Grilled Mojo Chicken and Barbecue Black Beans with Rum

Tonight's dinner took forever to get made because the kids just weren't cooperating. I started preparing dinner at 4:30 and at 6:15 I had put no more than 20 minutes into it because Adeline wanted to be glued to my breast and Camille wanted to test me on everything. But we finally ate and it was well worth the wait. Plus, we'll have leftovers tomorrow, so I can sit back and relax (yeah right..) tomorrow night.

So, dinner tonight was grilled mojo chicken, barbecue black beans with rum, and brown rice. The mojo chicken recipe is from Food Made Fast: Weeknight (Williams-Sonoma), which is one of my best used cookbooks. The recipe is also available on the Williams-Sonoma website. The barbecue black beans with rum is my vegetarian version of a recipe from Cooking Light in 2000. I've been making these beans for

years and they are so delicious.

I'll start with the chicken:

Grilled Mojo Chicken

zest and juice from 2 oranges

zest and juice from 4 limes

1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, minced

2 tablespoons fresh oregano, minced

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

8 garlic cloves, minced

4 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 (about 3 pounds) skinless, boneless chicken thighs

salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine the orange and lime zest, orange and lime juice, parsley, oregano, thyme, garlic, and cumin in a bowl large enough to fit the chicken. Whisk in the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the marinade and stir to coat the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

About 20 minutes before cooking the chicken, take it out of the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Heat a gas grill to medium heat and oil the grill rack. Place chicken on the grill brushing marinade over the top side of the chicken. Cook, turning once until opaque throughout, about 20 minutes. Makes 8 servings

The original recipe specified grilling on high heat for less time. I prefer to cook chicken at a lower temperature for longer so it doesn't get so charred on the outside while cooking on the inside. I also recently discovered that grilling with the grill open makes meat take longer to cook, but it's less likely to overcook or burn. Yeah, I'm 35, have been cooking for years, and just figured that one out. I probably had the grill closed for a total of 4 minutes while cooking this chicken.

Barbecue Black Beans with Rum

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 vidalia onion, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup rum

1/4 cup dijon mustard

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon hot sauce (optional)

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3 cans black beans (2 - 15-ounce cans and 1 - 26.5-ounce can)

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion and jalapeno for about 5 minutes until onion is softened. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add next 8 ingredients (ketchup through ground ginger). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the black beans. Simmer over low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

I like to serve these beans over brown rice as a side dish.

Grilled Flank Steak and Blood Mary Tomato Salad

This was dinner tonight and we loved it! As I ate this medium-rear steak, enjoying it thoroughly, it occurred to me that I was once a vegetarian. How funny. I'm not a huge meat-eater. I don't eat meat every day -- I just believe in a balance in my diet and I enjoy eating meat too.

Anyway, for a change, I actually followed the recipe as it was written. It's rare that this happens, but it does occasionally happen. The only one thing I did differently was to double the quantities for the bloody mary tomato salad. I like a lot of vegetables and I didn't feel like making another vegetable dish.

So, this entry is easy tonight. The recipe is on the bon appetit website. I'll definitely be making this again!

Orange-Poppy Seed Muffins

I made these muffins on Sunday and they were quite good. I think I might prefer lemon-poppy seed muffins, but I'm not sure. These had a delicious orange glaze that I drizzled over the top and I'm not sure you can go wrong with a little burst of sugar. If this recipe was available online, I'd share it, but since it isn't, I can't. It's from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking: Recipes and Techniques for Succcessful Home Baking, which is a very good cookbook. Even though some of the recipes from this cookbook are available online, I'd still say it's been worthwhile for me to own. For starters, I really enjoy browsing through cookbooks and magazines to find recipes to try. The other reason it's been useful is that I think it wasn't until I got this cookbook that I really understood the meaning of soft peaks and stiff peaks with respect to beating egg whites.

One thing to note with this recipe is that I think there's a typo either in the written instructions or the ingredient list. The amount of orange juice in the ingredient list is 1/2 cup and in the written instructions it's 1/4 cup. I used 1/4 cup and the muffins were good, so if I make these again, I'll stick with 1/4 cup.

