We’re starting a heat wave!

Well, compared to last week and this past weekend, anyway. Over the weekend, I had to turn my heat on a few times, to take the chill out of the air. Yesterday when I got up, it was a whopping 29F/-2C. Brr!

Sure, in a couple of months, that will feel warm, but when you’re suddenly plunged into low temperatures, it’s kind of cold. And I had to go out grocery shopping in that weather. For the first time this fall, I had to let my car run a couple minutes to help warm it up. Okay, that was because I refused to get out a winter coat. Or wear gloves.

But, for the rest of the week now, it’s highs in the 70′s, and even the low 80′s! (That’s 21-27C, for anyone outside of the States.) So, bring on the summery beverage for likely the last time this year. I have a garden full of mint that’s still going strong, and I’m going to use it while I can.

This recipe is low fat, as well as low carb if you use sugar-free sweetener.

Iced Mint Green Tea

Print Recipe

4 cups (1 L) cold water
6 green tea bags (I prefer decaf)
couple sprigs of mint
1/4-1/2 cup (55-115 grams) sweetener of choice (I used half truvia, half sugar)
ice cubes
extra mint for garnish, if desired
juice of 1 lime, if desired*

If using sugar, place desired amount of sugar in bottom of 6 cup (1.4 L) pitcher.

Add water and mint to medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and add sugar substitute, if using. Stir until sweetener is dissolved. Remove from heat.

When water is no longer boiling, add tea bags and cover; steep 10 minutes. Remove cover, tea bags, and mint. Pour hot tea into pitcher, stir to combine with sugar. Add enough ice cubes to fill the pitcher.

Refrigerate until chilled, then serve in glasses over ice. Garnish with mint, if desired.

*To change things up a bit, add the lime juice to the chilled tea.

Where I live, there aren’t many more opportunities to grill outdoors yet this year. Days are shorter and cooler, and though we like to pretend that snow isn’t just around the corner, it tends to sneak up on us all too quickly.

So we grill while we can. Grilling a whole chicken is a nice transition to roasting a whole bird in the oven when the weather cools. And because this chicken is butterflied, it cooks rather quickly on the grill. The addition of wood chips in a smoker box lends a nice smoky flavor, even on a gas grill. It’s also an extremely simple preparation, which always speeds up getting dinner on the table.

Not sure what to serve with the chicken? Might I suggest Grilled Potatoes? They can roast away in the foil while the grill is heating up, yet still maintain their heat in the foil pouch after they’ve been removed from the grill. Or how about Coriander Carrot Slaw? It’s another great side, and is a very fast option if you use preshredded bagged coleslaw. You can also make it a day ahead of time – I think it tastes even better on day two.

Cookies for dessert, like those in the above picture, are always a good idea!

Smoked Chicken
recipe from my friend B

Print Recipe

1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds
Salt & Pepper
Desired flavor of wood chips

Soak wood chips at least 30-60 minutes ahead of time (up to a few hours is fine).

Butterfly the chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper. (Be sure to save the backbone for soup stock!)

Place smoker box filled with soaked chips on one side of grill. Start at very high heat to get the chips smoking, then reduce heat and keep as close to 350F as possible. You’ll want the side of the grill with the smoker box to have the burner on, and the other side of the grill to have the burner off for grilling with indirect heat.

Brush grill grate with oil. Place the chicken on the opposite side of the grill as the smoker box, skin-side down for 10 minutes. Flip and grill another 15 minutes. Flip back over for another 5 minutes to crisp up skin some more.

Let chicken rest 10 minutes, then carve and serve. Reserve bones for making virtually free chicken stock.

For me, pasta is more of a delivery vehicle for a favorite sauce, rather than an excitement unto itself. Sure, there are gourmet flavored pastas, which I do enjoy from time to time, but for the most part, I don’t find pasta all that interesting.

A few years back, I discovered spaghetti squash and realized it was an excellent substitute for spaghetti when served with a tomato-meat sauce. I liked the texture, I liked the flavor, and I found it tasted better than noodles. What I didn’t like was the hassle of cooking it, cutting it, and scraping out the strands.

So when I discovered an inexpensive little kitchen gadget that would allow me to turn many vegetables into spirals, I had to get it. I used it for the first time mere days after it arrived, to turn zucchini into curly “pasta”. I tossed the zucchini with some store-bought sauce and served it alongside an easy chicken parmesan.

For a little extra flavor, I dredged the chicken cutlets in shredded parmesan seasoned with Italian seasoning and ground pepper before cooking them.

