I'll have the penne a la arabiata!

The title comes from an hilarious Eddie Izzard piece from his "Full Circle" dvd discussing the Death Star canteen:



I can't help thinking of this bit any time I cook with penne. I want a pasta that's healthy and not too heavy, so my idea for this pasta casserole dish is to use one of those delightful maxed-out pastas (you know the kind, with protein and fiber and omega 3s and everything under the sun). Additionally, I'll use a mix of broccoli and spinach to account for vegetables. Finally, I'll keep with parmesan cheese (yeah yeah yeah, parmesan and not parmiggiano reggiano - but let's face it, I'm on a student's budget) to add flavor without a lot of extra calories. Basically, I see this as a glorified mac and cheese, with pan seared chicken on top. Sure the chicken could be cut up and baked with the pasta as well but when your entire dinner comes in one dish, I have a hard time not engulfing the entire thing.

Also, I've decided to try and start doing better at counting calories. I need to be more aware of what, calorically speaking, goes into my body, and in making these meals, sometimes it's easy to forget that every tsp of olive oil really adds up.

Spinach and Broccoli Penne with Pan-Seared Chicken

1lb uncooked penne pasta

1 tbsp olive oil
3 lean chicken breasts

1 tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup chicken stock
2 1/2 cups milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

12 oz package frozen spinach
11 oz package frozen broccoli


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Begin by setting a pot of salted water onto boil. While that is getting going, set a large over medium heat and let it get warm. Add the olive oil to the pot and let the oil heat up. Rinse and pat the chicken breasts dry, season them with salt and pepper and place the chicken breasts into the pan. Sear until nice and brown, then turn over and sear on the opposite side (about 4-5 minutes per side. Once the chicken breasts are done, place on a sheet pan and into the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes to finish cooking.

In the meantime, your water should be boiling, so add the pasta.

Add the butter and garlic to the pot that contained the chicken and cook for a minute or two, max. Add the flour and combine to form a clumpy roux. Whisk in the chicken stock and cook the flour for a couple minutes longer. Then, add the milk and whisk to dissolve the roux. Let the mixture come to a boil, whisking frequently to make sure there are no clumps. Once the mixture boils, add the parmesan cheese and allow it to melt before adding the frozen spinach and broccoli.

Once you've added the veggies, the mixture will thicken and cool almost instantly because of the drastic temperature change. Keep the pot at medium and allow the mixture to warm through and just barely bubble. When your pasta is done, drain it and add it to the spinach and broccoli sauce. Remove the chicken from the oven, slice the chicken and serve.



I decided to do a little experiment with this recipe and count the calories and fat grams that went into it. I didn't leave out anything to make it super healthy, but I didn't go crazy with heavy cream and ridiculous amounts of cheese either. In the end, with everything accounted for, the fat grams were at 80 and the calories were about 2880. Dividing this total meal into 4 portions renders a very filling serving size (a little light on the chicken and a little heavy on the pasta though) of about 20 grams of fat and 720 calories. I feel like the calories were about average, but I was a little shocked by the fat. Overall, the butter and oil (1 tbsp each) contributed 25 grams and the cheese contributed 24 grams itself! All in all though, it's a solid meal on it's own, chock full of veggies, carbs, and a lean protein, so I'm pretty okay with this meal, at least once in a while as a break from soups and stews. Speaking of which, next up will be my friend Jess's Moroccan Chicken Stew!

Treats

This week has been a week of stress, essay-writing, and hastily cobbled together meals. Case in point: I just finished up a soup consisting of vegetable broth, brussel sprouts, and green beans, thickened slightly with left-over mashed potatoes.

I'm not going to lie, it actually was pretty good. I love brussel sprouts in any form, and the mashed potato-thickened soup was creamy and full-bodied. But I digress.

I'm planning on cooking more this weekend and next week. Lately, I've been craving pasta, so I think some kind of chicken, spinach, broccoli alfredo bake is in order. Since casseroles tend not to keep as long as soups, I figure, by Friday at the latest, I'll be making a Moroccan Chicken and Lentil dish that can very easily be made vegetarian.

Right now though, I wanted to show off some fun food finds from this week.

