Resolutions

It's okay to still be sharing resolutions even though it's almost half way through January, right?!  I promised back in this post I would share some with you all (if for no other reason but for you to help keep me stay accountable!) but with the nasty cold I came down with after traveling and lots of work at work, I've been a bit behind!
Like others (including my girls Lauren, Ashlee and Ashly) I am trying not to get too ambitious with resolutions this year lest I not accomplish any of them.  Here a few things I'd like to focus on this year:

1.  Entertain more.  J and I love cooking for people and having them over for dinner.  Over the last year, J and I have cooked for our friends a few times (see our dinner with JY and Ashlee here, and our dinner with the lovely Mrs. Z(ed) here) but this is something I'd really like to kick into high gear this year!

Image taken from here and here originally

2.  Exercise more.  J and I both have been guilty of slacking off since our wedding in June.  I'd like to step this up this year--who knows, maybe by the end of it I'll be ready to run a Half Marathon and thereby cross off number 83 on my 130 list!

Image taken from here and here originally.

3. Eat smart.  This means taking care with what I chose to fill my body with by watching things like my salt and calorie intake as well as becoming educated on where my food comes from.

Image taken from here and here originally 

4.  Enjoy life more.  I'd like to find a better work-life-blog balance around here so I am not spending night after night typing away while J watches movies mostly by himself (I'm listening but not very present to him or our cat Woods) and I'm not trying to frantically type a post at 7:30 am before work at 8:00.



Image taken from here and here originally

5. Engage more.  I'd like to become more engaged in my friendships with people and with my community more generally.  This year I'd like to take time to really listen to people in conversations I have with them (no active listening or interrupting!), read the newspaper, write to politicians on issues I care about and volunteer. I've been blessed with so much over my twenty five years: J, family, friends, health, happiness.  This year, I'd like to give something back!

Image taken from here and here originally

What are your resolutions for the new year?

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

Now for my favorite part of any meal (except maybe those lambsicles), dessert!  And what is better than dessert, you ask?  Bread pudding for dessert because it is my absolute favorite dessert.  Ask J, if we are out to dinner and that is a choice for dessert, it doesn't matter what else is on the menu because I will go for bread pudding every time.

This bread pudding was no exception and a great way to cap off our NOLA themed night.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture before I devoured it (despite having ate six previous courses) but trust me, it's good!

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup milk

9 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 bananas, cut 3/4 inch thick

1/4 cup banana liquor

1/2 cup dark rum

4 large eggs, beaten

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

6 cups bread cubes--we used day old french baguette and it was fantastic!


Kitchen Supplies:
Bread knife, for bread cubes
Heavy saucepan
Whisk
10 x 14 inch baking dish
Large skillet
Lighter stick or match
Wire rack, for cooling

Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and cook until sugar dissolves.  Let boil without stirring until it becomes deep amber color, 2-3 minutes.  Carefully add cream whisking to combine and remove from heat.  Add milk, 2 tablespoons at a time until desired consistency is reached.  Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 10 x 14 inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon of butter and set aside.

Melt remaining 8 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 cup of the brown sugar and the cinnamon and cook until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes.  Add the bananas and cook on both sides until the bananas begin to soften, and brown about 3 minutes.  Add the banana liquor and stir to blend.  Carefully add the rum and shake the pan to flame the rum.  Shake the pan back and forth until the flame dies.  Remove from heat and cool.  Let me let you in on a little secret: when we made this, the pan did not flambe (light) and you know what, it turned out great!  So if you make this recipe and yours does not ignite, not to worry.  It will still taste wonderful!

Whisk the eggs and add the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, the cream, milk, vanilla and salt in a bowl.  Add the cooled banana mixture and bread and stir until blended thoroughly.  Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake until firm, about 50 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.  Serve a scoop of pudding on a plate and top with vanilla ice cream and drizzle with caramel sauce.

Serves: 10

And that concludes my NYE recipe round-up.  Now go out there and try some of these recipes.  You will not regret it!  And as always, please let me know if you try them.

