So I spatchcocked a chicken...

Doesn't that look incredible???

And I have to tell you it is my new favorite way to prep chicken for cooking!!! The chicken is given a chance to cook more evenly and much faster than if you were to leave it whole.

Spatchcocking is simply the process of cutting out the backbone and the sternum and pressing your chicken flat. It has always intrigued me but I was a little intimidated to do it myself. When I was over at Jaden's house (Steamy Kitchen) the last dish that we started on was a spatchcocked chicken (seasoned with curry) that was browned up stove top in a cast iron skillet and then placed in the oven to finish cooking. She had added a split head of garlic and several halved clementines. She used the clementines and garlic to slightly raise the chicken from the bottom and then let it cook away in the oven. I had to leave but before the chicken was done but I couldn't stop thinking about it...

So here's what I did:

Took a small chicken and spatchcocked it, quite nicely too, and flattened it out. I seasoned it with some mixed seasoning, slat and pepper. Heated up my cast iron skillet (layer of oil on the bottom) on the stove top. Preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

Browned the chicken skin side up first then flipped it over. Squeezed a couple of clementines over the chicken and added them to the pot and stuffed them underneath the chicken along with some garlic and slices of ginger. I also threw in 2 Kafir lime leaves (Jaden had give me from her tree).

After about 35 minutes my chicken was done...I swear! This is the fastest and simplest way to cook chicken yet!!!

As Always...

happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

www.nofearentertaining.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aren't they sweet looking? The girl's decorated them themselves!!!

The other day I asked on Twitter (yep I am an addict...follow me here) for a good recipe for sugar cookies. I wanted to do some cutouts for the girl's Valentine Parties. Worked out great as Elle from Elle's New England Kitchen responded to me with a perfect, huge and simple recipe.

Thanks Elle these were so awesome. They made enough for both of the girl's classrooms with some leftover for us!!!

I made a simple powdered sugar icing (1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, cranberry juice (for pink without dye) added by the tsp full) and let the girls spread it on the cookies and add sprinkles before it hardened.

These were definitely a hit in the classroom and in my oldest daughters they were the only homemade ones there :)

Sugar Cookies (Elle's New England Kitchen)

6 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups (1 lb) softened butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
2 tsp almond (or other) extract

Sift or combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
Throw all four sticks of butter and the sugar in your mixer and mix until it gets fluffy and the color gets lighter.
Add the eggs and extracts and combine.
Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until it is all combined.
Throw the whole mess into the fridge for a while to firm up
Bake 350 for 8-10 or until edges are just golden

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Thyme and Rosemary Roasted Beets

Oven roasted beets with Rosemary and Thyme. See the pinkish tinge that white beets have picked up from the red?

I love Beets. I love them raw, pickled, boiled but I especially love them oven roasted! I first used this recipe last year when I was getting huge, beautiful beets from the farmers market.

I had some white and red beets in my fridge so I thought I would roast them up together. Not sure if the white ones taste any different or not but they certainly did look pretty altogether.

This recipe is from Jenn The Leftover Queen. She made hers into a salad using the tops and all. By the time I got around to roasting these the tops were happily in my composter doing it's thing in there!

Oven Roasted Beets (The Leftover Queen)

INGREDIENTS:

8 fresh beets
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
salt & pepper to taste

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 425 F. Wash and trim beets, leaving their skins on. Wash and reserve beet greens.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Place beets on cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary, thyme, salt & pepper. Shake cookie sheet so that beets get coated with oil and spices. Place in the preheated oven and roast for 45 minutes or until beets are fork tender.

Take beets out of the oven and peel skins off. Note: If you care about your nails, which some people do, wear gloves, or you will have red dye under your nails for days afterwards. Do not run under water as it will wash away a lot of flavor. Cut into quarters. Drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. Toss and set aside.

As Alway...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Orange Pumpkin Cloverleafs

Once again I was lucky enough to be included in a baking event based around the recipes in Gourmet Magazine (remember the 12 days of Cookies?). Unfortunately with my crazy schedule and all of the things I have committed myself to life got in the way and these were suppose to be made and posted last week!!! Thank goodness my baking buddies are a pretty forgiving bunch...

This is all part of our Gourmet bread challenge and BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench. The plan was that out of the month of February we were to choose 4 recipes for rolls from 6 recipes that Gourmet Magazine and post one a week. I failed the first week but I will not them down again!!!

