3 posts tagged “gruyere”
Cara is currently hosting a five ingredient "Platinum Chef" challenge so I decided to take part in it. Lucky for me, more than one thing could be made to add up to the five ingredients, so long as you used 2 or more ingredients in the dish. Otherwise, I might have had a problem. Unfortunately, I tend to not like fruit flavors (save for citrus) outside of, say, dessert, and one of the ingredients was strawberries. The remaining ingredients were nuts, basil, zucchini and tomatoes.
I decided Tom and I were having breakfast for dinner: a veggie frittata and some strawberry nut muffins. I haven't made a frittata in my new apartment yet because the broiler leaves a lot to be desired. For one, I got used to the broiler at the top of the oven whereas this one is below. Secondly, my nonstick pan doesn't really fit very well into the broiler (in my head I could actually see the egg/zucchini/tomato mixture all over the floor as I tried to wedge it in there). So, I decided rather than doing stovetop to broiler, I would do oven to broiler and bake my frittata instead.
Now, I decided to make up a muffin recipe which, as you may guess, could very well have been a recipe for disaster (pun totally intended) seeing as I am certainly not much of a...err, platinum baker. But, I have typically had good luck with muffins so I decided to be adventurous. A while back I had seen a Cooking Light recipe for strawberry yogurt scones. I decided to tweak it a bit and make it into a muffin recipe. Oh, and add nuts, of course, to get that fifth ingredient of the challenge in there. The muffins tasted great. The only issue was the texture. Tom and I agreed it really was just that it was fresh strawberries. I know many people have had strawberry muffins and bread before, but we never had, so it was a little different to us. Nothing wrong with it, just a little softer inside than most muffins. I liked them, though, and think they base would also be good for freeze dried strawberries or dried fruits.
You should definitely take part in the challenge, which ends June 20. I'd love to see what everyone comes up with :)
Strawberry Nut Oat Muffins
1 cup oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. grated orange zest
2 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
2 Tbsp. strawberry yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
1/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
Preheat oven to 425 and grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
Sift together AP flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and soda and salt together in a bowl. Stir in oats.
In another bowl, whisk egg. Mix in sugar, then add vanilla, oil, yogurt, orange rind, egg and milk until just combined. Stir in chopped strawberries.
Mix strawberry mixture together with dry ingredients. Fold in pecans.
Spoon into prepared muffin cups and bake about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Per muffin: Calories: 177 / Fat: 6g / Carbs: 27g / Sugars: 9g / Protein: 4.8g
(making muffins without nuts will eliminate about 20 calories and 2g of fat)
Veggie and Gruyere Frittata
5 eggs
5 egg whites
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp (divided) Gruyere cheese
1 Tbsp fresh basil
3 Tbsp milk
salt and pepper
1/4 cup sliced zucchini
1/4 cup sliced grape tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
a pat of butter, or some cooking spray
If baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk eggs and egg whites together. Stir in 1/2 cup gruyere, basil, milk and salt and pepper. Set aside.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat with a pat of butter or some cooking spray.
Add zucchini and mushrooms with a pinch of salt and cook until tender. Add tomatoes and cook just for about 30 seconds or a minute.
If making from stovetop to broiler, pour eggs over vegetables in skillet and cook until eggs are almost set but still have some wiggle at the top. If making in the oven, add vegetables to egg mixture. Pour mixture into a greased pie pan and cook about 20 minutes or until almost completely set.
Add remaining 2 Tbsp of gruyere to top of frittata and place under broiler to finish cooking/brown for about 1-2 minutes.
Four servings; calories per serving: Calories: 188 / Fat: 12g / Saturated Fat: 5g / Carbs: 2.8g / Protein: 16.2g
The other day, I saw a recipe for a gruyere chicken, where the chicken was baked in the oven with some onions and mushrooms and topped with gruyere at the very end. Gruyere got me thinking to how much I love French onion soup. But, I didn't really want to make soup since my kitchen is about 112 degrees on a good day. I decided to be inventive and came up with a French onion chicken. Basically, this is a chicken breast stuffed with gruyere, topped with a French onion soup sauce, and served atop garlic crostini. It was seriously delicious! I just made some green beans with garlic and pine nuts to go with it.
French Onion Chicken
1 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, sliced
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp dry sherry
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup chicken broth
splash of cream
2 chicken breast halves
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1/4 cup shredded gruyere
EVOO
2 slices French bread (or other bakery bread)
1 garlic clove, halved
For Sauce
Heat a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the butter and melt. Reduce heat to medium-low and add sliced onions, thyme and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to turn golden, about 20-25 minutes.
