Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Shallots, and Thyme
For me food doesn’t have to be fancy or require an extensive list of ingredients or dozens of steps and a complicated presentation to be romantic. No, simple, good tasting food is always the most romantic to me, such as chicken cooked simply in a skillet with a good pan sauce made of shallots, garlic, and wine and a nice glass of wine to sip while cooking. The dish comes together quickly, and the combination of simple fresh ingredients creates a nice flavor palette.
My inspiration came from one of my favorite food bloggers, Ilva, who posted a chicken recipe in 2005 using the same ingredients but in different amounts. Michael loves Italian food (it’s that whole thing about being part Italian), and after being together for almost 10 years, I know his tastes pretty well. I loved the ingredients Ilva chose and I knew Michael would too, especially if I increased the amount of garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and thyme. My version came together a little differently, so don’t quote me on this being an authentic interpretation of Tuscan cuisine. No, I go to Ilva for that!
We really enjoyed our interpretation of Ilva’s dish, and I highly recommend it. Make sure you visit her original post for the beautiful writing and gorgeous photos. Read more
New Favorite Cookies
Christmas is not a surprise. It’s on the calendar and we know months ahead of time when it’s coming, but somehow I always find myself scrambling at the last minute to finish baking, grocery shopping, buying and wrapping gifts, or sending out Christmas cards. This time I really was not on the ball and mailed cards on Christmas Eve! Every year I promise myself that I will be better organized next year, and I will try, of course knowing that there will still be some last minute dashing about to pull it all together. I’m not even going to bother making a New Year’s resolution for that!
I would have really enjoyed making a new cookie every day of December, or even doing a 12 Days of Christmas Cookies event like some of my blogging friends have done, but perhaps next year. We did try several new cookies for Christmas 2007, and these are two of our favorites:
Pizzelles from Maryann at Finding La Dolce Vita (photo above). One of my Christmas presents was a pizzelle maker, and we put it to good use immediately! Michael and I both love pizzelles, and we now have three boys who like them, too. Maryann’s recipe is very good. We used zest of orange and almond flavoring, and they were a hit. I will make these regularly. Read more
New Favorites for Thanksgiving
November 23, 2007 by Andrea
Filed under Holidays, Poultry, Vegetables
My plan to blog yesterday fell by the wayside as this Thanksgiving was as busy as ever. Though we stayed at home and had a small celebration with our little family, it seems that we’re still stuck in the mode of struggling to get meals on the table while trying to manage the three-ring circus, aka our three little boys. I did manage to continue my tradition of forgetting to serve the cranberry chutney. Last year was the first time in three years that I actually remembered to serve it, and I promised myself that I would remember this year, but once again it sat in the refrigerator forlornly while we enjoyed the turkey and the rest of the trimmings. Oh well, it will taste good with turkey sandwiches for the next few days!
In a departure from our tradition, we roasted a whole turkey this year rather than just a turkey breast using Elise’s method for roasting the bird breast-side down and Food & Wine’s recipe for shallot butter with Madeira thyme gravy. The breast meat was so tender and juicy it was falling apart as we cut it, and the flavor of the gravy was a real winner. I will never roast a bird breast-side up again because it was *that* good. After picking off all the meat for a turkey pot pie, the carcass went into a stockpot to make some good, rich stock for turkey noodle soup. Read more
New Favorite From Other Blogs: The Big Steak
I usually include several links in these posts, but this time I want to focus on just one because it rocked our culinary world.
We love steak, but I usually don’t bother to buy it unless it’s a cheap cut that I plan to slice up for stir-fry. I hate paying a lot of money for something that may or may not turn out as well as I envision, so we save steaks as an “eat out” item for us, and we have been content with that. Well, that is until I read a blog post on Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen entitled, “How to Turn Cheap Choice Steaks into Gucci Prime Steaks.” I immediately printed off a copy and read it to Michael that night. He was game to try, so we decided to buy some steaks and grill them over Labor Day weekend while my parents were visiting for The Little Man’s birthday.
Of course all the local grocery stores had some kind of steak on sale for the holiday, and we got lucky and found some nice Choice 1-1/2″ thick porterhouse steaks for only $4.99 a pound. Sold! I prepped them just like Jaden described, which is insanely easy, then grilled them over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes on a side. We like medium-rare to medium, and the cook time was just right. Read more
Blog Day 2007
August 31, 2007 by Andrea
Filed under Uncategorized
It’s Blog Day 2007, and this is my first time to participate. Since Andrea’s Recipes is a cooking blog, I will introduce five food and cooking blogs that I have started reading and enjoying in the last few months.
A Year From Oak Cottage and Marie’s Muses, both by Marie in the UK. She lives with her husband and their border collie in a beautiful cottage in Kent that’s connected to a manor house where she works as the chef. I’ve been enjoying the English countryside vicariously through her eyes. As she says, she’s living a foodie’s dream:
“I love my job here as the cook up at the big house. I get to cook every day and fulfill all my culinary fantasies at someone elses expense!” Read more
New Favorites from Other Food Blogs – Summer Beverages
For this July installment of my new favorite finds, I focused on refreshing summer beverages. Each of these are very easy to make and taste delicious on hot days.
- Creamy Brazilian Limeade (From Our Home to Yours) – If you like creamy drinks, then give this a try. Fresh limes are sliced and blended with water with the rind on, then strained and blended with cream, sugar, and more water. Delectable! I’ve made it with half & half, whole milk, and evaporated milk to try to reduce calories. It tastes nicely rich with more fat, but if you are watching your waistline you can use a lower fat option.
- Citronnade à la Menthe (Chocolate & Zucchini) – From Clothilde’s archives, this refreshing water is extremely easy, tasty, and sugar free.
- Ice Tea with Lemon Granita (Love Sicily) – This one from Ronald’s archives is great for a hot day. As he says, you just mix together some lemon ice cubes, water ice cubes, and sugar in a blender. Spoon the mixture into glasses of cold tea and top it off with mint sprigs.
