Deep thoughts from my husband...

The hubby and I are watching a show on the history of pizza in the United States.

The show is comparing New York pizzas (thin) to Chicago pizzas (deep dish). You know the controversy!

But his thoughts on the subject? "I'm an equal opportunity pizza lover"





enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Creamy Herbed Rigatoni and a new salad...

Come along for another Sunday night adventure... if you've been watching this blog long enough you know I love my Sunday routine.

Well today's routine included buying another ingredient to play with: fennel. I am not real sure if I've ever used it before... and if I did I was probably scared of it and may not have used it like I was supposed to.

Tonight I wanted to make it a star of the show... I don't have a recipe for tonight. But I do have a few ingredients and pictures to share.

I started with slicing up the fennel (pretty thinly). Then I cut the chicken tender into bite size pieces. For this dish I seasoned the chicken with salt/pepper on one side only. The olive oil heated up in a large pan... and then I added the sliced fennel and chicken. The kept the mixture on the heat until the chicken was cooked through and the fennel started to slightly brown.

This is what it looked like when I started...




But while the chicken and fennel were cooking I got out another secret weapon...





Yes, your eyes are working correctly. I put this little secret in my pocket a long time ago... it's not a culinary secret that chefs utilize, but a secret nontheless... plus, I'm not a chef.



Just wait, you watch... you'll see...

All the while, the rigatoni has been working...



And when it was al dente, I transferred it to the pan with the cooked chicken/fennel. I didn't strain it... I just pulled the pasta out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon and then brought over some pasta water too. (The water helps to make the sauce...)



And then I added some of the Rondele (herbed creamy spread), about 1 cup of it. However, next time... I will do it slightly different: I will add the Rondele BEFORE adding the pasta (and then adding 1/2 cup of pasta water to melt down the cheese). And THEN I will add the pasta... and toss it all together.

But as you can see, it still worked out ok...



I grabbed a big spoon, moved it around in the hot pan... and kept tossing...



Doesn't that look great?! Oh, it smells good too!




And the pasta dish was served up with Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing.

Except I made some slight changes to Paula Deen's recipe: 1) I used "spring mix" instead of spinach ('cuz that's what I had in the refrigerator), 2) I cooked the diced mushrooms and red onion along w/ the shallots ('cuz red onions can be kinda strong for me), etc and 3) I used more bacon than the recipe called for. (I'm sure Paula wouldn't be too upset about that!)


I know what you're thinking... "There she goes again... not following the rules!"




Follow-up thoughts on fennel... raw it tastes faintly like anise (aka black licorice). And this is nice in a special salad every now and then... but cooked like I did it tonight creates a whole new taste. The anise flavor mellows out but you bite into something slightly crunchy, taste it and your head tilts slightly to the side and you say outloud "what IS that?"... and you're reminded... life is good!


I dare you... switch it up! Make it your own!





enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Fajita dinner...

Fajitas are such a quick dinner... a lot of nights when hubby works a late night, this is what we do for dinner. I can cut everything ahead of time and set it aside and wait for that text that says "Home in 15! Muah!" Then I can make a quick dinner of it...

First I start with my veggies... and fajitas are a "whatever you like on them" type of dish. Some people don't like bell peppers, some people don't like red onion... so feel free to "make it your own".

This is what we like... red onion, red/green bell pepper and just a few cloves of garlic.



Take apart those peppers (remove the ribs/seeds/stem) and cut them into long strips (but not too thin). And do the same with half a large red onion.



In a pan over medium-high heat (use cast iron, all-clad or a wok... but not a "non stick" pan) throw the veggies right in. No need for oil... if you add oil it will keep the veggies from charring ("non-stick" pans won't allow for char either)... and we like a little char on our veggies for fajitas.



You're going to hear some loud sizzling - this is OK.

This is what you want.

Give the veggies a few minutes without moving them. This will help in the char process. Then toss them... are they charring like you want? Mine did! This step will take 5-8 minutes ... every few minutes move the veggies around.

You will want to take the veggies out when they are partially charred but softened to the touch. We like our veggies semi-crispy for our fajitas. The semi-crispy veg makes for a real fresh tasting fajita.

