First Dinner in my Apartment

So I've moved and it feels great to finally be on my own. To celebrate I cooked my first dinner in the new apartment (actually my second dinner here but friends cooked for me last night). I made pan seared salmon and a salad with homemade vinaigrette.

Salmon
This was a roughly 4 ounce piece of fish (half an 8 ounce fillet I cut in half, froze the remaining half for another night). Coated it generously on both sides with olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cooked it in a non-stick pan for 3 minutes on each large side and 30 seconds each on the ends. Let sit under aluminum foil for 3-4 minutes while dishing out the salad.


Red wine vinaigrette
In a plastic squeeze bottle (of the type used for ketchup, salad dressing, etc) mix 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1/8 teaspoon each of ground yellow mustard, dill seed, and minced garlic.This is a very small batch, double or triple it if you are serving multiple people. I like to make small amounts of vinaigrette like this that last me 2-3 days so then I can switch to a new combination of flavors.

Pi Day Tart

Been a long time since I've updated this blog. I've been busy and it's hard to remember to write posts when I'm cooking for 4 people however this may change soon as I may be moving into my own place soon.

March 14 (3.14) is Pi Day. In celebration I made this nice rustic berry tart. Since this was a thrown together recipe the measurements are approximate.

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen pie crust thawed, you can of course use homemade but I hate making pie crust.
• 2 cups berries of your choice, I used a mix of frozen strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, allow to thaw if you are using frozen. Drain excess juices that came out during thawing.
• 1/4 cup sugar, I don't like a really sweet tart, use 1/2 cup if you like it sweeter.
• 1/3 cup jam or jelly, I used orange marmalade to keep with the less sweet theme, apricot or apple would be nice too.
• 1/2 cup crushed ginger snaps. Graham crackers would probably also work.

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place pie crust in pie plate or on a sheet pan doesn't matter for this recipe (use some parchment paper or grease it to keep the tart from sticking).
2. Mix the berries, sugar, and half the cookie crumbs in a bowl, let sit 10 minutes.
3. Pour berries into middle of the crust, spread evenly to 2 inches from the edge. Microwave the jam for about 15-30 seconds to loosen it up a little, drizzle over the berries.
4. Fold edges of the crust in and over the berries (see picture).
5. Sprinkle the rest of the cookie crumbs over the top of the tart.
6. Bake 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and delicious.
7. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Here's one of those recipes based on a classic that I've modified. Classically roasted tomato soup would be done with fresh tomatoes but good fresh tomatoes are hard to come by in Maine for most of the year so I've used canned tomatoes. I've also added my own twist with roasted sweet red peppers.

Ingredients:

• 2 14oz cans of tomatoes, diced or whole
• 1/2 roasted sweet red pepper (the kind in a jar, use fresh if you have it but I didn't)
• Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Sliver of onion (I'm not sure how much, it was about an 1/8 inch slice off the half onion in my fridge)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• Italian seasoning
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper
• Bay leaf

Directions:
1: Drain the cans of tomatoes, reserving liquid for later.
2: Lay tomatoes, onion, and garlic on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil. Cut tomatoes in half if you are using whole canned tomatoes
3: Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until caramelized
4: Combine reserved tomato juice and chicken stock in your soup pot.
5: Place tomatoes, onion, garlic, and roasted peppers in your food processor and blend until at your preferred level of smoothness (I like a little chunky).
6: Add tomato mixture to your soup pot. Add the bay leaf and season with the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste.
7: Bring to a boil, reduce to medium and simmer about 10 minutes so the flavors meld together.

Served with some nice crusty toasted bread it's hearty but still very healthy.

Quick and Easy - Pesto Chicken

Here's a simple recipe to put together. It's what I made for dinner tonight when faced with only nothing planned and a package of chicken. I ended up using less than half a small jar of pesto, so it's good if you have some leftover in the fridge.

Ingredients:
Jar of pesto
Chicken pieces of choice

Directions:
1: Place chicken in shallow baking dish.
2: Spoon pesto over the chicken.
3: Bake at 350°F until done, this will depend on the cut and weight of the pieces, here's a chart or better yet use a probe thermometer to cook until the internal temperature is 165°F.
4: Share and enjoy.

