Showing posts with label two. Show all posts
Showing posts with label two. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Holiday Menu Item Turkey Two Ways Part I Turkey for Two Herb Roasted Turkey Breast
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| Turkey for Two: Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast |
This turkey was so tender and juicy it was falling apart. I used a fresh 5-pound Butterball bone-in turkey breast, which is perfect for 2 to 4 people. For 2 people, there will be leftovers and leftover turkey makes a great sandwich the next day or even a turkey pot pie.
This recipe was definitely inspired by Ina Gartens Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with just a few modifications because Im not in my normal kitchen and didnt have everything at my disposal.
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| Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast |
I used an adjustable rack fitted inside a disposable pan to roast the turkey breast.
Turkey for Two: Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast
adapted from Ina Garten
Serves 2-4
Oven 325 degrees F
Ingredients:
5-pound bone-in turkey breast (I used a fresh Butterball)
2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
4 leaves fresh sage, minced
2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, leaves only
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme, leaves only
2 large cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 cup white wine
Pat turkey breast dry with paper towels, then place skin side up on rack in shallow roasting pan.
In small bowl mix butter, sage, rosemary, thyme, and garlic. Using your hands place some of the butter mixture under the skin of the breast and spread the rest evenly on top. Pour the olive oil in the palm of your hand, rub together then pat the outside of the turkey to distribute. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper, including the cavity.
As I often do, I forgot to add the garlic to the butter mixture until just after I had placed in the oven. I quickly pulled it out, added it at that time, and it was fine.
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| place some of the butter mixture under the skin |
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| spread the rest evenly on top |
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| with the garlic, the way it should have been |
Pour the wine in the bottom of the pan and place in oven. Roast for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the muscle reads 170 degrees F. If turkey is browning too much, cover loosely with aluminum foil. When turkey is done, remove from oven and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before serving.
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| just out of the oven |
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| So juicy and tender, and the rosemary really comes through. |
Stay tuned for Part II of Turkey Two Ways.. Turkey for 10 with a Twist.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
A Stress Free New Years Eve Celebration for Two Featuring Creamy Shrimp Polenta Bites
Now that Christmas is over, its time to focus on the next celebration on the calendar: New Years Eve! Some years we go out for a late dinner at a fancy restaurant and ring in the New Year with a big crowd of festive guests. Other years, we take a low-key approach and watch the Times Square ball drop on TV just the two of us. If youre planning to celebrate at home this year, Ive got a fabulous no-stress menu for you featuring a festive bubbly cocktail, a lovely array of chocolate-based treats...and an elegant appetizer thats so simple to whip up. Who says elegant has to be complicated?!?!?
My Creamy Shrimp Polenta Bites feature two products from my friends at Friedas Specialty Produce: Organic Basil & Garlic Polenta and Tomato Pesto. The polenta is pre-cooked and formed into rolls that you simply slice and pan saute before topping with your favorite ingredients. The flavorful pesto is made with dried tomatoes and herbs. To keep the Italian theme going, I topped each polenta round with flavored cream cheese. I purchased pre-cooked boiled shrimp, which also saved me time. The cream cheese mixture can be prepared a day ahead, which means you can whip up these appetizers in less than 30 minutes on New Years Eve. Ill tell you all about my Ruby Sparkler cocktail and simple chocolate plate immediately following the appetizer recipe. If youre planning to go out for New Years Eve, this menu would also be perfect for a romantic Valentines evening as well. Just saying.Creamy Shrimp Polenta Bites
a Weekend Gourmet Original
Ingredients:
- 1 tube Friedas Organic Basil & Garlic Polenta
- 1 tbs. olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbs. chopped basil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
- 1 tbs. tomato paste
- 1 tbs. Cajun seasoning [NOTE: I used Paul Prudhommes Seafood Magic.]
- 8 large boiled shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 cup Friedas Tomato Pesto
Step 1: Make the cream cheese topping by combining the cream cheese, basil, garlic, tomato paste and Cajun seasoning. Stir well to thoroughly combine and refrigerate until its time to assemble the appetizers. NOTE: This can be done up to a day ahead.
Step 2: Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over med-high heat. Slice 8 1/2 -inch slices of polenta from the tube. Add to the hot pan and cook until golden brown on both sides. This took about 5-6 minutes per side for me. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 3: Let the polenta rounds cool slightly. Spread with 1 tbs. of the cream cheese mixture. Top the cream cheese with a boiled shrimp and a teaspoon of the tomato pesto. Plate the bites on a pretty serving plate and serve. I opted to alternate the polenta rounds with extra boiled shrimp topped with a bit of cocktail sauce.
