What will your story be this year?

January 21, 2016

Don't you think a fresh plate at the buffet table is a great metaphor for the blank page a new year presents?  When you first get it, the possibilities for filling it are many!  In the case of the plate, you look around. You can't have everything on the table, so you pick and choose what items with which you will fill your dish.  We know we should fill it with the healthy, nourishing and sustaining options, but we want to leave room for some interesting and indulgent bites too.  The days and months of a new year are similar.  Most our time will be filled with doing the stuff we need to do to keep our lives moving along, but hopefully we will also fit in some fun.  A new year often prompts the making of resolutions regarding better ways live our lives, but I, like many, am not really good at keeping them.  Instead, I try to infuse my life with new and fresh themes as well as reaffirm existing positive ones that may have lapsed.  This year I will strive to make my time healthy, uncomplicated, tasteful (and tasty!) while lacing it with sweet indulgences here and there!

To highlight my themes for the year, I've got three delicious recipes to share with you.  Something healthy, something tasteful and elegant and something sweet.  They are all pretty uncomplicated and they are all part of our Fall-Winter Menus.  Click here to go to our website and see them.  If you would like any of the recipes you see on the site, send me a message.  I'm happy to pass them along!  Don't forget to keep in touch with all the goings-on in the LAFW kitchen by clicking onto our Facebook page and becoming a fan.

Happy 2016!!!! Looking forward to cooking with you all soon! 

Rose

The list of ingredients makes this recipe look complicated, but it's really not.  It's a marinade for meat and a sauce made in a blender.  You can grill the chicken pieces on skewers, or you can simply keep them whole and pan sear them.  Both cooking methods are delicious and so very healthy.  The harrisa is fantastic too and you can regulate the spiciness by much of the serranos you use.  This sauce does not have to be searing hot.  Start off adding a little bit of the chopped peppers to your blender, then slowly add more until you get the heat you like (making sure to blend between each addition).  The roasted red peppers give it so much wonderful flavor regardless of the amount of heat.  This dish is featured on our Fall-Winter Small Plates Menu and it's been a favorite at many of our events!

In a large bowl, mix the olive oil with the lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, oregano and ground cumin. Add the chicken and toss well. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder, to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

In a small skillet, toast the cumin, coriander and caraway seeds over moderately high heat, shaking the skillet a few times, until the spices are fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a spice grinder and let cool completely. Grind to a powder.

In a blender, combine the roasted pepper with the chile, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and ground spices and puree. Season the harissa with salt.

Light a grill. Thread the approx 5 chicken pieces onto skewers. Season with salt and grill over moderately high heat, turning, until nicely charred and just cooked, about 14 minutes. Serve the skewers with the harissa.

Source: foodandwine.com

Makes 15 Servings. Per Serving: 100 Calories; 6g Fat (52.1% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 26mg Cholesterol; 32mg Sodium.

NOTE: The harissa can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving

 Rustic Tarte Tatin   

Sweet, simple, straight-forward and not at all the time consuming task you normally have when spiraling thin slices of apples to make a traditional tarte tatin.  With this recipe, chunks of apples are tightly packed in a large skillet and first caramelize, then covered with a large sheet of puff pastry.  The whole skillet is then popped in the oven.  As they bake, the apples release their juices and shrink up a bit so they fit snuggly but beautifully in the pan.  The end result is pictured below.  Very little fuss for LOTS of flavor.  Plus, when it's finished baking, and you just flip it over.  The presentation could not be more spectacular!

  

Preheat oven to 425°. Cut apples as close to core as possible into three lobes; set aside.

Scatter half of sugar in a heavy 9” skillet and with the back of a knife, scrape in vanilla seeds; discard pod. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is melted and starting to caramelize, 6–8 minutes (if using a cast-iron skillet, test the color of the caramel by spooning some onto a white plate. It should be pale amber). Add remaining sugar and cook until all sugar is dissolved and has taken on a deep amber color. DO NOT TOUCH OR TASTE THE CARMEL SAUCE AT ANY POINT UNTIL AFTER IT IS FINISHED COOKING IN THE OVEN. IT WILL BURN AND BLISTER SKIN AND MOUTH.

Stir in butter, vinegar, and salt. Place apples cut side down in skillet and cook until they start giving up some of their juices and shrink slightly, 5–8 minutes. Carefully turn apples over and scoot them together so they overlap slightly. (The apples will shrink more as they bake, so they need to be tightly packed from the beginning.) Remove from heat.

Gently roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface just to smooth out creases; cut into a round that will fit snugly and flush inside skillet. Drape puff pastry over apples and transfer skillet to oven.

Bake until pastry is puffed and starting to brown in spots, 20–25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake until apples are tender and pastry is golden brown and cooked all the way through, 20–25 minutes longer. Let rest 5 minutes before inverting onto a platter.

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit, March 2015
 
Makes 8 servings.  Per Serving: 443 Calories; 27g Fat (54.2% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 48g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 102mg Cholesterol; 137mg Sodium. 

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