culinary capers – artichokes

I love winter… fires in the fireplace, thick socks, fluffy blankets, warm comfort foods and big mugs of Nutella cocoa. Sadly, we haven’t had much of a winter this year. I suspect that means we’ll have snow in April. However, not to be denied my favorite wintery things, I’ve been forging ahead as though it’s 25 degrees outside when, in fact, it’s about thirty degrees warmer than that!

I love this soup – it’s thick and creamy without the usual underpinnings of thick and creamy soups… butter and cream… and I promise – you won’t even miss them! Blend this soup to be as smooth as you like it (I prefer to leave mine with a a little bit of texture) and use additional chicken stock to your soup if you prefer yours to be a little thinner (I like mine split-pea thick).

I’ve topped this soup with a variety of things – sour cream… mascarpone… feta cheese… but my favorite it goat cheese! Serve up big bowls with fat slices of crusty bread for dipping and you’ve got a perfect meal for a chilly winter day… or any day! Enjoy!

Creamy Artichoke Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium or 3 small russet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 14 oz. cans artichoke hearts (marinated or unmarinated), drained and roughly chopped
3 cups no-salt added chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder
2 tablespoons half & half
1 tablespoon prepared pesto
crumbled goat cheese for garnish

Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until slightly translucent, 2-3 minutes. Add potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add artichoke hearts, chicken stock, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, onion powder and chipotle powder. Cook over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes until potatoes are tender and flavors have melded.

Add half & half and pesto to soup and, using a handheld immersion blender, or in a blender in batches, puree the soup. Adjust seasonings to taste, ladle into bowls and garnish with goat cheese.

culinary capers – potatoes

Ahhh… potato. Oh, how I love thee. Your carby goodness makes me unspeakably happy. I’d originally intended to make gnocchi for the potato challenge… until I remembered that I don’t own a potato ricer (why don’t I own a potato ricer??). So, plan B was hasselback potatoes – another potato recipe I’ve been meaning to try for quite some time.

Hasselback potatoes is a Swedish dish that takes its name from Hasselbacken, the Stockholm restaurant where it was first served. The potatoes turn out crisp on the outside and beautifully tender on the inside. They’re similar to a baked potato but – in my opinion – even better.

The trick with hasselback potatoes is to slice the potato thinly without cutting all the way through the bottom. If you’re worried about slicing all the way through, just place chopsticks or the handles of two wooden spoons on either side of your potato and as you cut, your knife will be stopped before it gets all the way to the other side (be sure to still be careful with then ends).

I’m loving the pretty presentation of these beauties and will definitely be making them again soon!

Garlic Hasselback Potatoes with Herbed Sour Cream
(adapted from Food Network)
2 medium baking potatoes
2-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded mexican blend cheese
Herbed Sour Cream, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place a wooden chopstick on each side of one potato make several parallel slits into each potato top making sure not to slice completely through. Repeat with second potato. Place garlic slices between every other slit. Toss potatoes in a medium bowl with butter and olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake until tops are crispy and potatoes are cooked through, about 1 hour. Remove from oven, drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of heavy cream each and top each with half the cheese. Return to oven and cook until cheese is completely melted. Transfer to a plate and top with Herbed Sour Cream.

Herbed Sour Cream
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Season, to taste, and refrigerate until use.

culinary capers – capers

It was only a matter of time before someone in our group picked the most obvious challenge ingredient… after all, we DO call ourselves Capers, eh? Capers it was, then!

Making it even MORE fun, I finally got to catch up with our group’s founder after some 20 years (I can’t believe high school graduation was that long ago!). We’d been talking about getting together for dinner for a while, so when we finally got a plan in place for him to join my husband and I this weekend, I was pretty sure that the ingredient of the week just HAD to be incorporated.

Things being as they are, my timeline got a little out of whack and, though dinner was great (and the company was better), it wasn’t terribly pretty. So, though there might have been some cell phone photos taken and posted to the groups FB page, they weren’t anything I’d consider blog-worthy. Not to be defeated… I just made the same meal again for dinner tonight! This time… much prettier and totally worth photographing.

