flavoradeux

Poblano Boats

Kelly — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:32:31 +0000

If you love stuffed chiles, but don’t like all the work involved, this recipe is for you. I don’t bother roasting and peeling the chiles, and then stuffing them full of yummy goodness. I simply cut the top off, cut a slit down the center, deseed it, stuff it, and bake it. It doesn’t quite have the same flavor as a roasted and peeled chile, because the skin gives it a slight–very slight—bell pepper taste. If you don’t like bell peppers, you’re welcome to go through all the extra steps of roasting. But for the amount of time and hassle you’ll save skipping it, I think you’ll still love these, and be able to make them for dinner in a snap.

Poblano chiles are not mouth-burning hot, either. Especially if you deseed and devein them. Some are warmer than others, but the batch I made were completely heatless. If you get a chile that lacks the heat you’re looking for, add the seeds and veins into the stuffing mixture. It should pep it right up! The chorizo this recipe calls for also adds some spice, not to mention plenty of flavor.

As usual, I do not measure. I can offer approximates, but please feel free to adjust up or down depending on your personal tastes.

Ingredients:
6 fresh poblano chiles
6-8 oz. chorizo, cooked
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small-medium zucchini, diced finely
1 small red onion, diced finely
6 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup cherry tomatoes, diced
2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded
avocado, for garnish

Guidelines:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook chorizo according to package directions. When chorizo is nearly done, add chopped garlic and diced onion. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until onion becomes very slightly translucent. Add diced zucchini, beans, and diced cherry tomatoes. Cook until just warmed through.

Wash the poblanos. Remove the top and cut a slit down the center. Remove the seeds and veins, if so desired.

Stuff the chiles with the chorizo mixture. Top with cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is just beginning to brown.

Top with diced avocado, if you’d like.

PLTA Salad

Kelly — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:52:39 +0000

P=prosciutto, L=lettuce, T=tomato, and A=avocado. Yep, like a BLT but different. The addition of avocado makes (almost) everything taste better, and if you have yet to convert from bacon to prosciutto, it’s high time you did. Prosciutto is a thinly sliced Italian dry-cured ham. You can eat it uncooked, right out of the package, but for this recipe, I pan fry it, just as you would bacon. This gives it a nice, crunchy texture. The flavor is similar to bacon, but without all the added artificial flavors usually found in bacon. It is also less fatty.

If you’re in a hurry, you can use store-bought salad dressing. I’m not a Ranch fan, though it would be okay. I prefer a vinaigrette. The recipe for my White Wine and Herb Vinaigrette is below. It’s akin to an Italian Vinaigrette, and goes well with this salad. Unlike Ranch, it won’t weigh down and drown out the flavors of the greens or avocado, and yet it’s plenty flavorful enough in and of itself.

Hubby and I ate this salad as a main dish, along with a loaf of Rosemary Garlic Bread, and a glass of Kestrel’s Mourvedre. Perfect meal for a warm summer night on the patio… or even a cool, rainy night at the kitchen table working on a puzzle…

If you like this recipe, try PLTA Croissant Sandwiches.

White Wine and Herb Vinaigrette

Combine ¼ cup high quality white wine vinegar (I used an artisan Pinot Grigio vinegar), ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp. minced thyme, 1 tsp. minced rosemary, 1 tsp. chopped parsley, 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, and let sit for a minimum of one hour to let flavors marry. Remove garlic clove before serving.

PLTA Salad

Use in any amount you like:

Baby spring greens
Prosciutto, uncooked or cooked
Heirloom cherry tomatoes
Avocado
White Wine and Herb Vinaigrette

Quattro Formaggi and Olive Pizza

Kelly — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:35:21 +0000

Wow. Another pizza post. You’re probably wondering if that’s all we eat in my house. Really, it’s not. For some reason, it’s one of the few foods that inspires me to blog, however. Maybe it’s just my lack of time that stifles my creativity in the kitchen. It is soooo hard to cook, and cook something original, when you work odd hours and have to be ready to show property on a moment’s notice. As such, we’ve been eating a lot of simple dishes lately because of my random schedule. But I had time to crave a cheesy, olive pizza, and actually make it this past week. It really makes me want to get back in the kitchen on a regular basis. We’ll see…

As usual, the ingredients are relative. I offer approximates. The rest is up to your personal taste.

