Iron Chef Pembroke Pines: May 2011 - Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Spinach

Ah-hah!!! Here's another of Sherie's famous dishes...but THIS TIME...I actually GOT the recipe!!

I think I shared with you on my main blog about how Sherie's dishes always seem to be AMAZING to me? Our palates must be similar. Well...she knocked it out of the park again for me this month, and walked away with a little prize, to boot!!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes With Spinach

• 4 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 boxes chopped spinach, defrosted
• 4 TBS butter
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cream
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1. Place potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Salt water and boil potatoes until tender...about 12-15 minutes.

2. Squeeze the water from the spinach in a clean dish towel.

3. Drain potatoes and set aside.

4. Melt butter in the hot pot, then add garlic and cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in cream, add the spinach, separating the greens as you do. Season greens with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

5. Add potatoes to the pot and mash to a desired consistency.

courtesy Sherie McKenna

Iron Chef Pembroke Pines: May 2011 - Spinach Artichoke Dip

Angel always brings the good stuff...like warm Spinach Artichoke Dip with homemade tortilla chips...

yum, yum, yum, yum...

This rivals the dip at the Lux...I could've eaten more...but didn't want to look like a pig!! (oink, oink!)

Spinach Artichoke Dip

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) container Alfredo pasta sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Place gralicin small baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven 20-30 minutes, until soft. Remove from heat. When cool enough to touch, squeeze softened garlic from skins.

3. In an 8x8-inch baking dish, spread the roasted garlic, spinach, artichoke hearts, Alfredo-style pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and cream cheese.

4. Cover and bake in preheated oven 30 minutes, or until cheeses are melted and bubbly. Serve warm.

courtesy Angel Anderson

Iron Chef Pembroke Pines: May 2011 - Spinach Souffle

This was a remarkably light and fluffy souffle submitted by Rose. Total props because it didn't deflate...and quite honestly, mine always do. :(

Spinach Souffle

• 1 bag (16 oz.) frozen chopped spinach
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 2 TBS very finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, fresh is best
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Thaw spinach in a colander; squeeze well to get as much moisture as possible out.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 1-qt casserole or souffle dish.

3. Heat butter in a sucepan over medium low heat. When butter has melted, add flour; stir until smooth and bubbling. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. When mixture is thick and bubbling, remove from heat. Stir in the finely chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the nutmeg.

4. In a metal or glass mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks have formed. In a separate bowl, beat yolks until frothy and lemon colored.

5. Stir egg yolks into the sauce mixture; stir in the spinach.

6. Stir about 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the spinach mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg white mixture.

7. Pour into a prepared siuffle dish; set dish in a large pan then add water to a depth of about 1 inch.

8. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The top will be lightly browned. serve immediately.

Courtesy Rose Gertner

Strawberry Shortcake Baked Alaska

I was looking for new and exciting Easter recipes ...scrolling through my favorite food blogs and web-sites...and seeing so many beautiful things that my head was spinning...

...everything eas so ornate...delicate...spring-y...artistic...

...and WAY too complicated for the insanely busy Easter weekend I had laid before me. I decided on some simple, but slightly altered, versions of things I would've cooked anyway...and had resigned myself to making a bundt cake or something for dessert when I stumbled upon THIS...

Strawberry Shortcake Baked Alaska

A decadent, delicious, and SIMPLE dessert that would turn heads and seem special without being especially hard to make.

I made just about all of this the day before...getting the ice cream in it's mold, making the cake bottom...so on Easter all I had to do was slice strawberries and whip up meringue.

Talk about easy.

Strawberry Shortcake Baked Alaska

• 4 cups strawberry ice cream, softened (I used a whole carton of Blue Bell's Strawberry)
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
• 4 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1. Spoon ice cream into a foil-lined 1-1/2 qt. bowl ; pack firmly with back of spoon. Freeze for several hours or over night (I went with the overnight option).

2. Heat oven to 425F. Mix flour, 3 TBS sugar and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in cream cheese with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk until mixture forms a dough. Pat dough into bottom of 8-inch round cake pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, toss sliced strawberries with 1 TBS sugar.

Note: Now...if you do this the way I did...you'd skip slicing the strawberries and just skip to the next step. When the cake is cool, you wrap it up tightly and save it for assembly...whenever that may be. 

