Why I do this...

I am a big Project Runway fan. I didn't catch on to the series until the 4th season but once I did...I was hooked. Not long after I started watching PR, I can across the amazing Project Rungay blog (now called simply Tom and Lorenzo). Tom and Lorenzo are an absolute joy to read before and after each episode as well as keeping you entertained with anything and everything related to fashion during the sometimes long (extremely long at times) wait between each season. I'm normally not that into fashion in general but because of PR and Tom & Lorenzo...let's just say I'm not as uninterested as I used to be.

During a recent browse of the blog, I came across an entry they did about Julie & Julia (which I loved by the way. Meryl Streep rocked it as Julia Child! And I really enjoyed the Julie Powell portion too!). While reading their thoughts and comments on the movie, this one bit caught my eye. I've been asked by friends and family why I blog. I've always just said something about how I like to cook and this challenges me to do it. And to try and improve my cooking. But it was really more than that. And T-Lo phrased it perfectly:

...and when you feel like you're drowning out in the real world, that blog becomes your lifeline and the people who read and support you become, in many ways, more important to you than even your friends and family. Because those wonderful strangers are demonstrating something that even your closest compatriots sometimes fail to: they believe in you.

While they are referring to the Julie portion of the story and why they liked it though the critics didn't seem to, it really clicks with how I feel about my blogging. I started this blog after devouring so many others. Some big, some small. Some with lots of comments, some with just a few. I looked at what they were doing and thought I could do this. But more importantly...I want to do this. It gave me something to look forward to everyday. Especially on those days when the real world just plain...sucks.

Even though in no way do I believe that I am anywhere on par with the level of Julie Powell and Tom & Lorenzo, it is the same feeling for me. Whether you have one 'fan' or thousands, you know people out there understand you and why you are doing this. They believe in you and what you do. It doesn't matter on the size of your blog. To know that even just one person out there likes what you did or said, wants to comment on it AND wants you to do it again...that is one of the best feelings in the world.

Chickpea and Tuna Salad

I was craving a good tuna salad for lunch one day but I wasn't in the mood for a typically mayonnaise based version. I also wanted to incorporate some of the chickpeas that I had made a few weeks ago. After a quick Google search, I found many recipes that used olive oil instead of mayo. I settled on a recipe at Kaly'ns Kitchen that was a garbanzo bean salad. It wasn't quite what I was looking for (no tuna) so I made a few changes based on what was in my pantry as well as adding in the tuna to create the recipe I was craving.

I am pretty sure this is my favorite tuna salad. Ever. I love a mayo tuna salad but at times the mayo is just too much. And kinda of blah. This salad is fresh and bursting with flavor. The balsamic was the surprise hit. It added a slightly acidic sweet punch that you got immediately on the first bite but it didn't overwhelm the rest of the ingredients.

Another ingredient that I loved was the addition of the Lawry's seasoning salt. I grew up with my mom adding that to a lot of our meals. I've always enjoyed the flavor and when I opened the pantry and saw the bottle, I thought it would be a great addition. And it definitely was! A little salty, smokey, and a tiny hint of garlic. A wonderful compliment to the balsamic and olive oil not to mention the chickpeas and tuna.

Olive oil will feature in many, many more tuna (and even chicken) salads that I make in the future. I love olive oil and can't believe I never thought to add it to this type of food before! After my search, I can see I am not alone in the olive oil/tuna salad love.

What really made this a perfect lunch for me was putting the salad on a piece of homemade bread drizzled with olive oil and then toasted. A perfect open faced sandwich. The real star is the tuna salad and just serving on one piece of bread is a great way to showcase that. A traditional two piece bread sandwich would be too much. Of course, you could also serve this using another type of bread. A pita would be a great way to serve the salad. Using lettuce leaves would be another alternative. Or you could even serve it alone with crackers.

Chickpea and Tuna Salad

Inspired by Garbanzo Salad w/Olives and Herbs by Kalyn's Kitchen

1 cup chickpeas
1 can tuna
1 T balsamic vinegar
4 T olive oil
1 tsp lawry's seasoning salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Mix all ingredients except tuna. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add in tuna and mix well. Allow flavors to mingle in the fridge. Excellent cold or at room temperature. Serve on bread drizzled with oil olive and toasted for a delicious open faced sandwich.

