Banana Cake with Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

What is a Birthday without a Birthday Cake!! As you can see, we have had friends in town for the past week - thus the lack of blog entries as we had been eating out for a good portion of the week. Needless to say, I'm ready to get back on the cooking wagon as I am a bit sick of delicious yet sinful dining, having to be waited on in order to be served my meal - I can only take so much before it gets to be overkill! Enough of my rambling. As I was saying, this past week we had friends in town and it just so happened that one of them had a birthday on Friday and another had one on Saturday. What does that mean when you are the only girl in the group? You make them feel special and bake a cake!! Men don't seem to have that special knack for going a little above and beyond for birthdays - unless its their girlfriends or parents or something. A traditional male celebration is a purchase of a round (or two...) of shots and there you go - Happy Birthday Buddy!

For me, I think it is incredibly important to make someone feel a little special on their birthday, have an element of surprise - know that someone went just slightly out of their way for the sake of their special day. The best way I could do that was to bake a cake (plus, if I have an excuse to bake, you bet I'll take it!!).

So the mission was to bake a cake. The obstacle was WHAT and WHEN. After all, we were with them the whole week!! So I decided to take the night off on Wednesday - forego sush and spend the evening making a cake - and then the next evening, frosting....and then the next evening, assembly and delivery!!

Seeing a bunch of bananas getting a nice "tan" on my microwave, I decided I wanted to try to incorporate them somehow. Then I got the idea of a bananas foster-type cake...and a few recipes and tweaks later, I came to my final result - a Banana Cake with Rum Cream Cheese Frosting.


Here's what I did:

Ingredients

Cake
3 large ripe bananas, mashed with 2 T. dark rum
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup dark rum

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 T. dark rum
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Garnish with chopped roasted almonds (optional)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 275°.
- Grease two round cake pans
- In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the rum and lemon juice; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
- Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk and rum.
- Stir in banana mixture.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.
- For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla, rum,and cinnamon.
- Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
- Spread on cooled cake.


My opinion? Having no clue how it would turn out (besides having the batter that was absolutely delicious - but what batter is not absolutely delicious?) - I was happy with the result. The cake itself was dense, not far off from a super moist banana bread. I personally prefer lighter cakes but to each his own - for being a dense cake, this was very good. I was surprised how much the banana came through even with only 3 bananas. And the rum? A wonderful add-on. I'm not sure what the freezing of the cakes after removing them from the oven does - but perhaps that lends its want to part of the dense texture?

As for the frosting. Pretty killer, though I would remove some of the powdered sugar - I found it to be a little too sweet. Good nonetheless.

Buffalo Lasagna with Mushrooms and Spinach

Being the planner that I am, I wantd to make a dinner ahead of time for a post-wine country evening. I know how a long and hard a day in Napa can be. You come home and the last thing that you want to do is think about cooking, and execute on cooking. Sure, going out to dinner may be the easiest route, but there's something nice about just being able to kick your feet up and relax after your brain has been busy all day deciphering between wine notes and finishes and mouth feel...

What came to mind while thinking about a comforting, tasty, make-ahead dish was Lasagna. A dish that Derek and I rarely make because it isn't miuch of a two person dish. It could be adapted to be a two person dish, but with the amount of work that goes into it, better to just make the whole beast.

As always, I searched and searched the Internet for the "perfect" lasagna dish to please the meat eater guest palate but to not tip over the scales TOO TOO much with an overabundance of cheese and meaty goodness. My search came up dry. If it were me, I'd do my traditional Roasted Vegetable Lasagna that I've made on a few different occassions. Void of meat, ricotta (not my favorite) and inclusive of some vegetables so it looks like a somewhat balanced meal. Wanting to "impress" or satisfy our guests, however, I opted for the meaty version and decided to simply "wing it" by going to my favorite grocery store and picking out whatever caught my eye.

The result: Buffalo Lasagna with Mushrooms and Spinach
a true Derek/Katie creation
serves 6-8 (for us, 6)

Ingredients:
2/3 lb. ground bison
1/3 lb. ground pork
1 T. fresh thyme
salt
2.5 cups of homemade marinara sauce (or good quality store bought sauce)
1.5 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic (about 2 tsp.)
1 T. EVOO
1.5-2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
4-5 cups spinach
pinch red chili pepper flakes
2 T. dry vermouth
2 t. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 cup freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese
6-7 lasagna noodles (flat)

Step 1: Brown the ground pison and pork in a large pan until no longer pink. Add the thyme a sprinkle of salt to the meat for direct flavor absorption. Stir in marinara sauce and let simmer for about 10 minutes on a low temperature to incorporate the flavors. Set aside.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, nutmeg, and parsley. Set aside.

