Balsamic Chicken & Vegetables (Crock Pot)

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We just moved and I finally cooked this past weekend.  Since the kitchen wasn’t completely pulled together yet, and it’s been incessantly hot and muggy here, I made two crock pot recipes.  The first is Balsamic Chicken with Spring Vegetables from one of my favorite sites A Year of Slow Cooking.

We’re doing the Farm Share again this year and I have become adept at using whatever vegetables are at hand.  Into the crock pot with about 5 boneless and skinless chicken breasts went two chopped pattypan squash, two chopped summer squash, two chopped onions, and a whole bulb’s worth of whole garlic cloves.

I served the whole thing over polenta and sprinkled with an Italian cheese mix. 

Homemade Pretzels

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With a month-old baby, I’m starting to be back in the kitchen a little, and this week’s greatest success (by far) were these homemade pretzels from Everyday Food. I

I thought they turned out beautifully!

thought these were unbelievable, and I loved that I could use half the dough for pretzels, and the other half for pizza (dinner). I made the chocolate variation, and right out of the oven, I thought these pretzels tasted a lot like pain au chocolat–with no butter, I might add. Definitely a fun treat!

Homemade Pretzels

Ingredients

Serves 8

  • 1/2 recipe Basic Pizza Dough, or 1 pound store-bought pizza dough, thawed if frozen (Martha’s recipe is below, but probably any recipe would work, especially if it has a little sugar in it)
  • All-purpose flour, for work surface
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped nuts or 1/2 cup chopped chocolate or 2 tablespoons fennel seed
  • olive oil, for bowl and baking sheet
  • 3 tablespoons baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons coarse sugar (like Demerara or Turbinado, but don’t stress if you don’t have this)

Directions

  1. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface; sprinkle with nuts, chocolate, or fennel seed. Gently knead to incorporate. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest 1 hour.
  2. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into an 18-inch-long rope. To shape dough into pretzels, form each dough rope into a U-shape and twist ends twice. Fold twisted end down and pinch to secure (see below). Transfer pretzels to an oiled baking sheet and let rest 20 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add baking soda. In batches, boil pretzels until puffed and slightly shiny, about 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a wire rack to drain. Return pretzels to baking sheet; sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through. Serve warm or at room temperature. (To store, keep at room temperature, up to 2 days.)

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

Makes 2 pounds

  • 2 packets (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing
  • 2 teaspoons coarse salt
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface

Directions

  1. Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
  2. Whisk sugar, oil, and salt into yeast mixture. Add flour and stir until a sticky dough forms. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and brush top with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead 1 or 2 times before using.

Maple & Oatmeal Bread (Bread Machine)

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Last Christmas I got a bread machine and I love it.  I also love that a couple weeks ago I found a bread cookbook with recipes for breads from all over the world, including a bunch of bread machine recipes for $5.

If you have a bread machine, I highly recommend this bread, which I made on Sunday – or as we call it in our house, Bread Day.

(The recipe calls for 1 t. yeast, but I used 2 t. because my bread machine seems to like more yeast)

Maple & Oatmeal Bread (Medium Loaf)

1 1/3 C. water
2 T. maple syrup
13 oz/3 1/4 C. unbleached white bread flour
3 oz/3/4 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. rolled oats
2 T. oat bran (I didn’t have any oat bran so I used 2/3 C. oats)
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
3 T. butter
1 t. yeast

Put all of the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed.  If you have a yeast dispenser on your machine, put the yeast in there.  Otherwise, make a small indent in the center of the flour (bot not down to the liquid) and add the yeast,

Set the bread machine to basic/normal setting, medium crust.

Shredded & Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Almonds & Parmesan

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I’ve been looking for the perfect recipe for Brussels Sprouts and I think I found it.  The recipe is from Kalyn’s Kitchen, where I get a lot of my favorite vegetable recipes.

I’m sure ideally the recipe supposes you’ll use fresh brussels sprouts, but I made this tonight with frozen.  I microwaved about 20 sprouts on high for 4 minutes and then chopped them up.

Shredded and Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Almonds and Parmesan
(Makes 2-3 servings)

1 lb. brussels sprouts
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1-2 T coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 T toasted slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 400F.  Cut the sprouts crosswise into thin strips about 3/8 inch wide.  Put shredded sprouts into a bowl. Whisk together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then toss the brussels sprouts with the oil-vinegar mixture and season with a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper and some salt.

Arrange the brussels sprouts on a roasting pan in a single layer. Roast until the brussels sprouts are nicely browned on the edges and tender, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

During the last few minutes of roasting time, put almonds in a dry pan and toast 1-2 minutes, shaking the pan so they don’t burn. Don’t walk away because they go from nicely browned to burned in a few seconds.

Wipe out the bowl you used to toss the raw brussels sprouts in, and when they are cooked through and browned as much as you’d like, toss the hot sprouts with the toasted almonds and coarsely grated Parmesan.

