Kim in the Kitchen

I love French Onion Soup. If it is a choice at a restaurant, I am going to try it! I have never made it myself, but made it a part of my 30 while 30 list and planned on giving it a shot this year. After seeing a simple recipe from Smitten Kitchen, I knew I had to try it soon. This was a GREAT soup! 

1.5 lbs of onions

Before the bread and cheese was added

Hot from the oven!

Here is the recipe right from Smitten Kitchen:

Onion Soup [Soupe à l’Oignon]
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 1/2 pounds (680 grams or 24 ounces or about 5 cups) thinly sliced yellow onions
3 tablespoons (42 grams or 1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt, plus additional to taste
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) granulated sugar (helps the onions to brown)
3 tablespoons (24 grams or 7/8 ounce) all-purpose flour
2 quarts (8 cups or 1.9 liters) beef or other brown stock*
1/2 cup (118 ml) dry white wine or dry white vermouth
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons (45 ml) cognac or brandy (optional)

To finish [Gratinée] (Optional)
1 tablespoon grated raw onion
1 to 2 cups (to taste) grated Swiss (I often use Gruyere) or a mixture of Swiss and Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter, melted
12 to 16 1-inch thick rounds French bread, toasted until hard

Melt the butter and oil together in the bottom of a 4- to 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over moderately low heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to real low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes. They don’t need your attention; you can even go check your email.

After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, raise the heat slightly and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook onions, stirring frequently, for 30 to 40 minutes until they have turned an even, deep golden brown. Don’t skimp on this step, as it will build the complex and intense flavor base that will carry the rest of the soup. Plus, from here on out, it will be a cinch.

After the onions are fully caramelized, sprinkle them with flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the wine in full, then stock, a little at a time, stirring between additions. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 more minutes, skimming if needed. Correct seasonings if needed but go easy on the salt as the cheese will add a bit more saltiness and I often accidentally overdo it. Stir in the cognac, if using. I think you should.

Set aside until needed. I find that homemade onion soup is so deeply fragrant and flavor-rich that it can stand alone, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the graitinéed top once in a while. Here’s how to pull it off:

Preheat oven to 325. Arrange six ovenproof soup bowls or crocks on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Bring the soup back to a boil and divide among six bowls. To each bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon grated raw onion and a tablespoon of grated cheese. Stir to combine. Dab your croutons with a tiny bit of butter and float a few on top of your soup bowls, attempting to cover it. Mound grated cheese on top of it; how much you use will be up to you. [Julia Child, in another era, felt that 1/2 cup of grated cheese could be divided among 6 bowls. I can assure you that if you'd like your gooey bubbling cheese lid to be anything like what you get at your local French restaurant, you are looking to use more, such as a generous 1/4 cup.]

Bake soups on tray for 20 minutes, then preheat broiler. Finish for a minute or two under the broiler to brown the top lightly. Grab pot holders, and serve immediately.

* Porcini or mushroom stock are a robust vegetarian substitution.

Kim in the Kitchen

Keeping up with my goal of cooking more at home and using cook books on hand, I made Ina Garten's book Family Style to make her Mac n' Cheese. You can see the recipe below. Along with this dish I made country style ribs BBQ ribs in the cock pot! There was plenty of leftovers for the week and even enough to send some to my Grandparents.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi
• 1 quart milk
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups)
• 8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish. (I used a 13x9 glass pyrex)
Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

If you give you give it a try let me know. I think it is basic enough for family parties where everyone will like it. But if you wanted to turn up the heat with some spices you could do that too.

A Girl Never Forgets Her First

Her first roasted Turkey! I did it! I made a roast! Wahoo! I am proud. I was nervous about cooking something like this. I put it on my 30 while 30 list and now I can check it off.

Kim in the Kitchen

I made my first Chicken Pot Pie with a recipe from The Pioneer Woman . Ree's blog, cookbooks and tweets have made me want to try some of her recipes. Below is the recipe that I used.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pie box pie crust (Ree made her own, I use store bought)
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/2 cup finely diced celery
2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken
splash of white wine (optional)
1 cup heavy cream (I used non fat milk)
Frozen peas (optional) - I used 1/2 can of peas
Fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.)
Add chicken and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in chicken broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like.) Pour in cream. (May add frozen peas at this point if you’d like.)
Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not underseason), and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs.
Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.
Roll out crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using.
Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. (I used a top and bottom pie crust. I followed the box instructions baking the bottom for 10 minutes before adding the mixture in and covering the pie crust with the top)
Cut vents in the top of the crust.
Bake for 30 minutes or until very golden and bubbly.
Allow to cool for a little bit before serving


This was a great and surprisingly easy meal to make!!

Kim in the Kitchen

I made The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Cacciatore for dinner this week. I can't say that my pictures are nearly as good as what she has posted Here. The recipe is also on that included link. The dinner was a nice change and something new to have under my apron ;)

Kim in the Kitchen - Crock Pot Chili

Oh Paula, how I love thee so! I modified Paula Deen's Spicy Chili recipe for my Crock Pot and it was delicious! You can find her exact recipe HERE. But below is what I did to make it crock pot ready.

