Usually, the kitchen is loud….or should I say “lively” – the boys are running through with their Nerf guns, old-school Madonna playing on Pandora, me singing, “borderline….feels like I’m going to lose my mind…you just keep on pushing my love….” and Coco at my feet, waiting for me to drop a morsel of food as I fling my arms trying to dance my Madonna.

Yeah, that’s usually the scene.

Last week, I was alone in the house during the day – the kids were at school and Scott was in New York to be with his very ill dad – my kitchen was very quiet. I liked it that way, I had forgotten how the sounds of cooking can be soothing.

the “pop” as my sharp knife breaks and pierces the skin of a taut, ripe tomato.

chorus of scratching as I grate parmesan cheese.

gentle tzzzzssssss of bubbling butter in a pan.

if you can hear with your eyes, the sucking and drawing up of hot melted butter into the spongy pores of the bread.

fllllueeaappp as the face of the sandwich falls back on the pan after you flip it.

zzzahhhhhhhh as grated parmesan relaxes, melts and spreads out.

(smile) thanks for listening….

This recipe is from my friend, Michael Natkin, who happens to have one of the most happy smiles I’ve ever encountered. Michael runs Herbivoracious blog, which is all about vegetarian recipes. His very first book is just out - Herbivoracious and I’m so giddy proud of him.

Of all the recipes, I chose Super Frico – only because after seeing that recipe name, I couldn’t stop singing, “She’s a super frico, super frico. She’s super-frico, yow”

Come on! Be a dork and sing with me!

That sandwich is pretty kinky
It’s a super frico
The kind of lunch you read about
In foodie magazines

That cheese is pretty wild now
It’s a super frico
I really love to taste it
Every time we meet
She’s all right, she’s all right
That sandwich all right with me, yeah

Super Frico, baby

Make your standard grilled cheese sandwich (I like adding tomato to mine)

Remove the sandwich and sprinkle in your grated parmesan cheese, roughly in the same size as the sandwich.

Once it gets a little bubbly and melty, put your grilled cheese on top.

Press with a ginormous spatula to weld the cheese to the sandwich.

Lovely.

Stuff from the store

Need a cheese grater? I love this one.

I’m a big fan of fat spatulas…this one is nonstick.

Best Parmegiano Reggiano – big love for Whole Foods, the only company I know who has “crack parties“

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2012. | Permalink | 25 comments

Lamb is crazy-expensive at our markets, it’s actually cheaper to go to a fancy restaurants to order lamb chops than it is for me to cook at home.  Ground lamb prices are a little better, but still a splurge when compared to beef. Splurge I must (yum….lamb….) and decided that I need to fancy the lamb burger up with warm, melty brie and quick pickled onions. Quick as in 10-minute, 3 ingredient quick.

The quick pickled onions is essential to the recipe, in my opinion, because the lamb has a strong, distinctive flavor and the brie is ooooey, goooey, rich. The pickle helps cut that fat and richness and provides a contrast to the gamey lamb.

Wow, do I sound cheffy or what!?

The 10-minute red onion pickle only takes 3 ingredients – rice vinegar (or red/white vinegar), water and a pinch of sugar. The onions mellow out in the vinegar and water – so you won’t get the hot bite that you would from regular raw onions.

You can even throw in some chopped chile pepper if you want the red onion pickle to be a little spicy.

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2012. | Permalink | 13 comments

[Those potatoes are Miso Mashed Potatoes Recipe]

Don’t be intimidated by a big ol’ Easter ham. First of all, it’s fully cooked already (unless you’re buying country ham, which is an entirely different thing altogether) and all you’re doing is warming it back up, slowly.

Seriously! You can do it! The recipes I create for ham are soooo simple, fruit + sugar makes a fab glaze. With this recipe, I added grilled peaches to serve alongside the ham. It’s a light, simple and happy plate.

Grilling the peaches makes ‘em sweet, warm and juicy.

Here’s the key to buying ham: check out the label and make sure it says, “Ham with Natural Juices.” If your label says “Ham with Juices and Water” – don’t get it. The best ham is the one with the least amount of additives and water.