These appetizers are amazing...full of flavor and gorgeous too! The basil and garlic in the cream cheese works perfectly with the seasoning in the polenta, and the tomato paste works well with the tangy tomato pesto. These two-bite appetizers are the perfect combination of simplicity and elegance.
I created a simple and fun Ruby Sparkler cocktail to pair with my polenta bites. It features Mumm Cuvee M sparkling wine...because you MUST have bubbles on New Years Eve! We first discovered Mumm sparkling wines during a visit to Napa Valley a few years ago, and theyve been some of our favorites since. Cuvee M is slightly sweet and selected by Mumm as being an ideal pairing for hors doevres and spicy food. It has notes of strawberry and vanilla in its flavor profile. Its delicious on its own, but I wanted to create a fun drink for us to enjoy. To make my Ruby Sparkler, simply add equal amounts of pomegranate juice and well chilled Mumm Cuvee M to a wine glass. Then, float 3-4 frozen organic raspberries in each glass. Thats it...simple and sweetly tart, its a refreshing way to celebrate!
I wanted to round out my celebration menu with something sweet, but I wasnt in the mood to spend hours baking. Luckyfor me, Godiva and the local bakery came to my rescue! Godiva recently introduced a fantastic line of truffle flights. Each flight contains six truffles that center on a flavor theme, including: Ultimate Dessert Truffle Flight, Nut Lovers Truffle Flight and Cake Truffle Flight. Each flight features six flavors that progress from lighter flavors to stronger flavors and textures. I added a couple of truffles from the Ultimate Dessert and Cake flights to my dessert plate: Birthday Cake, Chocolate Lava Cake, Creme Brulee and Salted Caramel. The truffles were so flavorful and decadent! I rounded out my simple dessert plate with classic chocolate-dipped strawberries and small shortbread cookies from a local bakery...I even dipped some of them in chocolate too!
There you have it...a delicious celebration menu that tastes great, looks festive and is guaranteed to be 100% stress free! I hope youll give my celebration menu a try for New Years Eve...or perhaps another celebration-for-two thats on your calendar for 2014. Its sure to be a hit!!
Disclosure: Friedas Specialty Produce, Mumm Napa and Godiva provided me with products to facilitate this article. I received no further compensation, and all opinions expressed are my own.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Wrapping Up Driscolls Berry Week with Baked Blueberry Lemon Doughnuts and a Giveaway for TWO FREE Driscolls Berry Coupons!!
Its time to wrap up Driscolls Berry Week with a sweet finale! Sunday is also World Baking Day, so the first thing that came to mind to celebrate both of these fun events was to make a batch of baked doughnuts using Driscolls sweet and juicy blueberries! I love my doughnut pan, so Im always looking for fun new ways to use it. When I thought about making blueberry doughnuts, lemon immediately came to mind. Its a perfect combination in my book! I looked around for a recipe that featured light, healthy ingredients and found a great recipe to tweak that features yogurt to keep the doughnuts nice and moist. The glaze combines crushed blueberries, lemon juice, and lemon zest for a pronounced fruit flavor. These doughnuts were love at first bite for me!
To amp up the blueberry flavor even more, I used Chobani blueberry Greek yogurt. The batter is flavored with both lemon extract and vanilla bean paste from Nielsen-Massey. These gems were literally ready for the oven in about 10 minutes. While they baked, I whipped up the sweet-tart glaze. These can be ready -- start to finish -- in just over 30 minutes. They make a great dessert or evening snack...and theyre also great for a leisurely weekend brunch. If you love blueberries, youll go nuts for these doughnuts. My recipe makes 6 doughnuts, but feel free to double the ingredients to feed a larger crowd.
Read more »
To amp up the blueberry flavor even more, I used Chobani blueberry Greek yogurt. The batter is flavored with both lemon extract and vanilla bean paste from Nielsen-Massey. These gems were literally ready for the oven in about 10 minutes. While they baked, I whipped up the sweet-tart glaze. These can be ready -- start to finish -- in just over 30 minutes. They make a great dessert or evening snack...and theyre also great for a leisurely weekend brunch. If you love blueberries, youll go nuts for these doughnuts. My recipe makes 6 doughnuts, but feel free to double the ingredients to feed a larger crowd.