Step 3: In a saute pan, heat the EVOO. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to give off their liquid (about 5 minutes). Add salt, pepper, red chili pepper flakes. Add spinach, dry vermouth and red wine vinegar and cook until spinach is wilted.

Step 4: Assembly! The following is the order that we layered our lasagna:

9x9 Pan
Layer of Meat Sauce (1/3 of batch)
Noodles
Layer of Meat Sauce
Ricotta Mixture (1/2)
Fresh Marjoram (1 tsp.)
Spinach/Mushrooms (1/2)
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Noodles
Layer of Meat Sauce
Ricotta Mixtures (1/2)
Spinach/Mushrooms (1/2)
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Noodles
Plain Marinara Sauce (or meat if leftover) - 1/2 cup
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Pecorino-Romano


Step 5: Bake at 375 degrees with foil over the pan for 45 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes and serve!

Step 6: Spoon a little heated up marinara over the top - bon appetit!

We served this with a green salad with Easter egg radish and carrots with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Notes: You could probably use a little more meat if you wanted. I liked it as an accent rather than a full-on meaty dish. The reason why I added some pork into the mix was that the bison is so super lean, the pork adds the necessary fat into the dish.

It was so nice to be able to just pop this in the oven when we got home. I had frozen the lasagna on Friday night after we made it and then took it out on Sunday to thaw out. It was perfect by the time we got home Sunday night. Derek and I agreed that the dish felt "light" but not skimping. It was a great meld of flavors. You can beef it up more if you wish but for me, it's something that I wouldn't feel badly having the leftovers again - a good ending to wine country...enjoyed with, what else, wine! (A Zinfindel from Milat Winery in Napa)

Roasted Marinated Goat with Israeli Couscous Pilaf and Roasted Broccolini

Goodness - here's a recipe that I wish I could translate back, however, because I played such a small part in the creation of the meal, the descriptions are best served by pictures and small insights here and there.

I had written down the recipe for the pilaf which turned out to be simply amazing - but unfortunately, in the cleaning out of my bag, I must have thrown it away. I'll do my best!!

Derek had this yearning desire to cook goat. Yes, goat. Those little animals that were chained up in every yard as we drove through the countryside of Jamaica between the resort and the airport. In fact, Jamaica was the only other place that I had eaten goat, and truthfully, it was not that incredible. The piece was fatty and the dish was simply unmemorable. So here we go again...

Knowing that goat has a tendency to be a little tough - Derek searched and searched for that perfect goat recipe - a technique that would produce a deliciously flavorful and tender meat. He succeeded. His techniques were based on this website: http://forkable.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-i-figured-out-how-to-roast-leg-of.html

In the website, the author recommends the odd combination of citrus, alcohol, and salt in the marination process - often times perpitrators to dry meat - however, in this case, they served to break down the "tough" meat and create a tender, juicy final product.

Ingredients for the goat leg included: Lime juice, dark rum, olive oil, beets (for color), ginger, garlic, papaya seeds, spices (cumin...), salt, cilantro

If I can get Derek to remember the recipe more specifically, I will update this post.

I know that the meat was marinated overnight and then seared stovetop before finishing the cooking in the oven.

When it came out of the oven and had sat for about 10 mintues - here's what the bad boy looked like:


For the Israeli Couscous Pilaf:

1 small/medium carrot, peeled and diced
1 shallot, diced
EVOO
2/3 cup israeli couscous
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons raisins,chopped
3 Tablespoons, pinenuts, toasted
parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Saute the carrot and onion in EVOO until tender. Add the israeli couscous and cook, stirring throughout, until lightly toasted.

Add the cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and water. Cover and simmer for about 10 min. Stir in raisins, pinenuts, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy!


We served the goat and couscous with roasted broccolini and sipped Chateau St. Jean Pinot Noir - not that great.


The icing on the cake - Derek brought these home for me :) A great meal AND flowers?


Lucky Me!

Punjabi Sukha Urad Dal with Phulka and Cucumber-Tomato Salad

I would say that looking at our track record, Indian cuisine probably isn't our strongest point. The blend of spices that elevates simple ingredients to such complex flavors is really an art to master. You need to know what the spices do, and how much to use of each of them. That's where we've encountered issues in the past (ahem...turmeric overload). However, I will not give up. My goal is to have strong dishes in each ethnic sector. Afterall, I like eating a variety of ethnic cuisine (gasp - no, I'm not the 8 year old picky eater anymore) and want to be able to cook them up in my own kitchen rather than having to pay for a meal that I'm not quite sure what went into making it!

