The Cheshire Inn's Kale Salad with Soft-Boiled Eggs

A couple weeks ago, my family went to The Cheshire Inn Restaurant for a combination of birthday celebrations. The Cheshire is literally just a couple blocks down from our house, and it also happens to be the place my parents spent their wedding night nearly 35 years ago.

The food is amazing. I had the smoked salmon platter to start, followed by the rotiserrie-roasted duck with whipped sweet potatoes and pomegranate seeds. Justin started with the black kale salad with soft-boiled eggs and anchovy dressing, and his entree was the prime rib with Yorkshire pudding (something I'd heard of from the odd Harry Potter novel, but never tasted -- lemme say, bloody brilliant).

Not a single one of us left that restaurant with less than glowing reviews. Of all the meaty and starchy goodness, though, to me, the winner was this strange little salad. The flavors were pungent yet balanced: creamy, bitter, deep, and earthy.

Ingredients
3-4 cups baby kale
2 anchovy fillets
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 lemon (juice)
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch red pepper flakes
Salt + Pepper
2 eggs

Preparation
1. Mix the dressing: In a mini food processor, whir up the anchovy, olive oil, the juice of half the lemon, the Dijon, red pepper, salt and pepper. Season to taste. If you want it a little more tangy, add some vinegar.
2. Soft boil the eggs: Place eggs gently into boiling water and boil for 5 minutes flat. Take out of the boiling water and put the eggs in a cold water bath (cold water + ice); let them cool for 10 minutes. Peel very gently.
3. Toss the kale with the dressing, top with an egg, and split the egg gently with your fork to let the yolk runneth over. Oh yeah.

Get out and try something strange - you may just like it.

-Katie

Butternut Squash Lasagna with Sausage, Mushrooms and Broccoli Rabe

I'm something of a lasagna freak. I love trying new things with it — Mexican lasagna with tomatoes, black beans, and cheddar; artichoke lasagna with béchamel; classic bolognese lasagna — you name it.

This was probably the best we've ever made.

The sauce is a silky butternut squash puree. The homemade lasagna noodles are layered with spicy Italian chicken sausage, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, broccoli rabe and ricotta cheese.

This is a very complex recipe — something for lazy Sundays or Saturday. Really, though, nothing in the world is better to me than spending my days off investing in an hours-long meal that will cook in the oven for an hour or so. No kidding.

Take the time to make this for a special occasion. You will not be disappointed.



Ingredients
For the butternut squash sauce:
1 medium butternut squash
1-1.5 cups chicken broth
Salt & Pepper
1 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil

For the sausage & mushroom filling:
1 lb spicy Italian chicken sausage
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp each: bacon fat, butter, olive oil
~1 lb shiitake mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch thyme
Pinch red pepper flakes
Pinch salt & pepper
Optional but strongly encouraged: 1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, 1.5 cups chicken broth

For the cheese mixture:
1 bunch broccoli rabe, chopped
1 container whole-milk ricotta cheese
Pinch red pepper flakes
Pinch salt

Homemade pasta sheets (or you can buy them - about a pound. We made the whole wheat version.)

Pecorino Romano cheese

Preparation (Written by Justin)

1. Chop half of a yellow onion and cook on medium heat in a combo of bacon fat, butter, and olive oil (or just one of the above). Add about a pound of sliced shiitake mushrooms, a couple cloves of chopped garlic, thyme, and crushed red pepper. Season well with salt and pepper and cook for another 7-8 mins. 

2. This next part is optional, but makes a BIG difference: we took about a cup of dried shiitake and rehydrated them in hot chicken stock and let them sit in it for about 20 mins then blend until smooth. Add this mixture to the mushrooms and cook until the liquid is almost completely reduced; it should look like gravy.

3. Sauté a pound of spicy italian chicken sausage or whatever ever ground meat and add it the mushroom sauce.

4. Next, blanch chopped broccoli rabe in salted boiling water for about 10 mins. Drain, rinse under cold water and squeeze out all the extra water. Add this to ricotta cheese. Add salt and crushed red pepper.

