2011 Cookbook Challenge: Citrus

2011 Cook Challenge: Rice/Noodles

Week 3's Theme for the Cookbook Challenge is Rice/Noodles.  Since I've had Daisy Martinez's book Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night borrowed (and overdue) from the library I figured I at least needed to make a recipe from the book to compensate for the two buck fine I'm facing.  Actually, I made 3 recipes from this book and would have made 4 but the fresh pineapple I bought went spoiled from sitting in the fridge for so long.  Another hint at how long I've had this book checked out.  Normally, I'm very diligent about getting books back on time but I've been feeling kind of blah since my mom is about to move out much sooner than I anticipated...but, so goes life.

Anyway!

Check out the awesome Mayan Omelet I made...trust me, that was as delicious as it looks.  This penne dish was pretty good too and it wasn't too difficult to make.  I mistakenly put some of the arugula in the cheese sauce instead of in the pot with the noodles, but I pulled out what I could and popped what I could salvage in the correct pot.  As I look at the recipe photo in the cookbook, I see why the arugula is cooked this way, to preserve that bright green color that would end up camouflaged in the sauce. This was my first time cooking with dried mushrooms and I really like how it intensified the woodsy flavor in the sauce.  I did, however, have to tell a little fib to get my 7 and 9 year olds to eat this for dinner. This dish became noodles with chicken and spinach. Yup, they fell for it and told me how deeelicious the sauce was...it's funny how if I told the truth about the mushrooms they all would have been scraped to the side of the plate.  So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Penne a la Sirop.  Oh, and the other recipe I made from this book is the Shrimp Ceviche "Xni Pec"...I'll tell you how that came out here.

Penne a la Sirop (adapted from Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night)
1 cup dried porcini or other dried mushrooms
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 anchovy fillets
2 TBS flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1 lb penne
8oz mini wheel of Brie, rind removed
5oz arugula
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup of dried cherry flavor raisins
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place the mushrooms in a small heat proof dish. Pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over the mushrooms and let them soak until soft for about 30 minutes.
2. Once your mushrooms are softened, put on a large pot of salted water for the penne. Cook until mostly done, but about one minute before the penne is done, add the arugula. (In the meantime...prepare the cheese sauce)
3. Remove the mushrooms from the water, strain the remaining liquid through a coffee filter and set aside 1/4 cup of liquid to start. Save the rest to use to adjust the texture of your sauce.
4. Cut the mushrooms into very thin strips and set aside.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add the garlic and anchovies, cook until the anchovies fall apart and the garlic is browned. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking until the mixture is smooth and bubbly. Add the mushroom liquid to the milk and cream in a separate cup, then add to the skillet, continuing to whisk until sauce is smooth.
6. Add the brie in medium size chunks at a time, continuing to whisk, make sure the sauce stays smooth. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes.
7. By now, your pasta should be done and you should have added the arugula to the pot during the last minute. Drain the pasta and arugula. Transfer the past and arugula to a large serving bowl.
8. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle the cherry raisins over the pasta, season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese (optional, but suggested!)

Enjoy!!!

2011 Cookbook Challenge: Stonefruit

This weeks Cookbook Challenge theme is Stonefruits--mangoes, cherries, apricots, almonds, peaches, pears, etc.  All of the choices sounded like excellent candidates for an enjoyable meal, but I had a few cans of apricots sitting in my cabinet that I have been meaning to pay attention to for quite some time.  Unfortunately, many of the recipes I found called for dried apricots which I did not have on hand AND no matter how I searched, it was nearly impossible to find a recipe that called for canned apricots. 

I decided on the Braised Pork Chops with  Apricots for the main dish since I already had most of the ingredients but as soon as I can get my hands on Urfa and Maras pepper, I'm making my second choice, Lamb Stew with Turkish Flavors.  At the last minute I realized I didn't have any cumin and almost completed the recipe without it, however upon tasting, you could tell something was missing.  My mom ran to the store and picked up the cumin, as soon as it was added to the dish all was right. It provided that hint of savory to balance out the sweetness of the apricot.  To compliment that sweet / savory of the pork chops, I made Curried Rice, Bacon and Cabbage Pilaf  on the side. I'm not the greatest rice maker, but this one actually came out pretty good and not crunchy! Yayy! 

For dessert, I had a hard time deciding whether to do the Apricot Upside Down cake or the California Apricot Coffee Cake. As you can see, the Coffee Cake won and it was a big hit.  So many times I've baked a full size cake to have at least a quarter of it go to waste...there were no leftovers from this cake and the girls are already asking me to make it again.  This is despite me reading the recipe wrong and using a 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of 1 1/4 regular sugar.  I think the almond extract saved me...the taste was very pronounced.  

Technically, I didn't use my own cookbooks to find these recipes, they are from my online recipe box at Epicurious.com and ApricotProducers.com.  Hopefully I will be able to find suitable recipes in my own cookbooks for some of the upcoming themes.  I would definitely make the coffee cake and rice dish again...the pork chops, only for a special occasion, they required too many steps for a typical night's dinner.

Braised Pork Chops with Apricots and Curried Rice, Bacon Pilaf

California Apricot Coffee Cake

Added the apricots before the crumb topping

Fresh from the oven...smells fantastic!