Better Cinnamon Chip Scones

I made these the other morning fully expecting them to be not quite as good as the regular recipe (posted here a few months back) but they were in fact better! Try this out:

1C unbleached all purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
1C whole Wheat flour
2T sugar
1T baking powder
2T wheat bran (Bob's Red Mill brand)
2T ground flaxseed meal (same brand as above)
1t cinnamon

Mix all of the above together then cut in

7T unsalted butter

mix in 1/2 C king Arthur cinnamon chips

Mix together the following and then add to the flour/butter mixture:
1 egg
1/3 cup heavy cream + 1% milk to equal 1/2C total
1t vanilla

**If the mixture is not coming together readily, just add milk by 1/2T until you can form it into a knead-able dough.

Mix and knead until dough comes together. Form into 2 balls and flatten each into a disk. Cut into wedges. Bake on parchment lined sheet at 425 for about 12 minutes. Makes about 8-10 scones depending on size.

Bistro Entertaining

VEW

This 2 course casual dinner is tasty, short on prep and encourages conversation and even help from your guests.

Appetizer

Mussels Steamed with Vermouth and Thyme

Place 2 T butter in a large pot and melt. Add 1 finely chopped shallot and 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic. Saute until tender but not yet golden. Add 2 cups vermouth or white wine and a few springs of thyme. Bring to a boil and then add in 2lbs cleaned mussels (always discard any mussels that do not close upon touch when you're cleaning them). Cover the pot and steam for a few minutes. Remove mussels to a large bowl. If you wish, add one more chopped shallot to the broth and cook until translucent. Throw in some chopped parsley and pour over the mussels. Serve with good crusty (or toasted) bread.

Main Course

NY Strips with Mushroom Madeira Sauce

The recipe referenced here uses blade steaks which are less expensive than NY strips--but my husband vetoed using them. The sauce is great and super easy--but if you want something richer whisk in a little butter (1T) and cream (3T) at the end and that should do it.

Sides

Zucchini Friti

SO GOOD.

What can I say? The cooked zucchini clumps up--which is good because it makes for great presentation and makes it easier to eat. Cut 4 medium zucchinis into matchstick about 1/8" thick. A Mandolin would be helpful but isn't necessary. Pour canola oil a couple of inches deep in a large pot and heat to 375. Dip handfuls of zucchini in a bowl of milk, then in a bowl of flour. Cook in the oil for about 3 minutes or until they are a light golden color. Remove (a spider is very useful for this) and drain on paper towels. Salt just after removing.

Green Beans with Shallot Dijon Vinaigrette

Blanch about a pound of green beans in salted, boiling water until crisp tender--about 4 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to stop cooking. In a jar add 1tsp Dijon mustard, 1T minced shallot, 1tsp fresh thyme, 1tsp fresh tarragon, 2T white wine vinegar and a little salt and white pepper to taste. Shake up and then add about 2T olive oil. Shake again and pour over beans. * This is not your typical vinaigrette ratios of oil to vinegar--it makes a much thicker, tangier dressing that sticks well to the beans.

Dessert

Chocolate Polenta Cake with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

If there's one thing I could impress on you it would be to make this cake. I love Italian cooking and have thus come across polenta in dessert recipes numerous times but never made one until now. Why? Because polenta just doesn't sound that appetizing in a dessert. It certainly doesn't sound decadent. This cake is fabulous. It is similar to a flourless cake in that it only uses a tiny bit of polenta and a slightly larger amount of ground almonds. Together they make for an uber-moist, perfectly dense rich dessert. This goes to the top of my list for easy and tasty desserts. The homemade ice cream was a great addition, but store bought would be fine as would whipped cream. Oh, and when it says to line the cake pan with parchment, let the paper rise higher than the edge of the pan--don't trim the excess. The cake rises--souffle-like and the edges will keep it from spilling over like mine did.

