A long drive in professional golf: (1) What she’s hoping for as she gazes down the fairway from the tee box, searching for that perfect landing spot; (2) The long stretch of road that often lies ahead after the weekend. When the tour was traveling …
Of all the highlights and “take-aways” from a week of Cooking at Home with Patricia Wells in Provence, the first thing I wanted to make after returning home was this fabulously refreshing fragrant rosemary infused sorbet. So delicious. So easy. Everyone around the table will …
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Bring the meat and bones to room temperature and pat dry with a paper towel.
Season flour with steak seasoning and lightly coat stew meat.**
Heat a Dutch oven, add olive oil and butter. Sauté beef bones on all sides until browned. Remove and set aside. Brown stew meat in 2 or 3 batches being careful not to overcrowd the Dutch oven.*** Add oil as needed while browning meat. Remove and set aside with browned bones.
Sauté onion and garlic. Return stew meat, bones, and liquid from the bowl back to the Dutch oven. Add beef broth, red wine, tomato paste and fresh herbs. Bring to a boil and then simmer 15 minutes, skim.
Transfer the Dutch oven, covered, to the preheated oven and cook for 1 hour.
Then add carrots, potatoes and brown sugar and cook for an additional 1 hour.
Add mushrooms and cook another hour (3 hours total). Discard the bay leaves, thyme sprigs and bones, making sure the marrow is left in the stew.
This stew is even better the next day. Reheat gently in the Dutch oven and serve.
*Costco sells an inexpensive (less than $9) wines that I keep stocked in the pantry for cooking.
**Put seasoned flour in a freezer bag and add stew meat and shake to lightly coat.
*** Crowding the meat lowers the pan temperature and leaves nowhere for the moisture from the meat to go when it hits the hot pan, causing the meat to steam instead of brown.
There are only 2 cucumber plants in the garden, however, they are producing almost more than we can eat, so I’m looking forward to exploring new ways to use them. Every day I marvel at the long reaching delicate tendrils that grasp and coil around …
The first time I planted Black Beauty eggplant, I thought she was the prettiest plant in the garden. Then, I grew her cousin, the fairy tale eggplant, and I thought she was the prettiest plant in the garden… with her petite purple and white stripes, …
A cast iron skillet. So important in the south, the coveted perfectly seasoned ones are passed down for generations, like the small one I have that reliably makes perfectly crisp golden cornbread every time. Today, however, you can purchase pre-seasoned ones with the hard work already done for you. My son gave me a 15″ Lodge cast iron skillet recently that I use all the time. Great for making this roasted lemon rosemary chicken.
Pat the chicken dry and season with salt.
Heat the cast iron skillet and add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. Brown the chicken on one side and flip.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the skillet and place in a preheated 350 degree oven until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 degrees.
Transfer chicken to a platter.
Bring pan juices to a boil over high heat and reduce slightly.
Deglaze the pan with wine and reduce by half over medium high heat.
Add chicken stock and reduce by half.
Off the heat, add heavy cream and whisk.
Strain.
Lightly coat the bottom of a dutch oven with oil. Sauté the shallots a minute. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add 3 cups os water and simmer until absorbed. Using a fork, add in the zest and parsley while “fluffing” the rice.
Heat a sauté pan and add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. Sauté squash over medium high heat until browned, flipping as they cook. Add thyme, salt and pepper.
Whatever is blooming in the yard seems to be my current favorite flower obsession. I added another variety of hellebore this year: Tropical sunset honeymoon series lenten rose. It will be fantastic arranged with daffodils, ranunculus and forsythia. I use these little versatile vases for making simple arrangements and keeping cut herbs in the refrigerator. I like the clear glass ones and have them in all different sizes. Cluster them together on a tray for a beautiful table centerpiece.
Rainbow carrots, vibrant green asparagus and purple cauliflower brighten up this winter plate. Add in some melt-in-your-mouth creamy parmesan risotto and you have a hearty meatless comfort meal. Roasted Winter Vegetables Ingredients On a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle asparagus and carrots with olive oil. …
The droopy headed purple, green and white hellebores, with their delicate necks and happily painted petals are filling up the side yard, and bright citrus in every form is demanding your attention at the market. Tiny little orange kumquats turn into this chewy tart sweet …
Deep dark blood oranges, bright sweet meyer lemons, tart limes, the first appearance in the short season of young peppery water cress, juicy sumo oranges and earthy golden beets. It’s February and the colors and citrus flavors are spectacular!
Combine lemon juice, orange juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, garlic, ginger, brown sugar and bourbon. Pour marinade over salmon and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bring salmon back to room temperature before cooking. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Place the fillets, skin side up, in the skillet and cook 3 minutes. Turn the salmon and finish cooking in a preheated 350 degree for 5 minutes or until the salmon changes color and is cooked medium or to your liking.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the stems off the beets and wash them. Lay beets (keeping the red and gold separate) on a sheets of foil and drizzle with a little olive oil, splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Close up the foil and roast for one hour or until a knife is inserted without resistance. When cool enough to touch, rub the skin off with a paper towel and cut into quarters.
Freshly squeeze 1 cup of orange juice. In a sauce pan over medium heat reduce to 1/4 cup. Add zest of 1 orange. Cool. Whisk in a fresh squeeze each of lemon and lime juice, 1 minced shallot, and one sprig of fresh minced thyme. Slowly whisk in 3 tbs olive oil and 3 tablespoons EVOO, salt and pepper.
Cut off a sliver from the top and bottom of the orange. Then place the orange on a flat end and cut away the peel and pith. Cut one into slices and one into supremes (made by cutting between the membranes to release the segments).
Arrange the roasted beets and oranges slices and segments on the plate and top with salmon. Serve with a generous portion of water cress and garnish with chopped pistachios and a charred lemon. Pour on the citrus vinaigrette.
Winter weekends at the lake typically have us arriving back home after sunset. This dinner is fast with an easy clean up. Sunday scaries seem to be a little more comforting with a quick hearty one pot meal to curl up with and watch Audrey …
