Shortcuts

It has been a very interesting two weeks here at Test Drive Kitchen. Anyone who has ever been on crutches will tell you the same thing. Sure they can get you somewhere, but what the heck do you do when you get there? Nada. Nothing. Zip. Ever try to hold a cup of coffee while on crutches? Not a pretty sight. I'm thinking of inventing a coffee patch for my forearm.

So, it's been quite a challenge to make any kind of meal without assistance. With hubby gone all day, I've figured out some shortcuts and relied heavily on anything I can roast, simmer, braise or slow cook. Basically recipes that are almost totally hands off and allow me to sit on my tush.

One of my favorite and not at all sprained ankle friendly recipes is risotto. Here is my post about a saffron butternut squash version:

http://testdrivekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/01/whole-pot-of-yummy.html

Since risotto requires stove top hovering, I decided to make a "poor mans" version of this scrumptious dish with similiar flavor - but sadly not the creamy texture.

I toasted a cup of (rinsed) quinoa in a dry saucepan for five minutes, while I prepared previously peeled and cubed butternut squash in extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper. I put this mixture in a casserole dish, which then went into the oven (preheated at 425F). Meanwhile, I added 2 cups of chicken broth to the quinoa and brought it to a quick boil. Yes, mom, I did sit while I waited for it to boil! After the boil, I covered the pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes. When the quinoa was finished, so was the butternut squash. The squash is finished when brown at the edges and soft and tender to the touch. In hindsight, I wish I put some roughly chopped shallots in the roasting pan, because that would have added a LOT of flavor to my final dish.

For an early lunch today, I took a 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa and 1/4 cup of roasted butternut squash and sprinkled 1 T of shredded parmesan cheese and a pinch of saffron threads. I mixed it together and let the cheese melt.

All in all, it was very satisfying lunch. I didn't expect the creaminess of risotto, so I wasn't disappointed.

Hey, 20 minutes with barely any standing up. I'll take what I can get!

Kitchen Sink? Everything, but.

Growing up in Southern New Jersey, my family spent many summers "down the shore." My aunt and uncle have a beautiful home on Long Beach Island where my husband and I usually spend a week in August. My favorite thing about LBI is there's virtually no big retail stores. Everything from the grocery stores to the restaurants - all locally run. There's not a TGI Fridays or Giant in sight. Hubby's favorite is an ice cream parlor that's been around for at least 30 years complete with a player piano. I have to say, it's special to see my spouse fall in love with a place from my childhood. He just gets it.

Beyond kayaking in the lagoon and sailing with my uncle, one of the best things about our LBI vacations is definitely the food. My aunt lays out dinners of grilled sweet corn, roasted summer vegetables, fresh herbs (growing on her deck), fish straight from the dock, and fruit from the farmer's markets. Lunch is always something to look forward to. It's composed of what we had for dinner the night before mixed in with fresh greens and balsamic vinegar with olive oil. Her salads opened my eyes to new flavor combinations and has inspired me in my own cooking adventures. Before this year, I was known for my own "everything but the kitchen sink" salads and it was a staple at my dinner parties. It usually included goat cheese, fresh corn shaved from the cob and dates.

Hubby was headed to Whole Foods yesterday, so I decided to use up the remaining vegetables in the fridge to create some room. Rather than a salad, I was totally in the mood for soup. I asked him to pick up some delicious crusty bread of his choice (he knows to look for 3 grams of fiber or more now!) I've also been reading "How to Cook Without the Book" by Pam Anderson which had a very helpful chapter on making soup. First rule? When junk goes in, junk comes out. Basically with fresh ingredients to start, it's easy to make an excellent soup.

Karen's "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" Soup

2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 zucchinis, diced
2 Yukon potatoes, diced
4 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 large bunch of swiss chard leaves, roughly chopped and stems removed
1 15 oz can cannellini beans
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup bulgur, cooked
48 oz chicken broth (1 ½ cartons)
2/3 cup white wine
1 Chicken/Apple Sausage, thinly sliced
Penzy’s Northwood Spices (mix of coarse flake salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, rosemary, garlic and chipotle.)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and let them sauté for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Then, add the remaining vegetables & wine. Spice generously with penzy (or your own mix), salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and let the veggies stew in their own juices, wine and tomatoes for about 10 minutes with the lid tightly on the pot. When veggies are tender, you can add the chicken broth & beans. Taste and season to your liking. Put the lid back on the pot and cook for another 10 minutes (med-low heat). Add previously cooked Chicken Apple Sausage and bulgur at the end. In five minutes, everything will be heated up and ready to serve. Serve with a piece of crusty bread and a pinch of shredded parmesan cheese in the soup.

