Posts Tagged ‘scallions’
Pass the Cook Book Club: Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin
February 28, 2013 | 
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Welcome to the first month of Pass the Cook Book Club, hosted by Kita of Pass the Sushi. This club strives to dust off those unused cookbooks as once a month we post and share recipes from a randomly selected book. Don’t own the cookbook selected? No worries! Kita sends out three recipes to choose from to cook and share. For more info on how you can join the fun, check out the club’s Facebook page.
To kick off PCBC, we cooked from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier. I chose the perfect potato au gratin and served it with oven-fried chicken. These potatoes were incredibly easy to prepare. For some reason I was convinced I would have to use my mandoline to slice the potatoes, but was relieved to find out all I needed to use (and clean up) was a knife and cutting board. The ease of creation means these already irresistibly creamy and cheesy potatoes are even more dangerous. Good luck only eating one serving.
One year ago: Homemade Almond Butter
Two years ago: Over Easy Breakfast Bagel Sandwich
PERFECT POTATOES AU GRATIN
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
1/2 cup whole milk (I used 2%)
1-1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
Pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the potatoes into sticks, then dice. Place in a large baking dish. Combine the milk and cream in a bowl. Add the flour, garlic, salt and pepper and whisk. Pour over potatoes and dot the top with small pieces of butter.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and and bake for another 20 minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese and bake for another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Sprinkle on the green onions and serve hot.
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier, page 226.
Loaded Baked Potato Dip
This dip has been on my list of things to make since I first saw it – in January! I unfortunately don’t have the opportunity to make appetizers much since I am typically cooking for one, so the occasions for which I could make this dip were kind of slim. But with the rise of football season, I no longer needed much of an excuse to make it. I even substituted out some of the sour cream for Greek yogurt. It totally makes up for all that cheese and bacon, right? I guess you could use turkey bacon if you’d like. Personally, I prefer the real thing, especially when it plays such a major role.
Traffic court attempt #2 this morning. I’m sure I’ll have some sort of rant ready for you tomorrow.
LOADED BAKED POTATO DIP
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients:
8 oz. light sour cream
8 oz. plain Greek yogurt (I used 2% Chobani)
16 slices (12 oz. package) bacon, cooked and crumbled
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions or chives
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving to allow flavors to meld together. Garnish with extra shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, and chopped chives. Serve with your favorite potato chips or pretzel crisps. Dip can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Source: Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.
Posted in Appetizers & Snacks, Dips, Holidays, Sports Events | 
Tags: Greek yogurt, scallions, sour cream | 
16 Comments »
Corn Chowder with Zucchini and Orzo
Frequent flyer miles irritate me. I have been flying all over the place this year on Delta, including to Europe, and I still have not stocked up enough to be bumped up to whatever the next level is from the bottom. I sometimes think that frequent flyer mile programs are only meant for business folks who travel for their jobs. Which seems unfair since their job is paying for all of it anyway. And speaking of frequent flyer miles, assuming it wouldn’t be as much of a pain to stock up on how about frequent driver miles? My time in the car has greatly increased as of late and I feel like there should be some compensation for it. I’d take even a free CD of my choice to keep me entertained and awake. Music provides safety.
But I digress. Let’s talk about soup. Yes soup in the middle of this hot, gross summer. For some reason when you call it “chowder” it becomes summer appropriate and sounds more appealing. This corn chowder uses corn freshly cut from the cob and there’s even a mix of zucchini and orzo to top it off. This was one batch of leftovers I didn’t mind eating for a few days in a row.
CORN CHOWDER WITH ZUCCHINI AND ORZO
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided (I used Melt)
1 medium zucchini, medium diced
1/4 lb cooked whole wheat orzo
1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
Salt and pepper
3 cups corn kernels (from 4 ears), cobs reserved
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high. Add zucchini and saute until crisp-tender, 4 minutes. Stir in orzo and heat until warmed through. Transfer to a bowl and toss with scallions greens; season with salt and pepper.
- Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the same saucepan over medium-high. Ass scallion whites and saute until tender, 3 minutes. Add corn kernels and cook until tender, 3 minutes. Add vegetable stock, water, and corncobs and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until chowder thickens slightly, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from heat and discard cobs and season with salt and pepper. In batched, fill a blender halfway with chowder and puree, or use an immersion blender. Serve chowder topped with zucchini mixture.
Source: Adapted slightly from Everyday Food, July/August 2012
Posted in Entree, Soup Stew Chili, Vegetarian | Tags: corn, orzo, scallions, zucchini | 8 Comments »
Vegetable Fried Rice for One
Despite waking up at 5:30am every day this past weekend to play with yeast (not the baking kind), I had a pretty nice weekend. It’s amazing how much I accomplished in the little amount of free time that I had, and how relaxed I felt by Sunday night. Even got in a lovely phone chat with my friend Amber back in Columbus. It’s the little things that keep me going 
. Especially since as I write this, it is 10pm and I am doing that graduate student research thing at lab.