Baked Blueberry-Lemon Doughnuts
adapted from King Arthur Flour
Step 1: Preheat oven to 375, and spray the wells of a doughnut pan with cooking spray. Prepare the batter by adding the following dry ingredients to a mixing bowl: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Whisk to combine and add the following wet ingredients to the bowl: 1 small container Chobani blueberry Greek yogurt, 1 large egg, 2 tsp. vegetable oil, 1 tsp. Nielsen-Massey lemon extract, and 1 tsp. Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract).
Step 2: Mix just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Add 3/4 cup Driscolls blueberries and the zest of one small lemon. Stir gently to combine the zest and berries into the batter, being careful not to break up the berries. Spoon the batter into the doughnut pan and bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Step 3: Make the doughnut glaze. Add 1/3 cup blueberries to a small bowl and crush with a fork. Add the juice and from 1 small lemon and enough powdered sugar to make a thick glaze. Your mileage may vary, but I added about 1 cup of powdered sugar to get the consistency I was looking for. Its a gorgeous purple-pink color!
Step 4: Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing them. This will allow them to release from the pan much easier. These doughnuts are a bit fragile when warm, so I found it easiest to place them on foil and spoon the glaze over the warm doughnuts. Let them cool until the glaze is set, then place on a serving platter.
Mercy, are these a little bite of blueberry heaven! Thanks to blueberries and blueberry yogurt in the batter -- and a healthy dose of blueberries in the glaze -- these doughnuts pack a huge blueberry punch! The lemon stands up to the blueberry quite nicely, but doesnt overpower. The yogurt keeps them moist and delicate, and the fact that theyre baked saves calories and fat over takeout doughnuts. I like knowing exactly what I put into these!
Ive had a blast at Driscolls Berry Week, and I hope youve enjoyed the recipes I featured. Driscolls is giving one of you TWO coupons for free berry products, so make sure to enter by leaving a comment below telling me your favorite way to enjoy berries, along with your e-mail. Ill be picking a winner on Monday, so hurry to enter. Good luck!
Disclosure: Driscolls and Nielsen-Massey gave me coupons for free berries and samples of extracts to facilitate this World Baking Day post. All opinions are mine.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
SM�RBR�D Two different types of Norwegian Smoked Salmon Open Sandwiches
An important Scandinavian contribution to modern international cuisine is the smoked salmon. The Norwegian smoked salmon dishes developed into a variety of dishes. Typically the smoked salmon is served with scrambled eggs, dill, sandwiches or mustard sauce. A long tradition in Norway is the open-face sandwich with smoked salmon.
In this blog posting we are making two different types of Norwegian Smoked Salmon Open Sandwiches. One of the main element of both open face sandwich is that the ingredients should be fresh. Both are very easy and quick to make for either, lunch, dinner or a larger SMØRBRØ. You can even cut the sandwiches into smaller appetizers. The smoked salmon sandwiches are great to cut into small appetizers. These appetizers are great for entertaining and your guests will enjoy the tasty smoke salmon. We have included our YouTube video to see how both sandwich are made too.
First Open Face Sandwich is the Smoke Salmon & Egg Sandwich
Ingredients:
The ingredients should complement one another with respect both to taste and appearance.
* 1 slice of Italian or French white bread
* European style butter
* 1 smoke salmon fillet
* slices of hard boiled egg
* sprinkle capers
* snippings of dill
* slices of tomato is optional
Instructions:
Spread the butter across either an Italian or French bread. The butter or spread helps keep the bread from drying out and absorbing liquids from toppings in addition to adding flavor.
Then add 1 smoke salmon fillet on top of the white bread. Add a couple of slices of hard boiled eggs on top. Garnish with a sprinkle of capers and snippings of dill. It is that easy!
Please note that because open face sandwiches are about appearances, it is important not to press the toppings onto each other. Just lay each item on top of each other.
Scandinavian Triva: Below are the way Nordic ways to spell smoked salmon: * Norwegian - røkt laks
* Danish - røget Laks
* Swedish - FÄRSKRÖKT
* Finnish- LAXsavustettu lohi
* Icelandic - reyktur lax
Please share and like our video. For more Scandinavian cooking videos please subscribe to our channel too! Thank you!