Serves 2 generous portions

TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

Our host, Karen of Something Sweet by Karen, choose Applesauce Spice Bars. The recipe for this week reminded me of fall so much. How could it not? We had apples, applesauce, and allspice. Even though it is still summer in Dallas, I was eager to start eating from the foods I associate with fall. It is after all my favorite season!

I loved how quickly these were to mix and get to the oven. You do everything on the stove top so there is little need to dirty a ton of dishes. I go through too many dirty dishes as it is, cutting back is always a plus!

I left off the icing because Dorie doesn't recommend freezing the bars with it. Instead, I topped them with extra pecans. With just me, even half of a batch is too much, so most of them will end up frozen. And being slightly selfish, I didn't want to share these goodies with the guys at work!

Another small change I made was to use dark brown sugar instead of the light. I prefer the flavor of the dark over the brown and I also tend to keep that in the cabinets more often. I also used dried cranberries because I had those in the cabinet as well. And the apple/cranberry combination is simply a classic.

Despite it still being firmly a (hot hot!) Texas summer at the moment, these bars were a delightful taste of fall. They were bursting with fruit and nuts and were very moist. Once we get closer to fall, I look forward to bringing these out to wow friends and family. In fact, I think these would be perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Of course, the icing will definitely be on then! You can't have the holidays with out it!

I am currently camera less (common on Fuji! release my new camera!!) so we have another iPhone picture again.

You can find the recipe at Something Sweet by Karen. To see more Applesauce Spice Bars, check out the TWD blogroll here!

Sour Skon

I love oatmeal. While some may only be able to eat it for a short time before getting tired of it, I rarely find myself in that boat. One year, my mom gave me a huge bag of various flavors for Christmas. Seriously...I like oatmeal that much. My favorite variety is maple and brown sugar with apple cinnamon being a close second followed by cinnamon raisin. I usually only have time for instant but nothing is better than a bowl of homemade.

When I saw this Sour Skon recipe at my Adopt a Blogger Mom's blog, My Kitchen in Half Cups, I knew it was in my baking future. Not only did it look simple, it was made with oatmeal! I substituted the caraway seeds with cinnamon for a flavor more like my favorite oatmeals. And it smelled amazing in the oven!

Like my favorite bowl of oatmeal, I was quite pleased with the sour skon. With a little pat of butter when they were warm....delicious! They were very filling. I took one in to work everyday and was perfectly content until lunch rolled around.

They were not quite as sweet as I normally would have like but that is easily remedied next time by adding a little more sugar. Perhaps a little brown sugar sprinkled on top. Next time I would add another teaspoon of the cinnamon to boost that flavor. I would also like to try adding dried fruit. Raisins, cranberries, and apples would be a perfect addition. Oh...maybe sweetened with maple syrup...or honey...or...the possibilities are endless!

Sour Skon
Adapted from Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads via My Kitchen in Half Cups

1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed caraway seeds (I substituted 1 tsp cinnamon, next time I would use 2 tsp)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (I used all purpose)

Mix oatmeal and buttermilk together. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days, stirring once a day.

Baking Day:
Stir oatmeal buttermilk mix. Stir together dry ingredients and pour the oatmeal buttermilk into the dry ingredients. Mix just until the flour is absorbed. Dough will be very firm and thick.

Pat the dough into a round disk about 8 inches and less than an inch thick. I used a round cake pan, you could do it on a cookie sheet. Score the dough into 8 wedge-shaped pie pieces (unless you are me and forget this step).

Bake at 425° for about 30 minutes. Cake tester (tooth pick) should come out clean & dry when done. Break along the scored lines to serve.

Daring Cooks: August 2009

This month's selection for the Daring Cooks was Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish, and artichokes. Our host was Olga of Olga's Recipes. Anything with rice is usually a hit with me and Spanish recipes are always of interest. To have them combined in one dish for the challenge? Perfect!

