Chicken No. 14,753 - Deviled Divan

Another recipe from Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats cookbook - Chicken in Mustard Sauce Deviled Divan:


It was mildly successful. I didn't feel like getting a container for the leftover chicken stock (the recipe only calls for 3/4 cup and I didn't have any of the stock-in-a-box) so I dumped the whole thing in and added some extra mustard and sour cream. Unfortunately the sauce never thickened and there was way, way, way too much of it. And since I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen it was hard to judge how much to use and there wasn't enough in relation to how much chicken I had. I think this could be a good dish if I hadn't messed around with it so much.

Spaghetti alla Amatriciana

I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently. I sat down to do my blog yesterday and every program on my computer was gone. We aren't sure what happened but somehow all the applications were deleted, which was strange because everything was fine under SP's login. But he worked some computer magic and I'm back, so on with the food!

Over the past few weeks I must have seen the same episode of Lidia's new show, Lidia's Italy, about five times. It's the episode where she makes Buccatini all' Amatriciana so by the time Monday rolled around I had a serious craving.


I used spaghetti and bacon because that's what I had on hand, but one of these days I'm going to buy buccatini and pancetta and make this properly. I also threw together a quick salad of romaine, banana peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes:


... and half a loaf of garlic bread with lots of fresh parsley:

Farmstand Corn Fritters

By request, the recipe for the corn fritters I made on Sunday. Enjoy!

FARMSTAND CORN FRITTERS
From Cook's Country Magazine Aug/Sept 2005
Makes 12 fritters

1 1/2 pounds fresh corn (2 large or 3-4 medium ears), husks and silk removed
1 large egg, beaten lightly
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornmeal
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch cayenne
1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil, as needed

Using a chef's knife, cut kernels from 1 to 2 ears of corn (depending on size) and place in a large bowl. You should have about 1 cup of whole kernels. Grate the kernels from the remaining ears of corn on the large holes of a box grater. You should have a generous 1/2 cup of grated kernels. Add to the bowl with the whole kernels. Using the back of a butter knife, scrape any remaining pulp from all the cobs and put in the bowl. Stir in egg, flour, cornmeal, cream, shallot, salt and cayenne.

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Drop 6 heaping tablespoons of batter into the pan. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute per side (mine took at least 5 minutes per side). Transfer fritters to a plate lined with paper towels. If necessary, add more oil to skillet and reheat; fry remaining batter. Serve immediately.

Tennessee Whiskey Pork Chops and Farmstand Corn Fritters

Another dinner made possible by the lovely folks at Cook's Country. SP is a huge Jack Daniel's fan so when I saw the recipe for Tennessee Whiskey Pork Chops I knew he'd be a fan. On the same page was a recipe for Farmstand Corn Fritters, which was perfect since I bought 5 ears of corn at a farmer's market.


I served the pork chops and corn fritters with simple mashed potatoes made with butter, milk, salt and pepper.

This was an outstanding meal. The pork chops were moist and perfectly cooked. I'm now a convert to bone-in chops. And the sauce...sweet and slightly booze-y, it was a great accompaniment to the chops. The fritters didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped (I admit, I was futzing with the first batch), but they had great flavor and were very easy to make. I'd definitely make them again only I'd leave them alone to set up and brown before trying to flip them. The recipe said they'd cook for only 1 minute per side, but mine took at least 3 to start browning and could have gone for 5 a side in order to get even more crispy and golden brown.

Fry Up

One of the things I loved about living in England was having a fry up for breakfast. Whenever I watch a British TV show or movie and see someone cooking breakfast in a big skillet I always get nostalgic. I also wonder how they manage to cook everything in one pan. SP said he wanted sausage and eggs for breakfast and since we had some mushrooms and tomatoes on hand I decided to attempt a fry up.


