Chicken Kabobs

Here in Florida, even though it isn't unbearably hot yet, cooking indoors right now increases the temperature of our apartment so much that it's uncomfortable. This is why we love our grill. Tonight we fired it up to cook grilled chicken and vegetable kabobs. To compliment the chicken we used a colorful mix of vegetables: beets, white onion, green pepper and pineapple.

Ingredients:
1/2 green pepper
1/2 white onion
2 medium beets, steamed until tender, skin removed
2 c pineapple
1 chicken breast
olive oil
salt and pepper
seasonings or rub - we used a chili lime rub we had on hand

Turn the grill on to heat. Cut the chicken into 1" size pieces and season with the oil, salt, pepper and seasonings. Toss to coat and set aside. Cut the veggies into similar size cubes (to even cooking time). Place the chicken on skewers.

We put the chicken on first, for a total of about 8 minutes, turning once (but your cooking time would depend on the heat of your grill). While the chicken is cooking, make the vegetable skewers. Once we took off the chicken, we put the veggie skewers on the grill. I let those grill for about 5 minutes on one side to get a nice char, and then flipped to get light marks on the other side.

Remove the skewers from the grill and slide the chicken and veggies off the skewers and onto a serving plate. Toss the chicken and veggies together and serve.

Kitchen Gear - The IngenuiTEA Pot

Nick and I drink some hot beverage (at least) once a day. On the weekends we'll drink coffee since it takes longer to prepare, but during the week we drink tea. Tea making is usually my responsibility since I am often the first one up. I make two cups, one for him and one for me. I take mine to work and leave his on the counter for when he wakes up. I had been using our french press to make the brew, but cleaning it was a pain and whoever got the tea at the bottom of the press got all the good (read: caffeinated) bits. It worked well, but we were on the lookout for something better. Then, wandering through some shops in Winter Park, we spotted IngenuiTEA at one of the local tea stores.

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This is the coolest thing on the planet. Okay, maybe not, but it's still pretty neat. You put in the loose tea, add water, and then brew. When it's done, you lift the pot from it's base, place it on a mug and:

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 It filters the tea from the bottom straight into your mug. It's also easy to clean, has replacement filters available and is dishwasher and microwave safe. We have the 32 oz so we can get two full mugs in the morning, but they also have a smaller, personal version great for the workplace.  

Any tea drinkers out there?

Mushroom Lasagna

Who doesn't love lasagna? Creamy layers sandwiched between layers of pasta? This twist on the traditional lasagna (original recipe from Food & Wine) was not only delicious, it was meat-free. Nick adores meat, and so making a meat free meal is pretty rare. This lasagna, though, is a keeper. We'll definitely be making this one again!

Ingredients:

2.5 tbsp butter
1/8 c flour
1 1/2 c. heated milk or cream
3 cloves garlic, 2 finely chopped, 1smashed
pinch of nutmeg
6 lasagna noodles (we used no-boil to save a step)
1 large onions, diced
2 lb whole portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch basil, diced
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. Pecorino Romano, grated
salt and pepper

Melt 1.5 tbsp butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and incorporate into the butter, creating a rue. Add the cream to the rue and stir so that there are no lumps and the milk/cream is thoroughly incorporated into the mixture. Throw in the crushed garlic clove and nutmeg and simmer, stirring. Once it has thickened, turn off the heat and set aside. Salt and pepper to taste. In another pan (I recommend one that's deep), saute the onions and garlic in the remaining butter. Once the onions are clear, about 5 minutes, add the mushrooms and saute until tender. In a food processor, mix the cream and basil. Mix half of the cream mixture into the mushroom and onions and set aside the other half.

In a greased 9" x 9" baking dish, layer the bottom with the cream garlic sauce. Add a layer of lasagna noodles and top with the mushroom mixture. Add another layer of noodles and mushrooms and continue until the mushrooms are used up (I think we had 2 layers). Place noodles on top of the last mushroom layer. Mix the remaining cream garlic sauce with the basil cream and half the pecorino. Pour on top of the noodles. Top with the remaining cheese and bake in a 450 F oven for 45 minutes. Let rest before serving for 10 minutes.

Goat Cheese Ravioli

Remember these? Well, they were my first ravioli since my dairy allergy and I decided that I needed to eat more because they were so delicious. Since typical cheeses for ravioli, like ricotta, are no-go's for me, I thought to make them with goat's cheese, chevre to be specific.

Also, in our first go-around with the wonton wrapper raviolis, we were less than thrilled. They are fast, and easy, but flavor and texture wise they just weren't cutting it. Plus, they were a little hard to seal. So, this time around it looked like we were going to be making pasta.

So, I made some pasta dough. It was an interesting experiment, since well, we don't have a pasta roller, or a rolling pin for that matter. If you are interested in the pasta recipe, check it out at Serious Eats. It was a very tasty pasta, but I think next time we'll try the recipe in The Silver Spoon, since it seems simpler and uses less ingredients. Less fuss = better in my book.  I'll do a post on that when we try it.

Ingredients (for ravioli):
1/3 lb chevre, I used plain so that I could add flavors myself
2 bunches of spinach leaves, steamed
1/4 c pecorino romano, grated
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg
pasta dough

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate for easier spooning and shaping when filling the raviolis.

I rolled the pasta dough very thin (with a water glass). I placed 1 tsp of the filling on the pasta every two to three inches. I used an egg wash to seal the edges once I folded the dough over the filling (don't forget to squeeze out any air bubbles), but if your dough is moist enough and sticking together easily, it's a step you can probably skip.

Since I don't have a biscuit cutter or anything, I cut the rounds out with a measuring cup (1/3 c. worked out pretty well). Since I made them earlier than we were planning to eat them, I froze them on a cookie sheet until solid and then placed in freezer bags so they wouldn't stick together.


When we were ready, I simply took them out of the freezer and placed them into salted boiling water. Once they floated, I pulled them out, drained and tossed them with the sauce and served.

Ingredients (for sauce):
3 tbsp butter
2 shallots, diced
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 c chicken stock
2 tbsp heavy cream
salt and pepper

To make the sauce, melt the butter over medium low heat, add the shallot and saute until tender. Add the flour and mix into the butter forming a light rue. Add the chicken stock slowly, and stir often to avoid lumps. Add the cream, salt and pepper and cook for a few more minutes, without boiling so the rue doesn't separate. (If it does, however, a quick blend with an immersion blender should bring it back together).

We served them with a side of roasted asparagus and some fresh and crusty french bread.

Cannelli Bean & Basil Dip

We had a great dip at a restaurant back in Pittsburgh, Lidia's, and thought it was a great twist on the typical, but also tasty pesto dipping sauce. It was a basil dip, made with cannellini beans, so we attempted to recreate it at home, and I think we've come close.

Ingredients:
1/2 c of cannellini beans, dried
3 tbsp pesto sauce
1/4 c olive oil
salt and pepper

First, soak the cannellini beans in a bowl of water for a day. Then boil until soft, about 1 hour.

Once the beans are tender, drain and then place into a blender or food processor. Add the pesto sauce and enough olive oil to make it creamy. It works pretty well if you add a little of the oil at a time so you can gauge the creaminess as you go. Salt and pepper to taste and serve alongside warm, tasty bread for a great appetizer.