Is it still gourmet if it's easy?

When hubby asked what I was making and I told him Prosciutto Spinach Salad, his response was "ooh, gourmet."

Which got me thinking...exactly what makes a meal gourmet? Is there, like, a gourmet qualifier?

Here is how the MacMillan Dictionary defines gourmet:
Gourmet food: of a very high quality.
Gourmet cook: someone who can make very good food. 

Well. Glad we got that straightened out. Thank you, MacMillan dictionary, for that riveting and completely non-subjective definition. Sooooo. I guess the moral here is that this salad is awesome (yet super easy) and you should make it, because people will think you're gourmet and shit.

Prosciutto Spinach Salad
1 3oz pkg prosciutto
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
Spray oil
Fresh pepper
Asparagus, trimmed and cut in half or thirds
Baby spinach, one package
About 1/4 cup basil, thinly sliced
Juice from half a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tap brown sugar
Parmesan cheese

On a lined cooking sheet, lay out prosciutto slices and sprinkle with tomato halves.

Coat lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle all well with fresh pepper. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Let cool and break prosciutto into pieces.

Bring some water to a boil and drop in asparagus. Let cook about 5 minutes, drain, and rinse with cool water.

In a medium bowl, combine the dressing ingredients: basil, lemon, oil and sugar and whisk until sugar is dissolved. (or stick it all in a jar with a lid and shake it til dissolved, like I did.)

On large salad plates, spread out baby spinach and top with asparagus. Arrange prosciutto and tomato, and drizzle with dressing. Finish with a dusting (or more!) of parmesan. Voila.

I don't know why I didn't just make them meatballs.

Does anyone actually eat Bulgar Wheat? My phone keeps trying to change it to "vulgar" wheat, which I take as a sign that I do not, in fact, want to try it. Well, I'd try it, of course, but I'm not going to buy it. Anyway, this recipe called for it. But it also called for me to make my own plum sauce from scratch.

Heh. Cooking Light. Heh.

I had whole wheat couscous (which, really, is the same thing), and I had hoisin sauce and sweet chili sauce, so substitutions were readily made. Not the same as plum sauce, obviously, but they worked great-or you could always buy plum sauce. Or make it. That's all you.

Pork Patties with Slaw
2/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup whole wheat couscous
1 package ground pork, 80% lean
Good squirt Sriracha
4 stalks green onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp sherry
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
Cooking spray

Hoisin Sauce and/or sweet chili sauce, to serve

4 stalks green onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cups shredded coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots)
3 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
Sriracha (to taste)
pinch ground pepper (white)
handful peanuts, chopped

In saucepan or bowl, combine water and couscous, cover and let stand 5 minutes. When all liquid is absorbed, fluff with a fork. In large bowl, combine couscous, pork, sriracha, green onion, cilantro, sherry, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper. Divide into 10 to 12 small patties. Poke a hole in each one. (I don't know why, but the original recipe said to, and I did, and they were good, so why chance it?)

Heat pan over medium high, spray with cooking spray. Cook 5-6 patties for 5 minutes, then turn and cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove and repeat with remaining patties.

Combine remaining green onion, cilantro and cabbage in a large bowl. Whisk together vinegar, oil, sriracha and pepper, and pour over cabbage mix. Toss well and top with peanuts.

Serve slaw and patties together, and top with hoisin and/or sweet chili sauce.



 

Maybe it's just an acquired taste.

Tarragon is one of those herbs I just don't use much. I've tried dried, I've tried fresh, and it's always just too...sweet? (If you can get them, and they aren't ridiculously expensive, always spring for the fresh stuff. With the exception of something that's going to cook a long time, like chili or crock-pot recipes, fresh herbs almost always win out over dried.) It's really pungent, but I'm not sure how best to describe it. I kept trying, but I just hadn't found a tarragon-centric recipe that I've liked much.

Until now.

This tarragon and lemon chicken is. so. good. I originally was going to try just lemon and tarragon, but it was missing something for me. So I added some garlic and mustard, and then I actually found myself wanting more of the sweetness to come through, so I added some white wine, and bit more tarragon, and boom. Perfect.

