Pea Soup with Tarragon

At first glance I know pea soup doesn't sound like the most appetizing meal.  Peas are an interesting vegetable.   If there are 5 choices of soup on a menu, I'm sure the pea variety wouldn't be your first choice.  However, I would say that most of you probably have a bag of peas in your freezer right now.  I know I always have a bag in my freezer, yet I never know what to do with them.  Steaming them and eating them plain doesn't really sound all that exciting.   If I'm in need of a make-shift ice pack, I usually go for the bag of peas because who cares if they go bad?  

I've only made pea soup a handful of times and I have tinkered with a few different recipes.  Ina Garten has a really great recipe for Fresh Pea Soup that you might be interested in trying.   The California Pizza Kitchen has wonderful smashed pea soup that always sounds quite appealing to me.  CPK is my favorite chain restaurant.   I would often drag everyone out to dinner there anytime I had the chance.  I use the word drag because I'm sure friends and family quickly tired of eating there.  I even had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen when meeting my college roommate for the first time.  Tara had just had dental work done that day and hardly touched her food and it took quite a bit of inner strength for me to only eat half my pizza at lunch.    I didn't want to look like an 'over eater' and make a bad first impression when she was just picking at her food. 

This month's Bon Appetit magazine had a really great recipe for pea soup with tarragon.  Tarragon isn't usually an herb that I have on-hand but I do think it gives the soup a very distinct flavor.  Ben had made this recipe last week and he served it with ham and cheese paninis.  At that point, with his good recommendation, I decided to give it a try.  I served the soup with an open faced poached egg and prosciutto sandwich on a whole wheat english muffin.  This is the perfect meal for a party of 1.  If I were to visit Paris, this is how I picture my daily lunch would be.  I cut my sandwich with a knife and fork, and dunked it into the pea soup.  This was a simple, comforting meal that felt slightly more special than your average soup and sammy.

Pea Soup with Tarragon

1 16oz package frozen peas, do not thaw

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup sliced shallots

4 cups vegetable broth

3 tablespoons fresh tarragon

Handful of spinach, basil, chives, and cilantro (I just had it in my fridge)

Saute shallots in the olive oil until soft, about 7 or 8 minutes.  Add peas, greens and broth.  Bring to a boil.  Transfer the soup to a food processor and process until smooth.  Put soup over low heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add more broth if you want your soup thinner.

Tuna Burgers with Olive Aioli

It is 9th and final day of my Chicago staycation.  Just as I predicted, the time went too fast.  I keep reminding myself that it isn't normal for a 26 year old to stay at home all week not working.  Someone in the household needs to work to afford that weekly food bill at Whole Foods, and since I am a party of one, that someone needs to be me.  Highlights of the past week included: taking in my first Cubs game of the season at Wrigley, purchasing my first pair of spin shoes, spending an evening with Benny watching the Bulls game, reuniting with college roommates, drinking coffee with Mom on a rainy Saturday afternoon and getting my cable/internet bill lowered by $40 just by making one simple phone call.  

Little does the fish monger at Whole Foods know, but he opened the flood gates when he shared his 'put the fish in your food processor' secret.   For someone that eats seafood 2-3 times a week, recipes usually trickle out of my mind one by one like a slow drip on a kitchen faucet.  I've practically memorized the recipe results that pop-up when you search 'salmon' on Epicurious.com.  Lately, my mind has been racing about different recipes that I can create by putting fish in the food processor.  I've learned that there is usually a special on a fish of the day.  It could be perch or it could be sole.  I'm starting to live on the edge,  planning my meals on a whim, getting whatever is on sale for the day.  I'll usually like it no matter what it is.   

Tuna was never a favorite food of mine.  You could open my lunchbox on any given day and 10 times out of 10, you wouldn't find a tuna salad sandwich.  I don't think it was a dislike for the ingredient itself, but instead a pre-conceived idea that I would not like tuna if I tried it.  In April of 2009 though, I can now eat tuna seared, out of a can, completely raw or ceviche style and be completely content.  I wonder how fried tuna would taste?

I was on the Food Network website the other day and came across a recipe from Bobby Flay for tuna burgers.  I had purchased a bag of whole wheat English muffins earlier in the week, so this would be a great way to use those last few up.  As I go along in this new fish world, I'm learning you can put just about any fish in the mini-prep to make fish burgers.  Add a mayo/aioli/slaw to go on top and you have one great sandwich.  

*I changed the recipe to make 2 burgers instead of 4.  I like tuna burgers but you can't get me to eat the same meal 4 days in a row.  

