weekend getaway: breakfast of champions

weekend getaway: breakfast of champions, originally uploaded by aarn! +25th October, 2008+.

the best part of vacation is being able to spend a little more time fine tuning culinary skills, and really polishing some techniques in the kitchen. breakfast was a heaping bowl of frosted flakes with sliced out-of-season strawberries, underripe and tasteless peach, wax covered chocolate donuts, coffee and baileys. ahhh, it was so crappy and good.
[photomagic: trisha]

trisher stewart's "putting the hazelnut in the bathtub" cookies

trisher stewart's "putting the hazelnut in the bathtub" cookies, originally uploaded by aarn! +25th October, 2008+.

makes three dozen delicious cakey chocolate chip cookie with hazelnuts.

2 1/4c. flour
1/2t. baking soda
14T. unsalted buttttter
3/4c. sugar
1/4c. cup packed lt. brown sugar
1t. salt
3t. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1c. chopped hazelnuts

preheat oven to 350-degrees. whisk together flour and baking soda and set aside. have aaron mix butter with both sugars and and beat until fluffy. add salt, vanilla, and eggs...add flour mixture gradually. stir in chocolate chips and hazelnuts. drop heaping tablespoons of dough on a buttered baking sheet about 2-inches apart. bake until golden on the edges and set in the center, about 12-minutes. let cool and then see how many you can fit in your mouth when they are still warm.
[photo + magic: trisha]
[recipe: trisha + the martha]

grilled rosemary and garlic pork chop with sauteed baby spinach and applesauce

grilled rosemary and garlic pork chop with sauteed baby spinach and applesauce, originally uploaded by aarn! +25th October, 2008+.

did a quick marinade of a couple pork chops with some crushed garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, a splash of canola oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, fresh cracked pepper, and salt. sauteed up some finely chopped onions and crushed garlic in a little canola oil, then tossed in a little sherry and let simmer for a minute or so, then added a load of fresh baby spinach leaves and sliced crimini mushrooms, and covered on low heat to let it steam until the spinach was tender. grilled the pork chops up and served with a mixture of a few different kinds of apple sauce that maddie had made.
[photo + magic: trisha]

panko crusted local haddock over freshrolls with lemon and roasted garlic marmalade-style sauce

panko crusted local haddock over freshrolls with lemon and roasted garlic marmalade-style sauce, originally uploaded by aarn! +21st October, 2008+.

took a walk down to the new deal fish market in east cambridge and picked up a pound or so of freshly cut fillets of local haddock. used a dry-wet-dry of white flour, egg, and then pankos, and pan-fried the crust of the fillets in hot canola oil until light brown, then drained some of the oil, flipped them over and cooked them the rest of the way in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes.

made some spring rolls with sesame oil coated vermicelli rice sticks, julienne sliced green onions, daikon radish, and cucumber and thin sliced basil, then let them chill.

reduced a mixture of ground lemon innards with about 30% rind with a few tablespoons of white wine, and a 1:1 ratio of sugar, until about 50% of the original amount of liquid remained, then once slightly cool, added mashed roasted cloves of garlic, stirred and put in a squeeze bottle to chill in the refrigerator.

the haddock was served over a bed of crosswise cut freshrolls about 1-inch in length, which had been covered with the lemon and roasted garlic sauce.

[notes: it was kind of a strange combination, the fish was flaky and fresh and nice, but heavy...probably would have been better with fish broiled with honey and soy, but didn't want to conflict with the lemon sauce...oh well. on the upside, the freshrolls provided a pretty neutral starch for the meal, and allowed for the fish to stay crunchy and not be sitting in oils, or too much sauce.]

leek and basmati cake with poached egg and garden fresh tomato

leek and basmati cake with poached egg and garden fresh tomato, originally uploaded by aarn! +21st October, 2008+.

just pretend like this was some fancy upload from an iphone or something. the pictures totally didn't turn out (much like all iphone pictures), but this was very delicious and it was decided that it would not be overlooked like many of the other meals that don't make it into posts...rambling=complete.

