Mission Cookbook: Chicken Piccata

Quite some time ago (I mean like... 3 years?) I gave Steve a coupon that allowed him to choose whatever meal he wanted and I would cook it. He chose chicken piccata over angel hair pasta with fresh green beans. Time passed... like... 3 years... and I finally got around to cooking it.

Like... 3 months ago. And I'm just now posting it. GO ME.

At any rate - without any further delay - I present to you...

Mission Cookbook: Chicken Piccata

Part of the reason I never got around to cooking this was (I think) a subconscious avoidance. The truth is that I'm not a giant fan of overly-tangy-citrus flavors when they're cooked in my food. I don't mind them in a lemonade or some sort of sweet flavor, but when it comes to savory dishes I tend to avoid it. I'm the chick that never EVER squeezes the lemon over her seafood. The rest of it was that we were trying to lose weight, and buttery, saucy, dredged chicken over starchy pasta isn't really diet friendly. Once we hit goal - it was time for me to get past my citrus issue and get to cooking!

We scoured the cookbooks we have in-house and decided on the version of the recipe featured in our Cooking with Mickey cookbook. Say what you want about the kitchy-ness of Disney, they make some DARNED good food; if you don't believe me, I can give you a list of places I'll demand you try in order to prove you wrong. At any rate, I gathered my ingredients and got to work.

First things first: I must give yet another shout-out to my Le Creuset Dutch Oven. This thing is freaking amazing. I use it constantly when I'm cooking for things as simple as mashed potatoes to all sorts of complicated dishes... like chicken piccata. Check out this live-action shot of the dredged chicken frying away in the Le Creuset. It is seriously my favorite piece of kitchen equipment ever.

Can I even begin to tell you how awesome it is to deglaze this pot and get all the brown bits up? Once I hit the pan with the white wine and chicken stock it came right up - not an ounce of flavor was missed. Also, I was surprised at how simple it was to make the piccata. I was envisioning some super complicated process of sauce making and it wasn't bad at all. Truthfully, making the dish was pretty fun!

Now for the taste: I am pleased to announce (mostly for myself) that while the flavor was definitely distinctly lemon, it wasn't so bad that I wanted to pucker my face off and ignore the dish. Truthfully, it was quite good. The recipe in the book also allowed the chicken to maintain its moisture and it was one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had in my home. The angel hair pasta was the perfect choice to pair with the delicate nature of the chicken & sauce, and any green vegetable with a sweetness to it (think peas or green beans) are a wonderful compliment as well.

When I told Steve I was finally writing this post, he said "Oh THAT? That was fantastic!" so I think that it won over my main food critic as well. I would definitely make this dish again; I think that it's one that is great for an inside date night (which is what we had it for) or having another couple over for dinner. If anyone has this cookbook and has thought about the recipe - don't think anymore. Just make it. It's simple and delicious.

Mission Cookbook: COOKIES!!!

It's been a while since I have partaken in a bit of cookbook-cooking, so when it was time to bake my Christmas cookies I busted out the old "New Better Homes and Gardens" cookbook to select what tasty treats I would bake up for the holiday. The problem with baking cookies is that when you are trying to pick out what to make - they all sound so stinking good. I landed on fudgy cappuccino cookies, lemon-pistachio biscotti, and traditional fudge as the recipes I would snag from the book. A trip to the store to gather up the ingredients I was missing for the task and I was ready to go!

Because the fudgy cappuccino cookie batter needed to chill for 3 hours, I made that first. The main ingredients for that were unsweetened cocoa, instant coffee granules, sugar, and flour. I whipped up the batter making sure to follow the instructions carefully, covered the bowl with tin foil and popped it in the fridge.

Lick the batter for the cappuccino cookies? Heck yeah I did!

