisted handstand by Dec 31st, 2011. Therefore, if I indulge excessively in my baked goods, what my fellow CrossFitters will see is a lovely gut protruding as I effortlessly fling my legs into my handstand. And we can't have that.

So there you have it, my three resolutions. For the record, the Booze Hound's CrossFit resolution is to do 100% unassisted pull-ups all the time-- it will be a lot harder with a spare tire made out of pound cake and chocolate chip cookies, non?

To start 2011 out with a bang, I present my first installment of my new baking resolution: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

What's fabulous about spice cake? Nothing in particular except that... it's fabulous. Mostly, the word "spice" accompanies cakes made with pumpkin, carrot, or applesauce. But this one can stand on its own two feet, without a supporting ingredient. If you're like me, you've only ever had spice cake out of a box-- and what kind of Food Hound would I be if I couldn't make something better than its boxed version?? This cake is deeply spiced and rich, with a spiced cream cheese frosting to top it all off. It's worth every step and every calorie :) A perfect start to a resolution I will love keeping :)

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Printable recipe here

Serves 12 to 14

Cake:

2 1/4 c unbleached AP flour

1 T ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp grond nutmeg

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp table salt

2 large eggs plus 3 large yolks, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 c granulated sugar

2 T molasses

1 T grated fresh ginger

1 c buttermilk, at room temperature

Frosting:

5 T unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces, softened

1 1/4 c powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

Make the cake:

1. Adjust the oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13x9" pan. Combine spices in small bowl; reserve 1/2 tsp for frosting.

2. Heat 4 T butter in an 8" skillet over medium heat until melted, 1-2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly, until butter is light brown and has a faint nutty aroma, 2-4 minutes. Add spices and continue to cook, stirring constantly, 15 seconds. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, yolks, and vanilla to combine. In a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream remaining 12 T butter with sugar and molasses at medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl twice with a rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add cooled butter and spice mixture, ginger, and half of egg mixture; mix until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining egg mixture; scrape down bowl again. Reduce to low speed; add about 1/3 flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk, mixing until just incorporated after each addition, about 5 seconds. Repeat until all flour mixture and buttermilk are incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour..

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 32-37 minutes. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.

Make the frosting:

1. Cream butter, sugar, and reserved 1/2 tsp spice mixture at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds.

2. Using spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of cake. Sprinkle cake with walnuts, if using. Cut into squares and serve. Enjoy!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese and TONS of Champagne!

2011-01-02T16:33:00.009-05:00

Dear Penn State Football,

Your loss against the Gators was not my idea of how 2011 should start. Luckily, we had fabulous appetizers, Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwiches, and enough champagne to wash away any

negativity and help us forget the fact that the Big 10 did not win any of their bowl games. We live in SEC territory-- how do you think that makes us feel? Please work on things for next year.

Sincerely,
The Food and Booze Hounds

************************************************************************************

True, a win would have been nice, but nothing could have ruined our New Year's Day :) Great time with friends, great food, and great mimosas. Rounding out the experience was the fact that our friends had leftover champagne from their wedding this summer, and wanted to know: would we be interested in taking a few bottles off their hands?

Does the Booze Hound throw things at the TV when the Canadiens score a goal against his Bruins? Yes, and yes. 2011 is looking to be a pretty awesome year :) Exhibit A -->

Despite the fact that the blogosphere will be swarming with all kinds of healthy recipes in a matter of days, I wanted to celebrate the arrival of 2011 in full glory. And full fat. So glad that my friend is a fellow foodie and whole-heartedly agreed with me. It is a celebration, after all, and celebrations aren't meant to be low-cal :)

Barefoot Contessa's Ultimate Grilled Cheese might be the best sandwich I've ever had. As if adding bacon to a grilled cheese (two kinds!) sandwich isn't sinful enough, BC spreads an ethereal mix of mayo, mustard and parmesan on the inside of each one. I know-- mayo on a grilled cheese would never appeal to me, but it totally works. You're selling yourself short if you don't add it!

