Panzanella

I've got a few things to update, just been lazy for the most part. Or making the same things over and over (eggs, i'm lookin at you).
Anywho. Panzanella is a rustic bread sort of salad. Its almost a mix between like stuffing and pasta? I don't quite know how to describe it. But its delicious!

For one large serving or two small ones:
1 slice nearly stale, extra thick bread or rustic italian (so i used this cherry blossom bread from nijiya. probably would have worked better with a french or italian sort), cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium to large tomato (from my parents' garden!), peeled and roughly chopped
1/8 of a medium onion, roughly chopped
1 huge or 2 medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped
olive oil
apple cider vinegar
handful of basil (parents' garden!)

1. In a decent sized skillet, toss in the bread cubes, drizzle with olive oil, season lightly with S+P, and toss about until browned. Alternatively could probably be done in the broiler or oven. Its basically making croutons :D Set aside when browned.
2. Add the onion to the same skillet, with a bit more olive oil if necessary. Wait til half translucent and add the garlic. When its all translucent, throw in the tomato and any juices that accumulated. Season to taste with S+P and ACV.
3. Remove from heat, toss in bread cubes and tear basil over the top. Serve!

Revisited Garlic with Chicken

Second time around, still a great dish. I actually let my chicken pieces brown, which is a miracle in itself. I always play with food and flip it too soon and whatnot.
Anyway, some modifications this time around. Here's what went on:

- 1 5 lb chicken, cut into 6 pieces (leg+thigh, breast, wings. i got lazy before i separated the leg+thighs)
- 70ish cloves garlic (the rest of the container), little end sliced off and slightly smushed with the broadside of a knife
- ~1/4 cup olive oil
- dry white wine (i'd say about 1.5 cups or so)
- sprigs thyme

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Heat the olive oil in a good sized pan to medium-med high. I use the wok. Its lovely.
2. Salt and pepper the chicken decently well. Blot dry with papertowels. Brown pieces in olive oil, do not crowd pan. In the wok, 1 at a time is best. Put the browned pieces in a large casserole.
3. After the chicken's browned, turn heat slightly down and add in the garlic. Toss occasionally until golden. Drain off some oil, then put the rest and the garlic into the casserole.
4. Deglaze the wok with the white wine. I used a South African sauvignon blanc. It was rather flat for drinking, but worked alright. Add that to the casserole. If the chicken is less than half covered, pour in a bit more wine. Cover with foil. Bake until done, about an hour-hour and a half.
5. Let set for a bit, then enjoy! :D If you're feeling ambitious, you can return the liquid to the wok and reduce by half. But I was hungry. :D

Made this with the previous potatoes, and some frozen broccoli/cauliflower blend tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper that was baked. That got a bit overdone, but I liked it enough to finish it.

Scallops with Pasta!

So I had some scallops I had to use (trader joe's frozen. i thawed the last 4oz yesterday, but didn't end up making dinner. so today). I knew I wanted something nice and simple flavors and whatnot. And the ingredients I had on hand.

Anyway, I decided to pan sear the scallops with a good dusting of salt and fresh ground pepper. Then I pan roasted some thick cut tomato slices in the same pan. Then I made a garlic spiked white sauce in the same pan.

Here's the ingredients and what I did!

- 4 oz scallops, thawed. about three large ones
- 1 roma tomato, sliced about 1/2 inch thick. i had cut two, but one was devoured before it hit the pan. and matthew stole one of the slices.
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 tsp or so finely chopped rosemary (from my nearly depleted freezer stash)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (does anyone ever measure that? it was probably closer to two)
- 2 oz angel hair pasta (penne would have been better. something sturdier to hold up to the sauce)
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour (heaping spoon)
- 1 cup milk (i have no idea how much i actually used)

1. Heat a pot of salted water for the pasta to boiling.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. When nice and hot, toss in the salt and peppered scallops. Cook for a few minutes, to sear it nicely. Turn. Cook the other side. It should not be too firm. A little squishy is great. :D Remove from the pan.
3. Salt and pepper the tomato slices, toss on the rosemary. Put it in the same pan. Cook a couple minutes per side. Cook the pasta around now. Remove the tomatoes and set aside.
4. Reduce the heat to medium low. Add the butter. When its melted, add the garlic. Cook a couple minutes until translucent. Add the flour, stir.
5. Cook a minute or two. Add the milk. Whisk vigorously. Taste for seasoning. When its nice and thick, toss in the pasta to coat.
6. Place pasta in bowl. Top with tomatoes. Top with scallops. Enjoy. :D

Pros: easy good white sauce! garlic flavor was not overpowering! tomatoes disintegrated into sauce nicely! that combo would work well alone or with chicken.

