kbecker57

Baked tomato and eggs

I decided to make breakfast for dinner, with this recipe and a nice batch of buttermilk pancakes (I used my pancake recipe and substituted 1 cup buttermilk and 1/2 tsp baking soda for 1 cup milk). If you like a runny yolk or plan to reheat them, definitely go for the shorter cooking time (8 minutes).

Mise en place

Tomato sauce

Baked tomato and eggs
Source: adapted from Marcus Samuelsson
Serves: 2

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
Olive or canola oil cooking spray
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat olive oil in a pan, then add the garlic, pepper, and onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
2. Coat 2 ramekins with olive/canola oil cooking spray, then add the tomato mixture (evenly divided between the two ramekins). Crack an egg into each, on top of the tomato sauce, and then top each with 1/2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on how runny you like your yolks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

Breakfast for dinner

Southern oven unfried chicken

I had some extra buttermilk, leftover from making Irish soda bread, that I wanted to put to good use. I also recently came across two recipes for buttermilk baked chicken…what perfect timing! One of the recipes used bone-in chicken breasts and the other used boneless. I made them both, and no big surprise, the boneless chicken won. It was easier to marinate and took less time to cook.

With the hot sauce and cayenne pepper, this has a little kick. Feel free to omit either or both if you’d like it a little milder. Just a warning, the marinade with the hot sauce looks a little bit like Pepto!

Marinating the chicken

I had the chicken for dinner with some roasted potatoes and asparagus. I also sliced up some leftovers and put it on a salad for lunch.

Southern oven unfried chicken
Serves: 4-6
Source: Art Smith via People magazine, March 4, 2013

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp hot sauce
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups whole wheat or panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
Olive oil spray

Directions
1. In a bowl, combine buttermilk and hot sauce. Add the chicken and allow it to marinate in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.
2. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika in a gallon-size Ziploc bag.
3. Remove chicken from the marinade and place in the bag. Shake well, until chicken is evenly coated. Lay chicken on lightly oiled baking sheet and chill uncovered for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Remove chicken from refrigerator and lightly coat with olive oil spray. Bake 15-20 minutes, turn over and bake 15-20 minutes more or until done.

Dinner is served!

Garlic shrimp with white beans and tomatoes

I always seem to have this idea in my head that I don’t like cooked shrimp…it’s totally not true! I had this for lunch twice, over rice, and was kinda impressed with myself both times. I couldn’t find smoked paprika (used regular paprika) and forgot to buy fresh parsley (used 1 tsp dried), but the results didn’t suffer.

Getting my ingredients ready

Cooked shrimp waiting to get into the stew

Garlic shrimp with white beans and tomatoes
Serves: 4-6
Source: Pam Anderson via Runner’s World, February 2013

Ingredients
1 pound medium peeled and deveined shrimp
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp pimenton (smoked paprika)
3 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf, broken into pieces
1 14.5-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes, drained
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 15-ounce cans white beans, drained
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)

Directions
1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Toss shrimp with 1 Tbsp oil and pimenton. Add shrimp to skillet and saute 1-2 minutes. Add half the garlic during the last few seconds of cooking. Spoon shrimp into a bowl and set aside.
2. Return skillet to heat; add 2 Tbsp oil, pepper flakes, bay leaf, and remaining garlic. Cook until garlic is golden, a few seconds. Add tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid evaporates, 3-5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook until tomato mixture darkens.
3. Add beans and broth and simmer until it’s a thick stew, about 5 minutes. Stir in shrimp and parsley; cook until heated through.
4. Enjoy!

Final product

Roasted asparagus

Spring has sprung, which means asparagus! I am a big fan of asparagus…confession, I used to like eating it cold out of the can. That probably stopped once I discovered how delicious fresh asparagus can be. And I love the way it grows.

Are you one of the people who has smelly pee after you eat asparagus? Apparently only about 25% of the population can smell it, according to WebMD.

Want more info on asparagus? Check out this article on How to Cook Asparagus by QuickEasyCook.com.

Ready to go in the oven

Roasted asparagus
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Rinse asparagus and snap off the tough end of each stalk. Toss with olive oil and spread on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Cook for about 10 minutes. Rotate the spears and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until cooked (I like them slightly charred).

Delish!

April RC – Shōjō

RC had a baby! Congrats to Denise and Mitch, and a big welcome to Capri Olivia Lawson who was born on March 26, 2013.

Sunny Capri!

And this month we headed to Chinatown, but not your typical Boston Chinatown restaurant. Great pick Mark!

The cocktails are handcrafted (they make the infused liquors), unique, and delicious. My drink of choice was the Purple Heart (blueberry infused vodka, St. Germain, lemon). They also play old kung fun movies on a tv behind the bar.

