Butter Roasted Chicken from Normandy and a Mini Wine Review of Catsle Rock Pinot Noir

I sure hope anyone visiting me isn't sick of seeing that Essentials of French Cooking book out again. Yeppers......I love this book. It was the last book I bought from Borders before they closed. (Loved Borders too. Miss it.)

As my collection of French cookbooks (and novels, memoirs, magazines) grows...I find myself pulling this old friend off the shelf more often than any other. So...here it is.....another recipe and wine review post. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Butter Roasted Chicken from Normandy



“The sweet, unsalted butter fresh from the well fed cows of Normandy and Brittany is the easy inspiration for this recipe” says Williams-Sonoma.

Ingredients...........

1 chicken (4 to 5 pounds)
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
A small handful of fresh thyme

Heat oven to 425 F.

Rub inside of chicken with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and add 1 tablespoon butter. Put a few thyme sprigs inside, truss chicken and tie the legs. Rub skin all over with remaining butter. (Wash your hands thoroughly immediately after you finish prep. Don’t be like me and get butter in your hair.)

Place chicken in a roasting pan. You may use a rack in the roaster or just place the chicken directly into the pan.



This was a fine pairing with basmati and wild rice mixture and Castle Rock Pinot Noir. This is a 2009 California wine from Monterey county and definitely one we will buy again. As much French wine as we have you'd think that would be the natural pairing with this dish but....we saw this Castle Rock and decided to give it a whirl. Yes, it will be invited back.



It had the deep lush color and full body we like in a Pinot. I think I will want to have this one on hand again when I make another roasted chicken. Recommended purchase on this wine.

Bon Appetit!

Road Trip! Music, Local restaurants and Adventure

Who doesn't love vacation? Even if you stay home a bit and do/bake/drink whatever you want. Activities which usually won't fit in with a work week. This week we have been enjoying patio time, cooking from my favorite cookbooks, watching the wildlife and relaxing. Even more exciting is a road trip we are about to take today. The plan is: go to a concert, visit local eateries and lots of photos of food. Yesss!

Guess who we are going to see? One of our favorite Canadians....

Nope, not Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, even though seeing Nathan Fillion on the Firefly or Castle set would be very cool. (Yes, I know Firefly has long been canceled)


Not William Shatner (although that would be great...and my son would be so envious. Huge fan)



We're going to see Diana Krall!


We have been enjoying listening to jazz in our newly reclaimed room (finally got rid of the gym taking up space) and thought....let's see when Diana performs close enough for us to make the drive. This will be a huge treat for us homebodies to get out to a concert.

Next plan is to find a Dave Matthews concert.

As always, the shibas will join us since glaucoma-boy needs three different eye medications every 12 hours. They love to go along though, and we love having them.

I'm hoping to get some Cuban food when we visit Tampa so......good photos to come on that adventure too!

Cheers!

Last Holiday paired with Bananas Foster

First off, thank you to Her Boudoir for following my site!

This month's film is Last Holiday hosted by Leslie at La Cocina de Leslie.



Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) lives in New Orleans, works in a gourmet supply shop selling and demonstrating cookware. She is a fantastic cook and makes some of the most delicious looking dishes at home, watching her favorite chef Emeril LaGasse. Then she feeds the good food to her young neighbor while she east a Lean Cuisine. In a blended storyline you can see Georgia has a crush on her coworker Sean (LL Cool J) but she is too shy to approach him.

The theme is – “life is short and you need to live a little” which is good advice for us all, right? One day at work Georgia falls and bumps her head which requires her to visit the company doctor. She receives a cat scan revealing several brain tumors. (Keep in mind the company has a used cat scan machine (improbable) and a doctor who looks like he got his license from the Sears catalog. Certainly not your typical business) She is told she has weeks to live. In one funny scene Georgia is in church, standing up front in the choir and she is obviously distracted. She starts quietly lamently,

“Why me, lord. Why Me?”

And the choir and audience take up her cry, “Why me lord?!” they holler and sing and the place is rocking as she leaves, still singing, “Why me?”

This is the beginning of Georgia’s change of heart about living frugally, about eating low calorie frozen meals, about sacrifice. She cashes out her life savings, books a trip to Europe and plans her last holiday. No expense is spared as she stays in a top rated hotel, buys expensive clothes and speaks her mind as she’s never done before.


Photo Credit

Last Holiday is a remake of a 1950 British comedy, but the “terminal patient” was a male, starring Alec Guinness. What a cool twist to make the main a female and I will say, Queen Latifah did a great job.

I’m not going to spoil the ending or some of the twists in the plotline. It was a pretty good movie and there were many food shots. So many that, I had a hard time choosing and will most likely make something else from this movie next month.

