Inside the Studio

Fancy That!

Tonight we got fancy!  For no reason at all, "Dinner at the Becks" was a fancy, frivolous occasion! 

Inspired by the latest children's book by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser -- FANCY NANCY... Let's Get Fancy Together -- the youngest in our family, Grace, decided to throw a fancy feast for dinner.  And surprisingly, even on the first night back to school after vacation for 2 weeks, everyone participated with pomp and circumstance!
Grace was able to talk Shane into cooking for the occasion and he prepared the Short Ribs on the cover of the October 2007 issue of Bon Appetite. Mmm Mmm good!  She used the invitations from the book, set place cards and gave away party favors -- that's mamma's girl!

In Nancy's honor, dinner was served on our fancy, french china, we sat in the dining room and ate by candle light, dressed as fancy as we could take our selves seriously! From feathery boas to glittery sunglasses, we dined and laughed and toasted a fun and fancy family occasion!

Merci Beaucoup, Gracie ... for the frivilous night!
xoxo, momma

    

Anniversary Dinner - "A Perfect Italian Pairing"

For our anniversary dinner decided to do one of the things we love to do most.... entertain! We invited the Catalina's over to eat an Italian meal we found in the March issue of Food & Wine. Rosanne set the table to perfection with our Vietri  china from many our wedding gifts and some of her "old" vintage treasures she's collected during her many flea market travels.

We started the evening with a nice bottle of Belgian ale to drink with our steamed mussels.  This particular recipe is one of my own which I substituted Belgian ale instead of white wine. 

Steamed Mussels:
3 lb. of mussels
one stick of butter (divided into tbsp. pieces)
one 12 oz. bottle of Belgian ale
one cup of sliced celery
one cup of sliced shallot
one tbsp. fresh thyme
one bay leaf
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Clean and debeard  mussels.  Thinly slice celery and shallots.  Preheat pot of stove until nice and hot on medium high.  Splash in olive oil and give it a second to come up to speed then add celery and shallot. Saute for about 4-5 minutes.  Put the flame on high, add mussels, ale, pieces of butter, bay leaf, thyme, sprinkle with a little salt and crack some fresh pepper. Give it a stir, put on the lid and steam until mussels open. This only takes a few minutes.  Discard mussels that don't open, transfer to a large bowl and serve with bread to sop up the broth. Enjoy!

The mussels' were our only deviation from the magazine's menu. Rosanne's and I spent a few hours in the kitchen preparing this wonderful meal.  After the mussels we had a golden beat salad that was every bit restaurant quality.  We are big fans of the beet but this was the first time we have ever cook the golden variety and i must say I'm an instant fan.  Another fist was our making fresh gnocchi, it was a chore.  But once we sat down to dinner we found it was all worth while.  The gnocchi in the sauce topped with freshly grated parmsan cheese sang in our mouths! We were first introduced to this fish at our favorite Japanese restaurant TeiTei.  This recipe was not the same but every bit as good.

The Food & Wine recipes are from chef Steve Corry.  He uses as many local ingredients as possible at his Portland, Maine restaurant, Five Fifty-Five. We found what we needed at Central Market in Dallas.

Enjoy Recipe links below:
Roasted Branzino with Caper Butter
Meyer Lemon Gnocchi
Beet Salad with Candied Marcona Almonds

Burger Night

A  "please-all" staple dinner at our house is the all-mighty hamburger.  Inexpensive food that's easy to make without much prep time. Best of all, you can eat 'em with your hands!

You can make a burger a thousand ways.  Here's my go-to stripped down basic burger good for a weeknight dinner or weekend party!

Hamburgers                                                                                  

1/3 lb.(per patty) Ground Beef 85/15 (lean to fat)
Large Size Buns
Leaf Lettuce (iceburg if you want more crunch)
Tomato
Red Onion
Dill Pickles
Ketchup
Mustard
Mayonnaise
Worcestershire Sauce
Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper

To give your burger a little more personality, you can have a few "choice" toppings available as well.  Some of our favorites are jalapenos, guacamole (Rosanne's fave!), blue cheese crumbles, sharp cheddar cheese, whole grain mustard, sauteed mushrooms... and the list goes on.  What makes these burgers perfect is having the best and freshest ingredients!

