Posted on July 23, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Apple crisp is one of my favorite desserts. My mom made one growing up that was outstanding. Of course when I asked her for the recipe she could not find it so off to the food network I went. I found a recipe from Rachael Ray’s sister. As many of you know Rachael doesn’t bake. I have made this two times and both turned out remarkable. Those sisters know how to cook!
Tasty tip: Double the topping mixture (not the cinnamon mix) for extra sweet goodness.
Recipe link
Filed under: Dessert / Baked Goods, RECIPES | Tagged: 30 minute meals, apple crisp, dessert, food, Rachael Ray's sister, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 16, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Once a year, maybe twice I will dust off my deep fryer and make Fried Chicken. It is one of the few meals I create without Mike’s help. I LOVE my fried chicken. It’s so simple to make I hate to even say it’s a secret family recipe. There are no eggs or buttermilk. I use 3 ingredients: flour and large amounts of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and Garlic Salt. To prepare I mix them all together then dredge the wings and drop into hot oil (365 degrees/7 minutes/8-10 wings). This produces a thin, salty, crispy skin. I don’t like thick batter covering my chicken.
Once again, I outdid myself. 😆 Having a portable deep fryer makes preparing this dish really easy. I can do all my frying outside to keep the funk in the house to a minimum, and clean up is a snap.
Note: Stay tuned for the Ad Hoc part II review. Mike and I will be returning to Ad Hoc at the end of the month to try the Fried Chicken everyone is going gaga over. We’ll see if it deserves all the accolades.
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: deep fryer, food, fried chicken, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 14, 2008 by bayareafoodie
So did the h-u-g-e burger on the July cover of bon appétit call to you as you stood at the checkout in the grocery store? That burger looked so darn good I had to have it. The cover story gave recipes for a variety of burgers. The 1st burger Mike chose to recreate was the Curried Lamb Burger with Grilled Vegetables and Mint Raita.
I found the texture of the lamb patty to be wonderful and it was super juicy. Much nicer than regular beef. The sauce was minty fresh, and I will use that naan more often. It is a nice alternative to a bun. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the curry flavor. I have never been a fan. It was cool to be adventurous and try something new but I think I’ll stick to my royale with cheese.
Recipe link
Next on the list: Cheddar Burger with Balsamic Onions and Chipotle Ketchup. The bon appétit covers have been really enticing this year, so much that I just ordered a subscription. It’s much cheaper than buying the individual issues.
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: bon appetit magazine, burger, curried lamb burgers, food, grilled vegetables, july 2008, mint raita, RECIPES | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 13, 2008 by bayareafoodie
I’d never heard of Eton Mess before watching Nigella Lawson whip up a batch on her show Nigella Express. Eton mess is a dessert of English origin consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream and was first created at Eton College in Britain. Although I find meringue nests unappetizing, Nigella made them look divine.
The meringue crumbled in the cream was awesomely sweet. This was one of the best strawberry desserts I’ve had. It was a tasty mess, indeed.
Recipe link
Note: The only modification I made to the recipe was use balsamic instead of pomegranate juice. Nigella mentioned on the show that you could use that as an alternative.
Filed under: Dessert / Baked Goods, RECIPES | Tagged: cream, dessert, eton mess, food, meringue, nigella express, nigella lawson, RECIPES, strawberries | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 10, 2008 by bayareafoodie
For some reason Mike really wanted to cook some bone-in chicken breasts. The thought of a chicken dinner never makes me overly excited but if he’s cooking, I’m eating. I did my part by finding a recipe in my new go-to cookbook. The dish was entitled Zesty Braised Chicken with Lemon and Capers.
This chicken was fab-u-lous. The skin was crispy and the sauce buttery and tangy. It was so good I actually did a happy dance in my chair. It was really something special and on a Wednesday night…
Man, I am really lucky to have a husband that likes to cook.
Recipe link
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: bone-in chicken breast, Braised Chicken, Capers, food, Lemon, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 8, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Yes, that says Buffalo. How did we come about preparing such a unique kind of meat? Here is the scenario…
Setting – Whole Foods Meat Counter
Mike: “That london broil looks nice”
Me: “I think that’s buffalo”
Mike: “No, the meat above that is buffalo”
Me: “No, I’m pretty sure that is also buffalo”
Mike (to the butcher): “I’ll take that nice london broil”
Setting – Our Kitchen unpacking the groceries
Me (looking at the wrapped meat label): “I knew it was buffalo…”
So that’s how we ended up eating a weird cut of buffalo. Oddly after scouring epicurious and foodtv.com I couldn’t find that many preparation options for our broil. We ended up using a recipe I found on the Eating Well website. Because Buffalo is a super lean meat you have to cook it pretty rare to avoid making it tough. Mike as always did a bang up job grilling and everything turned out nice. The sauce was similar to a Greek tzatzikiz and went perfect with the meat and the bitter radicchio. I adore beets so those were the highlight of the dish for me. Although tasty I don’t think this will go on our list of things to make again.