We started with small plates…many of them, possibly almost everything on the menu:

Tempura housemade pickles with whole grain mustard aioli
Warm glass noodle salad with toasted peanuts, chicken, lime chili vinaigrette
Suckling pig bao with smoked bbq sauce, homemade kimchi
BBQ pork rib with sweet chili glaze, frisee fennel salad,
Szechuan pork stuffed calamari with soy-ginger tomato sauce
Duck fat hand-cut fries with sriracha aioli
Salt and pepper calamari with gremolata, roasted pepper aioli
XO fresh corn with soy, housemade XO sauce

My favorites were the warm glass noodle salad, the calamari, and the ribs. Yum. I was super excited for the corn, but wasn’t a big fan. We were hoping to try the Damn! Damn!! Noodles!!!, but they are only on the lunch menu.

Warm glass noodle salad

Salt and pepper calamari

After all of the small plates, I wasn’t even that hungry for an entree, but I still managed to enjoy the pulled pork ravioli. I was definitely a member of the clean plate club…delish! My fellow RC’ers ordered the steak frites (with kimchi butter and lemongrass-infused demi-glaze), the pistachio crusted tuna steak (with wasabi risotto, honey-soy glaze, and pumpkin croutons), and the pan-seared salmon (with dashi glaze, crisp Japanese eggplant, and miso mustard). I believe the Japanese eggplant was substituted out for spinach by someone who is anti-eggplant.

Char siu pulled pork ravioli with house smoked bacon,
Chinese celery, and shaved Pecorino

The only dessert on the menu was something called “chocolate sesame balls”. Lucky for us they had a special 4:20 dessert, a brownie with toasted hemp seeds, Ben and Jerry’s half-baked ice cream, and whipped cream.

4:20 dessert

The damage
$63 each

The rundown
Shōjō
9A Tyler Street, Boston

Boston strong

I still don’t have a lot of words to describe my experiences at this year’s Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, so I thought I’d share some of my photos.

Happy moments at mile 16.8, by Newton-Wellesley Hospital…

Elite women

Elite men

Jerel!

Dave!

What became the finish line for many runners…

Comm Ave

Copley Square after we were “released” from being in lockdown at the Westin…

View toward Boylston Street

Ambulances lined up on Columbus Ave

Walking home on the deserted Mass Ave bridge, a beautiful sunset despite the horrific events of the day.

Honoring and remembering the victims: Lu Lingzhi, Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard, and Officer Sean Collier.

Outside Boston University

Boston Common

Boylston Street

Boston Strong on the MBTA. Words I never thought I’d say: “I’m so happy to be able to ride the T!”

Yay MBTA

I posted this to Facebook on April 16:

I am…
Grateful that I and my friends are ok, and grateful for all of the calls, texts and posts. Heartbroken for the victims and their families whose lives will never be the same, and the families of Newtown who witnessed yet another senseless tragedy. Also remembering the anniversary of the VT tragedy.
Saddened for the runners and spectators whose marathon experience is forever tarnished. Humbled by the emergency personnel, hospital staff, and heroes who emerged yesterday.
Hopeful that Boston will triumph over tragedy.
Proud to be part of both the running and Boston communities.

My first Boston marathon (as a runner) three years ago was an inspiring and amazing experience. I’ve been contemplating my next one, and perhaps it will have to be Boston again, because we cannot let them win.

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Well I managed to burn all of the cupcakes in this recipe. I’m going to call it a “fail” since I’ve used this recipe before without any problems. I’ll have to check my oven to see if it’s running hot. I had a plan to salvage them by slicing off the bottoms, but they looked so short and silly I could not convince myself that they deserved an appearance at Easter dinner.

I was fortunate to snag an invite to the Conforti-Lawson-Pugliano Easter dinner, and lucky for me they weren’t counting on my dessert. It was a good thing I had also picked up a couple of bottles of wine to bring. My Easter dinner included gnocchi with meatballs, chicken braciole, ham, ham pizza (like a quiche), kielbasa, green beans, and sweet potatoes. Then we had pineapple squares, ricotta cheesecake, red velvet cake, and pizzelles. What an amazing feast…thank you Mrs. Conforti!

Mixing in the carrots, walnuts, and coconut

Everything looked fine up to this point…

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing
Source: Everyday Food
Makes: 12-14 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup shredded coconut, plus more for garnish
8 ounces bar cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. In a bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil, orange juice, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and eggs.
2. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, allspice, and salt. Add flour; mix. Stir in carrots, walnuts, and coconut.
3. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (about 2 Tbsp batter per cup). Bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 25 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.
4. While cupcakes are baking, combine cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and remaining 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth.
5. Frost cupcakes, and garnish with shredded coconut.