Minted Lemonade

I didn't bother taking a picture of this lemonade because it's pretty easy to visualize lemonade. My first attempt at making this had too much lemon flavor and not enough mint flavor. Today was my second attempt and it came out really well. I still may experiment a little more, but this was really good so I thought I'd share it. Here it is:

Lemonade

1 cup lemon juice (about 4 jumbo lemons)

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh mint

3 cups boiling water

3/4 cup lemon and mint syrup

Put the fresh mint in a bowl and add 3 cups boiling (or nearly boiling) water. Let steep for 5-10 minutes. Pour into a pitcher straining the mint leaves out. Add the lemon juice and syrup. Refrigerate and serve cold with ice. Garnish with a lemon slice and small mint sprig. Makes about 4 large glasses full.

Note: I really like tart lemonade. For sweeter lemonade add more syrup until you reach your desired sweetness.

Lemon and Mint Syrup

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

zest from 2 large lemons

2 tablespoons chopped mint

Combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Strain out the solids. Store in the refrigerator. Makes about 1 3/4 cups.

I think a simple syrup of just sugar and water might work just fine. I like the idea of infusing some of the same flavors into the sweetener so as not to dilute the flavor at all.

White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup

David and Camille had colds earlier this week, so I decided to make soup for dinner. Only problem is that I then got really sick with mastitis and landed myself in the hospital for a day and a half, so I didn't end up making this until David was feeling better. Anyway, this soup is not super-exciting to look at, but it was surprisingly quite delicious. The original recipe is from The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Soup and can be found on the Williams-Sonoma website. Here's my version:

1 1/4 cup Great Northern beans, soaked for 4 hours

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 vidalia onions, coarsely chopped

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 large bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, cut into thin strips

6 cups low sodium chicken stock

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup mini fusilli

4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

Grated pecorino romano cheese

In a large soup pot over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onions and saute, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and saute for about 3 minutes. Add two-thirds of the Swiss chard and saute until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the stock, beans, tomatoes, basil, and garlic and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about an hour. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in a pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Using a blender, puree about 2/3 of the soup in batches leaving the remaining 1/3 for texture. Return the soup to the pot. Heat the soup on medium-high heat and add the cooked pasta, about 2 tablespoons of the parsley, and remaining Swiss chard. Cook until the chard is wilted but retains its color, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle parsley and romano cheese on top. 6 servings.

Grilled Watermelon Salad

I just made this tonight and it was really good. It's from this month's Bon Appetit. I made a few changes, as usual, mostly because of what ingredients I had available and the time I had available. I couldn't get queso fresco at my grocery store, so I used feta instead. I didn't want to take the time to make the basil olive oil, so I didn't. And I don't like radishes that much, and it would have been days before they were pickled, so I left those out too. Here's my version of the grilled watermelon salad:

1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped

3 1/2-inch thick slices seedless watermelon, rind

removed, each cut into 6 wedges for a total of 18

wedges

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 4-ounce bag of watercress

1/2 cup mild feta cheese

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

Heat a gas grill to medium. Brush each side of each watermelon wedge with olive olive and grill about 2 minutes per side. Set aside.

Whisk remaining 1/2 cup oil, basil, lime juice, and honey in a small bowl until well blended. Toss the watercress with the dressing in a large bowl.

Divide the watercress into 4 bowls. Add 3-4 wedges of watermelon to each bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 of the feta cheese and 1/4 of the toasted pumpkin seeds over each bowl. Serves 4.

Grilled Halloumi with Watermelon and Mint Oil

The latest issue of Bon Appetit is the grilling issue and it is fantastic. I had already bought some mint and a watermelon, and I actually found Halloumi cheese at my grocery store, so I decided to make this to go with our dinner of grilled filet mignon and grilled watermelon salad. The original recipe is available online. Here's my slightly altered version:

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh basil

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh mint

1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 8-9 ounce package Halloumi cheese, cut into 8 slices

8 triangles thinly sliced watermelon, rind removed

Heat a gas grill to medium-high. Pulse the basil, mint, and garlic in a food processor. Add the oil to the food processor and process until well blended. Set a strainer over a small bowl; strain, pressing on solids. Season with salt and pepper.

Toss the cheese in 2 tablespoons of the oil. Grill the cheese until charred in spots and beginning to melt, about a minute on each side.