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES, Side Dish | Tagged: buffalo, eating well, food, Grilled Buffalo Steak with Radicchio-Beet Skewers, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 7, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Every year we spend the 4th of July at home with our dog Edison. 
Our 105 lb black lab mix is deathly afraid of fireworks. Most of the evening he is cowering in our closet as our neighbors light off M-80’s loud enough to rock our foundation. This year in between consoling Mr. Ed we made S’mores. I decided I wanted to do something different so instead of a chocolate bar we used Nutella. I also toasted some coconut to toss on top because I like it. The Nutella was a brilliant substitution. Instead of the usual semi melted chunk of chocolate we had creamy chocolaty hazelnut. Give me S’more! I’ll never use a chocolate bar again…
Filed under: Dessert / Baked Goods, RECIPES | Tagged: dessert, food, nutella, Nutella Coconut S'mores, RECIPES, smore | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 4, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Mike bought a big, new, manly grill. It has a Rotisserie… we decided to take it for a spin.
Two hours and two birds later we had this…
Juicy, fall off the bone chicken. That grill was worth every penny!!
Recipes used:
We made one sweet and one savory. Huli Huli Hawaiian glaze and Lemon and Rosemary marinade (Warning: this stuff is potent — Mike’s hands after numerous washes smelled like garlic for 24 hours).
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: bbq, food, Huli Huli Hawaiian glaze, Lemon and Rosemary marinade, RECIPES, rotisserie chicken | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 2, 2008 by bayareafoodie
I finally attempted to make Eggs Benedict at home. I have been traveling to all kinds of breakfast cafes trying to find the Best Benedict of the Bay when I thought “Hey, I can do this.” So I decided on a ham AND bacon benedict smothered in, of course, Béarnaise. For a first try at pouched eggs I was pretty impressed with the creation Mike and I concocted. Our eggs were a little less runny than I would have liked but other than that it was pure heaven. Now all I need to do is work up a mean potato side dish and I could be in the running.
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: bearnaise, breakfast, eggs benedict, food, pouched egg, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 21, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Mike and I took our dog Edison to Mendocino for a long weekend. We rented a beautiful house on the coast with Mike’s cousin John and his wife Raquel.
John and Raquel are wonderful cooks. On our first night they prepared a foodie feast. Here was the menu:
Cesar salad with giant crouton 
Grilled Flank Steak with sauteed Portabella and Cremini mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes. They found the recipe on epicurious. The steak was marinated in a soy mixture and grilled to perfection. The mushrooms were combined with a hefty amount of balsamic so they had a peppery kick. Everything turned out delicious.
You would think that the meal was complete but NO… there was more. Raquel had made a Tomato and Cheese Tart the day before so we all had a slice of that too. I had not had anything like it before. For some reason I was expecting egg but all it contained was a light flaky crust with dijon mustard covered in Parmesan cheese and sliced tomatoes. It was finished off with a drizzle of garlic herb oil. Very unique and tasty.
After all that I was completely stuffed but then came dessert…. see deep dark chocolate cookie post.
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: epicurious, flank steak, food, Portabella and Cremini Mushrooms, RECIPES, tomato and cheese tart | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 21, 2008 by bayareafoodie
While in Mendocino Raquel made the deep dark chocolate cookies from the bon appetit June 2008 issue. Wow, these were sinful. They were great right out of the oven but I think I preferred eating the balls of dough. They tasted like dark chocolate truffles! Made without butter or flour you can pretend they are healthy.
Tasty tip: watch the oven closely or these bad boys will burn. Recipe link
Filed under: Dessert / Baked Goods, RECIPES | Tagged: bon appetit magazine, deep dark chocolate cookies, food, June 2008, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 15, 2008 by bayareafoodie
When I saw the special June Grilling issue of Gourmet magazine I was inspired to make the pulled pork sandwich gracing the cover. After I read that it takes 10 hours to prepare I decided to make my own version of a pork slider. Here is my creation:
PORK
Mike’s parents have a no-fail recipe for preparing pork tenderloin on the grill. It comes out perfect every time Mike makes it. First you marinate the meat in equal parts of vermouth, oil and soy. You can drop some fresh thyme leaves in if you have it. Marinate for at least an hour then remove, add salt and pepper and toss on the grill for 10 minutes a side. You may have to adjust the time depending on the size of the loin.
COLESLAW
I did use the recipe from the magazine for the coleslaw. I like my slaw a bit sweeter but other than that it turned out well. It actually tasted better the day after I made it.
Assembly: I took a couple slices of the pork and placed them on a soft roll then topped it with the slaw and a dollop of bbq sauce. Delish!