5. For the butternut squash sauce, cut a squash in half longitudinally, douse with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast skin-side up for about 45 mins at 375 degrees. Once cooled, blend the squash with chicken stock and garlic oil until smooth.

6. Make the pasta (or buy some); if the pasta is fresh, blanch it for 2 minutes in boiling water. If dried, cook them until they're al-dente. 

7. Time to assemble: Add a layer of butternut squash sauce to the bottom of the pan. Layer on the pasta.  Add the ricotta-broccoli rabe mixture, then the sausage-mushroom mixture, then a layer of Pecorino Romano cheese. Then add another layer of squash sauce, pasta, ricotta, mushroom-sausage sauce, 

Pecorino. Repeat until you run out of ingredients.

8. Bake at 375 for about an hour. Let it rest for 10 minutes (if you can wait that long!)

-Katie

Quinoa Crab Cakes

My husband is a genius. Sometimes I can come up with some good recipes, but if you want to know the truth, Justin really is the creative soul in the kitchen. Just look at this:

Yeah, what the heck? I've never heard of quinoa crab cakes, but this is just the sort of thing that Justin will come up with out of thin air. He paired it with the most delicious side salad in the world.

I know, I know, I'm bragging. Sorry.

Ingredients
1 can lump crab meat
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken stock
bay leaf
3 garlic cloves
Salt

1 red pepper, chopped fine
1 purple onion, chopped fine
3 cloves minced garlic

1 egg
1 lemon (juice and zest)
1 tbsp mayo
1/2 cup panko

For the salad:
mixed greens
goat cheese crumbles
toasted walnuts
cherry tomatoes
avocado
3 tbsp Tuscan herb oil
2 tbsp Strawberry balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2-3 tsp honey


Preparation
1. Boil the quinoa in the chicken broth with the bay leaf and 3 cloves of whole garlic. Salt the chicken broth with a teaspoon or so to season the quinoa as it cooks.  Cook as indicated on the packaging.
2. Saute the red pepper, onion, and minced garlic in some olive oil until soft. Let it cool and then combine with the cooked quinoa.
3. In the cooled quinoa mixture, add the crab meat, egg, lemon zest and juice, mayo, and panko. Add enough panko until the mixture is moist but not overly wet and sticky.
4. Heat some oil in a pan. Form the crab-quinoa mixture into patties, then saute in the oil until golden brown on each side.
5. For the salad: combine the Tuscan herb oil (basically garlic-herb infused oil; you can make your own if you can't find it in stores), strawberry balsamic (available at Di Olivas oil store), mustard and honey. Adjust the flavors until it's sweet enough for you. Toss the other ingredients together, dress the greens with the dressing, and serve with the warm, crispy quinoa crab cakes.

-Katie

Crispy Calamari Sushi

I love sushi, but sushi doesn't love me.

Let me rephrase that.

I love sushi, and sushi loves me. But it does not love my wallet.

Justin and I will get sushi as often as our bank account allows. We get it on vacation when we want to treat ourselves, when we go out with parents, or when we get a good deal with Groupon. Sometimes we'll get sushi lunch specials. But typically, my sushi cravings occur more often than my sushi binges.

The budget-busting part of sushi is undoubtedly the high-quality raw fish. Without that grade-A tuna or salmon, you can pretty much forget it.

Unless …

I love fried calamari. I love sushi. When the thought finally struck me to combine the two, I was amazed that I'd never thought of it before. Isn't it obvious? A delicious tempura-fried squid inside the roll. Duh!

I'd say it's just as good as any sushi I've had anywhere, but I guess I'm biased. If cooking squid makes you cringe, use some smoked salmon, smoked trout, or slivers of your favorite cooked fish instead!

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients

For the rolls:

2 cups sushi rice

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

6-8 sheets nori

8-10 stalks asparagus

1 avocado

3/4 lb calamari (tubes only)

1 cup flour

Spicy Mayo (below)

For the spicy mayo

1/2 cup mayo

1 tsp Sriracha 

1/2 lime

Dash fish sauce

For the dipping sauce

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp fish sauce

3 tbsp water

1 clove garlic

1 small knob ginger

handful of basil leaves

1 tsp sesame seeds

Preparation

Rinse the tubes well. Cut them in half lengthwise, then cut each half into skinny strips. Rinse them again until the water runs clear, then pat dry. Place them in a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl and leave in the fridge for a few hours to dry out a bit.

