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October 21, 2007

Oven-Baked Brown Rice

Last week I had a client menu that had a lot of stovetop dishes, including brown and wild rice. The oven wasn't very busy that day, so I decided to try oven-baked brown rice. I've read about it, but have never tried it. I went to the Cook's Illustrated web site to see what they had to say about baking brown rice. Their recipe was simple and turned out perfectly.

During the week, I like to have cooked brown rice and other grains in the refrigerator so that I can just grab them and use them for our dinners. I'll be making a pan of oven-baked brown rice and wild rice every weekend to use during the week. It takes an hour to cook, but once it is in the oven, you don't have to pay any attention to it.

Rice isn't very photogenic, but here it is.

Oven-Baked Brown and Wild Rice

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Posted October 21, 2007 2:30 AM in Recipes, Techniques | Comments (4)

October 15, 2007

National Meatloaf Day

The folks at Serious Eats have declared October 18th to be National Meatloaf Appreciation Day. On October 18th, I'll be making my favorite meatloaf for one of my clients. I love traditional ground beef meatloaf, but all of my favorite meatloaves are made with ground lamb. The one I chose for National Meatloaf Appreciation Day is a great company meatloaf, but it is also easy enough to make for every day.

Both in my house and with my clients, meatloaf is not cold-weather food. I make it year round. It's good hot and cold. I always make huge meatloaves so that there are plenty of leftovers. One of my clients has me make meatloaf almost every time I cook for his family.

My favorite meatloaf is based on Lamb Spiral Loaf Stuffed with Feta and Mint from The Weekend Chef by Barbara Witt. Since I can never leave a recipe alone, I turned it into Lamb Spiral Loaf Stuffed with Spinach, Feta, and Mint.

I love making this meatloaf. You mix chopped red onion, minced garlic, fresh parsley, dried oregano, cumin, egg, salt, pepper, and ground lamb. Then spread it out on a sheet of foil into a large rectangle. Cover the surface with wilted baby spinach, feta, and chopped fresh mint, then use the foil to help you roll it up like a jelly roll. Bake it on a broiler pan to 160 degrees F. I always want to cut it immediately to see the spinach feta spiral, but it is better to wait 10 minutes before cutting it. For a dinner party, I serve it with a sauce made from diced tomatoes, red wine, mint, and oregano. For weeknight meals, I serve it without the sauce. It is delicious either way. It just came out of the oven. I can't wait to try it.

Here it is.

Lamb Spiral Loaf Stuffed with Spinach, Feta, and Mint

I use a probe thermometer when I cook it, so it always comes out moist. The combination of lamb, feta, spinach, and mint is exquisite. This meatloaf forms a delicious crust. Gotta go, my meatloaf is calling me.

Posted October 15, 2007 8:13 PM in Miscellaneous | Comments (1)

October 13, 2007

Country Captain Chicken

I miss my Sunday mornings with Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, but I'm enjoying the recipes of Adam Ried, their replacement. Adam Ried's recent recipe for Country Captain Chicken caught my eye. I've seen lots of recipes for this dish, but have never been enticed to try any of them. Ried's addition of fresh mango intrigued me.

While cooking the chicken on the bone results in deeper flavor, I wanted to decrease the cooking time, so I opted to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. They cook quickly and most of the people I cook for prefer boneless meats and poultry. We loved the flavor of this dish. The raisins and mango in the stew and the apple garnish are the perfect complement to the heat of the curry and cayenne.

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Posted October 13, 2007 5:07 PM in Recipes, Test Kitchen | Comments (1)

October 7, 2007

Lemon Cupcakes and More No-Knead Bread

Recently, I was discussing whoopie pies with some of my personal chef buddies. The discussion of whoopie pies reminded me of the filled chocolate cupcakes that my mom made because mom used her whoopie pie filling to fill the chocolate cupcakes. When I mentioned this, my friend Rachel said that her mom made lemon-filled lemon cupcakes. I love all things lemon and asked Rachel for her mom's recipe. I got my love of lemon from both my mom and dad, and decided to make these cupcakes for his 84th birthday celebration on Saturday. Rachel's mom filled her cupcakes with lemon pudding, but I decided to fill them with homemade lemon curd.

I'm much better at cooking than I am at baking, but the cupcakes came out beautifully. I even forgot to set the timer when I put them in the oven, but managed to cook them just the right amount of time. This summer, my friend Marcy did a cupcake demonstration for us and her presentation gave me the confidence to cook the cupcakes perfectly even though I had no idea how long they had been in the oven before I realized that I forgot the timer.

My mom always cut a cone out of the cupcakes, filled the hole with filling, then put the cone in the filling. My sister Marcia showed me how to cut the cones in half and set them in the filling so they look like butterflies. Her husband's family always makes their filled cupcakes this way and calls them butterfly cupcakes.

I've also been wanting to try the No-Knead Bread with a mixture of whole wheat and white flour, and decided to make bread for our family dinner. I made two loaves of bread, one 50/50 whole wheat and white flour and one all white flour. I used a small amount (1/3 cup) of semolina flour as part of the while flour in both loaves.

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Posted October 7, 2007 5:42 PM in Recipes, Test Kitchen | Comments (3)

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