Second Open Face Sandwich is Smoke Salmon & Scrambled Egg Sandwich
Ingredients:
* 1 slice of Italian or French bread
* European style butter
* 1 smoke salmon fillet
* scrambled eggs
* slices of tomato
* snippings of chives
Thinly spread with European style butter on a slice of freshly cut white bread (Italian or French).
This begins the basis for artfully arranged toppings and edible garnish. Then add 1 smoke salmon fillet on top of the white bread. Lay on top of the smoked salmon the scrambled eggs. Garnish with tomato and snippigs of dill. It is that easy!
Scandinavian Trivia: gravlax translates to buried salmon.
We hope you enjoyed our video and recipe! Please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel Scandinavian Today. Our channel has videos including
*how to make Danish Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce dessert recipe (Risalamande med kirsebærsauce)
*how to make Swedish Glogg for Christmas & cold evenings! (glögg or mulled wine recipe)
*how to make aeblskiver (æbleskiver)
*how to make Danish Christmas Klejner
*how to make easy Danish cucumber salad (arguksalat)
*how to make Danish sugar browned potatoes (brunede kartofler)
*how to make Danish red cabbage (rødkaal)
These recipes are perfect for the holiday season. Please let us know what you think! Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥ !
Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://.blogspot.com/
Follow us either on Twitter @, Blogger, Google+, Google Pages, Pinterest and Subscribe to our YouTube Chanel Scandinavian Today! Lets get cooking Scandinavian foods!
Read more »
In this blog posting we are making two different types of Norwegian Smoked Salmon Open Sandwiches. One of the main element of both open face sandwich is that the ingredients should be fresh. Both are very easy and quick to make for either, lunch, dinner or a larger SMØRBRØ. You can even cut the sandwiches into smaller appetizers. The smoked salmon sandwiches are great to cut into small appetizers. These appetizers are great for entertaining and your guests will enjoy the tasty smoke salmon. We have included our YouTube video to see how both sandwich are made too.
First Open Face Sandwich is the Smoke Salmon & Egg Sandwich
Ingredients:
The ingredients should complement one another with respect both to taste and appearance.
* 1 slice of Italian or French white bread
* European style butter
* 1 smoke salmon fillet
* slices of hard boiled egg
* sprinkle capers
* snippings of dill
* slices of tomato is optional
Instructions:
Spread the butter across either an Italian or French bread. The butter or spread helps keep the bread from drying out and absorbing liquids from toppings in addition to adding flavor.
Then add 1 smoke salmon fillet on top of the white bread. Add a couple of slices of hard boiled eggs on top. Garnish with a sprinkle of capers and snippings of dill. It is that easy!
Please note that because open face sandwiches are about appearances, it is important not to press the toppings onto each other. Just lay each item on top of each other.
Scandinavian Triva: Below are the way Nordic ways to spell smoked salmon: * Norwegian - røkt laks
* Danish - røget Laks
* Swedish - FÄRSKRÖKT
* Finnish- LAXsavustettu lohi
* Icelandic - reyktur lax
Please share and like our video. For more Scandinavian cooking videos please subscribe to our channel too! Thank you!
Second Open Face Sandwich is Smoke Salmon & Scrambled Egg Sandwich
Ingredients:
* 1 slice of Italian or French bread
* European style butter
* 1 smoke salmon fillet
* scrambled eggs
* slices of tomato
* snippings of chives
Thinly spread with European style butter on a slice of freshly cut white bread (Italian or French).
This begins the basis for artfully arranged toppings and edible garnish. Then add 1 smoke salmon fillet on top of the white bread. Lay on top of the smoked salmon the scrambled eggs. Garnish with tomato and snippigs of dill. It is that easy!
Scandinavian Trivia: gravlax translates to buried salmon.
We hope you enjoyed our video and recipe! Please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel Scandinavian Today. Our channel has videos including
*how to make Danish Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce dessert recipe (Risalamande med kirsebærsauce)
*how to make Swedish Glogg for Christmas & cold evenings! (glögg or mulled wine recipe)
*how to make aeblskiver (æbleskiver)
*how to make Danish Christmas Klejner
*how to make easy Danish cucumber salad (arguksalat)
*how to make Danish sugar browned potatoes (brunede kartofler)
*how to make Danish red cabbage (rødkaal)
These recipes are perfect for the holiday season. Please let us know what you think! Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥ !
Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://.blogspot.com/
Follow us either on Twitter @, Blogger, Google+, Google Pages, Pinterest and Subscribe to our YouTube Chanel Scandinavian Today! Lets get cooking Scandinavian foods!
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