Sangria

We had a barbecue to celebrate Father's Day, and Alexis' birthday, and I made Sangria for the first time!  It was a huge hit, and I will definitely be doing it again.  I made a red and a white Sangria.  Definitely check out the recipe that I used!

For the best party sangria, you will need: 

• 1 Bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
• 1 Lemon cut into wedges
• 1 Orange cut into wedges 1 Lime cut into wedges2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Shots of gin or triple sec (I left this out)
• 1 Cup of raspberries or strawberries (may use thawed or frozen)
• 4 Cups ginger ale or club soda

Preparation:

Thinly slice all of the lemons, limes, and oranges, then give them a squeeze into the best pitcher you have, add the wine, and toss the fruit into the pitcher.  Add the sugar, and chill overnight.  Right before you serve add fresh strawberries, and the sparkling soda of your choice.  I am telling you, it is delicious!

 For the white Sangria you will need:

• 1 Bottle of white wine (Riesling, Albarino, Chablis, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 oranges (sliced)
• 1 lemon (sliced)
• 1 lime (sliced)
• 2 cups of strawberries
• 1/2 liter of ginger ale or club soda (ginger ale for those with a sweeter tooth!)

Just as before, slice up the fruit and give it a squeeze into the pitcher with the wine.  Stir in the sugar until dissolved, and chill over night.  Just before serving add the ginger ale or club soda, and voila!

There wasn't a drop of either Sangria left, it was a real hit!

Watercress Salad

Alright, this is a total no-brainer salad, and most of you have probably eaten it in restaurants (or maybe at home), but I am in love!

Ingredients:

• Watercress (1 bunch per person)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 lemon (per person)
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

Seriously, that is all.  Chop the stalks off of the watercress, which is a wonderful and peppery little green, drizzle a healthy amount of olive oil over the top.  Squeeze your lemons in with the greens, add salt and pepper to taste, and then toss.  I didn't add parmesan (remember, I gained twenty pounds?), but I have had it before with this salad, and it is orgasmic.  Make sure to get a quality cheese, and add some nice curls on top! Voila!  

Seriously delicious, and so refreshing for summer!

Shepherd's Pie With Cauliflower Puree

When I was younger my Uncle Charlie had a girlfriend, Sinead.  Sinead was from Ireland, shocker.  Her accent was beautiful, but as a kid, I hated her cooking.  I remember her cooking shepherd's pie, and I vividly recall refusing to eat it.  Meat + the word "pie" = SICK (to a kid in elementary school).

Now, I have a recipe for shepherd's pie that Camrann gave me, and it is permanently cataloged as a go-to recipe!

Ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion
1 lb ground beef (we have been using elk)
1 cup thawed frozen green beans
1 cup thawed frozen peas and carrots
3/4 cup beef stock
1 head of cauliflower
Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp thyme
1 Tbsp rosemary
 2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Cup grated cheddar cheese (this part is optional, depending on the desired calories)
Butter (also optional)

First things first, cut the green bits off of the cauliflower and cut it into chunks.  Plop the cauliflower into salted, boiling water until it is tender.  Drain the cauliflower and put it into a blender.  While the cauliflower is cooling, dice and saute the medium onion in some olive oil.  Add salt and pepper,your two diced cloves of garlic, and the rosemary and thyme.  Once the onions are translucent, add your meat and brown it up (this should be quick). 

Next, add both cups of thawed veggies and cook for about five minutes.  To thicken up the meat mixture, I add the 3/4 cup of stock and the 1 Tbsp of flour together into a Pyrex measuring cup, and whisk it together.  Once the two are mixed, stir it into the meat and let it simmer for five minutes.  The flour helps bind the pie contents, and if you add it dry, it turns into lumps.

While the flour is working its magic, add salt, pepper, a touch of olive oil, and the cream to your cauliflower.  Puree the cauliflower until it is the smooth.  The mixture should resemble mashed potatoes.

