Category: Recipes

1. Wednesday, September 1

   The Trick to Margherita Pizza

   My favorite margherita pizza is from Bertucci’s, an Italian restaurant chain in the Northeast that also happens to have the best dinner rolls around. Mmmm…I need a roll. But I digress…for the last 11 years or so I’ve been trying to replicate their margherita pizza. I’ve come to terms with the fact I never will, but I did discover a little trick recently that got me closer!

   

   Whenever I made margherita pizza (which is essentially just tomatoes and/or tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil), the basil never tasted like it does at Bertucci’s. I tried putting the fresh basil on top of the cheese, under the cheese, chopped, not chopped…but that flavor I love just wasn’t coming through.

   

   Of course we went to dinner at Bertucci’s this last trip out East. When they brought my beautiful margherita out, the realization hit me like a pizza pie to the face! They add the basil AFTER the pizza comes out of the oven. That is why it always tasted so differently!

   So there you have it folks. Throw your basil on AFTER you’ve cooked your pizza. It makes all the difference in terms of flavor. Mmmmmm….

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:59 pm   13 Comments
   Categories: main dishes

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2. Friday, August 27

   Adobo Chicken…and some darn good tortillas

   I am finally writing about the spice from this week’s menu post. As some of you guessed, it is annatto seed, also called achiote seed. And I made adobo chicken with it. And it was GOOD.

   

   Nate came home one day saying how good the adobo chicken at work is, so I started searching for recipes. Oh my, there are so many recipes and they are all so different from one another…so I just picked one that sounded good and went for it. And the result was delicious! Different than what Nate had at work, but delicious just the same!

   

   Before I get to the recipe, I have to talk about the tortillas we used with our chicken. Tortilla Land sent me some of their uncooked corn tortillas to try out. I’m a tough corn tortilla critic and, I have to say, I’m so glad Tortilla Land sent me their corn tortillas. They are wonderful! They are not dry at all and don’t fall apart or break, which is what you normally get with store bought corn tortillas. I saw Tortilla Land at Costco just this week, so keep an eye out next time you go!

   Okay, back to annatto seed and adobo chicken. I used a recipe from About.com, but I’ve changed it up and written it out for you below. I know the recipe looks long, but honestly, this was an easy recipe, so don’t be scared!

   The sweet but spicy sauce is oh so yummy, and grilled chicken is always the best. We served the chicken with tortillas, tomatoes and avocado. You could serve over rice if you like (which I think is how it’s generally served), or just eat straight up!

   Adobo Chicken
   - 4 chicken breasts (I actually used 3 drumsticks and 3 boneless thighs b/c that’s what I had on hand!)
   - Salt (pref. kosher)

   Rub:
   - 1/2 Tbsp. annatto (achiote) seeds
   - 1 Tbsp. orange juice
   - 4 Tbsp. white vinegar
   - 1 tsp. cayenne
   - 1 tsp. black pepper
   - 4 garlic cloves

   Sauce:
   - 1/3 of the rub above
   - 1 cup orange juice
   - 2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
   - 1 tsp. basil
   - 1 tsp. cinnamon
   - 1/2 tsp. salt
   - a splash or two of white vinegar
   - a few shakes of cayenne pepper
   - a few shakes of black pepper
   - about 1 tsp cornstarch, whisked with some cool water

   Directions:

   Cover annatto seeds with boiling water. Cover and let sit overnight.

   Drain seeds. Place seeds along with the rest of the “Rub” ingredients in a food processor. Grind until you have a coarse paste, without too many large pieces of seed left.

   

   Place chicken in a casserole dish and sprinkle all over with kosher salt (or regular salt if that’s what you have). Cover pieces with about two-thirds of the achiote rub. (Note on the picture below: I just sprinkled salt and pepper over a few extra pieces of chicken for my girls, so they would be less spicy – they still ate the sauce, but the chicken had less heat for their younger palettes.) Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator for a few hours.

   

   Preheat grill. Grill chicken about 10 minutes on each side over a medium flame or until done. (Click here with even better directions for grilling chicken pieces – this follows closely to what Nate did over a charcoal grill, he’s smart like that.)

   To make the sauce, mix all the sauce ingredients (except the cornstarch) and bring to a boil, then simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture during the simmer.

   Pour sauce over grilled chicken and enjoy!

   By the way, if anyone out there DOES have an adobo chicken recipe they love, please share! Would love to try it out!

   

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:00 am   10 Comments
   Categories: main dishes

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3. Wednesday, August 25

   While we’re talking frosty treats…let’s make some frozen yogurt!