I wasn't so eager when I saw cuttlefish was one of the ingredients. I am not a fan of squid or octupus like creatures. Especially when it comes to eating. Thankfully, we were allowed to substitute that ingredient with another of our choosing. To keep with the seafood aspect of the dish, I went with shrimp. Because my local grocery store only seems to have long grain or medium grain rice, I went with arborio rice since it is a short grain rice.

I attempted to make the allioli (which was optional) because it sounded very tasty. Unfortunately, I don't have a mortar and pestle so the mushing of the garlic and adding of olive oil did not go so well. I ended up with smashed garlic in olive oil. I went ahead and drizzled it over top of the rice. While it may not have looked like allioli, it sure tasted great and added another level of flavor to the dish.

I was worried that some of the flavors would be overwhelming (mainly the sofregit) but they actually melded together very well. The rice was creamy, the artichokes delicious, and the seasonings perfect. I made half of a recipe and still had 4 large portions. It made a great lunch to take to work. It wasn't to heavy for the midday meal yet left me perfectly full.

I will definitely be making this again. Perhaps with a different protein. The shrimp was nice but I had to use precooked frozen and they weren't that impressive compared to the rest of the dish. This would be an excellent dish using all vegetables instead. Zucchini would be a great addition.

Note to self: next time, take the tails of the shrimp. It was a pain to do it when eating.

Also...I love artichokes. Eat them more often. They are (in the words of my middle school years) the bomb.

For more of this month's Daring Cooks Challenge, check out the DC blogroll here!

Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Equipment:

1 Chopping Board
1 knife
1 medium saucepan
1 Paella pan (30 cm/11” is enough for 4 people. If not available, you may use a simple pan that size)
1 Saucepan
Ingredients (serves 4):

4 Artichokes (you can use canned or frozen if fresh are not available)
12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello)
1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
1 glass of white wine
2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh) I used shrimp
“Sofregit” (see recipe below)
300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about 75 gr per person ( ½ cup per person) Please read this for more info on suitable rices.
Water or Fish Stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)
Allioli (olive oil and garlic sauce, similar to mayonnaise sauce) - optional

Directions:

• Cut the cuttlefish in little strips.
• Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan.
• If you use fresh artichokes, clean them as shown in the video in tip #7. Cut artichokes in eights.
• Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths.
• Add a bay leaf to the cuttlefish and add also the artichokes and the mushrooms.
• Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.
• Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed, getting a more flavorful dish.
• Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.
• Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
• Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.
• Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.
• Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)
• Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Sofregit

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1 Bay leaf
Salt
Touch of ground cumin
Touch of dried oregano
Directions:

• Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.
• Taste and salt if necessary.

Allioli (Traditional recipe)
Cooking time: 20 min aprox.
Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
Pinch of salt
Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)
Directions:

• Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.
• Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)
• Add the lemon juice to the garlic.
• Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.
• Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.
• Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

José's tips for traditional recipe: It's hard to think that, when you start crushing the garlic, it will ever turn into something as dense and smooth as allioli. But don't give up. It's worth the extra time and effort to see the oil and garlic come together before your eyes. Just make sure you're adding the olive oil slowly, drop by drop. Keep moving the pestle around the mortar in a circular motion and keep dreaming of the thick, creamy sauce at the end of it all.

Allioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes
Ingredients:

1 small egg
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
Salt to taste
Directions:

• Break the egg into a mixing bowl.
• Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.
• Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
• Little by little, add what's left of the olive oil as you continue blending.
• If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
• Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.
• The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.
• Add salt to taste.

José's tips for modern recipe:
(1) If you do not have access to a hand blender, you can use a hand mixer (the kind with the two beaters) or a food processor. If you use a food processor, you must double the recipe or the amount will be too little for the blades to catch and emulsify.
(2) What happens if the oil and egg separate? Don't throw it out. You can do two things. One is to whisk it and use it as a side sauce for a fish or vegetable. But if you want to rescue the allioli, take 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water in another beaker and start adding to the mix little by little. Blend it again until you create the creamy sauce you wanted.

