Think pink

When you think of delicious food, what colours spring to mind?  The rich red of tomato sauce?  The golden brown in the skin of a delicious roast chicken?

The (what can only be described as) magenta of a pasta sauce made with red beets?

I'm guessing that last one probably wasn't your first thought.  It wasn't mine either...until I gave this recipe a go last night.  The original calls for golden beets, but I didn't have any of those.  I used red, and the result was delicious (if a slightly strange colour).  The original also calls for prosciutto and beet greens, but I didn't have either of those either...

Ingredients
-a dozen or so red beets, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick half moons
-3 small yellow onions, thinly sliced
-6 slices of bacon, diced
-8 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 cup chicken broth
-1/2 cup white wine
-1 tsp dried rosemary
-1 lb rotini (or whatever pasta you happen to have on hand)
-3/4 cup grated parmesan (more for serving)

1) Heat a medium large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the bacon and onions and cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender and the bacon has begun to crisp (about 10 minutes).  Add the garlic and stir for 2 minutes.  Add the beets and cook for 5-7 minutes, until just tender.  Stir in the broth, wine, and rosemary; simmer until the liquid evaporates the beets are completely tender (about 15 minutes).

2) Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook until done.  Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

3) Combine the pasta, beet mixture, and parmesan (if needed, add some of the reserved cooking water to moisten).  Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve with more parmesan.

See, I wasn't kidding.  It's PINK!  Delicious, warm, and comforting...but very very pink....

Biscuits 101

Baking is probably the most intimidating form of cooking, if only because it requires that you be particularly exact: fail to cream the butter and sugar together for long enough and your cake will not have the right texture...mix too vigorously and your muffins turn into hockey pucks.  Can't let doughs rise for too long, but you have to make sure that they rise for long enough.....

Lots of errors are made when learning how to be a good baker, and I have made most of them.  But the result of all that trial and error is delicious, and so all the mistakes turn out to be worth it.

One of the first things that I learned how to bake was biscuits, buttermilk ones to be precise.  My mom always used to make them when we had beef stew...they're perfect for sopping up that last little bit of gravy in the bottom of the bowl.  Working well for gravy also means that they're delicious with soup, which is what I paired them with this particular weekend...meaning that you're about to get two recipes for the price of one.

First, the soup: roasted broccoli and garlic.  I love roasted vegetable soups of any kind, mostly because they are basically a giant pot of vegetable puree and are super good for you.  Roasting the broccoli adds a depth of flavour that you can't get from merely boiling it, though if you were pressed for time you could just boil the broccoli in the chicken stock before blending in the cream cheese.

You will need....
-5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
-2 pounds of broccoli florets
-4 tbsp olive oil
-salt and pepper
-125g cream cheese
-3 or 4 cups chicken broth (personal preference...depends on how thick you like your soup)

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Wrap the garlic in a foil packet and roast for 50 minutes.  Meanwhile, toss the broccoli florets in olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast for 20 minutes (or until tender).

Squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins into a large soup pot.  Add the broccoli, cream cheese, and chicken broth; puree until smooth using a hand blender.

(Of course you can use a normal blender instead...just put the broccoli, garlic, etc. into the blender instead of the pot!)

Bring the mixture to a simmer.  Add salt and pepper to taste...then serve.

Garnished with bacon...though a sprinkling of old cheddar would be just as delicious.

Now, the biscuits.  I used to do mine the old fashioned way (adding cubes of butter to the flour and then mixing until a mealy texture was achieved), but then I got my hands on a cookbook by Michael Smith.  His tip: freeze the butter, then grate it in.  Seriously.  All you have to do then is mix the flour and butter together and you will immediately achieve the right texture...less work.  I like things that involve less work.....

Trust Michael.  You'll never go back.......

Ingredients
-4 cups all purpose flour
-2 tbsp baking powder
-2 tsp salt
-1 cup butter, frozen
-1 1/2 cups milk (try buttermilk...it will give your biscuits a rich, creamy flavour!)

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F (convenient if you're making this recipe at the same time as the soup).  Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.  Using a grater, grate the frozen butter into the flour and toss lightly until it's all combined.

At this point you can also add all kinds of things for a little extra flavour: chopped dried herbs, curry powder, a handful of cheese.....get creative!

Pour the milk into the four mixture, and stir until it forms a large mass.  As with muffins you don't want to overmix the batter...as soon as most of the mixture forms a ball tip everything out onto a lightly floured surface and fold the dough over a couple of times until it all comes together.  Roll the dough out until it's about 1/2 inch thick, and use whatever you have handy to cut it into the shape that you desire (I use a water glass since I don't have a biscuit cutter).

