Reconciliation with Orange Juice

I grew up drinking orange juice almost every day with breakfast. My Mother has never been a coffee drinker, but she has to have a glass of orange juice each morning to kick start her day. So, as a child I did the same. As I grew older I discovered coffee and loved it, so my morning juice was replaced by hot cup of coffee. I still would drink orange juice from time to time until one day…. I spent spring semester of my sophomore year studying in Granada, Spain. I loved absolutely everything about it including the food and drinks. My host mother, Gloria, was an amazing cook that made the most fantastic paella, fish soup, tortilla, and the list goes on and on. I also found a love for espresso, Cola Cao, different teas, and a renewed love of fresh squeezed orange juice. Most weekends I would travel either with my program or my two sisters, Jess and her best friend Gail, who were both working in Granada while I was studying. In general the cheapest and fastest ways to travel short distances in Spain is by bus. One of my last weekends in Granada, Gail and I decided to make a day trip to Córdoba so I could see the amazing Mosque there. We left early that morning and despite Gloria leaving breakfast sitting on the table for me I was in such a hurry that I decided to just grab something at the bus station. That morning I wasn’t too hungry, but I couldn’t pass up a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Let’s just say that the combination of an empty stomach, a large glass of juice, curvy roads, and a packed bus didn’t work out very well for me. That was over five years ago and since that day I have not picked up a glass of orange juice or cooked with orange juice until the last few months. I guess I have finally gotten over my association of orange juice and the bus ride to Córdoba. Tonight’s dinner is one that even six months ago I would have passed by, but now that I am slowly learning to love orange juice again I decided to give it a try.

Tonight I made Orange Chicken with Scallions from the November issue of Fine Cooking. To start you use a vegetable peeler to peel large pieces of zest from an orange. You then juice the orange and add soy sauce, rice vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes, and light brown sugar to it. You set all of this to the side. You then use a mini food processor to combine the cornstarch, egg whites, and salt. Then you cut up the chicken into small pieces and sprinkle it with the remaining salt. The chicken is then tossed with the cornstarch mixture and sautéed in a hot non-stick pan with a little oil. You need to do the chicken in two batches in order to allow room for the chicken to not touch and be able to brown. The chicken is then removed from the skillet and placed on paper towels to drain any excess oil. You then put the large pieces of orange zest in the skillet for about 30 seconds and then add the orange juice mixture. The chicken and white scallions are then added to the skillet for a few minutes until the sauce reduces and glazes the chicken. I served the chicken over brown rice with a side of green beans.

Russ and I really liked this dish; however, there was a slight bitter taste to it that most likely came from the zest. The pieces of zest I used did not have any pith on it, but the vegetable peeler does go deeper into the skin than a zester does. I would recommend not using the vegetable peeler and going with a zester which is not only quicker, but also should eliminate the bitterness. Overall the taste was wonderful and we liked the small pieces of chicken and the orange flavor. Russ rates the meal an 8.

Orange Chicken with Scallions, Fine Cooking November 2007
Serves two to three.

1 large navel orange
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 tsp. light brown sugar
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
¾ tsp. kosher salt
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 to 4 Tbs. canola or peanut oil
4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (keep whites and greens separate)

Using a vegetable peeler, shave the zest from the orange in long, wide strips. If necessary, remove any large patches of bitter white pith from the zest strips with a paring knife. Juice the orange in a small bowl and mix with the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes.

Sprinkle the chicken with ½ tsp. of the salt. In a mini food chopper or food processor, process the egg whites, cornstarch, and the remaining ¼ tsp. salt until smooth. In a medium bowl, toss the chicken with the cornstarch batter.

Heat 2 Tbs. of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet or large stir-fry pan over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Using tongs, transfer about half the chicken to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, flipping every minute or so, until the chicken browns and crisps all over and is firm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes. With clean tongs, transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil to the skillet (or 2 Tbs. oil if the pan seems very dry) and repeat the cooking process with the remaining chicken; transfer to the plate.