Tuna Burgers with Olive Aioli

1/2 pound good tuna, minced in your mini-prep

2 green onions

Handful of cilantro

1 tablespoon Dijon

1 tablespoon chipotle puree

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon honey

salt and pepper

2 English muffins, split and toasted

watercress (optional)

sliced mango (optional)

1/4 cup pitted olive mix

1 tablespoon capers

1 clove garlic

Zest and juice of a lemon

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup plain yogurt

Handful of cilantro

For the burgers: combine tuna, green onion, cilantro, dijon, chipotle, oil and honey in a food processor.  Pulse until tuna is minced and ingredients are combined.  Form into 2 patties.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

For the aioli: pulse olives, capers, garlic, lemon juice, mayo, yogurt and cilantro in your mini-prep.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  

Heat saute pan over medium high heat.  Coat the pan with just a touch of oil.  Sear burgers on each side for 2-3 minutes.  I eat my tuna rare, so if you like it more well done, cook for a few minutes longer on each side.  

Place burger on english muffin and top with watercress and sliced mango if desired.  

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

We all have those few staple items in our pantry that we can't seem to live without.  Mine seem to change from month to month but have recently consisted of: El Ranchero tortilla chips, 365 Chunky Peanut Butter, Shredded Wheat with Bran, Triscuits, Whole Wheat English Muffins and Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips.  

I bring this up because the Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips were just featured in Cooks Illustrated.  CI is a magazine that comes 6 times a year and I use it more as a database and reference guide for any and everything that might happen in the kitchen.  They do product tests on many different brands of kitchen equipment, taste tests on any ingredient that you might find in the grocery store, and they also produce some amazing test kitchen recipes.  If you want to know the proper way to cook a filet indoors, go to CI.  If you are looking to buy a new blender, go to CI to see what they recommend.  This past month CI did a taste test on chocolate chips.  My 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips by Ghirardelli won.  Their 'distinct wine, fruit and smoke flavors made this adult chocolate a clear winner; low sugar content allowed the chocolate flavor to shine'.  

Today is Administrative Professionals Day.  If I had been in the office today, I surely would have showered Amy and Nick with a few home baked goodies.  Since I am now in day 5 of my Chicago staycation, I am nowhere near the office.  When I was at home on Monday, I decided to bake a few cookies for the secretaries at Mom's school, so that she wouldn't have to do it on Tuesday night.  My mom has been teaching at the same school since we moved back to Illinois in 1994 and I spent many days at that school helping her out. I can still probably name quite a few first graders that she has had over the years.  I could also tell you pretty specific information about the ones I really liked!  If my desire to be a teacher went beyond the 3 month summer vacation that they get, I would have majored in education.   

My go-to cookbook for cookies has recently been Martha Stewart's Cookies.  There is a recipe for just about every cookie you could think of and Martha hasn't let me down yet with a single one of them.  I used the award winning chocolate chips for this cookie.  The recipe doesn't call for any eggs, and that worried me at first, but they turned out just fine.  

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

7 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (use the Ghirardelli!!)

1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup dark molasses (the stronger the better)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Sugar, for rolling cookies

Sift together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cocoa powder.  Cream butter and sugar together.  Beat in the molasses.  Dissolve the baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons hot water.  Add it to the mix.  Beat in the butter/sugar mixture until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Pat the dough into a flat disk, cover with saran wrap and let chill, at least 2 hours.  

Preheat oven to 325.  Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls.  Roll in granulated sugar.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes on the sheet pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.  

Apple Mango Slaw

I've had the same Brita pitcher ever since I moved into my apartment.  The whole concept of filtering your water out of the tap was new to me, but it is a convenience that I quickly grew to love.  The water at our house always came from a delivery man, in large 5 gallon jugs that Mom and I could never lift.  I can't believe how long we drank water that way.  Balancing the 5 gallon jug of water on your knee, while unwrapping the plastic cover to the bottle, and then quickly chucking it on top of the cooler, all while trying to keep water spillage to a minimum.  No matter how many times you did it, you could never make that job look easy.  

The number of trips that I have saved myself lugging jugs of water from the lobby to the 32nd floor are too numerous to count.  It wasn't until this morning that I realized that my Brita lid has been on backwards for a whole 2 years.  1.  How in the world did I let that happen?  2.  Why didn't anyone bring this to my attention before?  Surely, I'm not the only one that has used the Brita in my apartment.  The funny thing is, I think it pours better when the lid is on backwards, so I am going to leave it that way.  

On Friday, we celebrated my brother's 31st birthday while dining out at the Chicago Firehouse.  The restaurant is located in the South Loop, right close to Ben's condo, and none of us had been there yet.  It is your typical steakhouse menu: shrimp cocktail, wedge salad, meat, more meat and family sides.  Steak houses usually aren't my first choices for dining out, but I liked this one because it felt like a neighborhood place.  Steak houses can sometimes feel overdone and it often appears as if one big performance is going on throughout the night.  The Chicago Firehouse had an old Chicago feel, and I liked it.  I ordered the double cut pork chop served over a cabbage apple slaw with a dried cherry sauce.  The meal was wonderful and so was the company.  