2011 may still be in its infancy, but so far I've had the Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwich, spent a fabulous day with some fabulous friends, and inherited 3 gratis bottles of champagne.

It's gonna be a good year!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Printable recipe here

Serves 6

12 slices thick-cut bacon

3/4 c good mayonnaise

3 T Dijon mustard

1/4 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 loaf of sourdough or artisan white bread, sliced 1/2" thick (12 slices)

6 T salted butter, at room temperature

6 oz aged Gruyere or Comte cheese, shredded

6 oz extra sharp Cheddar, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bacon on a baking rack set over a sheet pan in a single layer and roast for 20-30 minutes, until nicely browned. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels and cut in half.

2. Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Lay 12 slices of bread on a board and spread each one lightly with butter. Flip the slices and spread each one generously with the mayonnaise mixture.

3. Combine the cheeses in a bowl. Distribute the bacon evenly on half the slices of bread. Pile 1/3 c shredded cheese evenly on top of the bacon and top with remaining bread slices, sauce side down.

4. Meanwhile, heat an electric panini press or grill pan. When the press is hot, cook the sandwiches for 3 to 5 minutes in batches until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. If using a grill pan, cook for approx 3 minutes on the first side, then flip and place a heavy pan (cast iron skillet works best) on top of sandwiches to give them the pressed look. Allow to cool for 2 minutes, then cut in half and serve warm.

Steak au Poivre with Cognac Cream Sauce: You Done Good, Girl!

2011-01-02T13:42:00.005-05:00

Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice, aka the wife of my secret husband, David Beckham) recently graced the cover of Marie Claire, and was quoted saying that she looks at David naked and thinks, "You done good, girl!"

I'll say she has :)

Such was my sentiment New Year's Eve. Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about any aspect of Hound family nudity. I'm talking, of course, about food.

We don't go out New Year's Eve unless we're staying where we're partying-- no driving. But it doesn't mean chez Hound doesn't party like it's 1999 :) We get a boatload of booze, make fabulous food, and ring in the new year in sweatpants and wool socks. Trust me, it's loads better than waiting in line at a club. With no cover charge, and no creepy guys trying to get your number.

This year we joined forces with our fabulous friends and had a knock-out, drag-down amazing meal: Steak au Poivre with Cognac Cream Sauce.

Talk about sex on a plate....happy New Year to us!!

I have been hoarding the recipe for a while, waiting for an extremely fabulous occasion to make it. What better opportunity than starting a brand new year with great friends and copious amounts of champagne? I followed Barefoot Contessa's perfect steak-cooking instructions, while the pepper-and-herb crust and Cognac cream sauce came from Fine Cooking. You must absolutely make this dish. It's rich, it's easy, it's sophisticated, and it screams "I could totally hang out with Lauren Conrad, I just choose not to."

So there I sat as the last few hours of 2010 ticked away: Cognac-covered steak in front of me, fabulous friends to my left, Booze Hound to my right, and the Doberhound gnawing on her new Christmas antler underneath my seat.

I done good, girl :)

Steak su Poivre with Cognac Cream Sauce

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa and Fine Cooking

Printable recipe here

Serves 4

1 T whole black peppercorns, cracked and ground

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

Kosher salt

4 filet mignons or 2 NY strip steaks cut in half crosswise (about 2 lb meat total)

1 T canola oil

2 T unsalted butter

1/4 c finely chopped shallot (about 1 large)

1/3 c Cognac or brandy

1/2 c heavy cream

1 T chopped fresh tarragon

1. Combine 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp thyme, and spread mixture evenly over each side of each steak. Pat peppercorns on each side of each steak to create a thin crust. Let the steaks sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3. Heat a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. Add the oil, and when it becomes shimmering hot, add the steaks and sear on each side for about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven, and cook the steaks for about 8-12 minutes (depending on thickness of steak) till they are done to your liking (rare: 120 degrees, medium rare: 130 degrees, medium 135 degrees). Using an oven mitt to grab the handle, remove skillet from oven and transfer steaks to a plate and tent with foil.