Now I have to say, there are some dishes that I know will never come out of my kitchen the way they do in restaurants (well, probably most dishes considering the exorbitant amounts of oil and butter that go into restaurant cuisine), but to have a good "decent" dish to make at home - well that is just fine for me.

This dish however, is actually BETTER than the lentil dishes I've had in restaurants!! Yes - BETTER. Derek and I made Indian that tasted so incredibly delicious it makes me salivate. And it's easy! Perhaps that is why we were so successful :)

The idea to go this route started with me thinking what we could make for dinner with the ingredients that we have (of course). I rememebered this bag of beluga lentils sitting on our microwave and thought - DAL. After a little research for black lentil dal, I came across this one that then offered suggestions for the accompanying dish. DONE.

On the menu:
Punjabi Sukha Urad Dal
Phulka (unleavened bread)
Cucumber-Tomato Salad

We started out soaking the lentils for about 4 or 5 hours. That's Step #1 - so think a bit ahead.

Next we decided to throw together the bread since it said it should sit for at least 30 minutes. It doesn't have yeast but this is said to make the bread softer. Looking back at our results, I'd say perhaps it could have sat a little bit longer.

What are Phulkas? Phulkas are light puffed up unleavended Indian bread. They are very light in texture and melt in your mouth. The phrase "garam garam phulkas" brings up memories of one's mom serving you "hot hot phulkas" as you sit down for a wonderful home cooked meal.

It is also said that "this preparation requires dexterity and skill" - apparently we do not have that down yet...

Here's the phulka recipe that we used:

2/3 cup wheat flour + 1/3 plain flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Water or as needed to make a soft dough
2 teaspoons oil
Oil for kneading

Put the flour, oil and salt in a large bowl with half the water. Adding just enough water knead well to make a soft, pliable dough. Knead dough until it is smooth and elastic. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat an ungreased griddle/skillet.

Knead dough again. Making 1/2 inch balls as needed. That is just before rolling. This is to make sure that the dough does not dry out. Roll each ball into a disc at least 6 inches in diameter and about 1/8th cm thick. Thin phulkas will puff up too.

Put phulka on the hot griddle/skillet. Cook for about 1 minute, until the top starts to look dry and small bubbles start to form. Flip and cook the other side for 2/3 minutes until small bubbles form.

We weren't quite successful in getting the bread to puff up.

Indian Recipe #1 - Fail!

We are not discouraged though, I'm ready to try these again. (Derek made the dough, perhaps if I take that job next time....stay tuned)

Next I prepared the salad. Simple. Fresh. Hard to go wrong here.

Kheera Salad (Cucumber-Tomato Salad)

Cucumbers, 1 large peeled, chopped into 1/2" pieces
Green chili (jalapeno), 1/2 finely chopped
Tomatoes, 2 cut into chunks
Green onion (Scallion), 1 chopped
Coriander/mint leaves, chopped 1 Tbsp
yogurt 1/4 cup (used Fage 0% fat)
Salt to taste
Cumin, 1/4 tsp

Mix the cucumber, tomatoes, scallion and green chili in a salad bowl.
Beat the yogurt and stir salt and cumin powder. Add to salad bowl and toss gently.
Garnish with coriander/mint leaves.


Indian Recipe #2: Success!

Really tasty - it's like a traditional cucumber and tomato salad but then you get little specks of jalapeno - and then mint, and then cilantro...and hints of cumin throughout - very good!

Here comes the main event. The real battle in the Indian vs. Derek and Katie - the DAL!

We followed this recipe 100% - we are not good enough with Indian food to stray and add in our creative technique (actually, we did make one modification based on other recipes, and it was a very good modification).

Punhjabi Sukha Urad Dal (with beluga lentils)

Ingredients
1 cup skin-on, split black lentils (urad dal) (we used beluga)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
4 green chile peppers, cut into large chunks (we did 1.5 jalapeno, 1 serrano, minced)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 cup water
salt to taste
1 large tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
addition: 1/4 cup plain yogurt

1.Place the lentils into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let soak 4 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse.