Yesterday I was home in CL for dinner and Dad agreed to grill pork chops, even though it was raining outside.  I thought the apple slaw was so good at the Chicago Firehouse so I attempted to create an apple slaw to accompany the pork chops.  This really added something to the meal.  I used Golden Delicious apples for their sweet, crisp flavor.  I improvised the dish as I went along, using whatever was in the fridge.  I wasn't going to blog about this, as it is a little simple, but once eating the slaw with the pork, we all agreed that it was a blog-worthy dish.  I'm thinking next time I could even puree half of the mixture so that the pork could sit on a sauce, and then I could top it with the remaining slaw.  

Apple Mango Slaw

2 golden delicious apples, peeled and diced

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 handful of cilantro, chopped

Pinch of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of dill seed (I think this is the ingredient that made the dish)

A touch of salt and pepper

Squeeze of 1 lime or lemon

Combine all ingredients.  Make it a couple of hours ahead so that the flavors have time to merry.  

Flatbread

I'm sitting here blogging tonight, 2 days into my 9 day vacation from work.  I guess I could be following the new trend these days while embarking on my very first Chicago 'staycation'.   The question of the week seemed to be 'where are you going' and 'what are you going to do while you are away'.  My response to these questions was 'nowhere' and 'absolutely nothing'.  Highlights of my staycation itinerary for the week include: cleaning my apartment from top to bottom, cooking new recipes that have been on my to-do list for awhile, blogging more often than not, working out, doctors appointments, reading a few books, spending hours sipping coffee and catching up on my Tivo.  The first day of a vacation is a wonderful feeling.  The week feels wide open, the possibilities endless and my thoughts are focused on how to make the week go by as slowly as possible.

It is mid April and as the rain continues to fall, this starts to be the time when I question whether or not the summer season with actually arrive.  Surely those 70 degree teaser days will start to come around more often than not, and walking around the city without a coat, umbrella and boots will become the new normal.  

This morning I received a text message from my brother that said 'Fun story: Ryan Dempster (Cubs starting pitcher, for all of you non-baseball readers) just held the door for me at the grocery store".  Initially, my first thought was, it is 9am on a Saturday morning and you have already been to the store?  My next thought did consist of a slight pang of jealousy.  When I go to the store I wouldn't have the slightest clue who else is shopping around me.  My first thought is usually, is Whole Foods going to have kumquats this week or not, and let me get over there as quickly as possible to find out.  I'm going to start keeping my eyes open while shopping now just in case a Cubby player wants to hold the door for me! 

I've really been getting into the spinning class at the gym.  It is week 3 and I am just about hooked.  Lookout, I just might be investing in those spinning shoes and the spandex with the padded butt.  There haven't been any leg issues so far and hopefully there won't be as long as I don't stand and pedal at the same time.  I'm thrilled that I've found something that I can do to workout in a group.  Between the yoga class, the MSC class, and now spinning, I really am set and I love it.......knock on wood.

Spinning is a mind game.  It isn't easy to pedal for an hour no matter who the instructor is, how many people are in the class or how motivating the music is.  You just have to concentrate on something besides the tension on your pedals.  I've found myself planning my weekly recipes to keep busy.  It might sound odd, but this morning I was mentally brainstorming new recipes that I could create.  I think I might be the only one in the room plotting their food plan for the day.  

Tonight, I made Mark Bittman's Flatbread recipe.  My Mom is my main Mark Bittman recipe finder, as the New York Times is right up her ally, and she is the one that suggested the recipe.  Making your own flatbread might sound overwhelming, but this one is extremely easy to make.  There are 3 main ingredients that make up the basic recipe and it acts as a great base to a host of other flavors.  I've just made this recipe once, but am going to start tinkering around with different combinations of ingredients for the bread.  Thank you Mark Bittman.  

For this recipe I decided to add sauteed onions, chopped rosemary and Parmesan to the basic dough.  Like I said, you can add whatever you have in your pantry: spices, veggies, herbs, etc.

Flatbread

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cup water

Dash of salt

1/3 cup diced onions

2 tablespoons chopped rosemary

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

4 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.  Whisk together flour, water and salt.  Mixture should resemble a pancake batter.  Saute onions and rosemary in a skillet for just a few minutes to soften.  Add the onion mixture to the batter and stir in the cheese.  In the same skillet heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil.  Place in the oven to warm up.  When oil is warm, remove pan from oven and pour in the batter.  Cook about an hour.  

