Garlic and Herb Crusted New York Strip Roast

Today is my Mom's birthday and true to form when you have a birthday in January and you live in a suburb of Chicago, you can usually count on some wild weather.  Today's menu outside called for snow, sleet, freezing rain and Mother Nature threw in some lightning and thunder for good measure.

The menu inside the house was garlic and herb crusted New York strip roast with mashed potatoes and green beans.

I modified the recipe below because, well it's January in a suburb of Chicago and I don't have a ton of fresh herbs handy.  The way this roast tasted made me forget about a lack of fresh herbs.

I only wish I had take in photo because it was gorgeous as well as delicious!

• 4 garlic cloves
• 8 fresh sage leaves--I used dried
• 4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves--I used dried
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

• 1 4- to 5-pound boneless beef loin New York strip roast, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch

With machine running, drop garlic into processor; blend until finely chopped. Add sage, thyme, oil, salt and pepper; process until paste forms.

Pat meat dry with paper towels. Rub meat all over with herb paste. Cover; chill at least 3 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Place meat, fat side up, on rack in roasting pan. Roast meat 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Roast meat until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat registers 130°F for medium-rare, about 35 minutes (or 140°F for medium, about 40 minutes). Remove from oven; let stand 20 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices on platter.

Chipotle Braised Sweet Potatoes

I didn't touch a sweet potato until I was well into my 30s and I cannot figure out why.  I had one of  my first experience with sweet potatoes and chipotle at Dorado in Chicago.   So many times people want to mix sweets with marshmallow and brown sugar.  Spice them up, I say.

4 pieces of bacon, stacked and cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces
1 medium onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1tsp-1tbsp minced chipotle pepper with adobo
1/4 C. dry white wine
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
2-3 C. chicken or beef stock
1/2-1 lime, freshly squeezed
sea salt and pepper to taste

Add bacon to cold large heavy soup pot.  Cook over medium heat until crispy.  Remove bacon from pot, drain and set aside.

Add onion, garlic, ginger and sugar.  Saute until onion is tender; 5-7 minutes.

Stir in chipotle to taste and wine.  Cook until wine evaporatesl 2-4 minutes.  Add sweet potatoes and enough stock to reach half way up the potatoes.  Cover and simmer til potatoes are knife tender; 20 to 25 minutes.  Add bacon back to pot.

Stir in some lime juice.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Chicken Vesuvio

Several weeks ago, my Mom and I started talking about what we were going to have for our family celebration of January birthdays (hers and mine).  She wanted something different.  Chicken Vesuvio rose to the top of the list of possibilities quickly.  It's something I have never made so I did some research.  So many recipes were for whole chickens or dark meat chicken and quite frankly, I don't like dark meat chicken.  After a little more research, I found 3 recipes that sounded appealing and what I made today was a combination of the three.

Keep in mind, I made 20 chicken breasts and roughly 8lbs of potatoes--so basically quadrupled the recipes as they were written.  It's labor intensive when you're making that much but it turned out fantastic so it was worth it.

I fried the chicken and potatoes in my wok.  It really worked well.  I have a cast iron Dutch oven which would have worked well if I had been making dinner for 4.

I started by peeling the potatoes I used russets.  I peeled them and cut them into spears.  For 4 servings, use 3-4 potatoes.  I set the potatoes aside in a pot of cold water to keep them from turning brown.

Each chicken breast was rinsed and patted dry and then dredged in a mixture of flour, dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme, pepper, salt, a pinch of rosemary (I put my rosemary through a spice grinder) and a pinch of sage.

When you think of chicken Vesuvio, you think garlic.  Now, not everyone in my family likes garlic as much as I do so I tried to figure out how to get the fantastic garlic flavor without offending those who don't want to repel every vampire in a tri-state area.  I poured 2 tbsp. olive oil into the wok over medium heat and crushed some garlic cloves and tossed them into the wok along with the dredged chicken breasts four at a time.  I used 4 crushed garlic cloves for each set of four chicken breasts.  When they started to burn, I swapped them out for new ones.

Brown the chicken breasts approximately 4 minutes on each side.  Place chicken breasts in a roasting pan when browned.

When the chicken was done, I started with the potatoes, approximately a dozen spears at a time.  I added a little olive oil for each batch of potatoes and sprinkled some granulated garlic, dried basil, dried thyme, dried oregano, salt and pepper.  After 8-10 minutes the potatoes are browned.  I had so much chicken and potatoes, I had 3 roasting pans.  If you're making a smaller batch, I would put the potatoes and chicken in the same pan.

I deglazed the wok with 3 cups of white wine...I used a pinot grigio.  Once the wine reduced by half, I poured it over each of the three roasting pans.  Just before baking, I added about a half cup of chicken broth to each pan.  I baked the potatoes at 375 for 45 minutes and the chicken for 25 minutes.  Just before everything came out of the oven, I cooked 3 cups of peas in the microwave according to package directions.  I poured the peas over the chicken and potatoes and then sprinkled everything with minced fresh parsley.

I don't like to brag but this meal got rave reviews from the family and I am my own worst critic and thought it was the BOMB!

Pasta Fagioli

Pasta fagioli is one of my favorite soups.  I made this recipe today; I actually doubled it.  I also didn't find any specifically spinach pasta I wanted to add to the soup so I used tri-color tortellini instead.  If you use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, you have meat free meal.  I tried it and it's really hearty.  This is going to be a fantastic meal with some crusty bread.

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1 14.5oz. can chicken broth
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 15oz. cannelini beans, with liquid

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Cook celery, onion, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and salt in the hot oil until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.  Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and simmer on low 15 to 20 minutes

Add pasta and cook 10 minutes until pasta is tender.

Add undrained beans and mix well.  Heat through.  Serve with grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Christmas Baking 2012

Yes, I know...Christmas was almost two weeks ago.  I am a little behind...when you catch a cold 3 days before Christmas and it blossoms into a raging sinus infection for New Years...you don't spend a lot of time blogging.  I'll be honest...the last few evenings, I have spent most of my time napping.  I am finally returning to the land of the living so I can recap the baking extravaganza of 2012.  These are my finished trays.

They look yummy, don't they?

I started, as I always do with my mini loaves of bread.  This year I made chocolate chip banana and cranberry pecan.

Then I got going with the cookies...

The top photo of the three above is a new recipe this year.

Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies
Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup broken up pretzel pieces
• Preztel Salt or Sea Salt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and preztels. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing.

The second photo are malted milk ball brownies...I wasn't impressed with these, they were just OK.  It was just a Betty Crocker brownie mix with crushed malted milk balls in them.

The third photo is Peppermint Kiss Sugar Cookies and they are the BOMB!

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups butter, room temperature
1 tsp peppermint extract (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
Granulated Sugar
About 30 unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.

2. In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly. Stir in chopped Kisses.

3. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside. Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator, so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.

4. Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week. In the freezer they should be good for a couple of weeks.

I have a side by side freezer and putting a cookie sheet in the freezer is not a realistic expectation the week before Christmas so my kisses were a bit mushy but  they still tasted good!