Almond Cake with Cardamom and Pistachio

a.k.a. Persian Love Cake.  I found out about this type of cake (and its "legend") while trying to find something to make for my hubby for Valentine's day.  Many of the recipes I came across contained rose water, but given my last experience with that ingredient, I didn't want to go that route (I'll brave it again eventually).  I was delighted to come across this one--it looked just right. And oh, it ever was!  Hubby loved it, so it was a happy Valentine's day indeed :D

Link to original recipe:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013089-almond-cake-with-cardamom-and-pistachio

Ingredients:

1/2 c. canola oil (plus additional for oiling the baking pan)
7 large eggs, separated
1 c. sugar
1 T. almond extract
2 tsp. ground cardamom
420 grams/14.8 oz. almond flour/meal (you can grind up almonds in food processor for this, but be careful not to grind too much or you will get paste)
powdered sugar for dusting
chopped pistachios for garnish
optional: drizzle frosting to top (this is the pink that is in the picture, as I tinted it for Valentine's)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Oil a 9" round cake pan (I think mine is actually 9.5") and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.

3. Whisk in oil and almond extract.

4. Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry.

5. While egg whites are whisking, add the cardamom and almond flour to the egg yolk mixture/bowl and stir to combine.

6. Gently stir in 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then use a rubber spatula to gently fold in remaining 2/3 of egg whites.  Batter will be thick and heavy.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in middle of pan comes out clean, around 40-50 minutes (mine was done at 40 min.)

8. Allow to cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on rack.

9. Dust with confectioner's sugar and top with pistachios (and drizzle frosting, if desired--I used a thinned version of homemade vanilla frosting).

10. Slice up and enjoy!

Chicken Thighs with Pancetta, Cream, and Bourbon

Mmmm mmmm mmm. This was super tasty and rich--and ever so satisfying!  I had some chicken thighs to use up in the freezer and poured over recipes for a while before settling on this one.  I was a tad skeptical about the flavor profile with the short list of ingredients, but it certainly did not disappoint!  I only modified slightly from original recipe, which can be found here:

http://www.saltandlavender.com/crispy-chicken-pancetta-mushrooms-bourbon/

Ingredients:

4 oz. diced pancetta
8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced (you could sub baby bellas if desired)
4-6 chicken thighs (I used 5, as that is how many would fit in my skillet without crowding)
1/3 c. chicken broth
1/3 c. bourbon
1 1/3 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. In an ovenproof skillet, cook pancetta over med-high heat for 5-7 minutes, until just crispy (this was "7" on my stove, using a cast iron skillet).

3. Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms.  Add them to skillet once pancetta has crisped and cook for 5 additional minutes, stirring occasionally (I lowered heat to 6 for this step).  Transfer mushroom mixture to a plate.

4. Add chicken to the pan, skin side down.  Lower heat to medium (5 for my stove) and cook for 8 minutes, moving the chicken around occasionally so that they do not stick to bottom of pan.

5. Turn chicken over and cook 4 additional minutes on other side.

6. Remove pan from heat and add chicken broth first.  Stir and let bubble down, then add bourbon, stir around.

7. Add heavy cream, garlic, and pepper and stir around. Return mushroom mixture to pan and stir in.

8. Place skillet in oven and bake for 30 minutes.

9. At the 30 minute mark, stir sauce and turn chicken over.  Bake for additional 15-20 minutes (I went 20 to be sure), until chicken registers 165°F on instant read thermometer inserted in deepest part of a thigh.

10.  Serve with desired side(s) and enjoy!  (I made mashed potatoes and a simple salad, as pictured :))

Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Valentine's week proved to be quite an indulgent one, as per usual.  It started with me making a lovely steak meal and having these as one of the sides.  These were super yummy, will make again!

Link to original recipe:
http://www.girlgonegourmet.com/goat-cheese-stuffed-mushrooms/

Ingredients:

4 oz. goat cheese
1/2 T. milk
1/2 T. herbes de Provence
14-18 whole cremini mushrooms (original recipe says this is 8 oz.; for me, it was closer to 12 oz.)
1/4 c. panko
1 1/2 T. melted butter
1/2 T. fresh Italian parsley, chopped (I think I may have subbed a smaller amount of dried)
1 T. olive oil
1/2 T. balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F.

2. Line baking sheet with tin foil.

3. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and discard.

4. In a small bowl, mash together the goat cheese and herbes de Provence.

5. Add milk and stir/mash to combine.  (I'm pretty sure steps 4 and 5 could be done as one.)

6. In a different small bowl, combine the panko, parsley, and butter.

7. In a larger bowl, toss mushroom caps with olive oil and balsamic.

8. Place mushroom caps on the baking sheet, gill side facing up.

9. Fill each mushroom with around 1 tsp. of goat cheese mixture, followed by topping of bread crumb mixture.

10. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until bread crumbs are browned and crispy.