Put the orange zest strips in the skillet and cook, stirring, until they darken in spots, 15 to 30 seconds. Stir the orange juice mixture and add it to the pan. Let it boil for about 10 seconds and then add the chicken and the scallion whites. Cook, stirring often, until the sauce reduces to a glaze and the chicken is just cooked through – check by cutting into a thicker piece – 1 to 2 minutes. If the chicken isn’t cooked through but the glaze is cooking away, add a couple tablespoons of water and continue cooking. Serve sprinkled with the scallion greens.

The First Blog Repeat

If you are a regular follower of this blog (which to be perfectly honest I am not sure if anyone outside of my parents, Russ, and Jess is – hey guys!) then you’ll know that most recipes don’t get repeated in our house. It is not that we don’t find recipes that are tasty enough that we would want to have them again, but quite frankly there are just too many recipes that I want to try to take the time to repeat an old one. As with most blanket statements there are exceptions such as a few dishes that are quick and easy for a weeknight meal when I don’t want to be in the kitchen very long (such as chicken taco salads, spaghetti sauce etc.) and then there are those that we love so much that we bypass the recipes that are waiting to be tried to repeat an old one. A few weeks ago one of these showed up on the blog, the Cheddar, Chicken Chowder, however, I had not made it since I started this blog. So, tonight the first true repeat shows with its second blog entry… drum roll please… for the second time….Tortilla Soup!

Now if you think the fanfare for this Tortilla Soup is silly then you obviously have not tried it since I last blogged about it in March. Like the cookies in my last post this is for me the look no further best ever recipe for Tortilla Soup. It is simple to make with only a few ingredients, but the chopped corn tortillas that are added at the beginning and break down as you simmer the soup make this soup fantastic. The tortilla pieces add a richness and thickness to this soup that for me makes it stand above other recipes. It also has the right amount of chicken and seasonings to it. The cayenne pepper gives it some heat without making it too hot. This soup also reheats really well, so Russ and I plan to enjoy it for lunch this week. It really is the best tortilla soup I have ever had. Russ rates the soup a 10.

(I've included a few pictures from Thanksgiving at the beach.)








Here is the recipe and the link to my previous post on it:

Tortilla Soup ("Stop and Smell the Rosemary" - with a few changes I made)

6 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used a little less than 3)

8 corn tortillas, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 medium onion, chopped

1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes, undrained

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

3 bay leaves

6 cups chicken stock (I used reduced sodium)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (start with a half and then add more only if needed)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro, and onion. Saute 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Add salt and cayenne. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Reheat. Garnish with monterey jack, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla strips. (I cut some of the leftover corn tortillas into strips and bake them. I then salt them when they are done and serve them with the soup.) Serves 6 (1.5 cup servings)

The Almost Perfect Dinner and The Perfect Dessert

I have been cooking and baking with an active interest in it for a few years now. While I still consider myself a novice in the kitchen I do think that there are some basic dishes that I should have made by now. Now in the past year I have made some progress by making lots of firsts for me such as a tiered cake, fruit cobbler, lasagna, pot roast…. However, there are still several dishes out there that I think are classic dishes that I surely should have made by now. One such dish is chicken pot pie. I have never made it and while I have found several recipes for it that looked tasty I have simply passed them by. Well, that changed tonight as I decided to finally cross chicken pot pie off my list by giving Ina Garten’s Chicken Stew with Biscuits (her version of chicken pot pie) a go.