finely chopped up some leeks and mushrooms, mixed that up with a 1c. of fully cooked basmati rice (1c. before cooking), some shredded carrots, garlic and romano cheese (probably 3/4c.), minced fresh tarragon, a pinch of cumin, salt, and pepper, and two beaten eggs. pressed about an inch thick layer of that mush into the bottom of a few small loaf pans which had been buttered. tossed that in a 400-degree oven for 10-minutes, then broiled for two or so. crispy on the outside and solid on the inside, these cakes were served with a poached egg in a bowl and a chopped garden tomato. kind of a choose-your-own-adventure, put the egg on top, eat it separate, mash it all up with the tomatoes, just a quick and pretty balanced meal. went well with some cheap-ass hot sauce.

crispy and tender table water cracker matzah brie

crispy and tender table water cracker matzah brie, originally uploaded by aarn! +12th October, 2008+.

a spin on a favorite childhood breakfast. took half of a log of carr's cracked pepper table water crackers and soaked them in room temperature water in mixing bowl, used a small bread and butter plate as a weight to keep the crackers from floating. after about 5-minutes they looked pretty soggy, so the water was drained from the bowl and the small plate was used as a press to ring the remaining water out of the crackers. two beaten eggs were whipped with a little canola oil, salt, pepper, and a splash of buttermilk, and poured over the soggy crackers in the bowl. the egg mixture was soaked up by the crackers after a few minutes, then the whole mess was carefully slid out of the bowl into a frying pan with hot canola oil, making sure to keep the crackers layered even and flat. the lasagna of eggs and soggy crackers was simmered on low heat, covered, until the bottom was crispy and then flipped, and cooked until the layers seemed to all be connected and all of the egg binder felt cooked. then, while still in the pan, the large pancake of mess was chopped into a bunch of little randomly sized pieces with the end of a spatula, the heat was raised and the brie was crisped uncovered until the edges were flaky. topped with some fresh cut chives, this one could have knocked mom's out of the running.

cajun crusted salmon on fresh garlic-chili sauce with spinach salad

cajun crusted salmon on fresh garlic-chili sauce with spinach salad, originally uploaded by aarn! +10th October, 2008+.

rubbed the fleshy side of a couple nice slabs of atlantic salmon in an earthy textured cajun seasoning, from christina's spice store in inman, until it was fully coated with a nice thick layer. placed the fillets face down in some really hot oil until nicely browned and a nice crust formed (just before burnt), then flipped the salmon over in the pan and put it in a 400-degree oven for about 12-minutes. once cooked the salmon was plated on top of a fresh sweet garlic and chili sauce made from a few seeded hot chili peppers ground up with a couple cloves of garlic and a nice chunk of peeled fresh ginger, which had been reduced to about 50% with a 1:1 ratio of light brown sugar over low heat, then placed in a squeeze bottle in the freezer to cool. the salad was baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, porcini mushrooms, and dried cherries, with a dressing of olive oil, seasoned rice vinegar, honey, and a bit of large grained mustard.

classic chicken club sandwich

classic chicken club sandwich, originally uploaded by aarn! +10th October, 2008+.

tenderized some chicken, tossed it in canola oil, thyme, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper, then dusted it with corn meal and put on a baking sheet at 425-degrees for 7-minutes on each side. placed the cooked chicken on a toasted bulky roll, with a smear of homemade mayo, a couple of pieces of thick-cut bacon, some iceberg lettuce and a few slices of an ugly tomato. served with spears of a nice big pickle.
[photo: trisha]

peanut cabbage salad with shrimp over bean sprout vermicelli

peanut cabbage salad with shrimp over bean sprout vermicelli, originally uploaded by aarn! +10th October, 2008+.

sliced up some cabbage, baby portobello mushrooms, shredded carrots, and julienned green beans, tossed that with some bean sprouts in a dressing consisting of some canola oil, chopped red chili pepper, crushed garlic, a spoonful of peanut butter, a splash of sesame oil, pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of salt, some lime juice, a little white vinegar, and a hefty squirt of honey. served topped with some shrimp, over a bed of bean sprout vermicelli which had been chilled and tossed in a little bit of sesame oil and some sesame seeds, with a hard boiled egg shaped with a bento accessory.
[photomagik: trisha]