Gumbo & Burns

I spent this past weekend up in Seattle helping to get my mom ready for her shoulder surgery and spending some time with her and my family. Since surgery and medications are usually pretty rough for mom and I knew she wouldn't be eating anything very exciting for a few days (hello clear liquids and soft foods!), I wanted to make a special "last meal" for her. Given that our lovely fall weather has officially hit, I thought a soup would be nice, but wanted something with a little more kick, so I chose to make gumbo.

This was my first attempt with gumbo, but armed with my Cooksillustrated.com membership (thanks to my aunt Patty), I felt confident I could make it. It starts with a dark roux of vegetable oil and flour. I should really heed the warnings of my recipes. The first line of the recipe says, "Making a dark roux can be dangerous." Yes, the temperature reaches 400 degrees and higher and you are constantly stirring for 20 minutes. I did use a spoon with a long handle, but it didn't matter--I still got 3 pretty good burns. As my uncle used to tell me as I was attempting the Spanish way of making huevos fritos (fried eggs made by splashing hot oil over the top), "You wanna cook? Suck it up!" So, I did...until the pain got the best of me and I had to put my sister's hands at risk.

Luckily, in the end, all turned out well. And in re-reading this just now, I see that I shouldn't have made the shrimp stock at the same time as the roux...oops!

Simmering everything together until it gets a little thicker to hold up the rice

Add a good heap of white rice to serve, sprinkle parsley for good measure

Creole-Style Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo (www.cooksillustrated.com)
Serves 6 to 8. Published May 1, 1999.

Making a dark roux can be dangerous. The mixture reaches temperatures in excess of 400 degrees. Therefore, use a deep pot for cooking the roux and long-handled utensils for stirring it, being careful not to splash it on yourself. One secret to smooth gumbo is adding shrimp stock that is neither too hot nor too cold. For a stock that is at the right temperature when the roux is done, start preparing it before the vegetables and other ingredients, strain it, and then give it a head start on cooling by immediately adding ice water and clam juice. So that your constant stirring of the roux will not be interrupted, start the roux only after you've made the stock. Alternatively, you can make the stock well ahead of time and bring it back to room temperature before using it. Gumbo is traditionally served over white rice.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds small shrimp (51 to 60 count), shelled, and deveined (if desired), shells reserved
1 cup clam juice (one 8-ounce bottle)
3 1/2 cups ice water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (preferably bleached)
2 medium onions ,chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper ,chopped fine
1 medium rib celery ,chopped fine
6 medium cloves garlic ,minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
3/4 pound smoked sausage , such as andouille or kielbasa, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
4 medium scallions , white and green parts sliced thin
Ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Bring reserved shrimp shells and 4 1/2 cups water to boil in stockpot or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 20 minutes. Strain stock and add clam juice and ice water (you should have about 2 quarts of tepid stock, 100 to 110 degrees); discard shells. Set stock mixture aside.

2. Heat oil in Dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed sauce-pan over medium-high heat until it registers 200 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and stir in flour gradually with wooden spatula or spoon, working out any small lumps. Continue stirring constantly, reaching into corners of pan, until mixture has a toasty aroma and is deep reddish brown, about the color of an old copper penny or between the colors of milk chocolate and dark chocolate, about 20 minutes. (The roux will thin as it cooks; if it begins to smoke, remove from heat and stir constantly to cool slightly.)

3. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, thyme, salt, and cayenne; cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables soften, 8 to 10 minutes. Add 1 quart reserved stock mixture in slow, steady stream, stirring vigorously. Stir in remaining quart stock mixture. Increase heat to high; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, skim off foam on surface, add bay leaves, and simmer uncovered, skimming foam as it rises to the surface, about 30 minutes.

4. Stir in sausage; continue simmering to blend flavors, about 30 minutes longer. Stir in shrimp; simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Off heat, stir in parsley and scallions, adjust seasonings to taste with salt, ground black pepper, and cayenne; serve.

Savory Fall Stew

The return of Sunday dinner! I had to make something autumnal and filling for handing out candy to the kiddos. This is seriously the perfect fall stew...for me at least. My friend and fellow foodie, Eve-Maridy, made this recipe for us for the first time for our annual Fall Fest this past October. After a very rainy day out at the Pumpkin Patch, it really hit the spot. Lots of fall vegetables make up the bulk of this dish, but the hot Italian sausage gives it an extra kick you don't see in a lot of stews. Surprisingly, it's a Martha Stewart dish. I'm not much of a fan of hers, but she makes some good stuff.