I’m going to give you step by step photos on how to make this recipe, but I’m cheatin’ – the step by step recipes are borrowed from my Ham with Mango Ginger Glaze since it’s almost the exact same procedure. I hope you don’t mind!

Easter Ham with Grilled Peaches

Here’s the ham. See on the label “Semi-Boneless Ham with Natural Juices” – that’s good. Open it up.

Use a sharp knife to score the ham, criss-cross. Just go in one direction diagonally, then the other way so you get “diamonds.” The scoring is totally not necessary, but it looks really pretty and also will help the glaze really stick onto the ham in a later step.

Place your ham in a oven-safe vessel not too much larger than the ham itself. Either a roasting pan, or large saute pan will do. Here’s my beloved cast iron. See how there’s only a couple inches of space around the ham?

Pour the peach nectar in the pan until it reaches about 1/2 inch up the sides. The juice helps with keeping the ham moist.

Continue reading Easter Ham with Grilled Peaches...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2012. | Permalink | 13 comments

It’s Spring Break and my boys think it’s only right that I make them “weekend breakfasts” every morning, which means I need to channel my inner White on Rice Couple (when they were here last month, Todd & Diane made homemade waffles, bacon to order and pancakes – something different every single morning) and create hearty breakfasts. T&D – you’ve spoiled my boys.

A winner here is Broccoli, Potato and Bacon Hash – with a little fresh thyme thrown in. The diced potatoes are cooked in bacon fat. Yes, bacon fat.

Instead of using broccoli florets, I use the stems, they cube perfectly to be the same size as the potatoes and cook to a tender, happy green bite.

The broccoli stem sort of gets ignored anyways, I’ve often seen cooks cut off the florets and throw away the stem. What for!? Underneath that first tough layer is a tender crunchy stem. Just use a peeler to take away that fibrous skin.

Everything is cooked in one pan on the stove. What’s important is the order of the ingredients added to pan so that every single ingredient is cooked perfectly.

1. Cook bacon, render that fat! Remove bacon (so that it doesn’t burn)

2. Cook the potato in the bacon fat….yeah, soak up all that goodness!

3. Add in the onion

4. Add in the broccoli stems and the garlic (garlic is added at this late in the game so that it doesn’t burn)

5. Cover and finish cooking

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2012. | Permalink | 17 comments

So, here’s the dilemma:

When I freak out, I procrastinate. When I procrastinate, I shop. When I shop, I get hungry. When I get hungry, I eat. When I eat too much, I freak out.

Okay, freaking is a bit too strong of a word, but it certainly is an emotionally charged word and certainly helps justify the destructive chain of events that happen following the initial emotional breakdown.

So, I’m on deadline for this book – well, truth be told, I’m past deadline (thus the freaking out) — and now all I can think about are these dishes, these glasses, chubby hubby bars and Frito Pie….as in homemade 1 Hour Texas Chili spooned on top of a mound of Frito chips.

Frito Pie is a Texas delicacy, popular at county fairs and considered good tail-gaitin’ eats. It’s an easy enough treat to make – a 10 minute prep and then let it simmer an hour on the stove. Rip open a package of Fritos, pour it on and eat straight out of the bag.

The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks of 2011 – Lisa Fain’s Homesick Texan Cookbook - slightly modified to shave off a few minutes of the hands-on involvement in the recipe.

You can customize this recipe any way you want, including adding a can of Rotel diced tomatoes, a can of beans or using ground turkey, but there’s one thing you don’t want to change: use dried chiles instead of just chili powder.

Lisa’s recipe calls for dried ancho, chipotle and pequin — though I only used ancho and chipotle (couldn’t find pequin). The dried chiles will last forever in your pantry and all you need to do is rehydrate them in water and add them in the blender along with dried oregano, ground cumin, clove and cinnamon. This homemade chili base that has so much more depth and flavor than just ground chili powder.

