a sabbatical

I’m kind of in disbelief that I have been writing here for almost two years.  It started out as a creative outlet and a way to record the things I was cooking and baking.  And while it has stayed the same, my life has changed so much since then.  But all this online presence has added up to a bit of stress, and I’ve increasingly felt the need to unplug.  There are some days where I want to completely disappear from the internet.  But then there are days where I feel so inspired by the things I read online and the way it can open up a window for me to write in.

But more and more recently I’ve wanted to go away.  I’ve come to this space out of obligation, and really that doesn’t do much for any of us.  When I’m trying to think of new things to cook just so that I can write about them here instead of cooking what I naturally want to cook, my creativity suffers.  I’ve been trying to force it too often recently.

And with so much going on in life right now, I’m going to take a little step back.  I’ll probably still be poking my head out over here from time to time, but I want to take a little break from feeling the need to constantly have something going food-wise.  And by doing so, I hope that in a few weeks or a month I will come back with fresh inspiration and be truly and utterly excited about the things I have to share with you.

See you then.

braised chicken with tomatillos and jalepenos

I will just tell you right now that this might be the only recipe you EVER see here that has jalepenos.  That is because I do not do spicy.  I do not do peppers.  I do not do red pepper flakes.  I do not even put extra pepper on my food.  I do not enjoy the sensation of my tongue/mouth burning, and with my super tasting taste buds anything that is spicy to a normal person is about 10 times spicier to me.

But for some reason this recipe stood out to me.  Perhaps because I love braising chicken.  I’ve also been intrigued by tomatillos for awhile now, but haven’t seen many ways of using them that sound good to me.  I was attracted to this way of cooking them though because I could have the chicken without necessarily having to eat large amounts of the sauce.

Everything I thought I would love about his recipe I did love.  The chicken was braised beautifully.  The sauce gave the meat a nice flavor without being overpowering, while Gerrit could pile on as much tomatillo and jalepeno sauce as he wanted (making it the perfect compromise meal for us, and, I think, a great meal for a family with picky eaters).

But what I really really loved about this dish that surprised me was the way it smelled.  Because to me, it smelled like Mexico.  With the tomatillos and jalepenos and all that lime juice and zest, it smelled just like the Mexico I know, like the soup the women made in the Mayan village I once stayed in in the Yucatan.  It smelled bright and sunny and full of flavor, and while I usually don’t do Mexican food (too many pepper and onions and spice), I plan on making this regularly.

Braised Chicken with Tomatillos and Jalepenos
adapted from Anne Burrell

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves 6-8

For the chicken:
Olive oil
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Kosher Salt
Pepper
6 tomatillos, husked and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 jalepenos, roughly chopped (seeds removed for a less spicy option)
1 large white onion, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 cups chicken stock
2 limes, zested and juiced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

For the lime sour cream:
1/2 cup sour cream
2 limes, zested and juiced

1. Start by browning the chicken.  Blot the chicken dry with paper towels and then season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the chicken skin down.  Cook until the skin is brown and crispy and easily released from the bottom of the pot (3-5 minutes), and then turn to brown the other side (you’ll most likely need to do this in batches, adding fresh oil as needed).  When the chicken is browned, remove from the pot and set aside.
2. Add the tomatillos and jalepenos to the pot.  Season with a bit of salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring often, 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the onions and continue to cook until the onions are tender (the mixture will be a bit watery).  Add the garlic and cook 1-2 more minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock, lime zest, and lime juice to the pot.  Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Then add the chicken back in, nestling it down in the liquid.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer (medium-low).  Cover the pot and let cook for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the lid and let cook for 15 more minutes (you might need to increase the heat slightly to make sure the liquid is still simmering).
6. While the chicken is cooking, make the lime sour cream by stirring together the sour cream, lime zest, and lime juice.  Set aside until ready to use.
7.  When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pot.  Stir the cilantro into the sauce.
8.  Serve the chicken warm (over rice is a good option), topped with as much tomatillo and jalepeno sauce and lime sour cream as you would like.

a month of meals: april 2013

{More: January 2013 : February 2013 : March 2013}

Favorite dish/meal: The surprising favorite of the month was a chicken with tomatillos and jalepenos that Gerrit and I both LOVED (I’ll share the recipe/my thoughts next week).  It was perfect though because I could just eat the chicken while Gerrit could pile on the spicier sauce.

Also, steak with blackberry red wine sauce was a perfect date night at home meal.

Least successful: Oh I had so many failures this month.

I want so badly for this potato encrusted halibut to work.  I’ve made it twice now (once a couple of years ago and once a couple of weeks ago).  And while the flavors are good, it’s so much of a hassle, the fish is so expensive, and my potatoes never stay on the fish right.

Second failure was some pork chops.  At the beginning of the month I made the best pork chops I have ever made.  It was just a simple pan sear with a white wine pan sauce, but the meat was cooked perfectly.  At the end of the month I tried it again and this time massive fail in cooking the pork chops and I ended up at a concert on Friday night having had a granola bar for dinner.

What we ate the most of: Fish.  We ate more fish than usual this month, which is so nice.  It’s just getting to be that season.  Asian marinated salmon is always a favorite go-to meal for us.  I also made some beer battered fish for the first time ever and was so pleasantly surprised.

The grill is going strong too–burgers, chicken, flank steak.

What we ate in other places:  When we went down to Auburn last weekend we had BBQ twice.  And for the first time (really, I can hardly believe after growing up going to Auburn and then going to school there it was my first time), I ate at The BBQ House, home of the famous (at least in my family) peanut butter pie.

