Summer Saute

What to do with fresh sweet corn, zucchini and basil? Combine them together for a delicious saute salad (recipe from Everyday Food). Cut kernels from 6 ears sweet corn. Saute sliced zucchini and 1 minced garlic clove in a bit of oil. After a few minutes, add corn, salt & pepper and cook for another couple minutes, until heated through. Remove from heat and add a cup of chopped basil and a touch of white wine vinegar. So simple!

Fresh, flavorful and light, this dish is summer in a bowl.

Tasty Tuesday

Last night I gathered up ingredients and headed to St. Paul in order to enjoy dinner with Liz at her place. Much of what I have been cooking lately has come from Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine, and this was no exception. I made Asian Chicken Stir-Fry Wraps and they were both easy and delicious. Saute cut-up chicken until opaque, remove to a plate. Add 1 cut onion and 1 cut pepper to pan and saute until just starting to brown, about 3-6 minutes. Add 3 chopped garlic cloves, about 1 tbsp grated ginger and red pepper flakes, saute for another minute or so. Add chicken and any accumulated juices back to pan. Add 3 tbsps soy sauce, 3 tbsps rice wine vinegar and 1.5 tsp corn starch mixed with 1 tbsp water. Remove from heat, stirring sauce together, and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve chicken mixture inside Boston lettuce leaves. Liz and I also squeezed fresh lime juice on our wraps.
I stuck with both the Asian and the healthy themes for dessert, and made Banana Chocolate Wontons. Mix together diced banana with mini chocolate chips. Lay wontons out on greased or lined cookie sheet. Put spoonful of choc-banana mixture on each wonton skin. Fold wontons into triangles, wetting the edges so that they stick together. Bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350º oven. Sift powdered sugar over wontons before serving. There turned out to be a lot of these, so luckily Nicki, Haley, Sarah and Hanna were there to help us out. We all agreed the wontons were very tasty and that next time, we will make sure to have ice cream to accompany them!

Madre's Birthday

Mom's birthday is this Tuesday, March 20, but she wanted to celebrate over the weekend while Michael was still home for spring break. She got lucky this year and we all got together not once, but twice to celebrate.

Mom has been a bit nostalgic lately that a year ago now, we were preparing to go visit Liz in Spain. So on Friday night, we had a Spanish meal to bring back some good memories. To start off we had some classic tapas: olives (aceitunas) and a good Spanish cheese with crusty bread. We also had our favorite drink from Spain, Tinto Verano (summer wine), which is Rioja wine mixed with Lemon Fanta (we use Sunkist Lemonade) and a squeeze of lime. Sipping this drink brings us right back to our favorite cafe in Toledo. For dinner, I made Paella, a dish we ate almost daily in Spain. Paella is a rice dish made with various combinations of vegetables, seafood and meat. The dish is typically flavored (and colored) with saffron, which just happens to be the world's most expensive spice. The version I made included shrimp and chicken sausage, and used paprika and tumeric in place of the saffron. It turned out wonderfully and Mom loved it.

Mom had also mentioned that she would enjoy a brunch, so on Sunday, that's exactly what she got. Joe (Liz's boyfriend) and Rick joined us for the occasion, so we had a full crew. There was a brunch menu I had been wanting to try from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine and this turned out to be my opportunity. The menu consisted of Egg Strata, Roasted Potatoes, Tomatoes with Basil Vinaigrette and Pecan Shortbread. The strata, the vinaigrette and the shortbread could all be prepared the night before, so all I had to do on Sunday was chop some potatoes and an onion and get those and the strata in the oven. While those baked, I could slice tomatoes and get everything ready. Mom likes to have champagne on her birthday, so we also made Mimosas.

The Pecan Shortbread turned out really good and it was so easy to make. Begin by preheating the oven to 350º and lining a square baking pan with foil. In a food processor, pulse 1 cup of pecan halves until finely ground and then pour pecans into another bowl. To food processor, add 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 stick cold unsalted butter (cut into pieces) and 1/4 tsp salt. Pulse until moist clumps form, then add ground pecans and pulse until combined. Pour mixture into lined pan and press down with your fingers. With a floured fork, poke shortbread every 1/2 inch or so. Bake for 30-35, until light golden brown. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then pull out of pan using foil. Cut into 15-18 bars with serrated knife. Store in airtight container. Yum!