   I’m doing something today I never do. I’m recycling a recipe AND a photo. But I just feel like I NEED to. The warm weather calls for it and, since I first wrote about this recipe, there are a lot more of you reading this here blog. I’m saddened to think you may have missed the original homemade frozen yogurt post from back in the day.

   

   I love my frozen yogurt recipe. Great texture, just sweet enough, and downright addictive. Also, you can freeze the leftovers without it getting icy. (Xanthan gum is the key and worth tracking down!)

   Jane’s Homemade Frozen Yogurt

   • 2 C plain yogurt (Trader Joe’s European Style is my favorite yogurt for this, Greek is good too, or just plain old plain yogurt will work as well!)
   • a little less than 1/2 C sugar
   • 1/2 C milk
   • 1/8 – 1/4 tsp xanthan gum (see my comment below (comment #2) for more details about xanthan gum)

   Mix ingredients together and follow directions for your ice cream maker (Cuisinart – 25 minutes)

   It’s kind of tragic, I haven’t made this frozen yogurt in aeons (which Nate has reminded me of more than once!). I’ve recently discovered Pinkberry and their amazing coconut frozen yogurt. I think today’s post has inspired me to dig out my ice cream maker that’s been hiding and figure out the coconut flavor. Mmmmmmm…..

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 3:25 pm   20 Comments
   Categories: sweet things

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4. Tuesday, August 24

   Strawberry Milkshakes…just in time for summer!

   

   Okay, you may be thinking the title of this post is nuts, since summer is over. Apparently Mother Nature doesn’t think so. After a downright cold summer here in the Bay Area, the last two days (including the first day of school) have been steamy hot. What the? So, despite the fact I’m annoyed I can’t take Cate swimming and none of her new school clothes work in hot weather, at lease I can eat my way out of my sorrows.

   How about a strawberry milkshake? Sounds good to me!

   

   People, my milkshakes last night rocked. Actually, I would say that they brought all the boys in the yard. And I can teach you how to make it. But I have to charge.

   Okay, now that I have that out of my system, and that song is permanently in all of our heads, on to the recipe. The texture for our strawberry milkshakes last night was perfect. Hopefully this “recipe” comes out just as well for you!

   Strawberry Milkshake
   From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner

   - 2 handfuls of strawberries
   - 1-2 tablespoons sugar
   - 1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla extract
   - 1 cup milk
   - 1 large handful crushed ice
   - 7 or so large scoops of vanilla ice cream

   If you have a regular blender, slice strawberries. If you have a nice heavy-duty blender, just halve the berries. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with vanilla extract and coat with sugar. Let sit for at least 20 minutes (can be refrigerated for later).

   Place the following ingredients in the blender in this order: Milk, Ice, Ice Cream, then Strawberries. Blend well.

   This recipe made four 10-oz milkshakes.

   

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:32 am   9 Comments
   Categories: sweet things

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5. Thursday, August 12

   Padma and the Turkey Boursin Baguette Incident

   This sandwich looks good, right? I mean, downright delicious? Tell that to Padma Lakshmi. This post is about redemption, folks. Defending my culinary honor!

   

   While I was at BlogHer last weekend, I had the opportunity to compete in a sandwich competition held by Hillshire Farms and Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef. We had 2 minutes to make a sandwich that was then judged by 3 children judges and Padma. I received the invitation to participate a few days before the event, when I was completely buried in SocialLuxe preparations. So, let’s just say I didn’t think super hard about my recipes…AND I didn’t want to win since the final round was during my nephew’s 1st birthday party (although, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t trying…I WAS). Yes, this is all going somewhere…stick with me…

   Pre-competition, blissfully unaware of my upcoming downfall

   The esteemed panel of judges

   So, I decided to do one of my most favorite sandwiches for Round 1. I thought it would be simple enough. Yeah, not so much. My sandwich required cutting a baguette, which may not have been a problem in and of itself, except that they gave me utility gloves that made it nearly impossible to get a handle on the bread. And the lettuce was shredded. And I couldn’t toast the bread. And I thought we were going to have 4 minutes, but we only had 2. Yes, I’m making excuses….okay, the stage has been set. Here’s how the competition went down.

   “On your mark, get set, go!”

   Jane, contestant #4, furiously trying to make a 4-inch piece of baguette into 4 lovely little sandwiches. Wearing utility gloves 10 times too large for her fingers. Don’t forget the utility gloves. Damn those utility gloves!

   I look surprisingly calm in this photo. I assure you, I was not.