The challenge with this dish is in the preparation. Pearl onions are a pain to peel, so I recommend taking a garbage bowl (or, in our case, a compost bowl), a knife, and your onions, and plopping yourself in front of the TV for a bit. By the way, I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan documentary, is pretty good...at least from the 15 minutes I saw of it. Fennel, carrots, and parsnips are all pretty easy to prep, but the butternut squash is still a thorn in my side. I even looked up some techniques on peeling it, and you need a special peeler. Who has a serrated peeler on hand?? It was even more fun after the part that I peeled started to sweat, so it became slippery. But, armed with my $.99 knife from Fubonn, my regular peeler, and a lot of patience, I managed to peel the sucker. The results...

Recipe calls for cippolini, but pearl onions do the trick for half the price

Bundle of herbs from our garden (thank you previous tenants!)

Best part about this dish? I got to buy this sucker at New Seasons. I love me some brussel sprouts!

So worth the wait...and beautiful in our new yellow bowls!

Get the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/savory-fall-stew.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Baked Eggs Brunch

Last night we went out for Halloween with our friends to do karaoke at the Bear Paw Inn. A cold conversation the previous Saturday night waiting outside in the rain to see Quasi at Satyricon actually evolved into an plan. Me, Shawn, and our friends Stacey & Chris ended up dressing up as characters from one of our favorite TV shoes, Twin Peaks. Shawn was Agent Cooper, I was Audrey Horne, Stacey was the Log Lady, and Chris was our favorite creepy character, Bob. For having thought it up only a week prior and going shopping the day of, we did pretty well!

Me and Shawn as two of our favorite Twin Peaks characters

I needed an easy breakfast to make for the day after the fun. We've also been in a bit of a breakfast rut of breakfast meat and eggs. Boring. My friend Emy directed me to this baked eggs recipe and I must say, it was both easy and delicious.

To save money, I got the bacon ends and pieces since I would be cutting it up anyway. $.78 sounded like a good price to me! I also decided not to use cream since I didn't have any on hand and didn't want to spend the money. I sprinkled some feta over the eggs before baking--I highly recommend it. I also didn't have another ramekin, so I just used my Le Creuset baking dish. I probably could have taken them out a minute earlier, but I hate runny whites, so I left it in a little longer. I'm guessing that it was not using the ramekins that caused the longer cooking time for my eggs.

Carefully remove the individual servings, it will be slippery!

Baked Eggs with Bacon and Spinach (from Epicurious.com)

6 slices applewood-smoked bacon
1 5-ounce bag baby spinach
2 whole wheat or sourdough English muffins, split horizontally, well toasted (IMPORTANT!)
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream


Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels. Pour off drippings from skillet; reserve drippings. Add spinach to pan, sprinkle with pepper, and toss over medium heat, 1 minute. Transfer to strainer set over bowl to drain. Brush four 1-cup ramekins with drippings. Crumble bacon.

Place 1 toasted English muffin half, split side up, in each ramekin. Divide spinach among ramekins, then sprinkle bacon over, dividing equally. With back of spoon, shape well in center of each ramekin. Gently crack 1 egg into well in each ramekin, keeping yolk intact. Drizzle 1 tablespoon cream over each egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake eggs until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 14 to 16 minutes.

Game Day Snack: Mushroom Dip

After a very relaxing and fun honeymoon, Shawn and I decided to spend our entire Sunday basically on the couch, watching football. Ok, in reality, it's not much different than most of our Sundays during football season. But I digress. New Seasons had a great sale on mushrooms, so I decided to stock up and make us a special dip for our Sunday of laziness. Instead of getting my usual variety pack, which they were out of, I used a mixed of crimini mushrooms and a small package of oyster mushrooms. You can really choose whatever you like, but do yourself a favor and at least get criminis.

I rarely alter a recipe on my first attempt making it. I feel that a recipe was constructed the way it was for a reason, so I want to give it a fair shot before trying to make it better (a pet peeve of mine when I scroll through the reviews of recipes on Epicurious.com, again I digress...). However, this time, having some extra yummy ingredients laying around, I made an exception.

We had a couple of pieces of prosciutto from our in-room picnic at The Allison during our honeymoon, so I diced those up and fried them until crispy and set aside. I added my butter to the bit of grease left over from the prosciutto and sauteed the onions first. Once those become nice and golden brown, add the sliced mushrooms. After the mushrooms had some time to soak up the butter and other flavors, I added a splash of the open bottle of Argyle Chardonnay, let that cook off, then added a pinch of dried thyme, the bleu cheese, and red pepper flakes. I put all that into a serving dish and topped it off with the crispy prosciutto and more sliced green onion.