Spicy Chili:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 package chipolte chili seasoning 
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15-ounce) can niblet corn, drained
• 1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chillies

Brown your ground beef, drain and add in Chipotle seasoning. Place in crock pot. Add in all other ingredients and stir. Set Crock Pot for 7 hours on LOW. I served the chili with some corn chips sour cream and shredded cheese on top. I didn't take a picture but the flavor was amazing and my husband was raving about this dish.

By the way, I browned the meat the previous night, cooled it down and left it in the fridge. I also cut onion and green pepper placed them in a bag (also left in the fridge). I measured the seasoning and used a tupperware smidget container and left my can goods out and ready with a can opener for the morning. This way I didn't have to rush before work this morning. GREAT way to save time in the morning. 

Cleveland Rocks ... and Detroit too!

My husband Greg and I went on a quick weekend Getaway to Ohio and Michigan. We drove to Ohio and stayed overnight. We explored Cleveland and visited Lake Erie and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. For dinner we went to one of my favorite Food Network stars restaurant. We ate a delicious meal at Lolita in downtown Cleveland. We tried Fried Chicken Livers! They were amazing!
Next we went to Detroit which was an experience. It was sad to see what distress the whole area of the city of Detroit is. So many places are closed and vandalized. There was many people homeless on the street. It was a real eye opener. We traveled outside of Detroit to Clarkston for the Sugarland concert. What a fantastic night! 2 great openers and a double encore by Sugarland.

We jammed so much into a 3 day weekend. I am so happy we did it with Marty and Kathy. Great travel companions.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Iron Chef Michael Symon's restaurant 

Kathy and I at the DTE Area in MI for the Sugarland Concert

The Heart is an "Incredible Machine"

It's All Greek To Me

Back in August I mentioned that I wanted to make Lamb Burgers. This week, my husband executed that idea and it was a sucess! We used a recipie from FoodNetwork.com called "It's all Greek to me". I apologize that I do not have a picture, but it was unbelievably good. Here is the recepie from their site.

Ingredients

For Feta Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
4 ounces good quality feta cheese
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 small clove garlic, grated
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For Burger Patties:
1 1/2 pounds good quality ground lamb
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried mint
Directions
3/4 teaspoon smoked sea salt (large crystals - if using fine salt cut this amount in 1/2)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For Assembly:
4 slices mozzarella cheese
4 good quality kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, split
Romaine lettuce
Sliced tomato
Sliced red onion
Mild banana pepper rings
English cucumber slices
Add all ingredients for dressing to the bowl of a small food processor and pulse to combine. Remove to bowl and set aside to allow the flavors to blend.

Mix all the ingredients for burger patties (do not overwork). Divide the meat into 4 equal patties that are a little larger in diameter than the size of your bun, so that when they shrink after cooking they will fit the buns perfectly.

Heat a grill pan, cast iron skillet, or outdoor grill to medium heat. Once the grill is hot, cook burgers about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until desired doneness is reached. Do not overcook or the burgers will be dry.

Top each burger with mozzarella cheese during the last 2 to 3 minutes of cooking.

Lightly toast the cut sides of your buns either on the grill or under the oven broiler.

Spread some of the feta dressing on the bottom half of each bun, top with a burger patty, romaine lettuce, sliced tomato, red onion, banana pepper rings, and sliced cucumber. Spread some feta dressing on the top halves of the buns and cover the burgers.


We did not use bananna peppers or sliced cucumbers but the rest we did and it was fantastic. If you want to try something savory and different, give this a shot. KUDOS to my husband Greg for making such a delicious dish and finding this recipie!

Crock Pot Love

I have mentioned in past blogs I love my Crock Pot, but I really LOVE it. I made a 3 bean Turkey Chili last week for dinner. Today it is rainy and there is a chill in the air, so I took out the Crock Pot and started a Spicy Beef Chili. I have the Rival Crock Pot in the picture above. I also have the cookbook listed below. I think I have made about 5 meals from this book so far.


Do you use a Crock Pot? What are some of your favorite recipes?

It's all Gravy Baby!

I had a great weekend. What made it great was spending some quality time with my Mom in the Kitchen on Sunday. I learned to make her Gravy. Now I am not talking about the brown stuff you put on your beef, I mean Italian Sauce.
My Mom has always made great meals but I love her Gravy and love when she would send me home with a Tupperware full of it with sausage and meatballs. I felt like it was my turn to learn and asked her to show me next time she was making it. There is NO recipe for it, I think it is more of a process or art form. It calls for "about this much chopped onion and garlic", "a handful of...." "a little bit of...." (You get the idea).
I managed to immediately cut myself opening a can of crushed tomatoes. Which then Mom said "Watch the sauce!" LOL. We made sausages and also meatballs during that time to add to the pot.
All in all I spent 5 hours at the house making it and letting it simmer on the stove. The commute home with my HUGE pot of Gravy was rough! Now Greg and I have so much sauce that we are freezing it and planning meals around it. Here was Sunday nights dinner: Fresh ravioli's from the Farmers Market with sausage and meatballs.

Great Buys!