11. Allow mushrooms to cool a little before serving (they will be very hot inside!!).  Enjoy!

Winemaker's Rouladen with Celery

This is yet another recipe that made me wish I had extra stomachs to eat more of it when served.  Sooo very yummy!  And not difficult to make, either--just takes a while to cook.  The original recipe comes from a book titled Cooking With Wine by Anne Willan.  

The smaller rolls in the pictures are the end pieces that weren't quite the right size after cutting.  Next time I plan to ask the butcher to slice the meat for me.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. flank steak, sliced thin, cut into 8 long pieces, just wide enough to roll to a small tube shape

1/2 lb. ground sausage meat (I used mild Italian sausage)

16 thin slices of bacon

1 T. vegetable oil (I used canola)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

4 or 5 celery stalks, sliced

1/2 bottle (375 mL) medium-dry white wine (I used Château Ste. Michelle Gewurztraminer)

Instructions:

1. Lay the slices of steak on a work surface.  Divide the sausage meat into 8 pieces and spread each one onto a slice of steak in a line down the center.

2. Roll the slices lengthwise to form a long tube shape (mine weren't quite wide enough to close all the way, but were still fine, so don't worry if yours aren't :)).

3. Wrap each roll with bacon (2 slices each roll) tight enough to keep it closed and cover the seam (or any open spots).  Do not overlap the bacon pieces.

4. In a deep frying pan, heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat.  Add rolls and brown on all sides (mine only got slightly browned; this caused me to finish the browning in a later step).

5. Transfer the rolls to a plate.  Add the onion and carrot to the pan and sauté until softened, around 3 to 5 minutes.

6. Stir in the celery and increase heat to high; stir and cook until starting to brown, around 3 to 5 minutes.

7. Transfer the rolls back to the pan, placing them atop the vegetables.  Pour the wine over the top of rolls and vegetables.  If needed, add enough water so that the liquid level is around halfway up the rolls (I had to add around 1/3 c., I think).

8. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low (or whichever level is needed to keep at simmer).  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rolls are very tender when pierced--around 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours (mine were fairly tender at 1 1/2 hours, so I went a few more minutes to be sure).

9. When the meat has finished, if the bacon was not fully browned/crisped in step 3, transfer to a separate pan and cook just long enough to achieve desired doneness/crispness (this only took a couple of minutes for me).

10. Meanwhile, leave the lid off of the pan with the vegetables and increase the heat to medium-high.  Boil sauce until reduced by about half (think this took around 5-8 minutes).

11. Serve rolls with the vegetable sauce and enjoy (a lot)!  I accompanied this with very too hastily prepared mashed potatoes (I'll do better next time...)

Papparadelle with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Would have had a post a few days ago, but it was such a failure that I do not feel like making the effort to even blog about it, despite hubby's insistence that it really was good (it was ok enough, I admit, I still ate a serving).  Just a note to self that I shall never attempt the beef ribs bourguignon from the 'wine' cookbook ever again.
Fast forward to last night. I was in the mood for a recipe that wouldn't take too long and use up the little bit of remaining crème fraîche hanging around in the fridge.  Found the perfect one here:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/02/creamy-mushroom-fettuccine-recipe.html

Since I only needed 2 servings, I cut the recipe in half.  The original recipe calls for fettuccine--didn't have any of that, so I went with papparadelle instead, think it turned out great.  I also subbed regular white button mushrooms for the cremini.  They worked fine, too; looking forward to making it again, though, and trying cremini next time :)

Ingredients (amounts are for 2 servings):

1/4 c. chicken stock (I used my homemade version)
1/4 oz. dried porcini musrooms
1/2 T. butter
1/2 T. olive oil
8 oz. white button (or cremini) mushrooms, cut into eigths
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper, to taste
8 oz. dry papparadelle (or fettuccine)
1/4 c. crème fraîche
2 T. grated Parmesan

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.  Just before draining the water, dip out a 1/4 c. to reserve in a bowl and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a small covered saucepan, heat the chicken stock and porcinis over medium heat until reaches a simmer (this does not take very long, so be sure to check after a couple of minutes if your lid is opaque).  Remove from heat and keep lid on on pan.

3. In a large, high-sided braising pan, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat and swirl around to coat bottom of pan.  Add button mushrooms and sauté, stirring often, until starting to brown slightly--around 6 to 7 minutes.

4. Add shallot, garlic, and thyme.  Season with salt and pepper (you can be generous with these; I will be more so next time, as I went rather easy on it this round and found it needed more later).  Reduce heat to low and cook for additional 2 minutes, stirring often.

