In Honor of Deb {White Bean Soup}

I haven't cooked with my gals at I Heart Cooking Clubs in almost a year.  But when I found out about this special get together, I had to get back to it.

This week, IHCC is holding a virtual potluck in honor of Deb from Kahakai Kitchen.  Deb recently lost her mother, so we're all getting together to offer our support.

It's well known that Deb loves soup.  After reading Deb's tribute to her mother, I found out that her mom loved soup too.  So I chose to bring White Bean Soup from Rick Bayless topped with Mustard Croutons from Yotam Ottolenghi (which I've made before).

The soup was thick and creamy from the pureed beans.  Hot sauce was a nice finishing touch.
The recipe can be found HERE.  I used celery instead of celeriac, Louisiana Hot Sauce instead of a Mexican brand, and parsley instead of cilantro.

My condolences, Deb.

I Heart Cooking Clubs

Linking with:

Mediterranean Magic {Nigel Slater's Pepper, Tomato, and Basil Pasta}

It's been so long since I've participated with I Heart Cooking Clubs.  Just can't seem to keep a regular schedule these days.  With anything.

This week, I'm prepared though.  No way I was going to miss this theme: Mediterranean Magic.
Mediterranean food covers a lot of ground.  My favorite type is Greek.

But our current chef, Nigel Slater, makes this pasta that is straight out of the garden.

While I can't resist Greek food, going out to the garden and picking dinner appeals to me even more.

The red pepper boats, stuffed with tomato, garlic, basil dressing, and capers (my addition) could be great on their own.  Maybe as an appetizer?  Served over pasta, they became a filling but summery meal.

HERE is the original recipe.  I took liberties based on what I had and personal taste.

My cherry tomato plant was empty when it came time to cook, so I chopped a couple of Creole tomatoes.  Capers seemed like a nice add-in, so I went with it.  I'm glad I did because they gave just the right amount of...something...not sure what.  After adding the oil and juices from the peppers to the pasta, it was still kind of bland, so more capers and some of the caper liquid was tossed into the pasta too.  I think it would be a good idea to make extra basil dressing and add some directly to the pasta.

Would make again...really liked it.  Thought it was a perfect summer meal.

Linking with 

A Little Cheese Please {Rice with Cheese}

The title of this recipe makes me laugh.
Yes, this is rice with cheese.

But it's also rice, in the form of risotto, with herbs...parsley, dill, basil, green onion.
And cheese, in the form of mozzarella, topped with breadcrumbs.

The title is an understatement, to say the least.

Review:
Nigel Slater's Rice with Cheese could work as a meatless main dish as well as a side.  The flavors can easily be changed by using different combinations of herbs.  I think baby spinach would also be a good addition.

The real stand-out part of this dish is the cheese topping.  Sprinkling breadcrumbs (I used panko) over the cheese before baking (I also drizzled with a little olive oil for browning) is the thing that takes this from a reserved dish to a bold one.

The recipe can be found at The Guardian.

Linking with I Heart Cooking Clubs.

Check out some more Cheesy dishes.

Breakfast for Dinner {Breakfast Hash}

I plan our meals a week at a time and also shop for the week ahead.  That's about as much as I can handle on one shopping trip, otherwise I get squinky.

And that ain't pretty.

Sometimes even planning a week of meals fries my brain.  You'd think that I'd have a huge, outrageously long list of food to try.

And, well, I do.

But you don't think I actually use it, do you?
Most of the time I have no clue what to cook.

Nights like that usually call for Breakfast for Dinner.
You know, Brinner.

It's easy, cheap, and full of lots of possibilities.
Sweet like pancakes or Pain Perdu.
Or savory like this Breakfast Hash from Nigel Slater.

Served with a fruit salad, this made made a filling and easy (breakfast for) dinner.

Slater uses "herby sausages."  I used 1/2 pound of breakfast sausage.  He cracks eggs over the hash, making them sort of a cross between poached and fried.  Or at least I imagine.  I don't eat runny eggs.  So my hash had scrambled on top.

With hot sauce on top of that.

Here's the original recipe.

My version:

Print It!
Breakfast Hash
adapted from Nigel Slater

1 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 lb breakfast sausage (I used hot)
1/2 tsp ground sage
1 onion, sliced
1 large Irish potato, including skin
2-3 eggs
hot sauce
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

Add the oil and butter to a skillet.  Heat over medium.  When the butter gets foamy, add the sausage and sage.  Brown, breaking the meat up as it cooks.  Add the onion and stir to combine.

Meanwhile, grate the potato onto a clean dishtowel.  Wrap the grated potato in the towel and squeeze the water out over the sink.

When the sausage has completely browned and the onion has softened, add in the potato.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potato has softened.

While the potato cooks, scramble the eggs.  Top the hash with the eggs, shake on some hot sauce, sprinkle on the parsley, and serve.



This post is part of I Heart Cooking Clubs Weeknight Favorites.

Fit for a Brit {Nigel Slater's Sausages and Mustard}

I Heart Cooking Clubs is featuring the recipes of Nigel Slater for the next 6 months.  This week our theme is "Fit for a Brit."

I'm not on the up and up with British cuisine, but sausages (think bangers and mash) and mustard (think Coleman's) seem to be on the list.

So when I found Nigel Slater's Sausages & Mustard on the BBC website (click for recipe), I said "well, why not?"

