Low and Slow with a French Twist

June 22, 201321 Comments

Hi everyone! The road warriors have returned. We had a fabulous road trip across more than 1,500 miles. We began with a “five on the clock” as Mr. N would say. Which means we were up and getting ready with a “four on the clock.” Or getting up in the middle of the night as Miss A declared.

The day before and the first day of road trips are my favorite. The packing, the anticipation, the waking up bright and early (the only time I like to wake up early), the excitement, the buzz around the house…it’s exhilarating.

We had a great time visiting friends (more on that to come), going to museums, amusement parks, wineries and just generally lying low and taking it slow. It was perfection. No phones, no emails (at least as they pertained to work) and no texts. How often does that get to happen?! Certainly not often enough.

It was pure family time and pure fun. The kids have gotten older since our last road trip this direction, even since our last road trip. As we know, time flies. Miss A is certainly going through a new developmental stage and Mr. N literally aged on this trip (more on that to come).

But before I get to those fun little tidbits and while I get all our vacation pictures organized, we thought we’d share another French recipe with you all. Can you tell we’re enjoying our little foray into French cuisine! Well, who wouldn’t?! So like our trip, this recipe is one that you’ll want to cook low and slow. It’s a slow cooker twist on a traditional French Provençal vegetable stew – Ratatouille.

I believe we adapted the recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens dish, but truthfully I don’t remember and I can’t find the recipe that I used. It came on vacation with us (as I had intended to post this while we were away), but it either didn’t make it home or it’s lost somewhere in a suitcase. In any case, we used traditional ratatouille veggies – eggplant, onion, tomato, pepper (we chose red) and zucchini.

Along with our veggies we used garlic, tomato sauce, salt and pepper, oregano and herbs de Provence.

Everything was simply tossed into the slow cooker and set on low to cook for 5 hours.

All told, the only real time you spend cooking this dish is the time it takes you to chop the veggies. Not to mention there’s only one pot to clean at the end! This is my kind of weekday meal for sure.

Now there are many ways to serve ratatouille. It can be a served as a side dish or a main course. It can be served over rice, bread or pasta. It can even be served on its own as a stew.

The veggies will shine regardless of how you serve the dish. As for us, we wanted a little protein with the meal, so we served ours over omelets.

It was a fresh, flavorful and rather healthy meal. Mike and I both feel omelets are a great way to load up on veggies.

I gave the slow cooker ratatouille 3 spoons. As many of you know, I’m a picky veggie eater, but I’ll gladly eat them this way and feel good about it. Mike, however, would have preferred the ratatouille over rice. He enjoyed the stew, but felt it really needed a carb to go along with it. So he only rings in at 2-1/2 spoons.

As for the kids, well, we let them skip this one. They’ve tried enough dishes to know they don’t like eggplant, peppers or tomatoes…yet. I’m still holding out hope they’ll develop a liking for them though, but for now it’s a bit hard to hide the veggies in the ratatouille. They did enjoy watching the movie, Ratatouille, on vacation though. I suppose that counts for something. 😉

Print this recipe: Slow Cooker Ratatouille

We’ll be back next week with our vacation highlights and then onto a few more fun recipes, followed by our traditional summer celebrations. Have a great week everyone!

Spoiler Alert: Miss A has become obsessed with farms and farm life.

Spoiler Alert: One (or two) of those celebrations might involve a birthday!

Vive Le France!

May 20, 2013May 20, 201339 Comments

Hi again! We’re back with our new international cooking destination courtesy of Miss A. Usually when it’s her turn we pull the big Atlas book out and she flips around to find a page she likes – more often than not it involves the color pink. This time the big book was not consulted. She was sure of her pick – France. I asked her if that was really what she wanted, and didn’t she want to look at the big book…nope, France.

Talk about an intimidating choice. I mean French food. It’s among the most revered cuisines around the world, there are many, many phenomenal French cooks, but perhaps most intimidating of all, my family roots can be traced back to the Rhine River area of France and I have not once made a French dish.