Add sherry and cook until it's just about evaporated and onions are brown, about 8 minutes.
Increase heat to medium-high and stir in broths. Cook until liquid is reduced by about half. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Turn heat to low and stir in cream, just heating through. Remove thyme and bay leaf (unless you are using it for photographing purposes, like yours truly :)
If you want to decrease the cooking time of the dish, you can just cook onions until translucent in the pan where you browned the chicken and follow the remaining steps accordingly. I didn't do this because I wanted my onions to caramalize, but I'm sure it would still taste great.
For Chicken
Preheat oven to 350.
Depending on the size of your chicken breasts and whether you prefer a stuffing or roll-up technique, prepare/pound chicken accordingly.
Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Stuff chicken with gruyere.
Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add EVOO and heat. Pan fry chicken on both sides until browned. Remove pan to oven to finish cooking.
Meanwhile, spray or drizzle bread with a little olive oil. Put bread in the oven at the same time as the chicken (or, if you are using thicker chicken or didn't pan fry it, the last 8-10 minutes of cooking).
When bread is out of the oven, rub with a clove of garlic.
Plate dish by placing chicken on top of toasted bread and spoon onion sauce over the top.
I haven't forgotten about cooking, I've just forgotten about the blog. Luckily, I have a million things to do around the house today and, since I am looking for a reason to procrastinate, I remembered I haven't visited the old Vox site in a while. So, here I am, typing away in an office that needs a MAJOR cleaning.
At any rate, I made a nice dinner last night for two friends who recently celebrated birthdays. Unfortunately, I only remembered to take a picture of the very first thing to come out of the oven (stuffed mushrooms). Doh! So, last night we had:
- Stuffed mushrooms
- Goat cheese-marinara bake with garlic crostini
- French Onion soup
- Filet of beef bourguignon with mashed garlic redskins and roasted asparagus
- Chocolate lava cakes
Stuffed Mushrooms
I have made these a few times and everyone always loves them. The best part (for me) is that there is no crab in there since I am not a seafood kinda gal. And who doesn't love bacon?
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
5 slices bacon
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
10 oz. fresh spinach
1/3 c. heavy cream
12-16 large stuffing mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1. Preheat oven to 400 and grease a cookie or baking sheet (or just use a silpat)
2. Cook bacon, drain, and crumble. Set aside.
3. Remove stems from mushrooms. Arrange caps in baking dish and finely chop stems.
4. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan over medium heat and add onion. Cook 2-3 minutes before adding garlic and spinach. Cook spinach down and make sure garlic and onion are tender.
5. Mix in bacon, chopped stems, and cream. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat. Mix in cheese, salt, and pepper.
6. Stuff mushroom caps generously with mixture. Drizzle 2 tablespoons melted butter over. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Goat cheese-marinara crostini
Probably one of the easiest things ever to make, and one of the best. Pat a log of goat cheese until it is slightly flat, and put in a small, shallow baking dish. Pour homemade or your favorite jarred pasta sauce around the sides of the cheese, coming just up to the cheese (but not covering it). Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes or until it starts getting bubbly. During the last 10 minutes, toss in a baking sheet with some slices of French bread that you have brushed with extra virgin olive oil so they become nice and toasty. Once the crostini are out of the oven, rub them with a fresh head of garlic.
French Onion Soup
I have made a creamy onion soup before, but never a plain old onion soup. I looked at a couple recipes and each seemed as though it was missing something, so I made up my own and it was delicious! The other good thing was that I was able to make this earlier in the day and refrigerate it until it was ready to reheat and pop in the oven. The added bonus, of course, is that soups always taste better after they have been resting for a bit.
This makes about 6 bowls of soup (I used the standard oven-proof bowls so I could melt the cheese on top).
7 medium yellow onions, sliced
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (I only keep unsalted in my fridge)
4 thyme springs, leaves stripped
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups beef stock
2 cups chicken stock
French bread croutons (did the same thing I did for the crostini, above)
Gruyere - 2 cups shredded or 6 slices
In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions, bay leaf, and thyme leaves and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to turn golden brown--about 25-30 minutes.
Add the sherry and cook until it is almost evaporated and onions turn brown, about 15 minutes.
