Food is a wonderful thing. It's something that brings us together as friends and family. Yesterday I gathered with my cousins for a nice family dinner. The lasts two times we've done family dinner, they've done the cooking. This time I figured since I was all settled in my home, I'd do the cooking. I might have gotten a little ambitious with my meal because I didn't have much prep time between church and dinner time. That is the reason there aren't any finished product pictures. I did manage to snap some in progress photos, so you'll just have to imagine what the finished products looked like.
The main course was a pork tenderloin that I seasoned with salt, pepper, shallots, garlic, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, and fresh oregano. I then wrapped the tenderloin in pancetta, which is similar to bacon, but not smoked. All of the herbs on the tenderloin gave it a great flavor.
I also made an apple compote that consisted of apple cider, orange zest, cinnamon and cloves. I wish that I had take the time to thicken the sauce a little bit more, but the flavor of it went great with the pork.
I made two side dishes to go with the pork: mashed potatoes (with some potatoes from my dad's garden) and some super tasty honey lemon glazed carrots. I used baby carrots and cut off the tops. I steamed the carrots in a little water with honey, lemon zest, a little butter and salt. I brought them to a boil, with the pan slightly covered, and cooked them until I could pierce them with a fork. Once they were fork tender, I removed the lid and continued to allow them to boil until all the liquid evaporated off and the carrots started to caramelize. This was a simple and easy dish with great flavor.
The meal was finished of with a FABULOUS dessert made by my cousin Brian's wife, Anne. She made a trifle/parfait with Oreos, brownies, chocolate pudding and whipped cream. Super yummy!!! Anne is an AMAZING chef! She's just started her own fantastic blog, check out her excellent recipes.
More cooking to come! Happy Cooking and Enjoy a meal your loved ones!
The adventures in the kitchen continue....I've officially moved to Utah and I'm all unpacked and settled. What better way to start off this new experience in Utah than with an experience in the kitchen. I have two cousins that also live here in Utah. They had a family dinner planned for Sunday and I was invited to attend. I offered to bring a dessert to contribute. I wanted to do something new, but not too complicated. It had been a long week and weekend of moving and unpacking, so I was pretty beat. The request was for something with chocolate, so I decided to try something called a chocolate pot de crème. A pot de crème is a loose French custard. Traditionally, it is baked in the oven in a water bath, but the recipe that I used didn't call for that. The recipe was very simple. It's basically like a chocolate pudding, but with a richer flavor. You take sugar, cream, and semi-sweet chocolate and bring them to a boil.
Then you add the hot cream and chocolate mixture slowly to some beaten egg yolks and a little vanilla extract. Once that is all mixed together you pour it into ramekins, cover and chill for a few hours. I chilled mine overnight and they were fine. I decided to top it with a little unsweetened whipped cream and some semi-sweet chocolate shavings.
It was the perfect size dessert with a wonderful rich chocolatey flavoring. I'd like to try it some time the traditional way with a hot water bath just to see if there is a difference in taste or texture. The pots de crèmes seemed to be liked and enjoyed by all. This was a nice way to start the new experiences here in Utah. More to come! Happy Cooking!
For the past seven months, I've been living in Oregon with my parents trying to figure out what I wanted to do next with my life. I'm really excited for the next step in my life. I've decided to go back to school to study Culinary Arts. My mom wanted us to have a little farewell dinner party for some of our friends here, but there just wasn't enough time. One of our friends from California was visiting this weekend, so I decided I would make us a nice dinner and that could serve as my farewell dinner.
I wanted to do something kind of simple since most of my cooking tools were going to be packed. I decided to give my new dutch oven a test run and make a pot roast. I've done a pot roast before, many times in fact, but I usually do it in a crock pot. I started out with sautéing some onions, fresh garlic, carrots, celery, and mushrooms in the pot with some olive oil. I removed the vegetables and then browned the roast. I placed the vegetables and roast back in the pot and then poured in some beef broth and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme. With the cover on the pot, I placed it in a 300º oven for 3-4 hours until fork tender. The key to a great pot roast is cooking it low and slow.
I served the roast with some mashed potatoes. I used the drippings from the roast to make a gravy by thickening it with a little flour. I've found the best way to make a flavorful and smooth gravy is reserve a few tablespoons of the drippings and mix it with the flour or cornstarch first and then add that mixture to the rest of your drippings.
For dessert, I had some leftover homemade cream cheese frosting, so I figured the best thing to make would be a cake. I made a white cake and I added a box of coconut cream pudding and shredded coconut to. I frosted it with the cream cheese frosting. I toasted some shredded coconut and sprinkled it on top of the cake for a little garnish.
This was a great, classic, simple meal and a great way to say farewell to Oregon. My current plan is to maintain my blog while I'm in school. There should be plenty of new things for me to experiment with and to learn how perfect. Keep following if you'd like to see me embark on this next great adventure of culinary school. Happy cooking and there's more fun with food to come!