Let's have dessert first, shall we? I adapted a Bananas Foster Recipe and here it is.



Bananas Foster

Ingredients:

4 firm ripe bananas, sliced in half lengthwise
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dark rum or good quality brandy

Preparation:

Melt butter in a heavy skillet; add the brown sugar and spices, stirring until the sugar is completely melted. Add the ripe bananas and cook until they are hot and well coated with syrup, but not mushy.

Carefully pour in the rum or brandy. With a long match or charcoal lighter, carefully light the brandy in the pan and cook until the flame dies out. I love setting food aflame! So exciting.



Doesn’t this just beg for vanilla ice cream or French vanilla pound cake? I think it does. Alas...no ice cream available .........so pound cake it is.



Don't forget to check out Leslie at La Cocina de Leslie and also Food n Flix! It's always exciting to see what other cooks were inspired to dish up.

Seared Tuna with Piperade

What does Williams-Sonoma Essentials of French Cooking bring us this week? Seared Tuna with Piperade – yum!



The Aquitaine region is in the south-western part of France near the Atlantic ocean near the Pyrennes mountain range, bordering Spain. I’ll bet that would be a nice place to live. (This now is added to my ex-pat places to retire list)

Piperade is a typical Basque dish prepared with onion, green peppers, and sauteed tomatoes I recently read the coloring reflect the colors of the Basque flag (red, green and white). How about that?



Ingredients..........

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion
Green and red bell peppers, cut length wise into strips
Tomatoes
Garlic clove
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Tuna steaks about ¾ inch thick

Warm olive oil, add onion and sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Now add green and red peppers and sauté until soft.

Stir in tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, sweet paprika and cayenne. Let this thicken…perhaps 20 minutes or less will do it.

Prepare your cast iron skillet. I love this lodge skillet ! Place on medium high heat and sprinkle evenly with salt. When hot, add tuna and sear on one side, turn and sear the other side. Do not overcook as you want the pink in the middle. Transfer to a warm plate and place piperade over it.



This was melt in your mouth texture...and so good. The wine was good. The company is always good.

Next up from this cookbook is a steak or chicken dish. Can’t decide yet. Preferences from anyone? I am always open to suggestion.

Cook the Books: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

The featured book over at Cook the Books is Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. It had been awhile since I read and listened to this classic.



Mr. Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner of the greatest chocolate factory in the world, has decided to open the doors of his factory to five lucky children and their parents. In order to choose who will enter the factory, Mr. Wonka has five golden tickets hidden inside the wrappers of five of his famous chocolate bars.

The newspapers descend on each of the winners of the golden tickets. Augustus Gloop, a fat child whose only hobby is eating, gets the first ticket.

The second ticket is “won” by Veruca Salt. Veruca is a spoiled obnoxious child and is only in possession of one of the winning tickets because her rich father employed his factory of peanut shellers to unwrap chocolate bars until they found a ticket. That’s not very fair, is it?

Third ticket is discovered by Violet Beauregarde as she takes a break from gum chewing. She is trying to set a world record for gum chewing – lofty goal indeed.

Ticket #4 belongs to Mike Teavee, a boy who is obsessed with television. Get the play on words with his last name? Teavee = TV

The last ticket is found just the day before the tour of the chocolate factory is scheduled and it’s found by our unlikely hero - Charlie Bucket. Charlie is very poor and he lives in a drafty shack with his parents and both sets of grandparents. . There are just two rooms and the grandparents share the only bed while Charlie and his parents sleep on mattresses on the floor. They barely have enough food to fed the lot of them and then, Charlie’s father loses his job. It looks as if they will starve to death.

Fortuitously, Charlie finds a dollar one day, just sitting near the roadside in the snow. To celebrate his good fortune he purchases two chocolate bars. The same sort he gets once a year on his birthday. In the second chocolate bar he finds the last golden ticket. The very next day the five children, accompanied by their parents and Charlie accompanied by his grandfather, line up at the gates of the factory. There is much fanfare over these children getting a tour of the factory as no one has been inside for many many years.

As all the children except Charlie are insufferable brats and never listen to anyone’s instructions – thus..they suffer appropriate consequences to their poor behavior. I enjoyed that very much. The Oompa-Loompas would sing songs about each spoiled child as each suffered their punishments, noting in song all the shortcomings of their behavior. How awesome is that!

Near the end of the book all four of the bad children are sent home and Charlie “wins” the tour. A great prize it is too as what he’s won is ownership of Willie Wonka’s factory.