Ingredients:

pizza dough for a 16-20 inch pizza

1 16 0z. can diced tomatoes (low sodium preferable)
basil, to taste
oregano, to taste
garlic, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes (optional), to taste
olive oil

mozzarella cheese, about 2 cups grated
provolone cheese, about 5 round slices
parmesan cheese, about ¼ cup grated
feta cheese, to taste

Kalamata olives, about ½ - 1 cup halved

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Preheat your pizza stone or pan for about 5 minutes in the 400 degree oven.

Shape your pizza dough. Place on preheated pizza stone or pan, sprinkle with olive oil, and bake for another 3 minutes. Remove from oven.

To make the sauce, combine the diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes, if desired. Cook, breaking apart any large tomatoes. (Note: Sauce will be chunky.)

Spread the sauce on the prebaked pizza crust. Lay the provolone slices over the top. Sprinkle with mozzarella, parmesan, and feta. Place olive halves over top.

Bake for about 8 minutes, or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Spring Valley Vineyard estate bottled Derby

Dan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:02:10 +0000

Please welcome back Dan, the wine editor, with this post on Walla Walla, Washington’s Spring Valley Vineyard estate bottled Derby.

Gloria and I both spotted the butterflied basil encrusted leg of lamb in the new Food and Wine magazine and of course being the lamb lovers we are (the meat of gourmet kings!) I couldn’t help but make a mental note of what we had in the wine cellar that would be the perfect pairing with the lamb. It didn’t take long: the 2006 Spring Valley Vineyard estate bottled Derby (cabernet sauvignon) - Walla Walla Valley.

Last August, Gloria and I had the distinct pleasure of tasting wine at Spring Valley’s tasting room in Walla Walla , WA. EVERYTHING was outstanding. The wines are named after family members, and while Spring Valley may be best known for its Merlot blend, Uriah, their other wines were all exceptional. I encourage everyone to visit its website at springvalleyvineyard.com.

Winemaker tasting notes:“This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon offers cherry, blackberry, rose petal, and fresh creamy pastry aromas on the nose, followed by ample, round and lush palate of candied cherry and plum. This wine is very juicy with extra coating tannins leading into a long velvety finish.” – Serge Laville, Winemaker.

Sausage and Potato Pizza

Kelly — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:22:50 +0000

This is an incredibly rich pizza. I definitely suggest making a thin crust, and using light to moderate amounts of cheese. A side salad with a vinaigrette dressing will also help lighten up the meal. As for the crust, use your favorite recipe, but I’d steer clear of 100% whole wheat, or the store-bought Boboli shells, as both are dense, and will only weight down the pizza even more. Use the highest quality Sweet Italian sausage you can find. Don’t use ground sausage, or breakfast sized links. Neither will produce very good results. In my humble opinion… I’ve used Trader Joes brand, and also Johnsonville, which weren’t too bad, but if you have a nearby butcher shop, check it out. Look for them with the Brats. Red potatoes are less starchy than other types, so I’d stick with them. I also think the Fontina works beautifully here. If you can’t find Fontina, try a mild to medium white cheddar.

And yes, I know, I make a lot of pizza!

Sauce Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter
3-4 tbsp. olive oil
large grain sea salt
1 tbsp. fresh thyme
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped

Sauté garlic and herbs in butter and olive oil until fragrant. Keep warm.

Pizza Ingredients:
dough for a large sized pizza
1-2 cooked Sweet Italian sausages, sliced thin
3 baby red potatoes, mostly cooked and sliced thin
1-2 cups Fontina cheese

Shape your dough and prebake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden.

Remove from oven and spread the sauce over the dough.

Top sauce with sliced sausage and potato.

Sprinkle a light to moderate layer of cheese over top.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pomegranate Wine

Kelly — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:13:21 +0000

I’ve never been a fan of fruit wine. (Yes, I know, grapes are a fruit, but they are in an entirely different classification that is NOT fruit wine.) When I think of fruit wines, I think of sticky sweet, thin, bodiless, alcoholic cousins to fruit juice, and distant distant relatives to real wine. I can’t help it. And I’m only sort of sorry I feel this way. But! I’ve recently taken another look at fruit wine.

Several months ago, my husband started home brewing. He’s done beer here and there in the past, but always from kits. Now, he’s making his own mash and wort for beer, and diving into fruit wines. His first fruit wine was a cran-apple. We spent hours coring and juicing apples, and I kept thinking: This is going to be a waste of time. I HATE fruit wine!!! I was stunned when I tasted it, and it tasted like, well, wine! Not exactly wine wine, but not a sticky sweet, thin, bodiless, alcoholic cousin to fruit juice either. This had a lot of body, depth, and flavor.

