Chicken Cordon Bleu....Sort of...

I know it has been a while, but you get busy, ND starts winning football games, and the next thing you know I hadn't really cooked anything worth writing about since August.  That's depressing, I promise I'll do better in the new year.  The good news is I'm here with a new recipe!  So quit complaining and enjoy.

I've been browsing epicurious lately trying to find something that sparked my culinary imagination, and while epicurious can be awesome, if you don't have a plan it can be a recipe wasteland.  There are so many ways to search through their recipes that if you don't go in with a plan you're doomed, you'll never find anything you want to eat.  I think its the exact opposite of going grocery shopping when you're hungry.  I know if I've shopped hungry because I come home with enough food to feed myself for two weeks, and some kind of Hostess product (R.I.P) usually Ho Ho's.

It took me a while but I finally found a dish that spoke to me, Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce.  I don't know why exactly it spoke to me, but I do love prosciutto and since its been a while I figured I'd go with it.

Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

-  4 chicken breasts
-  Kosher salt
-  Fresh Ground Pepper
-  8 thin slices of prosciutto
-  8 thin slices of provolone
-  32 fresh basil leaves (you can definitely get by with less, 32 is a little overkill...and I love basil)
-  3 Tbsp Unsalted butter, divided
-  1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
-  4 cups mixed mushrooms, chopped into small pieces (crimini, chanterelle, and maitake...or in      my case just crimini because the Ralph's near me sucks and never has a good selection of mushrooms or herbs.
-  2 cups low sodium chicken broth
-  1 tsp red wine vinegar
-  2 Tbsp mixed chopped fresh herbs (I went for basil and chives...again small selection)


Part of why I wanted to try this is because the last time I was rolling/stuffing chicken I definitely had mixed results, not on the food, just on my own stuffing/rolling abilities.  Start off by halving the chicken breasts horizontally and open halves like book.  This is a slightly more delicate task than I first thought. I realized this after I almost sliced my hand open, and then when I essentially cut the first piece of chicken in half.  My advice, be careful and patient.  Patience is not one of my best cooking qualities, I long to be skilled enough with a knife to work as a chef at Benihana.  I don't actually want to work there, I just want to be that skilled with a knife, just to impress my friends.

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 inch thick and season on all sides with salt and pepper.  This is another task that never goes well for me.  If someone has some kind of advice as to how to pound chicken thin without it essentially disintegrating that would much appreciated.

I love how recipes will sometimes specify that you need to work with one piece of chicken at a time, because obviously I planned on banging these things thin with a mallet in each hand.  First of all I'm ambidextrous but I'm not that ambidextrous.  Second, I don't even own a second mallet.  The other thing I imagine is some bonehead stacking all the chicken on top of each other and trying to pound the whole thing to a 1/4 inch, good luck genius.

I always laugh about this because I'm a big believer that if directions or a sign specifies something absurd it is only because someone else tried the absurd thing to warrant the creation of said sign.

But I digress, once you have pounded out the chicken breast, lay cut side up and overlap 2 slices of prosciutto on top of the chicken leaving a 1/2 inch border.  Perhaps if I could pound chicken properly I would have enough room for a 1/2 inch border, but I did the best I could.  Next put two slices of provolone on top of the prosciutto and layer 8 basil leaves on top of that all maintaining that 1/2 inch border.  I apparently did not buy enough basil so I didn't do 8 full leaves on each chicken, but I still think it turned out pretty good in the end.

Roll up the chicken and tie with kitchen twine to hold it together.  I forgot to buy kitchen twine.  I always forget to buy kitchen twine.  Every time I have to tie something in the kitchen, I forget to buy the twine.  So I rolled my chicken and used gravity to hold the roll by putting the open "flap" on the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 450.  While that is heating up break out your big skillet.  Keep in mind that eventually this whole skillet is going in the oven so if it is a prissy little delicate skillet you might want to grab a different skillet.  Actually the recipe just says "large heavy, ovenproof skillet".  Now I understand that there are different surfaces and different kinds of skillets, but it is a tool that is designed to be put over a direct flame, how harmful can 8 minutes in an oven really be?