I didn’t really know about my French history until Mr. N was required to research our heritage for school. We started by consulting the extensive family tree that was fortunate to be in my Grandpa’s possession. If you trace the roots on our branch through many generations we end up at Daniel and Mary Fierre in 1685. After doing a little digging we discovered the following:

Maria Warenbauer [Marie de la Warenbau, Marie de la Warrembere, Mary Warrenbur] was born about 1650 possibly in France. She died 1716 in Pequea Valley, Lancaster (then Chester) County, Penn. Maria married Daniel Feree, a Descendent of Robert Ferree who in 1265 founded noble family at Forchamps known variously as LeFerre, Ferree, Ferrie, Fuchre, Fierre, Firre and Ferie. Daniel was a wealthy silk manufacturer who located at Landau, France, along Rhine River, where some and perhaps all of his six children were born. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by French King Louis XIV, the family fled to Strasbourg, Alsace. Later, they moved to Steinwiel, Bittingheim. Daniel was born c.1650 in France and died early 1708 in Bittingheim. After the death of her husband, Maria and Matthias Schliermacher led a group of 54 Huguenot and German Calvinists from the Palatinate, where they were in danger from the soldiers of French King Louis XIV, to Holland and then London. Reaching London in the summer of 1708, she went to see William Penn about buying land in Pennsylvania. Penn arranged for her to have a private audience with Queen Anne, who then recommended the members of the group be given naturalization status. Mme. Ferree’s group bought 4,000 acres from Penn in the Pequea Valley in Lancaster County. Ferree family joined party of Rev. Joshua Kocherthal and set sail 10-15-1708 on “The Globe,” arriving in New York 12-31-1708. They then went up Hudson River valley to Esopus (Kingston) and nearby New Paltz, site of a Huguenot settlement where some of the group had relatives, including Maria’s son-in-law, Isaac Lefevre, two of whose uncles, Simon and Andries Lefevre, had been among the founders of New Paltz, N.Y. They stayed there until the spring of 1712 while their Pennsylvania land was being surveyed. That done, they moved to what became Lancaster County.

We even discovered a reunion website and a cemetery. At this point I’m wondering why I’ve never cooked any French food! Better late than never I guess, so we bring you Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine).

For this particular recipe, we adapted several versions of the dish we found online, all of which were based on Julia Child’s version. We started by crisping a bit of bacon which was then removed and set aside. Next we tossed in the chicken and pearl onions to brown on both sides. We also poured in a touch of Cognac.

Once the chicken was browned, it was time to add the Burgundy, chicken stock, garlic and herbs.

Now if we had read Charles’ post before cooking our coq au vin, we would have tied our thyme, rosemary and bay leaves into a little bouquet (or even made a sachet) to make it easier to discard them after cooking. C’est la vie.

After the chicken cooks in the wine for a bit it is removed, along with the pearl onions and set aside. (This is also the point the herbs are discarded.) Then the mushrooms and bacon are added to the pot and brought to a high heat. After stirring in a bit of flour, the sauce is left to reduce by 3/4’s.

Lastly a bit of butter is melted in the sauce and the chicken and onions are once again incorporated.

The final dish was then served to our hungry crowd (the aromas were killing us!).

Well, I have one word for you – délicieux. The chicken was tender, full of flavor and a total crowd pleaser. Even Mike, who has often said, “It’s good, but it’s just chicken,” gave this recipe the coveted 4 spoons! (So did I.)

Mr. N and Miss A were both happy with the taste of the chicken and each ate two pieces. The mushrooms were a bit too much for them to get around though. While they have been eating mushrooms hidden in ravioli or other creative dishes, it’s hard to hide the mushrooms in coq au vin. Remarkably they both still came in with a 3 spoon vote. I’d say that’s some good chicken!

I wonder if our French ancestors would be proud. We were for our first attempt at la cuisine. In fact I’m certain it won’t be our last French meal in this house! However, before we move on we’ll share the recipe for the side dish we enjoyed with our chicken (and of course the dessert!).

