food – Page 14 – KellyintheKitchen

Corn and Cilantro Fritters.

Published on July 31, 2012July 30, 2012 by KellyInTheKitchenLeave a comment

The Midwestern US is known for our amazing summer sweet corn. Every year my family and I look forward to corn’s seasonal grocery store debut, and anytime we’re driving around rural Illinois and Iowa in the summer, we can’t help but stop at the roadside sweet corn stands to pick up an ear or twenty. Despite the awful drought we’ve had here this summer, my local farmers market had a lot of sweet corn this weekend, and for cheap too! I bought a bag and took it home to make yummy things. Here is one of them!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for frying
1/4 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 small ears of corn (1 large ear), cooked, with the kernels cut off
handful chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together flour, egg, milk or cream, oil, baking powder, and salt and pepper.

Add cilantro and corn and stir to combine.

Heat a pan over medium and add a splash of vegetable oil. Spoon batter into pan and cook until the bottoms are golden brown.

Flip and fry until the other side is browned and the middles are cooked through.

Garnish with Greek yogurt and more cilantro and serve immediately. Thank you, farmers of the Midwest!!

Hasselback Potatoes with Jalapeño Leek Scrambled Eggs.

Published on July 30, 2012July 29, 2012 by KellyInTheKitchenLeave a comment

On Sunday morning, I set my friends Jalapeño and Leek up on a blind date. They’ve never met before, but since they’re so great separately, I thought I’d introduce them and see if they had any chemistry. It was a little risky, because they tend to roll in pretty different circles: hot and bold Jalapeño usually hangs out with Onion, while Leek has a more mellow friend in Bell Pepper. But I was hoping to play off a bit of an opposites-attract dynamic to see if this odd couple would get along. And while I’m not sure they’ll be going steady any time soon, it’s safe to say they had a Casablanca moment: I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

INGREDIENTS:

2 small potatoes, washed and sliced accordion-style (lots of little slits, without cutting all the way through the base)
olive oil
paprika, salt, pepper, parmesan to taste
1 leek, sliced and washed
1 jalapeño, minced
1 egg
1 tbsp heavy cream, half and half, or milk
cheddar cheese, grated (optional)
parsley, chopped, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Rub the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika, salt, pepper, and parmesan. Bake until browned on the outsides and completely softened on the insides.

Just before the potatoes are finished cooking, heat a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter in a pan over medium low. Add the leeks, stir, and cook 1 minutes. Then stir in the jalapeño. Cook until softened and just starting to turn a bit golden. Set aside.

Crack your egg into a ramekin and add cream/half and half/milk and more salt and pepper. Scramble.

Then add a bit more butter and olive oil to your pan and pour in the egg. Sprinkle over your grated cheese, if you’re using it, and give it about 45 seconds.

Then add the jalapeño and leeks back to the pan and stir into the eggs. Cook until done.

Garnish with parsley and serve! Of all the plates in all the kitchens in all the world, I’m glad this dish walked into on mine.

Cilantro Chipotle Chicken.

Published on July 26, 2012July 25, 2012 by KellyInTheKitchen3 Comments

This is another dish born of necessity. Last night, my fridge contained (among other things) a bunch of cilantro and a few chipotle chiles that were about to go bad. So I made up this recipe and had a fabulous dinner! I served it with a caramelized onion and pea couscous, but it would also make a great fajita filling. Or, even better, shred it and make chicken quesadillas. I’m a total quesadilla fiend, so I think I’ve just inspired myself for a future recipe: cilantro chipotle chicken quesadillas with corn salsa. Mmmmm. But back to the oven-baked original of today’s post—it’s juicy, really flavorful, and has a nice spicy kick to it. Feel free to use less chipotle/adobo sauce if you’re a spice whimp, or to add another chipotle if you’re extra brave!

INGREDIENTS

2 whole chicken legs (you could definitely use breasts too…I just like dark meat)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp honey
juice of 1 lime
2 canned chipotle chiles, chopped, plus 1 tbsp adobo sauce

DIRECTIONS

Add all ingredients to a plastic bag. Seal the bag and rub the marinade all over the chicken. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight if you’re patient (I am not).

