Paying Penance, But In A Good Way . . .

Our last meal for Sue’s birthday was WAY over the top, and we don’t regret a single mouthful. No apologies, just some yummy penance.  This is a salad! This is a salad!

We have heard that there are people somewhere that don’t like eggplant. We think this dish could change their minds. It is hot and cold, crunchy and soft, tart and slightly bitter (referring to the arugula), and completely satisfying. (We know how to do penance.)

We decided to dress the salad and the eggplant with an on-the-fly vinaigrette consisting of Italian olive oil, freshly grated garlic, lemon juice and a touch of Dijon. We were surprised that the recipe didn’t call for a dressing and after very little discussion, took matters into our own hands. Somewhere in this blog there is a written recipe for how we do our vinaigrette, if you don’t have a favorite of your own.

Breaded Eggplant with Arugula and Parmesan

Serves: 4
Prep time: 25 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes
Source: “Whole Living”, September 2012

1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1 inch thick slices
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ c flour
1 large egg, whisked with 1 T water
2 c panko or coarse homemade breadcrumbs
1 c olive oil, for frying
2 c baby arugula
¼ c shaved Parmesan
lemon wedges for serving

Arrange eggplant in a large colander and season generously with salt.  Let stand 30 minutes, then rinse and pat dry.

Divide flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumbs among 3 shallow bowls. Dip each eggplant slice, turning to coat and shaking off excess, in the flour, then egg mixture, then breadcrumbs.

Heat oil in a 12 inch skillet (oil should be about ½ inch deep) over medium heat, and working in batches, fry eggplant until golden and crisp, about 4 minutes per side.

Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate and season with salt and pepper.

Top each cutlet with arugula, Parmesan, and a squeeze of lemon.

Meg raided her wine stash for the Toasted Head Untamed Red. It is a blend of varietals - Syrah, Zinfandel, and Petite Syrah. We think it is a very good California blend and liked it with this meal. Any one of the individual varietals would be equally good. It was purchased at Raley’s Supermarket for $9.99 on sale.

Here comes a return of Lorena’s Gluten Free Fruit Tart recipe in the form of almond cookies. As you recall, our leftover dough from the tart made six measly cookies. This time we decorated the tops with little almonds and took pictures as evidence. See?

Almond Cookies
Original recipe courtesy of Bella Italia, Reno Nevada
Recipe adapted by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 3/23/2013

1 2/3 cup of almond flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 extra large egg
3 tbsp butter, diced and chilled
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
¼ cup sliced almonds

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut butter into dry ingredients. Add the egg and mix with a fork until combined. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator for half an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll level tablespoon balls of dough in your hand. Place about 3 inches apart on a baking sheet covered with either a parchment or a silicone sheet. Dust lightly with sugar and flatten slightly with bottom of a glass.  Press 3-4 sliced almonds into top of each cookie.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 10 minutes until golden around edges. Remove to rack to cool.



Almond Cookies With Tangy Lemon Sorbet

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

As mentioned above we added vinaigrette to the salad.  We think arugula likes to be dressed.  We also only used about 1/2 cup of olive oil to saute the eggplant. Those were our only changes to the recipe. Hard to believe, huh?

The almond flour that we used in the cookie recipe is closer in texture to an almond meal. This time we added 1/3 cup more of this almond flour to make a slightly stiffer dough.  Next time, and there will a next time, we are going to add a little almond extract.  We baked the cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes on a silicone covered baking sheet.  We love the texture of these cookies. They are crisp and yet chewy.

Here's to good eating!

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink... ~Epicurus

You Say It's Your Birthday?

Well, Happy Birthday to you! Yes, we are channeling the Beatles. Sue is a big fan (still) and with her birthday coming up, it seemed appropriate. Everything about this meal is over the top, but that is what birthdays are about. So sit back and indulge along with us!

First the appetizers!

We had planned on a hot artichoke spread, and then Meg took it over the top with some gulf shrimp that her brother brought at Christmas.  Double bonus as she decided to use some of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar that we purchased at Big Horn Olive Oil Company several weeks ago. 

We had a wonderful visit there with Mercedes, the owner, (see comments on our Facebook page,  highlighting the many combinations we sampled at her store here in Reno. 

