chicken livers and cabbage

I think liver is a seriously misunderstood food in North America. I have always liked it, even as a picky little kid who didn't want to eat any number of seemingly innocuous things. When I was younger, I would beg my parents to make this for me for dinner--a blessing to them at the time, I'm sure, as it is fairly cheap and easy to make in addition to being good for you. I know very few other people who ever begged their parents to make liver for dinner. I was weird. If you don't know if you like it or can't remember trying it, you really should. I know it looks kind of gross and the word liver isn't that appealing, but it is delicious!

To make this, you will need:

one medium sized head of green cabbage

approximately 1lb of chicken livers (I prefer fresh)

1 small to medium sized onion--I like walla walla sweets or yellow onion

2 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

The cabbage should be lightly steamed until tender in a separate pot. This should be done first, as it takes some time. Cut the cabbage in half, then in about 1 inch "strips" lengthwise, removing the tougher inner core when applicable. Arrange on a vegetable steamer and cook until the cabbage is done--I don't like mine overcooked but it is to your taste. It will get cooked a bit more later as well, so keep that in mind.

In a pan with olive oil, saute the chopped onion until translucent and/or slightly browned. Add to that your chicken liver (I will generally cut some of the larger liver into pieces to facilitate serving later) and cook until the liver is just slightly pink inside.

Drain the cooked cabbage, then add to the pan with the liver and onions and give it a good stir so the cabbage can benefit from the onion/liver/olive oil that has been sizzling in your pan. Cover and allow to cook on medium, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes--less if you are concerned about overcooking the liver.

Mimosa

A staple of brunch worldwide, the mimosa! I had a tradition, during my undergrad years, of finishing off a day of final exams with a mimosa--if there is a more pleasant way to celebrate the end of studies, I can't imagine one.

1 1/2 - 2 oz fresh squeezed, strained orange juice
4 oz champagne [Montelliana Extra Dry Prosecco]

My friend is a cocktail enthusiast/aspiring mixologist/talented liqueur & syrup maker. If you're into booze, you should check out her blog. http://twosheetsinthewind.wordpress.com/

broiled grapefruit

I am on a major grapefruit kick right now. I have to have them. I need them. I think about them when I am not eating them. Even at the bar, I am drawn to ordering greyhounds, just for the tart deliciousness of grapefruit juice therein.

A friend of mine mentioned broiling grapefruits and how tasty it is. I thought it was crazy-sounding, but decided to try it--after all, what if there was some delicious secret to unlock? As it turns out, there is. It's weird to think of eating hot grapefruit, but I promise you it is well worth putting aside your initial doubts and just doing it. Make sure to cut around each individual little slice of your halved grapefruit first to facilitate eating it later. Rub sugar across the entire top of the grapefruit, pressing it into the flesh. Broil for approximately 8-10 minutes. During its time in the oven, the sugar will caramelize a bit and the flavor is delicious. I have tried it with honey as well, and I think the sugar is really the best way to go. This will be a staple at my brunch table from now on!

supremes de volaillle archiduc

Heather and I had a true Julia Child cooking experience together, at long last. We both own "Mastering the art of French cooking" and have talked about busting out some French cuisine for quite a while now, so I'm pretty glad that we made it happen. We served our chicken with simply roasted fingerling potatoes, cut lengthwise and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and garlic. The asparagus was sauteed with lemon juice, butter, salt, and lemon zest. Lemon + asparagus may not be the flavor combination for everyone, but I quite enjoy it.

The recipe was pretty easy to execute, and turned out amazingly well. The sauce is to die for--but then, it has port and cream in it, so it had to be good.

Ingredients:
4 boned breasts from two fryers
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper
fireproof casserole
waxed paper
butter!

1/4 cup stock
1/4 cup port (the recipe says you can also use madeira or vermouth, but I think port is best)
1 cup whipping cream
minced parsley
2/3 cup white onion minced
red paprika 1 tablespoon

basic instruction:
drop onion in boiling water for 1 minute, then rinse and drain
cook onions and paprika and 1/8 ts and salt and 5 tb butter in
casserole over low heat 10 minutes

preheat oven to 400
rub chicken with drops of lemon juice, dust salt and pepper
put chicken in casserole, lay buttered wax paper on top, cover
casserole and place in hot oven, cook for 20-30 minutes.

remove chicken, put stock and wine in casserole, boil down, stir in
cream
off heat, add a couple drops of lemon
boil down pour sauce over chicken, sprinkle with parsley, serve & enjoy!

