Chicken Liver and Prosciutto Crostini

I have a fondness for food and activities of a 60 year old.  I love pinochle, jazzercise and chopped liver.  Often I am alone in my love of organ meats, cardio and card games with my peers but it doesn't matter.  These are the things I enjoy.  SS has given me a valid reason for forcing my penchant for liver onto my friends and family.

 For Superbowl, I decided to make a crostini that most likely few guests would try, Chicken Liver and Prosciutto Crostini.  The recipe was fairly simple and Silver Spoon like in that it asked me to use a large amount of butter, a fair amount of prosciutto and onions and saute for a long time.  Meanwhile I warmed up some milk in a small pan and kept it ready.  I added the livers and cooked them for a few minutes with several sage leaves.  I added a small amount of milk here and there to keep the mixture from drying out.  After a few minutes of cooking I transferred the mixture to the food processor and chopped it for a few minutes.  Then put it back in the pan with more butter and a bit more milk.

 To make them more people friendly, I topped it with bacon slices.  My BFF said it was almost as good as her Nana's.  She is a fellow liver lover.   Mostly people didn't eat them, but I didn't care.  I loved the recipe.  It reminded me of late nights with my parents in Connecticut playing pinochle and eating chopped liver.  I know, I will fit right in at the old folks home when the time comes.  Coming up next, low carb gnocchi and Beef Stroganoff a la Silver Spoon!

Braised Beef, This One is Pretty Easy

The difficulty experienced from the afore mentioned Zucchini a Sopresa, the Braised Beef made up for in ease.  I was carrying on a fluid conversation with M., my gold friend, and also making chicken wings and didn't break a sweat.  Although the particular page that the recipe on is super greasy now in my Silver Spoon book it was pretty easy.

First I melted butter in olive oil (is this blog formulaic or what?) and then I added some carrots, onions, and celery and cooked for 10 minutes.  Next I browned the roast on all sides  and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I added 3/4th cup of wine and let it cooked off and then added the Meat Stock that I refused to throw away after I made it the last time.  It was super expensive to make and all I did is boil leeks in it.  So when I drained the leeks, I put the stock in ziplock and froze it.  Take that expensive stock!  I defrosted it in the microwave and added it to the pan with 4 canned tomatoes and one fresh one.  Then I added tomato paste diluted with water  and brought the mixture to a boil.

Once boiling, I lowered the heat and set the timer for 1.5 hours and ran around cooking the rest of the food. After it was finished cooking it was remarkably firm.  Way more 'toothsome' than the other braises I have made from the SS.  I wonder if it has something to do with the tomatoes?  My favorite judges said the beef was tasty but not a stand out, and I would have to agree.  On Superbowl night the beef was not very tender although the flavor was good.  The leftovers have been delicious, way more tender and with an increased amount of tasty.  If you are undecided as to which braise you should try, I would suggest Braised Beef with Onions, it was tender and had amazing flavor.

Well, a storm is about to hit us any minute, so I have a natural urge to go to the grocery store and buy things I don't need.  Later today, I will catch you up on my tales of chicken livers and maybe some stuffed tomatoes.  What are you having for dinner tonight?

Zucchini a Sopresa, AKA Surprise, this Zucchini is a Pain to Make!

Hi there, I finally found my sink so I am back to writing about our Superbowl party.  The recipe that took the longest to make, and by far looked the ugliest, was the zucchini.  Zucchini surprise is a recipe that involves deep frying vegetables, who doesn't like that?  The problem is that it is fussy and time consuming to do.

As soon as woke up on Superbowl sunday I started slicing the zucchini.  The directions were unclear to me, I thought at first The SS wanted me to slice them into circles and make tiny sandwiches.  It did not, it wanted lengthwise slices, thin and even enough to make long sandwiches.  Too bad I don't have a mandolin, I think that would have made prep time more enjoyable.  My fiance showed me how his father slices zucchini for the grill, leaving the stem together and making tiny slices to fan the vegetable out.  I did my best but the slices were very uneven.  Next, I salted them and let them dry for an hour.

In the meantime I rushed to the grocery store and bought more food because I didn't think we'd have enough. . .I always think there isn't enough.  When I returned, I created an assembly line of flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs with my awesome electric wok(A gift from my future Nanny-in-Law).  I sandwiched some provolone and oregano in between the slices of Zucchini and dredged them in flour.  I then dipped into egg and finally coated with breadcrumbs.  The first batch promptly fell apart in my wok, and the second and then I got mad.  I stuck toothpicks to secure them and then it was smooth, time consuming sailing.