Then I remove the pan from the heat and the veggies get set aside until I'm ready to re-warm them with the cooked chicken.



Next? I prep the chicken tenders by patting them dry...



Adding some kosher salt and ground cumin...



And a good amount of chili powder... all on one side. (I season the other side of the chicken once it's in the pan.)



Then I cut the chicken into bite size pieces... good big bite size pieces... (I like cutting them before cooking as they cook just a lil' faster).



But before I put the chicken in the pan I want to take advantage of all of the flavor that's been left in the bottom of that pan from the veggies. So I put the pan back over the heat and add some chicken stock. This will help to pull up the "flavor bits" (aka "charred goodness") off the bottom of the pan. Believe me, you don't want to get rid of this stuff or wash out the pan at this point - you want to use it to your benefit (the benefit of your taste buds).



So pour in the chicken stock, and let it do it's magic. There will once again be a lot of sizzling and some steam. So, careful...

With a wooden spoon you can easily pull the flavor bits up off the bottom of that pan. Some of the chicken stock will evaporate while you are doing this but it helps to loosen up all that flavor.





Once the bits have been "freed", add your chicken to the pan (seasoned side down) - and don't touch.

Step away from the hot pan...



Well, ok... the only thing I recommend doing at this point is adding a tiny bit more kosher salt and some black pepper to this side of the chicken. But don't move 'em. We can get all technical at this point... but just take my word for it, don't move 'em... yet.



Let's take a closer look at what's happening in this pan. See how the sides of the chicken bits are turning white... we're getting closer to be able to turn the chicken over. See, there is some time involved in allowing the meat to come up to temp so that it cooks, so that the coagulation of the proteins takes place. Once this happens then the chicken can be easily moved around the pan without sticking and shredding apart.

(You know what I'm talking about... we've all moved a protein around before it was ready to move, haven't we?!)



So, once the coloring on the side of the chicken looks similar to the picture above, it's probably close to being able to move. (On these small pieces of chicken that's about 2-3 minutes.)

Turn over your beautiful bits of chicken with a set of tongs.

And look at all that color you just produced! (This is going to be so yummy!)



Cooking on the second side won't take as long. (On these small pieces of chicken that's only about a minute or two.) So it's time to bring the veggies back to temp. Throw them in with the almost-done chicken... it's at this point that I throw in the diced garlic. It doesn't need much time (and with the high heat we're using on these fajitas - had we thrown them in with the veggies in the first step they would have just burnt).

Once the chicken/veg mix has come together and you've given the garlic a minute or two, place a lid/cover partially over the pan just to keep things warm.



Oh... and you DO have tortillas warming up, don't you?! We use our cast iron tortilla warmers (that my hero-of-a-hubby bought me for our first Christmas together, back in the day).



And right about now is when he's walking in the back door and says "Mmmm... smells great babe! Fajitas?!" He gives me a kiss, un-blings (wallet, watch, etc is removed and placed somewhere that will annoy me later - but at least he's home now), he pours our drinks and ...



...and then we serve up. He adds sour cream and cheese to his fajitas. I just want some sour cream and fresh cilantro.

Tonight we're enjoying our fajitas alongside Creamy Poblano Rice. Oh, and I opted against a second fajita so I could have a bigger serving of the rice. Yummy...



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

My choice for cutting boards, plus a tip

Here's my pick for cutting boards... and please, if you do anything I recommend, please, please, please throw away any and all glass cutting boards. They ruin knives and speaking of using knives on glass cutting boards, that sound is somewhat reminiscent of fingernails on a chalkboard.

But back to the subject at hand: I mostly use my bamboo cutting board... but when I'm cutting proteins I use the rubber cutting board from KitchenAid.


And how did I decide which size(s) to buy? I hear this is the way to do it: Lay your largest knife on the cutting board from corner to corner, diagonal on the board. There should be at least 1/2 inch on both ends of the knife. Seems to work well for me...



I own and use two different sizes of each cutting board: 1) larger cutting boards for the bigger projects, and 2) smaller cutting boards for the quick little slice of cheese or small tomato.




But there's a little bit of care needed for each both board.

