Dan has been interested in molecular gastronomy for a while. Who knows, maybe the science part of it appeals to the patent lawyer in him. Or it’s the prospect of new cooking tools. Or perhaps some combination of both. . . . He has particularly been wanting to try sous vide, which is a method of cooking food sealed in an airtight plastic bag in a water bath at a precise, low temperature for a long time. Part of the reason he is into this technique is because it is and has been used by up-and-coming chefs, and was recently translated to the home chef via a relatively new cooking toy tool. So I decided to surprise Dan with a sous vide machine for his birthday this year. For the inaugural use, Dan chose top round roast. It turned out great, and Dan looks forward to much more experimenting with his b-day gift. In case anyone is curious, I’m really interested in jewelry featuring various precious gems, and my birthday is in May. Continue reading “Top Round Roast – Sous Vide Style”
Category: Main Courses
Grilled Lobster Tails
On certain holidays where many people like to go out to restaurants, we prefer to stay in and cook something a little out of the ordinary. For example, on New Year’s Eve, we had mussels. For Valentine’s Day this year, Dan grilled lobster tails, and we served them with pasta in a very nice setting at our dining room table (where we eat 2.5 meals per year, on average.) Grilled lobster is absolutely delicious and so easy to prepare — we should probably make it more often than we do. But we appreciate having a few special recipes that we save to celebrate important occasions, which is what we think Valentine’s Day is all about: a day to recognize and do a little something extra or different for the ones you love. Continue reading “Grilled Lobster Tails”
Potato Leek Soup
We have sung the praises of Cook’s Illustrated and their cookbooks before, and we consult them for recipes all the time. Since this winter in Dallas has been much, much colder than usual, we were in the mood for a hearty soup for dinner. We found the perfect recipe in Cook’s Illustrated’s “Soups & Stews.” I actually cooked this one on my own, and it was really easy. Really. I don’t like to cook by myself and am easily intimidated by complex (to me) recipes. But this one had relatively few ingredients and steps, so I decided to give it a shot. Continue reading “Potato Leek Soup”
Fish Tacos
Dan is crazy for fish tacos. He has tried them at pretty much every restaurant that serves them, and it has been his ongoing quest to find the very best fish tacos in Dallas. We had never made them at home, but after seeing a show with “Sam the Cooking Guy” preparing this recipe, we were inspired to try making our own. While I’ve never been a huge fan of fish in any form, I love these fish tacos, and they are now one of my favorite ways to eat fish. They don’t have any “fishy” taste at all — just very fresh, spicy, tangy and delicious. Continue reading “Fish Tacos”
Chicken Paillard with Spinach
We created this recipe based on a dish I had years ago at a local restaurant. “Paillard” refers to the technique of pounding the chicken flat before cooking it so that it cooks faster and more evenly. One of the reasons we love this recipe is that it incorporates the main course and side into a single dish, making it easy to prepare during a busy week. The recipe is also a good one because it uses fresh spinach, which is a “superfood.” And we balance out the healthy with a little bit of bacon, which of course makes everything better. Continue reading “Chicken Paillard with Spinach”
Chicken Cacciatore
This is delicious “comfort food” recipe that we found in Cook’s Illustrated Italian Classics, when we were looking for a way to use sage from our garden. This recipe isn’t as quick as some of our weeknight dishes, but you could easily make it on a weekend and have the leftovers (if there are any) the following week. We weren’t really sure if we would like this recipe the first time we made it, since we (I) aren’t huge fans of stew-like dishes, but we were pleasantly surprised. It has just the right amount of stew type ingredients (meat, tomatoes and mushrooms), and we love just about any recipe that includes chicken thighs. Continue reading “Chicken Cacciatore”
Potato Leek Pizza
We love pizza. As you may know, we recently discovered how easy it is to make pizza dough at home. Since then, we’ve made several different kinds of pizza, including this rather unusual Potato Leek Pizza from the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook. Leeks are in season around here and this is a really good way to use them. Think of the best loaded baked potato you’ve ever had, but even better because it’s in the form of a delicious thin-crust pizza. Continue reading “Potato Leek Pizza”
Korean Chicken
This is a great weeknight meal because it uses just a few simple ingredients, and you can do the majority of the cooking either the night before or the morning of your meal. The chicken cooks in less than an hour with very little attention, and the flavor is amazing – spicy yet tangy at the same time. This recipe is a good example of how easy it can be to cook Asian food at home that is as delicious (or even more delicious) than your favorite take-out. One of these days, we ought to throw a dinner party featuring this dish and some of our other home-cooked Asian specialties. Continue reading “Korean Chicken”
“Disappearing” Pork Tenderloin with Pico de Gallo
Cooking pork tenderloin usually yields enough pork for two main dishes in one week, especially when you cook two tenderloins, which is how tenderloin is typically packaged. If you don’t want to cook both tenderloins, you can always separate them and freeze one for later. We found this grilled pork tenderloin recipe in Weber’s Big Book of Grilling, one of our favorite grilling cookbooks. We thought it would taste good on its own, and would be good as leftovers incorporated into a different dish later in the week. This recipe takes a little extra time because the pork requires a marinade, a rub and a pico de gallo topping. But the end result is worth your while. According to Weber, “after one bite you’ll know how we came up with the name for this recipe.” Continue reading ““Disappearing” Pork Tenderloin with Pico de Gallo”
Chef Salad-ish (with leftover ham)
I call this “Chef Salad-ish” because I’m not really sure what all the ingredients are for classic chef salad, nor do I know what kind of dressing to use. But I’m pretty sure that chef salad has ham in it, and we just happened to have some ham left over from our Grilled Ham Steak. As you could probably guess, Dan was out of town on the night I made this salad, which meant I had to cook my own dinner. So, aside from take-out, this is about as simple as it gets here at FoodieLawyer. Continue reading “Chef Salad-ish (with leftover ham)”