I am somewhat obsessed with rosemary. I will put it in anything. Exhibit A: these waffles here. Add rosemary? Why not. It actually went really well with the maple syrup and crisp prosciutto (exactly what I was hoping for). And as an added bonus, it came together very quickly on a chilly Sunday morning.

As long as you have buttermilk (or can make a substitute with milk and lemon or vinegar), you should have everything to throw these waffles together. Especially if you have a 4-foot rosemary plant growing steps from your front door like we do. Okay, yes, you would also have to have a waffle iron, smarty.

Rosemary Buttermilk Waffles with Crisp Prosciutto Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine. Vegetable-oil cooking spray 1 cup AP flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp Melted butter + 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk 1 . . . → Read More: Rosemary Buttermilk Waffles with Crisp Prosciutto]]>

I am somewhat obsessed with rosemary. I will put it in anything. Exhibit A: these waffles here. Add rosemary? Why not. It actually went really well with the maple syrup and crisp prosciutto (exactly what I was hoping for). And as an added bonus, it came together very quickly on a chilly Sunday morning.

As long as you have buttermilk (or can make a substitute with milk and lemon or vinegar), you should have everything to throw these waffles together. Especially if you have a 4-foot rosemary plant growing steps from your front door like we do. Okay, yes, you would also have to have a waffle iron, smarty.

Rosemary Buttermilk Waffles with Crisp Prosciutto
Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine.
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Melted butter + 2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 tsp (heaping) chopped rosemary leaves (plus a couple of small sprigs for garnish)
1 large egg
1 tsp olive oil
4 thin slices prosciutto
Maple Syrup for serving

Preheat oven to 250°F. Spray an unheated nonstick waffle iron with cooking spray and preheat iron.

In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the chopped rosemary and mix to combine. Whisk the melted butter and olive oil in a small bowl with the buttermilk and egg until combined. Stir the egg mixture into flour mixture briefly but until fairly smooth (batter may be thick).

Spoon batter into waffle iron, using 1/2 cup batter for four waffles and spreading evenly, cook according to your waffle maker’s instructions. When done, transfer waffles to a baking sheet and keep warm, uncovered, in middle of oven. Make more waffles in same manner (do not respray iron).

In a large heavy skillet heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over moderate heat and cook prosciutto slices until crisp and golden, about 1 minute on each side.

Drain on paper towels briefly and serve waffles with prosciutto, and maple syrup. Garnish with small sprigs of rosemary.

The original recipe says this serves two, but I got 4 almost-plate-sized waffles out of the recipe. If you had fruit and a few other things in a brunch-type situation, you could probably serve 3-4 with this recipe.

While growing up, a tuna melt was one of my go-to, out to eat meals. Through the years, I’ve been guilty of mixing up some tuna salad, slathering it on an English muffin and melting copious amounts of cheddar cheese on it and calling it dinner. Bonus: A pretty quick dinner at that! Now, while that version is still pretty tasty, it’s not the healthiest dinner (hence the guilty).

Lately, I’ve tried to stick to my tuna melt roots but I’ve also tried to lighten it up a bit. It started by adding greens and just a touch of mayo. Now, I’ve come across this recipe that actually convinced me to give up the melted cheddar. I know! Crazy talk!

But, this version was really very good. So maybe give it a try next time you have a hankerin’ for a tuna melt. You can . . . → Read More: Mediterranean Tuna Melt]]>

While growing up, a tuna melt was one of my go-to, out to eat meals. Through the years, I’ve been guilty of mixing up some tuna salad, slathering it on an English muffin and melting copious amounts of cheddar cheese on it and calling it dinner. Bonus: A pretty quick dinner at that! Now, while that version is still pretty tasty, it’s not the healthiest dinner (hence the guilty).

Lately, I’ve tried to stick to my tuna melt roots but I’ve also tried to lighten it up a bit. It started by adding greens and just a touch of mayo. Now, I’ve come across this recipe that actually convinced me to give up the melted cheddar. I know! Crazy talk!

But, this version was really very good. So maybe give it a try next time you have a hankerin’ for a tuna melt. You can always add more feta…I won’t tell anyone.

Also, just as a note: without the mayo and the cheese, there’s not a lot of “glue” here to hold all of the toppings on the bread. So, don’t be surprised if it gets a tad messy.

Mediterranean Tuna Melt
Adapted from a recipe in Everyday Food; makes 2 servings, so find a friend.
1 can (6 oz) tuna packed in oil, drained*
1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (save the rest of the can for another use)
2 tbsp minced red onion
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped green olives
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
2 sliced Whole Wheat (or other) bread, toasted
1/2 cup baby spinach or arugula
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (you could also use provolone or mozzarella here, if you wanted that more “melted” experience)
Optional: Balsamic Vinegar for drizzlin’ over the top

Heat broiler. In a bowl, combine first nine ingredients (tuna through mustard); season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lay toasted bread slices on a broiler-proof baking sheet; top with spinach or arugula, then divide the tuna mixture between the two pieces of bread. Sprinkle with the feta. Broil until golden and delicious looking, 2 to 4 minutes. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the top if you’d like a little extra something and then eat.