Happy weekend, everyone!

NYE Recipe: Mushroom Crusted Lamb with Leek Puree

As alluded to in this post, this is a family (and friend) favorite.  So much so that we have taken to calling them lambsicles, as in a lamb popsicle, because they are so tender and delicious!

J and I actually made this with JY and Ashlee last year (NYE 2009) in South Haven, MI.  It was a very snowy night thanks to lake effect snow and we almost didn't make it out the next morning.  Picture JY, Ashlee and I pushing the car, without gloves mind you, through the snow while J drove the car and you will have a pretty good idea of what our trip was like.  Don't worry, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to IKEA in Chicago on our way home!

But I digress.  This recipe makes for great leftovers and is a wonderful main course!  When we made it in 2009, we served it with a champagne-Parmesan risotto and fresh bread.  A leek gratin, like the one my dad made for our NYE dinner this year, is fantastic as well.

Mushroom Crusted Lamb with Leek Puree

Ingredients:

2 leeks, chopped

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

dash sea salt

dash white pepper

2 ounces dried mushrooms (shiitake is best), finely ground with a spice grinder--a whirl blade coffee grinder dedicated to spices and things like dried mushrooms, is best

1 egg, beaten

1 cup flour, for dredging

2 racks lamb, boned--they should look like lamb popsicles

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, chunked

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 sprigs thyme


Kitchen Supplies:
Coffee grinder dedicated to spices and things like dried mushrooms
Strainer to rinse and drain chopped leaks
3 platters or large plates for dredging (flour, egg, mushroom mixture)
Small stockpot
Large oven proof skillet--cast iron works best
Blender or immersion blender for puree

Rinse chopped leaks thoroughly to remove grit between layers.  Boil leeks for 4 minutes, add to blender with butter and a dash of sea salt and pepper.  Puree and keep warm.

Grind the dried mushrooms in coffee grinder.  Beat egg in a bowl.  Dredge lamb in flour lightly, dip in egg then dredge in mushroom powder.  Pat with hands and refrigerate up to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in skillet, add shiitake mushrooms and garlic and thyme.  Cook ten minutes.  Set aside.

Heat cast iron skillet over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.  Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add coated lamb and cook 2 minutes.  Turn and place in oven for 4 minutes.  Let rest 3 to 4 minutes.  Serve on plate on top of a bed of leek puree and spoon mushrooms on top.

Serves: 6

Note: if you are making this as part of a multiple course dinner, like my dad did, you can prepare everything up until the actually cooking of the lamb.  A few minutes before you are ready to serve, reheat the puree and cook the lamb in the oven.

I don't know about you, but I am getting hungry!  After lunch, I will share the Beef Wellington recipe and how I knocked another one off this list, before wrapping up with dessert, Bananas Foster Bread Pudding!

NYE Recipe: Scallops and Cauliflower with Caper-Raisin Sauce

As I mentioned in this post, my dad gave us a lesson on the mandoline, the cooking tool not the musical instrument musicians like this one play.  That one is written without the -e at the end.  This tool comes in handy when slices the cauliflower before pan frying it.

Scallops and Cauliflower with Caper-Raisin Sauce, taken from MasterCook

Ingredients:

1/3 cup capers, drained

1 tablespoon caper liquid, reserved

1/3 cup golden raisins

12 cauliflower flowerets

4 tablespoons butter, divided

4 tablespoons canola oil, divided

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons parsley, minced

12 large sea scallops, halved

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar


Kitchen Supplies:
Mandoline, for slicing cauliflower
Small saucepan
Blender, for raisin-caper sauce
Large skillet
Large oven proof skillet

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Combine capers and raisins in a small saucepan and add 3/4 cup water and simmer gently until raisins are plump, about ten minutes.  Cool slightly and puree in a blender.  Return to saucepan.

Using mandoline, slice the cauliflower flowerets 1/4 inch thick.  You will need 24 total.  Place 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a large skillet and working in batches, saute the cauliflower over medium high heat until golden about ten minutes total.  Remove, season with salt and pepper and keep warm in the oven.