   “Times up!”

   Padma starts with contestant #1 and looks at each sandwich, asking what it is. After nicely checking out the first 3 sandwiches, Padma approaches Jane’s station, looks at the plate and says…

   “And we can just throw this one in the trash.”

   Oh, no she didn’t!

   Oh, yes she did!

   Everyone laughs. Including Jane. It was pretty funny….after all, the plate looked like a pile of tiny pieces of torn up baguette tossed with some shredded lettuce and decimated turkey. Then Padma says…

   “So, what was it supposed to be?”

   

   Jane then describes the recipe, assuring Padma {and the world} that normally it is quite delicious. Simultaneously, any faith anyone had in her cooking abilities is thrown out the window and run over by a NYC taxi cab.

   Judging commences. Padma gets the results, announces that I am not in last place (albeit, not in first either) and says…

   “Does that make you feel better?”

   It did. Third place is definitely better than last. You can’t tell from the show. Padma is funny. And pretty darn sarcastic. Who knew?

   So, yeah, that’s how my first quickfire food competition went down. In a ball of flames. Like I said, I kind of wanted to lose in Round 1 or 2 anyway. And if you’re going to lose, you may as well do it while Padma makes fun of you the whole time.

   This recipe’s for you, Padma. I swear it’s good.

   Turkey Boursin Baguette
   – Baguette
   - Sliced pepper turkey
   - Romaine lettuce
   - Boursin cheese, softened at room temperature for about 30 minutes

   Toast baguette. Spread Boursin on both sides then top the bottom bread with turkey and a leaf of romain lettuce.

   That’s it. Easy peasy and delicious. Unless you have only two minutes to make the sandwich and Padma Lakshmi is watching (and laughing at) you.

   

   Thanks to the lovely Marie LeBaron for taking pictures during the competition for me! And to my Eat.Blog.Run ‘family’ for cheering me on!

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:57 am   10 Comments
   Categories: travels

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6. Tuesday, August 10

   “Grilled” Taragon Corn on the Cob

   Are you sick to death of my pictures of grilled corn and barbecue chicken? Well, lucky for you this is the last post with these pictures! I’m finally going to talk about the grilled corn on the cob that my soon-to-be brother-in-law Norman cooked up on Cape Cod.

   

   Until I ate the corn in this picture, I had given up on grilled corn on the cob. Whenever I’d had it, it was grilled on the barbecue outside of the husk and the kernels dried out and got all yucky-like. I had decided grilling corn was just NOT the right way to do it…until now. (Side note: I still need to try it grilled IN the husk…but that’s another post for another day!) (Another side note: Click here for the recipe for the chicken in this picture)

   The trick is this. Boil your corn first, then grill it quickly over the coals while brushing on some oh-la-la-lovely butter and taragon mixture. The corn stays crisp, fresh and moist, and the butter infiltrates the kernels in a splendid way!

   So, there you have it. Grilled corn that’s not really grilled but looks it and tastes divine.

   “Grilled” Taragon Corn on the Cob
   - Husked corn on the cob
   - Butter melted with a handful of chopped taragon and salt and pepper to taste

   Bring a large pot of water to a boil, enough water to cover all the ears of corn. Once boiling, add corn and return to a boil. Once water is again boiling, cover pot with a lid and turn the heat off and let sit for 5 minutes.

   Remove from water and grill over medium coals on the barbecue, while brushing corn with the melted butter mixture. Things may get a little smoky…it’s okay. Your corn will look good and have nice flavor.

   Eat!

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:07 pm   7 Comments
   Categories: side dishes

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7. Wednesday, August 4

   Hot BBQ Chicken Wings (or Not-So-Hot Drumsticks, if you prefer)

   After much convincing, I’ve wrangled a sort-of recipe from my future brother-in-law Norman for his barbecue hot wings. He prides himself on his secret chicken wings recipe…but I suppose the desire to get on the blog overcame that pride.  He even took these shots of the prep process for me since I didn’t have my camera handy. Amazing how a NYC fashion photographer can even make raw chicken look good.

   

   Last week on the Cape Norm grilled up some barbecue wings and drumsticks for the family – spicy wings and not-so-spicy drumsticks. They were delicious, so I wanted to share the sauce recipe with you.  If you remember from this week’s menu post, he also grilled up some amazing corn….that recipe is still to come. You’ll love it.

