HOW TO BREW A FRENCH PRESS

My husband is an incredibly talented barista + all around huge coffee nerd. Over the two years we've been married he has pretty much spoiled me into a level of coffee snobbery I previously scoffed at. At the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious, single-origin hand brewed coffee is my absolute favorite way to consume coffee these days. We don't even own a coffee machine and I love it (less counter clutter). I'm slowly learning from Daniel how to brew my own coffee (for the first year he always had to do it for me), and honestly I really enjoy the ritual of it. One of my favorite things about weekend mornings is that it's a time to slow down and enjoy my morning coffee, rather than just chugging a cup to get a quick caffeine buzz and going about my business (which is still what I do during the week, sadly). After you've spent ten minutes carefully preparing 12 ounces of coffee, you really want to sit down and enjoy your hard work. The easiest way to start brewing coffee sans-machine is with the French Press method. I'm not completely comfortable with the pour-over method all by myself quite yet, but when I am more confident I will share that way, too. 

Cheers!

Sarah

RECIPE | BALSAMIC BRUSSELS SPROUTS

I've always been highly skeptical of Brussels Sprouts, probably because they've got such a bad reputation as stinky, gas-inducing, mushy tiny cabbages. However, the magic of the internet has since turned my mind to hope. I keep coming across pins of recipes mixing roast Brussels Sprouts with bacon and was finally inspired to give it a try myself. I bought a bag of fresh sprouts at Trader Joe's and decided my best bet was to do Balsamic Brussels Sprouts since that's one of my favorite flavors. 

The instructions on the bag included a little pro-tip: the best way to cook these is to blanche them. I had no idea what blanching was, so I did a little Google research and figured out how to do it. I can now state without a shadow of a doubt, the ONLY way to cook these is to blanche them first. Blanching made a remarkable difference in the texture and flavor of these things. 

Here's what I used:

Brussels Sprouts

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Salt

Here's what I did:

Step one) Trim the stalks of the Brussels Sprouts (but not too closely, otherwise the leaves will all come apart).

Step two) Boil a large pot of salted water and add the sprouts. Boil for five to ten minutes or until you are able to insert a fork into the center of the Brussels sprout with a little bit of resistance. Like so:

Step three) Use a slotted spoon to transfer the Brussels Sprouts from the boiling water into an ice bath. Leave them in the ice bath for about ten or twenty seconds. This brings the cooking process to a complete stop so that you can now roast your veggies until crispy in the oven without them getting mushy and/or overcooked. 

Step four) After removing the Brussels Sprouts from the ice bath, slice them in half along the spine of the outer most leaf (this keeps them from losing a bunch of leaves). Toss them with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar (I applied the Balsamic liberally and I ended up pleased with the decision).  Spread them out on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and roast at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I kept a close eye on them to make sure they didn't burn from the balsamic. 

And miracle of miracles: they came out crispy on the outside with a flavor that was a little nutty, slightly bitter, and overall highly pleasing. I will be playing with new recipes for these all winter! I am henceforth converted to a Brussels Sprouts fan-girl. Can't wait to try them with bacon. 

Sarah

RECIPE | SIMPLE CREPES

One night, while Daniel was working late and after Jack was asleep, I got the crazy idea in my head to try to make crepes as a surprise for Daniel. I did a little internet research, watched a hilariously dry and awkward Martha Stewart video about her preferred crepe recipe (great tips though) and realized I needed to really scale back on the proportions she used (and I didn't have quite the caliber of ingredients she called for on hand) so I improvised and came up with this really simple and easy crepe recipe for three. 

You will need:

1 cup pastry flour (I used White Lily brand)

1 hearty dash of salt

1 1/2 cups cold whole milk (don't skimp on the fat!)

2 whole eggs and 1 additional egg yolk

2 teaspoons melted butter (unsalted)

Step 1) sift salt and flour through a large sifter into a medium sized-mixing bowl. 

Step 2) In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and egg yolk. After the eggs are thoroughly beaten, whisk in the whole milk as well. 

