Salmon En Papillote

Salmon en Papillote is something that I've been meaning to make for a long time, but just haven't gotten around to. I definitely thought the hardest part about making this was trying to get the parchment paper to stay folded around the salmon! So, it was pretty easy. Perfect for a weeknight.

The result of this recipe was a super flavorful, very moist salmon fillet with a decidedly Mediterranean feel. Also, with the addition of fresh veggies and herbs, you have yourself quite a nice dinner all in one "Papillote."

Ingredients
Adapted from RecipeZaar

1/2 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small carrot, julienned
1/2 lemon
1 tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
5 tablespoons white wine
1-2 (3 1/2 ounce) salmon fillets
light feta cheese
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the onion, garlic, tomato, carrots and thyme in a bowl with the wine. Lightly squeeze lemon half over the onion mixture and mix together. Slice 2-3 thin pieces of lemon and set aside. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place in a bowl and pour over the marinade. Leave for 5 minutes.

Lay out 1 large sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray and put a piece of salmon in the center. Spoon over the marinade and cover the fish, top with lemon slices and fold the paper to make a packet. Place in a dish and bake for 15 minutes or until fish is opaque in the center and flakes easily. Open the pouch, sprinkle feta cheese over the fish and serve.

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

Confession: I decided I wanted to make this after having watched the movie Julie & Julia. After seeing this movie, I was totally inspired to make a Julia Child's recipe since I've never done so and the beef bourguignon looked like something I could actually handle.

This was simply really, really, really good beef stew (well, in my case a venison stew since I used venison). It was certainly much more complex then the beef stew that I usually make in the crock pot. It required careful timing and a good deal of prep work, but it certainly was a very manageable recipe. But I honestly have to say that my favorite part of the whole recipe was the brown braised onions. OH MY GOSH. Amazing is all I have to say. Those onions were melt in your mouth, perfectly cooked, flavorful perfection. I found myself picking the onions out of the stew to eat them by themselves. Yum.

But this really was a great recipe. I had a lot of fun making it, especially knowing how many other people have made it before me. Oh, and of course I skipped the mushrooms in this. Because we all know how I feel about mushrooms.

I found the link to the recipe on Pantry Raid and instead of typing the whole thing out, I'll just link you to the PDF so you can see the recipe right out of the book, and so I don't mess anything up by typing it. Enjoy!

Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

Brown Braised Onions

Pheasant Braised in Red Wine

First of all I want to wish my readers a very happy belated Thanksgiving! Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to get to post during the holiday since I was busy making a full Thanksgiving feast for about 30 people but I want you all to know that I was thinking about how blessed I am to have readers of my little blog! So thank you and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

So recently my dad went hunting for pheasant and did very well. As a result, he gave me a beautiful fresh pheasant to make for dinner. I wasn't sure what to do with it in all honesty, but pheasant is just such a comforting meat to me so I wanted to make a really hearty meal of it. So I decided to braise it using red wine.

The pheasant came out great. Every piece was very tender and flavorful. If you've never had pheasant I urge you to try it, however it really doesn't taste much different from chicken and if you needed to sub out chicken that would obviously be fine. But this was a great variation from braised chicken and I really enjoyed it. Perfect for those cold winter days that lie ahead!
Ingredients
Adapted from this recipe by Good Things Catered, originally from Williams-Sonoma

1/3 c. all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 pheasant, broken down
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 c. red wine
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
About 5-6 small/medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Directions
-Preheat an oven to 375 degrees.
-In a large bowl, combine 1/3 c. flour, salt and pepper. Add the phesant and toss to coat evenly.
-In a Dutch oven over medium heat, warm the olive oil to almost smoking.
-Add half of the chicken and brown on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes total.
-Transfer to a plate.
-Brown the remaining pheasant and transfer to the plate.
-Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes.
-Remove the pan from the heat and add the wine.
-Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, to reduce, about 5 minutes.
-Return the pheasant to the pan and add the garlic, parsley, thyme, bay leaf and potatoes.
-Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to the oven.
-Cook until the chicken is very tender, about 45 minutes.
-Season with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaf, pheasant and potatoes.
-Place Dutch oven over medium high heat.
-Add flour and whisk to combine, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
-Pour thickened braising sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Wine of the Week

I picked this up last week when I found it on sale at the wine store.