Preheat grill to get it good and hot for nice grill marks on your patties.  Slice tomato thick and red onion thin, rinse lettuce and pat dry with paper towels.  Form 1/3 lb. patties making them slightly larger than the size of your bun (they'll draw-up during cooking and be the perfect size).  I work the meat for a minute molding good discs that will hold together on the grill.  Place burgers on hot grill and don't touch for at least four minutes.  While burgers are getting a nice sear shake a little Worcestershire sauce over each, sprinkle with some sea salt & crack some black pepper on top.  I have a squirt bottle of water ready encase there is a flame flare up.  Turn burgers and season this side as well.  Cook this side a little less time than the first side.   Pull burgers to a plate and place buns on grill flat side down for a minute or so.  Pull buns to plate and build burgers with spreads and toppings to liking.  They'll be juicy and delicious.  Enjoy!

If you're using good ol' heinz for your ketchup... check out the kiddos!
Gunnar and Gracie on YOUTUBE!

Thai Halibut

I'm sure my wife and I aren't the only one with the new years resolution to eat healthier and exercise more frequently.  At the gym the other day I paged through a workout magazine and came across a recipe for halibut I should have written down.  Later,  when I found myself at the grocery I wish I had something to refer to.  I bought up all the necessary ingredients I could remember and went home to try and remember how it said to cook the fish.  Feel free to jot down the recipe that follows on your Cross-My-Heart recipe cards!  The new designs for this spring are as fun and fresh as this dish.

 

       

                                                   

THAI HALIBUT: Yields 2

Ingredients:
2 fillets of halibut about 5 ounces each
small tomato
lime
fresh jalapeno
cilantro
coconut milk (1 can)

Take a couple feet of foil and double over to make it two ply.  In the center place one halibut fillet.  Salt and pepper the fish.  Surround the fish with half the tomato diced.  Top the the fish with two thin slices of lime and five thin slices of jalapeno.  Put small hand full of cilantro on top of everything and splash with coconut milk (about 1/4 cup).  Fold up the fish tightly and repeat process with other fillet.  Place the two pouches together, but not touching, on a baking sheet in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Check and make sure fish is done to your liking but be careful of the steam.  Plate fish with a spatula and pour remaining milk and ingredients from pouch over the fish.  Enjoy.

Nigella Lawson

Last week as Rosanne and I were making a dash to an S.M.U. black tie event we stopped by Sur La Table to see the Domestic Goddess herself, Mrs. Nigella Lawson. The British cooking queen was in Dallas to push her new book Nigella Express. We nipped in to purchase our autographed copy and have our picture taken with the author. We entered the shop to find the line extended the length of the store. Not discouraged we waited with the rest of the foodie groupies for our turn. Being all fancied up the crowd vocally declared us best dressed. As we made our way to the front of the line Nigella looked at us as if we gotten all gussied up for her. As I started in with "Yes, we dressed up for you..." Rosanne interrupted "We have an event we will be attending tonight". As we stood on each side of her smiling for the camera Nigella was peering down at Rosanne's shoes. The first picture went off with Nigella looking down. The frustrated Sur La Table employee with the camera erased that one as Nigella informed Rosanne, "you'll be needing to sit soon with those cocktail shoes on". The three of us cheesed up the next shot together but I wish we still had the first one.

The following evening I tried one of her salmon recipes with a salad from the book. I adapted the recipe to what we could find locally and how I wanted to put it together. Here's how I did it...

2 thin pieces of salmon about 4 oz. each
2 tablespoons. of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon castor sugar (or regular but i like this one because it dissolves so easily)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or table salt)
1/8 cup of oil (she calls for wok oil. I used 50/50 canola and chile sesame oil)
3 cups of arugula & 1 cup of radish micro greens (she called for 4 cups of watercress but our market was out.)
1 avocado

She also calls for miniature sugar snap peas (raw). we could only find regular size and so I blanched them and they were still tough so I 86ed them from the dish.

Heat up nonstick skillet and then add a tiny splash of oil mixture. Cook on each side a couple of minutes until it is to your liking (I like mine medium). Remove and add to plates.