Until then, if you’d like to try your hand at a delicious French meal print the recipe: Coq au Vin

Red, White and BBQ

May 13, 201344 Comments

Don’t you just love a good rivalry? Growing up we had some intense baseball rivalries in the family. Dad is a Cubs fan. Period. My sister and I, well naturally we grew up as Cub fans. Grandma, on the other hand, is a Cardinals fan. It was understood in our house that the Cards were the arch-enemy. I still remember my dad’s t-shirt, “I root for two teams. The Cubs and whoever plays the Cardinals.” To this day, family visits are still full of all kinds of Cubs/Cards gifts and lots of competitive banter.

Then there was my mom’s side of the family. Die hard White Sox fans. Grandpa got a few Sox fans out of his kids and grandkids, but not in our house (mom often remained silent on the subject). And my Dad doesn’t even regard the Sox as legit. This of course led to several lively discussions throughout the years. Then I married Mike…another die hard Cubs fan. (Lucky for him!) Mike jests with Mr. N and Miss A that you can’t like the Sox because they’re crooks (referring to the 1919 “Black Sox Scandal”). Yes, Cubs fans’ memories go back that far (insert Cubs’ World Series reference here).

And despite one little scare when Mr. N was 3 or 4 and insisting he was a Cardinals fan, we have so far successfully raised two Cub fans. In fact, Miss A’s nightly bedtime song – “Take me out to the ballgame,” complete with Harry Caray’s “Let’s get some runs!”

As serious as we take our baseball team affiliations, let’s face it, the rivalry is just downright fun! That’s why it worked out perfectly that Miss A’s pick for our state-side cooking adventure this week is Alabama. You see Bama has a rivalry of its own as well…and as you probably guessed, this one has to do with food – White BBQ sauce vs. Red BBQ sauce. We had never heard of a white BBQ sauce before, but apparently it’s all the rage in northern Alabama. So for today’s post we’re pitting White vs. Red in this BBQ battle.

Starting with Bama’s take on the red sauce, we selected a recipe that hails from the Chicken and Egg festival in Moulton, Alabama. This sauce uses ketchup, cider, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, mustard and some seasonings. The ingredients are combined and cooked over medium heat. The chicken is then tossed in the sauce to coat.

Finally, the chicken is placed in a baking dish and wrapped completely in foil to bake for 15 minutes at 500F and an hour and 15 minutes at 350F.

The end result is a fall-off-the-bone kind of chicken.

Seriously – this stuff was amazingly tender and juicy. We know we’ll be baking chicken this way again. However, the flavors were a bit disappointing. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I think we were hoping for something with a bit more tang. Mike would prefer tang with a kick, while I would prefer a tang with a sweet and spicy finish.

Overall the ratings weren’t bad: Mike – 2 spoons, Kristy – 2-1/2 spoons, Mr. N – 3-1/2 spoons and Miss A – “2 or 90 spoons.” Mr. N was the biggest fan.

As for the Alabama White BBQ Chicken, we used a recipe from The Neelys on The Food Network. We started by mixing together the sauce – a combination of mayo, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and seasonings. We reserved some in the fridge for dipping and used the rest to baste our chicken.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler. Mix, baste, grill, eat. The finished product was a beautifully grilled and delicious BBQ chicken. I realize this is high praise which can perhaps be attributed to the fact that it was our first outdoor grilled meal since last summer. Still, it was very tasty chicken.

I was a bit nervous about the sauce for two reasons. One, I’m not being a big mayo fan. And two, it was incredibly watery. It had the consistency of a light salad dressing vs. a thick barbecue sauce, but unlike last time, my expectations were surpassed. It was tangy, sour and tasted fabulous on the grilled chicken.

Ultimately the white BBQ won out over the red with our final votes of: Mike – 3 spoons (“Not 4 spoons because it’s still just chicken.”), Kristy – 4 spoons, Mr. N – 4 spoons and Miss A – 3 spoons. I do have to put a disclaimer on Mr. N’s 4 spoons though. You see we made these dishes on two different weekends and the voting was tallied at the time of the meal. However, even though Mr. N gave the white chicken 4 spoons, he did not like the dipping sauce and insists that he’d prefer the red version to the white even though his ratings don’t reflect as much.

