Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Revisiting Old Favorites.

I made both of these this week and realized that I've made a lot of subtle changes that aren't reflected in the original recipe. And so...

My Oven-Fried Buttermilk Chicken has benefited from experimenting with chicken legs in addition to thighs, and I finally upped the cooking time since my original 45 minutes was ridiculous--it always takes me at least an hour on the first side. I don't know what I was thinking!

Our favorite pasta dish is this Rigatoni Alla Bolognese Bianco, and I've improved it by doubling all of the vegetables (after realizing I was chasing every mushroom and carrot around the plate), adding ground beef or ground turkey, reducing the half & half a bit, and upping the pasta amount. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it, and we just had it! Fantastic for leftovers, too.

Comaburgers are even more outrageous when topped with pimento cheese. I also adjusted the portions here, because with all of the toppings a quarter pound burger made more sense.

Eat up!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

What I've been Cooking Lately...

No time for a real post, but I thought I would link to some recipes I've found online and made recently, to varying degrees of success.

The Ultimate Vegetable Torta from Cooking Light. This torta is seriously labor intensive, but pretty delicious. I've made it twice now and I'm not entirely sure it is worth the effort, however it is a great way to use up the results of an over-zealous Farmer's Market trip.

Roasted Cod with Warm-Olive-Caper Tapenade from Eating Well. Mmmm, I loved this and it was such a snap to pull together on a weeknight. If you like briney things you'll be all over this. I served it with the suggested orzo (cooked in vegetable broth) and spinach.

Ziti with Grilled Gazpacho Sauce and Sausage from Gourmet. Another total winner, smokey and delicious. I used penne, and turkey Italian sausage in a vain attempt to lighten the recipe. Delicious, great leftover as well.

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa from Gourmet. Delicious, healthy, filling. I served this with something--grilled chicken or fish maybe? It should tell you a lot that the side dish stuck out a lot more than the main course. Would make a lovely vegetarian lunch all on its own.

Beef Saté with Peanut Dipping Sauce from Cooking Light. Another super speedy and tasty weeknight dish. The meat wasn't my absolute favorite but I liked this meal well enough. I made it with brown rice instead of the instant.

Chicken-Chorizo Burgers with Avocado Mayonnaise from Cooking Light. I liked these, although I over processed the meat mixture and I think that made it a bit tough. Great flavor, though, and a nice alternative to beef or turkey burgers. The recipe makes a lot and I froze a stack of the patties, seperated with parchment. I'll let you know how they fare after being thawed.

Green Onion Pancakes with Tomato-Avocado Salsa from Cooking Light. Oh, baby, I loved these. Served them with a pile of garlicky grilled shrimp. I used my own guacamole recipe, however, because I'm not a huge oregano fan. I also used Gruyeré in the pancakes.

Crispy Soft-Shelled Crabs with Bean Salad from Martha Stewart. The dish of the summer! If soft-shelled crabs were in season longer (and I could afford them), I think I'd make this all the danged time. I used some fresh black-eyed peas, edamame, and some coarsely chopped green beans in the salad. And make the homemade garlic mayo, please. You won't be disappointed. I made this same salad later in the summer to serve with crabcakes and it was lovely as well.