Deglaze the pan by heating 1/4 cup of water and scraping the pan.  Add parsley and pour this juice over the cauliflower, returning it to the warming oven.

Place 1 tablespoon each of oil and butter in a large oven proof skillet over medium high heat.  When the butter foams, add the scallops and cook on one side only until nicely browned, about three minutes.  The scallops take so little time to cook because they have been cut in half.  Remove from pan and season with salt and pepper, place in warming oven.

Reheat the sauce and add nutmeg, sherry vinegar and salt and pepper as needed.  Spoon a little sauce on a plate and place 6 scallop pieces on each plate browned side up.  Top with a few slices of cauliflower and sprinkle with nutmeg.  Serve immediately.

Serves: 4

This is a great appetizer or with a starch such as rice or coucous, a main course, as the starches would soak up all of that yummy sauce.  On NYE, everyone used their spoons to scoop up the rest of the sauce when they ran out of cauliflower and scallops.  Seriously.

Next up, the much discussed and anticipated (at least by us on NYE) Mushroom Crusted Lamb!

New Years Eve Dinner 2011: The Menu

Starting in the year 2000, my dad began making several course dinners for New Years Eve instead of going out on one of the craziest (and most expensive) nights of the year.  That year it also meant they were close to home in case all the Y2K bug rumors turned out to be true and the world starting coming to an end...just kidding, the Y2K bug had nothing to do with their decision to stay home but it is sort of funny to think about all the stockpiling people did months before January 1, 2000.

The theme that year was Dinner Around the World and each course featured a dish from every continent (except Antarctica) with a corresponding (and complimentary) bottle of wine.  My parents enlisted my siblings and me to serve them dinner, which is one of the benefits of having four kids.  We got to eat the courses too, but in the kitchen because there was no room for us in the dining room and we were kitchen help after all.

Gradually I have moved up in the world and this year J and I got to eat at the "big kid" table with my parents and their friends.  

And boy was the food good.  I am going to share some of my favorite recipes from the dinner, with pictures, in the subsequent posts, but for now I thought I would share the table setting and menu with you all.  You know, to get your mouth salivating on this Friday morning.

First, the table setting.  Notice the three different wine glasses: one for whites, one for reds and one for champagne at midnight.  It is a good thing my mom put the champagne glasses because by the time we finished the last course, it was 11:15!  We even had to stop cleaning the kitchen to watch the ball drop at midnight.  We watched the Dick Clark one (of course!) although Ryan Seacrest did most of the hosting this year.

See all that silverware?  I sort of felt like Leo in Titanic when I sat down (we don't eat at really fancy restaurants very often, can you tell?) but then I remembered Molly Brown/Kathy Bates advice from the fancy dinner scene in First Class and started on the outside and worked my way in.

Alright enough blabbing.  Now onto the main event, the menu for this festive dinner.  The theme this year was A Night in New Orleans.  All the recipes were either Cajun recipes or recipes served by Paul Prudhomme or Emeril in their NOLA restaurants, with the exception of the mushroom crusted lamb.  We have this recipe every year for NYE (never fear I will share the recipe with you!) and it just wouldn't be NYE without it.  In fact, when my dad's friends (who we celebrate with every year) heard the theme, their first question was: will we still get the lamb?  It is that good.

New Years Eve 2010:

Scallops and Cauliflower with Caper-Raisin Sauce

Turtle Soup

Mushroom Crusted Lamb with Leek Puree

Leek Gratin

Shrimp Remoulade

Beef Wellington

Creamy Cabbage Alfredo

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

Those of you who are somewhat familiar with my 130 Before I'm Thirty list may notice that we made Beef Wellington, which is on my list.  You better believe that when my dad gave us the menu a few days before New Years, I immediately enlisted myself to make the dish!

So there you go, our NYE menu.  Are you drooling yet?  Stay tuned for the recipe for the first course, Scallops and Cauliflower in a Caper-Raisin Sauce!