4. Saving the fat and juices from the cooked steaks in the pan, melt the butter in the pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until softened, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat to avoid any flare-ups and carefully add the 1/3 c of Cognac. Return the pan to medium heat and cook until the Cognac reduces to a glazy consistency, 1-2 minutes.

5. Add the cream, tarragon, the remaining 1 tsp of thyme, and any accumulated juices from the resting steaks. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly reduced, 1 or 2 minutes more. Remove from heat, pour sauce over each steak, and serve.

Just a Spoonful of Cream Sauce Helps the Chicken Breast Go Down

2010-12-30T09:41:00.009-05:00

Ah, the elusive chicken breast. Loved by the Doberhound, loathed by the Food Hound. The most boring and mundane of protein sources. The mainstay of low-cal, low-taste diets everywhere. How the same beast can produce a dry, bland breast when its thighs are so delicious is a marvel of evolution. My only positive experience has been in my Real Housewives Chicken Sandwich, which hinges upon the chicken breast's boring flavor to let the other dramatic, catty flavors shine through.

But now I'm a convert. What did it take? Nothing more than a little bit of two of my favorite ingredients: butter and heavy cream. And a little help from Barefoot Contessa :)

Ah, the Barefoot Contessa. God's gift to home cooks everywhere. She takes the basic and makes it superb. And she does it in a gorgeous cottage that I would sell both of my kidneys to live in (just sayin'). I love BC.
Flipping through her cookbooks, one notices that her weapon of choice is butter, followed closely by heavy cream and salt. There is nothing wrong with that picture.

And so, 'twas not the chicken breast in this recipe that caught my eye, but the fabulous sauce. Basic as can be: white wine, lemon juice, butter, cream, salt. Totally sublime! And rather than grill or pan-sear the chicken until it reached its inevitable shoe leather consistency, she pan-seared one side, then finished it off in the oven. Turned out tender as a biscuit. *cue the banjo music*

I feel like the bully at school. I have spent my adult life jeering at the chicken breast when, really, it's just a misunderstood part of the chicken. I have successfully cooked with it twice this year, and I now understand that, like me, it's just meant to be paired with something rich and bold (haha!). Enjoy!

Chicken with Lemon-Shallot Cream Sauce

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa's How Easy Is That?

Serves 4

Printable recipe here

4 boneless chicken breasts (recipe calls for skin-on, I used skinless)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

3 T olive oil

1/2 c dry white wine

1/3 c freshly-squeezed lemon juice (2-3 large lemons)

1/4 c minced shallots (1 large)

3 T heavy cream

2 T unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels and sprinkle each side liberally with salt and pepper. In a 12-inch oven-safe skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Place the chicken breasts skin-side down (if using breasts with skin) in the skillet and cook 4-5 minutes without moving, until golden brown. Since I used skinless, I found they were done perfectly at 3 minutes.

3. Using tongs, turn the chicken breasts over, place skillet in the oven, and roast for 12-15 minutes (10-12 minutes if using skinless) until the chicken is cooked through.

4. Once the chicken is done, remove to a plate, tent with foil, and set aside. Place skillet back over medium-high heat (be very careful to use a hot pad for the handle! It just came out of the oven!!), and add wine, lemon juice, and shallots and cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is reduced to about 2 T. If it reduces a little too much, just add an extra splash of wine (never a bad idea :). Add the cream, 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and bring to a full boil. Remove from the heat, add the diced butter, and swirl in the pan until the butter is incorporated. Serve the chicken hot with sauce spooned over it.

The lovely BC states not to re-heat the sauce, or else it will "break," but I reheated this for lunch the next day and despite "breaking," it was fan-tabulous. Eat your heart out, PB&J :)

Festive. Fabulous. French: French Onion Soup

2010-12-23T21:46:00.008-05:00

Traditions... love 'em or hate 'em?