Step 3) Make a little well in the flour (like a volcano), pour the liquid mixture into the middle of the well (aka volcano) and mix with whisk until the flour dissolves into the liquid. After that, mix in the butter and strain the entire liquid mixture into another bowl. It should have the consistency of a heavy cream and appear as below. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Step 4) Heat another two tablespoons or so of butter on medium heat in a smallish non-stick pan. You should choose your pan based on how big you want your crepes. Once the pan and butter are hot use a ladle to pour in 1-2 ounces of crepe batter. Pick the pan up off of the stove and rotate the pan until the crepe batter spreads around and covers the entire bottom. As the crepe is cooking, use a non-stick spatula to make sure the edges of the crepe do not get stuck to the pan. Once the crepe slides around the pan easily without sticking, it's ready to flip. I sprinkled a little brown sugar on each side of my crepes just to add a touch of sweetness and to help the crepes brown up a bit. I like my crepes a little more on the done side so that they appear like so:

Step 5) Choose your toppings! This is the really fun part. I grabbed all the condiments out of my fridge that could possibly be yummy on a crepe and let everyone in the family choose which one they wanted. This included: peanut butter, honey, chow-chow, goat cheese, bananas, pepper jelly, chocolate almond spread, applesauce and honeysuckle jelly. Pictured below are my two favorite combinations: chèvre goat cheese + honey and the Trader Joe's chocolate almond butter + bananas. 

This was an awesome family brunch recipe, especially for Jack who loved picking his own toppings and who persistently maintained that these were called pancakes. We will definitely be making these regularly from now on! 

Sarah 

RECIPE | RALEIGH TIMES PORK NACHOS

This recipe represents the height of my culinary success. Daniel and I finally mastered a knock-off version of the incredible (and locally famous) pork nachos served at the Raleigh Times Bar. This recipe was stupid easy, and we ended up with a huge amount of leftover pork which we've been eating on tacos and nachos for a week now. Still not tired of this pork! 

Raleigh Times Pork

One big fat pork tenderloin
Three bell peppers (we use red, yellow & orange)
One yellow onion
One jalapeño 
Spice rub (cumin, red pepper, black pepper, paprika, salt)
2-3 ounces white vinegar 

Rub down the pork with a generous helping of the spice rub. Chop the peppers and onion and drop them into a crockpot or slow cooker. Place the meat on top and cook on low for eight to ten hours. About an hour before the meat is done it should shred easily with a fork. Shred the meat, add the vinegar and stir in the vegetables. Cook for one more hour. Serve on tacos or nachos or any way you like!

RECIPE | CHALLAH BREAD FRENCH TOAST

This is a loaf of Challah bread from our favorite local bakery, Yellow Dog Bread Co. They bake this special bread every Friday and if you are smart you'll call in early a reserve a loaf. Many Fridays in our family have ended in bitterly wept tears over sold-out Challah bread. I'm being melodramatic, but we seriously dig this stuff. Jack has literally eaten almost an entire loaf by himself (and I'm not exaggerating on that one). Challah is very soft and moist with a hint of sweet that makes it easy to stuff into your face by the fistful. For about three weeks running, I've had an ambition to make Challah bread french toast, but we would either forget to buy it early, forget to call, or we'd get the bread home and end up eating the whole thing immediately. Finally the stars aligned and this week we managed to exercise some self control and saved some challah for Sunday breakfast. 

Daniel used this baked recipe, so he prepped this on Saturday night in hopes that my bleary-eyed, not-a-morning-person self could manage to turn on the oven and pop in the pyrex dish on Sunday morning. (Full disclosure...my only material assistance in the preparation of this meal consisted of turning on the oven and taking extremely necessary pictures). This was a perfect way to start a Sunday--tons of sugar and a low maintenance but filling breakfast. I think we'll definitely be repeating this meal over the Christmas holidays, too!

RECIPE REVIEW | MUSHROOM + SWISS SLIDERS

          I owe all the credit for my current interest in cooking to The Pioneer Woman. Her writing is so engaging and hysterical that for the first time in my life I was actually able to read a recipe without hyperventilating. One of my (and let's be honest...Daniel's) favorite meals is The Pioneer Woman's Mushroom & Swiss Sliders. I pretty much follow everything she says, but one time I didn't have white wine so I subbed in balsamic vinegar and I've never made it with the wine since. I highly, highly recommend you do what the lady says and add heavy cream to your burger meat. It keeps the tiny patties from drying out and adds an extra layer of richness to the meal that I really enjoy. I will not pretend that this meal is healthy in any definition of the word, but sometimes you just need a fatty, super-rich and satisfying meal to balance out your life. I like making these on the weekend just to make the break from work extra fun & relaxing (...and naughty, as the Pioneer Woman would say). She's taught me well! Yes, I even make the spicy fry sauce, because it hearkens back to my youth. We also like to serve these with sweet potato fries (as if you actually need anything on the side of these babies...).

