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This easy dinner is an Italian version of Cordon Bleu – chicken thighs stuffed with parmesan cheese, wrapped with prosciutto and then lightly pan fried.
This dinner probably looks a lot like summer. I received the first magazine of the wonderful gift subscription of Donna Hay, that I received from MEM for Christmas. I love Donna. The photography throughout her books will have you drooling all over. Her easy and delicious recipes will amaze you every time.
Tonight I made a simple chicken thigh recipe. I followed Donna’s idea but changed how to do it a little. Instead of lightly rolling the thighs and sprinkling with Parmesan cheese on them; I pounded them until thin and the rolled Parmesan cheese in the middles before wrapping with Prosciutto and pan frying. The chicken came out very moist and really flavorful and slightly salty. This dish reminded me of an Italian version of Cordon Bleu. I served the chicken exactly as Donna suggested, with a tomato and basil salad.
Recipe
Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto
* serves 4
4 chicken thighs, trimmed
3/4 cup shaved Parmesan
4 slices of prosciutto
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 vine ripened tomatoes, sliced
1 cup basil leaves
olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt and cracked pepper
Place the chicken between 2 sheets of waxed paper and flatten by pounding. Put shavings of Parmesan cheese in the middle of the thigh and tightly make into a roll. Wrap with the prosciutto. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. cook the chicken 3 – 4 minutes each side or until cooked through. Place the tomato and basil in a bowl, drizzle with extra oil and vinegar and toss to combine. Serve. Eat.
Move over green eggs and ham, purple soup is here to stay! Your kids will love this bright purple soup that is not only easy to make but very healthy, as well as low fat. They will be eating their veggies and giggling the entire time.
and what do you possibly think this “purple” soup could be??
You may be starting to think we eat a little too much of cauliflower soup around here; I know someone else is thinking that! I saw this purple cauliflower in the store and I knew I had to give it a whirl. The color was just too good to pass it by. If I had kids I am sure they would have loved it just because it was “purple”.
This soup is so easy to make, you can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes. It is equally as delicious. I like to serve it with a simple salad, which I tossed with a new dressing that was fantastic (recipe below) and a hunk of crusty bread!
Recipe: Purple Cauliflower Soup
* adapted from Simply Recipes
Florets from one head of purple cauliflower
2 shallots – diced
1 clove of garlic – chopped
1 quart of water
Salt
Unsalted butter
Bring 1 quart of water to a rolling boil in a medium-sized pot. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to the water. Add the cauliflower, shallots, and garlic, and cook until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove florets, shallots and garlic to a bowl. Reserve cooking water.
Working in batches, fill a blender half-way with cooked cauliflower, add enough cooking water to the blender bowl so that it comes up a quarter of the way. Purée until smooth. You want the consistency to be that of soup, so if you need to add more water, do so. For each blender batch, add salt and butter to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and about a tablespoon or more of butter for each blender batch). Since you are using only lightly salted cooking water for a base, not stock, you will need to salt this more than you would otherwise.
Serve immediately into bowls. Add a pat of butter, let melt slightly and serve.
Eat.
Serves 4.
White Balsamic & Herb Dressing
*from Donna Hay magazine – no measurements, I did it by taste.
Place olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, chopped flat leaf parsley, crushed garlic, caster sugar, sea salt and cracked black pepper in a non-metallic blowl and stir to combine.
Get ready for your weekly sugar fix as it is Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) time again. Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles picked one of our favorite desserts – custard. I love making custards. It screams COMFORT food for us. As well it is a dessert that is made with basic staples that one always should have on hand – milk, sugar, eggs and some sort of flavoring.
This particular recipe infuses lemon zest with milk. I did use Meyer Lemon zest and I let it infuse for an hour instead of 30 minutes. As well I used an unrefined sugar which gave it a small bite of a caramel undertone. I did not use the optional extract as I wanted the pureness of the Meyer Lemon to be tasted. The custard is baked in a bain marie, which I am very use to using, the only difference this time, was that Dorie asked us to put a double layer of paper towel in the bottom of the pan. Otherwise, it is a simple and straightforward recipe.
The custard came out creamy, light and very fresh. The perfect spring time dessert.
Star Anise Braised Pork Belly and with quail eggs (Thit Heo Kho Hoa Hoi), which translates for us to: pork, pork fat drippings and caramel sauce.
Ingrid sent us an email last week announcing that Anthony would be hitting Vietnam on Monday night and that it would be the last show of the season! We knew we had to go along …..