I love 'em. Getting the Christmas tree with the Booze Hound, and distracting the Doberhound from her quest to eat the other Christmas tree seekers. Drinking mimosas Christmas morning. Watching the Doberhound demolish her annual Christmas breakfast of boiled chicken and rice. Eating more cookie batter than I bake.

I did not particularly enjoy the speeding ticket I received on the way home from our Christmas tree expedition, but I don't plan to make that a tradition.

Funny, all of my favorite traditions revolve around food. Silly Food Hound, your WORLD revolves around food!

Yes, 'tis true. My favorite traditions revolve around food. And because I am not guaranteed to see Mama Hound's shining face every Christmas, we connect across state lines (and even the Pacific Ocean one year) through the foods we make. We tend to make the same Christmas cookies. We serve croissants with way too much jam on our identical set of "Holly and Ivy" Portmeirion dishes. We both fantasize about eating our way through the "entertaining" sized-box of Walker's Shortbread... and sometimes we do.

But the most time-honored tradition of all is our show-stopping (if we do say so ourselves) Christmas Eve dinner centerpiece: French Onion Soup.

I don't know when or why it started, but this tradition is here to stay. I'm not sure what I would have done if the Booze Hound didn't like French Onion Soup, but I can say with confidence that Mama Hound would stuff his stocking full of coal every year. It's festive, it's fabulous, and, mais oui, it's French. What's not to love?

Sweating over a hot stove for hours waiting for the stupid onions to caramelize. That's what not to love.

Oh, not this year, my Food Hound faithful! I have the ultimate French Onion Soup that involves way less stirring, spitting, and cursing than ever before. Here's the secret: you use the oven to do the lion's share of the caramelization. You can thank the staff of Cook's Illustrated for this little gem. The onions bake for a few hours until they are soft and slightly browned, and then you see instant results when you start stirring to caramelize them. It's brilliant! And of course, like all soup, it just gets better with age, making it the ideal make-ahead entertaining dish.

Whether you're tall or you're small, or a Grinch or a Who, you will love this soup. Even the in-laws lap it up, and that's saying something since it has the word "French" in the title! Maybe I'll drop some off at the Knoxville Police Department to thank them for keeping the roads clear of menacing little holiday speeders :) Cheers!

Best Ever French Onion Soup

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Printable recipe here

Makes 6-8 servings

3 T butter, cut into 3 pieces

6 large yellow onions, about 4 pounds, halved and cut pole-to-pole into 1/4"-thick slices

Table salt

2 c water, plus extra for deglazing

1/2 c dry sherry

4 c low-sodium chicken broth (homemade or Swanson Organic Free Range recommended)

2 c beef broth (homemade or Pacific brand recommended)

6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine

1 bay leaf

Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons:

1 small baguette, cut on bias into 1/2"-thick slices

8 oz Gruyere, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)

Make the soup:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees F. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with non-stick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 tsp salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume-- see picture).

2. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2-1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour (see picture).

3. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if they are browning

too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, 6-8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions). Stir in 1/4 c water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6-8 minutes (see picture).

4. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times (the more times, the deeper the flavor!), until onions are very dark brown (see picture). Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

5. Stir in broths, 2 c water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 tsp salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make the croutons:

1. White soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree F oven until bread is dry, crisp and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

2. Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyere. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Basic Training: Food For the In-laws

2010-12-23T09:34:00.006-05:00

The in-laws are coming, the in-laws are coming!!

My in-laws are wonderful people. No drama. Maybe my mother-in-law wants us to have children just a little too badly. And maybe my father-in-law has been quoted grumbling, "I don't understand the fuss. Christmas is just another day." All in a thick Boston accent.

But I won big in the in-law department. They're pretty good.

