chicken stuffed with goodness

Chicken breast stuffed with porcini mushrooms, pork jowl and a blend of Italian cheeses served on a bed of mashed potato and celery root with broccoli

potato & pork jowl hash

Pork jowl is quite chewy in texture, similar to really thick-cut bacon. On it's own this wasn't easy to eat (it was difficult to bite off manageable pieces), but cut small in the potato hash the chewiness really worked.

Red potato and pork jowl hash topped with a blend of Italian cheeses

Two over-easy eggs

Ciabatta toast

classic pasta

Spaghetti & tomato sauce (tomato, garlic, onion, spinach, Italian spice blend and pork sausage)

Topped with grated parmesean

fried rice

This is not the first time fried rice is making an appearance on the blog, because it is probably our favorite thing to make with leftovers. It is fast, easy, and very satisfying.


Fried rice with pork roast, broccoli, carrots, garlic, onion, egg, soy sauce and sriracha

now *I'm* back!

You would think that whereas I may starve when my boyfriend goes out of town, he would be just fine without me. Apparently this is not the case: during the 4 days I was off in Mexico my boyfriend subsisted on nothing but frozen dumplings and cheese melted on bread.

For my first night home, something simple, because I am almost too tired to eat...

Pork roast served on sauteed spinach and radishes

restaurant quality, right here...

Seriously, could this plate be any prettier??? My boyfriend did a superb job of carving the whole duck we bought a few days ago so that we could use the leg meat in the paella, and save the breasts for another day...which was today. This was my boyfriend's first time cooking duck breasts, and he did a fantastic job. Combined with the mysteriously flavorful spaghetti squash, this was definitely a restaurant-quality meal.


Spaghetti squash roasted with olive oil,  topped with a dallop of butter and garnished with green onions

Seared duck breast served on julienned carrots and shallots that were fried in the duck fat

say "happy valentine's day" with paella!

My boyfriend and I decided that making paella would be perfect for Valentine's Day:

1) there is a lot of prep involved, which means we got to spend most of the afternoon in the kitchen together (and there were enough jobs to keep both of us busy).

2) we could use the "holiday" as an excuse to splurge on some proteins that we don't normally buy, because the great thing about paella is that you can choose to make it with whatever seafood/meat/vegetables you like.

The Proteins:
shrimp
duck
lobster tail
chorizo
mussels

The Veggies and Aromatics (not all pictured here):

garlic

onions

roasted red peppers

hot chile pepper

sweet yellow peppers

carrots

stewed tomatoes

parsley

smoked paprika

saffron

easy breakfast

Two over-easy eggs served on pita bread

Hashbrowns

Pork sausage

my boyfriend's back! (but there is still melted cheese)

Rib eye steak with a red wine and blue cheese sauce

Roasted potatoes

Mini sweet peppers (I will buy just about anything at Trader Joes if it comes in mini!) stuffed with cherry tomatoes and a blend of Italian cheeses

fending for myself

My boyfriend has been off at a job interview for the past few days, so instead of starving to death in his absence I decided to take this opportunity to re-visit some of my favorite go-to meals from before my boyfriend cooked for me.

A fried shredded potato pancake with melted cheese (in this case colby jack) and parsley, topped with a sunny side up egg

Stuffed pasta (in this case with a prosciutto filling, I can't find the name of the pasta but they look like little bundles) with pesto and an obscenely indulgent amount of grated parmesean cheese and toasted pinenuts











Tomato soup (I express intense brand loyalty to Campbells on this one, the only exception being the tomato & roasted red pepper soup from Trader Joes, which is what we have here)

For dipping: pita with melted mozzarella cheese and dill

the secret ingredient is maple syrup

My boyfriend's favorite ingredient to add to just about anything is maple syrup. He finds that it is the best way to insert a little sweetness without getting overly sweet, and it also has more depth of flavor than some other sweeteners.

Last weekend in an undocumented meal, my boyfriend made an incredible marinade for shrimp, and what was even more incredible was how easy it was to make: All he did was take salsa verde and add - what else - maple syrup. This made the perfect sweet-heat combination that was actually very reminiscent of some Chinese or Thai dishes. (Yeah, apparently Mexican + Canadian = Asian!). But seriously, this marinade was super-easy to make (we just combined two store-bought ingredients), but the flavor was really interesting and complex (and more importantly delicious). I would highly recommend trying it.

Tonight my boyfriend took the same marinade concept but turned it into a sauce/glaze. He also added cheese to the mix, which really emphasized the Mexican side of the flavors.


Roasted chicken with a salsa verde, maple syrup and cheddar cheese glaze

Black beans

Cherry tomatoes

Corn chips

Rice

it's all about the sauce

Chicken breast on a bed of mashed potato and sweet potato with ricotta cheese and wasabi mayo, topped with a cilantro, garlic and shallot cream sauce

I'm a winner!!

I won a Foodie Blogroll Giveaway!

Our prize: Emile Henry terrine and Picardie tumblers, courtesy of Gourmet Catalog.

So...anyone know what we can make in a terrine?

cooked with home-made chicken stock

Pork chop poached in chicken stock

Broccoli and cabbage boiled in chicken stock

Jasmine rice

pita-burger

Pita with hamburger strips sauteed with onions and garlic, roma tomatoes, manchego cheese, mayonnaise and cilantro

Served with baked show-string potatoes

mini-burgers on ciabatta buns

Burger 1: cheddar cheese, tomato, shallots, wasabi mayo, cilantro and sriracha

Burger 2: cheddar cheese, blue cheese, tomato, shallots and sauteed spinach

Served with fried mashed sweet potato balls