Kitchen gadget

A great kitchen gadget is something that you can use for any meal, no matter what time of day. I have been looking to get an indoor grill/griddle for quite some time. I nearly purchased one from Crate & Barrel only to find when I got to the cash register that it didn't work on my glass-top stove.

I kind of forgot about the quest for a while until I was flipping through my Costco coupon book and came across the Cuisinart Gourmet Griddler 4-in-1 grill/griddle. At $79.99 with coupon it was a little more than I'd wanted to spend, but after using the new gadget 3 times in one day I was convinced that it will be a good investment in the long run.

Meal: Breakfast
Setting: open griddle


I LOVE banana pancakes and was so excited that all of my pancakes turned out perfectly golden brown on my new griddle. I set the temperature at high, as recommended by the instruction manual.


Meal: lunch
Setting: closed grill/panini press


I didn't have any artisanal bread so I just used some of the whole grain sandwich bread I had in the refrigerator. On my panini I put turkey, Gouda cheese, mushrooms and avocado. I lightly spread some butter on top of the bread before putting it on the grill.



Meal: dinner
Setting: open grill/closed grill


A few weeks ago a friend of mine passed along a bag full of lemons. With those lemons I made a fantastic lemon & asparagus pasta dish. Since it was such a light and delicious meal I decided to add a few ingredients, including grilled chicken and zucchini.

2 small to medium sized chicken breasts

1 medium sized zucchini, cut in rounds then in half again (half-moons)

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1 pound bow-tie pasta

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Accompaniment: freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Grill or bake chicken. Season with pepper and lemon juice.

Grill zucchini or add it with asparagus in steamer. In a steamer set over boiling water steam asparagus, covered, until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer asparagus to a colander and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Drain asparagus well.

In a 6-quart kettle bring 5 quarts salted water to a boil for pasta.

In a deep 12-inch skillet heat butter and cream over moderately low heat until butter is melted and stir in zest, lemon juice, and salt. Remove skillet from heat and keep sauce warm, covered.
Add pasta to boiling water and boil, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Ladle 1/4 cup pasta water into sauce and drain pasta in colander.

Immediately add pasta and asparagus to sauce and cook over moderate heat, tossing, 1 minute, or until heated through. Add parsley and salt and pepper to taste and toss well.

Sprinkle pasta with a little Parmesan and serve more Parmesan on the side.

Friday night food

Key lime coconut cake, yummy!

In case you didn't realize, I've been out of touch with my blog lately. The reason for this being 1) I went on a two week vacation to Panama in the middle of April and 2) things have been a little stressful at work after 192 coworkers were laid off on Thursday.

But I'm here, and I'm ready to share with you a Friday night experience that took place the night before I flew to Panama. My roommate and I decided to invite some friends over to continue a semi-regular Friday night tradition of watching a few episodes of Freaks & Geeks (a Jud Apatow tv series that went off the air after one season). We'd come across some fabulous recipes and decided to make it a mexican-themed night.

Here's what was on the menu:

Mexican chicken soup

Empanadas

Key lime coconut cake

Since Liz had made the Mexican chicken soup before, she took the reins on that, while I made the empanadas and we both worked on the cake.

I searched through a few empanada recipes and kind of combined a bunch to come up with my final product. One thing that REALLY saved me was the use of Trader Joe's pre-made pizza dough. It's found in the refrigerated section and comes in plain, wheat and herb flavors. For the empanadas I used the plain.

Before working with the pizza dough I cooked the filling. The base of my recipe came from a chicken and chorizo empanada from Smitten Kitchen. Here's what I used inside:

1lb ground turkey

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 large onions, halved lengthwise, then cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 California (can also use 2 Turkish bay leaves )

1/3 cup finely diced Spanish chorizo (cured spiced pork sausage; 1 1/2 oz; casings discarded if desired)

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (not hot)

1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives (I used jalapeno stuffed olives)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 cup shredded mexican-blend cheese

3 bags of Trader Joe's pre-made pizza dough

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Sauté onions, garlic, and bay leaves in, stirring frequently, until onions are softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add ground turkey and cook until turkey starts to lightly brown.

Add chorizo and paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add olives, wine, and broth and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer mixture, covered, 25 to 30 minutes total.

Discard bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, then cool filling, uncovered, about 30 minutes.


Form Empanadas: Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Divide dough equal pieces and form each into a disk. (The remaining dough can be stored in the freezer for future use.) Keeping remaining pieces covered, roll out 1 piece on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 5-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Or if you find it easier to work with, stretch the dough with your hands.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling onto center, sprinkle some cheese on top and fold dough in half, enclosing filling. Press edges together to seal, then crimp decoratively with your fingers or tines of a fork. Transfer empanada to a baking sheet.

Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Recipe made about 18 hand-sized pockets.

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The Key lime coconut cake was also from Smitten Kitchen and was probably the most popular plate of the evening. I won't type out the recipe because we didn't deviate from what was given to us, with the exception that we used Malibu coconut rum instead of plain rum in the glaze.

Goodbye ER, I'll miss you

Last night marked the end of 15 seasons full of laughter, tears, relationships, deaths and some cheesiness thrown in on the side. The folks of the Chicago County General ER will no longer be guests in my livingroom on Thursday nights and for that I am a little sad.

I started watching ER when it started. Not to date myself, but I was in junior high school when it started. That was the first late night show I was allowed to stay up for, but not on a regular basis.

It was great to start out this final episode weaving new characters into the original ER theme song. I always fast forward through the opening credits these days and forgot how catchy the theme song was. I always love the part when Dr. Benton is doing some sort of Karate in the hallway.

After watching last nights finale, my roommate and I concurred that we were glad they didn't do some super cheesy ending (ie: helicopter falling off the roof and killing everyone). I liked that the show ended with just another day in the ER. I thought it was a bit odd that they would introduce a new character (Alexis Bledel as Julia Wise) in the finale, but found myself wishing that she had been introduced as a regular character earlier.

Looking back at some of the Season 1 synopsis on IMDB there isn't really a lot I remember. In fact I only recognize storylines with regularity during Season 5 when 3rd year med student Lucy (Kellie Martin) joined the show. I'm now looking forward to getting to know my ER friends all over again by starting over from the beginning.

Do you have any fond memories of ER? Did you stick with it until the end or did you tune out at some point? If you tuned out, did you at least watch the series finale?

Friday night gluttony

There are a few foods out there that are really only good for eating a few times a year, or better yet, just once every blue moon. For me, KFC is one of those places.

KFC never really made a permanent place on the dinner table when I was growing up. Usually it was a treat for summer picnics or a last resort when all other fast food joints in my small hometown were closed.

When I was really small I didn’t even really like KFC; I peeled the fried parts off, which was maybe one reason why I was such a skinny kid. Over time, however, I learned to love the original recipe and all its glory. Then in high school, KFC introduced popcorn chicken and soon we were eating lunch at KFC a few times a month. I was addicted.

At present day I don’t often pass by KFC restaurants, let alone patronize the place. Every time I do see one I tell myself that I need to go in for some of the Colonel’s tasty treats. I sure did miss those delicious biscuits and the popcorn chicken morsels.

Then one day while walking to breakfast at The Mission (probably one of the more wholesome breakfasts you can get) in North Park my roommate and I passed by a KFC. I laughed and said to her that maybe we should skip The Mission and just get a bucket of chicken. She looked at me with eyes full of glee and told me that she wouldn’t mind getting a bucket of chicken one night and watching movies at home. Challenge accepted.


This week a friend bought the Twilight DVD and offered to bring it over for Friday movie night. What a perfect time to sink our teeth (no pun intended, ok, well, maybe) into some juicy, crispy fried chicken. I was the last one to get off work, so I offered to pick up the food to make sure it was still warm for everyone.

I never thought of KFC as an intimidating restaurant, but it had been so long since I’d been to one that when I walked in I kind of looked like a deer in headlights. It’s not a very extensive menu, but what the heck should I order. 12-piece or 24-piece bucket? And what came in said bucket? I know mashed potatoes are a side, but are there other options? The menu wasn’t providing me answers to such questions.

“Can I take your order?” was being shouted at me (ok, so maybe shouted was an exaggeration, but like I said, intimidating!) from behind the register. Oh no. Ok, between 3 of us, a 6-piece bucket was probably enough. “And you want mashed potatoes with that, right?” the cashier told me. Ack, ummm, whatever you say KFC master. But I knew I wanted more than the 3 biscuits that came with the meal-deal. “What kind of biscuit sides do you offer?” I asked timidly. “It comes with biscuits already.” She responded. “Don’t look at me like that, I just want some more damn biscuits, alright.” I only thought that to myself and ordered a side of 2 more biscuits (even though I truly wanted more). “Will that be for here or to go?” the evil cashier asked. Ummm, lady, did you not see me walk in alone. Do you really think I’m going to down 6 pieces of chicken, 5 biscuits and some mashed potatoes by myself?

I finally got my bucket and headed home. Upon opening the door to my apartment I was hit with an increasingly typical apartment smell of newly baked cupcakes. What the?! I shout for the girls and tell them that the fried goodness has arrived and turn the corner to the kitchen to see my roommate pulling out a tray of cupcakes – Sprinkles cupcakes nonetheless. Oh geeze, as if the night needed to be any more unhealthy…but then we started watching Twilight. Enough said.