Split Pea Soup: Delicious Comfort Food

Pea soup in one of those wonderful, hearty foods that make you feel really good on a cold wet day. It also has the benefit of being very cheap and easy to make in a crock pot (even cheaper is the ham is from leftovers). This dish does take several hours to cook but being a crock pot recipe you can throw it together in the morning and just leave it simmering on low all day, it doesn't need constant attention.

I saved the bone form the ham I made last week to make this soup, it's a great way to use up leftover ham.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried split peas
• 1 ham bone, and/or leftover ham
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• tablespoon butter
• 1 clove garlic minced
  
• 4 cups water
• Bay leaf
  
• Italian seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper

How to make it:
1: Saute the onion and garlic in the butter until transluscent.
2: Add peas, ham, stock, water, lemon juice, and bay leaf to your crock pot.
3: Season with Italian seasoning mix, salt,  and pepper to taste
4: Simmer on low 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours until the peas break down and the soup thickens (actual time may vary depending on your crock pot, however pea soup can't really be overcooked so err on the side of more time)
5: Serve with thick slices of bread or fresh biscuits.

Save a little  time:If you need to save some cooking time try this. Soak the peas overnight (or while your at work) in about 6 cups of water. Drain excess water before using. Reduce the amount of water you add to the crock pot to 3 cups. This can cut the cooking time by about 1/3.

Variations:
1: Try making this with turkey ham or your favorite smoked sausage
2: This recipe can easily be made vegetarian as well. Leave out the ham, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, and swap the chicken stock for vegetable. It's just as delicious.
3: If you don't like sauteing the onion and garlic you can substitute some onion and garlic powder instead but you won't get as rich a taste.

Maple Ham Glaze

Today I made ham and eggs for dinner. The ham was a lovely smoked ham (non-aged) from the pig my family raised last year. You can use this glaze on any ham but I reccomend you get a bone-in ham that hasn't been spiral cut and stay away from reconstituted hams. I will refer to Alton Brown for more tips on selecting a ham:



The hams from our pig were quite strongly smoked so I really love to pair them with a rich sweet glaze. For cooking your ham, refer to the package instructions to see if it is partially, fully, or uncooked to know how long it'll need in the oven. I cooked my ham until the internal temperature reached 160 since while it was cold smoked it wasn't truly cooked and I'd rather be safe than sorry. This recipe is for a medium sized ham, about 3lbs.

Maple Glaze

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (give or take a bit, it was 2 grinds of my peppermill)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the maple syrup, stirring until its a thick gooey glaze. Apply to your ham 10-15 minutes before it finishes cooking.

Serve your ham with whatever sides you prefer. I like some eggs over easy with nice runny yolks.

Lovely Cooking Goodies

This new overstock store opened locally and imagine my delight when I see their pantry aisles full of wonderful stuff that is very hard to find in my rural area. Next trip I'm going to raid their selection of pastas which is great. I kept the food purchases minimal this trip because my main focus was getting kitchen equipment.

The haul includes: Dried shitake and porcini mushrooms, steel cut oatmeal (I love the texture), couscous, panko breadcrumbs, truffle oil, and capers. The capers are different than the other jar I have and I'm hoping will have a difference in flavor, as the ones I have now are a bit on the bitter side for me (which may be explained by the fact they were at walmart and very cheap). I'm really looking forward to using the truffle oil, if anyone has suggestions for recipes please pass them along.

Over the next couple weeks you'll probably see me trying out these ingredients a lot to see what I want to stock up on. This is an overstock store so the selection isn't constant but very affordable, usually well below typical retail. I got a stand mixer for $20 which is half what it retails for, pretty good and I'm hoping it lasts until I've saved up for a KitchenAid.

Here's tonight's dinner: Chicken and porcini mushrooms in marinara sauce over spaghetti and topped with some parmesan cheese. I put some fresh basil from my garden in it too, probably one of the last times this year, the basil has already taken a hit from a light frost.

If you haven't noticed from previous posts I don't do any fancy plating, I'm perfectly happy to just have my pasta in a bowl for simplicity. This is home cooking, you can make it look nice if you want (and I do for special occasions) but for day to day cooking I care a lot more about just making something that tastes great.