Foodies Meeting #2

Today marks the second Foodies Meeting.  I took a backseat in the kitchen and took the role of dish washer & sous chef.  Like any good sous chef, I first poured myself a drink ;-).  OK, it's not the manliest of drinks, but like a chef, I had to make something good out of the ingrediants on hand...in today's case, it was Grey Goose Citron & Cherry 7-Up...mmm, yum.

OK, back to the meeting.  Tonight's menu consisted of the following selections:

Entrée:

Maple Pork Tenderloin with Carmelized Apples (recipe from The Finest Chef website)

Side:

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes (recipe from the For the Love of Cooking blog)

Dessert

S'mores Brownies (recipe courtesy of the Food Network)

Marily has been wanting to cook with fruit ever since my brother's wedding where they had roasted pears in the salad.  So, we had some pork tenderloins on hand and the Maple Pork Tenderloin recipe sounded delicious.  Debbie was craving chocolate and the s'mores brownies recipe caught her attention.  So, there you go...the makings of a wonderful menu!!

Here are some pictures from tonight's prep & cooking...

The Maple Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Apples were A-MAZ-ING! The sweetness of the maple syrup and caramelized apples was complemented perfectly by the rosemary.  The pork tenderloins were cooked perfectly by Head Chef, Marily and our trusty oven probe.  The parmesan roasted potatoes were a great concept and the flavors were almost there...but we'd probably like them to be seasoned a little more and roasted a little longer to give it a nice crispy texture.

"Nom-nom-nom-nom," said Debbie as she dove into the s'mores brownies.  The marshmallow topping was pure yummy gooeyness.  We almost had a major incident as we pulled the brownies from the oven seconds before the marshmallows were to bust into flames!  We should have headed the warnings left by others in the "comments & reviews" section of the recipe on the Food Network's website.   Debbie thought the brownie and graham cracker crust fell flat, but Marily and I thought it was pretty good...perhaps slightly overcooked as the outer edges of the brownie weren't as fudge like as the center.

All in all, the night was a success.  We had some good food and learned a few lessons as we continue our journey to hone our kitchen skills.  Until next time...

Foodie's Meeting #1

This past weekend, my aspiring pastry chef, Debbie ;-) suggested we get together with her foodie friend Diane today to make dinner.  Originally she called it a cook off...but I was like "Debbie...we aren't competing...we're just getting together to cook some good food!"  That has led to what I hope becomes a weekly tradition....her newly dubbed "Foodies Meeting."

Marily was sick last week and we didn't get a chance to use the leeks we picked up from the Winter Park farmer's market.  When presented with the task to make the main entree during our inaugural Foodie's Meeting, I immediately looked for recipes I could use our leeks in before they went to waste.  I was clicking through options on Food Network's site before Marily came across the one I ended up going with (read on to see what we chose!).


To get thing started, Marily sliced some fresh pears and gruyère cheese as our first course.  We paired this great combination with the wine I opened for the main dish (Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, Sauvignon Blanc, 2007) and also one we picked up specifically for the pear and gruyère (Butterfield Station, Chardonney, 2006).  Both worked well with the flavors of the cheese and the fresh, crispness of the pears.

Diane also roasted some garlic and put together a simple, yet delicious combination of roasted garlic, olive oil and essential seasonings to top the fresh bread her and Debbie picked up from the supermarket. Loved it!!!  How easily we forget to do such simple things like throwing garlic heads with a olive oil drizzle into the oven for things like this!

The entree would be Braised Chicken Breasts on Creamy Leeks (recipe here) on epicurious.com which was adapted from a recipe created by Swiss chef, Frédy Girardet.  We can all read, so I'll just summarize things here...as this was my first time working with leeks, I didn't really make any changes.


This recipe was actually pretty simple (actually some of the best ones are made from fewer ingrediants rather then being overly complex...just see Tom Colicchio's Diet Coke commerical).  I started out by prepping all the ingredients, as it is so much easier to cook when you have your ingredients all measured out:

(I totally forgot to slice the leeks lengthwise before cutting into 1 inch pieces as seen in this picture!  I made up for it later, but just a reminder that I need to actually READ the directions.  Pictured: white wine, leeks, chicken stock, unsalted butter, heavy cream)

(Simply seasoned with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper)

From here, I seared the chicken breasts for a few minutes on each side and then removed them from the saute pan.  Next up, I added the wine to deglaze the pan and introduced the leeks to the party.  

A few minutes later as the leeks were just waking up and sipping the wine, the chicken breasts made there way back to the pan to join the fun.  Shortly thereafter, I removed the chicken, added the heavy cream, and got in the "thick" of things...then it was time to plate.


In the mean time, Debbie and Diane prepared some "Huss" roasted garlic mashed potatoes to accompany the braised chcken, which worked out perfectly.

Braised Chicken on Creamy Leeks with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

The braised chicken was outstanding...the chicken was prepared perfectly (pat on my back, lol) and the creamy sauce was delicious with the leeks (and even with the mashed potatoes, thanks to gravity).  The only thing I could have asked for was a better plate to show this on, lol (mental note, buy nice white plates for pictures).  To top off a great meal, Debbie and Diane made dessert...and a darn good one too!!!

The dessert was based off this recipe found on the Joy of Baking website. Kudos to Debbie and Diane for choosing to glaze the crust with melted chocolate as well as drizzling it with melted chocolate once served....yum, yum, yum (OK, I'm a little biased since I'm a choc-o-holic, but still!)!  The girls did an amazing job at layering the fruit (wow, I think someone needs to become a pastry chef)! Debbie is now officially in charge of desserts going forward.  I highly recommend checking out the Joy of Baking website for further baking inspiration (I already found one I can't wait to try).


We were all very pleased with the outcome tonight, and we can't wait till the next one!!!  Diane, start thinking now...you are in charge of the entree ;-)  Let's see those skills you've picked up!!


Meeting adjourned.