   Barbecue Chicken Hot Wings (or Drumsticks)
   From Norman Nelson
   - Stubbs spicy barbecue sauce for hot wings; Stubbs regular bbq sauce for drumsticks and breasts
   - Soy sauce
   - Vinegar
   - French’s yellow mustard
   - A1 steak sauce
   - Honey or maple syrup
   - Hot sauce (to taste, depending on how hot you want it)
   - Allspice
   - Salt
   - Pepper
   - Garlic salt

   In terms of proportions – a few cups of the barbecue sauce should do it. Norman says the secret trick is the yellow mustard – maybe 3 Tablespoons or so, don’t be shy. For the vinegar, soy sauce, steak sauce and honey – I would say a tablespoon or two. A teaspoon or so of the spices should suffice. (I’ll check with Norm to make sure I got all this right!)

   Mix sauce ingredients. Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Coat chicken with sauce. Sprinkle with fresh tarragon. Let marinate for 2-5 hours. Add a little olive oil before cooking so the chicken doesn’t stick to grill.

   

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 4:13 am   3 Comments
   Categories: main dishes

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8. Wednesday, July 21

   Kaiserschmarrn (aka Emperor’s Pancakes) Take One!

   When Nate and I were in Berlin a few summers ago, the hotel we stayed in served the most amazing breakfast every morning. One of the items they served was Kaiserschmarrn, or Emperor’s Pancakes, a traditional Austrian dessert…which happens to be very delicious as a breakfast or brunch food.

   

   The version our hotel served was oh so delicious. There are many recipes out there with various techinques, so I’ve decided to make this one of my culinary quests…to recreate those pancakes we had in Berlin.

   Today is Attempt #1 at Kaiserschmarrn. It was a good attempt. Not quite like the version we had in Berlin, but I like this recipe on its own merits. The pancakes came out with a nice texture and I was popping kaiserchmarrn like candy.

   Kaiserschmarrn is often served with plumb sauce - a delicious combination indeed! I shared a great recipe for stewed plums with you a few weeks ago which I would highly recommend using with this recipe.

   

   So, here is Take 1 of Jane’s Kaiserschmarrn Journey!

   Kaiserschmarrn (aka Emperor’s Pancakes)
   A combination of several recipes I found online
   - 2 C flour
   - 1 C milk
   - pinch salt
   - 4 eggs, separated
   - 1/4 C butter
   - 1/4 C sugar
   - 1/2 C butter
   - 1/2 C raisins (traditional, but optional)
   - 2 T powdered sugar

   Mix flour and milk together. Add salt. Stir in egg yolks, 1/4 C butter and raisins (if using). Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with the sugar until peaks form. Melt 1/2 C butter in a 12 inch skillet that can be placed in the oven. Add egg whites to the flour mixture and pour batter into pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18 minutes (I baked mine for 20 minutes, but it was 2 minutes too long). Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with plum sauce.

   Since this recipe calls for baking all the batter at once the entire duration of cooking, you end up with one giant pancake, which I cut into little triangles like so.

   

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:13 pm   13 Comments
   Categories: sweet things

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9. Friday, July 16

   Tri Tip Roast

   Since it’s too darn hot to cook in the kitchen, how about we hit the grill? Nate bought a tri tip roast a few weeks ago, a food item we had never cooked before. I browsed a bunch of tri tip recipes and we went for it…with great success! Our tri tip roast came out tender and flavorful…mmmmmmm. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a great photo of it…I won’t go into details, but this is the best shot I got. The meat was actually a little more red than what it looks like here. It was perfectly cooked and perfectly tender.

   

   ANYWAY…here’s the “recipe” for my marinade. As for cooking the meat, we did exactly what my blogging friend Elise outlines over on her blog Simply Recipes. By the way…Nate is now the president of the Charbroil Chimney Charcoal Starter Club. I think that deserves a post, actually. I’ll have to remember to grab my camera next time he’s grilling!

   Tri Tip Marinade
   - Gallon Ziploc bag
   - Soy Sauce
   - Red wine vinegar
   - olive oil
   - fresh garlic cloves, sliced (2-5, depending on how much you like garlic)
   - salt & pepper
   - honey

   Pour in equal parts soy sauce, vinegar and olive oil into the Ziploc bag…enough that it will cover your roast when the bag is sealed. Add garlic, salt & pepper and about 1 tablespoon or so of honey. Add the tri tip roast to the bag, zip it up and let marinate overnight.

   Click here, cook the tri tip exactly how Elise Bauer tells you to over on Simply Recipes and everything will come out beautifully.

   Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am   5 Comments
   Categories: main dishes

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10. Friday, July 2

    Stewed Plums

    Don’t you hate it when you see plums at the grocery store and buy a whole bunch because you think you’re going to eat them all then you take them home and they sit and sit and you eat maybe 2 and then feel guilty throwing the rest away? Yeah, me too. Which is why I’ve been keeping my eye out for recipes incorporating plums. Today I have a recipe for stewed plums to share. They are delicious. My girls gobbled this plum sauce up. In fact, I’m pretty sure the pancakes that the stewed plums were served with were completely ignored. And my girls like pancakes.

    

    Speaking of pancakes…I have a cool Austrian recipe I’m going to share with you soon. It will go perfect with your stewed plums.

    AND, speaking of recipes using plums…one of my lovely readers named Jenny shared a plum barbecue sauce recipe with me that I can’t WAIT to try. Once I do, I’ll for sure share the results with you.

    

    In case you are wondering…stewed plums are great with breakfast foods and I’m thinking they would be pretty tasty with yogurt or ice cream, too!

    Stewed Plums
    From About.com (the original recipe calls for cinnamon, so click through if you’re interested…I like it sans cinnamon)

    • 3/4 cup sugar (a little more if plums are tart)
    • 1/2 cup water
    • 2 pounds damson plums, pitted and roughly chopped

    Combine sugar and water in small/medium sized sauce pan. Boil for 3 minutes, until thick. Add plums; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer stewed plums for about 10 minutes, or until plums are tender.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:32 am   7 Comments
    Categories: sweet things

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11. Wednesday, June 16

    Homemade Roasted Tomatoes on Make and Takes

    I’m super excited about my guest post on Make and Takes today. I made homemade roasted roma tomatoes for the first time and loved it! Not only were they easy and very tasty, but I really had fun photographing them!

    

    Big thanks to Faye and Ginger, who both commented on my menu post this week suggesting I roast the 12 romas I had lying around.

    I’m typing up the “recipe” below, but make sure to check out my full post on Make and Takes to get all the details and see all the photos!

    Homemade Roasted Roma Tomatoes
    – 10-14 roma tomatoes (you could experiment with other tomatoes, but romas are less delicate and less seedy and work well)
    - Olive oil (probably about 1/4 – 1/2 cup)
    - 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
    - Salt (kosher, preferably)
    - Pepper
    - Spices you like – Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Red Pepper Flakes, whatever!
    - Sugar

    Add minced garlic to the olive oil and let sit while you prepare the tomatoes. Slice tomatoes into wedges, 8 per tomato. Spread on cookie sheet and brush with garlic olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, spices, and sugar. Bake at 200 degrees for 2-6 hours or so (5 1/2 hours was my magic number).

    Store in the refrigerator drizzled in olive oil.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:00 am   12 Comments
    Categories: side dishes

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12. Tuesday, June 15

    Faye’s Spanish Nut Tart

    Remember this Spanish-inspired nut tart?

    

    I am finally sharing the recipe with you! This one is pretty gourmet…which means I didn’t actually make this recipe…I just ate it. But it was delicious, so I have to share it with you just the same. I had the pleasure of enjoying this nut tart about a month ago when my friend Faye, the pastry chef, made these tarts for her son’s elementary school class (lucky class, eh?). This tart is based on a Spanish (specifically Catalan) treat. Faye was nice enough to sit down and write the recipe out for us, which is quite the task actually. Everyone tell Faye “Thanks!” next time you see her.

    

    Faye’s Catalan Nut Tart
    From Faye Stein, Pastry Chef and Friend Extraordinaire
    The dough (pate sucree)
    - 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
    - 3 Tbs sugar
    - a pinch of salt
    - 1 stick butter, cubed
    - 1 yolk
    - 1/2 tsp vanilla
    - 2 Tbs cream

    Mix the last three wet ingredients and place in the fridge so that it’s cold and ready to go. Prepare the butter and refrigerate also. In a food
    processor, pulse the dry ingredients. Add the butter and pulse to crumble. Add the wets and pulse until you have a cohesive dough, like a cookie dough. Smoosh into a disk in plastic wrap, and allow to rest for at least 1/2 hour.

    Filling
    - 4 oz dried pears
    - 4 oz dates
    (could do any combo, such as; apples/dates, apricots/figs, cherries/figs, etc.)
    - 1/3 cup pear juice (or juice to your taste)
    - 1/4 cup brown sugar

    In a sauce pan, allow the juice and sugar to dissolve. Add fruit. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Then process the mixture to form a thick paste. cool.