After I assembled and fried the first successful round, I salted with my Himalayan pink salt and created a paper towel nest to soak up the excess oil.  I fried forever and then they were finally done.  They looked so ugly, cheese popping out, uneven coating, toothpicks.  The presentation was definitely a disappointment, but C. loved them, she says fried zucchini is her favorite,  I have to admit the leftovers were pretty tasty tonight.  I think I might have to try it again with a mandolin and a better attitude.  Coming up next, braised beef and liver crostini.  This might be a two entry night, I have a snow day tomorrow!

This Sunday Sunday Sunday, Stuffed Mushrooms

Wow, I am just now recovering from an incredible Superbowl party.  We had a ton of fun people over, 3/5ths of my bridesmaids and a couple of cool new friends that we'd never met before.  It was a great time and was great to see everybody.  

I, of course, wanted to do as many new recipes as I could muster to feed all of our visitors and decided on a menu of Stuffed Mushrooms, Zucchini Surprise, Chicken Liver and Proscuitto Crostini, Sausages with Leeks,  and Braised Beef.  Additionally we had Chili, Chicken Wings, Veggie and Dips and my bff called an audible with Marshmallow Blondies.  Thanks T.!  So as my friend A. at work asked me incredulously today, "This is relaxing to you?"  Actually, no, not relaxing, but boy I sure did learn a lot, and yes I am insane.  

On Saturday night, I prepped all the veggies for our tray and made the stuffed mushrooms.  The stuffed mushroom recipe is such a keeper.  It is easy, vegetarian and tasty.  I started off with soaking a few slices of bread in milk and then separated Cremini mushroom stems from the caps. While I was working with the mushrooms, I heated a saute pan and added a few cloves of garlic in butter and olive oil.  When the mushrooms were cleaned and separated, I chopped the stems finely and fried them in my prepared pan.  After the mushroom stems had cooked for a few minutes I squeezed out the milk soaked bread and added it with a sprig of parsley to the pan.  I stirred it for a few minutes and put it aside.

I drizzled some oil into my favorite casserole dish and stuffed each mushroom cap with the dough.  At first, I feared there wouldn't be enough to fill each cap but it turned out to be the perfect amount.  Once they were assembled I covered and cooked them on the stove top for 15 minutes.  I warmed them up right before the guests arrived and had to hide some for my favorite guest judges.  This recipe offers a great alternative to seafood or sausage stuffed mushrooms and is relatively inexpensive.  I have a lot more to share and will do so as soon as I can locate my kitchen sink underneath the huge pile of dishes.  

I Made Hollandaise Sauce!

It's true, I made Hollandaise Sauce and it could stand up against any Hollandaise I've ever enjoyed!!! I rule.  So much so that I wonder if I need to write any further,  but I cooked other things of the Silver Spoon variety and rules are rules.

Continuing with the pork theme, I prepared, "Ribs in White Wine" and "Leeks with Hollandaise."  First, I put the daily combination of olive oil and butter in a large pan and sauteed 4 fresh sage leaves for a few minutes.  After the leaves crisped up I added the ribs and turned the heat to high.  I browned the ribs on all sides and then turned the heat back down and simmered for 20 minutes.

While the ribs simmered I cleaned 2.25 pounds of leeks and set them to cook in boiling water for 15 minutes.  For suggestions on how to clean a pesky leek click here.  It was then time salt and pepper the ribs and add a trickle of the 3/4 cup of wine I was set down to slowly add.  I have some strange satisfaction from dumping huge amounts of cooking liquid into a pot, I feel like I am really doing something.  The directions specifically told me not to do this.  The Silver Spoon, breaking one bad cooking habit at a time.

After I misted the ribs with a drop of wine, it was time to get ready to make Hollandaise, a very intimidating sauce.  Making this sauce any other way but the blender method my fiance's family taught me seemed out of my cooking league.  Obviously the SS wasn't going to let me get away with the blender, so as directed I cut up two sticks of butter, separated three eggs and got a pot of water simmering.  The SS told me to rest my bowl on top of the simmering water and whisk in two cups of butter *wince* and make this glorious sauce.  The whisking takes 15 minutes.  At minute 10 I had flashbacks of aerobics class and asked my fiance to juice the lemon and take over whisking.  At minute 15, I removed the sauce from the heat and added the lemon juice, voila it was delicious.  I had to restrain myself from eating it out of the bowl.