Heat 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of veggie oil in your skillet and brown the chicken on all sides which takes roughly 10 minutes, at least it did for me.  Then take the skillet and stick it in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.  The recipe says until an instant read thermometer reads 165 when inserted into the center.

Lets be honest if you pounded chicken down to about a 1/4 inch, then basically cooked it in the skillet for 10 minutes, after about 10 minutes in the oven at 450 its going to be cooked all the way through.

Put the chicken on a plate and scrape the drippings from the skillet.  Put the skillet back on the stove top and melt 1 Tbsp of butter over medium-high heat.

Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are golden brown.  Also remember that your skillet was in the oven, don't grab the handle with your bare hand a few minutes later.  It will hurt.  Also remember what I said about signs and warnings earlier, I'm the bonehead who grabbed the skillet, it did in fact hurt.

Add the chicken broth and vinegar and simmer until the liquid is thickened and reduced, approximately 12 minutes.  Let me say, my mixture reduced, but there was literally no thickening going on.




Stir in the last of the butter and random herbs you decided to chop up and season with salt and pepper.


Cut the chicken into slices and drizzle the mushroom sauce over and serve.  In my case I put the mushroom sauce on the side, I wasn't ready to commit to the mushroom sauce.

While I was doing all of this I was also making a little veggie side dish.  A very easy recipe and in the spirit of my grandmother, the BEST green beans I've ever had.

Slow-Roasted Green Beans with Sage

-  2.5 lbs of green beans, trimmed
-  3 bunches of scallions, trimmed with 1 inch green tops still attached, halved lengthwise
-  6 large garlic cloves cut lengthwise into 4 slices
-  1/2 cup olive oil
-  2 Tbsp fresh sage
-  1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
-  1 Tbsp fresh thyme
-  2 tsp Kosher salt


For the green beans the recipe says to preheat the oven to 375.  Since I already had mine at 450 for the chicken I decided the green beans could handle a little extra heat.

Combine everything in a big bowl and season with fresh ground pepper.  Toss it all around to make sure everything gets nice and mixed in.  Transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet.

Roast the beans, stirring every 10 minutes until they are wilted, shrunken and browned at the edges, which the recipe says is roughly one hour.  I probably had them in there for about 35-40 minutes while I was cooking the chicken and it turned out delicious.  So simple and they were fantastic.

Ok now I have to go find something new to cook.

Thank God I'm Not Allergic to Shellfish

I've been blessed.  I've been blessed to not be allergic to shellfish.  I cannot say the same thing for half my family.  While my mother and one of my brothers can enjoy shrimp and lobster and all of the deliciousness they have to offer, my dad and other brothers are afflicted with an allergy that I don't think I could live with, I could eat shrimp and lobster every day.  I should make this happen.

So its been really hot in LA lately and I thought I'd cook something a little lighter and perhaps more "summery" (whatever that actually means).  I came across a recipe for shrimp pasta with tomatoes, lemons and spinach.  This seemed to fit my "summery" description.  Maybe its not summery at all, maybe summery isn't even an actual word, at this point I've decided I like the word so I'm keeping it.  Take that.

Shrimp Pasta with Tomatoes, Lemon, and Spinach

- 1/2lb extra large shrimp, thawed and peeled
- 2tsp lemon zest
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper
- 1 sprig fresh thyme chopped
- 1 sprig fresh oregano chopped
- 4 basil leaves torn (recipe called for 2, I like basil so I used more)
- 2Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2lb angel hair pasta










In a medium bowl, mix the shrimp with the crushed red pepper, half the lemon zest and the chopped herbs.  Toss it around and make sure the shrimp get coated nicely.  And then set it aside.  (Small side note, peeling shrimp is extremely smelly business, be prepared)

In a big skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute, then add the tomatoes and the rest of the lemon zest.  Cook for about two minutes.  Let's pause for a second to talk about how good sautéed garlic smells, very good, ok moving on.







Add the shrimp and cook for about 5 or so minutes until the shrimp is cooked through.  Be sure to keep tossing the shrimp so both sides cook.

So far this is one of the easiest recipes I've tackled.  A lot of ingredients, but nothing too fancy going on.  Everything is making sense, no complaints from me.