And because this post was super short....here's a light & bubbly little drink I made up which would pair nicely with the heavy sliders. 

Rosemary, Lemon, & Gin Spritzer

2 oz Gin

1 oz lemon juice

3/4 oz simple syrup (or if you feel super fancy, you can make rosemary simple syrup)

Sparking water (to taste)

Sprig of fresh rosemary 

Combine ice, gin, lemon juice, simple syrup into a glass and stir. Top with sparkling water and sprig of rosemary. Cheers!

RECIPES | FALL MEAL PLAN

Hello friends! 

I frequently find myself in a creative rut with meal planning. I have a few requirements of my meals, namely: they must be interesting, inexpensive, healthy(ish), leave leftovers for lunch, and be relatively easy to prepare. Our family (read: my husband) also really enjoys fine food, but I am hardly a James Beard award winning chef. This leaves in me in a tricky situation. This week, completely bored by cooking the same rotation of eight or so meals (four of those eight being some variation on tacos) and on an inspirational high after listening to The Splendid Table, I sat down to create a new and interesting meal plan for the coming week. I gleaned the internet for ideas and pulled recipes from Pinterest, blogs, and old instagrams of meals we cooked in the distant past (yes, I'm an obnoxious foodstagrammer) and put together what I believe is the crowing achievement of all of my weekday meal plans. I give you:

1.) Nikujaga: This dish is a Japanese spin on basic meat and potatoes (the word nikujaga literally means meat and potatoes) which I found on the Splendid Table website. It's ground beef, potatoes, carrots, an onion, ginger, a little brown sugar, soy sauce and some chicken stock. It doesn't have any expensive weird ingredients that you wouldn't normally have around and it only uses one pan. This meal took about 45 minutes (but 30 of those were the dish simmering on the stove) and that includes prep time. Everybody really liked the flavor and Daniel doused his second helping in sriracha and said it was great that way too. This one is definitely going into the rotation as it meets each meal requirement!

2.) Carrot Soup: I saw this recipe on Bleubird Blog two weeks ago and filed into the recesses of my memory. I've never been a major soup lover, but last weekend I had a delectable roasted cauliflower soup at Mandolin and the experience emboldened me to branch out a bit. Plus a carrot soup just seems so fall. This recipe was also super easy--novice cook level. You have to let the soup simmer for about a hour all told, so you may want to throw everything in as soon as you get home from work and then let it simmer, filling your home with divine aromas while everyone decompresses from work/daycare/school/whatever you do. Our house felt so cozy and warm while this soup was on the stove, and our bellies felt so satisfied after devouring it. A note on the spices I used: Bleubird calls for marjoram and thyme, which I did not have handy, so I subbed in oregano and basil and it was great that way. I served it with sharp cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches and it was very filling. Awesome leftovers, too.

3.) One Pan Pasta: Martha Stewart living has done it again for me. Her website is definitely one of my go-to recipe resources. Some of her dishes look super complicated and expensive, but she also has a ton of really quick & cheap meals to choose from. This one I've seen floating around Pinterest and was a bit skeptical, but decided to give it a shot. It actually worked out quite well! I slightly over-seasoned it with the red pepper flakes, and subbed in canned diced tomatoes instead of the fresh cherry tomatoes called for in the recipe, but for a 15 minute meal this one didn't disappoint. I served it with a baguette and a glass of red wine and felt mighty sophisticated for a Wednesday night! (also the tomatoes look really weird in the picture below... I don't know what happened there...)

4.) Grilled Balsamic Chicken: This is not a new recipe, but it is one of our fall back simple-but-tasty meals. Daniel makes a marinade with balsamic vinegar, agave (or honey), brown sugar, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and salt & pepper. We thaw the little frozen chicken tenderloins you get in the big bag at the grocery store in the marinade all day and then throw them on the grill when we get home. The chicken cooks super fast on the grill, so I usually whip up the sides a little bit before Daniel heads out to play grill-master. Jack, in the meantime, prances around between inside and outside, urging us to cook faster while waiting for his favorite chicken dinner. We (read: Daniel) much prefer fall grilling to the summer variety because there's less sweat involved and it's nice to have a few minutes of fresh air after being cooped up at desk jobs all day. This week, our sides for the meal were a simple salad of mixed greens with some crusty toast. Very simple, very delicious, and relatively healthy! We had leftover chicken which was very nice to eat cold on top of the leftover greens for lunch. 