The only stressful part of their visit is figuring out what to make. See, pasta is ethnic to them. And I tend to make more.... adventurous things :) There was the date-coconut cake incident last year where I bucked the Booze Hound's suggestion of making something basic like chocolate chip cookies, and instead made a date-coconut cake. My mother-in-law gobbled it up, thinking it was chocolate (in her defense, it was brown... but tasted nothing like chocolate) and told me how delicious it was. With one bite left, I let the cat out of the bag that it was date-coconut cake, and she dropped her fork and said she didn't like coconut. Even though she had just eaten the whole piece. We tried to reason with her that maybe, indeed, she does like coconut, but she wouldn't hear any of it. She now disliked the cake. *sigh*

So now I defer to the Booze Hound. I make basic.

Truth be told, I do have some tried-and-true basic recipes I love. I just usually use company as guinea pigs for new, outrageous recipes :) And I am lucky-- they do enjoy my traditional Christmas Eve meal of French Onion Soup (upcoming post! Don't miss it!). So I'll take what I can get, and make basic recipes the rest of the time.

And it doesn't get more basic than Food Hound Chicken Salad.

Granted, there's more to it than just chicken and mayo :) But it got the Booze Hound seal of approval for his 'rents, so I'm serving it as a light dinner after their long ride here. I happen to love my chicken salad, and the bonus is that I get a poulet roti (rotisserie chicken) carcass to roast for homemade stock. Everybody wins with Food Hound Chicken Salad :) Except maybe the chicken. She's not so lucky.

Because all things are infinitely better when accompanied by baguette (mais, oui!), I served the chicken salad with nice, crusty baguette, or "bread," as I'm instructed to say it. "Baguette" might be considered too fancy.

And in keeping with my simple theme, I made a plain fruit salad as a side dish. Yeah, right-- it totally wasn't plain, but I didn't mention anything about that. It's technically Macerated Spiced Winter Fruit Salad, but who needs to know?? And I could see them exchanging glances like "wow, she finally got the hint and stopped trying to shove Thai shrimp curry and date-coconut cake down our throats." Shhh, don't blow my cover :)

Food Hound Chicken Salad

Printable recipe here

Makes 8-10 portions

1 poulet roti (rotisserie chicken-- just rolls off the tongue so much better in French, non?)

1/2 c dried cranberries

1/2 c golden raisins

1/2 c chopped pecans, toasted

1/2 c finely chopped celery

1 apple, finely chopped

1/2-3/4 c good mayonnaise (more or less to your liking-- I do not care for a lot of mayo in mine so I stick closer to 1/2 c and it's on the drier side)

6 tsp buttermilk

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove all meat from chicken carcass, discarding skin and bones (unless you're saving them to make stock). Toss all meat in a food processor, and pulse to desired consistency. This is a cheater's way to have finely chopped chicken, but if you like it chunkier you can always dice it with a knife instead of using a food processor. I was in a food processor mood, so that's how my chicken met its fate. Your choice :)

Once chicken is as finely or chunkily chopped as you like it, dump it in a large bowl. Stir in all dried fruits, celery, pecans and apple; mix well. Stir in mayo and buttermilk, season to taste with salt and pepper. I use about 1/2 tsp salt and Penzey's California Seasoned Pepper. Serve with croissants, crusty baguette, or over a bed of lettuce. YUM!

Macerated Spiced Winter Fruit Salad

Adapted loosely from Cooking Light

Printable recipe here

Yields about 8 servings

1/2 c apple juice or cider

1 T honey

1 cinnamon stick

1 whole pineapple, diced

2 apples, diced

2 oranges, peeled, cut into segments, and diced

1/2 bunch red seedless grapes (I am totally in love with Holiday grapes right now)

1/2 c dried cranberries

1 T Cointreau (because I apparently can't make something without it!)

1 T lemon juice

1. Heat apple juice, honey and cinnamon stick over medium heat until honey dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, set aside.

2. Dump all of the fruit into a large bowl. Pour juice mixture over fruit, toss well. Add Cointreau and lemon juice, toss again. Chill in fridge for at least one hour. I leave the cinnamon stick in the bowl and just stir it up every so often to help disperse the flavor. The lemon and apple juices mean your fruit will keep nicely in the fridge without browning. Score!