For my first attempt the result was better than I anticipated. I cooked the sausage on one side of my large nonstick skillet and put the mushrooms and tomatoes on the other side. Once they were cooked through I added the eggs, which is where I ran into a bit of trouble. Either my pan or the burner grate isn't level so the egg whites ran everywhere, but I managed to contain them enough to cook some decent looking fried eggs. Everything tasted great (except for the potato cake that I cooked in another pan...it was a tad too crispy) and SP really loved the meaty mushrooms and tomatoes. If only I'd remembered the can of baked beans we had in the pantry this would have been pretty darn close to a traditional fry up.

A Taste of Home Turns One!!

Happy Anniversary to A Taste of Home!

Today my blog turns one and I couldn't be more proud. A few weeks ago I had a feeling I was rapidly approaching the one year mark so I went back into my archives to find the exact date and wrote it down on a little slip of paper which promptly got lost on the mess that is our computer desk. As we were cleaning up the office this morning I suddenly realized August had started and I panicked, thinking I'd missed the big day, but luckily I was right on time. :)

Unfortunately we made plans with friends to go out to dinner tonight so I won't be posting a special anniversary dinner. I did, however, post a ton of new food photos today so that's at least something. And I'm planning to make a fun new recipe for tomorrow's dinner.

It's hard to believe I've been doing this blog for a year already. It seems like only yesterday that I started taking blurry shots of the food I made, wondering what I'd be able to do with them. Then my darling husband told me I should start a food blog so I could keep track of everything I made and share my creations with the world and the rest is history. I think I've come a long way since Aug. 4, 2006. I learned how to take crystal clear close-up shots (thanks tfp!); I learned about good lighting and plating; I've met a ton of great people who love food just as much as I do; I've made friends from around the world and I've had a lot of fun with this blog. I hope the coming year is just as great, if not better.

Most importantly I want to thank everyone who reads A Taste of Home. Your comments and enthusiasm are a big part of what makes this blog fun for me. Without you guys I don't know how long I would have stuck with this.

Here's to another year!

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Turnovers

While thumbing through the latest issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray, SP suddenly stopped, gasped and said, "Can you make these for me, like, right now?" as he pointed to the recipe for Sausage, Egg and Cheese Turnovers. Since the recipe takes about an hour to make between prep and baking time we decided to save it for a weekend.


This was a very easy recipe to make, but we both felt like it needed a little something. We can't quite put our finger on what, though. The egg and sausage mixture was fine, but I think between the flakiness of the puff pastry and the creaminess of the egg and sausage mixture we needed something to bind them together. My initial thought would be cheese (probably cheddar) so I'd have to try that next time.

You might be wondering why I think this recipe needs cheese when it clearly is part of the name, but unfortunately that's a misnomer. The only cheese in this recipe is cream cheese which, let's be honest folks, isn't cheese. I think I'd make this again, but it needs some tweaking.

Pizza Friday

We finally got to have our mushroom pizza for Pizza Friday:


After last week's mishap with the mushrooms I made doubly sure we had some on hand this week. I thickly sliced the mushrooms and browned them briefly in some butter with sliced garlic before adding them to the pizza. SP made his "sauce" the usual way by draining canned tomatoes and seasoning them with various spices, but for some reason we ended up with less tomatoes then usual. I was in the mood for a very tomato-y pizza so SP opened a can of tomatoes my mom and I canned last summer and seasoned them up. I really liked the extra tomatoes, but the pizza was a bit soggier because of them.

Nevertheless the flavor was outstanding and easily one of the better pizzas we've had lately. We're still trying to get the cheese figured out since no matter how little I add it seems to be too much, but we're working on it.

Egg Salad Sandwich

I didn't know what to do for lunch yesterday but I knew I wanted something comforting that didn't take too long to prepare. Egg salad is something I love to eat but rarely think to make.


For this sandwich I finely chopped some red onion and celery and added them to the hard boiled eggs. A little bit of mayo, some salt and pepper and the salad was done. I also cooked some bacon and sliced some tomato to finish the sandwich, which I had on toasted white bread.