If you have an abundance of zucchini you don’t know what to do with, turning it into “noodles” is an easy, interesting way to use up some of it. Since I just picked up my produce box yesterday and found it filled with zucchini, you can bet I will be making more meals like this one.

If you’re interested in a spiral vegetable slicer, I’m very happy with this one; it’s easy to use and easy to clean, and it stores the various blades in the gadget itself.

Zucchini Pasta

1 medium zucchini per person, washed
1/2 cup prepared tomato-based pasta sauce or marinara per person

Heat pasta sauce in medium saucepan over medium heat.

While that’s warming, cut the stem end off your zucchini. Depending on the size of the zucchini, you may need to cut then in half, as well. Make sure the suction cups have secured the gadget onto your counter, and place a bowl to the left of the gadget to catch the zucchini strands. Push a flat end onto the circular piece by the blade, then push the spikes into the other end. Your right hand will rotate the zucchini, while your left hand will push the lower handle towards the blade.

Continue with each additional piece of zucchini until you’ve spiralized all the zucchini. Toss the “noodles” in with the warmed sauce, let sit in pan for 1 minute to warm through slightly. Remove from heat and serve.

This meal is not difficult to cook. On the contrary, if you know how to saute a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts, this meal is downright easy.

However…

The first time I try to time the cooking for dishes I’m making for the first (and sometimes the second) time, I get a little frazzled. Invariably, something takes longer than I think it will, and my whole plan goes to hell in a handbasket.

Chicken and rice. A simple dinner, no?

Okay then, chicken with a roasted pepper cream sauce and green poblano rice. Still pretty easy. It should be stress-free. And yet, I ended up a little frazzled.

It’s my stove’s fault. I swear. If I had 2 big burners (rather than 1 big and 3 small), things would have gone more smoothly. But! Because it took about 3 times as long to bring less than an inch of liquid to a simmer, courtesy of being stuck using a small burner, my timing was thrown off.

If I only had myself to cook for, big deal. But when I invite a friend over, and tell him dinner should be ready around 6, I feel the pressure.

I tried using my stick blender on the cilantro/poblano/chicken stock mixture. It struggled. There were big chunks and long sprigs to deal with, plus not that much liquid to assist. I tipped the pan a bit and banged the blender around. My goal? To finish the blending before B arrived, as he loves nothing better than to make fun of the mess I make in the kitchen while I cook. I hurry, I rush, I finally mutter “Screw it!” and leave it partially blended. The rice will have texture, I rationalize. Then I pour the liquid into my measuring cup from hell (the one that spills everywhere upon emptying), quickly wipe out the pan, add oil…and nothing happens.

Out of habit, I had turned off the burner. (Insert curse word.) I drum my fingers as I wait first for the pan to reheat so I can add the onions and rice, then for them to reach the point where I can add the cooking liquid. I glance at the clock, praying I can add the liquid before B arrives; the last thing I needed was for him to walk in just as chunky green liquid spilled everywhere.

Whew! I made it.

The rice was covered and cooking away when B arrived around 6. I warned him that dinner would be a bit later than I thought, thinking he would settle in front of the tv until I finished cooking, like he normally does. I had just put the chicken on, and I hadn’t yet blended the cream sauce, so I still had a few things to do. Instead, he settled in the kitchen and in one of those rare moments, became Mr. Talkative.

I tried to listen. Really, I did. But I was more worried about cleaning the stick blender, then hooking it up to the mini food processor component to blend the sauce, all while keeping an eye on the chicken. And trying to listen to stories about college basketball. (I think it was Rutgers. I’m pretty sure…) At that point, I put him to work seasoning the poblano cream with salt and pepper.

Finally, dinner was done.

And it was good. The rice was as good as I remembered, the chicken and poblano cream a nice way to make chicken interesting again. Even better, the chicken was cooked perfectly, despite my running around like a mad woman. As I said, there’s nothing difficult about this meal. For me, timing things is the most difficult part about cooking. That’s why I usually cook one new thing and plan the rest of the meal around things I could do in my sleep. I had a mental time-line that was simply a bit too rigid.

But now, I have a couple of tips if you plan to cook this meal, just so you don’t get asked if you need to take a shower after cooking dinner, because your face is a bit on the shiny side. (I kid you not, he really did ask me that.)

1. Make the sauce ahead of time. From roasting the chili pepper to blending the sauce, you can do this a day or two in advance, when it’s convenient for you. Simply rewarm the sauce slightly over very low heat, or just serve it at room temperature over the chicken.

