Pork Chops with Tarragon Sauce and Cornichons, also Bamies Me Saltsa

I was searching through my lists of recipes that I want to make (someday) and I came across these Pork Chops with Tarragon Sauce and Cornichons , from a November 2008 Bon Appetit Magazine. I have seen many a recipe for hot entrees using cornichons and though I've never "cooked" with them, I do love snacking on these little pickles or chopping them up into tuna, chicken, or ham salad. So I figured why not give it a try. I was sure Michael would object. I could just hear him saying "Pickles in a warmed sauce?". Me: "Well you can just push them to the side". He actually loved this recipe saying, "You could make this again tomorrow night". Wow, what a shock, he didn't even push the pickles to the side and ate every bite! If you are looking for something different to make for dinner tonight, this is it.

Pork Chops with Tarragon Sauce and Cornichons

Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine, November 2008

Ingredients

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, cut into 6 pieces, divided
4 3/4-inch-thick pork rib chops
5 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon, divided
1/2 cup sliced shallots (about 2 large)
1/4 cup thinly sliced cornichons (gherkins)
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup apple juice (substituted apple sauce, no apple juice)


Directions

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chops with salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons tarragon. Add chops to skillet; cook until browned and cooked through, adjusting heat to medium if browning too quickly, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to plate; cover to keep warm.
Add shallots to same skillet; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in 2 teaspoons tarragon, cornichons, mustard, broth, and juice; boil until sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in 4 tablespoons butter, 1 piece at a time. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer chops to plates. Spoon sauce over; top with 1 teaspoon tarragon.
Makes 4 Servings

These are the ingredients for Bamies Me Saltsa . It is a Greek Recipe for Okra with Tomatoes. There are a great many of these Bamies posted throughout the internet. Some call for the addition of parsley, while others call for cider vinegar, some just say vinegar. Either way they are very good as a side dish. This recipe is also used replacing the okra with green beans. Which I plan on making in the next few days.Very delicious recipe. This was the first time I ever braised vegetables in olive oil.

Bamies Me Saltsa or Okra with Tomatoes

Adapted from Recipe Zarr

Ingredients

1 lb okra, small, fresh

salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 lb fresh tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper

Directions

Trim the okra, wash, drain well and place in a dish with a little salt and the vinegar. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse well and dry completely.Heat the oil over medium heat in a large frying pan that has a lid. Add the onion and cook until translucent.Add the okra and cook, stirring frequently, until they are slightly browned.
Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and sugar.Cover the frying pan and simmer for about 30-45 minutes, or until tender.
Makes 4 Servings

I am sending this to Joanne for her June Regional Recipes: Greece , and also to Reeni for this months Side Dish Showdown .

I am also sending the Pork Chops with Tarragon Sauce and Cornichons to Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice for Magazine Mondays.

  

 

Just in case you were wondering; NO, Micheal does NOT eat okra.

Carla and Michael

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World... EVER, Really!

  I was sceptical. I received my usual email from Tasting Table, and found this recipe simply titled Chocolate Chip Cookies. I read it and thought, Ah, no big deal. Then I noticed whose cookies they were and thought, I"ll bet these are pretty darn good cookies, after all they are from  David Lebovitz, former pastry chef for Alice Waters Chez Panisse. Ah, but yes, they were a big deal. These were absolutely bliss. These cookies far surpassed my expectations of what a chocolate chip cookie should be. Perfectly moist and fluffy on the top and a slight crunch to the bottom. They were exceptional in my book.

Ready to mix.

And fresh out of the oven. Ready for consumpton.

Buy Now

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Re-created from Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes, by Davis Lebovitz
as posted by Tasting TableIngredients
2½ cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups nuts (such as walnuts, pecans, almonds or macadamia nuts), toasted and coarsely chopped (I omitted)
14 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/2- to 1-inch chunks
 5 ounces White Chocolate Chips (I used in place of nuts)
 
 
Directions 
In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract at medium speed just until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated, then blend in the flour mixture, nuts white chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.
On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably 24 hours. (The dough logs can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.)
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Slice the dough logs into ¾-inch-thick disks and place the disks 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. If the chips fall out, simply push them back in. Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until very lightly browned in the centers, about 10 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack. The baked cookies will keep well in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Carla and Michael

It's Summertime and time for Mark Bittman's Zucchini and Dill Soup

  It's summertime, summertime... sum, sum, summertime, summertime! I know someone out there other than myself has to remember that song. Okay I know, corny. But hey, it is summer, officially.