If you are looking for a wine to have with these appetizers, we recommend the Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc. We had a 2010, but we have always enjoyed this wine, regardless of the vintage.

Hot Artichoke Spread
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 3/09/13
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray
1 14oz can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
¾ cup Romano cheese, divided
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, grated
¼ cup panko bread crumbs
Baguette for serving, toasted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray an 11 x7 cooking dish with the olive oil spray.
In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, ½ cup of the Romano cheese, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Blend until smooth. (We used a mixer.) Add chopped artichoke hearts and stir to combine. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Combine remaining ¼ cup Romano cheese with panko crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the spread.
Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling and top is lightly browned.

Marinated Pan Seared Shrimp
Recipe developed by Meg For Saturday Night Specials 3/09/13

Serves 2-4

12 shrimp, cleaned, tails on
2 Tbsp Blood Orange Olive Oil, divided
1 Tbsp Honey-Ginger White Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, 3 grinds each
Italian flat leaf parsley for garnish

Toss shrimp with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Store in a small Ziploc in refrigerator for several hours.

Heat skillet, add shrimp and drizzle with remaining tablespoon of oil while cooking. Turn once. Cook for 1 ½ minutes per side or until opaque.

Arrange parsley on serving plate. Add shrimp and drizzle with Honey-Ginger White Balsamic vinegar.

Sue has a family tradition of letting the birthday person choose the menu for the meal. Sue’s taste buds were wandering around and settled on some kind of stuffed chicken breast; so we took it from there, adding all of the things we like and could stuff into that bird. What’s a meal without some adventure?

Birthday Stuffed Chicken Breast
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 3/09/13

Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 oz creamy mild goat cheese at room temperature
2 green onions, thinly sliced
3 T sundried tomatoes in oil, minced
1 clove garlic, grated
 ¼ c Kalamata olives, finely chopped
¼ t freshly ground pepper, divided
1 3 oz package prosciutto
olive oil for baking sheet

Preheat oven to 350’F.

Mix all of the ingredients except the chicken breasts and olive oil in a medium bowl.

Put the chicken breasts into a gallon ziplock bag one at a time and pound out with the meat tenderizer until about ¼ inch thick, turning over half way through.  Put about ¼ cup of the filling down the middle of each breast lengthwise.  Roll the chicken, (lengthwise again), to enclose the filling and wind 2 pieces of prosciutto around the bundle to enclose everything. 

Place onto the baking sheet seam side up, and turn over.  This will lightly coat each rollup.

Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes

Stuffed chicken breasts ready for the oven

Vinaigrette for Broccolini

Juice from ½ large lemon
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. agave nectar
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a measuring cup. Blend with small whisk or fork until emulsified.  Pour over hot broccolini and enjoy!

We liked this cabernet with the strong flavors of the stuffed chicken.

So, on to the birthday cake . . . . Meg made this cake, with the exception of the candied orange peel, for a friend’s sister’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. (There were other changes we made the second time around – see below.) When she told Sue what she was fixing, Sue, not given to shyness, said; “I want that for my birthday cake, too!”  Meg, thankfully said, “OK”.

Homemade Candied Orange Peel

Orange marmalade filling for the middle

Chocolate and orange - a combination made in heaven!

California Orange Cake with Bittersweet Glaze
and Candied Orange Peel
Serves: 10-12

Source: “Great Desserts of the American West”, Frances Towner Giedt, Gulf Publishing Co.
Notes: The candied peel makes a tangy sweet-tart garnish for the cake.  The orange peel recipe is simple, but it does take some time; so plan to make it a day or so ahead.

Candied Orange Peel
2 large navel oranges
water
2 ¼ c sugar
1 T fresh lemon juice

Orange Cake
3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 c fresh orange juice
1 T grated orange rind
1/3 c water
1 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 c sugar
4 large eggs
1 c good quality orange marmalade
2 T Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur (we used 4 tablespoons, 2 per layer)

Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
5 T unsalted butter
2 t light corn syrup (we used agave syrup)

To make candied orange peel:
Cut oranges in half and juice.  Refrigerate juice to use in the cake.  Scrape out the fruit membrane of the oranges with a spoon, leaving the shell intact.  Cut each orange half in half, then slice the orange pieces into long strips about ¼ inch wide. 