Cons: scallops were a tad cold. skin on tomatoes had to be peeled off and eating first. but would not have cooked well with skin off. basil may have been better than rosemary.

Penne with Spinach Cream

Tried once a while ago, cannot remember details, but it still sounds delicious. Posting to remind myself.

Penne with Spinach Cream

2 tbsp unsalted butter
6 cloves garlic
14 oz fresh spinach (or frozen. i usually have frozen.)
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
pinch of fresh ground nutmeg (yeah i dont have that..)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 lb penne (cook according to package directions)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 cups parmesan, grated

Cook garlic and spinach in butter. Squeeze dry, and reduce the resulting liquid by half. Return spinach to the pan. Add cream. Reduce by half. Pulse in a food processor (or likely, for me, use chopped frozen spinach and mince garlic to begin with). Adjust seasonings with s&p, nutmeg, lemon juice. Toss with hot pasta, oil, and parmesan.

Garlic-Mustard-Rosemary Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Dinner tonight was great. Pork tenderloins were on sale at Ralphs, so I grabbed a 1lber.

Marinade ingredients:
1/2 shallot, minced fine
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
Handful rosemary, minced fine (dipped into my frozen herb supply)
3 tbsp white wine (used a 'california table white')
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey mustard (can easily do 3 tbsp of one kind, but i wanted a hint of the honey taste in there)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 dash worchestershire sauce

Combine all, taste, realize it would make a good salad dressing (if thinned with more olive oil). Set in a glass bowl or a large ziploc bag.
Meanwhile, in another part of the kitchen, clean up the tenderloin. Remove the silverskin and any excess fat. I dont really like this part. But, its a necessity!
Put the now-pretty tenderloin into the marinade. Refrigerate and smush around every couple hours. I marinaded it for over 8 hours.

Heat up the grill! I used about medium high heat. Throw it on there. Flip it over every so often, preferably on the four different sides for a few minutes each. I only managed three sides and when I sliced it up, it wasn't done. The temperature reading was probably from the wrong place. :/ Oh well, a few minutes per side on the stove top and it was great!

Will update with the rice pilaf stuff that went with it. Also, roasted broccoli. Would have been excellent if I'd had fresh broc instead of frozen, but whatever. Good flavors.

Garlic with Chicken

So! I felt like a chicken & wine dish tonight. I loosely based it on the recipe here: Garlic Chicken at Simply Recipes. I modified based on what I had because its silly and stupid to go out and buy a bunch of things for a recipe when you've got similar ones already. I dont know how it is yet, because its still on the stove top.

- 2 chicken breasts, bone-in & skin-on
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- all of the garlic in my little container that wasnt sprouting or rooting (about 30 cloves)
- rosemary (minced. i have frozen rosemary in my freezer and i mince it as needed)
- 1/2 bottle chardonnay (i walked up the hill and bought a cheap bottle. its not terrible but then again i dont like the whites so much. though tastes might be changing)
- s&p

1. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken in the olive oil in a pan large enough to hold everything. Brown all sides and remove to a plate.
2. Add the garlic to the pan. Cook for about four minutes, stirring frequently, until golden.
3. Add rosemary and wine. Bring to a boil and add chicken. Cover. Simmer until chicken is done. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
(4.) Here's where I decided I was hungry, and took the chicken out. I cut it off of the bones and into bite sized pieces. Then I put it back into the pan and waited til it was done. Added a bit of water and a bit more wine.
5. Serve with whatever you feel like. I'm using egg noodles tonight.

Nutrition: no idea yet.