Post Valentine's Day Pick Me Up

The lull after Valentine's Day is creeping in - I've been eating that heart cake for every meal and consequently had a cavity filled this morning and the next holiday isn't until Easter, if that counts. But, to save the day, I still have some absolutely beautiful roses from Jamie on my desk. All is right with the world, I just need to floss more.


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Fondue for two

I wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day and make something we've never had. I got my mom's old fondue pot and we had a cute little fondue dinner. I opted for meat fondue, or fondue bourgignonne. I made four sauces - chimichurri, horseradish, mustard, and mango chutney (this I bought).



To make chimichurri, chop up garlic, cilantro, and parsley, add olive oil, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and a little red wine vinegar. For the horseradish and mustard sauces, start with mayonnaise and sour cream and add the horseradish/mustard (half dijon, half grain) and season w salt and pepper. I also added a little vinegar to the horseradish and some dried tarragon to the mustard.
For the meat, I chopped up filet and pork tenderloin into little cubes and tossed them w olive oil, salt and pepper.
Heat oil (I used half veggie half olive) over the stove w a garlic clove and a bay leaf. Once it bubbles, light the sterno and pour the oil into the fondue pot. Then just cook the meat for 30 seconds or so, less for filet, and enjoy w the sauces!
It was fun and delicious and interactive. Will definitely have a fondue party in the near future.
And of course, a sweet dessert for Jamie!



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hummus

Pretty much every deli, drug store, and street vendor now has hummus readily available, and while I do enjoy a nice thing of Sabra, nothing beats homemade. I've been making hummus for years and it's easy, cheap, and tasty - but I recently found the secret to making it fluffy, and not heavy like homemade hummus can be. It's super easy - water. Instead of just pouring in the olive oil until you having a smooth hummus, I start w/ several tablespoons of water, then supplement with some good extra virgin olive oil. It's lighter, fluffier, and healthier. Below is the breakdown. I just made some for the office so we can have a nice Friday afternoon snack. Janet kindly brought in some pita chips - thanks Janet!

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
1 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
quarter or half a lemon to taste
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
several tbsp water
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt

Directions:
Put garlic, chickpeas, tahini and water in a blender and blend. Add lemon juice and salt to taste, along w/ enough olive oil to make it smooth. Add salt/lemon juice as needed and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and blend until smooth.

For roasted red pepper hummus, start w/ roasted red peppers, blend them, then add the rest but don't use as much water - the peppers add a lot of moisture. I also like adding a little chopped basil to the roasted red pepper hummus. It's not a classic hummus, but it's a nice change.

poached chicken with blood orange, avocado salsa

After my superbowl indulgence, I thought I needed something fresh and not wrapped in bacon. My go-to healthy dinner is poached chicken breast with a blood orange and avocado salsa. It's super tasty and the salsa I could just eat with a spoon. It's sweet, tangy, and a little spicy. Poached chicken can be a little boring, so I put orange and lime zest, onions, hot sauce, the interior of the oranges (after I segment them), salt, and anything else I have around/think might inprove the flavor (chili powder, pepper, cumin, dried red pepper/red pepper flakes). It's healthy, but it's really good so you don't feel like your missing out.

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breast
blood orange
lime
red onion
avocado
jalapeno

Directions:
Put the chicken breast in a small pot and just cover w/ water. Add in zest, sauce, whatever's in your kitchen etc to flavor it (a bouillon cube is also fine). Bring to a boil, turn to a simmer and let simmer, partly covered, for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it sit in the water for about 15 minutes,
Meanwhile, segment the blood orange (throw the remainder in the water) and chop into chunks. Finely chop red onion and jalapeno and cut avocado into chunks. (I find it easiest to do this while it's still in its shell - just draw criss crosses through it and scoop it out). Sprinkle w/ salt and lime juice to taste. Add more jalapenos if you want it to be hotter.
Slice the chicken breast, or serve whole, and top with the salsa. It tastes fresh and bright and the flavors are complex (and tasty) enough that you're not craving more food after.

Superbowl nachos

Rob made the tastiest nachos. Roasted chicken, spicy sausage, lots of cheddar cheese, cilantro and secret ingredient BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce give the chips a great sweetness. The mountain of nachos was devoured immediately. Thanks Rob!

Superbowl wings

I found an amazing wing recipe in Food & Wine last year and have been making them all year for games for Jamie and our friends. After trying several flavors, we decided the maple-chipotle and Jamaican jerk were the best options. For maple-chipotle, you toss 2lb of wings w 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp drie sage. Spray w oil and roast for 45 minutes at 500. Melt 2 tbsp melted butter w 2 1/2 tbsp frank's red hot, 2 minced canned chipotle peppers w a little adobo sauce and 2 tbsp maple syrup. Toss the crispy wings and serve. For Jamaican jerk, toss the wings w 2 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp powdered onion, 1/2 tsp powdered garlic, 1/2 tsp dries thyme, and 1 tsp salt. Roast for 45 at 500. Mix 2 1/2 tbsp franks red hot, 2 tbsp butter, and 1 tsp jerk paste and toss wings and serve. So tasty and way better than bar wings.




We just crushed 4 pounds of wings in 3 minutes. They're so crispy and the flavors are so intense and just totally irresistable.








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Bacon explosion round two

We made a bacon explosion last year but Jamie is really experimenting this year (I like to think it's my influence) and he's added a bunch of ingredients. In addition to the 2+ pounds of sausage (half sweet fennel and half parsley cheese from faicco's) and bacon,






he's added sauteed onions, chopped garlic, and fresh mozzarella. He made a basket weave of the bacon, cooked about 10 strips until crispy, mixed and flattened the sausage on a sheet of wax paper and topping it w the onions, garlic, cheese, and crispy bacon.






He then rolled it up and wrapped it in the bacon weave.
We secured it with some toothpicks and covered it in a spice rub of brown sugar, chipotle pepper powder, onion powder, garlic powder, dried thyme, a little dried sage, chili powder, kosher salt, pepper, cumin, and a little turmeric.






(we have all these things - I you don't, brown sugar, cumin, and some sort of hot pepper powder is fine). Popped it in the oven at 265 and will slice and savor in a few hours during the super bowl!






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