Backing up for a second, before you start on the shrimp, boil some water for the angel hair pasta.  if it boils right about the time you are putting the shrimp on you will have mastered the timing of this dish.  And if I may say so, I mastered this dish.  I made this dish my....it went well.

When the water boils throw the pasta in there.  I would have assumed this was obvious, but I teach for a living and I've learned never assume people can get from point A to point B without holding some hands.

Once the pasta is cooked drain all but about 1/2 cup of the water and add the shrimp mixture to the pasta as well as the spinach.  Add the lemon juice too!  Rather than measure out the lemon juice I just used the lemon I had taken the zest from and squeezed the whole thing in there.  It seemed to me to be the perfect amount of lemon flavor, not too strong, not too weak, just right.

Add a little salt and pepper to taste and of course, fresh parmesan.  Sit back enjoy, then talk about how awesome I am for bringing you this recipe.  Even though I got it from someone else.  It was really delicious, and I will definitely be making this again.

Southern Style Meatloaf?

Ok so I decided to make some meatloaf, and I could have very easily used the handy recipe my mother always made.  Her recipe involved a combo meatloaf-mashed potato loaf, which  was always very good, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with mashed potatoes.  So I took to epicurious to find another recipe.  I came across a very simple recipe for what claimed to be "Southern Style Meatloaf."  Basically its meatloaf with bacon all over it.  I asked a few southerners I know and none of them seem to be familiar with this "style" of meatloaf, but I made it anyway, I mean....come on...bacon.

Southern Style Meatloaf

-3 lbs lean ground beef
-1 cup ketchup
-1 Tbsp kosher salt
-1 tsp black pepper
-1 Tbsp Soy sauce
-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
-3 slices of white bread, dampened and pulled into 1/2 inch pieces
-3 large eggs
-1/2 teaspoon tabasco sauce
-1 medium onion coarsely grated (as I'm writing this I'm realizing that I totally didn't do that, I chopped it, good job reading the recipe by me!)
-1 lb bacon (I can't believe I'm saying this but, probably way too much bacon)

So the instructions for this are simple, throw everything into a bowl and use your hands to knead it all together until it is combined.

Using a 13x9 baking dish, create a 12x6 mound, spread bacon strips over the top and bake about an hour until the meat is firm and the bacon is well done.




Ok so this was super simple and the end result was OK I guess.  Here's the problem, it was more like meat mush than meat loaf.  Also cooking 1lb of bacon means a lot and I mean A LOT of bacon grease.   That grease had no where to go so essentially it just sits in the baking dish with your meat.  And while I love bacon, I have no desire to eat massive amounts of bacon grease.

Ultimately it was sort of tasty, but I felt like I had a brick in my stomach for a few hours and I didn't even eat very much of it.  Oh well, next time I think I'll stick with momma's recipe.

Bacon and Leek Risotto with Poached Egg

Ok so I know its been a while since I've posted, but I'm jumping back in with one of my favorite dishes.  It is a little time consuming but totally worth it.

Bacon and Leek Risotto with Poached Egg

6 large eggs

5 cups low-salt chicken broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces - who doesn't love bacon?

2 cups thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only; about 2 large)

1 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice (about 10 ounces)

3/4 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh Italian parsley leaves (for garnish)

Additional finely grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

At this point you may be asking yourself "self, what the hell is a leek?"  I mention this because most times I say that something involved leeks I get a lot of blank stares, as if I plan on cooking with unicorn hair.  The easiest way to explain is that leeks look and for the most part taste like giant green onions.  The "onion" flavor is pretty mild and you definitely won't find yourself tearing up while cutting them.

To get the recipe started we must first poach the eggs.  Poaching eggs is something that fascinates me, I can't really explain why but the idea of cooking eggs in moderately warm water just seems funny.  Grab your large skillet and fill it with water and heat it over medium to medium-low heat.  The recipe says you can do this over just simmering water, but I've found that is only true if you'd like to slow cook your eggs over three days.  


In order to not neglect any of the individual eggs it is important to work with one egg at a time(eggs are very needy, kind of like this chick https://twitter.com/OvrlyAttachdGF).  Crack an egg into a small bowl and then slide the egg into the pan.  