Our next venture was a strawberry pomegranate wine. We bought pounds and pounds of frozen strawberries from Costco, thawed, boiled, and mashed them, added pomegranate juice, sugar, and yeast. We had to tinker with this a little. The pomegranate over powered the strawberry and made it quite tart. Too tart, really, and since this was already made to be an off-dry wine, instead of an semi-sweet like the cran-apple, the combination of dry and tart was too much. We bought strawberry nectar and added it after racking the first time. (Racking is simply a fancy term for moving the liquid into a new, clean container (called a carboy) to get it off the bottom sediment.) That did the trick! The wine turned out beautifully! Lighter bodied than the cran-apple, but tons of flavor that unfolds at different times in your mouth.

If we have any leftover by the time summer hits, I’m thinking we should turn some of it into wine coolers. I also want strawberry-pomegranate vinegar… And don’t you think this color is just beautiful for Valentine’s Day?

Now, we’re trying to think of what to make next. If you have any ideas, please comment!

Pacific Northwest Pizza

Kelly — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:45:17 +0000

There is a pizza shop in town that advertises on their website a Northwest Territory Pizza that I wanted to try. We called to order it one night, and they had no idea what we were talking about. Apparently, they are a regional chain, and our chain doesn’t carry that particular pie. Truth be told, I’m not much of a fan of this pizza joint anyway, so it wasn’t too disappointing. A few weeks later, I gathered similar ingredients and made my own version. I wasn’t satisfied with it, however. It was too salty, and the cheese wasn’t right. Like the pizza advertized, I used Gorgonzola and Parmesan, but the combo was overkill and you couldn’t taste the other delectable ingredients. I shelved the idea for a while and came back to it a few weeks ago. This time with great results!

I don’t think pizza should have a bunch of rules and measurements. I think you should use the ingredients in good balance, and use more of those particular ingredients you like or whose flavors you want to emphasize. When I made this pizza, I opted for more apple and sundried tomato, and went light on the walnuts and mushrooms. I also went light on the cheese, using just enough mozzarella to cover most of the pesto sauce, and a light sprinkling of Parmesan over the toppings. Choose a pesto sauce you really like, because you’ll definitely be disappointed if your pesto sauce isn’t appealing.

Ingredients:

(see note above regarding measurements)

pizza dough
apple, sliced (choose a variety that has plenty of crunch. We like Cameo and Fuji.)
mushrooms, sliced
sundried tomatoes, sliced
walnuts, chopped
pesto sauce
mozzarella cheese, grated
parmesan cheese, grated

Guidelines:

Form your favorite pizza dough into whatever shape and size you want. (I like to prebake mine for about 8 minutes in a 375 degree oven so the crust is a bit crispier, but this is optional.)

Heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Spread the pesto over the crust. Top with mozzarella cheese. Spread your ingredients evenly on top of the mozzarella, and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Packed Lunch Favorites

Kelly — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:52:11 +0000

It’s so easy to pack an unhealthy lunch. Cookies, chips, crackers, sandwiches piled with processed meats and cheese and slathered in mayo. Yick. I don’t keep any of that stuff in my house. If we’re craving it, we have to drive to the store and get it. Usually, it’s not worth the hassle. And the “not in my house” rule has made for much healthier (and tastier) packed lunches. Yes, it requires cooking, but I take Sunday afternoon to listen to the football game(s) and cook for the entire week. Here are some of my favorite recipes from three of my favorite sources. Buy these cookbooks, and visit the blogs, and try them for yourself! (Our lunches usually consist of some type of sandwich or burrito, a green salad, a bean or grain salad, yogurt, fruit, and a granola bar, muffin, or other homemade sweet treat.)

Cookbook: Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook by Myra Goodman

Corn and Black Bean Salad
Black beans, sweet corn, tomato (I prefer red pepper for a crunchier texture), red onion, and parsley (I substitute cilantro), mixed with a great dressing of olive oil, vinegar, chile powder, cumin, and more. Good warm or cold.

Moroccan-Spiced Bulgur Pilaf
Pictured above, this is an absolutely delicious grain dish that combines the nutty flavor of bulgur with the sweetness of apricots and raisons. The dish also includes pine nuts, and a dressing of garlic, cumin, coriander, olive oil, lemon, and more. Very yummy! I was surprised at how much I loved this recipe.