    Topping
    - 6 Tbs butter
    - 6 Tbs sugar
    - 3 Tbs corn syrup
    - 6 oz total of dry roasted nuts of your choice. I used 2 oz pistachios, 2 oz cashews, 2 oz almonds.
    - 1 1/2 Tbs cream

    Preheat the oven to 400. Roll out your dough , fill your tart shell, and blind bake for 15 to 20 minutes. It should be fully baked. To blind bake, place a piece of parchment in the tart and fill it with beans. This will keep it from bubbling up.  Remove the parchment and beans at the end and put it back in the oven for a few minutes. Now its ready to fill.

    Cook first 3 ingredients in heavy large saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil. Boil vigorously 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add nuts and cream.

    Spread fruit filling in crust; smooth top. Set tart on cookie sheet. Spoon nut topping over. Bake until filling bubbles, about 20 minutes. Transfer tart to rack and cool 10 minutes. Using oven mitts, loosen tart pan sides but do not remove. Cool tart completely in pan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.) Remove pan sides. Cut tart into wedges.

    Lucky me…a few friends are getting together on Thursday and Faye is bringing goodies. What deliciousness will I be ‘subjected’ to, I wonder?

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:00 am   11 Comments
    Categories: sweet things

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13. Friday, June 11

    Party Food: Pork Tenderloin, Crostinis & Grilled Radicchio

    In addition to all of the amazing desserts at my little party for my friends, I had some pretty fun recipes to work with as well. As I mentioned in the original party post, Calphalon and Williams-Sonoma gave me two beautiful non-stick skillets and Michael Symon’s debut cookbook, Live to Eat. I used a few of Michael Symon’s recipes for the party after happily tasting them at a technique class at Williams-Sonoma.

    

    For an appetizer I served Grilled Crostini with Goat Cheese and ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish, a recipe from Williams-Sonoma. These were SO easy to make and delicious. The ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish went very nicely with the goat cheese and was a big hit!

    For the main dish, I served Michael Symon’s Pork Tenderloin with Heirloom Tomato Salad alongside Grilled Radicchio with Orange and Balsamic. Fancy schmancy, right? They were actually pretty straightforward recipes but still made me feel all gourmet and stuff.

    So, there you have it. You have virtually experienced the entire party. Thanks for joining us!

    Click here to download a lovely PDF with more of Michael Symon’s recipes.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am   3 Comments
    Categories: the goods

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14. Pork Tenderloin with Heirloom Tomato Salad

    

    Pork Tenderloin with Heirloom Tomato Salad
    From Michael Symon
    Marinade
    - 3 tsp coriander seed (I just tossed in some ground coriander)
    - 3/4 tsp cumin seed, toasted (I just tossed in some ground cumin)
    - Zest and juice of 6 limes
    - 9 Tbsp olive oil
    - 3 tsp. salt
    - 3 cloves garlic, minced
    - 3 shallots, minced

    - 1 1/2 C chicken stock (which I forgot when I made this – still came out, but I recommend using it!)
    - 3/4 C red wine vinegar
    - 2 tsp honey
    - 1 1/2 C extra-virgin olive oil

    Heirloom Tomato Salad
    - 9 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces (whoah – I didn’t use that many…would taste good, but now that I’m typing this out I realize I TOTALLY didn’t read the recipe carefully when I made it!)
    - 6 C watercress
    - 3/4 C mint leaves
    - 3/4 C toasted almonds

    Cut pork int 1 1/2 – 2 inch thick medallions. Whisk together coriander, cumin, lime zest and juice, olive oil, salt, garlic and shallot. Pour over pork and marinate for 2 hours (no longer).

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Preheat a Calphalon Unison Grill pan with Sear Nonstick over medium heat, remove pork from marinad, reserving marinade. Sear pork for 3 minutes per side. When pork is seared, transfer pan to preheated oven for 3 minutes.

    (If you don’t have a grill pan, feel free to sear in a regular griddle. And if your griddle can’t go in the oven, just transfer to a cookie sheet to bake the meat for 3 minutes. I actually used the regular griddle so that when I reduced my sauce later it would be easy to whisk. You don’t get those grill marks, but it tastes the same.)

    Remove pan from the oven and place the pork on a platter. Add marinade, stock, vinegar and honey to pan and bring to a simmer, reducing by 1/3. Whisk in 1 1/2 C olive oil. Mix tomatoes and watercress, mint and almonds. Toss warm dressing over tomato salad and serve with the pork.