When I first read this description I wondered why dirty extra dishes when I can just crack the egg straight into the water.  I soon realized that by doing it this way it keeps the whites and the yolk all neat and close together, whereas cracking it straight into the pan creates a completely unmanageable mess of egg whites.  Ok, that might be a slightly extreme exaggeration, but definitely your eggs will not come out looking all nice and tidy.



Cook the eggs until the egg whites are cooked through (obvious?) but the yolk is still a little runny. Then using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a bowl filled with ice water.  I still dont understand the point of this step.  Although it does say you can make the eggs up to 1 day ahead if you cover them in the ice water bowl, but seriously, do you want to eat day old eggs?


When you've poached all of the eggs, pull out a medium skillet (not the big one, save that) and bring the broth to a simmer in that pan.  In the big pan heat the oil over medium heat and cook the bacon until it is crispy.  Pull out that trusty slotted spoon (you'll get your money's worth out of it today) and transfer the bacon to paper towel to drain.  


DO NOT DRAIN THE BACON GREASE!!! I know instinct says clean that out, but why waste all that greasy goodness.  The recipe even tells you not to waste it.  Add your chopped leeks to the pan and cook until they're soft but not brown, which takes about 5 minutes or so.  Put aside about two tablespoons of leeks and set them aside for garnish later.  


Add the rice to the pan and stir for 2 minutes.  Then add the wine and stir until it is completely absorbed.  The recipe says this will take about 2 minutes, they lie.  Its probably closer to 5 minutes.

Once the wine is absorbed add 1 cup of broth from your other pan stirring until completely absorbed.  When its absorbed add another 1 cup of broth, lather, rinse, repeat until the broth is gone.  This is the part where things get time consuming.  When I've made this it usually takes me about 45 minutes to get through all of this.  Also you have to be continually stirring, so its not like you can just add the broth and go find something to do for a half hour.  


When you've worked your way through all of the broth, your rice should be soft and creamy.  When the broth is gone from the "other pan", use that pan to heat some water to a simmer.  I suppose that isn't really "heating" but you know what I mean.


Add the iced down poached eggs to the water pan to reheat.  While that is going on, add the bacon, parsley, butter and cheese to the rice and mix well.  

Divide the risotto among however many people you are feeding and top each serving with a poached egg.  Then get ready to have them tell you you're awesome, because quite frankly this thing is delicious.


I love eating this dish, I don't always love cooking it, mostly because stirring rice for 45 minutes is not my idea of a fun time in the kitchen.  Try it though, its completely worth it.

Oh by the way this recipe is from the April 2011 Bon Appetit.

Chicken Stuffed with Butter

What's better than chicken with butter sauce on it?  Chicken with butter sauce IN it!  I've always been a fan of Chicken Kiev, and quite frankly I've always been fascinated by how people managed to make it and have the butter stay inside.  I wanted to figure it out, so why not cook it?

As a side dish I settled on Orzo with Parmesan and Basil.  Way back in the day my mom used to make an orzo dish with asiago cheese that I loved, and I've been looking for that recipe and can't find it anywhere, so I figured this would do.  Also, mom can you send it to me if you have it?

Chicken Kiev
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
- 1 Tbsp chopped green onion
- 1 Tbsp snipped fresh parsley (what the hell does snipped mean? that's stupid, I chopped it)
- 1 garlic clove, minced (or 4, we've already discussed my feelings on garlic)
- The recipe says 1/4 pound (pound?) of butter.  As much as I love butter that seems excessive.  You need 1 stick quartered into long sticks
- 1 egg beaten like a red-headed step child
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs (conveniently I still had some from the chicken piccata)
- 1 Tbsp butter (more butter, what the hell, you'll understand later)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil (it says cooking oil, but thats wildly vague)

Chop your green onion, parsley and mince your garlic.  I'm back home so I had my garlic press this time.  A few quick notes on chopping green onion in case you are unfamiliar.  Cut off the little sprouty end (where its white) and work your way from there.  I generally discard the last inch or so.  I actually don't know if this is how you are supposed to cut green onion, but its how I watched my parents do it, so it seemed like a good idea.

Combine the ingredients in a bowl, mix it around and set it aside.