2. Make the sauce after the chicken is cooked. Yes, you will still want to have roasted the poblano ahead of time, since that takes awhile if you’re doing it in the oven like me (instructions included below), but you can start the onions and garlic cooking away while the chicken cooks, then finally blend everything up while the chicken is resting.

3. Remember, this meal can actually be quite forgiving as far as timing goes. (This part is what I should have remembered.) Chicken tastes good even after it’s cooled a bit, and the rice can sit in the pan (just remove the lid when it’s done cooking) for awhile and still remain warm.

Chicken with Poblano Cream
recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

Print Recipe

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil
1 poblano chili pepper
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

1. Roast the poblano. Heat the oven to 375*F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Toss the pepper onto the pan and pop it into the oven for 15 minutes. With a tongs, grasp the pepper by the stem and rotate a 1/4 turn and pop back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Continue until all sides are blistered and the skin has puffed up from the meat of the pepper, about an hour. Remove from oven, cool 5-10 minutes until you can handle touching it with your hands. Pull the top out of the pepper by the stem, then cut the pepper open to remove the ribs. Cut into pieces and set aside.

2. Make the sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened. Remove from heat. Add poblano and cream, stir to combine. Transfer to a blender and process until relatively smooth (there will still be some texture to the sauce). Thin with water if needed.

3. Cook the chicken: Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium to medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Cook on each side until nicely browned and the juices run clear. Remove to platter and cover loosely with foil for 10-15 minutes.

Serve chicken with a spoonful or two of poblano cream and green poblano rice, if desired.

This meal is perfect: a tender cut of beef, a pan sauce made with brandy (my favorite), lots and lots of shallots, and homemade French fries.

If you’re familiar with Michael Pollan, you likely know his food philosophy is that you can eat whatever you want, as long as you make it yourself. He points out that if we had to make all of own fries, we probably wouldn’t eat them so often. I mean, have you ever cut up baking potatoes into tiny little matchsticks?

A mandoline helps speed up the process, but you still have to deal with heating up the oil to the proper temperature, cooling the oil, then disposing of the oil. And if you lack an exhaust fan that sends those fumes outside (like me), you have a home that smells like oil for about one or two weeks.

That said, for special occasions (I confess, these particular pictures were from New Year’s Eve a couple years back), the fries are completely worth it. And since I buy a whole tenderloin and butcher it myself, steak au poivre is served in this home on a regular basis. Add a side of green beans and some brown-braised onions, and you have a meal worthy of celebration.

Steak au Poivre
adapted from Ina Garten

2 filet mignon, about 1 1/4 inches thick
Kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped shallots (3 to 4 shallots)
1 cup low-sodium beef broth
1/2 cup good Cognac or brandy*

Remove steaks from fridge for 30-45 minutes to allow them to come to room temperature.

Pat the steaks dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper, pressing on the coating to adhere.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until the butter almost smokes. Place the steaks in the pan and lower the heat to medium. Cook the steaks for 4 minutes on the first side, then flip over for 3 minutes, for medium rare. Remove the steaks to a serving platter and cover tightly with foil.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from pan. Add the shallots and cook until starting to brown. Raise heat to high and add broth; reduce by half, scraping up brown bits. Add brandy and carefully ignite (remove from burner if cooking with gas) to burn off the alcohol.

Remove from heat and add remaining butter, adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve the steaks hot with the shallots and sauce on top.

*I prefer brandy to Cognac in this recipe.

Matchstick Potatoes
adapted from Ina Garten

Peanut or canola oil
2 large oval Idaho potatoes, peeled
Sea salt or kosher salt
Minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour at least 1-inch of oil into a deep pot and heat it to 350 degrees F.

Slice the potatoes into thin matchsticks (1/8-inch thick) with a vegetable slicer or mandoline, dropping them into a bowl of cold water as you cut. Drain the potatoes and dry them thoroughly with paper towels. Drop the potatoes in batches into the hot oil and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the pot with a wire basket skimmer or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the potatoes.

Sprinkle the potatoes with parsley, if desired, and serve hot.

When I was growing up, my parents made steak fondue every New Year’s Eve. It really was the perfect night: a relaxed dinner, followed by games and watching Dick Clark (at least, when my brother and I were able stay up that late). At any rate, we loved it much more than going out in the cold to a nice restaurant.

Thanks to the resurgence of fondue restaurants, I’ve been reminded of this simple dish and am enjoying fondue again. I even once threw a fondue party for my mom’s birthday. Let me tell you, when you do the preparation for cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, plus steak, shrimp, ravioli, and make several dipping sauces, you realize it’s worth every penny to go out to a restaurant for a multi-course fondue!

