Home Cooking

There is just something about small town life that you miss when you’re away.

I was home for a few days and the first thing that welcomed me home was the wailing repeated melody coming from the cicadas. Brought a smile to my face. All that was missing was the porch swing (which was quickly taken care of and then got some citronella candles b/c of those nagging mosquitoes). Home.

Morning on the porch swing

Holding "paws" with my Cooper

The “quick” trip to the store and farmers market turns into a much longer trip than anticipated. You bumped into Mr. J at the farmers market and brought him up to speed with you life, and make small talk, then shoot the breeze with the each of the vendors you visit with (and happen to know since some of them taught you varied levels of math or coached you). Then run into one of your grade school teachers while on the spice isle at the store and then catching her up with where you are, and small talk.  Whatever part of the store you’re in or farmers market you're at… you see somebody and speak. The polite and Southern thing to do… always speak.

Every time I’m home, I always cook at least one meal for the family, more if I’m home for longer than a couple of days. I love when the family gets together and just hangs out in the kitchen. This time I made one of my go-to items then threw in a few new things. My family always knows when I’m cooking… The clues they have (minus the smells coming from the kitchen) are my music playing and the pups can be found at my feet being my “sous chefs”.

My little "sous chefs" They also clean up the floor :)

My go-to item this time was mint and garlic roasted chickens (I do 2 or 3). I make up a marinade consisting of garlic, mint, orange juice, a few spices and some olive oil. I like to let my chicks marinate over night, if I don’t have the time then a couple of hours will do. I always save the leftover marinade and make a sauce out of it… boil it for a good two minutes or more… I always go more since I just put it over a burner and let it go and stir it every once in a while. Kill any germs or bacteria… don’t need anybody getting sick. If you don't have a rotisserie, no worries. I've baked them in the oven at 375 degrees F till internal temp reached 160 degrees F. Just put the chickens in a roasting pan or a baking dish large enough to hold them.

This is a great recipe! It can be found in " Weber's Art of the Grill: Recipes for Outdoor Living" 

The roasted chicks always look so pretty and are very tender and juicy. One thing I do to get more of the flavor in the chicken is to stuff the cavity of the chicks with slices of oranges, smashed garlic cloves and few sprigs of mint. Tie the legs together and put it on the rotisserie (if you have one) and let them do their thing. If you don’t have rotisserie, I’ve put the chicks in a roasting pan with the roasting rack and let them cook in a 375 degree F oven till they reach internal temp of 165-170 degrees F. I go for 160 degrees F because of carry over cooking.

2 whole chickens in the marinade 

Chicks on the rotisserie 

I made a couple of new items for my family to try. The first was a roasted veggie salad, and the second was a cherry tomato gratin. They were both a hit with the family. Even more so since the recipes were healthy.

The roasted veggie salad I created consisted of parsnips, carrots, squash, zucchini and roasted sweet corn. I roasted all the veggies on separate sheet trays (simply tossed them in olive oil salt and pepper) and the corn I did slightly different. First, I halved a couple of limes and made a mixture of sea salt and chili powder in a small bowl. I then got one of the half of lime and put it in the slat mixture then rubbed the lime half on the ear of sweet corn, little drizzle of olive oil and then wrapped up the corn in tin foil and roasted it in the oven. I repeated the process on the remaining ears of corn. When the ears have cooled a little bit, I remove them from the foil then cut the corn off the cob.

The veggies for the Veggie Salad

Toss all the veggies together with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, lime juice and chili powder. I like to serve it chilled. You could serve it warm or room temp as well. It is still tasty either way.

The cherry tomato gratin was very tasty. I used the recipe for Ina Garten as a guide. I changed it up a little bit by instead of putting in the parsley and the thyme in, I opted to mirror the flavors from the chicks and the veggie salad. Instead, I grated some lime zest into the bread crumbs, added in chili powder, and mixed in the olive oil as well. I still tossed the cherry tomatoes with a smoked salt, pepper, minced garlic and olive oil. I wanted more color variation as well so I did red and yellow cherry tomatoes. They both added different sweetness and acidity to the each bite. It baked up beautifully! I only got the before shots of the gratin but wasn't able to get a shot of the after... it was that good. I've made the original recipe and it is great!

