A Packed Lunch

Real Simple continues to have a mix of hits and misses for the recipes it publishes. The pictures always look amazing, but the results are not guaranteed. Recently, I tried two recipes from Real Simple's latest edition. The chicken was pretty good (especially the dark meat), but the pasta salad was only OK. Still, it was good enough to pack up for a lunch bento (with the bonus of a leftover lemon bar!).

In some regards, I almost enjoyed my lunch more than dinner before. The chicken did well sitting at room temperature and even if the peas lost their color, they still tasted good!

The End of Soup Season

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees and sunny. In typical New England fashion, today it was 30 degrees and snowing for most of the day. It's that time of year when I start to tire of roasted veggies and start dreaming about the grill and fresh fruit. Nevertheless, today's wintry weather made me wish I had some hearty soup for dinner instead of my take-out sub.

A few weeks ago, I tried Barefoot Contessa's take on Italian Wedding Soup. It was different from other versions I'd had in that:

1. It was made with chicken meatballs. I used a combination of ground chicken and sweet Italian chicken sausages and baked them.
2. The broth featured a hefty portion of dill; yes, dill!
3. Way more spinach than I'm used to seeing in this sort of soup.
4. I used my own homemade stock! Yup, 10 cups of it. I was a little worried it wasn't going to all fit in my stock pot....

It was pretty tasty overall, with just the right amount of spiciness. You can see the full recipe at FoodNetwork.com.

Fall Harvest

There was a brisk chill to the day today. Weak sunshine filtered through the changing leaves and a steady wind brought a flush to my cheeks. After a day outside at the Head of the Charles, I needed something comforting and tasty to warm me up. The answer came from Real Simple. This was an easy, hands-off dinner -- a perfect idea to serve for company!


Roasted Chicken with Apples & Leeks

• 4 chicken thighs + 4 drumsticks
• 4 small crisp apples, cut into slices (I used Empire Apples)
• 2 leeks, rinsed & quartered
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss chicken, apples and leeks with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast 45 minutes.

So easy, so delicious!

16 Days of Glory: Part 3

Continuing the Olympic celebration, this next recipe was my favorite item of the night. Brought by a friend, it combines Asian flavors with phyllo dough for an interesting twist. These disappeared off the platter very quickly and would be a huge hit at a cocktail party!

Phyllo Asian Wraps

Adapted from "Flaky Siew Mai Crossiants," Asian Tapas: Small Bites, Big Flavors

For the wraps:

• Flour, for dusting
• 4 sheets frozen puff pastry (11x24in) or croissant dough, defrosted for 2 to 3 hours before using
• 1 egg white
• Black sesame seeds, to garnish

For the filling:

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/2 lb ground chicken
• 2-3 fresh shitake mushrooms, stems removed and discarded, caps diced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/2 tsp flour
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 400 F. Make the filling by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth. Set aside. Unroll each puff pastry or croissant dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it into an 11x24 in rectangle, 1/8 in thick if necessary. Cut out approx 7 equilateral triangles, each with a base measuring 4 in, marking the base of the triangles along the length of the pastry sheet. Cut out a total of 25 triangles from the pastry sheets. Place 1 tbsp of the filling on the base of each triangle and roll the base over the filling, then roll up tightly into a cylinder, brushing the tip of the triangle with a bit of the egg white to seal. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling. Brush the top of each croissant with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the oven at 400 F for 20 mins.

Makes 25 wraps.

Life Lesson: My friend used a package of puff pastry tarts, which were already pre-measured into small octagons, but had to be rolled out. As my friend says. "I would not recommend this... live and learn."