Dad's Night

Wednesday night is dad's night. My dad comes for dinner every wednesday. Sometimes we go out, but more often than not I cook. He will be 85 next week, and I am always amazed at the new things I learn about him when I get him talking. Tonight I got him talking about his navy days. And he pulled out some things I had never heard. He talked about a guy trying to hide behind a water cooler when the battle station alert sounded. He also talked about having to clean the bathrooms, but locking the door and keeping sailors out. He said that was the most fun they had. He talked about my uncle, his brother in law, that died many years ago. It was a really good wednesday.
It is a fact that his appetite is not what it used to be. And he does not share my adventureous nature when it comes to food, so I always make sure wednesdays suit his palate. Often times he likes tacos, like my mom used to make, with ground beef and crunchy corn tortilla shells. Sometimes I just make us a nice salad and heat some crusty bread. And sometimes, like tonight, I get a big ol' pot of clams or mussels going. He and I really enjoy a pile of shellfish.  If it's clams, I just steam them and make garlic butter for drenching. (its not just dipping!) But with the mussels, I always try to find interesting flavors to steam them up with. I found this recipe in a newsletter I subscribe to called Tasting Table.
OH MY GOODNESS! It was absolutely divine. Best Mussels I have had and there was no butter in sight! So besides the conversation, dad enjoyed the food (score!) and he also enjoyed the reminiscing. Let me correct my earlier statement, it was an AWESOME wednesday.

Pot Roasted Mussels from chef Jordan Toft of LA:
This recipe calls for an aioli, don't skip this (as I was tempted to do), it really completes it.
Aioli-
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 medium lemon
3 cups olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
S &P

Mussels
1 cup
4 shallots thinly sliced
2 pounds mussels, rinsed and bearded
1 long red chile, thinly sliced (seeds optional)
1 medium lemon
S & P
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

Make the Aioli in a large bowl; whisk together egg, dijon, and juice of one lemon. While whisking add 1/2 cup of olive oil, in a drizzle until emulsified. Slowly whisk in remaining 2 1/2 cups oil in a steady stream. Whisk in garlic , S&P. Set Aside.

Mussels- Place one cup of oil & shallots in a large stockpot and turn the heat to high. When the shallots begin to sizzle (after 4 to 5 mins) stir in the mussels and the chile. Cut the lemon into wedges, add to pot and stir in. Season with S&P, cover and cook until mussels fully open, about 5 mins. Shake the pot or stir a few times during cooking.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in 3/4 cup of parsley and a few large dollops of aioli. Transfer to a large bowl and top with more aioli. Sprinkle with pepper and the remaining parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

I am so sorry I was to involved I didn't take a picture, and it was gorgeous. But take my word, this one makes a great presentation.

Blogging a blog

With the price of groceries as they are, I am trying to shop only once a week, and to make things that I can double up on, or re-work the second time around. One of the most versatile ways to do that is with Rotisserie chicken. Boy are those little guys useful! I can get two dinners and a lunch out of a larger size one. And if you go to Costco, they are large and right around $5. Love them. And I love my dad for bringing them for me. Actually I guess I get three dinners, because my dad will buy one, take a leg off, then leave me the rest. So tonight I decided to use a recipe I had set aside from a blog called 'The Girl who ate Everything'. I saw the title and wondered who had been watching me. But it was another food lover, and she had this recipe called "Chicken Pillows". Sounds absolutely wonderful, right? Pillows of chicken? It sounds like something you'd want to curl up with. Or EAT!! So I that's what I did. 

This is a recipe that lends itself to many variations. I like to make something by the recipe the first time to see what I'm working with. Then from there I start thinking of everything I can do with it. 

This recipe, first time around,  is an incredibly delicious meal. I LOVED it. Of course I have lots of ideas. 

But first, the recipe adapted from "the Girl who ate Everything": 

Pre Heat Oven to 350

8oz softened Cream Cheese  

1/2 C Sour Cream

Mix the two with a mixer

ADD

S & P

1 1/2 T dried Chives

1 1/2 T fresh onion minced

(I didn't have any dried chives, so I used 2 1/2 T dried minced onion and no fresh)

3 Chicken Breast Cooked and diced)

2 (8 oz) Cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

1/4 C Melted Butter

Italian Bread Crumbs

Gravy 

1 (14.5 Oz) can of Cream of Chicken Soup

1 package of chicken gravy mix.

Make a square out of two crescent roll triangles, really close the perforation. Put about a quarter cup of chicken mixture on center of crescent square and wrap pastry up around it. Dip 'pillow' into melted butter and roll in bread crumbs. 

Bake in oven for 20 - 22 mins. 

Mix cream of chicken soup, 3/4 can of water and the gravy mix. Heat through, pour over your little pillow of poultry deliciousness. 

You will notice in my photo, the scrumptious tomatoes I roasted last night. Oh heavens, I love a roasted tomato.

Now, my notes.... 

I mixed the cream cheese and sour cream and seasoning and chicken in the food processor. It came out like a chicken salad, which is fine, for this purpose. However, next time (and there will be a next time) I will leave it chunkier. 

The sauce I was not crazy about. A little too 'processed food' taste. So I will tweak that.  Here are some ideas I am tossing around for next time:

A southwest twist. Use some avocado instead of some of the sour cream. Add some cilantro. Maybe some adobo to the bread crumb mix and then top it with some salsa. 

Or Maybe follow the recipe and use the chives and onion, then add some blue cheese. Boy this could go on and on. 

Let me post my pic and go have a brandy. Thanks for sticking around! 

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

I love EGGS. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. So many options, so many variables. So I was thinking about the left over veggies I had in the fridge from last night (sauteed yellow squash and onions, some asparagus and some poblano pepper. And it was a short hop and a skip to Fritatta. The hubs was at a "thing" so I was on my own for dinner. As soon as I got home from work, (and let the dogs out and changed clothes and killed some ants in the bathroom), I immediatly ran to the fridge to see if there was anything else I could throw in a fritatta. Sour cream, always a welcome addition, but no other vegetables, which is fine, because it was already filling up.
So I softened some onions in a little olive oil and butter, added the squash and I cast the asparagus into the pan to heat. Meanwhile I whirred up some eggs, a bit of the sour cream and half & half into a nice froth and poured it over the heated vegs. I tossed the poblanos on top and let it solidfy. Then topped it with a bit of cheddar and stuck it under the broiler to finish up. I didn't add any herbs because the leftovers already had flavors going on, I figured it would be just fine, and it was. A touch of the ol' S&P and dinner was on the table. And I liked it. I really,  really liked it.  It was eggsactly what I wanted.

 I also had some tomotoes sitting around, so a popped them on a cookie sheet with some oil and basil and roasted them for about an hour on 350. Now they will go in the fridge and make a scrumptious topping for something this week, but that is another post. Good night!

WELCOME

So this is my very first blog. I will start by saying "hello" and introducing myself. My name is Nettie and I like to make stuff. Food, art, crafts, DIY projects, whatever. So this blog will be the net results of these projects. As well as miscellaneous ideas I have. I have three little chihuahuas and a fabulous husband. So lets see where this takes us.... Thanks for coming along.