Today's kitchen adventure was quite the experience, not only because I made a couple of new recipes, but also because I was in a kitchen that was not my own. For the past week, I have been visiting friends in Utah. I've been staying with my friend Angie and her roommate Sarah. During my chaotic departure from Oregon, I forgot to grab a little something small as a thank you to them for allowing me to crash at their house for a whole week. I figured making dinner for them would be a nice way to say thank you and give me a chance to try out some new recipes. Our dinner tonight consisted of my current favorite meat, pork tenderloin with a cherry sauce, my first attempt at risotto with spinach, mushrooms, and peas and a previously attempted crumble recipe, but with a twist.
I've had risotto a few times and I really enjoy it, but I've always been a little apprehensive to make it. I watch a lot of cooking shows and cooking competitions and it always appears that risotto causes many of the PROFESSIONAL chefs participating in these competitions many problems. I decided it was time to toss my fears and apprehensions aside and give it a shot. I food a really easy recipe from the foodnetwork.com. I did quite a bit of tweaking to the recipe, but it turned out marvelously. I started out sautéing some chopped onions and fresh mushrooms in olive oil. If I had had some fresh garlic, I would have also added that to the mushrooms and onions. Then I added the arborio rice and then slowly started adding hot chicken broth to the mixture, remembering to continually stir until the liquid was completely absorbed. Once the consistency of the rice begins to appear creamy and the rice is tender, I added frozen peas and baby spinach. I continued to stir until the spinach was slightly wilted. I seasoned throughout the process with salt, pepper and garlic powder and added in some fresh grated parmesan cheese. The result was a deliciously, cheesy, and creamy risotto.
The pork tenderloin was simply seasoned with thyme, salt, and pepper. The cherry sauce had cherry jam, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, some cinnamon and allspice. The vinegar was very present, but overall it was a great accompaniment to the pork.
Dessert was a twist on the pear cranberry gingersnap crumble that I made for my non traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I looked for fresh cranberries, but they must something that is only sold seasonally, like in October/November/December. I was trying to think of a good replacement fruit that would still bring the tartness of the cranberry and taste ok with the gingersnaps. I decided on raspberries. I loved this recipe with the cranberries, but I think I enjoyed almost as much, if not more, with the raspberries. The lemon zest and lemon juice that are in it complement the raspberries so nicely.
Stay tuned for more fun experiments in the kitchen. Happy Cooking!
My dad is a big fan of squash, but my mom and I are not very crazy about it. I love squash soups, but I don't love it when it's cooked any other way. I think I've finally figured out why. I think it's because when you cook squashes they get mushy. I like cooked vegetables that are still a little crisp and crunchy when they're cooked. You can't achieve that with a squash. If a squash is crunchy, then it's still raw which leaves you with a mushy vegetable. I also feel like if a vegetable is mushy then you might as well puree it and make it completely smooth. So when my dad asked me if I would cook up some of his remaining acorn squash, I decided I would make a puree.
I found a recipe for a mashed acorn squash with garlic. You roast the garlic and squash in the oven until extremely tender. Once cooked you mash the squash and squeeze the garlic in the mash and mix together. I wanted to get a really smooth texture, like a puree, so I put the garlic squash mash in a food processor and pureed until smooth. I also threw in some butter, salt, fresh thyme and cracked pepper. Along with all of those seasonings, the recipe called for a leek and apple mixture to top the squash mash. We didn't have leeks, so I used one small onion and sautéed it with some butter and a diced apple. I actually folded it in to the squash puree. It was super yummy! I actually really enjoyed it. The flavor was nice and the crunch and sweetness from the apples was a nice surprise.
To accompany our squash puree, I also made a pork tenderloin. It was nothing special, but the sauce that I made to go with it was fantastic. It was a mixture of apple juice, honey dijon mustard, some brown sugar and a little maple syrup. I thickened it up with some corn starch as well. It had a nice sweetness from the juice, sugar and syrup and probably could have used just a little more sweetness, but also had a nice bite from the mustard. I liked it a lot and it complimented the other aspects of the meal really nicely.
I'm not sure what my next kitchen adventure will be, but I will say that I may be attempting ice cream very soon. I know it's winter and ice cream sounds like a crazy thing to make, but I just got the ice cream attachment for my KitchenAid mixer and I'm kind of dying to try it out. Stay tuned!
Happy Cooking!
After making the fabulous lemon curd, I had been craving it again. I decided to attempt my first lemon meringue pie. I've never really been a huge meringue fan. I've always felt that it was really sweet, but I figured this would be a good opportunity to use my lovely mixer again. It turned out ok. I definitely need to work on perfecting it. The flavor was great and surprisingly the meringue wasn't very sweet.
I'm not sure if I over baked it or under baked it, but the meringue separated from the crust after cooling and the filling became watery as it cooled as well. It looked really nice to start, but now a few days later it's not so pretty. Is there anyone that is experienced with meringue pies that can give me some pointers on how to keep the meringue from separating from the crust and how to eliminate the excess liquid? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Happy New Year and Happy Cooking!
