Month: January 2010

Quick Escarole

I had about half a head of escarole remaining after I made this soup, and a splash of red wine remaining after I made this chicken. To be honest, there wasn’t much else in my refrigerator, so I made this quick escarole side dish.

I tore the escarole into smaller pieces, gave them a quick rinse, and then tossed them in a big frying pan with a bit of olive oil and garlic powder. After cooking the escarole on high heat for a few minutes, I added in the red wine and left the pan on the stove for another minute. This isn’t a recipe, but sometimes you need to just let the contents of your refrigerator inspire you.

Chicken in Red Wine

I made a very simplified version of this Red Wine Braised Chicken recipe, but it was still an excellent meal! The original recipe does look good, but I am not a fan of olives, capers, or opening a can of tomato paste for just one tablespoon. As you can see, the chicken does end up tinted red. The chicken was very tender though, and there was plenty of sauce so this would be great served over couscous or barley. This looks quite fancy, but has minimal ingredients and yes, there are even a couple of glasses of wine leftover.

8 chicken thighs, skinned
Black Pepper
1 T olive oil
2 c. red wine
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 T minced garlic

Sprinkle chicken thighs with black pepper. Heat oil in a deep skillet, and brown chicken thighs, approximately 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan, and set aside. Add wine to pan, and simmer for 10 minutes until reduced. Add broth, tomatoes, and minced garlic, and then return chicken to pan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat, cover the pan, and allow to simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

Pasta with Tomato Pumpkin Sauce

Many times I walk in the door fairly late and hungry for dinner. If I don’t have something already prepared that I can heat up, I look for a quick and simple option. This dish was perfect for that situation.

I took out two pots, one medium and one small. The larger one got filled with water, and put on high heat to boil. I put a can of diced tomatoes in the smaller pot, along with half a cup of pumpkin. (The rest of that can of pumpkin got saved for pumpkin oats, of course!) I added a dash of garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the sauce, and set it on medium-low heat to simmer. When the water boiled, I tossed in some whole wheat pasta and cooked it for 8 minutes. By the time I drained the pasta, the sauce was heated through, and I topped the pasta with the sauce and some grated Parmesan. Within about 20 minutes, a healthy dinner was served!

So that’s my third goal of 2010 – to come up with meals that are healthy, simple, and quick. Maybe next time I’ll set a timer and see just how long it did take me to throw this meal together!

Baked Cucumbers, a la Julia

Finally, I saw “Julie and Julia”. It was a good movie, and I am definitely inspired to tackle a few of Julia Child’s recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I also got an enamel cast iron casserole for Christmas, ready for action. So there is my second goal of 2010: to make a few truly special French recipes using ingredients like real butter.

I got a head start on this goal last weekend when I tackled Julia’s Baked Cucumbers. You could bake almost anything with butter and dill and get a good result, but this was a whole different spin on cucumbers. Because they are soaked in vinegar, they taste a bit like pickles, with an almost meaty texture. I wouldn’t call them amazing as others have, but the recipe does make a summer vegetable into a nice side dish for all seasons. They did not photograph well (I am blaming the butter!) but I’ll work on that for my next MtAoFC experiment.

Roasted Vegetable Appetizers: Two Options

I started out by making a roasted vegetable dip. Really, all I did was cut up a Vidalia onion, two zucchini, and a carton of cherry tomatoes and mix them with some olive oil and an onion soup seasoning packet, just like this recipe. I let the vegetables cool, and then tossed them in my new food processor for a quick blend. The end result was a flavorful vegetable dip.

The dip was good, but perhaps a little boring on a cracker. Since I had quite a few leftover won ton wrappers from the Chocolate Ricotta Rolls, I decided to try Roasted Vegetable Won Tons. I placed about a tablespoon of dip in the center of one wrapper, covered it with a second wrapper, and sealed the edges with a touch of water. I baked them at 350F for 8-10 minutes, and a second appetizer was born. They were crunchy and delicious!

Chocolate Ricotta Rolls

I love watching Roni’s videos on Green Lite Bites, mostly because they’re so real. She’s not surrounded by a flurry of production assistants; she shows you that you can do this on your own. And there is my first goal of 2010, to make a video for the blog that aims to inspire readers to try something new.


So I was really excited when I saw this video and recipe for Chocolate Ricotta Rolls, because they are just so darn cute! Making the shells from won ton wrappers was not too difficult, a few fell over and caved in, but most of the them came out quite well. The filling was easy too, although next time I will definitely make it sweeter, and maybe use a real liquor instead of almond extract. Filling the shells was a snap with the homemade pastry bag, and after a dusting of powdered sugar, they were done. I filled them about 3-4 hours before they were served, and they definitely softened up quite a bit, so don’t make these too far in advance. But do make them, even if it’s just for yourself.

Thai Turkey Meatballs

I was on the hunt for an appetizer meatball recipe last weekend. I could have gone retro and simmered beef meatballs in the crockpot, but instead I tried this Asian-themed recipe. As the title suggests, I used ground turkey instead of beef, and decided on ‘Thai’ because they are simmered in coconut milk. I made a few other changes to the recipe, skipping the leek and the garnish, and using red chili paste in place of the fresh chile pepper. They weren’t spicy at all though, the most dominant flavor was ginger. Next time, I might make the meatballs as a main dish, and serve the sauce over some rice noodles.

Walnut Pesto

Let’s jump right into the new year with a recipe, and when I finally finish my 2010 goals, you’ll be the first to know. I made this walnut pesto from Smitten Kitchen and then served it along with fresh bread and crackers at a small gathering of old and new friends (and loyal blog readers!) It was good, but it didn’t have the ‘wow’ factor I expected. The group seemed to like it though, and it wins points for being fairly easy to put together in advance. The rest of the fresh thyme is now stored in the freezer, so I’ll be putting that to good use in another recipe this winter.