Next I got to work on the fudge. I got the ingredients measured out, in the pan, turned the pan on to heat... and discovered that my candy thermometer was busted. Devastating. This meant that for my first go at traditional fudge I would need to trust a timer and since I'm not an expert at candy making - the missing of the candy thermometer would turn out to be a bit of a bummer.

Boiling fudge mixture.

Fudge post-boiling with butter & vanilla added.

I followed the directions as best as I could without the thermometer, but as I mentioned this one piece of equipment being missing turned out to be a bit of a bummer. When the timer went off after I added the butter & vanilla, I returned to the fudge to discover that it had already set. Since the directions explicitly stated to NOT stir initially but wait until the temperature had dropped to stir in the butter & vanilla - this meant that I had fudge with a topping of butter. Not good. I turned the heat on to try and re-liquify the fudge, but this did not work out too well either - it made the consistency grainy. The butter was incorporated though, so I removed it and placed it in the pie pan to set. What I ended up with is more like the best tasting fudgy sugar cubes you'll ever eat rather than delicious fudge.

Mmmm... crumbly fudge.

After my disappointment with the fudge, Santa Steve felt bad and left me a new candy thermometer in my stocking so I can try it again. I was appreciative of this - especially since the new thermometer isn't encased in glass, so there is much less chance of breakage.

I didn't get any process shots of the lemon-pistachio biscotti because truthfully I forgot, but I have to say that I love making biscotti. It's incredibly easy to make and even though it's a bit time consuming (biscotti basically means twice-baked cookies) it's well worth it in the end. The ones I made were drizzled with a homemade lemon icing at the end as well - so good.

Lemon-pistachio biscotti with lemon icing - waiting for the icing to set.

My favorite cookie of the bunch turned out to be the fudgy cappuccino cookies. To quote Steve, these guys are "spot on". They're dropped in sugar before baking and they are just absolutely delicious. I could seriously eat a plate of these by myself, but I was wise enough to realize this after trying one when they came out of the oven and made sure to give some of them away in the cookie gifts.

And the winner is...

Baking Christmas cookies is always a fun project to do, and finding recipes that you really enjoy both eating and baking make a huge difference. I know that these cookies will probably be in my permanent rotation of Christmas baking, they were quite tasty.

What kinds of cookies do you like baking at Christmas time?

Mission Cookbook: An Indian Meal

Steve is about to head out to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a conference. Whenever he goes on these trips, I always like to make sure that the night before he leaves he gets a home-cooked meal to fill him up. He headed to the bookshelf and chose the Everything Indian Cookbook; this was not at all a big surprise to me. Yesterday afternoon while Steve was helping friends get their new place ready to  move in, I went to Panera for some lunch, chose recipes for our meal, and hit the road to pick up the ingredients I needed to make everything.

First stop was an Indian grocery store on Drum Hill in Chelmsford. This was the second time I went into Palika Bazaar and while it didn't look like anything exciting I was amazed at what I walked away with for less than $10. Not only that, but the gentleman that was working there didn't charge me for the serrano chiles and gave me a couple of tips for what I was cooking that night.

The haul from Palika Bazaar

The recipes I chose for last night's dinner were Mixed Vegetables with Coconut Sauce, Stir-fry Peas with Rice, and Fried Onions (which the peas & rice called for as a garnish). While I was at Trader Joe's, I had picked up some garlic naan bread as well. 

I tried to cook in shifts, making the rice first and then while the rice was cooking I cut up the vegetables and made the coconut "paste" for the veggie dish. The naan I wrapped in foil and kept in the oven (heated at "warm") the whole time I was cooking to get it nice and toasty warm for dinner. I cooked all of the dishes to recipe with a slight exception of the rice & peas. The tip I got from the man at the Indian grocery was to add tumeric for flavor & color so I did that once I added the water for absorbtion. It made the rice a beautiful yellow color.