The kids loved it – it’s not spicy-hot (top it with chopped jalepeno peppers if you want) and they thought I was the coolest mom letting them eat out of a chip bag. 
Continue reading Frito Pie with 1 Hour Texas Chili...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2012. | Permalink | 31 comments

We have a habit of publishing recipes on Steamy Kitchen that involve a boozy pan sauce. The three of us, Adam, Joanne and I all cook with a spatula in one hand and a glass of somethin’ in the other, and it’s just so easy to pour a little of that magic into the pan (oh hello, Salmon with Blackberry Brandy Sauce!)

Most of the time, the booze goes into the pan by purpose (Steak with Creamy Whisky Mushroom Sauce). Other times, after a quick taste test, we notice, “hmmmm….it’s missing something….” and in goes a splash of brandy (Garlic Brandy Prawns) and all is right in the world.

A creamy, white wine sauce is perfect with either chicken or pork – the white meats are delicate enough to let the nuances of white wine shine through.

How to make Pork Chops with White Wine Sauce

Start by brushing each side of the pork chops with olive oil then season with salt.

Add the chops to a hot pan. Sear about 2 minutes on each side or until browned.

Remove the chops to a plate then add some butter, sliced mushrooms and onions to the pan. Cook 2-3 minutes or until soft.

Pour in the wine. When you choose the wine go for a dry white, something like a Chardonnay or Chablis.

Cook the wine, about 1 minute then add in some cream.

Add the pork chops back into the pan, turn heat to low and cover with aluminum foil.

Cook the pork chops until they reach somewhere between 145 and 150 degrees F.

More Pork Chop Recipes

Pork Chops with Apricot Brandy Sauce (Steamy Kitchen)

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 26 comments

I don’t know what I like better: the collard greens, the rich pot liquor or digging out the bits of smoky meat from the ham hock!

The Collard Greens recipe is from my good friend and fellow food blogger, Lisa Fain, who writes the blog, Homesick Texan. She’s a 7th generation Texan who moved to New York City for a job and one day found herself scouring the city in search of Ro-Tel tomatoes, the only brand of tomatoes fit for true Tex-Mex Chile Con Queso.

Of course, she couldn’t find any, and thus the Homesick Texan blog was born. Lisa has just come out with her very first cookbook, The Homesick Texan Cookbook.

It’s one of my favorite cookbooks this year – after no less than 4 trips to the Lone Star state this year alone – I’ve been craving Tex-Mex foods like crazy.

Even though Lisa lives 1,200 miles from me, I see her more often than friends down the street. Every trip to NYC is incomplete without sharing a meal with Lisa – we’ve done sushi, Jamaican, sushi and more sushi.

And those red cowboy boots she’s wearing? Only Lisa could be responsible for this.

Lisa’s Collard Greens are simple. Throw in a couple handfuls of hearty smoked meats, add the collard greens, pour in water and apple cider vinegar and let it simmer for an hour and half or until the greens are as soft as you like them. Collard Greens are just as much about the simmering sauce as it is about the greens.

The savory, smoky, vitamin-rich pot-liquor is so full of rich flavor that you’ll savor every last drop. In fact, spoon your collard greens onto your plate, right next to the roasted garlic mashed potatoes on your plate. Forget the gravy – the pot liquor will find its way over and bleed into the soft mashed potatoes. I guarantee my kids will be forming a mashed potato moat, just so the pot liquor doesn’t escape.

Vegetarian version of Collard Greens? You bet. Lisa’s got a secret ingredient, one that actually made me say outloud, “No. Way. Really????”

Continue reading Collard Greens with Ham and Smoked Hock...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 21 comments

It’s funny the difference in reactions I get between “we’re having squid tonight” and “we’re having calamari tonight” – one it utter disgust “EWWWW SQUID!???” And the other, “oh, we’re going fancy Italian tonight, aren’t we?”

Most of the calamari we order from restaurants is the traditional battered ‘n deep fried (LOVE!) but somehow I lost my deep fryer during the move. It’s a mystery — where is my electric deep fryer full of slightly used canola oil? Where could i have put it? Did the moving people lose it? Did it get accidentally mixed in with another family’s stuff? Did Swiper swipe it?