  And this week at IHCC , we are celebrating summer with Summer Lovin , with a summertime recipe from Mark Bittman .

  While I was at the farmers market I couldn't help but notice an abundance of these beautiful little zucchini. These have to be one of my favorite summer vegetables; summer squashes. I love them all. I especially love them when they are picked while they are still on the smaller size as they are so much more tender.

  I chose to make this refreshing Zucchini and Dill Soup from Bittman's last book, Kitchen Express - 404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes. In his introduction for this book, Bittman states "it's long been my belief that the most specific recipes are the most limiting" and also he says "to try to force cooks to follow recipes robs them of the ability to improvise, to relax, to substitute, to use their own judgement". Sounds like good advice for me to try and practice, since I am a recipe follower, and I seem to have no imagination what-so-ever when it comes to cooking. I think I read my cookbooks and cooking magazines as if they were novels and if I find something that sounds new, different, or interesting to me, (I have a very limited repertoire of foods that I have been eating and cooking, ever since I can remember) I run right out and get the exact ingredients that are specified in that recipe.

Well, I finally stepped out of the box! Ah, no really I just changed the box.

I didn't have chicken stock in the box and didn't think to thaw my homemade stock.

I did have white wine and herb stock in the box (main ingredient is chicken stock) 

on hand and threw caution to the wind .

I sauteed the onion in butter until soft, then added the

grated zucchini and cooked it until softened.

Added stock and brought to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered

for about 5 minutes. Next I pureed it (cool a bit before adding to the blender) 

until it was smooth and retuned to pan to reheat.

Zucchini and Dill Soup

Re-created from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express

Guidelines

Grate a couple of zucchini. Cook a chopped onion in butter until softened, then add the zucchini and stir until softened, five minutes or so. Add vegetable or chicken stock and bring to a boil; simmer for about five minutes, then puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and lots of fresh dill.

Notes: I used the white wine and herb stock and I added some fresh dill to the soup while simmering for an enhanced flavor. I also saved a 2 inch piece of zucchini and cubed it, then sauteed it in a little oil. I used this to 'set' the sour cream dollop on and then poured in some of the pureed soup around it. I find this soup best sserved at room temperature, and I think it might even be a good chilled soup.

I think I will sprinkle a little parmesean cheese over the last bowl that is awaiting me for lunch in the fridge.

Give it a try and add your own spin. I know I'll be trying a few variations of this over the summer.

I am submitting this to I Heart Cooking Club's-Summer Lovin

and to

Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sundays

Carla and Michael

Fathers Day for Michael

  Okay, I'll admit it! I spoil him, and yes I dote on him. Well, most of the time. Why you ask? Because he usually does the same with me. He almost always gives in to my every whim! Gotta love a man like that. So I made him a breakfast that he usually makes for me or at family and friends homes when we travel on vacations. This simple breakfast, which Michael has named "Breakfast Gumbo" and has been making for years, has many variations. It is really just a breakfast casserole  or scramble of sorts, with no special recipe or given set of ingredients. Yes, I served him breakfast in bed. Why not? He does this for me on many occaisions. Sometimes it's eggs benedict, or this gumbo, or just sunny side eggs on toast with bacon and home fries. Where is it written that only women can be served breakfast in bed?

  When confronted with "Honey, what would you like for dinner tonight?", I couldn't believe his request was Cube Steaks and Gravy. Okay, I do believe the meat and potatoes request, though I would have thought the request would be a great big juicy steak. What a surprise. Just a simple, old fashioned, southern dish? This is a favorite from my roots. My grandmother made it for my mother, who in turn made it for me, and now I have been making it for many years as well. So shall we begin?

Put each in a pie plate or vessel of your choice; flour, cracker

meal, and eggs for dredging your cube steaks.Lightly sprinkle steaks with salt,

pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. Dredge steaks, first

in flour then eggs, and then cracker meal. Set on waxed

paper lined plate as each are dredged. 

Heat 1/4 cup neutral oil (cannola) in a deep skillet and over medium high heat.