Herbed Spinach Dip

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This is a great dip from the New Best Recipe that works well with vegetables and with crackers.  My friend Linda requested it, and since there might be a few potlucks and gatherings this weekend, I thought it might be of interest to more than just her! The taste depends on the fresh dill and parsley and garlic, so I wouldn’t recommend substituting dried.

Herbed Spinach Dip
Makes about 1 1/2 c. (for 8-10 people)

1 (10 oz.) box frozen, chopped spinach
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. mayonnaise
3 medium scallions (green onions), white parts only, sliced thin
1 T. chopped fresh dill
1/2 c. packed fresh parsley leaves
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/4 t. hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/2 medium red pepper, cored, seeded, and diced fine

1. Thaw the spinach in a microwave for 3 minutes at 40% power. (The edges should be thawed but not warm; the center should be soft enough to be broken into icy chunks.) Squeeze the partially frozen spinach of excess water.

2. In a food processor, process the spinach, sour cream, mayonnaise, scallions, dill, parsley, garlic, hot pepper sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl and stir in the bell pepper; serve. (The dip can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days–and even tastes a little better.) [Note: if you don’t have a food processor, you can blend the mixture, or just chop it really fine and stir it together–it will still work!]

Homemade Reese’s Easter Eggs and Chocolates

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I got this idea last year (after gasping at the price of both the grocery store’s and the candy shoppe’s peanut

Some of the eggs the kids and I decorated--I didn't use a mold for these

butter filled Easter eggs) to try and dip my own. I bought chocolate molds (cost about $2), poured a thin coat of tempered chocolate into them, filled them with the homemade Reese’s filling that I adore, and was quite pleased with the result. Placing them in the little cellophane bags from Michael’s (well, I really got mine at Dyan’s Sweet Tooth, but Michael’s and JoAnn’s would have them too), they looked suitable for the Easter baskets.

This year, I had too much peanut butter filling for just the molded chocolates that I made, so I decided to shape the remaining filling into egg shapes, and then dip them. Because I had some extra colored melting chocolate from another project, I melted it, and the kids and I decorated the eggs. I have to say, it was as enjoyable (if not just a little more) than decorating real hard-boiled eggs.

In addition to filling the molded chocolates with peanut butter, I also made a batch of homemade

Marshmallow-filled duck being propped up by a bunny--I used a mold for this

marshmallows. This was messier, but the result was worth it. Again, I put a coat of tempered chocolate (melt milk chocolate to 88 degrees, and then spoon it in the mold), and let it cool. Then, I made the marshmallows (Martha’s recipe is below), and after putting shortening on my fingers, I pulled the marshmallow out, and shaped it into the mold. I let the mold sit for 4 hours, then covered the back with more tempered chocolate. If you want to try it out, but don’t have molds, you could also cut the marshmallows into squares and dip them, or cut them into egg shapes with a cookie cutter. I also found that you can grease a chocolate mold, dust it with powdered sugar, and then fill it with marshmallow and make molded marshmallows (which I then dipped–the more chocolate the merrier). I would love to hear if anyone tries this, and what you ended up doing!

Martha’s Marshmallows

Makes 24

  • Vegetable oil, for brushing
  • 4 envelopes unflavored gelatin (3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  1. Brush a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with oil. Line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang on the long sides. Brush parchment with oil; set aside.
  2. Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. [My note: Place the sugar in the saucepan last, right in the middle. Stir gently so the sugar doesn’t hit the sides of the plan, and once the sugar is dissolved, brush around the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to make sure all the water crystals have been wiped down and dissolved.] Cook, without stirring, until mixture registers 238 degrees.on a candy thermometer, about 9 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, put 3/4 cup cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes.
  4. Attach bowl with gelatin to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. With mixer on low speed, beat hot syrup into gelatin mixture. Gradually raise speed to high; beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. Set aside, uncovered, until firm, about 3 hours.
  5. Sift 1 cup confectioners’ sugar onto a work surface. Unmold marshmallow onto confectioners’ sugar; remove parchment. Lightly brush a sharp knife with oil, then cut marshmallow into 2-inch squares. Sift remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl, and roll each marshmallow in the sugar to coat. Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Confession: I actually haven’t used this recipe of Martha’s before–the one I’ve used calls for 2 T. of vanilla, and yield is a little lower. I didn’t like how strong the vanilla was, so this last batch, I lowered it to 2 t., which I liked a lot more. If you look on Martha’s website, there are lots of variations–including one that uses a vanilla bean. They are all essentially similar, though, but you may find you prefer more/less sugar, vanilla, etc.

Croque Monsieurs

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In February’s Living, Martha had a great idea for leftover ham that I tried, the Croque Monsieur. These

Martha's pic of the Croque Monsieur minus the sauce

sandwiches are great: a simple variation on a grilled ham and cheese (essentially, you pour a bechamel sauce on top and broil. Brilliant!) that works out well. I think this is our plan for Easter ham . . .

