Should we just rename Doctor Who Monday to Shortcake Monday? We liked them so much last week that we wanted to do them again (except... smaller. With enough whipping cream for everyone.)
Doctor Who night tends to involve a bunch of people and snack food. As such, we've taken to mostly making finger foods, ergo the phyllo pastry.
Broccoli, Mushroom and Cheese in Phyllo
What We Used:
- Phyllo pastry
- 2 cups mushrooms (button works best, but we also had some leftover Portobello)
- 1 and 1/2 cups grated marble cheese
- 1 head broccoli, cut small
- 2 shallots
- melted butter
- marjoram to taste
Mince the shallots, slice the mushrooms, grate the cheese and cut the broccoli! Heat some oil in a pan and add the shallots and marjoram. Add the mushrooms once the shallots are cooked for awhile, and when the mushrooms cook down a bit, add the broccoli. Cook until the broccoli is tender but not too soft.
Now it's the hard part.
Layer three sheets of phyllo pastry together and brush them down with butter. Cut into squarish shapes (they don't have to be perfect) and put some of the veggie mix into the middle. Top with cheese and fold them however you'd like. We wanted to do triangles, but we ended up going with a much different shape in the end.
Brush the tops with more butter to keep them from drying out and bake in the oven until they're golden and crispy!
Verdict?
Perfect. The buttery Phyllo added just enough salt to the mushroom/broccoli/shallot mix to make lovely bite sized yummy things.
Lemon Pomegranate Sorbet
What We Used:
- 1 large pomegranate
- 5 lemons
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 cups water
- a pinch of salt
- a splash of 7-up
I was official in charge of lemons again, since Sam's allergic. I beat up, halved, and squeezed five lemons into a measuring cup. The goal was 1 cup of lemon juice, but I was slightly short so after I strained out the seeds and pulp with cheesecloth, I topped it off with 7-up.
Sam, meanwhile, was removing the seeds from the pomegranate and setting them aside.
In a pot on the stove, we dissolved the sugar in the water and brought the entire mix to a boil on a medium heat (make sure to stir constantly). After boiling it for a few minutes, we removed it from the heat and added the lemon juice, pomegranate seeds, and a pinch of salt. It was brought back to a boil until the pomegranate seeds released their color.
The entire thing was strained again into a pre-chilled metal bowl and then shoved into the freezer. Every once in a while, it was removed and stirred to put air in the mix and get the right texture.
Verdict?
The flavor is fabulous. But sorbet is the perfect place to experiment with mixing fruit flavors. The pomegranate added a beautiful color and sweetness to the sourness of the lemon.
-Sam and Jess
Good news back on some of our experiments! Again Sam's landlady told us how much the lemon cake was appreciated, Clara enjoyed the coffee cake, and despite our reservations Kate's Birthday Cake was awesome. (I couldn't even dream of finishing my piece. It was enormous!)
It's that weekly stuff out of the freezer night! This time it's Chicken that Sam wants to use up, along with the last of the chianti we used earlier in the week for the Cormarye and mayhaps this random can of beans we discovered in the cupboard.
B, normally not the most adventurous of individuals in the kitchen (except with pie) surprised Sam a couple weeks ago with this red-wine chicken breast that (apparently) was absolutely amazing. Since B is at work, Sam is endevouring to recreate the dish tonight.
The beans are for something else.
Chicken A La Brandon
What We Used:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 cup red wine (we have chianti, which is a dry, fruity red. We think B used a merlot.)
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 orange pepper
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1/4 onion
- garlic powder
- seasoning salt
- white sugar
- 1/4 cup Oil (back to the grapeseed again)
- Olive oil (for frying the chicken)
The oven was preheated to 375... Sam mentions that if your oven has a roast setting it would probably work best, but since the Kitchen of Despair is also known as Hobo Kitchen... well...
B originally used a pre-mixed club house roasted garlic and peppers spice thing, but being wierd and liking to do things the hard way Sam decided that we were going to do this ourselves, gosh darnit, and we sure do have peppers in the fridge that need to be used.
Sam cut the peppers into good sized chunks and put them in a small roasting pan lined with tin-foil. The peppers were joined by six cloves of garlic, peeled but whole, and some leftover red onion that needed to be used also chopped into large pieces.
The peppers, garlic and onion were covered in oil, then a little bit of salt and sugar were sprinkled over. The pan was put into the oven uncovered and then watched like a hawk (garlic apparently is notorious for burning) and stirred occasionally until the vegetables were soft.
Meanwhile, while the veggies were roasting, Sam was butterflying the chicken breasts and setting them aside.
Since the wine is dark, we opted not to roast the veggies for too long to add a bit of color to the dish, and proceeded to chop them into even smaller pieces. The other option was to mulch them, but I liked how they looked.
Once the veggies were finished cooking and set aside, Sam put the chicken into the Mok Wok to fry with the garlic powder. Once both sides had a bit of color, she added the red wine and braised the chicken breasts till they were cooked through. We removed the chicken from the red wine and sliced it into pieces. The wine was emptied from the pan and the chicken was placed back in with the veggies, then when everything was good and hot, the dish was done!
Verdict?
I liked the peppers! I actually did! This is a bit wierd for me, but the roasted pepper flavor all over the chicken was fantastic. Though if I had my way, there would be six more cloves of roasted garlic in.
What the Noob Learned:
So... then there are those beans I mentioned earlier...
Sam's Experimental Veggie Casserole
What We Used:
- 1 can beans (we have fava beans.... and a nice chianti now that I think about it. Heh.)
- 2 cups short grain white rice
- 1 stalk celery
- 3 tomatoes
- 1/4 onion
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 3 cups of stock or water
- onion powder
- oregano
- black pepper
Sam started by cutting up all the veggies going into the casserole into bite sized pieces and setting them aside in a bowl, then grating the cheese. Normally I would be doing those honors, but I hate Sam's cheese grater with the flaming passion of a thousand suns. Instead I opened up the beans, drained them, and washed the can-goo off. Can-goo is a technical term.
The rice was pre-cooked on the stovetop in the broth, then placed into a large Pyrex baking dish. The beans, veggies and cheese were all stirred in and it was placed in the oven at 375 (same temperature used to roast the veggies) until everything was a hot gooey mess.
Verdict:
Even before the thing came out of the oven we had to appreciate the smell. Admittedly, I was apprehensive about the casserole since I am the sworn enemy of rice (especially white rice) but it was good! A little less spicy than I like, but that can be tailored to whomever is making the thing.
What the N00b Learned:
- Rice + Beans = complete protien!! Which makes this recipe good for vegetarians!
-Jess