This was the best excuse to make some Vietnamese food as I have been itching to try this recipe that Diane and Todd made recently, Star Anise Braised Pork Belly and quail eggs (Thit Heo Kho Hoa Hoi). Think about it, one cannot go wrong with Pork, some pork fat drippings and caramel sauce! As well, we knew from Anthony’s last trip to the Philippines, that he loves Pork!
We started the evening with some veggie spring rolls. We love these little morsels, either as an appetizer or even a light main course. They are incredibly easy to make and you can use so many different options when filling them. I served them with a spicy Nuoc Cham sauce I found in the newest addition of Donna Hay.
Then we moved onto the main attraction, the Pork Belly (butt in this case) with quail eggs (chicken this time). I love this recipe as it was so complex by using the cinnamon (we used the Viet cinnamon bark), black peppercorns, and star anise. It was such an interesting combination, slightly spicy (pepper) and it had this crazy depth to it, I don’t cook with Star Anise that often but I am thinking that is what added this layer. The caramel made it slightly sweet. I was not going to serve with the eggs (I am not a hard boil egged fan) but then, Lenny, thought I was crazy for not following Diane’s suggestions. I served it with rice noodles and a light cucumber salad (a Donna recipe). It was very good …..
Here is a sneak peak about rest of the food being devoured in Vietnam.
Recipes for the sides coming later (sorry swamped today).
Place the fish sauce, sugar, water, lime juice, garlic and chili in a non-metallic bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved. keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Pickled Cucumber Salad
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
Place the sugar, lime juice and vinegar in a non-metallic bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the cucumber and toss well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Makes 2 cups.
Laudalino has been asking for Shepherd’s Pie for a couple weeks now. I have never made Shepard’s Pie. I have not had it in years, the last time was probably when I was a small child. I do remember the last and possibly the only one I have ever eaten, it was like a stew with potatoes on top.
I started researching Shepard’s Pie when he mentioned eating it. Most of the recipes that came up were lamb or beef based and they all had a combination of potatoes, carrots and peas in them. For some reason I was not in the mood for this typical pie so I kept searching.
Then I opened my March issue of Bon Appetit (I don’t read them until the month they are intended for) and found few different comfort pies and one of them was Shepherd’s Pie. I liked this recipe as soon as I saw the title, “Lamb and Eggplant”. I love lamb and we both love eggplant. Once I read the recipe ingredients over and saw that it had a Greek influence, I knew I found a winner!
This is a fantastic recipe. Lots of texture, flavor and pure comfort. I did substituted dried herbs with fresh. As well I had not read the recipe before hand so I skimped on an hour of the stove top cooking time as we did not want to eat at 10pm. It worked out fine. The lamb was ultra tender and it was still very good. I highly recommend this recipe, just allow yourself about 5 hours total time to make it. It is a good rainy day Sunday afternoon meal to prepare.
Recipe
*adapted from Bon Appetit – made 4 servings
1pound eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes
1 1/4 poundsrusset potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
2tablespoons(1/4 stick) butter
2tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil
2garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cupwhole milk
3/4cups(packed) coarsely grated kasseri cheese
Preparation
filling
Scatter eggplant on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt; let stand 1 hour, tossing occasionally. Rinse eggplant and pat very dry.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add eggplant and sauté until tender, about 12 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl.
Sprinkle lamb generously with coarse salt and pepper, then dust with flour to coat. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add half of lamb. Sauté until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer lamb to large bowl. Repeat with 2 tablespoons oil and remaining lamb.
Add 1 additional tablespoon oil to same pot, if needed. Add onions. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until very tender, about 10 minutes (bottom of pot will be very dark). Add wine to pot. Increase heat and boil until wine evaporates, scraping up browned bits, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, broth, garlic, and oregano and bring to boil. Add lamb with any accumulated juices. Cover; reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour. Stir in eggplant. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
topping
Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 14 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt butter with oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic. Sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add milk and bring to simmer.
Drain potatoes. Return to pot. Stir over medium heat until excess moisture evaporates. Add milk mixture and mash potatoes until just smooth. Stir in cheese. Season with coarse salt and pepper.
Drop potatoes over filling by heaping tablespoonfuls, covering completely.
Bake pie until filling is heated through and topping is golden, about 45 minutes.
Light Frisee Salad with baked goat cheese and pancetta; simple dinner or light lunch.
I took the idea from Sunday night’s appetizer and decided to turn it into a dinner for tonight. Read on to hear about how Laudalino had one of the most disappointing meals tonight ……..