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a pan with foil and lay the chicken in it, skin side up.

Bake the chicken until it’s done, around 25-35 minutes.

That’s it! Don’t you just love an easy yet tasty recipe for a weeknight dinner?

Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini.

Published on July 18, 2012July 18, 2012 by KellyInTheKitchen2 Comments

Recently I feel like I’ve been seeing eight ball zucchini everywhere! I guess that could be explained by the fact that they’re in season right now…but still. I noticed that a bunch of bloggers had interesting stuffed zucchini recipes to offer; then these pudgy little guys appeared on my roommate’s dad’s wedding menu 2 weeks ago, and (as if it weren’t a sign from the universe that I should give them a try myself), they were at my farmers market on Saturday. So I picked up a few. First of all, they’re adorable. Second, they’re so versatile! I love how they leave so much room for food-creativity. I just kind of made this dish up as I went along, and you can can do the same–just prepare them using whatever you’ve got hanging around your kitchen and these will come out beautifully!

INGREDIENTS

1 chorizo sausage, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 eight ball zucchini
salt and pepper to taste
5 leaves fresh basil, julienned
1/4 cup tomato sauce

DIRECTIONS

Heat a pan over medium high and add a splash of oil. When the oil is hot, add the chorizo. Cook until browned on the outside. It’s okay if it’s a bit pink in the middle, because it’s going in the oven in a bit. Set the chorizo aside.

Add the celery, carrot, and onion to the pan with the chorizo juices and cook until soft.

While the veggies cook, cut the tops off your zucchini and set them aside for later, and hollow them out. I used a mellon baller. Roughly chop the insides and set them aside.

Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute. Then add about 2/3 of the zucchini insides, salt and pepper to taste, and stir.

Cook down the mixture until it shrinks a bit, letting the zucchini liquid cook off.

When the mixture has tightened up a bit and some of the liquid has cooked off, stir in the basil, tomato sauce, and the chorizo, and give it another 3 minutes or so. Then remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F.

When the mixture has cooled a bit, stuff the zucchinis. Place them in a casserole dish or other oven-safe pan and put their little tophats on.

Cover the pan with a sheet of foil and bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and finish them off for another 15-20 minutes, until soft and tender.

That’s it! Take them out and enjoy. I buttered a piece of easy French bread and toasted it in a pan, and it was the perfect simple accompaniment.

An Award! and, Brown Butter Pecan Cake with Chocolate Ganache.

Published on July 9, 2012July 10, 2012 by KellyInTheKitchen2 Comments

I arrived home from a fun weekend in New York to find a nice surprise—I’d been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Laurie from A Taste of Morning! Laurie is a fellow philosopher who writes a beautiful blog from her bed & breakfast in Kansas. In particular, I love her photography of flowers and plants. Thanks for thinking of me, Laurie!

Nominees share 7 things about themselves and then nominate 15 of their favorites blogs for the award in return. Here are my 7 things:

1. I majored in philosophy in college. Ethics is my favorite.
2. I’ve lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Massachusetts, Ireland, and Moscow. I was only in Moscow 2 months, but I love that city so much that I just have to count it!
3. My favorite TV shows are Arrested Development and The Simpsons.
4. I’m a crazy Cubs fan. I’ve been to more than 50 Cubs games in my life and don’t plan on slowing down any time soon!
5. My favorite foods are baklava, quesadillas, grapefruit, Wienerschnitzel, and raspberries.
6. Every time I pass someone walking a Siberian Husky on the street, I have to stop and give that puppy some love!
7. I refused to eat seafood of any kind until 2009. Now I love it.

And here are my 15 nominations, in no particular order, for the Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Hungry Hinny
2. Grown in Texas
3. We Call Him “Yes! Chef!”
4. Fiona Grows Food
5. The Soulsby Farm
6. The Patterned Plate
7. Natalie’s Daily Crave
8. The Sprout Diaries
9. The Budget Cooking Blog
10. With the Grains
11. Natasha’s Kitchen
12. Charles and Kimberly’s Recipes
13. Hungry Foodie Pharmacy
14. Toy Kitchen Chef
15. Czech That Out

To all my nominees, I love your blogs and I’m happy to give you a shout-out for your great work!

