Category Archives: Cookbooks

Pasta with Lemony Chicken and Asparagus

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Currently cooking out of Simple Weeknight Favorites from America’s Test Kitchen

This dish combined many of the things I love to eat: pasta, chicken and asparagus all wrapped up in a light sauce of lemon, Parmesan and garlic. I figured that I’d really like this dish, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was super easy to make and tasted delicious.

You start off by browning pieces of chicken breast in a bit of butter. Using the same skillet, asparagus is sauteed just until tender, at which point chopped garlic is stirred in and cooked until fragrant. While the asparagus cooks, pasta is boiled until al dente, then drained, reserving about a cup of the pasta water. Everything (chicken, asparagus, pasta) is mixed into the skillet that the chicken and asparagus was cooked in, followed by grated Parmesan cheese and lemon juice. If the dish seems a little dry, you add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen it up.

This had just the right amount of lemon and garlic, without being harsh or sour. We had leftovers the next night, and they were pretty good as well. I did add a splash of cream to the leftovers as they were pretty dry. All in all, this is a great springtime dish. It is quick enough for a weeknight meal, but I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve it to company, either.

Pork Chops with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

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Currently cooking out of Simple Weeknight Favorites from America’s Test Kitchen

So far, this cookbook is giving it’s sister, The Best Simple Recipe, a run for its money. I haven’t come across a clunker yet, and this recipe was no exception.

The star of the dish is the roasted red pepper sauce, based on the classic Spanish sauce called romesco. You take roasted red peppers (from a jar), sliced almonds, a slice of white bread, water, garlic, olive oil and a bit of cayenne pepper and process them in a food processor until the sauce is smoothish and creamy. The sauce is served over pork chops that have been sauteed on the stovetop. Roasted cauliflower dusted in paprika rounds out the meal.

The red pepper sauce is tangy with just the barest hint of heat from the cayenne pepper. You can taste the almonds and the garlic, but neither flavor overwhelms. This recipe makes a lot of sauce, so I’ve been using it on grilled chicken and to add flavor to rice. This is an easy way to perk up just about anything, I think.

The only thing I didn’t like about the dish was the cauliflower. I didn’t like the paprika, and will continue to roast my cauliflower seasoned simply with salt and pepper.

Quick White Wine-Braised Chicken and Potatoes

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Currently cooking out of Simple Weeknight Favorites from America’s Test Kitchen

I really liked this dish. It was fast and easy, just as advertised. My only beef is that I would have preferred chicken breast meat to chicken thighs. I find I’m not much of a thigh person these days.

The dish starts out by microwaving small red potatoes until they are tender. This is one of those I-can’t-believe-I-didn’t-think-of-this tips that I will use forever more. It’s much easier and faster than waiting for water to boil.

Anyway, while the potatoes are microwaving, you brown the chicken thighs that you’ve cut in half and seasoned with salt and pepper. The chicken gets set aside, and using the same pan, you cook carrots and leeks until they are tender. Wine is used to deglaze the pan, after which the chicken and any accumulated juices are added back to the pan. The pan is covered and the chicken simmers until it is done. The chicken, carrots and leeks are transferred to another plate, along with the potatoes, so you can reduce the remaining liquid to build the sauce. Once the liquid has thickened slightly, you stir in creme fraiche (or sour cream if you are me), lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. The sauce is poured over the chicken, carrots, leeks and potatoes and everything is stirred together and seasoned to taste.

As I said above, both Bryan and I really enjoyed this dish. It was filling and reheated very well. The only change I would make next time, besides using chicken breasts instead of thighs, would be to cut down on the amount of meat. It felt like there was too much meat compared to the amount of veggies.

Streaks with Citrus-Soy Pan Sauce and Slaw

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Currently cooking out of Simple Weeknight Favorites from America’s Test Kitchen

I’ve found cooking (not baking, but cooking) with oranges to be hit or miss. Sometimes the dish gets overwhelmed by an orangey-furniture polish taste and smell. Or it is simply bitter from the orange zest. That was my main concern with this dish, but fortunately, it worked.

This one is pretty simple. You make a simple dressing of soy sauce, orange zest and juice, vinegar and ginger. This dressing does double duty by being the basic dressing for some bagged broccoli slaw and then, with the addition of some butter, becoming a pan sauce for steaks.

First, the slaw. This is one of those side dishes that comes together very quickly but is really tasty. The recipe calls for adding edamame to some bagged broccoli slaw, which is convenient. Unfortunately, all of the broccoli slaw in my grocery store looked old, so I made my own by simply mixing together broccoli, cabbage and shredded carrots. The dressing has a hint of Asian flavors, especially with a bit of sesame oil added to the dressing portion. The vinegar softened up the cabbage and the broccoli, toning down their raw bite. It even held up well overnight.