Here's where things started to go horribly wrong for me.  Take the chicken breast and cover it in parchment paper and using a mallet pound it out to about 1/8 inch thick.  Seems simple enough right?  Well you'd be wrong, I definitely shredded one of the chicken tits.   It was not pretty.  So if it can't be pounded properly, wrapping it was going to be a real bitch.  Because of the pseudo-disaster that happened with the first one, I was a little more cautious with the others and really only pounded them to about 1/4 inch thick.

Once you're done pounding the chicken, sprinkle them with salt and pepper and coat one side with the green onion mixture.

The instructions then say to take on of the little rectangles of butter and place it the center of the chicken piece, fold in the sides and roll up.  This barely works at best.  My shredded piece of chicken was definitely a mess and the other pieces weren't thin or big enough to completely enclose the butter.

When you've rolled the chicken (poorly in my case), put the flour and bread crumbs on separate plates. And whisk the egg and water together on another plate.  Dip the chicken first in the flour (woohoo I didn't make my kitchen look like Whitney Houston's personal playground. Too soon? I never know.)

Next drag it through the egg, and lastly the bread crumbs.  This process was not nearly as fun as it was with just a chicken breast.  I was trying to keep them all rolled nicely, it was not easy.  Also, make sure you really get it coated with the bread crumbs, allegedly this will help "seal" the butter inside the chicken.  I'll be honest I'm not sure how well that worked.

Don't use bowls, really bad idea on my part

After rolling and breading (is that a word? it is now) the chicken, place it in a glass baking dish, cover and chill.  The recipe says for 1-24 hours.  I gave it about 35 minutes because quite frankly I was hungry and didn't start the recipe early enough.  We all have to make sacrifices.

Preheat the oven to 400.  When the requisite chilling time is complete, melt the other tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium-high heat and then add the oil.  Cook the chicken rolls for about five minutes, turning with relative frequency in order to brown all sides.  This was a disaster.  The chicken was trying to unroll itself, my tongs kept "removing" bread crumbs.  I was displeased.  Place them in a baking dish when finished (if you're smart, wash the one you already used.  Hooray for saving dishes and no e coli!)

Put the chicken in the oven uncovered for 15-18 minutes.  I went with 18.  There was still a little pink on mine so I let it ride for about 20 minutes or so.  When its all done, pull it out, put it on a plate and even spoon some of the drippings from the pan over the chicken.

Orzo with Parmesan and Basil


- 3 Tbsp butter (are you noticing a theme with my cooking and the amount of butter involved? I need some new recipes or more time at the gym)
- 1 1/2 cup Orzo
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 6 Tbsp of fresh chopped basil (oh that is so much basil, who's excited - this guy)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese (slight variation, since I had been craving the asiago orzo recipe, I added a quarter cup of asiago as well.  extra cheese please)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper

This recipe is unbelievably simple.  Even you can make it, yes you.  Melt the butter over medium heat and add the orzo.  Saute the orzo until its starts to get golden brown, just a few minutes.  Add the broth and cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  For those of you that don't know, let me drop some knowledge on you.  When it says simmer, that means reduce the heat and let it sit.  Actually I really hope that I didn't need to explain that to any of you, because if you didn't know that...you know what I won't even insult you even though I should.

When all the broth has been absorbed, remove from the heat add the basil and cheese and mix it all up.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Yes this last step is basically every recipe's way of saying please take bites before actually serving this.  You know you wanted to do it anyway, now you have permission.

So here's how this went down. The chicken was a huge pain in the ass, ended up kind of ugly looking but still delicious.  It was cooked in butter, how could it not be?  The hero of the meal was definitely the orzo though, that was phenomenal.  Opened a bottle of Gnarly Head Zinfandel with dinner, which I hadn't tried before.  And as usual if you have the means I highly recommend picking it up, it was tasty.

I'm starting to wonder if I have really good luck picking out wines or if I'll drink anything I put in front of myself.  Either way I win.

Recipes: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/orzo-with-parmesan-and-basil-2/
http://www.recipe.com/chicken-kiev/

The Standards pt 1

There are a few things that I cook regularly.  And by regularly I mean constantly.  As they come up I'll alert you to their goodness and for the most part they are really easy.  For example, this salmon dish is one of my favorites to cook and eat.  In fact I've cooked this so often and for so many different people I believe it is starting to grow into an urban legend in Southern California.  The salmon that beats all other salmon.