Well, whoever has it, I’m sure is making beautiful battered and deep fried calamari.

In the meantime, our calamari is grilled on a stick, which in my opinion, is just as good as fried (so THERE!)

Buying squid…errrrr…..calamari can be a little scary – what do you do with the slippery tubes and funny fingers? For this recipe, I buy already cleaned squid, which you can get frozen in a bag or your nice fishmonger might have some already defrosted in the glass case for ya.

Now…I know some of you can’t get already-cleaned squid…so I ventured out to the interwebs to find you some videos. But I gotta say, since handling slimy squid with a giant eyeball staring at you and long tentacles waiting to (eeeeks STOP IT!! I watch too many horror flicks) isn’t the most easy thing to do, I was hoping that I could find a happyhappyjoyjoy video about cleaning squid.

Continue reading Simple Grilled Calamari...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 20 comments

I know it’s a little early to think about Thanksgiving leftovers, but believe me, time goes by so crazy fast! Once the big meal is over, even after the late-night refrigerator raid (you sneak in and pick at the turkey in the refrigerator too, right?!), we’ll always have more than enough leftover turkey for Turkey Gumbo.

Since Thanksgiving is such a big, heavy dinner, I created this recipe with restraint in mind.  It’s a lighter, milder version of gumbo than what you may be used to, a little more broth-y and no mouth-burning cayenne pepper or hot sauce, since the little kids will be enjoying this too (but feel free to douse your version with as much hot chili pepper as you like!)

While the ingredient list may look long, it is ingredients that you’ll probably have on hand anyways from cooking Thanksgiving meal. Leftover turkey meat is stirred into the gumbo at the end, just to heat through. The slow-simmered, richly flavored Turkey Gumbo served over steaming hot rice may just break the monotony of leftover turkey sandwiches this year for you too.
Continue reading Leftover Turkey Recipe: Turkey Gumbo...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments

If you ask Nathan what his most favorite recipe to cook is, he’ll tell you, “p’skeddi squash and steak!” He’s taken quite a liking to p’skeddi squash, and we’ve never tried to correct his pronunciation of spaghetti squash, it’s just too darn cute! Though I can imagine one day, when he’s older and cooking a romantic meal for a special gal, calling it p’skeddi may ruin his chances of a second date.

Due to a little goof while gardening with 35 seed packets and 2 over-zealous kids, we planted 12 spaghetti squash plants in the garden, enough to supply our entire zip code with spaghetti squash for life.

Thankfully, the chickens have a taste for the leaves and the happy-yellow flowers – and we haven’t stopped them from consuming most of the spaghetti squash plants, so now we’re left with 3 plants, one of which is barely hanging on.

The hens are my heroes!

Microwaving the Spaghetti Squash

The fastest way to cook the spaghetti squash is to microwave it! If microwaving a solid, heavy squash intimidates you a bit, you can also bake the spaghetti squash in the oven, which takes an hour to do, but is just as easy.

You’ll take a sharp paring knife and carefully, very carefully, pierce the squash in several places all over. It’s a hard squash, so it takes a bit of effort to do this. I guess a better instruction would be to say STAB the squash. But do this carefully, k?! The squash is a round, rolly, hard object.

Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes, rotating the squash halfway during cooking.

After cooking, just let the squash sit there for a few minutes to cool down a bit. Put on some oven gloves and remove the hot squash.

I highly suggest a thick towel or oven gloves – remember you stabbed the squash? Well inside the squash is steaming hot squash and some liquid which may leak through the stab marks.

I use these Pit Mitts – okay, so I look like a dork, but they are amazing – soft gloves that actually fit my hand with rubber grippy grip lines all over. I highly recommend them as I’m not a fan of those traditional oven mitts that make you feel like you’re cooking with Barney the annoying purple dinosaur hands.

Continue reading Microwave Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes & Basil...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 20 comments