* If you want to use tuna in water, just drain and add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the tuna mixture.

Hey, it’s the first French Fridays with Dorie of 2012 (for me, anyway)! And this week….M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken. This is a pretty easy and delicious weeknight dinner. I typically prefer roasted-type birds with golden, crackly skin, but to its credit, this was one helluva moist bird. And, with the new year’s resolutions and all, it’s probably best to not be tempted to eat all that tasty, golden, crackly skin.

Notes:

1. My bird was about 2.75 pounds and I roasted it for 55 minutes. It came out perfectly done and super moist. 2. I used a mix of gold, red and purple potatoes and two rosemary sprigs (no thyme). 3. I added garlic to the pot (duh). 4. I only had fairly cheap brandy. I used that, although, I did contemplate using some marsala wine instead. The cheap brandy seemed to work fine. 5. I wish I had salted . . . → Read More: FFwD: M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken]]>

Hey, it’s the first French Fridays with Dorie of 2012 (for me, anyway)! And this week….M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken. This is a pretty easy and delicious weeknight dinner. I typically prefer roasted-type birds with golden, crackly skin, but to its credit, this was one helluva moist bird. And, with the new year’s resolutions and all, it’s probably best to not be tempted to eat all that tasty, golden, crackly skin.

Notes:

1. My bird was about 2.75 pounds and I roasted it for 55 minutes. It came out perfectly done and super moist.
2. I used a mix of gold, red and purple potatoes and two rosemary sprigs (no thyme).
3. I added garlic to the pot (duh).
4. I only had fairly cheap brandy. I used that, although, I did contemplate using some marsala wine instead. The cheap brandy seemed to work fine.
5. I wish I had salted everything just a smidge more.

Okay, onward to the photos and here’s a link to everyone’s chicken posts.

Onions, carrots, potatoes and rosemary in the pot. Is there room for the chicken?

Yes. If it’s tiny. Notice the sliced garlic cloves.

I put foil around my lid nob knob just in case it wouldn’t be oven-safe at 450 degrees F.

After almost an hour…chicken-y deliciousness.

After removing the chicken and adding water (if I had any chicken stock on hand, I would have used that, I think).

Oh look how moist the white meat is!

Plated and ready for dinner.

This marks the return of Thursday soup nights. For awhile last Winter, I was coming home from work on Thursday nights and making a big pot of interesting soup. I decided to start up the tradition again this year and the first experiment was this cumin-y, black bean soup. I thought it had great flavor and while I didn’t include all the seeds from the jalapeño, it was spicy enough for me. jwa, of course, opted for a little hot sauce.

The original instructions said to not drain the beans, but I wanted to rinse a little of the salt/liquid off, so I split the difference and drained one can/used the other without draining. Seemed like a good compromise and I probably added about 1/2 tsp of kosher salt at the end.

Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Jalapeño Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit 2 tbsp olive . . . → Read More: Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Jalapeño]]>

This marks the return of Thursday soup nights. For awhile last Winter, I was coming home from work on Thursday nights and making a big pot of interesting soup. I decided to start up the tradition again this year and the first experiment was this cumin-y, black bean soup. I thought it had great flavor and while I didn’t include all the seeds from the jalapeño, it was spicy enough for me. jwa, of course, opted for a little hot sauce.

The original instructions said to not drain the beans, but I wanted to rinse a little of the salt/liquid off, so I split the difference and drained one can/used the other without draining. Seemed like a good compromise and I probably added about 1/2 tsp of kosher salt at the end.

Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Jalapeño
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 jalapeño chile with seeds, finely diced
2 15- to 16-ounce cans black beans, 1 can undrained, the other drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (instead of canned tomatoes, I used 15 oz from a package of Pomi tomatoes)
1 1/2 cups low-salt (or homemade) chicken broth
Garnishes:
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped green onions
Crumbled feta cheese
Hot sauce

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat.

Add onion, carrot, and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes. Mix in cumin and about half the diced jalapeño.

Add beans, tomatoes with juice, and broth; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.

Transfer 3 cups of soup to blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to pot. Or, use a stick blender and break up some of the beans/veggies that way (what I did).

Simmer soup until slightly thickened, about 10-15 more minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and remaining jalapeño, if desired.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro, green onions, and feta cheese.

I’d like to begin this post by admitting that I am turkey-challenged. It’s the one thing that I can’t seem to have come out right, ever…until now. Yes, I devoted a whole weekend in December to finding a turkey recipe that I could make and have work. And while this one wasn’t perfect, (it wasn’t quite as moist as I was hoping for — that was my own fault for not checking it about 10 minutes earlier), it was pretty damn good.