(This is the before shot of the roast prior to cooking)


So.......you'd think the inspired meal or dish would be totally chocolate related, right? I decided on a beef roast with vegetables and potatoes rice as the beginning of the book painted such a bleak portrait of the Bucket household's pantry. They spoke of watery cabbage soup.......but I am not inclined to have severe lower abdominal pain for days on end slurping cabbage soup. Nope.

Here is the sustenance the Bucket family was missing in the beginning of the book.



Roast Beef, Veggies and Potatoes (or Rice)
Crockpot Pot Roast

Ingredients:

3 1/2 Pounds beef roast,
1/4 Cup flour
2 Teaspoons salt
1/8 Teaspoon pepper
3 Carrots, Peeled and sliced
2 Small onions, sliced
1 Stalk celery, sliced
3 Tablespoons flour
1/4 Cup broth (I used a bit more)

Brown and drain (if using chuck or another highly marbled cut) in frying pan with a little bit of oil. Combine 1/4 cup flour, the salt and pepper. Coat meat with the flour mixture. Place all vegetables in Crock-Pot and top with roast (cut roast in half, if necessary, to fit easily).

Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours. If desired, turn to High during last hour to soften vegetables and make a gravy. To thicken gravy, make a smooth paste of the 3 tablespoons flour and the water and stir into Crock-Pot. Season to taste before serving.

You can serve with mashed potatoes and place that lovely gravy atop or (if you are married to a southerner as I am....even though he doesn't act or sound like one) you may serve over rice.



Surf over to Cook the Books to see what delicious dishes other readers are serving.

Cheers!

Coq au Vin and a Screw-up Story

Before I tell you about the Coq au Vin I want to share a story about one of my screw-ups in the kitchen. It wasn’t funny then, but I am amused now.



We asked a friend over to dinner and I had planned to make freshly baked French loaf, a chocolate dessert with fresh strawberries and of course this Coq au vin.

It was all planned and I had premeasured the flour for the bread the evening before. Ok…….we don’t have company very much so I guess I was excited and wanted it to be perfect. In the morning I put the water into the bread machine, pulled the bowl of premeasured dry ingredients out and set the timer on the machine, dough setting. Off to work....

We arrived home and sure enough, the machine was just finishing the dough cycle and I was to roll it out, shape it and set in the loaf pan to rise. Except it wasn’t right. I mean it didn’t look right and it didn’t feel right. (Revelation as I slap my hand to forehead). I added everything except the yeast. So this was never going to be a proper loaf of bread.
Look at the clock, panic sets in as I calculate whether I can still make a loaf of fresh bread and get dinner done at the agreed upon time.

Hustling, I drop the mass of flour into the garbage and clean the baking pan, set about measuring the bread flour. Again.. I start the machine. I doesn’t sound right. At all. I look through the viewing window and nothing is going on except the whirl and hum of the machine trying to work. It hits me, I had tossed the useless dough out WITH the kneading blade! Stop the machine. Dig in the trash and pull out the mass of floury gunk, delve my fingers inside and sure enough – there is the blade.



Wash the blade thoroughly, open the machine and I try to part the watery, floury about- to-be goopy adhesive-like dough to fit the blade on properly. I worry it won’t seat itself where it needs to so it can …knead. My hands were a sticky mess and I hoped essential amounts of salt and yeast weren’t being removed by my hands.

Long story ends well. It did, in fact, seat itself properly and the loaf was splendid. Just a tad late. Dessert was another story. Good…but not as planned either. Of all nights. We all still had a wonderful time and I hope our company will allow me to cook for her again.

Ok, here’s the dish From Williams-Sonoma's cookbook The Essentials of French Cooking.



Coq au vin is a French dish that was originally made with the tough coq, or rooster, when it was past its prime. Poor old guy, those roosters. Worked hard all their lives, awakening the farmers and rejoicing at the morning sun. Took care of the chickens…….What’s his reward – get into the pot!

That being said……(and me not needing to take the life of my pet rooster) I very much enjoy this dish and I made this version with chicken thighs.

Coq au Vin

Browned, set afire (THAT was exciting) and then braised in wine and herbs, this dish is delicious and tender. It’s recommended to serve with whipped potatoes or polenta to soak up the rich bacony, brandied, wine and mushroom sauce. But I made rice and that was pretty darned good too.

Ingredients:

6 slices of bacon

3 tablespoons butter

3 pounds cut up frying chicken (I used thighs)

1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons cognac

3 cups red wine

1/4 teaspoon thyme (I used fresh thyme from the garden)

1 bay leaf

12 or so baby onions

1 pound sauteed mushrooms

3 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons softened butter



Directions:

1) Cut the bacon crosswise into lardons (that’s fancy talk for snipping bacon with scissors into a pan). Place bacon in cold water and boil 10 minutes. Dry completely. Next, melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a heavy and large saucepan. Saute the bacon and the tiny onions until very lightly browned and transfer to a side dish

2) Add 1 tablespoon butter and place chicken into pan to brown. Season with salt and pepper, cooking slowly for 10 minutes total, turning the chicken as needed.