I love a great deal at the supermarket! Who doesn't? I managed to get a few great deals today from in store coupons from the meat department. At my local Stop & Shop they put stickers on the meats that are close to the "sell by" dates. Today I found 4 different meats with $2.00 off each package! what a bargain!

I picked up Meatloaf Mix. The picture is Paula Deen's recipe from Food Network. I haven't tried her recipe only my mom's boring one- (Sshhhhh don't tell her I said that).

Also after being inspired by an article in Food Network Magazine, I purchased Ground Lamb. I really would like to make a Greek burger like the one below.

Also purchased today was Chicken Wings (which I have never made at home before) and Ground Turkey.

Mmm Good!

I am Back.. in the Kitchen!
I am very excited I met my goal for the month of trying new recipes and getting back into cooking. I was very happy that we were able to un pack our kitchen and start cooking again. I wanted to try some new things and made 3 new great dishes this month.

I made Mac n' Cheese from scratch. That was great. I do not have a single pic of it, but it is in the top right corner of this one-
It was 3 cheese - parmesan, monterrey jack and sharp cheddar. For a little kick I added Franks Red Hot. it gave it some flavor but not spicy. On top fresh parsley and also some panko bread crumbs.


Next up was Lemon Rosemary Chicken Breast. It was a delicious meal. The chicken breast were made with skin on in a dutch oven. 2 lemons, fresh rosemary and fresh garlic was used to flavor it. The chicken made our entire place smell wonderful, and left overs were just as good.



Lastly I made Zucchini Parmesan Crips as a side dish with burgers on the grill. Talk about easy and yummy- this was a hit! So easy to make, zucchini rounds dipped into olive oil and then dipped into a dry mix of bread crumbs, parmesan, and chopped garlic. Bake 30 min at 450 degrees. They were really good. Greg (my hubby) really enjoyed them.


I am looking forward to keeping up with some home cooking and trying new things.

Kim in the Kitchen

Ahhhh what a delicious dinner tonight! Seafood Stuffed Talapia, button Mushrooms and a salad. It was a terrific dinner and super easy to make. I have not cooked nearly as much as I wanted to this month. I did make some great meals, however I have not taken pictures! SLACKER!!!!!

I really want to purchase all of these cook books I love Ina's show and find her to have a soothing voice and great spirit! I think I am going to go with Barefoot at Home first and then move on. I have a really good friend named Jane who has them all and she loves them!
Being that tomorrow is the last day of the month, I need to start working on my goals and I think I really need to focus on some more creativity in the kitchen and some more healthy, fresh choices. Because, the spring and summer living on the east end of Long Island means: FARM STANDS!

Kim in the Kitchen

I had a major 'Fail' in the kitchen this week. It seemed like I followed the recipe to make fried flounder and whole wheat pasta, but it tasted awful. I am really still not sure what went wrong, but it ended up in the garbage and pizza was delivered.

I have to give a HUGE thank you to Ashlee at http://ashleescooking.blogspot.com/! I made her Asiago and Provolone Mac & Cheese with a crock pot recipe for Ribs. What a fantastic meal!! So good! We had a guest for dinner and he loved it too. This might become my 'go to dish' for family parties.

I also made a simple meal using some items from the freezer and pantry. I picked up some Skirt Steaks that were on sale, marinated them in some garlic and olive oil. With that I steamed string beans and made a box of scalloped potatoes. Easy meal yet delicious.

Lastly, for Super Bowl Sunday at home- I took the easy way out. Wings from Uncle G's with mozzarella sticks and beer. Greg was happy and I didn't have to do much work!

Kim in the Kitchen

Wahooo! I have been keeping up on trying new recipes and cooking more at home. These are some of my goals for the year. Here is what I made:
I attempted Sheppard Pie for the first time and it was a HIT! The recipe was right off of Food Network and was from Rachael Ray.

I did my own version of Scalloped Potatoes and Pork Chops. I used a bit of olive oil and a packet of Lipton Soup mix to make some "Delicious" (as my husband described them) potatoes.

I also used the Food Network website to make Homemade Mashed Potatoes (Paula Deen), Lime Talapia (Bobby Flay) and edamame.


The cookies I made 2 weeks ago came out really nice! I made 50 Crosses for my Church Coffee Hour that I was hosting with my Grandpa. I also made Onsie cookies for a surprise Baby Shower for one of my girlfriends.

Kim in the Kitchen

This week I started off on the right foot for one of my Goals and Resolutions for the year which was to cook at home more. This week I made Chili in a bread bowl, home made Fajitas and also sauteed shrimp and avocado - tomato salad.

The Chili was a Crock Pot recipe and it came out wonderful! I took a tip from one of my new favorite blogger The Newlywoodwards- and picked up 2 bread bowls from Panera Bread. It made for a great presentation, and Greg loved it.

The Fajitas were just amazing! Simple to make and just a really filling dinner. Plus VERY inexpensive. I used some items that were in my kitchen already, and got some fresh peppers and sauteed it up.

Same went with the shrimp and avocado - tomato salad. I used some of the same ingredients from the Fajitas, and was able to defrost some frozen shrimp and add a little Olive oil and fresh garlic for a great meal.

All in all it was a very exciting week for me, starting off my year the right way!