When you are done here please be sure to head over to my baking buddies sites... Andrea of Andrea's Recipes; Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen (who also designed our cool badge!); Kelly of Sass & Veracity; Courtney of Coco Cooks; and Sandy of At the Baker's Bench ~ I'm sure they'll have something wonderful going on in their ovens too.

For my first roll recipe I chose to make the Orange Pumpkin Cloverleafs. They turned out to be a real simple roll but I don't find much flavor in them. Could just be me though...I did have to use Clementine's instead of oranges and homemade roasted and pureed pumpkin instead of canned pumpkin. That may have made a difference!

Orange Pumpkin Cloverleafs (Gourmet Magazine)
Makes 1 dozen rolls
Active time: 40 mins Start to Finish: 4-3/4 Hr (includes rising)

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted, divided
2 tsp active dry yeast (from a 1/4 -oz package)
1/4 cup warm milk (105-115 degrees)
1 Tbsp mild honey or sugar
2-3/4 cups all purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 -1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup canned pure pumpkin (I used roasted and pureed pumpkin I had frozen)
2 large eggs, divided, plus one yolk (never figured out what to do with it all so only used 2 eggs)
1/2 tsp grated orange zest (I used Clementine's :))
2 Tbs fresh orange juice (I used Clementine's-seeing a trend here?)
1 Tbsp water

Equipment: 12 holed muffin tin

• Butter muffin cups with 1 Tbsp melted butter.
• Stir together yeast, warm milk, and honey or sugar in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes (if mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast)
• Mix flour, pumpkin, 1 whole egg, yolk, orange zest and juice, and remaining 5 Tbsp butter into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula until soft dough forms. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, dusting surface and hands with just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6-8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.
• Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with some plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a draft free place at warm room temperature until doubled about 1-1/2 - 2 hrs.
• Punch down dough (do not knead) then halve. Roll half of dough on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands into a 12 inch long log (keep remaining half covered in plastic.)
• Cut log into 6 equal pieces, then cut each piece into thirds. Roll each piece into a 1 inch ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in circular motion. Put 3 balls side by side in each of 6 muffin cups.
• Make more rolls with the remaining dough in the same manner. Cover rolls with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough is about 1 inch above the rim of the muffin cups, 1 to 1-1/2 hrs.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in the middle.
  
• Whisk together the remaining egg and water and brush on top of rolls. (You will have leftover egg wash).
• Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.
• Cooks note: Rolls are best the day they are made but can be frozen (cool completely, then wrap well) 1 month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven until warmed through, 5-10 minutes.

I am submitting this to Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench for her BYOB event as well!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Blogging friends or simply friends...

Jenn and Roberto at the Sanibel Lighthouse!

What a wonderful thing it is when the lines becomes blurred and the people that you have called your "blogging friends" turn into your real and just normal everyday friends. People you talk to everyday and end up sharing parts of your life with without ever meeting them. Does that make them any less of a friend because the distance is too far to just drive over and see them?

I guess I have proved that this weekend and I still hold onto my belief that food bloggers are some of the best people anywhere.

We were lucky enough to have Jenn (The Leftover Queen), hubby Roberto and cute puppy Pepino to stay with us for the weekend. You would think I have a ton of pictures of all of the food we made and the eating we did but sadly, no! I think we were so busy talking and just hanging out that we forgot to take pictures.

Dinner Friday night was delicious. I had marinated some Pork in Peter's Souvlaki marinade, Jenn and I made a Greek salad, bread (Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes bread), tzatziki, roasted potatoes and Jenn made some Baba Ganouche while I went and picked up the girls!

We ended up sitting up late just talking...

Saturday night we did an impromptu invite of some of my closest friends. Funny thing is they had a friend visiting them. Turned into a really fun night featuring a 25 pound pan of sausage lasagna that T. made and some good cheap wine!!! Thanks for coming Karen it was great meeting you!!!

Jenn and I were able to at least focus and start and complete our DB Challenge for the month. Look at me...almost 20 days early too!

Sunday we went to the beach and had a wonderful time just strolling and checking out several area beaches. We have some real pretty ones here!

Really I have some food posts coming up. I "splatchcocked" a chicken so stay tuned!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

So, have you missed me?

I truly think that since I have started this blog this is probably the longest I have ever gone without posting! I can't even really tell you why I haven't, or I guess I could but who really cares (Oh, I know YOU do!).

Since I last posted I have:

Started a new job (from home but it even pays...)
Said good bye to my sister and cried for about 2 days because of it
Done the laundry, cleaned my house, grocery shopped, cooked and meal planned
Volunteered at my girl's school
Youngest started karate
Slept and not slept
prepped for my next round of visitors...Jenn (The Leftover Queen), Roberto and Pepperoncino!
that's about it...