Soon after the ribs were done, and they held their ground against the "H" sauce.  They were beautifully carmelized and very juicy.  The pork also retained the flavor of the wine extremely well, maybe the drizzling works better than the dumping, who knew?  We ate the "Leeks with Hollandaise," with the leftover "Asparagus and Parmesan" and ribs.  I will definitely add this new way to make hollandaise to my cooking repertoire and league.  I rule.

Curried Pork Chops and Asparagus with Parmesan

This is a new record, I had all the ingredients I needed!  I am so thankful that I had everything necessary because this was my first night working out after a shameful amount of not working out.  I was moving a little less jauntily around my kitchen tonight, that is for sure!  It is very lucky that curried pork chops is a simple recipe.  


All I needed to do was put a little butter and oil in a saute pan and cook the pork chops for a few minutes.  At the same time I put a large pan of salted water on to boil for the asparagus.  After I cooked the pork chops through it was time to deglaze the pan with a large amount of brandy.  This took a fair amount of time, I steeled myself to be patient and then added cream, vegetable stock and curry powder.  All that was left to do was simmer the pork chops for 15 more minutes.  


It was just about time for the asparagus to be overdone so I drained them and drizzled melted butter over all the slightly mushy veggies.  Again, if you like your vegetables on the crisp side reduce cooking times listed for them in The Silver Spoon. Because I am learning to be patient and trust in the experience in others, I will continue to overcook my vegetables as directed, but I will try not to complain about it as much.  The asparagus being well buttered and *tender* was then ready to have Parmesan cheese grated over the top.  I grated like a demon, this was just like one of the exercises in aerobics.  The pork chops had just about finished as well.  My fiance plated it for me as I was too sore to finish the job(I wish I was kidding) and included some Parisian Cucumbers from yesterday.  They were even better after marinating another day!  


I wish I could tell you that I had a pork chop revelation, that the meat was moist and flavorful.  The sauce was great, the dish looked great (very carmelized) but the meat was just plain dry.  This is the thing that keeps me from cooking pork chops.  No matter what I do, the meat isn't moist.  Who wants a hunk of dry meat?  I would not, unless it is beef jerky.  I can't think of what I could have done differently to moisturize the pork chops.  So, it is back to the drawing board for me as far as executing a juicy pork chop.  Don't worry, I'll have plenty more chances!  Tomorrow I move onto Pork Ribs, I hope they will be juicier than tonight.

Steak with Mustard Sauce, Spinach in Cream Sauce and Parisian Cucumbers

I managed to make it through a harrowing Monday.  It was so Monday-like that I almost thought I would need to buy take out, eat pizza or worse drive through a slop vendor and eat slop.  Thankfully my fiance is the best, and agreed to go grocery shopping with me to fight the fast food demons.

I decided to do a fast cooking Silver Spoon trio to mediate the kinda long session of grocery shopping.  Steak, creamed spinach and a cucumber salad, how long could it take? Turns out it takes about an hour, but who's counting?!

I first washed and cooked the spinach "in only the water that clings to it," after the rinsing.  Something about that line feels fancy even if all I am doing is cooking spinach.  After cooking the spinach, I drained and cooked the spinach with butter for ten more unnecessary minutes. I have to say, I protest the long cooking times for vegetables a la The Silver Spoon, please excuse my bias.  While the spinach was dissolving into nothing, I chopped three cucumbers for my Parisian Cucumbers, salted them and let them sit for thirty minutes.   Oh boy SS, this meal was supposed to be quick.  In the meantime I chopped up parsley and garlic to add to the cucumbers once they had drained.

After adding cream to the spinach and egads, cooking it for twenty more minutes, it was time to cook the steaks.  Steak with mustard sauce is a truly quick recipe.  I simply sauteed the steak for two minutes on each side and put it aside.  Then I added a bit of brandy to the pan, this is another thing my dad does!  He loves to deglaze the pan and it always infuses his dishes with rich flavor.  After sufficiently deglazing, I added cream and mustard and let thicken.  I put the steaks back in to the sauce and combined the extraneous ingredients for my "Parisian Cucumbers."  All that was left was to make a easy dressing of mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper and dump it on the cucumbers.

Dinner was creamy!  Creamy spinach topped with a little table side parmesan, with a creamy, mustardy steak actuallymight have been a little too much of a good thing.  The "Parisian Cucumbers" helped to cut the cream with their refreshing light taste.   I feel like a drank a pint of cream, I might as well after such a decadent meal.  However, let the record show that this meal was low carb and despite my foible at a certain French restaurant this weekend, I am back on the straight and cream filled narrow.  Tomorrow, I am making ribs in wine sauce, I think there is cream in that recipe too, yikes!