This was a great, economic, wine that will work well with seafood or lighter appetizers. It would also be great just to sip on in the summer. Citrus was predominate in this wine, and it had a great crispness to it. It was just slightly on the dry side, but would undoubtedly appeal to many palates. All in all, a great wine for the money!

Wine of the Week

This weeks wine is undoubtedly one of my favorites. In fact, after I discovered it I found myself wanting to buy it each week instead of trying something new! Sooo I've been getting this and a "new" bottle, which isn't great for my wallet but I'm managing!

This wine really reminded me of one of my all time favorites; Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. It's a perfect wine to drink when you just want to sit outside on the porch and relax. It's flavors are rich but there is a great smoothness about it.

"87 RATING WINE ENTHUSIAST!- Tropical fruit with subtle scents of coconut and spice on the nose are followed by generous fruit flavors, a smooth texture, and a bright, balanced acidity. Enjoy as an apertif or serve with shellfish, grilled salmon with mango salsa, and mildly spiced cuisines. 3 GOLD MEDALS!" (Lamoreau Landing website)

This is a great chardonnay and so far, my favorite New York State wine.

Wine of the Week

I stopped posting this for a while, mainly because I wasn't being quite so adventurous with the whole trying new wines thing!

However, I have taken an interest again in forcing myself to buy a different bottle each week and thought I'd pass on what I've found! I've also really been quite interested in the New York State wines.

If you didn't know, I come from the great state of New York. I am no where even CLOSE to the city though, so it's not very exciting, which is fine by me. There are a lot of cows up here. There's also a great wine region...did you know that? New York State is actually known for its Rieslings. They are really quite good. To learn more about the wine region in New York State, visit this website.

This week I tried Salmon Run Chardonnay. I'm going to go ahead and be honest, I bought it because I thought the label was cute. It was a good wine. It was very mild and smooth tasting. Not one flavor was dominate, and it was hard for me to pick out strong characteristics of it. It honestly wasn't my favorite wine, but I will go ahead and say that it would be good to serve with a strongly flavored meal. Because of it's smoothness, I think it would appeal to a wide variety of palates, and be great to serve with food so as to not overpower the meal. As a drinking wine however, I'd probably pick something else!

Shrimp Scampi

I haven't always liked shrimp. In fact, when I was younger, I really disliked it. I never hated it (like mushrooms...yech!) but I never ordered it out either. But lately I have been craving it. When I went to Florida, I refused to get any chicken because I make it at home so much and I really like to try regional cuisine when I travel. I ended up getting shrimp quite a bit and really found that I enjoyed it.

So I was anxious to try Shrimp Scampi, and went with Tyler Florence's recipe. It was absolutely fantastic!!! I couldn't get over how easy it was to make, and it resulted in an absolutely fantastic meal! The flavors worked so well together...and did I mention it was easy?! Plus, all of the ingredients are things that I almost always have on hand! This was a great recipe, one that I will most certainly make again!

Ingredients
Source: Tyler Florence

1 pound linguini (I used dried homemade fettuccine - and probably not a pound's worth!)
4 tablespoons butter (I used 2)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling (I used 2)
1 large shallot, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
Pinch red pepper flakes, optional (I omitted)
20 large shrimp, about 1 pound, peeled and deveined, tail on (mine were on the smaller side)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used more like 3/4 cup)
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves (I omitted)
1 tsp cornstarch mixed/dissolved in a splash of water (I added this)
Directions

For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil, cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the pasta is not quite done. Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of water. (I omitted this...I think the sauce would have been too thin with an extra cup of water)

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) until the shallots are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan; set aside and keep warm. Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. I added the cornstarch mixture at this point, to thicken the sauce up. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil (I omitted this step, I didn't think the extra butter/oil was necessary). When the butter has melted, return the shrimp to the pan along with the parsley and cooked pasta and reserved pasta water (I omitted adding the extra pasta water, I think the sauce would have been much to thin with it). Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and serve immediately.

