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A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

Luxury pasta.

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If Chanel were to design a pasta dish, I think it would go something like this recipe.

High end melted brie coating the ridges of the penne pasta, deglazing the pan with crisp white wine, peppery arugula lightly wilted throughout, and sauteed to perfection mushrooms. Ooh la la.

Yes, this is not your basic pasta recipe. Think minimal but high end ingredients. Use good white wine and the best brie you can afford. If possible, sample it! The taste will be your sauce, and sometimes brie can be quite strong. It’s going to make a statement here, just like Chanel.

P.S. I threw bacon in on this one because I am that kind of wife. It did not need it, at all.

Luxury Pasta
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Ingredients
  1. 3/4 box penne, I used a mix of whole wheat penne and bow ties
  2. 1 TBS olive oil
  3. 2 slices of bacon, if you have a husband like M
  4. 1 lbs button mushrooms, quartered
  5. 1 small red onion, sliced
  6. 1/2 cup dry white wine, think Sauvignon Blanc
  7. kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
  8. 8 ounces brie, cut into 1-inch pieces
  9. 4 cups fresh baby arugula
Instructions
  1. Cook the pasta according to package directions and save 1/2 cup if the cooking water.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat. Saute the bacon, if using, and remove with a slotted spoon when cooked.
  3. Add the mushrooms and cook, tossing occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to release their juice, 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add the wine to deglaze the pan, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook until the mushrooms brown, 5-6 minutes.
  5. Toss the pasta with the brie and reserved cooking water until the pasta is coated. Stir in the mushroom mixture and arugula.
  6. Sprinkle with bacon on top, if using.
Adapted from Real Simple
Adapted from Real Simple
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

Fancy, right?
C

The fajita problem – solved!

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Ok, maybe this is just me but I always get a little, well, uncomfortable when I order fajitas in a restaurant. They are like an event. It takes roughly 3 people to carry them out and one of the dishes is sizzling hot and making all that noise. Then you end up taking up half the table with all your ‘stuff’ when everyone else has one measly plate in front of them that they have to pretty much shove halfway off the table to make room for your…spread.

Wow it felt good to get that off my chest.

I don’t like attention on myself, at all, so much so that ordering fajitas at times can make me uncomfortable. Gosh that sentence is weird.

But it’s true.

So, fellow reserved fajita lovers unite! Everything you need is in one tasty baking dish. No need for endless amounts of room on the tables for multiple plates. You simply scoop up one big pile of melted goodness.

Now, if only restaurants could get on board. I’m on to something, right?

Fajita Casserole
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Ingredients
  1. 8 flour tortillas, cut into 1 inch wide strips
  2. cooking spray
  3. 1 TBS onion powder
  4. 1 TBS garlic powder
  5. 1 TBS ground cumin
  6. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  7. 1 TBS chili powder
  8. 1 tsp dried oregano
  9. 1 1/2 lbs sirloin steak or boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
  10. salt & pepper
  11. 4 TBS high temp cooking oil (vegetable or peanut)
  12. 1 bottle mexican beer
  13. 2 red peppers, sliced thin
  14. 2 red onions, sliced thin
  15. 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
  16. 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
  17. 2 limes
  18. 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
  19. sour cream and/or salsa, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, arrange the tortilla strips in a single layer, and spray with cooking spray. Bake until crispy, 8-10 minutes. When you remove the strips, switch the broiler on.
  2. You're going to get two skillets or saute pans going now, one for meat, one for veggies. Season your meat with salt & pepper. Mix together your spices to create a rub and put on the meat. Start one skillet over high heat with 2 TBS of the oil. Add the meat to the pan, searing on both sides for roughly 2 minutes. Add the beer to the pan and cook to reduce, 5 minutes or so.
  3. While the meat is cooking get skillet number two going with the remaining 2 TBS of oil. Add your peppers and onions and cook until the vegetables are brown are the edges, 3-4 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the garlic. Add the cilantro, juice of 1 lime, salt&pepper, and toss to combine. Remove from the heat.
  4. Combine the meat, veggies, and toasted tortillas together into a big casserole dish. Top with cheese and place under the broiler to melt the cheese, roughly 3 minutes. Keep an eye on it.
  5. Garnish with the juice of the remaining lime, sour cream and/or salsa. Place on the table in an orderly fashion.
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Adapted from Rachael Ray
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

So much more reserved…
C

Rolled up chicken parm.