Mom doesn't really cook, so I think two good meals with her children was really the best gift I could give her. All the food turned out so good, and she was able to take home leftovers from both meals. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

jP American Bistro

On a Friday night whim, Rick and I decided to go out for a nice dinner. I wanted to go somewhere new, somewhere we had never been. So we called jP American Bistro, a restaurant I have been wanting to try, and were able to get an 8:30pm reservation (and we were calling at 7:45pm). The restaurant is located in Minneapolis, at 2937 Lyndale Ave S, very close to the Lake Street intersection.
The picture shows the dining room, and we were seated at a great table along the left wall, very close to the kitchen. We began our dining experience with a beer for Rick ($4.50) and JP's Rustic Pizza with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cashew/Currant Pesto and Pecorino-Romano ($12.50). It was very good, albeit very rich (fairly warned by our server). I really enjoyed trying it, but it would have been better suited split amongst more people.

For our entrees, we ordered the Pan-Seared Diver Scallops with Baby Bok Choy and Leeks Warmed in a Soy Beurre Monte ($29.50) and the entree of the day: Smoked Duck Breast with a Red Wine Reduction, a Risotto cake and Swiss Chard with Roasted Tomatoes ($28.50). When our dinners came out, our server brought the Duck and a Chicken entree...oops. He was so genuinely apologetic and since we were splitting both dishes, we really didn't mind. It actually worked out well because we were able to enjoy the Duck, and then enjoy the Scallops. The Duck Breast was fantastic, absolutely delicious, as were the sides it came with. Rick and I left not a morsel on the plate. Then came the Scallops, which I must say were the best scallops I have ever had. Along with the bok choy and leeks, these also came with potatoes, which were far too buttery for my liking.

Greg, our server, nicely informed us that we were welcome to order a dessert on the house, due to the entree mix-up. We were quite full, but who can pass up free dessert??? I went with a light choice of Strawberry Sorbet, which came with two small cookies and a spring of mint ($5). The restaurant gets its ice creams from Sonny's, and that sorbet was perfectly light and refreshing. So after our free dessert and my buy-one-get-one-free-entree coupon, we got out of there for an impressive $49.

I was very impressed with jP American Bistro and would absolutely go there again. Owner JP Samuelson was working the kitchen, which is always reassuring. Our server Greg was honest, knowledgeable, friendly and attentive. The dining room was calm and relatively quiet, and the food was excellent. We definitely fell below the average age of Friday night's clientele, but no matter. Overall, I would highly recommend jP American Bistro. A friend at work just told me they have "the best" calamari in town, I will be returning soon to find out.

Let's Dish!

A few of the gifts I gave this year involved finding ways to spend time with my special recipients. For Meggie, I told her that I would take her to Let's Dish!, which is one of those make-and-take-home meal joints. How it works is you sign up for the location, the date and time you would like to come in, decide how many meals you want to make (4, 8 or 12) and choose the meals off that month's menu. You can either go in alone and make full meals (to serve 6 people each) or bring a friend and split the meals (to serve 3 people each), which is what Meggie and I did.
Last Thursday, we went to the Arbor Lakes location to make our meals. Upon arrival, we received bandanas, aprons and snacks. The staff member brought us to our fist meal station and gave us brief instructions before letting us loose. Basically, you make a meal, label it, stick it on your shelf in the freezer, wash your hands and find your next station. Meggie and I quickly realized that we were the only novices in the crowd. Once we figured out how to split everything and determined that we should read all the directions, we were good to go. Meggie made our 4 menu selections, which consisted of Tortellini with Walnut Sauce, Chicken & Asparagus Risotto, Asian Barbequed Pork Wraps and Raspberry Chipotle Pork Tenderloin.