I will start out by saying that this is a very time consuming dish to make. It is an enjoyable one to make, but be sure you have plenty of time set aside for it. I started by roasting the chicken. This is not the first time I have followed Ina’s method of roasting chicken breasts and they always turns out perfect – moist and flavorful! It is very simple to do and yields great results, so even if you don’t make the rest of this recipe try roasting chicken breasts (on the bone with skin) like Ina. While the chicken roasted I chopped all the veggies and parsley (including celery and red potatoes which were my addition). I also put the chicken broth and bouillon cubes in a pot and let them heat up. You then blanch the carrots in one pot and sauté the onions and celery in a little butter in a dutch oven. Once the onions are translucent you add the flour in while stirring. Then you add the broth, cream (I used half and half), veggies and chicken and mix it all together. The chicken stew then goes in a baking dish and bakes for about 15 minutes uncovered. While it is baking you make the biscuits by combining the dry ingredients and then working the butter into them. Then you add the half and half and parsley and work it all together. The dough gets rolled out and cut into somewhat thin biscuits. The biscuits are then added to the top of the stew and brushed with an egg wash. The whole dish goes back in the oven for about 20 more minutes.

Russ, Allen, and I all enjoyed the chicken stew with biscuits. The flavor of the stew was excellent and the biscuits were the perfect topping. The stew was thick and creamy and the biscuits added great texture. The only problem was that the carrots should have blanched for longer and I should have blanched the potatoes too. We all thought the potatoes were a good addition they just weren’t cooked through. I even thought about pre-cooking the potatoes and then didn’t do it… Next time I’ll make sure that the carrots and potatoes are almost completely cooked through when I add them to the stew. Despite the crunchy vegetables Russ rates it a 9.

Now, since it was Saturday night and we were in Mentone I couldn’t make a hearty, comfort food dish for dinner and then not serve dessert… so I took the opportunity to try a recipe I saw on Smitten Kitchen for Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are a fairly straight forward cookie recipe with one small twist that takes these cookies from good to over the top amazing! You add a little orange zest to the cookie dough and it really just makes these cookies fantastic. The cookies are not too crunchy or too chewy and have a great balance of oatmeal and chocolate chips. Smitten Kitchen also adds chopped nuts to hers, but since Russ doesn’t like nuts in cookies I left them out. I really think this could be a look no further this is it perfect recipe for Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies. Since Russ did the shopping and bought the largest bag of chocolate chips I have ever seen and since the holidays are coming up I may be making another batch of these sometime soon. Russ rates the cookies a 10!

Colorless Chicken

In Junior High School I took nine weeks of home economics. My strongest memory of it is of making homemade biscuits. I remember my team doing really well with our biscuits until we realized that we failed to preheat the oven. My Mother on the other hand took more than nine weeks of home economics when she was in school. I am sure she has more than one memory from it, but the one the I know of from hearing it over the years is that her teacher would always tell them that when you plate a meal it should not all be the same color. From what I know her teacher felt like having different colors on the plate not only looked better, but also that it was more healthy. I am not sure I agree one hundred percent with this as I can think of a few exceptions such as several Indian dishes where everything is yellow, but at the same time it is full of vegetables and very delicious. Despite a few exceptions I still think she has a valid point. While one of the things I like about cooking is that there are not any real rules to it... I think tonight's dinner would have been better if I had headed Mom's home economics teacher's advice.

For dinner tonight I tried a new Cooking Light recipe that I saw in October issue for Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Garlic and Goat Cheese. To make the dish you roast a head of garlic which is then mixed with the goat cheese and stuffed in the chicken. You saute the chicken for a couple minutes on each side before putting it in the oven to finish cooking. I served it over polenta, as Cooking Light suggested, with a side of sauteed spinach with mushrooms. While the spinach added beautiful color to the meal everything was soft in texture. The stuffed chicken was very good, but lacked color and a little something else. Everything was good, but the meal has potential to be a lot better. I think I should have stuffed the chicken breasts with the garlic / goat cheese mixture and the spinach and served a side dish with more crunch to it. While I probably won't follow this recipe again I do think I'll keep an eye out for more stuffed chicken recipes.

Russ rates the stuffed chicken with polenta an 8.

