Anniversary dinner: Veal, Risotto, and Truffles

When you cook every night, what do you do for a special occasion? Cook a very fancy, expensive meal! That's what I surprised my husband with on our 3rd wedding anniversary. This meal turned out perfect. If I had a restaurant, I would definitely serve this.

This veal dish is very similar to a Veal Marsala. Instead of using Marsala though, I used Cognac.It was a nice touch, not overpowering. The mushroom cognac sauce paired so well with the veal. And the risotto was so creamy and delicious. You really get that nice, fragrant mushroom aroma from the fresh summer truffles. We really, really loved this dish and I hope you will give it a try to see why...

Veal Scallopini with a Mushroom Cognac Sauce

4 veal scallopini

flour

1/2 c cognac

1 c beef stock
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pint bella or cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Lay the veal in saran wrap and gently pound the veal out a bit. Then lightly coat with some salt, pepper, and flour. In a deep skillet over medium high heat, add 1 tbsp butter and olive oil. Brown the veal, about 3 mins on each side. Transfer to a plate while you make your sauce.

2. Deglaze the pan with the cognac. Scape up the browned bits, and let the cognac reduce by half. Add the beef stock, garlic, and mushrooms. Let the sauce reduce by half. Finish with a tbsp of butter. Spoon the sauce over the veal and serve alongside these creamy risotto:

Risotto with Asparagus and Truffles

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 shallot, diced
1 1/2 c arborio rice
1/2 c white wine
6 c chicken broth
1 bunch asparagus
0.3 lb brie
3 whole black summer truffles (1.4 oz jar)

1. Prepare your asparagus: Snap off the lower woody ends of the asparagus and discard it. (It will naturally break where it should.) Then using a vegetable peeler, peel off the outer layer on the bottom of the asparagus. (If you've never peeled your asparagus stems, I encourage you to do so. Ever since I discovered the tender taste of peeled asparagus I haven't prepared my asparagus any other way.) Cut your asparagus into your desired bite size. (Mine was about an inch long.) Blanch the asparagus in gently boiling water for 1-2 mins. Drain in a colander and run cold water over them to stop the asparagus from cooking. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, heat up the chicken broth. When it's warmed, keep the broth over low heat.

3. In a large saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Cook the shallots until translucent. Then add the rice and cook for a few mins. Add in the wine and cook until all the wine is absorbed. Then slowly add in a ladle of the warm chicken broth. Stir and cook until all the broth is absorbed. When the broth is absorbed, add another ladle of broth. Repeat process with the rest of the broth. (It will take about 30 mins.)

4. When you have a cup of broth left to add, go ahead and add your asparagus from earlier into the risotto. After all 6 cups of broth has been absorbed into the risotto, add 3/4 or all of the brie. (I, of course, added all the brie because we love cheese. But depending on your preference you can add as much as you'd like. I also tore the brie into smaller pieces to make incorporating easier.) Then with a microplane or grater, grate/slice the truffles into the risotto. Also add the truffle oil from the jar...you don't want to waste that flavor! Serve and enjoy your restaurant worthy meal at home.

Note: You can prepare your asparagus the day before like I did. Because the peeling can take some time and it was a workday, I wanted to prep the asparagus beforehand. And yes, do peel your asparagus. Even though it's time consuming it's very much worth it!





Matt surprised me with our wedding cake from Cecilia's Cakes...mmm!



And surprised me with flowers at work..so sweet :)



Awesome taco filling/nacho topping

I have a very special guest blogger for you all today! The famous Matt Hawkins! Yup, the guy I'm always talking about in my blog posts / my wonderful husband. Matt likes to cook too and last night he made these amazing tacos. It was so good he was saying how he needs to remember this recipe. So I was like, why not blog about it! So readers, I'd like you to meet Matt!:

Awesome taco filling/nacho topping

You will need:

For the meat:

2.5-3lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic (minced)

Smoked paprika

Chili powder

Onion powder

Salt, pepper

For the veggies:

3 medium tomatoes (seeded, diced)

1 medium red onion (diced)

1 bell pepper (diced)

1 lime (split in half)

Cilantro (to taste) diced

Salt

Cheese of choice (I used a blend of cheddar and Queso Gran (which is like manchego))

Corn tortillas (deep fried, so start heating the oil now)

First make the veggie topping, combine the bell pepper, red onion (why are they called red onions, anyone can see they are purple onions!), tomato (I like to remove the seeds and “juicy” parts for 2 reasons: 1) I don't like the taste, and 2) It will turn your little salsa into a mushy mess) and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Drizzle the lime juice on top and add salt to taste. Mix it up well and put in the fridge while you prep the tortillas and beef. 

For the ground beef, sauté the garlic in a little bit of olive oil for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Next season the beef with salt and pepper and add it to the pan, separate the clumps so you can mix it up well in the pan (or pot). Now add the chili powder, onion powder,and paprika. You're aiming for a ratio of about 3:1:1 for these three seasonings,but feel free to adjust to your personal taste. Once the meat is browned, drain off the grease and set it aside until your chips/tacos are prepared.

