Spring Arugula Salad

This is quick, healthy, delicious, and a bit of a change up from your every day garden salad. Lightly tossed with a lemon Dijon dressing and some freshly shaved Parmesan cheese over top, it's a great side dish for any main course. Slice some freshly grilled chicken over top for a quick weeknight meal!


About 4 ounces of baby Arugula (3 big hand fulls)
Freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

Zest of one Lemon
1/4 of a cup combined of of Freshly squeezed lemon juice and white wine vinegar
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic (Finely Grated)
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

To make the dressing, zest your lemon and place in a mixing bowl. Next, juice the lemon into a glass measuring cup. Some lemons are juicer than others so the exact amount of juice you'll get will vary. Pour in the white wine vinegar until you have a total of 1/4 of a cup between both the lemon juice and vinegar. Add the olive oil, mustard, garlic, and the salt and pepper. Whisk everything together until it emulsifies into a dressing.

Wash and dry the arugula thoroughly, the dressing wont stick to any salad green if they are still wet. Portion out a serving of the greens and use a vegetable peeler to shave some Parmesan over top. Dress the salad  and serve!

Buying a Pizza stone is worth every penny

A few weeks back I shared my recipe for homemade pizza. In my post in gave my method of first cooking the dough on a hot stove top to crisp the bottom before finishing the pizza in the oven. While I stand by this method as a great way to make amazing pizza in your own home, I recently got a pizza stone and I can't tell you the world of difference it makes.

Using my pizza dough and sauce recipe, place your pizza stone in a cold oven and preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Sounds like a high temperature but trust me. Allow the stone to heat in the oven at 500 degrees for a good 20 minutes before you're ready to throw your first pizza in. Use some flour or cornmeal on the bottom of your pizza to prevent it from sticking and carefully slide the pizza onto the hot stone. In only a few minutes time you'll see the dough turn golden brown and you'll have a perfectly home cooked pizza. Pizza stones range in price so find one that fits in your budget. The stone will pay for itself in a very short amount of time!

Beef Bourguignon

It's one of the most flavorful and satisfying dishes ever concocted inside of a kitchen. Beef and vegetables slow cooked in red wine and beef broth, it's a dish you honestly can't resist. The beef becomes fork tender and the sauce has such a deep and rich flavor, your entire house is going to smell like a French Bistro with this simmering away on your stove. Beef Bourguignon is not a hard dish to make, but it requires a bit of love and some time but I can assure you it's well worth it.

5 strips of tick cut bacon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pound chuck roast cut into pieces
1 large onion (Sliced)
6 carrots (peeled and sliced diagonally)
3 tablespoons of flour
1 bag of frozen pearl onions (14oz bag) 
½ pound of whole button mushrooms
2 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 cups of low sodium beef stock
1 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (750ml bottle)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
4 sprig of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of sugar
Flat leaf parsley  

Remove the roast from the refrigerator about thirty minutes before you want to begin. Gather and prep the rest of your ingredients so that you have them on hand. 

Cut the chuck roast into about one inch cubes and pat each piece dry with paper towels. Drying the meat is a very important step and ensures the meat sears properly. The dryer the meat when it hits the hot oil, the better the sear will be. When we sear the meat, it locks in the flavorful juices of the meat and also gives us that beautiful brown color on the outside. It's a tedious task, but dry each beef cube thoroughly with a paper towel and then season heavily with kosher salt and black pepper. When it looks like you have too much seasoning on the beef cubes, you've done your job.
 
Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot or a dutch oven over medium heat. Slice the strips of bacon in pieces and cook the bacon in the hot oil until they're crisp.

We want to sear our beef cubes in small batches. If we crowd beef cubes and add too many at once, we'll lower the temperature in our pan and they won't have the right heat to sear properly. Don't move the beef cubes around too much while they're in there either. Give them about a minute or so on each side, just until you see the outside of the meat starting to caramelize. Once all sides have been seared, transfer them to a nearby plate and add the next batch in. Continue this step until all the beef has been seared.

