Whine & Cheese

Jelena, Don't Give Up Your Day Job

Well, this Monday seems to have gotten away from me a bit.  Todd is home today on a "forced" vacation day (loooong story), but has to make it a 'work from home" day... and then I have had a flurry of work activity as well this morning.  I am certainly not complaining, but having mentally prepared myself for a serious slowdown for my business, it has been a bit disconcerting to have a bunch of things to work on, plus some threats of future work.  Not out of the proverbial wood yet, but maybe things won't be as bad as feared... but who knows!

Also, I am tried a new recipe... a peri-peri chicken marinade/sauce this morning (the marinating chicken is currently in the fridge).  We had this insanely good and spicy Portuguese chicken at a chain ("fast casual") restaurant called Nando's while we were in London in May.  While it has always stayed in the back of my mind, a week or so ago Food Network "Rescue Chef" and Brit - Danny Boome - made it (here's a recipe link - fyi I halved it since it was for a TON of chicken)... so I figured it was time for me to give it a try.   If it even half-way approaches our memories of Nando's I will be very pleased.

Anyhow that's been about it for today... so not much "original" material... but while I was posting pictures of my tennis guys - Roger and Rafa - last week, I also did stumble across these pictures of the current (and year-end) #1 women's tennis player in the world Jelena Jankovic from Serbia.

While I didn't inherit the gay fashion gene (I'll be the first to admit I personally have no fashion sense/style), I do feel somewhat qualified to judge others... and the phrase "hot mess" immediately jumped to mind when I saw these pix of Jelena modeling some clothes she designed herself!

Jelena is a bit of a character... and I do kinda sorta enjoy her on some levels, but yeeesh! 

My New Food Network Stars

As I have admitted before, I am addicted to the Food Network.  If I am whipping up something new in the kitchen, it's pretty likely that I saw it on the Food Network... and probably from one of my faves - Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Giada de Laurentiis, or Tyler Florence (probably in that order). 

I set up a TiVo season pass for The Next Food Network Star, but we haven't got around to watching it (believe it or not, we still haven't gotten around to watching the last 4 episodes of Lost!)... we'll see if we get around to it, since the last "next star" didn't work out so well.

But a couple of new-ish shows, have got my attention.

First up, is Rescue Chef with Danny Boome, meet Danny:

Honestly, I can't tell you a whole lot about this show... it's reminiscent of Tyler Florence's Food 911, with Danny coming in to helps a lucky somebody come up with new ways or preparing or learning the basics of a particular dish.  But most of the time, I am find myself having to "snap out of it" and remember this is a cooking show...

Is Danny adorable or what?!?  And Danny "Boome" how cute is that?  And to make matters worse (well, better) Danny is from the UK, so he has this swoony accent too... and he cooks!   If you want to check out the former semi-pro hockey player (nice!) turned au pair (huh?!) turned chef ... Rescue Chef airs on Saturdays (and since this is the FN, probably a bunch of other times).

Now, I do pay more attention to the cooking on this next show... even though it's worth tuning in just for the entertainment value... meet Pat and Gina, hosts of Down Home with the Neely's:

The husband and wife team are owners of a their family-run and very successful Bar-B-Que chain in Memphis and Tennessee... and you can probably guess that their specialty is good 'ole Southern cooking... and a line from their fellow Southerner and Food Network colleague Paula Deen would ring true for these two as well -- "I'm your cook, not your doctor."

But what makes this show so fun, is the flirty playfulness of Pat and particularly the sassy Gina... some of the episodes we have seen have provided more laughs than a network sitcom ... with Gina asking for some "sugar" (a kiss) after getting some adding some actual sugar to a dish... or doing her Tinkerbell impersonation as she morphs into the "Spice Fairy."  While it is lovey-dovey a good portion of the time, Gina can get comically impatient with her hubby if he is taking too long to chop some veggies.  The Neelys can also be seen on Saturdays (morning/early afternoon).

Definitely two great new(er) additions to the already chockful Food Network line-up!   

