Top Chef (in my head)

Well, this season of Top Chef came to a close last night (although I watched it this afternoon while Keagan was napping) and I felt I had to voice my opinion. If you haven't seen it yet- spoiler alert- don't read on!!

I have been a loyal Top Chef watcher since day one. I love the show and sometimes even learn some things about food and cooking while I watch. I was impressed by the last 5 or 6 contestants on this season. I really thought Jamie would be in the finale, and was sad to see her go because I thought she had great technique and a great point of view with her food- although, sweetheart, how about cooking something other than scallops? I was also saddened to see Fabio go because I thought he was a great cook, but really made it by the skin of his teeth a few times and just couldn't pull it off- plus sometimes his attitude/pride got in the way of listening to what the judges said I think. Of course Stefan was going to be in the finale. I don't think anyone has won challenges as much as he did. Woah. But the attitude! You have to be self-confident and commanding in the kitchen to be a great chef, but he crossed the line into cocky and then by the end, seemed like he just didn't give a damn. Wonderful technique though, I am certain he will go far. Then comes Carla. What a sweetheart! You just gotta love her! Although I thought she was in real trouble when she started talking about the love she put in her food- not that you shouldn't cook with passion, but the way she said it, I could HEAR Tom's eyes roll from off screen. I am so glad she found her voice in the competition and started kicking ass at the end, but what was she thinking letting Casey call the shots in the finale! Oh Carla... where Stefan got cocky, you lost your confidence. I felt so badly for her when she just _knew_ she blew it at judges table. Keep cooking, Carla! You have a lot to offer, that just wasn't your night. Lastly, there's Hosea, Mr. Top Chef. Wow. I picked him early on to be a good competitor, but he floundered a bit there in the middle of the season, and the shenanigans with Leah were soooooo not a good idea, man. I wanted her kicked off way before she was and thought she'd be the death of him. I definitely would not have picked him to win over Stefan and Carla if you asked me last week, but with his performance in the finale compared to theirs, I think it was the right decision. Although I think they should require a 4 course meal WITH dessert. I mean, really. A Top Chef should be able to make a good dessert. I thought Josea did sort of take an easy road without one, but since they did not require it, he shouldn't be penalized for not doing it.
Well done, Chefs! Thanks for a fun season of TV!

Italian Omelet

I had a small hunk of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and ripe tomatoes left over from dinner last night and decided to make myself an omelet for breakfast. I also added some chopped scallion to the mix. I went back to my old, tried and true method of making an omelet which worked like a charm and did not result in a scramble instead. On medium heat, I add a good amount of butter to a non-stick pan (at least to coat the bottom) and when it's melted and the pan up to temperature, I added the scallions to soften for a minute, then added the scrambled egg mixture (seasoned with salt and pepper to taste). After the sides have set, pull them toward the center and swirl the uncooked egg into that spot in the pan (I usually pull in quarters, so four times). Then cover and if it looks like the bottom is browning too much, turn down the heat. Let the egg set for a couple minutes (the cover helps make sure there isn't any uncooked, giggly egg in the center). Add the toppings- in this case basil chiffonade, chopped, seeded tomatoes and fresh mozzarella slices- and cover another minute if they need to heat up/melt. Make sure the omelet isn't stuck in any place on the pan by running your spatula around the pan, under the egg. Then flip out into either a half moon (just folded over once on itself), or into a "roll" with a double flip over itself. I just did the half moon here. Eat immediately (not that you can resist). I overdid it with my toast a bit, but otherwise it was a fabulous breakfast.

Indoor Grilling

The Winter weather has been dragging me down a bit lately and I wanted some Summertime feeling, so I made some steak on our indoor grill. We use a charcoal grill outside and I just didn't have the ambition to be out in the cold for that process. I prepped the meat by leaving it out of the fridge for an hour or so before cooking to bring it up in temperature and avoid a burned outside and raw inside since it was a thick steak. Then I sprinkled both sides with kosher salt, garlic powder and steak seasoning. You have to know your own indoor grill to know how long to cook it- they are all different. Mine is just a plug it in and when the light goes off it's ready kind, so I can't adjust he heat myself. For that, it was about 8 minutes total. After cooking, I let it rest under some aluminum foil for 10-15 minutes before slicing. A very hard step to do when it looks so tasty right off the grill, but don't skip it! All the glorious juice will come running out of the steak and ruin the finished product. The end result was not quite as good as a charcoal grill steak, but it certainly warmed me up on a cold Winter evening!