I forgot to take a picture of the vegetables after I got them all mixed up, but there were carrots, potatoes, green beans, and plantains in the batch. The "sauce" ended up being not very saucy at all and more of a coating. If I were to make this again, I might increase the amount of yogurt to a full cup instead of the half-cup it called for to make it a bit more "saucy". That said - the flavors on the vegetables were wonderful.

Rice on the left, veggies on the right, fried onions to garnish

Overall the meal was quite good. The fried onions made a great garnish and added just the right amount of extra flavor. We did need to add salt to bring out some of the flavors of the dish (the recipe said "table salt to taste" - which was about right!). Steve went back for seconds and thirds which is usually a good indicator of how good it is. Also - it made a ton of food, so I have leftovers which isn't a bad thing. It was a great experience to cook these dishes, and I'm looking forward to trying to cook more things out of this book!

Mission Cookbook: Risotto with Acorn Squash

I don't usually do two posts in one day, but I am so excited about what I made for this round of Mission: Cookbook that I just couldn't wait.

Friday night while we were hanging out, I told Steve to go ahead and pick out a cookbook. He asked what course I was aiming for and I responded that it would all depend on what cookbook he picked out. He headed to the shelf and within two seconds had chosen the orange volume that I have been secretly afraid of - Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook. This was one of two cookbooks we got for our wedding and my first glance through the book did a great job of intimidating me. Words like "cuttlefish" and "squid ink" made my throat close up and my heart beat a few extra times.

However, I wanted to hold true to my end of the bargain that I would choose a recipe from whatever book he picked. I laid on the floor and flipped through the 327 recipes that the book offers; as I perused the selection I became less intimidated and realized that while there are at least 100 recipes I have no interest in ever making - there are plenty that I am quite capable of whipping up. After about 30 minutes or so of deliberation and indecision, I chose the Risotto with Acorn Squash (found on page 148).

There were a couple of things that I learned as I went through the process of cooking the meal.

1. Risotto is easy! I have always been afraid to attempt to make risotto because I was worried I would screw it up. How could these little grains of rice POSSIBLY absorb all that liquid?? Well, what I learned last week when I made the rice cream was that it's extremely possible for arborio rice to absorb a ton of liquid. Also - I made sure to read the recipe properly; yes, it called for 8 cups of chicken broth - but it also said to cook the rice until it was tender and creamy but still "al dente". I kept a spoon on hand to test the rice when I was about halfway through the stock - and that's about all it needed. Ta da!

2. Plan ahead to peel an acorn squash. I looked at the squash. I knew it had these little indentations all around the edges. But do you think that I allowed myself enough time in my planning to account for peeling the skin from these edges - nope. Dinner was a little bit later than I wanted it to be as a result. But it was well worth the wait.

The recipe called for homemade chicken stock and referenced some page in the book to see how to make it. However, I am not one of much time - so I "cheated" and bought some boxed stock. I don't feel that the recipe suffered for it. I think if I were to make it again I would be diligent about getting the low-fat low-sodium stock. Also, I am not entirely comfortable dumping a quarter cup of butter into anything I cook - even if I am spreading it across six servings (the book called for 4, but we felt like it made a ton so I spread it to six). I would do it again - but it was something that made me cringe a bit.

This was my favorite of the Mission: Cookbook endeavors that I have tackled so far. I served it up with some sautéed asparagus and it made a great little meal. Steve said it was an excellent dish, and we both agreed that for having some pretty simple ingredients was surprisingly complex. I would easily make this again either for just us to have for dinner or if we were having people for company. Delicious!

Mission Cookbook: Rice-Cream

This was the first big weekend of spring, and with it came all sorts of plans for dinners and lunches where I did not have to cook. While wonderful, it meant that for this week's Mission Cookbook dessert would be the best option to choose.

I know, utterly heartbreaking to have to make a dessert on Easter weekend.

Steve surveyed our cookbook collection and chose Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs when I told him that our course would be dessert. While he was sitting in the salon chair getting his haircut, I perused the contents and chose a Rice Cream with Strawberry Sauce. This particular recipe is featured in Epcot at the Restaurant Akershus in World Showcase's Norway pavilion and is a traditional Norwegian dessert.