Non-Demon Barber Meat Pie

Last week, I wrote of being inspired to create a meal inspired by the Sweeney Todd.  Seems innocent enough, unless you know anything about the Sondheim musical.  Mrs. Lovett's meat pies only become a hit after the arrival of the murderous barber of Fleet Street and new supplier of "meat."

Well, no worries... there is not an ounce of cannibalism in this recipe... so only vegetarians and vegans need to look away.

Also, this is not my recipe...  I won't be pulling a "Cindy McCain"...errr, excuse me...  a McCain campaign intern who unbeknownst to the Senator's wife posted a McCain "family recipe" that appeared to be directly lifted from the Food Network website.  This recipe from the May issue of Everyday With Rachael Ray caught my eye even before seeing Sweeney... but afterwards, it seemed a bit amusing to create my own "meat pie"... though RR and Company call it Crustless Tex-Mex Meatloaf Cheddar Pie.
 

Basically it's a meatloaf in a pie dish... besides it not being a loaf, what gives it a bit of a "ta-da" factor is that first you create a "crust" using roasted red peppers.  From there I just made my usual meatloaf recipe (not following RR's recipe per se)... ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, salsa (in lieu of tomato sauce)... and diced up whatever veggies I had on hand and that made sense ... this time around it was garlic, onion, green bell pepper, carrot.

Here are a couple of pictures:

On the left, is a kinda pretty shot of the pie plate lined with th red peppers and topped with a layer of cheese to serve as "glue" to hold the "crust" together... to the right, is the finished product (topped with more cheese!)... IMHO, it doesn't look all that great, but it tasted pretty good.

Viva Laughlin "Not Just For Breakfast" Potatoes

It's been awhile since I shared a recipe with you... though I dare to call this a recipe, since not much of anything that I will write below resembles a recipe... but what the heck.

With Todd being away, I'll admit that I haven't cooked for myself all that much.  While I wouldn't say I'm eating ultra-healthy, I have avoided fast food and have gone to the frozen pizza route just once.  Early last week, I whipped up big 'ole pan of mac & cheese (not from a box!)... that served as dinner one night and as a side-dish for a few several nights after that. On Sunday, I decided to whip up a little brunch for myself... breakfast burritos with the star ingredient being... potatoes!

To explain the name... several years ago we were in Laughlin... likely for the first and last time... while it is a bargain gambling locale and is just fine, its proximity to Vegas begs the question "why bother?" -- kind of like a church carnival set up in the parking lot of Disney World... so that explains the first pat of the name for these spicy and delicious potatoes at the Harrahs breakfast buffet... and it was easy/simple enough to figure it out.

Potatoes
Butter
Grill Seasoning Blend
Chipotle in adobo sauce

I call them "not just for breakfast" since I have made them for dinner... a larger cut for a dinner side or a small dice for breakfast.

Cut/dice your potatoes to desired size... boil potatoes to under "done" (best to use a wide, vs. deep,  pot/pan since you'll eventually be tossing/frying).... drain potatoes... put potatoes back into pot/pan with a generous amount of butter... season to taste with grill seasoning... toss in a couple of chipotles diced up (be careful they're very spicy!) and some of the adobo sauce... toss, toss, toss until potatoes get nicely browned up and crispy.

So yeah, hardly what I'd call a recipe... but far better than (and almost just as easy to make as) those breakfast potatoes or hash browns that you'll find in the frozen food section.   Since Mexican food/cooking is quite popular here in AZ, I am not sure about availability of chipotles in adobo in your local markets... while I the chipotles are the star ingredient... it is still quite good with just the grill seasoning. 

On a sidenote, I just had an email exchange with Jen over an adobo pork recipe I saw on her Flickr page... I was a bit confused that it didn't contain chiles/peppers and that it seemed quite Asian-themed... so what do you know, adobo is a common Filipino dish... while adobo sauce is the Latin/Southwestern product that I was familiar with... though both involve seasoning/marinades of garlic and vinegar.

