Brussels Sprout Panzanella

If these pictures are conjuring thoughts of summer, I don't blame you. It was almost 60 degrees today here in Chicago. In the middle of January. 60 degrees. In January. In Chicago. Ugh.

As I stood outside in my t-shirt taking pictures, I almost convinced myself that I was enjoying the warm streak of days we've been having. Unfortunately cold reality hit me as soon as I went back inside and was confronted with the sight of my sad, shriveled up christmas tree. Don't worry I finally took it down today, and at only the 12th of january, I think its a new record. Last year I put it off until almost february. Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that.

I quickly remembered that I have a deep-rooted bitterness that instead of bundling up to go cross country skiing, or cozying up in a dark bar while the snowflakes fall outside, I am outside without a damn coat on (or sleeves for that matter). You can take the girl out of Minnesota...well you know the rest.

While panzanella may be a summer staple for anyone who loves a good tomato, its just not the same in the winter when tomatoes have a tendency to taste like cardboard. With a few twists, a hot pan, and some juicy cherry tomatoes, you can have a bright and healthful panzanella salad even in the dark, mind-numbingly cold month of January. Ha. I wish. 

This tomato and bread salad is winterized with roasted brussels sprouts, done Dad's way. If you have never added anchovy (or fish sauce) and red pepper flakes to your veggies before roasting, stop everything you are doing and try it now. It is that good.

Winter Brussels Sprouts Panzanella

serves 6 as a small starter salad, 4 as a larger side or main dish. You can bulk it up for a main meal with some diced chicken, or a fried egg.

4 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed, outer leaves discarded, then quartered (I started with about 4-5 cups, after they were trimmed and roasted, I had a little less than 3 cups, exact measurements in this recipe are not necessary)
20 cherry tomatoes
4 cups crusty bread, cut into bite sized cubes (I used a ciabatta bread, but french bread or sourdough would work just as well)
6 tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 oz (approximately) shaved parmigiano reggiano for garnish

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together 2 tbl olive oil, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes, and toss with brussels sprouts to coat evenly. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (I line mine with my silpat) and season liberally with salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on how big your sprouts are, until tender in the middle, and crispy on the outside. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat another two tablespoons of olive oil (or enough to just cover the bottom of your pan) over high heat. Add the cubed bread, and toss quickly to coat in the olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat, tossing frequently just until bread begins to brown and gets a bit crispy, about 4-5 minutes. Remove bread from pan and set aside.

Return pan to medium-high heat, and add a few more tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes, just until garlic becomes fragrant. Add the tomatoes and saute for 4-5 minutes, shaking pan frequently to move tomatoes around, until the skin starts to blister and burst. Add balsamic vinegar and cook for another minute, tossing with the tomatoes.

In a large bowl, combine the brussels sprouts, bread, and tomatoes (save any tomato/balsamic juice that is in your skillet to drizzle on top later). Add any more salt and pepper if needed, and divide salad among your plates. Top with shaved cheese, and a few spoonfuls of the leftover pan jus.

Easy as that. Serve room temperature, or with the tomatoes hot, it is delicious either way. 

Simple Summer Salad + A Giveaway!

Don't you hate it when life gets in the way of your hobbies? After weeks of working 14 day stretches with no time off, followed by a serious, back-woods, roughing -it, camping trip filled with bears and wolves and too many bug bites to count, I am back home and back to the blog. Finally. And what a better way to start a new stretch of (hopefully much more frequent) posts than with a giveaway for a $40 gift certificate to CSN stores. CSN stores is a group of online stores where you can purchase anything from dinnerware, to picnic baskets, to kitchen gadgets, plus lots of other fun things for your home and garden. Exciting huh? More on that in a bit.

