I’m putting this one in the accident category because the sister and I were not huge fans- we’re adding ‘white sauces’ to the list of ‘things Odile has trouble cooking’… but the boyfriend rather enjoyed it and H thought that it looked good (did not get to taste), so this may be another white-sauce-that-actually-worked-I-just-didn’t-think-so. Alas, we’ll most likely never know because as I did not like it, I’m not likely to try it again. :) You’ll have to give it a shot and let me know your thoughts!

I believe its taste may have been altered by the fact that I used a very sweet wine for the sauce (the boyfriend gave the sister a bottle of Muscat Canneli for her 21st and she opted to choose that night for its opening… it had a lovely flavour, but very, very sweet) whereas something a bit more dry might have been a better choice. Should you experiment with it and experience different results, please do let me know- it’d be nice to hear someone else’s thoughts on this one!

Sherry-Glazed Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, and Whole Wheat Penne in White Wine Yogurt Sauce

Adapted from Chicken in White Wine and Yogurt Sauce from Cooks.com (for the sauce)

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, skinned, cleaned (no fat! preferably organic!)
• 1/2 cup dry dessert cream sherry
• 2 large stalks fresh broccoli
• 1/2 box whole wheat penne pasta
• 3 tblspn soy butter (1 for chicken, 2 for sauce)
• 3 tblspn AP organic flour
• 1 cup low-fat organic plain yogurt (I used Stonyfield- mom gave some to me :) )
• 1/4 cup white wine (I used Muscat Canneli)
• Sea salt & freshly-cracked black pepper
• Olive oil, for tossing pasta + pasta water

Process:

1. Boil water for pasta as directed on pasta box. Add a bit of soy butter or olive oil + salt to the water when putting it on the heat to avoid sticking. Cook as directed (I like it just slightly al dente), drain (but save about 1/3 cup pasta water for later), and place in a large bowl. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and set aside with a warm towel on top to keep in the heat.
2. Rinse broccoli stalks, then cut into small chunks and place on a plate. Take a very damp paper towel, place on top of the place so it is fully covered (no problem if it’s hanging off the sides!) and place in microwave for 2-3 minutes, until the broccoli turns very bright green. Leave outside with the paper towel on for an additional minute, then discard the towel and toss the broccoli in with the pasta.
3. Place 1 tblspn soy butter in a small sautee pan with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Once it begins to bubble, put in the chicken breasts and sear on all sides, until a nice brown colour emerges. Then add in the sherry and let sit, keeping the chicken on medium heat and turning it over every 2-3 minutes to even the glaze. It should begin to caramelize and bubble. Once the chicken is fully cooked (press down on it gently with your tongs to check. If there’s any squishyness or give, it’s not done; if it feels firm, take it off the heat!) and place on a cutting board. Keep reducing the sauce until it’s a thick, bubbling glaze, and pour slowly over the chicken. Let sit for a minute or two so it can absorb the glaze. Then, cut the chicken into 3/4-inch cubes and add to pasta and toss.
4. For the sauce, melt the remaining 2 tblspns of soy butter in another pan (a larger saucier this time). Once it begins to bubble a bit, add the flour, and slowly mix it, then add the broth in a slow and steady stream, and continue to mix all the while pouring. Then add the yogurt, wine, salt, and pepper, turn off the heat, and stir until it’s a thick, smooth sauce. Pour onto the pasta and toss lightly so that everything is evenly coated. Serve with fresh herbs on top for garnish, and keep that pasta water handy in case the sauce continues to thicken while on the pasta.

And there you have it! Give it a go and let me know how it works out for you- I’m sure you’ll do a better job of it than I did :). And as for the chicken, there’s no specific need for the glaze (especially if you go with a more dry wine, you could match it with something less sweet on the chicken) but it’s a bit of a tradition at my house. And you can switch around the broccoli for some other vegetable, switch the chicken for another meat… really, a rather fluid dish. Oh, and mushrooms are a classic with this one, but mushrooms scare me, hence their absence… feel free to add them back in for your variations!

Ah, this one definitely is to be filed in the ‘accident’ category. H and I were set to make to panini, and the second was to be an Italian one, featuring pesto… and rather than use the perfectly fine store-bought one in the fridge, I just had to go off and try making my own. With no direction, no recipe, no studying, just randomly throwing things into the blender and hoping for the best. The saddest part is that it probably would have worked, too, if it weren’t for that meddling shallot! I had picked up some very pretty looking shallots at the store earlier that day and thought it a brilliant idea to chop one up and put the whole thing right on into the pesto. Raw. Clearly I sometimes just am not thinking things through :) That said, in case any of you are mad enough to want to try it, herein lies the recipe to my failure:

House-Made Shallot Pesto

Ingredients (makes about 6 oz):

• 1/4 cup organic canola oil
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 1/16 tsp lemon xest (just grate it for 5 seconds or so)
• 1/4 cup whole sunflower seeds
• heaping 1/4 cup almost-burnt toasted walnuts
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups chopped parsley (curly-leaf)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, paprika, coriander, cumin, sea salt, black pepper
• …1 medium shallot, minced (DON’T DO IT!)