Remove the meat mixture from the stovetop and spoon it into a 9"x9" pan, then spread the cauliflower puree over the top.  Here is where the recipe changes based upon your diet.  Sometimes I sprinkle one cup of cheese on top of the puree, and other times I just dot the top with little bits of butter. Pick one.  If you choose to leave both out, the dish tastes like it is missing something (trust me, I know).  Some people add paprika for color, I don't, though, I suspect it wouldn't hurt.

Put your pie into a preheated oven at 375F for 35-40 minutes.  Let the pie rest for about ten minutes when you pull it out of the oven, and serve!

Seriously, it is delicious!

Spaghetti Puttanesca

I have been watching Jamie Oliver's show, "Oliver Twist" lately, and last night on my way home from the gym I was inspired to try one of his simple pasta dishes.  I love to cook, and the flavors that he uses just seem so perfect.  I had to give his quick spaghetti puttanesca a try:

Ingredients (slightly modified to my taste):

• 1 pound (455 grams) dried spaghetti, the best you can get
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I used three)
• 1 handful capers, drained
• 2 handfuls big black olives, pitted
• 12 anchovy fillets
• Crushed red pepper flake, to taste
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cans of whole tomatoes
• 2 good handfuls of fresh basil
• Freshly ground black pepper

(These are the instructions that I have written for the sake of clarity.)  To start let the garlic brown just a tad in some extra virgin olive oil, but be careful, if you let garlic burn it turns horribly bitter.  Drain your olives, capers, and anchovies-then toss them in the pan.  Next comes the oregano, chilies, and pepper.  Let that cook on medium heat for just a few minutes, and then add both cans of tomatoes, give it a stir, and let it simmer on low-medium heat for about ten minutes.  You shouldn't need to add salt, the ingredients used in the dish are salty enough.  The anchovies are beautiful, they melt in the pan and create a beautiful sticky feel to all of the ingredients.  Mmmmmm!

To cook the spaghetti, make sure you have a big pot, and add a healthy pinch or two of salt to the water.  Let your pasta cook until it is "al dente," which means "to the teeth" (roughly).  Pasta cooks after you pull it off the heat, and if your spaghetti still has a little bite to it when you test it, it will be perfect on the plate.  Make sure you don't rinse your pasta, and leave just a bit of water in the pot.  Drizzle some good extra virgin olive oil in the spaghetti (not the stuff you cook with), and add the two handfuls of basil (give it a tear before you add it).   Toss the spaghetti and the sauce, then serve.

This dish took about fifteen minutes, and it was a huge hit in our house.  My only complaint was that it didn't have any meat in it!  I'm thinking of cooking up some Italian sausage on the side next time, I'll have to let you know how that goes!

According to Jamie Oliver, don't use parmesan, but the contributors to "Olive Juice" did.

Delicious!

Apparently this blog is going to contain random recipes, just go with it...
I love chicken, and I'm trying to eat healthier, so I went to foodnetwork.com and stole this recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
• Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.





Harmons sells whole chickens, sans giblets and innards, for about ten bucks! This dinner is cheap and delicious. The best part is, once the chicken is roasting, you can read a book!

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Cheesecake

For those of you that don't know, I am a pumpkin fanatic; I adore all things pumpkin, including savory dishes. I wanted to try my hand at combining cheesecake and pumpkin, and I had marginal success with a little recipe on the back of a Hershey's Kisses package. The kisses were pumpkin spice flavored, and the cheesecake was decent. In an effort to turn my baking experience around I decided to venture on over to the Food Network website, because I knew that my other cake could be outdone. The beautiful, gray haired-diva, Paula Deen, came to my palate's rescue with her recipe for pumpkin cheesecake. I don't bake worth a damn, and this cake was a success! It is so good, in fact, that I gave Rob Handley (my professor at Absolute) one of the cakes for his birthday. Try it, you won't regret it!

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.