Cherry Tomato Gratin assembly 

I'm serious about stuffing the cavity of the chicks... I can always tell a difference when I don't stuff them. They have more flavor when I do. ANOTHER thing about the chicks... If you can't get a whole chicken, I've made that recipe with boneless/skinless and bone-in/skin-on. For the boneless/skinless I still marinate the chicken and I will grill the chicken. For the bone-in/skin-on I like to loose the skin a little and put mint sprigs, crushed garlic and an orange slice under the skin and roast them in the oven. 

Enjoy! Happy Eating!!


Here is the recipe for the Mint and Garlic Chicken

Garlic and Mint Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

·      10-12 medium garlic cloves

·      1 ½ cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

·      1 Tablespoon chili powder

·      1 teaspoon kosher salt

·      ½ teaspoon ground pepper

·      ¼ cup olive oil

·      ¼ cup orange juice

·      2 Tablespoons soy sauce

·      1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)

-       *In a blender add peeled garlic, mint, chili powder, pepper, olive oil, orange juice and soy sauce; puree till smooth.

-       *In a gallon Ziploc bag place chicken then pour the marinade in.

-       *Let marinate over night

-       *Cook whole chicken indirectly over high heat till the juices run clear and internal temp is 160°F .

Croque Monsieur s’il vous plaise

The name alone, Croque Monsieur, just sounds decadent. Honestly. More fun to say than ham and cheese sandwich. Calling it ham and cheese doesn’t do it justice.

It is more than just a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. It’s toasted buttery bread with sandwiching layers of melting cheese and ham that is lastly topped with a creamy béchamel sauce and more melted cheese. See… the name fits.

Croque monsieur s’il vous plaise!

Croque Monsieur

A friend of mine just recently had a birthday to celebrate. What did she ask from me? Honey lavender ice cream (see previous post). Well, I obliged, but took it a few steps further. I decided that I would cook dinner for her and some friends.

So, there is this movie with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin called “It’s Complicated”. If you’ve seen it, then you know the part I’m about to mention. Yeah, that scene where Meryl’s character is preparing a dinner for a guest… Croque monsieur. I was watching this movie with my previous mentioned birthday friend, and at that part she said, “Oooo. That looks good! Can you make that?” I just laughed because that isn’t an unfamiliar question I’m asked when food is in a movie or on TV (this is where I got the idea for what to make for dinner).

I got to “work” on the dinner most of the day. Why? Well. It was on a Saturday and I went to the famers market and decided to make a day of it. Got up “early”… well, I should’ve woken up earlier b/c I would have been able to get everything at the market… I slept till 8 so by the time I got downtown… you know how the story goes.  

Note to self: get up earlier than usual to go to the farmers market so not to have slim pickings. Farmers markets are THE place to be on Saturday mornings. 

I did get some great cherry tomatoes (made some bruschetta as an app) and lettuce (for a simple salad) from one vendor, and then got some challah bread for the croques and French baguette for the bruschetta app. Lastly got the eggs and honey. Just had to pop over to the store and get the ham and other dairy.

When I got back to the house from my Saturday morning food adventure, I got right to work on all the food prep… got the ice cream mix started right away so it could chill, then moved on to quartering up the cherry tomatoes and tossing them in some olive oil, basil, garlic and salt and pepper. Grating cheese for the croques. The kitchen was coming to life as the smells were swirling around.

Getting everything together and ready went by swiftly, and the guest started to arrive. I pulled out the ice cream from earlier and put it in my trusty ice cream maker (love my kitchen aide ice cream maker).

As the guest snacked on the bruchetta and chatted, I was able to get the croques started. Sliced the challah bread and spread them on a sheet pan. Slipped the bread into the oven under the broiler to toast. As the bread was toasting away, I started on the béchamel sauce. The smell of butter was now taking over the kitchen. My dance began.

The following paragraph is insight of my train of thought during the whole process…

Ok, slice the bread. Get it even. Under the broiler. OK. Start sauce. Butter into the pot… melt, add flour. Stir. Stir. Stir. The bread is turning golden brown, time to flip. I need both hands for this. Back to the sauce… keep stirring. Add warmed milk, keep stirring. (Was I just asked a question? “Hmm? What was that? Oh no. I got it. Not too much longer.”) What was I doing? Oh, right, the sauce… still stirring. The bread. Bread is ready to pull out of the oven. Back to sauce, add cheese and stir (oh man this smells amazing); remove from heat; add salt and pepper and taste (This is going to be sooo good). Set aside… Focus on nothing but assembly: Spread Dijon mustard on bread slices, top half of bread slices with ham, then add cheese, pour béchamel sauce over cheese, top with other bread slice (Dijon side down), pour more béchamel sauce, top with more cheese, back under broiler to melt. Remove from oven… Dinner is ready! (I didn’t make as big of a mess as I thought I would. What’s that humming?) Oh the ice cream. Put in a container and put in freezer. Now time to eat.

