Photo Friday- 2/19/2010

I've got a couple photos to share today. The first one I maybe should have shared on Wednesday, since it is what we had for dinner on Ptomaine Wednesday. You may recall that I failed to try a new recipe. I had a meeting of one sort or another and so Spencer cooked dinner. Since it was a big Olympic night- halfpipe and short track, we wanted something we could eat without paying too much attention to our plate- so knives and forks were out. He chose nachos. Uninspired? Hardly. I think that Spencer has been secretly inspired by my culinary endeavors. Here is a photo.
You will see that he used black beans instead of refried beans, even though we had refried beans in the pantry. And do you see the Iron Chef ingredient? That's right, corn. Those are Santa Fe Nachos.

My love of all things Olympic has me in front of the TV for hours on end in the evening. I am fascinated by the events, but I find it difficult to just sit and watch. I needed something to do with my hands. So I started this project, a crochet tote bag, and I fully intend to complete it during the closing ceremonies. Isn't it marvelous? I can't remember having more fun crocheting. I love the cables and bobbles. I have the front completed.

Ptomaine Wednesday- Turns out you can go wrong with bacon.

You may remember that last week my family was needing some comfort food. I decided that this week, I would try a venison recipe.
Because I love adventure, I typed "Venison Recipe" into google and here is the first hit I got- a recipe for Grilled Venison Backstrap.

This morning I pulled the white package marked "bs '09" out of the freezer. My husband was a merciful hunter this year, but one of his pals got a deer and an elk and was kind enough to give us six or seven pounds of meat.

When I butcher a deer, I package the backstrap in 6 or 7 inch "rolls", like pork loin, and that is the way I thought everyone did it. Not Spencer's buddy. When the meat was defrosted I found that it was in fact small slices of meat, like carne asada. This presented a small problem since the recipe calls for two inch chunks of meat, but I forged on, deciding to use two small pieces strapped together instead of one chunk.

The recipe also calls for the meat to be cooked on an outdoor grill. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard here this evening, so I broiled it.

I thought that my family would really really like small pieces of deer, marinated twice- once in barbecue sauce- and wrapped in bacon. They weren't all that impressed. I think my daughter liked it, or at least the bacon, but my husband didn't finish his.
We decided that this recipe was written by or for someone who doesn't want to taste their meat. The meat almost tasted candied, which is how I feel about anything with barbecue sauce on it.

Also, I really missed Rachael Ray telling me what to serve with the main dish. I went with mac and cheese and asparagus because that is what was easy.

Ptomaine Wednesday- My family is growing weary.

The thing about Ptomaine Wednesday is that ever since I started, I've been preparing new recipes almost every night, not just Wednesdays. Most have turned out really well, a few were just a little above average. We haven't had to call for pizza yet, but tonight my husband grumbled something about missing the old stand-bys. So I guess I will have to work those back in to the rotation. I suppose there is comfort in knowing that you will enjoy your meal. (He is taking Chantix to try to quit chewing tobacco so I am trying to be extra- accommodating and pleasant.)

This week, I have been focusing on Rachael Ray's lighter recipes. Last week, I made Israeli Spiced Chicken.
The rub for the chicken is similar to the Morroccan rub I made a few weeks ago, with ginger being the notable missing ingredient. The chicken turned out good, albeit powerfully flavored. The best thing about that meal was the zucchini cooked with mint. I would have never thought about cooking with mint... it is fantastic! The mint mellows when cooked, so it isn't like eating chewing gum.

Tonight, we had Zucchini-roni pizza and Asparagus and Plum tomato Pizza. (they are on the same page of the cookbook)

Rachael calls for store bought pizza dough, in order to come in under 30 minutes, I suppose. I did see bags of fresh pizza dough at Winco for $1.50, and I contemplated buying them for the sake of convenience, but I thought I might as well save three bucks and spend the extra 20 minutes to make my own dough. I am glad I did. I used this family recipe that my friend Kathleen posted on her facebook page last year, and generously gave me permission to share:

Osterman Family Pizza Crust
1 T dry active yeast
1 C water (a little warmer than body temperature)
1 t sugar
combine these ingredients and let the yeast work for about 10 minutes.

add when yeast combo is bubbly:
1 t salt
2 and 1/4 C flour, sifted

mix well;pour 1/8 C oil over top of dough; cover bowl and set on top of preheated oven; let dough rise for 20 or 30 minutes.

sprinkle pizza pans (or cookie sheet) with cornmeal. lightly cover hands with oil and spread crust thinly on the pan. top however you wish and bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.


The crust is to die for. The pizzas turned out great, although we all agreed that pesto on pizza, no matter how tasty it sounds, isn't that great. We all liked the pureed roasted red pepper sauce on the zucchini pizza, and we learned that we love fontina cheese.
Next week, I'm going to try a new recipe for the venison in the freezer.

Ptomaine Wednesday- E V O O edition

I've been really looking forward to making dinner tonight since I decided to try one of Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals. I have had her coo0kbook, 30 Minute Meals 2, for a couple years, but it has just been sitting in my cupboard with the rest of the cookbooks.