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We’ve enjoyed chicken parm many ways around A Life From Scratch. We’ve had it lightened up here and ooey gooey heavy here. Both of which were delicious. (Although let’s be honest, the ooey gooey version is slightly in the lead).

It wasn’t until last night though that we enjoyed a completely new spin on it, thanks to Dinner A Love Story. Chicken parm meatballs. Genius.

There isn’t much that needs to be said here. These little balls of heaven will sit perfectly as your main dish along the side of your favorite green veggie. We enjoyed M’s green beans but any would do.

And we didn’t miss the carbs one bit. Promise.

Rolled up Chicken Parm
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Ingredients
  1. 1 1/4 lbs ground white chicken
  2. 1/2 cup parm
  3. 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  4. 1 clove garlic, minced
  5. 2 TBS onion, minced
  6. generous amount of salt & pepper
  7. 1 TBS freshly chopped parsley
  8. 1 egg, lightly beaten
  9. 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
  10. 1 tsp fennel seeds
  11. 1 tsp oregano
  12. good amount of fresh mozzarella (I bought medallions from Whole Foods which sat perfectly on top of each ball)
  13. 3 TBS olive oil
  14. 14 ounce can of good quality pizza sauce
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
  2. Mix together all the ingredients up until the fresh mozzarella with your hands. Form extra large golf ball sized balls and place on your baking sheet.
  3. Mix together the olive oil with 1 TBS pizza sauce and brush on top of each ball. Bake for 15 minutes.
  4. Remove from the oven and switch the broiler on. Spoon and good amount of sauce over each ball and then place a nice hunk of mozzarella on top.
  5. Broil for an additional 3-5 minutes, keeping an eye on them until they are browned and bubbly.
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

Who needs pasta?
C

I have a secret.

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Do you want to know what it is?

Of course you do. Who doesn’t want to hear a secret?

It has to do with chicken skin. I know. Not exactly juicy in the way you’d want juicy to read in regards to a secret but hey, this is a cooking blog.

So here it is. I had a goal over the last month. It was to figure out how to get that perfectly browned skin on chicken before sending it into the oven to finish off. I was always slightly disappointed in mine. Tasty? Yes. Perfect? No. After years of cooking, reading recipes, and watching cooking shows I felt I was brainwashed to believe that a screaming hot pan equals that perfectly crisp skin. And while yes, I always got some color, it didn’t have that crackle snap pop that I was looking for.

Until now.

Thank you, Bon Appetit.

They advised to start your chicken, skin side down, in a room temperature skillet with a very low amount of oil. Who knew? As the pan warms up the fat on the chicken skin renders creating that crackling sound that can only lead to extremely tasty things.

Finally, my end result photograph matches the beautiful recipe photograph. And hey, let’s not forget this is one killer recipe – minimal flavors, maximum taste, and that perfect crunch of skin that I’ve been longing for oh so long.