Ceviche

I'm seafood's number one fan and if you have been reading my blog for awhile, I think you might know that. I can't think of a fish that I don't like. Throughout the day, I sometimes find myself wondering what I can do to make fish more exciting, more flavorful and more gourmet. Not to worry though, I also spend my day thinking about how I can raise money for the American Cancer Society. I wouldn't want you thinking I daydream about fish all day. I was watching Nigella Lawson on the Food Network this past weekend and she was making a quick ceviche for a dinner party. I had never really considered making ceviche at home before, nor am I a ceviche connoisseur. A peanut butter connoisseur, yes, but raw fish, no. I started searching Epicurious.com (no surprise there), looking through recipes to try and get an idea of the whole concept of doing this on my own. I can't believe I had never considered making this before. This process has honestly broadened my outlook on the topic of seafood and I now have a whole new repertoire of recipes to start trying.

As I left work yesterday, I announced out loud 'if I don't make it into work tomorrow, I obviously didn't cook the fish enough in the lime juice'. I wanted it to be known that I was attempting to eat fish, at home, without cooking it. According to my Food Companion book, "ceviche is an appetizer popular in Latin America consisting of raw fish marinated in citrus juice. The action of the acid in the lime juice "cooks" the fish, thereby firming the flesh and turning it opaque." I made it home from work, the gym, and the store last night at 7:15. This recipe is great because I was eating dinner before 8:15. That is a successful dinner plan in my mind.

Dad you just might want to stop reading here as I don't think this will be appealing to you at all.

I decided on the Classic Ceviche recipe from Rick Bayless. When going big for Mexican food, you can't go wrong with Rick Bayless. I went to Whole Foods after work yesterday and asked for a ceviche fish suggestion from the fish monger. He suggested tilapia, which is a great choice because it isn't fishy tasting at all and it is cheap. I got 2 filets of fish for only $4....at Whole Foods! He also gave me a wonderful tip for chopping up the fish: use the mini food processor. I hadn't even thought of that, but what a time saver that was. I must admit that it felt slightly odd putting raw fish into my food processor, but I think that was key to chopping the tilapia finely and allowing it to marinate quickly.

I decided to serve my ceviche with tortilla chips. If you come to my apartment any day of the week, the green bag of El Ranchero tortilla chips will be in my cabinet. You can probably tell by the picture here, that this is a well used bag of chips. This is the only chip I will really eat. The ingredients are simple, corn, oil, and salt. You can't get more natural than that. I once was slightly addicted to Zapp's potato chips. I got hooked on them in New Orleans and I love the Spicy Craw-tator flavor that they had. Thank goodness Kalck's could feed my need for Zapp's at the time.

Classic Ceviche

1 pound fresh white fish (chopped in a food processor)

1 1/2 cups of lime juice (enough to cover the fish)

Squeeze of half an orange

Cherry tomatoes, halved

1 jalapeno, chopped with seeds

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

5 green olives, chopped

1 avocado, diced

Salt and Pepper

Place fish into a food processor. Pulse 4 or 5 times until fish is evenly diced into small pieces. Squeeze enough lime juice to cover fish. Add orange juice and salt and pepper. Marinate in the fridge for an hour. Fish will become opaque.

In a bowl, combine jalapeno, tomatoes, cilantro, olives and avocado. Squeeze half a lime over the ingredients. Add salt and pepper.

When fish is done marinating, strain, pushing out all remaining lime juice. Stir with reserved ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips.

Real Gingerbread

Gingerbread and I have quite an affinity for one another.  The gingerbread cookie is one of my favorites around the holidays and it is also makes for a great coffee snack.  If you are trying to sell your house or apartment, I might suggest baking a batch of gingerbread right before someone comes to look at your space.  The aroma from the oven is spicy, warm and comforting and is sure to make anyone that visits feel right at home.  I'm wondering if the other people that live on my floor are wishing they were over here right now, eating gingerbread, and watching the Idol.  The smells permeating the floor are simply mouth-watering.

Back in the day, my cousins and I always had a gingerbread house building competition on Thanksgiving Day.  Granted we used graham crackers to build our houses and not the real thing, but who wants to make enough gingerbread for 5 children amongst all the other Thanksgiving dishes for the day?  It was quite a fierce competition and I always wanted to win.  Shana and I would try and build the biggest house possible with as many candy decorations that the graham crackers could stand.  Ben and Sudi always finished first, taking the simple route, always relishing in the fact that the competition was finally over.  Sadie unfortunately had the house that ended up collapsing, again and again.  The competition was never complete without an extra trip to the store, mid-competition, to get powdered sugar to make more icing.  This Christmas I might just attempt making a gingerbread house with real gingerbread.  We have some great memories.

I was at home on Sunday and Mom had made a gingerbread cake from The Wednesday Chef blog that I follow.  Ahhh the power of suggestion.  The mere mention of the word gingerbread has had me craving it since Sunday.  I love making gingerbread cake because it can act as a dessert that isn't overly sweet.  Tonight, I'm going to top my gingerbread with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.  The warm cake with the cool ice cream makes for the perfect combination.   

I searched Epicurious.com to look for my best gingerbread option.  I read all of the reviews and this recipe for Real Gingerbread seemed to be a true reflection as to what gingerbread should be.  It got great reviews and I give it 2 thumbs up.  