Fill a medium saucepan with water.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Add the orange peels and boil for 5 minutes.  Drain the peels, discarding the water.  Fill the saucepan with fresh water and again bring to a boil.  Add orange peels and boil for 5 minutes.  Drain.  Repeat this boiling process two more times to remove the bitter flavor from the peels.

In a clean medium saucepan, bring 2 c sugar, 1 ½ c water, and lemon juice to a boil, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.  Reduce heat to medium-low, add orange peels, and cook until the peels are translucent, about 1 ½ hours.

Drain the peels and arrange in a single layer on a wire rack to air-dry overnight.  Next morning, toss the dried orange peels with remaining ¼ c sugar.  Pack into small jars and seal.  Use within a week.

To make cake:
Preheat oven to 350’.  Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Onto a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a 2 c glass measuring cup, stir together the orange juice, orange rind, and water.

In a mixing bowl and using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 – 5 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Reduce speed to low and alternately add the flour mixture and the orange juice mixture, beginning and ending with flour.  Divide the batter between the prepared pans.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert cakes onto the rack.  Turn the cakes right side up and cool completely.  Meanwhile, combine orange marmalade and Grand Marnier.  Set aside.

To make the bittersweet glaze:
 Melt chocolate, butter, and corn syrup (or agave) in the top of a double boiler or in a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t actually touch the water).  Whisk until chocolate melts and glaze is smooth.  Remove from stove and let stand 120 minutes to thicken.

To assemble cake:
Place one cake layer on a cake plate and evenly spread the orange marmalade mixture over the top.  Stack second cake layer on top of the first layer.  Pour chocolate glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.  Smooth the glaze on the sides and top.  Let set for at least 15 minutes for glaze to harden.  Let set for 30 minutes, then decorate top with candied orange peel.

Notes:
I put the bottom cake layer top side down before spreading the orange glaze.  This helped with the absorption and also kept the layers from sliding.  I didn’t need the full cup of marmalade – probably ¾ c would have been fine.

Now this is a celebration cake!

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

We recommend dividing the artichoke recipe into two baking dishes.  This will keep the spread hot longer. Meg says it is more visually appealing, too, especially when people start digging in.  We only cooked half of the recipe. We will share the other half at Sue’s second birthday dinner with family and friends. She is quite adept at spreading this birthday thing out for at least a month.

These shrimp would be a worthy entrée with a nice side dish and salad. The combination of the Blood Orange Olive Oil and Honey-Ginger White Balsamic Vinegar is spectacular!  You get little bursts of flavor in every bite. Meg was eating the parsley from the dish to get every last drop of the oil and vinegar. Kid you not.

We relied on a cooking thermometer to determine the doneness of the chicken, which was not a good indicator. We cooked it about 10 minutes too long, (the cooking time in the recipe is correct), resulting in overcooked chicken. Plus, the ooey-gooey cheese escaped. The flavor however, was excellent, and we are already working on a better way to present this dish.

We steamed the broccolini in the microwave for about 3 ½ minutes and then tossed it with the lemon-Dijon vinaigrette. Set your microwave for a small amount of time and test for doneness, because microwave power varies. Ours was crisp-tender and very fresh tasting. Broccolini is a hybrid of broccoli and “gai lan”. Who knew?

The candied orange peel for the cake is quite labor and time intensive, but worth the effort. Meg cooked them for 1 ¾ hours and didn’t cover them while cooking. In our dry climate it took one day to dry before tossing them with the sugar. Adjust the timing to your climate. Meg tossed them a few at a time in a bowl of sugar. They are very sticky even after drying for a day.  There was about 1 ¼ cups of orange syrup left, which we have stashed in the refrigerator for a later creation. Stay tuned.

We made several changes to the cake recipe. Meg added a generous tablespoon of fresh zested orange peel to the marmalade and let it sit overnight.  We poked holes in the cake and drizzled Grand Marnier directly onto both layers instead of mixing it into the marmalade. Meg thought that the liqueur flavor did not permeate both layers when she made the cake the first time.

This cake is divine and worthy of any celebration. We would invent celebrations to have it again! Sue is feeling very lucky to have such a good friend who is willing to make this cake for her.

 You say its your birthday? Well, Happy Birthday to you!