The steaks are simply pan-fried, and a portion of the dressing (minus the sesame oil) is reduced in the same pan. Once the sauce is reduced, you take it off the heat and swirl in a few pats of butter. The butter enriches and thickens the sauce and makes it seem a little more luxurious.

The flavors in this dish were bright and fun. The pan sauce was easy to make, but really added a lot of flavor to the steak. For me, the slaw was the highlight of the meal and could easily stand on its own. I can see slicing the steak and adding to the slaw, or even using leftover chicken to make it a stand-alone meal. This dish was definitely a winner.

Thai-Style Fish and Creamy Coconut Rice Packets

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Currently cooking out of Simple Weeknight Favorites from America’s Test Kitchen

Here we go again; another America’s Test Kitchen offering. When I first picked up this book, I was worried that it was just a repeat of their other books, such as The Best Simple Recipes. I’ve heard that other people have found repeat recipes, but I haven’t come across any. And even if I do, I think there are enough new ones to keep me interested and make the purchase of this book worthwhile.

Simple Weeknight Favorites is full of quick, weeknight meals, along with scads of tips and quick side dishes. In fact, those side dishes might be my favorite part of the book; I’m always looking for (easy) ways to make side dishes more interesting and varied. As Bryan has pointed out on occasion, there’s only so many times you can eat microwaved frozen peas before they get boring.

This was the first dish I tried out of the book. I was looking for something a little different, and this caught my eye because of the cooking method: en papillote, or in a pouch. Translated into Trista speak, that really means fewer dishes! In addition, I thought the flavors sounded interesting.

The pouches came together very quickly. You start by mounding quick-cooking or ready rice in the middle of sheets of tinfoil. A fish fillet (the recipe called for cod or halibut but I used tillapia) is placed on top, and a mixture made with rice vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, coconut milk, cilantro, fish sauce, garlic and ginger is spooned over it. The  pouches are sealed and then baked for about 20 minutes.

The fish came out tender and flavorful, with no trace of fishiness. The sauce mixture thickened and coated the rice, with the coconut milk making it creamy and muting the heat from the red pepper flakes. I did find the sauce a little sweet, so I’d cut down on the amount of sugar, probably by half. As per usual, I only used about half of the ginger called for and didn’t miss it at all. And the best part? One little, lonely pot to wash.

I can already tell that I’m gonna like this book.

Wrap-up — Cook This Now by Melissa Clark

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As with Clark’s other book, In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite, I struggled to find recipes in this book that appealed to me. Don’t get me wrong, the book is wonderful to read, and all of the recipes sound delicious. I love how the book is organized by months, with an emphasis on cooking with what is in season. Its just that few of the recipes inspired me, and I can’t exactly tell you why. I suspect that part of it is just in the way I cook. While I can have 10 different chocolate chip cookie recipes, I only want one recipe for quick, weeknight chicken breasts. And my sides are usually a steamed veggie or a salad. Most of Clark’s recipes call for a little more effort than that, as well as ingredients that I don’t readily keep on hand. That being said, I did like this book better than In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite.

My favorite recipes were:

Coconut Fudge Brownies — While my search to make a gluten-free version of these brownies has been stymied, the original version is hands-down one of my favorite brownie recipes. Fudgy, coconutty and decadent don’t even begin to describe them.

White Bean Stew with Rosemary, Garlic and Farro — Simple, cheap and filling, but tasty. Forget the farro; this stew is hearty enough on its own.

Chile-Coconut Braised Short Ribs — Tender, succulent pieces of meat bathed in a rich sauce. You can’t really go wrong.

My least favorite dishes were:

Butter Whole Wheat Paratha — These tasted like wheat crackers, but without the crunch. Or the flavor.

Barley with Carrots, Scallions and Maybe Parmesan — This was bland. So bland, I can hardly remember anything else about it.

Wrap-up — In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite by Melissa Clark

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I held off on writing this wrap-up post, hoping that I’d find the time and/or energy to make a few more dishes from this book. Unfortunately, neither time nor energy found their way to me, and I’m ready to move on.

In the Kitchen is a well written book that is fun to read. Most of the dishes I made came together quickly with directions that were clear and easy to follow. That being said, I struggled to find recipes that appealed to me.

First, my favorite dishes:

Spicy, Garlicky Cashew Chicken — I’ve made this dish several times since I first tried it, and each time it was as good as I remembered (ahem, as long as you don’t overcook the chicken). Grilling weather is almost here, and I have a feeling that this will be even better over the grill instead of under the broiler.

Easy Stovetop Macaroni, Peas, Bacon and Cheese a la Jamie Oliver — Probably the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever made. This dish isn’t swimming in a gooey cheese sauce, nor is it day-glo orange.

My least favorite dishes:

Roasted Eggplant — This one isn’t Clark’s fault. I just don’t like eggplant.