2.Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat; cook the onion, green chile peppers, garlic, and ginger in the hot oil until the onions are golden brown, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir the lentils into the onion mixture with 1 cup water; season with salt. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir the tomato, garam masala, and turmeric into the mixture. Cook until the lentils are cooked through, about 10 minutes more.

4. Take off the heat and stir in yogurt. Garnish with the cilantro to serve.

When I first tasted the result - before the yogurt was added in, I was thinking HELLO JALAPENO. Not that it was unbarable, but it was definitely there. That's when I thought - use the rest of the yogurt, after all, a lot of the other recipes that I had read earlier called for cream, milk, or yogurt. And my-oh-my what a difference. Everything was toned down and melded wonderfully. There was still a kick but it was a well blended kick if you will.

The ginger really stood out to me as being a fantastic addition to a dal dish. It was incredible. And now, looking back at the recipe, I realize that we forgot to garnish it with the cilantro! That would have been tasty, luckily we have leftovers so I can try it out.

NOTE: I had the leftovers and garnished the dal liberally with cilantro. INCREDIBLE. I really am beyond impressed with this dish!!

This was very likely the best lentil dish I've had. Period. Therefore.....

Indian Recipe #3: Success!

All-in-all...Indian 1 - Derek & Katie 2....VICTORY.

Tomato Farro with Eggs

This is a meal that probably should have never happened. However, I'm glad that it did. WHY shouldn't it have happened? Well, we happened to have been out drinking all day long, say from 10 AM to 6 PM. Therefore, when we got home at 6:30 PM, we napped until 9 PM...and then thought...well, we should probably have dinner.

The easy route would have been to order takeout (or delivery, though our options are fairly slim in the area) - but NO us being the true epicurians that we are, decided to cook (disclaimer: this is a lie...we were too lazy to even go somewhere to get takeout). Therefore, our thoughts turned to, "well, what do we have at home that we can whip into a quick(ish) meal?" And my answer: TOMATO FARRO with EGGS.

Here we go again with the use of that tomato sauce. I will not need to reiterate how good it is (but man, it's good!!).

I wrote about the meal a while back when I first started the blog but decided to add it again since we had it again - and the pictures were probably a little better since I've stopped using that horrid flash on the camera (and yes, I know, I need a good camera to make the pictures look good, but I try my best).

No recipe necessary for this one, just throw in what you'd like in whatever amounts that you'd like. Here's what we did.

Ingredients
1 cup farro
2.5 cups salted water
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
4 crimini mushrooms, sliced (that's all we had left)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup marinara
3 eggs
salt and pepper
parmesan, to garnish
parsley, chopped, to garnish

Directions
1. Bring salted water and farro to a boil. Turn to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, saute onion and garlic and pepper until the onion becomes translucent - about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until they become tender.
3. Add marinara to the vegetables and simmer on low.
4. Once the farro is done, drain and add to the vegetables. Mix to incorporate.
5. Over medium heat, carefully crack the eggs over the farro (I like to make a little divot in the farro so the egg doesn't spread too much). Cook until the egg whites have set and the yolk is runny (you may want to cover it with a lid to expedite the process and keep the steam in).
6. To serve, scoop the farro and egg(s) onto a plate. Garnish with parsley and parmesan.

Voila! Here is our tired - we have no idea what to cook but probably need to eat - meal.

Steak and Vegetable Kebabs with Two Marinades

In an effort to save a little money by not going out to eat on Saturday night, I came up with the idea of kebabs! It's been a while since I've had them. And I don't know why, but something about putting food on a stick makes it a fun meal. I guess because you can customize it and then watch it cook and then take it off the stick and have a big pile of goodness on your plate, freshly grilled. Yes, that is why it is fun. My original thought for the evening was to do a theme. Caribbean with kebabs and mixed drinks. That went down the tube when we opted for non caribbean marinades and beer rather than mixed drinks, but it was fun nonetheless.

Why TWO marinades? Well - simple. I narrowed the choices for marinades down to three and asked Derek (while on his computer) - which one he thought we should have...
...
.....
.......
no response. (SURPRISE, the story of my life - what is it about men and their total lack of multi-tasking skills while entrenched in the technology filled virtual world...void of real human connection and interaction)

Therefore, I chose two (one was easy to throw out, I wasn't really in the mood for a soy sauce-based one). And here is our creation.

