Recipe overload and weekend in New England
Happy fall, everyone!
I took a lovely weekend up to Massachusetts to visit a few dear friends from high school, and while New York seems to have skipped fall altogether by dropping from 80 degrees directly to 48 in the past 24 hours, New England is still going through the lovely process of dwindling warm weather and changing leaves. This is quite upsetting to me, seeing as fall is my favorite season of the year, and now we've simply forgone trench coat weather directly into overcoat weather. I'm not too pleased with this, New York, not too pleased at all.
Anywho.
So I took a trip up to Western Massachusetts via bus on Thursday to spend a few days with two of my closest friends (Bethany and Sam) from high school and their significant others (Nate and Lindsay).
Sam and Lindsay picked me up from the bus stop and I crashed on Nate and Bethany's couch Thursday and Friday. In an effort to reciprocate all this kindness - and just an excuse to make a massive meal for my friends - I decided to make a massive meal for my friends. Do you guys notice a pattern here? I do the same thing with Kate. I'm like Curtis Stone the Take Home Chef except I have a less endearing accent and you have to let me crash on your couch.
Before we get there, however, I'd like to recount my weekend a little bit.
Thursday night was simply a quick little reunion night where a few beers were shared and Elliot was introduced to the crew via a 2-minute Skype session. A grand altogether dinner was planned for Friday evening, and after the lady couple left I promised Nate and Bethany to feed them with some breakfast the next day.
Which I did, and it was glorious. Kudos to Nate for being manly enough to leave the apartment and drive to go pick up eggs and bacon while Bethany and I rolled around in denial of the day ever having started. When Nate returned, I went to work on serving breakfast, and I was served up a mug of delicious fresh ground coffee made by our diligent man of the house.
After we were all done gorging ourselves on a solid breakfast, Bethany went off to the UMass lab to be some sort of super smart graduate student sexy scientist and Nate went out to be some sort of hardcore energetic adventurous biker sports guy. Once I had the apartment to myself, I put on the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy and began to hard boil some eggs in early preparation for deviling eggs later on.
When the eggs were done, I spent a painstakingly long time peeling them in - and under - cold water before putting them in the fridge. As an added bonus, Nate came back from his bike ride and we decided to sacrificed the most horrifically peeled egg out of the bunch and share the egg for a little snack. Yum.
Shortly thereafter, Bethany returned and I promptly hopped on a car and accompanied her to Amethyst Farm so I could visit her pony Moose (whom I haven't seen in 4 years) and snap some nice fall photos while she takes a quick ride.
After we were done at the barn - and I cleaned Bethany's tack just like old days - we drove over to Wholefoods and picked up all things that were good and all things that we needed (and did not need) for the dinner which was planned. The menu and the credit are as follows:
Main Course:
•Honey Glazed Lemon Roast Chicken (Credit to Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes)
-atop a bed of potatoes and baby carrots and red onions
Starters/Sides:
•Deviled Eggs (From my own memory and experience)
•Asparagus Salad with Shrimp (Credit, again, to Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes)
•French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms (Credits to Ree Drummond at Pioneer Woman)
At this point, I am quite tempted to simply be absolutely lazy and leave it at these aforementioned links and throw in a few pictures. I don't think I would be disappointing too many people. But I'm going to tough it out and just write through as much as I can - get my brain juices going so I can actually get to some academic writing later. My mental capacity has been spoiled by beer and food gorging, and I need to get it back into shape.
All menus are modified to serve 5.
All menus are modified to serve 5.