Served it over mashed red potatoes (with margarine, salt, pepper and a bit of white wine) and a simple green salad, and we gobbled it right on up.

Tarragon Chicken
2  boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
Salt
White pepper
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
Zest of one lemon
Juice from half a lemon
About 2 tsp fresh chopped tarragon
1/4 cup white wine (i.e. Sauvignon blanc)
1 tbsp olive oil
Cooking spray

Sprinkle chicken with a bit of salt and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray, and cook chicken over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Pour over half the sauce, then turn chicken. Cook another two minutes, pour over remaining sauce, and cover. Cook another 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (less if it's really thin, more if it's not).

Serve with the cooked juice ladled on top.

Phabulous?

We did Sam's Chicken Adobo last night, and while I have no idea if it's super authentic—Adobo is like the mainstay recipe of the Philippines—it was mighty tasty.

Which brings me to my question of the day...why are people from the Philippines Filipino? The ph-f conversion confuses me. Can someone explain this one to me? People from France aren't Phrench. People from Philadelphia aren't, um, Filadelphians.

I'm not stoned, I swear, though I realize that's kind of a stoner thing to get all caught up on. Anyway, just wondering. Doesn't matter. We'll move on.

I also made Filipino eggrolls, called Lumpia, though I know they're supposed to be smaller than what I made...I used egg roll wrappers instead of wonton wrappers, cause that just seemed like that much less work. When you're cooking in half hour increments (AKA "Naptime") 20 big rolls seems far less daunting than 60 small ones. So they probably weren't as crunchy as they should have been, but whatever. I served with two dipping sauces-one I'll give the recipe for, and the other was just 1/4 cup or so of sweet chili sauce with a tbsp of fish sauce added. And then I mixed the leftover sauces together at the end, and that was actually my favorite of the three. (Actually, I preferred the rolls the next day, too, just reheat about 5 minutes a side at 400.)

And I used ground turkey, but ground pork would probably taste better. Also, when you open the eggroll wrapper package, and there are only 10 wrappers, even though the nutritional information clearly states there are 21 in there, relax. They're stuck together. Don't shrug and start rolling anyway.

Again, not stoned. But really not helping my case here.

Simple Chicken Adobo
2 pounds chicken thighs
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tsp fresh ground white pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 bay leaves 
Hot rice, to serve

Note: I used boneless/skinless thighs because I think chicken skin is utterly disgusting. It still worked, but was a little drier than it should have been.

In large pot or dutch oven, combine soy, vinegar,  pepper, sugar, garlic and bay leaves over high heat. Add chicken. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn over chicken pieces and leave uncovered to simmer an additional 30 minutes.

Serve over steamed white rice.

Lumpia Eggrolls
1 lb ground lean pork or turkey
1 carrot, (or about 10 baby carrots) grated
1 small white onion, grated
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped fine
1 can bamboo shoots, drained and chopped fine
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 /2 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 package eggroll wrappers (about 20)
1 egg white, beaten

Combine meat through pepper (probably easiest to mix with your hands). Coat a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling  on a wrapper and roll up. Dip your finger in the egg white and use as glue to close, and place seam side down on cookie sheet. Repeat til you're out of either wrappers or filling. Obviously.

Bake at 425 for about 12 minutes a side (20-25 minutes total).


Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch, mixed with the water
1/2 inch piece ginger, grated

Mix. Dip. 

Four—oops, FIVE—month check in.

Cross posted at Salt & Nectar

I'm not going to be cliche and gush on and on about how fast time flies, because I don't really feel that way. I mean, a lot has happened, and E's changed so much, but time seems to be passing at a normal clip. I'm not sitting here clinging to the past/present and "Oh, if only he'd stay like this forever"ing...I'm more excited to see what he'll do next.

I get grief from other moms with toddlers about this a lot..."Don't wish him bigger!," "Once he's walking you're screwed!," "You think he's a lot of work NOW..." And I do think he's a lot of work now. And maybe I'm being totally naive about the whole thing (this is definitely possible), but I'm happy he'll eventually be a little easier to self-entertain. Cause right now I'm going a little nuts.

So, to all you fellow quasi-type-A, 'I can work from home with a baby—how hard can it be? They sleep all the time, and I can multi-task like a mo-fo' future moms out there, lemme break it down a minute here.