Arrange the melon on a platter. Top each wedge with a slice of cheese. Drizzle with the remaining oil. 4 servings.

If I make this for guests I'll be using some fresh mint for garnish.

Rigatoni with Salami, Mozzarella, and Basil

I make this pasta dish frequently. I can have it prepared and on the table within 30 minutes, David and I really like it, and more often than not Camille consumed a very good portion for a toddler who resists eating and growing. Funny how I have started to measure my success as a cook by whether Camille eats my food and how much she consumes.

Very few of my recipes are completely made up by me. Like most, I adapted an existing recipe to be something that I really like. This recipe is based on one from Pasta: William Sonoma Collection

and can be viewed online. Here's my recipe:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

8 cloves of garlic, minced

2 28-ounce cans plum (roma) tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped

1/4 pound chunk salami, such as soppressata, cut into small cubes

generous splash of dry white wine

1 pound rigatoni

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 pound mozzarella pearls (small mozzarella balls)

1 large bunch of fresh basil, coarsely chopped

1 cup grated pecorino romano cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente. Meanwhile in a large saute pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and saute about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the salami. Cook until the tomatoes begin to release their liquid, about 4-5 minutes. Add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add the white wine and let it boil away for about 5 minutes, until the tomato juices have thickened slightly. Remove from heat.

Drain the pasta well, add it to the tomato mixture, and toss. Transfer to a large shallow bowl. Add the basil, a generous drizzle of olive oil, and about 2/3 cup of the grated romano cheese and toss again. Add the mozzarella pearls, toss again, and serve immediately. Pass the remaining grated romano cheese at the table. Makes 4-6 servings.

Strawberry Shortcake

It's finally strawberry season again. This and peach season are my two favorite fruit seasons. Mmm. Here's how I make strawberry shortcake:

Strawberries

2 quarts strawberries, washed, stems removed, and cut into halves or quarters

3 tablespoons sugar

Add sugar to strawberries. Stir to coat strawberries with sugar. Let sit at least 15 minutes so sugar will dissolve.

Biscuits

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

(or 2/3 cup half-and-half instead of milk and heavy cream)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, cream, and milk; stir with a fork until just moist. Form into a ball and pat out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/2 to 3/4-inch. Cut into rounds with a large round cookie cutter or an inverted glass. Stack two biscuit rounds, one on top of the other on a baking sheet. Place on a greased cookie sheet (or a silpat lined cookie sheet -- my preference) and bake for about 14 minutes. Makes about 6 double height biscuits.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add cream, sugar, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl with whisk attachment and beat on high speed until cream is whipped.

Assembly

Place one double biscuit in a large bowl. Add a scoop of french vanilla ice cream. Add about 1/6 of the strawberries. Top with whipped cream. Makes 6 large strawberry shortcakes.

Lime and Coconut Margarita

I started making margaritas after I had Camille and realized I had no hope of going out to get a margarita since 1) it generally seems to be frowned upon to bring a baby into a bar and 2) it is even more frowned upon to leave a baby home alone and go out to a bar. So I came up with a pretty good margarita recipe then, but didn't write it down. Time went on and I could escape from Camille to get drinks with friends, so I hadn't made margaritas at home for a while. Now I have an infant again and having survived a miserable couple days alone with the girls while David was on a business trip, I did a little experimenting last night. Here's what I came up with:

Lime and Coconut Margarita

Juice from 1 1/2 limes

1/4 cup citrus syrup

3 tablespoons unsweetened, light coconut milk

3 tablespoons tequila (my favorite so far is Hornitos)

1 tablespoon Cointreau

Add ice and all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a margarita glass. Makes 1 margarita.

Citrus Syrup

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

Zest from 2 oranges

Zest from 2 large lemons

1 cinnamon stick

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar, water, orange and lemon zests, and cinnamon stick to a boil while stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 minutes. Strain syrup into a container and store in the refrigerator.

Thai Beef Satay

This was the second time I made this meal since it was a huge hit with David. Heck, it was a huge hit with me too. The original recipe is from Food Made Fast: Weeknight (Williams-Sonoma) and is available online. The original recipe uses chicken, but I like beef better, so that's how I make it.