    Serves 12-18.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:59 am   1 Comment
    Categories: main dishes

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15. Grilled Crostini with Goat Cheese and ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish

    

    Grilled Crostini with Goat Cheese and ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish
    From Williams-Sonoma
    - 1 baguette, sliced int 1/4-inch-thick rounds
    - 1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
    - 8 oz goat cheese, at room temperature
    - 1 jar (8.8 oz) ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish
    - 1/4 C fresh basil leaves

    Lightly brush both sides of the baguette slices with olive oil. Preheat a Calphalon Unison Grill pan with Sear Nonstick over medium heat. Working in batches, place the baguette slices in the pan and cook until light golden brown and toasted on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. (If you don’t have a grill pan, you can bake in a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, until nice and crispy.)

    Transfer to a serving platter. Spread about 3 teaspoons of goat cheese on each crostini and top with ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish. Sprinkle with basil and serve. Makes about 24 crostini.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:58 am   4 Comments
    Categories: simple side dishes

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16. Grilled Radicchio with Orange & Balsamic

    I’m so bummed. I totally forgot to photograph this recipe! And it was beautiful! Oh well. You can kind of see it in that bowl next to the small bouquet of pink roses.

    

    Grilled Radicchio with Orange & Balsamic
    From Michael Symon
    - 6 heads of radicchio, quartered through the core (I think I used only 3 heads)
    - 3 Tbsp. olive oil
    - Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
    - 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
    - 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
    - Grated zest and juice of 3 oranges

    Drizzle the radicchio with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

    Preheat Calphalon Unison Grill pan with Sear Nonstick over medium-high heat. (I actually did use the grill pan for this recipe…but you could use a regular griddle, too.)

    Place the radicchio in the pan and cook for 2 minutes per side.

    Transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle the radicchio with salt and pepper. Whisk together olive oil, balsamic, orange zest and juice together and drizzle over radicchio.

    Once the radicchio were grilled, I salt and peppered them as directed, but then I cut out the hard piece of core near at the bottom and then sliced the radicchio. I then put the radicchio into a bowl and drizzled with the oil dressing.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:57 am   2 Comments
    Categories: simple side dishes

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17. Thursday, June 10

    Lots o’ Grains Salad

    For my party last week, I made this concoction, which I’ve decided to name the “Lots o’ Grains Salad.”

    

    It’s a rice-like dish that you can serve hot or less hot, i.e. mine sat out for a little while before the party started and still tasted great. It’s super easy and I thought a nice compliment to a summery meal, and a great side dish for the pork tenderloin (recipe tomorrow).

    Lots o’ Grains Salad
    From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner

    Ingredients:

    • Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joe’s (if you don’t have a TJ’s, here are the grains so you can replicate: Israeli Style Couscous, Orzo, Baby Garbanzo Beans and Red Quinoa)
    • Brown Rice Medley from Trader Joe’s (if you don’t have TJ’s, here are the grains: Long Grain Brown Rice, Black Barley, Daikon Radish Seeds)
    • Olive Oil
    • 2 shallots, diced
    • Chopped parsley, to taste
    • Fresh grated parmesan cheese to taste (prob. ~ 1/2 C)

    Directions:
    Cook all grains according to package directions. While grains are cooking, sauté shallots in oil over medium heat until soft and translucent (use a large 12-inch skillet with higher sides or a large saucepan). Add cooked grains to shallots, then stir in the parsley and parmesan cheese. Remove from heat and serve!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:54 am   9 Comments
    Categories: simple side dishes

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18. Friday, June 4

    Easy Barbecue Chicken…No Matter the Weather

    Today I was going to post my pastry chef friend Faye’s recipe for her beautiful nut tart…but then I decided to give you something a little easier, it is Friday after all. How about some barbecue chicken that doesn’t require a grill and decent weather? Sounds good to me!

    

    I really wanted Barbecue Chicken on Memorial Day, but we currently don’t have a grill (a situation we will remedy before we get too far into summer!). I ended up using the oven with success! The chicken came out great, nice and juicy. I know, I know, it’s not from the grill…but it’s certainly a good, easy alternative. The key to cooking it just right (i.e. not drying the dickens out of your chicken!) is using a thermometer…be sure to read about that at the end of the recipe.

    Oven Barbecue Chicken
    – Chicken pieces (I used 3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts this time around)
    - Canola Oil
    - Salt
    - Barbecue Sauce

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

    Heat oil in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Salt the outside of the chicken. Sear chicken until browned. Transfer to a cookie sheet/roasting pan/baking pan/whatever you’ve got! Brush with barbecue sauce. Bake in oven until chicken reaches 165 degrees, brushing on a second layer of sauce about halfway through baking time.  Total baking time was about 1 hour.