March RC – Farmstead Table

This month we headed to Farmstead Table in Newton, a cute little place right by the Newton Centre T stop. The space was hot, as in temperature hot, and our server didn’t seem to find us very amusing. He was very very anxious to take our order, but then kind of disappeared once he took the order. He even forgot to bring the bottle of wine that we ordered, and said he thought we wanted it with our entrées. Perhaps he was new or having a bad day…I’d give him a pass.

My winner in the appetizer round was the crispy calamari with Eva’s pea greens, lemon aioli, and chili oil. We also tried the homemade potato gnocchi, the farm greens salad, and the golden beet carpaccio.

Crispy salt-and-white-pepper calamari

I had the day-boat fish for an entrée, which was haddock with parsnip puree, white asparagus, mushrooms and pea greens. I kind of stopped listening after the server said “parsnip puree”.

Day-boat haddock

Two people were torn between the grilled Delmonico steak (with mashed potato, haricots verts, cabernet demi) and the lamb burger (with salsa verde, goat cheese, brioche roll, and salad of curly spinach, pickled beets, and walnuts), so they decided to share. The kitchen split the dishes for them, and that small but thoughtful gesture never fails to impress (for me anyway). The word at the table was that the cow was mightier than the lamb. I also heard that the herb-basted roast chicken (with roasted baby sweet potato, shitake greens, roasted chicken jus) was “bland”.

We also ordered a couple “For the Table” items, the curry-fried chick peas and the red beet pickles. I wanted the pickled beets to be a little more sour, and our server to be a little more sweet. But I guess not everyone can be as charming as Ming Tsai (no post last month, I was so bummed to have to miss RC at Blue Dragon). But the fried chick peas might have been my favorite part of the meal. Who knew you could fry a chick pea? And I loved the little Le Creuset dishes they arrived in!

Curry-fried chick peas

As I write this more than one week after we went, I am finding it hard to remember anything about the desserts. Based on photographic evidence, I know we ordered three desserts:

Caramelized apple bread pudding with ginger essence caramel, vanilla bean ice cream, and walnuts
Banana almond tart with brown butter filling, caramelized bananas, butter almond ice cream, and lime zest
Sea salt baklava with pistachios and almonds, orange blossom honey, and apricot sorbet

So I guess I’d have to say dessert was unmemorable, or that I need to take better notes. I do remember the consensus at the table was that Julie Spanos makes a better baklava!

Baklava

Great pick Denise!

The damage
$66 each

The rundown
Farmstead Table
71 Union Street, Newton

Irish soda bread

I remember making Irish soda bread in home ec class. It’s been quite some time since middle school so I decided to give it another shot. The results were pretty tasty, though I think three cups of raisins is a bit excessive.

Irish soda bread
Source: allrecipes.com
Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups raisins
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup sour cream

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round baking or cake pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour (reserving 1 tablespoon), sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins and caraway seeds. In a small bowl, blend eggs, buttermilk and sour cream. Stir the liquid mixture into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. Knead dough in bowl about 10 to 12 strokes. Dough will be sticky.
3. Place the dough in the prepared pan and pat down. Cut a 4×3/4 inch deep slit in the top of the bread and dust with reserved flour.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 65-75 minutes. Let cool and turn bread onto a wire rack.

It was a fun St. Patrick’s day weekend…got to see the Celtics beat Charlotte and the Southie parade.

Go Celtics!

Everyone loves a parade

Irish beef stew

This week I decided to channel my inner ginger in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day. For more Irish-inspired recipes, check out the dishes from last year’s St Patty’s Day potluck.

Prepping the slow cooker

Slow cooker magic

Irish beef stew
Source: allrecipes.com
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1.5 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium potatoes, cut into large pieces
2 sweet potatoes, cut into large pieces
1 white onion, cut into large pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups beef broth
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Irish stout beer
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions
1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Coat pieces of beef lightly with flour, then brown half the meat in the hot oil. Remove cooked meat, add another 1 Tbsp olive oil and brown the rest of the meat. Meat does not need to be cooked through.
2. Place the carrots, potatoes, onion, and garlic in a large slow cooker. Place the meat on top of the vegetables. Mix together the beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika and pour into the slow cooker along with the beer.
3. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour, then turn down to low for 6-7 hours. During the last hour before serving, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water and then stir into the broth. Simmer on the high setting for a few minutes to thicken, then return to low.

Try it gluten-free: Omit the flour coating on the beef and substitute gluten-free beer

Dinner is ready