Once all the meat has been seared, add the sliced onion, 2 tablespoons of butter, and the chopped carrots to the hot oil. Stir everything together making sure the flavorful bits left from the bacon and beef get all over the vegetables. Stir and cook the onions and carrots just until the onions become slightly tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Once the onions are tender, return all the seared meat and any of the juices that have collected from them resting back into the pot.

Next, take the 3 tablespoons of flour and sprinkle over top the beef and vegetables. Stir the contents of the pot so that the flour coats everything. Add the entire bottle of red wine, minus a sip or two, and add the 2 cups of beef broth. Add the tomato paste and stir together until the paste is Incorporated into the broth and the wine.

Add the fresh thyme and the fresh rosemary to the pot using kitchen twine to tie the herbs together so that it's easier to pull the stems out before we are ready serve. Throw in the bay leaves and bring the liquid to a boil. Cook the stew uncovered for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pot and allow the beef to cook for about 2 hours giving it a stir about every so often.

Add the minced garlic, the sugar, the entire bag of pearl onions, and the mushrooms to the pot. Raise the heat slightly and allow the stew to simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and the bundle of rosemary and thyme from the sauce. Season the sauce to taste.

Serve next to a helping of your favorite recipe for mashed potatoes or over top buttered egg noodles with a side of crispy french bread. Garnish your plate with some freshly chopped parsley and some of the crispy bacon pieces and serve hot.

Madagascar Vanilla

We've all heard the expression, "You get what you pay for" and that stands so true when you talk about Vanilla extract. Just about all of your cookie, cake, custard, icing, and other recipes for sweet treats call for Vanilla extract. To be quite honest, when I bake it's really the only ingredient I don't measure to the exact degree - a little extra splash never hurt anything!!

Since vanilla is such a key ingredient in our freshly baked sweet treats, it's really important to use a good quality vanilla. The first thing to look for is does the bottle say "Pure" or "Imitation". The imitation I'm sad to say would be better suited to be poured right down the kitchen sink. It contains artificial flavorings and chemicals to try and recreate the taste of vanilla but fails to do so and it even will leave a very bitter taste.

Always buy pure vanilla extract and if you bake a lot like I do, it's best to spend the extra couple of dollars and get the best quality one you can afford within you budget (Remember a bottle will last you a couple months or longer depending on how much you bake). When you switch from using a low grade vanilla to a high quality one, you'll really be able to tell the difference. Warning though, you'll be hooked on the good stuff!!

Strawberry Crumble

A strawberry sale at my local market inspired this quick and delicious desert. Fresh strawberries in a sweet syrup from the own juices baked with a crumb topping that's to die for on its own. This dish will help remind you that spring and summer are almost here and with them the abundance of fresh produce that will soon be available. This recipe is as easy as it is delicious.

2 pints of strawberries
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of sugar
For the topping
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of oatmeal

1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 stick of cold butter (diced)
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the strawberries, remove their stems, and slice the strawberries in half. Place all of the strawberries in a a large bowl and toss together with the sugar and the vanilla extract. Allow them to rest for about 10 minutes. The sugar helps extract all the juices from within the strawberries, this is called macerating.

In a separate bowl. Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Toss to incorporate. Add the cold butter and mix with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture comes together and starts to form big crumbs.

Fill either individual ramekins or a large baking dish with the strawberries and their juices. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over top. Whatever you choose to bake these in, place it on top of a cookie sheet to prevent any juices that bubble over from falling to the bottom of your oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden and crisp and the juices are bubbling. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya is one of the most well known and loved Cajun style dishes. The base of Jambalaya is what many chefs call the holy trinity - onions, celery, and bell peppers with meat,tomatoes, and rice added to complete the dish . The meat used in Jambalaya can be customized to your liking but my ultimate Jambalaya holds nothing back using grilled chicken, classic andouille sausage, and delicious gulf shrimp. Packed with bold and robust flavors that compliment each other perfectly, it's one of those dishes you can't seem to get enough of.