Our sign-up time was 5:30pm and we were all done by 6:20pm. We both agreed that this was something we would do again. That very night, Meggie made the Tortellini and it was very good. A couple nights later, I made the Risotto and that also was tasty. Each of those meals only served 2, but I am expecting the pork wraps and the tenderloin to actually serve 3. I am most excited to try the meat dishes, I will make comments on this posting with how those turned out.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

For the first time on Christmas Eve, mom, Liz, Mike and I had dinner together, just the four of us. I cooked, with mom and Liz helping out in the kitchen. I wanted to cook a meal that was somewhat fancy, yet simple to prepare. I composed a menu consisting of steak with black cherry sauce, risotto with sweet peas (both from Rachael Ray) and roasted carrots with honey-lemon dressing (from Martha Stewart).

We cooked the steak in a George Forman grill, which easily allowed each of us our preferred level of doneness. The sauce consists of minced shallots, black cherry preserves, balsamic vinegar and a very small amount of butter. The original recipe calls for the sauce to be served with lamb chops, but I have found that it goes wonderfully with steak and I think it would be excellent on pork as well.

For the roasted carrots, toss cut carrots with some EVOO, cayenne pepper and salt. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet (lined with parchment for easier cleaning!) and roast at 450º for 20-40 minutes (depends on the amount and size of carrots). When the carrots are roasting, whisk together a couple tablespoons of honey, some freshly squeezed lemon juice and a bit of lemon zest. When the carrots are done, toss them with the dressing and serve. These were absolutely delectable. The spicy cayenne on the sweet carrots is complemented perfectly by the tangy lemon dressing. I highly recommend these!

For dessert I made a balsamic-caramel sauce, which is served over vanilla ice cream (from Michael Chiarello). First, begin by heating 1 cup of heavy cream until boiling, then reduce heat and keep warm. Combine 1 cup of granulated sugar with 2 tbsps of water in a large saucepan. Cook for about 8 minutes, brushing sugar crystals off the sides of the pan with more water, until sugar is browned. Remove from heat and slowly add cream to sugar. Also add 2 tbsps of balsamic vinegar (recipe called for 4 tbsps, which I think would have been way too much), about 3/4 of the juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 tsp salt. Although the recipe didn't call for it, I put the pan back on low heat and added some brown sugar to help thicken/sweeten the sauce. It was very thin at this point, but did thicken significantly as it cooled. I was a little nervous while making the sauce, but it actually turned out really well. Mom loved it and Liz and I really liked it as well (Mike choose not to try it).

Dinner was a delicious success and it was so nice to be able to be at home with my family. Liz and Mike both stayed the night at my place and mom came back over in the morning. We had our annual Christmas breakfast of egg bake and blueberry muffins, to which we added a frittata this year. After opening presents and relaxing, we were off to aunt Diane and uncle Tom's house for a fabulous day of family and food.

An Azia Birthday Dinner

It was my 26th birthday on Tuesday, December 5th and departing from the usual family routine, we went out for dinner. I wanted to try somewhere new, and decided on Azia (pronounced "asia"). The restaurant is located on Eat Street in Minneapolis, on the corner of Nicollet and 26th. Joining me were my mom, Liz, Rick and my aunt/godmother Diane.

I drank a Pomegranate Mojito, the other ladies each had wine and Rick had a Corona. We started with Cranberry Puffs; a tangy take on cream cheese wontons, Malaysian Skewers; chicken with a tasty peanut sauce, and Avocado Crisprolls; fried spring rolls with an avocado filling. The first two appetizers were very good, the Avocado rolls nothing special. Starters averaged around $9 each.

For entrees, we split the Pad Thai; to which we added chicken, Grilled Pork with Apple Plum Chutney; served over mashed taro root, and Carmella; pecans, shrimp and coconut atop vermicelli pasta. The pork dish was our favorite, the pad thai was simply pad thai and the shrimp dish was a disappointment. The entrees we chose averaged around $22 each.

Our server was efficient, but a bore. She offered no recommendations on drinks or food, even when specifically asked. The host was much more pleasant. He was very friendly from the minute we walked in, asking as to what the occasion was, wishing me a Happy Birthday, checking back with us during our meal and happily taking photos for us.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Azia, but to be totally honest, I wasn't wowed by the food. For those prices, I expected a bit more quality. I would consider returning there, probably not for a meal but more likely just for drinks and appetizers.