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| Budget grocery shopping for the win - this all came up to about 55 dollars and it fed 5 with leftovers. |
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[Recipe #1: Honey Glazed Lemon Roast Chicken with fresh herbs and autumn veg]
Ingredients:
The Chicken
• One 4.5 - 5 lb. chicken
• Juice of 4 large lemons
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 1 left whole, 1 with leaves plucked and chopped
• 1 sprig of fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup of honey, microwaved for easier brushing
• A good pinch of salt and pepper (or lemon pepper, if in possession of)
The Veg
• 6 - 8 small potatos, any variety, halved
• One bunch of thin carrots (5-7 sticks), sliced lengthwise and halved
• 1/2 red onion, cut into rough wedges
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly minced
• 1/2 Tbsp. butter
• Salt and pepper (or lemon pepper if you want to feel doubly adventurous)
The original recipe calls for a large ziploc bag, but all I had to work with were a large bowl and some saran wrap (or 'cling film' for you Brits), so I somehow made ends meet. Place the whole chicken into a fitting container and add the juice of 4 lemons. Move the concoction into the fridge and let sit for two hours or more - make sure you go in and flip things around so the chicken gets an even coating of lemon juice.
Get all the veg sorted in a pan/casserole and set it aside for while the chicken marinates, and during this time you'll be free to pop open a beer and sit back, or be productive and get other prep and cooking out of the way. Whatever you do, don't drink and try to prep at the same time. I did. It was too much fun.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit.
When you've determined that the chicken has spent enough time in the marinade, take it out of the fridge and drain it of all the excess juices and pat it dry with a paper towel. Salt and (lemon) pepper the chicken inside and out, and place the whole sprigs of fresh herbs inside the chicken's cavity.
Take one sprig of fresh rosemary and strip the leaves off the stem and roughly chop the leaves. Take the chopped rosemary and rub it on the outside of the chicken, and - if you're feeling particularly adventurous - get some under the skin on the breast as well. It is quite a disturbing sensation and is not suitable for children under the ages of 21.
Take one sprig of fresh rosemary and strip the leaves off the stem and roughly chop the leaves. Take the chopped rosemary and rub it on the outside of the chicken, and - if you're feeling particularly adventurous - get some under the skin on the breast as well. It is quite a disturbing sensation and is not suitable for children under the ages of 21.
Place the chicken on top of the bed of veg in the pan/casserole, breast side down, and throw the half tablespoon of butter into the veg. Once the oven is hot enough, place the pan in the middle rack and let it roast at 450 for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 375 and let that roast for 45 minutes.
If you're sober and clear-minded and follow instructions then you won't microwave honey and brush it over the chicken until this point, because this point is when the chicken skin starts to get a little crispy and the glaze really catches on and caramelizes.
If you were drinking while doing prep and being absolutely ridiculous, you start putting on the honey glaze starting at 15 minutes and the whole thing turns into one massive chicken lollipop, but you're too drunk and congested from animal allergies that it doesn't even matter to you.
Sorry to my guests.
But once you've done the PROPER honey basting, turn the chicken so it's breast side up and turn the oven down again to 350 degrees for 40 minutes to an hour - continuously basting the chicken with the juices and marveling at how shiny the whole thing looks.
Once the chicken is done, carve up into servings of drumsticks, thighs, wings, and breasts and place onto a serving plate. Remove carcass and let guests spoon their own servings of greasy, honey and lemon soaked veg, because at this point you're honestly too exhausted to be arsed. Whoops, I mean me. You can save the carcass to make a broth, and get in with your fingers to peel off the rest of the meat from the chicken. Voila! A meal for 5 AND leftovers.
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[Recipe #2: Deviled Eggs]
Ingredients:
• 5 fresh eggs, room temperature
• Salt
• Vinegar
• Real mayonnaise
• Fresh Chives
Hard boil the eggs. It's actually not as easy as most people think. I improperly hardboiled eggs for years! This following method is foolproof, and the only danger is undercooking the eggs.
Cover the eggs with an inch of cold water, sprinkle in a bit of salt and a dash of vinegar to help prevent the white from exploding everywhere if the shells do indeed crack. Bring the water to a boil and let roll for about 1 minute before turning down to a simmer for 3 minutes.
Rinse the eggs in cold water and peel VERY CAREFULLY as to not damage the orbs too much, and then leave in the fridge for a few hours until you are ready to face the task of proceeding with the next step, which is cutting the eggs in half lengthwise and removing the yolk.