I largely stuck to the original recipe. The first time I made it I ended up using a third of the soy sauce because I ran out and since we loved it I decided to keep the change since less sodium is never a bad thing. Here's the recipe:

zest from 1 lime

juice from 2 limes

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/3 cup all-natural chunky peanut butter

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon less sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 1/2 pounds beef chuck steak, trimmed of fat and cut into chunks

5 oz package arugula

1 large cucumber, sliced

6 scallions, sliced

cooked brown rice

Place 8 bamboo skewers in cold water to soak until ready to use. Whisk together the lime zest, lime juice, vinegar, and peanut butter until smooth. Stir in the cilantro, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, and sesame oil. Reserve about 1/2 of the mixture in a separate bowl to use as a sauce. Add the meat to the marinade and turn to coat. Refrigerate for up to 2 hours.

Prepare a gas grill. When ready to cook, remove the meat from the marinade and divide among 8 skewers. Place the skewers on the grill and spoon the remaining marinade over the meat. Cook, turning once, until done to your liking, about 8 minutes total for well-done. Serve over a mound of brown rice, arugula, and cucumber slices. Sprinkle with scallions. Drizzle with some of the reserved sauce.

Next time I make this I'll probably make additional marinade so we have more sauce to pour over the meat and vegetables. I think I'll also try it with a different beef cut since I find the beef chuck a little tough.

Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Growing up, my mother used to make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for me for my birthday in November using carrots from our garden. My sister's birthday is in July, so she got a blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting for her birthday made with blueberries from our blueberry bushes. It's kind of funny now how much I took our fantastic yard and vegetable garden for granted growing up. We had so much fresh fruit and vegetables grown on our own property. The main drawback for me raising my girls in a city is that there is no way I can give them the experience of growing a lot of our own food. Our yard is just too small and too shaded.

I have no idea where the original recipe for this cake came from. I imagine my mother made a few changes and I've made a couple additions. Here's my version of the recipe:

Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

zest from one large lemon

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup whole milk

3 cups fresh blueberries, tossed with flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans by greasing with butter or shortening and dusting with flour. Cream butter and brown sugar together. Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat well. Mix the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture alternately with the milk in three additions. Fold in the blueberries. Bake for about 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Turn the cakes out of the pans onto wire cooling racks. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract together. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar, beating until completely blended before each addition.

This is a sort of loose cream cheese frosting.  If I want it a little stiffer for frosting the sides of the cake, I'll put it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then stir it before frosting the sides.

Thai Chicken Curry

I love Thai food so I was looking forward to trying this recipe. It's from Food Made Fast: Weeknight (Williams-Sonoma), which is a great cookbook, one of my favorites. Overall, we really liked this dish, but it wasn't quite what David and I were expecting. We were expecting the curry sauce to be more intense and taste like the curry sauces from Thai restaurants. The flavor was similar, but very mild. That said, I'm planning to make this again because Camille loved it! She has never eaten so voraciously. Seriously. So Camille loved it and we liked it -- it's a winner.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I used chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts because they taste better to me and are less dry. I also tripled the amount of green beans and I added red pepper. Here's the recipe as I made it:

1 teaspoon lime zest

1/4 cup lime juice

1 3/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut in strips

salt and freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons canola oil

3/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

1/2 of a red pepper, cut into thin strips

1 1/2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

1 1/4 cups lite coconut milk

3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

6 scallions, sliced

1/4 cup slivered basil

Sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper on the chicken. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate. Add the green beans and red pepper and cook, stirring frequently, just until tender-crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to the same plate as the chicken.

Stir the curry paste in the pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the coconut milk, chicken broth, and fish sauce. Bring to a simmer and stir, scraping up the browned bits on the pan bottom. Stir in the lime juice and lime rind. Return the chicken and vegetables to the pan and stir to combine with the sauce. Simmer until the chicken is opaque throughout and the sauce is thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Stir in the scallions and basil.

Serve over brown rice.

I plan to make a few changes next time I make this. The first is that I plan to plant some Thai basil in my garden, so I'll use that instead of regular basil. I'll also try using about half as much lime juice and increase the amount of curry paste. If the changes are successful, I'll post it again with an updated recipe.