Let me give you a little background, once upon a time I was introduced to a recipe for Beer Can Chicken by my eldest brother if I remember correctly.  Basically the recipe entails using an awesome cajun-style rub on a whole chicken, shoving a half full beer can up its butt and grilling it.  Yes its as good as it sounds.  I'll be sure to make the actual recipe and write about it sometime soon, it does require a grill and as I may have mentioned, I don't have one right now.  Anyway sometimes we don't always have the means or the need to cook a whole chicken, however I loved the spice rub so I started putting it on everything.  Literally I've used it on pork chops, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and my absolute favorite and the most delicious of all - salmon.

Beer Can Rub
- 3/4 cup Brown sugar
- 3/4 Paprika
- 3 Tbsp Salt
- 3 Tbsp Pepper
- 2 tsp celery seed
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl (it might be worth putting into a small tupperware container because if you are just making a few pieces of salmon there will be left over rub).  Mix everything together as best as you can, you want to have a nice even mixture.

Coat the salmon, and I mean really coat the thing, don't be shy.  It ends up working out almost like a blackened salmon this way, which is why I like it.

Fire up the grill, or in my case the grill pan, because....well you know by now.  Make sure your grill (or grill pan) are running over medium-high heat.  It's probably better to err on the side of too hot with salmon.  Fish does not take very long to cook through and you want to be sure to get a little of that blackened effect on the outside, which you will not get over medium heat.  It just won't happen

If you're on a grill, close the cover, if you're me put a piece of tinfoil over the pan to trap as much of the heat as you can.  Here's my general rule for salmon, and I've cooked a lot of salmon in my day so you can trust me, let the salmon cook for about 3-4 minutes per side, no more.  Fish dries out very quickly, it really only takes a moment for it to go from perfectly cooked to over cooked so be careful.

Remember that warning about the difference in heat between equipment, I totally failed on that again.  I can't stress enough how much I want my damn grill back.  I'm about to start painting the walls of my building to help them finish the job.  No big deal though, dropped the salmon back on there for an extra minute or two and all was right with the world.

Simple enough right? That might be them most boring thing I've told you about yet.  However it is also one of the best, seriously try it, if you can't cook let me know and I'll make it for you.  Everyone loves my salmon, like I said, legendary.

Since I can make the salmon in my sleep I decided to do something a little interesting with my veggies. I decided to make roasted cauliflower thats been coated in a sage butter.  This is a recipe from one of Sara Foster's cookbooks, which I highly recommend by the way.  However I don't have these cookbooks anymore, its a really long story that I'd really rather not go into.  But I loved this cauliflower recipe so I thought to myself, "Self, you could probably remember the recipe and just wing it"

Roasted Cauliflower with Sage-Butter


- Cauliflower (obviously)
- dried sage (you could probably make it with fresh sage, but I literally have four things of sage in my spice rack because I keep forgetting I have sage and I buy more.  So no way I'm buying fresh sage when I have such a surplus)
- butter
- salt and pepper

I'd give you precise measurements, but since I was making it up as I went its kind of hard to say exactly what was going on.




Break down the cauliflower into little chunks and spread out on a baking sheet.  Oh, and preheat your oven to 400.

In a small pan melt some butter.  I started with about 2 Tbsp, but added and additional Tbsp when it appeared that there wouldn't be enough of the sauce when I was done.  When the butter is melted, add approximately 2 Tbsp of sage.  You can add more or less depending on how much sage flavor you're looking for.  Then add salt and pepper to taste.  I'm kidding, what are you going to do take spoonfuls of butter to taste the salt and pepper levels.  Actually that sounds really good.  Probably about 1-2tsp of each will get the job done.

One quick note, I didn't do this, and the final dish lacked a little bit of the flavor I was used to.  So definitely throw some in there.

Once you cooked the concoction a little bit, spoon it over the cauliflower in the baking sheet, and stick it in the over for about 15-20 minutes, depending on whether or not you like a little crisp on your cauliflower, I do so I always cook it a minute or two extra.  Halfway through use a spatula to turn the cauliflower otherwise it will be REALLY crispy on one side.

Throw in a little salad and you have a lovely little weekday meal that really doesn't take a lot of effort.