Whisk vinegar, sugar, salt, and rest of oil together. Drizzle salmon with oil reserving the rest for salad.

Put greens mixture on plate. Cut avocado in half and remove seed. Dob chunks of avocado with a spoon on to greens. Dress with remaining oil. Sprinkle a little more sea salt on avocado if you like, it really makes it sing.

We loved this dish. It came out kinda spicy because we used the chile sesame oil and the radish micro greens but in Texas we like it hot!

Shane

No Can Pumpkin Pie

Hello, Shane here, Rosanne's other half writing my first post on the CMH blog. About myself...well, I'm a bit of a storyteller that also loves to cook(eat).  I've created a new category entitled 'Dinner at the Becks' where I'll share my stories of life, recipes from the kitchen, and whatever else come to mind at the moment of posting.

So,  last week I'm in Gracie's (my little step daughter) first grade class as "mystery reader" for the week and her teacher hands me a story about pumpkin pie.  Silly picture book, the name of it escapes me but the kinda thing kids like, about a witch that wants the biggest pumpkin pie for her Halloween party.  After my reading I asked the class to raise their hand if they liked pumpkin pie.  I only got a few hands.  Then I ask the kiddos with their hands down if they had given pumpkin pie a try. Not a hand went up.  I told the class that you should give different foods a try 'cause you might me missing out.

A few days pass and Rosanne and I went to our local pumpkin patch to load up our on giant orange squash for the season.  The back of my truck a little bit heavier and my wallet a little lighter I started to drive away as Billy Bob, pumpkin patch proprietor, comes running to my door to ask if "we liked pumpkin pie?".  I raised my hand yes.  Billy Bob almost tripped over the wagon we used to load our pumpkins as he yelled "wait a second I've got something for you".  He disappeared for only a second then came running back with the most unique looking little pumpkin.  "It's an ugly little guy but i hear it eats good".  He then spouted off a website where I would find the a recipe for fresh pumpkin pie telling me it beats the canned pumpkin hands down.  I thanked him and we drove away.

Somehow,  the universe decided I needed to bake,  and pumpkin pie would be my victim.  I'm must say I don't pretend to be the baker around the house,  that would definitely be Rosanne's hat.  Don't get me wrong,  I love the kitchen and all things food but I have never been big on making sweets.  Mom was only a phone call away with the needed expertise on crust construction as well as pumpkin filling.  Now my Mother is no dummy around the kitchen and pies are her bag,  but fresh pumpkin was even foreign to her.  She said the can had always done her right.  So, I ignored Billy Bob's web tips and made my Mom recipe substituting canned pumpkin for the real thing. And here's how I did it...

No Can Pumpkin Pie Recipe                                                                   

Crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of butter flavored shortening
3 tablespoons of ice cold water (little more if needed)

Mix flour, salt, and shortening in a bowl and cut it together until it looks like Parmesan cheese.  I used a spatula with a nice edge to it but the bakers in my family use an actual tool for this sort of thing.  Once the mixture looks like grated Parmesan cheese add ice water a tablespoon at a time mixing to make dough.   Your going for not too wet not too dry.  Add a little more than 3 Tablespoon if needed to make mixture into a ball that doesn't crumble.  Place ball on floured counter and roll out dough from the center outward until dough is big enough to cover 9 inch pie pan with little over hang to make decorative edge of crust.

Filling:

First rinse pumpkin with water to remove the dirt.  Then slice in half down the equator and remove seeds and strings with large spoon.  Place flat sides on baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and cover with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for and hour and a half.  Remove from oven and remove foil and flip pumpkin over  to cool for a few minutes.  Use a large spoon to scoop out pumpkin.  Use a stick blender to puree the pumpkin. Let cool.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

Directions:

Mix, sugar, spices, and salt in small bowl.  Beat eggs in large bowl.  Mix pumpkin and spices from small bowl to eggs.  Gradually mix in evaporated milk.  Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 40 minutes.  Insert toothpick and remove to see if it come out clean if not cook more as needed.  Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.

Enjoy!

The kids didn't even try my pie but the adults loved it.

Shane