Sour Cream Pound Cake With Drunken Strawberries

I was a bit Suzy Homemaker on Sunday afternoon... whipping up some dessert... from scratch!

A confession... these are not my own recipes. Being a Food Network addict, I thought it was pretty smart of me to combine Sandra Lee's fruit portion of her Strawberry French Toast recipe with Paula Deen's Sour Cream Pound Cake. 

I had made this Pound Cake one time before... and while it was delicious, I kind of messed up... failing to notice Paula's recipe called for a 10-inch tube pan... as getting very confused as I tried to squeeze all that batter into a 9x5 loaf pan!

This time around, I decided to halve the recipe and it came out perfect!!   Funny enough, I searched just this morning and did find a cake pan size conversion chart on the Web and it confirms that 1 10-inch loaf pan = 2 9x5 loaf pans!  Ha!

So here's my recipe using that 9x5 loaf pan (if you have a 10-inch tube click that link above or just double these ingredients)... this is a very easy recipe, and you may already have all the ingredients on hand!!

1/4 pound butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups of flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat over to 325 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated.  Sift the baking soda and flour together.  Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into a greased and floured pan. Bake for 1 hour (1:20 for 10-inch pan) or until toothpick/skewer comes out of cake clean.

Silly easy for the "Drunken" Strawberries...  Strawberries (shocking!), Orange Liqueur (i.e, the "recipe" suggested and I used Grand Marnier), and Sugar.

Since they were in season (and on sale), I used fresh strawberries and just made up a small batch...

About 6 pretty large berries... doused with a teaspoon (or two!) of Grand Marnier.. and sprinkled with a bit of sugar and refrigerated for a couple of hours.  At first the berries smelled pretty alcohol-y... but by the time we got around to eating it, we honestly couldn't taste the liquor... but still very yummy!   Oh, plus a dallop of (not home-made!!) whipped topping to top it off.

Weekend Update: Friends, Weigh-Ins, and Cocktails

Boy, that was a quick weekend!  Not terribly focused this morning, so today it's a mish-mash of stuff from the weekend.

On Saturday, it was a long overdue dinner and drinks with Scott & Buckaroo.  As they said in ancient times... Tempus Fugit!... hard to believe that the last we saw them was the very first (or so) weekend we had Rocky!  We had not seen Karter since Christmas... so pretty much both pups were/are unrecognizable since the last visit to each other's homes!  Our kids are growing up!   We had a good time catching up and talking about our "favorite" bloggers and Scott appeared rested from his current blogging hiatus... but I will keep my lip zipped on the  future of O-Rama... stay tuned!

Speaking of Rocky, I decided to check out his weight.  He hit his 6-month birthday while we were away ... and in that one week he certainly seemed to have a good growth spurt.  The last time he was at the vet they said he was 10 lbs.  I had my doubts since he was about 10 lbs the previous visit... and puppies just grow and grow each and every week... so I just chalked it up to him not being the model of "calm" on the vet scale.  So, I innocently enough tdecided to do the "weigh yourself first, weigh yourself holding the dog" formula for figuring out Rocky's current weight.

As you can probably guess by now, I was a bit shocked by the number that popped up... before picking up Rocky!   Now I was clothed, but given that it was 110 degrees outside, I was not exactly burdened by heavy clothing.  Now this weight is likely what I should be for my height... but it was 10-12 lbs more than I have ever been... and a good 20 lbs more than the I was stuck at for a good 10-15 years of my adult life.  I guess I don't need to be looking at the calendar to know I am approaching the big 4-0! 

Oh, Rocky weighed 15 lbs... so double in size (plus a bit more) in the four-ish months he's been with us.

Finally, a couple of cocktail recipes to share with you... three ingredients and equal parts of each... how easy is that?

Scott served up a new one for us, he spotted the recipe somewhere... I thought I had seen it somewhere as well... but neither of us had any luck remembering what it was called and I couldn't track anything down on the Web this morning... so if there's a name for it, let me know... but here are the ingredients:

Absolut Pear
Pineapple Juice
Sprite soda

Equal parts of each... so make as much or as little as you want!  Pear-y delicious!