Now while Mike, Miss A and I will take the white over the red any day of the week, I am anxious to try that baking method out on my own BBQ sauce sometime because the chicken itself was truly memorable…unlike the White Sox. 😉

Alabama Red Sauce recipe: Alabama Red BBQ Chicken

Side dish courtesy of: Rufus’s Sweet Potato Fries and Oven Baked Fries

Alabama White Sauce recipe: White BBQ Chicken

Side dish courtesy of: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (I shamelessly admit that it’s a guilty pleasure!)

Land of Smiles

May 5, 2013May 5, 201355 Comments

Spring has arrived! Well, at least the dandelions have.

I know they are weeds and not necessarily desirable in the front lawns of suburbia, but how can you not smile looking at a sea of beautiful yellow and green? We came upon this vacant lot near the theater where Mr. N performed his five shows this past weekend and it just made me smile. Speaking of smiles, today is our last recipe inspired by the “Land of Smiles,” Thailand. This recipe came from a good friend of mine and isn’t an authentic Thai dish, but definitely Thai-inspired. The kids and I were up north visiting my good friend and her kids (leaving Mike to his NCAA tournies) and she prepared this dish for our arrival. We hadn’t yet officially started our cooking adventures in Thailand, but I knew this would have to make it to the blog. So today we bring you Slow Cooker Spicy Peanut Thai Chicken. The ease of this dish certainly makes me smile!

The recipe is simple, mix together peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, freshly minced ginger, sweet chili sauce and sambal oelek (ground chili paste).

Then simply add the chicken to the slow cooker (we used boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1-inch pieces) and pour the sauce over the chicken. Next add a bit of fresh cilantro and two ingredients which weren’t part of the original recipe, but that I wanted to toss in – bamboo shoots and green onions. Once everything is mixed together, cover and set your temperature. We cooked ours on low for eight hours, but you could cook this on high for four hours as well. Then go about your day…

While not really an authentic Thai dish, this inspired version has helped feed us and keep us sane during these busy weeks. And Miss A and I have enjoyed whipping up a very easy (again non-traditional) naan to go with the chicken. While you could also use rice, naan is a fabulous complement to the meal. We typically mix the dough in the morning, let it rest in the fridge for the day. Then we roll it out and cook it up in 15 minutes before dinner. Can you see why the Land of Smiles has us smiling?!

But the smiles don’t end there. This meal gets high marks from all of us! When the naan was complete and the chicken cooked through, we garnished the dish with fresh cilantro and toasted peanuts.

Miss A is not a fan of the spicy chicken, but I think she’ll come around. She’s just beginning to explore spicy dishes. The naan, however, that gets 5 spoons from her (I think she may be getting closer to understanding our rating system, but I will miss her votes of 1,092.)

Mike, Mr. N and I all really like this dish. It’s one we’ll make again and again. Partly for its simplicity and partly for its flavors. It’s a great weeknight flavor punch – spicy, sweet and those little crunchy bites of peanuts – yum! This easily earns 3 spoons from each of us. Thank you for the recipe Missy!

Now before we sign-off for today and end our Thailand cooking adventures, Mr. N wanted to share one last fact about the Land of Smiles with you all. Did you know that Bangkok’s Thai name is the longest place name in the world? The Thai’s call Bangkok, Krung Thep, but its official name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. Whew!!! There is a bit of controversy surrounding the validity of the statement as North Wales and New Zealand also lay claim to the title, but you can read more on that here. While I can’t claim to know the true title holder, I do know this is a LONG name! And I know there is one thing I wish could last longer…childhood.

Mr. N was in his first “real” play this past weekend. This wasn’t a camp play or school play, but one at a community theater for which he auditioned and rehearsed for months. In fact, he even got to miss two days of school to perform for other schools’ field trips. To say he was proud and excited is an understatement.

He was an ensemble character in “Charlotte’s Web” in a cast of about 25 other kids aged 1st grade through high school. He made friends, had a few crushes (shhh!) and even had his first kiss. Well, sort of – he was kissed by a younger girl and quite mortified by it! In fact, he told Mike that when he becomes a famous actor someday he’s going to have to get married really fast because he can just imagine how many girls chase famous actors trying to kiss them. So his solution – he’ll need to get married quickly. Oh boy…I think I’m getting some gray hair now.