that's a big sweet potato

Oh, yes. I love me some sweet potatoes. This one came in my CSA box recently, and it was pretty much love at first sight. I took one look at it and thought it was too big to make into just one dish--I'd have to cook it two ways. A friend of mine brought mashed sweet potato with goat cheese mixed in to a dinner party I was at, and it was phenomenal, so I copied her idea, using half of this beast for mashing, and half for tasty sweet potato oven fries. It wasn't a particularly well-rounded meal, nutritionally, but it was delicious and orange.

quinoa carrot top soup

I keep meaning to experiment with quinoa more. I mentioned this to a friend recently as we were grocery shopping together, and she emailed me an interesting recipe for a quinoa carrot top soup. I love soup, and we had just picked up our CSA box with lovely organic carrots inside, so it was easy to motivate myself to make this soup.

Looking at the recipe, I decided that it would probably turn out a bit bland for my tastes, so I added some spices while I was cooking it. It didn't turn out perfectly, but it made for a nice summer soup. I think next time I will experiment with perhaps adding beans or cooked cabbage to this soup as well. The recipe is from this website: http://tonopahrob.com/?p=20

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion - diced
• 4 cups water
• 5 to 6 carrots
• 1 cup carrot tops - washed and finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Better than Bouillon – Beef Flavor or 2 tsp beef bouillon granules
• 1/2 cup quinoa – rinsed well

Sauté onion in olive oil over medium-high heat in 3 quart pot until onions begin to brown. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

I made the following substitutions/additions: Instead of the beef bouillon, I used about 3 cups of vegetable broth and 1 of water. I added 1/2 tsp each of turmeric, cumin, and red pepper flakes, as well as two bay leaves. This would probably be very tasty with fresh rosemary and tarragon if you prefer those flavors.

The carrot tops give this soup a really nice fresh taste! It is great for a spring or summer soup, and I plan to perfect it in the future.

garam. masala. cookies.

So, I have been getting better at taking pictures of things while I am cooking/eating/dining/having cheese & prosciutto picnics. But, I fail to write about them. I mean to improve this, and to that aim, I bring you.... Garam masala cookies!

I accidentally bought a ton of garam masala and every time I see it in my spice cabinet, I think "I need to find a way to use that! It's so tasty!" and then promptly forget about it. One day, I came across a photo of vegan garam masala cookies on flickr (is that nerdy? I don't care.) and thought the idea sounded amazing--but, I have difficulties with cookies and thought I better work on making a more traditional butter inclusive cookie before branching out into the vegan cookie territory. So, armed with patience, lots of garam masala, and google, I baked my little heart out just in time for a lovely potluck with friends. I looked at a few recipes and chose my favorite because it recommended browning one stick of butter in a pan before adding it to the mix. I figured you probably can't go wrong there, and I was right.

The dough was delicious. I am not afraid of salmonella--I delight in the childlike pleasure of eating cookie dough... It reminded me of how fun baking cookies can be.

The recipe I used didn't call for rolling the dough in sugar, but I thought it would work nicely. My first batch was made using cane sugar, the second, with turbinado sugar. The turbinado sugar looked prettier but didn't work as well. I'll have to give it another shot sometime soon.

These cookies were, to put it mildly, fantastic. I wasn't expecting them to be so great, but was quite pleased with the results. I'll be holding on to that recipe! As noted on the page where I found this recipe, they are reminiscent of gingersnaps, with a little something extra that you can't quite place.

The recipe can be found at the following link, but I have copied it here for future reference as well. You should probably think about baking these the next time you want something delicious. http://helenabakes.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/garam-masala-cookies/

Garam Masala Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, one softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375°.

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, garam masala, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, heat 1 stick of butter over medium high heat until completely melted. Keep cooking the butter until it turns a rich golden brown color and begins to take on a warm, nutty smell. This may take up to 6 or 7 minutes. Be careful not to burn your butter! Pour into a heat resistant bowl and set aside for 10-15 minutes.

In yet another bowl (sorry), mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, and softened stick of butter with an electric mixer, adding cooled browned butter gradually until completely combined. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, blend until creamy. Slowly add flour mixture and mix, scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure even distribution throughout the dough.

Drop rounded teaspoons of dough on to an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges turn slightly brown. Don’t overbake these cookies – they should look almost underdone when you take them out of the oven. Set on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from cookie sheet to cool completely.

Yield: 3 dozen cookies.