"Chipper" Chicken

Chicken leg quarters are usually a cheap option at the store, but this week at 79 cents a pound, I couldn't resist the thrifty choice. These work well on the grill, but not willing to brave the cold, I chose a roasted option, which is much more seasonally appropriate. This is a simple preparation that is very flavorful and a "set and forget" kind of deal. I put some olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish, add the chicken (as is, unless you want to take the skin off, but that would be a shame to lose the flavor and moistness in the finished product), then add red bliss potatoes cut into good one/two bite pieces, 3-4 peeled garlic cloves- left whole or just cut in half (you want the big pieces because they turn into sweet goodness), and half a large onion or one small one, chopped into large pieces. Then drizzle everything with some more olive oil, salt, and add some herbs to suit your taste- I like Herbs de Provence, but was out of them, so I did some thyme and a garlic/herb Ms. Dash mix and some smoke paprika, which adds nice color and a hint of smokey flavor. Cook uncovered at 350 for about an hour or till the chicken is cooked through. I usually stir the potatoes once as well to make sure they cook evenly. This particular evening I also made some creamed spinach as a side. You could just put some more vegetables in the dish that can take the roasting, like carrots and it's all done in one!

BTW- "Chipper Chicken" is from Martin Short and Steve Martin in Father of the Bride

Vacation

We went on vacation to North Conway, NH with 8 of our close friends and 3 kids this past week, so I haven't been blogging, but now I'm doing some catch-up! Cooking for a crowd was interesting on vacation with an ill-equipped kitchen, but we managed. We used things like stock pots for mixing bowls and had a couple close calls on our fingers with a glass cutting board and terrible knives. Luckily, there was no blood shed. The first dinner was a classic, budget-friendly pasta with meat sauce and some sauteed cauliflower on the side for a little extra veggie. We also did a cheese fondue night with homemade rolls courtesy of Liza and Joe who own Bay Burger restaurant and make great bread. That was quite a treat. Not yet my forte as working with yeast still intimidates me, but I'll get there!

Superbowl Sunday

We didn't have any wild plans for the Superbowl (could someone tell the NFL 6:30 is an inconvenient start time for parents ;)) but I could not in good conscience let the game pass without some fun food. I would say I had a Touchdown, a Field Goal, and a Punt in this adventure.

The Touchdown

I made sweet Italian chicken sausage subs. I was going to do a real caloric splurge on pork sausage, but I made the mistake of looking at the fat content on the package, and I just couldn't go through with it. TWO of the chicken sausages were still 5 grams of fat less than ONE of the pork ones. Tasty, yes... worth it? I decided not. The chicken sausages were really good in any case. I put them in a pan with some water to start and covered them. After a couple minutes, I removed the cover, the water quickly evaporated and they took on some nice brown color. I decided last minute to slice them in half lengthwise to get more seared effect and make it easier to eat in the roll. Meanwhile, I had some sliced onions and green peppers getting nice and soft and slightly carmelized in another pan. To prepare the rolls, I cut them down the middle from the top, but not all the way, so it was a pocket, not a halved roll. I put some sweet relish in the bottom, then the sausage halves, peppers and onions, and then ketchup and mustard. They were fabulous. A tiny bit sweet, lots of savory flavor and just a bit messy. Touchdown!

The Field Goal

This is a hot creamy artichoke dip from a Pampered Chef recipe. This would have been a field goal, had I not decided to save on dishes and mix the dip in the bowl I baked it in, which would have been ok if I had wiped down the sides before baking. Sadly, I did not, and as you can see, the residue of dip around the rim of the bowl nearly burnt. It was not nice to look at, but the taste was great. The recipe calls for vegetable soup mix, cream cheese, milk, sour cream, garlic, lemon juice and artichokes. It is very tart and tangy, which I like. You can make it in a bread bowl, but I chose to just cut up a french bread loaf. I think bread bowls look pretty, but it seems like a waste of good bread- can you really eat the whole bowl? What a mess.

The Punt

"Vanilla Pudding Pie" is what I am calling this one. It's looks too pretty to be considered a punt, but it didn't work out that well in the end. I got the idea to make a banana cream pie for some reason and having never made one, looked up a recipe that basically was just crust, bananas, and vanilla pudding- all of which I had. For the crust, I decided to use some sugar cookies that I'd made earlier in the week. I made them into crumbs in my Cuisinart and added some butter, then baked for a few minutes until slightly browned. I let the crust completely cool (finished in the fridge) and added a layer of sliced bananas and vanilla pudding, which was already partially set. I let it set for a few hours, then added some sliced strawberries on it because I had a bunch and they looked beautiful.
The first issue was cutting and serving a piece of this pie. I cut a pie wedge piece with a knife, then used a pie server to lift onto a plate. The pudding did not hold shape. I didn't find this surprising... I wasn't sure how exactly it was supposed to behave. It is just pudding after all. No added gelatin or structural helper. What normally goes into banana cream pie? As I'm thinking about it... could it be that I used "instant" pudding instead of the real deal? Or are cream pies allowed to "flop" a bit? In any case, structural integrity wasn't my only issue with the pie- it was also too sweet. Has anyone else found vanilla pudding to be grotesquely sweet lately? Perhaps I am just getting less used to so much sugar, as I am trying to lessen it in my diet overall. I think this could have been countered with some tartness, perhaps some lemon juice or something, but that certainly would not have helped my structural problems. For these reasons, this pie was a punt.