Brown on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of oil 

from pan and whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour to make a rue. Cook rue until lightly browned,

then slowly add 2 cups of milk, whisking constantly to make a smooth gravy, scraping up any

brown bits on bottom of pan. Add in a tablespoon of worchestershire sauce, and salt and pepper

to taste. Return steaks to the pan of gravy. Cover and simmer over very low heat for 45 - 60 minutes.

Homestyle Cube Steaks and Gravy

from the kitchens of my mother and grandmother

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 pounds cube steaks or 1/2 inch round steaks (pounded with a meat mallot)

1/4 cup oil

2 beaten eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup fine cracker meal

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce

2 teaspoons garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Put each in a pie plate or vessel of your choice; flour, crackermeal, and eggs for dredging your cube steaks.Lightly sprinkle steaks with salt,pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. Dredge steaks, first in flour then eggs,and then cracker meal. Set on waxed paper lined plate as each are dredged. Heat 1/4 cup neutral oil (cannola) in a deep skillet and over medium high heat. Brown on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of oil from pan and whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour to make a rue. Cook rue until lightly browned, then slowly add 2 cups of milk, whisking constantly to make a smooth gravy, scraping up any brown bits on bottom of pan. Add in a tablespoon of worchestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Return steaks to the pan of gravy. Cover and simmer over very low heat for 45 - 60 minutes.

Serves 6.

Notes: The gravy can also be made with the addition of either onions or mushrooms, or both together.
This is best served with sour cream mashed potatoes, though you can certainly serve it with rice or noodles.
 
 
 





Carla and Michael

Buffalo Chicken Wings for Dining with Dad on Fathers Day

  It's Fathers Day. Happy Fathers Day to all of the Dads out there. Well there are actually three very special men in my life; my dad, my husband, and my brother. That being said this is in honor of my Dad, Victor, who is actually my stepfather of more than 30 years, and was actually more of a father to me than my biological father (sadly enough, my biological father wasn't really there for me past my 13th birthday). My stepfather came into my life in the early 70's, and he has been there for me through thick and thin. Plus, he loves my mother with a heart he wears on his sleeve (even though she can't always see it). He has always loved her children as much as his own. He has been through some very tough times and never waivered in his devotion to his family. 

  So to him, I give him his weekly must have: Buffalo Chicken Wings! For he and my mom dine in more than out, and he is a huge fan of TGI Fridays frozen Buffalo Wings. I know, frozen you say? Yes, for he is a simple man. A man of few pleasures for himself, and since there are just he and my mom at home and she is not such a fan of Buffalo Wings, he does not ask her to go through all of the trouble of cooking them for him, so he settles for the frozen box. This is sort of funny in its own right. You see, he is somewhat of a picky eater. He does not like; raw or cooked onions in his food, (though he loves deep fried onion rings), any gravies or sauces on his meat entrees, nor long braised, melt in your mouth meats like a well braised pot roast as his meat entrees should have a substantial bite to it, like in a pernil or lechon asado (pork roast). He would prefer to have a rare cooked steak every day, though my mother tries to get him to eat healthy with a well balance (rotated) diet. His vegetable palate is very limited as well. No, I am not picking on him. He does humor my mother and lets her cook some of her favorites as well for the two of them such as braised short ribs, calves liver and meatloaf even though these are not his favorites. I do wonder why is it that it is mostly the men that have a picky palate? Just slap a steak down in front of them seven days a week and you would have them eating out of your hand.

  Well, I decided rather than give in to that well loved grilled steak which I am sure would be a tribute to all fathers, my stepdad Victor, my FIL Harry (RIP), my FIL Bernie, and my biological dad Jerry (RIP)  all of whom I lovingly call Dad, I would make these wings, which are a little healthier version of those deep fried in unhealthy oils you would find at restaurants. These are Mark Bittman's Buffalo Chicken Wings from How to Cook Everything, Chicken Wings Six Ways. His version is roasted in the oven as opposed to the deep frying we are all accustomed to. I have to add that Michael has worked for Winghouse Restaurant in the past and he makes these frequently at home for us. I liked this sauce recipe better than his. He does not as a rule, generally put in a vinagar, which I think gives the heat an extra punch. I compare this sauce to one of those other wing restaurants. Oh, who gives a HOOT! On to the recipe at hand.

Four simple ingredients for the sauce.