Capers are a briney little berry that I’ve never had a huge affinity for. However, I think I’ve finally found my magic combination… capers and cream (my friend Kathy incorporated cream and capers this week, too – check out her blog ::here::). The cream really mellows the flavor a bit leaving just a little salty zing. The walnuts add a lovely crunch and don’t forget to serve with a lemon wedge for just a little extra flavor. (We served this with wild rice and arugula dressed simply with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper.)

Chicken Cutlets with Walnut Caper Cream Sauce
(adapted from Huffington Post’s Kitchen Daily)
4 thinly-sliced chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2-3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1.5 tablespoons capers, drained, rinsed and chopped
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
Accompaniment: lemon wedges

Arrange cutlets in 1 layer on a tray or baking sheet and season both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet over moderately high heat until hot. Add oil and swirl to coat bottom. Cook chicken 2-4 minutes each side or until cooked through. Transfer to a platter and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.

Melt butter in skillet over moderate heat and when foam subsides, cook walnuts, stirring, until butter and nuts are deep golden and fragrantly toasty. Stir in garlic, and capers and simmer, allow garlic to soften, then add chicken stock and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes until sauce reduces by half.

Stir in cream and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mixture over chicken, sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

gettin’ figgy with it

I’ve FINALLY gotten around to cooking with my other product sample so kindly sent to me by the nice folks at Oh! Nuts back in November. Time is getting away from me so often these days!

With a big bag of Calimyrna Jumbo Dried Figs at the ready (p.s. they really are BIG! not just good for cooking… but also great for snacking!), I decided to make a riff on one of my favorite appetizers from a local restaurant – crostini with pesto, brie, prosciutto and fig-cranberry compote.

This is an easy appetizer that looks very impressive. You can make it super-simple by using pre-made pesto and a fig jam – or you can make everything from scratch. My basil plant’s dead as a doornail, so I resorted to something in-between – using bottled pesto but making my own compote.

The complexity of flavors here is amazing… a little salty, a little sweet, a little savory. YUM. Prep these up to a couple of hours ahead of time and you can just pop them into the oven for a final toasting just before you’re ready to serve. Then… just stand back and wait for the raves.

Crostini with Pesto, Brie, Prosciutto and Fig-Cranberry Compote
(adapted from one of my favorite places - Tavola Trattoria) 
1 baguette, sliced on the bias
3-4 ounces of prepared pesto (bottled or your favorite recipe)
6 wedges Wee Brie, sliced thinly on the long side
7-8 slice prosciutto, sliced into 2-3 pcs per slice
Fig compote or fig spread (my fig-cranberry compote recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange baguette slices in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 4-6 minutes until very lightly toasted.

Remove from oven and layer on a smear of pesto, a slice of brie, a piece of prosciutto and compote onto each slice. Return to baking sheet and broil for 3-4 minutes until warmed through and bread crusts are golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and serve warm. (Makes approximately 24 appetizers.)

Fig-Cranberry Compote
1 cup dried figs, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
3/4 cup port wine
3-4 tablespoons honey
1/2 to 1 cup water (as needed)

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have popped, figs have softened, and port has reduced out. If mixture becomes too dry before it has reached the preferred consistency, add water as needed. Allow to cool before using.

culinary capers – oranges

We Midwesterners have been battling our usual beginning of winter temperature swings as of late. 70 one day… 45 two days later… 60 two days after that… and so on. It’s made for an office full of hacking, sniffling, congested schmucks at work… and that’s for those who got off easy and weren’t home with a full-blown virus.

I’ve had run-ins with both and am still battling a bit of sore throat, so while trying to decide what I could throw together for this week’s Culinary Capers challenge I ran across a recipe for a ginger-orange tea that sounded wonderful for a lazy, scratchy-throated Sunday afternoon. It’s got all of the classic underpinnings of tea with lemon and honey – with the added bonus of a big shot of vitamin C and the slight zing of ginger.