A Few Changes for the Better

VEW

When we at the TP started this blog, it was with grand intentions...mainly for ourselves and our own enjoyment. We all love to cook and we thought that by recording our weekly menus we would be creating an archive that we could use and that others could also benefit from. Apparently, life with small children and a bevy of activities has caused us all to fall off the blogging wagon. It appears that our set up of recording a whole week's worth of menus complete with descriptions was too time consuming and thus we stopped writing all together. So from now on we will be posting meals that we find exceptional, occasional menus, reviews, entertaining ideas, etc.

Stay tuned for what we hope will be some fabulous ideas for summer cooking. We have joined a local farm and will be getting loads of organic goods to cook with...likely we will not know what to do with some of it and therein lies the fun.

Weekly Menu 7

VEW

Lamb Chops with Sundried Tomato Butter, Green Beans with Garlic and Prosciutto, Baked Eggplant with Prosciutto, Sundried Tomatoes and Kalamata Olives

Chipotle Chicken Fajitas with Quick Corn Risotto

Lemon Chicken, Baked Cauliflower with Lemon-Mustard Sauce, Wild Rice and Lentils

Day 1
This was a slightly more involved celebratory dinner I made for my husband, but it came together really quickly as the lamb cooks for mere minutes and everything else is pretty hands-off once it’s cooking. The Sundried-tomato butter was really good—I would definitely try in on a pasta or orzo as suggested (see recipe).

Season lamb chops with s & p, sear on a hot grill pan brushed with a little olive oil and just a few mintes per side (lamb should be served medium rare at the most...) Spread a little Sundried tomato butter on each chop.

For the green beans, sautee some garlic and olive oil in a pan for about a minute and add in about 2 T chopped prosciutto for one minute more. Rinse beans and throw in the pan, cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, remove the lid, add a bit of sea salt and cook until carmelized.

I am not a huge fan of eggplant, but this recipe was pretty good. I doctored it to use some of the ingredients I had left over from the other dishes above and it worked out well. A pretty forgiving recipe if you don't follow it to a T.

Day 2
Chipotle Chicken Fajitas with Quick Corn Risotto
The fajitas are straitforward: Cut some red, yellow and green bell peppers into strips along with onion and whatever else suits your fancy. Do the same with some boneless chicken breasts and marinate for at least 30 minutes in some lime juice, minced garlic and chipotle seasoning (How much you use depends on how hot you like it). My sister-in-law sent this to us and it’s great. It gives the chicken that smoky, spicy chipotle flavor and sets these apart from your run-of-the-mill version. If you can’t find a chipotle spice you like, you can replace it with 1-2 chipotles in adobo sauce—just beware that these are hot! Sautee the veggies first, then remove and tent on a plate to keep warm. Cook chicken, throw everything together for a minute in the pan and then plate. Serve with pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, fresh cilantro and guacamole.

The “risotto” is easy and tasty. I’m not a fan of pepper jack cheese, but it’s what makes this dish great so don’t substitute plain jack cheese.

Day 3
Lemon chicken, baked cauliflower with lemon-mustard sauce, wild rice and lentils

This lemon chicken is one of my favorites. The cauliflower was so good I was wishing I’d bought 2 heads as I could’ve eaten one alone. You can easily cut the sauce in half and have plenty.

For the chicken, mix the juice of 4-6 lemons with ¼ C olive oil, 1T red wine vinegar, 1t dried oregano (or 1T fresh chopped) and 4 garlic cloves chopped and some salt and pepper. Put in a large ziplock bag and add a cut up chicken (I really recommend using bone in chicken as opposed to boneless chicken breasts); marinate for at least an hour and as long as overnight. Pour chicken with marinade in a 9x13 pan and bake at 400 for about 45 minutes, flipping once.

For the wild rice and lentils, I just threw together the ends of bags. I tossed about a cup of wild rice and ½ C of lentils in a pot with 1.5C water and 1 C chicken stock. You can change the ratio of water to stock, just keep the liquid to about 2.5 cups to start. Bring all to a boil and then cover and simmer until done. You may have to add a little hot water if it’s too dry. Salt to taste. This sounds boring, but it was really good, and the lemony juices from the chicken are great to spoon over the top.