Kicked Up Cheese Crisp

Thursday was a strange day and by the time I got home I wanted something quick and easy for dinner. I thought we had more tortillas so I was planning to have a quesadilla, but when I opened the fridge I found only one lone tortilla. No worries...I changed my plans to a cheese crisp but decided to load it up with all kinds of toppings to make it more substantial.


I cooked the crisp on both sides in a little bit of oil so the tortilla would be crispy. Then I added the shredded cheddar cheese and some finely chopped scallions. Once the cheese melted I took the crisp off the heat and added minced cilantro and some diced tomatoes. After I cut the crisp into four pieces I added the dollop of sour cream and a few shakes of Tapatio hot sauce.

Cuban Sandwiches

Tonight's dinner (another recipe from a back issue of Cook's Country) was easy to make, tasted great and took barely any time at all. They might not be authentic Cuban sandwiches:


... but they sure were tasty. This was a recipe that used up leftover roast pork, but since we didn't make the master recipe SP bought sliced roast pork from the deli. While we liked the sandwiches quite a bit, there were a few things we'll be changing next time:

1) No yellow mustard. When I saw this ingredient in the recipe I almost didn't put it in because that seemed wrong to me, but I wanted to see how it tasted when made the way the recipe writers created it. Definitely not a flavor we want in our Cuban sandwiches.

2) Garlic mayonnaise instead of plain. The restaurant where we've gotten Cuban sandwiches in the past uses a garlic mayo and it really adds a nice flavor.

3) Instead of finely chopping the pickles and banana peppers, keep them in slices. The recipe calls for chopped and since we only had dill pickle spears I followed the recipe, but we both prefer slices.

4) More Swiss cheese. The recipe called for a 1/4 pound and we ended up with 6 slices for 4 sandwiches. That meant I had to cut the slices so I could evenly distribute the cheese. Next time we'll do two slices per sandwich - one on top and one on the bottom - to act as a glue.

Cuban Sandwiches
Cook's Country

1/3 cup diced dill pickles
1/3 cup diced jarred banana peppers
4 potato sandwich rolls
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard , such as French's
1/4 pound thinly sliced baked ham , preferably Virginia or Black Forest
1/2 pound cold roast pork , sliced thin
1/4 pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

1. Combine pickles and peppers in small bowl. Split rolls in half; spread top half with mayonnaise and bottom half with mustard. Layer ham, roast pork, pickle mixture, and cheese onto bottom half, finishing with cheese on top. Set tops of rolls in place and press down to flatten sandwiches.

2. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, heat large pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat for 4 minutes. Brush tops of sandwiches with melted butter and place in skillet buttered side down. Brush bottoms of rolls with remaining butter and use preheated pot to compress sandwiches for 15 to 20 seconds. Cook (keeping pot on sandwiches but not pressing down) until first side is golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove pot, flip sandwiches over, replace pot on top of sandwiches, and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Artichoke Alfredo Sauce

After our rousing success with the Barbecue Shredded Beef sandwiches we decided to look through back issues of Cook's Country for meal ideas for the rest of the week. Tonight's dinner, Artichoke Alfredo Sauce:


... came from a recipe contest the magazine had back in the October/November 2005 issue. This was one of the runner's-up and was based on the flavors of artichoke dip. If we hadn't been discussing what to do with a can of artichoke hearts SP found in the back of the pantry I'm not sure I would have ever thought to make this dish but I'm really glad I did. It was outstanding. Then again, I am a huge fan of artichoke dip. And for my money you can't go wrong with a recipe that involves sour cream, heavy cream, onions and garlic. Obviously this is not something to eat all the time, but it was a nice sinful indulgence. SP isn't a huge fan of artichokes so we'll see what he thinks of this dish. If it was up to me this would join my repertoire. It was incredibly easy to make and dinner was on the table in less than 30 minutes. Rachael Ray would be proud.

