Sweet and Sour in Boston

I love fall for its resurgence of pumpkin related products. I love pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin beer, etc. This past weekend, I came up with my own version of a pumpkin pie martini. The caramel syrup is a little tricky, but it's very worth it. You could use leftovers in coffee for a yummy treat.

Pumpkin pie martini

2 oz vodka
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tsp caramel pumpkin pie simple syrup (recipe follows)
1 dash vanilla
2 ice cubes
A cocktail recipe from our Libations Liaison:

Combine in a cocktail shaker and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie Syrup

2 cups sugar
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Heat about 1/4 the sugar in a sturdy pot over medium heat. Once it begins to caramelize, add more sugar, stirring to incorporate. Once all the sugar has caramelized, remove from heat and add water. Be careful, the mixture will sizzle (I wear an oven mitt). Add spice and stir to incorporate. You may need to return to heat if the caramel starts to stick. Allow to cool, then strain into an airtight container.

Not really sure what to call this dish. Basically we had veggies leftover from the previous night and some frozen drumsticks. I seared the drumsticks and then took them out to rest. Then I quickly cooked some onions, shallots and garlic. Next, I put in a can of tomatoes and the leftover veggies along with a little chicken broth. Brought everything to a boil, then took put the drumsticks back in and covered and put in the oven for about 40 minutes. Turned out pretty good, but I probably could have seasoned it a little better. It's not quite a chili, so I guess it's just braised chicken with veggies. Whatever, it's super easy and a good cleaning out the fridge type of dish.

Dinner last night probably couldn't be truly considered a Beef Wellington because we didn't use pate or foie gras or mushroom duxelle, but it turned out pretty good. I substituted a spinach, cream cheese, and caramelized onion mixture instead. Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Next time I'll follow Gordon Ramsay's recipe (found here) and wrap the beef with parma ham and let it sit while I roll out the dough. This would make it a much tighter package.

Recipe is as follows:

1. Sear your beef. I had a nice piece of Chataubriand left over from portioning the whole beef tenderloin that was just sitting in the freezer.





2. Take the beef out and let it rest.

3. Saute onions, garlic and shallots until nice and brown and caramelized.




4. Mix frozen spinach (thawed and drained) with cream cheese and onion mix.



5. Rub mustard over the beef.



6. Roll out the puff pastry.



7. Spread down a layer of the spinach mix over the puff pastry and lay the beef down in the center. Roll it up.

8. Score and egg wash the whole thing. Sprinkle with salt.



9. Cook 30 minutes in the oven at 400.

10. Take it out and let it rest for 8-10 minutes.

11. Cut into thick slices and enjoy.





Things I would have done differently:

1. Sprayed the aluminum foil with non-stick spay.
2. Used parma ham as stated above.

Otherwise this turned out pretty good for my first try.

Took a trip to Costco to get a whole beef tenderloin. Along the way, we picked up a few items that we just couldn't pass up.




Sure it'll probably take us months to finish the cheesballs and years to finish the panko, but those are good values. And the vanilla extract from Kirkland is the same price for a smaller glass vial at Stop and Shop.

But the main event is the beef tenderloin. Tonight we are making cheesesteaks out of the chain meat, but I got plenty of steaks for a while. (My previous post on breaking down a whole beef tenderloin can be found here.)





Before I could get to the cheesesteaks, Abby made some red velvet cupcakes. Absolutely amazing.








To make the cheesesteaks, just trim the chain meat of any fat and pound into flat pieces. I seasoned the meat like I would a steak, with salt, pepper, cumin, Montreal Steak Seasoning, and some oil. Then I browned both sides on a griddle. I also sauteed some peppers and onions while the steak was cooking.





I took the meat off the griddle and placed into some aluminum foil, which I left there while the bread was in the oven toasting. Normally we use Vietnamese baguettes, but tonight we tried Portuguese Sweet Rolls. When the bread was done, I chopped up all the meat and put it back on the griddle with the onions and peppers. I added some cheese and then placed it all into the sweet rolls.





And because we wanted something healthy as a side, we steamed some frozen broccoli.

Of course we topped off the night with a cupcake or two. Not a bad Sunday at all.

A while ago we showed you how to take good, yet boring, Ramen and turn it into something fancy. In the same way, you can take mac and cheese from the box and turn it into something more. For example you can brown some ground beef and make your own cheesy, beefy, macaroni. Or do like what Abby came up with: chicken and tomato mac and cheese. Here's how we made it.

Ingredients:



Chicken breast. We've been getting these freezer packs from Costco. Not only are they priced very well, they come in pairs in sealed freezer packs. Take out the night before and place in the fridge and you are ready to cook by the time you get home from work.



Canned Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies. These are fantastic to have in the pantry. Can be added to just about anything. The generic brand from our local grocery store is cheaper and tastes just as good.



Instant Mac and Cheese. Kraft of course. There is no other brand to choose from.



How you do it:

First cut the chicken breasts into bite sized portions. Season with salt, pepper and chili powder. Saute in a hot pan with some butter. While the chicken is cooking, bring some water to boil in a pot.



After the chicken is done cooking (I slightly over did the chicken tonight but it wasn't as dry as it looks) drain the tomatoes and add to the chicken. Heat the it all together over medium heat while you finish the mac and cheese following the directions on the box.



Add everything together and mix it up.



Put in a bowl and eat.



This is a great "clean out the pantry" dinner. It's also a simple easy meal to make to help you become more confident in cooking. Just be creative and don't be afraid to give different combinations a try.

I tried to make roasted chicken this past Sunday using a Gordon Hamersley's recipe I found online:

http://www.relishmag.com/article/29361.html

It turned out pretty good, but not as great as I think it can be. Next time I'll probably do a brine the night before.

I roasted some potatoes with garlic and onions as well as a side dish. This turned out well too, but it gave the plate a very plain look. I was too lazy to do a pan sauce, but it wouldn't have been too tough.

This being Lent season, and Abby giving up fried food and fast food meant that were weren't going out for McDonald's Filet o'Fish, so we cooked up our own fish at home. Last week we made salmon, this week we went with flounder. I actually meant to make catfish, but the Whole Foods I went to on my way home from work on Friday didn't have any catfish, so I settled for flounder. I made the flounder a couple of different ways, cajun blackened and lemon pepper. (Though in the pictures they look exactly the same...I probably should have wiped down the cast iron in between cooking, but I was lazy.)

The cajun blacked was made by combining a bunch of different spices (paprika, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, etc) into a pie dish and completely covering the two flounder filets with the spices. Then to a nice and hot cast iron pan, I added a little oil and cooked the filets about 3 minutes each side. This causes a lot of smoke!

The lemon pepper was just as easy. In a mixing bowl, I added some EVOO and the juice of one large lemon and a lot of cracked black pepper. I let the filets sit in this marinade for 30 mins, then cooked it in the same manner as above.

Abby made a side of cous cous and we served it with a wedge of lemon. Turned out ok, but I think I should have broiled the lemon pepper one instead, and possibly could have breaded it. Flounder has decent flavors too, but I think I like catfish better.