Jamie Oliver Week: Day 1

Or three days really. This dish from Cook with Jamie is really simple, but completely satisfying.

White Fish wrapped in Smoked Bacon with *White Wine-Lemon Sauce and Asparagus

Serves 4:

4 white fish fillets, skinned and pinboned

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary leaves picked and chopped

zest and juice of two lemons

4 slices of Pancetta

2 bunches of asparagus, trimmed

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Season fillets with rosemary, lemon zest, and pepper. Wrap the pancetta around the fillets.

2. Lightly heat a ovenproof frying pan, add a splash of olive oil and lay your fish, prettiest side facing up, n the pan. Fry for a minute, the flip and place your pan in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the bacon is crisp.

3. This is where we changed it up a bit. Jamie has a lemon-mayonnaise listed with this dish; however, to make it more healthful we went with a simple white-wine, butter, and lemon juice sauce. Be sure to let the wine cook for a bit before adding the butter and lemon juice.

4. For the asparagus you can boil it, steam it, or like us saute it in a non-stick pan. Easy-peasy!

5. Plate the asparagus and place the fish on top and drizzle the sauce over both.

Tonight we are having Steak and Guinness Pie. I can hardly wait!

Until then, Joyeux Cuisson!

All Hallows Eve

This weekend was filled with some really good eats. It began Friday evening with our friends Dan & Amy and a Weinberger favorite: Cast Iron Deep Dish Pizza and Chocolate Candy Corn-alicious Cup Cakes.

For the Pizza:

1 Large pizza dough from your local pizza joint

6-10 Cremini Mushrooms

1 8oz. can of garlic and herb tomato sauce

3 Links of Italian Sausage

1 8oz. package of Low Moisture Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 425 F

Begin by slicing and sauteing your mushrooms and It. sausage in a non-stick pan over medium heat.

Meanwhile roll out your room temp. pizza dough.

Dab a paper towel with oil and spread the oil around your cast iron to prevent sticking. Lay your pizza dough over the cast iron skillet & cut off the excess dough.

By now the mushrooms and It. sausage should be done. Fill your pie with the meat mixture, your sauce, and cover with cheese. Traditional deep dish has the sauce on top- but I like to see the beautiful browned cheese.

With the excess dough I like to make bread sticks covered in 1 TB of butter, garlic powder, & herbs de provence.

The pizza should take about 25 min. depending on the oven. I like to check mine after 20 min.

Voilà!

For the Cupcakes:

For the record I did make scratch chocolate cupcakes, but they weren't chocolate-y enough. It was Friday afternoon and I didn't have time to do it again. This box mix actually turned out really tasty!

Go Here for the icing recipe!

Sunday we had all orange food in honor of Halloween, so we enjoyed homemade tomato soup and sweet potato oven fries.

For the Soup: Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Serves 6

tablespoons unsalted butter

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 to 2 cloves garlic (optional)

2 (14-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 cups Basic Chicken Stock, or water

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Melt butter in a medium stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic (if using), stirring constantly, until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, their juices, and stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer tomato mixture to a blender, food processor, or food mill. Puree tomato mixture (if using a blender, cover the lid with a kitchen towel while machine is running).
*I actual used an emersion blender, which worked great. While I was blending I slowly added 1/2 & 1/2 in place of the cream.

For the Sweet Potato Fries:

Serves 2

2 average sweet potatoes

Salt & Pepper

Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 415 F

Peel and slice potatoes, we do ours about a cm thick. Sprinkle with olive oil, s & p, and garlic powder. Spread over a cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 30 min. *Flip after 15 min.

As you can see I like it pretty simple. Sometimes I like to jazz it up, but I don't see that happening for another week and a half or so. Until next time Joyeux Cuisson!

Date Night

On Saturday night Mr. Weinberger and I had a much deserved decadent meal. Being newlyweds and all we spend most of our time figuring out different ways to scrimp and save, but this weekend we really enjoyed ourselves. I have to give him most of the credit for this meal. He planned, prepped, and did most of the actual cooking. I was the su chef if you will, and I enjoyed ever minute of it. We had braised short ribs, traditional mashed potatoes, and champagne. Mmmm delish!

For the Short Ribs: Courtesy of foodnetwork.com

4 English cut beef short ribs, trimmed (roughly 8 ounces each)

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1 bottle full bodied red wine, such as Cabernet

4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat ribs dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on all sides.

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ribs and brown on all sides.

Transfer the ribs to a plate, then add the garlic and stir until softened but not brown, about 1 minute. Carefully pour in the wine, bring to a boil and cook until reduced to about 1 cup.

Add the ribs and any juices they have released back to the pot along with the stock. Reduce the heat and bring to a simmer, then cover the pot and transfer it to the oven, tobraise, until the meat easily falls off the bone, about 3 hours.

Transfer the ribs to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Strainthe braising liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Simmer the liquid, skimming fat as necessary, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Taste for seasoning and adjust, if necessary. Transfer the ribs and sauce to a serving dish and serve.

For the Mashed Potatoes:

Serves 2

3 average size baking potatoes

3 TB of butter

A splash of milk & 1/2 and 1/2

1. Wash and peel your potatoes (if you desire) and cut into even slices. Honestly I like to do mine pretty thin so they will cook quickly.

2. Boil in a medium sauce pan for about 15-20 minutes or until very done. Drain and mash in a mixing bowl. I like to mix my potatoes, milk, and butter with my stand mixer (because I am lazy), but you of course can use a hand mixer. I whip mine pretty good- because that's how my southern momma does 'em! It doesn't get any better than mashed 'taters!

I hope you enjoy this really rather simple and economical meal. Until next time, Joyeux Cuisson!