This recipe serves one person and it’s quick and easy to prepare. Perfect match for my mission to not produce any leftovers before I head out of town, in combination with my sparse time. It was also my first time ever using fresh ginger, and smells amazing! I never want to use dried ground ginger again. Which brings me to a question, how do you store ginger root? Is it supposed to be refrigerated or left out on the counter?
VEGETABLE FRIED RICE FOR ONE
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
4 tsp vegetable oil, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 medium zucchini, quartered and thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cooked brown rice, cold
1 cup baby spinach
Directions:
- In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large nonstick skillet or wok, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high. Add egg and cook until set. Transfer to a cutting board.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add carrot, and zucchini and cook, stirring until softened, about 3 minutes. Add scallion, ginger, and garlic and cook until scallion is soft, about 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Add soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring, until liquid is absorbed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Coarsely chop egg and stir into rice, serve.
Source: Adapted slightly from Everyday Food June 2012.
Beef Negimaki With Broccolini and Rice
For some reason I always feel like I don’t eat enough red meat, so when I saw this recipe I immediately wanted to make it. Especially since it sounded really good and easy. I couldn’t for the life of me find broccolini so I was forced to just use broccoli. Where on earth is that stuff in a grocery store anyway?? Not in the produce section or frozen even. Maybe it’s a specialty store item, boo. I can’t imagine it really changed anything other than the appearance. After all, the flavors of this dish were perfect (hoisin sauce FTW) and cleanup was a snap!
Ingredients:
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 lb top round, thinly sliced and cut into 12 strips
8 scallions, cut into 3-inch-long pieces
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup instant brown rice
1 lb broccolini
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Directions:
- Heat grill. Fold four 18-inch-long pieces of foil in half; unfold and coat inside with cooking spray.
- Combine hoisin, soy sauce, vinegar and oil in a bowl; coat beef with marinade. Place a handful of scallions and carrots on end of 1 strip of beef (tips should hang over edges of meat); roll up beef to enclose vegetables and secure with a toothpick. Repeat with remaining beef, scallions and carrots.
- Place 1/4 cup rice in center of 1 half of each piece of foil; top rice with 3 beef rolls each. Surround rice and beef in each packet with 1/4 of broccolini; season all with salt and pepper.
- Fold foil to close and crimp 2 sides of each packet, leaving 1 side open; pour 1/4 cup broth into each packet. Crimp third side of packets to seal; place on grill; close lid; cook until packets are fully puffed, 10 minutes. Carefully cut foil to open; serve.
Source: SELF Magazine
Posted in Beef, Entree | Tags: broccoli, carrots, Chinese, hoisin sauce, rice, scallions, soy sauce | 5 Comments »
Almond Crusted Chicken with Scallion Beurre Blanc
Am I lame for getting excited about Rachael’s tip for easy clean up after breading? One less dish to wash, hooray!
Unless you read the recipe already, you will have no idea what I am talking about. Although it will probably be anticlimactic, go ahead and scroll down. Just promise to return to me up here!
…
Surprisingly, the sauce was not as rich as I had anticipated. Very smooth and flavorful, but a little light for a cream sauce (did I just hear you scoff?). Meanwhile the chicken was perfectly moist, and the crust was nice and crunchy. I do love a good crusty one on my plate! In fact, I used Panko bread crumbs to pump up the crunch even more.
I served mine with leftover blue-cheese scalloped potatoes. Although this was not the best side for this dish (I am trying to eat leftovers anyway possible), I did swirl them into the sauce a bit and ended up creating something new. I think I still would’ve preferred a simple side of broccoli.
Ingredients:
2 scallions, whites and greens, very finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 Tbsp heavy cream, divided
1 large egg
8 pieces chicken breast cutlets, 1-1/4 lbs
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup plain Panko bread crumbs
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Olive oil or vegetable oil
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
Directions:
- Combine the scallions, white wine and 2 tablespoons cream in a saucepan over medium heat and reduce to 1/4 cup liquid, 5 to 6 minutes.
- While the sauce is working, beat egg and set chicken into it. Combine almonds, bread crumbs, nutmeg, salt and pepper, to taste, in a food processor and grind to combine.
- Cover a plate with plastic wrap to make for easy clean up after breading and pour almond and bread crumb mixture onto it. Remove chicken from the egg and coat in the bread crumb mixture.
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Heat 3 tablespoons, 3 turns of the pan, oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add cutlets and cook 3 minutes on each side, transfer to a plate and cover with foil and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining chicken.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons cream into the sauce. Lower the heat on the sauce and whisk the butter into pot until it has incorporated. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper, to your taste.
- Place 2 cutlets on each dinner plate and spoon a little beurre blanc sauce down over top of the cutlets.
Source: Rachael Ray