Our Saturday Night Kebabs:

Rib-Eye Steak

Vegetables:

Zucchini, cut into 1/2 in thick rounds
Cremini Mushrooms, stemmed
Red Onion, cut into wedges
Cherry Tomatoes
Small Potatoes, par boiled (10 minutes)
Yellow Pepper, cut into 1 in. pieces
Eggplant, cut into 1 in. pieces

Marinade #1: Southwestern Tomato

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (we didn't have any...bummer)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt, to taste

Marinade #2: Balsamic Vinaigrette
Measurements are far from exact.

2 parts balsamic vinegar
.5 part aged balsamic vinegar
1.5 parts EVOO (slowly streamed in while whisking)
salt to taste

We soaked the skewers for about 30 minutes before threading them with the multitude of vegetable and beef chunks. Once on the skewer, we sprinkled them with salt and used a brush to coat the skewers with one of the two marinades. Then onto a piping hot grill until fully cooked - maybe 15 minutes?

The beef was SOOOO incredibly delicious. Another one of those grass fed wonders that acts as a bold new flavor that my tastebuds just LOVE. And it was so tender and perfectly cooked. The vegetables were also fantastic, just as you would expect.

I would say amongst the marinades, the tomato one won hands down. It had a nice flavor that stood up to the vegetables and beef but did not overpower. I found the balsamic vinaigrette to be a little dull, perhaps we didn't use enough or should have marinated the vegetables and beef in it for a bit before threading them onto the skewer. Derek and I both agreed though, that the tomato marinade was awesome. So easy too. All the ingredients are common in our kitchen so I'd say it's a great go-to recipe with no tweaks required!

Perfect Pairing: La Fin du Monde "The End of the World" - Canadian Beer

This is one of my FAVORITE beers. I had forgotten how much I liked it!! I has an A rating on Beer Advocate, not too shabby. It's a Belgian style beer (obviously why I like it) that is described as: a brilliant golden color with vigorously effervescent foam. It is mildly yeasty with a complex palate of malt, fruit and spice notes followed by a smooth, dry finish. It was $3.19 for my bottle, or you can get a large one in the $7 range...highly recommended!!

Sangria-Spiced Melon

For about a month and a half my office has had a sign up sheet for a Cinco de Mayo fiesta pot-luck! With these types of events, about 1/3 of the office participates by bringing a dish while the other 2/3rds merely scavange, a ratio that is frustrating but I guess inevitable. Additionally, for some of the "chefs" that brought dishes, chips was their dish of choice...lame (though I guess you do need chips at a Mexican fiesta!).

The interesting part of having a pot-luck after you've alraedy been out of the house for five house is that you can't really (successfully) bring a hot dish! So in my ponderings for what to make, and not wanting to make some nasty typical tex-mex dish (cheesy, refried, flour tortilla, non-vegetable yuckiness), I came back to a dish that I (or my Mom...I forget) had made quite a few years ago (or maybe it wasn't that long ago...am I getting old?): Sangria-Spiced Melon. This was an allrecipes.com delight that was easy and didn't require my purchase of too many ingredients, perfect. Afterall, knowing that most people wouldn't be spending a dime and would be eating the food that I so nicely made for them...I didn't want to go all out...not a soup kitchen here kids...

My total bill for the dish was about $15 - still probably more than I wanted to spend, but hey - I had to get the melons...and enough to feed the masses.

Ingredients (with my variations)

10 cups summer melons, "balled" using a melon baller (1 honeydew, 1 cantaloupe, 1 mini-watermelon)
3/4 cup white wine (used Chateau St. Jean Riesling)
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons honey
1/2+ teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2+ teaspoon McCormick® Ground Cinnamon
1/4+ teaspoon McCormick® Ground Black Pepper

Directions

1.Place melon cubes in serving bowl.
2.Combine wine, orange juice, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour over melon and toss gently. Chill 1 to 4 hours before serving - I did overnight - yum!!

It was funny, people were trying to pick out what was in it. Cinnamon always came to their mind - and really, there isn't a ton of cinnamon!! But that was the predominate flavor. Everything else really meshed together, making it difficult to pinpoint any specific ingredient.

I'm thinking that I want to drink the leftover juice...is that bad? It's like a whole cocktail in the bottom of the dish, wine, OJ, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper...hmmmm...it's going to happen :)

Perfect standby for a pot-luck dish. Crowd pleaser, a nice healthy divergence from heavy traditional pot-luck standards...and leftovers that I actually want to take home!!

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Braised Swiss Chard and Mushrooms

Roast chicken has been on the mind for a few days now, well Derek's mind at least, so that trumped our "tradition" of pasta sauce Sundays that we have carried on for a few Sundays (not consecutive, so not really a tradition per se....). I'd say chicken is probably right on up there when it comes to a Sunday tradition - smells wafting through the house...comforting sides of mashed potatoes and peas accompanying the chicken...what an "olden day" concept!!