1 pound of boneless chicken breast
10 ounces of Andouille Sausage or Smoked Kielbasa (sliced)
1/2 to 3/4 lb of Wild caught Gulf Shrimp
1 large onion (diced)
1 stalk of celery (diced)
2 Yellow bell peppers (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 cup of dry white wine
2 cups of chicken stock
16oz can of diced Tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon of file gumbo
1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon of Paprika
1/4 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of dried Italian Seasoning
2 bay leaves
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
1 and 1/2 cups of long grain rice
Fresh parsley
Fresh Scallions

In a heavy bottomed pot, add 2 tablespoons of peanut or vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Add the diced celery, bell peppers, and onion sauté together until they start to become tender. Add the andouille sausage and stir in with the trinity browning the andouille slightly. Next add the chopped garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring often so that the garlic doesn't burn. Add the white wine and allow the alcohol to cook for for a few minutes.

Add the diced tomatoes along with the chicken stock and the bay leaves - stir well. Add all of the spices to the Jambalaya and bring to a  low simmer - stirring occasionally. Season to taste. I like my jambalaya to have a nice kick to it so I tend to add more heat and spice than I originally call for.

While the jambalaya simmers, cook the chicken and shrimp. You can add the the chicken in right in the beginning with the trinity and the andouille but I like to grill the chicken if possible. Just season with salt and pepper and a pinch of same seasonings we have in the jambalaya itself. Shrimp to me tastes the best when it's grilled or roasted in the oven. Turn your over to 375 and roast the shrimp that have been tossed in a bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper. As soon as the shrimp are pink they're done.

Turn the heat up on the jambalaya until the liquid begins to boil. Add the rice and stir very well to combine. Cover the Jambayala and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Once the rice is tender, remove the bay leaves and and add the shrimp and chicken. stir in freshly chopped parsley and scallions and serve hot.

Cherry Vanilla Scones

I love a freshly baked batch of scones. Unlike many of the store bought scones you'll find that are closer to a cookie, a homemade scone is light, buttery, and flaky. I've made countless batches of scones with various types of dried fruits and nuts but the combination of sweet and tart dried cherries with hints of vanilla is by far my favorite. Perfect for a weekend breakfast or and upcoming bake sale, these scones will be a real crowd pleaser.

4 cups of all purpose flour
½ cup of granulated sugar (Additional needed for sprinkling)
2 tablespoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of lemon zest 
5 extra-large eggs
1 cup of heavy whipping cream 
1 teaspoon of good quality vanilla extract 
1 teaspoon of Vanilla bean paste
1½ cups of dried Cherries
4 tablespoons of flour

Sift together the flour, baking powder, the kosher salt, and the sugar into the mixing bowl.

The key to the perfect scone is very cold butter To achieve the perfect scone, we need cut the butter into small cubes and add the butter to the flour mixture. Mix the butter and the dry ingredients together until the mixture looks very coarse and the chunks of butter are about the size of a pea.

Crack four of the eggs into a bowl and whisk together. Add the vanilla to the eggs and mix with one cup of heavy cream. With the an electric mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream and egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix just until the dough comes together. The dough will look very wet and lumpy.

The next step is to toss the dried cherries and the lemon zest with 4 tablespoons of flour. Adding flour to the cherries and the zest will help them stick to the dough. Mix into the dough just until they are incorporated.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take the one remaining egg and beat together with 2 tablespoons of water or milk to make an egg wash. Sprinkle some flour down onto a clean and flat working surface. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and dump the dough out onto the floured area.

The dough is going to be wet, lump, and sticky. Using the rolling pin, roll out the dough so that it's about 3/4 inch thick (Just eyeball it). You will still see lumps of butter in the dough but that's what we're looking for. The butter will melt in the hot oven and the steam it releases will give us a buttery and flaky scone. Cut the scones out using a cookie/biscuit cutter or you can cut them into squares simply by using a knife.

Place the scones onto the baking sheet and lightly brush them with a little bit on an egg wash and sprinkle the top of the scones with sugar. The egg wash will help give the scones a bit of color and also allow the sugar to stick to the scone. Place the scones into the oven and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and the scones will be firm to touch and you should see the bottom edges just starting to brown. Allow the scones to rest for a few minutes and transfer them to a serving tray or a storage container. They'll stay fresh for about 3 or 4 days