Truthfully as a parent, watching him become part of a group – part of something outside of home, outside of school and larger than himself was a proud moment for Mike and I. Sometimes we have a hard time believing he’s only almost 9 when we see him reassuring other cast mates that there’s nothing to be nervous about – that this is exciting, and congratulating and hugging his other cast mates at the end of the production. Then other times we think, my goodness how is he almost 9?! Watching him perform his lines, projecting his voice, getting laughter and applause, I couldn’t help but think, “That’s the little 3 pound baby I held in my arms not that long ago.” Sigh.

I think it might be time for a life saver (a tasty dessert from Geni who knows all too well how fast children grow up!). Thank goodness for cameras, so we can preserve these little, and oh so brief, moments of childhood.

Ehem. Now if you’ll excuse me…no, I’m not crying. It’s the heat from this spicy chicken. Okay, so I’m not fooling anyone, but I swear I’m smiling at the same time and the chicken really is quite good. Feel free to decrease the heat if you like. Print this recipe: Spicy Slow Cooker Thai Chicken

Slow It Down

April 29, 201338 Comments

That’s exactly what we need to do – in a week or so – slow down. Right now we are in the midst of an all out crazy few weeks. Last week was a major event at work – that came off with much success, then we rolled into a great weekend – a girls’ trip for me (more on that another time) and a busy, tiring weekend of chasing the kids for Mike. I have mentioned how much I love this man, right?! And this week, well it’s tech week for Mr. N. In theater-speak that’s when they begin practicing on stage, with lights, sound effects, costumes, etc. They are perfecting all the technical aspects of the show before the big performance this weekend (five performances that is).

So what’s in order when things get crazy? Easy cooking – low and slow. And we just so happened to find a fabulous Thai recipe that fit the bill. Not only that, it happens to be #1 on CNN’s “World’s 50 most delicious foods.”

There are many recipes for massaman curry, the most common including beef, potatoes and onions. It also features coconut milk, massaman curry paste, tamarind concentrate, and for our version we opted to add a little bitter orange.

Another common ingredient – peanuts and Mr. N was in charge of toasting those for us. In fact, this was Mr. N’s first lesson in how to use the oven. He’s very interested in learning to be self-sufficient in the kitchen.

Mike managed the cilantro.

And as for our other sous chef. Well, she despite our schedule (actually likely due to our schedule) still managed to find a way to slow down. Chipper doesn’t often get to see Miss A when she’s motionless – because she’s never motionless – so he decided to see what she’s all about.

In the meantime we prepared the remaining ingredients for the massman – cinnamon, bay leaves, palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, massaman curry paste and our bitter orange juice.

As I mentioned there are many, many recipes for Massaman Curry so we blended together a few to make this dish. First we toasted the peanuts. Then we heated a bit of the coconut cream (The creamy stuff that rises to the top of the can of coconut milk – so don’t shake the can!) and tossed in the massaman paste. Next we browned the meat and added the remaining coconut milk and water. Then, everything else went into the pot.

Once the pot reached a simmer, and this is not common to all massaman recipes, we covered it and transferred it to the oven where it baked at 375F for 2 hours. (Enough time to get some things done around the house!) And lastly, once finished, the massaman was garnished with toasted peanuts and served over rice.

Now I will say this – our house smelled amazingly good! How Miss A slept through that I don’t know. Mike and I were pacing through the kitchen salivating. Even Mr. N was hooked by the smell.

So how did it rank among the troops? Well, many of you know, I’m not a big meat and potatoes gal. So take my vote for what you will. I came in at 2-1/2 spoons. While it wasn’t something I’d choose to eat often, it’s not a bad way to eat meat and potatoes. The flavors are incredibly complex – sweet, savory, spicy – and the textures are widely varied too. This dish really has it all.

In fact, Mike was over the moon about our massaman. He gave it the full 4 spoons – and you know he doesn’t hand those out lightly. He said he could eat this all day long, every day. It was right up his alley.

