Well-rounded DINNER

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Apple Cider & Braised Bangers

Bangers?  What is that?  Turns out it's a delicious pub style dish that is quick and easy to make and feeds the masses with ease.  Traditionally English sausage links and mashed potatoes are used to make this recipe happen, however I used un-cased sausage and baked potato wedges (not reading the recipe thoroughly is my thing).  Regardless, it's potatoes and sausage made with apple cider gravy.  

A recipe with many winning qualities.  I might not go through the work of shredding, cooking, and mashing the apples to get the fresh apple cider to make this recipe again; but I will make bangers in the future.  

Having cooked for my roommate and myself; his only suggestion is to use a spicier sausage to identify the sausage over the sweet gravy.  I don't do spicy often but I would agree in this case. 

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Christmas Cordial & Boozy Parfaits

Also known as Rumtopf, this cordial is meant to be a mixture of all harvest fruits that are added as they ripen through out the year; then at the end of the year, you enjoy the fruits of your labor.  My crop of fruit is non-existent, so I went to the market when grapes and strawberries were in season and made this very potent concoction of fruit infused Bacardi 151 rum.

With some fresh whipped cream and vanilla bean ice cream topped with the fruit that soaked in 151 for six months; roomie and I enjoy this dessert.  Wooowa!  I was good, but it was strong.  Since I have leftovers, I'll make this again; up until I run out.  I don't drink or buy 151 as it's brewed to make an impact.  We did enjoy it though.

Chick of the pea?

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Braised Chickpeas

with Lemon Cranberry Chutney

A lot of work went into making this dish: chopping and preparing the chutney (six months ago), chopping and preparing the braised chickpeas, and then the rice.  The rice was AWESOME; I made it with chicken broth in a pressure cooker.  The braised chickpeas were OKAY; I'd make this again but without a few of the ingredients.  The lemon cranberry chutney was AWFUL.  In my not so professional opinion, the sweet, tangy, mustard flavors didn't mix well.  With an almost marmalade texture, it kind of slopped out of the jar.

While waiting for the braised chickpeas to simmer for an hour or so, I took a heaping spoon full of the chutney that I've been excited for for months; and from that point on, I was disappointed and greatly hoped the main dish didn't taste as bad as the chutney, especially since the recipe made a lot of food!  My favorite part of this dish was the rice topped with cilantro.  If I were grading recipes, this one gets an F!!  

Two things I gain from this recipe:

1) I learned that I really enjoy chickpeas straight out of the can.  YUMMY!

2) a mile marker of less than a triple digit number of recipes to go.  YAY!

Holy Hanna! Tons of goodness

Put 'em Up! Fruit

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Crunch time.  My desire to finish these recipes is a huge; so I've been cooking and not keeping up with the blog I started to document my journey.  As follows is my hard work in a nut shell.  Short and sweet, since I have more food to cook before the years end.  

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Classic Blueberry Jam 

& Pan Roasted Chicken with Blueberry Reduction

The jam was good and the chicken prior to the funky reduction was good; add it all together and it was so so.  Not my favorite!

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Carrots with Plum Sauce

Made with the chicken above, this veggie side dish was the best part on the plate.  I will make this again because now I love carrots and parsnips in plum sauce. 

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Rhubarb Goat Cheese Crostini

Rhubarb + Cheese = a yummy snack!  The roasted rhubarb was very simple to make.  Through the power of the picture, you can see how easy the rest of this recipe was.  Worth every bite!

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Blueberry Vinegar

 Who drinks vinegar anyways?  Apparently it's becoming the new thing and I'm in with the cool kids.  Mixed with lime infused soda water, this beverage was shockingly refreshing; though it did take a minute to determine if I liked it or not.

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Green Grape and Moscato Jelly with Parmesan Frico

The use of wine to create jelly seemed to be a waste of good wine; however after I tried the jelly, I can see why.  It was good.  Not good enough to buy expensive wine to add to jelly.  Additionally the cheese for the frico part of this recipe was expensive and don't think it was enough to have me make it again.