Chicken in a Light Lemon-Herb Sauce

Thinking about, planning and making Sunday's indoor BBQ feast took up so much of our concentration that we completely forgot to plan the menu for the rest of the week. After thumbing through Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, SP found a recipe using ingredients we already had on hand - Breast of Chicken in a Light Lemon-Herb Sauce:


... which he served over perfectly cooked green beans, as per Lidia's instructions. The sauce was indeed light, with plenty of soft, whole garlic cloves and a nice kick from red pepper flakes and lemon juice. Our only quibble was that the chicken rolls felt like they needed some kind of stuffing, preferably of the cheesy variety. They were a tad dry and bland. But as you can see:


... the rolls were beautifully done. A little color and flavor would have made them even better.

Rainy Day BBQ

I know I've said it before but I feel like I need to say it again - I love Cook's Country magazine. When I saw a recipe in the latest issue for Slow Cooker Barbecue Shredded Beef I knew it would be amazing even though I was slightly skeptical about making it in my slow cooker. I've never had much luck with my slow cooker, but this turned out great. We invited my mom and stepdad over for a little impromptu indoor BBQ.


I served the sandwiches on soft, pillowy rolls that had just enough substance not to disintegrate but were light enough not to compete with the meat.

I've been meaning to try Ina's Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread from her new cookbook:


... and it did not disappoint. Slightly spicy from the jalapenos and scallions, rich and moist from the cheddar and milk, this was a real winner. But as you can see from the tower of cornbread, it's enough to feed an army. SP prefers a sweeter cornbread, so I might experiment by adding more sugar next time to see if I can get a whole sweet-savory thing going on.

Mom brought coleslaw made with fresh veggies from their vegetable co-op box:


... and because we didn't have enough food, SP made wings as an appetizer while we waited for the meat to finish cooking:


We bought a huge pack of chicken wings at the wholesale club not realizing until it was time to put them in the oven that we had gotten whole chicken wings, not the pre-butchered wingettes. Luckily I'd recently seen a TV chef break up chicken wings so I had some idea what I was doing. A sharp knife and a little time and I got those wings separated with no problem.

And for dessert, pumpkin gems from the local farmer's market:

Dinner at C & T's

Last night we went to CC & TC's house for dinner. The food was incredibly yummy and we had a great time. The other T at the party brought his famous tomato bruschetta:


... that was so amazingly good I ate at least 5 pieces. The thing I liked the most was that the tomatoes were pureed instead of in chunks. I hate biting into a piece of bruschetta and having all the tomatoes fall off the bread. In keeping with the Hawaiian luau theme, H brought a mango, avocado salsa:


... that was sweet and flavorful. We couldn't stop eating it and decided it would be great served on grilled fish or chicken.

T had leftover mozzarella from the bruschetta so he threw together a quick mozzarella, tomato and basil salad drizzled with 18-year-old balsamic vinegar and a splash of olive oil:


While we noshed on the appetizers we helped TC finish skewering the meat and vegetables:


She had chicken, shrimp and flank steak that we skewered with pineapple, red onion, mushrooms, green and red peppers and yellow and green squash. Then she drizzled everything with an island marinade that was sweet and spicy and oh-so-good.

TC rounded out the rest of the meal with a salad:


... made with lettuce, strawberries, blue cheese and toasted almonds. The sweetness of the strawberries mixed with the crunch of the almonds and the tang of the blue cheese was excellent.

She also made a tasty pasta salad with avocado, tomato, fennel, roasted corn and pine nuts:


... as well as some jasmine rice to sop up all the good juices from the skewers:


Some of the skewers hot off the grill:


My plate with two shrimp and one chicken skewer, rice, pasta salad and regular salad:


And for dessert:


... grilled peaches and pineapple over toasted angel food cake with a drizzle of red wine sauce. Decadent and tasty, the perfect ending to the meal. Thanks TC and CC for a wonderful night of good food, good friends and good music!