Dahlia’s Fragrant Chicken Fingers — Another recipe that I didn’t like due more to my tastes than anything else.

Coconut Fudge Brownies Updated

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I took another shot at making these brownies as gluten-free as possible. This time around, I reduced the flour to a quarter of the total and made the rest up in almond meal. Unfortunately, this version was quite greasy; I think I’ve hit the limit as to how much I can reduce the flour. This version’s flavor was good, still dense, extremely moist and chocolatey. The almond flavor was quite pronounced, but that was a good thing.

I took a small bite of the brownies while they were still warm, and I just about died because it was so good. They were almost like a molten lava cake, but with a little more chew thanks to all the coconut in them. I may have said this once or twice, but if you served the brownies warm, over ice cream, you’d have a hit. Knowing that I’d never be able to cut the brownies while they were warm, or even at room temperature, I stuck them in the fridge until they were cold. This is where I started seeing some of the greasiness.

At this point, I could try reducing the coconut oil and/or butter and leave the flour to almond meal ratio the same, but I think I might try using some other flours, either rice flour or coconut flour, and taking the ratio back up to half flour and half almond meal.

Stay tuned.

Coconut Fudge Brownies

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Currently cooking from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark

This recipe is not for people who prefer their brownies cakey, not fudgy. It also isn’t for people who don’t like coconut (although Bryan, who doesn’t like coconut, seems happy enough to eat these). And those people who don’t like chocolate should just keep on going.

All you weirdos gone? Good. That leaves more of these brownies for me.

If my last dish out of this book was hearty and filling and nutritious and, well, boring, this recipe is all excitement and kind of nasty in a my-stomach-hurts-but-I-can’t-stop-eating-these way. You know you shouldn’t, but you just keep going back for one more corner, but then you cut the corner off and it looks bad and you need to even it out. And then you might as well just finish that row. Before you know it, you’ve eaten half of the pan.

Oh wait. That was me.

These were so OMG! freaking good. They are dense and chewy. The coconut flavor doesn’t overwhelm them, and by using coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, you get an extra hit of coconut flavor and the brownies are chewier. There is no leavening in the recipe, so the brownies don’t puff up and lighten at all. Trust me, that’s a good thing.

You start off by making a batter of cocoa powder, boiling water, unsweetened chocolate, butter, coconut oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and salt. Chopped chunks of bittersweet chocolate are stirred in, and then the batter is layered in the baking pan with sweetened coconut and topped off with a sprinkling of coarse salt. The brownies bake just until they are set in the middle (Clark warns against overbaking these; she says it’s better to underbake them and serve them with a spoon), then cooled before cutting them.

I found that the brownies cut better if they are refrigerated first. I also found out that these are mind-blowingly fantastic when eaten warm, even if you do have to use a spoon. They are what Mounds candy bars can only dream of becoming.

After making this the first time, I started wondering what would happen if I used something else instead of flour. After all, there is no leavening in the recipe, so you don’t really need the flour for structure. So I made the recipe again, but this time I substituted almond meal for half of the flour. These brownies were even better. They were a little bit less rich than the original brownies (but still dense and chocolatey), and there was just a hint of almond flavor. I’m going to keep trying the recipe, increasing the almond meal each time, to see if I can use all almond meal and no flour. If it works, these will make a great gluten-free treat!

Spiced Braised Lentils and Tomatoes with Toasted Coconut

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Currently cooking from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark

I have been trying to write this blog post for a week now. I wanted to find a way to make this dish sound sexy and appealing, but I’ve come to the conclusion that lentils are neither sexy nor appealing. They are filling, nutritious and, in this case, quite delicious. Solid, but not sexy.

You start out by softening scallions, garlic and curry powder in butter until the scallions have softened. Next you stir in tomato paste and lentils and cook for a few more minutes before adding fresh (or, in my case, diced, canned) tomatoes, salt and enough water to cover everything. This mixture simmers for about 40 minutes until the lentils are tender. The dish is served with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and a little trick that Clark just barely mentions in the headnotes. As the lentils are simmering, you take flaked, unsweetened coconut, salt and mustard seeds and toast them on the stovetop. This sweet, salty, crunchy  mixture gets sprinkled over the lentils right before serving.

If you maneuver your spoon just right, you get a mouthful of the tender-but-toothsome spicy lentils with a little bit of the cooling yogurt and a salty crunch from the topping. Put all that together and you get sexy lentils.

If you can, try to use the green lentils, rather than the brown or the red ones. The red ones will turn into mush, and the brown ones will break down too much. The green lentils stay just a little bit firm and separate, almost beady. And don’t leave out the topping. This really was the star of the recipe, and I found myself using it with rice and salads. In fact, I liked eating it by the spoonful straight out of the jar.