E is a 30 minute at a time napper, and although he's up to about 4 naps a day, I spend an additional 40-120 minutes of my day trying to get said naps to even happen. So the "babies sleep all the time" line is total bs. Sure, some babies do. But that doesn't mean yours will.

And unless you have a champion napper, you're not going to get anything done. Because when they aren't sleeping, they need attention. They need to be fed. They need to be changed. They need you to make them laugh. They. Need. You. If you're going to attempt to work from home, prepare for a lot of evening, early morning, and weekend work. The only days I truly get anything done are when my mom comes to visit mid-week. (Note: tears from a stressed out new mom plus a retired grandma are a very effective combination.)

And now the fun stuff. Here's what's happening in new-mommy land.

I am shedding everywhere. We have two cats who like to make their presence known—I regularly find cat hair in my car, on dishes, in the bathtub and other once-sanitary cleanish places like that…and now I'm joining the pack. I hadn't lost a hair in 9 months, and then, boom. Three months post-partum on and I'm finding it in drains, on clothes, in diapers, in my lunch… it's like living with sasquatch. Add the fact that E has a grip like a bulldog-and his favorite handle is my hair-and I have a bit of a situation happening here. My sister presented me with some salon-quality hair thickener/growth inducer yesterday that's a favorite amongst her new mommy clients. Fingers crossed. (But so far, so good. I love having a product-rep/stylist sister.)

Not everything can be steam sanitized. Teething rings and the microwave don't mix. Unless melted plastic was your goal.

Speaking of, sticking a refrigerated ring or cold water in your baby's mouth for the first time is quite fun…I can't lie, I love the 'WTF, mom?!' face he's been perfecting lately. I can't wait for food. And I don't think he can either. Right now everything goes in his mouth. Everything.

Cloth diapers are gross. Even with a fantastic diaper service like I had. Because while the service does the super gross part and cleans them, I still have to change them. And they bunch. And twist. And soak through. And as cute as the covers are on the outside, the inside can get downright disgusting. And that part I have to clean. I lasted three months. And then it was time for some Honest Company diapers. They're as close to earth friendly as I can find while still being cute and well reviewed. And cute they are.

His toes are his favorite snack.

I believe whoever came up with the term "cat nap" must have also had a mini-horse sized cat like my Ramona. And that cat thought that the best time to tromps through the nursery—knocking over frames and whatever else happened to be in her path, hopping on and off changing tables, and climbing up and then perching upon the back of the rocking chair—was exactly 4 minutes after the baby drifted off at nap time.

We've learned that hitting thing against surfaces make awesomely fun noises. It's especially fun to hit things against his own forehead with alarming strength. Sophie, water cups, teething rings…And all good parents know that the best thing to do when your child is in self-inflicted potential harm is to point and giggle. We try and tell ourselves he won't actually dent his perfect little forehead, but we're usually laughing so hard we can't stop him anyway.

We're finally sleeping through the night (He won't go to bed before 9pm, but he'll sleep til 7am, so whatever.) And if that's not good enough, in the morning I generally get the world's best smile; it's like the kid is about to break his face. It's generally accompanied with some form of "agadabowiehaha(wookie noises)ba!" Which obviously translates to "Hi my indentured servant Mama! I missed you doting over me and now I'd like to hang out and have you change this soggy diaper and feed me. Now!

Suddenly the cats are very interesting.

The cute dude in the mirror is one of his best buddies.

I'm not sure this is supposed to be happening yet.

So all in all, this kid is a definite handful, but he is the happiest baby ever. Seriously. He smiles at everything, laughs at nothing, and is generally in a good mood most of the time. His mama is extremely grateful for that. Even if she gets nothing done during the day.

I'd like to also note that the post partum has all but passed...I really was struck by the outpouring of support online and in person, so I'd like to thank everyone for the concern and kind words.

Aiming for a six month check in next...
xoxo,
Pammy

I should ask the people at In N Out for some pointers.

What is it that I'm doing wrong with burgers? If I've learned anything from the Food Network, it's that pressing down your burgers on the broiler/grill makes them dry. And so I make them all pretty and flat and big, thinking they'll stay that way, and then as soon as they hit the heat, it's like a cotton sweater in the dryer type situation.