• Recently filed in the Duh! folder: I burned my first pot because I left the oil sizzling on high heat without the onions for too long. It looks terrible, I may not be able to scrub out the scorch mark! First duh, followed by a second...I opened the french doors in my living room leading out to the back yard (unfenced) to clear the very smoked filled kitchen. I thought I tightly closed the doors when I let Sami back in, but a gust of wind blew it open and my puppy almost took off outside without a leash. Thank goodness she had the good sense to be startled and backed away in time for me to close it again! Damn this sprained ankle...yes, I'm blaming my lack of common sense on it.
• Hubby brought home an outstanding loaf of oatmeal, flax, honey and date bread. The sweetness of the dates and honey with the savory taste of the soup was an unexpected, yet heavenly, combination.
• I can't wait to have this soup for lunch...it's always better the next day.
• The best thing about this dish was how quickly it came together. From first chop to in the bowl was approximately 35 minutes. Twenty of which I was sitting watching tv!
  

Pantry Envy

I made another new blog discovery! Lydia at The Perfect Pantry (http://www.theperfectpantry.com/) keeps her kitchen well stocked with everything under the sun. Currently, her inventory counter is at 220. Hmmm...mine is at 75. At the rate I'm going, though, I could match that by June! An interesting result from reading stacks of cookbooks is that everytime I'm at the grocery store I pick up an ingredient I remember from a recipe. A few weeks ago, I picked up Coriander but it wasn't until yesterday that I found a reason to use it.

I won't even keep you in suspense here. It was crazy good. And unbelievably easy to make. Oh, and I had everything I needed on hand...or so I thought.


Spiced Chicken & Grape Skewers by Ellie Krieger


2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

8 (10-inch) skewers

1 1/2 cups seedless green grapes

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves

1 lemon, cut into wedges


In a medium sized bowl whisk together the oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, and salt. Add the chicken to the marinade and toss to coat. Marinate the chicken for 20 minutes. While the chicken is marinating, soak the skewers in water if wooden.

Thread 4 pieces of the chicken and 4 grapes onto the skewers, alternating them. Spray a grill pan with cooking spray and preheat over a medium-high heat, or prepare an outdoor grill. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Sprinkle with mint and serve with lemon wedges.

• Yes, I'm supposed to be keeping my feet up and the apron off, but it was getting close to 8pm and the metro delayed my hubby. So I chanced it and hobbled around. Thankfully, there were only a few things to grab for the marinade. Hubby came home and took care of the rest.
• If you asked me one thing I must have in my fridge at all times, it's lemons. I love to zest. I love to juice. I am a citrus junkie. It just heightens the flavor of everything.
• Sadly, I didn't have any grapes. They there were this morning...and then there were gone. Hmm? Healthy burglar? Sneaky dog? Nope. Hubby just took them to work.
• I used the broiler instead of the grill. They turned out great! Ten minutes total- turn the skewers halfway through.
• For the sauce, hubby clipped some mint leaves from our plant growing in the dining room and added it to nonfat plain yogurt. He squeezed some fresh lemon juice for a final touch.
• He served the chicken with cooked bulgur (our favorite grain by far!) the sauce and a handful of golden raisins to make up for the missing grapes.

Riding the Bench

I hate watching the game from the bench, but that's where I am. For at least two weeks. I'm nursing a grade 3 ankle sprain. It's been a unusual experience handing my hubby the grocery list and giving him cooking directions from the couch. Thankfully, he's totally on board with keeping up our eating habits and hasn't suggested take-out food. The thing is, once you start eating real food made from ingredients one can pronounce, it's nearly impossible to go back to crap. So, hubby is taking on double duty as breadwinner and breadmaker! Oh, and guess what...he made a statement that made me leap with joy from the sofa (almost.) He pronounced Whole Foods produce far superior and will no longer express frustration at our grocery bills.

We're keeping the menu light and easy this week. So far, it's been spinach and mesclun salads with cannellinni and black beans, shaved parmesan and dried cherries, baked fish, roasted cauliflower and raisin salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. He gets home between 7:30-8pm, so it's been imperative to make dishes with a shorter prep time. Honestly, I'm ravished by the time he gets home. Maybe that's because I'm sitting here reading cooking websites and Mark Bittman books all day!!

Since I'm determined to keep posting frequently, I'll write some more cookbook reviews and website discoveries (and try not to critique hubby's culinary attempts too much!)

For now, here's something completely different for your amusement. A friend from my comedy class added a video of us performing a few weeks ago on Youtube. The picture quality is not great, but I'm in the one in green pretending to speak in Lithuanian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR8ueIbhzwE

Enjoy!!

Holy Schnikies, that's one tasty salad!!

As much as I appreciate delicious food, it's pretty rare for me to have a reaction like I had last night. I was suddenly rendered monosyllabic.

Wow. Whoah. Soooo. Good.

Maybe it's because I was doped up on Aleve for the ankle, but I think I had a religious experience while eating this salad. If you're going to try anything on my blog, TRY THIS.

I stumbled upon this recipe yesterday while surfing the net with my foot propped up on an ottoman under a nice cold bag of sugar snap peas. There's not much I can do right now besides rest and dream of recipes I want to make. My husband has added to his duties of chief taster and clean up visionary (yes, he has many ideas on how to decrease the pileup), to Whole Foods mystery shopper and reluctant sous chef. Seriously, he's the best.

Are your reading Kitchen Queen Victoria? You are going to love this.

