On the Table: Bleu Cheese and Parm Souffle

Bleu cheese and eggs went so well together in bleu cheese eggs, I decided to do a variation - bleu cheese in a souffle!  The eggs take a very different form, but the results are still delicious!  I used half bleu cheese and half parmesan cheese, which really helped balance out the flavor.  I adapted a recipe from the 1961 version of The New York Times Cook Book - they used cheddar cheese, which I bet would also be delicious!  To prepare:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Butter or spray the inside of a two-quart souffle dish, and coat the inside of the dish with grated parmesan cheese.

Separate four eggs (I just use my hands, but you could also use an egg separator).

Put 1.5 cups of milk (2% or whole) in a small saucepan over low heat, and bring it up to a simmer.

In the meantime, melt a quarter of a cup of butter in a medium-sized pot.

Whisk a quarter of a cup of flour into the melted butter.

Allow to cook for a few minutes, so the mixture lightens slightly in color.  Whisk in the hot milk (try to get out any lumps).  Add in salt, cayenne pepper, and worcestershire sauce to taste.

Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.  In the meantime, grate/crumble half a pound of cheese - I used approximately equal parts bleu and parmesan.  Stir the cheese into the milk mixture, until the cheese (mostly) melts (the bleu cheese might remain in small chunks).

When the cheese is incorporated, whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time.  Once all of the egg yolks are incorporated, allow the mixture to cool while you whip the egg whites.

Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.  You could use a stand mixer, hand mixer, or your hand and a whisk.  I do not recommend the last option!

Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture.  Don't stir it, really, otherwise you'll lose a lot of the air you incorporated into the egg whites.  You want to add maybe a quarter of the egg whites at a time, then incorporate them into the cheese mixture by running a spatula through the egg whites and around the bowl, then folding it all together.

When all of the egg whites are incorporated, pour the mixture into the prepared souffle dish.

Bake in the preheated oven for about half an hour, until the souffle is risen and nicely browned on top.  (I used the oven light to check on the souffle's progress; if you are going to open the oven door, open it just a little and very gently - you don't want cold air whooshing into the oven or your souffle might fall).

Eat immediately.

Enjoy!

On the Table: Yellow Beans

I have had a serious "bacon makes everything better" party for the past few days - bacon in the eggplant, bacon for breakfast, and then bacon and yellow beans.  I found the yellow beans at the farmers' market, and I wanted to try them. 

They are pretty much green beans that are...yellow.  The flavor is slightly less pronounced than that of green beans, but otherwise they are very similar - nice and crunchy!  I cooked them pretty simply, and they were delicious!  To prepare:

Wash the beans and cut the ends off them.

Dice up five slices of thick-cut bacon.

Put a 3.5 quart pot over medium/low heat.  Thinly coat the bottom of the pan with canola oil.  Add the bacon to the pot.  Cook, stirring often, until the bacon becomes nice and crispy.  Remove the bacon from the pan and put it onto a paper towel-lined plate.

Add the beans to the pot.  Stir well to coat with the bacon fat.

Add to the pot 3/4 of a cup of chicken stock, 1/4 of a cup of light brown sugar, one tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, one teaspoon of red chili flakes (or less, if you like less spice), and salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Allow the liquid to come to a simmer, turn down the heat to maintain a simmer, cover the pot, and allow to cook for 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove the lid.

Mix one tablespoon of corn starch with cold water until it dissolves (sorry, white liquid in a white bowl doesn't photograph very well!). 

Stir the mixture into the beans.  Allow the liquid to come to a simmer, and the corn starch will thicken the sauce as it gets hot.

Serve over rice and topped with the bacon bits.

Enjoy!

On the Table: Stewed Eggplant

I think last week was probably the end of eggplant at the farmers' market, and since, well, I could eat eggplant every day, I figured I should make one last fantastic dish for the season.  I had recently had a delicious eggplant dish at an Afghan restaurant, so I decided to make something similar.  This version was fantastic!  It featured this little guy (I think he told some lies!)...

...and this little guy (the lighter eggplant seemed to have a sweeter, slightly onion-y flavor - it was great mixed with the darker variety).

To prepare:

Dice up the eggplant into approximately one inch pieces.