Like I said. It was a dance. The kitchen smelled of butter and cheese. I was so focused on “my partner” (the oven and cook-top) I didn’t notice that everybody was glancing their eyes into the kitchen watching my dance.   

Mmmm... Croques under the broiler

The most rewarding part of the whole day was the silence I heard when dinner was being consumed.

My favorite moment is that silence when the first bites are taken.

The only noise was the faint background music and the knives on the plates cutting the Croques in half. After the first few bites were down did any talking start back up again.  I served up the ice cream after everybody became members of the clean plate club. Chattering was to a minimum again as they ate their Lavender and honey ice cream. 

The dinner was a hit and the food was well received.... There weren't any leftovers. This is a crowd pleaser. The simple side salad paired nicely with the Croques. Served the salad with different choices of vinaigrettes and the leftover quaraterings of cherry tomatoes. I highly recommend this to anybody. The ingredients are easy to come by and cheap. 

Another great thing about this recipe for Croques is that they can be altered by one ingredient and the name changes... Croques Madames. All you have to add is an egg. The egg is either fried or poached. Whatever your fancy, it will be a hit. Happy eating/cooking/baking!!!

The Fried egg for the Madame

The Monsieur and the Madame

Cutting into the Madame

Honey and Lavender Please!

I’ve always been weary of using floral; more so rose than lavender, in foods. Why? Well, because, to me, the uses of rose in deserts taste more like the potpourri in my grandparents’ bathroom than a dessert. Not really something I want to ingest, but I do brave the waters and experiment. Yes, I braved the road of florals and I’m really happy I did.

Now I have recipes that have lavender or rose in them, I’ll either substitute other ingredients or when I do go by the recipe I have to reduce the amount of rose or lavender because it is always overwhelming.

The  first recipe…

Honey and Lavender Ice Cream… it was delicious! I used the recipe from David Lebovitz. His recipes are all so amazing! (If you haven’t checked his stuff out it is a must!) I’ve made this recipe many times before and it is always a hit. The only thing I did differently was to not put more dried lavender at the finish; I’m not a fan of the texture of the dried lavender at the end. (I’ve done it both ways and still a hit with or without the additional dried lavender). The lavender is very subtle and you still have the flavor of the honey. It tastes like a light and refreshing ice cream. This ice cream does remind me of the ice creams I would eat in France. There were always a variety of flavors that were more interesting than just vanilla, chocolate and mint chocolate chip (not bashing those flavors, I just loved the variety I had). Some flavors that I remember most are Nutella, cassis, and Basil strawberry. 

Group shot of all the ice cream cones (Anncey, France 2011)

Flavor L to R: Lemon, Browned Butter, Nutella (Anncey, France 2011)

Another recipe I have is a Honey and Lavender Shortbread cookie. I made these to send my niece for her first birthday. This recipe originally didn’t have honey in it… I decided to bring it into the mix to add another layer of flavor (the honey I like to use is an orange blossom honey. I was able to find some locally, which I prefer to use as much local produce and products as possible). Lets just say that the first few batches of cookies didn’t make the cut… but I finally got the recipe right. They were a hit with my niece and my sister and brother-in-law.

For Honey Lavender cookies: Reduced the powder sugar to half a cup and added 1 tablespoons (TBS) of honey

The ingredients 

So what I did for this recipe is creamed the room temp butter with the powder sugar and honey then added 3 TBS of dried lavender. This was when the kitchen smelled amazing with all the butter, sugar and lavender. Once all ingredients are incorporated, I dropped a tablespoon and half sized cookies onto a greased cookie sheet and baked them till they were golden brown. When they are baking your kitchen will be flooded with the smell of lavender and butter cookie goodness. The cookie itself had subtle lavender taste and the honey flavor also shared the spotlight. It is the perfect little cookie to have with tea or as a little snack that you don’t feel so guilty about eating.

The dough when it comes together

The finished product... too bad scent-o-vision hasn't been invented