We grilled some burgers for Sunday dinner... and what's better than washing that down with some beer!  But I spotted this recipe in the BevMo! monthly newsletter and it seemed worth a try... the name of this one is... a Coochy-Coochy!

Tequila
Beer
Squirt/Fresca Soda (or any of that cloudy-ish grapefruit soda)

This one also said equal parts of each over ice (and with a lemon or lime wedge)... but this is what I did... in a very big beer glass, I put in two shots of tequila, a few glugs of the soda, and a bottle of beer... not one-third each... obviously it was mostly beer... a bit of soda... and a pretty good dose of tequila.  No complaints, was quite good and pretty darn potent... was set for the night (especially a Sunday/school night!) with just one Coochy-Coochy!

Two-Fer: Dinner & Brunch Recipe

For a blog called Whine & Cheese, I have been pretty neglectful of my "Food and Drink" category.  Last week, I made a pretty darn good soup... then turned the leftovers into Sunday brunch.  Todd will be the first person to tell you that I was pretty darn impressed with myself... well, since he was the only there, I guess he's the only person who would tell you.

These meals are Rachael Ray inspirations.  I know she is a "love her/hate her" personality.  Heck, of late, I'm even conflicted.  Love her on the Food Network shows (with the exception of the now likely defunct Inside Dish) but have a hard time watching (or should I say listening!) to her syndicated daytime talk show. 

Calling these "recipes" is going a bit too far, Rachael would say it's a "method" -- the ingredients really don't matter all that much... it's whatever you like, whatever you have on hand.

Though it's warming up to the 80s this week here in Phoenix, we had a couple of brisk days last week. So I felt like making up some soup... and something with a little kick... here it is:

Smoky Chicken, Vegetable, and Black Bean Soup
Pack of chicken tenders (around a 1 pound, raw/unbreaded)
2 (14.5 oz) cans of chicken stock/broth
1 (14.5 oz) can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 or 2 chipotles (in adobo sauce)
2 (14.5 oz) cans of black beans
Black pepper
Cumin
Fresh cilantro (optional)
Tortilla chips (optional)

Vegetables (all diced) of your choice, I used:
1 Cup (?) of red onion, half of a red bell pepper, 1 zucchini (that's all I had), few cloves of garlic.

First, I sautee the veggies up in some olive oil, hitting them with black pepper and cumin (the first level of smokiness) to taste.  I tend not to use salt since there's usually enough in the broth (even the "low sodium" variety) and the canned tomatoes. Once the veggies are slightly cooked, stir in a couple of the diced chipotles as well as a spoonful (or two) of the adobo sauce.  Use caution... this is the "star" ingredient that seriously kicks up the smokiness and particularly the spiciness level (most of the can gets transferred to a freezer bag for future use).  The last bit of smoke comes from the addition of the fire roasted diced tomatoes (undrained).  This a relatively new item in our grocery store, found on our organic food aisle.  A bit pricey compared to other canned tomato products, but worth it.  Finally, pour in 2 cans (1 quart) of chicken stock/broth and bring to a boil.

Next, I add in the chopped to bite-size pieces of the chicken tenders to cook/poach in the soup/liquid.  If you want yet another smoky flavor level, some chopped grilled or rotisserie chicken would be great! Simmer... it's likely "ready," but I like to give it some time (15-20 minutes minimum?).

Towards your desired meal time, put in the black beans... you are warming them up.  I drained and lightly rinsed them so not to discolor/"muddy up" the soup.  Any type of bean will do here... though in the southwestern spirit, pinto or red beans would be a good alternative.  Just before serving, add in some freshly chopped cilantro (a fresh herb always seems to be a nice finishing touch)... and we topped off our individual bowls with some crushed tortilla chips.

We finished most of it up in just one sitting!  So, not enough leftovers for another full meal... no problem, on Sunday morning, the soup transformed itself into...