Pizza Friday

SP loves mushrooms. When I say he loves them I mean he really, really loves them. We haven't had mushroom pizza for Pizza Friday in I don't know how long, so that's what was on the menu for this week. On the drive home I was thinking about how I wanted to cook the mushrooms before they went on the pizza and once I got home we spent at least 15 minutes discussing the pros and cons of onions and garlic before I finally went into the kitchen to start cooking. After searching the fridge for 5 minutes I could not find the mushrooms. Turns out SP and I had a miscommunication when he washed the mushrooms earlier this week for the Creamy, Bacony Mushrooms so said mushrooms were all used in that dish with none put aside for the pizza.

So last night's pizza was another Pizza Margherita.


I added more basil this time, which was good, but there was still too much cheese. Next time we do this pizza I'm going to cut the cheese into slabs instead of grating it so there's pockets of cheese instead of a huge blanket on top.

Thai Chicken Curry

I don't know why I don't cook from Dave Lieberman's Young and Hungry cookbook more often. The recipes I've tried have all been really tasty. Tonight I made Thai Chicken Curry:


I like this dish because the flavors marry well together and it's easy to make. Unfortunately my supermarket didn't have snow peas so I had to leave those out, but it's still a good dish without them.

Thai Chicken Curry
Dave Lieberman

2 cups white rice (basmati or jasmine is best)
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts (around 2) cut into pieces
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Vegetable Oil
1 small onion, diced
I red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Handful of snow peas
Handful of basil, optional
Juice and zest of 1 lime Zest of 1 lime
Salt and Black Pepper

Cook the rice and set aside.

Toss the chicken strips in a bowl with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and 2 tablespoons of oil. Heat a skillet over high heat and cook the chicken until they start to brown. Once there is no pink, scoop the chicken onto a plate.

Lower the pan heat to medium-high and add a bit more oil. Slide in the onions and cook, stirring until they turn translucent (4-5 minutes). Add the red bell pepper and garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add the curry powder, sugar and ginger and cook 1 more min. Add the broth and coconut milk and turn the heat up to high. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring often until the sauce reduces, 7-8 minutes. Slide the chicken back in and add the snow peas. Cook for a minute or two, add the basil and lime juice and zest and season with the salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rice.

Steak Fajitas and Grilled Corn

SP was in charge of dinner tonight and after he found skirt steak on sale at the wholesale club he decided to make steak fajitas.


We had the usual fixin's - sour cream, guacamole, diced tomato, shredded cheddar cheese and sauteed onions and peppers. SP is really into Rick Bayless these days after watching a few episodes of Mexico: One Plate at a Time, so he used a marinade he found on Rick's site. It was sensational and really added great flavor to the steak.

We thought we should have a side dish to go with our fajitas:


... so SP grilled some corn and once it was done I rolled it around in cilantro butter. The piece I ate was a little mushy, but I can't complain too much since corn isn't in season yet. It still tasted mighty good.

Chicken Rolls in Tomato Sauce

Over the weekend I saw Giada make this recipe for Chicken Scallopine with Sage and Fontina. The dish looked tasty, but I didn't feel like spending the money to buy fresh sage and a specialty cheese, so I modified the recipe, substituting spinach and mozzarella for the sage and fontina. The result:


... was moderately successful. I had a tough time with the chicken - once I pounded it thin it was falling apart, which made it hard to roll into nice, neat packages. And since I was using breast meat it was dried out by the time the dish was finished. But the sauce, oh the sauce. It was spectacular. SP said if we use this sauce recipe for pasta from now on he'd be a happy camper. The only change I made from the original sauce recipe was to add some minced garlic to the tomatoes when I processed them. The flavor of the white wine mixed with the tomatoes, garlic and red pepper was phenomenal.

Creamy, Bacony Mushrooms

After seeing this recipe on The Food Pornographer's site for mushrooms cooked with bacon, onions and cream I knew we had to try it. SP is a huge fungus fan and what's not to like about bacon, onions and cream?


This not for the faint of heart. The cream seemed to get even richer the longer it cooked, but the flavors of the bacon, wine, onions and garlic were excellent. I served it over rice in order to sop up all the yummy sauce.