Make sure your oil is nice and hot 350 degrees or so. You can either make tacos or nachos with your corn tortillas. If you're going for nachos then slice the tortillas into triangles and fry them in batches. Be careful of the rising oil, you don't want it to spill over and make a mess or worse, burn you. The nachos at the hospital aren't as good as these.Alternatively, you can make tacos from the shells. If you have a fancy-pants taco frying device, use that! Alternatively you can use tongs to hold them in a taco-type shape. One of the best methods I found was to drop the tortilla round in the oil, when it starts to rise up and float, press down in the center with the tongs. Hold it like that until it is nice and crispy (chewy tacos aren't very good) about 1-2 minutes. You can also use a dual-wielding technique with two sets of tongs to hold both ends of the shell in a taco shape. You're tacos might come out slightly misshapen, that's okay; just like the ugly duckling,these shells taste a million times better than the ones you get out of the box.

Alright, now you're ready to build! You really shouldn't need directions for this part, but just in case:

1) Take a shell/chips

2) Pile on some meat!

3) Stack it with cheese!

4) Add the veggie mix!

5) EAT!

6) Repeat as desired

Four Cheese Egg Souffle

You can enjoy this egg souffle for breakfast, or for dinner like we did. I was surprised this little souffle was so filling. It was smoky, fluffy, and flaky. Just delicious! And even though it looks involved, it was really easy to make. Most of the cooking time was either spent in the microwave or the oven. The only laborious part was rolling out the dough. But you just have to roll it out into a square which isn't that bad.

Four Cheese Egg Souffle

Ingredients
1 can of Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Rolls
1 tbsp butter, melted
7 eggs
1/4 c smoked mozzarella, shredded
1/4 c Gruyere, shredded
1/4 c apple-wood smoked cheddar, shredded
1/4 c Parmesan, shredded
2 tbsp whole milk
2 tbsp cream
Pinch of salt and pepper
Flour for dusting

 1. Carefully unroll the crescent roll dough and separate into 4 rectangles. Pinch the diagonal perforation within each rectangle together (to make it into a solid rectangle). Dust some flour on the dough, and with a rolling pin, roll the rectangle out about an inch to make it into a square. Brush the melted butter inside 4 ramekins. Carefully lay a square inside a ramekin, leaving some of the edges hanging. Repeat with the rest of the squares.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, add 6 of the eggs, mozzarella, gruyere, cheddar, milk, cream, salt and pepper. Beat with a fork until combined. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir the mixture with a fork. Then stick it back in the microwave, repeating for a total of 2 mins cooking time. (The egg mixture should look like runny scrambled eggs. This will help the folded dough edges from sinking into the egg mixture.)

3. Pour equal amounts of the egg mixture into each ramekin. Top each mixture with the parmesan cheese. Fold the edges of the dough over the egg mixture. Beat the last egg, and brush it over the top of the dough in each ramekin. Bake in the oven for 20 mins at 375 degrees F or until golden brown.

Rosemary Parmesan Artichokes

Ever since I made these steamed artichokes with a cumin lime mayo I can't get enough of artichokes. This time around I decided to go a bit healthier and skip a dipping sauce. I wanted the herbs to bring the flavor to these artichokes, and they did. You could really taste the rosemary.

In the end, I preferred the other artichoke dish more. But I did learn 2 new things this time around.
1.) If you boil the artichokes, it cuts the cooking time in half! It took only 15 mins to cook these artichokes.
2.) Remove the choke after the artichoke is cooked. It will be much simpler and cleaner. I removed the choke while I was trimming the artichoke, and it was so hard! And the little hairs just kept going everywhere. Never again. So remember, remove the choke from a cooked artichoke! You've been warned...

Rosemary Parmesan Artichokes
 
Ingredients
1 artichoke, trimmed and halved
1 tsp Rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp thyme, chopped
Garlic powder
Worcestershire sauce
Olive oil
1/4 c Parmesan, shredded

Add water to a large stockpot and bring to a gentle boil. Add the trimmed artichoke and cook for 15 mins. Remove the cooked artichoke and drain cut side down in a colander. In a baking dish, add the drained artichoke. Season it with the Rosemary, thyme, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, and Parmesan. make sure you get in between the leaves as well. Broil in the oven for about 5-10 mins. (Or grill it, which is what I wanted to do but due to unforeseen weather I had to go to Plan B.)

Buttermilk Thyme Fried Chicken

What do you do when your thyme garden has been growing like crazy? Cut a huge handful and add it to this buttermilk bath for some fried chicken. That's what I did. And it was delicious! I was amazed when I took a bite of this chicken. Not only was it juicy, but the thyme really came out. It was the first flavor I tasted, making these fried chicken taste so fresh and earthy. Then you get the smokiness from the paprika.We were thinking we could experiment with other herbs, like rosemary, next time.

Buttermilk Thyme Fried Chicken

Ingredients

For the buttermilk bath:
8 chicken thighs
8 chicken legs
half a 1/2 gallon of buttermilk
1 large bundle of thyme
1 large garlic clove, smashed
3 bay leaves
2 tsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

For the flour dredge:

2 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
4 tbsp buttermilk powder
2 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp dry mustard
4 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

canola oil for frying 
2 tbsp of vegetable shortening

Prepare the buttermilk bath:
In a large tupperware, add all the ingredients for the buttermilk bath, and mix well. Place the lid on the tupperware and place the tupperware in the fridge. Let the chicken marinate for 4 hours.