Real Gingerbread

1 stick of butter, softened

2/3 cup molasses

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray or butter.  Beat butter, molasses, sugar, vanilla and eggs in a mixer until well combined.  Turn down the mixer and slowly add the dry ingredients.  Once dough has come together, add the hot water.  Make sure you scrape down your bowl as you go.  Pour the batter into the baking dish.  Bake for 40 minutes.    

Tomato and Avocado Egg Salad

7 days.  You can do a lot in seven days.  In the past week I have gone to work, exercised, blogged 4 times, tried 3 new recipes, made a trip out to Crystal Lake, did my taxes, consumed multiple cups of coffee, got my laundry done, purchased a new cell phone, bought a cookbook, lounged in the sun, had a Bear Necessities planning meeting, watched the Cubs get off to a great start and the list could go on and on.   I'm sure you are wondering how this relates to food.  In that list, I must also mention that I have consumed at least 1 avocado for 7 days in a row.  I'm slightly surprised that I am not oozing green, monounsaturated fats from my skin.  I don't know if I would call it an addiction yet, but it is definitely one of my new favorite foods for the season.  If you have any great avocado recipes, I would love to have them.

Easter is always a time when we get together with family.  If I can remember correctly, we spent many Easter Sundays in Gardner, IL with Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandma always hid plastic, bright colored eggs for us in the yard.  We would run around with our Easter baskets trying to scoop up as many eggs as possible.  The eggs were either filled with loose change or candy.  My Easter egg hunting days are over and the scavenger hunt has now been passed down to Austin, Allie, Danny and Brody.  They get excited about looking for the eggs just like Ben, Sudi, Shana, Sadie, and I had done when we were younger.  Gosh I feel old.  

My goal for Easter Sunday was to make homemade Raisin Bread to take to Shana's.  Last night while looking over the recipe and logistically planning out the day, I realized I would have to be in the kitchen at 6am getting the bread started in order to make the 11:30 brunch time.  Now I really love to cook and be in the kitchen, but you couldn't pay me to be in there at 6am, unless I was putting the turkey in the oven for Thanksgiving morning.  I wouldn't be your best candidate for opening up my own bakery.  We went to plan B.  Mom had seen a recipe for Tomato and Avocado Egg Salad in the Daily Herald this week.  We don't usually make a recipe from the local paper but Mom and I are both fans of a good egg salad recipe, and serving these on mini wheat rolls would make for a perfect brunch dish.  The original recipe calls for a dressing of mayo and sour cream but I swapped out the sour cream for plain yogurt; you won't even miss the extra fat.  I also added a mashed avocado to the dressing to add to the creaminess.  If you enjoy egg salad you will love this recipe.  If we type up a recipe to add it to the Phillips Family recipe binder, you know it's a keeper.  

Tomato and Avocado Egg Salad

6 hard cooked eggs, sliced with an egg slicer

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and chopped

1 cup chopped tomato

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons mayo

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1/2 of an avocado, smashed to a creamy texture

1/2 lemon 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dash of cayenne pepper sauce

Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  

Put eggs in a saucepan.  Cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil.  Turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for 15 minutes.  Chop the eggs and add to a large bowl.  Add the avocados, tomato, onion and cilantro.  Mix to combine.  Add the dressing a few scoops at a time until you have the consistency that you prefer.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Serve sandwiches on rolls, crackers, or lettuce leaves.

Palmer House Brownies

I'm guessing I'm not the only one that looks forward to the arrival of monthly magazines.  I love Thursday evenings because People magazine has just come in the mail and I can get caught up on the very unimportant, weekly celebrity gossip news.  Going to the opposite side of the spectrum of worthwhile magazines, Bon Appetit usually comes a month early and it is torture not to get ahead of myself.  A rule has been made that you don't open the April magazine until April 1st.  Well, I am behind a month, so this past weekend I was getting caught up on the March issue.  The magazine has a section called RSVP where readers can write in and request recipes for certain dishes that they have had while eating out and traveling.  In the March edition, a reader wrote in asking for the brownie recipe from the Palmer House Hilton.  I'm not a huge brownie fan, but since the Palmer House Hilton is a hotel in Chicago, I wanted to test them out.  It is good to support the local spots in the city and I like reading about the Chicago highlights in a national food magazine.

I've never been inside the Palmer House Hilton but I have been by it many times.  When we would come into the city when I was younger, we always stayed at the Marriott on Michigan Ave.  It was such a big deal to make a trip into the city, to stay overnight and to spend the day walking up and down the magnificent mile.  I can get a glimpse of the past just by walking into that hotel.   Ben, Ann, and I used to ride the escalators up and down in the lobby as our parents sat, talked, and had a drink.  It is slightly ironic that I now commute down Michigan Ave. everyday to work.  What once was a special occasion destination is now just a part of my daily routine.  The highlight of the trip was always eating at Ed Debevic's and ordering the chicken potpie.  Dad would stand outside of Garrett's getting carmel corn for all of us as Mom and I shopped at Nike Town.  Dad never complained about standing in that line, but I still can't figure out why that line was always out the door.  Chicago is now just a part of the daily routine.