Meanwhile, prepare the rice: Rinse the rice well by soaking it in a large bowl with cold water for 5 minutes. Drain and repeat this process two or three times until the water is clear. Combine the 2 cups of rice with 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once it's boiling, set it to low, cover, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Then take it off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Mix the vinegar, sugar and salt in a large bowl and microwave for 15 seconds. Tumble the cooked sushi rice into the bowl with the mix and toss together until the rice is nicely coated. Let it cool.

For the mayo, mix all the ingredients together in resealable bag.

For the dipping sauce, toss all the ingredients into a small food processor and blitz until done. This stuff is pretty strong, so add more water to taste if it's too much for you.

Blanch and shock the asparagus. Cut the avocado into skinny slices.

To assemble: Lay a sheet of nori on your cutting board in the "landscape" position (for any MS Word users out there). Dip your fingers into a bit of water to keep the rice from sticking to your hands. A handful at a time, press the rice onto the sheet of nori, allowing for a small strip of bare nori to remain at the top. At the end closest to you, place a couple stalks of asparagus, a few slivers of avocado, and a squirt of the spicy mayo (snip the corner off the bag and pipe out).

Meanwhile, dust the calamari in some flour and fry it in a few inches of oil (we used olive oil, but you can use vegetable oil, sunflower oil, etc.) You only need to fry it for a few minutes until the crust is a light golden brown — don't overcook! Might want to try a couple batches to see how it works for you.

At the stuffed side, start carefully rolling away from you, tucking the edge underneath. When you're almost at the edge, use your finger to dab a little water on the naked edge of the nori to seal the end of the roll. Rock the roll lightly with your hand to make sure the edge sticks.

Cut the roll in half, then cut each half into halves, then those quarters into halves so that you get 8 perfect pieces of sushi.

Top with extra mayo if you like. This dinner might not be the quickest to make, but it definitely satisfies any sushi craving and is great for a crowd. 

No need for compromise ;-)

-Katie

Fort Lauderdale Feasts

Justin and I just got back from our much-needed vacation to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mainly we wanted a beach to lay on, and yes, Hurricane Debby did put a dent in our plans. We were still able to hit the shores everyday since Debby was mostly northwest of us (and then later northeast), but in the interims between pool time and beach time, we indulged in a lot of eat time.

The section we were at on Ft. Lauderdale beach was pretty quiet, but there were some pretty amazing restaurants within a block of our hotel. The OceanView Delight was a true delight. Homemade food made from scratch with inspirations from Turkey, South Africa, and Venezuela. 

Justin had a watermelon and feta salad that we had to reproduce at home, and their wraps were fresh and flavorful. I had an Ahi Tuna wrap, a Middle Eastern wrap, and a veggie burger over the course of several days. All of them were A+. 

The veggie burger

Justin had the hummus, Israeli salad and homemade pita one day — incredible. I can't describe how perfect the balance was between smoothness, tahini, tangy vegetables, and soft pillowy pita. We're not even vegetarians (obviously), but we mostly ate veggie dishes here.

Hummus with Israeli salad and pita

Another great restaurant was Thai on the Beach. We tried the green curry, the Pad Thai, the sushi (sooooo good), and the Thai iced tea. All of them were delicious, flavorful, and thought I'm no expert on Thai food, it all seemed very authentic. Their steamed buns, chicken wings, and red dragon roll were exceptional. We're totally having Thai night in our house soon — stay tuned for green curry and thai tea.

Red Dragon Roll

Thai Iced Tea

Other notable eats: Southport Raw Bar (great seafood), LuLu's Bait Shack (amazing smoked fish dip and Mahi Mahi tacos), and Primanti Brothers (good pizza).

Most importantly, we've come back from the tropics refreshed, revived, and inspired to create more in the kitchen.