The kids, well, they were a little less enthusiastic. Mr. N felt about how I did – he liked it, but wouldn’t put it on his list of must-haves. And Miss A…simply put, she was not a fan. So 2-1/2 and 1 spoons respectively. This one was really a mixed big for our house, but one we’re glad we made. The process was easy and fun, and it really did smell amazing!

Print this recipe: Massaman Beef Curry

Have a great week everyone! We’ll have our final Thai recipe for you next, and I can tell you this one was a fan favorite. In the meantime, here’s hoping you all have the opportunity to slow down a little – however you can.

Fifteens

April 22, 201359 Comments

Remember this classic scene from Seinfeld?

Well, thanks to Mr. N we now know that this would be illegal in Thailand. Yep. That’s right – there’s no going commando in this part of the world. You see, as promised, Mr. N is going to share little facts about each of the countries we visit through our culinary adventures. First we learned that three common ingredients in Thai food are green onions, cilantro and lime.

And thanks to his new book from Friend Sue, we also learned that leaving the house without underwear is in fact illegal in the Land of Smiles. As you can imagine this made for a nice little chuckle around the dinner table. Not only did it raise the question, how do they know if you aren’t wearing underwear, it also reminded us of little Mr. N.

You see back when he was just three years old and learning to count he would often forget the number 15. He would go from 14 to 16 without fail, no matter how many times we tried again. It also just so happened, that around this time, Mr. N was learning to dress himself each morning. Well, without fail he would forget his underwear. He’d have shorts, t-shirt (usually backwards), and socks. So it became a little inside joke that Mr. N’s underwear were “fifteens.” So every morning we’d remind him, “Mr. N, don’t forget your fifteens!” Not only did this make him chuckle, but he started to remember every article of clothing! It was fortunate for him that this wasn’t illegal in Minnesota.

Needless to say, we had some fun conversations around the dinner table with our first recipe from Thailand. And what did we opt to go with first? The decision was easy – at least as far as Mike was concerned. He’s been waiting for this dish since we began our adventures – a Shrimp Pad Thai. Now with every new cuisine we add all kinds of different ingredients to our kitchen, and while cilantro, lime and green onions aren’t really newcomers, these next few ingredients certainly were. The first up…palm sugar.

We found palm sugar sold in a cone and sliced off what we needed. Next up, fish sauce,

and tamarind concentrate, which is a little bit sticky (think molasses).

We dissolved and mixed everything together with a some garlic and red pepper flakes to create our pad Thai sauce.

In the meantime, we soaked our rice stick noodles according to the package directions in some water.

Next, Miss A took care of cooking our shrimp. Or should I say our rock star (note the outfit change – the third of the day).

We removed the cooked shrimp and set it aside. Then Mr. N swooped in and cooked the onions, garlic and noodles.

Next we tossed in some of the pad Thai sauce along with the shrimp which we then moved to one side of the wok, then cracked and scrambled an egg on the other side.

Finally we tossed in some cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, green onions and mung beans. We tested the noodles and were good to go.

We were really excited with how our first Thai dish turned out. It smelled great and was even pretty to look at. We didn’t even get any groans from the kids – I’m guessing thanks to the shrimp on the plate.

So how did the new cuisine fair? Well, Mike and I both enjoyed the dish. The tamarind flavor comes through with intensity and there are all kinds of texture and flavor sensations happening. It’s definitely a complex dish which rang in at 3 spoons for both Mike and I.

Surprisingly Mr. N, our resident Asian food lover, wasn’t as thrilled with this dish. It was 2-1/2 spoons for him. And Miss A, well, she gave the shrimp 10 spoons and the rest 1 spoon. These ratings kind of baffled us. It wasn’t the flavor because they both enjoyed the shrimp. So perhaps it was a texture issue? Or maybe the sprouts that soured them on the dish as a whole. Still they ate up their dinners and didn’t complain and that’s always a win in my book!

Print this recipe: Shrimp Pad Thai

All-in-all, not bad for our first Thai cooking adventure. Next up, another well-known and renowned Thai dish. Until then, we’ll leave you with this philosophical thought of the day: As to why a three-year old Mr. N always put his shirts on backwards… “It’s so people will know it’s me when I’m walking away.” Out of the mouths of babes…