These brownies blow just about every other type of brownie you've ever had out of the water.  I used good chocolate for the recipe and I think that single ingredient will put your brownies over the top.  They are thick, chocolate filled, decadent, nutty, and have a touch of sweetness on top from the apricot glaze.  Russ Baginski from Grand Rapids, I can see why you wrote in for this recipe.  The key here is to serve the brownies cold and to cut them in small pieces.  Enjoy!

Palmer House Brownies

9 oz bittersweet chocolate

2 sticks of butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup apricot preserves

Preheat oven to 350.  Flour and butter a 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish.  Melt chocolate and butter in a pan over medium heat.  Let mixture cool slightly.  Whisk together sugar and butter in a mixing bowl.  Whisk in slightly cooled chocolate mixture.  Fold in flour, salt, and baking powder.  Pour into floured baking dish.  Add walnuts on top and gently press them into the batter.  Cook for 45 minutes.  The brownies will start to pull away from the sides.  Melt apricot preserves in a pan.  Brush preserves on top of hot brownies.  Cool on a cooling rack for an hour.  Put into the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours.  Cut brownies into small squares.  Chill until serving.  

English Muffins

My bookshelf is getting slightly full.  I either need a bigger bookshelf, a bigger apartment, or I'm guessing I just need to stop buying cookbooks.  I bought The Bread Baker's Apprentice a couple of months ago, but hadn't had a chance to read through it yet or make any of the recipes. On Sunday, I pulled it off my bookshelf, sat at Starbucks with a cup of coffee, listened to my iPod and caught up on my reading.  As I was browsing through the book, I noticed that the recipe for english muffins only took one day to make, and it had a relatively minimal yeast-rise time.  Many of the recipes in this book require you start with a yeast base the day before and since I hadn't thought ahead, english muffins it was!

I am sometimes in awe of the recipes that can be made at home.  These english muffins are so good.  I've had them for 3 nights in a row now and each time I eat them, I honestly can't believe that I made them.  I've been making avocado and tomato sandwiches for dinner and it just hits the spot.  You have to give them a try.

I was talking with my Mom on Sunday night, telling her I was baking english muffins from my new cookbook and I ended up getting an email from her later that night.   I wasn't going to post it but since this blog acts as a great memoir that I can look back on, I thought I would go ahead and post it.  Reading this email makes me realize that this cookbook has come full circle with our family.  2002 was the year I was diagnosed with bone cancer and that July was a very interesting month to say the least.

'There is a story to go with that book that I reminded Dad of tonight.  I bought that book for Dad for Father's Day 2002.  Yes, 2002.  The reason I bought that book is that it won the James Beard Award in 2002 for best cookbook, and I knew Dad liked baking bread.  When we were going to go to Dr. Gitelis (ortho oncologist at RUSH) for the first time, Dad and I went up to Wisconsin to visit with Sue and Dan at their lake house on that Saturday.  (your appointment was on Monday.)  Mary Lynn and Al were there too.  I read that cookbook all the way to their place to try and keep my mind focused.  We never said anything to Sue & Dan or Mary Lynn & Al what was going on with Dr. Cox sending you to RUSH.  Now, look at you.  Making recipes from that cookbook!!'

Staying on par with my previous bread baking attempts, I of course had to make the dough twice.  The recipe calls for instant yeast.  I only had regular yeast but somehow thought that following the recipe the same way would still work?  After the first 90 minute rise, with my dough not moving an inch, I realized the yeast had not been activated.  I either kill the yeast or I don't give it enough love!  I got it right the second time around and it was well worth the second effort.

English Muffins

2 1/4 cups flour (I used white wheat flour)

3 tablespoons flax seeds (not in the original recipe)

1/2 tablespoon sugar (I used honey)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast*

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup milk

Stir flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.  Use your fingers to mix in the butter to the flour mixture.  Add the milk and honey until the ingredients.  As the dough forms a ball, knead by hand or in your mixer for about 7-10 minutes.  Take dough and rub with olive oil.  Put dough in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm place.  Let rise for 90 minutes.

Take dough and divide into 6 equal pieces.  Shape the pieces into a small roll shape or ball.  Put on a greased baking sheet, cover with a damp towel, and let rise for another hour.  

Preheat oven to 350.  Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Brush with olive oil.  Place 6 dough rolls onto the skillet.  Cook for 7 minutes on the first side.  The dough will get brown but do not let it burn; it shouldn't if your heat is only on medium.  Flip the muffin and cook for 7 more minutes on the other side.  Place into oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking through.  Cool on a rack for 30 minutes.