A Formal Dinner

Russ and I have been married for almost a year and a half now and we have yet to use our wedding china, silver, and crystal. I thought about cooking a nice meal for our anniversary and using it and I’ve joked to Russ that maybe I would pull it out sometime when we were having burgers and beer, but I still haven’t used it. I guess I always thought that something would come up where I would need to serve a dinner on fine china. The reality is that Russ and I are just not that formal and we don’t have situations that come up where wine needs to be served in crystal goblets and meat must be cut with a silver knife. So, I decided that I would make a reason to pull out the china plates, beautiful chargers, silver forks and knives, crystal goblets, and linen napkins - we invited my parents over for dinner. We have had them over before and used our regular everyday plates and glasses and they have always enjoyed it. While I know they would be happy even if we used paper plates I also know that there is not a single person that would appreciate my using all these beautiful things more than my Mother. So, tonight we are pulling out all our finest things and having a formal dinner… well kind of formal as I’m wearing jeans and Crocs and Russ is in jeans and tennis shoes.

For our formal dinner we decided to serve beef tenderloin, roasted asparagus and brussel sprouts, and mashed red potatoes. While Russ has lots of experience on the grill he has never cooked a whole beef tenderloin before and always wanted to give it a try. Tonight he marinated it in Mr. P’s for about an hour and then grilled it perfectly on The Egg. It was fantastic! The meat was juicy, tender, and flavorful. Russ rates it a 9.

The October issue of Fine Cooking had a section on brussel sprouts. I love brussel sprouts and Russ hates them. I have cooked them once before just for me, but since I know my Dad also loves them I put them on the menu for tonight. All the recipes in the section looked wonderful, but I decided on their To prepare the brussel sprouts you quarter them and then toss them with Dijon mustard, olive oil, and Worcestershire. The recipe also calls for Caraway seeds which I thought I had… but I don’t, so I left them out. These roast for about 20 minutes and then are topped with fresh bread crumbs that are toasted with a little bit of butter and chopped walnuts. They were very tasty and Dad loved them! The beef took a little longer than Russ expected, so the brussel sprouts got a little over done, but they were still very tasty. Russ ate a quarter of a brussel sprout, but he is going pass on rating them. I give them an 8.

For the asparagus we went with a Cookling Light recipe that we have made before and loved, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter. It is super simple and usually a 10. You roast the asparagus with a little salt, pepper, and cooking spray. When you pull them out you drizzle them with melted butter that has soy sauce and balsamic vinegar mixed in it. Tonight the asparagus got a little overcooked and they turned out okay, so Russ gives them a 9. When they are not overcooked then these are very tasty and a 10.

Bruschetta for Book Club

There are so many recipes that I want to try and with each new issue of Cooking Light or Fine Cooking even more get dog eared and added to the list. I have a small bookcase full of wonderful cookbooks and a list of other ones I want despite the fact that I haven’t even cooked out of some of the ones I have. Yet I still find myself at a loss of what to make sometimes. Sometimes it is that I am not exactly sure what I am in the mood for or that I need something that fits certain requirements such as it can be made in advance, feed a crowd, travel well, etc. This happened to me this week as it is Book Club week. Book Club meets at six o’clock which presents a small challenge to come up with something that I can pretty much grab or put a finishing touch on when I get home from work and then have it be ready to go. I wanted to take something in the heavy appetizer realm that wasn’t a dip. There are so many appetizers I want to try in fact I just got a special edition of Fine Cooking all on appetizers, yet I couldn’t come up with anything that caught my eye and fit the requirements. It came down to today where I had to pick something or go empty handed, so I reverted to an old stand by of bruschetta. It is a different version than I have done before with mushrooms, but it is still not exciting. I am sure that no matter how many cookbooks or magazines I have I’ll still find myself at a loss of what to make again, but a few more cookbooks might help, right? Just kidding Russ… we’ll kind of….

