Birthday Dinner Love

It's my father in laws birthday. Instead of dragging the clan out for dinner, we are taking dinner to the clan. I've discovered bringing a meal to the birthday guest is very much appreciated and a super relaxing way to spend the evening. We needed something we could make ahead of time and travels easily. A traveling appetizer, one pot main dish, vegetable and dessert. The host (my mother in law in this case)will supply the beverages and minor details like setting the table, party napkins and plates. Once I found out how many guests were coming and if there were any food aversions or allergies - I went to work on the simple menu.
Shrimp cocktail; Beef Bourguignon; Roasted Brussels; crusty bread; key lime pie and mini lemon meringue pies. Now don't be intimidated by the Beef Bourguignon - it's not hard to make. It just takes time. The key is not to 'rush' the dish - one step at a time. And you can make it a few days a head of time, reheat on top of the stove and just add more beef stock if the dish becomes too thick. For simplicity I chose to travel with a crusty bread as the starch. But egg noodles, boiled potatoes, rice or creamy mashed potatoes are a nice accomplice as well.

Weekend Dish - Freezer Clean Out.

The freezers - Always filled to the gills for winter cause you never know when that giant snow storm will roll in and find yourself with only tomato soup and crackers. Since I refuse to run and panic food shop with the rest of the county , I start stocking up in the freezer and pantry with all kinds of goodies during early fall. When March finally rolls around we begin the springtime freezer clean out, cause by now there is so much stuff jamed in the freezer I can't even find the ice maker! To celebrate the budding of spring we begin cooking from the freezer and the pantry, then supplement with fresh veggies from the market. It's a great way to experiment and be creative. I  recommend always having  frozen pizza in your arsenal in case of a disaster! So today,  I went freezer digging and struck gold - a duck breast! (I know, right!) Next I went pantry shopping - how about some Israeli couscous. Next up some Chardonnay from the wine stash and we are almost set. Need to figure out a sauce to go with the duck, gotta have some greens and will dig for some kinda grated cheese in the refer for the couscous. Only need a few things from the market to fill in the gaps.
Here's what we are going to make today. Seared duck breast with Pomegranate sauce, baby arugula salad with lemon olive oil dressing and Israeli couscous with Grana Padano cheese and chives.

So start digging deep into your freezer and your pantry. I know you've got stuff in there screaming to be cooked! Maybe not a duck breast but chicken, veggies, left overs from the holidays - you know it's in there! And who can afford to throw food out when gas prices are about to hit $4/gallon or more for summer.  Find a frozen or pantry main igredient and Google your way through a recipe. 
Its a great way to have some fun with food while saving money cause you probably have most everything that you need at your finger tips!

Duck Breast with Pomegranate Sauce and Arugula Salad.

Ingredients

Salad:

2 handfuls of baby arugula
4 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon to taste
Throw in some of your favorite cheese if you like (I used grated Parmesan Romano)
Toss

Pomegranate Sauce:
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Duck:
2 (4 to 6-ounce) duck breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Directions

For the sauce: In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the pomegranate juice, vinegar, and sugar for 10 to 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the cinnamon, and cook for an additional 4 to 5 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken to almost a syrup consistency. Once reduced, remove the sauce from the heat, whisk in the butter, allowing the butter to fully incorporate into the sauce. Hold at room temperature.

For the duck: Place the duck breasts on a cutting board, skin-side down, and slice from top to bottom into 6 or 7 (1/8-inch) thick slices. Cut the fat only -  try and stay away from the flesh.  Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat until wisps of smoke appear. Sear duck fat side down for 4 minutes or until skin is crips.  Turn over and sear duck breast on non fat side for another 4 - 5 minutes till medium rare.  Remove from pan, place on a cutting board, let rest for 5 mintues and slice at an angle.
Couscous

Follow preparation directions on couscous container
Add a little olive oil to the water before adding couscous.   You can also use chicken stock instead of water - gives the couscouse a nice rich flavor.
Meanwhile, saute 1/4 of sweet onion in large frying pan in olive oil till tender.  When couscous is done cooking in the water/chicken stock -  add to frying pan/onion mixture and cook for another few minutes. 
Then add:
3 tablespoons of butter
Add 1/2 grated cheese

Salt, pepper and chives to taste.

Squash Toast with Caramelized Onions and Ricotta

I'm going to pin my first food blog on my dear friend Rhonda.  She asked for this recipe after I posted it  on FB.   Yes, this is the recipe I spent an hour working on and it would not upload to FB.  So, I'm dedicating this first food post to her. Thanks for the push Rhonda!