A few notes:
- I used freshly squeezed orange juice – but you can easily sub in OJ from your fridge.
- You can use either a herbal or a black tea in this recipe – or you can leave the tea bags out entirely, which is more aligned with the original, Moosewood Restaurant version.
- You can find fresh ginger in the produce section of your grocery store. Peeling is easiest if you use the edge of a spoon. Store any leftover ginger in the freezer.
- You can grate the ginger using either a box grater or a zester – but if all else fails, you can also mince it very finely with a knife for the same effect.

Orange-Ginger Tea
(adapted from The Craving Chronicles and The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health Cookbook)
2 heaping tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 cups water
3 herbal or black tea bags (use your favorite – I used Twining Irish Breakfast Tea)
2 cups fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-4 tablespoons honey, to taste

Place water and grated ginger in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Steep for at least 5 minutes. Strain tea with a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the ginger and tea bags with the back of a spoon to squeeze out all the liquid. Return tea to pot. Stir in orange juice, lemon juice, and honey. Reheat to serve warm. (Serves 4.)

culinary capers – cranberries

I love the holidays. I (somehow and once again) managed to bring my annual Holibaking adventures right down to the wire (making it quite challenging to ship halfway across the US!). And THEN… I piled on the need to make a cake for Christmas Eve dessert. You’d think I’d learn!

This cake is GORGEOUS. And moist. And… well… in a word… WONDERFUL. It’s been far, far too long since I’ve made an upside-down cake of any sort and this one has re-lit my fire.

The perfect blend of tart and sweet, there’s no leveling, filling, stacking, or frosting involved. Simply whip it up, bake it, and flip it. Perfect for the busiest of holiday schedules (so consider making this for your New Year’s Eve gathering or… well… any time!). Just be sure to watch it closely toward the end of the baking time and pull it from the oven as soon as your toothpick comes out clean – if you overbake, this cake will dry out rather quickly.

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
(adapted from Cooking Light)
Topping:
Cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
8-10 ounces fresh or frozen, thawed, cranberries
Cake:
6 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup 1% or skim low-fat milk
2 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare topping, lightly coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Heat brown sugar and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes or until butter melts and sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Pour sugar mixture into prepared cake pan, tilting pan to coat bottom evenly. Arrange cranberries evenly over sugar mixture, pressing them in to form a solid layer.

To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Beat the egg whites with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form using clean, dry beaters. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Spoon the batter over the cranberries, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean (monitor closely so as not to overbake). Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Place a serving plate upside down on top of cake, and invert the cake pan onto the plate. Let stand 5 minutes, and remove the pan. Serve warm.

culinary capers – sage

My turn to pick the Culinary Capers ingredient of the week… so I made my husband do it! He’s better at making decisions than I am, anyway. True story.

I’m not sure if it was just a coincidence or if my dear husband actually remembered that we have TWO bottles of dried sage in the spice cabinet – a little snafu that came out of our Thanksgiving prep this year (ground sage? rubbed sage?? hmm… buy ‘em both!). Either way, I’m pretty happy that he chose it because now we’ve got another great soup recipe to carry us through the winter!

Tomato & Bean Soup with Saged Turkey Sausage
saged turkey sausage:
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended. Heat a skillet with oil and crumble/fry until cooked through. Remove turkey to a large pot. Keeping skillet over low heat and move on to the soup preparation.

soup:
1/4 cup white wine
2 (14.5 ounce) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans, lightly drained
salt and pepper (optional)

Use wine to deglaze the skillet used for preparing the sausage. Once skillet is deglazed, remove wine to the large pot containing the turkey.

Add remaining ingredients to pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 30-45 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings. If soup is too thick, thin with additional chicken stock to desired consistency. Discard bay leaf and serve. Serves four.

culinary capers – pears… and tilapia

Ahhh… the holiday season is upon us. Many, many things to do… precious little time to do them in! Case in point? Culinary Caper challenges! We extended our “pear challenge” from one week to two… and still I didn’t get it done! So, when tilapia was chosen as this week’s ingredient, I knew my best bet was going to be to knock both of them out together! (After all I still had pears sitting around in my kitchen!)

