Caramelized Chicken (from Ravenous Couple)

I made this last night. The recipe calls for bone-in chicken, but I ended up with boneless on accident. Just keep an eye on it to make sure that it cooks all the way through. It can be tough to tell once the sauce is in the pan and everything darkens up. The flavor was incredible though. I will definitely be making this again soon.

Variations on original:

• 1.5 lbs chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup water

I was just cooking for three, and the servings were substantial with even a little bit left over. Served with white rice and some extra green onions.

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Coffee Rubbed Cheeseburgers (from Epicurious)

These were pretty amazing. My (gas) BBQ outside decided to quit working on me at the last minute so I had to improvise on our stove inside. I served them a bit undercooked and had to grab them back. It was pretty embarrassing, but I’d rather nobody got sick! Once I got through the hurdles, they ended up being some of my favorite burgers I’ve eaten. I’m guessing off a real BBQ it would be even better. Highly recommended.

Variations:

• Halved the recipes essentially. I used 1lb of ground beef we bought from the West Seattle farmers market. It was some amazing beef.
• Even with half the meat, I used almost all of the rub called for in the original.

Served with a side of potato chips and frozen custard for dessert (it was a night of decadence, apparently).

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Blue Cheese, Gruyere and Pear Pizza (from New York Times)

I don’t eat pears very often, and I’ve never even thought of using blue cheese on a pizza, so I knew that I was taking a chance with this one. I was worried that it might not be very savory and end up as a dessert type dish. Once I realized that the recipe was for appetizers, I got even more nervous about it. The fears were unfounded though. This pizza was outstanding with a very complex flavor.

Variations:

• I used pizza dough left over from another pizza I had made a week prior. It didn’t have some of the ingredients from this recipes like the rye flour and dark brown sugar. Next time I’ll give this one a shot.
• I made one large (14″ or so) pizza instead of 3 appetizer ones. I only ended up using 2 largish pears.
• Brushed pizza edges with olive oil instead of melted butter.

I love making pizza.

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Chickpea, Sausage and Chard Soup (from Epicurious)

We are rolling into fall and soup is a requirement. I’ve been really loving fall/winter greens like Kale and Chard so I’m looking for any excuse to use them. Also, we had some Bratwurst left over from a separate dish. It wouldn’t be my first choice for a soup sausage, but it added a nice kick to the flavor.

Variations:

• 4-6 cloves of garlic. Always more garlic.
• Used a homemade vegetable stock.
• Orzo pasta instead of a small shelled pasta. Not much difference, just what I had on hand.

I’ve basically made a variation on this a couple times in the last few weeks. Last week was chanterelle mushrooms and rainbow chard without the pork. I wouldn’t skip the anchovies if you are weird about using it… it really adds to the flavor of the stock. Obviously, if you don’t eat meat, toss that recommendation out of the window.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 10:23 am and is filed under food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.