While I generally like adhering to the "everything in moderation" rule, I have some difficulty sticking to that adage, especially this time of year. After a dismal winter of less than exciting produce, almost everything is back with full force (save for tomatoes and a few other late summer staples), and there are a few items that I just can't go with out purchasing. While I've all but OD'd on asparagus, strawberries seem to still be going strong as far as my craving meter is concerned. I can't pass the farmer's market without picking up a pint, even though I don't have much use for them other than for straight snacking. I don't bake, so I'm not whipping up pies or strawberry shortcake, and I'm not melting them down or making jam. So what else is there to do with these little guys that makes me love them so much? Butter!
Strawberry butter is just as wonderful because of its taste as it is because of how easy it is to make. If you've ever made a compound butter before, than you know that it involves nothing more than giving butter and its flavor companions a quick whip around the food processor to combine. In this case, you'll have to hull the strawberries if they're fresh (and this time of year, why shouldn't they be?), and give them a rough chop to get everything going, but that's about it as far as work is concerned. The rest is done by the food processor, and all that's left to do is scoop it out into a bowl or ramekin. If you're not ready to use it all, don't worry: it freezes just like any other butter from the grocery story. You can even mold it into stick form inside a sheet of cling wrap and let it hibernate until you're ready to use it again.
And what can you use it on? Well, more than you'd think. Pancakes and waffles are an obvious (albeit delicious) choice, but breakfast isn't the only friend to strawberry butter. I happen to enjoy mine on a nice crusty piece of ciabatta bread, with sliced brie or manchego and a little arugula. Throw a few apples in there, maybe some tapenade as well and you've got a mighty fine, full flavored sandwich. Roasting a chicken anytime soon? Throw some under the skin, onto the skin, and toss a few lemons in the cavity. You'll get a crunchy, slightly sweet skin that pairs very well with a pine nut and sultana studded couscous. And speaking of couscous, toss some strawberry butter in instead of olive oil or plain butter the next time you whip up a batch. You can even toss in some pomegranate seeds or clementine for some salty/sweet fruity goodness. Ultimately, even if you just use it as a topping for pancakes or waffles, it's more than worth the 10 minutes of effort it takes to make. Trust me, before you know, you'll be coming up with 101 wacky uses for it just like I do. A recent favorite is adding in herbs, like basil or even thyme, which goes so well with honey.
I like sweetening mine with honey instead of sugar for several reasons, including that it's one less place I'm using sugar or artificial sweeteners, it helps with caramelizing when I use it for a rub (like on chicken), not to mention that I just like the extra dimension of flavor that it brings to the party. Feel free to leave it out if you're using it for something quite savory. I decided to go French with mine for dinner last night and slathered it on some warm bread with a thick, sticky drizzle of nutella. It was a bit decadent, but also a nice treat after a long day. Here's the recipe for the butter:
Strawberry-Honey Butter
1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter
1 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
pinch of salt
Start with all ingredients at room temperature and combine in a food processor. Pulse until combined. I like mine heavy on the strawberries, but if you want yours heavier on the butter, add another half a stick. Enjoy!
-Laura
Well folks, I'm back with a recipe and back in the kitchen. While my knees are still incredibly wonky, I just couldn't go another day without making a real home cooked meal for myself. In my continued effort to cook with new ingredients I brought home some nice grey sole fillets earlier in the week. Grey sole is in the same family as flounder, halibut, and turbot, all of which are flatfish. They're generally darker on their top side and lighter on the bottom, and known for having both eyes on one side of their body. Grey sole is the smallest of these fish and therefore has the most delicate flavor. It's also super lean and the fillets are fairly thin, so it's perfect for a quick and healthy meal. I couldn't wait to make them for the first time, especially since I love having fish on hand for quick meals (they also hold up really well in the freezer).
I had two recipe ideas floating around in my head that I was hoping to test this week. The first was a tart, citrus carpaccio, and the second was some kind of fish picatta in honor of last week's episode of Top Chef. As I tried to decide what I should make, it occurred to me that a picatta would be similar to the salmon dish I'd made recently, and I didn't have the right kind of fish for the carpaccio. So I decided to combine the two dishes into one new dish and see if it would fly. I started out by coating the fish in flour (not breadcrumbs, like our dear, confused friend on Top Chef), pan fried it, then created a butter, wine and caper sauce that incorporated some of the citrus elements of my carpaccio dish. I happen to really love tart and sour flavors so this was an excellent way to work them into yet another dish.
The dish turned out great, even better than I expected. I didn't want to go totally overboard with the lemon juice since the fish was quite delicate, so I added a bit of orange juice to the sauce, which added just the right amount of sweetness, while continuing the citrus theme. It balanced out the lemon and the capers and tied everything together perfectly, along with some fresh parsley and a few spring onions. I topped the whole thing off with lemon segments for that extra sour bite, and a few julienned spring onions for color. Hopefully I'll be fully able to stand and cook something a bit more complex in the coming days, but in the meantime, this dish is delicious and bright, and I think you'll really like it.