5. Strain the sauce off from the small saucepan into the mushroom mixture, reserving the porcinis.  Cook the mushroom mixture until almost absorbed (around 1 minute) and then cover pan, turn off heat.

6. Place reserved porcinis in a mini-food processor, along with the crème fraîche.  Blend for just a few seconds--just long enough to chop and blend in the mushrooms with no large chunks remaining.

7. Add the crème mixture to the other mushroom mixture and stir to combine.

8. Toss in the pasta and Parmesan, along with just enough reserved pasta water to achieve a sauce that lightly coats the strands of pasta.  Serve up and enjoy!

Roasted Chicken Thighs (on a bed of potatoes)

In search of a quick and easy recipe to do (as I am still on the mend from a cold, ugh!) with chicken thighs, I came across this one and had to give it a go.  It is pretty darn tasty, will have to make again!  I modified a bit, as I was not so sure the potatoes would have enough moisture to get cooked through (as original is written), and the chicken looked on the dry side, too.  Happy I did, as it turned out wonderfully moist!

Link to original recipe:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/herb_roasted_chicken_thighs_with_potatoes/

Ingredients:

1 T. plus 1 tsp. olive oil, divided
1 1/2 lbs. yellow/Yukon gold potatoes, sliced thinly (I used closer to 1 2/3 lb. because of pan size, sliced in food processor)
2 shallots, thinly sliced (used mandolin slicer, only 1 shallot because hubby doesn't prefer)
2 lb. bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs
sprigs of fresh thyme
2 T. butter, cut in small dice
1 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. balsamic vinegar
1/2 T. herbes de Provence
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus additional for seasoning
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper, plus additional for seasoning
2 tsp. bottled minced garlic

additional butter (small pat for each thigh, did not measure)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F.

2. Spread 1 tsp. over the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish (I used a ceramic one that is slightly larger (not a standard size) and it worked just fine, too).

3. Layer sliced potatoes over bottom of dish evenly.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper, to taste.

4. Top potatoes with layer of shallots spread evenly.

5. Place chicken thighs in layer atop of shallots.  Nestle sprigs of thyme around the thighs.

6. Mix together remaining ingredients EXCEPT the additional butter in a small bowl.  Divide and spread mixture to top each chicken thigh, and then sprinkle/distribute butter dice all around.

7. Bake for 50 minutes or until internal thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh reaches 165°F.  If desired, at the 40 minute mark, top each thigh with a small pat of butter (like a half-pat).

8. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Rolled Flank Steak Prosciutto and Basil

I made this back in November and thought I'd already posted it, oops!  This was super tasty and easy, I will happily make again.  However, next time, I will only make half of it because that was more than enough for the 3 of us (which is what I did in the video below). I pretty much followed the recipe as written, only slight modifications--here's the link to the original:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/rolled-flank-steak-prosciutto-and-basil

Update 2024--here's a link to my YouTube "making of the recipe" video: https://youtu.be/fO-iL3cfj4E

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients (this is for 2 rolls, which would easily serve 6-8):

1 c. coarse dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 c. shredded Italian Fontina cheese (3 oz.)
1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (3/4 oz.)
3 T. olive oil, divided
1 T. plus 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme, divided
One 2-lb. flank steak
5 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto
1 c. basil leaves
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, parsley, Fontina, Parmesan, 2 T. of the olive oil, and 1 T. of the thyme.  Set aside.

3. Lay the steak on a work surface with a short edge facing you. Press one hand flat on the meat to steady it. Using a long, sharp knife, make a horizontal cut in a long side of the steak to within 1/2 inch of the opposite edge. Open the flank steak like a book. **Instead of this, I simply asked the butcher counter to do it for me, pretty sure that's a much easier option lol!**

4. On the cut side of the meat, cover it with a layer of prosciutto slices.  Next, top with a layer of basil leaves.

5. Last, spread the reserved bread crumb mixture evenly over the top.  Starting with the side facing you, tightly roll up the steak around the filling and use butcher's twine to secure (this is a bit tricky and the filling does want to squish out).

6. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the olive oil (1 T.) and thyme (2 tsp.) with the salt, garlic, and pepper.  Rub mixture all over outer sides of rolled steak.

7. Heat a cast-iron skillet (or other ovenproof skillet) over moderately high heat and add the rolled steak (I had to cut in two to make it fit).  Cook, turning, until browned all over (around 8-10 min.)

8. Transfer skillet to oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, depending on desired doneness (I think I went 25 minutes).

9. Place rolled steak on a carving board, cover loosely with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

10. Slice up and enjoy!