3) Toss in the bacon and onions. Sprinkle the flour over the chicken.

4) Here is a fun part! Remove your pan from the heat, Pour in the cognac or brandy. Off the heat, ignite the cognac, (Step back) with a lighted match or those charcoal lighters. Whoosh! That’s so cool to watch it ignite and see flames arise from your dish.

5) Place the pan back on the heat and pour the wine into pan. Stir in the garlic, and herbs. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and its juices run clear. Remove chicken to a side dish.

6) While the chicken is cooking, saute the mushrooms in a little bit of butter.

7) Tip the sautéd mushrooms into the pan with the chicken. Cook for a few minutes more




I love this Williams-Sonoma cookbook. Doug and I have been cooking from it all week. When we cook together it’s quite a bit of fun, each of us with our own “jobs” in the process and then sitting and enjoying over a glass of wine and good conversation.

For any fans of Williams-Sonoma's cookbooks.......I have a few more to share this week. Sharing this with Cookbook Sundays #15 at Sue's place!

Hope all is well in your world.

Winner of the Giveaway AND Tomato and Tapenade Palmiers...with a Vermouth Cocktail

To get to the important stuff first............the winner of my giveaway on the Best Meals Happen at Home post is Velva. Congrats Velva! I will be contacting you for address information to share with the sponsors at Blogspark.


Oh, how I love my Williams-Sonoma Cookbook.
From the Provence region: In markets and small epiceries throughout France, fresh and frozen puff pastry is available to prepare sweet and savory treats.



This is a quick and easy appetizer. Loved them! Especially paired with a vermouth cocktail.



Recipe follows..........



Tomato and Tapenade Palmiers

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
4 oil packed Sundried Tomato halves
1/2 cup tapenade
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly flour a board and carefully unfold one sheet of puff pastry. Roll the pastry lightly with a rolling pin until it’s 9.5 x 11.5 inches. Spread the tomato and tapenade on the pastry sheet.

Working from the short ends, roll each end halfway to the center until both sides touch. Wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

Then cut the dough crossways into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Place the pan in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Bake until puffed and golden (15 to 20 minutes). Let them cool slightly before serving.



Enjoy!

Busted Stuff

Nope....not a review of the Dave Matthews album Busted Stuff.

Well.........in the past two weeks my laptop was hit with a very nasty virus. And I wasn't even surfing anywhere exciting. I'd been to Yahoo mail. A few blogs....the usual. People are so mean writing these nasty viruses. And to what end........???....I'm not going to buy a new computer from the a#$hole who ruined mine.

Now, I have important info to impart to you regarding refrigerators. It was quite an education.

Our refrigerator has finally died. Doug fixed it a few months ago. Unfortunately, a week or so back it started making a horrid noise, went on for a few minutes bleating out an annoying sound. That must have been the death throes, a warning.

Next the temperature dropped inside to 60 degrees and some of the food was ruined. Spoiled. Naturally this happened on a weekend and we had to shop for a new fridge.

Things I learned when shopping - Okay, this sounds odd but I actually measured a few of the bigger pots and casserole dishes which are frequent lodgers in our fridge. Sometimes the soup pot goes in and I needed to be sure that big thing would fit.

So glad I measured. I started with the large soup pot. From the bottom of the pot to the top of the knob on the lid. It actually didn't fit in the fridge we had decided on. Not without moving shelves. Imagine doing that when it's packed with food (moving food out and adjusting shelves). One model didn't have a cheese drawer. Really? No cheese drawer?

Also, I really wanted a top freezer model. The side-by-side models (such as the dead one we have/had) measured 19 inches across in the interior refrigerated portion. The top freezer model measures 25 inches across. Makes a remarkable difference when storing large casserole dishes, etc.
The French Door models have a great amount of refrigerated room but the freezer part is in the bottom. That means the ice trays are as well.
Gave that some thought as we would be bending for ice an awful lot (especially in the hot summer months).




We finally bought the LG model (top freezer)after much measuring, looking, comparing. I am very happy without our choice.

