Oeufs en meurette (Poached Eggs in Red Wine Sauce)

Quick. Vegetarian. French. How often do those words describe one recipe? Another adjective that we could add to this list is "amazing." Cause that's exactly what it was. All I have to say is--wow.

I had no idea I could produce something so scrumptious in my humble kitchen! If you couldn't tell, we went to see Julie & Julia this weekend, which of course prompted me to run, not walk, to the library to check out Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I've been flipping through it and came across one that I just had to make for dinner tonight...eggs in red wine sauce. Doesn't sound all that amazing, I know, but my tastebuds were delighted!

And it was quick and easy to boot! The original recipe was for 8 servings, and since we are but 2 people, I cut that in half.

For the sauce:
1 cup beef broth
1 cup red wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme (I think I forgot to put this in...oh well!)
1 garlic clove, minced
pinch of cayenne
pinch of pepper

Heat this mixture to a boil and reduce by half. Make a roux with 1 1/2 tb butter and 2 tb flour. Beat into broth mixture off the heat. Boil for 30 seconds. Just before serving, stir in 1 to 2 tb of butter.

For the canapes:
Half a stick or so of butter, clarified

Heat bread in butter until lightly browned on both sides.

For the eggs:
I cheated and didn't do poached eggs. Instead, I used 6-minute boiled eggs (which Julia assured me would substitute perfectly well). We each had 2 eggs, but I wished for more!

It may not look like the prettiest dish from my not-so-great picture, but let declare emphatically that it was DELISH. I think I may try it again with white wine and see how it does! Especially now that I now that you can bake eggs in muffin tins in the oven instead of poaching them! Could it get any easier?? I doubt it. And for that matter, it was a downright frugal dinner!

Easy Chickpeasy Pasta

Had a fabulous Labor Day weekend, complete with baby shower for my dear friend Julia. Dad even took me, Allen, and Mom for a quick ride in the plane! When we got back into town last night, we had a sandwich over at Allen's parents, which meant that there were no leftovers in the fridge for lunch today. Rather than caving in to my first impulse (to eat one of those microwave ramen noodle boats that I so love and adore), I made a nice, quick pasta!

4 chicken broth
2 cups cooked chickpeas, not drained
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Brought the mixture to a boil, added

box of penne pasta (okay, about 3/4 a box!)

Cooked 12 minutes, or until the liquid was mostly absorbed, then stirred in a good 1/2 cup or so of ricotta cheese.

Yum!

Tandoori Chicken Skewers

Vacation is over, so it's time to start cooking again! We had a fantastic cruise, but boy--I missed being in the kitchen! And all the great dishes we tried have me jonesing for some new recipes. Tonight--tandoori chicken skewers!

I found this recipe a while back, and then lost it in a pile on the kitchen desk. I found it while going through some of the mess and trying to get rid of some clutter.

Tomato-Cucumber Sauce:
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup each diced cucumber, tomato, and radishes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 clove chopped garlic (cause seriously, every recipe needs garlic!)

Basting Sauce:
1/4 cup each plain yogurt and buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon each ground cumin, chili powder, and salt
Tandoori Chicken:
4 thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets, cut into 3 lengthwise strips

Heated the broiler. Threaded chicken on metal skewers. Brushed with Basting Sauce and broiled on top rack for about 3 minutes. Turned, baste again, and broil about 3 minutes longer. Served with Tomato-Cucumber Sauce and couscous.

Mmm, mmm good! This recipe was quick to put together, and would be great on the grill. So glad to be back in the kitchen!!

Website was being too slow, so maybe I'll post the pic later. Wasn't all that impressive of a picture, but it was yummy.

Braised Beef with Tortellini and Garlic Breadsticks

Can I just say again that I LOVE my bread machine? It supplies us with wonderful baked goods and does the leg work (hand work?) for most of my shaped-dough recipes. Today we had some FABULOUS breadsticks:

1 1/8 cups water (70 to 80 degrees F)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon minced fresh basil
2 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add to bread machine in order listed. Select dough cycle (it's just that easy!).