Oh, you wanted the recipe already? Here it is:

Spinach Salad with Caramelized Onions and Apples by Alison Anton

CURRIED APPLES AND ONIONS

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 yellow onion, sliced thin

1 apple, sliced thin

1/2 teaspoon mild curry powder

DRESSING

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Pinch salt

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons walnut oil (or use more olive oil)

CANDIED PECANS OR WALNUTS

1 cup pecans or walnuts

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons maple syrup

SALAD

4 handfuls of baby spinach

2 ounces goat feta

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and apple. Saute for 2-3 minutes, turn down the heat to medium-low and cover. Add curry. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 35-45 minutes, until the onions have released their natural sugars and begun to caramelize. They should be a nice caramel color.

In the meantime, prepare the dressing and candied pecans. For the dressing, whisk all of the ingredients together in a small dish. Let the dressing sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.

For the pecans, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Place the pecans in the pan, stirring and flipping constantly, until the pecans are lightly toasted, about 8 minutes—watch out, they burn fast at the end.

Add the spices and salt; mix about 30 seconds to toast the spices. Turn the heat to low and add the maple syrup. Stir constantly, cooking until the mixture has thickened and is very sticky, about two minutes. Remove to a plate and cool completely.

Place a handful of spinach onto four salad plates. Drizzle with the dressing. Place 1/4 of the warmed caramelized onions over each of the plates of spinach and top with the candied pecans and feta. Give each a grinding of fresh black pepper. Serve while the onions are still warm.

• First, check out Alison Anton's blog at http://www.wholegourmet.blogspot.com/. I must have spent an hour perusing it last night. I found at least 10 recipes I want to try.


• You know what's great about caramelizing onions? Even though it takes a while, it's pretty effortless and the result is outstanding flavor. I was being careful not to stand up too long, so basically I covered the pan for 30 minutes and checked in only twice for quick stirs.


• I highly recommend using walnut oil in the dressing rather than using extra olive oil. It adds a unique touch.


• I had both walnuts and pecans on hand, so I used a half cup of each. After we made the spiced nuts, it's amazing that any landed in the salad. They are outrageously good.


• I wish I could make this blog "Scratch & Sniff." Remember those stickers? Curry & Cinnamon. Wow. I'm starting to feel monosyllabic again.

When I sent hubby out to Whole Foods yesterday for a grocery run, I armed him with one of my favorite things from www.knockknock.biz:

The Great Shed of 2008

Dear Karen,


I know that we've been dancing around the subject for the last two weeks, so I thought I would just address it. You've quietly swept and swiffered fruitlessly as I leave new gifts for you. You've used special tools, like the Furminator, to lessen the pile up only to create more mess. Even Dyson's special vacuum - the Animal- has failed to meet your expectations.


Big E for effort, though. You're a trooper.


But seriously, I didn't ask to blow my coat. It's just that the Great Shed stops for no one. Not even the furry inhabitants of Test Drive Kitchen.



Keep your chin up. It's almost over. Oh, and can you pass me your slipper? I wasn't done nibbling on it. Thanks.



I feel better now that we've had this talk.


Love,
Sami

Splat!

That was the unfortunate sound my body made when it met the ground yesterday. A very well intentioned jog turned into a recipe for elevation, ice and rest. Long story short, I had a great run with a friend of mine which ended with a flying leap off the sidewalk to the grass. I'm told it was quite impressive. So, I'm nursing a sprained ankle at the moment, but still managed to hobble over to the kitchen to make lunch today. I sought comfort in some fantastic blueberries. I'm not a huge fan of them usually, but when they're good I can't resist them. Here's what I did:

1/2 cup of cooked bulgur (made with low sodium chicken broth)
1 cup of baby romaine lettuce
1/3 cup of fresh blueberries
2 T slivered almonds
1 T shredded Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup of steamed broccoli
1/3 cup of chopped orange bell pepper
1 T Newman's Light Balsamic Vinaigrette

I'm optimistic that an infusion of superfoods will accelerate the healing process!!

If I could have maintained my balance longer, I would have definitely made my own dressing. I think Newman's Own and Maple Grove products are pretty decent, but nothing really compares to homemade. Plus I just purchased a bag of limes and lemons for just this purpose this week. Oh well. Best laid plans.

Speaking of limes, this creamy lime-fig dressing is to die for.

Creamy Lime Fig Dressing from Greens Glorious Greens!

3 dried Turkish or Calmyrna figs (stems removed)
3 T Freshly squeezed lime juice
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T mirin
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup canola or olive oil
3/4 cup of water
salt to taste

To make dressing, place figs, lime juice, vinegar, mirin, garlic, oil, water and salt in a blender. Blend for 2-3 minutes until creamy and smooth.

• Figs are a great source of calcium, iron, potassium (which helps control blood pressure) and fiber. I've always been a big fan of fig newtons (not so much of figgy pudding). It's nice to learn they're a nutritional heavyweight!
• I usually drizzle this dressing on a bowl of spring mix and fig slices.

One more time for the cheap seats:

SPLAT!