New Recipes #4-7
Feb. 2nd, 2011 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
#4 Ultimate Cottage Pie I've made several versions of this over the years, but this time it really felt like I got it right. I was working from this recipe, but used real carrots and celery instead of frozen, because I had them, and sauteed those with the beef. The first time I made it, I did not include an onion, the second time I did. When I made this with beef from the farmer's market, it was amazing and transcendent; when I made it a second time with supermarket beef, it was merely tasty. So go for the good meat. The cheesy potatoes are always yummy.
#5 Creamy Roasted Tomato SoupI'm not usually a fan of tomato soup--I tend to find it sort of boring--but this recipe (or rather, the one in Fine Cooking that it's based on, but I can't seem to find online) really appealed to me on a cold winter night. I'm still a little nervous about fennel, but it added a really nice complexity to the flavor. The original recipe didn't call for garlic, but I had already decided to add that the next time; or anise liqueur, which I think might take it over the top in terms of my tolerance for anise. For the croutons, I used the end of a loaf of asiago bread, cut into cubes and tossed with olive oil and parmigiana. They turned out very nicely and I would recommend against skipping them.
#6 Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread Pudding I had a bunch of challah rolls left over from Alice's birthday party last weekend, so I used those to make this recipe. It's really tasty, although I wish I hadn't run out of both cream and ice cream, because I think either would make it even yummier.
#7 Pan-Seared Chicken Thighs with Beer and Grainy Mustard Sauce What I thought was one more package of boneless breasts in the freezer turned out to be thighs and I'm a little bored with the roasted thighs with potatoes and kale that I've been making fairly often recently. So I tried this recipe with mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. The maple syrup didn't make it too sweet, though I think I would skip it the next time. I didn't want to mess up the wonderfully crispy skin, so I skipped the step where you dunk the meat in the sauce before serving. Overall, I think I would do this again, but use the creamier sauce from this recipe instead.
#5 Creamy Roasted Tomato SoupI'm not usually a fan of tomato soup--I tend to find it sort of boring--but this recipe (or rather, the one in Fine Cooking that it's based on, but I can't seem to find online) really appealed to me on a cold winter night. I'm still a little nervous about fennel, but it added a really nice complexity to the flavor. The original recipe didn't call for garlic, but I had already decided to add that the next time; or anise liqueur, which I think might take it over the top in terms of my tolerance for anise. For the croutons, I used the end of a loaf of asiago bread, cut into cubes and tossed with olive oil and parmigiana. They turned out very nicely and I would recommend against skipping them.
#6 Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread Pudding I had a bunch of challah rolls left over from Alice's birthday party last weekend, so I used those to make this recipe. It's really tasty, although I wish I hadn't run out of both cream and ice cream, because I think either would make it even yummier.
#7 Pan-Seared Chicken Thighs with Beer and Grainy Mustard Sauce What I thought was one more package of boneless breasts in the freezer turned out to be thighs and I'm a little bored with the roasted thighs with potatoes and kale that I've been making fairly often recently. So I tried this recipe with mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. The maple syrup didn't make it too sweet, though I think I would skip it the next time. I didn't want to mess up the wonderfully crispy skin, so I skipped the step where you dunk the meat in the sauce before serving. Overall, I think I would do this again, but use the creamier sauce from this recipe instead.