Add the beef and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle the soup into the oven-proof bowls. Top with a French bread crouton and a handful (or slice) of the gruyere. Bake at 450* until cheese is bubbly and starts to turn brown, about 8-10 minutes.
Filet of Beef Bourguignon
I used Ina Garten's recipe. It was great, primarily because it uses such a great cut of beef ("the Cadillac of meats" as the butcher called it). It was tender and flavorful. The only problem I had is that there it too little sauce. Between the deglazing and simmering of vegetables the sauce reduces quite a bit so I would probably 1.5x the liquid if I were to make this again.
I served this with some mashed garlic redskins [boiled the redskins until cooked, drained. To to the warm pot, added some butter (to melt) and some roasted garlic. Re re-added potatoes and mashed. Added salt, pepper, and a little parmesan cheese] and roasted asparagus.
Chocolate Molten Cakes
I used Dave Lieberman's recipe (sidenote: I *puffy heart* Dave) but did half semi sweet and half bittersweet chocolate. I undercooked them a little (because I was so afraid of OVERcooking them) but they were still yummy. And, it's pretty much a given Iwill never make a perfect dessert since I don't like to bake.
PHEW. So, onto (or back to?) last week. Well, I don't really remember when we had these meals, but over the past week or two we have eaten...
Italian beef sandwiches
For "crockpot Friday," I just put a 2.5 lb. beef chuck roast in the crockpot after searing it a little. I heated up some beef broth (I would say to use about 1/2 cup for every pound of meat) and to that I added: 3 cloves minced garlic; 1 tablespoon oregano; 1 tablespoon basil; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1 bay leaf, 1 tablespoon dried minced onion; 1 tablespoon parsley and a little salt. Poured that over the roast, cooked it on low all day while I was at work.
When I came home, I shredded the beef and let it continue to cook on low, uncovered (to thicken up/reduce the juices a tad) for about another hour.
I know the traditional way to serve these is with peppers, but I prefer a pepper cheese instead. So, I toasted up some sub rolls that I made into garlic rolls by adding a little butter, garlic and a spray of EVOO, and added cheese the last minute they were toasting.
Chicken with mushrooms, prosciutto, and cream sauce over egg noodles and with peas. Honestly, even ith modifications, I thought this was kinda "eh" at best. I think in general I am not a huge fan of sauces made with sour cream (despite loving sour cream) but I thought I would give it a whirl because we had leftover sour cream.
Beef Stew
This is one of those dishes I love experimenting with, be it changing up the ingredients, or cooking it in a crockpot versus an oven. The recipe below can easily be put in the oven instead of a crockpot. I just like the ease of the crockpot, and that I don't have to be home while it cooks. While this takes a lot more prep than a normal slowcooker meal, if I am making this on a weekday where I have to be at work, I do all the prep (vegetable cutting, etc) the night before. If you like a more tomato-y stew, you could throw in a can of diced tomatoes. I used to make this without tomato paste but realized even adding a tbsp or two really added some depth of flavor, so I do that, now.
If you make this in the oven, cook it in a covered dutch oven at 275-300* for about 2 hours. Stir the frozen peas in at the end, the same way you would for the crockpot version.
2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
4 cups red wine, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2-3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1.5 cup sliced carrots
1.5 cup sliced celery
4-5 potatoes, cut in fourths or eighths depending on size
1/2 cup frozen peas
8 oz. sliced mushrooms, stems removed and cut in half
2 bay leaves (or 1, if it's bigger)
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1.5 tsp. dried thyme
1.5 tsp. dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon butter
2 small or 1 medium onion, sliced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1. Place meat, 2 cloves garlic, and 3 and 1/2 cup red wine in a container. Refrigerate for a couple hours, or overnight.
2. In a large plastic bag, combine flour, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. In batches, add meat and shake to coat.
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add stew meat, and cook until evenly browned on the outside. Cook in batches if necessary so as not to crowd the meat.
4. Place the potatoes, carrots, celery and mushrooms on the bottom of the crockpot. Top witb browned meat, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.
5. In the same skillet, melt butter and saute onions until softened. Add the tomato paste and cook off a bit and stir in garlic until fragrant.
6. Pour remaining 1/2 cup red wine and beef broth into the skillet, deglazing the pan and scraping the brown bits. Reduce slightly before pouring the mixture into the crockpot.
7. Cook on low for 7-9 hours or if I am home I like cooking on high for one hour and then on low for 5 or 6
8. When done, stir in peas
Damn, Gina! I think that finally gets up up to speed.