Leave the cut and emptied egg whites on a plate, and pile the yolk into a bowl, mashing them with a fork and then adding small heaps of real mayonnaise until the texture is smooth. Taste the mixture to determine whether or not you need to add more mayonnaise or even salt, and then pile the egg yolk mixture back into the empty egg white shells as neatly as you can. If you have a plastic bag and a piping tip you could even be super fancy and pipe it back in.
Snip some fresh chives over the eggs and serve. If you have smoked paprika just sprinkle a dash across each egg, it will complement the flavor greatly.
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[Recipe #3: Asparagus Salad with Shrimp]
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| Sorry for how blurry this shot is - I might have already definitely been drunk. |
Ingredients:
• 6 prawns, peeled and deveined
• One bunch of asparagus, roughly 1 lb.
• Olive Oil
• Rice Vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt and Pepper to taste
Yes, I know that the red onions and the baby bella mushrooms have nothing to do with this recipe, they were just placed together. Nate was kind enough to be my assistant photographer while I tried desperately to finish the meal at a decent hour, so I must hand over much of the credit to him during the time period. And no, I did not remember to take a picture of the prawns before they were cooked, so deal.
Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus and shave some of the skin off of the newly delegated ends. Guys, we just did this with the last asparagus recipe so you should know this. But either way make sure that the ends are pretty and not stringy and tough to the bite.
Slice the asparagus at a diagonal, rendering each stem into 3 - 4 bite sized pieces, and leave the tips of the spears completely intact just for the sake of them being oh so pretty.
Bring a pot of water to boil and (carefully!) dunk the asparagus in and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Test doneness on the thickest spear with a fork and then remove into a colander with a slotted spoon (don't drain the pot or turn off the heat) and immediately shock under cold water to stop the cooking process. This also helps the asparagus retain the nice green color that it has. Drain and set aside in a serving bowl or a mixing bowl.
Remove the tails from shrimps and drop into the same delicious liquid you just used to boil the asparagus and let them cook for about 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the water and cut into bite-sized pieces, one shrimp should render about 4 to 5 pieces.
Put the chopped shrimp bits into the bowl with the asparagus, and toss with a good drizzle of olive oil and a dash of rice vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste, squeeze half a lemon over the top, and mix well.
Serve warm or cold - either way is delicious.
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[Recipe #4: French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms]
Ingredients
• 20-25 baby bella - or button - mushrooms, stems removed
• 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 of freshly grated sharp cheddar
• Fresh cilantro to garnish
Confession: I did not take a finished picture with my camera. I do have a finished top-down view on instagram (@vyxun) but I will spare you all the misery of the blurry focus and hipster filter, so we'll just have to do with this picture I do have of the sauteing mushroom caps.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat up a large frying pan and add a pat of butter to the mix. Once it's all melted, throw in the 1/2 red onion which you have previously finely sliced. Saute and stir around until the onion is soft and somewhat translucent, and then add in the garlic and saute until the garlic has browned. pour in the 1/4 cup of white wine and deglaze the pan, letting everything reduce down and then adding the 1/2 cup of beef broth. Turn the heat to low and let the mixture simmer.
When the onion-beef-broth-garlic-white-wine mixture is reducing and deglazing, bring out another large frying pan and melt a pat of butter on that, then brown the onion caps, making sure you don't crowd them and that they're all well-coated with butter.
The onions should be done reducing by the time you're tired of flipping mushroom caps, so add in dash of worcestershire sauce and mix in well and let that sit on the heat for a bit longer. When the mushroom caps are done sauteing, remove to a tin foil-lined baking tray and place the caps opening-side up.
Gingerly spoon the onion mixture into the caps, and then sprinkle the grated cheese over each cap. Place into the oven and let bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling, or even browning!
Sprinkle a little bit of cilantro over each cap for garnish and then serve warm.
The dinner was a success, though I have to say this is the biggest project I have taken up since I started documenting my cooking adventures on this food blog. I will need a bit of time to recuperate after all this - especially with this epic novel of a blog post - and I'm sorry to say you might not be hearing from me for a while.
But who knows? My appetite usually wins over everything else in my life.
Usually.
Till the next time.
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