I put my dough in the fridge overnight last night, and then shaped and baked the breadsticks for lunch. Took about 20 minutes at 350 Allen said they were the best I've ever made--huzzah!

And what did these bread sticks accompany? Only one of the tastiest meals to ever come out of my crock pot. Not kidding! This recipe was supposed to be an approximation of one of our favorite Olive Garden dishes, Braised Beef with Tortelloni (no, that's not a misspelling). The result was amazing, and a fair representation of the original, although not spot-on.




1 lb beef shortribs
1 onion, diced
1 cup red wine
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup water

Combined everything in the crock pot and cooked on low 8-10 hours. Boiled some tortellini and served the meat over the pasta. My taste buds thanked me over and over for this one!

Note: Next time I'll make a pan gravy with the drippings to get a closer version of the sauce that OG serves with theirs. Might add a bigger can of tomatoes.

Bread Pudding

I must confess, I never had bread pudding until December. That's right, a life without bread pudding. Sad, I know. I actually tried it at Golden Corral. We were visiting hubby's grandparents down in Florida, and they took us there for dinner one night. I thought it was yummy--sort of like a gooey cinnamon roll.

Last night I had a bummer of a night. Spent all day working, then all night doing homework in preparation for spending all day today (Saturday) in class. And to top it all off, I accidentally deleted one of my homework assignments. Perfect! I ended up recovering the file, thanks to www.getdropbox.com--can't say enough good things about this free online storage site! Anyway, I was feeling low and decided to bake myself a treat as a study break.

2 old hoagie rolls (original recipe said 6 slices of bread, but this is how much it took to fill the pan I was using)
2 tbls butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Tore rolls into chunks and arranged in 9x9 baking dish. (Forgot to spray first, which meant it stuck. Oops.) Drizzled bread with melted butter. Combined eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Poured mixture over bread, pressing the bread down into the pan lightly. Baked at 350 for about 45 min, until the bread sprang back lightly when touched.

This was a perfect pick-me-up! It also turned out to be great reheated for breakfast this morning.

Notes for next time: More cinnamon, and use brown sugar to make it taste more like a cinnamon roll.

Crock pot Chicken Chow Mein

So once again, silly me forgot to take a picture. That's ok. Crock pot meals aren't that gorgeous anyway. But let me just tell you, it was mmm mmm good! Definitely satisfied my craving.

2 chicken breasts (it was one of those I've-got-chicken-in-the-freezer-and-need-to-use-it-up days)
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cups water

Put chicken in crock with onion, celery, and water. Cooked on high for 4 hours. Then, more ingredients!

2 cups frozen veggies, Asian blend
1 cup broccoli (cause I REALLY like broccoli)

Added to crock with the following sauce:

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbls molasses
(Mix well)

Stirred the veggies in with the sauce and cooked on low for another hour. Served with whole wheat spaghetti noodles, cooked and fried in a pan with olive oil (just so the noodles got a little crispy).

We will definitely be repeating this yummy and quick dinner! I'm super excited that there was enough left over to have either lunch or dinner tomorrow. Yay!

Moorish-Style Chickpea and Spinach Stew

I heard this recipe a while back on NPR when they were having a "cheap eats" kind of series. It sounded incredible, but I just never got around to making it till today. This recipe would be a lot more involved if you didn't already have chickpeas cooked and ready to go in the freezer (like I almost always do). Wouldn't really sub canned--they're just not as good.

4 cups chickpeas
6 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
1/4 cup Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices white bread, with the crusts removed
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (originally called for 2 tbls paprika, but didn't have any)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 pound spinach, washed and cleaned
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Brought the chickpeas to a boil while heating a pan with olive oil.

Browned garlic cloves for 3 min, set aside. Browned bread in the oil. Used a pestle to mash them up into a paste.

Added spinach, seasonings, and bread crumb mixture to boiling chickpeas. Cooked 5 min. Done! I think I started cooking at 11:30 or so, and we were eating before noon. Now that's what I call a quick meal!

Result: Wow! Spicy! That cayenne has quite a kick. Glad I didn't use 2 tbls of the stuff! But it was really tasty. Definitely would do again for a quick, cheap meal.