    Here is the key to this recipe: use your thermometer! I have an electric Pyrex thermometer with a probe attached to a long wire. I can keep the probe in the meat throughout cooking and set the thermometer to beep at me when the meat reaches 165 degrees. I put the thermometer in the smallest chicken breast. It beeped, I removed that piece of chicken from the oven and then put the thermometer in the middle-sized chicken breast…five minutes later it beeped and I took that piece of chicken out. Then I put the thermometer in the third, largest chicken breast and it took another 5 minutes to finish. All three pieces came out nice and juicy…I was SO glad I used this technique.

    

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am   5 Comments
    Categories: main dishes

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19. Tuesday, June 1

    Homemade Croutons

    One of the first things I ever cooked that made me feel like I could cook (well, besides dishes containing canned veggies and creamed soups, that is!) was homemade croutons. When we were first married and I was still finding my culinary voice (i.e. cooking not-so-great food on a not-so-great budget in a really-quite-awful basement apartment kitchen), chicken caesar salad with homemade croutons was one of our go-to “gourmet” meals. Okay, not so gourmet, but it felt gourmet and gave my cooking confidence level a much needed boost!

    

    Last night I made homemade croutons for a simple caesar side salad. It’s been a while since I’ve made croutons and cooking them transported me back in time to that tiny basement kitchen. It also reminded me how delicious homemade croutons are, all crispy and flavorful on the outside, soft and yummy on the inside. There’s nothing better. And it’s a great way to use up stale, leftover bread. Without further ado, here is how I make croutons. Feel free to share your own crouton-cooking tips if you have them!

    

    Homemade Croutons
    From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner
    - Leftover french/italian/country/whatever bread or baguette (stale is fine!), cut into bitesized cube-ish pieces (no need to be precise, unless you like precise-looking croutons)
    - Olive oil
    - Salt & Pepper
    - Dried or chopped herbs of your choice (optional)

    Heat up a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Pour in a couple tablespoons of olive oil and let it heat up (you can use butter or canola oil if you don’t have olive oil on hand). Evenly salt and pepper the pan and oil, then evenly spread your bread pieces in the pan and toss with a spatula (I just dump the bread in and quickly toss it all around to evenly distribute the oil and seasoning – you may need to drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the croutons if it doesn’t seem like you have quite enough).  Sprinkle with herbs of your choice (oregano, basil, rosemary, whatever…last night we didn’t use any herbs and they were still fabulous).

    After tossing them a bit, let the croutons sit over the heat for about a minute at a time, tossing in between. Cook until they start to get browned and crispy on the outside, but not burned.

    I usually make croutons on the stovetop, as opposed to the oven. It feels easier to me, although it’s probably about the same (minimal) effort. If you want to cook them in the oven, just toss the bread pieces in a large bowl with the oil and seasoning, spread into 1 layer on a cookie sheet and bake at around 400 degrees until they look done, flipping once or twice during cooking.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:34 pm   7 Comments
    Categories: side dishes

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20. Wednesday, May 26

    Fun Blog Business

    Today is a big day for This Week for Dinner!

    1. Recipes finally have a print option! I am SO excited about this. All the recipes now have a pretty little green box around them, and at the end of the box it says “Print This” and, you guessed it, you can click that to easily print the recipe. Yippee! Click here to see a quick example. If you find a recipe on the site missing the fancy new box, shoot me an email info@thisweekfordinner.com and I’ll add it! (Quick note: For the most part, the “Print This” option will NOT include pictures so that we don’t use up all your printer’s ink. There are a few recipes that have the photos inside the green box because they illustrate a step in the recipe – if that’s the case, just know any photos inside the box ARE going to print. This only happens with a handful of recipes and, one day when I have a few free minutes, I’ll come up with a better solution.)
    2. Advertising on This Week for Dinner is bigger and badder than ever. I have finally strategically planned out my ad space, and I signed on with Federated Media to handle my advertising. This may not be all that exciting to you, but it’s super exciting for me. I feel strongly that it’s time for me to take this step, but I also feel strongly that the website needs to stay simple and easy-to-read, with a nice, clean, pleasing-to-the-eye design. I believe we’ve successfully done that. Big thanks to my awesome developer dude Aaron Harp for taking my Illustrator files and making them into wonderful WordPress themes.

    Thanks for letting me share the fun changes to the site today. And thanks for reading…I couldn’t do this blog without you!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:11 am   6 Comments
    Categories: musings

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