I also use a wine bottle to roll out my dough since I don't have a proper rolling pin...

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes...until they're deliciously golden brown.

And I quote: "Better than my mum's!"

Breakfast for dinner

Every now and then I like to shake things up, take a breakfast or a brunch dish, and eat it for dinner.  This usually takes me in the direction of pancakes, but the other night I created a strata.  A strata is basically a savoury version of a bread pudding (you could also think of it as a french toast casserole): cubes of bread are soaked in a basic milk and egg custard, and then the whole mixture is baked until the custard sets.  I was initially skeptical of the idea, but the texture turned out to be quite delightful (very much like quiche).  It was a great way to get rid of the extra loaf of bread that I had in my freezer, and it's also a great way use any random vegetables that you have in the fridge...

-1 loaf of bread, cut into cubes
-mushrooms, spinach, leeks (any vegetables really, in whatever quantity you like)
-10 eggs
-3 cups of milk
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-other seasonings as desired (next time I think I'll add some cayenne for spice)
-1/2 to 1 cup grated old cheddar (or any other cheese)

Note on ingredients: while I chose to make my strata of the vegetarian variety, you do not have to do the same.  Feel free to add whatever meat you desire...ham, bacon, and sausage are natural companions to eggs (though chicken would be pretty good too).

1) Heat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Spread the bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until dry and lightly browned (3 to 5 minutes).  You may have to toast the bread in several batches.  Transfer the toasted cubes into a large mixing bowl.

2) Lower the heat on the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish, set aside.

3) Heat a skillet over medium heat and saute the vegetables that you have chosen until they have begun to soften.  Add the vegetables and the cheese to the bowl containing the bread and mix well.

4) In another bowl combine the eggs, milk, and seasonings.  Add this to the bread mixture, mix well, and transfer to the waiting baking dish.

At this point most recipes recommend that you let the mixture sit, in the fridge, for at least two (and up to twelve) hours.  I only had time to let it sit for 30 minutes or so and it turned out fine, but the longer you let it sit the more the egg mixture can penetrate the bread...which will make the strata more quiche-like.

The requirement to let this recipe sit before baking is what makes a strata an ideal brunch dish: prep everything the night before, let sit in the fridge overnight, and then bake in the morning for a a warm and savoury breakfast.  Alternatively, prep everything in the morning, let sit in the fridge throughout the day, and then have breakfast for dinner!

5) Bake, uncovered, for about 40 minutes or until the custard is set (i.e., no longer runny).  Let sit 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Served with a lightly dressed salad.  Also, even better for lunch the next day.

A Sunday Roast

Since my boyfriend moved in I've been looking for ways to help him feel at home, and a good number of those ways involve food.  It's a Kiwi tradition of sorts to have a roast on Sunday night; so this weekend, I decided to roast a chicken.

About six months ago I came across a recipe that required me to flatten a chicken before roasting it, and I haven't looked back.  Cooking the chicken this way has two advantages: first, it allows the meat to cook more evenly (preventing the breasts from drying out), and second, it makes it easier to get all of the skin nice and crispy (and we all know that crispy chicken skin is the best part).

To flatten the chicken I like to cut out the entire spine/neck using scissors (cut as close to the spine as you can so that you don't lose any beautiful leg meat).  Then you just need to slice down the breastbone a touch so that you can open the chicken up like a book.  Tuck the wings behind the head (if you can, this particular chicken wasn't all that flexible), and smother with butter and herbs to add extra flavour.

Any herb will do, though rosemary and thyme are natural choices for chicken.

Roast the chicken at 425 degrees F.  You'll want to roast it breast side down for the first 15 minutes; then pull it out, flip it over, and cook for another 45 minutes or so (until the breast meat is cooked and the juices run clear).  When I flip the bird I like to add a strongly flavoured sausage to the pan (hot Italian or merguez)...then I can baste the chicken with the sausage drippings (every 15 minutes) to add even more flavour/crispiness to the skin.

Since a roast chicken is no good without gravy it's important to make some of that as well.  To make mine I started by browning some crumbled sausage (the same kind I used to baste the chicken) with an onion; I then deglazed the pan with a little white wine, added some water, and simmered the mixture (along with the spine that I removed from the chicken) for about 40 minutes before blending with my handy (ha!) hand blender (make sure to remove the spine from the pot first).  I used this as the base for my gravy...adding a slurry of flour and water, and simmering until I got the right consistency (add salt and pepper to taste).

Sides for such a dinner are simple: mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.  Served with a glass of the wine that I used to deglaze the pan when making the gravy.....

And the sausages (Merguez) too, of course.