It was the moistest turkey I’ve ever made (yes, I realize that’s not saying a lot). But, seriously, I almost can’t wait until next Thanksgiving to pop this one out of the kitchen to cheers and gasps of amazement. Even jwa, who is not a big fan of turkey, thought this was “pretty good.” Hey, I’ll take it.

And the sauce. Oh my . . . → Read More: Cranberry-Molasses Glazed Turkey]]>

I’d like to begin this post by admitting that I am turkey-challenged. It’s the one thing that I can’t seem to have come out right, ever…until now. Yes, I devoted a whole weekend in December to finding a turkey recipe that I could make and have work. And while this one wasn’t perfect, (it wasn’t quite as moist as I was hoping for — that was my own fault for not checking it about 10 minutes earlier), it was pretty damn good.

It was the moistest turkey I’ve ever made (yes, I realize that’s not saying a lot). But, seriously, I almost can’t wait until next Thanksgiving to pop this one out of the kitchen to cheers and gasps of amazement. Even jwa, who is not a big fan of turkey, thought this was “pretty good.” Hey, I’ll take it.

And the sauce. Oh my god, the sauce. I seriously could have slurped that down with a straw.

So, come next Thanksgiving, if I am making a feast, I will be making a turkey (is it wrong to have even started a menu? This, with smoked gouda mashed potatoes and some kind of sauteed greens to start).

I’m so happy to finally have a turkey recipe even I can’t ruin. Plus, a big bonus with this turkey is that it can sit out, after the initial roasting, for 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. That’s oven time you can use for something else! Something baked and cheesy! Yay!

There’s not as many pictures here because turkey-makin’ is hard work.

Cranberry-Molasses Glazed Turkey
Adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated.
1 (12- to 14-pound) turkey, giblets and neck removed and reserved for another use
2 tbsp + 2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp baking powder
2 large onions, peeled and halved
Glaze
3 cups apple cider
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup mild molasses
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp unsalted butter

Okay, the first part is: butterfly the turkey. This basically means you use kitchen shears or a knife and cut out the back bone (I’ve found this to be pretty easy with shears). If you’ve done this to a chicken before, it’s pretty much the same, just bigger. You’ll need a big work surface, because it may get messy. After you’ve got the back bone out, flip it over and push down on the breast area to flatten it out a bit. *crack* Done. Here’s a video that shows how to do it pretty well.

Using your fingers, carefully separate skin from thighs and breast. Using a skewer or fork, poke 15 to 20 holes in fat deposits on breast halves and thighs. Rub bone side (what was the inside of the turkey) evenly with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.

Flip turkey skin side up and rub 1 tablespoon salt evenly under skin. Tuck wings under turkey. Tie legs together with kitchen twine, so that they are kind of pushed up and resting a bit on the lower portion of breast.

Combine remaining tablespoon salt, remaining teaspoon pepper, and baking powder in small bowl. Pat skin side of turkey dry with paper towels. Sprinkle surface of turkey with baking powder mixture and rub in mixture with hands, coating skin evenly. Transfer turkey to large roasting pan, skin side up. Place 1 onion half under each breast and thigh to elevate turkey off bottom of roasting pan. Allow turkey to stand at room temperature 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 275 degrees F. Roast turkey until instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees when inserted in thickest part of breast and 170 degrees in thickest part of thigh, about 2½ to 3 hours (start checking after 2 hours because you never know). I had a 12lb bird and mine took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to 169 in the breast. Yeah, I know, a little too done. I had it up on a rack, though, so I think it cooked fairly quick. Next time, I will use the onions and keep the bird down in the pan a little bit more.

Remove roasting pan from oven and allow turkey to rest in pan for at least 30 minutes or up to 1½ hours. Thirty minutes before returning turkey to oven, increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

While turkey rests, bring cider, cranberries, molasses, vinegar, mustard, and ginger to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 1½ cups, about 30 minutes.

Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into 2-cup liquid measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible and discard solids. Transfer ½ cup glaze to small saucepan and set aside.

Brush turkey with one-third of glaze in measuring cup, transfer to oven, and roast 7 minutes. Brush on half of remaining glaze in measuring cup and roast additional 7 minutes. Brush on remaining glaze in measuring cup and roast until skin is evenly browned and crispy, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer turkey to cutting board and let rest 20 minutes. Now, when I did this, my turkey started getting quite dark, so I only did two 7-minute cycles of the glaze (using all the rest of the glaze, on the 2nd pass).

While turkey rests, remove onions from roasting pan and discard. Strain liquid from pan through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator (you should have about 2 cups liquid). Allow liquid to settle 5 minutes, then pour into saucepan with reserved glaze, discarding any remaining fat. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly syrupy, about 10 minutes. You will taste it and say, “Oh geez. That’s just really fucking good.” Then you may taste it again, just to make sure. Yeah, if you keep doing that, you will taste it about ten times. Just stop. It’s good. Save it for the turkey.

Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter. Butter! It gets even better! Carve turkey and serve, passing sauce separately.