Wait, I also got to have a play date with............Jaden of Steamy Kitchen!!! How lucky am I????

Jaden is truly an incredible person and a natural born teacher. Seeing as I have no (and I truly mean no) knowledge of Asian cooking beyond what I get served in sushi places or a Japanese Steakhouse she was kind and incredibly patient with all of my questions!

As an added bonus I got to leave with a grocery bag (no joke here!) of goods. I have jalapenos and lime leaves from her garden, tofu, noodles and some of the wonderful sauce that we made when I was there, and a plethora of other things that she so generously kept shoving in.

I have a noggin now full of photography knowledge and even some things I can do to help mine out without buying the Mother of all cameras!!! The only thing I did not get was some of that wonderful Wild Boar that they have in a cooler in their garage!!! Not yet butchered and I wasn't really up to doing that myself!

Did I get a picture of Jaden and me? Nope sadly not but she has one and will send it to me when she can and I will post it here.

What I did get was a great recipe with tons of instruction along the way! Jaden had chosen to try a recipe from Heidi of a 101 Cookbooks, granted it was heavily modified but this was the inspiration behind it...

I took this picture from the same set up as Jaden had. You should see hers. Absolutely beautiful...I have major camera envy!!!

Otsu (101 Cookbooks)

Grated zest of 1 lemon
Fresh ginger, cut into a 1-inch cube, peeled, and grated
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup unseasoned brown-rice vinegar
1/3 cup shoyu sauce (wheat-free soy sauce)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

12 ounces dried soba noodles
12 ounces extra-firm nigari tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs, for garnish
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Make the dressing by combining the zest, ginger, honey, cayenne, and salt in a food processor (or use a hand blender) and process until smooth. Add the lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

Cook the soba in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender, then drain and rinse under cold running water.

While the pasta is cooking, drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into rectangles roughly the size of your thumb (½ inch thick and 1 inch long). Cook the tofu in a dry nonstick (or well-seasoned) skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the pieces are browned on one side. Toss gently once or twice, then continue cooking for another minute or so, until the tofu is firm, golden, and bouncy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, the ¼ cup cilantro, the green onions, cucumber, and about ⅔ cup of the dressing. Toss until well combined. Add the tofu and toss again gently. Serve on a platter, garnished with the cilantro sprigs and the toasted sesame seeds.

***I loved this recipe and now that I have gotten over my "fear" of Asian cooking I will be making this again and again. The ingredient list seemed so long and foreign to me but once it is broken down and explained it takes most of the intimidation out of it!!! I brought the leftovers home and my whole family was humped up over a big bowl of this just slurping away!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Apple Fritters for Breakfast?

I woke up early Sunday morning and the house was silent. I looked at the time...it wasn't that early but everyone seemed to be snoozing well. Strange thing in my house. Usually at least one other person is up when I am.

Anyway, my sister is still here until today and I wanted sort of a special kind of breakfast. One that she and her husband would never have. Then I remember what I had seen the other day in Starbuck's! A great big huge, honkin' Apple Fritter. I just knew I had to make them!!!! I didn't want the big ones just the nice tiny little balls all covered with some sweet and gooey icing sugar. This was a wonderful surprise for everyone as they woke up to fresh coffee and homemade apple fritters. Sunday's don't get much better than that do they?

They were delicious and I will be making these again and again. They came together real quick and were not a fussy donut. They were not a yeast donut but not heavy and cakey at all! I want to try them with some whole wheat flout the next time I make them so will let you know how they turn out then. Until then this recipe will do!!!

Apple Fritters (From The Picky Apple)

Fritter:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chopped apple

Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Directions: Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon. Stir in milk and egg until just combined. Fold in apple. Pour oil into skillet so that it is approximately 1 1/2 deep. Heat oil on high. Oil is ready when dough floats to top. Carefully add dough to oil in heaping teaspoons. Cook until brown, about 2 minutes, then flip. Cook another 1-2 minutes, until both sides are browned. Transfer briefly to paper towels to absorb excess oil, then transfer to cooling rack. Make glaze by stirring milk and powdered sugar together in a small bowl. Drizzle over apple fritters. Wait approximately 3 minutes for glaze to harden, then flip fritters and drizzle glaze over the other side. Best served warm.
I am submitting this to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench. This is a great challenge to get you baking more of your own baked goods. Better for you and cheaper in the process!
As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com