Dice up half a yellow onion.

Dice up a large tomato (it's also the end of the season for them!).  The pieces can be be fairly big (up to an inch long) because they are going to shrink a lot during cooking.

Dice up four slices of thick-cut bacon.

Put a 3.5 quart pot oven medium/low heat and put just a splash of canola oil in the bottom of the pan.  Add the bacon to the pot.  Cook, stirring often, until the bacon gets nice and crispy.  Scoop it out of the pot and onto a paper towel-lined plate.  Leave the bacon fat in the pot!

Add the onions to the pot.  Cook, stirring often, until the onions become translucent.

Add the eggplant to the pot.

Stir well to coat in the bacon fat (!!).  Add the tomatoes to the pot...

...along with chicken stock to come about 1/3 of the way up the eggplant, a dash or two of cinnamon, salt (be careful, since the bacon and the chicken stock can both add a lot of salt to the dish), and freshly ground black pepper.

Bring the liquid to a simmer, lower the heat just to maintain a simmer, and cover the pot.  Allow to cook for about twenty minutes.  Remove the lid and cook for five minutes, then stir in about a cup of rice and cook for another five minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve topped with the bacon.

Enjoy!

On the Table: Braised Chicken with Carrots and Tomatoes

I made some delicious braised chicken the other night, and it was incredibly easy - perfect for a weeknight meal!  To prepare:

Cut up five carrots into bite-sized chunks (the carrots I used were close to the same width along the whole length, but if yours are a lot thicker at one end, you should cut the pieces in half length-wise.

Cut up a large tomato into bite-sized chunks.

Put a 3.5 quart pot over medium/low heat, and thinly coat the bottom of the pan with canola oil and a little bit of butter.  When the oil gets hot, put two chicken thighs (or more! - you just want them to fit into the pan in a single layer), skin-side down, in the pan.  Cook until the chicken is nice and browned.  Flip the chicken over and brown on the other side.  (The chicken does not need to be cooked through at this point.)

(The piece of chicken on the left could definitely have been cooked more.)

Add the carrots to the pot.  Stir well to coat the carrots in the fat. 

Cook for a few minutes.  Add the tomatoes to the pot.

Add to the pot chicken stock to come halfway up the height of the chicken, along with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Allow the liquid to come to a simmer.  Cover the pot, turn down the heat so the liquid just maintains a simmer, and cook for about 45 minutes.

Check to make sure the carrots are tender, and if they are not, allow to cook for a little bit longer.

I served the chicken with baked sweet potatoes, but it would also be delicious over rice!

Enjoy!

On the Table: Zucchini, Tomato, and Rice Salad

The oven dried tomatoes I made the other day were delicious, and perfect for snacking all by themselves.  However, I figured they would be even BETTER paired with some other flavors.  I thought roasted zucchini would complement the sweetness of the tomatoes, and then I figured I could add some rice to make a lovely little salad.  This salad is a perfect display of late summer flavors, and it is DELICIOUS!  The salad can definitely be eaten cold, but I liked it a little bit better warm.  To prepare:

Whip up a batch of oven dried tomatoes (ok fine, you can't really "whip up" these tomatoes - so I suggest just keeping some around the house :) ).

You'll want the equivalent of about half a pint of tomatoes (based on uncooked volume).

To roast the zucchini, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Dice up a large zucchini into bite-sized pieces (sorry, I didn't get a picture of this guy whole!). 

Spread the zucchini on a baking sheet.

Drizzle the zucchini with canola oil and salt, and rub the oil into the zucchini.  Cook in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender.

When the zucchini is done, transfer it to a large pot over low heat (I was using a mixture of hot and cold ingredients, so I mixed everything in a pot so I could warm it all up together.  If you make all the components on the same day and have them all hot at the same time, then by all means just mix them in a bowl).

Add in the tomatoes and about a cup of cooked rice (or more or less, depending on your preference).

Stir well to combine, and cook until all components are heated through.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  At the last minute, finish the salad with a drizzle of good quality olive oil.

I would think this salad would also be delicious with tiny pasta or quinoa instead of rice, and topped with some lemon zest.

Enjoy!