For a side dish I decided on a roasted corn and tomato salad by Emeril Lagasse. I found this recipe while cruising the Food network website. I r-e-a-l-l-y wanted to love this salad. I mean look at it, it’s gorgeous! Unfortunately, the taste didn’t live up to the beauty. It was bla. Maybe it was because I left out the jalapeno peppers. I didn’t want it to be spicy. 😳
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES, Side Dish | Tagged: bbq, coleslaw, corn salad, Emeril Lagasse, food, pork slider, pork tenderloin, RECIPES, roasted corn and tomato salad | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 9, 2008 by bayareafoodie
With summer comes homemade ice cream. Our ice cream machine is super easy to use. No ice or hand churning necessary…just set it and forget it.
This weekend Mike made Peanut butter ice cream to go with the Barefoot Contessa brownies I made. Chocolate and peanut butter is a classic combination. I found the ice cream recipe on a fellow food blog called Kitchen Chick. It turned out fantastic. This was the best ice cream we have made and we’ve made a lot! The flavor and consistency was perfect. The brownies also turned out terrific. They contained a chocolate triple threat (chocolate chips, melted chocolate and chocolate mix). These bad boys were flaky on top and ooey-gooey in the middle. Awesome summer treat!
Mix: Barefoot Contessa Brownie Mix
Tools: Cuisinart Ice Cream machine
More photos (click to enlarge):
Since this turned out so well I’m submitting it to the “You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Frozen Desserts!” Food Blog Event hosted by Mike’s Table (btw, not my Mike).
Filed under: Dessert / Baked Goods, RECIPES | Tagged: barefoot contessa, chocolate brownie, dessert, food, homemade ice cream, peanut butter ice cream, RECIPES | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 5, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Mike and I hosted a get together last Friday night. Since we both had to work during the day I came up with the idea to make a lasagna because we could make it in advance. I ended up using a recipe I found in the December 07 Food & Wine Magazine. It was a variation on a lasagna and looked really yummy. It consisted of penne pasta, a hearty amount of lamb and veal, some tomatoes and a creamy cheese sauce. It turned out really good. A small amount goes a long way with this dish. It’s very rich. We easily fed 9 people and still had leftovers for two more meals.
Minor modifications for next time would include more tomatoes and maybe some garlic. This was my first Italian dish without any garlic…
Photo gallery (Click to enlarge):
You can also find the recipe in the 2008 Food & Wine Annual Cookbook
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: food, food and wine magazine, Lasagna-Style Baked Pennette with Meat Sauce, pasta, recipe, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 4, 2008 by bayareafoodie
The mailman just delivered my 2008 Food & Wine Annual Cookbook. It includes all the recipes (670) that were in the magazine over the last 12 months, nicely organized and indexed. What a wonderful idea. Now I can toss out all those magazines I have lying around the house with the tagged pages. I absolutely hate having to shuffle through a bunch of magazines to find a recipe. Food & Wine probably has been doing this for years but this is the first time I saw and payed attention to the offer. It’s loaded with great recipes.
Get your copy here! It’s on Sale!
Filed under: REVIEWS OF PRODUCTS | Tagged: Food & Wine, Food & Wine Annual Cookbook 2008, magazine, RECIPES | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 28, 2008 by bayareafoodie
A couple times a year we have a wine & food night with friends. The evening consists of decadent food and many bottles of fantastic wine. This time Mike and I were assigned the salad course.
I attempted to make the Caprese Salad Mike and I ate at Enoteca San Marco last month. I had found an adaptation of the recipe online. I will admit I didn’t have time to make the pesto so I picked some up at Whole Foods. It was fresh and had the exact same ingredients the recipe called for but it was not as garlicky as I would have liked.
The 2 hour roasted tomatoes turned out well but didn’t have the same consistency as I remember at Enoteca. Enoteca looked and tasted more like stewed tomatoes.
Final verdict: No complaints from the foodies but I think I could do better.
You can find the original recipe in Mario’s cookbook:Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home
Filed under: RECIPES, Starters & Soups | Tagged: caprese salad, enoteca san marco, food, mario batali, mozzarella, pesto, recipe, RECIPES, salad, tomatoes, wine | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 24, 2008 by bayareafoodie
I have been watching Rachael Ray hammer out her 30 minute meals for the past 3 years and not once have I actually been motivated to try to recreate her dishes. That is until now…
Last weekend on an episode called “Believe in Bacon” she made American-Italian all’Amatriciana and for some reason I was moved. I went to the grocery, picked up the items I needed and set the clock for 30 minutes. I wanted to see if I could beat her time. I soon realized that she is a really fast chopper and she doesn’t follow all the steps that are listed on the recipe during her show. Looking at the instructions it takes 25 minutes just for the sauce to cook. That leaves me with 5 to organize, clean, chop and grab pots –IMPOSSIBLE. When I had finished it took me about 55 minutes. But it was worth it. Mike loved it and so did I. The pasta called for pepper bacon and fire roasted tomatoes so it was smokey and had a bit of heat. I was super surprised. Rachael knows her stuff.