I was invited to a small birthday party this past weekend and was asked to bring an appetizer.  Have to say I'm over the usual suspects of wings, raw veggies and bad bean dips.  I wanted to bring something unusual but not uber-foofoo and/or weird.  A few months ago, I was in NYC with Amanda and she dragged me  out late at night to a newly opened trendy restaurant called ABC Kitchen.  The wait for a table at 10 pm was over 2 hours - I wanted to leave but Amanda insisted we have a cocktail at the bar cause it was clear I was a bit edgy.  Turns out Amanda knew the manager and wallah - a table miraculously opened up and we were instantly taken to a perfectly positioned table in the middle of everything.  Once seated, the manager brought over one of their most popular dishes - Kabocha Squash Toast.  Kabocha who/what?  And by the way, I hate squash!  Reluctantly I dove in cause it would be rude to turn my nose up at a complimentary dish.  One bite...and I was in heaven.  It's like having dessert for an appetizer.  The sweetness of the maple syrup combined with the tanginess of the cider vinegar and hint of red pepper fire is complemented by the smooth texture of the ricotta and squash. Finalized by the crunch of the hearty bread.  It's like a party in your mouth all at once and everyone is having great time.   And don't worry if you can't find Kabocha Squash (and most likely you won't) it's OK to use Butternut Squash as a substitute. 
Back to the party - I made most of the dish ahead of time - finished the bread and assembled once I got to the party.  Everyone loved it and I hope you do to.  So, Rhonda - I dedicate this fabulishous dish to you!


Serves 10

Ingredients

2 Kabocha Squash or Butternut Squash - washed and peeled
2 tsbs extra virgin olive oil (evoo for the rest of this recipe)
1/2 tsp dried red chili or red pepper flakes
2 tsps kosher salt

2 Spanish onion - quartered and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 tsp evoo
1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 maple syrup
1 C cider vinegar

Loaf of rustic country bread  (I used semolina) Sourdough would be good too.  Sliced 1/2 thick
1/2 C ricotta
Mint - wide chiffonade cut 
Sea salt to taste

Preparation

Combine squash and evoo in a bowl and season with kosher salt and pepper flakes.  Place on a sheet tray and roast at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes or until slightly colored and tender.  May take 30 minutes.  Keep checking and turing the squash over during cooking.

In a medium saute pan heat the evoo and add the onions.  Caramelize the onions. This does not mean FRY the onions.  But rather cook down till they are golden brown - may take 30 minutes.  Keep adjusting the heat  and stirring as needed. 
Once the onions are caramelized, add the cider vinegar and maple syrup.  Reduce the liquid down quickly until syrupy. 

Add the roasted squash to the onion mixture. I used a pastry cutter to rough chop the squash before adding to onions. 

I also prepared the dish ahead up to this point, cooled squash onion mixture and placed in a plastic container for traveling.  I did not refrigerate cause you want the squash mixture to be room temp or even warm would be OK. 

Once I got to the  party, I did the following to finish the dish:

Drizzle the bread with evoo and place in a frying pan and brown in batches - both sides. 
Once the the bread has been browned it's time to assemble.  Spread ricotta cheese over the bread, top with scoop of squash/onion mixture, drizzle with some more evoo, sprinkle sea salt to taste and garnish with mint pieces.  Plate and serve. 

Enjoy!

Begin with the end in mind.

Well, I finally did it.  Carved out some time to actually achieve something I've been putting off for such a long time.  A blog.  Why a blog?  Not really sure.  But it's certainly easier then FaceBook and Twitter writing which I find often unreliable and clunky.  I spent over an hour today trying to post a recipe and photos on FaceBook, then lost the whole thing.  That was the final sign - I needed to get my butt in gear and work on this blog before I picked up my brand new iPad and threw it across the room. 
My plan with this thing is rather simple.  Write about my cooking, backseat Harley riding (hence the name evasitting) terrorize my loyal endearing friends and use writing as a stress reliever.   I'm really not that all exciting but this will also be a place where I can log some of the places we travel , fun photos, cooking escapades and have a little fun with writing.   I'm not very good at writing but what the hell.  Spanglish will often prevail and we can all have a laugh at my expense. 
So I encourage all of you who visit to sit back and enjoy the ride of adventuresinevasitting.