Wait to add mushrooms until onions are golden brown (not quite there yet)

Mushrooms go in

Did I mention that I halved the recipe??

Serve with crusty bread (and more cheese!) for the most delicious game day snack imaginable

New Seasons Mushroom Dip (Recipe as printed)
3 1/2 Tbls butter
2 yellow onions, minced
2 green onions, minced
1 lb mushrooms, any variety, cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

In large skillet over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add onions and saute until golden brown, about 7-10 minutes. Stir in mushrooms and continue to cook until tender, another 6-8 minutes. Decrease heat to low and stir in cheese, salt and red pepper flakes (if using) and continue to cook, stirring frequently until cheese is thoroughly combined an even consistency is achieved.

Getting Ready for a Spanish Thanksgiving

I just bought a cazuela for our upcoming Spanish Thanksgiving (thanks to Kara and Emy and the Williams Sonoma gift card they gave me). Now I'm just trying to decide which tapas recipes to use and where I'm going to cook everything! So far all I have on the menu is paella and stuffed mussels. Can't wait to experiment!

Wedding Project

Last weekend, I became Mrs. Montgomery. It was a spectacular weekend full of good friends and family, great food, and plenty of delicious wine. A couple of days before the wedding after the majority of our family had arrived, we had a little get together at our house so that everyone could meet and relax a bit before the wedding madness began.

Since Shawn's niece was visiting as well, and I know that hanging out with a bunch of adults all weekend can get a little boring, I thought of a fun project we could do together--make a 3-layer Rice Krispie treat cake for the rehearsal dinner.

7 recipes of Rice Krispie treats later, it was complete.

The bottom layer got a nice chocolate filling

Maddy is a master at stirring marshmallows

It was difficult to find something big enough to build it on, so we flipped it out onto wax paper and my sister and I carefully slid it onto the upside tray

Almost complete...

Dark chocolate covered almonds did the trick

A little decoration

The hubby and I cutting the cake with the biggest knife known to man

Serious Slacking

I swear I'm still alive and breathing. My last post was the beginning of August and that makes me sad. I have good excuses (job changing mania, settling into the house, tests, wedding planning...), but really, there's no excuse for this long of an absence.

I have been cooking, but not as much as I'd like. Long story short, I made a big career move earlier this year and worked toward becoming a personal trainer. I studied for my test, passed it in August, and have recently decided to go back to marketing work. It's a long story, but basically, I have little to no time for anything but working these days. So, combine all that with my wedding being 3 weeks away (WOOT!)...we've been eating a lot of quick meals.

However, I do want to share some pictures of the bounty that is the garden I inherited when we moved into our new house in SE Portland. We have been enjoying delicious tomatoes from the garden at most meals. There were plenty of zucchini about a month ago...then I killed them all by letting the weeds and flowering of other plants take over. There's another reason I need to work less than 60 hours a week...

Beautiful raised beds of oregano, thyme, peas, lettuce (or what used to be lettuce), parsley, and carrots

Hang on little tomato!

Are we an heirloom? Me thinks we are.

I made at least a couple of dishes this summer. Here's proof!

Near perfect calzone--great way to use leftovers!

S'more pie (care of Smitten Kitchen) that I made for our Friday the 13th movie marathon

And a quick picture of one of our fabulous dishes from Toro Bravo. We used a gift certificate I had to celebrate Shawn's birthday last month. Of course, even with the gift certificate, we managed to go a little crazy. It was so worth it, though.

Manchego & paprika fritters with salsa roja

Sadly, I did not take a picture of the near-perfect roast chicken I made last weekend and the creamed mushrooms that accompanied them. Oh mushrooms...how I love you. I received a birthday present from my grandma (oh yeah, I also turned 30 in all that) of a cookbook put together by Seattle public television KCTS. I had a chicken and knew I wanted to roast it, so I checked my new cookbook for an accompanying dish, and lo and behold, there were the mushrooms. I ended up throwing on some sauteed bread crumbs to make it similar to the dish we had a the Gruner preview dinner (creamed mushrooms and buckwheat spaetzle topped with breadcrumbs). I'm going to say it was a hit as Michael was literally sopping up the last of the sauce with his piece of Ken's bread.

I'm hoping to post more often from now on. With fall upon us, I'll definitely be getting back to bread baking and more soups. Until then, wish me luck with the rest of wedding planning--I'm going to need it.