Prepare the flour dredge by combining all the dredge ingredients in a large ziploc bag.

Add about an inch of canola oil and the vegetable shortening to a deep cast iron skillet. Heat over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F.

Remove the chicken pieces from the buttermilk mixture, letting the excess drip off. Transfer to the bag of seasoned flour, seal and shake to thoroughly coat. Remove from the bag and shake off any excess flour. Carefully lower the coated chicken into the oil. (Don't crowd your pan. I fried in small batches of 2-3 pieces of chicken at a time.) The temperature will drop, adjust the heat accordingly to keep the heat around 300-325 degrees F. After a few minutes, you can turn the chicken over. (You want to let it sit in oil undisturbed at first so the coating can set.) Fry a total of about 14-16 mins for thighs, and 12-14 mins for legs, turning as needed. Transfer the fried chicken onto a wire rack set over a baking sheet so it can drain, sprinkle with salt and let rest for a few minutes. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

Steamed Artichokes with Cumin Lime Mayo

Artichokes always seem so intimidating in the grocery aisle. How do you cook it or even eat the non-canned kind? It's been on my list of things to learn and with artichokes in season I finally decided to give it a try. And it's actually a lot easier than I thought!

You first need to trim the artichoke. Cut off the top of the artichoke with a serrated knife (about an inch off the top). Then peel off the 2 bottom layers of leaves around the stem. Next, take a pair of scissors and cut of the spiny tip on the remaining leaves (about 1/4-1/2 an inch off the leave's tips). Then, using a vegetable peeler, peel the outer layer of the stem. There, now you have a trimmed artichoke! If you have more artichokes to work on trimming, keep the already trimmed artichoke in cold water with the juice of a lemon, until ready to cook.

For my first artichoke dish, I kept it simple by steaming the artichoke. In a stockpot, I simmered a couple of inches of water. Then placed a steamer basket on top. Place the trimmed artichokes in the steamer basket and cover with a lid. Cook over medium heat for 45 mins. You can stick a knife in the center and if it comes out clean it's done cooking. I made a cumin lime mayo for dipping. Mix 1/2 c mayo, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, the juice of 1/2 a lime, and some salt and pepper to taste. Keep it in the fridge until ready to serve.

To eat the artichoke, pull off the outer leaves and scrape off the meat with your teeth. When you get to the center, that's the artichoke heart. There's a spiny, inedible "choke" in the center of the heart. Use a small spoon to remove the choke. (The choke is the very hairy thing if you're still unsure.) With the remaining artichoke heart, just chop it up and eat it. If the stem is intact you can eat that as well. Basically everything in the artichoke is edible except the spiny choke. Really, easier to prepare and eat than it looks!

Steamed Artichokes with Cumin Lime Mayo

Ingredients
2 artichokes, trimmed
1/2 c mayo
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Simmer a couple of inches of water in a large stockpot, over medium heat. Place a steamer basket on top. (You don't want the bottom of the steamer basket touching the water.) Place the trimmed artichokes in the steamer basket, cover with a lid. Cook for 45 mins. While the artichokes are cooking, prepare the cumin lime mayo. Mix the mayo, garlic, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, salt and pepper together and keep in the fridge until ready to serve. When the artichokes are ready for eating, serve with the cumin lime mayo as the dipping sauce.

Corn and Poblano Salad

Matt makes a chorizo and potato taco topped with this creamed corn and poblano mixture that is amazing. For a cookout we were going to, I wanted to make something similar. Instead of using mexican crema like Matt's version, I decided to use queso fresco so it'd be easier to eat as a side dish. We've recently discovered queso fresco. It's a really light cheese - kinda like a Mexican feta cheese.  I love it. I kept picking at it while making this dish (guilty).  But it's great for crumbling, like in this dish, not so much for melting.

This side dish is sweet from the corn and spicy from the poblano peppers. The paprika and cumin added a touch of smokiness to the dish. And yes, I used 24 oz of queso fresco, but all the cheese helps mellow out the spiciness. This dish would be great topped on a taco as well.

Corn and Poblano Salad

Ingredients

3 ears yellow corn, kernels removed

3 poblano peppers

1 onion, diced

24 oz queso fresco

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2-3 tbsp olive oil

First, roast the poblano peppers on the grill until charred on all sides. Then place in a bag to steam for 10 mins. Remove from the bag and using a knife, scrape off the charred skin. Remove the stem and seeds from the poblano peppers. Slice the peppers into strips and then dice. 

In a deep medium skillet, heat about 2-3 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced onions and cook for about 5 mins until translucent. Then add the corn and cook for about 3 mins. Then add the diced poblano peppers, smoked paprika, cumin, salt and pepper and cook for about 1 min.  Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl. Crumble half the queso fresco into the salad and mix. Set aside and chill in the fridge. When ready to serve, crumble the rest of the queso fresco into the salad. Enjoy!