Friday, April 27, 2012

"This is Not a Democracy"

I love this quote from Jamie Oliver's introduction video on "Meals in Minutes." He tells the viewer, just do as you’re told and you will have a brilliant dinner on the table in no time. His instructions have you jumping around the kitchen so that your timing is perfect and everything is beautifully plated and on the table making you feel like quite the proud peacock. It does keep you on your toes though and I know I need more practice at this way of cooking and being able to juggle several things at once. To help this cooking project I have just purchased Season 1 of his show, 30 Minute Meals. This first one I watch is on tap for tonight's dinner….

Piri Piri Chicken 
Dressed Potatoes 
Arugula Salad 
Quick Portuguese Tarts

I had watched the video on the plane on the way back from my glorious girl weekend in sunny Florida and I had the family watch the video again just as I was about to make dinner. The kid got very excited and decided she was going to help me and I was giddy. What's great about having a nine year old help you cook with this "This is not a democracy" way of cooking is that is kind of how they think anyway. She read and reread parts of the recipe and was quite insistent about not letting me go off course.

The Chicken…. Oh! Amazing! First of all, how impressed will your friends be when you tell them that you are making exotic Piri Piri Chicken? This couldn't be simpler. After adding the ingredients for the sauce (red onion, garlic, peppers, paprika, lemons, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and basil) into a food processor and giving it a quick spin, you pop it in the oven with chicken thighs and red peppers that you've just browned in a grill pan on top of the stove. So easy, delicious and like I said, totally impressive. I will be making this again and again. (To tone down the heat, substitute one or more mini red bell peppers.)

Dressed Potatoes… What sold me on doing this particular menu next were the amazing potatoes. I LOVE sweet potatoes, they are my favorite food and this recipe is amazing. Even though I am the only one in the house that usually eats sweet potatoes, everyone ate them in this dish and liked them so much I've already remade this recipe. And I got my sister to try it too!  So, give it a go… Put two sweet potatoes and one regular white potato, cut lengthwise in a microwavable bowl, cut ends up. Cut a lemon in half and put it in the middle of the potatoes. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the microwave (yes, the microwave!) for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, take a baking stone or cutting board and chop up some cilantro and feta cheese in the middle. When the potatoes are done make sure they are cooked through, squeeze the hot lemon over top of them (use tongs so you don't get burnt) and add them to the cilantro mixture on the chopping board. Mash and chop until you have a beautiful dish. Season to taste (because of the feta you won't need a lot of salt) and take it to the table. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE THIS!! So, go on, buy some potatoes and give it a try.

Salad… Even Jamie buys bags of salads on busy nights! In the video he actually just opens the bag, drizzles in some olive oil, salt, pepper and juice from 1/2 a lemon and gives it a shake. Kid loved helping with this part and I was shocked that I had never thought of this before.

Tarts… Okay, I'm not going to kid myself. The technique for making these is really what got my darling daughter into the kitchen. She didn't necessarily want to spend time with me, she wanted to help make these tarts! For this one, I was really glad that I had watched the TV episode. When you get to the caramel part of the recipe, Jamie warns, be sure to be extra careful and make sure kids are not around. But the part before the caramel is great for kids. Using store bought puff pastry, trim to an 8 inch square. Sprinkle over some cinnamon and (here comes the fun part), roll it into a jelly roll shape then cut it into 6 rounds. Put these into 6 cups of a muffin pan and using your thumbs squish it down and around to mold it into little cups. Cool, huh? While it is cooking in the oven, mix up the filling (heavy cream, vanilla extract, sugar, egg, a little orange zest). When the tart shells come out after about 8 minutes, take them out, spoon in the mixture and pop them back in while you make your caramel topping. These tasted yummy. My caramel topping didn't turn out great, I think I put in too much fresh orange juice but I really want to try these again. It was so nice to have a little treat after dinner and the kid was super proud of her creations. She was an excellent helper and I think I've convinced her to help me again in the future.

For the full menu recipe, check out this link on the UK's Daily Mail website…. (Note: rocket=arugula)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1312958/Jamie-Olivers-30-minute-meals-Piri-Piri-chicken-rocket-salad-dressed-potatoes-quick-Portuguese-tarts.html

And if you want the full experience, check out the episode on iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/jamies-meals-in-minutes-vol.-1/id470627564

Epilogue: You may be wondering what happens after all of the menu items are made. With smoke coming out of my ears from concentrating so hard, as I carry platters to the table, I turn around to see that it looks like a tazmanian devil has just invaded my kitchen. Staring at the mess that awaits him, my dear, sweet dishwasher looks completely defeated. I think he is wondering if his wife is losing her mind. I think I better work on cleaning up as I go along.