Snap Crackle Pop Chicken
Serves 2
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Ingredients
  1. 1 lemon
  2. 4 large boneless chicken thighs
  3. 3 tsp olive oil, divided
  4. 3 springs oregano
  5. 1 TBS minced shallot
  6. 1/2 garlic clove, minced
  7. 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  8. 1/4 cup dry white wine
  9. 1/2 cup chicken stock
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Thinly slice half of the lemon, discarding any seeds. Cut remaining half of the lemon into 2 wedges. Pat your chicken dry and season with salt & pepper.
  3. Coat a large room temperate skillet with 1 tsp olive oil. Add chicken, skin side down. Place skillet over medium heat and cook, letting skin render and brown, and pouring off excess fat to maintain a thin coating in the pan, until chicken is cooked halfway through - roughly 10 minutes.
  4. Scatter half of lemon slices over chicken and half on the bottom of the skillet. (The lemon slices on top of the chicken will soften, the ones on the bottom will caramelize). Transfer to the oven, leaving chicken skin side down, and roast until chicken is cooked through - roughly 6-8 minutes.
  5. Transfer chicken pieces, skin side up, and lemon slices from the bottom of the pan to a platter and tent with foil. (Leave the softened lemon slices in the pan for seasoning). Return skillet to medium heat. Add oregano, shallot, garlic, and red pepper flakes; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minutes.
  6. Add wine, cook until reduced by half, about 1-2 minutes. Add broth, cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. Season the sauce with the juice of 1 lemon wedge, salt & pepper. Taste to adjust and use the additional lemon wedge, if needed. Drizzle the sauce with the remaining 2 tsp of olive oil.
  7. Return the chicken to the skillet skin side up to warm. Serve topped with caramelized lemon slices and plenty of that delicious sauce.
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Adapted from Bon Appetit
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Juicy, right?
C

Team M or team C?

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As I mentioned in my picks for the week, this recipe goes way back. I also mentioned there was a story to go along with it. I’m not one to typically air dirty laundry but the fight ended up yielding a pretty delicious recipe so let’s do this.

It was summer and I was pregnant. Quite pregnant, with L. I remember working all day at HP and then waddling home around 5:00 sharp. It was a great job that way.

M was unfortunately not so lucky and like most 27 year olds building their career was logging in 80+ hours per week. I remember him arriving home close to 9:00 and walking in the door lugging his laptop bag.

‘What’s for dinner?’

‘Stuffed chili rellenos’, I replied. I waited right until he pulled in the garage to pop them in the oven because that’s just the way I do things.

‘That sounds great’ as he grabs a cold beer and heads to the table.

We sit down and I dish him up two to start. He looks at them with an odd face and sort of moves his fork around inside them. He then looks up and asks, ‘what else are we having?’

…………..?????????

‘Um, nothing else. This is dinner.’ Tread carefully M, tread carefully.

‘But there is no meat.’

‘Well…I know. But there are so many veggies, including corn, and cheese…and…’ my voice trails off. Being 7 months into the pregnancy I start to tear up. I have serious issues when people don’t like the food I serve.

So there you have it. M just worked an almost 14 hour day and I’m very pregnant. Let’s just say it was not the best combo. I think it ended with a very loud ‘I AM NEVER MAKING DINNER FOR YOU. AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ while storming out the door to walk (ok, waddle) around the lake and sob into my cell phone to my girlfriend. Tia, are you remembering this?

Fueled with rage my version of this recipe was born. It was too good not to keep in the rotation, all it (apparently) needed was some delicious italian sausage thrown into the mix to make everyone happy. And by everyone I mean my picky husband.

Charred Chili Rellenos
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 4 large poblano peppers
  2. 2 TBS vegetable oil
  3. 3 cups corn, frozen or fresh
  4. 1 red onion, chopped
  5. 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
  6. 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  7. 1 15 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes (or regular works fine as well)
  8. 1.5 tsp cumin
  9. 1/2 tsp oregano
  10. salt & pepper
  11. italian sausage, heaven forbid
  12. 1 cup shredded mexican blend cheese or Chihuahua cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat broiler to high.
  2. Place poblanos under the broiler and char evenly all over, about 10-12 minutes.
  3. If using sausage, cook over medium heat in a skillet in some olive oil.
  4. While the sausage and peppers are working, get your veggies ready. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil smokes or ripples add the corn, onion, jalapenos, and toss until the vegetables char at the edges and the onions are tender, 4 to 5 minutes.
  5. Reduce heat to medium-high and add in the garlic, tomatoes, and seasonings. Add in your cooked sausage if using. Cook another minute or two to blend the flavors then turn the pan off and remove from the heat.
  6. Split the charred peppers open (the long way) and scoop out the seeds with a small spoon. Place the peppers in a shallow baking dish and stuff each split pepper with lots of the corn mix and top with cheese.
  7. Pop them back under the broiler until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Adapted from Rachael Ray
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

So, what’s your vote?
C

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