This recipe is perfect for this time of year. Why? Because it’s easy and it’s super quick to prepare. The slightly spicy cajun-ish rub on the fish is a great complement to the cool sweetness of the pears – always a great combination, if you ask me! It’s best if you can let the salsa flavors meld for a little while in the fridge… but if you don’t have the time, no worries… it’s still really good! Oh, and it’s pretty easy on the waistline, too. That means you can enjoy a couple of extra Christmas cookies without any added guilt.

Spicy Tilapia Fillets with Fresh Pear Salsa
Pear Salsa
1 ripe pear, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1/8 cup onion, diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate at least one hour.

Spicy Tilapia Fillets
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 4-ounce tilapia fillets
2 cups of your favorite rice, cooked

Mix first 8 ingredients (paprika through cayenne) together in a small bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Pat tilapia fillets dry and rub each side with spice mixture. Place fillets in pan and cook over medium heat for approximately 4 minutes per side, until cooked through.

Serve each tilapia fillet over one cup rice and top each with 1/2 the salsa.

culinary capers – brown sugar

We’ve had a hectic week around our house and that often means that, though we’re nearly out of food, we fail at making time to do little things like… oh… you know… go grocery shopping. So, though I was pretty excited about this week’s secret ingredient, I really didn’t have much to work with or the time to run out and pick up any supplemental ingredients. Never fear! I am a kitchen warrior. I found a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the freezer, two bell peppers in the crisper drawer, a little leftover pineapple juice from frozen drinks a while back… and I was in business! Sweet and sour chicken – it’s what’s for dinner.

This meal comes together quickly and easily and tastes fabulous! You can certainly use a can of pineapple chunks rather than just pineapple juice but since I was never a big fan of the pineapple pieces in restaurant sweet & sour chicken, this worked great for me. I love that making this at home allows me to control the quality of ingredients,  the sodium levels… everything! Added bonus? The chicken’s not deep fried!

Sweet & Sour Chicken
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ chunks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
3-4 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Place 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot.

Meanwhile, in a gallon-sized ziploc bag, combine the chicken with the salt, pepper, cornstarch and flour. Seal the bag and shake until all pieces are completely coated.

Pour coated chicken into the hot pan and spread out into an even layer. Cook for approximately 2 minutes until browned. Stir and continue cooking until chicken is browned on all sides and is cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate and set aside.

Add remaining tablespoon of oil to pan and allow to heat slightly. Add peppers, onions and ginger and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Pour in the sweet and sour sauce and reserved chicken and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2-4 minutes until sauce is thickened to your liking. Taste and adjust sugar and seasonings. Serve over rice. (serves 4)

roasted butternut squash with brown rice & pepitas

I got an exciting note recently from my friends over at Oh! Nuts. They offered to send me more of their product to try out and, considering how pleased I was with the last round of items I received from them, I immediately said yes! True to their usual great customer service, there was a box on my doorstep within just a couple of days… I love that!

One of the items I chose (raw pepitas) felt like a perfect fit for a speedy fall lunch that we enjoyed this weekend. I paired roasted butternut squash with brown and wild rice, a bit of crumbled goat cheese, and toasted pepitas.

This dish was a huge hit in our house, filled with wonderful fall flavor and accented beautifully with the beautiful, crunchy pepitas from Oh! Nuts. I think I may make this again for Thanksgiving!

I can’t wait to use the pepitas in a few other recipes (coming soon!)… and to share with you the other great sample I received from them (which I hope to share within the next week or two). If you’re looking for great nut products or dried fruits… chocolates or candies… even gift baskets… please head over to the Oh! Nuts website and take a look around. They’ve got some crazy good stuff!

Roasted Butternut Squash with Brown Rice & Pepitas
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and diced
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper
2 cups cooked brown and wild rice*
3 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup pepitas, toasted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place squash on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper and roast for 7-12 minutes, turning once, until tender.

Remove squash from oven and gently combine in a large bowl with the remainder of the ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve warm. (Makes 2 meal-sized servings or 4 side servings.)

*Though you can certainly make rice the conventional way (or use leftovers if you have them), I took the easy way out and used a convenient bag of microwavable ready rice… done in 90 seconds! What can I say? I had to get back to my episode of House Hunters.