 

Combine the hot sauce, melted butter, vinegar, and garlic in a small bowl.

Blot your chicken wings (Drummettes) as dry as possible.

This alows the skin to be more receptive to crisping up.

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Put wings in a roasting pan, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle liberaly with salt and pepper.

Put the wings into the oven and roast, undisturbed, until the bottom of the pan is coated with

fat and the wings are begining to brown, about 30 minutes.Using a spoon, baste wings with the

drippings, then carefully pour out the remaining drippings. Turn the wings over and return them to

the oven until nicely browned, another 20 minutes or so. Raise the oven temperature to 450F.

Carefully pour off any remaining fat, then drizzle the wings with the wing sauce and toss to coat.

Spread them back out in a single layerand return them to the oven. Cook, tossing once or twice,

until crisp, about 10 more minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

OUR FATHERS

Dad - Victor (left)

Dad - Harry

Dad - Jerry

No photo on the computer

Dad - Bernie

Dad - Michael

Dad - Barry

I think they would all like these wings. Deep fried and tossed in this sauce.

Notes: Loved the sauce. I will give these one more try at a lesser cooking time. If that fails then I'll simply deep fry the wings and toss with the sauce.

  I would have to say, and Michael wasn't shy about it either, these turned out to be very dried out due to the long roasting times. I (and I am sure my dad too) would have preferred the deep fried method. They turn out much more moist with a quick deep fry. Though I have to say the sauce was my perfect idea of what a Buffalo Wing Sauce should be. So, for my Dad I would offer these up in the deep fried version with this sauce (and the bottle of hot sauce on the side, he likes them REALLY hot). He actually puts hot sauce on ALOT of his foods. Maybe next year we should buy him stock in a hot sauce company. 

I am submitting this to this weeks challenge for IHCC's Dining with Dad .

I want to apologise for such a long post, however today is a tribute to all of the men in our lives who have come into our world, been there for us, and/or passed on through.

For all of our Dads out there   .

Michael and Carla

Grilled Salmon in White Wine Cream Sauce

  This is a long overdue post. It is the follow-up to the  Walker's Wood Shrimp we posted back in March. Sorry, April and May have been a bit painful for us. Along with two parents, we also lost my dads mother on May 17th. So everyone in our immediate family has been out of sorts a bit. Two of the men in my life have been devastated in the past few months. It is very hard to watch, though I think life is now getting back to some sort of normality, if you can call it that. For this week my brother is back from overseas for 10 days.

  This recipe as I said is a follow-up to the Walker's Wood Shrimp starter we had for dinner. This is the salmon that was the entree for that evening oh so long ago. This too, is a Hop's Restaurant favorite of mine. (Now that I am finally blogging it, I am also now craving it!!!) Oh well, at least we can make these favorites anytime we desire.Even though there are no Hop's Restaurants for miles and miles and miles.

For the cream sauce you will need: butter, heavy cream, white wine, fresh squeezed lemon juice,

black pepper, salt, dried thyme, and granulated sugar.

Combine the wine, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper over medium high heat.

Bring to a boil and reduce by half.

Reduce heat to medium and add cream.

Cook, stirring often until thick.

Remove pan from heat and slowly whisk in butter a

 little at a time until melted.

Cover and set aside. Keep warm.

Lightly coat salmon in garlic, pepper, salt mixture.

Then coat lightly in flour.

Grill or pan saute in olive oil in skillet

over medium high heat.

Pour warm sauce over salmon and serve.

Hop's Salmon in White Wine Cream Sauce
Courtesy of Recipe Addict

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbls. granulated sugar
1 Tbls. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 pinch dried thyme
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup real butter – sliced, room temperature
4 Salmon fillets
garlic pepper salt blend – as needed
olive oil OR vegetable oil – as needed

Directions
In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine wine, lemon juice, sugar, pepper, salt, and thyme. Bring to a boil and reduce by half. Reduce heat to medium, add cream to pan, and cook, stirring often, until thick.
Remove pan from heat and slowly whisk in butter until melted. Cover pan, set aside, and keep warm.
Lightly coat salmon with garlic pepper salt. Grill or saute salmon in a small amount of olive oil a skillet over medium-high heat until pink. Do not overcook.
Pour prepared sauce over salmon.
Serves 4








Michael and Carla