A Little Holiday Review

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season - it's hard to believe the 2013 holiday season is over! From getting ready for Thanksgiving, to hosting Christmas and celebrating New Year's Eve (which is actually Nick and my anniversary), it's been a bit of a whirlwind! With only four weeks between the major holidays, we only had a day of relaxing before it was time to get the house ready for Christmas. In no time we had the stage set for the next holiday.

Christmas Tree Decorated

It's always fun decorating the tree because we have collected so many ornaments from our travels that we get to re-live those trips as we decorate. I have to say, Arthur had some trouble with the tree and seemed to enjoy the taste of our sentimental ornaments a bit too much and gobbled them up! While some of them cannot be replaced, the one from our honeymoon is being replaced by the resort after we sent a desperate email!  Phew!

Asian Meatballs

A while ago, Blog is the New Black had a guest post from Innocent Indulgences for Asian Meatballs.  Shortly thereafter, when I was at a loss for what to make for a weeknight meal, I stumbled across this dish - problem solved.

Asian Meatballs

This meatball is very adaptable, but I stuck to the inspiration recipe.  Here are the main necessities...

Butternut Squash Chili

After so many amazing months of getting great veggies from my CSA, I am so sad it has finally come to an end.  Mondays now come and go with no boxes of fresh produce.  However, I get to relive some of the last great pick-ups by writing them up here.  When I had a couple squashes to use, I turned to trusty Gojee and plugged in acorn and butternut squash (delicata squash is an easy substitute for butternut) and found a recipe for Cincinnati Chili from the Judicial Peach.  This recipe was for a regular chili, but had some squash, avocado and chocolate - how could I resist!

Dinner!

To begin, I started the long process of preparing the squash.  Luckily, delicata squash does not need to be peeled, so it cuts down on a lot of the prep, but stilled needed to be cubed.  The acorn squash, however, not only had to be cubed but also peeled.  Peeling a ribbed vegetable is not easy to say the least.

Designer Beef Dinner at Home

Nick and I usually make Sundays a day where we cook a meal that takes loads more time and effort than normal.  Not really having an idea what to do this past Sunday, Nick started flipping through our new favorite cookbook, Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home, to find some inspiration.  Thinking beef was a good path to go down, we settled on Herb-Crusted Beef Medallions, which is something new and different for our kitchen.  Normally we do not cook a whole lot of red meat, but we decided to try something new.

Dinner is Ready

Beef Bourginon and No Knead Bread

Full disclosure: I made this way too long ago, but never got around to fully blogging it.  On what was supposed to be a semi-cold and rainy day but actually turned out to be an unseasonably warm one, I decided to make one of the dishes everyone says you need to try with a dutch oven - Beef Bourginon.

For Valentine's Day this year, Nick gave me "Williams Sonoma Cooking at Home" by Chuck Williams, which is supposed to be our generation's "Joy of Cooking."  Unlike most Williams Sonoma cookbooks this one does not have any photos.  Instead, it's just packed full of good stuff, including all sorts of helpful tips for every type of chef. 

The Necessities...

1/2 lb. of salt pork (diced)
Olive oil as needed
8 Shallots (minced)
2 yellow onions (finely diced)
2 carrots peeled  (finely diced)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
about 2 cups all-purpose flour
salt, ground pepper and nutmeg
3 lbs well-marbled beef chuck (2" cubed)
1/4 cup cognac
2 cups beef broth
2 fresh thyme sprigs
3 cups dry red wine
1 bay leaf
5 tbls. unsalted butter
18-24 pearl onions (peeled)
2 tbls. sugar
1 lb white or cremini mushrooms (I used a mixture)
Chopped flat-leaf parsley

As always, to start I took the initial ingredients...

Cheddar-Topped Shepherd's Pie - Perfect for St. Patrick's Day

This St. Patrick's Day I wanted to make something honoring the Irish, but I did not want to do corned beef and cabbage (I just didn't have that sort of time!)  So I turned to the trusted Martha Stewart for some inspiration and found this cheddar-topped shepherd's pie.  The recipe did not seem too difficult for an after work meal.

The Necessities..

• 2 pounds baking potatoes (about 4), peeled and thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 6 medium carrots, halved lengthwise, quartered if large, and thinly sliced
• 6 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 pounds ground beef chuck
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar (6 ounces)

Within the first step I almost screwed this up!  The recipe calls for you to put the potatoes in a large saucepan with some salted water, but I neglected to read the words "thinly sliced" in the ingredients list.  Luckily Nick came in the kitchen and saw the four whole potatoes in the water, so we pulled them out and sliced them up so that we were able to eat dinner sometime during St. Patrick's Day 2011!

Sliced Potatoes

Chili Fit for the Super Bowl

Nick and I finally broke down and bought a dutch oven, which I can safely say was one of our best investments.  I am even saying this only after cooking with it once!  The big question that remained was what to christen the new 9-quart Le Creuset with?

Since Sunday was the Super Bowl, there was really only one thing to make - chili!  Not having a go-to recipe, Nick turned to the Food Network website and found a recipe by the Neely's.  Typically, I find them to be completely annoying, but they've sort of started to grow on me.  Their food, however, has always looked fantastic, so when Nick found their recipe I was sold - that, and it had beef, pork AND bacon.

Simmering away...

The necessities...