3. Cool cake 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack and cool completely.

4. Heat oven to 500F. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with mixer on high speed 1 minute or until foamy. Gradually add remaining sugar, beating 3 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

5. Place cake on an ovenproof plate; top with strawberries and juice. Un-mold ice cream; place, flat side down, over cake. Frost ice cream with meringue; swirl with back of large spoon. Bake on lowest oven rack 3 minutes or until meringue in golden brown. Serve immediately.

Bliss...

I'm told you can alter this recipe to host a myriad of different ice cream and cake flavors.

Don't think I won't try it... 

courtesy Kraft foods

Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew

Before we start, and before you whine about it being ANOTHER soup...it's not a soup...it's a stew.

So there.

And before we even GET to the recipe...I just wanted to share how much I LOVE cooking with my husband. He has Mondays and Tuesdays off, and that often means we get to cook dinner together. He usually does most of the work, being that he's so much more adept in the kitchen. But I always step in to do the stuff he doesn't like to do...like chop onions and prepare garnishes...you know...the prep work.

But cooking together highlights the many differences we have. For example, I obsess over missing an item from a recipe and will run to the store...whereas he will just simply substitute it for something else.

We also speak a different language. Or the same language, for which we assign different words. I don't know...

...but the point is that like all men and women...our communication skills leave a little something to be desired. It's not that we don't talk...it's that we don't LISTEN. And then we THINK that we know what the other person is saying because it's what we would be saying if we were them...not taking into account that we are NOT them and therefore would NOT be saying whatever it was we think they would've said.

Confused, yet?

Here...let me give you an example...

Jason and I were making a new recipe, called Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew. I had to go and pick up kids, so he offered to stay home and get it started. I said: "Grab a couple pounds of sausage from the freezer and thaw it, break the links from their casings and brown it up, and by then I should be home."

When I got home, I smelled something wonderful cooking...something spicy and mouth-watering...but something that was definitely NOT Sweet Italian Sausage. Sure enough, I went into the kitchen, and Jason is faithfully browning 2 pounds of....chorizo.

"Hey," I said, as I picked up the recipe that was placed strategically next to the stove, "That's not Italian Sausage".

"You didn't say Italian sausage...you said sausage, and I saw this and thought it was what you meant."

"No...I didn't say Italian sausage, but the recipe is called 'Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew'...see?" I pointed purposefully at the paper.

"Well," he sighed, rather exasperated, "I thought this is what you meant. Want me to stop?"

I checked the menu. I hadn't been planning on using that chorizo for another two weeks...it's at the END of my menu. But it was already 3/4 browned.

"Can you finish cooking it, and then I can freeze it?" I asked.

"Yeah," he answered, "Go get the right stuff and I'll fry that up next."

So...on the bright side...I have my chorizo all cooked for when I make enchiladas in a couple weeks.

All cooked up and ready for...

Upon further discussion and banter, Jason admitted that he had opened the freezer, and the chorizo was the first thing he saw, so he assumed that's what I wanted. The packages of Italian sausage were right below that, but he didn't actually look around.

It reminds me of a book a friend of mine has called Pat the Husband...a satire based around the premise of the children's book Pat the Bunny. Just like the children's book, it has flaps to lift and things to touch...and it supposedly "teaches" adults the differences between women and men. My favorite page is when the husband is looking for big gallon of milk, but it is behind the little jar of ketchup, so he can't "find" it. So you have to pull the tab over so the ketchup slides out of the way and viola! He sees the milk!!

Cooking with Jason also reminds me that I have to be very specific when I speak, and not be so vague. After all...chorizo IS a type of sausage...in fact...it's Jasons FAVORITE type...so OF COURSE he was instantly drawn to it.

And I can't get mad even if I was specific because that doesn't mean my speaking mixed magically with his listening. We are different people...programmed different ways, and have different methods of understanding. It's something I'm sure we'll work on all our lives...and still never get perfect.

But this is why I love cooking with Jason. It gives us a chance to talk, listen, learn...communicate...no matter how imperfectly. And I love that time...

This is a simple stew.The broth is rich and flavorful. Changes I'd make next time include chopping the cabbage into smaller bits...

No need to double (although I did...just for fun, and because I wanted leftovers)...

Yumminess...

Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 pound SWEET Italian sausage, bulk, or removed from casings
• 1 large yellow onion, half sliced and half minced
• 2 garlic cloves. minced
• 1-1/2 cups white wine
• 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans
• 1 quart vegetable or chicken stock 
• 1 quart water
• 1 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1 2-pound savoy cabbage, quartered, then sliced into 1/4-inch slices (I would then cut those slices in HALF width wise)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup chopped Italian parsley, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup to a cup freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

1. Heat the olive oil on medium high heat in a large (8-quart), thick bottomed stock pot. Add the sausage, breaking it up into pieces as you put it into the pot in a single layer. When the sausage has nicely browned, remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2. Add the minced onion (save the sliced onion for later) and saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Once the onions give up some of their water, use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the minced garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the white wine and the beans and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. If you want, for a thicker base, use a blender to blend some (or all) of the beans and onions. (note: I did this...and honestly, I couldn't tell much of a difference in the soup's consistency. So it's entirely up to you.)

Baby...can you pour me a glass of wine?

 4. Add the water, stock, salt, cabbage, sliced onion half, bay leaves and browned sausage. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking until the cabbage is tender, about 10-20 minutes.

Bubbly...

 5. To serve, sprinkle on chopped parsley and grated cheese.

Serves 8-10 people

courtesy Simply Recipes

Leek Soup with Dill Oil

My love affair with soup continues!!!

I can't help it...

But I'm changing it up a bit...I discovered a new cooking website that I have fallen in love called 101 Cookbooks. 101 Cookbooks is based off a lady named Heidi who was a self-proclaimed impulsive buyer of cookbooks. She always purchased them with the very best intentions...and she read them...and dog-eared the pages and marked favorite recipes with post-its...and then stuck those cookbooks on her shelf and never actually cooked anything from them.

Heidi's Own Cookbook, based on her own recipes...just recently published!!

One day, she looked up and realized that she had over 100 different cookbooks...and decided right then and there that it was time to stop buying, and start COOKING.

Heidi focuses on cooking with all-natural ingredients. Since our family is becoming more and more healthy, this appeals to me. Having a large family, I cannot afford to always purchase organic or raw foods. I try to do my best, but it's mostly unfeasible for me to go completely raw.

Heidi is also, of course, primarily a vegetarian.

We, on the other hand, are carnivores. However...I do try to make at least one vegetarian (or even vegan!!) meal a week...if not more. But since it is not my primary mode of cooking, I often run out of ideas...and tend to focus on what's easy...which is usually soup.

But I have a good friend named Jenn Charron...and she is a vegetarian. I introduced her to the 101 Cookbooks website, and she loved it. And we have since decided to get together at least once a week and make dinner for our families together from 101 Cookbooks, or other healthy, vegetarian sites.

Jenn and I in my kitchen (it was Halloween...hence the horns on my head. They're not really there...I swear...)

I figure that since she's a veggie-head herself, she will assist and enlighten me on all things vegetarian...helping me branch out fro my stand-by vegetarian staple...soup (but ohhh...how I LOVE soup...)

And she figures that since I am always tying new recipes and making stuff that is foreign to me, I will help her break out of her own cooking ruts.

It's a win-win.

So I made my first recipe from 101 Cookbooks last night. It was, as you can tell by the title, a soup (give me some time!! I'm working on it!!). Its called Leek Soup with Dill Oil.

I have a recipe for Potato-Leek Soup which is very good...but thanks to the addition of a large amount of cream cheese, it is not AS healthy as this broth-based soup. This soup also focuses more on leeks than potatoes. And I have to say, I love the addition of the "toppings"...the Dill Oil makes the soup actually taste green...it's fresh and like eating a piece of spring. The toasted sliced almonds give it a pleasant crunch, and the Gruyere cheese gives it a bit of pluck.

In other words...I fully enjoyed it...and my kids liked it too (they couldn't wait to eat something with a bright green "sauce" drizzled all over it). This is the original recipe, it makes 8-10 servings, so there's really no need to double unless you plan on freezing some for later. The chef, Heidi, suggests serving leftovers over scoops of cooked farro or brown rice.

I only changed up the style a bit...I've included my notes, so feel free to use the original or my adaptations.