Pan Seared Pork Chops with Shallots and Sage

No sooner do I begin the quest for a recipe to make with Pork Chops for dinner one night last week, when I find in my in box a "Dinner Tonight" email from the Martha Stewart website.

This recipe was great. I personally am a huge fan of sage, so the addition of it was very welcome. Combined with the white wine and shallots, this recipe was a huge success and a snap to put together. Perfect for a busy weeknight, these pork chops are flavorful and tender.

Ingredients
Adapted from Martha Stewart.com

4 boneless pork loin chops (6 ounces each) (I used two butterflied pork chops)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 cup AP flour (I added this)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium shallot, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage or 1/4 teaspoon dried (I used more like 2-3 tsp of fresh sage! It was not overwhelming at all; in fact I think that 1 teaspoon would have been far to little!)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken stock (I added this)
1 clove garlic, minced (I added this)
Directions

Season pork chops generously with salt and pepper and dust with flour. In a large skillet, heat oil and butter over medium; add pork. Cook until browned and opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes per side (I had to cook mine longer than this...more like 5-7 minutes). Transfer to a plate, and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Make sauce: Add shallot and garlic to skillet; cook over medium, stirring until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add sage, thyme, wine and stock. Simmer until sauce is reduced to about 1/3 cup, 2 to 3 minutes; stir in any accumulated juices from plate with meat. Transfer chops to plates, drizzle with sauce, and serve.

Braised Chicken with Rosemary and Potatoes

(sorry for my crummy pictures...I was way too excited to eat!)

For years I have been wanting to make braised chicken. Whenever I saw it on Food Network it just looked so appetizing but I never had the appropriate 'cooktop to oven' cooking vessel. So for Christmas this year my husband got me an awesome enameled cast iron dutch oven! My first use of this great present was, of course, braised chicken. I am a huge fan of the Good Things Catered blog so I went there first for a recipe where I found "Chicken Braised in White Wine". It sounded good, and I had most of the ingredients.

I can't even begin to tell you how great this dish was. It is hands down my absolute new favorite way of preparing chicken. It was just so flavorful and the potatoes were cooked so perfectly. Everything in this dish blended perfectly together and it just felt so provincial and comforting. I think that the addition of the fresh rosemary really added a lot to the already great flavors. Honestly, this dish was heavenly and I can't wait for next weekend so I can make it again! I had to a adapt this dish a bit (ie. using boneless chicken breasts...which I was a little worried about using...but they came out sooo good!) to make it fit what I had on hand/make it more to my tastes, but I just loved how it came out!!!

Ingredients
Adapted from Good things Catered, originally from Williams-Sonoma

1/3 c. all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 c. white wine
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
About 5-6 small/medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. On a plate, combine 1/3 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat evenly. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the olive oil to almost smoking. Add the chicken and brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes total and transfer to a plate.

Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the wine. Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, to reduce, about 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the garlic, parsley, thyme, rosemary, shallot, bay leaf, salt, pepper and potatoes. Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook until the chicken is very tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and place chicken and potatoes on a separate plate. Place Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add flour and whisk to combine, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Pour thickened braising sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 2.

Note: During the cooking time in the oven, the sauce thickened itself up beautifully, so I omitted the last couple of steps and did not make a separate braising sauce to pour over the chicken.

Chicken Francese

This is my favorite chicken dish. If it's on the menu when we go out, I get it no matter what. It's always a winner in my book, and I've never had a bad version of it. However, I've yet to make it myself! So I tried it last night and it was *so* good. My husband absolutely loved it, as did I. This recipe is wonderful...so easy to follow and it was all done in less than 20 minutes. You have to love that on a Monday night! I modified this recipe to work for 2 people.

I'm not exactly sure how to cite the source of this recipe...my coworker's wife gave me a copy of her Vodka Sauce recipe from a cut-out in her local newspaper, and this recipe was right next to it! So I really don't even know what paper it's from! It was written by a man named Frank Costanzo...and that's all I know! So thanks Frank for the great Recipe!!!