5.) Brinner (!): At the close of a long, often stressful, always draining work week my family is in the mood for something fun for dinner. Something soul-refreshing, something that will make the whole house smell amazing all night, and something that everyone absolutely loves to eat. Our solution to these cravings is a Friday-night tradition of eating breakfast for dinner (aka brinner). This Friday Daniel surprised me with croissants from our favorite local bakery, Yellow Dog Bread Co. and we fried up a package of thick-cut bacon and a couple of eggs to go with. I couldn't think of a better way to welcome the weekend.

So friends, that is my weekday meal plan. Do you guys have go-to weekday recipes? Do you have a favorite source to find new ideas? I love sharing recipes and meal planning tricks, and am always in the market to learn more.

Sarah

RECIPE | STEAK AU POIVRE

     On our last date night we ventured over to Durham for some fine French cooking at Vin Rouge. That memorable meal later inspired a blazing passion in Daniel to try his hand at a classic French dish, Steak au poivre. I knew that this vaguely had to do with steak (duh) and peppercorn, and that at some point I'd had a bite of something similar at Poole's, but when Daniel introduced the idea I did not realize either how dangerous or how tasty this adventure was about to become. First of all, we started with high-quality steaks picked up at the Farmer's Market. They were grass-fed and free range and had all the other label claims that help you feel like the extra money you just shelled out is really worth the guilt-assuaging hope that this cow presumably led a happy, full life roaming about in some idyllic pasture. Call me a sucker for marketing, but the steaks were in fact incredibly good. We prepared the steaks with some salt, crusted them with peppercorn and then seared them in our cast-iron skillet, which Daniel also used for the creamy sauce. The sauce is where things got exciting/terrifying. Usually the sauce calls for reduced cognac, but being regrettably short of cognac at the time, we subbed in bourbon. Daniel warned me that he was going to set the bourbon on fire, but because he frequently attempts to play little tricks on me I assumed that was a joke. Well, needless to say I was so shocked and terrified when he actually struck the match and created flames so high they were licking the ceiling of our kitchen that I forgot to snap a photo. Just trust me, it was very impressive...though probably not safe at all. While Daniel was in charge of the main affair, I chipped in a meager side offering of roasted potatoes. No showy flames, but I did use rosemary grown in my very own garden. Is that impressive?

     Once my terror subsided, I was able to enjoy the fruits of Daniel's labor. The steak au poivre was rich and spicy and complex and decadent and totally worth nearly burning our house down. My potatoes added some balance to the plate but otherwise weren't terribly impressive...but did I feel any shame about my lame potatoes while I was licking the cream sauce off of my plate?! No. Absolutely not. 

     And a final word about our wine pairing: the Bordeaux pictured above is one of our Trader Joe's staples. It is cheap and not terribly complex or interesting, but I can't really find much fault with a decent red for around six bucks. It held up nicely against such a rich meal and is generally easy on the palate. 

We used bits of these two recipes to come up with our own version of Steak au Poivre:

Julia Child
Alton Brown 


Sarah

RECIPES | 15 MINUTE GREEK CHICKEN

       Last month was a frenetic, hectic whirlwind of social engagements and long days at work. The source of most of our business was the planning of the two birthday parties we threw in honor of our little man turning three years old. More on that later. During one abnormally wild week, during which we would normally survive on a diet of Cookout milkshakes and french fries, we turned instead to a few staple quick meals that are actually quite health-concious. One of these was a Greek Chicken recipe we borrowed from Martha Stewart. I'm often incredibly intimidated by the long and expensive looking recipes I usually find from Martha Stewart, but this one is super fast and simple and has only four core ingredients (we added mint for funsies and just because I conveniently happen to grow it on my back deck). We seared our chicken tenderloins in the beloved cast-iron skillet (seasoned only with salt and pepper) and they cooked in about five minutes or something ridiculous like that. Make sure you use enough oil to keep them from drying out since you have to cook them on high heat to get the crispy browning effect you see in the photos. This meal also made ample use of our last opportunity to enjoy heirloom cherry tomatoes since summer is closing. The feta and kalamata olives are salty but the tomatoes and chicken really balance the dish and the mint freshens it all up.