TWD: Brownie Buttons

The recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was thankfully very easy to make. And I didn't have to worry about a huge batch of something being made or having to cut down the recipe. Dorie says that you will get 16 brownie buttons but I actually got 24. Some were a little on the small side but I certainly didn't feel bad if I had an extra one!

Instead of the optional orange zest, I went with the playing around suggestion of lemon. omg...delicious! You didn't get a punch of lemon, just a subtle hint at the end of a bite. I left off the white chocolate topping this time. I wanted more of a quick snackable button and the white chocolate would tip the guilt factor to a dessert level!

iPhone picture again. Not bad.

These were a perfect after dinner snack. Not too much to make you feel guilty, but enough that you were satisfied. Perfectly chocolatey for this admitted non super chocolate fan. Definitely a make again for me!

Thanks to Jayma at Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen for the pick this week! You can find the recipe at Jayma's blog . For more Brownie Buttons, check out the TWD Blogroll!

Sorry for the short post this week! 12 hour days at work stink!

Asparagus Risotto with Poached Egg

Since I made my first risotto over a year ago, I've been a bit obsessed. I fell in love with the creamy goodness of the dish and look for any recipes that give me an excuse to make more. It may not be the quickest of dishes but neither is it as terribly time consuming as some would have you think. On average, I've found that I can go from turning on the stove to dishing up the risotto in about 20-25 minutes depending on what goes into the recipe besides the rice. A less than 30 minute meal...Rachael Ray would be proud.

There is no need to stand over the hot stove constantly stirring either. Yes, you need to stir on each addition of liquid. Maybe an extra stir here and there. But to stand there stirring constantly? Um...no. Definitely not me. There are so many other things I could be doing instead. The first time I made risotto I did that and each subsequent time I didn't. There was really no noticeable difference between them. Was it creamy? Yes. Was the rice cooked through? uh huh. Was all of the liquid absorbed? Yep. Was it mouthwateringly delicious? Oh yea. Did I have to stand there and absorb all the heat? heck no!

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. I can eat it just about anyway you fix it. We didn't eat it a lot when I was at home because my dad was not a fan. My mom and I were, so occasionally we would sneak some into a meal. Since we were the only ones that ate asparagus, there was plenty to go around! I made this asparagus risotto a few months ago and let it linger on flickr for awhile. I noticed it a few days ago and decided it was time to post it!

I found the recipe on the Delicious Days blog. I tweaked it a little bit to my tastes and also halved the recipe. A normal full sized recipe usually makes twice the servings for little ol' me. So even though this would probably feed 1-2 regular people, I got at least 3 servings out of half. The original recipe was also in grams so I used an online converter to switch over to cups and such. Sorry if anything looks off! The proportions worked for me!

This was absolutely delicious! I loved the mixture of the creamy yolk and the creamy risotto. It was out of this world good. Poached eggs are another obsession of mine and I can't believe I never thought to add one to a risotto before! They are a perfect combination. The asparagus was a great partner to the risotto and poached egg. Fresh and still slightly crisp after poaching. It also added a lovely spot of bright green to the dish.

Asparagus Risotto with Poached Egg
(serves 2-3)

Recipe adapted from: Delicious Days

Ingredients
1 cup green asparagus
1 1/2 - 2 cups chicken stock
1 egg per person
3 T butter
1/2 large shallot, finely chopped
1/2 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup Parmesan (I like mine extra cheesy!)
salt & pepper
parsley

Directions

Blanch the asparagus in boiling, lightly salted water for about 5 minutes, transfer to a bowl with ice water, then drain and cut it into small pieces. Set aside.

To poach the eggs, use a pan that is at least 3 inches deep so there is enough water to cover the eggs. Bring water to a boil, add a tablespoon of vinegar (the vinegar should help the egg to keep its shape) and stir briefly to create a "whirlpool". Slip egg carefully into its center and simmer for about 3-4 minutes depending on the size of the egg (I go for 2:30 to 3 minutes usually. I like my yolk really runny). Remove from water with slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl with warm water. Repeat process with the other egg(s).

Add the shallot and half of the butter to a sauce pan and sautée for about 5-6 minutes until soft and translucent. Add rice and stir over medium heat to coat the grains with the butter.