-Katie

Avocado + Green Bean Salad

To me, a meal never feels totally complete unless there's a vegetable in the mix.

Justin doesn't feel the same.

We've managed to figure out how to keep both of us happy by identifying certain veggies that we both love: roasted broccoli, sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic and anchovies, and green beans of most any variety.

This recipe has everything: crunchy, creamy, tangy, sweet, salty. It's a great pair with BBQ ribs, which we happened to have the other night along with it.

{Printable Recipe}
Ingredients
1 handful green beans, ends trimmed
1 avocado, diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp honey
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Procedure

Trim the ends of the green beans, chop them into 1/2-inch pieces, and blanch them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.

For the vinaigrette: whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. Taste it. If it's too acidic for you, add more olive oil. If it's not tangy enough, add more vinegar or lemon juice. This isn't a hard-and-fast recipe.

Cut up the avocado. Scoop into the bowl with the vinaigrette. Add the cooked green beans.

If you have too much vinaigrette (and I usually do), here's a tip: drain off the salad in a colander. 

No one will ever know.

-Katie

Meatball Stuffed Eggplant

Now that I'm done with school forever and ever, it's time to start thinking about getting a job. I'm experiencing some sort of weird mix between excitement and terror, especially with the somewhat grim outlook everyone seems to have on the economy.

My goal is to be employed by the end of the summer (fingers crossed), and so until then, between applying for positions, I'm going to enjoy my time cooking as much as possible.

This is one of those recipes that just sort of happened randomly as I was thinking about what to do with my time now that there's no more grad school lurking over my shoulder. And anyway, Justin needs a little extra TLC now that he's hunkering down to take his Step 1 boards (a major test in 2nd year med school to basically determine if you're going to move on).

{Printable Recipe}
Ingredients
1 eggplant, cut lengthwise
3/4 lb ground turkey
2 cups brown rice, cooked (or you can use quinoa)
1 egg
2 tbsp fresh basil + parsley, chopped
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
2 cups tomato sauce (I used the leftover sauce from chicken cacciatore)
2 cups shredded Italian cheese

Preparation

I made this healthy and used brown rice and ground turkey, but if you like you can go ahead and go whole hog! 

Cut the eggplant lengthwise. Scoop out the inside, leaving enough so that the eggplant doesn't just flop apart when you stuff it. Oil them down and salt them. They WILL turn brown, but that's ok.

Meanwhile, cook the ground turkey in some olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix the cooked rice, turkey, Pecorino Romano, and a couple tablespoons of olive oil to moisten.

Add the egg in when it's cooled down a bit. Stuff the eggplant as much as you can (I had a bit left over)

Spoon the tomato sauce over the eggplant and top with cheese.

 Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until it's bubbly and the eggplant is soft.

-Katie

English Bubble & Squeak with Pan-Roasted Chicken

On Friday Justin and I went to Soulard Market for some cheap and luscious vegetables. One of the veggies we bought was white radishes. The woman selling us the goods told us offhand that some people like to use the greens rather than the actual radish root itself, and the hubby and I were both intrigued.

Never one to waste, I decided the greens might be good in a hash. With … potatoes. And spices. And maybe some cheese to top it off. This is my actual thought process.

What does that sound like? Bubble and squeak of course — a classic English dish that is homey and yummy and really fun to say, especially in an English accent. Bubble and squeak. Bubble and squeak!

Ok, I'll stop.

Basically, bubble and squeak is a hash with leftover vegetables and potato. For such a simple idea, whoever thought of the name was a genius.

So to go along with our pan roasted chicken, this is how we made the side:

Ingredients
{Printable Recipe}
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
2 cups radish greens (or any green you like really — turnip, kale, mustard, etc.)
2 cups arugula
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon salt
pepper
pinch cayenne (optional)

Procedure

Chop the potatoes roughly, throw into a pot with some water, boil until soft.

Drain. Mash them up with a fork.

Wash off the greens really well. We got ours at the farmer's market so they were a bit sandy. Chop them up until they're relatively small and manageable.

Blanch the greens, drain, and dry off really well.