Sarah 

RECIPE REVIEW | HONEY SRIRACHA CHICKEN

     We eat a lot of chicken because it's easy and cheap, but often we fall into chicken ennui. That's my cue to scour Pinterest for new ideas. This weekend we tested out a recipe I pinned ages ago from Simply Reem for Honey Sriracha Chicken. The experiment was a smashing triumph of cookery! The first key to our success was that we marinated some chicken tenderloins in the sauce for about a day. This resulted in juicy succulent chicken once cooked. We only made two alterations to the original recipe--we didn't use sesame oil and we grilled our chicken. We are certainly adding this recipe to our regular rotation! Even the pickiest little eater in our family approved, sneaking extra tenderloins off the plate when we weren't looking. If you can get a toddler on board, you know you've got a home run meal. We grilled farmer's market zucchini and squash for our side and by happenstance paired the dish with Fullsteam's El Toro Classic Cream Ale which was absolute perfection. Bonus tip: we grilled extra chicken and used the leftovers the next night to top vegetable stir fry with jasmine rice. This is a really versatile little marinade. 

RECIPE | BACON, EGG, + TABASCO BISCUITS

    This week's brinner was an ingenious experiment that against all odds turned out to be incredible. Daniel started whipping up a batch of biscuits while I was still at work, but unbeknownst to him we had no milk or butter. Always the pragmatic one, he subbed in what fat we had on hand for butter (which was bacon grease) and used water for milk. Initially, I was highly skeptical, but when the fluffy golden brown beauties came out of the oven I ate my words (pun intended). Southern cooking at it's finest, y'all. We fried up some bacon & eggs, slapped some mayo and tabasco on our biscuits, and reveled in what was possibly the fattiest meal consumed this week. See below for the biscuit recipe!

Bacon Biscuits

2 cups flour

1/2 cup water

6 tbs pork fat

1 teaspoon salt

1 tbs baking powder

1teaspoon baking soda

1. Whisk all dry ingredients in a non-reactive bowl.

2. Add bacon grease & mix until texture resembles corn meal.

3. Make a well in the middle and add water.

4. Mix with whisk until dough is evenly moist (should still be lumpy).

5. Turn out dough onto floured surface.

6. Press dough flat with hands until 1/2 in thick.

7. Sprinkle flour across the top of the dough, then fold the dough over in thirds (like you would fold a letter) and flatten (repeat three times, sprinkling flour each time).

8. Spread dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick and cut out 2 1/2 inch circles.

9. Place circles on a greased pan and press the center of each biscuit with thumb. 

10. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes (or until golden brown). 

**If you want to make real biscuits, simply sub in milk and butter for the water and bacon grease. 

Classic Cocktail: Aperol Spritz

Lately, I've been on a bit of an Aperol kick. Daniel is a huge fan of Campari, which is a bitter herbal liqueur that I am still working on acquiring a taste for. Aperol is like the sweeter, younger brother of Campari. The Aperol spritz is a lovely refreshing summer drink that combines sweet, bitter, & bubbly in the perfect easy proportions. It's a classic Italian drink, so I feel very sophisticated and passionate while I sip this on a hot-blooded summer weekend. 

I like mine with one and a half ounces Aperol + sparkling wine to taste, served up with a lemon or orange twist. On exceptionally hot days I prefer it on the rocks. 

Here's a cute video from Martha Stewart showing her preferred recipe for the Aperol Spritz. 

Sarah

Chicken Tortilla Soup

     Chicken Tortilla Soup is by far the simplest, quickest, most satisfying meal in my rotation. There is plenty of room to play with this meal too, which is why it's awesome for leftovers. I've recently become a bit of an artist when it comes to re-using leftovers in new and exciting ways which is an essential survival skill when managing a household, a two year old and a full time job. It's a fun way to push cooking creativity and break up the weekly meal plan drudgery. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients
1 lb frozen chicken tenderloins (the kind you buy in the big bag)
2 cans black beans
2 cans diced tomatoes (or the type with green chiles if you prefer a kick)
2 cans corn
Taco Seasoning to taste
Salsa (optional)

In the morning, dump all ingredients into a crock-pot or slow cooker. Leave the chicken frozen--no need to thaw! Set the crock-pot on low for eight hours (or high for four if you are cooking this for lunch). Towards the end of the eight hours, shred or cut your chicken up (I like using a pair of scissors for this job). That's it! couldn't be simpler. 

And that just leaves the fun part, coming up with toppings + sides! Here's a list of our favorite things to serve with this dish:

Brown rice + Greek yogurt

Tortilla chips + sliced avocados

Sliced jalepeno + sour cream

Warm bread + sharp cheddar cheese

Cheese quesadilla + hot sauce

Have fun + enjoy!

Sarah