Or maybe I just need smaller buns.

Anyway, doing some Sam recipes this week, cause fast and easy prevails. I love that he cooks like I do, with super unspecific measurements, but I know that drives some people crazy, so I try my best to accommodate y'all when I do his recipes. He says to use 1/2 cup of any type of fresh herb combination (thyme, parsley, basil, cilantro etc.) here, so just know that you don't have to use what I used if you like other herbs. And all I had was dried thyme, so, you know. Use whatcha got.

*Is it gross that my photo was post-bite(s)? Sorry. My bun was dwarfing my dainty little patty, so it was the only way I could show layers.

Honey Mustard Burgers
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup total of basil leaves, finely chopped (a good handful of leaves) and mint leaves, finely chopped
About 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Good pinch each of salt (sea) and fresh ground pepper (white)
Romaine or other lettuce leaves
Tomatoes, sliced
Buns (I used Hawaiian sweet sandwich rolls)
Horseradish mayo (optional)

In small bowl, combine honey and mustard. (Voila—Honey Mustard. I know.)

In large bowl, combine meat, herbs, S&P, and 1/4 cup of the honey mustard mixture. Mix well with your (clean) hands. Divide into four clumps and shape into patties. Hopefully you're better at this than I am.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat, and spray with just a bit of cooking spray. When hot, add in patties, and cook 4-5 minutes a side for medium rare. They may get a little burned looking on top, but that's ok.

Toast buns, and spread honey mustard on each. I also spread a little bit of horseradish mayo on one side. Top with lettuce, tomato and patty.

Served with a mix of really unfortunate looking (read:burned) sweet potato fries and steak fries, so I avoided getting those in the pic.

I made muffins.

Two things. Only two, because it is early and I am tired. Also, Mister Man is asleep in the swing next to me, so my time is not only precious, it is fleeting.

One.

Fiber One muffin mix is legit. The blueberries are pretty fake, but I only really like blueberries when they're fresh and not baked, so that's fine with me. Plus, it's 5g fiber per muffin. I want to eat two, but am afraid. 10g fiber in one go (um, no pun intended) is a potentially scary thing.

Which brings me to two. I am not cleaning out the catbox today, and I am not telling Hubby why.

I swear, I can't leave this cat alone with human food for 30 seconds. 

The return of the pantry meal

My fridge is pretty bare...we were going out of town for a couple days, so I didn't want to over do it with the shopping or with the cooking (aka with the leftovers).

I bought these mushroom ravioli things at the store last week, and have been trying to think of a non-cheese, non-tomato based sauce to serve with them. We had garlic and we had shallots, so i figured that was a good start...the rest I winged.

I love/hate reductions. They taste so good, but I generally get caught up doing dishes/checking email/watching whatever game Hubby's watching, and end up burning the shit out of it half of the time.

Ok, most of the time. But I watched this one like a hawk, expecting disaster, and this time it worked (yay me!). Sweet and sour and savory...it was a good mix.

Mushroom Ravioli with Garlic Balsamic Reduction
1 package mushroom ravioli (any brand)
6 cloves garlic, sliced
2 shallots, sliced
Olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 broth (I used beef)
Salt and pepper
Honey

Heat a splash of oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and shallots and sauté about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar and broth. Let come to a boil, and reduce heat slightly to simmer.

(at this point, get your pasta cooking. Drain and set aside once it's done. )

Watch the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has started thickening and has reduced to about half the amount. Squeeze in a little honey (the better quality the vinegar, the less you'll need. I have organic but cheap vinegar and used maybe a tsp of honey), and sprinkle in a pinch of pepper and salt.

Add in drained pasta and toss gently.

Happy Baby Daddy Day!

Everyone have a nice weekend? I hope you got to spend some QT with your daddies, baby daddies, or by blissfully ignoring the holiday altogether. My dad's in Costa Rica right now (I know, his life is hard), so I didn't get to call him, but I'm taking Lil' E to visit on Thursday, so I'm thinking I'll be forgiven.