Process:

1. Place all liquid ingredients (canola oil, olive oil) in bottom of blender or food processor
2. Then place parmesan and nuts
3. Then add in all other ingredients
4. Omit the shallot, it’s not worth your crying over
5. Blend/process on medium setting until the pesto becomes rather thick (though not quite tapenade-thickness)

Et voila, you’re done! When shallot-less, I bet this would have been a rather tasty pesto, although I would suggest upping the parlsey to perhaps 3 cups and adding some more sunflower seeds, they give a really nice texture. That said, the mere thought of this- honestly- makes me cry as my eyes were watering for a good hour after chopping that silly shallot, so do your eyes a favour and omit it so that you can have a happy pesto!

EDIT: After having used this pesto for a few weeks for a varity of panini, I have to say I’ve really come to like it. The sunflower seeds have absorbed most of the oil, so it has more of a tapenade consistency, but the shallot taste is by no means overpowering and adds a very nice flavour to the sandwiches. It’s also ideal as a panino-bread coating because it will seep through just enough to create nice grill marks but won’t splatter about.

I think the most amusing part of this one is that the recipe I started with is labeled “Eggplant Dumplings in Cherry Tomato Sauce” in my Antipasti recipebook. Sadly, this recipe didn’t quite completely work out- hence it being labeled in the accident category. But it was an educational experience, and one I was able to turn around… mostly… in the end.

My mistakes began with the eggplant filling. I made far too many changes here, wanting to be adventurous. Here’s what went into the filling:

• 3 zucchini squashes (I misread the recipe and didn’t realize it called for eggplant…)
• 1 stem of green onion
• 2/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon organic low-fat vanilla yogurt (not cooked- added right before blending into puree)
• salt and pepper

I took the lot, covered the pot, and let it simmer on medium heat for quite some time (perhaps about 20 minutes?) until the zucchini was fairly creamy. I then transferred the mixture to a bowl and put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes- then the fridge for another 15- then out on the counter for another 5 (it picked up a number of frequent flyer miles what with all this travelling). Meanwhile, I chopped about 1.5 cups of carrots, a handful of cherry tomatoes, added a little dark brown sugar, closed the pot again (after having scrubbed it thoroughly, o’course) and let it simmer. Unfortunately, I decided it was safe to sit with the boyfriend and sister to eat the strudels at this point… and thus the mixture had burned and caramelized to tar (I have issues with tar! Just like the failed tarte tatin…) and I had to throw the thing out. This meant no carrot-tomato sauce to put the bundles in- which, in the end, was for the best, as my crepes were too thick to bundle!

To make the crepes, I followed the suggestions in the book, but halved the recipe: Mix a cup of milk (I used skim), 3/4 of a cup of AP flour, and an egg. Whisk, then let sit for 15 minutes. Then lightly coat a sautee pan with olive oil, ladle a bit of the batter on, and cook each side for about 3 minutes or until browned until you’re happy. For a more tortilla-looking crepe, add more oil- for a more burnt crepe, keep the pan as dry as possible.

Unfortunately, the zucchini puree turned out not yummy at all. It’s not unpalatable, but the boyfriend and I agreed the taste was off. Why do you think this was? Does anyone know? Which ingredient do you think is the main culprit? Is zucchini just not meant to be pureed? 

Clearly there was only one thing to do here: take picture with the puree, then take it out and replace it with a far better alternative. Out came the jar of pralinutta (yes, I know, it’s not nutella- I was curious to try the domestic alternative, and it’s quite nice)- just spread it on, roll up your crepe, and yum! Much better- though no longer an appetizer and now a dessert, at least it was partially saved.

…By the way, if anyone wants the puree, it’s sitting in the fridge, waiting for someone to show it some love (and that shan’t be me!) And if someone has suggestions on how to better make that puree in the future, I’m all ears!

Backpost: Snickerdoodles…

They seemed like they would be fairly simple. And, of course, I thought, surely I could substitute out some of the butter for apple sauce, and leave out perhaps a third of it. Who needs butter? All these silly people online going on about how you *need* butter, well, I was going to show them…

I have a terrific dessert book “I <3 Sugar” which had a very respectable snickerdoodle recipe, so it seemed like a sign. It seemed to be going well… the smell was enjoyable… the hour-long minimum suggested wait for the dough to chill seemed excessive, but I thought it best not to argue.

…then I realized the extra egg I accidentally put in.

the result, once the whole thing was completed? well, between the lack of butter and the extra egg, they at first came out like cute little cinnamon breads. however, they hardened quickly overnight, becoming cinnamon-flavoured bread-roll-looking biscotti. hence, despite the lack of their being cooked twice and therefore undeserving of the name, I decided upon “cinnascotti”. unfortunately, no one was particularly fond of them, although as he’s a terrific vaccuum (<3), the boyfriend finished the lot:

Backpost: I’m sure you’re sick of reading about apples by now. The issue with my backposting these out of order is that, yikes, I’m going backward with the tartes- the best of them was definitely take 1, the most recent. This, take 3, was my first attempt with this particular oven and crust recipe. I actually was unable to fit it onto the cookie sheet- I was going for the galette look, but this crust was just too thick and breakable to fold over the edges- and ended up having to halve it due to space limitations. Thus, some learned lessons here:

• Measure the size of your pan or baking sheet prior to placing ingredients upon the crust. You can still make changes if it’s just crust- but once you start layering on, it becomes too late!
• Don’t add extra sugar on top of the tarte if you aren’t already familiar with it or are feeling daring. I know, Ina says to do it, many people do, but I had caramel runoff that stuck to the bottom of the crust and caused for more breakage- if you haven’t experience with this one, you may want to leave it out for your first try, and concentrate on baking time and other intricacies first.