Weekly Menu - 5/4-5/9/08

We had a really hard time coming up with a menu this week for some reason. It seems like some weeks we know exactly what we want & others its like pulling teeth to come up with 5 meals. So, we sat down with the last two Bon Appétits & picked a few new recipes to try. Let's hope they're good!


Here's the Menu Planning Monday!

Grilled Pork Sausage with Beans & Beet Chips - This is the sausage we made the Foodie Joust awhile back & still have in the fridge. The beet chips are from a recipe I saw on Diary of a Foodie the other day (I love beet chips so am excited to try my own.) - RESULT - The beet chips went soggy before we even finished dinner. I need to work on this one.

Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Sweet Slaw - From Bon Appetit June '08 - Really good & really fast to make. Would be good on a warm evening.

Butter Chicken Curry - An easy dinner made from one of our favorite premade sauces.

Roast Chicken Breasts with Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes & Paprika - From Bon Appetit May '08 - RESULT - This dish was fantastic! We love the flavors of smoked paprika & cumin.

Farfalle with Chicken, Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese - From Bon Appetit June '08 - RESULT - Really good, almost like a spinach salad with pasta.

This week's cupcake will be Strawberry with a Balsamic Caramel filling, at least that's I'm thinking.... - RESULT - ok the caramel part didn't work out but the Strawberry Balsamic Cupcake is tasty!

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

It's Matt's birthday today & even though we are headed out for dinner tonight I could resist baking him some cupcakes. He told me the other day he prefers vanilla or fruit cupcakes over chocolate & I know he loved the Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Filling. Since we had a lemon in the fridge & some raspberries in the freezer I decided to do that combination. The recipe is the same with the chopped frozen raspberries added to both the cupcake & icing. I think the raspberries look like little jewels in this light, fruity cupcake.


Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
makes 6 cupcakes but can easily be doubled

2/3 c all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
pinch of salt
3 T unsalted butter, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon (with 1 t held aside for the icing)
1/4 c plain yogurt
1/3 c frozen raspberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare muffin tins.
Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
Beat the butter until light and fluffy. On high speed, gradually beat in the sugar until light & fluffy. Lower speed and add egg, beating until just blended. Then beat in lemon zest & lemon juice. On low speed beat in flour mixture & yogurt until just blended. Fold in the chopped raspberries. This will be a very light fluffy batter.

Divide the batter evenly between 6 muffin tins.

Bake for 18 minutes. The edges should just be turning golden brown.

Let cool on wire rack before icing

Lemon Raspberry Milk Icing

3/4 c powdered sugar, shifted
1 t lemon juice
1 T frozen raspberries, chopped & thawed while cupcakes are cooking & cooling
milk

Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, raspberries and 1/2 t milk. Add more milk as needed by 1/2 t amounts until icing consistency. After icing allow cupcakes to sit until the icing has set, about an hour.

Makes enough to ice 6 cupcakes

Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

This week we did little twist on my typical Mac & Cheese which I make with Gruyere, caramelized onions & tomatoes. This time we substituted the Gruyere with Smoked Gouda then added some really good Kendleson's Smoked Ham & frozen peas. The subtle smokiness of the cheese & ham really blended well together & the sweetness of the peas was a nice compliment.

I didn't have enough of any one pasta on hand so this was made with a mix of elbows & gemelli.

Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

Serves 4

3/4 lb spiral macaroni (or macaroni of your choice)
1 Tbs butter
1/8 C flour
1 C milk
1/2 C heavy cream
1 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese
3/4 C grated smoked Gouda
1 t dry mustard
salt
pepper
1 thick slice of smoked deli ham, chopped
1 c frozen peas

Cook pasta according to directions. Place frozen peas into the bottom of a colander & drain past over them. The pasta water will thaw the peas.

In a small saucepan melt butter over med-low heat. Add flour an stir constantly for 1 minute. Do not allow to brown. Slowly whisk in milk and cream. Stir until hot and smooth and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Turn heat to low and add cheese. Whisk until melted. Add dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

Butter a glass casserole dish. Add pasta, peas, ham and cheese sauce. Mix well until cheese sauce covers everything.

Cook in a 350 oven for 25 minutes or until top is brown & crispy (this is the best bit).

Beef Stroganoff

When I posted the picture of this dish on Flickr a friend wrote, "Now that reminds me of Minnesota." It made me laugh because as I was making it I said to Matt that even though it wasn't technically a hotdish is was certainly close. This is a dish I grew up with & its still as creamy & comforting as ever. Its super easy & fast to put together & then just let it simmer away for an hour. This recipe is the one my Mom always used, I'm not sure where its from but it tastes just as good as I remember.


1 T unsalted butter
1 lb beef round steak or flank steak, cut into thin strips
1 med yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/3 c water
1/2 c sour cream
salt & pepper

In a large skillet melt the butter over med-high heat. Add the onions & beef and cook until the beef is browned & the onions are softened. Drain fat. Stir in soup and water & bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Stir in sour cream & just heat through. Salt & pepper to taste. Serve over hot egg noodles.

Serves 4

Spatchcocking

Matt & I are big fans of a good roast chicken.



Its just so comforting, we make it as our nice Sunday dinner quite often. Its almost always the dish I ask for when Matt offers to make me whatever I want for dinner. We've tried a few different methods of roasting a chicken; just putting it on a roasting rack & letting it go, making a tinfoil stand & turning it on its side, etc... Then we saw Alton Brown spatchcock a chicken on Good Eats & Matt decided to try that. Wow, a juicy perfectly cooked chicken with just a little preroasting prep. Cutting the bird to lie flat allows it to cook evenly, not drying out the white meat while cooking the dark. I know some people are intimidated by boning their own chicken but follow along & you'll see how easy it is...

You'll need a cutting board, good sharp knife & poultry shears.


Using the poultry shears cut along either side of the backbone removing it completely.


Turn the chicken over & lay it out. Press into the middle to break the wishbone.


Flip the chicken over again & cut the membrane holding the meat to the keel bone.


Slide your thumbs up both sides of the keel bone to loosen the meat from it.


Use your poultry shears to cut the end of the keel bone from the chicken & remove it. Save the bones you removed to make stock!


And you have a beautifully spatchcocked chicken ready to prepare how you wish. We roast it in the oven but it would be great on the grill too. Here's how we prepared this one.


We put some chopped garlic & fresh thyme under the skin. We also salted both sides of the chicken. Rub a little olive oil on the skin side of the chicken.


In our roasting pan we created a bed of vegetables, this time we used carrots, yukon gold potatoes & cauliflower. Lightly coat the vegetables with oil olive. Place the chicken skin side up on the vegetables.


Roast the chicken & vegetables at 425 for about 10 minutes per pound. Check for doneness with a thermometer. Remove the chicken from the roasting pan & let it sit for about 5 minutes before carving. Serve with the wonderfully caramelized vegetables.