These days, I generally will only do cheese fondue at home, because I can make a meal out of it with plenty of vegetables and fruit. However, most of my friends and family don’t enjoy the traditional fondue of gruyere and emmenthaler, so I pretty much have to make this for myself. If you look at the recipe, you’ll see that it’s a LOT of food for one person, but never fear, I have plans for transforming the leftover cheese into a new meal.

This recipe was slightly different from all others I’ve seen and used previously. Instead of coating the cheese with cornstarch before melting, this recipe has you buttering the pot. I have to admit, whether intended or not, it made clean up so much easier; the cheese came right out of the pot, and that’s NEVER happened before, even with a nonstick fondue pot.

Cheese Fondue
Adapted from The Country Cooking of France

1 unpeeled garlic clove, cut in half
1 tablespoon soft butter
1 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
½ pound Gruyere, shredded
½ pound Emmenthaler, shredded
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Kirsch
dash of freshly ground nutmeg

suggested dippers:
sliced baguette
apple slices drizzled with lemon juice
cauliflower and broccoli flowerets
asparagus spears, raw or blanched
baby carrots
pear slices drizzled with lemon juice

Rub the inside of a fondue or enameled heavy duty saucepan with garlic. Spread butter all around inside of pot and add wine; bring to a boil over very low heat. Add the cheese in handfuls, stirring constantly in a figure-8 pattern with a wooden spoon, until the cheese is completely melted. Add pepper, nutmeg, and Kirsh; season with salt if necessary.

Spear bread, fruit, and vegetables and dip into the cheese.

I recently made an oven version of mushroom risotto. It was good, but not perfect, so I’ll work to perfect the timing before I post it. One thing that kind of stood out, however, was that the flavor wasn’t as round as usual. The only difference, other than the cooking technique?

I used store bought stock.

I know, I know, this happened just weeks after taking a picture of my stock-filled freezer, but one batch of soup depleted my chicken stock. I was out, so I purchased the stock I used to rely on. Do I believe it made the difference? Yes, I do. I bought my favorite cheese (and taste-tested it, of course) and my usual assortment of mushrooms…I even used better quality, more flavorful butter than in the past.

In the past, a friend and I would split the cost of stock ingredients, and we’d both have a pot of stock simmering away in our kitchens.

But really, that’s not necessary. I recently made a conscious effort to save peelings from carrots, parsnips, celery, and onions. When I cut more parsley than I needed, the extras went into the stock bag in my freezer (the writing on the bag smeared slightly, but it’s still obvious what’s in there). Anytime I didn’t use all of the thyme I purchased, into the stock bag it went. I do still buy dill specifically for stock, but after throwing one sprig into the stock pot, the rest goes into my stock bag.

This time, we aren’t transforming leftovers, we’re taking the scraps that most people throw away, and turning them into homemade goodness – essentially for free. Even if you don’t cook much with stock, freeze it for the winter and turn it into chicken soup when you don’t feel well, want a simple meal, of have leftover chicken to use up.

Here is a simple stock recipe using scraps:

1 chicken carcass, including skin (or a bunch of chicken bones you’ve saved)
Scraps/peelings from the following vegetables:
Carrots
Parsnips
Onions (any color)
Garlic
Celery
Parsley
Thyme
Dill
Additional flavorings:
1-2 dried bay leaves
about a dozen peppercorns

To make the stock, simply pile everything into a large pot and fill with water. (If you have a large slow cooker, you can put everything in there, turn it on low, and just let it go for hours). Simmer for at least 12 hours, longer if you can, adding water as needed. Strain out the solids, pour the liquid through a sieve into a large bowl, cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Skim the solidified fat and throw away. Portion out the stock into freezer-safe containers, leaving about ½ – ¾ inch of headspace. I like using 2 cup containers; I’ve never needed less than 2 cups at a time, and the stock thaws a lot faster when you have two 2-cup containers, rather than one 4 cup container. (If using plastic containers, avoid putting them in the microwave, thaw in the fridge instead.)

My grape tomato plant is out of control. I always get the bulk of my tomato crop in late summer to early fall, and this year is no exception. While my larger tomato varieties haven’t done so well this year, the grape tomatoes seem to want to make up for their counterparts.

This salad came about from the need to use some ripe tomatoes, some lettuce that was on its last day, and some mozzarella in the fridge that didn’t melt very well, but tasted okay when it was cut up. This salad begs for the best olive oil you have, and a splash of aged Balsamic takes it to another level. A sprinkle of whole basil leaves, salt, and pepper finishes things off nicely.

