I was feeling like making a hummus lately and Justin had grabbed ingredients to make our Pasta Puttanesca tonight, so I swiped some of his sun dried tomatoes and basil for my hummus. So good.
David Bowie died yesterday. He's all I've been playing today. I can't bring myself to choose some punk rock tunes for this recipe. -jen
SUN DRIED TOMATO AND BASIL HUMMUS Time: 10 minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: about 3 cups Need: Food Processor
1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium clove fresh garlic (2 if you like garlic a lot, which we do)
4 whole sun dried tomatoes (packed in oil)
1 medium green onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1/2 a medium lemon (about 1.5 tbsp)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Combine garbanzo beans, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, green onion, salt, lemon, and sesame oil in your food processor. Process until vegetables are chopped fine. Add all remaining ingredients except the olive oil and turn processor to a medium. While processing, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until a smooth dip (most processors have a lid where you can drizzle through the top while it's processing).
Serve with pita or tortilla chips, fresh vegetables, or use as a sandwich spread.
I have another similar recipe on the blog, the Cheesy Cauliflower Bake. In that one I steamed the cauliflower in large chunks on the stove. Lately, I've been enjoying "riced" cauliflower with the food processor, then cooked in the microwave, so that's what I did this time. And broccoli, of course. Just a few little differences. We both really liked this recipe though. Had it tonight with pork medallions and I did up a pan gravy with the drippings. Delicious!
Have had Hot Water Music's "Wayfarer" in my head. -jen
3 tablespoons green onions, diced (about 3 medium)
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Sriracha sauce (or other hot sauce)
salt and pepper to taste (I used my KFCseasoning, a little Mrs. Dash and some white pepper)
1 egg, lightly whisked
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, F. Prepare a 2-quart 8"x8" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Add cauliflower and broccoli to food processor. Pulse until vegetables are about the size of rice. Place in a microwave safe glass bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 10 minutes (bowl will be hot!!) Let sit for 5 minutes with plastic wrap on.
Return cooked vegetables to the food processor and add butter, cream cheese, and yogurt/sour cream. Process on high until smooth and creamy. Return to glass bowl and stir in shredded cheese, green onions, Worcestershire, and Sriracha. Now is the time to add your salt and pepper while you can still taste it and adjust. Then stir in the egg.
Transfer to the prepared baking dish, making sure mixture is level. Sprinkle Parmesan over the top and bake at 400 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Top should be golden brown. Serve immediately.
Cheesy Cauliflower and Broccoli Casserole with pork medallions and gravy
I'd like to take credit for this awesome dish, but I really feel like I need to give credit where it's due - Ina Garten's Scalloped Tomatoes. I went through and added what I wanted, subtracted what I didn't want and my methods were a little different. But I still wouldn't feel right if I didn't give Ina credit, as her recipe is great. Ours is just better. (Sorry, Ina! We love you!) Justin was baking us a loaf of boule the other day, but whether it was due to temperatures or humidity, it just didn't rise as much as he'd hoped, so it came out a little dense. I'd remembered seeing Ina make her Scalloped Tomatoes recipe and thought our dense bread would be perfect for this... and it was!
I wondered why this dish was called "scalloped"; it was my understanding that meant a dish was made with a cream sauce. So I did a little researching on the magic interweb and it seems there are a few different definitions of what "scalloped" means in the culinary world. While I didn't find a solid answer, I did find this article that summed up the variances nicely. Still, I didn't know if I really wanted to call this recipe Scalloped Tomatoes - I didn't know if it would really explain what the dish was to someone browsing recipe names. Now, the same website that broke down "scalloped" has this to say about "au gratin": "Au Gratin means garnished with crumbs (usually bread) and grated cheese, then baked or grilled (aka broiled.)" I think this definition fits the bill for my recipe more. Now, because I don't speak french, I don't know if it's grammatically correct to call the dish a "tomato gratin" or "tomatoes au gratin" and I couldn't find an answer on that.
I'm not sure how we've done all these recipes and not used a Black Flag song yet. What the hell is going on?! Rectified now... Black Flag (with a long-haired Rollins) doing "Nervous Breakdown". -jen
2.5 pounds (10-12) fresh Roma tomatoes, diced (1/2")
2 teaspoons salt
olive oil
2.5 cups cubed artisan bread (1/2")
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup rough-chopped green or kalamata olives
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic (5-6 cloves)
1/2 cup basil, roughly chopped or julienned, packed
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a shallow 2-quart baking dish (8"x8") with non-stick cooking spray.
Place diced tomatoes in a strainer over a bowl. Toss with salt and set aside.
Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over a medium heat. Add the bread cubes and toss in the olive oil to coat. Let cubes toast into croutons, stirring often, until dark golden-brown and crispy, 5-8 minutes. Add drained tomatoes, sugar, black pepper, olives, onion and garlic. Cook an additional 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in basil.
Transfer mixture into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle Parmesan over the top, and drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes. Serve hot.
I'm not really into making bread... but I don't mind making focaccia at all. It only takes 20 minutes to rise. You don't have to do much kneading. And the stand mixer makes it even easier (though it's not necessary.) We've been making this recipe since I first moved out to California about 9 years ago and we like changing it up. Pepperoni... grilled onions... green olives... jalapeños... different cheeses. It's a pretty versatile recipe. Sometimes we use the dough for pizza crust! Sometimes we use it to make pepperoni twists or bread sticks. I've sliced a loaf in half, made a pesto mayo, and then made a giant sandwich with pepperoni, salami, Mortadella, provolone... sliced it up into little finger sandwiches with toothpicks stuck through 'em and took it to a work party. It's pretty great. I made a quick and easy marinara dipping sauce to go with the pepperoni version I made today.
I was actually in a soul mood (as I often am)... usually I go with some 60s soul; Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, James Carr. But today, I felt like some doo-wop soul and was listening to The Drifters, The Temptations, some old James Brown. I couldn't really think of any punk covers of soul music... which is a shame, because those are probably my two favourite styles of music. (Anyone think of any?) But The Dirtbombs from Detroit came to mind... a little punk influence, some definite soul influence. They seemed the way to go! So here they are, doing "Your Love Belongs Under A Rock". -jen
HERB AND CHEESE FOCACCIA Time: 50-55 minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: 1 loaf
2 and 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (or any combination of dried oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, etc)
1 pinch black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil (separated)
pepperoni
2-3 tablespoons grated Paremesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella
In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast, sugar and water. Stir until dissolved. Let sit for about 5 minutes until bubbles form on top. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and black pepper. When yeast mixture has proofed for five minutes, mix in flour mixture and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. If using a stand mixer, use the kneading attachment and knead dough for 10 minutes. If mixing by hand, stir until combined. Then on a lightly floured surface, knead dough by hand for 10 minutes until dough is and elastic.
Form dough into a ball. Using 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil, lightly coat a large bowl and place dough into bowl, rolling around to coat with the oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 20 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size. (I like to preheat the oven to 450 at this point and let the dough rise on the top of the stove towards the back near the heat.)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat down dough and place onto parchment paper, patting flat and forming into a 1/2"-3/4" loaf. Using the remainder of the olive oil, lightly brush the top of the loaf. Place desired amount of pepperoni over the top, then sprinkle Parmesan and mozzarella over it. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool and serve.
People always tell us that they don't have time, money, patience or know-how to cook a good, healthy dinner at night. We call bullshit on that! We're broke people who stick to a weekly budget and we cook simple, healthy meals several times a week after both of us working a full day (usually with enough leftover to eat a healthy lunch the next day, saving even more money). A lot of the recipes we post on here are our "splurges" away from our regular, simple roasted protein/veggie dinners. I was about to make one of those simple dinners tonight, but then I thought I'd "get crazy" by doing a sauce and cheesing up the veggies. I wasn't really considering posting the recipes, they seemed too simple. Justin asked, "Why not? People like fast, easy and cheap recipes and it was really good!" So it's coming at you... basic stuff!
This tune's been going through my head the last few weeks as I've seen a lot of The Transplants' recent tour pics. Elvis Cortez, lead singer of Left Alone, was touring with them. So I've found myself listening to some Left Alone in the last few days, and this is them doing "My Whole Life". -jen
In a large bowl or plastic zip bag, combine zucchini and olive oil to coat. Turn oven to broil. Arrange zucchini in an even layer on a large baking sheet (I always line it with foil for ease of clean up!) Sprinkle basil and Parmesan evenly over zucchini. Broil for 3-5, until cheese browns.
So this is an older recipe from five or six years back that we decided to resurrect and revitalize. My brother, Drew, always raved about this one since it's creamy, cheesy, pasta goodness with some awesomely spiced chicken so this remake is for him. I used some penne that I had around the house but you could use some fettuccine or whatever you prefer. Also, the mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes are optional and can be added in quantities to your liking or not at all if that's what you prefer.
For musical accompaniment, The Vandals with Urban Struggle. Cause it's the Vandals, that's why. - justin
BLACKENED CHICKEN ALFREDO Prep time: 20min Cook time: 25 min Difficulty: Medium Serves: 4-6
Enough water to boil 1 lb of noodles
1lb of noodles
1 lb boneless skinless chicken cut into 1 inch cubes or thin strips
1 tbs blackened seasoning
4 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup diced yellow or white onion
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup white wine (I used a pino grigio)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 chopped green onions
Toss the chicken and the blackened seasoning together in a gallon ziplock and set in the fridge. This can actually be done as early as the day before cooking if you really want to get those flavors in there.