Recipe link
By the way I didn’t use the cheddar. I stuck with Parm and I added chopped basil like she did on the show.
Rachael 30 minute meal cookbooks:
Classic 30 minute Meals
30 minute Meals
30 minute Meals 2
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: 30 minute meals, American-Italian all'Amatriciana, bacon, Believe in Bacon, fire roasted tomatoes, food, food network, pasta, Rachael Ray, RECIPES | 4 Comments »
Posted on April 17, 2008 by bayareafoodie
There is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G chocolate cream pie in the February 08 issue of Food and Wine magazine. It actually has you sieve the chocolate filling before you add to the crust. This process makes the pie extra silky and creamy. Since you can prepare this up to a day in advance it is great for when you are having guests over. This got me some rave reviews at our last dinner party.
By the way the whipped cream that goes along with this is scrumptious …I could of eaten a bowl of just cream! 😯
Recipe link
Get the magazine
Filed under: Dessert / Baked Goods, RECIPES | Tagged: chocolate cream pie, dessert, food, food and wine magazine, RECIPES, whipped cream | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 16, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Mike went and did it again. Another killer risotto — this time with veal, shiitaki mushrooms and asparagus tips. The recipe can be found in our favorite cookbook: Risotto. If you make this dish, add more veal and double the amount of asparagus. We chose to omit the cream and add Emmentaler cheese. Serve with a simple green salad, some crusty bread and a hearty Pinot. You will not be disappointed!
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: asparagus tips, food, RECIPES, risotto, shiitaki mushrooms, veal | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 7, 2008 by bayareafoodie
Mike and I finally broke out the pizza stone we got as an engagement gift (2 years ago!). We decided to make a vegetable pizza with whole wheat crust. I don’t know why we didn’t do this earlier. I loooove pizza. We have it at least 4 times a month. I actually worked at a pizza place for 2 years during high school so I’m no newbie to the art of pizza prep. To make things easy we purchased the dough pre-made from Trader Joe’s which is a nice alternative to making dough from scratch. To start things off we sauteed the onions, peppers and shrooms before putting them on the pizza to ensure the crust didn’t get soggy. Next we rolled, sauced, cheesed and assembled everything then baked the pizza for 10-12 minutes at 450 degrees. It turned out magnificent. The dough was perfect — using a pizza stone really makes a difference. The pizza seemed a lot healthier. There was no grease and the veggies were crisp. Next time we are going to try more exotic flavors and fresh herbs. This was a great test run… I have a feeling we will have a lot less pizza deliveries in the future.
Tasty Tip: Invest in a pizza stone if you want authentic pizza crust. We got ours from Sur La Table but you can also order online from Amazon
Pics of the process..
Continue reading →
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: food, homemade, pizza, pizza stone, RECIPES, trader joe's, whole wheat dough | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 25, 2008 by bayareafoodie
We finally made a one pot meal. The Feb 2008 issue of Sunset magazine titled “slow-cooked comfort” had a recipe for Smokey Beef Stew.
The preparation was fairly easy and it was all done in a single pot. I love that! The main ingredients included a 4lb beef chuck, smoked bacon, potatoes, onions, carrots, chipotle chile powder, smoked paprika and TWO full bottles of dry red wine. After 4 hours we had ourselves a delicious dinner for 8 (Yes, we had guests coming over!). It was garnished with chives and blue cheese.
The finished product was very hearty and had a spicy kick but the blue cheese helped tame the heat.
Continue reading →
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: beef stew, food, one pot meal, pot roast, RECIPES, sunset magazine | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 18, 2008 by bayareafoodie
If you ever get an invite to our house for risotto don’t pass it up! Mike is a risotto master. It doesn’t matter what kind he makes it always turns out fabulous. It is so good that I can’t order risotto in restaurants because they can never compare. For this special day he decided to make Lobster Risotto. It was his first attempt at preparing anything with lobster and he did a wonderful job. He chose this variety because he knows I am a lobster fanatic. My family lived in Massachusetts for many years so I have been eating lobster since I was young. Below are some pics of the fruits of his labor…
Mike started things off by making his own lobster stock which infused the rice with even more yummy lobster flavor. The final dish was silky and luscious. You can’t celebrate a special occasion at our house without a bottle of Joseph Phelps wine. This evening Mike chose a 2004 Chardonnay called Ovation which is what I gave him after I finished my 3rd helping of risotto!
Mike’s risotto cookbook of choice is by Judith Barrett and Norma Wasserman. It’s a winner. Purchase it here: Risotto
Filed under: Main Dish, RECIPES | Tagged: food, lobster, recipe, RECIPES, risotto | 3 Comments »
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