Add a ladle of the warm broth and stir gently until almost all of the broth is absorbed. Add broth a ladle full at a time when the rice starts to look a little dry, stirring occasionally. Continue for about 15-20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and creamy (Mine was done at about 15). Stir in the grated Parmesan, parsley, remaining butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Gently stir in the asparagus, allow the risotto to rest for a minute or two. Top with poached egg and enjoy!

Recipes to Rival: Bruschetta and Limoncello

The July challenge for Recipes to Rival was an interesting one for me. We have an antipasta (appetizer) and digestivo (after dinner drink). The first part of the challenge was bruschetta which I had made before and the second was limoncello. I am not a big drinker of alcohol so I was at first not too excited about that part of the challenge. But...making my own liquor started to sound very interesting. And from there I started to wonder what all I could use limoncello for....cakes, muffins, etc. Lots of possibilities!

Overall, neither part of the challenge was terribly hard or time consuming. The limoncello was not something you could whip up in a weekend however, so I actually got started fairly early this time. Because the grain alcohol need to sit with the lemon peel for a week, I figured it would be a good idea to not wait until the last minute for once!

The bruschetta was delicious as I expected. I loved the garlic rubbed on the hot bread. And the olive oil, salt, tomato combo has to be one of my favorite flavors ever. The only thing missing was the basil. I forgot to pick some up from the store and unfortunately...the basil I planted died. A combination of Texas heat + me forgetting to water will do that to a plant. To make my bruschetta even more delicious, I decided to make a homemade loaf of french bread. Thanks to my (somewhat ancient) bread machine, I haven't had to buy bread in months!

Even though I was excited to make the limoncello, I didn't expect to like it. I thought the alcohol taste would be too much for me. By itself, the limoncello was strong but not too bad. I doubt I drink it alone but I am sure I will be using it in baked and savory goods a lot. I made limoncello pasta one night last week and it was soooo tasty! I didn't get a good picture of it so I'll have to make it again soon.

I ended up with a ton of limoncello! I made the full recipe and had 1 full liter with 6 cups leftover. My Mom is a fan of limoncello so she'll be getting some as soon as I make a trip to visit!

Thanks to our host, Lauren of Fried Pickles and Ice Cream, for the interesting and fun challenge! You can see more bruschetta and limoncello here at the R2R blogroll!

Oh! A great use of all that lemon juice you have leftover after peeling the lemons...lemonade! I made a tasty batch based off of this one from Simply Recipes. I added a cup of sliced frozen strawberries and then blended. Delicioso!

Bruschetta
(4 servings)

4 slices Rustic Bread
2 cups chopped Roma Tomatoes
1 clove Garlic
4 to 8 leaves Basil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea salt

-Heat grill or grill pan to medium high heat
-Slice THICK pieces of bread
-Place bread on grill until each side has a nice golden color

-Rub garlic on top side of each bread piece
-Pile tomatoes on
-sprinkle one big pinch of salt per piece on top of the tomatoes
-generously drizzle oilve oil on top of tomatoes (about 2 to 3 tablespoons per piece)
-add basil to the top

Limoncello

1 liter grain alcohol
5 1/2 cups water
5 large lemons (or 10 small lemons)
2 1/2 cups sugar

-Gently wash lemons in cool water to remove any dirt
-Peel away zest from lemon leaving as little pith (the white stiff) as possible.
-Put peels in a large sealed jar or container (I reused the alcohol bottle)
-Pour alcohol over peels and place container in a cool place.
-Leave the mixture for 7 days.
-Every day give the container a little swirl. You will see the alcohol become darker and darker every day.

-After 7 days, strain the alcohol by using a coffee filter.
-Prepare the simple syrup. Bring the water to a boil and add the sugar to dissolve.
-Mix the syrup with the alcohol. BE CAREFUL... DO NOT DO THIS NEAR A FLAME!!!
-Pour the limoncello into bottles or containers. Let cool completely. Store in the freezer until ready to serve!

*Date your limoncello. After a year it will no longer be delicious.