Also, can I ask you a question?  Slowly but surely we’re working on a site redesign.  As some of you know, I have another site where I write on a completely different subjects (faith and books and life).  I want to combine both of my sites, but am debating about whether I should make them into one blog or keep them separate under an umbrella site.  Anyone want to throw a vote out there?

philadelphia style vanilla ice cream

A couple of weeks ago at the store I needed to buy some more vanilla extract and noticed that the same size jar of a more expensive brand was on sale and therefore cheaper than the brand I usually buy.  And while I don’t exactly go cheap on the vanilla, when I got home I opened this more expensive brand, took a whiff of it, and immediately thought, “Oh my goodness.  I have to make some vanilla ice cream.”  Literally.  I could smell the difference.

The only problem with wanting to make some vanilla ice cream, is that I also needed to get some vanilla beans.  So next time I was at the grocery store, at the beginning of last week, I picked some up and put them in my cart, gulping at the price.  I went to the next aisle to get some spaghetti, then went back to the baking aisle and put the vanilla beans back on the shelf, deciding that I would just make-do with vanilla extract.  They were just too expensive.  But then as I finished my shopping I decided that if I was going to make vanilla ice cream, then I was going to make vanilla ice cream right.  So back into my cart the vanilla beans went.

This was my first experience with vanilla beans.  When I was scraping out the seeds I said they smelled like coffee.  Gerrit thought they smelled like a sweet tobacco.  One thing we can agree on is that vanilla ice cream with just the extract would pale in comparison to the ice cream made with the beans.  This ice cream had the most pure and rich flavor.  And while vanilla is usually never my first choice when it comes to ice cream flavors, if homemade philadelphia style vanilla ice cream with real vanilla beans is an option, chocolate might have some steep competition.

Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Wait Time: 30 minutes
Freeze Time: 30 minutes (depends on your ice cream freezer)

Makes 1 quart (1 liter)

3 cups heavy cream (or 2 cups heavy cream + 1 cup milk)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Pour 1 cup heavy cream into a medium-sized saucepan.  Add the sugar and salt and stir to combine.
2. With a small paring knife, cut down the length of the vanilla bean to cut it in half lengthwise.  Using the tip of the knife, scrape the tiny seeds out from each half.  Add both the seeds and the pods to the pot, and whisk together to make sure the seeds don’t clump together.
3. Heat the pot over over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, stirring often.  Remove from the heat and add the remaining 2 cups of cream (or the 1 cup of cream + 1 cup of milk) and the vanilla extract.
4. Place the pot in the fridge and chill thoroughly, about 30 minutes.
5. Remove the mixture from the fridge and take the vanilla beans out (rinse the vanilla beans off and let them dry and save them to use in something else in the future).  Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Then pour into a container with a lid and freeze until you are ready to serve it.

chicken with teriyaki mushroom sauce

To say that I am reliant on chicken for weeknight dinners is really a bit of an understatement.  Every weekend, when I sit down to write out my menus for the next week, chicken thighs goes on the list at least once.  Sometimes twice if I am really desperate.  I bake them with herbs and olive oil and salt and pepper and a little bit of white wine splashed into the bottom of the pan.  They take about 5 minutes to put together and 40 minutes of hands-off time in the oven (longer and lower and slower if I have more time and want them more tender).  They are the easiest weeknight meal I know how to make.  And while it’s no surprise that I, who do not get tired of foods I love, have not gotten tired of this staple dinner I’ve been eating since before I can remember, it is a bit of a surprise that Gerrit hasn’t gotten tired of them either and in fact often notes that chicken thighs is one of his favorite meals we have on a regular basis.

But even though our tried and true method is good, there are always ways to do it differently.  In the summer we pour barbecue sauce over the chicken a lot, which takes the prep time from five minutes down to about two, meaning I can prep the chicken faster than my oven can preheat.  In January I discovered Dinner A Love Story’s apricot mustard baked chicken, which we have had a few times now and thoroughly enjoyed.  I’ve also been known to bake chicken in some teriyaki sauce–a dish that was a staple for me in college but I have since largely forgotten about until I stumbled across a recipe for homemade teriyaki sauce in How to Cook Everything.

Perhaps I stopped making it with teriyaki much because when we were first married and I was cooking in our little kitchen in our apartment in Houston, Gerrit admitted to me more than once that chicken with teriyaki sauce was not his favorite.  But as is true with so many things, it is better when it is homemade.  It is better tasting and better for you than whatever comes out of a bottle, and when we ate this and Gerrit poured the sauce over the rice, he told me repeatedly how much he loved it (because I think it surprised him a little).

Even though the prep time on this is not as simple as bbq sauce or even as simple as rubbing herbs across the skin of the chicken, it is still simple (a sauce with only a handful of ingredients) and easy enough for a weeknight.  So even though we love our chicken with herbs, we’ll mix it up this way a little more often now.

Chicken with Mushroom Teriyaki Sauce
sauce from How to Cook Everything

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 40 minutes

Serves 3-4

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin (or 1/4 cup honey + 1/4 cup water)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped or sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place the chicken thighs in a small baking dish, skin side up.  Rub the top and bottom of each thigh with olive oil and season with salt and pepper (don’t be too heavy handed on the salt though, because the sauce we add later will be quite salty).  Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
3. While the thighs are beginning to bake, make the sauce.  In a small saucepan, combine the soy sauce and mirin.  Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the ginger, garlic, scallions, and mushrooms.
4. Once the chicken has baked for 20 minutes, take it out of the oven and pour the sauce over the top of it.  Return to the oven and bake for 20 more minutes.
5. Remove from oven and let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.