Leek Soup with Dill Oil

• 1 small bunch of fresh dill, about 5 ounces
• 9 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 3-5 pounds leeks
• 6 TBS unsalted butter
• fine grain sea salt
• 2 large, thin-skinned potatoes, thinly sliced (I used Yukon Golds)
• 3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 6-1/2 cups + good-tasting vegetable broth, preferably HOT
• Toasted almond slices, for topping
• Grated Gruyere cheese, for topping

1. Use a blender or food processor to puree the dill and olive oil into a creamy green emulsion. Set aside.

Yummy grass green...

2. Cut the dark, tough green leaves from the leeks, trim off the roots, and wash/rinse well. You can slice the leeks lengthwise to get in between the layers, or make a few rough chops and give them a quick soak...whatever method you prefer. You can also chop by hand (which is what I did).

It's A LOT of leeks...

3. In a large soup pot, heat the butter and 5 TBS of the dill oil over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted and is bubbling, stir in the leeks and a couple big pinches of sea salt. Stir well, then cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks soften up and collapse, about 6-8 minutes.

4. Now, stir in potato slices and garlic slices and cook, uncovered, stirring regularly, until the potatoes are very, very soft. If the leeks at the bottom of the pot are getting too much color, dial back the heat a bit and be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan while stirring.

Yukon Golds...

At this point you can mash everything with a potato masher or large fork. If you prefer a smoother soup, use a hand blender, but this soup is great a little on the chunky side. Stir in the hot broth, adjusting the amount based on whether you like a thick, or thin, soup.

(Now...here is where I deviated. I mashed with a potato masher, as suggested, and added the broth...but I didn't feel it was creamy enough...so I ladled out a third of the soup into my blender, and blended it until it was thick and smoother, although still with a little texture. I poured it out into a waiting bowl, and did the same thing with ANOTHER third of the soup. Then I poured the creamy, almost-but-not-quite-mashed-potato-consistency soup back into the third that was in the pot and still primarily broth-y and stirred well. The broth thinned the thickness of what I had blended perfectly...making a fabulously creamy, but still mildly chunky, soup. This is the same method I use for my Potato-Cheddar Soup...and it worked great.)

5. Bring back to a simmer, serve topped with almonds, grated cheese, and a generous drizzle of the remaining dill oil.

Soup with dill oil, before other toppings...

courtesy 101 Cookbooks

Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork

I'm a little late getting this up...being that I was uploading all the Iron Chef recipes. For that I apologize...because it is just a shame that this shouldn't have been immediately shared.

I also think I need to stop sharing Pioneer Woman recipes...because I am never, ever, EVER going to find one that isn't amazing, delicious, scrumptious, and just down right PERFECT...and frankly, you can go to her website and find all the wonderful recipes yourself, and all with MUCH prettier pictures.

But before I do that, I want to share this little gem...called Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork.

I love recipes that use soda...because we hardly ever have soda in the house...and it makes it a lovely treat for my poor, soda-deprived children.. A couple Easters ago, I used soda to not only glaze my ham, but make a wonderful cake that is from my own childhood.

This is an all-day recipe...requiring hours to slowly roast in the oven. Roasting food for hours is my FAVORITE way to cook (which you already know if you know anything about me)...the effort is incredibly worth it.

No need to double...you'll feed firsts, seconds, and thirds, and have leftovers, too...

Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork

• 1 whole large onion
• 1 whole Pork Shoulder - 5 to 7 pounds
• Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 can (11 Ounces) Chipolte Peppers in Adobo Sauce (my store only had 7-ounce cans, so I used two)
• 2 cans Dr. Pepper
• 2 TBS Brown Sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large dutch oven.

Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the pan.

Pour the can of chipolte peppers over the pork (include the sauce).

Pour in both cans of Dr. Pepper. Add brown sugar to the juice and stir it in.

Place lid tightly on pot, then set pot in oven. Cook for AT LEAST 6 hours, turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. Check meat after 6 hours, it should be absolutely falling apart (Use two forks to test it). If it's not falling apart, return to the oven for another hour.

Remove meat from pot and place on cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred the meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it. Return the shredded meat to the cooking liquid, and keep warm until ready to serve.

note: You can also refrigerate meat and liquid separately, and remove hardened fat once it's cold. Then heat up the liquid on the stove top and return the meat to the liquid to warm up.

Serve on warm flour tortillas. Top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, grated cheese, avocado slices, and whatever else floats your boat.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the tacos we made...frankly...we couldn't stop eating long enough to take any!!

courtesy Pioneer Woman