Southwestern Chicken Frittata (or a lazy man's omelet!).

With a slotted spoon (you do not want the liquid), I sauteed the soup ingredients (chicken, veggies, beans) into an oven-safe, no-stick (8-,9-inch) skillet... in some melted butter.  Add in enough beaten eggs (mixed with a little milk/cream) to cover the soup ingredients and skillet (I used 6 large eggs).  Once the edges of the egg mixture start to "set up" (fairly quickly), top with cheese (I used a cheddar-based "Mexican" blend) and transfer to a pre-heated 350 degree oven.  Bake for 15 minutes (or until eggs are cooked, if you are using more).  Hopefully, it will slide right out of the skillet...slice it up like a pizza.

This frittata "recipe" works great with all kinds of leftovers... and just as good with more traditional breakfast items like bacon and sausage too. 

I Smell Cookies!

A batch of home-made Christmas M&M cookies fresh from the oven:

Around the holidays, whether we need 'em or not, I always feel compelled to bake some cookies. 

If you asked folks one thing they remember about my Grandma, I am guessing the majority would say her Christmas cookies.  She would start in November and literally bake thousands of cookies... and at least a dozen varieties.  She would box them up and hand them out to pretty much to anyone and everyone.

Before I moved out to Arizona (and long before she left us mentally, then physically), Grandma wrote out some of my favorite cookie recipes on note cards.  Though I know those cards are in my recipe folder, it still startles me to see that handwriting in red pen.

And while I rarely get mushy spiritual, I have to say I feel her presence when I am making and baking the holiday cookies.  This afternoon I was thinking just how pleased she would have been that they now sell bags of M&Ms with just the red and green ones!

Holy Hinano!

Even though it has been more than a year since our trip to French Polynesia... we still can't let go of anything that reminds us of that dream vacation.

One the great things about that trip was the total absence of "world" brands... okay, there was one exception... even McDonalds has managed to infiltrate the Tahiti Faa'a International Airport in Papeete.  But once getting through the quaint airport, there was nary a Starbucks or Budweiser or other fast food chain in sight.

The one brand that did show up over and over again was Hinano -- Tahiti's local beer. When one tired of tropical concoctions (or should I say paying for them at $US 20 a pop!), a Hinano beer was always a nice alternative.  And as a reminder of our trip -- we each picked up Hinano t-shirts and a set of beer glasses!

We got even smarter when we hopped over to Bora Bora.  There was a grocery store within walking distance of our resort.  We happily picked up six-pack Hinano along with a quart of the devilishly delicious Tahiti Drink (another local product... a mix of fruit juices mixed with some undetermined alcohol) and saved ourselves from the resort pricing.

We wondered about the availability of both these products back in the States.  Tahiti Drink would prove to be a challenge... in its cardboard, milk-carton container and its need to be refrigerated it appeared that this was not exported.  Not the same restriction on Hinano, but after some research it appeared to be only available in Hawaii. 

So when we went to Hawaii in May, we kept an eye out for it.  We had no luck at the ubiquitous ABC Stores... and then we found it... of all places in a Safeway supermarket (the very grocery chain we shop at here in AZ) on Maui.  But our discovery was a bit too late.  It was our next to last night of our vacation... and it seemed a bit silly to get a six-pack of beer with so little time left... plus the availability of free alcohol at our hotel (ah "complimentary happy hour" ... three words that still warm my heart!).

Fast forward to a month ago and the opening of BevMo! -- a liquor superstore chain that was opening its first store outside of California... and, most conveniently, just a half mile down the road from us.  The buzz is high ... with the promise that this is the next big California import since In-N-Out Burger.  The opening crowd is impressive to this 12,000 sq. foot store that promises a selection of 3,000 wines... 1,500 spirits... and 800 beers.  Ok, 800 beers... so would it have our Hinano!?!

Well, I am sure my sharp-as-a-tack W&C readers have figured out by now that the answer is "yes!"  (I'm guessing that above picture was probably your first clue).  We swooped up a six-pack like it was the hottest holiday gift of the season.