Over the weekend, I chose my meal. I do really like that she plans a whole meal for you. I chose:
Lamb chops with Mint and Mustard Dipping Sauce
Tomatoes stuffed with Tabouleh Salad
White Bean Salad with Thyme
Limoncello dessert

I guess I chose this meal because it would require some significant expansion of my family's dinner horizons. Also, there was a picture. Here is how Rachael's meal looked.Lamb chops seem like a special occasion meal. I knew that Spencer would be returning from a hunting trip tonight, and that seemed like cause for celebration. So I made a grocery list. I had to buy almost every ingredient- lamb chops, mint, grainy mustard, white wine vinegar, bulgur wheat, mint, thyme, ice cream, lemon sherbet, limoncello, wafer cookies, canneloni beans, raddichio and tomatoes. I even had to buy olive oil, which I ran out of a couple weeks ago.

Spencer got home at about 4, and told me straight up that he wasn't really hungry. He ate the other half of this for lunch:His buddies bought it for him as a thank-you gift for driving. Wasn't that thoughtful?
I digress. I made dinner anyway, and here is what I thought about it:

The lamb chops were the best I have ever had. Rachel's recipe called for 12 loin chops, but all that Safeway had was 8 shoulder chops, so that's what I used. I could have used four.
The mint and mustard dipping sauce is delightful. It was painful to buy mint at the store, since in the summer my back yard is teeming with it. Now I have a great recipe I can use it in. I also got to use my friend Erica's honey, which is such a pretty color, and delicious.
My husband really liked the white bean salad. What's not to like, it's just white beans with shredded raddichio and some thyme sprigs cooked in EVOO and garlic.
The tabouleh turned out good, I really like it. I bet it would have been better if the tomatoes I stuffed it with had any sort of flavor. Every tomato I looked at today in the store was pale and firm. They all looked like little hard cameo apples. Again, another dish I can make in the summer with patio tomatoes.
The Limoncello dessert called for a scoop each of vanilla ice cream and lemon sherbet andwafer cookies topped with lemon zest and a shot of limoncello. I was most excited about this recipe, because I have a fantastic zester that I've never used, and because I have never had limoncello.
I bought Caravella brand.
The booze was strong and bitter and it ruined the dessert. I guess I thought it would be a sweeter liqueur. Spencer and I both poured off about half of the limoncello. By the time the ice cream and sherbet had melted a little and mixed with the alcohol, it all tasted better. I'll try this dessert again, but I won't serve it right away.

The whole thing took about 35 minutes. I think if I did it again, I could do it in 30.

Ptomaine Wednesday: Spicy Moroccan Chicken

I've been making my way through the packet of recipes I bought from The Pampered Chef- Weekday Dinners-Done!. It's been nice to have some variety for dinner, but I have a couple issues with this collection of recipes.
The first problem is that one of the selling points for this collection is that 2 grocery lists are included. The lists are incomplete. I made all the recipes in week one, which used 16 oz of sliced mushrooms and 6 green peppers. The grocery list calls for three peppers and one 8 oz container of mushrooms. There were errors on the second week list, but I caught those before I went to the store by going through each recipe one-by-one.
Another issue is that the recipes call for much more microwaving than I am used to. Last night, I made Deep Dish Cheeseburger Pie, and the recipe called for microwaved ground beef. I did it, but I don't know why. I have lots of skillets.
Lastly, the recipes call for specialty seasoning mixes made by Pampered Chef. Since they also call for specialty equipment made by TPC, I thought that this was a marketing thing, to get us to buy their spices. But they don't sell the spices anymore, so even if I wanted to buy their specialty blends, I couldn't. Fortunately for me, others have had these problems and posted recipes for spice blends on the internet.
Which brings me to tonight's recipe. Here is a photo of the recipe card:
The recipe called for TPC Morrocan rub, for which I substituted 2 tablespoons of this mixture:

Moroccan Seasoning Mix
Recipe #141053 | 5 min | 5 min prep

This spice blend is used extensively in Moroccan cooking.Use the freshest spices you can find. Recipe found on the net.
SERVES 8 , 8 Tablespoons (change servings and units)

Ingredients
5 teaspoons ground nutmeg
5 teaspoons ground cumin
5 teaspoons ground coriander
2 1/2 teaspoons allspice
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions
1Mix spices together and store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 (5g)

Recipe makes 8 servings

Calories 20

which comes from recipezaar. Here is how it turned out:
You should try it, the rub is amazing. I could smell it for hours.

I cooked the chicken almost as directed. I did not use instant rice, because I can make slow rice. I also used frozen green beans instead of frozen peas.
Here is a picture of my bowl, followed by Spencer's artfully arranged plate. Except he insists the green bean, which sits atop his heap "just so" is a happy accident. Whatever.
Next week, I am going to try a recipe from this book:
and that will be the first time I have tried a Rachel Ray recipe. I've seen her show a couple times, she looks friendly. I hate the word "sammies", though.