For the past few weeks, I have noticed that I keep stumbling upon blogs which start out with something like: "As the summer is winding down..." or "Now that summer is almost over...". Excuse me? Where are you living? Here in chicago, we've got another 5 day 90+ degree heatwave coming at us. This hardly screams 'fall is coming', as much as I would love for that to be true. This may sound weird but I am ready for fall. I am sick of it being hot and sticky and rainy, it may be the Minnesotan in me. Give me changing leaves and fuzzy sweaters and big ol' pots of soup over the hot and humid weather any day.

Oh well, I will wait patiently for fall. Meanwhile, I will console myself with summer's bounty and tell myself that when it is 10 below zero I will be wishing I had fresh zucchini and cauliflower to make this bright, healthy grain and cous cous salad (either that or I will just tuck into the couch with a blanket and a big bowl of chili, my bets are on the latter).

Now about that $40 gift certificate. (I just wanted to make you read my whole post first :-) All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment on this post and tell me:

What summer dish you are itching to make before fall arrives?

Leave a description or even a link to a recipe, and I will pick one using a random number generator. You have until Monday, August16th at midnight to enter (sadly, this is open to US and Canada residents only). On Tuesday, I will announce the winning comment here so be sure to check back then to claim your prize! Until then, go outside, put your feet up, crack open an ice cold beer, and enjoy this cous cous salad.

Israeli Cous Cous & Wheat Berry with Veggies and Goat Cheese
makes enough for 6-8 main courses or 12-14 side dishes, easily halve-able

1 cup Israeli cous cous

1 cup wheat berries

2 small-medium zucchini, quartered and sliced into 1/8 inch slices

1 small head of cauliflower, broken into small florets

4-5 green onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup fresh italian parsley, chopped

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

For the dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

To finish:

1-2 tablespoons chopped parsely

3/4 - 1 cup crumbled goat cheese

In a small sauce pan, combine wheat berries with 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. Drain off any excess water and set aside to cool.

In another small saucepan combine cous cous with 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Drain off any excess water and set aside to cool.

Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute a few minutes just until fragrant. Turn heat to high and add the zucchini and cauliflower and saute until starting to brown a bit, but still retain some crunch, about 3-5 minutes, tossing a few times. Set veggies aside to cool.

In a small, sealable bowl (or mason jar) combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, mustard and salt and pepper. Close container tightly and shake until completely emulsified. Set aside until just before serving.

In a large bowl, combine cooled wheat berries, cous cous, veggies, green onions, parsley, to disperse evenly, and season with salt and pepper to taste. You can store this mixture in the fridge overnight, but I would recommend dressing just before serving, otherwise the zucchini and cous cous will get soggy. When ready to serve toss with just enough dressing to coat, and top with a generous amount of goat cheese crumbles and parsley.

Sometimes You Just Need a Salad.

Sometimes, after all the noodles and rice and pork and chicken, you just need some green. Lonely Planet told us it would be in our best interest to stay away from salad greens and other potentially washed-with-tap-water uncooked food while on vacation in Cambodia and Thailand. Not wanting to risk the effects of a stomach bug while 30 meters underwater, I figure it was best to play it safe and not risk it.

By the time I got home, all I was craving was an obnoxiously huge salad. Like the kind they serve at restaurants as your entree, and when they set it in front of you, you think there is no way you are ever going to eat it all, but you do anyway, cause you know, it's mostly lettuce right? Right? What was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, so I made this salad, and it hit the spot. Roasted red beets, creamy refreshing avocado, tangy goat cheese, pistachios, fresh spring greens, all topped with an orange-mustard vinaigrette. It was almost my perfect salad. I had an apple out and ready to cut, but my salad was growing to gargantuan proportions so I left it out. I wish I had cut it into matchsticks and put it in to add another more crunchy/crisp element since the salad was pretty creamy all around.

The funny thing is, is that if you knew the teenager version of me, you would be astounded at me now proclaiming my craving for a salad. I wouldn't touch lettuce up until sophomore/junior year of college (and that wasn't that long ago folks). Ah, how times and tastes have changed. I sure am glad they did, because this, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty close to salad perfection in my opinion.

Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad with Orange-Balsamic Vinaigrette
makes one gigantic salad

Two things about this salad. First, the measurements are not important here. Pile the toppings on until your stomach says enough, and mix the dressing according to how your taste buds like it. Second, most people roast beets whole, then peel and chop. This is all fine a dandy, but I prefer mine in nice crispy and caramelized bite sized pieces. I accomplish this by taking the outer skin off by cutting the beet in half, then slicing the skin off with a sharp knife. Think about peeling sweet potatoes, or ginger, or a pineapple for that matter, same principle, just on a smaller scale. Cube, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, then cook for maximum roasted surface area.
2-3 red beets, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 avocado diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup shelled pistachios
1 oz crumbled goat cheese
1/2 apple, cored and cut into thin matchsticks
big handful of mixed greens, or whatever kind of lettuce you like
1/4 cup olive oil + extra for tossing with beets
juice of one orange
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Toss diced beets with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 15-25 minutes, until caramelized and cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a seal-able container (such as a Ziploc or mason jar), mix olive oil, vinegar, orange juice, mustard, and salt and pepper. Close tightly and shake the crap out of it until the dressing has emulsified.

Plate your greens, and top with, in no particular order, the beets, avocado, apple, goat cheese, pistachios, and drizzle on your dressing. Go ahead and eat the whole damn thing, cause its mostly lettuce right? Just humor me and say "right Bria". Thank you.

Simple Comfort

After the holidays are over, it is refreshing sometimes to have a meal that is a bit on the lighter side (especially after eating all those fake girl scout cookies). It's also great to have a meal that you can clean out your fridge with. Its a great basic formula, but definitely not your run of the mill pasta dish or stir fry that usually seem to constitute a pantry meal.

This dish has all the good stuff. Creamy, crispy polenta and sauteed mushrooms and carrots, topped with a big 'ol fried egg. I am a firm believer in the "everything is better with a fried egg on top" school of thought. This separate but equally as valid as the "everything is better with bacon" school of thought. When the oozing yolk mixes with the earthy veggies and the cheesy polenta, it is heaven. Now that I think about it, I am totally adding bacon next time I make this.

I first saw a version of this recipe on thekitchn.com and really loved the combination, but I ended up changing it quite a bit. The night that I made this for dinner I made a soft polenta, but I truly believe the leftovers were better the next day when I cut squares of the cold polenta and sauteed it in a bit of olive oil. The cheese in the polenta became brown and crispy on the outside and was soft, hot, and creamy on the inside. Either way though, it is a filling, hearty meal that is full of protein that won't ruin your new years resolutions.

Fried Polenta with Balsamic Mushrooms and Carrots

adapted from thekitchn.com

Serves 3-4

1 lb mushrooms, cut into a 1/2 inch dice

3 medium carrots, cut into a 1/2 inch dice

1 clove garlic, finely minced

2-3 tablespoons oilve oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup instant polenta

1 1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

3-4 eggs (depending on how many people are eating, 1 egg per serving)

salt and pepper to taste

Bring water, milk, and 1/4 teaspoons salt to a boil in a small saucepan. When it reaches a boil, whisk in the polenta and reduce the heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes with the lid cracked, stirring occasionally. Add the parmesean cheese and stir to combine. **You can make this a day ahead of time. Spread the polenta in a thin layer in the bottom of a baking dish and refrigerate overnight. Heat some oil in a non-stick skillet and fry the polenta until heated through and brown and crispy on the edges.**

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for 2 minutes until garlic becomes fragrant. Add mushrooms, carrots, thyme and balsamic vinegar, stir to coat evenly. Saute for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until mushrooms and carrots are cooked through.

When the polenta and vegetables are fully cooked, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a small non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and cook the eggs over-easy, making sure to leave the yolk runny (this is the best part).