*I used regular yeast as I didn't have instant.  If you use regular yeast, just heat up the milk and activate the yeast for 10 minutes before adding your dry ingredients.  

Iron Chef: Battle Coconut

Each year in April, a service takes place at my church where blue ribbons are tied outside the trees by the sanctuary along Michigan Avenue.  As you walk by, you can't help but turn your head in awe of the bright colors against the gray, freshly unfrozen landscaping that surrounds the church.  It is very striking to say the least.  Each ribbon that is tied around the tree represents a child that was abused in Cook County in 2008.  For years I've always remembered the blue ribbons around these trees.  It's a catch 22 to love this picture; yes it is beautiful, but wouldn't it be more beautiful to not have any blue ribbons at all? 

On the Friday afternoon before the Iron Chef competition, I found myself constantly checking my email, awaiting the arrival of the secret ingredient announcement.  I felt like a kid on Christmas morning, awaiting the ok from Mom and Dad to run downstairs and start opening presents.  In my mind, I had gone over what I would pick as a secret ingredient and I also contemplated what Heather would pick this month since she was the reigning Iron Chef.  Would it be sweet or savory and how could I improve on what I did last month?  The email came around 3:00 and the battle was on: Battle Coconut.  I immediately started asking around the office for input and began searching Epicurious. com for possible ideas.

In my history with coconut, I have purchased it for 2 main dishes.  One being Ina Garten's Banana Crunch Muffins that I blogged about earlier, and the other being her Homemade Granola.  Both recipes create wonderful dishes but I didn't feel either highlighted coconut as the main ingredient.  Caroline and I both agree that you can't go wrong with The Barefoot Contessa's recipes; they are foolproof.  Ina once led me astray with a turkey meatloaf, but that has been the only flaw I've encountered.  The key with the Iron Chef battle is to have the dish taste entirely of the theme ingredient, without any other interruptions or distracting tastes.  My search narrowed to 3 choices: coconut tapioca pudding, honeydew lemon balls floating in coconut milk or the coconut macaroons.  

I decided on making tapioca pudding.  I had made Heidi Swanson's Tapioca Pudding recipe before and blogged about it.  The pudding is made with your basic milk base.  I thought if I swapped out the milk for coconut milk, that would add a great flavor.  Toss in some shredded coconut and surely the theme ingredient would shine through.  I thought a few roasted macadamia nuts and toasted coconut on top as a garnish would add a little extra flavor and crunch.  I was very happy with how my dish turned out and even thought it might make the top 3.  If you closed your eyes and tasted the pudding, it felt like a cloud of coconut in your mouth.  

We had quite a spread.  There were 12 wanna-be Iron Chefs present and we had a total of 19 dishes.  I would say that half of the dishes were savory and half were sweet.  If there was one downfall to the battle, it would be the fact that I am more a fan of savory than sweet, so I felt there was a lot of sugar to get through last night!  Is it ironic that I made coconut macaroons the day before Battle Coconut was announced? 

My top 4 dishes would have been:

1.  Caroline's Sweet Potato Coconut Mash

2.  Heather's Habanero Coconut Dipping Sauce 

3.  Christina's Basmati Coconut Rice with Toasted Cashews

4.  Amy's Chicken Curry 

The winning dish was the Sweet Potato Coconut Skins and big points for presentation.  How in the world do you crack open coconuts anyway?  Terri apparently has it down to an exact science.  I really do love this Iron Chef Battle and can't wait to hear next month's secret ingredient.  If you want in on the competition, please just let me know.  Guests are always welcome.  

Coconut Tapioca Pudding w/ toasted coconut

3 cups light coconut milk

1/3 cup tapioca

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 egg yolks

1 cup unsweetened coconut

1 cup sweetened coconut

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 400.  Spread sweetened coconut and macaroons onto a baking sheet.  Toast in oven for 10-15 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning.  Let mixture cool.

Soak tapioca in 3/4 cup coconut milk for at least 30 minutes.  Bring remaining coconut milk, vanilla, sugar, egg yolks, and tapioca mixture to a boil.  Turn down heat to low and let barely simmer, stirring more often than not.  Cook until tapioca is cooked, about 20 minutes.  Stir in unsweetened coconut and let cook on stove for another 5 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled with toasted coconut mixture on top.  

Coconut Macaroons

This picture that you are looking at is a true glimpse of the 'view from the 32nd floor'.  The daily landscape out my bay window is of Lake Michigan, the Hancock building and Water tower.  I love monitoring the colored lights at the top of the Hancock throughout the various months of the year.  They are pink for breast cancer awareness month in October, red for Valentine's Day in February and this week they are multi-colored to support Chicago's push for the 2016 Olympic bid.  It's the little things like this that make Chicago a great city.

