Beef with Red Curry Sauce

To go along with the soup I made the other day, I made another Thai dish as the main course.  While this was good, it wasn't nearly as good as the soup.  I doubt I'll make this one again, but wanted to blog it anyhow for the record.  It may be that it wasn't as good because I omitted the sugar snap peas--I kind of doubt it, though, as the sauce this made did not match the darker color of the original recipe's photo.  Not sure how they achieved that color given the amount of coconut milk used.

Link to original recipe:

http://atasteofthai.com/thai-recipes/beef-with-red-curry-sauce-recipe/

Ingredients:

1 lb. stir-fry sliced beef

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T. canola oil

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 1/2 T. red curry paste

1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk, divided

1 T. dark brown sugar

1 T. lime juice

2 tsp. Thai fish sauce

handful Italian basil, torn

Instructions:

1. Sprinkle beef with salt, stir, and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high (8 for my stove) heat.  Add onion and red pepper, cooking and stirring until tender-crisp and starting to brown.

3. Push the vegetables aside and add red curry paste.  Add 1/2 can of the coconut milk and stir to mix until paste is blended in milk.

4. Add remaining coconut milk, brown sugar, lime juice, and fish sauce.  Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.

5. Add beef and cook until browned/no pink visible (I had to scrape sauce off of pieces in order to tell).

6. Lower heat and stir in basil.  Cook for 1 more minute.

7. Serve with desired side and enjoy.  I chose boiled plain Basmati rice.

Thai Coconut Mushroom Soup

I love going out to Thai restaurants and nearly every time I do, I order Tom Kha Gai soup, which is a coconut chicken soup.  I've been wanting to attempt making it at home for a while, but haven't made it by an Asian market to pick up the galangal (a root similar to ginger (but not the same exact flavor)).  I was considering a special trip for it when I stumbled upon this recipe that only used ginger and struck me as possibly being a close match.  While it isn't the same exact flavor, it is super tasty and similar enough to satisfy the craving for the real one--will be making again for sure!  I thought I had snapped a pic of it in my serving bowl, but apparently not, so I'll have to add a better pic next round...

Link to original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/thai-coconut-chicken-soup-recipe
*amounts listed below are halved from original, as I only wanted to make for 2 people.  I omitted the chicken and added extra mushrooms, as I like them more in the soup than the chicken.

Ingredients:

2 c. chicken stock (I used my homemade)
4 pinches of bottled shredded kaffir lime leaves (or 2 small fresh leaves, hand torn)
1 small Thai chile, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 piece of fresh ginger, 1 1/2 inches long, peeled and cut into 2 chunks
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, cracked open with handle of knife
6 1/2 to 7 oz. unsweetened coconut milk
1 can (13 oz.) straw mushrooms, drained
1 T. Thai fish sauce
3/4 tsp. dark brown sugar
juice of 2 limes

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil.

2. Add lime leaves, chile, ginger, and lemongrass.  Lower the heat to medium-low (or in my case, LO--it was simmering too hard at any setting above that) and cover the pot, keeping at a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Uncover pot and add remaining ingredients, stir to combine.  Increase heat to medium to bring back to simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Remove ginger chunks (and chiles if you can find them).  Ladle up and enjoy!

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!