Throw in a bottle of William Hill Chardonnay followed by a bottle of Sterling Chardonnay and you'll find yourself a little tipsy on a weekday, oops.  But let me just say, both fantastic wine.  The William Hill especially was very good, a citrus-y chardonnay which is not usually my preference, but I loved it.

Here are the Sara Foster Cookbooks I was referring to, if you're interested.

Changing of the Guard?

Throughout my childhood my parents cooked.  Mom cooked all week, and dad would construct grilling and other masterpieces for Sunday dinners.  Perhaps it is because of their affinity for cooking that everyone in my family cooks.  My mom likes to say that she is proud to have sent her four boys out into the world with the ability to cook and do their own laundry.  So while in San Francisco this weekend, my brother and I decided to return the favor and let mom and dad relax while we concocted a meal so delicious, so supremely awesome that they would be impressed by our culinary prowess.  Also it would make for a good blog post.


My young brother selected the menu and I strapped in to do what I do best, man the grill. (I call him little brother sometimes but that doesnt seem appropriate when he towers over me by 4 inches and can toss me around like a rag doll, so glad I got my shots in back in the day when I could) 


The menu: Grilled Chipotle-Rubbed Steaks with Lime Butter and Corn Cakes with Avocado Tomato Relish.  I like the way he thinks.  


Grilled Chipotle-Rubbed Steaks with Lime Butter
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 tsp finely grated zest from 1 lime (for those of you that don't know.  lime zest or lemon zest, or any zest for that matter means just using a fine grater to shave some of the outer peel of the citrus fruit)
- 1 Tbsp fresh juice from 1 lime
- Kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
- 1 giant hanger steak




I was tasked with handling the steak while he took care of the corn cakes.  I was more than happy to take this on since I've been missing my grill for about two months.  The recipe is actually extremely simple but promised to be delicious.


I had never made "compound butter" before, but it turns out that just a fancy way of saying add the ingredient and mash/whip/mix altogether.  I divided the butter in 1 Tbsp increments figuring it would make the mixing part a little easier than dealing with one big 4 Tbsp chunk of butter.


Add the lime zest, lime juice, and garlic into a bowl with the butter and mix.  In this case the recipe calls for the garlic to be minced.  My parents don't happen to have a garlic press in their apartment, so I settled for chopping the garlic as finely as possible.   Sometimes you just have to make due with what you've got.


Once the butter is all mixed it can be set aside until the steak is cooked and ready to go.  In another small bowl, combine the paprika, cumin and chipotle powder.  Sift, shake, mix it all around into the dry rub that we will put on the steak.  


The actual recipe calls for 4 individual steaks, we're carnivores so we have one giant steak.  Rub the mixture over the surface of the steak, front and back.  Then head to the grill to get it done.

If you're dealing with a gas grill, fire it up and keep the lid closed to let it get nice and hot.  If you're dealing with charcoal, that's awesome, I actually have never been fortunate enough to have a charcoal grill of my own, so do whatever it is that you do to get the thing hot.


Generally with steak I will let the temperature get to about 400-450 degrees before putting the meat on. When you have gotten there, add throw the steak on there and close the lid.  If you are relatively new to grilling, resist the urge to open the lid and flip the steak over and over again.  It is not necessary at all and in fact it will take a lot longer to cook as you are letting the heat out.  The end result will be a charred overcooked outside and the meat will never get cooked inside.  I say all of this because this is how I used to cook everything. I'd flip a burger 5 or 6 times and then wonder why the center was raw when the outside was well-done.  You really shouldn't have to flip your meat more than once.  

View from the grill....not bad at all

Depending on the size of the meat will depend on how long you leave it before flipping.  Also grills are different, each grill will get hot at its own pace and so cooking times will vary.  Since this was an away game for me I actually got caught up in that myself, but I'll explain that in a minute.  With individual steaks on my home court I usually give them about 6-7 minutes on the first pass and then flip and give it another 5 minutes.  This leaves me with a wonderfully delicious and moderately still bleeding medium rare steak.  Because I was dealing with a bigger piece of meat I left it for about 9 minutes on side 1 and another 6 on side 2.  