One of the first 'nice restaurants' that we started eating at when moving back to Illinois was the Barrington Country Bistro.  We had graduated from going out to Boston Market and Applebee's for dinner, to officially adopting a Friday night restaurant that we could look forward to going to.  The days of Boston Market mashed potatoes and Applebee's chicken fingers are now behind me, and the steak frites at the bistro began taking center stage.  I know I ordered the steak frites more for the shoestring french fries on top than for the steak itself, but who doesn't like fried potatoes, right?

Right next door to the Barrington Country Bistro is a small french bakery called Ambrosia.  It is would probably be one of my favorite bakeries, next to La Madeline in New Orleans.  I willingly admit that I was slightly addicted to the croissants from Ambrosia.  And by addicted, I mean we would drive the 40 minutes round trip to get a few of these buttery treats on the weekend.  I would also make Mom and Dad purposely go out of our way on a drive home from Woodfield to get just 1 little croissant.  The croissants are great because they are small, buttery and honestly just taste like something you would be getting in Paris.  They also make some killer coconut macaroons.  Dad loves the macaroons so we usually came home with a few of those as well.  When I think of macaroons, I think of Ambrosia.

I was reading The Whole Kitchen blog the other day and Jenn had talked about making macaroons.  I've never tried making my own before and I immediately got a craving for some.  I love this recipe because it is macaroons a la healthy style.  The recipe calls for very few ingredients: egg whites, salt, vanilla, unsweetened coconut and honey.  I made mine bite-size which makes the perfect two bite dessert.  I made 1 1/2 the recipe and added mini chocolate chips to a few of them for something different.  

I didn't want to go empty to see Tracy and Abby last night so I thought macaroons would make a great little snack.  I also made a few extra to take to work.  Great recipe!

Coconut Macaroons

9 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 vanilla bean

4 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut

1 cup honey

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Beat egg whites with salt and vanilla until they form stiff peaks, about 6-7 minutes.  Fold in coconut, honey and chocolate chips.  Drop by the spoonful onto a baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes until the tops are slightly golden brown.  

Calamari Salad

I am patiently waiting for Friday to arrive as the secret ingredient will be revealed for Iron Chef Battle #2.

I love Wednesdays.  Not because it is your halfway through the week hump day or the fact that the American Idol results are revealed, but instead, it is the day the Good Eating section comes in the Tribune.  If the Trib offered a Wednesday and Sunday delivery option, I would sign-up for it in a heartbeat.  I love the coupons, ads, and crossword puzzle on Sundays and top it off with the Good Eating Section on Wednesday and I am set.  Luckily I can catch most of it online, which I'm sure isn't what the Trib wants to hear as that is probably why the Sun Times has gone under today.  

In the paper today there was an article titled Saluting the Culinary Insight of "To Kill a Mockingbird".  I must admit that I usually just stick to the articles about food instead of analyzing classic literature pieces, but this one happened to catch my eye.  I read To Kill a Mockingbird when I was a sophomore in high school.  If I'm being honest here, I probably would never have read this book if not forced to in school because I'm not one to read the classics; Devil Wears Prada, My Sisters Keeper and The Joy of Cooking are more up my alley.  The article caught my eye because I am a food lover and while reading this book, the concept that it centered around food never even crossed my mind.  Most of us have read this book so take a look at this article and I think you will find it informative, especially if you are a food lover.

If you and I were going out to dinner and I asked you 'would you like to split the octopus salad' what would you say?  If the answer to that question is "yes" or "sure" then you and I can definitely be friends.  I love calamari, both fresh and fried.  I have already blogged about my love of the fish salad from Carmines, so the thought of weird looking fish doesn't seem to turn me away.   I recently had the Octopus Salad from Quartino, and I must say that it was very good.  If I had to pick a top restaurant in Chicago for fried calamari, I think The Parthenon in Greektown would be my top pick; Harry Caray's coming in at a close second.  

This calamari salad recipe is one I found on Epicurious.com.  I get my calamari from Whole Foods as it seems to be the freshest and I don't know how fast the calamari moves in the seafood counter at my local Treasure Island.  I prefer the tentacles but get some tubes to balance out the dish.  This is a fast meal to throw together and it is a healthy one too.  I served mine with toasted multi-grain bread and a spoonful of marinara.  Don't let the tentacles scare you away, they are the best part!

Calamari Salad

1/3 pound of squid (tubes and tentacles)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 olives, chopped

5 grape tomatoes, chopped

1/2 small red onion, diced

1 rib of celery, diced

1 carrot, diced

Chopped Cilantro

Salt and Pepper

Bring pot of water to a boil.  Salt water.  Drop squid into boiling water.  Cook for about 45 seconds.  Water will not come back up to a boil.  Drain and put in an ice bath to cool.  Mix lemon juice, olive oil, and red wine vinegar.  Combine remaining ingredients and top with dressing to let marinate for about 10 minutes.  Add cooled squid and enjoy!