I gathered everything I needed and got to work.

In order to get this ready to go, there were several things I had to do including make the strawberry sauce and get the rice all cooked up and ready to go.

When it was all done and ready to be consumed, I served it in small glasses with the strawberry sauce drizzle. Steve garnished it for the photo op with some mint sprigs I had in the fridge.

The dish is served basically at room temperature (you cool the rice to room temperature and then fold in homemade whipped cream) and is pretty filling. The glasses I used were basic juice glasses, so they aren't terribly big. Steve and I both enjoyed it; it is really a very simple dish and though it takes a while from start-to-finish to actually make - when it's done it's well worth the wait.

We did decide that if I were to make it again I would likely substitute skim or almond milk for the whole milk I used this time to see how it works out. Also, we've decided that this would be good with any variety of preserves to make the sauce - blueberries or peaches I think would be awesome.

Can't wait until next week's recipe adventure!

Mission Cookbook: Couscous Stuffed Peppers

As many do, I have quite a few cookbooks and cooking magazines that I never quite get around to trying recipes out of. Sure, I cook and create (I have made a few recipes of my own) but it's rare that I crack open a cookbook and make the wonderful dishes inside.

 My Cookbook Collection

I decided recently that I would begin to change that trend and start making things out of my cookbooks. I also made the decision that to keep me motivated, I would make this a regular feature on my blog. I'm calling it...

MISSION COOKBOOK

I know, it's very creative. If you've got a better idea - I'm open to it; just leave it in the comments. I may use it, you never know... especially if it's more creative than that.

The basic idea for this feature will be that each week Steve will pick a cookbook (he asked if he could when I told him about this) and then from there I will pick a recipe to make. When I post about it, to respect the authors/publishers of the cookbook I will NOT be posting the recipe itself; instead I will post the main ingredients, our thoughts on the recipe, any modifications if I were to make it again, and a link to the book (just incase you want to buy it yourself or find it at your local library).

Anyhow, for my first recipe I picked Couscous Stuffed Peppers from the Mediterranean: Food of the Sun cookbook that I got in the Borders bargain bin a couple of years ago. This was the first recipe I've made from it, and it was pretty tasty. The main ingredients were sweet red peppers, couscous, onions, and raisins.

This was the first time I had ever made stuffed peppers of any kind (Steve is not a fan of the traditional American stuffed peppers that have ground meat, rice, and tomato sauce) so I was excited for the experience. The entire process to cook them took about an hour (30-40 minutes prep, 20-25 minutes to cook). There were a couple of things that I did differently from the recipe:

• I eliminated the 1 tsp of olive oil that it called for. I didn't think it would make a huge taste difference in the small amount across the large portion of filling that it called for - I was right.
• After the 20 minutes baking until tender that the book called for on the recipe, I turned my oven to "Broil" for 1 minute to create the tasty red-pepper charring that I enjoy and that it showed in the picture.

I served the peppers with a small side salad of romaine lettuce, raisins, Texas Toast croutons and balsamic vinaigrette. When I entered the recipe into Livestrong to get our calorie output, each pepper only contained 182 calories - and they were pretty filling, especially with the small salad on the side. For a nerdy cute touch, I served it with a beverage of seltzer and lime slices and made sure to add the mint leave garnish that the recipe suggested.

If I were to make this again, I think I would add a little bit of basil, maybe a dash of cinnamon, and a bit of feta cheese. The couscous stuffing was good, but felt like it was missing something more that even the teaspoon of olive oil wouldn't have replaced. Overall though, I liked using the sweet red pepper as the one to stuff. It added a wonderful flavor that the green bell peppers used in traditional American stuffed peppers just don't have. The husband litmus test was passed, he ate it all and we'll be saving the other 4 peppers for our lunches this week.