More vanilla beans? Hell yes. I've been wanting to post this link for quite some time just so that it's easier for me to find in the future. Here's the product, 1/4 lb of Tahitian vanilla beans, excellent quality, arrived 3 days after I purchased them, vacuum-sealed and aromatic as all get out.



And here's the link (I know since it's an eBay store the site isn't as fancy as it could be, but trust me, 9 bucks for like 30 vanilla beans is totally worth it): Vanilla Products USA

Currently, I have vanilla beans in sugar and vanilla beans in vodka. Until I added more beans to my vodka batch it was getting quite dark. I figure in another month or two it will be the most amazing vanilla extract ever.

Next up, we have my favorite food in the world: eggs! Specifically we have more farm fresh eggs straight from my colleague's chicken's cloacae!



And finally, what I like to do with eggs when I really want to treat myself: get a lox and cream cheese bagel from Bagel Street Deli in uptown Athens, open-face it, and top it with scrambled eggs. Now that's what I call breakfast!

The Buttercream Gang

I decided to say "eff it" to no sweets for today. Not that I'm going to go crazy or anything, I just have that vanilla sugar cookie dough in the freezer, and it's too good not to use some.

I want a simple frosting for the cookies, so the natural answer is a quick vanilla buttercream. Rather than a traditional buttercream (made by beating hot egg whites with sugar, then mixing in soft butter), I'll make a quick version with confectionary sugar, butter, heavy cream, vanilla extract and the seeds from a vanilla bean (these are going to be some violently vanilla cookies).

I don't really have the time to fool around with decorations, so I'm thinking simple round or square cookies with frosting - maybe using fork tines or something to that effect to further design the cookies, but we'll see if the frosting can hold up.

Gratuitously Vanilla Cookies

I used a recipe of the vanilla sugar cookies only this time I had brown sugar and I added the delicious innards of a vanilla bean.

Frosting
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
2 -3 tbsp heavy cream

Mix the sugar and butter together on low speed in a stand mixer (or with a hand model) until well combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla, vanilla beans, and cream beating for 1 minute more. Add a little more cream if necessary to get to spreading consistency.



Gratuitously vanilla sugar cookie, meet chocolate milk.

Cooking Up is Hard to Do

At least it is right now. The quarter is winding down and the weather has made it difficult to cook. I'm trying to back down on my intake of sweets lately as well, so I've got some delicious vanilla sugar cookie dough just setting and waiting in my freezer to be enjoyed.

I did attempt, this last weekend, to make the BLT soup. Frankly, I need bacon. I began by slow roasting some garlic cloves in a couple tablespoons of bacon fat. I then removed the garlic and added some flour to make a roux. After that began cooking, I added onions and sauteed until they were soft and the roux was a nice toasty brown color.

After that I added a couple quarts of my mother's home-canned tomatoes as well as a bunch of kale. Oh yes, I also added the roasted garlic, chopped back in as well. Basically, the taste of bacon came out very subtly, overwhelmed by the roasted garlic and tomato. It's not a bad soup at all, in fact it's quite tasty, and I especially like the kale. However, it's certainly not a BLT soup. I think, if I ever make this again, the use of croutons will be required, crispy bacon will make an appearance, the garlic will be reduced, and in all likelihood I'll keep the kale.

I do have to say I love my greens. Specifically, I love them sauteed with a little garlic, salt, and pepper. In the mean time I'm at a loss for what to make and I'm not in the best position to get ingredients, so future posting may have to wait. I do see meatballs, or perhaps vegetarian meatballs, in my future - maybe spaghetti? maybe chili?

Updates

I have a few posts I really need to finish:

A delicious brunch this weekend (sadly without pictures :/)

Sugar cookies for my class tomorrow (because it's Valentine's day and, apparently, I teach elementary kids :P)

Cinnamon Rolls? I've really been wanting to make some lately - but time is a factor this weekend and they are definitely time consuming.

Then, of course, I need time to actually update/create these posts... but they will come. Also, this week or, perhaps, next weekend: BLT soup... yeah seriously.

Happy Birthday

As of today, my blog is 1 full year old!

I'm kind of excited that I've been able to keep up regular posts and keep this thing going for a full year. I guess my goal now is to keep it up. This is a project I started, more or less, for myself. I hoped to encourage some creative ideas and take leaps I may not have taken otherwise. There's a lot I've done poorly, a lot I've done well, and a lot I'm just surprised I did at all (beer ice cream much?!)