Now that I've shared my penny pincher frustrations; the final product was okay.  The flavors were balanced and I enjoyed trying something totally new to me.

Fool Me Once, shame...

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Frozen Rhubarb & Rhubarb Fool

As my first post in over a month, I feel like I'm cheating posting these recipes on their owe because they were SO simple and only four ingredients.  I chose them for their simplicity and I actually cut and froze the fresh rhubarb at least a month ago, when they were ripe out of my mothers garden.   Thanks Mom!

Step One: freeze some rhubarb

Step Two: cook with sugar.  If you've ever eaten rhubarb, you know you need lots of sugar to cut the sour/bitter taste.

Step Three: add fresh whipped cream.  The book called for regular sugar, so that's what I used for this recipe; but I prefer making whipped cream with powered sugar and add some vanilla extract.

Because this little dish of heaven was so simple and delicious, I will make it again and again and again...

Wait 'til you try it.

Is it Sweet or Sour?

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Sweet & Sour Chicken with Peach Jam

 

If I made a top ten list from this book, you'd find this dish near the top.  Between the yummy flavors and limited number of ingredients; this recipe is outstanding with much ease.  The main fruit recipe was quick peach jam that was made with pectin; which translate to freaky fast jam.

 

 

Once the jam was cooled (over night), I mixed the jam with lemon juice and set to the side.  Then mixed up some basic sauce ingredients, including corn starch to thicken the sauce.  I browned the chicken without cooking it though and set aside for a short moment in time.  Sautéed some onions, add mixes then chicken to finish.

to ANCHO or not to ANCHO?

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Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry Ancho Chile Jam

Recently at work (cooking school job), I was turned onto ancho chile powder and was pleasantly surprise the added flavor it provided to shrimp and beef recipes.  So when I came upon the cherry ancho chile jam, I was all set to go.  Excited for the outcome, I made this as soon as I got the cherries.

 

 

It took me sometime to get around to making the pork butt; but when I did, the house more fragrant than a bakery.  A dash of this, pinch of that, and a cup of red wine; the pork butt roasted for ten hours.  I've never sliced a more tender cut of meat.

 

The flavors were subtle but I could distinctly taste all the ingredients.  These tacos were tasty, but it was missing something.  I can't put my finger on it because I don't have a pallet for that, but it was good.

 

 

| pop youR cheRRy |

Put 'em Up! Fruit

2 of 171 recipes...

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Cheers to another couple tally marks under the down recipe column!  Just got overwhelmed looking through the book, thinking I might not be able to complete my New Year's resolution.  Chop chop, right?  LITERALLY!

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Nut-Crusted Goat Cheese with Cherry Mostarda

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Cherries are one of my most beloved seasonal fruits; so much so, I planted a sour cherry tree in my back yard the first spring I moved here.  This last winter was rough on my poor, young tree; so much so that unfortunately the production of fruit is extremely minimal (total of ten cherries I think).  But thankfully CostCo has tons of cherries for my recipes.

Making the mostarda was quick and simple; that is only after de-pitting all of a pound and a half of cherries (I only made half of what the recipe called for).   Combining all ingredients in a sauce pan, reduce (this took double the time than what the book described), and chill.  The mixed smells of mustard, sugar, and cherries made my mouth salivate; excited for when I'd be able to try the 'USE IT UP!' portion of this coupling.

Nut-crusted goat cheese day has arrived.  After just a couple minutes of toasting the pecans in the oven, this recipe was ready to through together.  After rolling the goat cheese in the toasted pecans, place on a plate (I put the mostarda on the plate first for a good visual effect), and serve.  *SUPER EASY*

The initial flavor had me wondering if I like the mix or not.  It's not your traditional cheese and crackers find of plate.  I had cherries mixed with mustard, wine, and sugar (per the book, an ancient recipe the upper class would do to preserve such luxury foods); my taste buds were not ready for such a combo.  But I assume by the empty plate in front of me, that it wasn't awful.  Also, Shayne approved. 

If I were to ever make this again, I'd hold back on the thyme mixed in when roasting the pecans; not because it was bad, I'm not a big fan of this herb.