We don't really do much for holidays around here—flowers and a card are pretty much the hubby's MO, which is fine with me. But this new mama was still pretty annoyed when he totally blew off Mother's Day altogether last month. So instead of ignoring Father's Day, I decided to buck up and make him feel guilty celebrate my man.

Whatever, I made him a dinner I knew he'd like and got him a card. It's not like I bought him a gift or anything, come on.

Indian Spiced Pork Salad
1 pork tenderloin (about a lb-or you can use boneless chops)
1 8oz container greek yogurt
About 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper (I used white)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 piece ginger (about 3/4 inch long) peeled and minced
Good shake red chile flakes (1/2 tsp?)
3 celery stalks, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
About a cup of grapes, halved (I used green)
1/2 cup mango chutney
About 1/3 cup light mayo
Juice from half a lemon
Romaine, to serve
Naan bread (I like garlic Naan-check Trader Joes or Fresh & Easy)

In large ziplock, combine yogurt, S&P, garlic, ginger and chile flakes. Seal, and mush together until well combined. Add pork, reseal, and mush around some more until it's well coated. Stick in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

When marinated, heat grill (indoor or outdoor) to medium high. Remove pork from bag and throw away the rest. Cook tenderloin about 6 minutes, roll over, and cook another 6 minutes on each additional side (4 sides total), or until done. Let sit about 10 minutes, then slice. Let cool some more, then pull apart into bite sized pieces and place in large bowl. Add in remaining ingredients (through lemon), and toss gently. Stick back in the fridge for a half hour or more to chill.

Serve over romaine leaves with warm bread. I also served with pilau, which rarely works out well for me, so I guess I should give yesterday's recipe, too:

Pilau
Olive Oil
Half an onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
2 bay leaves
5 cardamon pods
About 1/4 of a cinnamon stick
2 tsp curry powder
1 heaping tsp cumin
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed well and drained
2 cups chicken broth

Heat a swirl of olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger, and saute a few minutes until onion has softened. Stir in bay leaves, cardamon, cinnamon, curry and cumin. Saute another minutes, then stir in rice. Saute one minute more, then add broth. When it comes to aboil, reduce to simmer and cover. Cook 15 minutes, and leave covered until ready to eat. Remove pods, cinnamon, and leaves before serving.

I don't always plan ahead, but when I do, I prefer something tasty.

For the negative three of you who don't know...I had a baby in February. And I don't know how many times I can use E as an excuse for not cooking/posting, but I'm going to milk it for as long as humanly possible. Because when I DO cook, it's more likely than not of the of the "Holy shit, how is Jeopardy already on? WTF are we going to eat?" variety.

What I need to do is plan ahead and make weekly meal plans. When I do, it works out, but it's so much easier said than done. This is from one of those magical days where I planned ahead—we had a cold greek pasta salad from somewhere I honestly can't recall (Costco, maybe??), so I thought I'd try and recreate it as a hot main entree. A list was made, E and I went shopping (he's great as long I narrate the shopping trip to him as we go...once we hit the check out line, however, he loses it and turns into Mr. Crankypants. The second I pay and wheel the cart out, however, he's his usual sweet, babbling, giggly self. He loves the "let's make strangers think my mom mistreats me" act. He thinks it's hilarious.)

Anyway, the plan worked. I'm still not eating much dairy, so I went without the feta and I didn't miss it at all. Hubby was a fan of it both ways.

Greek Pasta
One jar marinated artichoke hearts, undrained
2 small chicken breasts, cut in bite sized pieces
1 package cherry tomatoes, halved
Half a small red onion, halved and sliced
Olive oil
Thyme
Basil
Oregano
Balsamic vinegar
Pasta
Herbed feta (optional)

Heat oven to 425. Combine tomatoes and onion in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and a splash of balsamic. Toss to coat. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through.

While the tomatoes roast, cook the pasta. Drain and return to pan with a bit of olive oil or cooking spray.

Sprinkle chicken with thyme, basil, oregano and salt. Heat a tbsp or so of olive oil on medium high, add chicken and sauté until cooked through. Add artichoke hearts and tomato mixture, cook another couple of minutes til hot. Pour into pasta and combine gently.
Top with herbed feta to serve.