Whirlpool is made in the United States but there wasn't a compartment in the door to hold milk. There were compartments to allow storage of salad dressings, condiments, etc......but nothing large enough to hold a gallon of milk.
Maytag (which was what we had)is also the same as Frigidaire which is something I did not know before. After speaking to a repairman who wandered through while we were shopping, he told us they cut back on the costs of building the units by screwing some parts directly into the doors rather than use washers and extra steps to ensure longer use and reliability. The LG brand seems much better put together, quality doors and compartments. Solidly built. We were not able to examine any other brands....but I wanted to share what I found out on these brands.

For what it's worth, I like the look of the French door type very much but that bottom freezer didn't work for us. We all have our preferences and particular needs in regard to our kitchen appliances - my preference is the top freezer.

Anyway.......it's been a little hectic here and we had some other things going on too....so I haven't been visiting or posting much. Just on the fly.

Lookout for some Williams-Sonoma Essentials of French Cooking recipes coming up. As well as Food 'n Flix and a few other things.

Hope all is well in your world!

Mini Weekend Wine Review: Smoking Loon Pinot Noir

Smoking Loon Pinot Noir was bright, light and not too bold. You can drink it too fast. Reminds me of a Beaujolais.



It went well with grilled lamb kebobs and naan.



Recipe for the lamb (which you'll love) may be found HERE

Cheers!

Joy the Baker Cookbook mini review

First off, thank you to Andrea of Quest for Delish for becoming a follower of my site!

Well....it was a fast four weeks pouring over the Joy the Baker Cookbook. Lots of great ideas, many pages marked for future dates with butter and sugar. Best of all was cooking with a group of people - us all lining up the same recipes in different kitchens across the United States.



The plan was to make about 3 or 4 more recipes from Joy the Baker.....and then circumstances things happened to prevent the plan.

So far I have made the cheddar chive biscuits, whole wheat goat cheese biscuits and Flax Seed Crackers. I loved the cheddar biscuits, the whole wheat biscuits were just OK and the crackers were a learning experience. I had always wanted to make crackers and my first attempt here wasn't a fail but it wasn't totally successful either. But that was on me as I needed to roll the dough out a bit thinner.



Pros: The book is lightweight and not cumbersome to carry or keep open on the counter when cooking. I love the "kitchen tips" section at the beginning and started with one (making your own buttermilk) with my first recipe. The photos are very nice and instructions are clear and easy to follow. (I recommend the cheddar biscuits.)Also, the book is well indexed.

Cons: It's hard for me to ever find a "con" about a cookbook! Yes, there are some recipes I wouldn't make but hey - I have had many cookbooks where you find a few recipes that just don't rock your world.

Overall this book gets an A and I would recommend it for the baking obsessed kitchen rat. You will be quite pleased with the buttery, sugary delicious recipes and photos to drool over.

It's in the plans to make the peach cobbler muffins and bread pudding using copious quantities of bourbon. Absolutely.

*This post is part of the Joy the Baker Cookbook Spotlight and Cook-Off sponsored by Hyperion and hosted at Girlichef. Thank you so much to Hyperion and Heather for the opportunity to own and review such a nice cookbook!

White bread 101 with grilled cheese

Another loaf of white bread. Not only is it pretty, it was put to use making a mean grilled cheese sandwich.




King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion is a fun book to peruse. Not only are there good recipes, there are tips and explanations throughout the book. For instance, what happens if you don’t use sugar and/or salt or if you add too much of either. Understanding the chemistry and the process of yeast and flour, the effects rainy weather has on the rising process.



In short, all stuff I never thought about before. The first recipe I started with was White Bread 101 as this is the foundation for many other breads in this book. Recipe may be found HERE

It made a great standup bread for grilled cheese.........




I’m thinking the recipes without potato flakes are better for our taste in white bread. It’s so moist and tastes great…but I am still on the hunt for the perfect white bread which will hold up to peanut butter. Now, don’t quit reading and don’t write this one off as a bad recipe. It’s good. I just need more firm bread for smearing that peanut butter.



Back to this book for more inspiration. It’s loaded with good recipes and information. Another book to go on my Amazon Wishlist.

Sending this to Heather for the BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread).





Happy Baking!

The Jam Empire: What's going on At Number Ninety Eight............

Look at this jam. The consistency and texture are gel so pleasingly and the fresh flavors – Fantastic! Homemade apricot and vanilla with an emphasis on the vanilla. It’s a pure, rich and you could just eat it out of the jar it’s that good.



This was the jam I talked about last month when I won from Rebecca of the site At Number Ninety Eight

If you want a high quality product that is packed with taste – order some jam from Rebecca. As a matter of fact, she does giveaways and so if you surf over to her site you may find one right now.

Bliss is a good jam slathered on a slice of freshly made French bread.



Happy Friday to you all. I have a sick computer and so will visit and post as I can. Have a great weekend!!