Mix the greens in with the potatoes. Let this cool for a few minutes before adding the egg. 

Add egg. Mix it up, add the spices.

Heat up a pan with a healthy dose of olive oil on medium heat. Add all the mixture in at once.



Cook this on medium-high heat to get it crunchy on the edges. Flip occasionally.

It won't be a big cake, but more like a hash. Darla nibbled on a bit of bubble and squeak that fell between the stove and cabinets.

By the way, with the rest of our vegetables, Justin made a huge pot of stock {click here for the recipe}.
Look at this thing:

We used it in the gravy we made for the pan roasted chicken, and in some risotto with braised rabbit. 

Pan roasting a chicken is pretty simple. Brown the chicken on one side in a heavy-bottomed pan, flip, and then stick it in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes for the breasts and 20-25 for the legs and thighs.

This is what I saw while trying to roast the chicken. Darla is a chicken fan.

By the way, if you ever wanted to know how to make chicken "cracklin' s," you peel the skin off the chicken breasts and fry them in some oil. This is NOT for the faint-hearted or for those of you who might be halfway concerned about your health. But they are delicious. Just sayin'.

To make a gravy to go with the chicken and bubble and squeak, melt a tablespoon of butter with the chicken drippings. Add a tablespoon of flour and 2-3 cups of chicken stock. Squeeze half a lemon in there as well. Salt and pepper if necessary.

To serve, pile the bubble and squeak on a plate. Top with the chicken and gravy.

This was incredible. The radish greens had a little bite, and the arugula complemented it splendidly.

Of course, anything with gravy on it has to be a winner.

-Katie

Braised Rabbit with Asparagus Risotto

This meal screams spring, with asparagus now being in season and rabbit being reminiscent of the warming atmosphere. If you've never tried rabbit, you can get it at Soulard Market like we did. It tastes kind of like chicken, but richer and just a touch gamey. I'm not into gamey flavor though, so don't be put off by it being a wild animal. 


If the thought of eating fluffy little bunnies bothers you, just know that at least they were wild and free before the hunter got them, unlike the caged conditions that many of our domesticated animals live in.


Plus, they're delicious. And very healthy, too!


{Printable Recipe}


Ingredients for Braised Rabbit
1 rabbit, cut into large pieces
Flour, cayenne, salt, pepper
1 egg, beaten
Dash soy sauce
Dash rice wine vinegar
3 cups chicken stock
Bunch fresh thyme

Ingredients for Risotto
1 cup arborio rice
2 tbsp bacon fat (or olive oil if you're being good)
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 lemon
1/2 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
Handful thin asparagus, chopped
1 sprig thyme
red pepper flakes (pinch)
Salt
1.5 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Procedure

For the rabbit:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You'll probably need to cut the rabbit into large sections. Cut the legs from the rest of the body, and cut the torso into reasonable sizes.

I know, it looks kind of like alien meat. But I promise, it will look better once it's cooked.

Combine the flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. You'll need enough flour to coat the rabbit, probably a cup or two. The spices are to taste, so start out light.

Whisk the egg with a dash of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.

Dunk the rabbit pieces into the egg and then dredge in the flour.

Sear the meat in some olive oil.  

Pour in the stock and thyme. Throw it in the oven to braise for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes in the oven

For the risotto:

Saute the onion and garlic in some bacon fat (yes, we keep it in the fridge). Season with salt and red pepper flakes. Add the rice and let it toast in the pan for 5 minutes. Add thyme.

Meanwhile, heat up the stock with the lemon half.

To cook the rice, add 2 ladles of stock to the rice and stir. Let this slowly evaporate. When it's almost completely gone, add 2 more ladles of stock. You cook risotto this way, very slowly and in batches of stock. This lets the starch leech out and make the rice very creamy.

This is what it looks like when it's ready for another ladle of stock

Continuously taste the rice to check for doneness. It'll take about 25 minutes and a good 5 or 6 additions of stock. When it's very close to being done and you only have one more addition of stock to go, add the asparagus.

When it's done, turn off the heat and add the butter and Parmesan to finish it off.

Spring on a plate.

-Katie