To make the Mushroom and Parmigiano Bruschetta you deseed a tomato and chop it. You add sherry vinegar, fresh basil, salt, sugar, capers, and red pepper to it. Then you sauté the sliced mushrooms, green onions, and garlic in a little butter for a couple minutes. Once the mushroom mixture is done you toss it with the tomato mixture and serve it over slices of baguette. I decided to double the recipe and toast the baguette slices for a minute in the broiler.

The bruschetta turned better than I had thought. They were quite tasty and I loved how it showcased the flavor and texture of the mushrooms. Russ rates the bruschetta a 8.

A Love of Soup

There are lots of reasons why I love to cook and bake. I enjoy chopping vegetables, slowly adding broth to risotto, mixing dry and wet ingredients to make muffins, mincing garlic, tossing pasta with a sauce and the list goes on and on. When Russ and I have a night at home with no plans there is nothing I enjoy more than making dinner for just the two of us. There is something especially relaxing and therapeutic to me about making soup now that the weather is cooler and it is turning dark earlier. Tonight I made a large pot of an old favorite soup of ours. It is a thick hearty chowder that involves chopping fresh vegetables, shredding chicken, sautéing them together, letting it all simmer in a bath of chicken broth, and then thickening it up with mixture of flour and milk. Stirring a large pot of thick simmering chowder on a cold night with Russ sitting at the kitchen counter and Cash sprawled out on the floor snoozing represents all that I love about cooking.

Tonight’s soup is an older CL recipe for Cheddar Chicken Chowder. I have made this recipe a couple times before so I don’t follow the amounts on the recipe, but more eyeball it. I cooked two chicken breasts in water and then shredded them. I sautéed the onion, red pepper, and garlic in a little olive oil since I omitted the bacon. I then added the chicken, potatoes and broth. I used red potatoes and left most of the skin on them because I like the color and flavor of the skin. This comes to a boil and then is reduced to a simmer and left covered for about 20 minutes. Then you add the flour / milk mixture and corn. I put the milk out on the counter earlier to let it come to room temperature. You then let it simmer until it thickens and is hot. Lastly stir in the cheese and serve.

This is a hearty soup with great flavor and texture. The broth is warm with a thick potato base to it. The red pepper not only adds great color, but also fantastic flavor – don’t leave it out or you will be missing out. I shred the chicken because I like its texture to be a contrast to the chunks of potato. The corn adds a slight sweetness to the soup and another great texture. This is a comfort food type of soup that Russ and I both love. Russ rates the soup a 10.

Family Recipes

The best thing about living in Birmingham for Russ and me is our family. Our parents, all our siblings, and Russ’ grandfather all currently live within ten minutes of us and we love it! Not a week goes by when we don’t see at least one or more family member. Just this past week Jess, Scott and Hugo came over for dinner, we ate lunch with my Dad, and we hung out in Tuscaloosa at the Alabama game with all of Russ’ siblings. Our families have lots of things in common including a love of food and sharing meals together. Not long after I started this blog I realized I needed a category for family recipes. Maybe I am a sap, but there is something really special to me about making a recipe that I remember my Mom or Dad making when I was younger or learning a family recipe from Russ’ Mom. Both our families have recipes that go back several generations and that is an incredible gift to have. When it comes to family recipes I always ask if I can put the recipe up on my blog. Usually the answer is yes, but sometimes like tonight’s dinner the answer is I’d rather keep this one in the family. I can appreciate that some family recipes are just that recipes for the family. Its not that Mom is worried that someone might go make a million dollars off of her Stroganoff, but there is something special about keeping some recipes just in the family.

For Bachelor Night tonight Russ and I hosted and served Mom’s Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles. Elizabeth and Seth brought a Cesar salad and bread and Emily and Dowe brought cheese and crackers and chocolate chip cookie bars. Everything was yummy! Russ rates the stroganoff a 10.

Since I didn't post on Halloween and there have been a few requests I am posting a picture of Russ and me in our costumes (Mario and Princess Peach) from last weekend.