On the rubber cutting boards, once the grooves on the board become too deep they become harbors for bacteria. And believe me, you don't want to harbor bacteria. So, I always wash the rubber cutting board in the dishwasher (where the water gets hot enough to truly disinfect that board). And then it needs to be replaced eventually... you can't use this board forever.



And on the wooden/bamboo cutting boards, you have to keep them moist. If you do not, the wood starts to crack and the board eventually falls apart. Here's the process I take on my bamboo boards.

Keeping the wooden/bamboo cutting boards moist with a mineral oil is a quick process. How often you need to do this depends on how often you use and wash the board. In the picture above you see a well-oiled board (on top) and a very dry board (underneath).

These two boards are made of the same material, by the same manufacturer, etc... but one has been oiled recently while the other one is obviously dry.



So, simply using a papertowel... I move some mineral oil around the board and let it soak in. Super dry boards will use a lot of oil... and this board was hungry. So, I kept at it for a while...



More oil, more moving the oil around the board...





And then we have this ... a board that looks just about brand new. And do I recommend one mineral oil over another? Not really... just find a mineral oil and run with it. This is the brand I have in the cupboard at the moment (in fact, I don't remember where I bought it).



Any tips from anyone else?





enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Lori's seedlings...

I've, once again, decided to try my hand at growing my own herbs. But it's the middle of February and it's not warm enough outside to do that. So I've started with seed pods inside the house. Let's start with chives and basil!

This was the growth at about a week after planting the seeds... cute, eh?






Keep watching... I'll post some updates as they continue to grow up strong and healthy!!!


enjoy your time in the kitchen...

wild morel mushrooms

I have a confession... before today I was a wild mushroom virgin.




I can no longer say that about myself...



I stopped at a friend's house today for a brief visit and as she walked me out to my car she asked if I wanted some morels and we walked to her side yard. Under a pile of leaves I could see some heads of morels popping up! (They blended right in w/ the dead leaves - and I'm not even sure how she discovered them! But boy am I glad she did.)

As you can guess, I jumped at the chance of trying morels for the first time. I found a decent size mushroom and came straight home to do some internet research on what you need to know about cleaning, preparing, enjoying mushrooms... (Unfortunately I lost the stem on this morel ... and lesson learned. I did not move the soil a tad to loosen up the dirt around the stem and it broke right off. Next time, next time...)

I use mushrooms in quite a few of my dishes... but I've always been a little scared of using wild mushrooms... not anymore! So I wanted to test these in a way I know other mushrooms. Since I know, very well, the taste of sauteed mushrooms (both button/white and crimini/brown I figured I should keep it simple and just saute these morels in a bit of butter). My logic told me that would be a fair taste test... without any crazy sauce or other ingredients to mask the flavor.


So, here goes nothing...

First you start by cutting them down the middle lengthwise... the tips I read online said that if there is no sight of decay or any pests then they are generally safe. However, if you've never had wild mushrooms they advise against eating large portions as some mushrooms can still have adverse effects.

If anyone knows Lori, they know that's not going to slow me down much. So, I followed proper precautions and got to my experiment...



Next step... add a slab of butter to a hot saute pan.



Once the butter bubbles, add the mushrooms...



If the butter browns, reduce the heat and continue to saute. Toss the mushrooms around in the pan so they get coated with butter... inside and out all of those little crevices! Mmmm....



This small morel only needed about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes in the hot butter...



And with a few tosses it was ready to make it's debut in Lori Jean's kitchen.



Experiment Results
The color of the mushrooms darkened a bit, as other mushrooms do... and with butter dripping out of those crevices I couldn't even wait to pull a fork out of the drawer. I just picked it right up with my fingers...

And... I have no words.


The flavor is intense... it got a little crispy all over (my theory on this is that there is less "meat" to the morel and so it didn't need as much time to cook as "button" or "crimini" mushrooms). It also didn't taste like any other mushroom I've ever tasted.

Wow... how can I get my hands on more morels?!



I immediately called my friend Debbie to ask when would be a good time for me to harvest more of the morels from her side yard! So, stay tuned... more morel ideas to follow in the next few weeks!


What's your favorite way to enjoy morels?




enjoy your time in the kitchen...