Citrus-Grey Sole with Capers
3-4 grey sole fillets
All purpose flour
2 Tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin)
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Juice of half a lemon
1 lemon, peeled and cut into segments
3 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp capers, drained (or rinsed if salt packed)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 tsp parsley
salt
pepper
1. Salt and pepper sole fillets and lightly dust with flour. Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat and cook fish until opaque, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove fish from pan and set aside.
2. Add wine, scrapping browned bits from bottom of the pan. Give it a minute to reduce, then add the lemon and orange juice, butter, capers and spring onions. Cook together about 5 minutes, add the parsley, then taste for seasoning.
3. Spoon sauce over fillets and top with lemon segments. Enjoy!
-Laura
This weekend I executed a rescue mission. Unlike my last mission, where I feigned injury to get a friend out of an unfortunate first date, this mission involved saving food from an ugly and untimely demise. You see, despite my best attempts at overeating in the days before moving from my old apartment to my new one, there were still plenty of ingredients left in my fridge and freezer. Chicken, ground beef, frozen veggies and several expensive condiments were left stranded on the east side, just days from seeing the inside of the new tenants garbage can. Inspired by the action stars of my childhood (which all appear to be popular again), I set forth to rescue my food and veggies and cart them to my new home across town. While we're semi on topic, why were people always stranded or held captive in the jungle in the 80's? And why are they all involved in politics now? What's next, Senator Jean-Claude Van Damme?
Anyway, back to the food. My mission ended with a plop on the sofa after a few pulled muscles and a cab ride I couldn't afford. But, my new fridge (and I do mean new--no more 1970's appliances here!) was now stocked, as was my freezer. I was finally able to plan a few meals for the week ahead...or at least that's what I should have done. Instead, I went to a big fabulous Oscar party and schmoozed, while only occasionally leaving the snack table to see who'd won. So it's no surprise that as I awoke the next morning, it occurred to me that I'd probably be spending a fair amount of time standing in front of the fridge figuring out the night's dinner. Having not yet made my morning coffee, I stood with one foot on the other, in my pj's, staring at the contents of my fridge. Cold, tired, and terribly under caffeinated, I reached in with both hands, grabbing the two closest ingredients: chicken and spinach.
It was only after I'd gotten to work (and two cups of coffee into my day) that it occurred to me...I've never actually used those two ingredients in tandem. Throwing ideas around with Alyssa, my fellow home cook, it was suggested that I roll the chicken breast around the spinach, a method I'd never tried. A quick recipe search gave me a few ideas for the spinach stuffing, which included mushrooms (already about to die in my crisper), almonds, and the Spanish contribution to the recipe, chorizo (I had to sneak in pimentón and pork products somehow). I ended up veering from all of the recipes I'd found, but I did borrow the idea of using a compound butter to keep the thin chicken breast moist as it roasted in the oven. The dish turned out great, and I even made a quick pan sauce while the chicken rested. So in the end, despite all of the exhaustion and strained muscles, the rescue mission was worth the effort. Now if I could only find someone to rescue me from all these dishes... Chuck? Arnold? Anyone?
Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken with Chorizo
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
1 1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed, excess liquid drained
2 cups mushrooms, chopped (I used shiitake and oyster, but anything will do)
1/2 cup chorizo, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbsp butter
Compound Butter
4 Tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flake
2 tsp parsley
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all of the ingredients of the compound butter until well incorporated.
2. Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter mixture in a skillet. Add the mushrooms and sauté until tender. Add the chorizo and sauté another minute. In a small bowl, set aside a tablespoon of the mushroom and chorizo mixture.
3. Add spinach to skillet and cook until warmed through. Set aside.
4. Take half of the remaining butter mixture and spread onto one side of each chicken breast. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the spinach filling onto each piece of chicken (buttered side) and roll to close. Place on a baking tray and top each rolled piece of chicken with the remaining butter mixture. Cook in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, warm the mushroom and chorizo mixture that was set aside in a skillet. Add the white wine and cook until reduced by 1/3. Remove from the heat and whisk in butter until combined.
6. Plate the chicken and drizzle with wine butter sauce. Enjoy!
-Laura
I generally don't make New Year's resolutions. I find them a bit limiting since you only get to make one a year, and it's usually a cop-out involving chocolate or the gym. Instead, I try to make several small concerted efforts as the year goes on so I don't allow myself the inevitable, "But I already gave up ______!" excuse. My most recent and most successful "concerted effort" began in the fall of last year, and was to try and cook for myself as often as possible. After a particularly sad period of time involving four days of rice and beans, however, it became clear that I needed to more concretely define the meaning of "cook for myself." I decided that every meal I made had to be one that I was proud of, and that the best way to enforce this plan would be to share it with the world, and thus, a food blog was born.
After several days of gathering scraps and eating out of cans while preparing for my move across town last week, I was reminded of last year's non-resolution. Although I gave myself some leeway the last few weeks regarding the quality of my homemade meals, it occurred to me that my newfangled resolution hasn't evolved since I put it into practice. Although I'm proud of everything that I've made in the past few months (including several truly terrible recipes), I must admit that I have managed to fall into a variety of culinary ruts. To remedy the situation, I've decided to add a caveat to my original goal by venturing into cooking with proteins and veggies that I for some reason have avoided in the past.