Meals cooked: 2 
Meals left: 48 
Weeks left: 50



Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Key to a Family's Heart


I knew when I decided to cook my way through another cookbook that it might be a bit hard on my family. I didn't ask if they wanted to participate last time around and I didn't really ask them this time either. Some would say that they are reaping the benefits of these projects but I know sometimes they are a bit skeptical. (Don't tell them but this next journey involves liver and onions. Yikes!) I knew that the first meal needed to be something that would win them over. Maybe it is no coincidence that the first meal in the book involves pasta and dessert so who can go wrong with that, right? So, there you have it, the key to my families heart is PASTA! 

Here's our first menu:

Broccoli Orecchiette
Zucchini & Bocconcini Salad
Prosciutto & Melon Salad

Now, my family has gotten a bit older since our last revolution. "The Kid," my adorable daughter, is now nine years old. At age nine, she has always been a fabulous and adventurous eater, which is awesome! She is also really starting to like to help out in the kitchen so I'm excited that this next phase of my Food Revolution will include her being by my side in the kitchen quite a bit. She may not always like unique foods but she is always willing to try new things and she still will pick asparagus over a banana any day. Getting green vegetables in this kid is never a problem. I always thought this was the work of good parenting but then the second child came along. Known as "the baby," in Amy's Food Revolution part 1, he is not a baby anymore. When my first Food Revolution started he had only been walking a few months. He is now a strapping young man at the ripe old age of, "Three AND a half, halfway to four" he will tell you. He has given me a run for my money when it has come to food. If I'd let him, he would eat "peanut butter no jelly sandwiches" three times a day, seven days a week. Like "the kid," he must try everything we are trying. Now, they say kids must try things several times before they will accept it. I remind myself of that over and over again, but I swear this little boy is on at least 100 tries with some foods. He has recently decided that he will tolerate broccoli (a victory for mommy) and that maybe peas aren't that bad. He will eat bananas now and freeze dried strawberries (because astronauts eat them) and he will eat grapes only during his sister's horse lessons. Honestly, it makes my head hurt. His doctor laughs at me and tells me she will remind me of this in 10 years when he is a teen and eating me out of house and home. He is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to pasta and I never know if he will eat it or not. Guessing which one will join us at the table makes me go insane so I don't even try to predict it anymore. 

Despite my amazing new mudroom my kitchen counter is not having a good day. Husband takes the two kids outside to play so I can get a jumpstart on dinner and it takes me a good 20 minutes to move the Transformers from under my feet, get the math homework off the table, put away some dishes, set the table so that it is ready for dinner and get out all of the pots, pans, ingredients and gadgets that I need. I'm already feeling good about this new method of cooking and I haven't even gotten started yet! 

As I thought, things move really quickly and you really need to keep all three recipes going in your brain and be able to jump from one to the next, something I am not usually good at. I can tell that there is going to be a learning curve with this way of cooking but I'm already excited about what the next 52 weeks have in store for me! I love how this cookbook is written, Jamie is right, he tells you exactly what to do and when. Everything is on one page, which is handy, and headings tell you which recipe you'll be working on next. The pasta is brilliant. It is like a pesto but instead made with broccoli! The zucchini salad and the melon salad are huge, huge hits. I had never had raw zucchini before and it was delicious and so easy. Using a peeler and doing long peels makes it look like something out of a chef's kitchen and I know I'll be using this to impress guests in the future. The Melon Salad with the prosciutto is a huge hit (except for the picky little boy who I guess has only tried cantaloupe 98 times in his life so I guess isn't ready to "accept" it.) I even go back into the kitchen to scoop out the other half of cantaloupe because they have devoured the first one. I would never have put balsamic vinegar with melon but it’s amazing!

As everyone leans back in their chairs with full bellies (even Dr. Jekyll ate his pasta), I know that I've won them over and that this was a great beginning to Food Revolution Part 2.

Meals cooked: 1
Meals left: 49
Weeks left: 51

Next up…
Piri Piri Chicken

Homework Part 2


The second part of my homework was to make sure I had all of the kitchen essentials and also get rid of all the unnecessary gadgets lying around. (Boy, did I have a lot of those.) The idea is to clear your space and make it conducive to cooking efficiently. Getting rid of all the excess gadgets was the real chore. While cleaning I found several things I couldn't identify along with duplicates or pieces to gadgets I'd already gotten rid of long ago. I checked off the things I had and found that there were really just a few things I needed to complete his list: an electric kettle, potato masher, ice cream scoop (I found two broken ones while cleaning) and a box grater. A few quick shopping trips and I was set. Over the last few weeks I've also really been thinking about where I keep things in the kitchen. Does the bread maker need to sit out on the counter all of the time? I use to keep my garlic press in with my flatware but I was always running to get it when I wanted to squeeze a clove into a heated pan to saute so I moved it so it was closer to my stove. I have a baking drawer that was running over with cookie cutters so I got a big bin and I threw all the cookie cutters in there so now I can see what is actually in the drawer. Now that my homework is all done, I think we are ready to get started!