Cookbook: Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

Quinoa Black Bean Salad
Packed with protein, quinoa is a small grain that’s fast cooking (15 minutes max!) and great tasting. This salad combines fiber rich black beans, bell peppers, fresh chiles such as jalapenos, tomatoes, and a tasty dressing of olive oil, lime juice, cumin, coriander, and more. Fresh cilantro makes this dish pop.

Barbeque Beans
For a quick batch of BBQ beans with some spunk, try this recipe. It uses some store-bought sauce, but adds dried mustard, maple syrup, onions, garlic, cider vinegar, and hot sauce. Tasty and easy.

Sweet and Sour Lentils
Sweet and savory combine in this Indian inspired recipe. Apple juice, ginger root, onions, garlic, carrots, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and other ingredients make these lentils a hit. Lentils are high in iron. Delicious served hot or cold.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos
Hands down one of the most delicious burritos I’ve ever had! And there is no cheese involved! The sweet potatoes add a creamy, sweet texture, so there is really no need for cheese. In fact, I think cheese would ruin this burrito. I make huge batches of these, wrap them in wax paper, and freeze them.

Blog: 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson

Big Sur Power Bars
I’ve blogged about this recipe a gazillion times, but it’s truly genius! Nuts, toasted coconut, and espresso powder in a granola-ish bar! Watch the video, and get the recipe for yourself.

Berry Beer Baked Beans
Beans and beer! But not any beer—Lindeman’s Frambois Lambic! Hello! Lindeman’s is a sweet raspberry beer, and boy is it yummy. (And that’s coming from a girl who loves porters and stouts, and isn’t a fan of sweet alcoholic beverages.) Check out the recipe here.

Triple Ginger Cookies
Way too addicting! Be careful with these! Fresh ginger, ground ginger, and fine chunks of crystallized ginger team up to provide a sweet and spicy kick. Go here to try these for yourself.

Honey Chipotle Pork Tacos

Kelly — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:56:50 +0000

I made the BEST tacos EVER Sunday night. Swoon. The idea for these Honey Chipotle Pulled Pork Tacos came from an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. I only caught the last few minutes of the process of making the tacos, but the general idea stuck with me. And my gawd did they look good! There are two key parts to this recipe—the sauce and the process of melting the cheese on the tortillas. You essentially prepare half a quesadilla to put the pork and toppings into. The melted cheese and slightly crispy tortilla adds loads of texture.

I don’t know how they cooked the pork at the restaurant, and I can’t remember what toppings they used, but here is my version. Also, I didn’t measure the ingredients for this recipe, so I can only offer you guestimates. It’s easy to adjust the sauce, however, so guestimates will work.

Honey Chipotle Sauce
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
about 1/3 cup honey
about 2 tbsp. lime juice
about 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

Taco Ingredients
a spice mixture composed of about 3 tbsp. cumin, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, ½ tsp. red chili flakes, 3 tbsp. red chili powder, and 1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 pork shoulder roast, about 3 lbs.
about 2 cups chicken stock
1 lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
20 small white corn tortillas
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1-2 cups red cabbage, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped

Special Equipment
crock pot

Guidelines

Make the spice mixture and rub it into the pork. Place in crock pot, and add the chicken stock. Set crock pot to high for a cooking time of 4-6 hours, or low for a cooking time of 8-10 hours.

Make the Honey Chipotle Sauce, and set aside to let the flavors marry. Adjust taste as needed. Note: It will taste very spicy alone. The spice mellows when you add the other ingredients.

Once the pork is done (when it pulls completely off the bone), remove from crock pot and let cool slightly. Shred the pork, trimming off any fat. Pour the sauce over the shredded pork and mix well.

Grate the cheese, dice the tomatoes, chop the cilantro, and red cabbage.

In a medium fry pan over medium heat, add a tortilla and top with a small handful of cheddar cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and the bottom of the tortilla is starting to brown and turning crispy. Remove from pan and top with pork, tomatoes, cabbage, and cilantro. Repeat process.

Home Brew

Kelly — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:15:54 +0000

I know, I know–I haven’t updated this blog with a new recipe in months. Why? I’ve been busy! In addition to my writing/editing/marketing job, I’m now a licensed real estate agent. (In this economy, you ask? Yep. People still need housing!) Since my schedule has been hectic this last month or two, my husband has even started cooking some meals! He made a mean lasagna last week, and I told him he was hired. He has also ventured into home brewing. With a vengeance. Right now he has a Nut Brown Porter about a day or two away from bottling, and CranApple Wine we started last night, after spending hours and hours and hours and hours juicing apples. Yum! I can’t wait to try both.