We love frisee salads, it really is a classic salad green. I love how light and wispy it is and how it tickles the back of your throat. When we had the goat cheese appetizer the other night I thought it would go nicely over a bed of frisee. So, I tightly wrapped pancetta around around another round of goat cheese with a shaving of truffle and pan seared it in a thin layer of butter. When it was pan searing I made a reduction of fig balsamic and chestnut honey. Before serving I drizzled olive oil in the bowl that had previous tracings of fig balsamic and added a pinch of fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. Then I lightly tossed the frisee with this. Once the cheese was melted, the truffle very fragrant and the pancetta browned, I laid it on top of the frisee. I finished the salad with a drizzle of the balsamic reduction. Served it with a lightly fruity French white wine and warm crusty bread.d,
I thought it was very good. Complex with the syrupy reduction and the creamy cheese, salty pancetta and woody truffle. I liked it. Laudalino ….. the tip of his mouth turned to a frown, his brow crinkled, his cheeks slightly puffed and he scowled that he was so disappointed. I took one of his favorite appetizers and turned it into this ….. Don’t worry I don’t cry over these critiques, I laughed it off.
We had a pretty busy weekend entertaining but I did find time to get a pot of chicken stock going on Sunday while we sipped wine all afternoon and made a fantastic meal. I made a batch of beef stock a couple weeks ago but the freezer has been missing chicken so it was definitely time. I don’t have any particular recipe, I just kind of wing it. Each time it comes out a little differently but still very good. If you don’t make stock you really should, it makes all the difference.
Tonight was a very rainy night, a night that was meant to be spent at home. I decided to make my fall back on Chicken Soup using some of the chicken stock. I sauteed some carrots, celery, onions and garlic with a little olive oil and then I added it to the chicken stock. I had saved the meat from the stock making and added it as well. While I let this simmer for about an hour, I tossed around the idea of adding rice or barley but then I remembered dumplings. I have a recipe I normally use, while they are good, they are not great. So tonight I decided to try the Butter Dumpling recipe in the Mark Bittman cookbook, How to Cook Everything. The difference between the two recipes was that his calls for butter, grated onion and some stock added into the dumpling mixture. This little morsels of sinful buttery goodness were a great addition to my basic chicken soup. Flavorful. Buttery (even left a nice layer of butter in the soup). Light and slightly eggy. We have definitely found our new favorite dumpling recipe!
Saute the veggies in the olive oil until soft. Add the chicken stock and the chicken meat. Reduce heat to a low simmer and let cook for about an hour to blend the flavors. Season with salt and pepper.
Recipe: Butter Dumplings
*from the How to Cook Everything cookbook
4 tablespoons butter softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup minced or grated onion
salt
freshly ground pepper
Cream the butter in a bowl with the back of a fork, then beat in the eggs. Stir in the flour, parsley, onion, salt and pepper blending well. Add heated stock 1 tablespoon at a time, just until the batter is soft; do not make it too loose or the dumplings will fall apart.
Drop the batter by the teaspoonful into the simmering broth. Cook until set and cooked through, about 10 minutes, removing the dumplings as they are done. Serve immediately in the soup.
This weeks challenge was brought to us by Lyb of And then I do the dishes and she picked the cake that Dorie got fired over: the Chocolate Armagnac Cake.
I have to say right off, I am glad that Dorie got fired over the creation of this cake – it is FANTASTIC! Basically, Dorie got bored day in and day out of making the same thing and decided to get a little creative when making this cake, in the end she was fired for being creative! I love that! Not, that you lost your job, Dorie; but, the part about being creative and taking a chance.
The past couple of weeks I have made two incredibly dense chocolate cakes that require very little flour if any at all, which I find interesting as the texture is really amazingly light, so different from your tradition cake. This particular recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate and I used the deepest I could find, Scharffen Berger 70% as well it uses ground pecans. I did toast the pecans a bit before grinding which gave them a nice toasty and warm taste. As well we got to flambe prunes in Armagnac, this is the second recipe of Dorie’s that I have gotten to flambe and it is a very fun addition to your baking afternoon. Now you may be thinking to yourself, prunes in a cake? This addition made the cake incredibly moist. The cake is frosted with a simple glaze of more chocolate, very little sugar and butter.
This is a recipe that will become a fall back onto for us. It was ultra moist, dense, nice bite of deep bittersweet chocolate and not overly sweet. With the addition of prunes we like to think it is healthier for us as well, after all we all could use some fiber with our chocolate! It really is a fantastic recipe.
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