Ingredients
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts, pounded thin
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1 Large Egg
1 tbps Milk
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Chicken Brother
1/2 Cup White Wine
2-3 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon and it was pleanty)
3 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tbsp. Butter
1 tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley
Lemon Wedges

Directions
Place chicken cutlets between two sheets of plastic wrap. With a meat pounder, gently pound the slices into 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure the chicken breasts are dry. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and set aside. Put egg into a shallow bowl with 1 tbsp of milk and season with salt and pepper. Beat with a fork or whisk until well blended. Spread flour on a plate. In a seperate bowl, mix the broth, wine and lemon juice. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet until sizzling. Dip cutlets ingo egg mixture, into flour and then again into egg mixture. Place in skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown (I put mine on medium heat and cooked for aprox 4-6 minutes per side). Transfer chicken to a plate and keep warm. When all of the chicken has been cooked, add the broth mixture to the pan. Raise the heat and cook, stirring until the sauce is slightly thickened. Stir in the parsley. Return the chicken cutlets to the skillet and turn them over once or twice in the sauce. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Wine of the week

Once again, I fell behind in my wine of the week updates with Thanksgiving last week. Sorry about that!

Yesterday I picked up "Chateau St. Nicholas" because I was just in the Christmas mood and the bottle is cute! However, I have no clue who makes this wine! It says on the back of the bottle that it was bottled by Woodbridge but I really am not sure if that is where it came from. I realized this after I bought it...which weirded me out a little bit but I can't let a bottle of wine go to waste! So I tried it last night. This was a Merlot and was good, but there wasn't anything really special about it. So while the bottle is super cute, it was just a regular merlot and not one that I'd go out and buy again!

White wine sage sauce

Lately I've been a huge fan of sauces over chicken, veggies, etc. I play around with them a lot, but so far this is by far my favorite. It pairs so well with any baked chicken and just brings the dish up another level.

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
Splash to about 1/4 cup of white wine, I use Chardonnay. If you want a more subtle wine flavor I'd probably use much less than 1/4 cup.
aprox. 1 cup skim milk
1 fresh sage leaf, minced
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Directions
In a small saucepan melt butter and add sage over medium-low heat. Let simmer for a minute or two. Add flour and whisk vigorously for about 2-3 minutes. Do not let the roux brown too much, it should be golden in color. Add your wine and continue to whisk vigorously until the wine is absorbed and the mixture becomes very thick. Then add your milk and continue to whisk until sauce is very smooth and there are no lumps. The longer the sauce remains on the heat, the thicker it will get. If the sauce is too thick, add more milk to thin it out. At this point, it's easier to make it thinner rather than thicker. Add a little salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Will serve aprox. 2 people.

Wine of the week

Last week i forgot to put up a wine of the week...oops! Well I'll make up for it today. I picked up Sterling Vineyards "Vintner's Reserve"2005 Merlot yesterday oh a whim and boy is it fantastic. They berry flavors are the definite feature of this wine. I am, by far, no wine expert but as soon as I sipped this wine the berry just came right through to me. I thought it was a very comforting wine...perfect to sip by the fire watching the snow fall (which was the scene in my house yesterday). I definitely thought this wine was very good and would most certainly buy it again.

Parmesan Risotto

I've recently discovered how much I love making risotto. I always thought it was something that your order out, not make at home. But I got daring one night and now it's my new favorite side dish to make because A) It's easy and B) It's just plain delicious!

I found this recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website and adapted this risotto from that one. Here is my take:

Ingredients

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tbsp butter

2 Cups Arborio Rice

6 1/2 Cups Chicken Stock, warm

1/2 Cup White Wine, heated

1 Garlic Clove, Minced

1 very small onion, chopped

1/2 - 1 cup half and half

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/2 - 1 cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Melt butter and Olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add Garlic and Onions. Cook 2-4 minutes until Onion is translucent. Add Arborio Rice and stir until coated with olive oil. Add warm wine into rice mixture until absorbed. In a seperate medium saucepan next to your risotto sauce pan, add Chicken Stock and heat through. Now add 1 ladle of chicken stock. When one ladle has been absorbed, add the next. (You can also add the chicken stock in 1-cup incraments but I find that just using a ladle works best for me.) Keep stirring! You can walk away from the stove, but not for too long. You don't want the rice to burn or stick to the bottom of the pot. This process should take about 30 minutes and you want to constantly be stirring your risotto.