Place a dollop of the creamy polenta (or a fried square of polenta) in the middle of a plate, top with a spoonful of the veggie mixture, and one fried egg. Sprinkle with a little extra parmesean cheese and devour.

This is a wonderfully quick (and inexpensive) weekenight meal, and a great way to use up leftovers. Enjoy!

Hello Fall...or Winter?

We seem to have skipped fall completely here in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest. It has been about 20 degrees under the normal high temperatures, but looking on the bright side, at least it hasn't snowed yet like is has up in the northern regions.

I wanted to kick off fall with a big meal that would fill us up and warm the apartment. I accomplished both of those goals, and also made my boyfriend and his friends very happy campers, with very happy tummies.

We feasted on a whole roasted chicken with lemon, thyme, bacon, and garlic, mashed potatoes, pear and goat cheese salad, roasted root vegetables, and popovers. This was all finished off with a warm plum and raspberry tart.

I think of this as my dry run for the thanksgiving feast myself and some of my friends are going to have here in Chicago the weekend before the actual holiday. Everything went really smoothly, and even mistakes that were made turned out to be good things.

The day after this meal, in my food coma hangover, I realized that I roasted the chicken upside down. The funny thing is that I have seen so many birds roasted on television shows and in person that I can't believe I was confused when the recipe told me to 'tuck the wings underneath the bird'. I thought to myself, 'but the wings are already underneath the bird...'.

It turns out that this was a great mistake. The breasts were impossibly tender and juicy and I think that may have been because they basically braised in their own juices, bacon drippings, and lemon juice for about 2 hours. I think I may just flip my turkey upside down come Thanksgiving, but next time it will be on purpose.

Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is a VERY simple salad, but a classic and tasty combination of tart cheese and mellow fruit. Just be sure to use a high quality balsamic vinegar for the dressing.

1 package of baby spring greens

1 pear, diced and tossed with lemon juice to prevent browning

4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a tightly sealed container and shake vigorously until oil and vinegar is combined and emulsified. Toss greens, pears, goat cheese with just enough dressing to coat.

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken

Recipe from Ina Garten - on foodnetwork.com

my notes in green

1 5-6 pound roasting chicken - I used a slightly larger one - about 8.5 pounds - so I would have plenty of leftovers, although I think the boys devoured much more of it than I anticipated

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme

4 lemons

3 heads garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 lb bacon - don't use lean bacon here, the point of it is to basically self-baste the chicken with the bacon fat

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Remove chicken giblets - if you are lucky they are in a nice little packet, if you aren't so lucky, you may have to pick them out one by one. I threw these into the freezer for a later date, you can make gravy and stock with these goodies. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan and liberally salt and pepper the inside cavity - I do not have a large roasting pan yet, so I used my 13 inch All-Clad french skillet and it worked great, it was just a bit harder to get it in and out of my oven.

Stuff the chicken with most of the thyme - I saved some for the roasted veggies - 1 lemon, halved, and two halves of the garlic. Now Ina calls for tying the legs together with kitchen twine and tucking the wing tips under the body. Since I roasted my bird upside down I did not need to do either of these things. If you want to go more conventional and roast your chicken right side up, by all means get the kitchen twine out and tuck those wings.

Quarter the remaining lemons and scatter them along with the rest of the garlic around the chicken in the bottom of the pan. Lay the bacon slices on top of the entire chicken - again I am sure this would be more effective had I roasted the chicken right side up, with the bacon fat flavoring the breast meat and keeping them moist. Next time I will either roast the chicken upside down again but omit the bacon, or roast it right side up with the bacon but definitely not a combination of the two.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove the bacon and set aside.

Roast for an additional 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh, or the breast temperature reaches 165 degrees - mine was bigger and took about an hour and 50 minutes total roasting time.

Remove to a platter, cover with foil, and let rest for up to 30 minutes.

For the gravy, remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and chicken stock and bring to a boil. reduce it to a simmer, and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes - I added a bit of cornstarch to help thicken it up since it was pretty runny.

Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

4-5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

2 bay leaves

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Reserved bacon from roast chicken - roughly chopped

Peel and quarter potatoes and place in large pot of salted cold water with bay leaves. Bring to a boil then cook until fork tender, about 30 minutes. Heat the butter and cream over low heat in a small saucepan. Drain the potatoes and put back into the pot with the cream and the butter. Mash with a potato masher or a large fork until creamy and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with chopped bacon.

YUM. And we aren't even done yet. Since this post is starting to become a novel, I will leave the other sides (the roasted veggies and popovers) and the dessert for the next post so I don't lose readers due to sheer boredom. Maybe it will have turned back into fall by then, who knows.

Goodbye Summer...

Well it looks like fall is here to stay. As much as I love the season, I just am not ready for it this year. I feel like summer was here for about two weeks and then the leaves started changing. Oh well, hopefully there is still time to get one last camping trip in before the snow comes.

I figure this is the time to showcase what was probably some of the best 'summer food' I had this year. I can take no credit, for it was served to me by my parents while I was home mooching off of them after I got laid-off. Juicy Lucy Hamburgers, Grilled Deconstructed Caesar Salad, and Tomato, Basil, and Feta Salad, will forever be in my brain when I think of waning days of warm weather. The wonderfully fresh ingredients straight from the farmers market, the grill smoking in the back yard, and a bottle of wine (or three) with the people I love; what a great way to wrap up the summer.

This bottle in particular was the last of the bottles brought home from our trip to Italy.

Since my parents hold these recipes, and I had no part in cooking them (I don't even know what was in half of them) I will simply do my best to describe the photos. All three of these dishes are pretty basic actually, made from simple fresh ingredients, combined to make something exceptional. I wont give away their secrets, you can look for the recipes someday in the Helgerson/Boynton Cookbook, coming to a store near you (you guys almost done with that??).

Juicy Lucys

Basically a Juicy Lucy is a hamburger STUFFED with cheeses of your choosing (and I mean stuffed, I think mom put 3 or 4 kinds of cheeses inside). This is thrown on the grill and stacked high with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, and whatever else floats your boat.

This was easily one of the best hamburgers I have ever had, and my god was it HUGE. Look at the cheese oozing out of the center. It's hard to look away right?

Tomato, Feta, and Basil Salad

I am just starting to be able to eat raw tomatoes. I was a very picky child, and as I am getting older and getting into cooking, I have been choosing various foods that I didn't really like growing up, and then working towards enjoying them, and eventually loving them. I am definitely well on my way to loving raw tomatoes, and this salad was a key player in that process. A mixture of yellow heirloom tomatoes from my uncle in southern Minnesota, and some gorgeous red heirloom tomatoes that are thriving in pots out on the driveway at my parents house, some fresh basil, herbed feta, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Summer perfection.

Deconstructed Grilled Caesar Salad

This is probably my favorite salad of all time. Yes it is that good. Last time I asked my Dad for the Caesar dressing recipe, he just gave me a list of ingredients, no measurements whatsoever. A little trial and error was needed, but if you have never tried homemade Caesar dressing before do it now. Please, you will thank me later. Mayonnaise, crushed garlic, smushed anchovy (yes that is the correct culinary term), lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, white wine vinegar, and cracked black pepper. That's all it takes to have the most heavenly Caesar dressing you have ever tasted.

To elevate this salad even more, the heads of romaine are left intact, sliced in half, brushed with olive oil and grilled just for a minute to char the outside, while leaving the innards cool and crisp.

Instead of croutons, there is grilled garlic bread.

Last but not least, for the brave eaters: a whole anchovy splayed on top. Add a little (or a lot) of freshly grated Parmiginao Reggiano and I think you'll find that deconstructionism never tasted so good.

Hope your end of summer eating was as enjoyable as mine. Time to get out the pumpkin lights. :-)