Scones, Fabulous Scones

VEW

Please pardon the horrible lag in new posts. This is the first year that I participated in the “holidays are so busy” cliché. I am still recovering. Couple that with the fact that my only New Year’s Resolution was to slow down a bit. Which means letting certain things go when more important things (say, my kids) are underfoot. Anyway, for the Tasty Plate, that should translate into simpler weekly menus and quicker preparations…so I guess it’s a good thing.
One of the things I am always busy doing and will likely never give up is making scones. The world of scones is huge and varied and limitless. I will post a few of my favorite recipes here. If the word scones conjures up images of crumbly, tasteless bricks that can be found at certain coffee establishments, please give any of these recipes a try—you will be pleasantly astonished.

Basic Scone recipe
This recipe is my mom’s and is responsible for launching me into my need for a scone to always accompany my morning coffee. While this is likely due in large part to the fact that when I was young my parents would often make these scones at night, after we kids were in bed and enjoy them alone in a quiet house. The following morning the scene was always one of mixed emotion: childish outrage that they had done it AGAIN! And excitement that they had at least left some for us.
These are classic cream scones—best eaten with raspberry preserves and freshly whipped cream.
2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
2T sugar
1T baking powder
1/2t salt
6 T butter
1 egg, beaten
1/3 C half & half or cream plus enough milk to equal ½ total liquid
1 slightly beaten egg for egg wash
Mix dry ingredients and then cut in butter with a pastry cutter until the mixture is like coarse crumbs. Combine the cream/milk mixture with the beaten egg; add into crumb mixture and stir to combine. Knead a few times to bring dough together. Form into 2 discs and cut into wedges. Brush tops with egg wash. Bake on parchment paper on cookie sheets at 425 for about 12 minutes.

Cinnamon Chip* Scones
2 Cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1T baking powder

2T sugar
1/2t salt
6 T butter
¼ Cup sour cream
¼ Cup buttermilk

1 egg
½ cup cinnamon chips
Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. Mix wet ingredients and add to dry; stir to bring dough together, then knead a few times to make a nice dough. Add in chips and knead to incorporate. At this point you can either prepare them for baking as in the previous recipe, or you can just pull off mounds of dough and place them on the baking sheet for a more rustic looking scone.

Orange Currant Scones
These are a great, tasty scone. The recipe makes quite a few—I often cut it in half and reduce the butter to 6T.

Oatmeal Currant Scones
These are similar to the scones above but the oatmeal adds interesting texture and flavor. They aren’t quite as dense as other scones, and on days I feel bad about letting my 3 year old eat a scone for breakfast, the oatmeal in this makes me feel better. Slightly.

This scone recipe is great for add-ins and is my current favorite. I leave out the raisins and add in any kind of chip or dried fruit and have good results everytime. To add something to the recipe, make the dough and knead it until it comes together (I often add 1-2T of cream because I find the dough as written is a bit dry), then knead in the chips or dried fruit. I use about a cup. If you add dried fruit sprinkle the tops with some turbinado sugar for a nice crust and some added sweetness.

Great add-ins:

Dried cranberries, soaked in a little orange juice for at least 15 minutes before adding

Small frozen blueberries—tossed with 1T four before adding

Applesauce or grated apple—you will need to adjust the liquid ingredients so your dough isn’t too moist

*While you can find Hershey’s cinnamon chips by the chocolate chips in certain grocery stores, they are not available everywhere for some reason. King Arthur’s chips are far superior and you can order online through their web site, so no one has an excuse for not making these.

Tasty, Fast and Fabulous Appetizers

VEW

Here are a couple really good, really easy appetizers that look nice as well.

Jacques Pepin’s Tortilla Pizza
Truly you won’t believe a pizza made on a flour tortilla could be this good and certainly not elegant. But you would be wrong, like I was. Were it not for Monsieur Pepin touting these as something he loves I never would’ve tried them.

