Hen with Garlic Sage Sauce - May 8, 2013 (and a puppy birthday party)

It's no secret that the Hartmans are pretty big food TV junkies. Richie in particular has become a bit of a Top Chef addict and has even purchased seasons 1-5 on iTunes to watch whenever he needs a fix! Therefore we couldn't help but be drawn in when we saw season 5's Italian star, Fabio Viviani, staring back at us from the book display at Costco. Even though we have a plethora of Italian cookbooks at home, he charmed his way into our cart anyway and I'm glad he did as the first dish we made from it was definitely a winner.

This is his recipe for "hen with garlic sage sauce" and my only quibble is that his directions were a bit imprecise. I'm pretty comfortable in the kitchen, so "cook until done" was OK with me but I would imagine it might not work for less seasoned cooks. The end result was absolutely delicious and a great use of some of our abundant herb garden growth.

I also made a grain free focaccia bread and ate the dish with steamed green beans. Richie had his over angel hair pasta.

In other news, Lily is no longer a puppy! She turned one on May 2 so of course we had a party. I made four kinds of cupcakes (vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, grain free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, grain free toasted coconut, and peanut butter pumpkin for the dogs) and we invited all her two and four legged friends to a little gathering in the common space next to our house. 

Here is a picture of Lily with two of her four-legged friends. She's the one in the middle.

Kefta with Ginger-Miso-Apple Salad - April 14, 2012

Nick and I made this last weekend, inspired by an episode of 'No Reservations' we had just watched on our DVR.  I am not so much into mainstream cable "food TV," choosing instead to look to PBS for my fix, but I make an exception for Tony Bourdain.  He consistently provides great inspiration from the cuisine of his exotic locales.

We made our kefta with ground beef because I sadly have an aversion to ground lamb.  The ground beef was delicious, amazing really, with the addition of the spices.  Certainly much more flavorful than traditional grilled burgers (which I love) and a really fun choice for upcoming summer grill outs.  Nick found the recipe online, and I'm not sure which one it was, but this one closely approximates it.  Just a little advice: when the directions say to soak the skewers, it's probably a good idea to do it, as you can see from the pictures what happens when you don't.

We served our kefta on a bed of spinach dressed in a lovely ginger-miso-apple dressing.  JJ sent me the recipe and it's delicious.  She stated that she modified several different recipes to come up with something that approximated a ginger-miso dressing she'd had somewhere.  If you want to make your own, just combine roughly equal portions of olive oil, sweet white miso and finely shredded apple, and season with sesame oil, rice vinegar and grated ginger to taste.  Add a little sugar if you'd like and then add apple cider vinegar, apple juice, or a combination of the two until the consistency is to your liking.  It's really good, and worked great with the kefta.  Thanks for the recipe JJ!

Mushroom Beef Risotto - March 2, 2012

I debated not posting this, because the picture really does look like a can of dog food. Sorry about that! It smelled and tasted divine, but this dish isn't going to win any beauty contests.

I think I've posted elsewhere that Richie really liked Buddy Valastro, a.k.a. "The Cake Boss" of the cable channel TLC's show of the same name. I don't know if it is the Italian in my husband that finds Buddy so appealing, but even I find the guy kind of endearing, especially when he yells out "It's GO time!" and "Hoboken style, baby!" He has a new show called "The Kitchen Boss" which showcases his family recipes ("mia famiglia," he says). We have then taped on our DVR and often watch an episode or two while I'm getting our own dinner ready in the evenings. It is kind of fun to have Buddy in the kitchen with us!

I have to admit that none of his recipes have been blockbusters, though his lasagna recipe is my current go-to when I need to bring a dish somewhere or feed a crowd whose dietary tastes I don't know. The most recent one we wanted to try was his "Mushroom Beef Risotto," from the episode charmingly titled "It's All in the Wrist." Richie doesn't like mushrooms much, but if they are chopped small and he can't notice their texture he's OK. I apparently didn't get these chopped up small enough because he still picked out most of them. More for me!

Wisconsin Foodie - Feb 26, 2012

Hey Dinner Clubbers.  I just wanted to share my new obsession: Wisconsin Foodie.  Nick and I discovered it on our local PBS station recently.  It's a great show, especially for anyone who loves locally produced food and/or has Wisconsin ties (we happen to fall squarely into both of those categories and as such are extra enthusiastic).  I've embedded a video below to one of my favorite episodes so far.  Sausage making seems so quintissentially Wisconsin, afterall.  If you click the link to the website, you can peruse other videos and read articles at your leisure.  I am also putting up a link in our 'links we like' section for future reference.


Wisconsin Foodie - European Homemade Sausage from Wisconsin Foodie on Vimeo.

Parmesan Risotto with Shrimp and Green Beans - August 8, 2011

For once, Richie is traveling for work this week while I'm home alone... usually it is the reverse! That means that you will see me preparing dishes with ingredients that I love, but my picky eater love does not! Tonight that is shrimp.

I've been wanting to try to make risotto for a while. I don't know a lot about it really, except that people are always getting sent home from Top Chef for making a bad risotto. Just the other night one of the contestants on the Next Food Network Star (yes, I am a food-related-reality-TV junkie!) was embarrassed by having none other than Wolfgang Puck take her to task for making a poor risotto and gave her an on the spot lesson.

I'm not sure what Chef Puck would have thought of my risotto, but my inexperienced palate thought it was tasty. I kept it very simple, basically following the recipe in The New Best Recipe book, but cut the portion in half since I was the only one eating it tonight. The ingredients were chicken broth, butter, onions, rice, white wine, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. I can see how people would screw it up as it requires lots of attention. Just one second seemed to elapse between it having plenty of liquid and being boiled dry.

To complete my meal, I pan seared some shrimp with salt and pepper, and threw in a few steamed green beans from the CSA for color and crunch. Simple, delicious!

Even though I cut the recipe in half, I still have some leftover. Considering experimenting with making arancini... Stay tuned!