Of course, with the addition of lettuce and balsamic vineger, this salad isn’t your traditional caprese, but it sure does taste great. It would have been even better had I thought to make a few brioche croutons, but I didn’t have that brainiac moment until I was halfway through the salad. Next time, though…after all, I still have many more tomatoes to eat in the coming weeks.

This really isn’t a recipe, but here’s what you do to make this salad:

In a large bowl (I have an old serving bowl that I use for salads), pile high a few cups of torn lettuce leaves. Top with about eight cherry or grape tomatoes, halved, and several cubes of mozzarella cheese. Spinkle a few whole basil leaves over the top. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy. It’s sometimes difficult to believe that something this simple could be so satisfying.

Wow. I just realized that my macarons post was my 100th post. I suppose it’s fitting that I included a more temperamental dessert in a milestone post, rather than the flop I’m posting today. I’m quite embarrassed to post the picture, as everything about the dish turned out that bad. But, flops happen. And I promised to post what I did with the leftovers of Project Chicken, so there was no getting out of this one.

I confess that I usually buy a gourmet spicy peanut sauce from a local specialty shop. The sauce is delicious, the price is decent, and I don’t have to stock 10 bottles of various Asian sauce components in my fridge. I make these sauces so rarely that the ingredients always seem to go bad before I get around to using everything up. The purchased peanut sauce, however, gets used up every time.

Well, this time I made my own sauce, following a recipe I found here. I had all of the ingredients, but I chose to forego the pasta and just do chicken with vegetables. At that point in the week, I really needed to use up that chicken, and having a bunch of leftovers was not ideal, since I wouldn’t be able to eat them anyway.

Um, I didn’t like this sauce. I only tasted peanut butter, and even though I thinned it not once, but twice, and only used some of it, it still was just way too overpowering. I’m curious as to whether anyone has a go-to spicy peanut recipe that actually tastes good…

Spicy Peanut Chicken and Vegetables
adapted from Delish

Leftover shredded chicken (I used about one breast)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
One bag of stir-fry vegetables
1 teaspoon oil

In a bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chili sauce, and ginger.

Heat oil in a wok or large saute pan (preferrably non-stick) over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and saute until tender. Add chicken and saute for a minute to warm through. Reduce heat to medium-low and add peanut sauce. Thin with water to desired consistency.

*This dish likely would have turned out better with the noodles, as the peanut sauce would have been covering more food, and the noodles would have absorbed a little of the sauce. Then again, I didn’t like the flavor of the sauce, and I don’t think noodles would have helped that.

In some ways, mid-August is one of my favorite times of year. Sure, I complain about it being a little too hot, a little too humid, but that very heat and humidity is so important to area crops, not to mention my own garden. The available local produce is at its peak, which translates into lots of fruit desserts.

And with autumn and winter right around the corner, they usher in a whole new slew of desserts. So I figured, what better time to share with you some of my favorite recipes?

With this e-book, I’ve tried to include something for everyone: you’re find desserts that are vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free, and/or dairy-free. All of the gluten-free & sugar-free desserts have been tested by folks who do not follow that type of diet; if they give a sf/gf dessert the thumbs-up, I believe most people will enjoy the treat.

You’ll find desserts that showcase seasonal fruit, as well as heartier desserts that will comfort you when the temperatures drop. Here is what you have to look forward to:

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote* (vegan, dairy-free, egg-free)
Summer Fruit Crumble* (egg-free)
Peach Tarts
Cherry Cheesecake Galette (egg-free)
Poached Pears (vegan, egg-free, dairy-free)
Dulce de Leche Chocolate Chip Cookies
Grandma’s Molasses Cut-Out Cookies
Lemon Tea Cookies (egg-free, vegan if use trans-fat free margarine)
Pinwheels
Peppermint White Chocolate Truffles (egg-free)
Chocolate Mousse with Orange Vanilla Whipped Cream
Sugar-Free Chocolate Mousse (sugar-free & gluten-free)
Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (sugar-free & gluten-free)
Blueberry Muffins (sugar-free & gluten-free)
Peanut Butter Silk Pie (sugar-free & gluten-free)

*Both Strawberry Rhubarb Compoteand Summer Fruit Crumble are original recipes that have been featured on My Madison Bistro.

This e-book is available at no charge, but if you like the recipes or would like to help fund the recipe development for future e-books, donations are greatly appreciated.

Click here to download the Madison Bistro Treats E-Book.