I brought the steak into the kitchen and sliced into it to find that it was completely raw in the center.  I was then informed that the grill I was working with never really seems to get as hot as other grills.  So I ran back up and threw the steak back on the grill for another 5 minutes or so.  


It ended up being all kinds of medium-rare perfection.  But I definitely had a minute of thinking that I was going to screw up the meat in my moment to shine.  


Slice the meat and serve putting a bit of butter on each serving.  


For the corn cakes I'll turn things over to my esteemed guest blogger, Matthew.

Hello Internet. 

So as Daniel started writing this, I realized that maybe my internet musing would best be spent discussing food, rather than a completely unguided hodge podge of sports discussion, ranging from high school basketball to internet memes related to the NFL.  That said, the Cantina is still open, feel free to go back and boost those pageviews!


I decided that Friday night while we were in San Francisco, Daniel and I should cook dinner for our parents, because why not.  I had seen this recipe online and was very interested to try it out, and so I paired it with the hangar steak recipe that Daniel has discussed. 


First off: corn....... Well no, first off, prepare all of your ingredients.  Both of these, the corn cakes themselves and the relish, had large ingredient lists, so lay everything out first for a little relief when actually putting everything together.  Yes, this may mean more dishes since, in my cases, you'll use many bowls of many different sizes, but it also ensures you don't miss anything along the way.


Corn Cakes with Avocado Tomato Relish:

• 3 large ears of corn, shucked
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cornmeal
• ¼ cup red onion, finely diced, optional
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• Canola or vegetable oil, for frying
For the relish:

• 6-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 scallion, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Juice of half a lime
• 1½ teaspoons olive oil
• 1½ teaspoons white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted and diced

 First off: corn.  Schuck and cut the corn from the cob of three large ears of corn. When doing this, rest the flat end of the corn in the bowl itself.  This gives some stability to the corn, and contains all the kernals when they go flying off the knife. Its like a splatter guard of sorts. Then comes the fun part. Take 2 cups of the corn and plop it in a food processor, and pulse and chop that bad boy up until purreed, but slightly chunky.  Kind of going for a chunky peanut butter consistency, which is what mine looked like. Pour that back in with the remaining raw corn.

Add in the dry ingredients and stir.

Add in the wet ingredients and stir.

Add in a spoonful of sugar, it helps...wait, wrong recipe.

View from the kitchen....we should always cook here

Set the corn mixture aside for now. Pop it in the fridge. Do it. DO IT.

So here's where the recipe falls short. The relish is fantastic.  really not a whole lot to it. And thats part of the problem.  There wasn't a whole lot of it. Honestly. I'd double the recipe for the relish and have leftovers, since it tastes pretty damn good on its own.  I got so excited a about the relish that I forgot take a picture of all the ingredients in their prep bowls, so here's a pictures of a scored avocado still in the pit.

Take all the relish ingredients and mix them in a bowl, but do hold off on adding the avocado, as it may brown if you leave it out. But brown avocado has never really stopped me from eating guacamole before. Then again, not a lot of things have really stopped me from eating in general, but I digress.

So now comes the fun part.  Pour some vegetable oil in a skillet (I used a cast iron one) and heat until it sizzles.  Fun fact: to find out if the oil is hot, run your hand under tap water, then give the skillet and Emeril BAM! to the oil. If it sizzles, let the corn caking begin.


Dollop out tablespoons of batter if you're lame.  Dollop out generous tablespoons of batter if you're awesome. Let it cook for abouot a minute, then flip[ it out and let it cook for another minute.  You could probably get away with less, as my cakes came out a liiiiiiiiiitle dry. When done, remove them to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat until all batter used.


These were awesome. Sweteness of the corn mixed with the creaminess/acidity of the relish provided a nice balance of flavors.






Recipe courtesy of Buns in my Oven.....yes, I said Buns in my Oven... http://bunsinmyoven.com/2012/06/04/corn-cakes-with-avocado-tomato-relish/

Thanks to Matt for his contribution.  Since we were eating with mom and dad, pops takes care of the wine selection.  Trust me, if you were me, you would always want him in charge of the wine selection.  We had a bottle of Zinfandel from V Madrone which was exquisite quite frankly.

And of course, it wouldn't be complete without a look at the final dish.