With all of the somewhat non-traditional dishes that we make, sometimes it's nice to have a simple, comforting meal, and that's exactly what tonight's meal was.

Lemon and Rosemary Roasted Chicken

I found this recipe while waiting in line at Whole Foods to check out. It was already about 7:30 PM and we were still at the store...in Berkeley...with no chicken in the oven...not quite the "wonderful wafts of roast chicken coming from the kitchen while you spend quality time as a family" situation - but we are no strangers to continental dinners, and we are not exactly traditional. My hope was to have a recipe read and memorized by the time we got home so we could go-go-go and pop the baby in the over to start cooking. The marathon chicken making didn't quite go that quickly, but it was good to get an idea of what we were going to do so we didn't have to spend precious time comparing recipes from FoodNetwork.com and FoodandWine.com and Epicurious.com....you get the idea.

I went straight for what I find to be one of the BEST combinations for roast chicken, lemon and rosemary. Fresh and vibrant flavors that do wonders to a simple piece of meat. Here's what we did:

1 Whole Chicken (ours was 3.6 lbs - natural, organic...$13)
Fresh Rosemary (a few sprigs)
Fresh or dried thyme (received some fresh thyme from a co-worder on MONDAY - bummer, used dried, just about 1/2 tsp or so...)
1 Lemon, juice and peel
Honey (about 2 Tablespoons)
2-4 T. of butter, softened
Salt and Pepper

Chicken Preparation:

Take the 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary off its stalk and give it a nice chop. Put it into a small bowl. Also zest the whole lemon and put the zest into the small bowl too. Combine the rosemary and zest with the butter, salt, pepper, and thyme. Add a decent amount of salt and pepper.

Take some of your herb butter mixture and stuff it under the skin on both the top and the bottom of the chicken. Try and get as much under the skin as possible. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken as well as the inside of the cavity -- but be careful. Remember that there's salt and pepper in your herb-butter mixture so you'll have to make sure the outside is not too salty.

Chop the lemon into quarters and stuff into the cavity of the chicken, along with a big sprig of rosemary. The heated lemon and rosemary will release flavor into the rest of the chicken, mainly the breast.

Drizzle a bit of honey on the top of the chicken, salt and pepper the skin, and you're all set to start roasting!

Place the chicken in a roasting pan in an oven pre-heated for 425 degrees. Roast for 20 minutes at this temperature and then lower to 350 degrees. With a 3.6 lb chicken, it took us about 1 hr. and 40 minutes to roast - the additional time may be attributed to a potentially cold inside of the chicken.

We let it sit for about 10 minutes and then it was ready...well almost...Derek took the lemon from inside of the chicken and squeezed a bit over the exposed meat - and THEN it was dinner time.

Crispy skin - and tasty. And I am NOT one to eat skin...at all...but I did try the little bit that was on my piece and I quite enjoyed it! All in all - super tender (and no brining necessary) - and sooo flavorful. Wow.

To go with the chicken, we did a recipe of our own creation:

Braised Swiss Chard with Mushrooms

salt pork, enough to render about 2 T. fat
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
1/4 yellow onion, sliced
1 bunch of swiss chard (we had a mix of red and green), stems removed and chopped
1/2-2/3 lb mixed mushrooms (white button, oyster, cremini)
4 tsp. red wine vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Heat the salt pork and render fat - about 2 T. - remove the pork, leaving the fat in the pan.

Sautee garlic and onions until translucent, about 7 minutes (make sure not to burn the garlic!)

Add the swiss chard and cook until just wilted.

Add the mushrooms and red wine vinegar. Stir well and cover.

Cook at a low temperature for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Finish off the vegetables with lemon juice, salt, pepper. Ready to serve!


I love swiss chard. I love mushrooms. I loved this dish.

and wine...my other love...tonight's wine came from our wine shipment so we had no prior knowledge of what to expect. Meridian "Limited Release" Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir - comes in at about $22 a bottle. Apparently it's only available through the winery or through Cellar360 - so you won't be finding this one in the stores!

I think I was more pleased with the wine than Derek was. We both agreed it was good - but I thought it was great. The winemaker described it as "offering aromas of strawberry jam, smoky oak and leather which are supported by vibrant flavors of cherry and a full body." Sure...sounds good to me :)