It's needless to say that I'm really glad I started this blog.



Here's to hoping that the best is yet to come.

Meat and Potatoes

The setting: My apartment when I'm in need of a break from research and writing my Master's Essay.

The potatoes: drizzled with olive oil, two cloves of smashed garlic, salt, and pepper. Roasted at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. Why stop there? I decided to mash them with butter and a little milk. Crispy, roasted, mashed potatoes? WIN.

The meat: a steak, a delicious steak.



The method: I found this over on the Ideas in Food blog. Basically you take a cast iron skillet, sprinkle on some salt, let it get hot (start smoking) then put in the steak, turn down the heat to medium and turn regularly. You get an even caramelized, salty crust on the steak. Let it rest for 10 minutes to keep it at its juiciest.

My method: no cast iron skillet so I used a regular saute pan with an incredibly light coating of oil, sprinkling of salt, and everything else.

I made a jus after the steak was done - reduced wine and beef broth. Finished with a pat of butter. Simple.



The steak was amazing, but it will be even better when I bring up my cast iron skillet after spring break.



Also, I need to take less crappy pictures. Either way, it was a great Friday night dinner. I may need veggies at some point though, so lentil and canellini soup this weekend.

Drowning in Vanilla

In the past, I've made vanilla extract to give as gifts to my extended family. The process is fairly simple: just let a few vanilla beans soak in some vodka/bourbon/frangelico* for about 6 months, shaking once a week or so. Over time the liquor will darken and smell strongly of vanilla. One large jug of booze = 3 - 4 vanilla beans.



This time though, I've got LOADS of vanilla beans (about 21). I've placed 18 in a glass container half-filled with vodka. This process keeps the beans plump. I should note that you can still use the beans that have been soaking in vodka. Simply pull one out, snip off an end, and the delicious vanilla beans come right out.



The remaining 3 vanilla beans have found their way into another jar filled with sugar that will, naturally, become vanilla sugar. I'm immensely excited about all of these vanilla beans. I think my first order of business is to make some crema di limoncello liquor and share some with my friends.



*I've personally tried vodka and bourbon. Vodka, in my opinion, is the best because it doesn't have such a strong flavor for the vanilla to compete against. My friend Mallory, the one who procured the vanilla beans, mentioned that her fiance (who has been to culinary school) highly recommends using frangelico.

New England Clam Chowder with Mung Beans

*You can totally make this without the Mung Beans*

This is my first attempt at a crockpot soup. It's pretty basic and straightforward. Naturally, the only crazy ingredients are clams and clam juice, heh.

Crockpot Clam Chowder with Mung Beans and Roasted Garlic

1 head of garlic
1 tsp + 1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
2 tbsp flour
1 cup white wine

4-5 medium yukon gold potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

3 8oz cans clams
1 12oz jar clam juice

1 8oz can fat free evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Let's begin by roasting the garlic. Cut the top of the garlic off, exposing the tops of the cloves. Drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and place in a shallow baking dish. Add 1/2 cup water to the dish and bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until the garlic cloves are roasted, caramelized, and deliciously sweet.

Next, in a pan set over medium heat, drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil and let the pan and oil get hot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, sauteing until brown, about 20 minutes. Add the flour to the veggies and cook an additional 2-3 minutes to remove the floury taste. Whisk in the wine and let it come to a boil and thicken slightly. Transfer the contents of the pan to the pot of a crockpot or slow cooker. Add the roasted garlic and all of the rest ingredients except for the evaporated milk and cream. Stir or whisk to dissolve the roux and break apart the roasted garlic (you can also mash the garlic before adding it to the soup).




Cook on high for 3 hours or low for about 5-6 hours. Add the milk and cream during the last hour of cooking. It's hard to beat some delicious, crusty bread with this soup. Also, for the health factor we've got clams that are great for zinc and selenium, potatoes that provide potassium and a good complex carbohydrate to balance the protein in the milk and clams. Additionally, for being so rich, it's relatively low in fat (since 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 tbsp oil is really the only fat in the soup - about 60 grams for the entire pot which constitutes roughly 6-8 16 oz servings).



YUM!