It didn't hurt that this is a pasta dish.  With a creamy sauce.  And that I could use one of my favorite things on earth...Zatarain's Creole Mustard.

See...this creamy sauce has not one, but TWO types of mustard.  Dijon and grainy mustard.

I used the hell out of both because I love mustard.

Notes:  This dish was ok.  I made a huge mistake overdoing things because I couldn't control my mustard greed.  Then I tried to tighten my sauce by adding a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan.  Result = salt city.

I will try this again the right way.  I'm sure it will be very good.

Visit I Heart Cooking Clubs to see what other Fit for a Brit dishes were made this week.

A Welcome 'Toast' to Nigel Slater {Spatchcocked Chicken with Spinach Couscous}

This week I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) toasts a new chef: Nigel Slater.

Since I know nothing about Nigel Slater, I decided to follow my latest obsession (thanks to IHCC and Donna Hay)...Spatchcocked Chicken.

Last week (was that just last week?  Seems like months...) I tried Donna Hay's Flat-roasted Chicken with Almond and Mint.  It was the first time I prepared chicken his way.  We loved it.  Raved about it.  It made my Donna Hay Top Five list.

I couldn't wait to make it again.
And you should know that I truly dislike roasting chicken.

So it turns out that Nigel Slater spatchcocks (I'm totally giggling) chicken too.

Donna Hay's chicken was roasted pretty plain--just some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Dress up time came at serving.  In the form of a mint/almond sauce.

Nigel Slater makes a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, and thyme and pours it over the chicken before roasting.  The chicken roasts in this sauce along with more thyme, a whole head of garlic, and lemon halves.

Slater's chicken was good, but, well, two things.
1. I got greedy.  Because I liked my first try at spatchcocking so much, I bought a super duper giant chicken.  I've come to the conclusion that spatchcocking should not be performed on big chickens.  The smaller ones roast more evenly.

2. One of the great things about Donna Hay's chicken was that the skin gets very crispy while the inside stays juicy.  Since Slater's chicken is roasted with a sauce poured over the top, the skin never got as crispy as I'd liked.

But let's talk about the second part of this recipe.
Spinach Couscous.

It doesn't hurt that spinach is my all time favorite vegetable.  Ever.
And always.
The genius of this recipe, though, is cooking the couscous in all of the drippings from the roasting pan.

So much genius.
And more flavor than you can spatchcock a chicken with.

Nigel Slater's Spatchcocked Chicken with Spinach Couscous (which was supposed to be Rocket Couscous) can be found at the Guardian's website.

IHCC's Nigel Slater welcome posts can be found here.

Catch Ya Later Donna Hay {Top Five Round-up}

I Heart Cooking Clubs wraps up with Donna Hay this week.
Donna Hay is another chef IHCC introduced me to.  I found her recipes to be easy, simple, and straightforward.  No special techniques or equipment needed.  This doesn't mean that her recipes lacked inspiration.  She creates exciting dishes out of simplicity.

Our next chef will be Nigel Slater, starting March 31st.
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I would liked to have made more Donna Hay recipes, but Mardi Gras and other things got in the way.  So to make up for lost time, I have two Donna Hay recipes this week.  I served them together for dinner with a salad.

Zucchini and Chickpea Fritters

My son loves chickpeas.  I love crispy on the outside/soft on the inside food.  I really thought these would be a hit, but they weren't.  They were bland and the texture was very dry.  The recipe can be found on Donna Hay's website.

Flat-roasted Chicken with Almond and Mint

This recipe can be found in Donna Hay's Seasons and also on her website.  I need to confess a couple of things.  First, I don't like handling raw chicken so flattened (or spatchcock) chicken never appealed to me since it means extra time touching raw chicken.  Second, even though my mom roasted chickens often, I am not a chicken roaster.  I can't do it.  It never turns out right...raw in places yet overdone in others.  A hot mess.  Grocery store rotisseries for me.

After making this recipe, I will gladly flatten any and all chickens, throw them in the oven, and roast away.

Yep.  That good.  We were amazed by the even cooking, by how tender and juicy the meat was, and how perfectly crispy the skin was.  My son said that the chicken was "as juicy as Popeye's."
(Which is a compliment.)

Then there's this concoction of almonds, lemon juice, garlic, sugar, and mint that is drizzled on the chicken, taking it over the top.

Try it and see.

My Top Five Donna Hay Recipes

#5: Pine Nut Brown Butter Pasta

#4: Apple and Dark Chocolate Wonton Parcels

#3: Chilli Cashew Chicken Noodles

#2: Flat-Roasted Chicken w/ Almond & Mint

#1: Beef & Chorizo Burgers

More good-byes to Donna Hay:

March Potluck at I Heart Cooking Clubs {Chicken with Mustard and Brandy Gravy}

So, I love gravy.  And sauce.  I'll selflessly serve others the bulk of the meat and hoard suffer through the gravy myself.

How could I pass up something called Mustard and Brandy Gravy?

The gravy recipe is from Donna Hay's website (link above).  She suggests serving it with chicken, turkey, or pork.  I sauteed some chicken breasts, placed them over spinach, and poured on the mustardy, boozy gravy.

After thinking about grainy mustard, bay leaf, and brandy, my expectations were way too high.  While this was good, it wasn't as fantastic as I thought it would be.

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Potluck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs means recipes from any of nine chefs can make an appearance.  It's always fun to see what gets cooked up.