The addendum went into effect two days ago as I wandered through the aisles of my new neighborhood supermarket. To my surprise, the fishmonger had fresh, affordable pieces of salmon, cod and tilapia, all of which made their way into my cart, much to the chagrin of the lady in line behind me. The produce was amazing, plump and juicy, and not at all the charming shade of brown I was used to seeing in the produce aisle of my old supermarket. So I set aside two nice thick slabs of wild salmon for dinner and tried to come up with an uncomplicated recipe that would compliment the fish without masking it's lovely flavor. After flipping through a few books for inspiration I decided on a really simple preparation of white wine with lemon and butter. I usually make this type of sauce for a white fish, but the super clean and bright flavors worked really nicely with the salmon. The tartness of the lemon and white wine were a great compliment to the sweet, pink flesh of the salmon, and as an added bonus, it's all cooked in about 10 minutes in one skillet. With meals this easy, I may actually keep my resolution (from 2004) to always do the dishes after cooking. Maybe :)
Salmon with Lemon Butter and White Wine
2 pieces salmon
3/4 cup white wine
4 lemon slices
1/4 tsp ground sage
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
salt
cracked black pepper
parsley (for garnish)
1. Add 1/2 cup of wine to a large skillet with a lid. Season salmon with salt, pepper and sage, top with lemon slices and arrange fish in the skillet.
2. Bring wine to a boil, cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer until salmon is cooked to desired doneness (about 5 minutes for medium). Remove salmon from skillet and set aside.
3. Add remaining 1/4 cup of wine to the skillet and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and remove from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the salmon. Garnish with chopped parsley. Enjoy!
-Laura
Even before making no knead bread, I longed to make my own butter. Butter, like cheese, and often times bread, is one of those things that we think of as an existing entity. We don't consider where it comes from really, or how it's made, so we take it at face value and just buy it. Well, that was my thought anyway, until I finished reading up on how butter and certain cheeses are made, and the ease with which one can make them at home. It turns out that to make butter, you only need one ingredient and 15 minutes. That's it.! So, having already made bread early Saturday morning, I decided to spend the evening making butter.
I started out with my single ingredient, a pint of heavy cream, poured into a large bowl. Not being one of the fortunate people that has a Kitchen Aid or a stand mixer, I whipped out my electric hand mixer and went to town on the heavy cream. Slowly, as air tore through the cream it began to grow and puff until it eventually became a lovely cloud of whipped cream. After scooping out a few fingerfulls of whipped cream for myself (I deserved a snack!), I continued to whip the cream past the whipped cream stage. It eventually began to fall and become wet. This looks bad, but is actually a good thing. The cream solids and the liquids are separating, which when finished leaves us with butter (the solids) and buttermilk (the liquids).
After about 15 minutes total, I was almost finished. All I had left was to strain off all of the excess buttermilk, which I did in a sieve, carefully pushing down on the butter so all of the liquid would work it's way out. And that's it! I scooped it into a ramekin, and put it in the fridge to harden just a bit. Although I snacked on some of my no knead bread with my new yummy butter before bed, what I was really excited about was the next morning's breakfast.
I've always loved coffee and as a kid did whatever I could to imbibe this delicious ebony treat. My mom would let me have a cafe con leche for breakfast on weekends, and would usually watch as I made it to ensure that it was as light and watered down as possible. It started with instant decaf, but eventually I progressed to big girl coffee just like my mom. I would only agree to eating breakfast if it came with coffee, so my mom obliged and handed me a big mug of caramel colored coffee to go with my buttered toast. She told me how as a kid she loved dipping her buttered toast in her coffee and that I should try it for myself. I thought that sounded weird but I tried it anyway and a new favorite breakfast was born.
So naturally, having made fresh bread and fresh butter, I had to recreate this dish come Sunday morning. It was just as good as I remembered and urge you all to try it. It's just like dunking a cookie or a cake, only the butter is on the outside and leaves a lovely sheen to your coffee. Trust me, it'll be the best toast and the best cup of coffee you've ever had. Here's how to make your very own butter at home:
Fresh Butter
1 pint heavy cream
salt (optional)
1. Put on an apron (you'll see why later). Pour cream into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and start mixing at medium high speed (with an electric mixer).
2. The cream should quadruple in size and eventually become whipped cream. Continue whipping until it begins to fall again and turn light yellow.
3. When the solids and liquid begin to separate, you're almost done. It should start looking like butter and buttermilk now, and once the buttermilk starts to splash (fairly violently) out of the bowl, stop mixing.
4. Pour the mixture into a mesh strainer (over a bowl if you'd like to keep the buttermilk, or over the sink to discard). Carefully squeeze all of the remaining liquid out of the butter and knead it into a rough ball. Add salt if you'd like, and you're done!
-Laura