Salt your pasta water generously and bring it to a rolling boil and add your pasta of choice. Bring it back up to a boil and drop it to a low boil for 10 min, or until al dente. Drain and set aside.
When you drop the noodles in the water, bring a cast iron pan up to heat over a medium burner and add 2 tbsp of the butter and let it melt. Add your chicken that had been sitting in the blackened seasoning and let it blacken. The milk solids in the butter, along with the spices in the seasoning, will turn dark and blacken as the chicken cooks. Try not to move it around too much before the surface touching the skillet has time to caramelize a bit. If it doesn't blacken completely, don't fret. You're going to smother it in alfredo later anyway and it's going to taste awesome so no worries.
When your chicken has cooked, remove and set aside. Return the pan to the heat and add the mushrooms, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. Saute for 3 minutes or until onions become translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute more. Add the wine, lemon juice, and lemon zest and simmer for 5 minutes, using a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the chicken that was set aside, the heavy cream, kosher salt, and ground black pepper and bring the heat up till the cream is at a low boil. Allow it to reduce by 1/3.
After the cream sauce has reduced and thickened, kill the heat, stir in the butter, Parmesan and the pasta. Mix well and allow the pasta to absorb some of that sauce. Serve it up with the chopped green onions served on top and with a couple of slices of the sun dried tomato if you like!
We love garlic in our house even more than we love bacon. Massive quantities of garlic go into just about everything we cook. I've been meaning to make some more soup recently because we had several containers of vegetable broth in the freezer as well as bags full of frozen veggies to make more stock, so I knew I had to use some up. Roasted garlic soup is something neither of us had tried, but we've seen it on a few cooking shows and wanted to try it! Lots of the recipes I saw online were for a completely smooth, creamy soup, but I wanted a little bit of chunky vegetable bite in mine. Man, this soup came out great... we'll be making this one again soon, no doubt!
If you're not real familiar with the qualities of roasted garlic, I think it's important to explain that as the garlic roasts, it loses it's sharp, pungent taste and becomes much more mild and sweet. So if you're not as into garlic as we are, don't let the 4+ heads of garlic in this recipe scare you away! It's really got a pleasant, smooth flavour to it.
Thought I'd go with some F-Minus for this recipe... we'd just finished watching the movie/documentary "Give 'Em the Boot" again the other night, and I was thinking how I don't have many female singers posted on the blog here. So F-Minus, performing "Light At the End". -jen
3/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper (or 1 small pepper)
3/4 cup finely diced carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
1 and 3/4 cup finely diced Yukon Gold potato (or 1 medium potato)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons flour (or 1/4 cup for a thicker soup)
1 quart vegetable or chicken broth
4 bulbs of roasted garlic (see roasting instructions below, takes an hour to roast)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sherry
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup heavy cream
black pepper to taste
shredded Parmesan cheese and lemon wedges for serving
To Roast Garlic: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop the tops of the garlic heads off. Peel away the outer skins (leaving the clove skins in tact). Place on aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Fold foil up around garlic heads and seal. Place foil packet in oven, directly on rack, and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven, carefully open foil, and allow to cool. To remove garlic from the garlic paper, just squeeze the whole head and the garlic will deliciously ooze out... just be careful not to mix any of the garlic paper in.
** For this soup recipe, I took about 1/2 a cup of the broth and the roasted garlic and blended it until smooth. I highly suggest doing this.
In a stock pot, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add diced onion, bell pepper, carrot, potato and minced garlic. Cook until onion and pepper are tender, 5-7 minutes. Stir in flour to coat vegetables and cook another 3-5 minutes. Add stock and roasted garlic all at once and whisk so that the flour doesn't clump. Add Worcestershire, sherry and thyme. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes. Stir in cream and let simmer an additional 10 minutes.
To serve, place Parmesan cheese in bottom of bowl, ladle soup over the cheese, and squeeze the juice of 1-2 lemons into soup.
I didn't really have any musical inspiration for this recipe... this is one I've been making since 2005. But it's a quick, tasty way to kick up your popcorn! And since I feel compelled to post some music, I'm going to go with Hot Water Music's "Trusty Chords" on the album "Caution" (because it was the last song I was singing in the shower). -jen
PIZZA POPCORN SEASONING
2 tablespoons Dry Spaghetti Sauce Mix (in the gravy/sauce packet section of your grocery store)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs mix
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper (optional for spicy popcorn)
Blend all ingredients in a blender or mini food processor until fine powder. Sprinkle on buttered popcorn!