…….

And now, the recipe:

Some recipes are born of utility, and this is one of those. Or, more simply said, a few days ago I wanted dessert. The things I had in the house were: pecans, Greek yogurt, and standard baker’s materials. No fruit, just a tiny bit of chocolate, and in general, nothing particularly interesting, and that meant not a lot of options. But I nosed around a few of my favorite cooking blogs and found some inspiration that sent me down the path of cake-making. If you’re a cake maker, and you’ve never tried this method of preparing your wet ingredients, I highly highly recommend it. It’s the same method I used in Drunken Squirrel’s Cake, and I love the way it makes the cake so airy and fluffy, but dense at the same time. And the chocolate ganache…just make this cake already!

INGREDIENTS

Cake:
1 cup pecans
1/2 stick (4 oz.) butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 cup minus 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
squeeze of lemon
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Ganache:
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 oz. unsweetened bakers chocolate
3/4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp powdered sugar, plus more to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large sauce pan, toast your pecans until they’re fragrant and slightly browned. Let them cool, then blitz them in a food processor to the consistency of wet sand.

In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt and brown your butter, stirring occasionally. When little brown bits are bubbling to the surface and the butter itself is brown, remove from heat and set aside to cool (you’ll know it’s done because it will smell amazinggg).

Now, the eggs. Separate the whites and the yolks. Put the yolks in a metal bowl and add the sugar.

Place the bowl over a pot of gently simmering water and whisk like crazy. At first, the yolk and sugar seize together and stick inside your whisk, but keep beating them and they’ll eventually turn into a thick, pale yellow cream.

Remove yolks from heat and gently stir in the ground pecans, yogurt, milk, lemon juice, and cooled brown butter.

Meanwhile, beat the whites until they form stiff peaks.

Take a scoop of the whites and gently stir it into the yolk mixture, to even out the textures a bit. Then fold in the rest of the whites.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift into the wet ingredients, and gently fold together until combined.

Pour batter into a greased spring-form pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top just starts to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow your cake to cool completely before you cover it with the ganache.

Now, the chocolate glaze. Gently heat the cream in a pan over medium heat. Just when it reaches the boiling point, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate and butter.

Add the powdered sugar and stir well until all the chocolate has melted and you’re left with a smooth ganache. Taste and add more powdered sugar as necessary to reach desired sweetness.

Pour evenly over the cake.

Place your cake in the fridge to firm up a bit. That’s it!

Fresh Peach Crisp.

Published on July 6, 2012July 25, 2012 by KellyInTheKitchen2 Comments

I always really enjoy shopping at farmers’ markets; I’m a sucker for food porn, and it’s hard for me to say no to an open-air market with rows of tables, piled with picture-perfect produce. I always go home with some nice fruits and veggies, but every once in a while the farmers’ market comes through with a big win. This week, it was fresh-picked Michigan peaches. I can definitely say I’ve never had a better peach than these, and I might even go as far as to say that they were some of the best fruit I’ve ever had! Perfect texture, amazing flavor, and a juicy, drip-down-your-chin sweetness that I’m sure makes me look cartoony as I lick my lips and dab at my chin. I ate a few of them in their natural state, but I made sure to save 4 peaches so that I could make this dessert, inspired by seven spoons. And it was totally worth the wait!

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter, cubed
2/3 cup sour cream
1 overflowing tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp honey
4 fresh Michigan peaches (or regular peaches…obviously), cut into eighths

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Combine flours, oats, brown sugar, 2 tbsp sugar, and salt in a bowl.

Then add cold cubes of butter to the dry ingredients and work butter into the mix, rubbing everything together with your fingers. Place topping in the fridge until you’re ready for the final step.

In another bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tbsp sugar, sour cream, vanilla, and honey.

Now, take a handful of the crumb topping and pat it loosely on the bottom of your pie pan, almost like a crust. Spread the yogurt mixture over it, on top of the crumb crust.