Now, the funniest part of all this goose chase... is that there is absolutely nothing terribly special about Hinano... it's a bottle of beer and, at least for this beer non-connoisseur, nothing particularly distinguishable from any other domestic or imported brand of beer.  But it has that intangible... very pleasant memories of a very extraordinary place... and for that it's worth it.

For those who may be searching for it as well, here's the BevMo! Hinano product page... not sure if there are any restrictions with alcohol crossing state lines (is that just wine?)... and, as of this writing, it's even on sale this week.

Oh, it's also the beer preferred by 4 out of 5 felines!

Needless to say, when I got the beer and camera out... the cats were immediately drawn to it like a magnet.  Lola was nice enough to strike this pose for me. 

tags:  hinano

Got Cilantro?

It's been a long time since I did a "cooking segment" here on W&C... so it's time to get back to the kitchen and share some recipes.

Last week, I picked up some fresh cilantro at the grocery... I love fresh herbs, but they don't seem to last terribly long, so it is always a challenge to use them before they go bad.  Cilanto (or even flat leaf parsley) added at the end of a dish really "brightens" (sorry channeling Rachael Ray here) up the flavor... and plus, there is certainly a ta-da factor (damn that Rachael!) with the little green flicks.  So I managed to get it into three meals last week!

First, up I used it in a Kraft-food recipe for a very easy "Santa Fe" style sauce.  I browned up some boneless pork-chops in a skillet (though chicken, or heck even steak, would work just as well)... then in the same pan add about a cup of salsa and handful or two of corn (frozen, drained, or fresh)... and cook that up for a minutes (scraping up those good meat juices from the pan)... take it off the heat, stir in half a small container of sour cream  (low fat is fine)... and finish off with cilantro!   We use a nice and spicy habenero salsa... the sour cream "cools" it a bit, but it still has a nice kick.  Serve the sauce over the pork chops!

Next up, was a recipe that didn't call for cilantro... but it was still a nice addition...Rachael Ray's Jambasta (click the link for the full recipe).  As the name suggest, jambalaya with pasta instead of rice. Having made the recipe before, I pretty much did it off the top of my head this time around... and modified the recipe based on what we had on hand.   So no shrimp ... just andouille and chicken... subbed in a fresh jalapeno for the pablano... green instead of red pepper... just go with what you have! 

The sauce again is what makes this dish special.  After the veggies are sauteed... sprinkle with flour (as a thickener to your sauce)... deglaze with a half bottle of beer (leaving the other half for the cook's pleasure for the rest of the meal prep!)... once the alcohol is cooked out, add in chicken stock and crushed tomatoes (another substitution here for me:  a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce).... before serving blush the sauce with some heavy cream (or 2% milk like we had!) and... keeping with the theme...  stir in that cilantro! 

Day 3, it was Asian... and another "off the top of my head" recipe... my little version of beef lo mein.  Thinly chopped up some steaks that were on sale at the market and tossed in whatever else I had around (onion, garlic, carrots, green bell pepper, water chestnuts)... but here we go again... the sauce!   I prepared this before stir frying the veggies and meat, so that the flavors could "marry."  Combined about a 1/3 cup each of beef stock & soy sauce... sprinkled in some ground ginger (freshly grated would have been great!!)... a couple splashes of sesame oil... and for heat (we love heat!).... some red pepper flake and a forkful of hot chinese-style mustard.  Before adding the sauce, again to thicken the sauce, I added some corn starch (flour would work as well) and cook it together for a minute or two... added the sauce... tossed in some cooked spaghetti... and top it off with sesame seeds and ... cilantro!

So there you have it... get cookin'!

On a totally unrelated note, you may (or probably not) have noticed that I have started using Technorati "tags" on some recent entries.  This is a relatively new feature on TypePad, so I figured I'd give it a test run and see how it works out.  I don't know if it'll do any "good" (or what "good" would mean?!?) but what the heck!