Croque Monsieurs
Makes 4

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for bread
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese, plus 8 slices
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 8 thick slices rustic bread
  • 12 slices ham
  • Dijon mustard, for bread

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Add milk; bring to a simmer. Cook, whisking frequently, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add grated cheeses. Whisk until melted and smooth.
  2. Butter bread. Arrange half the slices, buttered side down, on a rimmed baking sheet. Top each with 2 slices Gruyere and 3 slices ham. Spread mustard onto unbuttered sides of remaining bread. Place on top of ham, buttered side up.
  3. Preheat broiler. Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium heat. Cook each sandwich until golden brown and cheese melts, about 5 minutes per side. Return to baking sheet. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce over top of each sandwich. Broil until tops are bubbling and golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Pan-Roasted Pear Salad

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I’m obsessed with this salad lately. Maybe Rex can pipe in whether or not it’s as terrific as I think it is, but I’m really in love with it. If you start the recipe before cooking the rest of your meal, the pears will have sufficient time to cool before serving. The recipe comes from America’s Test Kitchen’s 2009 Annual.

Pan-Roasted Pear Salad

3 ripe but firm pears, quartered and cored (the flesh at the neck of the pear should give slightly when pressed)
2 1/2 t. sugar
salt and pepper
2 t. olive oil, plus 2 T.
4 T. balsamic vinegar
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 head of green leaf lettuce, washed and torn
2 small bunches of watercress (or frisee or radichio, or just more lettuce), washed, dried and stemmed
4 oz. parmesan cheese, shaved into slices with a vegetable peeler (or blue cheese or goat cheese)
3/4 c. toasted pecans (or walnuts or almonds)

1. Toss the pears, 2 t. sugar, 1/4 t. salt and 1/8 t. pepper in a medium bowl. Heat the 2 t. oil in  a large skillet over med.-high heat until jus smoking. Add the pears cut side down in a single layer and cook until golden brown, 2-4 minutes. Using a small spatula or fork, tip each pear onto its second cut side; continue to cook until the second side is light brown, 2-4 minutes longer. Turn off the heat, leave the skillet on the burner, and add 2 T. of vinegar; gently stir until the vinegar becomes glazy and coats the pears, about 30 seconds. Transfer the pears to a large plate and let cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Cut each pear crosswise into 1/2″ pieces.

2. Whisk the remaining 2 T. oil, remaining 2 T. vinegar, remaining 1/2 t. sugar, and shallot together in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add the lettuce, watercress and cooled pears and toss. Divide among plates and top with cheese and nuts.

Pomegranate Fontina Rice Balls

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This is a Martha Stewart Living Recipe from this last December. When some friends and I were together last year, eating these yummy

Martha's Picture, not mine

rice balls in Boston, I starting searching for a good recipe to make them. Although this one might be a little more extravagant than others, it’s also very, very good. I didn’t use grapeseed or safflower oil (just canola), and because pomegranates are out of season now, I put in small dollops of black current jam. I think lingonberry jam would also be terrific, as would probably raspberry or any other favorite. I did use fontina cheese, and it was great–melted perfectly and was delicious. But, if you’re wanting something a little more budget-friendly, cubes of mozzerella would also be good, I think (just not fresh mozz). Cubes of ham would also be good, if you wanted.

Also, the recipe doesn’t specify how much salt to add, but it needs quite a bit. Definitely taste the rice mixture before refrigerating it, and add according (1 t. + more according to taste). And note the yield: it makes a lot. I refrigerated the rice mixture for a couple of days and it held up well in an airtight container.

Pomegranate Fontina Rice Balls
Makes about 50

  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped (1 cup)
  • 1 pound arborio rice (2 1/3 cups)
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 6 cups water, plus more if needed
  • 3 small sprigs rosemary
  • 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (4 ounces)
  • 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup diced fontina cheese (4 ounces)
  • 1 cup pomegranate seeds
  • 4 cups fine plain breadcrumbs
  • 4 large eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
  • Safflower oil, for frying (about 8 cups)

Directions

  1. Heat grapeseed oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Add rice, and toast, stirring often, for 2 minutes.
  2. Remove from heat. Add wine. Heat over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add 2 cups water and the rosemary. Cook, stirring constantly and adding 2 cups water at a time, plus more if needed, waiting for each addition to be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is al dente, about 20 minutes more. Discard rosemary sprigs.
  3. Add Parmesan and butter, and season with salt and pepper. (Mixture will loosely hold its shape.) Transfer to a baking sheet, and refrigerate until cooled, about 2 hours or overnight.
  4. Transfer rice to a bowl, and stir in fontina and pomegranate seeds. Form into 1 3/4-inch balls, and transfer to a clean baking sheet. Place breadcrumbs on a plate. Roll each ball in breadcrumbs to coat, then in egg mixture, then again in breadcrumbs, returning to baking sheet as you work.
  5. Heat 4 inches safflower oil in a medium pot until a deep-fry thermometer reaches 350 degrees. Working in batches, carefully drop rice balls into oil, and fry until golden, about 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer to paper towel-lined plates to drain. Sprinkle with salt.