Lightly coat both sides of a couple flour tortillas with olive oil, then sprinkle with 1 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese (each), sea or kosher salt and pepper. Top with thinly sliced tomato and grated fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with 1 T olive oil and bake at 500 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Let rest for a minute and then add freshly chopped basil. Slice and serve.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp with Herbed Goat Cheese
These take about 4 minutes to cook and a few minutes to assemble. If you want to make it even faster, buy goat cheese that already has herbs mixed in it.

Find the recipe here.

Smoked Salmon Crostini with Cilantro-Lime Sauce
Slice a baguette and brush with olive oil, toast in the oven. Let the toasts cool, then spread each with a bit of the cilantro-lime sauce (below). Top with a small piece of smoked salmon.
For a slightly different presentation, plate the salmon pieces and toasts separately on a platter with the sauce in a pretty bowl on the side.

Cilantro-lime sauce (from epicurious.com, but perhaps under a different name as I couldn’t find it on the site.)
1C pakced fresh cilantro leaves
3 T fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, peeled
1t Dijon mustard
¼ t hot pepper sauce
¾ C mayo
Blend first 5 ingredients in a food processor until cilantro is finely chopped. Add mayo and process just to blend. Transfer to a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead).

Weekly Menu 7

VEW

Baby Romaine Salad with Spicy Chicken and Warm Chipotle Vinaigrette & Smoky Refried bean Tostadas

Lettuce Gyros Filled with Spicy Halibut

Grilled Fish & Two Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm and Blue Cheese

Pork Skewers with Avocado Tzatziki and Pita Bread

Lentil Soup with Curry and Lamb

Day 1
Both of these recipes are from the Fine Cooking Annual (2007) cookbook. The Tostadas are so simple I didn’t expect much but they were great and literally take minutes to prepare. I modified the recipe (see below) to my tastes and what I had on hand. The salad is a refreshing change from the norm, which is a plus if you’re like me and easily get burned out on salads.

For the tostadas, brush 6 corn tortillas with a little bit of olive oil, place on a cookie sheet and put in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes until they start to brown and are crisp. In a pan sauté a small chopped onion in some olive oil, add in 1t of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles in adobe and a can of pinto beans. Stir in one cup of water and salt to taste. Cook until creamy and thick. Top tortillas with some beans, sliced radish and fresh cilantro.

Day 2
This fantastic dish was the first recipe I made from Cat Cora’s Cooking from the Hip cookbook and my first ever Cat Cora recipe. It will go on my relatively short list of phenomenal dishes. Flavors, presentation, ease and healthfulness make this a truly outstanding dish. It seems like a bit of work at first glance but everything comes together very quickly—the feta mint Tzatziki is to die for…I ate the leftovers with hummus and pita for lunch the next day.

Day 3
This salad was good, colorful and definitely substantial enough for a lunchtime meal, but I added some grilled fish when I served it at dinner. It makes a big salad, and it will all keep well as leftovers as long as you don’t mix the arugula in with the rest of the ingredients, but rather serve the salad on a bed of arugula when you plate it.

I was unable to find this recipe online so pick up a copy of Cooking From the Hip or check it out from your local library if you’re interested!

Day 4
The pork skewers were inventive and interesting, though I found the pork was tastier two days after the meal. I added the suggested cherry tomatoes to my skewers and they were a nice addition. I also served the whole meal with pita bread to make it a little more substantial. It’s cold here right now and as we haven’t yet acclimated to the change of seasons, I grilled these on my grill pan as opposed to outside on a real grill.

(The avocado tzatziki recipe can be found here.)

Day 5
Adapted from an Alfred Portale recipe, this is one of my favorite soups.
Gently brown about 1.5 cups of chopped lamb and 1 chopped onion in a bit of olive oil. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic, a generous teaspoon grated ginger, some red pepper flakes if you like heat, and 3-4 t of your favorite curry powder (Portale uses Madras, I use a mixture of that and some others I have on hand). Stir for a minute and then deglaze the pan by stirring in 4.5 cups low sodium chicken broth and 1 cup water. Add in 1 cup lentils and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and partially cover, cooking until lentils are done, about 30 minutes. Bring the soup back to a boil and toss in 4 cups chopped baby spinach cooking just until wilted. Serve with freshly chopped cilantro.