When all chicken stock has been absorbed, add your half and half and keep stirring until thickened. Then, add your salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Serve with some chives and enjoy!

Quick Chicken & Wine

I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com. I was a little hesitant at first because I wasn't sure how the breading would work out or how it would taste after simmering in wine but it was really fantastic!!! I think it's my new favorite chicken dish! The chicken was SO moist and the flavors were really great....the Parmesean added such a great bite and you could really taste the flavors of the wine. I would highly reccomend this for a great, simple weeknight meal.

INGREDIENTS
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips (I used 2 chicken breasts and pounded them thin...did not cut into strips)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (I don't measure anything when I cook, but I'm positive I used more than 1/2 cup of Parmesean. I used more like 1/2 c. per breast)
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1/2 cup white wine (I used a Lightly Oaked Chardonnay)
4 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

Make sure chicken is VERY dry before starting...otherwise the breading won't stick. Additionally, I coated my chicken with flour before proceeding which also helped the cheese stick.
Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. In a shallow plate, spread Parmesan cheese. Divide chicken into three parts and dip seasoned and floured chicken in eggs, then coat well with Parmesan cheese. Repeat until all of the chicken pieces are well coated (if you run short on egg and Parmesan, add one more egg and more Parmesan as needed).
In a skillet, melt butter or margarine over medium high heat. Cook chicken, stirring frequently, until golden brown.
Reduce heat and add wine. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

You could very easily serve as is. However, I then took the chicken breasts out, put on a baking dish (sprayed with non-stick spray) and spread panko bread crumbs over the top. I then put the chicken in a 450 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes until browed. It gave the chicken a nice crunch. I then drizzled the remaining butter from the skillet over the top of the chicken.

Wine of the Week

Ahhh love at first sip. Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay is, and has been, my favorite wine for the last 5 years or so. The flavors of this wine are amazing..when you take the first sip the flavors seem to just explode in your mouth and put a smile on your face. I don't get this wine very often (so I don't get sick of it) but it is, by far, my favorite wine.

The tasting notes, as followed, are from http://www.kj.com/.

"Tropical flavors such as mango and pineapple dance with aromas of peach, apple and pear. Richly layered and balanced throughout. Lightly buttered toast headlines the indulgent, lingering finish." – Randy Ullom, Winemaster

I promise, if you've never tried this wine you must...you will not be dissappointed!

Wine of the Week

Every Friday I am going to try and review a different wine on my blog. I personally try and get a different bottle of wine every week as it is, so I thought I'd share my experiences on my blog! The only thing you will not see on here are sweet wines. I just can't stomach them. If you want a review of a sweet wine, you can call my mother.

Woodbridge "Red Dirt Ridge"

Earlier this week I picked up this wine at my local liquor store. It was right by the register on sale, of course, in order to try and catch people in a moment of weakness. And how could you resist after reading the back of the bottle?!

"It′s all about red dirt and great vines. Struggling through the rusty red soils of California′s historic Lodi region encourages Cabernet vines to develop grapes with deep color and a myriad of flavors. That′s why our Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Red Dirt Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon has layers upon layers of velvety blackberry, black cherry, violet and chocolate character. The rich, bold flavors are structured with firm tannins that stand up to hearty foods, like barbecued steak. We age the wine with a generous number of new oak barrels to infuse its dark fruit character with elegant vanilla and spice nuances."

So of course, the elegantly worded description worked and I got it. Boy am I glad I did. This was a great wine. So great, I went back yesterday and bought a case....seriously. I don't want to be out of this wine! My elementary palate has a hard time trying to describe this one. It certainly wasn't sweet but it wasn't too dry either. It had a great balance of flavors that blended perfectly with one another. In my opinion, this would be the perfect wine to serve at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I think it would please many palates because it's not really too "strong". Oh, and if this wine couldn't get any better? It was $7.00/bottle! I definately reccomend this economic and overally very pleasing Cabernet Sauvignon.